Updated* Notes: EA Financial Call - Q4 Results

SWTOR leads the financial call this time around!

Apparently, SWTOR delivered 'solid results' in EA's financial Q4 2013 (Jan - Mar 2013).  They sound pretty pleased.  $224 million for the F2P sector, including SWTOR, FIFA Ultimate Team, and Bejeweled Blitz.  No specifics, but I can guess that SWTOR took the lion's share of that revenue.

EA states that they learned their lesson regarding server demand with the new SimCity title.  "It won't happen again."  Famous last words.

SWTOR is leading the charge in the F2P market.

The Sims 4 ... featuring a new, completely original offline solo play option!  So innovative!  /eyeroll

Battlefield 4 looks to be a real tentpole for EA's financial success this year.  Definitely understandable as they booked revenue for the BF3 DLC/Expansion packs this year ($121 million) and buoyed the company for the quarter.

DICE, Bioware, Visceral and  other studios will be putting out new Star Wars games for the new consoles with the brand spankin' new (and dead sexy) engine, Frostbite 3.  EA owns rights to produce Star Wars games across all platforms.

SWTOR F2P gaining traction.  1.7 new million accounts since F2P transition.  Subs up to 500K and steady.  Average monthly revenue has doubled since F2P inception.  New content cycles: 6-8 weeks.  Rothick performing and reviewing well.  Very pleased with transition so far.

Star Wars IP complements, not supplants, wholly EA-owned IP.  Look for new releases (non-Star Wars) alongside new SW games.

Update:

Listening to Activision's quarterly call as well, and just heard that WoW has dropped from 10 million at the last call to 8.3 million in the most recent quarter.  That's a 14% drop.  That's pretty substantial.  Most of the loss happened in the East ( ... yeah, right ... ), but Kotick admitted that the West saw substantial drops too.  They cited heavy competition from other MMOs, particularly F2P MMOs (hmmm).  They also fully expect to see lower subscribers counts this year than last throughout the rest of the financial year.

I think we'll begin to see WoW get more and more into the F2P business, perhaps unlocking the 1-85 content for free.  I would heartily suggest it; just look at the wonders it did for DCUO, SWTOR, LOTRO, etc etc.

Here's a graph of WoW's subscriber numbers.  It shows an incredibly healthy curve, particularly given how old the game is.  SWTOR should aspire to this type of customer retention.

The Most Important Blog Post I Have Ever Read

Go.  Read now.  NOW.


A snippet to whet your appetite:

To start, Collections is a special new interface that will show you well, things you collected! Stuff you got from the Cartel Market (Packs and not in packs) and Special Promotions, things you still need, how much percent you’ve completed, and even let you preview these items. You will even be able to track certain items.

So yes, you essentially have a portable checklist–but that’s not all. Let’s say you wanted to have an army of characters with the Revan Mask, but were only able to get one. Well, with Collections, one is all you need. For a fee in Cartel Coins (depending on the item), you can unlock this item account-wide. Yes, ACCOUNT-wide. Not faction-wide, not server-wide, ACCOUNT.

OH.

MY.

GOD.

Thank you Pink Lightsabers.  THANK YOU.

Makeb Impressions and a Money Shot!

Mission terminals?  Thank god.

Smuggle this!  Last week, I completely the Makeb storyline and got to 55 (after about 5 dailies).  I was pleasantly surprised with how good the Makeb storyline was ... can you sense the 'but' coming?  Let's face it folks, this was a glorified planet.  Nothing more.  It was beautiful ...

Death Star mining lasers?  Seems a bit like overkill!

But it was only one planet ... 

Even the friggin' bases are awesome!

One beautiful planet, though.  There were some really great moments during the questline; I won't spoil any, but the final showdown was well worth it.  Couple things bugged me, though.

• Companion characters stay silent.  There was no VO for the questlines for your companions.  They just stood there, like window dressing.  Heavily armed window dressing, but mute nonetheless.  Even when my smuggler, who married Risha, was hitting on Lemda, the apparently sexually ambiguous lady researcher. 
• And let's talk about those SGRs.  Uh, where are they?  Maybe I missed the opportunities?  Maybe they were eliminated from my view because my character was already tied in marriage to another person (even though it didn't stop me from totally hitting on Lemda at every opportunity)?  Targeteer wanted to test the waters!  He wanted to experiment like it was college!  Now he feels cheated.  He's listening to The Cure right now.

The romance options were more akin to a planetary romance, a 'wham-bam-thank ya ma'am' type affair than a true romantic arc, too.  A few cutscenes and a smooch and that does it.  Kinda disappointing.

