Danny's Judgment on MMOs

Friends have been more intelligently discussing the finer points of MMOs. My buddy Brandon asked for my opinion on Tera, giving me a chance to explain how I judge MMOs -- especially since I haven't played that one yet!

Here are the personal interests through which I evaluate such games.

1. UI Cohesion

In most MMOs to date, the UI is your abstraction of the world. Those minutes you sink into the game yield, to you as an end-user, an icon in a box on the screen. These are your avatar's actions, your earned goods, your gear.

I believe that minimizing or streamlining this aspect of the MMO product is one of the biggest gains possible for gameplay experience, because immersion is usually more accessible when less interface actions stand in the way of the user's intention. This is personally a general software principle, not just a games principle.

That point could fill its own piece, but it conveys how I think Aion does it best right now.

Aion's "broker" feature; WoW's "Auction House" equivalent

Tera, like Aion/World of Warcraft/EVE Online/Spiral Knights/Rift/Star Wars: The Old Republic/Guild Wars 2/whatever, will have those common features that are involved in basic MMO game societies. Each of Tera's features will be evaluated against my favorite implementation when (or if -- is Tera free?) I play the game.

All game companies have producers that can look at Aion and say "we should not do something worse than the fundamentals here.". Especially with its going free, there is no excuse for an inferior user experience than the aforementioned.

If Tera does worse, I will think it is a worse game in that respect. In the end, it's all about the game, all about immersion. Get your game's interface out of the way.

Here are a few UI features that I subject to this sort of examination, along with the games that can be looked at when saying "Who rocks that?".

Auction House (Buying, Selling.)

Inventory (Easy Win Exposed!)

Vendors (Buying, Selling, Repurchasing)

Quest/Mission Tracking

"Currency" Tracking and Limitations (This made me stop playing SW:TOR.)

Player-to-Player Trading (No one really does this unpleasantly, nor awesomely)

Appearance Modifications

Maps, Minimaps

Character Creation

"Alt" Character Systems

Grouping With Others

Coming soon...

PvP Gameplay, Combat
Lore
Social Systems

* I recognize that this seems like an odd note, but searching for the item again -- via the textbox -- actually yields no new listings that were made between when you searched the REQUIRED option and when you typed something for which to search. I verified this by putting up one of the items I was searching for and then searching for it -- the game seemed to use only a local cache of the results from a time before my text submission, never finding my new listing!

Unity Quirks

Let the following Unity experiences be forever inscribed on the granite of the internet, available for Google searches by ambitious developers.

Developing for iOS

You can't develop for iOS on a Windows machine. You can see the option for building on this platform by clicking File -> Build Settings, and then selecting iOS. I did not try using any hack to emulate a mac on my Windows machine, so feel free to comment with instructions if you've tried that and succeeded.

Developing for Android

Problem: Images show up black when run on actual Android device.
Solution: Reduce the resolution of your image. You can do this by selecting the image from your Project listing, then by changing the Max Size property to something lower. Note that this will reduce the resolution of your picture. Further instances of this problem were resolved by changing the shader to "Mobile -> Unlit", which you can access by selecting your shader and manipulating its Shader drop-down property.
Tried with no success:

• Changing JPG to PNG
• Changing material to Mobile/Diffuse (no impact on size of apk, by the way...)
• Setting image Max Size property from 4096 to 1024 (loss of resolution). This fixed it and reduces the size of the apk!

Problem: Google Wallet requires manifest file details in order to function.
Solution: Unknown.
Tried with no success: Researching.

Problem: A plane, or other GameObject model, does not update its position when run on my Android device. Also known as: the Unity editor does not reflect the actual values being changed in the script (javascript, C#) files.
Solution: Firstly, use the editor to set the public variables in your scripts. If you're like me and prefer code, you can provoke Unity to refresh these values by doing the following.

1. Make your variables in question private.
2. Save that file.
3. Check your editor; it will refresh and not show your variables. Run the game for good measure.
4. Make those variables public again -- for good measure, do that after you've manually synchronized the values to what the editor shows.
   

At that point, your values should act as expected. I tend to also restart Unity because I'm paranoid.

Parks originally gave me this "hack" for a different problem, but it's been useful for general desynchs between the editor and script files.

