I think you missed a major Title in your history of MMOs. Wasn't it Asheron's Call that introduced Instancing? If my memory serves, it was the first MMO to use instanced dungeons which are the staple of many MMOs, and foundation of others. Also, DDO was pretty innovative with its combat -- a hybrid of FPS and RPG. Is that historically important? Not sure.
Cerion,
No it was not Asheron's Call that introduced Instancing. All of there dungeons were part of the world that you could enter not seperate entities that only your party could enter. Anyone could go into any dungeon, and still can. Now with that said I think Asheron's Call 2 did have instancing so you may be getting them mixed up.
No, Cerion is right (and it's a shame AC was left off your list Jon; tsk tsk). It's a matter of the degree of instancing, but all of the dungeons in AC you had to go through a portal and loading screen to get to. They were in an instance not open to the main world. Whetehr or not that other people could go into them falls under the specification of flavors of how you do instancing. Looking from a high level or macro perspective those were indeed instances. Just instances that theoretically everyone could enter. Just the same as the instanced housing in LOTRO.
True but by that definition even Eve is an instanced game. Generally, people consider only locked instances to be instances when talking about MMO's.
I was speaking more technically than genrally. When content is separated from the overall world by a loading screen that in turn separates players from the rest of the playerbase in a gameworld that is otherwise seamless.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
I think you missed a major Title in your history of MMOs. Wasn't it Asheron's Call that introduced Instancing? If my memory serves, it was the first MMO to use instanced dungeons which are the staple of many MMOs, and foundation of others. Also, DDO was pretty innovative with its combat -- a hybrid of FPS and RPG. Is that historically important? Not sure.
Cerion,
No it was not Asheron's Call that introduced Instancing. All of there dungeons were part of the world that you could enter not seperate entities that only your party could enter. Anyone could go into any dungeon, and still can. Now with that said I think Asheron's Call 2 did have instancing so you may be getting them mixed up.
No, Cerion is right (and it's a shame AC was left off your list Jon; tsk tsk). It's a matter of the degree of instancing, but all of the dungeons in AC you had to go through a portal and loading screen to get to. They were in an instance not open to the main world. Whetehr or not that other people could go into them falls under the specification of flavors of how you do instancing. Looking from a high level or macro perspective those were indeed instances. Just instances that theoretically everyone could enter. Just the same as the instanced housing in LOTRO.
True but by that definition even Eve is an instanced game. Generally, people consider only locked instances to be instances when talking about MMO's.
I think they might be getting zoned and instanced mixed up. Zones are an area where everyone can go but you have to see a loading screen to get to the other zone, like FFXI.
Then there are 2 kinds of instancing, one is like a dungeon like WoW, only the people in your party can enter that instance. Then there is channels its multiple copies of a game world where anyone can join, via GW. Now instances don't always have to have loading screens because Fallen Earth does a great job of showing off that technology.
The reason wow is at the top of the list is because it is the most significant historicly, from the numbers its generated, to the amount of games that try to copy its model, changing the way gamers look at the genre. Think of how many MMO's can get funding from investors because the investors want to be in on "the next WoW" before you couldn't get funding, because there was no proof as to how much money these games could make.
I agree with a lot of the list, and I am happy to see at least one of the early days of MMO's...but I have to say I feel there are some which should not be excluded.
Meridian59 the FIRST 3D mmo I mean thats kinda a big deal. this is the first MMO as we know them today.
Terra: Battle for the Outlands - this is a game which sadly doesn't get much notice anymore. Released in 1996 (Before Ultima). Why does it deserve a spot? Make a list of what you would like to see in an MMO today, chances are Terra already did it - think EVE but on a planet, with tanks, and existed way beforehand...it was the pre-eve. The biggest reason though, is its fan base...it is a game which was pretty much thrown away by a company who suddenly decided to "go in a different direction", even though it was doing incredibly well for its time. The rights were eventually bought by players who fixed the game back to how it originally played (after another company had messed with it). And get this, you can still play it. What other MMO can you say has run from 1996 until today? Sure its had its falls, even almost went completely dead a few times, but the players refused to give up on it.
