Star Wars: The Old Republic

UPDATED:

Server: Thana Vesh

Guild: Forsaken, approximately 40 members

Character: Dreadstar, Sith Sorcerer & Dervish, Sith Dreadnought

A Brief History:

I spent somewhere between 5 and 6 years of my life in Azeroth, and enjoyed probably 80% of those. But after seeing the direction the game has taken since Wrath, I have come to realize that either WoW has changed or I have, or both. Years ago, I would stand in Org or Shattrath (remember that place, abandoned now) and look at the top raiders and their purple gear and think "I want to get good enough to do raiding like that." So I did, and though it was often challenging and time-consuming, we built one of the most successful guilds on the server for years. The world was varied, there was too much to do in a week, and to killing a boss felt like it had meaning.

Well, we have gone from a growing, competitive player base where everyone knew the people on our server, to a rapidly dwinding world full of entitled players I can't identify with run by developers who appear to care more about selling mounts and pets than pushing their game further. Hard modes and reused dungeons are not content, and tossing out 7 bosses every 8-12 months is unacceptable. And to be honest, it is getting harder and harder to make it all work, watching people transfer, get burned out, or just not log on (not that I can blame them).

The Present:

We have seen the first month of SWTOR and to date, it has been a generally positive experience. The story driven leveling is extraordinatory from start to finish. The combat is familiar but different enough to make it enjoyable, though people who play a class similar to what they've played in past MMOs may find it too similar, thus I suggest that they roll a different class for a different experience. The questing is pretty much the same, what's different is that its embedded in a story that has light and dark options as a resolution (e.g. forgive someone or kill them). The downside is that the game can at times play like a single-player game and its easy to forget that it's an MMO, at least getting to 50. At max level, you are left with 15+ instances to run on hard mode plus 5 normal level 50 instances, and operations (raids) available in 8 and 16 man versions when the guild has enough people. Many features reamin unfinished (e.g. the guild interface is terrible and there is no guild bank) and there are still bugs, though these seem to be improving each patch.

It is unclear how long this content will remain feeling fresh and new. But they've already released a new and rather good instance and more content is coming. However, comparing this to rehashed Dragon Soul raids for the next 7 months until WoW's pandaland expansion, there is no contest.

For those not interested in SWTOR:

Individuals wishing to play together upon the launch of Guild Wars 2 (or for those enough lucky enough to be accepted into the beta) should use this as a forum to communicate information.

If you do not know the game, check it out:

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/

Another game to watch:

http://www.thesecretworld.com/

Following his full-day, extensive hands-on experience with the game, PC Gamer’s Nathan Grayson writes that “Funcom had to drag me away kicking and screaming”, and that “The Secret World is taking bold steps to revolutionize the MMO.”

‘The Secret World’ is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated MMOs in development, breaking new grounds and genre conventions by introducing a modern-day setting, a story-focused MMO experience, and a freeform progression system using no classes and no levels. Recently Funcom announced that over 500,000 gamers are now registered for the ongoing beta testing. ‘The Secret World’ is published by Electronic Arts Inc. and will ship in April 2012.