Star Wars: The Old Republic will kill WoW - outsourced to Broadsword

[Popiel]

There were some things happenin’ in my new favourite timeburner which bears the name TOR. In the meantime between my last post and now I managed to: finish the Jedi Knight storyline, start Sith Inquisitor playthrough, start and finish Rise of the Hutt Cartel with Sith Warrior, start and finish prelude quests to the Shadow of Revan with same Warrior and, finally, roll an Imperial Agent. So, a lot goin’ on and I don’t really feel like elaboratin’ on everything, just some more major thoughts.

I played a Dark Side Jedi Knight and honestly I don’t see any other possible way to enjoy this story. There is just something special ‘bout DS Republic characters, Knight especially. You know, when you go Dark Side Imperial, Inquisitor for example, you’re just same old Stupid Sith who swims in his/her dark emotions, electrocutes people for shits and giggles and in general fucks up the Empire for everyone involved with stupid, insane plays. Well, that’s not exactly the case when you go Dark Side with a Jedi. There is this really wonderful, complete, blatant and overt smugness, arrogance, self-righteousness and condescending superiority complex which just shines through Knight every time you choose Dark Side. You really get a feelin’ of playin’ this way-too-powerful-for-his-own-good badass who does everything (and I mean everything) to hunt down, defeat and slaughter every motherfuckin’ Sith in this galaxy and beyond. Some lines that you drop are hilariously intense, but my God does the voice actor for male Knight deliver them all. You really feel that he’s enjoyin’ his work, and as a consequence I also enjoyed it much more than I would enjoy your typical saintly Light Side Jedi. DS Knight doesn’t give a fuck ‘bout anything. You just go and tell moronic Council that you just do their job all the time and all they do is whine ‘bout your Dark Side tendencies. Yeah, there’s a guy who defects to the Empire? You motherfuckin’ beat him to near death and then mindcontrol him to go back to the Imps and slaughter them from behind – and when Kira objects you just casually wipe her mind with words, to quote, “You will forget that and serve me faithfully” . Yeah, listen folks, just go Dark Side with your Knight, it’s all for the better.

As for the Knight’s main plot, yeah, I guess I see how it’s what’s left of the supposed story of KotOR 3. You get to do all the important stuff, includin’ killin’ the Emperor (BUT NOT REALLY LOLOLO). It’s bland and uninterestin’, I’ll be honest, I enjoyed it for other reasons that this sad excuse for a grand quest. It’s also pretty ridiculous if you give it even a lil’ bit of thought, don’t do that, spare yourselves.

Sith Inquisitor on the other hand is just borin’. I only just finished Balmorra and I’m doin’ quests on Nar Shaddaa and I’m quite done. After Sith Warrior this all just feels like a lesser, worse version of Warrior’s story and themes. Darth Baras the Fat was widely amusin’ character while all Sith you encounter as a Inquisitor are borin’ as fuck special snowflakes.

Imperial Agent is, as far as I’m in the story, really good, but I’m pretty hyped ‘bout this one so I’ll withhold judgement until I’m done.

Rise of the Hutt Cartel was also better storywise on the Empire than on the Republic side of the narrative, not by much, but it definitely was. I really like my Sith Warrior, I think he forms a nice counterpart to my asshole Jedi Knight, a shame that it’s not a proper cRPG, perhaps then they would come up with a way for these characters to interact in-game.

 

[Popiel]

It has some best BioWare stories since BG2 But we all know that you came here just to ask stupid questions like that, son.

 

[Popiel]

But we all know that you came here just to ask stupid questions like that, son.

 

[Erikkolai]

You know an MMO is in a bad shape when the top Twitch streamers are wamen and the Reddit is full of in-game fashion and cosplay posts.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You know an MMO is in a bad shape when the top Twitch streamers are wamen and the Reddit is full of in-game fashion and cosplay posts.

SWTOR has a lot of female players, probably the highest of any MMO I've played. ESO is likely second.

 

[Myobi]

You know an MMO is in a bad shape when the top Twitch streamers are wamen and the Reddit is full of in-game fashion and cosplay posts.

SWTOR has a lot of female players, probably the highest of any MMO I've played. ESO is likely second.

Amazing, and how did you measure that up?

 

[Frank Capicoli]

You know an MMO is in a bad shape when the top Twitch streamers are wamen and the Reddit is full of in-game fashion and cosplay posts.

SWTOR has a lot of female players, probably the highest of any MMO I've played. ESO is likely second.

Amazing, and how did you measure that up?

That's easy, most of his responses for erp were from ""females"".

