Y'know what doesn't excite me? Hamburgers. Hamburgers don't excite me isabelle. I still eat them, and usually after eating them, I'm content.
I mean basically the idea behind the opinion was a nice topical overview of what most of the people who want to dislike the game are saying. Thats fine, seeing as how there are many people that aren't that interested in finding information on something, and even more that wish to hate anything that happens to be popular.
So, whats this about hamburgers? Well, even though I'm not excited about eating hamburgers, I still do. I never really stop to think of why I'm eating said hamburger, when its not exciting to me like, say, some new kind of french indian fusion would be, or 10 lbs of lobster. In the end though, sometimes just liking something for what it is should be good enough, even if hamburgers are popular, even if there are a lot of places who make ones with slight similarities, or if its not as good as the one you ate at "that place you went to that one time".
And truly, at the end of the day, you'll still be eating SWTOR. Er.... well, okay, what you do with it is up to you, but my premise behind it is simple, its really hard for anyone interested in RPGs, MMORPGs, SWRPG, and SWMMORPGs, to completely stray away from this title. Even in its most basic form of a "single player" title, people would still flock to it. I think people want to set themselves up to remove any hype they could have, simply because of the popularity of the title. In that end, I think they may also be setting themselves up so theres a chance to be pleasantly surprised.
So many critics (eventhough there aren't that many after actually trying the game, but I digress) that say that SWTOR is "just this" or "just that" always end with the caveat that they're still going to buy and play the game, regardless of the loss of excitement, regardless of the mixed feelings, regardless of the hype train. If there are so many red flags you'd imagine people wouldn't still be interested in buying the game. Maybe those flags aren't as red as people want us to believe...
I think people are less upset about it being in the News section than they are transparently complaining about one thing while on the other hand they're not happy about their most anctipated game being lambasted without so much as a trial-play from the author. In a way, it makes sense. Articles and videos are not gameplay experience, any way you slice it. I enjoyed the article and found myself agreeing with most, if not all of it, but it's not out yet, and some people appear to be afraid more game journalists will knock a promising title down a peg with front page opinions like this.
I'm meh about SWTOR too, but I'm going to wait until I see more before I judge whether or not it's good or bad. "Meh" could lead some to believe it's already failed.
Speaking of which, why are they taking pre-orders now if it's not to be released until Spring? Is this normal? Seems a bit far off to me.
What we've got here is the typical stereotypic battle between those who see and those who are blind on atleast one eye.
Star Wars: what a great IP this is, having a huge fanbase that will play the game nevertheless. Bioware doesn't even have to think about it being a profitable game... it simply will be because of the SW-fanbase.
Being excited for SWTOR isn't exactly how I feel. I'm looking forward to it tho, as it's atleast something new to have a MMO completely with VO and atleast a little of choices during the story. Oh, and the story is different for every class, so it doesn't get boring that fast to reroll another class. This alone is good enough for calmed down SW-fans like me to get some 3-6 month of gameplay, given that we roll three toons (tank, heal, dd). I wouldn't call this game anywhere perfect tho, as it lacks tons of features that I'm looking for.
There's a big discrepancy between players and forums. 90% of the usual MMO-players never enter the forums and only play until the next big MMO is released. It's been this way ever since. The vocal 10% enter the forums and discuss about the games and as most of these people are old-school players the question for sandbox, PvP and RP is dominant. That doesn't give the right picture tho, as the other 90% of the MMO-players couldn't care less. Now, with this discrepancy, there's a totally wrong picture about MMO-players and developers. Developers only look at numbers and follow the route of the 90% of silent players. If a game like SWTOR sells 3 Million boxes it's a success allready and the costs for development are covered (3 Mil x $50 = 150 Mil). That's how developers do engage the whole topic... very straight up from an economical POV. Every subscription after the box-sales is profit, and there'll be atleast 500k subscriptions for a few month.
As much as I hate it, but the whole discussion is really getting tiresome. Aslong as the majority of MMO-players is still buying and playing those EQish MMOs, aslong the developers won't develop more MMOs like EvE or SWG. It's that simple.
@MMO.Maverick - Sorry you were disappointed! I've covered a lot of what you mention in some of my older columns, and I don't like to rehash too much. Besides, there's only so much you can get across in ~1000 words. I'm constantly surprised at how short that really is, when I'm used to the freedom of going gigantic walls of text on my blog.
And again... this isn't news. It's opinion. It's what I do here. For news go kick Bill, he's the one with his finger on the pulse!
Ah, you're the article writer? Sorry, I thought that every mmorpg.com staff or article writer had an alias resembling their name or a recognisable forum tag to it, I didn't recognize you without it.
I often have to do movie reviews with a 300 words limit because that's the space a review gets in some mags I write for, an opinion piece can be done thoroughly with 1000 words by rigorous editing and focusing on the most interesting main points and angles. And if not possible, a reference or link to former blog articles where a point is more elaborated upon is a handy option to save words but still clarify your stance as well.
