Ill start off and say I have grown to despise, loathe and detest themepark MMO's for a myriad of reasons so my review of ToR is based solely off this premise. One other thing I'll add is that under this same premise, if you are not like me and actually have no complaints with themeparks then ToR is a wonderful game. Take that statement for all its worth.
I played 2 classes up through their starter planet, a Sith Inquisitor and a Smuggler. I also only played the latest Beta Weekend.
Story- At first I really loved it but after about 4 hours or thereabouts I found myself hitting spacebar to cut through all the dialogue. I am of the opinion that you can tell a story so much better through immersive setting and innovative gameplay instead of watching cutscenes.
Combat- Felt very decent but was static, nothing that isnt better or worse then what can be had playing WoW or Rift.
Classes- I liked the 2 classes I played, however I did think the cover for the Smuggler felt weird and took away from the actual flow of the gameplay. The Inqusitor felt pretty fun and he seemed to have alot of nifty moves but the 10m range on his force abilities felt extremely short. It does get negated if you pick up the Sorcerer AC but from understanding if you want to play the Assasin AC your stuck with the low range.
UI- minimalist but unable to move around, soemthing Rift got right but ToR fails in.
Exploration- I am of the opinion that exploration should not be an afterthought and just because ToR puts easter eggs, or Datacrons hidden off the beaten path does not a exploarative world make. To truely sense exploration there needs to be no "bread crumbing" or "on rails" hand holding from quest hub to quest hub as it truely takes away the immersiveness and exploration from the world. Again this is a Sandbox vs themepark argument but I feel it needs to be said.
Character creation- Actually this is probably worse then WoW, as there are so few races in the game and they are all humans. I feel this is the biggest gripe anyone who loves themepark crowd can agree with. In a world with as diverse fauna and worlds as Star Wars the ability to only play a human with different shades of skin color is an abysmal calamity. I mean Wookies, Jawas, Sandpeople, Gungen, Kitonak, Rodian, Trandoshan, and many others did not make the cut which IMO is lazy and sad.
Companions- I normally dislike Pet classes, and for the most part companions play just like that, IMO they should reduce the relaince on companions.
Questing- Hated it, its al lfed-ex quests masquaraded under the guise of a story, if you've played Rift or WoW then you get a sense of the monotony of themepark questing.
PvP- Loved Hutball but the one thing I know will crop up in this game is the class balance and the sense of whoever has more healers will more then likely win, plus I am certain there will be the same Pug vs Premade problem that everyone hates about instanced battlegrounds.
Crafting- more of the same but hidden by the companion system. Nothing Irks me more about themepark crafting then cut & paste craft 100's of worthless items to level your skill.
All in all I probably wont be picking it up, as I suspected this game is basically WoW in space, but thats not a bad thing for the themepark loving crowd because I at least feel SWToR has more production quality then Rift and plays jsut as flawlessly and good as WoW. However it just is not my cup of tea, and thanks to Skyrim and the soon to be released Reckoning (feb 2012) I shoulkd in theory have enough game to keep me occupied till GW2's release. Again these are my opinons and no one elses because the game does look to be great for the folks who still enjoy that gameplay style but for people like me who are looking to a more "old school" MMO feel then it is best to look elsewhere.
I have to admit that I found it somewhat amusing that you say you don't really care for themeparks (maybe not outright say it but strongly imply it) and yet you also say you are looking forward to the next big themepark game.
I'm still kind of shocked that they didn't include wookies or jawas like the OP said. I've never even heard of some of the races in the beta, but what age group are they aiming for? All signs point to "not older SW fans".
Is this a plug for GW2 disguised as an objective review? The OP leaves me with a conflicting opinion.
I didn't read it that way.
I see a guy that played and reviewed a game he knew he was going to dislike from the start, closing off with his initial intention of playing the game he's been waiting for.
It's like me trying to review my experience in an Italian restaurant when I dislike the theme and cuisine, and concluding with my intention to go eat some Mexican food instead. Not 100% credible.
I dunno. Best taken with a grain of salt I suppose, as usual.
I too prefer sandbox MMOs everytime like Zylaxx. I too find most storydriven games with cutscenes to be way over dramatic and unenjoyable manytimes in games. I am not the biggest fan of any Development Team now-a-days...
Yet I read the review and I am flat out impressed how well Zylaxx did. Zylaxx did an honest review covering good and bad points. I know Zylaxx did a good job with this review because I know I would have trashed SW:TOR if I had tried to do the same thing (or I would have been tempted to trash SW:TOR).
Zylaxx did a good review and did it with as little bias as a player like him or me could have done.
Zylaxx also said a few times that his review was his opinion. I have a feeling SW:TOR like many other MMOs will be subject to "Opinion" amny times through it's lifecycle, and like many others whether a Player enjoys it or not will depend mostly on point of view.
"Point of View"... Hmmm... Now where have we heard that phrase before?
actually with romance arcs and some of the choices and the fact one bh quest u actually take a severed head to someone id say its aimed at the older then 18 crowd a bit.
The races that u can play are for story reasons. They have explained it alot. while id love to play rhodians and mon cal and tradoshans and wookies and barabels for tor at least at relese thats not they way they went.
i can see why with full vo.
Lets keep in mind this story takes place like 3000 yrs prior to new hope. so the races are gonna not all be the same.
I have heard of all the races in this game due to fact i read every star wars novel i can find. That said i dont have an issue with the races they are doing.
The zabrak, twilek while humanoid are the mos tout there but i like the chiss from the books ive read and i like the races they have chosen to include in tor. Would i like to play wookie and them yes but i dont need them to make this a great game for me.
Especially since trandoshan,s and wookies at least as well as jawa are part of our companions .So while we dont play them they are our side kicks and a part of our overall story.
Ill start off and say I have grown to despise, loathe and detest themepark MMO's for a myriad of reasons so my review of ToR is based solely off this premise. One other thing I'll add is that under this same premise, if you are not like me and actually have no complaints with themeparks then ToR is a wonderful game. Take that statement for all its worth.
I played 2 classes up through their starter planet, a Sith Inquisitor and a Smuggler. I also only played the latest Beta Weekend.
Story- At first I really loved it but after about 4 hours or thereabouts I found myself hitting spacebar to cut through all the dialogue. I am of the opinion that you can tell a story so much better through immersive setting and innovative gameplay instead of watching cutscenes.
