RTTP: Star Wars The Old Republic - The MMORPG that has more player agency than most modern single player RPGs

[texhnolyze]

So I'm back to SWTOR somehow, and now with a new Jedi Guardian character which story I haven't finished yet. Naturally, the first thing I notice is the graphics. While most of the textures look rough, the game is surprisingly holding up well visually, mostly thanks to the superb artstyle and lighting. They have this rtx like effects which basically reflect the light source and its color to its surrounding. Looks great in darker areas like space ships and caves, as well as from the lightsabers emitting the different colors. Sometimes, I need to remind myself that this is a game that came out in 2011.

Anyway, coming back to SWTOR also made me realize how massive the game is, not only from the general polish and its AAA-ness, but also the amount of content it has. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but I keep getting amazed by how massive and realized the worlds and locations are. The story brings you to numerous planets, from Tython, Taris, Voss, and many others. I remember an early interview pre-release with the former lead, James Ohlen:

"This is a HUGE game. Just to give you an idea how huge this game is, we were taking a loot at it, and it has more story content than every single other BioWare game that's come before put together. That would mean Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights II, Knights of the Old Republic, Knights of the Old Republic II, Mass Effect--and all the expansions."

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Spoiler: Story progression chart

Virtually every quest from main to side ones are voiced and directed in cutscenes. While the side quests are not directly tied to the storyline, they will give you important decisions to make, like deciding what to do with an NPC, or even deciding the fate of a settlement. These little things adds to the player agency and helps the role playing element a lot.

While you're only given 3 choices via the dialogue wheel most of the time, they actually don't always play the same. For example, some choices will lead to companion affection, some other will give you Light/Dark Side points, some others are neutral. Some choices have one Light Side alignment, neutral, and 1 Dark Side alignment, while some others have 2 Light/Dark Side alignment and one neutral choice, and so on. At first, you might think that this will restrict players' decision since they're already tied to a certain side, but not really. It's quite easy to maintain your alignment even if you want to choose the opposite alignment choice in dialogues. You can also turn off the alignment hints from the dialogue, so you can roleplay more freely if you so desire. Ultimately, the game gives you freedom on how you want to roleplay, because sometimes you may have to make a hard decision.

Some of the choices do have long lasting effects too, from additional points to Light/Dark Side, to future encounter with the NPCs, or how the NPCs and/or your companions remember your choices. A little example is this quest on Nar Shaddaa, a former operative who's in prison uses you to engineer an escape. You can either let him go or rat him out to Intelligence. If you let him go, he starts sending you email with the dirt he has on various people, including your superiors and your companion. It's just background but some of it is a fun read. Here's another example of how the choices affect things:

Spoiler: Dialogue example

1. Come back, and we'll talk – Koth is disappointed, +50 LS points
2. Good riddance – Koth remember your indifference – +50 DS points
3. You're a dead man – Koth remembers your cruelty, +100 DS points

What really blows my mind is that SWTOR is actually a MMORPG. Most modern single player RPGs aren't even close to this in term of narrative depths and player agency. It's a proper Star Wars RPG that everyone, especially fans, should play.

 

[Sargerus]

I hated how the game became more streamlined as the expansions advances, you go from 8 individual storylines, to 2, down to 1. Then 2 again in the Onslaught expansion.

 

[texhnolyze]

I also wanted to add that it seems like they tweaked the difficulty for story parts. It feels so much easier now, and they give you huge amount of exp so you don't need to do side quests anymore. You can basically focus on story quests and ignore everything else, and you'll still over leveling the content for a bit. It has its pros and cons, but I generally like this change so that people can enjoy all class story quest much faster. It wasn't like this the last time I'm leveling my fresh character, I had to do all of the side quests, sometimes the heroics and flashpoints too to keep my level on par with the current content.

I hated how the game became more streamlined as the expansions advances, you go from 8 individual storylines, to 2, down to 1. Then 2 again in the Onslaught expansion.

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It's probably aligned with the game's state back then. The game was bleeding players even after it went F2P, so the resources allocated to expansions wouldn't be as big as the base game. The game is now in a great condition though, especially after the Steam launch. It has a very healthy ccu compared to most other MMOs on Steam, and there's stilll also the non-Steam version. Hopefully the next expansion will be getting better.

 

[AndrewDean84]

I still can't believe this game hasn't been ported to consoles.

