Star Wars: The Old Republic

Haven't seen a topic for this game, so thought I'd post as its one of the games I'm most looking forward to.

For those that don't know SWTOR is a upcoming MMO and the first from developer Bioware who's previous games included Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate among many other top titles. It hopes to build on the WoW formula by adding a fully voiced story element to the gameplay, coupled with additional fixes to improve on the experience many got from delving into WoW for the first time.

I've been eagerly awaiting this game since it was just a rumour back in 2005 and now it finally seems it will be released this year, I've not followed a game for so long since Dragon Age (2003) and Darkfall (late 90's) which both finally got released in the last few years. I'm looking forward to getting back into the MMO environment with SWTOR with the big thing being the game having an actual story line through the leveling process (Lv50) and beyond something that was sorely missing in WoW.

Here are a few recent videos for those that haven't been keeping an eye on this.

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/eternity-vault-developer-walkthrough - First raid encounter in SWTOR.

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/huttball - PvP minigame.


Anyone else out there looking forward to this?.

Can not wait for this. With every preview Bioware bring out I get more excited about it.
My mate is at the Eurogamer convention in a couple of weeks and Bioware are supposed to be letting people get a hands on with it there. So I will be checking his review when he gets back.

Reviews so far have been swiveling on the WoW factor and how its being perceived. Those giving negative reviews seem to be going in expecting something completely new for the genre then getting upset when they get a more up to date improved WoW experience. The positive ones are going in with the WoW concept and enjoying the extras being provided improvement wise.

In the end Bioware never promised anything else but what they have delivered and have been very careful to make sure this is so. Many great games have been built on using whats come before and then building on it, Blizzards whole back catalog almost follows this thought thread (Diablo, Starcraft & WoW). The best RPG I've ever played follows this train of thought of using existing game ideas and adding that little bit extra.

I've been quite happy with the feedback coming back out review wise based on playtime, mainly for the fact as I knew going in what to expect and hadn't envisioned something utterly new. Ten Ton Hammer has done some quick good write ups from a neutral standpoint, same goes for Curse who are heavily WoW orientated.

Bioware are smart to stick with a concept that works, and if the storylines are as good as Bioware normally come up with then they are on to a winner.
Warcrafts biggest let down through the years has been the story of the game. After so many quests the text just became so repative and I stopped reading it after a while. Even more so when quest helper came along and you didn't need to read them.

Thing was during the first 20lvs of WoW they had not bad story lines especially the whole Brotherhood angle that would culminate in Dead Mines before petering out rather pathetically by the Stockade and Wetlands. You could see the ideas had been there with the Syndicate becoming more prevalent for the next area or two.

The sad factor was the Syndicate story lines were so disjointed and half finished due to Blizzard firing story writers and the new ones doing their own quests that it became a disjointed mess of text thereafter.

Like Age of Conan (which had a even stronger opening story) they both looked to draw you in but once they had you they felt they didn't need to provide quality story onwards.

Dass I know what you mean in regards to WOW but it is something that they've looked to address with Cataclysm and have made much better storylines for 20 through to 60.

SWTOR though does look rather awesome, the big thing as with any of the MMORPGs is after the initial interest can they stop people once again returning to WOW where so many others failed (LOTR, Warhammer, Conan, City of Heroes, Guild Wars)

Yeah with Cataclysm Blizzard have tried a lot with the storytelling and revamped the vanilla side of wow. The starter towns have good storylines with unique quests.
But the way you interact on SWTOR looks really good and could be enough to sway a lot of people to play for the long haul.
Also the fact that it is Star Wars will genarate numbers.

Any idea what the system specs are on SWTOR.

I had heard they had tried to make improvements in a few areas with Cataclysm suppose for me it was to little to late. I'd already left prior to Lich King for good due to story and many other aspects, some of the new things like Gearscore, Xrealm etc did nothing to inspire me making a comeback.

Yeah it will be retaining numbers that will be the hard thing for any MMO, though with EA/Lucas Arts backing you as money men this game stands a better chance than most.

LOTR suffered as it has no PvP and a very easy end game meaning it was always only going to ever appeal to a selected audience.

Warhammer focused to much on PvP and even then it had glaring balancing issues around the gameplay more so than the classes. It like many other promised so much only to deliver on barely half of what was promised.

City of Hero's was just limited in terms of gameplay had some good ideas but everything just came down to a dps fest.

Conan suffered the promised so much delivered on barely half syndrome, couple that with the fact the game was unfinished beyond the opening 20lvs. It did attempt a few nice touches but the money ran out and the game was released to soon to try and keep the game afloat.

Guild Wars well is successful it holds a steady 1 million plus players and when you consider WoW only really has around 3-4 million who really count its not a bad figure. GW also focuses ona completely different market base its a free to play PvP game thats uses instances for its world function. Still one of the Market success and the sequel looks to continue that.

