I'm not sure whether or not this will get hate or sink down to oblivion, but it's worth a shot.

 

I'm currently working on a massive project that will go into detail comparing two of my favorite MMORPGs, Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. I was hoping to also add The Elder Scrolls Online but I haven't sunk as many hours as I have in that game yet and haven't even tried the expansion.

 

I understand that people's views on things change, but I welcome any sort of opinion on the matter. I would like to ask for the community's opinion on the game in general. You could explore the following topics:

 

- Gameplay modes: general PvE, PvP and additional modes such as Space Combat and others.

 

- World: the writing, story progression, expansions and DLC, voice-acting, exploration, jumping puzzles, the maps, NPCs, AI, main cities and hubs, graphics and aesthetics, character customization, etc...

 

- Mechanics: abilities and smoothness of the game, animation, classes, and specializations, etc.

 

- Community: share your thoughts about the good and bad of the community; the possible experiences you might have gone through.

 

- Premium Currency: elaborate if the cash shop and its premium currency(Cartel Coins) are intrusive or not; the usefulness of said paid items and how it impacts the game;

 

- And other points that you might feel like it.

 

I want to keep this comparison as solid as I can get without technically siding with one game over the other. Your opinion would prove to be most insightful. Please do try to keep things balanced; there is no need for fanboys or haters... unless you do bring up strong arguments.

 

Thank you guys for your time! I shall be taking notes if possible.

Edited January 8, 2018 by TheRandomWolf

I greatly enjoy the game, although this is my first MMO I've invested much time into since Pirate101 and Wizard101 many years ago.. The stories and companions are interesting and fun, and the conversation system has allowed to actually invest in my characters personality, rather than have one given to me. The gameplay is fun, although the amount of abilities for some of the classes(I have had the most problems with the juggernaut, but some with mercenary and sentinel) have led me to scrap some probably useful abilities from use due to not having enough accessible buttons. However, the number of abilities, plus the advanced class and specs enables a variety of fighting styles. The Cartel Market seems fine, much of the stuff I get from it are useful unlocks for non subscribers and aesthetic gear. The space combat(single player) seems lacking, but still somewhat engaging. The forum community is varied in how it feels, but the in-game community tends to be find, although occasionally insane. Overall it's a wonderful game, but could use changes to make it perfect.

*Raise hand* You comparing Swtor to Guild Wars 2 ? Arent they different games ?

- Gameplay modes: general PvE, PvP and additional modes such as Space Combat and others.

 

i really like the game play and this is my first mmo all pve pvp and other is very good and the only lack from dev is content , so now i am now only pvp

 

- World: the writing, story progression, expansions and DLC, voice-acting, exploration, jumping puzzles, the maps, NPCs, AI, main cities and hubs, graphics and aesthetics, character customization, etc...

 

same as above i love it

 

- Mechanics: abilities and smoothness of the game, animation, classes, and specializations, etc.

 

i feel the animation is very good and smooth and its stawars universe

 

- Community: share your thoughts about the good and bad of the community; the possible experiences you might have gone through.

 

community is ok , i never experience other but seem to me ok

 

- Premium Currency: elaborate if the cash shop and its premium currency(Cartel Coins) are intrusive or not; the usefulness of said paid items and how it impacts the game;

 

CM is only cosmetic so its not a pay to win so it is ok

Gameplay modes:

 

Most of the solo PvE things are faceroll easy with a healer companion, as in literally go AFK and come back and see all the dead mobs. Ops and MM FP will demand you know what most of your buttons do and how/where (not) to stand.

 

The solo-mode things are pretty much "try and fail as you see fit" (which is nice if you want to actually play the game and not just follow someone else's instructions). In group things (both PvP and PvE), you'll get the elitists who think you're an idiot for not having a really deep understanding of game mechanics.

 

If you have to ask, "everyone" in the PvP modes are better than you and getting competitive is going to be a long, painful exercise in frustration.

 

World:

 

Lots and lots of lore scattered around. Most of it is in mission chats and codex entries, some of it is in gameplay.

 

Mechanics:

 

Engine is buggy and sometimes will do hilarious things, particularly in warzones. Usually behaves itself elsewhere.

 

Community:

 

Late-game community that expects you to know everything.

 

Premium currency:

 

It's mostly for shiny things with minimal gameplay impact. As always, shiny things will affect how other players see and interact with your character. What has a lot more gameplay impact is if you've got an active subscription, because without that, you're locked out of endgame progression completely and may as well go play something else.

 

There are some mechanical things which will bother you if you don't have them (inventory space, a mid-level area, quickbars, galactic command stash space which you had to pay to touch to begin with, access to more than 200k/350k credits when "everything" players sell is in the millions)

 

Other:

 

Not a lot of sci-fi flavored MMOs out there. Most are fantasy-flavored for some reason.

