Didnt Windows blue screen at one of their conferences? Shit happens in demos. Id be happier if the shit was happening while I was playing the demo, but c'est la vie
Goddammit. Every time I hear someone say that I get this song stuck in my head forever, you son of a bitch.
What the fuck was that?
All my hate.
Can we agree that from now on we'll say "que sera, sera" instead so that this never happens again?
SammyF on
0
ArrynAsk not the InnkeeperFor destiny is thy name!Registered Userregular
edited June 2011
To be honest, I'm reading a lot of Chaos' comments as nothing more than "expecting the worst, in order to be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't happen." Which is better than the alternative of getting your hopes up and then being deflated.
I've been following this game since before the "we're going to have a press release" press release from Bioware/LucasArts back in 2007. I understand that feeling of wanting the game in your hands yesterday so bad it drives you nuts.
The animations and graphics are looking a lot better than they did. Remember when the lightsaber hilts looked like some sort of giant Lego monstrosities?
if you thought that was bad you should see games in pre-alpha
a mount not appearing is a C bug at best, even if its a consistent problem, sure its not something you want to show off but its definitely not a major issue
games have thousands of bugs, hell the not so great b-title games I tested had bug databases up to 5000 bugs, I can only imagine the bug database tor has right now, so considering that I'd say that the area they were showing off was fairly well polished and looking good
To be honest, I'm hoping for a later release date. I'm supposed to graduate from nursing school on Dec. 15, and if the game comes out before that I'm screwed.
Sure, but let's not blow the issue out of proportion either.
I've open beta'd games that had much worse issues. This isn't even in open beta, graphical issues aren't a huge surprise.
Well, MMOs are slightly different in that the game should be basically completely done by open beta. Open Beta is your free demo and stress test.
Let me qualify my statement.
I've open beta'd more than a few MMO's. Graphical errors are commonplace, and overshadowed by more extreme issues.
Open beta is one of those places to test things like graphical errors due to lag, bandwidth, etc. That's when you invite everyone and their third cousin to test your game. It's why it's called a stress test. To stress the servers. Even then, I've open beta'd more than a few that had glaring bugs that hampered gameplay. This is not a gameplay issue, so it's really not an issue at all this early.
Now, if during the demo the poor bastard had his lightsaber coming out his ass, and he attacked enemies Mario style, THEN I would Chicken Little all over the place.
Rift was an extremely good release. Granted, they don't have nearly the same population that SWTOR will get on release, but it set up a good precedent for how to structure the open beta process.
Rift was an extremely good release. Granted, they don't have nearly the same population that SWTOR will get on release, but it set up a good precedent for how to structure the open beta process.]
Rift was a good release. It was a clunky game in some respects (the narrative and the style are just blech), but the mechanics were solid, the game was stable and the power trees were very interesting indeed. It launched well, it was received well and it was well-reviewed.
My main beef with Rift was the "been there, done that" syndrome. Fantasy is so overplayed and once you get past the initial appeal of the rifts, you quickly see the game is a rather tiresome grind. I also think the industry was so starved for something new, the reviews were a bit hyperbolic, it wasn't nearly as good as advertised.
SW:TOR must have a strong narrative. It must have a compelling story that drives you through, that helps you tolerate the mindless repetition MMOs expect you to go through. It is my hope, that the strong work they've done in this area pays off.
I'm watching this game as a role player, as someone who uses MMOs as just a canvas to RP with. What excites me most about SW:TOR is it appears to be a very strong RP platform.
Rift's open beta was solid because it came in waves and lasted for a long time. I started playing it during stage 5 or something (I caught the last couple of stages, dont remember exactly when I started) and each new wave had less problems than the last. It would be nice if The Old Republic followed the same pattern - open beta, then a week or two to fix the problems, another open beta and another couple of weeks to fix those problems. Rinse and repeat until the game is launch ready.
Didnt Windows blue screen at one of their conferences? Shit happens in demos. Id be happier if the shit was happening while I was playing the demo, but c'est la vie
Goddammit. Every time I hear someone say that I get this song stuck in my head forever, you son of a bitch.
What the fuck was that?
All my hate.