Combat- Felt very decent but was static, nothing that isnt better or worse then what can be had playing WoW or Rift.
Classes- I liked the 2 classes I played, however I did think the cover for the Smuggler felt weird and took away from the actual flow of the gameplay. The Inqusitor felt pretty fun and he seemed to have alot of nifty moves but the 10m range on his force abilities felt extremely short. It does get negated if you pick up the Sorcerer AC but from understanding if you want to play the Assasin AC your stuck with the low range.
UI- minimalist but unable to move around, soemthing Rift got right but ToR fails in.
Exploration- I am of the opinion that exploration should not be an afterthought and just because ToR puts easter eggs, or Datacrons hidden off the beaten path does not a exploarative world make. To truely sense exploration there needs to be no "bread crumbing" or "on rails" hand holding from quest hub to quest hub as it truely takes away the immersiveness and exploration from the world. Again this is a Sandbox vs themepark argument but I feel it needs to be said.
Character creation- Actually this is probably worse then WoW, as there are so few races in the game and they are all humans. I feel this is the biggest gripe anyone who loves themepark crowd can agree with. In a world with as diverse fauna and worlds as Star Wars the ability to only play a human with different shades of skin color is an abysmal calamity. I mean Wookies, Jawas, Sandpeople, Gungen, Kitonak, Rodian, Trandoshan, and many others did not make the cut which IMO is lazy and sad.
Companions- I normally dislike Pet classes, and for the most part companions play just like that, IMO they should reduce the relaince on companions.
Questing- Hated it, its al lfed-ex quests masquaraded under the guise of a story, if you've played Rift or WoW then you get a sense of the monotony of themepark questing.
PvP- Loved Hutball but the one thing I know will crop up in this game is the class balance and the sense of whoever has more healers will more then likely win, plus I am certain there will be the same Pug vs Premade problem that everyone hates about instanced battlegrounds.
Crafting- more of the same but hidden by the companion system. Nothing Irks me more about themepark crafting then cut & paste craft 100's of worthless items to level your skill.
All in all I probably wont be picking it up, as I suspected this game is basically WoW in space, but thats not a bad thing for the themepark loving crowd because I at least feel SWToR has more production quality then Rift and plays jsut as flawlessly and good as WoW. However it just is not my cup of tea, and thanks to Skyrim and the soon to be released Reckoning (feb 2012) I shoulkd in theory have enough game to keep me occupied till GW2's release. Again these are my opinons and no one elses because the game does look to be great for the folks who still enjoy that gameplay style but for people like me who are looking to a more "old school" MMO feel then it is best to look elsewhere.
I have to admit that I found it somewhat amusing that you say you don't really care for themeparks (maybe not outright say it but strongly imply it) and yet you also say you are looking forward to the next big themepark game.
Are you a fan boi for TOR? seems like it lol Gw2 is not themepark not even close to it i wil say it again NOT THEMEPARK=GW2 its new and trying new things and not based on PVP like some people think.Its based on teamwork and and skill people need to watch all the Gw2 stuff on youtube and gw2 offical site and get some real infomation
it requires real skill and teamwork for GW2 due to fact no holy trinity and class roles so you have to work together more then just button smashing and one dude healing and rest DPS dont work like that in GW2, combat is all supose work together and other classes use other classes skills and combine it together to make a super skill wile u have 3 people trying to tank the dude one after another communicating saying his HP is low got rest so someone else jumps in and does it i did some PAX testing of this and that hows it is and its fun
how is it tor threads get hyjacked by gw 2 fans all the time. it gets old peple by the way whens gw 2 s tart beta? oh yea u dont lknow whens it coming out again u dont know.l
well hope it comes out in 2012 for u and i have nothing against gw2 i hope its a great game that people lvoe and play alot.
Im not one of those people that ever cheer for any game to fail. I may not play or like gw2 but i dont want it to fail i want it to be a huge sucess.
the more choices in mmos the more successes they have the more money game devs put into games and more willing to try new things if new things work.
So i for one want tor, secret world, arch age and gw 2 to all do great.
That said tor is the game im gonna play. its the game ive been looking forward to for 2 yrs now. Ever since i found out it existed. After playing it in beta im even more excited to play it for the long haul.
why must any body ever want a game to fail/ Espeically since tor and gw2 have diffrent pricing models i dont understand why anyone woudl want gw 2 or tor to fail
I for one am all about choice and i know everyone has diffrent tastes i understand that my liking tor doesnt mean the next guy will. I also understand that u liking gw 2 doesnt mean i will or someone else will.
so lets just all hope the games we like do well and suceed and are around for years to come.
Im tired of the fanboi stuff just bedause someone likes tor doesnt mean we are naive and dont know whats a good game. Anymor then just because u hate a game means it sucks.
The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.
I'm still kind of shocked that they didn't include wookies or jawas like the OP said. I've never even heard of some of the races in the beta, but what age group are they aiming for? All signs point to "not older SW fans".
Not 100% sure but i believe other races will be unlocked via the Legacy system.
The following statement is false The previous statement is true
You knew TOR was a themepark. Yet, still chose to write an "impression" piece, explaining how you don't enjoy themeparks, and that people who don't enjoy themeparks most likely will not enjoy TOR.
I'm still kind of shocked that they didn't include wookies or jawas like the OP said. I've never even heard of some of the races in the beta, but what age group are they aiming for? All signs point to "not older SW fans".
Not 100% sure but i believe other races will be unlocked via the Legacy system.
That'd be a good idea. A dungeon group consisting of jawas would be amusing. The VO dialog might not be very compelling, however lol
Ill start off and say I have grown to despise, loathe and detest themepark MMO's for a myriad of reasons so my review of ToR is based solely off this premise. One other thing I'll add is that under this same premise, if you are not like me and actually have no complaints with themeparks then ToR is a wonderful game. Take that statement for all its worth.
I played 2 classes up through their starter planet, a Sith Inquisitor and a Smuggler. I also only played the latest Beta Weekend.
Story- At first I really loved it but after about 4 hours or thereabouts I found myself hitting spacebar to cut through all the dialogue. I am of the opinion that you can tell a story so much better through immersive setting and innovative gameplay instead of watching cutscenes.
Combat- Felt very decent but was static, nothing that isnt better or worse then what can be had playing WoW or Rift.
