So... Level 50.

[Exile007 5]

Warning: this perspective is coming from someone who joined ToR because of the story, not for an MMO. It also might contain a spoiler or two.

 

So after numerous ups and downs, I managed to ding level 50 with my Jedi Sentinel. I was a little bit disappointed with a glitch in the final mission of my class quest that forced me to wait until my Emergency Fleet Pass was available, start over, and then complete the quest. I was nevertheless excited to experience the endgame on an MMO. I've been told that you shouldn't judge an MMO until you're completely leveled. So I was told to go to Ilum, where all the cool stuff is located. Awesome! I had heard about those new flashpoints where you confront the Empire and blow them to bits. That sounds great! So I get to Ilum and venture into the Republic Base... and while trying to talk to quest-givers, this is what happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are several Empire players in the main Republic Base on Ilum. One of the things that I really liked about ToR was the distinct line between PvE and PvP. You CHOSE when you wanted to fight other players. However, on Ilum, Empire players find ways to flag you for PvP (I never figured out how they did it, but other players complained about it as well, everyone in general chat was pissed). So whenever I tried to go through the base, I was instantly slaughtered by geared Empire players. Eventually, a Republic player got the idea of creating an Operation to drive them out of the base (which was when I decided to take a screenshot of the mayhem). I'm all for players having fun, but I'm also against harassment, and I think this is harassment. A Republic player said that he or she sent a ticket in, but BioWare replied that Ilum is the "PvP" planet, which translates to PvP players being able to do whatever the hell they want. This is frustrating for me, to say the least, because I only play PvP to do Warzones to get my daily experience and credit boost. Maybe I just was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it still gives Ilum a bad taste in my mouth. I did both flashpoints and got the hell out of there before I got flagged again or something.

 

So then I travel back to the Republic Fleet where I unlock hard mode flashpoints, and level 50 PvP warzones. This stuff seems cool and all, but it seems sort of out of place with the rest of The Old Republic, which is incredibly story driven. The endgame kind of seems like a grind for gear, credits, and legacy experience. If there's no story, I don't really see a point in playing. But this is probably where I'm not enough of an MMO player to endure the grind. Therefore the only time I ever play with my beloved Jedi Sentinel is when I (bravely) venture to Ilum, do some quick and dirty dailies, and then send the credits to my new Bounty Hunter-> Mercenary, and then pimp him out with Legacy Perks (which is one of my favorite features in ToR). I'm very excited about the free to play option that will be coming soon, because it lets you play all of the classes for free, which IMO is the most fun part of the game.

 

Also IMO: don't have high expectations for the Jedi Knight class. By the end of the story I was about to tear my hair out from the "forced epicness."

 

So I feel like if you're a casual gamer, level 50 gameplay isn't for you - it's too much of a grind.

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Meanwhile, MMO "veterans" complain about lack of grinding at level 50.

 

As RPG-player too, I have no idea why one would want to. Meh. Atleast the mess TOR is wont cost me 15 euro per month. And I guess I can suffer horrible gameplay for free for a nice story.

[Exile007 5]

Yeah... I think that Bioware tried to please both crowds, until in the end no one was happy.