Can we agree that from now on we'll say "que sera, sera" instead so that this never happens again?
What the fuck was that!? Holy shit, after Wikipediaing them, Im pretty sure my sister had their first album.
To be honest, I'm hoping for a later release date. I'm supposed to graduate from nursing school on Dec. 15, and if the game comes out before that I'm screwed.
I was hoping for a summer release since Im not sure how much time I'll have to do stuff once school gets busy in the fall...
The thing that struck me the most was how big the specialization trees looked compared to how many many points you get. It looked very odd and I'm really wondering what they are up to with it.
So, some news. Daniel Erickson said to Gamespot that an open beta will actually be unlikely for this game. He said the fanbase would be so big that they're concerned it'll just lay them to waste if they just made it that available. He also said the closed beta would be very close to release. I'm guessing it'll be one of those preorder to get into the beta things.
And seriously, if they can't handle an open beta, how will they handle release?
shryke on
0
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
edited June 2011
To be fair, there's a difference between release where only people that bought the game will be hammering the servers, and an open beta where FUCKING EVERYBODY will be hammering the servers.
NEO|Phyte on
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
0
CorehealerThe ApothecaryThe softer edge of the universe.Registered Userregular
edited June 2011
My thoughts exactly.
I saw stuff in the gameplay stream I liked but no open beta? That is worrying for a few reasons mentioned here. They do still serve a practical purpose beyond giving potential customers a chance to feel the game, Stress tests and bug fixes among other things.
If they don't do an open beta but confound it further with a pre-order paid entry closed beta, it'll be interesting to say the least, how that turns out.
To be fair, there's a difference between release where only people that bought the game will be hammering the servers, and an open beta where FUCKING EVERYBODY will be hammering the servers.
How much?
I mean really, open beta you will be getting hammered by everyone who's thinking of buying the game. The people who will hammer the game come release is a very large subset of that + anyone who didn't want to do open beta + anyone who didn't know about it or whatever.
I mean, the whole point of open beta as a stress test is to make sure you can handle the numbers you will see come release.
Open Beta is also your big chance to sell the game to people who aren't sure. That's where the Star Wars fans who aren't sure about an MMO (a HUGE HUGE potential market for this game) get thier taste test. That's where you hook them.
Exactly, it's so that you DO crash your servers and everything blows up. That's what Open Beta is for, to address how your servers are going to handle an extremely high load and troubleshoot how you're going to deal with it.
This basically guarantees that the first few days of TOR will be unplayable. There is no closed beta in the world that can prepare them for that clusterfuck. Not even close.
There is no closed beta in the world that can prepare them for that clusterfuck. Not even close.
For sure. Unless they let all one million people signed up for testing to do a couple of weeks of closed beta leading up to or following a closed beta as a result of pre order, they'll be totally underestimating the shitstorm that will be coming.
While I don't think they need to have an open beta before launching the game, I definitely don't get the rationale of saying it's because they think too many people would play it. I mean, maybe they're thinking more people would play the open beta than would buy the game, which may be true given the hype for this game, but I doubt it.
I'd expect them to do a beta for anybody who preorders with access in the month or so leading up to the game, which is basically an open beta without just letting anybody download it. I guess we'll see.
Rift was an extremely good release. Granted, they don't have nearly the same population that SWTOR will get on release, but it set up a good precedent for how to structure the open beta process.]
Rift was a good release. It was a clunky game in some respects (the narrative and the style are just blech), but the mechanics were solid, the game was stable and the power trees were very interesting indeed. It launched well, it was received well and it was well-reviewed.
My main beef with Rift was the "been there, done that" syndrome. Fantasy is so overplayed and once you get past the initial appeal of the rifts, you quickly see the game is a rather tiresome grind. I also think the industry was so starved for something new, the reviews were a bit hyperbolic, it wasn't nearly as good as advertised.
SW:TOR must have a strong narrative. It must have a compelling story that drives you through, that helps you tolerate the mindless repetition MMOs expect you to go through. It is my hope, that the strong work they've done in this area pays off.
I'm watching this game as a role player, as someone who uses MMOs as just a canvas to RP with. What excites me most about SW:TOR is it appears to be a very strong RP platform.
