Dabbling

Star Wars, I hardly knew ye

SWToR is slowing down for me. I’ve advanced my smuggler into the low 40s and been checking out the end game. The end game in SWToR is the same as every end game I’ve seen: crap. Grind this, grind that, run in circles until the expansion. Bah. Given the need in SWToR for voice-acting in addition to all the other stuff most expansions entail, I’m thinking they’re going to have a hard time cranking them out. Couple slow release times to a lack of other classes I’d like to play and I may as well start looking for the exits now.

In my opinion, SWToR isn’t a bad game. It’s just a short game. There’s no game-over screen but I suspect that at 50, I’ll be heading out. Granted, it’s pretty odd for its type: an MMO where each character is the center of the universe … and so are all the others. There’s no real reason to group up unless you’re into doing Flash Points (which can be skipped). If you’re looking for a decently-build Star Wars game, I’d still recommend it. Be prepared to have a couple of months of fun and then call it quits. You could probably multiply that by however many classes you take an interest in – for me it was just the one: smuggler/soundrel.

Apparently, I’m not the only one less than thrilled by SWToR in the long-term. I was looking for a friend on another server just a couple days ago and had to review the server list to find his server. Servers which were once heavy all show standard or light. There was only one heavy server. The sad thing is that game companies seem to be getting in this rut where they’ll only back an MMO if it’s from a major IP (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter) and then only produce the bare minimum of content or mechanics so it can call itself an MMO. It’s safer to create something that already has a ready-made fan base and hope they stick around than it is to create something new or different and have to fight the uphill battle to get people interested.

It’s still too soon to tell whether or not SWToR will bomb. I kind of doubt it. There is a significant fan base out there for a Star Wars game. I’ve seen them in SWG – still playing when that game was considered old. Bioware may have to consolidate servers or release content more slowly than they planned, but if they work at it, I think they can keep it limping along even if large numbers of the uncommitted (like me) up and leave.

I’m not certain that I’ll go, but all signs point to yes.

 

SWTOR: Now with spaceships

I’ve been following Star Wars the Old Republic, an upcoming MMO from Bioware.   One of the things keeping me from getting excited about the game was the lack of player spaceships.  It’s one of the things I most enjoyed in my brief visit in SWG.

Well, they have them!  Woo!  There’s only info about two ships available right now but it looks like they’ll be offering more.

 

Various

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  I’m still kicking around LotRO at the moment.  I was subscribed to SWG but my old PC bit the dust and I had to get a new one.  SWG is a moderately fun game but, with the new machine, I don’t feel like reinstalling a game I’ll hardly play across the Internet.

I’m interested to see what will come up in the Siege of Mirkwood expansion for LotRO.  There’s a dev diary about the skirmish system – sounds neat.  I’ll have to wait and see how the whole thing turns out.  I know MoM was devastating for my kinship.

 

The Road Not Taken: Star Wars Galaxies

I’ve been enjoying the new content in the Lord of the Rings Online but I’ve also been poking around for something different.  I’ve spent a lot of time playing game in the fantasy genre (WoW, EQ2 and LotRO) and wanted to see what things were like in some of the Science Fiction games I hadn’t picked up.  I had an unused fourteen day trial of Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) sitting around so I thought I’d give it a go.

Once the software was all set up, I logged in; created a character on the first server recommended to me and away I went.  The first character I made was a smuggler.  Smuggler at first seemed like a really cool choice.  I could do a decent amount of damage (both ranged and melee).  The intro quests had me helping out Han Solo and Chewbacca.  I shot down TIE fighters, got parts for the Millennium Falcon and did a bunch of standard MMO-type quests (kill ten x, get parts by killing, click-the-glowy, etc.).

Once I made it to Tatooine, I decided I didn’t like my smuggler.  I rolled him as a squid-looking guy and didn’t really feel like looking at him the whole time.  While I was in town I also noticed that there was basically no one else there.  There were a couple of lowbies like me, but running into people was a rarity.

I made a bounty hunter on a different server.  Bounty hunters also seemed pretty cool.  They have lots of ranged damage and snares.  Their armor also looked cool and the fact that I chose a human this go-around also improved my disposition towards the character.  Away I went, blasting the snot out of stuff for Han and Chewie and also getting to interact with Boba Fett this time.  This time I also started running the space missions right in the tutorial.  Very cool!  One of the things that keep me from trying out Eve Online is the lack (as far as I know) of personal avatars.  You are your ship, it would seem.  SWG allows characters to play as a normal walking-around toon or to be in their spaceships.  I like it.

Once out of the tutorial as my bounty hunter, I was again greeted by a low population world.  As I did more quests without seeing another living soul, I decided that, while the bounty hunter was interesting, it wasn’t going to be my thing.  So I rerolled again.