Ive long suspected the UI changes and quasi-fps combat was done to make porting the game to PS3 easier. Once the players all quit that plan died. The chat functions alone was majorly stripped down and simplified. There can be no other reason for this than porting to console.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
Ive long suspected the UI changes and quasi-fps combat was done to make porting the game to PS3 easier. Once the players all quit that plan died. The chat functions alone was majorly stripped down and simplified. There can be no other reason for this than porting to console.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
Ive long suspected the UI changes and quasi-fps combat was done to make porting the game to PS3 easier. Once the players all quit that plan died. The chat functions alone was majorly stripped down and simplified. There can be no other reason for this than porting to console.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
Ive long suspected the UI changes and quasi-fps combat was done to make porting the game to PS3 easier. Once the players all quit that plan died. The chat functions alone was majorly stripped down and simplified. There can be no other reason for this than porting to console.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
don't be surprised if it still happens. they signed a deal with ncsoft to get some of their mmos on the ps3.
Ive long suspected the UI changes and quasi-fps combat was done to make porting the game to PS3 easier. Once the players all quit that plan died. The chat functions alone was majorly stripped down and simplified. There can be no other reason for this than porting to console.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
The Prima guide that kept popping up was listed as a "Console" version. It was never listed as a "PS3" guide. More than likely, it was just a relisting of the guide for the canceled X-Box version. The console guide had been popping up at online retail shops since the game was released.
I don't doubt there was an idea for the game to be ported to the PS3 if it had been as successful as the morons in charge thought it was going to be. It would have probably made the X-Box 360 too, since LEC is the publisher and could make SOE do an X-Box version (much like the game was originally supposed to have an X-Box version as opposed to a PS2 version).
A totally new UI: What? The old one was amazing, not only from an artistic point of view but from a functional point of view. A step backwards really... Why the change? Was the old UI holding swg back from some greater glory?
Camera and movement wha??: Ever play an action platformer that has no "platforms"? Doubt it, but somehow I got the feeling they tried turning galaxies into an action fps platform with character movement what would make a crack head envious . The classic standard 'select and lock on' targeting with a smooth sense of movement gave it a good pace for any one regardless of profession. Why the change? Was the old free moving camera and running speed holding swg back from some greater glory?
Yet another new combat system: Granted I was expecting the new combat system while i was installing the game, but I wasn't sure the details on it. From what I saw in my quick trial its basically this; everyone has an 'energy' bar like rogues from wow, and you have to point and click to shoot like a poor mans fps. Excuse me? They put in a first person esque combat system in an mmo that now has characters who can juke left and right across your screen like a guy from quake arena but in fast motion? I'm dazed and confused. I am a very open guy but I can't think of a reason for this style of combat to be put into an MMO that is already old.
Ready for this? A lot of the changes I've seen in NGE seem to shamefully copy what world of warcraft has, but with a SoE twist to it. But then suddenly SWG is a shooter style where I hold down the mouse to attack? They just did a 180 on the "lets copy wow" direction with something that is at the core of the game.
They spent so much time revamping the game to accomplish absolutely nothing. What was so hard about making abilities a,b, and c do slightly less damage, and x,y, and z do slightly more damage? Couldn't they have just adjusted abilities instead of trying to start over? Surely if they had just done that, they could have had countless hours open to them to add content like a progressing story line that changed depending on the activies of the players etc.
To sum up my aimless post about how dazed and confused I am about what the hell I just played and how it could have possibly turned out this way is this.....
Okay so lets look at PVP. Oh wait I can't because for some reason I have to go grind to level 90 to experience that because some genius thought a sandbox should have character levels when the world wasn't built with that in mind. But regardless, does pvp have any meaningful effects and rewards? Like can imperials conquer zones and give static city benefits to other imperials or anything that can benefit a faction as a whole?
There is nothing to do. Sorry to say, but there isn't. I spoke to one imperial during my quick tour and the best he could give mne was "galaxies is really great now! there are tons of quests and collections now!" Woah... so that's what the game has to offer? Doing missions that probably don't change anything and collecting stupid furniture that no one is going to look at. Not my cup of tea.
At the core of my curiosity is this observation: There is nothing to progresses in galaxies. The story doesn't continue. Only a few new toys are thrown in along with an ugly painting every now and then and its called content. During the entirety of SWG's existence, there was always the sense of overwhelming potential but at the same time, there was never a sense of direction. The game stood still at "lets play dress up with guns and shoot people until you're bored". If the goal of the game was star wars immersion, then they lost me early on during the time where a TKA could solo a krayt .
What the hell was the point of the NGE? Even taking it a step further, what was the point of any of the overhauls this game has seen?
Well now that I blew off some steam... I have a question.
***
At first glance there are some obvious changes from the classic version of the game and I can't figure out any of them. Please fill me in if there is a rhyme or reason for anything below:
(I'm certain there are a lot of people who share my view on swg suckage so skip my criticism and head to the red *** below for a question I have that is itching for answers)
Hi gents. I'm Rob, and I'm a former SWG player. I began playing on the 2nd day of launch and played steadily until I canceled some time in mid 05. I was a commando as well as a rifleman/doc on Chilastra. I stopped playing for numerous small reasons but I don't want to rant about history. During my hiatus I did hear about the NGE and how the game practically imploded. Lately I caught word that SWG was free till some time this summer so I decided to give this trial a shot because hey, its free so it couldn't hurt; in turn it felt like i was shot right back, in the face, point blank. I was so wrong. It did hurt. I experienced changes I couldn't have imagined.
