In their Q3 2012 Earnings Call for investors yesterday (via:
seekingalpha), Electronic Arts' various big wigs were all very chuffed with the successful launch of BioWare's first MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
On the topic of the game's success, The EA Labels President Frank Gibeau confirmed that the game has sold through 2 million units since it's December launch and has "a little over 1.7 million active subscribers", explaining that "the rest have either not started playing yet or have opted out".
This is an outstanding start for an MMO, and the metrics on engagement suggests players are loving the game. Unique log-ins are averaging about 1 million per day, and their average playtime is approximately 4 hours per day.
And throughout the launch, server performance and stability exceeded our expectations, allowing us to accelerate the introduction of new players in December. Outside of scheduled maintenance, our servers have been up and running 99.5% of the time, which is a big win in and of itself. Every major MMO launch has had significant service issues until now. Star Wars: The Old Republic broke that cycle, leading PC Gamer to write, "BioWare hit a homerun with server stability."
I want to take a second to correct the reports, which speculated that a lack of congestion was a sign of slow participation. Shortly after launch, we doubled the efficiency of each server, allowing us to handle twice as many players and remove the waiting lines. The lack of congestion is a function of great engineering.
In the next phase, our goal is to grow the number of subscribers with frequent releases of content that make the game even more exciting. With this in mind, BioWare has just released an extensive game update that provided additional higher-level group missions and new game features to keep players engaged. We plan on delivering another major update even larger than the first in March.
He tantalisingly closed out comments on the game with saying "Going forward, we have an ambitious plan to reach the broader market, the millions of Star Wars fans all over the world. You'll be seeing that very soon.".
Later in a Q&A with some institutional investors -- enquiring about their global launch plans -- Investor Relations VP Peter Ausnit also offered a brief comment on the game's intended arrival Down Under, confirming that they are still on track for the previously mentioned March 1st 2012 launch date.
We recently announced that we're -- on March 1, that we'd be in Australia and New Zealand. It's all about, as you might imagine, server location down there, but we have a very strong demand from all of our consumers in that particular part of the market.
BioWare's
original announcement seemed a little open to interpretation, but following these comments, it looks like a certainty that Australian Star Wars: The Old Republic players will be getting a locally-hosted servers to adventure on.
For more details on Star Wars: The Old Republic, check out
AusGamers' review.
Posted 03:22pm 03/2/12
Posted 03:41pm 03/2/12
Posted 03:44pm 03/2/12
Posted 03:46pm 03/2/12
Did you ever get a character to max level though? Some of the later planets are the best imo. I dunno about all the classes, but 40 - 50 was probably the best bit of the Sith Warrior storyline.
Yeah, it is very linear though, but I'm not hating the linearity as much as I thought I would, even while levelling up alts
Posted 03:47pm 03/2/12
Posted 03:53pm 03/2/12
I posted in the Guild Wars 2 thread a while back that ArenaNet confirmed a 2012 release along with beta info.
Posted 03:56pm 03/2/12
Posted 04:01pm 03/2/12
End game content is very much like WOW, but more painful due to the lack of a group finder or raid finder. If you have a guild it is a little easier to stomach - a guild really is a requirement if you're going to enjoy end game / non-PVP content.
Posted 04:14pm 03/2/12
It would have been insane fun, fighting over massive planets.
Posted 04:23pm 03/2/12
And another way to look at it is that they have converted 85% of their playerbase to monthly subscriptions.
Posted 04:56pm 03/2/12
Maybe I'm just sick of rebranded WOW clones.
Posted 06:01pm 03/2/12
You do realise that WoW is an EQ clone?
In the case of my WoW experience by this time after release I had run UBRS 40 times and LBRS 50 times. Without either my chest piece or bracers dropping.
ATM there are only to ways to make a fantasy MMORPG, the first being EQ style, the second being much like DarkFall, a sandbox MMORPG or should I call if DarkFail (being made by Greeks it's just as bad as their economy).
Posted 07:05pm 03/2/12
Posted 08:24pm 03/2/12
Not an exact quote, but WTF? How was it open to interpretation?
There was a post on their forum that pretty much stated in as close to black and white as PR can get that we'd be getting servers located here.
The only thing "open" to interpretation was whether or not Aussies already playing would get free transfers to the new servers or not.
And for my 2c, I cancelled my sub in the first month. Waiting for the game to be less 2004 feeling and for the many issues to be fixed. Pretty much just waiting until the March launch, really.
Posted 09:14pm 03/2/12
I'm liking the game, it hasn't blown me away, but theres nothing else new and the single players is pretty fun. But the fact that it didn't ship with standard tools like combat log, LFG, guild bank/perks, moveable scaleable UI is utterly retarded.
Posted 09:17pm 03/2/12
Posted 09:30pm 03/2/12
It was not explicitly stated that this would mean servers physically located in an Australian data centre. It could quite possibly have just been a reference to servers still hosted in US West, only localised with an Australian-friendly timezone and maintenance schedule. it could have also meant servers hosted in South East Asia, Singapore etc, somewhere that is only a little more local latency-wise to Australian players like Blizzard have done with battle.net.
it certainly wasn't "as close to black and white" and it wasn't even official publisher PR from EA, it was a post on their forums by a BioWare Community Manager who forgot that the seasons are different in the the Southern Hemisphere.
Posted 09:33pm 03/2/12
imagine the uproar from the EU players if they did that
Posted 09:46pm 03/2/12
I don't think I will be able to go back once the beta starts. Tera is offering way more to begin with then SWTOR has at the moment. That and it's graphics are like porn.
Posted 09:49pm 03/2/12
I played Aion for quite awhile, awesome game. It's let down and why it failed for non-korean market was that it was a huge grind fest from the mid level up to max.
