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YES - SWG Developers see the signs and react !!!!!!
Erillion
Member EpicPosts: 10,329
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Well, it has been about five months since I joined the SWG team and it is time for an update. I have some good news for the future of our game and service that happened late last week. LucasArts and Sony Online have made the joint decision to increase the investment in the game development team. We are adding more people to all parts of the development team including production, project management, programming, design, art, community and QA. Over 20 new people are being added to our team this month in fact. The purpose of this investment is to accelerate the changes and additions we want to make to Star Wars Galaxies. These new folks won't have any affect on the in-progress Combat Upgrade, which has been fully staffed since Publish 10. More details on the Combat Upgrade will be coming out in January as we enter the alpha testing phase of that development. Where these new people will help most is in allowing us to add more content, work on the non-combat professions and get to the galactic civil war enhancements sooner. My plan is to move to more frequent and significant publishes of both fixes and enhancements. I have to caution that as with any large team change, it will take us a several weeks to get these new folks integrated and fully productive, but I wanted to share this significant change to our situation with you as soon as I could. We remain committed to providing you with a premium Star Wars entertainment experience. These new people on our team will allow us to accelerate our changes to the game in pursuit of that goal. Expect to see us delivering a more immersive Star Wars experience that is more fun and accessible with each major publish. I would like to hear your feedback on where and how we could make the biggest and most positive impact on your play experience. Please post your constructive feedback to us here. As always, thank you for your continued patronage and support. Gordon Walton |
Comments
This is FANTASTIC news! Absolutely INCREDIBLE!
But... Gee...
Only about a year late....
Don't worry SOE, I am certain that your former playerbase will drop what they are currently enjoying, forgive your track record of customer neglect and abuse, and return to your rather public debacle we all know and love known as SWG.
Maybe you ought to take a look at another debacle: Anarchy Online. They are so awesome, and their product and services so superior, that they have to nearly GIVE it away! No monthly subscriptions...
Honestly, I don't think it would matter. I wouldn't play SWG again if you paid me for the privillage.
And just what kind of quality staff do you think SOE was able to draw into this fiasco? Obviously no-one who actually reads non-SOE forums or boards about SWG...
This is all just too funny...
- Zhirem
"Honestly, I don't think it would matter. I wouldn't play SWG again if you paid me for the privillage."
Hehe. And still you somehow wanted to go in here and troll on the SWG board?:)
Seems like a bad way to waste your free time, if you ask me
I didn't ask you. I just have some nicely pent-up vitriol to spew.
I ain't trolling, I am just airing out. By all means, play whatever you like. Whatever gets you your kicks, then go do it.
My opinion is just that. Take with however many grains of salt you wish. I am confident that with time, perceptive and reflective players will agree more with me, than with any rabid or not-so-rabid fanbois or girls.
Cause I used to be one.
Go talk to some players of AO launch to about a year. You will hear some striking similarities between SWG and AO...
Whoa! How AWESOME! ABOUT DANG TIME!!! Just too bad ill be leaving for World of Warcraft because the game STILL SUCKS! So you got more staff, and they're probably really capable, but why would that make a difference if the entire game is boring to the core? They'll revamp the entire game? Of course not! It's awesome with its completely mind-numbing crafting system and the click-and-wait combat system! Entertainers are AFK and jedi showboat daily.... sounds Star Warsy to me!
I was looking forward to the infamous Combat Revamp expected "soon". I read the info available and it didnt say anything about changing the style of play (which IS the problem why it's boring). I have yet to find anyone who likes to click and wait a half-hour for their character with a sword to kill some bug that could be easily done away with by simply stepping on it. So the graphics are smoother and the animations look cooler, big deal! Soon we'll see all the anims and the graphics enough to get bored of them. It's like painting a broken down car a different color...
nothing is ever to late... god lets hope they dont screw f()[]< this up.
>>>
It's awesome with its completely mind-numbing crafting system
>>>
I have played crafters since the game started and the system is ANYTHING BUT mind numbing. In fact you will be hard pressed to find anything like that in any current MMORPG.
Sure, if you are a mindless grinder clicking 50000 times on a chain of crafting tools with crappy resources and throwing it away for nada on the local bazaar.
However it takes skill and dedication to locate and mine the right resources and combine them with multiple factors to make SUPERIOR products. To be known as one of the best crafters on your server. To have repeat customers that praise your wares.
The danger lies elsewhere. Treating it like a second job. Being a slave to your "virtual" business - which often leads to burnout. Above all its a game and you should enjoy it.
Have fun
Erillion
I do recall when I played the trial I was really impressed with the resource gathering and crafting system. I couldn't begin to knock it if I tried.
- Fadeus Hawkwood
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Sounds like more empty promises to me. What I'd prefer to see instead that possibly could get me and others to return is...