Here is my opinion as to what happened World of Warcraft released to huge success and SOE/Lucas Arts wanted some of the action so they dumbed the game down in an effort to lure more players to the game. They felt like it did not matter what they did to the existing playerbase because in the end they were sure they could pull it off and make mega millions just like warcraft. They thru the NGE together in less than a year and a man Named Smedley thought 1st person shooters were the way to go so I think thats how the ui came about which I hate although the game is providing me with some entertainment just fom the legacy quests). I think alot of the forum complaining has alot to do with the changes as well. Anyway thats pretty much what happened in a nutshell.
Here is my opinion as to what happened World of Warcraft released to huge success and SOE/Lucas Arts wanted some of the action so they dumbed the game down in an effort to lure more players to the game.
This is exactly what happened and anybody who says otherwise is an idiot.
Ive long suspected the UI changes and quasi-fps combat was done to make porting the game to PS3 easier. Once the players all quit that plan died. The chat functions alone was majorly stripped down and simplified. There can be no other reason for this than porting to console.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
Oh Yeah... I remember that ( vaguely ) good catch.
I know that the xbox version was scrapped very early on. The point I was trying to make is that they try to port it before, why not now?
Hell, the former lead designer of SWG, the guy who came up with the NGE combat system, recently posted on his blog that the only reason the NGE failed was because the folks in marketing dropped the ball. He still thinks the NGE game is great and that we are morons who need to "eat a dick" and go fuck ourselves for not being able to understand how great it is.
Hell, the former lead designer of SWG, the guy who came up with the NGE combat system, recently posted on his blog that the only reason the NGE failed was because the folks in marketing dropped the ball. He still thinks the NGE game is great and that we are morons who need to "eat a dick" and go fuck ourselves for not being able to understand how great it is.
LOL, can I get a link to this?
Here's the original version (with the profanities somewhat sanitized):
Instead of blaming themselves for bugs, and things not fixed, they decided to cop-out and blame it on not being "iconic" enough, or not "fast action"
So then basically decided to change to a "Fast action" system but instead of taking the best route of designing a new game engine they just frankenstiened the existing one.
Like taking a bus and duct taping wings on it to make a plane instead of designing a plane from the start.
EVEN WORSE, is they totally lied to their player base the whole way. Launching NGE as a denied secret at a time they were revamping classes totally removed by NGE. A total bait and switch move.
They ruined years into my character with this pathetic marketing stunt. I am a pre NGE Jedi with a widened bung thanks to SOE.
I wills never buy another SOE game no matter what it is. No way is one cent of my cash going to a company that time and time again flat out lied to me.
I wouldn't say they were all complete, blithering idiots Some of them did a few things right.
They did implement the original Sandbox system that we miss to this day.
The original game worlds are still, IMO, some of the best in MMOs. All terrain was traversible. There were no stupid invisible walls like most MMOs have, and which Rage of the Wookies and Trials of Obi-Wan introduced. The original worlds were different from each other, had distinct feel. The towns are still nice, but it's regretting some of those wonderful towns were little used. Corellia and Naboo had some FABULOUS cities. Cycle of time and weather. I still remember starting the game waaaayyy out in Doerba Goefel, Northeast in the mountains of the Corellia map. Graphics turned up high, took forever for me to reach the top of a big hill overlooking the town (I had no terrain negotiation as a newbie Marksman). But the view was spectacular.
And hats off to the original art team. You could see the work in now well the original worlds looked, how nice and detailed the original equipment was.
Armor was a example of their quality work. Lots of little details. Weathering. Damage. Etc. Stormtrooper Armor is a shining example of this. If your rig could run the game with its max settings, ST Armor was full of wonderful work. It had a overall shiny, polished look, but when you look close, there were indications of wear and tear. Small bits of damage like little cracks and gouges.
Scout Trooper Armor, implemented during the CU for players to wear, is a bit unique. The art for it was there in the .tre files before the CU. I even did client side mods to transform my outfit / armor into Scout Trooper Armor (wouldn't work for Swamp Trooper, kneepads would be white). Scout Trooper Armor had the same quality of work as all the original armors, but it was implemented later in the CU for us to wear.
So, the original armors had nice details, weathering, and such. They also had 1 final thing that the later dev team wouldn't do: Helmets that showed the face. Chitin, Padded Armor helmets were good examples of this, and Chitin Armor had that green, transparent visor of the exposed face.
Mandalorian Armor with its very unique look, scheme, and polish. RIS Armor, again very unique with alot of details in its non-standard "look." All from the original slew of gear from SWG.
NONE of the armor introduced after the CU was implemented showed this TLC when they were made. Shock Trooper Armor was the worst, especially if someone wearing it was standing next to someone wearing Stormtrooper Armor. In the official forums, I ripped Shock Trooper Armor since it looked like a turd spray painted white with a slice of orange thrown on top.
There was a bunch of things from the original version of the game that was top notch and good work from the devs. It's their later execution of the game with "changes" that drove me up the wall.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Yeah the game as it was originally was great, sure it needed some bug fixes here and there and some balancing out, but the community was great. I loved going into cantinas and resting after a hunt, chatting with other players and forming yet another group to go on another hunt with. I loved armorsmiths and weaponsmiths, I paid one of my favorite artisans well for her services, because she provided me with a lot of what I came to rely on while out in the wilderness.
First (and only) time I saw a complete set of Mando armor was in the cantina. I was impressed and not at the same time. I didn't look like Boba/Jango Fett wear.
RIS armor - the first (and only) time I saw a full suit of RIS it was being worn by a Dark Jedi.
I remember the first time I saw a Jedi. I'd been playing for over a year and this guy in the Theed Starport pulls out a double bladed purple saber and starts fighting a couple of Bounty Hunters. I was impressed.
In the earlier days of Pre-CU, they were rare. So rare that you'd be extremely lucky to see one. I saw 1 in action out in the boondocks of Dantooine, and he didn't mean to be seen.
