http://www.starwarsmmo.net/news/star-wars-the-old-republic-e3-demo-preview/

"As the devs told us, the majority of the game can be done without a single bit of help from another player. They said that the main appeal of MMOs is the experience single player with the option of being with other players. They confirmed that names, chat, and so on could all be turned off or ignored if you really, really wanted absolutely nothing to do with other people."

I'm sorry BioWare, how does "single-player main appeal of MMOs" fit into the catagory of "Massively Multiplayer Online?"

It seems to me this game is going two ways when it is released:

1. BioWare just sucks at interviews and such, and our fears will be quelled. We'll have a great MMO about Star Wars.

2. BioWare makes KOTOR 3 with a live chat room.

I'm really hoping for the former, but the way BioWare presents this game since it's announcement a few months ago is suggesting the latter.

I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into, but be this a fully well rounded MMO experience or a single player RPG with the option to play with others, I'll still buy this game.

It seems less like "Generic quest to kill 40 Elite super killer mobs" will be all over the place like other games. Where grouping is mandatory for much of the game.

I do love grouping, even with terribles. Because playing with terribles, you have to play better to help the group survive.  It would be nice to have some optional group stuff. More than just two players, as was mentioned many times.

And the social aspect of a game IS pretty big.  Being able to talk to people while playing is pretty key, even if they are not helping you at the time.

Originally posted by Swanea

And the social aspect of a game IS pretty big.  Being able to talk to people while playing is pretty key, even if they are not helping you at the time.

Sounds like all the chat aspects we've come to expect in an MMO will be there, just with the option to turn them off.

Ay my man worries are as yours, do this will be multplayer addon to kotor or part only used to lewel, i hawe no problems with leweling solo. Second part, i still dont know how the pvp will be sorted in this game, i haeard something about full loot, but we dont know if this game will be open or zoned, there will be safe zones or open pvp. I hawe high hopes with this game and need to w8 for more info, its still over a year till realese and i hope they will not make the same mistakes as other companies before them.

Originally posted by wilq

Ay my man worries are as yours, do this will be multplayer addon to kotor or part only used to lewel, i hawe no problems with leweling solo. Second part, i still dont know how the pvp will be sorted in this game, i haeard something about full loot, but we dont know if this game will be open or zoned, there will be safe zones or open pvp. I hawe high hopes with this game and need to w8 for more info, its still over a year till realese and i hope they will not make the same mistakes as other companies before them.

Judging by this quote, "They confirmed that names, chat, and so on could all be turned off or ignored if you really, really wanted absolutely nothing to do with other people."

From this I'd say there's a strong chance of PvP zones like Warhammer or instanced Battlegrounds like World of Warcraft.

Now as to the same mistakes as other companies, they've all made huge mistakes... Were you refering to any in particular?

also, is the 'V' key on your keyboard broken?

For me main mistake is that all try to mimic WoW in one way or another there was only few uniqe titles after wow release. Some can bash Darkfall, damn even i dont like the look of this game but atleast it want add some new things.

 I personally plan on playing this with just a few close friends and quite possibly turning general chat off altogether.  I think that the story-driven nature of the game really drives you away from doing most quests with strangers.

 I mean I can only imagine being a light side character, grouping with some people for a quest and having a "flash point" come up where they all choose the evil path and I end up with dark side points.  It may not hurt much once or twice, but over time can lead your character away from the path you would like to take in your story.  If it's my characters story, I want to be the one deciding the direction it goes.

As I said, just my opinion, but I can see that there might be others out there with the same perspective.   

um, WOW was in no way innovative or should be considered the litmus test........It was just another step , improving on other games before it.......To me WOW is too cartoony, if thats a word, and bends to capture and hold the younger crowd.......I would much rather take numerous steps and learn how to defeat a boss myself than stand arround all night waiting for others, weeding out dumbazzes that will get everyone killed etc.... just to split up loot if you get anything at all......Why gangbang the Queen , when you can have her for yourself, so to speak.........It also would seem to challenge the proggies to come up with more innovative gameplay, quests.....Raiding every day gets old quick.....All my gameplaying friends play WOW and do nothing but complain, yet when I say quit like me, they say the same thing.......'I'll stay here till something better comes out.".....LOL, they wouldn't know something better if it crawled up and gave them a lap dance......They are married to the game.....Numerous games have came out that are soo much better than WOW but never caught on big because they are either too hard for the kiddies to wrap their minds arround etc.......or some little gameflaw turned them off......WOW is a well polished turd, but a turd none the less......The WOW killer is coming and SWTOR is its name......

Originally posted by Praxus1874

I mean I can only imagine being a light side character, grouping with some people for a quest and having a "flash point" come up where they all choose the evil path and I end up with dark side points.  It may not hurt much once or twice, but over time can lead your character away from the path you would like to take in your story.  If it's my characters story, I want to be the one deciding the direction it goes.

I cannot even begin to imagine that BioWare would allow another person's choice in the game to have a direct impact upon your character in the way you describe.

I'm going to go all out 100% and say that this would never ever happen.

 "Our party confronted the captain and engaged in "multiplayer dialogue," which is another one of Star Wars: TOR's unique features. During the conversation, our bounty hunter and our Sith team members were each given a dialogue option during the conversation, which ended with the group decision of either killing the captain as punishment or sparing his life. Decisions like this will apparently give you and your party members a few moments to cast your votes before the game locks in the party's decision. In this case, we chose to kill the captain, which was an evil act that earned our characters dark side points, and according to BioWare, changed the course of the game (the following sequence of events we're about to describe apparently wouldn't have happened had we spared him)."

That was from the Gamespot demo experience from E3.  That seems to suggest that after voting, the majority decision is made, resulting in the potential gain of light/dark side points and the story path that follows.

