Why I won't be playing TOR.

[Astor]

The only generalization that I made is that MMO's are addictive. I stand by that statement.

 

They are no more addictive than any other type of game.

 

2. MMO addiction is real for many players. I can come up with many more examples, including scholarly ones. In fact, I know a kid who got addicted to WoW and had to recover. I also knew a kid who was addicted to Halo. Here is some quick data: http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/06/are_mmorpgs_addictive.php

 

That study even admits that the results are far from conclusive. More so, it fails to take into account the fact that responsibility lies with the player. It's all well and good blaming the game, or the publisher, or whatever else, but ultimately the decision to start/stop playing lies with the player.

[Klw]

I've heard this same argument from Republicans arguing against gun control. "Guns don't kill people; people kill people." It's just a play on words. In reality, guns make it much easier. In the same way, games which are designed never to end make video game addiction much more likely than games which do end.

 

Addiction is caused by the "reward" psychology. Rewards "reinforce" certain types of behavior. MMO's are designed to keep you hooked by constantly holding the carrot out in front of you. There is always another reward waiting for you if you play a little longer. You don't just play it; you subscribe to it.

 

They don't prove addicting to everybody because not everyone has the same tastes in video games. You might find WoW quests boring, for instance, so that you stop playing it. It's because you are not getting a psychological reward for such behavior. For other people, though, playing WoW is like a drug.

[RogueJedi86]

TOR does have a more firm end though. Your class storyline exists and it does end. Other MMOs don't have such a clean cut end, but TOR does. You can keep playing after, but your storyline had a firm end for you to quit if you want to find an end.

 

Congrats on 100 posts.

[Darth Avlectus]

I, personally, am done with stories set in the timeline most of us grew up loving. That whole era has been milked out, whether it's in games, novels, comics or tv series, and none of it ever came close to the quality of the original trilogy.

This.

 

I'm glad some people are steering away from this era, though not everyone is using that freedom to its full capacity. SWTOR is more than 3,000 years before the movies, but it still tries to connect as much as possible to the movies and in my opinion, actually not in a subtle way. Tie Fighters, Clone Troopers, Boba Fett, Moffs, Hoth, these are some of the results of the movies "inspiring" SWTOR.

It also doesn't help that the first star destroyers were made by this resurgent sith empire. Or that the padawan's voice sounds just like the guy who did Anakin's voice for the CGI CW show. Some people like it and that's fine but I'm on the same train as you when it comes to hoping for just a bit more originality in some of these aspects. A nod here and a wink there are fine but more it is done the more it screams 'rehash'.

 

 

I don't agree on SWTOR being better had they adapted a more action-y gameplay à la The Force Unleashed. I have only played a bit of TFU, but there's hardly much depth in its gameplay, something that I think is needed for games in the MMO genre. And I'm not pro-over the top gameplay, myself. Agreed, it's disappointing that SWTOR isn't trying to innovate when it comes to MMO gameplay (and keeps hiding behind the "story pillar" as if that was the one thing that was missing from MMO's) and it's precisely that aspect that will make or break the game, no matter how much effort they put into their storytelling. But I still prefer traditional MMO gameplay over TFU-based gameplay.

I don't have sufficient experience with MMO's to be able to support or refute this--just like 15 minutes with everquest almost 10 years ago.

 

I do see them maybe trying to include an element of TFU in there, though, but that would be speculative on my part.

 

So far as storyline, they probably have just made it more structured and less customizable than other MMO's. You "can't get away" from the storyline apparently. You might be able to go to Mos Eisley and have a bar fight for $***s and giggles or go ride a junk transport railcar on Ord Mantell for teh lulz I hope (Shadows of the empire).

 

No mounting a speeder bike, swoop, or animal backs or so I hear. I would have loved to get ahold of a bantha after slaughtering a bunch of sand people. Tauntauns, banthas, those feathery headed dog yelp sounding giant lizzards on utapau, tame one of those humongous tusked ape creatures, getting packs of womprats to sick on thieving gangsters.

 

This takes the fun out of exploring the wilds. Well most of it anyways.

 

I think I might ***eventually*** play.

[adamqd]

The only generalization that I made is that MMO's are addictive. I stand by that statement.

