Recently saw a video about SWtoR in 2019 and how awesome and alive it is... is it?

[Edge-]

The expansion that is coming out next month has people more excited than anything since SoR, so the game is in probably the best place it could be all things considered.

Regarding the graphic engine, they can't upgrade it because they took an engine that wasn't complete and heavily modified it to use in the game.

Here's a somewhat recent discussion about it from the subreddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/comme...y_we_all_cant/

Sadly I doubt that will ever change. BW has never seemed to excel in the engineering front on any of their games. I still haven't the foggiest clue why on earth they chose the early beta version of the Hero Engine and thought they could somehow finish it in-house. It's been hamstringing the game since day 1, but then again it seems to be their pattern when it comes to technology choices in the past decade or so : /

[Dawon]

I did exactly that, I stopped WoW (until next raid tier) 2-3 weeks ago and fired up my old swtor account, played for a few days and realized how dead the game feels, everything is static, nothing moves around, nothing can be interacted with, everything is kinda flat... Installed ESO instead (never tried it before) and it's a world of difference! The game is full of stuff to do, loot everywhere, exploring makes sense (you find so much off-stuff just walking around) and a really vibrant world where grass moves in the wind, butterflies fly around, random animals here and there and absolutely the most complex and detailed terrain I've seen in any mmo (on pair with Witcher3's kind of mountains, roads, forest and such).

If anything, give ESO a shot! I wish SWtor was that nice as I am a huge Star Wars fan but that isnt enough to go back to the game, it's just not good enough by todays standards.

[Dakhath]

I can only assume that with the budget they had on the game, the money people wanted the game out as soon as possible and I remember the dev team thinking it would take months for people to reach endgame when people did it in like a week or so. Vanilla SWTOR is without a doubt the best story experience in any MMO that I've ever played, like it's not even close, but the game dives deep into the Mariana trench from there.

[Edge-]

I can only assume that with the budget they had on the game, the money people wanted the game out as soon as possible and I remember the dev team thinking it would take months for people to reach endgame when people did it in like a week or so. Vanilla SWTOR is without a doubt the best story experience in any MMO that I've ever played, like it's not even close, but the game dives deep into the Mariana trench from there.

The game had a 7ish year development timeline. One could argue it was rushed out, but that was more a result of BW's slow development pace and increasing budgets than actually rushing the development timeline.

And yes, they apparently thought it would take folks 3-5 months to hit max level and weren't remotely prepared for them to do it in a matter of days. That speaks much more to how out of their depth they were in making a MMO and how they listened to precisely zero of the feedback from early testers.

Also, if you like story experiences, I'd suggest checking out Secret World Legends. It's less personal narrative focused and focuses more on world building and atmosphere, but it's bloody fantastic...for the story at least.

[Swnem]

The real question for me is have they updated their graphics engine? I haven't played in a few years(I think the hutt cartel had just come out or something?)- but when I did everything was still floaty and the animations, especially enemies in dungeons, were super weird.

If you are expecting a completely new game, then no.

But there have been many updates to the engine, especially in the lighting, many animations were revamped and new ones added and HD armor sets and better looking zones have been happening with time, not unlike wow. Many things like those pixelated planet aproaches were revamped with proper looking HD assets.
But otherwise it's still the same game. With that said, i do think it's one of the most beautiful mmo's to look at, and i never felt floaty playing it. It has aged rather well. But, performance still has it's ups and downs.

To give you an idea of what to expect, there is a video showing some more lighting upgrades coming in onslaught. I will link in a sec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnWgi2Ab5A

- - - Updated - - -

I did exactly that, I stopped WoW (until next raid tier) 2-3 weeks ago and fired up my old swtor account, played for a few days and realized how dead the game feels, everything is static, nothing moves around, nothing can be interacted with, everything is kinda flat... Installed ESO instead (never tried it before) and it's a world of difference! The game is full of stuff to do, loot everywhere, exploring makes sense (you find so much off-stuff just walking around) and a really vibrant world where grass moves in the wind, butterflies fly around, random animals here and there and absolutely the most complex and detailed terrain I've seen in any mmo (on pair with Witcher3's kind of mountains, roads, forest and such).

If anything, give ESO a shot! I wish SWtor was that nice as I am a huge Star Wars fan but that isnt enough to go back to the game, it's just not good enough by todays standards.

