Bio ware going with EA is kind of sad but im an ex wow raider and ive played allot of bio ware games and well i think swtor will bring wow down. I think it has a good shot going up against catacalysm and as long as there will be pve endgame content which is what bio ware does best il be pre ordering the biggest collecters edition of swtor i can find.
It will give good fun to average MMO player for month or two. Until they reach end of storyline.
Each storyline is, (last I read), supposed to be "hundreds of hours".
TOR has 8 classes, each with unique storylines.
There's also the moral choices to consider; each class storyline offers branching content based on whether the player makes light-side or dark-side choices, further increasing the replay value.
Given an average hour-per-week of 22 and a low-end estimate (assuming that the "hundreds of hours" quote is accurate) of 200 hours per storyline, that's ~9 weeks to complete each storyline, and ~144 weeks to complete all class storylines and explore all light/dark choices.
That's a minimum of 2 and a half years worth of Bioware RPG content, before one even looks at traditional MMO staples such as PvP, RvR, crafting, RP and updates/expansions.
I'm certainly looking forward to it.
Intelligent well crafted and thought out posts like this are what fuel my hope for the future of MMORPG communities.
I am looking forward to it as well my friend.
It's better to lurk in forums and be thought a fool...than to endlessly "Quote" and remove all doubts.
So the fans of mmorpgs are worried it wont be another "fields of monsters" game with pointless storyline and boring quest grind ? Well theres planty of these around, let the rest of us finally have a game that's not a map filled with monsters and a kill x and y missions like all the primitive "true" mmorpgs.
If you think quests are a grind now just wait until each quest comes with 20 minutes of dialog to sit through. You won't just be killing those 10 womp-rats, you'll also have to listen to Jabo-One explain to you about a womp-rat's mating rituals for 15 minutes before you can even start. You'll be dying to get to that 'field of monsters' after sitting through a few hours of pressing '1' every 30 seconds to continue the dialog.
God I love over dramatization.......excellent...heheh...got drama?
It's better to lurk in forums and be thought a fool...than to endlessly "Quote" and remove all doubts.
It will give good fun to average MMO player for month or two. Until they reach end of storyline.
Each storyline is, (last I read), supposed to be "hundreds of hours".
TOR has 8 classes, each with unique storylines.
There's also the moral choices to consider; each class storyline offers branching content based on whether the player makes light-side or dark-side choices, further increasing the replay value.
Given an average hour-per-week of 22 and a low-end estimate (assuming that the "hundreds of hours" quote is accurate) of 200 hours per storyline, that's ~9 weeks to complete each storyline, and ~144 weeks to complete all class storylines and explore all light/dark choices.
That's a minimum of 2 and a half years worth of Bioware RPG content, before one even looks at traditional MMO staples such as PvP, RvR, crafting, RP and updates/expansions.
I'm certainly looking forward to it.
Intelligent well crafted and thought out posts like this are what fuel my hope for the future of MMORPG communities.
I am looking forward to it as well my friend.
I don't believe in the "storyline" behind mmorpg's. The success of an mmorpg lays beyond this.
In a good mmo players create their own adventures and stories and the world is just a stage setting.
Some examples: down a boss against all odds, win a PvP fight unexpectedly, find something after searching - working for it for years on end.
Putting the individual storyline in an mmorpg is the worst you could do.
People are not playing MMO's for the story telling, they are playing them to advance their avatars... and have individual goals.
The more goals and options to arrive at those goals, the better the mmorpg.
Fixed storylines (no matter the different outcomes) limit these goals and options in mmo's.
People will only play them marginally longer than off line RPG's: 2 to 3 months max.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
If you think quests are a grind now just wait until each quest comes with 20 minutes of dialog to sit through. You won't just be killing those 10 womp-rats, you'll also have to listen to Jabo-One explain to you about a womp-rat's mating rituals for 15 minutes before you can even start. You'll be dying to get to that 'field of monsters' after sitting through a few hours of pressing '1' every 30 seconds to continue the dialog.
God I love over dramatization.......excellent...heheh...got drama?
I agree with the above. Players these days play to create their own goals and achievements.
AoC already proved that players just "skip - skip - skip - skip" through long dialogues in today's mmorpg's. Quests with12 lines of text is already far too long to read through.
