Looking back at swtor over the last year

[Repefe]

So........ you jumped back in time to play a game that no longer exists? (Unless SWG means something else. If you're talking about Star Wars Galaxies, that game was shut down)

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...in-Stress-Test

[frogger237]

I did think I would play TOR more then I have, quit like 2 days after my free period ended, and came back in November to give it another shot.

I never thought it would be a wow killer and I never planed on leaving wow for it.

[ariakul]

As a preferred F2P, I got my 2 toons to 50 and am basically done until they allow 6 toons per preferred account. Pointless to PVP and do dailies to try and get gear I can't equip anyways.

I made another F2P account, but with how Bioware set the limits for sprint and level 1 mounts, its unbearable to play.

[Cooper]

First the good: The game's selling point: its story. I swear to god, this game has the BEST STORY OF ANY MMO. EVER. PERIOD. END OF STORY. As much as I love(d) wow's lore, SWTOR is on a completely different ascended level of awesomeness, with superb voice-acting (That isn't done by 80% the same actors like in wow) fantastic characters, a believable story, plenty of multi-layered villains and sidekicks, and everything you could expect from a bioware game.

I really don't get why people slobber all over BioWare's writing in the first place, because it's pretty terrible in general, but the writing in this game doesn't even meet that standard. The general consensus is that the Agent story is the best, and it's only interesting during chapter 2. The inquisitor story is awful and not compelling in any shape or form. Fantastic characters? Really? I couldn't care less what happens to Malgus, Revan, Satele, or any of them, except maybe Thana Vesh, who is a one-dimensional cartoon character, but at least she's a somewhat amusing one. The smuggler story is so unbearable ("Oh gosh, you just missed the guy who stole your ship, guess you better do busy work for me" ad nauseum) that I could never bear to even finish Coruscant with one.

On the other hand, even though I would never say Blizzard's writing is good, and I absolutely loathe how they throw away the parts that are potentially interesting to focus on making lame jokes and references to idiotic internet memes, I do find myself interested in what happens to the characters, however flimsy they may be. Heck, Guild Wars 2 has more compelling story-telling going on than The Old Republic does, as does Lord of the Rings Online.

So no, TOR does not have the best story of any MMO ever.

[Psychlon]

So no, TOR does not have the best story of any MMO ever.

I found myself more interested in what happens to my character in SWTOR than in all the years I played EQ2 which has a hugh amount of story.

[Edge-]

I found myself more interested in what happens to my character in SWTOR than in all the years I played EQ2 which has a hugh amount of story.

Because SWTOR has a personal story. EQ2 (from what I remember), doesn't. So rather than having the game deliver story about your character, you have to make it up in EQ2.

[jvbastel]

I think SWTOR did a pretty good job on the overall storyline. Some things were a bit cheesy, and some were just plain awful, like the plot twist at the end of the IA storyline. I have no idea why they made hunter a woman all of a sudden, someone enlighten me please

[Psychlon]

Because SWTOR has a personal story. EQ2 (from what I remember), doesn't. So rather than having the game deliver story about your character, you have to make it up in EQ2.

Actually I found myself very little interested in the overall story about EQ2 and it's purely because you would have to read through tons of notes (which you have to collect) etc. . SWTOR is pulling you into the story.

I think SWTOR did a pretty good job on the overall storyline. Some things were a bit cheesy, and some were just plain awful, like the plot twist at the end of the IA storyline. I have no idea why they made hunter a woman all of a sudden, someone enlighten me please

only woman can be so manipulative as shown in the IA story...:P

[Deleted]

The stories maybe isnt better then wow but when you got a class story, voice actors and decisions on every quest it makes a huge different in general feeling when you quest. In wow a giant wall of text pops up on every quest, not really fun at all or something that you cba reading everytime.

