Stepping up to the plate with this week's Devil's Advocate, Drew Wood takes a look at BioWare's supposed forthcoming Opus, Star Wars: The Old Republic and some of the general complaints from the MMO Community about the game's structure. Will SW:TOR revolutionize the way that MMOs are produced? The Devil's Advocate seems to think there's a good chance.

While it's true that BioWare is stepping (ever so slightly) outside of the normative behavior in creating an MMO, it's also true that The Old Republic will still call back to many of the elements that make an MMO an MMO in the first place. Perhaps most notably, the world of the Old Republic will be massive, with many players interacting on any given server from different parts of their own region so that I, a player from Canada, can pop onto a server and play with my guild who are spread out, for the sake of argument, along the Western Seaboard of the United States. Massive. Multiplayer. Online. Should you take this argument at face value, I would already be done. Star Wars: The Old Republic

Read more of Drew Wood's The Devil's Advocate.

Yep, agreed. It's gonna rock my world. At least for a fair while.

I am sad to leave Rift for it, because I know SWTOR will hook me up for the next few years and I really love Rift and Trion...! Ah! MMOs... If Rift could have came around 2-3 years ago!

Keeping my hype for this game in check.  That has been my problem with "let down" of new games over the last year or so.

That said I am excited for this game and look forward to getting heavy wife aggro once it has launched.

Poorly written article.

A de-emphasis on crafting, lack of customizable player housing, and rich storytelling are hardly revolutionary.  Also, try proofreading your opening paragraph.

Originally posted by Zooce

Poorly written article.

A de-emphasis on crafting, lack of customizable player housing, and rich storytelling are hardly revolutionary.  Also, try proofreading your opening paragraph.

 

I've noticed that, recently, most of the articles here have been very badly written, with spelling mistakes, lack of proof-reading and even glaring internet vices ("there" instead of "their" when referring to possession, excessive use or lack of necessary apostrophes, etc). 

MMORPG.com really needs to up the quality of its editors. And of its writers.

true. i've also been waiting for something to rock my mmo world, so to say. trief rift and aion not so fun, i am sorry bout hat but no mmo out there can give me that childlike feeling of building something worth the effort and just having fun with my free time.

Originally posted by Zooce

Poorly written article.

A de-emphasis on crafting, lack of customizable player housing, and rich storytelling are hardly revolutionary.  Also, try proofreading your opening paragraph.

The crafting in the game seems interesting imo. Have to wait and see how it pans out though.

Player housing is basically your ship. Have to wait and see how much customization is available.

Story telling on the level of Swtor is as far as I know unseen so far in an mmo.

"Fact: While well respected amongst the industry, niche players such as yourself make up a small population and, therefore (and here's the sad truth of it) a small percentage of the income rolling in."

Really? I'm going to go ahead and agree with StormwindX above; the quality and tone of MMORPG.com articles has been steadily devolving into condescending, trite nonsense. Do you have some sort of reference for this totally ridiculous statement you made in your article, or did you just pull it out of your arse because you felt like it?

In reality, what real damage is done if modern MMO's allow things like customizable housing? Just like most modern MMO's allow you to ignore PvP if you don't wish to participate, nobody is FORCING you to buy a house and decorate it.

Some of us like the additional layer of immersion having a "home" of our own affords us.

But things for basically giving us all the finger and calling us the minority. If the majority are the kind of people keeping World of Warcraft alive, I'll proudly stick a label on myself as "Niche gamer."

This site has really gone to garbage.

Devils Advocate?? More like "General Praise and the Legion of unabashed propaganda"...

Wow some people really need to read the disclaimer at the top of the article and understand the meaning of the phrase "devil's advocate".

There is probably two things this game will change and has already shown to be evident in at least one or more cases.

First is the emphasis on polished games, though some credit has to be given to Trion for being first, first and setting standards are not always the same thing. You can do something great but if few people notice it, then you didn't set a standard, however if the big guy everyone knows (Please dont' take this literally guys, i think you know what i mean by everyone) does it as well then it sets a standard.

