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A few days ago I was incredibly bored and decided it was time to try something new after a failing relationship with World of Warcraft which had dragged on for four years or so. I'm not an experienced mmo gamer: Runescape, Wow, Tabula Rasa and a few other game trials like Vanguard online, but I like to think of myself as a very 'mmo aware' person. Initially I had shied away from SWG due to the negative publicity and- quite frankly- extreme bitching that I see surrounding this game every week- though I understand it is very justifiable.
After a day or so of downloading the trial, I was finally in. Although the game is still a little rough around the edges, I found the gameplay very entertaining, the graphics refreshing- though rather dated, and overall I've had a bloody good time. I was also surprised to see a fair amount of people running about the place- it didn't seem dead at all. The space combat is also very entertaining and for the first time in my life I've started to do a bit of roleplay- god how I've missed out over the years!
The thing I really want to say in this brief thread is that if you haven't played the game before and you have'nt been betrayed by the merciless SOE or your just a bit bored of those other mmos out there, give the game a try. Despite the so-called 'rapid decline' in the game's quality- it really isn't as bad as everyone wants you to think it is- I've certainly found my new mmo. I must confess that this is my fresh experience of the game and I have not been playing it for long- only a few days, but it has definitely been an enlightening experience and I now know to NEVER trust anyone else's opinion about a game ever again.
Just my 2 cents.
Heb
Comments
I used to love SWG but quit when they allowed players to toggle if they wanted to be hunted or not by bounty hunters. I have no clue if they took this out of the game or not but my entire guild of bounty hunters quit as it took away from the class.
Welcome to SWG,
I hope your experiances are few with trouble.
What do you mean Toggle? Bounties are incurred direct with PVP, you can place a price on someones head if they kill you in PVP or you can creep up on the terminals as you kill high level faction NPCs and Players. Once a bounty is in place, you can't toggle it off.
Do you mean the opt in PVP system? The TEF system was doomed with the rise in casual player population and Asian Markets restricking PVP game play. SOE roled with the times to keep SWG marketable in all global instances. Reports like this MMO Death spurred companies to kill old TEF system. East Asian governments now regulate PVP game features to avoid these acts of stupidity. You could say Carebears that didn't play the game got it removed.
You will be happy to hear that they cannot toggle that option. If someone puts a price on their head, and you are a good enough BH, then go get 'em. Equally if they have racked up GCW kills the bounty will go up anyway. So hope to see you back hunting.
well its not the original like it was when the 32 professions and how hard its suppose to be jedi (the right way). After NGE yea sucked alot, but its getting back to that fun level again slowly but surely.
but it also has ton of potential, only if the devs would actually put their minds to it and just listen to all the players and etc.
Yeah, pretty good slogan.....
But I supposed if you've never played the game before its probably pretty fun, which is no consolation for those who were jilted at the alter so many years ago.
I've thought about giving it a try, in fact, a few years back I had a choice, EVE or SWG, and went with EVE mostly based on what I had read about the two games here on these forums.
No regrets.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
hebzster is correct. As a stand alone game it's not bad at all really.
However, for those of us that started when the game launched, it's such an empty shell of what it should have been that it's just not worth playing. Everything that made it a world is gone.
I've thought about giving it a try, in fact, a few years back I had a choice, EVE or SWG, and went with EVE mostly based on what I had read about the two games here on these forums.
Thats why I quit SWG as well...couldnt afford both games, and I liked EVE better.
But while I was being a smartass, I do think the slogan fits. It wasnt that bad of a game. There were just better MMOs available.
I've played SWG off and on since closed beta.
With that said....
The original launch of the game was bumpy and in the first month of release the game was changed so much. Originally you would clone so you wouldnt have to run back to your body, if you failed to clone after EACH death you would have to run back to your body to get your equipment and items otherwise everything you had would stay on the old body. It didn't take them long to change it. THey originally were going to just change it a bit but in the end left it so you didnt have to run back to get your stuff. Which for me at the time was a blessing because back then ON Tarquinas there were no crafters really. Just artisans making cdef weapons survival knives and no armor because resources hadn't spawned on our server yet. So Anywho, I ran out to the Krayt Graveyard and at that time mobs .. well you might not see them from afar until your literally underneath them. Understand how shocking a huge dragon could be just popping up on you instantly... Yea.... there was no way of getting my items back. It was fun then. The first year alot more was changed as resources started spawning, bugs were fixed.... or not fixed. THe game was just alot of fun, however the content was pretty dry and not much there at all. It was all about the pvp but it was worth it.
