I like this so far but it seems that most guilds are forming around the idea of being ONLY one faction. I am planning on playing both faction's characters so I want a guild that supports that.
All guilds must be either Empire or Republic. You can not create a guild that supports both sides in the game. If your guild wants characters on both sides on the same server you will need to create a second guild for the opposite side.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
This is brilliant and an all-around great thing to do. Not entirely original, but very clever, and giving players an official place for this will really help build community, instead of guild leaders running off to tons of third party sites that no one actually likes or really even trusts.
I am not sold on this game, but Bioware is just brilliant.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
holy cow! 26k??? thats crazy! This game is gonna be HUGE. And to the guy up top, don't ever compare SOE to BW. They're not even in the same leagues. BW is in the majors while SOE is lucky to be the water boy. SOE just bombed another incredible game (DCUO) because after a decade they still don't know how to run a successful game.
Well I knew right away that 26k was grossly inflated by single person guilds either just playing with the system or saving a guild name or mistakes, etc.. but I wonder how many actual guilds are signed up. Anyone want to speculate?
holy cow! 26k??? thats crazy! This game is gonna be HUGE. And to the guy up top, don't ever compare SOE to BW. They're not even in the same leagues. BW is in the majors while SOE is lucky to be the water boy. SOE just bombed another incredible game (DCUO) because after a decade they still don't know how to run a successful game.
Lol, if you really think that BioWare are bigger than SOE then you are dreaming. BioWare make some okay RPG that IMO are over hyped especially their latest movie servings.
Yes SOE are not really blowing anyone away at the moment they are still a vast company that along with Sony couls swallow BioWare whole.
And just fyi Vanguard has the same Guild system as well so BioWare are not doing anything new other than taking your cash for it lol.
Cool or not, there's still something wrong with forcing people to pay for a game upfront like this. (4 people in the guild need to preorder to set this up)
This is only working for them because they have Star Wars attached to the title. They haven't even gone to closed beta or have a release date yet..
Tactics like this concern me. Is the well running dry and are they required to get some $$ asap??
If 26K guilds is correct.
26000 x 4 pre orders x ~$50 = $5,200,000
That's a lot of scratch for not a lot of game.
No one is actually being forced to do anything. You can search out the server after launch and create a guild ingame once you have 4 friends after the event.
Sour grapes and little kids comes to mind.
________________________________________________________ Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Well I knew right away that 26k was grossly inflated by single person guilds either just playing with the system or saving a guild name or mistakes, etc.. but I wonder how many actual guilds are signed up. Anyone want to speculate?
I love to speculate. :-)
I say 3k "actual guilds" are signed up yet.
Because 90% are guilds with 1-2 people. ^^
And I think if you want to play / preorder SW:ToR you will even if your guild is in the prerelease program or not.
I know for example that everyone in my guild will preorder, but we would have done it anyway. :-)
When the war of the beasts brings about the worlds end, the goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar.
I, like many others, am not impressed. SOE did this with EQplayers & EQIIplayers (EQIIplayers is free, not sure about EQplayers anymore though). Not only is this "essentially" the same thing, but it barely does anything for your guild that your own website won't do just as well (if not better).
Live player stats can be linked via API keys from your account to your guild's website (that you built, not one from this "service" they'll provide). So i still don't see a reason to use this?
-Faded
Maybe you don't but there will be those that will see the benefit and reason for using it. Even if SOE did it before...who cares? You named one company that has done so. Heck, maybe there are even a couple more. But is it really common to get such a resource from the developer? No, it isn't. And that is the point. It's not something they had to do at all. The fact they are willing to take a step to make things more convenient or offer more to their customers is something to be applauded.
But we, as usual around here, seem to seek to find the negative and a way to say 'So what!'. Objectivity is not a bad thing folks.
I, like many others, am not impressed. SOE did this with EQplayers & EQIIplayers (EQIIplayers is free, not sure about EQplayers anymore though). Not only is this "essentially" the same thing, but it barely does anything for your guild that your own website won't do just as well (if not better).
Live player stats can be linked via API keys from your account to your guild's website (that you built, not one from this "service" they'll provide). So i still don't see a reason to use this?
-Faded
I totally agree with everything you say here and as someone else said before they are just using this as a way of getting pre-orders. I'm not ever gonna pre-order any game after AOC BS and even less so with BW because this is their first venture with an MMO. Just because they have a decent name providing normal games does not mean they will be able to pull off this MMO style game, but only time will tell.
