RPGFan posts about SWTOR beta. He didn't have time for ...

With all the news on SWTOR out today it pisses me of when I see things like this:

"The game does offer two specializations per class, which makes the simple picture I outlined above already somewhat murky. I figure that more options are always a good thing so this is a point in the game's favor, but I was unable to log enough time to actually play these specializations myself. Also, many of these things are still being tweaked for balance anyway, so my own experience may not match what we'll see on release."

The whole thing makes its clear RPGFan doesn't know what he is saying ... we all know that to get to specializations only takes about 3 to 4 hours. This write up is full of incorrect guesses. 

DWTOR beta—the birth of a Jedi knight on: Arstechnica

"There is no auto-attack here; you must always choose to attack."

As you rank up your skills through a trainer and you eventually get a real light saber, your movements become swifter and surer, and the attacks' choreographies are longer. When I chose to become a Jedi sentinel (a damage-dealer) track versus the tank-focused guardian), I gained a second light saber to dual-wield, and at lower levels my character retained the skill in her main hand while holding the second light saber lamely in the other, save for when she awkwardly used her sole dual-wield attack. It's a small but welcome detail, showing that Jedi Knights aren't born knowing perfect technique.

All this happens as the Jedi completes quests given by the various NPCs scattered around her starting planet, Tython, and later the planet Coruscant. Without giving too much away, I found the Jedi knight track to be less action-oriented than many of the other classes, which is appropriate since the other Jedi you encounter say things like, "there is no emotion; there is peace." The Trooper class story, for instance, starts off faster, but the Jedi knight's story has a great payoff toward the end of your time on Tython. Read on 

Hands On: The Old Republic on rock paper shotgun

Of course, it’s a BioWare game in an MMO. Which never stops feeling like a bear trying to wear a centipede costume. Undeniably WOW-like in its approach to structure, the more I play of TOR, the more I feel like I’m embroiled in the developers’ struggle to squeeze their sort of game into someone else’s mould. And to a decent extent, it’s working.

BioWare let me into the beta for the last couple of weeks, with free reign to play with the four Republic classes, Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler and Trooper, right up until each of them finds a spaceship. Well, it’s an enormous game, and I’m the sort that even when previewing on a beta, can’t just skip a sidequest. That woman will die! That corrupt politician will get away with it! So obviously I picked Jedi Knight, because I’m not insane, and have pretty much focused on that. Read on

The Old Republic: Jedi Knight Beta Impressions on MMORPG:

The game begins with your flight to Tython, the planet where the Jedi have taken up since the attack on Coruscant. I don’t want to give away any spoilers about the story for players, so I will focus on themes of the Jedi Knight and how the class feels as a whole. We’ll go through three major areas for the Jedi: combat, dark and light side choices, and equipment/look. I’ll try to touch on as much as I can without giving away the story.

First let us look at the Jedi Knight’s combat. Being a young padawan when you start the game you do not have a lightsaber right away. You have access to a bunch of different training blades however each with different power levels. They all work fine for accomplishing your goals early on. The Jedi combat consists of many different sword fighting abilities which you can link together for maximum damage. The class is fully built on close combat and has to get in close to fight it out. There are some tricks along the way which make this much easier. Read on

The exploits of Mandaloriangirl Q&A

Site name: The exploits of Mandaloriangirl
URL: http://mandaloriangirl.wordpress.com/
Name: Mandalorian girl
Started: October 2010

SWTOR Face: In your words, how would you describe your site? Do you have a particular focus or interest?

Mandalorian girl: My site is a fan-fiction blog focused on the Old Republic Era. My current tale chronicles a Mandalorian girl and her companions as they travel the galaxy in search of a Sith Apprentice and the pieces of an ancient artifact. The story is told from the Mandalorian girl's point of view.

SWTOR Face: When did you start blogging (about any topic)?

Mandalorian girl: Actually, this is my first blog. I never really thought that I had much to blog about, but then it hit me that a blog would be the perfect place to tell a Star Wars story. I started with the idea that no one would want to read it and that it would simply be a way for me to pass the time; be creative, but as I started to gain readers, it made me want to keep writing. I began to think, “Hey, blogging isn't so bad!”



SWTOR Face: When did you start writing Star Wars fan fiction?

Mandalorian girl: I have always loved Star Wars and there has always been ideas floating around in my mind, but technically, this is the first one that I have ever written down.

SWTOR Face: What, if any, MMOs have you played?

Mandalorian girl: None. I have mostly been a console gamer, so SWTOR will be my first MMO.

SWTOR Face: What was your first Star Wars experience?

Mandalorian girl: Star Wars has always been a part of my life. I was born in the late seventies and so I grew up watching the original movies and playing with the toys. I Had Luke Skywalker posters on my wall, so it is hard to say what my first experience was. I can't remember a time when it wasn't there.

SWTOR Face: Why Mandalorian?

Mandalorian girl: My first experience with Mandalorians was Boba Fett. I simply fell in love with his confidence, his look, his armor and his weapons. By the time I had come across Canderous Ordo from KOTOR and then the stories created by Karen Traviss, I was totally hooked! I researched everything I could find about them. I loved their culture, their strong sense of family, their strength and their “Never say die” attitude. Once I had discovered Mandalorians, my heart was lost.

SWTOR Face: What excites you the most about the stories from the SWTOR time frame?

Mandalorian girl: I love the rawness of it. The stories are rich and full of battles. There is so much room in that time period to play around with. The Jedi and Sith seemed to be more robust and edgy. They used the Force as it was meant to be used. It is like the wild west of Star Wars.

