Now that i have had a chance to play the game to 50.. i thought i would share my thoughts on the overall experience..

Im not going to give a score for the game because well.. frankly i think review scores are purely subjective, especially with MMOs.. Instead, ill just give my overall opinions on the various parts of the game i experienced and go from there.

First.. TL;DR:

Overall the game is fantastic. Flashpoints are well done, pvp is fun ( i experienced warzones.. i roll on a pve server), the leveling experience (from a JC sage point of view) is fun, and *gasp* challenging (especially in certain spots), and the story arcs i came across were generally pretty good.

I also thought the launch went well for the most part.. minus a couple of hiccups.

Thus, i have to give kudos to bioware for making an overall great game.

Now for a bit of specifics:

Character Creation

I dont get the fuss about character creation.. show me an MMO within the last 10 years that has more sliders than TOR? the only games i can come up with are from cryptic.. the character creator they use is pretty awesome.. other than that.. nope. cant think of any. so i really dont get the issues. however the 400 lb character option is kinda lol..

are cyborgs lame? as a race yes.. as a character concept.. no. Darth Vader anyone? yes, i would have preferred they just used a slider and came up with something a little better.. but is it really that gamebreaking? nope.

as an alternative, i think a race like the voss mystics would have been interesting. for one, i think the race is pretty cool, and it still fits with the humanoid theme they want IMO.. and i dont see any real issues from a lore perspective.. at least as a republic player.. maybe as sith i could see a problem.. but then again, why is a sith pureblood considered a slave (SI pureblood anyone)? like at all?

so again, overall, i think the character creator is fine.. and unless you dont plan on wearing a hood, and/or plan on having the helmet option toggled off.. does it really matter?

imo, the real issue is mods.. making orange gear viable at end game is really what they need to focus on.. and luckily they realize this:

http://www.swtor.com...252#edit1398252

hopefully in the future they will also make it so heavy armor classes can wear orange gear that is normally classified medium/light.. then i think customization and character building will be right where it needs to be.

Combat

this is again, from a balance sage (JC) perspective, so i realize my perspective is going to be different than others.. but its what i have the most experience with so here goes..

combat as a balance sage is pretty fun IMO. i like the telekinetic abilities i get. is creating a 90 mile an hour gust of wind less epic than lightning? how about projecting objects at the enemy at the same speed? or how does using the force to create an earthquake sound in comparison to lightning? meh, depends on perspective.. personally if you look at it from how i described.. vs throwing 'garbage' and 'pebbles' like the naysayers.. i think its fine..

IMO, sage is earth with a little psionics built in.. sorc is wind/water (depends on how you classify lightning) with a little bit of warlock mixed in. its really going to depend on what you feel is cooler.. i personally like BOTH.. and found sage to be pretty fun.

as for 'balance' in comparison to SIs.. well i have a low level SI alt that i plan on getting to 50. so ill comment on that later.. but from what ive seen on the interwebs, only project seems to be a problem.. i guess the traveling time for the SI equivalent is quicker.. but if its anything like what they are doing with IA/smuggler.. it shouldnt be an issue for long.

regarding the whole combat delay thing.. well, i have an ms of around 30-50 and i DO notice that some of my interrupts/stuns dont respond the INSTANT i use them.. but it doesnt seem to be that out of wack..but i acknowledge that i am not in a highly competitive pvp/ raiding guild.. so my feelings on this are going to be jaded. ill let the pros debat on this

the one thing i would like to see changed is, i think companions should be a bit more customizable.. it would be nice to to be able to pick the companion based on their 'personality' and story, rather than combat ability.. as it currently stands, i choose the companion that fits best with my spec/playstyle.. not on who i would prefer be there.

for example, as a BH, if blizz was a viable companion.. you know you would pick him over anyone else.. but from what i hear, blizz is kinda terrible in combat..

Leveling Content

This, again, is from a JC perspective, and only covers solo content seen on various planets, including JC story content.. this section does not cover open world heroics, pvp warzones, FPs, that kind of thing.

regarding story content.. well im not going to spoil anything.. but i will say it was well done. everything about the story was pretty good.

same goes for the planet content. yes, there are quests where you 'kill 10 rats (humanoids)'.. and some of the bonus quests can be tedious.. but at least there is somewhat of a purpose behind it. im sorry but after 50 levels, some of the quests are going to be similar in nature. its just the way of the beast.. and show me a video game where thats different:

COD: shoot troopers with various weapons

diablo: kill monsters of various types, take down a few bosses, customize gear...

jrpg: combat systems, crafting, and stats are where its at with these games.. and its the same ol thing.. kill things in dungeons/open world.. buy/craft stuff.. rinse/repeat..

even mass effect and dragon age get repetitive.. overall its travel to some location.. talk to villagers.. kill mobs/bosses with spells/weapons.. rinse repeat..

regarding bosses and mobs.. CHALLENGE.. IN AN MMO?! MADNESS! seriously though.. its refreshing to see that you cant just faceroll mobs all the way to 50.. if you arent paying attention/forget to pay attention to patrol mobs, etc.. you will get OWNED.. and thats great. also, from what ive played.. most bosses were tough but fair. and i hope bioware continues this..

