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

[IDtenT]

anus_pounder: You are the broest of bros. Prepare to be fisted whenever you post.

 

[~RAGING BONER~]

prepare to have your Anus Pounded whenever you come to America

 

[IDtenT]

I've been playing this over the last week and my experience has been mostly positive. How did that happen? I don't know. I'm not an experienced MMO player, having basically only played F2P MMOs - apart from EVE and Wizard101 - so the WoW comparison doesn't really mean anything to me.

The quest flow and design is certainly the best I have seen in an MMO and better than single-player games like Skyrim. It's Biowarian of course, but it has its appeals - if only because of the polish. The reactivity is what you'd expect from Bioware. It's of course not a story that's going to make or break a person, but it certainly is more of the same KotOR feel. I can also totally see replaying it with different classes, since they all have their own storyline - that's pretty cool in anyone's books. The flashpoints are actually really really entertaining. I know there has been a lot of complaints that there aren't enough, but I'm not at that point yet.

The skill system is far better than my previous experience with MMOs. In LotRO you're running around bashing the same skill over and over for most of the game, here I have multiple skills I can use. What I would have liked is a way to queue skills and not interrupt them when I click to use another. Is there a way I can do that? I digress. Advancement certainly feels better than any other MMO I've played, with the continuous expansion of the skill tree.

The F2P component of the game is hilariously broken and it's clear that they want to frustrate F2P gamers into subscribers. The lack of character slots is pretty standard, but I don't know how well it works in a game that's so heavily based on story-mode. You also get only two ability bars, which is not a problem right now. Both of these are circumvented with your first purchase and I can see myself spend some cash on this, but it's a bad start. Not able to use a rare (artefact) item? That's okay but will be hilariously broken in late level PvP. Customization I can live without. The problem is even subscribers have to cough up cash for customization these days. Account-wide unlocks are also ridiculously priced, but I might be tempted to go for artefact unlock later on. It's pretty clear they still want subscribers - not pay to play; will have to wait and see if that will change over the years - they have already lowered some prices permanently. Certainly would have liked to gain more coins through the achievement system (which is actually pretty great).

It's actually pretty good and I'm not sure why it has such a bad rep. I'm pretty sure its biggest loss and still the biggest detractor is their commitment to the subscription model - yet in the process of testing other waters fucking over the subscribers as well. I don't really know what the business side is thinking, but the dev side is pretty solid.

Where the fuck are the Codex guilds?

 

[rashiakas]

The problem with TOR is that it is a not so bad single player game instead of a good mmo.

 

[anus_pounder]

I've been playing this over the last week and my experience has been mostly positive. How did that happen? I don't know. I'm not an experienced MMO player, having basically only played F2P MMOs - apart from EVE and Wizard101 - so the WoW comparison doesn't really mean anything to me.

The quest flow and design is certainly the best I have seen in an MMO and better than single-player games like Skyrim. It's Biowarian of course, but it has its appeals - if only because of the polish. The reactivity is what you'd expect from Bioware. It's of course not a story that's going to make or break a person, but it certainly is more of the same KotOR feel. I can also totally see replaying it with different classes, since they all have their own storyline - that's pretty cool in anyone's books. The flashpoints are actually really really entertaining. I know there has been a lot of complaints that there aren't enough, but I'm not at that point yet.

The skill system is far better than my previous experience with MMOs. In LotRO you're running around bashing the same skill over and over for most of the game, here I have multiple skills I can use. What I would have liked is a way to queue skills and not interrupt them when I click to use another. Is there a way I can do that? I digress. Advancement certainly feels better than any other MMO I've played, with the continuous expansion of the skill tree.

The F2P component of the game is hilariously broken and it's clear that they want to frustrate F2P gamers into subscribers. The lack of character slots is pretty standard, but I don't know how well it works in a game that's so heavily based on story-mode. You also get only two ability bars, which is not a problem right now. Both of these are circumvented with your first purchase and I can see myself spend some cash on this, but it's a bad start. Not able to use a rare (artefact) item? That's okay but will be hilariously broken in late level PvP. Customization I can live without. The problem is even subscribers have to cough up cash for customization these days. Account-wide unlocks are also ridiculously priced, but I might be tempted to go for artefact unlock later on. It's pretty clear they still want subscribers - not pay to play; will have to wait and see if that will change over the years - they have already lowered some prices permanently. Certainly would have liked to gain more coins through the achievement system (which is actually pretty great).

It's actually pretty good and I'm not sure why it has such a bad rep. I'm pretty sure its biggest loss and still the biggest detractor is their commitment to the subscription model - yet in the process of testing other waters fucking over the subscribers as well. I don't really know what the business side is thinking, but the dev side is pretty solid.

Where the fuck are the Codex guilds?

Exactly how many codexers do you think are willing to play a biowarian mmo? Most, if not all, the codexian players are on the NA servers I believe.

 

[IDtenT]

Exactly how many codexers do you think are willing to play a biowarian mmo?

All? Just none would admit it.

 

[J1M]

Where the fuck are the Codex guilds?

In Neverwinter.

 

[anus_pounder]

Exactly how many codexers do you think are willing to play a biowarian mmo?

All? Just none would admit it.

What level is your jedi now btw? Thinking I might as well start a repub alt. Though, after having reached 55 with one char I'm not sure how much more swtor i can take...

 

[IDtenT]

Exactly how many codexers do you think are willing to play a biowarian mmo?

All? Just none would admit it.

What level is your jedi now btw? Thinking I might as well start a repub alt. Though, after having reached 55 with one char I'm not sure how much more swtor i can take...

13. Level thirteen. The ultimate level.

 

[IDtenT]

Level 15. Almost finished with Coruscant.

 

[~RAGING BONER~]

Exactly how many codexers do you think are willing to play a biowarian mmo?

All? Just none would admit it.

What level is your jedi now btw? Thinking I might as well start a repub alt. Though, after having reached 55 with one char I'm not sure how much more swtor i can take...

13. Level thirteen. The ultimate level.

Jedi? you chose poorly...

I can tell you right now that the most interesting story arcs occur on the sith side. The Imperial agent in particular is a surprisingly well written story of espionage and political intrigue and the 2 Sith force user storylines are interesting in the way they delve into aspects of the dark side of the force as well as the upper echelons of Sith society.

Jedi stories, indeed the whole republic story is just regurgitated BioWare hero bullshit with the Consular probably being the most yawn inducing of the bunch, the Knight being the most 'epic' and the smuggler being the most humorous.

I found the Bounty Hunter storyline meh (often wondering why the Sith lords he would piss off didn't just snap his neck) and the Republic commando downright tedious.

 

[anus_pounder]

Exactly how many codexers do you think are willing to play a biowarian mmo?

All? Just none would admit it.

What level is your jedi now btw? Thinking I might as well start a repub alt. Though, after having reached 55 with one char I'm not sure how much more swtor i can take...

13. Level thirteen. The ultimate level.

Jedi? you chose poorly...

I can tell you right now that the most interesting story arcs occur on the sith side. The Imperial agent in particular is a surprisingly well written story of espionage and political intrigue and the 2 Sith force user storylines are interesting in the way they delve into aspects of the dark side of the force as well as the upper echelons of Sith society.

Jedi stories, indeed the whole republic story is just regurgitated BioWare hero bullshit with the Consular probably being the most yawn inducing of the bunch, the Knight being the most 'epic' and the smuggler being the most humorous.

I found the Bounty Hunter storyline meh (often wondering why the Sith lords he would piss off didn't just snap his neck) and the Republic commando downright tedious.

Smuggler storyline is apparently the worst in the game, even according to bioware fans it seems. General consensus seems to be Agent is far and away the best.

 

[IDtenT]

Yes, I'm playing a knight. I wanted my first character to be as generic as possible.

 

[Exar Kun]

I have finished Trooper, JK, and SW.

Trooper chapter 1 was great. Revenge story, personal, and fun. Chapter 2 and 3 is are not nearly as good because you are just doing general things for the republic, cool, but not personal and it makes you not care as much.

Jedi Knight. Solid throughout. Epic, fun, but dumb :D. I hate the freaking voice actor though, sorry solid snake fans. Also, the JK responses are too generic for my taste, if you go for the goody 2 shoes route it gets really annoying. Final fight though is very epic.

Sith Warrior. BY FAR my favorite of these three. God damn, it was like playing a whole different game. I manipulated Jedi behind my masters back, I ruthlessly killed people like Darth Vader, and the voice actor and responses are fucking high quality and great. No matter what you choose to say your character says something intelligent and relevant rather then the JK's rather dull responses.

On to the Imperial Agent next, which is considered to be the best story. It also has like 7 endings or something, so it is much more varied and C&C is done very well. This is because the writer is Alexander Freed.

 

[IDtenT]

I'd be willing to do a new character run-through if someone is willing to do a story co-op (preferably different classes, of course) with me. Most of the game is made for four characters anyways, which the companions can fill up.

 

[anus_pounder]

I have finished Trooper, JK, and SW.

Trooper chapter 1 was great. Revenge story, personal, and fun. Chapter 2 and 3 is are not nearly as good because you are just doing general things for the republic, cool, but not personal and it makes you not care as much.

