SWTOR

That's just sad.

Lol at turning off all music and sounds. I used to hate raiding with people who did that, because they CONSTANTLY missed queues in raid fights.

"derp, my dbm must be brokenz! I didnt know boss was going to use the wtf beam!"

Me: "You dont need DBM, the boss shouts the same f'ing line just before he uses the attack!"

aaron_sl said:

It just boggles the mind how TWO major gaming companies have managed to fuck up a Star Wars IP MMO. How is this even possible? I had high hopes for TOR when it was first announced. However, doubts started to form the moment I heard they would focus on the storyline quests (levelling) and how everything would be voice over. Have none of the devs ever played a MMO? At least they haven't been playing with friends using Vent, because it is at least my experience that the first thing you do is turn off all music and sounds save combat sounds so you can chat with your friends while playing (it is an MMO after all!).

My only hope is that if anyone ever tries doing a third SW MMO then the phrase "third time lucky" will ring true!

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I always questioned the extensive voice-over work more for how it'd impact future development. It's not exactly cheap nor is it something that can easily be tweaked. I recall SOE promoting all of EverQuest II's lines of recorded dialogue prior to release, but then the reality set in and they scaled back a lot on it in subsequent expansions. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see GW2 follow suit. It's one thing when you have 4-5 years in development to write and edit scripts and then record and re-record lines, but much more difficult when you are trying to put out regular updates, largely because it necessitates that the writing is done much sooner.

Of course, the thing both EQ2 and GW2 have going for them is they have a healthy mix of vocal and written content to the point where less voice-over work isn't really noticeable. If ToR has to cut back on it, the content is really going to feel unfinished due to the entire rest of the game having practically every line spoken.

Is this a "how could X fuck up the Star Wars IP" or a "how many new Mmos have to fail before everyone realizes wow fans are wow fans" problem?

I'd still rate launch and the months after as some of the most fun WoW copycat mmo'ing I've ever had. I still want to love this game; instead I sit looking at a $150 collectors edition box that I feel cheated over.

Caeden_sl said:

I sit looking at a $150 collectors edition box that I feel cheated over.

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Not me, my Malgus statue is sitting right next to my monitor and it still looks awesome!

But I don't understand why doing voiceovers is supposedly so expensive. Surely they have the technology by now to do the character animations automatically and actually recording all of the lines shouldn't cost that much. Maybe because they used a lot of big name 'voiceover talent' which isn't necessary.

games terrible, why the fuck can't we be aliens, everyone is a jedi


























































dum

sakkath_sl said:

Not me, my Malgus statue is sitting right next to my monitor and it still looks awesome!

But I don't understand why doing voiceovers is supposedly so expensive. Surely they have the technology by now to do the character animations automatically and actually recording all of the lines shouldn't cost that much. Maybe because they used a lot of big name 'voiceover talent' which isn't necessary.

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I've only looked into out of curiosity (so I could be wrong), but with just text you have a writer/writing team and possibly editors. With voice, you have the writer/writing team/editors, plus voice actor, director, casting & other agents, sound engineers, producers and a few other things (like facilities). I think there's also unions and other such things to deal with similar to film/tv.

Then there's redos. Which, as far as I can tell mainly come down to availability of talent and facilities.

This is from GDC 2006, but if I remember correctly, he touches upon some of the headaches for producing voice over work.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1013411/-em-And-Make-ItPPT

The audio presentation
More at GDC Vault (http://www.gdcvault.com/free/)

http://www.swtor.com/blog/star-wars-...3-state-game-2

Hello again everyone!

It has been an amazing couple of months since my last State of the Game blog. It feels like a good time to jump in again and give you a brief rundown on how we are doing, what is coming up next, and to tackle some issues head on. Let's start with some comments about now and the future:

As you can probably imagine, the launch of the Free-to-Play option with our new Cartel Market has been an amazing event for our game. The game is incredibly healthy with an ever increasing number of players who are actively playing (the servers are rocking!). Having said that, we know we haven't gotten everything perfect, and we are still working hard to make The Old Republic everything you guys desire. More than anything we wanted to get folks back in and playing the game, and bring back the excitement and camaraderie - we feel like we've made great strides over the last 6 months towards these goals. All signs point to a very bright future for our game!

Speaking of the future - we have two excellent updates coming your way in the upcoming months. In our Game Update 1.7 you should look forward to some interesting changes to a special PvP area that you have all been asking about (sorry for being cryptic, but this is technically not announced yet), as well as a visit from some old friends, The Gree Enclave (though maybe not in a way you would expect). And later in the spring, our Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel! The team has been working for a long time on this, and is very excited to get it out to you. We have greatly expanded on the original concept with several new systems, 5 new levels, a big new planet, new storylines, new skills and abilities and more beyond that. Keep your eyes open for more information over the next several months.

Now for everyone's favorite section - Hot Topics. I will try to be as frank and open as possible.

Topic #1: Elder Game Content - What is our intent for keeping level 50's occupied? Answer: Introducing new content and activities for the elder game is a top priority in the coming year. We've got new Operations, new Flashpoints, new difficulty modes, new PvP areas, and of course, the entire Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel (which is targeted at our high level players). We have a plan mapped out for the upcoming year that will keep the elder game fresh and interesting for players of all types. Overall, we're aiming to introduce a more diverse array of activities - more stuff to do with your Companion, more challenges to tackle with groups, and more reasons for guilds to recruit. We'll also be improving our itemization, introducing new incentives to revisit existing areas, and a lot of other exciting things that will be revealed as we move through the upcoming year.

