After actually playing the game the last couple weeks and not just being a spectator of speculation I find myself trying to understand this "Like WoW" thing. The highest I ever made it in WoW before I fell asleep out of boredom (This is true, I'm not just trashing) was an Orc to level 11. That's all I could take and this was when I tried to test the game post WotLK, I also bought the game at launch and made a human cleric named Jesus Chryst think I got that guy to 8-9. WoW was never for me obviously as I could never get into a grove of enjoyment even at the lower levels... shit bored me to tears.

Now playing SW:Tor ... I sit through every story anticipating the next dialogue sequence, freely farm all mobs on the path to my quests, level multiple classes (I can never level a second class in other games, I make 1 and thats it) and as I play this game I have yet to see anything remotely similar to WoW outside of the basic things that are similar to all Theme Park MMO's

So will someone please enlighten me how this game is degraded to be WoW with lightsabers or a WoW clone instead of SW:ToR. Please have actual experience in TOR and not just some troll because if theres something I'm missing I wanna know... I enjoy every aspect of this game and in WoW the only thing I enjoyed was how open the world is... everything else to me personally was a snooze fest.

MMOs are not indicative of their early levels bro. You wouldnt understand the comparison between the two without having experienced the end game content of WoW.

Most new MMOs come with new car smell & eventually that will wear off.

its the end game that is the same.

well buttom mashing combat, same styled skill trees. Character creation pretty similar etc.. theres a lot but basicly I think it boils down to the buttom mashing combat, thats what pretty much define it but yeah... I like SWToR in many ways. I disliked WoW but hey I can outlive the boring combat simply because of the storyline, crafting, companions etc.

Then again I have no illusions, this pretty much is WoW in space but its also a lot more then WoW ever could hope to accomplish.

So both of you have completed all the end game content? or is this just saying Raid = WoW? because EQ2 had raids and it launched first.

Originally posted by PapaB34R

well buttom mashing combat, same styled skill trees. Character creation pretty similar etc.. theres a lot but basicly I think it boils down to the buttom mashing combat, thats what pretty much define it but yeah... I like SWToR in many ways. I disliked WoW but hey I can outlive the boring combat simply because of the storyline, crafting, companions etc.

 

Then again I have no illusions, this pretty much is WoW in space but its also a lot more then WoW ever could hope to accomplish.

Everything you compared to WoW is a comparison to any theme park game... So how is this just not a Theme Park in space instead of it being "WoW"

edit, to answer your question, its the style of end-game that is the same.  At the end game  the high quality storytelling runs out, and they the game loses its greatest asset, so either Wow/themepark style endgame or level another char. 

Its no secret what the end game will be for TOR. Raids, Warzones, & PvP areas on different planets. Kinda like Raids, batlegrounds, & PvP areas in WoW.

Originally posted by DexterMMO

So both of you have completed all the end game content? or is this just saying Raid = WoW? because EQ2 had raids and it launched first.

 

Originally posted by PapaB34R

well buttom mashing combat, same styled skill trees. Character creation pretty similar etc.. theres a lot but basicly I think it boils down to the buttom mashing combat, thats what pretty much define it but yeah... I like SWToR in many ways. I disliked WoW but hey I can outlive the boring combat simply because of the storyline, crafting, companions etc.

 

Then again I have no illusions, this pretty much is WoW in space but its also a lot more then WoW ever could hope to accomplish.

Everything you compared to WoW is a comparison to any theme park game... So how is this just not a Theme Park in space instead of it being "WoW"

you are correct, both wow and swtor are themeparks, tor is in space.  People compare against wow because it is the best themepark to date.

The problem is, the "new" stuff that Bioware has introduced to the genre is still massively overshadowed by the tired and outdated theme park game design.

I think we can all appreciate what Bioware has done with adding the fourth pillar, voice work, etc, etc.

It's just that those new bells and whistles are unfortunately attached to something many MMO vets are burnt out on.

Let's look at the hardcore analysis...

WoW vs SWTOR

Both contain a "W" and an "O".  Obviously WOW is the better of the two because it actually as TWO "W"'s over SWTOR.  SWTOR only is more flashier because it has an "S", "T", and "R"...but it is sharing letter with WOW so therefore is a spin-off.

"World of Warcraft" vs "Star Wars: The Old Republic"

In a deeper analysis, we can examine them both further...

