SW: The Old Republic Part 2

[Hurlshort]

I decided to start a fresh thread, since the old one is bloated and testers are no longer censored. I'm going to break my posts up by the class that I played, so there will be a couple.

 

First off, I need to send a huge huge thanks to Oblarg. About a month ago he sent me his account to use, and it simply made my day, as well as the subsequent weeks. It was extremely charitable and I owe him a big one, I was dying to get into the beta.

 

There are possible spoilers here, but only stuff from the first ten levels of play, so chill out. Also, one of the big arguments was about unique content. Understand that even though many classes may share a combat area, they are often there for different reasons. The reasons for finishing quests are varied nicely for the different classes and play to the personal stories very well.

 

For my first character, I felt obligated to try the Jedi Knight. You start out on the planet of Tython, and you are apparently a bit of a prodigy and already have a good amount of combat training. As you arrive at the academy, you find out that the native humanoids have become hostile. They also have started to use energy weapons, whereas they were strictly a sticks and stones race in the past. You go out to save padawans and solve the mystery.

 

The quests are pretty standard RPG stuff, but every one is delivered via a cut scene. These are well done, and they make the NPC's more engaging than the standard MMO. The jedi combat is also fairly standard sword swinging stuff, but it feels good. It's a decent pace, I'd say a bit faster than WoW. This is just for the jedi, the other classes were remarkably different in feel.

 

As you progress through the quests, you get a few dark/light choices. Some of them are standard spare the enemy stuff, but some of them are cooler. One very funny sequence allows you to flirt with a Twilek who runs an outpost that you have been helping. Eventually you have a choice to 'seal the deal'. You get dark side points for this, but you can actually get them back by admitting it to your master. The whole scenario was handled well, it was one of the better done Bioware romances, actually. It was also easy to avoid by not flirting in the first place, so don't go crazy about that.

 

I took my Jedi Knight to level 10, which basically was the end of the time on the starter planet Tython. The quests were great and I received a lightsaber at the end. I boarded the shuttle to the space station with the goal of reaching Coruscant. Getting up to the space station was simply amazing. I found walking through the hangars and looking at ships to be a jawdropping experience. This is a gorgeous game. Space Stations act as hubs for each side, so when you go from planet to planet, you go to the stations first. I think this changes when you get a ship, but I'm not sure.

 

As cool as the stations were, Coruscant was even more amazing. Traffic zips through the air all around, and you actually join it when you take hovercars to places. I only scratched the surface of the quests on this planet. I actually felt the Jedi Knight storyline was a bit too goody-two shoes for me, so I decided to try some other classes. My next write up will be for the awesome Sith Inquisitor.

[Maria Caliban]

I've played a Commando and Shadow to 30, a Sage to 20, and an Agent to 10.

 

A few general notes...

 

The game assumes you'll reach level 10 on your starter world. At level 10, you can go to your faction fleet and get your AC. A regular trainer cannot give you your AC. I'm saying this because General chat was constantly spammed with 'How do I get my AC?' during last beta weekend.

 

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All your abilities key off your classes primary stat. You might read somewhere 'Strength increases the damage done via melee.' That's applies only to Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior. If you're a Consular, your melee attacks will key off Wisdom. If you're an Operative, they'll key off Cunning.

 

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Storywise, the classes are: Jedi Knight, Sith Warrior, Jedi Consular, Sith Inquisitor, Smuggler, Imperial Agent, Trooper, and Bounty Hunter.

 

Mechanically, the classes are: Shadow/Assassin, Guardian/Juggernaut, Sage/Sorcerer, Sentinel/Marauder, Operative/Scoundrel, Sniper/Gunslinger, Commando/Mercenary, and Vangaurd/Powertech.

 

If someone says, "The Shadow has a good alpha strike." You can substitute Assassin for Shadow. If someone says, "The Jedi Consular has a large force pool," it's not true. The Sage/Sorcerer has a force pool of 500 while the Shadow/Assassin has one of 100.

