thoughts on star wars: the old republic

tl;dr -- i wont be playing it all that much after hitting 29 due to losing interest

i tweeted about my (brief, 144 character) thoughts on the game and many people wanted to know more so i decided to write this blog. this wont be edited, rechecked for grammar (or anything, really), or have any capitalization because fuck it im lazy.

this is written after dumping 1 day 20 hours into the game during pre relase launch (no beta play really) and on a level 29 sith assassin. many of the mechanics might not be exactly how they work but are from my experiences with the game and nothing else. sorry if they are wrong (feel free to correct in comments i suppose). also keep in mind these are purely my opinion on the game so dont go fucking apeshit if you dont agree with them, you have an opinion too so play the game and form yours :)

swtor is an alright mmo if you've never played another polished one before. 1-10 is your normal (boring) phase introducing you to the mechanics of the game (which has some unique / fun mechanics, more on that later) and then at 10 you choose your advanced classes. i chose a light saber weilding class: assassin)

the class is rather unique and in general the classes across the game are pretty interested. the assassin is a light armor off-tank class (primary tank being the juggernaut for sith) which also serves as the stealth melee class (a la rogue from WoW). this means the class has a vanish, a 50% dmg reduction, an evis as well as a deathgrip and a kick. its a pretty versatile class, to be honest, and the class structure across the game is pretty versatile

companions are an awesome addition simply because everyone gets a pet at lvl 10 as well as 3 others later on in the game (i believe on 15, 25, 35? not sure about the last one, i only got 3). they also are the way crafting works in the game. for example, the primary profession most people are using now is slicing. it is the best way to make money for your mount at 25 and beyond that. my slicing is at 350/400 or something like that (no level req on professions atm so you can boost via an alt but you'll only have 1 companion to do the work)

how it works: you send companions on "missions" that start off 3-10 minutes and towards the end 1 hour (real time) to 2 hours (on "epic" level missions). these yield a plethora of items depending on what craft but slicing generally gives you enhancements (more on that later, too) and lockboxes which contain credits. it received nerfs at end of beta apparently and will probably receive more because its stupid easy to make money

enhancements are also an interesting take on items within the game. "orange" level items (not sure what the real name is, doesnt matter) come without any stats but with 4 enhancement slots within them (think gemming from daoc but instead of just altering some stats, it alters all) this means that you can use your level 10 lightsaber all the way until the end of the game if you simply switch out the enhancements because it effects dps as well. pretty cool feature

now to the things it does poorly: zone design

zones, aka planets, in swtor are poorly designed. your ship (you get at 15) serves as your zone hub to the planets across the galaxy where you'll go and do all your questing. you cannot hearth to your ship as far as i know but only to the areas within each zone. this causes a lot of mindless walking without a mount prior to 25. theres also a major hub (a la orgrimmar) in the imperial fleet and you have to fly to here as well in your ship. another example is the planet design itself.

take for example tatooine. i dunno if i was doing it wrong or what but the start of the zone has you walking around a rather large area (generally without a mount to start, but this is the zone where all sith will receive their mount) fighting against other members of your faction for ~10 mob spawns to collect 5 items. it also has you traveling across the zone and coming back to the same quest hub multiple times. WoW spoiled me, and im sure a lot of other people, with the latest expansions because there was always a smooth movement from hub to hub without any back tracking.

also, a zone whose name i forget, has you flying around to different platforms via a "stable master" to do different quest hubs. it was generally an annoying experience altogether.

i tried one ship combat (its an on-rails shooter experience with different objectives and a huge amount of ugprades available for your ships) and did not enjoy it that much. my friend, however, said he had fun with it.

pvping is your general pvp in any mmo. theres 3 battlegrounds and all levels are available to queue for them (1-50 are all put into the asme matches). people are bumped up to lvl 50 base stats i believe (12k hp). the three game types are: hoth koth (arathi basin), bomb defusal on some ship (strand of the ancients), and hutt ball )neutral ctf game where you can pass the ball.. its probably the highest "skill cap" of them all, but generally fails because the public doesnt understand that yet).

what else am i missing.. oh, instances!

there is no lfg queue system (which spoiled everyone if you've played wow) so you're stuck using /general or /yell to find members, which isnt all that hard at the moment. the dungeons themselves vary from short to extremely long and you arent always fighting elite mobs. the bosses are your generic encounters (kiting mobs while dpsing other, fight 4 guys, etc etc etc). it was an alright time and you can even 2 man instances due to companion being able to fill the other spots.

my biggest complaint with the game though is the UI. there is no UI customization in regards to shrinking it, and it results in a huge amount of clutter.

i get a general feeling of not feeling like a badass (which is really what these games are all about I guess). whenever i back stab a mob it doesnt feel like its doing all that much and im not really sure why. maybe its my connection with the source material that bores me. i dunno. if you're still on the fence about it consider this (like i did when i purchased it):

i put ~50 hours into the game for 60$ and had some fun while doing it. i wont be paying the 14.99 first month fee (i think its free.. i hope its free haha) so, if you're still on the fence, pick it up, try it over the break, and see how you feel

im 29 and im probably not going to be playing as much because sc2 is downloading on this new laptop and i should probably be playing that anyways :P hope this helped!