See this is what i dont understand with ppl, you knew there were going to be lightside and darkside points. Some companions will tolerate you shooting someone in the face to grab darkside points others will be mad cuz you shot someone in cold blood. How is this a problem? find out what companion will work with what you want to do. For the comment i just want max darkside and max level dude its like day 2 if you didnt play beta. Dont worrie about max level at this point find out what you enjoy then roll with it and figure it out.

Wish they had made lightside/darkside choices hidden that way when you picked something you really didnt know if you picked light/dark till the outcome of the conversation was over.

Yea, I hate to say it but you are correct in your assumptions. The voice acted quests you get in the game are just a veneer of what you've experienced in other MMOs. Kills, fetch, deliver, etc.

 

The alternative, IMO, as I had suggested during BETA was to mix up the 'cycle'. Right now your cycle is talk to an NPC, go through the dialogue, take the quest, run or speeder to the area and do the quest, and bring it back for more dialogue. Now where I will give them credit is they did a great job of laying out the storyline quests and side quests in a fashion for a player to do them both in the same area knocking out several quests in one cycle.

 

But what they could have done is changed up that cycle in a way that makes you feel like you're doing something different. Granted, it's merely an illusion, but at the end of the day the developers are limited in how they can allow you to interact with the world they created: Keyboard and mouse.

 

So what would be the alternative? Well let's say you're Empire and you've been given a quests to go smack down the Republic backed natives outside your base. So that means talk to NPC, get quest and hoof it out on your feet or on your speeder to Spot A and kill the bad guys. Why not put you up in air ship or one of those big AT walkers and let you blast things on your way to Spot A? Maybe get "air dropped" behind the enemy lines to take out those "sensor/radar array" at Spot B? And on your way to Spot B, make the ride a bumpy one with flak hitting the ship and ground targets you can shoot at? Again, you're still ultimately doing the same thing... using a mouse and keyboard to target things and press an ability.... the illusion comes with that ability being something with a light saber or a cannon.... but it does help keep things from feeling like a "cycle".

 

PS: I'm not saying I don't enjoy the game, I do. I love the storylines, but I'm also very aware of the veneer of the dialogue.

 

Class quest = important. Heroics = descent loot better story. Flashpoints = descent loot developed story. PvP = eh story, loot.

 

Regular quests.....

 

No idea what the point is. The Experience is eh. The story is eh. The options to effect outcome are eh... point is they aren't very fun except you might want to do them to access a heroic quest you might not play....

 

I'd just do flash points, pvp, heroics and class quests personally. I saw little reason to do some of the other quests. Loot was not worth it. better doing flashpoints.

See this is what i dont understand with ppl, you knew there were going to be lightside and darkside points. Some companions will tolerate you shooting someone in the face to grab darkside points others will be mad cuz you shot someone in cold blood. How is this a problem? find out what companion will work with what you want to do. For the comment i just want max darkside and max level dude its like day 2 if you didnt play beta. Dont worrie about max level at this point find out what you enjoy then roll with it and figure it out.

Wish they had made lightside/darkside choices hidden that way when you picked something you really didnt know if you picked light/dark till the outcome of the conversation was over.

 

It is an illusion of choice. You eventually will level dark or light side. The story options matter so little. The loot rewards are indistinquishable.

 

You clearly didn't play it enough. I had about all I could take of the illusion by level 20. I was a regular tester invited prior to weekend tester. About 11/1. Level to 10 quiet a few different characters.

 

Maybe hiding the outcomes on points would "help" but in all honesty its just more illusion of choice. You know cut his head off is probably the darkside choice.

 

Most options are insignificant. I didn't feel any sense of "individual" story in the quests. Even when selecting wierd stuff in class.

If you're shopping for a new one, the general consensus from the beta seemed to be that Imperial Agent was by far the best.

 

That is to be expected for Alexander Freed, the very writer of SW:TOR;BotE is the writer of this Class' storyline;

however this isn't any sort of excuse for the allegedly shallow and boring (according Smoda's first personal impressions of course) Trooper's storyline...

