I have no idea how a game that has lost so many concurrent players has maintained their subscription rates.
The biggest reason the subs don't drop as fast as users as they have to toll until the end to be removed. And with a substantial portion of the players playing on two-month-time-cards, plus the one-month 'free' with the game purchase, you have upto 40% of the people locked into a 'subscription' for 90-days.
It's not just kids who use them. Thirty-percent of all Americans do not have a credit card. They just don't. And then there are lots who do, but prefer to just use time-cards rather than deal with potential fights vis unauthorized CC subscriptions continuing on when they've cancelled (happened to me, what a pain). Or parents, such as myself, who pay our games with CC, but our kids must use timecards they buy out of their allownaces.
So, when you realize that upto 35% to 40% of the people who played this game were locked into 90-day minimum subscriptions... Yes, the subs could be significantly higher than the player base. I've said it dozens of times, we won't know the final bleed-out until October, 2012.. It will take that long for the bubble to pass-through and the stable base to assert itself. Though come July, 2012 we should get our first good idea of the losses as all first couple of months 90-day time-card accounts will have tolled.
Even SWG had more of a living, breathing world feel to it.
Actually SWG's world was very much alive. The worlds were massive, day night cycles, and most importantly, you never knew what you were going to run into. You might find something for your exploration badges. You might find a random patrol. On some planets, you might even find a Dark Jedi Master just waltzing around, which caused epic announcements in chat and everyone flooding the zone for an awesome fight.
This the same Bioware that said months ago they were implementing anti-aliasing only to add in the graphic toggle for it and not actually implement it? The same Bioware that waited until the last moment before announcing that Ranked Warzone's weren't gonna be in 1.2? The same Bioware that promised living, breathing worlds?
Sorry, I just don't trust anything they claim at this point.
Just out of curiosity, what were your expecatations for a living, breathing world?
Download Rift. Get through the starter area and into the main world. Ignore the rifts. Just LOOK at the scenry. It's alive.
Other games do it too. LOTRO. EQ2. They're good F2P examples. And they're old. And they did this when they started so don't give me this 'it's a young MMO' crap. Look at them. Go around those worlds.
Fireflies at night. Butterflies in the day. Birds flying. Bird song. Woodpeckers pecking. Creepy insect noises. Rabbits and squirrels running. Meadows of flowers. Brambles. Leaves fall off trees. Vines creep up things. Snow falls. Dust storms. It rains. We have NIGHT AND DAY CYCLES.
Heck, even some of the Korean F2P grind-fests like Mabinogi and Perfect World have more dynamic, alive worlds.
Hey! The lizards on Balmorra do eat the grass sometimes! And more NPC are talking now after 1.2 ...but we also got sound problems with it.
Even SWG had more of a living, breathing world feel to it.
Actually SWG's world was very much alive. The worlds were massive, day night cycles, and most importantly, you never knew what you were going to run into. You might find something for your exploration badges. You might find a random patrol. On some planets, you might even find a Dark Jedi Master just waltzing around, which caused epic announcements in chat and everyone flooding the zone for an awesome fight.
You could be stopped by an Imperial patrol and scanned to reveal your alliegiance.
Even SWG had more of a living, breathing world feel to it.
Actually SWG's world was very much alive. The worlds were massive, day night cycles, and most importantly, you never knew what you were going to run into. You might find something for your exploration badges. You might find a random patrol. On some planets, you might even find a Dark Jedi Master just waltzing around, which caused epic announcements in chat and everyone flooding the zone for an awesome fight.
You could be stopped by an Imperial patrol and scanned to reveal your alliegiance.
What was even cooler was, in the oldest days, when this happened and you happened to have an original jedi (Pre-9)(I had one more or less by accident), you got a dialog bit where you used the jedi mind trick on troops doing the scanning and avoided the scan...
It was changed at some point back then, but the first time this happened to me I laughed for 10 minutes.... it was the little touches you found in original SWG that made that game so enjoyable (bugs and unfinished things notwithstanding).
Even SWG had more of a living, breathing world feel to it.
Actually SWG's world was very much alive. The worlds were massive, day night cycles, and most importantly, you never knew what you were going to run into. You might find something for your exploration badges. You might find a random patrol. On some planets, you might even find a Dark Jedi Master just waltzing around, which caused epic announcements in chat and everyone flooding the zone for an awesome fight.
