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Author Topic: Star Wars: The Old Republic  (Read 2159 times)

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Offline Faeluchu

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Star Wars: The Old Republic
« on: January 10, 2016, 03:15:48 PM »
Hey,

so, as the title says: anyone played it and can comment? I have recently noticed that it's supposed to be free now (there's a big "Play free" button on their site ;) ), but as we all know "free" is a bit of a relative term (cf. Destiny - you can, theoretically, play it "for free" as in without paying the monthly XBGold subscription, but you miss out on most of the best content; or better yet Hearthstone - you can choose to not spend a penny, but then it's a constant grind to get enough gold for packs or adventures). So is it that the vanilla, free-to-play version of the game is decent in itself, or is it just a ruse to get you playing so that later you will have to spend money on expansions, subscriptions or whatnots.

Screenshot-wise the game looks decent (RuneScape is free to play as well and the graphics aren't nearly that good ;) ) and I was always drawn to MMOs (not to mentioned being a SW nerd, like probably everyone here), but I would still appreciate any first-hand comments and opinions (second-hand are fine too - "my friend told me that..." ;-) )
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BYB is too close to BYOB (Bring Your Own Booze) which is how I started gaming anyways. The proper way.

Online Grand Master Lomandalis

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Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2016, 05:04:47 PM »
There are three levels of play you can do.

1)  Free-to-play:  Don't spend a single dime on the game.  You can play the game perfectly fine like this up to level 50.  The biggest downside I could find was that you are restricted to 2 character slots per server.  It's been a while since I played the game under this style, but it is doable, just more of a grind.  I think you also do not have access to the Galactic Trade Network (auction house), but I could be mistaken.  You are not able to equip anything that is purple in rarity, which is the highest power.  You also earn experience at a lower rate than someone who is subscribed.

2)  Preferred:  Spend at least $5 on the game and you get to be preferred status.  This allows you to access the GTN (if you weren't able to before), and also allows you to have 5 or 6 character slots per server.  You have full access to the game, but still can not level past 50 or use purple items.  You earn XP at the same rate as a F2P player

3)  Subscribed:  You are paying the monthly membership and have 100% access to the game.  I believe when you subscribe they also give you access to the expansions that come out, meaning you can now level to 60.  Every month they give you 500 Cartel coins which are the in game premium currency to buy things like upgrades for your ship, character, or specific suits of armour or weapons.

I stopped playing a while back when they switched from a skill tree, where you have more freedom to decide how your character progresses, to a more linear advancement making everyone more cookie-cutter with little variance.

The one thing I enjoyed the most about it is how Bioware does their RPG's, allowing you to interact with characters.  When you are getting a quest, it isn't just a scroll that pops up saying "this is what you need to do."  You go through a conversation with the NPC and they give you information as well as a bit of a back story.  But you are interacting with them and your character will speak as well.  Certain conversation choices will give you either light or dark side points, so you can have a light side sith or a dark side Jedi.

The instances are also interesting because there will be interaction points where the group must collectively decide what to do.  The choices will be Light or Dark side oriented, and the majority will win.  An example is in one where you board a Mandalorian cruiser and come to a control panel seeing a bunch of crew working in a hangar bay.  Do you lock them in (Light side) or vent them into space (Dark side)?

The character quest line is always interesting (except for the Jedi Consular, I found), and there are plenty of side quests on each planet.  So if you don't subscribed you can keep your level up to appropriate levels, you just have to grind through all of the quests that are available on a planet.  The downside is, is that it can get quite tedious at times.
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Offline khaine

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Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2016, 01:56:28 PM »
Max level is now 65, they raised it at the end of last year when they added a big new chunk of story.

Even at F2P level it's worth playing if you liked the KOTOR games just for the story lines, there's some great writing in the scripts. As GML said the conversation option go way beyond an NPC just saying "Go here and kill xxx" and it (almost) all has voice acting (Most very good) Also some of the companion characters you can recruit along the way are endlesly entertaining.


As an MMO it's a bit odd... You can play to level cap and never interact with another player, as such the community isn't as strong as some games.

Anyway it's worth a shot even if only to run through the class story lines as F2P, just remember that (For the large part) Sith are more intresting than Jedi for the story and the non-force using classes are more intresting than force users. Give it a go, it doesn't have to cost a penny, although spending a little cash does make a big differance, so what have you got to lose?

  There's no stopping what can't be stopped, no killing what can't be killed

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Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2016, 02:13:24 PM »
If you are just running the class story lines on F2P, I think you will find you will be too low of a level to advance and have to start doing the side quests as well.
If there is anything that recent politics has taught us, it is that quotes taken out of context can mean what ever you want them to.
Well I always liked the globals...
I knew I had fans!!!

Quote
"Dark Angels are Traitors" is the 40k equivalent of Flat Earthers.  You can provide all of the proof you want that says otherwise, but people just can't let it go...

Offline khaine

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Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2016, 09:56:18 AM »
Not sure how it would be since they adjusted the xp rate with the Fallen Empire expansion. But the planet quest lines are still worth doing (Not sure I'd want to do them over and over) while the one-shot side quests (Which tend to be the "Go here and kill xxx just because") don't even show up unless you change you options.

  There's no stopping what can't be stopped, no killing what can't be killed

You can't see the eyes of the demon until him come calling.

This is dread man, truly dread.


"Childhood is when you idolize Batman. Adulthood is when you realize that the Joker makes more sense."

Online Grand Master Lomandalis

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Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2016, 05:53:14 PM »
That could be a case of being out of it for too long.  I updated and logged into my Jedi Sentinel and I was so confused about what was going on...
If there is anything that recent politics has taught us, it is that quotes taken out of context can mean what ever you want them to.
Well I always liked the globals...
I knew I had fans!!!

Quote
"Dark Angels are Traitors" is the 40k equivalent of Flat Earthers.  You can provide all of the proof you want that says otherwise, but people just can't let it go...

Offline magenb

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Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2016, 08:31:36 PM »
Played it off and on since release and have finished all classes stories on both sides. Most of that was after F2P, though.

You'll want to drop a few $$ their way to get prefered status or just subscribe for a short run, it just makes life easier as I HATE grinding. There are a number of blogs/articles floating around on what you can get from the cartel for minor amounts if you are playing it F2P.

I found the grinding at about level 40ish started getting too me, so did a minor subscription to finish of the story lines. They did an interesting thing and made it easier to level up your other characters, so you don't have to grind as much (legacy system).


There is ALOT of core story, all the classes get their own, but all theirs stories support the others, the flash points have a running story as well. I have not seen any other MMO that has gone to such lengths for the core story as SWTOR. The expansions are OK, but they didn't continue the seperate stories, so they have been a bit of a let down.



 


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