Like about a million others, I dove right into Star Wars The Old Republic as soon as I was able to. I've never been much of an MMO guy, and I sure as hell don't care very much about Star Wars, but after hearing about the game for years and years, it became one of those things that I had to see for myself.
After 100 hours or so, I realized I was completely done with the game and canceled my account. It still has a bit of game time left on it, so I could, theoretically, grind out those last 10 levels and take my Sith Marauder from 40 to 50... but that's not going to happen. I lost all my momentum on Hoth and stepped away from the game. It was a totally clean break, no hesitation. I'm not bitter about it. I'm not hateful about it. I mean, I got 100 hours out of SWTOR. That's more than I can say about most games. I didn't love everything I saw, but it's certainly not without some appeal.
Anyway, today I got this sob-story email from "The Old Republic Community" telling me that... my companion misses me? Yep, apparently Vette "eagerly awaits my return." Here's that email:
Gross, right? You know what? I don't think I've ever seen a more pathetic-looking attempt at player retention. My companions are "counting on me?" What happens next? Is there a "if you don't reactivate the billing on your SWTOR account, we'll kill this Twi'lek" email in my future? Also, they've gone ahead and slid my character name into the email, which gives is a wonderful, personal touch. But if they're going to go that far, why not go all the way, look at my character, and see that I ditched Vette as soon as I possibly could and spent the vast majority of my time kicking it with Malavi Quinn because he keeps me healed up and loved it when I crushed the Empire's enemies? I even let that bonehead chase his weird spy missions on the side, and he can't even be bothered to write? Man, forget that jerk.
The email actually brings us to a question that Brad and I were wondering about yesterday: Are people still playing Star Wars: The Old Republic? Anecdotally, we seem to be seeing a bunch of people bitching about the end game (which, as far as I can tell, is an activity that bonds every "serious" MMO player, regardless of game), raging about all the things they don't like, and bragging about how they canceled. I'm not necessarily interested in hearing more negativity, because it's easy to find.
So, I want to hear the other side. What's awesome about Star Wars: The Old Republic? What is it that's keeping you on-board now that you might actually be paying a monthly fee to play it? Do you see yourself paying that fee for another year? Five years? Do you already think it's a great game right now, or are you investing in the promise of future updates?
Yes I am.
You forgot to capitalize the first "I"!
And no, I am no longer playing Old Republic.
I roll with the United Federation of Planets now.
Still playing, not every day, but still playing.
Think every MMO sends those things out, they just aren't as silly as that one.
Saberhagen? Fuckin' gold.
dont care bout star wars?!
Nah, I'm not. Didn't even get close to the endgame.
Indeed I am. Signed up for 6 months and still enjoying it. I only play it on my days off though. Still can't wait to see what they do with this game in the future.
I've gotten such emails before from other mmos, at least this is personalized.
Game is fun, the community seems to be mature where teamplay actually works. GLHB!
Not really, I was done with it after 18 hours. Call me a Jonathan Blow's fan boy, but after TOR I'm convince MMOs are grouse an unethical by design..
Yes, and loving it more than I ever thought I could love an MMO.
Seems you're looking to much into the email. It's just a cute little message.
no i stopped at level 30
What's next? Your companion is sold into Twi'lek sex slavery.
I quit after about two weeks.
I am still playing, but the lack of players is becoming apparent. Most of the servers in the US sit at "light" most of the day, and around peak hours they all go to Standard (a few "heavy", though there used to be "very heavy" and "full" servers). Basically, if you don't play during your time zone's 5pm to 9pm time frame, every zone is a ghost town.
It's saddening, and I don't know that I'll keep playing if the player counts dwindle so drastically. I'm not bitter either, but there are better games to play solo and co-op (I've had a dedicated team of 3-4 friends, so that helps me stay in the fun) than a monthly subscription game.
I spent my time with Vette electrocuting her. I don't think she misses me much.
I love Star Wars and I quit way sooner than you did. I only made it to level 16 before getting bored with the game.
I cancelled my account right before my 1st month ended. Just didn't feel motivated to play. Two of my friends got it but we hardly played with each other due to differing schedules. Looks like they'll bow out soon too.
Like any other MMO, I'm waiting for it to go Free to Play before diving in for a week before remembering why I don't like MMOs.
Nope.
In fact, I canceled my subscription about an hour ago (when they sent me the same email).
I played a character on Republic to around level 20 or so and a character on Empire to around level 11 and haven't touched it in almost a month. I even bought two copies of the game so I could play with my brother on the coast and we never got around to doing that. Eventually, I realized I didn't want to play SWTOR enough anymore to even bother playing together. It's just another MMO that I had hopes for and then realized rather quickly "oh, right, it's just the same bad MMO mechanics as everything else" about a week or two into it, like I do with every other MMO (except EVE, which is so different as to not even count).
This is why they still sell MMOs in boxes and charge you $60-$80 up front, instead of just letting you get a client for free and paying a subscription. They make a killing off idiots like me who hope that "this time will be different" and for your one week of play, you end up having given them $60-$80 (or in my case, $160, since I bought two copies).
Maybe MMOs will achieve something beyond the 2004 WoW gameplay in another decade. I sure hope so.