Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Iroscato]

Surprised that I can't find a thread on this. I just started playing a couple of weeks back (new PC and all that, got a lotta games to catch up on), and I must say I find it hugely enjoyable. An intriguing storyline - currently playing as a sith Inquisitor/Assassin - good-looking environments, and layers upon layers of complexity, should you go looking.
So anyone else play? What do you think if so?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I've played it since it was released. It's enjoyable enough, though these days most of my time is spent tinkering with Strongholds and Galactic Starfighter. I really should finish the class stories I haven't done yet.

[RogueIce]

Surprised that I can't find a thread on this.

There have been a couple, they just died out.

So anyone else play? What do you think if so?

The storyline really is the only reason to play, and in that case if you've got the money get a subscription. Because you'll get x12 XP for doing Class Missions (up until mid-October IIRC), which means you can effectively play just by doing those. The Planetary Missions can be fun (or stupid, it depends) but they're basically the same for each of the four classes on each faction, so there's little point in doing them over again. Plus you can actually get enough character slots to do Light Side and Dark Side playthroughs for each class. Which doesn't make that much difference, as you still pretty much hit the same primary story beats. You just go about it in sometimes different ways is all.

Plus, the game really, really hates Silver players. I'll let others expand on that - lord knows I've spent enough bytes on the subject myself - but suffice to say they enjoy kicking you in the balls if you don't pay up.

[Elheru Aran]

Honestly IMO I just got bored with it fairly quickly. It doesn't level up anywhere like as fast as STO, and the whole bollocks bit of not being able to respawn for free after the beginner level is shite. Story was fine, but from what I could see they all end up playing the same missions (sort of). I did like being a soldier better than being a Jedi though. Didn't play the Sith more than a couple levels.

Really for a dedicated free player, STO is the better deal. At almost every turn in SWTOR you're seeing "here's your free pittance, for more pay money". You can't level up through STO without wallowing in waves of free stuff. Even LOTRO was easier for a free player.

[Iroscato]

Honestly IMO I just got bored with it fairly quickly. It doesn't level up anywhere like as fast as STO, and the whole bollocks bit of not being able to respawn for free after the beginner level is shite. Story was fine, but from what I could see they all end up playing the same missions (sort of). I did like being a soldier better than being a Jedi though. Didn't play the Sith more than a couple levels.

Really for a dedicated free player, STO is the better deal. At almost every turn in SWTOR you're seeing "here's your free pittance, for more pay money". You can't level up through STO without wallowing in waves of free stuff. Even LOTRO was easier for a free player.

Yeah, I heard it can be rough for free players. I bought a subscription as it's only £8 a month or so, I think (Might be more, I forget).

Looking at the game and the lore as whole however, IMO this is Star Wars 'done right'. I'd love a TV show (with a GoT-level budget) or a film set in or around the time period.

[Elheru Aran]

Oh, yeah. From what I understand the story is the good part of the game. It's just the 'game' part of it that kinda sucks...

[TheFeniX]

I tried again to load up SWTOR about a month ago. It continues to beat me over the head, infuriating me, with it's F2P bullshit and I finally figured out why. I thought it was because I paid money for the CE edition and spent tons of money on the monthly fee. But in reality, that shit was paid for, I got my money's worth and EA doesn't really owe me anything.

The problem was that I was a returning max level players and "elite raider" (which isn't saying much) and avid PvPer. I pretty much beat the damn game before I quit, which was like a week after rated BGs came out. So coming back and seeing all my abilities locked behind "CLICK HERE TO BUY MORE SLOTS" and my companions being locked, X being locked, Y being locked, made me feel extremely gimped. Gimped enough, I couldn't even be bothered to play much because just to get back to having my character in a useable position would require money. And from what little I cared to look into it, enough that just paying a monthly sub would have been a better option.

But that's not what the (still poorly designed) F2P system is built around. It's built around new players/characters. Having only one action bar is not limiting to a low-level player. Having a profession locked isn't either because those likely take a decent time investment to level. So, by the time you need another action-bar, or whatever, you feel like it's a progression of your character. I won't get that since it's hard to flop around on the ground like a gutted fish when you were soaring in previous playtime.

Can't go back. Kind of wish SWTOR was in a position that I could load it up and spend a few bucks here and there to slowly progress or just fuck around. But it isn't. STO kicks the shit out of it in the F2P department and I can't be bothered to keep that installed either.

Sorry for the rant, just a realization I had about the game.

[Imperial Overlord]

Oh, yeah. From what I understand the story is the good part of the game. It's just the 'game' part of it that kinda sucks...

That's mostly true, but unfortunately the Sith Inquisitor storyline is horribly written. It's just sad compared to the Smuggler or the Sith Warrior.

[biostem]

I played SWTOR when it first came out. My main issue was that, given how affordable personal transport was portrayed in ANH, the hoops they make you jump through and the restriction on getting your own speeder until later on. Couple that with other annoyances - like the bounty hunter clearly having a jetpack, but only being able to use it for special attacks, instead of helping with getting around. Don't get me wrong - the storyline(s) and voice acting were quite good, but the other restrictions just bugged me.

