This r3eminds me time to cancil my rift sub. Skyrim is just soo much better in everyway IMO, and then theres SW:tor, DW2. and Diablo on the way. I don't beleive I'll be coming back. Rift had a good go but seems perhaps just alittle to shallow

 EQII is just circling the drain now, SOE really doesn't care first came the Pandarians, then the knowingly going without any firewall protection and letting hackers have at it with subscribers data, then the dumbing down to characters only having 2 stats (health and power).

   SOE is just trying to soak EQ2 for anything they can get till the next one comes out

Panda people in game suck except to mass slaughter. You want Panda people go play EQ2 they had them 2 years ago already. Wow used to be interesting, now its just dumbing down to the lowest point possible. ie someone that can figure out how to turn on a computer andl use a mouse or joystick.

Give us back our Damn stats! Whats up with everyone lazy developer dumbing down the games to just health, magic, power?

   Meh more spin, nothing really ever changes with CCP they chase the buck if they start to lose subscribers they toss players a bone they could have done months ago.

Originally posted by kalinis

I like the no central en enemy. If u are ally your enemy should be horde. Vanilla wow had no central enemy and no one complained. The pandaran i like. 

I like the asian theme also. Lets face it playing a panda is just cool. Look at tor forums everyone wants to play wookies and droids snd stuff. so the truth is the minority may hate cute races but hte majority of players love them.

 

  Personally i don't find playing cute cartoony races that cool. but i must admit there is some to be said for the fun of killing them in wholesale realm vs realm slaughter. Just not enough for me to stay sub'ed unfortunately for bliazzard though 

 Wow can you believe the spin! less choice makes for more character customization? really in who's world does that happen? So much gool-aid to drink in this interview its hard not to choak on it and drown.

  its cool that the monk will have many character animations but they come right out and say they pretty much left all the other classes with one basica animation. Guess i was expecting too much that they might add one or 2 to the other classes So monk doesn't become the one class to play. (based on animations and coolness factor)

   Really I enjoyed the kungfu panada movies myself but if i really wanted to play it i'd have bought one of the many single player games made from the movie. I really do hope Jack black does voice overs for the pandarians as that really would be Awesum, however i think WoW may be going too much to wizard 101 kiddie market and not all adults may want that for their serious MMO game.

  Sure removing a layer of depth makes it easier to program. (it does not add more customization or choice in any sane sense) and yes it make it less complex for the young or those that just want to log on and hack mindless for a hour or 2 a week, but it is dumbing down none the less no matter how much spin Blizzard wants to put on it.

Less choice is always bad, more choice is always better. Sorry in this respect WoW's expansion fails in my eyes.

Originally posted by istiander

its really amazing that most of the gaming community can't see the real reason behind the release of the panda class in the next expansion

the current WoW player base is slowly going into burn out mode , fatiqued from lack of game content so instead of trying to hang on to a player base that is slowly dying they will be reaching out to a new void of potential players from the East

the Panda highly regarded in chinese heritage and with a potential player base to surpass current members its a profitable move on their behave so just get over it in less than a year you will be boasting about your level 90 panda monk with the inner peace killer moves

  In less then a year i will be playing GW2 or SW:tor, and laughing at the silly kids with their kung fu panda monks. WoW will be but a memory and while Wow may bring in more chinese gold farmers with their panad/monk class lets not forget the eastern players pay far less then their NA /EU conterparts to play.(ie less revenue for blizzard) Add to that the eastern market is much more into FP MMO's then subscription and WoW may still have a hard time picking up thier new player base.

   I do agree with you WoW is no longer trying to keep their current player base but aiming at the asian and childrens market.Perhaps as WoW become the next wizard 101, titan my move in to fill the void for players 18 and older.

Originally posted by helfires

Are people forgetting that Pandarens were in the warcraft lore way before the Kung Fu Panda franchise was even known? Pandarens should've been in WoW since vanilla...I bet if they were, people would be excited as fuck to be able to play as tem. Just like when goblins and worgens were introduced....

 

  The Pandarens where made as a april fools day joke in Wow lore. And thats what they have always been up untill now just a joke. This is so lame you want panda people go play EQ2 they had them in game what 2 years ago or more now.

  WoW has just shown they are goign for the chinese gold farmer crowd and the Wizaerd 101 kids. Enless you really want to tell chuck norris jokes this is no longer a game for anyone but kids. Another major step in the wrong direction in my mind. World of fuzzycraft here we come!