SWTOR Face: How do you keep track of elements from the Star Wars Galaxy for your writing (characters, species, locations of planets, events in the timeline etc)?

Mandalorian girl: Lots of research. I read the books and search the web. I write down everything and keep timelines/logs on things I find. Even though my stories are not cannon, I want to keep the feel of it as cannon as possible. I try to keep facts and timelines of Star Wars history as closely as I can. I don't want a mixed up story. I want my character to be a legitimate part of Star Wars. This story is my way of being part of the Star Wars Universe and so I do my best to make it a believable aspect of the time period.

SWTOR Face: Have you ever thought of writing a background story for a player character?

Mandalorian girl: I haven't had a chance to do that yet, but I always like to know the characters that I create for things, so I may decide to give whatever character/characters I play in the upcoming MMO a little bit of a history.

SWTOR Face: What are your long term plans for your writing? Where do you see your blog heading?

Mandalorian girl: I plan to keep this story going for a long time to come. My characters will continue until their mission comes to an end and then, who knows? I certainly plan on continuing to blog. There will always be another Star Wars story to tell. I have played around with stories in my head, for some of my current main character's descendents, so we will see where the story takes me.

The Old Republic: Jedi Consular Beta Impressions on MMORPG:

The main story foundations are built while giving you area-specific problems to solve. So instead of random NPC quests almost all the quests you get advance the story in some way. You will run a bunch of quests which don't seem to tie in with the main story but at points the Jedi Masters will reference the outcome of those seemingly unrelated quests.

I had moments where I had to make hard decisions and live with my choices. I was able to run one of the heroic instances with three other players. When the group spoke to the mission NPCs, everyone spoke with the NPCs. When I say everyone I mean various players would appear and ask a question to advance the mission dialog. There was a social system for this decision making process but I was not able to determine how it worked (ED: It’s based on a dice roll). However the game maintained that movie feel where a group of people were working to solve a problem.

Overall this game does something not many MMOs do and that is make you feel you are the hero of the game.

Read on

The Old Republic: The Smuggler Impressions on MMORPG:

For my part in our Star Wars: The Old Republic bonanza today, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks playing The Smuggler. There are some pretty strict rules for this partial NDA lift for press outlets: we can only talk about the Republic side, we can’t talk about anything beyond first getting our ship (around level 15 or 16), and we can’t post screens or video of our own. All the exclusions aside, there’s still a whole lot of game crammed into the first 15 levels or so of any player’s life in SWTOR. Mike covered most of the ins and outs of the entire game (and what we’re allowed to talk about) in his overarching impressions earlier. I’ll try to give you a briefer, but still informative look at the life of a Smuggler in the early days of SWTOR. Read on

Full Beta Preview: The Gal with the Gun on MMORPG:

The Gal with the Gun from MMORPG:

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about the Trooper’s basic play style for a moment. On a basic level, the Trooper uses an ammo resource system where each ability uses a certain amount of ammunition (except for your first ability, which can be spammed) and you’ll have access to a wide gamut of blaster shots and ordnance, ranging from rifle-fired rockets to sticky bombs, to riddling your enemies in a barrage of fully automatic fire. Ammo can be reloaded in combat using a certain ability, but the ability is on a lengthy cooldown so it isn’t meant to be used willy-nilly. Otherwise, ammo regenerates in combat on its own.

Later, (as in level 10) the Trooper can choose between the Vanguard and Commando Advanced Classes, which open up entirely new avenues of gameplay options. Both Advanced Classes can specialize in damage-based roles, but between the two, only the Vanguard can fulfill the tank role and only the Commando can play the medic. In a DPS role, the Vanguard sticks to medium to close range (including melee) abilities and makes use of a blaster rifle. The Commando, on the other hand, walks around with a gigantic sort of blaster minigun. I’m personally interested in the Vanguard, but I took some inspiration from Brick of Reilly’s Rangers in Fallout 3 and thought the idea of a chick wielding a giant minigun sounded cool so I went with the Commando. Read on!

In space, no one can hear you gank. on IGN

Alderaan

Two massive ships hover over a snowy valley. Between them, in a parallel line on the ground, are three turret installations. A counter ticks down, and when it reaches zero, two teams of players board speeder bikes and fly through the map, quickly passing each turret before landing on the ground. The teams divide up and surge towards the turrets, where a battle ensues.

The goal of the Alderaan Warzone is to hold a majority of the turrets for a majority of the time. Capturing a turret is easy -- it's just a matter of clicking on the turret's controls and letting a counter tick down for a few seconds. Unfortunately, it's even easier to interrupt a turret capture. Any damage dealt to a player while they capture interrupts the capturing process, forcing them to start again. Read on

The Old Republic's Trooper is a Monster on IGN:

Depending on which advanced class you pick, more options are opened up. At level 10 you can branch your class one of two ways. The Trooper can become a defensive-minded Vanguard, or a damage-dealing Commando. I went Commando, mostly because it meant I could then use the obscenely oversized assault cannons, which when stood on end are about three quarters the size of my character model.


Surprise surprise, I was rewarded with yet more area of effect attack options. The Hail of Bolts ability can blankets an area with blaster fire for a sustained period of time. Used directly after the Mortar Volley, it was incredibly effective at knocking out weak enemies. A Plasma Grenade was eventually made available, that detonates and spreads fire to additional targets to burn them over time for even more damage. By the time I stopped playing the beta, I felt confident going into any encounters, and was impressed with how much more powerful I felt at level 18 than I did even at level 10. read on