2) Well, it's in the news department, so that's how it's regarded
I just find it odd that SWTOR is singled out in this particular way again, particularly because it's a viewpoint regarding a themepark MMO from someone who favors SWG and sandbox oriented gameplay. Like asking an expert and reviewer of horror movies to give an opinion about a historical costume drama, the kind he's indifferent about or even dislikes.
Well, it'll be interesting to see articles regarding the other upcoming MMO's from writers, like from a themepark favoring gamer about AA or someone who dislikes or is sceptical about TERA or GW2 or TSW or upcoming expansions from current MMO's. Or why those upcoming MMO's (including SWTOR) excite them.
But an advice to opinion article writers on this site, add some interesting twists or reflections in them, just summing up a few features or a feeling without digging deeper - whether it's by linking your viewpoint to a meta topic and discussions or by deeper introspection - makes it kind of dry and needlessly shallow. No offense intended, just a suggestion
Originally posted by Nazgol
Excellent post as always. I laughed when she said it was overhyped. Do you guys not read your own forums? If it wasn't for some of the more informative posters like yourself I wouldn't even visit this site.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I was born during the release of the original Star Wars: A New Hope. Thus, I was raised within this precedented sci-fi realm. It's something that you just don't grow out of.
HOWEVER, this doesn't mean that I haven't mentally evolved with the genre. I'm older. Pure simplicity doesn't sustain my interest. I yearn for a certain degree of depth and complexity. SWTOR doesn't seem to offer that. It seems to be more geared toward the new blood of Star Wars - those who grew up with Episode 1, 2, and 3 (the young).
I'm not asking for SWG 2.0. I do, however, wish that the game contained some on-the-side forms of social-sandbox elements, e.g., planets spefically made for housing, cities, player shops, incentive to hangout in the cantinas, etc.
The game, in my opinion, would be a sure win had it contained the perfect blend of Sand Box and Theme Park elements.
This was me during the Empire Strikes Back Days (look at the couch!):
Holy crap!!! Underoos. I loved my underoos. My favorite ones were the Superman and Spiderman ones. I remember wearing the Superman ones and tying a sheet or towel around my neck and flying around the house.
Back in the day when I kicked the crap out of my dad and my uncle on our Pong machine. Combat on Atari was probably the most played game in our house but asteroids was a close second because me and uncle were always trying to beat each other's scores. Freakin' good times.
Now that I've sufficiently dated myself:
I'm pretty excited about The Old Republic. The voice acting seems solid and engrossing unlike DCUO's horrific, lackluster voice acting. It's a stretch to call DCUO's voice overs acting. It's like they stuck their heads out of the office and flagged down the cleaning staff and asked them if they wanted to make an extra 5 bucks. Even Gina Torres' stuff is unemotional and bland. Mark Hammill had an awesome delivery for the vault in beta but they raped it and either used a different take or cut out the pauses which effectively neutered the delivery.
Anyway...
The Old Republic looks set up to have a nice engaging story and that will keep me occupied for much longer than grinding through the tired, redundant, standard MMORPG fare that is kill y and retrieve x number of entrails or repeating the same handful of dungeons over and over and over.
You've got the over-arching story and each class has it's individual class story. The companions will add more diversity to repeat playthroughs as will playing through making Lightside or Darkside decisions. There is a lot of potential for replay of different and same classes. Plus, if they extend the story arcs through additional content, which I fully expect, it adds that much more to the game.
The only thing the game seems to lack is non-combat social aspects. Pazzak or other such games added to Cantinas would be great.
I understand that a lot of MMORPG enthusiasts are not too fond of change, eventhough they clamor for it and complain, but the genre needs something more than just quest hub NPCs, fetch quests, and dungeon running. The Old Republic isn't reshaping the genre but they definitely seem to be enhancing the enjoyment of the game by putting time, effort, and polish into the story and I think that will make all the difference.
That being said, it would have been nice to see old school SWG's influence in the gameplay. It was unique and engaging and I don't think we will ever see anything like it again. Creating non-combat classes that interact with the combat classes set the stage for players to experience and live in a sort of virtual Star Wars world. With the homogenization approach to the genre that's become so popular recently, every player can do everything... and that's the problem.
Awesome article Isabelle, and I have to thank you very much for writing about what many of us feel but are muffled out by... well we all know the type.
If ToR kept its yap shut it would have launched and could have grown respectfully from there, but nope huge advertising budget and way too many have hyped the game into something it's not and so many others i dunno you'd think their whole life is riding on this game or something, the fallout is going to be epic.
A truly great game would not be concerned with pressure sales tactics, and getting the most it can at launch because an awesome game will sell itself on epic proportions.
What the industry knows now is that if you got a stinker you need to hype it out, apply sales pressure and get what you can at launch, because after that the truth it out and its all down hill from there.
Awesome article Isabelle, and I have to thank you very much for writing about what many of us feel but are muffled out by... well we all know the type.
(snips the bla)
What the industry knows now is that if you got a stinker you need to hype it out, apply sales pressure and get what you can at launch, because after that the truth it out and its all down hill from there.
Thanks again Isabelle.
