I'd say it's just a Tabula Rasa clone that ripped off of Champions Online for it's swords, and borrowed heavily from Huxley for its PvP experience. Essentially it's all just more derivative echoing of past and present games that I just want to namedrop in a post.
Considering there are other classes to play then just lightsaber users, and that the majority of the game takes place on planets and WoW released about a year after KoTOR, I'd say it's an MMO version of KoTOR that borrows heavily from WoW's gameplay and in-game mechanics but remains focused on story-telling and roleplay. A pretty good deal if you ask me.
Yeah, its a good deal, alright. Except that its a MMO.:D
BW went for their usual storytelling M.O. and tried to implement it in a MMO. But they have put so much focus on story, that other aspects of the game turned out to be not so good, IMO.
creation, limited i had bout the same level of character creation in first eq as i do in TOR...woo
outfits, most of the high end stuff looks like rejected ideas from WoW, honest, infact I doubt Bioware even picked up a comic book showing such amazing outfits from this time period and before from darkhorse a decade prior...sigh
ships, non customizable need i say more.
Story telling, yeah ok lets get one thing clear...hitting space bar bypasses all that amazing story and guess what, your major player base did just that.
PvP, broken in beta, dumbed up at launch and now is TRIBBLE.
Update 1.2 THE LEGACY SYSTEM...thats not finished still.
Anyone remember what the team lead said about how amazing and diferent this game would be that "Unlike other mmo games we kept our entire team after launch"
Really? cause i sure as the hell dont see it.
I beta the game since last july and let me tell you, we asked for everything thats just now starting to show up and its still not finished, let alone we were told in the forums it would all be in at launch...hmm 4 months later...still dont see half the stuff we said needed to be ingame.
So for those of you who think sliced bread doesnt compare to the quality of a game so outdated not just in graphics but mechanics alone...keep feeding them. It only will spur more idiots to think they can make a decent mmo as well by doing the bare bones minimum.
Yeah, its a good deal, alright. Except that its a MMO.:D
BW went for their usual storytelling M.O. and tried to implement it in a MMO. But they have put so much focus on story, that other aspects of the game turned out to be not so good, IMO.
In my opinion, it's high-time someone tried to emphasize the RP in MMORPG. I'm obviously talking more about the RP that you'd see between D&D players and the NPCs' played by their Dungeon Master in a D&D session, rather than mere stat-tweaking and talking with people through text bubbles and using the /emote command.
creation, limited i had bout the same level of character creation in first eq as i do in TOR...woo
This isn't true. The original EQ has a much more limited character customization capability at the creation stage. I'm talking long before the graphics upgrade in Shadows of Luclin. I'm talking back when your halfling looked like this.
TOR might not be City of Heroes style customization, but it has sliders and tatoos and other odds and ends, it has more facial variation and it has height variation. None of that existed in EQ at the start.
ships, non customizable need i say more.
You probably do, since the last what six? seven? eight? of the ships this game's released have been non-customizable. The ferengi ship, galor and bug ship are not customizable. None of the Bortas's or Oddyssey's are either.
Story telling, yeah ok lets get one thing clear...hitting space bar bypasses all that amazing story and guess what, your major player base did just that.
That doesn't make the game lackluster. The storytelling is just fine. Try not to skip it?
PvP, broken in beta, dumbed up at launch and now is TRIBBLE.
PvP complaints? In an STO forum? That's really kind of cute. Like a kitten trying to stare down a pit bull.
Anyone remember what the team lead said about how amazing and diferent this game would be that "Unlike other mmo games we kept our entire team after launch"
Really? cause i sure as the hell dont see it.
What you're missing is they've put out more new content in a quicker time than the other MMO you're playing (this one). They've been able to do this because they kept a large staff together and not started ratcheting things back to maintenance mode post-launch.
I beta the game since last july and let me tell you, we asked for everything thats just now starting to show up and its still not finished, let alone we were told in the forums it would all be in at launch...hmm 4 months later...still dont see half the stuff we said needed to be ingame.
Here's a fun fact ... people who beta tested STO are still waiting, 2 years later, for stuff they asked for. 4 months? 2 years? There is a palpable difference there.
