The levels were brought in because the A Team of Developers, strategic, systematic and visionary, who actually built SWG were fired because they were too expensive and the B Team of Developers, ordinary, uncommitted and short-sighted, whon were brought in between six months and a year after launch couldn't understand how the game worked unless they were allowed to put in levels.
Can't argue with this.
There was a brilliant post on the old official forums, now nerfed into non-existence, that analyzed why the levels were stupid and worked against the publically stated reasons for the CU. IIRC it was called "A design variance" or something like that. It explained why levels were imposed on the CU.
One that should not be underestimated was the demand of the Lucas Empire that the CU be ready to go to coincide with the release of Ep III, as part of the global marketing blitz for that release. A level system made this possible to do quickly and cheaply, as opposed to balancing all the hundreds of mobs on ten planets for three stat pools that they'd have to do with the existing system.
Rumor has had it that Gordon Walton (SOE Tyrant) left SOE because he was told that contrary to promises that the CU would be put into public testing only when it was ready, it would be put out in time for the Ep III release.
Walton balked at this craven marketing asshat driven stupidity.
The irony here is that Lucas in effect imposed the same sort of madness from cretins in suits on SWG that he faced when in post production for Ep IV.
When the CU first came out, I thought Sony was trying to copy the "success" of EQ2...even as EQ2 was dumping it's "you have to have a group to survive" style of playing...
Considering EQ2 has never been a "success", that doesn't seem accurate. Both the CU and NGE were attempts to jump on the WoW bandwagon (with the NGE, John Smedley actually admitted it on the OBoards). Both were very half-assed attempts, which is part of the reason why they failed so miserably. The fact that the game was more fun prior to the revamps is the primary reason.
Hmmm. Perhaps you can share, from your own perspective, how the CURB was changed to the CU. I remember the original plan was far more interesting and dynamic than what we eventually got. For instance, were doctor buffs originally just going to be removed, or were they to be changed? Was the game originally meant to completely switch to a level system? Were unique stats to be removed from all animals, to be replaced with bags of HAM, as eventually happened? I am curious about things like that, plus the timing if you can remember, and what was said behind the scenes.
The only thing that makes any sense is that the CURB was changed to the CU because the folks at SOE/LEC had already decided to implement the NGE. Just because they didn't go into full production until a couple months later doesn't mean they hadn't decided to completely revamp the game before they even had an idea what to revamp the game into.
They probably felt the need to do some sort of combat revamp, since they had promised the CURB to the point of having players apply for the alpha test of it. Instead of implementing a combat change that would have included community input, and as such make the community have a more emotional investment in the system, they chose to implement a system that was slapped together in two weeks, and one that very few of the existing players wanted. They would pretty much repeat that when they announced the NGE.
They knew the NGE was comming by the time they ditched the CURB. They may not have known the exact form the NGE would take, but they had decided to do it at that time.
The only thing that makes any sense is that the CURB was changed to the CU because the folks at SOE/LEC had already decided to implement the NGE. Just because they didn't go into full production until a couple months later doesn't mean they hadn't decided to completely revamp the game before they even had an idea what to revamp the game into.
They probably felt the need to do some sort of combat revamp, since they had promised the CURB to the point of having players apply for the alpha test of it. Instead of implementing a combat change that would have included community input, and as such make the community have a more emotional investment in the system, they chose to implement a system that was slapped together in two weeks, and one that very few of the existing players wanted. They would pretty much repeat that when they announced the NGE.
They knew the NGE was comming by the time they ditched the CURB. They may not have known the exact form the NGE would take, but they had decided to do it at that time.
Obee, I think the very first words of your post hit the nail on the head.
