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Post by O-Ren Ishii on Nov 26, 2011 22:16:35 GMT -8
So I've been playing the beta over this weekend, and so far it's been a blast! It's far from perfect, but I love what they have done thus far. One of my favorite aspects of the game are the different perspectives depending on which class/side you choose. I made two characters at this point, a male Jedi Knight, and a female Bounty Hunter. I honestly cannot tell you which one I like more.
Every single quest has dialogue with branches that differ along the lines of the force (much like Mass Effect). You receive bonus points for choosing the path that coincides with your character (good, evil). This makes every single quest extremely unique, not only to the side you choose, but every class gets it's own unique quests as well.
The combat could use a lot of tweaking, but it works fairly well. I still have my training saber on my Jedi, but I did earn my first droid! It actually works pretty well as companion (pet). The Bounty Hunter quests were just as fun, if not more, with being able to be a bad-ass (and working for a Hutt).
It definitely feels as you are in the universe, and I can only imagine how good it gets at lv 17+ (when you get your first ship), and are able to travel to other planets. I will keep you updated on anything new I discover.
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Malakai
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Post by Malakai on Nov 26, 2011 22:32:42 GMT -8
What server are you on? I have a few guys on Darth Malak. This is the second weekend I've been able to do the beta and it's been pretty addicting so far. I have a male sith inquisitor and a female jedi knight. I also had a imperial agent from the other weekend too, all are pretty fun jobs to play so far. My only real complaint so far is that it takes so long to get to level 10 compared to something like Aion. Around 5-6 hours, with watching the cutscenes. Combined with the fact that the starting quests will be similar every time (I assume, I haven't actually played a second class on the same starting planet as one of the other characters), the replay factor could get dull, but that's true for most MMOs. I also don't really like how the male characters look for the most part, but there are a few decent options within the races. I'm hoping there will be more to character creation when it releases. Overall though I've been impressed and haven't gotten much sleep or Skyrim playtime this weekend. So I think that means it's a success I might have to send in a preorder now.
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Malakai
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lawl
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Post by Malakai on Nov 29, 2011 22:45:52 GMT -8
Welp, I pre-ordered my copy. Early access starts a day after my finals end so it will be perfect timing. I can't wait, but I still can't even decide on which class to start with
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Post by O-Ren Ishii on Dec 1, 2011 13:45:25 GMT -8
Doh! I uninstalled it, then received another email today re-inviting me to the next beta phase...damn 20gb file!
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Peti
Certified Taru Therapist
Whataru lookin' at?!
Posts: 816
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Post by Peti on Dec 1, 2011 16:06:16 GMT -8
I'd never really had much interest in SW:TOR, but my roommates were in that beta over the weekend, and they've both pre-ordered already as well. They were both pretty hyped about it, but reserved paying anything until they tried it out on the beta. I watched a bit, but didnt play myself, and I'm not really sure I'm interested.
Since its prelaunch in February, I'd been playing Rift with some RL pals, both locally and across the country: guys I'd worked with in the military. But in recent weeks, our guild has been dwindling in numbers, and some of our more regular members are gloriously incompetent (but tenacious.. cant get rid of em). I've since stopped my subscription to the game, seeing Trion's direction with the game being very similar to Blizzard's with WoW.. stat inflation is bad, mmkay?
Anywho.. I've been looking most forward to Guild Wars 2, in which I intend to take the role of a Guardian. I've played Healer in FFxi, WoW, Aion; done DPS in FFxi, Aion, and Rift (and to a small extent, FFxiv, but that was short [no taru joke intended]). In each of those games, however, I've always dabbled a little in tanking with positive feedback on my performance, and, most importantly, had fun doing it. So I figured why not give it a go as a main job for once.
But with no release date on the horizon, its hard to say "I'll just wait for GW2", and give TOR a pass. I've been sinking my recent gaming hours into Saint's Row: The Third (which takes absurdity to new heights of fun), and the amazing Skyrim. Now that I'm done protecting Telara from dragons, I'm tempted to just keep trudging along in Tamriel slaying dragons. Sadly, I dont think it'll hold my attention until that mysterious date when I can get back to saving Tyria. ..from dragons.
My friends here have tasked me with looking stuff up about TOR, to see if I'm gonna get into it or not. Here's a few of my thoughts: Bioware makes great story-driven games. MMOs are not story-driven games. This genre requires way too many time-sinks to keep people paying a subscription to have enough story to call it the base of the game. I'm not saying the story will suffer, I'm just saying I dont think there will be enough of it to justify a monthly fee. Yes, FFxi had a rich story, and a lot of it was story-related.. but most day-to-day activities had nothing to do with the plot. FFxi was also a single-faction game focused on cooperation with limited PvP, and no balancing really done in that regard. TOR has opposing factions that cannot co-mingle and PvP servers that will require gameplay changes (which will affect all players, whether they PvP or not) to compensate for the intuitive player base that will undoubtedly find advantages that the developers dont have the foresight to predict. (can you tell I dont like most PvP? I'll try it out, but if I dont like it, I want nothing to do with it. at all.) With those hesitations in mind, I also realize what kind of reputations Bioware and LucasArts have. Lucas is very protective of the Star Wars IP and I'm sure they will do whatever it takes to ensure the game is enjoyable and of high standards. Bioware also has an amazing team and is going to provide outstanding quality, no doubts there, even if their experience in producing an MMO are limited or non-existent. I noticed the feedback pop-ups during the beta, and I was actually pretty impressed by that, having been in a some MMO betas before.. never before have I seen direct questioning of that sort.. most of the time its 'have fun playing, report bugs on the forums' and then no one goes to the forums.
