[TrashMan]

Anyone here got into Beta?

I did two days ago, but the servers are so clogged I can't even login. The game is a 20GB download (the one I cannot even start because I can't login! ).
By the time I download and start the game, the beta will be over....

[Scotty]

I'm in the beta for this weekend.  Client is downloading right now.  Be sure you've properly activated your account, or you won't be able to start the download.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

I was in the test two weekends ago as well as this one. I've had zero problems logging in and/or downloading the client. I was pretty pleasantly surprised by the game the other weekend. The only thing I can say about the launcher is it can be a bit finicky. And yeah, they're making you add security questions to your account, so if you haven't done that, the launcher will reject you.

[TrashMan]

I'm just worried that by the time I validate everything and download teh game, the beta will be over

I tried multiple times yesterday to change my password and go trough the entire validation process. The site either had so much traffic I timed out, or it was undergoing mantainance....

[Veers]

I just received an email saying I can participate, but I wont. the 20GB download is well above my 8GB monthly limit (which sux), and I doubt I'd make a 'good' tester.

Between RL (ie, Work and Sleep). I have BF3, Oblivion and AC:Revelations to play.

Just a tad busy atm Have fun!

[Mikes]

Sadly... TOR can pretty much be summed up by "Is a standard Bioware story enough to make you put up with what is essentially a mediocre WoW clone gameplaywise.

Having nothing but contempt for the traditional MMO formula and its failings I'll stay in a Galaxy far far away from that one.

[Patriot]

I got into beta as well, hurray :3

[TwentyPercentCooler]

Sadly... TOR can pretty much be summed up by "Is a standard Bioware story enough to make you put up with what is essentially a mediocre WoW clone gameplaywise.

Having nothing but contempt for the traditional MMO formula and its failings I'll stay in a Galaxy far far away from that one.

Yeah, it's really nothing we haven't seen before mechanics-wise. To me, though, there's something oddly compelling about it. I love the voice acting and I actually really like the quests. BioWare put a lot of effort into trying to make them at least mildly interesting and I find myself not skipping the voiceovers, so I actually hear and understand what I'm doing. Not to say that other MMOs don't provide background on the quests - it's just usually in the form of text. I love reading, but if I'm gonna read something, I might as well just pick up a good book.

I might not play it long-term, depending on how good the endgame content is, but I'm at least going to play through all of the class quests. Really, when you look at how much time it takes to complete them, I'd probably be getting a great amount of gameplay time for the money (instead of paying $60 for a 4-hour campaign, narf). I'm not antisocial or anything, but I like the option to faff about by myself if I want to.

[TrashMan]

Heh...Been playing it for 2 hours now.

Not sold.
Story is better than most (if not all) other MMO's, the quests are better,  the presentations is great, the voice acting is great.
BUT
the basic gameplay is WoW clone. You still wait for a guy to re-span after being killed by another player running around. In the part of the story/setting where is jsut doesn't mesh well.
You still go around grinding and doing fetch quests. You still gather pointelss loot. You still have no impact on your characters attributes (only skills)
MEh.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

Heh...Been playing it for 2 hours now.

Not sold.
Story is better than most (if not all) other MMO's, the quests are better,  the presentations is great, the voice acting is great.
BUT
the basic gameplay is WoW clone. You still wait for a guy to re-span after being killed by another player running around. In the part of the story/setting where is jsut doesn't mesh well.
You still go around grinding and doing fetch quests. You still gather pointelss loot. You still have no impact on your characters attributes (only skills)
MEh.

My biggest gripe was that some of the alignment choices were completely bananas, especially as a Jedi. Light side Jedi Knight dialogue is just crammed with so much naive, gushing sincerity. It actually helped me understand why I never actually liked the Star Wars movies. The Jedi aren't awesome heroes, they're a bunch of yakking fools.

I found the Trooper storyline to be the best, tbh. The alignment options are pretty excellent; sometimes the best choice (practically) isn't the right choice (morally).

[TrashMan]

I'm playing trooper too. Unfortunately, the typical mechanics (starting with a broek wooden swrod and grinding your way up to the Ultimate Swords of Awesomeness) don't work well here.

"OH, Welcome seargent! As a new member of the Elite Specs Ops Havoc squad we will now send you into battle armed with this t-shirt and this old musket we nicked fro msome museum. Destroy al lresistance in the enemy vilalge. Good luck!"

The story is the only thing that keeps me playing so far.
It certanly isn't the game mechanics. I hate em.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

I'm playing trooper too. Unfortunately, the typical mechanics (starting with a broek wooden swrod and grinding your way up to the Ultimate Swords of Awesomeness) don't work well here.

"OH, Welcome seargent! As a new member of the Elite Specs Ops Havoc squad we will now send you into battle armed with this t-shirt and this old musket we nicked fro msome museum. Destroy al lresistance in the enemy vilalge. Good luck!"

The story is the only thing that keeps me playing so far.
It certanly isn't the game mechanics. I hate em.

Actually, I thought it was a bit of fridge brilliance with the way things turned out. Don't read unless you're done with Ord Mantell.