Personally the communication coming from their website is very poor and they are treating their potential customers like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them every now and then...I'd be more impressed if they started doing things different off the bat and being open about what's going on and keeping the intrested community in the loop with what's going down.
With regards to the op commenting on the MMORPG tool, why would any sane gamer want to even look at this when most games provide them now days. I'm less impressed with the way this site is run so why would I want to use a tool provided by you guys either, never gonna happen sorry.
holy cow! 26k??? thats crazy! This game is gonna be HUGE. And to the guy up top, don't ever compare SOE to BW. They're not even in the same leagues. BW is in the majors while SOE is lucky to be the water boy. SOE just bombed another incredible game (DCUO) because after a decade they still don't know how to run a successful game.
Lol, if you really think that BioWare are bigger than SOE then you are dreaming. BioWare make some okay RPG that IMO are over hyped especially their latest movie servings.
Yes SOE are not really blowing anyone away at the moment they are still a vast company that along with Sony couls swallow BioWare whole.
And just fyi Vanguard has the same Guild system as well so BioWare are not doing anything new other than taking your cash for it lol.
Sorry to break this to you, but EA is bigger than Sonys game division. BioWare is also a pretty top notch company when it comes to software sales. I think its safe to say that the SWTOR will easily be more successful than the last 4 major releases from SOE, and you can count their next upcoming release of The Agency in that too.
Fun for 2 seconds but the only benefit this has is grabbing your guild's name before someone else. It's not clever but it is easy to use. Put your names on the list then......nothing you wait for beta if your lucky.
@Nightbandit: I think you had things confused, Maskedweasel wasn't replying upon a post of you, but of Nightangel
As for SOE vs EA, every large companies has made their big mistakes, SOE stopped the development of Ultima Online 2 in a time that it could've grown to be huge, just because they didn't want it to compete with UO and they ruined SOE with their radical change of it.
As history also showed, there are enough firsttimers that made a huge success of their first MMORPG, while at the same time a lot of companies and designers failed with their 2nd MMO, even if the first one had been a success.
If you love SOE and dislike/hate EA and BW, that's fine, there's enough games going around to pick.
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 don't really know why I even read the article because I gathered atleast that much information about how it works and its benefits in less time than it too to read this. But its great to show how SWTOR is proving to be very promising with each article.
So far I created a guild to see how it works and while its nice and a good feature its nothing to really write home about. I don't think at this point I could go with it equals awesomeness.
It will be interested to see what it offers to the guild members once it goes live and till that time I would rather not make a judgement. Like other people have mentioned there is always the chance that EA will sell Guild additions in the EA store. After all they constantly go on about increased digital sales and if that happens it will sully the system as just a means to get some money out of people.
I'll try this game. Guild system or not. I do understand the concept though to make a home base for your guild. Although you could make your own site like some have mentioned. I think this was more for people who would like to spend more time playing and or don't have the technical skill to make a website. Oh yes there are free sites, but why bother when you have it connected directly to the game.
I'm not a fan of EA, but that isn't going to stop me from trying Bioware's take on the Star Wars universe.
On the subject of their selling digital. Isn't that what almost everyone is doing? It doesn't make it right, but that's the way or world is working it now. I haven't noticed any huge resistance against it so more than likely it will continue unabated.
Whoever designed this had a streak of pure genius.
And please, SOE's system is nothing like this, it wasn't pre-release, it didn't even offer the same functionality.
This will indeed allow them to balance the population somewhat before the game even starts.
To the people complaining about pre-orders: think please, this is not just a smart way to capitalize on this (although it most certainly is that as well), it is also a pure necessity. BioWare can hardly be expected to go through the trouble of mixing and matching guilds up for each server when those guilds aren't even sure to actually have any real members on launch.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Games whit their own intergrated social media functions are the way to go, this aint a new idea but might become the first game that does it right. bioware is ofc no stranger on the comunity management terrain.
I think this is a great idea, but for an entirely different reason.
It's to cut some of the confusion and possible grief that comes with getting guilds.
I can already see the petitions.
Person X took the guild name i was forming just to grief me, now my friends and me have to go through the trouble of trying to get a totally new name that might get taken as well. Solve this problem GM before we ditch the game.
In this way they keep that from happening by allowing guilds to be set up way before hand. That way people know on launch day which guilds are already taken and where. Plus when things are more organized like this, then everything runs much smoother.
and you can't really put a price (well you can sorta) on a smooth launch with as little problems as possible.
(like it was a surpirse)
Good job on this one Bioware, thats thinking ahead of the game.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
I bet those devs who walked across the street from SOE SWG to Bioware are just as a giddy as a new born bantha! I hope to see this evolve. Nice feature. Well played. You really have to have all the content released for launch to match the big guy. Take him down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
wow this site is full of a bunch of losers. they offer something completely optional to help people get their guilds setup in advance and without having to worry about creation after release, and all people can do is b1tch and moan?
seriously? go crap in your own cheerios, you sad pathetic haters.
My Guild have had a website up and running in readiness for SWTOR for quite a while now, so anyone in the Guild wanting to move with us could register on that site - to give us a good idea as to whom will follow into this the next game, and of course our Guild Leader has now pre-registered on the Official site.
I am an Abstract sort of Creature Who Dislikes any sort of Restraint If you try to pigeonhole me I Will Break Free!
The point that all the "SOE did this with EQPlayers and EQ2Players" folks keep missing is SOE launched those sites YEARS after the games launched. They were not in place months before the launch of the games. This is the first game I can remember that has had anything like this Guild HQ. I may be wrong but I can't remember a single MMO that's launched with something like this in place. Very cool move on Bioware's part.
Overall I like the idea... it certainly added much more hype around the game and eventual release date. Although I am certain this is still months away...June...July...
Comments
All guilds must be either Empire or Republic. You can not create a guild that supports both sides in the game. If your guild wants characters on both sides on the same server you will need to create a second guild for the opposite side.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright
(1876 - 1944)
This is brilliant and an all-around great thing to do. Not entirely original, but very clever, and giving players an official place for this will really help build community, instead of guild leaders running off to tons of third party sites that no one actually likes or really even trusts.
I am not sold on this game, but Bioware is just brilliant.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
WTF? No subscription fee?
I, like many others (herp a derp), love this idea.
Well I knew right away that 26k was grossly inflated by single person guilds either just playing with the system or saving a guild name or mistakes, etc.. but I wonder how many actual guilds are signed up. Anyone want to speculate?
Lol, if you really think that BioWare are bigger than SOE then you are dreaming. BioWare make some okay RPG that IMO are over hyped especially their latest movie servings.
Yes SOE are not really blowing anyone away at the moment they are still a vast company that along with Sony couls swallow BioWare whole.
And just fyi Vanguard has the same Guild system as well so BioWare are not doing anything new other than taking your cash for it lol.
No one is actually being forced to do anything. You can search out the server after launch and create a guild ingame once you have 4 friends after the event.
Sour grapes and little kids comes to mind.
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
I love to speculate. :-)
I say 3k "actual guilds" are signed up yet.
Because 90% are guilds with 1-2 people. ^^
And I think if you want to play / preorder SW:ToR you will even if your guild is in the prerelease program or not.
I know for example that everyone in my guild will preorder, but we would have done it anyway. :-)
When the war of the beasts brings about the worlds end,
the goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar.
Star wars! Star wars! Star wars! YEAH!!!
This..i agree
I totally agree with everything you say here and as someone else said before they are just using this as a way of getting pre-orders. I'm not ever gonna pre-order any game after AOC BS and even less so with BW because this is their first venture with an MMO. Just because they have a decent name providing normal games does not mean they will be able to pull off this MMO style game, but only time will tell.
Personally the communication coming from their website is very poor and they are treating their potential customers like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them every now and then...I'd be more impressed if they started doing things different off the bat and being open about what's going on and keeping the intrested community in the loop with what's going down.
With regards to the op commenting on the MMORPG tool, why would any sane gamer want to even look at this when most games provide them now days. I'm less impressed with the way this site is run so why would I want to use a tool provided by you guys either, never gonna happen sorry.
Asbo
Sorry to break this to you, but EA is bigger than Sonys game division. BioWare is also a pretty top notch company when it comes to software sales. I think its safe to say that the SWTOR will easily be more successful than the last 4 major releases from SOE, and you can count their next upcoming release of The Agency in that too.
Fun for 2 seconds but the only benefit this has is grabbing your guild's name before someone else. It's not clever but it is easy to use. Put your names on the list then......nothing you wait for beta if your lucky.
@Nightbandit: I think you had things confused, Maskedweasel wasn't replying upon a post of you, but of Nightangel
As for SOE vs EA, every large companies has made their big mistakes, SOE stopped the development of Ultima Online 2 in a time that it could've grown to be huge, just because they didn't want it to compete with UO and they ruined SOE with their radical change of it.
As history also showed, there are enough firsttimers that made a huge success of their first MMORPG, while at the same time a lot of companies and designers failed with their 2nd MMO, even if the first one had been a success.
If you love SOE and dislike/hate EA and BW, that's fine, there's enough games going around to pick.
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."
I don't really know why I even read the article because I gathered atleast that much information about how it works and its benefits in less time than it too to read this. But its great to show how SWTOR is proving to be very promising with each article.
[Mod Edit]
So far I created a guild to see how it works and while its nice and a good feature its nothing to really write home about. I don't think at this point I could go with it equals awesomeness.
It will be interested to see what it offers to the guild members once it goes live and till that time I would rather not make a judgement. Like other people have mentioned there is always the chance that EA will sell Guild additions in the EA store. After all they constantly go on about increased digital sales and if that happens it will sully the system as just a means to get some money out of people.
I'll try this game. Guild system or not. I do understand the concept though to make a home base for your guild. Although you could make your own site like some have mentioned. I think this was more for people who would like to spend more time playing and or don't have the technical skill to make a website. Oh yes there are free sites, but why bother when you have it connected directly to the game.
I'm not a fan of EA, but that isn't going to stop me from trying Bioware's take on the Star Wars universe.
On the subject of their selling digital. Isn't that what almost everyone is doing? It doesn't make it right, but that's the way or world is working it now. I haven't noticed any huge resistance against it so more than likely it will continue unabated.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
"Love can be innocent and can be sweet, but sometimes about as nice as rotting meat."
Whoever designed this had a streak of pure genius.
And please, SOE's system is nothing like this, it wasn't pre-release, it didn't even offer the same functionality.
This will indeed allow them to balance the population somewhat before the game even starts.
To the people complaining about pre-orders: think please, this is not just a smart way to capitalize on this (although it most certainly is that as well), it is also a pure necessity. BioWare can hardly be expected to go through the trouble of mixing and matching guilds up for each server when those guilds aren't even sure to actually have any real members on launch.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Games whit their own intergrated social media functions are the way to go, this aint a new idea but might become the first game that does it right. bioware is ofc no stranger on the comunity management terrain.
I think this is a great idea, but for an entirely different reason.
It's to cut some of the confusion and possible grief that comes with getting guilds.
I can already see the petitions.
Person X took the guild name i was forming just to grief me, now my friends and me have to go through the trouble of trying to get a totally new name that might get taken as well. Solve this problem GM before we ditch the game.
In this way they keep that from happening by allowing guilds to be set up way before hand. That way people know on launch day which guilds are already taken and where. Plus when things are more organized like this, then everything runs much smoother.
and you can't really put a price (well you can sorta) on a smooth launch with as little problems as possible.
(like it was a surpirse)
Good job on this one Bioware, thats thinking ahead of the game.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
I bet those devs who walked across the street from SOE SWG to Bioware are just as a giddy as a new born bantha! I hope to see this evolve. Nice feature. Well played. You really have to have all the content released for launch to match the big guy. Take him down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
wow this site is full of a bunch of losers. they offer something completely optional to help people get their guilds setup in advance and without having to worry about creation after release, and all people can do is b1tch and moan?
seriously? go crap in your own cheerios, you sad pathetic haters.
Great Idea!
My Guild have had a website up and running in readiness for SWTOR for quite a while now, so anyone in the Guild wanting to move with us could register on that site - to give us a good idea as to whom will follow into this the next game, and of course our Guild Leader has now pre-registered on the Official site.
I am an Abstract sort of Creature
Who Dislikes any sort of Restraint
If you try to pigeonhole me
I Will Break Free!
The point that all the "SOE did this with EQPlayers and EQ2Players" folks keep missing is SOE launched those sites YEARS after the games launched. They were not in place months before the launch of the games. This is the first game I can remember that has had anything like this Guild HQ. I may be wrong but I can't remember a single MMO that's launched with something like this in place. Very cool move on Bioware's part.
Overall I like the idea... it certainly added much more hype around the game and eventual release date. Although I am certain this is still months away...June...July...