SWTOR

[Bungee]

For those about to rock, the client is up and ready for download.  For previous weekend people, you need to go back to /tester and RSVP for this weekend's test in order to update your client.

Thanks, checked the /tester after never getting an email and I'm in! Guess that'll mean a night of downloading, 4h of playing and then finding out that I hate grinding and n00b quests.

But well, thanks for the heads up :)

[luckton]

http://www.torhead.com/

Well it took them long enough 

[Numtini]

I ran my client and it is downloading 12gig. Is that giong to get me up to speed or do I really need to uninstall/reinstall?

[luckton]

I ran my client and it is downloading 12gig. Is that giong to get me up to speed or do I really need to uninstall/reinstall?

12GB is what I got too.  They're saying if you do encounter any problems that you should uninstall/reinstall, if you really feel like giving your ISP more fuel for their 'This is why we need to throttle the internet' fire. 

They say the patching should work though.  If not, I don't mind waiting till I get my retail box.

[Amaron]

Correct me if Im wrong but are testers saying that mobs are respawning inside the instanced areas?

SWTOR uses instancing in a lot of spots that aren't actual Flashpoints/Dungeons.    A lot of the class specific quests lead to small instanced area's. 

[Rendakor]

For those about to rock, the client is up and ready for download.  For previous weekend people, you need to go back to /tester and RSVP for this weekend's test in order to update your client.

Thanks man, downloading now.

[Nonentity]

I got to level 30 in a previous beta with my Vanguard.

I was sad when I got a speederbike and couldn't just ride off into the sands of Tatooine, as soon as I left the city boundaries I started to get 'dehydrated'. Bah.

I'd say play Smuggler/IA or Trooper/BH if you want to have unique gameplay mechanics (ranged tank and cover system), those feel the most sci-fi of the classes. The Jedi/Sith classes are the most 'star wars-y' and have a lot in common with WoW classes.

[murdoc]

While I applaud them for kinda sorta taking security seriously, every fucking time I try and do this beta stuff I have to reset my password, or set a ton of security questions, or light my hair on fire... pain in the ass all around. Just allow authenticators already so we can test those out and stop fucking making me reset my password every week.

A Star Wars game with a security question of: What's your favourite movie?  

[Shatter]

While I applaud them for kinda sorta taking security seriously, every fucking time I try and do this beta stuff I have to reset my password, or set a ton of security questions, or light my hair on fire... pain in the ass all around. Just allow authenticators already so we can test those out and stop fucking making me reset my password every week.

A Star Wars game with a security question of: What's your favourite movie?  

Not like you have to worry anyone would answer Episode 1-3

[Chimpy]

They really need to get their email notification shit figured out imo.  

Improving security does not bother me. Limiting the characters I can use in a password to about half of my normal length does.

Do they also use our favorite "billing email address is your login" trick too?

[Numtini]

The questions are annoying, if for no other reason than that you have to remember what you put ie, did you grow up on "Smith Street" "Smith St" or "Smith." It's long since the time that games should just ship with an authenticator.

[PalmTrees]

Got the download started, going to lose about half the weekend testing time due to Thanksgiving traveling and family stuff though. Still looking forward to trying things out.

[Fordel]

I got to level 30 in a previous beta with my Vanguard.

I was sad when I got a speederbike and couldn't just ride off into the sands of Tatooine, as soon as I left the city boundaries I started to get 'dehydrated'. Bah.

I'd say play Smuggler/IA or Trooper/BH if you want to have unique gameplay mechanics (ranged tank and cover system), those feel the most sci-fi of the classes. The Jedi/Sith classes are the most 'star wars-y' and have a lot in common with WoW classes.

You can cruise the entirety of the rest of Tatooine, the exhaustion zone around the spaceport city is a device to prevent the other faction from camping it on PvP servers, since they can't get to it at all that way.

[Sky]

Lolpvptardationeffect

[Lucas]

Just finished downloading the client (my folder is 18,5 GB); it took me roughly 9 hours on a ADSL 6 Mb

[Mrbloodworth]

No weekend for me it seems.

[01101010]

Just finished downloading the client (my folder is 18,5 GB); it took me roughly 9 hours on a ADSL 6 Mb

Started the dl before I left for work this morning... should be done by the time I get home barring any asshattery.

[eldaec]

The questions are annoying, if for no other reason than that you have to remember what you put ie, did you grow up on "Smith Street" "Smith St" or "Smith." It's long since the time that games should just ship with an authenticator.

Use the same strong password for all security questions and store it in a password vault.

[proudft]

Sadly it (and most of these stupid question things) complains that you can't have the same answer for more than one question.  

[Furiously]

I'm shocked I am considering playing a guy character for once.

[01101010]

I'm shocked I am considering playing a guy character for once.

Actually... I am leaning that way to.

[DraconianOne]

Out of interest, do any of the beta players have an idea about how long it takes to do Chapter 1 of the class story?

[Viin]

Hmm, probably took me 4-6hrs to get my lightsaber on a JK, but I was going through it pretty leisurely.

