Can SWTOR ever recover from the abyss of bad reviews

[DarthMaulUK]

Can the game ever recover? No.

 

Look at the empty servers. And this comes AFTER the release of a hugely successful Star Wars movie. SWTOR has spent the past 12 months trying to be a single player story experience and it fell flat on its face.

 

There was a time when the developers actually put some love in their updates, spent time giving us value for money Cartel Packs - but now this game is just a cash grab with endless reskins and crap fillers in Cartel packs, no actual new content for over 18 months and a story where they claimed 'choices matter'.

 

I've just returned to WoW after 5 years away and although their Invasions are almost a copy/paste of Rifts erm Rifts - there's huge groups all doing the content together.

 

Imagine if Bioware had a creative gene in their blood stream - imagine how much fun it would have been to see starting planets like DK & Coruscant raided by Arcan and his endless Skytroopers? Imagine people banding together - Imperial and Republic to try and defeat their common enemy, to gain cool rewards, XP and other goodies.

 

Over history, there's only 2 MMOs that have managed to increase their subscriber base over its original launch - that is WoW and EvE.

 

And with Biowares yearly promise of 'better communication and transparency' - is it any wonder people are fed up and left? We just want a better experience because this is supposed to be Star Wars, its just a shame the Devs can't see that too.

Edited August 17, 2016 by DarthMaulUK

[AlienEyeTX]

Five years in. I think the game just might make it.

[Thoronmir]

If memory serves, Bud (Ed Harris) and the other characters in James Cameron's The Abyss never did recover from the Abyss. It took intervention by the water-aliens at the bottom of the Abyss. Under that precedent, SWTOR can recover, but only by means of altruistic water-aliens. In other words ... some new content for Manaan. Edited August 17, 2016 by Thoronmir

[peter_plankskull]

You should NEVER trust reviews from the likes of IGN & Gamespot. Their entire review process is based on how much money the company gives them in terms of advertising revenue, in exchange for a good review score.

 

At launch, EA gave PC Gamer a ton of cash to a) do a huge feature b) make a guild in the game - they did both and what a surprise, they gave this game 93%. They hand out 90+ scores to any unfinished game that throws money at them.

 

If you are needing proof - just search out Kane & Lynch, Eidos & Gamespot

 

NEVER trust a review - its the age we live in.

 

Honestly I think IGN is garbage, but their KOTFE review was pretty solid. For instance, they give several big names like COD a 10/10 for being practically the same garbage each year, but take a small game like TMNT smash up and give it a 7/10 for being to similar to smash bros.

 

I only named them because its what SWTOR devs hold dearly apparently, since the first thing you see once you type in SWTOR under the filter is IGNs review of it which is a 9/10. I mostly rely on Angry Joe... he practically nails every review, the only ones I don't agree on are his MGS reviews, those require completion of past games to truly understand the series as a whole.

[Tsetso]

Honestly I think IGN is garbage, but their KOTFE review was pretty solid. For instance, they give several big names like COD a 10/10 for being practically the same garbage each year, but take a small game like TMNT smash up and give it a 7/10 for being to similar to smash bros.

 

I only named them because its what SWTOR devs hold dearly apparently, since the first thing you see once you type in SWTOR under the filter is IGNs review of it which is a 9/10. I mostly rely on Angry Joe... he practically nails every review, the only ones I don't agree on are his MGS reviews, those require completion of past games to truly understand the series as a whole.

 

Not true - they gave it 6.5 http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/11/star-wars-the-old-republic-knights-of-the-fallen-empire-review

[sithlordschmidt]

If memory serves, the Ed Harris and the other characters in James Cameron's The Abyss never did recover from the Abyss. It took intervention by the water-aliens at the bottom of the Abyss. Under that precedent, SWTOR can recover, but only by means of altruistic water-aliens. In other words ... some new content for Manaan.

 

I don't completely follow the logic that led to your conclusion, but I will wholeheartedly endorse any idea that involves more Manaan content.

