Bioware's SWTOR isn't a Blizzard game. Warcraft, even Pre-WOTLK, doesn't come close.

[Crash-X]

Agreed. This game is great right now for me. If you feel so just don't mind the haters, go log in and have fun.

 

I'd like to say though the space combat is fun! I know people don't like that it is on rails but meh, it is what it is and it's something to do say right before you log off and you have a few minutes to waste it does the job well.

 

Also The companion system is a complete win. I can't wait to see how Bioware will expand on this.

[Proto]

I don't entirely disagree with you on that. The crafting being a rote process in a lot of games isn't at all desirable. I could wish for it being a good bit more interesting all around, instead of click a button, wait 30 seconds, get your microwaved eggs and chow down, but I'm not going to say that TOR is an improvement in terms of what I'd like, just a removal of some of the bother.

 

My thoughts on this are that crafting in other MMO's involved too much hunter/gatherer and not enough creation. SWTOR took the boring tedium out of what I didn't like and allowed me to put it on the back-burner as I accomplished other tasks. My complaint, however, is that I never actually craft anything. I can't understand why a crafting system will only allow my crew to create something, but I can't?

[Cyli]

Nice post!

 

couldnt agree more.

Just got my spaceship. Havnt bein this excited since Vanilla wow.

[icanhasraegtiem]

Quit being so threatened by three little letters that you have to make inane posts justifying your feelings. Just play the game and be happy. Edited December 18, 2011 by icanhasraegtiem

[CygnusMX]

A game that is very ambitious in its attempt to change the genre in its own big way and I'll try to explain. SWTOR is not something I would compare to WOW because the game has done so much more to push the envelope and take risks that other developers wouldn't have dared try in an MMO. Don't believe me just take a look at Trion's clone disaster: Rift.

 

For example:

 

1) Companions - the customization of having a class within a class, (and several of them) that you can gear up, send on missions, craft for you, accompany you, defend or heal you, is unheard of in an MMO besides a mindless pet beast of some sort.

 

2) Your own housing (starship) right at launch. I'm sure we'll be able to add or modify the inside of our ships at a later date but you can only get done what you can get done on a schedule and budget for launch. Not only that but this "home" has a crew in your companions that come with you throughout your storyline. You also get expanded storage, access to fast inter-galactic travel, shooter mission terminal, etc. Very innovative for an MMO.

 

3) FPS Shooter built-in to an MMO!? - Yea, that is pretty original. To be able to use your player housing (your ship) as a battle tool for missions and be able to customize your ship with upgrades is fantastic. Never seen it before in any other game.

 

4) Crew skills - totally different way of crafting and one that doesn't involve me wasting time to gather and craft so I can have fun doing other things is very unique. I never liked crafting in other MMOs until this one came about.

 

5) Moddable gear - I can use the same light saber I got at level 10 all the way through the game if I want by constantly upgrading it. It is excellent from a lore standpoint and very creative in how they tied all that together with the crafting system.

 

6) Traveling and binds - Big improvement here. No longer necessary to bind anywhere as in all other MMOs. Here we can simply learn a checkpoint and refer to it within the zone whenever we want. The other speeder/flying travel routes are numerous enough so you never feel you are wasting a huge amount of time walking if you're forced to.

 

7) Voiceover - there is no need to explain here as this is the only MMO we've seen beyond Age of Conan that has been so nicely voiced over post level 20 Tortage! If you consider how much rich story is in each class for both sides Republic and Empire, only then can you really appreciate how much work has gone into bringing the player into the Star Wars universe and story. Even if this is something you'll only enjoy the first time through, its still wonderfully different and enveloping.

 

8) Warzones - very different and unique way of doing PVP in an MMO. I love Huttball and I don't think anyone hates it. Bioware can only get better with making changes in the future to this and the other cool warzones out there. Its not your same old "go get a flag or go stand on this spot" like other MMOs. These are like storylines built in to the maps. Destroy a ship, guard a base, plant explosives, etc. Very fun concepts for PVP.

 

9) Character action consequence - while we all should understand that our character's actions should not permanently change the game world as that would not make sense for all other players, it is nice that we can at least change OUR characters based on the light/dark choices we make. Even visually, we can see as our characters become more evil, etc. This in turn gives us access to different gear based on our alignment. Again, original and I love it.

