SWTOR: BioWare, we need server mergers

SWTOR needs server merges. 

Yesterday around 4:45 p.m. EST, 11 players were on the Republic Fleet and 100 on the Imperial Fleet. Yes, other players were on other planets, their ships and other locations, but 11 is still a horrible number for that time of day. The server I play on isn’t one of the smaller ones, either.

The players need server merges just as much as BioWare does. There’s no way to balance out the number of Republic and Empire players. More people play Empire, especially Sith Inquisitors it seems. As Star Wars fans know, the Dark Side is more seductive. Force Lightening looks cooler. Chocking someone in the Force creates a Darth Vader moment. Quite frankly, the imbalance doesn’t matter. Huttball makes the PVP queues more bearable for the abundant Empire players, as they can play themselves. 

It’s incredibly difficult to find a group for a Flashpoint or a full PVP during certain points of the day due to the sheer lack of players per server. Not only do group activities suffer, but also the Galactic Trade Market. Finding gear, mods and other items is an incredible challenge when nothing is up for sale. 

BioWare needs to merge the servers before they lose more players. The key aspect of MMORPG is the interactions with other people. While the game needed more servers back at launch, this is no longer the case. Trim the numbers down. 

Weekend evenings see more players logged on both sides. It’s the rest of the time that suffers the greatest. Players want to see scads of features, like dungeon finder and cross-server PVP, but none contains the urgency like server merges do. 

Some players reroll characters on other servers. Many of us don’t want to redo the entire class story and that should not be necessary. As customers, it’s not our job to find workarounds for such an issue. Playing guess what server contains a high amount of players on a regular basis is frustrating, pointless and annoying. Players needed to redo the same classes repeatedly just to interact more with other players will not keep current players or attract new ones. 

Server merges benefit everyone. The players aren’t scrambling for others. BioWare eradicates the risk of losing subscriptions due to frustrated customers leaving because there aren’t enough people online. It will take a bit of tech time, but in the end, it can only improve the gameplay experience.

SWTOR Review: Jedi Knight class story wavers, but ends strong

End shot, sans Scourge

Nadia, my Jedi Knight, ended her class story standing with the rest of the crew in front of Grand Master Satele Shan and a grateful crowd. In a moment that was pure A New Hope, T7 booped, applause rang through the ship and there the heroes stood. The only thing missing was the first notes we’ve heard after the credits countless times. 

Instead, the quest acceptance box popped up and the Jedi Knight class story came to a close. 

While leveling my Jedi Knight, I ran with my husband’s Jedi Consular. We’d do class story quests together, so I’ve seen a good chunk of the Consular. Of the two Jedi classes, the Knight is much more militaristic and action-packed. Though the Consular must defeat his own share of enemies and Sith, the Jedi Knight seemed to have more such missions. Given the roles, it makes sense. Ultimately, these differences in class story can act as a strong indication of which Jedi a person wants to play. 

Solved puzzle in Temple

By Act Three, it’s clear what Nadia’s final task will be: facing the Sith Emperor. On the way to the throne room, I had to choose whether to save a member of the crew or leave him. I choose save, much to Lord Scourge’s massive dislike (he has almost -1000 affection towards Nadia). T7 is the only companion the Jedi Knight can take on the final mission because the Emperor can't influence a droid. (So make sure to upgrade T7's gear). Immediately the fight reminded me of the Force phantoms Lumiya created in Betrayal. The confrontation is a satisfying end, but the final dialogue options with the Emperor seemed skewed with Light/Dark points. I chose the Light Side option and earned 50 points. Given the Dark Side option, it seems as if the decision warranted more than 50 points. Generally speaking, there are far less Light Side point options than Dark. 

The Jedi Knight contains a consistent military tone to it. It’s very common solider, right in the middle of everything. It felt very “Star Wars.” I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to feel as if they are on the front lines. 

While watching the Consular story, I was constantly reminded of Obi-Wan. Earning the Master title much earlier than the Jedi Knight, the position on the Jedi Council, the negotiating, it’s all there. The Consular drips Obi-Wan (if played completely Light) like the Smuggler bleeds Han Solo. The Consular heals and saves. 

Blocking the Emperor's attacks

Most of the final confrontations for the varying planet storylines are roughly the same. A bit of variety with the fight mechanics would have been nice to see. If it were a group event, the term “tank and spank” comes to mind. Those fights were always nice in World of Warcraft after dealing with a raid boss with a nasty quirk. 

