There will be no classic servers, the chapter six upgrade is staying, we are currently adding content & fixing bugs before a new expansion is released.
The dev team was just cut down to 20 people not to long ago (I wish could find the link where smed/soe said that). Compare that to the 80 people they had working on just the Jump to Lightspeed expansion. A reduced size dev team is actually a sign of a declining game.
Since you ask, I would not say the game is making a comeback based on SOE advertising to fill a programming position. There are many possibilities for such a search: replacing someone for retired, was transfered to a new title, quit and yes adding a new member to the team.
If SOE increased the size of the team I bet they would announce it, but maybe not. Signs of a comeback would be stores starting to carry the gamebox again, new servers, press releases, an expansion or anything that shows forward progress. It has been almost 2 years since the NGE was released and zero new content expansions and it looks like it could easily go another year without seeing new ground. Honestly I don't know how this game can make a comeback with such a small team. It almost seems that it is put on life support and is just riding out the time.
I agree. The development team on SWG has not the resources or manpower to make any value added changes to SWG. If they really wanted to make a comeback then they would have to make a huge investment with manpower and captial. The statement about "life support" seems to be on the mark. Go with the bare minium and let it ride out into the sunset.
SWG had a surge of returning players in the weeks following CH6.
This has turned out to be a temporary bubble and not permanent, they are almost back down to pre 6 numbers (which was around 45-50Kish.
They think they will get most of the ones that came back for CH6 back when they release CH7 in November, but I doubt they will stay, since CH8 won't be out until February `08 at the earliest.
There will be no classic servers, the chapter six upgrade is staying, we are currently adding content & fixing bugs before a new expansion is released.
"We"?????? Are you talking about the C6 Combat Downgrade? I thought you did that with "bugbash".
Blix, did you follow me over here? And is this confirmation that there is a link between SOE Austin and the devil? ROFL
SWG had a surge of returning players in the weeks following CH6. This has turned out to be a temporary bubble and not permanent, they are almost back down to pre 6 numbers (which was around 45-50Kish. They think they will get most of the ones that came back for CH6 back when they release CH7 in November, but I doubt they will stay, since CH8 won't be out until February `08 at the earliest.
Source?
Or is the beginning of another "SWG will shutdown in <insert date>" rumors?
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
SWG had a surge of returning players in the weeks following CH6. This has turned out to be a temporary bubble and not permanent, they are almost back down to pre 6 numbers (which was around 45-50Kish. They think they will get most of the ones that came back for CH6 back when they release CH7 in November, but I doubt they will stay, since CH8 won't be out until February `08 at the earliest.
Source?
Or is the beginning of another "SWG will shutdown in <insert date>" rumors?
I can sorta back him up here. Mind you this is all hearsay but it comes from (IMO) a good perspective. My very old school buddies still playing SWG keep telling me that old faces pop on once in a while and then disappear, but there are more new players than old.
AT LEAST ON BLOODFIN, the population is indeed up since after NGE launch. Mos Eisley is thriving, and in fact it serves as the "main city of the game" now. People post LFMs/LFGs there, newbies crop up, people get ganked, etc. Coronet was perhaps unsurprisingly barren, but I heard Corellia is the rebel hangout for the server (I suspect they're around somewhere). Things are still slightly more desolate than the CU period, and some player towns are complete ghost towns.
On an interesting sidenote, I'm 99.995% positive station pass accounts are indeed counted as "active subs." Reason I say this is because I went on a "tour de olde" revisiting old sites, and several people whom are EQ1 and EQ2 Station Pass players, but are also ex-SWG players, still have their active housing in SWG, either paid or with dues owed, but can not be demolished. By looking at the houses you could easily assume they were still playing SWG, but I factually know these folks are not.
I'd guess as to this being the reason why they "can't count subs": It's too difficult for them to determine who's actively playing what game on a station pass account. Personally, as a database pro, I could probably whip up some queries to determine this, and if I can do it, so can they. It's more than likely they don't want to allocate resources to determine how many. Thus they'll use the simplest number they can provide: everyone. That all said, I wouldn't believe any sub number for SWG even if it came out of SOE's mouth.
-- xpaladin
[MMOz] AC1/2, AO, DAoC, EQ1/2, SoR, SWG, UO, WAR, WoW
I have been playing SWG consistently since day 1. I can't play other MMO's b/c they are too constricting and not sandbox enough.
Before I paste what they are planning (which explains why they are highering) I think it is important ot note...returning players are not playing the SWG most other ppl are.
