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Questions about the free version of SWtoR
Cymdai
Member UncommonPosts: 1,043
Alrighty. So, after placing all my hopes and dreams (not really) in FFXIV, and being wholly disappointed, I'm MMO-less. I'm not really looking for anything ground breaking; that game doesn't exist at this time. However, I beta'd SWtoR years ago. Admittedly, I hated it. I didn't like the combat at all, and it bored me to death by level 14. I never even got to the PvP aspect, and I don't even know if there is a raiding aspect.
However... the storyline feature seemed like something I could do here and there. I do remember liking them to a degree; very KOTOR-esque. I have a lot of free time atm, and feel like maybe I should re-visit this game to experience the story. If it matters, I love Star Wars, too. Here's my questions.
1) What's the difference between the P2p verison and to F2p version? I have 0 interest in subscribing, and I don't have any plans of sticking around after completing the game (don't care about raiding, uber l00tz, etc). Is it worth delving into if my wallet is closed?
2) Is the storyline worthwhile enough to justify the game? I understand and accept that combat in the game is not exciting to me, so I can deal with that. But did you enjoy going through the game?
3) What's changed since... well, beta?
Waiting for something fresh to arrive on the MMO scene...
Comments
The real hindrance to the 1-50 game in F2P is only allowing you one tradeskill, as you basically need all 3 just to do the one. If you don't plan on crafting its a super awesome deal. I personally liked the crafting as you can create epic-type stuff even at lower levels, and was super bummed when I came back to try it a year after launch. I figured I'd at least be able to on my account since I was a pre-order/CE but sadly no!
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
Before you even ask those questions, I have to interject .. if you hate the combat, well that is the whole structure of the game, beyond story.
If you can learn to like mindless combat like every other WoW'ish MMO, then you may like the game for it's story. You get salt in the wound though as a F2P, even preferred, with gimped XP rates .. so learn to love combat early on - you'll be grinding to catch up to where you need to be for some story parts. (Or pay $$ for XP boosters when you start pulling hair out.)
You pretty much saw what this game offers from beta (from what you said), and nothing really changed. Stuff got reskinned, though, so yes new flashpoint dungeons, new battleground / warzones. Huttball was the more innovative thing EA did before they fired people who worked on the game, so don't expect much nowadays. Judging by the reskinned new PVP zones, I think innovation is over.
The new space combat is for subscribers only, and well .. it's PVP only, and not foundation for a virtual world, IMO.
The engine supposedly got tweaked, though I never saw improvements. The memory leak still exists, so reboot your computer often. Get more than a dozen PC's on-screen at once, and watch FPS drop from 100 to 20 .. then to 10 and drastically below if more than a couple dozen are on-screen (for a general PC). If you have a $5000 machine, then only expect the FPS to drop below 15 FPS when 20+ people are on-screen.
I love Star Wars, but I would not recommend this game to any non-SW fan. There is too much explaining to do to even begin recommending it [It's a great game but ... point [1] .. then point [2] .. then point [23423]) .. SW fans just put up with it and will love it .. I guess I don't love SW "that" much to not criticize a sloppy EA game :P And EA did a number to the reputation of BioWAre
It's really no wonder why fans pleaded with EA to add non combat activities like Swoop Racing and Pazaak. SWTOR is just another game chasing WoW dollars otherwise (endless combat anyone?), with not much new to see, beyond a pseudo sub-standard KotOR 3, with extra costs for everything, including breathing .. all with a WoW feel. It could have been so much better =:-(
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Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
+1 to what Karteli wrote. Nowadays mmo's lean heavily on combat (sadly, imo), so if you didn't like combat in beta, well, it's still pretty much the same... along with almost everything, so to your 3) What's changed since... well, beta? well, not much. There's an ingame store now
Good news to question 2), some of the stories are more than worthy enough to justify a playthrough. If you play it like a KotOR game, then you can play it for free, even. (as in skipping the crafting as Utinni said, ditching the gear grind too, since you can't wear the best ones anyways and you'll leave at the end of the story, etc.) However, if you don't like the combat, you'll have some hard times grinding xp with killing between the quests... xp-booster can help, but then it's not free anymore.
And it's leading to 1) Is it worth delving into if my wallet is closed? Good question. There are many restrictions for free players (a bit less for preferred ones). A few of them can uplifted with ingame money through the AH (the GTN). So there is a way to play for free decently, with grinding out the money in game. Which means a sh*tload of combat, which you don't like. See the problem?