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Going and looking it up, I was pretty correct. SWTOR's female imbalance is so high that it skews sci-fi MMO data overall by a large amount.
https://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/

6) Star Wars: The Old Republic is Skewing the Genre High.
SWTOR has almost double the Sci-Fi MMO genre average of female gamers (29% vs. 16%). Without SWTOR, the genre average would be 11.3%, at which point the group average for High Fantasy MMOs would be more than 3 times higher than Sci-Fi MMOs.

 

[Myobi]

"As we assembled the original MMO genre, we noticed a difference between High Fantasy and Sci-Fi MMOs, and decided to split the genre."

"SWTOR has almost double the Sci-Fi MMO genre"

Yeah it skews the SCI-FI genre... But ofc it does, look at it:

• MMOs (High Fantasy): World of Warcraft, Rift, Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest II, The Elder Scrolls Online.
• MMOs (Sci-Fi): Star Trek Online, EVE Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Also no Final Fantasy 14 too? Keel story.

Woah, such data, much correct.

Edited: Ratings are supposed to give some sort of classification to a post, not to express how you fucking feel after reading it, just apply some cream and avoid pulling any further wild idiotic claims out of it and you should be fine in a couple of days.

 

[Fedora Master]

You know an MMO is in a bad shape when the top Twitch streamers are wamen and the Reddit is full of in-game fashion and cosplay posts.

Actually that's great from a business perspective. It means your customer base got distilled down to hardcore whales and dummies, so there's no need for content or bugfixing anymore, just the occasional new pretty princess dress.

 

[Popiel]

It means your customer base got distilled down to hardcore whales and dummies

 

[Popiel]

It was quite a long time since I last posted my progress. I know that I’m at this moment probably last person on Earth who bothers with this game to such an extent (devs included obviously), but I don’t really care, I still have fun. Sort of.

I managed to finish two more storylines: Imperial Agent (neutral/LS) and Sith Inquisitor (assuredly DS).

Yeah, I get why people say that Agent’s plot is the best one. It plays most like a proper cRPG and it isn’t afraid of bein’ unorthodox. It gives you choices and there are consequences to these choices – albeit they only come up at the end and considerin’ I played further expansions I know that they’re ultimately meaningless, yet still when measured in isolation they are here and they really make playin’ Agent unique. Almost all other classes are moved around by the plot, they are not movers themselves, not really – even in the end. Agent works differently. Player is of course still constrained by MMO gameplay mechanics so you are effectively moved around, but at least plot tries to make it look like you are in control of your actions. Which is pretty ironic considerin’ what’s going on in the story itself, but I’ll try to limit spoilers as much as possible. Agent storyline has some strong, recurring characters, and it’s, I think, much more unified than the other ones. Darth Jadus is a cutie, I wish there was more of him, of all the Sith you encounter in this game across all class stories he’s probably the closest one to a guy who believes in an unadulterated Sith doctrine for all, not only as far as it benefits him (second would be Malgus IMO, then Baras, but Baras is clearly outgrowin’ the, to quote The Fatman, “changing Sith paradigm”). But what’s most important is that this storyline, as was stated many, many, many times, is a metastory. It tells a story ‘bout a Star Wars story. You look at the Force users, Sith and Jedi, from above, you do not necessarily partake in usual Star Wars shenanigans, and while no conclusions are really original (Obsidian beat you to it BioWare, sorry no sorry) the approach is interestin’. Agent should definitely be played last, not only ‘cause it directly and in a very revealin’ manner addresses most (all?) other storylines, especially Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor, but also ‘cause it confirms what’s obvious when you play these storylines yourself – that Sith are just pure fuckin’ morons who ruined the Empire for everyone involved with them, well, bein’ Sith.

Imperial Agent most clearly proves that someone should have given BioWare enough money to make TOR a single player game.

