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DeaconX Reviews SWTOR (5 months of testing)
DeaconX
Member UncommonPosts: 3,062
Some of you may recognize me (I've been absent for quite some time) as the guy who started the BioWare Star Wars MMO Facts & Rumors thread way back in 2006 I believe it was. I followed the game, did some investigating, and overall just wasted a bunch of time delivering circumstantial evidence. Well the long wait is finally over, and...
MY OVERALL RATING IS: 6.5/10
Getting Started: 10/10 - It's as straight forward and streamlined as can be. There have been no issues 'getting started'
Server selection: 9/10 - This has gotten better over time - though I preferred the color bars that show how full a server is to just a word.
Character Creation: 4/10 - Is there one? Yeah sure. Does it live up to expectations for an MMORPG launching in late 2011? Heck no. It's actually one of the biggest disappointments.
-Body proportions are just awful for the most part, in my opinion. You've got thin, average, football player, and 1 big mac away from a coronary. What's wrong with sliders most modern MMORPG's use to define the body?
-Hair is atrocious. There are maybe a handful of decent options. Pick up a hairstyle magazine, choose some cool ones, get CREATIVE with it. It's STAR WARS. Simply uninspired and sloppy work - sorry to be so harsh but can anyone really defend it?
-Silly restrictions, such as only certain classes can have tattoos, piercings etc.
-Cybernetics are just a write off. They look uncreative, poorly designed, slapped on and ugly. Also, why the heck would cybernetics options add facial hair? What if someone likes one of the options, but hates that stupid mustache it comes with -- for no reason. Is it a cybernetic mustache?
I could go on but... to the rest of the review...
Quest intro: 6/10 - They aren't the most exciting but they're decently written enough. I do think they could have been MUCH more engaging off the bad. I know for certain that I could write a more exciting introduction for each class, so I was a bit sad to see how tame the writers went. Like the opening scene in a movie, this should grab the player a lot more than it did.
Combat: 6/10 - It's a slight step forward from the standard mmo's of yesteryear. Personally, if you want us to feel heroic and go with this combat system, I'd through about 3 times as many NPC's at the players but have weapons deal much more damage so it feels like you're plowing down the enemy and the only time you start feeling the panic is when you're truly outnumbered. CC's already a big part of the game anyway. Don't outnumber a player 3 to 1 and have them pretty much stand around spamming skills while enemies slowly go down. Outnumber the player 5 to 1 with enemies dropping much quicker. That would already make you feel like more of a badass.
Itemization: 6/10 - The FIRST item drop you get in game SHOULD be for your class. Teach new players early about upgrading gear, get them excited and hooked to get more. This never happened to me. Also, a lot of the gear, especially starter gear, is pretty lame. If I'm a havok trooper, shouldn't I get even a weaker set of armor out of the gate? I looked like I was a mechanic or something. Switching out one shirt of the same shirt with slightly different color isn't much fun either. Appearance tab would greatly help here.
Inventory: 7/10 - I like how much space is given to the player and the fact that it's fairly easy to upgrade your inventory, however I do find the pricing is way too steep. It goes from 5K for one row, to 20K for the next row? Ouch.
Character Sheet: 7/10 - It's functional even if a little clunky. Nothing special really, but it serves it's purpose.
Movement: 6/10 - I find the characters run WAY too slow out of the gate, which isn't a lot of fun. Until you get sprint. JUMP is a little weak and could definitely use a bit of a boost. There is no: Climbing, Swimming, Crawling etc, which all makes the world feel less real because we can't interact with it. It's a bit of a shame but sadly standard mmo fare. MMO designers could learn a little something from the platforming gameplay of the UNCHARTED series of games.
Zones: 5/10 - As many others have described including my friends, a lot of the time the zones feel like hallways. Sometimes the hallway is a little thicker in places, but you pretty much always feel like you're in a contained, controlled environment. This pretty much kills exploration for me. It's missing the truly vast and interesting open world feeling. Still, they're decently designed and the art direction of the environments is much better than they are for the characters.
Graphics in game: 6/10 - Artistic Direction for Characters is pretty uninspired. Artistic direction for just about everything else is much better. As far as textures, lighting, etc go, it's pretty standard when compared to any recent MMORPG.
Story Line/Voice overs: 9/10 - Stories are pretty decent - I think many people will be much more impressed them than I am. Not to say I don't enjoy them, I just believe many of them could have been better written, including some of the dialogue such as:
NPC: "Do you know anything about those explosions we've been hearing?"
Player: "I don't know. They must have been explosions."
The MAP: 5/10 - It's functional, but I find myself squinting sometimes. The mini-map can be confusing when icons are really close to each other. The main map only lets you select ONE search request at a time. Trainer, Bank, etc. Why is there no 'Show All' option? Been asking for that for months.