 

Base class does dictate some things: Armor type, primary stat, companions, and resource type.

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All DPS specced classes do equal DPS*. A Sentinel has no ability to tank or heal. A Commando can heal. If both classes put all their talent points in their DPS tree, they will do roughly equal DPS.

 

All healers do equal healing*. All tanks do equal tanking*.

 

*That's the stated intent. In execution, I'd say that's not the case, but I assume like most MMOs, the developers will constantly change things up, so the class that's 'really' the best in a specific role changes over time.

[Hurlshort]

I will say this, TOR is an MMO, and you shouldn't fool yourself into thinking otherwise. But it does one thing better than any other MMOs, and that is tell an individual story. So it might be worth the price of admission for you just to experience that. It's also set in an awesome universe. They have taken the great vibe of the KotOR games and expanded it into this gigantic play space.

[Malcador]

Huh, you had to wait until the NDA lifted to share that ?

 

Thanks, though, it does sound interesting. Decided that I'll get the game 2-3 months after release, better idea of how it is faring, etc. at that point.

[HoonDing]

I'm sure all those millions of WoW players can't wait to jump in to enjoy the typical BioWare awesome story.

[Malcador]

It'd have to be a step up from WoW's. And a lot of the players will just jump to something new, if it holds them, great.

Edited November 19, 2011 by Malcador

[Hurlshort]

I will do another full character write up in a bit, but this morning I got a starship for my bounty hunter, and it is glorious.

[ShadySands]

I'm jealous.

 

Dec 20 can't come soon enough

[Walsingham]

Does sound engaging. Thanks for taking the trouble to write it up!

[Hurlshort]

Ok, time for my Sith Inquisitor write-up.

 

I actually went with a Trooper for my second character, but a few levels in I realized this was the class for me, and I didn't want to play it too long and ruin the story for launch. I will say Ord Mantell (or the starter world for smugglers and troopers) was my favorite. It's a cool kind of cyberpunk feeling place.

 

I started the Inquisitor thinking this is probably the last class I would want to play at retail, so it would be a good one to experiment with at beta. I was grossly mistaken there. The Inquisitor storyline is simply fantastic, and it drew me in tremendously. I figured it would be too dark for me and I would be turned off by the evil stuff, but it really kept things rather grey, and there were legitimate reasons for all the decisions I needed to make, even the dark side ones.

 

You start out as a former slave who has been brought to the academy at Korriban due to a high aptitude in the Force. I also chose an alien race, and was pleasantly surprised how many lines of dialogue made sneering mention of my non-human lineage. Your trainer is fairly unhappy that you are receiving training, and right away you are pitted against his teacher's pet. While the pet gets the easy jobs, you are sent into very difficult situations and continuously triumph.

 

I was very happy with the variety of quests. There were puzzles and interrogation sequences to go along with the 'search vault for artifact' instances. It was very well written. Also, the voicework for the Imperials is awesome, probably because all of those british and scottish accents.

 

Inquisitors are also a blast to play, with lightening spells tearing opponents apart way before they get in reach.

 

Eventually you get a companion, who is actually this bloodthirsty creature named Kham Val. He is indentured to your service, but he complains about what a weak sith master you are, especially if you show any mercy. I found Korriban to be an awesome planet and a neat reminder of KotOR.

 

Dromund Kaas, the capital city of the faction, was also amazing. It was dark and gloomy with lightning and messed up wildlife to explore. But I'll go into more detail on that with my Bounty Hunter write-up.

[Calax]

Honestly, I much preferred the Inquisitor from what I played. I did that and the Sith soldier (the dark Jedi base class basically), and the dark jedi one just seemed.... boring. I didn't get to do much else because I only got one weekend thus far, but I much more enjoyed my Inquisitor. I would LOVE to be in again for the non-jedi classes.

[Cantousent]

So you're going to switch from WoW?

