Star Wars: The Old Republic... Possibly the most anticipated MMORPG to come out since the release Of World of Warcraft almost seven years ago. Some may even say this game will be a WOW killer, but having played World of Warcraft very religiously, such statments may or may not be true.
To give a short back story, I started playing WOW in high school at the recommendation of some close friends. The first expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, had just came out and the only real in-depth RPG I had played was The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for the Xbox. After a few weeks of learning the ropes and getting aquainted with the very mathmatical layers of the gameplay, I can easily say I was addicted to the complexity the game had to offer. A few months later, I had a level capped character and was learning the mechanics of how my actions influence the survival of other players through my role when working toward a common objective (raids). I played straight through Burning Crusade and the begining of the following expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Eventually, after many patches and updates, I decided to relinquish my affiliation with possibly the best MMO of our time due to the feeling of forgotten laborious tactics. Blizzard had always been trying to make the game more compatible with casual players and for me, it got to the point where the things I had worked so hard to get in the past were now being handed out in goodie bags for free...
Now that we have my WOW back story, lets discuss SWTOR. When the first trailer/teaser came out for this game, it had every one who even had a light interest in Star Wars shitting in their pants. E3 2009 was the viewers first look into what was in store of those who chose to pick it up. Recently, the official website of the game, SWTOR.com, has been releasing character class trailers and other interesting tid-bits about their upcoming masterpiece.
As a gaming individual who was dedicated to WOW previously, I find myself comparing these two games, as they will be the MMO heavy-hitters for the indefinite future.
The first concept of SWTOR that Id like to talk about is the story. I find it interesting that released information so far yields that the story actually plays a role in your character's quest and what options your character will be able to do at any given time. As it is made by Bioware, this is somewhat to be expected; Bioware also is the developer of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, which are all player choice driven games. For those who do not know, most RPG games don't force you to make choices that cannot be taken back to the extreme that SWTOR is about to take it. Sure, in other games, you may have to chose which one of two factions you will align yourself with, but these types of choices will be presented to players in TOR much more often. WOW, for example, does not very often force players to make such choices. They use a strategy in which the player must grind for days to build the reputation with such factions to eventually gain all of their favor.
This of course is not a negative aspect of the game, but it will be unique to most games in this genre. For the most part, MMORPGs make players take numerous quests and complete them, and it is not necessary for the player to know why they must go and do these mundane tasks for their NPC. Most players talk to an NPC, click accept and go about their business, and the next time they are in an area where they can complete a quest, they do as such. You can literally play through WOW and not have ANY outcome that cannot be overturned or redone. Most quests can only be done once, of course, but the quests that make you choose allegiance of have long lasting affects and usually be redone.
Another interesting aspect of SWTOR is that almost all class roles overlap in some way. Bioware did not want players unable to venture into the SW universe because they are unable to find a player that will heal them through their battles. That is why they made ever class able to heal, as well as dps, or tank. This will drastically cut down on time of players spamming in chat to find a geared healer or tank when DPS classes are a dime in a dozen. Alternativly, WOW class roles are very strict. If a player is a Warrior, that player has 2 choices of roles, either Tank or DPS; a warrior has never and most likely will never be a viable healer by any means. This can add frustration when forming a group or a raid, but adds another level of complexity by placing stress on everyone's skill with their own player and his/her roles. In my own opinion, I would prefer class roles to be strict, due to the opportunity of less skilled players to be carries by higher skilled players by taking on numerous class roles in one setting. I believe your job should be difficult enough by itself. If you fail, your group has a greatly increased chance of failure as well. But in SWTOR, this most likely will not be the case, if a healer fails to heal and dies, a ranged DPS class will be able to heal the group as well as continuing to DPS the targets on hand. To one that does not play MMO-style games, he may suggest that it is Overpowered.
Final thought on the concept of class roles: SWTOR may be too dumbed-down for some players taste, but it adds a higher playability for the casual players.
I apologize for the grammatical and spelling errors as it is late. But I leave you with the trailer I discussed earlier.
Matt
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