Quite Simply One of the Best MMOs I've Ever Played

[Saerith]

And I mean that. Xfire says I've logged 974 hours into The Old Republic over the past four months. My biggest gripe with the game so far isn't that end game content is a little light (and it is, but the game's new, and I know a ton of content is coming). It's that Bioware created too many servers for the game's launch, and now many or even most of them feel sparsely populated. I'd say condensing the current number of servers by half would be a pretty good start in addition to cross server PVP.

 

I'm also looking forward to Guild Wars 2. Crazy, I know right? I hear a lot of people complaining that this game's boring, but I just don't see it. They say this game is boring, but they're not saying which game is better. If they could, they'd be playing there. I feel that many people are just burned out on MMOs. Perhaps they never really appreciated the genre to begin with.

 

My favorite complaint to hear about is that this game's repetitive. Have these people never played other games?

 

Starcraft, Counter-strike, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Age of Conan, WoW, Civilization, literally every single video game ever produced is "repetitive." It's pretty much been the same formula for the past three or four decades now. Look at first person shooters. You aim your gun at people and shoot, over and over and over and over, for hundreds of hours on end. How different! Yet I still enjoy a healthy dose of FPS regularly.

 

But enough about other people's complaints, valid or otherwise. What DO I like about this game?

 

It goes without saying, but SWTOR has one of the best atmospheres I've ever played in. The Lord of the Rings and Age of Conan are the only other two MMOs that come close, and they're both built on old, popular fantasy settings. This game gets it right in quite frankly a way that neither of the two KotORs ever did. SWTOR feels like Star Wars, helped in large part by the fantastic soundtrack. When I go to Corellia, I can picture the birthplace of Han Solo. Hoth, Tatooine, Coruscant all drop me right in the middle of the Star Wars universe.

 

Leveling up is also a highlight, featuring generally strong voice acting and some really strong mission/class stories. Even the "find x number of items" missions feel mildly important because an NPC with a voice tells me about it.

 

I also enjoy the two raids even after completing them what feels like a hundred times in nightmare mode. I just enjoy grouping with solid players to clear difficult content. I didn't really like the numerous bugs so much, but I don't see 95% of those bugs anymore.

 

PVP can also prove rewarding and fun (unless I'm solo queuing, then god help me). Ilum was always a bit of a problem child, but I still have a blast in warzones, even though I'm pushing valor 80 now (I don't PVP too often on my sage nowadays since my buddies have taken a 1-2 week break until 1.2, but I still queue up for at least half a dozen warzones daily in the pre-50 bracket on my guardian).

 

I hope they continue supporting the companions with additional quests, dialogue, and other content down the road, but it's off to a solid start.

 

Basically, I'm personally very pleased with the game as it is now, but I also expect plenty of new content from Bioware every 2-3 months, and I expect a higher quality of patch since we're nearing the 6 month mark and they've had time to work out all of their launch issues by now.

 

Go ahead, tell me why I'm wrong and why the game has ruined your life. Better yet, tell me what you like best about this game. I feel like my 6 month sub was a great purchase, and if Bioware had offered a $200 or $300 lifetime sub option, I would have gladly picked one up.

[GalacticKegger]

I'm sure this thread will eventually be griefed because that's what griefers do. But I personally agree with you completely. I thoroughly enjoy playing this game. Honestly there isn't much about the game I dislike. And what dislikes I do have have already been announced as coming in future updates. I think my favorite things about the game are:

 

- Voice acting and quest interaction: the choices during quest interaction are amazing. If I choose to kill the NPC then he/she is dead in my character's story. Or I can spare their life and work the dialogue to either set them free as warnings to the enemy, or I can work the dialogue to gain an ally. Select NPC allies gained during quest interaction have important roles to play in each character's class quest climax. So players blowing through dialogues or ignoring the wrong NPCs are gyping themselves out of companions and/or some excellent Chapter 3 storyline role playing.

 

- Flashpoints & heroics: They are creative, fun and challenging - challenging enough to occasionally tempt me to google a Youtube video during a wipe night. Many of them had issues at launch but for the most part they are really smooth now. There are 11 leveling flashpoints and none are clones of the other. Add the HMs and it's not like the game lacks advanced content.