Logging in you only see 9 profession and an expertise..and bad default controls. 5 mins of remapping and your playing like CU. I meet a returning vet at least once a week and give them this speech (I haven't had one cancel their account yet)
SWG can be played two ways..casual an hardcore. Casual players can level from 1-90 spend their expertise points, quest, loot, and be totally content. But you cna go much deeper...The iconic profession is only a skill set. After choosing your Iconci profession you shap it to your play style with the expertise. Additionally you reinforce your template with attribute choices, which affect combat offenses and defenses. So instead of kill grinding a proffession box for that melee defense, you go out and quest, loot, work with traders to make attachments, develop a buff set up with items, food, and entertainer build-a-buffs, apply pups, etc.
What you end up with is a character that does what you want it to in the game universe...but he is balanced, You don't have to have that CM tree, you don't have to have the boxes in defense. And on top of it you can develop different buff.attribute combos with your expertise to be used in different situations...all without shouting "LF Bol group," or equipping chugging galons of brandy while running in circles queuing attacks,
I have seen the iconic smuggler prof become swordsman and pikeman. Officers become fencers. Bounty Hunters into rangers. The skill sets and modifiers YOU develop allow you to be things in the current game..not a floating title over your head. On top of that you are balanced for pvp no matter what you choose ( only weaker in certain situations while stronger in others).
After I give this run down...vets are rdy to try out the game with a fresh perspective in mind. There is so much to do now. But the game is now built on community so finding a good guild is very important.
Anyway here is whats scheduled for chapter 7 and future chapters (why they are hiring and my vets friends and I keep subbing).
And if your looking for a large community of Imps/Nuetrals still palyign the gmae and keeping a fresh perspective visit us at AI.tricerealm.com
MAIN FEATURES: EXPLINATIONS OF EACH:
-The Aurillian Township-
"This is an amazing new township on the planet of Dathomir, which is somewhat familiar to the Aurillian Village back in the days pre-NGE. However, much beauty and graphical work has been put into it, and will be nothing players have ever seen, aside from the fact that it will be an actual Town of technology, and not a village.
The township's main purpose is to provide players with exciting never-before seen type of quests and willl challenge the greatest of groups through lairs and small realms of heroic MOBs and NPCs. Discover while obtaining new rewards, new items, and fending off new MOBs." --DevChat Log
There was also mention of few rewards that can be obtained. I was able to find out that new high stated jewelery, rare weapon schematics, new DNA samples, and container pockets for belts will be some of the many loot drops and rewards for the Aurillian Township.
-Origin Points/Story-
This is expected to greatly enlighten the roleplaying universe and those who just love a good lore. With the "Origin Points System", players will be able to create the story of their character with enourmous wide varieties leading to specializing many different skills.
After you create your origin, your story, and your traits, you will be given "origin points" into various skills and attributes depending on what your background is.
Collection System
Not much was said about this, except about the rewards, and the extremely vast amount of collections you could accomplish.
"This system we have built will make it so it is guarenteed that almost NO player could accomplish every single little thing we have installed, unless one were to work on just this for dozens of hours a week for a year or two. Rewards for these numerous collections can range from exciting new (never-before seen!) furniture, to new animations and positions including the old Meditation Stance. Like stated before, the majority of the new content and rewards we want to be left as a suprise " --DevChat Log
Later in the post they also mentioned something about another collections reward that would allow us to store more items in our houses/structures. These "pieces of data" would come in increments of 100 item allowance, and you could collect as much as you wanted until you reached the cap, which will be a 5,000 item allowance.
-The Imperial Themepark-
"Think of this much like the update of the Rebel themepark back in the previous chapter. It is Imperial, it is far more harder, it includes a new collection of rewards, and will be one-hundred times more fun than the one originally created in the pre-NGE. The Imperial Themepark will be especially for levels 85-90 with a different twist and feel to the original questline. You will not be doing 5-8 different missions for each NPC like in the current themepark. We plan to put this on TestCenter later this week." --DevChat Log
The Imperial Themepark HAS already been tested, unfortunately, since I did not post this any sooner. Expect -AI- looking for YOU to be in a group to run this with us.
______________________________________________
RELEASE DATE:
"We plan Chapter 7 to be released late September, and will be loading it to TestCenter after release." --DevChat Log
______________________________________________
CHAPTER 8 AND THE DISTANT FUTURE RELEASES
During the DevChat there was also some information about future releases due to happen in the near and distant future. There is also minds in SoE about a new planet, so get reading
Here is a list of the many things thrown into SoE's 'plan lab', and the many things guarenteed to be enabled:
-More space instances
-A new wide variety of different ships!
-Player gunboats/shuttles
-Star Destroyers for large guilds (distant future, must have a certain amount of active guild members to obtain)
-Able to go inside planets' space stations (much like Tansarii)
-Unique types of ships, with methods like cargo, transport, navigation, or just to partay!
