Guys, it’s time we all leveled with each other. It’s time we ripped the bandaid off really fast. It’s time we swallow our medicine all in one big gulp.
The Instance: The Old Republic Edition is being cancelled. Today. (ouch…but now that the hard part is out of the way, let’s explain the state of things, shall we?)
My intent with this blog post is to be as honest as I know how to be. While some of this might sound a little harsh, especially to the ToR faithful, I feel like I owe you the most truthful post I can muster.
Why are we ending the show? Here are our reasons:
- Player interest in ToR has hit an all time low, and stuff like GW2 and other games are just making it less and less relevent. I know that many of you who still play the game will have a natural instict to deny this, but it’s true. The game simply did not live up to it’s hype, or generate the kind of long term ecosystem a MMO needs to sustain extended community involvement. (One could argue this is partially due to Bioware / EA not being willing to do what is needed in the long haul to ensure it. I think it’s more complicated than that, but that’s a post for a different day.)
- The ToR news cycle is dead. Visit any blog dedicated to the game and see for yourself. There is just nothing going on there. Bioware used to send us PR multiple emails per week. Lucky to see something twice a month now.
- Now the biggest problem: While Dills is still enjoying the game, I am finding myself with slightly less than zero drive to play ToR. I try. I’ve paid for a year. I get in, I try, I get bored, and I think about all the other games I could be playing, and I get out.
I made a bet. I bet that ToR would be able to build and sustain the same kind of community ecosystem that WoW did / does. I was wrong. (Feels good to admit it actually.) That game just does not live up to the promise. Ask me in 2007, I would have had a different answer. But in the saturated MMO 2012 world we live in now, with all its tired mechanics and over-used systems? Not a great time for ToR to be what ToR ended up being.
Continuing to do a regular show about a game that I have no more interest in, is not worth doing. Not for me, and not for you.
Dills and I are still going strong on The Instance Prime, and busy with lots of other projects. We’ll let you know if anything new and cool comes up.
Are you still loving the game? That’s GREAT! You should make a show about it! 
Really glad to hear that it’s the right fit for some people. I wish it turned out to be for us. Again, I made a bet. The house won.
Sorry to hear this, but I agree. I have been finding it harder to get in there and get to 50. I’m stuck at 41.
I hope to catch more podcasts from you guys on other games
You guys gave it a valiant try.
Ya, I feel exactly the same. I bought the Collector’s Edition, and was lucky enough to be at the launch party in my home city of Austin, Texas. I met everybody, and they all signed my copy of the book that came with the collector’s edition.
My five year old screamed, “I want to play Star Wars” every night for six months. I created and played every combination of class/spec in the game and loved playing the 2 or 3 that I eventually settled with. I had fun playing the game, when I was playing the game. Everything had to stop when I started or finished a quest, so that I didn’t miss anything in the way of Lore, or game content. It became very monotonous, very quickly.
NOBODY was a bigger fan boy for that game pre-launch. I prepared everybody I knew that come December, I might go into a “Digital Hibernation” would like to be undisturbed. I played EverQuest from Beta and dual boxed EQ and Dark Age of Camelot while dabbling in the EQ2 Beta and even Star Wars Galaxies…then Warcraft ripped me away like hooks from Hellraiser. I’ve never really been able to release myself from its grasp. Lord of the Rings, Guild Wars, Anarchy Online, Asheron’s Call, Vanguard, Conan, Allods Online, DC Universe…EVERYTHING!
I’ve always been a big flight sim buff, and the thought of having an X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter experience with today’s graphics…Wet. But that didn’t happen, not even close. The outer space content, or the lack thereof, was the finishing nail. The only reason, I kept my account active was because of that 5 year old Ginger that continues to interrupt my episode of Deadliest Catch so that I can fire up Star Wars and she can kill Koribon Worms over and over and over…
The upshot: soon it will be free. And all of the money that I have invested into the game, will allow my little girl to continue to kill worms and maybe have a cool hat or allow her to have a kitty cat or something follow her around.
