Star Wars: The Old Republic

[keg in kc]

Don't believe there's a dedicated thread, and since they're starting to release information now, I figure it's time for one.

[thecoffeeguy]

Originally Posted by David.

Let us know how it is. I've been thinking of cancelling my preorder, I just haven't seen one thing that has impressed me about this game yet. Guild wars 2 has really looked loads better to me.

I agree. Have not pre-ordered, but something is not sitting well with me on TOR. Cant put my finger on it, but nothing really impresses me.

GW 2 and Arche Age are ones I am looking forward to.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by thecoffeeguy

I agree. Have not pre-ordered, but something is not sitting well with me on TOR. Cant put my finger on it, but nothing really impresses me.

GW 2 and Arche Age are ones I am looking forward to.

I know it's going to be an absolutely amazing game. I'm not a big fan of the setting (WoW setting was amazing) but I'm sure that won't affect it too much. I freaking loved KOTOR after all.

[keg in kc]

I think I'm finished with fantasy MMOs for the forseeable future. That's part of the appeal of TOR with me (although you could argue that Star Wars is a fantasy setting). But for me, as I've said before, the story aspect is what has sold me, from the get-go. I'm a huge fan of BioWare RPGs, and that's basically exactly what TOR is, a multiplayer BioWare RPG.

Beyond that, I've spent a lot of time the last two months watching every bit of leaked content I could find, and I love every aspect of the game that I've seen so far. So much so that it's frustrating to me that I can't play.

The only thing I have not seen so far is high level play. I've seen a lot from 0-30, but very little from 30 on up. They announced today that they'll be showing a small piece of Eternity Vault at gamescom next weekend, and I'm excited to see that, both because I haven't seen much level 50 play, and because I've seen zero raid content (it hasn't been publicly tested yet...).

But, in the end, I've never hidden the fact that I'm going to be biased towards TOR, because it's basically the game I'd design for myself, if I had that opportunity. Although if and when they do something I don't like, I won't be shy about venting my frustration.

[keg in kc]

Fresh from gamescom in Germany, a short demo of The Eternity Vault. To quote myself in a message I just sent to a friend on facebook, so, i watched this for a couple of minutes and was like 'eh, not bad, nice to see some raid footage' and then the giant robot landed and i was like 'oh shit, this is awesome'.

What is it about giant robots?

[keg in kc]

[Pants]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Fresh from gamescom in Germany, a short demo of The Eternity Vault. To quote myself in a message I just sent to a friend on facebook, so, i watched this for a couple of minutes and was like 'eh, not bad, nice to see some raid footage' and then the giant robot landed and i was like 'oh shit, this is awesome'.

What is it about giant robots?

I like how it took them 30 seconds to wipe on a minor boss. Challenging raids are fun!

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Pants

I like how it took them 30 seconds to wipe on a minor boss. Challenging raids are fun!

They actually threw that fight because they were out of time on that demo.

There's a longer vid:



Looks like pretty standard raid stuff, what I've seen so far. I've seen people complain that it looks easy, but it should since it's developers playing it on what I assume is Normal. About as close to a pro team as you can get.

They will have different difficulty settings. Right now it's (I think) Normal/Hard 8-man and Normal/Hard 16-man, with the best drops/most difficult obviously being the Hard 16-man. There's talk that they're working on more than 2 difficulty settings but no confirmation on that, and they haven't commented on what those difficulty settings mean (whether it's just harder hitting bosses with more HP or different stages to the fight).

The loot information that's come out is interesting, too. It's not new information and I'm sure I've posted it on here already, but the boss fights will drop a loot box for every person in the raid, giving some combination of gear or barter items to acquire gear. Which I personally love. You could ask anybody that's ever gamed with me (if they were on here, which they're not....) and they would confirm that I am the most unlucky person in the universe when it comes to rolling on items. We're talking 20+ single-digit rolls in a row gear grinding in Moria instances in LotRO, having to run raids 10 or 15 times to win a single piece of gear (thank god for ladders in my later guilds). And even if I wasn't that unlucky I would still think that loot distribution is likely the worst, most dull part of any raid, and ultimately causes the most problems. So I'm a big fan of a level playing field, and the system does not in any way mean that the grind has been removed, only that you're guaranteed something every time you go.

I've also seen confirmation this week that corpses are highlighted in different colors depending on what kind of loot is on the body (i.e. green highlight for green gear, blue for rare, purple for epic, etc, however they classify it) and that AOE looting has been implemented in the latest patch, which I will use the hell out of at least at low levels.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

They actually threw that fight because they were out of time on that demo.

