Why is SW:TOR an MMO?

[TheTurniipKing]

A KOTOR game being an MMO is an interesting idea. I just hope the inevitable new story additions/expansion content to the game take some actual thought, care, and effort. Content expansions for MMOs these days are just lazy, or maybe I'm just thinking about WoW.

 

Though honestly, I think it would have been a lot more epic if EA gave Bioware development rights for an Ultima Online 2. Who knows, maybe it wouldn't get canceled!

I'm going to have to say no.

 

Bioware are great at what they do... which is story. But for me, what made Ultima Online a truly great MMO was that it didn't place any expectations on you at all. It literally just turned you loose on a great big open world and said "do what thou wilt". And players did. They made towns. They mined, they explored, They killed and murdered. They loved, lived and died.

 

And all without cinematic talking heads.

 

From what I've seen of TOR, the game simply doesn't have that kind of worldbuilding capability.

Edited January 7, 2012 by TheTurniipKing

[Twitchx]

well i played wow for 5 years. i quit cuz i played it so much for 5 years.

 

bought this game, only to log in to the same game. boring

 

You don't rent a comedy to get scared like you do with horror movies. I'm sorry, but it's called genre. Look at every RTS, they're not that different from eachother. FPS? Same controls, same objectives, just done in a little bit of a different way. The list goes on and on. Genre is there so people KNOW what they are getting into. I have no idea what you were thinking. lol, I laughed in the Hangover just like I did when I watched Billy Madison over a decade ago.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Twitchx

[TheTurniipKing]

You don't rent a comedy to get scared like you do with horror movies. I'm sorry, but it's called genre. Look at every RTS, they're not that different from eachother. FPS? Same controls, same objectives, just done in a little bit of a different way. The list goes on and on. Genre is there so people KNOW what they are getting into. I have no idea what you were thinking. lol, I laughed in the Hangover just like I did when I watched Billy Madison over a decade ago.

MMO isn't really a "genre", though. At best it describes a situation where a publisher trains you to give them money every time they ring a bell.

[Ituhata]

Thousands of other players you say?

 

That's odd, since I play on one of the very few servers listed as FULL or VERY HIGH the game still manages to feel incredibly lifeless.

 

Probably because when there's more than 90 people on a planet they make a new instance, for no reason what so ever.

 

Giving Bioware the tools for an MMO was a cute idea on paper, but they've just gotten almost everything wrong.

 

What do you do, run to a remote corner of the map and face a wall? Or perhaps you find a story instance to zone into and chill?

[DFrostAv]

I'm going to have to say no.

 

Bioware are great at what they do... which is story. But for me, what made Ultima Online a truly great MMO was that it didn't place any expectations on you at all. It literally just turned you loose on a great big open world and said "do what thou wilt". And players did. They made towns. They mined, they explored, They killed and murdered. They loved, lived and died.

 

And all without cinematic talking heads.

 

From what I've seen of TOR, the game simply doesn't have that kind of worldbuilding capability.

 

I'm just desperate. At this point in time I'd sacrifice a kidney just to see a new Ultima anything. And I don't mean that Evony clone. That was such a letdown.

 

But as for a new UO, no company will ever risk that kind of game design again. It's still clouded in scary uncertainty unlike the already proven formula that is WoW/EQ. If they are going to throw 135 million dollars to produce an MMORPG, they'll make something that will guarantee a return on the investment.

[Blaqkhawk]

Sums this thread... Gets internet points

http://troll.me/images/futurama-fry/not-sure-if-trolling-or-just-stupid.jpg

[Swirly]

Maybe because I grew up playing MMOs where you saw everyone at all times and the zones were massive and felt awesome I am forever spoiled but I cannot stand these new games that are doing this tunnel zone crap. It is one of THE leading factors on whether the game will be good or not for me.

 

L2, FFXI, WoW - I have played 8 years across those 3 games and they were all great. I really, REALLY loved Lineage 2 the most for some reason and I miss it the most. I wish there was a proper Lineage 3 but I think Tera = L3? Either way I am eager to see if NCSoft or whoever they are now have changed since my days with their L2 game.