They had permadeath and had to be wary of danger, not to mention prowling BH's (who had problems on their own tracking them).
Back then, Jedi were revered.
Now? They're more numerous than Stormtroopers. They've been despised once they began to dominate the game (GCW, PVE/PVP, including the Publishes). And with the NGE, they were a starting class.
Awesome stuff in hindsight, looking back at the hilarious develoment cycle of Jedi.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Ive long suspected the UI changes and quasi-fps combat was done to make porting the game to PS3 easier. Once the players all quit that plan died. The chat functions alone was majorly stripped down and simplified. There can be no other reason for this than porting to console.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
For some reson I see him as the type of person that would dump toxic waste into your local lake but then say, "it is ok since it has a minty aftertaste". I never could get over the over the shoulder camra for me.
You can get your character centered again in the options menu. For some exceeding retarded reason tho they decided that if you center your toon it gets shifted to the very bottom of the screen. So where as before you could get a close up half body shot now the same zoom barely gets the shoulders in the view screen. Another change for changes sake since it made no one happy except the devs.
SWG was failing to deliver WoW numbers. Instead of blaming themselves for bugs, and things not fixed, they decided to cop-out and blame it on not being "iconic" enough, or not "fast action" So then basically decided to change to a "Fast action" system but instead of taking the best route of designing a new game engine they just frankenstiened the existing one. Like taking a bus and duct taping wings on it to make a plane instead of designing a plane from the start. EVEN WORSE, is they totally lied to their player base the whole way. Launching NGE as a denied secret at a time they were revamping classes totally removed by NGE. A total bait and switch move. They ruined years into my character with this pathetic marketing stunt. I am a pre NGE Jedi with a widened bung thanks to SOE. I wills never buy another SOE game no matter what it is. No way is one cent of my cash going to a company that time and time again flat out lied to me.
In my view this has to be one of the most accurate and concise accounts of all that happened over the course of SWG. The choice of words gave me a chuckle too lol, well chronicled.
I wouldn't say they were all complete, blithering idiots Some of them did a few things right. They did implement the original Sandbox system that we miss to this day. The original game worlds are still, IMO, some of the best in MMOs. All terrain was traversible. There were no stupid invisible walls like most MMOs have, and which Rage of the Wookies and Trials of Obi-Wan introduced. The original worlds were different from each other, had distinct feel. The towns are still nice, but it's regretting some of those wonderful towns were little used. Corellia and Naboo had some FABULOUS cities. Cycle of time and weather. I still remember starting the game waaaayyy out in Doerba Goefel, Northeast in the mountains of the Corellia map. Graphics turned up high, took forever for me to reach the top of a big hill overlooking the town (I had no terrain negotiation as a newbie Marksman). But the view was spectacular. And hats off to the original art team. You could see the work in now well the original worlds looked, how nice and detailed the original equipment was.
The one thing that ALWAYS amazes me, to this day on my quarterly vet trial, is that some things about SWG are so right it is painful.
My favorite example is that the ambient light when dawn hits on whatever planet you're on, especially Corellia, feels like morning. It's absolutely authentic for me. I can tell you what time of day it is by looking around at the ambient light, not by noting the position of the sun in the sky.
Sometimes I just find a mountain top to be on to watch the sunrise or the sunset. Or to watch the other four planets in the Corellian sky slowly march across during the night.
The original SWG team absolutely nailed this.
Then there were the creature animations...which were fantastic, before everything mobile was put on crystal meth. The leaping of my greater sludge panther as it attacked a ronto, or a kimogilla. The movement of a dewback or a humbaba. The death of a cu pa...cribbed straight from a taun taun dying from ESB. The movement of klickniks. The fearsome attack meow of a kima...beyond hilarious. Yet kimas could be death to anyone unwary on Talus.
This is the true tragedy of SWG...they had so many things so incredibly right. The lost potential causes me to tear up.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
The NGE even nerfed the camera system. I mean, did it deserve the same fate as the Sandbox System also?
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
SWGNGE might as well be a single player game. Don't really need anyone for anything. Everyone gets 2 toons a server, one combatant, one crafter to sell loot and make the very few things a person even needs. Play jedi? No need for conventional weapons or armor, at all, and you can loot everything else or get them as quest rewards. Pathetic.
Yeah it very well could be a single player game now, as sad as that sounds. But hell it would make an awesome Morrowind type game for the Star Wars universe.
It's funny how Jedi turned out in SWG. In the earlier days of Pre-CU, they were rare. So rare that you'd be extremely lucky to see one. I saw 1 in action out in the boondocks of Dantooine, and he didn't mean to be seen. They had permadeath and had to be wary of danger, not to mention prowling BH's (who had problems on their own tracking them). Back then, Jedi were revered. Now? They're more numerous than Stormtroopers. They've been despised once they began to dominate the game (GCW, PVE/PVP, including the Publishes). And with the NGE, they were a starting class. Awesome stuff in hindsight, looking back at the hilarious develoment cycle of Jedi.
The Jedi system was doomed. In hindsight, they should have either not let them playable or let them be playable from day one.
Everyone wanted a Jedi. That's why probably half to two thirds of the community was there. The problem was that it was so hard to be one - and now we find out that for a while, Sony didn't even have a system!
Anyway - it was inevitable that Jedi would start cropping up everywhere. It was just a matter of time. And I'll admit, it did destroy the game. Initially because everyone was grinding and later because the game devolved into BH vs. Jedi.
From what I understand, originally there were four classes you could find through holocrons and one silent class. But as Jedi kept coming out, they raised the number of silents by one...then two...then three - without telling anyone. When I started my grind the average number of classes you had to master to unlock was between 13-15. By the time they scrapped that system, the average number of classes you had to master was 31-32 out of 33.
