I agree with Obee here. Opening classic servers, and having them jam-packed while NGE servers remain empty, would be absolute proof of what right now is only (well-founded, but nevertheless) speculation. We all know SWG was hemorrhaging players before the CU, and after the CU it was hemorrhaging even more so, so the NGE was an attempt to reverse that. There is no actual proof that, had the NGE not happened, all the people who canceled in late 2005, would not have done so anyway -- because the lines on the graph were already heading down pretty precipitously.
Now, I think most of us probably believe that the decline, though it may well have continued, would not have been so dramatic as the avalanche of cancellations that occurred in Nov-Dec 2005. However, because no classic servers were ever left up, there is really no hard data to prove us right. It's all speculation. The people responsible for the NGE can thus point to the pre-NGE downward trend and say, "That would've happened anyway... and might have been worse without the NGE."
Indeed, one thing the NGE did was chase off anyone but the real hard-line loyalists... the people who say things like, "No matter what they do, as long as it's Star Wars I will be here forever." (I have friends, more than a few, who have this, by my lights extremely bananas, perspective.) Since the rest of us left, the NGE has been pretty stable in subs numbers -- low, but not hemorrhaging continuously as it did in summer/fall 2005. Therefore, again, since there is no way to prove them wrong, the NGE creators can point to that stabilization and say, "OK, we lost a bunch of subs but we finally stopped the bleeding."
Here again, those of us who left would probably say, "You'd have more today than that if you hadn't done NGE." And my guess would be that's right, but it's just speculation.
However, if they opened up classic servers and suddenly thousands of new accounts flooded into SOE as a result of it, this would prove us right, and prove that the subs drop-off was caused by the NGE, and was not merely a continuation of a previous downward trend.
And I think Obee is right... they don't dare open classic servers, because they know there's a better-than-even chance that those will fill up right away. Because even the loyalists who say, "As long as it's Star Wars...", many of them will prefer pre-CU/NGE. If they only have ONE Star Wars game, and it's NGE, they stick with it. But if you offered them pre-CU and NGE, a goodly number of them would switch over (because it's still Star Wars, so they can pick whatever game they want). And then there are all the old vets who liked pre-CU who'd come back (not me, but many), and so forth. It might not be a flood, but there's a very high chance it would be, and the results would prove numerically (rather than by speculation/inference) that the NGE was a major mistake.
And so they can't open up those servers, for fear of providing the noose with which they are hung.
C
That is right there the foundation of American cultural stupidity. The conspiracy. Yea that is it. Its a conspiracy against pre-cu? That John Smedley's boss is some unaware bafoon and would have NO idea what SOE was working on with its game department. That he wouldn't see the MMO numbers from his online division and have no idea they where doing a NGE to that platform. Even though the damn thing has had NY Times and CBS articles slamming it. That everyone in the industry slammed it. Of course Sony Pictures bossman has no idea about any of that. He is also apparently surrounded by uninformed lackies who wouldn't suckle the power teet and rat out good old John Smedley right? Come on. Smedley made a business decision that cleared his bosses. He stated pre-cu wasn't generating a successful business model (IE it was losing money).
I agree with Jeff that your theory is pure poop. I believe SOE honestly thinks it would cost money and that they frankly dont have any left for this project. I honestly believe that if they have the code they could sunset pre-cu on test at a very, very minimal cost. Otherwise your stuck with a barely supported NGE game.
The part I agree with from Jeff is if pre-cu's cost (IE the license) is more then the games subscribers pre-cu nothing saves the game. It wouldn't be worth it for them at all to do anything. However, that isn't the answer they are giving. Its some quasi-answer that makes no sense. They dont say we where losing money pre-cu. They dont say we are losing money now. They frankly dont say anything that is an answer that makes any sense to a human being.
Following up my earlier post here regarding Dundee's comments on what "impossible" means with regard to pre-cu servers.
I can see why someone might choose the path that SWG is on right now: Sort of a "let's not do anything too drastic anymore, let's just bring back elements of the old game that people enjoyed, and blend them into the new system" approach.
In my mind this strategy, while it makes sense on one level, isn't working as well as some would like. I have some thoughts on why that might be the case:
1) First off, people felt robbed and misled when the NGE surprise was unwrapped. They want restitution. They want "their stuff back." This is how people react when something emotionally important has been taken away. To give them bits and pieces of their stuff back over the course of a few years, while they are paying additional money for it's possible return just doesn't feel like things are being set right. At best it takes too long. At worst, it feels like another con game: "give me some more money, and maybe I'll give you your stuff back."
2) If some things are going to be restored, the creature handler issue, which is such a sore point, should have been taken care of a lot sooner. That issue is still unresolved, and if anything should be "fast-tracked," in my mind that is it. People should not still log into the game and see their pets stuck in their datapads, any of them. And, I'm definitely not recommending that they be deleted. They should be let out so that their owner/players can interact with them again.
3) Incidental things that people really enjoyed, like camps, should also have been restored quickly, and still should be. Instead of just putting things back though, at least two leading Devs said things like this about camps: "you mean you just sat their and it was fun?" or "tell me how it can fit into the NGE and we may look at it."
4) According to Badgersmaker's latest player guide, there are still xp penalites for grouping. The larger the group, the lower the percentage xp you get for a kill. Let's face it, a lot of vets really enjoyed group hunting. This current system with it's xp penalty frankly discourages that. If you really want people to feel free to group AND feel free to solo, the systems should be equivalent with regard to xp earned, not one rewarded and another punished as it is now.
5) Don't sugar-coat the NGE deal. If you want someone to move past an offence, they generally need to feel that you've really owned responsibility for the hurtful action and it's repercussions, that you regret the pain you've caused, and that you have an intention to try to make things right, and avoid the hurtful behaviour in the future. This really hasn't happened. Apologies have been made for communication and timing and the like, but this doesn't have anyone owning and acknowledging that it was wrong and hurtful to delete 2 years worth of progress and community building.
Now in an ideal world, I'd still like to see classic servers run alongside NGE servers, but if SOE is going to "stay their current course," these are some points that I wanted to raise.