The Seven Deadly Risks

One of my favorite takeaways was from Tim Chang at GDC 2012's "Pitching Secrets Revealed" session. He enumerated the seven risks of a pitch -- things to cover if you want to look really good when pitching your idea. I loved this clean wrapping of general risks because the considerations of a pitch are -- or should be! -- the same considerations for rolling out actual development.

I mentioned these risks in a previous post when talking about how I chose which idea to go with for my first independent project. They're listed below with a bit of commentary.

1. Team

Have you considered who's going to actually implement your idea? There's a reason recruiting agencies exist -- good talent is hard to find. Thoroughly think through your idea such that you know what personnel can feasibly carry your idea across a finish line.

2. Execution

How is what you want actually done? Do you know how other, similar ideas were done and where they failed or had difficulties? This is a universal risk that, though unpredictable, benefits from proactive mitigation.

3. Technology

Does your game's engine exist? Who provides back-end services to handle your grand features?

If all your idea's required technologies don't exist, guess who has to build that! If they're all available and ready for your team, guess who has to hook them up to your product -- doubtlessly without any bugs whatsoever from those technologies, right?

4. Market Risk

That isometric facebook game probably sounded like a fantastic idea! You know your demographic and are going to be successful once you give that niche market what they want in six months. Oh, Farmville came out after your first month.

By the time your product ships, your users could care less about your product and more about clicking cows and super meatboys. Understand the trends of the space your product is in and whether or not that shift can be mitigated or predicted.

5. Regulatory

Especially when releasing abroad, a change in laws can really hinder your product. At GDC 2011, I met a Shanghai native that told me bones, skulls, and pandas were all present in some of his other games... but World of Warcraft has had to rework loading screens, models, and various other regulatory costs.

6. Competitive

Just because your idea is great doesn't mean someone else won't do it better and before you do.

7. Scalable Business Model

Your product has released and you are doing fantastic. Your investor is wondering: how is your business model going to scale such that your company doesn't topple over? Even if you haven't hit your wave of success, there are lots of great talks from GDC 2011 where small developers learn -- the hard way -- that going from 6 to 12 to 24 people brings about huge changes in culture and communication.

Overall, this was a fantastic panel to attend. I recommend watching the whole thing on the GDC Vault, especially if you are an independent developer. In my case, having a catchy "7 Deadly Risks" helped convey exactly what my considerations were for my first project -- and I'll formally be considering them in my larger, future project.

Building A Small, Independent Project

I have the opportunity to build something for a month or two, so here's a very high-level description of how I approached that.

1. Scope an idea to feasible size and requirements.
2. Evaluate technologies for implementing the idea.
3. Resolve barriers to implementation.
4. Implement idea.

Scoping an Idea to A Feasible Size, Enumerate Requirements

Everyone, including me, has lots of ideas. If caution isn't exercised, one could iterate forever on those ideas.

Here are the ideas that I went through for examples of how they didn't end up as my project.

• "The game idea" that is in the back of my head, much like that one that's in the back of your head if you're the type to read this piece. Definite risks: team, execution, technology (engine, specifically), market, regulatory, competitive. Possible risks: scale of business model.
  
• A player-to-player feedback tool to evaluate a player in any game. Definite risks: execution, market, regulatory. Possible risks: competitive, scale of business model.
  
• A set of game design apps that distill popular implementations, exposing the simple game designs that lie underneath. Definite risks: execution, market, scale of business model.

In the end, it made sense to have a single instance of the third idea since that was most feasible and quick to implement. Feature sets are reduced to simply the main interactions between the software and the user, the back-end data storage (if any; this could be luxury), and a way to get some money to keep me going.

Discovering and Identifying Technologies

GDC 2012 was my opportunity to find out what technologies could be used for whatever idea I implemented. I'd like to note a specific question I was often asked that implied I had things backward.

"Danny, what game are you going to make?"

I hadn't concretely selected which idea I was going to implement. How do you know that a technology has not been developed that solves the largest, most difficult part of your most monstrous idea? To commit myself wholly to a specific idea -- and then set out to see how new technologies could be fitted to it -- made little sense and would have felt limiting.

As of this writing, I have no regrets with my chosen order. HTML5 was being pushed the most heavily; I see much prototyping potential and can appreciate its contrast against previous platform-limited technologies.

Removing Obstacles Between Potential and Action

The organizations at GDC were also useful for gauging how projects get started -- specifically, how startups are finding their first steps. I never even knew there was a way to simply ask for money if you could properly pitch a great idea.