Guild Options: 4/10 - Guild support is fairly weak at the moment. Not a whole lot there yet but I'm sure it's coming.
Crafting: 6/10 - A lot of crafters are NOT going to be happy with this. Personally, I've never been into crafting and SWTOR did not change that for me. However, I do enjoy the companion missions and resource gathering more than in other MMO's for some reason.
Space: 5/10 - I see this space experience as 'Space Combat on Training Wheels.' Hopefully, a robust space adventure system will come later on that ISN'T just single player, and allows players to join their friends aboard one ship, take control of blaster cannons while the pilot does their best to evade the enemy, perhaps there could be an engineering mini-game to fix shields up, etc.
Housing: 5/10 - The only housing in game right now is your ship, which also serves as your transportation of course. There's no way to really make it your own, so really it's just a stage for certain cinematics, a crafting station and bank nearby. It's a clever route to take with housing for now, however without any control over the look of your 'home', it feels lacking. You also have no choice of your ship as it's class bound so if you don't like your class' ship, tough.
Summary of thoughts:
As BioWare’s first MMO, I’m certain it will be a great success. As a fan of Star Wars, BioWare and MMORPG’s, I find the game to be an odd mix of robust and lacking. There is PLENTY of game content to keep players happy for a while, but the question is, what happens when the players have devoured that content?
MMO grinders will whip through the game – they always do. There’s nothing so revolutionary about the game that will slow them. The cinematic storytelling may cause a few players to slow down and enjoy the game but ultimately it’s more or less the same as any MMORPG.
When the powergamers are through with TOR, they will likely look for the next MMORPG and this is where I think BioWare may have fallen short on the design and I hope they prove me wrong.
An audience I don’t think they paid much attention to (perhaps for short term business reasons) are the players who are really looking for extended Star Wars escapism. That would be your role players, your communities who want to build cities and big guild empires together – I know I know, this isn’t SWG. That’s all well and good – but it also doesn’t cater to those fans who WANT that kind of immersion.
Character creation is important to many people, not just role players. Sadly, it’s lacking. Powergamers won’t have an issue with that as they don’t get attached to their characters for the most part aside from how ‘leet’ they are.
There’s very little control over appearance once you’re in the game – something I hear BioWare is working on so we’ll get an appearance tab. That will help – a lot.
There’s VERY little incentive or even ability for people to form in game relationships and build communities. Guild system is very basic. You’ve got your friends list. Your player home is a ship that you can’t customize in any way. You cannot ‘MOVE IN’ to this Star Wars universe in its current state and that’s something I hope they address. Give us a galaxy we can move into and I promise you, we WILL and we’ll stick around a LOT longer than people who want to just consume content, play some PVP then move on to the next hot game.
Perhaps BioWare was so focused on controlling the player experience to maximize ‘fun’ they missed the point of how much fun it is for the players to have some degree of freedom and control over their game experience.
In closing, I believe BioWare still has their work cut out for them if they hope to retain people over the long haul but they will have a great launch.
Thank you for reading - please feel free to ask any questions.
--Few questions answered; Addid in case anyone missed them:
Originally posted by Redemp
I didn't notice if you stated it, but how long did you beta test the game?
5 Months
Originally posted by skeaser
So the zones never open up? I'd only managed to finish the first 2 planets last weekend and was hoping things would open up later, I guessed that's why you couldn't get a bike until higher level. This bums me out, I need to EXPLORE!
They do open up somewhat, but never to the degree that has made me feel like there’s a world to explore. That being said, with the design route they went I’m sure they will be constantly adding onto the world zones.
Please don’t misunderstand me; the worlds aren’t ‘small’. The way a lot of it has been laid out however, feels restricting and there doesn’t seem to be much to find when you go off any beaten path.
Originally posted by Supersoups
I would like to ask what OP means when he says there is very less incentive to forrm communities in SWTOR? as far as i see incentive is PVP (both open and instanced), Flashpoints, Heroics and other group oriented PVE content.
Every guild is allowed to have 3 ally guilds so tools are there to form communities. What other incentive is needed to play together?
Could you please answer my question? my guild already has ally guilds all ready and set for launch days and not even once we thought that we lack incentives to form a strong community among ourselves and that is how we felt during beta too.
Now there’s a difference between grouping and creating a community. Right now, grouping only actually needs to be done for Flashpoints, some Heroic missions (some 2+ heroics can actually be solo’d..hehe, ‘Solo’d’, get it?).
The guild support is pretty bare minimum right now. I hope to see awesome guild locations in the future (BioWare has talked about Guild Capital Ships… awesome? Yes.) and maybe some player cities way later – I know it’s not SWG, but people really LOVE forging their own environment and become very attached to content like this which keeps them playing for the long run, growing a strong community etc.
