The Furious Angels
FA Discussion => Non-VR Games => Topic started by: Tbone on November 14, 2011, 04:12:39 pm
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Did you play SWTOR for the first time this past weekend? If so, what did you think?
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I thought the game was done very well and it looks pretty polished. I wish I had a little more time and experienced a little more of the group flash points but even without that it was a great experience.
One thing that did bug me was having to "apply" multiple upgrades to my lightsaber instead of doing it all at once. It could be a minor oversight or be by design however to me it seemed pretty silly to have to open interfaces 2-4 times and click apply the same amount of times aswell.
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(http://i.imgur.com/KGZuC.gif)
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Have you finally given up the dream Manic? My jaw dropped once I realized what you had posted. Lol.
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"Everything that has a beginning..."
I'll always love MxO. If it came back in an official capacity, I'd jump back on it in a heartbeat. But I just have to accept that it's not going to happen.
I had a lot of fun in the few hours I got to play TOR. There are some things I like, some things I don't, but I can see it being the way forward for us. Wherever the Furious Angels are, that's where I want to be.
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Me when I saw what Manic posted:
(http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/omg_wtf.gif)
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Rofl, way to go manic!
I actually played for the first time this weekendand although my wife wasnt that happy at not seeing me all weekendI at least I was having a ball. I havent had fun playing a mmo in a long while. I didnt power level or anything, I spent a lot of time figuring out varous parts of the game. I tried my hand at synthweaving which was cool except for a few bugs i had. And although I really wished there was an auto run key, (if there was I couldnt find it) I found myself laughing during the essles flashpoint. Every one in my group was all prim and proper responses and i would say the smart ass comments, which had me going. All in all I cant wait to play for real.
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auto run = num lock
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(http://i.imgur.com/5oNQT.gif)
(http://I.imgur.com/KGZuC.gif)
(http://i.imgur.com/H43o0m.png)
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Hehe, I'm glad I'm giving up on MxO. By continually holding onto it, I've essentially spent the last two years being disappointed for every day that it didn't come back. That shit gets exhausting.
I played the Smuggler for a few hours before my machine bit the dust.
The smuggler's story is exactly what you would expect. That can be good or bad, depending. The main story quests can be rather predictable, but they remain intriguing none the less. The side quests around Ord Mantell are standard MMO fare set in the SW universe. When I think about it in the bigger picture it's all nothing new, but it's executed very well. I was worried that I might not like playing the smuggler, but I'm convinced it's the class for me.
Ranged combat is new for me. In the beginning I didn't like how I was at my best only when using the cover mechanic, but after a couple hours I got the hang of it. I was surprised that I was able to take on 5 mobs at once and not take much damage. I didn't really feel challenged at all. Especially when I got my first companion, then I was taking out mobs at lightning speed.
Outside of actual gameplay, the user interface bugs the hell out of me. No scalability at all, and the windows (which can't be repositioned) exhibit a lot of wasted empty space. It irritated me both from a design standpoint and a convenience standpoint. I can't think of any other MMO I've played where the UI is so locked down and forced onto the player. While browsing the beta forums today I've noticed this is a common concern, but Bioware has yet to respond.
All in all, I'm really excited for us to start playing full-force.
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>full-force.
I see what you did there.
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A couple things...
I actually played for the first time this weekendand although my wife wasnt that happy at not seeing me all weekendI at least was having a ball.
I'm in the same boat as you with the wife not being too happy. Hey, FA... She hates you.
I found myself laughing during the essles flashpoint. Every one in my group was all prim and proper responses and I would say the smart ass comments, which had me going. All in all I can't wait to play for real.
This was me as well. I vented the air out and killed the folks. I loved my decision, and I loved my teams response.
I played the Smuggler for a few hours before my machine bit the dust.
The smuggler's story is exactly what you would expect. That can be good or bad, depending. The main story quests can be rather predictable, but they remain intriguing none the less. The side quests around Ord Mantell are standard MMO fare set in the SW universe. When I think about it in the bigger picture it's all nothing new, but it's executed very well.
Well said. Very well executed.
I was worried that I might not like playing the smuggler, but I'm convinced it's the class for me.
We need to get together at launch - I'm going gunslinger with my main.
Ranged combat is new for me. In the beginning I didn't like how I was at my best only when using the cover mechanic, but after a couple hours I got the hang of it. I was surprised that I was able to take on 5 mobs at once and not take much damage. I didn't really feel challenged at all. Especially when I got my first companion, then I was taking out mobs at lightning speed.
