With the availability of Firefox with adblock/flashblock, you're a fool if ads bother you AND you still see them.

Originally posted by Cerion

I think SW:TOR is in a unique position.  While it uses the very recognizable name of Star Wars, BioWare pretty much defined what the world of KOTOR is.  SW:TOR is more like WoW in this respect regarding its licensing -- it will be a game based on another game license.  BioWare isn't constrained to the Canon of the original series or the Clone Wars.  BioWare can make it up as they go along for the most part, much like they did for KOTOR.  As long as they get the basics right: Jedi, Sith, space travel, large unfathomable military industrial complex, it's going to feel like Star Wars.

 

The failure, in my view, with most IP incorporations is that the developers need a core audience, and instead of going after a core audience consisting of fans of the IP, they're going after MMO fans who happen to like a lot of things geeky. These MMO fans are invariably nomadic, and that doesn't spell longterm, gangbuster-type success of the IP MMO.

Non-IP titles create a core audience from scratch that is loyal and who will stick with the game. You'd think that the IP MMO developers would see the benefit of having a pre-made core audience and design the MMO for them -- but for some reason they don't.  That maybe the defining success of SW:TOR. They've identified their core audience and are zeroing in their development to satisfy that core.

Its not necessarily about the devs. Dev's need money to dev. They get that money from investors. Lot of competition. How do you stand out? Attach your project to an pre-existing IP that will catch investors eye.

Sad and failing. But true.

Originally posted by augustgrace

Originally posted by dhayes68

Originally posted by augustgrace

Originally posted by dhayes68

Originally posted by augustgrace

Unfortunately we have an extremely vocal minority of gamers who don't seem to actually play games anymore, but rather spend their time trying to sink games.

Can you back that statement up as a fact or you just makin stuff up that suits you?

By your "logic" if the people who are unhappy with CO are a vocal minority, then the game should be doing quite well. The servers packed with the silent majority, hmm? 

 CO was always going to be a niche game, they were only aiming for 100k subs. 

Can you back that up?

Cause if thats true, then you're saying they were aiming to make a crappy game, and succeeded.

Why would aiming for 100k subs mean they were intending to make a crappy game?  They were aware they were making a niche game and made a game that could succeed on 100k subs and survive on far less.

Because given the POTENTIAL amount of subs out there, aiming for 100k means having to screw up.  Besides, you still can't back up your claim that their goal was a niche game of 100k subs.

Originally posted by Flummoxed

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Any RP minded table-top GM or DM could create a more "fantastic" and unique world that what's being pushed out today.

 

YES!  ABSOLUTELY.  I agree 100%. 

Yeah, thats what killed DDO and CO for me. They couldn't hold a candle to the table-top ver we played. The rules and books were a launching point for our GM.

I was up to number 2 when I though "They should put in Elfquest" and then BAM! Number 1 baby!!!! Read those as a teen in their original release. Good stuff. 

Originally posted by augustgrace

Originally posted by dhayes68

Originally posted by augustgrace

Unfortunately we have an extremely vocal minority of gamers who don't seem to actually play games anymore, but rather spend their time trying to sink games.

Can you back that statement up as a fact or you just makin stuff up that suits you?

By your "logic" if the people who are unhappy with CO are a vocal minority, then the game should be doing quite well. The servers packed with the silent majority, hmm? 

 CO was always going to be a niche game, they were only aiming for 100k subs. 

Can you back that up?

Cause if thats true, then you're saying they were aiming to make a crappy game, and succeeded.

Originally posted by augustgrace

Unfortunately we have an extremely vocal minority of gamers who don't seem to actually play games anymore, but rather spend their time trying to sink games.

Can you back that statement up as a fact or you just makin stuff up that suits you?

By your "logic" if the people who are unhappy with CO are a vocal minority, then the game should be doing quite well. The servers packed with the silent majority, hmm?

Originally posted by Cerion

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Cerion

 

Here's my reason: It's a Walter Mitty'ian exercise that ignores reality.   

holy crap, now there's a reference I never thought I'd see on a gaming forum.

One beer for you my friend.

 

I'll take that beer! I could use it, lol.

I just bought that on DvD a few months ago. Couldn't torrent it.

Build a sandbox Middle-Earth. Most of the map available.

Timeframe: 6 Months to a year after the end of the LoTR.

