April 2010 seems logical, therefore the realistic release date is late 2011. November 2011, likely.

Lots of time for me to upgrade. :)

Originally posted by DarkPony

Considering only one class has been fully featured on the website along with a couple of planets, I think its safe to say it will still take a long while. And, what we know about the state of the game as it is now (a working game, if I'm correct), that long wait ahead of us can mean two things:

- Scenario 1: Folks at Bioware realize very well that when you really want to take onWOW you need a game which is polished and bug free at launch, huge on variety and content, entertaining in the long run and offer an altogether full and diverse gameplay experience. They have seen what we have seen; premium mmo's being launched too early and not complete enough to keep people interested for longer than 1-3 months. They have the money, the time and the vision to take development a few steps further to release a REAL contender to the throne.

- Scenario 2: Quite similar, with the addition that the game, in working state, got skewered by their own internal testers and it NEEDS more time to be developed into a game which does live up to their standards.

Then again ... they might just be right on schedual and taking their time to add more content and features ... but that sounds boring :P

What they have released for information and what actually exists are two different things. They have a planned timeline to release this information. Jedi are obviously in the game as we have seen videos/pictures of them but we don't know anything about them yet. They have the information but you can bet they are holding on to the jedi/sith info until every other class is announced.

The problem with this game releasing in late 2010/early 2011 is that Blizzard is also developing a MMO. While we have no idea what it is; you can bet that since it is blizzard it will be BIG. Direct competition between the two could be devestating for this game especially with Blizzard having far more experience with online games.

So the problem won't be competing with WoW. It will be competing against WoW's successor which will draw upon both Ex-subscribers, current subscribers, and IP fanbase. If the MMO turns out to be Starcraft based then that makes things that much worse.

My initial guess is/was based a date of approximately 18 months from the forum launch, which would be late April 2010, but I tacked on a month for a release date of May 25th, 2010:  the 32nd anniversary of the release of Epidose IV.

If we have a fair amount of info released at E3, then I will stick by this date.  If we get nothing other than the standard Friday updates by the time E3 comes and goes, than I will be more pessimistic and say Nov/Dec 2010.

I really don't see any way this game releases this year, barring a ridiculous info dump at E3.  I know Bioware is usually fairly tight lipped about their titles, but right now we have close to no info on this game.  One confirmed class, four confirmed planets, and a few screenshots.  I would think if they planned to release this year, we would have a lot more than this by now.

im betting 4Q of 2009 or 1Q of 1010. Plus with so much info being released on the game every week, they are building hype! Bioware IMO is very good at this, and im betting we will hear a release date in the coming months

if we are lucky 4th Q of this year, but I think it will be more like 2nd Q of 2010.

After Friday May 1st, its looking like early 2010 latest and 2009 Q4 very possible. From the video its looking like atleast 4 planets are done. One of the programmers said, "I enjoyed working and playing around creating Korriban" and the rest of the video was about creating 4 planets. They are doing a great job of keeping us guessing and this will be for sure the most anticipated mmo to date.

Originally posted by Iijs

April 2010 seems logical, therefore the realistic release date is late 2011. November 2011, likely.

Lots of time for me to upgrade. :)

November 2011 is way too late IMO. It would be a marketing mistake to hype us up this much then release it 3 years later.

That would also put the game in development for 6+ years. Thats just too long for a company like Bioware or EA and not very cost effective.

Originally posted by Distaste

Originally posted by DarkPony

Considering only one class has been fully featured on the website along with a couple of planets, I think its safe to say it will still take a long while. And, what we know about the state of the game as it is now (a working game, if I'm correct), that long wait ahead of us can mean two things:

- Scenario 1: Folks at Bioware realize very well that when you really want to take onWOW you need a game which is polished and bug free at launch, huge on variety and content, entertaining in the long run and offer an altogether full and diverse gameplay experience. They have seen what we have seen; premium mmo's being launched too early and not complete enough to keep people interested for longer than 1-3 months. They have the money, the time and the vision to take development a few steps further to release a REAL contender to the throne.

- Scenario 2: Quite similar, with the addition that the game, in working state, got skewered by their own internal testers and it NEEDS more time to be developed into a game which does live up to their standards.

