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Just like any MMO stories are broken up into little arcs. There usually is a larger story that is on going and SWTOR is no different except we know what happens in the future.

I read in a Bioware blog that any story Bioware delivers in game is signed off by Lucasarts first. I am hoping with that they stay true to cannon and not have some story arc that would be a cannon-breaker down the road, but that remains to be seen.

I'm not going to say that the way Bioware is doing things is way better than Blizzard, its not really when it comes down to brass tacks. It's just different.

Personally I like SWTOR right now. It 'feels' the same as when I played WoW. The community is a bit nerdier and I kinda like that. I also do notice that in the beta weekends I meet a lot more adults than kids. And by adults I mean men and women 30+.

It's been pretty fascinating for me. I've never played WoW and the only MMORPG I've played was City of Heroes for a year or so. Part of the education has been learning all the terminology and concepts that are just established by WoW.

And yeah, so far the other players have been much more eloquent than most online interactions with large groups. (for example, read the comments on any YouTube video. [shudder])

My biggest reservation with SW:TOR -- is it more like a shooter than WoW? I'm terrible at shooters and don't prefer that kind of game. I read that you have to use cover and so forth. Is there targeting as well rather than auto-target keys in WoW?

I played the beta this past weekend and it's pretty incredible. It felt like a blend between a standard MMO and a Mass Effect style game blown out to an enormous universe with full KOTOR treatment. They even use a lot of the music from KOTOR.

It doesn't function as a shooter, but does use elements like cover to reduce your damage if you're a shooting class like the smuggler. They really got the smuggler and bounty hunter right, and playing a Jedi feels just like playing a Jedi in KOTOR, those are the only classes I tried.

Starting out as a Jedi feels very similar to the time spent on Dantooine, speaking with the masters and learning your powers. They do a great job of starting your character's story, and everything is VERY different, even more so than DAO. Every single part of the game is impeccably voice acted and you will get loads of companion characters that are as well fleshed out as any of the characters in any other Bioware game.

The game was a 20gb install. This MMO has more content in beta than most have 2 years into their lifespan.

I played the beta this past weekend and it was about what I expected. It had some of the things I liked about KotOR, but in a scaled back way. I didn't get past the first planet you start on (Jedi Knight), so I can't really comment on everything, but I can say that I wasn't really impressed by any of the little stories in the game, nor did I feel that I was truly important in the overall war between the jedi and sith.

The one thing that I was impressed with was the voice acting. The voice acting was just as good as any other Bioware game.

I guess I was setting myself up to be disappointed by expecting TOR to be anywhere near as good as KotOR.

KotoR was an amazing game, one of the best I've played I think. How does cover work for non-shooters, like Jedi?

TurtlePerson2 wrote:

I played the beta this past weekend and it was about what I expected. It had some of the things I liked about KotOR, but in a scaled back way. I didn't get past the first planet you start on (Jedi Knight), so I can't really comment on everything, but I can say that I wasn't really impressed by any of the little stories in the game, nor did I feel that I was truly important in the overall war between the jedi and sith.

The one thing that I was impressed with was the voice acting. The voice acting was just as good as any other Bioware game.

I guess I was setting myself up to be disappointed by expecting TOR to be anywhere near as good as KotOR.

Things pickup after you leave the first planet, you don't get much of a feel for the overall war when you're doing your training and small local quests. Getting your advanced class also makes the game a lot more fun.

The Jedi don't use cover that i saw, but for a smuggler using cover is just another ability and hitting the key will make you automatically do a roll into cover and fire.

I guess that I have been playing/testing the beta so long that I'm not sure if it'll keep my interest. In the beta, you're forced to abandon your characters, and I've played just about every type by now. I might even ebay my collector's edition when it finally arrives. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, but I'm having so much fun with BF3 that I'm not sure what I'll be playing around Christmas. And a pay to play game is another strike against it.

It's obvious that WoW is trying to lock people in for a year as a response to this game. I guess they even give away a copy of Diablo III with the annual subscription purchase.

