After being lend into a small, circular room by our favorite British community manager, Mr Stephen Reid himself, we were treated to a 10-minute video explaining what the demo will entail. Basically, the video explained the situation the Sith Empire has found itself in on Tatooine and how the assaults from Sand People have have devastated their facilities and put strain on their personnel. As the video continued, instructions on how to play all the Dark Side classes (including Advanced Class) were shown. Trust me when I say...some people really needed this part.
Anyways, when the short film finally came to a close, we were kindly directed out into the playing area where 2/3rds of the computers for set up for Tatooine and the rest were for Jedi Origin worlds. Being unfortunately seated in the back during the video presentation, I frantically looked for the IA: Operative but could not spot the station. Eventually, I sat down at a Sith Warrior console only to stand up to see another person at the Operative station. Eager to play Operative, I kindly tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to switch. He agreed (probably because we were next to each other in line) and I secretly cheered in my head. Finally, time to see what this class can do!
To start, I clicked on the holo display to get my first "quest" telling me to find a Sith Lord who was out in search of secrets within a ruin and hasn't returned. The conversation was something else and I must say that having convincing voice actors in place of a page of text is well worth it. Finishing the dialogue, I frantically searched by two bars of skills of the speeder bike, determined to beat others to the quest. Despite my enthusiasm, finding the skill was much harder than I thought and it was not until someone showed me was I able to take off.
With the 20 minute clock ticking away, I fought the urge to explore and sped along all the way to my quest waypoint. The map was very helpful in this aspect as it automatically becomes transparent as I began to move, allowing me to navigate accordingly while in transit. Once I became stationary, it would solidify, granting me a clear view of the map. Upon arrival, I saw my enemies: Tusken Raiders, some alone, some with group of frees. Oh boy this is gonna be fun...
Now before combat actually began, there were a few things I had to consider: Should I open with a melee attack? Should I go in gun blazing? What about my companion...what will she do? Will I have to heal during combat? Well, the best way to answer is to jump head first in with my level 26 Operative.
"Being the badass she is, she shrouded herself and her companion in a Stealth field as they slowly made their way towards a group of unsuspecting Tusken guards. A moment of surprised caught the Tuskens offguard as they began to realize someone was among then. It was too late however as this moment of panic was all she needed. She quickly Backstabbed one of the guards causing him let out a scream as her companion unleashed a deadly Barrage of suppression fire upon another guard a little further away. As the first guard flinched back in pain, he caught himself and pulled out a stun baton ready to land a devastating blow with his weapon. Luckily, back at the academy, she had learned the skill art of melee Evasion and carefully dodged out of the way.
As the Tusken tried to regain his footing in the aftermath of blow, her hands were already on her rifle. A couple quick Debilitating Shots later, he began to bleed out. The gasps in his breathing told her that he was done for and all that was left to do was to finish the job. She approached him slowly, took out her electroblade and with a quick Shiv, the Tusken crumbled to the ground. As the electricity coursed through his lifeless body, she looked up to check upon her companion, only to see the last laser bolt strike through the remaining guard's chest. The battle was over and they had won."
Back in the real world, I began to greedily search the bodies for some epic loot and of course the quest item only to find some rubbish that was definitely NPC vendorable (yes I just made up this word). Eventually after several more battles, I was able to find the "quest item" but had trouble navigating the inventory window only to realize there is a "Quest Item" tab where the Sith Lord's Locator was...located. After feeling like a complete newbie, I traveled onwards through a cave where more Tusken Raiders would awaited. By the time I got to the Sith Lord, the demo time was up.
Being herded out the room, we were compensated by a generous selection of loot which included T-shirts, baseball caps, and posters. I couldn't resist taking a red T-shirt with a Sith Empire's logo on it as well as a poster with Darth Malgus directing a battle. All in all, it was definitely worth the wait and trip to E3. If you had to ask me if SWTOR was ready for launch, I will say the following:
The Old Republic is 80% more polished than most of the games on the show floor and even more polished that some games that are going to be released before it. It is a good time to have hope.
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