Greetings forum,

The general negativity of the General Forums has inspired me to add my two cents. When I get home from work tonight, I'll be dinging level 48 on my Jedi Sentinel. My review thus far is ONLY going to be based on leveling content/flashpoints/warzones, because I cannot yet speak to end-game. Please, refrain from replying with "Well level 50 and beyond suxorz!" I'm only going to address the gameplay that has dominated my 5 days of /played.

Leveling:

Absolutely brilliantly done. I will say this, if you are spacebarring through quests, or just reading subtitles and spacebarring, you are missing a huge chunk of the game. The voice-acting adds purpose to my questing. The planet story lines are engaging. This is the first time in an MMO I have EVER cared about the NPC's I am assisting. This is the first time I have EVER cared what comes next in the story. That accomplishment alone for Bioware is outstanding.

The pace of leveling isn't bad either. Yes, I out-leveled most of my planets and I had to do quests that were green. However, I have had guild mates complaining about not being high enough level for the next planet. If you're doing multiple warzones a day, plus space combat, plus flashpoint dailies, and not skipping any quests on each planet, of course you're going to outlevel content. Not everybody does this. I will say this, in the mid-40's, the level of quests caught up with me and now I'm doing yellow quests.

If you think you're leveling too quick, wait until level 44 - 50. This is where I noticed a huge slowdown in leveling gain, and it wasn't due to lack of quests. For whatever reason, those last 6 levels are taking me almost twice as long as 30-40.

PvP:

I am of the opinion that there needs to be a level 10-49 bracket and a level 50 bracket. Of course, this shouldn't be implemented until there are enough level 50's to fill the queue. As it stands now, I cringe when I see a level 10-15 on my team, because I know the Imperials will have multiple 40+'s and will stomp the lower levels with their greater number of abilities. There is more to PvP than health and damage, utility spells can make or break a battle.

Side-note: As a melee class, the number of knockbacks and stuns are annoying, but I can deal with it. I sure wouldn't mind a shorter duration on CC though...just saying.

Openness of the World:

If you think the world is confined by invisible walls, gating mountains, and linear paths, just wait. Tattoinne doesn't even hold a candle to the openness of Hoth, Alderaan, Belsavis, Voss, etc. The planets really open up once you get through the first questing hub. If you're a mid-level 20 and frustrated with Nar'Shaddaa, it gets better.

Class Story Line:

My Jedi Knight story line really picked up from the end of Act I until now (end of Act III). Some of the class specific story quests are incredibly clever and I love how I can feel unique and powerful in an MMO. I find myself actually caring about the characters. My only complaint about class-related content is when you gain a new companion, their gear is far worse than the companion you've been gearing up. This makes me less likely to use the new companion, since I'd have to spend money/time gearing them, versus continuing with my old companion.

Final Notes:

The game is great. The voice-acting shouldn't be skipped. Hoth and Voss are fricking beautiful, take a moment to enjoy the scenery. Don't rush to 50, a lot of my guildmates are burning themselves out by spacebarring through content. They can't even remember the quests they did.

EDIT: Changed the name because people don't click threads with "Positive" in the title.

One question, regarding PvP, from a non-PvPer:

Why do they not have brackets for ever level cluster, to keep things relatively balanced, fair and fun? Say, lvl 10-15 bracket, or 20-30, etc.

It doesn't seem very fun or challenging to throw everyone from 1-49 into the same warzone.

Just curious, I guess.

One question, regarding PvP, from a non-PvPer:

 

Why do they not have brackets for ever level cluster, to keep things relatively balanced, fair and fun? Say, lvl 10-15 bracket, or 20-30, etc.

 

It doesn't seem very fun or challenging to throw everyone from 1-49 into the same warzone.

 

Just curious, I guess.

Two reasons, I think.

First - They don't have enough people on the servers/queueing up to support multiple brackets. As it stands, the queue time is roughly 8-10 minutes on Thana Vesh for Republic. It may be even longer for the Imperial side. Adding more brackets would lengthen the queue time. Now, this may change when more people are higher level.

Second - They have a "bolster" mechanic, which boosts low level stats up to a level 50 equivalent. Of course, as I mentioned in my post, this does not make up for a lack of class abilities. As a Sentinel, I didn't begin to shine in PvP until mid-to-late 20's. That was when I gained some of my talented skills, in addition to several necessary survival CD's.

This is ridiculous. A complaint thread with one line of "This game is boring, waah waah waah" (summarizing) can have 10,000 views, but a positive thread has 5 views?

I understand the notion of "If it bleeds, it leads" but come on folks. Let's make the community a bit more positive.

One question, regarding PvP, from a non-PvPer:

 

Why do they not have brackets for ever level cluster, to keep things relatively balanced, fair and fun? Say, lvl 10-15 bracket, or 20-30, etc.

