SWG was a succes for that time! 300k subs is not a failure in my book. And even today many companies would be praying to have that amount of loyal subs.
The problem was, that for SOE and Lucas Arts it was not enough.
The problem was, that WoW released and was more succesful and caused major panic at SOE and LA and caused them to make the jerk reaction called NGE.
As they thought turning SWG into WoW in space would be more succesful. Which ofcourse wasn't!
You are right that 300k subscribers was hardly a failure at that point. However, you conveniently forgot to mention that it was 300k subs and dropping... wherein lies the problem. WoW had just been released and SOE and Lucasarts knew that their game was losing subscribers to the other big players in the market. It was slowly failing and they realized that they HAD to change it to be more in-line with the competition. The NGE came about as a desperate attempt to fix what they perceived to be wrong. The game was not as successful as many of its most vocal fans seem to remember it being.
The reasons i will be pre ordering 4 copies of this game is very simple.
1)Me, wife and two friends love bioware games (check)
2)We love starwars (check)
3)We love single player games (check)
4)Tired of mmo's with shallow storylines and generic quests (check)
We are social but we don't play mmo's where we are forced to group (I love to group but won't play a game where if I want to solo it is a negative experience)
Even when we play mass effect 2, we do it while on teamspeak so even that is a social experience.
Unless bioware makes SW completely none bioware style game we will love it, because for the last couple of years the main thing we have complained about in mmo's is the lack of story, the lack of quests and goals that stay with you for years the lack of connection and moral choices.
How coool would mass effect be if you could coop three people to play the other 2 companions? Or even 2 other sheppards.
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
SWG was a succes for that time! 300k subs is not a failure in my book. And even today many companies would be praying to have that amount of loyal subs. The problem was, that for SOE and Lucas Arts it was not enough. The problem was, that WoW released and was more succesful and caused major panic at SOE and LA and caused them to make the jerk reaction called NGE. As they thought turning SWG into WoW in space would be more succesful. Which ofcourse wasn't!
You are right that 300k subscribers was hardly a failure at that point. However, you conveniently forgot to mention that it was 300k subs and dropping... wherein lies the problem. WoW had just been released and SOE and Lucasarts knew that their game was losing subscribers to the other big players in the market. It was slowly failing and they realized that they HAD to change it to be more in-line with the competition. The NGE came about as a desperate attempt to fix what they perceived to be wrong. The game was not as successful as many of its most vocal fans seem to remember it being.
Before WoW, 300K in the western world was decent, EQ had at least 450K which I think was the most of any MMO game in NA/EU, Lineage in Korea I think had more. After WoW, yes 300K is small to many companies' eyes and today VERY few games holds 300K or more for long, EVE is one of those but other games like AoC and WAR gained so many subs in the first couple months (900K in WAR) then dropped sharply.
Here's an old chart from a few years ago, if anyone thinks they can climb up like WoW did then they're kidding themselves. http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html
SWG was a succes for that time! 300k subs is not a failure in my book. And even today many companies would be praying to have that amount of loyal subs.
The problem was, that for SOE and Lucas Arts it was not enough.
The problem was, that WoW released and was more succesful and caused major panic at SOE and LA and caused them to make the jerk reaction called NGE.
As they thought turning SWG into WoW in space would be more succesful. Which ofcourse wasn't!
You are right that 300k subscribers was hardly a failure at that point. However, you conveniently forgot to mention that it was 300k subs and dropping... wherein lies the problem. WoW had just been released and SOE and Lucasarts knew that their game was losing subscribers to the other big players in the market. It was slowly failing and they realized that they HAD to change it to be more in-line with the competition. The NGE came about as a desperate attempt to fix what they perceived to be wrong. The game was not as successful as many of its most vocal fans seem to remember it being.
Before WoW, 300K in the western world was decent, EQ had at least 450K which I think was the most of any MMO game in NA/EU, Lineage in Korea I think had more. After WoW, yes 300K is small to many companies' eyes and today VERY few games holds 300K or more for long, EVE is one of those but other games like AoC and WAR gained so many subs in the first couple months (900K in WAR) then dropped sharply.
