[Gavin boyce]

http://www.swtor.com

If anyone wants to play together, I'll post servers and usernames below.

Forum Name - Sever Name - Character Name

MorrowindFan - Vulkar Highway - Akibo/Sarif

Let's also try to keep the thread clear of too much negativity. This should be a place to civilly discuss the game itself, not a place to bash BioWare/EA/LucasArts.

Discuss.

[Rusty Billiot]

I just purchased it a couple weeks ago and I am LOVING the SI Dark Side dialogue.

Spoiler

So are you going to kill me, or torture me first?

Thanks for reminding me. ZAP.

[Jesus Duran]

Avenion on Elysium is my sorcerer main. I just finished the class quest, wrapping up to level 50 while playing alts. My other realm with all my alts is Krayess Obelisk

[Benito Martinez]

I liked KotOR, but I'm not a huge MMO fan. I love Star Wars, and did enjoy Galaxies to some degree, but it was hard for a non-MMO junkie to get into an MMO that wasn't thriving. Would you guys say that TOR is worth playing and has a thriving/growing community?

[Gemma Archer]

I liked KotOR, but I'm not a huge MMO fan. I love Star Wars, and did enjoy Galaxies to some degree, but it was hard for a non-MMO junkie to get into an MMO that wasn't thriving. Would you guys say that TOR is worth playing and has a thriving/growing community?

I'm pretty new to MMOs myself. I can't say how TOR's userbase compares with others, but I will say it is quite easy to solo through the class storylines. I started with my main, a Sith Sorcerer, doing all the quests I came across, including all the group quests (heroics and flashpoints). But more recently, I've started ignoring many of the heroics, because my character was beginning to out-level my class quests and it just wasn't worth the effort to get a group together.

In my opinion, it is worth playing, especially if you haven't been burnt out on the formula by other WoW clones (and it is blatantly a WoW clone).

[Adam]

Question, is the game officially out now? I'm not seeing it in Origin when it's on Amazon shelf now, when I click on purchase it says I'm not in the region for pre-purchase.

[Frank Firefly]

It has only officially been released in Europe and North America. I don't know if release dates have been announced for other regions.

[Marguerite Dabrin]

Someone in the last thread asked if the game was worth it, here was my responce.


After 120 hours spent, I am gonna say no.

Not with STO and AoC both free to play now. Coming directly from TOR going to STO and AoC when I say this.
For a game with such a huge budget TOR manages to fail hard.
I enjoyed my 120+ hours, but the game is missing so many things, while other things are gone/broken.

High texture settings in beta got removed, still not fixed. Game is missing working AA/AF. Shadows look terrible.

Some classes (trooper among them) have issues with ability's and cast times. The troopers full auto for example, you have to stand still, the ability starts and you do nothing for half the bar, then it starts working. The ability does not finish with the timer either.
Ability delay svcks.
10-49 in one bracket with a 50 only bracket for PVP.
Crafting is a joke, and nurfs are already making it worse. The level 50 planet was broken with the last patch.

No appearance tab (both STO and ACO have them), the game is a direct copy of wow.


So, no appearance tab, some end game gear looks worse than mid/late level gear (20-40).
Patch 1.1 broke a lot of things, some people are having troubling even seeing cool downs.
Bioware removed high textures from beta, and now are "working on adding them back" when they worked fine to begin with.
We are left with blurry/ugly textures, nothing like what you see in review's and so on. Some people have before and after pictures to prove it.

Here is the republic spawn on Ilium.
The empire can freely spawn camp and farm valor all day, all republic can do is spawn and die. The only way out is considered a "exploit" and could get you banned.
http://c677543.r43.cf2.rackcdn.com/2012/01/ilumfail_315-560x315.jpg


I will try to look around and find the pictures with the before and after beta with high settings/textures. Also one of the developers said how it was not very heroic for a lot of people to be beating on a singe mob. Yet that is exactly what we got.

The forums are a mess, people receive warnings for nothing. Threads are closed for no reason.

Here is a thread on the graphics issue. I think its up to thread 6 or 7 now.
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=162569

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r277/UnruheEndlos/The%20Old%20Republic/TORTextureComparison.jpg


Some people tried to unsub and the cancel button was "suddenly" gone MIA. Threads with workarounds got closed.

http://www.lo-ping.org/2012/01/20/the-swtor-story-as-told-by-episode-iii-and-v/


The TORtanic will not do well, it might not sink but its going nowhere fast.

