A Fear of History…

[-PLASMA]

#7525

I’ve never been a “history” fan, preferring to push forward and don’t look back… however, there is much to be said for “preventative measure”. A wise
move to make is, learn from the mistake of “others”, and avoid dealing with the consequences that come with following that same path. Something that
should be noted from my time playing “WoW”… at the peak there were 14 million subscribers, when I left there were 7 million. Being active in the
game’s main forum at the time, I can say that a major part of the decline was due to the decision to remove “character customization” within the skill
trees. The reasoning behind it being, the appearance of “cookie cutter” builds. The numbers get “crunched”, the (elite) players verify them, and
eventually everyone is using the same build, so why not just make it “the only build”? Because despite being the #1 game, you’re going to lose half
your subscribers… that’s why. Based on MY opinion, and that of many people I had talked to, here’s what happens… First of all, removing “options”
is never a good idea. My first several months playing “WoW” I had no idea just how crappy of a player I really was, until someone in my first near
end game group was so rude to me, that I almost decided to leave the game… completely! Instead, I visited the main game forum and found the answers
I needed. Never heard another complaint about my in game actions again. Players invest a lot of time into establishing the “best” builds for
particular classes, and don’t mind sharing the information… with those who have enough initiative to look the information up. So, many of the “elite”
players get really frustrated when game designers take their information and give it to everyone and anyone. Plus, there were specific fights, that I
would respec out of the “cookie cutter” build, to acquire certain tools beneficial to special situations, which was an option that was taken away.
My point to this mild rant is… with this latest Xpac I see a familiar pattern forming in this game… “oversimplification”. I’m well aware,
my “voice” carries no weight here, so this is just more of a “vent” than a “plea”…

[-PLASMA]

#7526

That is an interesting commentary on it R3. I can’t speak for many other MMO’s, but I can see what your saying. In SWTOR this has been the first significant change to the build system in 3 years. Even so I think it is not that much of a major change, but that is only my opinion. Having said that I see your points i.e this is how it starts.

[-PLASMA]

#7527

I agree with plasma here. I don’t think that it’s that big of a change and it really only affects pvpers who used perks from multiple trees which in turn caused these “only” and overpowered build situations especially in regards to knights/warrirors and thier “smash” spec and sage/sorc “bubble stun” specs which are still in the game but have been highly adjusted. The new system still allows for options and situational changes in pvp and pve and is much quicker to boot. Overall this expansion, in my eyes, has been great for the game bringing old players back,bringing in new players as well as giving experianced players a reason to play some of there less known classes and alot are completly chainging what thier main is altogether. Anyways thats just my two cents on the topic

[-PLASMA]

#7528

Hello everyone,
Personally,I’ve experienced what you’re saying in here R3, on a much worst scale, when they introduced the v2.0. Before that, having a hybrid build was a common practice and i was highly enjoying playing my assassin tank/dps (I used to have a build that was basically a tank, but was able to do pretty much dps too, so that when I had her in last tier of gear, she used to produce as much dps as a fairly geared, normal dps). And since I was coming from a game where hybrid builds were the usual stuff (STO), where there were no such concepts of tank/healer/dps, the 2.0 was a major change for me. What happened, back then, from my point of view, was that i practically stopped playing that toon and that i had to make new ones.I always loved hybrid builds, never liked plain/simple tank/dps/heal philosophy. Is actually the reason i mostly play now as guardian/jugg dps, as even if that’s a dps, i still can tank a bit and that allows me to “save the day” if necesary. (you saw what happened when i played with my commando the other day with you, i was practically powerless and could not do much to protect you, which pretty much frustrated me).
Now, with 3.0, things were not actually that bad, tho. That means that even if teh options seems more limited, they again allows us a much more flexibility in having hybrids. I barely wait to test some builds and to have again a tank that actually can dps a little or a dps that would be able to tank a little too.
Also, beyound that, what still keeps me in SW:TOR, is the story and the new content that Bioware seems to keep bringing it to the game. From my experience, so far, in MMO field, this game have the biggest content i ever seen, and here, we can see, even at 3 years after its launch, they still keep bringing new stories for us to play.
As a side note, I’ve tried playing WoW too, at some point, had a paladin leveled up to 85, plus a few other toons around lvl 40, but what i always missed there was the actual content and the lack of grinding sensation, when you leveled … I only lasted for 3 months in Wow …. in here …. i just pasted 3 years and i still love it 🙂
All the best,
Kara

[-PLASMA]

#7595

Thanks for the input, and I hope Zez and Plasma are correct in their views, and this small change “is what it is”, and not the beginning of something
extreme in the future. Maybe I panicked. There was just a familiar vibe to it, that didn’t feel very good. Everything is new to me, so I’m enjoying
pretty much all of it… especially the “group” stuff with run. No offense, but I wish we had a few more people that were on, just to mix things up a bit.
Some of the “old” content is quite interesting, and I know the people who are on regularly are still pushing forward for end game gear… and I don’t want
to keep you guys from that.

@ Amy’doll… Your description of the changes is basically what I was seeing. And again, I hope it doesn’t lead to something unfavorable. You had a
level 85 Paladin? Very cool! You spent 3 months playing WoW, and didn’t stay… that surprises me. My “WoW” story is actually fairly interesting…
going from complete “newb” (spending a ton of Mel’s gold), to leveling through PvP, ready to rage quit the game, to being taken under the wing of
some truly great players, establishing myself as part of the forum community, learning to raid, becoming a raid leader, meeting one of the founders
of “Askmrrobot.com”, dealing with players that were having an effect on my relationship at home, and on and on… So, I have a lot to say about the
game, both good and bad and I think maybe you weren’t hooked up with the right people… or maybe too much of the game that got me hooked, was
already gone.

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