Originally posted by mrcalhou Originally posted by ArcAngel3 Originally posted by Fishermage
Originally posted by ArcAngel3
Originally posted by Gutboy
I got into Beta for the card game on 2 of my accounts, out of the free cards I got were 3 loot cards. I have no interest in the actual game and because of that I will receive for free 5 booster packs each month for each of my accounts. Only the people really interested in the actual game or those that can't wait to get the loot they want will buy cards. Oh and all ANY company wants is money from it's customers, it's not just a SoE thing.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing." I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this? This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience. Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release. What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers? When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business? If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them. I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more. No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work. I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up. Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10. 9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains. (Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money.
There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money.
Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
I got into Beta for the card game on 2 of my accounts, out of the free cards I got were 3 loot cards. I have no interest in the actual game and because of that I will receive for free 5 booster packs each month for each of my accounts.
Only the people really interested in the actual game or those that can't wait to get the loot they want will buy cards.
Oh and all ANY company wants is money from it's customers, it's not just a SoE thing.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
John Smedley was a coder before he became the head of Verant. His background is rather typical of execs in the gaming industry. He doesn't have abusiness background. The main difference is that most of his peers quickly find themselves unemployed, because they don't have a conglomerate behind them that doesn't really pay much attention to what they are doing.
I have absolutely no doubt that the Smed thought the NGE was a good idea that was going to make them piles of cash. He has no background as a businessman, beyond being a guy who got lucky that his buddy made a successful game. Can anyone name a single accomplishment SOE can claim beyond EQ once being the top MMO, in a field of two? Had anyone at Sony been paying attention, SOE would have already had a management change. The Smed has been fortunate that his company was buried as a subsidiary of Sony Pictures, which was able to bury his blundering in Spider-Man money. I'm quite aware that SOE turns a profit, but it is nowhere near the profit they turned when EQ was the top dog. No other industry would allow executives to remain in their position had they lost the market share that SOE has. Hell, Age of Conan was released unfinished, unpolished, and with a dev team that would fell right at home at SOE, and yet it launched bigger than SOE as a company currently is.
SOE has gone out of its way to alienate their customers. That wouldn't happen in any other industry as long as it has at SOE. I'm sure the fact that Sony can lose $30 million on the PS3 and still think it is a success has at least something to do with the fact that SOE's management is still intact.
Originally posted by Obee Originally posted by ArcAngel3 Originally posted by Fishermage
Originally posted by ArcAngel3
Originally posted by Gutboy
I got into Beta for the card game on 2 of my accounts, out of the free cards I got were 3 loot cards. I have no interest in the actual game and because of that I will receive for free 5 booster packs each month for each of my accounts. Only the people really interested in the actual game or those that can't wait to get the loot they want will buy cards. Oh and all ANY company wants is money from it's customers, it's not just a SoE thing.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing." I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this? This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience. Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release. What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers? When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business? If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them. I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more. No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work. I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up. Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
John Smedley was a coder before he became the head of Verant. His background is rather typical of execs in the gaming industry. He doesn't have abusiness background. The main difference is that most of his peers quickly find themselves unemployed, because they don't have a conglomerate behind them that doesn't really pay much attention to what they are doing. I have absolutely no doubt that the Smed thought the NGE was a good idea that was going to make them piles of cash. He has no background as a businessman, beyond being a guy who got lucky that his buddy made a successful game. Can anyone name a single accomplishment SOE can claim beyond EQ once being the top MMO, in a field of two? Had anyone at Sony been paying attention, SOE would have already had a management change. The Smed has been fortunate that his company was buried as a subsidiary of Sony Pictures, which was able to bury his blundering in Spider-Man money. I'm quite aware that SOE turns a profit, but it is nowhere near the profit they turned when EQ was the top dog. No other industry would allow executives to remain in their position had they lost the market share that SOE has. Hell, Age of Conan was released unfinished, unpolished, and with a dev team that would fell right at home at SOE, and yet it launched bigger than SOE as a company currently is. SOE has gone out of its way to alienate their customers. That wouldn't happen in any other industry as long as it has at SOE. I'm sure the fact that Sony can lose $30 million on the PS3 and still think it is a success has at least something to do with the fact that SOE's management is still intact.
yeah, that makes the most sense. SOE is simply run by people who know nothing about business or how money is actually made.
