Comparing SWTOR to WoW

[JustTed]

Look, this is very, very simple:

 

If you don't think STWOR compares to WoW, then go play WoW. It's still running, you know. It's funny how many people say WoW is the superior game... here.

[Riotus]

Problem is, comparing launch wow to launch swtor is a moot point. swtor has to compete with wow today, not wow from 7 years ago.

 

in my mind swtor is still superior, but probobly cause im beyond burnt out on wow. Id sell my wow account if i could find a buyer.... 5 raid geared 85s and 600k gold would go for a pretty penny

[YukariOro]

I can contribute to this discussion. I have a fairly decisive metric for comparing them.

 

WOW

 

None of the story lore or characters or that I want to see or experience, or character types that I want to play.

 

 

SWTOR

 

Is filled with the story lore and characters that I want to see and experience, and character types that I want to play.

 

Hear, hear! I've been a Star Wars fan for decades, from the very first movie, which I saw on it's original run. I was part of the first fan club, that Lucas later disbanded. To me, WoW is just another fantasy mmo clone. Yes they did some stuff right, but they did a lot wrong lately too, that's why so many subscribers are leaving.

 

I don't think SWTOR will kill WoW. I think Blizzard/WoW will do that on their own, just like every other mmo before them. Right now, my original mmo Final Fantasy XI is slowly dying, it's a year older than WoW and preceeded WoW. Every mmo has a limited shelf life, even WoW. Before WoW everyone thought EQ was king, now a lot of people think WoW is king.

 

Kings fall.

 

P.S. Final Fantasy XI isn't dying because of WoW. In fact, I had many a player that came to FFXI from WoW in my linkshell. Final Fantasy XI is dying because Square Enix has shifted their focus, they care more about Final Fantasy 14 and trying to prop that up than they care about FFXI. Til recently, they had suspended trial accounts, new players are the life blood of an mmo. In the same way that Square Enix is killing FFXI, Blizzard will also eventually kill WoW. If you think WoW is here forever, think again. I can't say when it will die, but it will die. Star Wars Galaxies is a prime example of this.

Edited February 6, 2012 by YukariOro

[ShaftyMcShaft]

Yuk: if you don't play for the end game, why play an mmo? That's the whole idea...that it's a persistent world that doesn't end when you hit max level and kill the boss guy like every other RPG, and that's why you pay a subscription instead of a one time fee.

 

I hit 50 and finished my class story (and yes, "finished" because ya know it stops there, right?) in about 110 hours /played. And I did every side quest, every planet quest, every heroic and only started space barring the fetch quests at about level 35. Single player RPGs like final fantasy or mass effect only have about 50 hours of gameplay to finish their stories...so that's all this is then. A subscription fee for a game only twice as long as a single player RPG. And a good chunk of that time padded running through orbital stations and loading screens.

 

Doesn't matter how bad other mmos are, I expected this one to improve the genre, and instead it took giant steps backwards. It's a wow clone, but without any of the stuff that made wow any good.

Edited February 6, 2012 by ShaftyMcShaft

[YukariOro]

Yuk: if you don't play for the end game, why play an mm? That's the whole idea...that it's a persistent world that doesn't end when you hit max level and kill the boss guy like every other RPG, and that's why you pay a subscription instead of a one time fee.

 

I play for the same reason I played rpgs before I played mmoRPGs. I think a lot of people foget the RPG in MMORPGs. I play because I love to explore, I play because I love to level and learn a new class, I love to level. There are a lot of people like me in MMOs, more than most endgamers realize. I love to discover the story in the mmoRPG. I love to see the interplay between the different npcs, and yes, even the factions. I love to spend the time with friends as well.

 

Endgame is never what drew me. I began my first mmo NOT because it was an mmo, but because it was a Final Fantasy and my friend offered me the trial buddy pass that his game came with. I stuck with it, and moved onto other mmos even, he didn't.

 

When I ran out of spaces on my main server for new characters on WoW, I started a SECOND account, because it's the leveling and exploring, the story, the learning the classes, that I love so much.

