Soo...no input from mmorpg.com staffers, maybe my issue is not so wide spread and I'm the only one with an issue?  I'd hate to create a new account just to recieve email alerts; I'm quit fond of this account even though I'm a low poster

Originally posted by Lundorff

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

At a minimalist estimate of 200 hours (based on the "hundreds" mentioned above), that's about 5 weeks for a dedicated 40/week "hardcore" (oh, how I hate that word) gamer, which is much longer than it takes to get to (for example) level 80 in WoW. As a casual 20/week gamer, that's 10 weeks.

 

Yes you are correct but 10 weeks is not long in a mmo - lets hope it's on the low end and that BW are not simply hyping / exaggarating / underestimating how much play time is available.

Even though the best estimates are 10 weeks, I have a feeling there will be a very small group of gamers who will somehow be maxed out before the end of the first week of going live.

I would say it depends on the games audience and maybe what changes have been made over it's life.  Eve for example would not do well with a classic server, but SWG would shine with a classic server. 

So, my answer is undecided because of all the variables involved in the main question of classic servers...

Originally posted by nmalthus

Not really because people have more important things to do than rely on other people to advance their progression.

This is the very reason I'm a fan of solo play MMOs.  I can't stand around and wait for others to show up just so I can play a game I'm paying for monthly.  This is what kept me in WoW for a while, I was able to solo level basically on my own.  I tried grouping, but groups took just as much time, because we had to recruit others wait for them to show up or whatever else went wrong.  On top of that, if they turn out to be idiots, that is just more waisted time because of their incompetance.  CoV was a fun game, but it took me soo long to level because the game really needed groups to level effeciently.

If SWToR uses anything from WoW, I hope it is their solo-playability, especially for me and my wierd play hours.

Originally posted by qombi

 

I still wouldn't pay a sub fee for what you described. Why should I? There are many single player rpgs with online functions similar that include expansion packs to extend the story. They also do not charge you 15/month. Hopefully all this speculation of this being a instanced solo centric game will be incorrect. 

You are correct, most of what we are talking about is pure speculation, especially the solo aspect of the game.  The guessing we are all engaged in is like a hobby for most people.  It's fun to guess until we see the actually product.

About the solo play that people keep talking about, I think there might be some confusion.  I remember reading here on these boards about how BioWare devs attended a conference where WoW devs held and talked about making a successful MMO or why WoW was successful, I forget but that was the gist of the conference.  Anyways, one of the points the WoW dev made was that for a MMO in todays market to be successful, they had to make the game for the most part solo-able.  WoW, for example, can for the most part be leveled completely on your own without ever grouping with another player.

I believe the is the direction BioWare (again, just guessing) is going to take with SWToR.  Make the game for the most part solo-able, at least for the leveling process and require groups for designed group content like 5 man instances in WoW throughout the leveling process.  Even some quests are optional to group up in WoW.  This is easily replicated in other MMOs and I see SWToR going the same route.

For my taste, this suites me well, because I play odd hours and I hardly see people online when I play.  This way I can level on my own at my own pace.  I played CoV for a while and it took me a month to go from level 30 to 40 mostly because it was so hard for me to find a group (this is back in 2004).  I was at the mercy of other players so I could level more efficiently and my odd playing hours made it even worse.

Single player aspect, if they follow the WoW model, would be perfect for me and I'm sure this will appeal to a large majority of players who want to speed level to max.  I'm sure there will be plenty of content that needs groups however, even if they increase the difficulty of solo-missions/quests when a player is grouped would be cool.

We shall see how this all works out when we are told/shown exactly how this singleplayer content is going to work.

Originally posted by hubertgrove

If you look at all the screenshots so far released from actual gameplay, one thing becomes absolutely clear: to the right, the left and behind the player, there is a barrier no more than thirty yard - or 'yards' - away. It can be a cliff face, a rock or the side of a large spacecraft but it is nonetheless a barrier.

What this suggests to me - along with many other hints and tips issued by BIoware - is that this game is going to be KOTOR 3 online.

In other words, a highly instanced solo-player rpg with some multiplayer features. These features, I hypothesise, may include shared battlegrounds, shared chat channels, shared auction house and some instanced non-story team dungeons.

Bioware and EA will make money out of this game by issuing new expansion packs every three months or so which will continually 'extend' the story.

I have no real problems with this. If done right, it could be fun.

 

This is new to BioWare, it is going to be a test and a challenge for BioWare to keep this up for the life of the MMO.  If they can pull this off, they I agree, they will succeed, if they falter in anyway, the masses will not be happy and could put BioWare in danger of failing (not a gaurantee however, just a big maybe).

Let's look at Mass Effect for the PC.  They have announced a patch for ME for months now and it has yet to be released, if they do this for SWToR they will burn, unless the game is perfect at release and beyond fun to play.

I have faith that BioWare will have a rock solid story at release, from what I understand most of the developement has been to build the story since they are using the Hero Engine to speed up the building of the MMO game/world, which the engine was used to cut down a year of development time.

Originally posted by tillamook

Originally posted by junzo316

I didn't think it was all that great of a trailer.  It was alright.  I was actually hoping to see some actual gameplay at the EA conference at E3, but no such luck.  The bounty hunter looks pretty great in the video though.  I hope that carries over to actual gameplay.  I like the fact that it is all voice overs.  Creates a great immersion, IMO.

 

This is just the beginning! More to follow tomorrow! I assume it will answer a lot of the top questions about how the game works with Story arcs. You will get to see 20-30min of a 2-3 quest in the game. 

Wednesday PST

12:30 pm Star Wars: The Old Republic -- Learn how this MMO will consume you.

1:00 pm Unannounced Lucas Arts Title -- See what Lucas Arts has in store for us.

1:30 pm Unannounced Lucas Arts Title -- Another secret game from Lucas Arts.

Watch it here

 

Woot!

Thanks for the info!

I have a feeling LA's secret game will be Battlefront III.  I've seen a trailer on youtube that wasn't supposed to be released and the game looks like it's almost finished, it just fell through for some unexplained reason.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

"Dear Jedi (young paladin), go get me some 10 pigs in space (boars) with this shiny light sabre (Holy mace) on that Red Planet (Outland)."

---> We will see who will come up with these kind of new  mmorpg's.

 

Interesting, I know this senerio happens in almost every MMO and some RPG games, but how can it be avoided?  I've tried thinking of way it can be done differently, but I keep coming up with similar senerios using the same dressing as your example. 

IMO, SWTOR will be ok even if they use this type questing system, what I hope SWTOR does differenltly is the added story BioWare keeps pushing.  I hope it makes the SWTOR stand out from other MMOs.

From what I understand so far, a player can be a good guy (light side) and still be on allied with the Empire, same with the Republic, one can be dark side and be allied with them.  I have not heard any mention of switching sides, althought, it would not be impossible to add into the game, if not at launch, then serveral patches down the road.

BioWare wants everyones experience to play along the lines of your characters story and I don't think any part of what we know so far has people switching sides in the middle of a war; yet anyways!

Originally posted by Gyrus

Originally posted by m240gulf

Aye, you speak the truth, I've been burnt too many times by todays developers.... ...  BioWare, Bethesda, and Paradox (at one point it used to be Creative Assembly until Empires) are the few companies I would buy from sight unseen....

Paradox?

 

I can cure that - buy Diplomacy.

 

Edit: Oh yeah - that was an E3 showpiece too.  Now they have even tried to hide it on their own website.

Haha, well my standards only apply to the games that I am interested in, not every game they make

Originally posted by NightBandit

After all the BS we have been fed by so many companies I will remain sceptical until we see the end product, so many dervs have made claims which they failed to keep, while i know they have not here I still think the proof will be in the pudding.

 

I hope they do bring a game we all want and need but lets not get carried away by a glossy vid which when i looked at it seemed good at first sight but when you look at it a few times same armour all bland stuff outside of the fluff.

 

Bandit.

Aye, you speak the truth, I've been burnt too many times by todays developers....as for me and BioWare however, well... this is BioWare and they have never failed in my eyes.  BioWare, Bethesda, and Paradox (at one point it used to be Creative Assembly until Empires) are the few companies I would buy from sight unseen.

It is totally acceptable for the rest of the masses to keep an open mind about the promises from MMO devs.

I just read on someone's comment in another thread that Wednsday they will be showing ingame footage at E3.  As for the rest of your questions, I'm sure they will release everything very slowly of the next couple of months until launch.

I do think most people understand the game will not look like E3 trailer, but what I think you might be missing is, most people are excited about the story the game will be following and some of the characters involved.  Might not be everyone, but for sure that is what got me really excited.  I'm also looking forward to the voice overs for our own charaters.  That is very interesting, it would be like playing Mass Effect, but in a Star Wars world.

my 2c's anyways...

I could use some help with my email alerts from mmorpg.com staff please.  At one time all my emails were going into my junk mailbox, but I have since added mmorpg.com email addy to my contacts list.  Could I get reverivifed see if there is any other issue preventing me from receiving my email alerts I sign up for?

Thank you!

Holy freaking goose bumps!!

That was a sweat vid!

I remember hearing about a lot of companies pulling out of E3, companies like Lucas Arts, which surpised me.  They pulled out because of costs, which I'm assuming it's the price E3 charges the companies to attend or set up a booth?  Why would E3 organizers make the fees so high that companies would start not attending?  Or when we talk about costs are we talking about the price of setting up an E3 booth with all the swag or whatever each company sets up for its audience?

I think he is the guy who has the last say in how things are run, but he is not the one offering ideas or changing things that are already in process.  Basically, he is too busy running an empire to worry about small details especially with an MMO which has millions of small details.

Originally posted by Darth_Osor

Originally posted by m240gulf

Hmm...I've been doing a little reading on fiscal quarters (US) and I came across en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year.

 

* 1st Quarter: October 1, 2008 – December 31, 2008
* 2nd Quarter: January 1, 2009 – March 31, 2009
* 3rd Quarter: April 1, 2009 – June 30, 2009
* 4th Quarter: July 1, 2009 – September 30, 2009
 

 

I did not know this before, I assumed 4th quarter was Oct 1st to Dec 31st, but according to the Wiki, 4th quarter is July 1 to Sept 30th.

 

This might change a lot of people's guessing, at least it does mine.

 

EA's fiscal year runs 01 Apr - 31 Mar.  EA is already in Q1 fiscal 2010.

Haha!  OK, so we as an mmorpg.com community need to pick a fiscal year calender to base our guesses on. 

I will use the feds fiscal year and say Q2 of 2010 for a release date.   I'm guessing this will be EA's Q4 of 2010?

Good read, but the guy messed up by paying three months in advance.  Why would anyone do that, especially for an $OE game?!

Hmm...I've been doing a little reading on fiscal quarters (US) and I came across en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year.

* 1st Quarter: October 1, 2008 – December 31, 2008
* 2nd Quarter: January 1, 2009 – March 31, 2009
* 3rd Quarter: April 1, 2009 – June 30, 2009
* 4th Quarter: July 1, 2009 – September 30, 2009
 

I did not know this before, I assumed 4th quarter was Oct 1st to Dec 31st, but according to the Wiki, 4th quarter is July 1 to Sept 30th.

This might change a lot of people's guessing, at least it does mine.