 

 

Smoda's appraisal (under the condition that it is justified) ignites some concerns of mine regarding ... some correlation of the Trooper's handling with some shortsighted target marketing from the part of BioWare: that is did they create the Trooper Class just for the naive and trigger happy MMORPG-PvPers, some so-to-speak blockheads?

It's a possibility but Pemmin's remark suggests something quite different ... and I hope that BioWare realized that the Trooper's storyline has to counter the relatively lacking magic of a well-known traditional/conventional Class/Character embed into the SW Galaxy...

 

From my point of view the creation of the storyline of the non-Force-User Class of Troopers should be a great challenge, their "disadvantage"/handicap being a great opportunity for an extremely impressive storyline: a Republic Trooper defending a Republic in turmoil against an Empire lead by Force Adepts who follow the Dark Side!... What a plethora of horrible concerns and dilemmas, what an avalanche of temptations and opportunities for the best or the worst!!

 

Well, I do trust (in) BioWare; after all Carth Onasi had been a convincing Trooper for starters!...

However the temptation to write down a shallow storyline aiming at the blockheads and Trigger Happy PvPers is also great...

 

What about the Bounty Hunter's story?

Edited December 14, 2011 by cunctatorg

I saw little reason to do some of the other quests. Loot was not worth it. better doing flashpoints.

 

Well the side quests:

 

1> Often give accommodation badges which can provide some decent loot.

2> If you pick the side quests up at the right time, they're taking you to the same spot your storyline quest is so it's extra loot/credits/xp for "since you're heading that way." But you can certainly chose not to waste your time on them.

3> Just doing the storyline isn't going to be enough XP to level you. You're choosing to fill the gap with Flashpoints and PvP. Nothing wrong with that. The side quests are a good option for me. I myself found PVP rather 'meh' in the game and have little interest in it(which is admittedly a disappointment for me because I've always been active in PVP in other MMOs). The first flashpoints(Esseles and Black Talon) are front loaded with content to impress new players. Hammer Station and Athis don't have much story inside them. I'd rather do the "while you're on your way to your storyline quest" side quests than sitting at the fleet spamming LFG. To each their own.

 

Have fun.

I think some of your problems are due to the "yes sir!" style that the trooper has to him by nature of the story, am not sure if later on this opens up any but you are taking orders in a very military style and the storyline (like most of the republic ones) are reactionary to start with compared to the more pro-active empire ones.

 

I spent most of my beta time with the empire classes (did a trooper to about 15 though just before getting the ship) and loved them. If the storyline with the Trooper isnt doing it for you I can recommend the two force using Empire classes and the Imperial Agent (which feels like an evil james bond).

One thing that really disappointed me during beta was that choosing your AC is nothing more than UI click. I was expecting much more than that. Edited December 14, 2011 by Sznur

played a consular/shadow up to 20 in beta, and was never bored. The plot sucked me right in. Now I am curious to try the trooper just for masochism's sake

Hey OP... I played a Trooper to about lvl 10.... the story may not be intriguing to you if you have no military background....

 

In the Mil, when you do something epic say 5 mins ago, your CO asks you what you have done for the corps lately......there is no fanfare.....

 

If the trooper isn't grabbing you, I'd heavily suggest a Smuggler (assuming you want to stay Republic).. their story starts out with a bang, and you spend 12-14 levels undoing that bang.... Sorry no spoilers for you

I played a BH in beta to lvl 13 and enjoyed every minute of it.

 

If they don't make a big thing out of getting a ship it'll be a little flat, agreed.

 

All I can say though (hope for really) is that I get to come back and deal with that damn Hutt who gave away my invite to the hunt and tried to kill me in the pit, the double dealing, low down, dirty.....

 

 

Love it

One thing that really disappointed me during beta was that choosing your AC is nothing more than UI click. I was expecting much more than that.

 

Also agree. These points in your career/the story should be celebrated, a highlight a little more.

 

If they made these little changes it would add much more to the game for such a small outlay.

I'm certain some stories will be better than others. I enjoyed the trooper's to level 10... but Imperial Agent and Sith Warrior were on a whole new level of awesome. Perhaps it's just a matter of finding a character whose story you can get behind.

 

Frankly Space Marines seem to be in every other game. Trooper isn't that exciting 'cause I feel like I've played that role too many times.