Jedi Knight. Solid throughout. Epic, fun, but dumb :D. I hate the freaking voice actor though, sorry solid snake fans. Also, the JK responses are too generic for my taste, if you go for the goody 2 shoes route it gets really annoying. Final fight though is very epic.

Sith Warrior. BY FAR my favorite of these three. God damn, it was like playing a whole different game. I manipulated Jedi behind my masters back, I ruthlessly killed people like Darth Vader, and the voice actor and responses are fucking high quality and great. No matter what you choose to say your character says something intelligent and relevant rather then the JK's rather dull responses.

On to the Imperial Agent next, which is considered to be the best story. It also has like 7 endings or something, so it is much more varied and C&C is done very well. This is because the writer is Alexander Freed.

Playing a (mostly) light side, i.e. pragmatic, Warrior was fun I have to say. Rather than herp de derp Evulz, instead you come off as calm and rational while the Jedi are raving loons. Breaking Jaesa's Master was pretty fun.

Tried some Trooper wayyy back. I found it rather boring tbh. Chapter 1 was alright I suppose, fun at times. Then from Chapter 2 onwards It basically turned into Call of Duty but with Galactic Republic instead of US.

Having read the plots, I would nominate the Bounty Hunter as the worst story in the game. The Smuggler is terrible, but has potentially to be unintentionally hilarious what with all the hilarity present in typical Bioware storylines. The Hunter on the other hand isn't good, but it isn't bad - its just extraordinarily dull and frankly I don't understand why you're sticking with the Empire in the first place. Its not as if the Republic is so rosy that they don't hire Bounty Hunters. As generic as it may sound, they would've been better off just making a Sith Trooper/Officer class rather than Bounty Hunter. End rant.

 

[IDtenT]

Yeah, I actually wonder. What's playing the dark side like for a Jedi Knight? I'm obviously being a goody-two-shoes.

 

[Excidium]

Yeah, I actually wonder. What's playing the dark side like for a Jedi Knight? I'm obviously being a goody-two-shoes.

Having sex with your padawan.

 

[IDtenT]

Yeah, I actually wonder. What's playing the dark side like for a Jedi Knight? I'm obviously being a goody-two-shoes.

Having sex with your padawan.

Oh, right. That's obvious.

 

[anus_pounder]

Yeah, I actually wonder. What's playing the dark side like for a Jedi Knight? I'm obviously being a goody-two-shoes.

 

[Monocause]

So I gave TOR a try, and it surely isn't half as bad as I'd think. I'm actually enjoying it as a fun single-player experience with some also fun multiplayer action mixed into it. I've tried the Agent and Inquisitor storyline and they both start out as quite interesting indeed.

F2P model is pretty lulzy but TBH the locked out stuff is completely bearable - but again, I'm not much of a real MMORPG player so I don't care much about many stuff other people seem to care a lot for. Most convenience unlocks that I care about can be bought off the AH for credits and you can now earn some (not nearly as much as you should for a healthy F2P) free cartel coins for progress. While the combat system feels antiquated indeed, the quests are fun, combat itself can be interesting, looting and gearing is fun as well and - colour me surprised - there's actually some exploration involved and they managed to make it fairly interesting; I also really dig their multiplayer conversation system.

Where are you guys playing? I've joined at the Tomb of Freedon Nadd. I could start a new char on one of the NA servers if that's where I can find some Codexers, just IDK if it wouldn't get laggy. I'll have to start over my Agent char anyway 'cause it turned out that the Sniper advanced class is just plain boring, especially for soloing; while it's certainly fun to see the numbers go up, it's not fun when you can't do anything else and most of your skills require you to stay in place. Need to start again as an operative.

 

[IDtenT]

I think almost everyone is on The Red Eclipse (EU PvE English), but there is no guild because there aren't four people from the Codex online at any one time.

 

[Monocause]

Why PvE and not PvP? I mean, I don't know shit about high-level play in this game but I figured it would be more fun (or frustratingly fun, with a large hint of trolling potential) if you can get attacked randomly by opposing players in the wilds - or attack them yourself.

EDIT: I also take it that there's no character migration option?

 

[Crispy]

Literally the only thing a party is needed for are the Flashpoint missions, and even those can be skipped or even soloed after you level up far enough past them. I got to level fifty-something in this game and just got burned out. It's so soulless, even more so than other MMORPG's, although it is quite fun at first.

 

[bonescraper]

Well, i'm playing on Tomb of Freedon Nadd (EU PvP). So, Monocause, if you want to play together or if you need help with anything give me a shout. My main's name is Oola.