SWTOR

So I have been playing MMO's since Ultima Online and my highest participation in MMO's was with Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes, WoW and DC Universe. I suffered from WoW addiction for close to 5 years and now have my 2 year chip from WoWA.

Here are some thoughts in no particular order, rhyme or reason:

It has what I call a single player mode, AKA Class Story, in fact it has 8 of them. If you enjoy Single Player RPG's and Star Wars, I highly recommend checking the game out for even though it does have a monthly subscription.

You choose a class and each class has a story that unfolds as you level all the way to the level cap. This in a sense is your traditional Single Player RPG, but basically 8 in 1 since there are 8 classes to choose from (4 dark, 4 light).

Unfortunately you can't just work through the story quests as you level, so it can get grindy at times as you knock out side quests to gain level to progress your class story chain.

Also like a Single Player RPG, ALL quests (except repeatable ones) are completely Voice Acted and cut-scene with dialogue interaction via a 3 choice menu. This is true for all levels and all quests and the devs have said this will not change as more content is added. The only bad part is there is no way to escape to the end if you have already done the quest before.

PvP is just okay. it basically comes down to running around like a drunk lunatic mashing spells in an efficient order. The Warzone or Instanced PvP allows all levels to play simultaneously, they basically buff your stats so that everyone is roughly similar in what they should be if they were all the same level. You just don't get the spells/abilities you would have if you were the higher level.

Outside of this the other aspects are fairly similar to other MMO's and I will say SWTOR does not have much originality when it comes to the MMO genre as far as mechanics go. Story is top notch and probably the best I have played ever in a MMO, and the story chain quests really lets you Role Play your character which you don't typically get a feeling for in MMO's

TL;DR; (Too Long; Didn't Read; for you non-redditors) If you like RPG's and you like Star Wars, grab it for a month or two and give it a try, the Class Story Quest Chains are basically single player RPG stories!

--------------------------------
Mr. Hadaka, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having read your post. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Was interested before - really interested now.
Good review.
I like the single mode where you have 8 different paths, - so the single player portion actually has 8 different looks - paths?

How long are they (30 min - 2 hours?)

.......

I wasn't quite clear...on that.

Each class has it's own story, I would estimate about 2-5 quests per character level. right now I play a warrior who is working up the ranks of the Sith Empire under the tutelage of "Darth baras". This story unravels over the course of 50 character levels and takes quite a bit of time. I have been playing since 12/15 and I am only level 32 with a best guess of close to 40+ hours of game time.

So if you choose Empire/Sith Sorcerer you will get a whole different story line with associated quests, however you reuse the side quests for each class.

It would be like play a watered down version of Skyrim as one class, and then playing it as another again, only the main story arc is different but all the side/filler quests are there and your playing in the same environments/worlds.

When I say single player, it's not truely single player, and I do have to grind through side quests to get my character high enough level to work through the class quests.

The fact that ALL quests are voice acted and cutscene is what gives it the "singleplayer" feel and the fact that you have a story that you go through for the entire leveling of your character adds to that feeling.

I haven't played skyrim, but if you would put them side by side, I would guess Skyrim would beat it hands down on almost all aspects...I am just using it as a reference for playtype comparison.

Very cool - reminds me of a series of book series from Michael Moorcock

Moorcock's books are generally linked into a super-cycle by the device of the Eternal Champion. This has all of the heroes being linked by the possession of the same spirit, a kind of meta-hero, whether they know it or not.

Each book has a chapter where ALL Eternal Champions come together to do a specific task - and in each book they see this task from their own point of view looking at each other Champion as odd - not knowing its really them in a different realm.

Kind of heady but there are at least 4 sets for trilogy that all combine in this one area doing this one thing.... cool when you read enough of them to get whats going on.

Hadaka, Thanks for an excellent write up. That actually sounds interesting for at least one run through.

In WoW, I found that leveling as a group was always better, but I didn't have as much time to play as others, so I fell behind. This led me to changing my class and play style to be able to solo everything.

How does SWOTR compare on the solo vs group stuff? Can a lower level play with a higher level and not get penalized?

<Beavis> More-Cock </Beavis>
<Butthead> huh huh huh, that was cool </butthead>

🤘

Atomm wrote:Hadaka, Thanks for an excellent write up. That actually sounds interesting for at least one run through.

In WoW, I found that leveling as a group was always better, but I didn't have as much time to play as others, so I fell behind. This led me to changing my class and play style to be able to solo everything.

How does SWOTR compare on the solo vs group stuff? Can a lower level play with a higher level and not get penalized?

Currently my guild is just a handful of friends from Oklahoma and our schedules are very different so I have been playing mostly solo. SWTOR labels the quests by color (similar to WoW) but they also identify if it is a Heroic quest and how many people are suggested for it (usually 2 or 4). Groups are limited to 4.

There is also a companion system...essentially the equivalent of a Hunter pet or Warlock pet from WoW, only every class gets one. You can have a range DPS, Healer, Tank, etc for the pet (similar to the pets and warlocks in WoW). You get these companions at certain levels in your class quest chain. So now even solo play becomes a little easier because you are basically a group of 2 running around solo.

The Class Story quests are always instanced and restricted to your specific class so it is almost completely done solo. (I have not tried to enter a story quest with someone of the same class and story level).

I have skipped almost all the Heroic quests requiring 2 or more. All heroic quests are not part of the story chain and are side quests. I can solo some of them with my healing pet, but not all. I occassionally find a LFG in chat for Heroics and I have run a few with a PuG (pick up group) and it isn't to bad.

Like in WoW (my experience is with Warrior) there are usually 2 roles per class, the same can be said for each class in SWTOR, however, SWTOR differs in that each class doesn't forego DPS for the opposite role. IE Warrior tanks, have DPS abilities that don't make being a TANK unsoloable like it did in WoW for leveling. They may not do as much DPS as a DPS warrior but it isn't as drastic like in WoW. Same with the Sorcerer class (WoW Priest equiv). You can be DPS and Healer without changing spec. Yes if your spec is heavy on healing your DPS won't be as high as a DPS spec, but it won't be hit as bad either like in WoW.

So again, long story short, I have made it to level 32 on 95% solo, and skipped almost all the group required stuff and it has not hindered my game play and leveling.

They also have Flashpoints (WoW instances) as you level. They are completely optional and really are their own side story with quests and of course the rare drops/gear. I have done a few to just see the side quest chain through, but I haven't farmed them and you by no means have to do them at all to move up.

One thing i forgot to add was the "Space/ship" quests. Each class gets a ship (you are either a sith lord or jedi knight afterall), you can upgrade your ship and do ship quests. These are daily repeatable quests and have absolutely no bearing on your class story. The quests are fun but they are basically just a mouse clicking game....similar style to something like Diablo or Titan Quest, only your ship is on a predetermined course and you have to shoot down fighters and large ship guns and do missle/bomb runs. There aren't very many of them either so it's almost like a minigame inside SWTOR.

That actually sounds very interesting. Man, I can't pick up another MMO. I can barely manage BF3 time right now.

I had the same conversation in my head after reading this thread... sounds awesome... can't do it... can't do it.

yeah, I barely have enough time, and that time is about to decrease as I start back in on a client project I just picked up recently.

I usually reserve 1-2 hrs a day or so to do gaming so I either break it up or choose one. Usually go with SWTOR because I pay a monthly sub, and BF3 is essentially free.

If anyone designs to grab SWTOR. I am on the Girradda the Hutt server on the Empire (sith) side. Hadaka is my main toon.

I just found out today, others can join your Class Quest instances, you just have to change your preferences to not restrict the class.

One other cool thing, since they worked so much on the story quests they created a "Legacy" system. I believe this system is put into place to get you to want to level alt characters to experience the different Class Stories.

