Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Glen Fiddich]

I have to disagree: I've never found myself thinking that there weren't enough people on the server. You may not see them - aside from on the Imperial Fleet, everyone is spread out between various quest hubs on various instances of various worlds - but they're still there.

A bigger problem, based on the complaining I've heard, is server balance: not server population. Not only are the factions skewed: people seem to all be focusing on the same build at the same time. Initially, PVP was full of Sith Sorcerers; then there were a ton of Powertechs; then everyone decided to try out Operative for stealth DPS.

Having fewer servers wouldn't fix the fact that a particular faction or particular class outnumbers another.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I have to disagree: I've never found myself thinking that there weren't enough people on the server. You may not see them - aside from on the Imperial Fleet, everyone is spread out between various quest hubs on various instances of various worlds - but they're still there.

A bigger problem, based on the complaining I've heard, is server balance: not server population. Not only are the factions skewed: people seem to all be focusing on the same build at the same time. Initially, PVP was full of Sith Sorcerers; then there were a ton of Powertechs; then everyone decided to try out Operative for stealth DPS.

Having fewer servers wouldn't fix the fact that a particular faction or particular class outnumbers another.

I guess I was referring to the Republic faction. It is light on a lot of servers. I have a bad experience for the empire because our guild is on an European server and I am at a disadvantage being in the U.S. So, I can never tell when a pea time is. Now this could balance out as people can create multiple characters. I guess we shall have to see what happens there.

[Emelie Shadowstar]

So... I was a late bloomer...

and I've talked Jace into playing with me on a server over on my side of the pond.

So if you guys pick it up again I'm down for creating new characters on new servers and such. I'll probably be playing this until Guild Wars 2 comes out.

[Captain Untouchable]

I had awesome fun Jediing it up with Sarah last night... but I think TOR has definitely become a "play with friends" game for me. I tried to do some solo playing on some of my other characters earlier and just couldn't be bothered. :\

I think the problem is that, cool as the story is, it's "too much hard work" to experience it. I have a lot of other games that have equally good stories, but provide them to me much faster.

How far did you get with your Trooper, Droo? That's one of the characters I definitely want to continue playing as, so I'd be up for playing some of that once you guys get around the same level as him.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I think the problem is that, cool as the story is, it's "too much hard work" to experience it. I have a lot of other games that have equally good stories, but provide them to me much faster.

This is the main reason I'm not playing anymore. The class stories are great. I only experienced a portion of the Inquisitor and Smuggler stories but enjoyed them both, and felt like I was developing a real interest in my character/their companions... but the flow of the storytelling just feels hampered by the gameplay.

[Dasquian Belargic]

There are now free 7 day trials available for SWTOR: http://www.swtor.com/info/friends

If anyone doesn't have the game and would like an invite, post here and I'm sure someone will send an invite out to you :)

Has anyone been following the news from the Guild Summit about the next big 'Legacy' update?

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[Jedi Master Carr]

I am still playing but on my bounty hunter I never see anybody in the guild online. Of course, I am in the U.S. and maybe playing at the wrong time of the day. I am in another guild on a U.S. sever for my republic characters, and I usually see more people online. I just figure I am at a huge disadvantage for my Bounty Hunter.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Finally, the update that we were all waiting for!

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20120401

[Karl Valten]

Finally, the update that we were all waiting for!

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20120401


Hello April 1st, how are you? :p

[Dasquian Belargic]

the Legacy patch is live now I guess: http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20120412-1

If anyone wants to see what it's like, you can get 7 days free play time as a former subscriber


In honor of Game Update 1.2: Legacy, we are offering former subscribers the chance to come back and play on us.

Starting on April 13th, 2012 at 12:01AM CDT / 5:01AM GMT through April 19th, 2012 at 11:59PM CDT / April 20th, 2012 at 4:59AM GMT, former subscribers will be able to log-in to their accounts without having to re-subscribe!

[Emelie Shadowstar]

:| I was not amused to find I had to reallocate all my Sage's skill points.

[John Glayde]

Hey Sarah... you know what starts tomorrow?

Uninterrupted Cookie and Flash Week. :ohno

[Emelie Shadowstar]

Yyyyeeessssss!!!!!!!!!