I got into Beta for the card game on 2 of my accounts, out of the free cards I got were 3 loot cards. I have no interest in the actual game and because of that I will receive for free 5 booster packs each month for each of my accounts.
Only the people really interested in the actual game or those that can't wait to get the loot they want will buy cards.
Oh and all ANY company wants is money from it's customers, it's not just a SoE thing.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10.
9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.
(Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money.
There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money.
Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
That's just it, SOE did several thing to lose money, and then they circled the wagons to ensure they continued to do so. Nobody who didn't have their ego at stake would have done such a thing. Making decisions that piss off their customers isn't something that is exclusive to SWG with SOE. It isn't being run by bean counters, it is being run by folks who are convincend that they are smarter than everyone else, and they lash out when they are wrong.
If SOE was controlled by folks who were greedy and only concerned with money, there would have been clasic servers within the first couple months of the NGE going live (actually, the NGE would have been rolled out on clean servers and the classic servers would have been consolidated, or the game would have shut down).
What we actually have is a company that is controlled by folks who struck lightning once, but have no idea how they did so. They are desperate to do it again to prove that they succeeded on merit, as opposed to luck. Unfortuantely for both them and us, their initial success was based on luck. This means they will thrash about, making the same mistakes over and over, until they are eplaced by their superiors.
I got into Beta for the card game on 2 of my accounts, out of the free cards I got were 3 loot cards. I have no interest in the actual game and because of that I will receive for free 5 booster packs each month for each of my accounts.
Only the people really interested in the actual game or those that can't wait to get the loot they want will buy cards.
Oh and all ANY company wants is money from it's customers, it's not just a SoE thing.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10.
9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.
(Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money.
There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money.
Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
That's just it, SOE did several thing to lose money, and then they circled the wagons to ensure they continued to do so. Nobody who didn't have their ego at stake would have done such a thing. Making decisions that piss off their customers isn't something that is exclusive to SWG with SOE. It isn't being run by bean counters, it is being run by folks who are convincend that they are smarter than everyone else, and they lash out when they are wrong.
If SOE was controlled by folks who were greedy and only concerned with money, there would have been clasic servers within the first couple months of the NGE going live (actually, the NGE would have been rolled out on clean servers and the classic servers would have been consolidated, or the game would have shut down).
What we actually have is a company that is controlled by folks who struck lightning once, but have no idea how they did so. They are desperate to do it again to prove that they succeeded on merit, as opposed to luck. Unfortuantely for both them and us, their initial success was based on luck. This means they will thrash about, making the same mistakes over and over, until they are eplaced by their superiors.
I'm strongly inclined to agree with your analysis. They remind me of prospectors looking for gold. First let's just try the StarWars IP, never mind the broken game that carries the name. Now let's try jedi, never mind the two-week implementation period of a system that was no more than profession grinding--professions that were in many cases broken. This doesn't work, so let's try copying WoW's level system, particle effects, flashy icons and instanced quests. Once gain, never mind the bugs (regular spawns in objects, and falling through the map). Also, never mind all of the work that was just done by players and devs to fix the original game. This didn't work (of course), so let's try ripping off WoW even more with their 9 professions and xp bar at the bottom of the screen, a new broken and incomplete quest line, and throw in some battlefront type combat while we're at it--never mind that the game can't support it (regarding packet loss and no collision detection). Also, never mind erasing all of the progress our players have made, and never mind that we just promised them things at dev chats that they'll never see or will lose in 14 days. Then yes, as you say, when all of this fails, they lash out at the players they've just so badly abused and try to defend their egos and reputation. I think you've called it right Obee, and it's all just really sad.
