Originally posted by maskmurda

Originally posted by Chrome1980

Originally posted by maskmurda

Blizzard sells names. I'm not a fan of the genre, but hell all the crap that they put in this game I don't know how people can play it. Online only single player and RMA are reason enough for me not to play this game. People will always have their opinions but reall this game isn't all that great and it's just selling because of the blizzard title attach to it. Sooner or later that card is gonna get pulled, but I highly doubt it with our market not demanding quality any more and accepting what ever crap is thrown at them.

Exactly, just like you have yours so there is no really or truely when it comes to personal opinions. People have been using this line 'Blizzard's name is attached to it so it sells' for how many years now? if it was true that Blizzard makes crap games and they somehow managed to sell games only by using their name, don't you think after all these years they would have milked that option by now?

why the hell would people keep buying Blizzard games if what you said was true? they can fool you once or twice with their name but not everytime.

My suggestion??give up, Blizzard makes fun games which are high in quality, that is why their game sells like hot cakes.

That cake is a lie. People will always have their opinions because those without opinions can't view a game for what it really is and not sound like some fan boy defending a crap company. Depending on who they areattracting because as always, I can't speak for others who are impressed by it, the game in it self only sells because Blizzard is making it. But just like Cataclysm, it's a rushed game with core features that take advantage of people and masquerade as a quality game. If this game was released by Blizzard before their merger with Activision, it would be a completely diffrent game. But if you wanna overlook how they are laughing at their so called "loyal fans" by milking them by releasing a "high quality" with a real money auction house and a online only single player.  COD is the same crap each year but people still buy it because of familiarity and thats the same reason people buy Blizzard games. People buy the brand because of the name they created, not the quality of games they put out.

So did you play Diablo 3 or did you not?

Originally posted by 4bsolute

Originally posted by Suzie_Ford

Blizzard Entertainment has released some astonishing numbers a mere week after the launch of Diablo III. According to the gaming giant, Diablo III now sports over 6.3 million players worldwide.

Will be the last time, I guarantee you. Such an incomplete game, with enormous server issues and now ONTOPOFTHAT the mass amounts of accounts hacked.

Blizzard has to be really really careful with their next title. The customers tread more warily now... I for myself know that I will never ever again pre-purchase or pre-order ANY TITLE IN THIS WORLD AGAIN.

 

For the record: I pre-purchased TSW, GW2 and Diablo. And NONE of them was worth the money (excluding GW2...for now).

Did you purchase the first 2 diablos?

Originally posted by archer75

I really don't get it.  I beta tested the game for months and just don't see the appeal.  It's a glorified clickfest on rails.  

Clearly i'm in the minority on this. 

My question to you is did you play either of the first 2?  Cause if you didn't then you have a valid question.  A first time player to this franchise would say something like this. 

Currently in nightmare working towards hell.  Normal mode you are there for the story after that its just about loot, challenge and whatever random quests you might not have seen before.  I've always loved this franchise.  This one has not disappointed.

At the end of the day the complaining doesnt matter.  With the amount they have made off this I suspect most game companies will be following suit in the future.   I forsee most development studios all going this route. 

Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Grand Theft Auto franchises will all probably do this for future single player experiences.  Your options will be deal with it or not be able tp play them. 

It's the little things you really enjoy.   The rats running out of the bushes.  Half a guys body crawling across the floor.  This game is epic. 

People complaining about graphics make me laugh.  This is not Crysis 2.  Gameplay is the key here.  Too easy for you on normal? Try inferno.   

Anyone who played the first 2 are playing this.   Also don't expect this on the bargain bin any time soon.  D2 was $40 like 8 years after launch. 

Not happy there is no offline mode.  But they had to do this to prevent cheating.  I expect most companies to start following suit. 

Early June.  For sure.  People will leave in droves due to the last patch being 4-5 months old already.  The content is already completed by most people at this point. 