 Lets see if i get this straight they ignore want the counsel and the players aask for till they see a huge backlash and then say "oh all right we'll do some of the things you all request"

  next the games been out for how many years now and their main priorty is Still working on "Flying in space"?

  last whast up with the hyperbol there has been no change in the game at all since incarna really yet the Op states there have been huge changes in the Eve in the last 2 weeks.

  So much spin soo little real change

Originally posted by TweFoju

the thing is with permadeath MMO, this game is not for players that love to collect good gear of items or weapons

because all of that can meant nothing inside 1 minute

this is more like for gankers or griefers kind of MMO, not saying they are bad, but this game is definitely not for me because although i love the graphic and the settings,

but i can see me rage when playing this MMO

 

UNLESS, it's not open world PVP, then it would be fun, but if it's open World PVP, wow, it's gonna be only for the gankers most likely

  almost everything you have stated here is incorrect i suggest you read up a bit on thegame and learn more.

To answer the thread question, "Do MMOs need to be innovative to be fun" The answer is no, not at all. In fact several so called innovative MOO's have turn out to be boring as hell. many players really don't know what they want they jutwant something different then whats already out. however different is not always better. and something that sound cool in  the players imagination actually turn out to be crap when put in a MMO with real players to abuse etc. 

 Humm looks like a guild wars 2 fan bashing SW:TOR in a review how new and interesting...

 Its Obvious! Darkfall will be the runaway sleeper hit of the year selling more copies then SW:TOR, GW2, and Diablo combined! Heheh sorry, ok now back to reality aventurine has found away to hack MMORPG's system.

Originally posted by fledur

Originally posted by GMan3    "As for your problem with pre-orders fledur, you seems to think that digital pre-orders can not be limited.  The limit is nothing more than what the company plans on selling..."

Of course they CAN be limited. But they are obviously NOT limited. Its foolish to think that an EA company would say no to peoples money. Wake up, they are not in a crusade for customer service excelence in detriment of $. Believe me, digital pre-orders are not limited (of course not talking about boxes or collection edition). You can come back to me later when the head starts begins and see if at any point they stopped selling digital pre-orders.

There isnt a planned number on pre-orders. Like "we are going to have X servers on launch, so the max number of player is Y" thing. No. We are talking about EA here, get your feet back on earth. If more servers are needed to acomodate more players, they will make it happen.

About pre-order numbers, it is clear to me that no major selling milestone has been accomplished yet. They are not bragging, they are not using that number on any marketing stuff so far. So, yea, common sense says no major pre-order milestone.

setting up servers/hardware takes time and we don't mean just overnight time. if 500k players decide to go out and buy a copy of the game 12/19 and play and EA/bioware hasn't planned on it there could be trouble. Thus limiting supplies especially when it comes to the actual release date when the Company can't just instantly order/recieve/and throw up serveral dozen servers is understandable. Argueing that EA/Bioware should already have several dozen servers set up and ready to run that they don't expect to need but might, is just poor business practice considering the cost of hardware and tech. (Kinda like argueing you should go out and buy 2 more cars. Sure you don't need them but you might if the first one breaks down and the second proves to be defective.)

  Several things are clear to you, because you choose to believe them to be true not because you have any real facts. (numbers etc) and in fact more that you refuse to see or acknowledge anything that doesn't fit your view/arguement instead implying that EA can just buy/recieve/and set up unlimited numbers of servers on the spot

Originally posted by nerovipus32

Originally posted by Jojin

Originally posted by fledur

Limit on digital pre-orders? silly, they only told us that to force people to pre-order.

Fun fact? they havent reached 500k pre-orders yet. Otherwise they would be braggin that all over the interwebz.

Not really.  You have to keep in mind the planned server capacity, which would mean there is a limit on the number of players they can service.

Think of it like selling physical tickets to a Movie and digital tickets.  Sure technically there could be an unlimited number of digital tickets, but they still limit the sales to ensure they go over capacity.

Server technology is not an excuse in almost 2012.

 No company is gonna buy more hardware/server then they plan to use. So this is still very much a excuse in 2012. Obviously those that say EA/Bioware can buy/set up unlimited servers to handle a unknown player load day one would not do very well in real world economics.

