Well after the two most recent public responses by SOE/LA, I am now convinced that they are going to ride SWG into the ground. The constant decay and recent outrage/press that accelerated the decay will not deter them.
I think its time to move on to greener pastures. There is no hope for SWG for the foreseeable future, we're likely months away from any turning point, after they see a brief rise from the movies as they saw the brief rise from JTL, it will take some time for all the player attrition to get past the hump of executives no longer being able to say, "we knew we'd take some adverse pain from this, but in the long run we knew it would be better for the game," and having to admit, "we blew it yet again, and what can we do now to salvage SWG, even with the credibility of a new project leadership team?"
So sad. 2 years of heart and passion, and having it wiped out.
Whats really sad is the aftermath on SWG's forums now. I feel like Im the only person left still trying to complain about the CU. I post anything even remotely critical (like how the Kahyyk planet isnt a planet but more like a dungeon due to its size and being forced to travel in paths) and I get major flames.
Then the rest of the kiddies who like the CU are busy over in the jedi forums telling me and other padawans to just "adjust" to not being able to play by going against all reasons I became a jedi (to be able to solo) and group up and accept BH losses....
The latest snow job and propoganda that makes Baghdad Bob jealous by SOE/LA over at IGN is very insightful.
"
IGNPC: But the new group focus means that it's harder for players to play solo.
Dallas Dickinson: I think that's a common misconception. It's certainly slightly harder for you to solo. We're certainly going to try to make it more worth your while to be in a group. You can play more efficiently if you are a power gamer if you're in a group. We think that's the right way to handle it. Previously, you could really inspire pure solo, indestructible play. We removed that. It's very hard to be invincible now, whereas it was very easy in the past to do so. We're asking you to join in groups, but you can still play viably as a solo. You just progress slightly more slowly. "
There is a reason that's a common misconception, because it's virtually true. It should be we are forcing you to group, but only letting you group with people your level, otherwise everyone is punished in XP. We all agree 2800 buffs and 90% comp weren't healthy for the game. (I personally think 90% should've been possible with RIS, but RIS was still quite rare armor, and the cost justified it.) You removed the "I Win" buttons, but replaced them with nothing in return, to where now there is a large gap.
"
IGNPC: How does that apply to Jedi? Jedi have serious penalties for grouping, so it seems that in the new system, the players who have in most cases invested the more time and energy into the game are finding it hard to level up on their own and attacked by bounty hunters when they join up in groups.
Dallas Dickinson: We are looking at Jedi. Jedi are certainly an area where we have some balance issues that we're totally aware of. When I see complaints on the boards and issues raised up to me about Jedis, they're valid concerns and we're working hard.
The thing to understand about Jedi is that it's a separate system from the rest fo the game and it's meant to be. We can address their problems separately, and we will. It should not interact as much with the rest of the population. If you know where we stand in the timeline, Jedi aren't supposed to be hugely involved with the rest fo the player base. We're addressing those and those are some of our highest priority issues. The Players who play Jedi are very vocal and very committed, and they're seeing a little bit of strain right now. It's valid, and we're working on those problems. "
One could say this almost sounds like Jedis are just being told to shut up for the time being. If Jedi were meant to be a separate system, they would not be an integral part to everything in the game such as the GCW. As one who never had a Jedi, never wanted a Jedi, and normally despised the jebays who whined that after paying a grand for their toon they couldn't be ub3r, I actually sympathize with Jedis on this one. They got the shaft. This is yet another thing that SOE says should've happened but never did. If the by chanced followed the infamous proposal for the FRS revamp by Gonz on the SOE forums (can't remember the link) then they could state this.
"We already have and will continue to extend the inspiration buff system. The entertainer's interaction with the combat classes will have a lot to do with that particular mechanic. One of the issues that the players have had that we've addressed with the combat upgrade is the ability of someone to create a buffbot entertainer. Most people didn't like that. They were just used to it as a way to get a sense of healing. We deliberately said we didn't want them to just be buffbots; we wanted entertainers to actually be entertainers and have people actually enjoy playing the game, rather than just creating character in order to grind it up. Julio actually plays as an entertainer, so he can probably respond better to it. "
Yes by fixing it so they no longer had to group with you or allow you to direct to them to get those buffs, now entertainers are no longer gaurenteed renumeration for their services. To help starting entertainers there were those entertainer quests from mission terminals. Now people can't leave the city, out of fear of being one shot one killed. In effect, it tells the crafters and dancers that they aren't an important part of the game, and are to be confined to the most limited content of all, the cities.
"I'm not going to disagree with the community by commenting against the fact that we should do more with the entertainer and we will. We do have publishes in the future that will enhance them further. "
Yet what are entertainers supposed to do until then? Everyone remember how long we've been promised a smuggler revamp? With the exception of the splendid GCW revamp, we had hologrinding, the village system which led PvP to become KOTOR online, and many other destructive "revamps", including the latest one. And the poor entertainers, already strapped for time and funds as it is, are told to like what they currently have and just wait, we'll get to you sometime in the next few years.
"
IGNPC: Sure, but if you really want to make the game more like Star Wars, it seems like you're taking a step back from that and making the game more generic, more like EverQuest or World of Warcraft -- the new single health statistic, entertainers now acting more like bards. To some players, it seems that some of the things that made Star Wars distinct have been stripped away in favor of making the experience more conventional.
Dallas Dickinson: Let's clarify. When we say we want to make it feel more like Star Wars, what we're saying is that we want to make it feel more like the movies, which is what the general player wants. It sounds like you're saying we're making it less like Star Wars Galaxies, the game that's been out there for a while. We're certainly making it less like the Galaxies that you're used to, but those two things aren't in conflict. When we say we're making it more like Star Wars, we want to feel like we're Rebels running away from the Empire, doing really cool things to affect the Galactic Civil War and interacting with Han Solo and Princess Leia, and they're going to give me really cool missions. We're not talking about how different it is from the mechanics of certain other MMOs. "
IGN wasn't asking softball questions, and these guys are obviously not answering them. The focus of the charge is that it isn't more like the movies, isn't like the old game, but rather is almost EQ in space. This was an outstanding non answer.
"
We also think that if you're going to go and harvest the most essential resource on Dathomir, right next to the witches, you're going to have to bring a friend, or you're going to have to have some form of defense. In the fiction of the world, that's a dangerous place. Right now, for crafters, it isn't, and we think that's against the central design of the game. We're making some changes that are going to make it harder for you to get rare resources but that actually enhance the crafting game. Because, when you have them, they're really valuable. "
This is the erect a straw man and make a lot of fury tearing it down. The complaint isn't that a crafter can walk around the NS stronghold collecting resources and being invincible. Quite frankly, any crafter in 90% comp at the NS stronghold would've been pwned. They are adressing an issue that is non-existent. The true problem is crafters can't leave the city without being one shot one killed. They can't run. Grouping with a friend is useless, because that friend can't save you when you get hit once and killed. In short, this is another brilliant non-answer to a very legit question.
"I'm going to chalk this one up to a misconception. We changed the statistics on almost all the items that interact with the combat game, but we kept their relative values the same. If I was making the number one, top of the line blaster, it's still the number one, top of the line blaster."
A sleight of hand again. It might remain the number one blaster, but the difference between that and something originally 10 tiers below it is minimal. Advanced components have barely any worth anymore. Resources are now worth 1/10 of what they were originally worth. All of this occured WITHOUT WARNING. Loot-made weapons and exceptional loots are not worth it as much.
" Everyone had that one armor. We wanted to make it so that some armors were better for some classes and were better for certain situations, and some armors were better for other classes and were better for other situations, so there was not an optimal strategy. The optimal strategy was what everyone wore. You saw everyone wearing the same armor and fighting in the same armor. "
And since you have no clue what the situation will really be beforehand, this is a useless situation.
"
IGNPC: Let's talk about the practical implementation of the upgrade. Why did you guys decide to go live with it when you did?
Dallas Dickinson: We've been testing it for a full month, both internally and on the test center. We were simply not at the point of getting enough feedback from people. A number of things had come out, and we had fixed all of them. "
As someone pointed out, this shows just how clueless SOE/LA was about their playerbase here. SOE's president just came out and essentially said they need time to work everything out. Now we have someone saying everything was worked out. How something that could be so buggy could be called "we had fixed all of them" is assinine. The reason people got tired of testing it out was the "doomsday" scenario of everyone getting ready for the change. Since people weren't testing it, they were now going to FORCE you to test it.