 

Addictive? no/maybe, promote investment in your character and hard work? very much.

 

If you have an addictive personality then thats a Psy.D's problem.

 

The character is you, you make the choices, earn the credits, decide how you look, join groups, make friends. I understand its harder to walk away from than say TFU, but addiction is a strong word.

[poseidon]

I wont be playing it due to the fees i don't have the spare money for that at the moment plus i would be paying like 50 something for the game and what 15 or so a month just to play,don't get me wrong it look good and i play mmos like dungeon fighter online maplestory etc, but some demand allot of money which is why i'm not getting it.

[Deft Aklin]

Okay, so... I tried reading all of these posts, but it seems what I read everyone missed the true core reason why they use cartoon style graphics; It's so we can have millions of players. The general reason they tone down the graphics in this manner is to allow more computers and particularly older GPUs to play the game. This for an MMO can be life or death as the more people that can play the game creates a larger audience for the game to begin with.

[Miltiades]

Okay, so... I tried reading all of these posts, but it seems what I read everyone missed the true core reason why they use cartoon style graphics; It's so we can have millions of players. The general reason they tone down the graphics in this manner is to allow more computers and particularly older GPUs to play the game. This for an MMO can be life or death as the more people that can play the game creates a larger audience for the game to begin with.

The "official" reason is to give the game a unique look. But you're right, the true reason is allowing for a bigger player base. Of course, it doesn't mean it completely succeeds in the graphics department. Guild Wars 2 seems to pull off an art style much better than TOR does, in my opinion, and as far as I know, it aspires to be able to be played by older PC's as well.

[Prime]

I don't mind lower level graphics. Hell, I'd be pleased as punch with KOTOR/TSL graphics. It's just some of the art design that bugs me. I'm just not big on the Sith-as-maniacal-wizards-in-over-the-top-outfits and so on. Even if they matched more with the cinematic clips I'd be happier.

[Master Finch]

Addictive? no/maybe, promote investment in your character and hard work? very much.

 

If you have an addictive personality then thats a Psy.D's problem.

 

The character is you, you make the choices, earn the credits, decide how you look, join groups, make friends. I understand its harder to walk away from than say TFU, but addiction is a strong word.

 

I couldn't agree more. I think you're saying what everyone else knows to be honest.

[Deft Aklin]

I don't mind lower level graphics. Hell, I'd be pleased as punch with KOTOR/TSL graphics. It's just some of the art design that bugs me. I'm just not big on the Sith-as-maniacal-wizards-in-over-the-top-outfits and so on. Even if they matched more with the cinematic clips I'd be happier.

 

I'm pretty sure I'd /wrists if it was KotOR graphics. lol Have you played through it again recently? I have... it was ugly... but has a great story.

[RogueJedi86]

Yeah look at Bastila's main picture on Wookieepedia, you can see the low detail in hindsight of the better graphics of today.

[Lynk Former]

Don't all Star Wars games follow that formula? Take another game and add a Star Wars skin to it. By this definition, ALL Star Wars games are for the most casual of casuals and not for "serious" gamers or "hardcore" gamers or whatever you want to call yourselves.

 

Either way, I'm gonna wait till the game comes out and I actually play it and see for myself before I make any definite claims about it one way or the other. After all, it makes more sense to damn a game or praise it once you've actually experienced it.

[VeniVidiVicous]

I'm pretty sure I'd /wrists if it was KotOR graphics. lol Have you played through it again recently? I have... it was ugly... but has a great story.

 

I respectfully disagree here.

 

I'd rather have uglier graphics if meant the ott costumes and saturday cartoon look was gone, it's just not the SW I initially got into.

[Prime]

I'm pretty sure I'd /wrists if it was KotOR graphics. lol Have you played through it again recently? I have... it was ugly... but has a great story.

Yes. I'm playing it currently.

 

I still say the designs of KOTOR costume wise are better than TOR.

[Shem]

I haven't been by this area of LucasForums in a while and it's mostly because I'm 99% sure I'll never play TOR. When I saw this forum title, I thought I would post my thoughts on why.

 

The biggest reasons why:

 

-Paying for a game, then paying monthly fees to continue to play it. That's the biggest turnoff right there.