 

Edit: Would also mention that 2 of the 3 games I mentioned forced grouping for leveling giving a sense of community and actually needing one another for more than just a one quest boost and often lead to fun with just grinding. L2 was awesome for grinding then rival parties trying to kill you and then leading to a small 4-8 vs 4-8 skirmish over the spot or calling truce and moving on. That felt more real than anything I've done in a long time in a MMO.

 

Nothing massive about tunnel planets.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Swirly

[Jarlathe]

Thousands of other players you say?

 

That's odd, since I play on one of the very few servers listed as FULL or VERY HIGH the game still manages to feel incredibly lifeless.

 

Probably because when there's more than 90 people on a planet they make a new instance, for no reason what so ever.

 

Giving Bioware the tools for an MMO was a cute idea on paper, but they've just gotten almost everything wrong.

 

 

Maybe it's because I'm republic, but having 36 people on Aldraan during prime time doesn't feel very "full" to me. And I do play on a Heavy/Full server.

[thanatas]

i think adding 3 random warzones (which bore to to dead) a world chat channel and an auctioneer doesnt clarify as MMO.

 

 

its more like single Player with Co-op mode

[Papazooki]

SWTOR is an mmo, sorry haters.

 

Get out of your anti-social bubbles, and try talking with other people.. I hear it helps

[pudim]

There are a LOT of MMO's that doesn't even have endgame, yet they are MMO

 

Many of them everything you do is grind...

 

Fly For Fun (Endgame is only a Clockwork Boss)

Dark Eden

Priston Tale

ROSE Online

Rising Force (Endgame is War of the Chip, Avaiable to all levels)

Granado Espada

Ragnarok Online (Endgame is War of the Emperium avaiable to all players, and a minimal number of bosses)

Kal Online

4Story (WoW Clone with no endgame)

Allods (WoW Clone with no endgame)

 

There was another MMO with lots of instancing, but I don't remember the name

Edited January 7, 2012 by pudim

[Jarlathe]

MMOs are much more resistant to piracy than single player games. That's why every developer is trying to make all their games into MMOs, even if they shouldn't be.

 

 

I'd agree, but a lot of publishers are going that route, even with single player games. You must have an active internet connection in order to play. Granted, there are a toon of work arounds, just like the weak "piracy" controls that they put on games (I'm looking at you EA with Spore).

 

IIRC it started with Half-Life 2, I only say that game because I remember the amount of flack that Valve took over that.

[Dianoia]

well i played wow for 5 years. i quit cuz i played it so much for 5 years.

 

bought this game, only to log in to the same game. boring

 

Fair enough.

 

I still have an active WoW account, but I haven't logged in since I got this game. I like how TOR made 1-50 as fun as a single player Bioware RPG, but is keeping the EQ MMO DNA intact.

 

I've played a lot of MMO's, and this is the first one, for me, that has been fun in a long time. Most became Zzzzz before I could even get to end game (Gw, AoC, Rift, EQ2, Aion, Rift).

 

When I first heard of this MMO, I wasn't too terribly excited. Everyone wants a piece of that 12mil market WoW owned, and this was EA's 2nd attempt. All I wanted was a KoTOR sequel by Bioware. And that I feel I got.

 

The fact that it has PvP, Flash points, and Ops just makes it that much better.

[KryloKillian]

All I wanted was a KoTOR sequel by Bioware. And that I feel I got.

 

The fact that it has PvP, Flash points, and Ops just makes it that much better.

 

Pretty much this, plus the fact that being an MMO has made it much much larger than a single player version would have been (and a single player follow up to KoTOR would have probably forced you to be a jedi).

[Rikalonius]

I mean, short of the obvious explanation that EA would really really like some of that sweet, sweet subscription cash, I'm seeing exactly jack **** in the gameplay that justifies a recurring monthly subscription fee.

 

I wonder sometimes if people actually realize how completely redundant and unoriginal they are? Like parrots, or other fowl, regurgitating, they repeat the same old mantras oblivious to their lack of originality.

 

SWTOR isn't an MMO, har har, never heard that one before.

 

I ran two hard modes today, did my dailies and worked on an alt, over five hours of gaming. Then I had to take a nap and then I came to work. Tomorrow I'll probably do some PVP with my friends, run a hard mode, and do my dailies. Now, please explain to me how that is different from any other MMO on the planet.