The portable cover lvl2 helped a lot for me...
While I still want a Sage, I think my main will be a gunslinger. The consensus seems to be that this will provide some of the highest DMG available, and not as many people are going this way. It did take some getting use to the cover system, and it is really difficult to manage in PvP, but in higher lvls I think it will balance out. Also, my smart-ass replys fit well with the Smuggler class. Not sure how we'll RP with FA, but I'll figure that out as I go.
I'm pretty impressed witht he game so far, but I keep hearing that each of the classes don't really start to shine until 20-25. This is a bit of a bother, but I'll deal with it.
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Got to level 11 with the Smuggler. Enjoyed it greatly, I would have to say the best part of the game is the voice controller quest NPCs, its just makes it awesome to play the quest, and I found myself caring about the quest, rather then just following the waypoints to completion, and closing dialog/quest windows as quickly as possible.
The animations and UI looked good. (I would still prefer customization on the UI just so I can make it more minimal.)
Audio was good, Voice acting was great (I may have to roll a female trooper just to listen to Ms. Hale all day.)
I loved the Smuggler class, although I did kinda pidgin-hole my toon into be Mal Reyolds (from Firefly), answers everything as a smart ass, but always does the right thing, damn the money. Although this weekend I plan on rolling a Trooper class just to get a feel for it.
I wasn't a big fan of the warzone as a Smuggler against a lot of Jedi though. It felt like I could do little other then run around, throw nades, and fire the weaker shots of the blaster, not really getting anything done. That might be due to being level 10 and not understanding all the quarks of playing PvP as a non-force character though, so if someone wants to give a few pointers that would great. And I hate force lighting.
Overall, I am so ready for this to come out now. I was itching all day to get back to play, but alas its another month before that happens.
(I am also ready for a Mass Effect MMO now, although if that ever happened it would be at least 5 years out, if not longer)
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(http://I.imgur.com/KGZuC.gif)
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I didn't really feel challenged at all. Especially when I got my first companion, then I was taking out mobs at lightning speed.
I actually felt like I was too weak playing as a smuggler until I got a companion and then wiped everyone out. Of course I played a couple months ago so things are balanced and mob density is more balanced as well, im assuming.
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I didn't really feel challenged at all. Especially when I got my first companion, then I was taking out mobs at lightning speed.
I actually felt like I was too weak playing as a smuggler until I got a companion and then wiped everyone out. Of course I played a couple months ago so things are balanced and mob density is more balanced as well, I'm assuming.
I chalked it up to the fact that it was only the starting world. I imagine Bioware wants the player to feel powerful even at the lowest level. I just wish it was a little bit harder, so I don't feel like I'm being handed XP on a silver platter.
We need to get together at launch - I'm going gunslinger with my main.
Same. I think the smuggler fits us both quite well.
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We need to get together at launch - I'm going gunslinger with my main.
Same. I think the smuggler fits us both quite well.
I say we buck the system and make the Ad Astra, a Smuggler order. We could control the flow of information and goods among the galaxies! Muahhahahaha. *+50 Dark Side*
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I was impressed. But since I had already seen some leaked streams and heard lots of good things, I can't say that I was blown away or it was above my expectations. I had pretty high expectations and they were met. It seems like the next logical/cinematic evolution of the current winner of the MMO market. Which I am fine with.
I played a bounty hunter to level 16, went merc, which is the mirror to my intended trooper/commando/combat medic. The class seems very very versatile with some nice burst damage. Long fights seem like heat/ammo management might be an issue. Hard to really judge from this low level though.
There were minor irritations with some UI things, as Strod and Manic mentioned. I got to enjoy all three warzones multiple times from level 10-16 (seemed like very very good XP IMO) and my biggest complaint in this area was the Huttball zone due to overly laggy conditions. Positioning and timing is so important in that warzone, it seemed like when you'd try to time knockbacks and stuns, due to lag someone would end up on the complete opposite side of you by the time your ability went off. I noticed a heal castbar continue for the full duration one time when I cast a heal and immediately moved. So there was at a minimum 2.5 seconds of lag to the server and back.
One other standout was when I was playing against what I assume was a very laggy trooper individual who was jumping all over one of the side gun bases in Alderan. It was as if the game couldn't reconcile his jumpy/erratic movement and his lag, so it was putting his character UNDER the platform (which is supposed to be a solid chunk).
