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Star Wars: The Old Republic: The 15 Year Plan

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Comments

  • DarkPonyDarkPony Member Posts: 5,566

    Originally posted by daemon



    Originally posted by DarkPony





    I think they would do well to add more pillars to their foundation instead of adding more of the same over the years. Instead of taking Blizzard as an example, who are just adding more of the same kind of content and throw in a new race or class now and then, they will hopefully take CCP's course of action by expanding in a much broader sense.

    In SWTOR's case I'd love to see a vast, space-content expansion with stuff like free roaming, mining, asteroid outposts, space exploration, spaceship pvp, a wide choice of player ships and the option to fly and fight in a ship with a group of people (dedicated gunners, pilot, navigation officer, etc). That would really add something else to all the planetary based bipedal gameplay and has the possibility to link planetary destinations in a much more immersive, exploratory kind of way compared to cutscenes.






     

    You should post this on the official game forums so there would be a chance that some DEVs there notice it and put some of those great ideas on the drawing board.

    Personally I couldnt agree more with all of them.

    Thanks man. Haven't even signed up there yet though. V_V

    But feel free to post it :)

    Personally I think they are considering that path anyway though: many people have been asking for an expansion of the space content and the minigame as is implemented in the game now will make sure that people continue to do so.

    The question is: will they have the guts to go that path? Or will they opt for a more traditional expansion route, with adding planets, new sets of gear, a slightly higher level cap and toss in an extra race now and then? Personally I am pretty fed up with expanions like that; also kind of a slap in the face to see all the stuff you've been working on for so long be suddenly rendered obsolete each time an expansion hits.

    In WOW I found that particularly annoying: not so much that the looks of the new gear were so bad, (they were often looking much better), but you kind of grow attached to those things you were so happy with when you first acquired them.

    *recalls how happy he once was with his first Kroll Blade and doing all those exciting solo stealth runs of BRD to kill Plugger Spazzring for a Barman Shanker at level 52ish*

  • MorcotulconMorcotulcon Member UncommonPosts: 262

    15 Years? Seriously? IT will die in the next 4-7 years at least, when the next Star Wars MMORPG gets released. And I'm beeing optimistic.

    Look ---> Guild Wars 2; Blade & Soul; TERA; and a lot of other games completelly changing the mmorpg gameplay to be more active, and fixing the MMORPG flaws (GW2 in particular). And you still have to count for the LOT of people that will stay playing WoW and paying subscritptions for each game isn't going to work for neither P2P MMORPGs - of course, that includes SWTOR.

    There are games that are still alive after 15 years, but those are very rare and the duration of most MMO games don't even live for more then 3-5 years, and even the most popular ones might not reach 10-12 years alive, WoW included! 

    IMHO, that is a really bold statement, which is totally unrealistic. Even more, considering the amount of bad criticism the game is already having. Sure, it has really cool things with good criticism indeed, but that's not enough.

  • BeezerbeezBeezerbeez Member UncommonPosts: 302

    I like DarkPony's suggestion that besides just adding new worlds that play the same they would do well to expand the realm of the game as well.  Even in jest, suggesting that the game will be developed for 15 years is the right attitude.  It very well may and I hope it kicks butt along the way.

  • someforumguysomeforumguy Member RarePosts: 4,088

    There are three parties here that all have invested in SWTOR. Bioware, EA and Lucas Arts. Bioware can plan all they want for the upcoming 15 years, but we know now that Lucas Arts might decide to support something different before SWTOR is that old. Bioware/EA needs LA's license to have the right to develop a MMO based on Star Wars. EA could also decide to drop support for whatever business reason before that time.

    I think it is ridiculous (given what we know so far what happened with different MMO's)to talk about a 15yr plan in this business. I also think it is not right towards potential customers. SWG devs also planned ahead lol and LA (and/or SOE whatever) didnt care.

  • Artymus77Artymus77 Member Posts: 140

    hell if Everquest 1 can do it why cant SWTOR?

  • Nhoj1983Nhoj1983 Member UncommonPosts: 185

    Originally posted by Morcotulcon

    15 Years? Seriously? IT will die in the next 4-7 years at least, when the next Star Wars MMORPG gets released. And I'm beeing optimistic.



    Look ---> Guild Wars 2; Blade & Soul; TERA; and a lot of other games completelly changing the mmorpg gameplay to be more active, and fixing the MMORPG flaws (GW2 in particular). And you still have to count for the LOT of people that will stay playing WoW and paying subscritptions for each game isn't going to work for neither P2P MMORPGs - of course, that includes SWTOR.



    There are games that are still alive after 15 years, but those are very rare and the duration of most MMO games don't even live for more then 3-5 years, and even the most popular ones might not reach 10-12 years alive, WoW included! 



    IMHO, that is a really bold statement, which is totally unrealistic. Even more, considering the amount of bad criticism the game is already having. Sure, it has really cool things with good criticism indeed, but that's not enough.


     

    Respectfully,  4 years for an MMO is a catastrophic failure.  I'm going to just ignore your most dire prediction.  I really doubt that even STO will not pass that mark.  I'll allow for the possibility of 7 years being that we don't know the quality of the game but the reality is no matter how many people on this site beg for "different" the reality is "different" is dangerous and not always good.

     

    The bad criticism your talking about for is more or less people who havn't played the game for a long period at all or just have made up their own preconceptions based on what they wanted the game to be.  Most hands on articles are good so I don't really get where your coming from here.  Even the ones that I saw that were less enthused had more to do with that person's expressed disinterest in general with the Star Wars franchise period(which really does matter if you don't like the subject material no mattter how good the game is your going to yawn and go to a game that interests you).  Now it's far from tested long term so I'll give you that but your statement of 3-5 years being good for an MMO is totally off.  Maybe for FTP but not AAA titles.  Just think of all the so called failures that are going strong and aren't likely to disapear any time soon. (WAR, AoC, STO, Aion<technically a huge sucess.. even if it wasn't here>,LOTRO, DDO,CO,COH,VG,EQ2)

     

    As far as the other games you've mentioned that are "moving the genre forward".  I'll start with TERA.  Newish combat ideas but the rest of the game is more or less a by the book MMO.  It's already under fire in Korea for it's lack of content.  A game I look forward to but I'll bet SWTOR is a better package.  B & S Another game I'm looking forward to... but there's very little info about a serious revamp could be good but it doesn't(as of yet) belong on the list. 

    GW2 is the best of the list but even so there's no reason to beleave that all elements of the game will so leave SWTOR in the dust that there's no reason to play the game.  The thing that comes to mind here is story.  Sure it's there but BW is the master in the field not arenanet or any other company in the business(perhaps rivaled by the Witcher dev).  Which is my last point SWTOR story is it's inovation.   I doubt any other MMO will be able to touch it in that catagory for years to come and you can bet it will be one of the major new tennants for mmos in the coming years.  It can be argued it was there before but let's be honest it was passable at best. 

     

    I'd think this game will be around at least 7 years if it's a disapointment much longer if it's not.  I would have laughed at myself ten years ago but sheesh look at all the even moderately sucessful games still about.  MMOs don't disapear very quickly if they ever gain traction and it's got all the makings of a healthy community size.(100k+)  One thing to remember is there new MMO players every day we aren't a static group.  What is old and tired to some is new and fresh to others.  Link in this is SW and you have a rather large mass apeal drawing in many who'd ignore a traditional fantasy mmorpg.. just think about it.  It may not be as big as wow but die as soon at that?  Naw.

  • Artymus77Artymus77 Member Posts: 140

    Originally posted by Nhoj1983



    Originally posted by Morcotulcon



    15 Years? Seriously? IT will die in the next 4-7 years at least, when the next Star Wars MMORPG gets released. And I'm beeing optimistic.





    Look ---> Guild Wars 2; Blade & Soul; TERA; and a lot of other games completelly changing the mmorpg gameplay to be more active, and fixing the MMORPG flaws (GW2 in particular). And you still have to count for the LOT of people that will stay playing WoW and paying subscritptions for each game isn't going to work for neither P2P MMORPGs - of course, that includes SWTOR.





    There are games that are still alive after 15 years, but those are very rare and the duration of most MMO games don't even live for more then 3-5 years, and even the most popular ones might not reach 10-12 years alive, WoW included! 





    IMHO, that is a really bold statement, which is totally unrealistic. Even more, considering the amount of bad criticism the game is already having. Sure, it has really cool things with good criticism indeed, but that's not enough.






     

    Respectfully,  4 years for an MMO is a catastrophic failure.  I'm going to just ignore your most dire prediction.  I really doubt that even STO will not pass that mark.  I'll allow for the possibility of 7 years being that we don't know the quality of the game but the reality is no matter how many people on this site beg for "different" the reality is "different" is dangerous and not always good.

