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12 servers closing is a success?
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No, its still a success in the real world. They pay less for less servers, why pay more for a dwindling population?
You trick yourself.
Want an analogy?
You have cancer. WHO grade IV, youre statistical rate of survival for the next 2 years is 3%. Now you can go ahead and say 'hey great, so I can spend all my retirement funding for a 1984 Ferrari Testarossa and supplies for 40000 km' and while driving somewhere between the Baikal Lake and the Mongolian border you can tell yourself "Wow, isn't this a success story, from a car-supply assistant with a 2-room appartment to a Ferrari-driving globe trotter with a trunk full of caviar (well the 1984 testarossa has no trunk but let's assume for a moment that it did)..."
The reason for your car, and your caviar, and your around-the-world-trip is still: You have cancer and you're gonna die within the next 24 months
M
actualy if you read the SWG page the "sucsess" part becomes abit clearer.
Basicly so many people transferd of the affected servers that SOE consider them dead. that is what is the sucess part. Go look for yourself in the news archive and the FAQ
This makes it a lot easier for me, i have no intention to activate my account just to move a character and both my main and my primary alt is/was in Infinity. Feels kinda refresing to not have any reason to go back to the game now. I can now firmly place SWG together with MCO and UO in the Nostalgia department.
This have been a good conversation
Shouldn't that say "Due to the overwhelming failure of the NGE we want to inform you that on October 15,2009, at 5:00 PM PDT, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will close the following 12 Star Wars Galaxies servers"?
Too bad about Intrepid, though, my home server will be no more.
oooh the bitterness lol... man you're so full of rage that you can't even read properly.
"Due to the overwhelming success of the recent Free Character Transfer Service"
It means people have moved left and right, people started to gather around certain servers, leaving the rest pretty much empty and dead. It's a success in that sense of the word. Now SWG has been around since 2003, it's normal that people start leaving and that server closes. Not because of NGE... we get it, we already said that NGE sucked a few years back. There is no point in keeping servers open if there's only a population of 50.. you might as well move them.
SOE already said that NGE was a mistake back in 2006?
They're not talking at ALL about the state of the game being a success. They're talking about their character transfers.
That's because they called it a success. Some people look past that. What I see is.
"Thanks to the Extreme Failure of the NGE 12 servers have been deserted, we recently offered a free character transfer system which was an Overwhelming Success, we are now going to close 12 servers due to this success."
Before the NGE my home server (Scylla) was very active, even during CU it was active. Of coarse they are not talking about the state of the game, but if you can look past that, you will see this "success" wouldn't have been possible without the NGE.
Words mean things Badger. This isn't a cheap shot at SoE and it's certainly not a "failure" to comprehend - they chose their words VERY poorly (again). Honestly, SoE's PR people need to canned. They were the same people who foolishly called Death Troopers "zombies" too. It's a matter of NOT knowing your customer base and attempting to make server closings look like a good thing, when any moron with a brain knows it's a terrible thing.
There were a million other ways to spin the server closings mate, calling them an "overwhelming success" was just ignorance and stupidity. Why not try HONESTY? "Due to the vast number of players who opted to move via the FCTS, we have decided to close the 'transfer from' servers." - no lies, no spin, not negative...just truthful. Factual, not spin.
As others have pointed out, this would be like GM saying "Due to the overwhelming success of the Cash for Clunkers program, we will be closing half our plants"...that's not "spin", that's just moronic.
I understand the concept of trying to make it sound "OK" and like everything will be alright...but calling it an "overwhelming success" sounds exactly like what it is...a pathetic spin attempt to cover long term failure and fool a few people into thinking it IS a good thing when it's clearly not.
Again, words mean things. Success =/= less of a product.
You know, back when they made the NGE announcement, we told them that it wouldn't work, it wouldn't attract new players or retain existing ones. They really needed to close these servers years ago, and frankly, they don't need all of the remaining 13 servers either except for the fact that the combat engine is so flawed that it requires thin populations to semi function.
I do feel sorry for those who built communities on the now closed servers.
If the FCTS hadn't been used by the huge number of people that took advantage of it, the servers would not have closed.
The FCTS was a success because so many people used it. If it had gone in and nobody had moved then it would have been deemed a failure.