I'm afraid graphics aren't everything, especially for mmo's.

I find the gameplay in swtor, especially class design to be the most fun of all the mmo's. Crafting isn't the pain it is in all other mmo's and there's great character customisation and housing (and guild features!). When i'm playing i feel like i'm always having a blast.
I just wish it had more content support. It would be the only mmo i'd need if it had the content support games like and wow/ffxiv have.

[oplawlz]

If you are expecting a completely new game, then no.

But there have been many updates to the engine, especially in the lighting, many animations were revamped and new ones added and HD armor sets and better looking zones have been happening with time, not unlike wow. Many things like those pixelated planet aproaches were revamped with proper looking HD assets.
But otherwise it's still the same game. With that said, i do think it's one of the most beautiful mmo's to look at, and i never felt floaty playing it. It has aged rather well. But, performance still has it's ups and downs.

To give you an idea of what to expect, there is a video showing some more lighting upgrades coming in onslaught. I will link in a sec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnWgi2Ab5A

Cool beans. Wasn't a sideways jab or anything, I was genuinely curious I really enjoyed the game just single player.

[Biomega]

Cool beans. Wasn't a sideways jab or anything, I was genuinely curious I really enjoyed the game just single player.

That's how I always played it, on and off when I felt like playing some Star Wars. It totally works. Multiplayer for a flashpoint every now and then can be fun, too, but treating that as entirely optional always did it best for me personally.

The engine is dated for sure, but I strangely find myself enjoying it's particular... plastic... aesthetic somehow. As long as it runs on 60fps I actually don't really have many complaints.

I might pop back in for the new thing, we'll see.

[kenn9530]

wait for classic.

vanilla SWTOR is even far superior to wow classic, leveling is probably the best experience especially now since you can focus on class missions only, PvP is more enjoyable than WoW and your actually rewarded for doing objectives properly, there is still a fair amount to do in endgame.

[GreenJesus]

I wanted to try this game back in middle school, but I only had a mac back then so I couldn't play it.

[Shibito]

vanilla SWTOR is even far superior to wow classic, leveling is probably the best experience especially now since you can focus on class missions only, PvP is more enjoyable than WoW and your actually rewarded for doing objectives properly, there is still a fair amount to do in endgame.

The story then its done a gone game after that.

[keyboardshinobi]

This is the most depressing line I've read all morning.

But I mean thanks for your honesty.

Its not honest, the game is doing fine, smaller server count but they always have people on, there is even a new Expac with new story, zones, raids, and gear overhauls coming later this month. It isnt wildstar.

[MatadorMedia]

I haven't played The Old Republic in years. I was a subscriber in the beginning and then returned once they went free-to-play, but honestly their F2P structure was so overly confusing and complex it soured the experience for me. I never went back. But the story modes of each of the classes are totally worth experiencing while leveling; it just sucks you have to also overlap all the same planet quests on your toons (similar to WoW).

[Swnem]

I haven't played The Old Republic in years. I was a subscriber in the beginning and then returned once they went free-to-play, but honestly their F2P structure was so overly confusing and complex it soured the experience for me. I never went back. But the story modes of each of the classes are totally worth experiencing while leveling; it just sucks you have to also overlap all the same planet quests on your toons (similar to WoW).

Well that is vanilla content. But is there an mmorpg where you don't tread the same zones wich each character? If you go to the other faction, the zones while being in the same planets (though not always) use different areas of them. But this is the same with every mmo. So, it's an odd complaint to point at SWTOR alone, i'd say.
SWTOR does give you a different narrative with different classes though (in vanilla), so i would say it's actually more than what WoW does, for example. Though WoW did do that with Legion. I think it's one of things people liked, but blizz is like "oh only % of people did this and this class, therefore this is a waste of resources". :/

[Katchii]

I haven't played The Old Republic in years. I was a subscriber in the beginning and then returned once they went free-to-play, but honestly their F2P structure was so overly confusing and complex it soured the experience for me. I never went back. But the story modes of each of the classes are totally worth experiencing while leveling; it just sucks you have to also overlap all the same planet quests on your toons (similar to WoW).

The subscriber experience now is almost exactly the same as the subscriber experience back then, with the exception of the Cartel Market edition really.

I agree the F2P experience sours the overall feel, but subscribing fixes all of that and it's absolutely worth subscribing for at least a month to get access to all of the released content.

