SWTOR ... so yeah I started another game.

Sorry,

Yes bitches .. I started another game that I've been playing so much that I didn't post anything.

Well not that I was going to post anyways, but thats my excuse this 5 minutes.

Star Wars : The Old Republic ... I was able to start the game in the 'pre-release' rush about 4-5 days early and at this writing my main is level 41 Sith Inquisitor.

I choose that class initially with reservations as it is a healing class.

Typically MMO's like to punch you in the face if you play any important role like a Tank or a Healer. They do this by crippling your character so that its oh - say roughly double to triple as hard to level as a "DPS" (damage dealing) class. This is what I like to call "punishment gaming" and we will definitely cover that a lot more in the future.

But what punishment gaming typically means is that if you get a perceived advantage you must be punished for that. Its a core design tenet of most MMO's with a rich history starting (for me at least) with EverQuest. The people who hold to this tenet like to call it a "vision".  Its unclear to me if this vision is shroom derived or not as it is quite a deranged one ...

EverQuest was the master of punishment gaming until some bitter jaded designers decided that Sony/Verant was not letting them beat the proverbial crap out of players nearly enough and left to make Vangaurd, but that is another story for another time.

Bioware's naiveté in this area is very refreshing. They have made it so that my character is" allowed" to level. I do not know what nitwit at Bioware was allowed to let this happen but for now I am very grateful!  I am closing in on the current level cap and even if they nerf it later, it will be too late as I will have achieved my goal. Everyone who follows be damned.

But forgive this bitter jaded MMO veteran, perhaps Bioware learned something from other MMO's and figured that punishment gaming is only seen as 'fun' to a small subset of addictive personalities.  The picture is rather fuzzy and unclear right now because for as many areas as you can name where they have borrowed the best practices of the King of MMO's (WoW) they have in as many areas utterly failed to borrow from it, or other MMO's that may do it better (Rift for example handles multiple talent build outs much better than WoW).

Speaking of multiple talent load outs (sometimes called 'specs) Bioware has amazingly chosen to only permit you to have one at a time .. how quaint.  Please head to town every time you want to change your role! Oh what? Did punishment gaming just rear its ugly head?

Yes my bitches, it sure did.