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 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-07-31 04:58pm 

Can someone who's played the game tell me whether if I want to play it as a single player game, I can do all the single player stuff for free? I'm faintly interested in running the single player stuff as a single player game.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-07-31 05:02pm 

Limited WZs and flashpoints, not like they're really worth running over and over. As for Operations being locked-out, no big loss as I wouldn't pay $15 a month for 4 hours of content.... at least not anymore. Basically, you can play the only thing that's really fleshed-out in the game (SP story quests). I don't see how anyone could pick that over something like GW2 or just grabbing KOTOR 1 and 2 off steam for $10 (and the graphics would be better anyway, bwahahaha).

Basically, you would have access to all eight "single-player" storylines in full.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-07-31 05:16pm 

7 months to become F2P - LOTRO and STO lasted longer than that.

However, I have no real objection to the hybrid system which is more akin to LOTRO >IF< they make a game that is actually worth it.
Looking at their 'features' its pretty obvious they are scrambling to slap together this hybrid system out of what is actually ingame which looks so cheap and disgustingly pathetic to watch.

The introduction of the Cartel shit - Ugh, both STO and LOTRO got exceedingly worse with their cash shops with the initial cosmetic only garbage to paying to get the best gear. Since Cosmetic gear in TOR is almost completely worthless without a major overhaul it seems far more likely they will adopt the STO approach.
Cue: Pay for more companions, bigger ships and limited time boosters

Despite all this fluff attempt at F2P hype - I still notice the large gap in new content being generated which is really the biggest sign TOR has a bleak future ahead of it.
10 new space missions and a facebook vote crap item to reward people for subscribing... = Uhh, thanks for fuck all Bioware. Maybe if they offered an exclusive ship... call it the Galaxy-X uhh I mean Falcon.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-07-31 05:37pm 

The FeniX covered it, the content portion of the game the single player storylines are now accessible.

If you want an order to play the plot lines in chronologically (Or close enough)

Bounty Hunter
Trooper (Special)
Smuggler (Special)
Jedi Knight
Sith Warrior
Jedi Consular
Sith Inquisitor
Imperial Agent

The special tags are because both the Trooper and Smuggler take place over long periods of time. The entire 1-50 for all classes takes place chronology over two years with some classes (The Trooper) being one action packed year while the Imperial Agent takes place over two years (There is a big gap between the end of Chapter 1 to the start of Chapter 2 for very spoiler reasons)

And if you wanted a ranking of those classes missions on a one to ten scale my own personal ratings are as follows

Bounty Hunter - 5/10 Good act 1, struggles in act 2, Good act 3
Trooper - 6/10 Good Act 1/ Decent Act2/3 special note, most of the stuff the troop gets is grunt work but the female is Femshep and if the planet quests are only so-so the endings to each chapter are outstanding.
Smuggler - 8/10, Good Act 1/2/3 with the best dialog options in the game
Jedi Knight - 6/10 This is the KOTOR 3 story in essence Act 3 struggles but ends well
Sith Warrior - 7/10 Great Act 1, Decent Act 2, Good Act 3
Jedi Consular - 3/10 Bad act 1, Good Act 2, Decent Act 3
Sith Inquisitor - 4/10 Great Act 1,decent at best Act's 2 and 3.
Imperial Agent - 10/10 Good Act 1, Great Act 2, Awesome Act 3, second best dialog options in the game.

Final Recommendations
If your looking at playing The Old Republic once it hits Free to Play just for the single player content which happens to have an online component then my advice is play Jedi Knight and the Imperial Agent quests as the Knight is KOTOR 3 (In essence) and Imperial Agent has actual branching storylines where the things you do matter and not all choices are binary. Many are but understand that deciding A here means you get the option of C and D in twenty minutes while deciding B instead gets you D and F in roughly the same amount of time. Each of these little options build up until you get one of five endings.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-01 04:35pm 

What's that? TOR's single-player campaign, the only part worth playing, is going to be free? *cancels subscription*

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-01 05:27pm 

Meh, I fully expect Bioware to catch on to this and make it so you have to pay to get the full story. Wether that be the LOTRO style of having to pay to get to the new planets or putting in some sort of restraint system.

That said, I would still cancel my subscription just on principle and sound foresight. Paying Bioware to essentially make the game free 2 play for everyone while giving you fuck all in return is the same stunt Cryptic did. As for the 'expansion' that is no doubt in the works - Unless they have magically been holding back a lot of content their current progress does not bode well for how expansive any new content will be.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-01 10:10pm 

I could (and have, and have...) rant for hours about the Sith Inquisitor storyline. This is particularly obnoxious because both Assassin and Sorceror are really, really fun to actually play, they were just written in crayon.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-02 12:05pm 

The Knight storyline is so hit or miss. There's only 2-3 parts that feel "epic" which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but as Captain Amazing, you feel like the content should be better in it's application rather than the tedious mess that it is. Most antagonist motivations boil down to "FOR EVIL! MWAHAHAHAHA!" which is about par for the course in SW writing outside the movies.