My only major complaint is occurs when the crew works to capture the Emperor. The Jedi falls to the Dark Side. There’s no option to avoid it. The Emperor invades the mind and influences horrible acts that are never revealed. BioWare also doesn’t say how long the Jedi Knight is in the Emperor’s clutches. 

This story point isn’t right. The option should exist to allow players to try to trick those around her that she’s fallen; only she hasn’t. The Jedi is now tainted and there’s not a thing a player can do about it. The only point, it seems, is to push Dark Side favoritism. The move was so out of character it was ridiculous. 

Aside from that incident, the Jedi Knight storyline is quite enjoyable. I recommend it to anyone wanting to feel like Anakin Skywalker, Jaina Solo, Corran Horn and other Jedi warriors.

SWTOR: Reaching level 50

I hit 50 today.

I’ll be honest; the most exciting part about hitting max level wasn’t seeing my level change. It was that I could put the purple crystal that’s been burning a hole in my inventory for a few days into the slot on my lightsaber. I still have to finish Corellia and the Jedi Knight class quest. 

It was my goal to have a purple lightsaber as a Jedi Knight long before I ever made Nadia. I’ve always liked the purple lightsaber, first introduced via Jaina Solo. The purple lightsaber seems sleeker than the blue or green, for some reason. 

At first, I’d heard that only the Sith could have purple. Then, a person in the guild mentioned that he thought a world boss dropped it. A couple days ago, BioWare added in some crystals that players could purchase with their hard-earned credits. The vendor selling these crystals will disappear at the 1.2 patch. There’s a white crystal, too. I haven’t seen anyone with that yet. It costs a couple million credits. 

I was on Corellia, waiting for my husband to arrive with his Jedi Consular so we could start questing. He opened up a trade window upon arrival and there it was a purple lightsaber crystal. It sat in my bags, waiting. As a side note, I did have the credits for it and planned to purchase the coveted item when I returned to the fleet. The funny thing is that the crystal is a great gift. 

Nadia’s all decked out in a new chest piece (so long, caped crusader) and new boots. She’s not wearing a hood anymore. I’d forgotten exactly what her hairstyle was. I haven’t seen it for around 40 levels. 

I plan to try to finish the class story this weekend. Until then, you can find me running around the warzones with a purple blade.

Han Solo book hitting shelves Winter 2012 and other book news

According to the Star Wars Books Facebook page, Timothy Zahn's Han Solo book will hit shelves in Winter 2012. Dare I say that 2012 is going to be a good year for EU fans?

In addition to that, Drew Karpyshyn is working on another SWTOR novel title Annihilation.

From the Facebook page post:

Republic agent Theron Shan and his Twi’lek compadre, Teff’ith (from Dark Horse Comics’ STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: THE LOST SUNS) must contend with a Sith Empire counter-attack against the Republic, spearheaded by the lethal apprentice of Darth Malgus. Satele Shan and Jace Malcolm co-star in what will be a fast-paced and tension-fraught tale based on the award-winning video game from BioWare and LucasArts.

 Unfortunately, the book news isn't all good. The Nomi Sunrider novel was cancelled, ruining a fantastic opportunity to see a woman lead.

Checking in with SWTOR

Void Star

Well, we’re a little more than a month out from the official launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Funny, it feels as if it has been out longer. It often seems that way with games, doesn’t it? 

Right now, I am working my way through Balmorra on my Jedi Knight. Thus far, I think Tatooine is my favorite planet. Balmorra is fine, Alderaan is good, but there was something about the way Tatooine was set up and laid out that I really enjoyed. As for the planets I don’t care for? Taris, not that that is a surprise to many players. Dromund Kaas comes in second on that list.

I changed my spec to Focus and noticed a huge improvement on damage done. It’s great in PVP. My damage counts have jumped up considerably, as have kills and medals.

I think that’s one of the nice things about taking time to level: you can experiment more. I’d rather try out a spec and not like it at level 20 or 30 than mess with it at 50. It took a few times to figure out a rotation I liked, but the result was satisfactory.

The ability to try out new play styles is important in a MMO. It gives players more options and ways to improve. In World of Warcraft, I tried out Fire Mage for a few levels. That didn’t do it for me. I was an Arcane kind of player. I did use Frost in PVP often. WoW introduced dual specialization awhile back, which made it easier to switch. I’m not sure if that actually helped the issue of lack of tanks and healers.

Speaking of tanks and healers, SWTOR has an abundant amount of tanks running around but not many healers. That’s unusual to see after WoW. I can’t tell you how many times I spent time looking for a tank. In this game, everyone searches for healers.

SWTOR doesn’t offer this. If they did, then would they eventually allow players to change advanced classes? I’m not sure if I like that idea. Yes, it is annoying to need to decide the specialization at level 10, especially if you haven’t played them, but it does require players to pay attention to the game.

In the next coming weeks, look for entries about romance, The Phantom Menace and more SWTOR adventures. And if you are new to the game or MMOs, check out my Q/A with Fangirl Blog here.

SWTOR Endgame: What's there and what I'd like to see

I quit playing World of Warcraft twice. The reason I quit both times were similar: it became boring. 

I started playing WoW about a year before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. Between work and class, it took months to reach 70. After that, I hit somewhat of a brick wall. I didn’t like PVP (at the time) and the raiding group I was in was horrible. It wasn’t a question of skill. It was more or a problem with getting started. We’d schedule the time for eight and wouldn’t start until 10. Someone wouldn’t show (which happens), someone needed to do something “real quick” or half the group would go AFK at random intervals.

When we did get started, we could usually take down the enemies within a reasonable amount of time. The downside was that once the fight ended; there was yet another round of waiting. I’d talk to people who would clear Kara in a matter of hours while it took us two nights. 

I tried raiding with other groups, but ran into similar problems. Half of us would wait 30 minutes for everyone else to show up, someone would leave without warning halfway through a fight or everything would implode. There’s no guarantee that a raid group is good. Sometimes a person’s off night costs the raid. There were very few times that I had a successful raid. 

Wrath of the Lich King came out; I leveled up to 80 through the dismal Northrend and again found myself with nothing to do. Only this time, there was no expansion on the way. Between planning a wedding, finishing up my last semester of college and a general lack of stuff do, I quit. 

The second time I played WoW, I only PVP’d. I helped with lower level raids for guild achievements but that was it on that front. I quit month later because TOR’s release date was approaching and I didn’t have anything to do. Rolling more characters to drag through the same quests I didn’t care about wasn’t appealing.

I don’t dislike raiding. When the raids went well or we were actually doing something, it was enjoyable. I had no desire to do it when I returned to WoW and don’t care to in The Old Republic.  I suppose that’s one of the reasons that endgame content isn’t nearly as a big deal to me as it is to others.

There is no doubt how vital good endgame content is. Without, there’s nothing for players to do once they reach max level. The content should pose a challenge. Because I prefer PVP, I’d like to see a 50s only warzone or something like that. Ilum poses all types of problems. Two days ago, Executive Producer-Live Services Jeff Hickman announced that players who took advantage of a bug on Ilum in the Jan. 18 patch would be punished in some way. Players were camping at the enemy bases after taking the various control points on the planet and killing to earn valor.

 Now, I completely understand why this would be frustrating. It makes it difficult to complete the dailies. Players who knowingly took advantage of the bug to increase their value levels rapidly were wrong. It’s fair to take back some of the valor those players earned unfairly. Neither party is free of blame. The players chose to take advantage of it and BioWare didn’t catch the bug in testing. Exploiting bugs happens in MMOs. It happens in console games. Thankfully, it didn’t take BioWare long to deal with the problem. 

This issue brings Ilum to question. I haven’t been there yet, but it’s a PVP world. I want to know what’s going on with it because that’s the type of play I prefer. I don’t know what they should do with the world to make it better. Maybe placing most of the dailies in non-PVP zones would work, and then leaving a few in the open area. That way, players could at least complete some of their dailies.

It reminds me of Tol Barad. Your faction had to win control to complete a group of dailies. You could do the ones on the other side no matter who had control. Winning Tol Barad, at least on my server, was a pain. It wasn’t a good system. 

I don’t know what a good PVP scenario would be for only 50s. I’m not a game developer. There needs to be something done, whether it’s fixing the problems on Ilum or bringing in a new 50-only warzone to give the max level PVP players something else to do.

At this point, I don’t think it’s fair to compare TOR to WoW. WoW has had years to perfect the game. There was a two-year gap between the times I played and I noticed countless improvements. New games have bugs. They don’t have as much content as ones that have been out for years. Players coming from games with lots of content and things to do, like WoW, may feel bored by the lack of options.