I am quite convinced a CoD type MMORPG which targets missions and which advances its avatars against a "world at war" setting will be far more succesful than wading through pages and pages of spoken text of why someone should down 10 rats in a sewer.
You "listen" to these quests once or twice and the moment you are on your 10th quest you just skip the pop-ups and move on.
It is the mission that counts and that gives the gaming pleasure, not the spoken text of an NPC.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
I don't believe in the "storyline" behind mmorpg's. The success of an mmorpg lays beyond this. In a good mmo players create their own adventures and stories and the world is just a stage setting. Some examples: down a boss against all odds, win a PvP fight unexpectedly, find something after searching - working for it for years on end. Putting the individual storyline in an mmorpg is the worst you could do. People are not playing MMO's for the story telling, they are playing them to advance their avatars... and have individual goals. The more goals and options to arrive at those goals, the better the mmorpg. Fixed storylines (no matter the different outcomes) limit these goals and options in mmo's. People will only play them marginally longer than off line RPG's: 2 to 3 months max.
Why in the world would you think that SWTOR won't have the things you mentioned AND a good story to go along with it. In fact, from what we know, SWTOR WILL HAVE EXACTLY what you listed.
I actually find myself enjoying the quest dialog in Fallen Earth. The stories are interesting and well written; generally well thought out for the world. I remember finding that man in sector 1 who was pumping out zombie clones of his dead wife or somesuch... that was cool.
Aion's quest dialog bored me to tears. Warhammer Online has some pretty cool quest dialog for those who actually PvE there. From what I have seen of Star Trek Online's quest dialog it's... meh is about the best I can say so far. Admittedly, I haven't gotten very far into the game. The missions remind me a lot of the City of Heroes style missions though, of constant running around to kill the next Bad Guy Base (usually Borg) with little to mix it up. Maybe time will tell and they'll add more interesting dialog as the game grows, but considering a small indie company like Icarus was able to create a really compelling storyline in Fallen Earth, I find it difficult to believe that Cryptic paid much attention to the story and potential of the IP overall since right now there isn't much "depth" to the stories.
It's all subjective, of course. This is one man's opinion.
I think they can but that may not matter for some. I've been playing Bioware games for a long time, and I found I'm no longer interested in their approach to gaming, in as much as it's been the same for a long time. And I don't know if they did something wrong or I just got bored but all the cutscenes in DA:O bored me, and I didn't like the extreme amount of passivity. And after a while you develop such a familiarity with they system of letting you make "choices" that you realize that no, there are choices but the game's direction is controlled tightly by bioware and you won't be doing anything beyond what they've got scripted for you.
I think they can but that may not matter for some. I've been playing Bioware games for a long time, and I found I'm no longer interested in their approach to gaming, in as much as it's been the same for a long time. And I don't know if they did something wrong or I just got bored but all the cutscenes in DA:O bored me, and I didn't like the extreme amount of passivity. And after a while you develop such a familiarity with they system of letting you make "choices" that you realize that no, there are choices but the game's direction is controlled tightly by bioware and you won't be doing anything beyond what they've got scripted for you.
This makes sense. Mainly because in all games you live and die by the rules set out by the developers. You could think that in a sandbox game, they give you the chance to do anything unscripted that you can think of.. but thats untrue. In BioWare games, they give you choices, to control your own story based on the situations your character is in. In other games, (most games actually) they don't always give you that option. They are different kinds of games in that respect. I think I've seen enough of the MMOs that give you the same quests with no choices.. I think I'm ready to see an MMO with quests where I actually have choices to assist in character building.
DAO and ME2 are both great games. Class balance means nothing in a single player game. They know they can't roll like that in a mmo and I doubt they would. I still have complete faith in bioware and will buy this game day 1.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day. And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
So far they have released 2 of the highest rated games, PC or otherwise, of all time. That has to give one some confidence that TOR will be good.
I've enjoyed every Bioware game i've ever played but I must admit I share some of the OP's doubts on this one. The whole idea of a story-based MMO just seems like a muddled concept to me. It is surely the world and game play that should define an MMO and the players that make their own stories.
I suspect that TOR will indeed be a good game though not exactly what I would call an MMO. But everyone has their own definitions and perhaps for others TOR will be exactly what they think should an MMO should be.