 

[Bizzquik]

I still can't believe this game hasn't been ported to consoles.

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I'm with you.

I know the combat does not lend itself to a controller, but having a game with this much story content and player customization be kept away from PlayStation, Xbox, and PC Controller players seems like a business misstep in hindsight.

I wish they had designed the game with a wider user-base in mind. But that would have meant an entirely different moment-to-moment combat flow, and that wasn't the game Bioware chose to make. I can respect that.

 

[Cats_Schrodinger]

I really want to get into this for the single player content and some side stuff with online players.

My sole problem was the damn combat and how easily it is. There is zero challenge in the main story missions.

I also have no clue how the monetization works.

 

[texhnolyze]

I still can't believe this game hasn't been ported to consoles.

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I'm with you.

I know the combat does not lend itself to a controller, but having a game with this much story content and player customization be kept away from PlayStation, Xbox, and PC Controller players seems like a business misstep in hindsight.

I wish they had designed the game with a wider user-base in mind. But that would have meant an entirely different moment-to-moment combat flow, and that wasn't the game Bioware chose to make. I can respect that.

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Yeah, it's baffling actually. They're leaving a lot of money on the table by not porting this to consoles.

Actually, I've been playing the game with a controller thanks to Steam community configs. Basically, I can use all 12 hotbars with face button + d-pads, as well as the add menu with hold action layer (holding L2). It does its job pretty well so far, and it actually makes the combat more fun because it kinda turns it to a pseudo action game. That said, I can see the restrictions too, especially with how abundant the active skills available are. I have to choose the 12 active skills that I use the most in my main hotbars. They need to trim the classes' skills to make SWTOR viable with a controller. Other than that, browsing the inventory and UI and general require more effort with a controller. But it should be fine since lots of newer MMO-lites (like Destiny, etc) are already incorporating the mouse-like pointer in ther UI systems.

Spoiler

Honestly, if you have a half decent PC or even a laptop, you should be able to play this with a controller.

I really want to get into this for the single player content and some side stuff with online players.

My sole problem was the damn combat and how easily it is. There is zero challenge in the main story missions.

I also have no clue how the monetization works.

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Yeah, I addressed this in my post above. Basically, they give you a lot of exp now that you're bound to over-leveling the current content. The best way to circumvent this is by not doing the side quests at all. And if you want more challenge, you can always turn your companion to passive mode. They're actually the main culprit as their heals are kinda OP. It's almost impossible to die in story mode thanks to your companion, and you can comfortably run 2-man heroics alone with a companion.

 

[HellofaMouse]

I hope when they shut down the servers, they patch it so it can be played offline.

I still have 6 more storylines to go through

 

[Zephy]

MMO have never been for me. As a big SW fan, I paid an unreasonable amount of money to play it at launch, but only went 10-15h in.

Gameplay in typical MMO fashion is a snorefest. Watch your character fight on his own while you wait for an icon to recharge so you can click on it.

Areas, especially cities, are needlessly huge, as if they expected to gave a thousand players simultaneously in each area. By huge, I don't mean there's a lot to see, I mean the streets themselves are didiculously wide and long, it takes ages to go from one point of interest to the next, with literally bothing inbetween, it' s like they're just trying to make the game feel artificially bigger. I had the impression I was playing a character from Toy Story with how messed up the scale was. This makes the areas feel completely unrealistic and therefore not believable, which kind of ruined my fun.

The progression system and multiple currencies begging you to pledge your life to the game killed what little motivation I had left.

I even went back to it when it became f2p. I tried. I really tried. I just can't.

 

[Sargerus]

The Hero Engine was already an horrible, botched engine back in 2011, making it work on consoles would be a waste of time and resources.

Almost 10 years later there are still bugs in the game that haven't been fixed since the game's beta.

 

[cheeseholidays]

Is there pazaak?

 

[SlickVic]

I've only finished the Imperial Agent story but had a really good time with it. Heard good things about it feeling a solid spy story going into it, and did not disappoint for me. Also was interesting to see there were quite a few different endings to the story, though I didn't check how much that stuff impacts the expansions as I haven't touched those yet.