But then, once you opened your Jedi you had to grind in the middle of no where for hours and hours and hours and HOURS before you could even defend yourself from anything - meaning that a part of the community was again, out of sight. So the Jedi you did see were all masters.
The change sucked too. That "village" was one of the STUPIDEST storylines I've ever had the misfortune of reading about. Yeah, a village of "force sensitives" in the middle of no where. I wonder how much they paid the twelve year old who wrote that. Anyway it made me want to barf. It seems like Vadar and the Emperor would have orbitally bombed the crap out of it (since there were Star Destroyers in orbit over Dath.)
Anyway - the point is that it was so totally poorly planned that it wasn't even funny.
What they should have done was given everyone the option of creating a force sensitive character at creation. If you choose to be force sensitive, you only 220 skill points (instead of 250.) The "force adept" class you can purchase for free. Then there are Jedi classes that you have to pay for. If you sink all points in to lightsaber you're a combat monster...but you'll never be able to have as many "non jedi" levels as non force sensitives.
It's funny how Jedi turned out in SWG. In the earlier days of Pre-CU, they were rare. So rare that you'd be extremely lucky to see one. I saw 1 in action out in the boondocks of Dantooine, and he didn't mean to be seen. They had permadeath and had to be wary of danger, not to mention prowling BH's (who had problems on their own tracking them). Back then, Jedi were revered. Now? They're more numerous than Stormtroopers. They've been despised once they began to dominate the game (GCW, PVE/PVP, including the Publishes). And with the NGE, they were a starting class. Awesome stuff in hindsight, looking back at the hilarious develoment cycle of Jedi.
The Jedi system was doomed. In hindsight, they should have either not let them playable or let them be playable from day one.
Everyone wanted a Jedi. That's why probably half to two thirds of the community was there. The problem was that it was so hard to be one - and now we find out that for a while, Sony didn't even have a system!
Anyway - it was inevitable that Jedi would start cropping up everywhere. It was just a matter of time. And I'll admit, it did destroy the game. Initially because everyone was grinding and later because the game devolved into BH vs. Jedi.
From what I understand, originally there were four classes you could find through holocrons and one silent class. But as Jedi kept coming out, they raised the number of silents by one...then two...then three - without telling anyone. When I started my grind the average number of classes you had to master to unlock was between 13-15. By the time they scrapped that system, the average number of classes you had to master was 31-32 out of 33.
But then, once you opened your Jedi you had to grind in the middle of no where for hours and hours and hours and HOURS before you could even defend yourself from anything - meaning that a part of the community was again, out of sight. So the Jedi you did see were all masters.
The change sucked too. That "village" was one of the STUPIDEST storylines I've ever had the misfortune of reading about. Yeah, a village of "force sensitives" in the middle of no where. I wonder how much they paid the twelve year old who wrote that. Anyway it made me want to barf. It seems like Vadar and the Emperor would have orbitally bombed the crap out of it (since there were Star Destroyers in orbit over Dath.)
Anyway - the point is that it was so totally poorly planned that it wasn't even funny.
What they should have done was given everyone the option of creating a force sensitive character at creation. If you choose to be force sensitive, you only 220 skill points (instead of 250.) The "force adept" class you can purchase for free. Then there are Jedi classes that you have to pay for. If you sink all points in to lightsaber you're a combat monster...but you'll never be able to have as many "non jedi" levels as non force sensitives.
Yes - I have no life....
I've always thought that the jedi system was poorly conceived. I just recently found out that the original system was thrown together in two weeks, after the game's launch, so that explains part of it.
Also, the timeline made this hard to conceive. Jedi were supposed to be very rare. What did SOE do with this? Make it hard to unlock one, and then hard to keep one. Well this just led to a lot of grinding to get one, and then frustration when they got whacked after all that effort.
Either a different timeline had to be used for the game to justify the presence of so many jedi, or a much less frustrating system had to be developed.
I like the KOTOR timeline tbh, bring on the jedi and sith . In the StarWars trilogy timeline though, I might have liked them as unlockable "monsters" something like LOTR. You unlock a jedi just for kicks to temporarily run amock throughout Bestine lol, or get chased across the Junland wastes by a gang of bounty hunters. See how many you can take out with your force powers and saber before the masses finally bring you down Anyways, that's just a passing thought.
As far as the village goes, I liked some of the phases (e.g. defending it in phase 4). The sith commander mission had potential but was often bugged or camped or both. I did like earning force skills there for my TKM. I didn't want to become a jedi for the longest time lol, just wanted to kick people in the face harder and more accurately
There never should have been a "Jedi" system. What should have been done was to allow players to be Force sensitive. The Force could have augmented whatever skills the player wanted, and the glowsticks that the folks in marketing had a hard-on for could have been included, but it wouldn't have gone against the canon of Star Wars the way including Jedi did. There shouldn't have been Jedi templates or skill trees, and using force abilities in an obvious way should have had the potential to increase visability.
There was so much that could have been done within the established Star Wars lore. I still don't understand the developers felt the need to mangle the established Star Wars lore to fit into their concepts of what a game should be. Why was the Empire never shown to be the oppressive bastards from the movies? If the developers had looked at that oppressiveness as a springboard for content, instead of the roadblock they seem to have, they could have added several game systems that would have generated content (think of an actual smuggling system, reasons for joining the Empire or Alliance, or several other things that follow from establishing an entity that oppresses the populace within a game world).
How cool would it have been to require a smuggler to deliver bio-engineered critters to the buyer? How much cooler would it be to place a bounty on a smuggler who fails to deliver the product (which could automagically deliver the product upon completion of the bounty if players felt too put upon by the necessity of the delivery system)? Why not allow Imperial players the ability to call NPC reinforcements to deal with Rebels? To counter that, Rebels should have had the ability to intermingle freely without much harassment (which they did have, but only because the GCW system allowed both sides to turn off any involvement in the GCW), since the entire idea behind the Alliance was that they were a ragtag bunch of civilians, and allow them to attack Imperial assets without warning.
