SWTOR - Post launch thoughts?

[Warborn]

Originally Posted by Vancha

Also, I've heard WoD will focus a lot on politics and social-manipulation, plus who knows if it'll be possible to violate the Masquerade. You might be better off leaving the trench coats alone.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01...ark/#continued

It's going to be single-server like EVE, and all about the backstabbing and politics of EVE that I guess is also a big part of the general World of Darkness theme.

He also mentions that the game enforces the Masquerade, so vampires which use their powers in public will be "chastised by the Powers That Be", with their goal being that, when you're playing, the world looks completely normal, but behind the scenes there's weird vampire stuff.

[Vancha]

That had completely passed me by, thanks for linking.

It's funny, I had something in mind for the secret world and the more I heard about it, the less it realized the potential I had in my mind, but the more I hear about this, the more it meets my expectations.

[Warborn]

Secret World is just another attempt to cash in on WoW's success. Different concepts, different mechanics, but the overall idea is nonetheless leveling up, getting better gear, so that you can kill bigger monsters to level up, and get better gear, so that you can etc.

That's why I like EVE and this World of Darkness title. They're ballsy attempts to do something different. For all the mistakes CCP made with EVE, for how dumb it is for them to make Dust 514 as a PS3 exclusive title, they're better than every BioWare, Funcom, Mythic, or whoever combined. They're actually trying to do something fundamentally different. And that, in itself, is great.

[Sighpolice]

I'm sitting with the biggest grin on my face whenever somebody rages about SWTOR, ever since I heard about it and saw the first few things I was telling everyone NOT to buy it, how bad it would be, how little support there would be because it's EA, and how it isn't original at all, its a WoW copy. Boy that didn't go down well with people, but now who's laughing whenever they cry? Mwuahahahahah

Since guild wars 2 had its press beta it is looking stunning, actively involving as well. I played GW1 for a day on a free trial and hated it and yet I can't stop watching GW 2 videos of things, it looks really good and I love the dev interaction with the community. That and ArenaNet haven't sold their game to a media company (jokes)

The WvW (world versus world) is going to be very interesting, placing the winning servers against other winning servers and working with an ELO style rating per server seems pretty excellent to me, also 3 servers/teams fighting against each other instead of the standard 2 in most MMO RPG's. And I don't have to tell people on a planetside forum that having 3 factions is far superior to 2

[Accuser]

I'm kind of surprised at the negativity toward SWTOR here. I mean, did you get $60 worth of game or not? I sure as hell did. Anyone who thought it would be anything but World of Star Wars Craft is an idiot, but that doesn't make the game bad. And it does do a few things pleasantly differently, such as:

Crafting: Do I reverse engineer this item to try to get a better schematic, or keep it?

Companions: It's a unique feature for an MMO and well done.

Space Combat: No, it's not X-Wing Alliance (my favorite flight sim ever), but it's an action mini-game in an MMO... something I'd never seen.

Immersion: See below...

Originally Posted by Xaine

Really, after the first hour you're mashing the space-bar to get through all the dialogue. If i wanted to get engrossed and immersed in a SINGLE PLAYER experience i'd go and play a SINGLE PLAYER GAME. Darksouls, Fallout, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, The Witcher.

Would you just skip the dialog in Fallout, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc?
I disagree with this on every level. I'm playing with a friend, so we're going through (and, *gasp* enjoying) the quests together. And this is the only MMO I know of that sets you up as a unique individual (from your perspective). You aren't just a [class] from [race starting location] on a world-spanning mission to [race lore]. Plus your input has a result. This goes pretty far beyond an NPC saying "Go pick 5 oranges." - "Oh thank you for the oranges, have a sword."

Finally, is all-new innovation a requirement for a game to be good? Would we hate PS2 if it were just a rehash of the PS1 concept with some ideas borrowed from modern shooters?

That's how I see SWTOR at the moment. Yeah, it's a lot like WoW. But they took the time to add in features from other modern RPGs to raise the bar (at least a little bit).

[Warborn]

We were all aware it would be a WoW clone and yes, that does make it a bad game. But even if not for that, the PvP is boring, the game runs quite poorly (especially given how mediocre it looks), crafting is quite uninteresting as it's very detached from the game itself and exists in its own little one-panel-world, companions are just pets that everyone gets, and space combat is a bland rail shooter with 5 different enemies.

The only thing worth mentioning about the game is the single-player story experience. That's it. That's the only thing that stood out. For that alone... maybe it was worth $60. Leveling to 50 and experiencing a cool story is about what I'd get out of KOTOR1 or 2, isn't it? But as a game that hinges its success upon a $15/mo. fee, no, not worth it.

[Accuser]

Originally Posted by Warborn

The only thing worth mentioning about the game is the single-player story experience. That's it. That's the only thing that stood out. For that alone... maybe it was worth $60. Leveling to 50 and experiencing a cool story is about what I'd get out of KOTOR1 or 2, isn't it? But as a game that hinges its success upon a $15/mo. fee, no, not worth it.

So think of it as a good single-player game with lots of MMO elements for you to enjoy as a bonus then. If it were packaged as a single player RPG it would certainly be worth the $60. If you don't like the MMO elements, don't pay the $15/mo. If they come out with expansions that sound good, you can come back to SWTOR at a relatively low price.

If it's worth the price you paid, then it's a good game.

EDIT:
My opinion is probably biased because I'm playing the game with an IRL friend, so I get to enjoy it as a kind of co-op RPG with a delightful Star Wars theme. In this capacity, it beats any MMO I've ever seen.

[Geist]

Originally Posted by Accuser

So think of it as a good single-player game with lots of MMO elements for you to enjoy as a bonus then. If it were packaged as a single player RPG it would certainly be worth the $60. If you don't like the MMO elements, don't pay the $15/mo. If they come out with expansions that sound good, you can come back to SWTOR at a relatively low price.

If it's worth the price you paid, then it's a good game.

EDIT:
My opinion is probably biased because I'm playing the game with an IRL friend, so I get to enjoy it as a kind of co-op RPG with a delightful Star Wars theme. In this capacity, it beats any MMO I've ever seen.

Pretty much this for me as well.

Anyway, if anyone is still willing to give SWTOR a shot, check out the Guild Summit today: http://www.swtor.com/guildsummit

Starts at 10:00AM and they're going to discuss 1.2 and the future of the game(one of the deciding factors on if I'll keep subbing)

[Tigersmith]

Game is awful. I felt it was very boring. Unsubbed after 2 weeks. My Opinion it was the worst 80 bucks i have ever paid.

[Lonehunter]

I think ToR is a perfect example of what WoW has done to MMORPGs of our generation. It's success is so profound, companies are too afraid to venture down a path too different from theirs.

But I feel like Bioware didn't even try to make a unique MMO (1,000+ hours of voice acting doesn't make a great MMO)

Gorge Lucas had sex with Blizzard entertainment and out poped SWTOR.
Bioware is just the incompetent nurse taking care of it and EA is throwing cash around till things get all better.