[UltraMav]

I demand that William Wallace does all community interaction from now on.

[Yaska]

Damn if they really let Reid go. He was commubity guy one could actually like. Hope he gets a better job somewhere.

[FLEABttn]

http://www.darthhater.com/articles/s...1-3-with-swtor

At the launch of this feature (Game Update 1.3), we will not be doing cross-server flashpoints. There are a couple of reasons – first off, it’s a significant technical achievement, and we felt that pursuing it would not allow us to get the feature to you guys as quickly as it needs to happen. Secondly, most of the design team thinks that it’s not necessarily good for the community.

The layoffs at this point are deserved, but they're not even going to the right people.

[Moaradin]

http://www.darthhater.com/articles/s...1-3-with-swtor The layoffs at this point are deserved, but they're not even going to the right people.

What? A dungeon finder that is server only is fine.

[Francois424]

What? A dungeon finder that is server only is fine.

As long as your population is healthy. Some servers have < 20ppl online at primetime (!)
In these cases, you have no choice to have cross server, or merge the servers.
Sigle Server LFG would've been OK at launch, but with how thin the population is spread right now...

[BattleMonkey]

As long as your population is healthy. Some servers have < 20ppl online at primetime... In these cases, you have no choice to have cross server, or merge the servers.

If your not in a guild, then just transfer to a healthy server when the update comes. They said the transfers will be free and open to almost everyone on low pop servers.

And people are going to be inticed to using the LFG tool since there is a daily quest attached to using it that earns you black hole coms

[Emitan]

What? A dungeon finder that is server only is fine.

Not when your server is empty.

[FLEABttn]

On a server where I might be lucky to fill a single slot in a LFM group for a hard mode flashpoint, an automated tool only takes the spamming general part away, it's not getting me a group any quicker.

That said, cross server grouping is still the way to go because when I want to do something doesn't always jive with when other people want to do something. I'm on the second highest populated server in WoW, according to Warcraft Realms and the vast majority of my LFG tool groups are comprised of people on other servers, and their tool puts a priority on grouping people from your own server.

[Moaradin]

Not when your server is empty.

Cross Server dungeon finder won't make your server any less empty. What they need is server merges and then it will work fine.

[Last Hearth]

I think server only will work most of the time. I think the server population looks lower than it is because there are so many planets and zones. Once you can LFG across the entire server you can put together a group quicker than one might realize.

Let's see how this goes before we declare that it must be cross server.

[BattleMonkey]

I think server only will work most of the time. I think the server population looks lower than it is because there are so many planets and zones. Once you can LFG across the entire server you can put together a group quicker than one might realize. Let's see how this goes before we declare that it must be cross server.

People also need to take advantage of the server transfers if they can. If your not in a guild, then just move into a healthy server. Or if your guild is falling apart anyways, leave. I'm attached to my guild but if things continue downward with 1.3, I'm just gonna bail to a nice populated server.

[FLEABttn]

Cross Server dungeon finder won't make your server any less empty.

Cross server dungeon finders make groups happen regardless of your server population. It doesn't make your server more populated but it still allows you to do flashpoints.

I think server only will work most of the time.

But we know that cross server does work, every time. So why the half-assed compromise where it may not work some of the time?

What they need is server merges and then it will work fine.

Let's see how this goes before we declare that it must be cross server.

There has been no past MMO with server mergers where the resultant servers were all high population. If Bioware mergers all servers into high pop servers, and the game population never decreases, ever, after that point, this would probably work for the most part. But populations wax and wane, and 6 months later, you still have low pop servers and high pop servers and the low pop servers will be no better off than they are now.

Merges and single server LFG tools are temporary solutions to long term problems. Problems that have already been solved elsewhere.

[BattleMonkey]

But we know that cross server does work, every time. So why the half-assed compromise where it may not work some of the time?

Because as they said, they don't have the tech ready for it. It's going to take time for it that is going to take away from other features they still need to put in. It's not like they can flip a switch and turn it on. They might as well put in the LFG tool now instead of holding it back to add months later.

They have alot of features people still want in such as dual specs (which frankly is far more important than cross server lfg), ranked pvp, cross server pvp, etc and there is also the need for new content also to please their current player base. Lot of folks are not happy with 1.3 since it's not adding any new content, delaying things more is not going to help matters.

[FLEABttn]

Because as they said, they don't have the tech ready for it. It's going to take time for it that is going to take away from other features they still need to put in. It's not like they can flip a switch and turn it on. They might as well put in the LFG tool now instead of holding it back to add months later.

Which is understandable. But to follow the statement up with saying they think cross server LFG is still a bad idea is dumb on their part. What better way for me to think they're out of touch with what the games needs to survive than to explicitly say how out of touch they are.

