Last week I finally hit the level cap in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but didn’t have a chance to get to Illum until this weekend and holy crap does it suck.  Now if you’re already level 50 and have traveled to Illum, you probably already know what I’m about to say, but if you’re not, seriously take you time leveling, you don’t want to be on Illum.

To start, Illum the “PvP planet” isn’t even dedicated to PvP, half of it is PvE, which blew me away when I got there and I had to spend the next few hours completing more story missions. Yay!? =\

When I finished off those missions I finally made it to the other side of the planet where I was greeted with on-screen notification messages of players who were near certain control points. It seemed like there were a lot of notifications coming up, so I started to get excited that I was in for some good PvP action, however as I neared my first control point, I saw no one. I proceed to another point, controlled by the Republic (Im Empire) and again saw no one, so I figured I’d try to take it over.

To take over a control point, you have to destroy the enemy vehicles in the area, which by the way don’t attack you so after about a min, by myself, I took over the point. I though, ok, that was boring, what next? Finally a Republic player found me as I was leaving the control point and decisively thrashed me.  While I don’t like dying, at least it was something.

I continued to travel around from control point to control point for about 30 mins, seeing a few players here and there and getting my ass kicked a few more times until I finally found where everyone was. It seems about 100 players were lined up standing infront of a narrow bridge staring at each other. I hung out for about an hour getting some kills and valor points, however the lag was too much and I finally logged out in frustration.

Visting Illum has now fully convinced me no one working at BioWare has every played a PvP MMORPG. By far SWTOR has the worst PvP system I’ve every played and makes games like WoW look like the grand-master of PvP.

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Global Agenda’s recent relaunch as Global Agenda: Free Agent had a lot going for it. Obviously, free-to-play is a much loved alternative to paying. Hi-Rez Studios went all in with the relaunch, as so many companies do, developing new content while redesigning the old to coalesce with the new vision. Droves of players have joined and returned to Dome City, expectations high and wallets neglected. Ronix has been having a good time. I on the other hand, was sorely disappointed with the turnout of my most anticipated update.

I have been waiting for Hi-Rez Studios to redesign the specialization trees for the four classes since the game was launched. In fact, I knocked the game’s initial level of “polish” in the review I had written because “the specialization trees are uninspired.” That was just over a year ago. Since then, two major content patches have been produced, and little has changed.

I had high hopes after reading the Free Agent patch notes, but they were soon dashed on the ground like an unfortunate player after a jet pack malfunction. The specialization trees remain largely the same, slight balance tweaks being the only changes. Players are still stuck with an anaemic amount of cookie cutter builds and uninspired talent names. We remain restricted in our options, shackled by a baker’s dozen worth of talent points. Yes, I’m aware that adding new talents would upset balance, but that kind of content would have gone a long, long, way towards making the game fresh for current and returning players, while polishing it for the newcomers.

Relaunching is a major ordeal. It’s done when a game is either struggling to make it as a subscription title or the suits believe that F2P is the way to go (and the modifications to the new format aren’t cost preventative). Every recent relaunch of a former subscription title has been met with a parade of players returning or being introduced to the game. This is when the title needs to impress. A short window with a rush of players is all it gets. Many companies spend weeks, if not months preparing. A handful go as far as to beta test the reroll of the game.

Hi-Rez Studios seemingly flipped a switch, changing the game from an expansion-based model to a free-to-play model in a week’s time. The dungeon content was ready, but the little things got missed.

The little things, like being able to diversify yourself from every other medic, add to longevity and keep the players coming back.

Today’s MMORPG worlds are vast and expansive. You need to look no farther than World of Warcraft to fully understand just how big some of these worlds can get. I once attempted to run from the southernmost point of Tanaris to Orgrimmar and bailed about half way through. Suffice it to say I was running for a while, and felt that I could be better using my MMO time. So onto my point, what is it about these hugely expansive worlds that draws you in?

When I first start a new MMORPG I take at least a few hours to fully explore the world. Doesn’t mater how many times I die in the process, I am very picky about my worlds and if I can’t be convinced that I am actually a part of it then I usually just stop playing the game right away. I absolutely can’t tolerate a stale or stagnate world. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes was a perfect example of this. I initially started playing the game a few months after it was released (there was no way I was getting trapped in the beta-retail version). I began the game all cheery and figured the world would be awesome to explore and have fun with. Unfortunately, what I found was immaculate graphics attempting to cover up an otherwise boring world. Needless to say, I didn’t make it past my first month subscription. Of course, Vanguard isn’t the only culprit in this…

As more and more MMORPGs come out I am beginning to notice a trend in the way worlds are built. I don’t know what it is, but the World of Warcraft has character and, as such, I never thought the world was boring. For other games, like Tabula Rasa and Vanguard, the worlds almost feel methodical, like it was a randomly generated map. So what gives? How can an almost 4 year old game have a better, more lively world than games that have been released fairly recently? I honestly can’t tell you, but I bet it definitely helps to have a solid franshice to build off of. Just ask Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine.