 

Same with the Jedi classes. I played a Jedi in Kotor 1 and 2... kinda bored with it.

 

I've never played as a sci-fi evil secret police character though, maybe that's why I loved the Agent so much more.

If this approach is reliable and accurate -and I have no reasons to doubt it- then the TR storyline should be more than an engaging story...

 

Smoda, what is your opinion about Pemmin's very remark?

 

I agree with his remark about the military fanfare. I sure didn't expect anything much different but it still feels uninspired and boring too me. Yes I don't like it, I am not saying the game is terrible, but I still want to play a trooper because of its gameplay, not the story.

Hey OP... I played a Trooper to about lvl 10.... the story may not be intriguing to you if you have no military background....

 

In the Mil, when you do something epic say 5 mins ago, your CO asks you what you have done for the corps lately......there is no fanfare.....

 

If the trooper isn't grabbing you, I'd heavily suggest a Smuggler (assuming you want to stay Republic).. their story starts out with a bang, and you spend 12-14 levels undoing that bang.... Sorry no spoilers for you

 

 

I do not have a military background, I find it interesting that you enjoyed it more because of (I'm assuming) yours. Were you trained to enjoy mundane video game stories?

Is the trooper class quest more boring than the others? Is every class this way?

I haven't tried a trooper (and probably won't), but I've found the Sith (warrior and inquisitor) quests to be quite engaging. And, while having not played very far with it, I found the bit of the Jedi quest line to be interesting

I had the same problems with the Trooper story for the most part OP. To be honest I found the entirety of Act 1 completely uninteresting and I believe it is due to one major flaw in the storyline. That being,

 

 

You're not properly introduced to any of them. You're instantly sent off to perform solo missions. You never fight alongside them which means you don't even feel like a member of the squad and you never have any real conversations with them so their later actions have almost no meaning to you on a personal level. I honestly forgot about characters like Fuse, Gearbox, Wraith and Needles until I met them again so I didn't really care about any of it. The only one that stuck in my mind was Tavus because he had a few memorable lines of dialogue but that's it.

 

As a whole I had almost no emotional attachment to the story of Act 1.

 

That said, I would suggest hanging in there. The Trooper quest line does pick up in Act 2 once you get the initial mission out of the way (around level 33). Then you're given a new objective and you start to feel more like your actions have 'galactic' significance.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Bone_Machine

That is good to hear Bone_Machine, I am definitely going to keep playing because I still want to play a Trooper.

 

On a side note it is nice to see all the constructive responses to this topic. I was worried I was just going to get flamed into oblivion.

*Reposting this here because it is impossible to have a discussion in general chat at the momemnt*

 

I just reached level 16 as a Trooper and was given my starship. Zero fanfare or sense of achievement. Just a nonchalant "Hey take this thing". Minutes earlier I sat through line after line of boring voice over for glorified kill quests spread throughout an unnecessarily massive area of lower Coruscant. This all got me thinking about the main feature of this "story" driven MMO.

 

Is the trooper class quest more boring than the others? Is every class this way? Does a Jedi defeat a Sith Lord only for the quest giver to say "Yea that was cool, go do it again on the next planet". I thought the class stories were supposed to make this game unique and interesting. At this rate the class quests are like every other quest in the game, except they don't end. I would roll another character in a heartbeat if I were told that his mindless dribble doesn't extend to every other class story.

 

Having played a 50 trooper in beta, you won't be disappointed. You just hit a slow point in the story line. Without posting spoilers, it gets slow from 16 to 24. then the rest of the way it gets awesome. Let me put it to you this way, I wasn't planning on leveling a trooper til 50. But by 30 it was so good, I just flew all the way to 50.

 

Some classes lull at different levels, like SW kind of drags a bit at 28ish to 34. So it just depends on the story. But it does get really good.

I don't know about the trooper line, sorry, but I can say I got to level 30 during beta as a jedi consular and in the beginning, I rerolled as a smuggler around level 15 cuz I was bored because the story sucked. But I ended up going back to see the other planets and around level 20 or 25, new characters were introduced and it got so much better. I was so enthralled in the character story I flew from planet to planet JUST to finish my class story quest and finish act 1. I got to the last quest just as the beta ended, but I can honestly say I am really looking forward to doing it all again and seeing the next chapter of the jedi consular story.

