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Forums | Star Wars: The Old Republic
the big beta weekend
Nov 17 2011 09:00am

Laziana
 - Jedi Instructor
Laziana
cheers, just want to make a thread to keep track on that nifty stuff bioware threw out.

last friday I got a mail that I was selected for "a" beta weekend. additionally it said that they are partnering with external gaming sites for additional beta keys and that I shall not redeem a key from those sites - obviously those keys are for people not signed up in the testing program?

Anyways, accourding to bioware this invite should have gone out to everyone who is registered for game testing, or will go out.

I have gotten no further info on WHEN this big beta weekend will be, nor did I get any beta key so far.

What do you guys know about the "big beta weekend" as I would like to call it?

- Laz
_______________
Proud owner of Buster Senatu's 200th & 300th, Muro's 370th, Maher's 2100th, Henkes' 1639th, Johauna's 400th, 666th and 900th, Sho Koon's 2000th and Kain Sol's 600th comment Download Laziana's lightsaber here! Glory to Arstozka!

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Comments
Nov 27 2011 06:58pm

Monteeeeeee
 - Nugget
 Monteeeeeee

here is screenshot i took at 1920x1080 on highest settings, bare in mind AA isnt included in the beta build and im sure ultra settings will come with retail or more tweaking to allow better gfx

CLICK
_______________
If you add me to MSN, tell me who you are :P

Best Movie Character EVER!!


This comment was edited by Monteeeeeee on Nov 27 2011 07:59pm.

Nov 27 2011 06:25pm

Tallepyon
 - Student
 Tallepyon

Quote:
Well, frankly, KOTOR seems much prettier than whole SWTOR. It's the style, which is totally unappealing for me in SWTOR.


TOR has the exact same style as KOTOR does.

Nov 27 2011 05:56pm

†Johauna Darkrider†
 - Student
 â€ Johauna Darkrider†

Well, frankly, KOTOR seems much prettier than whole SWTOR. It's the style, which is totally unappealing for me in SWTOR. Heck, JKA looks much nicer, especially if I add the fact that some people created such awesome models for the game, making them look semi-realistic (given how old Q3 engine is).

No, graphics is not everything, but frankly, SWTOR's comics style is killing even the last part of the game for me. Just look at the ridiculously looking combat, characters and just.. meh. :(
_______________
Johauna's Bio | When I am GRANDMASTER...! | StarCraft II Protoss Learner | Wannabe GrandMaster Leaguer | How to NOT play StarCraft II Specialist

Nov 27 2011 05:46pm

SaZ
 - Student
 SaZ

Quote:
Playing through Hutta and saying there is no nice scenery to look at etc. Hutta isn't a pretty place.


well ive seen dromund kass, hutta, imperial stuff connecting those two, starting area of jedi.

i mean after games released in past few years i can really say - nothing to look at in swtor.

heck that screenshot of kotor 1 looks as good if not better.
_______________
playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana

This comment was edited by SaZ on Nov 27 2011 05:47pm.

Nov 27 2011 05:35pm

Alex Dkana
 - Staff
 Alex Dkana

Quote:
Frankl,y the game looks as if it was at least 8 years old.



Lol.

8 year old RPG.

The graphics aren't Mass Effect level but they are nowhere near that bad. Some of the environments are gorgeous and it certainly evokes the KotOR-style SW vibe for me, a lifelong Star Wars fan for what that's worth.

Why are graphics so important? JK1 has terrible graphics by todays standards but it still feels like Star Wars. Everything about the game has either been designed with KotOR in mind or the movies. Some stuff has quite clearly taken inspiration from the EU as a whole, and a number of details and references have impressed me even early on in the game.

Most fans I've spoken to are more concerned that it lacks creativity with the art design, such as having Troops with Clone-esque armor and triangle shaped space ships etc.