Year or so later Final Fantasy XI Is released and alot of people leave. Not that many but a good amount. Jedi's started popping up around this time and the news that getting a jedi wasn't gonna be easy and that they had perma death sent alot of those carebear players off and running to other games. Several patches changed jedi several times. Somesay it made them sucked others say op. Truth is any jedi couldbe killed depending on the build of the people they are fighting and if the people knew what the hell they were doing. News of a Combat Upgrade is sent out. It isn't released however for over a year. Now see this is where the first huge change took place and alot changed. Of course by the time the CU - Combat Upgrade was released WoW had came out, and SWG lost a ton of people to WoW.... So whe you started playing THE CU you could clearly see that the game was played alot like wow then. I liked the CU alot. I liked PRE CU alot. Both were good but the point there is pre-cu was Unique. However I did enjoy the CU More. More items, more weapons, more everything was released during the CU. The game seemed more balanced but all those people who had glitches and hacks, and stuff with the PRE CU cried because it was changed. Soft/Hard caps put on defensive stats to try to balance the game even more so people cried WAHHHH IM NOT OP quite as Much. So alot of people left. I still stick with saying CU was good. I liked it. One big thing here is it seemed within a year Three Xpansions were released. Maybe not that close together but it sure as hell seemed like it. Maybe because I lost track of time running around as a Zabrak Swordsman Cracking jedi skull with a powerhammer. Well Jump to Lightspeed was a good xpac. It added space, new crafting, new content, new races. Space... though. It was like adding a second game into swg. Was brilliant. Then there was Rage of the Wookies. Being the game had such a huge lack of content they released this xpac with the CU . Alot of coolstuff cameout with rage of the wookies. Though it was called an xpac it really shouldnt have been. Honestly it should have been a free content patch, but... Whatever. Then... ..... this happen...
THE NGE... NEW GAME ENHANCEMENTS..... And Trials of Obi-Wan.
The third Xpac was released. Extremely buggy, just real bad. Another content patch yes, but in no way was it ready or release. Then it was out it seemed like mybe 2-3 weeks and news of the NGE hit. NGE was on test center MAYBE a month if that. Clearly wasn't ready for launch. They claimed that the NGE is what fans and players wanted. Well... they must have asked 5 people on the street infront of the game studio or something EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FRIENDS HATED IT.... I... well. I didn't have an answer. I mean They went from 30+ Classes to 9. and the fact anyone could now be a jedi ... Well just stupid. The time line of the game said jedi were still in hiding, but then why are there 09128340927835807 jedi running around? So that ruined it for the starwars freaks. Then the fact that any melee was turned to shit. Jedi couldnt kill anyone, and at the time Medics and Spys were so op it was kinda ridiculous. I remember Killing 9 Jedi, 9v1 as a spy. Was sad. The worst part about the nge was the change to the combat system. Which Tabula Rasa ended up taking. It ended up being you had to aim to attack. So you could say skill was involved but not so much. Then to use skills you woould select one on your bar and use right click to activate/use the skill. I mean it was bad. All bad. The combat system... the 9 classes. Just bad. The vets really got stuffed though. Anti Decay Kits which were vet rewards, used to stop decay of gear..... People spent so much ingame money on to get .... Turned useless for 2 reasons.
1. Decay/Durability was removed from the game.
2. They had adks changed to class RESTARTER kits. Which would turn you into a lvl 1!!!! of a new class. Yea thats right... level 1.
