Looking to get into a new MMO again, excuse my ignorance regarding SWTOR!

[Reparator]

I'd join Rift if you want MMO. its got everything wow has without the QQ community and its more polished and sexy looking graphics. alot of world events, world pvp, competative pvp and hard pve content aswell as easy ones. i tried TOR a few times now and i just get so bored. maybe its because i wasnt really a star wars fan in the first place. you can play rift for free to level 20 like with wow, or get recruited to get bonuses and stuff

Yeah, I couldn't get past lvl 15 in Rift ... just didn't click with me. To each his own.

[Deleted]

- How should I look at SWTOR? Is it basicly WOW in space?

A more accurate description would be "KOTOR in a MMO environment". If you loved KOTOR, you will love this one. If you never played KOTOR, it could be compared to WOW, albeit with Mass Effect-style questing.

There is the standard tank/heal/DPS trio, but it starts out very light, and the specialization does not become apparent until much later. For instance, if you start playing as a jedi consular, at 50 you might end up being a tank, a healer or either ranged or melee DPS depending on the choices you make while playing.

The mechanics of combat are standard MMO, however it looks/plays much better because unlike many other MMO's, the combat is choreographed - for instance if one combatant parries an attack, you actually see the lightsabers meet and sparks flying(as opposed to both combatants doing their own animations independent of eachother, and parries only being shown by an overhead text)

[tirzatoo59]

Can you really take a chance on missing out? Methinks you have decided and want reassurance that you are doing the right thing. I was WoW 6 yrs. retired a Field Marshal from Vanilla. My husband signed us up for one account just to try it. Neither of us wanted to invest our hopes in anything having been disappointed so many times. I wanted a small burial plot on our property, like a pet graveyard. A place where I could bury with honor all the failed MMO's we have tried.

My husband declined to cater to my lunacy.

Anyway, I approached SWTOR beta not expecting much. I was disappointed in that. It more than met my best hopes.

I remember Vanilla. This is better.

[iggie]

Yeah, I couldn't get past lvl 15 in Rift ... just didn't click with me. To each his own.

The grind was so... grindy. Personally it was a mix of the grind + graphics I didn't enjoy. Oh, and mass afk bots leveling in warfronts.

[mirodin]

There is a Sticky on the top of this Forum: "SWTOR information gathered thus far..." i advise you to start there.

[Alex86el]

- How should I look at SWTOR? Is it basicly WOW in space?

graphics are a bit cartooney, not as much as in wow tough. i personally like it. it will last and have a bigger playerbase.
as for the gear, it looks awesome! nothing like those gigantic glowy spikey flashy huge WoW gear.

- How is the leveling/questing in SWTOR compared to WOW? Is it the same, as in kill X of creature A? Are there any other ways to level, like PVP or anything else?

you can level through pvp if u want, and people say it is actually the fastest way.
though i havent tried to actualyl level with warzones, i do them just for fun.

as for pve leveling, through quests,
personally, it is the first mmo where i actually enjoy questing, and it doesnt feel like a drag.
thats because of the voiced over quests, and the dialogues. and the cool main storyline of each class of course.

the questing itself is the usual boring kill x, gather x, etc... nothing new.

- How is instancing in SWTOR? And also with different classes, is it standard heal\dps\tank stuff? Is there anything known about endgame PVE?

as far as i have played it is standard mmo instancing. u can howver use your companions instead of other group mates.
for example, if someone leaves, one of the remaining players can sumon his companion, who may even be a tank or healer.

- How is the PVP in SWTOR? Are there battlegrounds for example?

there are battlegrounds (warzones). i like them a lot.
but the game has some issues with server-lag and fps problems in beta,
though its not the PC's fault. they will surelly fix that, i cant see me playing the game if i cant pvp.

- My biggest question, combat. How is it? And how does it combine with force abilities? Is it the standard type of combat, or does it rise above the rest in some way?

the combat is WoW-ish. u can set your skills to have a "queue" timer of zero seconds. and its just like wow combat then. (default queue is 0.5 sec)

- Last question, what do YOU THINK sets SWTOR apart from other MMO's? If I don't like WOW anymore, do you think I would like this?

fully voiced over. with dialogue options that give you light/dark points.
instances and quests have different endings according to dialogue options too.
you have your companions, and when u dont need them, u can send them on missions and they bring back mats and gold,
and u can have them gather nodes for you while you kill stuff.
oh and u get your own spaceship wher eu can craft stuff or fight in "space combat" senarios.