If they brought back the professions.. i'd consider it.. but.. no Ranger/Pistoleer.. then im really really not interested.. SOE can go hang for all i care
soe messed up when they released swg, pistoleer/ pikeman the list goes on of stuff that has no relation to the starwars universe, all they did was to try and put it right at lucas's insistance to make it more starwars.
having played all, its a lot better now
shame its just showing its age on the graphics front and lack of development.
Rofl, a lot better now tell that to the 85% of the player base who left the game. And still to this day slams soe for that.
They killed SWG by jerking the ghame out from underneath its playerbase in one of the worst moves by any gaming company, ever. And the playerbase voted with their feet. Lucasarts, and their IDIOT project managers also deserve a fair share of the blame. They both paid the price for their lack of vision.
The game now IS better than immediately following the NGE, but meh, why bother. SOE taught us, overnight, that they are willing to wipe out in game effort and things that players valued. Once a company shows that kind of blatant disregard for its customers, those customers usually learn to not depend on that company. I will never, ever play another SOE game. Ever.
You don't screw with Star Wars...even George Lucas learned that...lol
I remember what Jedi became esp with that Trials of Obi Wan expansion, what a fiasco that was.
Yeah, that is just it...some players spent months unlocking a jedi, then, overnight, SOE wipes out all that effort by making jedi a starter class that anyone can respec to with 3 clicks..
MMO developers that have a clue realize that they should strive for longterm relationships, win-win relationships, with their customers if they want their game to thrive. Wiping out player effort, arbitrarily, heinously, with no regard for player feedback, is about as big a nubcake move as a company could make...
I was a HUGE fan of SWG back before the CU and NGE and in all honesty, if SOE made the game F2P I don't think that would help bring back the old vets from the early days. I personally don't mind the changes (I was furious when it happened and rage quit) . I don't have any of my accounts active, but have thought about it, even though I don't get much as far as enjoyment out of the game anymore.
There's the dilemma for me. SWG had ALOT to fix B4 NGE. I was on the gangplank of quitting when it happened.
I wanted Smugglers to not suck.
I wanted collision fixed.
I wanted Leia to "get out and push" my speeder, cuz it was pathetic.
I wanted rubberbanding to end.
I wanted composite armor to not be the only option.
While it kept me a good 4 months after I was ready to quit, JtL had a whole other slew of things I could talk about.
I could go on like this forever. and others have, unwittingly, on my behalf.
The game had tons of flaws. Had they addressed THEM instead of trying to create a whole new game, maybe I'd be subbed, now.
I dont understand how you can say they fixed crafting. There is no item decay, just about everyone has the weapons they need so what is the point in crafting weapons? What would I do with all the low end weapons I would need to craft to get to the higher levels that everyone already has? How can a new crafter get into the game when the map is filled with listings of vendors that have long been empty and are located closer to the cities than I could ever get? Why would anyone buy a weapon from me when all the guilds have their own weaponsmith?
Crafting is dead in SWG, please let it rest in peace.
"Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game." - SEANMCAD
Yeah, that is just it...some players spent months unlocking a jedi, then, overnight, SOE wipes out all that effort by making jedi a starter class that anyone can respec to with 3 clicks..
MMO developers that have a clue realize that they should strive for longterm relationships, win-win relationships, with their customers if they want their game to thrive. Wiping out player effort, arbitrarily, heinously, with no regard for player feedback, is about as big a nubcake move as a company could make...
While I can certainly understand the frustration of those who basically played the game in ways they could have not possibly enjoyed for months so they could get jedi...
The old jedi system should have never existed, and neither should the new.
I admire your enthusiasm bro but it would have to be rolled back to publish 14 for me to rejoin. if they did that I would still be Leary but if they promised they would fix the bugs at that last publish and work on adding content after they fix all the bugs then smugglers then I would do it. They could do that and have more subs then before but smedley hates us. we broke his camels back and that is hate for us vets.
It would technicaly be the only AAA Sandbox starwars MMO ever, so he's sittin on gold mine but alas he hates us. he would rather see it die. Wish he would roll it back and then slowly combine the xpacs into it and I would go back and never leave.
