You know, a few hours before "half-open" beta, I can not help but wonder... what the heck was all the secrecy for?

I mean, in those 2+ years, Bioware always had their "we can't talk about this", making people belief what never seen before things we should expect. Now while TOR sure is a good and decend game... I wonder where the innovation is? Maybe it is ok that TOR is just WOW in space, I don't mind that. But then what was the secrecy for? Weren't we always told some super, never seen stuff was brewed there? Endgame as never before! PVP systems as never seen!

I dunno, compared too the total standard fare MMO SWTOR is, I can only laugh about all their shush-hush-secrecy they celebrated all these years! Ohhh we have such a secret... and then it's just a game like so many before. How... odd.

Originally posted by Elikal

You know, a few hours before "half-open" beta, I can not help but wonder... what the heck was all the secrecy for?

I mean, in those 2+ years, Bioware always had their "we can't talk about this", making people belief what never seen before things we should expect. Now while TOR sure is a good and decend game... I wonder where the innovation is? Maybe it is ok that TOR is just WOW in space, I don't mind that. But then what was the secrecy for? Weren't we always told some super, never seen stuff was brewed there? Endgame as never before! PVP systems as never seen!

I dunno, compared too the total standard fare MMO SWTOR is, I can only laugh about all their shush-hush-secrecy they celebrated all these years! Ohhh we have such a secret... and then it's just a game like so many before. How... odd.

That's just the way Bioware is. They don't talk about stuff until they know it is going in the game. This is very smart in my opinion. 

There aren't going to be features missing at launch because they didn't come out and announce every half baked idea some intern in accounting came up with. While I have been in beta, whenever they announced a feature it was already in the game or they put it in right when they announced it.  

I'm sure there are a few exceptions to this, but I can't think of any. 

Features and systems that were scrapped or had to be pushed back after launch weren't talked about. No empty promises. I have to wonder what kind of stuff got left on the cutting room floor so to speak. 

lol true.

One thing is clear, they know how to sell.

Originally posted by Metentso

lol true.

One thing is clear, they know how to sell.

They're almost similar to Apple in a sense. They have very tight information control, although they are a little more public facing than Apple is. Still though, I can see the similarities. They are very private, and you don't see that many big information leaks. 

Originally posted by Elikal

You know, a few hours before "half-open" beta, I can not help but wonder... what the heck was all the secrecy for?

 

Simple: Marketing

Building anticipation.

Its like you would ask your parents what you get for christmas after you saw a big fancy box in the closet and they will say "we cant tell you, but its something you always wanted".

Except if you open it its just a pair of shoes you were talking about 2 years ago and that went out of style.

None of the Bioware games were truly innovative.

I mean, look at Mass Effect for example. It's basically a Gears of War combat system with some RPG elements. But does it work? Hell yeah it does.

Same goes with TOR. It's same old, but feels very fresh and it works.

Amount of content and features looking to be included in the game vs. timeframe. If Bioware was not sure that certain aspects would be included in the game, they definitely did not want anyone speaking of those features.

Plus letting out bits of information every Friday instead of unleashing it all at once retains attention over a longer production period.

And...most projects people work on and actually dedicate a good deal of time to and feel strongly towards will lead to them not really wanting all this news flying about, while the project is being refined and updated consistantly.

Showcase the nearly final or final project.

It is to build up expectations and make more people pre-order. Now what we know that the game is a mix of Mass Effect and WoW with nothing truly innovative the expectations will probably go down.

Originally posted by Yamota

It is to build up expectations and make more people pre-order. Now what we know that the game is a mix of Mass Effect and WoW with nothing truly innovative the expectations will probably go down.

Um, it was known that the game had these attributes long before the NDA lift.

Originally posted by Quesa

Originally posted by Yamota

It is to build up expectations and make more people pre-order. Now what we know that the game is a mix of Mass Effect and WoW with nothing truly innovative the expectations will probably go down.

Um, it was known that the game had these attributes long before the NDA lift.

Haha yeah. If you didn't know that before the NDA lift then I don't know what to tell you. 

Originally posted by Yamota

It is to build up expectations and make more people pre-order. Now what we know that the game is a mix of Mass Effect and WoW with nothing truly innovative the expectations will probably go down.

And that i precisly why i buy it, combine one of my favourtie RPG's with one of the most polished MMO's out there. It is a win/win with extra win on the side. You do not need to re-invent the wheel all the time and i think this will be my bwtween now and Pandaria game.

Yeah... I like WoW and i am sure that i will like SWTOR.

But yes it is a combination of marketing strategy and smart thinking, after all ask some of the people over at WoW about the dance studio or path of the titans. It is always smart to not talk about features or systems until they are fully ready and in game.

Didn't really see any difference than every other mmo whilst in development.

I think it's more along the lines of preventing people from giving information and reviews on incomplete game mechanics which show the game in a bad light and kill it before it's even out the gate.