There was so much that the Star Wars part of the game could have brought to the table that was dismissed out of hand because it didn't fit within the developers' idea of how a game should be made.
I'll never forget the first time I ran into a jedi. Many many years ago I was running around as an overt imperial TKA master in that little rebel town on tatooine...anchor something, been too long XD. Anyways, I was running across the little bridge towards a flagged rebel in a trench coat...gg light saber pops out and wrecks my face. It saddened me that my TKA masterness was so easily dispatched by a jedi; true, I didn't have any doc/entertainment buffs, but still, he killed me so quick. It was at that point I decided that I was no longer going to allow a Jedi to get to that strong again.
I had heard that bounty hunters were going to be able to get missions for jedi eventually, so I went out and picked up novice marksman. Slowly worked my way towards master bounty hunter, dropping my beloved TKA tree as I went. By the time I had hit master bounty hunter, two things had happened: 1. The jedi bounty system had come out 2. Jedi were no longer on permadeath, or 3-death perma, but on a system where they just lost a crap ton of xp. While this saddened me, I figured it was still worth pew pewing them. After a few craptastic NPC bounty missions to figure out it all worked, I picked up my first jedi mission. Took me forever to track the lil buggar, throwing up that stupid drone and running to spots the he apparently was JUST at. I eventually tracked him to what I think was endor...very foresty planet, ground out a lot of TKA xp there. What I do clearly remember is running through the forest, and nearly walking right on top of him. He was so cute there, his green lightsaber doing speckles of damage to his target....again I can't remember the mob's name, some sort of dog looking thing. I could only imagine the look on his face as a full composite, fully buffed master bounty hunter popped out of the woods and targeted him. While it seemed like minutes that we stared at each other, it took only seconds for him to turn face and sprint through the woods. Unluckily for him, I had already queued up about 50 mind shots...I think thats what they were called anyhow, whatever it was, his mind bar dropped real damn quick, and his white robed ass flopped onto its back. I already had my /coupdegrace ready for him, but I took my time walking over; I wanted to savor the moment that I had my revenge upon the jedi. As I walked over to his incapacitated ass, my whole body trembled, rushes of adrenaline running through me as I was about to have my first jedi kill. Again, this felt like minutes, but really was a few second of me jogging over...out of the corner of my eye, or the screen in the case, I see a little brown blur run up, and the incapacitated body became a corpse. It took me a second to realize what had happened...I had forgotten about that little bastard mob he was fighting when I came across him. The buggar had finally caught up to us and stole my kill. All that work to get master bounty hunter, to track down this jedi, and finally put him on his back...the reward stolen by some stupid mob.
Anyways, that's my fondest memory of pre-cu SWG. Damn you Smed =(
There never should have been a "Jedi" system. What should have been done was to allow players to be Force sensitive. The Force could have augmented whatever skills the player wanted, and the glowsticks that the folks in marketing had a hard-on for could have been included, but it wouldn't have gone against the canon of Star Wars the way including Jedi did. There shouldn't have been Jedi templates or skill trees, and using force abilities in an obvious way should have had the potential to increase visability. There was so much that could have been done within the established Star Wars lore. I still don't understand the developers felt the need to mangle the established Star Wars lore to fit into their concepts of what a game should be. Why was the Empire never shown to be the oppressive bastards from the movies? If the developers had looked at that oppressiveness as a springboard for content, instead of the roadblock they seem to have, they could have added several game systems that would have generated content (think of an actual smuggling system, reasons for joining the Empire or Alliance, or several other things that follow from establishing an entity that oppresses the populace within a game world). How cool would it have been to require a smuggler to deliver bio-engineered critters to the buyer? How much cooler would it be to place a bounty on a smuggler who fails to deliver the product (which could automagically deliver the product upon completion of the bounty if players felt too put upon by the necessity of the delivery system)? Why not allow Imperial players the ability to call NPC reinforcements to deal with Rebels? To counter that, Rebels should have had the ability to intermingle freely without much harassment (which they did have, but only because the GCW system allowed both sides to turn off any involvement in the GCW), since the entire idea behind the Alliance was that they were a ragtag bunch of civilians, and allow them to attack Imperial assets without warning. There was so much that the Star Wars part of the game could have brought to the table that was dismissed out of hand because it didn't fit within the developers' idea of how a game should be made.
I always had a serious problem with Aliens in the Empire. I think it should have cost non humans a LOT more fp to do anything in the Empire. The Sith HATED aliens.
Comments
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/417/Star-Wars-Galaxies/
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/417/Star-Wars-Galaxies/
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/417/Star-Wars-Galaxies/
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/417/Star-Wars-Galaxies/
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
don't be surprised if it still happens. they signed a deal with ncsoft to get some of their mmos on the ps3.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/417/Star-Wars-Galaxies/
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
The Prima guide that kept popping up was listed as a "Console" version. It was never listed as a "PS3" guide. More than likely, it was just a relisting of the guide for the canceled X-Box version. The console guide had been popping up at online retail shops since the game was released.
I don't doubt there was an idea for the game to be ported to the PS3 if it had been as successful as the morons in charge thought it was going to be. It would have probably made the X-Box 360 too, since LEC is the publisher and could make SOE do an X-Box version (much like the game was originally supposed to have an X-Box version as opposed to a PS2 version).
