Getting back in to an MMO

I've recently picked up SWTOR again to play with my brother. I always wanted to finish the Empire story with at least one character but I had burned out on the game by the time we arrived on Balmorra. This happened a month or two after the game launched so that's quite a long time. On top of that, it's been a long time since I played an MMO that wasn't WoW for quite a long time so it took some getting used to.

After having been in to action games like Muramasa Rebirth on Vita, Metal Gear Rising and DMC the slow pace of an MMO caught me off guard. I know some are faster paced than others or at least have a different picture of their dynamics, I'm convinced that these games are generally slow(er) paced.
This time around it was even worse than usual as story is a pretty big thing in SWTOR. I had to figure out where I was, what I needed to do, how to play my character, set up my UI (which had changed a bit) and figure out what to do with all those lovely cartel coins I had apparently accumulated from merely having an authenticator hooked up to my account. I still paid for a month of subscription time though as I want to make sure I can play whatever character I want and not have to deal with the nickel and diming you have to put up with at times with this game.

It also makes me appreciate certain steps Blizzard has taken over the years to make it easier for players to jump back in to WoW after months or even years of having not played. Tutorials are often too spammy and cover many things that are obvious (how to move, control your camera, use or  learn skills) and skip or don't properly cover more hidden features and mechanics of the game. Luckily it is for the most part a WoW clone and as I play with my brother everything except the class quests for which we always split up so as to not spoil anything is fairly easy to zap through.


I must say though, the game has gotten me interested again. The conversation system, voice acting and setting (Star Wars!) for the most part still suffices to hide even the most redundant of kil ten rats quests, though when you're out actually doing these it's not so great. The goal quickly becomes: "Quickly get this over with so we can talk to people again!".

It's also fun to play good-guy Sith. I never got around to playing enough of the bad guy on my Republic characters, but it feels like I'm sabotaging the Empire by being a boy scout. It's also nice because it's something you never saw in the movies or games - that I can remember anyway. The bad guys are always bad, and some good guys go bad and that's it. Quite refreshing!

I hope I get through to the end this time. Cheers!