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My beta impressions of SWTOR
ThomasN7
87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
Ok first of all I started beta in the mid of Aug and ended around the end of September.
1. Story - It is ok but I did not find it that appealing as some. I just thought it was very predictable and it made me feel like I read this story elsewhere before. The story formate is basically some dialogue inbetween with a bunch of go fetch and go kill quests. Nothing really exciting at all.
2. Combat - I did not like it. It feels very tactical and slow. It made me feel like I was in Dragon Age again playing. I kept on looking for the pause and play button. If I had any comparison it would be similar to Lotro's combat.
3. Exploration - There is really no need to explore because all you will find is just lore pieces scatter around the planets and thats it. The planets may be big but there is really no incentive to make me want to see the entire world.
4. Loot - Loot was disappointing in flashpoints. I did the Black Talon flashpoint serveral times with people and not much drops and if it does it is nothing worth being excited about.
5. Mob AI - Dull boring and they have no clue what they are doing. They run around shooting aimlessly at you. You really have to be pretty bad at combat to keep dying. Who knows they might have improved it since my beta time but I'm not banking on it.
6. Character Creation - It is ok and it is nothing special to be excited about. Very basic stuff from the get go.
7. PvP - Did not participate.
8. PvE Difficulty - The only real challenges you will find are flashpoints are heroic quests but heroic quests can be done solo if you level above the mob ai.
9. Companions - Companions make the game more easier than it really is. My companion kept on healing me all the time, did not die once. Again, it makes you feel like it is Dragon Age again.
10 - Crafting - Did not participate.
11. Questing - It is basically go kill this or go fetch that. The bonus quests are basically go kill quests but who cares if a npc is giving you the quest or not, its still stuff most mmo players have done before time and time again. You get to make choices just like in Dragon Age but what is the sense of making choices when you have a gazillion ton of boring go kill/fetch quest s waiting for you. There is nothing appealing about it at all.
Overall Impression..
Honestly ? I love Bioware for most of their games but SWTOR is very disappointing. For 5+ years they had this game and this is the best they can do ? For a developer thats is highly respected for previous games I expected alot more out of them. All they did was copy/paste previous ideas and slip in some story. I know that is what they told us they was going to do but from top to bottom the game is average at best. I give it a C+ because SWTOR doesn't really improve the mmo genre much at all, if anything it pushes the mmo genre backwards. You are just better off rolling more characters in Skyrim!
Comments
So its MMORPG like every other but has a story.
Sounds good to me
My beta impression!
Questing is as hard as any other mmorpg however they do have ocassional places where you need a group like heroic quests and flashpoints. You can solo them probably if you out lvl them but that is stupid its like saying you can solo wailing caverns at 60. Whats the point?
Flashpoint was exciting as my decision during it changed the course of the whole instance. I would say it was the best dungeon/instance I have ever played in a mmorpg.
Exploring is very exciting as you can find holocrons which give you a permenent stat boost. Some are easy to find and others are well hidden.
the story was so so and I wasn't feeling it so much with my inquisitor until I got to having my master. After that I was enthralled into the plot and when the beta stopped it felt like they tore a good book out of my hands.
I didn't get to do open world pvp however the warzones were VERY fun especially huttball. Every class seemed pretty well balanced and BW said that they balanced it towards the cap so that is saying something.
Overall after the beta I was wanting more and ended up preordering a game I thought I wasn't going to buy.
"You have some serious mental issues you may need to seek some help for. There are others who post things, but do not post them in the way you do. Out of every person who posts crazy shit in this forum, you have some of the craziest and scariest" -FarReach
This review is his opinion i totall disagree.
Story i loved it. Was totally engrossing and teh choices i had to make during each story based quest pick up made me feel invested in story.
Combat is familiar but fun and enjoyable for me. its not fast paced like halo but its not an fps. Combat wasnt to hard but it was easy either i had to fight at least 3 guys or more on each time i went into combat. Heroic quests if done at level are tough and fun to do.
