That's what happened after it came out, but during Beta they were very vocal about making sure TOR included features that were in WoW
Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG by Bioware
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SWG was better and had more immersion than this game. And that was in 2003 (even with all it's bugs, it was innovative and tried new things. Bioware just copied WOW and made it like their RPG's.
LOTRO has the best atmosphere i've ever experienced in an MMO. It's F2P now and i still play and there's a lot of people online still. So there's hope with the F2P model if Bioware can even work that right. (I just don't think they get it, they have the SW license and can't make it work somethings wrong.)
I am still playing slowly and will continue in hopes of a better game down the road.
LOTRO has the best atmosphere i've ever experienced in an MMO. It's F2P now and i still play and there's a lot of people online still. So there's hope with the F2P model if Bioware can even work that right. (I just don't think they get it, they have the SW license and can't make it work somethings wrong.)
I am still playing slowly and will continue in hopes of a better game down the road.
Shropt
Super Freak
I may need to play this game again now that it's free. It's not a bad game but it felt like just another console title that (for some reason) I was paying each month to play. Now that it's free I won't feel like I NEED to play it all the time.
What was cool about SWG was that outside of the regular quests there was actual stuff to do--more classes other than combat and huge maps where you could go anywhere. That's really I think the main problem, outside of the quests in TOR there's nothing to do, no reason just to hang out.
What was also cool (originally) was things like becoming a Jedi, where the path to that was a mystery and pretty complex, so it was a big goal for people to get to, at least until they made it a class.
lerath666
Super Freak
I'm not denouncing the game, or cheering that it went F2P, I'm just not surprised one bit.
Bioware gets stories, and RPG titles. that's a proven thing.
They DON'T get MMO's, and neither does EA.
They released this game unfinished. there were KEY mmo tools the game lacked, that are present in the big hitters. Group finders, Dungeon and raid finders, guild recruitment tools, etc.
Yes, I've read and re-read the comments of " well , wow didn't have those things when it was released either." and while that's true, they also didn't have 10 million subscribers at launch either. they have that now. And they have it by giving the players what they wanted. there is absolutely no reason to not have those things when you release an MMO these days.
Doing so would be the same as if i Started a business selling cars that did not have power windows, air conditioning, power steering, and automatic transmissions, and my justification was that the model T didn't have those things when it came out, and look how successful ford is today.
Missing game mechanics aside, Bioware's plan for content was that every player play every class to get the story.
No. EXPECTING all your players to do this, then getting baffled when they don't is dumb. Yes, SOME will, but your truly hardcore mmo players, the ones who will keep your game alive year after year likely will not do that. Not at first anyways. Additionally, they keep promising to release new content faster.. and we've yet to see them deliver anything new so far other than the Rhakghoul event. and while awesome, they promised faster, we've yet to see anything.
Then there are the worlds themselves. They're mostly tiny. there are a FEW exceptions, like hoth, and Tatioone, where I REALLY feel like I was on those worlds, inside star wars. But the rest of the time... it felt like i was in a theme park.. that if i looked closely enough at the "fake" buildings, i'd see they were made of cardboard.
It is, for the most part, not at all immersive. And that's the biggest mistake. like you said, there was no drive to really "hang out" anywhere. it just... failed on so many levels.
Then we add EA into the equation. EA, slave to release dates, and concerned more with the bottom line than releasing quality product.
MANY of my issues with missing game mechanics were, in my opinion, left out intentionally to meet a release date set by EA. and while release dates are important to a degree, I'd rather a game be more polished and late, than on-time and not finished.
Those fixes weve seen to add those things? image if instead of putting into the game that should have been in there since Day one, we had been seeing actual content updates.
Short version, TOR has been a carnival of failures and mistakes. and it's caught up to them.
I do hope that lucasfilm/lucasarts doesn't decide that this means that Star wars simply CAN'T work as an mmo, and never try again. A amazing star Wars MMO is a possibility, we've just not hit the right combination as of yet.
Bioware gets stories, and RPG titles. that's a proven thing.
They DON'T get MMO's, and neither does EA.
They released this game unfinished. there were KEY mmo tools the game lacked, that are present in the big hitters. Group finders, Dungeon and raid finders, guild recruitment tools, etc.
Yes, I've read and re-read the comments of " well , wow didn't have those things when it was released either." and while that's true, they also didn't have 10 million subscribers at launch either. they have that now. And they have it by giving the players what they wanted. there is absolutely no reason to not have those things when you release an MMO these days.