 

I hit 50 and finished my class story (and yes, "finished" because ya know it stops there, right?) in about 110 hours /played. And I did every side quest, every planet quest, every heroic and only started space barring the fetch quests at about level 35. Single player RPGs like final fantasy or mass effect only have about 50 hours of gameplay to finish their stories...so that's all this is then. A subscription fee for a game only twice as long as a single player RPG. And a good chunk of that time padded running through orbital stations and loading screens.

 

I've explored enough in the older Final Fantasy to know they can far exceed 50 hours. In fact, in FF7 I exceeded the clock, it's stuck at 99 hours, the limit. BioWare always had loading screens, in every one of their games, why you would be surprised that their mmo has loading screens, beats me. Or were you expecting BioWare to pretend to be Blizzard?

 

Doesn't matter how bad other mmos are, I expected this one to improve the genre, and instead it took giant steps backwards. It's a wow clone, but without any of the stuff that made wow any good.

 

Honestly, I don't see how it took the genre backwards. I see a lot of people complaining because it ISN'T WoW, yet complaining because parts of it ARE like WoW. You have the kill and fetch quest sytem. I've yet to see anyone offer a single alternative, the only one I know of is to grind out killing mobs and believe me that gets old. I see a lot of people complaining, what I don't see is anyone offering alternatives to these options. People's complaints have been anything BUT constructive. You want the problem solved, far be it from you to come up with the solution tho.

 

And games that TRIED to be innovative and break from the WoW quest and fetch system (Star Wars Galaxies anyone?), failed because players didn't want that. They wanted WoW. Nevermind that they left WoW for a reason, something about WoW bothered them, left them dissatisfied. They still expect to find WoW when they join a new game, or for the developers to do something dramatically different from WoW. Make up your mind, do you want WoW or do you not want WoW? Because most of you seem to complain because it doesn't have WoW features, and in the same breath complain because it resembles WoW too much. Nowhere have I seen a single WoW fanboy offer a solution, they just rant and complain and often contradict themselves in the same breath.

 

I happen to like SWTOR, I enjoy the storyline, Star Wars always was more about story than space anyhow, so I'm not the least upset about things like not having fancy space fights and so forth. Star Wars was a Western/Samurai drama set in space, if you expect any different, then you never bothered to learn Star Wars's core roots.

 

P.S. I come from the days when RPGs weren't on the computer or console. This was the pre-Atari days. This was when I played Zork on the computer, a text only rpg game. RPGs were what my friend's brother played with his friends at the kitchen table. How were those NOT mmos, I ask you? Obviously it was more than one person playing. What I like is that BioWare has tried to bring the RPG back to MMOs. Somewhere along the way, the RPG in mmorpg got lost, I'm enjoying SWTOR because BioWare took the time to remember the rpg. MMORPGs have a long history before they were ever translated to the console or computer, and most of them never had endgame, ever.

 

That's why for me, WoW is an obvious rip off of the D&D that my friend's brother played with his friends. Most every single fantasy RPG is, even the Final Fantasies drew a lot from those early table top RPGs. WoW isn't the stunning breakthrough a lot of people think it is. What it is, is a fairly good mmorpg that knows how to market themselves well, period.

Edited February 6, 2012 by YukariOro

[Marmerus]

And is terrible in part because of those.

 

I agree. This is not WoW. Group content ruins the community!

[CygnusMX]

Interesting when ppl are against something never played... Do you rate a game just by the graphic?

Is like sayin: "i never know you, but im sure you are stupid cuz you look like a stupid".

Wow is really old now, old graphic old game bizarre ideas to renew it like pandas.. but without WOW (and other MMOs ofc) TOR it wouldnt exists..

Tor is a good game but needs some improvement...

 

I gave wow approx. 20 days , alot of hours and found it ugly and boreing with a graphic design that i did not like .

You are right to me it was stupid because it looked stupid, thats one of the reasons.

And I'm sure many mmo's would exist today because WoW not was the 1st mmo ever created.I'm no mmo expert but I'm sure there are plenty of mmo vets that were playing mmo's before WoW was ever developed.

Edited February 6, 2012 by CygnusMX

[BlakeZander]

An other dud thinking SWToR should be compered to a game that is from the stone age.

 

Here is some other facts you have to take into account.

 

SWToR is the world’s most expensive game ever made.

