More adult-themed games would be interesting to see, and they are a decent idea - in theory, but the communities of players that those kind of games draw in is just unbelievable.  I went with 'family friendly' for the fact that when played Age of Conan, I had met some of the most immature players that I have ever encountered in an online game before.  When I first started playing AoC, it felt like I stepped into some corner of the Internet where all the Trolls hung around when they had no forums to go to.

I am not sure that I understand why there seemed to be so many immature players there compared to the family friendly games that I'm used to.

As if the game hadn't gotten enough negative attention and criticism from the community, they decided he should be allowed on television to explain his point-of-view.  lol

Originally posted by Varny

Yeh and the armour looks like it is painted onto their bodies rather than they're wearing it. It just looks very flat and weird.

In my opinion, the character models don't look much better in DirectX 10, even on the highest graphics settings, but the game-world looks a little more alive with DX10 turned on, at the least.  It would be interesting to see what the game would have looked like if they had gone with a different graphics style in the beginning.

Originally posted by Varny

I would have played Lotro if it felt like Lord of the Rings but it didn't. The UI puts me off and the character models are really bad and so are the animations. I really hate the classes because they just felt really bland and the combat system felt bad which didn't help. I think alot of problems are that horrible engine though and even if they fixed all my problems with the game it's too late now. I'm the sorta person where I have to be a day one collectors Edition Veteran or I'll never really get into it like a second home.

I know what you mean.  It never really pulled me into the game-world that much, either.  And it certainly didn't seem like anything too innovative, at least as far as MMOs go.  The thing that really annoyed me the most, before the expansion, was seeing everyone running around in basically the same gear.  It seemed to seriously lack diversity amongst characters.  It's gotten a little better with the cosmetic item thing, but it is still lacking something there.  The crafting system is pretty mediocre, too.

Originally posted by neilh73

[snip]

 

I too am a huge Star Wars fan and I will definately be playing this game.

I must have played through KOTOR at least 40 times since it was released in 2003. The story for KOTOR was far superior to any of the Star Wars prequels by a LARGE margin and that is the main reason that I am excited about SW:TOR.

BioWare make great story-based games.  I have played and enjoyed them all (in fact I'm currently playing through Mass Effect again for about the 12th time).  Even if SW:TOR is as single-player focused as some of the trolls on this forum seem to think, it will still keep me entertained for a very long time as I will be playing each class through 3 times each, once taking the good guy route, once bad guy route and once middle of the road.  I want to experience every possible branch in the storyline.  8 classes, 3 routes each, equals 24 playthroughs and thats before you add on the normal MMORPG content (endgame raiding, PvP etc..) that BioWare say they have in the game as well as strong story-based elements. 

P.S. 24 Playthroughs?  Yes I do have OCD.!  :p

 

Ha!  Hope you have plenty of time on your hands to devote to it.  Sounds like you're really going to need it for all of that.  lol

My first experience with an MMO was Star Wars Galaxies, as well.  And because it was my first MMO, nothing could ever really live up to my expectations, I think.  Since I quit playing the game years ago, I've had to lower some of my standards for what I should expect to get out of a game, but I've also had to raise a few of my expectations because of that experience as well.  Since then, I've never quite found another MMO that could really draw me into it the way that one did, so I've moved on to other games, and I play those while waiting for something else that might have a little more potential to satisfy me reasonably enough.

Hmm.  I mean, World of Warcraft wasn't really for me.  City of Heroes seemed too tedious for my tastes.  Age of Conan complimented my play-style too awkwardly.  Pirates of the Burning Sea was too 'Meh.'  Lord of the Rings Online is fun, but is really starting to get too 'grindy' for my liking.  Considering all of this, I can only discern that I've gotten too picky or too spoiled a certain way in what I demand out of my games.  Ha.

As long as I am having fun with any of it - it's all gravy, anyway.

Originally posted by djnexus

Ive heard rumors and speculation that when Star Wars The Old Republic comes out that Lucas Arts will pull the plug on Star Wars Galaxies, why would they have 2 Star Wars games running? Whats everyones view on that or has anyone heard anything else about it?

Hmm.  It will definitely be tough on SOE and SWG, I think.  I guess the real question is, 'Is there enough room in the MMORPG market for two Star Wars MMOs?'  I don't see this as being very practical, in my opinion, especially since SWG has alienated so much of their player-base already.

Originally posted by Cleffy

The 8800GT(G92) isn't that different then the 9800GT.  Its practically the same card.

Ahh, I see.  I was wondering about that because I've only recently gotten into the loop with the Nvidia cards after years of running cheap, low-end ATI cards (which just weren't cutting the proverbial mustard for me anymore). Which isn't to say that the 9800 was particularly expensive, but they have this far out-performed every other card I have ever used.  I'm really pleased with my current card setup at the moment.  I had no idea that DirectX 10 could make so much of a difference.

Thanks for the info.

Looks great, to me. At least as far as system requirements for gaming goes.

Just curious...how well are the 8800GT cards working out for you?  I'm running dual 9800GT cards, myself, and this far I have been able to crank all of my games up to their highest settings with little problems concerning lag or frame-rate issues.  I wouldn't think that the 8800 would be that far behind it in performance.

