I tried the free trial of SWTOR and recently I also tried RIFT.

I must say, that RIFT plays better and to me is more interesting (ok, Im probably also more of a fantasy guy - Im no fan of WoW-clones in any case). Having to tab-target an enemy and then press a standard MMO hotkey to shoot a blaster at him, feels so wierd, instead of actually aiming at the enemy FPS-style. IMO SWTOR would have played much more naturally adopting an FPS style, like the upcoming Planetside 2.

I cannot see, that SWTOR has a chance in hell against a host of other WoW-clones, of which some are better (and FTP), especially considering the sci-fi theme, which is less popular than fantasy.

Originally posted by Rasputin

I tried the free trial of SWTOR and recently I also tried RIFT.

I must say, that RIFT plays better and to me is more interesting (ok, Im probably also more of a fantasy guy - Im no fan of WoW-clones in any case). Having to tab-target an enemy and then press a standard MMO hotkey to shoot a blaster at him, feels so wierd, instead of actually aiming at the enemy FPS-style. IMO SWTOR would have played much more naturally adopting an FPS style, like the upcoming Planetside 2.

 

I cannot see, that SWTOR has a chance in hell against a host of other WoW-clones, of which some are better (and FTP), especially considering the sci-fi theme, which is less popular than fantasy.

This genre does not work with the wow themepark formula, it was correct when the NGE was released and it is still correct today. Normally when you stick a feather up someones ass and call them a chicken it doesn't work the first time, in this case they tried it twice. Reskinning wow so some execs can save production money wont make it work. It doesn't have to be a sandbox, but what it cannot be is a loot drop driven, linear, childlike chat hub fest like WOW is, crap this pos even has wow mailboxes and their 1.2 innovations are just things WOW has lol. Auction houses, gear finders, pug programs wont make it a better star wars game just a slightly less than crappy wow clone. 

This garbage needs to hurry up and Be FTP lets EAs failure be complete.

FU George Lucas for letting them drop the ball on the SECOND Star Wars mmo.

Originally posted by goldiewilson

Originally posted by Rasputin

I tried the free trial of SWTOR and recently I also tried RIFT.

I must say, that RIFT plays better and to me is more interesting (ok, Im probably also more of a fantasy guy - Im no fan of WoW-clones in any case). Having to tab-target an enemy and then press a standard MMO hotkey to shoot a blaster at him, feels so wierd, instead of actually aiming at the enemy FPS-style. IMO SWTOR would have played much more naturally adopting an FPS style, like the upcoming Planetside 2.

 

I cannot see, that SWTOR has a chance in hell against a host of other WoW-clones, of which some are better (and FTP), especially considering the sci-fi theme, which is less popular than fantasy.

This genre does not work with the wow themepark formula, it was correct when the NGE was released and it is still correct today. Normally when you stick a feather up someones ass and call them a chicken it doesn't work the first time, in this case they tried it twice. Reskinning wow so some execs can save production money wont make it work. It doesn't have to be a sandbox, but what it cannot be is a loot drop driven, linear, childlike chat hub fest like WOW is, crap this pos even has wow mailboxes and their 1.2 innovations are just things WOW has lol. Auction houses, gear finders, pug programs wont make it a better star wars game just a slightly less than crappy wow clone. 

This garbage needs to hurry up and Be FTP lets EAs failure be complete.

FU George Lucas for letting them drop the ball on the SECOND Star Wars mmo.

You realize that if this game goes F2P it will do the complete opposite of what you want to happen. It will just show EA that marketing a game as F2P can bring in as much money long term vs. P2P but mask the money being spent to the players (psychological principle), EA will rake in the dough.

Yes it's landing! At 4000 runway! It bumped and scratched its tail yesterday but now it's safely above ground and climbing for the weekend heights!

Originally posted by Metentso

Yes it's landing! At 4000 runway! It bumped and scratched its tail yesterday but now it's safely above ground and climbing for the weekend heights!

Lets see if it holds steady now. May see a slight bump after 1.2 is released, but a crash after D3 comes out.

Originally my guess was this game would steady out at around 700-900k after six months, but now I think I was off. Looks more like 300-600k long term.

Originally posted by Bunks

Originally posted by Metentso

 

Yes it's landing! At 4000 runway! It bumped and scratched its tail yesterday but now it's safely above ground and climbing for the weekend heights!

Lets see if it holds steady now. May see a slight bump after 1.2 is released, but a crash after D3 comes out.

Originally my guess was this game would steady out at around 700-900k after six months, but now I think I was off. Looks more like 300-600k long term.

It's hard to derive absolute numbers from xFire, but if they said 1.7M with a vast majority subscribed, lets say 1.2M subscribed, maybe your first guess is right I'd say even 1M with the promotions and as you say 1.2.

Originally posted by Metentso

Originally posted by Bunks

Originally posted by Metentso

 

Yes it's landing! At 4000 runway! It bumped and scratched its tail yesterday but now it's safely above ground and climbing for the weekend heights!

Lets see if it holds steady now. May see a slight bump after 1.2 is released, but a crash after D3 comes out.

Originally my guess was this game would steady out at around 700-900k after six months, but now I think I was off. Looks more like 300-600k long term.