Frankly I was surprised at how often playing TOR felt like playing KotOR. If the skills weren't (at times) so 'MMOish' the illusion may have been complete. The gameplay just feels like a BioWare game, more Dragon Age/KotOR than Mass Effect perhaps, and with certain animation issues that have plagued their games but still different to WoW certainly. In fact I've even found the Jedi classes feel different to the typical MMO melee characters, they definitely feel the most familiar but playing as my Jedi never felt the same as playing as my Paladin in WoW (for example).
_______________
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield | Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken | Rhaiko D'kana - SWTOR EU Guild Co-Founder | Is it what the teacher, teaches? Or what the student learns? A Dkana

Nov 27 2011 04:57pm

R2D2
 - Staff
 R2D2

Quote:
Seriously, given all the hype about the game, everywhere... it is such a letdown, that it makes Star Wars fan like me sad. And I mean it. I am really sad to see a Star Wars game of supposedly new generation to be such letdown. Frankl,y the game looks as if it was at least 8 years old.

PS: I'm not hater of MMO's... I am WoW hater & hater of unfitting style of graphics the game has chosen, totally killing any story & Star Wars vibe for me. Just look at the characters, they look like friggin action figures, not like Jedi (or any other class, on that matter), the graphics are flat and it all looks unnatural, as if just skinned on.

What about the environment art? How far did you actually get in the game?
_______________
"Do or do not, there is no try"
Jedi Master Yoda
Dual Saberist


Nov 27 2011 04:40pm

†Johauna Darkrider†
 - Student
 â€ Johauna Darkrider†

Seriously, given all the hype about the game, everywhere... it is such a letdown, that it makes Star Wars fan like me sad. And I mean it. I am really sad to see a Star Wars game of supposedly new generation to be such letdown. Frankl,y the game looks as if it was at least 8 years old.

PS: I'm not hater of MMO's... I am WoW hater & hater of unfitting style of graphics the game has chosen, totally killing any story & Star Wars vibe for me. Just look at the characters, they look like friggin action figures, not like Jedi (or any other class, on that matter), the graphics are flat and it all looks unnatural, as if just skinned on.
_______________
Johauna's Bio | When I am GRANDMASTER...! | StarCraft II Protoss Learner | Wannabe GrandMaster Leaguer | How to NOT play StarCraft II Specialist

Nov 27 2011 04:20pm

Alex Dkana
 - Staff
 Alex Dkana

Quote:
I'm not playing the beta but what's character appearance customisation like? I've heard it's quite limited which is annoying considering the huge scale of the game


The criticism of it is overblown, but still valid. The races are the most disappointing aspect for me, there are plenty of races in the game which turn up as NPCs wearing the same armor as the player etc. and it's hard to see a reason why more of them aren't playable.

Other that I don't think it's that bad. Better than most MMOs but not as good as SWG.
_______________
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield | Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken | Rhaiko D'kana - SWTOR EU Guild Co-Founder | Is it what the teacher, teaches? Or what the student learns? A Dkana

Nov 27 2011 04:03pm

R2D2
 - Staff
 R2D2

Quote:
I'm not playing the beta but what's character appearance customisation like? I've heard it's quite limited which is annoying considering the huge scale of the game

I don't see how this can stop someone from playing the game, but yes, it is limited in terms of species and body types. All of the species are quite humanoid, not branching off into the unique Star Wars species, the closest unique one being the Twi'lek. There are 4 main body types: Skinny/small, Average, Tall/buff, and Tall/Fat. The first and last look a little silly, especially the last one. I think it is fine to have it as an option, but more variance in body type would be nice. Unfortunately, due to the way Bioware makes each armor piece custom per body type, I don't really see this happening. As for the customization options after you get past those two options, they are good enough and on par with most MMOs, perhaps with more options than some of the popular ones.
_______________
"Do or do not, there is no try"
Jedi Master Yoda
Dual Saberist


Nov 27 2011 03:54pm

Eica
 - Student
 Eica

I'm not playing the beta but what's character appearance customisation like? I've heard it's quite limited which is annoying considering the huge scale of the game
_______________
Former padawan of RoseRed

Nov 27 2011 02:11pm

Alex Dkana
 - Staff
 Alex Dkana

It's also important to remember you are judging it by the beginners area really. To be fair most of the issues posted below are more than fair, albeit some being opinions etc. but there are a few things which I would say you need to play more of the game to have a full idea of.

