What is SW:TOR bringing new to the table? This is simple, story of 'course, BioWare's self-acclaimed "4th pillar" of the MMORPG genre, good for them. So.... what about the other features?
See this is the problem SW:TOR already has, too much focus on story. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a story-driven MMORPG, but it doesn't work in the MMORPG genre right now, how come?
Look at all the past MMOs such as Everquest. Does Everquest have an awesome story? Hell no. Let's look at recent one, World of Warcraft. Does World of Warcraft have an awesome story? Hell no. Let's look at a current one whose doing fairly well, Rift. Does Rift have an awesome story? Currently, hell no.
So how do these MMOs live/succeed? I'll tell you, gameplay. It's that simple. No I'm not some sub par intellectual who believe gameplay > story and plays CoD 24/7. No I'm a MMO vet from WoW and before that, a vet of Warcraft 3. I've seen the rise and failings of a couple of MMOs and once they fail they never come back, ever.
Back to the point, yeah it's gameplay that determines a MMORPGs longevity. And of course content, however we can't judge content, so lets look at gameplay. Fact of the matter is that at least 90% of the MMO playerbase don't give a rat's ass about story, sorry that's the truth. SW:TOR, from what I've seen is not bringing anything new to the gameplay feature nor is it improving it in anyway useful.
Let's see, we have lightsaber choreography. Uh-huh, is this at all practical when you are getting hit from all sides? I don't care if you're a ****ing super powered Jedi or Sith, this ain't the damn novels or movies. So that's a useless feature.
Oh yeah, force powers. Sith lightning and force choke may be awesome and cool for a while. But down the road when you're a few levels from level cap and seen the same damn move 10,000+ times (and this is way below the number of what you will realistically see) it will get pretty boring fast, garunteed.
To go on a more general view, because I don't have any statistics on character stats or whatever, the gameplay looks exactly the same as any MMO does. A few videos on youtube and guess what, it still has level grinding, the number one pain in MMOs. Go check a few videos on PvP, ****ing slow and clunky as hell.
And on a sidenote, bounty hunter animations look retarded. You jog at an even pace with a sterdy unmoving arm holding a pistol right in front of you. And when you want to take cover, you don't dodgeroll behind a barrier, no you set up a mini shield right in front of you. And here's the best part of the whole thing, you don't duck and cover like you usually would behind a barrier. No, you freagin' do a casual kneel and go "herp derp."
Let's go onto another feature that's more story-oriented, companions. Y'know from a single-player perspective this is pretty damn awesome. Now let's expand that into the MMO perspective. Don't you love it in the first hour of the game you've already met 10+ people who has the same exact companion as you? Immersion my ass. At best this is like one of those vanity pets you get in WoW except it's in full sized humanoid form! Not exactly the best idea.
In conclusion, MMOs thrive on gameplay. That's a fact. Sure in the future be it near or far it may evolve into story-based, but right now it's not going to. What I suggest is a MMO who balances story and gameplay evenly then as time progresses slightly tweak the story elements faster and better than the gameplay elements in small amounts. SW:TOR seeks to massively change the genre by just upping one category while leaving the others behind, this is a nono.
So yes SW:TOR will fail in my perspective, I would love to be proven wrong. But so far from what I've seen, it's not going to happen. And when it does fail and falls in the niche where Age of Conan and Warhammer: AoK resides in, you will remember my words, garunteed.
Modifié par Anathemic, 13 juin 2011 - 07:19 .
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