Star Wars The Old Republic

[Porn Shop Clerk]

nope, sure ain't so i'll beat the poo out of it for you

[natty]

So now that some people have had a chance to play it....how is it? I'm seriously considering picking this up. I don't want to waste 50-60 bucks tho. Not to mention I'm already playing Rift and I love it (though I am getting a bit bored, since I've done just about everything)....i don't have time for two MMO's.

It's fantastic. You won't waste your money, there's plenty of content to enjoy to get your $50 worth even if you don't end up playing the game long term.

god dammit i need a new PC to play these games, problem is even after $1500 I won't be able to play next year's games...

to me this is the main negative PCs have on consoles, the experience is all in the computer, especially online games. But god this game looks so fuging good...always been a fan of the star wars RPGs and Im not even a fan of star wars

Why in the world would you think you need a $1500 computer to play? Even then, why would you think a $1500 computer wouldn't play next years games? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm genuinely curious why you'd think that.

[stankowalski]

I have played most every major MMO out there. Rift is one of the many I have a great deal of experience with...

I much prefer leveling in TOR. Can't speak to end game because I'm not there, but the voice over stories and multiple options have so far drawn me into the story.

Yeah I figure the story would be pretty good with Bioware. But could you be specific about the leveling? What makes it good?

In Rift, as you know, you have 8 souls that you can basically mix and match into 5 roles to play however you want. That's what really is great about Rift. When I get bored with one play style I can always change it up without having to make a new character. Is it similar in TOR? Maybe it's the same with all MMO's, I have no idea since Rift is the only one I've ever played.

Also I play Rift on my laptop. Will I be able to run TOR?

[Porn Shop Clerk]

probably locked into a class on TOR. probably can respec within the class though.

if it runs rift, it should run TOR, but hey, dcuo is f2p if you're worried about spending 50$ on a game that will require you to pay monthly after the first month.

that's like 50$ to rent a game for a month otherwise

[Guest Irv]

god dammit i need a new PC to play these games, problem is even after $1500 I won't be able to play next year's games...

to me this is the main negative PCs have on consoles, the experience is all in the computer, especially online games. But god this game looks so fuging good...always been a fan of the star wars RPGs and Im not even a fan of star wars

you could put a $300 graphics card in a 2004 dell and be able to play this game.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

you'd have to pop in a new psu first

[cookinwithgas]

I took Kurbs advice and turned off shadows, MUCH better thanks!

So far...

I'm at level 8 and so far the game is VERY linear - story trumps all. The Jedi temple location is very nicely done but the area seems pretty constrained as to where you can go and what you can do. The interaction of the NPCs via video and audio gameplay looks great, and the ability to ask questions a certain way is cool - but sometimes I get a bit bored listening to them talk and would rather have the text boxes back so I can skim and get to the meat of the matter. It seems the've crafted this game for casual gamers that like Star Wars and want to hit things with a lightsaber. I'll have to create another character like a bounty hunter and check that out as well.

I can only compare this to LOTRO - and I think that LOTRO has a better ability for the character to move around and choose different things to do, more side quests that don't always involve killing stuff, etc. SWTOR is a more advanced UI with better battle animation that has the potential for way cooler stuff down the line.

[mav1234]

cwg, hit spacebar if you want to skip cut scenes.

many of the random "rescue my randomitem/person" quests I tend to fast forward through.

The world opens up quite a bit past Coruscant, but it's still pretty linear.

[Brandon]

Speaking of pcs, im going to be starting to travel a bit and need some help on getting a laptop I can play these games on that don't cost an arm and a leg. Any suggestions?

I recently picked up an HP dv6-6117dx from Best Buy for ~$430 a couple weeks ago. Has the AMD A8-3800M which does a gold job of playing most games on decent settings. Only bad part is the amount of bloatware you have to remove when you get it.

[mav1234]

Yeah I figure the story would be pretty good with Bioware. But could you be specific about the leveling? What makes it good?

In Rift, as you know, you have 8 souls that you can basically mix and match into 5 roles to play however you want. That's what really is great about Rift. When I get bored with one play style I can always change it up without having to make a new character. Is it similar in TOR? Maybe it's the same with all MMO's, I have no idea since Rift is the only one I've ever played.

Also I play Rift on my laptop. Will I be able to run TOR?