You could be stopped by an Imperial patrol and scanned to reveal your alliegiance.
What was even cooler was, in the oldest days, when this happened and you happened to have an original jedi (Pre-9)(I had one more or less by accident), you got a dialog bit where you used the jedi mind trick on troops doing the scanning and avoided the scan...
It was changed at some point back then, but the first time this happened to me I laughed for 10 minutes.... it was the little touches you found in original SWG that made that game so enjoyable (bugs and unfinished things notwithstanding).
Yeah, I remember the first time I got out of the Theed spaceport and got jumped by republic troopers. I had to get some buddies to let me through to the cantina. Of course, republic troopers found me in there too.
Originally posted by noncley Originally posted by iceman00
Originally posted by Ryowulf
Even SWG had more of a living, breathing world feel to it.
Actually SWG's world was very much alive. The worlds were massive, day night cycles, and most importantly, you never knew what you were going to run into. You might find something for your exploration badges. You might find a random patrol. On some planets, you might even find a Dark Jedi Master just waltzing around, which caused epic announcements in chat and everyone flooding the zone for an awesome fight. You could be stopped by an Imperial patrol and scanned to reveal your alliegiance. I remember back in the days long before pub 9 where you had to really be careful what city you went into with your faction, Kaadara for eg had those Corsec patrollers that didn't like imps. I remember this incident on my Jedi when it was a padawan before pub 9 running into a stormtrooper and in the dialog the trooper said "you must be a Jedi" and I actually typed in chat "I am not a Jedi" and he walked away... made me laugh for a while that I couldn't believe it actually worked.
As the above poster mentions about day/night cycle, that was one of the coolest things about SWG and the music would change each time the cycle went through and then suddenly you're standing in rain (too bad no snow).
If they say so... I wish them the best and all. Still sad this game didn't turn out to be anywhere near the Star Wars experience I had been dreaming of for an MMORPG but ah well. Glad someone's enjoying it enough.
wasn't what i expected either, but i still had a lot of fun with it.
was a great game to go from 1-50 in, even a couple of different characters. being story based i thought it had a great base and i've recommended it to friends for that.
i have a hard time believing though that it would retain the majority of its subs once that story aspect of the game is exhausted, and really how long can that take? to echo the above post, more power to those who are finding it fun once the story is gone.
I can say completely honestly that of the over 20 people I knew who got the game, only ONE still plays.
I've followed the game since December 2008, I've beaten TOR's drums for 4'ish years. I regret wasting those years. My six month should run out soon. -1 sub.
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
If they say so... I wish them the best and all. Still sad this game didn't turn out to be anywhere near the Star Wars experience I had been dreaming of for an MMORPG but ah well. Glad someone's enjoying it enough.
wasn't what i expected either, but i still had a lot of fun with it.
was a great game to go from 1-50 in, even a couple of different characters. being story based i thought it had a great base and i've recommended it to friends for that.
i have a hard time believing though that it would retain the majority of its subs once that story aspect of the game is exhausted, and really how long can that take? to echo the above post, more power to those who are finding it fun once the story is gone.
I can say completely honestly that of the over 20 people I knew who got the game, only ONE still plays.
I've followed the game since December 2008, I've beaten TOR's drums for 4'ish years. I regret wasting those years. My six month should run out soon. -1 sub.
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
I trusted Sora2810, and now I have commitment issues.
I've followed the game since December 2008, I've beaten TOR's drums for 4'ish years. I regret wasting those years. My six month should run out soon. -1 sub.
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
So the article says the subs have not dropped(maybe lost some and gained some in general) but there are fewer playing, not as many playing at all hours.
“Interesting replayable content is the top of the list of design prototypes going on over here.”
I've followed the game since December 2008, I've beaten TOR's drums for 4'ish years. I regret wasting those years. My six month should run out soon. -1 sub.
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
Wow. Hyperbole much?
I don't think so. Looks like one gaming fan telling another thanks for contributing to the reasons MMOs suck.
I use to think no wrong could come from anything Star Wars, which is what I think happen to Sora2810 but when the originals got turned into a half cartoon and need I even mention Prequels *cough*, I started doing my homework before contributing to “Lucas’s new vision and direction”.
I didn't buy TOR, I didn't have time for beta, I waited for a trial, I tried it, I got sick, I stopped with 3 days left, and now I browse this forum hoping for news that the piece of shit is ending and then hope for some company that takes pride in the original tradition of the IP and pride in their own work to start a new Star Wars MMO.
