What do you think of the SW:ToR Launch

[Xeres-]

I entered my early access code Sept 7 and got in early access the second day it was available - which is to say I had 6 days of early access.

 

I received my order from Amazon on the 16th at noon and entered my product key then - 3 days early.

 

I was expecting a long queue on Sith Wyrm when I got home from work at launch day. When I did try to log on at 7:00 PM EST on the 20th there were ~160 people in queue. That wait took less than 10 minutes before I could play. I don't get much lag in the game at all.

 

So, for me, the launch has been rather good.

[Rankaze]

I think it's been great. The only complaint I have at all is the Cover bug (that causes you to not be able to used Aimed Shot) should have been fixed before the game went live. Even that isn't keeping me from enjoying the heck out of my Gunslinger, though.

 

Other than that, I've seen no server issues, no crashing, no lag (and I'm on a Heavy server). Smoothest MMO launch I've ever experienced. Tons of people whining about their Early Game Access notwithstanding (and I was a December pre-order. I had to wait to almost the last wave).

[Warjhinn]

I love this!!!!!

 

I have been through previous launches of other games. This by far is the best! it's nearly flawless up to this point. very little lag. I have played across multiple servers. I have three accounts. Two are for my kids. No problems across several different computer builds.

 

I think this initial launch came off better than some expansions I have seen in the past.

 

I don't see how people can complain so much. This has been an amazing launch. Even Blizzard had game stopping problems at launch of WoW. I had many friends that left after the initial launch and tried again months later after problems were fixed.

 

This likely going to go down in gaming history as the first near flawless launch of an MMORPG.

[its_them]

This game will go down in history as a perfect example of how not to release a MMORG

 

After the 30days playtime scandal (needing to subscribe) the only reason im still playing is because its Starwars.

 

I feel sorry for the people whom bought this game and cant play it until they can commit to a creditcard subscription or a 60day card, hell they cant even post on the forums even tho they pre ordered the game.

[Arkerus]

I think it went great. Best of any MMO.

[Nuth_KM]

I played SW:G which, IMHO, was an unmitigated disaster ...

 

This has been far and above the smoothest release of a real mmorpg in a long time... and I'm loving it. Just not what it offers today.. but I can see the path to more features, updates and pvp space battles in the future.

[_Strimell]

Very fine, actually.

I haven't had any problems during the launch.

[Kishiko]

Sorry to the people having problems I hope they are resolved soon.

 

Myself and two other friends are having no problems. I did have to update my gcard driver but that isn't really a problem. I didn't realize my drivers were so out of date.

[SaltAU]

Average. 6/10

 

Personally I have had several queue times in excess of 3-5 hours (US Swiftsure) and game has crashed a couple of times. Overall the game isn't too bad but has some issues that really need addressing.

[Manananggal]

Aside from a few expected queues it's gone great for me. No serious complaints here.

[aguamoose]

The phantom queues aside, I like it. Just have a sinking feeling it will struggle to get enough subs to sustain itself.

[BlackMaximus]

It was pretty awesome...

 

UNTIL these three things happened.

 

1. Entered Product Registration Code only to realize I could not play, despite the site saying I had my 30 days of free time remaining (said 29 days actually). Realized I needed to enter a Game Time Code, so I double checked all the recent emails from this site and from Origin, trying to find my Game Time Code number. There wasn't one. Then I tried to come to this site and post in the forums to get help, only to have this happen...

 

2. Realization that accounts that have not set up a subscription cannot post in the forums. Seriously, ***? These forums are the best resource for finding help quick and easy, and not having to deal with crap customer support hotlines, and now we basically have to pay to use them. I could understand from a standpoint of wanting to keep spam from non-playing accounts out, but I still think it is stupid to require an active subscription in order post. I hope this changes.

 

3. SWTOR.com suddenly disowned my password, I don't even know what happened. One moment I was logged into the site, the next moment I was logged out and upon trying to log back in, I was met with "LOGIN FAILED" on the site and "Incorrect Password" in the launcher client. Really?? I was just logged in 15 seconds ago!! Had to perform a password change, which wasted a couple of minutes of my time and angered me even more. That, to me, was like rubbing salt in the wound.

 

Obviously, I have now figured out what the problem was, otherwise I wouldn't be posting this. I found this article SWTOR Account Game-Code Issues, and realized that the 30 days of free time that I PAID FOR, would not become available to me until I entered my credit card info or bought a (second) Game Time Code.

 

The fact that we would not be able to play until we either set up CC info or bought another time code is ridiculous. Who's idea was that? For me, it was a nasty little surprise. I would have been more okay with it if BW had done a better job of saying what we needed to do. None of my emails explained this process, and it was my assumption (as I'm certain was many other players' assumptions as well) that a Game Time Code would be included in our purchase. I know a large portion of the playerbase is very PO'd about this, and I'm right there with them.

 

TL;DR Venting rage about the account activation method and 30 day free time redemption.

[dirtyv]

Impressive!

[Warlocc]

Speaking for myself, and having been a part of a handful of other MMO's, I'd rate it 7/10, maybe 8/10 if I were in a good mood.

