The Old Republic: worst case scenario?

[Vault101]

Ok there are two potential scenarios Im thinking of

So I am kinda interested in the old republic, because its Bioware and KOTOR is aparntly awsome, though I'm not sure I see myself playing it because I am against MMO's and my internet situation...well Im sure you know what I'm talking about

ok so scenario 1. it completley sinks, Now I don't think this will happen mabye theres huge numbers on day one then it fizzles out which could lead to its death but even then Im not sure

so if it dose sink how badly could it Hurt Bioware and/or EA?

Scenario 2. it dose well but Bioware becomes Like blizzard and focuses all their energy into it, ok to be honest I don't know how likley this is but still..could that heppen?

 

[Sixcess]

Either is possible.

I doubt TOR will suffer an APB style spectacular crash and burn, but EA's comments abount aiming for 500K subscribers for ten years makes me think they could be aiming too high. My best guess is that we'll see it follow the Age of Conan/Warhammer pattern - a big launch followed by a gradual decline and consequently server merges until they reach their natural level, which I very much doubt will be in the 500K ballpark.

I doubt it will hurt Bioware much. They've got other IPs and a fairly stellar reputation. I do think if it does fail to meet EA's expectations it will hurt the prospects of other AAA MMOs, since it could be the final proof (like it was needed, but companies don't seem to see it) that WoW's massive success simply can't be duplicated.

As to the possibility of Bioware focusing all of their work on it - I think that is possible. MMOs live and die on regular updates, and TOR's fully voiced, story and cutscene driven style seems like it'll make updates very labour intensive.

Like I say, I think it'll have a big launch - really really big - but staying power is what matters in MMOs, and I don't know that TOR has it. It's not a case of do you want to play it now. It's a case of will you still want to play it in a year's time.

 

[Lusty]

I don't think Blizzard are COMPLETELY focussed on WoW. Maybe in the early days when it blew up a bit quicker than they were expecting, but since then they've managed to make Starcraft 2, a new Diablo and they're working on a new MMO.

The real tragedy with WoW is that it's completely tied up the Warcraft universe. I'd love to see a Warcraft 4 but it won't happen while WoW is still going. But it would be impossible for TOR to do that to the Star Wars universe, the original KOTOR was set so far in the past from the rest of the Star Wars canon that Bioware can pretty much do what they want without affecting anyone else who wants to make a game in that universe.

Plus, Mass Effect and Dragon Age make way too much money for EA to just let Bioware ignore them. If TOR becomes a drain on resources then EA and Bioware can just throw cash at the problem, more so than Blizzard could in the early days.

For me, the worst case scenario is that they release a standard WoW clone in which you have to collect 15 space rat tails for some lazy arse NPC, and for some reason only 1 in 5 space rats have tails on them. That's the route every other MMORPG has gone down, and that's the reason they've all failed. I don't think TOR would last long if they did that.

Best case, they release a great game that slowly, and it would have to be very slowly, eats into WoW's market share and gives players an alternative, and other developers some hope. One giant game dominating an entire genre like WoW does isn't good for anyone.

 

[veloper]

Pretty much. Worst case scenario is going the way of the Conan, Warhammer and LOTRO.
It is less likely though, since both Starwars and Bioware fans are numerous, more rabid and less discerning than warhammer and tolkien fans.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

Worst case scenario? It destroys the genre ... It flops so bad and proves such a financial disaster that most publishers and investors become too scared to invest into the genre again if even the mighty Star Wars and Bioware can't produce what they want, and when they do invest again, they show even less understanding for innovation and the long development times these games require to go forward. Instead, they focus on crapware facebook games.

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

I've seen gameplay of it, and it really doesn't look very good. I'm not sure how they're gonna fit a "you're the 1" story into an MMO, when there are potentially millions of "the 1". The gameplay too looks pretty lackluster, I don't know it's gonna be later on but from the gameplay they've shown, it looks exactly like what I don't what in an MMO in terms of combat. I'm also unsure as to if they know what they're doing, MMO players are bitchy, and they want content. Obviously, being set in the Star Wars universe, there's a lot to go off, but that depends if they utilise it well enough, and I dunno if Bioware actually know what they're doing with an MMO, in terms of PvE and PvP, and all the little things that come with both, like raid encounters, dungeons, quests, balance, fun skill trees, challenge etc.

Apparently they have the quest situation sorted, but I don't even play MMOs for the quests anyway, so that's pretty fucking useless in making me want to play it.

 

[Vault101]

I've seen gameplay of it, and it really doesn't look very good. I'm not sure how they're gonna fit a "you're the 1" story into an MMO, when there are potentially millions of "the 1". The gameplay too looks pretty lackluster, I don't know it's gonna be later on but from the gameplay they've shown, it looks exactly like what I don't what in an MMO in terms of combat. I'm also unsure as to if they know what they're doing, MMO players are bitchy, and they want content. Obviously, being set in the Star Wars universe, there's a lot to go off, but that depends if they utilise it well enough, and I dunno if Bioware actually know what they're doing with an MMO, in terms of PvE and PvP, and all the little things that come with both, like raid encounters, dungeons, quests, balance, fun skill trees, challenge etc.

Apparently they have the quest situation sorted, but I don't even play MMOs for the quests anyway, so that's pretty fucking useless in making me want to play it.

well being bioware they did give the impression that they were somwhat story focused

as for quests in MMO's well I only ever played runescape, when I was member I started questing and soon it became the main focus of my playing,then I realised that I might as well be playing somthing single player

I had tried PVP many times before but I just couldnt get my head around it and it was never fun