One of my favorite additives to WoW was the achievement system. Players could earn titles, mounts and other rewards by completing the objectives. The list is so long that it gives players plenty to do with their time once hitting max level. TOR is only a month out from the launch date. Players now are at the ground floor. It’s not perfect, but it’s fun.

I don’t feel like I can predict if the game will succeed or fail. That it’s Star Wars will keep it going for a while. With the story and voiceovers, it takes longer to reach max level than other games. There’s enough to do 1-49. For casual gamers, they could play the game for a couple of months, working on characters until the endgame content matters. Some worlds you play for all classes, but those quests are broken up by the unique class story quests. In addition, you can pick different Light/Dark alignments to mix it up. 

The hardcore gamers suffer. While they aren’t the main portion of the market, they’re still part of the customer base. 

The most important thing BioWare can do right now to ensure the survival of the game is focus on activities for players to do at max level, be it a new warzone, releasing a harder raid or adding in some sort of fun system like WoW’s achievements. Or something else.

The main thing for people debating on playing the game should keep in mind is that it is fun. It’s an enjoyable game to play. There is enough content to do at the moment, what with leveling up the various classes.

It’s not perfect (no game is), but give it a little room to improve just as if every other MMO needs to do. The short attention span lifestyle hurts all games. Players want more and more at faster rates than the developers can do. At some point, consumers need to give some—and the companies should give back.

SWTOR: Some screenshots of my characters

Just for fun, I thought I'd post some screenshots of my characters in Star Wars The Old Republic.

This is my main character, a Jedi Knight. She's a Guardian specializing in Vigilance. She's carrying an orange lightsaber, picked up in Athiss. I decided to keep the orange color crystal for now. At the moment, not many have that color. My goal is to have a purple color crystal. I'm hoping that I can unlock the schematic once my Artifice is high enough. My Jedi follows a strict Light Side path.

This is my Imperial Agent. She's Sniper specializing in Marksmanship. Her path lies in the grey or neutral alignment.

Here's my Smuggler. As you can see, I haven't played him very much. He's restoring his health with the coolest animation--flipping a coin and shooting it. I haven't decided his spec yet.

I have one more character, a Sith Inquisitor. I didn't have a chance to snag a picture of her. She's a red Twi'lek, level 10. She's going to be a Sorcerer and go into Corruption to heal.

Here's some images of space combat.

Yes, we are going into that asteroid field.

Space combat is quite fun, though challenging at first. I do prefer the sleekness of the Imperial Agent's ship over the Jedi Knight's. The companions sure could use a lesson in reducing comm chatter!

2011 in Recap

2011 is ending. I know. I can’t believe it either. This year I started blogging more often and intend to keep that up next year. This year was also an interesting one for Star Wars and geek culture in general.

So what happened this year that was significant to geeks and women? Let’s see, in February, Volkswagon aired a commercial showing a child dressed as Darth Vader trying to use the Force. Search engines exploded with questions about the child’s gender. Various factors like the bedroom and toys seen were used as evidence to both sides. Unfortunately, all this did was hurt the debate. In addition, this year was the first Geek Girl Con and based on various blog posts from those who attended, it sounded as if it was a rousing success and the Blizzard released a female-based World of Warcraft commercial.

In book news, fans were thrown for a loop when it was believed the X-Wing series was no longer in print. Fortunately, this isn’t true and we can all stay calm. Aaron Allston’s Conviction hit shelves, providing readers with his final piece of the Fate of the Jedi series. Fans can buy Star Wars books on their eBook readers and tablets. Unfortunately, not all book happenings were well received. Christie Golden’s Ascension caused a large stir with the introduction of domestic violence by heroes into Star Wars.

Amidst the other releases was the announcement of the release date and the cover of Aaron’s Allston’s new book Mercy Kill. Based on forums and Twitter feeds, fans are anxiously awaiting this book. There’s also word of a Timothy Zahn Han Solo book.

Finally, Star Wars The Old Republic launched. The launch of this game has been interesting. Servers are full. There are queues just to log into account management. The sheer number of people playing this game is fantastic.

Other pieces of Star Wars news trickled in, like the news of 3D Star Wars movies and return of Darth Maul to The Clone Wars.

2011 was up and down for us Star Wars. Lovers of the EU are still floundering in a state of limbo. Star Wars gamers have a great game. More people are accepting that women are an important part of the geek product market. We’re still seeing glass ceilings and brick walls, but it’s a start.