[Repefe]

The class story and some selected stories in TOR are good, but the generic quests are no better than in WoW. Takes 5-10 seconds max to read quest text&accept the quest in text form. VO you have to listen to it forever and then pick some generic how do you do answers before you get the quest ... it's like slow paced b rated movie. You want to skip and skip and skip to get to the end and be done with it. It's just not interesting enough.

[Deleted]

Just because they market two things to death for the game (voice acting and story) doesn't make them especially masterful you know. In fact the story aspect going beyond other MMO's can be summed up with each class having a greater amount of class specific quests. That's it, and credit where credit is due because it's something but it's hardly such a strong selling point, especially when it makes up so little of your actual playing experience and simply drops dead at 50. Because bland and one dimensional characters and deadbeat clichés isn't something that's widely considered masterful story aspect.

Which is probably part of why them considering rolling alts legitimate extra content didn't work out so well, the fact there's no alternative leveling paths beyond that that differs between the two factions didn't help either.

[Derah]

only woman can be so manipulative as shown in the IA story...:P

I should feel offended by that........... but its true.

I could probably convince a Sith Lord to put down his lightsaber if I wanted to (and at the end of Chapter one, that's exactly what I did)

The stories maybe isnt better then wow but when you got a class story, voice actors and decisions on every quest it makes a huge different in general feeling when you quest. In wow a giant wall of text pops up on every quest, not really fun at all or something that you cba reading everytime.

People really need to stop mis-using the term "Wall of Text". NOT A SINGLE QUEST in wow presents itself with a wall of text. At most its 3 paragraphs of 4 lines each, at the least its a single paragraph that says "go kill stuff". I will agree that the voiced exposition method is always better, that the old quest delivery method of reading text is obsolete (This has been shown on singleplayer games for quite a while. When was the last time you played a single-player RPG that delivered quests with just text? last one I recall was Neverwinter Nights). But from agreeing that reading texts is obsolete, to calling every single quest in wow a "wall of text", let alone a GIANT one, that's a huge stretch.

The class story and some selected stories in TOR are good, but the generic quests are no better than in WoW. Takes 5-10 seconds max to read quest text&accept the quest in text form. VO you have to listen to it forever and then pick some generic how do you do answers before you get the quest ... it's like slow paced b rated movie. You want to skip and skip and skip to get to the end and be done with it. It's just not interesting enough.

Yes and no. Some of the side-quests are boring (Bonus series come to mind) but not all of them are. I actually loved the planet-side stories of Alderaan and Nar Shadaa (even if Tattoine and Balmorra were so bad they made me die a little on the inside) but just as you have the option in wow to make the quest-text instant so you can hit accept at once, in this game you don't have to "listen to it forever", there's a spacebar for it, use it. When I did balmorra for the second time on my Warrior, I only saw the conversations for my class story, I skipped everything else with spacebar, and it took only a scarce few seconds to do so.

[Kelimbror]

Which is probably part of why them considering rolling alts legitimate extra content didn't work out so well, the fact there's no alternative leveling paths beyond that that differs between the two factions didn't help either.

I have to completely agree with that. I only leveled two characters to 50 in this game, but the second was only because I was forced to reroll my BH to another server b/c mine was one of the lowest population US servers.

It's pretty telling when the individual class mechanics and personal story, which are both awesome, aren't compelling enough to let me get through the rest of the game. It really did feel like a chore to grind my other characters up doing the same quests and activities. At some point all the activities feel the same. People like to say change it up with space, pvp, etc...but after a while all of that feels the same as well.

If they had actually delivered an entire story based leveling experience, you would have probably had the greatest leveling in an MMO ever by a landslide. As it is, the 'greatness' we all like to say and give credit for really only applies to your first character. They sure nailed that 10% of the leveling experience, but did quite average on the other 90%. The problem is that other games either make the other 90% easier or with choices or both.

[iceberg265]

Still love the game, still play every day, still subscribed, still doing Operations. The only thing that frustrates me is EA's mismanagement of the game and of Bioware in general.

