How many players do you expect there to be? [Poll]

[Saverem]

I voted 2-3 millions. It might drop a bit when GW2 comes out, but it won't be that much.

[blackblade]

If they're smart, and do a follow-up post-launch patch within 6 months adding features that smooth out pain points for most players, they'll be set.

Also, if you hate listening to questgivers talk, you can skip it (outside of having to reply to them)

but getting fresh content down for the powerlevelers is going to be key. (dosen't have to be raid content, but something new.)

[Dacu]

People need to get the WoW-syndrome out of their head. Millions here, millions there. Blizzard needed 6ish years to build up so many players, SW:TOR will need it aswell, especially since most MMO-fanboys are in love with WoW.


3 Months? A million players isn't impossible.. 3 Years? 3 million players isn't impossible

There almost 1million pre-orders in NORTH AMERICA, that is not including digital.

I think there will be between 2-3 million.

[Deleted]

How much gametime follows with the preorder? If it is 1 month as usual i bet that it will be around the 1 million mark after 3 months, maybe slightly higher.

[Strakha]

2.5 million

[Argroth]

If they're smart, and do a follow-up post-launch patch within 6 months adding features that smooth out pain points for most players, they'll be set.

Also, if you hate listening to questgivers talk, you can skip it (outside of having to reply to them)

but getting fresh content down for the powerlevelers is going to be key. (dosen't have to be raid content, but something new.)

I'll consider the hit of powerlevelers quitting as acceptable losses, they skipped over the bulk of what this game has to offer (compared to other stagnant ones in this genre) then that's their loss. They should of thought more about what this game is compared to other mmos before they wasted money and ruined it for themselves after a short time.

While many things in this MMO are the same there are some glaring differences, I know from personal experience that many people who arn't into the MMO grind have already pre-ordered or are considering getting it. I even explained to them that eventually when they run out of all classes leveling that the Raid grind will start, many have said that THEN they will try that endgame.
by that time the next expansion might already be out and there will be more story/leveling content/companion stuff to do.

The fact that it is Bioware and a Pseudo-sequel to two popular single player games will make the initial crowd very different from what is currently in older MMOs or in ones without background. There will be a lot more people interested in things other then power-leveling and raid grinding.

[Chrysia]

Bioware still needs to add stuff that keeps people sticking around though. People aren't going to pay a monthly fee to "experience" the quests for every single class when they can go get Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Skyrim, Dark Souls, or any number of other single player RPGs. Even the casual players will start hitting max level at the 3 month mark, if not before. If they want to keep a lot of those folks around, they better have some engaging endgame content or they're going to jump ship.

WARNING: THE ABOVE TEXT IS ONLY MY OPINION

You mean stuff like two Operations (raids) at launch, and an entire world devoted to nothing but PVP, as well as a rated warzone system that is in the works?

[Daarksoul]

Well the 2 million that quit wow last quarter just to start....


It was over 3 quarters, and watch the bashing. We don't need it around here. =)

[Deleted]

I'd say a couple of million. I suspect although it will be a good game the majority of hardcore star wars fans (who probably make up for the majority of the pre orders) will be disappointed with the game, just like Warcraft players were upset with WoW. Except this will be on a larger scale because of Star Wars cult following.

I'm not saying it will be a bad game, but usually with games like this there is such a high expectation that no matter how good it will be, it will never be good enough.

[Saved]

my bet is more than 5 milion, all the pre orders (box and digital) Na+Eu is around 3.5M more the ppl that buy on release and after christhmas i really think in more than 5 Milion, let's hope so

[godofslack]

I fully expect Bioware to make back their entire investment just off base sales. But, that being said I expect a massive fall off after the first month. For many people, including myself, SWTOR is just KotR 3. Now that's not to say don't buy it, it seems like an amazing leveling experience, and if I had time I'd go every class before quitting, but for a lot of people leveling is all you need. I won't be buying it because it isn't right by my standards to pay 50-60 bucks for a single player RPG that I can only play for a month. I personally hope that Bioware offers a choice to opt out of the multiplayer content and the accompanying subscription.

[lunaspike]

You got to be a downright jerk to receive an infraction from mods especially Trolls. I've never seen him act petty against those who don't like SWTOR. But if you post non constructively, which incidentally trying to call him petty as your post implies isn't really being constructive, can earn you some infractions.

It's okay not to like SWTOR or any game for that matter, just don't be a dick about it, which you aren't at least not yet.

I personally feel like SWTOR has most of the MMO bases covered they got a commitment to good endgame with possibly two raids in for launch and tons of dungeons, if they keep up that dedication I think they just might see numbers increase instead of decline. Also people need to realize that SWTOR has the potential to pull in non MMO gamers so that could potentially increase numbers, it's not like SWTOR is just going to be taking people away from games like WoW which seems to be an issue for some people and why some posters here like to downplay SWTOR.

