They've outright said no merges for 2007 but they'll have another look at the situation next year. Before they can do merges, they need to come up with solutions for the resource, city and datapad issues.
So, essentially, a great big maybe.
I personally don't think that's fair to the current subscribers.
I think that's because it WILL happen eventually...but they want to focus on getting more content in atm...which I agree with.
If they said for sure they will do it but not give a time/date....well, we all know that's like suicide on the SWG board :P
I have something like 8 days left on the free trial so I'll have a go on the other two servers which show a higher population. However, without a decent community the games not going to attract and keep new customers.
Most of the bugs can be overlooked if there's enough community/interaction.
I'm wondering how long it's going to be before they simply shut the game down. I don't mean this as a rant, just an observation. It takes a lot of time and money to add content to a game, write patches, answer player questions and problems and maintain hardware. If the server populations are as light as people indicate, I don't see this MMO surviving to much longer. Am I missing something?
Well I think you are missing the station pass. I find it hard to believe that games like MXO or Planetside make any money but it is another game on the station pass and if you do play more than one soe game its not a bad deal.
Take in to consideration that SOE picked up MXO for probably less than nothing and games like SWG and Planetside have been paid for for a long time and really its just the expense of equipment upkeep and the very very small dev team.
None of the "content" (and I use that word lightly) that came with Chapter 7 was exactly ground breaking. Collection time sinks that use the same mobs that already existed in the game and a couple of instances. Its not like they are adding new planets or vehicle combat. There are no new game mechainics being added. Just more of the same old stuff with different drops.
I think it is pretty safe to assume that SWG will never see another expansion like toOW unless the population of the game increases. I could be wrong this is SOE but it really doesnt make much sense from a profit point of view.
As long as they keep the servers up SWG will continue to make them money. Not tons of money but Im sure it pulls a profit. When you put very little money in to it and have a constant flow coming out of it how can you go wrong?
If that turns out to be successful then I believe we'll see SOE neglect SWG and their other montly sub titles. Smed seems to think that games like the Agency are the future of MMO's, and I think that will not bode well for SOE's current games. I think they'll start looking at their current titles as a hinderance to profit making.
I'm wondering how long it's going to be before they simply shut the game down. If the server populations are as light as people indicate, I don't see this MMO surviving to much longer. Am I missing something?
SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
Not true Obraik. (like always)
SWG had common issues with full servers and 30 minute, or more, queues to login. They implemented a means to kick players from the server after 10 minutes of inactivity when the queues began to reach 60 minutes. This caused massive grief since you could easily spend 10 minutes chatting, typing emails, listing items on vendors, which all had no affect on flagging you as active. It was common to get kicked after typing guild mail for current and future events.
The game was barely able to support the player base with the same servers that exist today although they are now virtually dead. Bria was reported to have a max concureent user limit of 4500 during pre-cu and it was FULL (ie, could not get in without a queue) quite frequently. It was why I had created characters on other servers...
Healthy MMO's have something of ~12-15 % of the entire subscription base logged in during peak hours; "peak" is relative. Using that percentile and looking back when SWG had 250k subscribers it becomes clear where the game has gone.
On the brite side, at lease the current player base doesn't have to wait in 30 minute or longer queues to log into the game. :P
And yes, the bugs currently ingame far surpass any other state of SWG's problems. and No, there will not be a server merger since it would have a heavy cost associated with it and be an admittance to failure. The current game has TERRIBLE support and it's always suffered from lack of investment into a dedicated art department.
I remember on launch day trying to co-ordinate with a friend on the phone which server we were going to pick. I said pick Lowca cause it was farther down the list and those server near the top were filling to capacity very fast.
And lets not forget about the Agency. If that turns out to be successful then I believe we'll see SOE neglect SWG and their other montly sub titles. Smed seems to think that games like the Agency are the future of MMO's, and I think that will not bode well for SOE's current games. I think they'll start looking at their current titles as a hinderance to profit making.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
And lets not forget about the Agency. If that turns out to be successful then I believe we'll see SOE neglect SWG and their other montly sub titles. Smed seems to think that games like the Agency are the future of MMO's, and I think that will not bode well for SOE's current games. I think they'll start looking at their current titles as a hinderance to profit making.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
I'm wondering how long it's going to be before they simply shut the game down. If the server populations are as light as people indicate, I don't see this MMO surviving to much longer. Am I missing something?
SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
Not true Obraik. (like always)
SWG had common issues with full servers and 30 minute, or more, queues to login. They implemented a means to kick players from the server after 10 minutes of inactivity when the queues began to reach 60 minutes. This caused massive grief since you could easily spend 10 minutes chatting, typing emails, listing items on vendors, which all had no affect on flagging you as active. It was common to get kicked after typing guild mail for current and future events.