Classes- I liked the 2 classes I played, however I did think the cover for the Smuggler felt weird and took away from the actual flow of the gameplay. The Inqusitor felt pretty fun and he seemed to have alot of nifty moves but the 10m range on his force abilities felt extremely short. It does get negated if you pick up the Sorcerer AC but from understanding if you want to play the Assasin AC your stuck with the low range.
UI- minimalist but unable to move around, soemthing Rift got right but ToR fails in.
Exploration- I am of the opinion that exploration should not be an afterthought and just because ToR puts easter eggs, or Datacrons hidden off the beaten path does not a exploarative world make. To truely sense exploration there needs to be no "bread crumbing" or "on rails" hand holding from quest hub to quest hub as it truely takes away the immersiveness and exploration from the world. Again this is a Sandbox vs themepark argument but I feel it needs to be said.
Character creation- Actually this is probably worse then WoW, as there are so few races in the game and they are all humans. I feel this is the biggest gripe anyone who loves themepark crowd can agree with. In a world with as diverse fauna and worlds as Star Wars the ability to only play a human with different shades of skin color is an abysmal calamity. I mean Wookies, Jawas, Sandpeople, Gungen, Kitonak, Rodian, Trandoshan, and many others did not make the cut which IMO is lazy and sad.
Companions- I normally dislike Pet classes, and for the most part companions play just like that, IMO they should reduce the relaince on companions.
Questing- Hated it, its al lfed-ex quests masquaraded under the guise of a story, if you've played Rift or WoW then you get a sense of the monotony of themepark questing.
PvP- Loved Hutball but the one thing I know will crop up in this game is the class balance and the sense of whoever has more healers will more then likely win, plus I am certain there will be the same Pug vs Premade problem that everyone hates about instanced battlegrounds.
Crafting- more of the same but hidden by the companion system. Nothing Irks me more about themepark crafting then cut & paste craft 100's of worthless items to level your skill.
All in all I probably wont be picking it up, as I suspected this game is basically WoW in space, but thats not a bad thing for the themepark loving crowd because I at least feel SWToR has more production quality then Rift and plays jsut as flawlessly and good as WoW. However it just is not my cup of tea, and thanks to Skyrim and the soon to be released Reckoning (feb 2012) I shoulkd in theory have enough game to keep me occupied till GW2's release. Again these are my opinons and no one elses because the game does look to be great for the folks who still enjoy that gameplay style but for people like me who are looking to a more "old school" MMO feel then it is best to look elsewhere.
I have to admit that I found it somewhat amusing that you say you don't really care for themeparks (maybe not outright say it but strongly imply it) and yet you also say you are looking forward to the next big themepark game.
Are you a fan boi for TOR? seems like it lol Gw2 is not themepark not even close to it i wil say it again NOT THEMEPARK=GW2 its new and trying new things and not based on PVP like some people think.Its based on teamwork and and skill people need to watch all the Gw2 stuff on youtube and gw2 offical site and get some real infomation
it requires real skill and teamwork for GW2 due to fact no holy trinity and class roles so you have to work together more then just button smashing and one dude healing and rest DPS dont work like that in GW2, combat is all supose work together and other classes use other classes skills and combine it together to make a super skill wile u have 3 people trying to tank the dude one after another communicating saying his HP is low got rest so someone else jumps in and does it i did some PAX testing of this and that hows it is and its fun
How exactly is GW2 NOT themepark? Just because it requires so called skill and teamwork?
You knew TOR was a themepark. Yet, still chose to write an "impression" piece, explaining how you don't enjoy themeparks, and that people who don't enjoy themeparks most likely will not enjoy TOR.
Pearls of wisdom...
... you know, these kind of impressions are useful for somebody who shares his kinds of tastes and isn't totally sure if they'll like SW:tOR or not. (It IS possible for somebody who likes sandbox games to like SW:tOR you know)
Would you prefer it if only the most glowing reviews by the most avid of fanboys were posted? At least his post was nice and reasoned and didn't rely on any hyperbole, it explained what there was, and why it didn't appeal to him
Ill start off and say I have grown to despise, loathe and detest themepark MMO's for a myriad of reasons so my review of ToR is based solely off this premise. One other thing I'll add is that under this same premise, if you are not like me and actually have no complaints with themeparks then ToR is a wonderful game. Take that statement for all its worth.
I played 2 classes up through their starter planet, a Sith Inquisitor and a Smuggler. I also only played the latest Beta Weekend.
Story- At first I really loved it but after about 4 hours or thereabouts I found myself hitting spacebar to cut through all the dialogue. I am of the opinion that you can tell a story so much better through immersive setting and innovative gameplay instead of watching cutscenes.
Combat- Felt very decent but was static, nothing that isnt better or worse then what can be had playing WoW or Rift.
Classes- I liked the 2 classes I played, however I did think the cover for the Smuggler felt weird and took away from the actual flow of the gameplay. The Inqusitor felt pretty fun and he seemed to have alot of nifty moves but the 10m range on his force abilities felt extremely short. It does get negated if you pick up the Sorcerer AC but from understanding if you want to play the Assasin AC your stuck with the low range.
UI- minimalist but unable to move around, soemthing Rift got right but ToR fails in.
Exploration- I am of the opinion that exploration should not be an afterthought and just because ToR puts easter eggs, or Datacrons hidden off the beaten path does not a exploarative world make. To truely sense exploration there needs to be no "bread crumbing" or "on rails" hand holding from quest hub to quest hub as it truely takes away the immersiveness and exploration from the world. Again this is a Sandbox vs themepark argument but I feel it needs to be said.
Character creation- Actually this is probably worse then WoW, as there are so few races in the game and they are all humans. I feel this is the biggest gripe anyone who loves themepark crowd can agree with. In a world with as diverse fauna and worlds as Star Wars the ability to only play a human with different shades of skin color is an abysmal calamity. I mean Wookies, Jawas, Sandpeople, Gungen, Kitonak, Rodian, Trandoshan, and many others did not make the cut which IMO is lazy and sad.
Companions- I normally dislike Pet classes, and for the most part companions play just like that, IMO they should reduce the relaince on companions.
Questing- Hated it, its al lfed-ex quests masquaraded under the guise of a story, if you've played Rift or WoW then you get a sense of the monotony of themepark questing.
PvP- Loved Hutball but the one thing I know will crop up in this game is the class balance and the sense of whoever has more healers will more then likely win, plus I am certain there will be the same Pug vs Premade problem that everyone hates about instanced battlegrounds.