The whole premise of this thread is ME2 and DA are "bad games" with great story,Hence bio can't make mmo.Then Op in the last said "Is story the reason you are playing a mmo why play a mmo at all".So to recap
1.DA and ME 2 are bad unbalance games that people only play because of their story
2.Only Offline rpg have good stories no mmorpg can have a good story
That is premise of this thread.I just going to walk away now
It seems like Bioware is really great at making stories, dialog, cutscenes, and characters, but every new generation of their games gets reduced in complexity, dumbed down in the gameplay, and more limited in the exploration. Considering how much I appreciate gameplay over graphics and story, I have no faith that SWTOR will be anything but another mass market generic overhyped piece of trash.
I disagree.
Mass Effect 1 &2 blow away every other rpg Bioware made excluding the balder's gate series in both gameplay and complexity.
To say the games have been dumbed down is incorrect.
Even ME2 that isnt as deep as ME1 still has quite a few customizable options that someone could play with for damn near forever.
DA:O with its battle tactics blow both Kotor and JE out of the water when it comes to gameplay.
As for exploration Bioware isnt known for delivering a game with deep exploration.
Bethesda is more your speed if you want deep exploration.
Sorry i cantthink of one game bioware has amde that isnt worth playing. Because of this, bioware has earned the right to have me at least test their game when it si released in 2 years.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
It seems to me that real MMO players have all left the genre and this site. MMOs used to be about player making their own unique story. And not about playing predefined story.
Its a shame to even waste time posting here anymore. Most of replays are marketing plugs anyway.
So, everyones wrong, but your right?
I think you've exhausted your arguements and points of reasoning because you've picked to fight a topic that cannot be resolved for at least another year, but hey. When all sense and reasoning is lost, proclaim everyone else stupid, at least that seems to be your plan of action.
If your under the impression that just because everyones views are different to you, (and by everyone i mean the majority) then the small genre bubble you've wrapped yourself up in and called the MMO genre, may not infact be what you think it is. I think your a narrow minded MMO gamer if your locking yourself away from the lore and story of a game. If lore and story wasn't important, why give cities names? Why build huge statues for players to see, hell, why not just make the mmo in a generic warehouse. It gives everything a sense of purpose, and by bringing players into that lore, you are giving them a sense of importance, perhaps false, but what do we care, it beats going to work. It's like being in a book, of which the ending is down to your actions.
I reckon you'd enjoy yourself and the games out there alot more if you opened up to possibilities.
Longing for Skyrim, The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3
The whole premise of this thread is ME2 and DA are "bad games" with great story,Hence bio can't make mmo.
I wouldn't call them bad games. I still enjoy playing them to a degree. One problem is that their products are being intellectually de-enhanced as to appeal to a larger audience. Any mechanics that offer depth or might have harsh consequences for the player are being streamlined into non-existance.
It seems to me that real MMO players have all left the genre and this site. MMOs used to be about player making their own unique story. And not about playing predefined story.
Its a shame to even waste time posting here anymore. Most of replays are marketing plugs anyway.
OP, you really need to chill. Bioware RPG games have been the most polished and highly rated games of all time. They obviously care about the MMO by pushing the release date back another year.
"MMOs used to be about player making their own unique story." Have you not seen any information on the game? You actually make critical decisions by selecting several options for what your character will do. For example: Kill an enemy or make him join your party. That seems like making your own story to me. Most MMOs have a click quest and accept function-which is rather boring. I doubt anyone has read every text quest while leveling but this one doesn't require you to read as much as watch and listen. I have faith that this game will be much better than the trash MMOs we have been given in the last 3 years.
Ive said it once and I'll say it again. There are two possible outcomes here. Best case scenario, TOR is near perfect and will be the one to take us to the promised land. Worst case scenario, it will be nothing more than kotor 3 online.
And when the worst case scenario is that awesome, we cant lose
If you stand VERY still, and close your eyes, after a minute you can actually FEEL the universe revolving around PvP.
The whole premise of this thread is ME2 and DA are "bad games" with great story,Hence bio can't make mmo.
I wouldn't call them bad games. I still enjoy playing them to a degree. One problem is that their products are being intellectually de-enhanced as to appeal to a larger audience. Any mechanics that offer depth or might have harsh consequences for the player are being streamlined into non-existance.
