SWTOR MMO and the New Frontier....

So, SWTOR gets ready to launch on Dec. 20th, 2011, and it is with baited breath for many, many gamers.  Where do I fall into the mix?  I am excited, but I am not beyond myself with anticipation.  Here is what I have been thinking about so far.

1.  It's Bioware.  That has a lot of non-MMOers excited.  Those who play Bioware RPG's for example.
2.  It's Starwars so that has a bunch of Star War nuts (me included) excited.
3.  It's a new MMO made by a big player in the industry.  MMOers love anything new in the MMO space.  Will it be the same old grind?  Will the questing be fun?  How will PvP be handled?

So, yes of course, this game is going to make a big splash.  But fans have fears out there too.  Will this game let us down like Star Wars-Galaxies?  Will it be a flash in the MMO pan, among us fickle MMOers, like Rift seems to be?  BTW - that game was fun why am I not playing it?  Are you?  How come we do not hear about it anymore?

So as many of you know I still play LOTRO regularly.  Will SWTOR capture my attention to play for years. I actually doubt it will for several reasons.

1.  No matter how cool this MMO will be it will never, never, never be as cool as watching the "first" Star Wars in the movie theatre in 1977.  Or replace how I felt at the end of that movie when Luke was standing in his orange jump suit receiving his medal by Leai with Han and Chewie standing by.  I felt true wonder and sadness and happiness and just wow all at the same time.  I was 8.  So I just doubt that this MMO can recreate that feeling.  But deep down inside I hope it does, or at least a 42 year old's version of it.

2.  I really like crafting.  I have no idea why, going out and farming "mats" to then come back and make a pie brings me joy.  But it does.  So this MMO has little helpers or assistants or sidekicks or something that does that for me.  People are really psyched about this functionality.  Me, not so much.  Of course, I have not checked it out yet.  So I am curious.

3.  The Grind.  I don't know sometimes I like just mindlessly going out with my two handed ax in LOTRO and killing boars.  I don't mind the Grind as long as I can, when I want, go get a story.  Now the reviews in Game Informer cite very engaging story arcs.  The one I remember was a Bounty Hunter Class had to recover a lost child taken by the father and hired by the mother.  After interesting story choices between light and dark, you meet the father who does not want his son whisked off to a Sith Academy.  That's not so bad right?  So what do you do?  I have to admit that does sound very engaging.

4.  Will I really feel like a Jedi?  I don't know, I have a hard time "role playing" in an IP that is so well known.  It is easy to a be a random dwarf fighter in DnD or LOTRO.  But to actually role play a Jedi?  I mean it is so iconic.  I am not sure there is room for my interpretations of Jedi life in there ya know?  I know I know the classes are sightly different than the movie Jedi's and set like a billion years before A New Hope, but you know what I mean.

5.  I know they are a sponsor, but I am so psyched to be playing this on my Doghouse.  I love that computer.  It really was a treat to myself.  All the bells and whistles and every time I boot that baby up and it seamlessly plays Dawn of War, or Starcraft, or Civ V and of course LOTRO and all at max settings with no fuss no muss.  I know it is going to rock the Starwars MMO.  And I will be at peace right along with big fan cooling my dual cross fired graphics card.

So as the game gets set to release, I am excited to be on the pre-release timeline.  And I really like how BioWare is allowing a download even before pre-release play.  This allows them to work the bugs out and hopefully avoid server crashes as a billion gamers get set to adventure in the wake of Luke Skywalker's X-Wing.  At its least, this will be a fun ride.

HD