I really, truly hope you'll be here 3 months after launch. We'll talk then about your 'predictions', and then we have a nice little chat about how someone personally feels towards a subject doesn't need to be indicative towards everyone else's feelings and tastes, that's why a game like WoW might be such huge success to the surprise of those who disliked it or were indifferent towards its gameplay. So please be there, it'll be fun
Originally posted by Eir_S
Speaking of which, why are they taking pre-orders now if it's not to be released until Spring? Is this normal? Seems a bit far off to me.
? It's supposed to be released in Q4 of this year, at least that's what they're aiming for at the moment.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Awesome article Isabelle, and I have to thank you very much for writing about what many of us feel but are muffled out by... well we all know the type.
(snips the bla)
What the industry knows now is that if you got a stinker you need to hype it out, apply sales pressure and get what you can at launch, because after that the truth it out and its all down hill from there.
Thanks again Isabelle.
I really, truly hope you'll be here 3 months after launch. We'll talk then about your 'predictions', and then we have a nice little chat about how someone personally feels towards a subject doesn't need to be indicative towards everyone else's feelings and tastes, that's why a game like WoW might be such huge success to the surprise of those who disliked or were indifferent towards its gameplay. So please be there, it'll be fun
Maverick, he won't be here 3 months after launch. He's going to be in game then.
@MMO.Maverick -- my membership here long predates the column I now write, and my handle here is the one I've used on the intertubes for much longer than I'm comfortable admitting. I wasn't desperately keen to use my real name for the column, but it's policy here and I do see the sense in it (mostly). Changing my profile name to match my column authorship name is probably something I should do, but... I don't particularly want to.
All the hype has triggered my spider sense not to buy it, I also didn't feel excited watching the footage of the game which is also a factor in not buying into it at pre order and launch prices, a free to play demo will be out next year soon enough. Now planetside 2, that's got me excited.
Im kind of on the same page about SWTOR as the OP. I will play it probably, just because I loved KOTOR and the idea of a KOTOR type MMO that I can play with friends is appealing. But Im not really feeling the same hype as so many players. I wont preorder and I want to see some early reactions and reviews after release first.
I play most of my MMO's with the same friends and because we lvl on a different pace, a MMO with a solid sidekick/mentoring system has our preference. Or scaling (to lvl) content. So at this moment, our interest goes to GW2 first. Then SWTOR depending how the release will be.
Just remembering the swtor screen shots of the fine female specimens with thier bust measurements refined to eye googling perfection, I've got to say with a little shame, that it got me excited... but thats probably not the excitement you are looking for, right?
I don't see how others reactions, and marketing ploys can affect someone's decision so effectively to change thier perception on what is actually tangible, the evidence, which speaks for itself. However, this so called proof seems to be some kind of machina rendtion of what to expect, so not all videos show what is to be expected as the actual feel of combat, since the machina is synchronized to have one event after the other, which would mean it should be more hectic when in game, to the point that a person would go cross eyed trying to gather everything all at once... for extended periods. Warning health hazard from over exposure to awesome gameplay, downplayed to prevent a trip to the ER. (As I would have myself beleive)
My reason for being dissapointed is, I am not getting some kind of server in my area. So I might have to put off the game, unless someone is willing to smuggle me in right next to the client server. Here's your chance to role play a smuggler in real life! No, I am not serious in case you are wondering. I would not want to cause any trouble.
I assume swtor will be everything that it is advertised to be, just like GW2, but it is only our imagination or expactions that decieve us. I am somewhat pessimestic, or realistic, and that can be a downer, but at least it is the kind of conidtioning I put myself through for certain things so I am not dissapointed.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
I was born during the release of the original Star Wars: A New Hope. Thus, I was raised within this precedented sci-fi realm. It's something that you just don't grow out of.
HOWEVER, this doesn't mean that I haven't mentally evolved with the genre. I'm older. Pure simplicity doesn't sustain my interest. I yearn for a certain degree of depth and complexity. SWTOR doesn't seem to offer that. It seems to be more geared toward the new blood of Star Wars - those who grew up with Episode 1, 2, and 3 (the young).
I'm not asking for SWG 2.0. I do, however, wish that the game contained some on-the-side forms of social-sandbox elements, e.g., planets spefically made for housing, cities, player shops, incentive to hangout in the cantinas, etc.
The game, in my opinion, would be a sure win had it contained the perfect blend of Sand Box and Theme Park elements.
This was me during the Empire Strikes Back Days (look at the couch!):
This painful because I was 16 when episode 4 came out! Ouch!
The one thing I think this title really has going for it is, it seems like it's can be expanded readily. That may allow for an evolution into something more than a story driven MMO. As long as they expand horizontally as they expand vertically.
It is allright. It would be foolish to expect that SWTOR is going to appeal to everyone. Which goes for any other MMO out there. Different strokes for different folks.
Pretty much this.
Some one doesn't like SW:TOR. Don't see why this has to be front page news.