The game was barely able to support the player base with the same servers that exist today although they are now virtually dead. Bria was reported to have a max concureent user limit of 4500 during pre-cu and it was FULL (ie, could not get in without a queue) quite frequently. It was why I had created characters on other servers...
Healthy MMO's have something of ~12-15 % of the entire subscription base logged in during peak hours; "peak" is relative. Using that percentile and looking back when SWG had 250k subscribers it becomes clear where the game has gone.
On the brite side, at lease the current player base doesn't have to wait in 30 minute or longer queues to log into the game. :P
And yes, the bugs currently ingame far surpass any other state of SWG's problems. and No, there will not be a server merger since it would have a heavy cost associated with it and be an admittance to failure. The current game has TERRIBLE support and it's always suffered from lack of investment into a dedicated art department.
They over reacted to the initial results though and brought up too many extra servers. I personally don't ever remember having to wait in a que to get on Chilastra.
And lets not forget about the Agency. If that turns out to be successful then I believe we'll see SOE neglect SWG and their other montly sub titles. Smed seems to think that games like the Agency are the future of MMO's, and I think that will not bode well for SOE's current games. I think they'll start looking at their current titles as a hinderance to profit making.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
I agree with you on that point but all you have to do is use items they already yanked out of the game (AT-ST for instance) and since mando is still a pain in the ass to make, everyone seems to want it, and the DWB has been around for years its an easy money maker.
You could also sell stat increases like they give out now for running instances so people would have a choice. The person who hates forced grouping could still be competitive in PvP and the groupers wouldnt have to pay for it. Its a win win situation for every one.Just make everything no trade and it doesnt effect the economy a great deal. Hell all of those horrible collection grind rewards could be put in to a package deal. You dont get a badge but you do get the item. I can almost smell the money.
And lets not forget about the Agency. If that turns out to be successful then I believe we'll see SOE neglect SWG and their other montly sub titles. Smed seems to think that games like the Agency are the future of MMO's, and I think that will not bode well for SOE's current games. I think they'll start looking at their current titles as a hinderance to profit making.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
I agree with you on that point but all you have to do is use items they already yanked out of the game (AT-ST for instance) and since mando is still a pain in the ass to make, everyone seems to want it, and the DWB has been around for years its an easy money maker.
You could also sell stat increases like they give out now for running instances so people would have a choice. The person who hates forced grouping could still be competitive in PvP and the groupers wouldnt have to pay for it. Its a win win situation for every one.Just make everything no trade and it doesnt effect the economy a great deal. Hell all of those horrible collection grind rewards could be put in to a package deal. You dont get a badge but you do get the item. I can almost smell the money.
And lets not forget about the Agency. If that turns out to be successful then I believe we'll see SOE neglect SWG and their other montly sub titles. Smed seems to think that games like the Agency are the future of MMO's, and I think that will not bode well for SOE's current games. I think they'll start looking at their current titles as a hinderance to profit making.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
I agree with you on that point but all you have to do is use items they already yanked out of the game (AT-ST for instance) and since mando is still a pain in the ass to make, everyone seems to want it, and the DWB has been around for years its an easy money maker.
You could also sell stat increases like they give out now for running instances so people would have a choice. The person who hates forced grouping could still be competitive in PvP and the groupers wouldnt have to pay for it. Its a win win situation for every one.Just make everything no trade and it doesnt effect the economy a great deal. Hell all of those horrible collection grind rewards could be put in to a package deal. You dont get a badge but you do get the item. I can almost smell the money.
How about purchasable 1 use crafting schematics?
You could do that too but if you do that means it can not be a no trade and it would in some way effect the economy. The item after it is crafted could be bio linked but the schems would still have some kind of impact. That might not be such a bad thing considering how stagnant the economy is on the slow / dead servers.
The more I ponder this the more it makes sense. If you cant increase the population why not make more money off of the people that are there. I think SOE missed the boat on this one.
Originally posted by mindspatOriginally posted by Obraik
Originally posted by Mark701
If the server populations are as light as people indicate, I don't see this MMO surviving to much longer. Am I missing something?
SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
Not true Obraik. (like always)
SWG had common issues with full servers and 30 minute, or more, queues to login. They implemented a means to kick players from the server after 10 minutes of inactivity when the queues began to reach 60 minutes. This caused massive grief since you could easily spend 10 minutes chatting, typing emails, listing items on vendors, which all had no affect on flagging you as active. It was common to get kicked after typing guild mail for current and future events.
