Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Star Wars: the Old Republic Launches

Posted by Soulskill on from the fully-operational dept.

Today marks the official launch of Star Wars: the Old Republic, a new MMOG from BioWare, EA, and LucasArts. The game's population has been building throughout the week as players who pre-ordered were granted early access, but now the gates have been thrown open to everyone. By using the Star Wars universe and a 'story-driven' approach to MMO gameplay, BioWare hopes to draw in a new group of players who don't typically consider themselves MMO gamers. Since the game is still largely unexplored, comprehensive reviews have yet to be written, but Shack News has a write-up about the early game. An article at Eurogamer discusses whether this sort of game launch marks the end of an era for the MMOG industry — the game's budget is estimated to be as high as $100 million, and it relies on a traditional subscription model when many games are making the switch to free-to-play.

3 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. early access by Ogive17 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've had access since last Tuesday. I'm currently at level 24 (out of 50) and so far the story has been enjoyable. It does not feel like a grind, in fact most missions to kill x # of creatures are just bonus quests that you can easily skip.

    The game is not revolutionary and they did take most of the best features from WoW. I really enjoy it.

    Right now the only thing negative I have to say about the game is the artifcial cap they put on every server. Almost every server had a 20+ minute queue to log in during peak hours last week. My brother said he had to wait 10 minutes at 10am this morning to log in. If I have to wait more than a couple minutes I will be raising hell.

    --
    "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
  2. Re:So, when did subscriptions become traditional? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dont forget the quest chains are always different depending on your choices and lightside vs darkside points. Infact there are lightside and darkside quests too and then they change again if you group a lot with your guild.

    You can have 4 sith inquisitors and will have a completely different story line for each one with dark/light and solo and group alts. Cool stuff

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
  3. Re:I give it 12 months until it's free to play by BaldingByMicrosoft · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Free to play" is a misnomer. It should accurately be "Pay to win" or "Pay to play well regardless of your skill level".

    I hate it. It's a crappy way to do a game, and represents one of the more reprehensible expectations of sociopaths on this planet.