The Winter Of My Discontent…

Down here in Australia we are coming into Winter and with the weather turning cold and gloomy so is my attitude towards the direction my favourite MMO Star Wars The Old Republic is headed, hence the winter of my discontent.

I stayed up all last night to watch the live stream from Star Wars Celebration…and it did NOT disappoint, that trailer…OH MY GOD i am so hyped let’s watch it one more time…

Throughout the night I happily watched all the panels and enjoyed the interspersed camera shots just showing the fans soaking in all that Star Wars atmosphere, many in very well made and designed costumes.  Fathers, mothers with son’s and daughters, grandparents, 3 generations of families that have been enthralled by the Star Wars mythos.

It was in the midst of this warm glowy feeling that I realized something was missing that should have been at Celebration and been there in a big way.  Why and I mean WHY is the only Star Wars MMO out there at the moment not being promoted big time at Star Wars Celebration, who is managing this game or should I say mismanaging, as so far this year it has been nothing but a piss poor effort at marketing this game in this, the biggest year for Star Wars.

Let’s wind back the clock to the games launch and look at this flash mob video they did in Times Square (back when they were actually spending money on marketing)

Look at all those great costumes…where are they now, what happened to them?  I would imagine they are gathering dust in a storage cupboard at Bioware Austin.  Why aren’t they using these awesome costumes to promote the game at a booth on the floor in the actual Celebration venue.  You could get your photo taken with Darth Malgus or the armoured Jedi Knights or Sith, give out 7 day free trial’s to the game to everyone who passes the booth.  They could also have Satele Shan and Shae Vizla, troopers and smugglers in costume to promote the game. (They don’t even use these at their Cantina Events from what i can see)

Whoever is guiding/marketing this MMO has no vision and no money it would seem, even though supposedly the game is doing quite well financially, they just seem to refuse to spend it back on the game.  (The game has a subscription and a cash shop they are getting twice the income to a game like Guild Wars 2 which exists from the price of the game then relying on its gem store and doing quite well it would seem.)  They need to get out of the pubs/cantina and back into the actual events, like they were doing before launch, out on the floor with a booth with signage, props and costumes all of which Bioware Austin have.

All the evidence I see concerning the communication we get (or lack thereof) the bugs that are in the game that take forever to get fixed, make me feel that this game is being run on a skeleton crew barely capable of running a “Triple A Title”.  The following is an example of a bug that has been in game for 5 weeks now…

5 weeks it has been like that, not a game breaking bug…but I would say an embarrassing one, not that the bug happened, but that it is still not fixed!

Finally Bioware, stop going to the same places you go every year for your cantina’s I mean honestly give some other people in the world some love, we have a Pax down here in Melbourne PAXAUS, now why aren’t you having a cantina here, no you are going back to New York Comic-con where you have already been several times.  I am damn sure people in Europe would love to get the chance to meet you guys too…the excuse it cost’s too much is lame and no one buys it.  (Hell the prequels were made downunder because it was so cost effective for George Lucas, our dollar is back in the toilet for us Aussies but good for you Americans so stop using its too expensive as an excuse.)