SWTOR

[luckton]

There are some 'flashpoints' that were previewed that only required 2 people.  What are those?

[Mosesandstick]

They aren't the same unless things have changed. Group quests are quests that require more than one person, flashpoints are the special storyline based dungeons.

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, I think in one case I was offered up a flashpoint as an alternate means of completing the storyline quest.

[Mrbloodworth]

For those of us who realize that MMOs were meant to be more than casual combat games, though, I'm afraid Sir Alec Guinness said it best when he said this is not the MMO we're looking for.

a) That is a hella inaccurate quote.

b) Aw man Bloodworth got demoted?

I left the Wurm project and asked for the red name to be removed.

[Fordel]

A lot of the Heroic Quests work like mini-dungeons, this is probably what is confusing some of these writers. They use phasing, but in a better way then WoW does. There's a green 'instance' portal/barrier, that separates the heroic quest area from the normal world and lets your group do the dungeon area without having to fight over spawns and shit, since every group has their own phase of the place. It lets them do more dynamic stuff in terms of story and conversation as well. Most of these mini-dungeon heroic quests are repeatable quests, so you could run them the same way you could run Scarlett monastery or whatever.

It's also how your class specific stories work, and how they prevent the problem of having 23 Jedi lined up waiting for their arch-nemesis to respawn to continue their storyline.

It's all entirely seamless, with the worst lag being a 2 second pause as you cross the barrier and that is rare I found. Half the time you wouldn't even notice the transition if it wasn't for the big green barrier you walk through and the fact the game tells you that you've entered a phased area and who is the 'owner' of it.


It also lets them mix in these mini-instances with the regular world in a way WoW never could, so one little side room of a big Cantina could be devoted to the Smugglers story quest, and the smuggler while inside this area could see the rest of the cantina just fine, like a one way mirror. Helps make things feel like one actual place.



I think all of that has been covered already in various places, but I'm not 100% certain so feel free to nuke it if it's too close to the NDA line.

[Igglethorpe]

I think all of that has been covered already in various places, but I'm not 100% certain so feel free to nuke it if it's too close to the NDA line.

You should be OK with that.  TotalBiscuit's video pretty much demonstrates what you said.

[Mrbloodworth]

When does the Early Game Access start?

[Shatter]

When does the Early Game Access start?

They havent said yet, my guess is Tuesday Dec 13, one week before launch. 

[Sky]

My guess would be December 15th. Just too much of a coincidence.

[Murgos]

If the point of the Early Game access is actually to smooth out launch then with ~1 million preorders they probably will need to start the early game access earlier than that.

[Outlawedprod]

People were wondering how blizzard would combat swtor to prevent subscriptions bleeding away.  We  just heard the answer.   WoW Annual Pass = Free Diablo 3, WoW mount. and guaratneed WoW xpac beta access.

[Sky]

If the point of the Early Game access is actually to smooth out launch then with ~1 million preorders they probably will need to start the early game access earlier than that.

Right now physical sales are around 630k (as of last week), so a million thus far is not out of the realm of possibility.

Also, Hater has some links to previews:

http://darthhater.com/2011/10/20/republic-closed-beta-media-event/

[Paelos]

People were wondering how blizzard would combat swtor to prevent subscriptions bleeding away.  We  just heard the answer.   WoW Annual Pass = Free Diablo 3, WoW mount. and guaratneed WoW xpac beta access.

Won't work. There's not enough crossover for people to maintain their subs just to get D3.

[Ingmar]

There's plenty of overlap between Diablo and WoW players. I would say the people (like Fordel) who only play one or the other are definitely the exception at least in my circle of gamers.

[Fordel]

How much does a year of WoW cost anyways?

[Dren]

There's plenty of overlap between Diablo and WoW players. I would say the people (like Fordel) who only play one or the other are definitely the exception at least in my circle of gamers.

I don't play WoW anymore, but I agree.  I wouldn't drop my sub to WoW just to play D3.  

However, I would not consider this "deal" when considering dropping WoW for SWTOR.  My guess is a majority of WoW players will buy and play SWTOR for the first month while maintaining WoW.  After that, they will either drop WoW or drop SWTOR.  That "deal" won't sway anyone from that path.

[Dren]

How much does a year of WoW cost anyways?

Wasn't it $12.99/mo as the best option?  So, $155 I think.

[Ingmar]

Yeah 6 month recurring @ 12.99 a month is the cheapest option.

[Murgos]

1 year of WoW & D3 for 130 bucks seems like a pretty good deal and if I had been playing WoW recently I would certainly consider it.  Right now though I have no interest in playing WOW again even though I will certainly buy D3.  However, I'm hyped up enough for SWTOR that if they were to announce a similar deal, like say a 1 year sub to TOR gets you Mass Effect 3 for free I would probably do it.  

Edit:  You have no idea how much I like Kung Fu Panda.  This is going to be rough.

[Fordel]

Man I would jump on that deal right now probably.

[Evildrider]

Soo basically they are scared of SWTOR and are trying to lock people in for a year before they are able to play it.  Sounds desperate to me. 

[Fordel]

They are trying to stop the bleeding for their next investor call or whatever the fuck it's called.

[Sky]

if they were to announce a similar deal, like say a 1 year sub to TOR gets you Mass Effect 3 for free I would probably do it.  

Hell yeah, I'd be all over that.

I'm amazed people still have the stomach to play WoW after seven years.

