Any pc gamers, or avid MMO fans, will know about the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic today. This is Biowares’ first attempt at a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, more commonly known as an MMORPG. After bringing us amazing games like the Mass Effect Series, as well as a slew of Dragon Age games, can Bioware continue their epic success in the online RPG world? A world that’s been dominated by the likes of WoW (World of Warcraft) for the past decade.

We’ve seen a ton of games come and go, and very few have made a dent. A few I’ve tried myself included Age of Conan, Guild Wars, Tabula Rasa and Rift. Although each had a few unique attributes, none really compared to WoW… but is that really a fair comparison? Those who played WoW back in it’s “vanilla”, or starting, days know just how bad it really was. It took years of tweaking in order for Blizzard to develop it into what it is today, so why not give these new ones a chance? The answer is simple… impatience. If there is already a game out there that does everything you like, why give another game the chance to develop the same way? Most who leave WoW, end up returning with in a year. I’m included in that group.

Why do we return? I know for me it’s the community and polished game features. I was really into Rift… so much so that I had one character at max level, and another nearly there. But the problem was, once you hit that plateau, there wasn’t enough people around to do any of the end game stuff. Dungeons, the main attraction for end game players, were impossible to get into. Often I’d wait a whole day just to get into one dungeon, only to have the group disband minutes into the venture. How depressing. In WoW… a dungeon queue takes, at most, 20 minutes… even that’s a stretch.

On top of that, is polished game features. Things like the dungeon finder, battlegrounds queue, fun crafting systems, a great storyline option, etc. It took Blizzard years to develop these things for WoW, but new MMORPG developers should know that they are expected, whether your game is new or not. So coming into the game with these things tweaked through betas and game testers is ideal.

So what about The Old Republic? Does it stand a chance in this monopolized game industry? We’ll have to wait and see I guess, but things are looking good to me so far. I’ve watched a lot of “lets play the old republic” videos on YouTube, and the game looks quite polished already. Graphics are sweet, every quest line has a cinematic story to it, which is huge for me, and even the combat system looks pretty legit. The characters are sort of cookie cutter, but with all the built-in cinematic scenes that include your actual character, I can see why Bioware chose to go that route.

One really big thing that Bioware has going for them in this series, is the Star Wars name. At the very least, you have to think they’ll get a big chunk of the Star Wars community involved in the game… and then from there you’ll have those looking for a WoW alternative, as well as the WoW haters, looking for any reason to play an MMO other than WoW. I myself am definitely going to give it a try. I hope to get it for Christmas, and if not I’ll be running out to buy it.

I actually might start my very own “Let’s Play The Old Republic” as well! I’ve always wanted to do a Let’s Play, why not start it on one of the most anticipated MMORPG’s in a long time! Keep an eye on this blog for the premiere of the Let’s Play, as well as my thoughts of the game.