I've had this inkling (right word?) for a while. There were talks of monthly release schedules of content (a lot more than has been released) and you could pick up bits and pieces from what little the devs were saying. Now, they could have just been flat-out lying, but I'm more inclined to believe someone has decided it would be better to hold off on anything good (well... you know what I mean) and release it as part of (or parallel to) the whole F2P deal.

The problem with this idea is that when the content gets released and turns out to be shitty reskins, more shit stolen from the movies, cartoons, or other SW games, or just plain bad (or a combination of all three), it's going to really blow up in their face. Bioware (and Cryptic) never figured out what Blizzard did years ago: You can't make a game successful by constantly saying "remember X! X was COOL!! We have X in our game, PLEASE PLAY OUR GAME!"

White Haven: Rant on, man. Rant on. God knows I am.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-02 01:11pm 

Subscriptions are down to something over 500k but under a million. Yeah that's how they described it. I guess someone from Goldman-Sachs called bullshit at that point and got hung up on. It seems obvious now that F2P was the only alternative to shutdown.

Stick a fork in it, this game is dead.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-02 04:49pm 

I kinda liked the Sith Inquisitor storyline but then I never really bought the pitch this class was meant to be Palpatine incarnate. The first companion you get out the box pretty much highlights how simplistic the storyline is compared to something more intricate and interesting like the IA story.

Additonally, my first character was a Jedi Sage which was extremely boring compared to the Sith Inquisitor. At least the Sith Inquisitor gets a little sassy at points by using lightning on folks. The Consular was just painfully dull.

For a game that totes good storylines, the inbuilt companion selection is equally dire. The Smuggler / Agents get the better deal on interesting companions for the most part.
Not counting the gimick stupid companions that are there just for fun I.E Jawa Rocket Launcher Tank Companion
One of the things that makes being able to borrow companions across your Legacy or alter their role a far more interesting feature.
Instead of being stuck with a companion that loathes everything I do but is required to fufil the role I need: I can take a companion that can do the role I need AND be the one I actually want to quest with.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-02 04:59pm 

This is how I'd do it:

- Play one character all the way to 50 doing most of the quests. This will unlock your legacy.
- Create your other class characters and use the legacy perk system to boost your story class XP (Costs an affordable amount of credits. Your first character should be able to supply the cash).
- Play your other class characters story classes. Your legacy story class XP boost should more or less keep you at a playable level while you focus only on your class story.

You'll play one character as an MMO and the rest of your 7 characters as a singleplayer game.



Also, I don't think the FTP addition isn't really going to change the game for subscribers. It'll merely add new (limited-featured) players to the servers and more players is a good thing.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-02 05:09pm 

Funny enough the Sith Warrior story is all Vader/Emperor with you getting to play Vader, while the Sith Inquistor storyline is Darth Maul/Emperor with you getting to play Emperor... twice. Once on Corellea the very end stage of your story mission, once on Nar Shaddar with building your own personality cult. Otherwise your Maul the entire 50 levels. Meanwhile the Warrior gets to play both Vader and Emperor but you spend a lot more time being Vader than Emperor the ways you get to screw people over are so much better.

And don't get me started about Khem Val, the companion who hates you every time you want to play Emperor. Fuck that snaggle toothed bitch.
And before anyone gets on me, Khem Val has some legitimately fucked up dental work


Consular is the only class I've not seen all the way to the end but damn does it start and keep going slow only picking up towards the end of the middle.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-02 05:54pm 

I played the Sage all the way to the end as a first character and it remains dull... it just becomes slightly less dull as you progress beyond the stupid build up. That said, the stupid is more a problem of the interweaving grand stories and the locations Bioware decided to fixate on.

Almost every class gets stuck with at least one deadweight companion that makes you REALLY want to wonder why the fuck they stick with you. The Sith Inquisitor gets stuck with a bitch of a Padawaan that effectivelly goes nowhere as you gain affection. Meanwhile your Smuggler stays true to the awesome Han Solo sterotype with a Wookie, two girls to play with... and a Mon Calamari wannabe Jedi.

I have to say I really dislike almost ALL of the alien companions because I actually like hearing human voices speaking the dialogue rather than gibberish filtered through a computer to make it sound alien. Most of the aliens end up being quite dull or simplistic ANYWAY. However, I fully expect Bioware to continue coming out with non-human companions that dont speak english because they can just filter the same bullshit a hundred different ways without paying for new VA work and slapping it on whatever texture model they like.

The Empire is a lot of fun compared to the Republic but the stereotyped personality of the Empire can get extremely grating. Especially for the IA when Sith are constantly preaching and demanding you bow before them rather than just get on with actual work. The IA scene where you have to 'bow' to Janus alone would have had me defect from Empire to Republic.
Made even more funny when my Sith Inquisitor was a 50, on the Dark Council AND the 'mother' of my Imperial Agent. Janus should be bowing to me.... would be nice to have legacies actually impacting on character dialogue and stories beyond the perk system.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-04 02:27pm 

So how long do you think before it fails completely? I still have to finish all the Republic class story lines and Flashpoints (Not really interested in the Empire).