Crafting- more of the same but hidden by the companion system. Nothing Irks me more about themepark crafting then cut & paste craft 100's of worthless items to level your skill.
All in all I probably wont be picking it up, as I suspected this game is basically WoW in space, but thats not a bad thing for the themepark loving crowd because I at least feel SWToR has more production quality then Rift and plays jsut as flawlessly and good as WoW. However it just is not my cup of tea, and thanks to Skyrim and the soon to be released Reckoning (feb 2012) I shoulkd in theory have enough game to keep me occupied till GW2's release. Again these are my opinons and no one elses because the game does look to be great for the folks who still enjoy that gameplay style but for people like me who are looking to a more "old school" MMO feel then it is best to look elsewhere.
I have to admit that I found it somewhat amusing that you say you don't really care for themeparks (maybe not outright say it but strongly imply it) and yet you also say you are looking forward to the next big themepark game.
Are you a fan boi for TOR? seems like it lol Gw2 is not themepark not even close to it i wil say it again NOT THEMEPARK=GW2 its new and trying new things and not based on PVP like some people think.Its based on teamwork and and skill people need to watch all the Gw2 stuff on youtube and gw2 offical site and get some real infomation
it requires real skill and teamwork for GW2 due to fact no holy trinity and class roles so you have to work together more then just button smashing and one dude healing and rest DPS dont work like that in GW2, combat is all supose work together and other classes use other classes skills and combine it together to make a super skill wile u have 3 people trying to tank the dude one after another communicating saying his HP is low got rest so someone else jumps in and does it i did some PAX testing of this and that hows it is and its fun
No, I'm looking forward to GW2 I just think its funny that someone would point out the flaws of themeparks and then look forward to a themepark. And yes, GW2 will be a themepark. I didn't say it wasn't trying different things but that doesn't make it not a themepark. It has a story for you to follow and while you can mentor up and down to join in different level content, it still has levels and if you don't mentor you will be to low level for certain areas. It is very much a themepark. Fetch quests and go kill X quests aren't what make a themepark a themepark.
Taking the fact that the OP is only giving is opinion, i dont see any statement made that shows any disregard for the game itself. He gave, what it seemed to me, an honest descritpion about what he felt while playing SWKotOR. Ofc reading down his review one can tell that, most likely, he is not a "rookie" in MMOs and not under 18 also, or if he is, seemed mature enough to give a logical explanation about what he said.
I read many replies with the word "immersion", and frankly some people out there dont know what that word means, at least when it comes to video games. If you are looking for "immersion" then you should quit playing mmorpgs, because although they do have it in some aspects, they are far from being the genre where this word can really take expression. What is ofc something all can understand, because having an MMO where you could find the type of immersion you find in Oblivion or The Witcher (talking about rpgs) would certainly blow up the server or at max you would have a server where the max population would be 50 players or so. Every player that has played games like Half-Life 2, Dead Space, Stalker, Deus Ex, Mass Efect, just to name a few, know of what im talking about.
I do love mmorpgs, played wow for couple of years, tried many major tittles like EQ, Aion, LoTR, L2, GW (i like Guild Wars, dont really know why but i do) AOC, WAR and even some less known like RFO, Rohan, Cabal, Zentia just to name a few, but it never really felt like being they were immersive, i just love to play rpgs, and the idea of doing so in a world where are other players doing the same atracts me.
I do found a game where that word gains a bit more of strength, EVE Online, and im waiting for a D6D type where i could be sucked into. It could be GW2, SWKotOR, or any other tittle that shows up and blows you away, but please dont start labeling upcoming games just yet. Most of the people that will buy SWKotOR dont have the chance to play it untill it actually comes out, and same with GW2. You can buy them upon release, or you can wait and see how the gaming community judges them, but dont start moaning already.
Thanks to the OP for the review. Wish we could have more so we could compare opinions.
I really like Bioware games I just don't want my Bioware single player to be in my MMORPG Immersion... . If I bought SW:TOR, I'd only play it for the free trial period. I wouldn't pay a monthly for story. I pay a monthly because I get stuff out of the game more than I get out of everything else. I can get better stories on my console (well we shall see... I may be in beta soon). That beta experience may be all that I need. It'll probably be fun, I'm just tired of doing things like buying something like Call of Duty for the 10th time and having the previous 6 basically being the same game with a different 10 to 20 hour story... Understand what I mean by this?
GW2 and TSW are what I'm waiting for. Well I guess november 30th there is Lineage 2 free-to-play.
Taking the fact that the OP is only giving is opinion, i dont see any statement made that shows any disregard for the game itself. He gave, what it seemed to me, an honest descritpion about what he felt while playing SWKotOR. Ofc reading down his review one can tell that, most likely, he is not a "rookie" in MMOs and not under 18 also, or if he is, seemed mature enough to give a logical explanation about what he said.
I read many replies with the word "immersion", and frankly some people out there dont know what that word means, at least when it comes to video games. If you are looking for "immersion" then you should quit playing mmorpgs, because although they do have it in some aspects, they are far from being the genre where this word can really take expression.
Immersion with gaming worlds is something that feels like a world and isn't clouded by the "game" of the game. Immersion in a sense that the world is living, so that every time you start your character, you may start out in the same place, but you don't have the same "quest string" or the same "end game". Elder scrolls would be a great mmo. The is what you would look at if you wanted some pretty "real" and "breathing" gaming environments where the story is found by you instead of forced upon you. In a movie...there is ONLY story and everything that intensifies the effect of that story. Bioware games are still more like a movie than a "world" like elder scrolls games tend to feel like. You should never be forced to play the main story in order to progress. An immersive MMO allows you to progress in whatever way that feels NATURAL to you as a human being.
I loved MGS4 with its crazy long movie-like cinematics (10/10 game if I do say so myself). I don't want to play an MMO that...focuses on personal and pre-made stories when there are tons of other things that an MMO needs to focus on. I can get those stories from watching movies or playing console games. They are usually better, too.
Lets cut the crap this is not a single player gme im tired of that same old same old line from haters. Its not true. I played beta and u can group from teh start to end if u want to.
There are heroic quest and heroic areas. There is pvp lakes even on pve servers, there are flashpoints and raids and warzones. This game has everything any mmo ive every played has in it for group content.
Sure mmos and i mean all mmos for the most part let u solo if u want to .
tor actually does things like social points for doing things in a group that allow u to buy things to encourage grouping.