Hawkwing74 wrote:

It's obvious that WoW is trying to lock people in for a year as a response to this game. I guess they even give away a copy of Diablo III with the annual subscription purchase.

I thought the same thing. I can't believe there are people who are going to do it. I mean even if you quit in a few months your still going to be charged for remaining months on the year contract. I am wondering will Blizzard sue to recoup money for things like changing bank/ CC accounts or is there a way out if one should find themselves without a job?

After reading about the game...I feel like I've drunk the Kool-Aid and will probably be purchasing. It's a shame to leave WoW after so many years (sunk cost fallacy) but they really need to get on the stick and add content. They should have known eventually they couldn't just sit on their laurels.

Hawkwing74 wrote:

After reading about the game...I feel like I've drunk the Kool-Aid and will probably be purchasing. It's a shame to leave WoW after so many years (sunk cost fallacy) but they really need to get on the stick and add content. They should have known eventually they couldn't just sit on their laurels.

5.0 Kung-Fu Panda edition sealed it for me, along with the complete dumbing down of talent trees, etc.. I play a bit now out of sheer boredom, and levelling my last 85

I've played in one beta weekend, and am invited for an upcoming one. I've played the Trooper class mainly, next beta I'll try the healer type Jedi.

This thread needs a little "bump"
I have participated in a few beta test "waves" for this game, and I believe I have formed a pretty good impression overall about this game and its various mechanics/subsystems like PvP, crafting, ship flying and overall level design/quest progression of most of teh "planets" in it. Long story short: it's a very generic MMORPG game with an extremely dated engine, the only unique "carrot-on-a-stick" features being the "single player RPG"-like interaction with an interactive NPC's (with full voiceovers, interactive "conversation" selections and an appropriate cutscenes) and your own NPC companions (though you can only have a single active companion at a time when doing quests). I do not believe this game will achieve nearly WoW-like success (by that I mean the active subscription numbers) in a long term, considering that once you level up all of your characters to max level and went through all of the available "interactive storyline" parts and "romanced" all of the possible NPC companions there's nothing else to do (unless you want to bore yourself with an unimaginative PvP system or similar "flashpoint"/"heroic"-areas "epik lootz grinding", like you can do right now in WoW and numerous other simplistic MMORPG games). The subscription numbers will be similar to "Warhammer Online" - a HUGE initial "spike" slowly dropping off a few months after the game's official release. That said, I will not be cancelling my pre-order. I am really bored of all other existing MMORPG games (even EVE Online has "lost that loving feeling" of constantly playing "social engineering"), same goes for current FPS games (for some reason none of the recent releases managed to "grab" my attention as much as they used to in the past... I guess I am simply getting too old), so I think SWTOR should provide me with a long enough temporary "distraction" (of experiencing "interactive questline" on different characters) until something else will come out from a different company. Plus I really like to collect "limited editions" of various PC games

JohnC wrote:

Long story short: it's a very generic MMORPG game with an extremely dated engine, the only unique "carrot-on-a-stick" features being the "single player RPG"-like interaction with an interactive NPC's (with full voiceovers, interactive "conversation" selections and an appropriate cutscenes) and your own NPC companions

Interesting. I've been on the beta since July (and now that the NDA is mostly lifted, I can talk about it). I have very little experience with MMORPGs, so I'm always keen to get the perspective of WoW addicts. Compared to the one MMORPG I've played, SWTOR is fantastic. Lifting heavily from Dragon Age: Origins and having multiple story lines is a real plus IMHO. Given Bioware's writing talent, I'm really curious to see what the story is for the different classes.