Story: The war of the rings is over. Middle Earth is a wreck. Mordor is still home to various evils left behind.

A king is in Gondor. The roads are safe, however political strife between the humans of Gondor, Rohon, Dale, Bree, the elves of Mirkwood, Lothlorien, the dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and Moria, the hobbits of the Shire, as well as tribes/bands of orcs, scattered across the land  provide much work for those committed to the healing of Middle Earth.

Playable races: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Orcs. (subclassed by racial or social type)

Pick a race, pick a faction, explore Middle Earth as a warrior, merchant, craftsman, politician, etc...

Not positive but I think the game is geared to be solo friendly. Extremely solo friendly. Solo friendly ennough that people are complaining it sounds like a standalone game.

Originally posted by guido505

Originally posted by Baltizaar

The only way an MMO based on a license will work is if it breaks off from the story arch of the license and creates its own new rules and story lines.  Kind of like Stargate Atlantis tried to do or for an older example what Beast Wars did with the Transformer's story line.  Each had characters similar to the license but then it also had a lot of things totally new and unique to the new story line.  It would allow writers to have the freedom they need to be creative and it would allow players to discover totally new things without them expecting to experience what they experienced with the previous form of the license.

 I agree with this completely. One of the reasons I think SWG ended up not doing well (besides the NGE) was that is was in a timeframe that we all knew and most of us loved. That set them up for failure because the devs never really had a chance to get it right. I hold out hope for The Old Republic strictly because it's in a timeframe that we don't really know much about and the devs are able to flesh out that story themselves. Yes, there's been things written about that timeframe but it's scarce. I'm hoping this will be the one that will prove the exception to the rule about Liscensed MMOs.

I agree as well. For example, I think LoTRO is a great game, but due to it being constrained within the boundaries of the storyline, (a storyline I'm oh so familiar with I might add) I got bored in a couple of months.  Had LoTRO taken place at the end of the storyline of the books, using the storyline as a launching point rather than a treadmill, being much more openended, I probably would have been hooked.

Originally posted by Fearlessbro  

Seriously, what makes this game so played by many people?

I remember buying The Burning Crusade and leveled up from 60 to 70

The same still applys for Wrath of the Lich King. After 1 - 2weeks leveling from 70 to 80

The Only reason I play WoW

You play it. Despite your attempt to show off your MMO street cred by trashing WoW, the fact is, you've played it quite a bit it seems and still do.

Whatever it is you think is wrong with people for playing the game, the same thing is wrong with you.

An MMO tied to an established IP is much easier to present to investors, (people who want to gamble with their money, but don't want to take much of a risk) thus gaining needed resources to develop.

Other than that I can't see a reason for it. It constrains the devs, sets up unrealistic and impossible to satisfy expectations in the players, and while the temptation to play in a world whose IP i'm familiar with is compelling, how long does that interest last? I mean, I already know the story.

There is a huge flaw in a strategy that aims to attract people who won't be satisfied and quickly bored.

Originally posted by lordain

Originally posted by dhayes68

I solo'd to 70 with a minstrel. nice part bout a minstrel is you can group whenever you feel like it.

As other's have said you can solo any char. That being said to get the most enjoyment, pick the class thats most fun for you to play, knowing you'll be able to solo to level cap without much a problem no matter what you choose.

 

To 70?! im pretty sure level cap in lotro is 60, and will be 65 in 2 day's... :P

Mixed up my games. to 60.

I solo'd to 70 with a minstrel. nice part bout a minstrel is you can group whenever you feel like it.

As other's have said you can solo any char. That being said to get the most enjoyment, pick the class thats most fun for you to play, knowing you'll be able to solo to level cap without much a problem no matter what you choose.

In my opinion LoTRO is benefiting from the lack of other polished games out there. There are a lot of different games out there but LoTRO looks good and provides a lot do to (pve). 

Love to see an EvE-esque fantasy type game. covering a whole world and the same level of player controlled and affected environment.

Pfft, if you're an existing subscriber, you've already been cheated.

The dynamic would be the same for YOU, but the fact that no one else would be obligated to play the same way means that merely deleting your char after you die in a non-permadeath game, in no way equates to playing in a permadeath game.

As long as the server/backend is created without using ANY copyrighted source material (i.e. they have to create a server from scratch. this is the really hard part and where most private server games fail the legality test), the players have purchased copies of the game, and no one charges anything, its legal.