-An easier and more exciting way to fly and interact in space
-A new planet(s) is definately in the future, but will not be expected until at least chapter 9 or 10" --DevChat Log
-Better and more adventurous outlook on every planet.
-Upgrades and large NPC city re-vamps
-Converting pre-CU quests into NGE quests (ex. The Warren, Geo Cave)
-New civic structures!
-New house models!
-Gardening, and outdoor house decoration!
-More droids, droid features!
-More styles of clothes
-Eventually creating multi levels for high-rise NPC builidngs
-New and amazing NPC interactions for NPC cities and POIs
-Different map opimizations
-Starport revamps
-More jedi abilities and addition of jedi abilities such as SABER BLOCK able to 'throw back' projectiles, and different stances.
-Weapons enabled on vehicles and speederbikes
-More vehicles, mounts
-Exciting new ways to travel, more about this in the future.
-Ideas of larger groups or contact/collision with other full groups alongside you (ex. /group2, /group3)
-New bounty hunting system
-More "training/assignment" missions designed for each of the 9 ionic professions.
-Ability to see hairstyles with helmets, hats, and robes on
-A new planet(s) is definately in the future, but will not be expected until at least chapter 9 or 10" --DevChat Log
-Converting pre-CU quests into NGE quests (ex. The Warren, Geo Cave)
Statement 1: Hey a whole new planet! or better yet, multiple planets! Some time in the future.
Statement 2: We are finally getting around to fixing quests that have festered for close to 2-4 years since we revamped the entire game.... twice since those quests were released. (yes that says PRE combat upgrade)
I found that very telling of the SWG management of this product. Plan and scatter.
Also, what is with having to give players pep talks to keep them playing? The game should be fun enough to stand on its own to feet.
It's an explantion to clear up some misconceptions. I haven/t met a pre-cu player who has unsubbed after learning this take on the game.
Too many ppl get their ideas about SWG from people who don't play the game. They get it from people who are negative about every MMO they play. They get it from ppl sitting at their comps wishing they could go back to the days of putting RL on hold to mindlessly grind their Village jedi so noobs could worhsip them.
Which you have done right now. Not allowing someone to read this info from the Dev Chat and the advice from a current player without letting out your resentment. There was nothing bad in my post and nothing proposed in the last year by the new Dev team hasn't made it to live.
But then again even if SWG doubled it's subs and was named game of the year...people like you would still complain and talk about the days of everyone wearing composite and mindlessly grinding solo with the combat queue filled up.
You seem to have me confused with people who want SWG back in its old glory. Sorry you are mislead by my snippet above, but I have never and will never ask for "old SWG back". SWG was not good enough to play past the honeymoon months after release, nor after the combat upgrade or even after the NGE (btw the only game "enhancement" ever to remove a sizable portion of a games content). Just because people don't see the game as a bed of roses that you lay in, doesn't mean everyone else is uneducated or full of spite. Plenty of other players, including myself, have played SWG enough to form educated opinions of the game.
I found the statement about adding planets and the next statement about finally fixing quests from 2-3 years and 2 full revamps ago a testament to the management of the game.
I also found it strange that the key to returning to the game is a pep talk from a player, but that was always the strength of the game. The community.
However, if SWG does double its sub and get named game of the year, I will sign up again and ask for a pep talk. Sounds fair? =P
So you don't care about the game making progress...you don't care to play it. But you care to jump on a post offering a different take on a version of the game you have no experience with? Excellant. I am glad your apathy allows others to share their experience with the games they PLAY.
I just got done with a huge 30+ vs 30+ battle in Theed today, rebs vs imps on Flurry. Yeah, that sure is a sign of a dead game, LOL.
Galaxies *is* making a comeback. It may be a slow comeback, but it is one nonetheless. Yeah - it doesn't have the massive subs anymore, but it still has a dedicated fan base and is slowly growing. The statistics may not look impressive (and thats all vets seem to care about; numbers and statistics) but in game tells a different story. I mean pvp recently has been hectic, its common now to see battles on Rori, Coreilla, Naboo, and Talus - alot more then when the NGE first hit.
I don't care what disgruntled SOE haters have to say tbh. I (and many others) are having a blast with the game in its current state - so I say let the haters hate and be pissy and moany- I'm going back to slain some more imps
I enjoy undercutting people in the market place - it's the only PvP a crafter gets.
Something that I feel I should bring up as I do love bring it up, Ultima Online and Trammel. Much like the NGE a good amount of Players quit UO and did spend the next year or two posting about how the game was about to die and EA had to roll the game back to the Pre-Trammel days.
