If the nebulous title brought you in, you're not alone. Yet in an interview during last weekend's ComiCon in San Diego, Bioware's senior creative director James Ohlen mentioned that Star Wars: The Old Republic will launch with seventeen explorable worlds but the road map allows for over 500 worlds in 2025. That's over a decade's worth of content additions, folks.

JO: Well, I can say that we have 1(7) major worlds. Then we have an indeterminate number of minor worlds. And our goal, obviously this being an online game, that we're hoping is going to last for decades, we're going to be, obviously, adding more to the galaxy map as the game progresses. We want to add dozens of worlds. Hundreds of worlds eventually. In 2025, we'll hopefully have 500 worlds.

Source: DarthHater.com

Now that is planning ahead... thats a mindboggling amount of content.

And amazing ammount of pride.

Sadly this is most likely along the lines of  how "vast and endless and alive" DA2's world was supposed to be...and how in reality in the game it was....

I find their lack of incompetence... Disturbing. :D

So that makes me wonder if they have built the engine to have major graphics overhauls over time. Can you imagine, even in five years, how graphics and visuals will evolve. We will all probably be playing in 3D by then:) Heck, if this game keeps me going for five + years I will be amazed anyway. Even WOW only kept me for four. EQ I think I played for 3 or4 years but no MMO has kept me over five years yet.

2025? lol. This game will be comparable to pong by then. It's ridiculous to even talk about anything game-related when it's that far off. Take a look at Diablo 2, SWG, Unreal Tournament, EverQuest, Ultimate Online... games that are roughly only 10 years old, yet appear to be ancient. The same concept applies. By 2016, this game will really start to show age when compared to the rest of the new crop.

Moreover, it's not about additional content. It's about what we can do with that content. Do I simply go where I'm told 24-7? Is the world virtuall useless after I "out level" it?

This is game is a pure Theme Park... a very good one. What they need to do for future advancement is add in some mild sandbox elements - self-sustaining content, e.g., planets where guilds can plop down houses, halls, etc.

SandParks are the future of MMOs.

37 worlds a year if they release in 2K12.

Pr machine is at lightning speed imo.

Originally posted by depain

2025? lol. This game will be comparable to pong by then. It's ridiculous to even talk about anything game-related when it's that far off. Take a look at Diablo 2, SWG, Unreal Tournament, EverQuest, Ultimate Online... games that are roughly only 10 years old, yet appear to be ancient. The same concept applies. By 2016, this game will really start to show age when compared to the rest of the new crop.

Moreover, it's not about additional content. It's about what we can do with that content. Do I simply go where I'm told 24-7? Is the world virtuall useless after I "out level" it?

This is game is a pure Theme Park... a very good one. What they need to do for future advancement is add in some mild sandbox elements - self-sustaining content, e.g., planets where guilds can plop down houses, halls, etc.

SandParks are the future of MMOs.

 They are considering/ testing Guild Capital ships. Massive moving guild houses where you can land your personal start ship and congregate. I think that is cooler than guild houses and wanted to point that out.

ofc he was joking but it is possible. look at the oldest games on the market they are still played (and payed for)

UO 1997 - 2011 , thats 14 years of gaming in the same game.  2011+14=..tadaa 2025 ,was a quick thinking guy who made the statement :)

personaly I played SWG for seven years now ( incl a few breaks) 

Also note that he was also talking about "mini planets" mine zones,  it are places that are designed to bve a raid or some grand dungeon but take place on a named and designed after SW planet.

every non-adventure raid /instance planet they add would count to that ultimate 500 goal. its not so hard to do , just takes crap load of time to design 500 unique ones :P

let's see that is 14 years from now, in 14 years i will be 37, wow, i dont know if i will stil play game at that age... lol

Originally posted by TweFoju

let's see that is 14 years from now, in 14 years i will be 37, wow, i dont know if i will stil play game at that age... lol

You will, Time changes nothing in your mind, only the world around you changes.

Something that I do not understand about this game is the size of the worlds.  When they say that they will have "19 major worlds then we have an indeterminate number of minor worlds", what do you they mean?  Is each world fully explorable à la SWG or is it going to be instanced segments of particular locales for each world? A capital city here, a fortress there, a cavern farther away, that one accesses through a sort of hub system (starship/home) or through warp-points (whether instantaneous like GW or timed duration such as WoW griffons/bats/etc.) or can I actually explore the planet?

If it is merely instances of certain events for flashpoints, battlegrounds, etc. then 500 planets could be foreseeable but it would require a lot of commitment from the developing team.

They better just hope they make it past 6 months without having to do major server merges.

Originally posted by Eladi

Originally posted by TweFoju

let's see that is 14 years from now, in 14 years i will be 37, wow, i dont know if i will stil play game at that age... lol

You will, Time changes nothing in your mind, only the world around you changes.

 

 Um WRONG. But it's okay, enjoy being young.

Originally posted by SBFord

 

JO: Well, I can say that we have 19 major worlds. Then we have an indeterminate number of minor worlds. And our goal, obviously this being an online game, that we're hoping is going to last for decades, we're going to be, obviously, adding more to the galaxy map as the game progresses. We want to add dozens of worlds. Hundreds of worlds eventually. In 2025, we'll hopefully have 500 worlds.

Source: DarthHater.com

He mispoke about the 19 worlds. He was corrected in the panel at some point that its actually 17.

But still no mention of Smell-O-Vision.

sigh

Visionless wankers.

if you listen to the audio or watch the video of the panel, he said the 500 planets kind of jokingly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JUDtSEJOOY&feature=player_embedded#t=1956s

and like another poster said, he misspoke when he said 19 at release. he corrected himself during one of the q&a's (i believe it was on friday)

edit: basically dallas and james took any chance they could to make stephen reids job harder while they were at comic con. ;)

Tgis engine look`s realy bad comparsing to" Cryengine 3" or even "Terra"

and In 2025 this engine will look like mario looks now XD

IMHO Wrong engine to make a game for a decades !

In 2025 no will play PC MMO's....we will be play VR MMO :)

500 planets total - 19 current planets = 481 planets to add

481 planets to add / 14 years to add them = 34.36 planets a year

Yeah...  Does JO  live in the real world?