From a Goldman Analyst Perspective on SWTOR

[Claidh]

OP,

 

If you truly are an investment analyst, I would just like you to know that if I received anything as poorly constructed, punctuated, spelled, and presented as your post, I would shred it, send it back to your superiors, and promptly ignore everything you had said.

 

You sound like a gamer who is using big words to try and justify your complaints about the game. You all but take credit for the demise of several games by advising against investing in their parent companies. When you do get down to your issues with the game, the arguments you present, which occasionally flirt with the edges of accuracy, scream little more than what is demanded daily in the forums by spoiled players who want their cake, their oompa loompas, and their free epic gear.

 

I agree the game is not perfect, but continually holding it up to World of Warcraft is comparing apples to oranges, or at least oranges to tangerines. WoW is a seven year old game that has grown, changed, and to many players, declined to the end of its viable lifespan. It now exists only to cater to the long-term players who in many cases only continue out of habit and the desperate hope that maybe the game will get better down the road. The only thing Blizzard has truly achieved is learning how to keep giving out just enough rewards so that the average player is satisfied, but adding new content frequently enough where last week's rewards just aren't good enough, so the player has to keep paying for newer and shinier gear. They keep dangling "soon" and "in development" in front of hopeful players who have lowered their expectations but keep their optimism that maybe it will finally improve.

 

SWtoR is not WoW. It never claimed nor tried to be. WoW is all about the destination. Get to the end. Raid. Get epics and achievements. PvP for better gear and then do it all again next season/expansion/patch. SWtoR has said from the beginning that it is about the journey, the story, and a different experience. Fully voiced NPCs, a story that places you in the heart of the campaign, and immersion into a world that feels like Star Wars without having to rely on previously established characters and events from the movies. WoW simply substitutes pop culture references for originality.

 

Expecting SWtoR to be everything to all players is unrealistic, especially as we are still within the first month since the game launched.

[Jhonen]

OP,

 

If you truly are an investment analyst, I would just like you to know that if I received anything as poorly constructed, punctuated, spelled, and presented as your post, I would shred it, send it back to your superiors, and promptly ignore everything you had said.

 

You sound like a gamer who is using big words to try and justify your complaints about the game. You all but take credit for the demise of several games by advising against investing in their parent companies. When you do get down to your issues with the game, the arguments you present, which occasionally flirt with the edges of accuracy, scream little more than what is demanded daily in the forums by spoiled players who want their cake, their oompa loompas, and their free epic gear.

 

I agree the game is not perfect, but continually holding it up to World of Warcraft is comparing apples to oranges, or at least oranges to tangerines. WoW is a seven year old game that has grown, changed, and to many players, declined to the end of its viable lifespan. It now exists only to cater to the long-term players who in many cases only continue out of habit and the desperate hope that maybe the game will get better down the road. The only thing Blizzard has truly achieved is learning how to keep giving out just enough rewards so that the average player is satisfied, but adding new content frequently enough where last week's rewards just aren't good enough, so the player has to keep paying for newer and shinier gear. They keep dangling "soon" and "in development" in front of hopeful players who have lowered their expectations but keep their optimism that maybe it will finally improve.

 

SWtoR is not WoW. It never claimed nor tried to be. WoW is all about the destination. Get to the end. Raid. Get epics and achievements. PvP for better gear and then do it all again next season/expansion/patch. SWtoR has said from the beginning that it is about the journey, the story, and a different experience. Fully voiced NPCs, a story that places you in the heart of the campaign, and immersion into a world that feels like Star Wars without having to rely on previously established characters and events from the movies. WoW simply substitutes pop culture references for originality.

 

Expecting SWtoR to be everything to all players is unrealistic, especially as we are still within the first month since the game launched.

 

Aside from the "SWTOR is not WoW. It never claimed not tried to be", I agree with everything you said.

 

I also made the text "gold" because this post needs to be on a plaque somewhere.

[Uruare]

Huh. I'm a marketing analyst for a company I shall not name, and I don't know beans about how this game's gonna do long term. That's what I get for working in a medical services field, I suppose, but still...I at least know the general gist of what the right questions to ask would be.

 

The OP's a blowhard. Enjoy your game and weather the new-game blues; growing pains are unavoidable!

 

--Super Professional Opinion #3815

[Abriael]

If you truly are an investment analyst, I would just like you to know that if I received anything as poorly constructed, punctuated, spelled, and presented as your post, I would shred it, send it back to your superiors, and promptly ignore everything you had said.

