As anyone that has played the slightest amount of time in an MMO knows, it’s addicting. Worlds such as WOW, EVE, and even SWTOR can entice players to sit and spend many hours at a stretch wasting their lives chasing after the best gear and the best stats. What makes these games so addicting?
It is addicting because you feel like you are part of the story. You are the one champion that can help the world become a better, or darker, place. That is what made SWTOR so fascinating to me.
However, that world has taken a dark turn. Subscriptions fell through the basement. EA Games even offered a free to play model to try and bring back players. Of course the free to play players are limited on what gear and what abilities they have. The main addictive part of any game did not suffer. The feeling like you are a part of the story. That only you have the power to shape the world.
EA finally released their first DLC for SWTOR, Rise of the Hutt Cartel. It pushed the level cap from 50 to 55. Sound familiar… WoW? It added another world to visit and another story arc on top of the original story. It added new elite gear that players can obtain through PVP. How does this add on content make the game better in the context of keeping you involved in the story?
Well it does, if only for a short time. It was such a long time between the release and the add on content. Such a long wait for such a small story arc. The add on made PVP matches for lower level players even harder. It pits everyone on the same field, meaning that it bolsters your stats to what it would be if you were a level 55. No more running from a level 48 and looking for a squishy 16 to knock off. So it has made PVP matches less dimensional. The ranked PVP matches are still a bit of a mess. There still is no ship to ship PVP!
Overall, SWTOR is still a strong game and Rise of the Hutt Cartel has made the story arcs a little longer. It did come with some pitfalls, but what MMO is perfect? Let’s face it, if you play an MMO, then you are owned by that game. Hopefully SWTOR can weather the storm of competition. I would dearly miss my nerd time of Star Wars.
