Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Going back into SWG in about one hour.
Enigma
Member UncommonPosts: 11,384
I decided to go back into SWG one last time to get a complete, unbiased review of all the changes that has been made. I'll be as fair as I can be in the review and will post screenshots. Im starting from scratch...the two Jedi Accounts were long ago sold so I just bought another SWG game from Wal*Mart for 24 bucks.
I'll be starting fresh with unbiased reviews (as unbiased as I can get). Im also going back in without a negative thought either....Im trying to be neutral with this one with a clear mind.
Well...See ya later tonight....
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Comments
ok here's a quick mini-review
The tutorial...I like what they've done with it...made it more user-interactive and the tutorial droids you get on your starting planet is kinda neat...which brings me to two negative comments:
1. All starting points now is Mos Eisly, Tatoinne....you are no longer given an option as to what planet you want to start on...so Im doing FEDeX missions to raise the money to get out. Some people are saying its a bug that came with the last patch....lol, i kinda forgot that SWG always introduced new bugs with patches.
2. The Ping/lag in the cities is worse than it was before...and since the server load is light and since I ran into only 4 people so far, I find this frustrating. Im only writing this mini-review cause the client crashed as I was trying to run through town in a desert storm (I have top of the line equipment plus a 256 radeon graphics card and a good speed AMD Athlon processor)
Well...lemme log on again
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Ok end of day one:
Pros:
The community is still as nice as ever. The community here makes the community in Lineage ][ .. well, there's no comparison.
Nifty little surprises....if you kill a pack of NPCs your little helper droid could transfer 2000 into your account saying "A Security Chief just monitored your fight and rewarded you with this..." so that was a surprise. The droid gives you little odds and ends quests as you do your main missions.
ATT and TIE pilot storm trooper gear: This was really exciting...not only can u have the storm trooper armor (which I had a set and got pretty boring), but now when you do the Naboo Imperial Theme Park you'll get either the ATAT suit or the TIE suit. I heard it was random...but it was nice to hear.
The vehicles custimizations are nice. You dont have the set of colors to choose from where they are all the same color with minor shade variances. The colors really stand apart. some are very bright.
Combat. It still sorta too simple (point and click) but now you really dont need a 400K credit Krayt tissue Fwg5 blaster to do any damage. Master Weaponsmiths now can do some pretty hookey things with noob blasters. (I dont remember doing 350-400 body damage with a DL44 before)
CONs:
The lag has got to be fized. There's really no excuse for this game to be out for almost one year and the cities still have crazy lag issues. The sad point is there is no one in town to even cause lag...its all the NPCs
No players: I played on a Friday night. I literally came across 4 people on Coriellia and 8 people on Tatoinne. 3 People on Naboo and 5 people on Dantoinne. Thats 20 people in the last 3 hours...on a FRIDAY NIGHT!!!!! Every single server but 3 said LIGHT load and the other 3 said Medium. When people are saying 250,000 people are still subscribed to this game they're either:
a. not telling the truth
b. everyone is allowing SOE to charge their cc and their not ever playing anymore.
The tutorial Bug: As said in my previous post...until the next patch comes out if you make a new character...he'll always end up in Tatoinne now....no choice in destination.
Bottom line so far: Its been my first day and its been ok. It feels more like a single player game with no one online. They better whip this expansion out soon and with good expectations because the rate this game is going, it'll be forced to shut down due to lack of activity. I logged onto Anarchy Online last week, and I ran into 40 times more people on Anarchy Online than SWG and in half the gameplay time.
If SOE doesnt pull a golden egg out on their expansion i cannot see how they can financially keep their SWG servers running with no people.
HOWEVER, the game changes has peaked my interests to play on to day two. Many people I know reactivated their account...looked around and noticed it was aghost town and then cancelled. At least this has sparked my curiousity to keep it going for another day
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Current time: 7:00 PM CST May 22,
I pretty much power-gamed this day to get as much review as I can finding both good and bad.
Pros:
I was really impressed to see NPCs battling it out in the streets of Kadaar (sp?). Seeing the rebels and imperials going at it was nice to see.
