Day one of the big SWTOR stress test beta weekend is now over, and we here at TORWars have been keeping careful watch on how things have been coming along. Have most players enjoyed SWTOR? What about bugs? How bad is the lag? Have there been many server crashes? How about gameplay problems?
Well, folks, based on our very informal (e.g., highly subjective) observations, here’s what we’ve found so far:
- Overall, fans are able to get into the game and play with only occasional problems
- There is often a queue to get into the game. The estimated wait times (indicated on the load screens) are way off, however. For example, for one member of the TORWars staff a projected three hour wait time turned out to be exactly 30 minutes
- Under a full load of players, lag is a factor in some areas. Turning down some graphic features (especially shadow effects) is reported to help.
- This is a stress test; BioWare wants those servers full. More are being brought online as needed.
- Both West Coast and EU servers are being tested today (yesterday it was only East Coast servers)
The good news is that most people are enjoying the game and having fun. This is, however, a stress test, and thus not completely problem free – that’s kind of the whole idea. BioWare is, at this very moment, working very hard analyzing what is going on with the servers, the load of players, queues, and unforeseen bugs. The goal, of course, is to have this all ironed out before launch.
This weekend wasn't just a stress test for the servers, it was almost certainly a stress test for Stephen Reid as well. Good thing that everything is going well. 
Overall, however, the majority of players are responding very positively to this weekend’s playtime, and most are giving the game some rave initial reviews. This, my friends, is a very good sign.
TORWars Podcast #152: The Terrors of Nuturing the SWTOR Community
So far Beta has been a pleasurable experience, I haven’t hit any bugs till just now.
seems I am stuck in a Queue of 135, I hit ALT ENTER to go into Window mode, and it took me out of the Q.
so, I am back in the Q at 167, and waiting, I will log it when I get in
Whole lot of bugs. Ranging from graphical glitches to conversation glitches to all of General chat disappearing from the whole planet for a few hours. That said, I’ve had a good time. I’m level 17, got my ship, and tomorrow I’ll hopefully finish my last Kaas quest (which I couldn’t do tonight because I couldn’t get a group for it).
Not really bioware’s fault but im irritated at the fact my computer can still only run the beta at about 13 fps with ALL graphics turned down to their minimum. makes me think whether im gonna need to shell out £800 for a new pc before this game comes out.
Depending on how old your current computer is, you might be fine just getting a new graphics card and maybe processor, rather than a whole new computer.
No need to spend that much. Look one up on Ebay, may friend got an amazing one last year for only a few 100 dollars….
but b4 u go buy a new one….try upgrading graphics/processor if ur capabl;e of doing so…t’d be far cheaper.
I’m with you on that… I’ve had to turn my graphics WAY down and I’m running a 2ghz tri-core processor, 4gigs of ram, and an ati radeon HD4250 (laptop). I’m hoping that when I switch to my desktop, which has a better video card, things will be better but I’m kinda disappointed that this game is as demanding as it is. I think that SWTOR may have missed the mark in making the system requirements too high for the majority of their player base. Thoughts?
Really enjoying the game, being careful not to play too far in so jumping between a number of different classes to give them a look.
Had very little lag but have encountered a number of minor bugs – i.e. visual artifacts, or my character practicing ventroloquism – chatting away without moving his lips!
I’ve two manned the Esseles flashpoint with a friend and enjoyed it. There were a number of cutscenes within the flashpoint which leave me slightly worried, I suspect a lot of players will want to try and skip the story bits in flashpoints after they’ve been through them a couple of times, putting pressure on new players.
I was having fps of 10 or less with all graphics set to min. The game was unplayable almost. I switched to 800×600 mode and get fps in the 20′s now and can play fairly well.
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