Why Continue To Play SWTOR?

[DirtyDiggler]

I have never played wow, played many other mmo's such as star wars galaxies, face of mankind, darkfall, everquest ect, but NEVER WOW...

 

I always looked at wow as carebear themepark BS and it has never appealed to me. I like open world mmo's

 

The main reason I play this game is because its star wars and it has good story lines convo choices ect...

 

If it was not star wars I would not play it because of the wow like pvp system.

[Spyderwraith]

I'll deny it. I played WoW for about two hours in November 2004. Yes, it is the most popular MMO, but not everyone has been playing it for years. There are other MMOs. I actually came here from LOTRO, and am going back.

 

Do people actually read? Numerous times the OP stated in numerous posts the use of WoW in this context was meant as a {insert generice MMORPG name here}

[elvinu]

excellent read my friend. it actually got me thinking to get the one year subscription on wow and get D3 for free and OFC continue play wow.

 

all this while i was waiting the ESL of SWTOR (endless screen of loading).

 

thank you.

[Yetiquette]

I played wow Casually till like level 30 or something, it was the most boring thig ever. I come from causally playing many MMO's none like WoW, Lotro though. Mainly Runescape, and playing TONS of random ones like FLyff and crap haha.(Flame all you want, i'm from RS, i'm trained to flame and take heat. loll) But I foudn this post interesting, it sums up about 95% of the Sw:tor Youtubers that i've found lol.

[Spyderwraith]

excellent read my friend. it actually got me thinking to get the one year subscription on wow and get D3 for free and OFC continue play wow.

 

all this while i was waiting the ESL of SWTOR (endless screen of loading).

 

thank you.

 

I thought the patch on tuesday was said to resolve or limit the endless screen of loading

[QDMcGraw]

Possibly, but in my opinion your OP seemed like one that did not sound like the Nonsense I've seen on here and aside from the "it's long windedness" (supposed), it was more refreshing then what I've seen here which has been

 

"IHATETHISGAMEFLAMERAGEQUITLEET"

 

An actual discussion could be had.

 

Yep! I was the OP, I've been babysitting this one all day to see what kind of responses it gets. The initial sentences were Troll Chow to suck people into reading the rest. It worked for some, others, not so much. But, like I said earlier, it's length was of design.

 

My true hope is people, mods included since I know they read these, got a chuckle out of it and above all else, made people think.

[Hallowzeve]

Fantastic read OP. I for one am one of those people you described. I am having a hard time leaving WoW with all of the time I have invested.

 

This game though, it has really gotten my attention and I am enjoying it to pieces.

 

Sure there are some things that I flat out do not like, are annoyed by, cannot stand, but I have faith that in time those will be changed.

 

For now though I am thoroughly enjoying this game and everything that it has to offer.

 

Also, you can clearly see those who are in denial of their true feelings.

[artilleryshell]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

[theRevenant]

Does anybody else see the irony in the first couple of replies? "Your wall of text was too long to be worth reading. I'm still going to reply, though. Why? Because my opinions and comments clearly ARE worth paying attention to, despite the fact that I've just said that I didn't even read the thing that I'm supposed to be commenting about, and therefore can't possibly be basing this comment on anything other than my own arrogance".

 

Oddly enough, the reason I stopped playing WoW was nothing to do with disillusionment with the end-game. It was disillusionment with the community. Sure, not everyone was an arrogant, self-important elitist but there were enough of them to sour the experience.

 

As for SW:TOR, I'm loving it. Is it as polished as WoW? Nope. Is it intended to be the same experience as WoW? Nope. I tend to think of it more as a successor to the original KotOR games, with optional MMO elements. It's also the first MMO from a company that's always been more focussed on story driven content, AND the first MMO to HAVE so much story driven content. I have no doubt that the game will evolve, just like WoW did. Everbody complaining about the lack of content seems to be failing to realise that if that content was available now they'd probably have completed it by now and STILL be complaining about the lack of content...

 

 

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Tell that to Billy Connolly... Edited December 30, 2011 by theRevenant

[Spyderwraith]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

 

it can also be said brevity breeds apathy

[Dukibritches]

Hilarious! I bet it hits close to home for most of the complainers on this forum. Ya the game has bugs, but **** with the complaining and be constructive people!

