SWTOR - Game universe size/scale?

[kamikaze148]

Apologies if this has already been asked in another thread, couldnt find anything related so might ask here

Ive only just got around to doing the research behind SWTOR the past couple of days, looks absolutely amazing over all, and will definitely be giving it a serious look in, probably the first MMORPG besides WoW where ive actually been excited for it, not a oh yeah, i'll give that a go, only coming back to WoW.

Just in terms of size of SWTOR gameplay, i can see there are 17 planets thus far for us to explore, comparatively speaking to Azeroth etc, are each of these planets world sized?, or is each planet more like a large WoW zone, where we are given a certain area to explore?.

The game looks huge, but just want to get an idea of the scale of this game

[Fukensti]

http://images.mmorpg.com/images/news...0//worlds1.jpg

[Trollsbane]

Alderaan is 7-8 WoW zones (Which zones is undetermined, though most likely an average) in size.
Some worlds are smaller. Some may be bigger.
Overall, it's freaking enormous.

---------- Post added 2011-10-25 at 07:35 PM ----------

http://images.mmorpg.com/images/news...0//worlds1.jpg

I'm curious to see wha TOR's size will come out to overall.

[kamikaze148]

Wow. jeeeeez. thanks for that. i love immersive massive gameworlds. its funny how small WoW is, and how i used to gasp at its grand scale when i started playing back in 05.

Cant wait to have that feeling back again, will still be giving MoP a go, but SWTOR really has gripped my attention.

[Deleted]

Had to nab that picture into my G+ mmo research folder. Boggles how big LotRO really is.

[grandpab]

I can't believe WoW is really that small, and Asherons Call was that big. I kind of thought Dereth would be about the size of just 1 continent in WoW.

[kamikaze148]

I can't believe WoW is really that small, and Asherons Call was that big. I kind of thought Dereth would be about the size of just 1 continent in WoW.

Yeah i know right, WoW always seemed like such a big place, when on foot or ground mounts i guess it is, but flying everywhere kind of shrinks the scale down FAST.

Wonder what the actual biggest game world is?. EvE online maybe?. Not sure if that would count though, mostly just empty black space

[Solarshot]

Apologies if this has already been asked in another thread, couldnt find anything related so might ask here

Ive only just got around to doing the research behind SWTOR the past couple of days, looks absolutely amazing over all, and will definitely be giving it a serious look in, probably the first MMORPG besides WoW where ive actually been excited for it, not a oh yeah, i'll give that a go, only coming back to WoW.

Just in terms of size of SWTOR gameplay, i can see there are 17 planets thus far for us to explore, comparatively speaking to Azeroth etc, are each of these planets world sized?, or is each planet more like a large WoW zone, where we are given a certain area to explore?.

The game looks huge, but just want to get an idea of the scale of this game

about the size of a zone... believe on beta I think it was tatooine that took between 20-30 minutes to run across unmounted (one of the larger zones)

[Kaninchen]

I just hope those planets use their space wisely. I mean what's the point of having a map that's way larger than 1 zone of WoW if it's 2/4 filled with sand and no quest/pvp objectives/mysterious npc's.

about the size of a zone... believe on beta I think it was tatooine that took between 20-30 minutes to run across unmounted (one of the larger zones)

Sounds like good ol' barrens.

[Drihan]

If we do a bit of guess work we can probably calculate the approximate size.

Start by looking at the picture in the link that Fukensti posted, we see how large GTA3's map was in regards to WoW's. Just by using your eyes you can make an approximation of the largest WoW zones in comparison to the GTA3 map. From that we can imagine a WoW zone being somewhere between 2 and 3 square miles (from the link's calculations).
Now, if we just go between the sizes that has been posted (which puts 2.5 square miles into 1 WoW zone and each SWTOR planet being 7.5 times as big), then we just do the math:

2.5 * 7.5 = 18.75 square miles per zone

And we have 17 planets:

18.75 * 17 = 318.75 total square miles.

I really can't stress enough that this is as far as guess work goes, if you want to go further into the rabbit hole you can say that each planet's map is shaped as a pink bunny. I wouldn't be surprised if the total size of the SWTOR universe (as it is right now), is somewhere between 300 and 400 square miles, which would still put it at around 4.3 times as big as WoW.

Again, don't tear my head off, I just measured by looking at it.

[Thornstar]

LOTRO just released another expansion (may not even include their last either) so it has gotten much much bigger. The game itself is HUGE.

On topic: very glad that TOR will be a big world. Always nice to be immersed and able to explore

[kamikaze148]

I just hope those planets use their space wisely. I mean what's the point of having a map that's way larger than 1 zone of WoW if it's 2/4 filled with sand and no quest/pvp objectives/mysterious npc's.

I think this will be all relative to the environments in question, i mean, planets like Tatooine and Hoth are Desolate wastelands for the most part anyway, so will probably be just that, miles of sand/dunes interspersed with ravines containing mobs/creatures etc. Only broken up by outposts for NPC's, or Space Stations etc. Think the Salt Flats (when they were there) at the bottom of 1000 Neeedles, but times it by 10?

Obviously planets like Coruscant or Corellia will be jam packed with interactive environments and scaling structures throughout the zone...

But yeah i get what you mean, quality over quantity. Im sure BioWare will hit the mark with this one, going by what they have produced in the past, and what ive seen.

[Fireflash]

That WoW map is extremely outdated, if you add in the parts that are now on the map it's going to be closer to 300 mi I would think.

[Sikizim]

You also have to take into account relative speed.

If something is 1000 miles long and you travel at 100 miles an hour it'll take you 10 hours. So A theoretical exploration size of 10 hours.

If something is 500 miles long and you travel at 20 miles an hour it'll take 25 hours. 2 and a half times longer.

In racing games and games with Space ships (Swtor) You travel at a much higher speed. So those large worlds make more sense.

With ground mounts only, the original world of vanilla was HUGE. Flying mounts make the world alot smaller because you travel much faster. Which is why the average size of zones have also increased. Plus that doesnt take into account Northrend, Outlands or instanced content.

[Drihan]

That WoW map is extremely outdated, if you add in the parts that are now on the map it's going to be closer to 300 mi I would think.

I highly doubt it's 300 miles, probably closer to 150, but not more.

[4KhazModan]

The in game world is scaled down to the azeroth we know from lore. But I had no idea it was smaller than Burnout Paradise's Paradise City.

[noahjam326]

The smallest planets in the game (the starter planets) are labeled at about 2x the size of an average WoW zone. The largest planet (Aldaraan) is said to be the size of 7-8 average WoW zones. So 4 planets are 2x a WoW zone, and 1 planet is 7x a WoW zone. That means the 12 other planets range between 3-6 WoW zones in length. So the average size of each planet will probably range around the size of just under Northrend.

[Sargerus]

All i gonna say is that Alderaan is NOT the size of 7-8 wow zones. More like 4-5.

[Medjai]

All i gonna say is that Alderaan is NOT the size of 7-8 wow zones. More like 4-5.

they never quoted which zones it would be so it could be 7-8 zones, where you are probably taking some ofthe bigger zones and adding with some of the medium size zones =)

[KevyB]

It's one thing to have a big world, and another to have a detailed world.
Most of the places on TOR's planets look really, REALLY desolate and uninspired.