this guys

This is a hard argument because I do believe gamers have to express criticism. On the other hand, they also have to have a realistic scope for expectations or else they will always be disappointed.

Ultimately, and this sounds harsh, I think game players need to get their heads out of their arses and understand that all game design is an exercise in compromise. MMOs are excruciatingly limited and Bioware is advertising (and people are demanding) SWTOR to be an MMO with single-player fidelity.

If you think you will ever see an MMO, SWTOR or otherwise at single player fidelity, you have unrealistic expectations and need to evaluate what you actually want from a game and what type of game you want to play. SWTOR will bring new levels of fidelity to an MMO but it will not compare with Bioware's single player fidelity.

TLDR; People need to have realistic expectations, instead of expecting every new game will be tailored to their personal inseam. Get out of fantasy land and understand the limitations of the hobby you are participating in.

I didn't insult you or intend to in any way. I did say that EALouse's "Why Warhammer Failed" Blog is the source of the number 300 million. That blog post was made when he found out he was getting fired in November and lashed back at EA with a nerdrage blog. Because of this context, (also knowing that EALouse worked on Warhammer and specifically Not SWTOR) , I believe the figure 300 million to be heresy.

Now, I have absolutely no problem with your point. You're right that a AAA title is going to generate a lot of expectations.

As for what is the difference between 100 and 300 million? I would say 100million is the current ceiling for modern game design budgets. GTA4 is amongst the most expensive games made and had a pricetag of 100million. SWTOR was stated as having a 100million dollar budget by EA. To suggest tripling that figure would be unrealistic for the game industry.

don't get defensive bro. EA has stated SWTOR is a 100million dollar game. EALouse stated SWTOR is 300 million dollars. If you're so intent on fact checking why are you willing to quote someone's nerdrage blog?

Please don't quote the number 300 million. That is only a reference from EALouse's blog post which has Zero validity. EALouse was uninvolved and uninformed of SWTOR development and his hyperbolic statements should not be quoted as fact.

TLDR, SWTOR isn't a 300million dollar game.

Yeah, Bioware, LucasArts and EA have NOT hyped SWTOR.

SWTOR is being hyped by the fans and by peopl ASSUMING it is supposed to be the next big thing. Bioware has actually been EXTREMELY conservative in announcing or releasing information, and even have gone so far as to explain their philosophy of not announcing features before they are guaranteed to be in game.

Bioware is going out of their way not to overhype SWTOR the way that Funcom did for AOC. This is a crucial marketing step and one that people should not overlook.

If you're excited about SWTOR, its because you're hyping yourself, not because Bioware is promising you the moon.

need to know if World of Darkness is a sandbox or not. please be a sandbox. please don't be a themepark!

ccp i love you, im pregnant with your baby

Aion should have succeeded. Their dev team was attentive. When they needed fixes for server queues and gold sellers, they worked quickly to fix the problem.

So why couldn't they fix the big problem Aion had? Everyone in the community knew the problem and no one fixed it. Aion was too grindy for the west. People do not want to grind in the western market. Aion could have made A LOT more money if someone on its development team quickly HALVED the exp tables for every level.

Instead Aion hemorrhaged tens of thousands of users after the first 30 days.

Why? Because making a radical choice like HALVING exp tables was too intimidating of a choice. It was drastic and it literally was a make-or-break decision that broke the game, community and brand.

Please learn that we do not want ANY grind in the west. We barely like leveling at all, but we will absolutely refuse to grind mobs in the way that most eastern/asian games promote. Please learn from past failures and learn to understand the western demographic, for your own sakes.

@ Neurotic

spoiler?

In Vector Prime, Chewie dies when the moon Dobido collides with the planet Sernpidal.

This was an example of butchered SW lore that I felt cannot be associated with the SW franchise in its entirety.

I very much agree that Bioware is OVER emphasizing the story aspect of SWTOR.

People who want to play KOTOR3 care about story, people who want to play a successful MMO DO NOT. MMO players care about gameplay, substance and balance.

I also think you dislike the SW franchise. I think you openly admit that, but its not necessarily a lens to review through. Just because you didn't like a lot of recent SW lore doesn't mean that is really relevant to SWTOR. KOTOR is the context for SW of which only 2 games have been set and only one of them by Bioware. (the better one)

So while Chewie getting killed by a moon is dumb lore, that dumbness can't be associated with the entirety of the SW franchise.

Please get as much info as possible for competitive game modes. Not just PVP - Competitive, ranked, scaled, measured game modes. PVP or PVE, i need to know about competitive game modes!