The Old Republic now has a release date!

[rsvp42]

Ideally, yes. But not all of them. *cough, cough [http://us.blizzard.com/store/browse.xml?f=c:5,c:33]*

Yeah, but those are just little vanity pets and a couple mounts. I played a lot of WoW and can safely say that I never once felt truly pressured to buy those. At least for me, that's an acceptable indulgence on the part of a developer. TSW's alleged cash-shop-plus-sub plans are another story though. STO was a bad offender IMO as well. But since most of my thoughts on it have already been shared over at Massively, I'll abstain from belaboring the point.

 

[DustyDrB]

Won't be playing it, as I'm sure it will just make me think of what could have been (KotOR 3). Plus, they'll have to balance everything. And Jedi own in KotOR I and II completely. The idea that some regular soldier grunt would be as powerful as a Jedi Weapons Master is laughable.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Won't be playing it, as I'm sure it will just make me think of what could have been (KotOR 3).

But it IS KotOR3. Or at least, as close as you're ever going to get to it. With all the heavily voiced over quests, the companions, your own ship, etc, they are borrowing pretty heavily from their own single player game conventions for TOR. Will this make it an excellent MMO? I have no idea. Will this mean it bears more than just a passing resemblance to the single player KotOR games? Definitely. Hell, they've even got Jennifer Hale in there doing voice acting.

That's really what convinced me to get it, in the end. It's basically a long co-op Bioware game I can play with my girlfriend.

 

[Jeralt2100]

Initially I was rather worried about TOR coming out this year, but after having spent some time with it, I feel it is very much capable of being ready for a Dec.20 launch.

I'm still kinda disappointed about the lack of lifetime sub options, but I guess the 6mo. ones will have to do.

I'm not at all surprised by a lack of Lifetime subs. They've stated in interviews that they have a 10 year plan for TOR, and if they offered lifetime subs at any rate previously done by other MMOs <$200, $300, or $400> They'd lose money on that. Star Wars fans are a dedicated bunch, and I'm sure I'd get enough fun out of the game to justify a lifetime myself, but that won't make them money. Hopefully we'll eventually get the 12 month option for ~$100 or so, but it seems they're intent on making at least $13 a month off every person.

In the end, I've paid more to play games that were MUCH less fun for me than this turned out to be in the Labor Day Beta they held, so I'm glad to have this one already pre-ordered.

 

[distortedreality]

No Australasian release = fucking stupid.

Won't be getting my money at all now, even if/when it's released down here at a later date.

 

[juraigamer]

No lifetime subscription option? Guess I'm not playing it.

I'll instead gladly play guild wars 2 and spend less money and get more gameplay out of my time, oh and might I add not be playing wow with a star wars skin?

 

[Fenra]

I'm gonna wait a few months for bugs to be ironed out and for server overcrowding to settle down some, as old releases have taught me nothing is released bug free and waiting in server queues of 100+ to get into the game wont be fun, although that last part is an assumption, maybe that wont happen and servers wont be overcrowded.

Still they are cutting it awful close for pre-order and online deliveries, particularily if anywhere has bad weather which delays postal services for a few days. And I certainly dont envy the parents of thier little darlings who are running out that late into the christmas shopping period when its like a warzone and trying to buy this game, its why I try to get all my shopping done by the first week of december each year if I can to avoid the insanity!

 

[Evil Top Hat]

To me it's WoW without Blizzard's polish and extraordinary art style.

It always confuses me when people say this. Every new MMORPG seems to get called a WoW rip off at some point, but that's just what MMORPGs are like, of course TOR will look similar to WoW, they're in the same genre. Just because two games use the same mechanics, it doesn't mean that one is ripping off the other, especially not with fully voiced story driven quests, which is something no MMO (of any genre) has ever done before.

 

[Nargleblarg]

To me it's WoW without Blizzard's polish and extraordinary art style.

It always confuses me when people say this. Every new MMORPG seems to get called a WoW rip off at some point, but that's just what MMORPGs are like, of course TOR will look similar to WoW, they're in the same genre. Just because two games use the same mechanics, it doesn't mean that one is ripping off the other, especially not with fully voiced story driven quests, which is something no MMO (of any genre) has ever done before.

It also confuses me that because people forget the studio making it is Bioware. They have more game of the year awards in their offices than most companies could even dream of. Also saying WoW (which don't get me wrong I do play constantly) isn't a copy of so many other games would be lying, it wasn't the first MMO ever made after all.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'm calling it now: A lot of people will be... unexpectedly 'too sick' to visit their folks for the holidays this year.

I admit, from the looks of things the game's shaping up to be entertaining, but my soul still belongs to Dark Millennium.

Captcha: ordsorb mourned... Is Captcha trying to tell me a story? :\

>.>? you hear more about it other then 'its coming out?'

and yay for you star wars fans, *points to the quote* i shall be joining him in fighting the enemy's of man

 

[AlexiVolkov]

Lifetime sub options are basically the MMO equivalent of cutting their losses. If a publisher knows that an MMO won't last very long, you'll know because it will offer a lifetime sub.

The fact that they even deny the offer of a lifetime option means that they are confident that this game will be huge. Imagine if World of Warcraft offered a lifetime sub. They would have lost TONS of money.

I'm not at all surprised by a lack of Lifetime subs. They've stated in interviews that they have a 10 year plan for TOR, and if they offered lifetime subs at any rate previously done by other MMOs <$200, $300, or $400> They'd lose money on that. Star Wars fans are a dedicated bunch, and I'm sure I'd get enough fun out of the game to justify a lifetime myself, but that won't make them money. Hopefully we'll eventually get the 12 month option for ~$100 or so, but it seems they're intent on making at least $13 a month off every person.

In the end, I've paid more to play games that were MUCH less fun for me than this turned out to be in the Labor Day Beta they held, so I'm glad to have this one already pre-ordered.

I agree with what you both said, but personally, looking at my own financial situation, it has been the image of instability for the past 4-5 years thanks to my battles with workers comp and disability. The only reason I want a lifetime sub out of a game like TOR, is not because I want to shortchange the devs, but because I want to be able to play it, even when I'm getting screwed out of income because some state agency thinks my spine isn't damaged enough. I have a lifetime sub in STO, and while that is probably a bad example, I do for the most part enjoy having it since I can always afford to play it. Not that I do... pretty much at all...

 

[Evil Top Hat]

Well, it DOES look like WoW with Star Wars. At least the combat and basics do. Personally that isn't a bad thing: That is a good thing. I had my fill of orcs and undead. I love WoW's Gameplay but I have explored EVERY SQUARE PIXEL of Azeroth and its neighboring dimensions. I can't wait for this game.

Of course it looks like WoW, because all hot key based MMOs do.

What perplexes me is that everybody is praising and worshipping guild wars 2 for having "dynamic" story telling, which is basically just glorified phasing, (ripped straight out of WoW but with more buzz words in the marketing) and then people accuse The Old Republic for being a WoW clone for doing something that no MMO has EVER even attempted before.

 

[Hylke Langhout]

I will be! New MMOs are always interesting, even if I'm unlikely to cancel my WoW subscription at the minute.

The question for me is whether to pre-order a physical copy or to buy it digitally. Physical copy means more hassel and probably playing it a few days after release (so that whole "early access" thing goes right down the pisser). Digital means fucking Origin.

For your own sanity and integrity, I suggest getting a physical copy. Origin can go fuck itself.