Right now it's just a surname but has an additional XP bar. You choose the surname and then that surname can be used across all your characters on the server. Apparently as you level an "alt" character, some XP is put towards the Legacy of your main character thus giving them additional stuff later on. They haven't fully implemented the legacy system yet, but the Legacy XP has its own leveling system in addition to the regular character levels.

My Legacy Name is Kintama <The Kintama Legacy>

Kintama is Japanese slang for Testicles.
My main toon "Hadaka" is japanese for Naked. So my main toon literally means Naked Testicles.

Big update is coming out tomorrow for SWTOR.

In March there will be an even bigger update that fully implements the Legacy System and will add alot more features to the "Single Player" content.

They really seem to be pushing the "single player" aspect of the game to entice non-MMO players to at least check out the game.

Think its to counter StarTrek Online going Free to play?

Was listening to a review of them both and it was something around 40 Million to develop SWTOR which will base a lot around ground combat (Is that true more ground than space fighting?)

Where as STO had about 9 mil and based the game on both Space and Ground - and got it wrong - the first two tries, now that they revamped the ground an added a full space combat -

Is the revamp - addition of SW a counter to STO?

Love to try SW but I just don't have the funds to pay a sub now. So I sit and watch from the side line = playing the F2P games right now.

Hadaka, who is the toon in your Avatar?

I take it your a big Anime person. Either that or you have a weird fetish for Japanese slang words. 😈

Duck wrote:Think its to counter StarTrek Online going Free to play?

Was listening to a review of them both and it was something around 40 Million to develop SWTOR which will base a lot around ground combat (Is that true more ground than space fighting?)

Where as STO had about 9 mil and based the game on both Space and Ground - and got it wrong - the first two tries, now that they revamped the ground an added a full space combat -

Is the revamp - addition of SW a counter to STO?

Love to try SW but I just don't have the funds to pay a sub now. So I sit and watch from the side line = playing the F2P games right now.

nah, i think it's just typical MMO enhancements and additions. They have a subscription based revenue stream instead of a DLC revenue stream so major updates usually occur once or twice a quarter.

I think the big thing is that they pushed the game out early for the holiday season and they put off some of their features and end game content to Jan to get the game out ASAP.

I think the STO is more of a counter to SWTOR to help get more subs and reduce attrition to SWTOR.

Alot of the stuff they have hinted at coming out tomorrow and in March is all stuff they originally had in mind for release. End game content is usually always added at major updates because you end up with more people at end game level as time move forward.

Atomm wrote:Hadaka, who is the toon in your Avatar?

I take it your a big Anime person. Either that or you have a weird fetish for Japanese slang words. 😈

Definitely a fetish!

It is the main character Ichigo from BLEACH a TV Series Anime...one of the best I have seen.

Back in high school I tried to start a trend using the word "naked" in place of "cool/sweet/awesome". "Man, that's so naked!". It caught on for a while.

Well when I was trying to come up with a username for some game a long time ago, a friend had a Japanese/English dictionary and I decided to look up Naked, and it was Hadaka, that sounded like a cool handle to use. The added bonus is, it usually isn't already taken, so the trend of finding usernames/character names using english meaning with Japanese words made it fairly simple to find unused names.

Hadaka - Naked
Kintama - Testicles
Mashin (pronounced machine) - Evil Spirit
Zenatic - Not Japanese, just a mashup of Zen & Fanatic (I have used this once since 8th grad when I did a book report on Zen Buddhism) I used it when I was really big into MUDD's.

So in SWTOR, I plan to play on the Kintama Legacy for my character names.

Biggu - Big
Burasu - Brass
Kami - Hair or Delicious (this one made me laugh)
Karai - Spicy/Salty

anyways, you get the picture.

Hadaka wrote:Hadaka - Naked
Kintama - Testicles
Mashin (pronounced machine) - Evil Spirit
Zenatic - Not Japanese, just a mashup of Zen & Fanatic (I have used this once since 8th grad when I did a book report on Zen Buddhism) I used it when I was really big into MUDD's.
Biggu - Big
Burasu - Brass
Kami - Hair or Delicious (this one made me laugh)
Karai - Spicy/Salty

We call IT Bubba...... easy like that.

