Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Meow]

fucking germ lovers

[Gmnotutoo]

I got early access today.   

[Vibe]

Just tried early access on friends account yesterday. Only played for an hour or so, here's my first impressions:

+ superb voice acting
+ melee animations, also some cool force animations
+ story/decisions

- not really open world, places feel linear
- kill/collect x/y quests
- dull places/textures/graphics (sith academy is yawn)
- instanced world
- WoW

Don't know much about late game content, I'm mostly interested in PvP but SWTOR doesn't seem to offer anything special there (instanced pvp zones).

[Gristle]

Well, there are generally 2 kinds of RPGs: linear and sandbox. Most MMOs go the linear route.

I've got my Sith Sorcerer to level 13 right now. Enjoying the storyline so far. The first Flashpoint (group instance) dark side has is doable at level 10, and it was very fun and cinematic. Not too difficult, takes 30-40 minutes, but never gets boring (unless you hate the conversations, but then why are you playing?). I've done it a few times now. Hope the other Flashpoints are as entertaining. We only had a 3 man group, so I used my NPC to tank (a full group is 4 members, no NPCs at that point), while I healed it when needed. Worked well enough. We were a little overleveled though.

Before I tried that, I checked out the PVP. The PVP warzones seem like they actually reward you too much. I did 2 games and went from level 10 to level 12. That's 2 games, no more than 15 minutes each, roughly 6000exp and 1000 credits both times. I did win both, but I hear you don't get much less for losing.

[Vibe]

My buddy got me to buy SW:ToR

Anyway having fun so far, I don't care if it has a generic combat system really, the story is great and voice acting is wonderful.

Playing Sith Sorcerer, lvl 10 atm

One of the reasons I bought it is the planet battles (aka Open World PvP, planet Ilum for example), which I haven't noticed before... seems like a good PvP option, before I thought SWToR only had instanced PvP (aka warzones), well this made me buy the game (and friends begging).

One questions though, is this planet battlefield thingy already ingame, released?

[Gristle]

I've just finished up the second planet (first 2 planets are your faction only), so I haven't seen any world pvp yet, but I think I'll be seeing it soon. I do know it's already possible. People were doing world pvp in beta.

I respecced to the Madness tree when I realized it was similar to an Affliction Warlock (one of my favorite WoW specs), with a focus on periodic damage and a bit of self healing. Also, Force Lightning with no cooldown!

[Vibe]

I've just finished up the second planet (first 2 planets are your faction only), so I haven't seen any world pvp yet, but I think I'll be seeing it soon. I do know it's already possible. People were doing world pvp in beta.

I respecced to the Madness tree when I realized it was similar to an Affliction Warlock (one of my favorite WoW specs), with a focus on periodic damage and a bit of self healing. Also, Force Lightning with no cooldown!

I'll be going Madness too, seems like the best option for leveling. When I was talking about world pvp I didn't mean the normal world pvp you encounter when doing quests and stuff, but objective based open world pvp - if you youtube planet ilum for example you'll see it's a giant battlefield with many vs many and objective based where republic and empire fight for control. Imagine something like Open RvR zone from Warhammer Online or Wintergrasp/Tol Barad from WoW.

[GreasySausageSandwhich]

The best spec I've seen for Sorcs are a madness/lightning hybrid.

The main points are up to at least Wrath in madness, and up to Chain Lightning+Lightning Barrage in lightning.  Lot's of great sustained damage with the capability to put out some rediculous burst.

[Stabby_Dave]

Got the game but never played an MMO in my life so im pretty damn confused right now. I have a basic hang of combat but a lot of the MMO terms are lots on  me lol.

[Vibe]

Got the game but never played an MMO in my life so im pretty damn confused right now. I have a basic hang of combat but a lot of the MMO terms are lots on  me lol.

Never played an MMO? Wow

Well if you never played another MMO, you're going to enjoy this one for sure

[Gristle]

We talked Kesh into buying it. He has also never played an MMO before. I think he's a keyboard turner!

[Vibe]

People that have never played an MMO... after so many years of MMO's released....

[Angantyr]

I haven't played an MMO since the very first one; Ultima Online.

Primarily it is a distate for grind and an ideological aversion for games that you have to pay for past the original sales price. I played Neverwinter Nights RP servers for at least 6 years and have played Warband for 2 and it has never cost me anything but the time I've invested.

I'm very seriously considering making this my first since Ultima though, as I'm a big expanded universe fan and have some friends playing it. I also hear good things about the 'SP' questlines and pvp. Just a shame that it is LucasArts and EA that is getting my money, probably two of the most unscrupulous gaming companies there is.

[Vibe]

I'm usually the first one to complain about grind. I can say for myself that as far as the leveling process goes, this is the most fun I ever had in an MMO. The story really spices things up, even though a lot of quests are kill x, collect y, it doesn't feel anything like grind. And the space combat is a fun thing to do if you're fed up with ground combat

The class storyline (singleplayer in a way) is great, I did Sith Inquisitor (only to lvl 13) and now doing Bounty Hunter (lvl 18 atm) and both stories are great. Each class has it's own story up to level cap. Side quests are shared with all classes within your faction.

As for PvP, I only did one Warzone (instanced pvp area) and it seemed fine and balanced. There isn't really an overpowered class that dominates everyone. I can't wait to try out the PvP planet (Ilum), looks great and large scale from videos.

Also stuff like crafting and companions make the game a bit more special than your standard generic hotkey MMO.

[Stabby_Dave]

The reason I never played an  MMO before is because I have always refused to pay a subscription for a game I have already bought, the same as the above guy said. In addition quests always tend to be pretty generic compared to a single player RPG and the multiplayer aspect of questing together and joining guilds and whatever has never really interested me.

I got star wars since I like the universe and so would be a good way to dip my toe into the genre. If I end up not enjoying it after the first 30 days though I just wont renew my subscription. So far my general opinion is just slightly above meh.