[Rikalonius]

What would you prefer? Being "forced" to group with people just to get the simplest of tasks completed.

 

I say no thanks, had enough of that in EQ. I prefer this new breed of MMO's much more. Where I can go it solo or group up if I want too.

 

Thank the Force that the day's of forced grouping just to get anything accomplished have been relegated to the dust bin of MMO history.

 

I've tried to think this psychosis out. I think the hardcore gamers that are on all the time want to control other players. By having things be solo-able, they cannot dictate how you will act. They call this "community" which is just code for, "we want to be Lord of the (online) Flies” This is always why same people hate LFG tools. They want to be the arbiters of who gets to go on what. This is their psychotic definition of what MMO means.

[Honelith]

Whether an MMORPG is good or not, you're still paying to access a service. I think some of the times Sky can be pretty rubbish on some days, there's only a good few channels in the package with loads of filler channels which are rubbish, but you don't see me moaning about that.

 

Given that SWTOR encourages you to roll alts, fair enough, experiencing all the class stories would provide alot of extra content, but I'm not one for alts. Obviously new content will justify longterm commitments to this game, too early to tell if this will happen, but lots of interesting content seems to be heading our way.

 

SWTOR does have top notch gameplay, it just feels so lonely, getting groups for quests can prove tricky most of the time, I'm on the Chunndar server which isually sits at Heavy load, yet I only often see around 30-50 players on a whole planet. If you're playing with 50 players most of the time which seems to be the case when I jump to most planets, it's hard trying to find people who are on the same quests.

[Sephendrine]

OP, SWTOR is a MMO because it is a MMORPG, which falls under the category of "MMO".

 

MMORPG stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, which SWTOR is.

 

I hope this helps. By the way, SWTOR stands for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Just wanted to make sure you knew that, since you were having a bit of difficulty with the other.

 

No need to thank me. Just keep spreading the word how great this game is. You're doing a bang up job of it, I can tell you.

 

By the way, "OP" means Original Poster, which, OP, is you.

 

Have a nice day, kid.

[TheTurniipKing]

SWTOR does have top notch gameplay,

It has bog-standard MMORPG gameplay. Maybe it was kinda foolish of me, I've played this same game now in many, many skins, and I was hoping for something that perhaps captured that freewheeling Star Wars adventure movie feeling a little better.

[Relandi]

Why is SW:ToR a MMO? Because I can group up and do stuff like this: http://youtu.be/95MN1viG8eI

[TheTurniipKing]

Why is SW:ToR a MMO? Because I can group up and do stuff like this: http://youtu.be/95MN1viG8eI

Eh, seen one gigantic space-bug, seen em all.

[Relandi]

Eh, seen one gigantic space-bug, seen em all.

 

Then I'd suggest you play the wonderful game of "Real Life". There are strange and wonderful bugs out in that world too!

[Jonuts]

I almost agree with the op, but I'm gonna wait and see how well they do at adding content before I really pass any judgement. Is the game worth the cost of entry? Yes. Is it worth a monthly subscription though? We shall see...

 

This is always why same people hate LFG tools.

 

Actually, most people hate LFG tools because the most famous one belonging to a really big MMO who shall remain nameless, removed the communities ability to police itself. The combination of piss-poor loot rules along with the absolute removal of social consequences for your actions really destroyed the community.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Jonuts

[Hairless]

Not sure why you guys are arguing about the definition of MMO.

Of course SWTOR is an MMORPG.

 

The problem is that it doesn't feel like an MMO.

[corbanite]

Yesterday morning I did some dailies on my lvl 50 and teamed up with a guy who was doing them as well before switching to my low level alt.

 

Yesterday in drummand kaas there must of been a few hundred people at least spread over 2 phases.

 

Just the right amount of people to quest still though and get things done.

 

General chat resembled barrans chat which although not discussing philosophy was definately lively.

 

I also completed all heroic group quests and did a couple of flash points. I had to converse with other people though to do this.

 

THis is my experience of the game on a daily basis.

 

Our server is very heavy at peak times and I do not have to queue

Edited January 8, 2012 by corbanite