[Derah]

I have to completely agree with that. I only leveled two characters to 50 in this game, but the second was only because I was forced to reroll my BH to another server b/c mine was one of the lowest population US servers.

It's pretty telling when the individual class mechanics and personal story, which are both awesome, aren't compelling enough to let me get through the rest of the game. It really did feel like a chore to grind my other characters up doing the same quests and activities. At some point all the activities feel the same. People like to say change it up with space, pvp, etc...but after a while all of that feels the same as well.

If they had actually delivered an entire story based leveling experience, you would have probably had the greatest leveling in an MMO ever by a landslide. As it is, the 'greatness' we all like to say and give credit for really only applies to your first character. They sure nailed that 10% of the leveling experience, but did quite average on the other 90%. The problem is that other games either make the other 90% easier or with choices or both.

Aye, I've leveled 3 toons already in MoP to level 90. (2 horde, 1 alliance) and had a blast. Granted, the experience was the same with every one of them, (Even the horde and alliance quests are VERY similar) but at least it was fast-paced and engaging. On SWTOR........... I've leveled my Agent to 40, Inquisitor to 35, and Warrior to 30. I quite literally cringe just by thinking I have to do Taris again on my warrior (and future bounty hunter).

While having their own personal story SHOULD encourage a maelstrom of alts, the leveling experience completely crushes that. I enjoy the story TREMENDOUSLY, but the gameplay is horrid. Having to rest every second pull, getting killed if I pull 2 packs of mobs, being utterly helpless if my companion gets killed, all of this is nothing more than padding.

I said it once and I'll say it again: Padding during the leveling experience is only acceptable for Single-player games, because they have no endgame, you finish your campaign and then move on. But for an MMO, leveling should NEVER feel like a chore. In wow, I can make a lvl 1 mage, start leveling, and not have to worry. Quests will provide me with the necessary gear, which gets gradually replaced as I move from zone to zone, and I can safely pull monsters without the risk of getting mowed down, unless I pull a truly ludicrous amount. I don't have to get out of my way to be able to reach the level cap.

On SWTOR? yeah, I have to stop planet progression and do the dreadful bonus series or I'll be underleveled for the next planet. I have to stop and update my gear or mobs will kill me just by sneering at me. I have to stop and update the gear of my companion or mobs will kill it by sneering at it, and then kill me. I have to constantly PAUSE my leveling, do other stuff, then resume, or else I'll get stuck.

I like challenges, but when properly placed. Just as I hate single-player games that are brutally hard even on the fucking TUTORIAL (Witcher 2 comes to mind) I hate MMOs that are brutally hard before even reaching the level cap. Challenges are to be left for the cap, before the cap, SOME difficulty is ok, but not too much. Its rather telling that I often have to use everything in my arsenal just to survive a fight with a mob pack that has 2 silvers on it, and even then I'll be almost dead by the time I'm done. if another pack attacks me, before I Have a chance to recover..... I'm a goner.

My Sniper? really well geared (Quest-gear just wasn't enough, I had to farm Flashpoints to get dungeon gear) but if Kaliyo dies, so do I. can't get simpler than that. Companions end up being crutches rather than boons.

[Kelimbror]

. Its rather telling that I often have to use everything in my arsenal just to survive a fight with a mob pack that has 2 silvers on it, and even then I'll be almost dead by the time I'm done. if another pack attacks me, before I Have a chance to recover..... I'm a goner.

My Sniper? really well geared (Quest-gear just wasn't enough, I had to farm Flashpoints to get dungeon gear) but if Kaliyo dies, so do I. can't get simpler than that. Companions end up being crutches rather than boons.

And it's completely odd because once you have moderate raid gear, you can basically solo Heroics with your companion if you have a healer. On my merc with Mako I solo the heroic dailies that aren't basically mini FPs. I can take packs with 2 elites, 2 silvers, and 2 normal mobs without using any cooldowns other than my CC.

