Here are a couple from my playing yesterday:


Me posing for the camera.


Enjoying the view out the hangar.


Die die die evil republican scum!

Is it basically WoW with lightsabers?

Just curious.
Hellshade

Pretty much.

You have levelled up quick!

Still waiting to get to play...

I'll add a few Coruscant impressions:

Is that a big weapon you have there PB or are you just happy to see us?

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side

Those are the ugliest color crystals i've ever seen. :p

Ship battles?

UHHH NO JUST NO!!!!

The game is not even close to being WoW.

Only people who see this like WoW are those with their heads up their own ass.

that sure is an ugly interface

well at least you aren't hyper defensive about people asking a question. Otherwise someone might mistake you for a fanboi.

Hellshade

Really? Jumping right into name calling? Instead of displaying your obvious lack of maturity, try giving some examples of how they are not alike?

The biggest difference is SW:ToR's focus on story and presentation. Every single quest in the game has full voice-overs in excellent quality and is presented via cut-scenes. Also your char can interact with his counterparts in these cut-scenes much like in Dragon Age or Mass Effect. This might sound like a minor feature but in effect really changes the way the game plays. ToR, although still a 'classical' MMORPG plays a lot like previous single-player Bioware titles. I've already caught myself a couple of times in the only too well-known loop of "I just finish this quest because I want to know how the story continues"...

It is very different from WoW.

Para_Bellum has it.

It IS different, although much of the interface is the same. I get bored of WoW extremely quickly, but I see Old Republic as being a different experience.

I can has a ship!


It's not small!


All mine! MWhahahahaha.


Undocking fromm a space station.


I finally mastered the skill of throwing your lightsaber!

I think that's the best looking ship in SWTOR, like a cross between the Falcon and a Tie Fighter(ish).

That's good to hear. I know Bioware has an excellent history of making the stories immersive and deep. Glad to see they brought that into their MMO. Thanks for the better understanding. After EQ, EQ2, WoW, Rift and LotRO I'm a bit MMO'd out, since they all pretty much come down to Themepark MMOs with "Kill X of Y monsters" and "Fed Ex" style quests ad nauseum.

I personally plan on being stuck in Skyrim for a long time (not to mention a few Flight sims) but the at least SWTOR is set in a sci-fi setting instead of a fantasy one. I understand they still use the "Holy Trinity" of tank, healer, DPS for their groups, which is a bit of a bummer. I was hoping they'd adopt something like Guild Wars 2 is trying, where any 5 players can do the group content. I'll look forward to hearing / reading the reviews as time goes on and I sincerely wish it well. The more great games out there the better. Keep us informed with fair updates if you have the time and inclination.

Hellshade

Some examples of the space combat "mini game".

All in all, it is basically the old Rebel Alliance games from a decade+ ago, in how it plays. Still, enjoyable enough but it is no X-Wing/Tie Fighter.

Couple of mine:

Finally: my own Thunderclap BT-7!




Vrooooom!



Sometimes it's well worth risking a couple of dark side points...

I got my Sith Assassin to level 11, what level do you get a ship?

When you finished your class quest on the second planet.

Which would be Dromund Kaas for me?

Also, how do you turn off the UI for screenshots?

Should get it around LVL 14-16 depending on your other activities. I got mine when I was a LVL 15 IA Sniper.

Alt+Z is toggle UI on/off.

Kaas is where you get your ship, yeah

Some screens from my sniper. Enjoy!

I'm confused, weren't you the one who accused it of being another WoW in the first place? I saw no examples of how from you either.....

Look, this is the deal. People get really tired of everyone comparing everything to that WoW crap that destroyed the genre for so long. SWTOR is the first MMO since WoW to break the mold some, hopefully Guild Wars 2 will continue it even further. So far SWTOR is more like a single player RPG than an MMO, but with all the freedom and social stuff that comes with an MMO as well.

Yes you will still kill 10 of these and collect 10 of those, but the way it is delivered in the story will not make you feel like you are quest grinding.

I don't agree with the delivery the poster had, but I do share the sentiment. Every game is not a WoW clone just because it is an MMO.

I've never played either World of Warcraft or SWTOR, so I can't make any comparisons/contrasts myself, but I know that WoW has many look-alikes for a good reason: WoW is dang good at delivering an experience that folks want and will revist over and over again. If it wasn't a great game, it wouldn't still be around with so many long-time fans and new recruits. And it's not just around, it's thriving. Developers trying to step into the MMO genre would do well to study WoW and steal use what has already been shown to work. The ol' "If it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality applies to gaming as well.

As for SWTOR, even if it is a WoW-clone (again, I can't make any comparisons, just using worst-case argument here), so what? Is it interesting? Engaging? Are you having fun? Then what's the big deal with it having similiarities to a different game? If you're the type of gamer that requires a completely original concept in order to have fun, then continue on your search, but let the others continue their good time.

I for one enjoy all of your screenshots and descriptions of the game, as I'm not likely to pick it up anytime soon - I spend too much time as it is in the cockpit of my A-10C and Black Shark...

Did you get 2 black-yellow crystals for your lightsabers?

I didn't accuse it of being a WoW clone. I asked if it was or not. Having not played the game, I figured I'd ask someone who had. (silly me)

True, all MMOs share basic things in common such as kill and collect quests(except maybe EVE Online) and a hot bar on the bottom, etc. That's not what qualifies something as a "WoW" clone in my mind. I loved Rift and every day there was someone on the official forums accusing it of being a pure WoW ripoff because it has two factions and a hotbar interface. Because - apparently - WoW invented those things. lol Anyways, my question was essentially, what does it innovate above and beyond the usual MMO formula thats been done to death - and has been most perfected (in terms of successful implementation) by WoW?

I felt Rift innovated with its Soul / Class based system that allowed you to create very different types of characters within a single Archtype. A Cleric can be a Tank / DPS or Healer, for instance. And the DPS could be ranged or melee depending on which 3 Souls you chose. It's Rift invasions from the other planes on the other hand were mostly just Public Quests like in War Hammer Online, only done significantly better.

So while I'm sure SWTOR has the usual quest styles, interface, etc. I was wondering what it did to make it different from most of the other MMOs. To give it it's own "flavor", if you will. An in depth story line made personal through fully spoken dialog sounds like it would at add to the immersion. It seems like it would be awesome the first time or two through, but I wonder if it might get tedious hearing the entire quest dialog the third or fourth time through. Time will tell. Hopefully it succeeds though. It certainly has promise and some big $$$ behind it.

Hellshade