So for some folks it starts tomorrow! I say "some folks" because due to the bizarre staggered launch nonsense (nonsense for customers, but probably great for Bioware's log-in server stability...) nobody actually has a clue when they'll get to play and won't until they get an email sent at the time their access begins! Personally, thanks to this utter bollocks and the date mix up, I honestly see SWTOR by default as having the worst MMO launch in history, regardless of how great anything else might turn out to be. Sorry for the negative vibe there, but I expect clarity with any product or service that I have paid for and so should you. Don't accept it as ok just because you're excited for the game, it's total bollocks and there's simply no excuse for it, since as customers it's just not our problem. :P
Anyway, mini rant over and on to what is just a very brief post!
SWTOR must be the most anticipated MMORPG launch since World of Warcraft, I can't think of anything that's compared on the hype factor or had such monumental development costs. Yet we've heard claims of WoW killer so many times before... Seriously, could SWTOR really be the game that rivals World of Warcraft's subscriber numbers? Or will it be just another brief blip on Blizzard's radar, a blip soon to be annihilated with one wu shu style kick from a Panda's bamboo bloated paws?
I suspect it will be somewhere in the middle. The Star Wars IP has a big enough draw to keep a lot of people happy and SWTOR is a much more "friendly to the masses" game than Star Wars Galaxies is (soon to be was). But for SWTOR to rival WoW I think it really needs to steal players in bulk from the WoW player base itself, as I'm just not convinced it's different enough from WoW to pull everyone else in from all the other MMORPGs out there and make us all want to stay. I'm not saying SWTOR is a wow clone, but I'm not convinced it's different enough to be the MMO messiah.
However I remain confident in having a cracking few months ramming lightsabers up jedi arses. And really that's all that matters; having some fun until you get bored. And actually when it comes to deciding if I enjoy the game or not, well... I don't give 2 turds if it competes with WoW. I just want to have a laugh.
It don't think that there will ever be another MMO changing the MMO sphere like WoW did. Not because WoW is a great game (it's definitely not even a good game imho ;) ), but the MMO sphere has changed so much in the past years and frankly I don't think that so many more players can be lured into this kind of games. So most of the new games aim at certain aspects of other MMOs flaws.. SWTOR maybe not so much like other (because of the EA cash), but nevertheless imo this approach will not make a big new game. The problem lies in the behaviour of the gamers here.. if the game goes too far away from known territory you don't get the "casual" players involved..not even some so called hardcore. So you could say if it's too strange than you will fail..if it's not strange enough..yeah..wow-clone. This discussion is old..and it's getting more boring with every new MMO released ;)
ReplyDeleteThe trend imo are smaller games (smartphone stuff and such). Anyways.. MMOs shouldn't be rated at all if it's a possible WoW killer or not, but if they are good or not. The problem lies in the fact that this is a totally subjective view ;)
Take me for example..despite all it's flaws I still like WAR and don't see anything luring me away from it (maybe MWO, but that's still future). ;)
Well.. Have fun wielding that lasery thingy stuffy. I kill some elves in the mean time ;)
I got the impression a million of WoW players got launched into space to a galaxy far, far away.
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for the day when people would finally get over WoW but it seems they just supplant it with SWTOR.
I think your mini rant is pretty unfounded. The "mess" you refer too is a single change of date from the 15th to the 13th announced a week or two ago. That alongside a stagered entry system announced a month or so ago. This itself is completely reasonable to prevent masses of people in the starter area and possible crashes. Maybe your too excited to see the logic.
ReplyDeleteBadmagik (ex WAR)
Masses of people in the starter areas doesn't count as SWTOR uses instancing for all the zones. ;) So whilst the server load might be an issue for Bioware, it wouldn't effect the number of people we would see as players. As for the date change, yup it's one change, but one where up until yesterday they had webpages that said both 5 and 7 day headstart.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a case of being excited or annoyed with it being staggered, it's the way the staggering hasn't been organised in advance properly. There's no reason why we can't have been emailed in advance to say your access begins on X day.
Maybe you've been too tainted by WAR's bad customer service to expect basic quality of service elsewhere :P
Thats the kick for sure. Why couldnt we just be told in advance?? Just means u cant arrange anything with which people u level with or anything. Suppose it will go well after so could be worse ofc.
ReplyDeleteYeah I like that they given people more time in the headstart, that in itself is cool, well potentially depending on how quickly the staggering stuff rolls out, it's just the lack of clarity that irritates me. TBH I'm the same in RL, I'm like super reliable with timings and hate people being late and stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was only a mini rant and I'm quite positive about SWTOR and Bioware in general. Like you say, it could be worse and I'm fairly confident it will all go well once things actually kick off.
Most FOTM MMOs seem that way to someone interested enough.
ReplyDeleteFair enough about the instanced starter areas and the mixed up messages on forums etc. I agree that isn't really acceptable. However I have seen some absolute shambles for some MMO start ups and this one despite not looking like the best (atm) is far from the worst and I wouldn't declare it a mess... yet.
ReplyDeleteBadmagik
Oh aye there's been some epic disasters in the past :D
ReplyDeleteYay for not being able to play with guildies!! Yay for playing catch up at an undetermined future date!!!
ReplyDeleteStormblade
yay for actually being able to play after you are allowed to instead of having server crashes and random crash to desktops and then see there is a 5h queue to server.. And about not receiving a mail before with time, I assume and they say that they put in as many people they can at every wave and increase the numbers all the time so they cant say for sure.. But OK, a simple post with "we aim for getting in all the June preorders the first day and July the second day" and so on would be nice.
ReplyDeleteStormblade - Well, people shouldn't get too far ahead so I doubt that will be a huge issue. If people aren't dicks they'll let their friends catch up anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnon - Yup, that simple post would have made all the difference for me. I've got enough RL stuff going on that I like to know what I'm doing when, so I'm just not a fan of vagueness with timings in anything ;) Plus it was obviously going to cause all the comedy rage on the forums. Which I must admit has been great fun to read :D
And yeah, certainly reports from the 3 guildies playing at the mo is it's performing very well so far.