Is the Star Wars: The Old Republic 12X XP Boost a Good Idea?
One of the marks of success that a player has in an online rpg is the amount of experience that they earn. Most mmos use the tried-and-true method of characters gaining levels by acquiring the requisite amount of xp to do so. This is a hallmark carried over from the pen-and-paper roleplaying games that had a huge influence upon the development of online games. The normal case is that the more difficult the quest undertaken, the more xp that is awarded to the player. As such, a player will usually earn a great deal more xp from defeating a powerful lord in a game as opposed to just simply gathering ten resources. Star Wars: The Old Republic is bringing back their 12x xp boost on May 4th, and the reaction has been pretty positive. The re-introduction of this boost does lead us to ask a question. Is the Star Wars: The Old Republic 12xp boost a good idea?
This is not the first time that the Star Wars: The Old Republic 12x xp boost has made an appearance in the game. It was initially offered to those that had pre-ordered the Shadow of Revan expansion for $19.99 late last year. Now the boost is back with similar conditions. The most important feature of the boost is that only grants the xp bonus for class quests, not for any side quests or PvP matches. The other consideration that is important now is that the boost will only be available to those that subscribe to the game, which currently runs for $14.99 a month. So is the SWTOR xp boost a good idea?
The answer to that question is mixed, depending upon how you look upon the matter. Let's look at the positive aspects of the SWTOR 12x xp boost. The most obvious benefit is that the player is gaining xp at a hugely accelerated rate. The thought of a single mission now taking the place of an even dozen is a dizzying prospect for those that want to level quickly and reach the endgame content as the use of this xp boost will greatly cut down on the grinding needed to level a character within the mmorpg. I do like that it does pertain to class quests as it is those quests that are the strongest feature in the game. The strength of BioWare is in telling a great story, and the individual class storylines are tremendously entertaining. The fact that there's some give and take throughout them (will you go Light, Dark, or somewhere in between?) provide the player with quite a few choices as they progress through the game.
The use of the Star Wars: The Old Republic 12x xp boost allows the player to focus mostly on the class quests to level and skip most of the filler missions that are out there. This is incredibly handy for those that are leveling alts. While a good number of the filler quests are well designed, the truth is that most of them are lacking when compared to the main class quests. The first time I played through the game, I had to scavenge to find and complete every filler quest that I could to gain the necessary levels in order to reach the next planet. As I utterly despised the game's PvP and did not play it, my xp options were limited. Now a player doesn't have to worry about that too much as the boost should help provide them the majority of the experience needed to level. While the player will likely still have to undertake some filler quests, the number needed will be drastically reduced.
There are several negatives to the SWTOR xp boost though. The first is that we do not know how long it'll be around. In the livestream where the developers announced the return of the boost, there was no chatter on when it would end. My guess is that it'll become a permanent feature of the game because....in order to gain the use of the 12x xp boost, you have to be a subscriber to the mmo. Yep, free-to-play gamers are left out in the bitter cold of Hoth when it comes to extra xp coming their way. If a player is willing to pony up the requisite fifteen bucks a month, they can quickly level their characters by mainly focusing on the class quests. Some people may gripe over this stipulation, but it truly doesn't bother me as I can't begrudge the game for giving someone a massive xp boost if they're willing to pay a subscription fee.
On the whole, I do think that the Star Wars: The Old Republic 12x xp boost is a good idea. It provides an incentive for players to subscribe to the game, which generates revenue for BioWare and keeps the game healthy. It allows players to level up their alts a great deal more quickly by cutting out most of the fluff quests that a player normally has to take. Of course, if you're unwilling to subscribe to the game, then you're out of luck. Yet there's no real negative impact to the f2p gamer. Players who don't sub to the game can still buy xp boosters from the cartel market if they choose to do so.
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