Topic #2: World PvP - What happened to making Ilum better? What is going on with Open World PvP? Answer: We have not forgotten Ilum! I think you will see (fairly soon) the answer to this question in the game itself - something big is coming to the Western Ice Shelf, but it's quite a departure from what was there before. As for pure Open World PvP.well, that's a more difficult proposition. We are dedicated to providing excellent PvP experiences to our players, but we intend to focus our energy on PvP Seasons and new Warzones. We will be experimenting with a different approach to Open World PvP, something that encourages organic PvP in contested areas in a new and interesting way, but do not look for massive new Open World PvP this year (outside of what I mentioned above). It is still on our design wall, but is taking a back seat to other forms of PvP.

Topic #3: Character Copy to Public Test Server (PTS) - What is taking so long? Answer: As of the writing of this letter, we are in focused, internal testing on character copies for PTS. You should expect to see this come within the first part of this year. It will provide free character copies to PTS at any time (with possible restrictions dependent upon our testing needs at any given time). This will also lay the foundation for our new live character transfer system that will be coming later this year.

Topic #4: Same Gender Romance: Any news on this front would be great. Answer: First of all, I want to apologize that this is taking so long to get in the game. I realize that we promised SGR to you guys and that many of you believed that this would be with a companion character. Unfortunately, this will take a lot more work than we realized at the time and it (like some other pieces of content we talked about earlier in the year) has been delayed as we focused on the changes required to take the game Free-to-Play. As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of.

Secondly, I want to reveal today that we are adding SGR with some NPCs on Makeb and do intend on pursuing more SGR options in the future. More details to come!

Whew! I think we got through this State of the Game pretty well. The team and I will continue to scan the forums, read the boards, and listen to feedback. We're dedicated to giving you the game that YOU want to play and are making changes and improvements at a rapid pace to keep up with your desires. Please keep posting and keep talking about The Old Republic. Together we will continue to care for and expand this fantastic game.

Until next time,

-Jeff Hickman

-Executive Producer, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Once again, as a major Star Wars nerd, I just shake my head.

Maybe they're about to pull a rabbit out of the hat but I just don't see it.

Jesus does SGR hold that much water in an MMO environment? That's the thing they just have to get out there? Will SWTOR go on to be the poster child of what not do when building an MMO, or is that already being taught somewhere.

Agenor_sl said:

Jesus does SGR hold that much water in an MMO environment? That's the thing they just have to get out there? Will SWTOR go on to be the poster child of what not do when building an MMO, or is that already being taught somewhere.

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SGR is a relatively easy thing to include and so you can crow about it. Making your game focus on something other than Rakghouls and bug-eyed aliens no one has ever heard of is much harder.

Qhue_sl said:

SGR is a relatively easy thing to include and so you can crow about it.

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"Hoorah we're not the first MMO to add gays and lesbians to our stories"?

Qhue_sl said:

SGR is a relatively easy thing to include and so you can crow about it. Making your game focus on something other than Rakghouls and bug-eyed aliens no one has ever heard of is much harder.

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Topic #4: Same Gender Romance: Any news on this front would be great. Answer: First of all, I want to apologize that this is taking so long to get in the game. I realize that we promised SGR to you guys and that many of you believed that this would be with a companion character. Unfortunately, this will take a lot more work than we realized at the time and it (like some other pieces of content we talked about earlier in the year) has been delayed as we focused on the changes required to take the game Free-to-Play. As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of.

Yes. It's so easy something they said was coming Months and months ago, is still on the drawing board......

Agenor_sl said:

Topic #4: Same Gender Romance: Any news on this front would be great. Answer: First of all, I want to apologize that this is taking so long to get in the game. I realize that we promised SGR to you guys and that many of you believed that this would be with a companion character. Unfortunately, this will take a lot more work than we realized at the time and it (like some other pieces of content we talked about earlier in the year) has been delayed as we focused on the changes required to take the game Free-to-Play. As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of.

Yes. It's so easy something they said was coming Months and months ago, is still on the drawing board......

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They were busy adding all the new and exciting features they've been putting out on a quick consistent basis.

Ambiturner_sl said:

They were busy adding all the new and exciting features they've been putting out on a quick consistent basis.

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I especially had a nice laugh at the end where Hickman was so out of breath with updating all this new and exciting info! Where 98% of said info was rehashed BS. don't ever change Jeff.

I know it'd piss off plenty of people to just come out and say SGR really isn't a priority at this time, but it really shouldn't be. For all ToR's faults, the story isn't really one of them. They need to be working on things that will either bring in new players or retain the ones they have, SGR is unlikely to do either.

So, to login to my account again I need to call them so that they can inactivate my old authenticator app. When exactly did emailing at one's convenience become extinct?

At any rate, have they added any new story content yet or is it just raids and battlegrounds?

Itzena_sl said:

"Hoorah we're not the first MMO to add gays and lesbians to our stories"?

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TSW already has some gay professors

Cantatus_sl said:

I know it'd piss off plenty of people to just come out and say SGR really isn't a priority at this time, but it really shouldn't be. For all ToR's faults, the story isn't really one of them. They need to be working on things that will either bring in new players or retain the ones they have, SGR is unlikely to do either.

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Would it really piss alot of people off? I figured him thinking it was a big deal was just another example of how out of touch the dev team was. If the player base really does think that's a priority in this mess of a game then the players and devs deserve each other

Ambiturner_sl said:

Would it really piss alot of people off? I figured him thinking it was a big deal was just another example of how out of touch the dev team was. If the player base really does think that's a priority in this mess of a game then the players and devs deserve each other

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The whole reason he brings it up now is because there were a lot of complaints about it not being included prior to release, which eventually led them to say it would be a "post-launch feature". Funnily enough, it actually got enough coverage to the point that it had the Family Research Council post a press release decrying this, andConan O'Brien joking about it.