I certainly don't expect TOR to be a sandbox game, not with Bioware at the helm.

I am intensely curious how they'll parlay their success at single player RPGs with storylines into a new (to them) gaming medium where the game has to be open ended.  How are they going to accomplish this?  The MMO is by its nature not something that you can bring to a conclusion from the developer side, because the whole idea is to keep people paying 10 or 15 or 20 bucks a month to play the game.

The thing about the sandbox idea is that it does play into that imperative.  Keep people engaged.  The folks at Rockstar have a better handle on this with their storyline but lots of room to play without following the storyline approach.

Can BioWare pull this off in an MMO?  We shall see....

Originally posted by MarlonB

The same blabla as Age of Conan .... You're a hero ... story driven .... bla bla bla ...

Half the AoC players i spoke told me that questing for them in AoC is pressing 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 The only reason they love the main story line quests is for the stat-rewards.

Half the kotor /ME players i spoke told me the same ... they read the first few quests ... then just start randomly clickingas it gets to dreadfull to read.

I think only few people have the interest or attention span to read the quest text, all the rest doesn't care and only wants to kill, loot and socialise. Preferably in the way they choose.  A "day-in-the-life-of" so to speak.

 

This game whill hold it subscribers for maximum a few months, story telling gets old fast. While an open world might maybe attract less people, those will stay for years, and they will tell and create their own stories.

 

This really surprises me. Not, that most AoC players don't read the quest texts and miss out on a great part of the game, because the story telling is actually quite good. Most of them are just PvP players, who want to get to endgame as fast as possible.  
 

But you claim, that people playing Bioware games are the same. Why then do they play ME or Jade Empire etc? The best part of these games is the story, is the interaction with the other characters. This is what Bioware is about. If you just want to kill and loot things why not play a good FPS? When I talk to fellow players they all rave about the story lines. This is their main reason for playing these games. So, I am not sure, I agree with you about the typical Bioware customer.

I am a Bioware fan and I'm looking forward to a Bioware mmo, that draws on their own strengths. I am very curious on how they want to incorporate this in an mmo, but perhaps this will be the innovative part of the new game...

"Why does this game need to be SWGv2.0? WHY?

It seems that there's been a lot of sh** thrown around (both here and at the official forums) at Bioware about -not- making a SWG-esque sandbox.

I ask you this, why? Why do you hold this attitude of self-entitlement? Why do YOU deserve a game? Did SOE shaft you so badly that you can play no other game and you feel the need to bitch and moan until you get what you want?

And, did you honestly expect the King of D20-esque Single Player RPGs to come out with a sandbox? Seriously, did you expect that?"

Got their new Star Wars game and are still complaining...

Originally posted by Renessa

Originally posted by MarlonB

The same blabla as Age of Conan .... You're a hero ... story driven .... bla bla bla ...

Half the AoC players i spoke told me that questing for them in AoC is pressing 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 The only reason they love the main story line quests is for the stat-rewards.

Half the kotor /ME players i spoke told me the same ... they read the first few quests ... then just start randomly clickingas it gets to dreadfull to read.

I think only few people have the interest or attention span to read the quest text, all the rest doesn't care and only wants to kill, loot and socialise. Preferably in the way they choose.  A "day-in-the-life-of" so to speak.

 

This game whill hold it subscribers for maximum a few months, story telling gets old fast. While an open world might maybe attract less people, those will stay for years, and they will tell and create their own stories.

 

This really surprises me. Not, that most AoC players don't read the quest texts and miss out on a great part of the game, because the story telling is actually quite good. Most of them are just PvP players, who want to get to endgame as fast as possible.  
 

But you claim, that people playing Bioware games are the same. Why then do they play ME or Jade Empire etc? The best part of these games is the story, is the interaction with the other characters. This is what Bioware is about. If you just want to kill and loot things why not play a good FPS? When I talk to fellow players they all rave about the story lines. That is their main reason for playing these games. So, I am not sure, I agree with you about the typical Bioware customer.

I am a Bioware fan and I'm looking forward to a Bioware mmo, that draws on their own strengths. I am very curious on how they want to incorporate this in an mmo, but perhaps this will be the innovative part of the new game...

 

Indeed .. Bioware is not the same .... people that play it are though

I am Bioware fan too ... but for their singleplayer games .... i would hate it if they would put that concept into an MMO, as i'm looking for very different aspects in an MMORPG then i am for example in Kotor.

So ... indeed ... let's wait and see.

From what I'm hearing, there's likely to be some kind of instanced sandbox aspect.  The most anticipated is guild space stations... oh yeah.

Originally posted by greighson

From what I'm hearing, there's likely to be some kind of instanced sandbox aspect.  The most anticipated is guild space stations... oh yeah.

They should reverse that  .... have a sandbox with instances and themeparks

Because SWG was the most immersive game i've ever played. Before all the CU/NGE, it was just amazing. You really felt you was in the Star Wars universe. When you saw a jedi, it was like WOW A JEDI!! Now i havn't completed a bioware game since baldurs gate 2 (AMAZING!) but seriously,  the whole be a hero thing sounds all well and good but how hero like do you feel when you have 1000s of other "heros" on your server. I will reserve my judgement until I play it but i'm skeptical that it will work.

I don't really get why they want to make mmo.

Story driven? Being a hero? That sounds so much single player.

Don't get me wrong. I think Bioware are one of the best single player game developers. They don't have any previous experience with mmos and trying to sell single player game as mmo ... I don't know. I'd hate to see them lose reputation. MMO population is very demanding and harsh. Look what happened to SoE.  

Well, it is still soon. Perhaps more info about the game will come out reassuring us that it is going to be some kind of real mmo.