I’ve been trying to avoid saying it for a while now.   I suppose I’ve wanted to avoid admitting it to myself.   The truth is that I’m bored with SW:TOR.  Bored, bored, bored and quadruple bored.  I’m the chairman of the bored.  I’m paying a monthly fee to be bored.

I’m a slow leveller, and I don’t suppose that has helped.  My guild have all reached level cap and are into hard mode operations.  Meanwhile, I haven’t done a flashpoint for weeks.

The problem isn’t so much that I’m desparate to do operations.  Normally, I enjoy levelling.   I should enjoy levelling with SW:TOR, but it’s got to the stage that I often just don’t feel like logging in.  Why?

• It’s lonely.  The levelling planets are deserted.  There’s no chance of spontaneously grouping up for a heroic, because there’s nobody there.  The NPCs are just standing around staring into space.
• It’s repetitive and monotonous.  I’m afraid it really is.  The planets look great, but I feel as if I’m doing the same sort of thing over and over again, with a pretty backdrop.
• The travel. *sigh*  I hate having to spend so long on my stupid vehicle (and what the heck happens to my companion while I’m on it?  I hate the way they disappear then suddenly reappear, having arrived by the power of thoughtwaves, or something).   But what’s worse is travel between planets.  It’s a protracted saga of loading screens, similar looking spaceports, running (on foot!), shuttles, loading bays, etc.   There are several parts to getting from A to B, and none of them allow you to go away and make a cup of tea while waiting to arrive (unless you count the loading screens).  A few weeks ago, my guild held an event which involved visiting several planets, and I felt like I spent most of it looking at loading screens.  Now, I just try to avoid leaving planets.
• The story hasn’t grabbed me as much as I thought.  The class quest is fun, but the pace is all wrong.  It’s dictated by levels, so there’s no real sense of urgency.  The stories on the planets – they’re OK, but I’ve lost interest.
• The role-playing aspect hasn’t grabbed me either.  I’ve ended up choosing responses which I think will suit my current companion.  I found that it was impossible to plan what my character was going to be like, because the game tells you what you’re going to be by limiting your responses (and the voice acting is great, but I’m fed up with always being sarcastic).
• There’s a lack of replayablity .  I’m normally an altoholic.  This time  I don’t think I can face running another character through the same quests.  Not for some time, anyway.
• There is a lack of “other stuff” to do.  Oh, there’s the odd thing, like getting datacrons, which I thought would keep me occupied.  But that involves travelling, which I try to avoid.   I’ve been dipping into WoW to play with my son, and it’s amazing how many things you can waste your time on in there compared to SW:TOR.  (I’m thinking of things like trying to get rare pets, achievements, etc.)
• I am anxious about the endgame.  If I’m fed up with levelling, I’m dreading how I’m going to feel at level 50.  What do people do?  I’ll have to get geared up to do operations, which will presumably mean that my guild have to do normals to help me (not much fun for them).  What if I can’t get geared up enough?  What if I get bored with doing the same old operations week after week?  What if I don’t like operations at all?  What if I’m rubbish at it?
• And it turns out my class is being nerfed.   Apparently it needs to be.  I wouldn’t know, as I’m out on my own questing all the time and can’t see how anybody else is doing.   I don’t mind being nerfed so much as having to redo my talents and my rotation after I’d found something I liked.
• The damn legacy screen.  I haven’t decided on a name yet.  But it pops up every time I enter a new zone or look at my talents and I have to manually close it.  It’s inevitable that with so many chances for it to happen, eventually my cat is going to type something in that space and I’ll be stuck with the name “l,ytltk,ml”.
• The companions.  Actually, the companions are a big plus in this game.  I like that I can use my companions in different ways and can choose a tanky, healy or damagey mate for different situations.  I like that they have their own little stories.  But there isn’t enough.  Their stories and their romances aren’t as involving as the ones in the Dragon Age games, for instance.  And yet, because I’m playing this game much longer than one of those single player games I need more from the companions, not less.

Those are some of the things that have led to me being bored.  If I didn’t like my guild and hadn’t just added a two month sub, I’d be thinking about taking a break just now.   What to do?

It’s been suggested that I level through pvp instead of questing.  I don’t like pvp, but it may be that this is the less painful way of finishing off those last few levels.  I may also voluntarily respec to make the forced respec not seem so painful!  I’m going to grind it out through the medium of Huttball and hope that I enjoy being 50 more than I enjoy the 40s.  Wish me luck!

 

(Disclaimer: there are some things I love about the game and some things that I think are very well done.  I appreciate that it’s a new game and may well improve.   I’m not saying it’s a crap game, but that I, personally, am bored with it.  For now.)