Absolutely we can play without them. Anyone who goes to forums here is not a casual player. I was just wondering if you think will affect casual players and therefore sub numbers. I do not want it to be a clone like I said there was alot of damage that the Dungeon Finder did to Wow. Many might say it ruined it, but it's hard to argue that their sub base did not sky rocket and the game was not more open to those players because of it.
You do bring up an interesting point.
On the one hand, I really hate the idea of a dungeon finder. The intent is to encourage socialization, but let's face it - the type of socialization that's occurring is actually not a very positive one... or at least it never was in my experience.
But on the other hand, given that SW:TOR will probably attract lots of folks who are completely inexperienced in the world of MMO's (like my wife, who plans on playing based upon what she's seen when I play), I can see where such a tool would be a good idea. Anything to make it more "accessible" to casual fans is theoretically a good thing.
Anyway, I suspect it'll take some time to add... WoW is a 7+ year old game, and didn't have every feature at launch. I think that SW:TOR is launching with "just enough" and will add more, based upon player feedback, over time. At least I hope so, and hope that they're not going to focus 100% on new content - that's certainly important, but I want some new features too (like a UI that you can actually move around!)
Absolutely we can play without them. Anyone who goes to forums here is not a casual player. I was just wondering if you think will affect casual players and therefore sub numbers. I do not want it to be a clone like I said there was alot of damage that the Dungeon Finder did to Wow. Many might say it ruined it, but it's hard to argue that their sub base did not sky rocket and the game was not more open to those players because of it.
You do bring up an interesting point.
On the one hand, I really hate the idea of a dungeon finder. The intent is to encourage socialization, but let's face it - the type of socialization that's occurring is actually not a very positive one... or at least it never was in my experience.
But on the other hand, given that SW:TOR will probably attract lots of folks who are completely inexperienced in the world of MMO's (like my wife, who plans on playing based upon what she's seen when I play), I can see where such a tool would be a good idea. Anything to make it more "accessible" to casual fans is theoretically a good thing.
Anyway, I suspect it'll take some time to add... WoW is a 7+ year old game, and didn't have every feature at launch. I think that SW:TOR is launching with "just enough" and will add more, based upon player feedback, over time. At least I hope so, and hope that they're not going to focus 100% on new content - that's certainly important, but I want some new features too (like a UI that you can actually move around!)
This part in red, I will argue with because it isn't an interesting point at all. It's misleading at best. WoW's dungeon finder didn't arrive until 4 years after release and subs were stable at the 11-12 million mark at that time. It can't be said that the dungeon finder had any impact whatsoever on subs. It can be said that marketing the game in China had a direct impact on the numbers of players, causing it to skyrocket.
A dungeon finder does not make an MMO more popular. Good game design makes an MMO more popular.
Comments
You do bring up an interesting point.
On the one hand, I really hate the idea of a dungeon finder. The intent is to encourage socialization, but let's face it - the type of socialization that's occurring is actually not a very positive one... or at least it never was in my experience.
But on the other hand, given that SW:TOR will probably attract lots of folks who are completely inexperienced in the world of MMO's (like my wife, who plans on playing based upon what she's seen when I play), I can see where such a tool would be a good idea. Anything to make it more "accessible" to casual fans is theoretically a good thing.
Anyway, I suspect it'll take some time to add... WoW is a 7+ year old game, and didn't have every feature at launch. I think that SW:TOR is launching with "just enough" and will add more, based upon player feedback, over time. At least I hope so, and hope that they're not going to focus 100% on new content - that's certainly important, but I want some new features too (like a UI that you can actually move around!)
This part in red, I will argue with because it isn't an interesting point at all. It's misleading at best. WoW's dungeon finder didn't arrive until 4 years after release and subs were stable at the 11-12 million mark at that time. It can't be said that the dungeon finder had any impact whatsoever on subs. It can be said that marketing the game in China had a direct impact on the numbers of players, causing it to skyrocket.
A dungeon finder does not make an MMO more popular. Good game design makes an MMO more popular.
IMO Dungeon Finders are lame.
1) it takes away from adventuring around the world..and getting to the dungeon.
2) It turns an MMO into a LOBBY game.
I dont play MMOs to Q up into a lobby,plenty of other games out there for that, like FPS and such.