"We know that the combat upgrade is something that is really controversial. It's causing both players and us a whole lot pain right now. My response to that, from the opposite of cynical, is, "Do you think we'd be crazy enough to do something that has a potentially negative impact right in front of a huge cash cow?" We're doing something that we think is right for the game at the right time, because this is the way forward for the game. I'd love know how we're trying to capitalize in a cynical way by making this change right now. "
Gee, you are releasing ROTW, a huge expansion pack right in front of the movie. That could've had a potentially negative impact. So again, these guys must think the players are flat out stupid. The IGN interviewer had every reason to be cynical. 5 starts for joo!
It's now plainly obvious SOE botched this mainly. Repeat after me.
"There are no major problems with the combat upgrade. There are no bugs. Everything is going great. There is no spoon."
Well, I have read all the reply's to this thread and...WOW! all negative. What a surprise.
I hope your not expecting me to break tradition...the CU sucks @ss. I too have played this game since it was released and I loved it the whole time from the first patch to the last (last meaning the one just before the CU patch) and i have played though it all with a smile. this was the only game that always kept me coming back for more, Cuz there was alwats more to do. NOT ANYMORE!!!.
Good job destroying the best game I've ever played. Just in time too!, I was just about to unlock my jedi, I only needed to complete 1 crafting quest to get it, nevermind that the crafting quests may take me 4 or 5 times to get it. I would wait that long and keep playing the game for other reasons to get my template just the way i want, But thanks to this CU you have taken all that is fun about this game and for what?!. I cant understand it. I interact with ALOT of people in this game and I have yet to talk to 1 that likes this new version of SWG. and make no mistake it IS a new version because it doesnt even slightly resemble the game i signed up for!!!
The only thing I like about this CU is some of the effects, But the lameass look of combat blows, Before my toon would do a number of differebt moves and actually be kool to watch while in combat, now he just stands there and jabs...stands there...and jabs...stands there...and jabs...WOW WHAT FUN!!, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!!! you think this is better?!! You think this is an upgrade?!!!
NEWSFLASH...WE LIKE KILLING ALOT OF STUFF QUICK!!!, thats why any of us game (as far as combat goes) we like feeling like we're tha baddest cat in the game. I DONT WANNA GROUP WITH 10 OTHER PEOPLE to kill a mission for 10k!!!. I like killing 8 rancor my myself with a kewl looking spin attack!!!. Now I get to die in one shot from...just about anything! Am I using enuff exclamation points for ya?!!!!
I cant believe you would be DUMB enuff to think people would continue to pay for this trash!. I'm keeping my Acct. on but only for a short while longer in hopes you will pull your head outta your @ss. I've got 2 yrs of my life wrapped up in this gaem and am on the threshold of becoming Jedi, The whole reason I began playing this game and am filled with...RESENTMENT,HATE,ANGER,DEPRESSION,SURPRISE,FRUSTRATION,DISMAY,AMAZEMENT, AND AN OVERALL FEELING OF BEING IGNORED!!!
How can you possibly be so thickheaded to think that "we will come around" to thinking this is a great idea?!!!. Are you insane. I'm not going to wait forever but I will wait a couple months because I've got yrs. invested and it kill's me to think I'm just going to delete and unsubscribe to something I have absolutly loved for 2 yrs. Do you even understand the feeling of loss that people just like me feel at haveing to do that?!!!!!!!
SMARTEN UP AND GIVE US A REASON TO KEEP PAYING YOU!!!, OR SOMEBODY ELSE WILL GET OUR CASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this dallas dickinson is totally ignorant AND arrogant! i can't wait for these fools to start getting pink slips for this betrayal of the veterans. it will happen, it may take 6 months to a year, but it WILL HAPPEN! the word is out on what they did. if they think us gamers don't talk to each other about our gaming, then they are as dumb as they sound. do they really think that completely changing our game out from under us will be forgotten in a year or so? ha! none of us will EVER buy another SOE/LA product! not only that, we will tell everyone of our gaming buddies who even mentions buying a SOE/LA product, what they can expect in return for their purchase. these lies of his saying they know about issue this and problem that are the SAME lies they said during the testing of the CU! yet they still pushed it out early and buggy! NO ONE believes any of the crap coming out of your pie hole any more than you do DALLAS! so enjoy the rest of your short career at SOE or wherever you are, judgement day is coming. i'll wager that if you are dumb enough to put SOE on your resume' you will get NO OFFERS for employment!
one more point i would like to make is the fact that SOE/LA has shown the vilest of sins, GREED!
lets think about this....they had, at a minimum, 300k subscribers. lets say half of those subscribers had more than one account (2-3). that makes a total of approximatly 500k paying accounts per month. that equals out to 7.5 MILLION dollars PER MONTH! thats 7.5 MIL per month people! but this wasn't enough for them. NO, they thought it would be worth ditching most the people who have been loyal to them in the hopes that they might make more money in the future. never mind that they would have gotten a boost from the 3rd episode coming out. this wasn't good enough! $90 mil a year wasn't worth these scrooges keeping their end of the bargain! PITIFUL! you people have no moral fiber what so ever. you have no loyalty, no compassion, no integrity! all you care about is stuffing your already fat wallets, EVEN MORE! i hope some of the people reading this will see how absurdly greedy SOE/LA has become. i pity you corporate leeches. there is more to life than greed!
this amount only reflects GALAXIES profits, that doesn't include EQ, EQ2, and everything else they own!
what really made me mad about the CU was the fact I reactivated my account before I knew this was on test, and was going live. played it for a solid week on the test center then canceled my account again. To claim this is EQ in space is wrong also. EQ still has some degree of enjoyment. This is EQs retarted child that was dropped repeatedly out of a high rise; in space.
This place is full of tree-huggers and tofu fartn' faeries...
That was a long read, but here at the end of it I find myself doing something very unusual for me. I'm posting. This message is for SOE and LA. I know it won't be deleted here, which is why I'm leaving it off the SWG forums.
I perfectly fit the demographic for who Star Wars Galaxies should be appealing to. I was seven when EP4 came out way back in the day, and I've grown up a rabid fan. I was shaken by the cheese factor of EP1, but heartened by improvements in EP2 (although still disappointed). Hearing about SWG made my disappointments all better. A game where I could be *in* the Star Wars universe??? Sign me up! Unfortunately I missed the beta bandwagon, and then when SWG rolled out I heard it was buggy, there were no vehicles, my computer wasn't powerful enough, etc. So, I stayed away.
Last November, figuring that enough time had gone by for the problems to be fixed (and armed with a new PC), I took the plunge and signed up. It was everything I had hoped it would be! Vast scenery, diverse creatures, a rich community of Star Wars fans, and so many different options to explore! Endless hours of play (that I don't have) were unnecessary - I could play a little or a lot and it didn't matter because it was fun either way! I crafted, scouted, healed, and explored my way through the different worlds. A new dev team signed on and promised that the problems of the past were over. They were going to fix all the complaints. Wonderful! A game I could play for years to come!
Bring it back. I'll give you 30 days to fix even one of the so-called upgrades you just inflicted on me. I don't like combat, and now I can only play combat if I want to do anything in-game. Level based combat is boring. You have 30 days - show me a sign. Show me you listen, so I don't have to write off this game forever. I won't be back.
I hope you hear me, because I am your demographic. We are all your demographic. This is how your demographic feels. I am many voices - each person here is speaking for countless numbers who feel the same way, but don't speak out. Don't ignore us, this is important.
They dont care, they know that no matter what they are gonna lose members, so they said screw it lets just make a game that will appeal to nubs that have been playin our other games (eq 1&2) that are gonna wanna try swg after they see the movie and hopefully they will tell all their friends that they can play eq in the star wars universe, and bam...enter a whole new line of suckers to fork over 15 bucks a month to play BETA!! ive played this game thru more pubs (nerfs) than i can remember, and its a sad time indeed, loved the game, but all my memories of what i loved are from a diff game now. they think they can survive trhis when we we're already playin on near ghost servers, and now roughly about 80% of the people i KNOW have either cancelled or are not gonna renew when their prepaids are up...i myself have plzyed for about 18 months and had 2 accounts, of the 30-40 friends guildees i played and interacted with daily, that most had 1-3 alts each, some that have been there since day 1....most are gone or going.
they are sadly mistakin if they think they can lose the heart of the game, is only a matter of time.
"it's as if millions of people screamed out in pain, and then suddenly hit /CANCEL!!!