My issue with SWG is the servers. The fact you can run into a doorway and cause it to desync so others can't target you. server/client communication is terrible in that regard.
It's so bad that people use it as a common tactic.
If they updated their servers and cleaned up the code maybe the game would be worth it, but then there is my issue with TCG (most pathetic addition ever), and of course Ewok love day.
Really people, ewok love dolls, glowy halos, and rainbow fairey wings just killed it for me.
SOE is a total fool for not catering to a more adult crowd with TOR coming. They easily could have a healthy mature sandbox crowd if they did.
Yeah, that is just it...some players spent months unlocking a jedi, then, overnight, SOE wipes out all that effort by making jedi a starter class that anyone can respec to with 3 clicks..
MMO developers that have a clue realize that they should strive for longterm relationships, win-win relationships, with their customers if they want their game to thrive. Wiping out player effort, arbitrarily, heinously, with no regard for player feedback, is about as big a nubcake move as a company could make...
While I can certainly understand the frustration of those who basically played the game in ways they could have not possibly enjoyed for months so they could get jedi...
The old jedi system should have never existed, and neither should the new.
All they had to do was put in Permadeath for JEDI and kept with the blue glowie if you died.
That would make players think twice on making another JEDI in the game.
I would of kept them a Alpha class, however I gurantee you would have almost every BH player on the server looking to kill you for bragging rights.
Yeah, that is just it...some players spent months unlocking a jedi, then, overnight, SOE wipes out all that effort by making jedi a starter class that anyone can respec to with 3 clicks..
MMO developers that have a clue realize that they should strive for longterm relationships, win-win relationships, with their customers if they want their game to thrive. Wiping out player effort, arbitrarily, heinously, with no regard for player feedback, is about as big a nubcake move as a company could make...
While I can certainly understand the frustration of those who basically played the game in ways they could have not possibly enjoyed for months so they could get jedi...
The old jedi system should have never existed, and neither should the new.
All they had to do was put in Permadeath for JEDI and kept with the blue glowie if you died.
That would make players think twice on making another JEDI in the game.
I would of kept them a Alpha class, however I gurantee you would have almost every BH player on the server looking to kill you for bragging rights.
I played under permadeath. Permadeath is a terrible idea in an MMO and is completely unworkable. It is fine if you can level a toon in a day or two...but weeks and months lost because your ISP took a hit and you go LD? Stupidity. No place in an online MMO. Also complete stupidity from a fairness game mechanic. Jedi alphas were more powerful, but took more time, alot more time to level and get gear for...so why should jedi be the only ones with risk...BHs or other reg classes died and lost NOTHING (except minor item decay). Jedi could lose everything. Both sides needed risk to make it fair...like having a BH get their investigation line wiped out if they failed x number of times against a jedi. Back in the day before mounts and iwth 10 min shuttle waits, that inv tree was a bear...without risk on both sides you do nothing but setup a griefer mechanic...fine for the jedi haters, but not for reasonable players.
Now, what they SHOULD have done, and in keeping with the idea of continued toon development to keep players interested and subbed over the long haul in an MMO, was to make OTHER alpha, or hero classes to compete with jedi on a 1 to 1 effort invested basis. A Dark Trooper class. An elite Bounty Hunter/Killer. A Rebel Fleet Commando. Nothing but pure win, especially since teh crafters would get new recipes, or have to achieve elite status themselves to craft new items for the new alpha/hero classes...
Many people went through the jedi grind simply because it was the only content left for them to develop their character with...the solution was so obvious it was painful...instead SOE killed off jedi as an alpha and killed off alot of the other regular classes, basically gutting the class system overnight.
Yeah, that is just it...some players spent months unlocking a jedi, then, overnight, SOE wipes out all that effort by making jedi a starter class that anyone can respec to with 3 clicks..
MMO developers that have a clue realize that they should strive for longterm relationships, win-win relationships, with their customers if they want their game to thrive. Wiping out player effort, arbitrarily, heinously, with no regard for player feedback, is about as big a nubcake move as a company could make...
While I can certainly understand the frustration of those who basically played the game in ways they could have not possibly enjoyed for months so they could get jedi...
The old jedi system should have never existed, and neither should the new.
All they had to do was put in Permadeath for JEDI and kept with the blue glowie if you died.