The game definitely scratches the itch of a Bioware RPG for me personally, with the voiced protagonist and selecting conversation choices off a dialog wheel. I do really like that most if not all the NPC's I ran into were voiced as well. To me, it makes even the more mundane side quests in the game feel a bit more interesting, as the voice at least gives NPC's a tad more personality in addition to their dialog IMO. And I think good voice work just makes the better dialogues and stories in the game feel a bit more engaging to me as well. In a sense it does make the game feel a bit more modern in its overall production values, even if the graphics do feel a bit dated in 2021.

Definitely am looking forward to trying some more of the class stories, and it's a lot of game for free essentially.

 

[texhnolyze]

Is there pazaak?

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No, I don't think so.

MMO have never been for me. As a big SW fan, I paid an unreasonable amount of money to play it at launch, but only went 10-15h in.

Gameplay in typical MMO fashion is a snorefest. Watch your character fight on his own while you wait for an icon to recharge so you can click on it.

Areas, especially cities, are needlessly huge, as if they expected to gave a thousand players simultaneously in each area. By huge, I don't mean there's a lot to see, I mean the streets themselves are didiculously wide and long, it takes ages to go from one point of interest to the next, with literally bothing inbetween, it' s like they're just trying to make the game feel artificially bigger. I had the impression I was playing a character from Toy Story with how messed up the scale was. This makes the areas feel completely unrealistic and therefore not believable, which kind of ruined my fun.

The progression system and multiple currencies begging you to pledge your life to the game killed what little motivation I had left.

I even went back to it when it became f2p. I tried. I really tried. I just can't.

Click to shrink...

Actually, the combat doesn't work like that at all. It gives that impression at first, but it's kinda different. First, there's no auto attack in SWTOR combat. You need to click to attack, which builds your focus. Most of the other active skills require focus to use, so you need to learn them to maximize their usage. Some skills are just plain do high damage to a single target, some others do area attack, some others give debuff to your target, and some others will only usable after you blocked an attack, etc. It's kinda strategic instead of just button mashing. That said, I'd admit that the combat is still not the game's main value. But I've been playing the game with a controller and it feels different, it's like a pseudo action RPG.

I see where you're coming from about the huge areas. They're indeed pretty massive, in a good and bad way. It feels overwhelming at first, but after you gain access to sprint and a speeder, it won't be an issue anymore, really. It's also very easy to avoid enemies on the road if you want to focus on story quests, as their hostile range is pretty limited.

I've only finished the Imperial Agent story but had a really good time with it. Heard good things about it feeling a solid spy story going into it, and did not disappoint for me. Also was interesting to see there were quite a few different endings to the story, though I didn't check how much that stuff impacts the expansions as I haven't touched those yet.

The game definitely scratches the itch of a Bioware RPG for me personally, with the voiced protagonist and selecting conversation choices off a dialog wheel. I do really like that most if not all the NPC's I ran into were voiced as well. To me, it makes even the more mundane side quests in the game feel a bit more interesting, as the voice at least gives NPC's a tad more personality in addition to their dialog IMO. And I think good voice work just makes the better dialogues and stories in the game feel a bit more engaging to me as well. In a sense it does make the game feel a bit more modern in its overall production values, even if the graphics do feel a bit dated in 2021.

Definitely am looking forward to trying some more of the class stories, and it's a lot of game for free essentially.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. SWTOR is a Bioware RPG through and through, it has everything:

- Voiced custom character
- Dialogue wheel system with good/evil
- Companions with story and romance
- Your own spaceship
- The capital city
- The whole RPG systems from gears and skills
- Badass missions and sequences
- Lores, a whole lots of lore

I'd even say that SWTOR is just another Mass Effect in another coat of paint, and more.

 

[Pelleas]

The Hero Engine was already an horrible, botched engine back in 2011, making it work on consoles would be a waste of time and resources.

Almost 10 years later there are still bugs in the game that haven't been fixed since the game's beta.

Click to shrink...

I wonder if the crafting mats are STILL a level under the planet they're supposed to be on. This is the game that made me realize Bioware wasn't all they were cracked up to be.

 

[Bardeh]

I wanted to like this, but the engine it runs on turned me off. Exterior spaces work quite well, but the interiors are all big boxy rooms that look like they've been cut and pasted together in a level editor.

 

[Spoit]

I admit that I haven't actually played, like... any of this game, but I remember there being something wacky about it rolling the dice for who got to chose the dialogue option when in a group. That seemed like it would lead to a bit schitzophrenic conversations

 

[ThreepQuest64]

I always try to get back in the game because I really like the dialogue and story (so far)... and for GOD'S SAKE A VOICED PROTAGONIST!! If I meat another dead-silent protagonist in cinematic games these days I'm out of here.