- Gameplay modes: general PvE, PvP and additional modes such as Space Combat and others.

Large range of stuff to play is a big plus, more then other mmo's I have personally played. PvE is still the stronger priority for the game in my opinion, with PvP more left on the wayside in comparison, getting updates far slower, which does sometimes seem normal for mmo games.

 

Solo Spaceship Missions : No real reason to do these unless you really want something simple and different to change up the whole planetary mission drag. Some new rewards for this would be great, I for one do enjoy these missions but definitely wish some new ones were added, maybe some personal ship paints/looks and some decoration rewards for doing these missions.

 

Galactic Starfighter : Not everyone's cup of tea but for a different type of PvP then the usual Warzones this is pretty amazing. I am very glad it has received some attention in updates recently and I hope that continues. Having it's own system for unlocking ships, leveling them up and upgrading, picking crew from multiple options and even having paint jobs. Some of which being locked behind CM purchases is fine, it's not as restricted as it could have been in that regard which is a plus.

 

Warzones : I haven't done many since my ping increase after the merge, but have always enjoyed the shorter warzones more, especially if people try to communicate in basic terms at the very least. Ranked can be a cesspool though. I avoid it like the plague.

 

Operations : sadly I have so much trouble just finding groups for these I can't comment on any changes the past few years. I was disappointed that this year's Operation wasn't completed this year.

 

Flashpoints : I mainly solo these, or do them with one other person and our companions. I haven't tried these since the server merge as my ping shot up to be annoying for teammates especially when it's required I do stuff properly, which I can't with my lag.

 

Star fortresses/Eternal Championship - Many people forget about these existing these days, considered old content but can be fun for solo players, even though they are Heroic 2+ listed, it's not hard to solo with a companion.

____

 

- World: the writing, story progression, expansions and DLC, voice-acting, exploration, jumping puzzles, the maps, NPCs, AI, main cities and hubs, graphics and aesthetics, character customization, etc...

 

The hubs do what they are designed to do - have majority of the amenity access points like the Galactic Trade Network, a designated chat, cargo hold access (and Guild), vendors, appearance designer kiosk etc.

Graphics, and all cutscene cinematics, pre-kotfe could use a tiny upgrade to match the new textures etc in Knights of the Fallen Empire and onward.

Voice Acting : SwtoR still employs some of the biggest and best names in the business and it shows, the Voice Actors bring all the characters to life amazingly and do a good job all-round.

Character Customisation.. needs a big overhaul in my opinion, but it is not the worst I have encountered. Certainly pretty poor compared to many others.

 

After those points this gets stuck being shafted into two parts. KotFE+ and Pre-KotFE. Since both parts of the storyline are vastly different.

Pre-Knights of the Fallen Empire : This includes the planet arcs, the class stories, Makeb, Shadows of Revan, Yavin 4, Oricon and other daily planet areas.

 

Tons of larger zones, exploration and side quests. The planet arcs are some of my favourite storylines, alongside the class stories. These big good things started to drop off with the first DLC additions, with Rise of the Hutt Cartel.

Datacrons are fun little jumping "puzzles" but you only need to get them once per legacy now so many people like me kind of forgot how it all works due to doing them a long time ago. More of these would be nice, for a shake up to the generic play time methods.

 

The writing and story progression of the class stories remains the masterpiece they've been in comparison to the newer content which feels like it is getting worse quality each installment. This includes the companions and how they have conversations, and commentary as you quest which is sorely missing from the post Makeb content outside of ambient location comments.

 

KotFE+ : this includes Knights of the Fallen Empire, Eternal Throne, Starfortress arc, Eternal Championship, Iokath and the Umbara/Copero Flashpoints.

 

Exploration barely exists, which is not a good thing. It is something many players of all types miss from pre-KotFE including the story arcs and side quests that can go alongside the exploration.

No puzzles, nothing outside of personal instances except for Iokath daily area which is a mess.

 

I still enjoy the storyline and story progression of this story arc but it is definitely lesser quality to the class story timeline, and to me is getting far worse with each tiny update to the story. There is still time for the writers to trun that problem around, not all hope is lost just yet!

___

 

- Mechanics: abilities and smoothness of the game, animation, classes, and specializations, etc.

 

For me the combat, the ability animations and effects are some of my favourite parts of the gameplay, I find them interesting, smooth, and mostly make sense for the vibe and class. The sounds alongside the combat abilities are good too, and not just with lightsabers. Not the best, but decent. I have no complaints about the classes available, or their specialisations and abilities. Having a few new ones would be nice, but not a priority wish of mine.