:3

[Captain Untouchable]

There are actually some really good fixes, balances, and new features in this 1.2 upgrade. The stuff that niggled me, and the stuff that I keep hearing people complain about, has been fixed. Crafting has been massively improved. There are guild banks. You can trade unbound stuff to characters in your legacy, even if they're a different faction. They've even added features for the protocol droid on your ship.

So why is it that the taun-taun vanity pet and the ship astromech are the things that made me excited? :ohno

[Emelie Shadowstar]

Because everyone loves baby taun-tauns.

[Captain Untouchable]

Wait, wait, wait.

BABY taun-taun? :ohno


:swoon:

[Daria Nytherciria]

SWTOR website has undergone a redesign: http://www.swtor.com/

Also the free game time offer apparently pissed off people playing the game since to be a "most valued" customer you needed to have a lvl 50 char: http://kotaku.com/5901593/star-wars-the-old-republic-manages-to-piss-off-players-by-handing-out-free-game-time

[Regan Altink]

Actually, it's not a Level 50 character: it's "Legacy Level 6". You can unlock that by having a Level 50 character, or by having unlocked your Legacy (Level 35), and then having a few other characters at around Level 20-25. That's not exactly an unachievable goal after four months of the game, IMO.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Ahhh... it looks like initially it was just for level 50 characters, but then because people complained they changed it: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=410458

[Dasquian Belargic]

A whole bunch of additional countries in Europe and the Middle East are now able to play SWTOR! http://www.swtor.com/info/news/press-release/20120426

CVG had an interesting little article about SWTOR earlier this week: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/345030/swtor-subs-not-in-decline-logins-are-bioware/

Basically, subs for the game aren't down but the amount of actual log-ins are. People haven't cancelled their subscriptions yet but aren't playing as much, which hopefully means that Bioware will be working even harder on new content to keep those subscribers around and bring back anyone who's already left.

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I've gotta say... I'm not sure how much of the "end game" content I'll stick around for. Once I finish my characters' storylines and all the operations/missions once around, I just don't see myself doing much else with any particular character.

They had a neat little "game event" this month (I was too low of level to participate. boo.) and THAT sort of thing would bring me back... but I just can't see myself really sticking with this game for the long haul.

Get the feeling this will probably fall to the wayside for me once Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2 are out... just because.. you know... can't argue with no monthly fees on something...and the GW2 Beta has been insanely fun, but I'm kinda a GW fangirl. lol

[Atreyu]

So I was browsing through my local games/media shop today looking for a gift for Mother's Day, when I saw this:

TOR selling for 35 bucks (http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/game/pc-games/star-wars-the-old-republic/662775) O_o

I missed the original launch for the game and have been sidetracked with other things since, but seeing it at that price has me tempted. Considering some of the complaints/criticisms/issues in this thread already, do you guys think it'd be worth it (even if only to use up the free month that comes included playing starting quests)?

[Dasquian Belargic]

It's worth having a go, at least. Even if you never actually renew after the first free month, you will at least have played through a decent single-player story line.

[Atreyu]

Hmmm, I think I might get it in the next day or so (the sale ends on Wednesday).

Any recommendations for/against any classes to play? I know things come down to personal preference but even a "I enjoyed Class A over B because..." would be helpful. :)

[Atreyu]

Well that lasted long - it's now jumped back up to $74 (mistake by the company perhaps?). :\ I won't bother at that price. Thanks for the advice anyway.

[Salem Ave]

They could do with dropping the price for people new to the game.. I just read that they have lost over 20% of subscribers since launch.

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/348701/swtor-developer-hit-with-layoffs/


The development team behind Star Wars: The Old Republic has been hit with layoffs.

The developer confirmed today news of the "restructuring" that's taken place at BioWare Austin.

"Sadly, we are bidding farewell to some talented, passionate and exceptionally hard-working people who helped make SWTOR a reality. Impacting people's lives this way is always very hard, but we're ensuring the affected people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect," said BioWare bosses Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka in a message to fans.

:(

[Korax]

Get outta here you hardworkers! We're done with ya! Bet some more downsizing is coming too, both on bioware's side and in game. Need to smush together some of those servers me thinks.

