Star Wars: The Old Republic – Is There A Disturbance In The Force?

In the opening movie of Star Wars the Old Republic, Satele Shan clutches her forehead and announces “I sense.....a great darkness.” I can’t help but echo her sentiments as 11th February edges closer into view from Bioware’s development horizon.

“Anarchy in Paradise” is the first major update (4.1) since the release of the “Knights of the Fallen Empire” expansion. This will continue the KotFE story into Chapter 10 and beyond. I should be excited about this, but I’m not.

When KotFE was announced back at E3 2015 I was awash with joyous emotions. Finally, Bioware were heading back to the story roots that made SWTOR a unique and, in my opinion, amazing MMO experience. However, once I logged in on release day, 27th October, I was greeted by the same clunky UI and the same jerky, sub-par graphics engine.

It’s been no secret for some time that SWTOR has some really annoying performance issues—you only need to visit the official forums to see that there are many users complaining that after four major releases, very little has been improved in this area. However, I was not about to let performance issues dampen my spirits. I plodded along through the new story, which is a breath of fresh air and is fantastic Bioware story telling I know and love.

In no time at all I was harnessing the Dark Side with my Sith Lord ‘Darth Azrall’ at the new Level 65 cap and the story, although good, is short. Very short. The new story is similar to class storylines, still providing fantastic dialogue options with optional Light/Dark Side choices. Though I’m not sure how the Light/Dark Side choices still apply. I’ve been maxed out in Dark Side points for some time and they seem to have little impact on anything other than just being there.

As I reached the pivotal end of the fast-paced story in no less than a week, my momentum was immediately scythed at the knees by never ending grinding quests that add little to the overall experience. Once you finish the main story, you travel to the final planet, called Odessen. Here you will build your alliance! Huzzah! But building it isn’t all chocolate boxes and roses it’s actually far worse.

You’re tasked to recruit especially skilled individuals from across the galaxy. Some will join after a brief conversation or a small quest. Others require you to hand over supply crates that can be obtained by repeating the HEROIC+2 & HEROIC+4 quests from planets you’ve already visited. You know the ones you did to get that small boost of EXP and commendations before travelling to the next planet? Yes, them. Only you’re level capped and can’t obliterate everything to make it go any quicker. Yes that’s right, level capped. Someone thought it would be a good idea to cap your level to the maximum recommended level on the planet. Get used to being level 26 on Tatooine again.

This happens for nearly every individual you need to recruit. So say there are ten NPCs to get, you need to complete up to five heroic quests each to ensure they get the right amount of supply crates, and even when they join it’s unclear how this benefits your alliance. This is not what I signed up for. Yes, there are still Operations and Flashpoints, but I’m part of a small PvE guild who wants to enjoy the story, which is what we all thought we were getting!

Even for the non-story lovers, there isn’t a huge amount of added content. There are still no new Flashpoints or Operations. This isn’t good for hard-core raiders. Ok, so they’ve added “Hard Mode” and “tactical” options to them that allow you to shake things up a little. But essentially it’s like adding cream or ice cream to a chocolate cake. I like cake as much as the next person, but adding cream changes it just a tiny bit; overall it's still the same cake.

Although EA boasted recently that SWTOR subscriptions are at a three year high, I wonder if they would actually sit down and be honest with the public as to why this is—you can only play the new expansion if you subscribe for at least one month. If you unsubscribe you can only play up until chapter 10, to continue, you must sub again. There are also the limited edition companions and Items you can use in game—if you subscribe for a number of months! It’s obvious why the subscriptions are at an all-time high and thus makes the ‘Free 2 Play’ aspect a little redundant.

When I saw the E3 announcement I was under the impression that KotFE was going to be story-driven. Now that it’s in our hands story seems only to be a small factor of the overall end game. Its longevity as a future MMORPG worries me. I can’t see how die hard MMO gamers will keep wanting to do the same thing over and over again when its only strongest point is the progressive story. Alienating the free-to-play player base by forcing them to pay to see the rest of the game in its entirety scares away new player. I’m being brutally honest when I say that as of right now, I’m struggling to see who the target audience is for this game.

I hope the delivery of future story-lines is a lot better than it is so far. I’m not sure I can wait another four months for ten hours’ worth of story packaged with repeatable quests designed for a Korean MMO in 2010 with no newer optional raiding. If that is going to be the main focus, we could be in for a rocky ride and left with another Star Wars themed MMORPG that fails to achieve what it’s actually good at: storytelling.
The great Jedi Master Yoda once said “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” I’m praying someone at Bioware has this printed on a wall to remind them that SWTOR has the potential to be a monumental MMORPG and not to lead it down the path of the Dark Side of the MMO genre.