___

 

- Community: share your thoughts about the good and bad of the community; the possible experiences you might have gone through.

 

Good, friendly and helpful players can sometimes be incredibly difficult to find in-game especially if you are new with no prior connections to the game. The general chats need moderation more because for a 13yo+ rated game (in Australia) it is horrific at times with definitely R-rated talk. But overall the community I would say is not bad, more just average for an mmo. Certainly not the worst I have stumbled upon.

____

 

- Premium Currency: elaborate if the cash shop and its premium currency(Cartel Coins) are intrusive or not; the usefulness of said paid items and how it impacts the game;

 

Majority of the cartel market is mounts, pets, cosmetics, companions (creature and droid), boosts and unlocks. This is a non-issue for me, it's exactly what I prefer being in a cash shop. F2p is quite restricted, with many unlocks being purchasable in the CM, but I expect that from a game that does not have a purchase price, it's completely free to download/install and play - with restrictions, if it was Buy to Play I'd expect far less non-sub restrictions but it is not.

 

To go to a "score" I'd say Pre-KotFE at 8/10 overall, but post-KotFE likely more a 5/10. I enjoyed KotFE+ story a lot but I also see all the flaws too.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Asmodesu

*Raise hand* You comparing Swtor to Guild Wars 2 ? Arent they different games ?

 

Aren't all MMO'S different? I don't know of any exact clones.🤔

Aren't all MMO'S different? I don't know of any exact clones.🤔

 

well some games are kinda similar , like say GW 2 and Rift .

 

You can compare some games with some stuff they have . Like say for exemple , I can compare the 'Pew pew ship' part in Swtor...to the actual Pew pew with giant ship of Star Trek online . You can compare for exemple The secret world scary world and lore to another MMO that goes with that theme . But Swtor and GW2 are like comparing Mario Bros jumping around and collecting mushroom to Zelda a link to the past .

 

You can also just compare the skeleton , like how sub work , how pvp work..and how long it has been around I guess .

Writing a video game review

 

Probably like the above link outlines. The versus or comparison reviews usually don't go over well unless the games are very similar. Example: It wouldn't be out of place to compare World of Warcraft and SWTOR because they have very similar systems in place (or did at one time).

 

As it is now? I'd give it mixed reviews. I'm trying to be optimistic about the recent Roadmap and where I can see them wanting to take the game with what's left. However, as an mmorpg I'd probably slam it and give it better points in single player game attributes. It's the mmorpg that boasted and bit off more than it could chew; but is still around for a very passionate community to enjoy for now. That's just generalization but about as candid as I can get with it.

SWTOR is better than any other Star Wars MMO on the market

Since this is the ONLY SW MMO, doesn't matter what the reviews are, if you want to play a SW MMO, this is it.

Edited January 9, 2018 by xordevoreaux

General PVE - 7

 

 

PVP - 4

 

 

Space combat - PVE - 3

 

 

Space combat - PVP - 5

 

 

Level Sync - 6

 

 

Crafting - 6

 

 

Appearance options and Character designer/Creation - 7

 

 

Strongholds - 6

 

 

Heroics - 7

 

 

Flashpoints - 8

 

 

Galactic Command System - 2

 

 

Story - Player storylines - 8

 

 

Story - Expansions - 7

 

 

Cartel Market - 6

 

 

GTN - 6

 

 

F2P/Preferred system - 3

 

 

Social - 4

 

 

Abilities - 6

 

 

Community - 7

 

 

Overall Rating - 6

 

 

Edited January 9, 2018 by LordArtemis

SWTOR is better than any other Star Wars MMO on the market

Gotta admit...you've got a point!

I play because it's Star Wars. If it had any other skin I would have stopped a LONG time ago.

 

PVP - I've never liked PVP, and I despise open world PVP. However, I do occasionally enjoy warzones. The objective based competition can be fun, however that's ruined, sometimes, by players and the attitudes that often come with PVP. In the end, it's not something I do on a regular basis.

 

GSF - I was in the beta for this. My first impressions, during beta, was that it had potential, however it NEEDED joystick support for me to continue. Since it never got official joystick support, I've pretty much ignored it. There seems to be a vast gear divide between the GSF vets and people trying it out, and no "bolster" to even things out (as far as I know). I can't imagine the new player experience to be much fun due to that.

 

PVE - The "vanilla" stories are still great! With over 100 toons across 3 servers thanks to the recent server merges, I've gone through each story numerous times. They are, in my opinion, the best part of this game, even after 6 years.

 

Crafting - sucks. I do it, I don't like doing it. My first MMO was Star Wars Galaxies and the complexity that game had for crafting is, to me, the minimum requirement for a "good" crafting system. This one isn't even close.