Even Raph Koster has stated that UO hit it's Player Peak in 2003 with 300k Players. Not too bad for a game that the Vet Player Base claimed was going to die...
Here's the thing, with UO it wasn't an overnight fix. Infact much like SWG the UO Dev's (infact our pal Helios was one of them) spent about 2 years screwing around and doing things that the Player Base really didn't care for. Putting 'Stealth Nerfs' into UO, and really just doing whatever they believed was best for the game. So how did UO rebuild?
Many of the old Dev's on UO quit and went over too believe it or not SWG. So EA had to hire new Dev's or push people that have been working on the game to the Dev Team. Those people rather then just go about doing the same old thing, asked the Players that 'where' playing what they wanted in Ultima Online. I know it's a shocking idea! Granted the Vets jumped out screaming for the old days back, the thing was those Dev's understood it. The old days are gone, however... They made a push at getting people to go to the old lands, namely by making everything worth more and you could gain more resorces in the old lands. Those Dev's put in new lands for housing and put in the Custom House system, something that made the game more fun and offered a semi-gold sink. And other changes as well.
Still it wasn't an overnight fix, and the Players did come back slowly.
The thing with SWG right now is, SOE is still taking way too much time and still playing Area 51 with the game. Really last month they should have been showing off the systems and content going in with Chapter 7. This way if the Players didn't like some of the things in it, they could have changed it around before it comes out on Test. And once they get that down start talking to the Players about Chapter 8.
Still SOE just needs to open up alot more about what's going on.
So you don't care about the game making progress...you don't care to play it. But you care to jump on a post offering a different take on a version of the game you have no experience with? Excellant. I am glad your apathy allows others to share their experience with the games they PLAY. You win the forums.
SWG was not fun enough to CONTINUE PLAYING after the honeymoon months of launch, to CONTINUE PLAYING for long after the combat upgrade nor to CONTINUE PLAYING for long after the NGE. I have player all three versions and I swing by enough to check out the game after new changes to be fairly up to date.... Is that clear enough for you to not misunderstand? My opinion of the game both you and I play are different. You seem to be laboring on the theory that people who don't like this game have never played it or don't have enough experience with the game and how it has been managed. Simply put you are wrong, but if it helps you feel better then ok.
Maybe if I joined your cult and you explained how to understand star wars then I could get past all of the games shortcomings. However I do just fine right now forming opinions based on my own experiences with the game in all of its versions.
The game in it's current state is rubbish. Pre-Cu was also rubbish HOWEVER it was playable to a point that is was fun and added many upon many hours of enjoyment for me and friends.
For a dead game SWG sure gets ALOT of replies. and i dont just mean on this topic. it is probly one of the most active parts on this forum ....
Amazing isn't it?
And most of the replies are from people who used to play it. I don't know about you but if I was an MMO publsiher I would be drooling over so many dedicated (ex-)subscribers.
But truthfully, I'm not surprised at all by this because SWG has been the prime example of what not to do to a game. From inception to cancelation, this game will be the benchmark by which all mistakes will be judged when it comes to MMO's.
It's an explantion to clear up some misconceptions. I haven/t met a pre-cu player who has unsubbed after learning this take on the game. Too many ppl get their ideas about SWG from people who don't play the game. They get it from people who are negative about every MMO they play. They get it from ppl sitting at their comps wishing they could go back to the days of putting RL on hold to mindlessly grind their Village jedi so noobs could worhsip them. Which you have done right now. Not allowing someone to read this info from the Dev Chat and the advice from a current player without letting out your resentment. There was nothing bad in my post and nothing proposed in the last year by the new Dev team hasn't made it to live. But then again even if SWG doubled it's subs and was named game of the year...people like you would still complain and talk about the days of everyone wearing composite and mindlessly grinding solo with the combat queue filled up.
Pure Spin.
Every "VET" has voiced that Composite Clones and Buffs along with Jedi were a DOWNFALL! Just because these things were part of the game when SWG was at it's peak in gameplay does NOT mean it is an arguing point of the current game. Making this link is pure BS and spin.
What WILL happen is a continued reference to SOE's wirefraud, deceptive business practices, lack of goodwill towards paying subscribers, lies, and a general disregard for facts.
"VETs" are not specifically upset about a possible Jedi they migth have had becoming a pathetic starting class character (a complete disregard of the story line and them of Star Wars). It is the complete lack of dynamics and the years of work which was negated with the "new game enhancments"; thanks to corrupt individuals at SOE and Lucas Arts.
The current game is still broken. The controls are VERY poor. The GUI mapping is VERY bad. The animations are TERRIBLE! And all this was brought on by "new game enhancements".