Is it bad that after watching some of the gameplay for swtor beta this weekend we got two more people to uninstall WoW? People can say whatever they want about story/lore not being a big enough attraction. What do you really have from a game if you remove those two things? If you remove the story/lore from WoW what would you have? Well, admittedly almost the same thing you do now. Still even the WoW zealots have to admit it's rather silly to imply that story/lore isn't important.

[Glorious Leader]

I fully expect Bioware to make back their entire investment just off base sales. But, that being said I expect a massive fall off after the first month. For many people, including myself, SWTOR is just KotR 3. Now that's not to say don't buy it, it seems like an amazing leveling experience, and if I had time I'd go every class before quitting, but for a lot of people leveling is all you need. I won't be buying it because it isn't right by my standards to pay 50-60 bucks for a single player RPG that I can only play for a month. I personally hope that Bioware offers a choice to opt out of the multiplayer content and the accompanying subscription.

Really? I mean you can say its kotor3 but based on what? Hell the combat isn't even remotely similar. When people spout unmitigated nonsense its really bothersome.

As for the amount of people playing well judged on some of the responses Ive seen on this forum i would rather it retain a loyal 2-3 mil base than have 10 million tards qq incessantly about this or that which they feel they are entitled to a debate about.

[valden83]

I think 1.5-2 mil is a realistic guess, but I do think this game will push over 3 million subs eventually and maybe even push over 5 million at its peak. I do not expect it to ever reach WoW's milestone however, but I do think it will be the next big game since WoW. It will likely be a nice transition to the newer mmos being developed to release in the next few years.

Also, so many people saying the game just won't hold people's interest and gets boring. I am still eager to dig into the nitty gritty of the questing. And likely once I do a play through with one character, ill probably roll another and do that as well, simply because I think the questing system and Bioware's own lore and storytelling style is fantastic.

I will also toss this out there... I don't think this game is the holy grail of innovation for the MMO genre, its just a newer iteration of the proven formula with Bioware's own special touch. KOTOR online, starwars sandbox, however you view it. GW2 will be successful, but is free to play, so why not play both? :P

[Deleted]

to begin the game I expect very high numbers or players. I do not see it dropping too severe after but I do expect some people to not like the game. The growth of the game really depends on how quickly they put out new content as well. That will play a big factor in the player base being content.

(First of all, NDA and so, so i can't tell any details and most of that stuff is speculation!)

Well it basically has many different storylines and at least Imp and Sith will have totally different storylines for quite some time. And leveling will take a lot more time than it did in WoW, then you will have to try everything out, get some PvP, do some Flashpoints, perhaps try to Raid. For an average player, that will take two or three months, after that, you will see other classes do cool stuff and try it out for your self, take a shot at your other speccs and so on. In the end, you may even try to play the other factions storyline.

So the game has surely enough content to last for months even without raiding and PvP. After that, yeah, it's getting definitely critical when raiding and PvP are bad and/or unbalanced. But that's nothing we know at all. Expeect a big class balancing patch in february or march to fix the biggest issues.

After all, SW TOR will have worse endgame content than WoW for some time, simply because they will have to find their balancing, implement those missing features you like about WoW or an MMO (it's been stated that e.g. Dual Specc won't be available at the start). I don't know if it will be so, but i'm pretty sure, there will be some big balancing issues between the speccs like in every young MMO and it will take some time to fix those. While leveling it doesn't matter that much.

[Mister K]

What ever WoW has +1

jks jks

between 1.5m. - 3m.

[Little Monster]

i'm going to guess low at 1.5-2m

[ContentsMayVary]

Probably about 1-2 million.

I doubt it'll ever come close to WoW - for one thing, WoW is much more female-friendly than Star Wars, and a significant number of potential players are female.

[Thornstar]

Probably about 1-2 million.

I doubt it'll ever come close to WoW - for one thing, WoW is much more female-friendly than Star Wars, and a significant number of potential players are female.

I really do not get how one is more friendly to females than the other. I mean being a gay man I assume I would be closer to understanding this than some, but the statement makes my mind turn into jello.

On topic however I think this game is going to be amazing. With everyone being invited to that weekend test I think for sure they are going to net a few people who may or not have bought the game otherwise. I would say we are looking 3-4 million at launch. Depending on updates depends on if this number shrinks or grows.

[asharia]

3 months in?

900k preorders. so, maybe 3-4 mil at launch. history tells us there will be a large drop off after the initial free month.

my guess, 1-1.5m at 3 months in