Originally posted by solarine
Reading that comprehensive post, the first thing I thought was "Aww, it's such a pity Deacon did not enjoy the game". And I am serious: You were so excited about SWTOR even *before* it was announced Bioware was working on it. And you were sort of the go-to guy for the fresh and interesting bit of news.
Much-belated kudos to you for those times, by the way.
Thank you for your thoughts heh J I should note that while my review was very critical (and do I really have to state it was a personal and thus obviously biased review?) I have had fun with TOR.
Especially when grouping. The absolute best part of TOR in my opinion are the FLASHPOINTS and pretty much any time you get in a multiplayer conversation. The Flashpoints are fun, they feel like adventure and the multiplayer convo is a cool mix of competition/co-operation.
Originally posted by arieste
Thank you for reading - please feel free to ask any questions.
Good write-up. One of the best reviews I've read. Thanks.
Only thing I wonder about is this - you say you weren't impressed wtih the storyline, yet you still rank it 9/10. I find myself in the same boat, i'm not at all impressed with the quality of the writing, but the vast majority of people seem to think it's "amazing"... maybe it's because they've only played MMOs with really bad writing before...
I’m not too impressed because as a writer and an avid Star Wars fan, I think a lot of it could have been much stronger, more exciting and more engaging. However, I do believe that a LOT of the population will really enjoy it and will find it very strong and they should, because no MMO out there can compare with the storytelling TOR is bringing to the genre.
Originally posted by Teala
Actually Deacon is, was, one of the biggest fans of this gmae when it first was announced. I remember howexcited he was when he heardit was being made. His write up was really accurate on he whole of the game for the most part. To just blow off his commentary like he doesn't know what he is talking about is wrong. He is an avid MMORPG gamer with lots of experience beta testing and playing these games. I for one appreciate the time and effort he took to write this up. Thanks Deacon!
Teala! Great to see you still around here J and thanks for the kind words.
-- To explain my lacking enthusiasm for TOR in my post history, well, that just came with the more I learned the less I was excited about many directions BioWare was opting to go in. Not that it's wrong, I was simply less enthusiastic.
Still, go play it, you'll likely have fun. This is just my experience with it and I hope it will gradually improve with time and further development, even if core features aren't about to change.
As for GW2, it's a whole different topic but yes I've been impressed with what ArenaNet is doing with it and believe it could be a really fun MMORPG for me.
Why do I write, create, fantasize, dream and daydream about other worlds? Because I hate what humanity does with this one.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Good review, quite a low score too. Expect people to come in waging war.
No thank you, that was an amazing read. Superb post.
I didn't notice if you stated it, but how long did you beta test the game?
So the zones never open up? I'd only managed to finish the first 2 planets last weekend and was hoping things would open up later, I guessed that's why you couldn't get a bike until higher level. This bums me out, I need to EXPLORE!
Thanks for the review. Confirms this feeling of disappointment for the crowd more interested in the MMO than in the solo story.
An honest review of SW:TOR 6/10 (Danny Wojcicki)
I've heard from many people, who state the game opens up completely once you reach the mid - higher levels. I've never experienced the game yet, so take the information for what you will.
I've also heard that the linear focus you are put threw at lower levels is no more felt than that of most themeparks, one friend even went so far to state it was nothing as blatantly linear as Rift quest hub hopping. Which might just be opinion on his part, but I'm hoping that I never again feel the linear push that Rift generated.
MMO grinders will whip through the game – they always do. There’s nothing so revolutionary about the game that will slow them.
these ppl need to go play single player games and GO AWAY from MMORPGs they obviously forgot what it means. most ppl now say MMO because they forgot about the RPG side of it. i'm sorry but this brings the RPG back in the game! and this ppl who just want to LVL LVL LVL LVL LVL COMPLAIN ABOUT END CONTENT RAGE FLAME i hope they all /ragequit!
I actually took the time to read it, And It was a pretty good read but it would of been good if you ballanced out some good points to equally contrast
TSW - AoC - Aion - WOW - EVE - Fallen Earth - Co - Rift - || XNA C# Java Development
I'm sick and tired of people out there pretending to speak for "the crowd".
I'm very interested in MMO, and this game has it all. If you don't like it, go somewhere else, they're just not going to please everyone.
I find this to be an opinion piece, not an actual unbiased preview of the game. Alot of the gripes seem to be personal gripes of the OP, but won't be reflected by the majority.
I disagree with alot of the points as to what should and should not be in game.
I also feel that the preview is not from 5 months of testing but from a very limited time playing. There are so many features that are not discussed in this preview, it comes off as being one-sided.
I would like to ask what OP means when he says there is very less incentive to forrm communities in SWTOR? as far as i see incentive is PVP (both open and instanced), Flashpoints, Heroics and other group oriented PVE content.