 

Operations - Those can be fun. I was a few years late to try those and after some time with a couple good guilds I can say I enjoy them. Again, however, that's more because of the people in the groups than the content itself.

A product with great potential carried out by a company with the total inability and lack of professionalism to handle it even remotely, especially the mmo aspect, bug tracking and/or avoiding and fixing and whatnot else. Edited January 9, 2018 by Khaleg

Excellent leveling experiences, story, etc.

 

Endgame is just terrible. Like a SW themed merry go round.

a review, huh? alright.

 

Review:

Back in 2011 as a participant of Beta testing this game was meant to be the big one, the WoW killer, the grand daddy of all MMO's, it was hyped up so much but it failed to even get close to it's target, now while it may have made a few million subscribers at the time a number of design choices made it all the more shaky, and the fact that there was this RNG mechanic for gear in place for version 1 of this game and it drove away the players, it was a sign things were not going well until it was removed before the first expansion came.

 

The eight storylines proved to be the biggest success of this game even today because it provides the greatest amount of storyline content, each character having their own voice actors. I find Mark Bazeley as the Male Sith Warrior as the best of the whole group, but each person will have their own to choose from.

 

A year later than it should and the expansion RotHC was released as payment was required to access it, none the less it introduced a post Ilum storyline with Makeb, it was rich, and full of life, something that was desperately need for this game, but it turns out the one storyline for Imps and Pubs would prove to be the path of least resistance for Bioware and ultimately a controversial point at that over the years when it is reduced to just one. This game started growing again but not at the numbers of the rate it had when it started up, but this expansion gave this game the shot in the arm it needed.

 

Oricon came out as an addition to the Dreadmasters storyline, mostly told from the Imp point of view because of the Belsavis prison break, the Pubs got strung along because of the threat the dreadmasters pose. Ultimately this addition bottomed out because of the Operations which solo players couldn't complete on their own, and so these storylines even today couldn't be completed by solo players.

 

RotHC wouldn't be the only expansion and it would prove to be even more restricted in the storyline as both Imps and Pubs follow the same single story with minor variations as Rishi proved in SoR with a single class storyline mission and a Imp and Pub aligned mission later on, but it is so minor that it isn't really worth the effort before once again heading to Yavin 4 for one storyline. It was interesting at the time how bad the lag was and how much demand there was to play SoR after the content drought had ended, while it proved very popular for those few weeks. Then Ziost came out as the last bit of the major faction storyline with the renegade Sith emperor looming large but that was so lackluster content wise.

 

During all of this new flashpoints came in, the pvp system was overhauled and new operations made their mark and it proved to be something of a success and stability for this game, the players and Bioware. The Community was in a good place before something came along to mess up paradise.

 

KotFE launched as the next major expac and it was clear at this point that Bioware were not at the top of their game as EA is pulling the lead tighter and the story writing falling below standards (most notably a lack of choices that matter), this has created a mediocore expansion at best, most of the complaints centered around the companion quests as missions and a few other things. This expansion also included more changes but a negatively viewed balance pass on classes. With the expansion aside there was no great improvement to any other aspect of this game.

 

When KotET launched, it would prove to be a real hammer blow to the gut and while the storyline was a little better it was negatively seen by the community as nerfing the storyline too hard by taking too many companion storylines out, in the end it was reduced to 9 episodes. But the biggest change wasnt the expansion pack itself but rather a change to the way gear is acquired and how grinding works with the introduction of the Galactic Command.

 

From the start GC was nerfed to the ground despite assurances it would be a rewarding experience, it took Bioware half a year to even acknowledge how crippling it is running this new system and while it received attention from Bioware, it ultimately proved to be a red herring as a lot of players left the game being unable to raid operations or join more than a handful of pvp matches because of it being subscriber only. The worst part is that today GC is in the opposite place it was after it was launched, meaning Bioware actually failed to keep a promise and now the system is just flat out too easy and pointless as a system as it added nothing and took away nothing.

 

Since then Bioware have had some flashpoints but content has been exceptionally dry over the last year and looks set to continue, meanwhile the community is in a state of panic over the storyline in the flashpoints and the current state of Bioware by wondering if it looks to be brain dead and on life support, as well as the real lack of communication about anything within the community and when it does come it doesn't come from an official place, but a third party site.

 

The Hero Engine is ancient, hasn't been improved much since SWTOR launch in 2011, so the graphics while they are passable, they don't meet everyones personal tastes for graphical debauchery, it's amazing the engine is almost 15 years old and has come out this well.

