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

[Astorlok]

I don't know if it will fail, or not. There are some things I like, such as no mods. Sure it won't have user-generated fixes but it also won't have My Little Pony weapons and armor. I think the lack of mods will help improve the lore to this game and keep it more immersible. The TES games have an incredible amount of lore and it's actually interesting lore, none of this "The elves are pointy-eared jerks who only like wine and dancing and trees, Dwarves are bearded drunks that all live underground and are crotchety towards everything." Instead they have races that are either human or animal or elf, but completely different from one another. Khajit are desert nomads who travel far and wide only to be treated like thieves and filth for being excellent night time scouts (and thieves, but let's not split hairs). Dunmer are ash skinned elves who are split between nomads who traverse the ash covered steppes, or live in civilization along the coast. Imperials are Romanish, but instead of being the top dogs, they were dominated and whipped into submission by the Aldmeri Dominion: A faction run mostly by Altmer. Mods can absolutely expand on these, but they generally detract from it. More often than not have I seen mods such as "Turn horses into Motorcycles" "Bronies Unite! MLP Swords!" "Nude Mods for all your Tentacle Rape Fantasy Needs!" I think having it controlled by the developers is a smart move in this respect.

There are some things I take issue with, such as forcing actual classes on characters. Since Morrowind the TES games have been all about doing whatever you want whenever you want. Sick of swinging that axe around? Start using that bow. Sick of the bow? Start summoning daedra to kill your enemies. Want to be the one making that landing blow? I see you have an axe in your inventory.... Forcing people to use traditional classes in a TES game is just not a TES game anymore. I think THAT is what is going to turn some people away.

[Kyra]

It comes down to numbers, there is just to many mmos out there now and not enough mmo players. With every new mmo release it spreads the mmo player poulation out that little bit thinner. And you can only really play one mmo at a time properly.

Every mmo that is out there, and there is a LOT! Even the really old ones, you will always find people still playing it, even if its only a couple of thousand people. Over time this has just saturated the mmo market. Then you have world of warcraft which ive never personaly cared about as it looks like a very childish game, but this single game hogs a lot of the mmo player base.

Eventualy in another 2 or 3 decades all mmos will be using the free to play model as it will be the only way to make a profit on the game.

[Gentaro]

It comes down to numbers, there is just to many mmos out there now and not enough mmo players. With every new mmo release it spreads the mmo player poulation out that little bit thinner. And you can only really play one mmo at a time properly.

Well a company like SE has one big advantage: Nearly EVERY FFXI player will at least try out a new MMO made by them. Let's hope they did not lose that advantage with XIV :x