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Star Wars: The Old Republic [Releasing Date: Dec 20 NA/EU - NDA Lifted]
- Thread starter Blackface
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Are you Pachter? I have never this level of genius anywhere on the Interwebs!
I'm not seeing an actual pre-order number in there, it just says the survey indicates that that many people could possibly be playing.
Regardless, I still know it is a nice amount of people who pre-ordered, and i'm one of the filp-floppers who'll eventually play both.
I don't think the problem for Blizzard lies in people that will be leaving WoW in the short term.
WoW is like heroine... If ToR isn't going to cut it, people will be strapping that +5 addiction belt around their arms again in no-time.
People have left wow and come boomeranging back for quite some time now. EA/Bioware just have to make sure they're staying away this time around. They have to produce "crystal dream"...
WoW is like heroine... If ToR isn't going to cut it, people will be strapping that +5 addiction belt around their arms again in no-time.
People have left wow and come boomeranging back for quite some time now. EA/Bioware just have to make sure they're staying away this time around. They have to produce "crystal dream"...
What does going to Neutral mean? That you can't buy new stocks?
Agreed, but I think it's a little different this time in how much apathy there is towards new WoW content. Even timing 4.3 to launch at the same time as TOR has not dissuaded people into abandoning biowares new game.
As you said Fonds, it's about providing enough incentive to stay - and I think their first "post-launch" challenge is to convince the top end of the player base that there's enough challenge and progress to convince them to stay
I don't know too, but think that when the status is BUY, it is profitable to buy it and NEUTRAL is your call.
Didn't he did this for people-thought-non profitable stock in the movie Limitless?
That sounds logical.
Sure. It plays a lot like Warcraft minus some of the annoying sinks. Plus lightsabres. It's not a guaranteed throne-toppler but it's the best chance anyone else's got, given they can crank some end game content out.
Of course not, 370+ pages all full of negative opinions.
:rolleyes
I didn't regret my preorder as soon as I played the beta weekend
but I quickly regret going for the wow annual pass shortly after committing to that 
I don't know if I'm going to play it for more than a month as I'm not sure how robust the end game content will be, but I really liked the levelling content.
One of the ways they're going to be able to keep players is by taking ideas from the "crazy wall" and implementing content updates at the same blistering speed that Rift is going at now.
Guild spaceships as first content patch along with some more battlezones and flashpoints... I'm sold.
Guild spaceships as first content patch along with some more battlezones and flashpoints... I'm sold.
Aptos
Member
So I haven't been following this game at all, but I got invited to the beta weekend and I'll try it then, but had one question: will this be anything like KOTOR? I mean, can I play it pretty much solo and experience a story? I saw there's companions like in KOTOR, is that mechanic going to be similar?
The answer to this is ultimately no. You need to do some form of group content (open world/Flashpoints/PvP) to supplement your story based content. If you don't you will end up behind the leveling curve and because of this you'll literally be unable to progress because you can't kill anything. You'll need to also do the solo content leading to each story objective as well.
Aptos
Member
So could you explain to me the gameplay then? Is it basically the same as WoW, where you do some solo quests in an area that lead to a dungeon where you need a group to run it, and once that's completed you move on to the next zone?
It'll be solid up until we see what they do 3-6 months after launch. Post-release content is the big question on everyone's mind right now, and I think that there's been literally no concrete information on that yet. I'd say it's worth the price of admission from what i've played though.
You mainly do solo stuff with your class story ongoing throughout, each zone has 2+ open world group content in it and you start your first Flashpoint (dungeon) at 10. PvP starts at 10 I believe as well. You could push forward and do only the class story stuff, but you'd hit a point where you couldn't actually do the content because you'd be below the level where you could kill the mobs. This essentially forces you to do content around your story content and/or group content in order to be at the correct level for future content.
You are never forced to do group content. You will probably end up lower level if you did nothing but class quest, but you could level up 1-50 doing a combination of side quest and class quest. No grouping involved. Of course, grouping gives you more benefits like you would expect.
Not forced, but if you don't then you'll be at a disadvantage to those that do. Is planet commendation gear exactly equal to FP commendation gear in terms of stats? I'd have to guess the answer is no?
I'm level 28 and there are damn near too many flashpoints. Hell I even skipped one because I was leveling up too fast.
We're talking about BioWare here. The game lacks a bunch of features standard on modern MMO for some bizzarre reason, and you'd expect BW to add new cool stuff right away?
I'd love to see guild spaceships etc ASAP but i really can't bring myself to belive they'll bother with them until maybe a year after the launch.
Even if they do add new stuff, i doubt it'd be even monthly updates.
I just hope the operations won't be but a minor thing in the end game, considering they cannot include dialogue etc good story elements well, if at all, due the amount of players. Keep building the story and making it feel important and good part of the game, phasing is must really.
Is beta's leveling speed same as the final game's? I wouldn't be surprised if it is faster.
cartoon_soldier
Member
Last time I did beta testing, leveling speed seemed perfect.
I'm not saying they will either... I'm just saying they should.
If Bioware wants to keep people playing their game, they should be shoveling content (italic for emphasis on content, not some lame UI updates and other trivial shit) updates out on a bi-monthly basis.
People want to know that they get what they pay for... Customers tend to feel they should get something back for their monthly contributions.
Of course they should. I find hard to belive BioWare would do that though... i can guess what happens. 3 months and nothing happens, BW decides the game needs "restart" and makes combat upgrade and new game enhancements. Or the game is restructured as F2P.
Of course this being Star Wars-WoW probably ensures it'll live regardless of content updates...
It would be nice if BW would give some details how they plan to handle post-launch content.