Not true.. in fact in many rpgs and mmos especially, there are no harsh consequences to any of your decisions.. or no consequences at all. In fact, there are no choices. Theres nothing that signifies that anything of theirs has been intellectually de-enhanced... now that bioware games have mass appeal. Everyone on this site thinks that anything popular must mean its for the majority of idiots out there. Streamlining and dumming down is what they did to champions online... taking away everything that could have made the game have any depth. At the end of the day, I've been through champions online once.. and KoToR 4 times since its release.
It seems to me that real MMO players have all left the genre and this site. MMOs used to be about player making their own unique story. And not about playing predefined story.
Its a shame to even waste time posting here anymore. Most of replays are marketing plugs anyway.
I've never played a MMO and cared about making a story for myself and I've been playing since the 90s. Why should I? I'm making up a story in real life. When I'm playing a videogame, I'm expecting the developer to provide me with a story. Bioware knows how to allow players to bend and shape the story they create, while still providing a solid foundation. If they can take what they know and expand it to a multiplayer universe, that'll be something to behold. I don't expect anything more than an expanded version of their single player games, but with friends playing the other roles instead of NPCs, with more exploration and less linear play.
Comments
Bio ware going with EA is kind of sad but im an ex wow raider and ive played allot of bio ware games and well i think swtor will bring wow down. I think it has a good shot going up against catacalysm and as long as there will be pve endgame content which is what bio ware does best il be pre ordering the biggest collecters edition of swtor i can find.
-Act
Each storyline is, (last I read), supposed to be "hundreds of hours".
TOR has 8 classes, each with unique storylines.
There's also the moral choices to consider; each class storyline offers branching content based on whether the player makes light-side or dark-side choices, further increasing the replay value.
Given an average hour-per-week of 22 and a low-end estimate (assuming that the "hundreds of hours" quote is accurate) of 200 hours per storyline, that's ~9 weeks to complete each storyline, and ~144 weeks to complete all class storylines and explore all light/dark choices.
That's a minimum of 2 and a half years worth of Bioware RPG content, before one even looks at traditional MMO staples such as PvP, RvR, crafting, RP and updates/expansions.
I'm certainly looking forward to it.
Intelligent well crafted and thought out posts like this are what fuel my hope for the future of MMORPG communities.
I am looking forward to it as well my friend.
It's better to lurk in forums and be thought a fool...than to endlessly "Quote" and remove all doubts.
If you think quests are a grind now just wait until each quest comes with 20 minutes of dialog to sit through. You won't just be killing those 10 womp-rats, you'll also have to listen to Jabo-One explain to you about a womp-rat's mating rituals for 15 minutes before you can even start. You'll be dying to get to that 'field of monsters' after sitting through a few hours of pressing '1' every 30 seconds to continue the dialog.
God I love over dramatization.......excellent...heheh...got drama?
It's better to lurk in forums and be thought a fool...than to endlessly "Quote" and remove all doubts.
Haha, yeah. In the updates archer hordes just got nasty.
Forever looking for employment. Life is rather dull without it.
Each storyline is, (last I read), supposed to be "hundreds of hours".
TOR has 8 classes, each with unique storylines.
There's also the moral choices to consider; each class storyline offers branching content based on whether the player makes light-side or dark-side choices, further increasing the replay value.
Given an average hour-per-week of 22 and a low-end estimate (assuming that the "hundreds of hours" quote is accurate) of 200 hours per storyline, that's ~9 weeks to complete each storyline, and ~144 weeks to complete all class storylines and explore all light/dark choices.
That's a minimum of 2 and a half years worth of Bioware RPG content, before one even looks at traditional MMO staples such as PvP, RvR, crafting, RP and updates/expansions.
I'm certainly looking forward to it.
Intelligent well crafted and thought out posts like this are what fuel my hope for the future of MMORPG communities.
I am looking forward to it as well my friend.
I don't believe in the "storyline" behind mmorpg's. The success of an mmorpg lays beyond this.
In a good mmo players create their own adventures and stories and the world is just a stage setting.
Some examples: down a boss against all odds, win a PvP fight unexpectedly, find something after searching - working for it for years on end.