So what is 2012 going to bring? Will Apocalypse deliver? Are we going to see real female characters and not male characters with a women’s face?

Bring it on, 2012. Things are changing and it’s past time.

Star Wars The Old Republic Launch Day!

It’s Dec. 20 and you know what that means: official launch day for Star Wars The Old Republic. The servers shut down last night in preparation for the official opening of the game.

What will be interesting to see is the retail demand of the game. With the sheer amount of preorders, it’s reasonable to think that the number of retail sales will be high.

Here’s to a smooth launch!

SWTOR: First Impressions

Star Wars The Old Republic launches in just two days. For those who preordered and redeemed their codes in time, Early Access began Tuesday (the day BioWare let you in depended on when you put in the code). I made it in first thing Tuesday morning, though I didn’t start playing until later that day.

The first step is deciding the server and making the character. I am on a PVP server right now, one that hasn’t had a queue yet, thank goodness. Some of the more popular servers have queues longer than 30 minutes. These will probably drop in the next month or so once all of launch hype dies down.

The character creation screen is easy for anyone to use, new or old gamers. For each class and species, you can select body types, hair, skin and other features (facial hair, ect). It reminded me of the Sims. The only real complaint I have is that there aren’t any long hairstyles. Maybe this has to do with the animation or something, but it would have been nice. There are several good styles, though. The body type options are also nice.

I rolled a Chiss Imperial Agent (with a proper Chiss name, of course), human Jedi Knight and a human Smuggler. I haven’t made my Sith Inquisitor yet or checked out the other classes yet.

Part of me wants to say that the class stories are unbalanced, but the other part says that it has to do with point of view. For instance, the Jedi Consular story I played in beta was dull as dirt. The Jedi Knight class story is much better, thankfully. However, I can see some people enjoying the Consular’s story. The Imperial Agent has an excellent story to it. It’s like being in a spy movie or something. As for the Smuggler? Well I’m only level three. I’ll have to get back with you on that. A good story is necessary to maintain interest in the game. The light side/dark side point system also helps with that.

It’s been said before, but the voice acting is so good in this game. It’s actually too good at some parts. The annoying, screwed up droids are so good that you are actually as irritated as your dialog choices suggest you are. The animations look great. The Smuggler’s move when he’s regaining health is one of the best.

Gameplay is pretty good. If you take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with all of the menus, navigating through the game is much easier. I’m not running the game on a top of the line computer and it works just fine. It can take a few extra seconds for things to load, but it’s not a big deal.

PVP is so much better than any other I’ve played. For one thing, you are chasing people with lightsabers and blasters. How awesome is that? Fighting a Sith with a red double bladed saber was amazing. BioWare added in a fun, unusual type of battleground: Hutball. Hutball is so much fun. You’re chasing each other around, trying to get the ball from the other team and score. The area has multiple levels, fire and toxic waste. It’s pretty much a Hutt paradise.

I’m afraid I don’t have much to say about the guilds. The guild I joined ended up going to a different server, so I joined another. There are plenty of people out there right now if you need to find a guild.

Crafting is much more interesting in this game. You can have one crafting skill and two supplement ones. You can send out your companions to do the tasks, which makes it much easier and more efficient. Once you have multiple companions, it will be even easier. The only thing is that you need to watch your credits. Those missions cost!

Overall, I haven’t had any issues with SWTOR that would make me think that the game will fail, though the endgame content is going to be a huge indication of that. The game is friendly to both newcomers to the MMO world and veterans. It’s definitely worth the time and money to play.

SWTOR: A story female gamers can enjoy

I participated in beta testing last weekend and can now say, thanks to the lifting of the NDA, that SWTOR features female-friendly characters and scenarios.

While running around on a Trooper last weekend, I encountered a variety of NPCs, both male and female, that had stories that fell under different categories. There was the desperate mother, the angry spy, the ambitious commando and more. I am not going to go into specifics. Why spoil the story for everyone?

It’s not enough to use a variety of male and female characters. If all of the characters fall into particular stereotypes, then they lack the potential to grow. In other words, not every woman is desperately waiting for her husband to return from the fighting and every man can’t be the do or die tough guy. It’s harder to play a female trooper who follows a dark path if every female NPC is cut from the same stereotypical mold. When that does happen, it can feel like a player is playing a male character with the skin of a female.

