First of all, no matter the problems of this game (who are a lot), it will be always 5.0 stars , because of the importance in my life and to help me learn english.
Let's talk about origin stories. It's not the best out there, but as a star wars story in the most rich of lore era that is the Old Republic, does it job well. The thing this game does better is immersion, i love being a ruthless Sith, or a deadly bounty hunter, or a heroic Jedi and so on, you understand what i'm talking about. Even if the choices don't really matter much in the end, they do feel right for the self development for what you decide how your character will be. The companions are cool and i love interacting with then (not the ones with quests tho, i hate having to leave for another planet just for them lol). As i said, there are better major stories out there in writing and everything, but it's decent and i like it enough.
Now lets burn things here, the combat imported ages ago from WoW is a awful experience. It's not bad if you ask me, but after years playing this game only, and getting out there to play other MMOs, even WoW that changed its combat, this one is so outdated that is not even fair. I started playing about 8 years ago, and i can easily tell, the skills and combat are the same, besides 2-3 habilities removed and the revamp of combat specializations aren't enough to update the feeling for a todays game, or even for a pleasure gameplay.
First, we had the companions change some years ago, you can choose the role for you companion, that way you can mantain the one you liked even if needed a healer or a DPS (i honestly never used them as a tank). If you choose DPS, they gonna smash you so much with an absurd amount of damage (it's not a good example but i remember clearly a comp doing 36-40k hits when the max i ever saw from a player being 20k), you not gonna to use half of your rotation and everything is already dead because they are stronger than you. Now, if you choose a healer... you can't die. Yeah, you CAN'T die. It's so stupid, i found a player from the other faction, and we were at a PvP instanced world map (why? i don't know) and we started attacking each other... and no one died, and we target each other companions... and no one died. I'll not talk about tanks because i didn't use them enough for that. They nerfed them hard, in Onslaught i think? But they are still too much powerful, and every battle becomes a joke.
Second, the level sync is terrible. Now lets talk about something here, i like level sync, and for the quests and rewards part is good, but for the combat or instance areas is completed stupid. "You will now face a powerful foe! It will be a fierce battle" then you happily go to the planet for the battle, but is a low level planet, Korriban for example. You being sync for level 10, in a quest level 50... the big final battle... I think is clear enough that it's gonna be very very very easy. I once let my companion alone kill the boss. Before the level sync i remember suffering some bosses, and having to get an another companion that is spec for heal just to have a chance, and i liked it. You can like how it is right know, but i don't so that's it sorry.
Third, walking simulator for the most part. It's an MMO, i know, but the balance between combat and conversations is very bad. I remember playing Mass Effect for hours without doing a single shot, and was cool because it's the game's focus, story, immersion and conversations! I don't like having a good piece of the story interrupted to run a giant map, like Hoth or Tatooine, just to kill or interact with one thing in an instance area that is big, with elevators, and rooms.
The origin stories are, for me, the best part of the game, and thankfully, are F2P. You have the two first expansions, that are ok, i like Shadow Of Revan and Oricon, but they became generic to all classes so it lost the flavor of personal conflicts. KOTFE and KOTET are ok... but they have so many bad decisions for the direction of the game that i dont want to talk too much. Onslaught is a patch, just like Legacy of The Sith (that i refused to pay because, again, is a patch).
I decided to talk only about the base game because is what i like most, and don't become a big block of text.
I have so much to talk about SWTOR, but after all these years i can't be impartial to a game that is so important to my life. The good part of it is free so i recomend playing if you like Star Wars and want to RP a character from the series. After that don't expect much from the MMO part.
Let's talk about origin stories. It's not the best out there, but as a star wars story in the most rich of lore era that is the Old Republic, does it job well. The thing this game does better is immersion, i love being a ruthless Sith, or a deadly bounty hunter, or a heroic Jedi and so on, you understand what i'm talking about. Even if the choices don't really matter much in the end, they do feel right for the self development for what you decide how your character will be. The companions are cool and i love interacting with then (not the ones with quests tho, i hate having to leave for another planet just for them lol). As i said, there are better major stories out there in writing and everything, but it's decent and i like it enough.
Now lets burn things here, the combat imported ages ago from WoW is a awful experience. It's not bad if you ask me, but after years playing this game only, and getting out there to play other MMOs, even WoW that changed its combat, this one is so outdated that is not even fair. I started playing about 8 years ago, and i can easily tell, the skills and combat are the same, besides 2-3 habilities removed and the revamp of combat specializations aren't enough to update the feeling for a todays game, or even for a pleasure gameplay.
First, we had the companions change some years ago, you can choose the role for you companion, that way you can mantain the one you liked even if needed a healer or a DPS (i honestly never used them as a tank). If you choose DPS, they gonna smash you so much with an absurd amount of damage (it's not a good example but i remember clearly a comp doing 36-40k hits when the max i ever saw from a player being 20k), you not gonna to use half of your rotation and everything is already dead because they are stronger than you. Now, if you choose a healer... you can't die. Yeah, you CAN'T die. It's so stupid, i found a player from the other faction, and we were at a PvP instanced world map (why? i don't know) and we started attacking each other... and no one died, and we target each other companions... and no one died. I'll not talk about tanks because i didn't use them enough for that. They nerfed them hard, in Onslaught i think? But they are still too much powerful, and every battle becomes a joke.
Second, the level sync is terrible. Now lets talk about something here, i like level sync, and for the quests and rewards part is good, but for the combat or instance areas is completed stupid. "You will now face a powerful foe! It will be a fierce battle" then you happily go to the planet for the battle, but is a low level planet, Korriban for example. You being sync for level 10, in a quest level 50... the big final battle... I think is clear enough that it's gonna be very very very easy. I once let my companion alone kill the boss. Before the level sync i remember suffering some bosses, and having to get an another companion that is spec for heal just to have a chance, and i liked it. You can like how it is right know, but i don't so that's it sorry.
Third, walking simulator for the most part. It's an MMO, i know, but the balance between combat and conversations is very bad. I remember playing Mass Effect for hours without doing a single shot, and was cool because it's the game's focus, story, immersion and conversations! I don't like having a good piece of the story interrupted to run a giant map, like Hoth or Tatooine, just to kill or interact with one thing in an instance area that is big, with elevators, and rooms.
The origin stories are, for me, the best part of the game, and thankfully, are F2P. You have the two first expansions, that are ok, i like Shadow Of Revan and Oricon, but they became generic to all classes so it lost the flavor of personal conflicts. KOTFE and KOTET are ok... but they have so many bad decisions for the direction of the game that i dont want to talk too much. Onslaught is a patch, just like Legacy of The Sith (that i refused to pay because, again, is a patch).
I decided to talk only about the base game because is what i like most, and don't become a big block of text.
I have so much to talk about SWTOR, but after all these years i can't be impartial to a game that is so important to my life. The good part of it is free so i recomend playing if you like Star Wars and want to RP a character from the series. After that don't expect much from the MMO part.