Five Reasons Why The Old Republic Is a Threat to WoW

[AgDr_ODST]

to the thread title:I say THANK GOD!!!!!! I hate WoW with every fiber of my being and it is my hope that the after Old Republic launches WoW suffers a massive number of cancellations of subscriptions to the game.

 

[John Funk]

They also have to top two other problems:
1) People to get to max level in wow give up a lot of time and effort - to give that up it has to be special
2) Subscription games are more expensive over the long run than single cost games - therefore most people have only one or two subscription games so the market is limited.

Thus, it becomes one or the other, and so it has to not just be better - but be better enough that people anticipate it will be worth loosing hundreds of hours of work on wow for.

For the record I think I will drop wow for it though...

I actually substantially disagree with you on Point 2. For the amount of playtime you get out of a MMOG, it's worth WAY more time-per-dollar than any other game.

I play WoW extremely casually these days, with only two or so nights of raiding for ~3 hours a piece per week. That's 24 hours a month, for $12. $0.50 an hour - and considering that Darksiders cost me $60 and I got 15 hours of play out of it? Yeah, WoW's cheaper.

to the thread title:I say THANK GOD!!!!!! I hate WoW with every fiber of my being and it is my hope that the after Old Republic launches WoW suffers a massive number of cancellations of subscriptions to the game.

It might. That's the purpose of these two articles to explore the pros and cons

 

[e2density]

I should post a new topic.

"Five reasons why WoW is a thread to your love/social life"

 

[StriderShinryu]

*raises hand* Umm.. hate to break it to you, but not everyone's a Star Wars fan. Personally, I don't care about SW at all.

Does that mean I won't at least try TOR? Definitely not, but for me I'm relying on it actually being a good all around game with a good community. Whooshing lightsabers are actually more likely to turn me off of the game than turn me on to it as a game with nothing but Jedi/Sith players will not make it cool, it will make it boring.

I'm also concerned about the focus on storyline and RP. I love a story dedicated game, but if you focus too much on story in an MMO you're going to run into problems with the unavoidable fact that *ahem* you're not the only guy that just went on a super secret mission to planet X to save person Y. In actuality, everyone has done it. And what about that last mission you did that had a patented moral choice in it? Uh oh.. your buddy picked something completely different there so now is the game going to completely ignore that or will the system somehow (and I don't know how without it breaking everything) mend everything together so that it all makes sense.

Basically, for me the jury is still out on whether TOR will be a good game or not, and I value that more than whether it beats WoW or not. (*spoiler warning* it won't)

 

[enzilewulf]

Five Reasons Why The Old Republic Is a Threat to WoW

The reign of a king can?t go unchallenged forever.

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Hey Funk,You stated in your first pharagraph how These MMO's usually work, but do you think that in the near futur that games like TOR and AION could hit WoW's fanbase pretty hardthat they would eventully lose alot of their subscribers and then there would be a ruler less perioud, Sorta like how when Rome fell and then the fudal ages began, would it be possible to see that happen with the MMO game types?

 

[samsonguy920]

Er... you meant dual-wielding lightsabers for that last one, right?

Also, I think you're right. If any game can topple WOW, or at least steal a chunk of its fans, it will be TOR. I mean, have you seen that trailer!? It's fucking epic.

Did you see the trailer for X-Men:Last stand? It was also fucking epic. Too bad the movie sucked.

Honestly, dont trust trailers. Thats how they suck you in. Play the trail first, else you could be in for some disappointment.

I was just joking. See, had I been conversing normally to you, you would have understood that. I guess emotion can't be carried over the Internet.

To clarify, I'm not saying the trailer isn't fucking epic(Cause everyone knows it is) but I am saying that trailers don't make the game.

If trailers made the game, then Dragon Age Origins would be even more popular with the graphics that were used in the trailer being in the game. As it is though, the trailer still set the theme which the game stuck to. I wouldn't be surprised if TOR opens with Coruscant already in flames, since we pretty much start with the war in full swing. A really made trailer sticks to the theme that the story is all about. A crappy trailer makes up its own shit and people are lost when they see the movie with expectations given from the trailer. So if this is a good trailer(it gets my excitement up), then we have a lot to look forward to come release day.
On another note, I liked the part where the main jedi the sith was facing didn't even flinch when the shuttle came crashing in. That's moxy, and what a true jedi is made of. I'm thinking Mace Windu is from the same gene pool as that guy.

 

[goldfalsebond]

dude, republic is going to own WoW. No denying it. It is going to be so epic.

 

[Kelethor]

Hey Bioware, long time no see! you'v been busy I see, making your fancy new MMO's, getting into the big leagues...now, I don't wanna stop you from pursuing your dreams of De-throning one of the most successful (at least money wise) games of all time, but, I wanna take you back to a simpler time. a time when you didn't need 11 million other players just to have a fun experience. That time, was KOTOR. (not KOTOR 2, will get to that travesty later.) You guys had one thing going for you. give people the opportunity to make the most bad ass Sith/Jedi they could Think of. and it was amazing. I mean literally, it was one of the most enjoyable things I ever did with my Xbox. You did it so well you thought to yourself "hey, lets to it again! but make it darker and grittier!" and that wasn't a bad road to take. What WAS a bad road to take was to hire a publisher who couldn't be patient and demand you put the game on market before it was ready, forcing you to take out an ENTIRE PLANET (a planet that was made up of entirely Dead robots, BY THE WAY. That would have been so awesome) as well as forcing the ending to make about as much sense as a Monkey Fornicating the barrel he just jumped out of!

So in conclusion guys, good luck with it, and you always have my support as a loyal fan. Just remember that you don't NEED to make an to make a good game. you make good games by having believable and attractive characters, An interesting and well-thought your plot, and, last but not least, a bad-ass Villain for you to rally against. Oh and ah, if your ever not busy, you mind going back to Jade Empire and considering expanding on it? That game was sweet.

 

[Scrythe]

Like with Aion, Warhammer Online, Guild Wars, Darkfall, etc: I won't believe it until I fucking see it.

Despite the bickering that does on in and around WoW, you still can't deny the fact that it's the powerhouse of the MMORPG genre. They are the tobacco industry of gaming, next to FPS, sports titles and rhythm games. It would be interesting to see someone get at least half of WoW's numbers, fanbase and familiarity.

 

[Snowalker]

If I get this game, which will all depend upon the format of payment. If it is like WoW or AoC and we can buy cards rather than doing straight up credit card, I probably will. If I get this game, Bounty Hunter, not cause I wanna be all like "I'm Boba Fet, Bitches" but because thats the style in which I play usually, Guild Wars Dervishes not withstanding.

 

[Lizmichi]

I'm not so sure it could topple WoW. WoW is massive and has the pay check to support it's self and more. If anything could kill WoW it's WoW it's self. I may be taking a break from WoW because I hate it but I can tell you Im going back. Most WoW players go back after even years away. I though I was going to quit about 6 months ago and I didn't. Hell I was going to sell off all my characters too. The fact still remand was I was hooked on WoW. I just need some time away. And I put so my time into my rogue to have a noob not know how to use it and destroy it.
As for TOR, I'll just wait and see what happens when it's out. Allot of people were saying Aion would be a WoW killer and well it hasn't touched WoW. As a rule I don't look at trailers anyway. crappy games can have amazing trailers. In short, I'll wait and see how good it really is after it's been out awhile. I'll just be optimistically skeptical.

 

[The Great JT]

There's room on the internet for two mega-MMOs.

 

[ww2jacob]

I don't think TOR can bring down WoW, but it might be one factor among many that begins the decline of WoW. Ultimately a lot's going to depend on how much lasting value TOR ends up having.

I can't decide between the Smuggler or the Imperial Agent, myself.

I am posting way too much in this thread, but does anyone else notice that most of the people saying "Idk, I don't think it'll have much of an impact" are sure to also cite what kind of lightsaber they'll be using?

I don't think it's that people don't think TOR will be a success, which I, personally, certainly hope it will be. It's just that WoW has become such a juggernaut that I don't think that it, even if Bioware does pretty much everything right, can be stopped cold just like that. However you feel about the game, you have to admit WoW has transcended the world of gaming and has made itself known to pop culture, and thus no MMO nowadays will be a true "WoW-killer" -- maybe not even Blizzard's new MMO. When WoW dies, it will be after a long decline and many, many successively improved MMOs filled with new ideas and developments. That, of course, doesn't mean TOR can't be a big success, even taking away chunks of subs from WoW.

 

[Zedzero]

I'm neitral to both the Warcraft universe and the Starwars universe and I gotta say TOR looks like a much more massive and epic scope then WoW every dreamed when it was first conceieved. WoW will die, if not by this then by time from hardcore fan bases shunning newbs, activision slow regression from updating servers and patching bugs, and simply by outdated graphics and clunkly gameplay.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Blizzard could buy Bioware, so no this won't do anything. As always, WoW will make changes to match any significantly better features and the user base won't budge.

 

[lumenadducere]

Hey Bioware, long time no see! you'v been busy I see, making your fancy new MMO's, getting into the big leagues...now, I don't wanna stop you from pursuing your dreams of De-throning one of the most successful (at least money wise) games of all time, but, I wanna take you back to a simpler time. a time when you didn't need 11 million other players just to have a fun experience. That time, was KOTOR. (not KOTOR 2, will get to that travesty later.) You guys had one thing going for you. give people the opportunity to make the most bad ass Sith/Jedi they could Think of. and it was amazing. I mean literally, it was one of the most enjoyable things I ever did with my Xbox. You did it so well you thought to yourself "hey, lets to it again! but make it darker and grittier!" and that wasn't a bad road to take. What WAS a bad road to take was to hire a publisher who couldn't be patient and demand you put the game on market before it was ready, forcing you to take out an ENTIRE PLANET (a planet that was made up of entirely Dead robots, BY THE WAY. That would have been so awesome) as well as forcing the ending to make about as much sense as a Monkey Fornicating the barrel he just jumped out of!

So in conclusion guys, good luck with it, and you always have my support as a loyal fan. Just remember that you don't NEED to make an to make a good game. you make good games by having believable and attractive characters, An interesting and well-thought your plot, and, last but not least, a bad-ass Villain for you to rally against. Oh and ah, if your ever not busy, you mind going back to Jade Empire and considering expanding on it? That game was sweet.

BioWare did not make KotOR 2. That was Obsidian. I'm still surprised by how many people don't know that.

And John, you know you want to make an Inquisitor.

 

[Enou]

Haha! #5 made me laugh!
I play WoW, and have consistently liked Blizzards products, and Star Wars is pretty much what I grew up on, at least the original trilogy.

However, I saw the gameplay of The Old Republic that was released oh so long ago, and I remember being underwhelmed by several things. The BIG one being the cover system which has a blocky green man thingy pointing his blocky green gun over a rock or wall, and I remember thinking that it looked pretty funky. Then the teamplay gameplay, it reminded me of so many encounters in WoW, where a gate lowers, bad guys come out, you slashy slashy them, and wait for the next gate, and at the end, you fight a boss mob. This and other things, but I'll stop here.

In short, it resembled WoW too much for me to want to play both, and I hope Old Republic does well, it looks like fun, but not significantly different from WoW in gameplay.

Or maybe I'm just cynical from how horrible Aion was after less than a month. :<

 

[Callate]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but maybe it's not an MMO you want. Your apparent aversion to loot and PvP suggests maybe you should just stay with the single-player genre.

Personally, I don't find anything wrong with this scenario, from either a development or in-world perspective. You think Sith didn't collect the lightsabers of the Jedi they'd killed as trophies? You think Jedi didn't take the Sith lightsabers back to the Temple for study? How else do you think the holocrons got all that information?

Frankly, "punked" is precisely the word I imagine most Sith players will use to describe what they just did to Jedi players. And aside from its obvious real-world slang, it's a sentiment that fits the Bane lineage of Sith perfectly.

Playing with other players can be very rewarding. I'll grant that I tend to prefer PvE to PvP, but I have enjoyed PvP as well... When there wasn't one type of player who was declaring victory over the people playing tic-tac-toe by launching their shooter marble across the cross-hatching, so to speak. When any class is described primarily in terms of its combat advantages against other classes- without any mention of how other classes might gain an advantage over that class in turn- I get serious qualms, and I think reasonably so. There's an obvious contradiction when you describe a framework that rewards teamwork and cooperation and strategic thinking and then say, "And then there's so-and-so, who just kills the other side, heh heh heh." It may be that the Imperial Agent is PvP-strong and PvE-poor, as some have suggested of CoH's Stalker class- but frankly, that setup sucks in City of Heroes, and I've seen no reason to think it would work better anywhere else.

And for the record, there's no reason to suggest that the genre of MMORPGs belongs exclusively to the PvP crowd.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with "loot" and I recognize its attraction to many players, the loot system that has been shown in KOTOR and TSL is possibly the weakest overarcing element in both games. In some ways, the very idea of "loot" borders on being antithetical to Star Wars as a whole. There are occasional suggestions of a system of trade and a need for money in the movies- usually as a means of getting off of a planet- but aside from light sabers themselves, the number of objects that a person could conceivably carry around with them that are ascribed worth and meaning in the Star Wars movies could be counted on one hand. Blasters, thermal detonators, the plans for the Death Star... Maybe whichever piece C-3PO has had blown off most recently- And that's about it, really. Acquisition of wealth for wealth's sake seems to be relegated to giant slugs like the Hutts. Both the Jedi and the Sith largely seem to think it beneath them; people, cities, and planets are what matter. Frankly, even lightsaber-collecting seems to have been something only General Grievous was into, fat lot of good it did him.

To be clear, again, there's nothing inherently wrong with "loot" as part of a MMO. But the presenters of TOR really ought to do better than the twerp who made that media presentation: either show how they've made "loot" that makes sense within the context of the Star Wars universe, or show how they've made a loot system that's better than the one in KOTOR, which, as I've said, sucks.

What players will say on the chat channel, as always, the moderators have only the faintest vestige of control over. If TOR is going to stand shoulder to shoulder with WoW, however, the people who present it should know better than to use language that conveys the message that it's just like every other also-ran.

 

[RatRace123]

I think it looks awesome, but I don't have a powerful PC, and I'm not an MMO man.
Still, looks awesome, and I hope it beats doen WoW, it's been going unchallenged for too long, plus it's frickin' Bioware!!!

 

[Pimppeter2]

I fear that it will end up like Warhammer Online. Too many Siths running around.