It's the dynamics, fluid controls, intuitive combat schemes (prone, kneel, roll to.. +64 or -32 to hit) which the VET's want returned. Get it straight if you're going to attempt to place blame and discredit the concerns and valid complaints of MANY players who quit due to the inept development and marketing of SOE and Lucas Arts. The current game is a mediocre product not worth playing for many poeple, let alone those who are tru fans of the genre.
The current game mimics dyanmics, it does not facilitate them.
p.s. Proof of failure is requiring new players to remap a control scheme to make a game playable.
Every "VET" has voiced that Composite Clones and Buffs along with Jedi were a DOWNFALL! Just because these things were part of the game when SWG was at it's peak in gameplay does NOT mean it is an arguing point of the current game. Making this link is pure BS and spin.
May I also point out that had composite armor been substituted for Stormtrooper armor then it would have been both Star Warsy and Iconic.
Comments
There will be no classic servers, the chapter six upgrade is staying, we are currently adding content & fixing bugs before a new expansion is released.
The dev team was just cut down to 20 people not to long ago (I wish could find the link where smed/soe said that). Compare that to the 80 people they had working on just the Jump to Lightspeed expansion. A reduced size dev team is actually a sign of a declining game.
Since you ask, I would not say the game is making a comeback based on SOE advertising to fill a programming position. There are many possibilities for such a search: replacing someone for retired, was transfered to a new title, quit and yes adding a new member to the team.
If SOE increased the size of the team I bet they would announce it, but maybe not. Signs of a comeback would be stores starting to carry the gamebox again, new servers, press releases, an expansion or anything that shows forward progress. It has been almost 2 years since the NGE was released and zero new content expansions and it looks like it could easily go another year without seeing new ground. Honestly I don't know how this game can make a comeback with such a small team. It almost seems that it is put on life support and is just riding out the time.
I agree. The development team on SWG has not the resources or manpower to make any value added changes to SWG. If they really wanted to make a comeback then they would have to make a huge investment with manpower and captial. The statement about "life support" seems to be on the mark. Go with the bare minium and let it ride out into the sunset.
SWG had a surge of returning players in the weeks following CH6.
This has turned out to be a temporary bubble and not permanent, they are almost back down to pre 6 numbers (which was around 45-50Kish.
They think they will get most of the ones that came back for CH6 back when they release CH7 in November, but I doubt they will stay, since CH8 won't be out until February `08 at the earliest.
"We"?????? Are you talking about the C6 Combat Downgrade? I thought you did that with "bugbash".
Blix, did you follow me over here? And is this confirmation that there is a link between SOE Austin and the devil? ROFL
(Sorry, too easy) LOL
Or is the beginning of another "SWG will shutdown in <insert date>" rumors?
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
Or is the beginning of another "SWG will shutdown in <insert date>" rumors?
I can sorta back him up here. Mind you this is all hearsay but it comes from (IMO) a good perspective. My very old school buddies still playing SWG keep telling me that old faces pop on once in a while and then disappear, but there are more new players than old.
AT LEAST ON BLOODFIN, the population is indeed up since after NGE launch. Mos Eisley is thriving, and in fact it serves as the "main city of the game" now. People post LFMs/LFGs there, newbies crop up, people get ganked, etc. Coronet was perhaps unsurprisingly barren, but I heard Corellia is the rebel hangout for the server (I suspect they're around somewhere). Things are still slightly more desolate than the CU period, and some player towns are complete ghost towns.
On an interesting sidenote, I'm 99.995% positive station pass accounts are indeed counted as "active subs." Reason I say this is because I went on a "tour de olde" revisiting old sites, and several people whom are EQ1 and EQ2 Station Pass players, but are also ex-SWG players, still have their active housing in SWG, either paid or with dues owed, but can not be demolished. By looking at the houses you could easily assume they were still playing SWG, but I factually know these folks are not.
I'd guess as to this being the reason why they "can't count subs": It's too difficult for them to determine who's actively playing what game on a station pass account. Personally, as a database pro, I could probably whip up some queries to determine this, and if I can do it, so can they. It's more than likely they don't want to allocate resources to determine how many. Thus they'll use the simplest number they can provide: everyone. That all said, I wouldn't believe any sub number for SWG even if it came out of SOE's mouth.
-- xpaladin
[MMOz]
AC1/2, AO, DAoC, EQ1/2, SoR, SWG, UO, WAR, WoW
I have been playing SWG consistently since day 1. I can't play other MMO's b/c they are too constricting and not sandbox enough.
Before I paste what they are planning (which explains why they are highering) I think it is important ot note...returning players are not playing the SWG most other ppl are.
