I've actually been told that Lucasarts is fixing not to make a fucking dime off of TOR. This is more than a little surprising, since I was under the impression getting the star wars license at all required a small fortune
This cannot possibly be true.
I very much doubt this. In fact word was before that first EA recoups a chunk of the development costs. and after that Lucasarts gets something like 20 percent of all revenue.
It'll be curious to see what faction is more popular and the demographics. I always assumed that Horde drew younger players, mainly due to the Undead race. Just seemed like that would draw immature people. But somewhere I saw a statistic showing younger players actually tended towards Alliance. Wonder if that would play out the same in TOR.
I think more than any other MMO out there, TOR has the best chance to pretty much split almost 50-50 down the middle. Three big reasons for this ...
1 - The classes are nicely divided up. A lot of folks are going one way or the other not because of any affiliation or affection for the fact, but because of the class available. i.e. "I want to be a Bounty Hunter so I guess I'm Empire." Most games don't have this dynamic since they tend to have the same classes for each faction.
2 - No real artistic difference between one side or the other. I mean the races and classes look different, but its not as drastic as WoW or say Warhammer. A lot of folks in WAR went Destruction just because the characters looked bad ass compared to the blank Order. Before Blood Elves, it was speculated more folks went Alliance because their characters were "pretty" compared to the "ugly" tauren, orcs, trolls and undead.
3 - Almost a 2B but the popular races - Human, Twi'lek, Zabrak - are both Empire and Republic.
As much as people like to dog on the new trilogy, it has given us most of our current ideas on how Jedi fight and behave. For all the terrible stuff (Jar Jar, Young Ani, etc) there's also a ton of good stuff buried in there as well.
Most of that insight just made things worse. We now know how Jedi fight, and it's all soul-less hyper choreographed style over substance where two guys sort of fight AT each other rather than actually WITH each other, devoid of drama or emotion or peril or anything. And we learned how Jedi behave, and instead of mysterious mystical order they're bureaucratic short sighted assholes who care more about arbitrary rules than any deep connection with the universe.
Not sure how you chalk those up as good things.
Didn't we just have a mod come in here and talk to us nicely about not talking about this stuff here? And like opinions, man. we all got em.
Looking at the breakdown of force users to non-force users in beta, I'd say if you want to be different go non-force. I might switch to smuggler from consular. The smuggler ship is way cooler too.
I thought this was interesting...
Q. Going off that last question, could you give us a general idea of which planets are which level ranges?
For much of the game, everyone at a particular level will be on the same planet. That could be hell for world PvP. I'm starting to think the choice of PvE servers is a good one for our guilds. The griefing is gonna be hell it appears.
I assume there will be plenty of detours to other planets outside of the planet's level progression, at least at max level. Would be boring to stick to just one planet once you're 50.
Sorry for posting so much, but I'm off work and finding cool stuff in this leak...
Q. Do you know anything about variable difficulties for anything (e.g. harder mode flashpoints or quests)? What about something akin to heroic-mode instances in WoW (max level versions of the flashpoints with harder mechanics/better rewards)?
A. No “heroics” that I’m aware of. Currently the raid UI displays 8 man Normal and Hard and 24-man Normal and Hard. But I don’t think those are final.
First time I've seen official current numbers on raids. Looks like they're following the WoW model, calibrated to their 4-man group base.
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Sorry for posting so much, but I'm off work and finding cool stuff in this leak...
Q. Do you know anything about variable difficulties for anything (e.g. harder mode flashpoints or quests)? What about something akin to heroic-mode instances in WoW (max level versions of the flashpoints with harder mechanics/better rewards)?
A. No “heroics” that I’m aware of. Currently the raid UI displays 8 man Normal and Hard and 24-man Normal and Hard. But I don’t think those are final.
First time I've seen official current numbers on raids. Looks like they're following the WoW model, calibrated to their 4-man group base.
Q. How will TOR encourage player interaction and gathering in cities such as at cantinas? specifically, are there are mechanics in place such as the Battle Fatigue system seen in SWG?
A. Not much reason to go to a cantina really, other than to have a conversation with your companions.
Not sure why SWG players have such a hardon for forcing other people to go to cantinas.
Actually I did my simple math wrong. Based on 4-man units, the larger raids are a group of 6 rather than a group of 5 as in WoW. I wonder how that will play out. Will tanks have a harder time getting into raids?
Q. Are there any speeder vehicles that look different from the segways? Ones you can actually sit on like a motorcycle maybe?
A. The one I have currently is a Segway thing, but the icon for it looks like a speeder bike. I don’t know if that implies there are full speeder bikes somewhere. I doubt I’ve seen every vehicle in the game however.
I hope there are other vehicles besides the one in the tatooine video. It looked so dumb.