I also would have liked to see Guild Wars on the list. first non-subscription, non-microtransaction mmo. may not have WoW numbers, but it was still extremely successful and managed to keep a lot of its main player base for quite awhile. Also, it is a completely instanced mmo, and graphically-wise it was at the top when it came out.
To those saying final fantasy... not sure about that one, yes it has done well and has a large player base, but it is also only for a very niche audience...aka fans of the series. It didn't really affect the mmo industry as a whole. And I must note, Phantasy Star Online was released on the Dreamcast, Windows, the Gamecube, and Xbox, and then the later PSUniverse was on the ps2 making it the first multiconsole before FFXI (though you can argue it wasn't quite a full mmo).
anyways, thats my 2 cents
EDIT: Because someone mentioned it...Terra was also the FIRST to actually have a live team as characters in game, to allow players to actually affect the world and its lore with their actions - actually, when the game came out, it didn't really have any story, the story was added later based on the game world and its players' actions. Like how EVE works...two guilds have a massive battle, that was added to the history of the world. The lore that could be found on the site was actually written by a player.
AC didn't introduce instancing, quite the opposite... it was the earliest MMO I can think of with a seamless, zoneless world.
Yet the sims online changed the MMO world forever because it was a big IP that failed? Are you kidding me? Might want to put alittle more effort into your next article.
AC didn't introduce instancing, quite the opposite... it was the earliest MMO I can think of with a seamless, zoneless world.
Yet the sims online changed the MMO world forever because it was a big IP that failed? Are you kidding me? Might want to put alittle more effort into your next article.
Whether one prefers to use the term instance or zone, either or definetly define the dungeons in AC. AC was not completely seamless or zoneless because of that. Now, yeah, 85-90% of the world was but you have to account for that percent that you could only access via going through a portal.
Those things aside, AC is a game that, as a muse, has not been used and is sorely missed by a bunch of folks as to the games that could have been made using it as a base to build upon.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
AC didn't introduce instancing, quite the opposite... it was the earliest MMO I can think of with a seamless, zoneless world.
Yet the sims online changed the MMO world forever because it was a big IP that failed? Are you kidding me? Might want to put alittle more effort into your next article.
Whether one prefers to use the term instance or zone, either or definetly define the dungeons in AC. AC was not completely seamless or zoneless because of that. Now, yeah, 85-90% of the world was but you have to account for that percent that you could only access via going through a portal.
Those things aside, AC is a game that, as a muse, has not been used and is sorely missed by a bunch of folks as to the games that could have been made using it as a base to build upon.
It is still 100% seamless in my view, yes it took a portal to get to most dungeons but those dungeons are located under the ocean landblocks, given the ability to no clip you could get to any dungeon without loading. As you might know Turbine even demonstrated their ability for seamless dungeons in their first expansion where you just ran straight down a tunnel to get to the dungeon (I could be off on the time frame, it's been awhile). Portals were only used to even out the population amongst all the landblocks. BUT the idea that it is still basically seamless is my opinion I guess.
LOTRO may not have been one of the first MMO's and has derived some benefit from MMO's that came before it, but having played UO and SWG(Beta's of EQ and AO), I cannot see why LOTRO was left out of this list. It has the strongest storyline of any MMO I have played, great graphics, new inovations in gameplay and what has the potential to be one on the longest story arcs and room for expansion of any MMO to date. I know many players that have left other MMO's or played LOTRO, left to play other MMO's i.e.- Conan and Warhammer, and came back to LOTRO becuase it was a more satisfying gaming experience.
Great write up! Perfect summary. In the EVE section you may want to mention that while some may scoff at 300,000 subsribers, lets not forget that all of those people play together on one server!
Haha, I was actually thinking the same thing when I read that. It makes no difference :P
Surprised there's no DAoC. DAoC gave a meaning to team PvP. DAoC spawned the concept of "realm pride". Oh well, I guess the game that proved it wasn't vaporware after 8 years is more important to the genre's history.
I think this list is great , and agree .By the way for those that disagree with the sims and such , It does not say mmorpg in the title.Just MMO .I am one that agrees that wow should be number 1 and i do not play it anymore.Here is why.The basis of this article is that these are the games that most influnced the genre.If you can say that any game out there influenced the spark of the genre more than wow , you would be crazy.The reason are very good.They never say wow is the best game.They say wow opend the doors for games today , either through the change in more companies wanting to take a chance at developing a mmo or the fact that if it wasn't for wow , the genre itself would have never caught on mainstream as it did.Just a thought but it is obviously true.Once WoW hit shelves games of the genre started popping up every where.Something that probably wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for wow.And many of the games we play today may have not gotten a chance to even be developed.