 

It doesn't seem very fun or challenging to throw everyone from 1-49 into the same warzone.

 

Just curious, I guess.

You can have tons of fun pvping as a level 10-15 in warzones despite level 50's. Don't let this forum taint your view of it, it's quite fun regardless of level, though I would wait to do it till you have sprint at least.

I personally think the problem is that people are still in the mindset that they should be pvping on their own, when in reality they should be working together. Obviously it would be frustrating trying to take down a 50 by yourself, but in a group (and newsflash, you have 50's on your side too), it's a lot more fun.

Levelling = boring, even more so when you roll an alt to find its the same quests on the same planets with the same story and the same dialogue.

Pvp = too many bugs to even be called PvP currently

Open World = turn back you have entered and exhaustion zone!

You can have tons of fun pvping as a level 10-15 in warzones despite level 50's. Don't let this forum taint your view of it, it's quite fun regardless of level, though I would wait to do it till you have sprint at least.

 

I personally think the problem is that people are still in the mindset that they should be pvping on their own, when in reality they should be working together. Obviously it would be frustrating trying to take down a 50 by yourself, but in a group (and newsflash, you have 50's on your side too), it's a lot more fun.

Certainly teamwork is key, and I have won matches with lower levels on my team. However, you must admit that a well played level 50 will smash a well played level 10-15. In an equal skill matchup, the number of class abilities is the deciding factor.

A sentinel without force camouflage, call on the force, awe, that 90% aim/hit reduction skill I forgot the name of, etc is worse off than a level 10-15 without them.

You can have tons of fun pvping as a level 10-15 in warzones despite level 50's. Don't let this forum taint your view of it, it's quite fun regardless of level, though I would wait to do it till you have sprint at least.

 

I personally think the problem is that people are still in the mindset that they should be pvping on their own, when in reality they should be working together. Obviously it would be frustrating trying to take down a 50 by yourself, but in a group (and newsflash, you have 50's on your side too), it's a lot more fun.

Oh, I don't have a view on PvP. Only game I ever PvP'd in was Planetside. MMORPG PvP never did anything for me.

And thanks to Naroga for the bolster explanation.

This is ridiculous. A complaint thread with one line of "This game is boring, waah waah waah" (summarizing) can have 10,000 views, but a positive thread has 5 views?

 

I understand the notion of "If it bleeds, it leads" but come on folks. Let's make the community a bit more positive.

It's a lot easier being negative, Naroga. That's why these other threads are so popular.

But I agree with you!

One question, regarding PvP, from a non-PvPer:

 

Why do they not have brackets for ever level cluster, to keep things relatively balanced, fair and fun? Say, lvl 10-15 bracket, or 20-30, etc.

 

It doesn't seem very fun or challenging to throw everyone from 1-49 into the same warzone.

 

Just curious, I guess.

Yeah they are crazy, just rolled an alt to do pvp and main quest's.. and im playing with lvl 50s

it sucks.... How on earth and why did they do this.

they must have reason's. but for me i love PVP games and this ant one of them... PVE single player its good.

Best leaving ive done in an mmo.. But pvp. new people are going to hate it...

This is ridiculous. A complaint thread with one line of "This game is boring, waah waah waah" (summarizing) can have 10,000 views, but a positive thread has 5 views?

 

I understand the notion of "If it bleeds, it leads" but come on folks. Let's make the community a bit more positive.

I'll agree with you, the game is great and as I near 50 on my BH, I still adore playing as much as when I first started back in open beta during the last few weeks of November. But, you already said it, negative threads will already garner more attention than the positive ones because, typically, people use forums to bring up negative issues.

As bad as it is right now, it will never be as bad as the WoW forums. That place is just a cesspool of a community and I wish some of the people that hate playing SWToR would just go back to WoW as Bioware continues to fix some of the more pertinent issues such as ability lag.

Levelling = boring, even more so when you roll an alt to find its the same quests on the same planets with the same story and the same dialogue.

 

Pvp = too many bugs to even be called PvP currently

 

Open World = turn back you have entered and exhaustion zone!

There is only place I ever hit a exhaustion point and it kinda made sense...It was in the dead middle of the Dune Sea all the way out to the top left, even though you can get out to a outpost out there...Not sure whats there...But over all, I dont feel restricted at all...At least not anymore then typical WoW zones

PvP does need some fixing, but over all, I enjoy the hell out of it. To each your own homie

The leveling process it by far better then any other MMO out there...You cant argue...You might find it boring, I wont argue how you feel. But it doesnt changed the fact its still better then 100% other MMO's...Maybe Secret World will rival it...But who knows

Sadly the complaints will always get more attention not to mention that every person who wants to complain feels that their post is most important so you'll get 50 posts about the same thing instead of people submitting bug tickets.

