Star Wars: The Old Republic, MMORPG Lightsaber Action Options

[Raven]

Review from someone who I suspect has played a lot of Warcraft.

A very disjointed review and I get the impression she's not selling the game well because of her own limitations as a player.

[zeden]

Lot's of unqualified opinion in that review and it definitely has the reek of an Warcraft fan-person about it, whining about wanting pointless pets and such. Really didn't make enough of the plot for my liking.
In all it made me think of the most irritating people I've bumped into on the game, less interested in the play and more in talking at length about how they everything equates to WoW as if it's an interesting or subtle observation instead of getting into what is a staggeringly well written and made game on it's own terms.

I'm hoping to get it installed on my brothers fancy quad core, dual graphics pc soon so I can play properly. Now I'm hitting level 20+ some of the areas are too populated for the game to run properly on my laptop.

[Raven]

I think, for me, the review was just badly written because the author seems to be more interested in relating her "amusing" exploits through the game than in writing a proper review.

Leaving that aspect of the article aside though, I think you are just going to have to live with the comparisons between The Old Republic and WoW simply because the latter is the game to beat at the moment.

Warcraft certainly isn't without its flaws, but from what I've read about The Old Republic it owes a lot to the former and as it stands at the moment it simply doesn't offer the range of gaming experiences that Warcraft does (you may mock the collectable pet comment, but it is exactly that kind of diversity that keeps such a wide range of people coming back for more). Depth in The Old Republic should come with time and future expansions (Warcraft does have a six year head start, after all) but right now it is at the ground floor, even if that is very nicely polished.

[zeden]

Yeah, those 'amusing' experiences were what I was finding the most irritating, reeks of the kind of person who finds themselves endlessly amusing and talks about little else. At least being a girl she's proof positive that it's not just guys that have that nice little social retardation when it comes to communicating online.
It's a game with the potential to actually provoke some good moral conundrums to think through instead of just being the pseudo-social club WoW appears to have evolved into yet all I ever see in the chat box is 'this class equates to that class in WoW' endlessly even on the role playing server I'm on. Makes me a bit sad that there's so little appreciation for the plot and so much me too-ing going on with the mass migration from WoW.
Truth be told. I was thinking I'd be bound to dislike the fact that I have to share my play space with a slew of people I'd actively avoid normally, I'm anti-social and elitist enough in the real world so it's no surprise to see it rear it's head in game for me. At least on the role playing server I can dish out some in character smack talk and feel a bit better for it.

This post has been edited by zeden: Jan 7 2012, 05:01 AM

[monkeyman]

IGN Gave it a 9.0

I think the best positive thing I've read about it cane from Tycho at Penny Arcade

I’m only level fourteen, so I don’t really know anything.  Maybe when you hit level fifteen, it starts to get real, real dumb.  I will tell you something strange that happens though, and has never happened for me before anywhere in the genre; whenever I enter a tough room I always reach up to quicksave.  That’s weird, right?  The game is filed mentally as “single player,” despite all the evidence to the contrary.

That’s quite a trick.

[zeden]

Equipment is being added to make neutral play viable. This makes me a very happy man indeed seeing as I'm very much opposed to the lazy binary morality the two sides fall into. No dark or light, just choice and result, the grey path I'd hoped to play.
What's best is my natural conversation choices have placed me in the middle with my Sith Inquisitor character and not only that but my current follower isn't only influenced by picking one of the polar extremes in spite of his being an ancient Sith, getting light side points for putting someone in their place without killing them scores some affection points too.

[Chapman Baxter]

Do we have enough players willing to create a Spaced-Out guild?

I'm enjoying it as a single-player game with occasional PUGged flashpoints and PvP, but it would be cool to have a like-minded group of people to group with.

[zeden]

I'd be game though the hours I keep mean that catching me online might be a challenge, plus I've already got two characters on the go to boot. Course, we'd need 4 people to get anywhere and right now it would seem it's me and you that are off warring it up in the stars.

My brother got an account recently and I have the unenviable task of helping him catch up to my dark side character. I'm level 24 and have ended up back on the first planet endlessly one hitting everything and scrounging the meagre loot in an effort to help him progress faster. Got the first planet done in about four hours, next stop Drummond Kaas and at least there's a couple of heroics there that I missed to get me more engaged. Not that it hasn't been fun feeling like an utter badass of course.

[Silky]

Having not played, I don't get this, but you guys might enjoy this.



This post has been edited by Silky: Jan 31 2012, 03:17 PM

[Jubei]

Hey chaps, long time no post. I was interested in getting into SWTOR but none of my computers more than scrapes a pass at the minimum requirements. Was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to bung a friend trial invite my way so I can try it out and see if it'll run ok and if I'm down for paying for it. If I get into it (and past experince years ago with Phantasy Star Online suggests I could get into it bad) I'd be up for joining in group raids and stuff too. Cheers, email is andyrobertson123 at the hot mail .com

[Raven]

This is going free to play up to level 50 (with some restrictions) and the price of the initial game is also set to drop.

This is largely in response to subscription levels dipping below the one million mark (they apparently need 500,000 players to break even).

More here.

Now I have a PC that is up to it, I may give this a try.

[GundamGuy_UK]

Sadly, this is the destiny of all MMOs that aren't World of Warcraft. It's a shame, really.

[Raven]

This was the game that I thought would have the best chance of seriously challenging Warcraft, but in the end it didn't even seem to get out of the blocks (comparatively).

Warcraft has become the Facebook of MMORPGs; those who play it aren't really interested in switching to something else for longer than a try out.

It is difficult at this point to see another game ever getting the same number of players as Warcraft.

[GundamGuy_UK]

I know, if STAR WARS can't do it, who can?

It's great for a game to do well, but WoW is getting old now and it's reached the point of being a bit unfair on other games. There have been big names like LotR, Star Trek, DC Universe and so on that have high expectations and are great games, but have mediocre releases and go free-to-play after a year, where they promptly shrivel and die.

World of Warcraft may be a good game (apparently...), but it's causing the entire genre to stagnate because it's stuck in 2004 due to nothing else being able to compete. There's so much more potential than WoW offers, but it can't be tapped. To be honest I'm amazed publishers even bother release MMOs anymore, as they're sentenced to death from the moment they're announced.

[monkeyman]

Lotr is still doing really well apparently, It is a really good MMO. Definitely agreed that it's pointless anyone else releasing an MMO right now, they're doomed to do "just alright" or die altogether which is a shame. Some deserve it though. Warhammer online was pretty piss.