Topic: Star Wars: The Old Republic

[BigDaddy]

The full free play option (where you can play all the way to level 50) is expected to be available next month at this point.  The current option allows you to play like 15 levels or some such.
 
The storylines are very solo play driven.  You can play together, but you certainly don't have to.  With the recent server consolidations, the populations on all of the planets should be such that you can find groups whenever necessary.  The MMO part of it really starts at level 50 with the raiding and gear chasing.

[RealMarchHare]

Yea I re-subbed as it seems if I"m not an active subscriber I don't get my free Cartel Coins for having been a previous subscriber and having bought the CE Box.

To be completely honest this F2P model they are using is completely fucking bullshit even if just looking for the 1 - 50 solo experience.

[Beer_Baron]

this F2P model they are using is completely fucking bullshit

how so? 

[RealMarchHare]

Limited species choice at character creation, only one character at a time, can only do 3 space missions a week, 3 Flash Points a week, 3 War Zones a week, and you can't equip any purple or better quality item.  That's the primary things that have been announced.

You can spend cartel coins to get access to more content like let's say you wanna do more than 3 Flash Points.  Spend the Cartel Coins and they'll allow it....for that week and that week only.

Or say you find a Purple Item you want to wear.  You can buy a license with Cartel Coins to wear it...but just that ONE purple item.

From a money making stand point it's good as you're forcing everybody to pay either a subscription to get the full game or hand over money to get parts of the full game in spurts.  From what we know right now there is no way to unlock full access to anything through F2P option.

The problem is you look at almost every other MMO on the market that is F2P and their business model is leaps and bounds better.  Guild Wars 2's from what I've been told is just amazing!  CoV/CoH is shut down but there's was also done extremely well.  In fact when they announced F2P for SWTOR and mentioned the Cartel Coins I thought they were going to go with the set up that CoV/CoH had and I'd have been fine with that.

Here's a FAQ of some of the preliminary information they've released about their F2P Model:

http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6449

[Beer_Baron]

ya, sounds shit.  i've been out of the MMO world for a couple years now so i don't really know what it's like out there.  i installed champions online and LOTR online and got a character to lvl 7 or 8 in each and quickly lost interest.  i spent more time in champions designing characters than i did playing the game.

i'm looking forward to the Marvel MMO that's coming out, and i'm fully willing to shell out 65-70 $$ over the course of a year on that bad boy.  I can't wait to PvP with Nightcrawler and Jean Grey, it's like a dream come true.  i imagine the first few months will be wading through a see of spiderman, wolverine and iron man, but after the smart people start to realize that obscure characters are usually the best ones, things will spread out a bit.

[RealMarchHare]

You forgot Deadpool for that list

SWTOR is actually really good. It's similar enough to WoW that anybody can pick it up and play, especially if they played WoW.  It is different enough though that it doesn't feel like a WoW clone.  It really is a solid MMO it just took about 6 months after launch to become a solid MMO thanks to early release which just hurt it.  Had the game released been the completed game that Bioware wanted to put out it probably would still have the majority of it's subscribers and not be going F2P.  There are other issues beyond that though and the whole situation isn't EA's fault.  Bioware has fucked up too.

All in all though I'd suggest it when it goes F2P for at least the level 1 - 50 story as this really can be just a single player and you wouldn't know it was an MMO if it wasn't for general chat and the other people you see running around

[DocSavage]

You forgot Deadpool for that list

SWTOR is actually really good. It's similar enough to WoW that anybody can pick it up and play, especially if they played WoW.  It is different enough though that it doesn't feel like a WoW clone.  It really is a solid MMO it just took about 6 months after launch to become a solid MMO thanks to early release which just hurt it.  Had the game released been the completed game that Bioware wanted to put out it probably would still have the majority of it's subscribers and not be going F2P.  There are other issues beyond that though and the whole situation isn't EA's fault.  Bioware has fucked up too.

All in all though I'd suggest it when it goes F2P for at least the level 1 - 50 story as this really can be just a single player and you wouldn't know it was an MMO if it wasn't for general chat and the other people you see running around

Yeah, and your main story quest even takes place in instances, sectioned away from other players.

[RealMarchHare]

Yeah, and your main story quest even takes place in instances, sectioned away from other players.