 

The Audio is something else, with every bit of dialogue voice acted, every blaster and lightsaber, strike and hit all recorded plus the star wars sound tracks, all from the various films in the six films before JJ Abrams and Disney took over.

 

The amount of ingame customsation is second to none with literally hundreds of armours available through the cartel coin market, galactic trade network and vendors, and a very large amount of character customsation from the character creation screen as well.

 

Rating: 1 terrible. 5 okay. 10 superb.

How to a rate this game on Launch? a solid 8. I spent hours playing this game, it was a really nice game to play out.

How do i rate the game in 2014? an alright 7. While it was fine for the most part, it was starting to lack as a game in gameplay and content factors.

How do i rate the game today? an ordinary 5. The game has been reduced to an occasional flashpoint every three months, a lack of communication from Bioware and a community on fire, SWTOR isn't in a happy place.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Celise

A product with great potential carried out by a company with the total inability and lack of professionalism to handle it even remotely, especially the mmo aspect, bug tracking and/or avoiding and fixing and whatnot else.

 

Pretty much this.

 

The only thing that its got going for it is the STAR WARS name. There are elements of the Star Wars universe, but the whole game is a dinosaur now, just waiting for the comet to wipe it out and start afresh.

Gotta admit...you've got a point!

 

Lol.

well some games are kinda similar , like say GW 2 and Rift .

 

You can compare some games with some stuff they have . Like say for exemple , I can compare the 'Pew pew ship' part in Swtor...to the actual Pew pew with giant ship of Star Trek online . You can compare for exemple The secret world scary world and lore to another MMO that goes with that theme . But Swtor and GW2 are like comparing Mario Bros jumping around and collecting mushroom to Zelda a link to the past .

 

You can also just compare the skeleton , like how sub work , how pvp work..and how long it has been around I guess .

They are very different games as such, but there are also comparable things between the games. Now if you want to purely make a list of every thing SWTOR and everything GW2 and see which one is the best, well, that could be tricky indeed.

 

But look at what both games have for example:

1. Character classes (a variety of classes with skill trees etc. GW2 didn't use to have the role trinity but raiding content has changed that)
   
2. Story (SWTOR is unique in the vanilla class stories but has continued on as a single story by now)
   
3. Dungeons vs Flash Points (GW2 has less than 10 but boasts a dynamic one, SWTOR has like 40)
   
4. Raids vs Operations (apparently GW2 now has 5 raids. SWTOR has 10 but people say there's not enough...)
   
5. Legendary Weapons vs special mounts and masks (GW2 has a grind for legendaries, SWTOR is about challenge to get to the boast items)
   
6. Events vs Events (GW2 though a bit carnavalesque has much more going on in the sense of events than SWTOR)
   
7. Jumping puzzles vs Jumping puzzles.
   
8. Crystals vs Cartel Coins
   
9. Trading Post vs GTN (Trading Post has a bidding system and all players use one and the same)
   
10. Leveling vs Leveling (GW2 has a very different approach to leveling zones than SWTOR but you level in both games)
    
11. PvP vs PvP (GW2 has a lot more going on in the PvP area. A lot more and has for example a separate character tab for PvP and PvE gear that autoswitches depending on where you are)
    

 

So really even though the games work and feel very differently, there are a lot of topics you can look at and say: ok, what are the differences and what do I like best.

Edited January 10, 2018 by Tsillah

Funny you should ask, because i just did lol.

 

- Gameplay modes: general PvE, PvP and additional modes such as Space Combat and others.

 

I find solo PvE mostly enjoyable. I rarely do PvP, but when I do I usually find it surprisingly fun. I have to be in the right mindset for it, though. The old Space-on-Rails missions is something I've completely forgotten about, but used to enjoy from time to time back in the day. GSF, uh, I tried once, and it just wasn't for me.

Group PvE... well, I don't want to schedule my gaming time, so no OPs team in their right mind would want me. I don't do PUGs, either, and all the friends who used to play with me have long since quit.

There's still lots and lots of content in the game, especially for a new player.

 

 

- World: the writing, story progression, expansions and DLC, voice-acting, exploration, jumping puzzles, the maps, NPCs, AI, main cities and hubs, graphics and aesthetics, character customization, etc...

 

I only play by myself nowadays. The original 8 class stories were excellent and are the best part of the game, still, 6 years later. The planetary storylines are also good, and add a lot of depth to the stories and characters.

Unfortunately, after the original class stories, the game goes quickly downhill. The stories dwindle down to one for each faction until there's only one story at all, which doesn't fit a lot, if not most, of the class stories.

Voice acting is top notch throughout the whole game, though. The VAs really help you love the characters you want to love and hate the ones you want to hate.

