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Huge GCW Patch
Vaedur
Member Posts: 430
Read last night that there are huge changes coming to the GCW that will make Space combat / ground pve and ground pvp in the GCW really important.. to lazy to find a link on soe's site *and i'm at work..shhh*
Comments
I'll help you out. LINK
There are a lot of pretty pictures and lots of "buzz words", but look past the pictures...below is EVERY word he wrote about the GCW Update. Please highlight the DETAILS for me.
The war is ON.
Chronicles was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread too...look at the flop that piece of sh!t was. I'm not trying to be negative...but given SoE's track record, the severe lack of Developers, the sheer number of bugs in simple Battle Fields that have never been addressed, the 6th patch to worthless **edit**ing zombies going in today for the SAME ISSUE, the double socket issue, the Ent buffs dropping issue, the broken promise to pilots about 3 years ago that they'd never go 2-years again without an update, the promise to Ents that Ent Relics would be the VERY NEXT THING they would add to the game, the LAG, the population issues...there is just no reason at ALL to be "excited" by a few screen shots and some buzz words.
Remember when Smugglers wanted to "smuggle"...look at the piece of crap missions they were given. Buzz words just don't excite me. Details do. And that note lacks them.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?&topic_id=1018917
"We will bring the entertainers and traders back to the cities.
The cities will be alive again."
How exactly? More FCTs and server closures?
EXACTLY!!!
You know, OP, I frequently check the updates for SWG, but every time I go to play the game, I find myself silently wondering precisely why I bothered to play it again.
This update sounds shiny and new, but that's been my sentiment myriad times, which always results in both a waste of time and subscription fees.
As you can see from my gray stars under my avatar, I haven't posted on here in some time. Not because I've been precoccupied with another MMO, thus quashing the memories of SWG once and for all; rather, I've just been waiting for an MMO worth playing again. Perhaps if, instead of old content adjustments/revisions lauded as being "additional" material, we actually received some new content that wasn't a bait and switch tactic (the bane of SWG to me is the item known as a "loot card"), I would finally be able to play the game again.
Yes, I'm glad to see the game hasn't completely transitioned into maintenance mode yet, but with no new instances on the horizon, and the fact that the devs gave us our own toolset, I can't help but to feel as mustering any desire to play the game is fighting an uphill battle.
Still, I'll try to retain a degree of naive optimism and hope that, perhaps, at some point in the distant future we'll see a new instance or more items (like the houses we received a few updates ago) that are not (a) loot cards or (b) rehashed content. While it's interesting to see that the game now has PvP zones again, I wouldn't have minded seeing some new PvP areas. (I do like PvE instances, but the original plan for Hoth sounded like a dream come true in terms of PvP--in my case, anyway. So, yes, I realize all of this is subjective. Just my two credits.)
I won't say that I didn't think about reactivating my account for the umpteenth time again when I saw this update, but, for the time being, I'm holding on to my cash instead of just throwing it down the drain. As they say, burned once, twice remembered. Although it took me a little longer than that, unfortunately. Besides, even after transferring to a new server, my galaxy's population is dwindling. It's a bit disheartening.
If you're enjoying playing it, that's good, though. I just wish that I did, too...
I did a write-up of the producer note and condensed the subsequent Q&A session here:
New Galactic Civil War system coming to Star Wars Galaxies.
I don't even play it! I just more like the concept but hate the design.. huge star wars buff but found the game when it was already "ruined" i do read the boards alot hoping for some magic reason to make me wanna play..
I just thought the update looked really cool, seems the player base knows that they usually "look" cool and hardly ever are.. i'm just an outsider looking in..
I play lotro.. and honestly, i understand what your saying, it's the "well this game is better then most" not the "it's the most fun mmo i've played" ... i'm stil waiting for the right one to come along.. Fallen Earth was close, to bad it's pure simple mode.
Very nice Badger.
After reading all of those though, the "details" are still a bit lacking. Remember how excited some people were for Chronicles? As more and more details were released, it became apparent that it wasn't what the players "envisioned" when they thought about the concept. On paper, Chronicles would have been a great addition. Once developed, it was clear it wasn't exactly the "build your own quest" system SoE sold it as, it was more of a "build your own Relic collection by going only where we want you to go and killing only what we want you to kill" system.
While I like to see SoE use the player bases "buzz words", I wonder if they understand what players are truly looking/hoping for? Expectations will probably always be higher than what is delivered, but what they deliver, hasn't always been what they promised either.
Some of my concerns:
I'm not trying to be a downer...just a realist. Keep your expectations LOW! SWG is a 6+ year old game...there aren't that many tricks left in it and there sure as hell aren't enough Devs to do half of what I feel needs to be done. Look at the simple Battle Field LoS exploit...that was a KNOWN issue when the Update was still on TC/TCP, yet it went LIVE and is still in game. Hanse said his part of the fix was "done" and that the Art team needed to do theirs...MONTHS ago.
My initial reaction was "HOLY CRAP!!! THAT SOUNDS KEWL!!!"...but then common sense kicked in. If they deliver what they have promised, great! But I think their track record speaks for itself.
Hopefully I'm shocked!!!
Very nice Badger.
After reading all of those though, the "details" are still a bit lacking. Remember how excited some people were for Chronicles? As more and more details were released, it became apparent that it wasn't what the players "envisioned" when they thought about the concept. On paper, Chronicles would have been a great addition. Once developed, it was clear it wasn't exactly the "build your own quest" system SoE sold it as, it was more of a "build your own Relic collection by going only where we want you to go and killing only what we want you to kill" system.
While I like to see SoE use the player bases "buzz words", I wonder if they understand what players are truly looking/hoping for? Expectations will probably always be higher than what is delivered, but what they deliver, hasn't always been what they promised either.
Some of my concerns:
I'm not trying to be a downer...just a realist. Keep your expectations LOW! SWG is a 6+ year old game...there aren't that many tricks left in it and there sure as hell aren't enough Devs to do half of what I feel needs to be done. Look at the simple Battle Field LoS exploit...that was a KNOWN issue when the Update was still on TC/TCP, yet it went LIVE and is still in game. Hanse said his part of the fix was "done" and that the Art team needed to do theirs...MONTHS ago.
My initial reaction was "HOLY CRAP!!! THAT SOUNDS KEWL!!!"...but then common sense kicked in. If they deliver what they have promised, great! But I think their track record speaks for itself.
Hopefully I'm shocked!!!
Another excellent post provided to you by Tux.
Still waiting for them to change the default targeting system and UI and the stupid combat speed which makes animations look broken.
4 years later, lots of requests and it's pretty obvious these things need sorting and still nothing. Instead they pour out all the new art through TCG.
Very nice Badger.
After reading all of those though, the "details" are still a bit lacking. Remember how excited some people were for Chronicles? As more and more details were released, it became apparent that it wasn't what the players "envisioned" when they thought about the concept. On paper, Chronicles would have been a great addition. Once developed, it was clear it wasn't exactly the "build your own quest" system SoE sold it as, it was more of a "build your own Relic collection by going only where we want you to go and killing only what we want you to kill" system.
While I like to see SoE use the player bases "buzz words", I wonder if they understand what players are truly looking/hoping for? Expectations will probably always be higher than what is delivered, but what they deliver, hasn't always been what they promised either.
Some of my concerns:
I'm not trying to be a downer...just a realist. Keep your expectations LOW! SWG is a 6+ year old game...there aren't that many tricks left in it and there sure as hell aren't enough Devs to do half of what I feel needs to be done. Look at the simple Battle Field LoS exploit...that was a KNOWN issue when the Update was still on TC/TCP, yet it went LIVE and is still in game. Hanse said his part of the fix was "done" and that the Art team needed to do theirs...MONTHS ago.
My initial reaction was "HOLY CRAP!!! THAT SOUNDS KEWL!!!"...but then common sense kicked in. If they deliver what they have promised, great! But I think their track record speaks for itself.
Hopefully I'm shocked!!!
Another excellent post provided to you by Tux.
Agreed. I too am VERY skeptical.
fishermage.blogspot.com
wow... we were asking for this GCW design for like 3 years now. Its a shame it came in so late, cause i dont play this anymore. i hope SWTOR does soemthing similar though.
Years to late.
EXACTLY!!!
This is what the game should have been centered around. STAR WARS involved Rebels and Imperials. Didn't matter if you were a moisture farmer on Tattoine or a gas miner in the Bespin system...the WAR affected you!
Sadly, I agree too. I think it's too late. Not "too little" as I have no clue how "BIG" it'll be...but I don't think it matters how big it is...I think SoE acted too slowly. The years wasted between NGE and now should have been spent making STAR WARS content. Instead, the past 4-years has almost been used exclusively to fix NGE imbalances...oh...and to finish the Legacy Quest they partially introduced 4+ years ago with the NGE.
I still hold true to my belief that SWG has a sunset date already...I don't think Lucas Arts will allow SWG to impact sales of ToR. If I invested millions with Bioware, you bet your ass I'd make sure that SoE didn't **edit** up anything. It would also end ALL "comparisons" as the SWG alternative would be removed as a variable. I'll be shocked if they don't close SWG down.
Very nice update ... very nice ..... :P
Very nice Badger.
After reading all of those though, the "details" are still a bit lacking. Remember how excited some people were for Chronicles? As more and more details were released, it became apparent that it wasn't what the players "envisioned" when they thought about the concept. On paper, Chronicles would have been a great addition. Once developed, it was clear it wasn't exactly the "build your own quest" system SoE sold it as, it was more of a "build your own Relic collection by going only where we want you to go and killing only what we want you to kill" system.
While I like to see SoE use the player bases "buzz words", I wonder if they understand what players are truly looking/hoping for? Expectations will probably always be higher than what is delivered, but what they deliver, hasn't always been what they promised either.
Some of my concerns:
I'm not trying to be a downer...just a realist. Keep your expectations LOW! SWG is a 6+ year old game...there aren't that many tricks left in it and there sure as hell aren't enough Devs to do half of what I feel needs to be done. Look at the simple Battle Field LoS exploit...that was a KNOWN issue when the Update was still on TC/TCP, yet it went LIVE and is still in game. Hanse said his part of the fix was "done" and that the Art team needed to do theirs...MONTHS ago.
My initial reaction was "HOLY CRAP!!! THAT SOUNDS KEWL!!!"...but then common sense kicked in. If they deliver what they have promised, great! But I think their track record speaks for itself.
Hopefully I'm shocked!!!
Hello all,
I just had to add my two credits here. I'm a vet of SWG and yes I am back playing the game again. I got sucked back in when my server was being shut down and the thought of losing my characters and all the hard work I put in over the past six year (on and off that is) would be flushed down the cyber toilet. I couldn't let that happen because for some reason out of the 60+ mmo's I've beta'd and played over the years I still loved SWG the best. I have to agree with this post. After Six years they are still doing the same thing over and over again and I can't understand WHY. They keep adding new things without fixing the old, to me this makes no sense and in any other job out there if you did that you'd be fired. I know they are trying to keep the game afloat but when you have ppl still monitoring a game that they left over 3 years ago don't you think they'd get it yet? *Shakes her head*
I completely agree about the TCG and artwork, this is my major peeve with SOE as well. Being that I have 3 characters on my account I have one that is a tailor. When I got into the game in October this year after a year break or more I was so excited to see new colors on clothing and armor. I quickly got into my shop and started to craft only to find out that the color palette was only added on "Some" items, not all.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!! It took them six years to give us the ability to make items like Blood Red boots and yet you can't match the color with pants, shirts, etc. It's rediculous and quite frankly a slap in the face to us all who know just how hard it would be to add it to all the items. I know you might be thinking omg, who cares about what color the clothes are. Trust me everyone does. When you take hours of your time to get say, your "Hate Cloak" and want to have a cool outfit to match and your tailor tells you , "Sorry I can't match the red color." THe clients tend to scratch their heads and wonder what the heck the Devs are doing besides thinking up more random shiny updates to try and lure players back who never stay in the long run.