[Won]

No idea why they mentioned that "community" bit. Either you actually believe in it and don't implant cross server tech or you do what you are currently planning to do.
This way it sounds like the devs already completely lost control of their own game, which I guess they did.

[Enosh]

most of the design team thinks that it’s not necessarily good for the community

you know what is also bad for the community?
people leaving because they can't find shit with the LFD tool -.-

I know they are listening to WoW players since it's a common argument there, but wow players are full of shit when it comes to that one

[Draxal]

If your not in a guild, then just transfer to a healthy server when the update comes. They said the transfers will be free and open to almost everyone on low pop servers. And people are going to be inticed to using the LFG tool since there is a daily quest attached to using it that earns you black hole coms

Honestly, they're incompetent. Putting the onus on the players to transfer is frustrating for the player, as they have to pick a server to xfer too, and sometimes lose their name (you know it's an mmoRPG). This is a problem with merging servers as well, so have a cross server lfg would alleviate this.

And until they change their flashpoint design philsophy, I don't see lfg being used much (asides from maybe the group daily in Corellia), Black Hole commendations are not going to be a strong enough enticement for tanks to deal with trashfilled instances filled with new players. The design team seems to repeat every mistake Blizzard did with out learning from Blizzard's mistakes.

[BattleMonkey]

Which is understandable. But to follow the statement up with saying they think cross server LFG is still a bad idea is dumb on their part. What better way for me to think they're out of touch with what the games needs to survive than to explicitly say how out of touch they are.

Pretty sure it's just PR talk to try to cover their ass since everyone keeps asking for cross server LFG, and they keep replying with the "community" answer.

They said cross server pvp is in the works and coming, once that goes in, I imagine that doing cross server LFG wouldn't be that hard to implement in some form. But we have no idea what they plan on rolling out cross server pvp even so it could be a ways off.

Honestly, they're incompetent. Putting the onus on the players to transfer is frustrating for the player, as they have to pick a server to xfer too, and sometimes lose their name (you know it's an MMORPG). This is a problem with merging servers as well, so have a cross server lfg would alleviate this. And until they change their flashpoint design philsophy, I don't see lfg being used much (asides from mebbe the group daily in Corellia), Black Hole commendations are not going to be a strong enough enticement for tanks to deal with trashfilled instances filled with new players. The design team seems to repeat every mistake Blizzard did with out learning from Blizzard's mistakes.

Eh, if people aren't going to LFG tools much either way, then why complain about no cross server lfg then? It's not going to magically fix the problems you have with the FP design. Would you rather they not do anything and take even longer to fix things? The past can't be fixed

[Draxal]

Eh, if people aren't going to LFG tools much either way, then why complain about no cross server lfg then? It's not going to magically fix the problems you have with the FP design. Would you rather they not do anything and take even longer to fix things? The past can't be fixed

Oh, let me rephrase it a bit, I think lfg would used for leveling instances and the Corellia daily if they opened it up to cross server. It also might be used for random instances in end game, but in all honesty my faith in the end game development team is at nil right now.

[HarryDemeanor]

Daniel Erickson did an interview with PC Gamer about 1.3. Apparently he let slip some information about what they might do with the servers.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/23/th...adaptive-gear/

PCG: Will they be cross-server at launch? Is that planned for the future? DE: They will not be cross-server as we are coming up on a huge move to servers with massively higher population caps than we have today.

Are we heading toward super-servers like DC Universe Online?

[bloodforge]

They should have done one mega server to begin with, would work well with the way the game is already instanced. So long as you can create multiple legacies.

[Heysoos]

I'm fine with that. :)

[Miletius]

They should have done one mega server to begin with, would work well with the way the game is already instanced. So long as you can create multiple legacies.

This -- at first I thought the instance technology was designed to support mega servers with larger population caps.

[Measley]

So what's the status of this game? Everything I hear is negative, and I don't want to play a F2P MMO. Is this worth buying, or should I just stay away?

[Scirrocco]

So what's the status of this game? Everything I hear is negative, and I don't want to play a F2P MMO. Is this worth buying, or should I just stay away?

Basically Wow with story. If you loved KOTOR or Star wars, its wortha pick up, especially since you're just starting and can choose to play on a living server. Enjoy the story (which is pretty good for some classes), and play as long as you want You don't necessarily have to worry about end game if you don't want. You can pretty much play it as a single player game 1-50.

[BattleMonkey]

Yea mega server type thing would be nice. DCUO isn't really the first to use it either, many instanced MMOs have been using multiple servers and running a megaserver like set up from the start.

