We round up some of the best additions to Star Wars: The Old Republic this year in our anniversary edition of our SWTOR column.

The Legacy system is far and away my favorite new feature of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Account-wide (or at least server-wide) progression in the way the Legacy system offers definitely sets Star Wars: The Old Republic apart from its peers in a significant way. From a purely roleplaying standpoint, the Legacy system allows players to tie together all their characters as part of a family tree and share a surname. Functionally, players can use the Legacy system to unlock all sorts of special bonuses for their account, including using any species with any class, to bind-to-Legacy gear, to a whole host of other global unlocks.

Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: SWTOR Anniversary Edition.

I Re-Tried it today as free-to-play and i can tell you it's the worse model i have ever seen. I bought the game as digital delux and still as free-to-play user i only have 2 characters on all servers..... which is just wrong...

Sorry - just downloaded the 40Gigs this game takes and i think i will just delete it now....

EDIT: TSW did it right - i think i will just buy the box version, enjoy what i can till i reach a point i need/want more content and then maybe buy it or not.... Bioware you suck!!!!!

I tried it as preferred status when my sub ran out and after seeing that i can't even choose my quest rewards and i have to play with decreased xp (not counting looking like an ass while doing it because of cosmetic restrictions) i just logged out and uninstalled the game. GG Bioware.

Now i'm happy just with my TSW+GW2 combo which costs nothing concurrently and still are full games. It would be perfect with SW added as the sci-fi counterpart(well, as much as SW can be) but they really messed it up imo.

I bought the game on day one, I played for about 2 weeks and left mainly because I had no time to play because I was too much into WoW cata. When the F2P option came out I downloaded the client and played it for about 20 mins, because I had been a subscriber before, I got more options that a F2P person would have, but they still wernt enough. I used to cartel coins Bioware gave me for being a previous subber to buy extra bag space, but the other limtations got on my nerves so much that I just resubbed. Been playing for 3 weeks now and having a ball.

The F2P option not only brough me back to the game, but helped me resub as well!!!

Originally posted by black_isle

I tried it as preferred status when my sub ran out and after seeing that i can't even choose my quest rewards and i have to play with decreased xp (not counting looking like an ass while doing it because of cosmetic restrictions) i just logged out and uninstalled the game. GG Bioware.

 

Now i'm happy just with my TSW+GW2 combo which costs nothing concurrently and still are full games. It would be perfect with SW added as the sci-fi counterpart(well, as much as SW can be) but they really messed it up imo.

 

 

Honestly I think this combination is going to hurt SWTOR more than many realize.

SWTOR might be the worst F2P model I've seen , and when you combine that with TSW's pretty good B2P option (expiring points is the only thing I have a beef with ) and then GW2's model , I just don't think SWTOR will do any better than it did in the sub market.

It very well might be a disaster in this new iteration just as much as it did trying to be a sub one.

If the legacy system is one of the greatest additions, then something is very wrong.

EA pushed it, and even spit out a BS trailer for it saying they knew what fans wanted most, and now they are unveiling Legacy! Ta-Dahh!

Sorry, who wanted this?  Fans wanted freeroam space adventure, competitive non-combat minigames (Pazaak, Sabaac), Competitive action mini-games (Swoop Racing, Pod Racing), Day-Night cycles, Weather effects, non-lifeless planets, sitting in chairs, chatbubbles, open world PVP .. non WoW progression ...

Legacy is even more of a joke now since you don't even need to work for the rewards, you just buy them from the cash-shop to skip all the hassle of .. you know, working for stuff ... in an MMORPG.

/emote stares at EA and lets out a long, drawn out sigh.

Christmas card to EA:

Thanks for ruining the Star Wars IP Jeff Hickman & the rest of your money grubbing friends.

You had no business being in the same room with Star Wars fans, let alone running the only Star Wars MMO.  Lucas you stink.

Good luck selling Makeb.

Happy New Years! .. You scum sucking maggots...

Originally posted by MMOdad72

Originally posted by black_isle

I tried it as preferred status when my sub ran out and after seeing that i can't even choose my quest rewards and i have to play with decreased xp (not counting looking like an ass while doing it because of cosmetic restrictions) i just logged out and uninstalled the game. GG Bioware.

 

Now i'm happy just with my TSW+GW2 combo which costs nothing concurrently and still are full games. It would be perfect with SW added as the sci-fi counterpart(well, as much as SW can be) but they really messed it up imo.

 

 

Honestly I think this combination is going to hurt SWTOR more than many realize.

SWTOR might be the worst F2P model I've seen , and when you combine that with TSW's pretty good B2P option (expiring points is the only thing I have a beef with ) and then GW2's model , I just don't think SWTOR will do any better than it did in the sub market.

It very well might be a disaster in this new iteration just as much as it did trying to be a sub one.

Not to the end. Players who would cancel sub to play TSW to try it, now don't have to do it. I am playing TSW right now, having active SWTOR sub, always wanted to try it but did not want to have 2 subs.

Edit: Sure thing is though that more people will try TSW, no question about it.

Originally posted by dnserror
I hate to rate a StarWars game as a 0/5 but SW:TOR is just that. Unoriginal gameplay, static story direction, horrible cut scene design and no ability to avoid the ones you have seen before, and a combat system that offered no originality to it. I wanted star wars jedi knight 2 as a mmorpg, I got wow with light sabers and devs that didn't listen to beta testers who offered feedback on the system... which seems to have continued on into the design of their f2p model. After being so disappointed with the beta, I never redeemed my physical collectors edition key until it went free to play. I now wish I had not done that, I played for 2 hours and uninstalled it.

