Star Wars: The Old Republic Free-Play Trial Live

Star Wars: The Old Republic is the expertly crafted MMO by BioWare, the guys behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and The Knights of the Old Republic. I literally jumped up in excitement when the project was first announced. However, I never purchased the title.

I can’t think of any single reason why, but I had a few concerns that combined to give me reason enough to postpone my purchase. Reasons such as:

Diablo III was rumored to be releasing dangerously close to TOR, so why get a $60 game with monthly fees when I could wait a couple months a get a game without a monthly fee.

The monthly fee itself – sure $15 isn’t going to break me, nor will it break anyone else you whining bitches, but I was in the midst of planning a wedding. In the 10 months from release till my wedding date I would have saved enough to pay for 2 people to eat at the reception.

MMOs in general have left a bad taste in my mouth over the years. I’ve played EQ2, WoW, Warhammer Online, etc. And they all amount to the same thing. Spend way to much time playing for minimal rewards. This was awesome in my high school and early college years. But now? I don’t have time for this shit!

I did get into the beta, and signed up for a free trial weekend here and there. It’s a great game. The combat is exciting, the characters are all very different and fun, and the voice acting is superb. The only downside was that it took too long to get the game rolling. Which is really hard for me to say considering the first 15 hours I played in Skyrim were spent wandering the country killing random things. I didn’t fight the first dragon until about 20 hours in!

So I’ve had one of those weird relationships with TOR. One were I want it so bad, but can’t help but think it’ll just waste away on my shelf like so many other games. My primary concern is the time I suppose. I don’t have the 600+hours needed to get each character through their stories. I could just pick one and get through that story and call it day I suppose. But what if I pick the worst story? What if my chosen class is boring? Well… I suppose that’s what the FREE GAME TRIAL is for!

A really long segue, I know, but hear me out. TOR is awesome, and certainly worth a try, even if that’s all you give it. No other MMO out there comes close to the level of storytelling of TOR. Sure WoW has 4 million hours of endgame content, but what about the journey to endgame? Is it fun? Does it tell a well crafted story? No. It’s a quick push to get you to the max level in as short amount of time as possible, to allow you to experience as much “endgame” content as possible. Which would probably be considered more the “the game” then “endgame” at that point. The Old Republic, however, is about the journey. Sure there’s a need for more endgame content, but there isn’t a push to get you there faster. BioWare wants you to take your time, enjoy your class story, then start a new one when the game is complete. BioWare wants this so bad that they’ve added cross class/race abilities to encourage players to start new heroes.

That’s all beside the point though. What’s important is that now no one can complain about The Old Republic asking for that outrageous $15 that every other popular MMO demands. There is only 1 limitation. Since it’s a Free Game Trial, you will be limited to level 15 and the first two planets for each class/race combo. That’s the furthest I ever made it in the beta, and free trial weekends, and I feel that’s all you’ll need to want to purchase a copy and keep the story going. Sign up and download a copy from The Old Republic.

Tell us what you think of the free trial, and whether or not it swayed your opinion to purchase the full game or not in the comments below!