It only will spur more idiots to think they can make a decent mmo as well by doing the bare bones minimum.
As opposed to doing a decent MMO by making dilithium farming, lockbox lotto and asteroid mining?
Here's a fun fact ... people who beta tested STO are still waiting, 2 years later, for stuff they asked for. 4 months? 2 years? There is a palpable difference there.
Oh, I'm still waiting for STO to do STAR TREK as well as SWTOR does STAR WARS...
Heck, I'm waiting for STO to do STAR TREK as well as CO does Champions.
Oh, I'm still waiting for STO to do STAR TREK as well as SWTOR does STAR WARS...
Heck, I'm waiting for STO to do STAR TREK as well as CO does Champions.
For a while I was seriously hoping Cryptic would be picked up by Bioware / EA. As bad as EA is; having Bioware give STO a complete story driven make over would have been quite nice.
For a while I was seriously hoping Cryptic would be picked up by Bioware / EA. As bad as EA is; having Bioware give STO a complete story driven make over would have been quite nice.
I was hoping for the same thing. A meld of BioWare and Cryptic would've been amazing in my opinion!
Here's the actual article. I doubt EA/BioWare weren't ready for a subscription decline.
I also believe that the reason things are happening the way they are with MMO's these days is that since MMO developers want to attract the largest player-base possible, they offer many ways for even the most casual player to level up their character.
The up-side of that, of course, is that the game becomes casual-player friendly to players who cannot afford to spend more than 15 hours per week on the game and are not focusing all their play time on one character or even in one server.
The down-side is that MMO players who focus on just one character, seeking to meteorically rise through the levels as if it was a race, get what they wish for because they now have more leveling-up tools. And so, they utilize bonus objectives, XP granting mini-games, PvP, other various XP-buffs and dailies to reach max-level within a week or sometimes less!
Once the maxed-out character gets at the end-game, there are several things the player may notice:
There aren't many players at end-game as compared to the previous zones because there probably are more casual players than hardcore players in the population.
Depending on Server population and the player's choice of side, PvP will seem unbalanced.
Since MMO's want to offer variety of roles and classes, the developers spend their time on ensuring that every class/role has an interesting and satisfying leveling curve and so end-game content isn't the top priority at first.
Having reached end-game with one character, and wanting to focus on that character because that character already feels very powerful may cause resentment in the player anytime someone suggests rolling an alt.
Combining all those factors together may lead to players getting frustrated with the game because they don't want to play another character and raise it through the levels, no matter how interesting its story-line may be, if there even is a different story-line for different classes since most MMO's don't offer that. So the player quits the game and goes looking for the next MMO, only to perpetuate this cycle and inflate the whole Subscriptions Are Declining Internet forest fire.
It's SAD, I know, but the whole reason MMO's are in a SAD state isn't the MMO's, it's the players! Yes... I blame the players, not the games.
Oh, and your Mom would probably say: "So... subscriptions are declining... and if everybody jumped off a bridge you would too? All that matters is whether you're enjoying the game or not!"
Its simply the nature of a theme park MMO to cycle through players. Just like in real life, you visit an amusement park, try all the rides, see all the sights, have an unhealthy snack, and go home. If you liked it you may come back once in a while to see a new attraction. This is no fault of the players but simply the end result of theme park MMO game design. Its not meant to be played nor designed to be played for a long period of time, its an extended day trip.
Just again goes to show that WoW's phenomenal succuss in drawing and keeping subscribers was due to a confluence of factors that are unlikely to be repeated in the Western MMO market - EVER. WoW was a fluke; and any investor expecting WoW level numbers is fooling themselves.
But, as long as SWToR manages to hold 1 million or so subs in the long run, even EA has stated that it will be profitable; but I honestly think EA and Lucas Arts are i fact dissapointed they never got near WoW's level (12 million tops and around 10 million now.)
Honestly, if WoW is the expected 'measure of success' for any MMO - any MMO besides WoW could be considered a 'failure'.
