I played this past weekend, and I plan on buying and playing post release. I loved it and had a great time. This post is a quick rundown of all the major complaints and criticisms I've seen in the feedback forums for the game, in no particular order. This is for those who still haven't played and are wondering if this game is for them


  • Game isn't innovative, follows the trinity (heal, tank & DPS) 'copied from Warcraft'. A lot of the feedback compares the game to WoW. This is only half true. TOR isn't innovative, but give credit where credit is due...all trinity MMO's nowdays have EQ to thank, not WoW.
  • Environment feels static and lifeless. NPC and mobs stand around, and their ambient sounds and animations seem sparse. Although I personally wasn't bothered by this, the points critics have brought up on this topic are true. I can only speak on the earlier part of the game, but even enemy mobs stand still in groups of 3 or 4. They don't move unless you aggro them. Again, I do not know if this is true on higher levels. There is no swimming in the game. Running through bodies of water doesn't slow you down, you just glide along the top at your regular run speed. No day/night cycles. None of these are game breakers for me.
  • UI is too restrictive. Lots of various complaints on the UI. It is functional, but everyone who has previous MMO experience will probably find something they dislike about the UI. No combat log at launch (to be added later), no third party mods, no macros and no mouseover targetting. Bioware has stated it plans to let third party mods in after release, but we don't know when. No arguments from me here. Other games are light years ahead in terms of the customization and flexibility of their UI compared to this game.
  • Combat 'feels clunky'. I also felt this way as well. Then I discovered that turning off my vsync made all the input lag disappear, and the combat went from clunky to smooth in the click of a mouse. Vsync, by default, was turned on, and caused a ridiculous amount of input lag for me. I had three guidlies who were frustrated with the game until I told them to turn Vsync off, and it changed their experience drastically for the better. My guess is there were a lot of people throughout the weekend who didn't think to turn this off, and I can understand and agree with them that combat feels slow and horrible with vsync turned on. Without it, pushing my buttons felt smooth as butter. Keep in mind that turning vsync off will put more of a strain on your system, so this may only be an option for those with better hardware.
  • Quests are run of the mill, fetch this, kill this guy, kill x number of mobs with a story tacked on. Yes, yes they are. Just about every quest in every RPG ever made can fit into a few categories. This is nothing new. If this is game breaking for you, be aware that it's true.


Hope this helps. See you at launch.