EA Studies WoW While Prepping SW: TOR Launch
EA is studying the initial days of World of Warcraft as it prepares to launch BioWare's upcoming MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The love-hate relationship between Activision-Blizzard and Electronic Arts isn't anything new: we've already heard both sides of the story in regards to launching Star Wars: The Old Republic (TOR) and how the upcoming MMORPG could potentially hurt/benefit the genre. EA seemingly has a lot riding on its shoulders right now, and it's naturally looking at the industry's flagship MMORPG – World of Warcraft – as a model on how to launch a massive, virtual world, and how to keep it interesting in the following months.
"We've actually studied WoW pretty carefully," CFO Eric Brown said at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference on Wednesday. "We spent a lot of time studying the first twelve months or so of WoW, and just to be clear here, when they initially launched, they did not launch in dual geographies. They went North America only."
Brown added that the TOR team is paying close attention to WoW's initial customers, and is applying that knowledge to the first wave of TOR subscribers. More importantly, the team wants to ensure the best experience possible in the initial days – including limiting the number of copies sold at launch so that the servers aren't flooded with new users to the point that gameplay becomes intolerable. As we've seen in the past, a horrible experience means a negative viral effect across the board (like Anarchy Online's initial launch), thus pushing away potential customers. Naturally both EA and BioWare want a positive "YOU MUST PLAY THIS!" viral effect.
"We really want to make sure that the first group of users into Star Wars has the best experience," he said. "For example, when they log on, they have instant access. [Even] when they're playing in a densely-populated world, the bandwidth and response time is excellent. So quality of service is really important to us."
As for the post-launch plans, BioWare has that covered, keeping in tune with its "rich, detailed post-launch detailed plan" for its crop of console games. "[BioWare] has built in a very extensive development plan to make sure there is enough content coming out in intervals," he said. "We haven't specified it, but industry norm is 18-24 months. And the idea there is to keep the game fresh and interesting for all of the players."
As seen with Blizzard's Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft, TOR gamers are expected to burn through the new MMORPG's content rather quick, and will likely wait on the sidelines until the next expansion pack is released. That said, BioWare may need to take Blizzard's new route of releasing short bursts of content to keep those gamers from cancelling their subscriptions until the next major release.
- Deals Sept 8: 27" Planar 1080p 2ms LCD Monitor $229
- MSI Calls Out Gigabyte for "Not True PCIe 3.0"
- How Google is Turning Chrome Into a Gaming Platform
- Microsoft Unveiling Windows 8 on Tablet Next Week
- Nvidia CEO: No Mobile Strategy Means "Deep Turd"
- AMD Starts Shipping "Bulldozer" CPUs
- Sood: Voodoo PC Could Have Changed HP for the Better
- New Line of HP AIOs Has "Something for Everyone"
- Hands-On: Antec Bias LED Lighting Kit
- HP Pavilion DM1 Now Just $399, Sports AMD E-series
- How to Hack Together a TV Celebrity Silencer
- Sandy Bridge-E Coming November to a Store Near You
- Opinion: What Does AMD's New CEO Need to Fix?
- HP Unveils Consumer-Priced 3D Scanner
- IBM Has Plans for a 100 PFlop Supercomputer
- Deals for September 9: 15.6" Dell Inspiron Core i5 $499
- Blizzard: Six "Proven Property" Titles by 2014
- ADATA Doubles Down on SATA III With Value SSD
I really want this game to be as amazing as I imagine it to be.
On the flip side, I also want it to fail. Why you might ask? Because then I wouldn't be tempted to destroy my social life (Like I sorta did with WoW). If it sucks, I'll pass it by, and not ever think twice about it -- if It's epic, than I'll constantly be reminded and tempted to play it...which, well, you know how that'll go.
life wasting games.
get outta the house. go talk to some girls...
It is going to be hard to compete against WoW. I also play WoW, and i tried every new MMORPG that was launched because i started to hate WoW...but after playing 2 weeks on the new MMO's i returned to WoW...
It is going to be hard to compete against WoW. I also play WoW, and i tried every new MMORPG that was launched because i started to hate WoW...but after playing 2 weeks on the new MMO's i returned to WoW...
Well, that may have been the case with WoW before, but for 2 straight quarters since Cataclysm's release WoW has lost nearly 1 million subscribers, with the first 600,000 coming before Rift's release.
Right now Bobby Kotick is WoW's worse enemy. Ever since the merger and Vivendi naming Kotick the CEO of the gaming division, WoW has been completely different as has Blizzard. EA should only look at WoW right now for how NOT to do something.
I played wow long enough. No more grinding anything for this guy. If the game doesn't generate intense action or completely wow me, it's not getting picked up.
I think alot of people have been burnt out on MMO type games through over playing of WoW - they move onto more instant-gratification type games such as LoL. I think unless SWTOR has some amazing features which takes advantage of these types of gamers it won't encourage them back and won't attract current subscribers to WoW to move; anyone else get the feeling of "i've put so much effort into WoW but in this new game i've got nothing" feeling when switching games?
>life wasting games.
>get outta the house. go talk to some girls...
Don't think my wife would be happy with that...
played wow for 7 years, now i have a long term girl, a house, a sweet car and a great job. stuff mmorpgs, my times been served
I would like to play and support Bioware, But I will never touch another EA publication again!
I am still waiting for GW2, its going to be revolutionary! No more needless grind, Persistent world that suffers cause and effect (No more respawning mobs that stay put on their path) awesome classes and art work, fantastic gameplay and real pvp!
Luckily LOTRO will keep me grinding until I am released from the Grind Mill.
Mark my Words, EA will stuff this game, 100% Guaranteed!
I think the nail was hit on the head, most people are done playing MMOs for a bit because wow was good enough to keep our attention for so long it wore us out. I have tried other games, rifts is wow with tons of unbalanced specs, and holes in the sky, GW is pathetic, the old classics are just that, old. Nothing coming out will have anything new that has not already been done with the overall MMO game mechanics. Game gimmicks will only work for so long, like rifts and hundreds of specs for rifts, or traps and other features of DnD, but unless instant or immediate gratification can be given, I do not see many players sticking with WoW or TOR for much longer. Games like Diablo 3 and others will begin to reign supreme for a short while until something in the MMO industry changes.
I think alot of people have been burnt out on MMO type games through over playing of WoW - they move onto more instant-gratification type games such as LoL. I think unless SWTOR has some amazing features which takes advantage of these types of gamers it won't encourage them back and won't attract current subscribers to WoW to move; anyone else get the feeling of "i've put so much effort into WoW but in this new game i've got nothing" feeling when switching games?
exactly my thoughts on this as well
"As seen with Blizzard's Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft, TOR gamers are expected to burn through the new MMORPG's content rather quick, and will likely wait on the sidelines until the next expansion pack is released. That said, BioWare may need to take Blizzard's new route of releasing short bursts of content to keep those gamers from cancelling their subscriptions until the next major release."
Or just make the content challenging, instead of 'drool on the keyboard' easy and it'll last longer than 8 hours. Its not about 'instant gratification', or '100% server uptime'. Its about forming an interesting community. There was nothing special about WoW except for the community (which they subsequently destroyed late WOTLK/Cata, which is why its bleeding subs badly). But keep it up with the phasing/instancing/sharding of the player base, don't allow the community any viable method of filtering out the jerks, and continue to put the focus on gear over teamwork, and see just how quickly yet another MMO can go down the drain.
It sucks that I keep getting older and busier while games keep getting more interesting and time consuming.
Or just make the content challenging, instead of 'drool on the keyboard' easy and it'll last longer than 8 hours. Its not about 'instant gratification', or '100% server uptime'. Its about forming an interesting community. There was nothing special about WoW except for the community (which they subsequently destroyed late WOTLK/Cata, which is why its bleeding subs badly). But keep it up with the phasing/instancing/sharding of the player base, don't allow the community any viable method of filtering out the jerks, and continue to put the focus on gear over teamwork, and see just how quickly yet another MMO can go down the drain.
You're so wrong. The people who complain that the content is too easy are the ones who don't try hard mode. I played wow a lot when it came out, raided hardcore and spent way too many hours. Now, myself and most of my guild would much rather spend an hour or two getting through content that isn't "bash your head against a wall" difficult. We put enough time into the game and now want to relax and have fun in the community you spoke of. Going back to hardcore isn't an option for us and that is what NORMAL mode is for. Hard mode is for everyone else who wants a challenge.
Wow is bleeding subs because it's just too old, people are bored of it and don't have the insane number of hours to put into it anymore. I doubt that any MMO will have as many subs as WoW did.
life wasting games.get outta the house. go talk to some girls...
What are girls?
And as ct001 said, the content in MMOs needs to be challenging. The reason people burn out so quick is because developers dumb down or nerf boss encounters into the dirt in the name of accessibility and appeasing the people who don't want to put in the effort instead of pushing the community to better themselves.
Cataclysm at launch was a huge step back in the right direction for WoW, and they've already taken tremendous leaps backwards.
4 things that killed WoW:
-Flying mounts (bye bye world pvp)
-Dailies (bye bye economy)
-Arenas (bye bye balance)
-Dungeon finder (bye bye social network AND front-of-the-instance pvp)
Universally hailed as a good thing, the effect of those "improvements" was insidious indeed.
I've quit playing MMO's all together. While they can be fun and I've made a ton of online friends, I hated the feeling that I needed to play to keep up with everyone. I stick to single player games now. If I don't want to play, I don't. I know I can pick up right where I left off and not feel like I'm falling behind or that I missed anything epic for not playing.
life wasting games.get outta the house. go talk to some girls...
I did, got married and I'd rather be playing these games.
Good games based on Star Wars have been few and far between... It'll be interesting to see where this one falls...
You're so wrong. The people who complain that the content is too easy are the ones who don't try hard mode. I played wow a lot when it came out, raided hardcore and spent way too many hours. Now, myself and most of my guild would much rather spend an hour or two getting through content that isn't "bash your head against a wall" difficult. We put enough time into the game and now want to relax and have fun in the community you spoke of. Going back to hardcore isn't an option for us and that is what NORMAL mode is for. Hard mode is for everyone else who wants a challenge.Wow is bleeding subs because it's just too old, people are bored of it and don't have the insane number of hours to put into it anymore. I doubt that any MMO will have as many subs as WoW did.
I've done hard modes, have 'world 1sts' under my belt. From Ony to Sunwell, to HM lich, I've done them all. Yes there are a few tough as nails fights (25-man heroic anub comes to mind...), but that accounts for only 0.00001% of the total game content. The rest is far too easy. There needs to be something in between.
I played WOW for a couple of years. In the beginning I think it was a bit more fun, with the 40 man raids and such and the difficulty. But in the end it was just grind with no skill and I hated it. I won't touch the game again. And as for SW-TOR... I mean for crying out loud people its an EA game. That's enough for me to avoid it. EA produces crap.
I did, got married and I'd rather be playing these games.
Sounds as if you like your women like your coffee
...
cold and bitter
So, in doing so, we can expect more of this from EA?
As a current Beta tester, I have to say SW:TOR's Story driven gameplay style is pretty amazing. The Flashpoints (Instances) are pretty Epic and definitely challenging as you're locked in to a maximum of 4 players.
As a former WoW and Linage player, SW:TOR feels very familiar as an MMO but does provide a fresh spin on the gameplay style. Please it's Star Wars and nothing beats hacking shit down with a Light saber.
Personally I think that the way Blizzard is currently handling WoW is about as good as possible. The old adage that you cant please all of the people all of the time comes to mind.
I think that if EA can keep content fresh and innovative and provide entertaining scenarios for both casual and hardcore players alike, then I think they will enjoy at least some of the success that WoW has enjoyed over the past few years.
And the gaming industry continues to get dumber and dumber. Easier and easier.
Enough with the themepark wow BS. Make a real virtual world where the players control the world.
From my experience hard modes killed wow. People love progressing through the instances and defeating bosses. There is gratification in completing a dungeon. Going from MC to Sunwell was super fun and my guild met every challenge along the way. Then WOTLK decided to make content easy with a "hard mode" which is basically what the dungeon should have been to start with. You can't get 25 guys to do the same instance 4 times a week on different difficulties/10/25. WoW fixed it to only let you do the instance once a week but then you run into the problem of why do the hard one when we can easily beat the easy one and move on with doing other things.
I really hope they make end game in SWTOR story driven, interesting, strategic, and most of all fun! I quit WoW a few years ago so my MMO burn out is over...really looking forward to a real MMO again.
Still love the South Park WOW episode
SWTOR is WoW in space, there are so many aspects of the game that are exactly the same (This goes far beyond any other MMOs strive to be like WoW). Sure it will probably sell millions of copies, but after it's released people will realize its just WoW with Star Wars skins and quit after they reach max level.
People are looking for something different, not a cookie cutter shell of another MMO. WoW is an excellent MMO but it has made other companies developers followers, they release games with the same tired mechanics, gameplay, and ideas instead of coming up with something on their own.
SWTOR is WoW in space, there are so many aspects of the game that are exactly the same (This goes far beyond any other MMOs strive to be like WoW). Sure it will probably sell millions of copies, but after it's released people will realize its just WoW with Star Wars skins and quit after they reach max level.People are looking for something different, not a cookie cutter shell of another MMO. WoW is an excellent MMO but it has made other companies developers followers, they release games with the same tired mechanics, gameplay, and ideas instead of coming up with something on their own.
You can say that about every MMO. You know why, because its an MMO. thats like saying all FPS are in first person so they're the same.
SW:TOR is a MMO so like all MMOs expect, quests, pvp, grinding, but in SW:TOR case the game is VERY VERY story driven. We've never seen an MMO this story driven i can tell you that for sure.
SW:TOR does plenty to difference itself from other MMOs. Companions, the whole trade skill system, space combat, story driven gameplay, full voice acting, party conversations, light and dark side choices/rewards.
This is not WoW in space.