Like any game if u out level the content its easy to do on your own really please pal thats the worse thing u coudl say. I dont care what mmo u play if u outlevel the content u can do it solo.
mechanics are smooth and familiar but they work why change the one thing in mmos that arent broken.
pve difficulty depends i never did a flashpoint but leveling wasnt to fast paced or slow. I felt leveling was actually done at a good pace. I never felt like i was grinding.
Crafting i never tried but i cant wait till next weekends test as im gonna really test it out. There are incentives to explore so u are wrong. If u find them and i found 3 on korriban they have datat crons that increase your stats. Permanantly. So thats just wrong info.
exploration the worlds were pretty and even koriban i found worth looking around . ord mantel is a war torn world and i enjoyed looking around and seeing all the destruction. so as is always the case with exploration its all about you enjoying it.
No one gets anything for explorign in wow other then to see areas others might not in tor u might find a datacron or wahtever they are called that gives u a stat boost.
i like themepark m mos and i love bioware story so i was drawn in and found myself toally immersed in the game world i was playing.
As an inquistor i wanted to kill my quest giver harken so bad. I think thats his name he was such as ass. I found myself making choices not because id make them but because i thought it was what my character woudl do and i never do that in mmos.
I found the game encourages u with the choics and story to really get into who u are as a character. I thought as a smuggler id be a dark side guy and instead i ended up light side.
All in all it makes me long to get back in game and see the whole game from start to finish and then start all over wiht a diffrent class.
If u dont like themepark games and dont want anything in your game thats familiar like mechanics and combat this game isnt for u. If u dont like bioware games and the types of story u got in dragon age and mass effect u wont like this game.
If u like themepark games, enjoy having familiar mechanics that are easy to pick up and love biowre story ull love this game.
Grrr, i know this game "for me" would be the let down of the century, i don't even need to waste any time getting a key and downloading the beta. In addition, my kids told me months ago it's not that great and they lost all interest in it.
BUT... ALL THE HYPE...
I started to think it might be an ok xmas gift for them, i know they don't want it but thought wth, we'll get it anyway and they will probably get a kick out of it at least for a while.
But after reading the above I'm not sure, the OP impression of the real deal was pretty much a carbon copy of why they told me it's going to suck (for them), they'd probably open it and go "Parents, they never learn" and toss it in the corner. lol
EDIT:
Thanks SaintViktor for taking the time to write that up.
It appears you do not know about the Datacrons and shards.
Honestly, and I mean no offense to you, but I have a very hard time beliving you were ever part of the general testing program.
Every single bit of information you complained about could easily have been gleaned from information that was previously available prior to the NDA drop. You don't have anything in there that wasn't already public knowledge, seems slightly suspect imho.
You've been posting negatively about the game for months on this forum. Everyone was well aware of your opinion regarding the game, so what is the point of this impression? You've already made yourself more than clear that there was nothing Bioware could do to make this game enjoyable for you.
I just don't get it, seems like the entire purpose of the post is based on spite for no reason other than to ensure that the fans have some opposition.
Why would I make anything up ? Infact I pre-ordered the game and then exchancged it for ME3 after my experience. I have nothing gain by being negative but hey I guess if it isn't all shiny happy and rainbow colored glasses then I must be wrong right ? Sometimes it is just not worth writing anytihng because the diehards will always shun away negatives.
Yeah they give real incentive to explore.
I have to agree with Kost on this post here. Weither or not you actually betaed the game you already hated it and didn't like it either way. Nothing you revealed wasn't already public knowledge. Your post really reveals nothing that you haven't said nothing before the NDA.
Ya because most MMO players don't care about perm stat increases LOL
Permanent upgrades to stats are a pretty significant incentive, I'd say.
The OP is one of the GW2 vs. TOR participants, kinda bites a chunk off credibility I guess.
