WoW Goes Free Forever (Except Not)

[Brainst0rm]

I would not call The Old Republic serious competition. Not at all.

It's a copy-paste of the combat system, but with forgettable class names, and awkward PvP, and a much smaller world. It will undoubtedly sell well at first, but BioWare has simply taken too long on this. People are moving on from MMOs.

This statement shows how little you actually know about The Old Republic, I suggest that you read some of the information about the game before you go and spread false information. Even if you wouldn't call it serious competition, Blizzard seems to think so, have you seen the latest questing content added with 4.2? Cut-scenes and dialog everywhere.

They've been moving towards that since Wrath, they are just working with a much older engine and the assumption that a large number of players will have less than stellar computers.

As an aside... where does this "WoW is dyeing!" thing come from? As I understand it, they still make up a majority of the MMO market, and while it has shrunk after the launch of Cataclysm, this happens every expansion. People buy it to try it, and then let it run out after a month or 2. Rift likely stole some players, but I don't think it will maintain it's upward trend as people get tired of it. I was after the beta, but to each their own.

I never said WoW was dying - that would be hypocritical. I have two 85s and am subscribed right now The sheer momentum that WoW has built up will keep it going for decades, I'm sure. I do think that, as whole, the genre of the MMO is rotting quickly. It is utterly pathetic that there is exactly one title on the horizon - the horizon being maybe as much as two years - which has a chance of doing something interesting and new.

My opinion on TOR is a bit hasty and undeserved, I admit. I haven't played the game. But every bit of gameplay I see screams in a loud and unrepentant voice "WoW IN SPACE! WoW WITH LIGHTSABERS!"

And why on earth would I play a less-polished copy of the game I've already played, and am playing? All that leaves, then, is the story - and what kind of idiot buys an MMO for the STORY? MMOs are incompatible with good storytelling. It's like going to a country fair for the health food. That is to say, PANTS ON HEAD RETARDED.

 

[Brainst0rm]

I never said WoW was dying - that would be hypocritical. I have two 85s and am subscribed right now The sheer momentum that WoW has built up will keep it going for decades, I'm sure. I do think that, as whole, the genre of the MMO is rotting quickly. It is utterly pathetic that there is exactly one title on the horizon - the horizon being maybe as much as two years - which has a chance of doing something interesting and new.

My opinion on TOR is a bit hasty and undeserved, I admit. I haven't played the game. But every bit of gameplay I see screams in a loud and unrepentant voice "WoW IN SPACE! WoW WITH LIGHTSABERS!"

And why on earth would I play a less-polished copy of the game I've already played, and am playing? All that leaves, then, is the story - and what kind of idiot buys an MMO for the STORY? MMOs are incompatible with good storytelling. It's like going to a country fair for the health food. That is to say, PANTS ON HEAD RETARDED.

The flaw in your reasoning is that you assume a few things which may not be the case.

You assume that since it has some similarities with WoW, that it's a wowclone (IE WoW with lightsabers). While the game mechanics may appear the same, there's a lot different here. There's no Auto-Attack in SWTOR. There's no "Mana" in SWTOR, ranged caster classes rely on something more akin to rogues(though no identical) than the traditional mana system. Companions are something never before done to this extent in MMOs, they are NOT pets, there's way more depth to their gameplay mechanics than any pet class in WOW.

Your second assumption is that the game is less polished than WoW, which is not necessarily the case. I can see where this line of reasoning comes from, honestly. A lot of other MMOs aren't as polished as WoW, and they suffer for it. SWTOR is not one of those games, however. From reports of people who played the game, as well as a 45 minute demo i watched with a developer, the game is VERY polished, and considering it's not even out yet, I see this a very good sign.

Your third assumption is the attitude Bioware is trying to disprove. From people who have played the game, and those journalists who have written previews about it, they have fully dis-proven you. The limitations on good story in an MMO are the ones imposed by Blizzard on itself. If anybody can craft a truly great storyline out of an MMORPG, it's Bioware.

My first assumption is based on a great number of gameplay videos - one especially where the Human Priest casts Power Word: Shield when he is taking damage. Erm. No, I think it was different. No, yeah, he was hopping on a Hoverbike instead of his Horse mount. I wonder if that's a drop from the new raid? Granted, "carbon-copy" is a hyberbole. I'm sure BioWare has done something original things with every class. But I'm not pouring my life into NotWOW for a few original things.

My second assumption is absolutely, guaranteed, I'd bet-my-life-and-the-lives-of-everyone-I-love-on-it true. An MMO is never balanced at launch, an MMO is always buggy at launch, and it always takes years for all the major issues to be ironed out.

My third assumption I am eager to have disproved. This is why I'll still probably buy the game at some point, against all my instincts.

Anyway, nice talking to you. It's nice when people indulge my unpleasantly hyperbolic argument style for long enough to change my mind

 

[Lyri]

Game subscriptions are like health club memberships and cause a moral hazard with the developer/publisher. The publisher makes the most money if people buy subscriptions but don't actually play. Because they know inertia will keep people subscribed as they are too lazy to cancel.
They make just the same money off those that do play, I don't quite understand the logic behind that statement.

And because of that subscriptions encourage flashy cutscenes, pretty pictures, and expensive marketing over deep, immersive gameplay. You can't make "wow" screenshots out of class balance, or well written quest text, or interesting talent trees.
That's because they can afford to do them well however I've seen plenty of free to play games with flashy cut scenes and pretty pictures to draw you in, Perfect World is one such example.
F2P games do have the funding to market themselves in such a way.

