I know the game was released a long time ago, but I felt like ranting and have nothing better to do at the moment so why not?
When SWTOR was first announced I did not know whether to be excited that we would most likely finally find out what happened to Revan and The Exile and what the "True Sith" were, or dissappointed in BioWare and EA for making the game an MMO. I was in the camp that wanted KOTOR 3 rather then an MMO.
Last November I got a copy of SWTOR and after finding out that their "free 30 days" was false advertising when you looked at the fine print, I got to play the game. The game itself was not terrible, BioWare lived up the their goal of making it a story driven MMO and the community was nice and helpful.
But upon reflection, why was this an MMO again? I could not find any real justification as I was playing it either.
Consider the concept of a "story driven MMO" for a moment, the main thing that Bioware was using as a selling point for the game was that it was story driven and it's story content. In game you play these by passing through a story-zone barrier that removes all other players that are not in your group (and this group member cannot be the same class as you by the way) and the story is told there. The problem is that a group is never necessary, and even when present, you/they are more or less just a spectator along for the ride and helping the you/"the owner" of the area rather then having any real role in it. There are interesting missions that stress playing with real people, but they are non-essential to the plot and filled with artificial difficulty to try and enforce team play (which you can later bypass simply by being a high enough level).
In short, there is no point to it, the other players are completely irrelevant to the main selling point of the game, the story, and you don't miss anything without them, on top of that there are other, more superior methods of telling a story in gaming (like an average RPG). Also, when you complete the story mode for your character/class (yes there is an end) then why would I want to play it again? Especially if I would have to pay them more money for a repeat experience.
I know you probably saw this coming but it seems like a cash grab on the people who wanted to get more of KOTOR's story, but then either Bioware or EA decided that they would make more money as an MMO rather then a properly made RPG. What made it even more ridiculous was them attempting to win back players with F2P, even though the game is now virtually unplayable in that mode (you get story, that is it, want to remove your helmet? Get rewards for your quests? Have access to all your characters? Along with other ridiculously simple stuff then you had better get a subscription). It was for reasons like this that I really wish they just made KOTOR 3.
Subject: Philosopony Ponders SWTOR 
Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:35 pm