Thoughts? Comments? Let’s hear em!

P.S. Sorry for the absence/random slowdowns. We changed servers and had to deal with that mucky-muck.

Did you know that there are other MMO gamers out there who play MMOs that are not called World of Warcraft? Shocking, I know! In fact, I am one of them! *gasp* Yes, despite Blizzard constantly reminding us all how much they rule our lives with their 9 million + subscribers there are other MMORPGs out there sporting healthy, boastful communities. So, determined to find out what other gamers thought of the megaton behemoth, I headed on over to various EVE Online, Tabula Rasa, and Everquest 2 forums to find out the skinny on what they think of the game. Check it out:

Tabula Rasa Players - Forum LINK

Lomez said: “It’s a decent game I guess. It seems to be doing alright, based on how often these three letters seem to crop up anywhere and anytime in discussions about… anything. I really like the genre, but I’ve never really been interested in this particular little game. I often get the feeling that I’m the only one who has never played it.”

Puh said: “It’s too simple. All there is to do is to run between quests all the time. When I finally level up I get x amount of attribute points, hp, mana etc, and that’s it. When choosing armor, there’s only one type to go, or I’d gimp myself. The weapon choices are very limited, [and] even “twinking” is just to get the best weapon, armor and enchants, and that’s it. [Also] it puts to high of demands on the player. So many times have I entered a clans website, and to be recruited I need to have some basic stats, like resist fire or whatever. What I [do] like about WoW, is the battlegrounds. I can go there when I want and leave when I want, I’m not too fond of open world pvp.”

Harlz said: “WoW is a very solid game as would be expected of a skilled company that could spend a large amount of money and time on fleshing out a consistent design vision. It doesn’t really add that much new to the genre but it polishes the mechanics that do exist. The strengths it has are that the leveling is varied, relatively easy and done through entertaining quests. . . Sadly it does tend to “block the light” for most other MMORPG’s, including TR.

Everquest 2 Players - Forum LINK

Vendetta said: “The cartoon graphics were not appealing to me from the get-go, but I suffered through them for the sake of the promised ‘excellent gameplay’. Admittedly the playability was good [it was] extremely easy to learn, use and very intuitive. The first couple of weeks of play I was having a blast, but, of course, as you progress you see more of the game, explore more of the world and meet more people. This was pretty much the turning point for me. . . For me it is the community that accounts for about 50% of how fun an MMO can be. The maturity level and lack of commitment from pretty much everyone I ever played [WoW] with left much to be desired.”\

Absentmindedmage said: “I have never understood the World of Warcraft hating people put out.  I guess it just seems cool to hate a game that everyone else loves and is so popular.  Perhaps, it makes them feel like they are not a conformist. Anyways, I have played both WoW and EQ2.  I have my level 70 characters in EQ2, so I have put in time and effort in understanding the game.   My feeling is that WoW is a better polished game than EQ2.  It is true that EQ2 has a level of complexity that WoW doesnt with regard to spells and combat arts but other than that it really has little over WoW.”

EVE Online Players - Forum LINK

Jenny Spitfire said: “Well, they are targetting children and above though as their customers. Also, it will be difficult to maintain two different game systems i.e. Normal, RP and PvP servers to have a system like EvE. One reason they put up [the] Honour system and Battlegrounds [in WoW]. They dont fit the game very well because I dont think they ever thought about a PvP system in the game when they designed it.”

wierchas said: ”In my honest opinion, WoW sucks. Boring game!”

Interesting stuff! As you can see each person has a varied opinion of World of Warcraft. Also, please note, that, for whatever reason, I had a harder time getting opinions from people of some games than others, notably Everquest 2. I don’t know why. I’d have assumed that EQ2 players would be most hostile towards WoW as it seems almost like a direct competitor to the game (both being fantasy MMOs released within the same timeframe), but really it appears that EVE Online players had the least and harshest things to say about the game.

Feel free to contribute your own opinions, if you have any.