[Zhiroc]

After the 30days playtime scandal (needing to subscribe) the only reason im still playing is because its Starwars.

 

Every single subscription-based MMOG I have ever joined has required you to fill in paid subscription information in order to get your 30 days free.

[AliceKaye]

During beta I lost out on participating because my account was broken and I could not change my password to fit their new password policy, so after waiting two-three months for BW CS to get back to me (and trust me, we were corresponding almost daily) my issue was never resolved.

 

To put this completely mildly, the customer support that Bioware has representing them currently, is abhorrent.

 

Onto good things:

 

I got into EGA damn near the end of it after having had to make a new account on December 2nd. I'm on Jung Ma, which is the only RP-PVP server on the East coast. It's a very populated server but it's a new game and queues are bound to happen. The longest I've waited was 2 hours and really, I'd rather play on a very populated and healthy server than get right in and have no one to play with.

 

I absolutely love this game. I've been having a blast, and aside from my horrible CS experience, I really like what they've presented to us. I think it's a pretty smooth launch compared to many games and I'm excited to see where they go from here.

[Nikita_Kilemal]

Honestly if I had to pick a word, disappointed comes to mind. Followed by disgust (and a ragequit) when trying to bring up bugs in general resulted in a legion of fanboys yelling at me to go back to WoW for insulting their precious SW jewel.

 

And frankly as one of my friends put it, this isn't a jewel, it's a polished you know what, which while shiny on the surface is still crap at the core.

 

The single biggest offender being a UI that has no excuse existing past beta, much less 2011.

 

For one example of problems try to put abilities in the top of the left toolbar, which resulted in mousing over chat window, which blocked toolbar. And why are said toolbars not moveable in the first place?

 

So when I try to drag chat to bottom corner, i discover it only pulls one tab? Ok...

 

As for others.

 

Go to vendor in the market bazzar, see all this stuff not for my class, pick show usable tab, which shows...every usable item, including ones not for my class still.

 

Equipping companions: Why is there no tooltip for them, i don't care about the stats on heavy armor i can't use, why can't you compare it to corso?

 

Unlisted stats: So I make a stim with a boost of power 6, that's great, i'd love to know what it and alacrity does. Except it's not listed on a character sheet, not in the codex, soooo where do I discover this short of a guildy posting the whole list on our forum?

 

Keybinds: Fun trick, try to bind target nearest enemy to T (right next to my new bind for cover on R) Annnnd discover it doesn't work, yet every other key i tested did. Minor but annoying.

 

The world: I will share the sentiment of others, it doesn't feel alive at all, it feels like a 3rd person shooting gallery with derp mobs just sitting around waiting for me to kill them. there's no connection, no real satisfaction or sense of accomplishment, it's just plowing through waves of mindless drones with the same click routine. None of that joy at a successful kill like I'm getting playing a sneak thief assassin in skyrim for instance (yes yes single vs mmo but look at that world, then this one, tell me which feels more alive)

 

Graphics: Honestly, they seem dated, washed out (even on high with AA) and just . . . well how is it 2011 yet ME1 had better looking character models bioware?

 

Lag spikes, FPS bottom outs, and ability delay issues: All of which are seeming to make me next to useless in combat at times, by the time the delay gets done between click and fire either my target seems to be jedi dead in all the flash, or i just stand there doing nothing. A jedi friend has also complained about this problem when i start firing mortar volley round her. How hard is it to make a queue work? Or have an ability fire when you get into range? As a perfect example of this smoothness I won't even bring up wow, just go watch city of heroes combat. And this is after turning graphics down.

 

Biggest disappointing discovery today though? Seeing that every class light vs dark, even advanced, isn't different in the slightest, not even corrupter vs defender different for those that again played coh. The only thing that's different is the gear, ability name, and animation, yet at it's core every ability does the exact same thing? (Vital shot vs dart, satchel charge vs probe) Are you *********** serious? That's..I want to say lazy but it doesn't fully express my head shaking, where is the replay value in such a choice? Granted you have the skill trees, but even then you still have the same basic abilities, and same basic playstyle, along with having to then see the same story again. Going for one more coh reference look at how many different ability sets are within an archetype, and they just kept adding more.

 

Speaking of the story...

 

I will say this is the one place where bioware has outdone themselves, I love the interaction, the choices, the way to play my character my way. But, and it's a big one, I fear the story is gonna be the games greatest weakness as well. That and all of the above are really getting in the way of enjoying it. MMO's need to keep people, they need replay, and when you combine not wanting to keep seeing the same story, (or even the same instance twice in a night to do two trooper stories, or the same flashpoints over and over for loot) but being forced to play a carbon copy class to see some of the others, what is the long term replay gonna be like?

 

Overall 5/10 I really want to like this game, but do many little things are just marring the experience. I just feel lucky I haven't had to deal with CS, haven't had the pw problems, and no crashing to desktop. But it doesn't change that after the pretty movie and outside the enjoyable cutscenes the gameplay is sorely lacking.