Because it creates more traffic than any positive article.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
No, you're not the only one Isabelle. The difference, though, is that I won't be buying SW:TOR at all. I've spent many years gaming in one facet or another and a bunch of time gaiming in the SW universe. I've had my fill of playing "Iconic classes" and saving the galaxy every day. That's not the "story" I want to play in the Star Wars universe anymore.
No, I want to play out my own characters I have come up with over the years that for the most part don't give a care about the struggle between light and dark, good and bad. They just want to make credits, lots and lots of credits, in a variety of ways. Yep, Star Wars Galaxies was great for that before the NGE.
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"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..."
Just treat it like any other $60 video game (You really don't need the $150 CE version), play it for a month, then if your still 'meh', put it on the shelf with the hundreds of other $50-$60 dollar games you've purchesed and shelved/finished over the past twenty years...
A $60 MMO, Star Wars or otherwise, is the same as most $60 single player games. You'll play through it until you get bored and find something new...If your bothered by the price of video games it may be a good time to take a look in the mirror and consider a different, less expensive hobby.
I get it, I really do. SW:TOR isn't everyone's cup of tea. I know it's been said before, and I know Isabelle doesn't read the forums. I'm still going to point out that we read all of this stuff on the forums every day, though, and it's very, very tiresome.
It's one thing to not be excited about a game, but when I'm not excited about something, you know what I do? I just ignore it. It doesn't make sense for me to make comments to everyone about how unexcited I am, or point out it's many percieved flaws, unless of course I've been directly confronted about it. Which I'll allow she may have been behind the scenes.
Not that negative feedback isn't beneficial, but it really has to be done in the form of a review from a person who's actually played the game. Then if there's any negativity, it's justified. This is just blind negativity for the sake of misliking a marketing campaign and pining for an older game that was done wrong by it's developers.
Anyway, I know you mean well, but it hits a nerve to see the haters on this site given any sort of validation in the form of a featured article.
I see nothing wrong with a healthy dose of skepticism over such a highly anticipated title, with such a large budget, in a genre that has brought many consumers little but dissapointment for such a long time. Especially so when a previous game made around this IP could be considered the blueprint on how NOT to behave when making an MMO.
Anyone who has more than a few months experience with the world of MMOs that still believes in that magic bullet, or golden messiah of a new MMO, I see akin to those people that stil honestly believe that any day now we will find Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster.
So while you will get no flaming from me about having a rational outlook on a new MMO, I do have to ask why this article was even necessary. Have things grown so quiet in the MMO world that the best article idea one of the major columnists here can think to write is "Hey Guys, You Know That New Game Coming Out That Everyone Keeps Talking About? To The Point Of Nausea? Yeah? Well I Don't Really Care."
And before you take that last paragraph as a flame, honestly going by the MMO news I've read the past month or so, it probably really was the only thing worth writing about.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
No, you're not the only one Isabelle. The difference, though, is that I won't be buying SW:TOR at all. I've spent many years gaming in one facet or another and a bunch of time gaiming in the SW universe. I've had my fill of playing "Iconic classes" and saving the galaxy every day. That's not the "story" I want to play in the Star Wars universe anymore.
No, I want to play out my own characters I have come up with over the years that for the most part don't give a care about the struggle between light and dark, good and bad. They just want to make credits, lots and lots of credits, in a variety of ways. Yep, Star Wars Galaxies was great for that before the NGE.
{mod edit}
You're probably right in your assumption, I think that SWTOR has little to offer for everyone that favors the kind of gameplay that SWG had above everything else. In fact, I'd advise any hardcore sandbox fan to steer clearly away from SWTOR.
As for themepark fans or people who are able to still fully enjoy themepark MMO's, well, SWTOR will have one of the biggest MMO worlds around, easily a lot larger in worldsize and content than LotrO, Aion and definitely much, much larger than AoC or Rift. So to me as someone who still likes themepark MMO gameplay that certainly is appealing.
As for the crafting, well, it may not be on the level of SWG - again, advice to sandbox fans to steer clear from SWTOR - but from what I've learnt so far SWTOR crafting looks to be quite better than most other themepark MMO's, WoW included.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
SWTOR is not one of the game releases i am excited about, the action looks slow and the mechanics seem tedious ,the game world looks highly instanced, which is just a glorified multiplayer imho,the armor system looks liek we are all going to look the same, and i absolutely hate that . the games that i am excited about are guild wars 2 and secret world online, both games are going out of there way to apeal to a larger audience, and hopefully my idea of there features will not be like my expectations of Rifts character class , what a lame joke that turned out to be
I would hate to be in the gaming industry. People are always talking about this "savior" of a game that nothing ever lives up to.. everyones got a vote for which game is going to "change the face of mmos" next, and they never do. Personally I realized along time ago, due to technical restraints and and development costs this game that will change everyones lives and kill game X, or whatever is not going to ever happen. I decided to have fun with games, accept them for what they are (a very very small part of the digital world, a much smaller part of the real world) and have fun. If a game is amazing, Im goin to play it until "the cows come home", if its a stinker i will probably never think twice about it.
