While talking with Jake Neri about the Trooper, we decided to use the opportunity to gather more information about Star Wars: The Old Republic. The LucasArts producer offered what limited insight he could into BioWare's James Ohlen and his recent comments on endgame.
Coupled with Ohlen's original statement of "doing something brand new that hasn't been done before in an MMO," Neri left us eagerly anticipating new information that might hint at TOR endgame. Being Darth Hater, we had to get a verification about Story intertwining with the rest of the pillars, as this concept is a huge driver of our speculation articles.
These endgame clues and the confirmation of intertwined pillars should not only be a consolation to those in the community worried that Star Wars: The Old Republic will just be the "same old, same old," but that the creative minds at BioWare and LucasArts appear to be pushing the envelope of what makes sense in a Star Wars MMO.
First, we have to address James Ohlen. First off -- he is a total badass. He probably did more really amazing RPGs than anyone around, so he is allowed to say things like that. He is allowed to think outside of what us, the rest of us normal humans, are allowed to think about.
I think what he talking about is that we do have aspirations to do some really exciting things. One of the things that we want to try to do with our endgame is something that is very much Star Wars, so I don't know how you want to interpret that, but I think is what James is hinting. I don't think anyone has had an endgame quite like what Star Wars delivers.
The main point is that we have aspirations of doing something really exciting. We understand about what people want to do in an endgame, so we want to make sure that we fulfill that. We also want to make sure that we push the boundaries on what is possible and what is cool.
I didn't talk to James about the comment, but I know where he comes from and where he thinks. He thinks a little bit differently than everybody else. So I am guessing that it is going to be good. If James says it's going to be good, then it is going to be good. That is the stamp that you need.
Coupled with Ohlen's original statement of "doing something brand new that hasn't been done before in an MMO," Neri left us eagerly anticipating new information that might hint at TOR endgame. Being Darth Hater, we had to get a verification about Story intertwining with the rest of the pillars, as this concept is a huge driver of our speculation articles.
Yes. You know our big thing when we said that "story drives choice, and choice drives action?" That is a big, big deal for us. Keep in mind that what you're playing today has a long way to go development-wise, so you might not see some UI elements that may be to come, but certainly we are trying to make story work really well with progression. That is a goal for us.
We want you to be engaged in the story, we want players to have a reason to play the story. We know that some players don't want to play the story, so we need to figure that out. But story for us is the key differentiator and we want to make sure that drives really cool progression into our classes. The Trooper story is really exciting and people will want to play it... and yeah, the progression will be linked to that story.
These endgame clues and the confirmation of intertwined pillars should not only be a consolation to those in the community worried that Star Wars: The Old Republic will just be the "same old, same old," but that the creative minds at BioWare and LucasArts appear to be pushing the envelope of what makes sense in a Star Wars MMO.
Comments
In regards to end game keeping the player base around. I think although having in-depth storylines will keep players around a lot longer, it still won't be more then say 60 days playtime max. 60days played time is a lot, but only a fraction of what many MMO accounts have built up over the years.
Endgame would be necessary to keep players around longer.
I would like to see Bioware continue to focus on story until release with a minimal endgame. But then to switch focus to endgame. I suppose that wouldn't be anything new for an MMO, except that TOR actually has story...
To me building your toon is way better than any piece of gear one can get. I am so sick and tired of "the Gear" addiction that it just makes me cringe. It's also very refreshing to see they are gonna do raids like nothing that we have seen before. It would be great if the raids are set up that everyone receives some type of token or coin and at the end of the raid you go to a kiosk and decide what type of reward YOU want.
Whether it be a cool droid for your starship, to a pair of clothing that have zero stats.....just a cool piece of clothing to wear. Shoot or even a pair of r2d2 slippers lol. At least everyone is rewarded with what they want. It would be great if the players can just break that "gear addiction" mold.
For me that has been a huge turnoff in MMO land where gear becomes number one and your character is just a mold of that gear. I also believe that no one will be able to rush to endgame . It's gonna take along time to get there because many of us are gonna take our time and truly think our actions through when we make our choices and decisions along the way. To me thats huge because it makes me actually care more for my character then ever before. This will definitely slow down the traditional "lets get to the end as fast as possible players.. well thats NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
I'm more interested in speculation about how the raid encounters will be done, how the different classes work together in large groups, plus repeatable and/or expansive content.
You like story? Cool. You like to hang out with your friends and chill in an MMO? Cool. But please refrain from bashing those that prefer a different way of doing things.
As for the rest of your comment , Amen brother LOL.
Doing a raid to get a token that gets you random pieces of non-raid important gear? Sounds interesting... not something that I would particularly participate in (i.e. buy r2d2 slippers over an upgrade in gear), but whatever floats your boat. I would worry a little about the integrity of the raiding environment if Bioware decide to implement a system similar to World of Warcraft's badge system, except taken to an even greater of an extreme. Blizzard can be quoted saying that they felt that the extent the badge system went was too far and it should be toned down a bit. And before anyone argues, I understand what one game does might work in another/not work in another. However, that doesn't make the experiment conducted by another game irrelevant.
You like story? Cool. You like to hang out with your friends and chill in an MMO? Cool. But please refrain from bashing those that prefer a different way of doing things.
Like I have stated before I love story, and how they are making each class have there own unique story it is going to be fun for me to level different classes. Which will keep me around for quite a long time
Im not saying story is going to be the best aspect of swtor by any means. I have just never seen any mmo put story together like we have seen so far in swtor. I am just overly excited about it and cant wait to be able to play the full game.Whether it be playing though my charcters story and making tough decisions. Or hitting end game and getting some great loot or even crafting my own. It seems it will have something for everyone, and so far swtor has everything I could ever want in a game.
I hope they don't kowtow to the non-story people. I would hate to be playing a Trooper, run into another Trooper player, ask where he is on his class storyline, and get a "Oh I don't care about story, I skipped it" in response. Something like that would just take some of the air out of my balloon. But I've ranted about this in the 2 guild interviews' comments, so I'll stop while I'm ahead.
This is not the place to rant or bag on people who want to play the same game but differently than how you want to play it.
So to sit and almost deny a whole type of play-style just because you do not like it seems a little odd. I could care less about story, I have friends I play with and will play with and group. When I am not grouping sure I will engage in some aspects of the game (Flashpoints, other quests) but my overall story-arc does not matter to me. BioWare knows this, they know a lot of people will play because it is an MMO, or play for different features in the game. You like story, I hardly care about it, we have different opinions about the game and direction BioWare will take it. The best thing you can do is learn to accept that not everyone cares about the same aspects of an MMO.
They say they know some players don't want to play story, but that's just the minority who want to just do endgame content. There already catering to them by putting endgame content. Yet some people could care less about it, but the content is still there. I hoping they don't take certain aspects out of there story pillar just because a small group dose not want to play it.
I hardly play single-player games, I play MMOs, FPS, RTS, and other games for the community, for the competitive nature of them. I could care less about my squad in Bad Company 2, I skip right to the multi-player action of the game. As for WoW I leveled up and got to 60 (At the time) in about three months. That is average for most people, however I enjoyed killing things, completing quests (XP/Loot) and gaining new abilities then about the Kobolds I was taking candles from.