I had the same problems with the Trooper story for the most part OP. To be honest I found the entirety of Act 1 completely uninteresting and I believe it is due to one major flaw in the storyline. That being,

you spend no time getting to know any of the members of Havoc Squad prior to their betrayal.

 

 

Not just that but

 

 

Having played a 50 trooper in beta, you won't be disappointed. You just hit a slow point in the story line. Without posting spoilers, it gets slow from 16 to 24. then the rest of the way it gets awesome.

 

Thanks Starwitch, I am loving the game thus far even with the slow start in story and I was going to make sure to see my trooper to the end but it is good to hear that it picks up the pace ^^.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Clydey

Personally I really enjoyed the BH's prologue I played through in the beta weekend. Both made me feel like a cool bounty-hunter wannabe running around doing anything for credits, and was an engaging story. Suprises, twists, betrayals... all in the first 10 levels. Sure a couple of side quests did seem a bit "kill erm... them... why not." but most were well written. You weren't running through dungeon X... you were killing the rival of a crimelord to earn favour in hopes of one day becoming a real bounty hunter.

I got to the last bit on the starterworld with my trooper and I loved it! She had a very different feel than my smuggler that I played the previous day so it was my second day on Ord Mantell. Was a bit worried that I would be too bored to play the same area twice but it worked great for me.

 

I've gotten pretty far on my smuggler, trooper and sith warrior and I would say that I will start all of them today when I get access. But I will play the one that I feel like playing that day. The smuggler is more of a Indiana Jones-movie and the trooper will come out when I feel like playing my Fem(Shep) war hero. I was caught up in each story but in different ways. I am sure that I will play through every class-story there is in this game, simply to follow the story. But on a given day, I might feel more like playing my fun loving smuggler than my quite serious Sith Warrior. About your Trooper, do you follow orders even if they are bad, or do you try to speak up. Do you tell on fellow soldiers who are acting in a despicable way or do you simply let it slide because you do not want to draw that attention to yourself. I felt that I got to know my little trooper quite well by the time she was leaving Ord Mantell.

Edited December 15, 2011 by SilentKitty

I've been extremely bored since the second half of coruscant. played smuggler. after coruscant, when chapter 1 began, story got pretty interesting, then died down right away.

taris and now nar shaddaa I both find boring. i'm worried the rest of the game will be like this. i want the story to progress, but it's frustrating that every small step of personal story is clogged up by an hour or more of pointless chains. i don't find them really engaging like i did on ord mantell.

 

i guess the best way to put it would be like playing kotor, but every time you moved a step forward in a quest line, you had to sit through an hour of unrelated stuff. Like say you meet Mission, but before you can go and free zaalbar, you have to spend two hours killing rakghouls and gammoreans. that's how i feel, any way. i don't know

 

I just want my story to move... and I hear quesh has only one story quest.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Dylancholy

It is a reasonable quest to go on but you are still doing the typical MMO thing the entire time. I don't know what I was expecting but I might have set the bar too high. Our class quests are kill and gather quests like everything else. I don't even know what I would suggest as an alternative, I left that up to the game developers.

 

The majority of the quests for the other professions also fall into the "kill and gather" type within the subtext of the overall class story (plus, the trooper is a soldier with a f***ing big gun... what is the character going to find more interesting, spending 3 years sitting around a table negotiating a trade treaty, or pulling out the gun and seeing if he can hit the Sith negotiator in both eyes with two shots before the b***ard realises what is happening?), so the idea is that the player can see how the kill/gather quest impacts the storyline more.

 

Smuggler and Imperial Agent, plus Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor will see more "alternative" missions with sneaking around or brain work involved, but even on those missions the goal is usually "kill this, figure out how to open that, gather the loot, leave" type.

I played all the characters through the starter planets in beta, i absolutely loved the trooper storyline, i even started feeling a bond with my companions by the time i got in the late 20's.

And as for havoc squad you was involved with them quite a bit in the first planet even meeting wraith in one of your quests. unless you were spamming space bar i dont see how you could not love it.