 

- Content level appropriateness: I figured out a system for gauging what level appropriate means in this game. Entry levels for each Flashpoint and Heroic 4 are for entry-level 4 player groups, while the upper levels of a flashpoint's and H4's level range are applicable for entry-level 2-player groups with companions. I find microing companions during fights that require lots of CC or player movement are more challenging than coordinating with three other players. Essentially, playing two characters at once can be a handful. Anyone who boasts that playing their character + companion in level appropriate 4-player instances is easy to do isn't doing it level appropriate.

 

- Companions: In addition to the VA epic quest engine extending through end game and the upcoming Legacy system, I think this will be a defining characteristic of the game. This alone has changed the MMO landscape for me. If an MMO doesn't have an evolving stable of combat ready crafting companions for every character then it's a dinosaur.

 

These are probably my favorites for now. Oh yeah, the 1.2 UI is sweet too. I think once they enable character transfers and put in a full-flight space combat system, this game will completely reshape the genre. IMHO of course.

Edited April 8, 2012 by GalacticKegger

[Toweleeeie]

Im curious, bc you said that the game does a great job in immersing you in the SW universe. What do you think about the gear post 30?

 

IMO they missed the mark by a mile. They tried to smash Starwars into the MMO gear progression shell and failed miserably. Force users get the worst gear I have ever seen in my close to 13 years of playing. The end game gear is not even Starwarsy...

 

This is Starwars, there is already a certain expectation on what gear is supposed to look like. The shoulder pads just have to stop. I want simple yet elegant. I want gear that looks functional in combat.

 

The gear now looks like the art team has never seen a SW movie. To me that is a slap in the face to all Starwars fans.

Edited April 8, 2012 by Toweleeeie

[Saerith]

Yeah, the gear does look pretty terrible. Then again from watching Episodes 1-3, you'd think that George Lucas had never seen a Star Wars movie either.

[Jaymanus]

Im curious, bc you said that the game does a great job in immersing you in the SW universe. What do you think about the gear post 30?

 

IMO they missed the mark by a mile. They tried to smash Starwars into the MMO gear progression shell and failed miserably. Force users get the worst gear I have ever seen in my close to 13 years of playing. The end game gear is not even Starwarsy...

 

This is Starwars, there is already a certain expectation on what gear is supposed to look like. The shoulder pads just have to stop. I want simple yet elegant. I want gear that looks functional in combat.

 

The gear now looks like the art team has never seen a SW movie. To me that is a slap in the face to all Starwars fans.

 

The issue they have is, what do you do to make the gear look 'starwars' but also look like it is end game gear? All I ever hear people suggest is "simple robes", but they are already in the game and with 1.2 will be just as viable to use as endgame style gear.

 

So what are you after? I'm just curious how you make one set of robes look more 'epic' than another set of robes.

[Toweleeeie]

Yeah, the gear does look pretty terrible. Then again from watching Episodes 1-3, you'd think that George Lucas had never seen a Star Wars movie either.

 

1-3 had Jedi in plain brown robes. Sith in plain black robes. I dont understand what you mean.

 

Thank you for admitting the games greatest short coming.

[Toweleeeie]

The issue they have is, what do you do to make the gear look 'starwars' but also look like it is end game gear? All I ever hear people suggest is "simple robes", but they are already in the game and with 1.2 will be just as viable to use as endgame style gear.

 

So what are you after? I'm just curious how you make one set of robes look more 'epic' than another set of robes.

 

The answer, you dont. Just bc it is a MMO and this has been a trend for a long time doesnt mean we have to follow it.

Edited April 8, 2012 by Toweleeeie

[Jett-Rinn]

Totally agree with the OP the sheer fun I am having more than makes up for the games minor issues. I see SWTOR becoming home for a lot of people. The mock outrage that the hate machine is showing really shows how impatient a lot of the community is.

 

I can't wait to see where SWTOR is by next year this time and I'm quite sure I will be enjoying the ride despite what the doom sayers post.