Originally posted by jervonics one more point i would like to make is the fact that SOE/LA has shown the vilest of sins, GREED! lets think about this....they had, at a minimum, 300k subscribers. lets say half of those subscribers had more than one account (2-3). that makes a total of approximatly 500k paying accounts per month. that equals out to 7.5 MILLION dollars PER MONTH! thats 7.5 MIL per month people! but this wasn't enough for them. NO, they thought it would be worth ditching most the people who have been loyal to them in the hopes that they might make more money in the future. never mind that they would have gotten a boost from the 3rd episode coming out. this wasn't good enough! $90 mil a year wasn't worth these scrooges keeping their end of the bargain! PITIFUL! you people have no moral fiber what so ever. you have no loyalty, no compassion, no integrity! all you care about is stuffing your already fat wallets, EVEN MORE! i hope some of the people reading this will see how absurdly greedy SOE/LA has become. i pity you corporate leeches. there is more to life than greed! this amount only reflects GALAXIES profits, that doesn't include EQ, EQ2, and everything else they own!
you could not be more on their main line lol
"some might look on these tactics as immoral, but as the great SOE once proved, it's immoral to let a sucker keep his money"
Those who do not learn from your history are doomed to repeat it. From day one SWG was bugged and we were told that they were going to have these countless issues fixed. Guess what most were never resolved. Now they push this so called CU and couldn't find enough beta testers to properly de-bug the game, so they push it through after a week of testing so that paying customers can pick up the slack. Couldn't get enough players to beta test their CU thats interesting! History is already proving itself true in reguards to how SOE puts substandard work into a brilliant game. Sadly my 4 accounts have been closed and my guild has moved on also. I would realy like to know how many accounts have been closed due to this CU.
I don't know what to call what they have now but I will truly miss Star Wars Galaxies.
Wow, people really dont like change do they. So the game has been redesigned. Yes. That will happen in a market where there is a need to keep things viable. For those of you who dont know, WoW EQ2 and SWG are in the process of making it possible to play your character in either game. So that would be why it seems like we are playing a clone of these games. At the end of the day, they are a business and need to make a profit. This will mean that things will change to things that we would rather not have. I dont doubt for a second that the powers that be of this game have not weighed up all of the possible outcomes. They are a million dollar corporation whose sole intention is to make a viable product which will in turn, make a profit. Trust me, they think these things through...ALOT!!
Does it it seem that many will not want to play the same GAME with a differing backdrop, The game play of each should be of it's own gaming style and conceptual design and if the above is true. We have games that all play the same and just have differing backgrounds and I'm at a loss as to why I would want to pay another version of SWG with Witches and Warlocks as the backdrop!
Wow.... so much spin there in those answers, its a wonder that the Earth isn't rotating counter-clockwise now..
And, unfortunately, whoever was conducting the "interview" on the MMORPG side didn't try to ask the difficult questions (like, if players can still solo, why does a lvl 14 CL mob do 10 times the damage of a lvl 14 CL player... meaning dead player and no exp?), and also let Julio get away with avoiding answering many of the questions beyond the usual cliches we've come to expect from politicians...
Sorry MMORPG, but I've seen better interviews on this matter on other sites.. I expected more from you guys.
As to SOE/LA and their Devs.... let me just say that a 150+ member Imperial guild with access to approx 500 accounts has resigned en masse... thats $7500 a month instantly blown off SOE/LA's profits.. out of interest it would be amusing to know just how many Devs/CSRs that could cover... or even how many PR "spin-doctors" will need to lose their jobs over this fiasco...
-===- -===- DJ Cavalier -- Gamer Radio Initiative -==- Gamer Radio Initiative (www.gri-network.com) - Serious About Gaming
Originally posted by Fadeus Ok, and its boring now over before how exactly? Everything you could do before is still there. Missions, quests, mobs to kill, POI's, and on and on and on. The only catch now is you aren't immortal and you actually have to THINK and apply some thought to what your doing or you could die doing it. That doesn't sound boring to me, that sounds real exciting. Please explain to me how its boring now in comparison to before, because I honestly cannot conceive your standpoint at all.
PVE is like watching paint dry, slow and button mashing, I often find myself mashing button's after the MOB is dead. As I'm to busy watching the ICON's
I agree with Huey89. other than all the hard work he has put into his chars "thats what SOE is hoping for, that people will stay cos of all there hard work."!!!
At the end of the day SOE has had plenty of time to get there act together & the fact management screwed up shows you the poor control thay have over there staff + the fact there CSR system is a joke period.
I am sick of hearing Gamers giving SOE a second chance thay have run out of chances!, come on you have to draw a line at some point. I say Enough is Enough and we need to make a stand and show the SOE & Gaming industry we are not going to buy any old tat thay dish out to us anymore. If it means waiting 6-8 months more to get a fully tested CU then thats what should of happened.
It means Gamers need to stop being fools & strive to get better end products from these Faceless companys like SOE. Thats if Gamers want the best bang for there bucks, if not then keep going down this road and you will be screwed at every turn!!!
Ummm, I just dont get what the devs were thinking when they launched this crap!!! The CU was supposed to make the game "high paced"?!!?!?! YOU FAILED!!!! its slower than ever. It can take up to 4 hours to complete 4 missons!!! So you more or less have to spend the afternoon to really feel like youve done ANYTHING. They have nerfed melee toons to the point where they are useless. Everyone in the galaxy has turned to range weapons and the game has more or less become Bounty Hunter vs Jedi Wars.
Crafters were screwed to no end. My guild had spent literly 100's of millons on resouces only to have most of those resources be worthless now. thanks again SOE. Weapons that i had spent millions on, WORTHLESS!! thanks again SOE. BE pets that were tanks , nefred down to the point where they could be killed by a slight breeze.......again THANKS SOE!!! BTW< when are we being giving back credits for all the money wasted on stuff that you have nerfed?? i should think we deserve this back.
icons?? they are pointless and confusing. No one has ever asked for new icons. We have been asking for the old ones back. These are not easier to know what to hit. they were soo easy to know before, not its like trying to read another language. again, another pointless piece of kid fluff put into the game to lure people when the PS2 and XBOX versions come out. Why not just add a disney theme park to the game to go along with the rebel , imp and jabba's??? Cause you really cant dumb the game down anymore than this CU has.
SOLOING!?!!? most of the game can be solo'd??? WHATEVER!!!! Then you sign is my name devs and show me how, cause if you take on anything near or above your level ( by the way, the only way to get ANY XP!!! otherwise you recieve 1 or zero points ) you have no prayer of soloing a misson if your melee. There is no way to fight a mob of players anymore. You have to be ranged to pull a creature away from the nest 1 at a time. its the only way to survive. Ive seen entire hunting parties taken down if they dont pull one creature away at a time. Soloing has been nerfed from the game.
PvP is now level, but always as much fun to watch or do as paint drying. The wind up times and since they more or less nerfed all "special moves" that made each toon unique , its just watching 2 people knock each other down back and forth til someone runs outta health. OH YEAH!!! This only reason this game has got me on the each of my seat anymore is from slipping forward from dozing off!!!
Armor was nerfed down to nothing, it was a great idea to cert armor for professions!! but they made the armor soo wweak now, you cant handle anything. And since they decided to nerf buffs as well, we have no way to regen our HAM bars fast enough in battle without being capped. They should have let doctors ( who are all but exstinct now ) or dancers/musicians give regen buffs to the health and action bar. In Battle you lose both faster than J LO thru husbands.
The community wanted the made harder, new caves ( which was promised and never delivered ) more content and story. We wanted improvments to the game, not EQIII. It is obvious now, espacially since ive seen the pre-order of Rage of the WOokiees Expansion, that the Expansion was based on the New CU and they were forced to rush out and drop the CU otherwise they would have to push back the expan release. So in the end the devs screwed up and we have been made to pay to play a beta test that DOESNT WORK!!!! It has more problems and issues than the guests on jerry springer!!
The sad fact is that all who tested the CU in teh Test Center voted it down by over 70%. This should have clued the devs and SOE , hey, we messed up and this isnt going to work. We should retract this and maybe look more closely at the ideas being submitted to us by the community ( which was also a promise they made to us ) and see what we can come up with.
Being forced to hunt in groups was always part of the game. People we wants to go after the harder things in the game, aka Krayts, Kimos, NS Stronghold, the Death Watch Bunker and so on had to group cause these places were elite and could not be solo'd. But now we are forced to hunt in groups for even the same level creatures we are?? WHY!?!?!? This makes no sense. WHy should my toons life be at the mercy of some other people?? Most people in hunting groups dont cae what happens to the others and just do their own thing, resulting in people being killed.
