The thought of a new MMO to any MMO player takes a lot of work. You vest time into a game and starting over can be tough. Since the original World of Warcraft game I have been investing my time. I have killed limitless mobs and bosses. I have laid siege to The Undercity and helped Thrall prevent a Cataclysm to end all. This game has been a part of me as much as I have been a part of it. Ask someone why they play and MMO and you will get a verity of answers. With that said the new prospects of any new MMO you do your research. One that caught my interest is the new MMO by Bioware and Lucas Arts, Start Wars: The Old Republic.
For years I had read about its development. I watched the screen shots, videos, interviews and playable demos at the Conâs. I was impressed and with great excitement read almost every review. Was this going to be a game that replaced WoW for me? I wasnât sure but from what I saw this game had everything and more.
The build up to launch in 2011 was massive. I was looking forward to each Con with great eagerness to see the new aspects of the game that no one had see. There was an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with the beta but I trolled YouTube often to see if someone was brave enough to post anything new. I was ready. I purchased the Digital Collectors Edition. The in game items I have used in the past with other MMOs were fun to have. Not everyone had them and they were just plain cool to any geek. With this purchase was the registration for Beta Access. I checked my email every time I heard beta invite emails were sent.
A few month before launch Bioware setup Beta weekends, dropped the NDA and for those who PreOrdered everyone was invited. 5:AM the morning of the first round of beta weekend invites I was up and ready to go. Then it happened. I was in. I knew I was going to play a Trooper for the Republic so I played a Bounty Hunter to not ruin what I wanted to play. The game was not perfect and some things were broken but it played like any other MMO I had tried before. I was sold. This was great. By the time the weekend was over I had a level 18 Bounty Hunter that I wanted to keep playing. I could not wait until the next Beta Weekend. The next weekend came and went so did the 3rd and 4th. I cut off my play time so I did not ruin the experience when the game launched.
Yes I did the unthinkable to most people. For launch I took three days off work. Why you ask. Well unless you play games I do not think I can explain it to you. The game launched and I was off to the races. Part of the PRE-Launch Bioware offered was to build your guild with people you know. Attach yourself to that guild and on release you will be on a server with all of your friends. We all were in and we all were republic. I started my trooper and was having a blast. I was questing in and out of hubs. Running flash points with guild mates, we were having a great time. Then the servers began to fill. People could not login at the same time. Server lag was terrible. The Launch was upon us and it was hard to enjoy the game.
So I was playing when I could. I logged when the servers we online and put my time in. One thing Bioware does well is RPG games and it started to feel that way. After awhile and into several planets I started to feel the grindy-ness of the game. I was not having fun. The passive talents were not working for me. I wanted to feel a reason to level. Not a 1% increase to a stat. I leveled the Trooper to level 30. Then one day more of my WoW buddies showed up. These people I have played with for a long time. However they wanted to play Empire. Not something I did not want to do but I had already invested my time into this Trooper. Yes I decided. It was getting grindy so I changed factions and servers with hopes to get out of the grind.
We choose a lower population server to avoid ques. I created the guild and invited everyone and we were going for it. The newness of the MMO was recaptured for me. The main reason for any MMO is to play with friends. Around the mid 20âs the World Boss on Droman Kass was up and we got the guild and took him down a level. This was a great accomplishment for us. We were proud of ourselves. However over the next month people started to loose interest. Dragon Soul in WoW, the final chapter to the expansion was out. They were making progress and it was hard to justify the time spent in SWTOR for most of them.
I was on Hoth and I hit level 40 on my Bounty Hunter. Two other people in the guild hit 50 and I was just not feeling it. âOh Help Usâ, âOnly Youâ âYou are the Bestâ, âWe Cant Do Itâ were the constant drolling themes to the planet quests. Each quest hub was the same. I know it is questing and what more can you do. But I am sorry the underlying story in each zone in WoW is not this grindy and the same style. So I put down my Blaster and traded it for a Lightsaber and started playing a Sith Inquisitor Assassin.
I was taken by the class mele with minor range abilities. So I started over again. I knew the planet quests were the same so I âspacebarâdâ over the quest talking and just paid attention to my class storyline. It was good, had its good and bad parts. Then around 35 I was noticing I was completing planets 1-2 levels behind. I was not sure what was going on. I level the Bounty Hunter the same way running Planets and Flashpoints. Going to a planet 1-2 levels before you should be there can be tough. Mobs hit harder and take longer to die. So I went to my ship and flew space quests and caught up. I went to my next planet at level and when I left again I was 2 levels behind. What was going on? So I logged onto my Bounty Hunter and played him the same places and I was 1 level higher this made no since to me. I was starting to feel pull back from myself to want to play.
BREAK: I will post the rest of this later. Donât want to make it too long.
Enjoy reading
-Ben
For years I had read about its development. I watched the screen shots, videos, interviews and playable demos at the Conâs. I was impressed and with great excitement read almost every review. Was this going to be a game that replaced WoW for me? I wasnât sure but from what I saw this game had everything and more.
The build up to launch in 2011 was massive. I was looking forward to each Con with great eagerness to see the new aspects of the game that no one had see. There was an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with the beta but I trolled YouTube often to see if someone was brave enough to post anything new. I was ready. I purchased the Digital Collectors Edition. The in game items I have used in the past with other MMOs were fun to have. Not everyone had them and they were just plain cool to any geek. With this purchase was the registration for Beta Access. I checked my email every time I heard beta invite emails were sent.