I get it, I really do. SW:TOR isn't everyone's cup of tea. I know it's been said before, and I know Isabelle doesn't read the forums. I'm still going to point out that we read all of this stuff on the forums every day, though, and it's very, very tiresome.
It's one thing to not be excited about a game, but when I'm not excited about something, you know what I do? I just ignore it. It doesn't make sense for me to make comments to everyone about how unexcited I am, or point out it's many percieved flaws, unless of course I've been directly confronted about it. Which I'll allow she may have been behind the scenes.
Not that negative feedback isn't beneficial, but it really has to be done in the form of a review from a person who's actually played the game. Then if there's any negativity, it's justified. This is just blind negativity for the sake of misliking a marketing campaign and pining for an older game that was done wrong by it's developers.
Anyway, I know you mean well, but it hits a nerve to see the haters on this site given any sort of validation in the form of a featured article.
Well put, I agree wholeheartedly.
Just another clear-cut indicator of the sad state this site is in these days. I used look forward to reading new articles here every morning with my coffee, it was just one of those things that helped me start my day on the right foot.
However, these days I don't even have much motivation to check here anymore. Hate threads, trolling, and bait attempts are commonplace (and all three have increased in volume here, rather dramatically, over the course of the last year or two) and I often find myself unable to keep a tight lid on my own opinions in those types of threads. So I have just been trying to avoid the site alltogether.
This morning I decide to check, and this is what I see on the front page, soldifying my decision to use other sites for actual mmorpg news. MMORPG.com has basically become an online tabloid, I wonder how long it will be before we see a front page article about Kim Kardashian sunbathing topless.
I am really tired of hearing about this game every god damn day, on every gaming site, it has become ridiculous. Its like hearing about that movie everyone hypes it up and says omg its really good you have to see it, then against your intuition you cough up the money to go see it, and because you have half a brain (you dont consider something good just because someone nitwit told you it was good) you leave the theater with nothing but dissappointment.
I have seen this strategy far too often lately, where a product is overhyped to sh%*, where the marketing stratey is to basically tell everyone "its great", "its the best", "its a revolution", blah blah blah, then the stupid masses take it in and mass market it themselves, and before you know it, it has become this sestimic virus that takes over all the social avenues, where you cant be part of the crowd unless you see it/play it.....its a brilliant strategy, but it still doesnt make a turd a shiny piece of gold.
Point: Can we stop buying into this marketing machine that hypnotizes people into thinking something that is mediocre is the best thing on earth.....so we can finally get back to making quality entertainment.
Comments
Ummm so what?
Self centered article, who cares what excites one partiular individual.
Y'know what doesn't excite me? Hamburgers. Hamburgers don't excite me isabelle. I still eat them, and usually after eating them, I'm content.
I mean basically the idea behind the opinion was a nice topical overview of what most of the people who want to dislike the game are saying. Thats fine, seeing as how there are many people that aren't that interested in finding information on something, and even more that wish to hate anything that happens to be popular.
So, whats this about hamburgers? Well, even though I'm not excited about eating hamburgers, I still do. I never really stop to think of why I'm eating said hamburger, when its not exciting to me like, say, some new kind of french indian fusion would be, or 10 lbs of lobster. In the end though, sometimes just liking something for what it is should be good enough, even if hamburgers are popular, even if there are a lot of places who make ones with slight similarities, or if its not as good as the one you ate at "that place you went to that one time".
And truly, at the end of the day, you'll still be eating SWTOR. Er.... well, okay, what you do with it is up to you, but my premise behind it is simple, its really hard for anyone interested in RPGs, MMORPGs, SWRPG, and SWMMORPGs, to completely stray away from this title. Even in its most basic form of a "single player" title, people would still flock to it. I think people want to set themselves up to remove any hype they could have, simply because of the popularity of the title. In that end, I think they may also be setting themselves up so theres a chance to be pleasantly surprised.
So many critics (eventhough there aren't that many after actually trying the game, but I digress) that say that SWTOR is "just this" or "just that" always end with the caveat that they're still going to buy and play the game, regardless of the loss of excitement, regardless of the mixed feelings, regardless of the hype train. If there are so many red flags you'd imagine people wouldn't still be interested in buying the game. Maybe those flags aren't as red as people want us to believe...
I think people are less upset about it being in the News section than they are transparently complaining about one thing while on the other hand they're not happy about their most anctipated game being lambasted without so much as a trial-play from the author. In a way, it makes sense. Articles and videos are not gameplay experience, any way you slice it. I enjoyed the article and found myself agreeing with most, if not all of it, but it's not out yet, and some people appear to be afraid more game journalists will knock a promising title down a peg with front page opinions like this.
I'm meh about SWTOR too, but I'm going to wait until I see more before I judge whether or not it's good or bad. "Meh" could lead some to believe it's already failed.
Speaking of which, why are they taking pre-orders now if it's not to be released until Spring? Is this normal? Seems a bit far off to me.
What we've got here is the typical stereotypic battle between those who see and those who are blind on atleast one eye.
Star Wars: what a great IP this is, having a huge fanbase that will play the game nevertheless. Bioware doesn't even have to think about it being a profitable game... it simply will be because of the SW-fanbase.
