Do I even need to preface this rant with the fact that I’m a huge Star Wars nut? Probably not.
So I found myself with access to this weekend’s Star Wars: The Old Republic server stress test. I told myself I wasn’t going to spend all weekend playing the game since I’d lose all the progress I made and have to start from the beginning once the actual game releases on Dec, 20th. Yeah, I TOLD myself that, but I still ended up taking a Smuggler, Jedi Consular, and Sith Warrior up to level 4, and a Bounty Hunter all the way to 10. I can, I think, potentially see my life draining away when this game’s released. I always try not to dip into RPGs for the simple reason that I tend to love them, and lose myself in them for 80+ hours. And those are the ones that actually have a concrete ending! Now I’m faced with the first MMO that’s ever interested me (not including Star Wars: Galaxies, but I didn’t have a proper PC to run it when it was in its heyday), and it actually focuses on a single player experience!
In fact, it really IS like playing Knights of the Old Republic, which was one of the best Star Wars gaming experiences I’ve had to date. For someone who’s turned off by MMOs due to their steep learning curve, SWTOR is the perfect balance, letting a new player focus on learning at his own pace while playing the game as a(n enjoyable) single player experience until he’s feeling confident enough with the mechanics to start jumping in with other players. Very social gamers have no problem just jumping in and asking for directions in standard MMOs, but I’m sure plenty of gamers like me tend to be a little more wary when it comes to socializing in online games, and usually just stick to single player experiences. SWTOR may honestly be the ultimate beginner’s MMO, giving a player who’s no into MMOs or even social gaming in general a perfect diving board for the genre.
Anyways, I’m not certain how social I’ll inevitably be when I’m playing the full game. I admit that this weekend I pretty much just treated the game as if there was no online component, but I can potentially see myself making plenty of like minded Star Wars obsessed friends over the course of my inevitable 1000+ hours of playtime. Is anyone else as stupidly excited about this game as I am??