First WOW (to use the abbreviation and not have to write the full name out each time) contains 15 letters, five of which are repeated, so only 10 unique letters.  SWTOR contains 21 letters, only 4 of which are repeated, but one that's used THREE TIMES (R), hence it must be a repetitive game to have that much rehashed lettering.  That the game contains 28% more lettering may indicate more content than WoW, but that it shares the lettering is cause for some to worry.  If we remove the redundancy that SWTOR has over WOW, then we see that there is only a 1% difference in uniqueness in the number of letters...I think this is where a lot of the consternation between players is coming from.  Some will side that the 1% difference is good, others will say it is not. 

SWTOR (to use the abbreviation and not have to write the full name out each time) shares 13 of the same letters as WOW...that's 13/22 of the total letters of the name, so over 59% of SWTOR comes from WOW, hence how could it not be a rehash of the game itself?

It's too early to judge the two mainly because WoW, being older, has "Cataclysm," "Wrath of the Lich King," "Burning Crusade," and the upcoming "Mists of Pandara" expansions giving it a lot more clout to stand upon.  SWTOR being a new game does not have this background, so it cannot obviously compete with the additional lettering WoW has build up over the years.  Only a future analysis of SWTOR expansions will be able to determine the longevity of the game.

The only thing SWTOR offers is a unique perspective because it contains an unknown factor of punctuation, the ":" may be what everybody is looking for, so some will doubt it, some will love it, some will hate it.  We'll have to see if the added bling makes the game better or worse, or the same.

/sarcasm off

Originally posted by DexterMMO

After actually playing the game the last couple weeks and not just being a spectator of speculation I find myself trying to understand this "Like WoW" thing. The highest I ever made it in WoW before I fell asleep out of boredom (This is true, I'm not just trashing) was an Orc to level 11. That's all I could take and this was when I tried to test the game post WotLK, I also bought the game at launch and made a human cleric named Jesus Chryst think I got that guy to 8-9. WoW was never for me obviously as I could never get into a grove of enjoyment even at the lower levels... shit bored me to tears.

 

Now playing SW:Tor ... I sit through every story anticipating the next dialogue sequence, freely farm all mobs on the path to my quests, level multiple classes (I can never level a second class in other games, I make 1 and thats it) and as I play this game I have yet to see anything remotely similar to WoW outside of the basic things that are similar to all Theme Park MMO's

 

So will someone please enlighten me how this game is degraded to be WoW with lightsabers or a WoW clone instead of SW:ToR. Please have actual experience in TOR and not just some troll because if theres something I'm missing I wanna know... I enjoy every aspect of this game and in WoW the only thing I enjoyed was how open the world is... everything else to me personally was a snooze fest.

You answered your question in your post.  Your issues seem to be with calling SWTOR a WoW anything.  Would you feel better with it being called a "Rift Clone" or a "Lord of the Rings Online" clone?  I think this is where the claims are unfortunate facts.  SWOTR has lots of things that are very similar to ...... "PICK A THEME PARK MMO" .  Outside of story, it was never pushed as anything else.

WoW being the 600 lb. gorilla in the room catches the top honor of everything being compared to it.  Make no mistake, I can't stand the game.  I have tried it out on several occasions and don't make it more than a week or two.  That however doesn't make me blind to the obvious.  WoW is the most popular MMO in the world and there are more similarities than difference with SWOTR and WoW.

~Hairysun

The raiding formula is the same but swtor does it better.

Quest based level progression.

Teir set based gear.

Badges but swtor has a better selection with better pricing.

Combat mechanics are very similar but thats most mmos. (Wish they added a combat log)

I've read they both use trinity core but that shouldn't be counted since I dont know.

Dual faction.

Similar PVP dynamic - battlezone / world pvp (People forgot that hellfire penninsula had the same world objective based pvp)

Heavily instanced content.

Similar mount system

Similar crafting system.

Similar economy.

Maybe theres more, this is off the top of my head. However I commend the OP for not playing WoW. I wish this game had been my first AAA mmo title. The OP will have a great time, at least, for a while. I'd keep a copy of Skyrim close by for a more organic RPG feel, swtor is more like watching a movie then an rpg.

Although I didn't exactly have the same bad experience playing WoW, I don't think that TOR really resembles WoW that much either, apart from the superficial.

Generally, questing and doing stuff out in the word feels different and not just because of story.