Spoiler:

Your CO of Havok squad was actually probably hoping you'd get KIA, since he couldn't be sure what kinda reaction you'd have to the defection. His exasperation when you confront him is basically a "Good god why aren't you dead yet?" Sending you to do incredibly dangerous stuff solo with almost no tactical support isn't usually something that happens in the military unless someone's trying to make you dead.

[Gortef]

Storywise the game is indeed nice, playing solo feels like playing another solid BioWare RPG game. Which is nice.

I just would have preferred Tabula Rasa styled combat, meaning a 3rd Person shooter. Also TR had one of the best monster spawning system, they came from somewhere -bushes, trees, dropships etc.- instead of just appearing from nothingness.

But anyway, I don't feel like I wasted my money when Pre Ordering. It's still a rather nice MMO.

[QuantumDelta]

Game mechanics still need a hell of a lot more polish, game needs smoothing out at the edges and graphics that could have been brought out on a machine AFTER the N64 would be nice.
Not that I'd be that bothered about the graphics if the gameplay was as smooth and polished as WoWs (There I said it, is it too much to expect after the game's been out years?).

[TrashMan]

I'm playing trooper too. Unfortunately, the typical mechanics (starting with a broek wooden swrod and grinding your way up to the Ultimate Swords of Awesomeness) don't work well here.

"OH, Welcome seargent! As a new member of the Elite Specs Ops Havoc squad we will now send you into battle armed with this t-shirt and this old musket we nicked fro msome museum. Destroy al lresistance in the enemy vilalge. Good luck!"

The story is the only thing that keeps me playing so far.
It certanly isn't the game mechanics. I hate em.

Actually, I thought it was a bit of fridge brilliance with the way things turned out. Don't read unless you're done with Ord Mantell.

Spoiler:

Your CO of Havok squad was actually probably hoping you'd get KIA, since he couldn't be sure what kinda reaction you'd have to the defection. His exasperation when you confront him is basically a "Good god why aren't you dead yet?" Sending you to do incredibly dangerous stuff solo with almost no tactical support isn't usually something that happens in the military unless someone's trying to make you dead.

That's not fridge brilliance. For one - it stands out like a sore thumb, it isn't done, and it's very suspicious.
For another, at the end of the prologue you see he didn't expect you to come following - hence no reason to kill you. He clearly didn't want to kill you.

[-Sara-]

Tried beta, played a lot like WoW, did like the storytelling a lot.

It's main strenght is probably the narrative factor and voice casting and it seems to me that wrapping 'KOTOR 3' into a MMO shell is a genius solution: for drawing in enough income through subscriptions to keep pumping new storyline content into the game by adding chapters/acts. Unfortunately unless the gameplay becomes more unique, milking the story-cow will work for 3-4 years and people grow tired when new chapters/acts are derivations of excisting storylines.

I half expect Lucasarts uses SWTOR as an intermission, while silently creating some absolutely and insanely HUGE Star Wars old-trilogy immersive world when the 3D movies and the live-action series are broadcasted in a few years. A bit of second-life, but minus the furries and pr0n, where you can be and become anything you wish. George Lucas always had a bit of megalomania when it comes to productions (and hey, we got to admit it, the Star Wars franchise stands immensely strong with it's constant refreshing while Star Trek has largely come and gone: they kept beating a dead horse and a reboot is usually desperation when a franchise is too dead to renew). I'd totally expect some anything-is-possible Star Wars world in the time of the old trilogy. He wanted Star Wars Galaxies to become that and technology was too limited to deliver the promise (SWG was delayed many times, trying in vain to add more immersive elements).

It'd be a win-win situation. Bioware hopes to earn a lot of money through SWTOR (they probably went way over budget) and Lucas(arts) makes sure Star Wars stays in the spotlights, now with his Clone Wars series AND now SWTOR. You'll see.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

I agree that the gameplay needs a little work but the problem with that is that everyone compares it to an MMO that's now over 7 years old and has had an immense amount of time to be polished. WoW was just as much of a mess mechanics-wise as TOR is when it was released, maybe even more so. It's really one of the main reasons so many recent MMOs have failed. Everyone expects brand new games to have 5+ years of polish and it's just not possible.

What I'm encouraged by about TOR is that level of communication between the devs and players. They're not "everyman" devs but they do seem willing to listen to reasonable suggestions and I have no doubt that with the level of investment they have into this game, they want to see it succeed (not because they love us, of course, but because improving the game will make people stick around and keep paying). I'm willing to give them a chance to do that. Really, TOR is about as polished a release as I've seen in a while. I've been in the betas for several MMOs and played a great many of them after release.

[TrashMan]

Wow is a "mess" machanics-wise now too.

All MMO's follow the same stale underlying formula... I yearn for the day it gets broken.

[QuantumDelta]

The ones that broke it all failed, just FYI.

[LordMelvin]

Wow is a "mess" machanics-wise now too.

All MMO's but EVE follow the same stale underlying formula... I yearn for the day it gets broken.

ftfy