I've followed the game since December 2008, I've beaten TOR's drums for 4'ish years. I regret wasting those years. My six month should run out soon. -1 sub.
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
Wow. Hyperbole much?
I don't think so. Looks like one gaming fan telling another thanks for contributing to the reasons MMOs suck.
Nowhere did the poster say that he mislead other players about TOR. All he said was that he was a fan of the game pre-launch. There isn't a single game in existence that didn't have its fans before it launched. So yes, hyperbole.
I use to think no wrong could come from anything Star Wars, which is what I think happen to Sora2810 but when the originals got turned into a half cartoon and need I even mention Prequels *cough*, I started doing my homework before contributing to “Lucas’s new vision and direction”.
I didn't buy TOR, I didn't have time for beta, I waited for a trial, I tried it, I got sick, I stopped with 3 days left, and now I browse this forum hoping for news that the piece of shit is ending and then hope for some company that takes pride in the original tradition of the IP and pride in their own work to start a new Star Wars MMO.
So another game about the original trilogy? No thanks, that concept has been beaten to death. Now post original trilogy would be cool, because you get most of the same characters from the original trilogy, but don't have the movies to tie down creative freedom.
If you're hoping for this game to end, don't hold your breath. It ain't happening any time soon.
If you're hoping for this game to end, don't hold your breath. It ain't happening any time soon.
That is what I kept saying with SWG. I was cocky and now you are
I am not hoping SWTOR gets shut down but I do not put it past EA and is not that guaranteed to be safe. EA have shut down servers for other games that have only been out for a year., and then LA is in the mix. and were the cause of SWGs closure. If SOE had their way, SWG would still be active.
I've followed the game since December 2008, I've beaten TOR's drums for 4'ish years. I regret wasting those years. My six month should run out soon. -1 sub.
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
Wow. Hyperbole much?
I don't think so. Looks like one gaming fan telling another thanks for contributing to the reasons MMOs suck.
Nowhere did the poster say that he mislead other players about TOR. All he said was that he was a fan of the game pre-launch. There isn't a single game in existence that didn't have its fans before it launched. So yes, hyperbole.
I use to think no wrong could come from anything Star Wars, which is what I think happen to Sora2810 but when the originals got turned into a half cartoon and need I even mention Prequels *cough*, I started doing my homework before contributing to “Lucas’s new vision and direction”.
I didn't buy TOR, I didn't have time for beta, I waited for a trial, I tried it, I got sick, I stopped with 3 days left, and now I browse this forum hoping for news that the piece of shit is ending and then hope for some company that takes pride in the original tradition of the IP and pride in their own work to start a new Star Wars MMO.
So another game about the original trilogy? No thanks, that concept has been beaten to death. Now post original trilogy would be cool, because you get most of the same characters from the original trilogy, but don't have the movies to tie down creative freedom.
If you're hoping for this game to end, don't hold your breath. It ain't happening any time soon.
I said original tradition not original timeline necessarily. I couldn’t care less what the timeline is.
Oh, what’s this original tradition thing? How about making a game that’s the envy of all other games because it cuts no corners, innovates instead of imitates, doesn’t try to follow a fad but instead becomes the fad. You know, something that can stand tall and be proud to have the name Star Wars, instead of something with its only originality being how to dumb down some other game’s ideas and trying to make a single player setting into a MMO.
What has TOR boasted about?
1. Making a WoW clone. Really? That is something to hype? Copying another game that has already been copied how many times and it itself copied ideas from games before it. Don’t hype being lazy and trying to follow a worn out fad.
2. Voice overs. Yeah, so what. VOs and pick 3 wheel is no different than other BW games. Don’t hype it, it’s nothing special. IMO it’s working against them in giving the game even more a single player feel since cutscenes break the flow in action oriented social games. DCUO implemented it much better by keeping it all short and sweet.
What else could they have done? If they held true to original Star Wars tradition then they would of thought of something to set TOR apart from all other games and that something would become the standard. A Star Wars game should change the industry, not follow it.
One more thing, I am hoping this game will end for more reasons than I care to type out. As a gamer not just a Star Wars fan, to sum up all my reasons, this game is an insult.
Dudes over @ Bioware make me laugh. No seriously where is the Timeline? Ok "Galactic History" Might be the trend of swtor, start something and then never finish it.