That, at a certain point in the game's development, the different constituencies responsible for it - producers, developers, marketing executives, SOE and LA - got it into their heads that the game was 'dying' (because it wasn't hitting the same super-high sub levels as WoW) and that they needed a quick-fix, now! In other words, they became so hysterical, they started behaving irrationally - behaving in ways that literally made no sense. So, instead of fixing the bugs, balanbcing the professions and adding in content, they implemented a GUI that was anti-intuitive, destroyed the alpha profession that the vet base of the game had spent years grinding, reduced the richly diverse professions from 35 to 9 and destroyed the crafting and entertainment elements of the game. In cool, objctive terms, doing any of this makes no sense. SOE not only did it but, when hundreds of thousands of subscribers left the game, they refused to do the one thing that would have brought them back - implement classic servers. In my opinion, SOE, as an organic corporation, has literally gone bananas. How else would you describe something that wilfully does things that are not in its own interest?
The levels were brought in because the A Team of Developers, strategic, systematic and visionary, who actually built SWG were fired because they were too expensive and the B Team of Developers, ordinary, uncommitted and short-sighted, whon were brought in between six months and a year after launch couldn't understand how the game worked unless they were allowed to put in levels.
Can't argue with this.
There was a brilliant post on the old official forums, now nerfed into non-existence, that analyzed why the levels were stupid and worked against the publically stated reasons for the CU. IIRC it was called "A design variance" or something like that. It explained why levels were imposed on the CU.
One that should not be underestimated was the demand of the Lucas Empire that the CU be ready to go to coincide with the release of Ep III, as part of the global marketing blitz for that release. A level system made this possible to do quickly and cheaply, as opposed to balancing all the hundreds of mobs on ten planets for three stat pools that they'd have to do with the existing system.
Rumor has had it that Gordon Walton (SOE Tyrant) left SOE because he was told that contrary to promises that the CU would be put into public testing only when it was ready, it would be put out in time for the Ep III release.
Walton balked at this craven marketing asshat driven stupidity.
The irony here is that Lucas in effect imposed the same sort of madness from cretins in suits on SWG that he faced when in post production for Ep IV.
When the CU first came out, I thought Sony was trying to copy the "success" of EQ2...even as EQ2 was dumping it's "you have to have a group to survive" style of playing...
Considering EQ2 has never been a "success", that doesn't seem accurate. Both the CU and NGE were attempts to jump on the WoW bandwagon (with the NGE, John Smedley actually admitted it on the OBoards). Both were very half-assed attempts, which is part of the reason why they failed so miserably. The fact that the game was more fun prior to the revamps is the primary reason.
Comments
Nah ArjunThakur was the first Jedi Correspondent "Arjun" (also known as Toofan, the badass Trandoshan), Songuku came after if I'm not mistaken?
Can't argue with this.
There was a brilliant post on the old official forums, now nerfed into non-existence, that analyzed why the levels were stupid and worked against the publically stated reasons for the CU. IIRC it was called "A design variance" or something like that. It explained why levels were imposed on the CU.
One that should not be underestimated was the demand of the Lucas Empire that the CU be ready to go to coincide with the release of Ep III, as part of the global marketing blitz for that release. A level system made this possible to do quickly and cheaply, as opposed to balancing all the hundreds of mobs on ten planets for three stat pools that they'd have to do with the existing system.
Rumor has had it that Gordon Walton (SOE Tyrant) left SOE because he was told that contrary to promises that the CU would be put into public testing only when it was ready, it would be put out in time for the Ep III release.
Walton balked at this craven marketing asshat driven stupidity.
The irony here is that Lucas in effect imposed the same sort of madness from cretins in suits on SWG that he faced when in post production for Ep IV.
When the CU first came out, I thought Sony was trying to copy the "success" of EQ2...even as EQ2 was dumping it's "you have to have a group to survive" style of playing...
Considering EQ2 has never been a "success", that doesn't seem accurate. Both the CU and NGE were attempts to jump on the WoW bandwagon (with the NGE, John Smedley actually admitted it on the OBoards). Both were very half-assed attempts, which is part of the reason why they failed so miserably. The fact that the game was more fun prior to the revamps is the primary reason.
