IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY pt 1

LONG AGO…

Like many of our readers, I was excited beyond all belief when I heard that Bioware was going to be making the new Star Wars MMO. Having loved the original KOTOR series on XBOX, I figured that this was a match made in heaven. Combining Star Wars, MMO, a mega-budget and a developer that I was fond of? Throw a little porn and booze in the mix and I’d probably never leave the house again.

I didn’t follow the games developments too closely – in fact I actively try to avoid doing this, simply because I never want to get overly excited/disappointed about a release before I actually have the chance to play it. I usually just checked in from time to time to see if there was a release date, or to get a feel for the CPU requirements.

I found out the launch date, bought myself a copy, and dove in headfirst. Now that it has been out for a while, and I’ve had a chance to fully experience everything the game had to offer, I can only offer up one word to describe how I feel:

Sad.

Just sad.

This is it? This is the 2 to 3 hundred million dollar juggernaut that’s been in development since before half of you reading this right now hit puberty? This is what I’ve been waiting for since the end of KOTOR II in 2004?

At first, I couldn’t believe it. Despite problems being evident in the game from release, I just couldn’t bring myself to write about it or to get down on the game. I told myself the lack of features wasn’t a problem. I told myself the obvious engine deficiencies were just due to heavy server load. I told myself that having no combat log was refreshing.

THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF AND WOOKIES

Phase 1: Denial. This lasted about 2 months, or around the amount of time it took me to level from 1-50. Admittedly, the leveling experience in TOR is pretty good. But at the level cap the cracks began to show through.
Phase 2: Anger. To the forums I stormed. “Why did a bajillion dollar game launch without ____ “ (List a feature. Seriously. This game doesn’t have any.)
Phase 3: Depression/Detachment. I stopped playing the game for a few weeks. Just didn’t care for it. Talked to my wife about it, told her I thought about quitting.
Phase 4: Bargaining. More posting on the forums, only this time I was asking for compromises. “Can we have macros if you limit them to 2 lines each?”
Phase 5. Acceptance. Cancelled my subscription. Still post on the forums though.

5 months. I barely made it 5 months. If you count how I unsubbed in late April/was fed up with the game by the end of March, we’re down to 3. The question is – How? How did a respected developer, armed with a huge IP and ridiculous budget, lose 1.1 million out of their 2.4 million customers in less then half a year?

In the coming posts, I’ll be discussing the how and the why behind the reasons myself and many others have hit the /unsub button (when its there, that is) and what we as gamers should expect and demand from developers in upcoming MMO’s.