Ontop of that. They changed the game to be a level based game, The max lvl a player was when the nge hit was 80 and the max lvl of the game was 90. So people had to grind, grind, grind. Made alot of people unhappy. But the way you were judged by if you were 80 was depending on what master boxes or how many skill points you had spent. So people who were in the process of changing specs/builds when the nge hit early got screwed BIG time, seeing as how they didnt reset any of the content quests. Which ended up being how you level in the nge. And some people who are hybrid specs like me i was a 0040 Bounty hunter for Pistols, Master Pistoleer, and some fencer for defense. I had all my skill points used more or less and Up ended up only being lvl 74... Not 80. It was just horrible. I had several accounts and a jedi to, and I got screwed all over the place. Again ontop of this... The old weapons and armors... Just horrible... all the money and time spent farming special mobs to get enchancers and stuff to make good gear... Gone.. Useless.
Hands down and to the point the NGE was a bust, a huge failure and so it lost over 95% of its customers and fan base. I quit for awhile.
However... Now I must say in the last 2 years SoE has done a great job realizing how STUPID they were. Still it is a bit to late for that. New Gen games coming out with good gfx will shy any new people away form SWG especially with the monthly fee involved. But I will say the current state of SWG is infact very good. If vets would go back and give the game a try with all the new stuff added im sure they would enjoy it. Yea it isnt the swg we grew to love, but it is still a very good game. over time they added expertise which lets you spec your character. They added armors, weapons, dungeon/heroic like things which are fun, and now adding in battlefields for pvp. Its just good. Theyve done changes to crafting for the better. Its good. Take some time. go back and try it out. Most of you will enjoy it.
They also did a free server swap for vets so you could move your unpopulated servers to higher pop servers. Now they just need to close the shitty servers and get it done with. Consolidate. Anywho my point is , The game is good, and anyone who like starwars, and likes Sci-Fi should go check it out. Vets I urge you to put all hate for SoE to the side and give it a go once more. Youll be suprised.
Been there, tried it again around Feb or March, whenever that stealth server merge started. Compared to anything prior to November '05, it still sucks. Don't call me an SOE-hater either: I like EQ2 just fine. It's amazing how the same company could produce both a great quester (two of 'em!) and an unmitigated catastrophe. To a large extent, I still blame LucasArts. They were a great game company once, but they seem to have throughly purged anyone with a clue about what gamers want.
LA is all about merchandise now.
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Ten Golden Rules Of Videogame Fanboyism
"SOE has probably united more gamers in hatred than Blizzard has subs"...daelnor
It's not that bad.
Classic statement yet very true. The game still has massive flaws. As a new player the first bit of incompetence you get introduced to is probably going to be the Class system and progression wheel. I picked up an account (gave my old pre-cu one away) and while there can be fun found you'll be forced to completely and entirely ignore the character progression sheet.
seriously, if you want an obvious sign of idiocy look at the skill progression things for the group and space game. Hell, people in game don't even know what to call them 'cs they're so bad. Any child with a box of crayons and a cup of sugar filled Coolaid would have to be suffering physical handicaps to do worse. What's even more interesting is a player never needs to look at their skill progression to play. And now the pilot progression also shares the same idiotic wheel which is the least comprehensible presentation of skill that's ever been developed, and this is Star Wars!?!
SOE developed what it is regardless of what Lucas Arts said they wanted. I don't care if someone said they want their apples taste like apples but god damn, did they really want it so incredibly bad?
Lucas Arts is a joke. All they know are statistics which seems to provide them with a percieved fact that EVERYONE wants to be Jedi and don't want any thought involved as part of the experiance. The people at Lucas Arts are fucking idiots and the direction of SWG has been proof of that, at least SOE has untapped skill they've yet to discover...
I agree, the current state of SWG is not that bad. The only time its been worse was during the first 3 years of the NGE.
Glad to hear that you are enjoying SWG, hebzster.
LOL I got excited when this game came out but my friend said dont buy it because he was in beta and it was horid. Did not live up to the hype.
Boy, you don't know what you missed in 6 years. Its a totally different game since his statement. It has a whole different run of hype with positives and negatives. Try a free trial and make your own decision.
SOE will pull the plug on this one shortly before launch of SW:ToR - whatever you believe..
Star Wars is a huge IP. If they had any seriousness about maintaining the game the could revive with a graphics update and an expansion. Like Eve and other games that keep on going. It is not rocket science.
When they work it on skeleton crew and milk player with trading cards (wtf???) then all you can expect is the way of MxO
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CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
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Hi there, Draccan.
Take a look at this interview on IGN with LucasArts about the current state of Galaxies and the impact of their new SW MMO.