Saw this post and LOL

From: Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service via bioware-mailer.com
Feb 1 (8 days ago)

To: me
Dear XXXXXX,

We perfectly understand where you're coming from and we apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

Knowing that we're on the early stage of the game lauch, please understand that we have these scheduled and emergency maintenance to better improve the game.

All of us here on the Star Wars: The Old Republic team would like to thank you for your support, and let you know that we really appreciate your feedback.

We appreciate that you're with us since we started and we would be more than happy that you take part when the game becomes well established and meet the expectation of the general public.

Please do not hesitate to contact us again if there is anything further we can help you with.

Regards,

Adrian
Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

I have a theory on where there 1.7 million subs are.  The game costs 200 million+ to make.  People cant seem to grasp where all that money went into development.  Maybe just maybe they took some of that money and bought themselves 1 million subs. 

/sarcasm

Well not going to lie.  You have to compare it to wow.  They made a wow clone. 

I'd suspect around 250lk overall subs in March.  Should give them 3.75 mil a month to work with.  How much are they paying their development staff?  Currently theres probably like 3k per server(thats generous I know).   215 servers. 645k subs atm.  2 Mil sales at launch.  You get the picture.

The bean counters at EA are pretty good when it comes to seeing the future.  LIke warhammer when you start seeing layoffs and a new lead is coming in to take over.  Thats the big red flag.

Originally posted by Valkaern

That was one of the least informative interviews I've ever seen. I don't really know who that would be directed at, people that aren't playing or people that have never heard of the game?

Obviously there are probably limits on what you can objectively ask while still hoping to ever get another interview with said company, but I do wish he'd risked pushing the buttons a little bit more in the name of actual news.  I guess as this is the first time I've ever been disappointed with his coverage I'll let it go in the name of all the times he has delivered.

As for the operations, I've found them to be incredibly unenjoyable so far, and find myself instead actually being most interested in the end game PvP progression for a change. As such I would really like to have heard an honest opinion on the disaster that is Ilum, as well as possible insights into the future of open world PvP since it's pretty clear it's in a very rough state at the moment. The operations so far all feel like watered down imitations of something I've already played through unfortunately, and as the gear is so segregated (I'd only need top end raid gear to carry on raiding to get more top end raid gear to carry on raiding) I don't really see any benefit to persuing that. If there was a bit more overflow between PvP & PvE gear, it could be a different story.

So I can't really say I'm excited to hear that. If I was interested in end game raiding, I personally would have to admit that Rift, WoW, EQ & even EQ2 have all done a much better job regarding the tone and role of raiding and I would likely look to one of those to fulfill that desire. At least those games offer me some room to get excited about gear, with swtor it all feels laid out like a soulless spreadsheet. I find it sad that the fun treasures of yester-year (shrink wands, tolans bracers, j-boots, pegasus cloak) have all but vanished from MMOs.

 

 This game really wasnt meant for you.  Anything more than 4 people on the screen the engine cant handle.   Should have been a PVE only game till they optimized the engine for at least 30 people on screen.

They are having a massive amount of problems with this game.

1) As Op stated no high res graphics at launch which were advertised in pretty every one of their videos/screenshots of the game on their site.

2) Major FPS issues due to the fact that no one has made an MMO using the HERO Engine.  Like ever.  They licensed an untested engine because the tools to create the environment were so easy to use.  They werent concerned with having 16+ people running around on the same screen at the same time.  They just figured they would rewrite the engine.   This has been stated already by the maker of the hero engine.

3)  Billing issues.  People who resub but can't access the game right away.  People who resub and don't get the full 30 days.  People who sub and get charged 5x and cant get it resolved even after being on the phone for over 3 hours.

4)  Ability delays.  Which are still not resolved.

5) No resolution to faction imbalances which are making ilum a no go.   Also makes finding people for flashpoints difficult for republic.

6)  Crafting implemented well but has no lasting value due to biochem(post nerf) still being better than everything else.  This also kills the market since other crafting professions have nothing to buy since everything can be replace by better gear.

7) No Cross server LFG tool for PVP and PVE.   New players will have 0 grouping options as no one will be in  those zones eventually.  Kills the replayability of the game.

