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SWG revisted
calranthe
Member UncommonPosts: 359
Hi all,
After the recent debacle in FFXIV as in I tried the beta and no mmo has ever caused me to feel so frustrated/angry/violated 
I decided to go back to SWG and give it another try.
I am someone who is looking forward to SWTOR, because its starwars because its bioware I don't mind if its better as single play i'll just play through 8 difference classes and class it as a bioware rpg but what I do know is it won't be SWG.
I loved swg pre nge but it had issues like the idea that everyone grinded through every class to try unlock jedi (the amount of cantina rp ruined by the afk idiots just there to max out dance/music).
What i've realised is I don't mind the new class/level system (I do miss my old sandbox class mix) because no game out there has what SWG has..
1)Crafting system that is fun and encourages RP, my first char was a tailor and the fun of actually having a well known shop where people came to for custom sets, engineering weapons, not perfect but nothing out there before or since has what SWG has.
2)Housing, TRUE housing, pick a planet, find a vista 100 of miles away from the city put a house up, furnish it, everything you kill everything you collect can be put down in game, no one has done housing like that since and I doube anyone will.
3)Space combat and ability to take your friends along, its not eve, its not a tunnel shooter but it can be alot of fun.
4)ROLEPLAY if ever there was a game that supported roleplay that brought people together it was swg the amount of social clothing alone makes a statement that this is a roleplay friendly game.
5)The dance/entertainer class, once again very roleplay orientated.
I don't think any game out there will ever give us these things in such a way, I just wish people could get over the nge issue (everything needed to be said about it has been) SWG is still a great unique game, now I just haveto remember where I put down the rest of my houses.
Comments
Welcome back, calranthe.
SWG does indeed have a unique place in today's MMORPG gaming sphere, where new MMOs are being made to cater to casual gamers and made as simple as possible, SWG still retains some of the most complex and engaging gameplay you'll find.
HIya
I'm enjoying myself but also totally lost there seems to be so much new stuff atm im just getting my jedi to 90 then see whats what
SWG can be daunting to start or return to, even a break of just a few months can see you playing catch up. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
I have returned numerous times since the NGE and just am lost. Its almost a whole new experience. I still wonder with all the features it has, if it launched the way it is today i think it would be pretty sucessful. Once you burn a player base your pretty efed.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington
That's certainly true, and a sentiment shared by many of the returning vets I speak to in game.
Does anyone sell anything in the bazaar anymore? I remember the last time i was on, about a year ago, i went to a terminal, set the search to the whole galaxy, looking for a pistol (if i recall) and there were like 5 of them. I then searched for a heavy weapon of some type for my commando and got nothing. Are people just doing quests for rewards or are guildies just making things for their members? perhaps mob drops?
Even to this day i dont know a game that offers more of what im looking for but it just seems like to hard of an uphill climb for a rather old game.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington
It probably would, but no game can launch with 8 years worth of content and expansions so that isnt even a realistic hypothetical. The real question is if SWG launched today with the NGE class system but no expansions or any other updates it has receiced post launch could it be successful?
/locatestructure slaps waypoints into your datapad to all your structures still standing.
I never really left myself as the only thing that truelly changed was the decay removal. good old days of selling armour and weapons by the hundreds each week
ahh well, here's hoping it comes back but if not it's still the best damned MMO out there in terms of interaction, community and enjoyment.
This relates to the OP i guess, but i wonder if lots of peeps have been holding out for SWTOR. I think if they are there will be huge dissapointment. The whole game is directed to a different group not the old SWG vets. Perhaps there will be a small influx of players who realize SWTOR isnt SWG 2. Granted it wont be the same as Pre-NGE, but perhaps just close enough. Sony seems to still be putting money into it (unlike Vanguard), and there are still developers so who knows.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington
Wait...what? What is Sony putting money into? You certainly couldn't have meant SWG...because they're down to 4 Devs, 2 of which were QA folks just months ago. There have only been tweaks and tinkering at best lately, no new "content" and you'll never see new content again...just more tinkering and tweaks. Maybe that's all you want, and that's fine...but without new content, the existing playerbase will do nothing but shrink as new games and new adventures are rolled out.
FYI...SWTOR isn't going after the handful of SWG players...SWTOR is aiming slightly higher than that mate lol.
And curiously, the last expansion for SWG introduced an original Bioware character (HK-47). If anything, Bioware knows the Star Wars fanbase a bit better than SoE IMO.
What server you on Calranthe?
I'm Chimaera (Ex-Kauri)
Honestly I think a massive percentage of people who play, or played, SWG will at least try SWTOR...I think the percentage will be staggering...That does not mean they will be playing it for long though...We'll see how it holds up over time...You're definitely correct that TOR is not being made for the SWG Vet, especially the Pre-NGE SWG Vet...That being said I'm not sure they'll be that disappointed if they have the proper expectations...By the time that Game launches it should be clear as day to anyone paying any attention it's not SWG2...
I'm not trying to be a fanboi or anything like that...There is plenty about SWTOR I'm not thrilled about...But all in all I think it's going to be a pretty solid Game in it's own right...And I doubt very much anything related to TOR is going to help SWG out at this point...I think that ship sailed a while ago...The only thing that would possibly help SWG get a decent amount of folks back would be a Pre-CU and CU server...And I doubt even that would help much...It's an old game...It's time of relevance has come and gone...Coulda, woulda, shoulda at this point...
What server did you play on, adderVXI? All servers will have a thriving munitions market, I can't think of one that doesn't. Perhaps on low population servers the weaponsmiths might only do custom orders, but you can use the player search tool to find them.
a thriving munitions market eh?
Make sure you're looking at the "Vendor Location" tab and have "Entire Galaxy" selected in the location area. This will show you items listed on all vendors across the Galaxy. Many WS's do only make custom orders due to the amount of customisation involved in weapon crafting - while there are some common trends, it can be hard for a WS to make weapons for a vendor that can appeal to everyone. Of course, this can be somewhat frustrating for the new or returning player so it may be best to have a browse through your servers trade forum to see who's making what.
Most of the servers are suffering from a serious low population problem, and this is seriously reflected by the poor server economies. If you are lucky enough to find what you are searching for via a bazaar search, be prepared to pay an over-inflated price due to the reduced competiton.
Anyoner can just visit the O-board galaxy trade forums to see the differences in server trade. Starsider (the most populated server) will reflect many posts just for today alone on the fist page, but servers like Gorath or Radiant go back two weeks on the first page. It is probably more important than ever for a player to be part of a guild where members can supply each other with crafted goods as needed on most servers.
There is no "serious" population problem, all servers are growing in population and the complaints from the playerbase regarding the server population imbalance are few and far between. The recent reduction in character transfer cost and bonus XP weekends where people can quickly regrind a new character have meant that the majority of people are playing on the server they want to.
People who play SWG know that the Trade forums are only used for high end items, the rest is either on the bazaar or provided on-demand.
More in-depth analysis of relative server populations can be found here.
I believe you were probably trying to link to this page?!
Given those statistics (yours), I don't understand your assertion that "all servers are growing" when the data completely doesn't support that.
I would argue that 6 of the servers (not including TCP) are in serious trouble.
And given the attention to the GCW for the past year +, I see very little in this chart that supports your claim of "growing":
Since GCW was "mostly" for PvPers a year ago, and the updates to it since have only incentivized PvE play for GCW, I find it odd that there isn't a larger increase in Officers...if anything, I think that minor fact alone confirms that most PvEers were already "Officers" prior to all the updates meant to bring them into the GCW.
But your most telling chart is by far this one:
The sharp decline in most servers and the decline of EVERY server is shocking. Only Chillastra is near their original numbers.
So...please tell me, what exactly do you see that convinces you of assertion that "all servers are growing"???
The next thing we will hear is that "there are more players than evah!" This is just simply not the case. Most threads that address serious game issues such as low population, are often locked or just completely deleted. Starsider is by far the most populated server and it increases at the cost of the other servers.
After all this time, many players realize there will never be another FCTS or a round of server meregers. They either have rerolled, cancelled , transferrred characters or decided to stay where they are at. My suggestion to any potential player is to pay attention to this reality by selecting a well populated server and most of all, try the FREE SWG TRIAL first. The graphs above indicate that Starsider heads the list, followed not-so-closely by Flurry and Bria.
I recall making factory runs of weapons all the time and they sold to the general public just fine. So fine in fact we could not keep inventory supplied for more than a few hours. That was on top of custom orders for players who wanted something specific.
Can you tell me what has changed that causes crafters to not want to make items for sale on the general market or how they expect customers to find them to make these custom orders?
Why wouldn't a stock made blaster be something that a new player or someone else want to buy?
The GCW via PvE invasion content caused the drop in weekly PvP kills and led to an increase in GCW ranked players. People who didn't really want to PvP for GCW points had a way to do so, so are no longer adding to weekly kills.
The other charts you posted show an increase in overall participation in the systems, but much is open to interpretation.
For me the most telling chart is the player city data, that is going up on all servers but may be due to the city leaderboard system going in and encouraging people to move into a city.
Overall SWG is in a healthy state, we could really use some cross server play and other systems to bring people together but otherwise we're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?
I'm great! Thanks for asking
I'm glad the game is thriving too! Nothing gives me more hope than time...the longer the game is around, the more likely chance for them to capitalize on the oodles of potential the game still has.
But I fail to see the increase you cite. If anything, it's negligible (1% depending on the date)...so wouldn't that indicate that these new updates haven't brought anyone "new" to the GCW...just changed gameplay for those who were playing?! The sharp decline in PvP #'s does trouble me though...as PvP goes, so does a server (Bloodfin).
the game still has potential?
with 2 intern developers?
bugs dating from 2003?
swtor to be released next year?
expansions limited to TCG lottery cards and even those have ceased?
patches that add no content or improve on the nefarious changes the nge brought?
i admire your optimism tux.
Oh I'd say there is certainly potential. The key thing here is that teh devs taht are there are extremely passionate. They are not intern developers either. Most have been with SOE for years and have been working with SWG their whole career.
But one important thing that could make the arguement worthless is whether or not SOE feels worth their money to allow further development. The Devs will be there working at SWG every day as long as they can, and I feel that as long as the population doesn't shrink much more than it is today, they'll still be working on SWG.
I thought SWG was going to be done by the end of this year really, but the current staff is a lot more passionate about the game than most people give them credit for.
Sure we don't see major updates and game changing content, but they are releasing some updates we've never seen before. Hopefully they keep it up... But I am worried about this Nightsister update being a huge let down...
I recently returned to the game in Februrary of this year. Since I have many of my friends and guildmates have been returning as well. I am having a very good time playing the game at this time. I left to try other MMO's but I can honestly state that no other game has offered what SWG has in overall play and enjoyment. There is plenty to be had in terms of PvE and PvP content and I am an avid fan of the space combat. We have bi-weekly PvP storyline roleplay events for space on my server so this is an additional aspect for fun. To each his own I know.