The only thing that makes any sense is that the CURB was changed to the CU because the folks at SOE/LEC had already decided to implement the NGE. Just because they didn't go into full production until a couple months later doesn't mean they hadn't decided to completely revamp the game before they even had an idea what to revamp the game into.
They probably felt the need to do some sort of combat revamp, since they had promised the CURB to the point of having players apply for the alpha test of it. Instead of implementing a combat change that would have included community input, and as such make the community have a more emotional investment in the system, they chose to implement a system that was slapped together in two weeks, and one that very few of the existing players wanted. They would pretty much repeat that when they announced the NGE.
They knew the NGE was comming by the time they ditched the CURB. They may not have known the exact form the NGE would take, but they had decided to do it at that time.
The only thing that makes any sense is that the CURB was changed to the CU because the folks at SOE/LEC had already decided to implement the NGE. Just because they didn't go into full production until a couple months later doesn't mean they hadn't decided to completely revamp the game before they even had an idea what to revamp the game into.
They probably felt the need to do some sort of combat revamp, since they had promised the CURB to the point of having players apply for the alpha test of it. Instead of implementing a combat change that would have included community input, and as such make the community have a more emotional investment in the system, they chose to implement a system that was slapped together in two weeks, and one that very few of the existing players wanted. They would pretty much repeat that when they announced the NGE.
They knew the NGE was comming by the time they ditched the CURB. They may not have known the exact form the NGE would take, but they had decided to do it at that time.
Obee, I think the very first words of your post hit the nail on the head.
That, at a certain point in the game's development, the different constituencies responsible for it - producers, developers, marketing executives, SOE and LA - got it into their heads that the game was 'dying' (because it wasn't hitting the same super-high sub levels as WoW) and that they needed a quick-fix, now! In other words, they became so hysterical, they started behaving irrationally - behaving in ways that literally made no sense. So, instead of fixing the bugs, balanbcing the professions and adding in content, they implemented a GUI that was anti-intuitive, destroyed the alpha profession that the vet base of the game had spent years grinding, reduced the richly diverse professions from 35 to 9 and destroyed the crafting and entertainment elements of the game. In cool, objctive terms, doing any of this makes no sense. SOE not only did it but, when hundreds of thousands of subscribers left the game, they refused to do the one thing that would have brought them back - implement classic servers. In my opinion, SOE, as an organic corporation, has literally gone bananas. How else would you describe something that wilfully does things that are not in its own interest?
Can't argue with this.
There was a brilliant post on the old official forums, now nerfed into non-existence, that analyzed why the levels were stupid and worked against the publically stated reasons for the CU. IIRC it was called "A design variance" or something like that. It explained why levels were imposed on the CU.
One that should not be underestimated was the demand of the Lucas Empire that the CU be ready to go to coincide with the release of Ep III, as part of the global marketing blitz for that release. A level system made this possible to do quickly and cheaply, as opposed to balancing all the hundreds of mobs on ten planets for three stat pools that they'd have to do with the existing system.
Rumor has had it that Gordon Walton (SOE Tyrant) left SOE because he was told that contrary to promises that the CU would be put into public testing only when it was ready, it would be put out in time for the Ep III release.
Walton balked at this craven marketing asshat driven stupidity.
The irony here is that Lucas in effect imposed the same sort of madness from cretins in suits on SWG that he faced when in post production for Ep IV.
When the CU first came out, I thought Sony was trying to copy the "success" of EQ2...even as EQ2 was dumping it's "you have to have a group to survive" style of playing...
Considering EQ2 has never been a "success", that doesn't seem accurate. Both the CU and NGE were attempts to jump on the WoW bandwagon (with the NGE, John Smedley actually admitted it on the OBoards). Both were very half-assed attempts, which is part of the reason why they failed so miserably. The fact that the game was more fun prior to the revamps is the primary reason.
I was being sarcastic.