Most of the mechanical changes effect FTP as well as subscribers. The only real difference for subscribers is they have access to the Knights of the Fallen Empire story content. Of course FTP's can buy this content just fine, so functionally, there is no difference really. The missions that give the massive xp amounts are still there for FTP's, and the companion mechanics are also available. It's not locked behind a paywall.flying_whimsy said:
Star Wars: The Old Republic as a single player game.
- Thread starter Mister K
- Start date
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BW have been trying to differentiate from other theme park MMOs and their "trademark" storytelling is their weapon of choice. Good or bad, if you want a good single-player experience in an MMO, SWTOR does it well. 3 friends and I were playing it over the summer, making use of the 12x XP boost to level up and it was, quite sadly, a very solo experience. We rarely crossed over, same classes had to either do the same mission twice, or seperately to advance for both players and apart from some high level dungeons (all 6 of them) which were quite well rinsed, there was little we could do together.
As a single player, you can level from start to finish pretty much solo and with little, if any, grinding. The new levelling system in 4.0 gives enough XP to level by doing just the class and planetary story missions (during 12x XP, the class missions alone were enough). If while levelling, you tried out some other things like an odd battleground, space mission or dungeon, you'll get some bonus XP and gear/rewards.
Each class has its own story, 4 per faction for 2 factions. Each class has two advanced classes for 8 altogether and the two advanced classes share the archetype's story. The stories run from 1-50 following the levelling zones/planets with frequent interludes. You'll meet your 5 companions during the story, the first on the starter planet around lvl 8-10 and the others vary considerably. The first companion (for all except the Jedi Knight) has a little more story to tell than the others and also has 2-3 missions. Each class/gender has 1-2 romanceable companions, whose decency does vary. Before, they used to have personalities and liked or disliked things you said or did. Now you can do or say anything and it doesn't matter at all.
Before, companions differed in whether they were tanks, healers or DPSers, now all are identical across the board, have no gameplay personality (only story), don't need gear or personalisation. I don't like it personally, but they're going for simplicity and they achieved it. They're great mechanically and in gameplay, letting you focus on playing how you want. I would say tho that if you're levelling solo, don't roll healer, or really even tank TBH. Both are group oriented and take longer to clear mobs and beat bosses. If you wanted to play a tank or healer, level as DPS to the high 50s, then switch over.
At 50, all characters go to Makeb. At this point there aren't 8 stories, but two, one per faction. Completing the Makeb arc will take you to or around 55 where you can do the Shadow of Revan which is a bunch of Flashpoints/Dungeons (allowing solo play) and 2-3 planets after. That takes you to 60 at which point Knights of the Fallen Empire kicks in and takes you to 65.
Regarding grinding, no not really. As I and others have suggested, you can level by doing story missions (class and planet) alone. The odd extra side mission/dungeon however is a little variety and can offer nice rewards and help keep you ahead of the curve. I know a few side missions I usually pick up for the nice, oftentimes exclusive reward or when they offer nice XP without having to travel extra distance (while I'm there anyway!). The planetary arc on Coruscant comes to mind, offering a unique(ish) and usually quite archetypal piece of orange gear that can't be had any other way.
As an addendum, my personal favourite stories are Imperial Agent in first by a large margin. It uniquely has about 3-4 distinct endings, which, unlike any other class story, *is* affected by choices made during Acts 1 and 2. A lot of players suppose (and I agree) that since the IA class was invented for this game with no basis/precedent in other SW media, the creative team behind it did a great job (the flipside is the Smuggler who gets a Millennium Falcon, a wookie companion and can marry a princess...completely ORIGINAL!).
The Jedi Knight story is probably second, tho Act 1 quite frankly should've been a Trooper story, having nothing remotely interesting for a Jedi. It did improve however. Trooper, Smuggler had a great Act 1 then mediocre everything else. Trooper picks up right at the end for a great finish...Smuggler doesn't. Consular had a crap Act I, an okay Act II and a good Act 3 if nothing amazing. The two Sith classes are utterly predicatable but moderately enjoyable in parts. Bounty Hunter is a load of utter nonsense from start to end with a few interesting parts, saved only by some fun companions and RP choices. Don't play BH for a good story, there isn't one...but you'll look very cool doing it
As a single player, you can level from start to finish pretty much solo and with little, if any, grinding. The new levelling system in 4.0 gives enough XP to level by doing just the class and planetary story missions (during 12x XP, the class missions alone were enough). If while levelling, you tried out some other things like an odd battleground, space mission or dungeon, you'll get some bonus XP and gear/rewards.
Each class has its own story, 4 per faction for 2 factions. Each class has two advanced classes for 8 altogether and the two advanced classes share the archetype's story. The stories run from 1-50 following the levelling zones/planets with frequent interludes. You'll meet your 5 companions during the story, the first on the starter planet around lvl 8-10 and the others vary considerably. The first companion (for all except the Jedi Knight) has a little more story to tell than the others and also has 2-3 missions. Each class/gender has 1-2 romanceable companions, whose decency does vary. Before, they used to have personalities and liked or disliked things you said or did. Now you can do or say anything and it doesn't matter at all.