 

-My computer is over 4 years old I don't like the idea of having to pay money to upgrade it right now when I have a wife and daughter to support.

 

 

The little reasons why:

 

-The game/graphics looks very outdated. That shouldn't surprise anybody once they learn it started production in 2005 (It took 6 years to complete this game).

 

-The costumes look a bit retarded.

 

-The combat system looks outdated.

 

-The idea of having to pair up with the 10-year-old age group isn't very appealing and it's very possible the bulk of the online players will be young.

 

-The idea I can't explore the game at my own pace since you need other players to complete my quests maybe frustrating on my end. And I don't have the time I used to have to play games since my daughter was born last year.

 

-I hate seeing a franchise that was based on a single role playing game turn into something else to continue the story. It messes a part of its tradition.

 

 

 

Possible reasons why this game could be a failure:

 

-A game that takes 6 years to develop means big time money was put into it and that means it needs to make a lot of money to cover the costs.

 

-We're in an economic recession at the moment and that means people are tightening their wallets. And since the bulk of the people who want to play the game maybe kids, parents may feel differently about paying for a monthly online subscription because of what is going on economically.

 

-Making it an PC only game is a mistake as well. PC gaming is slowly dying. I have a brother who is obsessed with gaming and following everything that goes on with it and has read where it is a dying field from time-to-time as more and more people are going to console gaming. A reason for that is the cost of having to upgrade your computer to keep up with the advancing technology on your PC where as that doesn't happen with your console. So with a slowly dying industry with a bad economy could spell financial losses for a game that took 6 years to develop.

 

 

**It's a shame in a way that this game wasn't made for the PlayStation and Xbox Live networks as it would get a bigger audience in its turnout. That would have a good way to tempt me to try it.

[Lordjedi]

To Shem,

 

I can see the reasons as to why someone would not want to pay monthly fees to play a video game, but just think about it this way. Say you get a new game every couple of months, that's around $60. Meaning it's around $500-600 a year. When a TOR membership would be around $240 a year or so. I played pay to play MMO's and found that since there is a lot of new content and a live environment, that it was one of the only few games I was playing, and it kept me playing for a long time.

 

I also wished for a KotOR 3, but I guess this will be satisfying. It seems like a different MMO from others, such as World of Warcraft. For one, BioWare has continued it's tradition of having story based games with dialogue options. When you are questing you could make the choice whether a character lives or dies, like in KotOR. The whole "dark side, light side" points thing is still there too. You also get companions, just like in KotOR.

 

The outdated graphics are linked to the economic recession. As you stated, you don't wish to get a new computer and spend money for upgrades. Which is why BioWare made the graphics, for lack of a better term, crappy. They want as many people to play as possible, and when they have games with high end graphics, not as many people will be playing.

 

I would believe you can explore the world on your own pace. In many of the MMO's I've played, there was barely any group questing. The group quests were mainly for dungeons or for killing and higher level creature, that you can't solo. Most of the quests other than that were solo. You would get through quests faster if had were questing with others however. And you must also understand, much of the footage online for TOR is from 2009. TOR also had a moderate graphics update and combat update since then.

 

TOR, like many MMO's will have guilds. These are sometimes restricted for people of a certain age group or region, and you may have to apply in order to get invited. That could be one of the ways you could get away from the 10 year old fanbase.

 

I don't believe that PC Gaming is dying. I do believe many newer gamers are going to consoles first as you could get a Xbox 360 for $200, while you can get a gaming PC for $1,500. I am a PC gamer, as well as a console gamer. I prefer console for online and PC for singleplayer. The mod community is a big reason why people still buy for PC, and I just think the PC community is better overall.

 

TOR couldn't have worked on consoles, not at all. A big part of the game is talking to other players, which would be hard on consoles. In the end, MMO's just work best on PC's.

 

I must ask the question of whether or not you have played a MMO before. If you have not I recommend playing a free one, or try a free trial to one, and you could know what you might expect in TOR.

[Mav]

I haven't been by this area of LucasForums in a while and it's mostly because I'm 99% sure I'll never play TOR. When I saw this forum title, I thought I would post my thoughts on why.

