Hey guys,

I'm trying to get into a new MMO as I've just really lost my interest in Rift, LotRO, etc.  

I'm hoping SWTOR could be the answer.  

I'm relatively new with the product, but after looking it over it's hard to find what really separates this game from the others apart from the franchise that is behind it.

If anyone has some input as to why I should like it if I liked the other games, but also something that makes it fresh and exciting would be completely rad.

Thanks in advance it really is appreciated.

Well, in terms of what separates it from Rift, Lotro, etc, the only thing I can really say is that it's a different game.  Still the same themepark concept with some new twists thrown in.  If you are bored with Rift and Lotro, but NOT bored of the themepark quest hub and endgame gear grind, then TOR could be a good game for you.  

Positives:  

-Great storyline, particularly the class and planet stories.  All your quests are given context, and you generally don't feel like your character is doing inane work for npcs that can be done by anyone.  Even most of the side quests have a heroic feel to them.

-The advanced classes are all fun to play, and have their own distinct feel.  Their abilities and skill trees are pretty well fleshed out and have a good synergy based on what spec you are playing.

-Combat animations are among the best I've played in an MMO.  Your abilities LOOK cool, and are more complex than just a single swing of your lightsaber.  The combat, aesthetically at least, looks cinematic, despite being a rather generic tab target system.  If you've played Rift and Lotro, you'll find the combat in TOR far superior.  

-The companion system is basically the best pet system I've seen in a game.  Very deep AI, fully fleshed out personalities, can fill a variety of role, allows for further character customization based on the type of companion you choose, fully geared like any player character, and has their own set of abiities that you can customize.

-Crew Skills allow you to send one of your companions to do your crafting or gathering for you while you are out questing.  The system is fairly deep, I'd say on par with Lotro, and much better than Rift.  It has been less than stellar for endgame, however, but that is changing when patch 1.2 comes out.  All the crew skills will have endgame viability.  

Negatives:

-Very linear.  From quests to world design.  Unfortunately, Bioware boxed themselves into a corner with their own story, so you don't have the freedom that you have in some other MMOs.  You have to go to the same zones, in the same order, every time you level.  This hurts the replayability, just like it does in Rift.  However, there are so many quests that it's still decent replayability through about two characters per faction if you are judicious in picking which side quests and quest hubs to do.

-World Design.  Like I said, extremely linear.  Narrow corriders that feed you from one quest hub to the next.  Not a lot of openness.  Only three planets have any openness at all:  Hoth, Tatooine, and to a lesser extent, Alderaan. The zones are huge, and truth be told, too huge.  Because of their size, Bioware really made them fragmented so they feel much smaller than they actually are, if that makes sense.  

-Environments.  Kind of drab, not a lot of bright colors.  War torn.  On some planets, like Correlia and Aldraan, this works.  On others, it doesn't work well at all.  Not a lot of activity and life.  The mobs generally graze, instead of patrol.  Mob AI is spotty.  Some of them are very advanced in that they'll run for cover or use special abilities to counter what you are doing.  Others, just stand there and let you beat the hell out of them.  Virtually no ambient sounds or music, which is very strange, to say the least.  

-Virtually no open world PvP.  Because the maps are so fragmented, BW has basically segregated the two factions in every zone to the point that it takes a lot of effort to get to the other side for some pvp action.  This limits large scale PvP to Ilum, which, due to poor implementation and a sub par engine, is just not very well done.  

-Game Engine.  As noted above, it's not very well optimized.  It's not AoC or Vanguard bad, but it's definitely not as smooth as Rift or Lotro.  Shitty computers WILL struggle to run this game.  This can be seen in many ways:  Hiccups in game, laggy PvP, and poor responsiveness in combat animations, although this last one has been greatly improved since launch.  An example:  I play on a PvP server.  Once I get into an area of a zone where there might be some people from the opposite faction, it's usually impossible for me to be ganked or caught off guard because every time another player enters my vicinity, I'll have a slight hiccup in the game.  Nothing major, just a very small lag spike.  I use that as an alert that there are other players in my area, and generally stealth off my speeder and see if it's an opposing player or someone from my faction.  This kind of thing is one of the reasons why Ilum is a complete lag fest, and very frustrating.

So those are some of the pros and cons.  Personally, I still really enjoy the game and still have a lot of fun with it.  But there are issues that need to be fixed, and Bioware is aware of them and will continue to work on them.  I find the game to be very fun, but I can certainly see why people may not enjoy it due to some of the things I've mentioned above.  

But if you are looking for "different" or "innovative," this game probably won't blow your hair back.  It does improve upon a lot of stuff that has been in the themepark design for years, but doesn't add a lot of brand new stuff or take too many risks. 

I played for nearly three months. I spent the first month sort of enjoying it only because it was a ittle different.

I spent the next month trying very hard to find the fun part. As it felt like I've been there done that already.

The last month I spent very little time in game because every log in was forced. Third week into the third month I finally gave up. I had finally come to and accepted the realization that it's a boring game with an absolute crapload of negative points.

Save yourself the frustration and the most of all the money and wait for GW2 or try something else that isn't so bad is so many ways.

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Well, in terms of what separates it from Rift, Lotro, etc, the only thing I can really say is that it's a different game.  Still the same themepark concept with some new twists thrown in.  If you are bored with Rift and Lotro, but NOT bored of the themepark quest hub and endgame gear grind, then TOR could be a good game for you.  

Positives:  

-Great storyline, particularly the class and planet stories.  All your quests are given context, and you generally don't feel like your character is doing inane work for npcs that can be done by anyone.  Even most of the side quests have a heroic feel to them.

-The advanced classes are all fun to play, and have their own distinct feel.  Their abilities and skill trees are pretty well fleshed out and have a good synergy based on what spec you are playing.

-Combat animations are among the best I've played in an MMO.  Your abilities LOOK cool, and are more complex than just a single swing of your lightsaber.  The combat, aesthetically at least, looks cinematic, despite being a rather generic tab target system.  If you've played Rift and Lotro, you'll find the combat in TOR far superior.  

-The companion system is basically the best pet system I've seen in a game.  Very deep AI, fully fleshed out personalities, can fill a variety of role, allows for further character customization based on the type of companion you choose, fully geared like any player character, and has their own set of abiities that you can customize.

-Crew Skills allow you to send one of your companions to do your crafting or gathering for you while you are out questing.  The system is fairly deep, I'd say on par with Lotro, and much better than Rift.  It has been less than stellar for endgame, however, but that is changing when patch 1.2 comes out.  All the crew skills will have endgame viability.  

Negatives:

-Very linear.  From quests to world design.  Unfortunately, Bioware boxed themselves into a corner with their own story, so you don't have the freedom that you have in some other MMOs.  You have to go to the same zones, in the same order, every time you level.  This hurts the replayability, just like it does in Rift.  However, there are so many quests that it's still decent replayability through about two characters per faction if you are judicious in picking which side quests and quest hubs to do.

-World Design.  Like I said, extremely linear.  Narrow corriders that feed you from one quest hub to the next.  Not a lot of openness.  Only three planets have any openness at all:  Hoth, Tatooine, and to a lesser extent, Alderaan. The zones are huge, and truth be told, too huge.  Because of their size, Bioware really made them fragmented so they feel much smaller than they actually are, if that makes sense.  

-Environments.  Kind of drab, not a lot of bright colors.  War torn.  On some planets, like Correlia and Aldraan, this works.  On others, it doesn't work well at all.  Not a lot of activity and life.  The mobs generally graze, instead of patrol.  Mob AI is spotty.  Some of them are very advanced in that they'll run for cover or use special abilities to counter what you are doing.  Others, just stand there and let you beat the hell out of them.  Virtually no ambient sounds or music, which is very strange, to say the least.  

-Virtually no open world PvP.  Because the maps are so fragmented, BW has basically segregated the two factions in every zone to the point that it takes a lot of effort to get to the other side for some pvp action.  This limits large scale PvP to Ilum, which, due to poor implementation and a sub par engine, is just not very well done.  

-Game Engine.  As noted above, it's not very well optimized.  It's not AoC or Vanguard bad, but it's definitely not as smooth as Rift or Lotro.  Shitty computers WILL struggle to run this game.  This can be seen in many ways:  Hiccups in game, laggy PvP, and poor responsiveness in combat animations, although this last one has been greatly improved since launch.  An example:  I play on a PvP server.  Once I get into an area of a zone where there might be some people from the opposite faction, it's usually impossible for me to be ganked or caught off guard because every time another player enters my vicinity, I'll have a slight hiccup in the game.  Nothing major, just a very small lag spike.  I use that as an alert that there are other players in my area, and generally stealth off my speeder and see if it's an opposing player or someone from my faction.  This kind of thing is one of the reasons why Ilum is a complete lag fest, and very frustrating.

So those are some of the pros and cons.  Personally, I still really enjoy the game and still have a lot of fun with it.  But there are issues that need to be fixed, and Bioware is aware of them and will continue to work on them.  I find the game to be very fun, but I can certainly see why people may not enjoy it due to some of the things I've mentioned above.  

But if you are looking for "different" or "innovative," this game probably won't blow your hair back.  It does improve upon a lot of stuff that has been in the themepark design for years, but doesn't add a lot of brand new stuff or take too many risks. 

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to give such an awesome and insightful reply.  It's exactly what I was looking for.  Does purchasing the game  give you a 30 day free trial?

yeah 30 day free time comes with the purchase. Although you have to put in CC info immediately, but it won't charge you the first month. You can always put in CC info and cancel just to be certain it doesn't auto bill you next month in case you don't like it.

Originally posted by Poonjabi

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Well, in terms of what separates it from Rift, Lotro, etc, the only thing I can really say is that it's a different game.  Still the same themepark concept with some new twists thrown in.  If you are bored with Rift and Lotro, but NOT bored of the themepark quest hub and endgame gear grind, then TOR could be a good game for you.  