[Sgt_Artyom]

The Imperial Agent and Jedi Knight stores have been excellent so far, as has the Republic trooper. I find I tend to play the game wrong and just go about as if it's just a new KOTOR and play by myself instead of with others as the MMO part implies.

[RogueIce]

The Imperial Agent and Jedi Knight stores have been excellent so far, as has the Republic trooper. I find I tend to play the game wrong and just go about as if it's just a new KOTOR and play by myself instead of with others as the MMO part implies.

It really should have just been SP, and honestly if they kept the eight class stories mostly as-is and just dropped all the MMO stuff and had released it as KotOR3 people would probably have loved it a great deal. But as an MMO - especially a subscription based MMO as it started out - it really just wasn't worth it. Not in the long run once you did each of the stories.

[Sgt_Artyom]

Yeah, I find the inclusion of others just tends to fuck up my own narrative most of the time. Trying to play a light-side Imperial agent and whenever I join up with groups its always, LETS JUST DO THE MOST EVIL SHIT POSSIBLE, SITH FO LIFE DAWG! Kind of ruins it for me but it's the closest we've gotten to a new KOTOR game, so I deal with it.

[Iroscato]

I must confess, I've never played KOTOR or KOTOR II. I'm looking into rectifying this as soon as possible
I get on fine with playing solo so far, there does seem to be little benefit in playing missions in a group from what I've seen. I've gotten my cousin (who got me into it) to help me kill a couple of particularly stubborn bosses though.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Never a better time to do it. Kotor2 just had an out-of-the-blue huge update on Steam that integrates Steam Workshop and the restored content mod.

[Pinjar]

Enjoying the Star Wars Universe is enough for me to gloss over the flaws in SWTOR. I do enjoy it, but even so if it was just a Star Wars themed Dragon Age:Inquisition plus co-op and a social lobby then its difficult to see how it would be different for the vast majority of players.

I don't know how active PvP is more generally, and I don't think that PvP is really a focus of either SWTOR or STO. Something has definitely gone wrong of late with bolster, the normalizing mechanism in SWTOR PvP, so in a mirror image of STO, low level PvP in SWTOR is no longer as much fun but high level is fine (along as you avoid the elitists). I could never enjoy high level PvP in STO and gave up on it when a Fista Sister SciOfficer stood with her back to us taking pulsewaves from my entire team and then turned around and trivially killed us all. Low level PvP never seems to happen in STO anymore but without the gear differences and a good mix of people it was fun.

Nothing they had compares to HuttBall though. I do enjoy HuttBall. Its a good team focused game where the objective isn't just to kill other players or stand around waiting to be murdered at a node. I don't understand why but a lot of, or perhaps a small very vocal minority, groan about HuttBall.

[Iroscato]

Never a better time to do it. Kotor2 just had an out-of-the-blue huge update on Steam that integrates Steam Workshop and the restored content mod.

(S'pose I should install Steam for the first time whilst I'm at it...)

[TheFeniX]

I don't know how active PvP is more generally, and I don't think that PvP is really a focus of either SWTOR or STO. Something has definitely gone wrong of late with bolster, the normalizing mechanism in SWTOR PvP, so in a mirror image of STO, low level PvP in SWTOR is no longer as much fun but high level is fine (along as you avoid the elitists). I could never enjoy high level PvP in STO and gave up on it when a Fista Sister SciOfficer stood with her back to us taking pulsewaves from my entire team and then turned around and trivially killed us all. Low level PvP never seems to happen in STO anymore but without the gear differences and a good mix of people it was fun.

I always found STO ground combat PvP to be garbage. My healer could literally heal through anything if I was willing to just run around and abuse LOS (and there was a lot to LOS around). I was the drive-by medic, get vision on a team-member for 1 second, throw a 90% HP heal, and them I'm around the corner, off to my next patient. The Kerrat System was some of the best "World" PvP around (when the instances were balanced). Open-PvP with PvE objectives. Had so much fun dusting Feds and bots there.

Nothing they had compares to HuttBall though. I do enjoy HuttBall. Its a good team focused game where the objective isn't just to kill other players or stand around waiting to be murdered at a node. I don't understand why but a lot of, or perhaps a small very vocal minority, groan about HuttBall.

The hate for Huttball, at least back when I played, was it being the only same-faction capable warzone. So, the dominate faction played it all the time because there wasn't enough of the other side queuing. The non-dominate faction groaned when it came up because the dominate faction was usually a lot better at it due to experience (and gear*). *It was win-win in old SWTOR for the dominate faction. As boring as Huttball could get, your faction was still gearing up 100%, just with the losing team getting less. Whereas, cross-faction huttball almost guaranteed a win for the dominate faction, the smaller faction getting less gear over time and the gear gap bleeding into other warzones and Ilum.

This same experience is why early Klinks in STO were almost always better at PvP than Feds: it was all they had (aside from a few missions). So, you were literally leveling to max with PvP and had to focus on builds and gear that were effective very early in your character's career. Unlike feds who could do sole PvE content to Max, then go into warzones with hilariously bad builds.

[Flagg]

Yeah, it's pretty fun if you enjoy hot pokers jammed up your urethra MMO's. Other than that, it's a waste of time and money (yeah, it's free to play unless you want to run fast before level 15, along with getting full xp for kills and quests).