Star Wars: The Old Republic Random Question/Discussion thread - F2P

[Zerocool]

It will also have PvP based progression as well. Both through open world PvP objectives on Ilum, and in warzones. And then yeah, it will have somewhere around 2-4 raids for both 8 and 16 people, some level 50 exclusive flashpoints, and then the hard mode flashpoints from the lower levels. That's more content than Rift launched with, and probably more than most other MMOs. But for the people that get to 50 in a couple of weeks and burn through all the content, yeah I'm sure they'll get bored pretty fast. But that will happen with any new game if people play through the content that fast.

And with FFXI, one of the main things that probably kept people playing as long as they did was the fact that you could level multiple jobs on the same character. It kind of made you feel more attached to that character, but the downside of a system like this is you're forced to grind mobs to level. Unless they do it like Rift where you can change to any class you want within your calling. But then that stop being another form of progression. Of course, in other mmos you can just level alts, some might not like that, myself included because I like to spend time on one character. But with SWTOR, it's the first game I can see myself leveling multiple characters because of the storyline. It keeps leveling interesting and never really feels like a grind. Not to mention, the yet unveiled "legacy system" could add more incentive to level.

And of course, it is an mmo so content can and will be added. I think with it being a Star Wars game, they have a good opportunity to add content not found in most mmos. I really hope they do things like expand on space combat in some way to make it a viable end game system, add mini games like pazaak, maybe speeder bike races, I mean they have a ton of possibilities. Let's just hope they utilize them.

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Now, after playing over the weekend, I will point out some things that I did not like about the game.

First of all, character creation is terrible. I mean, it's like WoW bad. And at least WoW has the excuse of being released like 7 years ago, but in SWTOR there's no excuse. This is one area they really dropped the ball in. Especially in Star Wars where you have such a diverse race selection. I mean, I can understand then not wanting to add certain races due to dialogue and story purposes, but there is still a lot of races they could have added that would have been fine. And then the character creator itself, they only have like 4 body types. Really skinny, skinny, terminator, and Chris Farley. I mean, at least give as a damn height and weight slider. Also, the hair styles are the same across all races and classes, for both sides, and so are the scars. I mean, it's just bad. Especially in a game like this where you spend a lot of time in cutscenes looking at your character.

Another thing is the graphics. I had everything maxed out, and still a lot of the textures on some gear and some of the environment textures just looked really flat and washed out. I mean I can see it looking this way if you had most stuff turned down, but for maxed out settings it should really look a lot better than it does.

Then we have the quest mob and quest item stealing. For an mmo launching in 2011, this shouldn't have to be an issue. Why can't they just make it like GW2 where everyone that attacks a mob gets credit for it? I mean an MMO should be built around cooperation, not competition except for in PvP. Also, the quest items that you have to interact with, if somebody runs ahead of you and uses it, you're stuck there waiting for it to respawn. Usually the respawn wasn't too long, but still the point is you should never really have to feel that animosity towards other players that are trying to complete the same quest as you.

[Ezek]

Yeah, definitely agree on the graphics and textures part, which seem very low res to me. Honestly, they're pretty much using the same exact strategy that Blizzard did when they released WoW back in 2004: optimize their game so that a larger audience will be able to run it at acceptable frames. I recall WoW actually scrapped their better graphics models in favor of the less resource demanding versions for that very reason. Can't say I like it but from Bioware's point of view, it's probably the best way to go to ensure maximum subscribers.

[Hyan]

I don't think they really pulled it off as well as Blizzard did. It looks like crap.

[Ohemgee]

Maybe its a Beta, like battlefield, where the graphics were like shit for a reason.

Also, how does the guy pull the other dude from the car directly under him and have the car land 10 feet away?

[Hyan]

Also, how does the guy pull the other dude from the car directly under him and have the car land 10 feet away?

India doesn't obey the laws of physics.

[Ohemgee]

What's the name of that movie? Reminds me of the Half in the Bag review they did for Robot.

[Hyan]

Singham.

[Insanecyclone]

PILLS KEYS HERE
http://massively.enjin.com/torgiveaway


http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11...w-about-75k-b/

Are you one of the many people coming up for air this morning after a weekend chock full of Star Wars: The Old Republic beta testing? Have you yet to experience the game in much more than YouTube videos and reviews at this point? Either way, this is your lucky day, because the kind folks at BioWare have sent us a truckload of keys for the next round of SWTOR beta testing!

We have 75,000 keys to share with those of you who are registered for the testing program. What's that you say? You're not yet? Well, go remedy that quickly -- we'll wait. All set? Perfect! Now just grab a key from our giveaway page linked below and redeem it as soon as possible. This batch of beta keys MUST be redeemed by this Friday, November 18th, at 12:59 p.m. EST, at which time they will expire.

The date of the next round of testing has not been announced yet, but BioWare is clear that everyone with a key will receive an invitation approximately seven to 10 days before the test. When the test starts, BioWare will begin inviting groups of players every 24 hours until they've invited everyone with a key into the test. They also say that the test will run approximately four days, giving some players more time to play than others.

