SWTOR, Learn From ESO!

[IoNonSoEVero]

One person's trash is another's treasure, as they say. There are a lot of good examples from other games that SWTOR could learn from, but what they would all require is a lot more money and QA than we've been getting.

 

The only two things in SWTOR this year that have been at all of interest were the Nathema flashpoint and the Rishi stronghold, and the former was bittersweet because it swung the game away from the direction I preferred, AND killed off almost 20 NPCs that might have been good to have in the story later.

 

A lot of people I know are in love with Assassin's Creed at the moment. It looks like all the things I would want SWTOR to be: rich story and characterizations, interesting gameplay, attention to detail. I still have some sub time, but since I am currently not planning on playing 6.0 (or possibly even 5.10), I'm directing the money I would have spent on SWTOR to that game.

Edited October 8, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[DavidAtkinson]

I love this game, but I am a realist and based on what we got in these last 2 years ? The future in terms of story content doesn't look good, especially since 90% of the people posting here are expecting a major ex pack or close to it....

 

This studio is 90% devoted to EA's newest cow called Anthem. I am not doubting that Bioware tries it's best to deliver for this game, but when you aren't getting enough money.. what can you expect ?

 

This game has serious identity crisis. They try to be MMO and Single player story game at the same time. While story brings back a lot more people, sadly it's just a short term gain as most of them will vaporize as soon as they finish their new stories. KOTFE was a good example at this.

Edited October 8, 2018 by DavidAtkinson

[TUXs]

No I do get what you're saying and you're right. It probably is just my hope and desire to see the game revived that is talking, to have it bloom again. I know it wouldn't ever reach ESO's level, but there is still so much the game could offer and bring. The Old Republic era is just so amazing and interesting!

Oh no, please don't view my clarification as any type of arguing...we're completely in agreement here. I too wish SWTOR would do more, at least do more like ESO in terms of a development cycle, even if it was quite paired down compared to ESO.

 

I actually think SWTOR should have been a port to console game. It would have provided the added boost in interest that this game needed to be noticed by EA...without being cross platform, the niche was just too small for SWTOR to ever be much.

[Ralph_Panda]

WoW is also huge and that is why they are able to create content every few months, Swtor sadly doesnt seem to be as big and im sure EA doesnt like the idea of spending more money for more often content updates :/

[TUXs]

WoW is also huge and that is why they are able to create content every few months, Swtor sadly doesnt seem to be as big and im sure EA doesnt like the idea of spending more money for more often content updates :/

W0W also happens to be the reason anyone even knows the name "Blizzard" (aside from Dairy Queen). It helps being the biggest fish in the pond...SWTOR is a feeder fish at best to EA.

[xordevoreaux]

W0W also happens to be the reason anyone even knows the name "Blizzard" (aside from Dairy Queen). It helps being the biggest fish in the pond...SWTOR is a feeder fish at best to EA.

 

I know "Blizzard" from the original Diablo game series long before WoW was ever a thing (and the ice cream chain before that, yes).

[xordevoreaux]

At this point I'm just happy the game's still running. I'll play the game until they either sunset it or I can't afford it, expansions or no expansions, so for me, while nice, expansions are gravy. I"m just grateful we're still able to play.

[dipstik]

nevermind... this is a cool thing to check out if you are thinking about swtor development

 

http://dulfy.net/2018/08/22/swtor-former-developer-daniel-erickson-talks-game-development/

Edited October 8, 2018 by dipstik

[MikeCobalt]

Unfortunately EA dropped the axe on SWTOR shortly after Launch when it was evident they didn't get the "WOW Killer" they set out for (Not Less then, Just Different and longer to get on its feet). Ever since they (EA) throws a few (very few) scraps this way. The Zakuul story coulda been like a "Hail Mary Pass", "Last Ditch Effort", "Bet the Farm, Bank, House or Whatever" but it was too different and actually Lost subscriptions (Less Money/income) so SWTOR is back to getting what everybody else Doesn't get (Bottom of the Hierarchy/ Last to Eat).

