Star Wars: The Old Republic (MMO)

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Really? My game looks great, and runs smooth as silk, minus the occasional graphical bug.

WoW runs good on any system, but the graphics are shit.

As for game updates, there's a lot of new Legacy stuff coming out in update 1.2, mostly an expanded Legacy system and the ability to customize your UI. I'm looking forward to it.

[synaesthetic]

I had everything maxed and at the highest possible resolution and honestly, SWTOR's visuals are dated. The game looks like it was made in 2007, not 2011. The textures for armor and clothing are almost as bad as those from the original Mass Effect.

[creb]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

So far on my experience with Balance builds is that you can easily fight from both ranged and melee areas. As it is said, the 4-10m range is where they excel, and they can easily inflict damage while they bridge the distance gap, which tends to be the problem with the other two trees. It's a very hybrid class being able to fight at a range, close up and even offtank.

I also just realized that I don't use orange gear much. Is it possible to actually craft gear towards the endgame that actually holds a candle to raid level gear?

Orange gear currently doesn't hold a candle to level 50 end game gear.

The patch, which I am hoping comes out this Thursday, will change that though, so orange gear is as good or better (when appropriately modded) than normal purple drops. 1.2 is making some bit changes to gear and crafting, so it's worth learning the details yourself prior to it hitting live, if you are a current player.

Good Operative/Scrappers hare hard to find, since they are also one of the least played classes in the game (Gunslinger/Snipers being the least). It's just simple math. That said, in the hands of a good player, all the Smuggler/IA Advanced Classes can be very good. For all the angst my Marauder and the thousands of other Marauder/Sentinels give, a good Operative can be just as deadly in slightly different ways (more up front burst, great CC).

They are also more than competent healers (great) even, who simply fly below the radar because:

1) There's probably at least twice as many Sage/Sorcs in the game, making it hard to notice anyone else.
2) Merc/Commando currently having stupidly high heal throughput and resource regeneration, which is getting a small nerf in 1.2.

I won't really get into the old argument about end game blah blah blah. Ultimately, it's up to you make the very personal choice of what you want from a game, and if a game doesn't provide it, hopefully you just move on, rather than continue to angst over it.

I will say that while SWTOR doesn't really do anything new, I really don't care. For me, MMOs are about playing with friends; the mechanics are secondary (they matter, of course). If there was an MMO that didn't just say they were different, and actually were different, in a good way, perhaps I'd care about whether SWTOR doesn't do anything new, but there aren't. Lots of talk, but no action. So, I play the game that lets me hang out with friends.

As for Guild Wars, I'm pretty sure its popularity has little to do with good game design and more to do with no subscription. I personally thought it was a horrendously bad game. Now, GW 2 sounds wonderful, but not being in beta combined with it continuing to be free to play, give me little confidence that it's not all just smoke and mirrors conjured by an overactive marketing team and a gaming population always in search of the next best thing. Plus, the cash shop, on a fundamental level, is something I will never support, so GW 2 could be the greatest thing ever and I'd never play it. Yes, I've been told GW has a cash shop as if that's some explanation for how one shouldn't worry about a cash shop in GW 2, but it didn't exist when I did give GW a try, and I have a hard time seeing how anyone interested in the pve aspect of the game didn't feel pressured into buying those hero slots. So, from my perspective, there's absolutely nothing benign over GW's cash shop that can be used as the basis for an argument that GW 2's cash shop will be benign. Cash shops simply aren't benign. Sure, they are setting it up so you can use in-game credits to trade for cash shop items, but it's a lot of in-game credits. That's just begging for gold farmers. Running servers isn't free, so any gamer who can't realize the cash shop is always designed to try to make you spend money is a sucker. And, I don't think there's anything wrong with spending money for entertainment. What I think is wrong is a business model that tries to emulate the free market without any of the controls in real life that keep the free market sane.

Lastly, MMO players who keep harping on cutting edge graphics need to give it a rest. There's a reason successful MMOs don't have cutting edge graphics. If you really need the why of it explained to you, then perhaps you are completely missing the entire point of an MMO.