Due to my current circumstances and my small-scale project, I do not need funding. Even if I did, I would say -- from what I saw at GDC -- that investment is currently nearing the end of its initial wild-hype stage. Investors know what they want from game pitches and even the newer player-driven organizations have gone through lessons in investing (I'm specifically thinking of http://indie-fund.com/ and their move away from open submissions). It still seems relatively easy to get funding, but not as easy as perhaps it was a year ago.

Doing this small-scale project is a great proving grounds, and -- if at all successful -- would make for a more confident impression on investors in my future, larger projects.

Action

Every week, I am holding myself to feature milestones and abiding by what I'm reading in The Lean Startup, which I've found refreshingly in line with my general disagreements in the industry. The focus is on feature and implementation delivery, not on deadlines or planning.

Here are my milestones as they stand.

• Decision on which technologies to use. Decision on project, scale, feature set, and market space for 1-month implementation and deployment. Week of 03-05 to 03-11, the week of GDC.

• Prototype of general behavior. Week of 03-12 to 03-18.
• Single, final implementation of general behavior. Prepare implementation for ship on markets. Hypothesis: friends will download and install the app. Week of 03-19 to 03-25.
• Validate hypothesis or course correct. Add menu, which offers image changing, payment option, and exit -- with some form of metrics for usage, frequency of selected options. Hypothesis: users will change the image, users will pay to help out the developer. Week of 03-26 to 04-01.
  
• Validate hypothesis or course correct. In menu options, add ability to change background sound and interaction sound, metrics. Hypothesis: users will change the sounds. Week of 04-02 to 04-08.

If this turns out well, I hope it leads to a humble startup. If this doesn't turn out well, then I'll at least have the experience of trying an independent project. That experience will only strengthen my skills in a future job and the product itself will show my chops are good enough for a gig.

What I also want to share is this experience, and its decisions, with anyone who is interested. I get questions about various game development practices and aspects -- such as Scrum methodology -- and this is a great chance to let people simply ask me about them. If that sounds like something you'd like to see in the world, feel free to support me on kickstarter. You can see what goes down without leaving your job or having to start your own projects/company!

If you're from my hometown, El Monte, or from another "poor" city, I'm especially interested in informing you. There's a lot out there that you simply will not see in our cities, that I would have never seen if not for the fantastic input from experienced individuals. It's my turn to pass knowledge on; my potential company will be the way I do so.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Danny's Impressions and Their Associated Experience

DISCLAIMER: VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE IN NO WAY REPRESENT THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF ANY CURRENT OR PAST EMPLOYERS. The game is a fantastic product and a result of many hours from wonderfully talented people. These are my opinions as a “gamer” alone and IN NO WAYS INDICATE, REFLECT, OR IMPLY ANY OFFICIAL STANCE ON BEHALF OF ANY PAST OR PRESENT EMPLOYERS.

Are you from Bioware?
If you followed this page from my subscription cancellation, welcome! I did not feel it was fair to do the following without explaining my motivations.

1. I reduced my subscription to 1 month from 3 months.
2. I cancelled my subscription.

For the exact point at which I felt I would no longer want to subscribe, please see “Current Value”.

Overall Impressions

Star Wars: The Old Republic is worth experiencing to see the next steps in MMO story-telling. You will find many “logistical” features that are inferior to what you may expect as the industry standard. You will find other "logistical" features, gameplay flow decisions, and story-telling features which are executed superbly.

By types of players, I think…

• if you actively dismiss the lore or story in games, this game is definitely not for you;
• if you like to PvP, this game will temporarily deliver a fulfilling experience.

One Player’s Experience

Here’s what you can expect if your experience with this game goes as mine went. I’ll be starting from the very beginning, which includes elements that are not in-game.

Account and Game Setup
Means - Origin, swtor.com
Ends - Beta access, “Early Access”, general game access

This is likely the worst setup experience I’ve ever had with any game.

Penny Arcade (a great webcomic) gave out beta access codes for Thanksgiving. After setting up brand new EA and SWTOR accounts, I redeemed my codes. The game client was not available for download. There was no indication about where the game client would be available. There was no indication of anything, really.

Origin is its own software to download and install. It is EA’s attempt at competing with Steam. For launch, I bought the Deluxe Edition there, but the “MY GAMES” list did not show my purchase. Clicking Settings -> Order History did show the order, but there was no indication about where or how the game itself would find its way to the consumer.

