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Why Does Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) Have to Die?

13

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  • AutemOxAutemOx Member Posts: 1,704

    SWGs end was a long time coming.  A year into its release I would have never predicted that it would have ended so soon, but some very very bad decisions made by SOE has made it really obvious that it would be over soon for a while now.

    It annoys me when people say VG and SWG had bad launches.  I played both within 1 week of launch and they both ran great with no game breaking glitches.  The only glitches I encountered I thought were just sorta funny.  Some players are pricks.

    Play as your fav retro characters: cnd-online.net. My site: www.lysle.net. Blog: creatingaworld.blogspot.com.

  • EliandalEliandal Member Posts: 796

    Originally posted by marinrider

    Originally posted by jpnz


    Originally posted by Zippy


     

    Vanguard released 1/30/07.  SOE bougt the game in May.  Between release and May Sigil added mroe content than SOE would add combined in the next 3 years.  Vanguard's release was not bad.  The oroblem it had it was not playable on 95% of most computers.  If you had a good rig it ran fine.  When SOE took over the game still had 95k subs.  SOE introducded a crash bug with their 1st patch which took them 3.5 months to fix which pretty ended the game lowering the population to 20k.  Many people have theorized they introcuded the bug intentionally as their only puirpose in buying Vanguard was to protect EQ2 against Vanguard.  At the time of aquistion SOE still had over 100 devs. Once aquiired SOE could move the better devs to eq2 and fire the rest.  Which is what they did.  Letting the game wither and die with no support and empty promises.  Withijn less than a year the game was down to one full time dev from over a 100.

    Certainly Sigil deserves much of the blame.  But so does Microsoft and SOE for forcing SIgil to redesign and wowify the game in 2006 causing them to release an unfinished game.  But bigger than the unfinished part was the mistake Sigil made in forecasting what type of computers people would own in 2007.  They were much to ambitious on many fronts.  Content wise the game released amazing in terms of horizontal 1-50 content.  In terms of polish and finish it was very bad.  But unlike most bad ganes the infrastrure and foundation was there to make a good game if there was continued support.

    I recall looking at VG cause some of my friends bought it. But none of them could play it so I never looked at it again until the 'miracle' patch came out. Even then the miracle patch still didn't up the subs of VG so SOE couldn't justify putting more resources into it.

    I certainly can't blame SOE for making the correct business decision on that front. It might have been a good game but if no one is playing it, why put more money into it?

    There were some 'grassroots' effort to get people to re-sub VG but MMOs really can't survive a bad launch. Which SOE had nothing to do with.

    http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/newsArchive.vm?id=1262&month=072011§ion=News

     

    SoE is working on VG.  They have actually released the two patches mentioned in this blog post.  Which is what leads me to believe there is more behind the "not renewing the license" than just not renewing it.  I'm sure SWG had more players than VG does.  Additionally, the devs for SWG were actually working on content, and it caught them by surprise as well.

    But then SoE decides to make new content for VG and not make it F2P?  Somethings up.

     

      SOE doesn't have to pay royalties to anyone for VG.  It's their game completely.  LA charges utterly ridiculous amounts for the SW name (and they can get away with it)  Perhaps with 100K it was worth it.  However the population of SWG has not been near that level for years.  It's a simple financial decision.  Not a conspiracy

  • apollobsg75apollobsg75 Member Posts: 66

    Originally posted by Ecnali

         SOE...Lucas Arts...have they lost their collective minds? I know, many of you are SWG haters...well, I never played pre-NGE and only started after - and I loved it.  My gods, the crafting is amazing - it's the best crafting system ever  and the one thing SOE didn't...tweak...and if I was an SWG hater I'd probably say that is the reason crafting in SWG remained great as SOE never got around to 'fixing' what wasn't broken.

         I had stepped away from the game for about a year -  guild dissolution, deployment overseas, real life stuffs - and then in summer of 2011 - I decided I really missed crafting - so I went back! I moved all my characters off Bloodfin which was dead onto Chilastra which was vibrant, created two new characters -crafters, obviously -  on Starsider which was just packed! I managed to pick up enough resources and in less than a week, with harvesting, the kindness of strangers who out of the blue gave me 10mil, I was able to start crafting!

         Bang...4 days later....the hack...actually, apparently the hack took place 2 weeks before that, but SOE didn't bother to tell me that was going on when they happily took my money....Sadness on my part. Madness... grief and SOE's inability to keep the paying subscriber informed. "check our facebook, check our twitter"  nothing there. Went 12 days without a single update.

         Finally, the light at the tunnel! SWG is back on-line! Yay! Back to crafting, back to questing - and then two days later, an announcment about the closure of SWG. In December. ...