I was equally impressed that a storm trooper stopped me to scan me for any smuggled goods or illegal contraband. Looks like the AI has gotten better
More furniture: Its nice to see lamps and candles in homes rather than tiki torches. That was a rather nice touch to see
Cons:
While the NPC battles were neat to see, they reminded more of little gang fights than an actual civi war. You'll see like 2 or 3 rebels going after a couple of recruiters and vice versa...while it was neat to see it wasn't "wow..now this is Star Wars"
The Lag....i know I mentioned this last night, but its so bad if I were to quit the game within the coming week it would be this issue alone. The lag in SOE cities in SWG are far worse than when they were in release.
Lack of Players: I know i mentioned this last night as well, but I would figure on a Saturday you would see some....I counted 35 in Theed (maybe more as they shuttle to and fro)...however out of those 35 I saw, 13 of them were the same people I saw last night surveying for minerals...they still had "AFK" above their heads and they were still mining away. So a little less than half of the population in Theed are macroing. I counted a grand total of 55 players today
Spaghetti Western:
Hey the Player Cities! Some people on Various Planets put some real hard work into these. The designs of the malls, decor, paintings, are truly nice to see...but one key ingrediant is missing: The players themselves. Out of 12 Major Player Cities I visited on Coreillia, Tatoinne, Naboo I only came across a total of 9 players. The 12 Major cities I am referring to are labeled as "Metropolis" meaning ..they're pretty huge. I talked to some of the citizens of these cities and they replied..."LOL, they're all gone" or "Well, its been only me and so and so for the last 2 months, everyone split" It seems like people slapped in 14 million credits in all of their building maintenance and then cancelled their subscriptions until the Expansion comes out this fall.
Bug: The customization job you perform on your vehicle (the trimming) reverts back to normal when you relog
Fire those Vendors!!: Vendors liter the Malls of the Player Cities like cotton candy...giving hope to someone like me who needs armor but can not find an armorsmith on 5 planets. Out of 6 real life hours going from planet to planet, playercity to player city, I finally found one vendor that sold armor of any kind.
Final Verdict of Day two:
Some nice changes, some nice AI. However, no people. No people in a mmorpg is boring as hell no matter how better they improved the game. I sure hope I see some more people soon..Im going insane not talking to anyone.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Oddly enough I had more fun in the Beta, a year ago then I do now. The reason is (as you mentioned) people and lag (computer lag for me). In beta I can remember rarely dropping below 25 FPS in cities even with high AA/AF, now I seem to drop to 5FPS constantly in cities, no idea why. Also in beta there always seemed to be tons of people around. Running into groups of 20+ people happened often, and finding very large groups were easy as well. Yet, now I'm on the biggest server and have the same problems as you of finding very few people.
As far as the positives you mention, I agree. The AI has improved and I really like running from those imperial storm troopers when they try to nab my illegal goods, heh. The addition of mission terminals for various means other then delivery/destroy (that's all you could do in beta) is great, and with vehicles I really love taking the recon missions and then using my speeder to take care of it.
Also, about the armor.. I use the Map button, then filter Venders -> Armor. Then just use the map to run around to them.
To comment on the lag issue you bring up...I'm not quite sure which server or city you are in (it does make a difference) but very rarely do I see any lag at all.
With MMOs there's system lag and client/server lag.
I noticed not long after I started playing that if I turned a few of the graphics settings down it removed the lag. The game is graphically instensive so if you're system is trying to load up/render textures/models/etc then really what your seeing is lag on your system not client/server lag.
Naturally though when entering cities you do have more info to receive from the server so you might see a spike or too as the info comes down the pipe.
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
Naa, not like in beta.. it was packed and it was great. I use to be able to pop into LOK and find a group within a second since mobs of people were just standing around at the star port. PvP battles also seemed to happen a lot more frequently.
As for client lag, I've got a fairly good system (2.8ghz, 1gb ram, Radeon 9700 Pro) and several of the big graphics things like AA/AF (as well as 0 view distance, no shadows, etc..) are set low. Yet I still hit times in cities where I move at 1 frame a second for a bit. I really don't ever remember that in beta, which is why the concern. My computer still makes the same scores on 3DMarks03, and AquaMark3 as it did back then too. Not to mention there are less people running around, don't know what's up.
Still not a bad game though.. I had a lot of fun in beta and it's done nothing but improve greatly. I just wish I could find the problems with low FPS I'm having, and I'll have to join a clan to solve the people problem.
End of Day three review:
Pros:
Scenery "upgrades":
Here's something that was recently added in since I had left (or I never paid attention to it): If you look up in the sky (day or night) you see two star destroyers. One seems to be the Super Star Destroyer and one regular one. Nice to see...like an ominious presence in the heavens looking at your every move..
Finding Mission Stealers (or commonly known as Faction Point stealers) is few and far between. Matter of fact I ran into no one today while grinding out imperial faction points.
Third day and no site of an immature 13 year old proudly displaying his 3 mega super turtles in the Cantinas....this is always a plus since this game used to be called Pokemon Wars.
New Jedi System:
This will piss those people off who grinded 24 or so professions and will not make it before Publish 9 comes out. LOL....whether you look at in which ever light u choose, the Jedi system as a whole will either be Love it or Hate it. I personally think the newer system is a lot better than grinding the hell out of new professions and camp dantoinne like its a freaking nightclub entrance line. My wife and I unlocked the FS slock a few months back but we grinded nowhere near the amount current players are having to grind. Average professions to Master to unlock Jedi is 32 right now. My Wife and I did it in 19.
Cons:
Im a Pistoleer now. Heh, that should be a big con since I reinstalled the SWG client Friday night....its now late Sunday night and I am now a Pistoleer (0/0/1/0)and a marksmen (2/4/3/4). Mind you, the only day I powerleveled was yesterday. Friday I only put 2 hours into the game (setting up housing, buying a landspeeder....only fought my way to marksmen (0/2/0/1) by the end of day one. This is a very very big con. the rate Im going, Ill be a novice Bounty Hunter by Wednesday. Do I want that? no. But I dont have a choice since Imperial FP grinding requires heavy combat. (I am already a Staff Corp with a Storm Trooper Helmet and leggings).
The lag...I know I know I know its already been addressed but its freakin driving me nuts. My computer is a very high end Alienware with hardware specs that wasnt even invented yet when SWG was in its beta2 phase. (computer is only 4 months old) yet the lag is worse than my older computer when i first played SWG on. Weird.
I counted 66 people today on the server....its better than yesterday...plus Im meeting more brand new people than veterans. On my server I would be safe to say the new ratio versus the veteran players is about 6:1
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Keep up the reports Enigma
My thoughts on the game...
Originally playing on Eclipse i find making friends difficult. The only grouping anyone seems to do is solo groups. It is hard to find a guild due to people having to apply to join a guild then be "interviewed" and have a probation period to see if you are "suitable". Whatever happened to meeting folks while grouping and inviting people into the guild that way?
Moving to tempest, found the community there the same...solo groups abound and holo afk'ers everywhere.
Combat inbalances, Tka,swordsman and the melee professions do solo group missions to get difficulty 99 missions. They can kill a creature in a few hits. MY bh spends 3 or 5 minutes to kill a creature at difficulty 32 missions. I spend probably more on weapons than a guy with a lump of metal on a stick but are worse at combat.
Which server you on Enigma and how can you tell how many folks online at any one time?
Pan
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
Good reviews. I'd thought about trying this again also. Our Best Buy is selling SWG for $20.00 now.
I might hop back in and look around. Although your reviews don't give me a lot of hope.
--------------------------------------------
Frodo has failed. Bush has The Ring.
----------------------------------------------
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb." -- Batman
Im on the Chilastra Server...have some rl friends there..lol, just found out only 2 of them still played..I convinced one person to resubscribe to try it out with me.
However, Im in the same boat as you. Im currently awaiting to be part of a PA but my emails are unanswered and my website forum posts had even been viewed yet lol. But I think the expansion my bring in some newer people (I hope)
Plus Ill do random job soecific search when I hit every town and every planet....then I can get a general feeling as to how many are online. If you do an "any" search the results will be trunicated (cut down) as there are too many people for the search results to be of any good. I would probably imagine that there are a total of 250-300 people on the server (all worlds combined) at any given time. With about 80% of them in Dantoinne.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Heh, I'm still kind of having that problem too. It really is odd, my old system played this better in beta, but now it's a year after beta and with a new alienware-type computer runs it slower. Something I noticed though, I turned a lot of the graphics down/off, and AA/AF off and my FPS was about the same as if I put everything on VERY HIGH, and high AA/AF. So it must be something else, at least I can play at extremely high details for a moderate 30 FPS in the wild, and 10-25 FPS in the city.
Btw, I switched to Bloodfin today and noticed a lot more people there then my previous server.. The population there seems to be more active too.
I donno what server you play on but on ahazi... theres A SH1T LOAD OF PEOPLE ALL THE TIME ON! cept maybe at 4am, but even then ill run into 30ish people in town.
