Seriously, 2012 is bringing a ton of AAA MMO titles that will probably all take a good chunk of players from many mmos. From the top of my head there are :

 

-Guild Wars 2

-The Secret World

-Tera

-Archeage

 

Those 4 titles are promising and in all honesty they all look really good, pretty sure they will all be successful (some more than other) at the detriment of other games, Swtor being one of them. A lot of players are playing the game only because they're waiting for another title (that'd be me). A lot will just quit and go play the shiny new mmo and we're already seeing players growing bored of the game and leaving before the free month is up.

 

So what do you think? Do you believe SWTOR has what it takes to survive the onslaught of new and innovative (because those 4 are innovative in at least one aspect, infinitely more than TOR) mmos? I honestly think the future of this game is pretty grim, and it has only been one month.

 

The game is good as far as (pardon me for using that expression) WoW-Clones go but I seriously think that a lot of players are growing bored of the classic WoW formula, it worked for a long while but now they crave for more and TOR might have trouble offering what they ask for, voice acting is nice but it's an addition that doesn't make the game that much fun in the long run.

 

Just my 2 cents.

here is why im not scared. Ive run into alot of players in tor who have never played an mmo before. They are all star wars or bioware fans so no im not scared.

your going to have an loyal following of this game no matter what comes out.. but honestly if any of those games actually really deliver as being the next gen MMOs I pretty much can bet SWTOR will end up a ghost town... but who knows plenty of MMOs talk a big game before they come out and fail to deliver...

It's really up to ToR if it will be viable in the market after the above titles you mentioned are released.

Competition is a good thing.

It keeps subs cost down while makeing developers strive to produce the best features, graphics, story etc.

If it can't hold it's own in 2012, it's cause the competition put out a better product.

 

for perspective, I have bought and am currently playing ToR

I think we should in the first place halt for a moment, to stop to think and realise what a truly lucky year this will be for MMO gaming and all kinds of different styles of AAA MMORPG's that'll come out and cater to all kinds of different tastes that MMO gamers might have.

Before we dive into the usual route of MMO epeen and bashing all games that aren't our favorite, a different approach might be to be happy that such variety and so many new MMO's will arrive: it means that there'll be an MMO for a wide range of MMO gamers, for people who aren't burnt out and still enjoy traditional themepark MMO's, to those who crave innovation to kickstart their MMO gaming fun again that they've lost, to those who like a sandbox/virtual world focus in their MMO, to even those who're sick of standard fantasy and scifi. Good times ahead, imo.

As for the question in the OP: of course there'll be added competition in the MMO scene, and I'm sure the tribalism and game bashing will reach many peaks this year on this site. As for what'll happen: personally I think that there'll still be people who will discover that even with those MMO's coming out, they'll find that they can't regain fully that gaming fun in MMO's anymore longterm, when they've blazed through the content of those games.

TERA, it's still a themepark MMO with its only major distinctive feature its action oriented combat. The fact that in the east TERA was a quick flop should raise some caution. As for the others, I have high hopes for them, but I am sceptic how they'll be in general after the 200 hours mark until the games actually arrive.

But no, I don't see any of them becoming 'WoW killers' or 'SWTOR killers'. Ending on a positive note, I think that there'll be a number of unhappy, bored regular visitors and posters of this site that will regain happiness in MMO gaming fun again that they've lost for many years, seeing the diversity in entertainment that the new MMO crop has to offer (incl SWTOR). But no, I don't think that all jaded, frustrated, bored and demoralised MMO gamers will recover their MMO bliss longterm even with all those MMO's coming out. A number of people I still see ending up to be MMO drifters, feeling nowhere really at home anymore in an MMO like they used to be in their best MMO gaming years.

IMHO ofc :-)

TSW = failcom. I'll believe it when I see it on that one. Even if the game is good (which it appears to be) it won't have the mass market appeal of TOR

Tera - this game seems like a dud. It's doing poorly in Korea, and while the politics system looks cool, I don't see what other pull it has besides action combat. A good portion of players aren't interested in action MMOs, so I doubt toe will suffer from this.

AA looks very cool, but again, I don't think it will appeal to the same market as TOR, and it will never be as popular as TOR is right now.

