Ask Massively: Singing the praises of things edition
Holy crap, guys, have you heard about this? The world is full of things. There are big things, small things, some things to set other things on fire -- we've got tons of things. Unfortunately, you can only access most things via various cash shops that cost real money, so that's kind of lackluster, but some things don't cost any money and they're pretty cool. Those green leafy things look fun. I wonder if I can equip one as a weapon or a trinket. Let's hear it for things!
If singing the praises of things isn't the sort of thing you're looking for today, however, you're in luck -- we have a different thing ready for you, an Ask Massively thing. It's the usual discussion of MMO things, in this case what players are actually looking for out of new things and this Star Wars: The Old Republic thing. If you've got a thing to ask about other things, you can leave your question in the comments, or you can mail it along to ask@massively.com.
uberman3000 asked: I get the vibe that some people think it's BioWare forcing the hype down our throats, and it's not true. If [the Star Wars: The Old Republic] community weren't as big as it is (and the game hasn't even shipped) then why would BioWare bother putting any trailers or any information out for us to see?
Well, it's a bit hard to drum up enthusiasm for a game when you don't release any sort of promotional material ahead of time.
It's hard to argue that BioWare isn't doing its collective best to keep the game on everyone's mind, since that ensures that there are more people likely to purchase it on release. On a game that's been in development as long as SWTOR, it's almost inevitable that people will start to get a little tired of the slow reveals and updates, which results in some less-than-kind words about the idea of the game being "overhyped." That, of course, leads to the people who are still excited about the game hyping it up more, to contrast the un-hyping of the first group. Which leads to even more declarations that it's being overhyped...
It's certainly drumming up enthusiasm, like every game before it. Whether or not it will live up to some of its loftier promises remains to be seen.
Samael asked: Every time a new MMO comes out (RIFT) or is close to coming out (SWTOR), people get all upset that they follow the same old MMO format. What I would like to know is what are people looking for in new MMOs?
It depends. The staff has talked about this a bit (when looking at what we want from games that we're not getting), but the fact is that wanting something "new" is an easy patch on a complicated question. More often than not, it's a case of knowing what you want only after you see it in action, which is why other games and examples are frequently pointed to as beacons of elements done correctly.
Some people are particularly tired of the current quest model, which is almost ubiquitous through the genre at this point. RIFT and SWTOR both use a similar model, so despite whatever new elements the games do contain, for some players, it's the same old song and dance.
JuliusSeizure argued with last week's premise: Hey, hey. Last time I totally contributed additional perspective to an answer you gave. Didn't say a damn thing about the picture.
I know, and we forgive you. This time.
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