Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Kittish]

Now that the NDA has been lifted I can say: This game is freakin awesome!!! I'm participating in this weekend's beta (probably the last one before it launches) and having a blast.

I've tried a couple of different classes so far, and my favorite (thus far) is the Bounty Hunter. The Sith Inquisitor is okay, but a bit more in the mob's face than I generally like to get. I'd rather blow stuff up from far enough back to get a good view of the explosions.

The graphics are amazing, though the game still seems to tend toward a bit of lagginess when you get a bunch of people in one area. I think the servers would (at this point in time) probably crash if you got the sort of population density that you commonly see in Stormwind or Orgrimmar in WoW.

The voice acting has been superb overall. The only minor gripe I have about it is that you don't have concurrent text, so you need to pay attention. And if you use Ventrilo while you play, it's extremely handy to be able to mute Vent with a keybind.

Anyone else here in the beta or planning to play when it goes live?

[Rhion]

The only minor gripe I have about it is that you don't have concurrent text, so you need to pay attention.
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Anyone else here in the beta or planning to play when it goes live?

You can switch on subtitles in the options... I have NFI why it wasn't on by default. I've been getting some FPS issues too (shouldn't really happen on a 6870. I'll try fullscreen to take advantage of crossfire, but I love the fullscreen-windowed mode). Also, that orange pixel in the middle of the chat bar is SO FRIGGIN' ANNOYING.

I started playing it yesterday. IT ROCKS. Rolled an Imperial Agent (went Sniper at 10), then decided to give a Sith Inquisitor a go. Absolutely loving the Inquisitor (now a level 14 Sorceror.) Grouping is really easy as well. Only got two people? COMPANION TIME! Loving the collaborative RP conversations in instances too. It's great seeing how random people play their characters.

[Akasa]

The only thing I'm having issues with, and they said this should be fixed some time after release is there's no grey items. It's all light/dark. I find I play grey.

[Geek King]

I played a few different types. My favorites so far are Smuggler and Bounty Hunter. Smuggler gets some of the best lines in the dialogue, but the bounty hunter is just death-on-thrusters with all the explosive toys you get to play with. Hard Choices.

[Dilorenzo]

Heh, was just about to post as this. Loved the weekend beta, but, I do have one thing to add.

This isn't going to be the great end-of-all-times game that Bioware is making it out to be. That's all PR, so throw that out right now.

What it is is a incredibly polished game which is fun to play, as any of the four classes I tried so far (Smuggler first, of course, Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter, and briefly as a Jedi Consular). It's similar to WoW in some mechanics, but you know what? Those mechanics work, so why mess with them too badly?

Of course, it helps that this is the first Beta I've taken part in (admittedly less than a month from release) where the game feels polished.

Star Trek, Champions, DC Universe, they never felt finished in the portions of the Beta I took part in. Some arguments could be made that they still aren't, but that's a matter of choice.

So the gameplay is fun but not something that really makes it stand out, despite its excellent level of polish.

The thing that really sets this aside is that it's bloody Star Wars. Walking through a space port hearing the little beep-boop of an astromech droid is just cool.

[Akasa]

Of course the mechanics are a lot like WoW, almost all MMO's have similar mechanics. It's the nature of the beast.

[LewisLegion]

I played the beta this weekend too...and I seriously can't wait for the full game to launch I honestly had no problems with lag or speed issues. I only got to play most of Sunday, and did the JK, bounty hunter, and Trooper starts.

I didn't think I'd like the trooper but I LOVED it. Helps that the voice actress of the female trooper is Jennifer Hale (FemShep from Mass Effect). That woman could read the phone book and I'd love it

I have mine already pre-ordered and I'm frickin' stoked for launch!

[Rhion]

Early access... and I'm stuck at work. Come knockoff time and I'm slamming some levels on a shiny new Sith Inquisitor!

[Gravekeeper]

Early access... and I'm stuck at work. Come knockoff time and I'm slamming some levels on a shiny new Sith Inquisitor!

The head start's been kind of a debacle so far, I decided against pre-ordering because of how fubar its been. -.-

[lordlundar]

The only real failure was players not paying attention. When they placed their pre order they were told that "you may get up to 5 days head start." (bolded words are the important parts) and they set up a staggered entry system so the servers don't get overloaded.

The problem is the player base that's whining about it missed the "may" and "up to" and want in (and I'm paraphrasing here, but I don't think I'm too far off the mark) "nownownowNOWNOWNOWNOW!" <cue temper tantrum>.

[Dilorenzo]

Yeah, the head start went smoothly, as it was always meant to. Funniest part was the folks who took time off this week despite pre-ordering in December, like me.

Still, I got in, rerolled my Sith Marauder, and am now looking forward to some hot lightsaber on lightsaber action.

[Gravekeeper]

The only real failure was players not paying attention. When they placed their pre order they were told that "you may get up to 5 days head start." (bolded words are the important parts) and they set up a staggered entry system so the servers don't get overloaded.

Incorrect. The sales pitch does not say "may". The particulars of the head start program are buried in the fine print or glossed over. The sales banner straight up says "Pre-order to play!". This is EA we're talking about. EA are asshats.

Compounding that, they refused to offer any sort of time frame or even basic information on the invitation waves which would have settled a lot of people down. But no, the players themselves had to compile this information on the forums and keep track of the invitation waves themselves.

The idea itself was good on paper, but the execution not so much. Ironically, people would probably have been less pissed if they were all let in and just hit server queues.

[Dilorenzo]

Ironically, people would probably have been less pissed

I have to stop you there. This is the internet.

[Kittish]

From what I saw of the pre release invites, they did go pretty smoothly. OF COURSE people whined and bitched about having problems or not paying attention.

This is the internet.

My other half was in the first wave, and I got in later that day. The only real problems I've had was lag, which I don't understand as my computer is better than my other half's, but his has a LOT less lag.

I've been loving bounty hunter to the point where I've not gotten around to trying any other class yet. I do have an inquisitor made, I'll dust her off when I get bored with my BH.

[Geek King]

My other half was in the first wave, and I got in later that day. The only real problems I've had was lag, which I don't understand as my computer is better than my other half's, but his has a LOT less lag.
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Just a possibility, but hop into your video settings and turn off shadow. On certain systems, this can cause things to perk right back up. Also, there's a known issue on Planet Tarsis, apparently. My guildies have talked about it.