TOR Is the Old Republic going to be a bust?

It's hard to find out the details, but since the general understanding is that they went way overbudget I don't think it will ever provide the financial rewards hoped for. On the other hand, that seems to be largely a consequence of aiming too high. They tried to kill WoW, that didn't happen (predictably) and a game designed to function based on subscriptions was forced to try and adapt to a free-to-play model. So it's not the massive MMO success it hoped to be.

In terms of Star Wars was TOR a bust um...heck no! The game provides a strong story, a tremendous amount of new visual elements and background material, and a vibrant new era. TOR functions just fine as a very good, albeit slightly draggy, single-player game for those who chose to experience it as such.

I've logged a great many hours in TOR, both in a largely single-player context and some fairly group-heavy experiences, even though I'm currently undergoing hiatus number 2. assuming the game stabilizes with a modest hardcore fanbase and enough interest to keep the servers up and new content coming it should last a while (Galaxies limped along forever with a very small number of regular players). So long as we get something resembling a story resolution at some point I will be very happy with the overall experiment.

 

This means EVERYTHING to me. In fact, I am LIVID at TOR for creating a "lore gap" in between itself and 2000 BBY.

 

TOR has already had vastly more tie-in material across media than Galaxies ever did. I firmly expect that a story resolution will occur, even though it may not take place within the game itself, but ultimately in a novel series.

And I don't really see how TOR creates a 'lore gap' compared to the relatively vague state of the galaxy at the end of KOTOR2, which was the previous date. Vitiate's Empire falls, the Republic absorbs its systems, everyone goes about their business. The Empire's already collapsing even at this relatively early point in the TOR journey.

 

There's the question of what happens to Vitiate himself.

 

I wouldn't quite call TOR at the same stage as KotOR II was at the end. Obviously the Sith Empire will eventually be defeated, but they have to balance the lore and the status quo of the game world (such as most characters mentioning "ongoing skirmishes" as an excuse for all the mobs still on a planet even after you've saved it). At least by the end of KotOR II the Sith Triumvirate had been defeated, whereas while the Sith Empire is losing ground, having to retreat from the Core offensive, it is still far from out. And I think the Sith Emperor is still lurking around too. A novel could wrap things up eventually... but I hope they get a good writer for it, Revan and Annihilation have not exactly been stellar.

Overall, I wouldn't say TOR is doing great, but so far doesn't seem to have any warning signs that it may shut down soon. F2P was kind of a desperate move, but it seems to have worked, and the game population might have stabilized somewhat. They're rushing content out every two months or so now, and have kept to that schedule. The problem is putting up with the Cartel Market now. That and it seems like the class stories are over with, based on how Makeb went, unless the next expansion has a lot more in it.

 

I also hope we get to go to Yavin 4 at some point.

 

Spoiler: If datamined leaks turn out to be true

we will see Bothawui, Sleheyron, Yavin IV and Zoist at some point in future.

 

X 100000000000000000000000000000000000 I'm sure Zorrixor would agree!

 

I'd also like

Spoiler: I don't underatnd why this is in spoilers

Dantooine, which was in the comics. Should have a Jedi Enclave if I'm up to date on lore.

 

Ziost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sure haven't seen that in a while!

 

I've had quite a bit of fun with SWTOR, for those two months of subscription I bought. No regrets over that one, had a great time with my Sith Warrior and a few alts but... well, Zero Punctuation perfectly described my stance toward MMOs (paraphrasing a bit): "For a while, I'm having quite a bit of fun then I step back and say to myself What the **** am I doing?! and go back to being a productive member of society."

 

I do think it's a pity that TOR's MMO status really turned off a number of no-MMOs-ever people from what is ultimately a perfectly serviceable, if a bit grindy, single-player Star Wars RPG. Personally I am most certainly not a big MMO guy, but to compare the TOR story elements to those of Guild Wars 2 (which I play only because I have IRL friends to play with) there's no comparison. TOR is a million miles better.

That may be part of the problem with success for TOR though - BioWare said they were going to emphasis story, they kept their word, and then all the hard-core MMO people didn't care. And in fairness, hearing Malgus' final confrontation speech for the tenth time, or waiting on someone who won't spacebar through the Black Talon/Esseles dialog gets really frustrating pretty fast.

 

I'm curious as to what disney will do with TOR

 

I played GW2 enthusiastically when it came out, it is one of the rare games I actually preordered. The only one, actually, come to think of it. Anyway, I had quite a bit of fun getting to 80...and the instant I hit the cap, I was "Ok, what the hell now? Grind for aesthetic gear?"
Quit and never looked back.
TOR story is actually a story, GW2 is just...some generic cutscenes. Everyone's losing their minds about how awesome GW2 is because it has no "Holy Trinity" but to me that just results in a completely chaotic whack fest, everyone just spamming as much DPS as they can. It may be strange to some people, but I actually enjoy having a defined role to play and I always play a tank.

 

Err, considering EA own and run the game, probably nothing.

 

But EA might happily listen to Disney.

 

It looks like there will be racing minigame and Czerka World at the some point in time.

 

Wouldn't it be cool if Czerka World was the Imperial equivalent of Disney World?

Humans walk around in costumes of other species, being heckled down the main parade in xenophobic fashion, while patrons queuing for the newly opened Korriban Tower of Terror are promised the opportunity to feel the full power of the dark side.

Oh I'm so childish, lol...

 

On the page RafSwi7 linked to, someone comments that TOR already has three snow/ice planets. I know that there's Hoth and Ilum. What's the third?

 

Alderaan is rather snowy, as well as being green...

 

Thank you. Anyway, I think Ziost in TOR makes far more sense than Hoth in TOR.

 

SWTOR was in no way a bust for me. Sure, EA's F2P crap brought the game down a bit, as did their awful customer service, but I can't really blame the devs for that. Only reason I unsubbed was because of that stupid 1-time password nonsense - I was literally locked out of the game after playing that, and yet they STILL haven't removed that pointless security feature.

 

Happily? Hardly, those two would go several rounds in a 'most-evil-entertainment-corporation' deathmatch. What might happen is that Disney could buy out EA and force a shutdown of TOR. Of course that makes little to no economic sense - the overwhelming majority of TOR's expenses have already been incurred, whatever they can get back now is low-cost. Besides, killing TOR off would be a public relations disaster, willfully killing an MMO for no reason? Not a great plan that.

 

I could go for that. The cafes sell, rather than mouse-eared cookies, desserts that are iced to look like Sith...

 

TOR might not be in the same continuity as the ST.