In related news, just got my powertech to 50 -_^.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Sounds like there are a some server mergers incoming, to boost server populations: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/23/the-old-republics-daniel-erickson-talks-legacy-system-update-group-finder-and-adaptive-gear/


PCG: Is the group finder available for Hard Mode Operations, or just Story Mode?

DE: Just Story. Pick-up groups for Hard Mode would be more frustration than anything else.

PCG: Will they be cross-server at launch? Is that planned for the future?

DE: They will not be cross-server as we are coming up on a huge move to servers with massively higher population caps than we have today.

I wonder how they will handle people with the same character/legacy names getting merged onto one mega-server.

[Korax]

that's a good question. Hope it doesn't boil down to -whoever response to this message first keeps their name- Something similar happened while playing DC online and I was not the first to respond <,<

[Dasquian Belargic]

New stuff revealed at E3...

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New warzone (Ancient Hypergates)
New companion (HK-51 assassin droid)
New playable race (Cathar)
New space mission (space station assault)
New planet (Makeb, with missions relating to the Hutt Cartel)
New operation (Terror from Beyond)
Increased level cap (few details)
New abilities (few details)
Game is free to play all the way up to level 15 (out of 50)

[Miranda Tarkin]

I still don't want to come back :p

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'm surprised that they chose to add a planet which appears to be new to the SW canon. I would have thought they'd go with something exotic from the established selection of planets.

One thing I'm not surprised about is that there is an element of the game which is free to play now, though. That was really just an inevitability - and definitely something which I think all MMOs are going to have to feature if they want to survive.

Still doesn't tempt me back into playing it either though :lol Even with the promise of potentially having a wise-cracking HK assassin droid as a companion.

[Korax]

hmmmm Cathar seems like it would be a republic only side race...Granted with unlocks being what they are now I gueeeeeeeess it makes sense that you can have them available on either side. Still, I would prefer it if they had the Cathar as Republic starting race and a Sith Empire unlockable, and had another race for the empire to start with. I dunno, transdoshans maybe? The Voss? that'd be neat.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Trandoshans would be a cool Empire race, plus they already have the in-game models for that species.

[Captain Untouchable]

Weren't the Cathar meant to all be refugees from their world that got blown up or something? Bearing in mind that so much of the Empire seems to revolve around slaves, I'm actually surprised there aren't more "Republic" races available to the Sith.

[Korax]

also - wondering what the new level cap will be? Probably the MMO standard of 10 more levels, or maybe they'll give us 5 this patch and 5 the next. Who could know.

[Sanya Tagge]

http://www.swtor.com/blog/character-transfer-server-populations-and-you

More info on character server transfers. Looks like there is an FAQ coming soon but this blog post covers a lot of the questions you might have about transferring. Perhaps most importantly:


There are also some restrictions to this character transfer process , which will be more fully detailed in a forthcoming FAQ. For those who have unlocked Legacy abilities, your Legacy will be transferred to your new server and your unlocks will be available there too. If you have already unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, the higher level Legacy will take precedence. For guild members and masters, you will not be able to transfer your guild as a whole to your new server; instead you will need to reform it. If you have a guild bank, it will be re-granted to your new guild on your destination server by Customer Service. This is not an automatic process and you will have to contact Customer Service directly. If your transferred character’s name conflicts with an existing name on a destination server, you will be asked to rename your character. In the case of Legacy names, unless you have unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, you will need to rename your Legacy upon transfer (although you may pick the same Legacy name as on your origin server, if available).

[Dasquian Belargic]

The inevitable is happening:

http://kotaku.com/5930586/star-wars-the-old-republic-is-going-free+to+play-this-fall

[Crusader]

The inevitable is happening:

http://kotaku.com/5930586/star-wars-the-old-republic-is-going-free+to+play-this-fall

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/23824/star-wars-the-old-republic-goes-free-to-play-this-fall

That is actually awesome news. Now I can play with my bro and you guys without having to pay a subscripton and/or feeling the urge to play it because I paid for it.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I don't know if anyone even actually regularly plays anymore?

[Morgan Evanar]

I would play if I didn't have to pay for it. My schedule makes everything difficult tho.

