So I've played SWTOR on and off since it's release. I pre-ordered it and have my black-yellow crystal on all my characters, and have well over 1k hours total played before it migrated over to Steam as an additional download option. I've played WoW and FF14, but I could not get into Final Fantasy. During Warlords of Draenor for WoW, I came back to this game, took a break, and after Legion I started playing this game more often.

I'll start off with a pros/cons list as a simple outline and I will elaborate a little more on them as they are listed.

Class Story: I adore the class stories in this game. From being a Sith rising through the ranks, a Spec Force trooper taking out enemies of the Republic, or a simple man trying to make his way in the galaxy by taking bounties, the stories are really enjoyable and I find myself making new character almost all the time. Yea, there are some real stinkers in my opinion, I don't like Consular all that much, and Trooper is halfway decent, but the Empire is where it's at. Imperial Agent has the best story hands down.

Gameplay: It's a pretty standard MMO, WASD movement, keybinds, auto attacks, building/spending. To people migrating from a game like WoW, I'd say they'll be pretty comfortable. Some moves feel weighty and flashy and are fun to pull off. Nothing too complex, I'd say.

Expansions: Aside from maybe the Rise of the Hutt Cartel and maaaaybe Shadow of Revan, I'd say storywise these expansions are great additions and are a must to do at least once. If story isn't your thing, well, that's cool too.

Community: If you find yourself a nice, social guild to start, you'll have a good time. There are some really nice people I've met on here.

Transmog: I cannot understate how much I love the transmog this game has. Being able to mix and match armor pieces and then being able to unify the color of the chest piece is such a super handy tool to have that I wish most other games would try to emulate.


Community: Yea, I know, twice. While there are some nice people, there are some really nasty folk, but that's kind of what you expect sometimes. Mostly just chat trolls, or PvP tryhards, even guilds full of people who are just, well, not friendly at all. If you're running a flashpoint, which is this games form of dungeon, chances are if you aren't in a group with your friends, the people will plan on trying to speedrun it and expect you to keep up and skip cutscenes.

Content Droughts: There are just large bits of no content from the developers. They're good folk, don't get me wrong, but having to wait months on end for a couple missions for story or even just something new to do is very boring and leads to burnout.

Leveling: This one is kind of subjective and I like the leveling but I know it's kind of a big thing for some people; the leveling goes by pretty quick. You get XP boosts from class quests and if you're doing side quests on the first couple planets, you'll likely reach a level cap if you're unsubbed before you finish your class quests. I'd wager to say you'd also finish even as a sub. Granted, planets do scale you to a planetary cap, but that really takes away a sense of progression to some.

Inflation: Galactic Trade Network prices for some Cartel Market items is through the roof. A crate that gives you random Cartel Market items is, if I recall correctly, somewhere in the high millions, which to some is chump change. But then you have an item that sells 30 of those for upwards of billions of credits and cannot even be listed on the GTN, which is absurd.

Consider this extra section a "I couldn't decide where to put this, and some of these may or may not affect you in some way or another.

Cash Shop: While there is a cash shop, it is mostly for cosmetic purposes or boosts. There is no "buy endgame gear" from their store, which is good for some. The game is F2P, and there are ways to earn the premium currency (Cartel Coins) from playing. You could argue that selling the items you get onto the Auction House/Galactic Trade Network is some form of P2W, but I don't think it's a very good way of doing things.

Customer Support: Maybe back in the day when there was a highly active team working on this, this probably wouldn't even be mentioned. I have had so much trouble with customer support as of late despite being very concise with my information for certain issues, and nothing has been fixed. If they ask you to send screenshots through your email, I doubt they will ever see them. Also, do not get subs from the Steam store, there are a ton of issues with it that still haven't been worked out.

As I said at the start, I love SWTOR. But the game has its issues, some in control and others out of. I'm no designer, and I have no tried and true method of fixing the issues. If you're migrating over from another MMO, or would really like to get some great Star Wars story and fulfill some fantasies you've had about being a member of the Republic or Empire in an era before the OT, then I implore you to give this game a try. Even if you don't like playing with other people, there is still single player content for you to keep you busy, and if you enjoy interacting with others, there is plenty to do.

Cheers lads.

For 3 great games like this to be on sale most of the time is criminal. This is such a great series that I don't think I will ever experience something like again. If you enjoy a good space opera, characters that grow on you, fantastic world building, then this is something for you. There are some stinkers but that comes with the territory, the gameplay changes between all 3 games is about what you can expect from several years of working on them. I've completed 4 playthroughs of this game and every single one of them were great.

If I had to put a big complaint down it would be that you don't really know when you're going into DLC content, for example you could play what is effectively a prelude to ME3 before you even beat the main story of the 2nd game. As well as one of the best pieces of DLC , that being the Citadel DLC, unlocks midway through the game but is, in my opinion, best experienced before playing the final 2 missions. You can usually find a list of "best chronology to play the game in" lists on the web, but I can always give a list if someone asks. I would of course say that you should find things out yourself, but I enjoy playing games in chronological order storywise.

As I said, I've done 4 playthroughs of this game and I can easily say that after that 4th one is when I felt like I truly completed the game. If you ever run out of content in game, or want to spice things up, I absolutely recommend downloading mods that make things either more consistent, add new things, or just adds some variety.

TLDR: A great trilogy, it being $6 at the time of posting this is an absolute steal. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys single player games. Gameplay goes from RPG, lots of stats shooter to a traditional cover shooter over the course of the games. DLC needs to be made apparent and there should be better chronology. Mods are like adding toppings onto an already great food. 9/10, easily. I'm Commander Shephard, and this is my favorite game on Steam.