Why rise of the Hutt Cartel is a failure

An MMO where any player, playing any class, could level solo from 1-50 is an MMO in name only. A player could literally turn off their chat box at character creation and still easily play almost the entire game without ever even interacting with another human.

The bolded part is where your ignorance of regional MMO mindset really shows.

The short of the long, is that Western gamers will not stick to a game that requires groups to advance in the game. At least, not enough of them to market, will do so.

Take Aion for example - when it launched, and the hype leading up to its launch, it was going to be the 'WoW killer', because it had everything WoW had and then some. Lots of great features. However, Aion was unlike other MMOs in that just about ALL endgame content (whether PvE or PvP) required a dedicated group (PUGs were possible but not likely). And do you know what happened to it? It bombed. 16 servers because 8 became 4. Then NCSoft revamped many elements to make it solo-friendly and went F2P, but it was too late, damage had been done & the population had moved on to other things. Today, probably half of Aion's playerbase are RMT/bots.

Same goes for WoW, to a lesser extent. Every expansion less and less folks are raiding, be it PUG or dedicated progression, even with the inclusion of LFR. The gamer's mindset is not the way it was 10 or so years ago (or even 5), and games that place too much importance on group requirements are not going to see much in terms of population.

These examples (there's lots more) only hold true for NA / Europe however. Korean, Japanese, Chinese gamers are a different kind of society, and the important of group play / teamwork means something entirely different in these regions, and thus the games / game elements that flop or do 'okay' at best in the west, are massive hits there in the east.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about making things bigger, better, more fun, so on. But you're really talking our your rear with several of these points, a pattern you seem to repeat.

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Hate to say it, MMOS are going to a solo-friendly format, most players want it due to busy schedules, RL, etc. Hardcore raider and PVPer type folks may not like it, but that's why they all try and make content for em. And as solo-friendly games, a lot of mmo's have a story, SWTOR just has a more indepth storyline than many, but LOTRO has a built in one. So does TSW, and COH had story arcs that built your characters.

They are going to a solo friendly format to increase the customer base. That isn't happening though so all they are really doing is swapping one small group of nerds for another small group of nerds. The first nerds were willing to pay to play for years at a time, the new group isn't.

They are going to a solo friendly format to increase the customer base. That isn't happening though so all they are really doing is swapping one small group of nerds for another small group of nerds. The first nerds were willing to pay to play for years at a time, the new group isn't.

Again... Story isn't bad. It's just not proven to be any sort of draw in an MMO, so don't ever expect to see it again to the degree you see it here.

First of, all opinions I express here, are just that, they are my opinions.

I have played swtor since beta, and completed all content to date, including Scum and Villainy, I have 2 lvl 55, and 1 lvl 51 on its way to 55. So I have a lot of experience in this game, but for me, there is only 1 word I can use to describe this expansion, disappointing, it is disappointing on all levels and leave so much to be desired.

I remember the old days, when I used to play KOTOR, possibly the greatest RPG of it's time, truly amazing, and I look at swtor, and it makes me sad, before people get on my back let me explain why.

Firstly, the story, what happened to the bioware of old, where each planet had it's own unique and interesting story, when I genuinely felt like something was happening and I was all that stood in the way of chaos, now we get the same old cookie cutter story on each planet, by the second time of playing it through you will be hitting the space bar I promise.

Secondly, the decisions, in old bioware games the decisions you made ACTUALLY MADE A DIFFERENCE! Now, nothing changes, not even what the person you are talking to says. That hurts bioware... I mean wow... it is lazy, that is the only way I can put it.

Finally, the missions and game play, nothing new came out at all with rise of the hutt cartel, the combat feel plain and uninteresting, and at some points just too easy. I was bored out of my mind grinding through Makeb, where the mobs felt like they were just put there to waste our time and slow down the grind to 55. And the missions are ALL THE SAME, go here and click this, maybe kill X many people.

Sorry, but for me, this just isnt good enough for a bioware game, where I have grown to expect more, the whole thing felt lazy and it felt like it is there just to make another quick bit of money. Just like the cartel packs.

Thank you to all those that found the time to read the post and I hope bioware changes something. Because I love star wars, but right now I don't feel bioware or EA does.

Every MMO before WoW favored group content. Every MMO since WoW favors solo content.

How many "classic" (in the sense of being profitable and long running) MMO's have launched since WoW and how many before? More importantly, the percentage of outright failures post-WoW is far higher than it was before.

I'm not saying solo content is bad or wrong. I'm just saying it's not in the best interests of the games or the genre to be solo-focused. Group focused games, by their very nature, hold the interest of players much longer than do solo ones.

An MMO where any player, playing any class, could level solo from 1-50 is an MMO in name only. A player could literally turn off their chat box at character creation and still easily play almost the entire game without ever even interacting with another human.

Every MMO before WoW favored group content. Every MMO since WoW favors solo content.

Since you feel like making a dig at me to look cool I will assume you havent read the whole thread to now, I DONT HATE the game, I quite enjoy it, but I am not going to kiss its ***. I was disappointed in the expansion and explained why.

Now if you are going to comment read why I dislike it and come up with a decent counter arguement rather than flaming instantly.

Riiiighhht.

EQ and UO are still running. CoX ran nearly 10 years. Even Vanguard (the last really group-centered MMO) is still running.

In the "Western World"...

There has not been any single blockbuster successful solo-centered MMO, besides WoW, ever.

Oh don't get all defensive. You knew exactly what you were doing, you and the others who rushed out to declare this a "failure" when the thing hasn't even been in wide release but for a day or two. I wouldn't doubt it some of you had the posts already written and ready to go.

How about do something legitimate... like give it a week or two, then comment? Now THERE'S an idea...