The only thing I think will happen from this is you'll never see another MMO given a nearly 6 year development cycle or a 200+ million dollar development budget. If any IP MMO had the chance to rival/kill WoW, it was SWToR - but from all reports, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
No matter how you look at it (taking either the most optimistic pr pessamistic views of SWToR's retention numbers); WoW still has 5 to 10 times the number of active SWToR subscriptions.
And even though I have no interest in the game as I've never been a fan of the 'High Fantasy' MMO genre (even though the majority of my SWToR Guild, that I've been gaming with since my EQ days, is); it's going to be interesting to see how all existing MMOs - WoW, SWToR. Rift, STO, et. al. fare when Guild Wars 2 hits the western MMO market.
The decline from 1.7 million to 1.25 million can probably be counted up by the number of healers who left after being nerfed.
Regarding 10 million to 12 million subs, eh, I'm sure if TOR wanted to create a gold farmer dominated economy and do what Blizzard did in the countries that support that as an actual job (not just the far east) ... their numbers would top 5 million worlwide.
The game just doesn't have that kind of infrastructure yet.
But hey, anyone interested in reading a book that sets up a way to not only duplicate, but also TOP Blizzard's model should check out Neal Stephenson's Reamde.
Its simply the nature of a theme park MMO to cycle through players. Just like in real life, you visit an amusement park, try all the rides, see all the sights, have an unhealthy snack, and go home.
Sorry, that's not the case with SWTOR because if you haven't tried all 8 classes for their individual story-lines and gameplay mechanics then you have not tried all the rides. More often than not, these complaints are based on getting one character to max-level without caring to grow alternate characters and definitely without even caring to roleplay your character with either players or NPC's (remember how people hammer the Space Bar to skip cut-scenes?).
If anything, it's a case of people using a product in a way that convinces them they've had all they want from the product whether the product has more to offer or not! Again, I blame the players and not the game, mostly for going into a game that tries to emphasize roleplay when these players are knowingly looking for something else!
The decline from 1.7 million to 1.25 million can probably be counted up by the number of healers who left after being nerfed.
Regarding 10 million to 12 million subs, eh, I'm sure if TOR wanted to create a gold farmer dominated economy and do what Blizzard did in the countries that support that as an actual job (not just the far east) ... their numbers would top 5 million worlwide.
The game just doesn't have that kind of infrastructure yet.
But hey, anyone interested in reading a book that sets up a way to not only duplicate, but also TOP Blizzard's model should check out Neal Stephenson's Reamde.
A very fun read.
The only thing that is still "£$$" me off with TOR is that I cannot get a purple LS at low to mid level. I still have to wait until my late 40s/50s to get one on the Republic side! Still no idea why they have made colours had to get.
Oh and the game will pick up again as soon as they allow "Free" character transfers to high pop servers, or take the PR gamble and (tin foil hat on) merge servers.
On another note, tried the Diablo 3 beta this weekend. What am I missing? I thought it was okay, but I am not sure what the hook is.
I am seriously tempted to get the Annual pass, as I know I will play pandas when it's released (I wont actually have a panda though) and I look forward to a Night Elf Monk), but still not sure what the Diablo thing is all about.
I did play 1 and 2, but only as single player games so can any nice person (who I currently haven't pi%%ed off) explain the hook of 3 please?
Finally, yep, F2P for TOR in 2 months . Thought I might as well say it before the same old same old come on and say TOR is a failure and is going F2P soon.
Ah well, as long as I can get an X-wing and a Purple LS in the new Lock boxes when it goes F2P, I will be happy:rolleyes:
Sorry, that's not the case with SWTOR because if you haven't tried all 8 classes for their individual story-lines and gameplay mechanics then you have not tried all the rides. More often than not, these complaints are based on getting one character to max-level without caring to grow alternate characters and definitely without even caring to roleplay your character with either players or NPC's (remember how people hammer the Space Bar to skip cut-scenes?).
If anything, it's a case of people using a product in a way that convinces them they've had all they want from the product whether the product has more to offer or not! Again, I blame the players and not the game, mostly for going into a game that tries to emphasize roleplay when these players are knowingly looking for something else!
^^^^
This.