Originally posted by Obee Originally posted by Fishermage
Originally posted by mrcalhou
Originally posted by ArcAngel3
Originally posted by Fishermage
Originally posted by ArcAngel3 Originally posted by GutboyI got into Beta for the card game on 2 of my accounts, out of the free cards I got were 3 loot cards. I have no interest in the actual game and because of that I will receive for free 5 booster packs each month for each of my accounts. Only the people really interested in the actual game or those that can't wait to get the loot they want will buy cards. Oh and all ANY company wants is money from it's customers, it's not just a SoE thing.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing." I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this? This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience. Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release. What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers? When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business? If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them. I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more. No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work. I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up. Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10. 9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains. (Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money. There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money. Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
That's just it, SOE did several thing to lose money, and then they circled the wagons to ensure they continued to do so. Nobody who didn't have their ego at stake would have done such a thing. Making decisions that piss off their customers isn't something that is exclusive to SWG with SOE. It isn't being run by bean counters, it is being run by folks who are convincend that they are smarter than everyone else, and they lash out when they are wrong. If SOE was controlled by folks who were greedy and only concerned with money, there would have been clasic servers within the first couple months of the NGE going live (actually, the NGE would have been rolled out on clean servers and the classic servers would have been consolidated, or the game would have shut down). What we actually have is a company that is controlled by folks who struck lightning once, but have no idea how they did so. They are desperate to do it again to prove that they succeeded on merit, as opposed to luck. Unfortuantely for both them and us, their initial success was based on luck. This means they will thrash about, making the same mistakes over and over, until they are eplaced by their superiors.
Yup, that's my general feeling on this too. It's not the love of money as such that has led to this, but a weak-minded narcissism held by John Smedley, at the very least.
Of course they love and want money -- who doesn't? but they act out of fear and pride more than something MUCH cleaner: naked greed.
And that is why they fail.
It's all very sad, and it is the customers who lose out the most.
It really would not surprise me if this trading card revenue is turned towards the hoth expansion as i doubt the subscription numbers would even touch the estimated cost of them making an expansion,
You can bet your last sterling that they will create ultra edge items for combat that are only acheviable by buying these little gems (cards) in lottery type manner, i can imagine the desperate players spunking loads of money in a desperate attempt to have the items.
But we shall see SOE have not failed to continue to fail in a long time. only consistency they do have!.
The thing I find that is both funny and deeply ironic, is that this TCG has the O boards on fire, for something that was put into the game for "nothing".
What it is, at least at this point, is a back door RMT for items otherwise unobtainable except through paying $2.99 a pack for virtual cards in this game, out side of the few "free cards" people get. Also. the "free" card packs that are "given" for being a subscriber, are ALL no trade. Some of the loot cards, which are redeemable for in game items, are for things people wanted in game years ago. New vehicles, new structures, new clothing and other items are not craftable, by any crafter, but only through these Loot Cards.
Ever wanted to see how a Smedley RMT would look? Looks like $OE is trying it out now. And we vets thought there was nothing left $OE could do to alienate a playerbase... I stand corrected.
The thing I find that is both funny and deeply ironic, is that this TCG has the O boards on fire, for something that was put into the game for "nothing". What it is, at least at this point, is a back door RMT for items otherwise unobtainable except through paying $2.99 a pack for virtual cards in this game, out side of the few "free cards" people get. Also. the "free" card packs that are "given" for being a subscriber, are ALL no trade. Some of the loot cards, which are redeemable for in game items, are for things people wanted in game years ago. New vehicles, new structures, new clothing and other items are not craftable, by any crafter, but only through these Loot Cards. Ever wanted to see how a Smedley RMT would look? Looks like $OE is trying it out now. And we vets thought there was nothing left $OE could do to alienate a playerbase... I stand corrected. Why not do it with SWG, it was ruined anyway.
I think it's a huge warning about the direction SOE is taking with regard to microtransaction scams. They know their games aren't good enough to charge a monthly fee so they are going the item mall route to gouge their players.
It's all designed to leech more cash out of the consumer, and in this case not really adding to a deeper and more meaningful gaming experience IMO. This tells me that SoE isn't interested in a better game experience, but rather a better profit margin.
Bingo
(I know you knew this already, I just wanted to have that statement reposted for added support)
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
Oh my, so how many here remember (or still play) Magic The Gathering card game?
For those that may not know or never played it, I'll provide a brief description of how its cards were sold and collected. And this has been modeled by other card companies.
Magic Cards had a Common Rating (how common a card was), they ranged from Very Common to Rare, some to the point of being very rare. As one can figure out, the majority of cards in booster packs and core packs were commons, with some uncommons. Rare type cards were, rarely even found (like duh, that's they are rare). To gain such cards, this had to be done by trading or buying. And one can expect that such cards were $$$, as mentioned here, do not be surprised to see prices go to $900.