60 day Update:

I am still playing from release (pre-release) and for the most part I am enjoying it. Unfortunately I have to say that the overall feel of the game is "WoW in the SW franchise". If you don't know what that means don't worry, it won't feel that way to you.

I have been playing 60 days and I am pretty close to getting my first toon to level cap (50). Graphics are outstanding for an MMO!

The story for the classes are top notch...it is definitely refreshing to be able to play each class from start to level cap and work through a completely unique quest chain specific to each class...sure you still have to grind through the side quests and planet story arc quests for each toon, but at least there is a set of unique chained quests.

This again gives the game 8 "pseudo single player games/stories" in one MMO (4 classes on empire, 4 classes on republic).

For the Hardcore SW fanatic...as said in many reviews there are elements in the "universe" that exist in the game, that should not exist yet based on the original SW universe...ie certain droids....but WhoTF cares, its a game and people want to see certain things regardless how they exist in the universe timeline....no one here has heard of a "reboot"?

Will this game keep me 5 years like WoW did...not likely. Will I be playing it for a few more months? Most definitely.

March is said to have a major update so I am at least holding out till then to see what all comes out. I know there are plans for a large amount of endgame content and alot of new features people have been waiting on.

I do have a buddy that works for bioware and has recently been moved over the the "Raid" department to work on endgame content so they are working diligently to improve level cap content.

The combat system is just meh...it is almost identical to WoW except it doesn't have auto-attack.

So overall I would say it is a pretty good MMO, I don't know how much longevity it has for me, but I also think my MMO days are starting to wane for more action oriented games like BF3 and possible Guild Wars 2 coming out soon.

Yah that's pretty much what I've been hearing.
Good game, great look - little instant repeatability.
Play it this month and come back in 2014 to see what's changed.

I'd play it - but can't 9and won't) justify the sub when there are hundreds of free to play games out there.

Bad model to star off with.

Duck wrote:Yah that's pretty much what I've been hearing.
Good game, great look - little instant repeatability.
Play it this month and come back in 2014 to see what's changed.

I'd play it - but can't 9and won't) justify the sub when there are hundreds of free to play games out there.

Bad model to star off with.

I wouldn't call it a bad business model, it is a highly successful business model, I personally don't have an issue paying $15/mo for 20-30 hours of gametime I spend on it. That is very cheap entertainment for me. But everyone is different.

Is BF3 and DDO cheaper? Depends on how much you spend...I spent more money building a computer that can play BF3 and have to consider that in my costs...I could have spent half the amount I did to play most MMO's on the market.

I definitely was hoping for a bit more out of SWTOR...I don't feel it really brought anything new to the MMO genre, with the exception of fully voice acted quests and unique story driven classes.

Oh and one last thing about it. Yes they definitely are riding the Star Wars IP to get subs, but can you blame them. Same could be said about many games...BF3, STO, DC Universe, DDO...


<rant>
Those that nitpick the timeline issues...really? I think Bioware did a better job building on the SW universe than George Lucas did himself with Ep 1-3, and now Ep 4 in 3D...there is a man that knows how to milk an IP well beyond it's creative value.
</rant>

FWIW - SWTOR is now free on Origin - should anyone care.

I saw something that said they had added 2 million subscribers since going FTP. I'm still not sure I will check it out though. Not unless I'm allowed to kill JarJar Binks repeatedly.....

I'm thinking for the single player, Hadaka said it was good through the game and each class has a different story line...

free is free.

And to think, today it's only $10 on NEwegg! Its one of today's daily deals


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...-32130282-L025A

P.T. Barnum would appreciate that.

Now here is something that will get me in to the game - at least try it in Feb 2014.
12 v 12 spaceship battles are being added as a complete side game.

http://www.swtor.com/galactic-starfighter?...mkt-t-us-hp-090




Yah - it will be worth a look for me now.

Wow.... Brings me back to the mid 90's and X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter....