A nobody's review

[LordNyxus]

So, I have watched reviews on youtube, read review articles from many game sites, and read many posts on these forums which have mixed reviews. Obviously these are all personal opinions, but why not add one more.

 

The reason I have created this review is simply because I have nothing to do in-game at this moment. I have a level 50 Sith Assassin and a level 50 Powertech. I have been "grinding" valor and commendations for PvP gear, but suddenly thought, "What is the point? Am I grinding PvP gear so I can keep playing Huttball over and over and over and over?" I realized that SWTOR "endgame" is simply that...the end of the game. In many MMOs, endgame is the beginning of a different dynamic.

 

Let me actually get into my review, and we will see where it goes from there.

 

Star Wars: The Old Republic is not a bad game by any means, but it is not a particularly great game. For some classes the story is fantastic--Imperial Agent is my favorite so far. But, for others, I feel like "what's the point" and spacebar through the cinematic so I can get on with my grind. The good point is that experience rewards for completing quests means you do not have to keep grinding mob after mob to get experience. Simply complete quest objectives and the bonus objectives and you will be max level at the end of your story line.

 

Generally speaking, there are two types of MMOers (is that a real term?): PvE and PvP. I have tried ops, flashpoints, and heroics, but they are all just grind. Doing these on hard mode or nightmare just makes the NPCS difficult to beat only because they are more resistant to your attacks and their own attacks deal more damage. When it takes 10 minutes to take down a champion due to his or her high health levels and magically increased armor rating, while your CCs on non-champions wear off in 60 seconds (for the most powerful CCs), does make these OPs or Raids nightmarish.

 

PvP, on the other hand, is a matter of "what is it for?" Many servers are so overbalanced in terms of faction:faction that when queuing for a warzone you will enter Huttball 9/10 times. This is because Huttball is the only warzone (which has nothing to do with the war at all) in which you can battle teams of the same faction. Also if you are in a PUG rather than queuing with a guild group (limit of 4) then you better hope the other team is a PUG as well. If you find your PUG going against a grouped team, you will not win--most of the time. To make my point, I played 25 PUG Hutball matches today, trying to get the 3 warzones wins needed for my PvP Daily, and won 2. I am not a great PvPer, but I consistently find myself top 5 in warzones. When my guildies came on, four of us grouped for warzones and we won Huttball nine times in a row. We were able to communicate in vent, so this made the game easier.

 

Perhaps an in-game voice chat (like SWG) could be useful?

 

There are PvP areas throughout the game, but very little PvP. One of the reasons is that when leveling, very few of the quests actually lead you into conflict with the opposite faction. Once and a while you might find a "red" player in the area of your quest and you might even battle a couple times. Other than that, what is the point. It is a great distraction, but it just takes you away from getting your errand-boy quests out of the way. There are no rewards, no loot, and no notoriety for engaging in PvP outside of Hutball or, if lucky enough, the other two warzones.

 

Ilum is a PvP planet with no PvP. Instead, Rebs and Imps stand short distances from each other trading occupation of an area, by rocketing vehicles, in order to satisfy their Daily/Weekly PvP quest. Other than that....Ilum is a ghost town.

 

What is the deal with contested PvP areas on other planets. It is not "contested" at all. Hell, I can't even try to contest an area because the faction bases are guarded by level 50 champions that can kill you (even if you are level 50) with a couple hits. This would be fine for a primary base, but not for outposts.

 

I sometimes play the space game just as a distraction. There is no real reason for me to upgrade my ship, except to do harder versions of the same missions. Honestly, if you bought a single player game, would you simply start in easy mode to build equipment to play the game in normal mode, just to get equipment to play the game over again in hard mode? I say, if it serves no real purpose, why have it?

 

I have heard people say that SWTOR does not have an LFG system, but whenever I /who for LFG, no one really registers themselves as LFG. The system is in place, sort of, but it is not utilized, so why is it there? Perhaps they should create a queue, like the warzone queue, for heroics and flashpoints.

 

I, personally, have yet to discover anything in SWTOR that is not done better in other MMOs. The only appeal that SWTOR provides is A) it is Star Wars, B) more interesting story, for the most part, and C) ...ummm, let me get back to you on this one. Crafting is pretty much useless. I get the best items from PvP rewards, more technically warzones. If I don;t want to PvP, then the best mods are from Ilum Daily Quests, heroics, and flashpoints.