[Crusader]

yeah that's the point. We could just do low level stuff for fun a few hours just when we feel like it.

[Dasquian Belargic]

We can now see the differences between F2P SWTOR and regular SWTOR:

http://www.swtor.com/free/features

[Droo]

The degree of restriction is fairly shocking. Limiting players to three warzones, flashpoints, and space missions per week is really quite stingy of them, considering they're now up against the likes of Guild Wars 2. And given the game's current situation, I wonder if, with this degree of limitation, Bioware will manage to draw enough players in to rekindle the community. Disabling purple items seems equally excessive and enforcing a limit of only five revives allowed in the field surely won't help any of the newbies they're hoping to attract with this free-to-play option. In light of which, I have to say I found it quite amusing they're attempting to blag there will ever be a need to grant priority access to anyone, because they're kidding only themselves if they think there are going to be any login queues.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Me-yow, Droo!

But yes, I agree with all of that. As far as f2p models go, this one does seem heavy on the restrictions.

EDIT: SWTOR is getting some graphical improvements http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20121029

[Atreyu]

It seems to me it's 'free-to-play' in a similar sense that WoW is 'free-to-play'*** - it's more of a sampler for the proper game, rather than a full blown free-to-play model ala. LOTR Online, Guild Wars 2, Star Trek Online etc are.





*** - you can play WoW for free to level 20, albeit with restrictions (no mail, no auction house, limited chat etc).

[Glen Fiddich]

Actually, I think it's more of a cunning plan to sucker money out of people who get to the level cap. You get full access to your class story, which is - with maybe a little grinding thrown in here and there - about enough content to get to Level 50 without too much trouble. However, once you start looking around for endgame content, start wanting to get your hands on PVP gear, novelty ship doodads and that sort of thing, that's when you're going to need to start paying money for it.

It's an interesting strategy: instead of WOW, which gives you a "taster" of the game and hopes that'll be enough to make you want to pay for more, they're actually encouraging more players to make it to the level cap. Even if they don't pay for any extra features, you'll still be increasing the population of your PVP servers, and it means you can focus purely on adding endgame content for the people willing to pay for it; you can ignore the <l50 completely.
lower levels.

Unfortunately, since I was well into the 30s and 40s on most of my characters, it's not really a system that is going to attract me back.</l50>

[Droo]

That's precisely the problem with this plan. Quite a few of the guys we played with were interested in giving the game another bash when the free-to-play option came around, but this system has offered none of us any real incentive to play. In fact, I recently resubscribed to play through the smuggler storyline, and stopped rather early into the grind, and it was a grind, because class stories are nowhere near enough to get someone to the level cap, and consequently the majority of what I was experiencing was rehashed content I'd already done on my trooper. The killing blow was that, even with the condensed server population, the game feels like a ghost town. So the extra non-single player content available in the subscription plan doesn't quite provide the rounded social gaming experience of veterans like WoW.

You're right in that this is a strategy designed to sucker people out of money, but I suspect the majority of those people will be those who've never before played the game and are seeking a new experience. For those like myself, who have experienced flashpoints, operations, and warzones, I don't think this free-to-play option offers much of a reason to return, unless the draw of the class story content is that strong. But after my experience with my smuggler, and the consequent grind, I'm sorry to say it is not.

[Glen Fiddich]

Actually Droo, that's not what I said at all. You're perfectly entitled to paint the SWTOR team in whatever light you want... but I'm way too ill to start throwing round accusations of "suckering" and pantomime villainy right now. ;)

They've adopted a new business model, as is their right and prerogative as a profit-based company: I don't have the energy nor inclination to get worked up about it. *shrug*

Also, if you "play smart" you should be okay reaching the level cap without a huge amount of dedicated grinding. I didn't do a single dedicated grinding session, PVP match, Flashpoint, or anything else with my Trooper character, and yet I made it easily into the late 30s by Tatooine.