Being excited for SWTOR isn't exactly how I feel. I'm looking forward to it tho, as it's atleast something new to have a MMO completely with VO and atleast a little of choices during the story. Oh, and the story is different for every class, so it doesn't get boring that fast to reroll another class.
This alone is good enough for calmed down SW-fans like me to get some 3-6 month of gameplay, given that we roll three toons (tank, heal, dd).
I wouldn't call this game anywhere perfect tho, as it lacks tons of features that I'm looking for.
There's a big discrepancy between players and forums. 90% of the usual MMO-players never enter the forums and only play until the next big MMO is released. It's been this way ever since.
The vocal 10% enter the forums and discuss about the games and as most of these people are old-school players the question for sandbox, PvP and RP is dominant. That doesn't give the right picture tho, as the other 90% of the MMO-players couldn't care less.
Now, with this discrepancy, there's a totally wrong picture about MMO-players and developers. Developers only look at numbers and follow the route of the 90% of silent players. If a game like SWTOR sells 3 Million boxes it's a success allready and the costs for development are covered (3 Mil x $50 = 150 Mil). That's how developers do engage the whole topic... very straight up from an economical POV. Every subscription after the box-sales is profit, and there'll be atleast 500k subscriptions for a few month.
As much as I hate it, but the whole discussion is really getting tiresome. Aslong as the majority of MMO-players is still buying and playing those EQish MMOs, aslong the developers won't develop more MMOs like EvE or SWG. It's that simple.
Ah, you're the article writer? Sorry, I thought that every mmorpg.com staff or article writer had an alias resembling their name or a recognisable forum tag to it, I didn't recognize you without it.
I often have to do movie reviews with a 300 words limit because that's the space a review gets in some mags I write for, an opinion piece can be done thoroughly with 1000 words by rigorous editing and focusing on the most interesting main points and angles. And if not possible, a reference or link to former blog articles where a point is more elaborated upon is a handy option to save words but still clarify your stance as well.
2) Well, it's in the news department, so that's how it's regarded
I just find it odd that SWTOR is singled out in this particular way again, particularly because it's a viewpoint regarding a themepark MMO from someone who favors SWG and sandbox oriented gameplay. Like asking an expert and reviewer of horror movies to give an opinion about a historical costume drama, the kind he's indifferent about or even dislikes.
Well, it'll be interesting to see articles regarding the other upcoming MMO's from writers, like from a themepark favoring gamer about AA or someone who dislikes or is sceptical about TERA or GW2 or TSW or upcoming expansions from current MMO's. Or why those upcoming MMO's (including SWTOR) excite them.
But an advice to opinion article writers on this site, add some interesting twists or reflections in them, just summing up a few features or a feeling without digging deeper - whether it's by linking your viewpoint to a meta topic and discussions or by deeper introspection - makes it kind of dry and needlessly shallow. No offense intended, just a suggestion
Thanks
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Holy crap!!! Underoos. I loved my underoos. My favorite ones were the Superman and Spiderman ones. I remember wearing the Superman ones and tying a sheet or towel around my neck and flying around the house.
Back in the day when I kicked the crap out of my dad and my uncle on our Pong machine. Combat on Atari was probably the most played game in our house but asteroids was a close second because me and uncle were always trying to beat each other's scores. Freakin' good times.
Now that I've sufficiently dated myself:
I'm pretty excited about The Old Republic. The voice acting seems solid and engrossing unlike DCUO's horrific, lackluster voice acting. It's a stretch to call DCUO's voice overs acting. It's like they stuck their heads out of the office and flagged down the cleaning staff and asked them if they wanted to make an extra 5 bucks. Even Gina Torres' stuff is unemotional and bland. Mark Hammill had an awesome delivery for the vault in beta but they raped it and either used a different take or cut out the pauses which effectively neutered the delivery.
Anyway...
The Old Republic looks set up to have a nice engaging story and that will keep me occupied for much longer than grinding through the tired, redundant, standard MMORPG fare that is kill y and retrieve x number of entrails or repeating the same handful of dungeons over and over and over.
You've got the over-arching story and each class has it's individual class story. The companions will add more diversity to repeat playthroughs as will playing through making Lightside or Darkside decisions. There is a lot of potential for replay of different and same classes. Plus, if they extend the story arcs through additional content, which I fully expect, it adds that much more to the game.
The only thing the game seems to lack is non-combat social aspects. Pazzak or other such games added to Cantinas would be great.
I understand that a lot of MMORPG enthusiasts are not too fond of change, eventhough they clamor for it and complain, but the genre needs something more than just quest hub NPCs, fetch quests, and dungeon running. The Old Republic isn't reshaping the genre but they definitely seem to be enhancing the enjoyment of the game by putting time, effort, and polish into the story and I think that will make all the difference.
That being said, it would have been nice to see old school SWG's influence in the gameplay. It was unique and engaging and I don't think we will ever see anything like it again. Creating non-combat classes that interact with the combat classes set the stage for players to experience and live in a sort of virtual Star Wars world. With the homogenization approach to the genre that's become so popular recently, every player can do everything... and that's the problem.
