Searching for the ideal MMO: SWTOR
Does Star Wars: The Old Republic fit the mold?
I’ve spent February in a galaxy far, far away…
As much as I enjoyed playing Turtle Wow, I have a self-assigned duty to continue searching for those special games that fit my ideal of an MMORPG. For this month, it was Star Wars: The Old Republic, also known as SWTOR.
How does it fare against my standards? In order to find the answer, we will first see what the goals are, since SWTOR is slightly more modern in design and thus has a different approach to its questing and areas.
My objectives and rules
In order to ensure that I really go out there and look for the ideal MMORPG, I have set myself a list of goals to achieve, as well as rules to play by.
The goals:
Every month this year, I will play a different MMORPG.
With this game, I will look for my ideal triangle of game experience: challenge, immersion, and socialization.
For a challenge, I’ll hope the game can make the leveling experience fun but not too easy, forcing me to be careful when playing.
For socialization, I’ll be looking for player communication, group features and content.
Once the month is over, I will move on to the next game.
The rules:
I will not look for game info (quests, builds, etc.) outside of the game, limiting myself to read within the game itself or asking other players for advice.
I will not use general or world chats, and use only local (/say) chat, DMs (/whisper) and group/guild chat.
I will only party up with players that I’ve met in the area, rather than using matchmaking features.
I will not accept help from players in the form of better gear/items or money, unless it is in exchange for a service or simply advice.
I will choose Roleplaying servers where possible.
And I’ve spent February playing SWTOR while following these rules.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a 2011 MMORPG released by Bioware with EA as a loose sequel to their Knights of the Old Republic games. Set about three centuries after the second KotOR game, you get to play your fantasy of being any kind of spacefaring adventurer aligned with the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire, and within this faction, play your own fantasy of being a light-side or dark-side actor.
The roleplaying aspect is well developed and reminiscent of Mass Effect, which makes SWTOR a very suitable single-player RPG if one is interested in having 8 interesting campaigns to play through set in the Star Wars universe. However, for the sake of this article, I’ll be focusing on different aspects of the game. Does SWTOR meet the three goals of my ideal MMORPG? Unfortunately, not quite. It’s fun, but not particularly challenging. It is quite immersive, but its social aspect is quite removed from the local areas.
The Challenge
SWTOR does not offer additional challenges upon character creation. It also no longer features server lists, as they were merged into region locked servers in 2017. This is no big deal, I decide to create a human female Trooper, as she is voiced by Jennifer Hale (Bastila Shan in KotOR, Commander Shepard in Mass Effect). The game starts me up in Ord Mantell, the starting planet for Republic Troopers and Smugglers.
Unlike tWoW’s more slow paced, deadly combat, in SWTOR I am able to tackle groups of enemies and dispatch them quickly with rarely ever losing more than 50% of my health. Even looking for Elite enemies, I am able to deal with them without much trouble.
Where the real challenge lies is in Heroic zones and Heroic missions, which are areas with stronger enemies that are usually meant to tackle carefully or in a group. I entered one Heroic zone in Ord Mantell and had to be careful with what enemies I was fighting, but I was still able to handle two or three at a time.
In order to keep the game challenging, I chose to handicap myself. Once I unlocked my first companion, Aric Jorgan, I started dismissing him, but he kept respawning every time I had a conversation with an NPC.
The leveling process is faster than I expected, and in only a few hours of gameplay I reached near level 20 in just my second planet, Coruscant. Doing side quests grants a lot of XP, and the main story is responsible for a big chunk of the level bar being filled. I promised myself I would stop following the main story once I unlocked my own spaceship, but on the way there I’ve had to play for a while and leveled up a lot.
The dungeons are what tickled me. They aren’t particularly difficult at lower levels, but, since I refuse to use matchmaking or global chat, finding a group to tackle them is hard. The game offers an option to play them solo with your companion and an assist droid, but that’s not what I play an MMORPG for. The very first dungeon (Flashpoint) of the game for the Republic, the Esseles, serves as a tutorial and entry to their mechanics, but I decided to skip it, as the few people that I saw in the area and I texted, asking to group up, ignored me.
