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Star Wars Galaxies: Progress Report
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
It has been a very interesting time to cover Star Wars Galaxies. Between the Combat Upgrade and Rage of the Wookiees, fans of the game have been on an emotional rollercoaster. At E3 2005, we had a chance to catch up with the team and formulate this progress report to see how it all shook down:
;) At E3 2005, we had a chance to drop in and talk to the folks behind Star Wars Galaxies about the progress of the game, the latest hot-button issues and the new expansion pack. With the recent addition of Rage of the Wookiees and the controversial Combat Upgrade, there was much to discuss. Generally, the team seemed energized - despite the sweltering heat of the South Hall and the fact that this was the third day of the show and excited about what they had to show.
Rage of the Wookiees ads a new planet to the realm of Star Wars Galaxies. Unlike past planets, this one is more focused on missions and concentrated fun, rather than sprawling virtual worlds of other areas. Based heavily off areas from the third and final movie, the game features lush alien forests and an enormous underground complex of caves. They designed it primarily for levels twenty and above and were not kidding when they said the Mydraal Caverns were huge. There are over one-hundred rooms to explore. If you are lucky enough to find the bottom, you will then come face to face with General Grievous the coughing evil robot from the third film. |
You can read the full article at this link.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I like the CU and RotW. I started playing SWG in Oct. '03 so I have been around for many of the different phases the game went through. About 2 months ago I cancelled my account, I was just burned out on the game for several reasons:
a) being killed by jedi
b) everyone and their brothers and sisters being a TKM, spamming dizzy/kd
c) 90% armor
d) the old "god mode" buffs and having to get them to do anything including putting on your armor.
The only way to compete in pvp was to go jedi yourself, so I gave that a run but just couldn't handle all the repetetive grinding. And there were also the unrealistic solo'ing of huge creatures. I was a Master Brawler/Master Teras Kasi/Master Swordsman and could kill a kimo with no worries at all.
Anyway, I missed all the CU implementation fiasco as I was away. About a week after it I decided I would like to come try it out and see some old friends I really missed. I came back and found my old buddies and I love the CU. Its a much better system than we had before and makes combat much more fun. Kashyyyyk is great, great quests and great rewards.
no SOE paychecks here...I understand players being mad at the way it was implemented, an obvious rush to market to grab the tail of episode III hype, but luckily I have a great core group of friends who are still playing and it makes all the differnce in the world. This whole article was flamebait imo and will be doused in the fires of a plasma flame thrower I'm just glad to have gotten the FIRST positive post! w00t. From my experiences looks like it was the pwnzors and ub3r 733t kiddies that are gone...good riddance...
lol...are u getting paid?
I can't wait for someone to actually be a Journalist (I know it's a stretch but you might want to try it someday) and give a NON-SOE / Propaganda fed review on the CU and ROTW.
I love how they always conviniently say that players are sending positive comments by "Email", because if anyone actually reads the forums, you'll get a far different idea. I love how they ALWAYS forget to mention that nearly 10 proffessions are still, at this very moment, broken from the CU and have the usefullness of a Dodo. Oh and my favorite part is this description of the movie like sceen, bairly escaping the grips of a space station about to go Nova, did you actually see this, did you play this ? Because I have seen this attempt and in true SOE/SWG form it's not even close to description.
And finally, SOE is saying that through all these changes subscriptions havn't been affected huh ? Wow, you don't say, see being the silly person that I am, I would have thought that SOE would be more then forthcomming about loosing thousands of players to poor choices and failing to produce a viable product. Again, the only thing you need to do to even just make a SLIGHT attempt at checking SOE's story out is read the forums, fansites, oh how about this (before you freak, hear me out) actually talk to a player ?
I've said it before, I'll say it again, if the SOE/SWG dev's were as good as their PR department, it would be a much better game.
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Yeah that was a nice ass-kissing article. Oh the devs said they got e-mails and the number are pretty much where they were. Yeah I'll take your word for it. Oh hey, SOE doesn't lie. Nah they don't represent everything that's wrong with society. Not at all.
LOL Not paid. Probably a few free months of on-line pay when Devs read their positive BS posts. For them to say that things have evened out, is totally BS. If so, where are the players? Servers are still lightly populated. Vets are not coming back in throves just because they miss the game. I check from time to time and cities and outposts are like ghost towns. Will SOE publicly admit their loss of subscriptions? Never. They have to seem up beat in order to attempt to make everyone believe that the loss of vets isn't hurting the game. Just say that 5000 subscribers left the game with 2 accounts per subscriber. That totals to the amount of $1.8 million of lost profits for a year. That's a low estimate of what the actual number appears to be given the emptiness of the servers. If a fraction of the signatures from the petition that is on-line are legit, that estimate can easily double, even triple. Cognant distortations are not reality. The board at SONY is not liking what they are seeing.