It's the oldest complaint in SWG history and that is, Devs don't listen to all the players. Just a select few, if any. Least that's my opinion.
A nice little addition was revealed today by the devs that the framerate cap was raised to 60 from 30. Adeptstrain added:
"I just raised the cap to 60, so if your PC can do more than 30 it will. If you're on an older machine that never hit the previous cap, then you won't notice any change."
Then this was asked:
pokefan wrote:
why limit it to 60? why not 120? there are times in space i can hit 100, i'd see if you could let the player choose the cap, and default it at 60 but go to 120
The higher the frame rate, the more likely you get artifacts like tearing and such. 60FPS seems like a fairly safe number (most modern HD games cap themselves to 60FPS for exactly that reason). I have no problem eventually opening a frame rate cap option to players, but it requires a bit of work I don't have time for currently. Maybe sometime next year.
I saw that too. While it's certainly "nice" and WAY overdue, does it draw ANY players back to the game? Do you know anyone who quit because they were only getting 30fps?
Again, great addition by SWG's best Dev...but...what does it really help?
Latest Producer Note has some more information about the GCW update, heading to test soon.
Main highlight for me is the focus on integration - not only is there an obvious attempt to give everyone a role, the update seeks to bring whole servers together to influence the outcome of the war, and spreads the action out across the entire game space rather than creating too many satellite spaces.
Looking forward to it.
Fixed :P
Do you have any idea how bad lag will be if they draw in a fraction of the players you think? Lag will kill this update. We were told that for the PvP Update, no more than 32 people fighting in an area would work...how on earth will they address this issue with the GCW Update?
And again...there are only 3 "areas". Where have we seen that fail before? Oh yeah...Restuss, Static Bases and Battle Fields. People wanted GLOBAL GCW...not pre scripted battles that will be crash the servers in a few non-essential low traffic areas.
Granted, Tux, I have the same concern. Lag's always been an issue for SWG and it's something I'm also nervous about for the upcoming GCW changes to three capital cities that I'd have cause to go to.
I avoid Mos Eisley due to the significant lag that eventually chokes up my play experience - I'd hate to think three other cities where going to be giving me the same trouble. It's my one big fear for this update - spending over five minutes just trying to get out of a starport.
Granted, my own system needs more juice - but I don't have near as much trouble loading up and spending time in highly populated areas as I do with SWG.
When it comes to Global GCW, I like the notion of entire maps now covered with different zones or strategic areas that will spawn factional encounters according to whoever's dominating. Sure, the big conflicts will be in three prime areas, but there's now whole maps to fight over as well, which will be particualrly heartening for those not wanting to enter into what could be lag capitals.
While your system obviously DOES have an impact on performance, 99% of what I encountered was server lag - ie. I'd hit a special and it wouldn't fire, call a speeder, it wouldn't spawn, try to clone or talk to the clone droid and it wouldn't work...things like that are server, not you. Poor frames per second or extended loading times are your rig. With the many tweaks people can make though, USER lag can be nearly eliminated. I've run SWG smoothly on no fewer than 10 unique systems, ranging from POS to state-of-the-art, and have always been able to get decent performance.
About your last part...I don't think it'll work like you seem to think. Read what T2 himself said about it in the Producer Nate (copied and pasted reply below since there are like a thousand pages now):
Teesquared wrote:
When a faction is winning, their GCW score influences systems in the game. One system influenced by the score is the regional spawner. The regional spawner is the system that populates different areas on the planets with creatures and NPC’s. Spawning has been changed to include factional forces driven by the status of the GCW score. This means that if a planet is controlled by a faction, not only will the GCW interface show it, but you'll see it on the planet all around you.
Iseult wrote:
I am wondering if you can elaborate on this sub-system a little more.
Will the wild spawns a real presence/nuisance and inspire/reward players to go out and deal with them?
Or will they be like your typical, generic wilderness spawns where you won't even see them unless you dismount from your speeder and walk around for a bit, and you don't really need to care about them unless your doing a slayer collection, trying to place a structure, or call an ITV?
Teesquared wrote:
It is that system. We are working on making the GCW spawns interesting and rewarding though. You bring up a good point. We'll look into it more.
What "I" can gather from that exchange is, the ONLY "global" change you should expect to see is more random NPCs in the world for the controlling faction...and they'll only spawn if you stop long enough to allow them to (just like Dunri's do). Sure, they may overlay some transparent rebel/imperial insignia on the global map, but...that's it. No travel restrictions, no contraband scans, no "crackdown"...just a Reb/Imp NPCs instead of Banthas.
There will be no "whole maps to fight over"...just your 3 cities.
(I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. Expectations tend to always exceed what is delivered)
(EDIT): BTW...here is what you'll be "fighting for" (purchased with tokens...)
By the sounds of it then, the lag I'm experiencing has alot to do with my own system (since it's loading times and frames - the cap on which is also being raised, I should add). Good to know that you've had smooth performance with SWG on your systems - gives me hope it's mostly my end.
When I talk about global change I mean the metrics and maps that will indicate faction control over particular zones (Click map for larger image which will indicate percentage of control):
From my reading, these will be impacted by PvE actions within those territories, so that planetary control can be cumulatively switched over. Since, as you mention, the most obvious feature of this control is going to be the change in spawns, it's now going to be easier to find enemy NPC's to attack in zones you don't control, but therefore also easier to start trying to switch it over. Something like what happens in cities already, though now with a greater contribution to the overall war (score).
Faction points obtained in space are also going to effect the score on the planet below.
There are other benefits besides the capes (such as the scarred battle armor) so I won't focus on the super-capes to avoid being myopic. They're not for me to talk about since I find them 'meh'. I also recognise they're a stepping stone to similar addition in the future, as well as a new art asset - I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater because I don't like a new piece of art - I'll just try to encourage more (better).
You're quite lucky then! Assuming you're being earnest with your issues, they should be fairly easy to resolve and there are plenty of great guides on the O-Boards that will aid you. But, I gotta be honest...I really don't think you're being 100% truthful
Metrics in the map??? Wait...where are you getting this stuff from? From what they have revealed, you are drawing some MAJOR conclusions and assumptions. Where are your links? What are your sources? Is what you're quoting recent??? Because I used the Producers own words from a post HE MADE last Friday for my source. As I said - the ONLY CHANGE they have planned are the "wild" spawns where rather than Gurks, Dunri's or Banthas, you may see Stormtroopers. Please provide a link (and quote) to your source. Stromtroopers need to be front and center in ANY region they control as the Empire rules by force. Rebels need to be the ones spawning in the "wild"...NOT Imperials.
I'm going to also assume you missed HanseSOE's comment on how space will be addressed in a later update? December 11th Producer Note.
As for "art assets"...ANY new art asset is given to the TCG first. The new capes are NOT some stepping stone to better things, in fact, I'll wager ANY new capes in 2010 ALL come exclusively from the TCG. Chances are, the 2 super capes being added were TCG rejects to begin with. As far as the "new battle scarred armor"...it's exactly the same **edit** we've had for 6 years...with "dirt". I'm sorry mate, but a few shaders added to existing armor isn't exactly "new" or exciting to me. That would be like saying the Clone Trooper Armor for Rebels and Imperials is "unique" to each because one has a baby blue stripe and one has a pink stripe. Heck, look at Life Day this year...the same STAP as last years event. How many vehicles did the TCG get in 2009? I find it appalling that Star Wars Galaxies premiere yearly event gets the full shaft this year. Life Day has been the one time a year where players actually DID traditionally get something cool. This just solidifies my belief that RMTs + P2P can NEVER co-exist because RMT transactions become the focus...not the "paying" customer.