     

    The bad criticism your talking about for is more or less people who havn't played the game for a long period at all or just have made up their own preconceptions based on what they wanted the game to be.  Most hands on articles are good so I don't really get where your coming from here.  Even the ones that I saw that were less enthused had more to do with that person's expressed disinterest in general with the Star Wars franchise period(which really does matter if you don't like the subject material no mattter how good the game is your going to yawn and go to a game that interests you).  Now it's far from tested long term so I'll give you that but your statement of 3-5 years being good for an MMO is totally off.  Maybe for FTP but not AAA titles.  Just think of all the so called failures that are going strong and aren't likely to disapear any time soon. (WAR, AoC, STO, Aion

     

    I'd think this game will be around at least 7 years if it's a disapointment much longer if it's not.  I would have laughed at myself ten years ago but sheesh look at all the even moderately sucessful games still about.  MMOs don't disapear very quickly if they ever gain traction and it's got all the makings of a healthy community size.(100k+)  One thing to remember is there new MMO players every day we aren't a static group.  What is old and tired to some is new and fresh to others.  Link in this is SW and you have a rather large mass apeal drawing in many who'd ignore a traditional fantasy mmorpg.. just think about it.  It may not be as big as wow but die as soon at that?  Naw.

     

    as for STO it has potential if its done right but i really doubt it though

  • EricDanieEricDanie Member UncommonPosts: 2,238

    That's probably considering they keep a development team size the same as they have right now... I have yet to see one that doesn't shrink beyond launch and starts a cycle of losing subscribers due to lack of content which leads to more downsizing and it goes on slowly.

  • TamanousTamanous Member RarePosts: 3,025

    15 years is realistic and a smart approach. They will plan out at least 5 year blocks and likely will end each block with a major story arch ending and a tech upgrade.

    Pumping out expansions that have no connection to the last one is easy. The only way to plan out a story that make sense is to plan far in the future. Lotro is doing this because they already have the story laid out for them. Wow obviously pulls their story out of their ass because each expansion is damn near a remake of the game and separate from the last.

    As for tech, their existing engine is likely scalable to a degree as it is. Each 5 year marker can have something as simple as texture upgrades or could go so far as increase poly counts. Even games who's engines didn't support this managed to do it in the past.

    There is always the chance the game won't effective last 15 years but it is very smart and proactive to plan for it. Sticking to a long reaching plan is always more cost effective as well as you lay the foundations for it in the years leading up to it.

    You stay sassy!

  • PorphyriaPorphyria Member Posts: 11

    I would only take it as jest. 15 years is really rather ambitious, considering the rate at which technology is changing. Think about how dated it would be. Who is to say we won't be plugging something directly into our heads in 15 years? LOL

  • ZefireZefire Member Posts: 676

    That was just humor words he didnt mean it for real.

    Besides after 15 years we will be playing virtual reality lol

  • MorcotulconMorcotulcon Member UncommonPosts: 262

    Originally posted by Nhoj1983



    Respectfully,  4 years for an MMO is a catastrophic failure.  I'm going to just ignore your most dire prediction.  I really doubt that even STO will not pass that mark.  I'll allow for the possibility of 7 years being that we don't know the quality of the game but the reality is no matter how many people on this site beg for "different" the reality is "different" is dangerous and not always good.



     



    The bad criticism your talking about for is more or less people who havn't played the game for a long period at all or just have made up their own preconceptions based on what they wanted the game to be.  Most hands on articles are good so I don't really get where your coming from here.  Even the ones that I saw that were less enthused had more to do with that person's expressed disinterest in general with the Star Wars franchise period(which really does matter if you don't like the subject material no mattter how good the game is your going to yawn and go to a game that interests you).  Now it's far from tested long term so I'll give you that but your statement of 3-5 years being good for an MMO is totally off.  Maybe for FTP but not AAA titles.  Just think of all the so called failures that are going strong and aren't likely to disapear any time soon. (WAR, AoC, STO, Aion<technically a huge sucess.. even if it wasn't here>,LOTRO, DDO,CO,COH,VG,EQ2)



     



    As far as the other games you've mentioned that are "moving the genre forward".  I'll start with TERA.  Newish combat ideas but the rest of the game is more or less a by the book MMO.  It's already under fire in Korea for it's lack of content.  A game I look forward to but I'll bet SWTOR is a better package.  B & S Another game I'm looking forward to... but there's very little info about a serious revamp could be good but it doesn't(as of yet) belong on the list. 



