Star Wars: The Old Republic (MMO)

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Aye, definitely. The fact that a good number of raiding-focused players will barrel through the story to hit a wall in the end is all but a foregone conclusion. Too many are probably used to the vast amounts of raid content in WoW, and the nuances that go in to encounter design that Blizz have been developing over 7 years. In contrast, not many probably recall or were around the days when UBRS was the closest to "raid" content one could get in WoW. It took Blizz a lot of time to get where it is now, I just hope people will give Bioware said time as well.

Which is why I have no intentions of joining a guild until I have hit 50 at my own pace. Which is still going to be pretty quickly, probably, but I don't need any additional pressure in that regard. Nowhere to rush after all for now, and world firsts haven't really ever interested me.

That's not really a fair comparison. WoW did have MC and Onyxia in at release. UBRS being the highest level content was sometime in beta. Even Onyxia was in the beta near the end.

I'm somewhat hopeful about ToR but I'm quite hesitant when it comes to content updates being timely and I hope they at least manage better than what Blizz has fallen to for update time.

[creb]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Hm, so if I get this right, group cutscenes can only be skipped if all players agree to it ? (aka everyone needs to spacebar ?) If that's the case ... yeah, I can see this being the prime rage-inductor during PUG runs. WOTLK festered the "gogogog" mentality in too many players, people who couldn't be bothered to stop for a second between pulls, so I see this generating a lot of hostility indeed. It will probably be ok (more or less) at start, but I pity the new players who will join a year down the road and get to group with people who are leveling their 4th alt.

Yup, and what's going to provide even more fodder for the vile, negative, putrid energy that seems to seep out of the average MMO player in a PUG is that when you space bar through a cinematic/dialog, the game tells you who you're waiting on. So all the immature, asinine raging will be specifically targeted like a laser at the individual who's just trying to enjoy the story. Which will further cow some individuals into space barring through content even if they didn't actually want to, and here goes the snowball effect!

It's hard to remember that there was a time when people were generally polite and nice, but that was when MMOs were a niche and you couldn't do anything by yourself, so you had to act like a civilized member of society. Sadly, those gaming days are long, loooooooooong gone.

Outside of my realization that playing an MMO was essentially working a second job, the increasingly venomous player community was another huge reason I finally cut my addiction. I'm very grateful for having been given all the time in beta to experience the game without all that venom.

[Keroko]

It's funny, but generally you can still find good communities in the so-called "failed" MMO's.

[HurricaneHige]

Originally Posted by creb

Yup, and what's going to provide even more fodder for the vile, negative, putrid energy that seems to seep out of the average MMO player in a PUG is that when you space bar through a cinematic/dialog, the game tells you who you're waiting on. So all the immature, asinine raging will be specifically targeted like a laser at the individual who's just trying to enjoy the story. Which will further cow some individuals into space barring through content even if they didn't actually want to, and here goes the snowball effect!

It's hard to remember that there was a time when people were generally polite and nice, but that was when MMOs were a niche and you couldn't do anything by yourself, so you had to act like a civilized member of society. Sadly, those gaming days are long, loooooooooong gone.

Outside of my realization that playing an MMO was essentially working a second job, the increasingly venomous player community was another huge reason I finally cut my addiction. I'm very grateful for having been given all the time in beta to experience the game without all that venom.

Vindictus had skippable cutscenes too, and when I run through the first time around I watch every scene, and if someone bitches I just tell them to gtfo...but rarely anyone bitches about cutscenes since they were mostly enjoyable. The same goes for SWTOR and I don't plan on skipping anything first time around. I will probably skip through them on launch since i have already seen the lower lvl ones, but I dont plan on bitching about ppls that watch them.

I don't know...I used to be extremely hardcore in MMO, but i find you can always spare a little time for some lore stuff, doesn't hurt. Can always make up lost time with less sleep

[JagdPanther]

I've been getting cold feet regarding the pre-order of the collector's edition. I may cancel it.

But, reading these reviews, it may still be worth it to get the game in regular format. As long as it has good single player, I might want to play the game for the Trooper's story and maybe a Jedi guardian.

[Vexx]

Now... if they could come up with a way to make this a game controller - the fan squee would be enormous.

http://www.ultrasabers.com/default.asp

[Keroko]

Next weekend be swtor weekend.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be running around the room squeeing.

[Rahan]

Woot. Just received an invitation to beta test this.

It's the first time I take part in something like this. But I have never played a MMORPG before. Heck, I didn't even know this game was in production when I woke up 1 hour ago. When I redeemed the code, I still thought it was a KOTOR game.

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by Rahan

Woot. Just received an invitation to beta test this.

It's the first time I take part in something like this. But I have never played a MMORPG before. Heck, I didn't even know this game was in production when I woke up 1 hour ago. When I redeemed the code, I still thought it was a KOTOR game.

According to Bioware, if you haven't gotten into a previous beta and you signed up for beta testing before the 11th, you will be in this upcoming test. Which will be a lot of people. It's going to end up being more like a stress test.