I'd suggest to jump into the game, start an Agent (or maybe a SI) for the best story, and check for yourself how much can you endure the combat. If you focus only onto the story (and the kill grind inbetween levels due to the xp restriction), you can keep the combat numbers on the average area. If it's still too much and unbearable, then leave, you've lost nothing only some time. But if you can bypass it, the Agent has a great story.
1) The free content is more or less limited to just the story content. There are also restrictions on storage, space missions, crew skills, etc. You can play the story content, but the other stuff is only there so you can see it and taste it.
2) The story lines are very good, but there are enough world quests that going through them three or four times on different characters will start to feel very familiar once you're out of the starting areas.
3) If you didn't like the game in beta, you aren't likely to like it now. I played in beta and bought the game at release because my friends were playing it. I played it for a couple months and then moved on. The F2P transition didn't really grab me because the game was functionally the same as it was when I played it, only with restrictions on the things I kind of enjoyed like space missions and crew missions.
The story content is good. They've restricted the other good stuff though, and I'm not sure the base game is good enough to make playing for free, without paying any money worthwhile. Buying unlocks in the cash shop would probably open the game up a good bit. But again, if you didn't enjoy it in beta, not sure that it's worth playing now.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Wait, you hated the combat of SWTOR and then put your hopes and dreams into FFXIV? Umm.... why? FFXIV is the most derivative WoW-like combat of them all, only slower and less interesting.
The game is free, and you can play out the whole original story for each class entirely for free. Just go play it until you get bored of it.
Try it out better to be preferred of course but you can buy XP bosst for credits so don't listen to that bullsh*t some talking above.
One of the reason to play this is story now go and play.
1st restriction will hurt you a lot at level 30+ and that is as f2p you are only allowed to used 2 quickbars, so i will suggest you to constantly keep an eye on GTN to see if you can buy at least 2 quickbar extensions character unlock, if you find cheap account wide quickbar unlock then it is even better. but know this after 30 it is mandatory to have more than 2 quickbar. many people will tell you that you don't need more than 2 quickbar but trust me you do.
2nd restriction that will hurt you at 50 is that you can't equip artifact quality items, that also means that if you find a shiny artifact quality armoring you can't place it in your adaptive gears. you are not into raiding but you know better gear always help in anything solo you do.
Only these 2 are the most annoying ones. other ones; like inventory restriction; you will be able to work out somehow.
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It hasn't changed so much that you wont hate it any more. If you hated it before you will hate it still. I would suggest you go and try one of the other games. That way in a month you can write this very same thread again
No matter how cynical you become, its never enough to keep up - Lily Tomlin
As a F2P player, you will find the game immensely frustrating. The story is good, but so much is behind the paywall, and every SWTOR does, you'll find it done better elsewhere. The only pioneering innovations the game tries is novel ways to restrict players, such as UI restrictions, and a cash cap so low you have no chance of reasonably buying anything. The IP is the only hook the game has. If you did not find FFXIV compelling enough, SWTOR is even less so.
I suggest to just try it, stories are awesome, definitely try Imperial Agent. It is worth the sub just to finish this one definitely. But you can do it for free. As other say spend $5 to get preferred status. It will give you 4 bars and higher credit limit. All other unlocks you can get on GTN including inventory and bank unlocks etc.
Just try.
Don't let others decide for you just because they hate the game and don't want anybody even try it.
If you are in US try The Ebon Hawk. Lower planets are hugely populated and community is excellent, exept maybe some jerks in lower planets, but it's not bad on Imp side.
PS. Yesterday fleet on Imp side had 3 instances. That's about 500 players.
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
f2p can play true every aspect of the story. so yes if thats what you like its worth it
1: and what ppl say about lagging with 20 ppl on screen? thats a lie. we had a huge 20vs20 guild fight a litle bit back lowst i droped to was17 fps and Average 30 fps seting on high. you can easy check it out for your self go to combat zone at the fleet at peak time there is close to 70+ ppl there atlest on my server. then i do agree you would feel the lag but i have never been close or lower that 10 fps like the op says. if so your comp suck :P
2: i would say the combat is more fun inn swtor then FFXIV, thats 2 sec cb cd is to long
but if you can you should try to become pref player you get a few nice stuff and the lvling experiance wont feel to bad
its about 5 buck