 

One thing is for sure, if one of my writers left an article like the OP in the drafts, I'd have a serious talk with him about quality and research the day after, and that article would never see the light.

 

I've rarely seen such a poorly constructed, poorly researched and poorly hidden attempt to sound informed and knowledgeable where information and knowledge simply don't exist, and in 15 years doing what I do, I've seen a lot.

 

Something like this wouldn't fly on anything but the poorest gutter press-like gaming websites. I can only imagine the laughs it would pull from anyone actually working as a professional analyst or any other position in that industry.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Abriael

[Yuishin]

All this doom and gloom about falling subs and declining numbers implies that this game has completed it's release cycle and now must sustain what it has.

 

Now I know to an American investment guru since it's released in North America,(which Mexico was disappointed to discover they were not part of ), it's released world wide.

 

However a teensy,weensy peak at an atlas will reveal that to be not true.

 

With Eastern Europe, South America, Africa and Asia untapped how can you be predicting doom and disinvestment.

 

You compare WoW with Asian sub numbers included, but discount that Swtor will be able to acquire Asian subs.

 

Perhaps you are just trying to sell poor advice to your personal gain, kind of what you did with the US economy in 2007.

[Abriael]

All this doom and gloom about falling subs and declining numbers...

 

The funniest part is that every day I see more people online in the same HUB areas at the same time.

 

So much for declining numbers.

[Jeedaix]

Good Gawd even the trolls are trying to act sophisticated now LOL, Whats next Occupy SWTOR post?

[halfrack]

Excellent, rational, logical post. This game was launched unfinished and unfortunately it shows.

[Abriael]

Excellent, rational, logical post. This game was launched unfinished and unfortunately it shows.

 

If you think THIS game was "launched unfinished", i'd guess you never, ever once played a MMORPG at launch. Because *no* MMORPG since the times of Ultima Online was ever launched as finished as this one.

 

I'm satarting to see an interesting pattern by the way. The most of the few people actually supporting this bad example of a concern troll do so pretty much in the same way, with the same choice of terms.

 

Wouldn't take much for a shill paid by another company to buy a few boxes, make a few accounts to bump each other. It would be shameful of course, but it'd be nothing new in this industry.

 

Intentional concern troll or paid shill? Who knows.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Abriael

[Vlakrar]

if you were a investor would you invest in this game?

 

 

Seeing as you wouldn't be investing in SWTOR, you would be investing in EA, I would have to say yes.

 

1 of the few Game houses still producing massively profitable titles.

 

But hey, your an investment analyst and know that right?

Edited January 6, 2012 by Vlakrar

[Forr]

If they think they can save the game, then they need to allocate the funds, take the game off line for 1-2 months and relaunch it.

 

man what

 

You lost all credibility as an investment analyst there.

[Abriael]

man what

 

You lost all credibility as an investment analyst there.

 

Oh he lost it way before. That's just the coup de grace, that shows he simply has no clue about this market (or he's just suggesting the most damaging option for shock value, which would identify him even more surely as a troll).

[Chanamel]

After 52 pages, you have to credit the OP as being a master troll.

[Jhonen]

Good Gawd even the trolls are trying to act sophisticated now LOL, Whats next Occupy SWTOR post?

 

But the sides are switched.

 

They're the 1%, and we're the 99%?

[Jhonen]

After 52 pages, you have to credit the OP as being a master troll.

 

Oh, and I do.

 

My hat's off to him.

[Abriael]

After 52 pages, you have to credit the OP as being a master troll.

 

52 pages made mostly of people pointing and laughing at him aren't that much of a sign of being a "master troll".

 

A good concern troll would not be figured out this fast and this easy by so many people, he would be less arrogant, less belligerant and wouldn't name drop a company and a role that he simply doesn't have the knowledge and the experience to sustain.

 

Good trolls are believable. This one simply isn't.

[fro_do_fraggins]

Since we don't have the luxury of going back in time and seeing your forecast or investment advice for WOW at launch I'll just ignore that portion of your post.

 

You make some strong points, but are lacking the actual data. Unless you happen to have concrete numbers on how many people signed up for a subscription and have since canceled, your estimates don't hold a lot of weight. You are also too connected to the game on an emotional level to offer a truly unbiased analysis.

