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[Emitan]

One thing I'm still kinda confused about is the raids being 8-16 people. What does that mean? Is there an 8 man and a 16 man? Can I go in with 11 people? Do the encounters scale by person? Just seems like it would be hard to balance if you could bring in any number of people between 8-16.

I think there's an 8 man "difficulty" and 16 man "difficulty". If you bring in 11 people, you'll be playing a raid that was meant for 16 players.

Fake edit: I don't mean that the number of players determines the difficulty. Just that each size is balanced around you having that many people.

 

[gatti-man]

Anyone else worried about the game's longevity based on the license and Lucasarts? The reason why SWG is shutting down in December is because SOE's license for the game with Lucasarts is expiring in 2012.

Lucasarts tends to play musical executives all the time, and if they get someone in there who doesn't care for MMOs they can allow BioWare's license to end and not allow it to be renewed.

It's not a WoW situation where BioWare owns the game.

SWG also was making little money. If the game is popular Im sure it will run its course. If its not then maybe it will die like SWG. Either way its of no concern to me since if it is a success that would signify a solid mmo and if it is a failure then most will obviously have moved on.

For anyone who never experienced the day cycle on Tatooine in SWG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csq_coWsYOk

TOR needs that shit.

I watched this and decided that you and I are on opposite ends of the spectrum. I literally could not care less about that scene in a game. Day night cycles can be ok but if they are 24 hour cycles that can actually be frustrating as most of my gaming time is late night. Does that mean Im forever playing in the dark? Fast day night cycles are ok/I dont care. Id rather they focus on gameplay and content over day night cycles.

@gatti-man - I love you.

<3

 

[HBroward]

Hey guys, have you been following the Q & A with Stephen and Gabe on twitter? There have been some good questions, here is the feed.
I edited it a bit for easier reading here.

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

I think there's an 8 man "difficulty" and 16 man "difficulty". If you bring in 11 people, you'll be playing a raid that was meant for 16 players.

Fake edit: I don't mean that the number of players determines the difficulty. Just that each size is balanced around you having that many people.

I see. It's just been somewhat confusing because they keep saying 8 to 16 players and not 8 or 16 players.

 

[Morn]

wait so there are no day/night cycles at ALL then in this game?

does time pass though?

No. It's all static because they said the art looked better that way.

 

[Emitan]

I see. It's just been somewhat confusing because they keep saying 8 to 16 players and not 8 or 16 players.

Just be advised I'm pretty new to MMOs. I'm just posting what I'm guessing is the way it works from what they've said.


Has anyone else had issues accessing their account pages in Chrome? Because I can access it now.

 

[border]

24 hour cycles that can actually be frustrating as most of my gaming time is late night. Does that mean Im forever playing in the dark?

I'm not sure how that's any better than being forever stuck playing in the daytime. The day/night cycle is for variety. Plus different planets would be on different cycles, so the entire game wouldn't always be at night even if you play in the evenings.

As is, planets will eternally be day or night. So it's not as if you won't have to deal with spending a long period of time in darkness.

 

[steadfast]

Hey guys, have you been following the Q & A with Stephen and Gabe on twitter? There have been some good questions, here is the feed.
I edited it a bit for easier reading here.

Q&A together:
http://torwars.com/2011/08/19/swtor-twitter-qa-with-reid-and-amatangelo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torwars+%28TORWars%29

Pretty much confirmed that Project has been changed:

Q: (libchh) “Hi! Any chance you’ll change the animation of the Project ability? Any form of telekinetic mumbo would be more appealing…”

A: (Reid) Check today’s Huttball video update carefully. Like, frame by frame.

 

[gatti-man]

I'm not sure how that's any better than being forever stuck playing in the daytime. The day/night cycle is for variety. Plus different planets would be on different cycles, so the entire game wouldn't always be at night even if you play in the evenings.

As is, planets will eternally be day or night. So it's not as if you won't have to deal with spending a long period of time in darkness.

It is worse. Everything looks better during the day in most mmos Ive played. I think overall night time receives less attention than day so it just blands everything out. But thats just my opinion.

 

[Winnie the Pimp]

this is bad news for me... i am big on environmental factors and LOVE to see how the light changes the looks of the world based on day, night, dusk, dawn and the different shades in between...

So you're saying we won't EVER see a sunset/sunrise in this game then?

 

[Dakota47]

So you're saying we won't EVER see a sunset/sunrise in this game then?