Does the game have potential to be challenging? Yes. Even with my own handicaps it is quite easy, but one could even force themselves to use only level 1 equipment or quest only in Heroic zones. The true challenges lie in endgame content, and that one is not easily accessible, so the “Challenge” part of this game is a slight let down.
In the end, it was the Heroic zones that proved to be the deadly challenge. After I finally unlocked my spaceship, I decided to skip the main quest and travel straight to Taris, my next leveling zone. With no main story to follow, I decided to grab a bunch of Heroic quests. After all, I already completed a couple of them in Ord Mantell and they weren’t impossible.
However, in one of these missions, interacting with an item triggered an ambush by for Champion level enemies. Despite my best efforts, I was cut down in a fight that lasted about 20 seconds. This could have happened to me as well in tWoW, but my previous character being a Rogue made it easier for me to escape from dangerous situations.
The Immersion
SWTOR is not meant to be played without quest markers. In my attempt to explore Ord Mantell with the map disabled, I found myself having to open the map regularly to see where the quests were pointing me towards. Dialogue with NPCs would not give me directions on how to reach my targets, as the game was designed with a minimap in mind.
The exploration of the areas without following a specific marker is fun, but unlike tWOW where every journey felt dangerous and had to be planned, here I just feel like I am wasting my time if I am not going towards my needed location.
The modern graphics, sound design and amazing Star Wars music make SWTOR a real treat for the fantasy of existing in a galaxy far, far away. The behavior of NPCs, like droids moving around, soldiers battling enemies (harmlessly) on the edges of safe zones, or patrons at the cantina clapping at a holodancer, gives this sense of genuine immersion. However, I didn’t get to see much of player interaction during my time in the game.
The Socialization
My first pass through Carrick Station was quick, and I didn’t have much time to chat with others, as I focused on completing the main story until I had my own spaceship. Most players go through the motions as they rush to complete quests or prepare their gear for their next high level content.
At the Republic Fleet, I attempted to chat with other players, but was consistently ignored. People tend to play as if it was a solo game, and only group up with their guilds. I ended up moving to /whisper, hoping to get some attention from other players. Some kind players like Seniya Stari and Maya Luna answered me some questions about the game. Most players rush through the solo content to get to the endgame, and in the process ignore other players unless they are grouped up in matchmaking. Socializing happens in guilds only, with chatting in the open being extremely rare.
Seniya even invited me to her guild, Standard, but my time there was short as I ended up losing my run a couple days later. In terms of socialization, it exists, even outside of third-party apps, but not in the same open way that I had experienced last month in tWoW.
The Conclusion
As much as I love SWTOR, it unfortunately does not meet my goals for this specific type of game I am looking for. It’s still a game I heavily recommend, but it’s not immersive in the same way as my previous attempt was. The challenge exists if one looks for it, but it is missing the socialization required to beat it. If I were to give it a rating, for this specific challenge, it would be a 4/10. It is kind of fun and immersive, but it lacks challenge or a social community in the way that I’d need in order to play this way.
The March Attempt
After one hit and one miss, I am at a loss on which MMO to try next. One of the two Final Fantasy MMOs are appealing, especially since Final Fantasy XI is one of the old-school, hard progression MMOs still available. But of course, I’m always open to feedback and suggestions from you, reader.
If you enjoyed the read, and would like to see more, here is my previous attempt, playing Turtle WoW, and consider subscribing for free!
Read the January attempt: Turtle WoW
Read the March attempt: The Lord of the Rings Online
Read the April attempt: Final Fantasy XIV Online
Read the May attempt: Guild Wars 2
I played all class stories and I love them, it's definitely a great game!
I haven't played SWTOR for a long time but I share your sentiments. I found it to be quite cosy and was nice to play while I had other things on in the background. I's be interested to see how it played on a Steam Deck.
Also, the free content the game offers is not something to balk at, you get all the class stories for free (8 in total) and a couple of the expansions too.