Poll: So, Is the new MMORPG Star Wars: The old Republic wroth playing?

[Comic Sans]

Having played through the Beta, I'd say that on par with WoW, its a DECENT game. But it doesn't really strike me as a game I WANT to play. I felt KotOR was a one-shot (I don't even bother considering KotOR2 canon or even existing at all). I don't get a feel for the game as anything but a Star Wars version of WoW, which since I already play WoW I'm not really interested in it.

Things I don't get:

1. Chiss: how the FUCK are there Chiss? They are part of EU canon, I know, created by Timothy Zahn but prior to Thrawn's appearance at the Outbound Flight incident, the Chiss had no contact with the Republic at all. And there's nothing in the canon history that hints at any catastrophe that could have severed the link between the Chiss and the Old Republic. That bothers me to no end.

2. I don't really enjoy the whole 1000 years ago technology isn't much different than it is in present SW Canon. I would think the tech level would be much lower and a whole lot different but its basically present SW tech 1000 years before it could have been in place. Sorry... just baffles me.

3. WHY CAN'T I BE A MANDALORIAN?!!?

4. I would have preferred a re-boot of Star Wars Galaxies set in one of the contemporary EU arcs, such as the Yuuzan Vong invasion, post-Endor arc (Rogue/Wraith Squadron, Kyp Durron's Sun Crusher incident, etc.) or the Dark Nest or Legacy of the Force arcs.... That would have been interesting times to play through and given me much more of a feeling of being part of Star Wars. SWTOR just makes me feel like I'm playing someone else's vision of Star Wars and not the series I love (KotOR was a fine game but again, I don't think its Canon should have been turned into an MMO).

There are my reasons why I don't like SWTOR. Take it as you will.

1. I simply chalk it up to it being thousands of years ago and everyone forgot about it. We have enough trouble here in real life keeping total track of stuff from merely hundreds of years ago, I doubt information on a galactic scale over thousands of years was all perfectly recorded and kept safe.

2. It was established in EU lore that there was interstellar flight and battle back in this time period. It's not too hard to imagine it seems similar to the "modern" Star Wars. They reached the point of interstellar travel, and technology plateaued out. The basic technologies stayed the same, but were improved. In current Star Wars, the ships are faster, shields and armor stronger, etc than the Old Republic tech. It's like comparing the first cars invented to what we have now. They are still cars, ours are just better.

4. By this point Mandalorians are basically done. Besides, I like to remember the Mandalorians as badasses, not scrubs who are killing space rats to level up.

5. NONONO. The Old Republic is a perfect setting due to the lack of canon in the era. To do stuff off the EU, there would have to be TONS of backstory to get people up to speed, and would be limited in what they can do, since the canon of the era is so well defined. With TOR, they can basically do what they want since it's in a time period where it doesn't conflict with other stories, and they can do whatever crazy epic shit they want without having their hands tied by the lore.

 

[IzisviAziria]

You know, I'm gonna stay out of this. It's going to end up like Dragon Age 2, with fanboys shrieking at anyone who criticizes their new precious game, and flamers continuing to yell back.

Unless of course you just ignore the fanboys and stick to legitimate opinions. It's not hard to spot a fanboy but for some reason everybody has trouble ignoring them.

I know. But this is the internet right? As soon as someone dismisses a criticism and declaring the writer to be someone who dislikes the game, they are a fanboy.

Honestly, I was on the TOR forums, and those comments comprised 90% of all conversation in the General Discussion forum.

World of Warcraft doesn't have a reputation for having a stellar playerbase. The Old Republic was made to lure over World of Warcraft players.

Chaos ensues, people from both sides call each other trolls. People trying to criticize the game are told to go back to WoW and people praising the game are told they are delusional. What should be happening is "Hey this game has a lot of potential but X Y and Z are holding it back, here is why," followed by people agreeing or disagreeing for their various reasons. But instead we get the conversation equivalent of monkeys throwing feces at each other to prove a point.

