EA Blames Casuals For Falling Old Republic Subscriber Numbers

[Treblaine]

Um... hasn't Star Wars been beaten to death in the past 10-20 years? I mean what if ANYTHING has added real value to the brand in the past decade? There were those prequel films that were variously described as "The worst thing ever" to "not the worst thing ever but definitely not good". Lucasarts can't even re-release the original films without fucking that up.

SWTOR is a mess, it has so little of the feel and fun of what made Star Wars enjoyable.

My personal issue remains the light-sabres: there aren't any. Oh yes, there may be "weapons" in the game that are labelled as lightsabres but they are nothing but oversized glowsticks from what pitiful damage they do.

A lightsabre is supposed to be an all powerful cutting weapon that can slice through steel and here I am running up to some big insect (that can't have any sort of shield) and whacking away at it for hours, i might as well we using a whiffle bat.


That's what it's like.

Being a Jedi should be all about the huge challenge of getting close without getting shot but once close it's one slash and they are dead.

SWTOR just doesn't feel like a star wars game because Star Wars is about more than just owning all the copyrighted names and character designs, it's about the FEEL, the challenge, the swashbuckling adventure. What does it mean to be a Jedi? I don't think everyone can be a Jedi, it's not about being a soldier or killer.

 

[BodomBeachChild]

Think I'll just stick with EVE online, casuals don't honestly exist in that game.

Indeed. For a game that is 9 years old and to still be the only MMO with a growing fanbase that shiat says something.

Fly safe o7


And for those who think EVE is a boring spaceship game I bring you
http://tacticalentertainment.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/eve-wtd.jpg

 

[Skratt]

No EA, its not that the ones who left were casuals, its that you made a game that could be "completed" in a month to 2 months time casually and people should not continue to pay subscription fees if they have already completed the content.

Its literally just that simple. Its what you get for trying to make the game "accessible"

I think if any MMO can be beat in 2 months, the people playing have either too much time on their hands or are better at playing games like WoW and TOR than the rest of us. WoW max level can be reached in how many days now by an experienced player? 7? 14? How long it takes to chew through content is player specific. I highly doubt every player beat TOR and quit because there was no more content to chew on.

From the quotes, it sounds as if EA expected something like this to happen and are not really surprised. Unless EA is dead set against FTP, TOR will be FTP by Christmas is my prediction. WoW in space is not enough incentive to give up years of established play-time. And that's really what any MMO has to compete with.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Isnt that what happens with new MMO, loads of people try it and then leave back to WOW. lol. Trust EA to blame anything other than the fact that some people just dont want to play their game.

 

[bluecrimson]

EA, mind telling me how a casual's 15 bucks is different than a non-casual's 15 bucks?

 

[viranimus]

I think if any MMO can be beat in 2 months, the people playing have either too much time on their hands or are better at playing games like WoW and TOR than the rest of us. WoW max level can be reached in how many days now by an experienced player? 7? 14? How long it takes to chew through content is player specific. I highly doubt every player beat TOR and quit because there was no more content to chew on.

Well you might be right. I know I have been involved with MMOs since UO and EQ, And I am a soloist But I am also a student and was involved in trying to restore/repair a former crack house and then an extensive move since the game was released in December. I still have yet to top 50 in the game, but again, I went over a month and a half not playing it(plan on running from 40-50 before the 20th when sub ends now that I dont have distractions)

But its not an uncommon thing to be done. Seriously I know players who ran 1-50 in 2 weeks time. And its not as if its making alts that quickly as people running their first toon have done it. It was that same ease of the game that basically killed the guild I was in as there was half the guild with multiple alts at level 50 and the rest basically never logged in and this was back in Feb/March. So its not entirely that the game is too easy, its that the game is so easy that there is no reason to have reliance or even find friends. Without the need to involve others in your affairs your really not going to build those relationships and if you dont build up guild relationships that removes yet another reason for people to keep playing (social dynamic) If the only "content" for players to enjoy once you hit 50 is to build a new toon, then your killing off the potential of the guild dynamic to foster long standing friendships that older MMOs benefit from.

The game IS too easy. And no end game challenge has been one of the biggest complaints about the game thus far. Yes its about personal ability with content, but at the same time its actually inverted with it being unusual to find someone who cant finish a run from 1-50 in 2 months or less even playing casually.

 

[Emiscary]

So now they've shifted tactics to appealing to elitism? EA made a conscious decision to ignore and marginalize "core gamers" a looong time ago to try and grab hold of some nebulous and insanely profitable "casual gamer" market that doesn't even really exist... (at least not in the way it does in EA's mind anyway...). And now that the strategy's blowing up in their faces they're backpeddling? Fuck them.

 

[TheProfessor234]

I love how the first EA article I can really remember is the one with the golden poo. I mainly loved it because EA was all like, "So we got voted worst company of America yet we're still making millions of dollars.... Well who cares, we're still going to make millions no matter what people think."

Now this, literally calling out casual gamers for ruining something.


I think EA is turning into an elitist gamer. Soon they'll be trying to get all of the business achievements, working long into the night so that their B-peen is larger than any others! Wonder what they'll do next.

 

[Rouzeki]

....*Cackling laughter echos out, sound of falling off a chair, scrambling back onto it*

Really? Really EA? I love your stupidity, I really do.

Y'know, Y'make a Game, but the story might be the best part. to get to the story, you have to slog through ALL the classes to get there, and essentially rep up your NPCs to hear all of theirs. I loved that part.

Heck, as a pathological Healer, I loved being able to heal my way through quests and equip my npcs.

I was an Operative because all the Jedi annoyed me, and i went healing because apparently i needed that. had issues with the game from pretty much log in. then i found that wonderful gem about the combat being stylistic to the point that because of my hotkey presses I could clip my own heals, wasting GCDs.

Then I pvped/quested my way to 30. and had my best experience in the game when i got picked up for a PVP guild by a level 50 who was watching all the "decent players" fight- even though i was sure i sucked.

eh, after awhile all the force explosions, pushes, speed boosts and everything else got on my nerves, and since my character finished act 1 at 28, and i had felt that story was entirely wrapped up and how could it get better, i worked on alts. lots.

14 levels into a Sith inquisitor and i already was going "so much for healer balance"

but enough of that. frankly SW:TOR could have a better story then any other game, but im not gonna slog through ALL the classes i wanted, and ALL the same zones again and again to see it. at least WoW tosses you a bone with various leveling areas in the early stages to keep it interesting. so linear for an MMO, so many little issues i had with it. Did have fun shivving jedi and blasting them with a sniper rifle, though.

Quit a month or two after launch, wrote a 3,000 word canceling sub thing which probably didn't get read, never look back. except for the npc thing.

 

[John the Gamer]

I never played it at all. I refuse to pay monthly fees to almost any game, and MMO's are usually not worth that money. Food is. So is rent. Health insurance. Dwarf Fortress.

 

[bluecrimson]

Still, saying 'screw the casuals' is how MMOs become freemium.

 

[Skratt]

-snip-

Just for my own perspective, how many hours per day / week did you average playing the game? Be honest please I want to better understand how one can determine that an MMO is too easy.

I myself average 8-12 hours per week gaming in general (which is a major reason why I don't play MMOs anymore - no time to dedicate).

 

[jehk]

They're not really wrong. I, like many others, stopped playing once we got our fill of the story. I got my money's worth out of it. Being the casual that I am a monthly subscription isn't really worth it.

 

[Vigilantis]

I liked the game, I just wouldn't pay monthly for it. I'd love to come back and see whats changed but alas, I wasn't apart of that "Free Month"