The Old Republic Population Shrinking
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
If you A) think that's an honest comparison and B) think it alters my fundamental sentiment of considering it rather unseemly to be actively wishing people out of their employment for no discernible reason, I don't know how to respond.Fr said:
Oh absolutely, the game is not nearly dead yet. It certainly appears to be headed that direction at a decent clip though. I give it another 3-6 months before it goes F2P, and depending on how they implement that, another year afterwards before the servers are shut down.LiquidGrape said:
They could always turn it around, but not without a massive amount of effort and a retooling of a good portion of the entire game, which they are unlikely to do.
![Fr]anc[is](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/93/93202.jpg?1620797781){kind=avatar}
Nobody is wishing anyone out of a job. Your statement is an argumentative fallacy meant to make people feel guilty for something unrelated. You might as well have said "Do you guys hate America?" and it would have had the same effect.LiquidGrape said:
Perhaps I should clarify. You were never the target of my comment, but the two [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.374306-The-Old-Republic-Population-Shrinking#14497835] people [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.374306-The-Old-Republic-Population-Shrinking#14497948] who've have expressed the explicit wish to see the developer being dismantled, were.Fr said:
Now, while I don't buy into the notion of corporations being people, I sure as hell realise they are comprised by people.
And I'm pretty sure the aforementioned posters would concede that point.
You're forgettin the important part about ToR. The astronomical costs associated with their MMO. Those other MMOs that would kill to have 1.3 million subs? They have about 10 servers. ToR has upwards of 50. Other MMO's don't need to pay for the VO work and cinematic work that ToR is goin to have to pay for in every single content update if they want to stay true to their "story based" gimmick. Other MMO's didn't spend half as much on the lead up to their game that Bioware did for ToR.LiquidGrape said:
All things bein equal, this would still be great news because they have such a large amount of subscribers for such a new MMO. However everythin isn't equal. ToR spent more before the game was launched. ToR spends more on every single content update than an equally sized content update for another game would cost (I have no figures to back that up). ToR has way more servers than they could possibly use. Hell, ToR has enough servers for WoW and the US population in WoW is 4 times the size of ToRs now.
Anyway. Here's my take. If Bioware had waited to release the game instead of tryin to get it out for Christmas, maybe they'd still have those 400k subscribers. As it is, I doubt many people liked to be glorified beta testers for the game that also had to pay a subscription fee.
The bigger threats to SWTOR (and the subscription model in general) is Guild Wars2, and Diablo 3 coming out. I like the game and I'm enjoying pvp for the most part. Secret World looks interesting as well. But I don't think it'll be worth 14 a month if there are good non-sub options out there.
In retrospect, they're single-player RPG roots might have handicapped them by leading them to focus on elements, like story, voice, and character flavor (legacy), instead of elements that lead to persistent and vibrant online communities.
Not many tools to help guilds form and thrive, no server forums and no achievements for people strive for, and no easy way for guilds to recruit and broadcast their achievements. No looking for group tool to facilitate grouping.
I think SWTOR will be around for while, it's not going to die a quick death. But unless significant additions are made on a frequent basis, they may have to go to strong measures, i.e. F2P or major changes to the game.
In retrospect, they're single-player RPG roots might have handicapped them by leading them to focus on elements, like story, voice, and character flavor (legacy), instead of elements that lead to persistent and vibrant online communities.
Not many tools to help guilds form and thrive, no server forums and no achievements for people strive for, and no easy way for guilds to recruit and broadcast their achievements. No looking for group tool to facilitate grouping.
I think SWTOR will be around for while, it's not going to die a quick death. But unless significant additions are made on a frequent basis, they may have to go to strong measures, i.e. F2P or major changes to the game.
Which would mean that the former Bioware employees could start up a new studio and make a spiritual sequel to Jade Empire. A happier ending would be if CDPeojekt Red bought Bioware from EA.Imbechile said:
On Topic: If The Old Republic is ever shut down I would like to see it re-made as a single player game with each class story made available. I doubt it could ever be done.
To all the people who repeatedly and earnestly told me TOR would kill WoW: Hey, how you doin'? You doin' okay? Yeah, don't worry about it. I know how it feels to get invested in a game like this. Trust me, I understand. Let's hug it out.
The Zenimax team behind Elder Scrolls should be taking a very keen interest in this and learning from mistakes that were made. From what I've heard, the Elder Scrolls MMO is gonna be using the same hotkey system which WoW popularised and made standard. TOR also used it from what I know. The key to bringing people into your MMOs is to do something new. A strong IP, evidently, is not enough. Not enough to justify the money spent on TOR, anyway. Bear in mind that WoW, despite bleeding off some subscribers during Cataclysm is still a juggernaut to be reckoned with. WoW players are gonna be the primary people looking for something fresh and new on the MMO scene, but they've also invested months if not years into their accounts. They don't wanna drop that for something mostly similar. Why bother? They can scratch that itch with WoW.
EVE scratches different itches, and has had a steady subscriber base for a long time. Planetside scratched a different itch, but sadly died. Hopefully Sony will impress with Planetside Next and CCP will impress with Dust 514. From what I've seen of gameplay footage, Tera has a decidedly different gameplay mechanic behind it.
People need to learn the lessons of failed MMOs (which may or may not include TOR, it remains to be seen) if they hope to enter the market.
Back in December 2011 I predicted that TOR wouldn't last a year before going F2P. It still has just over 7 months. We'll see how things go from here.
The Zenimax team behind Elder Scrolls should be taking a very keen interest in this and learning from mistakes that were made. From what I've heard, the Elder Scrolls MMO is gonna be using the same hotkey system which WoW popularised and made standard. TOR also used it from what I know. The key to bringing people into your MMOs is to do something new. A strong IP, evidently, is not enough. Not enough to justify the money spent on TOR, anyway. Bear in mind that WoW, despite bleeding off some subscribers during Cataclysm is still a juggernaut to be reckoned with. WoW players are gonna be the primary people looking for something fresh and new on the MMO scene, but they've also invested months if not years into their accounts. They don't wanna drop that for something mostly similar. Why bother? They can scratch that itch with WoW.
EVE scratches different itches, and has had a steady subscriber base for a long time. Planetside scratched a different itch, but sadly died. Hopefully Sony will impress with Planetside Next and CCP will impress with Dust 514. From what I've seen of gameplay footage, Tera has a decidedly different gameplay mechanic behind it.
People need to learn the lessons of failed MMOs (which may or may not include TOR, it remains to be seen) if they hope to enter the market.
Back in December 2011 I predicted that TOR wouldn't last a year before going F2P. It still has just over 7 months. We'll see how things go from here.
Eh, I think a few games can still work out the subscription thing. TERA is pretty damn good, and the Secret World has yet to come out.
And of course TOR is losing people. Every single feature of the game except for the interactive cutscenes is subpar. The game currently retails for $50-$60 and costs $15 a month, but isn't even equal in content to Burning Crusade WoW.
If it wasn't for the Star Wars brand, it would already be dead.
And of course TOR is losing people. Every single feature of the game except for the interactive cutscenes is subpar. The game currently retails for $50-$60 and costs $15 a month, but isn't even equal in content to Burning Crusade WoW.
If it wasn't for the Star Wars brand, it would already be dead.