 

Yes ESO puts out sizeable "Chunks" of Story, Land, Activities, Lore Often but they have the economics to do that. EA has the money, also but, scraps and all....., SWTOR doesn't get that. Small budget, Depleted employees and a sense of "Second Born" to A****m. SWTOR is Running "Now", that'll have to be good enough.

[Mournblood]

But of course the "grass is always greener" in whatever MMO a player is not actually currently playing. So.. I agree with your closing statement that the best pathway is to just enjoy what we have and if that is unenjoyable.. maybe find something that is.

 

As cynical as this may sound, after 10 MMOs over nearly two decades, the conclusion I've come to is that all MMOs are fundamentally flawed and perhaps ill-suited for a cross-demographic of gamers. The common denominator in all of them is people, and all the problems that come with diametrically opposed perspectives, polarized levels of maturity, and diminished social inhibitions due to internet anonymity. Add to that the financial agenda of game publishers like EA, NC Soft, and others, it sometimes amazes me that what often keeps an MMO alive are loyal to a fault players who are willing to tolerate levels of frustration and dissatisfaction that they wouldn't otherwise abide outside the game.

 

As I reflect on all this, it occurs to me that in the twilight years of my gaming, it's single-player RPGs crafted for the interactive story that you experience alone, without competing self-interests, toxicity, or judgement, that will forever remain the bastions of video game entertainment long after the concept of MMOs cease to exist. SWTOR tried to bring us a combination of these two - an interactive story that was also an MMO - but they lost their way with Kot*E, and are only further handicapped by the avarice of a company that holds their purse strings.

 

I think, at least for me, that it's time for companies like CDPR who did the Witcher series and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 to shine and take the spotlight for a while. Hopefully they can light the way for the rest of the gaming community, developers and players alike, who are lost in the darkness of mediocrity and profit.

[MandFlurry]

Today I saw the announcement of yet another DLC for ESO, Murkmire. I am simply amazed to see how amazingly ESO is churning out DLC after DLC, Expansion after Expansion. We get entirely new areas to explore, new story content to follow, tons of new missions to do and it's all simply amazing. The way ESO is doing it keeps its players engaged. We continiously get new content to go through, new maps, missions and story.

 

SWTOR should look to ESO and learn from them, analyse how they do stuff and try to go about things the same way. I know SWTOR has a much smaller team than ESO, but if they brought solid content more frequently (with this I mean new maps, missions and story) like the latter does the game could rebuild a bigger playerbase and in turn have a bigger income. The current lack of new content in SWTOR is pushing players away in droves and even I, who often stood to Bioware's defense on the forums, can see the current way is not good.

 

We need story updates more frequently, we need them to be more solid, not just a small flashpoint and that's it. We need new areas, missions and dailies in the way ESO is introducing them in droves. Do regular updates on planets like ESO does with provinces! Have a Dromund Kaas DLC, a Dantooine DLC, an Onderon DLC, an Empress Teta DLC etc etc. Go about it the way ESO does; access to these DLC's could either be bought or obtained through Subbing.

 

I seriously and honestly think that SWTOR should look the Elder Scrolls Online and learn from them, doing that could bring a stop to players leaving in droves and even turn the tide in SWTOR's favour. This game can be great, this game can make a comeback and I believe learning from ESO could be the key.

 

I shouldn't say this, as i will be likely to get a job, because of my opinions. But, fact is Bathesda and EA are as different as night and day, and that EA is now Bioware, no matter how sick people get from that. Also, Bathesda has a larger following than Star Wars gamers do right now by the millions, and i wouldn't be surprised if ESO has 1 million subs. I was in the biggest Guild, and we were the first guild to get Emperor with Deagen, and others on our server, loved the Pvp to.

 

Also had 3 Factions, yes?? Hint hint.

 

Still, EA does Not care as much about Swtor, as Bathesda, and the Parent company that makes and develops ESO. Bathesda is a company i would love to work for and other in the game industry. I can't believe i forget the parent companies name, but i have done beta's with them lol. But they along with Bathesda, Blizzard, and Project CD REd, etc, do not ever even put out any products, and will go years without putting out their products til' they have their story lines right, and other performance with development.

 

EA, is the total opposite. where they will always put out products well before they are ever done.

Edited October 9, 2018 by MandFlurry

[Andryah]

As cynical as this may sound, after 10 MMOs over nearly two decades, the conclusion I've come to is that all MMOs are fundamentally flawed and perhaps ill-suited for a cross-demographic of gamers. The common denominator in all of them is people, and all the problems that come with diametrically opposed perspectives, polarized levels of maturity, and diminished social inhibitions due to internet anonymity. Add to that the financial agenda of game publishers like EA, NC Soft, and others, it sometimes amazes me that what often keeps an MMO alive are loyal to a fault players who are willing to tolerate levels of frustration and dissatisfaction that they wouldn't otherwise abide outside the game.

 

I agree with your assessment, and I don't find it cynical at all.

 

I honestly think that the age of MMOs is on the wane and we are unlikely to see anymore AAA mega titles once the existing crop fade off into the sunset at some point in time.

[RACATW]

I think they'll keep drops of content coming and ultimately, in case the license gets renewed, start a new game to be ready when the D&D trilogy is released (in case the rumors are true and it is a trilogy during the old republics era). What kind of game? Dunno, most likely some new version of Battlefront and a real F2P version of SWTOR noone cares about anymore.

But who knows, maybe the next director at Lucasfilms (3 more year of crazy KK...ugh ) will force EA to actually do more with the license...

 

Edit: Or, in case Anthem is a success, an Anthem / SWTOR 2 mixture.

 

Anthem = Warframe + Destiny 2.

 

We have both games already, not sure it will be any fun.

[MandFlurry]

At this point I'm just happy the game's still running. I'll play the game until they either sunset it or I can't afford it, expansions or no expansions, so for me, while nice, expansions are gravy. I"m just grateful we're still able to play.

 

After being gone for 5 bloody months, you Learn to appreciate some things in life even more, and being at deaths door most of my life. I hate people that take things like this for granted like crybabies. Yes, there is plenty of thing We can all do without and hate, but all games that i have played in my life have brought up something i hated.

 

Thing is, we don't know what we got til' it;s gone. I remember TUX and all the other guys and ladies i knew from way back in SWG Pre-CU, and how I and so many others used to talk all the time night and day, and day and night about anything. This game has had a Lot of things that where if this game was gone in the next month or even next year. So many haters, or so called haters and people like me would still want this game to be revived and had wished we had never had left this game. Because fact is. We never know what we have til' it's gone.

 

We take things for granted too much.

[Mournblood]

We take things for granted too much.

 

That is certainly true in life, but not here. Leaving an abusive relationship (which is essentially what this game represents) and returning 5 months later expecting things to have changed or to be different is merely a combination of nostalgia and desperation. Wishing things were the way they used to be will never make it true. When it's time to walk away from something, you walk away and don't look back.

[Atalantia]

I shouldn't say this, as i will be likely to get a job, because of my opinions. But, fact is Bathesda and EA are as different as night and day, and that EA is now Bioware, no matter how sick people get from that. Also, Bathesda has a larger following than Star Wars gamers do right now by the millions, and i wouldn't be surprised if ESO has 1 million subs. I was in the biggest Guild, and we were the first guild to get Emperor with Deagen, and others on our server, loved the Pvp to.

 

Also had 3 Factions, yes?? Hint hint.

 

Still, EA does Not care as much about Swtor, as Bathesda, and the Parent company that makes and develops ESO. Bathesda is a company i would love to work for and other in the game industry. I can't believe i forget the parent companies name, but i have done beta's with them lol. But they along with Bathesda, Blizzard, and Project CD REd, etc, do not ever even put out any products, and will go years without putting out their products til' they have their story lines right, and other performance with development.

 

EA, is the total opposite. where they will always put out products well before they are ever done.

 

Oh my guess, you've never played a bethesda RPG at release, SKyrim, or any of the fallout games, or any of the Elder scroll Games at release?

 

Why do you think there are community made patches to fix crap in their games. Not saying doesnt happen to other studios. But my god the a-s-s kissing of Bethesda is strong in this thread.

[FlameYOL]

Oh my guess, you've never played a bethesda RPG at release, SKyrim, or any of the fallout games, or any of the Elder scroll Games at release?