 

10) No factions - thank god I can't tell you how happy I am about seeing an MMO with zero faction grinding. One of the WORST developments in MMOs I have ever seen and again I can't begin to explain how pleased I am to see its not in SWTOR!

 

 

There are many other great things about this game and of course, the problems. Server queues.... well, you know that they are forced caps to make the impatient leave and spread the population to other servers, right? Its temporary and necessary. The UI? The UI is a disaster, I know. I hope they listen to the community and make changes to it fast. Other than that I have to say its a smooth game, smooth launch, great fun, and very polished for being just released.

 

So far this game is extremely ambitious for an MMO and I honestly doubt we'll ever see anything come close to this in the near future considering how much time and money was spent on this software. It really is history-making for the gaming industry in this genre.

 

Totaly agree ,except the UI feels Intuiative to me and works fine, If they improve it thats only a + for me.

 

Only comparison to WoW i can make ,I quit WoW after 30 days Due to the lack of fun,Had more fun the first day in SWTOR than I ever did in my short 30 day Grind of TRYING to enjoy Wow

[Smoda]

I don't entirely disagree with you on that. The crafting being a rote process in a lot of games isn't at all desirable. I could wish for it being a good bit more interesting all around, instead of click a button, wait 30 seconds, get your microwaved eggs and chow down, but I'm not going to say that TOR is an improvement in terms of what I'd like, just a removal of some of the bother.

 

I'd say removing some bother is an improvement

[CygnusMX]

Quit being so threatened by three little letters that you have to make inane posts justifying your feelings. Just play the game and be happy.

 

So who is the 1 threatened by the 3 little letters? LOL

No make that 5 little letters !

Edited December 18, 2011 by CygnusMX

[Smoda]

Quit being so threatened by three little letters that you have to make inane posts justifying your feelings. Just play the game and be happy.

 

It was a well written post. At least he/she didn't say "OMGZ WoW WILL FAIL SWTOR FTW!1!!"

[Zilliztra]

6) Traveling and binds - Big improvement here. No longer necessary to bind anywhere as in all other MMOs. Here we can simply learn a checkpoint and refer to it within the zone whenever we want. The other speeder/flying travel routes are numerous enough so you never feel you are wasting a huge amount of time walking if you're forced to.

 

I dont agree with this point.

 

Traveling in this game is horrible compared to wow.

 

takes 15-20 min to get from illum to voss. Try it.

 

Illum -> run to flight path -> run to orbital ship -> run to elevator -> run to ship phase -> run to ship -> run to glalaxy map -> exit ship -> run to elevator -> run to space station -> run to orbital ship -> land on voss -> take flight path.

 

This is traveling in SWTOR and sucks.

 

When people get to high level gaming they will see this and go: ***!

Edited December 18, 2011 by Zilliztra

[Colobulous]

I'd say removing some bother is an improvement

 

I'd still prefer they make a better crafting system, to a form that I consider more interesting.

 

But I guess if it's not going to happen that way, the least bothersome way is better.

[Smoda]

I'd still prefer they make a better crafting system, to a form that I consider more interesting.

 

But I guess if it's not going to happen that way, the least bothersome way is better.

 

Unfortunately it will never happen. If you make it too complex it only caters to the most interested and devoted crafters. It has to be simple enough for everyone to use and enjoy. Just like everything else that is simple enough for everyone, it is boring.

[Colobulous]

Unfortunately it will never happen. If you make it too complex it only caters to the most interested and devoted crafters. It has to be simple enough for everyone to use and enjoy. Just like everything else that is simple enough for everyone, it is boring.

 

Maybe, but I've not give up hope entirely, though I would not say that the system I want would necessarily be complex. I'd prefer it be simple, but interesting, which is, if anything a bigger challenge.

 

Like say, Angry Birds. A simple game, but very interesting despite lacking complexity.

[Smoda]

Maybe, but I've not give up hope entirely, though I would not say that the system I want would necessarily be complex. I'd prefer it be simple, but interesting, which is, if anything a bigger challenge.

 

Like say, Angry Birds. A simple game, but very interesting despite lacking complexity.

 

Well said

[elvinu]

thats "a lot" of "innovation" for a x years/hundreds of millions of $ MMORPG.