SWTOR's big advantage is they are delivering on what they promised and are getting the time and money that many others before them failed to get. I think its got the legs to be a success in the market though I doubt it will ever get the figures WoW pulled in which doesn't lessen its success any what.

Dass you had to go and post this didn't you? I'm desperately trying to ignore the immense pull of this game, for the fear of once again having no life

I will blame you when my missus complains.

I knew I'd be able to hook you in Fists, all it would take is a thread and a couple of links.

Damn you!

Forgot to post these for those that are interested, minimum system requirements.

OSWindows XP, Vista/7 CPUAMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better · Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz or better

RAMWindows XP: 1.5GB

Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB ·

PCs using a built-in graphical chipset, 2GB RAM recommended. VideoATI X1800 or better* · nVidia 7800 or better* · Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better*

DVD-ROM8x or better *Minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM and Shader 3.0 or better support.

Cheers for specs.

I like it that they have kept the hardware specs at a pretty medium range. It will let more people play it with out having to spend big money on upgrading.

Was why they decided to follow WoW's example and go for more stylized graphics as they are less hardware intensive and tend to age slower in comparison to the more realistic approach.

I did expect the requirements to be slightly higher than this on the minimum end so was even more pleased seeing these. My (soon to be retired) 5yo PC could play the game the game pretty comfortably, though it would be near the lower end of the specs.

Smuggler finally gets a nice update this week, the character progression video has taken its time in coming its even tempted me a little to roll one.

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/smuggler-character-progression

If you visit the site on a regular basis you'll have seen the vid but here's for those don't spend as much time as I do on forums for unreleased games.

That looks like it could be the class for me. Do you know what the talent trees are going to look like? is it going to be WOW like or more advanced like Rift.

Similar to WoW in the tree system, though at Lv10 you will be asked to pick a advanced class for your char you see both options for the Smuggler in that vid.

Each character has a base tree that stays the same no matter what Adv Class you choose, though when you do finally make your choice each Adv Class has two unique tress to it. So you end up with 3 tree's in the end.

So a little more depth in terms of trees than WoW but not quite to Rift's level. I hope that makes sense, if it don't just let me know.

That makes sense mate thanks.
Bioware impress again, They seem to be listening to what fans of MMO's want. I have heard a lot of complaints about the lack of tinkering in WOW's talent trees and complaints of Rifts being to complex.
Bioware do the smart thing and go in the middle.
I'm looking more and more forward to this game with every litte bit of info I get.

They are being extremely careful about what information they release even down to the release date, think they are very concious of not wanting to promise something they don't end up delivering on. Almost a case of until they have it nailed down in the game and not just in theory they won't confirm it. Which always generates some crazy talk on the forums.

Looking forward to the Raids which look very interesting as they've banged on about trying to have objectives to complete rather than just all beating on one mob. Now there will always be some one big mob bashing but if they can add multiple adds and some variation it should be interesting.

Cover mechanic for Smugglers etc will also be interesting to see how it plays out and also how the space combat mini game works should be fun.

This should help a few of you who like to mess around with talent trees pre launch. Obviously these are subject to change or could contain some misinformation as its been compiled from beta leaks (NDA is still in-force) but should provide a nice idea of what to expect. This talent tree among one other I'm aware of has only been compiled recently (last week or so) so I'm assuming they will be updated as new info leaks or the NDA breaks.

http://cakeculator.forums-betacake.net/?c=sentinel

The below link is to a site that's covering the crew skills that will be available to your characters in SWTOR, again should give you a idea of what to expect and some info on top. There isn't a huge amount of info readily available with the NDA still in place but hopefully this site will still be helpful.

http://www.swtorcrewskills.com/

It's going to be a big seller over christmass then. Only have to wait about 3 months.

As Dass mentioned this earlier on I thought I'd bump this up, now not long to go!

I seriously can not wait for this game!!! the first two are both in my all time top 10. I've been waiting for so long, trawling the Internet for hints and rumours! The trailers look amazing!

Finally got my Beta invite, better late than never I guess, for this weekend so hopefully I can get some decent game time. No doubt I'll just end up swearing at the Login screen for two days but here's hoping it all goes smoothly.

MtotheC wrote:I seriously can not wait for this game!!! the first two are both in my all time top 10. I've been waiting for so long, trawling the Internet for hints and rumours! The trailers look amazing!

you know its an online multiplayer game....?

Anyone else participate in the Beta weekend just past, if so would like to hear any feedback you have. Will put up my own thoughts shortly.

My mate has been on over the weekend, i had a quick go of his and it played well for a Beta.
I noticed a lot of newbie MMO players. (i sound like Dick but i couldn't think of anything else to call them) running about and asking a lot of questions.
So it looks like the Star Wars name has brought in intrest.