SWToR is the world’s biggest MMO ever release.

SWToR has the world’s biggest multimedia name backing it up, Star Wars.

SWToR is released in 2012 (more or less) and not in 2004.

BW/EA has stated that they compere SWToR against WoW as it is TODAY.

Moste people coming to SWToR have experience from other MMO's.

Moste people coming to SWToR WILL compare SWToR against the other MMO they have played.

 

Any idea of comparing a game today against something that was made for 8 years ago is just pure stupidity.

 

SWToR CAN NOT BE COMPERED TO A GAME THAT WAS MADE 8 YEARS AGO!

It must be compered against games that is made today.

 

Well said. Consider me as a fan of yours.

[LogicalPremise]

WoW is garbage, plain and simple.

 

The fact SWTOR doesn't measure up to it in some areas is an embarrassment. But that doesn't change the fact that everything in WoW is utterly derivative, about as deep as the water in SWTOR, and based on a concept of catering to people I'm not sure even qualify as sentient.

 

WoW isn't even superior to STO or FFIX.

 

It's not even superior to f'ing WARHAMMER.

[glenbruton]

Look, this is very, very simple:

 

If you don't think STWOR compares to WoW, then go play WoW. It's still running, you know. It's funny how many people say WoW is the superior game... here.

 

I know! Its so weird.

 

<tinfoil hat>Is Activision paying for SWTOR subs jsut so their reps can troll the forums?! </tinfoil hat>

[utal]

wow, was fun when my friends played it.

 

they left, aaaand.... game was old and run down like a polish whore house.

 

sw:tor, i was skeptical. i dont LOVE star wars... i enjoyed the movies enough though.

picked it up. i havent logged into wow since.

 

it's not that its "better" or "worse".... its that its "fun"... something that wow is not (for me anyway, not anymore...)

 

rip: wow

[BlakeZander]

Wow. the story of your character can't be change at all.

 

Swtor is fun because my trooper is on the dark side.

[Kuriby]

Sorry to bust your bubble OP... but this is 2012... games are COMPARED to the games they are pitched against during release.

 

Should I compare SWTOR to the release of PONG?

 

Should I compare BF3 release to the release of BF1949?

 

Should I compare super mario Wii to super mario NES?

 

I think you got the point.

[Romiz]

OP it was nice to finally see a honest compare of the games. Edited February 7, 2012 by Romiz

[Romiz]

Its funny when people try and compare Swtor release to WOW release, cuz u know, wow was released how many years ago? U have to compare the current state of games, regardless of being newly released or not. Like cmon, how dumb do u think game companies are lol.

 

"Herp derp, But vanilla Swtor (released in late 2011) is better then vanilla WoW (released in late 2004)."

 

LOL cmon man, cmon. If MMO "makers" thrive to be better then the release of a 2004 game, instead of trying to be better then the 7 years of improving that went into it, then they have no buisiness in MMO's (a.k.a Bioware).

 

You are also in a dream world with that statement. Last I looked since 2004 we are STILL humans and did not advance to a new state of being. Humans will ALWAYS make errors that is a given.

 

TO ERROR IS HUMAN

[Romiz]

You haven't yet but I suspect you'll be the one to godwin this thread, That was the worst post here.

 

That was in fact the best post. Comparing to Arab Spring is a very honest and correct comparison.

[donnajuan]

Just because the largest subscriber base game does it, does not mean that its the new standard. Frankly many of the features that WoW put in where due to an instant gratification play style of their player base. Not because they where actually features that are a must have. Sorry but Cross-Server LFG ruined server community. MoDs and other features also cause community issues and honestly a game is better without those issues.

 

Most of the features that WoW has come out with sense BC, have done more to destroy the community on the servers then actually make the game challenging and fun to play. Most of the features dint actually fix anything or make content worth doing. All they did was make it easier for more people to do said content. Used to be having a full set of tier gear meant something, not just to you but to the players that saw you in it. They knew you had to put in the time and effort to acquire it and you kept it in your bank even after getting the next tier up.

 

Sorry making a game where everybody can get everything is not a good standard to emulate. It is not poor design on the games part that folks are not willing to do what is necessary to achieve what other players in the game have. It is the fault of the player for being lazy.