Awesome article Isabelle, and I have to thank you very much for writing about what many of us feel but are muffled out by... well we all know the type.
If ToR kept its yap shut it would have launched and could have grown respectfully from there, but nope huge advertising budget and way too many have hyped the game into something it's not and so many others i dunno you'd think their whole life is riding on this game or something, the fallout is going to be epic.
A truly great game would not be concerned with pressure sales tactics, and getting the most it can at launch because an awesome game will sell itself on epic proportions.
What the industry knows now is that if you got a stinker you need to hype it out, apply sales pressure and get what you can at launch, because after that the truth it out and its all down hill from there.
Thanks again Isabelle.
I really, truly hope you'll be here 3 months after launch. We'll talk then about your 'predictions', and then we have a nice little chat about how someone personally feels towards a subject doesn't need to be indicative towards everyone else's feelings and tastes, that's why a game like WoW might be such huge success to the surprise of those who disliked it or were indifferent towards its gameplay. So please be there, it'll be fun
? It's supposed to be released in Q4 of this year, at least that's what they're aiming for at the moment.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Maverick, he won't be here 3 months after launch. He's going to be in game then.
Somewhere over the years, the black and white morality of Star Wars has morphed into red-vs-blue amorality.
@MMO.Maverick -- my membership here long predates the column I now write, and my handle here is the one I've used on the intertubes for much longer than I'm comfortable admitting. I wasn't desperately keen to use my real name for the column, but it's policy here and I do see the sense in it (mostly). Changing my profile name to match my column authorship name is probably something I should do, but... I don't particularly want to.
But we're not here to discuss forum handles.
All the hype has triggered my spider sense not to buy it, I also didn't feel excited watching the footage of the game which is also a factor in not buying into it at pre order and launch prices, a free to play demo will be out next year soon enough. Now planetside 2, that's got me excited.
Im kind of on the same page about SWTOR as the OP. I will play it probably, just because I loved KOTOR and the idea of a KOTOR type MMO that I can play with friends is appealing. But Im not really feeling the same hype as so many players. I wont preorder and I want to see some early reactions and reviews after release first.
I play most of my MMO's with the same friends and because we lvl on a different pace, a MMO with a solid sidekick/mentoring system has our preference. Or scaling (to lvl) content. So at this moment, our interest goes to GW2 first. Then SWTOR depending how the release will be.
Just remembering the swtor screen shots of the fine female specimens with thier bust measurements refined to eye googling perfection, I've got to say with a little shame, that it got me excited... but thats probably not the excitement you are looking for, right?
I don't see how others reactions, and marketing ploys can affect someone's decision so effectively to change thier perception on what is actually tangible, the evidence, which speaks for itself. However, this so called proof seems to be some kind of machina rendtion of what to expect, so not all videos show what is to be expected as the actual feel of combat, since the machina is synchronized to have one event after the other, which would mean it should be more hectic when in game, to the point that a person would go cross eyed trying to gather everything all at once... for extended periods. Warning health hazard from over exposure to awesome gameplay, downplayed to prevent a trip to the ER. (As I would have myself beleive)
My reason for being dissapointed is, I am not getting some kind of server in my area. So I might have to put off the game, unless someone is willing to smuggle me in right next to the client server. Here's your chance to role play a smuggler in real life! No, I am not serious in case you are wondering. I would not want to cause any trouble.
I assume swtor will be everything that it is advertised to be, just like GW2, but it is only our imagination or expactions that decieve us. I am somewhat pessimestic, or realistic, and that can be a downer, but at least it is the kind of conidtioning I put myself through for certain things so I am not dissapointed.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
This painful because I was 16 when episode 4 came out! Ouch!
The one thing I think this title really has going for it is, it seems like it's can be expanded readily. That may allow for an evolution into something more than a story driven MMO. As long as they expand horizontally as they expand vertically.
Because it creates more traffic than any positive article.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
No, you're not the only one Isabelle. The difference, though, is that I won't be buying SW:TOR at all. I've spent many years gaming in one facet or another and a bunch of time gaiming in the SW universe. I've had my fill of playing "Iconic classes" and saving the galaxy every day. That's not the "story" I want to play in the Star Wars universe anymore.
No, I want to play out my own characters I have come up with over the years that for the most part don't give a care about the struggle between light and dark, good and bad. They just want to make credits, lots and lots of credits, in a variety of ways. Yep, Star Wars Galaxies was great for that before the NGE.
{mod edit}
"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
Just treat it like any other $60 video game (You really don't need the $150 CE version), play it for a month, then if your still 'meh', put it on the shelf with the hundreds of other $50-$60 dollar games you've purchesed and shelved/finished over the past twenty years...
A $60 MMO, Star Wars or otherwise, is the same as most $60 single player games. You'll play through it until you get bored and find something new...If your bothered by the price of video games it may be a good time to take a look in the mirror and consider a different, less expensive hobby.