[Jamtas]

Not true - they gave it 6.5 http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/11/star-wars-the-old-republic-knights-of-the-fallen-empire-review

 

His review started with "I like Koth Vortena"

 

...

 

lost me there. but I read on. I actually tend to agree witha lot of what was said including the verdict:

 

"Knights of the Fallen Empire represents the pinnacle of this troubled MMORPG's storytelling prowess, but unfortunately its other elements fall short. The overly easy combat is a sad shadow of what Star Wars: The Old Republic has offered in the past, and the endgame leans too much on recycled content and samey instances."

[Lunafox]

What bad reviews?

 

Someone complaining in the forums isn't a review.

 

This. I think this. People have complained about the game, since about 2 months after release, because the devs didn't count on fans being such freaks as to devour eight class stories and other content in less than that time.

 

There has always been someone complaining about something...lack of this, lack of that, need more of this or that...but that doesn't qualify as 'an abyss of bad reviews'.

[DarthMaulUK]

. I mostly rely on Angry Joe... he practically nails every review, the only ones I don't agree on are his MGS reviews, those require completion of past games to truly understand the series as a whole.

Same. I just wished I saw his review before I purchased Rome 2! But - he spent some time with Sega and their Warhammer TW game, but oddly enough he hasn't reviewed it so I am guessing he didn't like and can't talk about it.

 

But with more publishers moving to streamers/youtube to promote their games - its gonna open up a whole new can of worms.

[DarthMaulUK]

This. I think this. People have complained about the game, since about 2 months after release, because the devs didn't count on fans being such freaks as to devour eight class stories and other content in less than that time.

 

There has always been someone complaining about something...lack of this, lack of that, need more of this or that...but that doesn't qualify as 'an abyss of bad reviews'.

 

The game was released too early. EA didn't learn from their Warhammer mistakes. Remember - Bioware wasn't owned by EA during the time SWTOR was born. It was being led by LucasArts until EA took over everything, blinked - and wanted to cash in for year end financials. When over 800k leave your game in just 30 days(from 2m sales) followed by another 400k by the start of the summer, there's a serious problem.

[Aowin]

..

 

Not that reviews hold much probative value for the quality of a game to start, but you'd have a stronger argument, OP, if you actually linked this "abyss of bad reviews." Just taking your word for it doesn't mean a whole lot and leads me to believe this is just another baseless and pointless negative thread for the sake of whining.

 

As far as I'm concerned, SWTOR is far better now than it has been for the last four years of sub par and uninteresting content updates and uninspiring expansions.

[Aowin]

The game was released too early. EA didn't learn from their Warhammer mistakes. Remember - Bioware wasn't owned by EA during the time SWTOR was born. It was being led by LucasArts until EA took over everything, blinked - and wanted to cash in for year end financials. When over 800k leave your game in just 30 days(from 2m sales) followed by another 400k by the start of the summer, there's a serious problem.

 

Over 700K left the game after three months, not one month. Also, the game had a player base just over 1.1 million players. Your numbers are horrifically inaccurate. You can blame EA all you want, but BioWare's budget for SWTOR went through the roof once EA acquired them. Eight class stories at launch would not have been possible without EA's involvement. SWTOR would have been an entirely different game.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Aowin

[peter_plankskull]

Not true - they gave it 6.5 http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/11/star-wars-the-old-republic-knights-of-the-fallen-empire-review

 

Swtor review is 9/10... KOTFE review is 6.5/10...

Edited August 17, 2016 by peter_plankskull

[ikinai]

Can SWtoR ever recover from the abyss of bad reviews? Can Ben jedi mindtrick Eric into believing it's butter? Will Angie forgive Nancy for stealing her man? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of As the Devs Code!

[Savej]

Before and shortly after release this game had great reviews from gaming sites. And lots of people (millions) did come try it. It had every chance to succeed. Recovering from bad first impressions? Many games have done well after the first few months didn't go well, Wow is one of those games. But Wow had the luxury of having little competition. This game has been mostly riding on its IP. It had a chance to reinvent itself with the new movie bringing in lots of interest but I think the decision makers toook the opportunity to repeat all of the same mistakes that the original creators did.

