Star Wars: The Old Republic

[SteveS]

I think I know the one you’re talking about. Was it in a pipe above you as you looked up? I saw it but could not for the life of me figure out how to reach it.

There’s a tunnel from the other side, if we’re talking the same one. The Codex has an “achievements” section for each planet which lists number of holocrons found as well as the number of exploration and lore bits you found. Without stumbling upon the Codex I would have never heard of a holocron. Of course I also know that I missed some lore, which annoys me.

[balut]

For me it’s about the journey, not the destination.

You’re just fucking with us now, right?

[Chuck_Jordan]

Are you saying that you don’t understand how project budgeting works?

Cause I think that’s what your saying.

Let’s try a real world example.

You are given a goal to create a car and will sell well. You’re superiors are the investors so they only care about making money and they’ve given you 10 million to roll a product off the line. Go!

Do you spend 1 million or 3 million in frame R&D? Do you skimp and only spend the 1 mil then put the other 2 mil into upholstery design using special leather from zebras raised underwater? Then once the car is done and rolls off the line with frame issues, do you say “but look at the pretty leather!” ?

It’s not like they hired voice actors before deciding to do voice acting. You hire the people you need, not the people you don’t.

Holy shit I can’t believe you decided to double down on that. That is awesome. A lesser/saner person would’ve given up.

[MarchHare]

It doesn’t feel like wow to me. I’m not sure why everyone keeps comparing it to wow, that’s fantasy, this is sci-fi. Shouldn’t we be comparing it more to AO or even better, SWG?

Sure it’s sci-fi themed rather than fantasy, but the underlying game mechanics should be instantly familiar to anyone who has played WoW before. The voiced dialogue and companions are really the only thing that sets SWTOR apart. If you ignore the setting, the combat gameplay is practically a clone of WoW’s.

Whenever I get a new ability, my first inclination is to think of it in terms of a WoW equivalent. For example, I play a Gunslinger, and my abilities are pretty similar to a ranged dps class in WoW like a mage. Charged Burst (primary nuke with relatively short cast time) is like Fireball, Aimed Shot (more powerful nuke with a longer cast time and a cooldown) is like Pyroblast, Quick Shot (instant-cast attack for moderate damage) is like Fire Blast, Slice Droid (crowd control ability that incapacitates a target for 60 seconds, breaks on damage) is like Polymorph, Cool Head (cooldown ability to restore your power resource) is like Evocation, and so on.

[Brian_Rucker]

You’re just fucking with us now, right?

No, and I kinda think he’s right. For regular folks that aren’t power/grind junkies this is going to be probably the best experience they’ve had in an MMO. Old school powergamers are probably going to just feel frustrated with the cutscenes and companions and other junk they think is getting in the way of their powercurve en route to the end game.

Not so with Bioware game players in general or even the general public.

[MarchHare]

No, and I kinda think he’s right. For regular folks that aren’t power/grind junkies this is going to be probably the best experience they’ve had in an MMO. Old school powergamers are probably going to just feel frustrated with the cutscenes and companions and other junk they think is getting in the way of their powercurve en route to the end game.

Not so with Bioware game players in general or even the general public.

You’re absolutely right, but ibdoomed is fucking with us because he’s simultaneously claiming that the journey is most important to him while also slagging the fully-voiced dialogue for detracting from the experience (rather than being the game’s signature feature) because the resources spent creating it should have been allocated to fixing bugs or adding other features.

[Libra]

I’m using remote desktop to connect to my home PC while I’m at work so I can send my companions on missions, and there was a 400+ queue on The Crucible Pits at 8:30 AM Pacific. :(

[ibdoomed]

You’re absolutely right, but ibdoomed is fucking with us because he’s simultaneously claiming that the journey is most important to him while also slagging the fully-voiced dialogue for detracting from the experience (rather than being the game’s signature feature) because the resources spent creating it should have been allocated to fixing bugs or adding other features.

Someone reading the quest text to me versus me reading the quest text has no impact on the quest. In fact, one could argue that reading leaves more to the imagination of the audience, just like a book versus a movie, and thus the story itself may or may not be better.

Regardless, I’m still enjoying the stories.

