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Hickman´s latest "State of the Game". Discuss.
FromHell
Member Posts: 1,311
http://www.swtor.com/blog/state-game-3
Originally posted by Jeff Hickman
Hi everyone,
With the launch of the Relics of the Gree event behind us, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about the general state of the game and the launch of our Free-to-Play option.
Judging by the conversation in the forums and elsewhere, there appears to be a level of curiosity among many players to learn how things are going at the studio since the launch of the Free-to-Play option. Of course, that’s natural. We’re now about 120 days post-launch and more than 5 months into our new series of content updates, so we’re just starting to get a feel for it ourselves. In our commitment to improve the overall player experience, it’s important to reflect on all of the changes that we have made since last year.
Last spring, there was some uncertainty surrounding Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ as we were starting to lose subscribers and players were growing frustrated. In fairness, many of the complaints and worries were justified. In an effort to try to address everything, we just weren’t sufficiently focused on improving the core experience.
At the end of the summer, we announced that were going to make the game more enjoyable than ever before by working to improve three key aspects of the game: making it easier to find friends to play with (via Group Finder), increasing the cadence of our content updates (so players wouldn’t have to wait around for new stuff), and bringing back vitality to the game by reaching out to new players via a Free-to-Play option. In addition we introduced some cool new items for everyone to check out via the Cartel Market.
So how did it go? Well, you can see for yourself when you log in to the game. Our new, high capacity servers are teeming with people. Since launch of the Free-to-Play option we have had over 2 million new accounts created and have thousands of new players jumping in every single day. This means more people to play with, more growth for your guilds, more Warzone matches, and more ways for players to continue to advance their characters.
Even though there’s bound to be dissent about every aspect of MMOs on the internet these days, player feedback, in general, has been very positive about the new things in the game. We’re committed to continuing our 8-week new content cadence, and are looking forward to the launch of the first Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel this spring.
And I’m happy to announce that we’ll be introducing several new features along the way, like a new customization feature, which will allow you to change your character's hair style, eye color, body type, or even species (including the upcoming Cathar!) using Cartel Coins. Look for it in early summer.
We know that there are still a lot of things we need to do to make playing Star Wars: The Old Republic the best experience it can be. We hear you on features such as hood toggle (as one example of many), Asia Pacific server populations (we are actively looking into solutions that make the most sense given our current tech and should have an announcement soon), continued improvement to the Cartel Market pricing and content, and the need to keep working on performance improvements and bugs. In fact, our major focus after Rise of the Hutt Cartel launches is going to be on "quality of life" improvements. We will keep at it, I promise. We’ll keep listening to your feedback and continue to dedicate ourselves to making the game the best it can be. Nothing is more important to us than getting it right.
Thanks for your continued support and see you on Makeb!
-Jeff Hickman
Executive Producer, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. ! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw
Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
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The Return of ELITE !
Comments
Originally Posted by Jeff Hickman, November 2009:
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has had a solid first year despite some issues that we're working to address every day. We've seen a great response to 1.3.2, which introduced tremendous performance improvements. A flood of new players are discovering the game every day thanks to the recently released Endless Trial and New User Journey. Moving forward we remain committed to releasing more great patches, continued performance improvements, and changes based upon your valuable feedback!
Nice troll bait, Mr. Hickman.
EA is committed to an 8-week cadence.. weren't they committed to a 6-week cadence before, with 4-6 weeks before that. Guess committment changes like the tides around EA. Fans please insert "Committment isn't set in stone you know!".
Oh well, I guess with only 2 million accounts made, Michael Pachter's prediction of 50 million was a little off.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
well they could just keep throwing the gree 'event' at players evry few weeks to keep up the cadence
Same song, different dance partner. Nice find Tie.
Only 2 mil ? yeah very poor showing err. They stated 6-8 weeks gaps between updates he just said 8 weeks so no change really , I think the 4 week updates dates back to the dark ages of 2011.
Why do we need another thread about this subject btw?
I'm happy it has got over 2 mil new accounts , pso2 has only had 1.7 mil accounts since it started in July 2012 and that's a very popular game. Now if all those 2 mil plus accounts would spend some money on the game then we will be plesantly sailing away on our supposed tortanic
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
Two things: #1) Only subscribers spend money in that cash shop, that's the harsh reality. 2 million is god awful considering the likely attrition rate of F2P players.
#2) Jeff Hickman is an idiot. The fact that he's in charge proves EA just wants to bleed this thing dry until it dies.
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.
Well last August (6 months ago) Jeff Hickman discussed the future of SWTOR F2P and stated monthly to 6 week content updates. Let me jog your memory:
Jeff Hickman Interview - The Future of SWTOR
Aug 17, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PiPRRPmzoxA#t=445s
Nowhere was it "stated" originally that updates would be 8 weeks, or bi-monthly. It was fans and shills on the official forums who were making excuses for late content, telling others that it was still the 2-month long holiday bubble and EA needed vacation time. So 8 weeks became the new monthly content updates and that somehow stuck.
But that was not the original plan. And if a committment changes, it really wasn't a very strong committment, was it?
Jeff Hickman did have some other treasures in that interview though, like "Makeb will be a continuation of your story". "It's all about BioWare quality. We're not going to launch anything until they are ready."