Here is my opinion as to what happened World of Warcraft released to huge success and SOE/Lucas Arts wanted some of the action so they dumbed the game down in an effort to lure more players to the game. They felt like it did not matter what they did to the existing playerbase because in the end they were sure they could pull it off and make mega millions just like warcraft. They thru the NGE together in less than a year and a man Named Smedley thought 1st person shooters were the way to go so I think thats how the ui came about which I hate although the game is providing me with some entertainment just fom the legacy quests). I think alot of the forum complaining has alot to do with the changes as well. Anyway thats pretty much what happened in a nutshell.
This is exactly what happened and anybody who says otherwise is an idiot.
Smedley swears up and down there were never any plans to port SWG to console.
Of course, Smedley has no credibility at all, so this exclamation is worth bupkis.
http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/417/Star-Wars-Galaxies/
Was advertised on the official xbox website for years. Has since been removed.
When the game was announced, it was announced as a Windows and X-Box game. The X-Box version was canceled prior to the release of the Windows version. I really doubt the NGE was created to make the game easier to port to a console. I think the folks in charge of development were actually stupid enough to think the NGE was a good game. Both Jeff Freeman and Dan Rubenfield still think the NGE combat system is more fun than the pre-NGE combat system. I don't doubt their former bosses still think the same thing. It boggles the mind that people so divorced with reality can function in everyday society.
you're forgetting the fact that a Prima Guide book for a PS3 version appeared right before the NGE on several gaming websites. That stuff doesnt happen by accident.
Oh Yeah... I remember that ( vaguely ) good catch.
I know that the xbox version was scrapped very early on. The point I was trying to make is that they try to port it before, why not now?
/SOE "Help us save this game, PLEASE!!"
LOL, can I get a link to this?
The History of the Order of The Golden Shields
LOL, can I get a link to this?
Here's the original version (with the profanities somewhat sanitized):
www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2077408#2077408
Here's the new version:
rubenfield.com/
It would seem that almost anyone who was ever connected to the development side of SWG is a blithering idiot.
SWG was failing to deliver WoW numbers.
Instead of blaming themselves for bugs, and things not fixed, they decided to cop-out and blame it on not being "iconic" enough, or not "fast action"
So then basically decided to change to a "Fast action" system but instead of taking the best route of designing a new game engine they just frankenstiened the existing one.
Like taking a bus and duct taping wings on it to make a plane instead of designing a plane from the start.
EVEN WORSE, is they totally lied to their player base the whole way. Launching NGE as a denied secret at a time they were revamping classes totally removed by NGE. A total bait and switch move.
They ruined years into my character with this pathetic marketing stunt. I am a pre NGE Jedi with a widened bung thanks to SOE.
I wills never buy another SOE game no matter what it is. No way is one cent of my cash going to a company that time and time again flat out lied to me.
SHOHADAKU
I wouldn't say they were all complete, blithering idiots
Some of them did a few things right.
They did implement the original Sandbox system that we miss to this day.
The original game worlds are still, IMO, some of the best in MMOs. All terrain was traversible. There were no stupid invisible walls like most MMOs have, and which Rage of the Wookies and Trials of Obi-Wan introduced. The original worlds were different from each other, had distinct feel. The towns are still nice, but it's regretting some of those wonderful towns were little used. Corellia and Naboo had some FABULOUS cities. Cycle of time and weather. I still remember starting the game waaaayyy out in Doerba Goefel, Northeast in the mountains of the Corellia map. Graphics turned up high, took forever for me to reach the top of a big hill overlooking the town (I had no terrain negotiation as a newbie Marksman). But the view was spectacular.
And hats off to the original art team. You could see the work in now well the original worlds looked, how nice and detailed the original equipment was.
Armor was a example of their quality work. Lots of little details. Weathering. Damage. Etc. Stormtrooper Armor is a shining example of this. If your rig could run the game with its max settings, ST Armor was full of wonderful work. It had a overall shiny, polished look, but when you look close, there were indications of wear and tear. Small bits of damage like little cracks and gouges.
Scout Trooper Armor, implemented during the CU for players to wear, is a bit unique. The art for it was there in the .tre files before the CU. I even did client side mods to transform my outfit / armor into Scout Trooper Armor (wouldn't work for Swamp Trooper, kneepads would be white). Scout Trooper Armor had the same quality of work as all the original armors, but it was implemented later in the CU for us to wear.
So, the original armors had nice details, weathering, and such. They also had 1 final thing that the later dev team wouldn't do: Helmets that showed the face. Chitin, Padded Armor helmets were good examples of this, and Chitin Armor had that green, transparent visor of the exposed face.
Mandalorian Armor with its very unique look, scheme, and polish. RIS Armor, again very unique with alot of details in its non-standard "look." All from the original slew of gear from SWG.
NONE of the armor introduced after the CU was implemented showed this TLC when they were made. Shock Trooper Armor was the worst, especially if someone wearing it was standing next to someone wearing Stormtrooper Armor. In the official forums, I ripped Shock Trooper Armor since it looked like a turd spray painted white with a slice of orange thrown on top.
There was a bunch of things from the original version of the game that was top notch and good work from the devs. It's their later execution of the game with "changes" that drove me up the wall.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Yeah the game as it was originally was great, sure it needed some bug fixes here and there and some balancing out, but the community was great. I loved going into cantinas and resting after a hunt, chatting with other players and forming yet another group to go on another hunt with. I loved armorsmiths and weaponsmiths, I paid one of my favorite artisans well for her services, because she provided me with a lot of what I came to rely on while out in the wilderness.
First (and only) time I saw a complete set of Mando armor was in the cantina. I was impressed and not at the same time. I didn't look like Boba/Jango Fett wear.
RIS armor - the first (and only) time I saw a full suit of RIS it was being worn by a Dark Jedi.
I remember the first time I saw a Jedi. I'd been playing for over a year and this guy in the Theed Starport pulls out a double bladed purple saber and starts fighting a couple of Bounty Hunters. I was impressed.
