Friday Update - E3 Recap, Upset Community

Today's Friday Update wasn't really "new" if you've been paying attention to E3 coverage.  We got a video that had been released before the convention, with a few edits, like the change of "Raids" to "Operations" in the text.

While many expected this, since the convention did just end yesterday, it seems that many in the community are not happy with what they got.  Many believe they were entitled to more, like new videos and a large release.  It was expected by many that today would bring us a release date.  Why, I have no idea.  If you watched the live stream dev walk through on Tuesday it was obvious the game still needs some work, sure it might not be that much, but if Bioware wants to wait to release it's product until it's up to their standards then it probably won't be released for a bit longer.

We were given possible evidence during E3 that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  During a Darth Hater interview with Razer for their SWTOR Peripherals, it was announced they would be made available sometime in November.  While this made many people excited, it doesn't mean the game will be released at that time, complications could arise.

Bioware remained silent regarding the date, but this didn't stop people from speculating when the game would be released.  To add fuel to the fire, during the EA E3 2011 Analyst Event, a slide was displayed showing the fiscal year for EA.  It showed a projected launch period for SWTOR.  From the looks of it EA and Bioware are hoping for a launch sometime between Q2 and Q3 of their Fiscal year.  This ends up being sometime in the fall.

This prompted the hungry community to want, and in some cases demand, a release date be announced at E3.  When this didn't happen, the forums lit up with angry posts about hype for the game dying, it becoming the laughing stock of the gaming industry, and claims of disappointment about their showing at E3.

Personally I would love to see the game come out sooner rather than later, I've been waiting for 3 years for this game to be out.  That being said, I want the game to be released when they believe it's ready, not a moment sooner.

I really feel bad for the crew at Bioware right now.  They are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  They are in a no win situation.  They release the game unfinished, everyone will complain about how the game fails and is broken.  They wait and release the game when they are ready, and they will be constantly hounded with demands for more information and why the game hasn't been released.  This hasn't even brought up the reasoning behind WHY they haven't released any information on a release date, or pre-ordering details.

Right now their top competitor is in the process of bringing out a new content patch, which will provide a new raid instance to players.  Do you think Bioware wants to compete with that?  They haven't released info on pre-ordering because they don't want their thunder stolen by another game.

Patience is a virtue, waiting for a game will just make that first moment you log into it sweeter.  Give the devs a break, and just wait, in due time we'll be in that galaxy far far away.

~Oria