Sith Inquisitor definitely redeemed itself in my eyes a bit when I finally crouched (almost literally) out of act 1. Good God, act 1 of Inquisitor is a terrible, pure fuckin’ piece of shit. It’s only retroactively fixed when you get to the act’s climax and realise why Zash was such a weirdo to you and everyone else all the time. After act 1 it gets good. Inquisitor is as far as I played this game (I would like to remind you that I’m 5/8 done) the only class in which writers bothered to take more direct reins of the plot. Generally (and I did it 4 times before that, good God what am I doin’...) it goes like this. In act 1 you go to 4 planets (first 2 and then second 2 in sequence). In act 2 you go to 2 planets, and you get to choose which one you visit first, same for act 3 which gives you either Belsavis or Voss and then Corellia as the last planet. Inquisitor breaks that – if only a little bit. In act 2 you are forced to play your content in a more structured manner – first Tatooine, then Hoth, and, watch this, you get to do stuff in between. You travel back to Korriban to witness same asshole overseer who tormented you while you were an acolyte now startin' to torment new group of acolytes, in which situation you play a role formerly played by Zash. You get to check back on a cult you started for yourself on one of the planets in act 1. In general these are all good things, even if you backtrack a lot ‘cause of it I think it’s nice, fresh design, certainly it made act 2 and 3 more bearable. Especially when you consider that Darth Thanaton is a waste of my time and space on my screen. He’s a really weak of a villain (not really a spoiler, game screams he’s a villain at you first time he appears), even if conceptually he’s an interestin’ character. He most clearly is a narrative counterpart to Darth Baras, but while Baras commands respect and has a lot of gravitas each time he pops in to check on Warrior (and it’s a lot), Thanaton is an absentee landlord who from time to time takes a peek, spouts some bullshit and then disappears, makin’ no lastin’ impression and in general bein’ a one note character. Thanaton is supposedly a Sith traditionalist and his blind traditionalism (as an aside – he’s not really a traditionalist, he’s a coward who hides behind old rituals to mask his cowardice, and game is at least smart enough to notice this) basically generated whole Inquisitor plotline out of some stupid, petty misunderstandings. It’s funny ‘cause it shows in crystal form why Sith are donkeys and that what’s goin’ on durin’ battle for Corellia (and your Inquisitor is guilty of it as well) is simply an Imperial army tryin’ to win a two side war against Republic on one side and Sith backstabbery on the other side. What’s more. I played by Inquisitor as a 100% Dark Side character and it was hilariously psychopathic, zappin’ everyone for no reason and BEIN’ A COLICOID. Fun. But simple.

Now I’m playin’ a Bounty Hunter and it seems that takin’ a breath from Imperial-Republic storyline works wonders.

PS Thanaton does perhaps one thing right. When Imperials want to build YET ANOTHER SUPERWEAPON NR 8234728 he cuts their funds Smart lad.

PS2 As of now I would rank storylines as such:
LS Warrior = LS Consular > LS/neutral Agent > DS Knight > DS Inquisitor

As a complete aside. I think they made a mistake when they dumbed this game down so hard that only challengin' content are master-tier dungeons and operations/raids (not all of these even). Right now if you don't want to waste time in guilds and whatnot only reason to play TOR is its story.

 

[wahrk]

Imperial Agent most clearly proves that someone should have given BioWare enough money to make TOR a single player game.

200 million wasn’t enough?

 

[Popiel]

200 million wasn’t enough?

Can you read?

 

[Storyfag]

Darth Jadus is a cutie, I wish there was more of him

Not only you. Likely the most intriguing Sith in the whole game.

of all the Sith you encounter in this game across all class stories he’s probably the closest one to a guy who believes in an unadulterated Sith doctrine for all, not only as far as it benefits him (second would be Malgus IMO, then Baras, but Baras is clearly outgrowin’ the, to quote The Fatman, “changing Sith paradigm”).

You're forgetting Marr.

Baras commands respect and has a lot of gravitas

The jokes write themselves, don't they? Man, I wish they'd kept the original version from the concept art and tie-in comic books. They kept Thanaton spot on looks-wise, and Angral pretty close.

In any case, yes, the whole reason for the conflict with Thanaton was so idiotic I don't even. He could have at the very least been convinced that

Spoiler

Zash succeeded and that he is dealing with HER and not YOU

or perhaps avenging the

Spoiler

death of his minion Skotia

Alas, none of the above, oh so easily introduced motives, came to the devs' minds.

 

[wahrk]

200 million wasn’t enough?

Can you read?

...can you?

edit: this game had a 200 million+ budget. It wasn't money standing in the way of Bioware making it a single-player game.

 

[Popiel]

You're forgetting Marr.

I'm not. I played through Hutt expansion and Revan expansion with my LS Sith Warrior, and Marr is featured prominently there. He's a great chap, but he's a pretty shitty Sith IMHO. He's an Imperial Force user or a Dark Jedi at best. He seems all to well concerned with the bigger picture than a man of Sith persuasion should be. And as we know from KotFE/KotET he

Spoiler

becomes one with the Force and basically shits on Sith ideals

, so there's that as well.

The jokes write themselves, don't they? Man, I wish they'd kept the original version from the concept art and tie-in comic books.