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IGNPC: What do you think the impact of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be? There's obviously a lot of overlap in terms of the communities of Star Wars fans and MMO players. How do you see the games being differentiated and how do you think the success of The Old Republic will affect Star Wars Galaxies?
Jake Neri: Well, I think there are a lot of differences between the games, from the obvious differences in the timeline and the setting and, as you learned down at BioWare, the focus on story, character and dialogue. Those really are key differentiating features between The Old Republic and Galaxies.
I think there is definitely going to be an impact but I think you'll find that a lot of Star Wars fans will still want to play Galaxies and a lot of them will want to play both games. Time will tell. When we launch the game we'll see exactly what will happen. Nobody has a crystal ball. I think the games are clearly different enough that the market can support both of them together. We've seen that with some of the other MMOs out there such as EQ1 and EQ2. Although similar, both of them have been able to carry on successfully.
IGNPC: They've also benefited a lot in terms of their different system requirements. EQ1 has a much larger potential market. Are you considering that as well?
Jake Neri: That's an important point. We haven't finalized our system requirements for The Old Republic yet so I can't tell you for sure what the differences are going to be between that game and Galaxies in terms of system requirements. But considering how old Galaxies is and how much PCs have changed over the last five years, I think that's a fair point.
IGNPC: Let's talk a little about the vitality of Galaxies for a bit. I was one of those players who gave up on the game after the New Game Experience. I know there are still plenty of people playing, but when I log in, there are definitely fewer than there were pre-NGE. What have you done to maintain the vitality and relevance of the game over the last few years?
Jake Neri: I think we can talk about the last couple of years when Tom and I have been here. What we really tried to do is take a hard look at what the player base is asking for, and what we can and can't do, and then deliver the features they're looking for, within reason. We've been able to deliver to the community a number of high quality things, things like the beastmaster system we put in and the collection system people had been asking for.
We're very much focused on the current player base: what they're in to, what they want to be playing and we've seen that work out. We have a healthy subscriber base and we have a happy community for the most part. We're pretty proud of the people that have stuck with us and the efforts that we've had in the last couple of years to give them the type of game they're looking for.
Tom Nichols: We had a very good reaction from our trading card game that we launched a couple of months ago. We've been talking to the community about a new encounter called Hoth, reliving that battle from Empire Strikes Back. That's going to be launching in short order. The Galaxies community is energized and excited about the new content we have brought up and talked about bringing out to them. They're still excited about the game.
IGNPC: That seems to be one of the main differences between Galaxies and The Old Republic, that you can rely on those iconic moments from the film. What do you think the best lessons are that BioWare can learn from the way that Galaxies has been run over the last few years?
Tom Nichols: I think there are a couple of things. The key one is listening to the community and being sure to understand what your fans are telling you about the game and addressing that as best as possible. I think there's a lot to learn there. I think a lot of the criticism of Galaxies when it launched is that it didn't feel like Star Wars. Some of the things the game offered weren't consistent with the brand. Delivering that heroic, "I Want to Be a Jedi, and feel like a powerful person in the galaxy," just like the movies had. I think there's a lot of learning there. When you talk to the BioWare guys they certainly recognize that.
IGNPC: The BioWare team has talked about this game in terms of doing the things that popular MMOs are doing correctly and then putting their own spin on it. Is there an opportunity for you guys to adapt their new ideas into Galaxies? Is that a priority at all?
Jake Neri: I think that's not on our priority list. MMOs in general are always inspired by one another so there could be something in the future that would inspire us in a certain way. We're certainly not looking to build identical experiences. We're pretty proud that they're both different and unique and we're feeling pretty good about that. We want to maintain that as much as possible.
IGNPC: What sorts of activities are your players primarily involved in? You mentioned that you've responded to their requests by adding in certain features. Can you give me an overview of what motivates the Star Wars Galaxies player?
Jake Neri: We have a number of different types of players. We're seeing players that have built strong allegiances. They like to socialize and have things to do together. They like to adventure and participate in high-caliber content. We've really focused on our heroic system. We have a tremendous roleplaying community that likes to set up and create and control their own events. We've built a storytelling system that people have really responded to.