If you get the chance check out DDO. The game system isn't the best balanced, the graphics are dated, art style is generic, and the interface is primitive. But the F2P and microtransaction store model is PERFECT. Players get access to maybe 1/3 of the content half the races and almost all of the classes. They can get to max level (not easily) on the f2p content but they best part is they can buy the other content piecemeal. So without a subscription you can "own" part of the game for a one time payment.
Again I don't understand your logic here. If I'm going to be offered a free to play game then I want the game, for free.
People go to play F2P games because of that one magical word, FREE. Hindering people with content hidden behind a credit card payment is just crazy.
Some people will of course pay for it, and pay for it numerous times on different characters but it's still dumb.
On reflection to having to deal with credit card warriors it's also a heck of a lot easier for people to bot and hack in F2P games which ruins the fun immensely.
I've not seen any of that in wow yet (Goldsellers excluded lol).
Why would I want to play an F2P game based solely on the perfection of the cash shop? Just sounds like a credit card warriors breeding ground.

For the £8.99 I pay every month for my subscription I get all the content, regular updates, timely GM support and a larger player base to play with. My experience lasts longer, it's more fun and I don't have to put up with people buying advantages.

I realise this was a late response, forgive the tardiness. My response is in bold in your quote.

 

[Feriluce]

You forgot to mention GW2 in the article. Its quite possibly a much bigger competitor than TOR. Yes, TOR is going to have a billion SW fanboys playing it for a while, but from what I've seen its gameplay is just more of the same.
GW2 however has a fresh take on the genre, and it doesn't even require a sub to play it.

Guild Wars is an mmorpg in the same way that Oblivion is a FPS. It's not.

Ah, so you're saying that a large pesistent world with lots of dynamic content as well as largescale non-instanced server vs server pvp does not make it an mmo?

I'm not really sure what WOULD make it an mmo then.

Maybe try to look up at least one article on GW2 before you start spewing your ignorance.

 

[Feriluce]

You forgot to mention GW2 in the article. Its quite possibly a much bigger competitor than TOR. Yes, TOR is going to have a billion SW fanboys playing it for a while, but from what I've seen its gameplay is just more of the same.
GW2 however has a fresh take on the genre, and it doesn't even require a sub to play it.

Guild Wars is an mmorpg in the same way that Oblivion is a FPS. It's not.

Ah, so you're saying that a large pesistent world with lots of dynamic content as well as largescale non-instanced server vs server pvp does not make it an mmo?

I'm not really sure what WOULD make it an mmo then.

Maybe try to look up at least one article on GW2 before you start spewing your ignorance.

LoL, he was talking about GW1. It WASN'T an MMORPG.

Then he just cant read. The post he quoted didn't make ANY mention of the original guild wars.

 

[Kukakkau]

Well 1-20 was normally a couple days of proper play when I used to play

And since then they sped up leveling... So I can see this being a pretty restricting trial

Sure you can try all the start zones but I think you'll hit the 20 cap very fast

 

[SenseOfTumour]

My curiousity is, as a guild leader, when this hits, am I going to be locked out when my time runs out, or can I log my level 20?

I may well create a second 'trial' account, so I can communicate with my guild when I'm out of play time.

Every now and then I'll leave my account for a few days to a week, before adding a new time card, I'd probably drag it out even longer if I could stay in contact.

 

[Fbuh]

Meh, I was more of a Guild Wars fan. Maybe I'll give WoW a shot.

 

[Danzaivar]

You forgot to mention GW2 in the article. Its quite possibly a much bigger competitor than TOR. Yes, TOR is going to have a billion SW fanboys playing it for a while, but from what I've seen its gameplay is just more of the same.
GW2 however has a fresh take on the genre, and it doesn't even require a sub to play it.

Guild Wars is an mmorpg in the same way that Oblivion is a FPS. It's not.

Ah, so you're saying that a large pesistent world with lots of dynamic content as well as largescale non-instanced server vs server pvp does not make it an mmo?

I'm not really sure what WOULD make it an mmo then.

Maybe try to look up at least one article on GW2 before you start spewing your ignorance.

LoL, he was talking about GW1. It WASN'T an MMORPG.

Then he just cant read. The post he quoted didn't make ANY mention of the original guild wars.

And neither can you apparantly. The post you quoted didn't make ANY mention of the new guild wars.

But on the topic of guild wars 2, it's going to end up being similar to guild wars 1 in terms of gameplay. Fans of the original are pretty fanatical, and the devs don't seem dumb enough to risk souring their existing fanbase. Applying that to a more open world genre like MMORPG's might work, but it's not really any more innovative than what TOR is doing (he says, like there's a quantitative metric for innovation...). And in terms of popularity, well, Star Wars fans and Bioware fans make for a pretty sizeable population to try beat.

It will be interesting to see though, even if the pile of MMO's that were declared threats to WoW is pretty substantial and (in my opinion) has some much more appealing IP's behind them. Still can't believe Warhammer Online bombed...

 

[Feriluce]

You forgot to mention GW2 in the article. Its quite possibly a much bigger competitor than TOR. Yes, TOR is going to have a billion SW fanboys playing it for a while, but from what I've seen its gameplay is just more of the same.
GW2 however has a fresh take on the genre, and it doesn't even require a sub to play it.

Guild Wars is an mmorpg in the same way that Oblivion is a FPS. It's not.

Ah, so you're saying that a large pesistent world with lots of dynamic content as well as largescale non-instanced server vs server pvp does not make it an mmo?

I'm not really sure what WOULD make it an mmo then.

Maybe try to look up at least one article on GW2 before you start spewing your ignorance.

LoL, he was talking about GW1. It WASN'T an MMORPG.

Then he just cant read. The post he quoted didn't make ANY mention of the original guild wars.

And neither can you apparantly. The post you quoted didn't make ANY mention of the new guild wars.

I was assuming that he was actually responding to the post he quoted (which only mentioned gw2), not just spouting random statements about a game that was not even being discussed.