"Server communities" can exist in a game with X-server WZ. If you don't want to BG X-server or dungeon X-server then don't. Do you know every kid that you randomly queue with in a WZ, no I am sure you don't; you queue kill things farm up for you silly little RNG bag (random chance at champion gear no matter how bad you are lul free loot) and go about your day. Having a FULL set in this game means nothing so you ran a bunch of heroics grats you have extremely decent gear. Just like in this game, you may not see it as often but thats because it hard to find a group not because the content is hard. According to wowprogress with the recent buff mechanic implemented there are only 250 guilds in the WORLD that have done all their content in "easy" WoW. In the "lolwrath" days yes heroic 5mans were a joke and yes a lot of content was "easy" on normal, but even with mods macros etc. I was previlaged enough to do Sarth3D 10man and was in the top .01 percent of guilds. There were plenty of bosses people did not kill when of the proper gear level in WoW. That is the best part about all of these arguments, people say WoW is easy but then you come to find out they were bad at it.

 

Wasting time is NOT challenging its wasting time. No LFG and running around spamming for one in RP, doing nothing else since you need to be in RP so you can SPAM general(ya thats what it is spam) is a waste of time. Want to know why everyone PvPs because they can quest and queue at the same time its a "CRAZY" idea. Rift seems to be doing quite well with all of its cross server functionality. The difference between having these functions and not having them is that you don't have to use them, but players like myself suffer without them. Sorry I have things to do and I don't want to stand around waiting. I want every BG I queue in to be full and not this silly 5v8 crap, I get since I play republic at odd hours.

 

If you want to take shots at design lets compare Illum to Wintergraps.

Illum

1. No real objective, besides farming valor (aka kill trading)

2. Population imbalance, world PvP more like 50v20, funny because they could just cap the phase to 40 of a specific faction and create a new phase for anything over that and if Imps end up in zones alone oh well, it would be a natural incentive to reroll and would leave republic a lot happier.

3. Lagfest

 

Wintergrasp

1. PvP raid bosses (an actual reason to try to win!)

2. Only active every 2hrs incentive to actually be there and attempt to properly play in the area

3. Bolsters weaker side

 

If you want to have a giant interactive chat room Second Life will be more than welcome to have you, but during the time I have to play. I would like it to be optimal and enjoyable. And currently this game is failing to execute. I don't care about easy gear, I care about efficiency. What is inefficient about playing with random players from a different server when I will be playing with randoms from my server anyway?

 

The days of Vanilla are gone and this holding hands and skipping into the sunset server community stuff was fun, back in the day but now the targeted group has gotten older and is not sitting in the dorm anymore. We have FT jobs, wives etc that we need to tend to so our few hrs of fun time should be optimal and if getting a GROUP (not loot) fast is instant gratification so be it.

 

Also I would like to say I do like a lot of things about this game; but, I believe the way Bioware has chosen to interfact with players and implement grouping is beyond poor.

 

Also things like UI customization, macroing and combat logs allow other communities to spark up around the game. The reason why WoW is popular is because you can always be "WoW-ing" you may not be playing the game but there is so much data out there to read up on etc. Yes, damage meters are annoying for some who want to play the game their way or not to be compared to others, but at the same time it allows for players to push developers. No meters etc you will never see know exactly how much damage you are doing, or see the intricate encounters that you see in WoW hard modes. Also it basically allows for the developers to be lazy. WoW currently design with information being free to all etc, has basically pushed the developers into making better harder content and pushed the skill level number crunching etc of other players up. If you don't like pushing yourself whats the point in gaming .

Edited February 7, 2012 by donnajuan

[ShaftyMcShaft]

WoW is garbage, plain and simple.

 

The fact SWTOR doesn't measure up to it in some areas is an embarrassment. But that doesn't change the fact that everything in WoW is utterly derivative, about as deep as the water in SWTOR, and based on a concept of catering to people I'm not sure even qualify as sentient.

 

WoW isn't even superior to STO or FFIX.

 

It's not even superior to f'ing WARHAMMER.

 

but...you like SWTOR? You know it's exactly like WoW, except with an even more static environment, terrible lack of features, awful UI, no class balance, and tons of bugs?