 

The biggest reasons why:

 

-Paying for a game, then paying monthly fees to continue to play it. That's the biggest turnoff right there.

 

-My computer is over 4 years old I don't like the idea of having to pay money to upgrade it right now when I have a wife and daughter to support.

1. Valid reasoning dependent on one's financial situation, for myself a month of pay equates to less than an hour of work so it isn't a big deal, but for others the turn off is easy to understand.

 

2. Inarguable reasoning, everyone has different priorities in life, family is a sound first for sure.

 

 

The little reasons why:

 

-The game/graphics looks very outdated. That shouldn't surprise anybody once they learn it started production in 2005 (It took 6 years to complete this game).

 

-The costumes look a bit retarded.

 

-The combat system looks outdated.

 

-The idea of having to pair up with the 10-year-old age group isn't very appealing and it's very possible the bulk of the online players will be young.

 

-The idea I can't explore the game at my own pace since you need other players to complete my quests maybe frustrating on my end. And I don't have the time I used to have to play games since my daughter was born last year.

 

-I hate seeing a franchise that was based on a single role playing game turn into something else to continue the story. It messes a part of its tradition.

1. The game graphics looking outdated and stylized is intentional with respect to one of your above arguments, not everyone has the money to upgrade their computers. From the get go BioWare has stated that their intent behind their design was to make the game accessible to as many people as possible.

 

2. Personal point of view, I for one think some of the Smuggler outfits are awesome though.

 

3. I can't say either way, seeing as I haven't been able to try it out for myself. I don't know if you've played other MMO's to compare it to, I haven't really, but I do think it is a bit silly to judge without trying.

 

The Rest - BioWare's stated that a majority of the game can be played solo, but the experienced is enhanced with friends, as for 10 year olds, that's why you'd play with the folks here, right? I also think it is a bit of a leap to talk about how well the game continues the KOTOR tradition before seeing what it is actually made of.

 

Possible reasons why this game could be a failure:

 

-A game that takes 6 years to develop means big time money was put into it and that means it needs to make a lot of money to cover the costs.

 

-We're in an economic recession at the moment and that means people are tightening their wallets. And since the bulk of the people who want to play the game maybe kids, parents may feel differently about paying for a monthly online subscription because of what is going on economically.

 

-Making it an PC only game is a mistake as well. PC gaming is slowly dying. I have a brother who is obsessed with gaming and following everything that goes on with it and has read where it is a dying field from time-to-time as more and more people are going to console gaming. A reason for that is the cost of having to upgrade your computer to keep up with the advancing technology on your PC where as that doesn't happen with your console. So with a slowly dying industry with a bad economy could spell financial losses for a game that took 6 years to develop.

 

 

**It's a shame in a way that this game wasn't made for the PlayStation and Xbox Live networks as it would get a bigger audience in its turnout. That would have a good way to tempt me to try it.

There have been arguments to both sides about how the recent economic recession has affected video games. I tend to believe that people facing financial trouble take solace in entertainment media. I know we aren't talking about the same genre or even audience of gamers, but Call of Duty, for what it's worth continues to break sales records each year. World of Warcraft's latest expansion broke several sales records for its respective genre. Also, if EA and BioWare are to be believed they have a massive amount of pre-orders for TOR and are expecting the largest launch for a MMO ever.

 

As far as PC gaming dying that's another hotly debated topic, that for the purpose of thread derailment I wont really get into more than saying that I don't believe PC gaming is dying.

[Sabretooth]

Considering the nature and environment of PC gaming, I actually think it's impossible for it to 'die' at all. It might get pitifully weak and slow or even outdated, but it's never going to be a dead platform unless something bizarre happens like Microsoft creating a new kind of OS that removes all backwards-compatibility or PC users adopting increasingly disparate OSs, both of which are highly unlikely unlikely scenarios.

[RoxStar]

I haven't been by this area of LucasForums in a while and it's mostly because I'm 99% sure I'll never play TOR. When I saw this forum title, I thought I would post my thoughts on why.

 

The biggest reasons why:

 

No one is going to knock you for supporting your family.

 

 

The little reasons why:

 

-The costumes look a bit retarded.

 

...