It's funny how Jedi turned out in SWG.
In the earlier days of Pre-CU, they were rare. So rare that you'd be extremely lucky to see one. I saw 1 in action out in the boondocks of Dantooine, and he didn't mean to be seen.
They had permadeath and had to be wary of danger, not to mention prowling BH's (who had problems on their own tracking them).
Back then, Jedi were revered.
Now? They're more numerous than Stormtroopers. They've been despised once they began to dominate the game (GCW, PVE/PVP, including the Publishes). And with the NGE, they were a starting class.
Awesome stuff in hindsight, looking back at the hilarious develoment cycle of Jedi.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
For some reson I see him as the type of person that would dump toxic waste into your local lake but then say, "it is ok since it has a minty aftertaste".
I never could get over the over the shoulder camra for me.
You can get your character centered again in the options menu. For some exceeding retarded reason tho they decided that if you center your toon it gets shifted to the very bottom of the screen. So where as before you could get a close up half body shot now the same zoom barely gets the shoulders in the view screen. Another change for changes sake since it made no one happy except the devs.
In my view this has to be one of the most accurate and concise accounts of all that happened over the course of SWG. The choice of words gave me a chuckle too lol, well chronicled.
The one thing that ALWAYS amazes me, to this day on my quarterly vet trial, is that some things about SWG are so right it is painful.
My favorite example is that the ambient light when dawn hits on whatever planet you're on, especially Corellia, feels like morning. It's absolutely authentic for me. I can tell you what time of day it is by looking around at the ambient light, not by noting the position of the sun in the sky.
Sometimes I just find a mountain top to be on to watch the sunrise or the sunset. Or to watch the other four planets in the Corellian sky slowly march across during the night.
The original SWG team absolutely nailed this.
Then there were the creature animations...which were fantastic, before everything mobile was put on crystal meth. The leaping of my greater sludge panther as it attacked a ronto, or a kimogilla. The movement of a dewback or a humbaba. The death of a cu pa...cribbed straight from a taun taun dying from ESB. The movement of klickniks. The fearsome attack meow of a kima...beyond hilarious. Yet kimas could be death to anyone unwary on Talus.
This is the true tragedy of SWG...they had so many things so incredibly right. The lost potential causes me to tear up.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
The NGE even nerfed the camera system. I mean, did it deserve the same fate as the Sandbox System also?
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Yeah it very well could be a single player game now, as sad as that sounds. But hell it would make an awesome Morrowind type game for the Star Wars universe.
The Jedi system was doomed. In hindsight, they should have either not let them playable or let them be playable from day one.
Everyone wanted a Jedi. That's why probably half to two thirds of the community was there. The problem was that it was so hard to be one - and now we find out that for a while, Sony didn't even have a system!
Anyway - it was inevitable that Jedi would start cropping up everywhere. It was just a matter of time. And I'll admit, it did destroy the game. Initially because everyone was grinding and later because the game devolved into BH vs. Jedi.
From what I understand, originally there were four classes you could find through holocrons and one silent class. But as Jedi kept coming out, they raised the number of silents by one...then two...then three - without telling anyone. When I started my grind the average number of classes you had to master to unlock was between 13-15. By the time they scrapped that system, the average number of classes you had to master was 31-32 out of 33.
But then, once you opened your Jedi you had to grind in the middle of no where for hours and hours and hours and HOURS before you could even defend yourself from anything - meaning that a part of the community was again, out of sight. So the Jedi you did see were all masters.
The change sucked too. That "village" was one of the STUPIDEST storylines I've ever had the misfortune of reading about. Yeah, a village of "force sensitives" in the middle of no where. I wonder how much they paid the twelve year old who wrote that. Anyway it made me want to barf. It seems like Vadar and the Emperor would have orbitally bombed the crap out of it (since there were Star Destroyers in orbit over Dath.)
Anyway - the point is that it was so totally poorly planned that it wasn't even funny.
What they should have done was given everyone the option of creating a force sensitive character at creation. If you choose to be force sensitive, you only 220 skill points (instead of 250.) The "force adept" class you can purchase for free. Then there are Jedi classes that you have to pay for. If you sink all points in to lightsaber you're a combat monster...but you'll never be able to have as many "non jedi" levels as non force sensitives.
Yes - I have no life....
The Jedi system was doomed. In hindsight, they should have either not let them playable or let them be playable from day one.
Everyone wanted a Jedi. That's why probably half to two thirds of the community was there. The problem was that it was so hard to be one - and now we find out that for a while, Sony didn't even have a system!
Anyway - it was inevitable that Jedi would start cropping up everywhere. It was just a matter of time. And I'll admit, it did destroy the game. Initially because everyone was grinding and later because the game devolved into BH vs. Jedi.
From what I understand, originally there were four classes you could find through holocrons and one silent class. But as Jedi kept coming out, they raised the number of silents by one...then two...then three - without telling anyone. When I started my grind the average number of classes you had to master to unlock was between 13-15. By the time they scrapped that system, the average number of classes you had to master was 31-32 out of 33.
But then, once you opened your Jedi you had to grind in the middle of no where for hours and hours and hours and HOURS before you could even defend yourself from anything - meaning that a part of the community was again, out of sight. So the Jedi you did see were all masters.
The change sucked too. That "village" was one of the STUPIDEST storylines I've ever had the misfortune of reading about. Yeah, a village of "force sensitives" in the middle of no where. I wonder how much they paid the twelve year old who wrote that. Anyway it made me want to barf. It seems like Vadar and the Emperor would have orbitally bombed the crap out of it (since there were Star Destroyers in orbit over Dath.)
Anyway - the point is that it was so totally poorly planned that it wasn't even funny.
