Old Republic "very different" to WOW
"Once you've tried it, you can't go back."
Star Wars: the Old Republic is a very different experience to MMO benchmark World of Warcraft, according to developer BioWare.
Studio co-founder Greg Zeschuk told Gamasutra that, despite the two games being compared to each other, its MMO was writing its own rule book by focusing on character identity and "heroic purpose".
"I think that's actually one thing I'm excited about, particularly, with TOR," he explained. "It is a very different experience. I think that anybody who plays it for any length of time, it's pretty remarkable, because they actually come away [impressed]."
"It's obviously a BioWare game. Then you think of that in an MMO space, people have trouble conceiving it until they actually play it, and they go, 'Oh, now this makes sense.'
"It's very, very compelling. I think it's different. I think WOW and all the other MMOs, they have the same sort of challenge... There are thousands and thousands of heroes. You don't really feel special. It's an amazing experience, and it's really rewarding and fun, but you just don't feel special. That's what we're trying to do.
Colleague Ray Muzyka chipped in as well, insisting that once you try The Old Republic you won't want to return to Blizzard's game – or any other MMO for that matter.
"The common reaction we get from our fans when we play it, or the testers, ourselves, and our teams, is that frankly once you've tried it, you just can't go back. You don't want to try other MMOs anymore. I think that's what imbuing the game with a sense of heroic purpose and identity achieves."
You'll be able to find out for yourself soon enough. BioWare's game is due to launch later this year, though publisher EA recently admitted there was an outside chance it might slip to early 2012.