I think GW 2 might be the wild card here. The game has a very large following, but I fear this one is going to dissapoint many. It's receiving a level of hype I've never seen before from the fan base, even more than TOR. It will be a very solid game, but it won't be the second coming some are making it out to be. TOR may have something to worry about here, but they may not. The B2P model leaves a lot of wiggle room for other MMOs, and as with all of the games you listed, there will be plenty of people that have no interest in it and keep playing TOR.


Summary (bad being reasons TOR won't be hurt, good being reasons it might)

AA:
Bad: notthe same market at all. Little mass market appeal. Unproven Korean development company. Cryengine 3 = high end system requirements compared to TOR.

Good: Very innovative. Blurs the themepark sandbox line. Great graphics. User created content.

TSW:
Bad: funcom has a poor track record. Less mass market appeal.

Good: innovative class design. Not fantasy. Story based like TOR.

Tera:

Bad: not very successful in it's own country of origin. Is it ever coming out? Combat could be good or bad, for the people that like TOR, I would call it a negative, not gonna steal people who enjoy TOR combat.

Good: politic system is interesting. Good graphics. Combat could actually steal some away from TOR.


GW 2:

Bad: I don't know to be honest. The biggest negative to me is the lack of a dedicated healer class. Possibly the fantasy setting might be negative to for fans. Possibly overhyped as the second coming a bit much

Good: huge fan base. Interesting combat. Interesting class design. Similar game to TOR in the sense that it is strongly a themepark and focuses on story a lot. People unsatisfied with TOR PvP may like it. This game actually is competing in the same market as TOR, unlike the others. B2P



Overall, I don't think Bioware has much to worry about from games that don't start with Guild and end with Wars.

Originally posted by smh_alot
I think we should in the first place halt for a moment, to stop to think and realise what a truly lucky year this will be for MMO gaming and all kinds of different styles of AAA MMORPG's that'll come out and cater to all kinds of different tastes that MMO gamers might have.

 

Before we dive into the usual route of MMO epeen and bashing all games that aren't our favorite, a different approach might be to be happy that such variety and so many new MMO's will arrive: it means that there'll be an MMO for a wide range of MMO gamers, for people who aren't burnt out and still enjoy traditional themepark MMO's, to those who crave innovation to kickstart their MMO gaming fun again that they've lost, to those who like a sandbox/virtual world focus in their MMO, to even those who're sick of standard fantasy and scifi. Good times ahead, imo.

 

As for the question in the OP: of course there'll be added competition in the MMO scene, and I'm sure the tribalism and game bashing will reach many peaks this year on this site. As for what'll happen: personally I think that there'll still be people who will discover that even with those MMO's coming out, they'll find that they can't regain fully that gaming fun in MMO's anymore longterm, when they've blazed through the content of those games.

 

TERA, it's still a themepark MMO with its only major distinctive feature its action oriented combat. The fact that in the east TERA was a quick flop should raise some caution. As for the others, I have high hopes for them, but I am sceptic how they'll be in general after the 200 hours mark until the games actually arrive.

 

But no, I don't see any of them becoming 'WoW killers' or 'SWTOR killers'. Ending on a positive note, I think that there'll be a number of unhappy, bored regular visitors and posters of this site that will regain happiness in MMO gaming fun again that they've lost for many years, seeing the diversity in entertainment that the new MMO crop has to offer (incl SWTOR). But no, I don't think that all jaded, frustrated, bored and demoralised MMO gamers will recover their MMO bliss longterm even with all those MMO's coming out. A number of people I still see ending up to be MMO drifters, feeling nowhere really at home anymore in an MMO like they used to be in their best MMO gaming years.

 

IMHO ofc :-)

Much truth to what you say sir..... The MMO genre has redefined stagnant :( That said, SWTOR will be fine... just like many other games that are still around. It doesn't need 1mil subscriptions to stay around, likely would survive with 1/10 of that.

In regards to your post:

I gave up on an MMO home forever I suppose... I always used to look for that new home and really there is nothing i have seen since what the golden age of 03-04 that is:

Solid and not a buggy mess

Relatively complete at launch

Not a POOR copy of  a successful game

Layered with enough complexity to hold my interest long term

There have been decent attempts and some good ideas shown in games, but no one title has put it all together... Its funny also becuase the single player genres have had some amazing titles since that time 03-ish... just seems the MMO factories are flawed.