[HarryDemeanor]

DCUO isn't really the first to use it either, many instanced MMOs have been using multiple servers and running a megaserver like set up from the start.

DC Universe Online was the first game that came to my mind. I totally forgot about EVE Online. lol

[DTKT]

Basically Wow with story. If you loved KOTOR or Star wars, its wortha pick up, especially since you're just starting and can choose to play on a living server. Enjoy the story (which is pretty good for some classes), and play as long as you want You don't necessarily have to worry about end game if you don't want. You can pretty much play it as a single player game 1-50.

That's if you can stomach the boring combat. While the story might seen interesting, you will spend a lot of time fighting dudes. And that's pure standard MMO combat. That's what pushed me away.

[Moaradin]

I enjoy the combat. Probably because the animations are great and it's probably the most fluid MMO combat I've played, even though it's pretty standard.

[CzarTim]

Yeah, I like the combat a lot. Your skills feel like they have weight.

[gatti-man]

That's if you can stomach the boring combat. While the story might seen interesting, you will spend a lot of time fighting dudes. And that's pure standard MMO combat. That's what pushed me away.

The pvp in this game is pretty fun there are options to just grinding.

[CzarTim]

Question: How do most MMOs decide who gets to keep their name when server mergers happen?

[StudioTan]

Mega servers is good news, but does that mean having a "common" name will be much more difficult? How does DCUO handle this?

Question: How do most MMOs decide who gets to keep their name when server mergers happen?

Usually it's by date in the games I've seen. So whoever picked the name first. That another reason people rush to get their names saved ASAP.

[bloodforge]

They should adopt a system like Cryptic uses where its charactername@username and can have duplicate character names. Just make the legacy names unique.

[Draxal]

I wonder if they're going to use the char name and legacy name combined be the identifier, so more people can have the same char name, but have a different legacy name and vice versa.

[StudioTan]

They should adopt a system like Cryptic uses where its charactername@username and can have duplicate character names. Just make the legacy names unique.

I wonder if they're going to use the char name and legacy name combined be the identifier, so more people can have the same char name, but have a different legacy name and vice versa.

I hope so, I have a female Smuggler named Trinket and I really like that name, but I only made her a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure someone has that name on another server somewhere.

[HarryDemeanor]

Mega servers is good news, but does that mean having a "common" name will be much more difficult? How does DCUO handle this?

DCUO went with dates.

I also hope they adopt the handle system. I hate having my names taken!

[Heysoos]

Lemonadeeee, come back already!

[Zafir]

I don't get why they can't just go by play time for char names. Time spent on the said char means an whole lot more than who happened to log in first to grab the name.

Wouldn't be surprised if I lost my char name, nor would I be amazingly happy about it considering the time I've spent on the char. Not much you can do though I guess. :/

Using the legacy name combined with the char name would be a better choice. I think the issue then would be people who don't have legacy names.

[GungHo]

They should adopt a system like Cryptic uses where its charactername@username and can have duplicate character names. Just make the legacy names unique.

Not that I put a lot of stock in it, but a lot of folks complained about the @username because they think it helps to compromise account security. Personally, I liked it.

[CzarTim]

They should just make it so it's a combination of the character in legacy name.

So one person can have Jaina Dorne, another Jaina Solo, and another Jaycam Dorne.

[Cystm]

Server only LFG is fine as long as Erickson's slip in that PCgamer interview comes to fruition soon. Like real soon. 1.4 at the absolute latest.

[BattleMonkey]

RIFT released their LFG tool as server only and it worked fine, the servers were not jammed with people. It's not as fast as cross server LFG tools for sure, but the wait was never any worse than your pvp queue waits. As long as your on a decent populated server or transfer to one, the LFG tool should work fine intially. Unless you stay on a dead server, then yea of course it's not going to work all that well.

RIFT also did the same thing where they gave incentives to use the LFG tool that TOR is doing and it really did get people to queue up.

Eventually though just like RIFT eventually did, it should be made cross server when they can. Took RIFT almost a year to get in cross server LFG.

They should also be doing a guild transfer system, since a big hurdle with server transfers is people not wanting to leave their guilds.

[Dunlop]

Speaking of RIFT, I just received another e-mail about changes they have made (3 faction PVP), since leaving Rift for SWTOR they are almost like a jilted lover with the amount of e-mails and changes they have made...

I feel bad leaving them for the uncaring lover that SWTOR has become

:P

[Cystm]

So what's the status of this game? Everything I hear is negative, and I don't want to play a F2P MMO. Is this worth buying, or should I just stay away?

