Where do we meet?

Did you see the second link in that post? If you click through, she has a list of reputable publications that picked up on the story, including the http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/business/yourmoney/21digi.html?ex=1258693200&en=40a60cc6d7971ab2&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland, http://www.salon.com/2004/12/02/no_fun_and_games/ (and http://www.salon.com/2004/12/06/more_santa_sweatshop/), and http://news.cnet.com/For-developers,-its-not-all-fun-and-games/2100-1022_3-5457274.html.

In the comments to her blog post, you'll see people, some of them even identifiable, talking about their time at the company. The comments from those who have (granted, apparently; but, again, some of these accounts have contact details and photos which can ID them) worked there span decades, so even though the article's outdated, it's unlikely that much has changed. It's an institutional problem.

Anyway, I think I've made my point to the OP. What he does with it is his choice. /participation

Even so, with that one bad experience with EA that I had has put me off of anything EA does. Because their customer support techs took the, "Oh well, reformat and reinstall your os" stance when I was trying to get BF3 to work.

EA IS a terrible company. They treat their employees terrible and they don't support their fanbase. They've ruined Star Wars and Battlefield and Need for Speed aas well as countless other games and franchises. You can support them. I will not and I will be sure to truly others not to support then. The OP should not buy SW: ToR.

Also lets not forget GW2 comes out soon and by watching the press release beta played by those chaps at the yogscast it looks like a much much better game and from what I've heard its not p2p as well.

I will say that one downside to SWTOR is the customer service and trying to get help from them. Have a friend who got stuck on his class quest for Hoth and he's permabugged because of a DC issue. As a result he cannot advance the mission/quest and CS refuses to help him. Personally i'm not sure to blame this on Bioware or on EA, but i'm eyeing EA a little more than Bioware.

However, dealing with the other side of the coin I was in a group with a guildmate who had to stop playing with us. The CSR were quick to contact them as a trojan keylogger got onto his system from a file he downloaded from online. This nasty little bugger stole his password to the game + his email address. When SWTOR CSR got spammed by the mail they immediately contacted him to alert him to the problem. All CSR interactions are done through a special window instead of PMs so it was legit.

I'm really disappointed because I absolutely loved Knights of the Old Republic and the sequel to it, and have been waiting for another like it.

When I saw The Old Republic, I thought it'd be good, but then I found out it's a MMO. I've tried them before, given them plenty of time to grow on me, etc, but I can't stand MMOs. I don't understand why anyone enjoys them, because they bore me more than anything.

I was hoping this one would be different. So I went onto Youtube and looked up some videos of it. Nope. Looks like any other MMO, but this one has a story, and the usual Bioware dialogue. While I love Bioware stories and dialogue, it's not enough to overcome the fact that MMOs, in my opinion, are unplayable hunks of terrible gameplay that should never have seen the light of day.

All this aside, my brother has been nagging me to get it to try it out with him. Maybe that would be the only way the game would be acceptable, if I played it only with the companionship of my brother, but I remain skeptic. Seems like there's still a lot of useless grinding, dull gameplay, game worlds that are way larger and more complex than need be, and the usual things that turn me off of MMOs.

That's what ALL CSRs do. Often, they're just searching through the knowledge base. As to speak to a supervisor.

For the last time, EA isn't an evil company. If you work there, and you don't like the way they're treating you, here's your options: Talk to your boss, quit, or if they're in violation of labor laws, take them to court. They're hardly the only company that may push their employees, certainly not the only one in the game industry.

And really? they don't support their fanbase? Ruined game series? In YOUR opinion, maybe.

First off, it's almost ALWAYS a bad idea to fully listen to your community. Yes, take their ideas and feedback seriously, but in the end, it's entirely up to the developer what gets changed. And that's a fact. Game communities will ALWAYS [censored] about something, no matter how many times a developer has actually listened to them. As Yahtzee put it in his Zero Punctuation review of SWTOR: "Cows go moo, dogs go woof, MMO players go 'the PvP is unbalanced.'"