Before, companions differed in whether they were tanks, healers or DPSers, now all are identical across the board, have no gameplay personality (only story), don't need gear or personalisation. I don't like it personally, but they're going for simplicity and they achieved it. They're great mechanically and in gameplay, letting you focus on playing how you want. I would say tho that if you're levelling solo, don't roll healer, or really even tank TBH. Both are group oriented and take longer to clear mobs and beat bosses. If you wanted to play a tank or healer, level as DPS to the high 50s, then switch over.
At 50, all characters go to Makeb. At this point there aren't 8 stories, but two, one per faction. Completing the Makeb arc will take you to or around 55 where you can do the Shadow of Revan which is a bunch of Flashpoints/Dungeons (allowing solo play) and 2-3 planets after. That takes you to 60 at which point Knights of the Fallen Empire kicks in and takes you to 65.
Regarding grinding, no not really. As I and others have suggested, you can level by doing story missions (class and planet) alone. The odd extra side mission/dungeon however is a little variety and can offer nice rewards and help keep you ahead of the curve. I know a few side missions I usually pick up for the nice, oftentimes exclusive reward or when they offer nice XP without having to travel extra distance (while I'm there anyway!). The planetary arc on Coruscant comes to mind, offering a unique(ish) and usually quite archetypal piece of orange gear that can't be had any other way.
As an addendum, my personal favourite stories are Imperial Agent in first by a large margin. It uniquely has about 3-4 distinct endings, which, unlike any other class story, *is* affected by choices made during Acts 1 and 2. A lot of players suppose (and I agree) that since the IA class was invented for this game with no basis/precedent in other SW media, the creative team behind it did a great job (the flipside is the Smuggler who gets a Millennium Falcon, a wookie companion and can marry a princess...completely ORIGINAL!).
The Jedi Knight story is probably second, tho Act 1 quite frankly should've been a Trooper story, having nothing remotely interesting for a Jedi. It did improve however. Trooper, Smuggler had a great Act 1 then mediocre everything else. Trooper picks up right at the end for a great finish...Smuggler doesn't. Consular had a crap Act I, an okay Act II and a good Act 3 if nothing amazing. The two Sith classes are utterly predicatable but moderately enjoyable in parts. Bounty Hunter is a load of utter nonsense from start to end with a few interesting parts, saved only by some fun companions and RP choices. Don't play BH for a good story, there isn't one...but you'll look very cool doing it
Mate, I have spent the last 5 days doing precisely this.Mister K said:
And it was largely because the recent expansion apparently pretty much rendered it, as you say, a single player game. That seal'd the deal.
No real grind, but I find myself wishing for more grind - i really hate accelerated leveling, i don't want to do repeat quests but just more quests and more areas to explore would have been good for me. I love coruscant for instance, and wish it would never end.
...I think in story terms it is nothing but net - which is to say it's on target the whole time, sometimes it is very good. But don't have extreme standards.
Play the game, sorry if my input is a bit disjointed but it's free and it has hundreds of hours of well-intentioned, largely well written/made gameplay for you to dabble in.
{1} Largely, that's a yes, although if you're on any planet where other classes go (Like Drommand Kaas for Sith-aligned characters), you will get some overlap on missions. Still, my favorite so far has been the Inquisitor story. I won't give the stuff away, but obviously as a Sith you will be named a Darth at some point, and I've adopted my take on Darth Nox as a character in RPs I do with friends.Mister K said:
{2} They vary. There are ones who are offense-oriented, heal-based, made to tank enemies, etc. A fair few of their designs and characterization is fun.
{3} Yeah, that'll happen, but alot of your missions give off a decent amount of XP, especially if you DO a fair few of the side-quest material and kill a fair few things on the way.
The new content is easy to find, once you meet the minimum level requirements to do the content, you will see a mission icon on your ship. Simply click on the mission terminal in your ship and it will give you the new mission for your log. Then just go where they tell you to go to engage in the content. It's insanely simple. They even give you a spoiler warning if you haven't done the previous content before you accept the mission.gmaverick019 said:
sweet, thanks! I have a subscription card sitting around that I haven't gotten around to using, and with content like that it might be a good time to jump back in and hit that content while I'm subbed.Happyninja42 said:
I also felt this way, though I mostly just watched the stories through Youtube videos because after a few weeks of trying, I couldn't get past the abysmal gameplay (like, KOTOR minus any semblance of tactical decision-making).The Madman said:
I suppose it's "good for an MMO" [footnote]still doesn't hold a candle to The Secret World[/footnote] but it's no KOTOR 3. And I blew a gasket when I saw what they did to Revan. Then again, I was already pretty pissed off after what they did to the Jedi Exile in the SWTOR novels. As far as I'm concerned, nothing after KOTOR 2 is canon in my mind. Not going to let some second-rate "singleplayer experience" get in the way of my childhood memories!