Not really rocket science, and it's old news, but some people never pass up an opportunity to take a shot at SoE, even if they have to fail at reading comprehension to do so.
If you look at my recent population stats, you can see the drop off for the servers that were closed started with Chapter 6, where PvE difficulty was substantially increased over what is was after the NGE pretty much broke it.
Players moved servers, either using the paid for CTS or rerolling, just so that they could find the groups required for the new difficulty.
Thus started the great server population imbalance that we still see today.
Badger, the FCTS was created in response to certain servers having unsustainable populations. They were already dead servers and the FCTS was only created after a long and painful process where soe dragged their feet to address the issue. FFS smedly promised server MERGERS how many YEARS ago at fan faire?
The FCTS gave people the option to move somewhere they wanted (which was a bad choice honestly for many reasons), but if soe is closing the servers now it is because they intended to for a long time. There is no possible way you create 1 way transfers from servers that are dead and intend to keep them live.
My point is that the FCTS isn't some overwhelming success, because it is something that would happen regardless when soe chose to close the servers. The FCTS didn't enable them the option to close the servers, that was going to happen regardless.
Beyond that however it is just plain stupid wording for a server closure message. It didn't work in warhammer when mythic tried to be all happy and shiny about giving people "new homes" and it only got worse each time they cheerfully make those closure announcements. It is just dumb.
This whole thing reminds me of the Dunkirk evacuation of WW2 when over 300K British and French troops were rescued in the "miracle of the little ships". The press presented this evacuation as such a success that Winston Churchill had to remind the people that "we must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations."
Excellent post, and a very appropriate quote for this discussion. Kudos.
If the uptake on the Free CTS hadn't been so overwhelming, and lets say for instance one server managed to retain a large portion of its population then it would have likely stayed up. This didn't happen due to the "success" of the FCTS.
I spent the last six months on Infinity working with the players there in order to ensure that everything possible was being done to rebuild the server community with an aim to avoiding closure. We managed to go out as the busiest "Transfer from" server due to those efforts, but the server population was miniscule compared to the now current lowest population of Sunrunner.
SoE gave players a choice, the majority of them took the option of moving and therefore the promotion is considered a "success", they aren't talking about the NGE or the game in general, just the fact that the uptake on the FCTS was probably more than they were originally expecting.
I'm not bitter at all. I just found it amusing that SOE is saying that having to close half the servers because of lack of population is a success.
For the existing subscribers it's a success, because they get more consolidated and have so more people to play with.
More people look at the chain of events that lead to this. If they didn't screw the game up would they have had to close 12 servers? Probably not.
Probably, as the game would hav either A still sucked, or B been full of jedi, either way you look at it it would be doing crpa today.
Hell, before the NGE came out 95% the people i saw grinding were either jedi or grinding jedi.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
More people look at the chain of events that lead to this. If they didn't screw the game up would they have had to close 12 servers? Probably not.
Probably, as the game would hav either A still sucked, or B been full of jedi, either way you look at it it would be doing crpa today.
Hell, before the NGE came out 95% the people i saw grinding were either jedi or grinding jedi.
That's because the jedi grind was pretty much the only endgame there was at that time.
You can't take just PART of the statement. "Due to the overwhelming success of the Free Character Transfer Service..."...what? What is happening due to that success? What is the result of that success? Closing half the games servers is simply not something any reasonable company would view as a "success".
I remember handling a delicated case somewhere on earth. A certain developer build a multi-storey apartment, they sold the units and were in the process of fitting in the escalators before completion of project.
Then they found that the foundation is at fault and they need to pull down the whole building. But before that, they need to settle the purchase agreement with would be owners.
The take over company initiates talks with the buyers and after some struggles managed to liquidate all purchase claims, with undisclosed terms of compensation. So they say, "after successfully settling all commercial disputes, they are now commencing demolition work".
Come on, guys. Past is past. SoE is doing what they should be doing now, given the current situation. Consolidation is a natural part of life cycle of online games. Come to think of it, I do not believe SWG will be just as successful by now as it once was, even if NGE and CU never happened. DAoC faded, UO faded. Even EQ faded. What makes you think that SWG will be popular forever.
I must confess I love SWG to death. It will always be my most fond memory, SWG and DAoC. That said, I don't think I will be playing SWG now even if it is the same SWG I once loved.
