This game could learn from SWG

It always makes me lol when people talk about the failure of swg. What is the definition of failure?

1 million boxed copies sold? (Not included digital downloads)
250k subs at the release making it the 2 largest mmo of that time?
Peaking at 400k subs then hovering at an average for 2012 mmos of 250k?
Dropping to 150-175k subs after nge still making $2.5 million a month?
Lasting 8 years with a subscription only model?
Closing the game to make room for the new sw game?

The game was profitable even after the nge... Most mmos average around 200-300k subs...
Financially the game was a business success... $2.5 mil a month is nothing to snark at...

Point being is failure is a harsh way to describe swg...

And as someone else posted, this thread isnt about sub numbers, or making swtor into swg 2. It simply is stating that there were some really innovative and great features to swg that would make swtor a awesome game, and retain more players.... As of right now swtor is nothing more than a single player game with co op mode and a map pack that costs $15 a month for..... I trully hope this game will add some features that keep players here, and adding a wz a op or fp and 5 more levels wont do it.... Im still here hoping though

I mean... this game is much more polished... I enjoy the combat system more and such... but Im not having as much fun as I was having when playing Star Wars Galaxies... And Ive talked to several people about it and in serious discussion all tend to say SWG > SWTOR. In conclusion why dont the Devs take the opportunity and learn from such games instead of implementing own innovative ( often sucky ) mechanics.

Pvp is no fun , leveling alts is no fun , exploration no fun , ops no fun after 4th or 5th run.... Only reason I play this still is cause Im a star wars fan and this is the only star wars mmo.

PS : So generally i was a total noob back then in swg , i didnt have good gear but still managed to have way more fun than what im getting from this game

SWTOR could gain much by implementing some features that SWG had




My friend summons it up perfectly

Are you people not listening?


SWG never had 500k....it never had 400k....it started a notch above 300k, and went south from there. Had it at any point overtaken EQ, you would of heard about it. EQ was top dog from several months after launch until the time WoW shot past it.


SWG for its day and age cost huge money ala TOR. What TOR doesnt have is a SOE all access pass to prop it up. SWG hung around many yrs, even though other companies would of went ahead and sunset it.


At 2.4M copies of TOR sold, that is as many boxes as SWG pretty much moved during its entire existence. Sandbox MMOs appeal to a niche crowd, and it would be the dumbest mistake possible to turn this into another roleplay stage ala SWG. There is no place in this game for user created buildings, nor is PVP ever going to be the focus.


You wanna talk about adding Pazaak, more space content, or swoop racing, then you will find themeparkers going along with ya. When you wanna make Owen central to the game, or PVP mandatory, you are in the far minority, and it isnt going to happen.


What you guys keep running on about is no different than the NGE in SWG....you are looking to change the core design of game. I keep expecting it finally to get thru folks heads, and for some reason we still are seeing these type posts which are totally oblivious to reality.

This ^^...all of it.

People who hate on SWG and talk about it as a failure either never played it or are just being hipster and jumping on the bandwagon....the game was a great success by definition and was light years ahead of its time (pun intended lol)...

Driz

Are you people not listening?


SWG never had 500k....it never had 400k....it started a notch above 300k, and went south from there. Had it at any point overtaken EQ, you would of heard about it. EQ was top dog from several months after launch until the time WoW shot past it.


SWG for its day and age cost huge money ala TOR. What TOR doesnt have is a SOE all access pass to prop it up. SWG hung around many yrs, even though other companies would of went ahead and sunset it.


At 2.4M copies of TOR sold, that is as many boxes as SWG pretty much moved during its entire existence. Sandbox MMOs appeal to a niche crowd, and it would be the dumbest mistake possible to turn this into another roleplay stage ala SWG. There is no place in this game for user created buildings, nor is PVP ever going to be the focus.


You wanna talk about adding Pazaak, more space content, or swoop racing, then you will find themeparkers going along with ya. When you wanna make Owen central to the game, or PVP mandatory, you are in the far minority, and it isnt going to happen.


What you guys keep running on about is no different than the NGE in SWG....you are looking to change the core design of game. I keep expecting it finally to get thru folks heads, and for some reason we still are seeing these type posts which are totally oblivious to reality.

It isn't that we hate SWG.. We hate the false information that people attempt to pass on to support their views.. If you can't make a point on it's own merit then you have no point to make..

People talk like SWG was this awsome game.. When it was a complete failure by almost any standard.. Sure.. I will give you that it wasn't all bad.. But was it good enough to improve this game?? Maybe on some small level..

The problem is that, the features that some people want from SWG aren't wanted by others..

I do not want player housing and do not think that development resources should be used to add them..

Player bounty was discussed in the beta and some serious hurdles couldn't be solved.. So they weren't added.. Now despite the ranting and raving from others.. This is a simple fact and the truth of the matter..

Chat bubbles are absolutely pointless.. But they are already in the game.. Just turned off.. So turning them back on wouldn't be much of an issue.. They were in the beta and were a huge resource drain.. Don't know if this was fixed.. But that is why they are turned off.. All I ask for is a switch to turn them off for me when people are allowed to use them again.. I don't like them and don't want them on my screen at all..

People call for sandbox elements.. What exactly does this mean?? To you?? If you can't be specific then you really aren't worth responding to..

Decorating our ship?? Why?? Haven't we out grown 'Barbie's Playhouse'?? I have no desire to hang curtains or other such things..

The issue that many of you need to come to terms with.. While you may want some of these things.. Other players do not.. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion..

My opinion is that it would be shakey ground for Bioware to add some of the features from SWG.. SWG was by no means a success.. Bioware doesn't want to kill the subs it has, and the unpopularity of SWG needs to be treaded lightly.. Despite what pro SWG people may say.. That is the facts of the situation..

Basically what Bioware can learn from SWG is what not to do.. Especially if it wants to have more than 300k subs..

And what your appraisal conveniently forgets is that for the time, SWG was probably the second biggest MMO around, until WoW gained a foothold about 1 year after it launched. No, SWG never eclipsed EQ which was THE mainstream MMORPG of the day.

Howewver, the numbers that SWG did achieve were very acceptable for the time as no MMORPG at the time had more than about 400-500k subs...it just did not happen until WoW gained a foothold as I said.

So to recap...SWG maintained a profitable number of subs throught its lifetime, was imo the most deep and complex and expansive freeform/sandbox MMORPG seen to date, the game lasted almost eight years and would still be live today had it not have been for the exclusivity agreement that BW had when making SWTOR....

Oh yes, a real failure.

I can tell you dislike the game and may have had a bad experience with it, maybe it was just not your cup of tea. However that does not mean your opinion is fact in any sense. Its also interesting that here in 2012 a lot of gamers are crying out for the functionality and depth found in SWG to be added in to TOR....that speaks volumes.

At it's peak SWG was the perfect blend of Themepark and sandbox and the fact is, SWTOR would benefit enormously if some of those sandbox features made their way in to the game....a shameless rip off of JTLS would also help wonders in this game imo.

Driz

Driz