Help me decide! ..and if yas want, I can direct you to the server and such that my pals here intend to play on. They're gonna be dragging a pretty sizable group of mostly competent players from local friends and other past games. Dont know server name yet, but I know they'll be Sith.
One more thing I find fishy: Star Wars Galaxies is scheduled to shut down for good on Dec 15th.. the same date that TOR's pre-launch is to begin. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
also: FFxiv 2.0 sounds very promising ..even rebuilding the engine?! But I might be too jaded over the disappointment of 1.0 to even give it a try. Topic for another thread
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Post by O-Ren Ishii on Dec 1, 2011 18:40:33 GMT -8
I can tell you with certainty, I will NOT be playing any subscription based games any time soon. There are far too many AAA console titles I still need to conquer, and with my son almost here (X-Mas due date), I cannot foresee it in my budget. If there were any MMOs I would play, it would be Guild Wars 2 as well (f2p). Add that to the fact my laptop is becoming more and more underwhelming for gaming with each new release, it's just not anywhere near as enjoyable as my very respectable home theater gaming experience.
I will admit, however, SW: TOR is the most promising MMO currently out (and maybe in quite some time). If I had the money, and a proper gaming PC, I would probably dive right in. I have been a huge Star Wars geek since I can remember, and playing the game has some extreme nostalgia factor (I literally wanted to be a Star Wars bounty hunter from the ages of 5-13; and Boba Fett was my hero; not Luke, Han, Leia or Yoda).
For the time being, I will be getting my platinum trophy in Uncharted 3, and I will soon move on to Dark Souls, Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City (most likely in that order). Then, of course, Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out, followed by Mass Effect 3, and finally Max Payne 3. So my foreseeable gaming future looks pretty promising without any subscriptions involved.
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Malakai
Woot Supplier
lawl
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Post by Malakai on Dec 1, 2011 21:56:02 GMT -8
Just got the beta email again. I'll be on tomorrow ._.
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Post by O-Ren Ishii on Dec 2, 2011 13:14:08 GMT -8
Re-installed, I'll be on later this evening...(I have to check which server again Mal, I forget) Perhaps we can start up some toons on a same server.
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Malakai
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Post by Malakai on Dec 2, 2011 17:49:02 GMT -8
Yeah that sounds fun
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Malakai
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lawl
Posts: 970
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Post by Malakai on Dec 3, 2011 0:45:11 GMT -8
Out of an Operative IA, Sorcerer SI, and Sentinel JK, I'm surprised to say that as of right now the Sentinel is my favorite to play. I like the idea of healing with an Operative, but as most of the stuff I'm doing now is solo play, having a true DD class is the most fun. I hit level 16 a short while ago and got access to my ship.
I also tried out the PVP a little. I actually like PVP in general quite a bit, I just was always a bit discouraged in Aion because I started the game so late, it would be nearly impossible to catch up to the best (Maybe it would sort of be possible, but the amount of effort to get the PVP gear just wasn't feasible for me.) I like the idea of starting a whole new game fresh and being on equal ground as far as PVP achievements go. My main problem right now would be choosing which side to PVP for!
I actually don't know if there is world PVP or not, so the only thing I've done is the warzone. I queued up solo and got sent in with around 7 or 8 other players randomly. Our objective was to hold control over some cannons in order to take down the enemy ship. Since my class is just DD, I basically ran in, dealt some damage, and then started to kite whoever chased me when my health got low. The other side didn't really seem very coordinated. We won, and for my first time I ended up with 15 kills and 1 death (The top guys had around 19 kills each). Overall it was a pretty enjoyable experience. I also like how the level is scaled up so anyone starting at level 10 can participate. The lack of skills would be the only drawback.
I heard someone say that leveling 1-10 is quicker now in this build of the game, but I haven't tried it out myself. Still quite a lot of fun, though.
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Post by O-Ren Ishii on Dec 3, 2011 10:48:36 GMT -8
A few noob questions Mal, as you have played a great deal more than I have:
I, for the life of me, cannot figure out how to use the cover system. Do bounty hunters get the ability?
How does one repair equipment?
That's all for now.
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Malakai
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lawl
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Post by Malakai on Dec 3, 2011 10:56:16 GMT -8
I always forget about repairing equipment, but I believe you can do it at a vendor. You just pay a few credits and it'll be repaired. I haven't actually played a BH, but I don't think you can cover. You would see a green outline of yourself near a cover spot if there was one when you had an enemy targeted. The F key would roll you into it, or using an ability that requires cover. As far as I know, Imperial Agent and Scoundrel use it.
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Post by O-Ren Ishii on Dec 4, 2011 9:05:32 GMT -8
Wow, talk about an addicting game....this is certainly the best MMO I've seen since I first started FFXI, and I'm only level 10. The size of this game almost seems overwhelming for a launch date.
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Malakai
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lawl
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Post by Malakai on Dec 4, 2011 9:30:03 GMT -8
Yes, it is very addicting. I was talking about how long it takes to get to 10 yet I found myself casually trying out more than half the jobs available...
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