I bet it is on that enormous wall o' crazy they keep talking about.

 

[gillty]

It is worse. Everything looks better during the day in most mmos Ive played. I think overall night time receives less attention than day so it just blands everything out. But thats just my opinion.

The setting of Star Wars covers an entire galaxy, each planet would have its own day/night, dark on one planet day on another. Not to mention plenty of mmos have artificial day/night lengths.

'Here are the length of the 10 launch planets day/night cycle. Anecdotally, during SWG development, a dev actually researched the SWG fiction to determine the relative size of the planets, and from that, extrapolate each planet's day/night cycle length relative to the other planets.

Tatooine - 3h 8m
Naboo - 2h 57m
Corellia - 2h 47m
Dantooine - 2h 21m
Yavin4 - 2h 8m
Talus - 2h 3m
Endor - 1h 52m
Dathomir - 1h 30m
Lok - 1h 11m
Rori - 30m

"Day time" starts at 06:00 planetary time.

70% of the planetary day/night cycle is "day time" so that means 06:00 - 22:48 planetary time is considered "day time."'

this is bad news for me... i am big on environmental factors and LOVE to see how the light changes the looks of the world based on day, night, dusk, dawn and the different shades in between...

So you're saying we won't EVER see a sunset/sunrise in this game then?

Its themepark land, everything is for the most part static.

 

[Baller. PhD]

Game mechanics are far more important than day/night cycles. Those are cool the first time you see them and then utterly pointless for the rest of the game. I for one am happy that they're not wasting their time on that stuff.

 

[Pollux]

I asked this before but no one answered...

I'm registered for the GAF Empire guild, but I won't be playing at launch. Most likely won't be playing until the end of May. Is that OK?

 

[CzarTim]

Hey guys, have you been following the Q & A with Stephen and Gabe on twitter? There have been some good questions, here is the feed.
I edited it a bit for easier reading here.

Thanks for this.

Game mechanics are far more important than day/night cycles. Those are cool the first time you see them and then utterly pointless for the rest of the game. I for one am happy that they're not wasting their time on that stuff.

Completely agree. To be frank, I would rather the people that are so upset about all this trivial stuff not even play the game. These are the people who will complain constantly since TOR will never live up to their fantasies about what they think the genre should be.

I asked this before but no one answered...
I'm registered for the GAF Empire guild, but I won't be playing at launch. Most likely won't be playing until the end of May. Is that OK?

It's absolutely fine.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

I asked this before but no one answered...

I'm registered for the GAF Empire guild, but I won't be playing at launch. Most likely won't be playing until the end of May. Is that OK?

It's fine.

 

[Emitan]

Hey guys, have you been following the Q & A with Stephen and Gabe on twitter? There have been some good questions, here is the feed.
I edited it a bit for easier reading here.

Upvoted! So much easier to read for me than Twitter for some reason.

 

[Kintaro]

Completely agree. To be frank, I would rather the people that are so upset about all this trivial stuff not even play the game. These are the people who will complain constantly since TOR will never live up to their fantasies about what they think the genre should be.

Thank you.

 

[Giolon]

Interesting, Stephen confirmed that what we saw in the Huttball video w/ the Consular IS a new animation for Project, possibly being environment based now:

Q. Hi! Any chance you'll change the animation of the Project ability? Any form of telekinetic mumbo would be more appealing...
Stephen - Hi @libchh - Check today's Huttball video update carefully. Like, frame by frame.

*sniff* I'd kind of grown to like my speeder engine dredging ways.

 

[Emitan]

I swear it was originally supposed to be environment based. Maybe it just took them this long to implement it.

 

[CzarTim]

Praise the Wookie.

 

[Rflagg]

Hey guys, have you been following the Q & A with Stephen and Gabe on twitter? There have been some good questions, here is the feed.
I edited it a bit for easier reading here.

O thanks.

Too bad about not having plans for a pre-launch character creator.

Edit:
Q. Will we see a pre-launch character creation tool like Bioware did with Dragon Age:Origins?
Stephen - hi @Bel_Garan - a pre-launch character creator is not currently planned.

 

[Meicyn]

To be frank, I would rather the people that are so upset about all this trivial stuff not even play the game. These are the people who will complain constantly since TOR will never live up to their fantasies about what they think the genre should be.

Yeah, no kidding. I mean, everyone makes a complaint here and there, but they're like the co-worker that no one wants to invite to gatherings or parties because all they ever do is bitch incessantly and never have anything positive to say.

