Star Wars: The Old Republic

     Recently, I have been getting into a game called "Star Wars: The Old Republic".
     Released in December of 2011, SWTOR (as it is known) was touted as being a "WoW Killer", and that it was going to change the landscape of MMOs as we know it... It turned out that it was as deadly a killer as a shrunken cotton ball. Yes, World of Warcraft was not killed by this game... Helped by the fact The Old Republic copied A LOT from World of Warcraft; from ability resources and stats to even the color of Player Nameplates when they are in PVP mode. It also completely copied WoW's old talent system (with some very minor adjustments).
      Looking at this game, whose development has been incredibly slow, and comparing it to World of Warcraft, which has gotten better over time, reveals some interesting facts about game mechanics that can make or break a game.


     First off, I want to be clear: I am not a big Star Wars fan. I have seen all the prequels, but not the original trilogy. Believe it or not, I was actually once a part of the demographic that liked Jar Jar (yes, the annoying Jar Jar was liked. George Lucas wasn't wise, but he wasn't a total moron in that respect). I am not the guy to go to for information on Star Wars. Or Star Trek. Everything I know about them is mostly through pop-culture osmosis.
     Secondly, I would also like to note that I do like this game... To an extent. I like the story, especially the Republic Trooper one, but a lot of other things annoy me. Some are exclusive to this game, some are a part of MMOs in general. Either way, remember, my name is Fixer Sue if you disagree with my opinions, you have my name as justification. I will refrain from simply saying something is bad, and will give facts to back it up, so I ask that you at least give these thoughts the time of day.
     Thirdly, this is going to be pretty heavily focused on gaming, specifically on MMOs, and might go on for a while. If you have no interest in the genre, I suggest clicking away to another cat video... In the meantime however, let us consider the flaws in a previous WoW Killer...


     I suppose I should start with the good points.
     The game was developed by Bioware, the same company that made the Mass Effect and Dragons Age games; and it definitely shows in the story department. The story mainly takes place in interactive (and fully voiced) cutscenes, where the player has two-three options for what they want to say in response to the NPCs. This part of the game is a lot of fun. especially when one is playing a certain type of character (serious light-sided trooper, snarky dark-sided jedi... anything is plausible). And one gets opportunities for these in every quest, whether it be a main quest, or a side quest.
     However, I should note some things about this that are bothersome... First of all, the characters are always static, barely moving during the scenes... Anything tense about the scene is immediately lost when the enemy who is saying that they are about to attack, has sheathed their weapon and is standing rather calmly. Unless a scene is taking place in a rather calm area, this seems very out of place and rather silly. Not to mention their movements become repetitive. Adding some idle animations for the characters being ready to attack would've helped alleviate this; and they already exist! Just use the same idle attack animations as the player characters! Also, be more dynamic with the camera when they are speaking, cut to their eyes sometimes or to a far off shot of the scene, with the player character and the enemy ready to fight... These scenes are supposed to be cinematic, but feel very game-y and weird.
     Secondly, there is a problem with the dialog choices themselves... It can be very hard to tell what an option means at times. For instance, you might read an option as being a little snarky, but when chosen, you end up looking like a kiss-ass. This is because each option is a short phrase, supposedly resembling the full response... except that the intent of the response would be much more useful. Labeling a response as "Serious", "Snarky", "disrespectful", and so on, would pretty much eliminate this problem. It'd also reduce the amount of times a player accidentally asks "what's a paladin?" after spending 20 hours with a paladin. (Not an example within the game, the real equivalent would be rakghoul, but paladin is better known in pop-culture than some random 90's alien name.)


     Away from the story an into Game Mechanics, I also liked the space ship battles one could partake in. They are basically like the game Starfox, but with better graphics, and slightly less clunky movement than an old SNES game. It is a fun change of pace from the actual game itself, and it only lasts a few minutes, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.
     I would seriously pay for a class that does only spaceship quests, and basically play like the Enterprise.
Unfortunately, one has to pay to play much of the space battles at all... more on the business practices later...


     Now the actual meat of the game, the combat...
... It is long, dull, and repetitive. What you basically do is hit certain buttons in a sequence for optimal damage/healing/threat. Now, this is exactly the same as World of Warcraft... Except not. In World of Warcraft, not using the optimal rotation is still okay, as you still can do enough damage to survive without issue. In SWTOR however, the difference between not using the optimal build, and using it, is not only immense, it is game changing.
    I was dying quite a lot as my trooper. The enemies just would not die fast enough, and I was constantly confused about what attacks I should be using. So, I looked up the optimal build on the internet... and suddenly I am dying a lot less, and having an easier time with enemies. That is pretty significant.
     However, this difference isn't one of skill; my ability to press buttons has not changed with the rotation. What changed was knowledge... Specifically, the knowledge of what was actually worth using. Before looking it up, I was using attacks that were far outside the recommended rotation for my spec... but I was using them because they were the abilities I had since I started playing that character. This is not intuitive at all...
     Compare this to World of Warcraft... It has a lot of attacks that one can use, and they fill up a lot of action bars. However, the rotation is rather easy to figure out for each spec, helped by the fact that attacks you earn in the beginning are still used as a part of your primary rotation. The only possible confusion occurs when a new attack is more powerful than another, and should replace an earlier one. However, the game also has as a part of the talent specialization system, an info blurb about which abilities are important to one's attack rotation. This isn't making the game easier, this is giving assistance and explanation to those who need it.

    Speaking of talents, we should look over SWTOR's talent trees...

Oops, sorry, that is a World of Warcraft talent tree from Wrath of the Lich King, here is a SWTOR talent tree:

The difference is that one runs downward, while the other one goes up!