Doing so would be the same as if i Started a business selling cars that did not have power windows, air conditioning, power steering, and automatic transmissions, and my justification was that the model T didn't have those things when it came out, and look how successful ford is today.
Missing game mechanics aside, Bioware's plan for content was that every player play every class to get the story.
No. EXPECTING all your players to do this, then getting baffled when they don't is dumb. Yes, SOME will, but your truly hardcore mmo players, the ones who will keep your game alive year after year likely will not do that. Not at first anyways. Additionally, they keep promising to release new content faster.. and we've yet to see them deliver anything new so far other than the Rhakghoul event. and while awesome, they promised faster, we've yet to see anything.
Then there are the worlds themselves. They're mostly tiny. there are a FEW exceptions, like hoth, and Tatioone, where I REALLY feel like I was on those worlds, inside star wars. But the rest of the time... it felt like i was in a theme park.. that if i looked closely enough at the "fake" buildings, i'd see they were made of cardboard.
It is, for the most part, not at all immersive. And that's the biggest mistake. like you said, there was no drive to really "hang out" anywhere. it just... failed on so many levels.
Then we add EA into the equation. EA, slave to release dates, and concerned more with the bottom line than releasing quality product.
MANY of my issues with missing game mechanics were, in my opinion, left out intentionally to meet a release date set by EA. and while release dates are important to a degree, I'd rather a game be more polished and late, than on-time and not finished.
Those fixes weve seen to add those things? image if instead of putting into the game that should have been in there since Day one, we had been seeing actual content updates.
Short version, TOR has been a carnival of failures and mistakes. and it's caught up to them.
I do hope that lucasfilm/lucasarts doesn't decide that this means that Star wars simply CAN'T work as an mmo, and never try again. A amazing star Wars MMO is a possibility, we've just not hit the right combination as of yet.
When I was in the beta and they announced the release date I was actually surprised it was that soon.
SOE should start development on SWG2 right NOW! (or somebody should) SOE had the right idea, they just tried to make it WOW at the end. (everyone's big mistake)
Shropt
Super Freak
I actually tried to log on the game last night. After 2 hours of updates I finally came to the realization that the F2P hadn't started yet. /facepalm
lerath666
Super Freak
Kinda sorta. it's not that the other developers are trying to copy wow, its that they're FAILING to copy the RIGHT parts of wow.
Part of the reason WOW is a successful as it is is that there are BLIZZARD fans who are JUST as rabid as star wars fans. additionally, WOW has been around for 10 years. they've more or less figured out what makes an MMO work. Copying game mechanics is a good idea, as the player base expects them now.
I wonder how much time and money in the development cycle was wasted doing voice-overs for EVERY quest. Yes, WASTED. the idea was to make it more immersive, however, that seems to be the only thing they did that was all immersive. Immersion takes more than just talking to the player. the setting is equally, if not more important.
SWG was perfect, until SOE tried to turn it into everquest.
I'm still playing, i hope it gets more immersive.
lerath666
Super Freak
Doubtful, EA made war hammer go F2P, and they murdered the budget. Expect the same here.
They promised frequent content updates, and have not delivered.
I'd like to know their current subscription numbers.
They promised frequent content updates, and have not delivered.
I'd like to know their current subscription numbers.
hopefully this game will continually bomb epically so we can force these idiots who made it, that the route to go was to do an actually sequel with Revan and the Exile; Knights of the old Republic 3.
I tried this, it was just naff. Free to play wouldnt make me want to play it. neither does all this false fan service either; HK-51? Yeah, not a touch on HK-47. Not convincing me at all.
I tried this, it was just naff. Free to play wouldnt make me want to play it. neither does all this false fan service either; HK-51? Yeah, not a touch on HK-47. Not convincing me at all.
My brother gave me the game for Xmas, and while I hate SW pretty much these days thanks to GL's tinkering and more tinkering with the movies, I would have played this except my comp is too old. That said, If I had a rig to handle these games, I'd be playing Lord of the Rings online - more my cup of tea.
One Dark Lord of the Sith to rule them all.....
One Dark Lord of the Sith to rule them all.....
THX-182
Super Freak
HK-47 is actually in SWTOR.
Ofcourse in Malgus' space station.
Sounds like a lot of you guys powered through to Level 50 with multiple characters and are already "over" this game but nine months later and I'm still *loving* it. And I'm still using my first bounty hunter at measly level 16! 
I just don't have the time to play more than 4-6 hours a month.
Haven't had this much fun playing a PC game in over 10 years.
I just don't have the time to play more than 4-6 hours a month.
Haven't had this much fun playing a PC game in over 10 years.
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