Everything else, though, screams way too much MMO in my face: There's almost no exploration or no rewards for doing so, no hidden stash, interesting things to find, loot or anything else beyond the usual loot you collect and compare after defeating enemies; the level design is MMO typical huge in scale to keep you busier with running and spending time in their money-wheel... they're empty, almost lifeless and very artificial; the combat system that defined the genre back then feels outdated today and unspectacular; the engine is barely holding together (frame times, hiccups, lags and now and then some visual glitches is a daily fare); the game is waaaay too easy, like so many MMOs these days that go for the laid-back "you can go wherever you want" approach and won't give you any challenges along your quest.

Many of these points are typical for MMOs (which I always stop playing them after a short while) and you can't blame a game, being an MMO, for all of them. But man, as much as I'd like to enjoy these stories I simply can't because of those reasons. ESO, while having similar and also unique issues on its own, at the very least offer some rewarding exploration with chests to lock-pick, some hidden treasures and shards to find.

I can't help myself but feel that most MMOs don't have much substance and many mechanics solely exist to keep you engaged on a level you either want to spend money or get your serotonin and dopamine receptors triggered in a 30sec rhythm, like action movies where one explosion and hectic camera sways and cuts chases the next one.

 

[dusan]

It is too fucking bad that this game is never released on Consoles because of "There are too many keys"

I would like to play...

 

[OrangePulp]

Everything else, though, screams way too much MMO in my face: There's almost no exploration or no rewards for doing so, no hidden stash, interesting things to find, loot or anything else beyond the usual loot you collect and compare after defeating enemies; the level design is MMO typical huge in scale to keep you busier with running and spending time in their money-wheel... they're empty, almost lifeless and very artificial; the combat system that defined the genre back then feels outdated today and unspectacular; the engine is barely holding together (frame times, hiccups, lags and now and then some visual glitches is a daily fare); the game is waaaay too easy, like so many MMOs these days that go for the laid-back "you can go wherever you want" approach and won't give you any challenges along your quest.

Click to shrink...

This is the way I feel as well. I want to play it, and check out some of the class storylines, but it's just so... MMO. I even enjoy mmo combat, the nature of managing cooldowns and the GCD, what order to use abilities, etc. But otherwise it's just such a downgrade for me compared to actual single-player offerings.

I think part of it is that everything feels so impersonal. Unavoidable I suppose, being a multiplayer title, but when you're just after it as a single player title (because everyone says it's like 6 or 8 or whatever bioware rpgs rolled into one!), it comes up lacking.

 

[Zephy]

Actually, the combat doesn't work like that at all. It gives that impression at first, but it's kinda different. First, there's no auto attack in SWTOR combat. You need to click to attack, which builds your focus. Most of the other active skills require focus to use, so you need to learn them to maximize their usage. Some skills are just plain do high damage to a single target, some others do area attack, some others give debuff to your target, and some others will only usable after you blocked an attack, etc. It's kinda strategic instead of just button mashing. That said, I'd admit that the combat is still not the game's main value. But I've been playing the game with a controller and it feels different, it's like a pseudo action RPG.

I see where you're coming from about the huge areas. They're indeed pretty massive, in a good and bad way. It feels overwhelming at first, but after you gain access to sprint and a speeder, it won't be an issue anymore, really. It's also very easy to avoid enemies on the road if you want to focus on story quests, as their hostile range is pretty limited.

Click to shrink...

You're almost making me want to install it again and give it yet another shot. I didn't know the game had controller support, this would actually make me much more willing to install it.

 

[Namtox]

You're almost making me want to install it again and give it yet another shot. I didn't know the game had controller support, this would actually make me much more willing to install it.

Click to shrink...

It didn't have controller support the last few times I checked on it. It might be something they custom made for themselves with a controller profiler possibly.

 

[texhnolyze]

You're almost making me want to install it again and give it yet another shot. I didn't know the game had controller support, this would actually make me much more willing to install it.

Click to shrink...

No no, there's no official controller support. I simply use one of the available community configs on Steam. I did tinker it a bit to make buttons for screenshots and hide UI.

Check my post above.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

I really want to get into this for the single player content and some side stuff with online players.