For reference, here's a talent tree in WoW right now:

     Yeah, one thing people complain about WoW lately is that the talent trees are too small, and that there is barely any difference between player characters. Except SWTOR demonstrates why Blizzard was right to change the talent tree system.

     SWTOR's talent tree has the same problem as WoW's old system: there is one optimal build for each spec, and deviating from it means you will suck. It takes a very long time to climb the tree, and you barely see any results from it. Meanwhile, under WoW's new system, while you only get a new talent every 15 levels, you get something interesting for it, usually in the form of a new ability. The reason this works so much better, is because these abilities are tangible; they affect the gameplay in a big way. SWTOR's trees are made up of empty percentages that increase damage... whoopie. I prefer the option to choose something cool to play with every 15 levels, rather than plugging in points in a chart so that I can deal optimal damage, and hopefully beat the enemies without dying. I may still die with the cool ability, but at least it does something tangible.

    Speaking of tangibility... What do you imagine when you think of  a light saber fight? probably someone getting their limb chopped off right? Not only does that not happen in the game, light sabers feel more like glowy bats than swords. They deal damage, but apparently some random thugs on the street have torsos that are immune to being cutoff. What I'm getting at is, is that the attacks have no impact or weight behind them. Guns shoot BB pellets, light sabers smash instead of cut, and lightning is just glowy. They all deal damage, but they feel weak. This is, of course, gameplay and story segregation... But it just seems absolutely ridiculous to shoot a guy with over 4 dozen plasma rounds to the face, and have him still able to calmly stand there and shoot you. Now, this is also true in WoW, where one can throw balls of fire that act more like one is throwing a rock at them, but there is still impact behind it.


I suppose SWTOR is a WoW Killer in some respect... in that I stopped playing MMOs for a while after I realized they were all like this. Press buttons until the enemy is defeated, if you are using the optimal build it will go faster, and the attacks barely have weight behind them. I have only recently gotten back into the groove of MMOs, mostly through accepting that they will just be this way...

But, it doesn't have to be like this. There doesn't need to be any of this nonsense about rotations or talent specs... What I'm basically saying is, screw rotational abilities, just go the route of hack and slash. Make it a bit like Diablo; where you have some abilities for attack or defense, that you activate as you see fit. Except, put some real weight behind attacks; make successful light saber strikes actually kill, rather than simply damage the target. Same with the guns and force abilities; make them be powerful, because they are supposed to be powerful.
    The game sort of is designed like a hack and slash, considering there are densely packed groups of enemies that block your progress until you defeat them. If they were much easier to defeat, I'd have less problems with them. As it stands, every molehill is a mountain.

     Of course, there is a reason everything is so hard and takes so long... it's because of the dinosaur known as leveling. Leveling is basically a measure of progression, and a limiter, keeping one confined to certain areas. And it is an extreme pain that really needs to go away... Levels are one of the reasons we can't have one-hit kills in MMOs. It is honestly fake longevity at this point; story says I should be able to kill anyone because I have a plasma gun, but levels says I can't even hit a guy because he's 5 levels above me. I look forward to an MMO where there is no leveling, only playing in a massive world.

     But, no leveling won't ever happen... because the people who created the game want money. Fair enough, it costs money to create the game... Just as it is also fair that people don't necessarily want to pay to grind levels.
     SWTOR was originally a subscription-based game (like WoW). SWTOR recently went free-to-play, meaning that anyone can play it for free, all the way up to the level cap. Or, as far as you can take their restrictions... Usually, when a game has a free mode and a subscription mode, there are some restrictions on the free mode that are lifted from the subscription mode, along with some additional benefits added to the subscription mode. Most of the time however, the free mode does not dip below normal levels. You see, free players earn XP at a reduced rate... they are 75% of the normal exp rate. So, and already slow and grindy process is increased. whoopidy hopidy. But wait, there's more! Subscribers earn bonus exp! So, no one earns the regular amount of experience. Why would you reduce the amount of exp non-subscribers get? It doesn't make them want to subscribe, it makes them want to leave! Here is how it normally works: free-to-play is basically the normal game, subscription adds neat benefits, and unlocks some content. Restricting F2P content is not how you get people to subscribe.
     But, this is EA. If crushing a puppy could earn them a dollar, they'd buy a kennel.


Over-all, the reason why I have so many problems with this game, is because everything listed and discussed after the story content, gets in the way of the story. The Story is the best part, and the rest of this bogs it down. If I could ignore everything else, and just do the class quests, I would. But, since I have to level up, otherwise my weightless attacks will be useless, I have to do everything but the fun stuff, just to move forward. Yuck.

    SWTOR is no WoW Killer. It is a WoW clone, with genetic defects that make it feel worse, with a couple good points.



    WoW Killer is an old phrase now... It has been applied to almost every single new MMO to come out. Honestly, the only time I will be able to say that WoW is old and some new MMO is the future, is when they basically make a medieval/sci-fi life simulator, with no levels, and no health bars. Elder Scrolls Online comes close, but isn't exactly it... Read "Tom Clancy's Net Force: The Deadliest Game" to get my idea of what a WoW Killer would look like.


Back to SWTOR... I play it because I like the story and the characters. I tolerate the gameplay because of it.
Oh, I forgot to mention... I get consistent lag and connection timeouts. I know my internet is fine, and my graphics settings are quite low. Normally, I wouldn't care too much... except that this usually means that I can't move forward (imagine an invisible wall blocking your path, and you have to wait an indeterminate amount of time for it to disappear), and am likely to die. Not fun, especially when death is also a pain.

My personal rating for SWTOR: 6/10. Some good points, but it is mostly bogged down by bad design and mechanics choices. Had they made it less gamey, and more like the movies (IE, light saber no care about yo'r armor...), then it probably would've been a whole lot more fun. As it stands, I'm just likely to continue playing, just hoping that the game decides to allow me to have fun.