Comparing it to AoC and STO, well at least those games have working and varied graphical settings, with no ability delay.
AoC environments look stunning compared to TOR.

This on the same PC, all fresh installs of the three games.
TOR falls way behind STO character creation, and space combat looks amazing. Ground combat is smoother, but not quite as visually impressive.

AoC's environments are miles ahead of TOR, and both STO and AoC have appearance tabs.
No reason for me to play TOR if things do not improve when my time runs out (I subed for 90 days) when other games that are FREE to play manage to have working graphical settings and quite a bit more features than TOR does.

[Latino HeaT]

AoC had serious graphic issues when it first came out you knowl.

[Jhenna lee Lizama]

AoC had serious graphic issues when it first came out you knowl.

TOR was not having graphical issues in beta, the high resolution textures worked fine for all of beta then all of a sudden they disappear.

Stephen Reid bacillary told us we are "too stupid" to find a setting that works for us, so they removed the option, even after admitting that in beta the game looked better.

They had WORKING textures and then removed them, everyone got angry and now they have to "track down the issue".
Please, there is and was no issue for the ENTIRE time the game was in beta with graphics. I was in three betas btw.
So I guess removing working features was ok, but ignoring the bugs is ok too?
No working AA or AF? Kotor had that in what 2002?

Character creation is lacking as well.
For a game to launch in the 2012 market with such a huge budget without working AA/AF, blurry textures and missing basic features is silly.
Then patch 1.1 comes out and breaks more than it fixes.
Ability delay is still not fixed.
Social armor is a joke, only light armor users get any use out of it, so why even worry about social points?

Doesn't matter.
The thing is TOR is competing with the games out today, and those games play far smoother and have more options/features.
Most of these games are also available far cheaper or completely free.
AoC today, still blows TOR out of the water in environment looks and textures.
STO is also F2P and has far better space combat and ground combat is fairly good for it to be F2P.
Both have more working graphical settings and features.

Edit.

Even though you can avoid EA's origin, there is no way I can justifiy paying as much as I did to play this game.
I paid for the DDE and bought 3 months worth of sub time.
TOR is ok for anyone's first MMO, or those who just like star wars, player interaction is limited and sharding makes its even less populated.

Some servers after the first free 30 days are in need of a merger with other light servers.


Edit 2

Here is what we got showed.
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/3/32230/1833800-balmorra__9_.jpg
Notice the nice and crisp textures. This is what the beta looked like.

Here is what we got.
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/7371/swtor2012011110050596.jpg
This is on high settings, notice how the textures are garbage, how SWG look like this,


Here is side by side for WOW-TOR.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r277/UnruheEndlos/TORWOWComparison.jpg
Notice how the textures for TOR character look blury and flat, while WOW looks like it has depth and is clear and crisp.

The thing is, the high resolution textures ARE ALREADY IN THE GAME. Yet they are locked out,

because lol you might not be able to handle it.

[Rebekah Rebekah Nicole]

Snip

You mention that AoC and STO are now free, but aren't the limitations on the "free" versions of those games offputting? I've only played the beta of SWtOR, so I appreciate you explaing what you don't like about it. I was also in the beta for STO, and I felt that it was very unpolished and felt very lackluster in comparison to most other MMOs, free or not.

[kennedy]

You mention that AoC and STO are now free, but aren't the limitations on the "free" versions of those games offputting? I've only played the beta of SWtOR, so I appreciate you explaing what you don't like about it. I was also in the beta for STO, and I felt that it was very unpolished and felt very lackluster in comparison to most other MMOs, free or not.

STO/AoC now is a far sight different than at launch.
I suppose if a person was looking at TOR why not try the F2P games and if you like them sub to them? You loose nothing and if you stick around to them and sub its cheaper than buying TOR at the moment.
STO have very few limits that a new player would notice, but AoC has a lot of locked features unless you pay.


I played STO for 20 hours and was impressed, so I paid my $15. Same with AoC. I have more time on STO but both are well worth the $15 because by the time I paid $15 I had over 20 hours played.
I felt like I enjoyed them enough to justify spending the money in support of the game.

TOR is a direct copy of WOW, only its missing features WOW has and is buggy. Some classes share the exact same skills only reworded (Jedi Knight<->Warrior).

TOR is missing.
Appearance tab
LFD tool.
PVP brackets. 10-50 at launch in the same bracket, now its 10-49 and 50s split off.
High resolution textures.
Ui customization.
Add ons.
Other stuff I get tired of talking about over and over.