The problem you seem to be encountering is that by playing a second Republic character on the same starting world, you're repeating a lot of the same side-quests right from the get-go. A lack of replayability for characters in the same faction isn't a problem that is exclusive to SWTOR: you get that in quite a lot of MMOs with shared starting areas. Guild Wars 2 managed to dodge the bullet by making race-based starting areas, but when you've got a classic two-faction set-up, it's very hard to achieve that. Having two starting areas per faction puts SWTOR ahead of the curve a little... it could be worse.

[Droo]

You said "I think it's more of a cunning plan to sucker money out of people who get to the level cap." Now admittedly, I was paraphrasing, but I didn't at the time think that arriving at "this is a strategy designed to sucker people out of money," was too great a leap from your original statement, to be fair.

When I said the experience was a grind, I didn't mean it was because I was grinding ceaselessly on mobs, but rather merely repeating a whole load of non-class story quests. It was a counter to your earlier point that the class story provided enough content to get to level 50 without too much trouble. I'm hardly worked up about it, I'm just calling it as I see it, a faulted business model.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'd call WoW and SWTOR 'freemium' rather than 'free to play', I guess. Guild Wars 2 is free to play, because all of the features are accessible by simply buying the boxed game. WoW and SWTOR, to a greater extent, are freemium because whilst they are offering a free experience, it's drastically different to the experience you'd get as a subscribing player - either because you have to stop playing at a certain point or pay up, or because what you can play is a limited version of the full content.

As a tool for attracting new subscribers, I'd say WoW has the better idea. Let people experience what they will actually get as a paying subscriber, up to a certain point, and then say, "Well, if you want to keep playing, you gotta pay!" At least that way, your players will know what they are buying into and are really probably more likely to subscribe, to continue the gaming experience they've been enjoying.

For example, reading the feature list, it doesn't look like you can access Operations without buying a pass. As a free player who has never experienced an Operation before, I might think, "Well, is it going to be worth my money to buy a pass for this?" Conversely, if that same player had tried one Operation and was told that to play more, they'd need to buy a pass, they'd probably be more inclined to pay for the additional content, because they already know that it's something they enjoyed playing.

All this aside, it will be interesting to see how much 'Cartel Coins' cost and how they compare with the cost of a monthly subscription.

[Captain Untouchable]

You said "I think it's more of a cunning plan to sucker money out of people who get to the level cap." Now admittedly, I was paraphrasing, but I didn't at the time think that arriving at "this is a strategy designed to sucker people out of money," was too great a leap from your original statement, to be fair.

Sorry, Droo - I re-read my post a couple of times to make sure I hadn't said that, and I absolutely did not see it there. Looks like I have a new symptom to tell my doctor about. >_<


As a tool for attracting new subscribers, I'd say WoW has the better idea. Let people experience what they will actually get as a paying subscriber, up to a certain point, and then say, "Well, if you want to keep playing, you gotta pay!" At least that way, your players will know what they are buying into and are really probably more likely to subscribe, to continue the gaming experience they've been enjoying.

For me, I found free World of Warcraft mind-numbingly boring. The quests I encountered were painfully simple, the mobs I encountered were incredibly basic, and basically I was bored out of my mind by the whole experience. Admittedly I've had WoW over-hyped massively, so there was no chance it was ever going to live up to my expectations... but while I agree with the premise of what you're saying, I don't think that WoW was actually interesting/engaging enough for a new player to actually work.

However, if SWTOR were to adopt the WoW approach, they'd be on to a winner. Being such a story-focused game, there's things to keep you engaged and occupied right from the get-go, potentially an interesting enough story for you to want to keep playing to find out... and if repeating the early levels as a different character is boring, that's only an added incentive to encourage people to pay.

[Dasquian Belargic]

^ That's what I thought. If anything is going to get people to pay for SWTOR, it's wanting to continue the story that they've started out on. So limit the amount of story they can play through by limiting the level you can play to and you've got yourself a subscriber! Of course you run the risk then of people ending their subscription once they play through the main story content, but that could be solved by adding new chapters to the class story arcs and beefing up the generic endgame content.

[Droo]

They've had a similar sort of system in place for some time now.

https://account.swtor.com/trial

It goes up to level 15, so I imagine it's the first two planets and everything in your class story up to the point when you're about to get your ship.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Huh. Is there a limit to the number of characters you can play through the trial, or what features are available?