[MrTerrorist]

Anti-Gay Star Wars Complainers Now Complaining About Spambots

Wait, what?

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Anti-Gay Star Wars Complainers Now Complaining About Spambots

Wait, what?

Wow, the ME3 ending shitstorm has them really scared.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

The 'poor' graphics should be getting a fix up with the patch tonight too, which unlocks the high-rez stuff for general play, I believe. Still it will look like the Clone Wars animated series though, which is irritating - but the low rez character textures are even more annoying to me.

I think part of GW2 popularity also rests in the fact that it's combat system isn't completely hotbar based like WoW, TOR and the bulk of other MMO's out there. It also incorperates a bit of the action based stuff like DC:U, Tera, and the like. People are sick of the Hotbar stuff. That and the static worlds. TOR tells a great story but the worlds are painfully static if you scratch beneath the surface a little... it's like a facade, or a one of those old western movie sets. GW2's world seems to have overcome (read: hidden) this with Rift style events - but more story driven and less zerg then Rifts, I guess.

I think the end game doesn't get enough credit though, sure it's reasonably easy. But at least it isn't the over modded gibfest WoW raids turned into.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Mr Hat and Clogs

That and the static worlds. TOR tells a great story but the worlds are painfully static if you scratch beneath the surface a little... it's like a facade, or a one of those old western movie sets.

Yeesh, ain't that the truth. TOR has the look down, but it's way too easy to notice how linear it feels. As you put it, it's like a movie set. And it's not just the boxed in feeling, it just feels lifeless. Sure, you interact with quest givers and monsters, but it's just....static.

I get the technical limitation part, but even WoW feels more "alive" than TOR does, which frankly is inexcusable for what is supposed to be a next generation mmorpg. In a lot of ways TOR feels like a step backward in design, which is a shame.

[MeisterBabylon]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Wow, the ME3 ending shitstorm has them really scared.

Well, we better blow that smokescreen off fast so that someone can actually attack EA. They are just pulling fast ones after fast ones.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So just this once, I'll fight alongside the anti-LGBT party. Only to backstab them once we win. :3

[Jazzrat]

Once again EA proving their worth of winning the poll for the most hated American company.

I m ok if they are evil but now... its just plain incompetent.

[creb]

I totally agree that the worlds are far too static. Throw in relatively long load times (the poorer members of our guild with not-so-great computers take up to 3+ minutes to load into a planet like Belsavis), and there's little to no incentive to go anywhere other than the Fleet once you're 50.

Looks like rated warzones were pulled hours before the patch was to hit. I'm not sure whether to laugh at the sheer incompetence (or even worse, planned 'incompetence'), or cry.

I really didn't give two hoots about anything else in 1.2 other than the crafted gear becoming viable for end game so I can look better than what is in my opinion the horrible looking end game gear, so now I'm just a tad bummed. I'm Legacy Level 45, but you only need 25 for everything, and outside of being able to roll all class buffs into one, I couldn't care less about the rest of the Legacy system being introduced.

I'll steer clear from commenting on the anti-gay news, as I find the entire issue framed in complete red herrings that completely ignore what I consider the real issue, regardless of the side people seem to be on.

[Kyero Fox]

Wow.. just... wow.. This is getting stupid XD

[MeoTwister5]

Well 1.2 hits in a few hours so let's see if there's anything there that, you know, would garner more interest.

[MeisterBabylon]

Meanwhile, I'm flying around in a starship having more fun writing Captain's Logs on a F2P game than waging war with an incompetent economical hegemony.

[Kyero Fox]

I'm updating Aion and TOR at the same time. Then I'm downloading TERA beta.

[MeoTwister5]

Well the customizable UI is actually more flexible than I thought it'd be. At least now I can hotbar everything I need.

The extra texturing isn't really noticeable, only on faces.

Haven't tested everything else yet, but at least, the UI customization is a very big improvement.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Combat logging is nice. I love the UI stuff, made things much better. Can center things more for easier tracking.

Didn't think to check about the graphics. I think I saw a comparison between old and new prepatxh, and there was a noticeable difference.