SOE customer service has been no help. The bugs run rampaid. I would have expectred to see hotfixes up every night and constant feedback to OUR QUESTIONS. Not just friendly PR FLuff and general statements. Get out there and talk to us. They know they screwed up and they dont know what to say. The community is outraged and will continue to be until there is balance in the game.
The CU was supposed to bring balance, and it has brought us EQIII i a slow paced, 5 year old atari version of what was once a strong and unique game. Its boring and slow now, and melee has been berfed to nothing. If you look at those saying the CU is great, look at thier professions.......they are bounty hunters, rifles, pistols, smugglers. Everyone else was screwed. And also remember, these people who are posting they like the CU cause they are ranged , they are forgetting that theres a million other sides to the game and they are only thinking of their own toons, not the game as a hole.
the CU: its as if millions of voices suddenly all cried out and then silence..................
i support the game changing for the better. Change is good when its done right. Not just blueprinted off another game cause they are too lazy to owrk on what they have.
Do you actually believe ....or expect anyone to believe your comments? You have destroyed the game. I can see why you changed the name from "Combat Balance" to "Combat Upgrade". No balance was achieved. The game is no longer "fast-paced"...it's slow, boring, and visually lame. I guess graphics don't really matter when you have to watch those silly icons instead of the actual combat screen. You should have started posting polls a year ago or sent polls to our account emails asking for what we wanted to see changed as players. The 3 major issues that needed to be addressed in the old combat system were: 1) Overpowered doc buffs 2) armor balancing 3) CONTENT!!. We had 3 monthly story driven quests in two years and you added what? 2 or 3 dungeons? Here's a tip Julio...listen to the players and watch the movies. This is not Star Wars. This coming from a 38yr old w/3 accounts that saw the original Star Wars theatrical release. Better get this fixed or you've lost another 3 accounts. BTW...why are we paying to beta test this atrosity?
so sad, just logged on for the sake of not wasting my money since i am paid for another 2 weeks, here is a quick recap....
.....logged in, need to go find weapons for bh, so i go to every shuttleport on lok, only 2 cities have a few vendors that are actually up to date so u can read the stats on what u are buying (none that are traditional bh weapons, although now u obly havce to be a certainb lvl to use whateva u want) buy a couple pistols that actually have stats way betetr than they were b4 (or so it seemed...). noqw im ready to hunt. they actually fixed a few of the bugs so i can now use my wp's to drive and hunt while i shop, after no luck whatsoever finding sumthing of my lvl that i can kill (either too low and give no xp or to high and will wipe me if i look at themn wrong)...drove around for about 2 hours shopping and for my trouble i got 2 swoops disabled (since i get knockjed off and they shoot my bike even tho im trying to aggro them to me) and aboput a total of 12 xp (double xp week) while trying to find something close enpough to my lvl to get xp......
well as thoroughly enjoying as that was i sent some more emails telling my friends were to find me and logged off.
the game is a joke now.....the sad part is their are actually people doin there best to adapt and it looks like people will stick thru anything to play this game....i feel bad that SOE is able to take advantage of so many peoples addiction by completely changing a game that people have been playin with passion for up 2 yrs. (18 months myself, 2 accounts) So it looks like SOE will still come out obn top, the rage is starting to die down, however i will continue to spread my views to any and all people i know that intend to buty a game from SOE, and u can count on the fact that i will never in my life give 1 penny of my hard earned money to a company that so shrewdly did not hesitate to totally disregard the the voice of roughly 80% of the games population, and just take away/ruin a game that was so well enjoyed.
"Some may look on their tactics as immoral, but as the great SOE once showed, it's immoral to let suckers keep their money"
1. The CU is not "good, except released too early and too buggy." It is bad in concept, bad in design, bad in implementation, and bad in release.
2. The problem is NOT the bits of it that (almost accidentally) represent actual rebalancing. That's the part we were originally promised - the part that most players wanted and were waiting for - and surprise surprise, the part that still mostly needs doing. The problem is all the other crap they redesigned that wasn't broken to begin with.
3. They will never change it back, they will never add SWG1 servers, they will never apologize for ruining the game. They don't care. They brought in new programmers who didn't know or care what was special about SWG1 and told them to start reinventing stuff. Those new people are sure their way is right - and SOE management will back them to the hilt.
4. Nobody will get fired or demoted for any part of this. They never figured the game would be profitable forever anyway. They probably planned a 3 year product cycle - anything after that is gravy.
So, I'm still going through the SWG withdrawal DTs. It's been a few days now, though my account does not officially close down until the 22nd of May, since I've logged in. I got tired of feeling as if I was repeatedly striking my own hand with a large hammer -- which very neatly sums up the post-CU SWG experience for me. It bothers me a great deal that I still have this aweful urge to give it "just one more try" despite the fact that I know it's going to hurt if I do it. But then, the addiction to the classic game really does run that deeply in many of us.
It defies logic, really, that I, or any of the hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of us who have grown to love and become addicted to the game as it once was, even subconsciously feel that if we just try it again that a different result will come of it. I'm still in shock over the overnight change from "game of my dreams" to "game that makes me want to watch TV". Something in me refuses to accept that an experience as enjoyable as SWG once was is now less entertaining than watching my spouse play WoW (which rates on my personal scale about on par with watching grass grow). In this, I can empathize with the many who are sitting back and waiting, hoping irrationally that SoE will magically be forced to realize how big a mistake this last few weeks has been and make it all better again. Because the addiction DOES run that deep with the classic game.
And I truely pity those who have had more than a few months to play the game in its former form. I look at myself -- the distress I feel, the disruption the changes to the game have caused to my entertainment time and the almost unbelievable sense of personal loss I feel (over a GAME? One must consider the source of all this emotional trauma and marvel) -- and then think of how this must impact a person who has been playing fervently for more than a year -- and I feel this overwhelming sense of empathy and sadness for them. THEY have truely and in every sense of the word been betrayed by SoE and LucasArts. My disappointment, as sharp and heavy as it is cannot compare to theirs.
But being still somewhat rational, I understand that Sony and LucasArts are businesses. Their entire purpose is to make money. Their only actual goal is to escalate income and increase profit. They are not here to give us our dreams or desires. They exist solely to exploit these things, create addictions and to feed them so that they can continue to make more money. Being a semi-willing member of a culture based firmly in capitolism where our roles in society revolve around promoting and perpetuating consumerism, I cannot condemn that. However, I am also part of a generation that was raised with certain ethics and beliefs, "provide value for dollar" and "customer satisfaction is paramount" being high in the heirarchy of these ethics.
And here is where SoE and LA have earned my contempt, my condemnation and lost my support AND my money.
VALUE FOR DOLLAR SoE has admittedly never been a master of providing what they promise in return for the customer's cash. But in the past they have performed within an acceptible, albiet not always completely satisfactory level of providing value commeasurate with the money they take from the consumer. The CU and SoE's subsequent reactions to an unsatisfied and perhaps even outraged customer base makes all-new lows in MMO value watermarks. Dev and exec statements about the release of the CU reveal that they are cognizant of the fact that the CU product was not yet ready to be released to a paying market, despite conflicting statements that all reported bugs were fixed prior to release on the live servers. This clearly indicates that they understood that they were forcing an inferior, untested, heavily flawed and unready almost-beta on a paying customer base but were unwilling to take responsibility for this obvious lack of value for money, FURTHER pushing the blame for their actions onto the people who bought the game and continue to pay for the services they are not being renderred either in reasonable access to the game servers OR in reasonable quality of play experience when they have access to working live servers. In essence, SoE has publicly said that it's okay to break a functioning product, rob customers of value for their money and then compound the mistake by blaming the victim for being robbed.
THIS is NOT value for dollar. This is a return to snake-oil sales on a far larger scale in a digital medium. In any other context than the MMO market, this would be regarded by the law as a con or scam. In any other context, this constitutes fraud and is punishable by law and on a scale this large also includes jail time as a penalty. It goes beyond poor ethics.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS PARAMOUNT While this particular pillar of a functional consumer society and economy has eroded in every market, in the MMO market, SoE treats it as if it had not just completely dcomposed but as if it had never acutally existed. I have already said that SoE's customer service transcends being able to be termed weak and brings new meaning to "poor customer service" in a prior post. This statement in no way conveys the magnitude of how little regard SoE is displaying for its customers in SWG with this CU. The majority of responding players very strongly indicated that they did not only dislike the combat upgrade, but that they found it unendurable. Many of these people went as far as to warn SoE that should it be made live in its current state that they would cancel their accounts. The feedback was overwhelmingly negative, yet at the same time included ideas and suggestions that most of the customers felt were acceptible. All of it was ignored. When the customer base spoke up again, opposing what they felt were unacceptible changes, they were silenced, punished and THEN ignored.