There seemed to be some issues like that where the game predicts where people are going and shows entirely the wrong thing until the server updated where they were, which lead to a lot of ridiculous teleports from time to time. If that gets worked out before live, I'll be a very happy man.
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Weird, I've never had any of the problems you described Eeth. I can honestly say I didn't experience any lag while playing last weekend, and I did the warzones several times.
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I only saw lag once, and that was an odd situation. It seemed the whole server lagged out for cutscenes and did a loop. I had to relog and then it was fine.
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I am playing this weekend and Played the previous weekend as as well. I'm disappointed. The game runs smooth for me. It looks pretty nice....if very cartoonish. However, what bugs me to no end is that it seems like a generic MMORPG with a Star Warsy overhaul. There doesn't seem to be much more to do than delivery, kill and I'm sure there will be some escort missions. There doesn't seem to be anything that makes one character in a particular class unique in any way than the next. There may be a different combination of all the same equiptment, clothing, skills and powers.
Maybe I haven't played enough to see the depth that the game has to offer, but as much as I want to love it, I am not impressed at all. Everything you do, it seems that you are led around by the nose. There doesn't seem to be anything you can do on your own or as a group that makes any difference in the TOR universe. Is the extent of interacting with other players simply the difference between running missions solo and running missions as a group? What am I missing here? How is this game any different than WOW? ...because I'm bored already. It doesn't seem like anything I do makes any difference at all.
Forget the WOW killer. I'm looking for the EVE Online killer.
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A Welshman's perspective:
Bear in mind, I was playing as a Jedi Knight, as I wish to roll a Jedi Shadow upon release (as well as every other Republic and Empire class :S). As the great Kel once said, 'Awww, here it goes!'
Bloody fantastic. I have a research project to hand in in about 3 weeks and I keep on coming back. Thank God it's only for this weekend! At first, I was like Phienyx, not thinking that this game was any different from the other MMO's. But once I relaxed into the game and got over the somewhat clunky combat system (although, my 30 minute Imperial Agent taster was much smoother - perhaps ranged combatants are easier/more fluid to control?) I loved it. At the moment, I don't feel as if I'm running around gathering things etc as per other MMOs - the story and cinematics add brilliant depth and immersion. So far, I'm loving the characters and story - the two integral components of an RPG and thus, an awesome game.
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I am playing this weekend and Played the previous weekend as as well. I'm disappointed. The game runs smooth for me. It looks pretty nice....if very cartoonish. However, what bugs me to no end is that it seems like a generic MMORPG with a Star Warsy overhaul. There doesn't seem to be much more to do than delivery, kill and I'm sure there will be some escort missions. There doesn't seem to be anything that makes one character in a particular class unique in any way than the next. There may be a different combination of all the same equiptment, clothing, skills and powers.
Maybe I haven't played enough to see the depth that the game has to offer, but as much as I want to love it, I am not impressed at all. Everything you do, it seems that you are led around by the nose. There doesn't seem to be anything you can do on your own or as a group that makes any difference in the TOR universe. Is the extent of interacting with other players simply the difference between running missions solo and running missions as a group? What am I missing here? How is this game any different than WOW? ...because I'm bored already. It doesn't seem like anything I do makes any difference at all.
Forget the WOW killer. I'm looking for the EVE Online killer.
If you don't like MMORPGs, then you won't like SWTOR. It's not making a new genre. It's being the best at a genre that already exists. So what else is there to this game?
1. Fully voiced cinematics. If you're skipping through them, then that's why you don't "get it". There's eight different class stories to participate in, so don't just try one character.
2. Flashpoints. 1.5 hour cinematic 4-man experiences that have many different ways to complete them, including interesting boss fights.
3. PvP. Pick your poison. Warzones, open PvP with objectives, FFA PvP - it's all there, even for PvE servers.
4. Crew Skills - a different way of crafting. Try it. You'll wonder why no one else thought of it.
5. Datacrons and Matrix Cubes - If you don't know what this is, go do your homework and come back. Rewards for exploration.
6. World Bosses - I've yet to take one of these monsters down.
7. Operations - "Raids" of SWTOR. End game stuff that I've also yet to do.
8. Space combat - Play it if you miss Star Fox.
9. Beautiful beautiful realized Star Wars planets. Hold judgement until you get to Tatooine.
That's just what I can think of off the top of my head. I don't remember seeing you in Teamspeak, so I'm assuming you just played by yourself. Like any game, it's what you make it, and if you're looking for the least common denominator, then that's what you're going to find. Thinking it would be like EVE Online is a very unrealistic mindset if you did any research on the game at all.
