Why do I hate myself fellow TORWarriors? Why do I endure the pumped up forum rage of irrational discourse that permeates the Star Wars: The Old Republic official forums like a musty smell from people who can only attain Hulk-like fits of blind fury when there is a computer separating them from other people? I do it for all of you – and I’m starting to hate you for it.
Oh no! The forum rage trolls have invaded the real world!
The New Year is upon us and with it comes a new era in MMO gaming. 2012 will be famous for either being the resurgence of the subscription MMO or the death of it; and it all rests on the shoulders of The Old Republic.
As with anything that carries that kind of responsibility, it is bound to have its doomsayers. As I clicked into the official forums this week with the same zeal with which I visit the dentist, I was reminded immediately why it is the true birthplace of the Sith. Certain bugs haven’t been fixed yet, elements of the game are not in place, customer service is horrid; all reasons for these people to title their posts, ‘Well….I’m done’ or ‘Thanks for making my decision for me BioWare’ or even ‘After level 5 I’m done’.
Now I made these titles up but I bet if you hated yourself enough to actually go on the forums and check, there would be titles similar, if not spot on to what I came up with. The theme of them all, besides a deep seeded hatred for a game that has been out less than two weeks: lack of patience.
Truth be told, I know what patience is as I have to be a master of it to spend time on the forums, but I looked up an official definition for kicks and was almost brought to tears by how much it applied to some of these people:
“Capacity for waiting: the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.”
I loved it because it explained exactly what is wrong with the forum rage trolls. They lack the patience to endure something that fell below their exaggerated expectations.
LUKE: How far away is Yoda? Will it take us long to get there? YODA: Not far. Yoda not far. Patience. Soon you will be with him.
Alright, now before I get targeted as a fanboy for chastising the rage trolls, I am not saying you shouldn’t have problems with the game. Nothing in this world is perfect, things will always eventually fall below your expectations, and yes I have issues with the game as well. The difference is that I know that in the real world of game design, patches, fixes, and updates take time.
Some people feel that if there is an issue with the game, the problem should be fixed within a day or two. After all, the problem is already identified. The only required step now is to flip an imaginary switch in the code to fix it. Do you know what happens when you do that? You get dragons that fly backwards. For all the non-Skyrim fans out there, Bethesda released a patch for Skyrim too soon and with too little testing and ended up causing more problems in the game than they fixed.
The Old Republic, much like Skyrim, is a massive game. Changing one element may have unintended consequences on other aspects of the game. Even the simplest bug fix needs to go through meetings, internal testing, approval, and test servers. Now take something bigger and the process expands.
This ‘give me now!’ attitude of instant gratification has to be culled. I implore you, just take it easy. The game is not perfect for me either. I wish some elements were done differently and some sequences were designed an alternate way. I recently lost 12 Commendations due to some sort of crazy bug. Despite these factors I have yet to even fathom creating a doom post for all others to see.
Was I upset? Of course I was. But you know what? The game still went on, I submitted a ticket, and I still am enjoying my experience. As I have preached before, you need to take the good with the bad. If something doesn’t appeal to you, weigh it against what does and see how it works out. If you can’t get past the issues you are having, real or imaginary, then quit the game. Nobody is forcing you to play and you are not entitled to being first in line for a customer service response, bug fix, or opinion on the game because you pay money for it just like everyone else does. Service requests are going to take longer when you have a flood of new people in the game that are also submitting tickets for things – patience.
"I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience." (These Star Wars ‘patience’ quotes working for you?)
I have played games I thought would be good and I ended up simply not liking. Did I seek out the game’s forums and rant to everyone who would take my bait about how terrible the game was and how it is going to fail? You bet I didn’t. I just stop playing it and don’t recommend it to friends if they inquire; though I always preface comments with the fact that it wasn’t for me. I do this because maybe it is for them. Maybe they can find more good than bad in the game and will enjoy it.
If I dislike something it is not my job to convince everyone else to dislike it also. Just as it isn’t my job to convince people to like something that I do. Now I like TOR – there I said it. But if you are a frequent browser of my articles I never tell you that you have to buy this game and that you are a stupid World of Warcraft fanboy if you don’t like it. I tell you to make your own decision based on your perception of experiences, period.