[andrewmelling]

It's an RPG experience to be shared with other players. Just like in Table Top gaming, there are adventures to be had and loot to be won, and that's it. In simplistic terms, it's a table top game condensed and sped up with a flashy user interface.

 

Ok I get that. But why hasn't anybody innovated in this genre in the same way ID Software did when they created Wolfenstein and Doom? This game feels like the ones I used to play before Doom revolutionized gaming. I feel like a spectator rather than a player, especially in combat. All the missions are so small and insignificant. I would liken an MMO to watching a soap opera that is on 3-4 times a week. Nothing much happens of note and what does, happens so slowly. Whereas traditional games like Battlefield, Mass Effect etc etc etc are more like the Star Wars movies, they have a plot and are crammed with entertainment value and the wow factor. I know which I would rather watch. Such a shame really I had high hopes.

[Spyderwraith]

Does anybody else see the irony in the first couple of replies? "Your wall of text was too long to be worth reading. I'm still going to reply, though. Why? Because my opinions and comments clearly ARE worth paying attention to, despite the fact that I've just said that I didn't even read the thing that I'm supposed to be commenting about, and therefore can't possibly be basing this comment on anything other than my own arrogance".

 

Oddly enough, the reason I stopped playing WoW was nothing to do with disillusionment with the end-game. It was disillusionment with the community. Sure, not everyone was an arrogant, self-important elitist but there were enough of them to sour the experience.

 

As for SW:TOR, I'm loving it. Is it as polished as WoW? Nope. Is it intended to be the same experience as WoW? Nope. I tend to think of it more as a successor to the original KotOR games, with optional MMO elements. It's also the first MMO from a company that's always been more focussed on story driven content, AND the first MMO to HAVE so much story driven content. I have no doubt that the game will evolve, just like WoW did. Everbody complaining about the lack of content seems to be failing to realise that if that content was available now they'd probably have completed it by now and STILL be complaining about the lack of content...

 

 

Agreed. Especially the first point of which is again leading toward the "entitled" mantra so many are subscribing to in this case

 

"Your entitled to my opinion I couldn't even care to read yours but you WILL have mine regardless"

 

And third point on two fronts

1) It is NOT a typical MMO in such that it has a massive STORY driven aspect, which as a person who in my opinion is an AVID and ultimately hardcore (in the sense that I game constantly I'm not sure how "hardcore" gamers would say they are such when in my opinon which is of course only mine they raid and boss kill and etc ad nauseum.. oooooo hardcore!) gamer is refreshing to see and

 

2) Those who complain about content now, will forever complain about content as they are built on "more is never enough"

[QDMcGraw]

Does anybody else see the irony in the first couple of replies? "Your wall of text was too long to be worth reading. I'm still going to reply, though. Why? Because my opinions and comments clearly ARE worth paying attention to, despite the fact that I've just said that I didn't even read the thing that I'm supposed to be commenting about, and therefore can't possibly be basing this comment on anything other than my own arrogance".

 

Oddly enough, the reason I stopped playing WoW was nothing to do with disillusionment with the end-game. It was disillusionment with the community. Sure, not everyone was an arrogant, self-important elitist but there were enough of them to sour the experience.

 

As for SW:TOR, I'm loving it. Is it as polished as WoW? Nope. Is it intended to be the same experience as WoW? Nope. I tend to think of it more as a successor to the original KotOR games, with optional MMO elements. It's also the first MMO from a company that's always been more focussed on story driven content, AND the first MMO to HAVE so much story driven content. I have no doubt that the game will evolve, just like WoW did. Everbody complaining about the lack of content seems to be failing to realise that if that content was available now they'd probably have completed it by now and STILL be complaining about the lack of content...

 

 

Tell that to Billy Connolly...

 

I quit WoW for the same reason. The player base was highly annoying and also the grind was just a drag. I came back from an 8 month break right before Cata with still one of the best gear scores on the server to find GS had become passe. That explains a lot about the player base: The tool they used to judge each other was in itself hated by themselves. I did the pre-quests the whole time trying to ignore the negativity, then cata dropped and I was gone within a week forever.