It takes things that WoW and EQ did and made them bigger, cleaner, funner (heh), and made them make sense. I've played level 1-20 about 10 times and still don't feel a grind. I've gone all the way through to level 50 and still didn't want it to end. Furthest I was able to get in WoW was level 16 (forcing myself to). Rift? Level...6, maybe? Aion? 10? LOTRO? Maybe...20ish? SWTOR sets a whole new bar.
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although I only had about 4 or 5 hours in game I loved it. Good fun, not sense of grind and a nice skill progression. Things I wanted to try but did not manage were:
A. Pvp; obviously.
B. Crafting.
C. Any sort of travel.
My only small gripe was I thought the graphics could have been better. I had it on the highest settings (although no aa) but was a little disappointed. As I say however, gameplay more than made up for it.
Only other thing - no lag; at all even on an east coast US server.
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Perhaps I'll hold judgement until I get a little further in to the story.
Yes, I listened to all the dialogue and ran around dutifully doing everything asked of me. I don't expect it to be like Eve Online as there are few developers out there that are willing to risk something like that (rather I shouldl blame that on the people behind the developers with the money), but a little more depth of game play and the ability for a group to make a noticable difference and not just a scripted difference in what goes on in the "universe". And I consider Eve to be the ultimate MMORPG with plenty of room to grow. I do not think it is too much for me to expect a little more from an MMORPG when I know it is possible. After all, this is based on the Star Wars universe and I just don't think its been given the respect it deserved in the MMORPG department yet.
Now, you did make a point. I am a social gamer and it is probalby a much more enjoyable experience with fellow FA members, so that is most likely where I eff'd up so I will adjust my point of view and give continue to evaluate.
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EVE is a sandbox. Very little organized preplanned game content but a while universe of do whatever you want.
SWTOR is a linear theme parkish MMO that's primarily focused on the story of your hero.
TOTALLY different games.
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EVE and TOR both fulfill their respective niches extremely well.
I love EVE for its expansive nature. It's designed to allow the player to form their own playstyle. There is little structure to the gameplay, which allows for a metric fuck-ton of possibilities. It's primarily a blank slate. EVE is whatever game you make of it.
TOR on the other hand, was obviously designed from the start as a means to tell a story. And so far, I can't think of any other MMO that accomplishes this so well. Yes, the quests are rather cookie-cutter, and they do take you by the hand and guide you through the story. In much the same way that a book does. It's not a bad thing.
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so i "finished" my first beta weekend.
so far i see positives and negatives.
i played a jedi sage to lvl 18 (jes just got my starship) and a jidi knight to lvl 7. a smuggler to lvl 5 and a trooper; well the trooper never reached lvl 3...
trooper: did not like the gameplay at all... not my style of playing
smuggler: was fun but the still heavy bugged cover system took that away so i stopped again.
knight: the jumping in the enemy from above is fun, but still not my prefered playstyle.
sage: well as you can see with my lvls this is the char i had most fun. well i always loves to play "mage" style characters and so here i am again.
overall this is still beta. there is still a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed.
- i had no portraits all the time, no item preview no character view in char window...
- sometime you dont have lip movement in the scences.
- taxis trail is not realy realistic and looks crapy.
and a lot more. but mostly for a beta you can live with that.
cons:
for someone who has played wow for three and a half years i have to say its a bit too close to that. i still think that is where they want to get the most players from so i can understand their reasons. but if the high end content is too similar to wow (grinding raids, grinding battlegrounds for just the next set of tier items) then i will not last for more then the storryline.
the skill trees reminds me way too much of wow. just some stupid boni here and there. i liked the system that RIFT had way better. (rift had me bored after a few months too becuse the high end content was the same as wow. but better in character progression, raids and mosty anything else.) for me its too simple. and too much of a copy/paste from wow. i hope that this will not be a too big of an slow down for the fun factor. not enough room for costumization.