I dunno. I kind of like that the person answered the ones he didn't know with an i don't know. this prevents fucktards from repeating the same questions over and over.
I'm also glad he clarified the 20 instances by 20.
Q. Are there any speeder vehicles that look different from the segways? Ones you can actually sit on like a motorcycle maybe?
A. The one I have currently is a Segway thing, but the icon for it looks like a speeder bike. I don’t know if that implies there are full speeder bikes somewhere. I doubt I’ve seen every vehicle in the game however.
I hope there are other vehicles besides the one in the tatooine video. It looked so dumb.
I wonder why they don't do the little speeder that Darth Maul had in Episode 1. I would think it would be small enough. And it's a little cooler than the Segway model.
Q. How will TOR encourage player interaction and gathering in cities such as at cantinas? specifically, are there are mechanics in place such as the Battle Fatigue system seen in SWG?
A. Not much reason to go to a cantina really, other than to have a conversation with your companions.
Not sure why SWG players have such a hardon for forcing other people to go to cantinas.
SWG was a very social game. In addition to that, there were literally 3 classes that were essentially locked to Cantinas/Houses if they wanted to level up which also required the presence of others (as much as SWG had "leveling up").
That being said, I personally feel Battle Fatigue was a stupid idea, even as someone who played the Musician class quite a bit.
Q. Do you find soloing to be a viable option at all level ranges?
A. It’s viable, but you’re going to level more slowly. There are a lot of group quests which give great XP and loot and they can’t just be solo’d at an appropriate level. You have to basically come back 10 levels later if you want to solo those. I tried skipping some group quests and really regretted it later when I fell behind on levels. You absolutely want to group up and knock out every group quest in each planet.
/Shudder
I was worried about this when they kept playing up open-world group content like it was a good thing.
Q. Do you find soloing to be a viable option at all level ranges?
A. It’s viable, but you’re going to level more slowly. There are a lot of group quests which give great XP and loot and they can’t just be solo’d at an appropriate level. You have to basically come back 10 levels later if you want to solo those. I tried skipping some group quests and really regretted it later when I fell behind on levels. You absolutely want to group up and knock out every group quest in each planet.
/Shudder
I was worried about this when they kept playing up open-world group content like it was a good thing.
Ouch, yea I always had a problem with the forced grouping quests. I mean if you have guy all going through the same leveling curve together great, but I always found that group forced quests tend to get forgotten, at least that was the way it was in LotR, those epic quests (as sweet as they were) stopped getting completed so turbine made them "soloable"
I don't really see why "this quest is more rewarding and easier with a bigger group" quests are such a huge problem if there's enough solo content that you're never stuck wondering where to go and what to do.
It's fine to have both imo, as long as one isn't at the expense of the other.
I don't really see why "this quest is more rewarding and easier with a bigger group" quests are such a huge problem if there's enough solo content that you're never stuck wondering where to go and what to do.
It's fine to have both imo, as long as one isn't at the expense of the other.
I tried skipping some group quests and really regretted it later when I fell behind on levels. You absolutely want to group up and knock out every group quest in each planet.
Plus, in a game so focused on story, it's kinda dumb to lock out story-content behind a group wall.
But hopefully it's more like the stuff they showed from Alderaan where it's behind a green wall that adjusts the difficulty level for the number of players. So it's group content that scales down. But I'm doubting it.
Not sure why SWG players have such a hardon for forcing other people to go to cantinas.
It was probably a RPer who asked that question. Many RPers really enjoy social RP in a bar or vista. In fact, on Landroval, Virtue, Shadow Council (and other servers) a vast majority of RP are done in bars, clubs or locations that serve drinks nearby and the RP is essentially one large party, in-character.
Now, I like plot-based RP mostly, but I also sponsored some tavern RP with my Goblin in WoW, and it was great fun. I think the person asked the question to see if the cantinas were going to be sparse, or thriving.
Actually, I'd kill to know if they plan to designate some servers as RP servers. This solves the problem immediately, as RPers will automatically gravitate to cantinas. But that question was likely beyond the scope of the tester, since it seems the server choices haven't really been established yet.
As for group quests, I am okay with this. I feel for those who like to power-level solo though. I understand the gripe, because when you solo you have far more control of your play and destiny.
I only PUG sparingly and ONLY if I have a lot of time to play (which is not often). PUGs tend to lag, they take a long time to organize, a long time to coalesce to the right spot, they tend to chatter a lot and they also suffer A LOT from "sorry gtg bye" drops, which force you to wait. Not to mention the phone calls, bio breaks and cigarette breaks a group takes which means you spend half your time just staring at the screen waiting for others to get their shit together. Key group quests almost always force you to PUG too, because you need appropriate levels to do it, so you may have friends, but it isn't as likely you have friends, all online at the same time, all available to play for the length of time it takes to complete the quest AND all at the right level. So welcome to PUG-land.
