willflynne

It's a tricky proposition. How do you give the players the feeling of being heroic without having everyone be "The Chosen One?" So far no one company has really come up with the right answer for everyone.

So far, the game that's come closest to that balance (for me) was SWG. Even with the NGE changes and some of the Mustafar missions, I never got the feeling that I was supposed to be Luke or Han, yet I still got to do heroic things in the game. At best, I always saw the players as being just under the level of characters like Wedge. We saw some action, but the big stuff was happening "off stage."

Someday we'll see a game that strikes that balance perfectly. Statistically speaking, it's bound to happen. LOL

@(Unverified)

You speak as though SOE made SWG all by itself, that LucasArts (well known for keeping a tight hold and close watch on the Star Wars IP in particular) had nothing to do with it.

LA could have stepped in and said, "no." They didn't. That, and having their name on the game, gives them at least some responsibility for what happened to SWG, NGE included.

But this is getting a bit off topic, now.

Personally I'll believe it when I see it.

I work in retail, and as time as gone by I haven't seen any sort of real reduction in the size of the area set aside for video games, PC and console. At the store I work at, it's either stayed the same or grown over the years.

Those predictions also assume no negative changes or mishaps with online services. 10 years is a long time, and all it would take to see physical retail continuing strong is one major malfunction with the internet or some bad legislation to get through.

I can't believe I read the whole thing, LOL

Anyhow, I do have to agree with Jef on the concerns. It's been just over a week since the official launch (not counting the early access), and things have yet to play out.

It's good that BioWare says they have a lot of plans in place for continuing content delivery, but the one thing that keeps popping into my head is the phrase, "No plan survives contact with the enemy."

Look at DCUO this year. Strong launch and from what they said, plenty of plans in place for delivering the content. Then they stumbled on the delivery. That was followed by layoffs and dev turnover. And THAT was followed almost immediately by the hack. ANY company would be hard pressed to overcome those kinds of setbacks.

Even if BioWare doesn't face those same kinds of obstacles (they may have made themselves the next target of a hack considering the subscription numbers they're touting), there's simply no way that they can plan for every eventuality, because there's no way to know what may happen.

This is BioWare's first MMO, and it hasn't even been live for a month yet. Saying they have plans in place is one thing. Following through with those plans is another, and it's far FAR too early to say without a doubt that they will follow through. They've still got to prove themselves on that front, and the BioWare name shouldn't give them a free pass on proving themselves.

@entropyboy

Aww, man, why'd you have to go and use "Star Warsy" on me?! The overuse of that and "iconic" about drove me around the bend after the NGE. LOL

Immersion varies from player to player. Some people need more elements than others to feel it. Personally, when I loaded into Mos Eisely for the first time in SWG, that did the trick. For others, that wasn't enough, so to each their own.

I was fine with the documentary up until about the 7 minute mark, when Ohlen started talking about fans being able to live in the Star Wars universe and experiencing any story they want.

Personally I already got to live in the Star Wars universe, for just over 7 years. I actually had homes AND a city to go back to when I was done for the day. I just don't get that same feeling from what I've seen of TOR.

And to get a little nitpicky, it doesn't seem like you can experience any story you want in that game. You can experience any story BioWare wants you to experience, sure. But your own? That remains to be seen.

Otherwise, a decent little documentary.

@(Unverified)

Unfair or not, the comparisons between the two Star Wars MMOs were inevitable. If nothing else, people would have compared what each game features and offers to help determine which game offers the gaming experience they desire.

Personally speaking, given BioWare's almost singular focus on story for their game, it makes it difficult to see them adding in many (if any) of the elements in the article that people are going to miss when SWG closes. Could they surprise people down the road by adding in things like that? Maybe, but it's not going to be something I'm going to hold my breath waiting for.

Looking over that list, I can say that, in some form or another, I've done everything on that list except roll an Ithorian.

The closest I came to that was making the tallest female Trandoshan I could and making her a Commando. Funny enough, I think the most amusement I had with that character was playing dress-up. Nothing like taking a lizard that stands taller than Darth Vader and dressing her up in a revealing dancer's outfit. LOL

I just wish I could have enjoyed crafting a little more. Early on in my gaming, I mastered Bio-Engineer. I loved the creation of creatures, but the grind to mastering about killed my interest in taking up another crafting profession while I played.

Great article, and I have to agree with others, the MMO landscape is going to be diminished with the loss of those systems when the game shuts down.

@Space Cobra

I don't know if it confirms or denies any conspiracy theories, but for me it does lend some support to my own thoughts about folks wanting a distraction-free release for TOR.

With another full-fledged SW-based MMO out there (CWA is questionable at times for meeting that definition), a TOR player who didn't find the game to their liking would and could go to the other game. Granted, it's an older game with a troubled history, but it also offers a more familiar setting and quite a few features that TOR doesn't have. That could have been a nasty little distraction for a new game that's looking for as many subscribers as they can get (just good business).

What's interesting is that, with the release date being 5 days after SWG shuts down, SWG gets to end in a distraction-free environment. Yes, TOR will be looming and I'm sure more than a few SWG players pre-ordered and will have early access. But with TOR not openly available, SWG's game-ending event gets to proceed without having TOR pull nearly as much attention away as it would have if it had launched before or during SWG's last days.

If LA had any input on the release date and pushed for it to release after SWG's end, I'd have to call that the first real showing of goodwill shown towards SWG players by LA since the SWG closure was announced.

@Khal

The fact that they ARE bothering to work on it and put it into the game at the very least hints that they have some plans for it. What those plans may be remains to be seen.

As far as the rest? Meh. Too tired to bother with making all the usual counter-arguments, so I'll just say I disagree strongly and let it go at that.