A million threads and review are going up so I'll make this short and sweet.

I'm an MMO vet with a soft spot in my heart for UO and DaOC. I prefer sandbox over themepark and love purposeful 3 faction PvP. I'm jaded by MMO themepark running on the hamster wheel to get a different color loot item and mindless grind at the end scenario.

Have played UO, DaOC, WoW, Warhammer, and Rift extensively. Had brief runs in AC, EQ2, Champions Online, Global Agenda, Darkfall, DCUO, Perpetuum, Aion, LoTRO, DDO, Mortal Online, Eve.

I was lukewarm to SW:TOR, thinking it would be a kind of cool single player type experience but more of the same old monotonous themepark.

Played beta and was BLOWN AWAY. Seriously surpassed my expectations and the most fun and genuine interest I have had in playing an MMO in a long long time. You will be very pleasantly surprised.

This game is ill!

Yet another sandbox convert. Welcome to the party!

I hope SWTOR can implement some more sandboxy features in time, though.

^_^

Welcome to the party! wooooooooooooooooo

yeah I was about the same as you when I started testing this summer.

I had told all my friends that I might pick it up for the stories some time after launch, but didn't see it being my main mmo. Then I got that insidious beta invite from Bioware and within a week I had gone from meh to raving fanboy and preordered.  A few friends and I even started up a guild for launch day. 

Can't wait for launch!

Statement: No amount of polish can hide one's true intent.

Explanation: KotOR 3 would've served well enough as a venue for Old Republic era gaming.

Originally posted by Dihoru

Statement: No amount of polish can hide one's true intent.

Explanation: KotOR 3 would've served well enough as a venue for Old Republic era gaming.

Ok....not really relevant to his post but lets address that.

TOR has more content than a KoTOR 3 would ever have had. More story, more options, more fun. There is obviously a big market for a Star Wars themed mmo, especially one made by Bioware (as evidenced by the absolutely silly amount of preorders this game received) so why shouldn't they try to capitalize on that market?

I am not even really sure what you are saying. If you want KoTOR 3...you basically have it built right into TOR. You can play this game you know, no need to be all butt hurt about it. 

beta was fun, still a WoW 2.0, but fun. And a major improvement for the themepark genre..enjoyed it,had already pre-ordered a CE so not much more i could do excluding the extra smile on my face.

@OP: but "surpassing"? Why? :) Or rather, in what exact sense/topic? :) And please don't say voice-over..hardly "surpassing",just the first to have ALMOST all quests voice-overed..yes,not all are

You say you dabbled in the EQs..and are a sandbox vet..variety of things to go for in-game is something of the past alas..a good game for its type TOR, but let's keep it down to earth

Originally posted by Amannas

beta was fun, still a WoW 2.0, but fun. And a major improvement for the themepark genre..enjoyed it,had already pre-ordered a CE so not much more i could do excluding the extra smile on my face.

@OP: but "surpassing"? Why? :) Or rather, in what exact sense/topic? :) And please don't say voice-over..hardly "surpassing",just the first to have ALMOST all quests voice-overed..yes,not all are

You say you dabbled in the EQs..and are a sandbox vet..variety of things to go for in-game is something of the past alas..a good game for its type TOR, but let's keep it down to earth

 

The only quests I've seen that aren't VO are a couple PvP dailies and the Space combat dailies that you pick up from terminals. Very few and far between. 

Well it wouldn't be hard for EA to look at such features if they get the numbers.

The thing about a lot of sandbox features is that it's extra code and space on servers.  If it's not being used, then it just a waste.  Get the numbers in, get them playing, and when it looks like there's a market for player built housing, cities, etc, provide said abilities.  Don't put the cart before the horse!

This game has impressed me immensely.

Originally posted by dubyahite

Originally posted by Dihoru

Statement: No amount of polish can hide one's true intent.

Explanation: KotOR 3 would've served well enough as a venue for Old Republic era gaming.

Ok....not really relevant to his post but lets address that.

TOR has more content than a KoTOR 3 would ever have had. More story, more options, more fun. There is obviously a big market for a Star Wars themed mmo, especially one made by Bioware (as evidenced by the absolutely silly amount of preorders this game received) so why shouldn't they try to capitalize on that market?

I am not even really sure what you are saying. If you want KoTOR 3...you basically have it built right into TOR. You can play this game you know, no need to be all butt hurt about it. 

Yeah, it amazes me how many people try to make the argument that the game should have been single player.  As an MMO, it has eight independent character stories, most of which represent character types we have *never* been able to play in a Star Wars game.  As a single player KotOR III, it would have had exactly one, either Jedi Knight or Jedi Consular, the stories we have seen versions of before.  None of the newer, more diverse takes on Star Wars stories.  Add to that, with enough subscription revenue, all of these characters can have their stories go on for many more chapters.  

All things considered, given the right budget, the right attitude, and the right writers, MMOs have the potential to be a fundamentally superior canvas for the presentation of story-based RPGs than single player games are, because they are able to be so much bigger and deeper.

Originally posted by CazNeerg

Originally posted by dubyahite

Originally posted by Dihoru

Statement: No amount of polish can hide one's true intent.

Explanation: KotOR 3 would've served well enough as a venue for Old Republic era gaming.

Ok....not really relevant to his post but lets address that.

TOR has more content than a KoTOR 3 would ever have had. More story, more options, more fun. There is obviously a big market for a Star Wars themed mmo, especially one made by Bioware (as evidenced by the absolutely silly amount of preorders this game received) so why shouldn't they try to capitalize on that market?

I am not even really sure what you are saying. If you want KoTOR 3...you basically have it built right into TOR. You can play this game you know, no need to be all butt hurt about it. 

Yeah, it amazes me how many people try to make the argument that the game should have been single player.  As an MMO, it has eight independent character stories, most of which represent character types we have *never* been able to play in a Star Wars game.  As a single player KotOR III, it would have had exactly one, either Jedi Knight or Jedi Consular, the stories we have seen versions of before.  None of the newer, more diverse takes on Star Wars stories.  Add to that, with enough subscription revenue, all of these characters can have their stories go on for many more chapters.  

All things considered, given the right budget, the right attitude, and the right writers, MMOs have the potential to be a fundamentally superior canvas for the presentation of story-based RPGs than single player games are, because they are able to be so much bigger and deeper.

Exactly. It's absurd to see so many dumb people stating that it's single player just because it has single-player quality storytelling. That can only, possibly be a huge plus in my book. It's not like there aren't any MMO features, actually the game is full of them, so what really? I guess it's just blind haters that won't leave their WoW characters.