Flashpoints and Open World Heroics

first, i think i should talk about finding groups.. finding groups in TOR is painful.. the only time its viable is if you get lucky enough to find people wanting to do the same content..

if you are 50, expect hard mode dailies to take an extra hour simply due to the fact it takes that long to find a group. yes, you can ask friends/guildmates.. but i am the only guildie currently 50 (true story), and my friends (especially the tanks and healers) arent always on.

and its going to be the exact opposite once everyone has leveled their preferred classes and people are 50.. hard modes/current content wont be hard.. but if you are someone leveling for the first time, or re-rolling.. it will take just as long.

all they really need to do is make it so you can do the following:

post USEFUL comments regarding what you want to group (comment field in 'who' is not big enough obviously).

allow you to select a role

allow you to queue for what FP/Heroic you want

if its an FP, when the group is formed.. have it teleport you to the fleet.. they dont have to make it so you are in the FP.. but i think teleporting you to the fleet would be a good compromise.

if its an Heroic.. have the system teleport you to the spaceport.. you still have to travel to the heroic.. but at least you wouldnt necessarily have to travel to the planet.

as for the FP content itself.. i thought they were pretty well done.. yes, not all of them are as story centric as BT or Esseles.. but overall i thought they were good.

as for the heroic FPs.. ive only done taral V and it was fun.. though we couldnt kill the last boss.. it kept enraging at 25%.. my gear sucked so i think that was part of it..

as for open world heroics.. i havent done a lot with these because, again, finding a group is painful.. id rather just quest and move on than spend an hour searching for a group.

PVP

All three warzones are FUN. even huttball.. i understand you empire folks may disagree.. playing any content 50 billion times in a row is going to get old at some point. but overall i like what they did with each one.

however, i do agree something needs to be done regarding faction imbalance. why? because the ONLY pvp i really have a motivation in doing is warzones.. yes, i understand that ill be up against a lot of premades.. but at least we have a a chance as long as you coordinate.. getting people to follow directions is a different story.. but population imbalance isnt why thats the case.. as a bioware employee once said '.. people are well.. idiots'

also once rated warzones come in.. most of the premades will be in that bracket anyway so i dont see it as an issue for too much longer.

back to population imbalances though.. if i just want to complete my illum dailies and my friends/guildies arent on yet.. and im on a server thats 5:1 empire:republic.. how am i supposed to do that?? yeah.. you cant really. 'then wait for your guildies/friends to come online'.. thats great except the overpopulated faction doesnt have to do that.. why wouldnt i just roll empire in this case? and you do realize this is going to affect the overpopulated faction as well right? you cant exactly kill a faction if they are virtually non-existent..

IMO, you need a healthy server population on BOTH sides in order for Illum to be viable.. right now its not.

Crafting

as a concept.. crafting in TOR rocks.. i like the reverse engineering mechanic.. i like the mission discovery system. i like that i can get mats from missions.. all of that is great..

my only concern is.. what about at end game? i dont think you should be able to get the top end game items if you dont raid, do heroic FPs, or rated Warzones.. but right now it seems like the only viable profession at 50 is biochem.. the rest are kinda meh.

with the news that bioware DOES want to make moddable gear viable.. i thing all armor/weapon professions will be fine.. all they really need to do is make some realy cool looking armor sets and weapons that are only obtainable by talking to an armstech or playing the GTN.

they could also make mods from artifice/cybertech viable for all normal FPs all the way up to 50.. then make heroic level mods available by going to heroic FPs.. same with ops.. if this is already in.. great.. but ive heard mixed reviews on that..

also, rakata consumables from biochem need to be BOE.. for those hardcore pvpers out there. sometimes that 2% stat bonus (or whatever the difference is) DOES make a difference.. same with nightmare ops..

