At the end of 2011's December, Bioware released their long-awaited addition to the MMORPG world with Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). In addition to the usual MMO elements we've come to expect in these games, Bioware promised heavy focus on "the 4th Pillar" in MMOs: Story. Backed with EA's financial strength and Bioware's undoubted talent at bringing in-depth and personal storylines to their players, SWTOR was gearing up to look like an attractive proposition. It has now been five full months since release - so how well has Bioware delivered on their promises? And perhaps more pertinently, how well has TOR lived up to the massive (and dangerous ) hype prior to launch?

The 4th Pillar

Let's take a look at Bioware's unique selling point: Storyline. Every one of the eight classes in game has its own 'class storyline,' effectively creating eight different approaches to the entire game, hopefully increasing replayability. The pinnacle of Bioware's production is their claim to creating a fully-voiced MMO, meaning no more scrolling through paragraphs of text to find out what the NPC wants you to do. Many of the voice actors may also sound familiar to any hardened gamers out there, especially with the likes of Jennifer Hale (Female Commander Shepherd - Mass Effect), David Hayter (Snake - Metal Gear Solid series), and Nolan North (Nathan Drake – Uncharted series, every other game on the planet) to name but a few.

During these conversations, we're also given the potentially game-changing element of choice. Bioware's familiar conversation wheel is used to select a response which can sway the story one way or another and occasionally award light or dark side points depending on statements made; this, similar to KotOR, changes the interaction of other NPCs and allies with the player's character.

These story options turn TOR from a standard MMO to an enveloping journey; companions suddenly matter, character development is paramount, and hinging upon every piece of writing in the game is the progression of character.

Anyone skipping the interactions and dialogue is missing the point, the way I see it. Story is what sets SWTOR apart. For many MMOs out there, 'story' is just a necessary evil in the way of the ultimate, max level goal and end-game content. There's so much more to the game than that -- and better still, Bioware's additional features and upcoming patches will breathe evermore content into the game.

Patch 1.2 - Legacy



With the release of patch 1.2, Bioware introduced the 'Legacy' system - a new way for the player to interact with his or her character's backstory, including options to create a family tree, add a surname to all the characters they have on any given server, and otherwise further character customization. Different abilities and awards are granted for leveling the Legacy through in-game achievements -- the most immediate example being new unlockable and playable species or advanced perks. All of a player's characters can be linked in the legacy system with different relations -- allowing anything from sibling relationships, other family ties, or even mortal hatred between the same player's characters. The Legacy system has been a big hit among players and is under continual development thanks to its success.

The release of patch 1.2 also added a new Flashpoint ("Lost Island"), which takes place on Ord Mantell, where a mad scientist works to engineer the Rakghoul plague as a weapon. Bioware also introduced a new Operation called "Explosive Conflict" and a new warzone called Novare Coast, further highlighting SWTOR's focus on ongoing updates to make the game more enjoyable from both mechanical and gameplay perspectives. Patch 1.2 also fixed a few bugs and touched up some of the graphics, enhancing the overall game play.

Patch 1.3 - Allies

Bioware's latest major patch ("Allies") and adds in new mechanics to aid group formation and player interaction. The inclusion of an improved LFG (looking for group) menu helps immensely, of course -- it adds controls for what type of group is being sought out, specific Flashpoint / Warzone / Operation choices, or a general "all the groups" routine. Players can also specify what roles will be needed in that particular group so - for example - you could designate yourself the DPS role and will be matched with others to form a balanced group to run with. This has gone some ways toward improving completion of content on low-population servers, but the LFG functions are currently not going to be cross-server, so you are still working with a small overall population.

Patch 1.3 aims - like Legacy - to add more player customization to the game. Characters will be able to equip any social item in the game and, with the patch, these items will still retain relevance in battles.

The other major change coming with 1.3 is server transfers. We don't yet have full details on this upgrade, but it has been mentioned that we can expect free transfers to specific servers (probably in some limited quantity). What we do know is something is being done about low population servers and this is, hopefully, just the start.

Having played SWTOR since its beta phases (and having followed its development for the 2.5 previous years), it'll be interesting to see how patch 1.3 changes the game or if it brings more players in. Bioware needs to address everyone's issues to ensure continued success with TOR and in my experience the developers are very good at listening to what its players have to say and they are regularly on the forums answering questions.

The MMO market is quite healthy at the moment and looks to be expanding shortly; TOR is only a few months old and on the horizon we have Guild Wars 2 (currently in beta testing), Planetside 2 (also in beta), and the new Tera. Competition is good for gamers everywhere -- as in our nVidia vs. AMD article, it keeps everyone fluid and actively engaged in improving their games, so we're OK with that. Developers put a lot of money into maintaining MMOs and evolving their game to compete with the current environment; hopefully this will push Bioware to make the sort of changes needed to keep TOR in the public's eye.

Overview



SW:TOR has the backing to become one of the biggest MMOs around -- it looks good, has enough familiar MMO content to please traditionalists, and there is still enough innovation and new ideas there to bring in those tired of the same old grind and boring quest lines.

One of the SWTOR's major detriments at launch was its lack of end-game content and focus on lower-level objectives; there is now plenty of end-game content, but with the thinned out servers, finding a group can be difficult. Hopefully the merge-enabling patch will fix populations, though. When the game was first released, the initial rush of players put the servers to the test, but with that "new space ship smell" of SWTOR worn off for many, we see a rise in transient players - clinging only to the hope that "the next patch" will fix everything. MMOs are a time-consuming genre, and as such, there's only room for so many of them in each person's daily gaming life. If 1.3 can begin to address some of the population issues and generate some hype to entice old and new players to jump into the fray, the game has a new hope to cling to yet.

1.3 will not be the quick fix we're hoping for, but it can be seen as a small step on the much longer road to recovery and eventual prosperity. There is no doubt that many players have left the game, but there is also no doubt that Bioware is taking this seriously and want their game to succeed - not to mention still-strong subscriber numbers (if servers are managed properly). May the force be with Bioware.

Richard "Carver" Connelly & Michael "Mik" Mann.