I do view TOR as an MMo, as I group up, talk in chat and play the PVP, however I love the thought that I have 8 other class story's to play, 16 different play styles (maybe 8 but I prefer to think of it as 16) with new content being released at a fast pace (remember content? Big in the 80s) meaning by the time I have explored the last content, new one is waiting for me.
At the moment I have a 50 consular, 29 JK, 14 BH and once I unlock my Chiss, it's Sorc time baby!
I stopped years ago thinking that I have to have 1 main toon in every MMo I play and that I no longer have to pour my life and soul into that 1 toon. The bonus to me in every MMo I play now is having multiple toons which I think enhances the playtime and enjoyment of that game. I even find out that some classes just have to be played to enjoy the experience and not to judge them on their title.
Yep, TOR will loose and gain subs just like most MMo's. Even WoW with it's 10 mil subs, brought out it's annual pass as it too is loosing subs.
Still loving TOR though and now that I have Mass Effect 3 out of my system, I can get back into it with Gusto!
Man, level 50 pvp is full of jerks on my main server haha. Pretty much a "stay the hell out of here noob" comments. Made me laugh though b/c I gave the obvious "Well...I can achive a full set of pvp gear....if I pvp.."
I just threw everything back at the troll's pixelized face. Also loved how I became a scapegoat for a lost battle when we lost in the new Warzone due ot a ton of Sith Sorcs. flat out spamming lightning at us and Agents using the orbital attacks haha....
Seeing that the Rakghoul Events ends in 2 days I doubt I'll buy a 3rd green/black crystal...bought the grey pet too...hopefully I get the plague customizations I want ^_^ .
Man, level 50 pvp is full of jerks on my main server haha. Pretty much a "stay the hell out of here noob" comments. Made me laugh though b/c I gave the obvious "Well...I can achive a full set of pvp gear....if I pvp.."
I just threw everything back at the troll's pixelized face. Also loved how I became a scapegoat for a lost battle when we lost in the new Warzone due ot a ton of Sith Sorcs. flat out spamming lightning at us and Agents using the orbital attacks haha....
Seeing that the Rakghoul Events ends in 2 days I doubt I'll buy a 3rd green/black crystal...bought the grey pet too...hopefully I get the plague customizations I want ^_^ .
I believe his point is that STO is something of a failure. Maybe the transition to F2P isn't proof, but it's an indicator that the previous model didn't work that well.
BUT ... I believe the fact that the company's been sold during that time is also another big indicator. Two companies now mismanaging Cryptic Studios and their games (NCSoft and Atari) since the company began with a third now taking its chance to roll the dice.
The company has been able to churn out three MMORPGs at varying level of success, and are working on a fourth, but the company doesn't seem to have been able to get a hit to stick before losing money to the point that they get sold off to someone else.
The sale of Cryptic Studios had nothing to do with STO or low revenues. Believe it or not it's all because of Dungeons & Dragons.
Cryptics previous owner, Atari, had a D&D license through Wizards of the Coast. Over the years Atari made a LOT of mistakes with that license, ultimately squelching their Neverwinter Nights 2 franchise. They basically killed the title farting around with a ill-conceived DRM scheme that was ultimately scrapped. It delayed DLC releases for the title for more than two years basically squandering the last half of the games development cycle. WoC lost millions in potential fees because of the sales that were lost during this time.
This made them... unhappy.
After this debacle WoC had it in for Atari, but there was no incompetence clause in the license and WoC had no legal reason to pull the licence.
Atari bought Cryptic in 2008 to develop a new D&D title called "Neverwinter Online", and in the process of producing content for the game they contracted work to another company called Nameco Bandai.
This was the excuse WoC needed to strip the D&D license from Atari. WoC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro, and Nameco Bandai is one of Hasbro's competitors. This was a flagrant violation of their licensing agreement. Hasbro immediately rescinded the license, and Atari filed an injunction. Thus began a court battle that lasted for years during which time Atari continued development on Neverwinter.
Eventually it became obvious that Atari was going to lose. They tried to delay the proceedings long enough to get Neverwinter out, but the writing was on the wall. They would not be able to get the game released before the hammer fell. They had to unload Cryptic and unload it fast or all the money they had spent developing Neverwinter would be a complete loss.