Bugs

overall, i feel bioware is doing the best they can in fixing bugs.. their customer service is atrocious.. but at least they are acknowledging a lot of the issues we are coming across..

yes, i understand some of these issues were reported in beta. but honestly we dont know the whole story behind their coding, or in how the resolution could affect other systems.. so im going to cut them a bit of slack in that regard.

there are a few bugs bioware needs to fix though:

the laser light show that occurs because of those stupid pillars..

low FPS in some spots.. even with low pings and high end rigs..

class quest issues.. as a JC for example.. there is this point in your story where you have to disable these bombs.. if you die at a certain point while doing so, and you select 'spawn at med center'.. you are teleported outside the quest area and are now locked from the area you need to go back to.

to fix this i needed to reset the quest. obviously this was a workaround.. but its something that shouldnt have been overlooked. i came across a similar issue earlier in the game, and until i found out you could use a fleet pass to get out of the area i was stuck, as there was no other way out.. i couldnt even use quick travel.

one other bug they need to fix is regarding email.. my understanding is some players have lost credits/items when sending stuff to their alts.. ive got a billion mission discoveries and schematics in my inventory/bank.. but im paranoid that i will lose them if i send them to alts..

Launch

From a technical standpoint:

Honestly, ive been disconnected ONCE since December 13.. and that was during a heroic FP i did last night.. queue times on my server (rp-pve) were minimal, and besides a couple graphical issues.. i thought launch went relatively smooth. i understand queue times on some servers were atrocious.. but honestly with a launch this big, i expected there to be queues.. so overall, i was happy with the launch from a technical perspective.

the only thing is, i still think there should have been an open beta.. they could have started that in like October or around then and allowed people to get to 50.. a LOT of these later issues we are seeing.. especially in the heroic FP content and Ops could have been caught.

from a PR standpoint:

i thin bioware kinda shot themselves in the foot when it came to the grace period.. they should have said at the beginning 'we are looking into a grace period and will let you know what we decide'. and they should have stuck with that until they were sure as to what they were going to do.

Conclusion

Well, as i said, im happy with the game overall.. yes there are issues.. yes bioware/EA customer service is horrendous.. but overall.. bioware should be commended.. they FINALLY did what so many other MMOs failed to do.. make a game that can legitimately compete with that other game that shall not be mentioned here

The problem people have with character creation is not the amount of sliders available. It's what the sliders do. Complexion and face shape hardly do anything to change your appearance. Races are all basically human models with different skins on them. Hair is pretty much the same for most races, and half of them are slight variations of other hair styles. Body types are basically small, long and thin, large/kinda fat, and broad/muscular. Plus the females, even the 'large/fat' one look like body types for models. And only the male one is actually kind of fat.

THAT'S the problem people have with it. Sure there is plenty of choice. But the choices often look so much alike that cutting the choices in half, or at times even to 1/5, wouldn't make any noticeable difference in customization.

The problem people have with character creation is not the amount of sliders available. It's what the sliders do. Complexion and face shape hardly do anything to change your appearance. Races are all basically human models with different skins on them. Hair is pretty much the same for most races, and half of them are slight variations of other hair styles. Body types are basically small, long and thin, large/kinda fat, and broad/muscular. Plus the females, even the 'large/fat' one look like body types for models. And only the male one is actually kind of fat.

 

THAT'S the problem people have with it. Sure there is plenty of choice. But the choices often look so much alike that cutting the choices in half, or at times even to 1/5, wouldn't make any noticeable difference in customization.

i guess.. but still, show me an MMO that is better (excluding cryptic.. they have the best character creator in the industry IMO)..

im not saying its perfect.. but it's FAR better than most MMOs out there.

The problem people have with character creation is not the amount of sliders available. It's what the sliders do. Complexion and face shape hardly do anything to change your appearance. Races are all basically human models with different skins on them. Hair is pretty much the same for most races, and half of them are slight variations of other hair styles. Body types are basically small, long and thin, large/kinda fat, and broad/muscular. Plus the females, even the 'large/fat' one look like body types for models. And only the male one is actually kind of fat.

 

THAT'S the problem people have with it. Sure there is plenty of choice. But the choices often look so much alike that cutting the choices in half, or at times even to 1/5, wouldn't make any noticeable difference in customization.

Have you seen the fat male naked? Fat people do not have muscular pecks and sexy abs.

as a bioware employee once said '.. people are well.. idiots

enough said.. keep paying away

as a bioware employee once said '.. people are well.. idiots

 

enough said.. keep paying away

i will gladly pay for the game.. is it perfect? absolutely not.. there ARE issues.. i pointed out some of them in fact.. but show me a game thats only a month old and IS perfect..

.. still waiting

yeah, thought so.

believe me if i wasnt into the content, and i felt the game wasnt worth my time.. i wouldnt renew my sub.. as long as the content is engaging and im having *gasp* FUN.. im going to continue to renew.