SWTOR

[Surlyboi]

Best comment from that article:

Just as long as he doesn’t touch any thing. Maybe the new job just lets him sit in a dark room watching flashing lights.

[SnakeCharmer]

Best comment I saw was on a trackback to the FoH forums:

Well hey, if they ever have to shut down servers by the dozens, they're in great hands

[Nebu]

I liked DAoC a lot.  I also enjoyed the first 20 levels of WAR a lot.  If Hickman could apply the good from those games to swtor, I'd be a very happy customer.

Edit: I realize that I am not the norm here.

[Samprimary]

I do my goddamndest to hold out hope for the franchise, and this takes that little optimistic part of my nerdery and makes it want to curl up in a corner, die, and ascend to join the haters.

[Sky]

Should be good for at least another couple pages of haterade.

[Malakili]

I liked DAoC a lot.  I also enjoyed the first 20 levels of WAR a lot.  If Hickman could apply the good from those games to swtor, I'd be a very happy customer.

Edit: I realize that I am not the norm here.

I think  a lot of people liked DAOC and the first 20 levels of WAR, unfortunately, I don't see how the best parts of those experiences are going to be present in SWTOR regardless of who is leading the project.

[Nebu]

I think  a lot of people liked DAOC and the first 20 levels of WAR, unfortunately, I don't see how the best parts of those experiences are going to be present in SWTOR regardless of who is leading the project.

You're probably right.   

[Ingmar]

At least it isn't Paul Barnett?

[Arrrgh]

I liked DAoC a lot.  I also enjoyed the first 20 levels of WAR a lot.  If Hickman could apply the good from those games to swtor, I'd be a very happy customer.

Edit: I realize that I am not the norm here.

I think  a lot of people liked DAOC and the first 20 levels of WAR, unfortunately, I don't see how the best parts of those experiences are going to be present in SWTOR regardless of who is leading the project.

The low level BG in WAR was great. All games should copy the make a character, enter world, queue for BG, and start killing elves part of WAR.

Hopefully one of the SWTOR races is vaguely elven.

[koro]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/04/together-we-work-alone-two-days-with-star-wars-the-old-republic.ars

It's lunchtime during the first of two Star Wars: The Old Republic immersion days at the EA Redwood Shores campus, and the game designers leading the event are panicking: everyone is talking about Portal 2. Instead of discussing the three exclusive hours of SWTOR we just played, most of the writers are chatting about yesterday's Portal 2 release and single-player campaign, which everyone feels pales in comparison to its co-op.

[Ingmar]

Why would you quote that bit when the entire rest of the 3 page article is positive? 

[Draegan]

Obviously game devs are not allowed to talk about other games or even acknowledge their existence.

[Draegan]

However, if BioWare is relying more heavily on what comes before endgame content in their own game, rather than takeoffs of standard endgame content, it stands to be some impressive stuff. Even if the endgame content is mindblowing, the designers hope that the story along the way will stave off "the mentality of racing to the top," Erickson said.

You should of quoted this in stead.
 

Hey guys!  Levels and experience and the badass skills are at the top!  Don't race!!

[Sky]

You should of quoted this in stead.

MMO players are a bunch of fucking retards, of course they'll race to the top in a game where it's about the journey. Won't make it any less of an enjoyable journey for the rest of us.

[koro]

Why would you quote that bit when the entire rest of the 3 page article is positive? 

Because I found it amusing!

[HaemishM]

Well folks, that'll do it for me. I want to thank Bioware for letting us all know where they want this game to well before it even released. Don't forget to turn off the lights on the way out. Tip your waitress!

Bioware AUSTIN. 

[Lantyssa]

At least it isn't Paul Barnett?

No worries.  He's been consulting since the merger.

[Venkman]

They mention "launch this year". Have they confirmed a Q4 2011 calendar year launch? Their feature hacking (and the article) imply it which would be good. But while adding content and more levels of stories after launch is easy, adding multi-spec'ing or other fundamental things that require massive rebalancing, not so much.

A very minor downside to the tight storyline each class follows is that play will still be very linear, compared to other MMOs like WoW

Err, wuh? They've played WoW right? Maybe they forget the pre-60 game before BC launched?

Their comments on Companions were interesting though. Being able to send them off on missions of scaling durations sorta reminds me of crafting systems where you dump resources and wait X time for the output or, of course, Eve's skills system. It's an interesting way to have an offline experience that still feels like it's progressing.

Has that really ever happened in any MMO featuring VO work?  Most complaints surrounding voice overs in MMOs stem from when they abruptly halt.

It's a Bioware game (theoretically), there will likely be a button to skip past any spoken line, if you so choose.

That won't help the people in my group as they stare at the "...waiting for Ingmar to press skip" button. 

It times out. Players have a set period of time to log their responses, whether they are in the same room as the lead conversor (itself determine by loot roll) or via hologram/remote.

That of course totally changes your mind about the game right? ;)

[Ingmar]

Well I was more thinking during actual cut scenes, not dialogue. Think Guild Wars cut scenes: "7 members of your party wish to skip this cinematic". 