 

Frankly, I'm just not excited about the game, but I am curious about it. The way I see it, why ditch one MMORPG for another? Nonetheless, I can see why folks might like the Star Wars Universe. I might wait to see if there's some sort of trial promotion when it ships and then give it a long weekend during Christmas break.

[Calax]

I might. It depends on how many people I know who would play it at least somewhat. The thing about WoW is that it's getting stale beyond belief at this point and seriously needs to be rebuilt from the ground up so that you don't slam into walls in terms of mechanics every so often.

 

If I'd had the player base in rift and managed to find a stable crew to run around with, I'd probably have stuck with that. I have a better chance with Star Wars, but again, I'd need to have friends who I could run with (although the game seems pretty dang sweet). TOR has a very good chance right now, because WoW is loosing some serious steam overall (1.9 million subs in the past year? Mostly attributed to china but still) and TOR is the biggest thing that could snap up the losses.

[trulez]

The way I see it, why ditch one MMORPG for another? Nonetheless, I can see why folks might like the Star Wars Universe.

Yes, the choice between panda monks and lightsaber wielding jedi is a tough one. Oh wait, it's not.

[Cantousent]

I get your point, Trulez. I had a "what the hell" moment when I heard about the panda thing. I still don't know if I believe it, but it won't matter to me anyhow.

 

As for you, Cal, I wouldn't mind getting on the same realm (or whatever TOR calls servers) as you. You know that I tend to go MIA for long stretches, but I would join up to see how the game shakes out. I think it ships before the Holidays, right? After the first, I'm probably screwed. Thanksgiving week and Christmas are my best bets.

 

Thanks for the write ups, Hurlshot.

[Raithe]

It ships out on 20th December, pre-orders will have (potentially) be playing it up to 5 days before then...

 

They did say that they won't lock you in to servers depending on your location (ie, those in Europe could join the American servers if they didn't think the lag would be bad) or such like, but that might have changed in the couple of months since they'd considered that.

 

So I imagine it would be quite possible for the Obs folks interested in it to end up sharing a server at the end of the day for at least one character..

[Calax]

Well, the thing is that with the way I play this stuff I'd want to find a stable crew I could run with when I get to max level (of course, usually you get to max level FIRST then find a stable crew to rock out with...)

 

One of the biggest detriments to WoW's player community HAS to be the random dungeon finder. Seriously. Before you actually had to have a rep on the server you were playing for not being a **** before you could get a group together to run, now you just sit around and wait for one group to be formed by a computer... none of whom have any clue who you are and will never ever see you again.

[Hurlshort]

Calax, I'm joining up with a real world friend from work who has a very active guild, and they are all migrating over from WoW. They were originally formed during City of Heroes. I'm also getting my wife to play, so I'll be running a character with her with a slower pace. You are totally welcome to join, it seems like a very nice group.

 

As for switching MMO's, like all games I find there is always a point where you just want something new. Personally I spent almost two years playing WoW and I enjoyed it, but eventually I lost interest in the world. Then I played Lord of the Rings Online for even longer, 5-6 years. It was a blast and the universe really kept me excited to explore. But eventually I started playing it less and less, and now I'm ready for something new. Given how Bioware has crafted the Star Wars universe, I think it will keep my attention for a long time.

[HoonDing]

I present to you:

[Malcador]

For some reason thet Exile's voice makes me think of SHODAN.

Edited November 22, 2011 by Malcador

[ShadySands]

The beta is downloading right now and I can't wait until this weekend

[Nepenthe]

The beta is downloading right now and I can't wait until this weekend

While their web server is absolutely hammered, I got the download at a nice, steady 3.30MB/s.

[Starwars]

I present to you:

 

That was hilarious... or sad, I can't quite make up my mind.

[Volourn]

Not worse than anything found in either KOTOR that's for sure.

Edited November 22, 2011 by Volourn

[Calax]

Honestly, Revan in that doesn't seem to match up with much from the KOTOR game. And the Exile is just... ewwwwwwwwww