I'm not usually a pessimist but I think the future of MMORPGs may take a
potential serious hit when Star Wars Online comes out. My reasonings why
are all assumptions:
1) Assume Verant will have same problems in terms of customer service and
game balance that they have had with EQ. Their track record is the basis
for this assumption. Only way I see improvement in this arena is if
LucasArts handles this responsibility or holds Verant's feet to the fire.
2) The Star Wars movies are all about special individuals performing heroic
events. These events took place in both on land and space. Gonna be really
hard to include both aspects of gameplay in one game. Some people will want
to be Jedi Knights, who will likely spend most of their time on land doing
special missions/quests. Others will want to be fighter pilots, making
attack runs on things like the Death Star and Imperial capital ships. No
idea how they will handle the players who want to be diplomats or smugglers.
3) The Star Wars universe spans numerous worlds. The settings for the
movies were on three of these worlds. The follow on books expanded the
universe. Most MMORPGs take place on one world (Norrath, Sosaria, Dereth
etc). So for SWO to capture the spirit of the movies and books, events will
have to span multiple worlds. My guess is that everything will take place
on Coruscant and that it will be very similar to Anarchy Online (OmniTek
corporation vs Rebels).
4) By franchise name alone, SWO will attract a lot of new players into the
MMORPG genre. Unless they spend a lot of time following gaming websites,
these new players will have no idea of Verant's reputation with EQ. They
will buy the game expecting to be able to perform like like their favorite
Star Wars characters. IMO, this will turn out to be a major disappointment
for most of them. Don't expect most of these new gamers to maintain their
subscription.
5) So the end result is that the most hyped MMORPG up to date based on the
most popular movie franchise of all time will likely be a failure in terms
of gameplay. Potential investors in future MMORPGs will know that SWO was
not successful. They may not be inclined to invest in future MMORPGs based
on the poor outcome of SWO.
I admit this is all worst case scenario. Definately a possibility though.
If it does occur, sure hope NWN turns out to be as good as it promises.
Galtin of E'ci
-----Original Message-----
From: Big Daddy Legba [mailto:
legba@...]
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 6:49 AM
To:
eqbards@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [eqbards] Official confirmation from Ester
I could not agree more.
Verant will pay for what it does when it comes out with Star Wars and EQ2.
People are too ingrained in EQ to leave just for "bad attitude" (ofr the
most part, obviously a few ARE leaving).
Think of it this way. You or your guild guild decides to go to a Sci-Fi
setting game next. Anarachy Online and Star Wars are sitting there on the
shelf next to each other. You've heard mixed reveiws for both products.
Which one are you going to try first?
Repeat the same situation for Shadowbane and EQ2.
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