space fights are the biggest bullshit i have ever seen in a mmo. well this is no more as a arcade space sim shooting game. you can not even control where you ship is flying. heaviely disapointed. (well maybe not. we knew it was like that from all the youtube vids ^^)
the quests are similar to other mmos. not that much of a diffrence. but that brings me to the pros:
pros:
the story is nice, and i enjoyed my questing as my jedi consular. jes its mostly similar to other mmos but you have at least some smaller choices what brings it a bit closer to rpg. all other mmos ar just mmos. no rpgs. well gere at last you have some rpg elements and that makes it way more intresting to listen to the story. all other mmos that i played only have take the quest or leave the quest. here you have choices. sometimes your choices have a meaning at least for your character. sometiimes they are bigger, sometimes they are smaller, somtimes they are insignificant.
besides that the voiceacting is good. i liked it mostly in all dialogs. but only in the english version. the german version (i saw at a friend of mine. i dont play german anyway) is realy bad.
the companion system is realy nice. i dont like that fucking reptile i have atm, but i like the system. after we failed in a heroic 4 group phase with 4 players and 2 stupid players with us (breaking ccs and no focus fire at all) we did go in again with 2 players and our 2 compainions. it was not easy, i nearly always ended the fight with no force left to whiled, but we did it and it worked. was hard but doable. so you can do things as group even if its ment for more players and you are a bit short on ppl, but are good enough that you can compensate with you and your companions.
the grafics are ok. it looks good. some complain about it but i think its ok. wow is way more comic than this one. besides photo realism wount work in a mmo. i like it ist good as it is (when the bugs are gone... =) ).
to my class as sage as dd: i realy liked it. of cource with lvl 18 there are still a lot of things to get and to find out, but so far it was enjoiable. i tryed to skip the healing part, but sometimes in a group you just had to do it. for now it still workes with a dd spec, but i guess later on this will not be anymore of good use, and a healer spec is required (not form me then... =) )
over all:
i think it is worth a try. i will play this game. the story and the rpg part of the game is fun. what happens after that is a question that i can only answer i can only aswer in the next year. so we will see how it will work out.
best regards...
zort
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OK, so I got a few hours on beta - took the time to familiarise myself with the interface and work my smuggler up to level 10. Yeah, I didn't have a lot of time.
I have heard that this client has been "stripped back" a little, so some bugs or missing things (portraits) isn't bugging me. I understand that they were stressing the servers so client side stuff was not important, PLUS they likely stripped some things out to cut on traffic as they would have been monitoring specific processes.
So I'm not really gonna comment on the client - once all the last items are added to the client, this should be f'n sweet. The only thing I'm gonna comment on is my choice as smuggler, and I did think it was a little clunky in places. The story was good and suited a smuggler... but the main "hide behind something" did take some getting used to - sometimes a hide spot wouldn't appear (where you thought there was clearly a valid spot). Sometimes rolling to a spot that DID appear didn't quite work. It took a while, but after a bit you could just about judge how to approach a situation....! That does require good client - server interaction as when you hide it MUST flag it on the server to allow dodge and misses to be calculated correctly etc etc.
A little annoying trying to find cover or just "crouch" in the middle of an open field just to get access to most of your ranged abilities. DPS was good though! There seemed to be a lack of healers on the sever I was on -- LFG shouts for healer all over, so I think I will stick with smuggler to see where it goes.
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If you played this weekend, keep your client installed! It will be patched as the release candidate for early access.
https://twitter.com/#!/Rockjaw/status/141535439839436801
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If you played this weekend, keep your client installed! It will be patched as the release candidate for early access.
https://twitter.com/#!/Rockjaw/status/141535439839436801
SWEET!!!! and i also think this game is amazing this weekend i played Friday to sunday morning with no sleep then took a 5hr nap then played till it died i got 2 Diff characters to 20+ and i think the story is amazing just brillant
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I wish it was possible for the Smuggler or the Bounty Hunter to be neutral. But then again, that may present some griefing issues that would not be good for the game.
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most recent beta weekend = the LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG build.
Nearly unplayable 50% of the time in warzones. Server acting as if I had a ping of over 1-2k. I don't understand why it affects me so bad, 60-80 ping to the server according to the in-game connection monitor. One time in huttball a commando and me spent about 8 seconds running back and forth at each other trying to melee each other (i assume he was, since neither of us had abilities going off) only to get "you're not facing your target" when we sure as hell were. We gave up, ran away from each other and resumed range attacks. Totally fucks my playstyle too. I pride myself in my bunny-hopping 180 kite and shoot technique. Doesn't work when the server doesn't allow you to do it due to fucked lag resulting in "you must be facing your target" errors. God forbid i try to play a melee class, i'd be rage-quitting by now.