Feeling as if I was playing a female character was important to me. The game requires a player to maintain some degree of interest in the story. The only way to immerse yourself is to feel comfortable with your character. It’s harder to care about a game if you don’t care about what you’re playing. And as we all know, bored players often quit and subscriptions fall.

So bravo, BioWare, you did what every video game should do: make it appealing to male and female audiences.

Eventually (I hope), this won’t be an anomaly.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta Weekend is almost here

Another SWTOR beta weekend is coming up and I lucked out with an invite. It looks like this is going to be a huge beta weekend.

I have to admit that while I’m excited to have a chance to play the game, I’m hesitant to do too much. For one thing, I’m not going to play a class that I intend to play at launch. This means no Imperial Agent for me.

As each class has their own story and the choices/specialization makes variants to the story, it’s possible to see some differences if you played a class multiple times. I don’t know if there are enough differences to make it worth it for pure story purposes, though. If you wanted to play a different specialization, however, then it could be worth it. Therefore, technically, if a person played a Jedi Knight Sentinel in Beta he wouldn’t ruin the entire story for a Jedi Knight Guardian.

Either way, there are too many similarities for me to run around as an Imperial Agent Sniper and later play an Operative in the game. Too repetitive. And repetition can lead to boredom.
We don’t want that.

That’s why I’m glad that I wasn’t in the other Beta testing sessions. Sure, one would have been fun, but had I had access on and off for a year, it would have sucked out some of the fun. In addition, constantly starting over isn’t my cup of tea. I do plan to play multiple classes; of course, I just don’t see making multiple of the same class to play difference specialization.
Depending on what is implemented later in the game, it could be irrelevant. It’s always a possibility that players will get to trade a huge stack of credits for a new specialization or duel specs.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not going to race through this game like a caffeine-fueled Super Mario Bros. race (remember to earn those 99 lives) on a Sunday afternoon. Same goes for Beta.

SWTOR: Stop, take a deep breath and stay calm. Release is almost here.

A portion of the TOR community is going nuts. It was announced what fansites were coming to the fan site summit and people went bat crazy if they weren’t invited.

Because, apparently, BioWare knows every single podcast and fansite there is without prior contact. I mean really. Do people honestly think that Stephen Reid and co. spend hours each day search for each new podcast and fansite? Dream on.

Reid made a tweet on Monday stating:

“Hey #SWTOR fansites: if we don't know you exist, it's hard to work with you. Get in touch. Email fansites@swtor.com and say hi.”

He’s right. Unless a site or podcast takes the time to alert BioWare of their presence, how will their existence be known?

My Twitter field has been full of retweets originating from TOR sites I’ve never heard of griping about their exclusion from this event.

I have no idea how BioWare selects who to invite, but if it were my call I’d select people who stayed in frequent contact with me and had high traffic.

Yes, people can feel angry that they were left out. It’s within a person’s right to feel anger about a situation. It’s their right to discuss their anger with others. The problem arises when that anger controls their actions. Personal attacks, throwing fits and insults only make the situation worse. With so many taking their frustrations to Twitter, chunks of conversations are missed or ignored and more fights erupt. It’s making the community an ugly place to be. Too bad the official forums were on that boat a long time ago.

With less than two months until release, some people may feel as if they are at the end of their fuse. All the stress, anticipation and disappoint are coming to a head and an issue would normally seem minor acts as a spark to the fire. Conflict-heavy zones are a turnoff to many. No one wants to hear about how Tom or Abby didn’t get a free pass to play the game, especially when he or she feels entitled to it.

No one is entitled to a free pass. No one is entitled to anything just because he runs a fansite or podcast. For that matter, being a fan for over three years or owning the Collector’s Edition doesn’t mean you are entitled to anything either.

Yes, it’s disappointing not to be recognized. Go ahead and be angry, but please, stop and think before igniting fights. It’s gotten way out of hand.

If you want to make it, you have to network. You have to talk to the right people. End of story.

Two months until SWTOR. What are you doing to fill the gap?

Would you look at that, we are less than two months away from the release of Star wars: The Old Republic. It’s a little hard to believe. Some SWTOR fans have entered a waiting limbo and are asking themselves these questions. Do I pick up another game to play? Do I wait? Is it worth the money to invest in another game for less than two months? Do I find something else to do?