I used to hope the game would tank but I want it to survive, at least long enough for them to finish the Timeli-Galactic History series.
So another game about the original trilogy? No thanks, that concept has been beaten to death. Now post original trilogy would be cool, because you get most of the same characters from the original trilogy, but don't have the movies to tie down creative freedom.
I disagree. My personal opinion is that most of what came out in novels as post episode VI is not just crap, it's super crap. There is nothing there that can trump the content of the original movies. No plot device, character, or piece of equipment post battle of Endor that is so good that it would make me think that chucking a game based in the IV, V, VI timeline would be a good idea.
The iconic bad guys are gone at that point (and don't give me Admiral Thrawn, he's a Hannibal Lecter retread), and the stories just aren't the same with the new Republic. It's like a story about WWII set in 1947.
So another game about the original trilogy? No thanks, that concept has been beaten to death. Now post original trilogy would be cool, because you get most of the same characters from the original trilogy, but don't have the movies to tie down creative freedom.
I disagree. My personal opinion is that most of what came out in novels as post episode VI is not just crap, it's super crap. There is nothing there that can trump the content of the original movies. No plot device, character, or piece of equipment post battle of Endor that is so good that it would make me think that chucking a game based in the IV, V, VI timeline would be a good idea.
The iconic bad guys are gone at that point (and don't give me Admiral Thrawn, he's a Hannibal Lecter retread), and the stories just aren't the same with the new Republic. It's like a story about WWII set in 1947.
Unless it's on a movie screen, it isn't canon. The novels themselves have been retconned over and over. See the recent retconning of Boba Fett. So there is plenty of freedom to do what you want without violating on screen canon, for instance having hundreds of jedi running around in a time when they aren't suppose to be there (SWG).
And really, the battle of endor? For me, seeing a bunch of little furry creatures take out the imperials best was an absolute joke. The wookies would have been much more believable. Just one of many things wrong with ROTJ,But I digress.
We all have our opinions, but one thing you can't argue, is that the Timothy Zahn novels revitilized interest in the Star Wars franchise in the 1990s.Admiral Thrwan was the complete opposite of Darth Vadar., which is what made him so interesting.
I was on the lowest pop server in the game at the time, gardens of talla. I made a video of screenshots counting player totals through each area . It was a total of 66 at 8 pm eastern on an est server.
I got the free 30 days n ques were over 45 min when last I logged in. Could has been longer I gave up after 45 min.
If it's not dying than everyone just rerolled to another server, I don't feel like wasting a month doing that again.
I was on the lowest pop server in the game at the time, gardens of talla. I made a video of screenshots counting player totals through each area . It was a total of 66 at 8 pm eastern on an est server.
I got the free 30 days n ques were over 45 min when last I logged in. Could has been longer I gave up after 45 min.
If it's not dying than everyone just rerolled to another server, I don't feel like wasting a month doing that again.
I started on a prerelease server and it is now vacant, maybe they did reroll but imo most of the subs are because players like me tend to buy 3 month subs and then they just gave us a month free. After that who knows. Only 30 players on republic fleet but I can get warzones with the same players everydau whenever I decide to do 3 wins daily, very little PvP or social interaction and they just replaced one PvP gear grind with another. Meh I'll play diablo 3 at least there I will be able to group with people to advance, SWTOR is solo warzones, solo dailies and none seem to need any 4 man instances because we all have T2 or T3 PvE.
Is a good game that neglected some basics when it came to end game PvE/PvP, the same guy is in charge of both and is EA's man from warhammer. The Bioware storylines are good, maybe I will run a second to 50 before the free month is up.
But really 100+ servers on day 1. Ques are better than being alone in an MMO, WoW had Ques for 2 years on my server.
I've followed the game since December 2008, I've beaten TOR's drums for 4'ish years. I regret wasting those years. My six month should run out soon. -1 sub.
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
Wow. Hyperbole much?
I don't think so. Looks like one gaming fan telling another thanks for contributing to the reasons MMOs suck.
Nowhere did the poster say that he mislead other players about TOR. All he said was that he was a fan of the game pre-launch. There isn't a single game in existence that didn't have its fans before it launched. So yes, hyperbole.