Prax

Originally posted by Praxus1874

 "Our party confronted the captain and engaged in "multiplayer dialogue," which is another one of Star Wars: TOR's unique features. During the conversation, our bounty hunter and our Sith team members were each given a dialogue option during the conversation, which ended with the group decision of either killing the captain as punishment or sparing his life. Decisions like this will apparently give you and your party members a few moments to cast your votes before the game locks in the party's decision. In this case, we chose to kill the captain, which was an evil act that earned our characters dark side points, and according to BioWare, changed the course of the game (the following sequence of events we're about to describe apparently wouldn't have happened had we spared him)."

 

That was from the Gamespot demo experience from E3.  That seems to suggest that after voting, the majority decision is made, resulting in the potential gain of light/dark side points and the story path that follows.

 

Prax

Yeah ok I stand corrected, I had in mind only this part;

""SWTOR is the first RPG to allow co-op/multi-player conversations. The Sith was the character to talk to the Captain, but both the Sith and Bounty Hunter were given the options to talk one at a time. The Sith asked a question, the Captain responded, and then the Bounty Hunter commented on the situation."

I did not take into account the overall outcome of the situation, live or die.

So you'll have to be really careful who you group with it seems, making it even harder to find a group?

DarthAwsome: LFG "xxxx mission", need DPS and also must be an evil bastard

 It does appear that way.  I think it will be especially difficult for non-standard characters, such as the "evil jedi" or "sith with a heart of gold" and whatnot, since I doubt cross-faction grouping will be an option.  I would imagine that most people playing a sith are going to be trying to rack up those dark side points, and so forth.  This is all conjecture till the game is released, or in beta, but still something to think about.

Prax

Originally posted by Toxilium

http://www.starwarsmmo.net/news/star-wars-the-old-republic-e3-demo-preview/

"As the devs told us, the majority of the game can be done without a single bit of help from another player. They said that the main appeal of MMOs is the experience single player with the option of being with other players. They confirmed that names, chat, and so on could all be turned off or ignored if you really, really wanted absolutely nothing to do with other people."

I'm sorry BioWare, how does "single-player main appeal of MMOs" fit into the catagory of "Massively Multiplayer Online?"

It seems to me this game is going two ways when it is released:

1. BioWare just sucks at interviews and such, and our fears will be quelled. We'll have a great MMO about Star Wars.

2. BioWare makes KOTOR 3 with a live chat room.

I'm really hoping for the former, but the way BioWare presents this game since it's announcement a few months ago is suggesting the latter.

I predict that SW:TOR will reach one million subs or slightly more in it's first two weeks after launch and then after some months the subs will decline rapidly due to that it's not a online world where people can meet up and goof around in it's true sence.

That's just my two cents, folks.

Originally posted by Jefferson81

I predict that SW:TOR will reach one million subs or slightly more in it's first two weeks after launch and then after some months the subs will decline rapidly due to that it's not a online world where people can meet up and goof around in it's true sence.

That's just my two cents, folks.

 

It seems that BioWare are trying to tap both the single player RPG market that they have a great foothold in now as well as MMO players and those that play both, so initial sales could be higher than anticipated. I'm not even going near taking a guess at subsciber retention.

Originally posted by Joppari

It seems that BioWare are trying to tap both the single player RPG market that they have a great foothold in now as well as MMO players and those that play both, so initial sales could be higher than anticipated. I'm not even going near taking a guess at subsciber retention.

Also, it's worth noting that there are many fans of previous Bioware games out there that have never played MMO's before.  I believe this may be another game that will open MMOs to an audience that would normally not subscribe to one.

Prax 

We'll have to see how the game plays but the more I hear about it the less excited I am.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

We'll have to see how the game plays but the more I hear about it the less excited I am.

I went through a little stage like that, until I changed my view of what they're producing.

I'm very excited to play a new Star Wars game made by a talented developer.

Originally posted by Praxus1874

 "Our party confronted the captain and engaged in "multiplayer dialogue," which is another one of Star Wars: TOR's unique features. During the conversation, our bounty hunter and our Sith team members were each given a dialogue option during the conversation, which ended with the group decision of either killing the captain as punishment or sparing his life. Decisions like this will apparently give you and your party members a few moments to cast your votes before the game locks in the party's decision. In this case, we chose to kill the captain, which was an evil act that earned our characters dark side points, and according to BioWare, changed the course of the game (the following sequence of events we're about to describe apparently wouldn't have happened had we spared him)."

 

That was from the Gamespot demo experience from E3.  That seems to suggest that after voting, the majority decision is made, resulting in the potential gain of light/dark side points and the story path that follows.

 

Prax

That is one of the parts that makes me worry.  If these storylines have branching storylines, how on earth is anyone going to find a group on the same part, same branch and then on the side faction they are on?  I can think of a few work arounds, but none that are really appealing. 

Maybe the story arcs are so short they don't matter or else I fear this type of mechanics will turn out to be something akin to forced solo play. 

Ultima Online didn't force you to group to do any of its content.. Nor did the original Meridian 59, or Neverwinter Nights. All of these games were considered MMOs, they were all engaging games with more of online "world" feel than any games I have played since,  Ultima  required just as much interaction with the people around you as any of games today, in my opinion..

Yes, certain mobs in dungeons were easier with a buddy or two, and of couse so was the PvP.. Certain area needed more than a few folks to manuever around in..

I'm sure TOR is not a single player game, however, just because you need 5,6, or 40 other people, or whatever you happen to consider "epic", to kill an end boss doesnt make it an MMO..

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, and hope they can bring something fresh to the genre'.

Would love to see an MMO again that didnt have even more bound equipment, more lockout timers, and crafting that was an afterthought... it's been awhile...