Let the old memory go. I hate SoE for ruining SWG back then, forcing me to play DAoC and trying out CoH and later WoW. But that is history. If we live forever in history, there is no tomorrow to embrace.
goodbye corbantis, and goodbye my BH.
If the uptake on the Free CTS hadn't been so overwhelming, and lets say for instance one server managed to retain a large portion of its population then it would have likely stayed up. This didn't happen due to the "success" of the FCTS.
I spent the last six months on Infinity working with the players there in order to ensure that everything possible was being done to rebuild the server community with an aim to avoiding closure. We managed to go out as the busiest "Transfer from" server due to those efforts, but the server population was miniscule compared to the now current lowest population of Sunrunner.
SoE gave players a choice, the majority of them took the option of moving and therefore the promotion is considered a "success", they aren't talking about the NGE or the game in general, just the fact that the uptake on the FCTS was probably more than they were originally expecting.
I think you are missing the point Badger. The FCTS was created to address the already existing problem of servers with population problems. The FCTS wasn't something soe created to let some people leave servers and then make them low population.
You are trying to paint this situation as if the free character transfers created a situation where server mergers suddenly became a possibility. Just think about that for a moment. Why on earth would any company work to create something that would kill servers... well I mean with a character transfer tool.
What you are suggesting makes zero sense. FCTS was created to address the population issues. Just like the looking for group tools where. Just like Smedly promising to fast track server mergers years ago. Everything points to population problems being addressed, not created by some overwhelming success.
It is about the dumbest thing ever to claim that SUCCESS of a program RESULTED in forced server closures.
See ya Crashbantis....it was fun.
That's debatable mate. Having played on Flurry, the second most transferred TO server, I can tell ya, some of the players we got were OUTSTANDING additions. Others...well...there was a reason their old servers died. Some players DID drive away vets. Attitudes of some of the transfers are to blame, some Flurry attitudes were to blame. It isn't all roses mate. We ended up with more people (initially) sure, but there was more than enough trash that came along for the ride too.
My biggest gripe is with the asshats who sucked at PvP who reported everyone that was better than them. I KNEW these reported players, I had played with them, been in guilds with them for 5 years...I knew several who had their accounts logged into EACH DAY to verify they weren't cheating. They grew tired of it and many of the "old timers" quit. Along with them, guilds died, attitudes changed. It wasn't a success for all mate.
There weren't any real winners IMO...just a change in players.
Because it took less time to implement the FCTS than it would to implement a full Apprenticeship system, cross server play and other community tools to give players a reason to stay on their server.
The servers needed merging even before the NGE : I remember playing on Sunrunner back during the Pre CU and it was empty. Everyone already left the game with JTLS and Holocrons and all the other crap they broke before the CU and NGE.
GlaDOS must run SOE
"This was triumph.. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!"
(...for the good of all of us... except the ones who are DEAD)
I agree, the initial holocron grind ended my sub. I cannot believe I will go play some class randomly dictated to me by a stupid holocron, just to get to play a class I do not know I really want to play, a Jedi. Perman death after working so hard to get to a Jedi? Can they come up with even more meaningless grind?
I cancelled once the details of holocrons comes out.
I agree, the initial holocron grind ended my sub. I cannot believe I will go play some class randomly dictated to me by a stupid holocron, just to get to play a class I do not know I really want to play, a Jedi. Perman death after working so hard to get to a Jedi? Can they come up with even more meaningless grind?
I cancelled once the details of holocrons comes out.
The holocron grind was the beginning of the end imho. Empty hollow knee jerk short term content that sent the game on a really bad path it never really recovered from.
I harbor a special hatred for holocrons, because I was the only master chef on the server at the time and was under constant bombardment for "how do I grind master chef FAST!".
Because it took less time to implement the FCTS than it would to implement a full Apprenticeship system, cross server play and other community tools to give players a reason to stay on their server.
It is debatable if it is easier, but it is a moot point. The condition of the servers already existed and the outcome was unavoidable. Grouping tools or transfer tools, neither would have altered what was already going to happen and honestly should have happened years ago when soe acknowledged it at fan faire.
agree to disagree?
if ur not playing anymore who cares. SW:TOR is coming out so let's look to the future and not the past.