[koro]

Out of interest, do any of the beta players have an idea about how long it takes to do Chapter 1 of the class story?

If you poopsock it, you can hammer it out in a few days; it concludes in your 30s.

[Shatter]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/activision-blizzard-stock-downgraded-on-world-of-warcraft-declines-6346436

In an investor note today, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Atul Bagga expressed pessimism over WOW's ability to reverse its negative trend. In the process, Bagga downgraded Activision Blizzard's stock from "buy" to "neutral."

Bagga's move was primarily motivated by a Lazard Capital Markets survey of online players, which was conducted in conjunction with Peanut Labs earlier this month and polled 381 online gamers. The study found that WOW's age, as well as increased competition, could lead to an exodus of 900,000 to 1.6 million players following the launch of EA's Star Wars: The Old Republic in December.

To the point of WOW's age, Lazard Capital Markets' study found that 57 percent of former WOW players said that they had reached end-game content and had become "bored." As for increased competition, the study found that 43 percent of former WOW players had quit due to friends leaving for other MMOGs.

Bagga noted that Star Wars: The Old Republic, in particular, stands to gain from WOW's loosening hold on the market. Of those surveyed who are currently playing WOW, 50 percent said they plan to buy The Old Republic, with an additional 38 percent saying they may buy the game. The survey also found that 87 percent of the 95 players in the study who were participating in The Old Republic beta had already preordered or planned to preorder EA's game.

The analyst didn't completely rule out a resurgence in WOW subscribers. The study indicated that 50 percent of former WOW players would consider coming back to the game if Blizzard were to offer a special promotion. Such promotions would eat in to Activision Blizzard's bottom line, however.

Bagga also said that the game's fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria, should yield a healthy resurgence in subscriber numbers. Of those surveyed, 33 percent of the former WOW players said they plan to resubscribe to the game upon Mists of Pandaria's launch. A release date for that expansion has not yet been announced.

[Lakov_Sanite]

In other news, research shows water to be wet.


Seriously, this is the same damn report for any new mmo coming out almost. The question is not whether lots of mmo players will try swtor, it's how long they will try it for. SWTOR may steal a huge chunk, but whether they stay there for a couple months or a couple years remains to be seen.

[Merusk]

Nothing surprising, true, but you're explaining water to a creature that lives in a vacuum - an investor - not old addicts on an MMO forum.   They view that "couple of months" as the long-term, not the short.  Years? What?

[Furiously]

Sounds like yesterday was a good day to sell Activision short.

[Montague]

Hate this fucking launcher. I've typed my password over and over again, changed it several times and it still gives me "wrong email address, password, etc" error. Tried RSVPing to the test, get the confimation email, try to follow the link to reinstall the launcher and it asks me to RSVP again. 

[01101010]

Hate this fucking launcher. I've typed my password over and over again, changed it several times and it still gives me "wrong email address, password, etc" error. Tried RSVPing to the test, get the confimation email, try to follow the link to reinstall the launcher and it asks me to RSVP again. 

Did you set up the ten security question gauntlet yet? I had to do that before it let me dl.

[Paelos]

Sounds like yesterday was a good day to sell Activision short.

The stock's been in freefall since the earnings were released. Major investors are not stupid. They read into those numbers exactly what I posted in the wow thread about it. Activision Blizzard as a company is losing it's cashflow position due to poor choices and heavy R&D on their next projects. I believe they thought they could string the customers along until the end of 2011 with minimal loss, and that has backfired on their projections for the fiscal year.

[Ingmar]

Sounds like yesterday was a good day to sell Activision short.

The stock's been in freefall since the earnings were released. Major investors are not stupid. They read into those numbers exactly what I posted in the wow thread about it. Activision Blizzard as a company is losing it's cashflow position due to poor choices and heavy R&D on their next projects. I believe they thought they could string the customers along until the end of 2011 with minimal loss, and that has backfired on their projections for the fiscal year.

"Freefall" is massively overstating it. Even after falling off a bunch from its high point it is still worth more now than it has been for most of 2011. The anomaly is the spike up to $14 a couple weeks ago, not the current price.

[Shatter]

In 2012 WOW will take a hit.  Its already seen some of that in 2011 and that was from just pure boredom of players or people not happy with the content / game direction.  Now factor in TOR and GW2 with a bunch of players who are bored or looking and you have a recipe for decline.  Their expansion will get back some of those numbers

[Fordel]

What about Blizzard "Buy wow for a year and get Diablo threeeee for freeeeeee", that will stabilize things for them quite a bit I imagine.

[sam, an eggplant]

Sounds like yesterday was a good day to sell Activision short.

Guys, please stop talking about the market. The dow and nasdaq are both down ~2% today due to the congress supercommitee "surprisingly" failing to reach a decision on the deficit. ATVI actually outperformed the market by only dropping 1.41%. If you look at year to date, ATVI only dropped 4.5% the entire year including the 1.41% today. It's not doing great, hence the downgrade, but it's hardly in freefall.