My sole problem was the damn combat and how easily it is. There is zero challenge in the main story missions.

I also have no clue how the monetization works.

Click to shrink...

Yeah that always kept me from playing further than I did. Combat is dull and boring. And the areas are all so huge and take forever. It has great quests and lore, but it's just a bit too boring to actually play the game.

 

[Darkstorne]

It really is very impressive how well it holds up, and the changes to allow players to just critical path their main story without doing side quests is amazing.

The only downside is the combat and the insane number of skills. While most other MMOs recognized the value of the MOBA trend - fewer skills, but each skill is more impactful with a lot of versatility - SWTOR went for the "MOAR SKILLS" approach, and made about sixteen quadrillion skills for each class, many of which do almost exactly the same thing as each other but have cooldown times to force you to use them all. You know it's a big problem when there was a huge uproar with free players only having access to two full hotbars, which wasn't enough space to slot all the usable skills.

A rework of the skill system could hugely improve the gameplay, and allow for a console port. I have no idea why it still hasn't happened.

 

[texhnolyze]

I wouldn't deny that the game is old and it shows with how the combat & overall gameplay system entails. But honestly, this is probably my favorite iteration of traditional MMO combat. The lack of auto attack is already a huge difference than your regular MMO combat. Movement is a thing. Some skills also require you to be on the side/behind of your target. Some enemies (like bosses) have sweeping attack and area skills so you need to move around a lot. As I said above, it's like a pseudo action game, you're not just standing there waiting for skill cooldowns.

It really is very impressive how well it holds up, and the changes to allow players to just critical path their main story without doing side quests is amazing.

The only downside is the combat and the insane number of skills. While most other MMOs recognized the value of the MOBA trend - fewer skills, but each skill is more impactful with a lot of versatility - SWTOR went for the "MOAR SKILLS" approach, and made about sixteen quadrillion skills for each class, many of which do almost exactly the same thing as each other but have cooldown times to force you to use them all. You know it's a big problem when there was a huge uproar with free players only having access to two full hotbars, which wasn't enough space to slot all the usable skills.

A rework of the skill system could hugely improve the gameplay, and allow for a console port. I have no idea why it still hasn't happened.

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Indeed. Unfortunately they need to rework the whole skills system for the game to be ported to consoles. That said, as there are overlapping skills we probably don't need to put everything on the hotbars after all. Especially for story content and easier group activities, your skill rotations wouldn't really matter.

 

[Truno]

Shoutout to the PVP. Had a blast playing it with multiple classes. Still think my favorite one was Powertech, as you could grapple people from far away, pull them in, and knock them off the stage with your knockback skills. However, IIRC, the PvE end game was rough. As a new player coming in (~2016) I tried my best to watch rotation guides for my class, get the best gear available at that point and learn mechanics for operations. The only ones that I could get a group were Karagga's Palace and Eternity Vault, both of which were by far the easiest and (noob friendly). Trying to get a group for a higher difficulty operation in order to get exclusive mounts or better gear was almost impossible. People literally said, 'How have you never done this? I'm just not confident in doing it with a new player'. But I guess that problem is common for most MMOs

 

[Darkstorne]

Indeed. Unfortunately they need to rework the whole skills system for the game to be ported to consoles. That said, as there are overlapping skills we probably don't need to put everything on the hotbars after all. Especially for story content and easier group activities, your skill rotations wouldn't really matter.

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Yeah, that's literally how I play it =) I love minimalist UIs so I have a single hotbar. I choose my fave skills from the options, and leave the majority aside. Sure, combat would be faster if I used them all (less time waiting for cooldowns to finish), but the story content is so easy anyway it's not an issue. And it kinda shows how much better the game would be if they culled a lot of skills, reduced cooldowns significantly, folded skills into each other (debuff skills should just be an added effect in offensive skills etc) because it makes the game far more enjoyable not having to stare at skill bars. You're absolutely right that freedom of movement and lack of auto-attacks already puts it a step ahead of other traditional MMO combat systems.

 

[texhnolyze]

Yeah, that's literally how I play it =) I love minimalist UIs so I have a single hotbar. I choose my fave skills from the options, and leave the majority aside. Sure, combat would be faster if I used them all (less time waiting for cooldowns to finish), but the story content is so easy anyway it's not an issue. And it kinda shows how much better the game would be if they culled a lot of skills, reduced cooldowns significantly, folded skills into each other (debuff skills should just be an added effect in offensive skills etc) because it makes the game far more enjoyable not having to stare at skill bars. You're absolutely right that freedom of movement and lack of auto-attacks already puts it a step ahead of other traditional MMO combat systems.