 

And, you're absolutely right, the elitists would have torn through any and all content BioWare setup for them by now and still be complaining it's not enough.

[QDMcGraw]

Ok I get that. But why hasn't anybody innovated in this genre in the same way ID Software did when they created Wolfenstein and Doom? This game feels like the ones I used to play before Doom revolutionized gaming. I feel like a spectator rather than a player, especially in combat. All the missions are so small and insignificant. I would liken an MMO to watching a soap opera that is on 3-4 times a week. Nothing much happens of note and what does, happens so slowly. Whereas traditional games like Battlefield, Mass Effect etc etc etc are more like the Star Wars movies, they have a plot and are crammed with entertainment value and the wow factor. I know which I would rather watch. Such a shame really I had high hopes.

 

If you follow your class quests, I know they can get lost in the litany of other quests, it is actually a compelling story! I am still after the bad guys on all my characters and invested in what I am going to do to them when I actually catch them.

 

High points for me:

*Getting my ship back as a Smuggler. GREAT story arc, and yet, the guy who stole it still evades and taunts me.

*Creating my Saber for my Dark Jedi. I did the quest in Beta and knew what was going to happen, so I chose to go Dark. The choices are downright funny (though a little sadistic) to the story arc, and having the choice to create a Sith Weapon was awesome!

 

To be honest, BF is a series of battles strung together with a weak plot. Mass Effect is very much in tune with TOR, though, and that's where it all came from, which is again, why I am enjoying the questing.

 

My advice would be to pay close attention to your class quests, maybe even make an alt to follow that story closely from the beginning and get involved with the questline. It's a lot of fun, and much more immersive than all other RPG's I've played. The class quest line is akin to EQ Epic 1.0's from Kunark in my opinion. Very compelling story lines.

[QDMcGraw]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

 

I purposely ignored the brevity rule to weed out those I was speaking of, knowing they wouldn't read it all, but tried to keep the wit.

[Florial]

Good read OP, even if I get the feeling that reading is a lost art amongst some. Geeze.

 

A game like WoW, EQ, etc can be hard habits to break. Especially WoW that has so much content that has been added over the years. While I'm not really one to hold any MMO player, no matter how elite, on a pedestal, there were some that I really envied in WoW. My guild leader for example who had done all the holiday events over the years, had almost the maximum number of mounts and all sorts of other sparkly things that I thought were pretty neat (I'm more of a long term fluff gal). Although I didn't play WoW as long as some, I thought that I was in for the long haul and had some long term goals in mind. That is until I got utterly disgusted with the community and eventually quit the game. On the other hand, I have a friend who has played WoW since day 1, has played the AH since day 1 and probably is one of the richest people on her server(s). I don't ever see her leaving WoW since she has so much time (and real life money) invested in the game. She has paid for multiple character transfers between servers just to help her other crafters, etc. I can't ever see her leaving WoW, especially for a brand spanking new game like SWTOR.

 

I play an MMO for what it is. I don't have any high expectations for SWTOR. Will it have long term appeal for me? Don't know. All I can say is that my husband and I are having a blast and haven't had so much fun in a game in years. SWTOR is a duo paradise for us. I love my companions---well most since Khem Val always wants to chomp on me. The stories are great, especially the class stories. This game has really immersed me and I an enjoying myself. Then again, we are the very casual player who have only hit level 26 and it will probably take us another month or so to reach level 50. This game is built for our playstyle and I'm very happy.

 

I suppose that a long term WoW (or insert whatever MMO you may have played) will have to make a decision. Do you play both? Do you play SWTOR for a bit, realize that it is new game and has growing ahead of it. Or do you go back to WoW, a fine game, and happily stick with that for another few years. Personal choice.

[Qoojo]

You have way too much idle time.

[andrewmelling]

If you follow your class quests, I know they can get lost in the litany of other quests, it is actually a compelling story! I am still after the bad guys on all my characters and invested in what I am going to do to them when I actually catch them.

 

High points for me:

*Getting my ship back as a Smuggler. GREAT story arc, and yet, the guy who stole it still evades and taunts me.