Logging in you only see 9 profession and an expertise..and bad default controls. 5 mins of remapping and your playing like CU. I meet a returning vet at least once a week and give them this speech (I haven't had one cancel their account yet)
SWG can be played two ways..casual an hardcore. Casual players can level from 1-90 spend their expertise points, quest, loot, and be totally content. But you cna go much deeper...The iconic profession is only a skill set. After choosing your Iconci profession you shap it to your play style with the expertise. Additionally you reinforce your template with attribute choices, which affect combat offenses and defenses. So instead of kill grinding a proffession box for that melee defense, you go out and quest, loot, work with traders to make attachments, develop a buff set up with items, food, and entertainer build-a-buffs, apply pups, etc.
What you end up with is a character that does what you want it to in the game universe...but he is balanced, You don't have to have that CM tree, you don't have to have the boxes in defense. And on top of it you can develop different buff.attribute combos with your expertise to be used in different situations...all without shouting "LF Bol group," or equipping chugging galons of brandy while running in circles queuing attacks,
I have seen the iconic smuggler prof become swordsman and pikeman. Officers become fencers. Bounty Hunters into rangers. The skill sets and modifiers YOU develop allow you to be things in the current game..not a floating title over your head. On top of that you are balanced for pvp no matter what you choose ( only weaker in certain situations while stronger in others).
After I give this run down...vets are rdy to try out the game with a fresh perspective in mind. There is so much to do now. But the game is now built on community so finding a good guild is very important.
Anyway here is whats scheduled for chapter 7 and future chapters (why they are hiring and my vets friends and I keep subbing).
And if your looking for a large community of Imps/Nuetrals still palyign the gmae and keeping a fresh perspective visit us at AI.tricerealm.com
MAIN FEATURES: EXPLINATIONS OF EACH:
" --DevChat Log
-The Aurillian Township-
"This is an amazing new township on the planet of Dathomir, which is somewhat familiar to the Aurillian Village back in the days pre-NGE. However, much beauty and graphical work has been put into it, and will be nothing players have ever seen, aside from the fact that it will be an actual Town of technology, and not a village.
The township's main purpose is to provide players with exciting never-before seen type of quests and willl challenge the greatest of groups through lairs and small realms of heroic MOBs and NPCs. Discover while obtaining new rewards, new items, and fending off new MOBs." --DevChat Log
There was also mention of few rewards that can be obtained. I was able to find out that new high stated jewelery, rare weapon schematics, new DNA samples, and container pockets for belts will be some of the many loot drops and rewards for the Aurillian Township.
-Origin Points/Story-
This is expected to greatly enlighten the roleplaying universe and those who just love a good lore. With the "Origin Points System", players will be able to create the story of their character with enourmous wide varieties leading to specializing many different skills.
After you create your origin, your story, and your traits, you will be given "origin points" into various skills and attributes depending on what your background is.
Collection System
Not much was said about this, except about the rewards, and the extremely vast amount of collections you could accomplish.
"This system we have built will make it so it is guarenteed that almost NO player could accomplish every single little thing we have installed, unless one were to work on just this for dozens of hours a week for a year or two. Rewards for these numerous collections can range from exciting new (never-before seen!) furniture, to new animations and positions including the old Meditation Stance. Like stated before, the majority of the new content and rewards we want to be left as a suprise
Later in the post they also mentioned something about another collections reward that would allow us to store more items in our houses/structures. These "pieces of data" would come in increments of 100 item allowance, and you could collect as much as you wanted until you reached the cap, which will be a 5,000 item allowance.
-The Imperial Themepark-
"Think of this much like the update of the Rebel themepark back in the previous chapter. It is Imperial, it is far more harder, it includes a new collection of rewards, and will be one-hundred times more fun than the one originally created in the pre-NGE. The Imperial Themepark will be especially for levels 85-90 with a different twist and feel to the original questline. You will not be doing 5-8 different missions for each NPC like in the current themepark. We plan to put this on TestCenter later this week." --DevChat Log
The Imperial Themepark HAS already been tested, unfortunately, since I did not post this any sooner. Expect -AI- looking for YOU to be in a group to run this with us.
______________________________________________
RELEASE DATE:
"We plan Chapter 7 to be released late September, and will be loading it to TestCenter after release." --DevChat Log
______________________________________________
CHAPTER 8 AND THE DISTANT FUTURE RELEASES
During the DevChat there was also some information about future releases due to happen in the near and distant future. There is also minds in SoE about a new planet, so get reading
Here is a list of the many things thrown into SoE's 'plan lab', and the many things guarenteed to be enabled:
-More space instances
-A new wide variety of different ships!