Second is emphasis on voice overs and secondly stories, Before this, games came out and there were stories yes, but there was never such an emphasis on it. Stories for the most part were there to give you a reason to fight a mob or hunt X amount of Y items. However recently and i can't help but think it's because of Bioware that people are now focused on giving more indepth stories. Lets take a look at some of the games coming out. GW2 gives a focus on story elements and choices in those stories, TSW is doing this as well (though i don't know about the choices in stories). Both of these also boost a fully voiced over system. These types of features are not really things the industry was focused on before this game came to real light. But why do i say it's a Bioware thing before the game even releases and other games have done this in the MMo industry before?  well the fact i stated before that the idustry until very recently didn't focus on this sort of thing to any degree, beyond one game (AoC) most of the styles of questing were simple grab a quest from a randomly generated guy and do his tasks. Its not until now does there seem to be a shift in getting these people (NPCs) to interact with the player and seeing as how Choices, cinematic approaches, Voice overs in this sence tend to be the norm for Bioware I tend to give credit to them. We are even seeing more emphasis  on companion characters (what i mean is one joins your side and stays with you the entire time of the game)

The real test would have been if Bioware hadn't done an MMO would we be focusing on stories and choices so much?

Plus it wasn't that long ago where Trion (at least i think it was someone at trion) made the statment that hey we have story to you know, which indeed made me smile.

As for the atricle itself it does read off as more of a this is indeed an MMO believe it or not type thing rather then what the title made me think which was how ToR will change the idustry what effects will it have, which is why i listed the above. Story, polish, VO are the things i think they are going to change in the idustry...some already have taken hold IMO.

Originally posted by howtoland

"Fact: While well respected amongst the industry, niche players such as yourself make up a small population and, therefore (and here's the sad truth of it) a small percentage of the income rolling in."

 

Really? I'm going to go ahead and agree with StormwindX above; the quality and tone of MMORPG.com articles has been steadily devolving into condescending, trite nonsense. Do you have some sort of reference for this totally ridiculous statement you made in your article, or did you just pull it out of your arse because you felt like it?

In reality, what real damage is done if modern MMO's allow things like customizable housing? Just like most modern MMO's allow you to ignore PvP if you don't wish to participate, nobody is FORCING you to buy a house and decorate it.

Some of us like the additional layer of immersion having a "home" of our own affords us.

But things for basically giving us all the finger and calling us the minority. If the majority are the kind of people keeping World of Warcraft alive, I'll proudly stick a label on myself as "Niche gamer."

This site has really gone to garbage.

 

Don't get upset about it. It's true.

It's not just World of Warcraft. It's almost every mmo with decent subsciption numbers.

I'm not seeing reasoning on how this'll change MMOs. It's more like "What it has that sorta makes it what we'd call an MMO." The last parts, to me, help confirm the idea that TOR's a single player RPG with a great lobby ;P

Originally posted by Elidien

Wow some people really need to read the disclaimer at the top of the article and understand the meaning of the phrase "devil's advocate".

Why exactly would they have to do that?

"Disclaimer: The Devil's Advocate is a place where the MMO-Loving world can go to hear the unpopular opinion"

In order for "The Devil's Advocate" to fit its own definition... the article would have to be entirely rewritten.  Or the target audience of The Old Republic (as opposed to the article) would have to say the opinion of this article was not their own.

If the latter was the case then this game would not meet the premise of the article.   As its written the article doesn't meet the premise of its own introduction (no matter how you look at it).

*edit for more clarity*

The article in and of its self is basicly a defense of the game and really why it won't "fail" and its "story" concept with be in MMO's of the future.  That would be a good article if it was presented that way.   However, if the majority opinion of the MMO loving world did not agree with this.. then obviously the game would be fail because the majority that EA's CEO expects to buy this game wouldn't.   That's my problem with the article...   as it is written and with the *disclaimer* it includes.

