This game has been working its way around the back of my mind recently. It's been years since I've touched an MMO, but I've always had a soft spot for Star Wars and the recent-ish announcement of it being sort of, kind of free-to-play has me intrigued.
Maybe this whole thing is being done subconsciously from all the posts Bioware is making since I 'liked' them on Facebook.
"Going to SDCC this week? Be sure to stop by the #SWTOR booth for your exclusive in-game Tauntaun Fawn mini-pet!"
Or maybe I just like the idea of a baby Tauntaun.
From the reviews and word-of-mouth when the game came out, it seemed completely serviceable, but it didn't take more than a few weeks for everybody to sort of forget it existed.
Some of my friends and coworkers were dying for this game around its release. A few of them were bragging about how they were in the super duper early bird beta, based on the way they talked about it, a few decades before the game came out. But, even they, seem to have quit the game, several of whom moved on to Diablo III on its release - I believe they're still locked in their rooms selling fictional battleaxes for real money.
I do love Bioware, quite a bit, despite whatever missteps they may have taken. I enjoyed playing through Dragon Age 2, I even found the localized, slightly less epic, slightly more political plot-line intriguing, and mostly satisfactory. Mass Effect 3's infamous ending didn't have me nearly as up-in-arms as it had most everybody else, and maybe it's my ideology on artistic-integrity, but I thought the demands on them to remake the ending were both outlandish and disgusting.
That's not to say I'm blind to their wrong-doings. It would seem to me that I like their writing quite a bit, but some of their more technical choices are questionable. Recycled structures in games, restricting environments, and a relatively low concern for customization are all kind of sticking points for me on their games. The trouble is that those are all kind of big things when it comes to an MMO. You don't want to see the same dungeon over and over, you want wide open and sprawling environments, and you have to be able to customize your character so you're unique among the masses. Even the story stuff, that I've come to love from them, is sort of a secondary concern in an MMO - it's not uncommon ignore quest plots in lieu of getting the XP more quickly.
So, does anybody here still play this? If so, are my concerns valid or should I try it for myself? And, what do you guys think about the whole free-to-play-for-a-bit thing?
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