I must agree with the OP greatly I have a 50 and I am leveling another character at 27 at the moment. While I leveled a bit faster than most I played Beta so much of the content I had already seen. I wouldn't recommend anyone rushing up. It’s kind of funny to see the mass amount of Tards that do so... and they then complain one to two weeks in that they don’t have enough content or world PVP cause everyone else is 30.

Yes there are bugs in the game not all of them will ever be fixed in beta but the game is very solid when you look at the scale and detail put into things. As I said in guild the other day this game is an Altaholic's wet dream.

I agree with a lot of what you say because I play the game in a similar way.

Since I don't PVP or care about it - that whole issue is moot for me. But it sounds like your problem there will be solved once people get to your level.

Gearing up companions... I mean really bro. I just got Rusk last night at level 38 and geared him up with epics for less than 100k creds. Even then his upgrades weren't out of line with lvl 40ish greens. They come fairly geared minus a few pieces. Credits are like candy in this game...

My thoughts are they should have areas where Imps and Repub come in closer contact than they do right now. A PVP cantina- maybe add a brawling ring like they had in KOTOR 1.

People also have griped about lack of players per instance. Well playing on a full server I spend half my time looking out for the jerkhole to come in and loot the objective while I fight their mobs. I've been ninja objectived so many times that I could care less to see anyone else around. Less is better. If you want a group then start one up- it isn't hard.

Greetings forum,

 

The general negativity of the General Forums has inspired me to add my two cents. When I get home from work tonight, I'll be dinging level 48 on my Jedi Sentinel. My review thus far is ONLY going to be based on leveling content/flashpoints/warzones, because I cannot yet speak to end-game. Please, refrain from replying with "Well level 50 and beyond suxorz!" I'm only going to address the gameplay that has dominated my 5 days of /played.

 

Leveling:

 

Absolutely brilliantly done. I will say this, if you are spacebarring through quests, or just reading subtitles and spacebarring, you are missing a huge chunk of the game. The voice-acting adds purpose to my questing. The planet story lines are engaging. This is the first time in an MMO I have EVER cared about the NPC's I am assisting. This is the first time I have EVER cared what comes next in the story. That accomplishment alone for Bioware is outstanding.

 

The pace of leveling isn't bad either. Yes, I out-leveled most of my planets and I had to do quests that were green. However, I have had guild mates complaining about not being high enough level for the next planet. If you're doing multiple warzones a day, plus space combat, plus flashpoint dailies, and not skipping any quests on each planet, of course you're going to outlevel content. Not everybody does this. I will say this, in the mid-40's, the level of quests caught up with me and now I'm doing yellow quests.

 

If you think you're leveling too quick, wait until level 44 - 50. This is where I noticed a huge slowdown in leveling gain, and it wasn't due to lack of quests. For whatever reason, those last 6 levels are taking me almost twice as long as 30-40.

 

PvP:

 

I am of the opinion that there needs to be a level 10-49 bracket and a level 50 bracket. Of course, this shouldn't be implemented until there are enough level 50's to fill the queue. As it stands now, I cringe when I see a level 10-15 on my team, because I know the Imperials will have multiple 40+'s and will stomp the lower levels with their greater number of abilities. There is more to PvP than health and damage, utility spells can make or break a battle.

 

Side-note: As a melee class, the number of knockbacks and stuns are annoying, but I can deal with it. I sure wouldn't mind a shorter duration on CC though...just saying.

 

Openness of the World:

 

If you think the world is confined by invisible walls, gating mountains, and linear paths, just wait. Tattoinne doesn't even hold a candle to the openness of Hoth, Alderaan, Belsavis, Voss, etc. The planets really open up once you get through the first questing hub. If you're a mid-level 20 and frustrated with Nar'Shaddaa, it gets better.

 

Class Story Line:

 

My Jedi Knight story line really picked up from the end of Act I until now (end of Act III). Some of the class specific story quests are incredibly clever and I love how I can feel unique and powerful in an MMO. I find myself actually caring about the characters. My only complaint about class-related content is when you gain a new companion, their gear is far worse than the companion you've been gearing up. This makes me less likely to use the new companion, since I'd have to spend money/time gearing them, versus continuing with my old companion.

 

 

Final Notes:

 

The game is great. The voice-acting shouldn't be skipped. Hoth and Voss are fricking beautiful, take a moment to enjoy the scenery. Don't rush to 50, a lot of my guildmates are burning themselves out by spacebarring through content. They can't even remember the quests they did.

 

 

EDIT: Changed the name because people don't click threads with "Positive" in the title.

HEY OP, GO **** YOURSE...

Oh wait, it's positive..

+1

Levelling = boring, even more so when you roll an alt to find its the same quests on the same planets with the same story and the same dialogue.

 

Pvp = too many bugs to even be called PvP currently

 

Open World = turn back you have entered and exhaustion zone!