Without the healer companion though? I would probably die on 2 elites pretty quickly. So yeah, they are definitely crutches.

[Repefe]

Yes and no. Some of the side-quests are boring (Bonus series come to mind) but not all of them are. I actually loved the planet-side stories of Alderaan and Nar Shadaa (even if Tattoine and Balmorra were so bad they made me die a little on the inside) but just as you have the option in wow to make the quest-text instant so you can hit accept at once, in this game you don't have to "listen to it forever", there's a spacebar for it, use it. When I did balmorra for the second time on my Warrior, I only saw the conversations for my class story, I skipped everything else with spacebar, and it took only a scarce few seconds to do so.

I hate that space 2 space 2 smashing. If there was a mod, well if TOR allowed mods ... if there was a mod or some game hack that would filter through the heap of *** and enabled vo only on the interesting stuff, the game would be much more fun to level up in.

[Armourboy]

Aye, I've leveled 3 toons already in MoP to level 90. (2 horde, 1 alliance) and had a blast. Granted, the experience was the same with every one of them, (Even the horde and alliance quests are VERY similar) but at least it was fast-paced and engaging. On SWTOR........... I've leveled my Agent to 40, Inquisitor to 35, and Warrior to 30. I quite literally cringe just by thinking I have to do Taris again on my warrior (and future bounty hunter).

While having their own personal story SHOULD encourage a maelstrom of alts, the leveling experience completely crushes that. I enjoy the story TREMENDOUSLY, but the gameplay is horrid. Having to rest every second pull, getting killed if I pull 2 packs of mobs, being utterly helpless if my companion gets killed, all of this is nothing more than padding.

I said it once and I'll say it again: Padding during the leveling experience is only acceptable for Single-player games, because they have no endgame, you finish your campaign and then move on. But for an MMO, leveling should NEVER feel like a chore. In wow, I can make a lvl 1 mage, start leveling, and not have to worry. Quests will provide me with the necessary gear, which gets gradually replaced as I move from zone to zone, and I can safely pull monsters without the risk of getting mowed down, unless I pull a truly ludicrous amount. I don't have to get out of my way to be able to reach the level cap.

On SWTOR? yeah, I have to stop planet progression and do the dreadful bonus series or I'll be underleveled for the next planet. I have to stop and update my gear or mobs will kill me just by sneering at me. I have to stop and update the gear of my companion or mobs will kill it by sneering at it, and then kill me. I have to constantly PAUSE my leveling, do other stuff, then resume, or else I'll get stuck.

I like challenges, but when properly placed. Just as I hate single-player games that are brutally hard even on the fucking TUTORIAL (Witcher 2 comes to mind) I hate MMOs that are brutally hard before even reaching the level cap. Challenges are to be left for the cap, before the cap, SOME difficulty is ok, but not too much. Its rather telling that I often have to use everything in my arsenal just to survive a fight with a mob pack that has 2 silvers on it, and even then I'll be almost dead by the time I'm done. if another pack attacks me, before I Have a chance to recover..... I'm a goner.

My Sniper? really well geared (Quest-gear just wasn't enough, I had to farm Flashpoints to get dungeon gear) but if Kaliyo dies, so do I. can't get simpler than that. Companions end up being crutches rather than boons.

At least with MoP you can change it up a bit, you aren't required to do the same quests in every zone on every toon you play, or at least I havent had too. Granted you could fudge it a bit at low levels in TOR but you still had to go to the planets you hate to do the class quests.

I will definitely agree with the companions, I hate being tied to one to do anything, and I hate it even more that you are pretty much forced to use a tank or healer one depending on your class. The only way I could use a DPS one was if I was running around with my friend who was a tank, and often times we still just kept the tank and healing companions out to make things super easy.

I'm a guy who loves alts, I have leveled 13+ level 85's over the years in WoW, and I even had one or two on FF online, but I couldn't stand leveling alts in SWTOR.

