It seems that just about every MMO blog you read these days, with the exception of a few, is announcing which version of Star Wars: The Old Republic they pre-ordered. I’ve never been big on pre-orders, I think I’ve only pre-ordered two or three games in my life-time and only did because they came at a discounted price.
For SWTOR I was tempted to join in and pre-order a copy, but I decided against it for various reasons. The main reason being I don’t want to be part of the massive flood of gamers all downloading, patching and logging in on launch day. MMOs rarely have a smooth launch and considering the amount of players flocking to SWTOR, there’s bound to be some launch day issues. So my plan is to avoid the launch all together and save myself some frustration.
Since I’ll be avoiding the launch, that also means the only bonus I’ll receive from the pre-order is the color stone, which is most likely purely cosmetic, so I don’t mind missing out on that.
Back when Star Wars Galaxies launch I was there from day one and while I don’t remember any major launch issues, I do remember the massive amount of lag in the cities. For the first week or two I just avoided them or tried logging in during off-peak hours.
Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a post saying I’m not going to buy SWTOR, just not pre-ordering it. I will definitely be picking up a copy of SWTOR, but I’ll probably wait 2-3 weeks before I do, that is unless I hear how smooth and awesome the launch was, then I’ll run to the store and get a copy :)
Congratulations, you want a cookie?
I do not think you ready clearly the terms and logic behind their pre-orders…
It may be too late to get a code you can activate now, but they are going to be ushering players in on a “first come, first serve basis.” Supposedly, the purpose for this is to control the flow of players into the game before launch day. Furthermore, they will be doing “beta test” weekends during September which may be a prelude to the stress testing they’ll be doing with the tiered early access program.
I understand your argument, but you missed several details that directly relate to your qualms and the mitigation of such.
Hi! Why don’t you pre-order now and just play a little later. You don’t have to play at release, if you don’t want to…^_^
Hey Mike, thanks for the post.
Just a couple quick notes about your stance on the pre-order of SWTOR. If you read the pre-order information, it states, “The order in which you redeem your Pre-order Code is the order in which you will gain Early Game Access BEFORE the game’s official release.” (Capitalized for emphasis, reference: http://www.swtor.com/preorder)
Another interesting fact, is that they’ve queued the pre-orders… which makes me think that they might be releasing the game in tiers.
I’ve written a little bit more about my thoughts on it here: http://albertbori.com/pre-order-swtor
Well.. The Swtor Preordering is about avoiding what you just used as a reason why you won’t do it. This post should be called “Why I should better have Pre-Ordered SWTOR”.
I myself cannot wait for SWTOR to come out. I pre-ordered the collectors edition and I was most pleased. I do agree on some of you points however. Launch day will not go smooth, simple as that. I will try to join in the action the 1st day but Im sure there will be major issues waiting for me. The collectors edition ran me $166, will was kinda steep, but I do have high hopes for this game and I hope I will be pleased. main reason I pre-ordered was to get in early launch and get ahead of the game. also the rare items that come with the collectors edition was a must have!
Very good article however, I enjoy sci-fi and also reading. I just caught on to this new series called Grit City Serial. Its some new thing called an EmotoBook. It has abstract art during some scenes of the series to get the feel of what the character is thinking about. I don’t know, It was pretty cool, you guys should check it out. Its a pretty sweet eBook
gritcityserial.com
Really lame on the blogs I’ve seen lately bashing the SWTOR pre-order news.
you crazy .. ill be their opening day .. and be lvl 20 by the time u join :)
I’m not pre-ordering, or ordering for 2 majr reasons. 1.) SEO BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH nuff said. If you don’t know sony history you are a noob and a fool. 1.) Worst crime. Destroyed Final Fantasy after 7. 7 was Nintendo team, bought out by Sony after, and completely destroyed the production team and went full on profit making by whoring out the product.
2.) Look at their history. Game drops a little in popularity, AGAIN for sake of money, they basically just terminate the client. MAtrix online etc.. Few industries make out of passion, more for buck. (Vanilla wow vs wow now).
3.) SWG. OUCH! Cuting her RIGHT OFF. What about those faithful players? Look at Anarchy online. It is about as popular as SWG, and it won’t pull the plug on its small yet faithful community. THAT is the difference. And that is the reason I wont be supporting this crap in a box.
@buttlord – what has Sony got to do with any of this?
@mike – isn’t the point of pre ordering so u can play before launch day?
it is, but I think I’m just jaded from to many crappy launches and would rather wait until the launch day bugs are fixed and things are running smooth.
k good for you xD
Great don’t pre-order. You won’t have copy for months after launch. I am pretty sure it be sold out and you won’t get copy for awhile. I guess you have the money to pay big bucks for gaem on ebay since you didn’t spend money on Pre-order
Congrats, Mike, you write stuff for an MMO blog (at least?) and you have opted to miss the biggest MMORPG opening ever, & possibly the smoothest ever. I’m gonna laugh if we get free Vader suits in the shop, running around all Juyo-style 3 weeks prior to launch while Mike writes his next blurp about how long after the launch date he will wait.
See you at launch
Well, let’s just look at the whole thing. SWTOR, or any other MMO is not a race to the top. You want to go into these games and follow a long, nice story in which you go and play the game…excuse me…experience the game and the story it is telling. So, good…you will be lvl 20 or whatever. Congratulations on wasting hours trying to max. level as fast as possible and then run and run and run instances (missions?) over and over for that elusive best in slot. Let’s be real here for a second. What ever happened to real life? You seriously HAVE to be IN game early to race the fastest, spend the MOST hours in front of your computer and that makes you feel above someone else? Or makes you feel ‘special’? (Well, actually THAt would make you pretty special.) Do you even have any clue what you could accomplish with all that gaming time if you would use it for education, work or other activities which would better you? If running around in a Darth-Vader suit is all you are aming for in life for the next few month…buds, you need to re-evaluate yourselfs.