Now that it’s well over 6 weeks into the life of SWTOR, there’s no shortage of Level 50s running around. Unlike those who levelled up in the first week or so, most of those who’ve reached end-game will have actually experienced the storyline in at least a brief sense. Some will have put in a huge number of hours and truly experienced the story from start to finish, but I’d argue they’re in the minority.

For the rest of us still levelling, we’ve either been putting in a lot less hours, stopping to explore everything, or both. That’s certainly where I’m up to. My Jedi Sage is at Level 29, and whilst running over a sand dune in Tattooine, I stopped to check out the scenery and take a screen shot or two. Whilst standing there I once again thought about how it’d be sad to end that initial levelling journey.

Like any game, that first time achieving a key objective is usually the most memorable and I have no doubt that’ll be the case with SWTOR. What accentuates this for me at present is the current griping about the game’s end content. Given I haven’t experienced that content myself, I’m not in a great position to critique it, but if the end-game isn’t quite as engaging as the levelling content, then I have an even better reason to enjoy the journey rather than speeding to the destination.

There’s a fairly strong opposing argument however. Given how story-driven SWTOR is, even if you do rush through some of the story, every class has different quests so you can easily roll two or three toons and not repeat the same quest once. That still seems a little short-sighted an approach though, as any story is only as strong as its component parts, so skipping through quest cutscenes here and there must affect the overall experience.

Overall, this is a long-winded way of saying that SWTOR is a damn enjoyable visual experience in addition to its story. There are legitimate gripes about performance and end-game content, but both can be easily remedied and in the meantime, I’ll keep stopping at the top of sand dunes to admire the view.

How about you – have you enjoyed the levelling experience and do you feel you’ve done everything you wanted on the road to Level 50?