Leveling - Roll a character on the opposite faction. Also, I highly doubt you did all of the quests on your current faction. I outleveled Taris completely, skipped all the quests and only did my class quests. When I create an alt, I'll make sure I do Taris instead of wrapping up Coruscant.

PvP - It's impossible to comment on PvP balance with no dedicated level 50 brackets. I view PvP as a fun pastime at the moment. Once more people are level 50, the "bugs" and imbalances will become more apparent.

Open World - I have never hit an exhaustion zone. Why in the world are you trying to go off the map? If you were to speeder across Hoth, it would take you easily 5-6 minutes just to go from one side of one sub-zone to the other. The same applies to many other higher level planets.

It is not uncommon for an MMO (or any other game, for that matter), to have invisible walls and places you can't go. Why should the developer allow you to travel to areas where there is no content?

This is ridiculous. A complaint thread with one line of "This game is boring, waah waah waah" (summarizing) can have 10,000 views, but a positive thread has 5 views?

 

I understand the notion of "If it bleeds, it leads" but come on folks. Let's make the community a bit more positive.

Just look at newspapers and magazines, the only thing that sells is destruction, death and violence.. Put something positive on the frontpage, and you won't have any sales

Like you, I'm really enjoying the game. For the first time since DAoC I'm enjoying enjoying leveling. Also for the first time since DAoC, I'm sticking to my main rather than start a bazillion alts. I'm playing a Jedi Sage (full healing) and the story just keeps getting more and more interesting. Yesterday I finished most of Balmorra, and really loved the design of the planet and the general atmosphere.

There are bugs of course (companions having certain skills re-activated every time they zone or are re-summoned, my social gear's stats not counting whenever I zone (fixed by re-equipping), companions and elevators not going well together ), but so far they're all minor annoyances.

Leveling:

 

Absolutely brilliantly done. I will say this, if you are spacebarring through quests, or just reading subtitles and spacebarring, you are missing a huge chunk of the game. The voice-acting adds purpose to my questing.

I have to add something to this. I've spent so much time rushing to the end level of other MMOs that I made a deliberate decision to be a completionist for my first playthrough of TOR. I try to make sure I do each and every quest on a planet before I leave, as well as farm every datacron and explore every nook and cranny to expose the entire map.

It's an amazing game when you decide to savor it slowly, as intended, rather than wolf it down as quickly as you can.

I have to add something to this. I've spent so much time rushing to the end level of other MMOs that I made a deliberate decision to be a completionist for my first playthrough of TOR. I try to make sure I do each and every quest on a planet before I leave, as well as farm every datacron and explore every nook and cranny to expose the entire map.

 

It's an amazing game when you decide to savor it slowly, as intended, rather than wolf it down as quickly as you can.

Wolfing it down is a great way to put it.

If you inhaled a McDonalds cheeseburger in 10 seconds and inhaled a five-star, gourmet cooked, lovingly prepared fancy hours'derv, I bet they would taste similar.

You have to actually chew your food, savor it, and appreciate the work that went into it.

I agree with most of what you say, but I don't see how you can gloss over the significance of out-leveling content by simply doing all your quests.

If the whole draw of this game is the story, then why should I faceroll through content because I'm trying to get as much story as I can? It's a major problem in my opinion. I have to wall-hug away from mobs to avoid XP, skip heroics, and never do bonuses or flashpoints - and all that just to stay slightly ahead of the curve.

It's a philosophical flaw in the game - MMOs don't typically concern themselves with story so skipping quests is fine if you don't need the experience or items, but in SWTOR you can't find the story at a vendor or from a dead mob - so I don't expect much of a solution.

I agree with most of what you say, but I don't see how you can gloss over the significance of out-leveling content by simply doing all your quests.

 

If the whole draw of this game is the story, then why should I faceroll through content because I'm trying to get as much story as I can? It's a major problem in my opinion. I have to wall-hug away from mobs to avoid XP, skip heroics, and never do bonuses or flashpoints - and all that just to stay slightly ahead of the curve.

 

It's a philosophical flaw in the game - MMOs don't typically concern themselves with story so skipping quests is fine if you don't need the experience or items, but in SWTOR you can't find the story at a vendor or from a dead mob - so I don't expect much of a solution.

That would be a valid point if doing the green quests slowed down my leveling. However, I have been doing green quests since level 15, and I've been leveling at the same pace as my guildmates doing their respective yellow quests.

I agree with most of what you say, but I don't see how you can gloss over the significance of out-leveling content by simply doing all your quests.

You can do that in any game. The difference here, of course, is that there is only one zone per levels. In, say, WoW, you have two-three zones per level bracket. If you were to do all of the quests in all of them, you'd outlevel the next bracket by the time you were done. In TOR, we have only one zone per level bracket, and like WoW, if you do all of the quests in that bracket, you will outlevel the next one.