Any company that makes its profits from providing both products and services needs to understand that when the majority of their current paying customer base speaks up and agrees with itself that the provider should listen and tailor its services to satisfy that united majority. Customer satisfaction isn't just good ethics, it's good business. To ignore an unsatisfied and unhappy customer base in a service industry is an invitation for that business to move elsewhere. In essence, SoE has casually invited all of us to take our business elsewhere. These cute press releases they're making now only make that suggestion more obvious for those of us who didn't get it when they released an inferior, broken system to replace an older, flawed, yet still viable one we all enjoyed.
Personally, I heard their message loud and clear. I have followed their 'unspoken suggestion' and have cancelled my account. I do not log in. I do not support them. When a game emerges that fills the vacuum that the CU created for people of my playstyle and game preferences, I will take my business there. Until then, I'll be $15 richer each month and do without gaming for a while. I am not a captive audience. I am not paying to be an SoE employee. I refuse to reward a company that knowingly and unrepentantly sells a broken product and provides no customer support or reliable service with my money, time or good word. And I will be very sure to let everyone who is looking for a game to play that they should steer clear of anything under the banner of SoE or LucasArts (which I now hold equally responsible thanks to good old Julio's BS-fest here on MMORPG.com).
And I will fight the urge to give these snake-oil salesmen one more try. Because I'm too old to be beating my own hand with a hammer when I know it hurts.
I have 5 swg accounts and 2 planetside all are being canceled and I am never gonna buy a sony online product again. The swg cu was the worst thing I ever seen in online games they totaly made all the 1.5 years I invested in my pvp toon a waste and my jedi was to unbearable to grind, call it whining but see for urself swg has gone to the dogs WORST VIDEO GAME EVER!!
Comments
Well after the two most recent public responses by SOE/LA, I am now convinced that they are going to ride SWG into the ground. The constant decay and recent outrage/press that accelerated the decay will not deter them.
I think its time to move on to greener pastures. There is no hope for SWG for the foreseeable future, we're likely months away from any turning point, after they see a brief rise from the movies as they saw the brief rise from JTL, it will take some time for all the player attrition to get past the hump of executives no longer being able to say, "we knew we'd take some adverse pain from this, but in the long run we knew it would be better for the game," and having to admit, "we blew it yet again, and what can we do now to salvage SWG, even with the credibility of a new project leadership team?"
So sad. 2 years of heart and passion, and having it wiped out.
After 18 months, 2 accounts cancelled, they can only do whatever they want if you pay them too.
"Some may look at their tactics as immoral, but as the great [edit] [insert] SOE once said, it's immoral to let a sucker keep his money."
Whats really sad is the aftermath on SWG's forums now. I feel like Im the only person left still trying to complain about the CU. I post anything even remotely critical (like how the Kahyyk planet isnt a planet but more like a dungeon due to its size and being forced to travel in paths) and I get major flames.
check out this link to see an example...
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Eclipse&message.id=544280
Then the rest of the kiddies who like the CU are busy over in the jedi forums telling me and other padawans to just "adjust" to not being able to play by going against all reasons I became a jedi (to be able to solo) and group up and accept BH losses....
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=jedi&message.id=875410
Bah I might as well quit too since I cant stand the new player base thats replaced the mature intelligent crowd that left.
The latest snow job and propoganda that makes Baghdad Bob jealous by SOE/LA over at IGN is very insightful.
"
IGNPC: But the new group focus means that it's harder for players to play solo.
Dallas Dickinson: I think that's a common misconception. It's certainly slightly harder for you to solo. We're certainly going to try to make it more worth your while to be in a group. You can play more efficiently if you are a power gamer if you're in a group. We think that's the right way to handle it. Previously, you could really inspire pure solo, indestructible play. We removed that. It's very hard to be invincible now, whereas it was very easy in the past to do so. We're asking you to join in groups, but you can still play viably as a solo. You just progress slightly more slowly. "
There is a reason that's a common misconception, because it's virtually true. It should be we are forcing you to group, but only letting you group with people your level, otherwise everyone is punished in XP. We all agree 2800 buffs and 90% comp weren't healthy for the game. (I personally think 90% should've been possible with RIS, but RIS was still quite rare armor, and the cost justified it.) You removed the "I Win" buttons, but replaced them with nothing in return, to where now there is a large gap.
"
IGNPC: How does that apply to Jedi? Jedi have serious penalties for grouping, so it seems that in the new system, the players who have in most cases invested the more time and energy into the game are finding it hard to level up on their own and attacked by bounty hunters when they join up in groups.
Dallas Dickinson: We are looking at Jedi. Jedi are certainly an area where we have some balance issues that we're totally aware of. When I see complaints on the boards and issues raised up to me about Jedis, they're valid concerns and we're working hard.
The thing to understand about Jedi is that it's a separate system from the rest fo the game and it's meant to be. We can address their problems separately, and we will. It should not interact as much with the rest of the population. If you know where we stand in the timeline, Jedi aren't supposed to be hugely involved with the rest fo the player base. We're addressing those and those are some of our highest priority issues. The Players who play Jedi are very vocal and very committed, and they're seeing a little bit of strain right now. It's valid, and we're working on those problems. "
One could say this almost sounds like Jedis are just being told to shut up for the time being. If Jedi were meant to be a separate system, they would not be an integral part to everything in the game such as the GCW. As one who never had a Jedi, never wanted a Jedi, and normally despised the jebays who whined that after paying a grand for their toon they couldn't be ub3r, I actually sympathize with Jedis on this one. They got the shaft. This is yet another thing that SOE says should've happened but never did. If the by chanced followed the infamous proposal for the FRS revamp by Gonz on the SOE forums (can't remember the link) then they could state this.
"We already have and will continue to extend the inspiration buff system. The entertainer's interaction with the combat classes will have a lot to do with that particular mechanic. One of the issues that the players have had that we've addressed with the combat upgrade is the ability of someone to create a buffbot entertainer. Most people didn't like that. They were just used to it as a way to get a sense of healing. We deliberately said we didn't want them to just be buffbots; we wanted entertainers to actually be entertainers and have people actually enjoy playing the game, rather than just creating character in order to grind it up. Julio actually plays as an entertainer, so he can probably respond better to it. "
Yes by fixing it so they no longer had to group with you or allow you to direct to them to get those buffs, now entertainers are no longer gaurenteed renumeration for their services. To help starting entertainers there were those entertainer quests from mission terminals. Now people can't leave the city, out of fear of being one shot one killed. In effect, it tells the crafters and dancers that they aren't an important part of the game, and are to be confined to the most limited content of all, the cities.
"I'm not going to disagree with the community by commenting against the fact that we should do more with the entertainer and we will. We do have publishes in the future that will enhance them further. "
Yet what are entertainers supposed to do until then? Everyone remember how long we've been promised a smuggler revamp? With the exception of the splendid GCW revamp, we had hologrinding, the village system which led PvP to become KOTOR online, and many other destructive "revamps", including the latest one. And the poor entertainers, already strapped for time and funds as it is, are told to like what they currently have and just wait, we'll get to you sometime in the next few years.
"
IGNPC: Sure, but if you really want to make the game more like Star Wars, it seems like you're taking a step back from that and making the game more generic, more like EverQuest or World of Warcraft -- the new single health statistic, entertainers now acting more like bards. To some players, it seems that some of the things that made Star Wars distinct have been stripped away in favor of making the experience more conventional.
Dallas Dickinson: Let's clarify. When we say we want to make it feel more like Star Wars, what we're saying is that we want to make it feel more like the movies, which is what the general player wants. It sounds like you're saying we're making it less like Star Wars Galaxies, the game that's been out there for a while. We're certainly making it less like the Galaxies that you're used to, but those two things aren't in conflict. When we say we're making it more like Star Wars, we want to feel like we're Rebels running away from the Empire, doing really cool things to affect the Galactic Civil War and interacting with Han Solo and Princess Leia, and they're going to give me really cool missions. We're not talking about how different it is from the mechanics of certain other MMOs. "
IGN wasn't asking softball questions, and these guys are obviously not answering them. The focus of the charge is that it isn't more like the movies, isn't like the old game, but rather is almost EQ in space. This was an outstanding non answer.