 

Why do you think there are community made patches to fix crap in their games. Not saying doesnt happen to other studios. But my god the a-s-s kissing of Bethesda is strong in this thread.

 

Yes, Bethesda's bugs can be either hilarious or some game-breaking things that either requires patching, official or unofficial, or the usage of console commands to progress the quest. They're not a perfect company.

[Andryah]

But my god the a-s-s kissing of Bethesda is strong in this thread.

 

This is a very common tactic in gaming forums. When denigrating one studio, you puff up and put another studio on a pedestal as the god to be worshipped by all players... I guess as some sore of credibility contrast. It's disingenuous and deceptive.

 

In reality every studio steps in it at times, they just do it in different ways. They are all flawed in my experience, and players need to learn the quirks about each studio and adapt to it.. because it's unlikely to change. If you cannot adapt to the shortcomings of any given studio.. best to just not take part in their products and services.

Edited October 9, 2018 by Andryah

[TUXs]

We take things for granted too much.

Yes we do my friend...sadly, I think it's human nature.

[casirabit]

Why do you think there are community made patches to fix crap in their games. Not saying doesnt happen to other studios. But my god the a-s-s kissing of Bethesda is strong in this thread.

 

Which is also what some people do with SWG. Don't get me wrong I loved the game/mostly the community but there were problems there as well but you wouldn't know that from some of the posts you read now.

[kodrac]

Bethesda is more focused than EA. EA has too many fingers in too many pies. So ZoS, while being a ***** studio, gets funded. Whereas, BW, a historically good studio, gets scraps. This is why we can't have nice things.

[ExarSun]

Bethesda is more focused than EA. EA has too many fingers in too many pies. So ZoS, while being a ***** studio, gets funded. Whereas, BW, a historically good studio, gets scraps. This is why we can't have nice things.

A studio that develops Anthem (a AAA title with huge influx of resources) gets scraps...thats rich. It is this game that gets scraps, by whatever "genius" individual's decision. This is why we cant have nice things.

On topic....there is not really anything to comment, the content ESO releases regularly cant be compared to this game, which isnt even worth mentioning as "content" for the last 2 years. EA thinks the same, as far as mentioning the game goes, comapred to 4.0 times and before. Both games player numbers and overall health is another thing that cant be compared. Worlds apart.

Nothing useful can come of comparison IMO, because EAware cant or wont do anything about it.

Edited October 9, 2018 by ExarSun

[Giberelina]

Agreed, and I just wanted to add that ESO was doing terrible a few months after launch.

 

I dare say it was doing worse than SWTOR in those moments. Zenimax could've do the EA thing, put a skeleton crew on it and milk it, but what they did? They doubled down, drop the sub, put money, developed great new zones and DLC and then relaunched it as Tamriel One which was a huge success. They listened and fixed most of the problems everyone was complaining about, like group questing issues and being able to play with other alliances players. And they never stopped developing new high quality DLCs, we have 4 per year counting the chapter. Sometimes is scary how much they do.

 

We all know EA would never do that. The main reason SWTOR exists is because they just wanted to copy WOW success. It didn't work like that so they think the game is useless. They will never put money back here, even if we all know it would be worth it.

 

And this is why I HATE subbing to SWTOR, I know our money goes anywhere but into the game now. In ESO I feel good pressing the subscription button. Two opposite models.

[Kiesu]

ESO just keeps improving every year and they made a massive job to recover from the initial disaster of a launch they had back way back when. The difference between now and then is like night and day... SWTOR is it's reverse, we had a better launch, and been going downhill ever since.

 

I'll be checking out ESO dlcs as usual. There is so much stuff to do in each one!

[Bakgrind]

Oh my guess, you've never played a bethesda RPG at release, SKyrim, or any of the fallout games, or any of the Elder scroll Games at release?

 

Why do you think there are community made patches to fix crap in their games. Not saying doesnt happen to other studios. But my god the a-s-s kissing of Bethesda is strong in this thread.

 

Well said. Bethesda is good, but they aren't all that. And accurate statement could be that Bethesda games actually requires player made mods. Not only does the gaming community make patches for their games they also create player made content for them as well. And their player made content is usually more creative than what Bethesda brings to the table.