Originally posted by ObraikALL the Mustafar quests give XP. People in my (and now Anarchy's lol) guild have reached 90 (from 80) by finishing all the quests on Mustafar. The only condition is you had to have started the Mustafar quests after the NGE, unfortunately most people with the expansion had already done alot of quests before the NGE hit, like me However, we found another repeatable quest last night that gives 100k XP and you only need to kill 2 things, and I'm not posting what it is to avoid nerfage
That goes along with everything I have heard as well. However I don't feel its right that the only way you can gain experience now at any reasonable amount is by buying the newest expansion. Access to the new lands, fine I shouldn't get it if I don't pay. However it seems all too planned and intentional that only mustafar is giving proper experience at this point. As someone who pre-ordered the expansion I feel somewhat satisfied that not only does ToOW provide fun quests to do, but there's also a practical reason for having it. For the first time since JTL, we have an expansion that actually helps towards expanding your character. I don't think it was planned as such though, simply ToOW was being made at the same time the NGE was so they made it to work in the NGE. Saves them having to re-do it again later like they are with Kashyyyk.
I didn't by it because I felt it was just yet another Clone tie-in product that added nothing to the current game. I am still waiting for promised content from the original 3 movies to get put in yet they had time to develop mustafar and give us that "jedi-ish" expansion.
That's the reason I didn't buy it, I may buy it in the future I don't know. I have no care for the game or the its consistency at all at this point and am solely playing it because its free to me. The day I decide EQ II no longer is worthy of my money SWG is gone with it.
They got their experience nerf in they tried to get in once before and now they can keep selling expansions that will make easy leveling. They did it with EQ 1 and now they are doing it with this to an even higher new level. I am sorry but I have to beleive it was intentional, their track record makes it obvious. They will probably pull back abit now to quell what community they still have, but that would explain why the nerf was so severe, so when they fix it they have their original outline for experience gain back and they get to look like the good guys. Gas industry does the same thing, jack it way up, bring it halfway back down and everyone shuts up. They know exactly what they are doing in THIS one aspect of things I feel.
Maybe so, but "expansions for levels" seems to be starting with other MMO's too. WoW for instance is adding on an extra 10 levels - but only if you buy the expansion (and unlike SWG, you can't even get them the hard way from what I've read). While the XP gain rate is pretty low now, I think we can all agree the XP rate of before was far to leniant heh.
Originally posted by VolEs I've been reading up on how this game has been going, and all i have read of about it in forums is how horrible it is. Then I spot in the forums like where Anarchyart posts how he is having a good time with it, and he even gave a good story, I find that a little more beleivable. But, you never know what to beleive, as i am not the biggest soe fan... anywho, I went to walmart yesterday and grabbed this game, comming to my surprise at only 20$!! I start it up after patching and whatnot, and i must say, I had a Really good time. I made myself a Rodian Bounty Hunter and have been enjoying these quests, and the space missions.. Omg they are fun (cept for the traveling part). Anywho from what i have seen so far, and from leaving the first station finally, this is a very good and entertaining game! I plan to keep with this game, but I am worried as I read there is no more content after level 30? well I really hope thats not true.. but i really have no idea what to beleive, after hearing how bad and terrable this game is, and having such a good time playing it.. who knows what will come. Anywho thats just my input so far, and i want to thank ppl like Anarchyart for making a different stand and pulling my interest, leading me to try it for myself.
I have said it more then 1 time on these forums because people get to the new player tutorial and see a lot of potential. I too enjoyed the new player experience quiet a bit. You can definately see how an executive and a few people beta testing it would have the exact same experience you have had.
My thoughts on why this game is falling apart are due exactly to that. No one logged significant play time on the NGE past the new player experience to see the gapping holes in the games system.
The crafter post above yours sums up there problems to a tee. It is exactly what is wrong with that 1 profession. Entertainers have no purpose so that is 2 professions out of 9 that are now rendered broken or useless. Commando has all its weapons still disabled. Thus its a wasted profession. That makes 3 useless professions out of 9. Jedi up until recently couldn't tank anything and they are still half the class as ranged professions pretty much making a jedi toon worthless it is saved by glowing sticks of lights and pajama's. So that is 4 professions. That leaves you with 5 real professional choices in this game. BH, Spy, Medic, Officer, Smuggler. If you are choosing smuggler to smuggle that is still not in the game. You can still be a politican and pilot. Although pilot xp has sort of not been working.
Sorry but that is unacceptable to push out this publish and have 5 professions not working. Then you get to lvl 11 or so and get dropped on tatooine. You will soon start to realize how the combat system is tremendeous under developed. It starts with the core interactions of npc's to players. I know you dont think this is major to start but later on it becomes a huge factor when npc's are moving to fast, to small to hit, always hit you at the maximum rate of fire, you lag in combat, you get shoot through walls, around corners, through cover that doesn't let you fire. Among other bugs in combat these are the most distrubing issues.
Then you try some pvp. Everyone now is a small bothan. Snappy movement is insanely fast. Lag is killer, you can only heal half the time. Specials are on timers still thus totally defeating any sense of why they need to be on a mouse click at all. Suddenly you start to feel nothing at all ingame works.
AnarcharyArt likes this game because he likes everything soe does. He is nothing more then the polar opposite of my position. You can make the argument the game is somewhere in the middle if you'd like but you'd be wrong. I am out front on swg all the time. I was one of the first ones to object to the CU not because of what it was but because of what it lost. The cu had a lot of good in it. What it lacked was ignored dispite them being relatively minor requests. Crafters had some issues about the changes on experimentation, resource requirements but most issues involved no limited combat que so you could know what was waiting, stuck, was going to happen next, old icons not being offered, unbalanced content, the introduction of absurd animations and lighting effect. 70% said it needed more time to be polished. They where of course right and of course totally ignored.
So you get out your NGE in this state not because it really needed to occur on the 14th. See what happens with SOE which some of you still dont admit as no matter what was found during that 2 weeks of testing SOE was releasing this game. (which was alot of things) Why? It already had been packaged, CD's made, commericals done, marketing materials prepped, interviews given, and so on. When you all finally wise up and demand SOE properly test its coding is when things like this stop happening. The way it is played is a disgrace. Only thing fixed was a bug with the falcon. Frankly I think the NGE is a great idea. A Star Wars First Person Shooter MMO could definately be a successful product. No doubt in my mind. Of course it requires the product go through extensive development and testing. That costs money. See and SOE is done spending money on a game from 2003. It doesn't make sense to the financial guru's and market analysts. So this is the product you are going to get. If you at all think this is going to change in the future with SOE I have some property for sale. Bog... on no no no... that is fertile land ripe for building your castle on.