 

[Dakota47]

Ok, this announcement has made me fucking mad.

Today a question was asked at GamesCon, by Cory Butler.

"Will same gender romance be in the Old Republic?"

Cory Butler: "Same gender romance will NOT be in the Old Republic."

Now, I do not want to take TOTAL credit for this decision...

As a game aimed for teenagers (likely a T rating) I did not think that homosexuality would be appropraite. In a very carefully worded letter, with the support of several Canadian and American family groups, we asked Bioware to re-think their recent decision, if they were indeed planning on receiving a T rating from ESRB.

We handed off the information to several news outlets and one reporter who I know personally here in Edmonton (BioWare HQ) phoned Bioware asking questions regarding potential homosexuality in the game...

How do you feel about Bioware's change in decision?


I would like to thank:

Focus on the Family
Nation for Marriage
Canadian Family Coalition

Why are these people forcing their beliefs on me in this way?

 

[EhrgeizVII]

Game mechanics are far more important than day/night cycles. Those are cool the first time you see them and then utterly pointless for the rest of the game. I for one am happy that they're not wasting their time on that stuff.

How is it wasting time to implement standard stuff we've come to expect from MMO's? Since we've been discussing this the last two pages, I'd say some people care. For me it's not a game breaker, but it's just another small thing that makes me think it could've been so much better (even though it's not out yet). I'm still dying to play SWTOR, but I'm not as hyped as I were a couple months ago (the extremely good Guild Wars 2 footage from GamesCom might have something to do with that aswell)..

 

[Emitan]

Ok, this announcement has made me fucking mad.



Why are these people forcing their beliefs on me in this way?

The "best" part is none of them are going to be playing the game and even if they were they could just not be a gay character.

As a game aimed for teenagers (likely a T rating) I did not think that homosexuality would be appropraite.

This is disgraceful.

 

[Dakota47]

The "best" part is none of them are going to be playing the game and even if they were they could just not be a gay character.

Yeah, wtf seriously. I made this post on the BW forum.

 

[Darklord]

Ok, this announcement has made me fucking mad.



Why are these people forcing their beliefs on me in this way?

No way would they have changed it for them. I don't care either way, I'm not gay but the choice behind it would have nothing to do with family groups.

But this comment...

Incorrect.

Homosexuality is vile, abnormal, and was once considered an illness until homosexuals somehow became another race to be given rights.



If you take offense to that comment, then too bad.

wooow.

 

[JohnTuk]

Ok, this announcement has made me fucking mad.



Why are these people forcing their beliefs on me in this way?

It's obvious that it's Lucasart that refuse to have Same Sex Relationship in the game. We all know Bioware is open to that kind of thing, but not Lucasart. I remember more then a year ago the mods in the forum making a post refuting any kind of Same Sex Relation in the Star Wars universe (Relating to the Kotor Bastila mod or Juhani I think)

 

[Sigfodr]

Completely agree. To be frank, I would rather the people that are so upset about all this trivial stuff not even play the game. These are the people who will complain constantly since TOR will never live up to their fantasies about what they think the genre should be.

It's like he's sayin' what we're all thinkin'!

 

[Emitan]

Yeah, wtf seriously. I made this post on the BW forum.

Which post? It's not taking me to it.

 

[MedIC86]

It's obvious that it's Lucasart that refuse to have Same Sex Relationship in the game. We all know Bioware is open to that kind of thing, but not Lucasart.

This makes a lot of sense, i don't really care for romances in games in general. Would still be better if they included every variety tho.

 

[mxgt]

That's some fine trolling

 

[Dinosaur Tamer]

Ok, this announcement has made me fucking mad.



Why are these people forcing their beliefs on me in this way?

He's just trolling. They never really changed anything. Homosexual love interests were never in. Neither in KOTOR1+2 nor in SWTOR. It's a Star Wars/Lucas Arts thing.

 

[Dakota47]

Which post? It's not taking me to it.

Reading the opening post made me really angry. What are these people thinking? Why do they force their beliefs on me in this way? If they don't want to play the homosexual content, then simply don't.

To the people saying that homosexual content would somehow be bad for kids: watch this video. If anything, kids would benefit from the content. Gay boys or girls would find out that their sexual identity is so normal that it has been put in a game.

And @ Bioware: why scrap it completely? Why not simply make it an option in the menu or add it to parental controls?

tl;dr This has made me very angry.

