main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

TOR [General]"I've never played an MMO before, how does...???"

Discussion in 'Archive: Games' started by DarkEagle, Apr 22, 2011.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. DarkEagle

    DarkEagle Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2009
    So, I was hoping to create a general thread for those of us who have never played an MMO before to ask some MMO pros general gameplay questions that could help us understand how TOR will play. Thanks :)


    For starters: what generally happens if you die while playing? I assume loss of cash, exp, etc. But where do you respawn? Restart the quest? What about your teamates that are with you? I'm guessing that if a player dies, his character is removed from the quest while the others have to continue without him. Also, since you can have computer-controlled allies, what if they die?
     
  2. Salty

    Salty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 24, 1998
    In most games now you just respawn at the closest rally point and go about your business with no loss of xp, items, or progress. The penalty is determined by the company. In World of Warcraft and Rift you have to run back to your dead body and pick up where you left off. In Lord of the Rings Online you're fully respawned at a rally circle with dread (reduces your stats for a period of time) but you can still pick up where you left off. Your teammates stay where they are unless they get killed too. Quest progress isn't affected in most games now other than you might have to fight your way back to an area if you still have objectives to complete. If companions in TOR work like LOTRO you just have to resummon them if they get whacked.

    Keep in mind most games have a character or characters who can revive you so you're brought back to life right where you fell.

     
  3. Qui-Gon_Reborn

    Qui-Gon_Reborn Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 11, 2008
    There's really not much to MMO-ing, you'll find. It's just like regular gaming, with few differences that you'll pick up as you go along. And then you'll get addicted. Hopelessly addicted. :p
     
  4. PrincessKenobi

    PrincessKenobi Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2000
    In Guild Wars you get sent back to your re-spawn point and have to play with a penalty and each time you die the penalty gets more. There are ways to get rid of it or you go back to a city or town and it will reset that way. But each MMO is different.
     
  5. Salty

    Salty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 24, 1998
    That's an understatement.
     
  6. Qui-Gon_Reborn

    Qui-Gon_Reborn Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 11, 2008
    I don't want to scare anybody off. :p
     
  7. Salty

    Salty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 24, 1998
    [face_laugh]

    There's worse things to be addicted to.
     
  8. Grand Admiral Strife

    Grand Admiral Strife RSA Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 2001
    I would play any of the free-to-play MMOs that are out there to get your feet wet, and there's always the free trial of World of Warcraft, since that's what most people are playing these days until TOR comes out.

    Personally I played WoW for a little under 3 months (even bought an online levelling guide), got out before I could get hopelessly addicted. Never good when you try to go to sleep and all you dream about is skinning animals and harvesting plants to up your professions :p
     
  9. Salty

    Salty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 24, 1998
    [face_laugh]

    That's happened to me more than a few times.
     
  10. Maulfly

    Maulfly Moderator Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2001
    Before Strife and I scouted out WoW, I had played Perfect World a few years ago for a short while. That MMO is WoW-style, free but with a bunch of micro-transactions IIRC. Not sure if it's still free now, but like Strife pointed out, WoW constantly has some sort of free trial going.

    The main thing you want is to get used to is using a keyboard and mouse as your controllers. WoW gives you a good idea how customizable a keyboard/mouse combination (especially a good gaming one) can be. I don't remember PW being very customizable, but then again that was my very first time fiddling with such a game. It took me forever just to figure out how to turn the camera. :p Get good at remapping your keyboard commands and then the real fun is learning to do macros. I sooo hope ToR supports players remapping and using simple macros.


    This is BioWare's first MMO, right? From what I've heard, they HATE sandboxes and strongly prefer linear story, which will probably make doing a MMO a growing experience for them. If you haven't already, I'd suggest playing some of their most recent games for an idea on how BioWare does RPGs. Most of my gaming background is heavy in single-player RPGs. The bit of playing MMORPGs I did to test the waters showed me that many of the skills that make you a successful RPGer work in these sorts of games as well. The main difference is that you might have to learn how to deal with someone camping your grind spot and you have two "economies" to sell off your stuff to. The NPCs at shops and other gamers in Auction Houses.


    If you died when playing WoW, if you ran back to your body, there was no major penalty for croaking. Maybe a bit of extra wear on your equipment (though that might've been the result of what caused you to die in the first place). Only if you have the angel bring you back to life at the graveyard instead of finding your body for yourself (or have someone instantly bring you back to life) did you have a penalty to make your character "sick" for a short while.
     