My first thoughts on the NGE where 2 weeks of testing? You can of course check this board. Of course I was correct. I was correct about the CU as well. I came back a few months later and low and behold, all most all the issues I pointed out had a resolution. Only a limited combat que didn't make a return. However, and I will not be the only one to remind you of this. The CU was just getting to some stability. Just like pre-cu the game had started to get stable and you could know what to expect day in and day out. Suddenly SOE goes another direction. They constantly mess this game up sometimes for the better but often without a true clue as to what it really does. We have this thing called trust. See you can trust I will show up here and say something not to positive about soe. I trust with guild wars when I log in that it is going to be about what it was last time. I know when I play madden football what to do. I know in battlefield what is going to happen when I log on. With sony products the only thing I trust is that tomorrow everything could be different.
Oh looks like CH/BH or CH/Commando is the choice.... Nerf... whap!
Oh looks like CM anything is really powerful now.... nerf...
Oh looks like melee tank stacker is powerful choice... nerf....
Oh looks like jedi is where I have to go .... nerf...
so on and so forth. They never have learned from day 1 what there problem is and I will say it again since I am obviously way out infront on this and other games.
Everytime you think something needs nerfing stop. Ask yourselve a much better question. How can we improve other professions to make them as successful. My gaming running philosophy right there. I know it must make me a genius to have that philosophy but there it is. SOE likes to do things that will knowingly piss off people. I prefer to go the route of what can I do to statisfy my other customers? I know that is there problem. No one at SOE took risk management courses, or is in the insurance business. If everyone is now a melee tank or jedi is it a) more risky to nerf those professions or b) fix smuggler to smuggle?
Originally posted by Obraik Maybe so, but "expansions for levels" seems to be starting with other MMO's too. WoW for instance is adding on an extra 10 levels - but only if you buy the expansion (and unlike SWG, you can't even get them the hard way from what I've read). While the XP gain rate is pretty low now, I think we can all agree the XP rate of before was far to leniant heh.
True, but WoW was upfront about it too.
Oh yes, I agree it was too leniant before. Pre-CU it was sad. However that was more of an entire combat flaw then just an experience issue. Post CU it still kept the game from getting combat-centric which I actually preferred. I never wanted to level grind in SWG, it wasn't why I was there and its very much so becoming a level-centric game.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by Obraik Maybe so, but "expansions for levels" seems to be starting with other MMO's too. WoW for instance is adding on an extra 10 levels - but only if you buy the expansion (and unlike SWG, you can't even get them the hard way from what I've read). While the XP gain rate is pretty low now, I think we can all agree the XP rate of before was far to leniant heh.
True, but WoW was upfront about it too.
Oh yes, I agree it was too leniant before. Pre-CU it was sad. However that was more of an entire combat flaw then just an experience issue. Post CU it still kept the game from getting combat-centric which I actually preferred. I never wanted to level grind in SWG, it wasn't why I was there and its very much so becoming a level-centric game.
No we dont all agree. SWG lacks(ed) content past very noobish activities. The only activites to engage in for high level players was to do dwb runs to craft loot or grind towards jedi/jedi advancement. If you are into pvp the jedi was the class to have. Any lower rate on xp with the amount of xp required for jedi would set the community ablaze. It did by the way.
Personally I dont see the problem. If I have played the game 1 time or 100 times what difference does it make if I want to quickly level a character? This goes back to people and developers forcing there playstyle onto other players. If I am building a new template under the old system I most certainly did not want to grind fencer xp to drop swordsman and have it take forever to do that. If some lvl 1 guy wanted to group and get some fast xp to get to himself started in the world I did NOT see how that was a negative thing for the guy or for me personally.
Ohh... to many lvl 80's. As if this game didn't need a whole lot more players showing interest in advancing in the game. To many ego maniacs concerned with stupid things like xp rates. Honestly, you really care? Did it really ruin your game play experience to get to master rifleman to fast? Was it that horrible for you?
I can see the point of it should take some time but please. The nge is being built to advance players through there class and levels. That is what you all wanted instead of XP centered advancement in a skill based system. Enjoy.
The problem before was that people were getting to level 80 in like less then a week. Then they'd wonder what happened to the content. The content is there, but since they blazed through their levels so fast, by the time they got to it the content wasn't a challenge. Of course, we're at the other end of the stick now...
I have to say that all this talk about the game going offline in Q1 2006 is BS. As someone mentioned there are MMOs with far fewer subs etc that are still around. I have been on the other side of this fence before. I have been super pissed with SOE with regards to SWG and EQ2. The sad fact is that this is the way it is. There will be no roll back as someone here suggested. It may have been spoken about it but it wont happen. There is no way SOE would/will ever concede publically that the NGE was a failure. That's not to say that heads aren't rolling behind the scenes.
I know alot of you feel slighted and ripped off. Seriously guys, GET OVER IT. You can make up these stories about how the game is rolling back and how the game will be dead in 2 months but neither of these things is going to happen. If you dont like the game anymore, play something else. There are tons of alternatives.
I am not 100% happy with the NGE and we all know it needs a TON of work. I have to agree with Anarchyart and others though. I am having the most fun that I have ever had in SWG. The combat is fast paced and I know this is why many DO NOT like SWG anymore. I personally like turn based or FPS, I can play either. IMHO, for SWG, we need fast paced combat.
The implementation of these changes was, in a word, poor. SOE did not handle this well at all. If I had to bitch about anything, that is the real problem. That's why I think so many are so pissed off. Anyways, I'm off to play some more!
Originally posted by Obraik The problem before was that people were getting to level 80 in like less then a week. Then they'd wonder what happened to the content. The content is there, but since they blazed through their levels so fast, by the time they got to it the content wasn't a challenge. Of course, we're at the other end of the stick now...
I have never said there wasn't content. I am actually one of the few people that beleive in Koster's concepts of player created content. However I will say thet content that was there was very minimal effort by both the player and the development team however.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by Obraik The problem before was that people were getting to level 80 in like less then a week. Then they'd wonder what happened to the content. The content is there, but since they blazed through their levels so fast, by the time they got to it the content wasn't a challenge. Of course, we're at the other end of the stick now...
I have never said there wasn't content. I am actually one of the few people that beleive in Koster's concepts of player created content. However I will say thet content that was there was very minimal effort by both the player and the development team however.
Sorry, I wasn't implying you in my statement
Oh and as for the chat thing, have a look in the pic below. Right click in the red highlighted area to add tabs, etc
Personally I have not noticed any real lull in numbers on the two servers I play.
I am looking forward to having another character on the same server.
Now playing: VG (after a long break from MMORPGS) Played for more than a month: Darkfall online, Vanguard SOH, Everquest, Horizons, WoW, SWG, Everquest II, Eve
Originally posted by metalcore Lots of DOOM sayers about. Personally I have not noticed any real lull in numbers on the two servers I play. I am looking forward to having another character on the same server.
Numbers are pretty low. I have 4 CL80s on 4 different servers and I logged into them all on Friday and Saturday night and only 1 had anyone on his friends list online. Only on Chilastra was there anyone that I personally knew on. On all 4 servers I have run through all the major cities counting people and found literally 35 people I could see and just over 100 people on /who (no lists got truncated). Granted, since there is no way to do a global /who, or even make an accurate count since some people still have /anon on, this is just a minor indicator. But I will say that in times past, my /who list would get truncated in nearly every major city I could travel to.
Take that info how you wish. The bottom line on the game right now is that it is not as bad as the doomsayers say, but the reality is that populations are dropping and many people are fed up at least until NGE is out of "beta" and is in full swing. Note that even the devs are posting that NGE will not be fully functional for nearly 6 months. So, have fun if you are, cya in 6 months if you are not.
Originally posted by metalcore Lots of DOOM sayers about. Personally I have not noticed any real lull in numbers on the two servers I play. I am looking forward to having another character on the same server.
AnarchyArt himself admitted all of YCS disbanded because of the NGE. I used to be a member of YCS, they were a pretty dedicated group, the entire guild disbanding over the NGE is a huge statement in itself. Sorry, if you can't see numbers down then you came to the party too late.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by anarchyart Careful man lol you'll get a slew of 18 paragraph reasons why you shouldn't be playing it. It all comes down to how long you've been playing it really. Most veterans hate the new changes and most newcomers enjoy the game. And they will tell you even if you are enjoying it you will run out of content at level 30 and it's grind only from there on up. I just changed servers last night to join Obraik's PA so I'll be leveling up again so it will be another few weeks before I hit level 30 and then I will find out for myself. I have a certain Tusken Raider quest I want to try at level 30 and see if it's broken like everyone says all the quests are. Glad you tried it for yourself though. Score one for people who think for themselves.
Anarchy if you don't stop saying 'most veterans hate the changes' I'm gonna shove a 9 iron up your rear. I don't hate the changes, nor do most of the vets I know. However, what we DO hate is being charged full price for 1/3 of the game.
In answer to the OP: Yes, there is no content that will garner you xp/levels once you hit CL30. If you hit CL30 before they fix/add content so that it works in the new system then you have 2 choices: 1) Buy a new game. 2) Start another character.
I won't get into any other reasons. That alone should explain the vet's opinions of this game. It's been LIVE for 2 years and now there's less functional content than there was at release because the old content, while it's still there, is nothing more than eye candy in the NGE system. Sure you can do the quests but since they don't give XP there's no point because you'll stay CL30 until the Devs get around to fixing old content into the new system or adding new content in that works and phasing the old stuff out.
And, knowing SOE's track record, expect them to re-make the game again before that happens.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online. Sig image Pending Still in: A couple Betas
Originally posted by Elnator Originally posted by anarchyart Careful man lol you'll get a slew of 18 paragraph reasons why you shouldn't be playing it. It all comes down to how long you've been playing it really. Most veterans hate the new changes and most newcomers enjoy the game. And they will tell you even if you are enjoying it you will run out of content at level 30 and it's grind only from there on up. I just changed servers last night to join Obraik's PA so I'll be leveling up again so it will be another few weeks before I hit level 30 and then I will find out for myself. I have a certain Tusken Raider quest I want to try at level 30 and see if it's broken like everyone says all the quests are. Glad you tried it for yourself though. Score one for people who think for themselves.
Anarchy if you don't stop saying 'most veterans hate the changes' I'm gonna shove a 9 iron up your rear. I don't hate the changes, nor do most of the vets I know. However, what we DO hate is being charged full price for 1/3 of the game.
In answer to the OP: Yes, there is no content that will garner you xp/levels once you hit CL30. If you hit CL30 before they fix/add content so that it works in the new system then you have 2 choices: 1) Buy a new game. 2) Start another character.
I won't get into any other reasons. That alone should explain the vet's opinions of this game. It's been LIVE for 2 years and now there's less functional content than there was at release because the old content, while it's still there, is nothing more than eye candy in the NGE system. Sure you can do the quests but since they don't give XP there's no point because you'll stay CL30 until the Devs get around to fixing old content into the new system or adding new content in that works and phasing the old stuff out.
And, knowing SOE's track record, expect them to re-make the game again before that happens.
Or re-vamp jedi again!
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by Elnator However, what we DO hate is being charged full price for 1/3 of the game.
Don't you think that's stretching the reality of the situation perhaps a little too thinly?
You already owned the game, and if you didn't, you'd only be paying $20 for the main game and an expansion (hardly full price at $10 each compared to the $50 + $30 I paid). That's how much you are paying for the content - that cost goes to the development and on time costs of creating content, which is why is goes DOWN in price while the monthly fee stays that same. Actually, the Starter Kit is $15 this week at Best Buy, and if you include the free month, then the content is essentially free.
Your $15 a month pays for not only the bandwidth, server farms, repairs and upkeep which cost the same regardless of content, but also the salaries of the Live Team, CSRs, forum moderators, and community relations people, who are working overtime (weekends and holidays) in the past month to deal with the backlash from the NGE - assuming they aren't paid overtime (standard in the game industry), the NGE has increased their value per dollar, not reduced it. You aren't being charged for content, though you are getting it. You are being charged for playing the game and for the poor people who have to deal with you playing the game.
Man, it would be nice if people actually had a technical background so that I wouldn't have to keep explaining elementary concepts over and over again.
Originally posted by Squidi Originally posted by Elnator However, what we DO hate is being charged full price for 1/3 of the game.
Don't you think that's stretching the reality of the situation perhaps a little too thinly?
You already owned the game, and if you didn't, you'd only be paying $20 for the main game and an expansion (hardly full price at $10 each compared to the $50 + $30 I paid). That's how much you are paying for the content - that cost goes to the development and on time costs of creating content, which is why is goes DOWN in price while the monthly fee stays that same. Actually, the Starter Kit is $15 this week at Best Buy, and if you include the free month, then the content is essentially free.
Your $15 a month pays for not only the bandwidth, server farms, repairs and upkeep which cost the same regardless of content, but also the salaries of the Live Team, CSRs, forum moderators, and community relations people, who are working overtime (weekends and holidays) in the past month to deal with the backlash from the NGE - assuming they aren't paid overtime (standard in the game industry), the NGE has increased their value per dollar, not reduced it. You aren't being charged for content, though you are getting it. You are being charged for playing the game and for the poor people who have to deal with you playing the game.
Man, it would be nice if people actually had a technical background so that I wouldn't have to keep explaining elementary concepts over and over again.