Every guild is allowed to have 3 ally guilds so tools are there to form communities. What other incentive is needed to play together?
Could you please answer my question? my guild already has ally guilds all ready and set for launch days and not even once we thought that we lack incentives to form a strong community among ourselves and that is how we felt during beta too.
Good read, overall the same experience i have as being a closed beta tester, i can't even get my self to login anymore, the game is so tiresome, go to x, kill y type of mobs x times...............
right now on to Skyrim and play it to the teath, i hear it has several 100 hours of gameplay , where as SW:ToR doesn't even have that yet , its sadly dissapointing.
List of SOE lies
jesus christ go rate vanilla WoW. i tested the game as long as you have. and WHOA YOUR NEGATIVE hope i dont see you at launch. this is NOT for you
His play time was stated in the title of the thread. 5 months.
That's funny, because I NEVER received a quest that told me to "kill y type of mobs x times".... Not once. So either you never really played, or you are just a liar out trolling.
Skyrim has 100 hours of gameplay? So you're telling me that SWTOR has twice what Skyrim offers? How sweet is ithat?!!
WoW was allot worse at the start.
Well written post. With some arguments I disagree and some other arguments you presented I'm sceptic about, but in the end tastes and viewpoints differ, this was yours, nothing wrong with it. Overall well thought out, thanks for going through the trouble of it.
I had a few questions, but I see they were already asked by other people in this thread, so I'll leave it to you replying on their questions.
I'm interested in the MMO, even more so than people who claim to like MMO's because I actually like all kinds of MMO's and not just a meagre few, so speak solely for yourself next time. You do not represent me or others like me who haven't burned themselves out yet as some people here and who are still able to enjoy all kinds of MMORPG's
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
OMG are you sadly mistaken. simply put. if your nto a loser and you ACTUALLY knwo what is means to play mmoRPG. it's 200+ hours of your main story alone(EACH CLASS THAT IS there is 8, 4 per faction). unless your a badass hardcore player and skip everything then just quit and play a game by yourself
You wan't a themepark mmo ?, go play rift , wow, aoc or any of the other so called mmo's where everything dies out after a while.
I very much doubt you have been in SW:ToR for 5 months.
SW:ToR in its current state is not even fucking ready for launch, so many bugs early on in the game that outright destroys things for people trying to follow a certain path, {mod edit}
nuff said.
List of SOE lies
A few thoughts. You described many of the features as pretty standard, yet rated them fairly low. Your review overall was fairly negatively skewed and as such should probably be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, I appreciate the in-depth discussion of your experiences.
As for those people that grind to end game as fast as they possibly can and then immediately begin complaining that they don't have enough to do, forget about them. They are constantly in a hell of their own making and the rest of us couldn't care less that they skip half the content and then don't feel like they have anything to do. They will always be there and every single time a new MMO comes out you hear them complaing about lack of content, but for most of us that isn't the case.
The game sounds to me like it is going to be fantastic, but will still have plenty of room for improvement. That isn't such a bad thing.
Currently playing:
Rift
Played:
SWToR, Aion,EQ, Dark Age of Camelot
World of Warcraft, AoC
best part is you thinking you know and i quote (your shit)
improvement is a good thing it makes for a bright future. but everyone wants everything at the beginning all at once......
Game breaking bugs in SWTOR? for real? if you are going to lie atleast make it believable one. I have been testing SWTOR for 6 months now and it is not bugged to extent where it could be considered 'not ready' for launch. I call bull*** on 'so many bugs' early on in game comment.
Your review seems comprehensive yet amateur. You see-you seemed a bit biased. For example, and the reason your total score is so low, is because you flunked almost everything without hardly giving anything credit. To review an MMO fairly, and justly, you need to give it the credit it deserves for what it has supplied. All you've done is set up a concocton of categories in order to dissect any general MMO. For example, if an MMO didn't have Housing then you would give it a 0/10 for that category? Maybe you should readjust your reviewing process to address all relevant information, then exploit BOTH pro's and cons in order to provide the best review. Otherwise, you sound like IGN-who are a bunch of shitasses.
By all means bash a game if you really didn't like it, but at least do it the right way and by it supper first.
{mod edit}
Argh
And i can see your an inspiring new member of the mmorpg.com community, how long do you think you will thrive here with the kind of words your throwing around ? , for one you don't know what your talking about when it comes to SW:ToR , i have watched every cinematic my character has been put through, selected my response options accordingly, this game has around a full months playtime, then your done with your levelling and your storyline, even a long time before that.
For the hardcore players, they will be done with levelling and all that shit before 2 weeks has passed, the group of casuals and normals will finish the game within 3-4 weeks , its already been proven, so how about you just take a nice cup of stfu.
List of SOE lies