8) No Open space combat.  They could have implemented the old xwing game and it would have been better than this rail garbage.  

9) No way to determine individual performace.  A combat log of some type is needed here.

10) End game ecounters bug ridden.

11) End game encounters not providing loot.

They are trying but I think it might already be too late.  People are already asking for server merges.  This might have been resolved somewhat with #7. 

Wow basically followed the rules when making an MMO.

You have 2 paths to choose.

1)  To compete with the 800 lb gorilla in the room you need to make a 850 lb gorilla.  Anything less is fail.  Time tested.

2) Don't make a gorilla.  This can be difficult as most investors won't take a chance that your new pink peacock is going to make the players happy.

So in conclusion,

Wow in 2004 went route #1 and EQ was the gorilla and the time and succeeded by making the 850 lb gorilla.

Eve went route #2 and was successul in making a niche indie game.  The pink peacock.

Swtor went route #1 and made a 400 lb gorilla which is why it will fail.

AOC, LOTR, D&D all went route #1 and their 400 lb gorillas are f2p.

They used this engine because the tools to actually develop the world were easy to use and light years ahead of what was out there at that time and that was their primary concern.  The owner of the hero engine basically already stated this.   They saw the alpha engine tools and said I NEED THIS. 

Performance with 16 people on the screen was not even a thought in their mind at that time.   They figured they could just go in and fix the issue.  Unfortunately that is not how engines work.  You have to build them from the ground up to be able to handle large scale combat.  

Originally posted by GMan3

Originally posted by cscurlock

Here is the golden rule of MMO development. 

1) If your going to compete with the 800 lb gorilla in the room you better make a 850 lb gorilla.

2) Don't make a gorilla.   This can be hard as most inverstors need to be very sure that people will like your new peacock.

 

Bioware went with #1 but the gorilla is about 400 lbs.

    The fact is that BioWare did go for number 1.  Let's be absolutely honest though, no company could make that 850 pounder.  Simple fact is that Blizzard had many years to grow trhe game.  They did start with a nice sized game for their time and then added to it fairly often.  If you are trying to compare SWTOR now to WoW now, there is simply NO WAY it would stand up in content or world size.  Then again if you planted a tree seed now and compared it to a sapling that was 7 or 8 years old, the seed wouldn't stand a chance either.

    In this case though, BioWare rather successfully gave us a "sapling" that was a few years old instead of just a "seed" like many companies have done over the last few years (Looking at you Trion and NCsoft).  If we compare apples to apples, then SWTOR shines.  When you compare apple seeds to apple trees then of course it will be lacking (content wise).

    What appeals to me the most about SWTOR is that a game built this big to begin, with AND that has kept it's full developmental staff, has more ability to go much farther in a shorter amount of time.  It remains to be seen if they live up to this potential, but then again it is only a month old and they are already releasing new content.  Not bad in my opinion.  In fact, it seems to me that the only thing slowing them down is the actual testing of the new content.

    As I stated those are the rules and if you want to play the game you have to accept them, no exceptions.  

Here is the golden rule of MMO development. 

1) If your going to compete with the 800 lb gorilla in the room you better make a 850 lb gorilla.

2) Don't make a gorilla.   This can be hard as most inverstors need to be very sure that people will like your new peacock.

Bioware went with #1 but the gorilla is about 400 lbs.

Your poll is missing a category.

 KOTOR 3 Single player game with most of what is in SWTOR.

They should just completely remove all PVP from this game.  Most of the complainers are PVPers.  Would save them the trouble of having to deal with the issues Wow has as far as balancing.  Plus they can focus on other issues like ability queuing, UI customization, class balance,  texture quality,  LFG tool,  Anti aliasing,  crafting balance, faction story balance instead.  Bioware really hasn't ever made a decent player vs player game.  Its not their strong suit.  They should have added PVP later once the rest of their issues were fixed. 

Well not a fanboi or anything but usually Star Wars MMOs last a very long time according to history.