That would make players think twice on making another JEDI in the game.
I would of kept them a Alpha class, however I gurantee you would have almost every BH player on the server looking to kill you for bragging rights.
In that, I think we would have an accord.
Although, speaking as a person who develops, supports, and leads software design(software that couldn't be further from video games), methinx that would be a nightmare to work with. Fit high-stakes gambling into your game and plan on doubling customer support.
Sometimes, there's a pretty good reason to consider business into gameplay.
Smedley: "With the NGE, I'm sorry about the mistake we made," he told us. "We screwed up and didn't listen to the fans when we should have, and it's not a mistake we're going to make again."
Can i Ranger track in the new and improved SWG ?
For 2 years I played a game that was built for a true Star Wars fan, a complete, immersive, virtual Star Wars universe, with seemingly endless possibilities. The fact that I could be and do almost anything with very few barriers was amazing. Although many programming “bugs” existed in the game, more content needed to be added, and some professions needed to be worked on, SWG was a great game that had a lot of potential. The game was on the road to becoming a huge success from a game play aspect with the well-timed release of fun expansions such as Jump to Lightspeed and Rage of the Wookiees, added content, and some great ideas to enhance some of the current professions (Squad Leader, Creature Handler) SWG continued to be a pinnacle of MMORPG achievement. All that ended on November 15, 2005.
In an interview with the New York Times, Nancy MacIntyre, senior director for SWG at LucasArts states, “We wanted more instant gratification: kill, get treasure, repeat. We needed to give people more of an opportunity to be a part of what they have seen in the movies rather than something they had created themselves." It is unbelievable that detail, quality, and depth have been sacrificed in favor of “instant gratification”. However it stands to reason. Several communications from John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment, and Julio Torres, Producer of SWG at Lucas Arts, point to focus groups conducted with present and former players. And the design changes were a direct reflection of the feedback they were given. It is also well known that the focus groups consisted of only males 18-25.
Never forget....
Waves hand " This is not the target audience your looking for"
I remember back in the day, I played a real immersive game called Everquest. And it was good. It was my gateway into the world of MMORPG's. That gate led me to a game called Star Wars Galaxies. A game that...I have to say for the first few years, was nothing short of a dream come true. Sure, it was a bit off balance in some respects. But it was pretty well liked. I would say loved but...I digress.
*Shakes head*
I'm not sure where it all went wrong. Something...changed in SOE. Which I think was the time Smedley took over. And it just seemed like any game that was touched either faded away into nothingness, or it just completely changed direction. Somehow, Star Wars Galaxies went from one mode to another overnight. Smoke-filled, backroom deals. If things didn't go their way, or the game (to SoE) didn't progress fast enough, they just stopped supporting it. Games like Vanguard. Or the games just...died. Games like The Matrix Online.
*Ponders*
Things have apparently only gone from bad to worse. And SOE won't openly admit that. Which is typical in corporate America. They want to show the shareholders that they're taking steps. But it's become apparent to myself and..I'm not sure how many others, I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, that those steps are steps backwards. Instead of fixing things, they slash their employee numbers and tell the shareholders: "Hey...look, we took care of the problem. See how nice upper management we are?" A ruse of course.
As we all know, DCUO was suppose to be, maybe in SOE's eyes, thier World of Warcraft or..cash cow..or..something. I'm not sure which. But because of the screw ups (-cough- upper management -cough-), DCUO took the biggest hit possible and all that money they poured into is will not be coming back to them.
So now, games like The Agency (now defunct), most likely Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard (this may not be true), Pirates of the Burning Sea might all start to shut down or lose support altogether. The only game..or games...that might weather this storm will be the two brainchildren of Sony Online Entertainment.
Everquest and Everquest 2.
This is my personal opinion. I do not speak for everyone or anyone but myself. But I do have to wonder, and I wonder how many others are thinking the same thing. With the upcoming titles being released, will Sony Online be able to stay afloat if these other titles manage to deliver on their promises? I have to say that only time can tell. But in truth, unless SOE gets rid of Smedley, Sony Online will go under. It won't be immediate. It may take several years. But it will happen unless direction at SOE is changed. And fast.
