Question on structure of Star Wars:TOR

[casterofdreams]

Hey everyone,

I've got a couple of questions on Star Wars the Old Republic. I understand that it is at heart an MMO but is it possible to go it alone? Is it possible to just play it as a single player game without any interaction with other players? And my second question is I've seen it went free to play. I'm a bit reluctant to devote time to such models but could I go from start to finish without spending a dime?

[BoringSupreez]

And my second question is I've seen it went free to play. I'm a bit reluctant to devote time to such models but could I go from start to finish without spending a dime?

I believe you would still have to pay the $15 for the game itself, but AFAIK you could make it the rest of the way without paying.

[isiolia]

Story is possible solo. You get NPC companions to help you (can use one at a time, but you get multiple to choose from eventually). The only time I've ever partied in the game is with some FFXI LS members. Once. For a low level boss. Before we all stopped playing TOR, because it sucks.

The F2P restrictions are...aggressive - you're limited at practically every turn, though again, the story is still pretty well doable. Not like you need top tier gear for it or anything.
If you spend $4.99 in the cash shop, have ever subscribed, or I think buy the retail product, you do get a slight tier up in your F2P restrictions, but it's still not great.

While the actual story content is decent, I feel like progression (via quests/etc at least) gets fairly slow/grindy, and the F2P restrictions again only make it worse. But it's doable if you're intent on it.

If it's not that it's KoTOR related, and more that it's an MMO with no sub fee, you'd be better off with Guild Wars 2 or perhaps The Secret World or maybe TERA, which went F2P today.

[casterofdreams]

I'm kind of not into any F2P model at all. The reason I want to try this game is because of past experiences with the series and with the developer. If it wasn't made by Bioware who made the fantastic Mass Effect games or I've never played any one of its two predecessors I wouldn't even bother.

[isiolia]

Well, it being free, can't hurt to try it. I've just seen the hangup of subscription fees come up a lot with MMOs. Just sayin', TOR's transition to F2P has been widely held as how not to do it. Though, in part, because the story is the one thing that's not really restricted, and it's about the only good thing the game has going for it.

Personally, I tend to really enjoy Bioware's games too. There's some of that buried in TOR...but for me the bad began to outweigh the good after a couple planets.

[Zenzizenzic]

It's a rather poor F2P model which is more akin to force to pay than free to play (ba-duum-ts). But it does serve it's purpose of offering an accessible way to get started with it and see if it actually sticks with you for the first couple of hours; nothing to lose there. But, you don't want to play the entire game without spending a penny for the entire run from start to finish. The limitations are indeed a bit too aggressive and the frustration of the model could very well outweigh the enjoyment.

[casterofdreams]

Well I tried it and it wasn't for me at all. It wasn't even the F2P model that did it for me. I don't know. I just didn't have the patience or it didn't click at all. Considering I ripped through all three Mass Effect games at least twice and SW: KOTOR 1 and 2 at least once.

Maybe the MMO aspect did it for me. I blocked all forms of chat, no nameplates above and a few other options. I just don't really know. Well thanks for the help on my questions.