Here's an old chart from a few years ago, if anyone thinks they can climb up like WoW did then they're kidding themselves. http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html
To this day, I still never understood why WoW was and is so popular. All they did was take everything from other games. Sure the game was fun and I enjoyed it. Yet still don't see why, maybe they released at the right time when video games became really popular, or when most people knew about the internet. I dunno for some strange reason it is mind boggling.
To this day, I still never understood why WoW was and is so popular. All they did was take everything from other games. Sure the game was fun and I enjoyed it. Yet still don't see why, maybe they released at the right time when video games became really popular, or when most people knew about the internet. I dunno for some strange reason it is mind boggling.
er, isn't that reason enough?
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
To this day, I still never understood why WoW was and is so popular. All they did was take everything from other games. Sure the game was fun and I enjoyed it. Yet still don't see why, maybe they released at the right time when video games became really popular, or when most people knew about the internet. I dunno for some strange reason it is mind boggling.
er, isn't that reason enough?
So many people seem to forget this important part. If the game isn't fun, then people won't play it regardless of whether it is a themepark or sandbox. It really is that simple. World of Warcraft made a game that was fun and not a chore. It's not rocket science.
I never read the books, but when I think of Star Wars I think of the original 3 movies.
THE TRILOGY, was a guided experience that basically took you through Luke Skywalker's journey from a water farmer to jedi. That is how I would desribe the movies in their simplist form.
Sure all the other character's were important, but they were basically side quests in mmo terms. The real core of the movies was the maturing of Luke and the relationship between him and his father which is why the scene when Anakin(vader) saves Luke is one of my all time favorite scenes. I'm not ashamed to say I still get a little teary eyed when I watch that scene.
My guess is that Bioware is gonna do a good job of creating an epic, cinematic type single player experience that your character goes through as it matures from a lowly level 1 to a max rank powerhouse. The interaction with other actual players in this process I think will only serve to deepen the commitment to your character as time goes by. Much the same way you become invested in Shepard as you play an ME game, but with the bonus of having other "live" people to interact with while going through this process.
This is strictly my opinion and take on it and if they are indeed trying to make their game somewhat like this then I don't feel they are missing the mark. They are trying to create a distinct gaming experience.
I am all for a quality sandbox mmo, but I honestly think an extremely well done and polished cinematic experience trumps sandbox with current gaming limitations and I don't think this will change until a sandbox game can come out that is truly unbelievable in it's freedom while also having the polish and cinematic presence of a AAA game franchise.
I never read the books, but when I think of Star Wars I think of the original 3 movies.
THE TRILOGY, was a guided experience that basically took you through Luke Skywalker's journey from a water farmer to jedi. That is how I would desribe the movies in their simplist form.
Sure all the other character's were important, but they were basically side quests in mmo terms. The real core of the movies was the maturing of Luke and the relationship between him and his father which is why the scene when Anakin(vader) saves Luke is one of my all time favorite scenes. I'm not ashamed to say I still get a little teary eyed when I watch that scene.
My guess is that Bioware is gonna do a good job of creating an epic, cinematic type single player experience that your character goes through as it matures from a lowly level 1 to a max rank powerhouse. The interaction with other actual players in this process I think will only serve to deepen the commitment to your character as time goes by. Much the same way you become invested in Shepard as you play an ME game, but with the bonus of having other "live" people to interact with while going through this process.
This is strictly my opinion and take on it and if they are indeed trying to make their game somewhat like this then I don't feel they are missing the mark. They are trying to create a distinct gaming experience.
I am all for a quality sandbox mmo, but I honestly think an extremely well done and polished cinematic experience trumps sandbox with current gaming limitations and I don't think this will change until a sandbox game can come out that is truly unbelievable in it's freedom while also having the polish and cinematic presence of a AAA game franchise.
Here's a hint, try playing Kotor :P there are various bundles out there going cheap, even though the graphics are pretty crappy, and there can be installation issues (google enough and you can find solutions) the storyline is still awesome, in some ways they ripped parts of the story content to put in there own flagship Mass Effect (Canderous Ordo of the mandalore clan - Mandalorians tried to conquere the republic and lost leaving them scattered and hires as mercs, Wrex of clan urdo (sp) - his people also tried to conquere the galaxy and failed, leavng them scattered and hired as mercs).