"
We also think that if you're going to go and harvest the most essential resource on Dathomir, right next to the witches, you're going to have to bring a friend, or you're going to have to have some form of defense. In the fiction of the world, that's a dangerous place. Right now, for crafters, it isn't, and we think that's against the central design of the game. We're making some changes that are going to make it harder for you to get rare resources but that actually enhance the crafting game. Because, when you have them, they're really valuable. "
This is the erect a straw man and make a lot of fury tearing it down. The complaint isn't that a crafter can walk around the NS stronghold collecting resources and being invincible. Quite frankly, any crafter in 90% comp at the NS stronghold would've been pwned. They are adressing an issue that is non-existent. The true problem is crafters can't leave the city without being one shot one killed. They can't run. Grouping with a friend is useless, because that friend can't save you when you get hit once and killed. In short, this is another brilliant non-answer to a very legit question.
"I'm going to chalk this one up to a misconception. We changed the statistics on almost all the items that interact with the combat game, but we kept their relative values the same. If I was making the number one, top of the line blaster, it's still the number one, top of the line blaster."
A sleight of hand again. It might remain the number one blaster, but the difference between that and something originally 10 tiers below it is minimal. Advanced components have barely any worth anymore. Resources are now worth 1/10 of what they were originally worth. All of this occured WITHOUT WARNING. Loot-made weapons and exceptional loots are not worth it as much.
" Everyone had that one armor. We wanted to make it so that some armors were better for some classes and were better for certain situations, and some armors were better for other classes and were better for other situations, so there was not an optimal strategy. The optimal strategy was what everyone wore. You saw everyone wearing the same armor and fighting in the same armor. "
And since you have no clue what the situation will really be beforehand, this is a useless situation.
"
IGNPC: Let's talk about the practical implementation of the upgrade. Why did you guys decide to go live with it when you did?
Well, I have read all the reply's to this thread and...WOW! all negative. What a surprise.
I hope your not expecting me to break tradition...the CU sucks @ss. I too have played this game since it was released and I loved it the whole time from the first patch to the last (last meaning the one just before the CU patch) and i have played though it all with a smile. this was the only game that always kept me coming back for more, Cuz there was alwats more to do. NOT ANYMORE!!!.
Good job destroying the best game I've ever played. Just in time too!, I was just about to unlock my jedi, I only needed to complete 1 crafting quest to get it, nevermind that the crafting quests may take me 4 or 5 times to get it. I would wait that long and keep playing the game for other reasons to get my template just the way i want, But thanks to this CU you have taken all that is fun about this game and for what?!. I cant understand it. I interact with ALOT of people in this game and I have yet to talk to 1 that likes this new version of SWG. and make no mistake it IS a new version because it doesnt even slightly resemble the game i signed up for!!!
The only thing I like about this CU is some of the effects, But the lameass look of combat blows, Before my toon would do a number of differebt moves and actually be kool to watch while in combat, now he just stands there and jabs...stands there...and jabs...stands there...and jabs...WOW WHAT FUN!!, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!!! you think this is better?!! You think this is an upgrade?!!!
NEWSFLASH...WE LIKE KILLING ALOT OF STUFF QUICK!!!, thats why any of us game (as far as combat goes) we like feeling like we're tha baddest cat in the game. I DONT WANNA GROUP WITH 10 OTHER PEOPLE to kill a mission for 10k!!!. I like killing 8 rancor my myself with a kewl looking spin attack!!!. Now I get to die in one shot from...just about anything! Am I using enuff exclamation points for ya?!!!!
I cant believe you would be DUMB enuff to think people would continue to pay for this trash!. I'm keeping my Acct. on but only for a short while longer in hopes you will pull your head outta your @ss. I've got 2 yrs of my life wrapped up in this gaem and am on the threshold of becoming Jedi, The whole reason I began playing this game and am filled with...RESENTMENT,HATE,ANGER,DEPRESSION,SURPRISE,FRUSTRATION,DISMAY,AMAZEMENT, AND AN OVERALL FEELING OF BEING IGNORED!!!
How can you possibly be so thickheaded to think that "we will come around" to thinking this is a great idea?!!!. Are you insane. I'm not going to wait forever but I will wait a couple months because I've got yrs. invested and it kill's me to think I'm just going to delete and unsubscribe to something I have absolutly loved for 2 yrs. Do you even understand the feeling of loss that people just like me feel at haveing to do that?!!!!!!!
SMARTEN UP AND GIVE US A REASON TO KEEP PAYING YOU!!!, OR SOMEBODY ELSE WILL GET OUR CASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
one more point i would like to make is the fact that SOE/LA has shown the vilest of sins, GREED!
lets think about this....they had, at a minimum, 300k subscribers. lets say half of those subscribers had more than one account (2-3). that makes a total of approximatly 500k paying accounts per month. that equals out to 7.5 MILLION dollars PER MONTH! thats 7.5 MIL per month people! but this wasn't enough for them. NO, they thought it would be worth ditching most the people who have been loyal to them in the hopes that they might make more money in the future. never mind that they would have gotten a boost from the 3rd episode coming out. this wasn't good enough! $90 mil a year wasn't worth these scrooges keeping their end of the bargain! PITIFUL! you people have no moral fiber what so ever. you have no loyalty, no compassion, no integrity! all you care about is stuffing your already fat wallets, EVEN MORE! i hope some of the people reading this will see how absurdly greedy SOE/LA has become. i pity you corporate leeches. there is more to life than greed!
this amount only reflects GALAXIES profits, that doesn't include EQ, EQ2, and everything else they own!
what really made me mad about the CU was the fact I reactivated my account before I knew this was on test, and was going live. played it for a solid week on the test center then canceled my account again. To claim this is EQ in space is wrong also. EQ still has some degree of enjoyment. This is EQs retarted child that was dropped repeatedly out of a high rise; in space.
This place is full of tree-huggers and tofu fartn' faeries...
That was a long read, but here at the end of it I find myself doing something very unusual for me. I'm posting. This message is for SOE and LA. I know it won't be deleted here, which is why I'm leaving it off the SWG forums.
I perfectly fit the demographic for who Star Wars Galaxies should be appealing to. I was seven when EP4 came out way back in the day, and I've grown up a rabid fan. I was shaken by the cheese factor of EP1, but heartened by improvements in EP2 (although still disappointed). Hearing about SWG made my disappointments all better. A game where I could be *in* the Star Wars universe??? Sign me up! Unfortunately I missed the beta bandwagon, and then when SWG rolled out I heard it was buggy, there were no vehicles, my computer wasn't powerful enough, etc. So, I stayed away.
Last November, figuring that enough time had gone by for the problems to be fixed (and armed with a new PC), I took the plunge and signed up. It was everything I had hoped it would be! Vast scenery, diverse creatures, a rich community of Star Wars fans, and so many different options to explore! Endless hours of play (that I don't have) were unnecessary - I could play a little or a lot and it didn't matter because it was fun either way! I crafted, scouted, healed, and explored my way through the different worlds. A new dev team signed on and promised that the problems of the past were over. They were going to fix all the complaints. Wonderful! A game I could play for years to come!
Bring it back. I'll give you 30 days to fix even one of the so-called upgrades you just inflicted on me. I don't like combat, and now I can only play combat if I want to do anything in-game. Level based combat is boring. You have 30 days - show me a sign. Show me you listen, so I don't have to write off this game forever. I won't be back.
I hope you hear me, because I am your demographic. We are all your demographic. This is how your demographic feels. I am many voices - each person here is speaking for countless numbers who feel the same way, but don't speak out. Don't ignore us, this is important.
--Farg
They dont care, they know that no matter what they are gonna lose members, so they said screw it lets just make a game that will appeal to nubs that have been playin our other games (eq 1&2) that are gonna wanna try swg after they see the movie and hopefully they will tell all their friends that they can play eq in the star wars universe, and bam...enter a whole new line of suckers to fork over 15 bucks a month to play BETA!! ive played this game thru more pubs (nerfs) than i can remember, and its a sad time indeed, loved the game, but all my memories of what i loved are from a diff game now. they think they can survive trhis when we we're already playin on near ghost servers, and now roughly about 80% of the people i KNOW have either cancelled or are not gonna renew when their prepaids are up...i myself have plzyed for about 18 months and had 2 accounts, of the 30-40 friends guildees i played and interacted with daily, that most had 1-3 alts each, some that have been there since day 1....most are gone or going.
they are sadly mistakin if they think they can lose the heart of the game, is only a matter of time.