First apologies as this will be a bit long, but I decided to go into detail here because a more length description may help you decide better if the game is for you!

You should be able to play TOR, but make sure to turn off some settings if your framerate is sluggish, and check the suggested specs just to make sure you can cover the minimums. I actually have a better framerate in TOR than in Rift running at highest settings and I think the game looks better, but I am running on a basically top of the line machine. For some reason, high-end configs on Rift have always given me tons of trouble.

Leveling in TOR is great because of a few things. First, the storyline. You have a unique class storyline, so there are 4 class storylines per side. In addition there are a number of "planet" storyline quests for each planet, and several side quests with minor story details that can be pretty cool. All of it is voiced, and there are choices and cut scenes for many of them. While the questing is relatively typical, you also end up with bonus objectives when you enter an area. Some of them are multi-tiered and give nice rewards.

But really, TOR leveling isn't just about the storyline. Combat in TOR is aided by the lack of an auto attack (will get to this in a sec) and the fact you almost NEVER fight single opponents unless they are "elite." Most of the "normal" mobs come in large groups - 3 to 5. Since there is no auto attack, you basically end up using a variety of abilities in many circumstances. While there is a "Basic Attack", in some classes you rarely use it at all after your first few levels. Depending on what kind of group of mobs you are engaging, you'll be using different abilities. Every class has some kind of AoE, multiple single target abilities, and some CC. Especially at the start of Act II you'll need that CC, as it gets tougher and tougher. Combat animations are also flashy and well done, but overall this is "standard" mmo combat minus the auto attack. Still better done than Rift/WoW IMO, but not at AoC level to me.

Now as to character classes... Overall I think Rift has a better system, because as you said you can radically change your character at a moment's notice. You can't quite do that here, but you can shift roles easily from DPS to tank/healer (if you have the gear for both and your class supports those roles). Rift is unique in that you can mix and match trees within your class. In TOR as in most MMOs, when you pick your "final class" you are set on those trees, though they may implement the ability to switch advanced classes in the future.

In SWTOR, there are 4 basic classes per side and each has 2 options for an advanced class. Knight/Warrior, Consular/Inquisitor, Smuggler/Agent, Trooper/Bounty Hunter. Knight/Warrior can specialize into a DW tank/DPS class or a single saber tank/DPS class. Consular/inquisitor can specialize into a stealthing DPS/tank class or a ranged DPS/healing class. Smuggler/agent can specialize into either a hybrid ranged-melee DPS class/healing class or a ranged DPS class. Trooper/BH can specialize into a DW DPS/tank class or a heavy gun DPS/tank class.

Just like in WoW/Rift, you have 3 talent trees to fill out... how you fill them out defines how well you perform your role. You can't change your "advanced class" but you can respec your talent trees easily. However you can't mix and match "trees" from the two ACs. Basically, imagine that as a Cleric in Rift, you could either choose to be a "Justicar" that had the shaman, justicar, and druid trees, or you could choose to be a "Sentinel" that had the sentinel, inquisitor, and cabalist trees.

There's also a fun space mini game that is a nice distraction from leveling that has great rewards.

Crafting is also really nice in this game, once you get more than one companion it is a lot of fun.

[stankowalski]

Not really liking the talks of linear gameplay.

[mav1234]

For many MMO gamers, when we refer to "linear gameplay" it often has to do with things like sandbox vs themepark... or at least it does for me.

A sandbox game is something like Star Wars Galaxies, with a lot of wide open choices and player-driven stuff.

Themeparks are WoW, Rift, etc.

I've found Rift and TOR to be equally "linear." The game is starting to open up now that I am a bit higher level though. Basically a couple choices of planets. The thing is, just like in Rift, you tend to get quests that lead from one quest hub to another. But if you happen to wander and find one, you can pick up quests there.

There are no "Rifts" like in Rift, but I honestly felt like rifts didn't contribute as much as they could have. They were neat early on but I felt like they got repetitive and didn't do anything special.

[stankowalski]

Probably still going to pick it up tomorrow....hope they fixed these server queues I've been reading about. Is that standard stuff for MMO's? I got in Rift about a month after launch and didn't have to see anything like server queues.

[mav1234]

It is standard at launch. When Rift launched there were long server queues.

I'm on Sanctum of the Exalted Republic side and have had no queues at all.