Ok after three days of playing TOR almost non stop im gonna throw some highlights out.
1) Story. makes questing awesome. If you watch the little videos and play your characters conversation consistently, the grindy feel of questing is almost non existent. even while trying to level at a furious pace this made the progression seem fast and entertaining. I even enjoyed doing a escort quest which has never happened before. Voice acting is top notch.
2) pace. Levels 1 to 10 on your starter world take a little under 6 hours watching every cinematic. Once you hit the second planet it slows down a bit. around level 15 it slows more. but it does not feel like it. while you level up less and less often you are very engaged the whole time. Getting your ship at the end of the second planet (around 18) is amazing.
3) combat. I tried 4 classes this weekend, 1 of each so I got an idea of their resources and how they played. Each has a very different feel but the combat is very immersive. I rarely noticed the gcd at all. the combat animation looks great and you feel like your constantly doing something.
4) Pvp. only did 1 warzone and the people on our team were a bit moronic. but the game was still fun and even loosing you get a bunch of experience and valor. it is possible to pvp your way to max.
5) pve. Ran 2 flashpoints. both were amazingly fun. the first one can be done with 2 people and companions and takes a little over an hour. bosses were fun and while for the most part simple they do have early raid mechanics in them. boss charge, void zones, etc. The second flashpoint we ran the first boss stomped us for a while and we gave up a few tries in. so the challenge is there.
6) Space combat. when you get your ship, which again is awesome, You can do space missions. It is a rail shooter style mini game and I loved it. the controls are simple and the environment is amazing. flying around and blasting ships apart is something I will definitely be doing on a regular basis. also it gives you good xp.
7) Visuals. This game is no Skyrim. However the style the game is in looks very good and they pull it off. walking onto a new planet is awe inspiring. I would just stop and look around for a minute or so just because the environments were so kick ass.
Professions. They nailed this. you get three professions. you can choose from 3 types. crafting, gathering and mission. You can have 1 crafting and gather or mission for the other two. It is recommended you get a gathering profession for your crafting and for all the early lvl stuff it will give you all the mats you need. Companions do all your crafting. You tell them what to do and they run off for 1-5 min and come back with new item or mats and your skill levels up. once you get a few you can really crank up your professions by having them working while you quest. you can also que up 5 crafting items, log off, come back later and they will be done. they really made it fun easy and user friendly.
9) Grouping. We noticed very early that it is very easy to group to level. mixed groups are better for the most part as two of the same class can not enter a classes story zone together. its slightly annoying but not a big deal. Me and isashi were rocking a trooper and smuggler and would get all the same quests apart from story. your story lines also sent you to the same areas so we were able to quest and do our story lines with no issues what so ever. It was cool being able to watch the oter persons story and help them out. The hugs and quests are very linear but it works out very well. it doesnt feel linear due to the story chioces you make and how you decide to handle quests. for example in a quest to get recreational supplies for a town we discover they are drugs. do we destroy it, or bring it back to the quest giver? when we get to the quest giver to we give him the drugs, destroy it in his face, or keep them? each has rewards and upsides. I highly recommend partnering to level as it adds a lot. however solo leveling is also a lot of fun.
That said it is still in beta. the game is playable and looks great but there were a few bugs that cropped up that were highly annoying. hopefully they get smoothed out before launch.
if you have any questions or an area of the game i forgot to address let me know.
