Most of my experiences from planet to planet in The Old Republic are rewarding. Hoth had me expecting more. The planet is cold to the point of being uninhabitable except for the hardiest of species. Why is it then that I am running about in Imperial spandex with little to no regard. I was given a stimulant before reaching the planet that increased my elemental resistance by 10% for an hour, but is that enough?
What I really wanted from coming to Hoth was simple. Like some other planets in the game, you take your ship to an orbital station before riding a shuttle down to the surface. After the loading screen finished, I hoped to step off the ship in some generic fur-lined arctic gear. BioWare could make a skin for each of the four classes themed to your faction to differentiate players from one another.
Once on the planet, you could be directed to an NPC who informs you the weather is too harsh for your speeder and offers you a tauntaun based on your riding proficiency instead. This would really sell me on being a character in the Star Wars universe.
That said, the planet does feel large and barren. I like the feeling that I could get lost on Hoth exploring it’s icy wastelands. The experience wasn’t bad. I just built up this notion in my head of “The Empire Strikes Back” meets the snowfall detail from Skyrim. Clearly, it was nothing like that.
It’s a tough balancing act. On the one hand, I want to be fed great storylines from the guys at BioWare. They’re damn good at it and it’s thousands of years before the setting of my beloved trilogy. On the other hand, I have these perceptions of what I want these planets and stories to be, solely based on the remnants of movies and books from my youth. I know it’s not fair to the developers, but I can’t help it.
As I near the end of my story for the Imperial Agent, I’m quite content with the twists and turns. Nerfs are coming to a few abilities on my Agent, so I’ve done my best to take advantage in pvp for as long as I can. I don’t foresee the changes to the class making my game time any less pleasing. If anything, I’m going to enjoy mixing up my approach to opening on enemies.