JohnC wrote:

(though you can only have a single active companion at a time when doing quests). I do not believe this game will achieve nearly WoW-like success (by that I mean the active subscription numbers) in a long term, considering that once you level up all of your characters to max level and went through all of the available "interactive storyline" parts and "romanced" all of the possible NPC companions there's nothing else to do

First, I agree it's not going to get WoW numbers. But that is an insanely high bar you're talking about. That's like saying Serious Sam isn't going to get Modern Warfare 3 numbers. Second, how does the story line/character max compare to WoW's mechanic? What is there to do when you get yet another WoW character up to 85?

elmopuddy wrote:

I've played in one beta weekend, and am invited for an upcoming one. I've played the Trooper class mainly, next beta I'll try the healer type Jedi.

Give the smuggler a try. I think that one has the best dialog and story I've found so far (out of Guardian, Consular, Inquisitor and Bounty Hunter).

I levelled Inquisitor, Warrior, and Agent to 13... much more fun then Republic side! Agent (Sniper) is my fav so far. Supposedly there's one more beta weekend before launch, I think I'll just concentrate on one class then (providing I get into beta).

I've played WoW since beta, have an 85 of every class, it was fun.. I find SWTOR does some things better, some things worse.. but in general its a very fresh game.

I'm very curious what raiding will be like, and what will be in store content wise once you hit 50.

I am tempted to buy just so I can do something different than WoW.

Darkmage wrote:

What is there to do when you get yet another WoW character up to 85?

Nothing, really, though some people still manage to log in pretty often to run heroics/dailies or duel outside the Org gates... I'm still surprised that this game managed to last THAT long. I guess a (subjectively) beautiful in-game world/environments/animations is a very important and addictive aspect of the game. Which is, IMO, something that SWTOR really lacks. I know that the Bioware was going for specific visual theme, and I really liked it when playing original KotOR many years ago, but for some reason I don't find it visually pleasing anymore (and not because of low-res textures or (temporary) lack of AA), plus I was really put off by a weird (that's how it felt to me) size scaling of characters in relation to game world/objects (everybody looked too "small" and "thin" regardless of zoom-in view level).

elmopuddy wrote:

I'm very curious what raiding will be like

Have you done some early "flashpoint" or maybe some early "heroic" quest instanced area in a group? You'll be doing same thing after you'll hit max level, only spending more time to do it. Here's a Bioware's own preview (there's also some videos on YouTube with such content):
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/eternity-vault
Here's the even better impression of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAEoK5P7Zjw

JohnC wrote:

I guess a (subjectively) beautiful in-game world/environments/animations is a very important and addictive aspect of the game. Which is, IMO, something that SWTOR really lacks. I know that the Bioware was going for specific visual theme, and I really liked it when playing original KotOR many years ago, but for some reason I don't find it visually pleasing anymore (and not because of low-res textures or (temporary) lack of AA), plus I was really put off by a weird (that's how it felt to me) size scaling of characters in relation to game world/objects (everybody looked too "small" and "thin" regardless of zoom-in view level).

That's a little weird to me. I found all of the outside environments to be fantastic, especially Taris. Wandering around a destroyed city was fun. Just looking at dozens of half-collapsed buildings and starships was pretty cool, IMHO. Everything in this game is huge, with the typical Star Wars architecture philosophy of big drops and no railings . The art of Taris was one of the few things I actually liked about that planet, as I spent way too much time there killing way too many of the same dumb monsters. Probably because it's the planet right before you get your speeder, but man it was a slog.

Perhaps I'm really missing out by not playing WoW. That said, I would really appreciate it if we never went back to @#?!! Tatooine. It's supposed to be a boring desert planet where not much happens. How about we keep it that way?

I have my own issues with the game, most notably the outside-the-game menus, the lack of dragging the minimap to a better location and issues with my Eyefinity setup, but they are for the most part minor problems. The visual bug with the conversation timer animation rendering on top of the dialog options is still there occasionally. But it's still in beta, what can you do?

I got a very brief chance to try the beta.. didn't really get to explore much.

How is the ship flying? Is it a shooter on rails, or is more space sim (ala X-Wing or TIE)?

druidcent wrote:

Is it a shooter on rails?