The game was barely able to support the player base with the same servers that exist today although they are now virtually dead. Bria was reported to have a max concureent user limit of 4500 during pre-cu and it was FULL (ie, could not get in without a queue) quite frequently. It was why I had created characters on other servers...
Healthy MMO's have something of ~12-15 % of the entire subscription base logged in during peak hours; "peak" is relative. Using that percentile and looking back when SWG had 250k subscribers it becomes clear where the game has gone.
On the brite side, at lease the current player base doesn't have to wait in 30 minute or longer queues to log into the game. :P
And yes, the bugs currently ingame far surpass any other state of SWG's problems. and No, there will not be a server merger since it would have a heavy cost associated with it and be an admittance to failure. The current game has TERRIBLE support and it's always suffered from lack of investment into a dedicated art department.
They over reacted to the initial results though and brought up too many extra servers. I personally don't ever remember having to wait in a que to get on Chilastra.
Obraik, you do more back-peddling then a clown on a uni-cycle. thank you for ackowledging your complete lack of understanding on what you've posted.
After playing a LOT of the free trial I'd have to say that one fix would get me to subscribe. Fix the animations and they'd have a new customer here. Without that fixed it's just too much to ignore.
The game is dead gone... the only reason they are not server merging is because they know they are closing down shop soon.. if they werent they would merge, so that people could get to play with other people.. The unmerged servers is a testament to the failure of this mmorpg.
No they know that due to LA has probably revoked the license and due to Biowares big xmas announcement they probably have to close in 2008 or 09 no later. So right now it is just a game with a skeleton crew churning out updates of old previously in-game stuff they put back in to give the players a sense of things "happening" ..
It is all about milking the cow now..
There is no announced server merges. There is no graphics update on the way. There is no NGE rollback. There is no attempt to make a better game of it..
Truth is not OUT THERE... it is right here... the game is dead.... and the SWG of pre CU and pre NGE is a distant and sweet memory... of a sandbox mmo that was FUN but BUGGED... it wasnt perfect but it was ours.. it isnt any more .. and never will be..
The game is dead gone... the only reason they are not server merging is because they know they are closing down shop soon.. if they werent they would merge, so that people could get to play with other people.. The unmerged servers is a testament to the failure of this mmorpg. No they know that due to LA has probably revoked the license and due to Biowares big xmas announcement they probably have to close in 2008 or 09 no later. So right now it is just a game with a skeleton crew churning out updates of old previously in-game stuff they put back in to give the players a sense of things "happening" .. It is all about milking the cow now.. There is no announced server merges. There is no graphics update on the way. There is no NGE rollback. There is no attempt to make a better game of it.. Truth is not OUT THERE... it is right here... the game is dead.... and the SWG of pre CU and pre NGE is a distant and sweet memory... of a sandbox mmo that was FUN but BUGGED... it wasnt perfect but it was ours.. it isnt any more .. and never will be.. a moment of silence for SWG . . . . .
and then lets move on!!!
I actually have to disagree. I think they can't do a server merge without disrupting, and therefore angering, many people. The last thing SOE needs right now is disgruntled current subscribers.
BTW is that true that Bioware is making an announcement near Xmas?
The game is dead gone... the only reason they are not server merging is because they know they are closing down shop soon.. if they werent they would merge, so that people could get to play with other people.. The unmerged servers is a testament to the failure of this mmorpg. No they know that due to LA has probably revoked the license and due to Biowares big xmas announcement they probably have to close in 2008 or 09 no later. So right now it is just a game with a skeleton crew churning out updates of old previously in-game stuff they put back in to give the players a sense of things "happening" .. It is all about milking the cow now.. There is no announced server merges. There is no graphics update on the way. There is no NGE rollback. There is no attempt to make a better game of it.. Truth is not OUT THERE... it is right here... the game is dead.... and the SWG of pre CU and pre NGE is a distant and sweet memory... of a sandbox mmo that was FUN but BUGGED... it wasnt perfect but it was ours.. it isnt any more .. and never will be.. a moment of silence for SWG . . . . .
and then lets move on!!!
I actually have to disagree. I think they can't do a server merge without disrupting, and therefore angering, many people. The last thing SOE needs right now is disgruntled current subscribers.
BTW is that true that Bioware is making an announcement near Xmas?
I disagree with you a lot!
If SOE was into SWG for the long haul and wanted to makeover the game and move on they would have to server merge even if angering the community and find ways to reimburse people with new land and items... there is always a way...
SOE's complete inactions, not even defending the MMO or denying any rumours of them closing shop, not responding to the fact that BIOWARE rumours overshadow their paid for IP, which is probably mmo exclusive... kinda proves they are on their way out and just keeping lips sealed to get every dollar they can before abandoning ship..
Bioware's launch of www.lucasartsbioware.com is so overly hyped that it must be a SW mmo. If not EA wouldn't have paid serious top dollar for the company (= bad investment) and if this is just for a regular single player KOTOR 3 game it would backfire as people will have their expectations bummed..
No it is a SW mmo. Personally I love StarWars but only if the game would be placed in the era of the six films or just after. I love the Empire, the tech of that era, the StormTroopers, the Emperor etc. I would ten times rather have the mmo based on something like the Dark Horse comic: DARK EMPIRE..
Everything points to a xmas announcement. There is no reason for Bioware to make that lucasarts site and just leave it blank for a year.. And there is no reason for them to hype an installment in the singleplayer KOTOR game line..
Worst thing that could happen is a HG:L or TR style mmo with no real pvp, just coop $hit in instances... arrghh.. I hope not..
The game is dead gone... the only reason they are not server merging is because they know they are closing down shop soon.. if they werent they would merge, so that people could get to play with other people.. The unmerged servers is a testament to the failure of this mmorpg. No they know that due to LA has probably revoked the license and due to Biowares big xmas announcement they probably have to close in 2008 or 09 no later. So right now it is just a game with a skeleton crew churning out updates of old previously in-game stuff they put back in to give the players a sense of things "happening" .. It is all about milking the cow now.. There is no announced server merges. There is no graphics update on the way. There is no NGE rollback. There is no attempt to make a better game of it.. Truth is not OUT THERE... it is right here... the game is dead.... and the SWG of pre CU and pre NGE is a distant and sweet memory... of a sandbox mmo that was FUN but BUGGED... it wasnt perfect but it was ours.. it isnt any more .. and never will be.. a moment of silence for SWG . . . . .
and then lets move on!!!
I actually have to disagree. I think they can't do a server merge without disrupting, and therefore angering, many people. The last thing SOE needs right now is disgruntled current subscribers.
BTW is that true that Bioware is making an announcement near Xmas?
I also have to disagree with you on this one Suvroc. I dont think SOE doesn't merge the servers due to concerns over the current player base. As I said in another post those people wont quit no matter what SOE does. Lets face it they havent done it yet because it is beyond the skills of the current very small dev team. They would have to have more developers work on it and really at this point why waste the resources. Those resources are better spent developing The Agency and working on other games that still have the potential to draw in new players like VG.
While SWG isnt dead it is in the same realm as MXO and Planetside. SOE will keep it on life support until LA finally pulls the license.
Well this time last year they were saying the same thing about house packups and having the house go to your datapad as if the player had done it themselves (at the time they were planning on making it so all the items in the house ended up in your bank). However the "small & unskilled" dev team worked through that technical difficulty and made it work
Many of the issues with a merge aren't completely technical but more player related, such as the issues with cities and house locations.
Yeah such as how do we remove 250k houses without the 2 players left noticing that all the houses and stores have completely disapeared hmm dilema dilema. Originally posted by Obraik
Well this time last year they were saying the same thing about house packups and having the house go to your datapad as if the player had done it themselves (at the time they were planning on making it so all the items in the house ended up in your bank). However the "small & unskilled" dev team worked through that technical difficulty and made it work Many of the issues with a merge aren't completely technical but more player related, such as the issues with cities and house locations.
I also have to disagree with you on this one Suvroc. I dont think SOE doesn't merge the servers due to concerns over the current player base. As I said in another post those people wont quit no matter what SOE does. Lets face it they havent done it yet because it is beyond the skills of the current very small dev team. They would have to have more developers work on it and really at this point why waste the resources. Those resources are better spent developing The Agency and working on other games that still have the potential to draw in new players like VG. While SWG isnt dead it is in the same realm as MXO and Planetside. SOE will keep it on life support until LA finally pulls the license.
I hear ya GreenHell, however I do think there are quite a few people playing who are really apathetic to SWG. Glancing over the official forums some days you really get a sense that some people are simply playing SWG until something better comes along.
Frustrating and angering those people who are already "sitting on the fence" about SWG would probably be the last straw to push them over the edge.
I do agree with you though when it comes to the skills of the dev team.
I do agree with you though when it comes to the skills of the dev team.
At least the lead dev has the skill to plant a toilet in living room if boss tell him to do so
-----MY-TERMS-OF-USE-------------------------------------------------- $OE - eternal enemy of online gaming -We finally WON !!!! 2011 $OE accepted that they have been fired 2005 by the playerbase and closed down ridiculous NGE !!