So will we see a Guild Wars 2 Version of the instance… Im not really sure what it was about TOR that turned me off, when it went live I bought it w/o a doubt, wich isnt like me, i do not buy games i dont get to try 1st.. and i played every class to 20, and then it got boring, highest level i reached was 23
Sad to see it go. I think most people knew this was coming. I lost interest when I had to switch servers and lost all my character names and legacy name.
Thanks for being up front about it. I appreciate everything you guys have done for the game, as well as the community in general. I’m very sad to see this happen, but totally understand where you are coming from.
Never listened to the show, but sad to see it go. With Patrick putting his 2 shows on indefinate hiatus and then this show ending it’s run it is really sad times in Frogpantsville.
I’m surprised it took this long, to be honest. I really enjoyed TOR, but as a solo game. It never felt like a real MMO to me, and even when I tried, I never felt like I was really hooked into a community. I think it would have been better AS a single player game, because then they could have done something interesting without being constrained by MMO mechanics.
Ah well.
This news saddens me. Even though I quit TOR back in April I continued to be an avid listener of the show.
I tried to like the game, but numerous bugs and a lackluster endgame killed it for me. In January I encountered a bug on Illum that wouldn’t let me complete a quest. I submitted a ticket about it and the bug was still there when I quit in April. I don’t know if the devs had too much their plate at the time, but broken content like that broke the game for me. I really wanted this game to succeed, and dethrone the king, but it was way off the mark. It seems like this once great franchise has been cursed ever since the prequels were made.
I’m a 7 year WoW vet and still actively playing the game so I will still be eagerly tuning in to The Instance. Keep up the good work everything Frogpants is still aesthetically pleasing to the ears!
SW:ToR is a pretty good SOLO game ala “KotOR3″, but it is not an MMO or worth a monthly fee in any sense of the word. I played through Beta and into launch and paid for a few months. Was capped out and bored before my sub even got close to expiring.
Yeah I too stopped playing about 2 months ago ( actually i stopped playing WOW as well) 70 Hr weeks put paid to pretty much all my puter time
came down to computer or family and i chose family 
oh well
Anyone who listens to either instance show saw this coming. Thanks for putting the effort and time in that you did! I’m gonna keep listening to pretty much everything you put out anyways. keep up the good work.
“But in the saturated MMO 2012 world we live in now, with all its tired mechanics and over-used systems?”
Yet you’re still playing WoW? Hmmm…
I feel the same Scott. I was very excited about the game in the start and even got some of my friends to play the game as well, but it quickly became boring probably because it felt much like other games and many things were missing at launch. You made the right choice about the show. There is no need to talk about a game that don’t interest you. Then it’s better to use that energy on something else.
I hate the constant speech over and over – SHUT UP and get on with the game, write it don’t don’t force me to listen to the junk. Plus the letters in the interface where too small for some of us, and they didn’t give a damn. Now its biting them on the butt.
Spacebar?
I would suggest instead of ever making another show solely devoted to one MMO, that you add segments to the Instance or another pre-existing podcast that deal with a currently popular MMMO.
I still play, but I’d be hard-pressed not to agree with your logic. You guys gave it a great shot and I’m glad you had fun while you did. But in reality, there’s just not enough there to sustain a weekly podcast dedicated solely to TOR.
Are there any plans to have a general gaming podcast? Something that covered all the other MMOs in one big lump? Guild Wars 2, LOTRO, TOR, TERA, etc etc etc, plus console and PC gaming? Now THAT is a show I’d like to see! Er … hear! You could even call it THE INSTANCE: THE OTHER STUFF.
Good on you guys for fighting the good fight and then being honest about it. There’s no shame in trying your best and coming to the proper conclusion.
No big surprise here, it was pretty obvious that interest in doing the TOR podcast was waning months ago. Still, always sad to see a “podfade”, especially from my favorite podcaster.