 

-The idea of having to pair up with the 10-year-old age group isn't very appealing and it's very possible the bulk of the online players will be young.

 

-The idea I can't explore the game at my own pace since you need other players to complete my quests maybe frustrating on my end. And I don't have the time I used to have to play games since my daughter was born last year.

 

1) It always pains me to hear a grown adult say the word "retarded".

 

2) Why would the bulk of players be 10 year olds if you've already established just how expensive the game is going to be?

 

3) I was under the impression that you could complete the quests on your own and have "bots" running the quests by your side.

[MajikMyst]

The combat is no different than in WOW.. It is basically turn based, you have skills, cool downs, you have force power or energy.. It is essentially the same combat mechanic as WOW..

 

The graphics are pretty bad if you have to turn the setting down to run on your computer.. If you run the game with max settings with full shadows.. The game is gorgous.. The graphics are awsome.. Top notch spectacular.. I get goose bumps when I look at places like Nar Shadda or Tatooine.. The stories are awsome.. They really pull you into the game.. It is hard to turn the game off at times..

 

I am a beta tester and have been playing it since July..

 

I can't fault your reasoning of supporting your family.. Family is important.. One of the most important things in all of our lives..

 

As for pay?? WOW was a pay MMO.. All of the better MMO's usually are subscription.. WOW was a game that was forever evolving.. With the exception of their expansion packs.. Blizzard was pretty good at adding new content in between expansions at no charge.. The subscriptions also pay for the servers and the 24hr maintenance of the servers.. Blizzard made a lot of money off of WOW.. They also had about 50 servers or more world wide.. I can't imagine how much it costs to maintain them, upgrade them when needed, and staff them on a 24hr basis.. Not to mention pay for the bandwidth needed to allow all of us to log in to play..

 

I can't go into details about the game due to an NDA with Bioware.. So don't ask.. The info I have already given is all info that can be obtained from their website or videos..

[Lynk Former]

...It's not turn based. An example of a turn based system would be Pokemon.

 

 

 

 

It does suck for a lot of people who don't want to or can't invest in an MMO though, in interviews they've been touting how if people want to play it by themselves, they can go through the entire game without really interacting with anyone... but they don't mention the fact that you'd still need to pay to play online even though you don't WANT to play online haha.

[MajikMyst]

...It's not turn based. An example of a turn based system would be Pokemon.

 

I consider it sort of turn based as in everything has a world cool down and it does.. You can't just beat on a button and kill mobs with a million saber slashes..

 

The World cool down basically makes it so both you have a chance to hit the enemy, and the enemy has a chance to hit you..

 

I fail to see why you would say that I am incorrect and offer no explination as to why?? I suppose your claim is that unless it is Pokemon it isn't turn based?? Is it possible maybe if other games can operate on a different mechanic and still be considered turn based?? Try not to be so rigid in your views..

 

It is sorta real time.. Again except for the global cool downs.. So how does Real time/turn based feel.. Since that happens to be the prefered description for TOR..

 

WOW as I said would also fall into that catagory.. So?? Where exacltly was I wrong??

 

Before you go say someone is wrong.. Please read the reason why they said what they said and then offer an alternative.. I qualified my reasoning.. You should do the same..

[Shem]

Whoa, I didn't expect so much response after being away for a few days.

 

To Shem,

 

I can see the reasons as to why someone would not want to pay monthly fees to play a video game, but just think about it this way. Say you get a new game every couple of months, that's around $60. Meaning it's around $500-600 a year. When a TOR membership would be around $240 a year or so.

Well, the time I have put into gaming has changed over the last year since the birth of our daughter, Lindy. I've devoted more time into spending time with my little girl because I can't get enough of her at times, especially as she gets older and she is capable of more interaction. If any of you have followed me on Xbox Live, I've been on it for 3 years and most of the points I put on my gamerscore was put on before Lindy's birth. I think this year alone I'd be lucky to have put 2000 points into it and that's considering I have over 27,000 on it right now.

