Episode 21 Discussion. What were you thoughts?

Only got half way through it, but it's good so far. The fiance wasn't feeling well yesterday. I'll get to the second half today and post my thoughts. Oh, thanks for using my post too.

"The E3 Ben? Really?" LOL

hey
i just came a cross this site some days ago and i gotta say youre doing a great job!
i checked out some other swtor-podcasts.. but in my opinion MER is the best^^

so my thoughts of the content and story discussion you had on the show

i really dont think that there will be some kind of pyramide of content like jeff said
well at least not till your at the end level
with all these decisions to make in the story line there are so much options what youre going to do on your way to the max lvl.. i dont think you will feel at any point while leveling: thats the only path i can follow (except bioware want it this way because of a special flashpoint or somethin like that)
just like brooks said
from the lore side there is no lack of content.. and i think bioware is really good at telling and presenting lore and story

but im quiet nervous what bioware will present as real endgame
i can understand that people think that bioware focus too much on the story and not enough on endgame content
but on the other hand i cant really believe that the people at bioware are so "stupid" to think that story is enough
at least not in an mmo
after gettin to the maximum level i think in an mmo everything is about endgame
of course story could be part of it
some kind of epic-class-questline (for example gettin the title "Darth" as a Sithclass player)
but thats not enough
what about pvp?
is warzones everything?
i hope not
i want openworld pvp on some planets and of course the great arena of geonosis (not for doing fights.. i would love to bet on the fights there^^ just like zach said about the whole gambling thing)
how will they manage the raiding thing?
i mean... killing the same boss again and again will not agree with the story

so there can be endless discussion about it
and even after that nobody really knows until bioware tells us

i hope they will tell us good news^^ (oh i really like the way how bioware gives us news.. just stuff that is 100% confirmed..thats the right way!)

keep up the good work on your show!

ps. sorry for bad english^^

Hello element9 glad to have you on the boards with us. By the way, don't worry about your english. Its the only language I can speak and I screw it up all the time. I am sure you can find plenty of examples through out our show recordings alone.

Anyways I agree with you. I am giving Bioware the benefit of the doubt about end game but I do have some concerns. Like you said, endgame content and pvp has to be there. While unique class stories is a great idea to encourage you to replay or relevel a new character, I want at least twice the content end game. What I mean by that is if it takes me 12 days of play time to hit the end game level there should be at least 24 days of play time with things to do once I get there. If that means replaying content that is ok with me, just as long as replaying the content isn't with a method that is boring.

Loved the show as always (and hey I got a mention too.. not as epic as Ben's "The E3" but I'll take it)

I've never been one to worry too much on end game content as frankly.. I never see it anymore. Gone are the days of me being in a raid guild in EQ.. now I just stick to solo play or very small group stuff. The folks I used to hang out with in WoW have all left for more adult pursuits (raising kids, working on the house, long deserved vacations etc etc) so I pretty much never see any of the end dungeons or content.

Maybe all this will change come SWTOR if I start looking for a guild that fits what I'm looking for, or would suit me well.

I am however interested this time in the PvP aspect of the game. I used to play a little of the battlegrounds in WoW.. back when I was playing a Tauren hunter, and loved my job of trying to watch over the flag with traps etc etc. So I might dabble a bit in this area of the game once it goes live and once I see how they handle it.

As always, keep up the good word, and put out a show when you feel the time is right. Too many podcasts just toss one out there to remind folks they are there, but have no content to them.

youre totaly right Zach
endcontent (whatever it will be) should take at least twice as long as the leveling-part took
of course its great that every class has got an unique story and that it will be a totaly diffrent experience if you play a jedi knight after playing a trooper
but rerolling cant be our mainactivity in swtor
i want to be overwhelmed by the amount of content when i reach the maximum level
and it should be a long way to get there (i heard something about 200h )

so i hope the majority hasnt done everything you can do when i start the game six month after launch (im on a journey )

I thought this episode hit some good points and brought the game to me more in perspective. Thought Jeff was a great guest to bring in a different POV.