Looks like pretty standard raid stuff, what I've seen so far. I've seen people complain that it looks easy, but it should since it's developers playing it on what I assume is Normal. About as close to a pro team as you can get.

They will have different difficulty settings. Right now it's (I think) Normal/Hard 8-man and Normal/Hard 16-man, with the best drops/most difficult obviously being the Hard 16-man. There's talk that they're working on more than 2 difficulty settings but no confirmation on that, and they haven't commented on what those difficulty settings mean (whether it's just harder hitting bosses with more HP or different stages to the fight).

The loot information that's come out is interesting, too. It's not new information and I'm sure I've posted it on here already, but the boss fights will drop a loot box for every person in the raid, giving some combination of gear or barter items to acquire gear. Which I personally love. You could ask anybody that's ever gamed with me (if they were on here, which they're not....) and they would confirm that I am the most unlucky person in the universe when it comes to rolling on items. We're talking 20+ single-digit rolls in a row gear grinding in Moria instances in LotRO, having to run raids 10 or 15 times to win a single piece of gear (thank god for ladders in my later guilds). And even if I wasn't that unlucky I would still think that loot distribution is likely the worst, most dull part of any raid, and ultimately causes the most problems. So I'm a big fan of a level playing field, and the system does not in any way mean that the grind has been removed, only that you're guaranteed something every time you go.

I've also seen confirmation this week that corpses are highlighted in different colors depending on what kind of loot is on the body (i.e. green highlight for green gear, blue for rare, purple for epic, etc, however they classify it) and that AOE looting has been implemented in the latest patch, which I will use the hell out of at least at low levels.

Ahh, I see. And yeah, those are all awesome ideas as far as looting goes, although I must say, it will be hard justifying running the same raid for the 37th time since you'll be decked out rather quickly and won't have a need for DKP (or whatever system your guild uses). Maybe they'll just have some uber rare badass items with super low drop % in there as a way to incite people, IDK.

As far as that Huttball, I personally am not a huge fan of chaotic PvP, I'd much rather they have something like the Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley then a Warsong Gulch - Arena PvP hybrid. That's just me, though.

I realize they're probably just filling the need of intra-faction PvP in what they think is a fun and "realistic" way, but I just don't think it'll be very fun at all. We'll see, I guess.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Pants

Ahh, I see. And yeah, those are all awesome ideas as far as looting goes, although I must say, it will be hard justifying running the same raid for the 37th time since you'll be decked out rather quickly and won't have a need for DKP (or whatever system your guild uses). Maybe they'll just have some uber rare badass items with super low drop % in there as a way to incite people, IDK.

Thing is, I don't think there's any guarantee that you willll be decked-out quickly. Getting something doesn't mean that something is what you want or what you're there for, and if you get tokens of some kind instead of gear (whether by choice or by luck) it may not be a 1 for 1 trade. But we don't know what the system actually is yet, in solid terms, so it's hard to really discuss the merits and the problems...

As far as that Huttball, I personally am not a huge fan of chaotic PvP, I'd much rather they have something like the Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley then a Warsong Gulch - Arena PvP hybrid. That's just me, though.

I don't remember WoWs battlefields at all. I know I spent some time in Alterac Valley, but it was so many years ago...

I don't think Huttball is my cup of tea. Seems kind of silly, albeit in a fun way, but I do like the idea of a warzone that lets you take on people from your own faction.

As far as more standard warzones go, that's what they're giving with Alderaan and the Voidstar, I think. But again, I haven't pvp'd for literally years. I never even set foot in the Moors in lotro.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Thing is, I don't think there's any guarantee that you willll be decked-out quickly. Getting something doesn't mean that something is what you want or what you're there for, and if you get tokens of some kind instead of gear (whether by choice or by luck) it may not be a 1 for 1 trade. But we don't know what the system actually is yet, in solid terms, so it's hard to really discuss the merits and the problems...

You're right.

[keg in kc]

Some Alderaan PvP from gamescom:



Late in the same video there's a bit from the middle of the Eternity Vault. Direct link.

[keg in kc]

Long video of huttball in action, and I've got to admit, this looks way cooler than I thought it did:



Of special note is the stun grenade/dirty kick by the smuggler at 12:22

[Meanstreak]

This game looks great. I have taken a break from the MMO's the last few years and hit console because the lineup as become tiring. This game along with the launch of Diablo 3 really has me excited!

[keg in kc]

Bit of smuggler gameplay, and the fellow playing goes into some detail about why he's interested in the game although it's by design a standard MMO.

(Smuggler looks like a lot of fun, I may have found my republic alt)

[keg in kc]

Random video by some random guy about the top 10 reasons he's interested in TOR. Nothing ground-breaking, but it's well constructed and I like it so I thought I'd share: