MMO Newbie Question re: TOR and the Story

[daveyjwin]

So explain this to me. MMORPGs: do they generally have an "ending" like most games that you can beat and complete? Seems like WoW people just keep playing and playing for thousands of hours, no? Seems like Bioware is talking up the story aspect of TOR as a contrast to existing MMOs, is this going to be a game you can beat in 50 hours and start over again?

 

[Crash250f]

In MMO's there's usually a broad, overlying story. When you lvl up to the lvl cap, you see some parts of this story, progress through it a little, and complete a ton of side stories which can be related to the main quest, or not. When you reach the end game, the main story usually comes into play much more than before, and the progression rate per time played slows down dramatically, and is capped at a certain point until they update it.

It's kinda like this. They drop you some random place Europe in 1942. You don't really have much of an idea whats going on other than there's a war happening. You make your way towards the center of the conflict, subverting nazi plans in small towns along the way, learning more about what's going on. Then you reach the main battle, and you're stuck fighting it out there for a few months or years, until that fight is decided and it moves on to the next one.

I'm not sure how this is implemented in ToR since I haven't been following it but in WoW, the big battle would be the current end game raids, while in a pvp game like daoc, it would be, well, a big battle over the frontiers. Regardless, there has to be what mmo'ers call an end game, because not many people want to put work into their character, only to start a new one as soon as its "finished". People would probably be glad to pick that statement apart, but I'm aware of the arguments and I believe it's still true that an mmo needs an end game.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

The short answer is no, there is no "end" to an MMO, including The Old Republic. They just continually add content.

That said, TOR will have unique storylines/quest for each class, so you can go back and make new characters to experience their unique stories once you've exhausted whatever Bioware has made available with your first character.

 

[drakhon]

You can think of it as similar to a long-running TV, novel or comic book series. Individual story arcs may end, but the story as a whole continues by means of new installments until someone decides that it's time to shut everything down.

 

[Scoobydo]

There is no ending in MMOS. They just have a themepark or sandbox. You have a ride there, a roller coaster, lets go on it. Oh that was fun. Ok, now what? Lets go on the ferris wheel. Whee! thats fun. Ok what now? Lets take another ride on the roller coaster. Whee!

Basically they are creating the amusement park. The players just get to see what rides are available and pick and choose which ones they like to do and honestly, just keep doing them over and over and over and over again...

Expansion packs just bring new rides.

The difference in most MMOS is the themepark or sandbox ideas. Themeparks are "you go from this ride to this ride to this ride" in this order like you are following a path. The sandbox is "you pick and choose which ride to go on when you feel like it." One is linear, the other is not... But the same concepts apply to both.

<--- Scoobydo doesn't like themepark MMOS... I like sandbox. I like to explore and see whats out there and find new hunting grounds. Themepark usually have quest hubs. You finish all the quests in one area, then you get a quest which leads you to the next ride. Once you turn that in, all these new quests open up. You can't get the quests until you complete the last set, so you can't go out of order and it doesn't encourage you to explore.

 

[daveyjwin]

Thanks for the responses, really helpful. I guess since I've only ever played regular RPGs - where you play as a character for 40 or 50 hours until you beat the game, then start over as a different kind of character and play through it again, and again - my question is whether there's any reason a person playing TOR, for example, wouldn't want to play like that (start a character, play him for 50 hours, then start over). Or if there's any incentive to continue with a same character for 300 hours or something...

 

[TwistedAegis]

Or if there's any incentive to continue with a same character for 300 hours or something...

In an MMO those incentives are usually gear, achievements and "side" abilities. In WOW those would be professions like enchanting, engineering, etc.

 

[AceTKK]

At its core the incentive is always, always, competition with other players. Who can collect the best gear/most money/best skills and become the strongest.