Even with all of its problems I could of still seen a reason to go back in some capacity if the F2P model had been halfway decent.

[Psychlon]

The class story and some selected stories in TOR are good, but the generic quests are no better than in WoW. Takes 5-10 seconds max to read quest text&accept the quest in text form. VO you have to listen to it forever and then pick some generic how do you do answers before you get the quest ... it's like slow paced b rated movie. You want to skip and skip and skip to get to the end and be done with it. It's just not interesting enough.

Everything is getting old pretty fast as soon as you know how it works. That's how it goes for anything anywere.

Just because they market two things to death for the game (voice acting and story) doesn't make them especially masterful you know. In fact the story aspect going beyond other MMO's can be summed up with each class having a greater amount of class specific quests. That's it, and credit where credit is due because it's something but it's hardly such a strong selling point, especially when it makes up so little of your actual playing experience and simply drops dead at 50. Because bland and one dimensional characters and deadbeat clichés isn't something that's widely considered masterful story aspect.

Which is probably part of why them considering rolling alts legitimate extra content didn't work out so well, the fact there's no alternative leveling paths beyond that that differs between the two factions didn't help either.

However there is and it's up to you to choose it. It is telling that people can't even mention that you can purely level up with pvp/space/flashpoints/class quests... either you don't like it yourself (which is why you "have to" go through the pve content all over again) or because for whatever other reason. However they are there and it's great. I didn't had this chance in EQ2 which is why I leveld exactly 5 characters in over 4 years and 3 of the only when I could rush them through with mentoring and /follow to my high lvl character.

I have to completely agree with that. I only leveled two characters to 50 in this game, but the second was only because I was forced to reroll my BH to another server b/c mine was one of the lowest population US servers.

It's pretty telling when the individual class mechanics and personal story, which are both awesome, aren't compelling enough to let me get through the rest of the game. It really did feel like a chore to grind my other characters up doing the same quests and activities. At some point all the activities feel the same. People like to say change it up with space, pvp, etc...but after a while all of that feels the same as well.

If they had actually delivered an entire story based leveling experience, you would have probably had the greatest leveling in an MMO ever by a landslide. As it is, the 'greatness' we all like to say and give credit for really only applies to your first character. They sure nailed that 10% of the leveling experience, but did quite average on the other 90%. The problem is that other games either make the other 90% easier or with choices or both.

So you re-leveled the same class/ story and are surprised that it's not "innovative" enough? Really I thought that especially you would realise that this is a kinda odd thing to say as it's obvious to repeat the same stuff right after it will most likely be really boring, especially since you had to do it because Bioware had no character transfers in plays which (I can imagine) didn't help cheering up your leveling experience.

I do think though that this is not a fair especially since you don't have to go through the same grind. Why not playing a character of the opposite faction which has entirely different quests, even some flashpoints which are different to mix up and see something new.

Having to rest every second pull, getting killed if I pull 2 packs of mobs, being utterly helpless if my companion gets killed, all of this is nothing more than padding.

I said it once and I'll say it again: Padding during the leveling experience is only acceptable for Single-player games, because they have no endgame, you finish your campaign and then move on. But for an MMO, leveling should NEVER feel like a chore. In wow, I can make a lvl 1 mage, start leveling, and not have to worry. Quests will provide me with the necessary gear, which gets gradually replaced as I move from zone to zone, and I can safely pull monsters without the risk of getting mowed down, unless I pull a truly ludicrous amount. I don't have to get out of my way to be able to reach the level cap.

On SWTOR? yeah, I have to stop planet progression and do the dreadful bonus series or I'll be underleveled for the next planet. I have to stop and update my gear or mobs will kill me just by sneering at me. I have to stop and update the gear of my companion or mobs will kill it by sneering at it, and then kill me. I have to constantly PAUSE my leveling, do other stuff, then resume, or else I'll get stuck.