However, I have to say that the news isn’t as dismal as you’ve been making it out to be. I follow the news cycles…there’s actually more to talk about than you’d think. A lot of stuff I talk about with people and on the forums every day, especially now with 1.4 news being posted on the developers’ blog. There were things that I expected to hear discussion about when a podcast was on, but never did. But when you aren’t actually enjoying playing, or aren’t playing at all, it’s not like you’re going to find things to talk about anyway.
Anyway, thanks for doing the podcast for a time…I like the idea of trying a general MMO podcast….there’s so many out there now.
Still enjoying SWTOR immensely, still can’t get myself back into WoW, finding myself somewhat disliking GW2, and always loving Frogpants.
-Angela
Welp. Thanks for the few episodes you produced.
Was pretty obvious it wouldn’t last though, you were never really into the game. I.e. you never talked about stuff concerning the endgame players and you had no perspective on how the game even
It actually is still the #2 “Paid” MMO behind WOW in terms of subscriber numbers. Having said that, I could tell that you weren’t actually that into it. There probably won’t be any other successful MMOs in the future, using the subscription model anyways. I did enjoy the podcast while it lasted.
I’ve been wondering if you were going to continue. I stopped my sub in August just after F2P was announced. F2P doesn’t bother me but their repeated communication issues is what was the final straw.
They’ve said a lot in the last 8 months but seldom made good on their promises. I got the feeling in my first month that EA/Bioware released to game to recoup as much money as they could as they knew the game as designed would never keep people happy. They now know they won’t get many more box sales and you’d think they do whatever they could to keep subscribers happy. Instead all we get is silence and more promises. I couldn’t take it anymore and can’t blame you for leaving as well.
In my opinion the game’s issues all revolve around the Hero engine and the decision to have linear worlds. I’ve recently bought Guildwars and after 8 months of SWTOR it has reminded me of the simple joy of exploring. GW2 area quests are another reminder of simple game mechanics that bring people together that the developers of SWTOR never got. It’s too bad because I expected to play SWTOR for a decade.
Big shock since you never got past level 30 or whatever, but honestly….. don’t pontificate on why any game failed when you’re unabashedly nose-deep in Blizzard exec interview butt on your other pcast, it just makes you look like a bought whore.
What does the massive failure of this game have to do with how he interacts with Blizzard? There is always one butthurt idiot, and you have secured the crown for the day. Gratz! The game sucked…period. Deal with it.
He was a bit harsh but your comment was stupid.
“The game sucked period” is a stupid thing to say. Are you saying that is a fact? It is the number 2 MMO still and I think the reaon for it failing is due to all MMOs needing a refresh and WoW is already established so it keeps the hardcore and has less bugs.
If WoW came out when SWTOR did I expect it would have failed, more so as it would not have had the voice acting or Star Wars theme to fall back on
Thanks for a great run of shows guys, I think you’re calling it a day at the right time and understand the reasons for doing so. Still sad though, isn’t it? In the early days I really believed there would be long term staying power that somehow didn’t materialise. Although I quit playing many months ago I still enjoy both your broadcasts, hopefully you will have more opportunity to increase WoW coverage and that this experience won’t prejudice you against getting involved with new projects with new games in future. All the best and thanks again!
Not really that surprised, to be honest. Every time I have loaded up ToR, I find myself wondering if it’s really worth it. I go out and try to quest, and it takes too long to get where I want to go, and once I’m there, I’m not having FUN.
It seems interesting since Blizzard has shown game companies “the way”. Start small, make a good game, and support it. This notion that The Old Republic was definitely going to have 5 million subscribers after a year was ludicrous, obviously.
Take a look at the company Blizzard was in 2003 or early 2004. THAT is what gaming companies should strive to be, not what they are now.
If you think Blizzard started ‘small’ then you have seriously forgotten what WoW’s launch was like. It was a blitz from all angles and the game rocketed to a million subscribers in the span of three months, at a time when the only serious competition was EQ (with about 750K subscriptions total).
I have to agree with Angela above that your claims about there being no news to report are exaggerated. There were many announcements that you never even talked about. You just didn’t care enough to get involved, and that’s why you didn’t see anything worth reporting. Meanwhile you constantly managed to pump out episodes of the regular Instance that weren’t really about anything at all (what with eight months between patches in WoW) – because you genuinely enjoyed it.