*Creating my Saber for my Dark Jedi. I did the quest in Beta and knew what was going to happen, so I chose to go Dark. The choices are downright funny (though a little sadistic) to the story arc, and having the choice to create a Sith Weapon was awesome!

 

To be honest, BF is a series of battles strung together with a weak plot. Mass Effect is very much in tune with TOR, though, and that's where it all came from, which is again, why I am enjoying the questing.

 

My advice would be to pay close attention to your class quests, maybe even make an alt to follow that story closely from the beginning and get involved with the questline. It's a lot of fun, and much more immersive than all other RPG's I've played. The class quest line is akin to EQ Epic 1.0's from Kunark in my opinion. Very compelling story lines.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply, your insight is very interesting. I get what you are driving at with Battlefield but it does a good job of simulating battle and is exciting to play. So unfortunately I think I must be a high impact/quick thrill gamer and favour FPS combat as it is more immersive and exciting (I may have learnt something from this exercise after all). This point based combat feels more like a secondary school maths class (or indeed a board game, which I have always hated) to me at the moment. The story just moves too slowly. All this "get me five of these", "recover these 3 stolen items" is just too lightweight and by all accounts just the same as WOW and all the other MMOs out there, it doesn't really seem to be telling me a story. I was hoping for something really different like Skyrim or Grand Theft Auto but with a whole planet(s). I fear it is dead in the water and will probably be uninstalled by tomorrow morning. Thanks again anyway.

[amnie]

We know you came from WoW, don't deny it. Everyone playing MMO's has had a run through the turnstile of the most popular MMO out there. [...]

 

if this does not apply to me, is there a point in reading all 20+ pages?

 

oh well, I will do it anyway, just ignore the OP... heh

[QDMcGraw]

You have way too much idle time.

 

It's the holidays! I'm only in the office because I didn't want to burn PTO, and I get to sit and post on the forums all day. Yes, I am literally getting paid to post on the Star Wars forums this week. I'll have made over a grand this week doing nothing more than posting here. I lub my job!

 

/ok, so I've done a few things and caught up on a project, but that left me 7.5 hours to post here today.

[GrizzlyJew]

I am old. I remember a time when I played with lead pewter robots and a set of dice, then computers appeared, they were marvelous. We created text based worlds and lasting friendships that spanned games and time, then they gave us graphics and huge timesinks and we called it "hard". WoW came along and perfected the "carrot on a stick" treadmill of gear grinding. It's a good game that incorprated all the mechanics of it's forefathers and happened to launch at the exact time online gaming was exploding in the US. Achievements? Brilliant time sinks, everyone loves titles and companion pets. Now SWTOR is here.....it's not WoW, in fact...it's different, but not different enough for some, not similar enough for others. On launch day it has dungeons, raids, PVP, vehicles, companions, lasers, good stories, decent mechanics and lightsabers. Everything you need to play and be happy, but not if you have 10 hours a day to invest. The OP is right, it's an attitude, a choice. Games are fun, sadly, a segment of the population that WoW introduced to MMOs yearns for something, anything...but just not <insert MMOs name here>. This game will be fine. It will probably make enough money to justify it's existence and support a community for years to come. It won't be what Wow WAS in the past, because neither will WoW. The Community has always taken Blizzard at face value for their subscription numbers and market share, the truth is somewhere they don't want you to look...the bottom line. That being said.....there is a place somewhere for a niche market game that is just needlessly hard, with dozens of Epeen waving mechanics and time sinks to occupy the apparent infinite time of current generation of MMO players. Sadly, we are stuck with the toxic nature of modern forums, they'll sit around and complain for a month or three, then move on to the next FOTM MMO and ***** those forums up and complain. The cycle of life continues.

[andrewmelling]

Good read OP, even if I get the feeling that reading is a lost art amongst some. Geeze.