I like challenges, but when properly placed. Just as I hate single-player games that are brutally hard even on the fucking TUTORIAL (Witcher 2 comes to mind) I hate MMOs that are brutally hard before even reaching the level cap. Challenges are to be left for the cap, before the cap, SOME difficulty is ok, but not too much. Its rather telling that I often have to use everything in my arsenal just to survive a fight with a mob pack that has 2 silvers on it, and even then I'll be almost dead by the time I'm done. if another pack attacks me, before I Have a chance to recover..... I'm a goner.

My Sniper? really well geared (Quest-gear just wasn't enough, I had to farm Flashpoints to get dungeon gear) but if Kaliyo dies, so do I. can't get simpler than that. Companions end up being crutches rather than boons.

You know that with every character/ companion, your companion becomes better as you get higher presence and stuff. I can literally send my companion (whatever role) sent into an entire group and he won't be at half his/her health by the time you are through with them (only equipped with green/ looted stuff as I don't really bother equipping them throughout the leveling). Braindead leveling is some of the most boring I've ever had... just buff and kill the same monsters for 10 hours = max lvl... yeah. I had that share in SWG and it was mind boggeling for me and I had to stop playing for a while.

My agent was at lvl 39 and I finished lvl 50 in 3 "real day afternoons", just popped xp potions and had my warzone unlocks doing my class quest and probably 1-2 flashpoints.

You pulling more than one group and ending up dead... something you are doing wrong or pulling too many groups.

And it's completely odd because once you have moderate raid gear, you can basically solo Heroics with your companion if you have a healer. On my merc with Mako I solo the heroic dailies that aren't basically mini FPs. I can take packs with 2 elites, 2 silvers, and 2 normal mobs without using any cooldowns other than my CC.

Without the healer companion though? I would probably die on 2 elites pretty quickly. So yeah, they are definitely crutches.

It depends on your class how easy you can solo stuff but saying that you can't pull an entire planet and not die before lvl 50 is really not being serious. Not likeing challenges in general before lvl 50... really... there is no challenge.

I don't even use a healer companion because it slows me down, using a dd all the time and because of legacy any dd will pull mobs away from you for at least the beginning by which most of the enemies are already dead.

At least with MoP you can change it up a bit, you aren't required to do the same quests in every zone on every toon you play, or at least I havent had too. Granted you could fudge it a bit at low levels in TOR but you still had to go to the planets you hate to do the class quests.

I will definitely agree with the companions, I hate being tied to one to do anything, and I hate it even more that you are pretty much forced to use a tank or healer one depending on your class. The only way I could use a DPS one was if I was running around with my friend who was a tank, and often times we still just kept the tank and healing companions out to make things super easy.

I'm a guy who loves alts, I have leveled 13+ level 85's over the years in WoW, and I even had one or two on FF online, but I couldn't stand leveling alts in SWTOR.

Even with all of its problems I could of still seen a reason to go back in some capacity if the F2P model had been halfway decent.

You aren't forced to do anything but you can't expect to have the same survivability with a dd as with a healer companion. Just let your dd companion pull and you do the rest... problem solved.

Most of you didn't level (m)any alts but are judging about it like you did several. I didn't level a single class the same way I leveld the one before. I'm skipping planets, nit pick what quests I want/ don't want but of course I have to compensate for this in a way which I like more... which I do.

[dokilar]

i was fortunate enough to get into beta the spring before it launched, i reckon around april or may of 2011. the game was a breath of fresh air as i had recently stopped playing WoW. fortunately the game is still fun to me as i play it quite casually. i still havent leveled all of the classes up so experiencing the story of them all is what drives me to still sub. however, playing as casual as i do i may very well level the last two characters up thru the f2p model

that being said, im just kind of burnt out on all games, mmos mostly though. i got hooked into LoL back in the early part of the summer and ive been playing that more than anything. i havent played WoW since probably feb. 2011 and even though i crave good story telling, and from what ive read the story so far in MoP is good, i just cant see myself paying money to see it.