Secondly, this is the first Star Wars game EA has published, and it's arguably the best I've played. Yes there are bugs, but in a game the size of an MMO, of course there are going to be issues. I'm not familiar with the NFS series, since racing has never really been my thing. I will say that Battlefield 3 is the best of the series I've played.

I swear, you people and your hatred of EA is so illogical. You're almost worse than arguing with theists.

Anyway, back to the topic: Get the game, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

I'm a long time Star Wars fan. I loved most of the games(KotOR, Jedi Knight series, Battlefront).
What I really want to know is if it is worth it?
What are the pros and cons?
How much content is there?
Is it worth $60 plus monthly?

Every time I look for answers all I see is blind hate or blind love.

Not illogical, it's just based off exactly what you aforementioned, opinion. Based off of the quality (or lack there of) they have done enough to push me away from most games they touch. It's just a matter of opinion really.

Well then, if they were just searching through the knowledge base then they would've come up with a legitimate fix for my problem as it is a well documented issue with BF3. Want proof? Hit the EA and Dice forums. Theres proof all over that what I experienced was widespread and EA nor Dice did anything to repair it.

Right, it is the first Star Wars game that EA has touched. It's also been ruined by EA's hands. If Lucas Arts were to make another SW game and it only had Lucas Arts name on it I'd buy it in a heart beat. I can forgive bugs. Hell, every game Bethesda puts out has bugs and I buy them on release day. I forgive their bugs because I spend hundreds of hours playing them because their games are enjoyable. BUT, when a game is released and BROKEN to the point where it won't run THAT my friend is UNFORGIVABLE. Battlefield 3 for me was completely unplayable, search for my thread on it. I spent over a month trying to get that steaming pile of [censored] to run. EA offered no help, Dice offered no help the forums offered no help. The only entity that helped was Gamestop because they allowed me to return the game nearly 40 days after release and gave me a full refund on the product. Oh, and I also ended up with a free copy from EA as consolation...but a lot of good it does as it still doesn't work (and yes, it was a freee copy issued to me through an EA tech).

I grew up playing EA games from NFS to NHL, back in the day they were great. The last EA game I bought prior to BF3 was NFS: Hot Pursuit (the one that came out in 2011) for the XBox 360 and guess what, if I'm not on Live I can't play the single player game. Ruined franchise. I bought a racing game I enjoyed as a child to play the SP campaign and I can't unless I'm online. WTF?

I respect that you haven't had issues with ToR or BF3. But you can't hide the fact that EA is a terrible company.


To answer your questions.

No. It's not worth it. Not for $60+ and especially not for a monthly fee [censored] that; if you want it, wait for it to hit the bargain bin. This way, when it doesn't work it won't be such a huge hit for you.

Pros? Its Star Wars. Cons? Well...it's published by EA, and it's an MMO which requires you to be online constantly...other than that...dunno...but the EA thing should be enough for you to say 'Forget it.'

As for content, well, it is an open ended MMO so it's probably got a lot, plus whatever DLC that EA wants to [censored] you for in a few months, theres that.

I know that this is your opinion but I feel the need to tell you that not all MMOs are like WoW ans SWtoR. These games are like the CoD to FPSs. If you look at some of the others like EVE online, these games encourage cooperative play, and is more or less a 'social' game than a grinding solo one, hence the multiplayer part in MMO. Also when the games take everything you have with you atm of death, PvP and even PvE becomes a hell of a lot more intense. Also when there is no grind to level 50, you can focus a lot more on the actually gameplay and explore the world than worrying about your next level. After all there is a reason why its the only MMO that's been growing in players since 2003.
But then again EVE is a hell of a lot more complicated than WoW and SWtoR, but hey there are less kids playing it.

I'm not doing a Pros and Cons b/c it's just easier to tell you my experience.

The voice acting is good. Everything is told through stories except your journal....I think. The graphics are decent. They're not cartoony and they're not realistic. You have a companion that does everything for you...no more farming for stuff. It sounds good but after a while theres no "life" your character. Most of the planets I went to were not open or big. You mainly walk around valleys which are the roads....everything is like a corridor.

