I'm two hours into the "SW:TOR Experience" and I'm not particularly enamored yet.
Perhaps because I've yet to actually get to play the game.
It took 45 minutes to install the game. "No big deal," I said to myself. "There are a lot of files, and WoW takes a long time to install from scratch too." So I figured I'd use the time to poke through the manual, get a feel for the character types and controls, maybe soak up some of the lore.
Oh. Manual. Right. Dunno if they included one in the $150.00 CE, but we latecomers get a four page installation guide, most of which is legal disclaimer and warnings about epilepsy.
Anyway, the game finally finishes installing, and I whisk away to the website to set up my account. Now, being a Mass Effect/Dragon Age fan, I already have an EA/Bioware account for DLC. But when I try to log in, it's no go. "Funny," I think to myself, "surely the account information is centrally located and shared for all their titles." But no, apparently not. So I have to register a *second* account with Bioware in order to set up my SW:TOR Experience.
I finally get an account registered (and is it nit picky to point out that if you are going to insist on certain character/numerical constants in your password that you should perhaps point those out BEFORE people hit submit for the first time?) and the site asks me for more money. "Wait a minute," I ask. "Don't I get 30 free days to try this baby out?"
Well, you do, (although technically it tells me I'm already down a day) but not until you give them a way to bill you for next month, either through a credit card or a game time card. Does WoW do this? I honestly have forgotten, although I seem to recall not getting hit up for recurring payment plans immediately after registering.
But fine, I can always cancel my card info if I decide I don't like the game.
So the account hoo-haw is all taken care of, and I can now log in and get to gaming! Yay!
Except not. Opening up the client for the first time, I go to type in my login/pwd info when suddenly the text all goes dark. I put my info in anyway, hit Login, and what do I see but the following ominous message:
"You are attempting to login from a region we do not support."
Now look, I know Missouri isn't the most glamorous location on the planet, but it's not exactly Terra Incognita, you know? Puzzled, I close the client and try to start it back up again. Apparently it takes a few minutes for it to actually close even after the window has closed because Windows keeps telling me I can't have two instances of this program open.
Finally, the client starts back up. This time, it doesn't seem to think I'm trying to access the game from Greater Greater Lesser Trucial Abyssistan or wherever and accepts my login and password. Yay! I can has Game Time now?
Well, of course not. This is a MMO and there's patching to do.
"It just came out," I say to myself. "How bad can it be?"
Reader, NEVER ASK THAT QUESTION.
The patch itself isn't that bad, like 150 mb. No, the trouble begins when it goes to integrate itself with the install and reports back that my installation - which has already consumed 45 minutes of my day - is somehow borked and that it needs to try to "Repair" things.
BY DOWNLOADING 11.6 GIGS OF FILES!
Seriously? Why the hell did I bother to install this thing if it's just going to insist on doing it again, only more slowly?
So anyway, long story short (tl;dr version): I'll see you online tomorrow. Maybe.
One thing for sure - I'm definitely more inclined to go Sith at this point. Force choking people sounds pretty theraputic.
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