[Bill_Dungsroman]

Someone reading the quest text to me versus me reading the quest text has no impact on the quest. In fact, one could argue that reading leaves more to the imagination of the audience, just like a book versus a movie, and thus the story itself may or may not be better.

Regardless, I’m still enjoying the stories.

Yeah I mean why even use graphics it should have been purely text-based, that would have been bug-free. Win-win you ask me.

[ibdoomed]

Sure it’s sci-fi themed rather than fantasy, but the underlying game mechanics should be instantly familiar to anyone who has played WoW before. The voiced dialogue and companions are really the only thing that sets SWTOR apart. If you ignore the setting, the combat gameplay is practically a clone of WoW’s.

Whenever I get a new ability, my first inclination is to think of it in terms of a WoW equivalent. For example, I play a Gunslinger, and my abilities are pretty similar to a ranged dps class in WoW like a mage. Charged Burst (primary nuke with relatively short cast time) is like Fireball, Aimed Shot (more powerful nuke with a longer cast time and a cooldown) is like Pyroblast, Quick Shot (instant-cast attack for moderate damage) is like Fire Blast, Slice Droid (crowd control ability that incapacitates a target for 60 seconds, breaks on damage) is like Polymorph, Cool Head (cooldown ability to restore your power resource) is like Evocation, and so on.

I had not realized that but yes, I see now that you are correct. I’ll try to think of what my sentinel skills match up to in wow.

[ibdoomed]

Yeah I mean why even use graphics it should have been purely text-based, that would have been bug-free. Win-win you ask me.

Exactly. I’m glad someone gets it.

Although it might be too easy to script like MUDs were. I remember when playing the game wasn’t the point, it was more about how good you could write your script and anticipate all the ways people will try to break it.

[The_Bitter_Cynic]

So, now it’s nit pick Sw:ToR to how similar it is to WoW?

Duh!

It is Wow with a friggin’ Star Wars skin.

I don’t think anyone will argue the point…lol, what am I thinking, this is Qt3.

I really don’t care because i’m having fun.

[Teiman]

This time i have avoid the “true republic” bitch. I dont buy the idea that to avoid becoming the empire you sometimes must act like the empire. Thats a slippery slope, and one that can turn friends in enemies. My character is a solid militar that make no concesions. Yesterday I ignored a direct order to kill in cold blood some civilians. Wrong is wrong. Sadly the game has not consequences and I am not ben retired from service, my commander is still giving me more missions. So basically, I have break the game roleplaying honor harrington.

[balut]

If it makes you feel better, I’m roleplaying my Powertech as a hired gun with principles. I’m not into indiscriminate killing, I tend to mock Imperials, and I’m a straight shooter in dealings. Granted, a lot of that is also to impress the chick (Mako), but the Empire is still paying me credits to do my thing, even if I do subvert their baser instincts whenever I can.

[Theodore_Rex_DX]

Can you be an Ithorian in this game?

[MrPerson]

Yeah, the queue on my server was about 700 deep at 9:30 this morning Pacific. This is going to be crazy come primetime.

[ibdoomed]

Quick question. With my jedi sentinel I had a droid for a while and now he’s gone. I could really use a companion with these black sun quests (I’m only 12). When do I get the next one?

[IGJoe]

I’m using remote desktop to connect to my home PC while I’m at work so I can send my companions on missions, and there was a 400+ queue on The Crucible Pits at 8:30 AM Pacific. :(

That is actually a very productive use of remote desktop. Well done, sir.

[Oghier]

Quick question. With my jedi sentinel I had a droid for a while and now he’s gone. I could really use a companion with these black sun quests (I’m only 12). When do I get the next one?

You can’t permanently lose a companion. The one you have is either dead, dismissed or out on a mission. Click the box in the lower left hand corner of the screen. If they’re not on a mission, summon them. If you can’t summon them, that means they’re dead somewhere. Simply dismiss them, then summon.

If you sent them out on a crafting mission, there will be a countdown timer in the companion part of the UI.

[Andrew]

Can you be an Ithorian in this game?

The races I’ve seen are all pretty boring looking. Human, red human, red human with spikes, human with computery looking things on their face, snow white human with tattoos, blue human, green human, human with blindfold. The twi’lek are the only vaguely non-human looking race, and even there it is “human with head tentacles instead of hair”.