Nepenthe Posted May 18, 2012 Posted May 18, 2012 Probably gonna start again next week. Kind of terrified of apparently having to respec my character after being gone for... ages? From before ME3 came out, at least. You're a cheery wee bugger, Nep. Have I ever said that? Reapercussions
Calax Posted May 19, 2012 Posted May 19, 2012 Thing is, you're only going to make 8 characters... and you're going to split them between imp and rep because you don't want to run the same stories, and get all of the playing styles. Which is one of the other major issues for the game. The class split, if you picked the wrong split for your particular playstyle, you're running through the EXACT same content because you made one wrong call. And even then some of the advanced classes (let's be real, there are 8 classes in the game... no "class/advanced class" bs) are REALLY rough to try to get to the top, but once they get there things get much easier. I might not want to be a Guardian at the top and want to run as a sentinel instead, but that's not allowed, unless you go back and re -do everything you just did, only it's more painful. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Hurlshort Posted May 19, 2012 Posted May 19, 2012 Personally I have just been varying the class split by faction, so my Inquisitor is a sorcerer and my Consular is a Shadow. My trooper is a tank and my Bounty Hunter is a DPS class guy. I plan on continuing that. I'm not really worried about how they play at the end game, given that in time I'll have enough characters there to choose which are my favorites to play.
Raithe Posted May 19, 2012 Posted May 19, 2012 Personally I have just been varying the class split by faction, so my Inquisitor is a sorcerer and my Consular is a Shadow. My trooper is a tank and my Bounty Hunter is a DPS class guy. I plan on continuing that. I'm not really worried about how they play at the end game, given that in time I'll have enough characters there to choose which are my favorites to play. That's similar to how I've been splitting it all out with my playthroughs. I have to admit, I loathe Corellia. I see they're trying for the whole.. "grim, dark war-torn, horror of war vibe" but I just get "confused, grindy, craphole" instead. But pretty much playing through prologue and act 1 seems to be a lot of fun, especially once you've gotten to grips with the mechanics of the game. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Raithe Posted May 21, 2012 Posted May 21, 2012 IGN SW TOR: 1.3 patch revealed Though BioWare is working on new content for companion quests as well as world quests that aren "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Hurlshort Posted May 21, 2012 Posted May 21, 2012 Why does everyone keep bringing up the subscriber loss as some sort of big deal? It is standard for almost every MMO to have a drop off after the initial free months. They are still running at over a million plus subscribers.
Malcador Posted May 21, 2012 Posted May 21, 2012 It is somewhat newsworthy to mention their loss of 25% or so of their subscribers, article didn't seem to be all doom and gloom over TOR. Has the 1.2 patch had any noticeable impact on population/activit ? Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Guest Slinky Posted May 21, 2012 Posted May 21, 2012 (edited) Has the 1.2 patch had any noticeable impact on population/activit ? When the patch came out, there was clear increase of players.. for like a week. Then it dropped back to the "I Am Legend" levels, at least on my server. Fast to do dailies, no need to wait your turn when you are the ONLY ONE on the planet. Edited May 21, 2012 by Slinky
Hurlshort Posted May 21, 2012 Posted May 21, 2012 My planet is nice and full, but I started on a different server when 1.2 came out so I can't compare it to before. The patch has improved the low level game for me tremendously.
Calax Posted May 21, 2012 Posted May 21, 2012 Has the 1.2 patch had any noticeable impact on population/activit ? When the patch came out, there was clear increase of players.. for like a week. Then it dropped back to the "I Am Legend" levels, at least on my server. Fast to do dailies, no need to wait your turn when you are the ONLY ONE on the planet. the quick sub hike was because they offered a week of sub to players to try to entice them back to payin Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Nepenthe Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 Hopefully gonna get to do some of this the next weekend. I hear from friends that my server's pretty dead, but I think we're on the same level range so at least we'll be able to do some of the smaller heroics... You're a cheery wee bugger, Nep. Have I ever said that? Reapercussions
Morgoth Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 BioWare hit with layoffs. "Impacting people's lives this way is always very hard, but we're ensuring the affected people are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect," said the company's CEO Ray Muzyka and vice president Greg Zeschuk in a joint statement. That's right, Ray and Greg. And there I thought having a blockbuster MMO is about keeping those people employed, not firing them. Rain makes everything better.
Hurlshort Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 The Electronic Arts subsidiary has not disclosed what its restructuring entailed, but it's common for many companies to trim their teams after an MMO's launch. Eh, not quite time to panic yet. This will likely slow the content down a bit, but that was a fricken huge team.
Hassat Hunter Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 Bet they wish now they made KOTOR3 instead though... Or has there been a substancial profit already? ^ I agree that that is such a stupid idiotic pathetic garbage hateful retarded scumbag evil satanic nazi like term ever created. At least top 5. TSLRCM Official Forum || TSLRCM Moddb || My other KOTOR2 mods || TSLRCM (English version) on Steam || [M4-78EP on Steam Formerly known as BattleWookiee/BattleCookiee
Raithe Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 They did say they only needed 500k subscribers for a brief time to get into profit (or something long those lines). So considering they hit the 2million units sold/subscription for the first month at least..and have been fairly consistent at that 1.6+ million mark for the last 3 months.. I'd say they're doing fairly well. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Hurlshort Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 Bet they wish now they made KOTOR3 instead though... Or has there been a substancial profit already? The game sold rather fantastically. It is tough to get an idea of just how profitable it was, given the costs and everything, but it's far from a failure. Now if it continues to lose subscribers, there might be some cause for concern. But for now it is an extremely good game and it has a healthy player base.
HoonDing Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 Bet they wish now they made KOTOR3 instead though... Or has there been a substancial profit already? The game sold rather fantastically. It is tough to get an idea of just how profitable it was, given the costs and everything, but it's far from a failure. Now if it continues to lose subscribers, there might be some cause for concern. But for now it is an extremely good game and it has a healthy player base. The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
Zoraptor Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 It won't be profitable yet. Most of the Doom predictors are probably going by the (utterly ludicrous) $400 million estimates for cost. If it could hold a million subscribers for a year it would almost certainly have a decent worthwhile profit by that point. While I'm not really actively following the game it is fair to say that the negative spin has been pretty consistently inconsistent. (Part of) DA3 team allegedly moved to help TOR = Doom, people fired off TOR (almost certainly QA/ technical support people, given that they're always most in demand at title launch and demand for them drops off heavily once initial issues are sorted) also = Doom. Lots of arm waving about a 25% drop off when other titles like Age of Conan had ~90% drop offs over a similar time period. It's not a WoW killer to be sure, but anyone who expected that had unrealistic expectations. WoW is most definitively the exception, not the rule.
Hurlshort Posted May 22, 2012 Posted May 22, 2012 I think most people here who actually played it enjoyed it, which is a feat in itself. Many were not into the long term MMO aspect of it, but as a single player experience it was pretty satisfying. 1
WorstUsernameEver Posted May 23, 2012 Posted May 23, 2012 people fired off TOR (almost certainly QA/ technical support people, given that they're always most in demand at title launch and demand for them drops off heavily once initial issues are sorted) Going by the wording of the doctors' post, the fact that the founders felt they need to inform the public of the "restructuring", the fact that I've seen BioWare designers tweet sadly about their friends at BioWare Austin and wishing them good luck.. well, I find it difficult to believe we're talking only about QA/technical support people. Of course, it's difficult to understand what kind of layoffs we're talking about given that the only official source doesn't even dare saying the word and instead goes for "team restructuring", rumor is 200 but frankly that sounds way too big to me and difficult to believe.
Zoraptor Posted May 23, 2012 Posted May 23, 2012 Oh, it won't be only QA and testers, for sure. It is exceeding likely that some designers and more core types have gone too. No business likes having people sitting around twiddling their thumbs and that is to an extent inevitable after any project of the scope of a large MMO wraps as it's very unlikely you will have enough extra work for everyone involved in the principle design to be involved with unless you're immediately starting work on a new project, and even a full on expansion would require more limited resources than the core development.
Tale Posted May 23, 2012 Posted May 23, 2012 They had planned to keep everyone. This restructuring is showing a change in that plan. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134940/the_making_of_star_wars_the_old_.php "Unlike a lot of other game companies that, once they launch a game, downsize their teams radically, our plan is to keep the team together and continue to focus on building content." "Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
Zoraptor Posted May 24, 2012 Posted May 24, 2012 I'm sure no company with any regard for its employees really wants/plans to let them go once a project is finished, but there are plans and then there is reality. The majority of projects result in some layoffs once they're completed, that is the reality. I'd also note that it is bad for morale if you're saying "yeah, once we ship we'll be firing a bunch of our employees". We don't actually know who has gone, so far as I am aware (beyond the community manager?). If they're stripping out the core team it would be a sign of Trouble, if it's just a few it may be natural attrition or more minor and rational cuts. As I said the whole TOR thing is a bit confusing at the moment as you supposedly have firings- but almost simultaneously people from Edmonton getting shifted onto it. Which is a bit... counterintuitive.
WorstUsernameEver Posted May 24, 2012 Posted May 24, 2012 As I said the whole TOR thing is a bit confusing at the moment as you supposedly have firings- but almost simultaneously people from Edmonton getting shifted onto it. Which is a bit... counterintuitive. Did we ever get confirmation of that? I admit I'm biased, but I always take Pachter with a grain of salt, especially when he's commenting on something that has nothing to do with his work. Then again, the rumor wasn't exactly denied either.
Zoraptor Posted May 24, 2012 Posted May 24, 2012 In all seriousness, there are forum posters I trust more than Pachter when it comes to games industry analysis. No confirmation so far as I am aware, no. There is minor precedent- Karpyshyn went from ME to TOR- but sufficient to suspend or significantly slow DA3's development? That would require dozens of transfers. If DA3 has been delayed, which is believable, I'd suspect that synchronising it with the NextBox/ PS4 is actually the reason.
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