Then again ... they might just be right on schedual and taking their time to add more content and features ... but that sounds boring :P

 

What they have released for information and what actually exists are two different things. They have a planned timeline to release this information. Jedi are obviously in the game as we have seen videos/pictures of them but we don't know anything about them yet. They have the information but you can bet they are holding on to the jedi/sith info until every other class is announced.

The problem with this game releasing in late 2010/early 2011 is that Blizzard is also developing a MMO. While we have no idea what it is; you can bet that since it is blizzard it will be BIG. Direct competition between the two could be devestating for this game especially with Blizzard having far more experience with online games.

So the problem won't be competing with WoW. It will be competing against WoW's successor which will draw upon both Ex-subscribers, current subscribers, and IP fanbase. If the MMO turns out to be Starcraft based then that makes things that much worse.

Hmm, I think the new Blizz mmo will still take quite some years of developement. Unless they have silently been working on it for years at an end already, but I don't think so. Diablo III will be the first to see the light from the blues (which could be a short term threat for SW:TOR on it's own accord; atleast untill most people are fed up again with mindnumbing hacking & slashing in a semi-single player game).  But I think it is safe to say that the SW'Tor launch will be at least one year before Blizz releases it's true new mmorpg, giving SWTOR a nice timeframe to build a rep with.

Though within that timeframe it still has to compete with the likes of Aion, Mortal Online, Earthrise, Global Agenda, Black Prophecy, etc. Quite a long list of promising new mmorpgs :) May the best win, ... FITE!!!11

Originally posted by SaintViktor

Not too far fetched to think we may see TOR in 2009 but my guess will be early 2010.

I agree.  I think the game is probably about a year from launch.  I will be surprised if we see it in less time than that.  I'll still have my fingers crossed for an earlier release, but judging by the amount and depth of the info available.. I'd say it's still got a way to go.  I think when we get within 6 months, we'll have a lot more info than we do now... including a full list of racfes, classes and planets.

I think Bioware was working on this way before they officialy announced it , and due the professionalism of Bioware as developers  it could be even a release this year.

Anyway imo devs shouldnt announce titles and let then players waiting around on hot coals for years (plenty examples out there)

Announce title and go beta within 6 month ..or shut ur trap :)

Originally posted by CoffeeGrunt

I think Bioware was working on this way before they officialy announced it , and due the professionalism of Bioware as developers  it could be even a release this year.

Anyway imo devs shouldnt announce titles and let then players waiting around on hot coals for years (plenty examples out there)

Announce title and go beta within 6 month ..or shut ur trap :)

Yea that is confirmed, the game was in development for atleast 3-4 years prior to the announcement.

Originally posted by tillamook

 

Anyone  think the game is basically finished now? maybe?

They've been talking about an 09 launch date for years. Actually Nancy MacIntyre (before she left Lucas Arts) said waaay back in 05 that if they were to make another Star Wars MMO, it wouldn't been seen till around 2009. Also they hinted at many times over the years that they wanted to grow the KOTOR franchise

http://www.gamedaily.com/games/knigh...ame-main/list/ 09 launch date

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starw...ml?sid=6172473

http://kotaku.com/gaming/kotor,-plea...ish-268284.php

http://www.shacknews.com/reviews/game.x/6462#graph1

Bioware brings a working copy to Mythic

"Gordon Walton, co-studio director, BioWare Austin: We announced the game around March, but we'd really started on it in the beginning of December 2005." http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3155486

Quote:

"During our play tests, we've actually had guys come in who are openly hostile to stories in MMOs, and they come out and give us perfect scores. They didn't even expect that that was possible in an MMO. "

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/47138

Also for those of you who don't know, about 4 months ago Amazon.com accidentally posted a pre-order page for TOR with a 09 release date before it was even announced, it was taken down within a day lol.