The website asked for a redemption code. From the Order History, I had an order number. This is not the code they’re looking for.

The redemption code arrived in an email about my purchase, at the very bottom, on a day I wasn’t told about.

Possibilities for Improvement

• When redemption codes do not work, have more descriptive error messages.

Useful error codes can be tricky when lots of things can go wrong and engineers’ time is scarce. If useful error codes are not possible or too difficult, include more instructions and expectations in the part of the user experience before codes are entered. For example, simply saying “Enter the redemption code at the bottom of the email you received. Further instructions will come in an email after redemption.” effectively resolves user confusion after redemption. This is a cheap, better alternative to the lonely textbox there now.

• When listing any redeemed items, also list the related date for when the item is expected to be delivered/available. A range of dates is acceptable for this note.
• Link the website, or other location, where the user can get the game client in any listing related to the purchase, both at swtor.com and in Origin.

I can download the game... after days of waiting around having no idea that an email would come and tell me about where my money went. I almost suspected fraud, considered telling my credit card company to cancel the charge.

Download and Installation
Means - internet, swtor.com
Ends - get the game installed on machine

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a huge game (almost 20 gigs) with lots of patch data to download and install. This is no surprise and deserves no gripe that can’t be solved with the better instructions in the Account and Game Setup process.

Expect to download for a really, really long time. If you’re reading these words and know the author, you’re in a country where this probably isn’t out of the ordinary.

Running the Launcher
Means - game launcher
Ends - play the game

If the servers are down or something is wrong, utilize your psychic powers to find out what the deal is. The disabled PLAY button won’t be telling you much.

Possibilities for Improvement

• If the launcher cannot run the game, include more descriptive error messages to let the user know how they can fix the problem or if the servers are down. The game client has great error codes at the server selection screen. Get the launcher and game client teams talking to each other to see if that error code system can be utilized at the launcher level. Alternately, just display the most common reasons the game cannot be run so users are informed of likely culprits.

Server Selection
Means - game server selection feature
Ends - play on a server that would provide the most enjoyable gaming experience for me and my friends

• I did not achieve the desired result due to factors governing the means

If you have a friend that was excited to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, you will not be choosing your server. You will coordinate to see who got put where as a part of the Early Access process. The user with the earliest access wins; I ended up on a PvE server even though my buddy had requested an RP server.

I want to be on an RP-PvP server. I am forced not to play with all of my friends because they each got different servers as part of their early access. At this point, I can choose to play with one set of friends and not others while being on an environment I do not find ideal or I can choose to play on my ideal environment without playing with any of my friends.

Possibilities for Improvement

• It’s too late to fix the source of this problem. I only hope no other company executes “Early Access” in the manner this was executed – don’t ever limit your players to a server because of your choice of a gradual launch process.

• A free transfer, for characters created from Early Access to the first week of launch, would get my friends and me to a server we want instead of the server to which the launch process limited players.

Character Creation
Means - game character creation feature
Ends - create a character that will uniquely represent me in the game’s universe

• I do not feel I achieved the desired result due to the limited nature of the means.

Character creation is much more limited than other MMO character creation systems. Don’t expect to create a very unique and striking character – all the NPCs in the game seem to be some randomly generated combination of the limited options given.

The process offers these selections in this order.

1. Faction (2)
2. Class (4)
3. Species (4)
4. Gender (2)
5. Appearance (below, depends on race and gender) and Name (15 characters)

• Body Type (4)
• Head (11)
• Scars (15)
• Complexion (11)
• Eye Color (7)
• Beards (36)
• Tattoos (11)
• Jewelry (6)
• Hair (25)
• Hair Color (6)
• Skin Color (6)

Those numbers are from a skim through the Sith male selection. Some may not appear for other races. Numbers will also vary based on gender – the human female has 40 selections for Complexion, for example.

The name field accepts apostrophes (and possibly other unexplored characters), which WoW roleplayers will appreciate if only because we couldn’t have cool troll names back in Azeroth. Ja, mon!

Possibilities for Improvement

• Tell your producers to play Aion and EVE Online to create characters. Those systems should be considered the current industry standard. Particular ways in which the feature by NCSoft and CCP is superior follow.

1. All selections up to appearance are extremely and purposely visual. Interactions effectively convey differences without the usage of text.
   
2. Much more potential for customization overall.
   
3. Superior feedback based on sliders instead of “business application” controls. Sliding from left to right on “Jaw Line” (Aion) or “Complexion – Aging” (EVE) means more than option 3 (out of 11) for Complexion.

