I am totally shocked at the amount of crybaby whining all over the internet about the dumbest things regarding the SWTOR launch this week. I’m following the hashtag on Twitter and it just amazes me how people are already complaining about every tiny little issue, error, or imperfection.
The first is, of course, the queues. Oh to be stuck in a queue of doom, waiting to play. Or in the case of today, stuck in a queue waiting to get onto the SWTOR website! I saw someone tweet in all caps that they were throwing away their newly purchased game box and canceling their account because they had to wait a few hours in a queue to play the game. D: Seriously!? And I admit, waiting for hours would suck… but this is the first launch of a game that had almost 1 million preorders and more who just bought the game on the 20th. If you follow their blog posts and tweets, you’d know they are trying their best to keep up with the extreme high demand… in the beta they did multiple stress tests but, realistically, they can’t predict everything. Cut them some slack! You’ll get to play and it is totally worth the wait I promise! :D
Also, for weeks – WEEKS – they’ve had info up on the website about how you will need to have an active subscription attached to your account to play the game. Duh, right? If you haven’t set up your subscription yet, even though you were told about the grace period then that is your own damn fault! Not the fault of customer service, the game developers, or anyone else. :P I think it’s lucky they even gave us a grace period.
And like almost every MMO before them, SWTOR gives you a free month (30 days) of play time, but you need to activate the subscription to start it. I saw someone tweet that this was “bad business practice”… really?! I think it makes perfect sense and I had no problem plugging in my credit card because it said right there on the site that I would not be charged until my free time was up. Can people not read?! D: I’m going to be paying for it after 30 days anyway, so what’s the big deal in setting it up now?
On a related note, I saw a bunch of boohooing about how SWTOR is not free to play. Are you kidding me?! I’ve played MMOs that are both subscription-based and free and, personally, I would rather play subscription-based. An MMO is usually a constantly evolving game that is always being added to and updated… it has to be funded somehow. I’d rather pay a monthly fee in order to experience unlimited play and do whatever I want, versus having to be limited because I don’t have a “premium” account or be suckered into buying digital items. This isn’t FarmVille and I don’t want to buy fuel for my tractor (or spaceship, in this case) with real money. :P
I can see BioWare doing something in the future similar to Blizzard with the WoW Starter Edition, because that seems to be a good way to entice players to join. But gawd, at least give them a few years to get rolling! WoW has been around for almost a decade and, to be honest, the game probably needs to start offering stuff like that, considering all the competition lately. ;)
And really, $14.99 a month for a game subscription is not that much when you consider how much entertainment costs these days. Go see a movie in a theater and get some popcorn? Pretty much the same price, and that is just for a couple of hours. So many people subscribe to Netflix and Hulu (me included) and each of those are around $8 (for streaming) a month and that allows you to watch unlimited amounts! Why can’t that be ok for a video game? Especially one that is totally amazing right from launch and will soon be punching out updates consistently.
The final thing I’ve noticed is a ton of complaints about how SWTOR doesn’t have this-or-that feature that other MMOs have. Such as guild banks or tons of raiding content, etc. Oh em gee, heaven forbid a game doesn’t have EVERYTHING at first launch. Maybe most people don’t understand development cycles? You can’t release a billion things the first time around, especially if you want to uphold the quality of your product.
Overall, I have been thoroughly impressed with SWTOR. The launch has gone smoothly for me (because I’ve activated my subscription and gotten all my duckies in a row) and I’ve been having such a blast playing my Jedi Sage and experiencing the awesome story progression and voice acting! I haven’t been so into a game since WoW (years ago) and I’m proud to hand over my money each month to the game developers that will make it even more epic in the days to come. :D
I guess all the QQ went from WoW SWTOR. I should enjoy it while they aren’t there in Azeroth.
Haha yeah! We even have general chat reminiscent of Barrens chat. :P Luckily I made a new chat window to hide all that, heehee.
Well you know me and gaming ;) So err I just wanted to say I like your title. :P
HEHE! :D It’s def awsm.
I need to like… pay you to design me a website layout or something. <3 Going rates plox? XD
I play ROSE online pretty frequently, which failed as a P2P and now survives off of item mall items. My problem with F2P MMOs is that once an Item mall is brought in people complain SO MUCH MORE because IM items generally break the game. :/
I know what you mean about item malls. :|
I DISAGREE EVERY GAME SHOULD BE LIKE WORLD OF WARCRAFT AND BE FULLY DEVELOPED AND HAVE 10 YEARS WORTH OF TESTING AND UPGRADES AND EXPANSIONS AND CONTENT TO KEEP ME SATISFIED. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. I’m going back to play WoW now because this game didn’t live up to my expectations trololol.
And that’s why new MMOs never get a fair chance. This is why Blizzard can’t even make a new MMO because they’ve ruined it for themselves.
Anyway. At some point I am going to play SWTOR but I think I’ll wait until I’m all settled into my new job first! :)
HAHA! You make me lolz. XD If you do end up playing we should try and get all our online buds to roll on the same server or something! :D
Writer, I am a big fan of this game, really I love it. But it doesnt hurt to be a bit critical? All you wrote about is how this game is awesome on ALL fronts, and honestly, that isnt true.. For instance they could do the maintenance at 3AM, so peopel can just play! And also the -you have to pay before you can have your 30 days free- is really not cool. I just wanted to give tha game a try, and after 30 days stop playing to focus on school a bit more. Now I am not going to be able to stop myself from playing >. But I guess thats more my fault anyway.
Regards Wesley
Oh yes, I can definitely be critical of certain aspects of SWTOR, it’s not perfect at all. In this post, I was mostly wanting to hit on the strange things that people were complaining about which I thought were ridiculous. And you don’t HAVE to pay before your 30 days free! They are just storing your payment information, your credit card is not charged until those 30 days are up. It’s common procedure for every MMO I’ve ever played, at least.
I’ve never played a game such as this…I tend to get bored very easily. I tried playing Runescape a few years ago, because my ex-boyfriend wanted me to but I could never really get into it. :) I think that people have such high expectations when a game such as this comes out, and they are bound to be disappointed. After all, as you pointed out, there is no possible way that they can work out everything…nothing is ever truly completed. :)
Oh, I’m embarrassed to admit this…but I got tagged and had to tag 11 people, and you were one of the lucky ones. Sorry! :( If you want to do it, you can view the details on my blog…again, so sorry!
Lol..yeah, I was surprised at all the whining I saw going on as well. I just started playing last night (besides a tiny bit in beta) since I had to fix some things on my computer for I could and didn’t want to waste time playing on my husband’s account, only to get my own. I’m loving it! I personally think it’s very refreshing that it’s not like all other MMOs, my goodness. I think the game is very well polished for just releasing! I also have to add, I’m playing it on a 4 1/2 year old iMac in bootcamp and it runs very well. That’s saying something for those programmers :) Have fun!
You just lit a light bulb in my head! I’ve never compared the cost of going to the movies with the cost of an MMO’s monthly subscription. Holy cow! That’s incredibly reasonable!
Trolls gonna Troll. QQres gonna QQ.
You make me want to buy the game :P:P If I do what server etc are you on? does it even have servers O.O