I’m continuing my lunch discussion here. So obviously this release will be spun as the #1 biggest western MMO launch, #2 in user base behind WOW but with pre-order pushing 1 million what is the expected top point of the initial user base, 2 million? 5 million?
-Tim
Gedd
2862
If by cutscene you mean the conversation method used in Dragon Age, KOTOR, and Mass Effect, then the game is most certainly not for you, and Bioware has said as much.
I would love to give my impressions, but again the NDA, so I’ll just say that I found questing in those other Bioware games actually felt like it mattered, and it pulled me into the story because of the conversations. My character actually felt like a participant because I interacted with NPCs. And by interacted, I don’t mean I ran up and right-clicked them for a couple paragraphs of text in a dialog box.
I’ll phrase it a different way, in WoW quests felt like a speed bump on the way to the next level. They’re presented in a minimal manner, and it was very easy to forget exactly why you were out there collecting 6 foozles for Lord Whatshisname. In Bioware games, I’m playing for the story, and the leveling is just a nice side effect of moving through the story. If Bioware didn’t present the story through the conversations, I’m pretty sure it’d feel just like WoW, where story really was secondary.
Gedd
2863
The Curse (and other fansite) offers are for the final beta weekend and not the general beta. Anyone who has been in a prior beta, or even signed up for to beta test prior to 11/11 will automatically be in the last beta weekend and don’t need to sign up through the fansites.
walTer
2865
Has there been a server chosen for the guilds yet? Wanna make sure I get on the right now. Also, is placement in the guild automatic if we are in it now whenever we make a new character or do we need to have someone in game actually send out an invite?
If this is all in the faq on the SWTOR site, lemme know and I will catch up there.
[url=http://www.swtor.com/guilds/faq#q3 Here’s the FAQ, but basically McMaster and I will let you know what the server is, then the first toon you make there will automagically be invited to the guild.
walTer
2867
Ok cool-- hopefully one of you preordered so we can get the server name early? :) In the beta I ended up on a pVp server since it was the only one that would let me in on Friday.
Both guilds are fully prepped for launch.
There is a big difference between the two, yes. But the only place I can recall seeing the latter kind of zone design in any MMO is in instanced dungeons in WoW. And WoW isn’t exactly wander-around town. Virtually every part of every zone is placed there for one or more quests, dispensed in a mostly linear progression track between hubs. Sure, you can wander away from that track, but it serves no real purpose (probably less than in TOR, which has lore items and collectibles, which WoW doesn’t). And I haven’t been in the zone you mentioned, but that map looked to me like it permits roughly the same amount of wandering around as I’ve experienced in WoW.
So does anyone actually think the freaking barrens is even half as good as any of the starter areas in swtor?
I remember when i played wow, EVERYONE hated the barrens…
One other thing that I think will get real old is when a person wants to start a new char of the same class they will get to go through all the same exact cut scenes all over again. I know most of my friends in other MMOs have made additional characters of a class they had already played.
Yes, this is true and a possible issue.
From what i can tell, story is based on your class and not specialization class (whatever their special name for it was). This means, in theory, a Juggernaut and a marauder will have the same story.
I don’t think i would ever personally experience this though as i would only think of doing this once i had max levels of every class on both sides.
Not to mention, like in mass effect, you can skip through dialog with a single button…
I actually have a question. Is it going to be possible to respec in swtor? Going by everything i know about how they’ve tried to make swtor as user friendly as current day wow with the best mods, i’d ASSUME that you can, but… my friend doesn’t recall seeing a way when he may or may not have played.
If you mean in the TOR equivalent of talent points, then yes. If you mean to another advanced class, then as far as I know, no.
Unfortunately skipping through a 20 scene cutscene means waiting for each one to load and hitting space. I wish there was an option to just skip them all together, as I dont care about them.
As for the class thing with a guild needing different classes and all that at different times it can be quite common to have 2 chars of the same class.
Won’t all these secrets be known by launch with all the fan sites posting them? I am not one for spoilers but if there are permanent bonuses I can get for my character, I’ll use fan sites to make sure I get those bonuses.
In a single player game you’re competing against the game. In an MMO there’s an element of competition with other players. If they are parading around with cool stuff you don’t have you hit the internet to figure out how to get that stuff so you can be cool too.
If by cutscenes, you mean dialog, i would highly advise skipping this game. Even if it is possible, which i don’t think it is, if you have no interest in the story, i don’t think a mmorpg that tries to focus MORE on story… is the game you are looking for.
Mark Asher: the same is true with any mmorpg.
I don’t think this is the game for you, then.
How walled-in is the game?
I know WoW well, and the Barrens is a good example. I can wander off in a lot of different directions and find different camps of monsters. I know each area of the Barrens is there for questing purposes, but I feel like I can still wander around and see stuff and interact.
How much wandering can I do in Old Republic?
I don’t mind a story, WoW has a story, history and all that as does Lotro but they don’t make you sit through a cut scene for every damn quest.
I should have made it more clear that its the cut scenes I have no use for, not for any type of story.
Daagar
2880
That is, however, SWTOR’s defining feature. Skipping it means you are missing a big chunk of the game (as I’m not sure you otherwise get all the dialog in WoW-style text form, for example).