The story is where it really fell short for me. The story isn't bad....it's just few and far between. Everytime you continue your story theres 10 different side quests to do which really takes away from it. Some of the side quests are long too. And you have to do them b/c you need the XP.

Theres hardly and grouping as far as I know (I could only stand to play until lvl 18). There were a couple of instances that I got into groups with and a couple of quests. The mechanics are kind of a cluster [censored]. I was a Sith Inquiisitor and only used 2 or 3 of my moves at level 18....I had about 20 or whatever. The 2 or 3 I used were "basic attack" "saber swing" and "electrocute". I didn't need anything else. This was another big deal breaker for me. I felt as if I wasn't gaining anything.

Like I said I didn't play past 18 and I plan on giving it another go since I have 2 more months to play for free (already bought the 2 month card), but if I can't bring myself to play it when I already have 2 months in the bag somethins is wrong.

This isn't blind hate....I wanted to like this game and I tried. But it just doesn't do anything for a lot of ppl and I'm one of them.

I believe it is very much worth it.

Pros: Engaging story experience Cons: It could use certain features such as a flashpoint (dungeon) finder ect.

I have two characters around level 20 right now. If you don't rush through the game to level 50, you should find yourself more than satisfied with the amount of content.

Do I think it's worth the fee? Yes.


It has it's flaws, but can only get better from here on.

I just wanted to thank you for that review, while I may not agree, it is an opinion derived from you actually playing the game.

Unlike most of the people in this thread.

Not a problem.

I don't hate the game....I just wish it had more to it.

Origin... nuff said


I might actually wait a while before getting it.
I'm glad you honestly reviewed it.

Origin is actually a nice program. There's not enough games on the store yet though.

a single player game with the monthly fee of an mmo... I would've loved to play kotor 3, but this... it just feels wrong, sorry. If you're all having fun with the game it's great, I just don't think the "single player mmo" tag will (or should) attract many.

https://www.google.com/search?q=EA+origin+%2B+spyware&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a....ya a program that scans your PC without your consent is "nice" just like those trojans out there that steal your CC info. Origin is garbage and I absolutely refuse to play BF3 because of it. Thankfully SWTOR doesn't require origin, but the instant it does i'm cutting it loose like a hang nail.

Origin is a virus that scans your system. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing. A virus that is disguised as an online store. The best thing anyone can do is uninstall it.

Origin may be user friendly, but is the worst thing to ever happen to developers.
EA is evil because they are greedy, Origin is proof of that.
Not to mention the strangle hold they have on BioWare.

BioWare games used to have modding tools, Battlefield games as well.
Why did they stop?
Because EA can't make money off user content. Instead they release expensive weapon packs.

And then there is Ubisoft... and Nintendo of America....

Sounds fun, I just want it because I'm a huge Star Wars fan.

I expected you both to say that, and I can assure you, it's most certainly not. I've had my eye on it for quite some time, and it doesn't snoop around your computer. And as well, as I've said NUMEROUS times before...


STEAM DOES THE EXACT SAME THING.

Which is to say that it scans your hardware and watches for any exceptions to report client issues. It ISN'T watching your web activity, nor is it recording your credit card information other than what you give it for game purchases. Oh, and EA is greedy because they want to make their own digital distribution system to rival Steam? Which, by the way, Steam is a juggernaut which NEEDS competition? They're also clearly evil for trying to make money too, never mind they're a company.

Stop [censored]ing about EA, please. It's a dead horse, all of it. Every. Single. Point. Against. EA. All of them. They've all been done, they've been said SO many times, and frankly, I'm sick of seeing mindless hate for a company that doesn't deserve it. Other companies do the EXACT same thing, but do they get hate? Usually not, usually it all goes to EA.

I'm done with you people.

Doesn't Steam ask you when it wants to take a diagnosis of your computer?

I've had Steam for years, and no, it doesn't. I've never had it ask me anything of the sort.