I've never really took a guess at retention before in regard to TOR, I've really never given it much thought. What I see happening is something similar to Rift, it will settle in the hundreds of thousands (give your own actual number) could be more or less than Rift. The real number will depend on how fast they can add to the game, as well as change what players feel needs changed.

I never expected them to get things like Ilum right from the start, I knew these aspects would require post launch work. It's hard to look at these things deeply during the testing process, simply due to the overall number of active players, wipes and those reaching 50.

For my group testing was rather directed, we had areas we were "encouraged" to gauge ( I was in from around late august until the final build). At first PVP wasn't even available to us in our group, it was disabled. Simply because of the focus of our testing. I don't think it was actually available to us until the testing groups were merged.

IN the end I'll follow my guild, so if world PVP doesn't take off we'll be in the game where it does.

 

Yeah, since Friday, my guild has been dead...Seems once people got to 50, they got bored, whined about bugs in what they did, or lack of things to do and now they don't log in.

I am not sure the attempt to mesh single player story and mmo is going to work well in the end, its an mmo, so you can't really make the story mean much or do much, due to having to change the world for everyone doing the story...Then their is all the people running around with the same companions...Doing things, and then they don't ever seem to have done anything....Quest choices don't matter really, you just count light/dark points...

 

I am still playing, but I can see why a lot aren't, and they have been fixing things A LOT slower than I thought they would, I figured since they set sales records, they would be throwing money at this thing to make sure to try to keep the subs, but I mean when i try to see who is on in the guild, I still get a blank list (even though it will say x number are on, and I see them talking), and everyone in the guild has mentioned it....Seems a pretty basic function, and should of been fixed will before approaching a month...

 

I also think the story aspect is going to make content slow to add, even though they have said it wouldn't, but I will wait and see, they will atleast be getting the first months cash from me...

 

If I was you, dont ever, i mean ever read or take any advice on these forums, these forums are all about bashing games, every single game that has come out, people always say it will fail, this forum is really bad to get any advice to any game, play what you like and enjoy what you like, DO NOT look here for any advice...this should be the last place you seek for any gaming advice...

Originally posted by allegria

Much truth to what you say sir..... The MMO genre has redefined stagnant :( That said, SWTOR will be fine... just like many other games that are still around. It doesn't need 1mil subscriptions to stay around, likely would survive with 1/10 of that.

It doesn't need 1million subscriptions but if a juggernaut like ToR quickly dwindled down to only 100k subs EA would no doubt abandon ship like warhammer leaving it with a small skeleton rookie dev team... which means the game will virtually never change or evolve much.

Originally posted by Dwarfman420

It's really up to ToR if it will be viable in the market after the above titles you mentioned are released.

Competition is a good thing.

It keeps subs cost down while makeing developers strive to produce the best features, graphics, story etc.

If it can't hold it's own in 2012, it's cause the competition put out a better product.

 

for perspective, I have bought and am currently playing ToR

Competition has produced F2P, with garbage results. And Cheap WoW clones

Since just about every new mmo never lives up to the the hype here are some projections

-Guild Wars 2 (FTW 2017)

-The Secret World (F2P by 2014)

-Tera (Live to 2016)

-Archeage (DOA)

- TOR (F2P 2014)

Originally posted by Slheyas

Seriously, 2012 is bringing a ton of AAA MMO titles that will probably all take a good chunk of players from many mmos. From the top of my head there are :

 

-Guild Wars 2

-The Secret World

-Tera

-Archeage

 

Those 4 titles are promising and in all honesty they all look really good, pretty sure they will all be successful (some more than other) at the detriment of other games, Swtor being one of them. A lot of players are playing the game only because they're waiting for another title (that'd be me). A lot will just quit and go play the shiny new mmo and we're already seeing players growing bored of the game and leaving before the free month is up.

 

So what do you think? Do you believe SWTOR has what it takes to survive the onslaught of new and innovative (because those 4 are innovative in at least one aspect, infinitely more than TOR) mmos? I honestly think the future of this game is pretty grim, and it has only been one month.