"it's as if millions of people screamed out in pain, and then suddenly hit /CANCEL!!!
you could not be more on their main line lol
"some might look on these tactics as immoral, but as the great SOE once proved, it's immoral to let a sucker keep his money"
Those who do not learn from your history are doomed to repeat it. From day one SWG was bugged and we were told that they were going to have these countless issues fixed. Guess what most were never resolved. Now they push this so called CU and couldn't find enough beta testers to properly de-bug the game, so they push it through after a week of testing so that paying customers can pick up the slack. Couldn't get enough players to beta test their CU thats interesting! History is already proving itself true in reguards to how SOE puts substandard work into a brilliant game. Sadly my 4 accounts have been closed and my guild has moved on also. I would realy like to know how many accounts have been closed due to this CU.
I don't know what to call what they have now but I will truly miss Star Wars Galaxies.
I gotta say that any change that pisses off people that liked such a crappy game must be a good one. I think i'll try it again now.
Make a difference!
Does it it seem that many will not want to play the same GAME with a differing backdrop, The game play of each should be of it's own gaming style and conceptual design and if the above is true. We have games that all play the same and just have differing backgrounds and I'm at a loss as to why I would want to pay another version of SWG with Witches and Warlocks as the backdrop!
Wow.... so much spin there in those answers, its a wonder that the Earth isn't rotating counter-clockwise now..
And, unfortunately, whoever was conducting the "interview" on the MMORPG side didn't try to ask the difficult questions (like, if players can still solo, why does a lvl 14 CL mob do 10 times the damage of a lvl 14 CL player... meaning dead player and no exp?), and also let Julio get away with avoiding answering many of the questions beyond the usual cliches we've come to expect from politicians...
Sorry MMORPG, but I've seen better interviews on this matter on other sites.. I expected more from you guys.
As to SOE/LA and their Devs.... let me just say that a 150+ member Imperial guild with access to approx 500 accounts has resigned en masse... thats $7500 a month instantly blown off SOE/LA's profits.. out of interest it would be amusing to know just how many Devs/CSRs that could cover... or even how many PR "spin-doctors" will need to lose their jobs over this fiasco...
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DJ Cavalier -- Gamer Radio Initiative
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Gamer Radio Initiative (www.gri-network.com) - Serious About Gaming
I agree with Huey89. other than all the hard work he has put into his chars "thats what SOE is hoping for, that people will stay cos of all there hard work."!!!
At the end of the day SOE has had plenty of time to get there act together & the fact management screwed up shows you the poor control thay have over there staff + the fact there CSR system is a joke period.
I am sick of hearing Gamers giving SOE a second chance thay have run out of chances!, come on you have to draw a line at some point. I say Enough is Enough and we need to make a stand and show the SOE & Gaming industry we are not going to buy any old tat thay dish out to us anymore. If it means waiting 6-8 months more to get a fully tested CU then thats what should of happened.
It means Gamers need to stop being fools & strive to get better end products from these Faceless companys like SOE.
Thats if Gamers want the best bang for there bucks, if not then keep going down this road and you will be screwed at every turn!!!
Here endith the lesson
Ummm, I just dont get what the devs were thinking when they launched this crap!!! The CU was supposed to make the game "high paced"?!!?!?! YOU FAILED!!!! its slower than ever. It can take up to 4 hours to complete 4 missons!!! So you more or less have to spend the afternoon to really feel like youve done ANYTHING. They have nerfed melee toons to the point where they are useless. Everyone in the galaxy has turned to range weapons and the game has more or less become Bounty Hunter vs Jedi Wars.
Crafters were screwed to no end. My guild had spent literly 100's of millons on resouces only to have most of those resources be worthless now. thanks again SOE. Weapons that i had spent millions on, WORTHLESS!! thanks again SOE. BE pets that were tanks , nefred down to the point where they could be killed by a slight breeze.......again THANKS SOE!!! BTW< when are we being giving back credits for all the money wasted on stuff that you have nerfed?? i should think we deserve this back.
icons?? they are pointless and confusing. No one has ever asked for new icons. We have been asking for the old ones back. These are not easier to know what to hit. they were soo easy to know before, not its like trying to read another language. again, another pointless piece of kid fluff put into the game to lure people when the PS2 and XBOX versions come out. Why not just add a disney theme park to the game to go along with the rebel , imp and jabba's??? Cause you really cant dumb the game down anymore than this CU has.
SOLOING!?!!? most of the game can be solo'd??? WHATEVER!!!! Then you sign is my name devs and show me how, cause if you take on anything near or above your level ( by the way, the only way to get ANY XP!!! otherwise you recieve 1 or zero points ) you have no prayer of soloing a misson if your melee. There is no way to fight a mob of players anymore. You have to be ranged to pull a creature away from the nest 1 at a time. its the only way to survive. Ive seen entire hunting parties taken down if they dont pull one creature away at a time. Soloing has been nerfed from the game.
PvP is now level, but always as much fun to watch or do as paint drying. The wind up times and since they more or less nerfed all "special moves" that made each toon unique , its just watching 2 people knock each other down back and forth til someone runs outta health. OH YEAH!!! This only reason this game has got me on the each of my seat anymore is from slipping forward from dozing off!!!
Armor was nerfed down to nothing, it was a great idea to cert armor for professions!! but they made the armor soo wweak now, you cant handle anything. And since they decided to nerf buffs as well, we have no way to regen our HAM bars fast enough in battle without being capped. They should have let doctors ( who are all but exstinct now ) or dancers/musicians give regen buffs to the health and action bar. In Battle you lose both faster than J LO thru husbands.
The community wanted the made harder, new caves ( which was promised and never delivered ) more content and story. We wanted improvments to the game, not EQIII. It is obvious now, espacially since ive seen the pre-order of Rage of the WOokiees Expansion, that the Expansion was based on the New CU and they were forced to rush out and drop the CU otherwise they would have to push back the expan release. So in the end the devs screwed up and we have been made to pay to play a beta test that DOESNT WORK!!!! It has more problems and issues than the guests on jerry springer!!
The sad fact is that all who tested the CU in teh Test Center voted it down by over 70%. This should have clued the devs and SOE , hey, we messed up and this isnt going to work. We should retract this and maybe look more closely at the ideas being submitted to us by the community ( which was also a promise they made to us ) and see what we can come up with.
Being forced to hunt in groups was always part of the game. People we wants to go after the harder things in the game, aka Krayts, Kimos, NS Stronghold, the Death Watch Bunker and so on had to group cause these places were elite and could not be solo'd. But now we are forced to hunt in groups for even the same level creatures we are?? WHY!?!?!? This makes no sense. WHy should my toons life be at the mercy of some other people?? Most people in hunting groups dont cae what happens to the others and just do their own thing, resulting in people being killed.
SOE customer service has been no help. The bugs run rampaid. I would have expectred to see hotfixes up every night and constant feedback to OUR QUESTIONS. Not just friendly PR FLuff and general statements. Get out there and talk to us. They know they screwed up and they dont know what to say. The community is outraged and will continue to be until there is balance in the game.
The CU was supposed to bring balance, and it has brought us EQIII i a slow paced, 5 year old atari version of what was once a strong and unique game. Its boring and slow now, and melee has been berfed to nothing. If you look at those saying the CU is great, look at thier professions.......they are bounty hunters, rifles, pistols, smugglers. Everyone else was screwed. And also remember, these people who are posting they like the CU cause they are ranged , they are forgetting that theres a million other sides to the game and they are only thinking of their own toons, not the game as a hole.
the CU: its as if millions of voices suddenly all cried out and then silence..................
i support the game changing for the better. Change is good when its done right. Not just blueprinted off another game cause they are too lazy to owrk on what they have.
Julio,
Do you actually believe ....or expect anyone to believe your comments? You have destroyed the game. I can see why you changed the name from "Combat Balance" to "Combat Upgrade". No balance was achieved. The game is no longer "fast-paced"...it's slow, boring, and visually lame. I guess graphics don't really matter when you have to watch those silly icons instead of the actual combat screen. You should have started posting polls a year ago or sent polls to our account emails asking for what we wanted to see changed as players. The 3 major issues that needed to be addressed in the old combat system were: 1) Overpowered doc buffs 2) armor balancing 3) CONTENT!!. We had 3 monthly story driven quests in two years and you added what? 2 or 3 dungeons? Here's a tip Julio...listen to the players and watch the movies. This is not Star Wars. This coming from a 38yr old w/3 accounts that saw the original Star Wars theatrical release. Better get this fixed or you've lost another 3 accounts. BTW...why are we paying to beta test this atrosity?
so sad, just logged on for the sake of not wasting my money since i am paid for another 2 weeks, here is a quick recap....