Great list
PS i do also agree that there are a few that influenced the genre and didnt make list.But i bet he weighed his decision on his picks ad am sure he knows that he left some out that he had to based on his opinion.
Terra: Battle for the Outlands - this is a game which sadly doesn't get much notice anymore. Released in 1996 (Before Ultima). Why does it deserve a spot? ...
... And get this, you can still play it. What other MMO can you say has run from 1996 until today? Sure its had its falls, even almost went completely dead a few times, but the players refused to give up on it.
Back in 1992, I got my first job in the game industry working on the Kingdom of Drakkar. It is still alive and kicking after 17 years.
Surprised there's no DAoC. DAoC gave a meaning to team PvP. DAoC spawned the concept of "realm pride". Oh well, I guess the game that proved it wasn't vaporware after 8 years is more important to the genre's history.
I agree. Darkfall gets on the list as historic because it eventually proved it existed, while DAoC is left off. That's ridiculous.
Definitely some recency issues here. Seriously, 10 years from now, how many people will remember Darkfall as compared to DAoC?
Now I don't play runescape anymore (due to the current CEO), but facts are facts. Runescape is the biggest and most successful BROWSER game. And isn't RS also the first game that introduced a F2P AND a P2P version for a game? ("free trials" are completely different than RS' F2P version)
So...according to the start of this article, that's 2 things that Runescape has done to make it's mark in the MMO world. It should've made it to this list...even if it was ranked #10, it more than deserves to be on this list.
I'd take out Darkfall and put in DAOC as a very influential game in introducing RvR, faction based pvp with a real impact on the game world, and showing the world that pvp wasn't all the <insert pve'r insult here> it was made out to be and could actually be fun, even for Moms looking to game. Darkfall has done absolutely jack all for the genre.
I'd also take out DDO and replace it with Guild Wars as it actually showed everyone that a pseudo MMO can thrive and profit without charging people monthly from the get go instead of switching to f2p in a desperate attempt to keep the game a float and not shut down like Turbine did with DDO. Not only that but GW revolutionized the RPG genre by introducing a true tournament based PvP system, WoW soon answered them with the arenas.
A few of those games don't deserve a place in history. No guild Wars? No Final Fantasy XI? No Everquest? This article really needs to be scrapped.
Everquest was number 3 on the list
I would point out the articles are a stimulate for conversation and are the writers opinon. Clearly, it has stimulated debate as to what games should and should not be on the list just like other lists that have been posted in the past
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
The reason wow is at the top of the list is because it is the most significant historicly, from the numbers its generated, to the amount of games that try to copy its model, changing the way gamers look at the genre. Think of how many MMO's can get funding from investors because the investors want to be in on "the next WoW" before you couldn't get funding, because there was no proof as to how much money these games could make.
Well the arugments can be made that WoW is just a copy of the EQ model. I would also venture to say that it was EQ's vast success that allowed the devs to pitch the idea of having a WoW mmo to blizzard board with success
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
Cant see how DAOC was not on the list. WOW is 1/2 Eq and 1/2 DAOC , they brought us factions and battlegrounds etc. Good List but DAOC should have at least gotten a quip.
well actually EQ had factions before DAOC. Do recall that Sk, necros, DE and latter iskar were killed on site by the oppossing faction guards as were the "good" guys by theirs and that was on the blue servers. When FV server came out you could not talk to a player of a different race even if there were "on your side" sort to speak unless you took the time to learn their races lanquage. Then you had the Zek servers which had sides based on race, or religon on two of them.
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
I think EQ and UO should have been one and two and WoW number three. Those three games each seem to be an era in the MMORPG genre. While UO was first, I think EQ has had the most overall influence. If EQ hadn't been the success it was, many of the games on that list (and many not on the list) likely would have most likely never existed.
I would have added DAoC as well. Not only did it have exciting and meaningful PvP, but it was also a very successful and polished game for it's era. While it was incomplete at launch, it was still one of the best launches of that time (and better than many to this day).
And add me to the list of those that misses the old SWG. I had a CH/BE and I have never seen a game with crafting anywhere near as interesting and exciting as bioengineering. From crawling up behind some creature that could kick your butt wearing nothing but some scent masking clothing to experimenting with recipes where no two creatures came out the same to testing out some of your creations yourself, it was by far the most rewarding crafting experience I have had to date. On top of that, it is the only game I have played where I had fun just hanging out in the bar listening to music and watching the dancers. I even had different outfits. I never did that in other games unless the outfits had some type of combat advantage. Just a unique game experience and I'm sad it's gone. Great, now I've managed to depress myself.
Comments
A few of those games don't deserve a place in history. No guild Wars? No Final Fantasy XI? No Everquest?
This article really needs to be scrapped.
Cerion,
No it was not Asheron's Call that introduced Instancing. All of there dungeons were part of the world that you could enter not seperate entities that only your party could enter. Anyone could go into any dungeon, and still can. Now with that said I think Asheron's Call 2 did have instancing so you may be getting them mixed up.
No, Cerion is right (and it's a shame AC was left off your list Jon; tsk tsk). It's a matter of the degree of instancing, but all of the dungeons in AC you had to go through a portal and loading screen to get to. They were in an instance not open to the main world. Whetehr or not that other people could go into them falls under the specification of flavors of how you do instancing. Looking from a high level or macro perspective those were indeed instances. Just instances that theoretically everyone could enter. Just the same as the instanced housing in LOTRO.
True but by that definition even Eve is an instanced game. Generally, people consider only locked instances to be instances when talking about MMO's.
I was speaking more technically than genrally. When content is separated from the overall world by a loading screen that in turn separates players from the rest of the playerbase in a gameworld that is otherwise seamless.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Cerion,
No it was not Asheron's Call that introduced Instancing. All of there dungeons were part of the world that you could enter not seperate entities that only your party could enter. Anyone could go into any dungeon, and still can. Now with that said I think Asheron's Call 2 did have instancing so you may be getting them mixed up.
No, Cerion is right (and it's a shame AC was left off your list Jon; tsk tsk). It's a matter of the degree of instancing, but all of the dungeons in AC you had to go through a portal and loading screen to get to. They were in an instance not open to the main world. Whetehr or not that other people could go into them falls under the specification of flavors of how you do instancing. Looking from a high level or macro perspective those were indeed instances. Just instances that theoretically everyone could enter. Just the same as the instanced housing in LOTRO.
True but by that definition even Eve is an instanced game. Generally, people consider only locked instances to be instances when talking about MMO's.
I think they might be getting zoned and instanced mixed up. Zones are an area where everyone can go but you have to see a loading screen to get to the other zone, like FFXI.
Then there are 2 kinds of instancing, one is like a dungeon like WoW, only the people in your party can enter that instance. Then there is channels its multiple copies of a game world where anyone can join, via GW. Now instances don't always have to have loading screens because Fallen Earth does a great job of showing off that technology.
This article was Jon's opinion. If you can't handle other people having opinions you might want to get off the internet.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
The reason wow is at the top of the list is because it is the most significant historicly, from the numbers its generated, to the amount of games that try to copy its model, changing the way gamers look at the genre. Think of how many MMO's can get funding from investors because the investors want to be in on "the next WoW" before you couldn't get funding, because there was no proof as to how much money these games could make.
My Thoughts on Content Locust
I agree with a lot of the list, and I am happy to see at least one of the early days of MMO's...but I have to say I feel there are some which should not be excluded.
Meridian59 the FIRST 3D mmo I mean thats kinda a big deal. this is the first MMO as we know them today.
Terra: Battle for the Outlands - this is a game which sadly doesn't get much notice anymore. Released in 1996 (Before Ultima). Why does it deserve a spot? Make a list of what you would like to see in an MMO today, chances are Terra already did it - think EVE but on a planet, with tanks, and existed way beforehand...it was the pre-eve. The biggest reason though, is its fan base...it is a game which was pretty much thrown away by a company who suddenly decided to "go in a different direction", even though it was doing incredibly well for its time. The rights were eventually bought by players who fixed the game back to how it originally played (after another company had messed with it). And get this, you can still play it. What other MMO can you say has run from 1996 until today? Sure its had its falls, even almost went completely dead a few times, but the players refused to give up on it.