Channeled ability's are broken for the trooper and other classes, Empire has better story lines and animations.
Crafting skills are useless.
The game still has green flickers/lines, some planets are worse than others.
Space combat is boring and on-rails. It was ok at first but wore extremely thin really fast.
Open world PvP is meaning less.
Low level peope are going to the level 50 planet and opening chests, making millions daily. Nothing is done to them.
Exhaustion zones.

Edit.
If you get or have the game and enjoy it, then great. It just has far too many issues for me compared to other games out now.

[JeSsy ArEllano]

STO/AoC now is a far sight different than at launch.
I suppose if a person was looking at TOR why not try the F2P games and if you like them sub to them? You loose nothing and if you stick around to them and sub its cheaper than buying TOR at the moment.
STO have very few limits that a new player would notice, but AoC has a lot of locked features unless you pay.


I played STO for 20 hours and was impressed, so I paid my $15. Same with AoC. I have more time on STO but both are well worth the $15 because by the time I paid $15 I had over 20 hours played.
I felt like I enjoyed them enough to justify spending the money in support of the game.

TOR is a direct copy of WOW, only its missing features WOW has and is buggy. Some classes share the exact same skills only reworded (Jedi Knight<->Warrior).

TOR is missing.
Appearance tab
LFD tool.
PVP brackets. 10-50 at launch in the same bracket, now its 10-49 and 50s split off.
High resolution textures.
Ui customization.
Add ons.
Other stuff I get tired of talking about over and over.

Channeled ability's are broken for the trooper and other classes, Empire has better story lines and animations.
Crafting skills are useless.
The game still has green flickers/lines, some planets are worse than others.
Space combat is boring and on-rails. It was ok at first but wore extremely thin really fast.
Open world PvP is meaning less.
Low level peope are going to the level 50 planet and opening chests, making millions daily. Nothing is done to them.
Exhaustion zones.

Edit.
If you get or have the game and enjoy it, then great. It just has far too many issues for me compared to other games out now.

I'm actually very glad that you have outlined these problems with TOR, because I've been thinking of picking it up for a while now. However, it seems it still has a lot of problems that need to be addressed before I waste my time on it. I was in the beta for AoC and I bought it day one and subbed for a few months. I was heavily tuned off by how instanced all of the zones were, perhaps I need to check it out again now that it is free, it has been a long time after all.

[Bigze Stacks]

+rep for Titan. You really offered a lot of good insight on this game, and I really appreciate. I'm gonna hold off on TOR for now.

[Esther Fernandez]

Most of the stuff you listed, Titan, wasn't available at the launch of ANY MMO. And I can't think of one that hasn't had these sorts of issues at launch.

It's a shame they don't have a free trial, because most everyone would be pleasantly surprised. The game is actually quite good, I've been playing it since launch and have had zero issues with it what-so-ever.

If anyone is interested I'll try to set up a livestream to show some more detailed gameplay and the like.

[cheryl wright]

Most of the stuff you listed, Titan, wasn't available at the launch of ANY MMO. And I can't think of one that hasn't had these sorts of issues at launch.

It's a shame they don't have a free trial, because most everyone would be pleasantly surprised. The game is actually quite good, I've been playing it since launch and have had zero issues with it what-so-ever.

If anyone is interested I'll try to set up a livestream to show some more detailed gameplay and the like.

I would indeed be interested, especially to see some higher level gameplay. I only made it to about level 11 in the beta.

[Chavala]

Most of the stuff you listed, Titan, wasn't available at the launch of ANY MMO. And I can't think of one that hasn't had these sorts of issues at launch.

Rift. It's the most polished at launch MMO ever. I was astonished when like 99% of the game works perfectly fine, with great graphics and above average animations.

[brandon frier]

Rift. It's the most polished at launch MMO ever. I was astonished when like 99% of the game works perfectly fine, with great graphics and above average animations.

I agree, Rift was very polished. Ah... now I want to start up my subscription again.

I agree with Titan that TOR could sorely use some kind of group finder for it's Flashpoints, since they are such a major selling point for the game.

[Invasion's]

I would indeed be interested, especially to see some higher level gameplay. I only made it to about level 11 in the beta.

Alright, http://www.livestream.com/retrocornsgamingchannel?t=799851 I'll be hosting some gameplay shortly, probably within the next hour. I'll either update this post or make another when I start.

I'll be playing on Balmorra with my level 38 Jedi Knight.