I pay a lot of attention to game news and sites. What gamers are saying and thinking. I have never seen the gaming world as stoked as they are about this game. I am wondering if ALL other games will be like someone pulled the plug in the bottom of the tub as their population leaves to try this game. Even when Rift came out they had to constantly add new servers to accomodate the influx. And that game was mainly just word of mouth spread after it came out. Of course it didn't last. There is a perfect storm of the old standards like WoW getting a little age on them, a lack of new games that are released with polish and competence,and wide appeal, and a player base that seems to take a bite of every game,spit it out,and say, "next". It may be that we have never seen anything like what just trying to log onto this new game will be like. Other games may look like ghost towns for a while at least. This is all really interesting to watch unfold. Deal me in.

Originally posted by Atlan99

Originally posted by howtoland

"Fact: While well respected amongst the industry, niche players such as yourself make up a small population and, therefore (and here's the sad truth of it) a small percentage of the income rolling in."

 

Really? I'm going to go ahead and agree with StormwindX above; the quality and tone of MMORPG.com articles has been steadily devolving into condescending, trite nonsense. Do you have some sort of reference for this totally ridiculous statement you made in your article, or did you just pull it out of your arse because you felt like it?

In reality, what real damage is done if modern MMO's allow things like customizable housing? Just like most modern MMO's allow you to ignore PvP if you don't wish to participate, nobody is FORCING you to buy a house and decorate it.

Some of us like the additional layer of immersion having a "home" of our own affords us.

But things for basically giving us all the finger and calling us the minority. If the majority are the kind of people keeping World of Warcraft alive, I'll proudly stick a label on myself as "Niche gamer."

This site has really gone to garbage.

 

Don't get upset about it. It's true.

It's not just World of Warcraft. It's almost every mmo with decent subsciption numbers.

 

 Yup. Losing a small segment of the market that demands customizeable housing won't cost them that much money.

Originally posted by Antarious

Originally posted by Elidien

Wow some people really need to read the disclaimer at the top of the article and understand the meaning of the phrase "devil's advocate".

 

Why exactly would they have to do that?

 

"Disclaimer: The Devil's Advocate is a place where the MMO-Loving world can go to hear the unpopular opinion"

 

In order for "The Devil's Advocate" to fit its own definition... the article would have to be entirely rewritten.  Or the target audience of The Old Republic (as opposed to the article) would have to say the opinion of this article was not their own.

 

If the latter was the case then this game would not meet the premise of the article.   As its written the article doesn't meet the premise of its own introduction (no matter how you look at it).

 

The general consensus on this site (popular opinion if you will), from the most vocal group, is that TOR is the same old crap, same old boring, tried and true MMO formula and will do next to nothing for the genre or industry. It will not change the industry at all because TOR is just WOW with lightsabers.

The author is being the devil's advocate here because he is countering that sentiment; the sentiment of negativity and hatred towards a game that has not even launched yet from a developed known for awesome titles and great games.

Originally posted by Elidien

Originally posted by Antarious

Originally posted by Elidien

Wow some people really need to read the disclaimer at the top of the article and understand the meaning of the phrase "devil's advocate".

 

Why exactly would they have to do that?

 

"Disclaimer: The Devil's Advocate is a place where the MMO-Loving world can go to hear the unpopular opinion"

 

In order for "The Devil's Advocate" to fit its own definition... the article would have to be entirely rewritten.  Or the target audience of The Old Republic (as opposed to the article) would have to say the opinion of this article was not their own.

 

If the latter was the case then this game would not meet the premise of the article.   As its written the article doesn't meet the premise of its own introduction (no matter how you look at it).

 

The general consensus on this site (popular opinion if you will), from the most vocal group, is that TOR is the same old crap, same old biring tried and true MMO formula and will do next to nothing. it will not change the industry at all because TOR is just WOW with lightsabers.

The author is being the devil's advocate here because he is countering that sentiment; the sentiment of negativity and hatred towards a game that has not even launched yet from a developed known for awesome titles and great games.

That is not the premise of the article or its own disclaimer.   The "mmo loving world" is not defined by this website.