MMO Roundup: The Old Republic exceeds 1 million subscribers
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 27th 2011 at 6:00PM
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BioWare stages SWTOR freeze mob event in New York City's Times Square If you happened to be walking around Times Square on the night of Dec. 20, you may have witnessed one of the more unique MMO launch day promotions in recent memory. BioWare enlisted the help of Darth Malgus and a cadre of heavily armored Jedi (or at least, their cosplay equivalents) to stage a Star Wars: The Old Republic freeze mob event complete with lightsabers and bewildered onlookers. |
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Over one percent of League of Legends players have been banned When your game has over 15 million registered players, it can be tough to to handle antisocial behavior amongst your playerbase. This problem is usually handled by hiring a massive roster of GMs, but League of Legends approaches things a little differently with its Tribunal system. |
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BioWare hints at new SWTOR content, tops 1 million players Star Wars: The Old Republic is less than a week old, and many players are already wondering if and when BioWare is going to add new content. Yes, there are some 50s on the servers already, and James Ohlen has penned a post on the game's official website that should excite those who have already rushed through the game's content. |
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Trion Worlds customer database hacked, "no evidence" credit card info stolen Trion Worlds has become the latest in a long string of MMO studio security breaches this year, as the company reported an intrusion into its customer database. At risk of compromise were customers' user names, passwords, birthdates, email and billing addresses, and partial credit card info. However, the company states that "there is no evidence" that full credit card numbers were stolen at this time. |
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Massively Interview: Guild Wars 2 game designer discuss the Mesmer Now that The Old Republic has launched, Guild Wars 2 is next on the list of most anticipated MMO titles. ArenaNet recently announced its final class, the Mesmer. Massively sat down with one of the game designers to discuss both the class and the game in general. |
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Massively's week in review Don't let WoW Insider do all of the talking when it comes to Massively's best content of the week. The Massively staff themselves have picked out what they think is the best content their site has to offer in their own weekly roundup. |
Filed under: MMO Roundup
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
kurnos Dec 27th 2011 6:13PM
hmmm seems pretty sad that a brand new game is less than a week old and ppl want new content already.
Alex Ziebart Dec 27th 2011 6:22PM
I think that describes every video game ever made.
joepsu777 Dec 27th 2011 6:30PM
I don't feel bad for anyone who sat in their basement, rushed through all the content, hit level 50 and beat both of the raids. The game isn't designed around the 1% (if I can use the term).
People like that may have a say like anyone else and they may also be vocal. However, the majority of us are still in the leveling process. We go outside, we play hockey, we work, we have lives outside the game.
I am level 28 in SWTOR and I won't be 50 any time soon. Neither will a vast majority of the playerbase.
If a person rushes to 50 and beats the entire game in a couple weeks, they only have themselves to blame. There are also 7 other storylines for them to try.
Angus Dec 27th 2011 6:35PM
I went to a midnight launch, installed the game and went to bed for Wrath. Woke up 6 hours later, and logged in with the wife, we were part way through Borean Tundra when the server first Rogue achievement went through. No accompanying one for the race...
Less than 4 days later we see someone in Dal with the Champion of the Frozen Wastes title. We had just gotten there. Everyone has their own pace.
Heck, the wife and I both have at least 3 low teen level characters. Every story is so cool we are having problems deciding what class to stick with.
spikepoint Dec 27th 2011 6:39PM
... but you're on a WoW site. People ask for MOAR CONTENT within a day of any new patch or Xpac over here. It's the nature of the beast, not anything specific to SWTOR.
Pyromelter Dec 27th 2011 6:40PM
The long-term success of an mmo is all about end-game. Any game can be decent from level 1-cap, the question is what happens once you hit 50. Blizz figured this out a long time ago, and it's why wow is so popular... many interesting, fun, and useful things to do at max level.