Dealing with the content, I find it hard for bioware being able to branch out from what at end game becomes very monotonous and normal just raid grinding rather. I think they could try some different ideas to give their own take on it and to give an example which i personally think would be cool is to have PvE play a factor into the enviroment. Like in WoW if you get a realm first kill of the end boss of one of the instances you got an achievement and a title but what if it caused the world to actually shift if Republic or Sith got the 1st kill or if each week which side ever got the most kills of a certain boss would place a role in the world. But if it was just 1st kills, would be cool if it played into a larger story and caused players to want to see where the next step/kill would take them and have numbers of kills that if it were split different then other realms, like server A) 4 1st kills republic, 3 1st kills Sith would a final battle to see who would have control of the realm with Republic having advantage. and Server B) 0 1st kills Republic, 7 1st kills Sith which would be like a last stand for the republic and be an entirely different battle. Cool idea but could make the game amazing or terrible. Essentially if you're server isn't balanced or if you're not hardcore yourself so many other people control the game for you and could easily be frustrated.

Just my take. I think the new leveling that they've focused so much on is defiantly the hook for this game, and if they just have something planned to release and may not be right away the game could have both aspects. I mean if you can't get players excited to start playing it right off the bat... why do they want to stick around for end game.

Now off topic and maybe i shouldn't i write but i feel compelled to. In Blizzard's defense, yes they do release a concept on site or at blizzcon and then go, "Oh, we're not doing that because it seemed unbalanced or just too much work 'it's too mathy.' (armor pen LOL!)" But the WoW Community is very active and their Dev's are on board and active as well. The hardcore player is the one that takes the dev's word, push the elasticity of what they said is possible and essentially show the dev's will this break the game or is it possible to implement or even the bugs. Blizzard does do PTR patches which is essentially an open beta before the patch releases so people are ready for content before its even released which could take away the joy of the game for the dire hard fan but the person compelled to be the best wants to know everything as they walk in. Beta's is like that soft opening of a casino portrayed in Oceans thirteen. You test the water and get people excited for it and test it but the people that can't see how it is and just want it that much more that they go to stores at midnight of release day and get the game.

I think SWTOR has a community almost as great as this or could once forums go live, don't know if they are already. But I personally don't remember anything dealing with WoW before release though i wasn't really looking for an mmorpg at that point. But wasn't Molten Core introduced til later on? So it will be interesting to see how content plays out.

Also i'm intrigued on how strategies for raids let alone what the content is will be. Its hard for me to imagine how to make a tatical strat for an encounter without going tanks pick these up, dps kill what the tanks pick up, healers heal them! YAY we win. so I'm excited and worried that i won't like it.

Just my thoughts. sorry if WoW is a little too off track but its what I'm good at.



-Steiny

Oh I wasn't trying to slam Blizzard or WoW at all when I was using it as a reference for the info that Bioware has put out. I was just using it as the perfect example of why Bioware is holding things close to the vest on information release.

Now I play, or did a bit on and off, some WoW. I totally don't read the forums, but one of the podcasts I listen to about WoW discussed the whole explosion of "vim and vigar" against Blizzard for changing their proposed plans for the expansion. So I was just using that as an example of what might happen if Bioware let it all hang out, so to speak, and then change it all again before its release date and have the players up in arms.

Blizzard does an amazing job with their IP's as is shown by the numbers and the huge followings they have. As an anti-WoW person who then converted and enjoy the game, I just felt using this as an example was the best way to put things into perspective when it comes to Biowares fans, and Star Wars fans aching for a good MMO. I'll probably jump back in again during the summer and once Cataclysm is out...

We as a community should stop worrying about the whole "I'm sorry but I'm going to compare this to WoW" or to "SWG" comments. Any MMO is going to be compared in terms with WoW for the most part, and this one will get comparisons to SWG as its also a Star Wars MMO. People may be sick of hearing about WoW.. but lets face it.. it IS the beached whale in the room (its bigger than the elephant ya know).

Ok,
Finally got around to listening to the rest of the podcast. I really enjoyed it. It was nice to have the third voice as a change of pace. It seemed like he really enjoyed being on the show as well and the helped contribute to a very good atmosphere. I realize you won't have a guest every show, or maybe even every 5 shows, but every once in a while it's a very nice change of pace.

Looking forward to the next show.