A few month before launch Bioware setup Beta weekends, dropped the NDA and for those who PreOrdered everyone was invited. 5:AM the morning of the first round of beta weekend invites I was up and ready to go. Then it happened. I was in. I knew I was going to play a Trooper for the Republic so I played a Bounty Hunter to not ruin what I wanted to play. The game was not perfect and some things were broken but it played like any other MMO I had tried before. I was sold. This was great. By the time the weekend was over I had a level 18 Bounty Hunter that I wanted to keep playing. I could not wait until the next Beta Weekend. The next weekend came and went so did the 3rd and 4th. I cut off my play time so I did not ruin the experience when the game launched.
Yes I did the unthinkable to most people. For launch I took three days off work. Why you ask. Well unless you play games I do not think I can explain it to you. The game launched and I was off to the races. Part of the PRE-Launch Bioware offered was to build your guild with people you know. Attach yourself to that guild and on release you will be on a server with all of your friends. We all were in and we all were republic. I started my trooper and was having a blast. I was questing in and out of hubs. Running flash points with guild mates, we were having a great time. Then the servers began to fill. People could not login at the same time. Server lag was terrible. The Launch was upon us and it was hard to enjoy the game.
So I was playing when I could. I logged when the servers we online and put my time in. One thing Bioware does well is RPG games and it started to feel that way. After awhile and into several planets I started to feel the grindy-ness of the game. I was not having fun. The passive talents were not working for me. I wanted to feel a reason to level. Not a 1% increase to a stat. I leveled the Trooper to level 30. Then one day more of my WoW buddies showed up. These people I have played with for a long time. However they wanted to play Empire. Not something I did not want to do but I had already invested my time into this Trooper. Yes I decided. It was getting grindy so I changed factions and servers with hopes to get out of the grind.
We choose a lower population server to avoid ques. I created the guild and invited everyone and we were going for it. The newness of the MMO was recaptured for me. The main reason for any MMO is to play with friends. Around the mid 20âs the World Boss on Droman Kass was up and we got the guild and took him down a level. This was a great accomplishment for us. We were proud of ourselves. However over the next month people started to loose interest. Dragon Soul in WoW, the final chapter to the expansion was out. They were making progress and it was hard to justify the time spent in SWTOR for most of them.
I was on Hoth and I hit level 40 on my Bounty Hunter. Two other people in the guild hit 50 and I was just not feeling it. âOh Help Usâ, âOnly Youâ âYou are the Bestâ, âWe Cant Do Itâ were the constant drolling themes to the planet quests. Each quest hub was the same. I know it is questing and what more can you do. But I am sorry the underlying story in each zone in WoW is not this grindy and the same style. So I put down my Blaster and traded it for a Lightsaber and started playing a Sith Inquisitor Assassin.
I was taken by the class mele with minor range abilities. So I started over again. I knew the planet quests were the same so I âspacebarâdâ over the quest talking and just paid attention to my class storyline. It was good, had its good and bad parts. Then around 35 I was noticing I was completing planets 1-2 levels behind. I was not sure what was going on. I level the Bounty Hunter the same way running Planets and Flashpoints. Going to a planet 1-2 levels before you should be there can be tough. Mobs hit harder and take longer to die. So I went to my ship and flew space quests and caught up. I went to my next planet at level and when I left again I was 2 levels behind. What was going on? So I logged onto my Bounty Hunter and played him the same places and I was 1 level higher this made no since to me. I was starting to feel pull back from myself to want to play.
BREAK: I will post the rest of this later. Donât want to make it too long.
Enjoy reading
-Ben
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Ya, every time I hear about a new MMO, I have that thrill that the genre can finally be something more than a grind fest.
LOTR
Warhammer
Conan
Rift
Eve (To be fair, this was a bit different)
Guild Wars 2
SWTOR
None shattered the genre. Still waiting.
A few threads I hear from MMO people.
1. Playing with friends
2. Accomplishing things in game that are fun
I think the socialization of games show you don't need an MMO to accomplish that. Co-op games are pretty popular and can get you some of the playing with friends and accomplishment.
I took part in the Beta for SWTOR and was very impressed with the game. It ran like mud on my desktop though, and i didn't want to have to steal the laptop (which is primarily used by my wife) everytime i wanted to play, so I passed on buying it. It's a shame it sounds like the later parts of the game turn into another grindy MMO.
That's kind of what I hard too. People said it was awesome then stopped playing.
The build up as to why I stopped playing should be out some time this week. I want to make sure I get it right
I had so much fun with Final Fantasy XI up to about level 50, then it started getting old. Grinding another job up to 50 was always an option, but meh. I think I'm done with MMO's. I could be wrong, but they just don't hold much appeal for me anymore.
I played FFXI for 4 years. The grind in that game is pretty bad. If I didn't have a good group of people I was playing with I would have given up on it a lot sooner. MMO's were great when I could actually dedicate entire nights to playing and it didn't matter that it took an hour to get the group together for a dynamis or something, but I just don't have that kind of time anymore and neither do most of my friends, so I doubt I'll ever pick up another MMO.
That reminds me, I think I've been paying for FFXI for a year now without playing it. I just kinda stopped playing and forgot it was taking money out.
lol both my wife and I kept paying for it for a few months before we finally pulled the plug. We had been playing it for so long it was kind of hard to give it up.
Pretty glad I haven't started into the MMO craze. Played but of LOTRO and that was fun. Cool it was free.