[Droo]

http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20120710-0

According to that announcement, you can play each of the classes up to level 15, with no time limit, and access to flashpoints and warzones.

[Droo]

<strike>Trial mode</strike> I mean free-to-play is going live on 15th November.

http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20121108

[Dasquian Belargic]

Frak only knows why.


Cartel Coin Cost

BioWare confirmed that the entry point will be $4.99 for 450 Coins. The most expensive pack is $39.99 for 5500 Coins. BioWare has said there will be other packs in the middle of those two price points. All coin purchases will be done through buy.swtor.com.

Physical Cartel Coin cards will be available from retail stores in the same way that game time can be purchased.

Subscriber Stipend

As stated before, subscribers on the monthly plan will receive 500 coins per month. Players on the three month or six month plans will receive more, however exact numbers were not given.

[Atreyu]

Free-to-play launches today, and I'm downloading the client right now. Thought I might give it a whirl (hey, it's free). :)

[Crusader]

Well it is the best multiplayer RPG game from Bioware.

[Atreyu]

Been playing for a little bit. Briefly tried Jedi Consular, Smuggler and Trooper. Think I'll stick with Trooper for now - it feels like playing in an episode of The Clone Wars. :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Well it is the best multiplayer RPG game from Bioware.

are you counting ME3 as BioWare MP?

[Wei Wu Wei]

My wife and I will be playing SWTOR in their free-to-play mode just owing to the sheer lack of free time we will be experiencing until the new year.

And who knows? Perhaps if we both cap off our two characters and find ourselves in a fun guild, we may subscribe later. I was very dismayed when I was forced to shut down my subscription last March, so being able to play this game again free was very exciting news for me.

[Sen]

I don't know if they kept my old character, but I'm planning to make a comeback; free to play translates as broke college student can play again.

[Atreyu]

Got my trooper to level 6 today - still lots of fun. Having all the quest scenes done via in-game cinematics makes it feel far more immersive than the 'accept/finish' nature of WoW and other MMOs I've played.

I've also used my 2nd character slot to make a Jedi Knight who I played for a brief period - already I like it more than the Consular to be honest (slash slash slash!) though that may be because I simply preferred the opening questline better.

[Crusader]

Well it is the best multiplayer RPG game from Bioware.

are you counting ME3 as BioWare MP?

Multiplayer yes but not as multiplayer RPG since you are not playing a real campaign but ME3 is a really good third person Coop-MP shooter.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Got my trooper to level 6 today - still lots of fun. Having all the quest scenes done via in-game cinematics makes it feel far more immersive than the 'accept/finish' nature of WoW and other MMOs I've played.

I can't argue with that. It does feel like you're playing a new KOTOR game, when you're on your class storyline. Perhaps in a year or so I'll try the free version, just to have a go at some of the classes I didn't fully experience, but as it stands I've got no desire to go back to SWTOR.

[Atreyu]

I got my Trooper to Level 11 then stopped, guessing (correctly) that on Coruscant the respective Republic classes will all meet and therefore have a lot of quest overlap (barring their individual class storylines).

So I turned around and started up a new Jedi Knight character, who is now also Level 11. Definitely a more 'classic' SW vibe - from the saber action to the John Williams-esque soundtrack in the background. I think I'll stick with the Jedi going forward. :)

Will be interesting however to see how the F2P elements pan out going forward. Already I've gotten the big notice (on both characters) when I dinged 10 that XP will now be reduced - couple that with zero rest bonus and it'll be interesting to see how 'grindy' the game will be as you try to level up.

I'm thoroughly enjoying it thus far, but I'll admit I'm playing it more as a single-player experience that happens to be online (waving to other players as I run by), as opposed to a proper MMO (I rarely bother to try and group with anyone, and can't be fussed joining guilds, doing flashpoints etc). As such I doubt if I'll ever bother ponying up any money for this - from some online reviews I've read the F2P portion is perfectly fine if you just want to play for the story and nothing else. Which begs the question (to me at least) how much EA/Bioware are going to make if a lot of players are like me and just treating it as KOTOR 3 (or at least the closest approximation one can get to it)?

