Star Wars: The Old Republic – Hitting level cap for the first time in an MMO

As I’ve mentioned time and again, MMOs are not my favorite genre. While I was a big, big fan of Ultima Online, I don’t really lump that into the same class as titles such as Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, and World of Warcraft (all prior MMO titles I’ve played). UO was a different type of MMO with a different strategy. It played differently, in all regards. While I played the game for years and years and had a few characters who were 7x grand masters (the highest amount of skills you could get for the game), I can’t really use that game as an example.

With every other MMO title I’ve played in the past, the same result occurred: boredom. While the games might have been entertaining in one way or another, it was either the grind (WoW), the horrible launches (AO and AoC), or the  boredom (LOTRO) that killed the experience for me. When Star Wars: The Old Republic was first announced and BioWare assured us that story would take precedent, I began to think that this could be the first MMO that keeps me engaged for more than a month. Lo and Behold, we are a little over one month in from the official launch date and my level 50 Sith Warrior is still kicking with the same amount of ferocity as when he first landed on Korriban. How has BioWare managed to keep my attention longer than any other MMO to date?

Story – Story – Story

Throughout my Sith Warrior’s story, I felt compelled to keep on going. Everyday, I talked with friends about the choices we’ve made, and the consequences of them. Without revealing spoilers (really though, when have you ever said that when talking about an MMO), the Sith Warrior’s story features plenty of backstabbing and revenge. By the end I felt vindication, and hitting level 50 was more of a consolation prize. Sure there was some downtime, and even though you can’t solely rely on your class quest to level up, there were plenty of other things I was doing that kept me occupied. Flashpoints are fast, frantic, and fun; warzones, while not perfect, are a great way to mix things up a bit and acquire a good amount of XP, and there were plenty of side quests that had a good amount of love poured into them. The great thing about SWTOR is that when I choose to roll a new character, there will be so many other side quests I’ve never done before. I’m interested to see what I missed out on planets like Tatooine and Hoth, where I spent very little time. Sure there might have been some quests that I rushed through and ignored the back story, and some quests do mimic the typical fetch x amount of these, but overall, the stories kept me engaged from level 1 to level 50. No other MMO I’ve played has been able to do that.

More liberation, less grinding

Even though I might complain from time to time that going from one location to the next might take too long, or that having to actually acquire a skill called sprint is a little ridiculous, BioWare did a great job in making the “grind” in SWTOR close to nonexistent. Whether it was from doing my class quest, partaking in some PVP, trying out a new flashpoint, or engaging in some space battles, the XP never seemed to slow down. Of course going from level 1-20 is a lot faster than 20-40 but I never felt the process slow to a crawl. Progress was always being made, and for those who are new to the MMO genre, I think that’s a pretty important facet of the game to nail down. Some people may think it wasn’t hard enough, but one of the problems I had with WOW (when it was first released) was that the grind was so damn unbearable it killed any type of fun I was having.

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So now what? After hitting the level cap I’m faced with a few questions I’ve never had to ask myself. Do I roll a new character, something I’ve never really done in an MMO (I’ve avoided it like the plague)? Do I move onto a new game? What are my options?

Ilum

Ilum is the one planet where level 50s can go and experience PVP on a broader scale than warzones. It’s also one of the planets they can go and do “dailies.” These daily quests allow you to earn commendations which are used to purchase high level gear for PVP/PVE. The problem currently is that Ilum still needs to be fixed on a multitude of levels. Some of the daily quests are broken and the PVP lacks any real substance. Fighting on Ilum requires Republic and Imperial forces to take over five points on the battlefield. The problems however, are that the area in which the battlefield is located makes my computer perform like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. While I appreciate BioWare’s flair for the dramatics (the area consists of lasers and cannon fire bombarding the locations as well as huge tanks), my frame rates suffer because of it. Add on top of it that most servers are seeing an issue with Republic forces being outnumbered at least 2-1. While BioWare has fixed the spawn camping issue, it’s still a huge problem when Republic forces don’t want to get slaughtered time and time again. This current setup presents a few problems.

1. Doing daily missions that require you to take out Republic forces becomes difficult
2. Even when you get lucky and a good fight is occurring on Ilum, my frame rates suffer so bad that it becomes more of a chore than actual fun
3. PVP becomes more of a grind than anything else I’ve encountered in SWTOR

To someone who’s never really experienced end game content, the PVP on Ilum leaves a lot to be desired. While having a persistent battlefield to romp around in is a great idea, it almost becomes an exercise in futility. For someone like me who spent hours on end PVPing in Ultima Online, I couldn’t care less about loot. I’d just like the opportunity to have some fun with my guild. Right now, Ilum isn’t offering it.

They call it hard for a reason

On the other hand, flashpoints are still a consistent amount of fun and after going through my first hard mode, I can see myself doing many more. The good thing about hardmode flashpoints are that they also award higher end loot. Getting more of this loot will allow you and your guild mates to take on operations which are the creme de le creme of end game content. While I haven’t had the chance to run through an operation yet, it’s definitely one thing I’m looking forward to doing soon. But until then, I’m content with experiencing a few of the level 50 flashpoints, getting some more loot, and even helping lower level guild mates. But, when the time is right and I see myself wanting to change it up a bit, I do have one more alternative.

The world is my oyster

The class stories are the only reason I would consider starting out a new character. I’m excited to see where the experiences of a bounty hunter or imperial agent may take me, or if I’m feeling frisky, I might consider going over to the Republic side to see how the Jedi’s story goes. The point, and the entire purpose of this post, is that BioWare has managed to do something for me that no other MMO has ever done. While they still need to work on some of the endgame content (mainly PVP), they have given me an MMO title that has kept me occupied for more than a month. They have given me a game in which I’ve actually been able to experience end game content. I haven’t been this wrapped up in an MMO since Ultima Online; that’s over ten years ago. Star Wars: The Old Republic may not be perfect, but this is a game that has raised the bar for every new MMO title that comes out.

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