We're constantly looking at what players are doing, checking out inventory logs. We know that our folks love to collect so we've built collection systems that really support that type of behavior as well. Of course, combat is a huge part of the game. We have a number of people who are participating in PvP or PvE, so we're always looking at professions and how to balance them best. We have a very diverse group of players there, but they've all been very helpful and responded well to the stuff we've been doing over the last couple of years.
Tom Nichols: I'll just add to that the TCG [Trading Card Game] as well. We've seen that a significant amount of the subscriber base tries the TCG, which is exciting.
Jake Neri: Yeah, people really responded to that and it's cool. We're definitely looking for ways to integrate that further into what we're doing.
IGNPC: Can you put that into context? How does the TCG relate to the other experiences of the game?
Jake Neri: The TCG is basically an app that sits on top of the game that you can play outside of the game. The first round of cards that we did, the lore is all based on Galaxies. So it's all things that the players are familiar with, whether it's skills or items or quests from in the game. It's essentially an application that allows you to go head-to-head with other players or play against the AI. You might do that in the middle of playing Galaxies. You might decide you're going to play that game while you're waiting to hook up with some friends. It's there for you whenever you want.
We're able to allow players to gain loot and things like that through purchasing of the booster packs and then we're also giving those packs away for free and allowing players to get some of those cards in game as well. So the whole thing feeds itself. We're on our first release and looking into the future of what we're going to do with that. We're looking at how we can expand the back and forth between the TCG and the core game.
Tom Nichols: You want to talk about some of the new cards and how people have been showing them off?
Jake Neri: Yeah, we have a number of really cool loot cards, things like pod racers, that you can drop in and drive around the world and it's really exciting for our players. I can't stress enough how much people have been really inspired to go out and get those things because they're really cool items that make them feel that much better about their experience.
When you purchase a booster pack, you're opening up a pack of 15-plus cards. One of those might be a loot card. There's a UI that converts that into the virtual item for your character. It's a pretty cool experience. If you haven't seen that we should definitely get you hooked up with that because I think you'd probably enjoy checking it out.
IGNPC: It definitely sounds interesting and like it adds a new level to the game. I wonder, what's next for Galaxies? You guys obviously are at a point where the game is still profitable for you. What are you looking to do to maintain your player numbers down the road?
Tom Nichols: We've touched on some of them already. We've mentioned the Hoth heroic instance, which will be coming out soon. We've talked publicly, at least with our community, about the droid commander release coming down the pipe. Our development team is focused on major new content releases as well as ongoing enhancements to player classes and professions in the game.
Jake Neri: Honestly, we're heading into the time of the year where we start to look forward as well. We have a number of events going on. We have a Halloween event that's live, the Galactic Moon festival. Our Life Day celebration is always a big deal for our community at the end of the year. We'll be talking about what's next after that next year. Right now, those are the things that are on deck for us.
IGNPC: Thanks for the update.
Hi there, Draccan.
Take a look at this interview on IGN with LucasArts about the current state of Galaxies and the impact of their new SW MMO.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IGNPC: What do you think the impact of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be? There's obviously a lot of overlap in terms of the communities of Star Wars fans and MMO players. How do you see the games being differentiated and how do you think the success of The Old Republic will affect Star Wars Galaxies?
Jake Neri: Well, I think there are a lot of differences between the games, from the obvious differences in the timeline and the setting and, as you learned down at BioWare, the focus on story, character and dialogue. Those really are key differentiating features between The Old Republic and Galaxies.
I think there is definitely going to be an impact but I think you'll find that a lot of Star Wars fans will still want to play Galaxies and a lot of them will want to play both games. Time will tell. When we launch the game we'll see exactly what will happen. Nobody has a crystal ball. I think the games are clearly different enough that the market can support both of them together. We've seen that with some of the other MMOs out there such as EQ1 and EQ2. Although similar, both of them have been able to carry on successfully.
Thats what I read in that statement. No committement. SW:TOR WILL impact the SWG and if SWG gets in the way of TOR then... *looks around for crystal ball ...
Fair enough if you were responding to SWG being canned pre-TOR tho but things arent looking rosey considering.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi: We were decieved by a lie; we all were. It appears that SOE is behind everything, including the NGE! After the death of CU, the NGE became their new apprentice."