Small side note – what is with all the fanboy talk? I hate running. The only time you will find me running is if I am in imminent danger. I’m sure many people share my dislike for running. But I have yet to see anyone call people who enjoy it and tell you how great it is a running fanboy or an exercise fanboy. Well that’s shenanigans for another time.
My point, fellow TORWarriors, is not to berate the impatient rage trolls. I simply want to get though to them that your actions are not helping anyone. Coming out and bashing the game while calling everyone else stupid is not conducive to civilized discourse. It only serves to get people mad and say dumb things back to you and the cycle repeats itself for endless pages of useless comments that change nobodies mind.
If you don’t like the game, I am not here to alter that. Hopefully your issue will be resolved in due time and you can return to the game. If the problems are too severe, then it’s unfortunate you couldn’t find enough to like. I happen to like TOR quite a bit. I have my own personal wishlist of changes and updates but the game is great even without those. I get annoyed by bugs just like everyone else. The difference is I look at the big picture and see that it doesn’t ruin the game for me. Ranting and raving also does not change the game, make you feel better, make others agree with you, or affect any alterations that you are seeking.
Behold, the nicest part of the official forums
The Old Republic is going to have its detractors, its people quitting for crazy reasons, its claims of ruining lives and breaking up marriages. But I ask that those who feel the need to rant try to exercise some patience and restraint. For those who enjoy TOR, don’t fall into their world and rant right back at them. Eventually BioWare will add many more features and smooth out multitudes of bugs. I know there will always be complaints but take it for what it is – not for what you idealized it to be.
…And remember – patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.
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Have to agree with most of your commentary, Mark. The forums are an explosion of rage in some threads. It’s somewhat pathetic. (And people have blamed SWTOR for breaking up a marriage? Really? In 2 weeks? That’s gotta be a record.)
However, playing Devil’s Advocate, I’d offer a few counter-points.
1.) BioWare does a great job with the devs and community relations team (Stephen Reid FTW!) EXCEPT when it comes to the forums. Unlike Blizzard–whose “blue’s” have become mini celebrities, either loved or hated in their own right–the decision by BioWare to name all official forum posters after anonymous, faceless, androgynous droids comes off as aloof and cold. It gives every appearance of a cut-n-paste response, even if it isn’t, because, well, it’s intended to look like it’s coming from a machine. Someone thought they were being clever with that little RP idea. Maybe to an extent, but real problems/bugs need real people to respond, or your fan base will feel isolated. More interaction from live support reps/moderaTORs, clearly identified as HUMANS, would be more approachable and probably better received.
2.) I get why some people are fuming. They may have spent $60-$150 on the game. Months of years devoted to excited anticipation. Maybe a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for a rig to play it on. And now, due to bugs, crashes, or what-have-you, they can’t enjoy it. It doesn’t justify their blind rage, but it does explain the frustration, especially if all their friends are happily leveling and they are not. Nobody wants to get left behind. And everybody wants to be acknowledged–it’s a basic human need. And because BW has chosen to not officially respond to some bug reports–even if it’s just a “we know, we’re sorry, we’re working on it”, which is more valuable from a psychological standpoint than some people realize–just means more frustration.
3.) There are some bugs and aspects to the game that, given the quality of the competition like WoW, Rift, LOTRO, and others, just shouldn’t be in SWTOR in this day and age. The GTN interface? TERRIBLE. Game-breaking bugs like the Bounty Hunter class quest? This was identified in BETA–why is it still in the release? To those who have few or no complains, SWTOR is an incredible game. And it is! But to those who are encountering bugs that should have been sorted out in beta, or weak feature implementations that feel dated and downgraded, the game comes off as rushed-to-market or unplayable.
Personally, I am enjoying this game. I am having more fun with it than I did when WoW first came out. But I’ve also had my share of bugs and issues. Some are unavoidable and I’m patiently waiting on BW to fix them. Others are just inexcusable.
Why does everyone hate the GTN interface? I like the GTN interface.