[Ovanmaru]

Bioware literally sells hotbars to their players. They deserve every bad review they've ever gotten for pullin **** like that at every corner. I've played hundreds of sketchy F2P MMORPGs and I've never seen such a money-grubbing F2P model. I'd like to add that this is coming from someone who lives a very comfortable life so money is not the issue...its the quality of the product that has me concerned.

 

I can't even GET my friends to try another MMORPG because they assume its going to be another shill fest like SWTOR was.

 

Focus more on making a fun game than your bottom line, then maybe they'll earn some solid reviews. But lets be honest, that will NEVER happen.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Ovanmaru

[iowaboynca]

... some new content for Manaan.

 

Manaan...Manaan...doo doo do do doooooo

 

(no selkath)

[Deewe]

For recovering it needs a full relaunch.

Unless you tag it Star Wars The NEW Republic you won't take off.

Issue is the investors have been burn out with the SWTOR financial fiasco.

 

Advertisement related it can be tied to the launch of a new movie.

 

• A new engine is critical for this task
  
• All the existing content would be recycled and slightly tweaked.
  
• Needs to RMT content first convenience second.
  
• Allow players to tweak the difficulty and XP gain client side.
  
• Keep the single player mode for the RPers, though add incentives for grouped content
  
• Throw in a couple of minigames Pazaak, Swoop Racing..
  

.

 

 

One of the first patch would be Ship furnishing with 3d movement in the hooks even remove them totally

The first XPack would be an X-Wing vs Tie Fighter flight simulator with VR option

 

And bring in the WAR, I mean when you control an area or a planet it has a real effect. With this it needs a 3rd faction altogether.

[DarthMaulUK]

Bioware literally sells hotbars to their players. They deserve every bad review they've ever gotten for pullin **** like that at every corner. I've played hundreds of sketchy F2P MMORPGs and I've never seen such a money-grubbing F2P model. .[/size]

 

The 'f2p' model was punishment to players for hating their game in the first place. 4 years on from the launch of f2p, they still haven't discovered that if you lock content behind paywalls, no one will buy it.

[DarthMaulUK]

Over 700K left the game after three months, not one month. Also, the game had a player base just over 1.1 million players. Your numbers are horrifically inaccurate. You can blame EA all you want, but BioWare's budget for SWTOR went through the roof once EA acquired them. Eight class stories at launch would not have been possible without EA's involvement. SWTOR would have been an entirely different game.

 

Says the person who doesn't back up his baseless facts.

The game SOLD 2m copies. However for some weird reason only 1.7m actually installed it to play

 

To quote the story

Perhaps most interestingly to players, however, is the fact that EA has reported sales of more than 2 million units of The Old Republic with about 1.7 million subscribers

 

By February, there were only 1m subscribers - which INCLUDED trial players then by July, another 400k left.

 

The truth is, no one really knows since EA hid the sub numbers within trial player accounts before the long summer of silence (a Bioware trademark) until October when f2p launched.

 

And yes you can blame EA. It was their 2nd chance at taking on Blizzard in the only market they haven't had a hit game in - MMOs. After they purchased Mythic and forced them to push Warhammer out unfinished, they did exactly the same with SWTOR. This was their original vision - I know - I actually interviewed Jake Neri who was producer at LucasArts before the dark times.

 

My favourite line will always be James O telling everything how un heroic it was to have scores of players beating down on 1 boss and that SWTOR wouldn't be like that.

[Jamtas]

The 'f2p' model was punishment to players for hating their game in the first place. 4 years on from the launch of f2p, they still haven't discovered that if you lock content behind paywalls, no one will buy it.

 

So the solution to get people to pay for it is to give it all away for free?

[TUXs]

Bioware literally sells hotbars to their players. They deserve every bad review they've ever gotten for pullin **** like that at every corner. I've played hundreds of sketchy F2P MMORPGs and I've never seen such a money-grubbing F2P model. I'd like to add that this is coming from someone who lives a very comfortable life so money is not the issue...its the quality of the product that has me concerned.