So no this is not a single player game and if u think so u are just a ill informed person who has never played or even treid this game. I dont care if u say was in beta u cant have been if u still spout that idotic piece of nonsense.
How exactly is GW2 NOT themepark? Just because it requires so called skill and teamwork?
Off topic but I thought I would give my thought on this question. I guess it depends on your understanding of what a themepark is exactly. I always thought it was a game where you had your hand held from beginning to end. A game where you were lead through content on a rail that took you from quest hub to quest hub. A game where you were guided and told where to go every step of the way and this was accomplished through zones having specific amounts of quests and monster levels that meant once you were through with the quests or too high level for the mobs to give exp, it was time to move onto the next zone and repeat till you are hampster wheeling your way through raids or pvp for that next piece of gear.
GW has none of this so I can see why he was saying it wasn't a themepark. No handholding. No quests telling you where to go. No outleveling content forcing you to go where the game says you need to go. No railed path to the end game. And no hampster wheeling when you get there.
While I am not sure what to label GW2 as, I can say I will be playing it on day one.
/On topic I am glad TOR changed somebodys mind in favor of. The MMORPG genre needs some good games out there since most of the stuff that has been released has been crap IMO.
^Not exactly true. GW2 does do some hand-holding and it does have npcs telling you where to go. They just cleverly disguise it as "scout npcs." They are the guys that say, "Hey, there is a dynamic event going on in this area, go head over there and help out." Then you go to the DE and basically get an extended "chain" of things to do (sounds kinda questy) that has to be completed in stages.
Again, I'm not saying that is a negative, as I like some of the things GW2 is trying to do, particularly with the DE system, but lets not act like at least some of what they are doing isn't just a more cleverly disguised themepark package.
How exactly is GW2 NOT themepark? Just because it requires so called skill and teamwork?
Off topic but I thought I would give my thought on this question. I guess it depends on your understanding of what a themepark is exactly. I always thought it was a game where you had your hand held from beginning to end. A game where you were lead through content on a rail that took you from quest hub to quest hub. A game where you were guided and told where to go every step of the way and this was accomplished through zones having specific amounts of quests and monster levels that meant once you were through with the quests or too high level for the mobs to give exp, it was time to move onto the next zone and repeat till you are hampster wheeling your way through raids or pvp for that next piece of gear.
GW has none of this so I can see why he was saying it wasn't a themepark. No handholding. No quests telling you where to go. No outleveling content forcing you to go where the game says you need to go. No railed path to the end game. And no hampster wheeling when you get there.
While I am not sure what to label GW2 as, I can say I will be playing it on day one.
/On topic I am glad TOR changed somebodys mind in favor of. The MMORPG genre needs some good games out there since most of the stuff that has been released has been crap IMO.
Huh? it doesn't guide you as to where to go next? You are the first person I've heard claim this, so where do you get your information from? I have been following this game and looking forward to it because I really enjoyed GW and love a game that I can just purchase and not have to worry about a sub for. However, It has levels so how do you not outlevel content? Are the levels just for show? From what I have read and seen they are there for a reason and will have mobs higher level that you can't take on unless you mentor with someone to boost your level. If that is what you mean then I agree that it is possible to enter and take on mobs above your level but only if you have someone willing to boost you up. If not, from my understanding, you will have a leveled progression. If you can't skip levels through mentoring then you have to go somewhere level appropriate. Kind of like EQ1 (only when I played you couldn't mentor, don't know if you can these days) but I wouldn't consider EQ1 a sandbox by any means as it had level progression where you wen to one area to do things appropriate to your level.
How exactly is GW2 NOT themepark? Just because it requires so called skill and teamwork?
Off topic but I thought I would give my thought on this question. I guess it depends on your understanding of what a themepark is exactly. I always thought it was a game where you had your hand held from beginning to end. A game where you were lead through content on a rail that took you from quest hub to quest hub. A game where you were guided and told where to go every step of the way and this was accomplished through zones having specific amounts of quests and monster levels that meant once you were through with the quests or too high level for the mobs to give exp, it was time to move onto the next zone and repeat till you are hampster wheeling your way through raids or pvp for that next piece of gear.
GW has none of this so I can see why he was saying it wasn't a themepark. No handholding. No quests telling you where to go. No outleveling content forcing you to go where the game says you need to go. No railed path to the end game. And no hampster wheeling when you get there.
While I am not sure what to label GW2 as, I can say I will be playing it on day one.
/On topic I am glad TOR changed somebodys mind in favor of. The MMORPG genre needs some good games out there since most of the stuff that has been released has been crap IMO.
Pretty much right on GW2. Its not exactly a themepark and its not even close to a real sandbox. Its going to be somewhere inbetween if it does what they claim it does.
As to the OP I find this to be one of the best and most objective posts yet. Anytime you can admit you hate the themepark playstyle and admit it before you even give your thoughts is a big plus. Then you actually talk about the game from a themepark point of view which makes it even better. By doing this you admit its not for you AND give an objective point of view that one can actually believe since you wouldnt sugar coat anything.
Ontop of that you admit its going to be a solid game for thoes that enjoy themepark MMO's.
^Not exactly true. GW2 does do some hand-holding and it does have npcs telling you where to go. They just cleverly disguise it as "scout npcs." They are the guys that say, "Hey, there is a dynamic event going on in this area, go head over there and help out." Then you go to the DE and basically get an extended "chain" of things to do (sounds kinda questy) that has to be completed in stages.
Again, I'm not saying that is a negative, as I like some of the things GW2 is trying to do, particularly with the DE system, but lets not act like at least some of what they are doing isn't just a more cleverly disguised themepark package.
This is the way I understood it, only that you could also mentor up to go into areas that you wotherwise would be level prohibited from. If this is wrong I would like to know because I'm already looking forward to the game, anything "better" would just be icing on the cake. (Oh and please don't just say "you're wrong" please explain what is different and/or I am misunderstanding and if possible links are Gods among forum dwellers.)