PVE content usually goes over big with me.  Never really cared for raiding that much though, personally.  Some 'casual' PVP would be nice, too, if such a thing exists.  I usually find myself grinding for gear at end-game, despite my dislike for raids.  The whole grind thing can really wear thin on you after a while and these days I find myself getting more enjoyment just hanging out and being social in a more laid-back setting, or helping out newbies or something.  So PVE it is, for me.

Bought a lifetime subscription for my brother as a gift last year and he has more than gotten the money's worth out of it.  He hasn't been logging-in as much over the last few months due to all the grinding and rep grinding required at the later levels, so I have taken to leveling some of his alt-characters as a way to pass the time while waiting for other games, so I've gotten a little enjoyment out of it as well.  For the amount of time he has put into the game, I think that it was worth the price.  The game is definitely losing a lot of its charm for me, personally.  I had a real blast pre-Moria, but since then it just hasn't felt the same so I find myself losing a lot of interest in it.

Originally posted by Axehilt

Originally posted by funkyclaude

No, it wasn't sarcasm, and I'm not saying that robbing a bank in a game is generic.  I'm just saying that robbing the same bank a hundred times is repetitive and I lose interest in that kind of thing rather quickly.  It's just personal preference that I don't care for it.  Some people may enjoy it, but it's just not for me, that's all.

 

Ah, k.  That's sort of what I thought you were saying, just wanted to make sure.  I agree they didn't have quite as much content variety as they should've.

I still think NCSoft made a pretty bold move in making a sci-fi based MMO in a market mainly dominated by fantasy-based MMOs.  It would be great to see a lot more of that in future games, and very rarely do we get the chance to play the villain rather than the hero.

Absolutely.  As a huge fan of Star Wars in general, I'm looking forward to it for that reason alone.  I like what I've seen so far, even though I'm not that impressed with the stylized graphics.  But I think I can probably live with it.

Something just outside of realistic is good enough to satisfy me.  I found the graphics in World of Warcraft to be a bit too cartoony for my own personal tastes.  Age of Conan had potential as far as realism, but was poorly implemented, in my humble opinion.  I think Lord of the Rings Online did a decent job with balancing realism/cartoon like graphics.  If there's plenty of eye-candy and the game isn't flat-out ugly on all fronts, then I'll usually go for it.

No, it wasn't sarcasm, and I'm not saying that robbing a bank in a game is generic.  I'm just saying that robbing the same bank a hundred times is repetitive and I lose interest in that kind of thing rather quickly.  It's just personal preference that I don't care for it.  Some people may enjoy it, but it's just not for me, that's all.

1.  Killing an AFK, but PVP Bounty Hunter, in the Imperial Base near Restuss in SWG a few years ago.  It wasn't such a noble thing to do, but the guy and his guild had been griefing me all day, so I followed him around stealthed and then I finally caught him alone and I snuck in and took him out, only to realize that he wasn't fighting back - and my Spy finally got his revenge with minimal effort.  After the Bounty Hunter went down, a red dot comes up on my mini-map and I realized it was an Imp. Jedi coming after me.  So I ran out of the base, stealthed again and ran away, getting off scot-free  Ahh, good times.

2.  In LOTRO, finally getting a Second-Age Legendary weapon to drop while soloing a quest.  I think that weapon is about the only item worth anything that I've ever acquired in that game.  The unsatisfying part is that the weapon wasn't even usable for my Class.

3.  Creating and managing my town on Dantooine with a buddy in SWG.

Hmm, can't think of many more at the moment, but I'm sure I have a few others.  They'll probably come to me after I've had my morning coffee.

Yes, that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for.  I was hoping that it might be more 'get out and kill this thing, then go and collect that thing' than the more generic 'robbing a bank/prevent a bank from being robbed' system they have in place in that other game.  Thanks a ton for that, this answered my question and then some.

So I'm looking for an MMO to pass the time while waiting for another MMO or two that's in the works that I'm looking forward to.  I was thinking of giving Champions Online a shot, but I was too hesitant to pre-order especially with the $50 price tag.  So far, I am still very much on the fence about buying it.  I have a question for those from the CO Beta and the early start players that maybe you could answer.   Is the questing in CO as repetitive as in COH/COV?  I've been trying to find out what the questing system is like and I haven't been able to find much information about it.

I try to stay open-minded about most companies, despite a lot of bad news, bad reviews and the game-specific haters.  The only company I think I wouldn't give another chance is SOE.  The SWG ruckus hit me as hard as everyone else, yet I gave it some time to settle-in, and then still ended up quitting for good about a year later - it just wasn't fun for me anymore.  Looking for an MMO to replace that one, I made the mistake of giving most of SOE's other MMOs a try and they were the most mediocre games I have ever played.  Their tech support wasn't too hot, either.  I have no idea if it's gotten better since back then.

Bottom-line, I'll try just about anything once if it looks interesting enough, even if it's made by a company that I am not particularly fond of.  But still I approach a few particular companies with a good degree of hesitation.

Originally posted by beeker255

 Screw 15 dollars a month you guys are over paying drastically for sub par games! Most of the MMO's I play are 14.95 a month! So who is the fools!

Quoted for hilarity.  I think I want my five cents back after reading that.