Hi there, Draccan.
Take a look at this interview on IGN with LucasArts about the current state of Galaxies and the impact of their new SW MMO.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IGNPC: What do you think the impact of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be? There's obviously a lot of overlap in terms of the communities of Star Wars fans and MMO players. How do you see the games being differentiated and how do you think the success of The Old Republic will affect Star Wars Galaxies?
Jake Neri: Well, I think there are a lot of differences between the games, from the obvious differences in the timeline and the setting and, as you learned down at BioWare, the focus on story, character and dialogue. Those really are key differentiating features between The Old Republic and Galaxies.
I think there is definitely going to be an impact but I think you'll find that a lot of Star Wars fans will still want to play Galaxies and a lot of them will want to play both games. Time will tell. When we launch the game we'll see exactly what will happen. Nobody has a crystal ball. I think the games are clearly different enough that the market can support both of them together. We've seen that with some of the other MMOs out there such as EQ1 and EQ2. Although similar, both of them have been able to carry on successfully.
Thats what I read in that statement. No committement. SW:TOR WILL impact the SWG and if SWG gets in the way of TOR then... *looks around for crystal ball ...
Fair enough if you were responding to SWG being canned pre-TOR tho but things arent looking rosey considering.
Here is a possible Scenario:
Galaxies plods along totally ignored by LA. No Cross promotions. No Repackages. Nada. TOR launches and it does great. 300, 000 box sales and subs in its first week. Its not really complete but the progression is really slow as "your story" drags your upward progression. Then the reviews and posters here and others start downing it as a "WOW clone." Further, they finally see how little content there is other than "your story" linear matterial. In the end, it is compared to SWG in classes and originality and found lacking. LA ignoring the reviews and posts, still is baffled that they don't sell 1 mil.
During this same time, SWG still gets nada. Faithful fans keep thier accounts while many more drop thiers for TOR. Most can't aford to sub 2 games at a time. For them if TOR works, great. If not, they can return to SWG. This is were SWG will be most vunerable to LA decideing to pull the licence. If the drastic dip in subs records a mass exodus (again) coupled with low returns on the TCG and subs, they will pull SWG. Players that left to try TOR that don't fall in love with the game will find they can't go back to SWG if they have given TOR a fair shake down because of the time. TOR turns out to be another in the series of MMOG's in the same vein as LotR, AoC and WAR. It offers little to the market beyond its IP. Players then start to leave.
All this time, Blizzard continues on its new MMO. It launches and shows how the next step in MMO play should be handled. It ends up dominating the market again with its new World Simulator based F2P next step up from WOW. LA is baffled, again, at why thier IP just doesn't perform and make all those subs. Star Wars fans are thus stuck with no MMO they want to play. LA then trys to make a deal with a third MMO company to make a Star Wars MMO based on Bliz's second MMO format. Chasing the dragon, you never win.
Could this happen? Not really. SOE will keep SWG running 1-2 more years after this period and will see some old players return. Development might drop like MxO but LA would spur them to keep the game active if they saw the subs shift around.
Am I pestimistic? In todays, economic enviroment... yah.
Hi there, Draccan.
Take a look at this interview on IGN with LucasArts about the current state of Galaxies and the impact of their new SW MMO.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IGNPC: What do you think the impact of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be? There's obviously a lot of overlap in terms of the communities of Star Wars fans and MMO players. How do you see the games being differentiated and how do you think the success of The Old Republic will affect Star Wars Galaxies?
Jake Neri: Well, I think there are a lot of differences between the games, from the obvious differences in the timeline and the setting and, as you learned down at BioWare, the focus on story, character and dialogue. Those really are key differentiating features between The Old Republic and Galaxies.
I think there is definitely going to be an impact but I think you'll find that a lot of Star Wars fans will still want to play Galaxies and a lot of them will want to play both games. Time will tell. When we launch the game we'll see exactly what will happen. Nobody has a crystal ball. I think the games are clearly different enough that the market can support both of them together. We've seen that with some of the other MMOs out there such as EQ1 and EQ2. Although similar, both of them have been able to carry on successfully.