"There was suppression of speech and all kinds of things between disturbing and fascistic." Raph Koster (parted $OE)
I'm wondering how long it's going to be before they simply shut the game down. I don't mean this as a rant, just an observation. It takes a lot of time and money to add content to a game, write patches, answer player questions and problems and maintain hardware. If the server populations are as light as people indicate, I don't see this MMO surviving to much longer. Am I missing something?
I would be very surprised if SWG was shutdown anytime in the next few years. On servers such as Bria, Bloodfin, Chilastra, Chimaera, Gorath + more, the populations aren't that bad at all. However, SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
I am unsure why you keep mentioning the number of servers. They've been there since launch, SOE just won't shut them down, because of their state of denial.
The large number of servers that are in SWG is because of the large population it had before the NGE hit. Subs are at an all time low for SWG, I believe total subscriptions has dropped below the 60k mark for SWG, which even if every person with an account logged in at once, would not fill up, or even come close to filling up, all the servers.
I guess the point is, you can throw 200 servers for any game up if you really want, but it doesn't mean that they are going to be used, just gives the illusion of popularity.
SWG needs to roll over and die, or revert back to pre-NGE or pre-CU state.
Well this time last year they were saying the same thing about house packups and having the house go to your datapad as if the player had done it themselves (at the time they were planning on making it so all the items in the house ended up in your bank). However the "small & unskilled" dev team worked through that technical difficulty and made it work Many of the issues with a merge aren't completely technical but more player related, such as the issues with cities and house locations.
Do you really believe that packing a house in to a data pad is as difficult as server merges? SOE doesnt charge you 50 dollars every time you pack up your house do they? Saying that because they did that they are capable of server merges is a joke. They can not even handle having a house packed up in your data pad if you decide to actually pay that amount to transfer.
Characters moving WITH items will NOT be allowed to take their factory crates, resources, items in datapad (vehicles, mounts, pets/droids, factory schematics and packed up houses), bank contents and structures. The override function will allow the move to proceed even if those items exist on the character.
BTW here is their Fee schedule in case you wondered where I got the 50 dollars from
Fee Schedule For moving characters on the same account from one Galaxy to a different Galaxy:
Each Character (without items) $30.00
Each Character (with items) $50.00
For moving characters from one of your accounts to one of your other accounts but not changing to a different Galaxy:
Each Character (without items) $30.00
Each Character (with items) $50.00
For moving characters from one of your accounts to one of your other accounts and changing to a different Galaxy:
Each Character (without items) $60.00
Each Character (with items) $100.00
In addition to the fees described above, if you are a resident of a European Union country or territory, you will also be charged VAT (Value Added Tax) equal to 17.5% of the applicable fee.
So they are either jerking people around by not offering server merges or free transfers so they can make extra money or it takes a lot more in the way of resources and people to do these things than what they currently have budgeted for this game. At this point in the games life I can not imagine that there is a huge budget or that this game takes any kind of priority with SOE in regards to developing.
The character transfer service is offline at the moment, I've been hearing people losing things when they transfer with items or completely losing their character. I thought about transferring one of my characters from another account to my main one but thought twice about it since $50 is WAY too much for a transfer that doesn't allow you to take along half the things you worked to obtain, WoW and CoH charges like $10-25.
Comments
I personally don't think that's fair to the current subscribers.
I think that's because it WILL happen eventually...but they want to focus on getting more content in atm...which I agree with.If they said for sure they will do it but not give a time/date....well, we all know that's like suicide on the SWG board :P
I have something like 8 days left on the free trial so I'll have a go on the other two servers which show a higher population. However, without a decent community the games not going to attract and keep new customers.
Most of the bugs can be overlooked if there's enough community/interaction.
Creator of ELTank and Nostalgia
Well I think you are missing the station pass. I find it hard to believe that games like MXO or Planetside make any money but it is another game on the station pass and if you do play more than one soe game its not a bad deal.
Take in to consideration that SOE picked up MXO for probably less than nothing and games like SWG and Planetside have been paid for for a long time and really its just the expense of equipment upkeep and the very very small dev team.
None of the "content" (and I use that word lightly) that came with Chapter 7 was exactly ground breaking. Collection time sinks that use the same mobs that already existed in the game and a couple of instances. Its not like they are adding new planets or vehicle combat. There are no new game mechainics being added. Just more of the same old stuff with different drops.
I think it is pretty safe to assume that SWG will never see another expansion like toOW unless the population of the game increases. I could be wrong this is SOE but it really doesnt make much sense from a profit point of view.
As long as they keep the servers up SWG will continue to make them money. Not tons of money but Im sure it pulls a profit. When you put very little money in to it and have a constant flow coming out of it how can you go wrong?
And lets not forget about the Agency.
If that turns out to be successful then I believe we'll see SOE neglect SWG and their other montly sub titles. Smed seems to think that games like the Agency are the future of MMO's, and I think that will not bode well for SOE's current games. I think they'll start looking at their current titles as a hinderance to profit making.
SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
Not true Obraik. (like always)
SWG had common issues with full servers and 30 minute, or more, queues to login. They implemented a means to kick players from the server after 10 minutes of inactivity when the queues began to reach 60 minutes. This caused massive grief since you could easily spend 10 minutes chatting, typing emails, listing items on vendors, which all had no affect on flagging you as active. It was common to get kicked after typing guild mail for current and future events.
The game was barely able to support the player base with the same servers that exist today although they are now virtually dead. Bria was reported to have a max concureent user limit of 4500 during pre-cu and it was FULL (ie, could not get in without a queue) quite frequently. It was why I had created characters on other servers...
Healthy MMO's have something of ~12-15 % of the entire subscription base logged in during peak hours; "peak" is relative. Using that percentile and looking back when SWG had 250k subscribers it becomes clear where the game has gone.
On the brite side, at lease the current player base doesn't have to wait in 30 minute or longer queues to log into the game. :P
And yes, the bugs currently ingame far surpass any other state of SWG's problems. and No, there will not be a server merger since it would have a heavy cost associated with it and be an admittance to failure. The current game has TERRIBLE support and it's always suffered from lack of investment into a dedicated art department.
I actually remember that.
I remember on launch day trying to co-ordinate with a friend on the phone which server we were going to pick. I said pick Lowca cause it was farther down the list and those server near the top were filling to capacity very fast.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
Not true Obraik. (like always)
SWG had common issues with full servers and 30 minute, or more, queues to login. They implemented a means to kick players from the server after 10 minutes of inactivity when the queues began to reach 60 minutes. This caused massive grief since you could easily spend 10 minutes chatting, typing emails, listing items on vendors, which all had no affect on flagging you as active. It was common to get kicked after typing guild mail for current and future events.
The game was barely able to support the player base with the same servers that exist today although they are now virtually dead. Bria was reported to have a max concureent user limit of 4500 during pre-cu and it was FULL (ie, could not get in without a queue) quite frequently. It was why I had created characters on other servers...
Healthy MMO's have something of ~12-15 % of the entire subscription base logged in during peak hours; "peak" is relative. Using that percentile and looking back when SWG had 250k subscribers it becomes clear where the game has gone.
On the brite side, at lease the current player base doesn't have to wait in 30 minute or longer queues to log into the game. :P
And yes, the bugs currently ingame far surpass any other state of SWG's problems. and No, there will not be a server merger since it would have a heavy cost associated with it and be an admittance to failure. The current game has TERRIBLE support and it's always suffered from lack of investment into a dedicated art department.
They over reacted to the initial results though and brought up too many extra servers. I personally don't ever remember having to wait in a que to get on Chilastra.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
I agree with you on that point but all you have to do is use items they already yanked out of the game (AT-ST for instance) and since mando is still a pain in the ass to make, everyone seems to want it, and the DWB has been around for years its an easy money maker.
You could also sell stat increases like they give out now for running instances so people would have a choice. The person who hates forced grouping could still be competitive in PvP and the groupers wouldnt have to pay for it. Its a win win situation for every one.Just make everything no trade and it doesnt effect the economy a great deal. Hell all of those horrible collection grind rewards could be put in to a package deal. You dont get a badge but you do get the item. I can almost smell the money.
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
I agree with you on that point but all you have to do is use items they already yanked out of the game (AT-ST for instance) and since mando is still a pain in the ass to make, everyone seems to want it, and the DWB has been around for years its an easy money maker.
You could also sell stat increases like they give out now for running instances so people would have a choice. The person who hates forced grouping could still be competitive in PvP and the groupers wouldnt have to pay for it. Its a win win situation for every one.Just make everything no trade and it doesnt effect the economy a great deal. Hell all of those horrible collection grind rewards could be put in to a package deal. You dont get a badge but you do get the item. I can almost smell the money.
How about purchasable 1 use crafting schematics?
I dont think they will get neglected SOE will just turn them all in to item shop games. Im sure they will all get the Agency treatment.