 

Trul;y, the game is quite fun the first time. The second time, you just want to do the class quests, but have to to do all the others to get enough EXP to get to the next part of your class quest. The third time you really want to see the class quest, but just don't feel like going through all those boring side quests again. And since being a level 50 really means that there is not much to do, I would give the following recommendations.

 

!) Buy the standard edition of the game...nothing you get from the Deluxe or Collector's editions make it worth the extra cost. They are useless once you get mid level.

 

2) Play a class to level 50, see its story, and if you have the energy, try a different class. The best story on Imperial side is the Agent (my opinion). On the Rebel side I like the Trooper best.

 

3) Play through your free month and decide whether or not you would be willing to pay another $15.00 to see more of the story. It is like a movie: you watch the first movie, and it leaves the full story hanging (suggesting a sequel). Was the movie good enough that a sequel would be worth watching? Would you go to the theater to see it or wait till it was released to video? Then, would you buy the movie or would you simply rent it from Red Box or your favorite video store?

 

I am ready to be flamed now:P

Edited January 8, 2012 by LordNyxus

[LordNyxus]

Din't realize my post sounded so venting? My bad...ignore.

[Kakarris]

I thought it was well put. I agree with your points, I have a few more of my own that would come off as far more hostile and nerdragey if I were to write my own review, but I don't think I'll bother.

[LordNyxus]

I hate to give "bad" reviews, but I guess this came from disappointment, and does not give a truly fair or objective account.

 

I followed the development of SWTOR since I first heard about it. I guess I got overly excited about the game and feel let down. Not because of the game, but because of my own unwarranted expectations.

[rjcain]

I agree with you for the most part.

 

This is like Warhammer all over again, as far as expectation and such went for me.

 

While Warhammer was and is truly broken at it's core design, this game is not, and could see much improvement, but the bane of MMOs is that the flock moves on and never returns, even if those improvements are made.

 

I still very much prefer Warhammer's classes. They were very well put together.

 

Sadly I bought the CE of both, and even snagged a second of this game on Amazon, thinking I better before they are all gone. Turns out you can still get them at retail, and even less in some cases.

[Jimsvaliant]

Not much of a review to be honest. This is more about your personal gripes about the game rather than an actual review. You blew past all the content and the majority of the player base don't have that kind of time. So you're bored and alone now. You feel like you're grinding for no end. They've already promised content and no one knows the direction they're going to pull PvP into so you just have to wait and see. If you don't wanna wait unsub and come back a months down the line.

 

My highest level is 43 as of 5 minutes ago. I stop to take a look at the work Bioware has put into the environments and the level of depth put into the story and I'll only PvP when my friends are queuing up with me. I enjoy the game immensely for these reasons.

 

Revisions to Ilum are being made and new operations are about to be released. Writing a review based on the endgame of a 2 week old game doesn't really sit well with me. If you're going to do a review write about the presentation as a whole, and write it from an impartial point of view. Far too many people go into this game expecting their dream MMO when in reality that game doesn't really exist.

 

Just my 2 cents.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Jimsvaliant

[Elgarr]

Not much of a review to be honest. This is more about your personal gripes about the game rather than an actual review. You blew past all the content and the majority of the player base don't have that kind of time. So you're bored and alone now. You feel like you're grinding for no end. They've already promised content and no one knows the direction they're going to pull PvP into so you just have to wait and see. If you don't wanna wait unsub and come back a months down the line.

 

My highest level is 43 as of 5 minutes ago. I stop to take a look at the work Bioware has put into the environments and the level of depth put into the story and I'll only PvP when my friends are queuing up with me. I enjoy the game immensely because of these aspects.

 

Revisions to Ilum are being made and new operations are about to be releases. Writing a review based on the endgame of a 2 week old game doesn't really sit well with me. If you're going to do a review write about the presentation as a whole, and write it from an impartial point of view. Far too many people go into this game expecting their dream MMO when in reality that game doesn't really exist.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

But your soon quick to agree with reviews written by others who gave it 9+ yet have only played to level 21.