Even outside of pvp if i jump and land and immediately activate a channeled ability it says "you cannot do that while moving." Very unresponsive netcode issues. Makes me sad panda.
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Crazy, I only saw lag twice, and they were minimal, short lived, spikes.
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Ditto here. The lag I actually ever saw over the weekend was some conversation lag, where it would take a while to kick me into the convo cinematic.
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I've experienced no lag what so ever in either beta tests. I'm not sure what the problem is for you select few.
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hi guys,
i've read your posts and appreciate both positive and negative feedback, especially the WoW references. Tbone did a great job of summarizing all of the awesome this game has to offer. One problem that I had when I was trying to leave WoW while playing stuff like Aion was that I kept saying to my self, "ugh. you could totally do that in WoW." so then i'd go back to playing WoW and then remember I still didn't like it anymore. yes SWTOR is another mmorpg, but i think it is a fresh twist with all of the perks T mentioned before. I am very excited about this game and am having withdrawals right now :(
so i played my little sage until 15. only encountered a few glitches (a bad stuck, some rubberbanding, dialogue lag) but it didn't deter me. i really love healing, but when i got into the hammer flashpoint, it was difficult only having two types of heals to choose from...short and long cast. if i cast the long too many times, i ran out of mana or whatever we are calling it in the game, and i didn't see any vendor items to pop in combat for those kinds of situations. so it was challenging but still fun. it was the first instance where we actually marked the guys and used cc...it was nice working in a group together like that.
anyway, that's my 5 cents. i have a friend in NY who is also preordered and didn't know about the beta (!!!) but i've sent her to go follow the signal :D
can we make the countdown bigger??? :D
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(http://I.imgur.com/KGZuC.gif)
Can you make one for SWG......lol
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My overall impressions of the game were very positive. I had no lag spikes at full graphics and fully enjoyed the game on a 47 inch 1080p tv. (however looking forward to being able to actually turn on the anti-aliasing) Compared to when I tried testing in the hutta squadron sometime earlier this year the lag was horrendous (my gpu was dead tho I was using a built in card)
The game's story was pretty good. I loved the kotor games (played both of them like 3 times each all the way through) so this is like a dream come true kotor basically.
I played a shadow tank and was able to experience actual tanking around level 16. Much better mechanics for tanking than wow imo.
I'll be seeing you guys in a few weeks for early access.
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We are almost exactly TWO WEEKS away from early access launch! That's crazy!
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That means exams are starting soon, too...
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Chaps - one thing - may be a bug? I kept getting shot by enemies notwithstanding I was standing behind cover (be it a rock or a tree) - would such cover work for a smuggler, say, but not force user?
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Chaps - one thing - may be a bug? I kept getting shot by enemies notwithstanding I was standing behind cover (be it a rock or a tree) - would such cover work for a smuggler, say, but not force user?
As I understand it, the cover system is actually a state effect that a Smuggler or Imperial Agent puts themselves in, which allows them to use abilities that aren't available outside of cover. I'm pretty sure it also grants a defense bonus. I'm not sure if it's open to Force users.
But there is still line-of-sight. I noticed I couldn't fire at my opponent if I couldn't actually see them behind a large wall. And the NPCs knew to come around the wall in order to fire on me. The Smuggler has to move around a lot.
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Chaps - one thing - may be a bug? I kept getting shot by enemies notwithstanding I was standing behind cover (be it a rock or a tree) - would such cover work for a smuggler, say, but not force user?
Just to add to Manics post;
Yeah, if you don't go into "cover mode" you get a very limited set of abilities to use (unless you are close up where you have all the sneaky kicks etc, so it's essential when working from range). This may open up in later levels, but it means you have to get good at finding the right spot early on.
When I go into cover mode manually (F) out in the open, I didn't recognise any bonus (dodge/miss) in particular. However, when I actually "lock in" crouched behind a rock (i.e. the game presents the green shadow behind the rock that I can use my ability to lock into with). I get good bonuses here.
Sometimes the green shadow does not appear, so I crouch manually (F) behind the rock. I'm not convinced that the bonuses (misses) that appeared weren't just general misses from long range that you could also have out in the open.
I can see the "lock in" ability being able to generate the bonuses easily because the client just tells the server "in hidden, gimme a multiplier". However, just crouching behind the rock requires much more code in determining if you are behind the rock or not (line of sight) so I don't know how good it generally is.
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THIS is good news:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=696746
i'm not the only one that was dismayed with the lag/delay and other issues. things are looking up.