SWTOR fastest to 1M players in MMO History

[Marou]

From Shacknews:

Perhaps you've heard of a little MMO called Star Wars: The Old Republic that recently launched. Electronic Arts, BioWare, and LucasArts have released some impressive player-driven statistics for the game, which speak directly to just how quickly folks are taking to the game, and how much they're enjoying the historical sci-fi epic.



According to the press-release, over one million registered players have created 3.8 million characters since launch. Saber-wielding tanks seem to be the favorite (I mean, who doesn't want to swing a lightsaber?) with 510,000 Jedi Knights and 550,000 Sith Warriors having been rolled.

Twenty-eight million game hours have been logged by players so far, with the average play time clocking in at more than 5 hours per session. We're not entirely sure if this figure includes times spent waiting in server queues, but it's a pretty impressive stat, nonetheless.

More in the linked story. They also have a first impressions article here, we have a thread with first impressions here, along with a beta review if you somehow missed it.

[Sillywilly]

Doesn't surprise me. Believe it or not the forums aren't full of bitching and neither is general chat. People are just playing it and having fun. This game has completely given me inspiration for the MMO genre. Honestly I wasn't watching/anticipating this one nearly as much as I was/am The Secret World or GW2, mostly because SWG was such a flop from the start for me. It just kinda snuck up on me but it has been an outright blast so far.

[ambivalent]

Ok, really, just how much of a WoW replica is it?

I really hated WoW for the following reasons:

Uncreative quests.
Everyone looked the same.
1 Build worked for 3 trees for each class.
It was all cookie cutter sameness.

How much does SWTOR break this mold?

[Sillywilly]

Ok, really, just how much of a WoW replica is it?

I really hated WoW for the following reasons:

Uncreative quests.
Everyone looked the same.
1 Build worked for 3 trees for each class.
It was all cookie cutter sameness.

How much does SWTOR break this mold?

Well the quests are going to be about as interesting as it gets in an MMO.

No people definitely look different. You have to remember you have 3 completely different categories of look to begin with. Smugglers are dressed in a similiar fashion to Han Solo. Troopers more like space pilots and storm trooper looking gear. Jedi can be seen in anything from a light armor (cloth robe) to plate looking armor. The cool thing is that orange gear which you can mod yourself has many many different types and looks so you just find that chest piece you liked in orange and put good mods in it and look cool.

Not so sure about that. I've had some trouble deciding where I want to put my advanced skill points though if that tells you anything. For me the advanced skill trees seem more like enhancements than specs, it's almost like how do you want to enhance yourself? Do you want to reduce a couple of timers, up your critical percent, get a heal grenade? Do more AoE damage? etc

So far the cookie cutter thing hasn't been very apparent for me in any category but honestly it's still a little early in the game to be able to know yet.

[VKhaun]

My friend is still playing this and wants me to get it.
Cancelling DAoC and buying this Thursday night.

We're doing PvP on Sabre of Exar Kun republic, and PvE on... something Ordo... empire side.

[Canadiantx69]

lol vk, you're going to be up against me and my friends on Sabre.

[Ero Elohim]

Ok, really, just how much of a WoW replica is it?

I really hated WoW for the following reasons:

Uncreative quests.
Everyone looked the same.
1 Build worked for 3 trees for each class.
It was all cookie cutter sameness.

How much does SWTOR break this mold?

It doesn't, but all the apologists and people enjoying other aspects of the game will tell you otherwise.

[Graveworm]

It's definitely a WoW replica, that is why it is such a good game. If you hated WoW, you probably want to stay away from SWTOR.

[ambivalent]

That's actually pretty sad to me.

I loved and played SW:G Pre-CU and enjoyed it. I am a massive Star Wars fan, read almost every book (including some of the schoolastic ones), and own almost every audio book that they've released for it.

I always enjoy Star Wars games, but I really hated WoW; for the above reasons - I am not one of those haters that can't admit some of the innovations WoW did bring to the MMO world.

Ah well, another semester starts in a couple weeks anyway and this will be a full 18 credit, along with a marriage, full time job, and a baby due in August. Just not enough time to worry about jumping into another MMO.

Thanks for the input all.

[Canadiantx69]

Or you could try the game and decide whether or not you like it?

BTW Ero, your undying hate of SWTOR is hilarious.

[Norska]

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.

[ambivalent]

Or you could try the game and decide whether or not you like it?

BTW Ero, your undying hate of SWTOR is hilarious.

Thanks, but my days of dropping $60 on a game just to find out it isn't for me are long behind me. I only asked here because no one else I game with has even considered it; they're either content with WoW or playing CoH with me (free I won't pay for it anymore).

[Boxy Brown]

It's a WoW clone for plenty of reasons but not for the reasons your listed.

The quests are the best I've seen yet and all three talent trees are fun and shape your character differently. Everyone kind of looks the same, but that's the same in any game where you can't dye your armor.

It's a WoW clone in the sense that there's a GCD and casting push back.

[Andile™]

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.

Right behind you, love!

[Sillywilly]

It's definitely a WoW replica, that is why it is such a good game. If you hated WoW, you probably want to stay away from SWTOR.

Bullshit. I hated WoW and I'm freaking loving The Old Republic. I have a 31 jedi sentinel and I now have alvl 24 trooper commando. Most of the side quests are exactly the same and I've not skipped a single one, not by passing it over nor by skipping the dialogue. It doesn't play anymore like WoW than Rift, Aion, Warhammer, LotRO, Horizons Empires of Istaria, CoH, etc.

The only similarity between this game and WoW are hmmmm.............. knock back cast bars? A global cool down? That you do quests?

[VKhaun]

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.

Here I am! Giving the middle to you...

[Sillywilly]

BTW Ero, your undying hate of SWTOR is hilarious.

[Ero Elohim]

The only similarity between this game and WoW are hmmmm.............. knock back cast bars? A global cool down? That you do quests?

Marou made a good post in one of the other threads on "What Makes a Game a WoW Clone." SWTOR fills all of the criteria, whereas most other MMOs don't.

As to my "undying hate of SWTOR", excuse me for thinking the genre should move forward or try new things, especially on a $130 million budget. All that's going to happen if SWTOR becomes king of the roost is we're going to be doomed to another decade of shitty WoW/SWTOR clones. It's the most exceedingly derivative game I've seen in the genre. I was hoping they'd try at least something new, but I didn't find anything imaginative or exciting. If the game wasn't Star Wars and you were running around dual-wielding broadswords and charging instead of Force Leaping, you'd probably feel the same way.

[Graveworm]

Let me be more specific, SWTOR is a WoW-clone plus more. I still think anyone who legitimately hated the gameplay in WoW will not enjoy SWTOR (unless perhaps if they are diehard Star Wars fans). That being said, a lot of people who "hate" WoW don't legitimately hate the gameplay.

[Sillywilly]

Marou made a good post in one of the other threads on "What Makes a Game a WoW Clone." SWTOR fills all of the criteria, whereas most other MMOs don't.

As to my "undying hate of SWTOR", excuse me for thinking the genre should move forward or try new things, especially on a $130 million budget. All that's going to happen if SWTOR becomes king of the roost is we're going to be doomed to another decade of shitty WoW/SWTOR clones. It's the most exceedingly derivative game I've seen in the genre. I was hoping they'd try at least something new, but I didn't find anything imaginative or exciting. If the game wasn't Star Wars and you were running around dual-wielding broadswords and charging instead of Force Leaping, you'd probably feel the same way.

Where is the post? I have to see this. Cause, you know, every single game that has come out in the last 5 years hasn't been accused of being a WoW clone lol.

[Ero Elohim]

Where is the post? I have to see this. Cause, you know, every single game that has come out in the last 5 years hasn't been accused of being a WoW clone lol.

There are a bunch of things that determine clone status and they all have present to give the label.