Ill start off and say I have grown to despise, loathe and detest themepark MMO's for a myriad of reasons so my review of ToR is based solely off this premise. One other thing I'll add is that under this same premise, if you are not like me and actually have no complaints with themeparks then ToR is a wonderful game. Take that statement for all its worth. I played 2 classes up through their starter planet, a Sith Inquisitor and a Smuggler. I also only played the latest Beta Weekend. Story- At first I really loved it but after about 4 hours or thereabouts I found myself hitting spacebar to cut through all the dialogue. I am of the opinion that you can tell a story so much better through immersive setting and innovative gameplay instead of watching cutscenes. Combat- Felt very decent but was static, nothing that isnt better or worse then what can be had playing WoW or Rift. Classes- I liked the 2 classes I played, however I did think the cover for the Smuggler felt weird and took away from the actual flow of the gameplay. The Inqusitor felt pretty fun and he seemed to have alot of nifty moves but the 10m range on his force abilities felt extremely short. It does get negated if you pick up the Sorcerer AC but from understanding if you want to play the Assasin AC your stuck with the low range. UI- minimalist but unable to move around, soemthing Rift got right but ToR fails in. Exploration- I am of the opinion that exploration should not be an afterthought and just because ToR puts easter eggs, or Datacrons hidden off the beaten path does not a exploarative world make. To truely sense exploration there needs to be no "bread crumbing" or "on rails" hand holding from quest hub to quest hub as it truely takes away the immersiveness and exploration from the world. Again this is a Sandbox vs themepark argument but I feel it needs to be said. Character creation- Actually this is probably worse then WoW, as there are so few races in the game and they are all humans. I feel this is the biggest gripe anyone who loves themepark crowd can agree with. In a world with as diverse fauna and worlds as Star Wars the ability to only play a human with different shades of skin color is an abysmal calamity. I mean Wookies, Jawas, Sandpeople, Gungen, Kitonak, Rodian, Trandoshan, and many others did not make the cut which IMO is lazy and sad. Companions- I normally dislike Pet classes, and for the most part companions play just like that, IMO they should reduce the relaince on companions. Questing- Hated it, its al lfed-ex quests masquaraded under the guise of a story, if you've played Rift or WoW then you get a sense of the monotony of themepark questing. PvP- Loved Hutball but the one thing I know will crop up in this game is the class balance and the sense of whoever has more healers will more then likely win, plus I am certain there will be the same Pug vs Premade problem that everyone hates about instanced battlegrounds. Crafting- more of the same but hidden by the companion system. Nothing Irks me more about themepark crafting then cut & paste craft 100's of worthless items to level your skill. All in all I probably wont be picking it up, as I suspected this game is basically WoW in space, but thats not a bad thing for the themepark loving crowd because I at least feel SWToR has more production quality then Rift and plays jsut as flawlessly and good as WoW. However it just is not my cup of tea, and thanks to Skyrim and the soon to be released Reckoning (feb 2012) I shoulkd in theory have enough game to keep me occupied till GW2's release. Again these are my opinons and no one elses because the game does look to be great for the folks who still enjoy that gameplay style but for people like me who are looking to a more "old school" MMO feel then it is best to look elsewhere.
I have to admit that I found it somewhat amusing that you say you don't really care for themeparks (maybe not outright say it but strongly imply it) and yet you also say you are looking forward to the next big themepark game.
Are you a fan boi for TOR? seems like it lol Gw2 is not themepark not even close to it i wil say it again NOT THEMEPARK=GW2 its new and trying new things and not based on PVP like some people think.Its based on teamwork and and skill people need to watch all the Gw2 stuff on youtube and gw2 offical site and get some real infomation
it requires real skill and teamwork for GW2 due to fact no holy trinity and class roles so you have to work together more then just button smashing and one dude healing and rest DPS dont work like that in GW2, combat is all supose work together and other classes use other classes skills and combine it together to make a super skill wile u have 3 people trying to tank the dude one after another communicating saying his HP is low got rest so someone else jumps in and does it i did some PAX testing of this and that hows it is and its fun
How exactly is GW2 NOT themepark? Just because it requires so called skill and teamwork?
hey you find out a answer to your question, please let me know what it is
^Not exactly true. GW2 does do some hand-holding and it does have npcs telling you where to go. They just cleverly disguise it as "scout npcs." They are the guys that say, "Hey, there is a dynamic event going on in this area, go head over there and help out." Then you go to the DE and basically get an extended "chain" of things to do (sounds kinda questy) that has to be completed in stages.
Again, I'm not saying that is a negative, as I like some of the things GW2 is trying to do, particularly with the DE system, but lets not act like at least some of what they are doing isn't just a more cleverly disguised themepark package.
It is a huge difference between a npc you can ask "whats up, Doc?" and a quest that leads you to the next questhub.
Explorers will probably never even bother to speak to any scout at all, but in regular quest based themeparks you will be lead to if not all new places then most.
What differs between quests and DEs is that you aren't as railed in by DEs, with quests you more or less needs to do things in specific order. Sure, while you are in a DE you have to do something that the DE tells you needs doing but you can choose and pick what you think is most fun or just run around and rezz people. In a regular themepark you need to do all the things the quest tells you to do to complete the quest.
GW2 wont be a sandbox of course, far from it but it wont really be a themepark either, at least not a regular one.
Comments
I have to admit that I found it somewhat amusing that you say you don't really care for themeparks (maybe not outright say it but strongly imply it) and yet you also say you are looking forward to the next big themepark game.
I'm still kind of shocked that they didn't include wookies or jawas like the OP said. I've never even heard of some of the races in the beta, but what age group are they aiming for? All signs point to "not older SW fans".
Combat in this game rapes WoW's by a longshot
Played-Everything
Playing-LoL
I too prefer sandbox MMOs everytime like Zylaxx. I too find most storydriven games with cutscenes to be way over dramatic and unenjoyable manytimes in games. I am not the biggest fan of any Development Team now-a-days...
Yet I read the review and I am flat out impressed how well Zylaxx did. Zylaxx did an honest review covering good and bad points. I know Zylaxx did a good job with this review because I know I would have trashed SW:TOR if I had tried to do the same thing (or I would have been tempted to trash SW:TOR).
Zylaxx did a good review and did it with as little bias as a player like him or me could have done.
Zylaxx also said a few times that his review was his opinion. I have a feeling SW:TOR like many other MMOs will be subject to "Opinion" amny times through it's lifecycle, and like many others whether a Player enjoys it or not will depend mostly on point of view.
"Point of View"... Hmmm... Now where have we heard that phrase before?
Take that for what it's worth.
actually with romance arcs and some of the choices and the fact one bh quest u actually take a severed head to someone id say its aimed at the older then 18 crowd a bit.
The races that u can play are for story reasons. They have explained it alot. while id love to play rhodians and mon cal and tradoshans and wookies and barabels for tor at least at relese thats not they way they went.
i can see why with full vo.
