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Was Pre-CU the most social MMO out there?
zipit
Member Posts: 487
We all know the great stories about people gathering at the campfires in the wilderness of Tatooine. People who didn't knew each other, but came to be friends. The noob question that lead a veteran to befriend a novice. The waiting at the starport which people spent making funny emotes or cracking jokes.
My question is this: Was Pre-CU more social than other MMOs out there because everyone was not quest-crazy/group-crazy? Sure we had to grind a hell of alot, but we had the freedom to socialize at any given moment of our choosing. WoW, for instance, "locks" players - once you're grouped you are commited and can't wander off, raids are even more strict in this matter. It seems there is no time in "modern" MMOs to just sit down and have a friendly chat with the stranger that noticed your campfire or battle with a ferocious beast. I sorely miss Pre-CU not for the game mechanics as much as for the socialization that went on at that time. The spontaneous call to arms at AnchorHead, the funny jokes and friendly faces at the buff line in Coronet or just the friendly face beneath the twin suns of Tatooine *sigh* good times, good times
Comments
I would say coming from the land of the Ti-99 and old BBS days of text and chat rooms perse, that SWG was (at launch until the NGE actually) was one of the most interactive games I have ever seen.
I think it was the diversity on down that benchmarked this.
Crafting, learning skills to help each other forced this. Koster took this to heart with help from his wife even for entertainers and the need for them.
From the Camps needed to heal in, to the medics and docs removing wounds and states, to the scouting of rangers calling out incoming (When it worked) to buying somthing from a Merchant that crafted some killer armor that was a good deal and needed.
The NGE ripped this game down to a basic bad FPS with lousy combat tactics and horrid animations if any.
I still look back and know the game was ahead of it's time in terms of a MMO, sad that we will never see what it could of been only what it ended up as.
"Good to see what the company calls it as what it ended up as" though.
______________________________
I usually picture the Career builder commercial with the room full of monkeys and upside down sales chart when thinking about the SOE/SWG decision making process.....
SOE's John Blakely and Todd Fiala issued a warning: "Don't make our mistakes." Ref NGE
Winner of the worst MMOS goes to.... the NGE and SWG..!!! http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm?loadFeature=1034&bhcp=1
yes.
1 wounds:
made you wait in med centers where doc healed your wounds. you could talk to docs, tip them money, tell what hapened, invite them to an event or simply do a quick stop get healed and off you go.
2.mind/ battle fatigue
you fought hard, you got hit. your getting tired. you hit less and less hard. tyour tired and you need to recoupreate. you go in a cantina and have a seat. as musicians (non AFK, aka before hologrind) or dancers you enjoy the show and talk to your fellow group/guild mates or make a new friend as your healing your battles fatigue. sometimes a good old hand to hand bar fight would reupt. or a bunch of storm troopers (players in ST overt armour) come in a rebel cantina and start shooting at any one with a weapon holstered (overt oposing faction) that was usually a little 7 vs 10 sometimes 20 vs 20 (2 full groups) with TEFS. then at the end you would see corpses all over the place and STs leave. rebels need to go to the med center to get those wounds healed.
3. buffs
you are going to dathomir to hunt rancors or night sisters. you have 1.5k HAM bar you need at least as close to 3k as possible. you need a doctor. the spaceship only arrives in 15 minutes. oh would you look at that there are doctors in the starport selling buffs! but there is a 10 minute wating line. perfect! you wait in line, get your 3k buff pay 1 mil or 2.5k buff for 10-50k then get on the starship and off to dath you go. but in line you made a friend who hapens to be a novice medic who need to heal to get xp to get to doctor. so he will come with you to dath and keep you healthy as he gains XP.
4 camps.
you are in a 13 man group. you just fought an ancient krayt and are all wounded. now its time to wait for the new spawn. you have a ranger in your group he makes an uber camp with krayt bones and hides you took from lizards. doctors will heal the wounds or craft more stims if need. others would fix weapons armour. then a 3 man group will come and see the camp and come and talk a bit and to let them heal also. then we tell them that krayt dragons respawn they ask to help us so we let them in and have a 17 man group . next krayt dies easier and less wounds to heal. P.S. you just got 2 guildies in your guild.