It's hard to derive absolute numbers from xFire, but if they said 1.7M with a vast majority subscribed, lets say 1.2M subscribed, maybe your first guess is right I'd say even 1M with the promotions and as you say 1.2.

There are many metrics to go by. Even investor predictions. But just to show you, even DFC Intelligence uses xfire as one of its sampling methods. :) And they get paid money for it.

But guesstimations are large for a reason. Just saying, I didnt expect the feedback from the player base to be this bad this early. I knew it wasn't going to be good, but its far worse than anything I imagined.

I think it is to early tosuggest it is landing. There are the c. 850k people who activated in January (based on what EA said in their quarterly results as expanded upon i.e. majority, as in half of 1.7M). It could well be the early adopters who have gone.

Then there are the 3 month plan folk - who could still be playing but not planning to renew.

I wonder whether there will be any special end of March promotions?

Originally posted by gervaise1

I think it is to early tosuggest it is landing. There are the c. 850k people who activated in January (based on what EA said in their quarterly results as expanded upon i.e. majority, as in half of 1.7M). It could well be the early adopters who have gone.

Then there are the 3 month plan folk - who could still be playing but not planning to renew.

I wonder whether there will be any special end of March promotions?

 

Think he meant landing as in "landing for this week".

But there definitely seems to be a 'plateauing' in the xfire data, at least the decline in xfire players is not as steep as has been. However, this should be viewed in light of swtor being introduced in the asian market as well as trial accounts being implemented, which combined seems to smoothen an otherwise steady negative gradient.

Originally posted by Bunks

Originally posted by Metentso

Yes it's landing! At 4000 runway! It bumped and scratched its tail yesterday but now it's safely above ground and climbing for the weekend heights!

Lets see if it holds steady now. May see a slight bump after 1.2 is released, but a crash after D3 comes out.

Originally my guess was this game would steady out at around 700-900k after six months, but now I think I was off. Looks more like 300-600k long term.

Not to mention GW2, TSW, and Tera will impact it as well.  SWTOR is exactly what Rift was for many, a time killer.

This is odd... a 16% drop from last friday. Did anything happen to xFire yesterday?

Originally posted by Metentso

This is odd... a 16% drop from last friday. Did anything happen to xFire yesterday?

Originally posted by Bunks

Originally posted by Metentso

Yes it's landing! At 4000 runway! It bumped and scratched its tail yesterday but now it's safely above ground and climbing for the weekend heights!

Lets see if it holds steady now. May see a slight bump after 1.2 is released, but a crash after D3 comes out.

Originally my guess was this game would steady out at around 700-900k after six months, but now I think I was off. Looks more like 300-600k long term.

How the hell do you come up with those numbers based on an XFire chart?

That's just idiotic.

^^^^

Number of people using XFire playing SWTOR.

(The XFire graphic that you get from the site shows hours.)

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by Metentso

This is odd... a 16% drop from last friday. Did anything happen to xFire yesterday?

 

The 60 day timecards ran out since that friday, but it couldn't be that as things are going really well and subs are increasing.

You been saying this for days, I forgot!

Here is the graph with friday:

Originally posted by Metentso

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by Metentso

This is odd... a 16% drop from last friday. Did anything happen to xFire yesterday?

 

The 60 day timecards ran out since that friday, but it couldn't be that as things are going really well and subs are increasing.

 

You been saying this for days, I forgot!

 

Here is the graph with friday:

It would be cool to have that graph online :)

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png

Over 200k sub drop since Feb. probably at least that many will leave on the next rollaround if word of mouth is any indication. 

Originally posted by Metentso

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by Metentso

This is odd... a 16% drop from last friday. Did anything happen to xFire yesterday?

 

The 60 day timecards ran out since that friday, but it couldn't be that as things are going really well and subs are increasing.

 

You been saying this for days, I forgot!

 

Here is the graph with friday:

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

How the hell do you come up with those numbers based on an XFire chart?

 

That's just idiotic.

Just a bit.  [mod edit] xfire hours can be extrapolated to figure out how many subs a MMO has.  The problem is they have no formula to go by.  They're just pulling numbers out of their ass.

xfire shows Aion has over 4 times as much traffic as Rift.  Based off that you'd think Aion was doing pretty good and Rift is circling the drain.  In reality Aion is about to go completely free to play while Rift still charges a sub.

Originally posted by Chieftan

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

How the hell do you come up with those numbers based on an XFire chart?

 

That's just idiotic.

Just a bit.  [mod edit] xfire hours can be extrapolated to figure out how many subs a MMO has.  The problem is they have no formula to go by.  They're just pulling numbers out of their ass.

xfire shows Aion has over 4 times as much traffic as Rift.  Based off that you'd think Aion was doing pretty good and Rift is circling the drain.  In reality Aion is about to go completely free to play while Rift still charges a sub.

Aion and Rift are in the right positions as far as Xfire stats go

Aion is F2P, at least in EU, and only recent, that is why it is doing better than Rift.

League of legends would not be number #1 if it was P2P, nor would Minecraft be as high as it is if it was P2P. They would probably be lower than Rift, if were P2P.