PS: For my feeling about Star Wars Galaxies, I think my avatar says it all. RIP Star Wars Galaxies. Ki'ke Lakoc (Master Creature Handler 2004)
Originally posted by HiGHPLAiNS Originally posted by sookster54 Pikeman animations were the best, it was neat fighting in style. Animations now look dumb with that benny hill crap.
And on that note about Benny Hill, I give you Darth Velveeta: NGE Jedi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4MvwU58Jk0 I remember what Jedi became esp with that Trials of Obi Wan expansion, what a fiasco that was. And when NGE went live, the high speed lightsaber slashing was comical and embarrassing at the same time and duels were so one sided, whoever got the heal off at the right time ALWAYS won 10 out of 10 times. There's too many things about this current system I just can't stand, yes pre-CU had tons of bugs but it was at least playable and more flexible.
The funny thing about SWG is that if I discovered it today for the very first time, I would probably love it. Its one of the few sandbox MMOs, it has both ground and space gameplay, and it has tons of content at this point. Honestly, its a good game. The problem is I know the history, and because I know what has happened I can never really enjoy it. Its like getting back together with someone who cheated on you. As many good qualities as the person may have, you cant forget the past.
The funny thing about SWG is that if I discovered it today for the very first time, I would probably love it. Its one of the few sandbox MMOs, it has both ground and space gameplay, and it has tons of content at this point. Honestly, its a good game. The problem is I know the history, and because I know what has happened I can never really enjoy it. Its like getting back together with someone who cheated on you. As many good qualities as the person may have, you cant forget the past.
The funny thing about SWG is that if I discovered it today for the very first time, I would probably love it. Its one of the few sandbox MMOs, it has both ground and space gameplay, and it has tons of content at this point. Honestly, its a good game. The problem is I know the history, and because I know what has happened I can never really enjoy it. Its like getting back together with someone who cheated on you. As many good qualities as the person may have, you cant forget the past.
Amen!!!!
And that is it in a nut shell right there.
Did Smedley and Nancy and Jeff and LA screw the pooch in 2005 with the NGE? Oh Heck yes...no Vet is going to disagree with that point.
Was everything pre-NGE and Pre-CU and Pre-Patch 9 Happy happy joy joy? No.
Fightclubbing in 2003 and 2004 and still to this day.
People doing their best to game the system loopholes and then whining when Developers Fix the bugs.
Still nothing to really Smuggle...and I miss Spice and Slicing.
Too many AFK Jedi in 2004 and still a problem
More Content. More Options in GCW and Space.
More things to Craft and Loot
There are things I would bring back from Pre-NGE..and there are things I would Leave Gone.
I was playing UO for several years until galaxies came out. When it came out my friends and I were amazed at the graphics. The game carried over several features of the existing mmos at the time. One of which was the sandbox which I know ultima had. We were happy as the game and graphics were new, but there were tons of exploits, or rather broken classes. That really didn’t matter too much, but over time we digested the content and craved more. Sony didn’t have much to throw at us, and they had a bad attitude with that game from day one. They introduced space and being able to fly in a similar fashion to the xwing series of years past. We tried that, but it got old fast. They didn’t know end game.
Many of us got bored and undertook the task of discovering the path to jedi. This was before the holocrons. We tried to master ever single class in the hope of guessing the right combination to get it. Talk about frustration; try playing several classes that you eventually learn to hate. That was game time well spent, not.
The game changed. They realized they made folks mad after nerfing classes to the point of non-use, and people tired of playing a star wars game where the light saber was impossible. We understood the lore, but once in a while it would have been nice to see any sith or jedi. I started the game as a smuggler, and found nothing of interest to smuggle. I migrate to a bounty hunter with nothing to really hunt. Yay right? They realized this and added the holocrons in hopes of “giving” jedi to lucky folks without giving jedi to folks. The holocrons told you what trees you had to master to unlock the whisper. Later they added the progression system for becoming a jedi. Oh man, you level up another tree and “convert” those points to jedi points. Needless to say that was the grind of grinds. I got fed up as this point and bailed. By this time warcraft was out, so I didn’t look back. When I heard about the full monty done to the game, I realized that Sony messed up big time, and they were trying to copy successful mmos again in the hopes of getting folks to come back. Why else revamp a game?