Thus it passed that Cryptic found a new home with PWE, and PWE scored a valuable time-tested Star Trek franchise license and a foot in the door with Hasbro and a potentially lucrative shot at replacing Atari as a D&D license holder.
PWE converted the game to F2P because that's what PWE does. For the most part the games industry is treating F2P as the standard MMO model of the future. It's not an issue of game quality, it's a simple business decision. F2P games make more money. It's simple economics of scale. They generate less revenue per player, but they attract a LOT more players. All else being equal (server maintenance costs actually drop over time due to improving technology and development costs are pretty much independent of server population) this generates more overall revenue.
I will be surprised if even WoW hasn't converted to a F2P model sometime in the next 5 years.
Comments
But not Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock which is far superior
They couldn't get the licensing rights OK'd for using Spock.
As of today we can get the Republic or Imperial Containment Officer's: Boots, Gloves, Pants, and Helm :cool:
Yeah, its a good deal, alright. Except that its a MMO.:D
BW went for their usual storytelling M.O. and tried to implement it in a MMO. But they have put so much focus on story, that other aspects of the game turned out to be not so good, IMO.
creation, limited i had bout the same level of character creation in first eq as i do in TOR...woo
outfits, most of the high end stuff looks like rejected ideas from WoW, honest, infact I doubt Bioware even picked up a comic book showing such amazing outfits from this time period and before from darkhorse a decade prior...sigh
ships, non customizable need i say more.
Story telling, yeah ok lets get one thing clear...hitting space bar bypasses all that amazing story and guess what, your major player base did just that.
PvP, broken in beta, dumbed up at launch and now is TRIBBLE.
Update 1.2 THE LEGACY SYSTEM...thats not finished still.
Anyone remember what the team lead said about how amazing and diferent this game would be that "Unlike other mmo games we kept our entire team after launch"
Really? cause i sure as the hell dont see it.
I beta the game since last july and let me tell you, we asked for everything thats just now starting to show up and its still not finished, let alone we were told in the forums it would all be in at launch...hmm 4 months later...still dont see half the stuff we said needed to be ingame.
So for those of you who think sliced bread doesnt compare to the quality of a game so outdated not just in graphics but mechanics alone...keep feeding them. It only will spur more idiots to think they can make a decent mmo as well by doing the bare bones minimum.
This isn't true. The original EQ has a much more limited character customization capability at the creation stage. I'm talking long before the graphics upgrade in Shadows of Luclin. I'm talking back when your halfling looked like this.
TOR might not be City of Heroes style customization, but it has sliders and tatoos and other odds and ends, it has more facial variation and it has height variation. None of that existed in EQ at the start.
You probably do, since the last what six? seven? eight? of the ships this game's released have been non-customizable. The ferengi ship, galor and bug ship are not customizable. None of the Bortas's or Oddyssey's are either.
That doesn't make the game lackluster. The storytelling is just fine. Try not to skip it?
PvP complaints? In an STO forum? That's really kind of cute. Like a kitten trying to stare down a pit bull.
What you're missing is they've put out more new content in a quicker time than the other MMO you're playing (this one). They've been able to do this because they kept a large staff together and not started ratcheting things back to maintenance mode post-launch.
Here's a fun fact ... people who beta tested STO are still waiting, 2 years later, for stuff they asked for. 4 months? 2 years? There is a palpable difference there.
As opposed to doing a decent MMO by making dilithium farming, lockbox lotto and asteroid mining?
Heck, I'm waiting for STO to do STAR TREK as well as CO does Champions.
For a while I was seriously hoping Cryptic would be picked up by Bioware / EA. As bad as EA is; having Bioware give STO a complete story driven make over would have been quite nice.
Instead STO was bought out by the EA of Asia.
http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/read/24228/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-Subscriptions-Declining-Says-Analyst.html
I also believe that the reason things are happening the way they are with MMO's these days is that since MMO developers want to attract the largest player-base possible, they offer many ways for even the most casual player to level up their character.
The up-side of that, of course, is that the game becomes casual-player friendly to players who cannot afford to spend more than 15 hours per week on the game and are not focusing all their play time on one character or even in one server.