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Yup, exactly. Minimalist UI is the way. Here's mine for story & exploration mode.

 

[rras1994]

Yup, exactly. Minimalist UI is the way. Here's mine for story & exploration mode.

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Have you been able to play the expansion boss fights like that? Some of them I remeber being quite difficult and needed to use many of the skills - though I suppose it's possible they adjusted them since I played them?

 

[texhnolyze]

Have you been able to play the expansion boss fights like that? Some of them I remeber being quite difficult and needed to use many of the skills - though I suppose it's possible they adjusted them since I played them?

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No, not yet. As you can see from the quest log, I'm still low level with this new character. I think I can add one more hotbars tab when I need it later. I noticed that the L1 button is still free so it can be assigned as another menu layer. Now that you mention it, I think I also haven't tackled the last few expansions. The last time I played my Imp Agent was in 2014 iirc, and I was still playing on desktop with kb/m at the time.

 

[rras1994]

No, not yet. As you can see from the quest log, I'm still low level with this new character. I think I can add one more hotbars tab when I need it later. I noticed that the L1 button is still free so it can be assigned as another menu layer. Now that you mention it, I think I also haven't tackled the last few expansions. The last time I played my Imp Agent was in 2014 iirc, and I was still playing on desktop with kb/m at the time.

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Wait until you get to the later expansions, they really dive even more into the choices and single player cinematic RPGness. The Fallen Empire storyline is personally some of my fav parts of the game - I know some people are more sad thing that it's all one story but it's been a long time since they had to abandon the original plan of doing individual story for classes for every expansion so I've kinda made my peace with it and actually suspect it may have been always been too ambitious to get that much unique story content out regularly. Hnestly suspect if they hadn't made the game so grindy as it was at launch and had it how they rejigged it in 2015 (I think?) the playerbase prob wouldn't have dropped as much as it did cus people would be more likely to make another character from a different class. I know that it turned me off at launch - I think I only got until lvl 20 consular before I gave up as while I liked the story it was too annoying trying to get there.

 

[PanzerKraken]

This game f2p switch could have been massive for it like it was for ESO, but it seems that Bioware just removed most of the resources from the game and lof of the team members were shifted to work on other projects like Anthem so it feels like they just let this game go.

It's sad cause it still is going on and has a dedicated player base that seems to be paying the bills, if Bioware had cared a little more to support it and get it on consoles, it could have had a big resurgence.

 

[texhnolyze]

Wait until you get to the later expansions, they really dive even more into the choices and single player cinematic RPGness. The Fallen Empire storyline is personally some of my fav parts of the game - I know some people are more sad thing that it's all one story but it's been a long time since they had to abandon the original plan of doing individual story for classes for every expansion so I've kinda made my peace with it and actually suspect it may have been always been too ambitious to get that much unique story content out regularly. Hnestly suspect if they hadn't made the game so grindy as it was at launch and had it how they rejigged it in 2015 (I think?) the playerbase prob wouldn't have dropped as much as it did cus people would be more likely to make another character from a different class. I know that it turned me off at launch - I think I only got until lvl 20 consular before I gave up as while I liked the story it was too annoying trying to get there.

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Wow, sounds great. Looking forward to it.

This game f2p switch could have been massive for it like it was for ESO, but it seems that Bioware just removed most of the resources from the game and lof of the team members were shifted to work on other projects like Anthem so it feels like they just let this game go.

It's sad cause it still is going on and has a dedicated player base that seems to be paying the bills, if Bioware had cared a little more to support it and get it on consoles, it could have had a big resurgence.

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Well, it was stated when the cancelled Anthem 2.0 that they're going to continue providing quality updates to SWTOR. Actually a good chunk of SWTOR's devs were moved to Anthem back then. We'll probably see more regular expansions from now on.

 

[PanzerKraken]

Well, it was stated when the cancelled Anthem 2.0 that they're going to continue providing quality updates to SWTOR. Actually a good chunk of SWTOR's devs were moved to Anthem back then. We'll probably see more regular expansions from now on.

Click to shrink...

