Star Wars: The Old Republic Random Question/Discussion thread - F2P

[vrumpt]

Honestly, the more i think about em, the more horribly disappointed i'll be if healing rockets aren't in the game.

[Katlan]

they better be epic and live up to their name

[Lucavi]

They haven't said anything about how Bounty Hunters and Troopers will go about their healing. A strong part of me says healing rockets isn't going to be it (although i wouldn't turn them down either).

What i've heard from the more recent builds that fan sites got to play, was that combat was slower paced, at least in PvP. Enemies come in certain types, they expanded it beyond just Elite and everything else. Forget all the categories, but weak enemies will be able to be flown around and knocked down by some abilities, while the same ability wouldn't be able to for a standard enemy.

IGN and Gamespot's previews of the bounty hunter classes both clearly stated that healing rockets are a part of the healing tree for bounty hunter.

Edit: I'm just wondering about how they work? What's the lore behind them? Don't say "fuck the lore" because this is a Star Wars game; a series with damn hear a half century of lore.

[Lordender]

Guile's theme goes with healing rockets.

[vrumpt]

Looking for info on healing missiles and came across this gem from Curse's hands-on article:

Plus you have a fun perk as a mercenary out for coin; the Bounty Hunter, according to Daniel Erickson - Star Wars: The Old Republic's Lead Writer - is the only class in the game that will be able to take on and perform missions for both the Empire and the Republic. There are potential repercussions to this, but it's a very interesting mechanic. Just be careful who you work for - money isn't everything.

EDIT: probly found the answer to how healing missiles work.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bacta_grenade

[Lucavi]

I remember that stuff being very addictive, but I suppose that works. I remember troopers being the one to hurl bacta grenades, but at least we have -some- explanation for it.

[Katlan]

What if you toss out a healing rocket at somebody and it hits them in the face? Seems like it would do more dmg then its ability to heal via bacta once opened

[Tyr]

I think legitimate qualms presented against the game, it's mechanics, battle-system, etc., are being overshadowed by the healing rocket red herring. The bacta thing seems to be a response that will convince some, not others (see rocket-to-the-face-before-bacta-pops post above), but what about all the other problems with the game? Why not focus on those..?

[Lucavi]

None of the problems smacked me as absurd like the healing rockets. I'm not really using it as a red herring; my legitimate concern is lore, not so much graphics or gameplay. The game is going to draw its hardcore crowd of star wars fans, just like XI and XIV draw their hardcore crowd of SE lovers, so that's right out. The game looks and plays like WoW, but with a splish-splash of Mass Effect and some Dragon Age thrown in for good measure. That's that.

I'm worried about how they're going to handle a pre-established lore for nearly a half-century in a genre that typically amounts to "you are nothing; go watch these NPCs hog all the credit for your actions; also, your actions have little impact on the world as a whole, because we have to account for 10,00,00 other potential players that want to feel epic too." You can take the healing rockets as a joke, but there's a real concern behind the tail end of the admittedly laughable issue. You KNOW how adamant fanboys can be about lore. Hell, look at the Warcraft loreheads complaining every day about some random aspect of the lore that was "butchered" by Blizzard on an hourly basis.

We've already seen Star Trek's MMO crash and burn, and despite the fact that this one is far more funded, planned and will ultimately become a far wider success than Star Wars Online, the fact still remains that how the lore is handled will absolutely have a hand in whether this game lives or dies.

Ugh, I've already written too much about this MMO, and I'm not even really interested in it. Bring Diablo III the fuck on, please.

[Katlan]

While XIV spent 4-5years developing an engine.. and about 6 months on combat. it looks like this game spent $299 mil on voice / OST / script and $1mil on combat

[Elcura]

While XIV spent 4-5years developing an engine.. and about 6 months on combat. it looks like this game spent $299 mil on voice / OST / script and $1mil on combat

What?

[vrumpt]

How combat looks in a trailer or on somebodys screen is entirely different than actually playing it and seeing how it feels in game. I personally feel nothing by watching gameplay trailers of other games. Bioware's goal is to have combat feel epic. They have said that many times, and can probably pull it off. I don't think that combat will be bad at all, just familiar.