So it sounds like I'm bagging on Rothick, and I totally don't mean to.  It was fun and well-done (even though it was really only one planet), and there are other things to do too (seeker droids and macrobinocular missions), and apparently Scum and Villainy: The Operation (not to be confused with my old guild ... which I founded ... which BioWare ripped away from me during merges ...) is one of the best they've ever done, but damn it was really only one planet.

Granted, it was only $10 ...

Still just one planet.

If I had to assign a grade to Rothick as an expansion, I'd give it a  B+.

Pros:

- Beautiful

- Great planetary story

- Seeker/Macro missions are different and fun

- S&V is apparently amazing

- Only $9.99 for subs ($19.99 for F2Pers)

Cons:

- Romance options are very limited

- Storyline can be a tad short

- No new flashpoints

- Companions largely stay silent in cutscenes

Guild Wars 2: Free Weekend Impressions

Because I have a bit of malaise regarding SWTOR at the moment, I decided to take advantage of ArenaNet's GW2 promotion for a 'free weekend.'  I've heard a lot of things about Guild Wars 2, some good, some bad.  I decided to find out for myself.

First off, GW2 is gorgeous.  Not like, 'Oh hey, that's a good looking MMO'-gorgeous; the real, true gorgeous of a well-crafted videogame.  GW2 is stunning, even on medium settings (I played on high ... it was remarkable).  Draw distance is impressive, character design is amazing, environments are bewildering.  This is, quite simply, one of the best looking games around.  And that it's an MMO is mind-blowing.
 

Near the Black Citadel

Character creation is fun and different.  I instantly became attached to my Charr Warrior; almost everything was customizable (even tooth size!).  You answer a little questionnaire at the end that helps round out your backstory and some of the NPCs you can interact with give you one of three conversation options. based on how you made your character.  It's a pretty neat way to handle creation and I think other MMOs should take heed.

Combat is fast and ... frankly, infuriating.  It plays like an action game with MMO trappings.  Some may think this is a good thing, and I'll agree that it's very different, but not for my tastes.  The action-oriented fights reward those with highly-developed twitch based skillsets.  Dodging blows is a clunky affair, requiring to you either dodge back with 'V' or double-hitting whatever movement key associated with the way you want to dodge (w, a, s, d).  It never works as well as it should and it rarely works as intended.  Several times I dodged straight into oncoming fire.

I found two-handed hammers my favorite, by far.

And let's talk about combat, fire, and the general feeling of it.  Muddy.  That's what I would call it.  The movement and attacks aren't crisp and responsive.  Sometimes, I felt my character was running in quicksand and the ability delay between button press and ability activation was occasionally intolerable.  Several times I died due to ability delay or poor movement response.

And oh boy, let's talk about dying.  I consider myself a pretty veteran MMO player.  I've had characters in LoTRO, WoW, RIFT, SWTOR, DC Online, Star Trek, Forsaken World ... I pretty much know what I'm doing while leveling, and died very, very minimally.  But in GW2?  Yeah, I was dying left and right.  Combat is super fast and the spell effects block a lot of what's going on.  The game is also very brutal, using a level-down component that lowers your effective level to match what you're facing.  This is designed to keep things 'challenging.'  What I find is that it keeps this frustrating.  I'm level 10, so why is this level 6 imp kicking my ass?  Why am I getting ram-rodded by this low level pack of beasts?  Oh, because I'm functioning as if I'm level 4.  Gotcha.  That sounds like fun, right?

I fought this level 3 worm as a level 11 Charr Warrior.  Oh, I mean a level 4.  Silly me.

The story of GW2 is pretty good; I only got to level 10 with the Charr Warrior, but I also made an Asura Engineer, a Silvari Elementalist, and a Norn Ranger.  Got a level or two with each, just to see what it was like.  They were competently done (the Asura was especially awesome), but none of them really grabbed me like the Charr.  Those beast-men are like the Klingon/Mandalorian/Tauren combo that I've always wanted.  To be frank, the Charr are better Tauren than the Tauren of WoW.  There's a bestial savagery there that's pretty awesome to behold.

The Charr does the haka.  The awesomeness of this cannot be denied.