Make grouping more viable and rewarding
Change the current system of crafter-centered thinking, everyone wants some decent drops. That doesnt mean you should loot all your armor and weapons but it would be nice to have SOME. I mean as of now, the few decent drops one gets are so freaking rare they never get used (wall display).
Fix current content, this is my pet peeve. For god's sake, the gungan sacred place has been busted since launch. Out of principle, I wont return until basic things like that are broken.
Add more content to existing areas. We dont need more geonosian caves when you have empty jawa fortresses, empty ewok villages and more dying for a few quests and missions.
Dump the HAM system and start over...get rid of buffs as no other game i've played had so much reliance on them. Simplify it to two bars, one health and one mind. And health doesnt go down because i used a special attack. Mind is for jedi stuff possibly and heals.
Stop the forum police from deleting anything even remotely critical of the game. I should be able to post "this game sux" or "a csr totally screwed me tonight" and NOT have it removed.
Fix customer service, without a doubt the worst treatment Ive ever gotten from any mmorpg. I wont go into details, but it took 4 months to get something critical fixed with my toon. And now its worse because most can't even figure out how to submit a ticket. The few that do find out how get a generic response back thats doesnt help and the csr deletes the ticket.
If all this occurs, then MAYBE I would return...
I hope it's good.... although I have my doubts.
Gotta agree with most. I thought the PvP, the Galactic War, and the mass grouping would be awsome, but yeah, failed big time. Played till publish 10, still sucked. Grinding all day, having to get monster buffed, and certain proffessions able to afk fight high lvl mobs makes the combat system pathetic. I crossed over because EA shutdown EnB, but SWG was by far the worst game I have played. Never got the privilage to interact with CS, but I have heard the horror stories.......Maybe, someday, people will wake up and SWG will actually be a Star Wars game........but then again, it may be a dream.
Pan
Pan
DAKSHA - the Weaponsmith
proud member of KDS
SWG- DAKSHA, Quietus, Decebal, Deceneu -retired
EVE - Daksha - retired
WOW - Daksha - retired
COV - Daksha - retired
EQ2- Daksha - retired
SOR- Daksha - retired
Vanguard - Daksha - retired
LOTRO - Daksha - retired
AOC - Daksha - retired
Warhammer - Daksha - retired
Aion - Daksha -almost retired
Waiting for SWTOR
I am a AO player and a SWG player.
AO was 95% unplayable for 6 months to 1 year after release. Because of this, AO has forever been stuck with 50,000 players as its best ever number. It would have had far more, but they were unable to play the game because of a horrible game bug that the AO game DEVs took over 1 year to admit exist - even after many players found out what it was and posted about it.
SWG was unplayable only on its FIRST DAY of release. SWG had 50,000 players in its first month of release. It continued to explode in number of players. Reaching a high of 300,000+ in November 2003. Nothing else about whatever problems the two games are having, are anywhere striking and or simular.
The current problem with SWG was LucasArts over-milking money from it by forcing SONY to put Jedi in, against SONY's original plans for how Jedi would be handled. Thus the Jedi Hologrind happend, which killed off SWG's explosion of players. It definatly killed off SWG's old, quality, player base. Jedi are a worse problem than the Combat re-vamp. IF only LucasArts left SWG alone, left it exactly how it was going in Sept 2003, SWG would be doing near-perfect right now. (And add the vehicles, Player cities, and SE aka JTL, like they have done.) AO has never had a problem like Jedi. AO has never had a combat problem like SWG is having. Never in AO has 1 player ever been able to solo the hardest monster(s) in the entire game. AO has never fully recovered from the fact that the game itself was unplayable for roughly 1 year after release.
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I'm like a Superhero without the powers or motivation.
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"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb." -- Batman
Motorhead,
You're kidding me right? Let me tell you SWG has A LOT of faults. Most of the game is pretty much useless, but I would put SWG's crafting system against any other EVER created. It simply is the best. The only downside to it is you can't make anything to sell unless you are a master of your profession.
Hi there,
there ARE professions where non-masters have a lot to sell to the general public. I was architect and i am now a shipwright ... both professions that have roles for non-master crafters.
Architect : Selling houses, furniture, gardens, fountains, walls etc. ... many dozens of items that a non- master can craft as well as a master of this profession ... AND sell. If you offer interior design you have your work cut out for you - many do not have the creativity and/or time to decorate their own houses, but would love to have something to show off to their friends.
Shipwright : crafting consumables (=ammo = missiles & countermeasures) is a job well suited for a non-master crafter. Also chassis, where experimenting has a small effect on end quality.
Tailor comes to mind too.
Of course, as "crafting" for some people with tunnel vision only means weapons, armor and stim packs .. the weaponsmiths, armorsmiths and doctors have to master their profession to be competitive.