EDIT: thinking more about this, pretty much every game needs something to drive it along. combat/gameplay is the vehicle that takes there, but ultimately you need a reason to go and move forward. What Rift and WoW does is pretty much fall back entirely on that gameplay mechanic as the only really drive to move forward is the satisfaction of leveling up and being rewarded for doing so. In Mass Effect, i'm not running down a corridor shooting collector 1 and 2, then using ability A, i'm assaulting the collector base in an attempt to save the galaxy. Everything that makes good games good is how you act in context to whats going on around you. WoW was probably the first MMO a great many of people played, so thats an entirely new genre that people had to experience. They were fine just playing the game and killing stuff, because it was a new experience and people could get away with random quests as what to do in game. Until now, MMOs have been able to pretty much ride on just people enjoying the gameplay, but now people need some more reason to play.

Some games are trying to reinvent the wheel because they think that simply giving players a new gameplay system to ride on will be enough to go to recreate that rewarding experience, with the drive being just having fun playing the game. Now we have Bioware using story as a drive, and physically giving us a reason to go do everything. We're going out and defending our ship from a sith ambush, or assaulting the military base of Taral V and at the same time exploring its secrets. Now we're actually doing something, rather than having random quests or a random dungeon filled with loot, again, as a reason to play the gameplay. When all you have is this as your drive, people are gonna get bored with it.

This is what ToR is going to do, its going to open up the 'why' question and add new drive to a beaten genre.

[Weltall]

No majority of players will ever play an MMO for a storyline. They cannot create a storyline long, or good, enough to stretch 4-8 years, or the average length of a good MMO.

The only way they could accomplish this is slow updates or unlocks, which is stupid.

Tera, as an example, has reinvented the wheel in MMO combat/gameplay and it came out amazing. If you think SW's attempt at the same via storyline is viable, you are incorrect, but to each his own I suppose.

[Guyverarmor]

Not true Weltall... EQ1 has done a damn fine job of long good storyline >.>

[Lucavi]

How combat looks in a trailer or on somebodys screen is entirely different than actually playing it and seeing how it feels in game.

Typically it plays worse. Just sayin'.

And yes, you can grab a solid number of subs simply through plot, but NOT if you butcher the lore to establish said plot. You're going to need a lot more of an addict-able formula then simply saying "This is the Star Wars Universe, and you can make decisions in it!"; the gameplay, at least, had better be up to snuff.

That being said, Welt; it remains to be seen if simply throwing lots of colors, lots of tits and a new combat style will be enough to lead us into some new "golden age", like you're prophesizing. I remain far more skeptical, even after seeing Tera in full, vivid detail and motion. Again, its going to grab its share of subs; nobody will question that, but will the combat style stick to other, future games as well? We'll see.

Shit, you also have to factor in the plot. What the hell is Tera's plot? Yes, lots of fighting, but who is the big boss? Why are people fighting? Why should people fight instead of fap to their own characters? We're getting off-topic at this point, but its still a legitmate discourse.

[Katlan]

What?

Its been stated that the game is costing 300mil to make, and in order for it to be profitable it needs to sustain over 1mil subs

[Weltall]

Ok, EQ1 storyline was fine I guess, haha XD

I have never really played MMOs to kill stuff according to storyline. I see a big dragon, take Bahamut, I am wanting to kill it because it is huge and drops items, not because it did X or Y to Z character in the storyline.

[Hyan]

I'll get this as long as it runs on my Samsung.

Lookin' good on that front.

[Alderaan]

Its been stated that the game is costing 300mil to make, and in order for it to be profitable it needs to sustain over 1mil subs

That's already been debunked. The actual development cost is around 80mil and to break even they have to sustain 350k subs. I'll see if i can find the link.

[DeathbySnoosnoo]

This is what ToR is going to do, its going to open up the 'why' question and add new drive to a beaten genre.

From what ive played and seen of tor combat its pretty bland. that can be said for most of biowares games combat. the storylines and VA however will most likely be this games redeeming factor, even if it messes with star wars lore. but 'new drive' not so much, ever played ffxi, it had great storylines. the only new thing it will bring is lots of great voice acting it seems, which i really wish ffxi had.