Not sure about priorities, but weren't many of the cancelled anthem Austin members moved now over to help with DA4?

 

[NCR Ranger]

The game got a lot of hate and all my friends dropped off real quick back in the day, but I liked it and did all 8 of the storylines over the years. One day I will play through the expansions. Maybe I will make that my goal this year.

 

[antonz]

Not sure about priorities, but weren't many of the cancelled anthem Austin members moved now over to help with DA4?

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I'm sure they were. I mean the last SWTOR "Expansion" and you have to be really generous to call it an expansion had roughly 4 hours of content to it. SWTOR pumps a ton of money into EA and they sure as hell are not investing it back into the game in a meaningful way

 

[rras1994]

I'm sure they were. I mean the last SWTOR "Expansion" and you have to be really generous to call it an expansion had roughly 4 hours of content to it. SWTOR pumps a ton of money into EA and they sure as hell are not investing it back into the game in a meaningful way

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They took a lot of devs off originally to get out MEA and Anthem. I get the feeling with putting it to steam and they apparently have plans for the 10th Anniversary this year that they might start putting more funds in again now that BioWare doesn't seem quite as over extended with their projects but we'll see. EA aren't above increasing the budget and resources when they see more players for SWTOR, they did it for the KOTFE and KOTET expansions after Shadow of Revan expansion did better than expected.

Though note when you say "last" expansion, the last one had two storylines for Empire and Republic - it was more than 4 hours? Do you mean the last content drop in December? Cus that wasn't an expansion and I think was originally meant to drop in April 2020 but the pandemic caused issues.

 

[Elfgore]

It's my go to MMO. Having every line of dialogue in such a massive game voiced is genuinely impressive and not to mention the game is just fun. Also the class stories are just fun. Being just the epitome of a Sith as the warrior is really enjoyable.

Some issues with side quest writing writing. Way too many side quests feel like the literal balance of the conflict relies on them, but they're at least interesting.

 

[Telaso]

The game got a lot of hate and all my friends dropped off real quick back in the day, but I liked it and did all 8 of the storylines over the years. One day I will play through the expansions. Maybe I will make that my goal this year.

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The fallen empire expansions stuff are some of the best Star Wars story telling in media ever in my opinion. Its really worth a playthrough.

 

[Deleted member 29464]

I enjoyed my time with as a fairly laid back RPG, but like Elder Scrolls Online my issue with if it is that it's such a single player game and that being its only appeal to me just makes me want to pay a one time fee to get rid of all the MMO and monetisation crap.

I find other players don't really add to the experience and actually almost ruin yours. I much preferred my time with these games in the early hours of the morning when there are few other players.

Group Dungeons in MMO having story content just boggles my mind because you just know 95% of players just skip it to get the loot.

I too wish for perhaps some sort of way to experience these games solo when they eventually die. It will be a lot of content to just throw away forever, but as of now the MMO features just put me off these games because they simply don't add anything at all except Raids which I don't care about.

Bad Pvp, a shit load grind, filler content, poor use of other players in PvE, awful dailies, cosmetic eye sore in other players, subscription fees... All this crap that gets in the way of me just wanting to join its RPG elements. There's good in SWTOR but there's a tonne of crap to get through to or try and avoid.

Sorry, I've started ranting in what is suppose to be a positive thread, but I just find it frustrating because I agree there is content worth seeing in all these MMOs people praise, it's just their inclusion contradicts the awful MMO/WoW stuff that surrounds it. I just feel like they are poorly designed RPG that are excused with "but it's an MMO" and even from a multiplayer perspective they aren't great.

 

[OryxTheBakinKing]

The most surprising fact about this game is that it has generated over a billion dollars in revenue for EA.

 

[Ashodin]

It's one of the Big Five MMOs, so yeah, it's definitely worth playing.

 

[PanzerKraken]

I enjoyed my time with as a fairly laid back RPG, but like Elder Scrolls Online my issue with if it is that it's such a single player game and that being its only appeal to me just makes me want to pay a one time fee to get rid of all the MMO and monetisation crap.

I find other players don't really add to the experience and actually almost ruin yours. I much preferred my time with these games in the early hours of the morning when there are few other players.

Group Dungeons in MMO having story content just boggles my mind because you just know 95% of players just skip it to get the loot.