 

Another thing is the money put into gaming right now. I've bought only two games so far in 2011, and one of them I haven't put a lot of time into yet. And both of those I didn't pay $60 for. Though I do get free games from 2K Sports and that's because I've been a board moderator there for 2 1/2 years now. So every year when their new baseball and basketball games come out, I get a free copy. So I have received three games so far this year, but only two I've paid for. I will be getting the next basketball game NBA 2K12 very soon in the mail and I will be getting new Batman game (Arkham City) next month.

 

And FYI, a new game every couple of months at $60 would be $360 a year. There is sales tax for most people if you want to include that as money invested in games, but I never pay it. I live right by the Oregon border and in the state of Oregon, there is no sales tax and I always make purchases like that in Oregon.

 

The outdated graphics are linked to the economic recession. As you stated, you don't wish to get a new computer and spend money for upgrades. Which is why BioWare made the graphics, for lack of a better term, crappy. They want as many people to play as possible, and when they have games with high end graphics, not as many people will be playing.

I would think the graphics look the way they do because they started working on the game in 2005. And those graphics look more like a 2005 game. The issue then becomes it took 6 years to complete.

 

TOR couldn't have worked on consoles, not at all. A big part of the game is talking to other players, which would be hard on consoles. In the end, MMO's just work best on PC's.

If talking to players is the "big" part, then that wouldn't be a problem. I've talked to people on Xbox Live and even talked with them while playing a game with them. All you have to do is plug a headset into the controller. That solves what you believe to be the biggest issue. And yes, you can talk to multiple people at once in an Xbox Live party.

 

 

 

1. Valid reasoning dependent on one's financial situation, for myself a month of pay equates to less than an hour of work so it isn't a big deal, but for others the turn off is easy to understand.

Well, if you're single and making $20, you have lots of money to spend if you're not up to your ears in debt and you don't have an expensive life style. It's a little different when you have mouths to feed.

 

1. The game graphics looking outdated and stylized is intentional with respect to one of your above arguments, not everyone has the money to upgrade their computers. From the get go BioWare has stated that their intent behind their design was to make the game accessible to as many people as possible.

Well, come to think of it, they have to make it that way to make sure they can make a profit from it because of all the money they have invested in it. But then again there were other things from watching demos and such that didn't look very appealing besides the graphics. The graphics were one part of the reason why the game looks outdated.

 

2. Personal point of view, I for one think some of the Smuggler outfits are awesome though.

Well, to make sure everybody knows what I was trying to say, I was generalizing it overall. Personally the styles they made in the previous two KOTOR games were much better. But that’s just my personal opinion.

 

The Rest - BioWare's stated that a majority of the game can be played solo

But that’s just it. You can’t play the “whole” game solo.

 

but the experienced is enhanced with friends, as for 10 year olds, that's why you'd play with the folks here, right?

I admit, that is one of very few appeals is hooking up with all of us KOTOR vets at Holowan Labs. The problem is people’s schedules along with the possible time zones they may live in and such. Like some people can put more time in than others.

 

I also think it is a bit of a leap to talk about how well the game continues the KOTOR tradition before seeing what it is actually made of.

The part that breaks it for me is making it a different type of game than the previous two. That’s a huge part of the tradition IMO. Had BioWare made a new KOTOR game using the same engine they have been using for the Mass Effect games, I would be sold on playing it.

 

There have been arguments to both sides about how the recent economic recession has affected video games. I tend to believe that people facing financial trouble take solace in entertainment media. I know we aren't talking about the same genre or even audience of gamers, but Call of Duty, for what it's worth continues to break sales records each year. World of Warcraft's latest expansion broke several sales records for its respective genre. Also, if EA and BioWare are to be believed they have a massive amount of pre-orders for TOR and are expecting the largest launch for a MMO ever.

And it will have to have a big start to make up for all the money invested in making this game. But again and if I read it right, you did in a subtle way acknowledge Call of Duty breaking sales record may have to do with the fact they’re being sold on consoles. How well would it do if it was a PC only game? We’d be talking a different story.

 

As far as PC gaming dying that's another hotly debated topic, that for the purpose of thread derailment I wont really get into more than saying that I don't believe PC gaming is dying.

Maybe dying is a strong word, but it is slowly slowing down. I don’t think it will completely die, but it isn’t what it used to be.

 

1) It always pains me to hear a grown adult say the word "retarded".