Have fun
Erillion
Right and out of all the Crafting professions you can name 3 that can actually make a living without being master:
Architect: Yep some houses and factories, but the big money makers are Harvesters and you have to be Master for those
Armorsmith: Have to be master
Bio-Engineer: Nope have to be master
Chef: Nope have to be master
Droid Engineer: Doesn't matter either way, you'll always be broke. You'll actually make more money selling Droid Batteries which is an artisan item.
Doctor: Master
Shipwirght: Very few things actually worth making under master.
Tailor: Yep can make it without being a master
Weaponsmith: Yep must be master
So out of 9 professions 1 will never make money, 2 can make a few things but aren't really viable until master, and 1 can actually make a living before becoming master.
yeah but they said they hired them about a month ago and so far i havent seen any change in the speed of the updates....well there have been more but they have been only one change updates....like on dec 22 there was only one thing changed to the whole game and it wasnt even a big issue so so far SWG has shown no signes of actually having new DEVs added to their "team"
So out of 9 professions all those directly combat support related need to master because players are so jaded they will only buy the best. The others have ways to make money before mastering, enough to sustain them til they reach master.
ALL of them make money, especially the much maligned droid engineer profession which has REALLY made a turn for a better a few months ago and now has a steady cash cow from all those Bounty Hunters using bomb droids as waterbombs against swimming Jedi (insider joke :-) but oh so true :-)
Have fun
Novarider
Hard Core .... from experience in working in a mixed team of designers and programmers for commercial accounting software:
If you come new to a team you need the veterans to show you the ropes. These veterans need to be available and need to have some time to spare from their usual work to answer my (not so) stupid questions.
Now those veterans have been coding non-stop from 1-4 years (SWG and JTL) in a too small team ... which makes overtime and weekend work the norm. After JTL has been finished and the Japan servers launched, after the worst JTL bugs have been hotfixed .... all those veterans are now in well deserved X-mas vacation. 3 weeks I guess.
All those new team members have little to do but to read documentation and bounce some new ideas around. Maybe fool around with the code on internal test servers to start to understand the hieroglyphs churned out and recoded a gazillion times by their colleagues.
So personally I dont expect a lot from the new team members until the end of the first quarter 2005.
Have fun
Novarider
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !
Have fun
Erillion
"it will take us a several weeks to get these new folks integrated and fully productive"
???????????
???????????????
Huh? Several weeks? What are they in training or something? Sheesh, you start working for a new company, usually you'll know what to do, and you can start right away. Or heck even 1 week of training.
For a programmer I can understand. But if you're a graphics artist, you should be able to start asap. That's SOE. I betcha it's all a conspiracy too. They wrote that just so they can buy themselves more time cause of their lazyness to add more stuff to SWG.
They wanna concentrate just on the Combat Balance and nothing else. But nothing graphical is needed for the combat balance! So why not during that time, add more dungeons, add more content, add more new stuff.
ugh... SOE... god I hate that company, but I still have an active SWG account... no I don't hate SOE, I hate myself.
(sigh) must stop thinking about SWG... gotta play more WoW... argh!!!
___________ ___ __ _ _ _
Stealth - Ambush - Hemorrhage - Sinister Strike x2 - Cold Blood - Eviscerate - Vanish - Preparation - Cold Blood - Ambush - ... you're dead! :P
>>>>
Sheesh, you start working for a new company, usually you'll know what to do, and you can start right away.
>>>>
Show me a single company where you REALLY know what you are doing after the first week (except for those jobs that required untrained labor ) ? Yes, you are a highly trained professional in a certain area, but that does not mean you understand whats going on after the first week, especially when half the regulars are on X-mas vacation (and if thats their first vacation after 3 years) and no one has yet shown you how to do things where , when and how.
Yes, creative people can start doing art, but you wont see it in game until it has been piped through evaluation and testing and getting the management stamp of approval. Administrative red tape. And most of those people are on vacation - should be back by now by the way (3rd January).
Have fun
Erillion
I voted a little too late. Come on , this game is 2 yrs old already and now they doing something about it????? this year MxO, DnD and other mmorpg will be released. I think people would rather play a new mmorpg than a old mmorpg.
Which FF Character Are You?
Strangely enough I would disagree. I have played my fair share of MMORPGs and IMHO its better to play an older MMORPG than a new one. Cause EVERY new MMORPG is buggy and has balance problems (and current new games like WoW are no exception).
Older MMORPGs have ironed out the worst bugs and usually also added some attractive expansions.
If you can be patient enough to wait for that phase in games that interest you is another question entirely ... I can not :-) On the other hand, there are new hyped games like Matrix Online, Second Life or Everquest 2 that I am not the least bit interested in joining.
SWG clearly has NOT yet ended the phase of having ironed out the worst bugs /sigh. But that problem should be addressed 2005 .... of course too late, but on the other hand SWG offers a lot I cant find in other MMORPGs and it keeps me busy and having fun.
Erillion