One thing I will say to balance my constructive criticism, as a former Master Doc , it is good that people have a broader range of heals and buffs again. It is also good that the targetting corpses for rez problem has received some attention. It is good that the aggro generated by the area heal can be reduced, and it is good that you can once again target friends for healing by clicking on their names in the group list. In my mind though, these are the kinds of issues that required immediate attention after the NGE was introduced. I eventually left because the corrections were too slow in coming, and when they did come, they were bugged when first introduced. These are some of many factors related to my leaving at any rate. If I elaborate on that issue, it would definitely require its own post.
Please dont let that last jerk misrepresent the entire Pre-CU/NGE Veteran Refuge community.
Most of here actual enjoy interacting and discussing SWG with you. I personally an enjoying seeing your posts and hope ignornat asshats dont scare you off to keeping the board alive.
Mr. Freeman, Please dont let that last jerk misrepresent the entire Pre-CU/NGE Veteran Refuge community. Most of here actual enjoy interacting and discussing SWG with you. I personally an enjoying seeing your posts and hope ignornat asshats dont scare you off to keeping the board alive.
May want to clean that off <points at your nose> yea it's a little brown.. Sorry nuthin but love for ya bro just wanted to make sure you didn't go out in public with it.
Oh and Jeff? Thanks for making my transition to WoW much easier.... Not getting this nose anywhere near it.
Mr. Freeman, Please dont let that last jerk misrepresent the entire Pre-CU/NGE Veteran Refuge community. Most of here actual enjoy interacting and discussing SWG with you. I personally an enjoying seeing your posts and hope ignornat asshats dont scare you off to keeping the board alive.
You are close to being the ONLY fool that "enjoys" speaking with him. A REAL veteran of SWG ... one who cares about the hows and whys and whos respnsible ... the ones that spent a ton of time and money paying and playing this game wouldn't just blow off what happened as easily as you have.
If you had half a brain and knew how much HE was responsible for what happend to SWG maybe you might not be shining your nose on his back side like somneone else said.
Mr. Freeman, Please dont let that last jerk misrepresent the entire Pre-CU/NGE Veteran Refuge community. Most of here actual enjoy interacting and discussing SWG with you. I personally an enjoying seeing your posts and hope ignornat asshats dont scare you off to keeping the board alive.
You are close to being the ONLY fool that "enjoys" speaking with him. A REAL veteran of SWG ... one who cares about the hows and whys and whos respnsible ... the ones that spent a ton of time and money paying and playing this game wouldn't just blow off what happened as easily as you have.
If you had half a brain and knew how much HE was responsible for what happend to SWG maybe you might not be shining your nose on his back side like somneone else said.
A "Real" swg veteran? Now you are questioning my pre-cu veteran status? I want to have an adult conversation and debate with an SOE former staffer and I am "shining my nose on his back side".
Maybe you two smacktards missed my entire posts calling into question his entire assertion that pre-cu wasn't a business sound decision. Maybe you missed me questioning the content creation tool he goes on about. Maybe you all missed my entire post history but rest assured I am and have always been a Pre-CU Veteran of SWG. However, when I have the oppurtunity to question the logic and reasoning an SOE staffer uses to defend a really bad business decision I can do so without making such worthless statements as "fuck you" and "disappear". I can do so with valid points of argument. I can read there response and I can formulate a rebuttal. Most of all I am beyond raging out on some former SOE employee and asking them to leave.
The other thing I hate is people who make other people feel unwelcome in this forum because they disagree with them. This isn't the NGE Carebear Forum where anything Pre-CU is instantly deleted and you receive a warning. This is the old General Discussion crowd. Those who use to stand up for Pre-CU and could do you all day long. Let SOE people post and speak. (Not just because it will further prove them to be patently wrong). A dialogue might further the cause. Jeff might forward our insights to his former SOE friends. Hell we can win the argument simply by the argument itself.
Jeff has basically no leg to stand on regarding the NGE decision. His arguments about the Pre-cu being impossible are weak at best. The notion of cost is highly overblown. However, you want to drag our side down to name calling in a thread. Congradulations on making the Pre-CU crowd look retarded.
Mr. Freeman, Please dont let that last jerk misrepresent the entire Pre-CU/NGE Veteran Refuge community. Most of here actual enjoy interacting and discussing SWG with you. I personally an enjoying seeing your posts and hope ignornat asshats dont scare you off to keeping the board alive.
You are close to being the ONLY fool that "enjoys" speaking with him. A REAL veteran of SWG ... one who cares about the hows and whys and whos respnsible ... the ones that spent a ton of time and money paying and playing this game wouldn't just blow off what happened as easily as you have.
If you had half a brain and knew how much HE was responsible for what happend to SWG maybe you might not be shining your nose on his back side like somneone else said.
A "Real" swg veteran? Now you are questioning my pre-cu veteran status? I want to have an adult conversation and debate with an SOE former staffer and I am "shining my nose on his back side".
Maybe you two smacktards missed my entire posts calling into question his entire assertion that pre-cu wasn't a business sound decision. Maybe you missed me questioning the content creation tool he goes on about. Maybe you all missed my entire post history but rest assured I am and have always been a Pre-CU Veteran of SWG. However, when I have the oppurtunity to question the logic and reasoning an SOE staffer uses to defend a really bad business decision I can do so without making such worthless statements as "fuck you" and "disappear". I can do so with valid points of argument. I can read there response and I can formulate a rebuttal. Most of all I am beyond raging out on some former SOE employee and asking them to leave.
The other thing I hate is people who make other people feel unwelcome in this forum because they disagree with them. This isn't the NGE Carebear Forum where anything Pre-CU is instantly deleted and you receive a warning. This is the old General Discussion crowd. Those who use to stand up for Pre-CU and could do you all day long. Let SOE people post and speak. (Not just because it will further prove them to be patently wrong). A dialogue might further the cause. Jeff might forward our insights to his former SOE friends. Hell we can win the argument simply by the argument itself.
