Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG by Bioware

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

I couldn't.

I was only able to DL the game and put it up on the desktop..

But I wasn't able to DL the extra stuff (patches I guess) until today for some reason..and I'm still waiting.

sigh

 

[darthviper107]

Yeah, if I hadn't gotten into the regular beta I probably wouldn't have participated in the beta weekends, it's a lot to have to download like 30GB only to play for a few days.

 

[raspor]

argh server administrations, what am I now to do

 

[lerath666]

so.. i got into the beta this past weekend, and I've got mixed feelings.

On one hand, it's a neet game, and it's got a pretty good fun factor.

on the other, there are glaring inaccuracies that make me want to grab a bioware developer and scream WHY into their face. ( like the sith using republic symbols on their flag, whee) . But those concerns are relatively minor. I've got a few big issues.

This close to launch, the game should be ready to release. any beta testing going on should ONLY be stress testing for the server. This morning I encountered bugs such as textures unloading, and everything turning white, animations not loading properly, and pieces of equipment floating meters in-front of, behind, to the left, or right of my character instead of ON them.
Yes, these are relatively minor bugs, but these are things that should have been fixed by now. Almost makes me think that very few QC and beta testers are actually doing their jobs.


The game itself is pretty cool, But I'm more worried than ever for the future of the game. It's an MMO, yet it has things that are not going to appeal to your typical mmo audience. the quests, for example. every time I talk to someone to take a quest, I must sit through a 105 minute cinematic cut scene, and listen to them tell me what's what. That's something that will annoy a great deal of the mmo crowd. Yes, it's cool that they have 100% voiceover work for the game, but I'd like to be able to skip it if I like. and so far, I've found you CAN't skip it, AND take the quest.

To be honest, ( and I can't believe I'm saying this) I wonder if Bioware was the right company to take this project to. You wou;dn't ask the madden development team to make call of duty, and you wouldn't ask Dice ( they make battlefield) to make madden. It's not what they do... so why ask bioware to make an MMO? It doesn't FEEL like an MMO. it feels like an exceptionally well done single player game, like skyrim, or Bioshock, or Dragon age....


Is this a bad thing? no, not really. I am, however, more concerned than ever about how EA will handle this property in the coming years.

While I anticipate this game having a fantastic Launch, and a large initial response, I see the player base dropping off slowly, and the game eventually going F2P in 12-18 months. Then utilizing microtransactions as it's primary source of capital generation.

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

I'll definitely be sitting through all of the cinematics and quest backstories..but I am surprised that there is not an option to skip it..that's kinda crazy considering the fact that this is an MMORPG and many people could care less about the RPG part.

Damnit Idunno if I should buy it or not..and I'm probably not getting in the beta since the ____in game is still DLing...

sigggghhhh...........

 

[lerath666]

I'll buy it, but I'm not going to bother with pre-ordering,or a special limited edition whatever. I'll just get it off the shelf.

 

[darthviper107]

I'll definitely be sitting through all of the cinematics and quest backstories..but I am surprised that there is not an option to skip it..that's kinda crazy considering the fact that this is an MMORPG and many people could care less about the RPG part.

Damnit Idunno if I should buy it or not..and I'm probably not getting in the beta since the ____in game is still DLing...

sigggghhhh...........

You can skip the cinematics, I think it's Spacebar

Also, as to bugs--I haven't had bugs like that at all, the only bug I had was that with video cards with 2GB or more of memory they wouldn't be configured correctly and the textures would load up on the low setting. But they fixed that.

Since then I haven't had any issues. But I haven't played the most recent build so I don't know if there's a difference.

My only concern is that once people have played their character through to level 50 (which people have done in the Beta several times) there just isn't anything to do. With all the classes being about combat and story it doesn't have anything else.

 

[jasong888]

You can skip the cinematics, I think it's Spacebar

Also, as to bugs--I haven't had bugs like that at all, the only bug I had was that with video cards with 2GB or more of memory they wouldn't be configured correctly and the textures would load up on the low setting. But they fixed that.

Since then I haven't had any issues. But I haven't played the most recent build so I don't know if there's a difference.

My only concern is that once people have played their character through to level 50 (which people have done in the Beta several times) there just isn't anything to do. With all the classes being about combat and story it doesn't have anything else.

if bioware does what dc universe online did, they'll implement more endgame content later once more players have reached the level cap. until then imo, it's just a race to level characters, class stories, and pvp.

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

I think that by the time we hit the higher levels, they will have added more..it seems like there's going to be a TON of lore to go through...

 

[lerath666]

that's pretty standard fare when it comes to MMO's.

