Logged into this last night

[Saucerian]

For the first time in about two years, out of boredom and disgust with WoD.

To my surprise I was really enjoying it, even though I've already seen much of the class stories. It was refreshing to play an MMO RPG rather than a shoddy MMO Facebook-FPS whose latest touted features are selfies and Twitter integration.

Perhaps ironically it's because TOR copied WoW when the latter was still at its peak, and unlike it, hasn't messed much with the core mechanics.

And the newbie zone's general chat was filled with people actually answering questions and offering advice. Talk about a bizarro experience.

[OpposedByMyThumbs]

Yeah. I am back to ToR as well. It doesn't have the budget, but it's more my kinda mmoRPG.

Housing is actual housing while not as good as W* or Lotro...it's miles better than garrisons.
The story is about the players not about Chris Metzen.
While there is some player-gating it is not as bad as WoW.
No attendance legendaries.
It feels like Star Wars..where as WoD....kinda unrecognizable as WoW to me.

All that being said... the ToR engine still has quite a few issues. WoW runs like a dream.

Both WoW and ToR have been out a while and have established cliques of progressors and pvpers that can be hard to break into. I do feel this is less extreme in ToR

[brutallord]

Every time I renew my SWTOR subscription, I just play it as a standard single player RPG, not an MMO at all. And that's a good thing for me.

[Fkiolaris]

I would say that if you want to play it as a single player, then you should not sub at all. If you want to play it as a full-on MMO, then sub is mandatory imo. Either way, have fun :-)

[quras]

I think you'll find the game is much better off than when you played it last.

It's still got a few problems gamers hope BW will fix but overall, I see potential here I don't see in some other games. That could change of course but so far so good.

[cillic12]

I have to admit I love the game it's really fun

[Deleted]

It's a very nice game, especially if you are a long-time Star Wars fan. Some mechanics (especially targeting) could use some honing, but otherwise it's much more enjoyable than WoW right now. And Starfighter combat is a rather enjoyable form of PvP, where your class, gear or even level don't mean anything; all that matter are your ship(s) and piloting skills.

[Deleted]

Well, star wars questing is the only questing I have actually enjoyed, loved the stories =) However, f2p model is crazy and what's keeping me away from the game

[Deleted]

Funny you mention this as the exact situation happened to me this weekend haha. I was bored and got an email about 7 days free sub as a former player and thought "what the hell... haven't played in it 2 years". Bought the new Revan expansion and am currently having a blast; just need to find an active guild now with people to help educate me in the new ways! Still a little to confused as to how the stronghold system works, that's on my list of research for tonight.

But yeah... my WoW game time ran out last week and I have no intention of renewing it any time soon as I'm pretty burned out with the game in general. I don't miss it either so it's a sign I guess

[Gelda82]

rather than a shoddy MMO Facebook-FPS

Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

hasn't messed much with the core mechanics.

You DEFINITELY don't know what you're talking about since Disciplines launched.

No attendance legendaries.

At least there are legendaries. I'm not sure what your beef with the current implementation of legendaries is, since hoping for a binding drop or Rag's eye wasn't particularly fun or fair.

[Saucerian]

Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

Yeah. It's called being figurative. Meant the latter is like an FPS by comparison, with story (in-game at least) getting ever more de-emphasized, classes getting pared and homogenized, iconic and flavor abilities getting removed. Leveling to cap and seeing accompanying stories being encouraged to speed through as fast as possible, or skip entirely for cash.

You DEFINITELY don't know what you're talking about since Disciplines launched.

Maybe not. You're saying there's been some class revamp? I deleted all my characters when I last quit the game. Hadn't gotten to level 10 yet before posting.

[Ham on Rye]

You DEFINITELY don't know what you're talking about since Disciplines launched.

In all fairness, the core mechanics of each spec and each AC are still similar even with disciplines. Sure there are differences, such as the utility points, but it's not as if Marauders aren't dual wielding or Sages can't heal now.

At least there are legendaries. I'm not sure what your beef with the current implementation of legendaries is, since hoping for a binding drop or Rag's eye wasn't particularly fun or fair.

It's perfectly fair when he gets legendaries and nobody else does. Duh.

I mean, it's just a logical continuation of the MMO credo. "If I win, it's skill. If you win, it's luck."

[OpposedByMyThumbs]

Leveling to cap and seeing accompanying stories being encouraged to speed through as fast as possible, or skip entirely for cash.

While the 12 xp was temporarily offered to get ppl ready for SoR at about the same time as 90 boosts were handed out in WoW...it was temporary.

In addition....they did actually add some class specific quests in SoR turning to more of a story focus than RotHC. 3.2 is expanding on that approach and is weaving it into even more quests.

[Skizzit]

The best thing about ToR is you can play it either as a single player adventure to experience the story or get out there and play it as an MMO. WoW hasn't offered much in the way of single player experiences in a while. After my subscription ran out in Feb I uninstalled every piece of Blizzard software on my PC. Haven't felt even the slightest desire to reinstall.

I always find it hilarious how overly dramatic some people are over a video game.

[OpposedByMyThumbs]

I always find it hilarious how overly dramatic some people are over a video game.