Jeff has basically no leg to stand on regarding the NGE decision. His arguments about the Pre-cu being impossible are weak at best. The notion of cost is highly overblown. However, you want to drag our side down to name calling in a thread. Congradulations on making the Pre-CU crowd look retarded.
Very well said , If you aren't already . Register over at RLMMO.com , Maturity respect and reasoning come first .Yet we are all passionate in remembering what was wrongly done here .
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
*glances over the thread then starts plotting the lead developers' murders and goes over to a weapons rack* ..... now let's see..... which rifle should I bring?....
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
Now im now computer wizzard but how can a bunch of partime guys reverse engineer the old Pre-Cu client,but Smedley and his boys claim it's not possible?.OKay so blame it on money blah blah blah..but the fact is it can be done but thier heads are to far up thier butts to go back
You .... Mr. Freeman need to just fucking disapear. I been working in the corporate environment for the last 12 years. Working for CEO's, VP's and Directors. ALL companies have a Board of Directors. But these people for the most part are NOT found at the company. They are made up of major investors as well as Senior staff (Senior VPs) from the company. It is their job to make sure the company is going down the road that will either make them profitable or to continue to make be profitable. So even IF $medley reports to Yair Landau, there is a group of people who's sole job is to make sure the company stays on a path of profiability. You and Smedley have NOT. I just so happen to agree with this poster that IF $OE opened up like 5-7 preCU servers that they would be flooded with people. This in turn would show how GREAT of a mistake the CU and to a greater extent ... the NGE was. IF this occured this would show people at $ONY and $ONY Pictures that serious money had been lost thru developing SWG in a direction that was not good economically. Now add in the lost revenue over the last 15 months. NO company is going to tolerate someone that has lost them about 100 Mill or more in just a years time for very long. The ONLY way $medley can save his arse is if the demands to change SWG into WoW came from $LA. But we all know .... thanks to you and your blog, they you and your idiot manager were the brain childs behind the NGE. I just wanted to FUCKING personally thank you for wasting just over 2 yrs 8 months, some 3900 hours of time logged into the game, and over $1,300.00 of my hard earned money. Not to mention the ENJOYMENT that is all now lost. How you even have the nerve to show yourself here is amazing. In addition ... yes "SOME" risks are always taken ... but those are usually thought out by people that can make a sound decision.
Being part of a huge corporation, I highly doubt any executives would lose thier jobs over opening Pre-Cu servers to great success. I think the results of a successful implenentation would prove to be the opposite actually, the executives would garner huge bounes for incresing revuenues and profits and each clammor to take credit for great risk taking. Often the same people who lead a corporation into crap are the ones credited for finding the solution out of their own bad decision making.
I think you watch too many movies with happy endings to be honest.
In my opinion, Jeff Freeman is right on the money with his assessment. SWG is small potatoes in terms of the SOE's MMO roadmap, if the action isn't low risk/ high reward, then it's just not possible. I would do the same thing if I was incharge. It could be IP stuff of course too, but business wise all these huge projections by posters are purely emotional and based on zero research.
You .... Mr. Freeman need to just fucking disapear.
Click on BLOCK next to my name, and I will!
I been working in the corporate environment for the last 12 years. Working for CEO's, VP's and Directors. ALL companies have a Board of Directors.
See, I've always thought that corporations had boards, whereas companies of other types might not. SOE LLC for example.
You and Smedley have NOT.
I like what you did there, putting me right in the same sentence as the CEO of a company.
I just so happen to agree with this poster that IF $OE opened up like 5-7 preCU servers that they would be flooded with people.
I happen to not, but I lack your conviction. As I said, I might be wrong about that profit-thing.
Sure sounds like a moot point, though.
This in turn would show how GREAT of a mistake the CU and to a greater extent ... the NGE was. IF this occured this would show people at $ONY and $ONY Pictures that serious money had been lost thru developing SWG in a direction that was not good economically. Now add in the lost revenue over the last 15 months. NO company is going to tolerate someone that has lost them about 100 Mill or more in just a years time for very long.
Ah... yeah, conspiracy, cover-up, hundred million dollars. When you explain it like that, I have to admit, it does sound completely ridiculous. I don't know as much about SOE's financial situation as you seem to, though, so I'll just have to take your word for it.
The ONLY way $medley can save his arse is if the demands to change SWG into WoW came from $LA. But we all know .... thanks to you and your blog, they you and your idiot manager were the brain childs behind the NGE.
Oh we've gone over that already.
I just wanted to FUCKING personally thank you for wasting just over 2 yrs 8 months, some 3900 hours of time logged into the game, and over $1,300.00 of my hard earned money. Not to mention the ENJOYMENT that is all now lost.
Oh, that's terrible. Sorry all that time was wasted, instead of being stockpiled without interruption forever.
How you even have the nerve to show yourself here is amazing.
It was nothing, really. It's just a web forum.
In addition ... yes "SOME" risks are always taken ... but those are usually thought out by people that can make a sound decision.
Originally posted by ASUDevil Being part of a huge corporation, I highly doubt any executives would lose thier jobs over opening Pre-Cu servers to great success. I think the results of a successful implenentation would prove to be the opposite actually, the executives would garner huge bounes for incresing revuenues and profits and each clammor to take credit for great risk taking. Often the same people who lead a corporation into crap are the ones credited for finding the solution out of their own bad decision making. I think you watch too many movies with happy endings to be honest. In my opinion, Jeff Freeman is right on the money with his assessment. SWG is small potatoes in terms of the SOE's MMO roadmap, if the action isn't low risk/ high reward, then it's just not possible. I would do the same thing if I was incharge. It could be IP stuff of course too, but business wise all these huge projections by posters are purely emotional and based on zero research.
I have to agree. Even if there was a possibility of Pre-CU servers being opened and becoming busy, there is no way to say it would be a sustainable profitable business. But I think you're right , in the grand scheme SOE would rather put that capital to use developing something new (nothing is new these days) or at least something different from SWG, rather than put that precious time and effort into trying to revive something they shot. Not to mention the risk of bringing back an possibly unprofitable game to a skeleton crew of a support system compared to the amount they had working on it before.
