KotOR MMO epic fail?

[Nightshape]

Technically, I've got clan out in Oz-land anyhow.. a few dozen spread out from one side of my family..

 

What Englishmen doesn't? Half of the motherland fled here. Hell I have English family, I just choose to ignore them. (Yorkshiremen, you understand)

 

And dear boy, I consider myself English. I never call myself British.

 

Fine, Pom credentials restored.

 

OI! Nah then convict less o' Yorkshire bashing.

[Bos_hybrid]

Technically, I've got clan out in Oz-land anyhow.. a few dozen spread out from one side of my family..

 

What Englishmen doesn't? Half of the motherland fled here. Hell I have English family, I just choose to ignore them. (Yorkshiremen, you understand)

 

And dear boy, I consider myself English. I never call myself British.

 

Fine, Pom credentials restored.

 

OI! Nah then convict less o' Yorkshire bashing.

 

Sorry what was that? I don't speak Yorkshiremen.

[mkreku]

Is there anything resembling an assassin in this game? I want to put the double ass in assassin.

[Raithe]

Is there anything resembling an assassin in this game? I want to put the double ass in assassin.

 

There's the Imperial Agent - the dude with sniping amidst his skills from the looks of it..

 

and then Shadow Inquisitor to Sith Assassin..

 

So it's going to be your choice of whether to be an ass with a long gun, or an ass with a double lightsaber...

[TheHarlequin]

"If you look at Star Wars from EA and BioWare, they estimated a development budget of over $100m. This is an online game for many million of subscribers, so the publisher does not understand that a subscription model is not the future. With micro-transactions maybe I see the game having a chance but I don't think that EA or BioWare will ever be profitable with this game." Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubertz on Star Wars: The Old Republic at the London Games Conference

 

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Interesting to say the least. Generally you don't have other game houses speaking this poorly of other games, especially those still in the dev stage. Perhaps EA being the powehouse it is has such a big target on its back its open season to take a poke at it for a cheap pop. As its always cool to rip the king of the hill. However I can't at this point dispute his analysis.

Edited November 5, 2010 by TheHarlequin

[Tale]

If someone wants to claim that the only way to make profit on a $100 million budget is their way, I would find it more believable if they'd done it themselves first.

 

I too have my doubts that they'll profit, that's a lot of money. But I think he's probably talking out his behind.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Tale

[Nepenthe]

If someone wants to claim that the only way to make profit on a $100 million budget is their way, I would find it more believable if they'd done it themselves first.

 

I too have my doubts that they'll profit, that's a lot of money. But I think he's probably talking out his behind.

I'm also more than a little unclear on the risk division on this game, is lucasarts just looking to fill their pockets with 0 financial risk, or are they actually just as involved but not as trendy a subject as EA+Bio?

[RPGmasterBoo]

What's wrong with a subscription model. If they sell 2 mill copies, and they get as many players playing for a couple of months their investment is covered?

[Gfted1]

What's wrong with a subscription model. If they sell 2 mill copies, and they get as many players playing for a couple of months their investment is covered?

 

Nothing at all. Bashing subsrciption models for micro-transactions is the new black. I find it interesting that only the middle players (Guild Wars, LoTR, Champions Online) are going to that model while the king of the hill (WoW) still charges $15.99/month while "failing" all the way to the bank.

[Thorton_AP]

Who is Bigpoint?

[Monte Carlo]

Can I join in on being English? Sure, I'm actually Texan, but I think I do pretty well.

 

We are completely relaxed about who is English nowadays, pardner. Welcome to the club.

[Tale]

Spiffing.

[Hurlshort]

Who is Bigpoint?

 

Apparently they make online browser games that look a bit like those popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia. Seems like he might have a bit of a reason to be biased here.

 

I do see the subscription model changing in the near future, but I think it will always be a part of most AAA MMO's. For example, LotRO still has a very good amount of monthly subscribers, despite implementing a free to play and micro-transaction model.

[Raithe]

On a different level of news for those interested in mmo crafting related matters.. this came up in a gamespot news report..

 

The crafting and gathering, for starters, have been designed to fit into the player's experience in a way that is credible with respect to the fiction. As Christine puts it, more or less, it doesn't make sense for a badass Darth Vader-like Sith to skin womp rats for a new pair of boots in between conquering worlds. And, so, the coherent fictional basis for crafting is the crew skills system. "You are the hero," says Christine. "You make your crew work for you."

 

That crew is made up of the companion characters acquired as you play, with your spaceship as their base of operations. From the ship, your companions can be dispatched to gather materials and commanded to craft items while you go about the business of being, for instance, a Darth Vader-like Sith badass. These crew instructions can also be radioed back to the ship while you are planetside (we saw companion characters toiling over a spaceship workbench in the presentation), and crew members might join you while you quest. They may perhaps gather materials while you fend off enemies (we were shown a shot of Twi'lek character Vette foraging for materials while the player character battled a non-player character foe).

 

Among the four gathering skills to be included in the game is bioanalysis--the acquisition of information, schematics, and raw materials from living (or dead) creatures. With recipe-like items, companion characters will be able to manufacture useful kits for you; with one of the crafting skills, biochem, they can craft stimpaks, adrenals, and implants to confer benefits on your main character. Alongside gathering and crafting skills come mission skills. Of these, Christine touched on diplomacy and treasure hunting (one of Vette's specialties, as a Twi'lek pirate). With the latter, you can send companions off on errands to gather treasure, while diplomacy missions, for a dark-side character, involve having crew members do your evil bidding and spread your wicked influence around the galaxy. For these missions (say, bribing a senator), you might be rewarded with a shift in your light- or dark-side alignment.

 

The crew can also undertake this gathering, crafting, and evildoing while you are offline; progress is made both in game time and in your downtime, so you can queue up tasks. When you return to the game, you'll find your treasure hunted and boots crafted, for example, if the needed time has elapsed. It's an interesting remedy for the traditional grind in massively multiplayer online role-playing game profession systems

[Nepenthe]

Who is Bigpoint?

 

Apparently they make online browser games that look a bit like those popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia. Seems like he might have a bit of a reason to be biased here.

 

I do see the subscription model changing in the near future, but I think it will always be a part of most AAA MMO's. For example, LotRO still has a very good amount of monthly subscribers, despite implementing a free to play and micro-transaction model.

 

Also means that their opinion has less weight than that of the homeless guy who sits outside the local gamestop.

[HoonDing]

Who is Bigpoint?

The ones that are working on a Drakensang browser game, sadly enough.

[TheHarlequin]

Who is Bigpoint?

 

Apparently they make online browser games that look a bit like those popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia. Seems like he might have a bit of a reason to be biased here.

 

I do see the subscription model changing in the near future, but I think it will always be a part of most AAA MMO's. For example, LotRO still has a very good amount of monthly subscribers, despite implementing a free to play and micro-transaction model.

 

Also means that their opinion has less weight than that of the homeless guy who sits outside the local gamestop.

 

a. Just because he does not make AAA games does not mean his view point is automatically invalid.

 

b. He still works in the industry, more so then you or I. Thus his opinion still carries more weight until either of us do.

[TheHarlequin]

Comment by a user on bluesnews about the quote. Keep in mind he may just be making this up but then again..

 

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I was in the beta. Its pretty meh. Its very much like Star Trek online. I will state though that my beta session only lasted 3 days and there were only 2 classes and you could only play to level 10. The best part of the game that is different from any MMO I've played so far is the dialog wheel, so depending on your dialog choices, the quests can change. I'm not sure if that's enough though to set the game apart from the other 100 MMO's out there.

 

Also we haven't seen any of the flying part of the game, but from what I've read, its on rails, so...yeah...whatever...

 

I wonder if I just violated my NDA lol...

[alanschu]

I'd recommend against believing people that claimed to have been a part of the "beta" for TOR.

[Hurlshort]

Given that it isn't in closed beta yet (internal testing only, from what I heard), I'd call bull.

[Slowtrain]

Generally speaking it's bad form to believe anything posted to the internet without extensive confirmation from multiple credible sources.

[kirottu]

On a different level of news for those interested in mmo crafting related matters.. this came up in a gamespot news report..

 

As Christine puts it, more or less, it doesn't make sense for a badass Darth Vader-like Sith to skin womp rats for a new pair of boots in between conquering worlds.

 

But it would make sense Vader to make his own light sabre, or making battle droids or even small starships.

[Nepenthe]

Who is Bigpoint?

 

Apparently they make online browser games that look a bit like those popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia. Seems like he might have a bit of a reason to be biased here.

 

I do see the subscription model changing in the near future, but I think it will always be a part of most AAA MMO's. For example, LotRO still has a very good amount of monthly subscribers, despite implementing a free to play and micro-transaction model.

 

Also means that their opinion has less weight than that of the homeless guy who sits outside the local gamestop.

 

a. Just because he does not make AAA games does not mean his view point is automatically invalid.

 

b. He still works in the industry, more so then you or I. Thus his opinion still carries more weight until either of us do.

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you knew what I do or don't do for a living.

[TheHarlequin]

Who is Bigpoint?

 

Apparently they make online browser games that look a bit like those popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia. Seems like he might have a bit of a reason to be biased here.

 

I do see the subscription model changing in the near future, but I think it will always be a part of most AAA MMO's. For example, LotRO still has a very good amount of monthly subscribers, despite implementing a free to play and micro-transaction model.

 

Also means that their opinion has less weight than that of the homeless guy who sits outside the local gamestop.

 

a. Just because he does not make AAA games does not mean his view point is automatically invalid.

 

b. He still works in the industry, more so then you or I. Thus his opinion still carries more weight until either of us do.

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you knew what I do or don't do for a living.

 

If you make AAA games as a dev then certainly point b. does not apply to you, however point a. still does. *shrugs*

[TheHarlequin]

From blues today, seems the MMO has been delayed as they are being vague date wise now;

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One of Ray Muzyka's answers about The Old Republic's due date indicates the game's previously confirmed spring 2011 release window may be in jeopardy, as he now says of the game's release: "We're just saying 2011."