Star Wars: The Old Republic Early Review
Last Updated on Thursday, 17 November 2011 14:51 Written by Samantha Thursday, 17 November 2011 14:42
I bet you are wondering about Star Wars: The Old Republic.
I finally got a beta invite last weekend, and promptly spent my free time playing.
I don’t want you to except a full fledged MMPORG because SWTOR is anything but. It is NOT and I repeat NOT like Star Wars Galaxies. It is more like World of Warcraft meets SWG meets KOTOR. YOU have your own personalized character with quests. You can to interact with NPCs which depending on how you answer questions, will depend on your characters development.
Last weekend, I was one of a few who got to take place in the server stress testing. Our job was to check out the game, and overload the servers. SWG was very player oriented, and you had professions. You needed a trainer, a bank, a bazaar, and it was there. The map was very self explanatory. SWTOR, trainers are all over the place, banks and vendors too. And its not just ONE vendor, oh no. Its several venders depending on what you are trying to do. Professions are out the window, and its all about leveling and your gear. Oh and the UI map? Kinda useless, because SWTOR relies on levels. By levels, I mean there are MULTIPLE levels in each building, and even outside. I found the map to not be useful when trying to find my Sith Inquisitor trainer (2nd level, Sith Academy *cough*).
We did a good job last weekend. Our job was to prepare them for the MASSIVE beta testing this coming Thanksgiving Weekend. We stressed the servers and knocked them down a few times.
Please don’t expect to be able to get far next weekend. First, the client file is TWENTY (20) gigabytes. I took me over 8 hours to download. Second, the servers were locked out of character creation a lot, if you could even get on the server – there were sever “queues” some 5,000 people long (which means your wait to play could be upwards of 2 hours JUST to get on the server). The main beta servers were overloaded and laggy. Your job is to overload the servers, not find bugs. Most of the bugs have been found by those who have been full-time testing for the last 1-2 years. Now its time for bioware to fix server issues and make sure they can handle load, add in the final graphics, work out the bugs, and get the game out in time for Christmas.
I am bound by a non-disclosure clause to speak of the details of the game that are not public (as are all beta testers). However my thoughts…
ITS FRIGGIN AWESOME!!
Your computer specs? If you want to actually PLAY the game and play it without lag and jumpiness and use your graphics, you better have something more than an i3 with over 4 gigs of ram, and at least a 1 gig video card. (My specs for clarification are i7, 8 gigs ram, and 1 gig video card which I am upgrading to something more gaming appropriate – and I could only run medium graphics). Laptops seem to be a no-go (unless meant for gaming ) the game is playable, but lags tremendously and overheats the laptop otherwise. You main hard drive should have over 30 gigs of free space, and if you plan on installing on something other then your main drive, make sure your main drive has at least 3 gigs of free space as some files have to be stored on the OS (main) drive (otherwise, you will get “Error 6”).
There is a MASSIVE beta test this weekend. If you signed up before 11/11/11 you will get to play. Otherwise, there are codes you can use to get into beta. I used last weekend to go ahead and figure out how I want my controls, figure out settings, find things, find a class, etc.
Visit: www.swtor.com for more information about Star Wars: The Old Republic.
SWTOR is to be released on December 20, 2011. Beginning December 15, 2011 those who have preordered, will get early access to the game.