[Saerith]

1-3 had Jedi in plain brown robes. Sith in plain black robes. I dont understand what you mean.

 

I didn't mean the clothes in Episodes 1-3. I mean the lack of plot and everything that made Episodes 4-6 fun.

[Jandi]

The answer, you dont. Just bc it is a MMO and this has been a trend for a long time doesnt mean we have to follow it.

 

The need for silly, completely extravagant designs have always baffled me. The one thing I simply loved about EQ2 was that you looked like you were going into battle and not a damn masquerade for the insane asylum. On my Jugger, I have the chest piece you get from Corellia commendation vendor. The one that looks like it was black at some point, but is a bit dusty. It looks awesome. Compare that to the columi chest I also have? Ugh... I only wear raid gear when raiding at the moment. I, sadly, also play a twi'lek assassin and the rakata set is just... WHO WOULD WEAR THAT? It's like something a little child would make out of a cardboard box and pretend it's a magical suit of magic... or something.

 

/rant off

 

EDIT: Oh and yeah, the game is awesome. Currently at 5x50 and one in the making. Can't wait for legacy unlocks to make Miraluka sorc and Twi'lek marauder.

Edited April 8, 2012 by Jandi

[Mdesade]

I pretty much agree. It has its flaws, but everything does.

 

I've never had as much fun PvPing in a MMO as I do in SWTOR's warzones, which is where I spend the majority of my time, on both my main and my alts. Even after hitting valor rank 85 on my main, and leveling an alt to level 47 on only class story quests and warzones, I still love the PvP. You just can't beat some of the friendly...and the not so friendly...rivalries that have cropped up here and there.

 

There are things that frustrate me...map-related and certain class glitches that are exploitable, a few bugs that have made PvE content much more difficult than intended (or based heavily on luck), but I've seen all sorts of bugs, and many more game breaking than the ones in SWTOR in other games...MMO or otherwise. I think most issues are being addressed relatively quickly, and I'm heavily invested in seeing how SWTOR progresses.

Edited April 8, 2012 by Mdesade

[Jaymanus]

The answer, you dont. Just bc it is a MMO and this has been a trend for a long time doesnt mean we have to follow it.

 

So you want to take away peoples choice? Gear and artistic style in general is completely subjective. I realize you want simple robes but why should someone who wants something else be limited to only that choice? You can wear plain robes if you like nothing is stopping you. If someone else happens to like or want to wear something more extravagant, why should they not be allowed to? Because you say so? This is an RPG - Role...Playing...Game... if someone wants to role play a Sith/Jedi that recently went to a festive parade it is their choice.

 

Take away peoples choice and there would be WAY more people complaining, I know I'm not the biggest fan of some of the end game styles but I'm a big fan of choice and if you took that away and said all I could wear was a brown robe and had to look like everyone else, I would be pretty upset.

[Cardinalai]

And I mean that. Xfire says I've logged 974 hours into The Old Republic over the past four months. My biggest gripe with the game so far isn't that end game content is a little light (and it is, but the game's new, and I know a ton of content is coming). It's that Bioware created too many servers for the game's launch, and now many or even most of them feel sparsely populated. I'd say condensing the current number of servers by half would be a pretty good start in addition to cross server PVP.

 

I'm also looking forward to Guild Wars 2. Crazy, I know right? I hear a lot of people complaining that this game's boring, but I just don't see it. They say this game is boring, but they're not saying which game is better. If they could, they'd be playing there. I feel that many people are just burned out on MMOs. Perhaps they never really appreciated the genre to begin with.

 

My favorite complaint to hear about is that this game's repetitive. Have these people never played other games?

 

Starcraft, Counter-strike, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Age of Conan, WoW, Civilization, literally every single video game ever produced is "repetitive." It's pretty much been the same formula for the past three or four decades now. Look at first person shooters. You aim your gun at people and shoot, over and over and over and over, for hundreds of hours on end. How different! Yet I still enjoy a healthy dose of FPS regularly.

 

But enough about other people's complaints, valid or otherwise. What DO I like about this game?