Exploration is much the same as the story. It started out good enough, but still had too many invisible barriers or unclimbable walls. Fortunately, most of the areas you're allowed to explore are big enough, until you get to the expansions. In the expansions the worlds shrunk until in KotFEET you're mostly down to corridor runs.

Very fortunately for me, there's very few jumping puzzles at all in the game, and all of them are easily avoidable.

Maps, aestethics, cities, hubs, they all make sense for Star Wars. It's all very pretty when it's supposed to be, and foreboding and oppressing when it should be. This (mostly) holds true for the expansions as well. It just works, with some true gems I find highly enjoyable. Alderaan is almost heartbreakingly pretty, Hoth feels cold, Rishi is untamed, and the newest addition, the flashpoint Copero, has just fantastic aestethics in the beginning.

Additionally, the Strongholds (player housing) fit into their locations very well. How well each SH is executed is a different discussion, though...

As for NPCs, there are plenty of them who are quite interesting and I'd like to know more about and/or meet again. They mostly also make sense and feel alive - there's no doubt that they have motives of their own. When moving around in various places, you can stop and listen to their stories, which adds a lot to the feel of the world.

Character customization, well, to me that comes mostly from the gear. Not saying there's not enough variety in species, faces and hair styles, but I tend not to notice it too much anymore. I see character size, which there should be more variety in, I see possible fur or lekkus or exotic skin color, and I see cape/no cape, headgear/no headgear, skirt/pants, robe/jacket/shirt/plate and that's about what I notice on other characters.

For my own characters I find more than enough gear to make them unique and to my own taste. As in, much, much more than enough. As in, I have access to much, much, much, much more outfits than I can ever use even if I dress all my gazillion companions in their own get-outs.

 

 

- Mechanics: abilities and smoothness of the game, animation, classes, and specializations, etc.

 

I'm mostly happy with all this. The (solo) game is, for us veterans, too easy, but I actually don't mind. I can make the game more challenging for myself if I want to, or even play another game. As it is now, it's mostly just relaxing in a tried and true manner. I know where to go and what to do and I can relax while doing it.

Animations are mostly smooth and enjoyable, although there are some abilities I wish hadn't been changed as they used to be much better before. (I'm looking at you, Ravage!)

The only class/spec I don't care for the skill animations of is Jedi Sage, which is boring to me and most of the animations hardly visible, especially compared to the mirror class Sith Lightning Sorcerer, which as the name suggests is sparkly and shiny and highly visible.

 

 

- Community: share your thoughts about the good and bad of the community; the possible experiences you might have gone through.

 

Eh. I tend not to have much to do with the community in-game. Sometimes it's awesome, sometimes it's despicable. Unless there's a horrible, should-result-in-bans cesspool of dimwits waging war in the general chats, newbies usually get their valid questions answered. Unfortunately, lately the wars in general chats in major hubs seem to be worse and more frequent, which will probably lead to less newbies wanting to stick around in the game. There needs to better ways of dealing with horrible chat.

On this forum, most people seem to understand and respect that there are as many different opinions as there are players, perhaps because the forum actually IS moderated.

 

 

- Premium Currency: elaborate if the cash shop and its premium currency(Cartel Coins) are intrusive or not; the usefulness of said paid items and how it impacts the game;

 

If you're subscribed, the Cartel Market is easily forgotten until you actually wants to spend CCs. As in, not intrusive at all, just, in my opinion, way too expensive.

For a Preferred player, or worse, F2P, it's obnoxious and intrusive. I can't give any concrete examples, but I remember trying to play as Preferred for a while, and I just couldn't do it. I've also tried to set up a 2nd account to see just how bad it is for F2P, and well, no... ain't happening. More on this later.

As for the usefulness of the paid items and impact on gameplay, well, there really is none. The Legacy unlocks you can use Cartel Coins on are mostly also available for ingame money either directly or purchased from other players.

The rest is all just cosmetics. I balk at the price tags for a lot of items, but there's hardly ever anything on the Cartel Market I want badly enough to pay Real Money for anyway. As I said earlier, I have more than enough gear to make all my characters look the way I want them to and a few special items long since unlocked in the Collections for any possible future characters to look the way I want them to.

 

 

- And other points that you might feel like it.

 

If I was to review SWTOR for someone who knows nothing about the game, I'd have to mention and bash the F2P system.

It is horrible.

The first issue is that it gives the player basically the best content in the game for free, but makes it awkward and un-fun to play. I honestly feel like /headwall:ing when I think about it.