Well, under grinding I understand: "Repeating the same content over and over". So yeah, you're right, PvP endgame is where most of the grind is, but even before that you'll be repeating the same sets of warzones and arena's. Though this can still be very fun as PvP always offers a new challenge every match.LetalisK said:
LetalisK said:
Thanks for the replies.BloatedGuppy said:
I'm still caught between temptation between the temptation of storyline/setting and the reluctance that comes from it being too easy...
Wracked with indecision somewhere in the middle, but your replies helped nontheless.
Might check it out in the new year when the backlog of games has dried up and I need something to eat up the spare time.
Also hoping there'll be some introduction of optional difficulty increases by that point, though I'm bereft of ideas as to how it could be implemented in open world play.
What SW:TOR could have benefited from greatly in my opinion is a system that downlevels you based on the zone you are in, similar to what Guild Wars 2 has. With both increased difficulty but also rewards for high level players who take the time to finish the story.
Sadly, I'm afraid it's a portion of the community that was actually asking for an easier time who got heard in the end.
Too bad really, when I first played TOR the elite world missions that were difficult and required groups where actually a blast from the past when games like WoW still had some challenge.
Sadly, I'm afraid it's a portion of the community that was actually asking for an easier time who got heard in the end.
Too bad really, when I first played TOR the elite world missions that were difficult and required groups where actually a blast from the past when games like WoW still had some challenge.
1. Story. Is it different for each class?
Yes it is, actual quality differs though. Imperial Agent storyline was my fav by far and for that alone I don't regret the time spent in game even if I didn't get as much into other characters.
Overall I got the impression sith empire aligned characters tended to have more interesting stories though.
2. Companions. How good/bad are they as characters and gameplay wise?
Depends but overall companions are at least useful from a gameplay perspective. Ex: a healer companion to patch you up if your character lacks heals.
From a story perspective I really enjoyed the agent's companions (including the killer fembot...) as well as the bounty hunter's (though sadly I found BH story lost steam after the first big chapter). Some characters like the sith warrior get some interesting rp with theirs (one of your companions is a slave assigned to you..whether you end up freeing her or just keeping the slave collar and zapping her whenever she speaks out of turn is up to you..with some rp consequences from it.)
The good thing about companions though in SWTOR is you can get different skins for them, so you ain't stuck with the default look. I feel that's an important point to emphasize.
3. Will I need to grind?
Depends if you are a sub as far as I understand it. Back when I played it (when it was a pure sub game, no f2p elements), I was able to progress with my imperial agent to the end of the game at a decent speed without it feeling too grindy but the xp balance is now completely different so my experience is out of date.
Yes it is, actual quality differs though. Imperial Agent storyline was my fav by far and for that alone I don't regret the time spent in game even if I didn't get as much into other characters.
Overall I got the impression sith empire aligned characters tended to have more interesting stories though.
2. Companions. How good/bad are they as characters and gameplay wise?
Depends but overall companions are at least useful from a gameplay perspective. Ex: a healer companion to patch you up if your character lacks heals.
From a story perspective I really enjoyed the agent's companions (including the killer fembot...) as well as the bounty hunter's (though sadly I found BH story lost steam after the first big chapter). Some characters like the sith warrior get some interesting rp with theirs (one of your companions is a slave assigned to you..whether you end up freeing her or just keeping the slave collar and zapping her whenever she speaks out of turn is up to you..with some rp consequences from it.)
The good thing about companions though in SWTOR is you can get different skins for them, so you ain't stuck with the default look. I feel that's an important point to emphasize.
3. Will I need to grind?
Depends if you are a sub as far as I understand it. Back when I played it (when it was a pure sub game, no f2p elements), I was able to progress with my imperial agent to the end of the game at a decent speed without it feeling too grindy but the xp balance is now completely different so my experience is out of date.
As of the latest expansion SWTOR downlevels you to the max of the level range for the zone you're in.Fdzzaigl said:
Much as in GW2, this does not prevent the game from being ludicrously easy while leveling, but it does prevent content from going grey.
The F2P elements are.. honestly pretty good considering its EA publishing it, but like any F2P experience it's designed to test your patience. I ended up folding and spending a little money, but only about £5 or so I'm not technically completely F2P but generally it works in that you're paying for convenience not power, and going the completely free route would be doable (albeit possibly frustrating at times).flying_whimsy said:
Levelling in F2P is slower, but you still don't need to "grind" in the traditional sense and there is generally enough quest content in each planet to get you to the level required for the next.
The only slightly obnoxious thing I found was a a general antagonism against F2players among the subscription playerbase. I played fairly soon after the transition to F2P, so it may well be that there was just some residual bitterness in the community, but if you're not interested in the social aspect you can just mute chat and ignore all that bullshit anyway.