Editorial Bioware Meltdown Watch - The Burning of Star Wars: The Old Republic

[RK47]

Oh my god. I can't wait to download this game when I get home.

 

[hoverdog]

Star Wars: The Old Republic will kill WoW.

moar like kill WoW of laughter rite?

ask Crispy.

 

[DraQ]

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,22839/

It says he was lead designer on Warbreeds. That was a game with some unique concepts. I wonder if anyone else has heard of it.

Played the demo once. Would try full if I had access to it.

 

[sser]

I still think this will lead to a thorough enema of BioWare's bowels by EA before it's all said and done.

 

[Infinitron]

Why is this in the news? Do you have a deal with gamasutra or what?

Everyone already knew all that the moment EA released the list of f2p/vip features, like, two months ago. They even limit the number of pvp battlegrounds you can do in a day unless you pay, it's the worst f2p model in history.

1) Because the Codex hasn't had a newspost about it yet.
2) Because this is an excellent article, not to mention butthurt-inducing.

 

[Keshik]

If they'd force people to pay to unlock Acts of the story, I wonder how that would have gone over with their playerbase. Kind of funny that EA's vision of F2P is a sort of coercion to subscribe.

 

[Menckenstein]

Massive butthurt in comments section.

There's no justification for the contemptuous tone of this article. NONE. The idea that you might think there is, is disappointing.

It has been alleged that Paul Tozour raped as many as seven small children and once strangled a hooker to death in the early 1990's.

 

[Broseph]

It has been alleged that Paul Tozour raped as many as seven small children and once strangled a hooker to death in the early 1990's.

Looks that way from his profile pic.

 

[sea]

I'm actually thankful for such a spiteful takedown of the game by someone of actual status in the games journalism community. So many others have danced around the point rather than just come out and say it was a disaster. WThis is the first acknowledgement, "officially", that the free-to-play component was colossally poorly designed.

 

[Angthoron]

Page 3 content is pretty spot-on. That's exactly how you do an attractive F2P game, you let normal players and "froobs" play together without making grouping with "froobs" pointless and harmful to the paying player. MULTIplayer aspect in an MMO should be the fucking selling point and the way to get a player hooked on a game. Hell, that's what WoW's done to me and my GF - we have too many people that we know that are a part of our daily "community" to simply dump without a moment's thought, and it's pretty much the whole fucking point. You make people enjoy (or at least not hate) their day-to-day gaming in a given environment with people they learn to enjoy company of and build up a community, or communities on that. Then you offer extra cool shit to the paying players, like access to more stories, sidequest packs, alternative adventures, alternative solo levelling, new shiny toys that an F2P player might want... Instead, the brilliant minds at EA/Lucas/BioWare went the completely fucking backwards way of Turbine, except at least Turbine gave a chance for players to farm for points they could spend in shops for more content.

So, yeah, make people buy shit because shit is cool, not because they have to, because it's a fucking game and not a pair of pants.

 

[Infinitron]

MULTIplayer aspect in an MMO should be the fucking selling point and the way to get a player hooked on a game.

Haven't you heard, bro? Bioware is a CONTENT COMPANY.

RPS: These days, though, people seem to be getting a bit tired of questing, and I think developers are starting to react. Obviously, there’s EVE and its new extension, Dust. Meanwhile, I spoke with SOE’s president, and he basically said that his company’s going all-in on player-driven content. That questing’s become old hat now that players have been doing it over and over for so long.

Schubert: That would not be BioWare’s general point of view. We are primarily a content company.

 

[Shadenuat]

I recommend checking out the rules of playing SWTOR for free, you can see them on their main page. It's one of the most restrictive, money-grabbing, korean-like system I've seen; a guy who does't pay for subscription even must enjoy before-patch sprint restriction, i.e. can't run until hits level 20.

 

[Angthoron]

MULTIplayer aspect in an MMO should be the fucking selling point and the way to get a player hooked on a game.

Haven't you heard, bro? Bioware is a CONTENT COMPANY.

RPS: These days, though, people seem to be getting a bit tired of questing, and I think developers are starting to react. Obviously, there’s EVE and its new extension, Dust. Meanwhile, I spoke with SOE’s president, and he basically said that his company’s going all-in on player-driven content. That questing’s become old hat now that players have been doing it over and over for so long.

Schubert: That would not be BioWare’s general point of view. We are primarily a content company.

More like INCONTINENT COMPANY. Oh, snap.

 

[Crispy]

This is the best thing BioWare could have done. They're laughing all the way (back) to the bank with all those microtransactions.

WoW is already dead, so it's a moot point.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[SCO]

who cares

 

[WetWorks]

I like me some schadenfreude.

Maybe we will see less mmorpgs and more tactical rpgs.



Dream a little dream of me.

 

[Delterius]

This is the best thing BioWare could have done. They're laughing all the way (back) to the bank with all those microtransactions.

WoW is already dead, so it's a moot point.

There's a difference between undeath and death, it will take a while for the zombies' carcass to fully decay into a skeleton and whatever foul magic that moves it run out.

 

[Micmu]

Nope. They will keep killing themselves more and more until they're all dead (AAA scum are not learning animals).

Then we'll see less mmos and megabudget trash.

 

[Azalin]

According to that photo, Bioware has something against hetero males.

You needed that image to figure that out?

 

[toro]

That's one ugly godzilla.

 

[Dorateen]

Good.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Lolololol

 

[Roguey]

1) Because the Codex hasn't had a newspost about it yet.

But The Codex doesn't cover MMOs in the news posts.

 

[Moribund]

Page 3 content is pretty spot-on. That's exactly how you do an attractive F2P game, you let normal players and "froobs" play together without making grouping with "froobs" pointless and harmful to the paying player. MULTIplayer aspect in an MMO should be the fucking selling point and the way to get a player hooked on a game. Hell, that's what WoW's done to me and my GF - we have too many people that we know that are a part of our daily "community" to simply dump without a moment's thought, and it's pretty much the whole fucking point. You make people enjoy (or at least not hate) their day-to-day gaming in a given environment with people they learn to enjoy company of and build up a community, or communities on that. Then you offer extra cool shit to the paying players, like access to more stories, sidequest packs, alternative adventures, alternative solo levelling, new shiny toys that an F2P player might want... Instead, the brilliant minds at EA/Lucas/BioWare went the completely fucking backwards way of Turbine, except at least Turbine gave a chance for players to farm for points they could spend in shops for more content.

So, yeah, make people buy shit because shit is cool, not because they have to, because it's a fucking game and not a pair of pants.

I think bioware has to win the award for assuming the worst of the intelligence of their fans. Not that they haven't done so again and again and blamed their stupidity for any sales failures at every turn, but this takes the cake.