Agreed it is somewhat extreme, but it's obvious Blizzard is aiming for a new demo. Not suprised to see this really. They're bound to leave some old fans in the dust along the way. I digress. ToR is fun..WoW is fun...YMMV.

[Deleted]

So I installed this last night and played for a little while.
I've gotten sick of the monotony of World of Warcraft, so am looking for something else.

Using the Free account and overall the game looks alright. Throws a lot at you from the get-go, which is nice.
Struggling to find certain things, like banks, auction houses, etc, but I'm thinking maybe im just restricted because of my account. It's not putting me off.

Overall, I'm enjoying it, I'm just wondering what the benefits of subscribing are? Is it worth it?
Also... the UI seems a little restrictive. I can't find an option to add extra actions bars like I could in WoW? Does that change with subscription, because my single bar is already quite full with abilities, lol.

[Goshko]

So I installed this last night and played for a little while.
I've gotten sick of the monotony of World of Warcraft, so am looking for something else.

Using the Free account and overall the game looks alright. Throws a lot at you from the get-go, which is nice.
Struggling to find certain things, like banks, auction houses, etc, but I'm thinking maybe im just restricted because of my account. It's not putting me off.

Overall, I'm enjoying it, I'm just wondering what the benefits of subscribing are? Is it worth it?
Also... the UI seems a little restrictive. I can't find an option to add extra actions bars like I could in WoW? Does that change with subscription, because my single bar is already quite full with abilities, lol.

The first banks, auction house etc are in the fleet (think of it as capitol) which you reach after the intro planet.

If you like it under the free to play restrictions you'll love it as a subscriber, best subscribe for a month to get a feel of the game, you get 550 cartel coins and preferred status after too.

Yes the interface for f2p is extremely restricted, as subscriber you get 6 bars and more importantly the interface editor which let's you do pretty much anything with the ui.

[Deleted]

The first banks, auction house etc are in the fleet (think of it as capitol) which you reach after the intro planet.

If you like it under the free to play restrictions you'll love it as a subscriber, best subscribe for a month to get a feel of the game, you get 550 cartel coins and preferred status after too.

Yes the interface for f2p is extremely restricted, as subscriber you get 6 bars and more importantly the interface editor which let's you do pretty much anything with the ui.

Does sound quite good then.

That is one of the things that bugs me about this game. Cartel Coins. In-game shop.
Is it Pay2Win, or can you get shop gear in game, it just takes longer??
I'm not interested in rushing to get the best gear because I'd rather experience everything the game has to offer rather than rush to the end game stuff, but I am concerned that unless I spend money, I'll be quite weak gearwise.

Also, what does the preferred status do??

[quras]

So I installed this last night and played for a little while.
I've gotten sick of the monotony of World of Warcraft, so am looking for something else.

Using the Free account and overall the game looks alright. Throws a lot at you from the get-go, which is nice.
Struggling to find certain things, like banks, auction houses, etc, but I'm thinking maybe im just restricted because of my account. It's not putting me off.

Overall, I'm enjoying it, I'm just wondering what the benefits of subscribing are? Is it worth it?
Also... the UI seems a little restrictive. I can't find an option to add extra actions bars like I could in WoW? Does that change with subscription, because my single bar is already quite full with abilities, lol.

You should finish the starter planet around level 10 (as a F2P gamer). The final quest will send you to the fleet where you will choose your advanced class and there you will find your cargo hold (personal bank) and GTN (auction house) as well as all trainers, profession trainers and crafting material sales plus everything nearly everything else eventually as you level from flash points to operations and comm gear.

As far as your UI, as a f2P playes you should have at least 2 action bars. There is basic setting when you start that is one action bar but you can expand it to 2. Preferred gets 4 and subscribers get 6 plus the addition of a UI editor where you can do almost anything.

The biggest thing I think subscribers get right off the bat is normal exp gains (instead of a 25% F2P reduction plus rest expereince. They get full use of all artifact gear and quest items and unlimited credit accumulation. Thats are nice for leveling. As few extra smaller perks is matching colors to your gear and hiding a helmet if you want.

The reason most say sub for a month first is allows you to save enough credits to buy tokens off the GTN (instead of the cartel market) that remove most restrictions per toon or account and when you drop back to preferred status, you're a bit better off in the long run and still don't have to pay anything else if you don't want to after the first month.

The biggest pain in the ass when I was a F2P player was the constant reminder that I was a F2P player coming from the game.

[Uproot]

Does sound quite good then.

That is one of the things that bugs me about this game. Cartel Coins. In-game shop.
Is it Pay2Win, or can you get shop gear in game, it just takes longer??
I'm not interested in rushing to get the best gear because I'd rather experience everything the game has to offer rather than rush to the end game stuff, but I am concerned that unless I spend money, I'll be quite weak gearwise.

Also, what does the preferred status do??

The shop isn't really P2W, 90% of the items in there are purely cosmetic and can be sold on the auction to other players for credits. The other 10% aren't game breaking, things like xp boosts (which they give you for doing certain quests in game anyway).

And for preferred status http://www.swtor.com/free/features A nice confusing checklist.