The cards gain in these free booster packs per month are just like the typical booster packs of Magic. Most are just common. To get the good card, it will be for players to pay up.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
A vast majority of players I interact with in the game have zero interest in the actual card game, the free 5 packs of cards you get each month for just having a subscription are fine, we just claim the loot as it appears and dump the other actual playing cards.
The loot is mostly deco items, a few new speeders, the pod racer and nothing that actually effects core gameplay. It's all fluff, if someone wants to be Johnny badass trading card gamer and spend more cash to get better playing cards more power to them.
Do you guys jump down on the dude at McDonalds for asking if you want the large fries? (microtransaction)
A vast majority of players I interact with in the game have zero interest in the actual card game, the free 5 packs of cards you get each month for just having a subscription are fine, we just claim the loot as it appears and dump the other actual playing cards. The loot is mostly deco items, a few new speeders, the pod racer and nothing that actually effects core gameplay. It's all fluff, if someone wants to be Johnny badass trading card gamer and spend more cash to get better playing cards more power to them. Do you guys jump down on the dude at McDonalds for asking if you want the large fries? (microtransaction)
Im sorry but your totally wrong there are loot cards that you get that will affect gameplay. I just pulled the gorax card and its a plus 200 constitution and 200 luck for 3 minutes! The free 5 packs of cards are not free as I recall you have to have a subscription to play the game thats not free.
You can spin this however you want to but the older players understand this is not free and its a added fee put onto a monthly fee and will affect the core game. Feel free to spin it like you want the older generation Star wars fans are not buying it!
Do you guys jump down on the dude at McDonalds for asking if you want the large fries? (microtransaction)
Actually not at all. After watching Super Size Me, I have been sober from fast food for over two years.
If you or anyone else have not seen it, please do. It is an eye opener.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
A vast majority of players I interact with in the game have zero interest in the actual card game, the free 5 packs of cards you get each month for just having a subscription are fine, we just claim the loot as it appears and dump the other actual playing cards. The loot is mostly deco items, a few new speeders, the pod racer and nothing that actually effects core gameplay. It's all fluff, if someone wants to be Johnny badass trading card gamer and spend more cash to get better playing cards more power to them. Do you guys jump down on the dude at McDonalds for asking if you want the large fries? (microtransaction)
Im sorry but your totally wrong there are loot cards that you get that will affect gameplay. I just pulled the gorax card and its a plus 200 constitution and 200 luck for 3 minutes! The free 5 packs of cards are not free as I recall you have to have a subscription to play the game thats not free.
You can spin this however you want to but the older players understand this is not free and its a added fee put onto a monthly fee and will affect the core game. Feel free to spin it like you want the older generation Star wars fans are not buying it!
There is no additional fee associated with the card game, my $14.99 a month for an account has not increased. The gorax shard is no different than the one you can get from musty.
And for the record I am an "older player" in every sense of the phrase, I have played since launch day and I am 47 years old. The card game is totally free to any person who has a active SWG account, please tell me where they are getting any additional money from this unless the player wants to buy cards.
WTF ?????? I cant believe this I was really looking forward to this and all they have done is put a Stars Wars Skin on the legends of Norrath Game ?????? !! Cheap bastards !!
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
WTF ?????? I cant believe this I was really looking forward to this and all they have done is put a Stars Wars Skin on the legends of Norrath Game ?????? !! Cheap bastards !!
I cant believe they've got away with this !!!
This is SOE we're talking about here...did you honestly expect anything different?
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Pro tip: Typing in capital letters doesn't make you right.
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Active SWG accounts get a free booster pack(s) every month or so, in which all 'free' cards are no trade. If you want more booster packs (most are looking for loot cards), then those packs will cost you. Bought cards are tradable, even the loot ones. I have read that once a bought loot card is redeemed, then item becomes no trade.
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
well you do have to pay the subsrciption fee, and you get 5 cards, per month NON tradable so,if you want the tradeable ones you have to buy them, i doubt the good cards are given away that often and of course they will give you cards, they want to encourage you to buy for heavens sake surely gutboy you can see that your a capable bloke, i can understand your defence of the free cards but its there to tempt you!
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Active SWG accounts get a free booster pack(s) every month or so, in which all 'free' cards are no trade. If you want more booster packs (most are looking for loot cards), then those packs will cost you. Bought cards are tradable, even the loot ones. I have read that once a bought loot card is redeemed, then item becomes no trade.