As I think about it from a financial perspective think of how much money they could make selling nightsister bracers and Mando armor. They could probably charge a monthly fee and open an item shop. Lets face it the people that play now are not going to leave no matter what they do to the game. If I was SOE I would use SWG as a lab and its player base as rats and see what happens. Its not like they haven't done it before. Really what is the worst that can happen these days? Do you really believe people like Obraik will leave? Never going to happen. This is the perfect game to test this on. Why risk using a new game like the Agency? Im kind of shocked that they didnt try this item mall concept during the NGE.
Interesting, however if they did something like that to SWG (particularily with items like weapons and armor) then it would totally shut out the crafters.
I agree with you on that point but all you have to do is use items they already yanked out of the game (AT-ST for instance) and since mando is still a pain in the ass to make, everyone seems to want it, and the DWB has been around for years its an easy money maker.
You could also sell stat increases like they give out now for running instances so people would have a choice. The person who hates forced grouping could still be competitive in PvP and the groupers wouldnt have to pay for it. Its a win win situation for every one.Just make everything no trade and it doesnt effect the economy a great deal. Hell all of those horrible collection grind rewards could be put in to a package deal. You dont get a badge but you do get the item. I can almost smell the money.
How about purchasable 1 use crafting schematics?
You could do that too but if you do that means it can not be a no trade and it would in some way effect the economy. The item after it is crafted could be bio linked but the schems would still have some kind of impact. That might not be such a bad thing considering how stagnant the economy is on the slow / dead servers.
The more I ponder this the more it makes sense. If you cant increase the population why not make more money off of the people that are there. I think SOE missed the boat on this one.
SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
Not true Obraik. (like always)
SWG had common issues with full servers and 30 minute, or more, queues to login. They implemented a means to kick players from the server after 10 minutes of inactivity when the queues began to reach 60 minutes. This caused massive grief since you could easily spend 10 minutes chatting, typing emails, listing items on vendors, which all had no affect on flagging you as active. It was common to get kicked after typing guild mail for current and future events.
The game was barely able to support the player base with the same servers that exist today although they are now virtually dead. Bria was reported to have a max concureent user limit of 4500 during pre-cu and it was FULL (ie, could not get in without a queue) quite frequently. It was why I had created characters on other servers...
Healthy MMO's have something of ~12-15 % of the entire subscription base logged in during peak hours; "peak" is relative. Using that percentile and looking back when SWG had 250k subscribers it becomes clear where the game has gone.
On the brite side, at lease the current player base doesn't have to wait in 30 minute or longer queues to log into the game. :P
And yes, the bugs currently ingame far surpass any other state of SWG's problems. and No, there will not be a server merger since it would have a heavy cost associated with it and be an admittance to failure. The current game has TERRIBLE support and it's always suffered from lack of investment into a dedicated art department.
They over reacted to the initial results though and brought up too many extra servers. I personally don't ever remember having to wait in a que to get on Chilastra.
Obraik, you do more back-peddling then a clown on a uni-cycle. thank you for ackowledging your complete lack of understanding on what you've posted.
After playing a LOT of the free trial I'd have to say that one fix would get me to subscribe. Fix the animations and they'd have a new customer here. Without that fixed it's just too much to ignore.
Creator of ELTank and Nostalgia
The game is dead gone... the only reason they are not server merging is because they know they are closing down shop soon.. if they werent they would merge, so that people could get to play with other people.. The unmerged servers is a testament to the failure of this mmorpg.
No they know that due to LA has probably revoked the license and due to Biowares big xmas announcement they probably have to close in 2008 or 09 no later. So right now it is just a game with a skeleton crew churning out updates of old previously in-game stuff they put back in to give the players a sense of things "happening" ..
It is all about milking the cow now..
There is no announced server merges. There is no graphics update on the way. There is no NGE rollback. There is no attempt to make a better game of it..
Truth is not OUT THERE... it is right here... the game is dead.... and the SWG of pre CU and pre NGE is a distant and sweet memory... of a sandbox mmo that was FUN but BUGGED... it wasnt perfect but it was ours.. it isnt any more .. and never will be..
a moment of silence for SWG
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and then lets move on!!!
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CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
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BTW is that true that Bioware is making an announcement near Xmas?
BTW is that true that Bioware is making an announcement near Xmas?
I disagree with you a lot!
If SOE was into SWG for the long haul and wanted to makeover the game and move on they would have to server merge even if angering the community and find ways to reimburse people with new land and items... there is always a way...
SOE's complete inactions, not even defending the MMO or denying any rumours of them closing shop, not responding to the fact that BIOWARE rumours overshadow their paid for IP, which is probably mmo exclusive... kinda proves they are on their way out and just keeping lips sealed to get every dollar they can before abandoning ship..
