Is SWTOR the pariah of MMOs?

Somebody get some cold water for this burn.

Do you have any conceptualization of the level of complexity that a cross-shard system requires? The database interdependence, replication and inevitable race conditions alone are enough to give a database programmer nightmares. That isn't even mentioning the protocol/network/server design necessary to make it usable.

People see a feature in an MMO and assume, well that must have been easy to code. It can take years just to work out the kinks in a system like WOW implemented. Heck, WOW hasn't finished working out the kinks in the system it implemented. And it isn't like they share code.... so the SWTOR folks would have to do it all again from scratch.

Remember that SWTOR was announced 2008, which means it had probably already been being coded for around a year or so before that. Cross-Realm grouping entered into WOW (and the rest of the world's nomenclature) in 2011. By that time the server model and database model were locked in because to change them would be to change the entire game and set the release back several years.

It isn't about re-inventing the wheel, what you are talking about is scrapping and redesigning the whole car after you are already close to production.

Look at that certain mining/crafting game. It was developed by an Indie company, created rather recently, and is impossible to argue that it's not hugely successful. Reason being, they brought innovation to the table. If your not thinking ahead of the curve in technology, your getting left behind.

Do you have any conceptualization of the level of complexity that a cross-shard system requires? The database interdependence, replication and inevitable race conditions alone are enough to give a database programmer nightmares. That isn't even mentioning the protocol/network/server design necessary to make it usable.

People see a feature in an MMO and assume, well that must have been easy to code. It can take years just to work out the kinks in a system like WOW implemented. Heck, WOW hasn't finished working out the kinks in the system it implemented. And it isn't like they share code.... so the SWTOR folks would have to do it all again from scratch.

Remember that SWTOR was announced 2008, which means it had probably already been being coded for around a year or so before that. Cross-Realm grouping entered into WOW (and the rest of the world's nomenclature) in 2011. By that time the server model and database model were locked in because to change them would be to change the entire game and set the release back several years.

It isn't about re-inventing the wheel, what you are talking about is scrapping and redesigning the whole car after you are already close to production.

But to cite your example, still not an excuse. Why? Nothing game related is really hidden thanks to the internet. What players want and are clamoring for is open for all to see, including devs. If people have been wanting feature X for years, then maybe if a dev is making a competing game they should put serious thought into implementing feature X.

And SWTOR has innovated (name one other fully voiced, story driven MMO).

The only people who want cross-server queues are idiots who don't realize it will solve nothing, and in fact, just make the problem worst.

The only people who want cross-server queues are idiots who don't realize it will solve nothing, and in fact, just make the problem worst.

While that is true, not many people were willing to pay $15 a month or an experience that they could get while playing KOTOR I or II. Not to mention the free mods that add stuff to those games.

Fluff like voice overs only gets you but so far. At some point, you need to have a game in there somewhere with what is considered to be industry standard features.

Cross-Realm isn't "industry standard"... it is starting to get there but at the release time of SWTOR only one other game had it and had only had it for a year. That isn't "industry standard", that is expecting the game designers to have a staff of psychics to try and gleen what features are going to be emergent in four+ years.