 

[darthviper107]

I think that by the time we hit the higher levels, they will have added more..it seems like there's going to be a TON of lore to go through...

There's people that reached level 50 in 2 weeks

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

Oh, well uhh.....

 

[OSCORP]

This game will have a 10 year lifespan. I'm hardly worried about endgame at this point. I plan on smelling the roses and leveling at my own pace, and doing some exploration in the SW galaxy. What is there 17 planets to explore at launch? I'll be busy for a while, kiddies worried about endgame already will never be satisfied. (this game will go through plenty of changes over the years, i'm in it for the long haul)


BTW, did we ever get a guild up?

My only gripe so far is there's no day or night cycles. I'm a big immersion kinda guy and i like stuff like that. But Bioware said they want each planet to have a certain feel to it. (maybe this will change in the future)


I disagree. (otherwise i'm stoked)

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

That's it.

I'm just gonna pre-order this *******.

 

[OSCORP]

So tempted to make a Sith Warrior but i'm saving it for launch day.

DEC 15th C'mon!

 

[vareika]

How long do you guys think WoW will last. I heard they lost about 5 million subscribers this year (not sure where I heard this). How many years has it being out? Just wondering if any mmorpg can have a critical mass of players for 10 years. Now more than ever there are and will be more and more distractions and new games "promising" new concepts and experiences, that I find it hard to believe this game has the ability to hold someone for 10 years.

My opinion of course not hating on the game. I'm looking forward to the game and how it turns out over the next year or so as well.

 

[Kibishii]

This game will have a 10 year lifespan. I'm hardly worried about endgame at this point.

This is my #1 worry about this game. Before we had kids, my wife and I were hardcore EQ players (top end guild on the MT/EM server) and we never ran out of content; we tried SWG and were bored out of our mind in a week. I haven't made up my mind whether to buy this game at launch or wait a few months until some DLC has been added. It will be disappointing if I buy the game just to have 4-5 alts that have completed everything in the game.

 

[lerath666]

How long do you guys think WoW will last. I heard they lost about 5 million subscribers this year (not sure where I heard this). How many years has it being out? Just wondering if any mmorpg can have a critical mass of players for 10 years. Now more than ever there are and will be more and more distractions and new games "promising" new concepts and experiences, that I find it hard to believe this game has the ability to hold someone for 10 years.

My opinion of course not hating on the game. I'm looking forward to the game and how it turns out over the next year or so as well.

Still playing WoW after 10 years. and i'm eagerly looking forward to the next expansion.

Here is the thing, wow lost approxamately 10% of it's player base from december of last year to december of this year.

which means they dropped from 12 million active accounts, to 10.5 million active accounts. and is hovering around 10.5

mmo annalists are putting 10 million as wow's "critical mass" for it's player base. meaning that they expect this to be the general number.

additionaly, having played both games, there are things in Old republic that are going to repell your hardcore mmo croud, but attract general RPG players.

and it's exactly the opposite in games like WoW, and RIFT.

short version, WoW has nothing to fear from Old republic, as it's going to attract a different auidence than WoW will.

yes, SOME people will leave wow for TOR. there will also be "crossover kids" ( like me ) who will play both, and flovor of the month gamers who switch MMO games every time a new one comes out.

How long Will WoW last? As long as blizzard keeps the servers running.
the ORIGINAL Everquest still has people paying a monthly fee to play it ( close to 20 years old now), so does ultima online( even older). Trust me, wow is not going anywhere any time soon.

 

[lerath666]

This is my #1 worry about this game. Before we had kids, my wife and I were hardcore EQ players (top end guild on the MT/EM server) and we never ran out of content; we tried SWG and were bored out of our mind in a week. I haven't made up my mind whether to buy this game at launch or wait a few months until some DLC has been added. It will be disappointing if I buy the game just to have 4-5 alts that have completed everything in the game.

This is my concern as well. your hardcore crowd, those players who keep an MMO alive, i think, are going to have exactly that experience. and that's where the danger is going to be. Can they rope in enough casual and single player mmo gamers to keep this financially viable after the first 6 to 18 months.

To be honest, i don't know. i like this game, despite the flaws i find with it, so I hope so.

 

[Kibishii]

the ORIGINAL Everquest still has people paying a monthly fee to play it ( close to 20 years old now)

EQ = the best MMORPG ever. My wife and I still joke around about the memories we have from EQ raids; we would spend 5+ hours each night gaming and the online community were like 2nd family...then the kids came and once our first hit a year old, we quit entirely. My wife played a bit a few years ago during summer break, but it was too hard to play with four kids.

Vanguard was another fun game, but was riddled with QC issues and most of the gamers quit.