Same or very similar progression (100% questing and instanced dungeons)
Same or very similar character makeup (talent trees, resources, level system, etc)
Same or very similar controls (GCD's, no aiming, etc)
Same or very similar PvP gameplay (instanced arenas, no meaningful world pvp, etc)
Same or very similar PvE gameplay (no non-combat mob ai, wars of hp attrition since player aiming and evasion is dice controlled, aggro management)
Same or very similar static world (No simulation elements, static theme park with a few random things loitering around as window dressing)
Same or very similar end game (Heroic Dungeons/Raids/Instanced PvP)

Only if something meets all of those criteria is it completely safe to call it total WoW clone. The perception that it is a WoW clone stems from the producers calling it a WoW-clone over and over again. If it significantly deviates from anything above, perhaps the producers were being unkind to it. It's why I was digging for info. I'd like it (not) to be a total WoW clone.

1) Randomly killing enemies gives little experience. Quests and Flashpoints are the major sources of XP.

2) All characters have either a Rogue-style Energy bar (100 max and quickly regens, though with the added caveat of regenning slower the lower it gets) or a Warrior-style Rage bar (max of 12 "Rage Points" and you gain 2 per use of your autoattack). Talent trees are set up identical to WoW talent trees, with 10 less talent points.

3) 1.5s GCD combat. No autoattack, but you get a filler attack that fills much of the same purpose, as it's there to be used when your resources are dry.

4) PvP is accessed at level 10 by a PvP button that queues you and teleports you to a Battlefield, which is an instanced area of 10-15 people fighting each other. The planet Illum is an open-world PvP frontier, but I didn't experience it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5HLbWntqL0 DAOC it isn't, though. More like a WAR RvR lake or WoW Alterac Valley.

5) PvE's main difference is that you fight 3-4 enemies at once, City of Heroes style. It's very WoW in its difficulty level, essentially you can't die unless you go AFK for a few minutes in front of them. Once I got my companion, it could kill mob packs for me. I was doing group quests at level 8 with just me and my companion.

6) One of the largest complaints in the beta was that the world felt dead. The capital cities are enormous, but I felt annoyed because they aren't full of interesting stuff, just more space to run across. I don't think I saw any neutral critters or people moving around doing stuff ever. Maybe one critter, but it was hard to tell because I one-shot everything on that planet, including it.

7) The end-game seems to be focused on either doing Operations (i.e. Raids), Heroic Flashpoints (Heroic Dungeons), or Battlefields (instanced PvP). Sound familiar?

[Graveworm]

1) Randomly killing enemies gives little experience. Quests and Flashpoints are the major sources of XP.

Actually, space combat missions are fantastic XP (and break the WoW-clone combat mold), as are warzones. That's one of the few things SWTOR uses to improve upon the WoW model.

[Marou]

Actually, space combat missions are fantastic XP (and break the WoW-clone combat mold), as are warzones. That's one of the few things SWTOR uses to improve upon the WoW model.

WoW patched in XP for battlegrounds a long time ago. Sometime when I was still playing off and on during The Burning Crusade. The major differentiation for SWTOR from where I'm sitting seems to be:

1) Less open world (eg. World PvP almost impossible outside Ilum, discouraged in Ilum)
2) More Linear progression path (Leveling Zones progression A--B--C versus WoW A--C--D--F)
3) Voiceovers
4) Starfox

That being said, I'd totally play it for a 5-6 weeks with Aeinna, Zavon, and Silly: if it didn't cost $150 (copy + 1 month for me and Aeinna) to do so. It's the pinnacle of "theme park" MMO design. While "theme parks" don't have any end-game appeal whatsoever (eg. gear grinding) to ME, they can be fun to level up in and casually pvp awhile with good company. I'll play it for a little while when it's cheap or free to do so. However, it's pure fantasy to argue that it pushed the genre forward in any conceivable way. For $130M, it's rather depressing.

[Sillywilly]

Same or very similar progression (100% questing and instanced dungeons)

Which is pretty much every MMO since DAoC.

