World of Warcraft ”set consumer expectations,” and comparison is ”inevitable” as it defined ”conventions” of the MMO. TOR has ”sense of heroic purpose”.
”No. It’s just inevitable. The key thing for us is to also innovate in that new stuff. I try to use the word “carefully” in touchstone in that. You can go too far,” said BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk, touching on the comparisons of Star Wars: The Old Republic to WoW.
”WoW in particular, one thing is, it has set consumer expectations. It also set a set of conventions of gameplay that have been experienced by millions of people. So, you know, you pay attention to those things, but while you’re paying attention, you’re doing your own thing.”
”I think that’s actually one thing I’m excited about, particularly, with TOR. It is a very different experience. I think that anybody who plays it for any length of time, it’s pretty remarkable, because they actually come away going… I think it’s the strong, individualized heroic element is so powerful in the game…,” he continued.
BioWare is no stranger to the Star Wars licence as they created Knights of the Old Republic which was set 4,000 years before the events of the films. They did a great job in capturing that essence of what makes a Star Wars experience exciting - heroism.
”It’s very, very compelling. I think it’s different. I think WoW and all the other MMOs, they have the same sort of challenge… There are thousands and thousands of heroes. You don’t really feel special. It’s an amazing experience, and it’s really rewarding and fun, but you just don’t feel special. That’s what we’re trying to do,” added Zeschuk.
All characters in SWTOR have voices and dialogue works in similar to fashion to that in Mass Effect or Dragon Age 2 with the ‘wheel’ of selectable responses. We also make choices for our hero and party which effect how a mission will play out.
”The reaction that we’ve had, and a lot of people playing it have had – we’ve done a lot of consumer testing and there’s a lot more to go – but the common reaction we get from our fans when we play it, or the testers, ourselves, and our teams, is that frankly once you’ve tried it, you just can’t go back,” said fellow co-founder Ray Muzyka.
”You don’t want to try other MMOs anymore. I think that’s what imbuing the game with a sense of heroic purpose and identity achieves.”
”We’ve got the best-of-breed features from other MMOs, progression, exploration, customization, combat, and trying to use the conventions that make sense to players for accessibility wherever possible.”
”We’ve layered on an amazing Star Wars story that’s set thousands of years before the movies, so there are a lot of opportunities,” he said, like ”galactic conflict and all kinds of cool shit. It’s a really exciting time to be in the Star Wars universe. And then we’ve imbued it with that sense of heroic purpose. Once you’ve tried it, there’s no looking back. You really want to keep playing that new approach to MMOs, I think that is really refreshing.”
Star Wars: The Old Republic releases on PC at an unannounced date. Are you exciting for BioWare’s first ever MMO project? Will it have clout enough against WoW?