Ah excellent, always good to have noobs to kill

How much is the subscription for this going to be, do we know?

Thought you were keeping your distance Fists after your WoW exploits, you'll be drawn to the darkside at this rate.

Subscription model is your norm but without the normal indicator of a failed project in a Lifetime option. I'll past below the amounts directly from the website.

1 Month Subscription: $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99)
3 Month Subscription: $13.99 per month (one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97)
6 Month Subscription: $12.99 per month (one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94)

It's very much similar to WoW in aesthetic feel and in the flow of the combat but with a updated factor. It actually plays more like a KOTOR though in sense of gameplay but it will forever get compared to the current King for various if not always correct reasons.

I am staying away dass....trying!!! Thanks for that. I think the subscription may stop me, otherwise I could see myself getting drawn in!

I will say the feeling I got from playing it through the Beta weekend was the same I got from playing Vanilla WoW way back. The initial 1/2 planets are very linear in direction and size though after that things really open up massively from the little I got to experience. Some people will either love/hate the story aspect of the game (though I've often heard people saying they hate it preceded by "I skipped all the dialogue"), though I think its a brilliant addition. I'm often surprised by those who complain about it when it's what Bioware have stated they would do right from the start. On that front actually people have very little to complain about Bioware have delivered everything they stated and more, just not what certain people dreamed up in their own thoughts. I've already started with the theorycrafting side of things following various formula's and debates on one particular website.

I'm looking forward to getting some of that WoW vanilla feel back once more, what about you Fists?.

I'd have been on this like a dog on heat but my power supply packed up at the weekend so am having to use the Mrs's notepad for the time being.

Whats your thoughts on the experience?.

Pack it in Dass, the mention of wow vanilla will get me wanting to raid zul gurub to whup Hakkar again!

You're making me massively regret my executive decision not to get involved with this game. You're even making me regret giving up playing wow! It's not fair, why can't mmo's and a life co-exist? :p

I think today is the last day to pre order to get early entry on the game. I meant to post earlier but didn't have time.

Are you getting a 606v2 guild together Hero.

I was liking the choice remarks you could make when you are talking to people. Its something i always felt WOW lacked to make it a more personal experience.
Does the quest or story change any in the way you answer when talking to AI.

So I was working a dull night shift last night, I decided to check my emails and have an email to download game for early axcess starting on the 13th.
I get all excited can't wait to get home to start download, arrive home at 6 30, first thing i do is switch on PC to start download and get SWTOR is currently performing maintaince try back later

Did you Beta test the last couple of weekends, if so you won't have anything currently to download.

I take it you know what's happening with regards to early access and how Bioware are advising people what day they get in?.

I pre-ordered from amazon beginning of September so based on that I'm guessing I'll not get in on the 13th and will prob have to wait till something like the 15th instead.

Edit: Meant also to ask if your someone who likes your theorycraft discussion threads?.

I did on wow, but still managing to resist this one

I've found a very good site for theorycrafting considering the game isn't even released yet. I'm a big fan but the number's and formulas that get banded about at times often leave me crying in a corner, I then have to spend a good amount of time reading very very slowly hoping some stuff clicks eventually.

You say your resisting but you get drawn to this thread all the same, the dark side is calling you and you know it Fists.

I'm a member of elitist jerks which i used to get involved with theorycrafting, but I just don't get the time to look into stuff like that now.

I've made a promise to myself that I'm not going to let SWTOR take over my life like WOW did, and I'M going to play it casualy.

I didn't beta but seen it in action on a mates pc.

Happy birthday, randy!

Yeah EJ was always useful on wow for theorycrafting.

Cheers fists.

I got my early access today and have just finished work, so now i'm ready to go.

enjoy, I've managed to stay well away despite massively wanting to get it, so I'll thrive on your reports back!

I'm in and playing for the past two days and guess what Fists, its awesome!

I'm really enjoying what i've played so far, I decided to go with a sith warrior and loving the way I can give Bad ass answers when i'm talking with quest givers.
The only downside i have had is the 10 minute wait to get on the server my guild was assinged because it was full. But 10 minutes isn't the end of the world.

I need to stop reading this thread, the temptation is killing me.

I'm also a Sith Warrior, the server I've finally settled on was just opened last ngith so will be interesting to see what queue length it has tonight. Some of them had lengths of 40-80mins, the funny thing is is the servers aren't really full they have just had their caps lowered. Bioware did this to try and trick new players into spreading over a number of servers for population reasons.

I'd imagine a few of those currently saying full with wait times will have their caps increased in time.

I'm lovin the questing with a story and yeah agree on the bad ass angle, I've been a murdering little so and so since I started.

I loved the jailor and judge quest, little things like that make the game for me, this game is going to get a hammering over the weekend.

Fists you need to give your self to the dark side and join the sith.