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
There is also these two where it says 6-8 weeks but all this arguing over 6 or 8 weeks isn't really necessary , it has changed a few times and has been written in the dev blog. They always wanted to stck to 6 or 7 weeks but yeah he now says 8 weeks , which used to be the tops.
http://dulfy.net/2012/11/29/swtor-pa...qa-transcript/
http://www.darthhater.com/articles/s...m-q-a-coverage
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
Those links are not working BTW.
Why it is important is because Jeff Hickman says in the recent State of the Game, "We’re committed to continuing our 8-week new content cadence". How can a committment continue when it was already broken? The cadence started as monthly, then monthly to 6 weeks, then 6 to 8 weeks, now a flat 8. How anyone can call that a committment is beyond me.
He used a poor choice of words is all.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
And I’m happy to announce that we’ll be introducing several new features along the way, like a new customization feature, which will allow you to change your character's hair style, eye color, body type, or even species (including the upcoming Cathar!) using Cartel Coins. Look for it in early summer.
So any word on when some non-cartel improvments get added to the game? Enquiring subscribers would like to know.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
the bosses in the new raid drop an item called "Hutt snacks" that lets you change to bodytype 4
Outside of bug fixes/performance fixes, I doubt it.
I see what you mean now , yes very poor choice of words.
Edit - they just replid to what we are talking about here is a link
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=613457&page=22
Otherwise it will be in the dev blog , basically they are still sticking to the 6-8 weeks , it's just Jeff mentions the top end as I said earlier , being 8 weeks.
and to reply to Korusus ( quoted below )
"Two things: #1) Only subscribers spend money in that cash shop, that's the harsh reality. 2 million is god awful considering the likely attrition rate of F2P players.
#2) Jeff Hickman is an idiot. The fact that he's in charge proves EA just wants to bleed this thing dry until it dies."
1 / We don't know how many of those 2 mil became subs and how many people came back for F2P out of the 2.3 mil boxes/ digital sold ? Also how many subs where there just as F2P hit ? Out of the 500k - 1 mil subs mentioned before that. I do believe that some F2P people would buy from the CM and also become preferred.
2 / I can't possibly comment on that.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
Bad Orb, Jeff Hickman has a pretty spotty record. He started out as a Customer service rep for DAOC and somehow wound up heading up WAR. WAR went abysmally, and he didn't seem to learn much from it. In fact, he blames the failure to a large degree to the public events in WAR's PVE, which was actually pretty innovative. (Guild Wars pretty much swiped it from that game.)
He put on a rosy PR face as the game slipped into maintenance mode; and he appears to be doing the same thing for EA in regard to SWTOR.
Besides his everything is rosy speech, he mentions that there will be a cartel coin paid for barbershop. He has changed the "cadence" to 8 weeks.
Most alarmingly, he seems to imply that after Makeb (which appears to have been ready for launch in June of 2012, it was worked on prior to launch, the new OP was datamined in Feb of 2012) the new content would primarily be quality of life improvements.
One can interpet that to mean they're out of playable game content to release, and won't be funding anymore. Just new (Cartel) quality of life improvements every 2 months.
Makeb April, Cather June, Barbershop August, etc.
I could be wrong, I hope for your sake I am.
In regard to those 2 million new FTP accounts, well they are about to hit a giant paywall called Makeb.
The game could really use a shot in the arm.
so in another thread people are praising TERA's f2p left and right because 1.4 million have registered for TERA *since launch*, not just f2p.
But swtor has 2mill since f2p and its bad?
If you consider the two IPs and development budgets, one could make that case.
Yes, when it comes to TOR there is a double standard. It's been that way since day one.
I'm also curious about that claim of "only subscribers pay money in the cash shop." Where's your proof?
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
well,,his new post is longer,,he does have to work harder now
other than that,,pretty much the same
another zombified game
i wonder, when the license runs out, so we can get a good SW mmo
the same reason, that KELLOGGS are more expensive , than a no name brand
the same reason, that made them buy the IP, instead of just making their own mmo
the same reason, that makes people drive by a broken toyota, but make them stop and take pictures of a broken ferrari
money and size do matter, after all
imagine, how this game would have fared without STAR WARS,,just based on its performance
the whole universe would have collapsed around it
Yep.
If you coupled the systems of SWTOR to some neutral (not good, not bad) sci-fi IP and removed Star Wars, this would be a non-issue.
SW fans could have some other game, and no one would play SWTOR because without the IP it is nothing.
Bioware and EA are holding the IP hostage, and forcing it to cohabitate with a terrible MMO zombie body.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
frankensteins monster comes to mind
they both have certain strengths , and even some charm too
they both start at the peak of their powers, and decline slowly
and theyre both made of reused parts, that dont really fit together
i also think the goth theme very fitting for EA moral virtues
i wonder if their HQ really is a spooky castle
I bet most of the "F2P'ers" online now are people who already bought the box, coming back to check things out, as now the game is advertised as "free". As someone who did not buy the box, I am sometimes tempted to sign up and download the game at least for the story. Unfortunately things like "you have to pay to unlock ability bars" and "you have to pay to be able to sprint" come to mind. I find these things beyond bad, I find them disrespectful. They actually lose money on it, as I would gladly pay for new content, the ability to wear top armor, extra XP gains and things like that, but not for basic utility. It's like "yes, we'll give you a chance to fight against the champion, but you'll be only able to use your left hand and we'll cut your left leg".
There Is Always Hope!
im still waiting for sto to get "inspired" by the companion system,,IMO the best part of swtor
kaliyo in the imp agent story was just breathtaking
sadly those great moments were too few, and to far between them