[Rahan]

Well, I never signed for beta testing. (at least not before receiving the invitation this morning)

If they want a stress test, they probably figured out they hadn't enough volunteers and started inviting people like me who only registered to the Bioware Social Network to redeem codes for DLC and stuff, but never asked for anything else.

[Nixl]

I got a beta invite for this game as well, but I am not sure what I will do with it yet. I am still mad about the retcons to the story and the NDA spoilers do not make me happy.

I feel like this could have been so much more.

[HurricaneHige]

So apparent they nerfed JG so bad they are not even worth playing atm...hmm, wonder when they will fix that :<

[Kyral]

Thanks to my spam filter I only realised now that I got a mail from bioware, stating that I got a message via bioware social network containing my beta-key. So I went and looked and it was there.
Of course the site on swtor.com were I can redeem it is closed since yesterday. So I pretty much missed my beta invitation. Great...

[Keroko]

New flashpoint for the imperials.

Originally Posted by Nixl

I got a beta invite for this game as well, but I am not sure what I will do with it yet. I am still mad about the retcons to the story and the NDA spoilers do not make me happy.

I feel like this could have been so much more.

*tilts head* Putting aside that star wars EU has been retconning since 1977, retcons to what, exactly?

Originally Posted by Kyral

Thanks to my spam filter I only realised now that I got a mail from bioware, stating that I got a message via bioware social network containing my beta-key. So I went and looked and it was there.
Of course the site on swtor.com were I can redeem it is closed since yesterday. So I pretty much missed my beta invitation. Great...

Hold hold hold, did you sign up for beta before the 11th of november? Because in that case you're already in and don't need the code.

[Kyral]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Hold hold hold, did you sign up for beta before the 11th of november? Because in that case you're already in and don't need the code.

Yes I'm in the Beta Weekend but I believe this was a key for the regular beta. *shrug*
Also, the key was from BioWare itself and not from one of the "partners" who we should not redeem.

Well it's not I'm depressed now or something like that. I'm pretty sure I'm still in the beta weekend, so I see you guys there.

But still... it's annoying to know that I havn't got this mail because my spamfilter saw it as being send from "a server that was configured to send out spam".

[Keroko]

Bioware's been pretty confusing about that one, but the key from the social network and the "you have been invited because you signed up for beta early" are two different things.

[Kyral]

I know.
That's why I said I missed my chance for being in regular beta but will still be in the beta weekend.
They really should have called it "stress test" or something like that, seing how many beta participants they will have during beta weekend.

[Keroko]

They are calling it a stress on the forums. But Bioware's always had some communication troubles, so I'm not surprised everyone's throwing their hands up in confusion. Last I checked, the social network keys were for the beta weekend as well.

On another note, Bioware lifted the NDA, so the web is being flooded with news, not all of them as spoiler clean. Beware spoilers.

[Nixl]

Originally Posted by Keroko

*tilts head* Putting aside that star wars EU has been retconning since 1977, retcons to what, exactly?

I do not have much time to write at the moment, but here are a few of the changes I dislike the most. I can write more later. I do not want you to think I am calling out massive retcons. I just simply find the direction of the story atrocious and uninspiring. Furthermore, I've played MMOs to death and TOR does not really depart from the WoW/Everquest model at all.
****Spoilers*****

Spoiler for Tor Story Spoilers-Beware:

The main retcon that I hate is that Kotor 2 is either ignored or wrong. The story was just picked to pieces. Everything Kreia stated is outright ignored. For instance, Revan did not go to war with the Republic because he wanted to teach the Republic a lesson in war so that it could survive the Sith Empire. Instead, he became evil because the Emperor told him to be evil and that's it. Revan became evil just because. Another issue I just became aware of is that the recent book has Nihilus' retconned or at least his power to be more specific (this I need to confirm).

Furthermore, Revan who is suppose to be a powerful jedi who is charismatic and a master tactician is instead a weak, whiny mullet man who you kill in less than 5 minutes. His characterization and death in TOR is atrocious. In the Revan book, after the Emperor captures Revan he uses Revan's light side to predict the future(but Plagues predicts the future in the book) and uses Sith Alchemy to keep Revan alive. Once the republic side frees Revan it is let on that the Star Forge was not a machine, but a creature that feeds on the force. At the end of Kotor 1 Revan took little pieces and grew them so that he could make an army to attack the Empire. As the empire you kill Hk-47 and him rather quickly and easily in the Foundry. 4 randoms kill Revan.

Another issue is that the Exile is a force ghosts, which would imply she has a connection to the force. A fellow user Ryus knows a whole hell of a lot more than I do on this one. In the Revan/TOR book the Exile's death is comical. I do not know who the hell thought of that idea.

-The end of the class quest has you kill the Sith Emperor, Malgus takes over, but you kill him too.

The dialogue options are at times cringe worthy, especially the "evil" dialogue.

[Xacual]

Just a reminder, it seems like you can start the download for the upcoming beta weekend already. I just started it today.

Edit: Maybe not? I can't seem to get an update to run yet though I installed the initial set up / login window it seems.

EditEdit: Nevermind, worked after a couple of tries, don't know what was causing the hang up.