[Anna Kyselova]

+rep for Titan. You really offered a lot of good insight on this game, and I really appreciate. I'm gonna hold off on TOR for now.

I am not saying its a bad game, because its not. TOR just is missing way too many features and has some major/minor issues.

Most of the stuff you listed, Titan, wasn't available at the launch of ANY MMO. And I can't think of one that hasn't had these sorts of issues at launch.

It's a shame they don't have a free trial, because most everyone would be pleasantly surprised. The game is actually quite good, I've been playing it since launch and have had zero issues with it what-so-ever.

If anyone is interested I'll try to set up a livestream to show some more detailed gameplay and the like.

Rift went pretty well, but the thing is TOR is completing against those games, those games have more features (that work) than TOR does. We know that the cost to make TOR was between $80 million and $250 million.
With such a HUGE budegt there is not excuse for the game to launch in the state it was in.
Like I said, I am not saying the game is bad. Its not a bad game, its just offers nothing new, and is really WOW in space. Much like Rift was a copy of wow. At least rift has a different class system.
I just don't feel that the game is worth the upfront $49.99 or so.
It has a lot of minor to major grpahical problems.
I am not sure if the ability delay has been fixed or not, but it was pretty sevier when I played. That was one of the major issues.

Rift. It's the most polished at launch MMO ever. I was astonished when like 99% of the game works perfectly fine, with great graphics and above average animations.

Both Rift and AoC outclass TOR in the graphics department.
I was with Rift at launch and it was fairly good. I honestly do not remember having any major issues.

I agree, Rift was very polished. Ah... now I want to start up my subscription again.

I agree with Titan that TOR could sorely use some kind of group finder for it's Flashpoints, since they are such a major selling point for the game.

I think they said its coming, maybe it will come soon.
very soon I will be rolling with a fresh install, I may provide some screen caps of my own. I have some saved from Rift and Warhammer somewhere.

[Rebecca Clare Smith]

Every time I see TOR referenced I cry a little inside.

I don't have disposable income to put into monthly robbery payments for a video game. How dare they take KOTOR and make it an MMO.

Sorry for the troll-like post, but they completely alienated me. KOTOR was my favorite star wars game of all time.

[Richard Dixon]

I don't think you totally bashed the game Titan, and you started off by saying you enjoyed your time playing it. But it doesn't sound like it's worth $60 and a monthly fee, especially for someone like me.

[Curveballs On Phoenix]

Every time I see TOR referenced I cry a little inside.

I don't have disposable income to put into monthly robbery payments for a video game. How dare they take KOTOR and make it an MMO.

Sorry for the troll-like post, but they completely alienated me. KOTOR was my favorite star wars game of all time.

I find that MMOS can be a great value in terms of money spent to time played.
For example, I spent $15 on STO and have around 30 hours /played. Thats a pretty good investment IMO.
When you compare it to fable 3 ($20) I only got 15 hours out of it. Or saints row 3 ($50) I only got 12 hours out of it. Ir GTA4 ($50) with 7 hours invested.

I don't think you totally bashed the game Titan, and you started off by saying you enjoyed your time playing it. But it doesn't sound like it's worth $60 and a monthly fee, especially for someone like me.

I think if Bioware gets some issues fixed and adds some features in, TOR will do fine. They have tired to fix things so far, but havent had much sucess.
I hope the game does well, I supported them buy pre-ordering and buying a 3 month sub. I am giving them a chance to make some changes and iron the bugs out.

The game as a whole is not really innavoitave, but it can be fun to play. Maybe if they get things fixed up pretty soon the game will be fine.
Just needs some time, but I would suggest that anyone wait for the three month mark or a pice drop before commiting. Maybe a free trial as well.

Some people will like the game, some will love it, others will not.
I am on the fence.

[Lynne Hinton]

I find that MMOS can be a great value in terms of money spent to time played.
For example, I spent $15 on STO and have around 30 hours /played. Thats a pretty good investment IMO.
When you compare it to fable 3 ($20) I only got 15 hours out of it. Or saints row 3 ($50) I only got 12 hours out of it. Ir GTA4 ($50) with 7 hours invested.

the problem is its still monthly payments on top of the original game. One payment should be enough for a video game

[Gisela Amaya]

Alright, I'll be starting my Livestream up tonight at 8pm EST for those interested. http://www.livestream.com/retrocornsgamingchannel?t=799851

Stream is starting.

Never mind, having difficulty getting it to work.