SWTOR. Too much theme park?

Put a hot girl infront of me so they run away?

Show me an example of a Western "themepark" MMORPG (that isn't WoW) that has 25% of the peak subs of WoW?


There isn't one.



WoW was a one off, people have been trying to "out-WoW" WoW for years now and even ones that have done it have failed, because player don't want the same thing again.

There'll never be a more WoWy MMORPG because WoW has literally explored all aspects of that, anything "new" will just be the same old same old (Blizzard understand this, hence keeping WoW alive rather than trying for a WoW2).


The only MMORPG that might beat WoWs numbers is something that successfully marries the best bits of a WoW-a-like (really an EQ1-a-like) with something like a SWG/EvE-a-like and probably a DAoC/WAR-a-like.

Innovation is needed, not endless regurgitation and wondering why it didn't sell as well the 10th time around!

It's actually the same thing in most computer games (not just MMORPGs) and films at the moment.

Everything is sequels or trying to copy something that did well (once).



Which usually results in formulaic garbage and marketing men puzzled as to why doing exactly the same thing for the 4th time didn't actually work as well as the 1st.

10 mil subs after breaking the previously existing paradigm, but now the cycle seems to be moving in another direction. The mass market thing has been done, and now the dust is settling. The consumer base that is out there is starting to show some impatience with either formula so a new game (or an existing one that is willing to evolve) may achieve something that is a combination.

I didn't sub WoW, I just watched it destroy every game I loved with it's MMO-lite model. You can do a victory lap if you want, but weariness of the formula amongst the audience is getting significant.

nice use of the Might makes Right argument btw.

What might makes right argument? Why are you trying to insinuate something that isn't there? I'm just explaining that themepark = working formula. Rather than ask me to come up with yet more proof that it is true, sandbox people have to show me that sandbox is a guaranteed market. Eve Online doesn't even have one million subs, and this is a game that encourages people to have many accounts each, further reducing the number of real players.

If the most successful MMO game in the world happens to be themepark, then themepark works.

If WoW is slowly dying, it is less to do with the themepark formula being outdated and more to do with the fact that it is the same game for 8 years. For argument's sake, lets pretend that we are in an alternate universe that you are right, that themepark is a dying formula. You cannot change the fact that for 8 years, themepark works. You only look at the end stages of WoW, but you cannot deny themepark has never stopped WoW from entertaining people for 8 years.

Do you tell companies to stop creating RPG games because no one plays the original Zelda game after 8 years?
Do you tell companies to stop creating FPS games because no one plays the original Wolfenstein after 8 years?
Do you tell companies to stop creating puzzle games because no one plays Tetris after 8 years? (trick question, people still play tetris)

Yeah what a surprise, after 8 years people are bored of WoW. But that doesn't mean themepark is suddenly outdated, or sandbox, the unproven concept, is starting to thrive.

Why do some RPG/FPS/puzzle games fail? Because they are terrible, not because the genre is outdated.

Themepark is proven to be a guaranteed formula not just from WoW, but from the predecessor that it copied, Everquest.

We all try not to compare but reading through this topic we can't but help compare to our favorit. At the end of the day a sandbox MMORPG lasted 3 years for myself (EQ1) and this Theam Park ride (SWTOR) has only lasted 2 months and i'm bored. Enjoyed the story from 1 - 50 but thats it i'm afriad.
I was about to say there are so many things missing from this game but then i keep reminding myself its a theam park and i new that from the start, it wasn't aimed at my type of playstyle right from the start. "Too much theme park" - afraid it is for me.

I don't think it's too much themepark. At least, it didn't feel like. The space battles, yeah definitely. But not so much leveling from 1 to 50, I didn't feel like I was being led around at all, and it seemed like my decisions made an impact on things. Just how it seemed.

Sure, because the concept of themepark is dumb and casual enough to milk the mass market. Themepark is the summer blockbuster of gaming, it's shallow, full of FX, silly beyond belief and you see ads for it everwhere. Innovation value: Zero. Perhaps you are lured into buying a ticket, but after all it's a throw away product without any value to remember or revisit.

I think it's way too much of a themepark mmo.

Most of us have played WoW and have been there and done that, and a lot of us dont want to do that again.

I feel that this game is too much like WoW in many many ways and that its not doing itself any favours by trying to compete with it.

I dont currently know of any AAA sandbox mmo's apart from eve online which is a niche game to say the least.
So i think that if this was a sandbox of sorts that it will at least be unique compared to other MMO's and will stand out

Themepark isn't the problem. The lack of socializing and incentives for grouping, however, is. This game doesn't put much emphasis on co-op at all. What's the point of continuing paying for a subscription when all i do is soloing? This game feels very contained and singleplayerish. It's KOTOR with a chat window. "Join a guild!" Oh, please, don't give me that ******** excuse. I've joined multiple guilds but that nothing to improve my co-op experience nor did it increase grouping. Not to mention that half of the people that were in my current Guild left just within this month alone. BioWare better start addressing this before it's too late.