Saying that opens the door to a political correctness debate. Sometimes I really just want to spit on that as many ways to describe things become a political correctness thing and I usually make a habit of changing my habits on what I think is the most important issues. Like how to describe a person’s race for example. Too many people easily get offended by that so that’s when I feel it’s important to make a change on what words that should be used in those types of situations.

 

Anyway, using that word has been a habit of mine easily for over 20 years of my life and have used it to describe something I think is or looks stupid without a second thought. And everybody has a point-of-view of what is offensive to say and what isn’t. My only advice is to learn to accept what you perceive to be little faults in others and not take offense over something so small and let it “pain” you.

 

2) Why would the bulk of players be 10 year olds if you've already established just how expensive the game is going to be?

I thought I made myself clearer. It wasn’t talking about just 10 year olds. I was talking about the age group in general. From my point of view, I was also trying to include the teenagers since they’re technically in their 10’s and those younger than that. It’s just we don’t call it that. We say 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, etc, we just don’t say 10’s. And I could have said teens, but that is 13-19, not 10-19.

 

Anyway, that age group depends on their parents for the majority of them. I could go on to talk about those who have a job part time that could pay for it, but if you don’t include their summer breaks, they’re going to school and working, which will take up most of their days on most days. That leaves the majority of the age group depending on their parents to pay for their monthly subscription since they’re the ones with the credit cards necessary to pay for it.

 

But since you also established how I brought up how expensive it is, I thought I covered that in why I think this game could be a financial failure later on in my post; because most of the gaming is done by 10’s age group from what I understand.

 

3) I was under the impression that you could complete the quests on your own and have "bots" running the quests by your side.

I’ve read on the TOR site and others have elaborated on it in this thread that you will need to team up with other online players to complete some quests.

 

Considering the nature and environment of PC gaming, I actually think it's impossible for it to 'die' at all. It might get pitifully weak and slow or even outdated, but it's never going to be a dead platform unless something bizarre happens like Microsoft creating a new kind of OS that removes all backwards-compatibility or PC users adopting increasingly disparate OSs, both of which are highly unlikely unlikely scenarios.

Like I said earlier, dying may have been the wrong word to use since everybody has a point of view of how to interpret what someone makes by a word.

The combat is no different than in WOW.. It is basically turn based, you have skills, cool downs, you have force power or energy.. It is essentially the same combat mechanic as WOW..

And that is an outdated combat system. After playing a role playing game like Mass Effect, I don’t want to go back to that style of combat. It’s not as fun.

 

I am a beta tester and have been playing it since July..

Sounds like fun and it sounds like you’re really enjoying it.

 

As for pay?? WOW was a pay MMO.. All of the better MMO's usually are subscription.. WOW was a game that was forever evolving.. With the exception of their expansion packs.. Blizzard was pretty good at adding new content in between expansions at no charge.. The subscriptions also pay for the servers and the 24hr maintenance of the servers.. Blizzard made a lot of money off of WOW.. They also had about 50 servers or more world wide.. I can't imagine how much it costs to maintain them, upgrade them when needed, and staff them on a 24hr basis.. Not to mention pay for the bandwidth needed to allow all of us to log in to play..

That right there is a possible reason why this game can fail. All the money for the monthly subscription needs to go to financing the servers and such. That means it needs to make up for all the money that was invested in making this game in the amount of games sold. And since it is a PC only game in a tough economy; that could be a big OUCH!

 

...It's not turn based. An example of a turn based system would be Pokemon.

 

It does suck for a lot of people who don't want to or can't invest in an MMO though, in interviews they've been touting how if people want to play it by themselves, they can go through the entire game without really interacting with anyone... but they don't mention the fact that you'd still need to pay to play online even though you don't WANT to play online haha.

And that is one of its turnoffs from my point of view as well. Personally if they wanted to make sure they made a profit from this game, they should have made available on consoles as well. Even if it meant converting it as a single player game.

[Lynk Former]

@ MajikMyst: The cool down mechanic does not equal turn based since it's not a matter of one player attack, end turn, one enemy attack, end turn, repeat.

 

Also, you don't need to get so defensive, I'm not trying to pick on you or anything.