._.
Heh, it could be the STO auction house interface.
Ok I have also had my share of bugs but being that I have played online games for a super long time since I was 12 (im 22 going on 23) this isn’t they end of the world im use to them happening. I personally feel that due to a good deal of the MMO community came from WoW or other games and also we must not forget that Bioware is new to the MMO game world so in other words there noobs when it comes to these issue unlike Blizzard who has a ton of experience under their belt.
For a game that has been in development as long as it has … it just shouldn’t have some of the issues that it does. And other “design decisions” (i.e. 50′s in WZ’s against 10′s), just leaves one to scratch their head about what Bioware is bringing to the table here.
People have a right to be frustrated … they paid a toasty price for the box, and in this day and age of F2P, the $15 monthly is a premium. Bioware is charging for a first rate MMO and failing to deliver in some areas.
Nerd rage, not likely … but concerns about this game are justified.
To be fair, a lot of the forum ragers are a little over the top, but you can’t pretend this game is acceptable. Personally, I’m playing to 50 and hitting the road, enjoying the game as if it were a CO-OP KOTOR, because it fails on all fronts as an MMO. Group content is ridiculously redundant, there’s no proper keybindings for target marking so that takes ages every pull, combat is not fluid (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit sundering strike to see my character pull back his lightsaber then stop and pick his nose, while the GCD is invoked and I have to wait to see the same thing happen again, or how hard I have to spam riposte to get it to actually go off) During tougher fights I stare more at the bottom of my screen just to see if the button I hit actually went through than I do watching the combat play out, and that’s just chipping at the top of the issues the game has as an MMO.
As a modern KOTOR, it’s excellent. I’m enjoying my trip to 50 when I stop pretending the game is something it’s not (an MMORPG).
I find the game fantastic and possibly the smoothest release MMO I’ve played to date. I was around for several launches since Anarchy Online and let me tell you, these bugs pale in comparison to any other major release I’ve been apart of.
Don’t get me wrong, I do notice the issues and have faith they will be addressed soon enough but nothing I’ve seen so far has made me want to quit playing! Bioware has multiple teams focusing on different things such as bug-fixing. These games are HUGE and anyone who does not grasp what it takes to fix a seemingly small issue needs to relax and not rage on the forums.
I’ll never understand why some people feel so strongly the need to attempt to sway others to quit games when they do too. I can’t wait until the 19/20th when most of the free-month players go away. Can’t post if you are not an active subscriber…
Great article Mark and well said; one thing I also wanted to not that the forum moderators are down to handing out infractions just for disagreeing or arguing; they aren’t playing here folks Five infractions and you will not be posting for a few days….more and you may not be posting ever, so don’t engage the hate let them have their say and make positive threads of your own.
I, like many here, have been through MMO launches for over a decade now. We’ve seen a lot of messed up shit, but I would be lying to you if I said that I wasn’t upset with some of the things I see in SWTOR.
Regardless of the budget or time spent on this game’s development, the fact that BioWare did not seemingly have the foresight to research other MMO’s positive features and implement them into the game is beyond me. The GTN menu and UI problems are just an example. Not giving users the option to play the game with high-res textures is another. Really, really silly stuff that you just scratch your head over and think “seriously lol?”
I’m willing to put up with a lot because frankly there is no alternative MMO out there that has what I’m after until possibly GW:2. However, that doesn’t mean that I won’t scream at the top of my lungs until shit gets fixed. Lets face it, those forum trolls and loudmouths make things happen. If it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t hear a word out of Bioware. You have to put pressure on them (good or bad) or you will not see the changes that you want made.
all i know is bioware is dead thanks to EA. much like lucasarts died pretty much when tim schaefer left.
i give up on pc gaming. i’ll keep mine to play old dos games but for the most part, the ROI is lower than my feet on the ground.
[...] Sometimes things go wrong during implementations. Sometimes you have to make fast changes without much warning. This isn’t something that only happens in the world of gaming – anything from online banking and webmail to the site that hosts your favourite web comic can go unexpectedly offline with no warning or explanation. Sometimes you just have to be patient. [...]