Originally posted by ViewDoo

First massively solo-player online role playing game? If so why the hell would i want it? I have KotOR 1 and 2 sitting right here beside me, and i don't have to pay another red cent to play them.

I think people are forgetting GWs, which is basically the same thing you mention (though it doesn't call itself a solo online game). The entire game is soloable and is actually encouraged that you play the PvE campaigns solo throughout the majority.

GWs and each of it's campaigns are very fun, and I'd say they were worth the money. However, I would not want to play a MSORPG if it came with a monthly fee, and GWs doesn't, so I can live with it. It really is a completely different type of game, and if SWTOR is like GWs in the sense of MSORPG, I won't be playing it if I need a subscription to do so. Then again, I have high doubts that SWs will go this route anyhow. Chances are it will go the typical MMORPG route, in the sense of being multiplayer and the sense of being a different WoW skin in almost every retrospect.

Originally posted by demalus

 I love how when anything negative is said about this game, the person saying it doesn't know anything about the game, yet the opposite is true whenever anyone says something positive about it.

Doubters and fanbois have one thing in common, neither of them know jack shit. No-one knows a damn thing about the game right now, take the middle ground, it's the sensible option

go play kotor 1 and 2 before posting otherwise you = fail and this game will not be swg or anything at all similar whatsoever and those saying we dont know anything about the game they have said its going to be as much as possible alike as the other kotor games so we know pretty much what it will be like i bet half the people posting here havent even heard of the other kotor games no doubt

I beleive it can work in that the NPCs are the fillers. Let's say, hypotethetically, that the engine they've developed is speedy enough to draw more than 10 animated characters in the scene in real time.

3 of those 10 are players, the rest are NPCs. As long as the engine does not choke the NPCs could make empty cities look like full cities. What is Coruscant without its bustling traffic?

Add on top of that that these NPCs are the type of interactive NPCs seen in other Bioware products and they now have a use besides filler. A simulated character ala The Sims.

That MAY help add to the feel of Star Wars being so populated. If you go to Coruscant or taris, those cities were bustling full of people, droids, aliens, traffic, etc. With an MMO that can be applied 10 fold.

So, I see a way it can hypothetically work.

Originally posted by ViewDoo

First massively solo-player online role playing game? If so why the hell would i want it? I have KotOR 1 and 2 sitting right here beside me, and i don't have to pay another red cent to play them.

Because it would be NEW stories, and new chars and new gameplay .. i.e. new CONTENT.

Im not ganna play this if its gonna be a linear story game that forces me around the galaxy.  I dont like the idea of this companion idea. Seems to me they are making a game heavy with instances and heavy on solo play. Thats just not my idea of fun in a MMO.

I know they are not making a sandbox, but some freedom i must have. And this just not seem to be it.

Looks like some people missed the point of my topic. Maybe that was my fault? I loved the idea of the Old Republic setting for an MMO, and i am a fan of the KoTOR single player game. I am not interested in some "story driven" mostly solo game with "online MMO elements". I played GW and didn't care for it.

I would prefer a game where you actually needed other players help to advance. Not the raid heavy 40+ player stuff but just a group of 4 or 5. Has MMO gaming fallen so far, that it is a unreasonable request that grouping be required?!?

They don't have to require grouping, it's their game, but I have had my fill of "MMOs" that are not Massive or Multiplayer.

Originally posted by ViewDoo

Looks like some people missed the point of my topic. Maybe that was my fault? I loved the idea of the Old Republic setting for an MMO, and i am a fan of the KoTOR single player game. I am not interested in some "story driven" mostly solo game with "online MMO elements". I played GW and didn't care for it.

 

I would prefer a game where you actually needed other players help to advance. Not the raid heavy 40+ player stuff but just a group of 4 or 5. Has MMO gaming fallen so far, that it is a unreasonable request that grouping be required?!?

 

They don't have to require grouping, it's their game, but I have had my fill of "MMOs" that are not Massive or Multiplayer.

There's an inherent problem in the "requires" grouping attitude. Imagine if you will, being a normal person playing the game. You log in every other day and you find people and group with them to get something done. All nice and fun, all good.

Now, you have a day off, but your friends do not. It#s also an awkward time, so there are not even really many people on (at least not in your area and none of those is someone you'd like to play with). What do you do?

If the game requires groups at all times to advance, then you're pretty much stuck doing nothing, aren't you? Can't do anything because there's simply no one there to do it with.

That's why many modern MMO's make it possible for you to solo if you so choose. Why? Because in a case like the one I pointed out above, you can still accomplish something and not feel bummed out because you were really looking forward to doing something but now you can't.

The problem with that however is that many people these days seem to WANT to only play alone. I've said it before, the lack of socialization in MMO's is not really due to the games being "soloable" to an extent, but to the players who choose to solo instead of doing things in a group with other people.

To that end, I'd like BioWare to implement features that "encourage" grouping. Make XP rates higher in groups. Make the drops better or make something. They already said that some parts of the game -won't- be soloable, so that's good, too. Just give those people who seem to lack the willingness to group by their own initiative a reason to group anyway.

But it should still be possible for me to log in and do something solo that actually yields -something- some small progress or some small reward. Just so I can feel I have actually accomplished something.

It's simple really. Grouping preferred, but NOT "required" for everything.