So today the embargo lifted for press to talk about their impressions in the SWTOR beta. No, I’m not in the beta (nor am I that anxious to, for reasons Eliot eloquently explained here), but I know quite a few people both in the press and in the blogosphere who are, and generally, generally I’m hearing really good things. Press embargo liftings for NDA-covered MMOs still kind of drive me crazy — I wish it would just lift for everyone, and I feel bad for bloggers who have been playing longer and will have to sit on their thoughts for a while yet to come.
Let’s pull some of the more interesting quotes from what’s popping up out there, shall we?
“Once I started playing, I could not stop — hats off to the creator of the Smuggler storyline. I found the majority of characters to be interesting and surprisingly unpredictable at times. The most unpredictable character was mine!”
“I couldn’t get past the fact that I’m playing a pre-destined BioWare avatar as opposed to my own character, and to be honest, if I wanted to passively consume content, I would watch television.”
“A lot of The Old Republic feels very safe, sticking to things that have worked for other games in the past, and rarely attempting anything new or experimental. And some of the classes feel as though they don’t have quite as much of an impact, both visually and functionally, as others.”
~ IGN
” I have to say though, having started with a Jedi class, the smuggler and trooper are just not as dynamic. Sure, the cover system and ranged combat work as designed, but I didn’t feel that the combat for the ranged classes was as active or strategic as the combat for the Jedis”
“I was often faced with multifaceted choices that really got me thinking about what I’m doing and what the best course of action is.”
“Much of the rest of the game bears the undeniable influence of World of Warcraft as heavily as a Wookiee wears his fur, and I can already hear the cries of players who’ll bemoan BioWare’s reliance on aging MMO conventions as soon as the game goes live.”
~ Gamespy
“In the end, no matter what makes The Old Republic different from the MMOs before it, what you’re doing eventually comes down to killing ten rats. But here’s the thing: you care about why you’re killing ten rats.”
Bio Break 
The RPS quote is what I’m hoping for. I’m disappointed that Bioware went so traditionally bland in its design, but I’ve come to terms with it. Maybe, hopefully, good story motivation will make the bland gameplay worthwhile.
Those are “really good things”?
Sounds more like “pretty lukewarm things” if that selection’s anything to go by.
The advantage of media NDAs is that they have a vested interest to be neutral-positive when previewing a game. They know that betas are always in flux and income is directly related to their articles.
The disadvantage of bloggers is that they rarely have this perspective and live at either spectrum of the hype factor. They either hate it with every word or will sell their first born to get another hour in.
And in reality, SWTOR has enough hype and enough pre-sales that opening an NDA to all players would not gain a whole lot yet possibly lose them a fair share. It’s not flying under the radar, like RIFT did for so long. Cryptic (Star Trek) is the perfect example of how lifting an NDA early can damage your game.
Nothing here is a surprise to me. Everything I’ve actually read about it today is exactly what I read before the NDA-lifted.
It’s really kind of disappointing. Clearly the game is just not for me. Nothing they’ve done, said, or anything that anyone else has said justifies paying a subscription for this game. To me at least.
Not that I’m predicting the game will fail, but I’m really surprised my fellow gamers are willing to pay for this experience when they can get it elsewhere for free. Just without the Star Wars skin. I suppose some people are really comfortable with the familiar — for me, it just breeds contempt.
I’m quite excited about SWTOR, if not for a new MMO, there’s atleast one
full new TOR game in there.
Use the free month to play through the plot, then see if I actually want to subscribe. Pretty much a no brainer for me.
“Those are “really good things”?
Sounds more like “pretty lukewarm things” if that selection’s anything to go by.”
lol! I was thinking the same thing. Hope springs eternal.
One thing that bothered me was how some of the choices were coded to for “good” or “bad.” I helped a Sith apprentice destroy her masters experiment and I got good points for this?? That is the whole point of the sith is to replace their masters, helping the apprentice should be considered evil in my opinion.
I’ll be interested to hear how “care about why you’re killing ten rats” works out in SWTOR. Bioware has been very good about the why, in the Mass Effect games. I haven’t played the Dragon Age series, but I gather it is similar in terms of examining motive rather than merely action.
It’s odd how the opinion of player testers differs from some of the haters out there who haven’t played, or went into the Beta with the intent of hating the game. Just look to Massively to see a ton of haters.
But WoW had, and still has, a ton of haters. That didn’t stop it from doing quite well. Whenever someone or something is popular, there will be a lot of haters who hate just for the sake of hating.
hmmm…. If I play empire classes, will it be more fun(doing bad stuffs?)? I’ve read that there is the good-bad meter or something, and I’m not sure if this will affect your ‘status’ as a part of the Order, or the Dark Force.
morse code:
bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad
bad bad bad bad bad bad
bad bad bad bad bad bad bad
bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad
bad bad bad bad bad bad
bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad
There is a beta and I am in it.
I just don’t get how many people are simply forgetting that, oh hey, it is a BIOWARE game. BioWare makes a certain type of game. The fact that it is an MMO is clearly secondary, and they have been stating this from the start.
At least that is how I’m viewing things. And so far I am far from disappointed. I’m rather addicted, actually.
With the brains at bioware, I had initially hoped for more than a standard level system. For once in an mmo I would have liked to start having fun from the begining. I have pre-ordered but voice acting or not, leveling will always be a grind.