My opinion? I think they spent too much money making it an RPG and not enough making it an MMO. Sure the leveling and story are great but that isn't what keeps subscribers. Perhaps in a couple months we will see Bioware release new content to make up for this but if it all has to be voice acted then the cost of this game is going to be immense. On the other hand if the new content isn't voice acted then they run the risk of people being outraged and leaving the game.

The worst part is Bioware will take all the blame if the game doesn't pan out well, regardless of how much EA is to blame.

A friend of mine said that the majority of WoW subscribers never make it to endgame. A VAST majority, in fact. That most of the money WoW makes is from people playing it here and there, from curious people booting up an account to see what all the hype is, and of course from gold farmers.

In that light, making it a great RPG and a passable MMO makes a lot of sense.

 

[kampori]

It's Knights of the Old Republic (best game ever made) / Mass Effect (2nd best game ever made), But STAR WARS, and with the ability to play online with your friends.
Fantastic feel for an MMO, feels so smooth.

Erm what else... 8 class stories (all of which are bigger than most games). Space Combat. BioWare's epic writing.
What more could you need? (and before you give me all that talk.. it's literally just been released. More/expanded content will come, so no point saying 'durrr free-flight space' etc

 

[kampori]

My opinion? I think they spent too much money making it an RPG and not enough making it an MMO. Sure the leveling and story are great but that isn't what keeps subscribers. Perhaps in a couple months we will see Bioware release new content to make up for this but if it all has to be voice acted then the cost of this game is going to be immense. On the other hand if the new content isn't voice acted then they run the risk of people being outraged and leaving the game.

A fair point, but I disagree. I feel the RPG/story aspect is the ONLY thing that will keep subscribers. As people have said above me, vast majority of people on WoW never reach end game.. and it's crap anyway, so no point. Within weeks, end-game is done with. Loot does't keep subscribers, but I feel the story will. No other game has me stay up so late, or forgo sleep altogether because the story is so damn good. Each quest, no matter how mundane, is a blast to play. Not only do I want to play every single class to the end of their story, but for my favourite classes (so far the Imperial Agent & Sith Warrior) I'll want to roll them TWICE, to 1- try out the different Advanced Class, and 2- to try out all the different dialogue options, make different choices, go dark/light.

And considering they say each class' story is about 200+ hours alone... I'm already looking at 1600 hours just for all the class. Let alone re-rolls. PvP. Crafting. Companions. PvE.
I'd say BioWare will be keeping me subscribed for many many many many, dunno, years? to come.

 

[Sixcess]

What more could you need?

Free flight space.
Worlds with some life to them, that don't feel like an ultra-linear series of canyons forcing me along the path Bioware are telling me to go. Proper weather - if it's going to rain then let's see the ground get wet. Let's have a day/night cycle (the absence of which I find inexplicable in a 2011 MMO, and very telling about Bioware's idea of 'world building.'

(and before you give me all that talk.. it's literally just been released. More/expanded content will come, so no point saying 'durrr free-flight space' etc)

Bioware spent years, and a couple of hundred million dollars, making this game. If they wanted it why isn't it already in there? It's not like they'd have ran out of time or money. They don't get to make that excuse, particularly about free-flight space, since they demonstrated utter contempt for that concept during development.

"You remember that part where Han Solo and Chewbacca are in the Millennium Falcon? Han's like, 'Hey, Chewie, let's go into space, and let's just dick around. Let's go off in that direction and see if there is anything interesting'? Remember how they went off and there was this asteroid, and they mined the asteroid? Yeah, we couldn't find that either. Two things happened when you went to space. One: You took off to space when you wanted to go somewhere. You took off into hyperspace -- BAM! -- and got there. Two: You wanted to go to a battle or you were trying to go somewhere and someone stopped you. Uh oh! Giant exciting combat! ... That is why we did space combat the way we did."
- Daniel Erickson, lead writer. PAX presentation in 2010.

Let's judge the game on what it is now. Not what it might be years down the line.