 

/sarcasm

 

not even a button to skip all the cinematic.. not asking for innovation..

 

edit: dont mention space bar

Edited December 18, 2011 by elvinu

[Proto]

I'd still prefer they make a better crafting system, to a form that I consider more interesting.

 

But I guess if it's not going to happen that way, the least bothersome way is better.

 

I'm not sure but did you play SWG? I only ask because that game had one of the most developed crafting systems I've seen and I recall how many people loved it. I really doubt that we'll ever see that here in SWTOR. Too involved and doesn't cater to the majority. =\

[Altumus]

thats "a lot" of "innovation" for a x years/hundreds of millions of $ MMORPG.

 

/sarcasm

 

not even a button to skip all the cinematic.. not asking for innovation..

 

edit: don't mention space bar

 

Obviously you have never looked at the "OPTIONS" you know, the one where it has a check box to "SKIP ALL CINEMATICS"

[GianBaal]

I just got my own spaceship. It's freaking awesome

 

You certainly are no bounty hunter, that's for sure...

[Proto]

You certainly are no bounty hunter, that's for sure...

 

Is the bounty hunter ship horrible or something?

[krighton]

Those are all excellent features and definite hooks for players tired of WoW, but I still fail to see why comparing SWTOR to WoW is not allowed. After all, despite how compelling these features are, what do you spend the core of your game time doing? Try answering that question without coming up with an answer that also works for WoW (or any of its clones).

 

it's special enough to have 2.5 million preorders pounding on the door of their servers to be let in.

Edited December 18, 2011 by krighton

[Colobulous]

I'm not sure but did you play SWG? I only ask because that game had one of the most developed crafting systems I've seen and I recall how many people loved it. I really doubt that we'll ever see that here in SWTOR. Too involved and doesn't cater to the majority. =\

 

I was not suggesting an implementation of that crafting system either, FWIW. Or many other aspects of that game.

[Warstrike]

Both games (WOW and SWTOR) were ground-breaking in there time

 

Look getting 12M subscriptions changed the nature of MMO value

Thus allowing Bioware/Lucas to get the money to try to build SWTOR.

 

And - yes the technology has advanced considerbly

So... it is better

 

And - yes Bioware's story driven methodology is very appealing for many (and not for some)

But - in it's day WOW was considered ground-breaking in its ability to incorporate such diverse play styles.

 

And yes, WOW has gotten a bit dated, and the lore a bit old for many (but not all). I myself grew weary of it a year ago.

 

I simply wish both old and new well, and a healthy holiday to the entire buisness model.

[Proto]

it's special enough to have 2.5 million preorders pounding on the door of their servers to be let in.

 

Do you know what Rift's preorder numbers were by chance? I can't think of any MMO that had this many digital preorders. I think 2+ million are just digital copies, not including box preorders.

[DarthKhaos]

You got my vote.

[steroidfreak]

best game in years and i rember wolfenstein 3d

[British]

Yes, I enjoy the game too

 

 

2) Your own housing (starship) right at launch. I'm sure we'll be able to add or modify the inside of our ships at a later date but you can only get done what you can get done on a schedule and budget for launch. Not only that but this "home" has a crew in your companions that come with you throughout your storyline. You also get expanded storage, access to fast inter-galactic travel, shooter mission terminal, etc. Very innovative for an MMO.

 

 

Well it's not much of a house, I'm coming from SWG and while I understand it's just launched I expect a lot more from my house, there are no 'fancy' items in this game yet.

 

 

3) FPS Shooter built-in to an MMO!? - Yea, that is pretty original. To be able to use your player housing (your ship) as a battle tool for missions and be able to customize your ship with upgrades is fantastic. Never seen it before in any other game.

 

 

Once again I hate the space combat, It's a joke really!

 

 

9) Character action consequence - while we all should understand that our character's actions should not permanently change the game world as that would not make sense for all other players, it is nice that we can at least change OUR characters based on the light/dark choices we make. Even visually, we can see as our characters become more evil, etc. This in turn gives us access to different gear based on our alignment. Again, original and I love it.

 

 

There is no action consequence, it's an illusion. I don't want to change other folks games just mine. Choices I make should come back to bite me, I should be able to peeve my companion so they leave me etc...

Edited December 18, 2011 by British