I just got off newbie island, which was very very linear.

Just curious, is the game just as linear after that, or can we go area X to level this toon from 10-20, and maybe go to area Y to level another toon from 10-20,etc...

This is something I think contributed to the impending death of games like Aion and Rift. (Rift was a pretty good game but just so linear you couldn't stomach the thought of doing the same quests in the exact same order again... and since the game wasn't ready for end-game, everyone got bored fast and quit) Same thing with SWTOR.

Nope. The story quests are extremely linear. It has it's pros and cons. For the first time, it's pretty awesome. After making an alt, it becomes extremely dull. My wife and I were having a hard time playing in OBT simply because after taking 4 characters to level 20+ in CBT, seeing the Island of Dawn and the Arcadia province again sapped all excitement we had about being able to play again.

The good news: you get to keep your OBT character, so if you don't plan on making an alt - you never have to repeat the process.

1-17/18 is linear - but after that, there are multiple areas you can go to for each set of levels.

For example, at around 19-22 you can go to Valley of Titans, Twangi Mire, and one other place that I don't know the name of >.>. There may be some I missed though.

Quote: Tamotsu on 04/24/2012, 02:25 PM - view

Man I was afraid of that. Let's hope there is end-game ready because a lot of people will hit max level and if their isn't adequate stuff to do at max level, and there is no driving factor to roll an alt, the population will take a hit. (ala Rift, Aion, Warhammer, SWTOR, and others)

I can honestly say I have no interest in doing newbie island again. It was pretty boring. I only just made it out of newbie island so I don't know much beyond that.

the story is a line.

it also happens to be a line you dont have to follow.

you can ignore them and do the regular quest.

you can do only them and not the regular quest

you get multiple quest-hubs to choose form in most places.

you can easily ignore some over others, or grind on mobs and BAMs if that floats your boat.

MMOs are as linear as you want them to be. even TOR with its choices was linear when it was all said and done as you always ended up in the same place. altho you did have more stories to choose form due to your class choice.

I don't find the questing to be linear at all. I've literally skipped the quests in 3 entire zones because i wanted to explore. Story line is nice to have, and this game isn't sandbox, but it's definitely not the case that you're on rails.

Newbie island is very simplified to make sure idiots cannot get lost.

Later on you get the choice to skip places and go to other if you want, however the main campaign pretty much remains the same.

If you're a linear person, it will be linear.

I wave and flail my arms wildly and navigate by resource collection nodes and often time I have no idea where I am anymore.

Story quest in linear, but you don't have to follow it, side quests takes you to other places that the story quest doesn't.

You aren't forced to follow the story quests and I found often there was more than one zone I could go to within my level range. Yes, if you follow a story quest to its completion it will be linear. If you don't give a rats behind about the story quests you can bounce around at will.

You won't get every quest available but enough to level without resorting to grinding.