         I stopped playing. I cancelled my accounts which I had just reopened.  I have made a vow to never buy another Sony product again in my life if there is an alternative within my means and grasp.

         SOE, Lucas Arts...they are wasting an opportunity here, and they are being blind, misled, or just plain ignorant.  Even with not having actual physical data, I'm sure there is enough room out in the real world, enough people who play games, for two Star Wars IP MMOs. I went back to SWG because of its crafting - and I'm not the only one who feels this way.  I have the means and willingness to pay a hefty monthly fee to play SWG if they would keep one server up.

         Why does modern game theory diss crafting? Why is no one trying to copy the SWG model of crafting? Why is it all classes are combat and why aren't there dedicated crafting classes in modern MMOs? There are people out there who would devote themselves to that if given the opportunity over combat classes - especially if it meant the ability  to make superior crafted gear equal to or better than drops was part of the design. SWG had it and now it's going...going...gone. (Oh, EVE, they too have a ... complex crafting system - but EVE Online crafting takes time and coordination among dozens, hundreds of players. Also, in EVE, you can lose everything you own in the blink of an eye - EVE is a very intense hardcore game [yes, I play it too but I'm a carebear...a very heavily armed and dangerous carebear...ergo, I play EVE to craft.] But even EVE is going through a rough patch right now....sigh.)

         I feel like crying. You go overseas, you do your duty, only to have your heart ripped out when you get back anyway.  Maybe I should take up paintball, or airsoft...but, now I'm too old, too fat...and that's too much like work anway.  I want to sit in my air conditioned room and be grumpy and play the damn game for fun. If only I lived in my parents's house...

         Oh well, life goes on.  As with everything, you got to take the good with the bad. Star Wars Galaxies, may you rest in peace...Crafting...I will miss you.  SWTOR, the King is dead, long live the King!

    P.S. Maybe I should check out WoW more.....

    The game sucked and was in no way shape or form star wars apart from skins.. that is why it must die.

  • ajac09ajac09 Member Posts: 13

    wish they would just let it go FTP and live on that way

  • rznkainrznkain Member Posts: 539

     There is no way SOE could justify paying the license fee compared to the amount of subs it was a smart move for them.Lets face it in this economy and mmog market whats the average player gonna pick up from the store? A old swg game by SOE or the newest mmog from Bioware? As for why is Vanguard still runnin that is simple really.They own Vanguard it is worth them to keep it as part of there all access package you can buy.

  • ajac09ajac09 Member Posts: 13

    yeah lucas arts doe NOT wan thi game to live any longer

  • VorpalChicken28VorpalChicken28 Member UncommonPosts: 348

    Best off to let this game die, NGE killed it, I stopped playing after that, and while I still play EQ (have done since release) I'd be wary of any other SoE game they release.

    The fact they are actually closing the game down, is simple economics and nothing else at the end of the day, these companies are here to make money for thier shareholders and nothing else, there's no big bad conspiracies or secret agenda, it's all down to money, a sad but true fact and more people should be aware of this before talking utter rubbish

    “Nevertheless, the human brain, which survives by hoping from one second to another, will always endeavor to put off the moment of truth. Moist” 
    ― Terry PratchettMaking Money
  • EvileEvile Member Posts: 534

    let it go....LET IT GO!

    SOE failed BIG with NGE. SOE failed from the start with how much of a mess the code for the game was. The first big game change (CU) KILLED the population, and NGE buried it. NGE was so bad I thought it was a sick joke. It was just terrible bug wise, and how bad it functioned as a whole. Literally like duct taping wings to a buss to make an airplane instead of designing a airplane from the start. Pathetic execution of an idea Lucas arts since brought to Bioware.

    Lucas arts have Bioware doing what SOE totally failed to.

    TOR actually has many SWG elements and even music/menu style. It also has many SWG vets, including my whole guild (Cheers Iron Circle!).

    I look forward to launch!

    Hopefully they design a real space game not to long down the road, but the game is going to be a success for good reason. 

    image

  • AirwrenAirwren Member UncommonPosts: 648

    It's all Obi-wan's fault!

  • AG-VukAG-Vuk Member UncommonPosts: 823

    Two reasons. CU, NGE.  They abandoned/never implemented the precepts of the game completely changed the dynamic and never compensated for the drastic changes .

    image
  • AzariaAzaria Member Posts: 318

    Well for one the embarrsing thing is that SWG has more features than TOR, even after NGE. TOR PVP is terrible, there is NO race selection in TOR, just a few types of human and human with tentacles on his head. Getting rid of galaxies might make people forget that all TOR is, is a graphically superior reinvensioned version of the NGE, if you didn't like the idiotic simplicity of the NGE no way your gonna like TOR, I can tell you as someone who played wow for over 3 years and a bunch of other mmorpgs, this game looks like trash. I wouldn't be suprised if it were a FTP title with a cash shop in under 6 months.

