Originally posted by Fluxii

People are gonna be in for a REAL shock that pre-ordered and haven't been in BETA.  I understand that some people are never gonna say a bad thing about any game no matter how much it's hyped or other people warn them ahead of time (FF, AoC, WAR, STO, CO, etc.).

 

I have been waiting for this game for SO long and igroned all the neagtive crap, etc.  I was in the BETA for the first few hours (not the open'ish one going on now, not even gonna bother though I was invited) and all I could think is:

 

"This IS w0w (any MMO out there) in space; the "haters" weren't lying.  There is absolutely nothing special about this game.  Voice acting and "interactive" quets?  Yea, that's gonna wear off in 5 mins for ADD America.  I also had the graphics on the highest setting (and lowest and it still performed like crap IMHO for this close to launch (yea, I FAR exceed requirements)), and the graphics I don't think even looked as good as AoC; I was just shocked.

 

I heard other people talking about it while it was still in closed, but there was, as I mentioned above, sects of people that vhemently defended everything about it and thought it was he greatest thing since sliced bread (no clue how they gave honest feedback when nothing was wrong with it ITHO).

 

*shrug* I wanted this to be my next goto till TSW (which I think ti's so funny the hater threads there based on never even trying the game,  just not liking the company) but I've canceled my pre-order.

 

I do hope it does well and people enjoy it; I hate to see any game fail, but it's NOT gonna be what some people are hoping for and I unfortunetly see it being just another game everyone loves pre-release and do nothing but bitch about for the next 3 years a month after.

Of course not. TSW is not going to be what some are hoping for, same with GW2 and every other MMO that will ever be released. I understand not liking a game but to say the game will fail because you aren't impressed is silly. 

Originally posted by DM19

Didn't think much of it at first then i got the play and fell in love with it. Like one of the other posters said you have to play the right class to really love this game.

but thats biggest issue, when game is targeting what you call them, those who create alt of every class.. even so i dont see so much changing as they promised, sure story, but couple story quests in zone wont make lvling different class that much different

 as to question , i had no intention of buying swtor before, now i am considering, cuz i am enjoying, but how much of that joy there will be for that huge price tag + montly sub.. and its mmo.. timer consumer

I got to level 34 and decided I was bored of it, the quest interactions get boring really quick, the gameplay and combat mechanics are nothing special, community seems to be all ex-WoW players with a WoW filled chat.

Maybe i'll give it another shot a few months after release but at the moment i cancelled my collectors edition as I am uninterested :(

Aint gonna get this untill i at least get to play the game in a trial mode or beta phase. Way too many games have i purchased to only be junked into a box to gather dust becuase they turned out to be utter shite.

So now i will only buy online subscription games if one gets into a test phase or some sort of free play stage at release. If there is not one of those then i for one will not be purchasing, especially when its 55% comming back as a dissapointment, 30% like the game and the rest are just undecided from comments i have come up with over several sights thusfar.

The Good

- The story-telling system is cool. I like the voice-overs, despite them being unnecessary, because I don't think anyone *ever* reads quest dialog in MMO's. Now, instead of a 4 paragraph explanation, I get a 3 sentence dialogue with some choices at the end. Hurray! Immersion!

- The looting system for raid gear is nice. No more endless repeating of the end-game 1000x over.

- The community. I haven't enjoyed an MMO community in nearly 5 years. Everyone playing is friendly and a Star Wars fan, which really lightens the mood. I generally found people to be polite and helpful!

- The Micro-instancing is a nice touch. It transitions relatively seamlessly from the main world to a cutscene, with minimal load times between scenes.

- I have yet to experience a serious game-breaking bug, a crash, or a freeze-up. This is pleasing to see, after the slew of failed MMO's over the last decade (Age of Conan, Vanguard, etc)

- The crafting, gathering, and companion system are excellent. While some may frown upon the "dumbing down" of the gme mechanics, NOT having to walk around in small semi-circles looking for resource nodes for hours at a time is a step in the RIGHT direction. I really liked being able to customize wardrobes that I liked with upgrades as well

The Bad

- There's really nothing that separates this game from WoW, other than the Lore and the system requirements. With that being said, I found myself getting bored within the first 4 hours of gameplay, with a lingering feeling of "...I've been here before"

- The differences in performance. On one computer, I can run this game at max FPS with minimal lag, yet with a slightly older computer model I find myself piking from "playable" to "completely unacceptable". This huge fluctuation between my desktop and my laptop has me concerned about launch day performance issues.

- The lack of texture collision makes ranged combat seem broken. If you can shoot someone who is hiding on the other side of a tree, what's the point of taking cover? Dynamic environments, please.

- Classes seem like carbon-copies of nearly every other MMO to date. The seemingly total lack of originality is very, very "Meh" when it comes to class design (I found Imperial Agent to be painfully boring)

- The dungeons are flat out boring. All the enemies are just sitting around, waiting for you to kill them. It takes out all the immersion when you're slowly walking along through an alarm of what appears to be a crashing ship. The lack of panic, interest in what's going on by the NPC crews, etc, I found it very disheartening. If you're going to make the game story-based, keep the story-based mood; you can't go halfway and then decide to go back to MMO roots of "blind deaf and dumb NPCs" when everything is supposed to be so meaningful.

Overall...