I do understand grouping is a key part of MMOs and I even like doing it, but I do understand the gripe that HAVING to group to complete key parts of the story is, well just a limitation that isn't wholly necessary if they were more clever about it.
I don't have a problem with it like I say, but because I rarely have the time to complete large quests in a group, it means I'll level very slowly indeed.
I kinda wish, instead of "group" quests, they had dynamic quests for the phased areas. Instead of requiring a certain number of people, the quest itself scales with the amount of bodies you add.
I know, kinda pipe-dreamish, but it would be nice. Still, I'm hoping that since the group quests seem so integral, and the story so important, that getting groups for those quests will be easier than in other unnamed MMO's, whose sole focus is xp/hour ratios.
The problem in other games isn't people skipping them because they aren't efficient, it's not having enough people around at that level/right role/stage of the quest line/etc to actually do the damn quest.
And once they become hard to get a group for, then people start just skipping them or not bothering to look for groups and it starts to snowball.
I get RPing, that's fine. I don't know what Battle Fatigue is but the words just raise a giant Red Flag of Suck in my brain. The way the question was asked sounded like an RPer wanting a system to force everyone, RP or not, to hang out in certain places. Sounds un-fun.
I kinda wish, instead of "group" quests, they had dynamic quests for the phased areas. Instead of requiring a certain number of people, the quest itself scales with the amount of bodies you add.
Good news! Unless they're lying to us in the videos, that's exactly how it works!
In Wrath of the Lich King, most zones were capped off by group quests. Initially that was fine, but a year down the line, the zones were too empty to get a group together. However when they were up initially, they were pretty fun.
In Cataclysm, there were almost no group quests. That and the linearity of the questlines in most zones meant that leveling in a group was pointless or actually counterproductive. I didn't really like that.
You're going to /rest in a tavern while people painstaking describe how they're emotionally abusing their personal Vette clones at that very moment and you'll like it.
Man, I bet none of the Republic classes have a companion you can abuse constantly.
I'm kind of hoping Jedi Knight or Jedi Consular lets you run through a Jedi career. Like starting out as a Padawan, then entering the Order as a full member, then eventually getting your own Padawan to get you coffee and make copies.
In Cataclysm, there were almost no group quests. That and the linearity of the questlines in most zones meant that leveling in a group was pointless or actually counterproductive. I didn't really like that.
I like how COH handles the problem, the sidekick feature was just a really nice way to ensure you could do group stuff with your friends, regardless of level disparity.
I also like how RIFT handled public quests with the "auto-PUG" feature they had. Essentially just wandering into an area that had a public quest gave you the option to auto-join any team in the vicinity working on the quest.
Both were good ideas I thought, anything that gives me more options and less limitations, is a good thing.
I hope this gets asked in the next Q&A but would can the phased group content be accomplished with only one other player as long as you both bring your companions? It is a not a flashpoint so I am not sure if the difficulty is as high.
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I very much doubt this. In fact word was before that first EA recoups a chunk of the development costs. and after that Lucasarts gets something like 20 percent of all revenue.
Empire - Veela Server
I think more than any other MMO out there, TOR has the best chance to pretty much split almost 50-50 down the middle. Three big reasons for this ...
1 - The classes are nicely divided up. A lot of folks are going one way or the other not because of any affiliation or affection for the fact, but because of the class available. i.e. "I want to be a Bounty Hunter so I guess I'm Empire." Most games don't have this dynamic since they tend to have the same classes for each faction.
2 - No real artistic difference between one side or the other. I mean the races and classes look different, but its not as drastic as WoW or say Warhammer. A lot of folks in WAR went Destruction just because the characters looked bad ass compared to the blank Order. Before Blood Elves, it was speculated more folks went Alliance because their characters were "pretty" compared to the "ugly" tauren, orcs, trolls and undead.
3 - Almost a 2B but the popular races - Human, Twi'lek, Zabrak - are both Empire and Republic.
Empire - Veela Server
Way to crush my fragile ego. I was gonna put Rigorous Scholarship on my resume.
Well hopefully this will hold up, as we've discussed above.
Didn't we just have a mod come in here and talk to us nicely about not talking about this stuff here? And like opinions, man. we all got em.
I thought this was interesting...
For much of the game, everyone at a particular level will be on the same planet. That could be hell for world PvP. I'm starting to think the choice of PvE servers is a good one for our guilds. The griefing is gonna be hell it appears.
First time I've seen official current numbers on raids. Looks like they're following the WoW model, calibrated to their 4-man group base.
bad Bioware
Boo 24 man!
Not sure why SWG players have such a hardon for forcing other people to go to cantinas.