Anyways, the game is better then it was 9 months ago.
~Best thing since sliced bread
~Best thing since sliced bread
SWG-Ahazi- Kovoa DE/DOC
AC-Morningtha- Fou-Lu lvl 79 UA/LIFE
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
Day Four:
I decided to take my chances with the Emporer Retreat today.
I have to say I am a little surprised and impressed. Remember the days where all you got were winter gloves, holocron shards and a damn Imperial Royal Gown?
Well, they have change a few things
So far I have gotton Reinforced Storm Trooper Chest plate (not the kind from recruiters), over 10,000 credits, an Imperial Necklace that changes the AI of the Imperial NPCs (instead of saying, I need to see some Identification or Move Along, Move Along) they say, "I dont need to see any ID" and ATTENTION!!" and they salute you.
Ive also gotton the TIE flight suit/Helmit and someone their gave me their AT AT suit/helmet
All of this and I am still 2 people away from Talking to Lord Vader and the Emporer.
From what people are telling me, many of the theme parks have been dramatically changed in terms of loot.
CONs:
I got diseased today and took me 3 hours to find a Doctor to heal me so I had to deal with a continous physical/CON/STR wound every 4 seconds....got to be pretty annoying
I turned my graphics setting all the way down.......Lag still sucks...so I know its not a graphic or processor problem...
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Hiya, Do you have to be an imp to do the emporer's retreat theme park?
Btw ...theres a nice carbine from the nym stronghold. Not sure whether you ever got it or not.
Pan
Btw ...theres a nice carbine from the nym stronghold. Not sure whether you ever got it or not.
Hmm...I would think you would have to be a Imperial. Dont know for sure though.
No, I havent tried Nym's quests yet, but I wouldnt mind getting a nice carbine for now
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
"I turned my graphics setting all the way down.......Lag still sucks...so I know its not a graphic or processor problem..."
Yup, I was saying that earlier. I noticed that once I completely load an area I can run around in it fine even if there are like 40+ people jam packed together at a star port. So what I'm wondering is if it is a problem with memory, like a memory leak.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I'm sure you know this, but FPS issues are not lag related. Lag comes from a slow connection to the server and causes things to have a delayed reaction in-game.
Low FPS or choppiness is caused by high graphics settings or some graphics glitch.
What you are experiencing sounds like low FPS, which I get in Coronet all the time (I think everyone does) and once everything loads there's not much of a problem. I would recommend turning of shadows, seems that the game can't handle them very well. But I never see any lag except on Dant where all the solo groups are.
I picked back up the game in March and I have to say, it is much better than it used to be at release. I play on Lowca, Chilastra, and Tarquinas and most of the time I am able to find what I'm looking for fairly easily, be it a Doc, Weapon, Armor etc. Usually plenty of people around wherever I go.
This is a confirmed bug, a fix for it when to Test Center yesterday as part of Publish 9. Whether they'll roll the fix out before the whole publish goes live...I guess we'll have to see.
En1Gma, keep the reviews coming, they're insightful.
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
Review day 5:
Yesterday was quit evenful. Just gotten Sponsored into a PA (almost joined another PA because they gave away full suits of slice composite armor for joining...but I resisted)
Pros:
Server Population is getting better. Many people I am meeting now are on the free trail. Others I had met had been players who had quit some time ago and rejoined. Pretty much the general consesus ingame is that people who had quit in disgust in the game is impressed this time around.
Improved AI again:
I slapped a Storm Trooper in the face and he backhanded me and yelled at me as well as fined me 3000 credits lol. After me few promotions I did it again and instead of him back slapping me, he said "sorry" and sulked around
Cons:
Music. The only time music comes into play is during the sunset, sunrise, rain, and combat (and entering a city).....I just hope that they add music in the expansion because if they dont have music in the space fights, then that will just be....well, ungodly
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
But are you enjoying your experience Enigma?
For months my Eclipse BH had done nothing besides log on. I had no real urge to try anything.
An old daoc friend of mine invited me over to Tempest. Even though i again are grinding BH i am actually playing the game.
This i feel is where the fault with SWG lies. In other games such as Daoc your characters still have a role to play whether it be pvp or using one of your professions to help mates with either your cleric or paladin. Even my american friend who is a great bloke to group with has taken to the holo-grind and been online but afk for weeks.
Swg could easily be a solo game and not an mmorpg
Pan