I'm a bit wishy-washy on the legacy stuff. Some is ok others I'm Luke warm on. At least I can make all my Imperials Twi'leks now, need to get a Sith to 50 to make all the Republic characters Sith.

But will see how things go tomorrow, since I'm going to bed now.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

Well the customizable UI is actually more flexible than I thought it'd be. At least now I can hotbar everything I need.

The extra texturing isn't really noticeable, only on faces.

Haven't tested everything else yet, but at least, the UI customization is a very big improvement.

That's dumb. The armor is what needed a texture resolution bump. Ugh the armor textures in ME1 look better than SWTOR's. :|

[Xacual]

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20120412-1

This really reeks of desperation I'm sorry. It just looks like a way to artificially inflate sub numbers so they have something somewhat positive to show at the quarter report at the end of the month.

[creb]

I think the textures have improved nicely, though I also have the newer 300 series Nvidia drivers with that new fangled aliasing feature (FXAA) which, to me, drastically improves games like SWTOR, as the normal aliasing was really bad.

TL;DR: I'm actually not sure if it's the drivers or the new texture features they added that improved the look as I installed the drivers last night.

I also play on one of the Heavy servers, so I really haven't cared about the population levels.

As I said before, I was mostly looking forward to rated warzones, so with that removed, I'm not terribly excited with this patch. However, there are some things I find myself enjoying in the hour or two I played today prior to going to work. I'll have more thoughts after I get home and play some more:

1) Small improvements to the UI; casting bars, etc are better defined. Nothing huge, but immediately noticeable. Did take me over an hour to figure out some rather basic things that used to be under Options, but are now under Interface Editing.

2) Casting all class buffs at once. This is actually pretty awesome.

3) The few lower level alts I have are like in God mode with the huge Presence boost they got due to all my Legacy Unlocks. As Presence was a straight boost, rather than a percent, the lower level you are, the more noticeable the effect. To put it simply, some of my lowbie's Presence is double their Prime stats. Their Companions are a tad...overpowered. Mid 20s world pvp is gonna be interesting when/if I run into someone who doesn't have all the +Presence I have. :/

4) The /operative emote is too cool for words, and all my characters are now being obnoxious while spamming it, especially over dead enemy players.

5) I like the new Warzone, even if it's just a rather uninspired (ie: no real twist to it) basic 'capture the node'.

Now a few things I either outright disliked, or was horribly unimpressed with:

1) Warzones no longer seem to shutdown if you don't have enough players. Not a huge issue, as we usually always get new players joining long before those 120 seconds can countdown (in fact, pretty much always), but I have to object to this change on principle.

2) Still no punishment for players who quit warzones, continuing to make a warzone that your team starts to lose very difficult to fight back from as you go through character after character joining and quitting looking for a quick win.

3) Coupled with it being very easy now to get very few medals on the losing team and I suspect we're going to see a bump in the percent of players constantly quitting games. For the record, I hate quitters.

4) I find most of the Legacy system complete fluff. And, for being fluff, I don't understand why I can't just have all eight of my characters in a crazy polygamous marriage. Basically, the relationships that are possible are all boring. They really need to let you go crazy there. Especially since it's just flavor and has no practical effect on anything.

I didn't have time to try moving my mods/augments to orange gear, but that's the only thing left in this patch that I was anticipating. Hopefully it works out, as I can't stand the way my level 50s look.

I should have started powerleveling all the professions weeks ago, when hearing about 1.2, but as it is now, I've only got one Cybertech, and 7 Biochem characters. :/ Some of those Biochems are going to have to bite the bullet and pick up Arms/Armor/Synth/Slicing, me thinks, as I suspect the market is going to be prohibitively expensive to buy the items outright from the incredibly few people who aren't currently Biochem.

Plus, it's going to cost over 27 million credits to unlock all the Legacy features, so it's not like I have a ton of money to spare.

Oh, and the number one best thing about this patch that I almost forgot about is that you can turn that retarded Smart Camera off.

Lastly, it seems Bioware is in full damage control mode with the whole 'if you're still an active subscriber, you get a free month and a pet' thing. LoL.

[MeisterBabylon]

Hmm... 7 days free. Tempting proposition...