[Atreyu]

Still playing this game and having fun, though admittedly the MMO elements can get grindy and I have to take a day or so off to recharge my playing batteries. :x

I ended up deciding to subscribe a week ago - the limitations were just too much and I was enjoying myself enough that I figured $15 wouldn't be a bad investment. The good news is that even if you subsequently let your sub lapse you can still utilise all characters you made whilst subbed (though you can't make more unless you delete your characters back under 2 again) plus any other additions you've made whilst subbed remain (such as expanding your bag slots with cartel coins etc).

Anyways, my Jedi Knight is level 22 and has been resting for most of the week. I then went and made a Chiss Imperial Agent who dinged level 21 today, and am having a blast with that class - I think I'll just keep playing the Agent and leave the Jedi for now. I just wish the cover system wasn't so wonky to use at times. :\

[Nen Lev'i]

I played a Chiss Agent all the way to level forty-something. The cover system can be a little difficult to get the hang of: I'd suggest shifting around your key bindings, and making sure that you favour the "cover in place" key (rather than the "dive for cover", or whatever they call it) as much as you can, especially if you plan on going with a Sniper. As you level up Sniper, you'll get various abilities that effectively allow you to erect a cover forcefield wherever you are, which makes life a lot easier.

The thing I found most problematic with the Sniper was close proximity stuff. It's a fantastically useful class if you can have a companion (or fellow players) playing keep-away with the mobs, but if any of them get up close and personal with you, you're largely screwed. You'll get a companion on Alderaan who is a melee DPS guy: you'll have to really gear him out though, because while he's pretty good for damage he's a little squishy.

A word of warning: Act 2 of the Imperial Agent story is a bit weird. It gets much better towards the end, but parts of it felt really weird.

If you're planning to let your subscription lapse, I'd recommend at least starting out either a Trooper or a Bounty Hunter. The Bounty Hunter has a plethora of gadgets and gizmos that are incredibly fun to play... that said, it begins on Nal Hutta, so you'll have a lot of overlap with things you've already played as the Agent. The Trooper meanwhile has largely the same abilities as the Hunter (albeit with different names and animations), but it starts off on Ord Mantell (which was my favourite starting world), and up until level 35 at least, it had what was for me the most enjoyable story.

[Atreyu]

I'll have to double-check for the 'cover in place' option - I've just been using the standard cover option which works for both diving for cover and covering whilst in place.

I chose Sniper as my preferred class back at Level 10, so I've actually had 12 levels of upgraded abilities. :) Close-proximity enemies don't give me much trouble actually - between flashbangs, shock prod plus a couple of other abilities which I rarely have to use I manage it quite well.

The frustrations with the class thus far are more along the lines of:
1. Going into cover ... and having my character dive off to an spot offscreen that I didn't see and aggroing a nearby mob unintentionally (your suggestion above though might be the perfect fix for this - I'll have a look).
2. Some opponents (especially Jedi) yanking me out of cover from afar without me realising, resulting in me taking 5-10 secs to realise I'm not shooting anything since I've lost cover and nothing is working (and Kaliyo is getting toasted).
3. My personal hate - taking cover when I'm in range of an opponent ... only to be informed I now can't see them due to a rock/log/branch/whatever now being in the way (all the while I've already had Kaliyo begin attacking so I have to frantically move around and find another spot to take cover again - sigh).

Re: other classes - in addition to the agent and Jedi Knight I have a trooper at Level 11 already (currently doing bank alt duty) and I had a brief go at the bounty hunter (up to around level 5) however I was a bit bored by him to be honest. I also have a Sith Warrior (Juggernaut) gathering dust at Level 11 as well (was originally going to be my Empire character, but I got a bit bored since he played identically to my Jedi Knight - though that would have changed eventually since I went Juggernaut whereas my Jedi is a Sentinel).

[Captain Untouchable]

Sentinel is great if you spec it for DPS. As Sarah can confirm, I had a ridiculous amount of fun randomly charging at things and slashing them with my sabers, while she stood back and lobbed rocks at them. The animation was very twirly and ninja-esque. My Juggernaut on the other hand did a lot more powerful slashes and was generally more vicious... I didn't pursue the character all that far, but it was interesting just to see how different the animation was.

