StampyIRL

Just wanted to mention - I can remember reading the Otherland books back in the 1990s. They pre-date LotRO by probably ten years.

A game based on that story has the potential to be sandbox like we've never seen before - infinite worlds instead of just one. User worlds instead of user cities, etc.

I was even looking forward to the rail shooter, but this? Very disappointing. It seems like such a lazy solution on BioWare's part.

There are just so many other ways they could address it without disabling chat altogether - like cross-faction ignore lists, or giving the player the option to disable it themselves, for example.

Besides, this won't do anything for idiots who hop into each other's vent and smack talk there. This won't do anything for same-faction flashpoint smack-talkers.

Darth Vader: Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: ... *swings lightsaber*
Darth Vader: Luke? Are you there, son?
Luke: ... *swings lightsaber*
Darth Vader: Helloooo! Anyone home?
Luke: ...

Yeah, that's going to be real iconic.

@StampyIRL

Actually, come to think of it there was a "Roaming Tauntaun" in today's Eternity Vault. It didn't look like a mount - just an NPC - but tauntauns are in the game it would seem.

Fun article this week.

It's almost worth logging back into WoW just to get completely smashed on some Sulfuron Slammers and fly around on dragon back for a bit.

I'm pretty sure animal mounts are a "wall of crazy" item. I'd be surprised if TOR never got taun tauns, rontos, or dewbacks in the future.

"voice-over dialogue is far superior to walls of text any day" - this is very true, but it's still pretty funny to see in the second sentence of a ~1250-word written blog. :P

@Resurge
I believe it was 8-man, but yeah it was cool. They got pwned!

@Flicktion

I just want to say, it's refreshing to see a non-trollish, non-idiotic negative comment on here. You seem to understand what an opinion is, and that the game will not fail or succeed based on whether or not you personally like it.

Personally, I still have pretty high hopes, but I am also concerned they may have too closely mimicked WoW's horribly tedious raid-or-die design. Hopefully, we'll be pleasantly surprised.

@(Unverified)

Of course my robot comment was just me being silly. It may not come across that well in text. I actually agree with much of what you say. A lot of this stuff bugs me, too.

In your list, I only take issue with the following:
- Graphics/animations are debatable as opinions are highly subjective and they've shown continual improvement during the polish process.
- Dependency of companions is a positive for many folks - especially BioWare fans.
- No player to player dialogue: it's called chat.
- Planets are small: this contradicts everything I've seen, but if you've actually managed to explore an entire planet at a couple of cons, I'll take your word for it.
- Linear gameplay: it's called themepark.
- Character creation limitations: every game has these, even APB to some extent.
- Lack of this and that feature: many of these are post-launch features. No MMO launches with everything right off the bat. Rift was the most complete I've ever seen, and even it lacked add-ons/appearance tabs/housing/etc. at launch.

Anyway, this all misses my original point entirely. I don't think they're depending on WoW's current player base as much as people think they are. There will be many players in this game who have never seen an MMO before. They won't be as tired of this stuff as you or I am until five or six years down the road.

@(Unverified)

Observation: It's interesting how the meatbags who share your opinion always seem to rely upon insults rather that hard data to support your claims.

Hypothesis: Most of those who will enjoy TOR haven't been playing the same game for the last six years. Those who have been playing that game might not like TOR. The game's success won't depend on them.

Prejudiced Assertion: Robots are superior.

4.7 million Cataclysm boxes is pretty much one for each active US and EU account. In a game where nothing matters except the current tier, those players pretty much had to buy the expansion, or stop playing. No players have that sort of investment in TOR, yet.

SWTOR won't be for everyone - no MMO is - but they're in an excellent position to succeed. Just like WoW did, TOR is set up to expand the MMO market, rather than just stealing a piece away from other MMOs. They'll bring in all sorts BioWare fans and Star Wars fans who have never touched an MMO before. This is what really sets it apart from games like Warhammer, Aion, AoC, etc.

People who are already tired of WoW might get bored with it. People who have never seen an MMO before might get blown away by the social aspects and expansive worlds that we veteran MMO gamers take for granted.

This is a fair review. I personally didn't think it was all that good or interesting. I don't hate it, but I wouldn't recommend it or watch it again. To me, the lack of any bias is a real problem.

I appreciate it when film-makers have the cajones to let you know where they stand, even when I disagree with them. After watching The Raid, I have no idea if Kevin Michael Johnson is a critic or an apologist of the lifestyle. It seems like he doesn't care or he doesn't have a point.