I think many of us wish that it didn’t go this way, but Sony is a bad mmo company with very limited success. While I would love to play star wars again, I would rather wait for Bioware to finish their star wars mmo then spend more time/money on aggravation with Sony.
SWG was my 1st MMO and everyone one that I've played since became boring rather quickly. I've recently re-subbed because (1) I can't stand anymore fantasy (Wow-clone) MMO's any longer and (2) I really missed the crafting in SWG.
Basically - if you like crafting primarily with some combat mixed and roll or transfer a character to the only server worth being on (Starsider) then you'll enjoy SWG very much. If you only like combat and never craft (which I find are the players that hate SWG now) then you might not like it as much - especially if you've been playing newer FPS or similar games.
Beastmaster alone can keep you busy for years just trying to figure out and achieve mutations - and that's only one profession. Also - the thing that really bothers me about Wow and every other clone out there is that the main goal is to Raid over and over and over again for gear and loot. In Wow if you don't have the latest gear - you're toast (especially on a PVP server) How people can run the same dungeons over and over and over again is beyond me.
Sci-Fi is an underused genre in MMO's and I'm not sure why - there's so much more you can do with Sci-Fi than with fantasy based games. SWG also has space combat...asteroid mining and multiplayer ships like the YT-1300 (Millennium Falcon) and others.
I understand and appreciate the anger and resentment towards SOE for the NGE debacle, but there comes a time to "let go" and quite frankly - there isn't anything out there that competes with SWG for complexity and variety of gameplay. I'm going to check out SWTOR but I'm not expecting much except for a sci-fi version of Wow. I hope I'm wrong but the MMO trend lately has sucked.
The recent hacking into SOE doesn't help, but I'm confident they'll get it fixed and give subs free time (30 days to be exact) and probably some other goodies - if they don't want the virtual pitchforks to fly
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
The worst aspects of the NGE have been rolled back.
Mike, I think you're confused by the term rolled back. That means something was set back to its original state. I think what you mean to say is that the game has seen many patches, and they've added some pre-NGE stuff back. Although, what that is I've yet to see mentioned in this thread.
Comments
Rofl, a lot better now tell that to the 85% of the player base who left the game. And still to this day slams soe for that.
Ha ha ha, Better my rear end.
SOE is the land of misfit MMOs...
They killed SWG by jerking the ghame out from underneath its playerbase in one of the worst moves by any gaming company, ever. And the playerbase voted with their feet. Lucasarts, and their IDIOT project managers also deserve a fair share of the blame. They both paid the price for their lack of vision.
The game now IS better than immediately following the NGE, but meh, why bother. SOE taught us, overnight, that they are willing to wipe out in game effort and things that players valued. Once a company shows that kind of blatant disregard for its customers, those customers usually learn to not depend on that company. I will never, ever play another SOE game. Ever.
You don't screw with Star Wars...even George Lucas learned that...lol
And on that note about Benny Hill, I give you Darth Velveeta: NGE Jedi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4MvwU58Jk0
I remember what Jedi became esp with that Trials of Obi Wan expansion, what a fiasco that was.
Yeah, that is just it...some players spent months unlocking a jedi, then, overnight, SOE wipes out all that effort by making jedi a starter class that anyone can respec to with 3 clicks..
MMO developers that have a clue realize that they should strive for longterm relationships, win-win relationships, with their customers if they want their game to thrive. Wiping out player effort, arbitrarily, heinously, with no regard for player feedback, is about as big a nubcake move as a company could make...
There's the dilemma for me. SWG had ALOT to fix B4 NGE. I was on the gangplank of quitting when it happened.
I wanted Smugglers to not suck.
I wanted collision fixed.
I wanted Leia to "get out and push" my speeder, cuz it was pathetic.
I wanted rubberbanding to end.
I wanted composite armor to not be the only option.
While it kept me a good 4 months after I was ready to quit, JtL had a whole other slew of things I could talk about.
I could go on like this forever. and others have, unwittingly, on my behalf.
The game had tons of flaws. Had they addressed THEM instead of trying to create a whole new game, maybe I'd be subbed, now.