If you haven't tried one of the alternate Jedi/Sith classes, I'd suggest Jedi Consular (specifically Jedi Sage) over the Sith alternatives. I found the telekinetic rocks more interesting visually than the lightning attacks; plucking a random object - which occasionally was an astromech droid - out of the ground to throw at your opponent was always fun to watch.

With Bounty Hunter, it all depends on the advanced class you pick. There's one which adds an Optimus Prime sword, and all manner of jet pack assisted uppercuts and things. The area of effect ability where you Jango Fett up on your rocket pack and rain blaster fire down on the ground is pretty snazzy, too. For me, the core story felt weaker than the Trooper, but having a bounty hunter in red armour, shot rockets from his wrists while flying, and looked like Tony Stark? That led to some pretty entertaining gits and shiggles.

Are you leaning towards Commando or Vanguard with your Trooper? I went Commando, and had tremendous fun with the giant cannon those guys run around with.

With the Sniper, you'll want to be careful with your confidence level. The Sniper seems to become awesome very quickly, but it peaks early. By the time you reach Taris and onwards - where there is a lot of wild life that will charge at you - it got a little tedious, because *everything* came into close proximity. Getting mobbed by Rakghouls was a consistent nightmare, so watch out for that. Admittedly, I did a sizeable chunk of Taris running around with three other players: the amount of time it took me to get into advantageous cover and then back out of cover again meant I was frequently trailing behind. As long as you make sure you're ahead of the "suggested level" for each planet you should be okay, but that gets harder to do without grinding as you get towards the endgame with a Sniper.

[Atreyu]

My trooper is a commando, however as mentioned earlier he's serving bank alt duty. I doubt I'm going to play him further.

I'll probably setup one character from each class eventually (especially if I intend to let the sub lapse, so at least I can play them all as I won't be able to make any others with the F2P restrictions in place) just so I can play out the opening planet but I can't see myself leveling up anything apart from my current Agent and Jedi Knight - the storylines are fun but the MMO grind can get tedious after a little while and I can't imagine attempting to do it all over again with other characters.

[Dasquian Belargic]

..so people are playing this again?

[Vince]

..so people are playing this again?

Aye. Jace, Droo, and myself, though I haven't yet managed to play with them.

[Captain Untouchable]

It took over a day to install the entire game, so I've been stuck on starter worlds. I decided to delete my Agent and Trooper in the end, so that I could re-play the storylines and get back into the swing of things with them. I kept my Bounty Hunter though, because I didn't want to have to do Hutta twice. I've completed the noob worlds for my Smuggler and new Agent... probably going to run through the first world with a Jedi or Sith next, just so I don't have to do Ord Mantell again so swiftly.

Also, good news, Sarah: I FOUND FLASH. He was hiding on The Harbinger, and he's still wearing his space bandit bandana. :ohno

[Dasquian Belargic]

I had a go at re-installing, to try out the free sections on the starter planets, but the launcher doesn't actually launch the game for me :(

[Droo]

That's odd. And it's definately not updating at the bottom of the launcher? Is the play button lit up and clickable?

I'll be around for the best part of today, so if anyone wants to contact me in game, look for Malekav or Latombe. Also, to answer your question from last night*, Jace, yes, I'm subscribed and yes, I bought the expansion. Although, as of the 12th, those things are now one and the same: subscribers get the expansion free.

*Sorry about that, I woke up this morning with my phone hanging limp in my hand, and a few missed messages.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The play button lights up. Once I click it, though the program launches for a second before crashing without an error message.

[Crusader]

^^So that was the flashing thing in my lower right corner while I was playing BF3. You should have joined my game now that you own the humble bundle ;)

[Captain Untouchable]

Oh snap guys - looks like the next SWTOR expansion is going to be a Jump to Lightspeed style one. I can't tell if it's on rails or not (some of those turns were a little twitchy, so maybe it isn't), but anything that involves Bioware taking inspiration from Star Wars Galaxies and factoring it into the game is a-okay with me.

Id7rNGzq1Aw

That said, I really did not expect "Kuat" to be pronounced that way. I always thought it was "Kuait", not "Koo-at". #learnsomethingneweveryday