Opinion: I am torn, like a Force sensitive youngling, between waiting for Star Wars: The Old Republic, or just getting it via Amazon now. What would Han Solo do...
Why do you hate me, EB Games?
I had entirely the best of intentions with Star Wars: The Old Republic. I was going to wait for local release, when the vast majority of folks I know where going to start playing – I even stated as such in my last print editorial, in issue 133 (which comes out this week, by the way).
But man, EB’s decision to release a mess of grey-imported titles to Australian public is really making me waver.
A lot of gamers seem to really dislike EA’s decision to stagger the release, but I’ve always been behind it. After all, it means we actually get a smoother, better experience once the initial rush and crush of launch is out of the way. It would also come with proper Oceanic servers, set up from the get-go to make sure that server pop is high during peak Oceanic hours, and minimise the impact of server outages based around US usage patterns.
Now, though, EB’s pissed all over that.
It was bad enough that some of my friends went the Amazon or similar route to get in early, but I figured that enough people would still be getting the game in March that that date would still be pretty cool. Now, with EB filling pre-orders last week, and even selling some copies at retail, not only has the game basically soft-launched without me and now my friends are levelling ahead of me, but other fans who were waiting like me are figuring that there’s no point in waiting now.
I think I am the last person I know who isn’t playing.
I feel kinda bad for EA in this, and BioWare. The whole launch has now been muddied by EB’s decision to go the grey-import route, and while a lot of people currently playing the game are assuming that EA will have to offer server transfers when the game releases locally, it seems to us that EA has no obligation of the sort. So those playing now will have the choice to either stick with their US servers, or start new characters.
And even then – and we admit, this is kind of soft – that unique moment of exploring a new MMO with friends is irrevocably gone. Some of my fondest memories of World of Warcraft were exploring with a friend, seeing Stormwind for the first time, or making the perilous run through the Wetlands that first time to see Ironforge.
All the folks I was looking forward to playing TOR with have had those moments now. At least the game is sounding much more like a classic BioWare singleplayer game in terms of plot, but still.
So, am I being a touch delusional in wanting to wait now? Or should I just cave, and the awkward stare of my EA contacts be damned?
Issue: 137 | June, 2012