DragonAgeOrgins Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Two weeks ago, EA and BioWare announced unsurprisingly a shift to a free-to-play model for it's Star Wars: The Old Republic. Originally a highly anticipated title, The Old Republic reached a high point of 1.7 million subscribers shortly after its release. Unfortunately, the numbers tumbled downhill after that, losing well over 700,000 subscribers. Despite the loss, BioWare takes to the stage at this year's Gamescom with enthusiasm for the game's future. “The market is clearly becoming a free-to-play market in the MMO space. It appears that’s the direction the whole industry is going," states Matthew Bromberg, BioWare Austin's general manager. "Our own research told us that a significant percentage of the folks who have left the game, left because of the commitment to the subscription model. It’s not that surprising if you think about it because the dynamic in an MMO is essentially one in which you subscribe and then you’re waiting for new content, and people don’t feel good about waiting.” In addition to the change in subscription model, the company promises to bring along more frequent content updates. Bromberg states the updates will be free for those who remain subscribed, while free-to-play players will have to purchase them for an undisclosed fee. These updates will push for more social interaction with additional group content, operations, warzones, flashpoints, and social events. For the players who do like the cinematic story-driven solo content, Bromberg promises more of that is on the way as well, along with an increased level cap and additional quests on the planet of Makeb. Despite losing a staggering number of subscribers, BioWare seems to be confident in the title's potential to live up to its expectations. Will the shift in subscription model and upcoming content updates be enough to bring you back to the game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon_strikes Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 (edited) Wow, this game is getting more and more hate before GW2 launches. Poor SWTOR. I'm pretty dissatisfied with this MMO, too. It failed to live up to its hype but more specifically, my expectations. This MMO was an on-rails, themepark MMO. BioWare even said that there would be sandbox elements added to the game, but were they ever added? No. One of the many lies made by BioWare to the community. In my opinion, I just think that a themepark MMO isn't the way to go for a huge IP such as Star Wars. If a Star Wars MMO had more sandbox/PvP customization added to it with tons of Open World that would create land, space and maybe even sky battles then I bet you this game would be reeling in players everyday! This Open World PvP could include not only the Republic and Imperials, but a neutral faction as well but they wouldn't necessarily take part in the wars as much as the two big factions. The themepark could be mixed in with this, and the game would give out many rewards, buffs, events that can change the tide of battles taking place on lots and lots of planets. What I just explained could be a new SW MMO in and of itself, but in the end, an on-rails, themepark MMO just restricts this game to grow and expand. What I just explained could be the start of it, because we don't see the huge dogfights and epic sieges we see in the movies and TV shows and I highly doubt we ever will because BioWare decided to purchase and finish a completely unoptimized, old and unfinished engine which is now a load of BS. Any and all huge OPvP we'll see in the future will end up being chopped up like Ilum. RIP SWTOR in the months ahead. All that will be left of you is a niche that clearly support BioWare in almost everything of this game, lots re-rolling a ton of characters and enjoying the grind of boring side-quests and linear story. Now thinking about it, this could have just been an RPG, single-player game. Please BioWare, learn from this and NEVER, EVER make a story-driven MMO ever again! Edited August 21, 2012 by HomicidalWhales Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAgeOrgins Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 I agree with this should have been a single player game. They spent almost a decade (Seriously) writing up the script for this before releasing it. They spent years and 150 million dollars. With a game they could have made the sequel, and another sequel They have enough content in class storys in the game for at least five different games. It would made them a ton of money. Now they have to work out bugs and put DA3 on the shelf while they do the never ending task of completing the MMO. Which never really is ever completed. It just takes longer and longer. It was a good try however but more research about the games engine and other stuff should have been made. I like the storylines, class ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malles Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Yeah truthfully, the storylines are the only things keeping me in the game right now. PvE is either a hit-or-miss bug fest or daily grind and PvP is a contest of seeing who can get their Resolve bar up first and ROFLstomp everybody. So far the only "new" things I've seen were class-specific stories and Huttball. And since the cinematics STILL bug (hanging lightsaber blades, anyone?), the only thing they did right in the game was Huttball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malles Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Wow, this game is getting more and more hate before GW2 launches. Poor SWTOR. I'm pretty dissatisfied with this MMO, too. It failed to live up to its hype but more specifically, my expectations. This MMO was an on-rails, themepark MMO. BioWare even said that there would be sandbox elements added to the game, but were they ever added? No. One of the many lies made by BioWare to the community. In my opinion, I just think that a themepark MMO isn't the way to go for a huge IP such as Star Wars. If a Star Wars MMO had more sandbox/PvP customization added to it with tons of Open World that would create land, space and maybe even sky battles then I bet you this game would be reeling in players everyday! This Open World PvP could include not only the Republic and Imperials, but a neutral faction as well but they wouldn't necessarily take part in the wars as much as the two big factions. The themepark could be mixed in with this, and the game would give out many rewards, buffs, events that can change the tide of battles taking place on lots and lots of planets. What I just explained could be a new SW MMO in and of itself, but in the end, an on-rails, themepark MMO just restricts this game to grow and expand. What I just explained could be the start of it, because we don't see the huge dogfights and epic sieges we see in the movies and TV shows and I highly doubt we ever will because BioWare decided to purchase and finish a completely unoptimized, old and unfinished engine which is now a load of BS. Any and all huge OPvP we'll see in the future will end up being chopped up like Ilum. RIP SWTOR in the months ahead. All that will be left of you is a niche that clearly support BioWare in almost everything of this game, lots re-rolling a ton of characters and enjoying the grind of boring side-quests and linear story. Now thinking about it, this could have just been an RPG, single-player game. Please BioWare, learn from this and NEVER, EVER make a story-driven MMO ever again! The story is fine. The idea was sound. It was the delivery that screwed it all up. It wasn't BioWare, they know how to make a game. It was EA thinking they could run an MMO like they could run the Madden NFL series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malckiah Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 (edited) hahaha, Also you keep saying "look at all this awesome stuff coming....eventually, soon, one day, it will be awesome"... People are starting to get the Cry wolf feeling. Like "hey everyone we are coming out with something that turns water into wine & led into gold... coming soon!" Your loosing creditability. Wow! This is so very true. Sad but true. Look, I live in Austin...I love the game. I play the game. But I will admit I am getting soooo tired of the hopes never happening. They need to add more content more often ....NOW. And when I say more content......Sure more story and pvp and the like is great.....But what I am talking about is More character customization....Barber shops, tons more wearable gear, and millions of acheivements. When it gets to the end of the day I want my character to be unique and awesome.....period. Get this then move on from there. Edited August 21, 2012 by Malckiah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon_strikes Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Wow! This is so very true. Sad but true. Look, I live in Austin...I love the game. I play the game. But I will admit I am getting soooo tired of the hopes never happening. They need to add more content more often ....NOW. And when I say more content......Sure more story and pvp and the like is great.....But what I am talking about is More character customization....Barber shops, tons more wearable gear, and millions of acheivements. When it gets to the end of the day I want my character to be unique and awesome.....period. Get this then move on from there. This MMO's longevity to play it isn't so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts