WOW <3s SW:TOR: A Forbidden Love?
Should WoW be putting on the gloves? Should they be afraid? Gloves, absolutely. Dont get me wrong. I think SW:TOR is gonna come out the gate kicking something fierce, like a Tusken raider on a baby Ewok. However, fear might not be the primary emotion running through the boys at Blizzard.
Expanding the Market
SW:TOR has the potential to pull, at the very least, two important groups into the MMORPG market: (1) Star Wars fans who are not online gamers and (2) Bioware fans who could follow their favorite developers into the interrealms.
Simply put, SW:TOR could make the pie a bit bigger. Initially these new players will log on and load up their favorite Jedi Knight, Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter, Droid ... ? Hmmm? Nevertheless, once they buy the game and shell out their first monthly payment, those happy RPGers become consumers. Once they are consumers, WoWs big advertising bucks become that much more effective. Now they are part of a demographic.
Furthermore, there will be the added benefit of SW:TOR luring back players who have left the MMORPG market for a time (/raise hand). Which bring us to ...
Two Timing
Despite the ungodly number of hours some players (/sigh ... /raise hand) have put into plundering the depths of Azeroth, WoW does not need each and every gamer online twenty four hours a day. Quite frankly, Blizzard does not even need to woo the lightside vs. darkside gamers away from their first love. Blizzard just needs to tempt them.
All in all, it will be about thirty dollars a month. Most of us spend more than that at Starbucks ... in a week. Its a small price to pay to experience both worlds, keep connected with new and old friends, or whatever excuse we will make up to justify the added expenditure. In the long term, obviously there will be complex strategies employed by both sides to keep and expand their share of the MMORPG market. Let us venture to say, nonetheless, that their interests are not mutually exclusive.
Now, this last point is the one that really excites me; hopefully, it excites Blizzard and Bioware/LucasArts as well.
Iron Sharpening Iron
Everyone loves a good fight. Especially the fighters. Rivalry is the basis of a capitalist economy. The old saying goes that competition is the whetstone of talent. Iron sharpens iron, encourages creativity, invention, and ingenuity toward new heights. With any luck, it will inspire game developers to boldly go where no ... whoa. I almost went there. It rewards hard work and innovation.
Even with the minor competition that WoW has seen from other online games, Blizzard has had to adapt and advance to fulfill the growing expectations of the online community (e.g., with the guild leveling system that WoW has announced for its Cataclysm expansion and that has already seen success in games like Warhammer and Everquest II).
When it comes to SW:TOR, even if WoW does not feel the love, gamers on either side of the fence will. In the end, perhaps it should be more of a love/hate relationship. Aristophanes said that the wise learn many things from their enemies. Henry Ford said, My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.
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Posted 9/23/2009 1:46:19 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/22/2009 1:19:56 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/21/2009 6:09:02 PMIf anything, The Old Republic will extend the market only to have Blizzard reap the rewards - as of right now. Until Bioware starts talking about the MMO part of this MMO, how it's better than what's already available, and how it's going to retain me as a subscriber, how can anyone possibly follow this hype as anything other than sheep following each other off of a cliff?
I've been playing WoW since closed beta (over 5.5 years now) and even in it's early beta (7 months before launch), when the level cap was level 20, the game was still more fun than any of it's competition to this date. Blizzard has that magic touch that very few developers have. In my opinion, Bioware isn't one of them. No, I wasn't a big fan of KotoR. I thought it was way too repetitive. Mass Effect was ok, but there was way too much talking, running around, standing in elevators, and not enough fun. I hope TOR isn't more of the same Bioware BS that makes me want to yell, "shut up and fight!"
I can feel your anger.
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Posted 9/22/2009 6:40:23 AM- Shut up and get ganked
- Shut up and get stun locked to death
- Shut up and wipe so we can get back in for another attempt
- Shut up and flame Ghostcrawler
- Shut up and /ignore
- Shut up and reported
- Shut up and nerf druids already
- Shut up and ... wait a sec, I'm chatting with a GM about that mace i accidentally DE'ed
But not "shut up and fight!" Roflcopters.
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Posted 9/22/2009 2:20:02 AMIt would be hard to dispute that WoW has done the 'mechanics' of an MMO the best out of all comers in the industry. That does not necessarily mean they have produced the product to end all products because frankly, players are too diverse for their to be such a thing. Dekun's "shut up and fight" feeling about a Bioware game can easily be equated to an RP'r in a Blizzard game asking "where's the story?" To each his own on that front. I will say however that we have not heard near enough about SWTOR to formulate any real opinion on the mechanics of the game. Bioware has played it very close to the chest, and it will probably be Beta before one can really comment on the gameplay mechanics and their quality (or lack there of).
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Posted 9/22/2009 4:17:41 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 9/21/2009 10:28:00 PMI personally believe that KotoR was extremely well done. I loved the plot and your overall impact on the storyline. The fighting was mediocre at best, but I was able to deal with it because of the amazing plot. TOR is offering a newer, better version of KotoR's combat system and only time will tell if it is decent or not.
Will SW:TOR kill WoW? Unlikely. However, I do think that it will steal some users and broaden the market, which can only result in good things in our future from MMOs.
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Posted 9/21/2009 4:10:40 PMThe last really good sci-fi MMO was Anarchy Online (very old now, but still has a following), and it's developers chose not to follow it up with a sequel and instead went into the fantasy genre. A mistake in my opinion, but SWG/Matrix have been the only games to follow to fill that niche in any significant way and that hasn't been very promising (*cough* Sony *cough*). Now we have SWTOR and StarTrek in the works to try and bring a real quality effort forth in the genre. I think in many ways Blizzard will be more than happy to have these offerings in the industry for many reasons, including some listed in this article. The overall population of MMO players has to grow if Blizzard is going to grow. Even if that means in the interim the market share WoW itself holds must decline as part of the process. Having quality MMOs of different genres is essential to making that process a reality.
In the past, commitments by publishers have had as much to do with the lack of success of titles as the game developers themselves, if not more. In the case of Bioware/EA/Lucas, we are relatively assured of a strong commitment. Blizzard essentially being it's own publisher is a big part of it's success (since the merger w/ Activision). We'll have to see what Atari does with Cryptic and Star Trek online. Historically, both Sony and Atari have somewhat shaky track records in long term support of their developers and their respective IP's. Again, not really a problem for Bioware, nor Blizzard on their current MMO projects. I expect a great product from both, even if they don't fit the design wishes of all their players. After all, WoW forums are full of some of the most vitriol laced consumers you'll ever find, but they still have 10 million plus players. :P
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Posted 9/21/2009 4:43:57 PMIf that does happen, I don't see how I will have time to eat or poop between playing SWTOR and the Starcraft MMO.
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Posted 9/21/2009 4:04:21 PMJ S Graves: You are my new favorite DH contributer.
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Posted 9/21/2009 4:08:03 PMCompetition FTW.
Capitalism FTW.
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Posted 9/21/2009 3:33:19 PMMuch in the same way EQ and UO have survived, I think SWG will keep on chugging. With the 12 servers closing the remaining players will be much more condensed and this should help it's hardcore player base feel connected. However, SOE might want to look into halfing their server load again once TOR gets a release date.
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Posted 9/21/2009 9:06:20 PM