Playing through Hutta and saying there is no nice scenery to look at etc. Hutta isn't a pretty place.

Whether it has a Star Wars feel or not is rather subjective, but it certainly feels like SW to me. Almost too much so in some cases, I would have preferred it to be even more different personally.

I still find the complaint 'it's a WoW clone/reskin' incredibly lazy. Go into detail! Have you played any other MMOs? There are plenty out there with the WoW style of gameplay. It's like picking up CoD and saying "it's a Halo 1 reskin". Maybe that has plenty of truth in it, but it just provides no insight in my opinion.

From what I have played TOR has as much, if not more, in common with MMOs such as LotRO and Warhammer. Both of which played off the style Warcraft perfected but what did you really expect? TOR has never claimed to break new ground here, just change things up a bit - which it has. GW2 is very similar, it has changed even more stuff up, but you can still see the core WoW inspired gameplay underneath it all.

I find the melee combat surprisingly fluid, but underpowered against ranged players in PVP. The ranged combat meanwhile really helps distance the game from some of the other MMOs out there, particularly the Trooper and BH or non-cover builds for the Smugg and IA. Cover is okay but it still needs work and can be clumsy. It adds some nice variety though.

I think one area GW2 has it beaten hands down currently (and really, I expected this) is the skills. TOR isn't bad, but it is dated and here in particular the WoW comparisons are valid. It doesn't take long for some classes to have enough skills to have to start worrying about how to fit them all on their bars etc. It doesn't feel very clean. This could easily be seen as preferential to some players who prefer this style though.

Oh and lastly, in regards to something Saz said about side quests, as with almost any RPG it is important to stay leveled to what the game is balanced for. The side quests tend to be well placed and don't ask you to go out of your way. On top of the fact you should want to do some of them anyway (or why play) once you are past the beginner world you get new xp options to bolster your story missions such as warzones. I never felt like I had to grind just to complete the story.

At the end of the day it is unlikely this will appeal to anyone who hates MMOs prior to this, but it will draw in people who were on the fence thanks to it's brilliant use of VA and so far unsurpassed storylines. For me it does more than enough stuff new or in a fresh manner that it keeps things interesting, and considering the likelihood of strong post-release support betting against this getting 4/5 years minimum is foolhardy.
_______________
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield | Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken | Rhaiko D'kana - SWTOR EU Guild Co-Founder | Is it what the teacher, teaches? Or what the student learns? A Dkana

Nov 27 2011 12:05pm

SaZ
 - Student
 SaZ

Quote:
Sucks that some people aren't enjoying the beta, or the idea of SWTOR. MMO's aren't for everyone.

I, for one, have been having an awesome time. It's my kinda game! :D


well id say i *sort of* enjoyed the beta, wouldnt have played almost 10 hours straight otherwise.
i also like mmos (not so much now, most of them being the same thing) A LOT, but... you got that right - i dont like the idea of swtor.

considering how the best thing is voice acting and storytelling they should have done a singleplayer game lol. maybe with coop option.

i see however that many players might enjoy this, it has a lot of content after all, but 5 years of subscription model? i doubt it.
a year or two? ofcourse.

you really cant bet that during next 5 years mmo market wont change.
i mean in last two or so years it changed more than in 10 years before that lol.
_______________
playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana

This comment was edited by SaZ on Nov 27 2011 12:05pm.

Nov 27 2011 03:23am

planK
 - Jedi Council
 planK

Sucks that some people aren't enjoying the beta, or the idea of SWTOR. MMO's aren't for everyone.