On one hand, since F2P accounts do not get rested XP, they level slower and get a better experience, as in, the game stays more challenging (compared to those who outlevel the content before they reach the first questhub), but on the other hand, they get constant reminders about subscribing/buying Cartel Coins. F2P players are slapped with not being able to use a lot of the quest rewards, not being able to scrape together enough money to buy gear/mounts, not having enough skill bars or storage space...

It's all completely backwards. If you want to see F2P as some sort of trial phase, then it should work the exact opposite. Show potential new subscribers what they actually get for subbing. Gear, sprint, skill bars, short cooldown quick travel and so on, and end the trial phase on a cliffhanger. As in, just before the end of Chapter 1. Want to know what happens next? SUBSCRIBE. Want to keep Sprint? SUBSCRIBE. Want to keep playing as F2P? Fine, but you'll be slower, you'll have less skill bars, access to less money, locked to only the first two planets and so on. And you'll be bombarded with reminders about subbing.

 

 

/rant and review over

Well there is a lot to say, but some have already gotten to the key point, which was that the Hype at the start was way to big and so were the expectations. However Bioware and EA had different plans for the game then the players had. So yes, it was a game with great potential, but bad implementation. Hard to say who is at fault here, but since the game was developed from scratch they should have made more investigations on what the players want.

 

Nevertheless its Star Wars and SW games simply cannot fail! I played every single SW game out there (apart from last 2 Battefronts) and none of them failed. So im going with what most people have said, the Class stories were great content and so was the leveling experience. However everything else in the game is not as good as it could be. This all comes down to the game engine which was a bad choice for just about any part of the game.

 

Simply put, if the game would have had a better game engine and continued with great endgame after the very good stories it would have been a success. Its still a "financial" success but again its due to the SW brand, nothing else. As people said, if this didnt have the SW label it would have died long ago.

SWTOR is a great game the class missions are great and you will find lots of things to keep you busy sadly the expansions KOTET and KOTFE are trivial, scripted garbage. You are forced to play a set route, miss a scripted event because you stand in the wrong place or you move through an area too quickly and the game stalls/breaks. I was under the impression this was a multiplayer game but the tight scripting events make you feel as though you are wearing a straight jacket. It is a case of follow the route the devs decide or dont play absolutely no freedom at all. The first expansion i soldiered on to the end in spite of the terrible rigours of playing such a tightly scripted game but the next expansion kotfe take you to a whole new phase of torture i abandoned the game very early into this expansion as the crushing boredom of following set scripts defeated me. This is the first game that i have failed to finish and i must say after many years of game playing i have played some garbage but Kotfe is perhaps the worst.

Gameplay modes: general PvE, PvP and additional modes such as Space Combat and others.

 

 

 

World: the writing, story progression, expansions and DLC, voice-acting, exploration, jumping puzzles, the maps, NPCs, AI, main cities and hubs, graphics and aesthetics, character customization, etc...

 

 

 

Mechanics: abilities and smoothness of the game, animation, classes, and specializations, etc.

 

 

 

[community[/b[

 

 

 

Cash Shop - Premium currency

 

 

 

Overall: I find swtor to be a mediocre game at this point with so little going on when it comes to player retention. Cash shop is the only main focus bioware has as everything else is just a side project. Too little new content and what little we do get is poorly done and barely worth repeating. The game play, aesthetics, graphics and community are interesting enough but the driving force for MMOs is new content and bioware does a really poor job there. The game has potential and you can still feel it when you play but I fear it's the older content that is better and more well designed than anything bioware has ever done since launch skews that feeling. bioware continues to squander potential. I find that if it wasn't for my guild and the free cartel coins I get, there would be no solid reason to play swtor any longer. bioware just doesn't have the new, worth repeating content which is the life blood of MMOs and thats a huge issue. One that also doesn't seem to be changing given the road map.

Edited August 16, 2018 by Quraswren

- Gameplay modes: general PvE, PvP and additional modes such as Space Combat and others.

 

PvE:

Nothing special, but not bad either. Very similar to most MMO's including WoW (well, this game is definitely based on the WoW gameplay model).

 

PvP:

Terrible, same as every other MMO. There's endless balance issues, a very toxic playerbase, and uninspired game modes.

 

Space Combat (solo):

I like it. I was one of the many people back at launch that was totally against the on-rails shooter they went with, but at the same time it reminded me a lot of older Star wars games like rebels, and I got used to it.

 

Space Combat (Galactic Starfighter):

Better than typical PvP, considering it's much better balanced, but I still dont like it nearly as much as the old SWG jump to lightspeed space content. Too much arcade, not enough simulation.

 

- World: the writing, story progression, expansions and DLC, voice-acting, exploration, jumping puzzles, the maps, NPCs, AI, main cities and hubs, graphics and aesthetics, character customization, etc...