OK, another one that thinks there isn't a huge profit margin in the monthlies over costs. I hate to break it to you Squidi but there a large profit off the monthly fee. CSR's, what all TWO? Working overtime, please. With the pathetic trickle of hotfixes that have come they aren't doing a dam thing. As a matter of fact they just had a VERY long thanksgiving break that put everything a week behind. So who exactly is stretching the truth?
We don't pay a monthly to beta test their latest game concepts. It was put in VERY incomplete in many aspects and that is completely unacceptable for a game that has a reoccuring fee.
Man it would be nice if some people had a clue.
EDIT: BTW, I thought you weren't posting here anymore because everyone is an idiot?
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by Squidi Originally posted by Elnator However, what we DO hate is being charged full price for 1/3 of the game.
Don't you think that's stretching the reality of the situation perhaps a little too thinly?
You already owned the game, and if you didn't, you'd only be paying $20 for the main game and an expansion (hardly full price at $10 each compared to the $50 + $30 I paid). That's how much you are paying for the content - that cost goes to the development and on time costs of creating content, which is why is goes DOWN in price while the monthly fee stays that same. Actually, the Starter Kit is $15 this week at Best Buy, and if you include the free month, then the content is essentially free.
Your $15 a month pays for not only the bandwidth, server farms, repairs and upkeep which cost the same regardless of content, but also the salaries of the Live Team, CSRs, forum moderators, and community relations people, who are working overtime (weekends and holidays) in the past month to deal with the backlash from the NGE - assuming they aren't paid overtime (standard in the game industry), the NGE has increased their value per dollar, not reduced it. You aren't being charged for content, though you are getting it. You are being charged for playing the game and for the poor people who have to deal with you playing the game.
Man, it would be nice if people actually had a technical background so that I wouldn't have to keep explaining elementary concepts over and over again.
Wait: I was paying $15 a month for a game that had: 1) 32 professions to choose from 2) The ability to mix/match skills from various professions to create the character of my choice 3) had 80CL's of content and all content was equally functional at all levels and was possible to attain the highest levels.
Now, if I were willing to do so (which I'm not) I would be paying $15 a month for: 1) 9 professions (9x3 is 36, so roughly 1/3 of before) 2) No ability to mix/match at all. It's strictly level based. (I'd say that's a reduction in functionality, wouldn't you?) 3) 30CL's of content that is 'functional' and then a 49CL gap till you can reach the final 10CL's of content that are functional if you didn't already do the quests prior to the NGE coming out.
Now throw in the caveat that even the die hard fans of the NGE say that it's only fun if you start over on a new toon:
GEE I get to pay $15 a month for a game that I've been playing, personally, for over a year (and many others were playing for over 2) and as a bonus in order to have fun I get to start over?
No thanks.
It's not a stretch. The game is now 1/3 complete. There are 30CL's of content. After that a 50 CL gap till you can go to mustafar *IF* you buy the expansion where there are some functional quests for CL80-90 content.
It's a 33% complete game. Deal with it.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online. Sig image Pending Still in: A couple Betas
Man, it would be nice if people actually had a technical background so that I wouldn't have to keep explaining elementary concepts over and over again.
Funny... just how technical are you? I'm a network engineer myself. Matter of fact I support cluster servers running on SAN 3.0 as well as Load Balancers, Firewalls, Database Servers, etc. I have a pretty good idea what the costs are in maintaining a network as well as developer costs. Your assumptions are way off base on costs to run the game. They make a HUGE profit off that monthly fee.
Matter of fact I bet I have a better idea of what it costs SOE to run the game than you do. Seeing as how I was close friends with several of the devs over at SOE for several years. They've all left the company to work on other projects at this point, however. Most said things like 'getting out while the getting was good', at the time. At the time I thought they were kidding... now I'm not so sure.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online. Sig image Pending Still in: A couple Betas
Well let me tell you my personal opinion about the new Star Wars Galaxies. i like this game.it was a good rpg game with great stuff about star wars galaxies. the combat system was good paced for an rpg(i am a fan of the EOB series mostly), and since it was not a fps the rythme of the game was suiting me just fine. what i dont really like about this game now( and this is not flaming) is that it has become something else completely from the product i liked. its too fast for me. dont get me wrong. i like playing cs on a lan, especially quakestyle, but although i have a dsl connection i still found it a little difficult to click all the time at the mobs. another thing that really ticked me off was the fact that sony and lucas arts lied to the whole community. i understand that the NGE was a big project, but while sony knew that they were going to implement it, the kept the community in the dark with promises of fixing current bugs, with ideas about revamps about specific professions and generally they gave us no clue about the TOTAL change that they were going to implement to this game. and i find this despicable. so this is not a flame post...i dont call sony and lucas arts bad names, but you ppl have to stop confusing flame posts with reality posts.
You guys can argue back and forth till SWG2 hits the shelves in a galaxy far far away, and neither side is going to convince the other.
To the vets like myself that loved this game and have since seen our galaxy, our adventure, a poriton of oursleves destoryed. I know the feeling and I can only suggest moving on to other frontiers. There are other games out there..no, they are not SW, but eventually, SWG will become a thing of the past. One best forgotten and only remembered for the good times when you scroll through your screen shots one Thursday evening. To the few vets that remain..good luck. I hope SOE starts treating you right.
To the new players, I am sure you will enjoy the new game. SOE put a lot of effort into the early stage of the game (lvl1-30). Perhaps they will have the next pahse in before you hit lvl30 and see much of what we vets have seen. I hope the game last that long. Enjoy it while you can, and I only wish you could have seen the game as I did over the last 2 1/2 years.
Finally, to those of you to wish to dismiss the number of players leaving the game, consider this.
I was the leader of one of the largest Imperial guilds on the Radiant server (curb era). We had 40 active players logged in at any one time and over 150 total accounts that logged in for any length of time monthly. The city I ran had well over a 100 citizens from 3 different guilds and non guildies (my guild ran 3 metropolitians on 2 planets as well). Obviously, with such a large amount of activity, my friends list was long. Now...it has 4 players on it. One is an officer of the guild...I lost 7. the other 3 are newer players that joined a few months ago and are totally lost. The one officer has asked for the guild to be disbanded. The other 3 are not even sure they will remain. I know for a fact that 4 of the 5 largest guilds on the Radiant server have either completely closed, or lost so many members that they are a fraction of their former selves. When I can point to over 300 accounts closed on one server in the small area of the server I was in, that is a clear sign that many have left...sure, not 90%, but 60-70% is a very likely number. Radiant was not a light server. Now...you would be lucky to find 100 players on a saturday night.
Another thing to consider is the forum load. Prior to the NGE announcement, the forums had about 3K logged in and 7K guest on any given weekday about 3pm central....now? They are lucky to top 900 logged in and 2500 guests. Its been that way since a few days after the NGE hit. SO there..you have a 60% drop just in the number of forum users. THat kind of drop in veteran players is not good. Like it or not, the vets are the foundation and where the player content comes from. It will take over a year for new players to reach that point. By then, the game will be heading on 4 years of age when the game was only expected to have a 5 year life.