I wouldn't trust a GW2 Fanboy to review TOR just as much as I wouldn't trust a GW2 Review to a TOR fanboy
"You have some serious mental issues you may need to seek some help for. There are others who post things, but do not post them in the way you do. Out of every person who posts crazy shit in this forum, you have some of the craziest and scariest" -FarReach
Maybe not that so much Xirik, he should be more objective. Rather than be direct and atleast reveal some of his likes and dislikes. Even people who give negative reviews will state something that caught their eye and be more objective about what they are trying to write and convey. This is just more of the same ole rederick that hes been posting previously before.
Why is it that some people believe that negative posts are the only ones that are valid? And, if you already "know" that the game will be the "let down of the century for you". so much so that feel you don't need to waste the time to get a key and download the beta, why do you bother coming to these forums? It makes no sense to hang out in the forums of a game you are determined to dislike on hearsay.
Take the OP's views with a grain of salt. They pretty much disliked everything, so it is not nearly as objective as other posts. He also refers "the story" being not appealing. There is no "the story". Each class has their own story line. There are shared quests, but each class has their own separate story that they follow. I can't believe they were anything more than a weekend tester, if that.
Loot in the flashpoints is actually very good. Any items you got from the Black Talon flashpoint would be much better than you already had. I really don't remember what the loot was like 3 months ago, when the OP claims to have tested, but it is good now.
Questing is not just go kill or fetch missions. Technically a "quest" of any kind is a mission to find or obtain something, so someone could say that all quests are fetch quests, but that would be misleading. Yes, infiltrating a base disabling cameras, and stealing data off a computer is technically a "fetch" quest, but it is a far cry from being sent to Mr. Fizzlebottom to collect Jumjum juice. And yes, you kill things in the game. I don't think anyone would be surprised, or disappointed that you kill things. The "kill x number of..." type quests are optional and not given by the NPC"s. You do not have to complete them, but since you are killing things anyway, you might as well get extra credit for them. Most get completed in the course of your mission anyway, with no extra effort.
I doubt the OP spent any real time in beta. His comments fall outside of a difference of opinion and intentionally misrepresent the game.
You've complained about this game for so long, and when you finally got to spill the beans you were off the mark on quite a bit here. Some of it is opinion.. most of it is outdated. Other parts.... did not participate.....
Worthless review from someone thats hated TOR for some time and is a GW2 advocate. Move along, move along
I totally agree with both of you. When you spawn negativity for endless months and now you finally have a chance to speak, it does little to interest those looking for any sort of objectivity.
There Is Always Hope!
Pretty much this. I don't want to get in the habit of calling out people who give a bad review of the game, because everyone is entitled to their opinion and it's all subjective based on one's perspective anyway, but there aren't very many people who have spent more time on this site trashing the game than the OP. He's an unabashed GW2 fanboy, and one of those people that doesn't seem to believe there is room in the mmo market for two high-quality games with two different payment models existing at the same time. With him, as with other people, it has to be one or the other.
I'd suggest taking his review with a big grain of salt, specifically due to the fact that no info he provided was info he couldn't have gotten from another website without having participated in beta. I'm assuming he's being forthright in his claim that he was in beta, but there is reason to doubt his motives, particularly when a lot of his points are just...well...wrong.
Wouldn t take anything the OP has to say about SWTOR seriously ever. He s don e nothing but bash it, since I can remember, and I don t think he ever even played it. Probably watched some videos and took it from that. I ve tested it for quite awhile now, and the garbage he was spewing out, was. well laughable, I just couldn t say anything at the time.
Oh well better off without people like him in this gem of a game.
Funny. I found my own incentives to explore in the MMO's I played as long as the worlds weren't too small.
Guess this doesn't apply to everyone, apparently you're not the explorer-type of gamer.
As for the rest, nice write down, as your former posts already showed the beta made it clear for you that it wasn't a game you'd be able to enjoy. That's ok, enough other games out there, enough choice for everyone. Other (p)reviews and impression reports showed that quite a number of people did have a good time in their beta and that it was a game that those people could enjoy.
As a lot of people were already aware of: those who still are able to enjoy themepark MMO's and themepark gameplay features, will very likely enjoy SWTOR as well, just as the people who like more story to their questing and leveling progression. Those who've grown tired, jaded or burnt out on themepark MMO's and familiar MMO features and couldn't care less about story enhanced questing will likely find it a lot harder to enjoy SWTOR.