Overall, I find GW2 to be a competent, beautiful, but occasionally frustrating game.  The combat really needed to nail the action component, and I feel it came up short, critically in some areas.  Other than that, it's a wonderful game full of atmosphere and art.  I always told myself that if GW2 went on sale one day, I'd pick it up and give it a shot.  Now that I have, I'm glad I didn't try it at full price.  In fact, the free weekend has pretty much cemented my assertion that GW2 just isn't for me.  And you know what?  That's ok.  I can definitely see why many people play, and love, Guild Wars 2.  I hope Guild Wars 2 stays strong and healthy; we need these type of games to push the envelope of MMOs.  I may not like everything they did, but I definitely respect what they have accomplished.

Scum and Apathy ... Why Am I Not Playing Makeb?

So, I was pretty excited to get the new Makeb digi-pansion or whatever they want to call it.  When Rothick opened for me on Sunday, I was online and ready to go.  Played a couple of hours, fiddled with my talent trees, got to Makeb, took a look around, marveled at the sights, did the intro quests, and promptly logged off.

I've been back a couple of times, but not for any reasonable amount of time.

And I don't know why I'm not playing Rothick.

To be sure, the new digi-pansion looks great.  Makeb feels alive and vibrant and everything I wanted in a SWTOR world.  You have a real sense of place there.  The story so far is interesting and fairly grand in scope (at least for the residents of Makeb).  The vistas are stunning.  The visuals are breath-taking.  So why am I not spending more time there?

I wasn't ultra super-duper excited about the launch, but I was pretty impressed with what I'd seen up to that point.  I was moderately excited about getting to a new world and seeing new things.  Hutts aren't a great motivator for me, so I thought the overall villain of the digi-pansion was a tad weak; the Hutt Cartel basically going all 'open war' on people doesn't make a lot of sense.  That'd be like Al Capone outfitting his gangsters with flak jackets and trying to attack San Francisco in commercial airplanes (ok, so the analogy makes sense in my head).  The Hutt threat just doesn't carry the implied menace required to fully engage me in the story.

But truly, I think the main problem I have with Rothick is that it's just one planet.  One measly planet.  A big one, to be sure.  But just one.  And while it may be massive and beautiful, it really encompasses everything I thought I wanted in TOR.  A massive, breathing world.  One area to focus on.  Because, you know, that's what other MMOs do.  And that's what I thought I wanted in TOR.

Turns out, maybe I don't.  I miss the galaxy-hopping.  I miss the planets I visited, adventured on, and left a conquering hero (or villainous bastard).

In being more like other MMOs, to me TOR has become less like itself.  And maybe that bugs me.  I'm sure, in time, I'll really come to appreciate Makeb.  But I think for now, I'm in a sort of mourning period.  Will we ever see the galaxy-spanning MMO we all have come to love?

Always in motion is the future.

The Worst Thing in the World ...

... is a barrel full of diesel-soaked puppies being lit on fire.

The second worst thing?  Pre-ordering Rise of the Hutt Cartel 1 week after the early access promotion stopped.  And not realizing it.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

/headdesk

I guess I can check out Rothick with the rest of the plebes this weekend.  Dammit.

SWTOR Patch 2.0 - Rothick Inbound!

It is here.  By the balls of the Force, it is here.  Today (tonight really, but hey, gimme a break) launches patch 2.0 and the whole bevy of changes that are coming with Rise of the Hutt Cartel, also known as RotHC, or phonetically ... Rot-hick.  Tomorrow starts Early Access, also known as "Neener-neener I'm playing new TOR and your tears are like delicious, precious, delectable fuel to my inner rage nerd!"

In order to help your new Makeb (aka the 'Gay Planet') transition, the fine folks over at TOR-Wars have prepped a little guide.  I suggest placing your optical orbits on it.

'But, dear Targeter, whatsoever shall you do?' you opine.  'How will your magnificence handle the new 2.0 Makeb-y TOR?'  Good question, agent!

I, Targeter, Leader of Imperial Intelligence, shall issue ...

NEW ASSIGNMENTS!

Yes, in a move that absolutely no one cares about, I will reinstate the 'Your XXth Assignment' posts!  I'll wait a moment for the cheering to subside.  /royalwave *elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist*

Looks like I left off with Assignment 53, though I may just go in a whole new direction.  My latest dilemma is actually pretty simple ... Gunslinger or Sniper?  Which character should I blast through Makeb with first?  On the one hand, Targeter, my first character and renowned Sniper, should get preference because, well duh, IMPERIAL Intelligence.  But Targeteer, my spunky, quirky lil' 'Slinger is very fun to play (and shaddup about the 'lolz same specz r u dum').

Or, should I 'flip the script' as the kids say nowadays and go for my freshly minted 50 Warrior?  Or even my brand new Trooper?  O, the agony!

Nah, who am I kidding.  Sniper for the win.