To me for you to have an open canvas for RP'ing purposes, I'd think you would be more apt to have a wide open sandbox (Something along the lines Ultima). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about the "theme park" style that WoW and STOR (albeit with a stronger narrative of course), but I really don't see how that is going to really be strong for Role Playing on a massive scale. I mean yeah you will be able to flesh out things via your own story line just like you do in their single player games. But to me when I think role playing in an MMO, I think a larper's wet dream where they literally act out their character with thousands of others acting out their characters in a virtual world. And I just don't see that happening in this game.
If I want to roleplay, and I do, I'll play some D&D or hell, tabletop Star Wars d20 for that matter. In my MMO, I want a cool story, fun exploration, levelling up, getting loot, and cool group content to do with my friends. Roleplaying in a video game will never be the same as doing it in an actual RPG, because you can't make up your own story. You can pretend that you're roleplaying your jedi going through the same story as everybody else, but you're not really developing the character, the narrative the game has for you is doing the work. Really it's kind of like playing a tabletop game with a GM that just railroads you through everything they already have planned for you and tells you exactly what will happen to your character.
To be fair, there's a difference between release where only people that bought the game will be hammering the servers, and an open beta where FUCKING EVERYBODY will be hammering the servers.
Isn't getting FUCKING EVERYBODY to try out your game basically the best thing that could ever happen?
You have a weird situation where too many players can be a bad thing. Especially if retention is poor. See Warhammer and it's 4000 servers that contributed to killing the game further. People left, and those that stayed left because the population was spread too thinly. Rift had a similar problem: I could not play with my friends on the same server because of the insane queues. I really didn't want to throw ten hours of play down the toilet, so it was a shitty situation for everyone.
So the thing that struck me about the trooper video is all the info they cram in about the area.
Who bets that after the first week of the game being out, groups will be kicking you if you ask for a second to read it? I've never read a quest in a dungeon in WoW for that reason, and it would definitely suck in a game based so much on the story.
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Empire - Veela Server
Can we agree that from now on we'll say "que sera, sera" instead so that this never happens again?
I've been following this game since before the "we're going to have a press release" press release from Bioware/LucasArts back in 2007. I understand that feeling of wanting the game in your hands yesterday so bad it drives you nuts.
The animations and graphics are looking a lot better than they did. Remember when the lightsaber hilts looked like some sort of giant Lego monstrosities?
I've open beta'd games that had much worse issues. This isn't even in open beta, graphical issues aren't a huge surprise.
a mount not appearing is a C bug at best, even if its a consistent problem, sure its not something you want to show off but its definitely not a major issue
games have thousands of bugs, hell the not so great b-title games I tested had bug databases up to 5000 bugs, I can only imagine the bug database tor has right now, so considering that I'd say that the area they were showing off was fairly well polished and looking good
Well, MMOs are slightly different in that the game should be basically completely done by open beta. Open Beta is your free demo and stress test.
I hope you were trying to be sarcastic with that, I really do.
God what was that WWII game? That was a horrible release. They've been getting better for releases (Rift was pretty good)
But this idea that mmos are done by open beta is relatively new.
Let me qualify my statement.
I've open beta'd more than a few MMO's. Graphical errors are commonplace, and overshadowed by more extreme issues.
Open beta is one of those places to test things like graphical errors due to lag, bandwidth, etc. That's when you invite everyone and their third cousin to test your game. It's why it's called a stress test. To stress the servers. Even then, I've open beta'd more than a few that had glaring bugs that hampered gameplay. This is not a gameplay issue, so it's really not an issue at all this early.
Now, if during the demo the poor bastard had his lightsaber coming out his ass, and he attacked enemies Mario style, THEN I would Chicken Little all over the place.
VIDEOS FOR ALL:
Alderaan Flashpoint (seemingly)
The running animations look way better.
More.
Video of the developer playthrough.
SteamID: devCharles
twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesewise
Rift was a good release. It was a clunky game in some respects (the narrative and the style are just blech), but the mechanics were solid, the game was stable and the power trees were very interesting indeed. It launched well, it was received well and it was well-reviewed.