And to think that new Star Wars fans are gonna flock to the game? Give me a break. Anyone who is a Star Wars fan is already playing. Reality people. People don't flock to the store to buy a video game just because the movie came out. Some do. But not the masses that SOE hoped to gain. I see the maturity level dropping in the game as well. You think the attention span of these new players are gonna support SWG's costs? These players will lose interest when the new PS3 comes out. Pre- CU was fun and alot of mature players that were steady subscribers. True their were some issues that needed to be addressed but to make a totally new game was a mistake.
Some cry foul when they couldn't solo a jedi. OMG Jedi are supposed to be uber, not unbeatable, but a tough fight. For those who couldn't grasps the concept of the game before the CU, thats your own slow brain fault. Vets like myself played long and hard to get where we were in the game. And for those who couldn't learn to PVP or the noobs who thought when they got a master profession that should be able to solo Krayts and stuff, you need to stick to your Play Station.
in my opion, the game is a total nerf now. Not only unplayable for existing players (who haven't respec to BH, boy that takes skill) the community that made the game is long gone and have no intentions of returning to this thing they now call SWG. Damn man, SOE could've gave us some respect and at least changed the name.
"I'm not a racist...I only hate stupid people..."-SinisterCB
I obviously asked about subscription levels, and posted their response in the article. If you do not believe them, that is your choice, but it would be irresponsible of me to make such a claim based only on anecdotal evidence.
The intent of this article was to get their response to the various concerns that have been raised lately. Now you have it - if you don't like it, that is again your choice - don't shoot the messanger.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
"I'm not a racist...I only hate stupid people..."-SinisterCB
You asked questions but then didn't question their answers. No accountability at all in what they said. I appreciate the update and I do appreciate you coming onboard to the MMORPG.com staff Lepidus but all I see from this is you asking a question, them answering and you not posing any questions to their answer. This article to me is about the same as an email Q&A. We have gotten countless responses already to the subscribers responses to the CU, why did we need yet another one spreading marketting propoganda from LA and SOE, the first one you did here at MMORPG.COM wasn't enough?
You didn't ask them about how double experience could be such a great move when missions were broke during the entire double experience event and were not fixed til the day they patched double experience back out of the game. Thats just one example. I don't come here because I want more propoganda, I can get that at the official site. I come here because I want good journalism and professional reporting of answers.
If you are just the messenger then I have no reason for being here anymore. I can just get my answers from the official sites for the games I play. If thats all the truth, without question, then journalism has truly lost perspective. I might as well be getting all my world news directly from each respective countries government as well, no need to hear the voice of the people themselves.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
As Fadeus said, if you're just repeating what the PR flunkies told you verbatim, how can this be termed "News"?
Guess we can't really blame you though. If you'd asked any hard questions, they'd've just stopped the interview. Anyone posing tough questions on the forum gets ignored, or their comments are deleted and they're banned.
Which is part of what has got everyone so riled up - the Combat "Upgrade" was a fiasco, and the developers point blank refused to acknowledge anyone's legitimate concerns.
Leaving all that aside, there's one rather glaring error in your article anyway - General Grievous is dead. He died in Episode III and SWG is set between Episode IV and V.
So how can he be in the Myddril Cave?
The answer is - he's not. It's "Necrosis".
While he looks very much like Grievous, it's not him.
(Oh and the only practical ways to defeat him are with specific Jedi Master abilities, or having a Doctor resurrect your group over and over and over and "zerg-rushing" him. But you know, hooray! It's General Grievous!
)
Nevertheless, I didn't really like the CU myself. You have 6 or 7 attack types on your list that you can do per fight, yet when you press 1 of those 7 all of them get put on a recycle timer. I'm just thinking it should be set so that each attack has it's own attack timer for recycle effect.
I mean this whole CU seems like it's a try at coping the attack style in City of Heroes. because that's how it's combat is done. Except the big difference is each attack has it's own recharge timer. and that is a fun and good system to me. but also in city of heroes we can take on 3 or 4 even or slightly higher mobs at a given fight. Which is not the case in SWG's CU. were we should be able to. because any given mission you will have to fight 3 to 6, depending on how close the mission is to another critter mound. you end up having to fight a lot more than usual. Thus if you happen to be doing it solo you will die very easly.
So in conclusion if i have to wait around for whatever amount of time to get a group to go do some boring missions that mearly require you to distroy the lair each and every mission.. that just sounds to much like a lame and very boring situation. and it is... Oh well, that's just my opinion and of course i'm no longer a subscriber as well.
