The last of its kind and in many ways: At the end of 2011, SWTOR was EA’s great MMORPG hope and of course wanted to build on the success of WoW and AION.
The title was none other than BioWare. At this point a studio that couldn’t go wrong. At this point, BioWare and EA were at the zenith of their success.
With the “Star Wars” franchise behind, it was actually impossible not to succeed. And so SWTOR became a typical MMORPG, at the time when Holy Trinity and Tab Targeting were still so popular that no one would have questioned this system.
Focus on story and character development
SWTOR did something different here. It provides companions to the player. On the way to the maximum level, more and more companions join the player until the limit of currently available companions of nine per character is reached. The companions have different roles. There are damage-dealing companions in ranged or close combat, as well as defending ranged and close combat companions or healing companions.
It is still unclear why this game was never granted the success it deserved. As an MMORPG, it has told a story that has never been reached before.
Behind it were of course organic goods, which knew exactly how to tell and present stories. No other MMO of this time has been able to experience such an immersion. Through the experience of Mass Effect, SWTOR was bound to a decision-making system, which of course had an impact on the development of their own character.
A special focus of the game is the so-called Cinematic Design, the film-like staging of dialogues with the help of synchronization, music, animated characters (especially facial animations), and different camera perspectives.
So you could constantly influence your own characteristic course with the right answers in conversations. Optionally, this attitude could be faded in or completely role-play-like with the help of your own selected conversation options to develop your character.
Like any other MMO at that time, SWTOR also offered to craft. The profession’s system was different from anything known. Not only did you tap ore or raw materials yourself, but you also sent your companions on missions to collect raw materials. You could learn 2 collective professions and a processing profession.
An MMORPG that deserves more attention
Why did this game fail like so many others? I personally cannot explain it to myself. I’ve been playing it for 9 years. The graphic quality has certainly deteriorated. So that no longer knocks your socks off. But the story still seems unique today. Some players buy SWTOR credits instead of play for them but that’s not such a big problem.
All conversations are set to music, decisions have an impact, especially when it comes to the character’s attitude. No other studio than BioWare would have been able to tell this story and put it into the limelight. A real affect Fireworks of emotions combined with the style of an MMORPG. If you don’t like MMOs, you could also play the game entirely as a single-player story game.
Is the Star Wars background to blame for the lack of interest? SWTOR wanted to do something different. There is no auto-attack. So just click on an opponent to do damage is not. You always have to spam skills from the skill bar.
Unfortunately, this game never got the attention it deserved. After only one year it became free-to-play, too few players were willing to pay a monthly subscription. Not understandable until today.
I personally still play SWTOR today (2020) and also pay a subscription, which is now optional. The flow has simply not been lost over the years, especially since you can play so many different characters on both factions.
Back then, SWTOR already bought the cutting from WoW. Unfortunately, too few players noticed this or wanted it to be true. Ultimately, the least of them felt like switching.
In May 2013, a specific number of subscribers was mentioned again for the first time in several months during the Electronic Arts Earnings Call. The game has around 500,000 subscribers. Since switching to free-to-play, the game has won 1.7 million new players and revenue has almost doubled.