  • JarazarJarazar Member Posts: 231

    Originally posted by AG-Vuk

    Two reasons. CU, NGE.  They abandoned/never implemented the precepts of the game completely changed the dynamic and never compensated for the drastic changes .

    I agree that the NGE was a disaster. But, the current dev team has done a remarkable job with it at this point. If I could take some of pre-CU and some of the NGE and relaunch it, it would be absolutely amazing.

    image

  • amimiaamimia Member UncommonPosts: 73

    Originally posted by Azaria

    Well for one the embarrsing thing is that SWG has more features than TOR, even after NGE. TOR PVP is terrible, there is NO race selection in TOR, just a few types of human and human with tentacles on his head. Getting rid of galaxies might make people forget that all TOR is, is a graphically superior reinvensioned version of the NGE, if you didn't like the idiotic simplicity of the NGE no way your gonna like TOR, I can tell you as someone who played wow for over 3 years and a bunch of other mmorpgs, this game looks like trash. I wouldn't be suprised if it were a FTP title with a cash shop in under 6 months.

    The reason why NGE never took off is Vets like myself lost alot when the game changed. Now TOR is new and I know what the game is going into it. Now if Bioware changes the game like removes the Voice Acting or something dramatic then i would leave it as well like i did and 80% of the other SWG subs did. I understand your opinion that the game is trash but I think its good. I enjoy myself and I feel like I am back with my old friends from SWG. SWG was fun but what made SWG was the community back in the day and alot of that community is going to TOR so that makes me feel good and I know i will enjoy it.

    I want to ask why is it that everyone says a game is going to go FTP in less than 6 months and say it as a slam. Alot of games have gone this direction and its not bad. Even the MMO king WOW is working its way to FTP with the AH idea in Diablo and FTP to lvl 20 also selling all the digital items on the side. I just dont understand why people think FTP is a slam like calling people NOOBs in a mmo, yep they probably are new lol.

  • RazeronRazeron Member Posts: 180

    I played pre NGE and after for a little while, I had fun after but couldn't stay.

     

    Shame.

     

    I need a damn MMO that isn't related to $0E or WoW, AND worth pissing on.

  • ktanner3ktanner3 Member UncommonPosts: 4,063

    Originally posted by Azaria

    Well for one the embarrsing thing is that SWG has more features than TOR, even after NGE. TOR PVP is terrible, there is NO race selection in TOR, just a few types of human and human with tentacles on his head. Getting rid of galaxies might make people forget that all TOR is, is a graphically superior reinvensioned version of the NGE, if you didn't like the idiotic simplicity of the NGE no way your gonna like TOR, I can tell you as someone who played wow for over 3 years and a bunch of other mmorpgs, this game looks like trash. I wouldn't be suprised if it were a FTP title with a cash shop in under 6 months.

    Keep dreaming. TOR is ten times the game SWG ever was and is going to be around for quite awhile.

    Currently Playing: World of Warcraft

  • PukeBucketPukeBucket Member Posts: 867

    Cuz LucasArts and SOE says so. I'm thinking EA might have had a word in on it.

    Bandit servers will probably pop up.

    I used to play MMOs like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

  • DerWotanDerWotan Member Posts: 1,012

    Some reasons.

    1. typical Soe rushed game

    2. destroying everything and dumbing it down with the NGE

    3. EA telling LA not renewing the license cause they think their linear game will interest some of the SWG crowd.

    I really hope we will see some emulated SWG preNGE servers.

     

    [quote]

    Keep dreaming. TOR is ten times the game SWG ever was and is going to be around for quite awhile.

    [/quote]

    Hype victim much? TOR doesn't have:

    - custom stats after receiving a level up

    - no real open world

    - atrocius crafting

    - you had to earn being a Jedi

    - more races

    ...

     

    oh yeah TOR has VO most people will turn off soon cause standing pat for minutes just to receive anotther FedEx, go kill quest just is lame.

    We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!

    "Everything you're bitching about is wrong. People don't have the time to invest in corpse runs, impossible zones, or long winded quests. Sometimes, they just want to pop on and play."
    "Then maybe MMORPGs aren't for you."

  • djmtottdjmtott Member Posts: 177

    It's a pretty easy answer, and it's MONEY. Just have to understand how business works.

    SOE paid a periodic flat fee to use the Star Wars IP. Subscriptions have been in decline for years now, and that SWG was part of the SOE Station Access plan helped keep it going past where it would have died otherwise. As much as people hated the TCG (myself included) it did inject more money to keep our game going even longer.

    It just came down to the fact that the amount of money coming in from Subscriptions/Station Access/TCG was not enough (or not projected to be enough in the future) to offset the costs of development/maintenance/licensing fee. 