Wow, it's like a pack of wild dogs was let loose in here.
Whether or not follow-up questions were asked it's still a nice article Lepidus.
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
Aww, don't get me wrong Tooky. Its just lately I have read so much of how SOE feels things are by them and LucasArts and very little actually anwering to the fact that they may have made a few mistakes along the way that my head is just read to pop.
I am not against the CU, but I do think SOE and LA made some rather bad mistakes and can't even admit them, not just once. All I want is alittle honesty from them, just a tiny bit. I understand as a business they have to keep face, but just give me alittle tiny bit of love. Hell right now if they told me "We don't care what you like, we are doing it this way. Deal with it!" I would feel better then I do right now with all these feel good we are so proud of the CU articles I am getting fed one after the other.
And the comment about double experience was the breaking factor for me since I was gritting my teeth every day that my mission objectives would dissapear while I was trying to get double experience til I finally had someone tell me about the directional thing. And then by the time I found that out they had pulled the double experience. No patches during the entire time double experience week happenned other then literally about 2 bug fixes.
Am I really asking too much as a consumer and fan?
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
The Combat "Downgrade" was such total crap, but not half as bad as their total disregard for their subscriptions base. It was PUSHED down our throat and the negative feedback was not addressed. The Prez left one message and then went back to his hole for weeks after thousands of replies (90% negstive).
It was a fun game-- best I played until CU forced me to look at the toolbar more than the action and be killed by Killer Kaddu. Nevertheless, I did cancel my accounts even though they were paid through 1/06. However, it won't show up as cancelled now because I sold them on Ebay.
Bite me SOE-- you will fail because you won't listen to your customers. All the BS stroking by the media who make $$$ spreading the lies won't help in the long run.
Why can't they just give us a pre-cu server already?
I still have my account because im hoping maybe things will turn around but i havent logged in since a week after CU. I really miss the old game and i really hate the new game. I retaliated though by posting a complaint against SOE at bbb.com and it got their attention. They sent me a canned email response. BBB complaints can and do hurt their company however. So I suggest that anyone else that feels like they got ripped off file a complaint there also.
Another note... Does anyone else find this article offensive? Its like another direct attack by SOE on veteran players. Ya we know you didnt like it but we have a bunch of new subscribers now so rub salt.
I find it totally insulting.
SOE have taken a game that was great and turned it into a game that is unplayable. I am very bitter towards them and how they just stepped on loads of us vets like we did not matter. They may say all they like about not losing many people that is utter BS my whole guild now plays WOW and i see many others that i new on my server in WOW.
I hope that SOE fall flat on there faces and another company thats over the running of SWG or if they even addmit they make a BIG mistake and put things back the way they were i will return but that is just a pipe dream SWG is dead for me and that still makes me mad to this day.
I just wish we could see some statistics from an outside source about the subscriber levels. I know my local playing group of 18 quit. I know that of my "guild"'s 108 players 48 quit. So while 66 players would have no effect on SWG's subscriber base, I can't beleive that this was an isolated event. I know a lot of these players were growing bored of the game, some were trying to play more then one game so that gets overwhelming, so the combat upgrade was just the straw that broke the AT-AT's back, but as for me, I was new to the game and was just getting the hang of everything when it was all reworked, so I quit.
As far as the article goes, you guys print what SOE tells you. They tell you ,"our subscriber base was unaffected" You print that it was unaffected. They tell you, "Our subscriber base is so please they offer sexual gratification" you would print it. That isn't reporting facts, that is reporting what your told. If the Press had reported what Nixon claimed was the truth would he ever been in question? Why is no one asking for the figures? asking for the paper work that shows this? I think SOE tells the press whatever they want us to hear. Do they lie? I don't know, but what benefeit would SOE gain by telling us that SWG lost 25% of it's subscriber base? none... What do they have to gain by telling us, it was unaffected? A lot, they don't risk loseing more subscribers that figures the game lost that many people it won't last much longer, they don't admit they just handed 25% of their subscribers back over to another game, they don't lose their advertising/Sony finacial support/their team/their other means of financing. If you are backing a giant game, and it drops 25% of it's subscribers due to a mis-judgement by the SOE team would you continue to back it, what happens next time they boo boo?
I think SOE covers it's butt, always has. I remember in EQ when a large number of accounts got hacked, and yes they did get hacked, I know about 15 people in my guild then had their toons deleted and accounts cancelled by a hacker, I'm sure after he took whatever they had in their stash, SOE said it never happened. I remember SOE denied they allowed IGE to sell accounts/money/items for real cash. While still unconfirmed but very supported rumors claim SOE or Sony actually had supported IGE.com.