Bioware's launch of www.lucasartsbioware.com is so overly hyped that it must be a SW mmo. If not EA wouldn't have paid serious top dollar for the company (= bad investment) and if this is just for a regular single player KOTOR 3 game it would backfire as people will have their expectations bummed..
No it is a SW mmo. Personally I love StarWars but only if the game would be placed in the era of the six films or just after. I love the Empire, the tech of that era, the StormTroopers, the Emperor etc. I would ten times rather have the mmo based on something like the Dark Horse comic: DARK EMPIRE..
Everything points to a xmas announcement. There is no reason for Bioware to make that lucasarts site and just leave it blank for a year.. And there is no reason for them to hype an installment in the singleplayer KOTOR game line..
Worst thing that could happen is a HG:L or TR style mmo with no real pvp, just coop $hit in instances... arrghh.. I hope not..
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CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
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BTW is that true that Bioware is making an announcement near Xmas?
I also have to disagree with you on this one Suvroc. I dont think SOE doesn't merge the servers due to concerns over the current player base. As I said in another post those people wont quit no matter what SOE does. Lets face it they havent done it yet because it is beyond the skills of the current very small dev team. They would have to have more developers work on it and really at this point why waste the resources. Those resources are better spent developing The Agency and working on other games that still have the potential to draw in new players like VG.
While SWG isnt dead it is in the same realm as MXO and Planetside. SOE will keep it on life support until LA finally pulls the license.
Well this time last year they were saying the same thing about house packups and having the house go to your datapad as if the player had done it themselves (at the time they were planning on making it so all the items in the house ended up in your bank). However the "small & unskilled" dev team worked through that technical difficulty and made it work
Many of the issues with a merge aren't completely technical but more player related, such as the issues with cities and house locations.
So witty you are
Frustrating and angering those people who are already "sitting on the fence" about SWG would probably be the last straw to push them over the edge.
I do agree with you though when it comes to the skills of the dev team.
At least the lead dev has the skill to plant a toilet in living room if boss tell him to do so
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$OE - eternal enemy of online gaming
-We finally WON !!!! 2011 $OE accepted that they have been fired 2005 by the playerbase and closed down ridiculous NGE !!
"There was suppression of speech and all kinds of things between disturbing and fascistic." Raph Koster (parted $OE)
I would be very surprised if SWG was shutdown anytime in the next few years. On servers such as Bria, Bloodfin, Chilastra, Chimaera, Gorath + more, the populations aren't that bad at all. However, SWG has always, IMO, had more servers then it needed and as I mentioned earlier, the only other MMO that I can find that has more servers then it is WoW.
I am unsure why you keep mentioning the number of servers. They've been there since launch, SOE just won't shut them down, because of their state of denial.
The large number of servers that are in SWG is because of the large population it had before the NGE hit. Subs are at an all time low for SWG, I believe total subscriptions has dropped below the 60k mark for SWG, which even if every person with an account logged in at once, would not fill up, or even come close to filling up, all the servers.
I guess the point is, you can throw 200 servers for any game up if you really want, but it doesn't mean that they are going to be used, just gives the illusion of popularity.
SWG needs to roll over and die, or revert back to pre-NGE or pre-CU state.
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Characters moving WITH items will NOT be allowed to take their factory crates, resources, items in datapad (vehicles, mounts, pets/droids, factory schematics and packed up houses), bank contents and structures. The override function will allow the move to proceed even if those items exist on the character.BTW here is their Fee schedule in case you wondered where I got the 50 dollars from
Fee Schedule
For moving characters on the same account from one Galaxy to a different Galaxy:
Each Character (without items)
$30.00
Each Character (with items)
$50.00
For moving characters from one of your accounts to one of your other accounts but not changing to a different Galaxy:
Each Character (without items)
$30.00
Each Character (with items)
$50.00
For moving characters from one of your accounts to one of your other accounts and changing to a different Galaxy:
Each Character (without items)
$60.00
Each Character (with items)
$100.00
In addition to the fees described above, if you are a resident of a European Union country or territory, you will also be charged VAT (Value Added Tax) equal to 17.5% of the applicable fee.
So they are either jerking people around by not offering server merges or free transfers so they can make extra money or it takes a lot more in the way of resources and people to do these things than what they currently have budgeted for this game. At this point in the games life I can not imagine that there is a huge budget or that this game takes any kind of priority with SOE in regards to developing.
The character transfer service is offline at the moment, I've been hearing people losing things when they transfer with items or completely losing their character. I thought about transferring one of my characters from another account to my main one but thought twice about it since $50 is WAY too much for a transfer that doesn't allow you to take along half the things you worked to obtain, WoW and CoH charges like $10-25.