5. starports.
you are a new player and you want to go dathomir cuz in their bazaar they are selling something you need. you buy it and you have 1300$ leftand your ship does not have hyperspace capacity. the trip costs 2500$at terminals hummm. /yell can some one please help me? i need a ride to dath but i cant aford terminals. (yes i know run 2 delivery mission and you got enough but thats not the point.) a dude with a POB (yatch mostly) offers to get you to dath for 600 or for round trip for 1000credits. you acept, 2 other people also want to go to dath. you get in his ship and he takes you to dath. its about a 10-20 minutes travel throuh space with a yatch. you socialize in the ship and you are now part of a rebel aligned guild with free house and free armour for new members. you pay up and you land. you get your item he gest you back on and back to naboo/tattoine/corelia or wtv you came from.
For the Horde!
Hurray for PreCU, Cantina buffs! and Starport buffs!
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Do not hate it, but instead embrace the diversity.
Yes it was very social. THe idea was mmorpg not a poor version of counter strike. Yes you socialized and made friends. But that was long ago in a galaxy far, far away....
Lothor Crestingwalker
Corbantis
SWG Vet
Subbed 7-19-03
Cancelled various times
I hate the NGE
1. Training in the med centers to be Master Doc. People actually went to the med centers. And had fun.
2. Getting a mind buff before a big hunt at the cantina. All the crazy chat. Sometimes couldn't see the other side of the cantina through all the voice ballooons and people.
3. Buffing at the starport. I'm curious as to your prices though, on Bria I never charged more than 15k for a 2507 buff. Most often it was 10-13k during busy times.
4. Hunting out in the middle of nowhere, heading back into town for heals and spotting a camp. Saved a trip and made friends.
5. Never had to pay for a ride, but I remember being in awe the first time I boarded the Yacht, the YT-1300 and the Decimator. Huge beautiful ships. Multiple laser canons made for great team fighting.
Man. Pre-CU really was great for the social aspect.
1. Training in the med centers to be Master Doc. People actually went to the med centers. And had fun.
2. Getting a mind buff before a big hunt at the cantina. All the crazy chat. Sometimes couldn't see the other side of the cantina through all the voice ballooons and people.
3. Buffing at the starport. I'm curious as to your prices though, on Bria I never charged more than 15k for a 2507 buff. Most often it was 10-13k during busy times.
4. Hunting out in the middle of nowhere, heading back into town for heals and spotting a camp. Saved a trip and made friends.
5. Never had to pay for a ride, but I remember being in awe the first time I boarded the Yacht, the YT-1300 and the Decimator. Huge beautiful ships. Multiple laser canons made for great team fighting.
Man. Pre-CU really was great for the social aspect.
Who are ya on Bria (or were ya?)
Isk
______________________________
I usually picture the Career builder commercial with the room full of monkeys and upside down sales chart when thinking about the SOE/SWG decision making process.....
SOE's John Blakely and Todd Fiala issued a warning: "Don't make our mistakes." Ref NGE
Winner of the worst MMOS goes to.... the NGE and SWG..!!! http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm?loadFeature=1034&bhcp=1
I was one of the few.. the proud.. the rangers...
At first I started Ranger for my hologrind, then, I just couldn't give it up. I loved it. I would set up a camp near a hot spot, and soon tons and tons of people would be hanging out, the RPing that happened around the camp was awesome. The socialization in SWG pre-CU was without a doubt, the best.
Maybe some developer needs to listen to what people want. Not all of us want the mind numbing easy gameplay of WoW. Some of us want a challenge, and a place to hang out and have fun!
I was on Wanderhome and one of my alts was a doc, and it was almost always 10-15k for buffs.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
--Aristotle
1. at master doc i wanted to try out a strategy. while people where out on corelia or bestine starports charging 10-15k buffs i instead went to dathomir starport (close to cloner) and charged 100k-200k for the same buff.
macro:
"2.5k buffs 150k dont like the price? go away"
people who didnt want it will take the 10-15 minute wait (OMG I CANT REMEMBER THE SHUTTLE WATING TIME) wait the 10-20 minute wating line for buff and another 10-15 minutes till next shuttle.
besides people who have money and didnt want to wait payed up 100k. (works the same way in real life)
people will buy anything at any price if they really want it.
and i also made the perfect buff
they used to go for 1 mil (per buffset) so you could make up to 30 mil with 1 craft.
all ressources had 999 quality + maximum experimentation
cant remember the exact buff but i know it was well over 3k HAM
regulars where 2.5 good ones for 2.8 and perfect ones at 3.2 or 3.5 something like that
man that was hard finding those ressources... some of them didnt spawn anymore. had to pay one type at 700cpu. (but in the good side i sold all 30 uses)