 

I can't even GET my friends to try another MMORPG because they assume its going to be another shill fest like SWTOR was.

 

Focus more on making a fun game than your bottom line, then maybe they'll earn some solid reviews. But lets be honest, that will NEVER happen.

I found this funny, yet scarily accurate...

[HuaRya]

No it cannot, its too late for this game. Its almost 5 years old

It was a failed experiment from the start. The developers just strung along as most as they could all the starwars nerds so they could squeeze them until they could cover the cost of development and then get some profit.

Everybody who had played an MMO back when this game launched could see this was going to be a flop.

And on top the the failed experiment design, they had that engine.

Cant build a castle on sand.

 

Speak for yourself. I'm playing SWTOR because of KOTOR and have never played (nor ever will again) an MMO. Metacritic gave SWTOR an 85 http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-wars-the-old-republic so I the OP is wrong.

[KnownError]

Says the person who doesn't back up his baseless facts.

The game SOLD 2m copies. However for some weird reason only 1.7m actually installed it to play

 

To quote the story

Perhaps most interestingly to players, however, is the fact that EA has reported sales of more than 2 million units of The Old Republic with about 1.7 million subscribers

 

By February, there were only 1m subscribers - which INCLUDED trial players then by July, another 400k left.

 

The truth is, no one really knows since EA hid the sub numbers within trial player accounts before the long summer of silence (a Bioware trademark) until October when f2p launched.

 

And yes you can blame EA. It was their 2nd chance at taking on Blizzard in the only market they haven't had a hit game in - MMOs. After they purchased Mythic and forced them to push Warhammer out unfinished, they did exactly the same with SWTOR. This was their original vision - I know - I actually interviewed Jake Neri who was producer at LucasArts before the dark times.

 

My favourite line will always be James O telling everything how un heroic it was to have scores of players beating down on 1 boss and that SWTOR wouldn't be like that.

 

To be honest, I'm not really going to believe anything EA says. They are listed as one of the worse companies in history.

 

Also, business will lie about all their stats or manipulate it in their favor and business strategy purposes. So, take most of that information from companies with a grain of salt.

[Deewe]

Says the person who doesn't back up his baseless facts.

The game SOLD 2m copies. However for some weird reason only 1.7m actually installed it to play

 

To quote the story

Perhaps most interestingly to players, however, is the fact that EA has reported sales of more than 2 million units of The Old Republic with about 1.7 million subscribers

 

By February, there were only 1m subscribers - which INCLUDED trial players then by July, another 400k left.

 

The truth is, no one really knows since EA hid the sub numbers within trial player accounts before the long summer of silence (a Bioware trademark) until October when f2p launched.

 

And yes you can blame EA. It was their 2nd chance at taking on Blizzard in the only market they haven't had a hit game in - MMOs. After they purchased Mythic and forced them to push Warhammer out unfinished, they did exactly the same with SWTOR. This was their original vision - I know - I actually interviewed Jake Neri who was producer at LucasArts before the dark times.

 

My favourite line will always be James O telling everything how un heroic it was to have scores of players beating down on 1 boss and that SWTOR wouldn't be like that.

Memories....

 

Thanks for stepping in and highlighting those facts.

 

Now to be totally honest here, EA was most unpleased when they realised it would take at least one more year of development to publish the game in a decent enough state. So yes they had to cut and it was made with a chainsaw.

 

Dallas Dickinson

All development heads were summoned to daily meetings at what Dallas dubbed ‘The Death Star’ – with each team being coached on what to cut, and what to keep. “Some developers cried,” explained Dallas. “I didn't enjoy that.”

 

As with too many video games, and especially MMOs, they lost too much time in the starting of the project and then getting too big regarding their experience in the matter. So you can blame EA as much as you want though it's BioWare managers who initially failed.

 

Behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Old Republic: throwing people at the problem