Putting the individual storyline in an mmorpg is the worst you could do.
People are not playing MMO's for the story telling, they are playing them to advance their avatars... and have individual goals.
The more goals and options to arrive at those goals, the better the mmorpg.
Fixed storylines (no matter the different outcomes) limit these goals and options in mmo's.
People will only play them marginally longer than off line RPG's: 2 to 3 months max.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
God I love over dramatization.......excellent...heheh...got drama?
I agree with the above. Players these days play to create their own goals and achievements.
AoC already proved that players just "skip - skip - skip - skip" through long dialogues in today's mmorpg's. Quests with12 lines of text is already far too long to read through.
I am quite convinced a CoD type MMORPG which targets missions and which advances its avatars against a "world at war" setting will be far more succesful than wading through pages and pages of spoken text of why someone should down 10 rats in a sewer.
You "listen" to these quests once or twice and the moment you are on your 10th quest you just skip the pop-ups and move on.
It is the mission that counts and that gives the gaming pleasure, not the spoken text of an NPC.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
Why in the world would you think that SWTOR won't have the things you mentioned AND a good story to go along with it. In fact, from what we know, SWTOR WILL HAVE EXACTLY what you listed.
I actually find myself enjoying the quest dialog in Fallen Earth. The stories are interesting and well written; generally well thought out for the world. I remember finding that man in sector 1 who was pumping out zombie clones of his dead wife or somesuch... that was cool.
Aion's quest dialog bored me to tears. Warhammer Online has some pretty cool quest dialog for those who actually PvE there. From what I have seen of Star Trek Online's quest dialog it's... meh is about the best I can say so far. Admittedly, I haven't gotten very far into the game. The missions remind me a lot of the City of Heroes style missions though, of constant running around to kill the next Bad Guy Base (usually Borg) with little to mix it up. Maybe time will tell and they'll add more interesting dialog as the game grows, but considering a small indie company like Icarus was able to create a really compelling storyline in Fallen Earth, I find it difficult to believe that Cryptic paid much attention to the story and potential of the IP overall since right now there isn't much "depth" to the stories.
It's all subjective, of course. This is one man's opinion.
to the OP,
DAMN I HOPE SO...
I think they can but that may not matter for some. I've been playing Bioware games for a long time, and I found I'm no longer interested in their approach to gaming, in as much as it's been the same for a long time. And I don't know if they did something wrong or I just got bored but all the cutscenes in DA:O bored me, and I didn't like the extreme amount of passivity. And after a while you develop such a familiarity with they system of letting you make "choices" that you realize that no, there are choices but the game's direction is controlled tightly by bioware and you won't be doing anything beyond what they've got scripted for you.
This makes sense. Mainly because in all games you live and die by the rules set out by the developers. You could think that in a sandbox game, they give you the chance to do anything unscripted that you can think of.. but thats untrue. In BioWare games, they give you choices, to control your own story based on the situations your character is in. In other games, (most games actually) they don't always give you that option. They are different kinds of games in that respect. I think I've seen enough of the MMOs that give you the same quests with no choices.. I think I'm ready to see an MMO with quests where I actually have choices to assist in character building.
Probably not but they stand a better chance than the majority of companies that spew crap year after year.
So far they have released 2 of the highest rated games, PC or otherwise, of all time.
That has to give one some confidence that TOR will be good.
DAO and ME2 are both great games. Class balance means nothing in a single player game. They know they can't roll like that in a mmo and I doubt they would. I still have complete faith in bioware and will buy this game day 1.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
I've enjoyed every Bioware game i've ever played but I must admit I share some of the OP's doubts on this one. The whole idea of a story-based MMO just seems like a muddled concept to me. It is surely the world and game play that should define an MMO and the players that make their own stories.
I suspect that TOR will indeed be a good game though not exactly what I would call an MMO. But everyone has their own definitions and perhaps for others TOR will be exactly what they think should an MMO should be.
The whole premise of this thread is ME2 and DA are "bad games" with great story,Hence bio can't make mmo.Then Op in the last said "Is story the reason you are playing a mmo why play a mmo at all".So to recap
1.DA and ME 2 are bad unbalance games that people only play because of their story
2.Only Offline rpg have good stories no mmorpg can have a good story
That is premise of this thread.I just going to walk away now
It seems to me that real MMO players have all left the genre and this site.