Also, BioWare has cautioned that if you're already a regular beta tester for SWTOR, don't grab one of these beta weekend keys as it may jeopardize your chances. More info on that is here.

Ready for your key? Click the link below, then keep an eye on your email for that invitation!

[vrumpt]

Now, after playing over the weekend, I will point out some things that I did not like about the game.

First of all, character creation is terrible. I mean, it's like WoW bad. And at least WoW has the excuse of being released like 7 years ago, but in SWTOR there's no excuse. This is one area they really dropped the ball in. Especially in Star Wars where you have such a diverse race selection. I mean, I can understand then not wanting to add certain races due to dialogue and story purposes, but there is still a lot of races they could have added that would have been fine. And then the character creator itself, they only have like 4 body types. Really skinny, skinny, terminator, and Chris Farley. I mean, at least give as a damn height and weight slider. Also, the hair styles are the same across all races and classes, for both sides, and so are the scars. I mean, it's just bad. Especially in a game like this where you spend a lot of time in cutscenes looking at your character.

Another thing is the graphics. I had everything maxed out, and still a lot of the textures on some gear and some of the environment textures just looked really flat and washed out. I mean I can see it looking this way if you had most stuff turned down, but for maxed out settings it should really look a lot better than it does.

Then we have the quest mob and quest item stealing. For an mmo launching in 2011, this shouldn't have to be an issue. Why can't they just make it like GW2 where everyone that attacks a mob gets credit for it? I mean an MMO should be built around cooperation, not competition except for in PvP. Also, the quest items that you have to interact with, if somebody runs ahead of you and uses it, you're stuck there waiting for it to respawn. Usually the respawn wasn't too long, but still the point is you should never really have to feel that animosity towards other players that are trying to complete the same quest as you.

Agree on all, especially the last part. Thankfully, none of it is enough to keep me from enjoying the game. Everything else is still pretty impressive.

For character creation, I feel that the only 2 places that need serious work is the body type and facial detail areas. Sadly i doubt either is going to change. Fat man body type is just stupid, and all the breasts on the female models are just ridiculous. This isn't some horseshit korean crap where tittys flopping everywhere is accepted, its a serious title and that just takes away from it. And then there should be an entire character creation category dedicated to the face, not just a handful of presets.

And hell yes to the quest mob thing. It didn't happen a lot to me since theres a lot of story areas, but the few times it did was annoying as shit. Quest items all respawn pretty fast, they weren't really an issue.

Again, none of this is enough to keep me from enjoying the game, I do agree that they stood out among the rest.

[vrumpt]

PILLS KEYS HERE
http://massively.enjin.com/torgiveaway


http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11...w-about-75k-b/

dev quote

Hi all,

Just a reminder that if you were a registered member of our website on or before November 11th, 2011, you will be invited to the future weekend test. Regardless of whether you received an email last week or not, please do not take beta keys off of any external websites if you are already a registered member of our site. Let's leave them for the more needy, please.

I'm so happy they decided to go with a semi-open beta. Letting people try the game out is the best thing they could have done.

[five]

If anyone needs a key I have a spare that a friend didn't want, just send me a pm and I'd be more than willing to help out.

[Lebzile]

I got an email saying I was accepted to the beta, but no key, no link to download, no nothin'. Fake phishing email perhaps?

[five]

not phishing, they said anyone who registered before nov 11 or something received the email. it's a guarantee that you will get into one of the upcoming weekend stress tests. no key because they aren't at that phase yet. I think you can start now though with one of the keys that they gave out from the above link

[vrumpt]

not phishing, they said anyone who registered before nov 11 or something received the email. it's a guarantee that you will get into one of the upcoming weekend stress tests. no key because they aren't at that phase yet. I think you can start now though with one of the keys that they gave out from the above link

no, using one of those keys just registers you into the beta if you hadn't signed up before 11/11/11. Using one if your already flagged doesn't do anything, and the email specifically states if you use one from a fan site it could jeapordize your chances of getting picked at all, though i've no idea if that actually holds merit, its probly not worth risking it.

Either way, the actual invite with a download link and dates will be available later. You'll get invited to it if your signed up, and when it happens the invites will go out every 24 hours starting 10-7 days before the start of the stress test, so there aren't 1.5 million downloading the client all at once.

[Guyverarmor]

I got an email saying I was accepted to the beta, but no key, no link to download, no nothin'. Fake phishing email perhaps?

Leb, when we tested this past weekend... people got their e-mails by no later than weds. so you should get the e-mail to confirm it 2-3 days before the start of it.

[Gokulo]

I got an email saying I was accepted to the beta, but no key, no link to download, no nothin'. Fake phishing email perhaps?

Once again, everyone that applied before 11th Nov got an e-mail, but it's an invite to a stress test weekend which will happen in future.

[vrumpt]

New build going out tomorrow or thursday. Also testers are finally getting their high level characters.