You are right they cannot let it go. But can you blame them. I started a month after release and then gave up for a while and basically been back now again to check it out. My account is active because of station pass.
But lets say you started from day one and made a CH/Carbineer, like I did. You bought the game for $50 dollars. You have played for 2 years at a $15 dollars a month ($360 total) and then bought the 2 expansions to date for $30 a piece. So you have spent close to $500 in 2 years. Then you take into account all the time you have put in, to max out your characters and establish yourself. You have lived through the CU and things are going well, you pre Order the latest expansion that is coming out. Then BAM... NGE rolls out. Everything you spent money and time on in the last 2 years is gone. No carbineer, and no CH. Sorry but I can understand why they are pissed. Me I can move on, but I can see the reason to be angry.
LA got their grubby hands in on this one and made a move to sell SWG to the consolers, to help boost the profits of SWG back up. They new in the current pre-NGE form it would never make it in the console world. So LA made a call, screw over a few hundred thousand loyal fans to market a fading game to a new fanbase of possible millions. Sucks to be the loyal fan right now.
What I liked about this game was that it WAS a slower, more complicated game with longtime vets. Mature players who were enjoyable to deal with, play with, trade with and take part in an established economy. The way the GCW used to be operated was pretty interesting as well. It was PVP that required real orchestration and cooperation, what with having to defend an insertion team of several professions who would fight their way into a base and each play their own part with slicing into it and destroying it, all while other members fought hard to defend that team against the base's defenders. This definitely took more effort than the PVP in most other games, and I believe that is why they changed it, in an effort to attract the more common MMO player who just likes to jump in chaotically and point and shoot. I'm not saying the previous GCW format wasn't without it's flaws, but the established leaders of longtime guilds had an enjoyable thing going, and now the whole GCW is floundering. There are benefits to both, of course, but I just hope they find a way to make it more interesting again. We're starting to see more of the "pwner" and "l33t" style players join in, and this is something the established players feared would happen with the NGE.
I try not to be pessimistic, and I will stick around a while longer to see if they can salvage this quagmire. However, with the current state of SWG, I would think SOE must be embarrassed with how they've handled this. It would reflect poorly on them, and I'm sure other game franchises would look on this situation and learn that SOE is NOT who you want to be developing your games.
Originally posted by millerhelp0 just something i noticed on there tv comersel it says you have to "become the rank of jedi" just something i noticed
That's exactly one of the reasons that I quit the game 7 hours after I bought the game. You HAVE to be a Jedi, end of discussion. Sure a Jedi character would be great but I think it'd get pretty boring being only Jedi's and kind of takes away from the mystery of the Jedi. What if I just wanted to be a stormtrooper? Or just a farmer? Or just a pilot ferrying people here and there? Or whatever? No I had to be a Jedi, and I did not like being pigeon holed into working to that sole goal. I might as well play the other Star Wars games that let me do that for a one time payment of $40-50.
Comments
I didn't by it because I felt it was just yet another Clone tie-in product that added nothing to the current game. I am still waiting for promised content from the original 3 movies to get put in yet they had time to develop mustafar and give us that "jedi-ish" expansion.
That's the reason I didn't buy it, I may buy it in the future I don't know. I have no care for the game or the its consistency at all at this point and am solely playing it because its free to me. The day I decide EQ II no longer is worthy of my money SWG is gone with it.
They got their experience nerf in they tried to get in once before and now they can keep selling expansions that will make easy leveling. They did it with EQ 1 and now they are doing it with this to an even higher new level. I am sorry but I have to beleive it was intentional, their track record makes it obvious. They will probably pull back abit now to quell what community they still have, but that would explain why the nerf was so severe, so when they fix it they have their original outline for experience gain back and they get to look like the good guys. Gas industry does the same thing, jack it way up, bring it halfway back down and everyone shuts up. They know exactly what they are doing in THIS one aspect of things I feel.
Maybe so, but "expansions for levels" seems to be starting with other MMO's too. WoW for instance is adding on an extra 10 levels - but only if you buy the expansion (and unlike SWG, you can't even get them the hard way from what I've read). While the XP gain rate is pretty low now, I think we can all agree the XP rate of before was far to leniant heh.
I have said it more then 1 time on these forums because people get to the new player tutorial and see a lot of potential. I too enjoyed the new player experience quiet a bit. You can definately see how an executive and a few people beta testing it would have the exact same experience you have had.
My thoughts on why this game is falling apart are due exactly to that. No one logged significant play time on the NGE past the new player experience to see the gapping holes in the games system.
The crafter post above yours sums up there problems to a tee. It is exactly what is wrong with that 1 profession. Entertainers have no purpose so that is 2 professions out of 9 that are now rendered broken or useless. Commando has all its weapons still disabled. Thus its a wasted profession. That makes 3 useless professions out of 9. Jedi up until recently couldn't tank anything and they are still half the class as ranged professions pretty much making a jedi toon worthless it is saved by glowing sticks of lights and pajama's. So that is 4 professions. That leaves you with 5 real professional choices in this game. BH, Spy, Medic, Officer, Smuggler. If you are choosing smuggler to smuggle that is still not in the game. You can still be a politican and pilot. Although pilot xp has sort of not been working.
Sorry but that is unacceptable to push out this publish and have 5 professions not working. Then you get to lvl 11 or so and get dropped on tatooine. You will soon start to realize how the combat system is tremendeous under developed. It starts with the core interactions of npc's to players. I know you dont think this is major to start but later on it becomes a huge factor when npc's are moving to fast, to small to hit, always hit you at the maximum rate of fire, you lag in combat, you get shoot through walls, around corners, through cover that doesn't let you fire. Among other bugs in combat these are the most distrubing issues.
Then you try some pvp. Everyone now is a small bothan. Snappy movement is insanely fast. Lag is killer, you can only heal half the time. Specials are on timers still thus totally defeating any sense of why they need to be on a mouse click at all. Suddenly you start to feel nothing at all ingame works.
AnarcharyArt likes this game because he likes everything soe does. He is nothing more then the polar opposite of my position. You can make the argument the game is somewhere in the middle if you'd like but you'd be wrong. I am out front on swg all the time. I was one of the first ones to object to the CU not because of what it was but because of what it lost. The cu had a lot of good in it. What it lacked was ignored dispite them being relatively minor requests. Crafters had some issues about the changes on experimentation, resource requirements but most issues involved no limited combat que so you could know what was waiting, stuck, was going to happen next, old icons not being offered, unbalanced content, the introduction of absurd animations and lighting effect. 70% said it needed more time to be polished. They where of course right and of course totally ignored.
So you get out your NGE in this state not because it really needed to occur on the 14th. See what happens with SOE which some of you still dont admit as no matter what was found during that 2 weeks of testing SOE was releasing this game. (which was alot of things) Why? It already had been packaged, CD's made, commericals done, marketing materials prepped, interviews given, and so on. When you all finally wise up and demand SOE properly test its coding is when things like this stop happening. The way it is played is a disgrace. Only thing fixed was a bug with the falcon. Frankly I think the NGE is a great idea. A Star Wars First Person Shooter MMO could definately be a successful product. No doubt in my mind. Of course it requires the product go through extensive development and testing. That costs money. See and SOE is done spending money on a game from 2003. It doesn't make sense to the financial guru's and market analysts. So this is the product you are going to get. If you at all think this is going to change in the future with SOE I have some property for sale. Bog... on no no no... that is fertile land ripe for building your castle on.
My first thoughts on the NGE where 2 weeks of testing? You can of course check this board. Of course I was correct. I was correct about the CU as well. I came back a few months later and low and behold, all most all the issues I pointed out had a resolution. Only a limited combat que didn't make a return. However, and I will not be the only one to remind you of this. The CU was just getting to some stability. Just like pre-cu the game had started to get stable and you could know what to expect day in and day out. Suddenly SOE goes another direction. They constantly mess this game up sometimes for the better but often without a true clue as to what it really does. We have this thing called trust. See you can trust I will show up here and say something not to positive about soe. I trust with guild wars when I log in that it is going to be about what it was last time. I know when I play madden football what to do. I know in battlefield what is going to happen when I log on. With sony products the only thing I trust is that tomorrow everything could be different.
Oh looks like CH/BH or CH/Commando is the choice.... Nerf... whap!
Oh looks like CM anything is really powerful now.... nerf...
Oh looks like melee tank stacker is powerful choice... nerf....
Oh looks like jedi is where I have to go .... nerf...
so on and so forth. They never have learned from day 1 what there problem is and I will say it again since I am obviously way out infront on this and other games.
Everytime you think something needs nerfing stop. Ask yourselve a much better question. How can we improve other professions to make them as successful. My gaming running philosophy right there. I know it must make me a genius to have that philosophy but there it is. SOE likes to do things that will knowingly piss off people. I prefer to go the route of what can I do to statisfy my other customers? I know that is there problem. No one at SOE took risk management courses, or is in the insurance business. If everyone is now a melee tank or jedi is it a) more risky to nerf those professions or b) fix smuggler to smuggle?
If you choose B you understand mitigating risk.
True, but WoW was upfront about it too.
Oh yes, I agree it was too leniant before. Pre-CU it was sad. However that was more of an entire combat flaw then just an experience issue. Post CU it still kept the game from getting combat-centric which I actually preferred. I never wanted to level grind in SWG, it wasn't why I was there and its very much so becoming a level-centric game.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
True, but WoW was upfront about it too.
Oh yes, I agree it was too leniant before. Pre-CU it was sad. However that was more of an entire combat flaw then just an experience issue. Post CU it still kept the game from getting combat-centric which I actually preferred. I never wanted to level grind in SWG, it wasn't why I was there and its very much so becoming a level-centric game.
No we dont all agree. SWG lacks(ed) content past very noobish activities. The only activites to engage in for high level players was to do dwb runs to craft loot or grind towards jedi/jedi advancement. If you are into pvp the jedi was the class to have. Any lower rate on xp with the amount of xp required for jedi would set the community ablaze. It did by the way.
Personally I dont see the problem. If I have played the game 1 time or 100 times what difference does it make if I want to quickly level a character? This goes back to people and developers forcing there playstyle onto other players. If I am building a new template under the old system I most certainly did not want to grind fencer xp to drop swordsman and have it take forever to do that. If some lvl 1 guy wanted to group and get some fast xp to get to himself started in the world I did NOT see how that was a negative thing for the guy or for me personally.
Ohh... to many lvl 80's. As if this game didn't need a whole lot more players showing interest in advancing in the game. To many ego maniacs concerned with stupid things like xp rates. Honestly, you really care? Did it really ruin your game play experience to get to master rifleman to fast? Was it that horrible for you?
I can see the point of it should take some time but please. The nge is being built to advance players through there class and levels. That is what you all wanted instead of XP centered advancement in a skill based system. Enjoy.
I have to say that all this talk about the game going offline in Q1 2006 is BS. As someone mentioned there are MMOs with far fewer subs etc that are still around. I have been on the other side of this fence before. I have been super pissed with SOE with regards to SWG and EQ2. The sad fact is that this is the way it is. There will be no roll back as someone here suggested. It may have been spoken about it but it wont happen. There is no way SOE would/will ever concede publically that the NGE was a failure. That's not to say that heads aren't rolling behind the scenes.
I know alot of you feel slighted and ripped off. Seriously guys, GET OVER IT. You can make up these stories about how the game is rolling back and how the game will be dead in 2 months but neither of these things is going to happen. If you dont like the game anymore, play something else. There are tons of alternatives.
I am not 100% happy with the NGE and we all know it needs a TON of work. I have to agree with Anarchyart and others though. I am having the most fun that I have ever had in SWG. The combat is fast paced and I know this is why many DO NOT like SWG anymore. I personally like turn based or FPS, I can play either. IMHO, for SWG, we need fast paced combat.
The implementation of these changes was, in a word, poor. SOE did not handle this well at all. If I had to bitch about anything, that is the real problem. That's why I think so many are so pissed off. Anyways, I'm off to play some more!
Regards
S
I have never said there wasn't content. I am actually one of the few people that beleive in Koster's concepts of player created content. However I will say thet content that was there was very minimal effort by both the player and the development team however.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
I have never said there wasn't content. I am actually one of the few people that beleive in Koster's concepts of player created content. However I will say thet content that was there was very minimal effort by both the player and the development team however.
Sorry, I wasn't implying you in my statement
Oh and as for the chat thing, have a look in the pic below. Right click in the red highlighted area to add tabs, etc
Cheers Obraik!
S
Lots of DOOM sayers about.
Personally I have not noticed any real lull in numbers on the two servers I play.
I am looking forward to having another character on the same server.
Now playing: VG (after a long break from MMORPGS)
Played for more than a month: Darkfall online, Vanguard SOH, Everquest, Horizons, WoW, SWG, Everquest II, Eve
Numbers are pretty low. I have 4 CL80s on 4 different servers and I logged into them all on Friday and Saturday night and only 1 had anyone on his friends list online. Only on Chilastra was there anyone that I personally knew on. On all 4 servers I have run through all the major cities counting people and found literally 35 people I could see and just over 100 people on /who (no lists got truncated). Granted, since there is no way to do a global /who, or even make an accurate count since some people still have /anon on, this is just a minor indicator. But I will say that in times past, my /who list would get truncated in nearly every major city I could travel to.
Take that info how you wish. The bottom line on the game right now is that it is not as bad as the doomsayers say, but the reality is that populations are dropping and many people are fed up at least until NGE is out of "beta" and is in full swing. Note that even the devs are posting that NGE will not be fully functional for nearly 6 months. So, have fun if you are, cya in 6 months if you are not.
AnarchyArt himself admitted all of YCS disbanded because of the NGE. I used to be a member of YCS, they were a pretty dedicated group, the entire guild disbanding over the NGE is a huge statement in itself. Sorry, if you can't see numbers down then you came to the party too late.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Anarchy if you don't stop saying 'most veterans hate the changes' I'm gonna shove a 9 iron up your rear. I don't hate the changes, nor do most of the vets I know. However, what we DO hate is being charged full price for 1/3 of the game.
In answer to the OP: Yes, there is no content that will garner you xp/levels once you hit CL30. If you hit CL30 before they fix/add content so that it works in the new system then you have 2 choices: 1) Buy a new game. 2) Start another character.
I won't get into any other reasons. That alone should explain the vet's opinions of this game. It's been LIVE for 2 years and now there's less functional content than there was at release because the old content, while it's still there, is nothing more than eye candy in the NGE system. Sure you can do the quests but since they don't give XP there's no point because you'll stay CL30 until the Devs get around to fixing old content into the new system or adding new content in that works and phasing the old stuff out.
And, knowing SOE's track record, expect them to re-make the game again before that happens.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Anarchy if you don't stop saying 'most veterans hate the changes' I'm gonna shove a 9 iron up your rear. I don't hate the changes, nor do most of the vets I know. However, what we DO hate is being charged full price for 1/3 of the game.
In answer to the OP: Yes, there is no content that will garner you xp/levels once you hit CL30. If you hit CL30 before they fix/add content so that it works in the new system then you have 2 choices: 1) Buy a new game. 2) Start another character.
I won't get into any other reasons. That alone should explain the vet's opinions of this game. It's been LIVE for 2 years and now there's less functional content than there was at release because the old content, while it's still there, is nothing more than eye candy in the NGE system. Sure you can do the quests but since they don't give XP there's no point because you'll stay CL30 until the Devs get around to fixing old content into the new system or adding new content in that works and phasing the old stuff out.
And, knowing SOE's track record, expect them to re-make the game again before that happens.
Or re-vamp jedi again!
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
You already owned the game, and if you didn't, you'd only be paying $20 for the main game and an expansion (hardly full price at $10 each compared to the $50 + $30 I paid). That's how much you are paying for the content - that cost goes to the development and on time costs of creating content, which is why is goes DOWN in price while the monthly fee stays that same. Actually, the Starter Kit is $15 this week at Best Buy, and if you include the free month, then the content is essentially free.
Your $15 a month pays for not only the bandwidth, server farms, repairs and upkeep which cost the same regardless of content, but also the salaries of the Live Team, CSRs, forum moderators, and community relations people, who are working overtime (weekends and holidays) in the past month to deal with the backlash from the NGE - assuming they aren't paid overtime (standard in the game industry), the NGE has increased their value per dollar, not reduced it. You aren't being charged for content, though you are getting it. You are being charged for playing the game and for the poor people who have to deal with you playing the game.
Man, it would be nice if people actually had a technical background so that I wouldn't have to keep explaining elementary concepts over and over again.
You already owned the game, and if you didn't, you'd only be paying $20 for the main game and an expansion (hardly full price at $10 each compared to the $50 + $30 I paid). That's how much you are paying for the content - that cost goes to the development and on time costs of creating content, which is why is goes DOWN in price while the monthly fee stays that same. Actually, the Starter Kit is $15 this week at Best Buy, and if you include the free month, then the content is essentially free.
Your $15 a month pays for not only the bandwidth, server farms, repairs and upkeep which cost the same regardless of content, but also the salaries of the Live Team, CSRs, forum moderators, and community relations people, who are working overtime (weekends and holidays) in the past month to deal with the backlash from the NGE - assuming they aren't paid overtime (standard in the game industry), the NGE has increased their value per dollar, not reduced it. You aren't being charged for content, though you are getting it. You are being charged for playing the game and for the poor people who have to deal with you playing the game.
Man, it would be nice if people actually had a technical background so that I wouldn't have to keep explaining elementary concepts over and over again.
OK, another one that thinks there isn't a huge profit margin in the monthlies over costs. I hate to break it to you Squidi but there a large profit off the monthly fee. CSR's, what all TWO? Working overtime, please. With the pathetic trickle of hotfixes that have come they aren't doing a dam thing. As a matter of fact they just had a VERY long thanksgiving break that put everything a week behind. So who exactly is stretching the truth?
We don't pay a monthly to beta test their latest game concepts. It was put in VERY incomplete in many aspects and that is completely unacceptable for a game that has a reoccuring fee.
Man it would be nice if some people had a clue.
EDIT: BTW, I thought you weren't posting here anymore because everyone is an idiot?
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
You already owned the game, and if you didn't, you'd only be paying $20 for the main game and an expansion (hardly full price at $10 each compared to the $50 + $30 I paid). That's how much you are paying for the content - that cost goes to the development and on time costs of creating content, which is why is goes DOWN in price while the monthly fee stays that same. Actually, the Starter Kit is $15 this week at Best Buy, and if you include the free month, then the content is essentially free.
Your $15 a month pays for not only the bandwidth, server farms, repairs and upkeep which cost the same regardless of content, but also the salaries of the Live Team, CSRs, forum moderators, and community relations people, who are working overtime (weekends and holidays) in the past month to deal with the backlash from the NGE - assuming they aren't paid overtime (standard in the game industry), the NGE has increased their value per dollar, not reduced it. You aren't being charged for content, though you are getting it. You are being charged for playing the game and for the poor people who have to deal with you playing the game.
Man, it would be nice if people actually had a technical background so that I wouldn't have to keep explaining elementary concepts over and over again.
Wait:
I was paying $15 a month for a game that had:
1) 32 professions to choose from
2) The ability to mix/match skills from various professions to create the character of my choice
3) had 80CL's of content and all content was equally functional at all levels and was possible to attain the highest levels.
Now, if I were willing to do so (which I'm not) I would be paying $15 a month for:
1) 9 professions (9x3 is 36, so roughly 1/3 of before)
2) No ability to mix/match at all. It's strictly level based. (I'd say that's a reduction in functionality, wouldn't you?)
3) 30CL's of content that is 'functional' and then a 49CL gap till you can reach the final 10CL's of content that are functional if you didn't already do the quests prior to the NGE coming out.
