**OFFICIAL** Star Wars: The Old Republic Thread

[Jules]

Got mine from Amazon so they don't charge you until it's released. I really don't think that's an extra charge.

Edit: After looking at the Origin.com order page, they list all versions as $5 cheaper and put the "pre-order charge" as another line item...

Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ (Pre-Order)............$74.99
Pre-Order..............................................................$5.00

Total....................................................................$79.99

Pretty sure hes talking about the ea store

 

[Nizbot]

Pretty sure hes talking about the ea store

Origin.com is the new EA store.

 

[Jules]

Origin.com is the new EA store.

Yes sherlock the Ea store. Same thing. Probably get it from amazon like you since they don't charge right off the bat.

 

[Nizbot]

No need to be rude. All I'm sayin is no place is chargin "extra" for a pre-order.

 

[Jules]

No need to be rude. All I'm sayin is no place is chargin "extra" for a pre-order.

My bad, i apologize.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Sorry they ruin every MMO they touch. They tend to push for release before things are ready. Look at warhammer. Mythic did great with dark age. Warhammer had great ideas but was pushed before it was ready.

BUZZ!! Wrong.

Sorry but Warhammer failed more so due to Mythic over hyping features and the game itself while creating a crappy 2 faction pvp system rather then sticking with what worked in DAOC and they were further hindered by the crappy pve content they delivered along with a few other technical game play mechanical (crappy animations and input lag) issues, etc.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Maybe someday a small studio will take a chance on a sandbox style MMO similar to SWG and strike it rich.

One can only hope, but my guess is that the closest thing we're going to get is an emulated version of SWG.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Just because WoW has 11 million subscribers doesnt mean a copy of WoW is going to get 11 million subscribers. Why get a copy of WoW when you can just play WoW?

Exactly, and you'd think that would dawn on all the companies making WoW ripoffs. Their small gimmicks aren't enough to really differentiate their games from WoW.

 

[darkewaffle]

Exactly, and you'd think that would dawn on all the companies making WoW ripoffs. Their small gimmicks aren't enough to really differentiate their games from WoW.

Because WoW clones are guaranteed some amount of success, whereas anything else is pretty much guaranteed to fail, at least on the record books because the ceiling is so much lower.

 

[blackdogdeek]

my apologies if this has been answered previously:

has anyone pre-ordered from gamestop and received TWO beta codes on their receipt?

i did and originally thought the second code was for the weapon color change but when i entered the first code the message said i got both the early entry and the color change bonuses. now i'm wondering if the second code is valid or not. i'd enter it in but i don't want to mess up my current position in whatever queue there is for early entry.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Get exclusive rights to something (NFL) and people who really, really care have no choice but to buy your product. Back when the NFL 2kx series existed I always heard they were way better than EA's crap.

Madden 2005 was the best Madden ever, and it was the best because it faced stiff competition from a good NFL 2K5 game. Once 2K was eliminated from NFL games, Madden quality visibly suffered. On next gen, there wasn't even a decent Madden until Madden 2009.

There's a reason they haven't made an MLB game in forever, and it's not because of the 2k license.

Actually, it is. 2K has the exclusive third-party license for MLB; the agreement does allow first-party games (Sony, Nintendo, or MS) to be made, which is why there is a Sony MLB game for the PS3. EA's baseball game wasn't terrible, actually.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Because WoW clones are guaranteed some amount of success, whereas anything else is pretty much guaranteed to fail, at least on the record books because the ceiling is so much lower.

Maybe so, but how many times have you heard of WoW clones being called WoW killers? Many have where none have succeeded. The only non-WoW clone I can remember that had that description was AoC, and it had huge sales and was doing well until people left Tortage and found out how incomplete the game was.

 

[smackababy]

Maybe so, but how many times have you heard of WoW clones being called WoW killers? Many have where none have succeeded. The only non-WoW clone I can remember that had that description was AoC, and it had huge sales and was doing well until people left Tortage and found out how incomplete the game was.

Rift was supposed to be the next WoW killer and it has like 600k active subscribers still. Not too bad, but not great compared to WoW.

This game will sell decent enough to make EA lots of money.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Rift was supposed to be the next WoW killer and it has like 600k active subscribers still. Not too bad, but not great compared to WoW.

This game will sell decent enough to make EA lots of money.

WoW's success has tainted people's view and definition of "success." Prior to WoW, having 500K subscribers was considered a smash hit and 200K to 300K+ was considered successful. Now, those numbers are dismissed.

 

[darkewaffle]

Maybe so, but how many times have you heard of WoW clones being called WoW killers? Many have where none have succeeded. The only non-WoW clone I can remember that had that description was AoC, and it had huge sales and was doing well until people left Tortage and found out how incomplete the game was.

That's the thing though, a WoW clone doesn't have to be a killer title in order to be a profitable, successful game because the audience is so much larger. Whereas if you put out a game that tries to compete with EVE or FFXI or one of the other relatively niche titles, you have a much smaller pool to draw from. If even 5% of the WoW population buys/tries the next big thing, it's already going to be a [great] success by most any measure. Whereas to compete with and get those kind of numbers out of nearly any other game genre/market you would need a much more complete, attractive game to entice them.

 

[Beev]

Actually, it is. 2K has the exclusive third-party license for MLB; the agreement does allow first-party games (Sony, Nintendo, or MS) to be made, which is why there is a Sony MLB game for the PS3. EA's baseball game wasn't terrible, actually.