I was playing on and off until F2P, I even bought a sub while it was F2P. I canceled my sub because they were more interested in adding things to the cash shop than fixing game breaking bugs and server wide lag.

Having said that almost everything you just said is false information. For one the story is in no way static, you choose option 1 and you have one effect, choose option 2 and a differnt cut scene play and actions down the road are changed as well. Not every choice changes how the story plays out but many do, that in itself makes it much more than static. 

Avoiding cut scenes is something that's been in the game since it was in beta, press space bar, yeah you might have to click once or twice to finish, so what?

Original combat is near impossible to do, you may add a trick here or a gimmick there but it's always going to be the same with what developers can do.

Original gameplay is a factor of everything . Just because it isn't Jedi Knight 2 doesn't mean it doesn't have orginal gameplay, no matter what you may want an MMORPG can only advance so much with the technology out there to use. Logically speaking did you really think Star Wars was going to be something new and orginal?

Those of you who compare SWTOR to WoW obvisouly are just so upset they didn't get everything they wanted. If going by that logic then Everquest must be a WoW rip off as well. There isn't very many ways to make an MMORPG with the exceptions of how players interact with each other. Alot of people don't understand these games aren't complex anymore because the player base is getting lazy, they always want things handed to them without working for it, no one may want to admit it but the majority of players today want easy.

Originally posted by jbombard
I may play if they ever remove the restriction on actionbars, I think that in particular is beyond ridiculous.  It is hard to get behind a company that makes decisions like that.  Which is sad, because I was always a huge Bioware fan until I saw the way they handled(/are handling) SWTOR.  

It's not BioWare any more.

EA bought Bioware in 2007.  The founding doctors already left, and the majority of key persons either were fired or resigned.  They were replaced with EA reps.

Originally posted by Karteli

Originally posted by jbombard
I may play if they ever remove the restriction on actionbars, I think that in particular is beyond ridiculous.  It is hard to get behind a company that makes decisions like that.  Which is sad, because I was always a huge Bioware fan until I saw the way they handled(/are handling) SWTOR.  

It's not BioWare any more.

 

EA bought Bioware in 2007.  The founding doctors already left, and the majority of key persons either were fired or resigned.  They were replaced with EA reps.

 

This is now going to turn into an EA ruins gaming as a whole rant from here on out, watch.

It's funny because it's true.

Originally posted by pythi

Originally posted by Karteli

Originally posted by jbombard
I may play if they ever remove the restriction on actionbars, I think that in particular is beyond ridiculous.  It is hard to get behind a company that makes decisions like that.  Which is sad, because I was always a huge Bioware fan until I saw the way they handled(/are handling) SWTOR.  

It's not BioWare any more.

 

EA bought Bioware in 2007.  The founding doctors already left, and the majority of key persons either were fired or resigned.  They were replaced with EA reps.

 

This is now going to turn into an EA ruins gaming as a whole rant from here on out, watch.

It's funny because it's true.

Honestly, I think it has less to do with EA and more to do with the fact that all of the developers that originally made Bioware great have left. (unless they left because of EA of course)

Originally posted by jbombard

Originally posted by pythi

Originally posted by Karteli

Originally posted by jbombard
I may play if they ever remove the restriction on actionbars, I think that in particular is beyond ridiculous.  It is hard to get behind a company that makes decisions like that.  Which is sad, because I was always a huge Bioware fan until I saw the way they handled(/are handling) SWTOR.  

It's not BioWare any more.

 

EA bought Bioware in 2007.  The founding doctors already left, and the majority of key persons either were fired or resigned.  They were replaced with EA reps.

 

This is now going to turn into an EA ruins gaming as a whole rant from here on out, watch.

It's funny because it's true.

Honestly, I think it has less to do with EA and more to do with the fact that all of the developers that originally made Bioware great have left. (unless they left because of EA of course)

IF you look at the past of EA and their acquired companies you'll see a link between great games and EA games. Here's an example Westwood Studios and CnC.

I was in beta and played the first month of launch. One year later..and they still haven't given us a space game.

NOT that bullshit masquerading as a space game.  There's no excuse for that, considering the hundreds of millions they spent on this turkey. I LOVE star wars.

This game is just..

Lord have mercy jesus. How could they do this..

And their F2P model is just insulting.

I am not 100% saying I would never go back to SWTOR.  I believe there is a chance at redemption for almost all games, where devs can fix things or add things that can correct past deficiences.  Also I happen to love, love, love Star Wars.

That said, there is nothing here that would get me to go back.  What would?   Maybe a free roam space game where ships could be decorated.  At least that would be something new, something that was conspicuously absent from the launch game. 

Once again, a missed opportunity. 

Their F2P model definitely sucks.

With TSW going F2P, they really really need to rethink their whole strategy.   But the cogs move mighty slow at EA....

I recently returned to SWTOR, and surprisingly I have been having fun. I started from scratch on a new server and taking it a lot slower this time around.

I know its popular to bash the game, hell I have done my share as well, but honestly it's a bit over the top. SWTOR is not a perfect game by any means, but in my opinion it is funner than GW2, TSW and WoW. (And yes, I have played and own all of these games)