Kotor and Tor is set back in time, like 2000-3000 years before the movies, its a time when the sith empire and jedi religion both flourished. This game has nothing to do with the movies, SWG was but that had jedi in it which was totally wrong because they had all been wiped out (timeline was somewhere between episodes 5-6).
Because Star Wars is not about theme park, guiding you from one place to the next. Star Wars has always been about choosing your own destiny, your own path and yes it is more of a sandbox world. It is about you living in the world you built and reacting to the events that surround you. It isn't about go fetch/kill quests like the game will have. It is about the open world war between jedi and sith, not about instanced battlegrounds. Bioware has always been a favorite developer of mine but I think they are missing the boat on this one. I'm sure alot will try it out but for the long term I'm not convinced it will last.
Comments
You are right that 300k subscribers was hardly a failure at that point. However, you conveniently forgot to mention that it was 300k subs and dropping... wherein lies the problem. WoW had just been released and SOE and Lucasarts knew that their game was losing subscribers to the other big players in the market. It was slowly failing and they realized that they HAD to change it to be more in-line with the competition. The NGE came about as a desperate attempt to fix what they perceived to be wrong. The game was not as successful as many of its most vocal fans seem to remember it being.
How coool would mass effect be if you could coop three people to play the other 2 companions? Or even 2 other sheppards.
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
Here's an old chart from a few years ago, if anyone thinks they can climb up like WoW did then they're kidding themselves. http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html
To this day, I still never understood why WoW was and is so popular. All they did was take everything from other games. Sure the game was fun and I enjoyed it. Yet still don't see why, maybe they released at the right time when video games became really popular, or when most people knew about the internet. I dunno for some strange reason it is mind boggling.
er, isn't that reason enough?
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Bioware always lets you choose how you want the game to play out. You really think they'll hold your hand?
Played - M59, EQOA, EQ, EQ2, PS, SWG[Favorite], DAoC, UO, RS, MXO, CoH/CoV, TR, FFXI, FoM, WoW, Eve, Rift, SWTOR, TSW.
Playing - PS2, AoW, GW2
I never read the books, but when I think of Star Wars I think of the original 3 movies.
THE TRILOGY, was a guided experience that basically took you through Luke Skywalker's journey from a water farmer to jedi. That is how I would desribe the movies in their simplist form.
Sure all the other character's were important, but they were basically side quests in mmo terms. The real core of the movies was the maturing of Luke and the relationship between him and his father which is why the scene when Anakin(vader) saves Luke is one of my all time favorite scenes. I'm not ashamed to say I still get a little teary eyed when I watch that scene.
My guess is that Bioware is gonna do a good job of creating an epic, cinematic type single player experience that your character goes through as it matures from a lowly level 1 to a max rank powerhouse. The interaction with other actual players in this process I think will only serve to deepen the commitment to your character as time goes by. Much the same way you become invested in Shepard as you play an ME game, but with the bonus of having other "live" people to interact with while going through this process.
This is strictly my opinion and take on it and if they are indeed trying to make their game somewhat like this then I don't feel they are missing the mark. They are trying to create a distinct gaming experience.
I am all for a quality sandbox mmo, but I honestly think an extremely well done and polished cinematic experience trumps sandbox with current gaming limitations and I don't think this will change until a sandbox game can come out that is truly unbelievable in it's freedom while also having the polish and cinematic presence of a AAA game franchise.
Here's a hint, try playing Kotor :P there are various bundles out there going cheap, even though the graphics are pretty crappy, and there can be installation issues (google enough and you can find solutions) the storyline is still awesome, in some ways they ripped parts of the story content to put in there own flagship Mass Effect (Canderous Ordo of the mandalore clan - Mandalorians tried to conquere the republic and lost leaving them scattered and hires as mercs, Wrex of clan urdo (sp) - his people also tried to conquere the galaxy and failed, leavng them scattered and hired as mercs).
Kotor and Tor is set back in time, like 2000-3000 years before the movies, its a time when the sith empire and jedi religion both flourished. This game has nothing to do with the movies, SWG was but that had jedi in it which was totally wrong because they had all been wiped out (timeline was somewhere between episodes 5-6).
I think you need to read more about the game.
http://www.swtor.com
Have fun!