Report on SWTOR -- not what ya think

[Ruphus]

While I am not a beta tester, I have been following TOR very closing for the last couple years as I am very excited to play it. This is what I have gathered from all my researching.

Characters - There will be "paths" so to speak, similar to WoW's talent trees, but not exact, and I doubt there will be much difference in one Sith Lord and another.

Combat will be like standard MMO's, not quite like DDO, less twitch, and more hotkey/rotation style play.

End Game will include some raids early, expect for this part to be like WoW/Everquest, starts out small, but each expansion will most likely add levels and mostly all high end content.

There will be lots of crafting, and I do mean lots. You will be able to make a lot of the gear you will use at any point in the game.

The leveling up process will be close to Knights of the Old Republic, with cutscenes, a story arc that lasts most of the way up. There will be dungeons and such as well, which are more optional than anything.

PvP will be a big deal, and include War Zones, ala Battlegrounds from WoW.

Thats all I can remember at the moment, but I am excited about it and will be there to try it out probably at launch or shortly after.

Does this mean I am leaving DDO? Heck no, I don't think one will replace the other.

I am thinking TOR will be more RPG and PVP like, where DDO is more custimzation and better raiding/grouping and so forth.

I will say there are going to be some similarities with WoW, of course, Bio - Ware isn't dumb, and WoW does have a HUGE playerbase. But Bioware does have some quality games.

[KajaGrae]

Star Wars already had it's best MMO by far. SW:Galaxies.

How did that game die? They changed it from a complex game that allowed you to tune your character to thousands of different combinations, to 9 Classes of SWG:WoW.

All the people I used to play with on SWG will probably port over to that game, feel the WoWines of it all, and bail.

Man that game was awesome back in the day. Best SW space fun ever.

I'm glad SOE is feeling the sting of that change and having to shut it down. The CU and NGE were the stupidest things a company has ever done to a a product. You changed the entire core mechanic. Every buiness knows that that's a terrible move.

I'm surprised Smedley wasn't terminated for that fiasco.

Don't get me wrong, I like Bioware, and I am sure the game will have pros in it's storyline delivery, cause that's what Bioware delivers. But it will never be as complex and awesome as SWG.

[Morgueman]

lmao I'm so sorry you didn't stick around to some of the better parts of the game. I beta tested it for about 2 months and a WoW clone it is NOT. ( Ex WoW player for 5+ years)
Yes there is alot of customization in the game from crafting to paths and picking your side (light Dark and supposed grey).

The combat is very mmorpg'ish (not as action packed as ddo to be sure) The cut scenes are varied in the fact of what path you decide to go with (options made during character leveling) Huge and i do mean HUGE worlds to explore and plans to introduce even more as the game grows. Yes there is little end game for now at least. But there is still alot of things to do so it will be awhile before you get really bored. ( and even as we speak BW and LA are making new end game raids and pvp areas and worlds to explore) This is a new step for BW and LA a first for both to really step into the MMO market ( SWG was good til sony aquired it and ran it into the ground).

Some will love it some will hate it but I say try it yourself before you say for certain if you love//hate it. And please to be fair lvl 17 is VERY low level in that game alot of really good action doesn't start until the mid 20's (1-20 is sort of the intro to the game and a how-to for most of it). The first flash point isn't until 25 (IIRC).

Is it a WoW killer? Nope Blizzy did that all on their own already. But I do think it will be a good game none the less.

As for some of the travel time wait until you get your mounts and your own starship before you really go into that. Both of which are very fun and very good ideas imo.

[DnD3]

Actually heard that SWG was great but when it first came out but ended badly due to some changes. As for SWTOR, lots of people are going to try it out, it looks great but I hate star wars, that being said I'll give it a try just in case I actually like it, to be honest DDO is starting to feel a lot more like some ofther Korean MMO's when it comes to end game changes, little challenge but a lot of time and grind involved, I gotta say TR is the best thing this game has going for it right now.

[Musouka]

Actually heard that SWG was great but when it first came out but ended badly due to some changes. As for SWTOR, lots of people are going to try it out, it looks great but I hate star wars, that being said I'll give it a try just in case I actually like it, to be honest DDO is starting to feel a lot more like some ofther Korean MMO's when it comes to end game changes, little challenge but a lot of time and grind involved, I gotta say TR is the best thing this game has going for it right now.

Yep. Sony entertainment eventually made the game horrible, making several classes obsolete, adding Jedis, but making it so if you died being a Jedi, you were dead for good. A lot of game mechanics were added that just contributed to its downfall. Now SWG is closing in December for good.

[fn_Chopper]

WOTC is very unlikely to renew them as they are putting thier support behind the new 4E D&D mmo coming out by cryptic studios under the umbrella of Perfect World

You should e-mail that to WB.

[redoubt]

Star Wars already had it's best MMO by far. SW:Galaxies.

How did that game die? They changed it from a complex game that allowed you to tune your character to thousands of different combinations, to 9 Classes of SWG:WoW.

.

Absolutely correct.

I've actually been hoping the EMU project would get done and I'd just go play that...

I dropped my SWG sub the day NGE released. I did not even go in.

I went back a year or two later on a free trial... played a day... I've not been back and I miss the old game like a first love.

[quijenoth]

Report on SWTOR –

I have had the luck of being invited to the beta for this new and upcoming game that many may be thinking of migrating to. After putting this game under the microscope for a few days and really getting into it, I have a way to describe it – WOW with a Star Wars Theme. I have been able to get 2 toons to level 17 and there is no control over how your character develops and everything is based on gear.

I personally love DDO for the variety of ways you can totally customize a class(not to mention multi-classing and True Reincarnating) .. From the current fundamentals of SWTOR non of that is possible and will never be(No Enhancement/Feat like pools to choose from to separate your self from the rest). All might as well be clones. I know it’s Beta but fundamentals will not change and the release date is too close for changes.

It became boring and tedious after about one day of play – There are FLASH points in which a little movie like scenario is shown to address each situation, but how many times can you watch the same move over and over. If you wish to go and play WOW again – GOOD LUCK..

Much as I like Star Wars – I’m very disappointed they applied the kiddie/dumb version of MMO development to this..

My marks: 1-10

Graphics:7
Voice Acting: 8
Game Play: 5
Character development (for real players):2




…. If any of you have tried the beta … please comment


Long Live DDO … Just keep the updates coming and I better not see + 4 Tomes in the God forsaken DDO Store DEVS..

Just to put this in Perspective a little...

I beta'd DDO for about a week. I thought it sucked then so returned to Everquest. Came back to DDO 4 years later and it had improved to include what I personally thought is lacked in Beta. Content is still light for a 4 year old MMO but the TRing softens that quite a bit.

Point is, the game is vastly different to what I experienced in beta.

I beta'd Everquest 2. I actually enjoyed certain aspects of this one on beta and subscribed immediately on release - I played it for 2 months before the xp grind and after release changes started to affect my enjoyment of the game. I quit and returned to Everquest.

Point is, the game is vastly different to what I experienced in beta.

See a pattern here?




In my experience with MMOs, "content" is far more important than flashy graphics and unique mechanics or balanced gameplay. If I could afford the subs I would probably still play everquest because it has so much content that every day I log in I can do something different.

Your review is mildly informative but you show it in a bad light just because it didnt fit "Your" expectations. Branding it towards WoW just fuels bad rep and invites trolls. It also shows lack of experience in the MMO industry.

[Esserbe]

Bioware has a history of making great games,

Bioware's only truly great game since HOTU is Mass Effect 2, and they accomplished that by virtually ripping out the entire skill system and leaving something that is eclipsed by self-described shooters like Borderlands, and the story is one page long.

[mystafyi]

You should e-mail that to WB.

Time Warner bought turbine for their microtransaction system. They stated this to their shareholders. They did not buy turbine for DDO. If you think TW cares 1 bit about ddo your sadly mistaken. Yes, they like the revenue stream but should that slow in the slightest....

oh ya thats why +3 tomes made it to the store

[Razcar]

WOTC is very unlikely to renew them as they are putting thier support behind the new 4E D&D mmo coming out by cryptic studios under the umbrella of Perfect World. Called Never Winter Nights Online its just simple logic with WOTC's history to expect them to deny turbine renewel and kill off DDO so NWNO wont have to compete with its older cousin.

WotC wouldn't mind if there was two D&D MMO's, they wouldn't mind if there was 200 D&D MMO's. For them, the more, the better.

Perfect World would of course mind , and Turbine, since those are the ones in competition. But WotC will get license fees and publicity, so what's not to like for them?

[dunklezhan]

I would have to disagree, WOTC is a business, and if they can continue to milk a little more $$ out of old rules systems, by gosh they will. Will they openly support it and advertise and so forth? Probably not, but they will not turn down a nice, basically free, paycheck from something they do not have to put any real work into.

This might be the reason behind a lot of the changes to the underlying 3rd ed ruleset within DDO - perhaps if DDO moves away from recognisable core rules, Turbine are hoping WoTC will be more inclined to let them keep the license because it can be advertised based on pure setting (which still exists under 4e) not an outdated ruleset*.


*outdated, but still way better than 4e for tabletop. However my first play of 4e I thought 'hey this is a video game with cards and dice'. As the night went on, I rapidly concluded that I would definitely play 4e the MMO, because that would work really well, but that I would never, ever again play it as a PnP game because it was teh suxx0r.