  11. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    MMO's are pretty overwhelming to start up with, but they're not at all difficult. For perspective, when I got WoW for a Christmas present one year, my mom (who dislikes computers and fast paced things and confusion) took over my account and was immediately playing like a pro, far better than me.

    All MMO's are slightly different, and it's probably for the best if you're starting from scratch...there will be a tutorial in the beginning, and it won't be timed. The kind that tells you where to click and what it means, not the vague kind. Besides that, all you'll have to know really, is the action bar on the bottom of the screen. At least when you're beginning. Just know that you have to left click on targets that are enemies, and then click on an action in that bar each time you want to attack. Honestly, the rest is going to come to you on your own. And dying in the beginning is impossible. And when you do die there will be an explanation in the game or the game pamphlet on what to do (which I do recommend glancing over, not too in depth because that's overwhelming).

    Besides that, the first thing you're going to hit in the game is character creation, before anything. The appearance and race change and that stuff is self explanatory when you see it. The part that's going to sound confusing is the class choice. The reason being, is that despite how idealistic these games are with the "live out your fantasies, be that mage!" (etc), not all classes are equal. Which makes it really lame, when you choose to be a mage, and then 50 hours of playing later you realize "Crap, I will NEVER be as good as that warlock!" My suggestion - choose the class you want to be based on your fantasy and whatever the hell people do to choose classes. The second that game guides for classes start to appear online, start paying attention. As you'll level up your character, your going to get new class-specific upgrades each time. You're going to have to make chocies, and a lot of the time you'll have no idea what the choices mean. That's what the guides are for.




    I think I just ranted a ton and it's probably even more confusing now :(
     
  12. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    It doesn't. Though I have never been able to afford MMO's half the time, I have played MUDs (yes, I'm showing my age) and the principles still apply, and that made sense to me. Especially the bit when you realise you've given up your life to something and never realised. [face_laugh]

    If you can find someone to play with, it makes it no end of easier, as then you have the opportunity to learn together, and it can increase the fun, usually.
     
  13. Salty

    Salty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 24, 1998
    I think the interaction you have with other people is one of the things that makes MMOs so engaging. I always laugh to myself when people who don't play MMOs refer to the avatars running around on the screen as not real. They say the same things about the people you group with or talk to on voice chat. If anything it's as real as it gets.

    It reminds me of meeting people in IM chatrooms back when they first came out in the 90s. It was the wild west back then but it was actually pretty cool meeting people and talking to them. You ran into some people who were fakers but by in large it was a great way to get to know people without being bogged down by all the superficial stuff we tend to use to judge people.

    The people you meet and relationships you form with them after hours and hours of chatting in game and on voice chat are just as real and satisfying as the people you're around in real life.

    I've met guild mates in person and hung out with them. I've become lifelong friends with people I've met here on the JC.
     
  14. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    It's interesting because even though I agree with that, I never played that way. I actually just took it as the chance to be someone I'm completely not in real life. It's kind of like on the forums (or was, until I had to meet so many of you at C5 and my cover was blown!). Here I'm just text, a very jerky disgusting serif font of a person. In game I can be as witty, strong, and badass as I want, whereas in real life I'm like....only witty and that's it.

    My point though is that, by doing that, I never got even to the friendship point with many people in WoW unless I already knew them in real life. I jumped guilds once I started to get used to the people in them, and pugged most of my raids (a horrible idea). I even had one friend from real life, who after moving away, told me that he stopped thinking of me as a shy skinny chick but instead as an obnoxious undead.
     
  15. Salty

    Salty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 24, 1998
    [face_laugh]

    I think the most bizarre thing for me when it comes to meeting people here on the JC and in MMOs in real life is how awkward it is when you address them or they address you by a character or forum name. Most of my friends here at the JC just call me by my forum name when we're hanging out. That's cool with me because it's my real life nickname. Guild mates of mine call me by my main character's name. It's pretty funny to hear that in person and see the reaction from people who overhear you being addressed that way.
     
  16. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    If anyone I know online addresses me in front of offline people as 'Sinre', it causes all manner of confusion, if only because 'Sinrebirth' is hardly a happy go-lucky sounding name. [face_laugh] Let alone a SW name. My other Net names tend to be a variation of 'Sin', so it happens more often than not.
     
  17. Salty

    Salty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 24, 1998
    [face_laugh]

    I can see where that would get some strange looks.
     
  18. Likewater

    Likewater Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 31, 2009
    Well I played wow upto and including "Wrath of the Litch King", Guild wars Cantha and "Sunspear" parts, and EVE online, here is what they all have in common.

