I'll echo that SWTOR is not as grindy as the average MMO and that you can easily get to max level by just doing class quests with heroics on the side, but it's not really pay to win, so much as pay-to-get-rid-of-the-rather-severe-limitations-which-hamper-one's-enjoyment-of-the-game-when-you-play-in-f2p-mode.

And there are quite a few of those.

Limited inventory (which you can only expand with CC if you're not a subscriber, whereas being subscribed means you just use in-game credits), sprint isn't available until some level (14 I think?) along with mounts, you can't get item/armor rewards from heroics and item drops have become much, much rarer than what they used to be along with armor vendors being removed for the most part from planets, you've got a limited amount of credits you can carry which again can only be removed by purchasing it with CC on the cartel market or by subscribing.

And this is just the first few restrictions that come to mind. I'm sure there's lots more.

 

If you intend to play the game as a single player RPG (which you totally can now, forget about grouping if you don't want. Don't need to. Healer companions OP.) you can ignore all of the purchasables, they're not for you and are utterly inconsequential.

Just play, roll through the fantastic story, and leave. There's enough story there for several games.

If you intend to hang around, do MMO stuff and the like, you'll be tempted to drop real money quick. Most of my money's gone to fucking outfit stuff - I'm such an easy target...

 

Just started playing around a week ago. Quinncii is the name and I'm on the Harbinger server.

 

If I just wanted to play the single player, could I do that in F2P mode without any overly annoying restrictions? I'm not sure what effect that list of limitations Odran provided has on the story side of the game.

 

Not sure I understand. All those limitations with f2p mode I brought up are still very much in the way, whether you play class-related quests or not. You don't actually have some kind of option which closes off the MMO aspect of the game and turns it a single-player game. The constant mentions of how you could play this as a single-player game reflects more on the fact that all of your companions can be fitted for any role, at which they're going to excel so long as you steadily raise their influence from time to time, which negates the need for other people to join up with you for anything that's heroics or class-related.

 

None of it is in the way if all you want is a single player rpg.

You're restricted from the MMO parts. Bank tabs, 200k credits max, can't send mail, only one crew skill, 2 character slots etc.

None of it stops you from playing the story at all. Characters and companions are so powerful now that none of it matters.

 

I play the game FTP because I think EA is shit, and I haven't given them a single cent from my wallet since 2005. It's staying that way.

 

A pity, though I feel it rather has become the norm with MMO's. Though mayhaps it always was and we've just become less accepting of less than perfection.

Though I will give it a shot myself after I'm done studying for the day. I still need my legendary player status after all.

 

Been hearing that there's still problems.

Its actually kind of typical for Bioware right now. Any time something new updates or shows up the patches hit the server like a truck.

 

Almost done with the Inquisitor for the second time, first time was at launch. Enjoying it immensely, especially since I forgot a lot of the details since then.

My main gripe at the moment is that I have left the Bounty Hunter and the Smuggler for the tail end of my journey through all the classes. Didn't quite enjoy the Trooper but the Agent was superb, overall I rather predictably prefer the force using classes.

Current plan is: Smuggler > Bounty Hunter > Sage > Warrior.
I'm almost certain I'll despise the Bounty Hunter, the Smuggler is a wild card, the Sage I'm looking forward too though I've heard awful things about it and the Warrior looks promising. Hopefully swapping factions will continue to be enough to keep the experience novel except for the Class Arcs.

Havn't yet set up my own stronghold, going to leave it for when I decide which character I'm going to take all the way to max level. I will almost certainly use one of the force wielders to sink my coins into for cosmetic gear and furniture.

As for the update, any problems doesn't impact the 1-50 experience. At least I'll have time for the issues to be fixed before I'll reach them. Unlike launch Imperial Taris.

 

The Bounty Hunter's story arc is actually pretty decent.

In terms of gameplay, yes, if the Trooper bores you the Hunter probably will too.

 

I just started playing this and I was surprised how fun it can be. Like has been said above, it's a lot less grindy than most MMOs. As someone who likes in Australia, I also like I don't have to group for everything. It's so very not MMO, it almost feels like cheating! The story lines seem to be of varying quality. I think the Warrior and Knight quests are better than Inquisitor and Smuggler. Gods, I want to smack the Inquisitor sometimes for her stupid. The new chapters are interesting and the Emperor is genuinely creepy. Just not sure how it sits on my SW meter. Like many games this one keeps trying to top itself in terms of villains. Not sure it will survive the escalation but the plot has been fairly foreshadowed in the plot.

 

Sage is awful.

 

Gameplay-wise, Sage is Inquisitor but worse. Despite them trying to fix it, Sage skills still have a longer cast->hit time than Inquisitor skills.

Story-wise, Sage just sucks. It's less humorous, more generic, and has blander characters.

 

Yeah, I did sage after a Sith warrior playthrough. The difference was huge.

 

I have only completed two classes so far, with me being only able to stomach so much of the game at once. I first started at launch and it was a realy fun game if you had friends playing because it felt better than world of warcraft in so many ways, such as the the quest line. Recently however it has become kinda boring there is no longer a challenge to the classes unless you want to play pvp or do the high tier operations because now pretty much any operation can be done soll and the only negative to doing it is you do not gain social points and they are useless anyway. To any newcomer i would suggest playing a good class with an interesting story line to begin with and then progress. My suggestion would be the sith warrior as that is probably the most engaging class if you want to play a character that choses darkside option, but then again playing a jedi knight and chosing thw dark side options aswell is pretty fun too.

 

It should be treated as a single player game that ends right after chapter 3.

 

Anyone have a good comprehensive summary or summary vid of the Knights of the Fallen Empire plot? I'm never going to play SWTOR again, but I'm still mildly interested in the story.

 

Some relevant links:

Knights of the Fallen Empire
Eternal Empire
Arcann
Outlander
Invasion of Ziost