Yeap. Just a "mini-game" to waste your time on between "scheduled raid times" Your ship auto-flies through a predetermined path, all you have to do is to point the crosshair at your target with your mouse and press buttons to shoot "lazor guns" (infinite ammo) or fire "ze missiles" (somewhat finite ammo, with slow self-recharging).
Here's a good example video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdoHD2oQJ-0

JohnC wrote:

druidcent wrote:

Is it a shooter on rails?

Yeap. Just a "mini-game" to waste your time on between "scheduled raid times"
Here's a good example video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdoHD2oQJ-0

Are you getting paid to troll?

Darkmage wrote:

JohnC wrote:

I found all of the outside environments to be fantastic, especially Taris.

I've been to Taris on one of my characters (was getting a second companion for my Commando Trooper), and yea, its open outdoor environments was a nice change from all these "metal corridors" (though the next planet on the list, Nar Shaddaa, put me back into mostly "corridor shooter" environments), however it sill felt a little bit "indifferent" to me... Perhaps because of the overall "muted" color palette (compared to some other games) or simplistic shadow/lighting effects, I don't really know. All I know is I was really getting tired of "congratulations, you have killed 15 of rakghouls and you just completed a first bonus stage of your current quest, now go kill 40 more to complete the second bonus stage of your quest!".

elmopuddy wrote:

JohnC wrote:

druidcent wrote:

Is it a shooter on rails?

Yeap. Just a "mini-game" to waste your time on between "scheduled raid times"
Here's a good example video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdoHD2oQJ-0

Are you getting paid to troll?

Yes. By Activision (b.t.w, they also paid me for this purchase). If you don't like it - there's a "friend/foe" system in these forums that lets you ignore certain posters.

So I have been in Beta since mid-August and I have one of each class but the two I have been focusing on are the Sith Warrior Marauder and the Sith Inquisitor Assassin. With the Warrior I have at 50 and the Inquisitor I have at 39.

The warrior will be my main come the 15th of December and it plays like a combination of a Feral (cat) Druid if you go the Annihilation tree, get your DoTs up and then Rage dump with your hardest hitting attack. If you go the Carnage tree it plays just like a fury/arms warrior where you manage Rage at all times dumping it for huge hits and group buffs then building back up. The Sith Warrior is constant DPS. There also is the Sith Warrior Juggernaut which is the tank and is the other specialized class for it.

The inquisitor plays different as you can play all two roles of the trifecta with it, Healer and DPS (Both melee and ranged). With the Assasin specialization it playes much like a WoW Rogue. Front end DPS back out recharge and go again.

Crafting is really unique as your companions do much of the foot work and is handled asynchronously of what the main character is doing. You send them on missions as a Lieutenant for you which cost credits to run.

Also I like how the Companions work that once you gather all of your companions there is one for each of the trifecta, you can have ranged/melee DPS, A healer, and a tank. All of which is a boon for the soloist.

After playing WoW for so long SWTOR is a breath of fresh air. But its not without its problems and issues or even stuff missing that WoW has. BUT (and thats a huge BUT) it has a great base to build upon for further patches and expansions. Right now it feels just like WoW felt for me after playing Everquest for so long.

Do I think SWTOR has a chance to unseat the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft, absolutely!

As for the comments about the dated engine. I dont know what game you have been playing but I challenge you to bump up the auto-designated graphics because when I do to include all the lighting options, FAAA, vsync, ground clutter, et al. The game looks beautiful but absolutely crushes my i7 2600 w/ 560ti to a 5fps, and on Tatooine with all the sand storms its 1fps if I am lucky.

Wewt got my early access email just now. To bad I am at work and have to wait till this afternoon to play.

I pre-ordered yesterday. I guess this might put me at the back end of the early access queue.

I got my email this morning and managed to log on and create a bounty hunter on the Daragon Trail (PVP) server before I headed off to work. I think that's the right name. If anyone wants to try to hook up, send me a PM.

I'm an Immortal Sith Juggernaut with scavenging, cybertech, and underworld trading on server: The Crucible Pits.

Anyone interested in forming a guild?