That said, thanks for making this show while you did, and also for finally putting an end to it now. I really enjoyed some of the earlier episodes, but in the last couple of months they became increasingly painful to listen to, as you always sounded like you’d rather be playing WoW instead.
I’ll continue to listen to the regular Instance even though I stopped playing WoW quite a while ago, as your banter is just that fun (when you’re actually into it). And I’ll continue to play TOR, as I still love it as much as I did back in December.
+1
It’s pretty lame you’re giving up before it’s even given legs on a F2P format. I can understand quitting the game if it failed on that level as well, but you’re deciding to bow out and quit before we find out. We’re obviously looking at at least one more significant bump in popularity…but no, you didn’t want to wait. So much for having faith in something you never really gave much of a chance to anyways. Maybe if you had gotten past 30, and given it more of a chance…
I wish I could say that I was happy with the attempt you gave. I have been screaming at my Ipod, for months now, that you have yet to play this game. You’re not even 50 yet!? Why haven’t you talked about AOE circles in Zorn and Toth popping earlier than they are drawn? Have you ever seen Karagga’s hat drop? Are the tanks and Vorgath easier than the Drouks? How can you honestly say that you ever even played this game? You never saw a modicum of endgame. How do you expect to be able to put on a compelling show about a thing you know almost nothing about? Hence, your show devolved into reading news. As per your snarky, you go make a shoe… Challenge Accepted.
*show
Folks, I don’t think some of you are understanding the point Scott’s making. Saying “why don’t you let FTP have a chance to bring in more people?” is missing the point – even if it does bring in people, Scott’s not having fun. So what if he didn’t see endgame? If he doesn’t understand the things you love about the game? If he’s not enjoying himself, the show wouldn’t be any good at all. Hence, the suggestion that those people who ARE enjoying the game be the ones to make a show about it – a good show requires hosts that are genuinely interested in the subject matter. Are you seriously getting bent out of shape over the fact that he’s just not feeling it?
Do you also get angry with people for having a different favorite color than you?
Getting mad at anyone for deciding to stop producing a free piece of entertainment is silly and unfair. Anyone who listened to the original Instance podcast years ago would remember that Scott never had a character at endgame then either. The charm of the show was never about cutting edge information, it was the wonder of listening to Scott relate his experiences in that world.
I thank Scott and Dills for the hours of free entertainment they already gave me. Besides Dills was bound to run out of good Star Wars quotes for the show opening pretty soon anyway
I love the show but you cannot criticise the game without getting to 50. That’s where community picks up as there’s a lot more natural breaks.
I find WoW quite solo until maxed out and can you imagine reviewing WoW without end game??? It’s like a different game post max level.
Of course it’s fine you finished your podcast but I suspect it’s because you just can’t face the grind of getting another character on an mmo maxed out (it’s almost like work on any game and you already have one on WoW) and because a lot of your good friends remained on WoW.
I do think you criticising SWTOR is wrong though as you haven’t done operations etc so you’re review is basically comments from trolls.
This sour grapes anyway as I’m gutted you won’t be doing the podcast anymore!
I never played TOR but I listed to the podcast from the beginning because I expected to jump in when it went FTP. I enjoyed the show, and learned about as much as a person can know without ever playing the game. I appreciate your work, but would much rather hear that you quit now than continue to feel obligated to talk about a game that you’re not enjoying. Thanks for 24 great episodes.
I sometime play on toilet ha ha yes it very fun!
I poop and shoot my light saber… err brown saber shoots out WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhWWAAAAAAAHhhhh
that was my poop! Ha ha no to tell truth i never play it but i listen to podcast and thought maybe i buy it when it get polished and pathched good. but now it still looks pooey…. you all fat pooers to play it i guess if it so boring I unsubscribe wow after i get bored until next cool content – i so cool and you are pooers! ha ha go sit on toilet and play wow and star war – i am play guild war 2 and shoots poo at you!
This dude is a sad, sad person.