 

It goes without saying, but SWTOR has one of the best atmospheres I've ever played in. The Lord of the Rings and Age of Conan are the only other two MMOs that come close, and they're both built on old, popular fantasy settings. This game gets it right in quite frankly a way that neither of the two KotORs ever did. SWTOR feels like Star Wars, helped in large part by the fantastic soundtrack. When I go to Corellia, I can picture the birthplace of Han Solo. Hoth, Tatooine, Coruscant all drop me right in the middle of the Star Wars universe.

 

Leveling up is also a highlight, featuring generally strong voice acting and some really strong mission/class stories. Even the "find x number of items" missions feel mildly important because an NPC with a voice tells me about it.

 

I also enjoy the two raids even after completing them what feels like a hundred times in nightmare mode. I just enjoy grouping with solid players to clear difficult content. I didn't really like the numerous bugs so much, but I don't see 95% of those bugs anymore.

 

PVP can also prove rewarding and fun (unless I'm solo queuing, then god help me). Ilum was always a bit of a problem child, but I still have a blast in warzones, even though I'm pushing valor 80 now (I don't PVP too often on my sage nowadays since my buddies have taken a 1-2 week break until 1.2, but I still queue up for at least half a dozen warzones daily in the pre-50 bracket on my guardian).

 

I hope they continue supporting the companions with additional quests, dialogue, and other content down the road, but it's off to a solid start.

 

Basically, I'm personally very pleased with the game as it is now, but I also expect plenty of new content from Bioware every 2-3 months, and I expect a higher quality of patch since we're nearing the 6 month mark and they've had time to work out all of their launch issues by now.

 

Go ahead, tell me why I'm wrong and why the game has ruined your life. Better yet, tell me what you like best about this game. I feel like my 6 month sub was a great purchase, and if Bioware had offered a $200 or $300 lifetime sub option, I would have gladly picked one up.

 

I think Bioware has done an excellent job creating lines of well-polished and integrated quests, and have enjoyed all the solo content done thus far. I think there are lots of little places to nit-pick, but on the whole the game is top-notch. I especially like the way phasing was handled, all but eliminating the "waiting for X to spawn" delays.

 

I haven't played in a few weeks, and I struggle to pin-point exactly why. The biggest thing I'm aware of is the sense of isolation I get - I don't feel like I can easily find a couple other people my level and jump into content (my wife and I play together, so this mostly applies to Heroic 4s and flashpoints). Grouping up is a great way to add diversity to leveling (as well as PVP, but I'm not big into it), and I think the initial investment for grouping is simply too high for me right now.

 

I think it's fair to say TOR is far better at release than early Wow, and I'm excited to see what the future will bring... but I do think it's time for the developers to dig in and earn it!

[Toweleeeie]

So you want to take away peoples choice? Gear and artistic style in general is completely subjective. I realize you want simple robes but why should someone who wants something else be limited to only that choice? You can wear plain robes if you like nothing is stopping you. If someone else happens to like or want to wear something more extravagant, why should they not be allowed to? Because you say so? This is an RPG - Role...Playing...Game... if someone wants to role play a Sith/Jedi that recently went to a festive parade it is their choice.

 

Take away peoples choice and there would be WAY more people complaining, I know I'm not the biggest fan of some of the end game styles but I'm a big fan of choice and if you took that away and said all I could wear was a brown robe and had to look like everyone else, I would be pretty upset.

 

Thats not what Im saying at all, I want choice too. With each new update what do you think BW is going to be adding with each tear of gear? I can guarantee it wont be gear that belongs in the Star Wars universe if they keep going in the current direction. So no new gear will be what TRUE Star Wars fans want. So they are infact limiting my choices.

 

I think your imagination is terrible if you think plain robes automatically means boring. They can use different textures(materials), cuts, colors, adding little bits of armor to those different models(like Clone Wars cartoon), hood up, hood down, belts on inside of robe, even no robe at all(mostly skin with torn armor), using the same robes but with different undergarments. Im talking customization, you know like choice.

 

There is always an exception to a rule and in the case of subjectivity, I think this game is it.