Personally, I wish they had skipped the Zombie update and put all that development time into the GCW.
Lets face it.. the GCW system will be the primary system that seperates SWG from SWTOR in background theme. Yes, SWG will remain a Sandbox/Housing/Crafting/Social game while TOR will likely be more structured and story driven.. so that alone will seperate the playerbase quite a bit.
However, the GCW must be about the 'feeling' of being rebel or imperial and at war with each other. I hope the miniscule shadow-of-its-former-self SOE/SWG development team keeps working on THIS theme and not get sidetracked by other things (Zombiess.. blahhh).. in future updates.
I've played SWG steadily for 4 years now. I have a solid guild and good friends that still log in to play together. But we all are mature enough to realize the current situation.. that SWTOR is going to take away half our playerbase if not more.. and that the community that remains will become tighter and tighter as it gets smaller and smaller.
SWG is moving away from 'big MMO' to 'small MMO'.. its inevitable.. its an ancient MMO in terms of game-life.
As long as the dev team keeps on focus.. and keeps tweaking the systems to keep them working... then a core playerbase will remain. Yes, more servers will shut down eventually... and yes one day the sun will set on SWG.. but I have a LOT of really good memories and friendships I've made over the years that I will cherish.
The GCW may be too late to bring some of you back.. but for those who 'linger' still in Galaxies... it will hopefully be fun to play with our buddies and restore some of the lost 'feel' of the timeframe lost in flying Ewok and Zombie updates.
SWG/STO/(SWTOR)
Aren't I though? So lucky I just buffed 100% critical hits for 10 seconds. Questioning my earnestness though? You have offended me, sir. *withdraws glove and slaps Tux across cheek* I doubt your inability to fire specials at appropriate times - How do you like dem apples?
Seriously though, I do have significant load issues, particularly in Mos Eisley. I'm also known to crash to desktop while entering the hotel on Lok, and occasionally while climbing the steps from the hangar-space heading into other starports, but that's neither here nor there.
In regards to where I'm getting this from: Sorry, I'm assuming people are reading the same posts I am for 'this stuff'. I've also seen the Producer's note you're referring to (see my first post in this forum - I swear on baby jesus I read it before I provided a link to it above. Swear.) Apart from that, my main sources have been:
(A reference to the Producer note you're referring me to that I referred people to, that post that, as you state, 'HE MADE')Matt_NZ's post - GU15: A compilation of the facts we know so far.
&, Vincent76's excellent - The GCW Update Whitebook
The latter provides a thorough history of the GCW update's development and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see a progression to where we are now.
My reference to metrics 'stuff' comes from the June 26th Fan Faire's Galactic Civil War Panel. Vincent 76's notes derived from the audio:
Stole the use of the word metrics from there, I did. Looking at the picture I've included above, we can see that there will be regions the derive a percentage score derived from what I'm assuming are these 'metrics'.
Spawns won't be the "ONLY CHANGE" judging from this direct quote from the December 11th Producer's Note (which it looks like you've read, but for the sake of quote quota I'll include):
(Teesquared)When he says 'one' I assumed there's other systems that may be influenced. I blame too many logic puzzles in my youth. I can only speculate, however, as to what the other systems are, but I'd be reasonably certain they're closely related to the mysterious 'metrics'.
I didn't miss HanseSOE's comment, but there were some nuances to what he was saying:
In relation to a query about space based content, Hanse has indeed said that this update's content additions focus on the ground-game. However, we can conclude from his answer (first half) that while there are, at this time, no space based QUESTS, space faction gain will effect the planetary score, as promised:
(Nov. 11th Producer's Note)I agree that the TCG seems to be the means by which a majority of art is entering the game now for player use, which is why I'm not going to go to town on the capes. Any art/assets being added outside the TCG are good, and I'll leave it at that.