 

A game like WoW, EQ, etc can be hard habits to break. Especially WoW that has so much content that has been added over the years. While I'm not really one to hold any MMO player, no matter how elite, on a pedestal, there were some that I really envied in WoW. My guild leader for example who had done all the holiday events over the years, had almost the maximum number of mounts and all sorts of other sparkly things that I thought were pretty neat (I'm more of a long term fluff gal). Although I didn't play WoW as long as some, I thought that I was in for the long haul and had some long term goals in mind. That is until I got utterly disgusted with the community and eventually quit the game. On the other hand, I have a friend who has played WoW since day 1, has played the AH since day 1 and probably is one of the richest people on her server(s). I don't ever see her leaving WoW since she has so much time (and real life money) invested in the game. She has paid for multiple character transfers between servers just to help her other crafters, etc. I can't ever see her leaving WoW, especially for a brand spanking new game like SWTOR.

 

I play an MMO for what it is. I don't have any high expectations for SWTOR. Will it have long term appeal for me? Don't know. All I can say is that my husband and I are having a blast and haven't had so much fun in a game in years. SWTOR is a duo paradise for us. I love my companions---well most since Khem Val always wants to chomp on me. The stories are great, especially the class stories. This game has really immersed me and I an enjoying myself. Then again, we are the very casual player who have only hit level 26 and it will probably take us another month or so to reach level 50. This game is built for our playstyle and I'm very happy.

 

I suppose that a long term WoW (or insert whatever MMO you may have played) will have to make a decision. Do you play both? Do you play SWTOR for a bit, realize that it is new game and has growing ahead of it. Or do you go back to WoW, a fine game, and happily stick with that for another few years. Personal choice.

 

Incredible I wish I could see what the draw is for something that is so repetitive and has no apparent ending. I love gaming but have so many other things going on in my life that to fritter away so much time on something so insignificant as a never ending game seems criminal. Horses for Courses I guess, I'm sure you understand it. I am informed that my friends son flunked all his GCSEs because of WOW which seems so tragic (some blame his father but you can't sit on their shoulders 24/7). Funny old world really.

[Granrick]

Wonderful post. I love the sarcasm.

[QDMcGraw]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, your insight is very interesting. I get what you are driving at with Battlefield but it does a good job of simulating battle and is exciting to play. So unfortunately I think I must be a high impact/quick thrill gamer and favour FPS combat as it is more immersive and exciting (I may have learnt something from this exercise after all). This point based combat feels more like a secondary school maths class (or indeed a board game, which I have always hated) to me at the moment. The story just moves too slowly. All this "get me five of these", "recover these 3 stolen items" is just too lightweight and by all accounts just the same as WOW and all the other MMOs out there, it doesn't really seem to be telling me a story. I was hoping for something really different like Skyrim or Grand Theft Auto but with a whole planet(s). I fear it is dead in the water and will probably be uninstalled by tomorrow morning. Thanks again anyway.

 

Oh! Ok, I know what you mean. SW, was at one point, being toted as FPS RPG type game but in truth, it's because there is no Auto Attack. You have to press the buttons manually every time you want to attack (we'll steer away from the issues and bugs of this at this point).

 

FPS games are instant action, for sure, and do that quite well. But, let's seriously look at the FPS games out there. They've had no innovation whatever in years, dang near a decade, the only thing they are adding is more realistic graphics. To use your analogy of collection quests in MMO's, all FPS games are Capture The Flag style games with different settings and eras. It's a tough pill to swallow when you realize this, but it's very true.

 

I contend there have been no actual advancements in Gameplay in any genre for almost a decade. Only new genres are being created, old genres are merely being updated with better skins (higher end graphics), and are quite interchangeable, at best.

 

BF games are like MW games. The rabid fanbois of each game will eat me alive for saying this and go to great lengths to prove me wrong, but, were I to set up 2 screen shots, 1 of each, it would be VERY difficult to tell them apart.

 

Not to get off on a rant here, but I've been around video games since they started, and I mean prior to the Atari 2600. Back in the day, you'd get a NES or Sega game for your console and it would take weeks or months to finish. A 256M game on a cartridge would take months to finish. Any player of the original Zelda can attest to this. These days games come in at around 8-20 GIGS and can be beaten in a weekend. Bio Shock was an awesome, beautiful game, and I finished it in 12 hours.

 

Does this mean games were better? Define 'better' that everyone can agree on, then we'll discuss what was what.