I also would have liked to see Guild Wars on the list. first non-subscription, non-microtransaction mmo. may not have WoW numbers, but it was still extremely successful and managed to keep a lot of its main player base for quite awhile. Also, it is a completely instanced mmo, and graphically-wise it was at the top when it came out.
To those saying final fantasy... not sure about that one, yes it has done well and has a large player base, but it is also only for a very niche audience...aka fans of the series. It didn't really affect the mmo industry as a whole. And I must note, Phantasy Star Online was released on the Dreamcast, Windows, the Gamecube, and Xbox, and then the later PSUniverse was on the ps2 making it the first multiconsole before FFXI (though you can argue it wasn't quite a full mmo).
anyways, thats my 2 cents
EDIT: Because someone mentioned it...Terra was also the FIRST to actually have a live team as characters in game, to allow players to actually affect the world and its lore with their actions - actually, when the game came out, it didn't really have any story, the story was added later based on the game world and its players' actions. Like how EVE works...two guilds have a massive battle, that was added to the history of the world. The lore that could be found on the site was actually written by a player.
AC didn't introduce instancing, quite the opposite... it was the earliest MMO I can think of with a seamless, zoneless world.
Yet the sims online changed the MMO world forever because it was a big IP that failed? Are you kidding me? Might want to put alittle more effort into your next article.
Whether one prefers to use the term instance or zone, either or definetly define the dungeons in AC. AC was not completely seamless or zoneless because of that. Now, yeah, 85-90% of the world was but you have to account for that percent that you could only access via going through a portal.
Those things aside, AC is a game that, as a muse, has not been used and is sorely missed by a bunch of folks as to the games that could have been made using it as a base to build upon.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Whether one prefers to use the term instance or zone, either or definetly define the dungeons in AC. AC was not completely seamless or zoneless because of that. Now, yeah, 85-90% of the world was but you have to account for that percent that you could only access via going through a portal.
Those things aside, AC is a game that, as a muse, has not been used and is sorely missed by a bunch of folks as to the games that could have been made using it as a base to build upon.
It is still 100% seamless in my view, yes it took a portal to get to most dungeons but those dungeons are located under the ocean landblocks, given the ability to no clip you could get to any dungeon without loading. As you might know Turbine even demonstrated their ability for seamless dungeons in their first expansion where you just ran straight down a tunnel to get to the dungeon (I could be off on the time frame, it's been awhile). Portals were only used to even out the population amongst all the landblocks. BUT the idea that it is still basically seamless is my opinion I guess.
Cant see how DAOC was not on the list.
WOW is 1/2 Eq and 1/2 DAOC , they brought us factions and battlegrounds etc.
Good List but DAOC should have at least gotten a quip.
A MMO Top 10 list with no LOTRO = FAIL!
LOTRO may not have been one of the first MMO's and has derived some benefit from MMO's that came before it, but having played UO and SWG(Beta's of EQ and AO), I cannot see why LOTRO was left out of this list. It has the strongest storyline of any MMO I have played, great graphics, new inovations in gameplay and what has the potential to be one on the longest story arcs and room for expansion of any MMO to date. I know many players that have left other MMO's or played LOTRO, left to play other MMO's i.e.- Conan and Warhammer, and came back to LOTRO becuase it was a more satisfying gaming experience.
Not even a footnote? FAIL
-Eric
http://lotrosigs.level3.turbine.com/0320200000000659e/01003/signature.png
Good write-up, boy do I ever miss Pre-Cu and NGE SWG
Haha, I was actually thinking the same thing when I read that. It makes no difference :P
As long as one server is satisfyingly big.
Surprised there's no DAoC. DAoC gave a meaning to team PvP. DAoC spawned the concept of "realm pride". Oh well, I guess the game that proved it wasn't vaporware after 8 years is more important to the genre's history.
A good respectable list from Jon.
I would have selected different on a few, but I'm not the one writing.
I actually agree wiht this list. I was expecting to disagree with most of it.