What they should have done was given everyone the option of creating a force sensitive character at creation. If you choose to be force sensitive, you only 220 skill points (instead of 250.) The "force adept" class you can purchase for free. Then there are Jedi classes that you have to pay for. If you sink all points in to lightsaber you're a combat monster...but you'll never be able to have as many "non jedi" levels as non force sensitives.
Yes - I have no life....
I've always thought that the jedi system was poorly conceived. I just recently found out that the original system was thrown together in two weeks, after the game's launch, so that explains part of it.
Also, the timeline made this hard to conceive. Jedi were supposed to be very rare. What did SOE do with this? Make it hard to unlock one, and then hard to keep one. Well this just led to a lot of grinding to get one, and then frustration when they got whacked after all that effort.
Either a different timeline had to be used for the game to justify the presence of so many jedi, or a much less frustrating system had to be developed.
I like the KOTOR timeline tbh, bring on the jedi and sith
. In the StarWars trilogy timeline though, I might have liked them as unlockable "monsters" something like LOTR. You unlock a jedi just for kicks to temporarily run amock throughout Bestine lol, or get chased across the Junland wastes by a gang of bounty hunters. See how many you can take out with your force powers and saber before the masses finally bring you down 
Anyways, that's just a passing thought.
As far as the village goes, I liked some of the phases (e.g. defending it in phase 4). The sith commander mission had potential but was often bugged or camped or both. I did like earning force skills there for my TKM. I didn't want to become a jedi for the longest time lol, just wanted to kick people in the face harder and more accurately
There never should have been a "Jedi" system. What should have been done was to allow players to be Force sensitive. The Force could have augmented whatever skills the player wanted, and the glowsticks that the folks in marketing had a hard-on for could have been included, but it wouldn't have gone against the canon of Star Wars the way including Jedi did. There shouldn't have been Jedi templates or skill trees, and using force abilities in an obvious way should have had the potential to increase visability.
There was so much that could have been done within the established Star Wars lore. I still don't understand the developers felt the need to mangle the established Star Wars lore to fit into their concepts of what a game should be. Why was the Empire never shown to be the oppressive bastards from the movies? If the developers had looked at that oppressiveness as a springboard for content, instead of the roadblock they seem to have, they could have added several game systems that would have generated content (think of an actual smuggling system, reasons for joining the Empire or Alliance, or several other things that follow from establishing an entity that oppresses the populace within a game world).
How cool would it have been to require a smuggler to deliver bio-engineered critters to the buyer? How much cooler would it be to place a bounty on a smuggler who fails to deliver the product (which could automagically deliver the product upon completion of the bounty if players felt too put upon by the necessity of the delivery system)? Why not allow Imperial players the ability to call NPC reinforcements to deal with Rebels? To counter that, Rebels should have had the ability to intermingle freely without much harassment (which they did have, but only because the GCW system allowed both sides to turn off any involvement in the GCW), since the entire idea behind the Alliance was that they were a ragtag bunch of civilians, and allow them to attack Imperial assets without warning.
There was so much that the Star Wars part of the game could have brought to the table that was dismissed out of hand because it didn't fit within the developers' idea of how a game should be made.
I'll never forget the first time I ran into a jedi. Many many years ago I was running around as an overt imperial TKA master in that little rebel town on tatooine...anchor something, been too long XD. Anyways, I was running across the little bridge towards a flagged rebel in a trench coat...gg light saber pops out and wrecks my face. It saddened me that my TKA masterness was so easily dispatched by a jedi; true, I didn't have any doc/entertainment buffs, but still, he killed me so quick. It was at that point I decided that I was no longer going to allow a Jedi to get to that strong again.
I had heard that bounty hunters were going to be able to get missions for jedi eventually, so I went out and picked up novice marksman. Slowly worked my way towards master bounty hunter, dropping my beloved TKA tree as I went. By the time I had hit master bounty hunter, two things had happened: 1. The jedi bounty system had come out 2. Jedi were no longer on permadeath, or 3-death perma, but on a system where they just lost a crap ton of xp. While this saddened me, I figured it was still worth pew pewing them. After a few craptastic NPC bounty missions to figure out it all worked, I picked up my first jedi mission. Took me forever to track the lil buggar, throwing up that stupid drone and running to spots the he apparently was JUST at. I eventually tracked him to what I think was endor...very foresty planet, ground out a lot of TKA xp there. What I do clearly remember is running through the forest, and nearly walking right on top of him. He was so cute there, his green lightsaber doing speckles of damage to his target....again I can't remember the mob's name, some sort of dog looking thing. I could only imagine the look on his face as a full composite, fully buffed master bounty hunter popped out of the woods and targeted him. While it seemed like minutes that we stared at each other, it took only seconds for him to turn face and sprint through the woods. Unluckily for him, I had already queued up about 50 mind shots...I think thats what they were called anyhow, whatever it was, his mind bar dropped real damn quick, and his white robed ass flopped onto its back. I already had my /coupdegrace ready for him, but I took my time walking over; I wanted to savor the moment that I had my revenge upon the jedi. As I walked over to his incapacitated ass, my whole body trembled, rushes of adrenaline running through me as I was about to have my first jedi kill. Again, this felt like minutes, but really was a few second of me jogging over...out of the corner of my eye, or the screen in the case, I see a little brown blur run up, and the incapacitated body became a corpse. It took me a second to realize what had happened...I had forgotten about that little bastard mob he was fighting when I came across him. The buggar had finally caught up to us and stole my kill. All that work to get master bounty hunter, to track down this jedi, and finally put him on his back...the reward stolen by some stupid mob.
Anyways, that's my fondest memory of pre-cu SWG. Damn you Smed =(
I always had a serious problem with Aliens in the Empire. I think it should have cost non humans a LOT more fp to do anything in the Empire. The Sith HATED aliens.