SWTOR - Day 01

One good thing about this early access thing is that since I got in on the first day of it, I probably got to experience the least amount of in-game traffic until the game starts to lose it's popularity.  I enjoyed it.  There were times in the persistent world where I was the only one around doing quests.  It was quite relaxing.

So yeah -- TOR is here.  Well, it's here for those who pre-ordered the game.  Ok, actually, it's not even here for ALL the people who pre-ordered the game.  Just SOME of them.  I honestly don't know how they chose...perhaps how quickly you clicked BUY on pre-order day?  No idea!  In any case, I got my e-mail yesterday morning, and played for a few hours before bed last night.

It was an interesting parallel, because I had just spend a few hours prior to -that- going through the three new instances that Blizzard added to WoW in their Hour of Twilight patch.  It was an MMO scale of justice with a polished, well established game on one side and a new, scrappy game on the other.  It made it quite easy to make comparisons, and it was sort of like watching a boxing match, or maybe even a fight from a 1960's Batman TV show where the words of the punching sound effects flash on the screen.

WoW's animations are incredibly smooth and a joy to watch.  (Bam!)  TOR's quests make me feel more involved and engrossed in what's happening.  (Pow!) I can play something that doesn't look like a human in WoW.  (Biff!)  TOR has lightsabers.  (Whap!)

But unlike an episode of Batman, there wasn't a knock-out punch to be seen from either side.  Quite honestly, from a casual standpoint one could easily play both games without issue, aside from cringing at having two subscriptions to pay.  If you want to raid in either, though...well, you'd probably have to make a choice unless you have a ton of free time on your hands.  I don't, and I'm fine with that.

I'm having fun, and that's what's important.  And, unlike with the beta (because it was beta), I'm beginning to feel that attachment to my character that I also feel in WoW when I invest the time and make accomplishments.  But fortunately, I'm also -not- feeling that sense of urgency that I have gotten from WoW in the past (back when I actually played a lot).  I'm talking about that "OH MY GOD I NEED TO LEVEL QUICKLY SO I DON'T FALL BEHIND" feeling.  It's not present, and good riddance to it.  I stopped playing right at 11:30 PM last night, and was level 6.  I hadn't even gotten my lightsaber yet.  And I'm fine with that, too.

I took some screenshots last night (at least, I think I did.  I didn't check my folder to ensure TOR and Fraps were working together) so I'll make more posts later when I have access to them.  If anyone is playing the game or is about to and wants to look me up, I'm on The Shadowlands server.  I rolled a Sith Warrior, and his name is Saburo.