Tip of the Hat

• Thank you, user experience or interface designer, for preventing customizations from being lost. The hatred I have for RIFT began with a “RANDOM” button at the bottom-right – the end – of all their options, which caused me to lose all the touches I had made on my character.

Protection from ourselves.

Gameplay - Story
Means - Cinematic cutscenes, conversation wheel, missions, level design
Ends - immersion and development in the game’s universe as my unique character

The game delivers magnificently as far as stories in MMOs go. This implementation should be considered the industry standard going forward.

Missions are usually conversations with audio. During these conversations, the user can interact with the conversation through one of three spoken replies available at different points in the conversation. Throughout missions, cinematic cutscenes make each part of the mission a cohesive experience, even when leaving the game mid-mission. If you’re grouped with other players, they can also join in on the conversation. It will roll out with participation from the players involved.

Being able to witness other players’ conversations is the feature that made me buy Star Wars: The Old Republic.

In instances (called “flashpoints” in this game and “dungeons” in others), the level itself is utilized to convey elements in the story through positional triggers and elegant mission design that extends throughout the entire instance. The principles behind these instances should be considered the industry standard going forward.

Edit: The voice-acted lines can be easily forgotten or disregarded during conversations. I found that turning on subtitles brings me back into the game instead of just waiting around for the next conversation wheel and its related text. Thanks to Matt Schembari for mentioning this!

Gameplay – PvP
Means - warzones, warzones queuing feature, designated World PvP areas, unintended World PvP areas
Ends - a gratifying gaming experience drawn from playing against other players

• The game delivers the desired result for some time before halting it without notification.

Three warzones are available.

1. Huttball – move an item-of-interest to other team’s side
2. The Voidstar – Linear 3-point assault/defense
3. Civil War – 3-node capture-and-hold

Huttball is a game between two teams to move a ball to the other end of the map. The layout is designed such that each path has associated opportunities and costs, which makes for outcomes that vary depending on player choice, knowledge, and skill. The “Huttball” can be thrown – an AoE, ground-targeting ability – to another player, adding the ability to traverse different paths. This is my favorite warzone and the most common since it does not require a set number of players per faction on each team.

The Voidstar is a faction-versus-faction stroll down a linear map with two paths. One team assaults, moving forward by planting bombs on gates and defending the planted bomb, and one team defends by preventing the assaulting team from planting the bomb or by diffusing it if it has been planted. There are three sets of gates to overcome.

Civil War has three turrets evenly spaced out horizontally along the map. Each faction begins at the center of the top and bottom ends of the map with the choice to take a speeder down toward one of the turrets. After a turret is captured, it fires at the enemy faction’s ship – the team to control more turrets longer wrecks the other ship first and wins.

With the exception of The Voidstar, these warzones have more lore-integration than any other game’s PvP premises. This is exemplary in an industry that players often feel is negligent of story and lore. Huttball is a plausible sport in the Star Wars universe, connected feasibly with the Hutts for entertainment; seeing laser fire coming at your spawn point – the ship – is immediately descriptive of the purpose of the Civil War. The Voidstar does have a reason behind its players’ actions when they assault or defend, but no explanation is given for the switch.

A colleague with designer experience was able to pinpoint the reason I find The Voidstar and Civil War trivial compared to Huttball. Planting bombs and capturing turrets require an unchanging duration for any player. That means that a defending team’s skill in these games is capped by their ability to keep this capture mechanism from completion. That’s it. Coordination for that is easy. Huttball, on the other hand, simultaneously involves a fluctuating defense and offense element, potential for passing or not passing, traversing multiple paths, or positioning to optimize one particular strategy at the cost of others. All of those elements are acted upon by player choice. The skill cap here is determined by one’s own teamwork and the reaction of the enemy.

Huttball, the story effort put into warzones, and story overall are what make me play Star Wars: The Old Republic instead of League of Legends.

You will beat max-level characters if your strategy is better! Stats are saturated to match. Reward that critical low-numbers healer as the match MVP, he or she deserves it!

I cannot speak to the enjoyment of designated World PvP zones or unsupported World PvP encounters, as I am on a PvE server and have not been forced to encounter either.