 

The game is good as far as (pardon me for using that expression) WoW-Clones go but I seriously think that a lot of players are growing bored of the classic WoW formula, it worked for a long while but now they crave for more and TOR might have trouble offering what they ask for, voice acting is nice but it's an addition that doesn't make the game that much fun in the long run.

 

Just my 2 cents.

The game will take a huge hit - it's just too much of the mid 2000's mmo style.  Even a lot of people that currently are defending TOR, in my opinion, will get pulled away by one of those games just because it will feel fresh.  I think SWTOR would have thrived if released 4-5 years ago - but in 2012, it will really suffer.

Originally posted by Slheyas

Seriously, 2012 is bringing a ton of AAA MMO titles that will probably all take a good chunk of players from many mmos. From the top of my head there are :

 

-Guild Wars 2

-The Secret World

-Tera

-Archeage

 

Those 4 titles are promising and in all honesty they all look really good, pretty sure they will all be successful (some more than other) at the detriment of other games, Swtor being one of them. A lot of players are playing the game only because they're waiting for another title (that'd be me). A lot will just quit and go play the shiny new mmo and we're already seeing players growing bored of the game and leaving before the free month is up.

 

So what do you think? Do you believe SWTOR has what it takes to survive the onslaught of new and innovative (because those 4 are innovative in at least one aspect, infinitely more than TOR) mmos? I honestly think the future of this game is pretty grim, and it has only been one month.

 

The game is good as far as (pardon me for using that expression) WoW-Clones go but I seriously think that a lot of players are growing bored of the classic WoW formula, it worked for a long while but now they crave for more and TOR might have trouble offering what they ask for, voice acting is nice but it's an addition that doesn't make the game that much fun in the long run.

 

Just my 2 cents.

Who knows maybe even Firefall will capture some of that playerbase.

There's no way of knowing for sure, of course, but friends who are deep into TOR have already begun telling me "It's just something to do until GW2 comes out".  That's kind of why I'm playing it too.  But my circle of friends is hardly indicative of everyone's.  However, a good point is raised in the sheer number of innovative, beautiful new MMOs coming out right around the corner that frankly make TOR look a little weak.  By that time I'll have gotten my money's worth (since I didn't pay for it I already have) out of the linear story mode and won't look back unless everything I'm looking forward to disappoints.

Originally posted by Matticus75

Competition has produced F2P, with garbage results. And Cheap WoW clones

So.. what, an expensive WoW clone is better?

I suppose it is very hard to predict. SWTOR surely neglected a lot of things, even though the "heroic story" part is fun and great. But the longevity? I have my doubts. But then, people stayed in MMOs for years despite flaws. Then it will also depend on how good these other games will be.

GW2 and Secret World might be strong. Tera and ArchAge look more like niche games so far. I heard Tera did not fare so well in Asia, and ArchAge has some really weird mechanics, FFA PVP and putting people in jail by player jury, I am not sure many will like this here. Then there is the expansion for WOW. Will it bring people back big time to WOW, or not?

I am sure SWTOR will not keep that high a playerbase as now, simply because of inherent flaws. I guess the greatest test will be GW2. I disliked GW1, but so far GW2 looks like the only real promising candidate. Even with Secret World I have my doubts. Can mystery and "spooky" be transferred over a video game like this? Or will it not end just as "kill all that moves" and lose all mystery appeal? I mean, Funcom's last MMO was ok but anything else but stellar. No, if SWTOR declines, it is mostly self-made.

AA and Tera will fail in the west, Asian MMOs aren't popular in the west.

 

TSW looks really bad and it is Funcom and GW2 is the only one in for a chance but the generic art style will put alot of people off.

I think GW2 looks really good. On top of all that it's going to be F2P after purchase. Looking forward to seeing what kind of mmorpg this is after release.

TSW - I am not sure, the facial expressions look very uncanny valley to me. If they polish it up I may be more interested. It looks like it has potential but I'm not too interested in conspiracy games.

Tera - Not interested. I'm not big on click to swing MMO's, especially when I'm probably close to obtaining arthritis as it is <_<...

ArchAge - Looks really fun from what I've seen with ship travel, and the open world theme. But I am concerned whether or not it will appeal to the current market. It probably won't fair much better than games like darkfall, however I'm still following it.