In addition to the six permanent servers remaining open, we will be introducing a high-level testing server in order to continue gathering feedback on high-level content. Each player that logs into this server will be granted level 40+ characters of each faction with a randomly assigned species, gender, and Advanced Class. To change your randomly-assigned characters’ names, exit and re-launch the game. When you log back in to the server and select a character, you will be prompted to rename all granted characters.

You may experience some technical issues that we are unable to resolve. We ask that you report any serious bugs you encounter that are content related – meaning anything to do with missions, environments, Flashpoints, etc. However, please do not report bugs directly associated with the character, abilities, or equipment.


We encourage all of you to spend time with these characters and help us test our high-level content more thoroughly! Thank you very much for your participation, and we look forward to your valuable feedback!

Might see more footage of high level or endgame content thanks to this.

[Plow]

If anyone needs a key I have a spare that a friend didn't want, just send me a pm and I'd be more than willing to help out.

if you're talking about a key that would let me play now I'd love that, that would be awesome

if you're talking about the ones for "a future time" I got one though, thanks

ZAM is in on the giveaway now too, if anyone needs, it's for a 4 day test that they haven't said when yet

[solracht]

I got an email with an invitation for the weekend beta (I registered before November 11th). The interesting part is I never filled the beta profile.

I'm not sure if I'll bother to try the game or not... I'll offer my key/account here later this week if I decide not to.

[vrumpt]

just gonna bring a few FAQs over since theres so many questions

FAQ

Does this announcement mean I can play Star Wars: The Old Republic this weekend (November 11th to 13th)?

No it does not, unless you have a previous testing invite - either to this weekend (November 11th to 13th) or to general Game Testing (ongoing). The Beta Testing Weekend we are referring to will happen within the next few weeks.

When will the Beta Testing Weekend start?

It will happen in the next few weeks. We'll have an announcement on the exact timing closer to the weekend's start.

Will this be the final Beta Testing Weekend?

Currently, we expect it to be.

Will I be able to download the game client in advance of the weekend?

Yes, we will be sending out invites to download the game client in advance of the upcoming weekend.

I logged in to www.swtor.com/tester and there is no download link. Am I still invited to testing?

Yes. The page will change when you are able to download the game client, which will happen closer to the upcoming weekend's start.

I have previously tested Star Wars: The Old Republic. Will I get invited to the upcoming Beta Testing Weekend?

Yes, you will. Every person that is signed up and opted in for Game Testing before November 11th will be invited to the upcoming Beta Testing Weekend.

I have previously tested Star Wars: The Old Republic and already have the game client. Will I need to re-download the client for the upcoming Beta Testing Weekend?

Yes. The game client has changed substantially since earlier Game Testing phases, and you'll need to re-download it for the upcoming Testing Weekend. If you have been invited to the 11-13th of November Beta Testing Weekend, you will need to patch the game client for the upcoming Beta Testing Weekend.

Will I need to re-download the game client after the upcoming Beta Testing Weekend, or can I use it during Early Game Access?

You may have to re-download the game client. This will be confirmed after the upcoming Beta Testing Weekend.

What if I do not live in a launch country for Star Wars: The Old Republic?

As long as you are signed up and opted in for testing, you will be invited to test in the upcoming Beta Testing Weekend.

What if I have not signed up, or opted in for testing by November 11th?

We are partnering with a number of games media sites worldwide to give away Beta Test Weekend Codes. They are listed in this article. If you receive a code from any of these sites, you will need to sign up on StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com to redeem that code. Further instructions are listed in the post directly below this one.

Should I try and get a key from a media partner, just in case?

If you were already signed up for testing before November 11th, you do not need an additional key. By taking a key, you'll deny someone else a chance to test the game - so please do not apply for a key you will not need!

If you have further questions, please ask them in this thread and we'll try to answer them.

These instructions only apply if you have secured a Beta Test Weekend Code from a media partner site. Click here for the list of participating sites.

Congratulations on getting a Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta Code for our upcoming Beta Testing Weekend! Now you need to redeem your Beta Code before 11:59PM CST on Friday, November 18th to get into this Beta Testing Weekend! To help you along, we’ve provided these easy-to-understand steps that will guide you through the process of redeeming your code:
Navigate your web browser to www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com
Login to your www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com account by clicking the “Login” button at the top right corner of the website.
a. If you do not have a StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com account, click “Sign Up” and fill in the appropriate information.
Sign up for our Game Testing Program by going to http://www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com/tester, and accept the Game Testing Agreement. This will enable your account for the Beta Testing Weekend.
Ensure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements to run Star Wars: The Old Republic. You can see the minimum system requirements for yourself in our Frequently Asked Questions.
Make your way to www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com/redeembetacode and redeem your Beta Code.

Congratulations! Your account is now ready to take part in our Beta Testing Weekend. We want to thank you for taking part in this Beta Testing Weekend, and we hope you enjoy your time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic!