EA Studies WoW While Prepping SW: TOR Launch

[3xch4ng3]

As a current Beta tester, I have to say SW:TOR's Story driven gameplay style is pretty amazing. The Flashpoints (Instances) are pretty Epic and definitely challenging as you're locked in to a maximum of 4 players.

As a former WoW and Linage player, SW:TOR feels very familiar as an MMO but does provide a fresh spin on the gameplay style. Please it's Star Wars and nothing beats hacking shit down with a Light saber.

 

[dalmvern]

Personally I think that the way Blizzard is currently handling WoW is about as good as possible. The old adage that you cant please all of the people all of the time comes to mind.

I think that if EA can keep content fresh and innovative and provide entertaining scenarios for both casual and hardcore players alike, then I think they will enjoy at least some of the success that WoW has enjoyed over the past few years.

 

[Sabiancym]

And the gaming industry continues to get dumber and dumber. Easier and easier.

Enough with the themepark wow BS. Make a real virtual world where the players control the world.

 

[crewton]

From my experience hard modes killed wow. People love progressing through the instances and defeating bosses. There is gratification in completing a dungeon. Going from MC to Sunwell was super fun and my guild met every challenge along the way. Then WOTLK decided to make content easy with a "hard mode" which is basically what the dungeon should have been to start with. You can't get 25 guys to do the same instance 4 times a week on different difficulties/10/25. WoW fixed it to only let you do the instance once a week but then you run into the problem of why do the hard one when we can easily beat the easy one and move on with doing other things.

I really hope they make end game in SWTOR story driven, interesting, strategic, and most of all fun! I quit WoW a few years ago so my MMO burn out is over...really looking forward to a real MMO again.

 

[reggieray]

Still love the South Park WOW episode

 

[bmxdave]

SWTOR is WoW in space, there are so many aspects of the game that are exactly the same (This goes far beyond any other MMOs strive to be like WoW). Sure it will probably sell millions of copies, but after it's released people will realize its just WoW with Star Wars skins and quit after they reach max level.

People are looking for something different, not a cookie cutter shell of another MMO. WoW is an excellent MMO but it has made other companies developers followers, they release games with the same tired mechanics, gameplay, and ideas instead of coming up with something on their own.

 

[proxy711]

[citation][nom]bmxdave[/nom]SWTOR is WoW in space, there are so many aspects of the game that are exactly the same (This goes far beyond any other MMOs strive to be like WoW). Sure it will probably sell millions of copies, but after it's released people will realize its just WoW with Star Wars skins and quit after they reach max level.People are looking for something different, not a cookie cutter shell of another MMO. WoW is an excellent MMO but it has made other companies developers followers, they release games with the same tired mechanics, gameplay, and ideas instead of coming up with something on their own.[/citation]

You can say that about every MMO. You know why, because its an MMO. thats like saying all FPS are in first person so they're the same.

SW:TOR is a MMO so like all MMOs expect, quests, pvp, grinding, but in SW:TOR case the game is VERY VERY story driven. We've never seen an MMO this story driven i can tell you that for sure.

SW:TOR does plenty to difference itself from other MMOs. Companions, the whole trade skill system, space combat, story driven gameplay, full voice acting, party conversations, light and dark side choices/rewards.

This is not WoW in space.

 

[fyend]

EA is involved so I'm confident it'll be mediocre at best. Almost everything they touch turns to crap.

 

[Guest]

To be honest from recently beta testing TOR over last weekend I agree that the game is familiar to WoW but in a positive way throw in the fact that you have the story driven quests all given in dialogue and classical star wars music I found myself lost in the game in no time hell I even forgot it was a beta it was that good ) I can't go into details but sometimes playing it safe is not a bad thing and just add your own flavor to it.

 

[bmxdave]

[citation][nom]Proxy711[/nom]You can say that about every MMO. You know why, because its an MMO. thats like saying all FPS are in first person so they're the same.SW:TOR is a MMO so like all MMOs expect, quests, pvp, grinding, but in SW:TOR case the game is VERY VERY story driven. We've never seen an MMO this story driven i can tell you that for sure. SW:TOR does plenty to difference itself from other MMOs. Companions, the whole trade skill system, space combat, story driven gameplay, full voice acting, party conversations, light and dark side choices/rewards.This is not WoW in space.[/citation]

I understand that MMOs are all built off each other and all take ideas from its predicessors. But trust me, at it's very core (combat, skill trees, gameplay, classes, stats, abilities...etc), its WoW in space, a clone, a copy. Once max level is achieved and the story is over what then? Endgame is more important than getting there. While those are some nice and new features, its not going to keep people interested after its all said and done. This is all stated with experience, not speculation.

PS: Space Combat is absolutely terrible.

 

[jaliska]

I was fortunate enough to be in the weekend beta test and the game exceeded just about all of my expectations. The gameplay footage in videos looks meh, but actually playing yourself is a great experience. It doesn't reinvent anything as far as combat goes, but it does feel unique and refreshing. Not only that, the story is every bit as good as other BioWare games (with the exception of DA2) and is worthy of being called a KotoR sequel. Amazing game, can't wait for release.

 

[DaveUK]

[citation][nom]figgus[/nom]4 things that killed WoW:-Flying mounts (bye bye world pvp)-Dailies (bye bye economy)-Arenas (bye bye balance)-Dungeon finder (bye bye social network AND front-of-the-instance pvp)Universally hailed as a good thing, the effect of those "improvements" was insidious indeed.[/citation]

The Dungeon Finder was actually what brought me back to WoW.

 

[bmtphoenix]

Soo...the company that no one trusts (EA), who is making an MMO on an already tired IP (Star Wars), is hardcore studying the MMO that everyone is tired of and leaving in droves (WoW)...and this is what we're all looking forward to on the MMO front?

Sad.

I want to look forward to this game, I really do. I like MMOs, I like Star Wars, and EA is a huge company with massive resources. But, logically, I can't see this going anywhere good.

 

[rottn2thecore]

Is there anyone here who understands the difference between a publisher and a developer?

EA has little to do with what's in the game. BIOWARE made it, the company who gave us gold from Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect. EA will be the ones responsible for the servers, nothing more. Have a little faith.

 

[bmtphoenix]

[citation][nom]rottn2thecore[/nom]Is there anyone here who understands the difference between a publisher and a developer?EA has little to do with what's in the game. BIOWARE made it, the company who gave us gold from Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect. EA will be the ones responsible for the servers, nothing more. Have a little faith.[/citation]

It's a trust thing. I've already played a few EA MMOs that got cancelled because they simply couldn't be bothered to keep the servers up consistently. Then you have the ones like Earth and Beyond that were actually excellent games that people kept playing, and were profitable, but were canceled because EA deemed them not to be profitable enough.

Then, in a move that should detailed in dictionaries as the definition of the word "shady", they even have a history of continuing to sell discontinued games that are either nearly or completely unplayable due to online support having been removed.

Yes, even as publisher, EA is perfectly capable of making their customers miserable.

 

[rottn2thecore]

Bioware is such a high profile developer though, I couldn't imagine that there would nothing they could do if EA failed to meet their expectations. EA is a cancer, I admit that, and maybe I have concerns for their online services. It just seems like Bioware is too prominent to be jerked around like that.

 

[Guest]

EA needs to member what EA did to the launch of Hellgate:London. they didn't care what Flagship and the testers said. the game wasn't ready but EA wanted there money NOW!