    GW2 is the best of the list but even so there's no reason to beleave that all elements of the game will so leave SWTOR in the dust that there's no reason to play the game.  The thing that comes to mind here is story.  Sure it's there but BW is the master in the field not arenanet or any other company in the business(perhaps rivaled by the Witcher dev).  Which is my last point SWTOR story is it's inovation.   I doubt any other MMO will be able to touch it in that catagory for years to come and you can bet it will be one of the major new tennants for mmos in the coming years.  It can be argued it was there before but let's be honest it was passable at best. 



     



    I'd think this game will be around at least 7 years if it's a disapointment much longer if it's not.  I would have laughed at myself ten years ago but sheesh look at all the even moderately sucessful games still about.  MMOs don't disapear very quickly if they ever gain traction and it's got all the makings of a healthy community size.(100k+)  One thing to remember is there new MMO players every day we aren't a static group.  What is old and tired to some is new and fresh to others.  Link in this is SW and you have a rather large mass apeal drawing in many who'd ignore a traditional fantasy mmorpg.. just think about it.  It may not be as big as wow but die as soon at that?  Naw.


     

    You're right, most AAA games live much longer. But they lived only that longer because very few changes were done in this genre for the last 10 years, from which only rare ones could be considered "revolutionary". There were a lot of features developped, that's true, but most of them would only make the MMORPG have the old flaws even more harder to fix.

    Tera is moving forward because of the combat. Blade & Soul has a lot of changes too, one of them is simillar to SWTOR - story-driven progession. So, all of these are good because each of them are bringing something really different from the last 10 years of MMORPGs. If each of these has month subscriptions, it makes it hard to have the interest of the players to play more than 1 or 2 of them. PLUS, GW2 is B2P and a lot of companies are starting to see the potential of non-subscription payment models, which will make even more difficult to play those games.

    Then, even though you don't believe in some things about GW2, it has been showed repeatedly in gaming conventions that GW2 not only brings a lot of new things to the table (like SWTOR, TERA, B&S and some others) but it really is focusing and succeding in kicking most of the flaws out of the MMORPG genre.

    With all these changes, and with the actual evolution of technology, do you really think that planning to be "alive" in 2025 it's a realistic statement?

     

    When I talked about 3-4 years "alive", I was talking about a game having a big player-base, have regular updates, with still new players trying it and there's profits from having it run properly. Most MMORPGs you see right now, a lot of them F2P, start getting really hit in all those things when they reach 3-4 y.o. Of course, I don't mean AAA, and you're right by saying they're "alive" for much longer, but there are some AAA games latelly that are failling to achieve even that too. And we have to consider the change the genre will have in the next 2-3 years will be crucial to wether or not a lot of games stay even online, some AAA included. 

    About SWTOR having negative criticism from players that weren't very fond of Star Wars and only played a few hours. If playing that few hours is already something that makes them say "Yap, I was right, this isn't worth it" is good for the you and the devs, than I really won't believe it will live for 15 years. You see, for a game to live that long, it has to satisfy all kinds of players and their tastes, in order to make them say instead "Cool, I wasn't expecting this to be this good". Besides, it's not a good idea giving bad impressions in the first time the players try the game, it should be the opposite - make the player want to play more and more.

    Now, I ask again: With all these considerations about the genre and the game, do you think it's a realistic statement? Don't you think it's too much?

    For me, is like saying: I will be alive in 15 years (I'm just ignoring the fact that I might get Alzheimer)!

  • RevivialRevivial Member Posts: 194

    Positive projections.  Its something successful people do.  If you can't see yourself being successful 15 years from now, you probably won't be.

    Its nice to actually hear a dev say in more or less words, "I can see my game still being alive 15 years from now.". 

    "I swear -- by my life and my love for it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
    - John Galt

  • MorcotulconMorcotulcon Member UncommonPosts: 262

    Originally posted by Revivial

    Positive projections.  Its something successful people do.  If you can't see yourself being successful 15 years from now, you probably won't be.

    Its nice to actually hear a dev say in more or less words, "I can see my game still being alive 15 years from now.". 

    Fair enough, and I totally agree with that. I still think 15 is too much, though.