I, for one, have been having an awesome time. It's my kinda game! :D

Nov 26 2011 09:59pm

R2D2
 - Staff
 R2D2

Quote:
I've played the game a bit and it's as horrible as I expected. Saz covered most points, so I won't go there - I'd just like to add that this is, as I expected, a WoW reskin. Horrible gameplay, even worse presentation. The only strong point is the voiceacting and story focus, but that alone will not keep a game running for more than a year. Subscriptions are totally unjustified, as I thought they would be. Once the hype dies down, you will see a lot of people share my opinion on this.

How much did you play? Class? Level? Any group content?
_______________
"Do or do not, there is no try"
Jedi Master Yoda
Dual Saberist


Nov 26 2011 06:54pm

Masta
 - Jedi Council
 Masta

No thanks, I don't gamble.
_______________
Find out more about the Jedi Academy Aurochs here and more about Masta here!
Married to Kain.


Nov 26 2011 05:23pm

Monteeeeeee
 - Nugget
 Monteeeeeee

I Guarantee this game will last 5+ years on a subscription base, end game is what keeps the players and this has an end game comparable to wow.

So if you want a bet :P ( a game on steam ) or something i'll take the bet, of course we have to wait a year but im confident
_______________
If you add me to MSN, tell me who you are :P

Best Movie Character EVER!!


Nov 26 2011 04:50pm

Masta
 - Jedi Council
 Masta

I've played the game a bit and it's as horrible as I expected. Saz covered most points, so I won't go there - I'd just like to add that this is, as I expected, a WoW reskin. Horrible gameplay, even worse presentation. The only strong point is the voiceacting and story focus, but that alone will not keep a game running for more than a year. Subscriptions are totally unjustified, as I thought they would be. Once the hype dies down, you will see a lot of people share my opinion on this.
_______________
Find out more about the Jedi Academy Aurochs here and more about Masta here!
Married to Kain.


Nov 26 2011 01:48pm

SaZ
 - Student
 SaZ

ok leveled bounty hunter to level 11 (powertech now) and here are some random thoughts (most of them are bad things, but thats just because i notice things like those all the time):
-minimap isnt finished. in outdoors areas you cant always see the actual walls and such which results in some wasted time going from quest to quest
-i liked the mapfade function
-maybe i missed something about traveling between planets, but when i had to go from dromund kass back to hutta... i couldnt really find it easily. somehow i was supposed to realise that 'veikun something' is actually the main starport. i mean really?!
-speaking of running around - its boring. takes atleast 50% of the whole gameplay. would be fine if we had some nice scenery to look at... well unfortunately thats not the game for sightseeing.
-mob respawn. breaks immersion. mobs respawn way too fast, its annoying. 'oh thanks for rescuing me, i see you already cleared the guards so ill be able to go back by myself'. nope the guards already respawned dude.
-voiceacting is great. the fact that you dont need to read as much is simply great. if swtor becomes atleast half succesful in the market... that might become a new standart
-music is always important for me and swtor delivers here. kotor feel. music in cantinas is amazing lol
-graphics are average, id say even worse than kotor 2. however... its optimization is seriously questionable.
-char creation is poor. got some races that nobody cares (or even heard) about. very limited options. male cyborg bounty hunter head options were like 30 or so options, but in reality there were only 2 - a white guy and black guy.
-quite pretty skill animations even tho some look rather ridiculous. jedi consular throw debris and bounty hunter's 'go up in the air and shoot rockets' for example.
-combat is definitely not the thing that i would play this game for. it has some interesting mechanics from what ive seen so far, but nothing really interesting.
-quests are ok even tho most of them are the usual kill this kill that
-i liked the way they made instances
-companion is just annoying. i told her to shut up, threatened to kill her. nothing worked.
-companion AI. she walks faster than normal to catch up, then slows down... only to fall behind so that she may sprint again. feels like having some retarded dog on a leash. gets in camera view that way a lot as well.
-mob AI. 'next gen mmo' my ass. the AI is at level of atleast 10 years old games
-i liked the light/dark side choices. too bad that the game is for broad audience so they couldnt make it as brutal as they could.
-i played on US server since EU servers were all occupied. didnt notice much game changing delays or whatever. thats pretty good.
-you are forced to do sidequests. skipped all sidequests, went for class missions only to find myself underleveled to class tasks. thats both good and bad in a lot of ways.
-bugs. considering how much time they got left till release that might be a problem... youd think devs would learn from the past mmos... and their failures. oh well the game is huge, so its... *sort of* ok.
-star wars vibe... is a little weak. music is pretty much the only thing.
-huuuuuge areas. that are empty. you pretty much have graveyards filled with npcs.