Besides which I've not seen a game with quite so many leaks and good quality leaks (such as live streaming) as TOR, so I'm sure where the whole 'they are super secret and good at keeping it that way' thing comes from.

    Well, let's see.  I would say the biggest reason is managing expectations.  First, game feature expectations.  If you talk about what you plan on having in the game 3 years before release and then at one and a half years you realize you can't make it happen and tell everyone, there is often a lot of mud slinging going on.  A good example of this is BioWare talking about customizable ship interiors that it turned out they could not fit in before release.  A lot of people were and continue to be upset over that.  Second, playability expectations.  If you let BETA players talk about how buggy the game is a year prior to release it attracts the trolls like flies to rotten meat.  This is about the most unfair reaction any company can have to deal with, so it is best in the end to just stop the testers from talking.

    Keep in mind, that is only what I feel the biggest reason is (51%).  The other reason, in my opinion, is marketing (49%).  Thankfully enough people have already talked about that so I don't need to go into it.

    What I am really wondering though is, "What do we NOT know about yet?"  I could be wrong, but every good company holds something back for the last minute.  So what is BioWare holding back?

Originally posted by dubyahite

Originally posted by Quesa

Originally posted by Yamota

It is to build up expectations and make more people pre-order. Now what we know that the game is a mix of Mass Effect and WoW with nothing truly innovative the expectations will probably go down.

Um, it was known that the game had these attributes long before the NDA lift.

Haha yeah. If you didn't know that before the NDA lift then I don't know what to tell you. 

That is was a mix of Mass Effect and WoW was given, but I did not know that there would not be anything truly innovative and just copy-paste from other games. I know Blizzard had this reputation but not Bioware.

Originally posted by Yamota

Originally posted by dubyahite

Originally posted by Quesa

Originally posted by Yamota

It is to build up expectations and make more people pre-order. Now what we know that the game is a mix of Mass Effect and WoW with nothing truly innovative the expectations will probably go down.

Um, it was known that the game had these attributes long before the NDA lift.

Haha yeah. If you didn't know that before the NDA lift then I don't know what to tell you. 

That is was a mix of Mass Effect and WoW was given, but I did not know that there would not be anything truly innovative and just copy-paste from other games. I know Blizzard had this reputation but not Bioware.

Anything at all? come on now that is a bit of exaggeration. Robust companion system and crew crafting is quite an innovation. The only other MMO to have such an expansive companion system was FFXI. Now you may not like what they are innovating but to say there is ZERO innovation is just being biased.

They werent all that shy about it - story, story, story.

They aint been talking a lot that beneath it its WoW clone until lately.

Endgame with a twist? - still waiting on the twist.

Originally posted by Elikal

You know, a few hours before "half-open" beta, I can not help but wonder... what the heck was all the secrecy for?

I mean, in those 2+ years, Bioware always had their "we can't talk about this", making people belief what never seen before things we should expect. Now while TOR sure is a good and decend game... I wonder where the innovation is? Maybe it is ok that TOR is just WOW in space, I don't mind that. But then what was the secrecy for? Weren't we always told some super, never seen stuff was brewed there? Endgame as never before! PVP systems as never seen!

I dunno, compared too the total standard fare MMO SWTOR is, I can only laugh about all their shush-hush-secrecy they celebrated all these years! Ohhh we have such a secret... and then it's just a game like so many before. How... odd.

stopped reading after "wow in space". it's not.

uh and they surely did not promote "pvp like never seen before", must have been one of your wet dreams :>

Originally posted by Thane

Originally posted by Elikal

You know, a few hours before "half-open" beta, I can not help but wonder... what the heck was all the secrecy for?

I mean, in those 2+ years, Bioware always had their "we can't talk about this", making people belief what never seen before things we should expect. Now while TOR sure is a good and decend game... I wonder where the innovation is? Maybe it is ok that TOR is just WOW in space, I don't mind that. But then what was the secrecy for? Weren't we always told some super, never seen stuff was brewed there? Endgame as never before! PVP systems as never seen!

I dunno, compared too the total standard fare MMO SWTOR is, I can only laugh about all their shush-hush-secrecy they celebrated all these years! Ohhh we have such a secret... and then it's just a game like so many before. How... odd.

stopped reading after "wow in space". it's not.

 

uh and they surely did not promote "pvp like never seen before", must have been one of your wet dreams :>

You did not stop reading then...

The secrecy is for the same reason as it is with every game that comes out. IT's to keep things under lock and key until you are ready to show them.

So people don't start saying oh this feature is in game and then you have to take it out for X reason and people get mad. This didn't always work well as the companion death thing will show.

But it was so you'd judge the game what it is now, not what grandeur expections were givin out before hand by people who test the game. It's also so if there are bugs in the game it doesn't hurt it's rep as the only people who are suppose to know about said bugs (prior to the NDA drop) are the devs and the testers.

Basically it's to keep it secret until they are ready to say, hey okay, this is what the game is. That i feel really is all there is to it.