Star Wars : The Old Republic - Pre-Orders

As most of the world knows, and definitely knows before coming here at the very least, Bioware has put up the section for pre-orders on their website however it isn't entirely known if Bioware has done this before anyone else. I've heard people say that Gamestop has been taking pre-orders long before today, and I'm sure other retailers have been doing the same.

In any case, the main selling point for pre-ordering seems to be early access to the game in the order of which you redeem your pre-order code. I assume this means that there's going to be a “early release date” at which they start allowing people into the game, as well as a normal release date. Rather than allowing people in game now for instance.

Bioware also seems to be doing the actual editions differently than World of Warcraft, and games that usually have a standard edition, then a Collector's edition with a few extra things. Instead, ToR will have 3 editions, one being standard, then digital deluxe, and finally Collector's with the last being the most expensive. Here's the list of things they sell the product with, and furthermore, what I think about the actual product.

Collector's Edition

-30 days of game time
-Color Stone which changes colors of attacks apparently
-Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue (which I think is interesting)
-Game disks collectible metal case
-The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural as annotated by Satele Shan
-The Old Republic galaxy map
-Custom security authentication key
-Music of Star Wars : The Old Republic
-High-quality Collector's edition box
-Flare gun
-Training Droid
-HoloDancer
-HoloCam
-STAP
-Exclusive Mouse Droid
-Exclusive in-game collectors edition store

And it's priced at 150.00 before tax, which is quite a lot. I personally think WoW collector's editions have offered a bit less for much less. However it still covered most of everything that is included in this edition such as the music CD, a in game item, and case, also a art book which doesn't seem to be involved here unless one of the items is named differently. On the other hand, this collector edition has way more in game items exclusive to the collector's edition, as well as a statue, which is probably the most appealing part of the whole package to me. In any case, neither Bel, or I currently have enough money to get this, so we'll probably go for the digital deluxe version, but it's still up in air at the moment.

Digital Deluxe Version

30 Days of Game Time
Color Stone
Flare Gun
Training Droid
HoloDancer
HoloCam
STAP

While it has considerably less “stuff” than the Collector's edition it has enough to keep it, it's rival as long as the person is only looking for extra stuff for buying something in game. However at the same time it's value in that regard is reduced because the Collector's Edition still tops the in-game bonuses by having a in-game store, and mouse droid that's only part of the Collector's Edition. So it essentially is only a bit better than the regular edition to me, because I like in-game items when I buy games. The real thing for me here is that the price tells me that all of the inclusion content is priced at 20 extra dollars, that would mean everything else in the collectors edition should be 80 dollars worth to one's perspective. Of course, the entire marketing audience for Collector's editions are for people who're super huge fans, and probably wouldn't have too many qualms about shelling out 150 dollars for the whole package.

Standard Edition

Color Stone
30 Days of Game Time

Of course this one has the least but will still probably be the most dominant as it's the cheapest (if it isn't then that's pretty surprising), priced at 60 dollars, it's fairly standard.

While I personally think I would have no doubts about getting the Collector's Edition if I had money to spare, usually since I do that means I'm going towards the standard edition. The reason for my wanting the Collector's edition is that I'm a huge fan of exclusive in game pets as the droid mouse seems to be, and while the Darth Malgus statue doesn't look amazing, it would be neat to add to my room. I also have previously bought few Collector's Editions (WC3,WoW, and WOTLK) in the past so adding ToR to that would be nice. So essentially the buy to me is the statue and the droid mouse, everything else being extra.

7 things I would like to see in Star Wars : The Old Republic

-Group size and level scaled instances (from Lord of the Rings Online)

-Achievement system

-Great deal of ship interior customization

-Instances with random events

-No preorder bonuses

-Pazaak

-PvP system that focuses on PuG fighting

1.)Group Size and Level Scaled Instances

I first saw this feature in Lord of the Rings Online and thought it was super neat. It basically allows the player to scale the instance by choosing the group size, the level of enemies, and then finally the difficulty. To me this allows for a lot of re-playability of the instances. The counter to that however is that the instances do become repetitive eventually, so while it's a neat feature I wouldn't be traumatized if it wasn't around, maybe limiting it to a level that you can enter it while leveling, and then making a higher level version of it like in WoW, would be a better way to go about it.

2.)Achievement System

I personally enjoyed playing WoW before achievements came out, but I only really started to like it again after the system was implemented. I also really liked the gamer point system that the Xbox 360 came with except for the fact that maintaining a high game score required a lot of money, and playing games that you normally wouldn't have fun playing. In any case, I think achievements really are a selling point for a lot of people including myself in that they expand the game's life span as well as adding extra things to do.

3.)Ship Interior Customization

I know that ship interiors are basically confirmed after looking at the screenshots on swtor.com however I don't believe I've heard much about how many features a ship will actually have. If a ship has one feature I would like to be able to add things such as furniture to it, or trophies, rather than being able to completely change the ship interior layout around.

4.)Instances with Random Events

Everyone who has played most games in their life has experienced some form of repetition, RPGs especially suffer from this in the form of dungeons or instances. While instances are usually a blast to go through the first time, the third, or possibly even the second time around never actually feels the same. In ToR I know that there's a story emphasis on flashpoints as well as outside of them, however I do think that further imposes on the problem of repetition, as stories don't change often, unless the developers allow them to change anyway. That's why I think instances with certain random events that can happen while a group goes about completing them can greatly expand the instancing experience. It's true that there could only be a finite amount of events, but even one slight change to the instance can make a whole new experience.

5.)No Pre-order Bonuses

This is probably one of the smallest complaints I have about anything, however I generally don't like games that give bonuses of any kind that players get simply for buying the game before price reductions occur. Due to popularity alone a large amount of players will have no problem paying full price, however I don't think the players who join late should be penalized in anyway even if it is like not having a unique light saber color or a similarly minor benefit.

6.)Pazaak

A lot of people didn't exactly enjoy Pazaak in Knights of the Old Republic 1 or 2, however I think if it's implemented in ToR it will be quite a new experience as long as it remains primarily a multiplayer one. It would be great to be able to collect a deck of Pazaak cards and be able to play Pazaak with other players for fun or maybe with a wager of a few credits. My main point being that unlike the Pazaak AI in KOTOR 1 or 2, players can't really accuse another player of cheating unless the system allows for cheating, unlike the before mentioned games. Maybe modify or limit the types of cards players can get, and then I believe Pazaak can be quite a hit for just hanging around, or relaxing after a day of instance grinding, or questing.

7.)Player versus Player system that focuses on “Pick up Groups”

While this opinion is definitely not shared by everyone, I believe that one of the best ways to balance PvP is to limit how many players one party can join with. The reason for this is because with too many players that join together, one side loses any sort of balance set by the game in favor of people coordinating on a third party voice program, and with both sides being completely equal in that regard the game turns more into competition rather than fun.

I don't necessarily think all of that is a bad thing, but I generally didn't like the PvP in WoW when it became more of a sport than an activity to do. I believe an ideal PvP system would sort the people who join in groups and put them against other people who join as groups. I also don't mind WoW's BG system of limiting 5 people in a group to join other “PuG” members or other groups, this way does allow players to join together somewhat, but not in a great enough number that would drastically affect the battle.

All in all, I don't think there's anything wrong with people PvPing in a group, I think a system needs to sort them accordingly however, to allow people who don't join as a group, a fair chance in battle, as well as keeping all of the rewards accessible reasonably.