Right so to get any benefit out of the card game (loot cards) there is a cost. Therefore it's yet another SOE scam.
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Active SWG accounts get a free booster pack(s) every month or so, in which all 'free' cards are no trade. If you want more booster packs (most are looking for loot cards), then those packs will cost you. Bought cards are tradable, even the loot ones. I have read that once a bought loot card is redeemed, then item becomes no trade.
Right so to get any benefit out of the card game (loot cards) there is a cost. Therefore it's yet another SOE scam.
It is only a scam to those willing to spend untold amounts of money in their quest for the newest and rarest 'shiny' that only the loot cards can give. Each booster pack cost $2.99 US, or the bargain box of 36 packs for $99.99 US.
Comments
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10.
9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.
(Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money.
There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money.
Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
fishermage.blogspot.com
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
John Smedley was a coder before he became the head of Verant. His background is rather typical of execs in the gaming industry. He doesn't have abusiness background. The main difference is that most of his peers quickly find themselves unemployed, because they don't have a conglomerate behind them that doesn't really pay much attention to what they are doing.
I have absolutely no doubt that the Smed thought the NGE was a good idea that was going to make them piles of cash. He has no background as a businessman, beyond being a guy who got lucky that his buddy made a successful game. Can anyone name a single accomplishment SOE can claim beyond EQ once being the top MMO, in a field of two? Had anyone at Sony been paying attention, SOE would have already had a management change. The Smed has been fortunate that his company was buried as a subsidiary of Sony Pictures, which was able to bury his blundering in Spider-Man money. I'm quite aware that SOE turns a profit, but it is nowhere near the profit they turned when EQ was the top dog. No other industry would allow executives to remain in their position had they lost the market share that SOE has. Hell, Age of Conan was released unfinished, unpolished, and with a dev team that would fell right at home at SOE, and yet it launched bigger than SOE as a company currently is.
SOE has gone out of its way to alienate their customers. That wouldn't happen in any other industry as long as it has at SOE. I'm sure the fact that Sony can lose $30 million on the PS3 and still think it is a success has at least something to do with the fact that SOE's management is still intact.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
John Smedley was a coder before he became the head of Verant. His background is rather typical of execs in the gaming industry. He doesn't have abusiness background. The main difference is that most of his peers quickly find themselves unemployed, because they don't have a conglomerate behind them that doesn't really pay much attention to what they are doing.
I have absolutely no doubt that the Smed thought the NGE was a good idea that was going to make them piles of cash. He has no background as a businessman, beyond being a guy who got lucky that his buddy made a successful game. Can anyone name a single accomplishment SOE can claim beyond EQ once being the top MMO, in a field of two? Had anyone at Sony been paying attention, SOE would have already had a management change. The Smed has been fortunate that his company was buried as a subsidiary of Sony Pictures, which was able to bury his blundering in Spider-Man money. I'm quite aware that SOE turns a profit, but it is nowhere near the profit they turned when EQ was the top dog. No other industry would allow executives to remain in their position had they lost the market share that SOE has. Hell, Age of Conan was released unfinished, unpolished, and with a dev team that would fell right at home at SOE, and yet it launched bigger than SOE as a company currently is.
SOE has gone out of its way to alienate their customers. That wouldn't happen in any other industry as long as it has at SOE. I'm sure the fact that Sony can lose $30 million on the PS3 and still think it is a success has at least something to do with the fact that SOE's management is still intact.
yeah, that makes the most sense. SOE is simply run by people who know nothing about business or how money is actually made.
fishermage.blogspot.com
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10.
9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.
(Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money.
There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money.
Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
That's just it, SOE did several thing to lose money, and then they circled the wagons to ensure they continued to do so. Nobody who didn't have their ego at stake would have done such a thing. Making decisions that piss off their customers isn't something that is exclusive to SWG with SOE. It isn't being run by bean counters, it is being run by folks who are convincend that they are smarter than everyone else, and they lash out when they are wrong.
If SOE was controlled by folks who were greedy and only concerned with money, there would have been clasic servers within the first couple months of the NGE going live (actually, the NGE would have been rolled out on clean servers and the classic servers would have been consolidated, or the game would have shut down).