[Ivan_Milic]

That's at least a sign that not everyone is moving to SWTOR.

The only drop off in people is gonna happen in November now, AFAIK. (November 11, to be exact). And that will only last a few months.

Exactly.

[Memek]

In my experience with MMOs, "content" is far more important than flashy graphics and unique mechanics or balanced gameplay. If I could afford the subs I would probably still play everquest because it has so much content that every day I log in I can do something different.

Your review is mildly informative but you show it in a bad light just because it didnt fit "Your" expectations. Branding it towards WoW just fuels bad rep and invites trolls. It also shows lack of experience in the MMO industry.

I disagree, i think this is about different tastes in gaming. How much content there is doesnt matter to me at all unless i find the gameplay fun.
A pal forced me to try the WoW trial. I got a quest to slay 10 piglets, for whatever reason. The piglets didnt even attack me. I clicked on a piglet and my character killed it. If i wanted to speed up the process, i could press 1 and 2, but that was purely optional. I played on for a while and it didnt really change much, except that dying became a possibility if i overpulled. I stopped playing because it bored me.
I dont care if there are a thousand huge areas to explore and a billion piglet-slaying-quests, it's boring so im not playing it. Might be that it becomes fun at higher levels but again, not gonna bore myself through 80 levels until it might get fun.

The OP sounds exactly like my reaction to WoW.
If the gameplay is boring, the content doesnt matter, the voice overs dont matter, i wont play it.

Apparantly there is another type of gamer, the archetypical "MMO gamer" who just wants "content" and doesnt care if the gameplay is boring or not... But to call the OP's criticism of the boring gameplay trolling is far fetched, and shows a very narrow focus of what an MMO player should value.

[issiana]

Absolutely correct.

I've actually been hoping the EMU project would get done and I'd just go play that...

I dropped my SWG sub the day NGE released. I did not even go in.

I went back a year or two later on a free trial... played a day... I've not been back and I miss the old game like a first love.

I highlighted the part most apt for me.

Old master Ranger/ master Rifles myself. And yes I still miss that game just like the first love you mentioned.

I have high hopes for TOR, but I know nothing will ever replace the joy of pre cu/nge galaxies. I miss you my love, heh.

[knightal]

well considering its subscription only, its automtically disqualified.

this isn't 5 years ago...f2p is taking over and any new mmo has to have multiple options to get people away from the hundreds they've spent on thier current subscription mmos.

personally i played ffXI for 6 months with my wife until guild wars came out. 2 subscriptions is just not worth the cost, and we haven't touched a subscription mmo in 6 years. neverwinter will be coming out as a f2p model, subscription is just dying out slowly but surely. DDO has a good model going with a quality game, and multiple options....is why i came back to it when i heard it was f2p after dismissing it shortly after release on a 2 week trial. granted we spent over $200, but its alot less than a sub.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

In this day and age of the popularity of point and click, zero-strategy simplicity of Facebook games like Mafia Wars and Farmville, its quite clear theres a huge market for games that dont force you to think.

D&D 4.0 is a very dumbed down D&D, and any old school P&Per knows that.

The MMO market is no different. It will be filled with content that has a near zero learning curve, minimal strategy required, and the ability to pay as you go. And those will be considered features!

And companies will squeeze this nitch until it breathes its final breath.

So no, Im not surprised in the least that SWTOR has no real depth.

[Ugumagre]

In this day and age of the popularity of point and click, zero-strategy simplicity of Facebook games like Mafia Wars and Farmville, its quite clear theres a huge market for games that dont force you to think.

D&D 4.0 is a very dumbed down D&D, and any old school P&Per knows that.

The MMO market is no different. It will be filled with content that has a near zero learning curve, minimal strategy required, and the ability to pay as you go. And those will be considered features!

And companies will squeeze this nitch until it breathes its final breath.

So no, Im not surprised in the least that LOTR has no real depth.

You mean SWTOR, not LOTR?

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

You mean SWTOR, not LOTR?

Jayzus Krismas, yes SWTOR is what I meant! dang dyslexia haha

[Uska]

This might be the reason behind a lot of the changes to the underlying 3rd ed ruleset within DDO - perhaps if DDO moves away from recognisable core rules, Turbine are hoping WoTC will be more inclined to let them keep the license because it can be advertised based on pure setting (which still exists under 4e) not an outdated ruleset*.


*outdated, but still way better than 4e for tabletop. However my first play of 4e I thought 'hey this is a video game with cards and dice'. As the night went on, I rapidly concluded that I would definitely play 4e the MMO, because that would work really well, but that I would never, ever again play it as a PnP game because it was teh suxx0r.

Well 5e is already being worked on