I too wish for perhaps some sort of way to experience these games solo when they eventually die. It will be a lot of content to just throw away forever, but as of now the MMO features just put me off these games because they simply don't add anything at all except Raids which I don't care about.

Bad Pvp, a shit load grind, filler content, poor use of other players in PvE, awful dailies, cosmetic eye sore in other players, subscription fees... All this crap that gets in the way of me just wanting to join its RPG elements. There's good in SWTOR but there's a tonne of crap to get through to or try and avoid.

Sorry, I've started ranting in what is suppose to be a positive thread, but I just find it frustrating because I agree there is content worth seeing in all these MMOs people praise, it's just their inclusion contradicts the awful MMO/WoW stuff that surrounds it. I just feel like they are poorly designed RPG that are excused with "but it's an MMO" and even from a multiplayer perspective they aren't great.

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The world pvp was meh, but overall I found the controlled pvp warzone matches to be some serious fun. Huttball matches still are insanely fun and some of my most fond mmo pvp memories with pals. And various objective capping modes also were just pretty well done. The world pvp attemps and systems didn't pan out for sure but the structured stuff ended up being pretty fun and they did support it pretty well with balancing and ranked seasons/rewards later on.

Lof of the negatives in the game got ironed out over time, especially stuff like grinding, travel, and so on. It had issues but I think they turned it into something really special that still has a dedicated fan base

 

[Speely]

I got turned off by how the game played. The controls felt bad to me. Has that improved?

 

[Yam's]

Huttball matches still are insanely fun and some of my most fond mmo pvp memories with pals.

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Seriously this game mode is so fun. I don't understand how it was not copied in other big mmos.

I played through all the different classes, so I don't have anything left to do until they release a new expansion, but I'll gladly return to it once they do add one.

 

[Artadius]

Since it came over to Steam, I've clocked almost 350 hours of playtime. Finished the Jedi Knight storyline + expansions up to Onslaught and now I'm working on the Sith Warrior. They stories so far have been excellent. I could easily see myself doing all eight stories over the coming few years.

I subbed for one month to get preferred status and I don't do anything that requires groups or pvp or crafting and it hasn't been an issue at all. I treat it completely like a single player Bioware rpg. I don't mind the easy combat because I'm here for the interactive Star Wars storylines and the visuals which for the most part still hold up well.

 

[Quinton]

My favorite TOR memory, speaking as someone who sadly will never play it unless it's ported to consoles, is when the game first launched and a wave of anti-BioWare-ism flourished in the form of "TORtanic" memes... only for the game to then stabilize and it's been doing fine ever since.

 

[Fadewise]

I enjoyed the time I spent on this game playing through both the Jedi Knight and Imperial Agent storylines, but at some point I just could not take anymore of the dead boring combat. I'm not a huge fan of WoW style tab-targetting/cooldown based gameplay in the first place, but at least something like FFXIV takes that and make it feel good to play; SWTOR by the end just felt like tediously hitting hotbar keys with no feedback and zero combat-feel.

 

[texhnolyze]

It's my go to MMO. Having every line of dialogue in such a massive game voiced is genuinely impressive and not to mention the game is just fun. Also the class stories are just fun. Being just the epitome of a Sith as the warrior is really enjoyable.

Some issues with side quest writing writing. Way too many side quests feel like the literal balance of the conflict relies on them, but they're at least interesting.

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This has been my dilemma. The side quests are fun and interesting. They expand on the lore and story of the main storyline instead of your regular MMO side quests with simple tasks. They're totally worth doing, but I don't want to over level myself. I wonder if there's ways to reject the exp reward, or at least make the game still challenging despite being over leveled. I probably need to put my companion to passive mode. That's probably a good idea.

My favorite TOR memory, speaking as someone who sadly will never play it unless it's ported to consoles, is when the game first launched and a wave of anti-BioWare-ism flourished in the form of "TORtanic" memes... only for the game to then stabilize and it's been doing fine ever since.

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Oh yeah, I remember the "TORtanic" memes. I mean, the game was indeed bleeding players back then, especially with how they openly provide the subscribers number. But I'm glad that the game managed to turn around since then.

 

[JJD]

It is too fucking bad that this game is never released on Consoles because of "There are too many keys"

I would like to play...

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Honestly after FFXIV perfect implementation of controller support there is no excuse anymore for MMO not being on consoles.

Devs either want to support the platform or they don't and that's it.