Lets keep in mind this story takes place like 3000 yrs prior to new hope. so the races are gonna not all be the same.
I have heard of all the races in this game due to fact i read every star wars novel i can find. That said i dont have an issue with the races they are doing.
The zabrak, twilek while humanoid are the mos tout there but i like the chiss from the books ive read and i like the races they have chosen to include in tor. Would i like to play wookie and them yes but i dont need them to make this a great game for me.
Especially since trandoshan,s and wookies at least as well as jawa are part of our companions .So while we dont play them they are our side kicks and a part of our overall story.
Are you a fan boi for TOR? seems like it lol Gw2 is not themepark not even close to it i wil say it again NOT THEMEPARK=GW2 its new and trying new things and not based on PVP like some people think.Its based on teamwork and and skill people need to watch all the Gw2 stuff on youtube and gw2 offical site and get some real infomation
it requires real skill and teamwork for GW2 due to fact no holy trinity and class roles so you have to work together more then just button smashing and one dude healing and rest DPS dont work like that in GW2, combat is all supose work together and other classes use other classes skills and combine it together to make a super skill wile u have 3 people trying to tank the dude one after another communicating saying his HP is low got rest so someone else jumps in and does it i did some PAX testing of this and that hows it is and its fun
how is it tor threads get hyjacked by gw 2 fans all the time. it gets old peple by the way whens gw 2 s tart beta? oh yea u dont lknow whens it coming out again u dont know.l
well hope it comes out in 2012 for u and i have nothing against gw2 i hope its a great game that people lvoe and play alot.
Im not one of those people that ever cheer for any game to fail. I may not play or like gw2 but i dont want it to fail i want it to be a huge sucess.
the more choices in mmos the more successes they have the more money game devs put into games and more willing to try new things if new things work.
So i for one want tor, secret world, arch age and gw 2 to all do great.
That said tor is the game im gonna play. its the game ive been looking forward to for 2 yrs now. Ever since i found out it existed. After playing it in beta im even more excited to play it for the long haul.
why must any body ever want a game to fail/ Espeically since tor and gw2 have diffrent pricing models i dont understand why anyone woudl want gw 2 or tor to fail
I for one am all about choice and i know everyone has diffrent tastes i understand that my liking tor doesnt mean the next guy will. I also understand that u liking gw 2 doesnt mean i will or someone else will.
so lets just all hope the games we like do well and suceed and are around for years to come.
Im tired of the fanboi stuff just bedause someone likes tor doesnt mean we are naive and dont know whats a good game. Anymor then just because u hate a game means it sucks.
lets get that straight now.
3 words
Super Mario Bros
Hollllaaaaaa!
The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.
Carl Sagan-
Not 100% sure but i believe other races will be unlocked via the Legacy system.
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
So, in a nutshell:
You knew TOR was a themepark. Yet, still chose to write an "impression" piece, explaining how you don't enjoy themeparks, and that people who don't enjoy themeparks most likely will not enjoy TOR.
Pearls of wisdom...
That'd be a good idea. A dungeon group consisting of jawas would be amusing. The VO dialog might not be very compelling, however lol
How exactly is GW2 NOT themepark? Just because it requires so called skill and teamwork?
... you know, these kind of impressions are useful for somebody who shares his kinds of tastes and isn't totally sure if they'll like SW:tOR or not. (It IS possible for somebody who likes sandbox games to like SW:tOR you know)
Would you prefer it if only the most glowing reviews by the most avid of fanboys were posted? At least his post was nice and reasoned and didn't rely on any hyperbole, it explained what there was, and why it didn't appeal to him
No, I'm looking forward to GW2 I just think its funny that someone would point out the flaws of themeparks and then look forward to a themepark. And yes, GW2 will be a themepark. I didn't say it wasn't trying different things but that doesn't make it not a themepark. It has a story for you to follow and while you can mentor up and down to join in different level content, it still has levels and if you don't mentor you will be to low level for certain areas. It is very much a themepark. Fetch quests and go kill X quests aren't what make a themepark a themepark.
Taking the fact that the OP is only giving is opinion, i dont see any statement made that shows any disregard for the game itself. He gave, what it seemed to me, an honest descritpion about what he felt while playing SWKotOR. Ofc reading down his review one can tell that, most likely, he is not a "rookie" in MMOs and not under 18 also, or if he is, seemed mature enough to give a logical explanation about what he said.
I read many replies with the word "immersion", and frankly some people out there dont know what that word means, at least when it comes to video games. If you are looking for "immersion" then you should quit playing mmorpgs, because although they do have it in some aspects, they are far from being the genre where this word can really take expression. What is ofc something all can understand, because having an MMO where you could find the type of immersion you find in Oblivion or The Witcher (talking about rpgs) would certainly blow up the server or at max you would have a server where the max population would be 50 players or so. Every player that has played games like Half-Life 2, Dead Space, Stalker, Deus Ex, Mass Efect, just to name a few, know of what im talking about.
I do love mmorpgs, played wow for couple of years, tried many major tittles like EQ, Aion, LoTR, L2, GW (i like Guild Wars, dont really know why but i do) AOC, WAR and even some less known like RFO, Rohan, Cabal, Zentia just to name a few, but it never really felt like being they were immersive, i just love to play rpgs, and the idea of doing so in a world where are other players doing the same atracts me.
I do found a game where that word gains a bit more of strength, EVE Online, and im waiting for a D6D type where i could be sucked into. It could be GW2, SWKotOR, or any other tittle that shows up and blows you away, but please dont start labeling upcoming games just yet. Most of the people that will buy SWKotOR dont have the chance to play it untill it actually comes out, and same with GW2. You can buy them upon release, or you can wait and see how the gaming community judges them, but dont start moaning already.
Thanks to the OP for the review. Wish we could have more so we could compare opinions.
Eh....
I really like Bioware games I just don't want my Bioware single player to be in my MMORPG Immersion...
. If I bought SW:TOR, I'd only play it for the free trial period. I wouldn't pay a monthly for story. I pay a monthly because I get stuff out of the game more than I get out of everything else. I can get better stories on my console (well we shall see... I may be in beta soon). That beta experience may be all that I need. It'll probably be fun, I'm just tired of doing things like buying something like Call of Duty for the 10th time and having the previous 6 basically being the same game with a different 10 to 20 hour story... Understand what I mean by this?