Posted 09:57pm 03/2/12
Agreed that once Aion hit 25 it become a grind fest.
Posted 10:01pm 03/2/12
The combat looks incredibly static and boring, despite all the hoo har about their 'innovative' combat system... particle effects on your sword doesn't make things 'innovative'
It takes more than shmick environments to make a good mmo...
And Mephz is right about NC Soft...
edit:
this doesn't make me want to pre-order it..
Posted 10:08pm 03/2/12
Posted 10:46pm 03/2/12
yeah man, lineage II was alright, that and MU Online were the only grindy games I ever really enjoyed, but that was a long time ago lol, don't have the patience for grindy games these days. I don't know how this real time movement combat system is going to go with aussie pings lol.
Posted 10:58pm 03/2/12
Posted 12:01pm 04/2/12
He followed up that post with a clarification really soon after writing it stating that the servers would be localized. I think he may have even edited the original post to state as much. It was the only thing I saw that had an official "blue" response on it about the Aussie servers and this was like a month and a half ago.
Posted 12:38pm 04/2/12
Posted 01:07pm 04/2/12
I think the term 'grind' is being used far too liberally these days, a lot of what you seem to refer to as grind, is the content of the game. Getting to 60 in a week doesn't say to me theres no grind, it just says to me the game doesn't have much levelling content, or the levelling curve is way too easy.
Grind is where you go camp the spawn point of some mobs and kill them over, and over, and over, and over, for hours on end, to get XP. In that other Tera thread theres even a video posted showing someone killing crabs for like 3 or 4 levels because they're fast xp, thats grinding. Or grind is like the old Nessingwary quests in WoW where it was like "Go kill 50 of this.... now go kill 50 of this.... now go kill 50 of this". Grind isn't the process of levelling up, I mean, thats the game ffs, why even bother playing if you don't enjoy that part.
Posted 06:56pm 04/2/12
I am coming up to the end of my free month, I think it's tomorrow? Though I am struggling to find a reason to reactivate. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the game, but not for a monthly subscription.
last edited by casa at 18:56:10 04/Feb/12
Posted 07:03pm 04/2/12
now that was a grind (but hell fun :))
kids these days are gifted with easy corpse recovery, easy continent navigation, and all kinds of UI mods - not to mention essentially every class can now solo to like mid levels - not a chance in EQ1 hehe
Posted 08:32pm 04/2/12
This lead to people being killed, ressed and being killed again who were unlucky enough to be near a griefer as it auto accepted your res request. All that aside though it was such a kick ass feeling being in a well oiled group since the game was built on party exp. Monsters would 2 or 3 hit anyone but the tank if they got loose from bad agro mechanics. Ahh good memories.
Agree with Agro that mmos these days are like cakewalks compaired to the first breed haha.
last edited by DM at 20:32:44 04/Feb/12
Posted 10:19pm 04/2/12
such fond memories :P
Posted 10:26pm 04/2/12
Posted 11:49pm 04/2/12
i like the change to champ bags for next patch, but they really need to add more warzones and drastically change ilum.
Posted 12:16am 05/2/12
Posted 12:36am 05/2/12
Well that's just put me off checking it out. Can't stand grinding. I guess that's why I like playing WoW although I'm bored with that atm. Gonna be a long wait until Pandaria comes out.
Posted 01:26am 05/2/12
Posted 11:36am 05/2/12
Posted 01:00pm 05/2/12
Someone just said there's videos of people grinding crabs etc.
I wouldn't hold my hopes up for Tera tbh.
I'm interested and keep an eye on it, but I'm not going to jump into it early that's for sure.
last edited by Mephz at 13:00:48 05/Feb/12
Posted 01:04pm 05/2/12
The video of the person grinding crabs was merely to show off combat I believe. Any MMO you can choose to sit there and kill 200 wolves or whatever. In WoW I could if I wanted to kill 1000 wolves at the start of the Human area if I was really eager. That is what is considered grind. What I'm saying is there is no level grind, it doesn't feel like a chore. It's been very balanced from the Asian release to the Western release to make it feel more like what we would expect from an MMO. Things are made somewhat easier in certain parts and harder in other.
Posted 01:28pm 05/2/12
So awesome "pvping" in TOR and 1 stealther being able to hold back an entire team from progressing, or defending.
Posted 02:13pm 05/2/12
The video I posted though was really just to show combat and how tanking worked in that if you blocked a hit at the right moment you took no damage. Still, until the 10th when the 1st beta starts no one knows how grindless the US version is.
Posted 02:33pm 05/2/12
Posted 02:36pm 05/2/12
Oh f***, stinky :(
Posted 10:16am 06/2/12
but I'm not here on vacation ;)
Posted 10:18am 06/2/12
Posted 11:16am 06/2/12
well that group's full of noobs then
Posted 12:14pm 06/2/12
Posted 12:39pm 06/2/12
Why share you're boar guts with some lazy old farmer/weird guy when you can keep them.
Posted 01:44pm 06/2/12
Really, Rift was better ? What about EQ / EQ2 ?, Anarchy Online ? Final Fantasy Online ?
Don't get me wrong, I agree with a lot of what you say, I loved DAOC PVP, and I miss a "point" to PVP. But TOR is hardly the worst ever, my Sorc does fine.
Posted 01:46pm 06/2/12
Head to Alb mile gate and group up with 4 other stealther's ?
Posted 01:51pm 06/2/12
Anyone in guild when i've been pvping knows my thoughts on this. Course you're doing ok.
Posted 01:57pm 06/2/12
Posted 01:59pm 06/2/12
Posted 02:01pm 06/2/12
The real problem with PVP balance in TOR imo is the lack of solid respec options. People expect to be able to be able to solo, run instances and PVP with the same char these days.