Ahh, that was my misunderstanding then. I always saw other MLB's and thought it was just a matter of getting license permission.

 

[smackababy]

WoW's success has tainted people's view and definition of "success." Prior to WoW, having 500K subscribers was considered a smash hit and 200K to 300K+ was considered successful. Now, those numbers are dismissed.

Except before WoW's success, gaming (especially MMOs) were not mainstream. 500k was a milestone leaped over very quickly. No company wants to be as successful as an MMO before WoW, they want to be the next WoW.

 

[DrunkenSano]

Rift was supposed to be the next WoW killer and it has like 600k active subscribers still. Not too bad, but not great compared to WoW.

This game will sell decent enough to make EA lots of money.

The numbers are inflated due to the recent Steam sale where they were selling the game and a free month for $10 and the collectors edition for $15. I was one who blew $15 for the collectors edition and the free month. I know I have no intentions of staying there since it is more or less a WoW clone, I've asked a lot of others who were running around on turtle mounts in the game and many aren't planning on staying either.

As long as more WoW clones are made and seen as the way to go, future MMOs will become crappier and more stagnant. Some of my friends who are in beta say that the WoW Beta was much better than the current TOR Beta which is disappointing to hear.

 

[BoberFett]

That's the thing though, a WoW clone doesn't have to be a killer title in order to be a profitable, successful game because the audience is so much larger. Whereas if you put out a game that tries to compete with EVE or FFXI or one of the other relatively niche titles, you have a much smaller pool to draw from. If even 5% of the WoW population buys/tries the next big thing, it's already going to be a [great] success by most any measure. Whereas to compete with and get those kind of numbers out of nearly any other game genre/market you would need a much more complete, attractive game to entice them.

It would be a success only if capital outlays are such that initial sales and the first couple months of subscriptions breaks even. When you spend $100M+ to develop a title, getting 5% of WoWs numbers means you have a corporate embarrassment on your hands.

 

[zinfamous]

Given how long it took to beat KOTOR, I'd expect that getting through all 8 storylines would take a LONG ass time to accomplish.

while they say it is story-driven, it is still an MMO. I imagine there will be more choice and paths as to how you progress towards the end, and perhaps you can skip quite a bit. Focus on main missions that are important, skip all the rest if you need or want to.

It's almost a given that most, if not all of the side quests are essentially useless, anyway.

Guild Wars has one of the largest game worlds of all (if that image is to be believed), and you can rather easily get several characters through most of the content. ....even playing somewhat casually. ....if it's the only game you play. 😉

 

[IndyColtsFan]

No company wants to be as successful as an MMO before WoW, they want to be the next WoW.

That's what we've been saying, I think. However, simply copying WoW, reskinning it, and throwing in a gimmick or two isn't a way to get WoW's numbers. Why play a copy of WoW when you can just play WoW to begin with?

 

[Nizbot]

my apologies if this has been answered previously:

has anyone pre-ordered from gamestop and received TWO beta codes on their receipt?

i did and originally thought the second code was for the weapon color change but when i entered the first code the message said i got both the early entry and the color change bonuses. now i'm wondering if the second code is valid or not. i'd enter it in but i don't want to mess up my current position in whatever queue there is for early entry.

I'm guessing you mean the pre-order code from your receipt. If you have registered the code at swtor.com then you're good to go. Not sure why you'd receive two but if you go to your account page it should tell you what version you pre-ordered.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

FWIW, I also agree with the sentiments most have expressed regarding a sandbox game. I personally love sandbox games and would love something like SWG (Pre-CU) to come along again, but I understand I'm the minority and game companies don't give a crap about me.

 

[preslove]

That's what we've been saying, I think. However, simply copying WoW, reskinning it, and throwing in a gimmick or two isn't a way to get WoW's numbers. Why play a copy of WoW when you can just play WoW to begin with?

Because of the cinematic story line. Did you not play KOTOR, or something? Calling SWTOR a reskinning of WoW is idiotic. It's KOTOR + WoW.

Given how popular the preorders are for a game without a definite release date, I'm thinking that KOTOR + WoW is EXACTLY what many people want.

while they say it is story-driven, it is still an MMO. I imagine there will be more choice and paths as to how you progress towards the end, and perhaps you can skip quite a bit. Focus on main missions that are important, skip all the rest if you need or want to.

It's almost a given that most, if not all of the side quests are essentially useless, anyway.

Guild Wars has one of the largest game worlds of all (if that image is to be believed), and you can rather easily get several characters through most of the content. ....even playing somewhat casually. ....if it's the only game you play. 😉

8 characters, though? All the different characters have different storylines. It's like 8 different movies.

And, who cares what your average basement dwelling MMORPG player wants. This game is going to bring in many casual non-mmo players because of fond memories of KOTOR.

 

[darkewaffle]

It would be a success only if capital outlays are such that initial sales and the first couple months of subscriptions breaks even. When you spend $100M+ to develop a title, getting 5% of WoWs numbers means you have a corporate embarrassment on your hands.

You'd be hard pressed to find any game aside from ToR that even cost half that. And even then nobody knows yet how expensive ToR has been,the only number I recall was that $300M mark thrown around by that supposed Ex-EA employee, and well, if you buy into that I think you've got bigger problems 😀