MMOs used to be about player making their own unique story.
And not about playing predefined story.
Its a shame to even waste time posting here anymore. Most of replays are marketing plugs anyway.
I disagree.
Mass Effect 1 &2 blow away every other rpg Bioware made excluding the balder's gate series in both gameplay and complexity.
To say the games have been dumbed down is incorrect.
Even ME2 that isnt as deep as ME1 still has quite a few customizable options that someone could play with for damn near forever.
DA:O with its battle tactics blow both Kotor and JE out of the water when it comes to gameplay.
As for exploration Bioware isnt known for delivering a game with deep exploration.
Bethesda is more your speed if you want deep exploration.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Sorry i cantthink of one game bioware has amde that isnt worth playing. Because of this, bioware has earned the right to have me at least test their game when it si released in 2 years.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
So, everyones wrong, but your right?
I think you've exhausted your arguements and points of reasoning because you've picked to fight a topic that cannot be resolved for at least another year, but hey. When all sense and reasoning is lost, proclaim everyone else stupid, at least that seems to be your plan of action.
If your under the impression that just because everyones views are different to you, (and by everyone i mean the majority) then the small genre bubble you've wrapped yourself up in and called the MMO genre, may not infact be what you think it is. I think your a narrow minded MMO gamer if your locking yourself away from the lore and story of a game. If lore and story wasn't important, why give cities names? Why build huge statues for players to see, hell, why not just make the mmo in a generic warehouse. It gives everything a sense of purpose, and by bringing players into that lore, you are giving them a sense of importance, perhaps false, but what do we care, it beats going to work. It's like being in a book, of which the ending is down to your actions.
I reckon you'd enjoy yourself and the games out there alot more if you opened up to possibilities.
Longing for Skyrim, The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3
I wouldn't call them bad games. I still enjoy playing them to a degree. One problem is that their products are being intellectually de-enhanced as to appeal to a larger audience. Any mechanics that offer depth or might have harsh consequences for the player are being streamlined into non-existance.
OP, you really need to chill. Bioware RPG games have been the most polished and highly rated games of all time. They obviously care about the MMO by pushing the release date back another year.
"MMOs used to be about player making their own unique story." Have you not seen any information on the game? You actually make critical decisions by selecting several options for what your character will do. For example: Kill an enemy or make him join your party. That seems like making your own story to me. Most MMOs have a click quest and accept function-which is rather boring. I doubt anyone has read every text quest while leveling but this one doesn't require you to read as much as watch and listen. I have faith that this game will be much better than the trash MMOs we have been given in the last 3 years.
Ive said it once and I'll say it again. There are two possible outcomes here. Best case scenario, TOR is near perfect and will be the one to take us to the promised land. Worst case scenario, it will be nothing more than kotor 3 online.
And when the worst case scenario is that awesome, we cant lose
If you stand VERY still, and close your eyes, after a minute you can actually FEEL the universe revolving around PvP.
I wouldn't call them bad games. I still enjoy playing them to a degree. One problem is that their products are being intellectually de-enhanced as to appeal to a larger audience. Any mechanics that offer depth or might have harsh consequences for the player are being streamlined into non-existance.
Not true.. in fact in many rpgs and mmos especially, there are no harsh consequences to any of your decisions.. or no consequences at all. In fact, there are no choices. Theres nothing that signifies that anything of theirs has been intellectually de-enhanced... now that bioware games have mass appeal. Everyone on this site thinks that anything popular must mean its for the majority of idiots out there. Streamlining and dumming down is what they did to champions online... taking away everything that could have made the game have any depth. At the end of the day, I've been through champions online once.. and KoToR 4 times since its release.
I've never played a MMO and cared about making a story for myself and I've been playing since the 90s. Why should I? I'm making up a story in real life. When I'm playing a videogame, I'm expecting the developer to provide me with a story. Bioware knows how to allow players to bend and shape the story they create, while still providing a solid foundation. If they can take what they know and expand it to a multiplayer universe, that'll be something to behold. I don't expect anything more than an expanded version of their single player games, but with friends playing the other roles instead of NPCs, with more exploration and less linear play.