I dont understand how you can say they fixed crafting. There is no item decay, just about everyone has the weapons they need so what is the point in crafting weapons? What would I do with all the low end weapons I would need to craft to get to the higher levels that everyone already has? How can a new crafter get into the game when the map is filled with listings of vendors that have long been empty and are located closer to the cities than I could ever get? Why would anyone buy a weapon from me when all the guilds have their own weaponsmith?
Crafting is dead in SWG, please let it rest in peace.
While I can certainly understand the frustration of those who basically played the game in ways they could have not possibly enjoyed for months so they could get jedi...
The old jedi system should have never existed, and neither should the new.
I admire your enthusiasm bro but it would have to be rolled back to publish 14 for me to rejoin. if they did that I would still be Leary but if they promised they would fix the bugs at that last publish and work on adding content after they fix all the bugs then smugglers then I would do it. They could do that and have more subs then before but smedley hates us. we broke his camels back and that is hate for us vets.
It would technicaly be the only AAA Sandbox starwars MMO ever, so he's sittin on gold mine but alas he hates us. he would rather see it die. Wish he would roll it back and then slowly combine the xpacs into it and I would go back and never leave.
My issue with SWG is the servers. The fact you can run into a doorway and cause it to desync so others can't target you. server/client communication is terrible in that regard.
It's so bad that people use it as a common tactic.
If they updated their servers and cleaned up the code maybe the game would be worth it, but then there is my issue with TCG (most pathetic addition ever), and of course Ewok love day.
Really people, ewok love dolls, glowy halos, and rainbow fairey wings just killed it for me.
SOE is a total fool for not catering to a more adult crowd with TOR coming. They easily could have a healthy mature sandbox crowd if they did.
All they had to do was put in Permadeath for JEDI and kept with the blue glowie if you died.
That would make players think twice on making another JEDI in the game.
I would of kept them a Alpha class, however I gurantee you would have almost every BH player on the server looking to kill you for bragging rights.
I played under permadeath. Permadeath is a terrible idea in an MMO and is completely unworkable. It is fine if you can level a toon in a day or two...but weeks and months lost because your ISP took a hit and you go LD? Stupidity. No place in an online MMO. Also complete stupidity from a fairness game mechanic. Jedi alphas were more powerful, but took more time, alot more time to level and get gear for...so why should jedi be the only ones with risk...BHs or other reg classes died and lost NOTHING (except minor item decay). Jedi could lose everything. Both sides needed risk to make it fair...like having a BH get their investigation line wiped out if they failed x number of times against a jedi. Back in the day before mounts and iwth 10 min shuttle waits, that inv tree was a bear...without risk on both sides you do nothing but setup a griefer mechanic...fine for the jedi haters, but not for reasonable players.
Now, what they SHOULD have done, and in keeping with the idea of continued toon development to keep players interested and subbed over the long haul in an MMO, was to make OTHER alpha, or hero classes to compete with jedi on a 1 to 1 effort invested basis. A Dark Trooper class. An elite Bounty Hunter/Killer. A Rebel Fleet Commando. Nothing but pure win, especially since teh crafters would get new recipes, or have to achieve elite status themselves to craft new items for the new alpha/hero classes...
Many people went through the jedi grind simply because it was the only content left for them to develop their character with...the solution was so obvious it was painful...instead SOE killed off jedi as an alpha and killed off alot of the other regular classes, basically gutting the class system overnight.
In that, I think we would have an accord.
Although, speaking as a person who develops, supports, and leads software design(software that couldn't be further from video games), methinx that would be a nightmare to work with. Fit high-stakes gambling into your game and plan on doubling customer support.
Sometimes, there's a pretty good reason to consider business into gameplay.
Smedley: "With the NGE, I'm sorry about the mistake we made," he told us. "We screwed up and didn't listen to the fans when we should have, and it's not a mistake we're going to make again."
Can i Ranger track in the new and improved SWG ?
For 2 years I played a game that was built for a true Star Wars fan, a complete, immersive, virtual Star Wars universe, with seemingly endless possibilities. The fact that I could be and do almost anything with very few barriers was amazing. Although many programming “bugs” existed in the game, more content needed to be added, and some professions needed to be worked on, SWG was a great game that had a lot of potential. The game was on the road to becoming a huge success from a game play aspect with the well-timed release of fun expansions such as Jump to Lightspeed and Rage of the Wookiees, added content, and some great ideas to enhance some of the current professions (Squad Leader, Creature Handler) SWG continued to be a pinnacle of MMORPG achievement. All that ended on November 15, 2005.
In an interview with the New York Times, Nancy MacIntyre, senior director for SWG at LucasArts states, “We wanted more instant gratification: kill, get treasure, repeat. We needed to give people more of an opportunity to be a part of what they have seen in the movies rather than something they had created themselves." It is unbelievable that detail, quality, and depth have been sacrificed in favor of “instant gratification”. However it stands to reason. Several communications from John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment, and Julio Torres, Producer of SWG at Lucas Arts, point to focus groups conducted with present and former players. And the design changes were a direct reflection of the feedback they were given. It is also well known that the focus groups consisted of only males 18-25.
Never forget....
Waves hand " This is not the target audience your looking for"
*thinks back*
I remember back in the day, I played a real immersive game called Everquest. And it was good. It was my gateway into the world of MMORPG's. That gate led me to a game called Star Wars Galaxies. A game that...I have to say for the first few years, was nothing short of a dream come true. Sure, it was a bit off balance in some respects. But it was pretty well liked. I would say loved but...I digress.
*Shakes head*
I'm not sure where it all went wrong. Something...changed in SOE. Which I think was the time Smedley took over. And it just seemed like any game that was touched either faded away into nothingness, or it just completely changed direction. Somehow, Star Wars Galaxies went from one mode to another overnight. Smoke-filled, backroom deals. If things didn't go their way, or the game (to SoE) didn't progress fast enough, they just stopped supporting it. Games like Vanguard. Or the games just...died. Games like The Matrix Online.
*Ponders*
Things have apparently only gone from bad to worse. And SOE won't openly admit that. Which is typical in corporate America. They want to show the shareholders that they're taking steps. But it's become apparent to myself and..I'm not sure how many others, I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, that those steps are steps backwards. Instead of fixing things, they slash their employee numbers and tell the shareholders: "Hey...look, we took care of the problem. See how nice upper management we are?" A ruse of course.
As we all know, DCUO was suppose to be, maybe in SOE's eyes, thier World of Warcraft or..cash cow..or..something. I'm not sure which. But because of the screw ups (-cough- upper management -cough-), DCUO took the biggest hit possible and all that money they poured into is will not be coming back to them.
So now, games like The Agency (now defunct), most likely Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard (this may not be true), Pirates of the Burning Sea might all start to shut down or lose support altogether. The only game..or games...that might weather this storm will be the two brainchildren of Sony Online Entertainment.
Everquest and Everquest 2.
This is my personal opinion. I do not speak for everyone or anyone but myself. But I do have to wonder, and I wonder how many others are thinking the same thing. With the upcoming titles being released, will Sony Online be able to stay afloat if these other titles manage to deliver on their promises? I have to say that only time can tell. But in truth, unless SOE gets rid of Smedley, Sony Online will go under. It won't be immediate. It may take several years. But it will happen unless direction at SOE is changed. And fast.
PS: For my feeling about Star Wars Galaxies, I think my avatar says it all. RIP Star Wars Galaxies. Ki'ke Lakoc (Master Creature Handler 2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4MvwU58Jk0
I remember what Jedi became esp with that Trials of Obi Wan expansion, what a fiasco that was.
And when NGE went live, the high speed lightsaber slashing was comical and embarrassing at the same time and duels were so one sided, whoever got the heal off at the right time ALWAYS won 10 out of 10 times. There's too many things about this current system I just can't stand, yes pre-CU had tons of bugs but it was at least playable and more flexible.
Amen!!!!
And that is it in a nut shell right there.
Did Smedley and Nancy and Jeff and LA screw the pooch in 2005 with the NGE? Oh Heck yes...no Vet is going to disagree with that point.
Was everything pre-NGE and Pre-CU and Pre-Patch 9 Happy happy joy joy? No.
Fightclubbing in 2003 and 2004 and still to this day.
People doing their best to game the system loopholes and then whining when Developers Fix the bugs.