Interview on GS, it was playable back in 07.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/drago...=1&sid=6180866

Quote:

GS: Now one of the main reasons EA gave for acquiring BioWare/Pandemic was the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game you're developing in Austin. After listening to John's comments in the conference call, one walks away with the impression that said MMORPG is a wholly owned IP of BioWare--and therefore EA. Is that correct? RM: We haven't revealed any details about the game. It's super secret right now. It's got all the characters and story arc that BioWare is known for, and I wish I could say more. It's the best of breed of MMO, with the magic BioWare's associated with, and our goal is to make sure people can't stop playing it. GS: Right, but judging by John's enthusiasm, it sounds pretty safe to say the MMO is an all-original IP. Would that be fair to say? RM: [Long pause] We haven't revealed any details about the game. It's super secret right now. It's-- GS: OK, OK, I get it. GZ: I can say one thing: It looks awesome! [Laughs.] We can say a second thing, too: It's really fun to play. We're already playing it. We were playing it just last week.

 Another article about the Hero engine you should all read.

Also it is listed at EA, >clicky< I doubt that will sit there for 2 years like that.

 

anyways The game is back up on Amazon.com again, though as usual amazon has the date way out. 01/01/10 not even a Tuesday BTW. Another site has it for 1/1/2010, but then I found another site that has it set for October 09.

then go here (UPC database) and hit the "Click here to see if there are any other items on file with the same prefix. " button. Takes you to LEC titles.

Another one set at Nov1st
This one says Oct 20th and provides this mock up.

 

It would be stupid to launch the game before the first week in December due to the Christmas sales.

If they get done in October they can just spend the time squashing bugs and adding content.

Originally posted by Jefferson81 

It would be stupid to launch the game before the first week in December due to the Christmas sales.

If they get done in October they can just spend the time squashing bugs and adding content.

 

Gonna go ahead and ask why it would be stupid before December? This is an MMO. The sooner it gets out there the sooner it can start making its bread and butter subscription money. Anyone that was going to get it for Xmas can still do so at Xmas. Not to mention that it gives them time to have populations settled and servers stable before the supposed Xmas rush.

I never understood the whole Xmas game release crap. If I want a game I buy it whenever it comes out be it Xmas or the 4th of July. The Xmas rush is good for kids games or franchise games since it is mostly parents shopping and they go based on what their kids are into. However for a BIG name release, like SWTOR, it won't matter. Just like WAR, SWTOR could have EASILY 800k+ buying the game in september. In fact a good word of mouth would only increase Xmas sales.

I am alittle worried about Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 affecting the release of SWtor. Dragon Age has a estimated release date of Nov 3, 2009 and Mass Effect Q1 2010. yes these are not set in stone but it may put SWTor deep into 2010. Sure hope not.

Originally posted by Distaste

Originally posted by Jefferson81 

It would be stupid to launch the game before the first week in December due to the Christmas sales.

If they get done in October they can just spend the time squashing bugs and adding content.

 

 

Gonna go ahead and ask why it would be stupid before December? This is an MMO. The sooner it gets out there the sooner it can start making its bread and butter subscription money. Anyone that was going to get it for Xmas can still do so at Xmas. Not to mention that it gives them time to have populations settled and servers stable before the supposed Xmas rush.

I never understood the whole Xmas game release crap. If I want a game I buy it whenever it comes out be it Xmas or the 4th of July. The Xmas rush is good for kids games or franchise games since it is mostly parents shopping and they go based on what their kids are into. However for a BIG name release, like SWTOR, it won't matter. Just like WAR, SWTOR could have EASILY 800k+ buying the game in september. In fact a good word of mouth would only increase Xmas sales.

Because people gets their Christmas bonus and that makes them spend money on luxuary items like computer and video games.

You are probably single or in a relationship without children so you wouldn't understand.

Originally posted by Cody1174

I am alittle worried about Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 affecting the release of SWtor. Dragon Age has a estimated release date of Nov 3, 2009 and Mass Effect Q1 2010. yes these are not set in stone but it may put SWTor deep into 2010. Sure hope not.

I don't see any issues with DA or ME2 being released close to SWtOR.  It would be a mistake if they released them in the same months, but I do not see any issues with them being released during the same quarter.  They could hype one game a month for an entire quarter which I see as being ideal for BioWare.

I'm sure they've thought about all this too, even though this is a new issue for BioWare to be involved in, they are very smart business people as well as execlent game developers.