User Interface
Means - in-game user interface features
Ends - navigation of information and control of functionality that is related to but abstracted from the game universe

The game sets industry standards for some UI features and falls frustratingly short in others. All but one of these negative implementations can be gradually improved over the next months to satisfy the industry standard. We’ll look at maps and at the Galactic Trade Market (auction house) for my favorite good and bad UI features in the game.

The guys behind maps delivered on everything they wrote about in their developer’s log. Each map seems to be crafted specifically for each area in which your character enters. Exit and entry denotations prevent a waste of my time, simplifying navigation and mission completion. The only complaint I have is that I have trouble with ground that’s a different height (second levels at the top of same-area stairs), but that’s completely minor because I should be made to make sense of my actual surroundings to some degree. I might have those same difficulties if I were a character in your universe; that’s my personal criteria for acceptance.

The Galactic Trade Market looks like it was designed by an engineer with a typical lack of end-user consideration (disclaimer: I was an engineer before becoming a producer, and if you genuinely feel offended by my statement here, do your coworkers and clients a favor by reading The Inmates Are Running the Asylum). This would not be so bad if players didn’t already have an outdated expectation from World of Warcraft.

In general, most all the features outside of what the game does well are implemented in a way that will frustrate users at some point. The game went with a World of Warcraft limitation that is limiting enough to begin with: there can only be 2 or 3 windows that are actively shown at a time. This game is not World of Warcraft – there are different pieces of information to be shown in positions that do not correspond to its WoW equivalent, tabs within frames with other layouts, and various other sub-optimal placements that can only be well-listed by the most experienced of user experience QA.

Possibilities for Improvement

• Again, tell your producers to play Aion and EVE Online to get an idea of how an auction house should behave at a minimum. Patch the auction house based off those expectations.

• Again, tell your producers to play Aion and EVE Online to experience a UI foundation that is not limited to 2-3 immovable frames on-screen. This is a much larger endeavor, depending on how the current foundation is implemented, that interacts with virtually all features implemented in the game.

Current Value

I decided to unsubscribe at the point of the following two game events.

1. I could not push my Valor (PvP) Rank past my level.
2. I could not purchase the Korrealis Prince despite having the currency to do so. This is because a player cannot purchase an item if it has a Valor (PvP) Rank requirement that is not satisfied.
   

If the game is patched a change that allows me to do those two things, I will re-subscribe at that time. You may also remove the cap from the PvP currencies (Mercenary Commendations and Warzone Commendations) to re-acquire my subscription.

Currently, Star Wars: The Old Republic holds less value than it did before. From my listed experience items, PvP was my favorite. From PvP gameplay, I earned the following.

1. Warzone Commendations
2. Experience
3. Increase in Valor Rank
   

Warzone Commendations can be spent to purchase Mercenary Commendations. Both of these are capped at 1000 (I just found this out at the loss of 30 warzone commendations). I have enjoyed the game to the point that I have 1000 of both. All the package items – including Champion Bags – have the UNIQUE tag associated with them, so I can only buy one. Since I am not level 50, I cannot use package items above my level. The flavor item, the Korrealis Prince speeder, could have been a good usage of my currency – but I’m not allowed to purchase it.

Thus, I am at a situation where my enjoying the PvP game will not be earning me the fruits of my time as I have come to expect.

Where do we go? Where do we go, now? Where do we go?

To play devil’s advocate, let us imagine that it is a luxury, an added bonus, to be able to receive rewards for PvPing. I would be fine with this – except I am going to have to do the same amount of “grinding” at max level when I am able to finally purchase the items for which I have always had the currency. Any exploitation for surpassing PvE armor is still available at the time I am max level.

The arbitrary decision to keep me from doing that work now, as I am enjoying it, is what irks me. The reaction to the Slicing crew skill indicates that the designers have an intention to curb the upper bound instead of raise the lower bound, a trend which is in-line with my current limitations in PvP rewards and future prospects.

Without PvP, the unique value from my purchase and subscription of Star Wars: The Old Republic goes down to story-telling. I may re-subscribe if friends ask me to for a purposeful, player-driven activity. Unfortunately, multiple other single-player games – Zelda: Skyward Sword in particular – win out in the “story” arena right now.

I look forward to seeing how Star Wars: The Old Republic shapes up and how the developers react to their community!

Danny is an imperial level 34 mercenary and a gladiator in practice by level 29. His character will roleplay with you for social points.

the game is on

This is a game my brother, Charlie, and I made in 24 hours for a game jam. Vote for us here (as long as it's a 5 star vote).