Staff Writer Mike "Krelumian" Schaffnit jumped into Star Wars: The Old Republic to share his experiences with all.

Probably the biggest game this holiday season, Star Wars: The Old Republic has been out for only two days, but that didn't stop those lucky enough to get into the early access from playing it for over a week. Now, like many of you, it's always hard for me to shift attention from one MMO to the next, so I figured I would take some time to spell out my experiences with SWTOR's early access and tell you why you won't want to miss this game!

Like many readers out there I wasn't graced with Beta access until the game's final few weeks. This gave me only enough time to play around with two character classes and what's the point of playing a Star Wars game if you aren't going to wield a lightsaber? With that in mind I had to choose either a Sith Warrior or Sith Inquisitor.

Upon the game's early launch, I rolled my Sith Warrior and my PvP focused group of friends slowly began appearing, one by one, on Mandalore the Indomitable. The first few nights were slow, with only 1-2 guild mates actually online for any sort of grouping. So I decided to focus on questing as fast as possible while popping into Warzones any chance I could.

The questing and PvE world stability was more than impressive as the first few days kept the player population spread throughout the different planets. I'm pretty sure this was part of BioWare's plans and why early access was done the in the fashion it was. However, even though I was given access on the first night, I quickly became caught up with the masses of people questing on the early planets because I was spending so much time in the Warzones.

For the first few nights of the Warzone rotation, most of the time you ended up with Huttball. While I, in fact, love the mechanics of this back and forth game of catch, it can definitely be a struggle for anyone trying to level in it alone. First and foremost, for any prospective PvP enthusiasts out there, please, do yourself and the rest of us who have to play with you a favor, and keybind the "Throw Huttball" ability. Having a team that can effectively move a ball around the court, without walking its entire length, drastically increases your winning potential. 

Once you get the hang of ball movement, it becomes important to work together with your team, to effectively move past obstacles as fast as possible. While it might seem like the best defense to walk side-by-side with your ball carrier, it actually will prove to be more effective to run ahead of any hazards, or even on a higher platform, so the carrier can pass the ball to safety if he/she runs into any major trouble.

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