Ars Technica Review of TOR

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/20...public.ars

Worth the read I think.

that review pretty well covers how it's going in the beta so far as well . One of the feedbacks that bioware has recently put in . Is a genraic out of combat heal . that has it's own cooldown . this is a standerd universal heal ALL classes have . Tho the sith warriors and jedi knights and there advanced classes are still the only classes that do not recieve any in combat heals of there own .

the classes are still being tweaked for game balance . an So far bioware's actually listening to the beta testers , and making changes an fixes as they should be . They've even had a couple ingame events that developers have participated with when testing bug fixes . An given what still requires work in the game . Honestly I don't see this as a summer release at all .... Not unless your expecting a rushed unfinished game ala swg ... If your thinking somewhere in the early fall to american thanksgiving .Your prolly right .


End game content , Space , and game balance issues amoung the classes, and pvp all still have alot of work to do ... and for those who played Kotor I or II or both ... Yes bioware will at some point be including pazzak , pod racing , and holo chess . as side activities to do aboard your ships or at entertainment ares such as cantina's .

The TOR developers are only fooling themselves if they think this game will be anything but a race to 50. I don't care how good your story is, if its faster to kill 1000 standard type A mob and get a level, than it is to play ten of the greatest story line campaigns ever created, everyone is going to kill 1000 type As.

Some will actually and it is rather silly. This is clearly a story driven game and if the player isn't enjoying the story, why bother playing at all?

Now if the story content isn't worth playing, well this game is in trouble.

I would much rather go through the story line, than grind 1000 baddies. And they said you level faster, and experience more while in a group. So the race to 50 will be won by those who play together in a well balanced group. I am not saying nobody will ever have to grind, but the only way I intend on killing 1000 mobs of anything is for: achievements, loot, cash, or objects required for crafting.

Grinding 1000 baddies is extremely boring, that's why my Klingon char in Star Trek Online is still only level 33 and not at level 50, even though I started it last year. They STILL haven't made any good story content for the Klingon side of things, Federation get's it all...

Its not exactly hard to make the quests worth doing xp-wise. Just basic math skills required to set it up.

The question is, will they. And if your game is 100% storyline driven, you better be dropping new quests every month. Frankly, I can't see how this is sustainable. I hope it is, I just can't see how. KoTOR was one of the greatest 20-30ish hour games I ever played. I have played it expactly zero times since.

I get the feeling the key to this game is to play through the different class story lines. There is obviously be more than 20-30 hours, probably 60-90 hours of content. Some MMOs don't even get played that much before they get boring.

I don't see TOR becoming a new life style for anyone, just a distraction for a few months like most games.

My gut says tor is gonna be alot like lotro .... a casual game you log , grind a character up . get to the end an go hrmm ya no end game . okay . Log off . several months later come back an repeat but with a different class . an piddle off again .

to get that long lasting sustainablity , bioware needs to add frequent updates and new content and reveal what plan if any , they have for an end game .

Oh, and they also need to have...


CAPSHIPS!!!


Thank you...

I think TOR will be a much greater game than LoTRO starting out (maybe). With the mass amount of planets I don't think it will be hard to find "things" to do, and you won't find yourself grinding 5-7 levels to continue doing levels in a different area or planet.

And while my main focus of the game will be geared towards end game content, I probably won't worry about it until at least 3-4 months after the release.

Most raiding guilds, know that it takes the best or should take the best gear, weapons, potions available to complete successful end game content on a regular basis. With that being said, players may run a raid only to figure out strats until players are fully capable of a smooth run.

In the mean time it gives players the chance to level up toons other than their mains and focus on crafting and getting wealthy.

But as you say kat, it would be good to know what plans Bioware has for end game.

in the beta atm... Sure you can go out there an grind on mobs , gain exp etc . But it's a very loooong and slow process ...

the exp per mob killed that isn't a boss type mob ... isn't very much . the quests and the optionals contained in quests is where the bulk of the exp is to be had from ... the flash point encounter spots ... those are juicy bits of pure gold for exp ...An the quests themselves are not something you can sit down for a couple hours and think your gonna grind off 20 quests .... Hooo no ! ... wrong !

the average low level quest on tython for example , complete al lthe side stuff . from start to finish is a 2 to 3 hour commitment if your solo . half that if your in a group ... an that's just 1 quest .... the flash points are a much longer and involved process which are designed to not be soloable , and require grouping .

We did a low level flashpoint ... it took the whole party from start to finish , 4.5 hours to complete . this didn't include the 45 mins, we spent forming the party , getting everyone to work together an go with a game plan . we wiped 3 times doing the flash point . but was hella fun .

From what I've seen so far . It looks like the majority of the quests will get more difficult with higher levels and become tough enough your not gonna waltz through an solo it . you'll have to group up .

or you could go to an explorer area an spend two hours grinding mobs ... which at the end of that grind you'll have gained half the experiance you'd gotten if you speed rushed 1 quest an skipped the bonus material .


now to the flip side of things , crafting ... your pet / companion / canon fodder buddy . is vital for each character's crafting . there are specific quests you can do in the game which is nothing more then sending your lemming out to collect resources . So it can craft item X for you . You decide what skills your lemmings train in an what they craft . but so far it looks like they are the ones that do the bulk of the crafting work . Also of note while your lemming is off on material collections and or locked away crafting stuff . they are unavailable to drag along with you into quests . which at low levels that's fine no biggie . But later on , that can get problematic if your not into the whole grouping thing . Also the collection material gathering quests your lemmings get sent out to do ... can take anywhere from 1 hour to several days real time . before they are available to bring along as firepower an moral support in quests .

the things you can craft are a wide variety of stuff from upgrades to existing gear to better weapons to ship componets , to repair kits .Ya , suprise your ships you get to fly around in . you gotta maintain them . an yes if you get shot at in space , your ship will take some system damage .... you better have the nessisary materials onboard to repair it . or your canniblizing other ships subsystems to jury rig componets . which have an increased fail rate ... Think of han solo trying to go to light speed after hoth ..... yup that same ugly situation can happen in sw:tor people .... An yes fear not when your ship breaks down ... if your in a bad place ... the ship will become the quest giver of " repair me so we can fly outa here " ... an completing it saves your bacon , fixes the ship and yes gives you exp ... An yes it's quite possible to crash your ship an have the opposing side blow you up . those are more involved repairs that often require either buying a new ship . or if your behind enemy lines ... stealing one ( if your a smuggler or imperial agent ) .


All part of bioware's approaches of storyline is emmerisve and matters .

From what I've heard, they are treating this more like the original KOTOR. You didn't play it to see if you could max out level. You played it to advance the story-line. XP, loot, etc were motivators - but the primary is story. They've kept that key. And know my own vendetta to complete all quests, I'll have no problem leveling along story and story arcs.

from what I've seen on the side quest optionals ... some are designed to not yeild alot of exp . but instead offer rare loot drops . and so far the quests are mostly instanced ... and have a limited diminishing returns on them . Ie , if you re run the same thing 10x in a day ... by the 10th run your not getting much with exp. and each extra run lowers the quality of the loot . A kinda anti farming idea .