Today I want to share a bit about my experience with Star Wars: The Old Republic thus far, including some things that happened before the game fully released as well as some things I'm experiencing currently as I'm playing the game. A warning beforehand that this post may end up coming off as me blowing off some steam, but that's what general blogs are for, right?
Turmoil of the Pre-launch Guild
It was about a week prior to Early Access for SWTOR to begin. I was as excited as I've ever been for a game's launch and was very much looking forward to dominating the scene with my Roleplaying-PvP guild that I had been a part of for the past two and a half years or so, since I first heard about the game. I couldn't wait, it was so close finally after all the hype and anticipation we were finally going to be in the game! If anything were going to go wrong on the guild front, it would surely have to be after the game's official launch right? One evening in this week prior I logged into our forums and my jaw nearly hit the floor. I logged in to find one of the most heartbreaking things for any dedicated guild member to find: a post advising that the guild leader, along with many other guildmates that I had come to know well over the years, were leaving the guild. I was first in denial, telling myself that this thread had to be some kind of inside joke to get everyone laughing... after all, we were only a week away from launch.
Sadly it was no joke. I couldn't believe it. I am certain that I threw my arms up in the air in defeat. I didn't know what to think. I was sad, angry, confused, lost, and alone. The part that made things worse was that this sudden rift and exodus completely blindsided me. I had no idea that something apparently this major was going on in the background, known to only a few members (as far as I could tell). And what makes things worse, no one really wanted to explain publicly. Anytime I asked what the heck was going on, the only response I received was "PM me" or "jump on Xfire and I'll explain". No one would give me a straight answer in the public light. This rubbed me the wrong way also. If it was seriously such a major ordeal, it should have been explained publicly to the entire guild so that there was no humming and hawing behind the scenes as those of us left behind wondered what had just happened. Still to this day I can't believe this happened and even typing about it now is frustrating me quite a bit...
I didn't know what to do. A great number of the people I knew from the guild were just up and gone, without real warning, and I didn't know if I should join them, stay, or leave both altogether. Since a few of the members I really RP'ed with often were staying, one of them stepping in to lead us in our time of great difficulty, I did end up staying. In part at least. I had already put in so much of an effort to the guild that I didn't want to just up and abandon it. So I decided I would stay, for my Empire characters at least, while the Republic side of me roamed elsewhere (even though now that same guild wants to have both an Empire and Republic guild on the same server... *sigh*).
In my travels of trying to find a guild to join in a state of near-panic, I did end up joining up with the Mos Eisley Radio Community (MERC) on the Veela server for my Republic fix of the game. I had been listening to MER for a couple months and was interested in what they had going on. So guild-wise, I'm content for now on both fronts. However, something is still missing.
Lack of friends playing = Lack of motivation
Now that I have a guild for both Republic and Empire gameplay, I should be set right? Yeah... I wish that were the case. Early Access started off great. I started my main, a bounty hunter, on my Empire server and basically played most of the starter planet content with a guildie or two. I had not played my BH's story during either of the beta weekends I was in, so I was excited to see what it had in store. I really enjoyed it. My intention for him was always to be a tank, so when I hit time to choose my advanced class I went with Powertech. That's where some of my troubles started though... it felt like without another person to quest and level with, I had a rough time getting things done, even with my healer companion with me. Not to mention that tanking flashpoints felt hard as hell... I couldn't seem to keep aggro on some targets no matter what I did, even after getting the "tank stance" and taunts. After a while I just got fed up with it... as much as I wanted to tank, I was not having fun in the game and that's ultimately what I am here for. I switched my spec to the Advanced Prototype dps tree and things have been a bit better since, but still feels like I'm lacking, especially on the PvP front. My BH is currently level 40 and geared with one of the full lvl 40 pvp commendation sets.
For my Republic main character, I rolled a Gunslinger spec Smuggler. Shortly after that, I saw how badass the Scoundrel spec was, and instantly had "Advanced Class remorse"... not the biggest fan of the cover system, especially in PvP. Feels like I can only perform to part of my potential because I am constantly having to move around and can't get off my more powerful skills. The story, like every other class I've played thus far, is good.... but again, still something feels off with him. He's currently sitting at level 18. I haven't spent much time doing anything with MERC because I haven't really had time yet, and I also decided try my hand at a healing class and rolled a Combat Medic Commando spec Trooper. That toon I seem to enjoy a lot more, as I feel like as a healer I am at least somewhat more helpful in PvP, even without doing much damage (which sometimes I do well also). I also tried healing the Hammer Station flashpoint last night and that didn't go too bad either. So at this point, with him now lvl 19, I may be putting him as my main in MERC instead...
I told myself when I started playing SWTOR that I wasn't going to have a ton of alternate characters... I really wanted to just focus on having one main character and possibly one alternate character. (Unlike WoW where I currently have 8 level 85s and a lvl 76'ish...) However, as you can see, this is becoming not the case. I feel that a major part in this is due to the fact that I am not playing with anyone in particular that I have to dedicate my time to. On the other side of that coin is that lately, now that the immediate rush to play the game has subsided, I am not feeling any motivation to do anything specific with my characters. A couple nights I've been finding myself just absentmindedly running around or just doing crew skill missions while I do other things like watch TV or browse the web.
Then there's this nagging at me to go jump on WoW instead of play SWTOR. I had originally thought that once SWTOR launched, I was going to be done playing WoW for good, or if not that, at least a few months while I was busy with SWTOR. But I still haven't cancelled my subscription... I think it's mostly because my friend whom I've played with for the past five years or so still play it, and I still want to play with them, as much as I wish some of them were playing SWTOR with me. My wife can't play right now because she uses a Mac (which may hopefully be resolved soon) and my best friend that I used to play SWG with just seems to be holding out and refusing to do so right now. He has his reasons, but I was just so disappointed when he told me he wasn't going to be playing at all. A lot of wanting to play WoW I'm sure is also due to the fact that in that game I've already got highest level toons and can just jump on and instantly run content with ease. No spamming LFG in chat like SWTOR currently has...
Meh... that's enough for today. Next time I'll have a write about SWTOR in a more positive light, as this post makes it seem like it's almost a bad thing, WHICH IT ABSOLUTELY ISN'T!!
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