I personally won't play unless I'm subscribed because of the reminders that pop up here and there whenever you're not a subscriber. The rest area one reminding you that you won't get rest xp because you're not a subscriber is the biggest for me...it's just super annoying and IMO condescending the way it's worded.

[kenn9530]

The story then its done a gone game after that.

most players dont actually care about endgame content like raids and such, even wow only about 1/4 actually do heroic or above so you could argue there is actually more to do as a casual player in SWTOR than there is in WoW, you could spend most of your time collecting items than can be used to decorate your house or earn even more credits to purchase the more expensive houses, PvP is not something i do much in certain games but SWTOR has more enjoyable PvP than WoW has ever had.

[lordlosh]

The game is great. Its a complete b.s. that its lacks end game and so on. If you play 24/7 every game will get boring at some point.
If you play normal and do random stuff(end game) you will be more than perfect and happy with the game.
Plenty of variety in the end game like FP, Daily Quests, Warzones, Galactic Starfighter, Operations, Special Events, Space Missions, World PvP, Heroics as well and a lot more thing to be done to be fair.

I play ESO as well, but to me TOR looks like its the newer game and i like the gameplay way better. The cut scene cinematics inside the game is great.
The rotation in TOR is years ahead compare to the competitors. Its actually rotation, not just repeat 2-3 skills.

And to be fair i really like that you can do most stuff alone. Dealing with MMO community is hard task. And to be fair i think everyone have phases where he like to do stuffs alone. I always have such days where i like to play solo. Just because the name of the genre is MMORPG, doesn`t mean you shouldn`t do most of the stuffs in solo.
ESO is kinda similar.

SWTOR is great and if you like SW universe you will love it. The game with the best story in all MMORPG out there. Great cut scenes and plenty of variety in the end game, unless you want to do just 1 stuff like Operation and to expect every week or month new Operations/Raids.

[Pony Soldier]

I actually just started playing again a few days ago. I've been on and off with it a couple times now but this time I feel like I'm having more fun with it than before for some reason.

As far as it being alive, it does feel that way very much. I mean you'll have some zones particularly the old ones where there's hardly anyone around but I would imagine the newer zones are way more populated. Whenever you go to the main Fleet place there's literally like hundreds of people running around, RPing, selling, or looking to buy something. It's always active when I go there. So I would say the game is very much alive and hopefully is doing well financially.

My only gripes with it are the movement in the game, character dialogue, and an over saturation of skills.

The way you move around in the game just feels stiff and clunky. Hard to explain without showing you. Same goes for some of the animations for your abilities. It just doesn't feel like something that would come from multi-million dollar companies like EA and Bioware.

Some of the character voice acting is just horrible. I've only had the chance to play Sith and little of Bounty Hunter but for the Sith VA when you're being attacked it sounds like some autistic person having a fit. It's actually quite annoying hearing it constantly. I've also noticed that for a lot of the dialogue choices you pick he'll say the same boring one liner that actually sometimes doesn't even fit with the conversation and others just feel overly edgy and sound like they were thought up by some 8 year old like "I can't wait to start killing". Really? It ruins the immersion.

Then there's the plethora of abilities. I kinda figured out that some of the abilities you get aren't actually going to be used for some specs. Like for my Sith there are some abilities I get that are obviously meant for PVP situations and others for tanking. So if you keep that in mind it'll be less confusing because it sure was for me at first. So I just have a hotbar off to the side with them just in case. They should just give you the abilities that you'll use for your specific spec and not just give you everything. It just clutters things up to the point where you start running out of room for other things you might want. This is why I actually like WoW's pruning because you don't have so much clutter on your action bars and you can have room for other things. You just have to manage a few offensive and defensive abilities and the rest are just convenient shortcuts to professions and items and what not. For me, it just makes for a more enjoyable experience.

So if you're looking to come back I recommend it. It's an overall really fun game and the community seems to be a lot nicer than WoW's.

[GamerDroid 56]

Yes. It's a great game still with plenty of people playing daily. It is NOWHERE near close to dying or even being considered close to death.

[music49]

From what I understand the main story line at least the base game is worth it alone single player since each class has its own story line. I've been meaning to get back into it hopefully sooner than later. I'm not to sure about end game though

[Rogalicus]

Hopefully Steam release will bring some new players.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1..._Old_Republic/