That's because their mind is already as good as made up, they only need that final little push to 'convince' them they're making the right decision. Nothing wrong with that, needing other people's opinion to make up your mind. It becomes odd when someone keeps flipflopping all the time, but that would only be the case if after this post of his he keeps repeating how he's still unsure whether to buy it and then decided to give it another try even if he himself and his kids don't like and then after this or that negative argument reconsiders and decides not to do because as he already knew this really wasn't a game for him and his kids didn't like it either and so on.
I don't expect that, however. If someone has decided that a game isn't for him, it's time to move on to a game or games that will do it for him.
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."
I have to agree with these posters as well. I have almost no interest in GW2 and you can tell by the (maybe) three posts in those forums. Why a person with no interest in the game would even bother to daily visit and post in the forums of a game he doesn't like is just beyond me. Also, if you have no interest in a game, why would you bother beta testing it knowing that you will see it in it's worst possible light?
Sorry OP, but I just have a hard time believing you tested this as well.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
I've been beta testing TOR for quite a while and I can tell you right now that it's all about perspective. I can say the exact opposite of the OP to describe this game from my point of view. He obviously has very distinct tastes on what is fun or desired in an MMO, while I have completely different tastes. You need to see where the previewers are coming from before you make any judgements. Make sure they reflect your play style and tastes before jumping to conclusions.
I noticed an earlier poster talking about his kids and how they already dislike the game, yet is willing to follow their lead without even taking into account that he probably has different tastes in games than his kids. He could end up loving this game to death if he even bothered to try it out.
People throw catch phrases around like candy, things like "WoW Clone" and "tab target combat" and so forth, yet they always seem to portray it as an evil of the genre, despite it being popular with most MMORPG players. They give harsh reviews of TOR, then turn around and chastise anyone who has a different point of view, as if there is a right and wrong preference or playstyle.
I'm a casual gamer, who spends a lot of time gaming, but plays casually, exploring, questing, engaging in story, taking my time and not at all interested in min / maxing, twinking, raiding, ganking, grinding....etc. I love this game. Is it the perfect game for my playstyle? Probably not. There are quite a few hardcore elements thown in to make me frown sometimes, but it has more than enough to keep me happy for a long time. I'm not looking for a revolutionary game. I like slower, character based combat. I love story, especially a more interactive one. I enjoy classes that are less rigid in role, so I can play it more the way I want to rather than by the dictates of the developers and even more so by my fellow gamers. I like simple, but useful crafting. I like being able to solo a lot of content. I enjoy groups filled with oddball classes. I like being rewarded for my efforts, even if hardcores think my playstyle doesn't deserve them.
Anywho, my advice is to either try out the game before you make judgements or make darn sure the previewer you are reading has the same tastes and playstyle as yours.
That is not completely fair towards the OP. I've seen his posts when he was interested in SWTOR and the beta. Only when he got to play the beta a few months back he just didn't like it, it wasn't what he had expected/hoped it would be.
Sadly enough, he was of the opinion that everyone else would feel exactly the same as he felt about playing SWTOR and that if he didn't like it he couldn't imagine other people actually enjoying the game, and that's why afterwards you saw so many posts of him that were extremely negative about the game.
But from what I've read of his posts, he did play the beta, in contrast to other beta players the game just wasn't something that he'd be able to enjoy.
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."
Heh well this is just what I figred swtor would be, a dissapointing world of warcraft clone. The upcoming beta weeked that has gotten like 40k keys given out is going to be a major eye opener for many people. I too was excited for this game when I first heard of it but after reading more and more on it and watching some video's the game just seemed dull and unintersting to me. I am so tired of every mmorpg dev just cloning world of warcraft and thinking thats enough. They don't even try anymore it makes me sad.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
What a informative review. In over and month you didnt do 2 of the bigger things in a mmo craft or pvp. I will definitely not buy this game now thanks for the info.