The original MMO to take place in a galaxy far, far away is set to close at the end of the year. In a letter sent today to current and former players, Sony Online Entertainment announced that Star Wars Galaxies will be ending this December, ending eight years of service.
The game’s developers and publishers call it a “difficult decision,” though SOE’s John Smedley has told Massively that the decision was a “business decision,” in large part due to the impending arrival of BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is planned for launch next year.
The game will officially end on December 15, and according to SOE, will “go out with a bang with a galaxy-ending in-game event.” Don’t worry, Star Wars fans. It’s probably not canon.
I didn't even realize that this game was still around. Anyone play it? I didn't hear great things about it when it launched.
I wanted to play it, but when I heard it was like Everquest and mostly a grinder I passed.
I don't know how many people they lost when they re-tooled it so anyone could become a Jedi. That was a few years ago, but I heard rumors the core of players it did have were turned off by the change. Especially when they devoted so much time to build their characters. TOR sounds like it's getting away from being a grinder, but Guild Wars 2 is sounding way better.
All the vids of Guild Wars 2 remind me of Borderlands more than anything. And all the persistent events in the campaign feel like Fort Aspenwood/AB Battles from Factions, except their in the campaign and people can drop in and out as they please with the monsters scaling according to how many people are there. I spent many of days doing Fort Aspenwood and AB Battles since they were objective games. It'll be great doing events like that without worrying about having a healer with you.
I don't mind grinding when it's done right. This game seemed to be constantly searching for that fun factor, so i never got on board.
You know me, you know that I'm a huge Star Wars fan - yet even with that going on I just couldn't get into this game at all. Maybe it was the MMO aspect, maybe it was the negativity surrounding it, I don't know - but I had no desire to buy it or play it - let alone pay a subscription fee.
And that's what has me worried about The Old Republic. I've read all the previews and watched all kinds of videos and interviews. I understand that what BioWare is doing is basically making KOTOR 3, but adding a MMO level onto it. There will be a story line along the lines of both KOTOR games - heck there will be at least SEVEN different huge stories all based on your character class. I've even read numerous previews for it stating that it is fully possible and the player is somewhat encouraged to play solo to follow the story. And believe me there is a VERY large part of me what wants to play the game just to experience another BioWare Star Wars story (or 7 stories as reported). But once again its that MMO portion that is holding me back. The "cost" of the subscription based game. I know a game like this will take hundreds of hours to experience - but am I willing to pay for it that much more?
I've heard there has been some serious talk about TOR being a "Free to Play" game right out of the gate with microtransactions handling the profits - but I doubt BioWare would spend all this time and money on the project only to end up basically giving the game away. I'd concede that it may go F2P at some point, but that won't be until they've tried everything they can to make a successful subscription route.
I would much rather pay a subscription fee than participate in the Freemium model of game.
I'd rather have it F2P if only because then I'd be less likely to play it to the extreme I did with World of Warcraft. It's much easier to just play an hour or two here and here when there are obnoxious paid options all over the place.
When its a subscription I feel like I'm wasting money if I don't play it for a day or two. That's not healthy.
I'd play if it was free to play
won't otherwise