GW2 and SW:TOR at the forefront of MMORPG?

[raspberry jam]

A boss should feel like a boss. Not just more hit points and damage. But somehow forces you to fight differently, or has that wow omg sh** factor. You know, something, anything to tell you that this isn't normal cannon fodder.

And no, I don't consider a glowing aura as enough.

Yeah. The problem, though, is that you can't go too far in that direction either, because then you'll end up like many WoW bosses: they are not really WoW, they are a minigame which looks kinda like WoW. The good part is that it's different from normal, the bad part is that all your existing knowledge is meaningless. GW1 went the other direction: there, the bosses don't completely change the game (which is good), but the bad part is that they are just like normal enemies.

Finding the middle road is a challenge and I hope they can do it.

[Alaris]

Indeed, this is why devs are earning big bucks.

[Alaris]

BioWare says it's next-gen (because of the personal story element) but reviewers think it's standard MMO clone (except for the personal story element).

My question is, will the personal story element by itself be enough to make up for the costs, and further, will it be enough to keep players? Time will tell.

http://www.incgamers.com/News/27873/...om-other-mmos-
http://www.incgamers.com/Previews/26...ublic-hands-on

[Calvar The Rockin Ele]

I like the way they're going with GW2 bosses. A nice change of pace, but not entirely unrelated to what you normally do.

[Lensor]

So, having hung out a bit on the SWTOR forums (funny place that) I have put together a list of common pros and cons of SWTOR and GW2, as brought up by SWTOR forum goers.

SWTOR

Pros:
Great interactive story with full voiceover
Movie-like dialogue scenes
Party dialogues
Many playable races
Sci-fi setting
Personal space ship
Very polished classical trinity MMO combat
"Coreographic combat" (stuff like lightsaber collision).
PvP made by Warhammer people, so should be good
"Open world" PvP (i.e. PvP lakes)
Companions who can be romanced and sent on tasks (missions, crafting)
Two separate factions (dark-lightside)
Playable on a wide range of PCs
Stylised graphics
Star Wars
Bioware

Cons:
All playable races are human reskins (same basic bone structure, just different heads and maybe some claws)
Aesthetics look kinda like The Clone Wars cartoons
No swimming
No night-day cycle nor dynamic weather.
No apperance tab
No minigames besides the space on-rails shooter
Voicing everything will become tedious to listen to
PvP will only have 2 sides, risking roflstomping.

GW2

Pros
Dynamic Events
No Trinity
Cross-profession combos
Extensive voice-over (albeit not as much as SWTOR)
Playable races are actually different (completely different bone structure)
Painterly aesthetics
Playable on a wide range of PCs
Home instance
No subscription fee
PvP with 3 realms pitted against each other as well as hot-join and competetive 5v5
ANet

Cons
Wooden cut scenes and bad voice acting
No subscription fee (yes this is a huge one)
Fantasy setting
No open world PvP (it is in the mists only)
No opposite factions, everyone is one the same side.
"Anime character models" (I dont see it, but again, this is a very common complaint on the SWTOR forums)
NCSoft
Guild Wars 1 (it was not a real MMO, so therefore GW2 cant be either)

This is more or less what I have seen. The GW2 "pros" side does not include every little thing, but that is to expected from a forum for another game. And a lot of the GW2 "cons" arguments are more prejudice than anything ("F2P is bad, so GW2 will be an MT crap game" etc), so that should get better as people get more informed. Interestingly though, there is a lot of complaining about features lacking from SWTOR that will be in GW2 (day/night cycle, apperance/stat combination, swimming etc).

[raspberry jam]

SWTOR

Pros:
Very polished classical trinity MMO combat

GW2

Pros
No Trinity

They can't really make up their mind, huh?

Also, "Bioware" is not a positive thing anymore.

[Lensor]

Well yea, a lot of stuff is positive or negative depending on who you ask. And even if DA2 kinda sucked, people still put a lot of stock in the developer.

[Tyris Requiem]

Its amusing that all of the stuff in the GW2 cons section I would have put in the pros section. SW:TOR is shaping up to be a decent game... my main issues with it are the grindyness, subscription fee, trinity (I despise the classic form of the trinity), and the animations, also the art style isn't really my taste. Not saying it won't be a good game but its definately not the game for me. Alot of this pro/cons stuff depends on personal opinion and taste.

[Lensor]

For sure. I just wanted to make a rudimentary list to get a feel for what fans of SWTOR are saying they like and dislike. Not surprisingly they are much more positive towards the classical WoW formula (Trinity, gear treadmill, raids, faction profession locks, P2P etc) than most GW2 fans are.

The only thing on the GW cons side I kinda agree with is the wooden cut scenes. I love the idea of 2D concept art backdrops etc, but there is definitively some polishing needed. Oh, and NCSoft's reputation is kinda an anchor, but that is more a marketing issue that anything to do with the actual game.

[Giggles]

The only thing on the GW cons side I kinda agree with is the wooden cut scenes.

I thought the ones we've seen already looked pretty bad as well but, I have a pretty strong feeling that that's not what we're going to be getting when the game comes out. In comparison, the Norn opening cinematic made them look pretty silly. It's probably just a place holder at the moment. At least I really hope so. To go from pretty snazzy visual game play to that, would be really disappointing.