Of course, for some future players this doesn’t matter. We aren’t playing a game right now. I find it futile to reactivate my “World of Warcraft” account for two months knowing I’ll stop playing when early access starts. If I had plans to return to WoW, then maybe, but news of the ridiculous expansion turned me off to the game. Some changes need to occur if I’m to return.

The holiday season does fill in the gap for many players. Players in the U.S. have Thanksgiving, and then there’s Christmas right after release for a good percentage of the world. With TOR coming out on Dec. 20 (unless you’re in early access), some day before Christmas shoppers may need to drag themselves out to the stores on the 19th.

What am I doing to fill in the time, you ask? Well, I intend to spend November participating in National Novel Writing Month. As for December? Who knows? Hopefully editing my story for NaNo.

Two months seems like a long time to some. Remember when you were a kid and the two months before Christmas was agonizing? That time will fly by and before you know it, you’ll be running around Coruscant chasing down a target.

If you want to follow a countdown, visit Docking Bay 94 where Joao from The Cantina Cast writes 80 blogs in 80 days to count down to TOR.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Taking the scenic route to 50

“How fast are you going to hit 50?”

Star Wars: The Old Republic” is almost here and many players are asking themselves this question. As with any video game, there are people who want to race to be the first to hit max level. Some people on the official forums have said that they will take time off work in order to play the game. I’m not talking about one day, more like week (talk about the potential of a fast burnout).

Racing to the top defeats the purpose of the game. With all of the cut scenes, story and dialogue menus to go through, there’s simply no way to hit 50 as fast as some players would like (even if you just randomly click on dialogue options). This game relies on its story to keep people playing. With the ability to sway your character dark or light, it gives an extra touch of personalization. It’s not like “World of Warcraft” where players don’t need to know anything about the quest aside from the actions needed to complete it. The lore appeals to some, but not all. That could be one reason why the game attracts to so many people. You don’t have to know anything about the lore to play.

Of course, the same could be said for TOR. Anyone can play that game without understanding knowing the details of the Jedi and Sith. The difference here is that TOR will tell you through voiceovers.

By pulling people into the story, TOR has a greater chance of engrossing players for the long run. The ability to somewhat mold the characters to your liking enhances overall play.

Many want to spend a good chunk of time jumping into the universe. While this is fine, cramming into too much time can cause a burnout. Imagine spending 12 or more hours each day playing the same game. For most of us, we’re going to get sick of sitting there. By Day 3, logging in seems like a chore. Why burn yourself out so fast? Take it slow. Spend a day getting into it and then play when you want.

MMO burnout happens all the time. It’s inevitable. Once that monthly fee goes through, it feels like you have to log on. Take a day off when logging on becomes a chore. If you pay monthly, the $14.99 averages out to about 49 cents a day. Compared to other forms of entertainment, that’s low. Not logging on for a day isn’t going to “set you back.”

Pushing through to 50 will cost players a rich experience. This is our chance to fulfill that childhood dream to be a Star Wars character; don’t waste it.

SWTOR: Why the Character Name Matters

What’s in name? Why does it matter?

In late December, I will create my characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic. While it’s easy to decide the character’s appearance, the name is a whole other issue.

The name is the key identifying feature of the character.

Selecting a character’s name in a MMORPG may not sound like it matters, but that is how people identify you. In past games, I never put much thought in the name. I usually chose names based off book characters. Even doing that, I still debated about the name.

With Star Wars: The Old Republic, I intend to make up the names beforehand. Instead of selecting a name from a book or movie and changing the spelling, I plan to come up with original names. That being said, I want these names to fit Star Wars. For example, my Chiss Imperial Agent will have an appropriate Chiss name, not something more appropriate for a Corellian nerf farmer. You don’t need to know that Malgus is a Sith to know he’s evil; his name says it all.

For role players, the name is even more important. It acts as part of the character’s story. Many role players create a back-story, personality, traits, history and other facts. While I am not a role player, SWTOR caters to RP players in addition to the regular gamer.

The ability to select exactly which response to a quest fits your character makes the character more customizable. This, along with selecting the right name, makes the character feel more like it’s “yours.” In “World of Warcraft,” as much as I enjoyed my character, there was nothing about her that made her feel “different” from any other undead arcane mage walking around Orgimmar. That I can select how moral my Imperial Agent or Jedi Knight is adds something extra to the game.

And there is certainly some irony to making a “dark side Jedi” or “light side Sith.”

These factors play into the naming decision- along with what I want people to call me in chats. I’ll pass on Boss Nass.