The Old Republic

[Kevin]

So what's the state of the game? This thread has been dead since before Christmas, which could go either way- no glowing praise, but no complaints either.

I haven't played in quite some time because well I haven't been in my own home since Dec 29th and spent much of that week preparing for the various travel and job interviews and such and I won't be back till the 9th.

I still enjoy it. Biggest flaws exist in the UI and not being able to do much with it (it's better than WoW at release but it's not good, Heck Ryzom allowed you to at least move pretty much element around and that game was released in 2004). Again this is something that Rift spoiled me with as well as this was an area it had more polish at launch. That being said it's an average UI and if you have MMO experience it won't really hinder you. It just doesn't do anything to enhance the game.

PvP has actually been getting better for me as the game gets older, I've mentioned I liked it previously. It has a few mechanics that are interesting. The first is the bolster mechanic since there aren't brackets. Lower level toons simply get pumped up. There are a few ways this happens (based on how good your gear is for your level and level difference between highest and lowest level members of the teams). They also have Huttball which allows Imperial vs Imperial or Republic vs Republic matches so that on imbalanced servers queues never get really long (I think 5 minutes is the longest I've been in a queue and that was due to hardly anyone being online).

PvP is still easier for those at cap because of full skill compliment as well as gear that has PvP stats on it, that being said I still routinely kill L50's in warzone (battlegrounds) all the time even back when I was 16 (I'm 28 now). Haven't done any world PvP where bolster doesn't happen. Knowing how the anti chain CC mechanic works helps too.

The instances (flashpoints) are fairly well done, though while leveling it's becoming apparent that you don't need to be tank or heal spec to tank or heal them, just tank or heal capable. I'm OK with this too.

Leveling can be done quickly if you want (quite a few 50's out there already and a lot of them were not head start folks), slows down a fair bit if you are a completionist (as it's fairly easy to out level a zone), but is fairly good. I'm not sure what my /played is on the 28, but it's possible it's only in the 30-36 hour range and while PvP gets you xp it's not the fastest and I also tend to be a completionist so I've done a few quests after they went grey and get very little for finishing them.

Crafting has been better than other MMO's I play. It's very possible to gather all the mats you need as you are level to keep a production profession on par with your level (so you can make your own gear as you go without having to plan ahead) you can even make a bit of coin while leveling with a production profession without using the auction house. I like that mats are relatively easy to get, though I have run out of stuff I wanted to make what I wanted for armormech.

The guild is still fairly small (I think there are 7 active people most with multiple toons) and folks are leveling at different paces so those like me and Loch who prefer group content with guild members over PuGs don't do as much group content (though I still PuG stuff now and then or try to solo it just to see how 'tough' my toon is).

I'm not sold on any particular toon yet either. I'm leveling the sniper because that is what I played in my free weekend and I'm just continuing that toon. But I've had some fun with the other classes in their starter zones (though my Bounty Hunter is still only L2 and I haven't bothered to guild him yet)

I like the game better than WoW but I'm not sure how much that says since I liked Rift better than WoW and I've quit WoW due to game issues and real life issues that made it so I just couldn't justify paying per month in major version of the game.

I'd certainly like more folks that I know to play it, the single player experience is VASTLY better than any other MMO I've played and the group experience pre end game is at worst just as good as other MMO's.