    SW:TOR and SWG would not have been competitors. TOR is looking for subscriptions in the millions while SWG was numbering in the tens of thousands at most. The two are so far apart in scale there is no way SWG was even a minor threat. I laugh at the people theorizing that LucasArts doesn't want SWG to compete with TOR.

    Revenue was down already and I'm sure they projected future revenue to be down even more considering all of the new AAA titles coming out between now and the end of 2012.

     

  • wilbergwilberg Member Posts: 182

    Mommy, why does Spike have to be put to sleep? Rabies aren't that bad...

  • GreenHellGreenHell Member UncommonPosts: 1,323

    I don't know how anyone can even compare TOR and SWG. The only thing that they have in common is the SW IP. SWG was made in a different time for a different type of player base. It was launched buggy as hell but that was pretty normal back then. When compared to other MMO launches of that time (like AO) it wasn't all that bad.

    SWG had it's day. In many ways it was an amazing game that implemented some very unique features. Even if the CU and NGE had not happened SWG would not be a huge thriving success. In truth it never was. The majority of todays MMO players do not want what SWG had to offer.

     

  • AG-VukAG-Vuk Member UncommonPosts: 823

    Originally posted by ktanner3

    Originally posted by Azaria

    Well for one the embarrsing thing is that SWG has more features than TOR, even after NGE. TOR PVP is terrible, there is NO race selection in TOR, just a few types of human and human with tentacles on his head. Getting rid of galaxies might make people forget that all TOR is, is a graphically superior reinvensioned version of the NGE, if you didn't like the idiotic simplicity of the NGE no way your gonna like TOR, I can tell you as someone who played wow for over 3 years and a bunch of other mmorpgs, this game looks like trash. I wouldn't be suprised if it were a FTP title with a cash shop in under 6 months.

    Keep dreaming. TOR is ten times the game SWG ever was and is going to be around for quite awhile.

    I'm not so sure. Based on my access, it didn't give me that impression. That's not say it won't be a good game . SWG had an vastness to it that I don't believe SW:TOR will. I just don't see complexity in this game , in it's pre-release form. That's not to say it isn't there or can't be developed . Looking at the body of work,  of the developer , there is potential for it to be good to great , also completely disappointing.  

    image
  • amimiaamimia Member UncommonPosts: 73

    Originally posted by AG-Vuk

    Originally posted by ktanner3

    Originally posted by Azaria

    Well for one the embarrsing thing is that SWG has more features than TOR, even after NGE. TOR PVP is terrible, there is NO race selection in TOR, just a few types of human and human with tentacles on his head. Getting rid of galaxies might make people forget that all TOR is, is a graphically superior reinvensioned version of the NGE, if you didn't like the idiotic simplicity of the NGE no way your gonna like TOR, I can tell you as someone who played wow for over 3 years and a bunch of other mmorpgs, this game looks like trash. I wouldn't be suprised if it were a FTP title with a cash shop in under 6 months.

    Keep dreaming. TOR is ten times the game SWG ever was and is going to be around for quite awhile.

    I'm not so sure. Based on my access, it didn't give me that impression. That's not say it won't be a good game . SWG had an vastness to it that I don't believe SW:TOR will. I just don't see complexity in this game , in it's pre-release form. That's not to say it isn't there or can't be developed . Looking at the body of work,  of the developer , there is potential for it to be good to great , also completely disappointing.  

     lol you cant compare the 2, its like comparing oil with water. YEs they both are liquids but different types of materals. SWTOR is a themepark and SWG is a sandbox. 2 different gaming experience. 1 thing that no one ever brings up is that SWG was very linear that it was based off of a very small time frame of the lore and they did not do well breaking out of that mold due to so many people watched the movies a billion times. Now with SWTOR not alot of people know much about this period of time so its an open book and they can expand on it a lot. This is where I think SWTOR is going to excel. Now its up to Bioware and LA to make sure this happens. If they treat it like SOE and LA did it before with SWG then I think it will be doomed after a year of being out. I think Bioware is a better company and they listen a little more and I have confidence in their ability to create good games. SOE well I lost hope for them a long time ago.

  • SoopamanSoopaman Member Posts: 65

    Why does SWG have to die?

    1.) SOE

    2.) CU

    3.) NGE

    The Gaming Community Can Kiss My Arse

  • amimiaamimia Member UncommonPosts: 73

    Originally posted by Soopaman

    Why does SWG have to die?

    1.) SOE

    2.) CU

    3.) NGE

     I 100% agree with this!

  • echolynfanecholynfan Member UncommonPosts: 681

    John "The Sith Lord" Smedley: You don't know the POWER of Lucas Arts.....I MUST obey my master!

     

    Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.

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