 

 

Proof: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=302634

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=388451

[Talahar]

I'm working on my first 50 right now, she's just finished Belsavis,

and I'm having a GREAT time.

I love the stories, I love that I have a companion character that travels with me,

and I think the environments look impressive!

 

SWTOR is exactly what hoped and expected it to be.

I'm very happy, and I already know what characters I will play next after

I leveled this sorceress to 50. And I already know a couple of things

I still have to do with the sorceress....

 

I'll be here for a long time!

[Rzacron]

@ OP: Dang thats a lot of Play-time, you must be super-human, or incapable of getting screen-watching induced epileptic fits.

I deleted my first Character at level 34 because I was so dissapointed and angry at the game, I reluctantly came back (Bored) and space-bar'd myself a 50 to keep for when the game implements some MMO elements down the line. But your right, the Servers are dead too

[Jett-Rinn]

@ OP: Dang thats a lot of Play-time, you must be super-human, or incapable of getting screen-watching induced epileptic fits.

I deleted my first Character at level 34 because I was so dissapointed and angry at the game, I reluctantly came back (Bored) and space-bar'd myself a 50 to keep for when the game implements some MMO elements down the line. But your right, the Servers are dead too

 

If you have to spacebar your way through a game then the game isn't for you and I play on three different servers (not Fatman or swiftsure ) and none of them are dead.

[DGolubets]

Go ahead, tell me why I'm wrong and why the game has ruined your life. Better yet, tell me what you like best about this game.

 

Umh.. You're wrong cos you play it 1/3 of your life. 1/2 if you sleep..

 

I liked leveling my first character and I like PvP combat in TOR. I don't like dead world, loading screens, boring professions, boring companions.

[Valkirus]

I think Bioware has done an excellent job creating lines of well-polished and integrated quests, and have enjoyed all the solo content done thus far. I think there are lots of little places to nit-pick, but on the whole the game is top-notch. I especially like the way phasing was handled, all but eliminating the "waiting for X to spawn" delays.

 

I haven't played in a few weeks, and I struggle to pin-point exactly why. The biggest thing I'm aware of is the sense of isolation I get - I don't feel like I can easily find a couple other people my level and jump into content (my wife and I play together, so this mostly applies to Heroic 4s and flashpoints). Grouping up is a great way to add diversity to leveling (as well as PVP, but I'm not big into it), and I think the initial investment for grouping is simply too high for me right now.

 

I think it's fair to say TOR is far better at release than early Wow, and I'm excited to see what the future will bring... but I do think it's time for the developers to dig in and earn it!

 

I agree with this post. The game is most certainly worth the purchase price and a 3 month sub as min. But after you reach max level and level some alts..it is pretty much over. The lack of tools to help the casuals get into the end game content is serously lacking. My sub runs out this July 23 rd. If I resub will depend on what BioWare does with the end game issue. No matter what tho, I figure I have got my money's worth out of the game. It is the long term investment I am not sure I will do.

[Maginor]

Just curious OP, you play the game 8+ hours a day, every day.... How do you spend those hours?

[Vlaxitov]

Quite simply, the content of this post makes plain that the intended purpose of this thread is flamebait and anticipates such as happening. Edited April 8, 2012 by Vlaxitov

[quantumsheep]

Quite simply, the content of this post makes plain that the intended purpose of this thread is flamebait and anticipates such as happening.

 

It's been pretty civil so far

 

To the OP - yep, I'm enjoying this game immensely. Long may it continue!

 

QS

[The-Magic-Sword]

Have to agree with OP, it's a fairly awesome game, all around- i love the immersion, the game play is just as intuitive as say "WOW" and even as an English Major reads way the heck too much: the writing is excellent.

 

as for the gear- it feels starwarsy to me, for the most part- but then again i'm somewhat familiar with a lot of the less iconic Expanded Universe stuff, so maybe that's why

[Hotbox]

I think if Bioware is going to hire people to make posts like this they really should disclose who they are in the opening sentence.

[Kthx]

I think if Bioware is going to hire people to make posts like this they really should disclose who they are in the opening sentence.

 

Why is it so hard for you to accept that the majority of players playing do it because they have fun?