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-04 02:52pm 

TOR will not fail completely. Crappy MMOs are more than capable of limping along and still do to this day.
Between Bioware and Star Wars you will get more than enough rabid fans that will ask for more even as they get charged for the privelage of being shit on repeatedly. Worked out wonders for STO.
The only way TOR dies is if another Star Wars MMO appears to replace it or they kill it to fuel another MMO. Mass Effect MMO being the most predictable which will get the same over hyped PR then likely go the same route as TOR.

Hell, I wouldnt be that surprised if they played out TOR for say... 2 years, shut it down then came out with TOR 2.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-04 03:09pm 

Considering the amount of money TOR cost and the number of people required I question that. Payed expansions maybe but a brand new TOR 2? The problem/benefit of MMO's is getting a loyal customer base that will be playing ten years later and paying. You can't pull an NHL 2013 and expect results.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-04 03:23pm 

Well Hopefully they'll learn from their mistakes if they ever make a sequel.

Namely by just making it a goddamn single player RPG, since they obviously don't know how to make people keep playing after the storylines are done.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-09 08:26am 

Wife and I went on a cruise, came back, and found that SWTOR was going F2P. As we just like to play the story lines cooperatively with each other, now wondering if we shouldn't dump our subscriptions and play for free once it commences.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-09 01:45pm 

As it stands right now, since you aren't concerned with raiding, flashpoints, or dailies, you should be in the clear. The only issue would be if they decide to limit the Heroic planet missions, but I haven't seen anything on that. I really feel sorry for people stuck on low pop planets who never got a chance to do all the heroics. There's a few really bad ones (like on Republic Nar Shadaa). But most of them were really fun and/or brutally hard.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-16 12:03pm 

It's hilarious to contrast the Sith Warrior's storyline with the Inquisitor's,

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-16 12:10pm 

Not only that but

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-16 09:03pm 

I get the impression the Jedi Consular was drawn up first and resulted in the standard Diplomatic Jedi who gathers allies to strengthen the Republic, then Bioware turned around realising they needed to make an opposite out of the Empire side of the fence.

The result is a Sith Inquisitor that dosent give a shit about anyone else or even the Empire beyond gaining more power for no apparant purpose. The Jedi Consular at least had some closure with the finale of you standing side by side with your assembled allies to continue the fight for good.
The Sith Inqusitor dosent end at all, it basically cuts off with the idea your goal is to continue gaining more power.

I would have liked and expected the Inquisitor to end up becoming a secret hand of the Emperor designed to eliminate the heretics, traitors and bullshit infighting so the Empire can actually function to defeat the Republic. Instead you just become Darth Indiana Jones... responsible for fuck all except finding more power for yourself. Personnally, I would like the see the Sith Inquisitor becoming the head of Imperial Intellgence and share the concepts with the IA storyline.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-23 07:33am 

This image of the new boss... why does it remind me of Barney the Dinosaur?

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-23 08:58am 

Not seeing it, but it's more proof that the Korea designers have precedent because damn that looks silly.

 Post subject: Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic (The Thread)

Posted: 2012-08-28 04:42pm 

I love how they're still just sticking with one giant ass mob in their boss fights. I can't think of a single fight requiring targetting more than 2 mobs that wasn't just spawning adds every 30 seconds or so. But hey, "40 people fighting one mob isn't very epic" but still seems to fit with their gameplay scheme. Eternity Vault is almost certainly going to end up being the only interesting raid that ever exists in SWTOR. This makes sense because they spent the better part of a decade designing it but, unfortunately, only spent about 15 minutes a month on bug-fixes for it.

Supposedly, Ranked WZs were such a flop, even "The Fatman" server is having issues filling out rosters (and getting into games) during prime-time. TTK is still way low, but there's enough "nerf this and that" thread spread across multiple classes, I have to assume the balance is pretty good. It kind of reminds me when a lot of Jugs and Guardians finally learned their class/builds inside and out. They went from barely topping Agents in the "rank list" to "that tank hit me with a 6k sweep NERF NERF NERF!"

Heroics are getting back to normal (as in, no one can do them because the server merge fervor has died down) with some posters requesting the ability to solo them with 2+ companions. Of course, this brings out the best and brightest with comments like "let's remove the M from MMO," which does a great job of not only being stupid, but also completely missing the point of the complaint: The M being gone has nothing to do with the player.

Didn't GW2 go live today? If that doesn't crush what little life is left in SWTOR, then Pandaria likely will. It's funny in retrospect how many stabs BW devs and EA marketing whores took at WoW and other similar MMOs during their 4 year development circle-jerk, only to copy the bad parts, leave out the good shit, then crater like the hacks they are. I honestly hope EA just amputates outright. At least then there's the (barest of the bare) hope that another developer could actually produce a decent SW MMO.