I use to think no wrong could come from anything Star Wars, which is what I think happen to Sora2810 but when the originals got turned into a half cartoon and need I even mention Prequels *cough*, I started doing my homework before contributing to “Lucas’s new vision and direction”.
I didn't buy TOR, I didn't have time for beta, I waited for a trial, I tried it, I got sick, I stopped with 3 days left, and now I browse this forum hoping for news that the piece of shit is ending and then hope for some company that takes pride in the original tradition of the IP and pride in their own work to start a new Star Wars MMO.
So another game about the original trilogy? No thanks, that concept has been beaten to death. Now post original trilogy would be cool, because you get most of the same characters from the original trilogy, but don't have the movies to tie down creative freedom.
If you're hoping for this game to end, don't hold your breath. It ain't happening any time soon.
EA as it exists won't be the same company in 18 months. They will either clean house internally, or get a buyout from a competitor. So while you are probably correct, it probably isn't wise to make any confident bets about anything considering EA, given the nosedive their stocks have taken just over the past year. It's a company in deep trouble.
Just from my experience on one of the English-speaking EU servers, it seems like population is pretty stable. There are about 40 people on during peak times in the Republic Fleet and the lower level planets (except for the starting areas which I have not revisited) there are 10-20 people depending. It only seems really ghost town during offpeak hours. In my guild, we are consistantly 5-6 players on at peak.
These numbers are not huge by any means, but at least the numbers seem stable over the past month. Whether these people are getting a free month or not, I do not know. Having a stable population is better than having a big drop, even if the game is not huge.
In contrast, in Rift and WAR, I noticed numbers drop extremely quickly, especially in the latter's case.
Just from my experience on one of the English-speaking EU servers, it seems like population is pretty stable. There are about 40 people on during peak times in the Republic Fleet and the lower level planets (except for the starting areas which I have not revisited) there are 10-20 people depending. It only seems really ghost town during offpeak hours. In my guild, we are consistantly 5-6 players on at peak.
These numbers are not huge by any means, but at least the numbers seem stable over the past month. Whether these people are getting a free month or not, I do not know. Having a stable population is better than having a big drop, even if the game is not huge.
In contrast, in Rift and WAR, I noticed numbers drop extremely quickly, especially in the latter's case.
It might be stable, but its not good numbers. When you only have 200 or 300 folks per server during peak playing hours, compared to the first month when you had 3000 and 4000 per server playing yes that's bad. I have not seen a multi instanced planet or fleet in months.
One thing is for sure I watched the guild I was in go poof there is only 3 folks in that guild who log in daily now, the guild leader quit logging in a month ago. So we left, and I have yet to find an active guild yet that suits my tastes. In fact over the past 3 weeks I only saw 3 different ones spamming. The one I really liked was somebody who rolled their toon on our server Taro Blood that is eastern by the way and he was from San Diego, and has yet to find anybody willing to play on pacific time. The other 2 were full of it, just new guilds starting out and had more kids than adults to deal with.
If it is this way on most of the other servers then bioware has a huge problem.
Comments
The biggest reason the subs don't drop as fast as users as they have to toll until the end to be removed. And with a substantial portion of the players playing on two-month-time-cards, plus the one-month 'free' with the game purchase, you have upto 40% of the people locked into a 'subscription' for 90-days.
It's not just kids who use them. Thirty-percent of all Americans do not have a credit card. They just don't. And then there are lots who do, but prefer to just use time-cards rather than deal with potential fights vis unauthorized CC subscriptions continuing on when they've cancelled (happened to me, what a pain). Or parents, such as myself, who pay our games with CC, but our kids must use timecards they buy out of their allownaces.
So, when you realize that upto 35% to 40% of the people who played this game were locked into 90-day minimum subscriptions... Yes, the subs could be significantly higher than the player base. I've said it dozens of times, we won't know the final bleed-out until October, 2012.. It will take that long for the bubble to pass-through and the stable base to assert itself. Though come July, 2012 we should get our first good idea of the losses as all first couple of months 90-day time-card accounts will have tolled.
Actually SWG's world was very much alive. The worlds were massive, day night cycles, and most importantly, you never knew what you were going to run into. You might find something for your exploration badges. You might find a random patrol. On some planets, you might even find a Dark Jedi Master just waltzing around, which caused epic announcements in chat and everyone flooding the zone for an awesome fight.
Hey! The lizards on Balmorra do eat the grass sometimes!
And more NPC are talking now after 1.2 ...but we also got sound problems with it. 
You could be stopped by an Imperial patrol and scanned to reveal your alliegiance.
What was even cooler was, in the oldest days, when this happened and you happened to have an original jedi (Pre-9)(I had one more or less by accident), you got a dialog bit where you used the jedi mind trick on troops doing the scanning and avoided the scan...
It was changed at some point back then, but the first time this happened to me I laughed for 10 minutes.... it was the little touches you found in original SWG that made that game so enjoyable (bugs and unfinished things notwithstanding).
Yeah, I remember the first time I got out of the Theed spaceport and got jumped by republic troopers. I had to get some buddies to let me through to the cantina. Of course, republic troopers found me in there too.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
You could be stopped by an Imperial patrol and scanned to reveal your alliegiance.
I remember back in the days long before pub 9 where you had to really be careful what city you went into with your faction, Kaadara for eg had those Corsec patrollers that didn't like imps. I remember this incident on my Jedi when it was a padawan before pub 9 running into a stormtrooper and in the dialog the trooper said "you must be a Jedi" and I actually typed in chat "I am not a Jedi" and he walked away... made me laugh for a while that I couldn't believe it actually worked.
As the above poster mentions about day/night cycle, that was one of the coolest things about SWG and the music would change each time the cycle went through and then suddenly you're standing in rain (too bad no snow).
I'd like to call you out on this. Why did you beat TOR's drums when you didn't know how good a game it was? Its people like you that allow these guys to make millions and its people like you that ruin gaming. I can't really blame EA, they're a business and profit is their only motivation, its a given and no need to trust anything they say, I can however blame you for trying to fool your peers when they trusted you.
I trusted Sora2810, and now I have commitment issues.
Wow. Hyperbole much?
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
edit: Nvm
So the article says the subs have not dropped(maybe lost some and gained some in general) but there are fewer playing, not as many playing at all hours.
“Interesting replayable content is the top of the list of design prototypes going on over here.”
I really like this.
I don't think so. Looks like one gaming fan telling another thanks for contributing to the reasons MMOs suck.
I use to think no wrong could come from anything Star Wars, which is what I think happen to Sora2810 but when the originals got turned into a half cartoon and need I even mention Prequels *cough*, I started doing my homework before contributing to “Lucas’s new vision and direction”.
I didn't buy TOR, I didn't have time for beta, I waited for a trial, I tried it, I got sick, I stopped with 3 days left, and now I browse this forum hoping for news that the piece of shit is ending and then hope for some company that takes pride in the original tradition of the IP and pride in their own work to start a new Star Wars MMO.
So another game about the original trilogy? No thanks, that concept has been beaten to death. Now post original trilogy would be cool, because you get most of the same characters from the original trilogy, but don't have the movies to tie down creative freedom.
If you're hoping for this game to end, don't hold your breath. It ain't happening any time soon.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
That is what I kept saying with SWG. I was cocky and now you are
I am not hoping SWTOR gets shut down but I do not put it past EA and is not that guaranteed to be safe. EA have shut down servers for other games that have only been out for a year., and then LA is in the mix. and were the cause of SWGs closure. If SOE had their way, SWG would still be active.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
I said original tradition not original timeline necessarily. I couldn’t care less what the timeline is.
Oh, what’s this original tradition thing? How about making a game that’s the envy of all other games because it cuts no corners, innovates instead of imitates, doesn’t try to follow a fad but instead becomes the fad. You know, something that can stand tall and be proud to have the name Star Wars, instead of something with its only originality being how to dumb down some other game’s ideas and trying to make a single player setting into a MMO.
What has TOR boasted about?
1. Making a WoW clone. Really? That is something to hype? Copying another game that has already been copied how many times and it itself copied ideas from games before it. Don’t hype being lazy and trying to follow a worn out fad.
2. Voice overs. Yeah, so what. VOs and pick 3 wheel is no different than other BW games. Don’t hype it, it’s nothing special. IMO it’s working against them in giving the game even more a single player feel since cutscenes break the flow in action oriented social games. DCUO implemented it much better by keeping it all short and sweet.
What else could they have done? If they held true to original Star Wars tradition then they would of thought of something to set TOR apart from all other games and that something would become the standard. A Star Wars game should change the industry, not follow it.
One more thing, I am hoping this game will end for more reasons than I care to type out. As a gamer not just a Star Wars fan, to sum up all my reasons, this game is an insult.
Dudes over @ Bioware make me laugh. No seriously where is the Timeline? Ok "Galactic History" Might be the trend of swtor, start something and then never finish it.
I used to hope the game would tank but I want it to survive, at least long enough for them to finish the Timeli-Galactic History series.
I disagree. My personal opinion is that most of what came out in novels as post episode VI is not just crap, it's super crap. There is nothing there that can trump the content of the original movies. No plot device, character, or piece of equipment post battle of Endor that is so good that it would make me think that chucking a game based in the IV, V, VI timeline would be a good idea.
The iconic bad guys are gone at that point (and don't give me Admiral Thrawn, he's a Hannibal Lecter retread), and the stories just aren't the same with the new Republic. It's like a story about WWII set in 1947.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Unless it's on a movie screen, it isn't canon. The novels themselves have been retconned over and over. See the recent retconning of Boba Fett. So there is plenty of freedom to do what you want without violating on screen canon, for instance having hundreds of jedi running around in a time when they aren't suppose to be there (SWG).
And really, the battle of endor? For me, seeing a bunch of little furry creatures take out the imperials best was an absolute joke. The wookies would have been much more believable. Just one of many things wrong with ROTJ,But I digress.
We all have our opinions, but one thing you can't argue, is that the Timothy Zahn novels revitilized interest in the Star Wars franchise in the 1990s.Admiral Thrwan was the complete opposite of Darth Vadar., which is what made him so interesting.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
I got the free 30 days n ques were over 45 min when last I logged in. Could has been longer I gave up after 45 min.
If it's not dying than everyone just rerolled to another server, I don't feel like wasting a month doing that again.
I started on a prerelease server and it is now vacant, maybe they did reroll but imo most of the subs are because players like me tend to buy 3 month subs and then they just gave us a month free. After that who knows. Only 30 players on republic fleet but I can get warzones with the same players everydau whenever I decide to do 3 wins daily, very little PvP or social interaction and they just replaced one PvP gear grind with another. Meh I'll play diablo 3 at least there I will be able to group with people to advance, SWTOR is solo warzones, solo dailies and none seem to need any 4 man instances because we all have T2 or T3 PvE.
Is a good game that neglected some basics when it came to end game PvE/PvP, the same guy is in charge of both and is EA's man from warhammer. The Bioware storylines are good, maybe I will run a second to 50 before the free month is up.
But really 100+ servers on day 1. Ques are better than being alone in an MMO, WoW had Ques for 2 years on my server.
It's quite appropriate, SWTOR subs are below 400k now.
You heard it here first.
EA as it exists won't be the same company in 18 months. They will either clean house internally, or get a buyout from a competitor. So while you are probably correct, it probably isn't wise to make any confident bets about anything considering EA, given the nosedive their stocks have taken just over the past year. It's a company in deep trouble.
Just from my experience on one of the English-speaking EU servers, it seems like population is pretty stable. There are about 40 people on during peak times in the Republic Fleet and the lower level planets (except for the starting areas which I have not revisited) there are 10-20 people depending. It only seems really ghost town during offpeak hours. In my guild, we are consistantly 5-6 players on at peak.
These numbers are not huge by any means, but at least the numbers seem stable over the past month. Whether these people are getting a free month or not, I do not know. Having a stable population is better than having a big drop, even if the game is not huge.
In contrast, in Rift and WAR, I noticed numbers drop extremely quickly, especially in the latter's case.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
I would give you a guest pass to SWOTR, but then I wouldn't be able to find a way to live with myself afterwards....
It might be stable, but its not good numbers. When you only have 200 or 300 folks per server during peak playing hours, compared to the first month when you had 3000 and 4000 per server playing yes that's bad. I have not seen a multi instanced planet or fleet in months.
One thing is for sure I watched the guild I was in go poof there is only 3 folks in that guild who log in daily now, the guild leader quit logging in a month ago. So we left, and I have yet to find an active guild yet that suits my tastes. In fact over the past 3 weeks I only saw 3 different ones spamming. The one I really liked was somebody who rolled their toon on our server Taro Blood that is eastern by the way and he was from San Diego, and has yet to find anybody willing to play on pacific time. The other 2 were full of it, just new guilds starting out and had more kids than adults to deal with.
If it is this way on most of the other servers then bioware has a huge problem.