The down-side is that MMO players who focus on just one character, seeking to meteorically rise through the levels as if it was a race, get what they wish for because they now have more leveling-up tools. And so, they utilize bonus objectives, XP granting mini-games, PvP, other various XP-buffs and dailies to reach max-level within a week or sometimes less!
Once the maxed-out character gets at the end-game, there are several things the player may notice:
- There aren't many players at end-game as compared to the previous zones because there probably are more casual players than hardcore players in the population.
- Depending on Server population and the player's choice of side, PvP will seem unbalanced.
- Since MMO's want to offer variety of roles and classes, the developers spend their time on ensuring that every class/role has an interesting and satisfying leveling curve and so end-game content isn't the top priority at first.
- Having reached end-game with one character, and wanting to focus on that character because that character already feels very powerful may cause resentment in the player anytime someone suggests rolling an alt.
Combining all those factors together may lead to players getting frustrated with the game because they don't want to play another character and raise it through the levels, no matter how interesting its story-line may be, if there even is a different story-line for different classes since most MMO's don't offer that. So the player quits the game and goes looking for the next MMO, only to perpetuate this cycle and inflate the whole Subscriptions Are Declining Internet forest fire.It's SAD, I know, but the whole reason MMO's are in a SAD state isn't the MMO's, it's the players! Yes... I blame the players, not the games.
Oh, and your Mom would probably say: "So... subscriptions are declining... and if everybody jumped off a bridge you would too? All that matters is whether you're enjoying the game or not!"
But, as long as SWToR manages to hold 1 million or so subs in the long run, even EA has stated that it will be profitable; but I honestly think EA and Lucas Arts are i fact dissapointed they never got near WoW's level (12 million tops and around 10 million now.)
Honestly, if WoW is the expected 'measure of success' for any MMO - any MMO besides WoW could be considered a 'failure'.
The only thing I think will happen from this is you'll never see another MMO given a nearly 6 year development cycle or a 200+ million dollar development budget. If any IP MMO had the chance to rival/kill WoW, it was SWToR - but from all reports, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
No matter how you look at it (taking either the most optimistic pr pessamistic views of SWToR's retention numbers); WoW still has 5 to 10 times the number of active SWToR subscriptions.
And even though I have no interest in the game as I've never been a fan of the 'High Fantasy' MMO genre (even though the majority of my SWToR Guild, that I've been gaming with since my EQ days, is); it's going to be interesting to see how all existing MMOs - WoW, SWToR. Rift, STO, et. al. fare when Guild Wars 2 hits the western MMO market.
Regarding 10 million to 12 million subs, eh, I'm sure if TOR wanted to create a gold farmer dominated economy and do what Blizzard did in the countries that support that as an actual job (not just the far east) ... their numbers would top 5 million worlwide.
The game just doesn't have that kind of infrastructure yet.
But hey, anyone interested in reading a book that sets up a way to not only duplicate, but also TOP Blizzard's model should check out Neal Stephenson's Reamde.
A very fun read.
If anything, it's a case of people using a product in a way that convinces them they've had all they want from the product whether the product has more to offer or not! Again, I blame the players and not the game, mostly for going into a game that tries to emphasize roleplay when these players are knowingly looking for something else!
The only thing that is still "£$$" me off with TOR is that I cannot get a purple LS at low to mid level. I still have to wait until my late 40s/50s to get one on the Republic side! Still no idea why they have made colours had to get.
No Mace Windu RPing for me
Still on the bright side
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/31/razer-confirms-plans-to-release-left-handed-naga-gaming-mouse/
Yes!!!!
Oh and the game will pick up again as soon as they allow "Free" character transfers to high pop servers, or take the PR gamble and (tin foil hat on) merge servers.
On another note, tried the Diablo 3 beta this weekend. What am I missing? I thought it was okay, but I am not sure what the hook is.
I am seriously tempted to get the Annual pass, as I know I will play pandas when it's released (I wont actually have a panda though) and I look forward to a Night Elf Monk), but still not sure what the Diablo thing is all about.
I did play 1 and 2, but only as single player games so can any nice person (who I currently haven't pi%%ed off) explain the hook of 3 please?