What we actually have is a company that is controlled by folks who struck lightning once, but have no idea how they did so. They are desperate to do it again to prove that they succeeded on merit, as opposed to luck. Unfortuantely for both them and us, their initial success was based on luck. This means they will thrash about, making the same mistakes over and over, until they are eplaced by their superiors.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10.
9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.
(Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money.
There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money.
Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
That's just it, SOE did several thing to lose money, and then they circled the wagons to ensure they continued to do so. Nobody who didn't have their ego at stake would have done such a thing. Making decisions that piss off their customers isn't something that is exclusive to SWG with SOE. It isn't being run by bean counters, it is being run by folks who are convincend that they are smarter than everyone else, and they lash out when they are wrong.
If SOE was controlled by folks who were greedy and only concerned with money, there would have been clasic servers within the first couple months of the NGE going live (actually, the NGE would have been rolled out on clean servers and the classic servers would have been consolidated, or the game would have shut down).
What we actually have is a company that is controlled by folks who struck lightning once, but have no idea how they did so. They are desperate to do it again to prove that they succeeded on merit, as opposed to luck. Unfortuantely for both them and us, their initial success was based on luck. This means they will thrash about, making the same mistakes over and over, until they are eplaced by their superiors.
I'm strongly inclined to agree with your analysis. They remind me of prospectors looking for gold. First let's just try the StarWars IP, never mind the broken game that carries the name. Now let's try jedi, never mind the two-week implementation period of a system that was no more than profession grinding--professions that were in many cases broken. This doesn't work, so let's try copying WoW's level system, particle effects, flashy icons and instanced quests. Once gain, never mind the bugs (regular spawns in objects, and falling through the map). Also, never mind all of the work that was just done by players and devs to fix the original game. This didn't work (of course), so let's try ripping off WoW even more with their 9 professions and xp bar at the bottom of the screen, a new broken and incomplete quest line, and throw in some battlefront type combat while we're at it--never mind that the game can't support it (regarding packet loss and no collision detection). Also, never mind erasing all of the progress our players have made, and never mind that we just promised them things at dev chats that they'll never see or will lose in 14 days. Then yes, as you say, when all of this fails, they lash out at the players they've just so badly abused and try to defend their egos and reputation. I think you've called it right Obee, and it's all just really sad.
I'd really like to hear an honest thoughtful response from you on something. You say that "all ANY company wants is money..., it's not just an SoE thing."
I'm aware of game designers that actually enjoy their work, and take pride in providing an excellent gaming experience for others to enjoy. Do they want to make money? Well of course, who wouldn't. This is not, however, "all" that they are interested in. Can you see this?
This, among other things, sets some companies apart from SOE. Maybe my money is "all" that SOE is interested in. It certainly seemed that way when they lied to me about upcoming profession revamps and then deleted those professions instead. It also seemed that way when they literally erased all of the progress of most of their players in the hope of attracting a larger target audience.
Jeff Freeman once said that 99.9% of gaming companies would never even think of doing an NGE to their game. Even Dan Rubenfield said that you simply cannot change a game that significantly after release.
What is it about SOE that makes them the 0.1% that would consider doing this to all of their customers?
When you attempt to paint everyone with the same brush, you seem to have to bend reality to do so. You seem to insist that just like SOE, no one cares about anything but money. They don't care about their product, their reputation, or treating people with respect. I understand that you may see SOE this way. That probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but do you really have such a dim view of everyone in the MMO business?
If you do I'd suggest you get in touch with some other companies like Cryptic for example. Meet some of the people, see what makes them tick. Play games like WoW, CoH/CoV, and see what happy customers are like. See what polished and enjoyable games are like, and how much people just relax and enjoy them.
I truly get the impression that you've been around SOE so much that you think the entire world thinks and acts like they do. I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for exceptions to their behaviour. They are there to be found, if you're willing to see them.
You know, I still find it hard to believe that they ever really thought they would make money with the NGE. That kind of stupidity is truly mindboggling. To think, imagining for even a moment that you could anger 250K customers and hope to get any more.
No one with even a business degree from the worst school would buy into such crap. This is why to this day I find it hard to believe that there wasn't something else at work.
I just have a hard time imagining humans involved in a business enterprise being so monumentally stupid.
A wise person apparently once made a comment about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil. I guess there was something to that. A spiderman video game that I play also adds this pearl, "evil is dumb." Lol, I guess that about sums it up.
Maybe all this craziness is really just about the love of money over and above everything else. Could it really be that simple? If so, man yeah, that really is dumb.
It was Paul. First Timothy Chapter 6 verses 9 and 10.
9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.
(Copy and pasted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Ye furlongs may vary.)
But the idea in all of these verses shared is that the love of money leads you to lose track of what's really important -- faith, love, life, etc; it doesn't explain the love of money making you do something that any moron would know will make you LOSE money.
There is NO WAY a human being who loved or wanted to make money would pull the NGE. It seems it was intentionally done to LOSE money.
Paul never said the love of money leads you to do the thing which will make you lose money -- I don't think the Apostle himself could have imagined such stupidity and incompetence.
That's just it, SOE did several thing to lose money, and then they circled the wagons to ensure they continued to do so. Nobody who didn't have their ego at stake would have done such a thing. Making decisions that piss off their customers isn't something that is exclusive to SWG with SOE. It isn't being run by bean counters, it is being run by folks who are convincend that they are smarter than everyone else, and they lash out when they are wrong.
If SOE was controlled by folks who were greedy and only concerned with money, there would have been clasic servers within the first couple months of the NGE going live (actually, the NGE would have been rolled out on clean servers and the classic servers would have been consolidated, or the game would have shut down).
What we actually have is a company that is controlled by folks who struck lightning once, but have no idea how they did so. They are desperate to do it again to prove that they succeeded on merit, as opposed to luck. Unfortuantely for both them and us, their initial success was based on luck. This means they will thrash about, making the same mistakes over and over, until they are eplaced by their superiors.
Yup, that's my general feeling on this too. It's not the love of money as such that has led to this, but a weak-minded narcissism held by John Smedley, at the very least.
Of course they love and want money -- who doesn't? but they act out of fear and pride more than something MUCH cleaner: naked greed.
And that is why they fail.
It's all very sad, and it is the customers who lose out the most.
fishermage.blogspot.com
It really would not surprise me if this trading card revenue is turned towards the hoth expansion as i doubt the subscription numbers would even touch the estimated cost of them making an expansion,
You can bet your last sterling that they will create ultra edge items for combat that are only acheviable by buying these little gems (cards) in lottery type manner, i can imagine the desperate players spunking loads of money in a desperate attempt to have the items.
But we shall see SOE have not failed to continue to fail in a long time. only consistency they do have!.
The thing I find that is both funny and deeply ironic, is that this TCG has the O boards on fire, for something that was put into the game for "nothing".
What it is, at least at this point, is a back door RMT for items otherwise unobtainable except through paying $2.99 a pack for virtual cards in this game, out side of the few "free cards" people get. Also. the "free" card packs that are "given" for being a subscriber, are ALL no trade. Some of the loot cards, which are redeemable for in game items, are for things people wanted in game years ago. New vehicles, new structures, new clothing and other items are not craftable, by any crafter, but only through these Loot Cards.
Ever wanted to see how a Smedley RMT would look? Looks like $OE is trying it out now. And we vets thought there was nothing left $OE could do to alienate a playerbase... I stand corrected.
Why not do it with SWG, it was ruined anyway.
I think it's a huge warning about the direction SOE is taking with regard to microtransaction scams. They know their games aren't good enough to charge a monthly fee so they are going the item mall route to gouge their players.
Bingo
(I know you knew this already, I just wanted to have that statement reposted for added support)
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
Oh my, so how many here remember (or still play) Magic The Gathering card game?
For those that may not know or never played it, I'll provide a brief description of how its cards were sold and collected. And this has been modeled by other card companies.
Magic Cards had a Common Rating (how common a card was), they ranged from Very Common to Rare, some to the point of being very rare. As one can figure out, the majority of cards in booster packs and core packs were commons, with some uncommons. Rare type cards were, rarely even found (like duh, that's they are rare). To gain such cards, this had to be done by trading or buying. And one can expect that such cards were $$$, as mentioned here, do not be surprised to see prices go to $900.
The cards gain in these free booster packs per month are just like the typical booster packs of Magic. Most are just common. To get the good card, it will be for players to pay up.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
A vast majority of players I interact with in the game have zero interest in the actual card game, the free 5 packs of cards you get each month for just having a subscription are fine, we just claim the loot as it appears and dump the other actual playing cards.