GW2 and TSW are what I'm waiting for. Well I guess november 30th there is Lineage 2 free-to-play.
Immersion with gaming worlds is something that feels like a world and isn't clouded by the "game" of the game. Immersion in a sense that the world is living, so that every time you start your character, you may start out in the same place, but you don't have the same "quest string" or the same "end game". Elder scrolls would be a great mmo. The is what you would look at if you wanted some pretty "real" and "breathing" gaming environments where the story is found by you instead of forced upon you. In a movie...there is ONLY story and everything that intensifies the effect of that story. Bioware games are still more like a movie than a "world" like elder scrolls games tend to feel like. You should never be forced to play the main story in order to progress. An immersive MMO allows you to progress in whatever way that feels NATURAL to you as a human being.
I loved MGS4 with its crazy long movie-like cinematics (10/10 game if I do say so myself). I don't want to play an MMO that...focuses on personal and pre-made stories when there are tons of other things that an MMO needs to focus on. I can get those stories from watching movies or playing console games. They are usually better, too.
Lets cut the crap this is not a single player gme im tired of that same old same old line from haters. Its not true. I played beta and u can group from teh start to end if u want to.
There are heroic quest and heroic areas. There is pvp lakes even on pve servers, there are flashpoints and raids and warzones. This game has everything any mmo ive every played has in it for group content.
Sure mmos and i mean all mmos for the most part let u solo if u want to .
tor actually does things like social points for doing things in a group that allow u to buy things to encourage grouping.
So no this is not a single player game and if u think so u are just a ill informed person who has never played or even treid this game. I dont care if u say was in beta u cant have been if u still spout that idotic piece of nonsense.
Off topic but I thought I would give my thought on this question. I guess it depends on your understanding of what a themepark is exactly. I always thought it was a game where you had your hand held from beginning to end. A game where you were lead through content on a rail that took you from quest hub to quest hub. A game where you were guided and told where to go every step of the way and this was accomplished through zones having specific amounts of quests and monster levels that meant once you were through with the quests or too high level for the mobs to give exp, it was time to move onto the next zone and repeat till you are hampster wheeling your way through raids or pvp for that next piece of gear.
GW has none of this so I can see why he was saying it wasn't a themepark. No handholding. No quests telling you where to go. No outleveling content forcing you to go where the game says you need to go. No railed path to the end game. And no hampster wheeling when you get there.
While I am not sure what to label GW2 as, I can say I will be playing it on day one.
/On topic I am glad TOR changed somebodys mind in favor of. The MMORPG genre needs some good games out there since most of the stuff that has been released has been crap IMO.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
^Not exactly true. GW2 does do some hand-holding and it does have npcs telling you where to go. They just cleverly disguise it as "scout npcs." They are the guys that say, "Hey, there is a dynamic event going on in this area, go head over there and help out." Then you go to the DE and basically get an extended "chain" of things to do (sounds kinda questy) that has to be completed in stages.
Again, I'm not saying that is a negative, as I like some of the things GW2 is trying to do, particularly with the DE system, but lets not act like at least some of what they are doing isn't just a more cleverly disguised themepark package.
Huh? it doesn't guide you as to where to go next? You are the first person I've heard claim this, so where do you get your information from? I have been following this game and looking forward to it because I really enjoyed GW and love a game that I can just purchase and not have to worry about a sub for. However, It has levels so how do you not outlevel content? Are the levels just for show? From what I have read and seen they are there for a reason and will have mobs higher level that you can't take on unless you mentor with someone to boost your level. If that is what you mean then I agree that it is possible to enter and take on mobs above your level but only if you have someone willing to boost you up. If not, from my understanding, you will have a leveled progression. If you can't skip levels through mentoring then you have to go somewhere level appropriate. Kind of like EQ1 (only when I played you couldn't mentor, don't know if you can these days) but I wouldn't consider EQ1 a sandbox by any means as it had level progression where you wen to one area to do things appropriate to your level.
Pretty much right on GW2. Its not exactly a themepark and its not even close to a real sandbox. Its going to be somewhere inbetween if it does what they claim it does.
As to the OP I find this to be one of the best and most objective posts yet. Anytime you can admit you hate the themepark playstyle and admit it before you even give your thoughts is a big plus. Then you actually talk about the game from a themepark point of view which makes it even better. By doing this you admit its not for you AND give an objective point of view that one can actually believe since you wouldnt sugar coat anything.
Ontop of that you admit its going to be a solid game for thoes that enjoy themepark MMO's.
This is the way I understood it, only that you could also mentor up to go into areas that you wotherwise would be level prohibited from. If this is wrong I would like to know because I'm already looking forward to the game, anything "better" would just be icing on the cake. (Oh and please don't just say "you're wrong" please explain what is different and/or I am misunderstanding and if possible links are Gods among forum dwellers.)
I have to admit that I found it somewhat amusing that you say you don't really care for themeparks (maybe not outright say it but strongly imply it) and yet you also say you are looking forward to the next big themepark game.
Are you a fan boi for TOR? seems like it lol Gw2 is not themepark not even close to it i wil say it again NOT THEMEPARK=GW2 its new and trying new things and not based on PVP like some people think.Its based on teamwork and and skill people need to watch all the Gw2 stuff on youtube and gw2 offical site and get some real infomation
it requires real skill and teamwork for GW2 due to fact no holy trinity and class roles so you have to work together more then just button smashing and one dude healing and rest DPS dont work like that in GW2, combat is all supose work together and other classes use other classes skills and combine it together to make a super skill wile u have 3 people trying to tank the dude one after another communicating saying his HP is low got rest so someone else jumps in and does it i did some PAX testing of this and that hows it is and its fun
How exactly is GW2 NOT themepark? Just because it requires so called skill and teamwork?
hey you find out a answer to your question, please let me know what it isPhilosophy of MMO Game Design
It is a huge difference between a npc you can ask "whats up, Doc?" and a quest that leads you to the next questhub.
Explorers will probably never even bother to speak to any scout at all, but in regular quest based themeparks you will be lead to if not all new places then most.
What differs between quests and DEs is that you aren't as railed in by DEs, with quests you more or less needs to do things in specific order. Sure, while you are in a DE you have to do something that the DE tells you needs doing but you can choose and pick what you think is most fun or just run around and rezz people. In a regular themepark you need to do all the things the quest tells you to do to complete the quest.
GW2 wont be a sandbox of course, far from it but it wont really be a themepark either, at least not a regular one.