I'm not playing swtor, but if the end game isn't robust, it won't have much success, so the questions of content are legit to a certain extent
Thander Dec 27th 2011 6:45PM
I was kind of expecting more than a million, but I guess that's a lot better than WoW was at launch. They have said there's a ton of content they already made, but can they really keep up if this game lasts 5+ years? I only hope they can keep from rushing these out as they have to do more than Blizzard does (full voice acting, more in-game cinematics).
Furiursa Dec 27th 2011 9:56PM
I dunno, they have about 6 months to start dropping content patches before they suffer the fate of all the previous 'wow killers' have suffered.
I wish them luck... in this market they are GOING to need it.
Artificial Dec 28th 2011 4:51AM
@Furiursa: They'll have a successful, profitable game, just one that isn't as big as WoW? That's been the fate of many of them, albeit not all. You're painting with far too wide a brush to suggest they've all suffered the same fate.
Nyold Dec 27th 2011 7:01PM
I wonder if the tribunal system can be made to work in Wow, with some modification of course.
A few things to consider:
* In LoL, you receive 5 IP as a reward for voting if your vote happens to be the majority. Thus it is in your best interest to try to be as reasonable as possible and not vote randomly just for reward. You want your vote to be in line with what you think other tribunal will vote.
* Only level 30 summoners are allowed to vote, and even then, only once a day. This guarantees that only people who know what they're doing can vote, and even then they can't rig the system by voting as many times as they want to skew the "vote economy" or farm IP.
* Every case is anonymous, and the reporter needs to give a brief description of why the player is reported. If the majority vote is "no", then the player is pardoned. If "yes", then it's assigned to a live team of GM. This way, the voter can't intentionally screw someone over. There's always a human GM to make the last call.
A few applications to wow:
* Douchebaggery in LFD. Sometimes people are just bad and unwilling to learn and I don't want to be grouped with that person, but doesn't mean that he is a terrible person. But intentionally being a dbag is another level.
* Player rating in LFD. The person that's bad and unwilling to learn? I should be able to see it upon zoning in. Or prevent me from being grouped with them to begin with. This needs to decay over time, so that one mistake doesn't punish your stats for the rest of your life.
Come on, there are plenty of math geniuses at Blizzard, I'm sure they can work something out. After all, they did that whole Gaussian filter thing for arena.
Noyou Dec 27th 2011 8:14PM
I would love a vote-kick for trade chat :)
Jabadabadana Dec 27th 2011 9:38PM
Don't think it needs to exist.
The asininity level of League far outstrips that of a bad WoW battleground, much less the couple of less than stellar players you get from time to time in LFD. Probably a third of LFD and LFR get carried, but the WoW community doesn't feel the necessity to bash them into oblivion for getting so, the way a goodly number of LoL players do. Nor do as many people feel the need to actively harm their own team, and rage-quitting has a significantly lower impact in a system that auto-refills.
Blizzard's own report function is unneeded enough outside of gold spammers that it can handle the issues, without needing a large playerbase team to help them out. Also, even in LoL, sucking at the game is not a punishable offense. You may want a tribunal system to weed out all the people you think are "bad," or at least keep them away from you. But no system Blizzard creates would do so, and you must remember that LFD is designed to pair you such that you can carry or be carried. Rare is the equa-skill group.
Noyou Dec 27th 2011 10:45PM
I dunno what server you are on but I use report spam, ignore and actually report douches all the time. Keep in mind, I keep trade tabbed too. I have zero tolerance for it. I spend $15 a month so I can relax and have as little stress as possible in my gaming world.
rayden54 Dec 28th 2011 2:58AM
If you read the article (or even just look at the pictures), it's quite clear that the "majority" will almost always be guilty. Only 6% of the people reported are pardoned. Which means that if you want your IP, "guilty" will be the right answer 94% of the time. The system is set up to actively encourage guilty votes.
Also, assuming that every guilty verdict is assigned to the GMs to review, then the GMs end up seeing 94% of the cases ANYWAY. Which makes the system pointless as well. Unless, of course the GMs just go along with the player votes (which is what they're probably doing).