I'm being pessimistic as that way i'm positively suprised if the amount post-launch exceeds my expectations. If i'm pessimistic enough, it will exceed my expectations for sure. Perfect system, no?
Maybe i should advertise NeoGAF Empire once again. PVP EU GAF guild, we serve the Sith Empire!
PM me your username if you join so that i know to accept you.
The site is down at the moment though.
BattleMonkey
Member
They put a fairly modest estimate of decline, it's not like they are saying everyone is dumping the game for this one. Game has been on a decline and a big game like this will probably give it a little kick at least for a couple months at best probably.
Well they added 4 flashpoints in the previous 2 builds already, so they have been pumping up content fairly well before launch. How well tested this stuff will be concerns me though.
100% speculation at this point, but I got a feeling that the inclusion of a bunch of new flashpoints and more group content lately (which buffs up the amount of hard modes) means that anyone but the most hardcore players will still have content to do months down the line. Remember that the average player takes weeks, if not months to reach the new level cap in a new WoW expansion based on stats alone.
If you follow this reasoning, you can't expect new content to be around until February at the earliest - but then you would expect something substantial there like the scale of patch 4.3
Well theres a real incentive if you enjoy the story to play the other-side this time, which will take the average player half a year to complete both sides. And yeah, the Den is actually interesting me a lot considering its FFA possibilities.
BattleMonkey
Member
Unless they slack on content updates, the game has decent amount of content for launch. Those who skip out on story elements and are all about rushing to endgame no matter what are going to whine about lack of content. There hasn't been a MMO that has launched that has satisfied these people, they get to end game in a few days and do it all real quick and then quit to possibly come back when a content update is out, and end up quitting that a few weeks after doing that up.
The games flashpoints are not actually bad when compared to WoW´s for example, but in my opinion they suffer from 3 big problems:
1. Slow pace due to group dialogue and having to wait for everyone to finish their conversations... even with skipping it takes too damned long;
2. Long dungeon runs, most dungeons take too long and with no interesting mechanics to brake the monotony.
3. Little to no motivation to repeat the dungeon due to poor itemization and... the problems brought up in points 1 and 2.
Of course not, 370+ pages all full of negative opinions.
:rolleyes
I didn't regret my preorder as soon as I played the beta weekendbut I quickly regret going for the wow annual pass shortly after committing to that
I don't know if I'm going to play it for more than a month as I'm not sure how robust the end game content will be, but I really liked the levelling content.
I almost bit on what you spoilered when I got the email.
Almost.
I haven't played WoW in several months though and I honestly feel like I'm done for good. I was sitting there looking at the offer email and happened to glance over at my calculator. Some quick finger flying talked me out of the madness of the WoW annual pass when I realized that I'd actually be paying $180 for Diablo III. Cuz I'm not going back to WoW.
BrLvgThrChmstry
Banned
What is this "Den" people speak of? ...I've received a weekend pass so I'm sort of excited to try this out. These trials typically start on Friday, correct?
GasProblem
Member
Depends on what wave you're in. Wave 1 gets to play starting friday, wave 2 starts saturday and the last wave starts on sunday.
BattleMonkey
Member
Den of Outlaws is an open pvp area on Tatooine where players will be fighting over access to max level resource nodes used for crafting. Special unique vendors will also spawn in the area.
Groups who have played the content before and want to go through it quick can just basically have everyone but one person opt out of the dialogue, and then have the person quickly skip through it all. A few seconds if the whole group agrees for it.
Hari Seldon
Member
Yes. I was extremely skeptical like you. Then I got into the November 11th beta and it blew me away. Perhaps it is because I haven't played Warcraft in almost a year now, and the newness of everything rekindled the MMO fire. I don't know. Between the awesome individual story line, the crisp WoW-like combat, and the settings, I am definitely digging this game much more than I thought I would.
yankeehater
Member
So I got into the beta last night but I havent had a chance to play yet, is it possible to play this with a 360 controller, and is there controller support in the game?
Unlikely.
Still no news on which wave of the beta test program we are going to be in?
The Dutch Slayer
Member
its to bad you can only play this weekend because NOW I have time and this weekend far far less time
because NOW I have time and this weekend far far less time
Hari Seldon
Member
I thought this was really awesome, but I could see it getting annoying if you are repeating these for loot.
This is not the game you're looking for... check out Tera if you want to play an MMO with a controller.
Try playing a heal specced Sage or Sorcerer in a Warzone, the god awful UI makes it a nightmare to keep track of hp bars and your own heals.
Last Hearth
Member
Another patched released, they have tuned down mob difficulty on the higher levels.
I was considering healing, so I was worried about that. I assume there's no click-to-heal function in the UI yet? I don't know if I can go back to the old style of healing. I'm so used to using the various mods in WoW.
I still can't log into my account, because I don't remember my secret question. I tried calling customer service and they said their systems are down. I don't really care if I miss this weekend, because the last weekend beta already convinced me to get the game, but the game is a few weeks away... I hope they sort my shit in time.
TheContact
Member
Beta doesn't start until the weekend anyway. It's not playable with controller; simply wouldn't be feasible. I think the FF MMOs can be played with a controller.
yankeehater
Member
I am curious why people are saying that it cant be played with a controller. I have xpadder, so I was hoping I could come up with something. I guess I can try it with mouse and kb, but I have tried that for a bunch of games and not been able to play that way.
Because the game wasn't made with a controller in mind. I can't begin to stress how difficult it would be to play with one. Just getting to a skill on the hotbar alone would be an exercise in frustration. By the time you have reached skill 6 with a controller you'll have wasted probably 3-4 global cooldowns, maybe more.
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