 

Writing and story progression, voice acting, etc. are all amazing.

 

Exploration is pretty much nonexistent. This is because they went with the WoW theme park model instead of a proper sandbox game like SWG, where there literally was a changing world and absolutely massive open areas with a lot to discover.

 

Jumping puzzles are absolutely horrid. The jumping mechanics in this game are so inaccurate and clumsy that it just makes jumping puzzles a frustration.

 

NPCs and AI are crappy as usual, but that's just the standard for MMOs.

Graphics and Aesthetics arent bad, but could definitely use improvement. I like that this game feels a lot like the clone wars tv series, but you can definitely tell that they're working with a suboptimal game engine and dont have the brightest people working on the art. I absolutely hate that so many armor sets and such in this game are high fantasy, there's literally characters running around looking like they're straight out of warcraft or some other fantasy magic setting, rather than star wars.

 

Character customization is severely lacking, Especially for non near-human races (cathar, togruta, etc.) I play all cathar characters and up until they released additional hairstyles and eye colors, the options were extremely limited. I also hate that we only have 4 body types to choose from and a limited selection of face structures, when other games are allowing complete customization.

 

-

Mechanics: abilities and smoothness of the game, animation, classes, and specializations, etc.

 

Too many abilities, again this comes from bioware practically copying world of warcraft's game model instead of something different. I've grown accustomed to games like DCUO and ESO where you have a much smaller selection of abilities. To me, those games make it feel like you're putting together a perfect hand from a deck of cards, rather than having the entire deck in your hand at once. I literally have to use 4 full ability bars and shift+ / control+ key combinations to use even a moderate number of my abilities in this game.

 

Animations are subpar, they only have one set animation for each ability when multiple animations would allow combat to feel smoother. The game overall feels very scripted and clunky because of that.

 

Classes and specializations: I'm on the fence here. There are some classes I love (Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, and Imperial agent primarily). There are some that I'm ok with (inquisitor, warrior, consular, knight). And then there's the ugly duckling that I want to play but absolutely cannot stand (trooper).

I think it was a huge mistake in development to make identical copies of each class. Having warriors be identical to knights, troopers to bounty hunters, smugglers to agents, and consulars to inquisitors was a bad idea and severely limited their options when it came to making each class unique and fun to play.

The trooper suffers from this the most: bounty hunters, their imperial counterpart, have clearly defined abilities and everything feels like it fits together. Powertechs use their wrist mounted flamethrowers for nearly all of their attacks, while Mercenaries use their rockets/missiles for nearly all their attacks. These sets of abilities make those classes feel well designed. The trooper is an absolute mess: they dont even have a consistent color scheme to their abilities (vanguards/commandos both have a hodge-podge mixture of blue, purple, red, and orange ability colors, green if you add in healing, it all looks terrible). That'd be like the powertech using blue flames for one ability, green flames for another, purple flames for another, and then normal orange flames for another. It makes no sense.

Troopers need a complete overhaul of their class abilities to be worthy of my game time, but it'll probably never happen.

 

- Community: share your thoughts about the good and bad of the community; the possible experiences you might have gone through.

 

Very toxic community, though there are some decent people around as well, but that's any online game. PvP crowd is, as always, far more toxic than the pve crowd.

 

- Premium Currency: elaborate if the cash shop and its premium currency(Cartel Coins) are intrusive or not; the usefulness of said paid items and how it impacts the game;

 

Free to play models with microtransactions work.

Subscription models with no microtransactions work.

Subscription models with an overbearing amount of microtransactions do not work.

 

This game and it's community suffer heavily from the overbearing greed of its publishers (EA). I was perfectly fine with the subscription only model we had at launch, and I'm ok with some f2p/sub combo models like ESO uses, but here they essentially force players to subscribe or suffer huge penalties and inconveniences, and then they go and shove every microtransaction they possibly can down their subscribers' collective throats. The prices of the cartel market are also ridiculously high for what they're offering - I cant believe anyone in their right mind will pay 40-50$ for a completely cosmetic set of equipment that often times is of subpar quality anyways. The only other game I've played with prices that high for microtransactions is Star trek online, and for 50$ they're selling ship packs that include 1-3 ships which have huge gameplay modifications and offer real gameplay value rather than just aesthetic value.

 

- And other points that you might feel like it.

 

I love the solo gameplay/storyline here, probably because it's bioware and bioware always knows how to tell good stories, but once you get past that part of the game the experience crumbles quickly. Operations and flashpoints often dont even feel much like star wars, I literally feel like I could be playing some other MMO and nothing would be different.

 

If it werent for the bioware story side of this game, and the fact that it's the only half-decent starwars game on the market right now, I probably wouldnt be playing it.