What can SE learn from Bioware's failing Star Wars MMO?

[DarthTaru]

You would think the Star Wars universe would provide an ideal setting for an MMO. It has everything, from `wizards` to swordplay to epic duels to guys with blaster rifles. It has this planet, that planet, a rich and well established lore, depth, and so on and so forth. Despite this, it looks like Bioware and Lucas Arts have just released one huge dud on the MMO market. Rumors are circulating that Bioware is now exploring the F2P model and just completed a wave of free server transfers to accommodate people playing on empty servers. While advocates of F2P might argue otherwise... this to me sounds like the last gasps of an MMO in serious trouble. If this is true, considering the alleged investment in development and the fact that they had all of the Star Wars universe at their disposal, this can, should and will be considered a monumental failure.

Correct me if I'm wrong (sincerely!), but wasn't SW:TOR designed as a "casual friendly" WoW clone that's soloable? It definitely wasn't designed as an unforgiving, challenging `hardcore` struggle, that is for sure. It wasn't a game world that was designed and existed despite the player rather than one that existed for them (to use a `world-centric` game design definition i've read on this forum and liked).

I see a lot of people claim that the moron-friendly philosophy is the future of MMOs. That games like FFXI and Everquest are remnants of the past (that challenge is a remnant of the past) and that games that cater to people who don't have the time to play them, or that aren't very good at them, etc, is the wave of the future.

And yet... here we are, watching an MMO based in the Star Wars universe (which should translate into huge success by itself), backed by Lucas, EA and designed by Bioware, fall flat on its face six months after its release.

Now I'm not at all opposed to an MMO providing a good experience for casual players.
But to cater to them almost exclusively... IMO, you simply cannot cater to people who will barely play your game over the people who will and expect that to be the formula for success. WoW captured lightning in a bottle. That is my opinion. Everything came together for Blizzard and it came together for them at the right time.
I don't think, moving forward, that the secret to an MMO's success is in trying to clone that experience and game developers that believe that run a high risk of suffering SW:TOR's fate. This game had a rumored budget to be somewhere between 150 and 200 million dollars (is this correct?) as well as having the advantage of being Star Wars. It should have been the MMO of MMO's. Instead it's pathetic.

While this will no doubt be met with plenty of disagreement, I have always believed that FFXI could have done much better than it did (and it did pretty good) if (aside from actually advertising!) 99% of the content in the game wasn't designed for level 75's. It had, IMO, an endgame that any competitor would be hard pressed to rival, but little leading up to that.
When new players, RL friends or otherwise, asked me what they should do, the only answer I could give was "Get to 75."

I suspect the vast majority of players who tried XI and quit XI did so before even reaching the Dunes, when they found themselves lost, killing rabbits outside their starting city with no idea how to proceed or what awaited them if they had.
Most of the players SE lost, I imagine, were lost before ever reaching level 20, before they had the chance to become goal oriented, and that was, IMO, FFXI's biggest failing - not the challenges or the dangers presented by Vana'diel. That, I believe, is what ultimately played a large role hooking everyone.

So what does SW:TOR's lackluster success and seemingly dismal future say about what actually is the future of the genre and what should SE take away from this as it moves forward with 2.0?

[TheVedis]

dont clone games, thats what ya gotta take away

[Otaku]

dont clone games, thats what ya gotta take away

This

Taking elements from a game is one thing but pretty much re-skinning one is another
I won't mind if XIV takes elements that work in say WoW, XI, GW2 or even DAOC but if a game is too close to the original game you might as well just play the original game.
I will say one thing that has kept me coming back to the FFMMO series is the "one character" model, I played SWTOR for about 3 months and got 2 characters to 50, whenever I wanted to switch roles (ie we need a tank not a healer) I had to log out and log back with my other character, something I think SE has actually done right.

[Limonconcon]

This

Taking elements from a game is one thing but pretty much re-skinning one is another
I won't mind if XIV takes elements that work in say WoW, XI, GW2 or even DAOC but if a game is too close to the original game you might as well just play the original game.
I will say one thing that has kept me coming back to the FFMMO series is the "one character" model, I played SWTOR for about 3 months and got 2 characters to 50, whenever I wanted to switch roles (ie we need a tank not a healer) I had to log out and log back with my other character, something I think SE has actually done right.

I think that is one of the keys for MMOs, to have only one do it all character... That means you get attach to the character, you wont do stupid things to ruin the reputation you have build along the journey... no need to have 5-6 diff characters to exp different roles...
I think its genius...

[Toxsik]

dont clone games, thats what ya gotta take away

Exactly TheVedis!!! BTW I tried that game and it sucks balls. It looks cool, the fact that its star wars, and you get a lightsaber is great! I got to nail that green alien before I even left the 1st world Other than that was lame.

[Velhart]

dont clone games, thats what ya gotta take away

Pretty much this. A Blizzard developer said himself that you will never beat WoW if you just make another clone of WoW.

Actually, Extra Credits from Penny Arcade put a really good perspective into WoW clones.

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-future-of-mmos

All I think can be said in the video above. The only games I see succeeding and staying in competition with WoW (not over succeeding it) is Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 and Guild Wars 2. FFXIV 2.0 will definitely caters to a certain group of people (Japanese and JRPG players), and the idea of international servers is one of the reasons that FFXI was a huge success for a long time.

I played SW:TOR and got a Bounty Hunter to 50. I will say beforehand, the story was incredible and it was better than all the three prequels put together. However, that is as far as I can say about it. It not only pretty much used WoW's form of end game style, it also was no where near casual friendly. I remember in end game, I had to do dailies on two planets that had group oriented quests and easily took me 2-3 hours to take care of all of them (assuming you have a party ready to go), not only that, a daily was required of you to finish a dungeon. I don't know if you played dungeons in SW, but they were not short by any means. You were looking at a good two hours to finish a dungeon. So if you wanted to be as progressive as possible in the PvE department, you had to easily sink 5-6 hours of gameplay a day.

Like someone said, WoW caught lightning in a bottle. They found the balance of casual play and hardcore play. Making it so you can gather your Valor Points anytime of the week, you just had a weekly cap instead of the old way of getting 120 a day if you were on everyday. It catered to casuals because instead of feeling forced to be on everyday, you could get whatever you wanted done on the weekend and still make the same progress as a hardcore. Of course, ultimately hardcores succeeded over casuals with hard mode raids.

The concept should always be this way, making a balance between hardcore and casual but ultimately rewarded the hardcore more in the end. Hopefully FFXIV 2.0 and Guild Wars 2 sees this and make sure that balance is set in their game.

I believe FFXIV 2.0 and Guild Wars 2 will be highly successful because they don't clone WoW, simply put.

FFXIV 2.0 at worst will derive concepts mostly from FFXI and use concepts that made WoW successful without cloning it (Like a content finder system, this should be a standard tool in all MMO's.). That is okay though, since I believe FFXIV shouldn't be exactly like FFXI, but it should give us a sense of familiarity. If I am a FFXI vet and getting into FFXIV for the first time, it is good that I have some sense of familiarity to get me hooked in. At the same time, a person who has never played a FF MMO should be comfortable getting into it right away. Looking at everything so far and by interviews, it sounds like this is exactly what SE is doing. So I believe FFXIV 2.0 will be a major success that SW could not.

Guild Wars 2 will most likely succeed because it's main intent is to break away from the generic MMO formula, and by playing the beta, it really shows, and in a good way. Can't wait to play the full retail.

[Duelle]

Like someone said, WoW caught lightning in a bottle. They found the balance of casual play and hardcore play. Making it so you can gather your Valor Points anytime of the week, you just had a weekly cap instead of the old way of getting 120 a day if you were on everyday. It catered to casuals because instead of feeling forced to be on everyday, you could get whatever you wanted done on the weekend and still make the same progress as a hardcore. Of course, ultimately hardcores succeeded over casuals with hard mode raids.

Let's not forget class balance as well. Being able to do the content as any class/job you want and still being useful was a huge boost for raiding. Players are happier when they can play the role and spec they want over being forced into what used to be known as a "raiding spec" back in TBC.

[Elexia]

Let's not forget class balance as well. Being able to do the content as any class/job you want and still being useful was a huge boost for raiding. Players are happier when they can play the role and spec they want over being forced into what used to be known as a "raiding spec" back in TBC.

Can do this now in both XI and XIV, the only problem is elitist who want the easiest way out.

[Duelle]

Can do this now in both XI and XIV, the only problem is elitist who want the easiest way out.

And what I was getting at is that the devs should do their best to remove that easy way out.

Though XI's jobs are not interchangable. Can't swap a DRK out for a THF and still perform on the same level. Can't replace a SAM with a BST and perform on the same level. WHM and SCH aren't exactly interchangable either. Which is leagues away from the raid losing nothing if your melee DPS include a Ret Paladin, Combat Rogue and Frost Death Knight because the raid still performs near the same as if they had a Fury Warrior, Unholy DK, and Assassination Rogue. Or the raid not being shackled to a resto Shaman for raid heals and a Holy Paladin for tank heals.

XIV's hasn't quite gotten there yet.

[hrdndv]

[QUOTE=Velhart;730099]All I think can be said in the video above. The only games I see succeeding and staying in competition with WoW (not over succeeding it) is Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 and Guild Wars 2. FFXIV 2.0 will definitely caters to a certain group of people (Japanese and JRPG players), and the idea of international servers is one of the reasons that FFXI was a huge success for a long time.

I would add The Elder Scrolls Online. I know I will play it and hope for the best. I think it has the potential to be the MMO of the future.