Still nothing to really Smuggle...and I miss Spice and Slicing.
Too many AFK Jedi in 2004 and still a problem
More Content. More Options in GCW and Space.
More things to Craft and Loot
There are things I would bring back from Pre-NGE..and there are things I would Leave Gone.
MMO History: 2528 days in SW:G
i really miss that game this was take right afther NGE... i quit playing because of it
I can Has your station name and password?
MMO History: 2528 days in SW:G
I was playing UO for several years until galaxies came out. When it came out my friends and I were amazed at the graphics. The game carried over several features of the existing mmos at the time. One of which was the sandbox which I know ultima had. We were happy as the game and graphics were new, but there were tons of exploits, or rather broken classes. That really didn’t matter too much, but over time we digested the content and craved more. Sony didn’t have much to throw at us, and they had a bad attitude with that game from day one. They introduced space and being able to fly in a similar fashion to the xwing series of years past. We tried that, but it got old fast. They didn’t know end game.
Many of us got bored and undertook the task of discovering the path to jedi. This was before the holocrons. We tried to master ever single class in the hope of guessing the right combination to get it. Talk about frustration; try playing several classes that you eventually learn to hate. That was game time well spent, not.
The game changed. They realized they made folks mad after nerfing classes to the point of non-use, and people tired of playing a star wars game where the light saber was impossible. We understood the lore, but once in a while it would have been nice to see any sith or jedi. I started the game as a smuggler, and found nothing of interest to smuggle. I migrate to a bounty hunter with nothing to really hunt. Yay right? They realized this and added the holocrons in hopes of “giving” jedi to lucky folks without giving jedi to folks. The holocrons told you what trees you had to master to unlock the whisper. Later they added the progression system for becoming a jedi. Oh man, you level up another tree and “convert” those points to jedi points. Needless to say that was the grind of grinds. I got fed up as this point and bailed. By this time warcraft was out, so I didn’t look back. When I heard about the full monty done to the game, I realized that Sony messed up big time, and they were trying to copy successful mmos again in the hopes of getting folks to come back. Why else revamp a game?
I think many of us wish that it didn’t go this way, but Sony is a bad mmo company with very limited success. While I would love to play star wars again, I would rather wait for Bioware to finish their star wars mmo then spend more time/money on aggravation with Sony.
SWG was my 1st MMO and everyone one that I've played since became boring rather quickly. I've recently re-subbed because (1) I can't stand anymore fantasy (Wow-clone) MMO's any longer and (2) I really missed the crafting in SWG.
Basically - if you like crafting primarily with some combat mixed and roll or transfer a character to the only server worth being on (Starsider) then you'll enjoy SWG very much. If you only like combat and never craft (which I find are the players that hate SWG now) then you might not like it as much - especially if you've been playing newer FPS or similar games.
Beastmaster alone can keep you busy for years just trying to figure out and achieve mutations - and that's only one profession. Also - the thing that really bothers me about Wow and every other clone out there is that the main goal is to Raid over and over and over again for gear and loot. In Wow if you don't have the latest gear - you're toast (especially on a PVP server) How people can run the same dungeons over and over and over again is beyond me.
Sci-Fi is an underused genre in MMO's and I'm not sure why - there's so much more you can do with Sci-Fi than with fantasy based games. SWG also has space combat...asteroid mining and multiplayer ships like the YT-1300 (Millennium Falcon) and others.
I understand and appreciate the anger and resentment towards SOE for the NGE debacle, but there comes a time to "let go" and quite frankly - there isn't anything out there that competes with SWG for complexity and variety of gameplay. I'm going to check out SWTOR but I'm not expecting much except for a sci-fi version of Wow. I hope I'm wrong but the MMO trend lately has sucked.
The recent hacking into SOE doesn't help, but I'm confident they'll get it fixed and give subs free time (30 days to be exact) and probably some other goodies - if they don't want the virtual pitchforks to fly
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
So I can finally logon and play my Master Creature Handler/Bioengineer again?
Mike, I think you're confused by the term rolled back. That means something was set back to its original state. I think what you mean to say is that the game has seen many patches, and they've added some pre-NGE stuff back. Although, what that is I've yet to see mentioned in this thread.