..... I wasn't really blown out of the water. I searched and searched for what I like to call "The Magic Hook", i.e. the point /part of the game where you become hooked on it, and just want to see more and more and more... but it never came for me. Despite switching classes repeatedly, trying out various play styles, and progressing the story, I just kept coming to a point where I was, at best, indifferent about the game. I'm sure it will be successful, and by no means do I think it a bad game, but I feel like we're at a point where MMO's need to start taking chances and evolving into new directions, not simply repeating what has been done successfully in the past and then adding a new coat of paint to the top layer. SWtoR is a fairly polished game, but it's lack of innovation leaves me waiting patiently for the next MMO on the list.

Originally posted by Manestream

Aint gonna get this untill i at least get to play the game in a trial mode or beta phase. Way too many games have i purchased to only be junked into a box to gather dust becuase they turned out to be utter shite.

So now i will only buy online subscription games if one gets into a test phase or some sort of free play stage at release. If there is not one of those then i for one will not be purchasing, especially when its 55% comming back as a dissapointment, 30% like the game and the rest are just undecided from comments i have come up with over several sights thusfar.

Well, that's what this weekend is, essentially.... Anyone who had the slightest interest in playing could just pick up a key and play.

I think you may have missed the boat on that one.

Thus far, I've had fun. A few minor issues, but I expected that to occur. I've enjoyed the IA story thus far, and the gameplay actually. I may be wierd but I kinda dig the cover mechanic, a bit different than other things I've played. Game sounds and music are stellar, and other little things like the Codex I find pretty neat and addicting.

Well, I got to level 8 today before having to go to work. So far I'm liking it more than I thought I would. I rolled a Sith Warrior, so that I don't ruin the Jedi Guardian storyline, which I plan on being my main at release. I expected to dislike being a Sith, and their ugly home planet, but the story made everything so immersive. I actually felt like there was always the voice option in the dialogue that my character would actually say and I could feel where the story would branch off.

My only complaint so far, which isn't really a complaint is why are there so many fatties as Sith Lords? When you're immersed into the game as a Sith, and you have the option of betraying a fattie sith lord, then one may draw the conclusion that the sith lord is slacking in the physical department of being a sith, therefore is not worthy of being a sith any longer. I actually betrayed a sith lord for that simple reason. I have no respect for the fattie sith lords.

Originally posted by Manestream

Aint gonna get this untill i at least get to play the game in a trial mode or beta phase. Way too many games have i purchased to only be junked into a box to gather dust becuase they turned out to be utter shite.

So now i will only buy online subscription games if one gets into a test phase or some sort of free play stage at release. If there is not one of those then i for one will not be purchasing, especially when its 55% comming back as a dissapointment, 30% like the game and the rest are just undecided from comments i have come up with over several sights thusfar.

Comments in threads are pretty inconclusive evidence. Not everyone uses forums. In fact the vast majority of people don't.

You should never base your decision on other people. If you like it buy it, if not don't. Simple as that. 

I played it 5 hours straight last night, got to level 10 but it was 1am so had to go to bed - wasn't itching to continue first thing this morning, well not like my WoW itch some 5 years ago but I'll check it out again today do some group content.

I got it on pre-order and dont plan to cancel it.

All in all it felt very WoW'ish but thats not a bad thing IMHO, I thought the cut scene conversations would becom annoying but I look forward to them.  All in all SWTOR doesn't do anything new other than voiceovers but what it does it does welll, just as good as Blizzard.

@Cymdai best and most honest short review I've seen so far.

Finally something different. It feels like Mass Effect and not some boring GW clone. Best game so far. Was playing with sith warrior, jedi, bounty hunter. It is hard to pick starting class because all have amazing story. Bounty hunter looks very coll with some realy high dps and maybe i schange my opinion about first class 20.12

Originally posted by thedarkess

@Cymdai best and most honest short review I've seen so far.

Compliments appreciated :)

*tips hat*

Believe it or not, I used to write for this site!

Originally posted by Cymdai

Compliments appreciated :)

*tips hat*

Believe it or not, I used to write for this site!

I belive it, it gave me the impression of someone that could write professionaly.

BTW i think you are right about there being a "cut" regarding performance. I see videos of gameplay with all the nice graphics and moving smoothly and with my computer which ok is old but can play most games at low-mid setting it's just unplayable, even at 1024 and everything on low. Maybe some new feature that new graphic cards support and make all the difference.

On the desktop (I.e. The overpriced Alienware) I don't think I even so much as dipped below 80 FPS on MAX settings with a 1900/1200 resolution. It was spectacular.

My laptop is around 2 years old though... and that thing was incapable of pumping out more than 30 FPS, while dropping as low as -13.

I'm hoping that it simply hasn't been optimized for all cards yet, and that some drivers will ultimately be released for the game... but if not, I won't be touching it from my laptop. 

And again, thanks for the compliment!

It's the best thing since sliced bread. Imo, other MMOs look like minesweeper compared to SWTOR!

Depends on  the pvp server ruleset and experiences. NO WAY,I could make it to 50 with out 24/7 persistent faction conflict. The childish mini pvp games are just that....child like and surely would not slake my thirst for real realm vs realm conflict.

So after 2 beta test periods.....I'm not sold.yet. Pve is fun on certain classes but..it's just pve.Crafting...love it but never have been able to try it.

I'm hoiping there's enough faction conflice as I level up to be fun...until the PROMISED realm vs realm end game

Originally posted by palulalula

Finally something different. It feels like Mass Effect and not some boring GW clone. Best game so far. Was playing with sith warrior, jedi, bounty hunter. It is hard to pick starting class because all have amazing story. Bounty hunter looks very coll with some realy high dps and maybe i schange my opinion about first class 20.12

I don't think SWTOR is much like ME in the AI enemy department. ME enemies were much smarter.