 

The Hypocrisy on these forums is so thick I need a gas mask to breathe.

[LordNyxus]

I didn't blow past ANY content. I did every quest, every bonus, every heroic, every flashpoint.

 

But you are right. I was not making an objective review, I was more or less venting. That is why I said to ignore. I knew I would be flamed...you always are when someone disagrees...especially when it comes to MMO forums.

 

Can't change the title of my thread from "review" to "rant", so my apologies if you found this post a waste of time...though it was more a waste of mine since I took all that time to write it

[Jimsvaliant]

But your soon quick to agree with reviews written by others who gave it 9+ yet have only played to level 21.

 

The Hypocrisy on these forums is so thick I need a gas mask to breathe.

 

Did I ever mention anything about agreeing with any reviews? I haven't bothered to read or watch any. My point was made. Read it again.

 

The compulsive and judgmental nature of Elgarr is so ripe with hyperbole I need to facepalm to accept his level of stupidity.

[Jimsvaliant]

But you are right. I was not making an objective review, I was more or less venting. That is why I said to ignore. I knew I would be flamed...you always are when someone disagrees...especially when it comes to MMO forums.

 

Wish Elgarr was smart enough to notice this.

 

I'm not really flaming your rant. I certainly don't think this game is perfect but I bought the game with little to no expectations and was kind of surprised. The game has it's strong point and numerous weak points but it's playable imo. I'm starting to feel some of your concerns though. I'm having trouble finding groups 40+.

[LordNyxus]

BTW, I did not say that the game was not good. I love the artwork and detail even if it is not what others would prefer. I am constantly looking up because the detail an beauty extends to the sky (Ilum has an amazing sky). Taris was amazing.

 

I was referring more to replay-ability and the "what now" feeling. At level 41 valor in PvP, I was grinding more Valor points so I can get to level 60 valor and open my battlemaster lockboxes ( I have a ship cargo bay full of them). But I was wondering why. Why do I need Battlemaster gear, level 60 valor or anything else. There is no contest in the game outside of the three warzones. Nothing matters anymore. My decisions or contribution does nothing.

 

Perhaps this was just my personal MMO middle-age crisis.

[LordNyxus]

I'm starting to feel some of your concerns though. I'm having trouble finding groups 40+.

 

Yeah, people are realizing that the heroics are not valuable during leveling. I did heroics thinking I would get better loot and more commendations (thought commendations were useful). The oranges (mod-able gear) are great, but pointless until you are really concerned with your appearance.

 

The commendations allowed me to buy good gear---for that planet. But the next planet had loot drops near the beginning that make the commendation gear pointless. You can't sell commendations, but you CAN sell gear. So pick the gear over commendations, at least you'll make a few credits.

 

In early beta, you could "trade up" commendations from one planet to the next. This would give you a good commendation best near end planets so you could buy the good mods for your Orange gear. However, this did not make it to the actual game.

 

Heroics are not very heroic, anyhow. My character is not very heroic if it takes 10 minutes to defeat a boss who happens to have SUPER gear that, as a player, I would never be able to acquire. How does one get to have 200k+ health? How do I get an armor rating of 4000? Why can't my attacks consistently hit for 2000+ damage?

 

It is really a group effort to eliminate a hero.

[DeExil]

Well, the Ilum bit will be corrected on Monday with the patch, to actually do your daily for that you will have to kill players on the opposing team, not just do the objectives

 

(or did I read that wrong? )

[LordNyxus]

Actually, the Ilum patch will only "nerf" the ability to complete Daily and possibly Weekly Ilum quests. Not literally, but in regards to balance.

 

You see, on many servers one faction greatly outnumbers the other. I just did a /who on Ilum and there were 24 Rebels and 56 Imperials. Will these rebels really want to engage in PvP being so overwhelmed by numbers? If one faction chooses not to show, then you are simply sitting there with your fingers crossed hoping desperately that someone will show up so you can get your Daily kills.

 

There is always Huttball.

[treebrain]

I'm having trouble finding groups 40+.

 

Right now, most players are below this level (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=897980#edit897980), and it's very noticeable. At least on my server, you can go from maybe 120+ people on Dromund Kaas down to maybe 30 on Corellia. Most players are just leveling slowly, and issues like low population on Ilum and having difficulty finding groups will become less of an issue as time goes on and people catch up to those players who level more quickly.

 

Granted, they may not have too many people to catch up to if many issues are not addressed (e.g. lots of bugs in PvE content, Huttballzones, character responsiveness etc.), but here's to hoping they will address all these things soon.

 

To the OP, I'm not sure what your previous MMO experiences includes (saw SWG, played for a number of years myself ), but the gear treadmill is pretty standard fare these days. I like to think of it as getting gear to get gear to get gear, and it is ultimately what keeps the behemoth that is WoW afloat. Until they add more tiers of Ops, there isn't a lot of point re-running them a whole bunch.

 

PvP will need some sort of ranked system for players to compete in (I believe this was mentioned by Gabe as something that may be coming), otherwise it too is just a mindless gear grind. But the whole Huttball thing needs to be addressed too.

[LordNyxus]

To the OP, I'm not sure what your previous MMO experiences includes (saw SWG, played for a number of years myself ), but the gear treadmill is pretty standard fare these days. I like to think of it as getting gear to get gear to get gear, and it is ultimately what keeps the behemoth that is WoW afloat. Until they add more tiers of Ops, there isn't a lot of point re-running them a whole bunch.

 

PvP will need some sort of ranked system for players to compete in (I believe this was mentioned by Gabe as something that may be coming), otherwise it too is just a mindless gear grind. But the whole Huttball thing needs to be addressed too.

 

I agree completely. I have been grinding just to get the gear. I have been doing OPs when I can get a group. The game is mostly dead due to it being new and the wait for people to get to 50. However, I am only concerned with the irrelevance of most of it. PvP has no use except for structured competition. I am sure they will introduce more warzones in the future, but what do they accomplish other than valor and commendation grinding?

 

You said you played SWG. Remember the PvP areas that were bases that could be converted by either faction? If you could hold a base long enough, the vendor would sell you better and better stims and stuff. This gave us a real reason to PvP for control of these bases.

 

Also, you gained GCW and commendations from any PvP, not just the warzones. Why would it be useless, outside of entertainment, to PvP in SWTOR (outside of warzones)? Now that I am level 50, I want to truly eel like I am assisting my faction in its struggle for either galactic dominance or peace. Instead I feel like game over, time to re-roll...ugggg.

[treebrain]

The bases in SWG were a great way to stimulate PvP. Player bases were HUGE pre-CU, and people would fight tooth and nail to take them out or defend them. Even if they aren't player-created, bases that are either static and capturable or player-created and destroyable are great for promoting world PvP and getting people to really care about PvP as a whole.

 

I think they could do a lot in this regard, even just with static bases (like post-NGE SWG had), but I think we should give it some time for them to work out bugs in existing content (such as it is) and for players to catch up. And, of course, hope for expedient addition of new PvP and PvE content.

[LordNyxus]

Exactly. That is why I said the game was not a bad game. It is rather good in many ways. The problem with MMO releases is that many things must be developed later. The game must have time to settle into a certain "groove." My problem is that the game did not release with the expectation that a large nimber of people will level cap during the first two week or first month. Therefore much of the "endgame" content is non-existent.

 

That said, PvP must be a consideration in an MMO, especially one whose overall plot is factional war. There are a large number of people who do not enjoy PvP at all, but you must consider that PvP is very popular with many others. If you look at the server listing while in queue, you will see that nearly every PvP server is Heavy or Full, while PvE servers are mainly Standard.

 

I am "on the fence" regarding my subscription. I am not sure if I want to resub this month or wait a few months for everything to get a bit more settled. Besides, I have a heavy load in school this semester so I might need a break to focus on my studies.

 

I really enjoy the game, but look forward to what this game will become, and truly hope it develops into a truly memorable MMO.

[ThreeToedSloth]

Well I am the very definition of a casual gamer. I have two lvl 26s and I am not in any rush to get to 50....the problem with this is that a great MMO should compel me to play, and this doesn't.

 

To be fair I have a wife and job that occupy the majority of my life but my free time isn't filled with SWTOR...you could say I'm dating it but in no way ready to put a ring on it.