    You get a tutorial in a starting zone.

    People call you noob, or Higher level enemy players kill you whne you have no chance of defending yourself (Called ganking)


    You find the nearest town, Die to Murlocks....alot, die to bears...alot. Meet your first elite...Ahhhh Hogger. dman you Hogger. Get called a nood.

    Get into your first city. have a Dance party. Get called a Noob.

    Get into your first Instance. Find you the douche-bag level of your faction. get betrayed. Get shot up..., Flee like a little girl while some guy gets podded.

    Get called a Noob.

    Getto Mid-level, get Ganked, get called a noob. Realize your faction has no sense of team work.

    Get to Level cap, Money sinks like mounts galore, End game raiding, "TOTAL PARTY KILL" share in the victory share in the failure. People call you noob. And ganking now occures when your fighting either NPC's, or just in multiple to one groups.


    They cry for, healing, Water, Innervates, You start to hate the other players, people call you noob.
     
  19. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    Yeah you are spot on, at least with the older established MMOs. The newer ones is just like a bunch of curious noobs all noobing together, and there's not much hostility. But games like WoW really have that...high school status thing going on. You will NEVER be good enough, because someone is always better than you, and you are in the end a noob. And so are they.
     
  20. Aerevyn

    Aerevyn Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 9, 2007
    WoW was my first MMO experience, I played it from EU release until about 18 months ago when I stopped because I got bored of the format after 6 years of enjoying it.

    If I go back to my first thoughts of the game, I remember that the first things I had real problems with were party roles and chat abbreviations.

    Nowadays I understand it but back then I'd see "LF1M TANK DM" and be very confused.
    I now know that this means "Looking for 1 more person for our dungeon group, they must be able to play the role of tank in our group, we're doing to Deadmines"

    My next question would probably have been "What's a tank?"
    Again, I now know that a tank is someone who deliberately puts themselves in harm's way and takes the damage so other people don't take damage, the tank is better equipped to absorb the damage.

    Has it been announced yet if TOR will follow the traditional TANK + HEALER + DAMAGE DEALER grouping style?



     
  21. Darth_FattyAss

    Darth_FattyAss Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2002
    Yes....SWTOR will follow the traditional Tank, DPS, Healer format.
     
  22. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    It does, there's a bit more variation I'm guessing with the classes so that they're not cookie cutter types like WoW. But you still fall into those categories.

    Also one thing I've noticed with MMO's including one of the later WoW expansions - when you're choosing a class at the beginning of the game, they tell you if it's a tank, healer, or dps and what that means. So people who don't understand it won't be lost.
     
  23. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
  24. BasharGelion

    BasharGelion Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    May 19, 2011
    TOR plays very much like the perfect love-child of Knights of the Old Republic and World of WarCraft, with a little bit of Mass Effect thrown in. The starting zones I've played were not terribly difficult, but then I've played so many level 1 toons on WoW I've lost count. It's a very intuitive control scheme, once you're used to moving with the keyboard and interacting with your mouse.

    The one major difference between WoW and TOR, is that there is no auto attack. Whatever attack you map to your '1' key is automatically mapped to your right-click on your mouse. So, if you're a Bounty Hunter, you'll have your basic blaster attack set to '1' and right-click by default. You can change this at any time. I played a Trooper Commando who was designated as a field medic and had his most basic healing ability mapped to 1/right-click so I could easily keep jamming on the heal button to get myself and my team back up and fighting.

    For beginners, the Jedi Knight is a great way to go. The fighting style makes a lot of sense and you don't have to worry about gauging distance as you might with a ranged character (smuggler, agent, etc). Knights will also be much more durable than Consulars, though the latter with have a greater affinity with Force powers.

    Another change to this MMO versus other ones is the dialogue system for your quests. They make it much more like an interactive movie that sucks you in and makes you interested than just running around, finding a guy with an exclamation point over his head, and clicking 'Accept' as soon as the text box fills up. This will slow the play a little more and allow new folks a chance to enjoy and soak it all in. Just like in Kotor and ME, there are good, neutral, & bad choices for most conversations, but remember that depending on who you're talking to, you may not want to answer 'good' all the time.

    Each player will also get a bunch of Companions to accompany them throughout the game. Though you'll have many to choose from, you'll only ever have one with you at a time. They will modify their abilities to compensate for whatever area you're lacking in. This will increase new players' survivability by a significant amount.

    If anyone's got more questions, hit us up!
    (Look below!)
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.