Feedback and Quality-of-Life Suggestions for SWTOR
Hello SWTOR Team,
First of all, thank you for continuing to support Star Wars: The Old Republic after all these years. SWTOR still has one of the best story experiences in any MMORPG, and I truly appreciate the work that goes into maintaining and expanding the game.
I would like to share some feedback and quality-of-life suggestions that I believe could significantly improve the overall player experience, immersion, and accessibility for both new and returning players.
1. It would be great to have an optional “action combat” mode similar to modern action-oriented MMORPGs.
- the ability to hide the mouse cursor during combat,
- more direct camera-controlled targeting,
- smoother aiming mechanics,
- and additional action-combat elements that make gameplay feel more dynamic and immersive.
This could remain entirely optional, allowing players to choose between the traditional MMORPG combat style and a more action-focused experience.
2. Context-Sensitive Action Button
A contextual interaction button similar to WoW’s “extra action/interact” feature would be extremely useful. Pressing a single key to interact with objects or NPCs directly in front of the character would make gameplay feel much smoother.
3. More Immersive and Dynamic Combat Feel
Improving the overall feeling of combat immersion and responsiveness would greatly benefit the game. SWTOR already has strong animations and storytelling, but combat could feel more impactful and engaging.
4. Conversation UI and Presentation Consistency
One of SWTOR’s greatest strengths is its cinematic storytelling and fully voiced dialogue system. The original conversation wheel, cinematic camera work, and voiced player character interactions create a modern and immersive RPG experience that feels unique among MMORPGs. However, as the story progresses, many conversations transition into an older-style presentation format where:
- the player character no longer speaks,
- subtitles appear in a black bar at the top of the screen,
- and the overall dialogue presentation feels visually and emotionally less immersive.
Personally, this older presentation style feels like a step backwards compared to the original cinematic system. The sudden transition during progression is also jarring and negatively affects immersion.
- choosing between cinematic and simplified conversation UI styles,
- selecting preferred dialogue window layouts,
- maintaining full voice acting whenever possible,
- and ideally expanding voice acting to conversations where it is currently missing.
Storytelling is one of SWTOR’s defining features, so preserving immersion and presentation quality in conversations is extremely important.
5. Two-Factor Authentication Improvements
Having to enter MFA verification codes almost every time is extremely frustrating. Most modern games allow players to trust or remember devices for a longer period of time.
The current system creates a negative first impression when launching the game:
“Again? Seriously?”
Improving this system would make the login experience much more user-friendly.
6. Enemy Aggro Range
Enemy aggro distance often feels excessively large. Enemies can attack from very far away, which becomes frustrating and repetitive over time. Fighting every single mob while traveling can feel exhausting rather than enjoyable.
7. Map Zoom Functionality
A proper zoom feature on the world map has been missing for years. The magnifier currently available is not a good replacement for actual zoom controls.
This feels like a relatively simple but highly valuable quality-of-life improvement.
8. Bug Reports Locked Behind Subscription
I do not understand why bug reporting is restricted behind subscription requirements in some cases. This prevents many players from reporting issues and reduces the amount of free feedback available from the community.
I personally encountered several bugs I wanted to report but could not.
9. Item Rarity and Gear Colors
It feels strange that green and blue items with the same rating often have identical stats. Even a small statistical improvement on higher rarity gear would make rarity colors feel meaningful again.
Currently, the rarity system loses much of its purpose.
10. Hide Helmet Only During Dialogues
Please consider adding an option to automatically hide helmets only during conversations and cutscenes.
This would significantly improve immersion while still allowing players to wear helmets during normal gameplay.
11. Camera Movement on Stairs
The camera shaking while walking on stairs has been an issue since launch. It feels extremely rough and outdated.
Any improvement to camera smoothing on stairs, or making stairs behave more like flat surfaces for camera movement, would be highly appreciated.
12. Story Mission Bugs Affecting New Players
One of the worst impressions for new players can come from bugs during story missions.
During my recent playthroughs of Jedi Consular and Bounty Hunter, I encountered several immersion-breaking issues in story scenes, including:
- characters not appearing correctly during dialogues,
- characters suddenly teleporting,
- missing weapons during cutscenes,
- and other visual scripting problems.
- While some were small individually, together they negatively impacted the storytelling experience.
13. Mission Item Usage
Having to manually click mission items inside the inventory or quest log feels outdated and inconvenient.
Many modern MMOs automatically use the required quest item when interacting with the correct NPC or object.
Alternatively, please consider automatically placing temporary mission items onto a dedicated quickbar slot.
14. Companion Missing During Mount-to-Cutscene Transitions
If a player starts a cutscene while mounted, companions often fail to appear in the cinematic.
This has been an issue since release and significantly hurts immersion and companion presence during story moments.
Thank you for taking the time to read this feedback. SWTOR remains a unique MMORPG with incredible storytelling potential, and I genuinely hope the game continues to improve and grow.
Best regards
Michal