Finally, yep, F2P for TOR in 2 months
Ah well, as long as I can get an X-wing and a Purple LS in the new Lock boxes when it goes F2P, I will be happy:rolleyes:
^^^^
This.
I do view TOR as an MMo, as I group up, talk in chat and play the PVP, however I love the thought that I have 8 other class story's to play, 16 different play styles (maybe 8 but I prefer to think of it as 16) with new content being released at a fast pace (remember content? Big in the 80s) meaning by the time I have explored the last content, new one is waiting for me.
At the moment I have a 50 consular, 29 JK, 14 BH and once I unlock my Chiss, it's Sorc time baby!
I stopped years ago thinking that I have to have 1 main toon in every MMo I play and that I no longer have to pour my life and soul into that 1 toon. The bonus to me in every MMo I play now is having multiple toons which I think enhances the playtime and enjoyment of that game. I even find out that some classes just have to be played to enjoy the experience and not to judge them on their title.
Yep, TOR will loose and gain subs just like most MMo's. Even WoW with it's 10 mil subs, brought out it's annual pass as it too is loosing subs.
Still loving TOR though and now that I have Mass Effect 3 out of my system, I can get back into it with Gusto!
I just threw everything back at the troll's pixelized face. Also loved how I became a scapegoat for a lost battle when we lost in the new Warzone due ot a ton of Sith Sorcs. flat out spamming lightning at us and Agents using the orbital attacks haha....
Seeing that the Rakghoul Events ends in 2 days I doubt I'll buy a 3rd green/black crystal...bought the grey pet too...hopefully I get the plague customizations I want ^_^ .
I believe in you! You can do it!
On first try got Elara Dorne !
Tempted fate again and got a Corso Riggs....
Nice! I picked up Mako and the pet. Didn't bother to sell the remaining samples that I had.
Wait... hang on... What's this about Companions?
I've not been following this plague business anywhere near as closely as I perhaps should have.
The sale of Cryptic Studios had nothing to do with STO or low revenues. Believe it or not it's all because of Dungeons & Dragons.
Cryptics previous owner, Atari, had a D&D license through Wizards of the Coast. Over the years Atari made a LOT of mistakes with that license, ultimately squelching their Neverwinter Nights 2 franchise. They basically killed the title farting around with a ill-conceived DRM scheme that was ultimately scrapped. It delayed DLC releases for the title for more than two years basically squandering the last half of the games development cycle. WoC lost millions in potential fees because of the sales that were lost during this time.
This made them... unhappy.
After this debacle WoC had it in for Atari, but there was no incompetence clause in the license and WoC had no legal reason to pull the licence.
Atari bought Cryptic in 2008 to develop a new D&D title called "Neverwinter Online", and in the process of producing content for the game they contracted work to another company called Nameco Bandai.
This was the excuse WoC needed to strip the D&D license from Atari. WoC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro, and Nameco Bandai is one of Hasbro's competitors. This was a flagrant violation of their licensing agreement. Hasbro immediately rescinded the license, and Atari filed an injunction. Thus began a court battle that lasted for years during which time Atari continued development on Neverwinter.
Eventually it became obvious that Atari was going to lose. They tried to delay the proceedings long enough to get Neverwinter out, but the writing was on the wall. They would not be able to get the game released before the hammer fell. They had to unload Cryptic and unload it fast or all the money they had spent developing Neverwinter would be a complete loss.
Thus it passed that Cryptic found a new home with PWE, and PWE scored a valuable time-tested Star Trek franchise license and a foot in the door with Hasbro and a potentially lucrative shot at replacing Atari as a D&D license holder.
PWE converted the game to F2P because that's what PWE does. For the most part the games industry is treating F2P as the standard MMO model of the future. It's not an issue of game quality, it's a simple business decision. F2P games make more money. It's simple economics of scale. They generate less revenue per player, but they attract a LOT more players. All else being equal (server maintenance costs actually drop over time due to improving technology and development costs are pretty much independent of server population) this generates more overall revenue.
I will be surprised if even WoW hasn't converted to a F2P model sometime in the next 5 years.
http://m.gamespot.com/newsDetails.rbml?id=6373226&platform=100