Latest State of the Game

Stuman

Well going by the feedback that has greeted the latest State of the Game posting, I would hazard a guess and say that they could of saved themselves a few keystrokes and just typed in the words "Don't go, help us, please".

For the record I played the game since the start of Beta 3, and played almost everyday up until I quit in disgust and boredom a couple of weeks back. During that time, and with each passing patch, I just found the game got more and more boring, had less and less of a challenge to it, and in the end was more work than fun. And sadly I was not the only one who has found this.

Over the last month before I left (and this includes the period of the release of the much vaunted, but badly implemented JtL), I had seen nearly my entire friends list (over 300 players) leave the game. I watched as entire guilds and cities quit the game enmass to either move to WoW, EQ2, DAoC, etc, etc. The vast majority of these people will not be back with the way the game is currently being run by SOE.

And this latest missive from SOE should give you a good hint as to why that will be the case.

At this time last year we were told about all these cool things that were happening this year, and with the exception of JtL, a couple of half-hearted and completely borked themes (Imperial Crackdown or Droid Invasion anyone?), and a revamp of Image Designers (woot, I can now have blue hair - oh they nerfed that didnt they) and Chefs (brandy anyone), none of it has come to fruitition. The same bugs are there, the same inane grinding to do ANYTHING is there, players are still leaving in droves. So yeah, what a successful year that was *RME*.

This State of the Game is much the same as last years, big on generalities and promises, very light on facts, details and timelines. And if their track-record is anything to go by, most of the "promises" included in the posting won't ever see the light of day again.

Having spent so much time in the game, and having met so many great and wonderful players, and having had (up until Patch 9 and 10) lots of fun, it saddens me to see such a game like this one, so full of potential, slowly die from the ineptitude of the developers and marketers. They know themselves that sales are way down on the main game and have flattened down on the expansion. The sales figures they quote of 500k, and of a 120k current player base hides the fact that they count expired and cancelled accounts into the mix. Even the Japanese (notoriously fussy consumers of online games) have been very lukewarm on the release of SWG in their market. Considering its Sony's home market, it has barely rated a mention in the gaming and trade magazines (aside from SOEs own paid-per-placement ads dressed as "reviews"). That was their growth avenue and its dying just as badly as it has in the US and Europe.

The current exodus of players from the game is so bad, that some servers such as Valcyn, Wanderhome and Scylla are almost ghost servers (someone on the Valcyn forums posted a message asking for active players to make a post, and only 115 people posted!!). And even the larger more populated servers such as Bria and Azahi are seeing less and less players online during prime-times. The amount of players leaving the game is so bad that SOE are actively removing "goodbye" posts from their forums, as well as heavily policing any negative comments or feedback from the player base.

With a player economy so badly hit by player defections and nerfing that SOE are having to give every player 75k in credits and new starter characters better ships, with sheer boredom and a lack of people to put up with grinding as a gameplay method, those that are left are struggling to maintain any sense of fun and excitement. Most galaxy boards are full of posts of current players trying to work out how to inject both new content and more importantly - new players - into the game, or are more often lamenting the loss of yet another guild, city or friend.

So yes, in a way 2005 will be the make or break for SWG. How long with SOE stick with it, how much money will Sony and LA throw at it to make it better, how long until SOE start pulling human and computer resources off its dying game and into its flagship EQ2? These questions are all being asked, and my guess is that 2005 will see what the answers will be.

For myself, I hope they do succeed and that they do a proper revamp of the combat system, and they stop with the dumbing down of the game and the "carebearing" of the player population; that they add content that is enjoyable and not oriented towards a grind; that they do something about the worsening and game breaking issues surrounding the Jedi problem; that they knock the subscription price down, and that they sell the starter game and the expansions as one low cost unit to entice more new people into the game; that they are more open and honest with the player base about what they are planning (or not planning) on doing; that they stop being secretive about their game changes and that they make the game what it once was. Enjoyable.

People want the game back.

And as SOE and Lucas Arts are finding out to their detriment, just riding on the name Star Wars is not enough in these days of WoW, EQ2, et al.

Motorhead

I just looked, and don't see any new "State of The Game" post.  Would you happen to have a link for that?

 

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I'm like a Superhero without the powers or motivation.

