@Mr_Box said:
Essentially, what I have been told since day one: "Go in thinking that this is a sequel to 'Knights of the Old Republic' and it is essentially a single player game with multiplayer elements and you will like the game. Go in thinking that this is a MMO in the traditional sense and you will be disappointed." or "Go in thinking it will be garbage and then you will never be disappointed."
Of course, this is all assuming you liked Knights of the Old Republic and if you didn't, why even bother looking at The Old Republic?
You know, I'm going to disagree with what you've been told. Bioware does a really solid job at hitting their own stride, and hitting the World of Warcraft stride, and maintaining both at the same time.
With their own stride, they nail 8 unique, and fairly compelling stories that seem to have meaningful decisions spread out. The cinematic quality and style is about on-par with their work on Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2. Overall, I'd also say that this is probably their best voice-acted game to date. Every now and then, you'll come across that Mass Effect character who makes you cringe, but I've yet to have that experience in SWTOR. The companions, so far, are incredibly compelling. They merge the Mass Effect 2 system of "don't fucking talk to me out in the field, only in-ship/casual place" with the Dragon Age gift system, and throw in a more Dragon Age-style of companion quest thing. And finally, they've got a morality system that is as black-and-white as KOTOR, but presented in a non-slider Mass Effect fashion. Together, all these elements combine together to be one of the most solid, mechanically sound Bioware experiences that I've ever played.
On the MMO stride, they're launching with 17 planets that can range from fairly small and linear to the size of 4-5 World of Warcraft zones stitched together. Planets are presented in a mostly linear progression, but it can be fairly easy to overlevel and skip a planet altogether. Aside from this, they're launching with 3 Warzones (battlegrounds), 15 Flashpoints (dungeons), and 2 Operations (raids). So they clearly have a ton of content, and it's all been compelling thus far. The mechanics are incredibly sound. I think a lot of people were complaining that the combat--with the 1.5 second GCD--is a little slow. But honestly, by level 10, you're fighting 2v5 battles that can be described as nothing short of chaotic. The lack of an autoattack is also an interesting decision, as it gives you a little more freedom on when you would like to add a filler GCD into your rotation, and leaves your companions as the continuous stream of damage that you would want from an auto-attack (although, those companions can be set to healing or tanking, effectively letting you customize your auto-attack). The PVP, so far, has been getting nothing but praise from the community. The bolster system, while not perfect, is keeping queue times at manageable levels. And balance out of the gate seems almost perfect, which is almost unheard of.
I think the only knock you can make against SWTOR as an MMORPG is that the questing content (read: actual objectives, narrative aside) is about on-par with the Wrath questing. This isn't the ridiculous, hilarious, and blissful Catacylsm content, which had a tendency to turn you into a crazy monster every 3 quests, and have you decimate entire villages. But it's significantly more enjoyable than vanilla, and better structured than Burning Crusade.
Finally, there are areas where these two strides work together to create an experience that is truly unlike anything Bioware or the MMORPG gemre has ever put out. I think most of these shocking, refreshing experiences come from the fact that this is the first cooperative modern Bioware game. Being grouped with a person throughout the levelling experience can be incredibly refreshing, as you're constantly bickering over trivial sidequest dialogue, or trying to decide what companion combinations you should roll with. Or even something as simple as walking past a guy and seeing his hollow, dark-side eyes, and know that he's made some nasty decisions throughout his career. Or hanging out with a friend on your spaceship with all your companions there (slaving over your crafting items), and trying to decide what planet to go hang out in. These experiences are completely original, and they're often tragically overlooked when people analyse this game.
A shame. But I hope with the official release almost upon us, people will delve into this experience and give it a genuine try.
TL;DR - game is a fantastic MMO, a fantastic Bioware game, and something completely original and mind-blowing when you combine the two.
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