Examples: Rift, LotRO, Horizons: Empires of Istaria, City of Heroes, Champions Online, Age of Conan, Warhammer, etc.

Same or very similar character makeup (talent trees, resources, level system, etc)

Which is pretty much every MMO since DAoC lol.

Same or very similar controls (GCD's, no aiming, etc)

Games with GCDs and no FPS style targeting: Examples: Rift, LotRO, Horizons: Empires of Istaria, City of Heroes, Champions Online, Age of Conan, Warhammer, etc. The only exception is Fallen Earth.

Same or very similar PvP gameplay (instanced arenas, no meaningful world pvp, etc)

And that's still the same for most every MMO released since DAoC. There's no RvsR in any of these games with the except of Warhammer and it was only an afterthought there.

Same or very similar PvE gameplay (no non-combat mob ai, wars of hp attrition since player aiming and evasion is dice controlled, aggro management)

Name an MMO that does have "non-combat" AI and that sin't "dice" controlled? At least when I'm running around in Star Wars I can hear people talking and arguing and crying and bitching about politics. The game does a very good job of setting a mood and atmosphere for the game. The best since LotRO.


Same or very similar static world (No simulation elements, static theme park with a few random things loitering around as window dressing)

Yeah same as every MMO since DAoC. I've played EQ2, CO, H:EI, FE, AoC, War, etc, etc. They all progress down a set path through the world with very little deviation. SWtOR does in fact at least send you back to old planets or to different parts of the planet depending on class.

Same or very similar end game (Heroic Dungeons/Raids/Instanced PvP)

Just like every other MMO that has been released since WoW.

Every single one of those criticisms (I'm talking to Ero here) can be used to bash every single MMORPG released since DAoC. DAoC is the last one I can think of that wasn't quest driven along a set path with battlegrounds for PvsP.

However the benefits of SWtOR are:

1. The voice acting really adds to the game. The quests are so much more involving and immersive. In fact that only reason I came back to this thread at this very moment is because I was having a private chat with my companion in the cantina about how defecting to the Republic affected her both in how people trust her to how it must have affected her family. With the voice overs and the cantina in the background and the music toned to promote the mood of the conversation it's absolutely gold. You cannot compare it to questing in any other game. If you think those little porn spam pop up window looking quest dialogues in WoW or any other game are even remotely on par with questing in SWtOR then you can go fuck your mother in the ass because you're just being a whiny little bitch in denial.

2. While the armor/cosmetics may SEEM somewhat limited, they are only limited in that I don't have to see some Fable II loving furry faggot running around in bright ass neon pink plate mail. A welcome sacrifice. There is however cosmetic clothing one can wear for RP 'n shit and they have left it open for way more additions to this aspect in the future.

3. The ship is a fucking house I can fly around in space and shoot the shit out of the empire with. Customizations and even GUILD SHIPS are all on the agenda list as said by Bioware. If you wanna go put some fucking stone gnomes out in your housing lot be my guest. Maybe Mythic or Turbine will add a landing pad to the housing upgrades so I can land my Correlillian Vanguard Light Class Covertte Star Ship on your mother fucking roof bitch. World of Crapcraft didn't even have housing.

4. The companion system is everything a companion system out to be. Every class is not a pet class the companion system just keeps the game from feeling so fucking monantenous. It's just one more thing that not only adds to immersion both through play and RP but also adds a whole other element for customizing your character as I get 4-5 different companions to choose from. Did your mother fucking wolf every wear a slave dancer bikini? I don't think so. Did your wolf ever invite you into a corner of the ship to let off a little sexual tension? You'd probably have liked that but no it didn't.

Shit I'm outta steam, I'm about to go play the fucking game because that's more fun that arguing with you about how every fucking thing since WoW is a WoW clone.

[Ero Elohim]

Honestly, Silly, this argument isn't even worth having. There have been other varieties of MMO released since DAOC, EVE Online being the most notably different. Your refusal to see that SWTOR is just milking the WoW tit doesn't change that it is.