It wasn't genre changing as much a people expected it to be. The franchise, and the universe it is set in, has so much potential - particularly in an MMO, yet Bioware really only captured a rudimentary fraction of that potential at launch - A launch that had it's share of bugs, the community PR was pretty bad in general, also it was not KotOR III lol, and as a result you had this growing bitter trollforce hoping for the game to fail hard, and even worse - in response, these users on thier forums referred to as 'biodrones' matched those levels of idiocy by proclaiming TOR was the greatest game of all time. In short: stay the fuck away from the official forums. GameFAQs levels of bad.

The story (what Bioware pushed as the games key feature) is variable in terms of quality. Most people lean towards the Imperial Agent, which draws upon a bit of the Bond, and 24 universes. I personally like the Jedi Knight storyline even though most people hate it. One of the best things about the stories in this game is that whichever class you play, you are not the very center of the fucking universe. Each class, while obviously important - is not solely responsible for saving the entire galaxy, yet still plays a satisfying roll in impacting the overall story. They did a nice job balancing the overall weight each classes story impacts the game without making any other classes feel secondary in comparison. Almost all classes encounter the same quests outside of their core storylines, and as a result replayability can appear daunting to some. I tend to just skip the dialogue I have heard before for the side quests, and move onto the main story, which so far playing through Jedi Knight, Sith Assassin, and Imperial Agent, has been really enjoyable.

The PvP is is the best thing about this game for me or any MMO for that matter, and the combat in this game is really solid, and the game modes are fun - Huttball standing out in front of the rest maps for me. They shot themselves in the foot by announcing ranked PvP for patch 1.2, and then pulling it literally the day before release. So, presently competitive play is strictly Warzones only, with ranked to be introduced at some point hopefully fucking soon. The endgame PvE side of things are solid. Operations are challenging and fun, though initially really easy to get through before nightmare modes and the initial release bugs were ironed out.

This game lacks in content beyond level cap for anyone accustomed to "hardcore" MMO's at the moment, though they are doing some cool things to keep the game fresh, like for example the Rakghoul Outbreak Event, releasing new Warzones and Operations. Though at a pace not very many people are content with (myself included.)

I find the game to be really fun, and it has a lot of potential to become so much more. If you like KotOR, MMO's, or Star Wars in general, I would say definitely check the game out. Just know going in that it is not a revolutionary, genre changing game, but still a really fun game that does some shit really well, while causing you to occasionally facepalm (video is from beta/first few weeks of launch and have all been ironed out.) or laugh at others.

GAF is present on Kellar's Void, and going strong.

[Francois424]

.

Very, very nice post.
/Agreed

Some ppl were also quite "enraged" by the fact that the space combat is more of a "space shooter on rails" than a fullblown free space combat aking to Tie-Fighter. To me it isn't a game breaker tho. I do feel the game is too heavy on Auction House transactions to earn money early in the game (everything cost a lot), but this being an MMO, I am not overly surprised...

[Kyari]

It's going to be pretty sad when server merges force Legacy name changes, seeing as they somehow think that Your Legacy is the most IMPORTANT THING.

I really feel like SWTOR has dropped the ball HARD on initial content patches. They seem to have anticipated far more people would care about rolling alts than actually did.

[antonz]

Server only LFG is fine as long as Erickson's slip in that PCgamer interview comes to fruition soon. Like real soon. 1.4 at the absolute latest.

I imagine alot of the server community stuff will come real fast. They are already putting stuff that was planned for 1.3 on the side burners etc to make other stuff priority. 1.3 is going to be missing a ton of the stuff laid out for it in design docs. They are in panic mode for sure

[Francois424]

It's going to be pretty sad when server merges force Legacy name changes, seeing as they somehow think that Your Legacy is the most IMPORTANT THING. I really feel like SWTOR has dropped the ball HARD on initial content patches. They seem to have anticipated far more people would care about rolling alts than actually did.

It's very funny in a sense, because I was almost robbed of a free month because I actually *did* reroll and play lots of character...
But since I did not have a level 50 yet, I had to play like a madman to get my legacy to level 6 (or was it 8) in time to get my free month.

Then there's also the fact that if you dont have a level 50, you dont have any benefit of playing multiple toons.
For example, I have a Sage, Imperial Agent, Trooper and bounty hunter all in their 30ies (one is nearing 50) and yet
still get nothing at all from the legacy (as far as bonuses goes).

And they expect ppl to just roll alts instead of rushing to 50 ?
I stand my case.

[Kyari]

God I really hope they aren't saving 1.3 so they can talk it up at E3. I really wish someone would take them to ask for not having basic features in from launch but alas.

I just want to continue my Imperial Agent story ultimately. But I have two characters at or near 50 on two different servers (due to friends quitting) and both of them are basically dead at this point.