Now throw in the caveat that even the die hard fans of the NGE say that it's only fun if you start over on a new toon:
GEE I get to pay $15 a month for a game that I've been playing, personally, for over a year (and many others were playing for over 2) and as a bonus in order to have fun I get to start over?
No thanks.
It's not a stretch. The game is now 1/3 complete. There are 30CL's of content. After that a 50 CL gap till you can go to mustafar *IF* you buy the expansion where there are some functional quests for CL80-90 content.
It's a 33% complete game. Deal with it.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Funny... just how technical are you? I'm a network engineer myself. Matter of fact I support cluster servers running on SAN 3.0 as well as Load Balancers, Firewalls, Database Servers, etc. I have a pretty good idea what the costs are in maintaining a network as well as developer costs. Your assumptions are way off base on costs to run the game. They make a HUGE profit off that monthly fee.
Matter of fact I bet I have a better idea of what it costs SOE to run the game than you do. Seeing as how I was close friends with several of the devs over at SOE for several years. They've all left the company to work on other projects at this point, however. Most said things like 'getting out while the getting was good', at the time. At the time I thought they were kidding... now I'm not so sure.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Well let me tell you my personal opinion about the new Star Wars Galaxies.
i like this game.it was a good rpg game with great stuff about star wars galaxies. the combat system was good paced for an rpg(i am a fan of the EOB series mostly), and since it was not a fps the rythme of the game was suiting me just fine.
what i dont really like about this game now( and this is not flaming) is that it has become something else completely from the product i liked. its too fast for me. dont get me wrong. i like playing cs on a lan, especially quakestyle, but although i have a dsl connection i still found it a little difficult to click all the time at the mobs.
another thing that really ticked me off was the fact that sony and lucas arts lied to the whole community.
i understand that the NGE was a big project, but while sony knew that they were going to implement it, the kept the community in the dark with promises of fixing current bugs, with ideas about revamps about specific professions and generally they gave us no clue about the TOTAL change that they were going to implement to this game.
and i find this despicable.
so this is not a flame post...i dont call sony and lucas arts bad names, but you ppl have to stop confusing flame posts with reality posts.
You guys can argue back and forth till SWG2 hits the shelves in a galaxy far far away, and neither side is going to convince the other.
To the vets like myself that loved this game and have since seen our galaxy, our adventure, a poriton of oursleves destoryed. I know the feeling and I can only suggest moving on to other frontiers. There are other games out there..no, they are not SW, but eventually, SWG will become a thing of the past. One best forgotten and only remembered for the good times when you scroll through your screen shots one Thursday evening. To the few vets that remain..good luck. I hope SOE starts treating you right.
To the new players, I am sure you will enjoy the new game. SOE put a lot of effort into the early stage of the game (lvl1-30). Perhaps they will have the next pahse in before you hit lvl30 and see much of what we vets have seen. I hope the game last that long. Enjoy it while you can, and I only wish you could have seen the game as I did over the last 2 1/2 years.
Finally, to those of you to wish to dismiss the number of players leaving the game, consider this.
I was the leader of one of the largest Imperial guilds on the Radiant server (curb era). We had 40 active players logged in at any one time and over 150 total accounts that logged in for any length of time monthly. The city I ran had well over a 100 citizens from 3 different guilds and non guildies (my guild ran 3 metropolitians on 2 planets as well). Obviously, with such a large amount of activity, my friends list was long. Now...it has 4 players on it. One is an officer of the guild...I lost 7. the other 3 are newer players that joined a few months ago and are totally lost. The one officer has asked for the guild to be disbanded. The other 3 are not even sure they will remain. I know for a fact that 4 of the 5 largest guilds on the Radiant server have either completely closed, or lost so many members that they are a fraction of their former selves. When I can point to over 300 accounts closed on one server in the small area of the server I was in, that is a clear sign that many have left...sure, not 90%, but 60-70% is a very likely number. Radiant was not a light server. Now...you would be lucky to find 100 players on a saturday night.
Another thing to consider is the forum load. Prior to the NGE announcement, the forums had about 3K logged in and 7K guest on any given weekday about 3pm central....now? They are lucky to top 900 logged in and 2500 guests. Its been that way since a few days after the NGE hit. SO there..you have a 60% drop just in the number of forum users. THat kind of drop in veteran players is not good. Like it or not, the vets are the foundation and where the player content comes from. It will take over a year for new players to reach that point. By then, the game will be heading on 4 years of age when the game was only expected to have a 5 year life.
It's like watching a train wreck as it happens.......you want to turn away........but you just have to watch....
You are right they cannot let it go. But can you blame them. I started a month after release and then gave up for a while and basically been back now again to check it out. My account is active because of station pass.
But lets say you started from day one and made a CH/Carbineer, like I did. You bought the game for $50 dollars. You have played for 2 years at a $15 dollars a month ($360 total) and then bought the 2 expansions to date for $30 a piece. So you have spent close to $500 in 2 years. Then you take into account all the time you have put in, to max out your characters and establish yourself. You have lived through the CU and things are going well, you pre Order the latest expansion that is coming out. Then BAM... NGE rolls out. Everything you spent money and time on in the last 2 years is gone. No carbineer, and no CH. Sorry but I can understand why they are pissed. Me I can move on, but I can see the reason to be angry.
LA got their grubby hands in on this one and made a move to sell SWG to the consolers, to help boost the profits of SWG back up. They new in the current pre-NGE form it would never make it in the console world. So LA made a call, screw over a few hundred thousand loyal fans to market a fading game to a new fanbase of possible millions. Sucks to be the loyal fan right now.
What I liked about this game was that it WAS a slower, more complicated game with longtime vets. Mature players who were enjoyable to deal with, play with, trade with and take part in an established economy. The way the GCW used to be operated was pretty interesting as well. It was PVP that required real orchestration and cooperation, what with having to defend an insertion team of several professions who would fight their way into a base and each play their own part with slicing into it and destroying it, all while other members fought hard to defend that team against the base's defenders. This definitely took more effort than the PVP in most other games, and I believe that is why they changed it, in an effort to attract the more common MMO player who just likes to jump in chaotically and point and shoot. I'm not saying the previous GCW format wasn't without it's flaws, but the established leaders of longtime guilds had an enjoyable thing going, and now the whole GCW is floundering. There are benefits to both, of course, but I just hope they find a way to make it more interesting again. We're starting to see more of the "pwner" and "l33t" style players join in, and this is something the established players feared would happen with the NGE.
I try not to be pessimistic, and I will stick around a while longer to see if they can salvage this quagmire. However, with the current state of SWG, I would think SOE must be embarrassed with how they've handled this. It would reflect poorly on them, and I'm sure other game franchises would look on this situation and learn that SOE is NOT who you want to be developing your games.