-Player gunboats/shuttles
-Star Destroyers for large guilds (distant future, must have a certain amount of active guild members to obtain)
-Able to go inside planets' space stations (much like Tansarii)
-Unique types of ships, with methods like cargo, transport, navigation, or just to partay!
-An easier and more exciting way to fly and interact in space
-A new planet(s) is definately in the future, but will not be expected until at least chapter 9 or 10" --DevChat Log
-Better and more adventurous outlook on every planet.
-Upgrades and large NPC city re-vamps
-Converting pre-CU quests into NGE quests (ex. The Warren, Geo Cave)
-New civic structures!
-New house models!
-Gardening, and outdoor house decoration!
-More droids, droid features!
-More styles of clothes
-Eventually creating multi levels for high-rise NPC builidngs
-New and amazing NPC interactions for NPC cities and POIs
-Different map opimizations
-Starport revamps
-More jedi abilities and addition of jedi abilities such as SABER BLOCK able to 'throw back' projectiles, and different stances.
-Weapons enabled on vehicles and speederbikes
-More vehicles, mounts
-Exciting new ways to travel, more about this in the future.
-Ideas of larger groups or contact/collision with other full groups alongside you (ex. /group2, /group3)
-New bounty hunting system
-More "training/assignment" missions designed for each of the 9 ionic professions.
-Ability to see hairstyles with helmets, hats, and robes on
Statement 1: Hey a whole new planet! or better yet, multiple planets! Some time in the future.
Statement 2: We are finally getting around to fixing quests that have festered for close to 2-4 years since we revamped the entire game.... twice since those quests were released. (yes that says PRE combat upgrade)
I found that very telling of the SWG management of this product. Plan and scatter.
Also, what is with having to give players pep talks to keep them playing? The game should be fun enough to stand on its own to feet.
It's an explantion to clear up some misconceptions. I haven/t met a pre-cu player who has unsubbed after learning this take on the game.
Too many ppl get their ideas about SWG from people who don't play the game. They get it from people who are negative about every MMO they play. They get it from ppl sitting at their comps wishing they could go back to the days of putting RL on hold to mindlessly grind their Village jedi so noobs could worhsip them.
Which you have done right now. Not allowing someone to read this info from the Dev Chat and the advice from a current player without letting out your resentment. There was nothing bad in my post and nothing proposed in the last year by the new Dev team hasn't made it to live.
But then again even if SWG doubled it's subs and was named game of the year...people like you would still complain and talk about the days of everyone wearing composite and mindlessly grinding solo with the combat queue filled up.
You seem to have me confused with people who want SWG back in its old glory. Sorry you are mislead by my snippet above, but I have never and will never ask for "old SWG back". SWG was not good enough to play past the honeymoon months after release, nor after the combat upgrade or even after the NGE (btw the only game "enhancement" ever to remove a sizable portion of a games content). Just because people don't see the game as a bed of roses that you lay in, doesn't mean everyone else is uneducated or full of spite. Plenty of other players, including myself, have played SWG enough to form educated opinions of the game.
I found the statement about adding planets and the next statement about finally fixing quests from 2-3 years and 2 full revamps ago a testament to the management of the game.
I also found it strange that the key to returning to the game is a pep talk from a player, but that was always the strength of the game. The community.
However, if SWG does double its sub and get named game of the year, I will sign up again and ask for a pep talk. Sounds fair? =P
P.S. welcome to the forums
So you don't care about the game making progress...you don't care to play it. But you care to jump on a post offering a different take on a version of the game you have no experience with? Excellant. I am glad your apathy allows others to share their experience with the games they PLAY.
You win the forums.
I just got done with a huge 30+ vs 30+ battle in Theed today, rebs vs imps on Flurry. Yeah, that sure is a sign of a dead game, LOL.
Galaxies *is* making a comeback. It may be a slow comeback, but it is one nonetheless. Yeah - it doesn't have the massive subs anymore, but it still has a dedicated fan base and is slowly growing. The statistics may not look impressive (and thats all vets seem to care about; numbers and statistics) but in game tells a different story. I mean pvp recently has been hectic, its common now to see battles on Rori, Coreilla, Naboo, and Talus - alot more then when the NGE first hit.
I don't care what disgruntled SOE haters have to say tbh. I (and many others) are having a blast with the game in its current state - so I say let the haters hate and be pissy and moany- I'm going back to slain some more imps
I enjoy undercutting people in the market place - it's the only PvP a crafter gets.
Something that I feel I should bring up as I do love bring it up, Ultima Online and Trammel. Much like the NGE a good amount of Players quit UO and did spend the next year or two posting about how the game was about to die and EA had to roll the game back to the Pre-Trammel days.
