Reflecting on SWTOR and XIV

[Jadi]

So during the down time I started looking for another game to play, I wanted something free and not WoW like. Despite what a lot of people say WoW isn't the worst game in world, but I've already played it.. so to me there was no reason to play it again or play a clone of it.

I choose SWTOR as I like Star Wars and there was a lot of positive hype about the game upon it's launch then a huge collapse, so I wanted to see what that was about and the game has gone F2P as well.. at least partly (who could blame them for how much they must have spent on voice actors).

My first impressions of it was "This is almost EXACTLY like WoW." And it started to dawn on me that the MMO landscape is absolutely filled with WoW clones and more WoW clones.. and it gave me a new found respect for what SE and the Dev's tried to do with XIV 1.x. The play style, combat and control that XIV was shooting for and partly succeeded in achieving is absolutely wonderful. They created something like no other and we can hate them for the mistakes they made but they also were brave enough to set out on uncharted waters and change the ideas of what a MMO could be.

XIV Dev's as you develop and plan 2.0 please don't loose that magic that exists in the XIV 1.x client.. it's not wrong to take steps in the direction of games like WoW or SWTOR as they shine in areas but keep in mind you have a lot of ideas in the 1.x client that also work well and don't exist in any other game. I can't imagine getting the kind of thrill I got from beating content like Raven in a game like SWTOR as it's the kind of game that you play for a while and drop, and thats why it failed..

[Ingolf]

Similarities =/= Clone.

Seriously guys. I don't think SWTOR was absolutely great, but it's not a clone. It's like saying every game with turn based combat is an FF clone.

[casker]

Similarities =/= Clone.

Seriously guys. I don't think SWTOR was absolutely great, but it's not a clone. It's like saying every game with turn based combat is an FF clone.

They straight up plagiarized a lot of stuff from WoW down to ability mechanics and math behind them. The bioware way is to copy other companies games and then shove dialogue trees into them.

But yeah...it's not really a WoW clone. For SWTOR, that is a compliment it doesn't deserve.

[Ingolf]

They straight up plagiarized a lot of stuff from WoW down to ability mechanics and math behind them. The bioware way is to copy other companies games and then shove dialogue trees into them.

But yeah...it's not really a WoW clone. For SWTOR, that is a compliment it doesn't deserve.

[Virtuso]

But yeah...it's not really a WoW clone. For SWTOR, that is a compliment it doesn't deserve.

Yeah my my old guild master said once something that stuck with me about WoW-clones. How it doesn't really fit and the problem isn't that all these MMO's cloned WoW but how they didn't. How their more shallow imitations than clones. Swtor to this day, still missing loads of features that players are accustomed to and many MMO's launch without things most MMO'ers consider standard, effective LFG tools, Guild leveling, customizable UI, bigger endgame scene, ect.

So they think SWTOR's problem wasn't they clone WoW but they tried to get away with a half-assed knock off and put all their time and money into voice acting instead.

The classic defense is that no MMO can launch with such features, even though Yoshi-P seems intent on trying to get all those basics in at or immediately after launch. Cross server LFG, Free Company system, player designed UI's, public quests, ect, all "standard" features. Yet SWTOR STILL shows no sign of having, even coming up on one full year post launch yet AAR promises at or right after launch with continuous additions in patches.

GW2 on the other hand, all the same guildies who trashed SWTOR praised it for having many such features at launch. And GW2 doesn't even count on subs to get their investment back. As a result, player reviews for GW2 over all seems far away more favorable than they were with SWTOR.

[fusional]

As a result, player reviews for GW2 over all seems far away more favorable than they were with SWTOR.

yeah. they gave it a good review, played it for a few weeks then moved on to other things. it's already in decline and is estimated to have lost around half its players so far. simply put: once the shiny coat of newness and marketing buzz wore off, in spite of whatever they may have done right- ncsoft didn't deliver the gaming revolution they promised, and effectively made a game that's just too easy to quit.

[KiriA500]

yeah. they gave it a good review, played it for a few weeks then moved on to other things. it's already in decline and is estimated to have lost around half its players so far. simply put: once the shiny coat of newness and marketing buzz wore off, in spite of whatever they may have done right- ncsoft didn't deliver the gaming revolution they promised, and effectively made a game that's just too easy to quit.

NCsoft is the publisher, ArenaNet is the developer. Blaming the publisher for faults of the developer is silly.

While NCsoft does own ArenaNet, they themselves didn't make Guild Wars.

[Elexia]

Similarities =/= Clone.

Seriously guys. I don't think SWTOR was absolutely great, but it's not a clone. It's like saying every game with turn based combat is an FF clone.

RIFT wasn't a clone either.

NCsoft is the publisher, ArenaNet is the developer. Blaming the publisher for faults of the developer is silly.

While NCsoft does own ArenaNet, they themselves didn't make Guild Wars.

They do still have say so in development since they're the ones spending money on publishing and marketing the product and want to make sure they don't regret it lol. This is why a lot of companies self publish if they didn't get consumed by EA.

[Valmonte]

Similarities =/= Clone.

Seriously guys. I don't think SWTOR was absolutely great, but it's not a clone. It's like saying every game with turn based combat is an FF clone.

your right, its a copy that's actually worse then the game they where coping from.

[Fadigre]

The MMO industry is kinda stuck at the moment.

Triple A titles tend to follow a strict inner-circle of rules in regards to how they play which is why we keep getting the same-ish games and several sequals.

Creative gameplay mechanics are mostly coming from indie titles (such as Faster Than Light) as these developers don't have the funding to compete with triple As.

Due to the fact that it takes millions and millions of the Queen's english pounds to get an MMO off the ground, far more than any other type of genre, the MMO industry is short indie titles thus also short on creative innovation!

Also, due to the high risk factor and the shockingly poor economy of late, getting the green light for a game that doesn't follow typical styles that are known to sell is incredibly difficult!

Let's hope XIV continues to grow away from a typical MMO-style!