My main beef with Rift was the "been there, done that" syndrome. Fantasy is so overplayed and once you get past the initial appeal of the rifts, you quickly see the game is a rather tiresome grind. I also think the industry was so starved for something new, the reviews were a bit hyperbolic, it wasn't nearly as good as advertised.
SW:TOR must have a strong narrative. It must have a compelling story that drives you through, that helps you tolerate the mindless repetition MMOs expect you to go through. It is my hope, that the strong work they've done in this area pays off.
I'm watching this game as a role player, as someone who uses MMOs as just a canvas to RP with. What excites me most about SW:TOR is it appears to be a very strong RP platform.
What the fuck was that!? Holy shit, after Wikipediaing them, Im pretty sure my sister had their first album.
I was hoping for a summer release since Im not sure how much time I'll have to do stuff once school gets busy in the fall...
which is the most likely response from the trooper when asked wtf he is doing
1> little brother was playing
2> wait, was a i supposed to tank?
3> phone call/cat/spilled drink
4> lag
yeah its always lag isnt it
I think he was being slow and purposeful so the watchers of the video get a better sense of the group dynamic and what everyone else is doing?
SteamID: devCharles
twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesewise
And perhaps showing just how inexperienced they are if he thinks they wont be able to handle an Open Beta.
And seriously, if they can't handle an open beta, how will they handle release?
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
I saw stuff in the gameplay stream I liked but no open beta? That is worrying for a few reasons mentioned here. They do still serve a practical purpose beyond giving potential customers a chance to feel the game, Stress tests and bug fixes among other things.
If they don't do an open beta but confound it further with a pre-order paid entry closed beta, it'll be interesting to say the least, how that turns out.
How much?
I mean really, open beta you will be getting hammered by everyone who's thinking of buying the game. The people who will hammer the game come release is a very large subset of that + anyone who didn't want to do open beta + anyone who didn't know about it or whatever.
I mean, the whole point of open beta as a stress test is to make sure you can handle the numbers you will see come release.
Open Beta is also your big chance to sell the game to people who aren't sure. That's where the Star Wars fans who aren't sure about an MMO (a HUGE HUGE potential market for this game) get thier taste test. That's where you hook them.
This basically guarantees that the first few days of TOR will be unplayable. There is no closed beta in the world that can prepare them for that clusterfuck. Not even close.
For sure. Unless they let all one million people signed up for testing to do a couple of weeks of closed beta leading up to or following a closed beta as a result of pre order, they'll be totally underestimating the shitstorm that will be coming.
SteamID: devCharles
twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesewise
So, uh. Prepare for that.
Sacrifice some goats.
I'd expect them to do a beta for anybody who preorders with access in the month or so leading up to the game, which is basically an open beta without just letting anybody download it. I guess we'll see.
I think a few Blizzard employees are still picking up the shattered remnants of their lives as a result of WoW's launch.
SteamID: devCharles
twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesewise
To me for you to have an open canvas for RP'ing purposes, I'd think you would be more apt to have a wide open sandbox (Something along the lines Ultima). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about the "theme park" style that WoW and STOR (albeit with a stronger narrative of course), but I really don't see how that is going to really be strong for Role Playing on a massive scale. I mean yeah you will be able to flesh out things via your own story line just like you do in their single player games. But to me when I think role playing in an MMO, I think a larper's wet dream where they literally act out their character with thousands of others acting out their characters in a virtual world. And I just don't see that happening in this game.
Isn't getting FUCKING EVERYBODY to try out your game basically the best thing that could ever happen?
but jesus christ i fucking hated watching that trooper flashpoint video. wanted to murder that guy in cold blood.
Prepare for opening day server explosions.
Also, I have no idea what that trooper was doing. I couldn't tell if he was suppossed to be tanking, dps, or healing.
Who bets that after the first week of the game being out, groups will be kicking you if you ask for a second to read it? I've never read a quest in a dungeon in WoW for that reason, and it would definitely suck in a game based so much on the story.
Steam | XBL: Elazual | Last.fm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YibE7jtHC6E&feature=player_detailpage#t=83s
SteamID: devCharles
twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesewise