How is "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" doing?

[Jang]

I asked one or two eons ago how it went, and the overwhelming reply was "Too soon to tell". Having recently come across a conversation about I though I would ask again.

My gut feeling on the issue is "not very well". I had a lot of buzz around it up to its release and people talked about it quite a while after, but I had nigh but completely forgotten that this was a thing. It was just casually mentioned in a conversation, and to make matters worse it was "do you remember 'Knight of the Old Republic'?".

I ask because I really like Bioware and I would like to see them keep doing well. The MMORPG genre *REALLY* isn't my scene (though not for want of trying), so personally I know I will never enjoy the game myself, but I will always be happy for Bioware to have a good amount of money lying around so they can afford to take some chances. I was worried around time of release that the game would be a huge blow to the company as most MMORPGs tend to be devastating to their studios, especially after I heard how much money and time had been sunk into "Knights of the Old Republic".

So, how is "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" doing?

 

[Therumancer]

I asked one or two eons ago how it went, and the overwhelming reply was "Too soon to tell". Having recently come across a conversation about I though I would ask again.

My gut feeling on the issue is "not very well". I had a lot of buzz around it up to its release and people talked about it quite a while after, but I had nigh but completely forgotten that this was a thing. It was just casually mentioned in a conversation, and to make matters worse it was "do you remember 'Knight of the Old Republic'?".

I ask because I really like Bioware and I would like to see them keep doing well. The MMORPG genre *REALLY* isn't my scene (though not for want of trying), so personally I know I will never enjoy the game myself, but I will always be happy for Bioware to have a good amount of money lying around so they can afford to take some chances. I was worried around time of release that the game would be a huge blow to the company as most MMORPGs tend to be devastating to their studios, especially after I heard how much money and time had been sunk into "Knights of the Old Republic".

So, how is "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" doing?

It's actually doing pretty well and has a strong, stable, community. It's seen the release of a number of expansions, including a space-fighter dogfighting PVP arena, a new planet, and recently player housing has finally been added to it. New raids and dungeons have also been added, and it's consistently been running a number of events at different times through the year. I check back on it periodically.

Now granted, it's not the "OMG, WoW-killer" that it could have been for a lot of reasons, but I have no doubts that it's more than recouped it's development costs and has been turning a profit, meaning that while not a blockbuster success, it hasn't been a failure either.

One of the things to consider is that as a single player game it's very good, it's almost like a single player game with some multiplayer aspects and stuff tacked onto it, and that appeals to some people, though to really get into the endgame you do need to grind raids and such with a reliable group of people.

Their biggest money maker right now seems to be the whole "chance box" thing that other MMOs have been using. Rather than adding new items, costumes, and similar items to the game content, they sell boxes that you open that give random pieces of new content ranging from emotes, to costumes, to weapon skills, vehicles and static pets. They have probably released a dozen different boxes now, and when I checked the galactic trade kiosks they tend to be swamped with stuff from them, so people are apparently running out and buying tons of them every time new ones come out.

That said while it's FTP it's one of those games where even if you pay a fortune to unlock features, to get the most out of it (ie avoid harassment by the game engines) you really need to pay a subscription, and it seems that most of the regulars do indeed subscribe to it. It's "free to play" version despite acting like you could unlock everything for an effective lifetime subscription if you paid for it, is kind of a "trial" so if you play seriously, even single player, you want to subscribe to avoid a constant exps penalty, not being able to select all quest rewards, etc... it's doing a fairly good job of "double dipping" it's player base.

 

[walrusaurus]

I actually re-installed the game a few weeks ago, after deleting it when my free month ended during the games original launch. They dont seemed to havve addressed the core problem i had with it then, it is very much just wow in space and it still is. the combat system hasn't been meaningfully changed. The constant dialogue and the mind numblingly mundane fetch/kill quests that go along with them are still omnipresent. I deleted it again after only two days; TOR has the single most abusive free to play model I've ever seen in an mmo. You can't even equip your armor without micro transactions. They charge you to equp titles, unlock mounts, even for additional action bars. Unlocking additional character slots and such is one thing, but its breathtaking just how much they want to charge you for. Huttball was the one shining light in that game, and F2P only allows you to do it a few times a week. And all thats as a "preferred account" who preordered the deluxe edition (i was graciously allowed to leave the armor i already had equipped on w/o paying) i shudder to think what its like for new players.

Sorry if i sound bitter, TOR was the straw that broke the camels back for me with the whole MMO genre. It was just so soul crushingly disappointing at launch...

 

[Jandau]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? Oh it's great, it's this awesome RPG, one of the best ever made, a true classic and it...

Oh, you mean Star Wars: The Old Republic!

Yeah, it's a mediocre F2P MMO with a terrible F2P model, to the point where you might as well sub or not play in the first place. It's a shitty version of WoW with a overly cartoonified Star Wars skin draped lifelessly over it. Don't bother unless you just HAVE TO play a Star Wars MMO. And even then, you'd be better of playing KotOR 1 or 2 and talking to an imaginary friend...

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Playing through the game made me realize how much I want a proper KotOR 3, because the entire time I was thinking "This game would be so much better if it weren't an MMO." I really loved going through the stories and most of the story lines were pretty good (though the Consular story line was a sucking snooze fest). The characters are memorable, the voice acting top notch, and I even liked the art style. But every time I found myself engrossed in the world, I run smack dab into some asshole player, some stupid game mechanic, or some boring "kill X amount of monster" quest and I am dragged right back down. I really wanted to like this game, but I have neither to time nor the wallet to play another game that demands subscription payments, even if it is free to play. I avoided MMO's for the longest time and I tried this game hoping it would hook me into the mindset.

It did not.