Thats what I read in that statement. No committement. SW:TOR WILL impact the SWG and if SWG gets in the way of TOR then... *looks around for crystal ball ...
Fair enough if you were responding to SWG being canned pre-TOR tho but things arent looking rosey considering.
Here is a possible Scenario:
Galaxies plods along totally ignored by LA. No Cross promotions. No Repackages. Nada. TOR launches and it does great. 300, 000 box sales and subs in its first week. Its not really complete but the progression is really slow as "your story" drags your upward progression. Then the reviews and posters here and others start downing it as a "WOW clone." Further, they finally see how little content there is other than "your story" linear matterial. In the end, it is compared to SWG in classes and originality and found lacking. LA ignoring the reviews and posts, still is baffled that they don't sell 1 mil.
During this same time, SWG still gets nada. Faithful fans keep thier accounts while many more drop thiers for TOR. Most can't aford to sub 2 games at a time. For them if TOR works, great. If not, they can return to SWG. This is were SWG will be most vunerable to LA decideing to pull the licence. If the drastic dip in subs records a mass exodus (again) coupled with low returns on the TCG and subs, they will pull SWG. Players that left to try TOR that don't fall in love with the game will find they can't go back to SWG if they have given TOR a fair shake down because of the time. TOR turns out to be another in the series of MMOG's in the same vein as LotR, AoC and WAR. It offers little to the market beyond its IP. Players then start to leave.
All this time, Blizzard continues on its new MMO. It launches and shows how the next step in MMO play should be handled. It ends up dominating the market again with its new World Simulator based F2P next step up from WOW. LA is baffled, again, at why thier IP just doesn't perform and make all those subs. Star Wars fans are thus stuck with no MMO they want to play. LA then trys to make a deal with a third MMO company to make a Star Wars MMO based on Bliz's second MMO format. Chasing the dragon, you never win.
Could this happen? Not really. SOE will keep SWG running 1-2 more years after this period and will see some old players return. Development might drop like MxO but LA would spur them to keep the game active if they saw the subs shift around.
Am I pestimistic? In todays, economic enviroment... yah.
Weirdly, and I am being a bit weird here... "In todays, economic enviroment." I would of thought companies would be investing in present games to keep customers feeling that even though there is a pinch in the wallet its worth staying and paying.
With that I mean expansions or massive content introduced. Not Battlefields but storyline content (effectively timesinks).
"Obi-Wan Kenobi: We were decieved by a lie; we all were. It appears that SOE is behind everything, including the NGE! After the death of CU, the NGE became their new apprentice."
Weirdly, and I am being a bit weird here... "In todays, economic enviroment." I would of thought companies would be investing in present games to keep customers feeling that even though there is a pinch in the wallet its worth staying and paying.
With that I mean expansions or massive content introduced. Not Battlefields but storyline content (effectively timesinks).
Very logically, yes. However, LA sees a past project or game as that, the past and wants to be progressive and move forward. That means to them New. Its the shiney new box on the shelf mentality of marketing. They don't see the stand alone living enties that MMO's can be. Just a cash cow to abaondon after milking.
SWG... It's really not THAT bad... lol.
Sadly, compared to most MMO's, it isn't. Except that the Devs keep making it worse with every patch and TCG expansion.
PVP, for example, went from galaxy wide for GCW to confined to a few static locations with severe limits on participation.
Probably the best slogan they could do for SWG right now would be "SWG, please, oh please, oh PLEASE play it until TOR comes out!"
LOL
SOE has always done a great job of keeping SWG marketable!
Oh wait...
SOE has always done a great job of keeping SWG marketable!
Oh wait...
Within the limits that is imposed on it. After the NGE failure, LA pretty much abandoned Marketing it. They will, of course, take any money due them for the game. SOE does not package and market SWG; LA does. SOE is guilty of making and selling the NGE to LA along with many other faults. LA chose to abuse the community it had in favor of the new community it would get. That plan failed. The TCG is milking the licences before LA pulls it and continues with TOR. The TCG is also SOE's attempt to keep that same licences as profitable product.
The game is more complete today for its type and it works. NO, your Jedi is still not Alpha Class and your Legendary Weapons is still crap. If, however, you don't carry that gut full of hate from the past, you can find a new experiance that is good.