The Hype: This was going to be it, the game to finally dethrone World of Warcraft as the King of the MMORPG. Without the handicap of being a new franchise and benefiting from the huge Star Wars fanbase (as well as a monstrous $200 million budget), it seemed like RPG masters BioWare had all the tools at their disposal to deliver a landmark MMO. What Happened?: The Old Republic was by no means bad, but it just didn't do much to distinguish itself from any other RPG out on the market, and pretty much felt like a re-skinned WoW rather than a game set to surpass it. Yes, the addition of voice acting and a faithful replication of the iconic Star Wars style were both very much welcome, but the quests were generic and repetitive, and the sense of community present in other MMOs just wasn't there: you could easily play through the entire campaign without ever speaking to or teaming up with another player. So, you basically ended up paying a subscription fee for something that, in less-populated servers, didn't even feel like an online game. For anyone hoping for the game to build on WoW's brilliant foundation and push the genre forward, TOR was simply a decent game that should've tried much, much harder. Unsurprisingly, it eventually went free-to-play and the initially huge player-base has since largely abandoned the game, in part because BioWare hugely over-estimated how long it would take players to power through the core content.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