You are right I forgot to mention that but that is actual a god send.  Can you imagine trying to do those with everyone else of your class scrambling for kills and what not?  Especially since sometimes you need to talk to the person after beating them so then you'd have to wait for THAT

[DocSavage]

ya, sounds shit.  i've been out of the MMO world for a couple years now so i don't really know what it's like out there.  i installed champions online and LOTR online and got a character to lvl 7 or 8 in each and quickly lost interest.  i spent more time in champions designing characters than i did playing the game.

i'm looking forward to the Marvel MMO that's coming out, and i'm fully willing to shell out 65-70 $$ over the course of a year on that bad boy.  I can't wait to PvP with Nightcrawler and Jean Grey, it's like a dream come true.  i imagine the first few months will be wading through a see of spiderman, wolverine and iron man, but after the smart people start to realize that obscure characters are usually the best ones, things will spread out a bit.

Into giant robots?

http://mwomercs.com/

Went open today.  I was always partial to games like Armored Core and Mechwarrior, and this looks promising..

Only thing is, I'm not seeing anything about a single player campaign.  I think it's strictly pvp, which makes this the perfect time to try it, before all the insane gamers with too much time on their hands become so good all the normal players decide to quit..

[BigDaddy]

Free-to-Play launched yesterday.  Didn't get a ton of time in last night to notice an influx of new players or returning players yet.  I'm sure I'll have a better idea over the weekend.

[RealMarchHare]

I installed the update but haven't logged in.  I was awarded 2350 Cartel Coins since I had the Collector's Box, a Security Key, and so many months of previous subscription payments.  Looked at the updated info for Free to Play.  Premium Player's are shafted as bad but it's still pretty pathetic.  The part that gets me is the inability to buy permanent access to things such as unlimited Space Missions.  The weekly payment required is friggin bullshit.  I know they'll make bank off of it but come on make it possible for people to eventually have full access for free guys...that's what kept CoH/CoV so popular for so long

[Zandrax]

I'll probably be diving back into this soon.

[DocSavage]

The dev's are either clueless, or just don't care about making a strong coop experience.

If you're in a group, you only follow the party leaders story, and the group only gets to see cut scenes if you're in the same instance.  And if you're not in an instance, like being outside the jedi council chambers, only the party leader sees the cut scene...

Idiots.

[BigDaddy]

Only the class missions are restricted like that, and there's actually an option in your Preferences to turn the restriction off.  If you do a Jedi Knight class mission with two Knights (for example), turning off this option will allow both players to go in but you'll need to repeat it twice with each person "owning" the instance once at a time.

[DocSavage]

Aye, It's not an inability to go into instances I'm complaining about.  It's how some story driven cut scenes happen outside of the instances.

Basically, if you're in an instance, you get to see the cutscene with the character who's story you're following.  If you're in a general area, like where the Jedi Council door meets, you don't get to see that cut scene, because they're not really entering an instance, they're just being fed a cut scene as they stand in front of the door, and the rest of the party ends up waiting around shuffling their feet.

I realize the games PVE is more geared for single player experiences, but it's still annoying..

Also, it looks like the last patch broke your ability to bring outside classes into a character specific instance.  I and a friend, each taking one of the Jedi classes, are no longer able to bring each other into those areas, no matter if I try bringing him into mine, nor vice versa..  And yes, the option for "bring in same class" is checked, although I don't believe that applies if you're two different classes of jedi..

[FATSEXY]

This is what I mean by the slow motion tricks. It's not something Lucas would have done, so it seems out of place in a Star Wars environment.

Still an awesome cinematic though.

They should just let Bioware make the new trilogy just like this. I'm completely serious. This is amazing.

[DocSavage]

They should just let Bioware make the new trilogy just like this. I'm completely serious. This is amazing.

The non Jedi stuff's even better then the Jedi stuff.  Imperial Agent story is like something out of a James Bond movie.

[RealMarchHare]

I really do need to start playing again.  I've played through Tatooine as a Jedi Knight and Alderaan as a Trooper

[BigDaddy]

I'm finishing up the Smuggler storyline as a Gunslinger advanced class, and it's pretty interesting.  Have to say though, third time through the Republic side has gotten a bit tedious.  I need to flip over and level some Imperials.