The system is flawed fundamentally. People who lose games are reporting their teammates, and they try to spin it so it looks like they're doing some sort of service? No one likes to lose. People looking for someone to blame, instead of putting them on an ignore list or just not playing with them, get them BANNED?
Put a system like that in the hands of the WoW community, and I guarantee it'd be abused, and you say LoLs is worse? Guilds already abuse the vote kick system. A vote ban system is a terrible idea.
Jabadabadana Dec 28th 2011 4:32AM
Ok, I'll do the one, "defend tribunal against the people who don't get how it works post."
94% of the people get voted guilty because it takes multiple reports to get to the tribunal, and so they tend to be guilty. The lowest number of games I've ever seen on someone I've judged is 3, highest was 10. On all of those players with 3 games, they had multiple reports per game, not just one asshole.
The system has a built in time before one can vote, (it's a short one minute), but you have nothing better to do but than to read some of the chatlog, look at info, etc, while waiting.
Furthermore, if you consistently vote against the majority (meaning if you keep hitting guilty on those 6% of pardons, or alternatively pardon everything) your vote counts for less and less, until the system locks you out of doing tribunal.
The people judging Never get a game they were in, so it's much harder to punish someone you don't like, because your odds of getting a random case that is someone you know are extremely slim. It also takes a large majority of punishes to get someone punished. One judge does not have the power to punish, or to choose the punishment type.
94% of cases are judged guilty. The first time punishment for nearly everything is a warning. The warning system is automated. First offense is not a ban. (LeaverBuster isn't tribunal and is automated) With a 50% no-repeat of first time warnings, the case load of GM's is less than half what it would have been.
As for the reports themselves... it's difficult to "spin" them to make someone look bad. If you tell me they called you the N word repeatedly, and I read the chat log and they didn't, I ignore your report. Judges get access to the persons item build, the game length, their kill/death/assist number, damage taken and dealt per second, and the entire chat log for the game by all players. And then they get it again for the next game with reports, and the next. In addition, many people in the chat log claim they will report someone, or ask for reports, or agree to report, and do not actually report, because someone isn't worth reporting, or they aren't that much of an ass.
And finally, while there is a report option for "unskilled player," no one with that report goes to tribunal. It exists to weed out reports made by assholes who think they can actually ban someone for sucking at the game. (which tribunal also makes very clear is not a bannable offense) The most common reason I pardon someone, is someone getting blamed for intentional feeding, when the real offense is doing poorly.
XD00175 Dec 27th 2011 11:57PM
Got SWTOR today. Pretty fun game, basically WoW if it had been made in 2011 (in gameplay respects). Sadly, i spent my first hour on Korriban listening to a bunch of people whine about how Blizzard wronged them throughout their lives, which slightly dulled the experience.
richmale1969 Dec 28th 2011 12:38AM
I haven't seen much in complaints about WoW yet and I bought SWTOR the day after it was released. If there are people complaining so much you still have the option of not reading the chat window and just play the game.
Pyromelter Dec 28th 2011 5:34AM
In every non-wow MMO I've played, there are people that will type out [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker] and spam the everlasting crap out of it. Best to just take it as whimsy and go with it :).
Like I said above though, it's all about end-game. For some stupid reason I played about 5 months of Rift, and it's end game was horrible... in fact the way you know it's horrible is if you go to the Rift forums, there are very few trolls and negative posts. It means they've all left. Trolls go where the games are the most populous/best. Having whiners and trolls in the general chat is, paradoxically, a good sign for the game, not a bad sign.
XD00175 Dec 28th 2011 10:08AM
I never thought about it like that, but it makes perfect sense.
Branalia Dec 28th 2011 2:08AM
Technically they aren't subscribers until they pay for their first month. We'll know on January 20th how many subscribers the game has. Until then, they are just purchasers.