Top 5 MMO's BioWare should model SWTOR endgame after?

i love GA great game and they should do the RvR/WvW like GA as well.

For games that are relevant now look at Age of Conan...it has, by far, the best PvE end game raiding out there right now

Just wanted to toss in my 2 credits worth.. I like the idea you suggested retro original MMORPG such as EQ1 and DAoC.. I would even go as far as to add AC in there as well.. I do want to say that you can't compare sub numbers of the 90's to those at the time WoW was released or even today.. When I first started EQ in 1999, I was running dial up like most everyone else.. Most households did not have internet like they do today, and further MMO's back there were very much like a true MUD (aka AD&D), then the console type shoot em ups we have today.. It's a different genre and the games have mutated over the years..

To those that disagree with the OP.. I'm sorry.. However the MMO market today is is like the mad rush of fast food restaurants during the boom.. YES, they target the easy crowd and have the most customers, however that by no means make them the best cafes in the world.. This is like comparing apples with oranges... I'm waiting one day that some company will take a different path and make a steakhouse MMO, knowing it will have a smaller customer base, but still be profitable.. I have my eyes on ArchAge myself.. along with a couple others..

SWTOR is on the right path but I do agree with OP about taking some ideas from previous MMOs and DAOC is one of them. The hole get to level ten idea and choose a class is a DAOC idea. I believe if they focused on RvR, Space combat with zones missions, space PvP this game will have be far ahead of the game. They have the holy grail right in front of them.

Anarchy Online, endgame began at 175/200. Maxing to level cap wasn't require and was a massive grind for the last 10.

Anarchy Online: Shadowlands, by 210/220 I did every bit of content. Once again grinding to max level wasn't required.

Everquest 2, raiding started at 15.

Anarchy Online: Notum Wars, Tower battles actually meant something, everything in SWTOR is temporary.

Buffbots were lame and bad game design

Gatecrashing? Meh, I took it as a challenge myself. I guess if you didnt like being challenged I could see how it was so terrible! Funny thing is there were 2 gates per realm plus ports to other realms so if your gate is being crashed, go around it. I wasnt that hard to do.

Leveling was awsome. Could have used more story yes but DAoC was perhaps the best laid out leveling design going at release. It wasnt so hard it was EQ level curve but it was still long enough that it wasnt a 2 week max out job either! You could solo but it was definately faster to group up. Sorry but DAoC Leveling curve (at release) is what MMOs should be looking at going forward. This 2 week max crap has ruined MMOs as no one feels any real attatchment to their characters anymore.

Killspam. Turn it off, again, not a hard concept.

Sorry DAoC wasnt perfect and it got worse and worse every expansion and update. But other then the buffbots, your list rather petty. Sounds like you get mad if everything didnt go your way. I mean listing killspam when you simply could click it off in options? Come on. Gate Crashing when you could simply go to other gate? Come on.

Shadowbane for PvP dynamic
Asherons Call for PvE Raids
Rift for engine and PvE Global

Wow the DAoC fanboi in force.

It was fun, at least until the PvP map revamp then they were bleeding subs. But no it was not widely popular, not by a long shot.

And no 300,000 back then is not the same as some of the games successful. And no it wasn't just a US market they had EU servers also for those sub numbers.

i loved sw battlefront and i was expecting space combat like that and it was a huge let down.

Well, no mmorpg prior to WoW in the US probably ever counted as wildly successful then. I mean who knew that if you remade EQ, but made it insanely easy and put "Warcraft" in the title you would end up with millions of players. If SOE knew that was all it took, it would have made the game easier a lot sooner.

DAOC was the #2 mmorpg for its time, with EQ being #1 at 425k. SWG briefly held the #2 spot after DAOC. However all mmorpgs (except EVE) had massive population drop offs after WoW. Euro population was never that high and if you want to use that to dismiss DAOC accomplishments, remember that Euro players also played EQ, SWG, and every other big US release.

NF did not cause subscription bleeding. (People always want to blame things they did not like for subscription fall offs). Around 75k people left around the begining of WoW. Another 75k left during WoW's first year. In terms of percents you will find it similar across all of the other mmorpgs.