[UnSub]

However, if BioWare is relying more heavily on what comes before endgame content in their own game, rather than takeoffs of standard endgame content, it stands to be some impressive stuff. Even if the endgame content is mindblowing, the designers hope that the story along the way will stave off "the mentality of racing to the top," Erickson said.

You should of quoted this in stead.
 

Hey guys!  Levels and experience and the badass skills are at the top!  Don't race!!

BioWare's own stats indicate that 50% of players who started Mass Effect 2 didn't finish it. Story doesn't drive everyone.

As for the Ars Technica article: 1) if a MMO isn't fun in the first 10 hours, it is screwed anyway, but the key issue is if players want to keep playing after the first 30 days, not the first 2, and 2) I'm going to be shocked if SWOR launches this year. They might do it by skimping on large-scale player testing, but I think that will end up biting them in the arse.

[Ratman_tf]

You should of quoted this in stead.

MMO players are a bunch of fucking retards, of course they'll race to the top in a game where it's about the journey. Won't make it any less of an enjoyable journey for the rest of us.

Here's a radical idea. Why have levels at all? If the story is why people are going to be playing the game, then just make it about the damn story.

[Venkman]

They're ability gates, nothing more. You could go with "finish quest we couldn't let you do with X and Y prerequsite quest so you can unlock ability/choice we want you to have at this moment in the game", which is what many RPGs do anyway. But it's "level" by another name.

Levels are not to blame. It's when grinding is the more efficient path than questing that is. Or when "questing" is just grinding with contextually-generated flavor text :)

[Paelos]

Luke's first quest was killing ten womp rats.

I hear they aren't much bigger than two meters.

[Montague]

They clarified on the boards that Jeff Hickman is Executive Producer of LIVE SERVICES. Basically he's the customer service honcho.

Originally Posted by StephenReid
I'd like to address a few of the misconceptions in this thread.

Jeff Hickman’s role as Executive Producer, Live Services, does not put him in charge of BioWare Austin, or the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The job description quoted in this thread is not for Jeff’s position. He is ultimately in charge of all teams that interact and interface with customers in the live game. That does not include, at any point, direct decisions about the game’s development itself. Game development is still ultimately handled by Rich Vogel’s team, with James Ohlen as Lead Designer.

BioWare Austin is made up of a huge and diverse mix of development staff, from all across the games industry. We’re proud of just how many MMO veterans we have on staff; many senior developers here have shipped multiple MMOs, which is a rarity. That collective experience is going to help us ensure that The Old Republic boasts a level of service that’s up to the standard you expect from Star Wars and BioWare

[Ingmar]

Phew!

EDIT: Wait, does that mean support response times will be measured in Mythic seconds?

[Ashamanchill]

At least it isn't Paul Barnett?

I'm crossing my fingers he will end up on this project. I can't wait for some photo to surface of him dressed in a Boba Fett helmet with sunglasses over the visor, with two chicks behind him in some sort of  storm trooper themed bikini.

But then, I'm not a  Star Wars fan.

[Spiff]

I'm going to be shocked if SWOR launches this year. They might do it by skimping on large-scale player testing, but I think that will end up biting them in the arse.

I'll throw down the gauntlet and say I'd be very surprised if it didn't launch before the year's over.
I don't expect to see a testing phase the size and length of Rift for instance and yeah it'll probably bite them in the arse (as far as retention goes anyway).
This thing simply can't continue to bleed money for that long imo, EA won't allow it! 

A short and very intense marketing blitz late autumn followed by humongous box sales, quickly followed by a storm of disappointment (plus a few people saying it's ok 'cause they got their moneys' worth of playtime, me included  )

[caladein]

Yeah, I've moved in the past few days from "Not planning on touching it with a barge pole." to "Yeah, I'll give them a box sale at least for the leveling experience."

[Amaron]

BioWare's own stats indicate that 50% of players who started Mass Effect 2 didn't finish it. Story doesn't drive everyone.

I'm not sure how you think you can even remotely tie those two things together?   Obviously story doesn't drive everyone (durr people are different).   If you want to say those stats show 50% of ME2 players weren't driven by story though then that's just pure rubbish.

[Draegan]

Can you even do large scale testing when your game is so heavy driven by story?  Seems counter-productive.

[tmp]

a short review at RPS

a concept of being a dick to the virtual people, while not new for a BioWare game, did catch my eye as something indeed pretty new in a MMO.

[Paelos]

I will probably have to play for the game for the simple fact of doing a Tyrox Radicalthon of it.

[Mrbloodworth]

You should of quoted this in stead.

MMO players are a bunch of fucking retards, of course they'll race to the top in a game where it's about the journey. Won't make it any less of an enjoyable journey for the rest of us.

See: LOTRO.

[Lucas]

Two updates today!

- Sith Warrior "Progression video":

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/sith-warrior-progression

The Marauder looks amazing, IMO; I also liked the last bits of action involving the Juggernaut.


- Dev Blog (Michael Voigt, Lead UI Artist) illustrating the recent changes to the game interface:

http://www.swtor.com/news/blog/20110429

Here is how it looks at the moment:

[Sky]

Now I'm not sure I still want to be a bounty hunter...cool armor AND lightsabers!

Caladein, if you're planning on buying at launch, sign up for BC Imperial Chapter. PM me here if you choose a non-Caladein-ish nick.