 

I have canceled my subscription but there's better than a 50% chance that I'll resubscribe by the 19th. The game needs a lot of work, but actually offers a lot more than WOW did at launch in terms of PVP.

 

There's nothing in this game that they can't fix. Combat and server forums should be high on their list.

 

I don't see this game collapsing like Aion, WH or AoC. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

With that being said, SWTOR requires a lot more profit to satisfy investors as a big chunk goes to lucas. The fact is that it is still more profitable than any EA owned IP would be.

[Mercia]

We were sold on Star Wars, but the test drive (and lets be honest) is lackluster at best. The audience has spoken on the Forums – about things we dislike and want changed immediately

 

No a verbal MINORITY as spoken on the forums please i pretty much turned off after this and the fact that you signed up in dec 2011

 

NEXT!!!!!

Edited January 6, 2012 by Mercia

[BossaInF]

ITT: College kid takes a few business and marketing classes, then posts things straight from his books/lectures followed by biased data and topography.

 

Fate based God is real. Yes?

[Florial]

Very interesting post OP. My spouse also works in the financial industry (ex Goldman btw) and their analysts were also busy at work looking at future investments and especially in gaming industry. They were having some mighty interesting discussions at work about this very thing. When I first played beta, I was remarking to my spouse that his company should invest in EA/BioWare. After playing for a bit though and getting past the initial wow factor, I'm not so sure and would have to withhold judgment.

 

As much as I'm enjoying SWTOR and have only reached 32 on my highest (we are very casual), I have some of the same long term concerns that you have. My game experience has been wonderful so far but then again, we are a far way off from 50, haven't PvPed at all, have done a handful of flashpoints and are just mostly questing though. As I play though, a few concerns that you expressed are on my mind as well. A few of my top ones:

 

-The game is very lonely for me. We haven't found a guild yet and are trying to make some friends. Almost everyone I come across is unguilded, teams up (most people are pretty nice), and then waves to never see you again. There just doesn't seem to be an interest on being social and the game really does have a bit of a single player game to it. The lack of a better LFG tool, SERVER FORUMS and other social tools is making me wonder a bit about this game. Perhaps it changes at 50 but who knows. Even though I'm on an RP server, not really sure where to go to encounter a vibrant RP hub.

 

-The worlds do seem a bit linear and devoid of interesting things once you've quested through them. In other games I've enjoyed exploration, achievements, collecting shinies (EQ2, Rift, etc). Not sure if the zones are worth revisiting once you do past through them. As others have commented on, it feels very corridor like in many ways. When I do get to 50, will there be things for me to do?

 

-Is there fluff? Other games have it--houses (and decorating), cosmetic clothing, mini games like cooking/fishing/etc, collections, achievements. Things you can do to whittle away your time. I know that they are going to introduce the ability to customize your ship and all. Where are the other things to do to make you feel like you are more at home?

 

-Customer support. Hideous.

 

I know that I'm sounding rather negative and not meaning to be. As I've said, I'm really enjoying the game so far but do have concerns. We have a 3 month sub right now and I'm willing to see what comes down the road.

[Vaestmannaeyjar]

This game would have been better if they consulted with Aion's engine / combat team and hired some folks from Blizzard or other like companies.

 

Bioware doesn't pay as well as Blizzard does. Guess where the talent is.

[Leafweir]

Odd, I guess you can explain to us why you guys failed back in 2008 and almost brought down the US economy too as well as guessing why TOR might fail?

 

Oh, you're track record doesn't take into consideration your failures. At least we, the American public, saved you. Just like we're saving TOR along with help of the rest of the world.

 

Never mind.

 

Goldman didn't fail, they did exactly what they set out to. They built up a market based on smoke and mirrors then turned on the lights when they'd maxed out it's profitability. Then on top of that they got a huge interest free loan from the government, made even more money from the damage they'd done and returned it because someone might want to regulate them for it. What they did was unethical, immoral, and should have been illegal; However, they did not fail.

 

They found weakness in the system, exploited them ruthlessly, then LOLed all the way to the bank. =P

[DaxRendar]

The Troll is Strong in this one...

[Necrolepsy]

The amount of care I have that you're a goldman analyst is contained within a black hole.

[Darth_Sookie]

If you really where a financial analyst you'd have a bout a metric ton of data to support your case but all you present is your own "feelings" on the matter. I don't buy it.