Positives:  

-Great storyline, particularly the class and planet stories.  All your quests are given context, and you generally don't feel like your character is doing inane work for npcs that can be done by anyone.  Even most of the side quests have a heroic feel to them.

-The advanced classes are all fun to play, and have their own distinct feel.  Their abilities and skill trees are pretty well fleshed out and have a good synergy based on what spec you are playing.

-Combat animations are among the best I've played in an MMO.  Your abilities LOOK cool, and are more complex than just a single swing of your lightsaber.  The combat, aesthetically at least, looks cinematic, despite being a rather generic tab target system.  If you've played Rift and Lotro, you'll find the combat in TOR far superior.  

-The companion system is basically the best pet system I've seen in a game.  Very deep AI, fully fleshed out personalities, can fill a variety of role, allows for further character customization based on the type of companion you choose, fully geared like any player character, and has their own set of abiities that you can customize.

-Crew Skills allow you to send one of your companions to do your crafting or gathering for you while you are out questing.  The system is fairly deep, I'd say on par with Lotro, and much better than Rift.  It has been less than stellar for endgame, however, but that is changing when patch 1.2 comes out.  All the crew skills will have endgame viability.  

Negatives:

-Very linear.  From quests to world design.  Unfortunately, Bioware boxed themselves into a corner with their own story, so you don't have the freedom that you have in some other MMOs.  You have to go to the same zones, in the same order, every time you level.  This hurts the replayability, just like it does in Rift.  However, there are so many quests that it's still decent replayability through about two characters per faction if you are judicious in picking which side quests and quest hubs to do.

-World Design.  Like I said, extremely linear.  Narrow corriders that feed you from one quest hub to the next.  Not a lot of openness.  Only three planets have any openness at all:  Hoth, Tatooine, and to a lesser extent, Alderaan. The zones are huge, and truth be told, too huge.  Because of their size, Bioware really made them fragmented so they feel much smaller than they actually are, if that makes sense.  

-Environments.  Kind of drab, not a lot of bright colors.  War torn.  On some planets, like Correlia and Aldraan, this works.  On others, it doesn't work well at all.  Not a lot of activity and life.  The mobs generally graze, instead of patrol.  Mob AI is spotty.  Some of them are very advanced in that they'll run for cover or use special abilities to counter what you are doing.  Others, just stand there and let you beat the hell out of them.  Virtually no ambient sounds or music, which is very strange, to say the least.  

-Virtually no open world PvP.  Because the maps are so fragmented, BW has basically segregated the two factions in every zone to the point that it takes a lot of effort to get to the other side for some pvp action.  This limits large scale PvP to Ilum, which, due to poor implementation and a sub par engine, is just not very well done.  

-Game Engine.  As noted above, it's not very well optimized.  It's not AoC or Vanguard bad, but it's definitely not as smooth as Rift or Lotro.  Shitty computers WILL struggle to run this game.  This can be seen in many ways:  Hiccups in game, laggy PvP, and poor responsiveness in combat animations, although this last one has been greatly improved since launch.  An example:  I play on a PvP server.  Once I get into an area of a zone where there might be some people from the opposite faction, it's usually impossible for me to be ganked or caught off guard because every time another player enters my vicinity, I'll have a slight hiccup in the game.  Nothing major, just a very small lag spike.  I use that as an alert that there are other players in my area, and generally stealth off my speeder and see if it's an opposing player or someone from my faction.  This kind of thing is one of the reasons why Ilum is a complete lag fest, and very frustrating.

So those are some of the pros and cons.  Personally, I still really enjoy the game and still have a lot of fun with it.  But there are issues that need to be fixed, and Bioware is aware of them and will continue to work on them.  I find the game to be very fun, but I can certainly see why people may not enjoy it due to some of the things I've mentioned above.  

But if you are looking for "different" or "innovative," this game probably won't blow your hair back.  It does improve upon a lot of stuff that has been in the themepark design for years, but doesn't add a lot of brand new stuff or take too many risks. 

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to give such an awesome and insightful reply.  It's exactly what I was looking for.  Does purchasing the game  give you a 30 day free trial?

Originally posted by RefMinor

 

Yes it does, unfortunately they are non-refundable though

What's non-refundable?  

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Originally posted by RefMinor

 

Yes it does, unfortunately they are non-refundable though

What's non-refundable?  

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Originally posted by RefMinor

 

Yes it does, unfortunately they are non-refundable though

What's non-refundable?  

 

The 30 days of your life.

<rollseyes>  

And yet, judging by your posting history, you spend even more of your life bad-mouthing the game that wasted 30 days of your life on forums instead of enjoying a game of your own.   Your logic astounds me.

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Originally posted by RefMinor

 

Yes it does, unfortunately they are non-refundable though

What's non-refundable?  

 

The 30 days of your life.

 

And yet, judging by your posting history, you spend even more of your life bad-mouthing the game that wasted 30 days of your life on forums instead of enjoying a game of your own.   Your logic astounds me.