MMO vets what do you think Of Sw TOR

Ok lets start with my MMO Resume

1. Ultima Online 14 years 1999-present
2. Everquest 2 years 2000-2001, 2008-2009, Present
3. Lord of the Rings Online 2 years 2010-Present
4. Star Wars: The Old Republic 3 months Launch to Present

Not a lot of titles, no "WoW" or Eve, DAoC etc. but I've tried just about all of them and only stuck with one's I liked.


Well My Sub is still running, so I guess I like it. Thing is, while I do engage in PvP WZ's, PvP isn't my main focus on playing, not in SWTOR or any MMO. To be honest PvP in any game I play could go the way of the Dodo and I'd be perfectly content, as it has become apparent that the PvP community in most games encompasses one of the biggest bunches of whiny babies found on the interwebs, not all members mind you but more than enough, if you want to delve deeper into my opinion on that check my Blog.

What SWTOR brings to the table for me is Story, something MMO's have been missing for a long time. UO allowed the players to really create their own story due to the depth of environmental manipulation allowed to players, few MMO's since have had that freedom. SWTOR replaces that with Story Driven missions that are well done, engaging, and satisfying. Bioware is putting the RPG back in MMORPG, just not in the way people really expected or in some cases are ready to accept.

If I level 8 characters to 50, taking my time to enjoy the trip, do all the FP's and Operations with each toon, through normal, hard, and nightmare mode, I hope to have invested enough time for more story to be introduced. That's the beauty of MMO's they are ever evolving virtual worlds, and another reason why I think End Game is a poor concept for people to hold too and focus on.

I like it, after 7 years of daoc and 3 of Warhammer.

Although daoc and war were much better.. the fickle community ebbs and flows as each release and they wonder why.

Each time you leave a sub game you are sending a message.. and it isnt get better and making the games. Its pvp in mmo's is a secondary mini game.

Think of the progession from a huge pvp game like daoc to a more user friendly, smaller scale game like war with warzones.. to swtor with just 3 warzones..

They are getting the message and soon we will have zero pvp in our mmo's

You wouldn't offer the same response if a new model of car was introduced that lacked some of the basics. "Relax guys, you act like you have a right to expect headlights, brakes that work, and windshield wipers. Be happy you got something with four wheels and an engine, gosh!"

At this stage in MMO evolution, some things are unacceptable. There are standards to meet, there are bars for comparison, and there is little/no tolerance for some things. I don't think BioWare is awful, but there isn't a lot they do exceptionally well. They (sort of) listen to players, so that's a plus, but they've also done some things to intentionally limit the feedback players can offer (removing the combat log before launch is a good example of that).

I don't think SWTOR is terrible, it's got a ton of potential, but from the impressive launch to now it's lost a lot of numbers. I don't think anyone that's played an MMO has impossible expectations for the first few months, BUT, when "mirror" classes have some noticeable quality of life differences at launch - it's inexcusable. With large blunders like that, the smaller ones are instantly viewed in a harsher light.

I'm pretty sure the combat log was removed due to constraints w/ the game engine, and not as some Machiavellian ploy to limit the amount of feedback they received from players.

This is why the combat log that's being introduced in 1.2 generates a text file w/ all of the data relevant to combat, instead of appearing on-screen like you're used to.

I suppose you could argue that they should have used a different engine, but it's a little late to do much about that at this juncture.

It's 2012, lol... and a gaming company actually released a MMO without a combat log. That's like a car company offering new model of cars without a gosh darn speed dial... it's a joke.


Also, what the hell is up with no copy character to PTS tool? They make their testing a nightmare and a privilege, by allowing ONLY selected amounts of people to play their fully leveled toons. Seriously, look at what they've done to Ilum and most of their endgame content without any support from people testing the content on properly leveled toons. Karaga's was tested by regular peeps and it came out 100x better then that POS that Eternity Vault is.

Heh, I never said it wasn't ridiculous to not have a combat log, or a copy character feature for PTS.

I was just saying that it wasn't an evil scheme against players that led to the removal of the combat log, just a really bad choice of engine early in development.

Played:
Xenimus - 1 year
AO from launch to 3 months out
DAoC from just before ToA to just after Catacombs. Then, for another 6 months later on. Went back and played for another 4 months before giving up on it for good.
WoW - played for just over a year, took a break, then played another year before hitting 85 and getting bored in a month and quit.
SWG - played on launch until 4 months after launch
AoC - played for about 8 months, from launch
Dabbled in a number of others.

On to TOR. I like the voice acted quest lines. They sucked me into the story and helped in immersion. However, I found the single player, with very little to no grouping required to be a bit off putting. Especially for an MMO. As many drawbacks as LFG has, it is overall worth it in my opinion. It is something that should have been in at start. There are a number of other "little things" that should have been in at start also. Things that almost seem be an MMO standard now.

There are also a number of things added in that are very good ideas but, aren't fully fleshed out. Legacy levels and space battles are prime examples. They add a bit to the overall lackluster feel of things. The UI feels like something from MMOs past. Some of the other features add to that feeling. Space battles has MUCH more potential then they currently have. There is a lot of chance for group or pvp battles with them. Legacy speaks for itself. Added in at start but has 0 function (until 1.2 anyway.)

The graphics are decent. Not AoC but, at least not that same MMOs past feeling that the UI has. The sound track and sound effects are good as well. The combat (for me) is timed very well, with just a few "hiccups" with some classes.

The crafting is decent. Pre 1.2, they are pretty well useless at high level though. This is again, something I think should have been in at start.

PvP is ok. Huttball is a lot of fun, though repetative at times. It's definatly a novel attempt at BG style pvp. Open world pvp is all but nonexistant. Even when you do find an enemy, there is little incentive to fight. The quest areas are painfully seperated from one another. Making "resource" fighting non existant. Illum is a broken mess, making that worthless as well. The up side is that they can bring it back. A number of user suggestions for both short and long term have been put forth. All of which would fully work and can be integrated into the game for both Illum (short term) and the creation of PvP planets that don't exist now (long term.) Coming from the people who helped on DAoC and WAR though, I was VERY dissappointed by the games release PvP....even being on a PvP server.

Unfortunatly, TOR is wrought with "should have been in at start" items. I enjoy the game overall, and I'll keep subbed. I see big potential for the game. BW seems serious about keeping this game afloat and, fixing what is wrong. Though much more visibility on what is going on would be nice. They need to work on less at one time though. It seems as though they are trying to put too many coals in the fire.

I am a gimped Sniper that won't have any place in a competitive 8 v 8 team in Ranked. And no I won't give up on SWTOR this year.

Their launch was a *********** mess. I wasn't even able to BUY THE GAME, let alone try to get in. If you haven't played Dark Age of Camelot....you haven't played a true pvp game. Total skill until they ****ed everything up with the expansions.

The expansions were fine, TOA messed things up for a little bit but a little bit down the line and you don't worry about it at all. You can gain everything from PvP if you want to go that route. Which is the best idea ever! lol.

They know DAOC is a PvP game and have just improved the content to be more and more PvP driven.