Peek @ SWTOR

While I didn't get into SWTOR beta over the weekend... I still got a peek at the game. I've been wanting to  get a first hand look on the game to really gauge how I feel about it. Today I thought I'd share my thoughts. I'm not leaking information that isn't out already just some quick thoughts.

I have always hated it when games don't have auto attack, especially MMO games. I suppose the way to sum up the combat in TOR is compare it to playing a caster in WoW (exclude the wand idea) while there is no auto attack there is an attack that doesn't take resources and does lower damage than the other abilities so that sort of helps. Fights seem smooth and fast. I don't know if I am sold on it but it seems pretty fluid and different classes have different mechanics for it (think: rage, mana and so on).

Companions are very awesome, they can do missions for you and obtain rewards, harvest and craft. They can only be interacted with on the ship and it seems you can change them out on the fly which is a good thing. I love the companion thing and they looked great to me. I read that they will be a huge part of the game and it may take some people a bit to get use to them, those that dislike pets and henchmen.

Groups consist of four people so it looks like the perfect make up for a duo or a nice setting for a small group of friends playing together. I suppose it will take less time to fill the group slots, especially with companions. I also heard about two people dungeons which would be great for solo with your companion. Raids are smaller in this game too, sixteen and eight people. If you loved the days of MC forty man raids you might frown at the size here.

World maps were interesting looking and you use them to travel with your ship to planets. It seemed you could just zoom all over if you wanted. There are taxis on the planets (why do you drive your own taxi, lol), basically a flight path, and you don't have to 'discover' a taxi before using it. So it seems travel isn't a huge pain here.

I liked the character creation, there are multiple body types so something for everyone to pick from. Faces were interesting and different aspects to choose from with each race. Just some unique feeling little bits of flair to make your character look more unique. Hair was awesome and there are lots of skin and makeup tones. Much bigger variety than I thought as well as a zoom function to really see the face. Lots of cool capes and cloaks on players running around. Lightsabers looked neat too.

The world looks great, very science fiction feeling- from what I saw. As someone who has her head stuck in the clouds of high fantasy worlds I think I'd miss my fantasy stuff after awhile. That's just me. It does have a nice feel but I did hear the complaint (from my brother) that some of the starting zones felt too enclosed because they were indoors.

I tried a jedi  and a sith inquisitor. I hear the jedi consular feels a bit better to play but I didn't have a chance to play one. I thought both were pretty fun. I smashed faces in solo and it was a nice pace starting out so I am looking forward to getting more of a feel for combat in the game. Lots of great voice acting, even your character responds in the scenes. If you absolutely hate it you can always hit the space bar.

Overall the game has tons of polish I know it will be great to play through, even just for the story. Ships gave it a feeling of your own little place in the galaxy. I don't know if it (the game) has sticking power, you know that sticky feeling that grabs you (the one people complain Rift didn't have...), I didn't get to play long enough to feel it. My brother was hooked though! So the wait begins- until Dec. 20! It looks like five of us will be playing together so far (family) and that alone is exciting as we have not played an MMO together since the start of  WoTLK. If anything it will be a nice fun game to play through the holidays!