Is this a thing people want?o_O
I hope there are other vehicles besides the one in the tatooine video. It looked so dumb.
"My nose itches but if I let go with one hand I fall off my hover-Segway!"
But of course, the main issue with those things continues to be that they seem only slightly faster than the crappy moped I had in my youth.
I'm also glad he clarified the 20 instances by 20.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/3538
I wonder why they don't do the little speeder that Darth Maul had in Episode 1. I would think it would be small enough. And it's a little cooler than the Segway model.
SWG was a very social game. In addition to that, there were literally 3 classes that were essentially locked to Cantinas/Houses if they wanted to level up which also required the presence of others (as much as SWG had "leveling up").
That being said, I personally feel Battle Fatigue was a stupid idea, even as someone who played the Musician class quite a bit.
/Shudder
I was worried about this when they kept playing up open-world group content like it was a good thing.
Ouch, yea I always had a problem with the forced grouping quests. I mean if you have guy all going through the same leveling curve together great, but I always found that group forced quests tend to get forgotten, at least that was the way it was in LotR, those epic quests (as sweet as they were) stopped getting completed so turbine made them "soloable"
It's fine to have both imo, as long as one isn't at the expense of the other.
Plus, in a game so focused on story, it's kinda dumb to lock out story-content behind a group wall.
But hopefully it's more like the stuff they showed from Alderaan where it's behind a green wall that adjusts the difficulty level for the number of players. So it's group content that scales down. But I'm doubting it.
It was probably a RPer who asked that question. Many RPers really enjoy social RP in a bar or vista. In fact, on Landroval, Virtue, Shadow Council (and other servers) a vast majority of RP are done in bars, clubs or locations that serve drinks nearby and the RP is essentially one large party, in-character.
Now, I like plot-based RP mostly, but I also sponsored some tavern RP with my Goblin in WoW, and it was great fun. I think the person asked the question to see if the cantinas were going to be sparse, or thriving.
Actually, I'd kill to know if they plan to designate some servers as RP servers. This solves the problem immediately, as RPers will automatically gravitate to cantinas. But that question was likely beyond the scope of the tester, since it seems the server choices haven't really been established yet.
As for group quests, I am okay with this. I feel for those who like to power-level solo though. I understand the gripe, because when you solo you have far more control of your play and destiny.
I only PUG sparingly and ONLY if I have a lot of time to play (which is not often). PUGs tend to lag, they take a long time to organize, a long time to coalesce to the right spot, they tend to chatter a lot and they also suffer A LOT from "sorry gtg bye" drops, which force you to wait. Not to mention the phone calls, bio breaks and cigarette breaks a group takes which means you spend half your time just staring at the screen waiting for others to get their shit together. Key group quests almost always force you to PUG too, because you need appropriate levels to do it, so you may have friends, but it isn't as likely you have friends, all online at the same time, all available to play for the length of time it takes to complete the quest AND all at the right level. So welcome to PUG-land.
I do understand grouping is a key part of MMOs and I even like doing it, but I do understand the gripe that HAVING to group to complete key parts of the story is, well just a limitation that isn't wholly necessary if they were more clever about it.
I don't have a problem with it like I say, but because I rarely have the time to complete large quests in a group, it means I'll level very slowly indeed.
I know, kinda pipe-dreamish, but it would be nice. Still, I'm hoping that since the group quests seem so integral, and the story so important, that getting groups for those quests will be easier than in other unnamed MMO's, whose sole focus is xp/hour ratios.
And once they become hard to get a group for, then people start just skipping them or not bothering to look for groups and it starts to snowball.
Good news! Unless they're lying to us in the videos, that's exactly how it works!
In Wrath of the Lich King, most zones were capped off by group quests. Initially that was fine, but a year down the line, the zones were too empty to get a group together. However when they were up initially, they were pretty fun.
In Cataclysm, there were almost no group quests. That and the linearity of the questlines in most zones meant that leveling in a group was pointless or actually counterproductive. I didn't really like that.
I'm kind of hoping Jedi Knight or Jedi Consular lets you run through a Jedi career. Like starting out as a Padawan, then entering the Order as a full member, then eventually getting your own Padawan to get you coffee and make copies.
I like how COH handles the problem, the sidekick feature was just a really nice way to ensure you could do group stuff with your friends, regardless of level disparity.
I also like how RIFT handled public quests with the "auto-PUG" feature they had. Essentially just wandering into an area that had a public quest gave you the option to auto-join any team in the vicinity working on the quest.
Both were good ideas I thought, anything that gives me more options and less limitations, is a good thing.
Any other game that odd man out would be fucked.
in this game you can split into a group of 2 and another of 3 and bring out the companions.
Empire - Veela Server