The trollers really need to try harder they really aren't doing much more then showing their hate at this time

Originally posted by Requiamer

 

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Originally posted by whilan

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Originally posted by Requiamer

It was already said countless time that you won't be able to avoid companions.
And to the OP, they just ported it from their well known solo game formula, just don't even try to look further than that imo.
This game is just an other Bioware game in a mmo setting, just take it as such and move on. The huge first step in the mmo world you would expect from a company like Bioware and the budget they had just didn't happen, it is just an other Bioware game with a massive multiplayer feature, which seam to be good enough for many.

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Actually the part in red isn't true, Aquiring them may be unavoidable but the actual use of them is not. if you stay grouped with 3 other people (friends) the entire time you can avoid using the companions entirely. The non-use of them will lock you out of some things but they are avoidable
The following things you will miss out on if you don't use them
Crafting- As your companions are the crafters, and since your not using them, you'll miss out on this feature.
Some quests- Companions as you get to know them better offer quests, as is obvious if you choose not to use them you'll lose access to these quests.
Some flexability in your class- If you choose not to use them you'll lose some flexability, such as if your a damage dealer  you may lose your companions ability to hold aggro
Some power/survivability if you solo- It should go without saying that if you drop something you'll lose some power if your soloing, grouping doens't matter as you'll survive longer and have the same power as if you were normally grouped as companions take up a slot and players have a priority to the slots over companions.
Other then those 4 things you really lose nothing by not using them, crafting being the biggest one. But if you want to avoid the use of companions all together you can.  Probably impossible to get them but then you can treat them as npcs that you never tlak to and you'll get along in the game just fine.
Note: that should you decide to start using them again, these four limitations will no longer apply. You can craft again, you can start working on companion relations again to get these bonus quests, you'll regain your flexability and survivability again for when you solo.

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*roll eyes*
 
Companions are a great part of any Bioware games, there is no argument here, they don't always worked perfectly, but at least good enough to not give you head hash, and i'm sure it will be the same in SWTOR. But the point the OP is discussing is still very valid. Companions are a must in a solo game, why make it a must in a mmo? I mean wouldn't it have been more logical that i could be the companion of the OP for example, I as a player, and not an NPC? Can you do that in SWTOR? No you cannot, and really i have just brought the first argument coming to my mind, its not like i have a team behind me thinking during months about game design, its not even my profession.

 You don't have to use companions as has been pointed out repeatedly. You can be the companion of the OP if you want to nothings stopping you if you both are on the same times to play etc.

  Pleaase don't make incorrect statements. Read up on the game rather then saying things like i can't be the OP's companions (ie can't group with him.) Or We HAVE to have NPC companions with us all the time (which seems to be what your infering) when in truth you at no time are required to have the companions with you.

  Really its sad that some people now aren't even bothering to look / read / understand what they are posting negatively about to see that their concerns just aren't real

Originally posted by Venekor

They're my friends and they much more to me than an A.I controlled NPC. I really do not understand why these NPCs are being made a big fuss over, I do not want them because I've come to play an online game with my friends and thousands of other people. It should be a galaxy where we make the story, with them controlling it that just makes the worlds static and linear. So 90% of the content will be useless when you hit max level and you wont want to go through making ALTs because you'll be going through the same old story pieces. I cannot see it working anyways because I do not know anyone who plays online games with a group of friends and watches cutscenes. Normally everyone gets bored and wants to skip and actually play the game.

I see this game as being Tortage in Age of Conan where it isn't really an MMO and you're going in and out of your own instances all the time. If that's the case then I cannot see it being the MMO that us MMO lovers want. sure it'll probably be a great game but we'll all be wanting a proper MMO still. 

 I like cutscences. I like the companion system. I like being able to log on when i can and adventure (I work the nightshift 12 hours+ shifts and almost always weekends so grouping with others isn't a easy thing). I like story and feeling the game is more then just go kill 10 jackalops and come back. YMMY. If you don't like it by all means do not buy the game. no one forcing you to and no one is saying you have to like it either. Please stop trying to tell the rest of us we shouldn't buy it or like it for your reasons/opinions

Yes of course SW:TOR will be the last big budget MMO because the world will end in 2012. Me Thinks MMORPG.COM is just really really really hard up for any stupid little thing to post as a article realy who comes up with these topics ? What nextt are MMO's Really mind control programs being used by aliens to control us?