Stuman

Yeah, the link is in the Development Forum.
Check out

http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/team_comments.jsp?page=Team Comments

binary_0011

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Originally posted by Stuman
Yeah, the link is in the Development Forum.
Check out http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/team_comments.jsp?page=Team Comments

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stuman, i played the game for a year too. Disappointed and left. The developers are taking way too long to fix thing.

zhirem

Stuman,

Thanks for the post. Every now and then I check MMORPG.COM to see what the latest debacle is with SWG. I played from launch+1day, and played nearly a year. I mastered over 17 professions, until I woke up, realized that I was NOT having fun, gave my stuff away and bailed.

Never looked back. In fact, SOE can have my money if their CEO will suck it from the nether regions of my elementary canal. EQII could be the greatest thing to ever grace your computer's memory, but I will never know. SOE will never, ever, see a red cent from me again. But I digress.

SWG is a travesty. SO much potential. So squandered. SWG will serve for future historians as a great and classic example of how NOT to do a thing, and how NOT to manage tremendous possibilities. To date, and I have not played all MMORPG's but I have played many, SWG has the greatest diversity of offering to the gaming community at large. Advanced detailed crafting, skill-based progression and the ability to un-gimp ones character, advanced economic systems, player conflict on a global scale (the alleged GCW), player-established construction and buildings, etc. All of it, wasted by the simple and pervasive fact that there is very little content. This leads eventually, to very little fun.

That is the heart and soul of the problem with SWG. It just is not fun. Now, give someone the box that has never played before, and you will find that they will immerse themselves and have a great deal of fun for a while. Many will find this time to be  brief while, others will eke out enjoyment for longer periods. At the end of the honeymoon though, contempt ensues and also becomes pervasive.

The game, IMHO is beyond repair. Not beyond the fixing of the legions of bugs, imbalances and other flaws. It is beyond the repair and re-establishment of the player base that gave a damn. The launchers, and the others that followed wanting to live out a dream within SWG. SOE has manged to achieve a level of contempt among the MMORPG public that exceeds even the infamous FunCom and the debacle that was the early (launch to about 1-year) of Anarchy Online. FunCom will also never see another dime from me, because they messed in their nest with me. Mismanagement of the game and surrounding systems, and apparent outright contempt for their playerbase allowed FunCom to acheive a most dishonorable and despicable reputation. Many of us have long memories, and dislike being ignored/offended/lied to.

SOE decided to follow suit, and now they reap the whirlwind. The deception of the combat revamp in 2004, when in fact, SOE had switched most of their programming staff to focus on Jump to New Revenues. As the news started to dawn on the player base, the exodus was profound and doubtless felt quite clearly by the SOE beancounters.

To the current players of SWG: Good Luck. You will need it. You are dealing with a company. Companies exist to make profit. SWG currently is not too profitable, I would guess. Because of this, the staffs of people necessary to reverse the hemhoraging trends in their playerbase are not forthcoming. The combat rebalance has been discussed and 'worked-on' for over 2 years. It is not forthcoming. The fixing of the GCW has been discussed and 'worked-on' for nearly the same amount of time. It is not forthcoming.

If you enjoy the game you find yourself playing at the moment, rejoice. For that is all that is likely to ever be.

Yes I am jaded, but I know of what I speak. I gave them game 3 to 4 times longer than it deserved. In the end, I just stopped running and stepped off the hamster-wheel. It was a liberation, and I have never looked back. In so doing, I exposed myself to other MMORPG's and discovered what I had found lacking in SWG. I was having FUN again! Oh yeah, the whole purpose behind playing these games to being with.

SWG is dead, but does not realize it yet. The death-knell will be at the point where WoW has a free week trial, or the like, and then they will settle down to the low-tens-of-thousands of players that we all can see coming. They know it too, and that is why you will not see the promised and much-heralded fixes. SOE will not place that amount of effort into a project that is pretty much beyond repair. The Hurculean task of regaining their playerbase is not worth the effort that will have to be expended to make it happen.

Continue to play if you like it and have fun. But do not expect many if any additions to the playerbase, and knowingly expect with eyes-wide-open that the downward spirals are getting tighter, and the drain is indeed within sight.

- Zhirem