 

I just don't get the people who claim to hate WoW, but love SWTOR. Besides the neat one time voice acting, in what way is SWTOR better than WoW?

[Kubernetic]

but...you like SWTOR? You know it's exactly like WoW, except with an even more static environment, terrible lack of features, awful UI, no class balance, and tons of bugs?

 

I just don't get the people who claim to hate WoW, but love SWTOR. Besides the neat one time voice acting, in what way is SWTOR better than WoW?

 

WOW doesn't have blasters, droids, implants, and space ships.

[Ansultares]

No batttlegrounds, no world pvp hubs. The only pvp that existed was defending Crossroads from all the jerks who would zerg it and try to gank the lowbies and kill the flight master/quest givers. I can remember logging off for hours to go play an alt just because I was unable to continue questing in the area. That's not very fun pvp in my opinion.

WoW had overlapping faction content. That alone made world PvP 10x better in WoW than in TOR.

 

Crossroads wasn't even a zerg location; Southshore/Tarren Mill was. It developed organically because of city locations, respawn locations, and the propensity to generate organic world PvP via to overlapping faction content.

 

I don't know what you mean by world PvP hubs; dedicated world PvP zones like Ilum do not work. It only worked in DAoC because DAoC featured an extensive world PvP "zone," and generally lacked for PvE.

 

Lastly, if you're having trouble completing quests in the Barrens, why did you roll on a PvP server?

[SwigMcJigger]

I see people who don't compare swtor to wow and I think "It's 2012, who the hell do they think the competition is, EQ? Nobody buys a new car, discovers it's missing many standard features and say 'oh well, the ford model T never had airbags'"

 

The thought process of these fanatical boys is bizarre.

Edited February 7, 2012 by SwigMcJigger

[Mcfondles]

This thread doesn't take into account when WoW was released...

 

I mean I agree with it that swtor has a lot more to offer than WoW did at launch.. BUT, naturally everyone is gonna compare the mmo to WoW.. They are thinking "Why should I stick around and wait for this game to get good when I could just go play a finished game that's been out for years."

 

I for one like to see the development of mmos.. and like to take advantage of playing when they're first released.. Maybe I'll get some gear that will be harder or impossible to get in the future.. And it's all just gonna seem that much better when I compare the first released TOR to the one I am playing to date.

[revboy]

I still like WOW. But I must admit, i had low expectations for this game but i was wrong. Im not far in yet, but I love the story line in this game. I actually care what happens next with the story but in WOW like the original poster said before, i just didn't even read the story behind the quests. I think if wow had speech for the story it would have been great.

Anyway i am loving this game .

[Romiz]

WoW had overlapping faction content. That alone made world PvP 10x better in WoW than in TOR.

 

Crossroads wasn't even a zerg location; Southshore/Tarren Mill was. It developed organically because of city locations, respawn locations, and the propensity to generate organic world PvP via to overlapping faction content.

 

I don't know what you mean by world PvP hubs; dedicated world PvP zones like Ilum do not work. It only worked in DAoC because DAoC featured an extensive world PvP "zone," and generally lacked for PvE.

 

Lastly, if you're having trouble completing quests in the Barrens, why did you roll on a PvP server?

 

Just a question have you played to the 3rd planet. That is when the factions overlap in TOR.

[Amodytes]

I have spend like 2 hrs reading threads, true is imo this game its simply beautyful, story lines, skills, and simplist char look it makes this game awosme., i understood BW work on UI, thats awsome...but one more problem here...if u can join in PvP nomatter where are u, why u cant do that for PvE also...for example in last 3 days couldn't do any FP (im just lvl 40) cuz i have to stay in that station and spam all day long "LFG FP ........."..and ofc i rather do smth instead of spam it all day i just go questing...so this matter need an impruvement...also macro issue...but im not so sure it will be a good thing introducing macro's, in rest, AWSOME game, and i played alot..>WoW 5 years, Lineage 2, Aion just 1,STO,Rift ..and i dont count here games like Everquest wich i played under one year.

 

Please excuse my bad english, im 44 years old and never learn eng in school, what i'v learned is from MMO's