I get it, I really do. SW:TOR isn't everyone's cup of tea. I know it's been said before, and I know Isabelle doesn't read the forums. I'm still going to point out that we read all of this stuff on the forums every day, though, and it's very, very tiresome.
It's one thing to not be excited about a game, but when I'm not excited about something, you know what I do? I just ignore it. It doesn't make sense for me to make comments to everyone about how unexcited I am, or point out it's many percieved flaws, unless of course I've been directly confronted about it. Which I'll allow she may have been behind the scenes.
Not that negative feedback isn't beneficial, but it really has to be done in the form of a review from a person who's actually played the game. Then if there's any negativity, it's justified. This is just blind negativity for the sake of misliking a marketing campaign and pining for an older game that was done wrong by it's developers.
Anyway, I know you mean well, but it hits a nerve to see the haters on this site given any sort of validation in the form of a featured article.
I see nothing wrong with a healthy dose of skepticism over such a highly anticipated title, with such a large budget, in a genre that has brought many consumers little but dissapointment for such a long time. Especially so when a previous game made around this IP could be considered the blueprint on how NOT to behave when making an MMO.
Anyone who has more than a few months experience with the world of MMOs that still believes in that magic bullet, or golden messiah of a new MMO, I see akin to those people that stil honestly believe that any day now we will find Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster.
So while you will get no flaming from me about having a rational outlook on a new MMO, I do have to ask why this article was even necessary. Have things grown so quiet in the MMO world that the best article idea one of the major columnists here can think to write is "Hey Guys, You Know That New Game Coming Out That Everyone Keeps Talking About? To The Point Of Nausea? Yeah? Well I Don't Really Care."
And before you take that last paragraph as a flame, honestly going by the MMO news I've read the past month or so, it probably really was the only thing worth writing about.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
You're probably right in your assumption, I think that SWTOR has little to offer for everyone that favors the kind of gameplay that SWG had above everything else. In fact, I'd advise any hardcore sandbox fan to steer clearly away from SWTOR.
As for themepark fans or people who are able to still fully enjoy themepark MMO's, well, SWTOR will have one of the biggest MMO worlds around, easily a lot larger in worldsize and content than LotrO, Aion and definitely much, much larger than AoC or Rift. So to me as someone who still likes themepark MMO gameplay that certainly is appealing.
As for the crafting, well, it may not be on the level of SWG - again, advice to sandbox fans to steer clear from SWTOR - but from what I've learnt so far SWTOR crafting looks to be quite better than most other themepark MMO's, WoW included.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
SWTOR is not one of the game releases i am excited about, the action looks slow and the mechanics seem tedious ,the game world looks highly instanced, which is just a glorified multiplayer imho,the armor system looks liek we are all going to look the same, and i absolutely hate that . the games that i am excited about are guild wars 2 and secret world online, both games are going out of there way to apeal to a larger audience, and hopefully my idea of there features will not be like my expectations of Rifts character class , what a lame joke that turned out to be
I would hate to be in the gaming industry. People are always talking about this "savior" of a game that nothing ever lives up to.. everyones got a vote for which game is going to "change the face of mmos" next, and they never do. Personally I realized along time ago, due to technical restraints and and development costs this game that will change everyones lives and kill game X, or whatever is not going to ever happen. I decided to have fun with games, accept them for what they are (a very very small part of the digital world, a much smaller part of the real world) and have fun. If a game is amazing, Im goin to play it until "the cows come home", if its a stinker i will probably never think twice about it.
Well put, I agree wholeheartedly.
Just another clear-cut indicator of the sad state this site is in these days. I used look forward to reading new articles here every morning with my coffee, it was just one of those things that helped me start my day on the right foot.
However, these days I don't even have much motivation to check here anymore. Hate threads, trolling, and bait attempts are commonplace (and all three have increased in volume here, rather dramatically, over the course of the last year or two) and I often find myself unable to keep a tight lid on my own opinions in those types of threads. So I have just been trying to avoid the site alltogether.
This morning I decide to check, and this is what I see on the front page, soldifying my decision to use other sites for actual mmorpg news. MMORPG.com has basically become an online tabloid, I wonder how long it will be before we see a front page article about Kim Kardashian sunbathing topless.
I am really tired of hearing about this game every god damn day, on every gaming site, it has become ridiculous. Its like hearing about that movie everyone hypes it up and says omg its really good you have to see it, then against your intuition you cough up the money to go see it, and because you have half a brain (you dont consider something good just because someone nitwit told you it was good) you leave the theater with nothing but dissappointment.
I have seen this strategy far too often lately, where a product is overhyped to sh%*, where the marketing stratey is to basically tell everyone "its great", "its the best", "its a revolution", blah blah blah, then the stupid masses take it in and mass market it themselves, and before you know it, it has become this sestimic virus that takes over all the social avenues, where you cant be part of the crowd unless you see it/play it.....its a brilliant strategy, but it still doesnt make a turd a shiny piece of gold.
Point: Can we stop buying into this marketing machine that hypnotizes people into thinking something that is mediocre is the best thing on earth.....so we can finally get back to making quality entertainment.