The loot is mostly deco items, a few new speeders, the pod racer and nothing that actually effects core gameplay. It's all fluff, if someone wants to be Johnny badass trading card gamer and spend more cash to get better playing cards more power to them.
Do you guys jump down on the dude at McDonalds for asking if you want the large fries? (microtransaction)
Im sorry but your totally wrong there are loot cards that you get that will affect gameplay. I just pulled the gorax card and its a plus 200 constitution and 200 luck for 3 minutes! The free 5 packs of cards are not free as I recall you have to have a subscription to play the game thats not free.
You can spin this however you want to but the older players understand this is not free and its a added fee put onto a monthly fee and will affect the core game. Feel free to spin it like you want the older generation Star wars fans are not buying it!
Actually not at all. After watching Super Size Me, I have been sober from fast food for over two years.
If you or anyone else have not seen it, please do. It is an eye opener.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
I hope there is just pictures on the cards and no reading. SWG players don't like to read.
Im sorry but your totally wrong there are loot cards that you get that will affect gameplay. I just pulled the gorax card and its a plus 200 constitution and 200 luck for 3 minutes! The free 5 packs of cards are not free as I recall you have to have a subscription to play the game thats not free.
You can spin this however you want to but the older players understand this is not free and its a added fee put onto a monthly fee and will affect the core game. Feel free to spin it like you want the older generation Star wars fans are not buying it!
There is no additional fee associated with the card game, my $14.99 a month for an account has not increased. The gorax shard is no different than the one you can get from musty.
And for the record I am an "older player" in every sense of the phrase, I have played since launch day and I am 47 years old. The card game is totally free to any person who has a active SWG account, please tell me where they are getting any additional money from this unless the player wants to buy cards.
WTF ?????? I cant believe this I was really looking forward to this
and all they have done is put a Stars Wars Skin on the legends of Norrath Game ?????? !! Cheap bastards !! 
I cant believe they've got away with this !!!
I think it would be extremely foolish to invest real $$$ in anything provided by SOE. Have they not proven, OVER AND OVER, that they have no respect whatsoever for a player's virtual property and progress? Now, they expect you to spend additional cash on cards? That is ludicrous. Did the game get any cheaper per month? Is this not equivalent to raising the price of a subscription? Items that should have been in the game are now available, but for an extra fee? YOU SUBSCRIBERS ARE ACTUALLY OK WITH THIS? Wow, is all I can say.
Akevv Ostone
No Longer SWG Free
This is SOE we're talking about here...did you honestly expect anything different?
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Pro tip: Typing in capital letters doesn't make you right.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Active SWG accounts get a free booster pack(s) every month or so, in which all 'free' cards are no trade. If you want more booster packs (most are looking for loot cards), then those packs will cost you. Bought cards are tradable, even the loot ones. I have read that once a bought loot card is redeemed, then item becomes no trade.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
well you do have to pay the subsrciption fee, and you get 5 cards, per month NON tradable so,if you want the tradeable ones you have to buy them, i doubt the good cards are given away that often and of course they will give you cards, they want to encourage you to buy for heavens sake surely gutboy you can see that your a capable bloke, i can understand your defence of the free cards but its there to tempt you!
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Active SWG accounts get a free booster pack(s) every month or so, in which all 'free' cards are no trade. If you want more booster packs (most are looking for loot cards), then those packs will cost you. Bought cards are tradable, even the loot ones. I have read that once a bought loot card is redeemed, then item becomes no trade.
Right so to get any benefit out of the card game (loot cards) there is a cost. Therefore it's yet another SOE scam.
Hi
THERE IS NO EXTRA FEE FOR THE CARD GAME
PERIOD
So the cards are free?
Active SWG accounts get a free booster pack(s) every month or so, in which all 'free' cards are no trade. If you want more booster packs (most are looking for loot cards), then those packs will cost you. Bought cards are tradable, even the loot ones. I have read that once a bought loot card is redeemed, then item becomes no trade.
Right so to get any benefit out of the card game (loot cards) there is a cost. Therefore it's yet another SOE scam.
It is only a scam to those willing to spend untold amounts of money in their quest for the newest and rarest 'shiny' that only the loot cards can give. Each booster pack cost $2.99 US, or the bargain box of 36 packs for $99.99 US.