Star Wars MMO

So I did end up playing the new Star Wars the Old Republic MMO soon after it was officially released. I did not pre-order it so i was a little behind when I started but oh well. It was a pretty good game. Nice graphics (too nice for my computer, I had to have the lowest settings and I still lagged) and a captivating storyline. I played as a gunslinger smuggler to about level 32 before I ended up quitting.

Now, before I say why I quit already only two months after release I will say what I like about the game. Well for one, it's a Star Wars MMO. Who doesn't like that? I was not a huge dedicated fan of the Star Wars franchise but I still love the movies. You can make whatever character you wish with huge customization options and be one of four classes that appear in the movies on either side of the good and evil split. But even if you chose to be part of the Republic or the Empire, you can still be bad or be good depending on your choices. And you would get rewarded with available items that fit your alignment. That was pretty cool.

I also really liked the story line. At least for the smuggler side, it very very comedic while also being serious enough to be involved. I almost regret not getting to level 50 before I quit just to see what happens to my character. From a writer's perspective I feel that it must be really hard to write all of that dialogue that changes depending on what the players choose. I really want to get involved with that and learn how to do it.

Sadly, I am not a World of Warcraft veteran. Never got into the WoW scene, and I feel like joining it now would not be the same as it was in its prime. I would probably judge it too harshly, which I always hate doing and hate people doing to things that I like. I ended up being a hardcore Final Fantasy XI player which had a big rivalry against WoW.

But SWTOR is a new game, so I can judge it all I want. Frankly, I don't really like the quest grinding system. You do a few quests in this area which leads you to the next area to do a few quests that will lead you to the next area etc etc until you finish a planet, then you do all of that over again. The only thing to really interrupt this is doing Flashpoints or doing PVP. Well, my computer could not handle PVP (I went into queue, accepted to go, game froze for five minutes, went to pvp load screen for five minutes, then went to the Republic Fleet load screen for five minutes) and so I would be missing out on that whole break in the monotony. I didn't really like doing flashpoints either because I would lag with the extra players and the extra mobs that would be involved.

I also didn't really like the item system. Basically you get all the gear you ever need dropped off the average mob that you killed as you leveled. Where is the sense of earning? Oh wait, it's when you're in PVP. I guess SWTOR was just not for me or my computer. I am very particular about MMO's because I grew up on FFXI where you would monster grind in a party of 6, and you would spend hours camping a monster to get a special piece of gear, competing to get the drop against other people who also need it. Sure, that was a tremendous waste of time looking for people to party with, leveling up, and getting those items, but I enjoyed it. I liked the feeling that I actually earned my level 75 character that took years to get rather than reaching the cap after a month like in other games. That I earned that rare piece of gear that made me that much more special than other players. It was an elitist society that did not rely on how well you do in PVP but in how much you dedicate, which should really be what being elite is.

Anyway, so that's my two cents on SWTOR. I may play it in another year once they come out with new content... maybe.