  • SBE1SBE1 Member UncommonPosts: 340

    I wouldn't be surprised if 75% of the servers are closed within 2 years.  This story-driven MMO will lack replayability except for hard-core star wars fans.

  • AlalalaAlalala Member UncommonPosts: 314
    Part of the "500 worlds" quote was a vision for 497 character races each with their own starter world, levels 1 - 4.
  • BlahTeebBlahTeeb Member UncommonPosts: 624

    Originally posted by SBE1

    I wouldn't be surprised if 75% of the servers are closed within 2 years.  This story-driven MMO will lack replayability except for hard-core star wars fans.

    75% is a bit high. I would more say that a good chunk of the servers will be merged, but I doubt that most will be closed within 2 years. The game has a story, but it's a got a little something extra on the side too.

  • AzureProwerAzurePrower Member UncommonPosts: 1,550

    Wow. Lost a lot of respect for MMORPG.com staff. Not only did they post this exact statement once, but twice claiming it to be fact.


    29:30 on the conference video. Clearly seen joking about a made up on the spot / arbitrary number.


    Obvious ruse to mislead / rile up people up it seems.

  • DarkPonyDarkPony Member Posts: 5,566



    Originally posted by AzurePrower





    Wow. Lost a lot of respect for MMORPG.com staff. Not only did they post this exact statement once, but twice claiming it to be fact.





    29:30 on the conference video. Clearly seen joking about a made up on the spot / arbitrary number.





    Obvious ruse to mislead / rile up people up it seems.






     

    Oh c'mon. At least read the article before you jump on the soap box:

    "Now in all fairness, the quoted sentences were said partially in jest. However, and as your sainted mothers have doubtless told you, every blithely uttered remark tends to contain a nugget of truth."

    I think everyone realizes the remark wasn't a hard-lined development strategy, but more of a showing of commitment to keep expanding on the game. It's a good entry for a discussion on in what way they should expand the game though.


  • DarthViousDarthVious Member Posts: 39

    I believe BioWare can pull if off. No 500 planets by 2025 for sure but a 15 year plan? Hell yeah lets do it.

    Darth Vious
    image

    -Dextera Imperium-
    http://dexteraimperium.com

  • Death1942Death1942 Member UncommonPosts: 2,587

    Originally posted by Artymus77



    hell if Everquest 1 can do it why cant SWTOR?


     

    Because Everquest 1 didn't need to complete with a massive market of compeditors on release.  Everquest 1 also looks like crap and lets be honest, has some seriously archaic gameplay elements (but what do you expect from such an old game).

     

    One thing I think people are really missing out on is how detailed said plan could be.  On the one hand they could have designed some crazy expanded universe full of features...on the other that 15 years could literally be a few dot points and years for when they expect expansions to take place.

    MMO wish list:

    -Changeable worlds
    -Solid non level based game
    -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads

  • VoxTrooperVoxTrooper Member Posts: 87

     Why is the statment wrong?

     The template is too old to last 10 years let alone 5 or even a full year before going down in smoke to rest at the bottom.

    The very second it stops makign EA cash they will pull dev teams to work on other things; if they don't do so immidietly. Because we need to shoe horn in more BS into ME3.

     

     Seriously they are putting the cart before the horse here. They don't even know if people will stick around(people pre ordered WAR in droves but look at it 2 months after launch) and lying to themselvesl ike this is bad. Bad for them good for us.

    It is best for the industry the MMO throne remains an dusty empty seat never to be filled.

  • ace5572ace5572 Member Posts: 113

    Originally posted by Eladi



    Sir you are jesting us, You hype the game jest and its already done discussion on your own forums to hype your site whit jesty articles that do not even are current anymore or have a trendy announcement of announcements.



    Bad bad reporter. *points to corner and silly hat* shoo.


     

    My brain hurts

  • makiimakii Member Posts: 280

    getting excited about some pixels? pathetic........

  • TerranahTerranah Member UncommonPosts: 3,575

    We will not know how good the game is until it launches and we get some play time.  They should probably focus on the launch and see how things go.  Hype means diddly.  Remember Warhammer? 

     

    Even if it was a great game, there will be other games released in that time frame that TOR will be competing with.  However, I think the graphics are good enough that it could last quite a while.  As some have said, the technological improvements by then will make this game very old and tired.  There could be advances we don't even have an inkling of yet too.  Gamers can be very fickle also.

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