[Merusk]

There's plenty of overlap between Diablo and WoW players. I would say the people (like Fordel) who only play one or the other are definitely the exception at least in my circle of gamers.

Yeah I'd agree there's more than enough crossover, but the question really is; are you pumped enough by the announcement to pay for WoW for a year vs just buying D3 and then deciding between WOW or TOR.

I'd also be all-over a ME3-for-free deal with TOR.  However, it's EA and that's giving away too much new stuff.  Remember, Blizzard can give away D3 because they still have a chance to make money off of the 'free' product via the cash AH.

[Evildrider]

There's plenty of overlap between Diablo and WoW players. I would say the people (like Fordel) who only play one or the other are definitely the exception at least in my circle of gamers.

It's the opposite for me, I think there's only one person in my current guild that's all hyped up about Diablo 3.  I personally could care less, Diablo 2 bored the shit outta me.

[Shatter]

They put up a little video clip of whats inside the CE, still glad thats what I pre-ordered.  Curious to the CE only in game vendors and what that will contain, it says unique companion customizations, etc.

Collector’s Edition Store. At launch the Collector’s Edition Store will be available to those who have the Collector’s Edition of The Old Republic, and will feature items found nowhere else in the game! The Collector’s Edition will be stocked with exclusive social items for yourself, and unique appearances for your companion. The store will also have regular updates to give players incentive to keep coming back.

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20111021

[Morfiend]

I got the digital delux edition. I don't care for all the physical crap. Although I wish there was an edition with the Collectors Edition Store that was digital.

[Margalis]

Anecdotally I've found that a lot of gamers who play WoW are looking to play SWTOR but a lot of wives etc who are not really gamers but just WoW players have little interest in switching.

[Evildrider]

Yeah, but it seems they are getting alot of attention from people that love Bioware games but hate/haven't tried MMO's.  I'm kind of surprised at the amount of people interested in SWTOR that have never played an MMO before or have never played WoW.

[Fordel]

From the people I meet and see on the Beta forums, you better fucking believe there are a lot of people who have never played a MMO before.

[Amaron]

Anecdotally I've found that a lot of gamers who play WoW are looking to play SWTOR but a lot of wives etc who are not really gamers but just WoW players have little interest in switching.

Yea plenty of people are just there because that's where everyone is.   That might in fact be why EA isn't hitting some markets yet.   Asia is where the money is but SWTOR has no chance of achieving some sort of critical mass over there. 

[koro]

They put up a little video clip of whats inside the CE, still glad thats what I pre-ordered.  Curious to the CE only in game vendors and what that will contain, it says unique companion customizations, etc.

Collector’s Edition Store. At launch the Collector’s Edition Store will be available to those who have the Collector’s Edition of The Old Republic, and will feature items found nowhere else in the game! The Collector’s Edition will be stocked with exclusive social items for yourself, and unique appearances for your companion. The store will also have regular updates to give players incentive to keep coming back.

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20111021

The worst thing about it is that you can see the store but you can't even go to it to see what the stuff looks like. It's in a VIP-only area about fifty feet up in the air that you have to take a super special elevator to, where people who spent $150 can literally lord it over everyone. I know it's a bit , but whatever.

That kinda stuff sort of chafes a little. Have a VIP area with the vendors, but make it a discrete area like City of Heroes did; anything else will just breed resentment, especially from people who would've bought access at a lower price or would have otherwise had the money to blow in a healthier economy.

[proudft]

From the people I meet and see on the Beta forums, you better fucking believe there are a lot of people who have never played a MMO before.

Yeah the sense I get from real-life acquaintances is that they have, along with everyone on the planet, heard of WoW but for various reasons ranging from 'lawl nerdy fantasy' to  just no interest in the setting weren't going to play it. 

Star Wars, on the other hand, is something they seem entirely willing to eagerly jump into to find out what's the deal with this mumorporg thing.

I expect the economy to tank.

[Koyasha]

The worst thing about it is that you can see the store but you can't even go to it to see what the stuff looks like. It's in a VIP-only area about fifty feet up in the air that you have to take a super special elevator to, where people who spent $150 can literally lord it over everyone. I know it's a bit , but whatever.

That kinda stuff sort of chafes a little. Have a VIP area with the vendors, but make it a discrete area like City of Heroes did; anything else will just breed resentment, especially from people who would've bought access at a lower price or would have otherwise had the money to blow in a healthier economy.

I would probably buy an edition that came with access to the in-game stuff but not that figure that I presume is the main thing driving the price up.  $70 or even $80 is something I'm usually willing to spend on a CE of some games, if I'm sold enough on the game.  I've bought the special editions of all the BioWare RPG's from Mass Effect on forward, but $150 is just plain too much for me.  Hell, I'd even consider buying it if the figure was one I liked better (as in, 'a figure of a hot girl to go with all my other figures').  It irritates me that they're going to have this in game stuff that I WOULD pay extra for, but it's bundled with a figure that I won't.

They need to take a lesson from NCSoft and release a Digital Collector's Edition (as with Aion, which I bought one of those), so I can just get the digital stuff without the physical junk.

[Tyrnan]

Even if they don't, I'd expect to see some sort of CE/VIP pass available as an addon/MT in 6 months or so. At that stage I'd imagine pretty much anyone willing to shell out $150 to get access to the VIP store will have already done so, so they'll start tapping the revenue stream from the people who want access to it, but refused to pay such a high price for crap they mostly didn't want in the CE.