Even Raph Koster has stated that UO hit it's Player Peak in 2003 with 300k Players. Not too bad for a game that the Vet Player Base claimed was going to die...
Here's the thing, with UO it wasn't an overnight fix. Infact much like SWG the UO Dev's (infact our pal Helios was one of them) spent about 2 years screwing around and doing things that the Player Base really didn't care for. Putting 'Stealth Nerfs' into UO, and really just doing whatever they believed was best for the game. So how did UO rebuild?
Many of the old Dev's on UO quit and went over too believe it or not SWG. So EA had to hire new Dev's or push people that have been working on the game to the Dev Team. Those people rather then just go about doing the same old thing, asked the Players that 'where' playing what they wanted in Ultima Online. I know it's a shocking idea! Granted the Vets jumped out screaming for the old days back, the thing was those Dev's understood it. The old days are gone, however... They made a push at getting people to go to the old lands, namely by making everything worth more and you could gain more resorces in the old lands. Those Dev's put in new lands for housing and put in the Custom House system, something that made the game more fun and offered a semi-gold sink. And other changes as well.
Still it wasn't an overnight fix, and the Players did come back slowly.
The thing with SWG right now is, SOE is still taking way too much time and still playing Area 51 with the game. Really last month they should have been showing off the systems and content going in with Chapter 7. This way if the Players didn't like some of the things in it, they could have changed it around before it comes out on Test. And once they get that down start talking to the Players about Chapter 8.
Still SOE just needs to open up alot more about what's going on.
SWG was not fun enough to CONTINUE PLAYING after the honeymoon months of launch, to CONTINUE PLAYING for long after the combat upgrade nor to CONTINUE PLAYING for long after the NGE. I have player all three versions and I swing by enough to check out the game after new changes to be fairly up to date.... Is that clear enough for you to not misunderstand? My opinion of the game both you and I play are different. You seem to be laboring on the theory that people who don't like this game have never played it or don't have enough experience with the game and how it has been managed. Simply put you are wrong, but if it helps you feel better then ok.
Maybe if I joined your cult and you explained how to understand star wars then I could get past all of the games shortcomings. However I do just fine right now forming opinions based on my own experiences with the game in all of its versions.
The game in it's current state is rubbish. Pre-Cu was also rubbish HOWEVER it was playable to a point that is was fun and added many upon many hours of enjoyment for me and friends.
And most of the replies are from people who used to play it. I don't know about you but if I was an MMO publsiher I would be drooling over so many dedicated (ex-)subscribers.
But truthfully, I'm not surprised at all by this because SWG has been the prime example of what not to do to a game. From inception to cancelation, this game will be the benchmark by which all mistakes will be judged when it comes to MMO's.
Pure Spin.
Every "VET" has voiced that Composite Clones and Buffs along with Jedi were a DOWNFALL! Just because these things were part of the game when SWG was at it's peak in gameplay does NOT mean it is an arguing point of the current game. Making this link is pure BS and spin.
What WILL happen is a continued reference to SOE's wirefraud, deceptive business practices, lack of goodwill towards paying subscribers, lies, and a general disregard for facts.
"VETs" are not specifically upset about a possible Jedi they migth have had becoming a pathetic starting class character (a complete disregard of the story line and them of Star Wars). It is the complete lack of dynamics and the years of work which was negated with the "new game enhancments"; thanks to corrupt individuals at SOE and Lucas Arts.
The current game is still broken. The controls are VERY poor. The GUI mapping is VERY bad. The animations are TERRIBLE! And all this was brought on by "new game enhancements".
It's the dynamics, fluid controls, intuitive combat schemes (prone, kneel, roll to.. +64 or -32 to hit) which the VET's want returned. Get it straight if you're going to attempt to place blame and discredit the concerns and valid complaints of MANY players who quit due to the inept development and marketing of SOE and Lucas Arts. The current game is a mediocre product not worth playing for many poeple, let alone those who are tru fans of the genre.
The current game mimics dyanmics, it does not facilitate them.
p.s. Proof of failure is requiring new players to remap a control scheme to make a game playable.
May I also point out that had composite armor been substituted for Stormtrooper armor then it would have been both Star Warsy and Iconic.
I just wanted to wear the Imperial LT hat.
Astonishing, but true.
And the person who made the comment about composite/stormie armor?
Right on, because fo the longest time it was suicide to wear stormie armor in PvP.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
SWG making a comeback? Maybe after hell freezes over
If they stop trying to make the game more noob friendly and add some of the things that the vets want back, then theres still hope.