I think this list is great , and agree .By the way for those that disagree with the sims and such , It does not say mmorpg in the title.Just MMO .I am one that agrees that wow should be number 1 and i do not play it anymore.Here is why.The basis of this article is that these are the games that most influnced the genre.If you can say that any game out there influenced the spark of the genre more than wow , you would be crazy.The reason are very good.They never say wow is the best game.They say wow opend the doors for games today , either through the change in more companies wanting to take a chance at developing a mmo or the fact that if it wasn't for wow , the genre itself would have never caught on mainstream as it did.Just a thought but it is obviously true.Once WoW hit shelves games of the genre started popping up every where.Something that probably wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for wow.And many of the games we play today may have not gotten a chance to even be developed.
Great list
PS i do also agree that there are a few that influenced the genre and didnt make list.But i bet he weighed his decision on his picks ad am sure he knows that he left some out that he had to based on his opinion.
Back in 1992, I got my first job in the game industry working on the Kingdom of Drakkar. It is still alive and kicking after 17 years.
http://www.kingdomofdrakkar.com/
I agree. Darkfall gets on the list as historic because it eventually proved it existed, while DAoC is left off. That's ridiculous.
Definitely some recency issues here. Seriously, 10 years from now, how many people will remember Darkfall as compared to DAoC?
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Now I don't play runescape anymore (due to the current CEO), but facts are facts. Runescape is the biggest and most successful BROWSER game. And isn't RS also the first game that introduced a F2P AND a P2P version for a game? ("free trials" are completely different than RS' F2P version)
So...according to the start of this article, that's 2 things that Runescape has done to make it's mark in the MMO world. It should've made it to this list...even if it was ranked #10, it more than deserves to be on this list.
I'd take out Darkfall and put in DAOC as a very influential game in introducing RvR, faction based pvp with a real impact on the game world, and showing the world that pvp wasn't all the <insert pve'r insult here> it was made out to be and could actually be fun, even for Moms looking to game. Darkfall has done absolutely jack all for the genre.
I'd also take out DDO and replace it with Guild Wars as it actually showed everyone that a pseudo MMO can thrive and profit without charging people monthly from the get go instead of switching to f2p in a desperate attempt to keep the game a float and not shut down like Turbine did with DDO. Not only that but GW revolutionized the RPG genre by introducing a true tournament based PvP system, WoW soon answered them with the arenas.
Other than that good list.
Everquest was number 3 on the list
I would point out the articles are a stimulate for conversation and are the writers opinon. Clearly, it has stimulated debate as to what games should and should not be on the list just like other lists that have been posted in the past
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
Well the arugments can be made that WoW is just a copy of the EQ model. I would also venture to say that it was EQ's vast success that allowed the devs to pitch the idea of having a WoW mmo to blizzard board with success
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
well actually EQ had factions before DAOC. Do recall that Sk, necros, DE and latter iskar were killed on site by the oppossing faction guards as were the "good" guys by theirs and that was on the blue servers. When FV server came out you could not talk to a player of a different race even if there were "on your side" sort to speak unless you took the time to learn their races lanquage. Then you had the Zek servers which had sides based on race, or religon on two of them.
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
I think EQ and UO should have been one and two and WoW number three. Those three games each seem to be an era in the MMORPG genre. While UO was first, I think EQ has had the most overall influence. If EQ hadn't been the success it was, many of the games on that list (and many not on the list) likely would have most likely never existed.
I would have added DAoC as well. Not only did it have exciting and meaningful PvP, but it was also a very successful and polished game for it's era. While it was incomplete at launch, it was still one of the best launches of that time (and better than many to this day).
And add me to the list of those that misses the old SWG. I had a CH/BE and I have never seen a game with crafting anywhere near as interesting and exciting as bioengineering. From crawling up behind some creature that could kick your butt wearing nothing but some scent masking clothing to experimenting with recipes where no two creatures came out the same to testing out some of your creations yourself, it was by far the most rewarding crafting experience I have had to date. On top of that, it is the only game I have played where I had fun just hanging out in the bar listening to music and watching the dancers. I even had different outfits. I never did that in other games unless the outfits had some type of combat advantage. Just a unique game experience and I'm sad it's gone. Great, now I've managed to depress myself.