The latest news about SWTOR has been depressing lately. Despite all the great things that the latest patch provided, other MMO news sites are still reporting a decline in subscriptions, and some are projecting a 500,000 drop in subscriptions by 2013. I guess I’m a little confused as to why people are suddenly turning away from this game because I thought the story and the lore are extremely compelling. Apparently, based on some of the articles I have been reading, the major contributor to the declining subscription is end-game content.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know what people find wrong with the end-game. After you hit level 50 you can either PvP or you can start doing Hard Mode Flashpoints (and then ultimately Operations). I guess I am confused as to how this is any different then what you do when you hit level cap in other MMOs, like World of Warcraft. Granted SWTOR doesn’t have LFG tools like the Dungeon or Raid Finder (for now, this will change with patch 1.3), but those tools are still brand new to WoW. Prior to their implementation you still had to find your own groups (either from your guild or using public channels).
I will admit, some of the end game dailies are a little “grindy”. You do have to get quite a few daily commendations if you want to buy any decent gear. Granted a much more entertaining method of obtaining gear would be to do Hard Mode Flashpoints. So, really, a group finder tool may be just the thing to help improve the end game, however, I hope its not too late. The population on the servers is already pretty meager and Bioware is already starting to talk about offering server transfer services. I hope to see things improving in the future because in my opinion, I enjoy SWTOR just as much as WoW (if not more) so I want to see it succeed and I’m doing what I can to help it succeed.
OMG, what is with all the whining!!?? Yes, I am aware that I am whining about whining. It isn’t hypocrisy, its cognitive dissonance. So be that as it may, there seems to be a lot of people whining about everything recently. UI changes, patches; are we, as a society, so spoiled that our immediate reaction to change is to focus on the negative?? I am fully in favor of technology evolving to bring us information faster but a pitfall of instant gratification is we seem to always expect the results to be perfect and we whine about it when it isn’t perfect.
I want to start off by saying Happy First Contact Day gamers, trekkies and sci-fi geeks! The second thing I want to say is that this post is not asking when you had a close encounter (sorry Fran Drescher). Instead, since this blog is predominately a gamer blog, I thought I would ask what your first gaming experience was. You can choose any platform (i.e. console, PC, MMO, etc). I just thought it would be fun to do something to commemorate this truly nerdy day.