There's just too much risk involved with it for an unrealistic oppurtunity to get the profit needed to justify it, unfortunatley. That would be more of a driving factor than putting something out there that shows they were wrong before, IMO. Yeah it would make alot of people come back for SWG-PreCU servers, but ALOT still would not and they most definately realize that.
Ya know...Smed always manages to sound so sincere and like he cares about Galaxies but nooooo, he doesn't give a rip or it wouldnt be in the state its in. Nuff said.
You .... Mr. Freeman need to just fucking disapear.
Click on BLOCK next to my name, and I will!
I been working in the corporate environment for the last 12 years. Working for CEO's, VP's and Directors. ALL companies have a Board of Directors.
See, I've always thought that corporations had boards, whereas companies of other types might not. SOE LLC for example.
You and Smedley have NOT.
I like what you did there, putting me right in the same sentence as the CEO of a company.
I just so happen to agree with this poster that IF $OE opened up like 5-7 preCU servers that they would be flooded with people.
I happen to not, but I lack your conviction. As I said, I might be wrong about that profit-thing.
Sure sounds like a moot point, though.
This in turn would show how GREAT of a mistake the CU and to a greater extent ... the NGE was. IF this occured this would show people at $ONY and $ONY Pictures that serious money had been lost thru developing SWG in a direction that was not good economically. Now add in the lost revenue over the last 15 months. NO company is going to tolerate someone that has lost them about 100 Mill or more in just a years time for very long.
Ah... yeah, conspiracy, cover-up, hundred million dollars. When you explain it like that, I have to admit, it does sound completely ridiculous. I don't know as much about SOE's financial situation as you seem to, though, so I'll just have to take your word for it.
The ONLY way $medley can save his arse is if the demands to change SWG into WoW came from $LA. But we all know .... thanks to you and your blog, they you and your idiot manager were the brain childs behind the NGE.
Oh we've gone over that already.
I just wanted to FUCKING personally thank you for wasting just over 2 yrs 8 months, some 3900 hours of time logged into the game, and over $1,300.00 of my hard earned money. Not to mention the ENJOYMENT that is all now lost.
Oh, that's terrible. Sorry all that time was wasted, instead of being stockpiled without interruption forever.
How you even have the nerve to show yourself here is amazing.
It was nothing, really. It's just a web forum.
In addition ... yes "SOME" risks are always taken ... but those are usually thought out by people that can make a sound decision.
Gotcha.
Dude, I think you were "wrong about that profit-thing" when you designed the NGE. It must feel pretty good to be known as the "creator of the NGE". Met any of the disgruntled ex-SWG playerbase lately? You know, the same playerbase you disenfranchised with that craptastic combat system and shitty coding?
Man, we ALL know you were schitzing on meth when you designed it. How else can you explain such a glaring clusterfuck?
One thing though:
Come clean with us. You're not under any NDA, you were FIRED from $OE for the blunder known as the NGE. I refuse to believe that any company would retain someone who lost as much money and PR face as you caused them to lose.
I'm sure you'll come back with some witty retort to this post. By all means, let's see what else can come from your mind that we can also brand as completely asinine...
Dude, I think you were "wrong about that profit-thing" when you designed the NGE. It must feel pretty good to be known as the "creator of the NGE".
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now. Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality. See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
edit: with the exception of the 'less reading comphrension' thing. i did infinitely more reading in the NGE than I did at anytime during the CU or PreCU. and i don't mean forums, either. it was all the goddamn quests one had to do level up a toon in any reasonable rate.
Dude, I think you were "wrong about that profit-thing" when you designed the NGE. It must feel pretty good to be known as the "creator of the NGE".
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now. Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality. See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
What the fuck are you talking about? Who was yelling? Me? I don't recall posting an all caps post...
And if this is a witty retort to my last post, I think you can do better that that...
Dude, I think you were "wrong about that profit-thing" when you designed the NGE. It must feel pretty good to be known as the "creator of the NGE".
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now. Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality. See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
Before you get all perma banned for like forum warring. Just kidding. This aint the SOE boards. Can you answer my question on how realistic of an approach it could be to use the test center servers and pre-cu servers and why that is so costly if you just release the pre-cu code on them and dub them sunset?
I'd really like to know why this wasn't implimented with the NGE as a way to appease the veteran community as its been suggested many times by the pre-cu crowd here and on the official forums.
Before you get all perma banned for like forum warring. Just kidding. This aint the SOE boards. Can you answer my question on how realistic of an approach it could be to use the test center servers and pre-cu servers and why that is so costly if you just release the pre-cu code on them and dub them sunset? I'd really like to know why this wasn't implimented with the NGE as a way to appease the veteran community as its been suggested many times by the pre-cu crowd here and on the official forums.
Really, your guess is as good as mine.
But IP licenses tend to be real strict. I think no matter what you call it, there's a real strong case for being sued over having made two games when you only had permission to make one.
Dude, I think you were "wrong about that profit-thing" when you designed the NGE. It must feel pretty good to be known as the "creator of the NGE".
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now. Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality. See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
I have tried to always present my anger over this debacle , In a civil manner . But you have to understand even now a year later . That is going to be a hard thing to do for a lot of people . Where these guys have nothing to lose by being less than civil . You on the other hand had better realize that you are talking to potential customers . Unless you have decided to give up game development. It may be in your best interest not to piss off anyone else over this , Through you rhetoric .
Yes we are mostly adults here , but this responce is a bit adolecent . You of all people should know trolls are all over the interweb . Being an industry profesional and all , I would expect a tad better from you . You may not care , You may even enjoy flaming back and forth . But I view you as more or less a spokesman for your employer , And my opinion of them is going down more and more with each of these responces .
I respect that you are willing to have a dialogue, That alone is admirable . But don't ruin that with flames and trolling .
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
To be honest I wouldnt consider this as an indication that Pre-CU servers are impossible... Its not like the SWG dev team hasnt changed their minds before...
Seriously, if all the threads are ending in 'bring back pre-cu servers' and the first thing the players said at the influencers summit was 'please bring back pre-cu servers' then maybe Smed should do as he preaches and bring back the damn pre-cu servers. I mean, he openly admits that the first thing on all the SWG players mind is pre-cu servers and claims that hes going to do better at following through with what the community wants in the same post? Comon now...
I'm starting to think more and more now that there was another motive behind the NGE. I thought they were probably trying to get SWG on the new gen consoles at first, but unless that caved in or if they are just waiting to tell us about it, that wasnt the reason. Maybe something big happened, like a major security problem, or maybe the SWG devs did something illegal and were being blackmailed over it so they had to quietly change the game then release it overnight. *puts on tin-foil hat* Maybe I am just refusing the believe the obvious truth, the SWG devs are complete morons.
I have tried to always present my anger over this debacle , In a civil manner . But you have to understand even now a year later . That is going to be a hard thing to do for a lot of people . Where these guys have nothing to lose by being less than civil . You on the other hand had better realize that you are talking to potential customers . Unless you have decided to give up game development. It may be in your best interest not to piss off anyone else over this , Through you rhetoric .
Yes we are mostly adults here , but this responce is a bit adolecent . You of all people should know trolls are all over the interweb . Being an industry profesional and all , I would expect a tad better from you . You may not care , You may even enjoy flaming back and forth . But I view you as more or less a spokesman for your employer , And my opinion of them is going down more and more with each of these responces .
I respect that you are willing to have a dialogue, That alone is admirable . But don't ruin that with flames and trolling .
Simple solutions to solve this issue would be to offer both systems and let the Gamers decided were to spend their money..Mine would be spent on The PRECU version...all 4 accounts would pop back up and 4x15 is more than what they get from me now which is 0....
Hm. Well there's the cost of making that happen, then the cost of maintaining both. So those are some dollars.
All that at a gamble: this time not on future imaginary players, but on past imaginary players.
Then you've got two teams worth of developers tied-up supporting an old game, when half or more of them ought to be working on the next game.
But I could be totally wrong, Maybe there are contractual restrictions and such.
I'd say it is the costs of making servers for past immaginary players, along with the probability of demonstrating the past year's (two? Depends on the date you folks started developiong the NGE) worth of development was completely wasted money, is why. Unless LucasArts is still really pissed off at SOE, I doubt they would prevent them from opening classic servers.
I could see SoE only having a license from LA to run only one Star Wars MMO and two version of the one MMO could cause trouble with that.... I've got nothing to back that up with though, it's just completely random guessing.
So what do you think then is the probability of any real development on the NGE platform being done? Assuming that is indeed the real problem of running two versions side by side. I mean we have seen a development staff undergo a 3rd or 4th change in leadership. What purpose does it serve SOE to solicate feedback and ask veterans for things from the Pre-CU they'd like to see reimplimented if realistically there just isn't the will at SOE to seem to invest any more dollars into the project? Any changes they would do probably won't satisfy the disgruntled ex-swg players. It just makes it look like more poor communication.
I cannot see the numbers but at this point if its not profitable either way with the NGE having a lower total subscriber base how much real ingame improvements could we expect to see in the future with this product? I mean the developers seem to be between a rock and a hard place. Rolling back to them is like taking the game backwards and really has a subscriber ceiling apparently of about 200k users, which according to John Smedley just wasn't enough. I guess I'd say to SOE if they want me back they should consider a "fresh" Star Wars galaxies server, bring back the dynamic economy of pre-cu days (IE Decay, Crafter dominance, harvesting, etc) and add Hoth Content. I'd come back to play Hoth content.
P.S. But without the old economic model this game has a 30 day playability max.
Hey Smed - if so many of the posts end up being of the "bring back pre-NGE servers" type, as you state, perhaps you should FRIGGIN' LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR DAMNED CUSTOMERS, PAST AND PRESENT, WANT!!!!
BY AND LARGE, WE DON'T LIKE THE FRIGGIN' NGE!!!!
FIX THAT FIRST.
Moron. That a very substantial number of past and present players desire this and yet $OE continues in their refusal to acquiese (sp?) is just inexplicably moronic. That content was a suprising revelation is further proof just how out of touch the $OE and SWG leadership is with this game and especially the wishes of their subscriber base.
And while we're on the subject of Smed having moments of transcendental awareness, it should also be pointed out that $OE customer service sucks (in the metaphorical sense) more than most lifelong porn starlets.
To summarize:
1.) kill the NGE - it sucks.
2.) content is desperately needed.
3.) fix your piss-poor customer service. It pretty much blows in every way - you may want to fire them all and restart from scratch. Hell, out-sourcing to India would improve it, at least then the linguistocultural barrier would go a long way towards explaining the piss-poor quality.
These three points are what drove me off. These three points are what is keeping me from returning to SWG or any other $OE game.
How many summits or whatever have you twits held, and you're only now starting to realize some of this?!?!?! Just inexcusable, inexplicable, and a terrific example of pure and complete folly.
SWG Veteran and Refugee, Intrepid server NGE free as of Nov. 22, 2005 Now Playing: World of Warcrack Forum Terrorist
Comments
That is right there the foundation of American cultural stupidity. The conspiracy. Yea that is it. Its a conspiracy against pre-cu? That John Smedley's boss is some unaware bafoon and would have NO idea what SOE was working on with its game department. That he wouldn't see the MMO numbers from his online division and have no idea they where doing a NGE to that platform. Even though the damn thing has had NY Times and CBS articles slamming it. That everyone in the industry slammed it. Of course Sony Pictures bossman has no idea about any of that. He is also apparently surrounded by uninformed lackies who wouldn't suckle the power teet and rat out good old John Smedley right? Come on. Smedley made a business decision that cleared his bosses. He stated pre-cu wasn't generating a successful business model (IE it was losing money).
I agree with Jeff that your theory is pure poop. I believe SOE honestly thinks it would cost money and that they frankly dont have any left for this project. I honestly believe that if they have the code they could sunset pre-cu on test at a very, very minimal cost. Otherwise your stuck with a barely supported NGE game.
The part I agree with from Jeff is if pre-cu's cost (IE the license) is more then the games subscribers pre-cu nothing saves the game. It wouldn't be worth it for them at all to do anything. However, that isn't the answer they are giving. Its some quasi-answer that makes no sense. They dont say we where losing money pre-cu. They dont say we are losing money now. They frankly dont say anything that is an answer that makes any sense to a human being.
Following up my earlier post here regarding Dundee's comments on what "impossible" means with regard to pre-cu servers.
I can see why someone might choose the path that SWG is on right now: Sort of a "let's not do anything too drastic anymore, let's just bring back elements of the old game that people enjoyed, and blend them into the new system" approach.
In my mind this strategy, while it makes sense on one level, isn't working as well as some would like. I have some thoughts on why that might be the case:
1) First off, people felt robbed and misled when the NGE surprise was unwrapped. They want restitution. They want "their stuff back." This is how people react when something emotionally important has been taken away. To give them bits and pieces of their stuff back over the course of a few years, while they are paying additional money for it's possible return just doesn't feel like things are being set right. At best it takes too long. At worst, it feels like another con game: "give me some more money, and maybe I'll give you your stuff back."
2) If some things are going to be restored, the creature handler issue, which is such a sore point, should have been taken care of a lot sooner. That issue is still unresolved, and if anything should be "fast-tracked," in my mind that is it. People should not still log into the game and see their pets stuck in their datapads, any of them. And, I'm definitely not recommending that they be deleted. They should be let out so that their owner/players can interact with them again.
3) Incidental things that people really enjoyed, like camps, should also have been restored quickly, and still should be. Instead of just putting things back though, at least two leading Devs said things like this about camps: "you mean you just sat their and it was fun?" or "tell me how it can fit into the NGE and we may look at it."
4) According to Badgersmaker's latest player guide, there are still xp penalites for grouping. The larger the group, the lower the percentage xp you get for a kill. Let's face it, a lot of vets really enjoyed group hunting. This current system with it's xp penalty frankly discourages that. If you really want people to feel free to group AND feel free to solo, the systems should be equivalent with regard to xp earned, not one rewarded and another punished as it is now.
5) Don't sugar-coat the NGE deal. If you want someone to move past an offence, they generally need to feel that you've really owned responsibility for the hurtful action and it's repercussions, that you regret the pain you've caused, and that you have an intention to try to make things right, and avoid the hurtful behaviour in the future. This really hasn't happened. Apologies have been made for communication and timing and the like, but this doesn't have anyone owning and acknowledging that it was wrong and hurtful to delete 2 years worth of progress and community building.
Now in an ideal world, I'd still like to see classic servers run alongside NGE servers, but if SOE is going to "stay their current course," these are some points that I wanted to raise.
One thing I will say to balance my constructive criticism, as a former Master Doc , it is good that people have a broader range of heals and buffs again. It is also good that the targetting corpses for rez problem has received some attention. It is good that the aggro generated by the area heal can be reduced, and it is good that you can once again target friends for healing by clicking on their names in the group list. In my mind though, these are the kinds of issues that required immediate attention after the NGE was introduced. I eventually left because the corrections were too slow in coming, and when they did come, they were bugged when first introduced. These are some of many factors related to my leaving at any rate. If I elaborate on that issue, it would definitely require its own post.
Arc
Mr. Freeman,
Please dont let that last jerk misrepresent the entire Pre-CU/NGE Veteran Refuge community.
Most of here actual enjoy interacting and discussing SWG with you. I personally an enjoying seeing your posts and hope ignornat asshats dont scare you off to keeping the board alive.
May want to clean that off <points at your nose> yea it's a little brown.. Sorry nuthin but love for ya bro just wanted to make sure you didn't go out in public with it.
Oh and Jeff? Thanks for making my transition to WoW much easier.... Not getting this nose anywhere near it.
You are close to being the ONLY fool that "enjoys" speaking with him. A REAL veteran of SWG ... one who cares about the hows and whys and whos respnsible ... the ones that spent a ton of time and money paying and playing this game wouldn't just blow off what happened as easily as you have.
If you had half a brain and knew how much HE was responsible for what happend to SWG maybe you might not be shining your nose on his back side like somneone else said.
You are close to being the ONLY fool that "enjoys" speaking with him. A REAL veteran of SWG ... one who cares about the hows and whys and whos respnsible ... the ones that spent a ton of time and money paying and playing this game wouldn't just blow off what happened as easily as you have.
If you had half a brain and knew how much HE was responsible for what happend to SWG maybe you might not be shining your nose on his back side like somneone else said.
A "Real" swg veteran? Now you are questioning my pre-cu veteran status? I want to have an adult conversation and debate with an SOE former staffer and I am "shining my nose on his back side".
Maybe you two smacktards missed my entire posts calling into question his entire assertion that pre-cu wasn't a business sound decision. Maybe you missed me questioning the content creation tool he goes on about. Maybe you all missed my entire post history but rest assured I am and have always been a Pre-CU Veteran of SWG. However, when I have the oppurtunity to question the logic and reasoning an SOE staffer uses to defend a really bad business decision I can do so without making such worthless statements as "fuck you" and "disappear". I can do so with valid points of argument. I can read there response and I can formulate a rebuttal. Most of all I am beyond raging out on some former SOE employee and asking them to leave.
The other thing I hate is people who make other people feel unwelcome in this forum because they disagree with them. This isn't the NGE Carebear Forum where anything Pre-CU is instantly deleted and you receive a warning. This is the old General Discussion crowd. Those who use to stand up for Pre-CU and could do you all day long. Let SOE people post and speak. (Not just because it will further prove them to be patently wrong). A dialogue might further the cause. Jeff might forward our insights to his former SOE friends. Hell we can win the argument simply by the argument itself.
Jeff has basically no leg to stand on regarding the NGE decision. His arguments about the Pre-cu being impossible are weak at best. The notion of cost is highly overblown. However, you want to drag our side down to name calling in a thread. Congradulations on making the Pre-CU crowd look retarded.
You are close to being the ONLY fool that "enjoys" speaking with him. A REAL veteran of SWG ... one who cares about the hows and whys and whos respnsible ... the ones that spent a ton of time and money paying and playing this game wouldn't just blow off what happened as easily as you have.
If you had half a brain and knew how much HE was responsible for what happend to SWG maybe you might not be shining your nose on his back side like somneone else said.
A "Real" swg veteran? Now you are questioning my pre-cu veteran status? I want to have an adult conversation and debate with an SOE former staffer and I am "shining my nose on his back side".
Maybe you two smacktards missed my entire posts calling into question his entire assertion that pre-cu wasn't a business sound decision. Maybe you missed me questioning the content creation tool he goes on about. Maybe you all missed my entire post history but rest assured I am and have always been a Pre-CU Veteran of SWG. However, when I have the oppurtunity to question the logic and reasoning an SOE staffer uses to defend a really bad business decision I can do so without making such worthless statements as "fuck you" and "disappear". I can do so with valid points of argument. I can read there response and I can formulate a rebuttal. Most of all I am beyond raging out on some former SOE employee and asking them to leave.
The other thing I hate is people who make other people feel unwelcome in this forum because they disagree with them. This isn't the NGE Carebear Forum where anything Pre-CU is instantly deleted and you receive a warning. This is the old General Discussion crowd. Those who use to stand up for Pre-CU and could do you all day long. Let SOE people post and speak. (Not just because it will further prove them to be patently wrong). A dialogue might further the cause. Jeff might forward our insights to his former SOE friends. Hell we can win the argument simply by the argument itself.
Jeff has basically no leg to stand on regarding the NGE decision. His arguments about the Pre-cu being impossible are weak at best. The notion of cost is highly overblown. However, you want to drag our side down to name calling in a thread. Congradulations on making the Pre-CU crowd look retarded.
Very well said , If you aren't already . Register over at RLMMO.com , Maturity respect and reasoning come first .Yet we are all passionate in remembering what was wrongly done here .For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
Being part of a huge corporation, I highly doubt any executives would lose thier jobs over opening Pre-Cu servers to great success. I think the results of a successful implenentation would prove to be the opposite actually, the executives would garner huge bounes for incresing revuenues and profits and each clammor to take credit for great risk taking. Often the same people who lead a corporation into crap are the ones credited for finding the solution out of their own bad decision making.
I think you watch too many movies with happy endings to be honest.
In my opinion, Jeff Freeman is right on the money with his assessment. SWG is small potatoes in terms of the SOE's MMO roadmap, if the action isn't low risk/ high reward, then it's just not possible. I would do the same thing if I was incharge. It could be IP stuff of course too, but business wise all these huge projections by posters are purely emotional and based on zero research.
Click on BLOCK next to my name, and I will!
See, I've always thought that corporations had boards, whereas companies of other types might not. SOE LLC for example.
I like what you did there, putting me right in the same sentence as the CEO of a company.
I happen to not, but I lack your conviction. As I said, I might be wrong about that profit-thing.
Sure sounds like a moot point, though.
Ah... yeah, conspiracy, cover-up, hundred million dollars. When you explain it like that, I have to admit, it does sound completely ridiculous. I don't know as much about SOE's financial situation as you seem to, though, so I'll just have to take your word for it.
Oh we've gone over that already.
Oh, that's terrible. Sorry all that time was wasted, instead of being stockpiled without interruption forever.
It was nothing, really. It's just a web forum.
Gotcha.
Jeff Freeman
There's just too much risk involved with it for an unrealistic oppurtunity to get the profit needed to justify it, unfortunatley. That would be more of a driving factor than putting something out there that shows they were wrong before, IMO. Yeah it would make alot of people come back for SWG-PreCU servers, but ALOT still would not and they most definately realize that.
I lawled when i read this, thanks =p
Games i'm playing right now...
"In short, I thought NGE was a very bad idea" - Raph Koster talking about NGE on his blog at raphkoster.com
Click on BLOCK next to my name, and I will!
See, I've always thought that corporations had boards, whereas companies of other types might not. SOE LLC for example.
I like what you did there, putting me right in the same sentence as the CEO of a company.
I happen to not, but I lack your conviction. As I said, I might be wrong about that profit-thing.
Sure sounds like a moot point, though.
Ah... yeah, conspiracy, cover-up, hundred million dollars. When you explain it like that, I have to admit, it does sound completely ridiculous. I don't know as much about SOE's financial situation as you seem to, though, so I'll just have to take your word for it.
Oh we've gone over that already.
Oh, that's terrible. Sorry all that time was wasted, instead of being stockpiled without interruption forever.
It was nothing, really. It's just a web forum.
Gotcha.
Dude, I think you were "wrong about that profit-thing" when you designed the NGE. It must feel pretty good to be known as the "creator of the NGE". Met any of the disgruntled ex-SWG playerbase lately? You know, the same playerbase you disenfranchised with that craptastic combat system and shitty coding?
Man, we ALL know you were schitzing on meth when you designed it. How else can you explain such a glaring clusterfuck?
One thing though:
Come clean with us. You're not under any NDA, you were FIRED from $OE for the blunder known as the NGE. I refuse to believe that any company would retain someone who lost as much money and PR face as you caused them to lose.
I'm sure you'll come back with some witty retort to this post. By all means, let's see what else can come from your mind that we can also brand as completely asinine...
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now.
Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality.
See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
Jeff Freeman
pwnt.
edit: with the exception of the 'less reading comphrension' thing. i did infinitely more reading in the NGE than I did at anytime during the CU or PreCU. and i don't mean forums, either. it was all the goddamn quests one had to do level up a toon in any reasonable rate.
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now.
Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality.
See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
What the fuck are you talking about? Who was yelling? Me? I don't recall posting an all caps post...
And if this is a witty retort to my last post, I think you can do better that that...
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now.
Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality.
See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
Before you get all perma banned for like forum warring. Just kidding. This aint the SOE boards. Can you answer my question on how realistic of an approach it could be to use the test center servers and pre-cu servers and why that is so costly if you just release the pre-cu code on them and dub them sunset?
I'd really like to know why this wasn't implimented with the NGE as a way to appease the veteran community as its been suggested many times by the pre-cu crowd here and on the official forums.
But IP licenses tend to be real strict. I think no matter what you call it, there's a real strong case for being sued over having made two games when you only had permission to make one.
Jeff Freeman
Yeh, it makes me think Man, it's a good thing it takes less reading comprehension now.
Aw, but that's not the problem, is it? The problem is that you "refuse to believe" whatever disagrees with your imagined reality.
See there's no point talking to you. You just want to holler. Well, no thank you very much.
We all need a good cry sometimes, but you've been throwing this little tantrum long enough. Want me to pat your hand and say "there there" every time you need to lash-out? I ain't gonna do it.
To put it another way: Adults are talking. Either use your inside-voice, or go outside if you're just going to scream like that.
I have tried to always present my anger over this debacle , In a civil manner . But you have to understand even now a year later . That is going to be a hard thing to do for a lot of people . Where these guys have nothing to lose by being less than civil . You on the other hand had better realize that you are talking to potential customers . Unless you have decided to give up game development. It may be in your best interest not to piss off anyone else over this , Through you rhetoric .
Yes we are mostly adults here , but this responce is a bit adolecent . You of all people should know trolls are all over the interweb . Being an industry profesional and all , I would expect a tad better from you . You may not care , You may even enjoy flaming back and forth . But I view you as more or less a spokesman for your employer , And my opinion of them is going down more and more with each of these responces .
I respect that you are willing to have a dialogue, That alone is admirable . But don't ruin that with flames and trolling .
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Seriously, if all the threads are ending in 'bring back pre-cu servers' and the first thing the players said at the influencers summit was 'please bring back pre-cu servers' then maybe Smed should do as he preaches and bring back the damn pre-cu servers.
I mean, he openly admits that the first thing on all the SWG players mind is pre-cu servers and claims that hes going to do better at following through with what the community wants in the same post? Comon now...
I'm starting to think more and more now that there was another motive behind the NGE. I thought they were probably trying to get SWG on the new gen consoles at first, but unless that caved in or if they are just waiting to tell us about it, that wasnt the reason. Maybe something big happened, like a major security problem, or maybe the SWG devs did something illegal and were being blackmailed over it so they had to quietly change the game then release it overnight.
*puts on tin-foil hat* Maybe I am just refusing the believe the obvious truth, the SWG devs are complete morons.
Play as your fav retro characters: cnd-online.net. My site: www.lysle.net. Blog: creatingaworld.blogspot.com.
Jeff Freeman
All that at a gamble: this time not on future imaginary players, but on past imaginary players.
Then you've got two teams worth of developers tied-up supporting an old game, when half or more of them ought to be working on the next game.
But I could be totally wrong, Maybe there are contractual restrictions and such.
I'd say it is the costs of making servers for past immaginary players, along with the probability of demonstrating the past year's (two? Depends on the date you folks started developiong the NGE) worth of development was completely wasted money, is why. Unless LucasArts is still really pissed off at SOE, I doubt they would prevent them from opening classic servers.
I could see SoE only having a license from LA to run only one Star Wars MMO and two version of the one MMO could cause trouble with that.... I've got nothing to back that up with though, it's just completely random guessing.
So what do you think then is the probability of any real development on the NGE platform being done? Assuming that is indeed the real problem of running two versions side by side. I mean we have seen a development staff undergo a 3rd or 4th change in leadership. What purpose does it serve SOE to solicate feedback and ask veterans for things from the Pre-CU they'd like to see reimplimented if realistically there just isn't the will at SOE to seem to invest any more dollars into the project? Any changes they would do probably won't satisfy the disgruntled ex-swg players. It just makes it look like more poor communication.
I cannot see the numbers but at this point if its not profitable either way with the NGE having a lower total subscriber base how much real ingame improvements could we expect to see in the future with this product? I mean the developers seem to be between a rock and a hard place. Rolling back to them is like taking the game backwards and really has a subscriber ceiling apparently of about 200k users, which according to John Smedley just wasn't enough. I guess I'd say to SOE if they want me back they should consider a "fresh" Star Wars galaxies server, bring back the dynamic economy of pre-cu days (IE Decay, Crafter dominance, harvesting, etc) and add Hoth Content. I'd come back to play Hoth content.
P.S. But without the old economic model this game has a 30 day playability max.
Hey Smed - if so many of the posts end up being of the "bring back pre-NGE servers" type, as you state, perhaps you should FRIGGIN' LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR DAMNED CUSTOMERS, PAST AND PRESENT, WANT!!!!
BY AND LARGE, WE DON'T LIKE THE FRIGGIN' NGE!!!!
FIX THAT FIRST.
Moron. That a very substantial number of past and present players desire this and yet $OE continues in their refusal to acquiese (sp?) is just inexplicably moronic. That content was a suprising revelation is further proof just how out of touch the $OE and SWG leadership is with this game and especially the wishes of their subscriber base.
And while we're on the subject of Smed having moments of transcendental awareness, it should also be pointed out that $OE customer service sucks (in the metaphorical sense) more than most lifelong porn starlets.
To summarize:
1.) kill the NGE - it sucks.
2.) content is desperately needed.
3.) fix your piss-poor customer service. It pretty much blows in every way - you may want to fire them all and restart from scratch. Hell, out-sourcing to India would improve it, at least then the linguistocultural barrier would go a long way towards explaining the piss-poor quality.
These three points are what drove me off. These three points are what is keeping me from returning to SWG or any other $OE game.
How many summits or whatever have you twits held, and you're only now starting to realize some of this?!?!?! Just inexcusable, inexplicable, and a terrific example of pure and complete folly.
SWG Veteran and Refugee, Intrepid server
NGE free as of Nov. 22, 2005
Now Playing: World of Warcrack
Forum Terrorist