so yeah... like jen said the story is the only real feature that is good. since its pretty much the biggest selling point of the game... that isnt much of a problem i guess.
everything else? completely meh.

_______________
playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana

This comment was edited by SaZ on Nov 26 2011 02:26pm.

Nov 26 2011 01:06pm

†Johauna Darkrider†
 - Student
 â€ Johauna Darkrider†

Quote:
Woah Jenny, sounds like you expected something completely different then.

Yeah... I didn't it expect to be cheap copy of WoW (which I despise) and simply expected more than that. <.<

:alliance: Johauna :alliance:
_______________
Johauna's Bio | When I am GRANDMASTER...! | StarCraft II Protoss Learner | Wannabe GrandMaster Leaguer | How to NOT play StarCraft II Specialist

Nov 26 2011 01:23am

Laziana
 - Jedi Instructor
 Laziana

Woah Jenny, sounds like you expected something completely different then.
_______________
Proud owner of Buster Senatu's 200th & 300th, Muro's 370th, Maher's 2100th, Henkes' 1639th, Johauna's 400th, 666th and 900th, Sho Koon's 2000th and Kain Sol's 600th comment Download Laziana's lightsaber here! Glory to Arstozka!

Nov 25 2011 09:30pm

†Johauna Darkrider†
 - Student
 â€ Johauna Darkrider†

Well, after testing for couple of hours.. I'm not impressed at all. Although, I didn't expect much. The graphics are totally ruining any kind of Star Wars atmosphere for me, the gameplay is just waaaay too boring, the combat doesn't even look spectacular, let alone not even fun.

Sure, there is story-line, but all the factors above kill it for me. :(

:alliance: Johauna :alliance:
_______________
Johauna's Bio | When I am GRANDMASTER...! | StarCraft II Protoss Learner | Wannabe GrandMaster Leaguer | How to NOT play StarCraft II Specialist

Nov 25 2011 12:19pm

Laziana
 - Jedi Instructor
 Laziana

They SHOULD make the beta client patchable. Just imagine all them early access users if they would have to download the whole client all over again.
_______________
Proud owner of Buster Senatu's 200th & 300th, Muro's 370th, Maher's 2100th, Henkes' 1639th, Johauna's 400th, 666th and 900th, Sho Koon's 2000th and Kain Sol's 600th comment Download Laziana's lightsaber here! Glory to Arstozka!

Nov 24 2011 01:14pm

SaZ
 - Student
 SaZ

i wouldnt be surprised, the game is released in one month after all.
_______________
playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana

Nov 24 2011 04:36am

planK
 - Jedi Council
 planK

Quote:
blah 27gb client.
i wonder why they didnt make it like lets say guildwars or world of warcraft right away - 1/10 size download, everything else being downloaded as you play :C
lol.
for three days of stuff that i might not even have time to do thats way too much of a placeholder in my not so big hdd.

lol.


Yeah it's pretty nuts. However, I believe they said there's a very good chance that you can use this client at launch, with a few patches.

Nov 24 2011 03:31am

SaZ
 - Student
 SaZ

blah 27gb client.
i wonder why they didnt make it like lets say guildwars or world of warcraft right away - 1/10 size download, everything else being downloaded as you play :C
lol.
for three days of stuff that i might not even have time to do thats way too much of a placeholder in my not so big hdd.

lol.
_______________
playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana

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