He's just trolling. They never really changed anything. Homosexual love interests were never in. Neither in KOTOR1+2 nor in SWTOR. It's a Star Wars/Lucas Arts thing.

It is not so much about the decision, but the phrasing of the OP and some of the things that are said in that thread:

Gosh I've never seen the great liberal crusaders before, get real, it's a disorder that we should be thoughtful of, NOT REJOICE, MAINSTREAM AND CELEBRATE.
Twist your own life to fit whatever floats your boats but leave somethings unmolested, not every single thing has to be perverse and pornographic..

This is plain bigotry.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Ok, this announcement has made me fucking mad.
Why are these people forcing their beliefs on me in this way?

It's a troll post. Just move on. I didn't expect things like this to be in anyway even though I agree it should be in the game for those who want the option.

 

[Emitan]

Never thought I'd be reporting so many posts for hate speech in my life.

EDIT: It doesn't matter that the OP was trolling if there are real responses in the thread.

 

[CzarTim]

Yeah, bigots make me sick. Reason 84625364838 to not go on the official forums.

 

[Link0080]

As I start to lose interest in the game I get an invite, awesome. Download is going to take a while though

 

[Dakota47]

Yeah, bigots make me sick. Reason 84625364838 to not go on the official forums.

Yeah, I don't know why I keep going back. Those boards annoy the hell out of me.

 

[Kintaro]

As I start to lose interest in the game I get an invite, awesome. Download is going to take a while though

...

Man, fuck this game. First I can't sit. Then I can't kick back with a glass of OJ while enjoying sunrises on planets with two suns (while wondering how its possible that it isn't always daylight on a planet with two suns and how they can just both set at the same time is even possible). Now, I can forget all of the delusions about sexing up my male R9 unit code named Bender because robosexuality isn't in! Fuck this game!

<waits patiently for Beta invite>

 

[Cystm]

...

Man, fuck this game. First I can't sit. Then I can't kick back with a glass of OJ while enjoying sunrises on planets with two suns (while wondering how its possible that it isn't always daylight on a planet with two suns and how they can just both set at the same time is even possible). Now, I can forget all of the delusions about sexing up my male R9 unit code named Bender because robosexuality isn't in! Fuck this game!

<waits patiently for Beta invite>

I lol'd.

 

[Emitan]

Knowing my luck I'm going to get invites into SWTOR and Path of Exile on the same day.

Spoiler

It would be a good problem to have

 

[Dakota47]

Man, fuck this game. First I can't sit. Then I can't kick back with a glass of OJ while enjoying sunrises on planets with two suns (while wondering how its possible that it isn't always daylight on a planet with two suns and how they can just both set at the same time is even possible). Now, I can forget all of the delusions about sexing up my male R9 unit code named Bender because robosexuality isn't in! Fuck this game!

Thanks. Now I have a smile on my face again. I might have even chuckled.

 

[Necromanti]

Yeah, I don't know why I keep going back. Those boards annoy the hell out of me.

Stop being so politically correct. Someone needs to preserve traditional American values.

Spoiler

Disgusting.

 

[Dakota47]

Stop being so politically correct. Someone needs to preserve traditional American values.

Spoiler

Disgusting.

Even better, I started counter-trolling:

It is a well known fact among movie industry insiders that the Biggs story line was cut from episode IV to appease religious wingnuts like some of the people in this thread. This is nothing new for a Lucas Arts product.

 

[Emitan]

I'll get my Biggs stuck in your Wedge. If ya know what I'm sayin'

 

[Fonds]

I'm back from my vacation

Got a lot of catching up to do with all the leaks and gamescom and all that stuff.
Not even a mention about huttball from you guys yet?

I think it looks pretty fun, bit like capture the flag but with passing. Could be fun

I've accepted all the applications to GAF europe, if you were planning to apply just visit us @ NeoGAF
I'm back and ready to accept people ASAP again.

 

[Kintaro]

I watched the Huttball thing and thought it looked like a blast.

 

[Zen]

Ok, this announcement has made me fucking mad.

Now, I do not want to take TOTAL credit for this decision...

As a game aimed for teenagers (likely a T rating) I did not think that homosexuality would be appropraite.

Why are these people forcing their beliefs on me in this way?

That's rich. When are people going to understand that it's the tone of the content, and not the content itself, that makes something appropreate or not for age groups?