Lol nope. Baras is unique in how he looks and his GREAT WIDENESS gave birth to countless memes on DK general chat. In comic books he just look like a cheap mans Sheev. In game he looks like, well, Baras.

In any case, yes, the whole reason for the conflict with Thanaton was so idiotic I don't even.

At least game is sort of conscious 'bout this, many mock Thanaton in his face, includin' Darth Ravage, who I generally hate as a character.

 

[Popiel]

Holy shit.

I started Knights of the Fallen Empire with my Warrior on Master difficulty. Fuck. It's hard Completely different game all of a sudden. Like night and day.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Holy shit.

I started Knights of the Fallen Empire with my Warrior on Master difficulty. Fuck. It's hard Completely different game all of a sudden. Like night and day.

Master mode chapters in kotfe/kotet are no joke. Easily some of the hardest content I've done yet, harder than master mode FPs.

Expect to use all your abilities, CCs, adrenals, and very long boss fights where one mistake is game over.
Many of the choices offered make much more sense now and it's actually tempting (without spoilering anything), feels like the story was actually designed this way.
Definitely do not do them master mode the first time through. Veteran would probably be fine.

At the time I had some of the best gear available, could play my class well, and was healing master mode FPs without issue.
Master mode chapters will kick your ass.

 

[Popiel]

At the time I had some of the best gear available, could play my class well, and was healing master mode FPs without issue.
Master mode chapters will kick your ass.

I already went through whole KotFE and KotET on Normal with my Consular, and it was a breeze.

Now? Fuck me, Chapter 1 is hard af. I'm not used to this kind of difficulty in this game, even though I do veteran and master flashpoints. What's worse is that Juggernaut Warrior has no easy way to mitigate all this damage.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

At the time I had some of the best gear available, could play my class well, and was healing master mode FPs without issue.
Master mode chapters will kick your ass.

I already went through whole KotFE and KotET on Normal with my Consular, and it was a breeze.

Now? Fuck me, Chapter 1 is hard af. I'm not used to this kind of difficulty in this game, even though I do veteran and master flashpoints. What's worse is that Juggernaut Warrior has no easy way to mitigate all this damage.

Yeah basically all solo content up to that point is a complete breeze so you go running right into a brick wall.
Would have enjoyed the game more if it was all that difficult.

 

[Popiel]

Yeah basically all solo content up to that point is a complete breeze so you go running right into a brick wall.
Would have enjoyed the game more if it was all that difficult.

Yeah, truth be told I wouldn't. I believe, judgin' by me bein' just unable to beat the final boss at this moment, that Veteran difficulty is this sweet spot at which whole game would be much more enjoyable.

Besides, not all classes can deal with what I'm dealin' with right now, my Warrior is probably one of the least suited specs to go through it solo (no autoheals etc.).

Shit. Game, you surprised my positively.

 

[Storyfag]

At the time I had some of the best gear available, could play my class well, and was healing master mode FPs without issue.
Master mode chapters will kick your ass.

Ehh, being good on Master Mode FPs is no proof of skill. They are significantly easier than MM Operations. Back in the day, they were called Hardmode Flashpoints and what is now called MM Operations were a level higher Nightmare Ops. Then BW changed the names, but didn't beef the content up.

What's worse is that Juggernaut Warrior has no easy way to mitigate all this damage.

Look for prevention, then. Make sure you know all the interrupts at your disposal, how to reset them and what to use them on.

 

[Popiel]

Look for prevention, then. Make sure you know all the interrupts at your disposal, how to reset them and what to use them on.

Believe it or not, I'm quite good at playin' my characters. Master mode just wasn't feasible, last boss of Chapter 1 was a complete roadblock, I burned like 100k of creds on repairs and consumables and best I could do was downin' him to 1/5 of his HP, after that - wall. Jugg Warrior doesn’t have what it takes by himself, little interrupts, even less autoheals, nice mobility but encounter wasn’t suited for that. So I downgraded to Veteran, which is perfectly manageable.

I think I'll give it a shot with my Consular though. He seems better crafted for soloin' Master mode expansions (autoheals and interrupts present, nice DPS as well, though he's much more stationary).

 

[Storyfag]

I haven't played the game for almost two years now, so things could have changed... but isn't there a utility point allowing you to reset your bitchslap interrupt by Force-charging to the enemy? Or even better! There definitely IS a utility point allowing *your charge* to become an interrupt. And then the charge cooldown resets because of using... something I can't recall. Ravage, probably. Then add Force choke and the bitchslap interrupt and you should be fine.

As for heals... what is your companion doing? Is it maxed out on affection, however its called?