PvE combat feels a bit more like CoH than WoW, even though not quite like that either. It's much quicker than WoW's in each case, sometimes that's a good thing, other times you feel like you're going through stuff too quickly imo.

PvP feels more like WAR's than WoW, although the pace is faster.

These experiences do come from playing a cover class and that system alone made things very much different.

Is easy, Lots of people (well no, just the wowers), think that wow is the 1st MMO who has invented everything, But for the real world, before wow was, meridian 59, EQ, Daoc, Ultima etc, and guess what, people from all those MMOs was working in the development of swtor, so yes, the game have a lot in common with them, but we still have some ignorant people who really believe that tor is a copy and paste of WoW with lightsabers.  

Originally posted by hikaru77

Is easy, Lots of people (well no, just the wowers), think that wow is the 1st MMO who has invented everything, But for the real world, before wow was, meridian 59, EQ, Daoc, Ultima etc, and guess what, people from all those MMOs was working in the development of swtor, so yes, the game have a lot in common with them, but we still have some ignorant people who really believe that tor is a copy and paste of WoW with lightsabers.  

I haven't played WOW since TBC so it's been many years and even I can say in many ways it does feel like wow with lightsabers. It's more because yes its the same style game but even more because they really didn't try much new for the genre. Just adding a story base and voice acting doesn't change the fundamental gameplay elements that are for the most part all still there and the same as they have been for years. Is this bad? really depends on the person. To MMO vets yes it is a pretty big slap in the face that  the next big AAA release is pretty much more of the same. On the flip side new comers and single player gamers will probably eat this game up. I don't feel either side is wrong or ignorant but I do find it silly that people claim this game is light years ahead of any recent AAA title such as rift

and yes obviously wow didn't invent the genre it has just become the best example of how to make a game cater to the masses and fine tune many of the issues those other games you mentioned had

Originally posted by hikaru77

Is easy, Lots of people (well no, just the wowers), think that wow is the 1st MMO who has invented everything, But for the real world, before wow was, meridian 59, EQ, Daoc, Ultima etc, and guess what, people from all those MMOs was working in the development of swtor, so yes, the game have a lot in common with them, but we still have some ignorant people who really believe that tor is a copy and paste of WoW with lightsabers.  

The question wasn't what WoW invented that SWTOR emulates.  It was how is SWTOR similar to WoW.  Who invented the similarities is irrelevant..

They are both theme park quest stackers.  Both games have solo and group quests.  They both  have premade character creation templates (you just cycle through).  They both have two distinct factions.  They both have very distinct, very rigid, very role oriented char eacter classes.  Classes in both games are level based.  Both games require you to level up to get new abilities.  Both games require you to visit a trainer to get new abilities.  Both games have class specific abilities.  Both games have "hot key" based ablity execution.  Both games have similar user interfaces.  Both games have rested experience bonuses.  Both games require you manage two depletion bars (health and Mana/Energy/Force Points, etc).  Both games have a pet/companion system).  Both games allow for individual crafting with recipes obtained from a trainer and require resource gathering.  Both games have rigid level and class limited gear.  Both games have color coded gear depending on rarity.  Both games have personal "mounts".  Both games have public high speed travel.  Both games have skill trees.  Both games have battelground based PvP.  Both games have a separate advancement system, gear, and vendors for PvP.  Both games have friendly, neutral, and hostile mobs.  Both games have an aggression management system.  Both games have level related areas/zones.  Both games have banks, require inventory management, and allow for increasing the capacity of both.  Both games have guiilds.  Both games allow grouping and have limited party sizes.  Both games have public auction houses.  Both games have central hubs for player interaction. 

This list is not complete but you get the point.  Pretending they are not very very similar is just absurd.    Some items on the list are good, some are abosulely essential, some are just lazy industry standards.  Also there a A LOT of things SWTOR improved on and a few more things SWTOR has that no other game does.  But that wasn't the question.

Originally posted by osiriszoran

MMOs are not indicative of their early levels bro. You wouldnt understand the comparison between the two without having experienced the end game content of WoW.

Most new MMOs come with new car smell & eventually that will wear off.

I for one am not playing a game for it's end-game. If it fun then great I could spend a few hours playing those things, but I am ok with the end-game simply being the end. I want what is before the end-game to have substance and to be fun. I am not planning on playing games like SWTOR for year to come, but maybe a few months, unless content is being pushed out faster and I REALLLY enjoy it.