.....logged in, need to go find weapons for bh, so i go to every shuttleport on lok, only 2 cities have a few vendors that are actually up to date so u can read the stats on what u are buying (none that are traditional bh weapons, although now u obly havce to be a certainb lvl to use whateva u want) buy a couple pistols that actually have stats way betetr than they were b4 (or so it seemed...). noqw im ready to hunt. they actually fixed a few of the bugs so i can now use my wp's to drive and hunt while i shop, after no luck whatsoever finding sumthing of my lvl that i can kill (either too low and give no xp or to high and will wipe me if i look at themn wrong)...drove around for about 2 hours shopping and for my trouble i got 2 swoops disabled (since i get knockjed off and they shoot my bike even tho im trying to aggro them to me) and aboput a total of 12 xp (double xp week) while trying to find something close enpough to my lvl to get xp......
well as thoroughly enjoying as that was i sent some more emails telling my friends were to find me and logged off.
the game is a joke now.....the sad part is their are actually people doin there best to adapt and it looks like people will stick thru anything to play this game....i feel bad that SOE is able to take advantage of so many peoples addiction by completely changing a game that people have been playin with passion for up 2 yrs. (18 months myself, 2 accounts) So it looks like SOE will still come out obn top, the rage is starting to die down, however i will continue to spread my views to any and all people i know that intend to buty a game from SOE, and u can count on the fact that i will never in my life give 1 penny of my hard earned money to a company that so shrewdly did not hesitate to totally disregard the the voice of roughly 80% of the games population, and just take away/ruin a game that was so well enjoyed.
"Some may look on their tactics as immoral, but as the great SOE once showed, it's immoral to let suckers keep their money"
1. The CU is not "good, except released too early and too buggy." It is bad in concept, bad in design, bad in implementation, and bad in release.
2. The problem is NOT the bits of it that (almost accidentally) represent actual rebalancing. That's the part we were originally promised - the part that most players wanted and were waiting for - and surprise surprise, the part that still mostly needs doing. The problem is all the other crap they redesigned that wasn't broken to begin with.
3. They will never change it back, they will never add SWG1 servers, they will never apologize for ruining the game. They don't care. They brought in new programmers who didn't know or care what was special about SWG1 and told them to start reinventing stuff. Those new people are sure their way is right - and SOE management will back them to the hilt.
4. Nobody will get fired or demoted for any part of this. They never figured the game would be profitable forever anyway. They probably planned a 3 year product cycle - anything after that is gravy.
So, I'm still going through the SWG withdrawal DTs. It's been a few days now, though my account does not officially close down until the 22nd of May, since I've logged in. I got tired of feeling as if I was repeatedly striking my own hand with a large hammer -- which very neatly sums up the post-CU SWG experience for me. It bothers me a great deal that I still have this aweful urge to give it "just one more try" despite the fact that I know it's going to hurt if I do it. But then, the addiction to the classic game really does run that deeply in many of us.
It defies logic, really, that I, or any of the hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of us who have grown to love and become addicted to the game as it once was, even subconsciously feel that if we just try it again that a different result will come of it. I'm still in shock over the overnight change from "game of my dreams" to "game that makes me want to watch TV". Something in me refuses to accept that an experience as enjoyable as SWG once was is now less entertaining than watching my spouse play WoW (which rates on my personal scale about on par with watching grass grow). In this, I can empathize with the many who are sitting back and waiting, hoping irrationally that SoE will magically be forced to realize how big a mistake this last few weeks has been and make it all better again. Because the addiction DOES run that deep with the classic game.
And I truely pity those who have had more than a few months to play the game in its former form. I look at myself -- the distress I feel, the disruption the changes to the game have caused to my entertainment time and the almost unbelievable sense of personal loss I feel (over a GAME? One must consider the source of all this emotional trauma and marvel) -- and then think of how this must impact a person who has been playing fervently for more than a year -- and I feel this overwhelming sense of empathy and sadness for them. THEY have truely and in every sense of the word been betrayed by SoE and LucasArts. My disappointment, as sharp and heavy as it is cannot compare to theirs.
But being still somewhat rational, I understand that Sony and LucasArts are businesses. Their entire purpose is to make money. Their only actual goal is to escalate income and increase profit. They are not here to give us our dreams or desires. They exist solely to exploit these things, create addictions and to feed them so that they can continue to make more money. Being a semi-willing member of a culture based firmly in capitolism where our roles in society revolve around promoting and perpetuating consumerism, I cannot condemn that. However, I am also part of a generation that was raised with certain ethics and beliefs, "provide value for dollar" and "customer satisfaction is paramount" being high in the heirarchy of these ethics.
And here is where SoE and LA have earned my contempt, my condemnation and lost my support AND my money.
VALUE FOR DOLLAR
SoE has admittedly never been a master of providing what they promise in return for the customer's cash. But in the past they have performed within an acceptible, albiet not always completely satisfactory level of providing value commeasurate with the money they take from the consumer. The CU and SoE's subsequent reactions to an unsatisfied and perhaps even outraged customer base makes all-new lows in MMO value watermarks. Dev and exec statements about the release of the CU reveal that they are cognizant of the fact that the CU product was not yet ready to be released to a paying market, despite conflicting statements that all reported bugs were fixed prior to release on the live servers. This clearly indicates that they understood that they were forcing an inferior, untested, heavily flawed and unready almost-beta on a paying customer base but were unwilling to take responsibility for this obvious lack of value for money, FURTHER pushing the blame for their actions onto the people who bought the game and continue to pay for the services they are not being renderred either in reasonable access to the game servers OR in reasonable quality of play experience when they have access to working live servers. In essence, SoE has publicly said that it's okay to break a functioning product, rob customers of value for their money and then compound the mistake by blaming the victim for being robbed.
THIS is NOT value for dollar. This is a return to snake-oil sales on a far larger scale in a digital medium. In any other context than the MMO market, this would be regarded by the law as a con or scam. In any other context, this constitutes fraud and is punishable by law and on a scale this large also includes jail time as a penalty. It goes beyond poor ethics.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS PARAMOUNT
While this particular pillar of a functional consumer society and economy has eroded in every market, in the MMO market, SoE treats it as if it had not just completely dcomposed but as if it had never acutally existed. I have already said that SoE's customer service transcends being able to be termed weak and brings new meaning to "poor customer service" in a prior post. This statement in no way conveys the magnitude of how little regard SoE is displaying for its customers in SWG with this CU. The majority of responding players very strongly indicated that they did not only dislike the combat upgrade, but that they found it unendurable. Many of these people went as far as to warn SoE that should it be made live in its current state that they would cancel their accounts. The feedback was overwhelmingly negative, yet at the same time included ideas and suggestions that most of the customers felt were acceptible. All of it was ignored. When the customer base spoke up again, opposing what they felt were unacceptible changes, they were silenced, punished and THEN ignored.
Any company that makes its profits from providing both products and services needs to understand that when the majority of their current paying customer base speaks up and agrees with itself that the provider should listen and tailor its services to satisfy that united majority. Customer satisfaction isn't just good ethics, it's good business. To ignore an unsatisfied and unhappy customer base in a service industry is an invitation for that business to move elsewhere. In essence, SoE has casually invited all of us to take our business elsewhere. These cute press releases they're making now only make that suggestion more obvious for those of us who didn't get it when they released an inferior, broken system to replace an older, flawed, yet still viable one we all enjoyed.
Personally, I heard their message loud and clear. I have followed their 'unspoken suggestion' and have cancelled my account. I do not log in. I do not support them. When a game emerges that fills the vacuum that the CU created for people of my playstyle and game preferences, I will take my business there. Until then, I'll be $15 richer each month and do without gaming for a while. I am not a captive audience. I am not paying to be an SoE employee. I refuse to reward a company that knowingly and unrepentantly sells a broken product and provides no customer support or reliable service with my money, time or good word. And I will be very sure to let everyone who is looking for a game to play that they should steer clear of anything under the banner of SoE or LucasArts (which I now hold equally responsible thanks to good old Julio's BS-fest here on MMORPG.com).
And I will fight the urge to give these snake-oil salesmen one more try. Because I'm too old to be beating my own hand with a hammer when I know it hurts.
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Kote lo'shebs'ul narit
{(RIP)} SWG