I read a lot of websites on gaming news, and have seen where SOE has contridicted themselves in statements, I have seen many companies do the same thing, I worked for one game company for aboiut a year and I could not beleive the lies and all out BS he put on the website, and the press to cover internal dealing.
I think if a website. or gamer magazine actually set out to get facts rather then statements they would uncover a world of deceit in the gaming world. I think a lot of people would be hurt, and a lot of others completly disappointed in the companies we have loved for so long. I think the magazine/website would have it's hands full...too full....
Not so nice guy!
the CU was great for combat professions but it does seem a lil repeditive the reason i left is that they totally screwed rangers were supposed to be able to gather resources from creatures but when most of the creatures kill us in a few hits there is no point to being a ranger and since thats the only profession i really liked i saw no reason to stay in the game
and all this "find a group" stuff is crap there is no way ppl will want to hunt with a ranger to collect resources and if they do its usually a guildly and a 1 time thing since resources are usually VERY picky and the creatures u get them from might be very hard to kill (for 1 master combat profession) but have low exp...
one thing they should do to rangers is give them a "creature level modifier" that raises their level when they fight creatures since ranger is supposed to be a combat profession and theyre supposed to be knowledgable of creatures i think they should have a lvl increase vs creatures but not vs NPCs or players i think that would stop a lot of complaining for a while and it would even bring me back to the game
also by good for combat professions i should have said bounty hunters because theyre the new ranged version of TKMs except now EVERYONE is a BH and its much worse than how TKMs were before the CU now BHs can kill almost anyone (except rifleman and maybe carbines) because they can root them then run out of range and kill them where they stand.....Pre-CU TKMs still had a tough time fighting jedi and they usually lost now jedi cant even defend themselves...
the only reason there arent that many complaining about BH (except jedi) is because SOO MANY PPL /respec-ed their characters to bounty hunters so as soon as all the jedi quit they wil all be complaining about how they need a revamp because there is nothing to do and SOE will have even more cancelled accounts.....
Like I said, while I cancelled my SWG accounts, I sold them on Ebay as they were pre-paid. I started playing Guild Wars (don't like it) and just started WoW yesterday.
So, while my SWG subscription may still be online, they don't get my $15 a month x 3-- and I played from back when there were no mounts or vehicles.
Their arrogance is beyond what I can accept, and I just noticed they introduced multi-person vehicles? Why do that when you destroyed the crafting part of the game? There were SO MANY bugs and little things with merchant that need fixed, but never were addressed because they constantly keep introducing new features and not fixing the old.
Fix and improve the old system-- not created Toolbar Wars where all one does is watch the toolbar cool down.
Any WoW players looking for a newbie player? Not much int PvP but I liked the crafting and melee of SWG.
Honestly, yes. I guess you've never really had any experience dealing with public opinion, because the things that would fly between friends will end up murdering you in the public arena. I know what you want - you want some sort of assurance that everything is going to be okay. I think it is. I've had more fun playing SWG in the past couple weeks than ever before. However, SOE can't say that because it will just end up being fodder for the pissed off folks. You have to understand that nothing SOE can say or do at this point - even reverting to the system before the CU - can save them in the eyes of some very vocal people. The thread in the forums where they announced the multipassenger vehicles turned into a flame war because we got new and long wanted content rather than fixing bugs. Honestly, all they can do is wait it out because everything they say, no matter how little, will just be used against them tenfold.
If they admit a mistake, that just throws gas on the fire as now people will have some sort of official backing for their beliefs - no matter how twisted or misguided they may be. Suddenly, the CU doesn't just suck in their eyes, the Devs admitted it and you'd have to be a complete fool to disagree with evidence like that. If they say, mistake or not, sit down and shut up because this is how we're going to do it, you'll have a bunch of players getting upset at their arrogance and not listening to the customer base. Frankly, saying nothing will result in the vocal minority getting frustrated and leaving sooner when they don't get the attention they need. SOE is handling this situation the only way they can, and though it frustrates people, it is the approach that will lead to a happy equilibrium quickest.
One of the things I've always liked about SWG is that the developers have been really open about the development process, and indeed have tried to involve the players as much as possible - even when it wasn't feasible. This has perhaps been their biggest downfall as it frustrates players who are used to getting their way, as well as frustrates those who get excited about an in development idea that doesn't come out quite like they were expecting (or worse, getting cancelled). They told us about the Smuggler Revamp that they wanted to do, and I have no doubt that they did and still do want to work on it. But priorities are priorities, and the CU (which affects Smugglers) took precedence over a single class. And yet, I still see people complaining that there has yet to be a Smuggler Revamp - completely ignoring all the other new features and bugfixes that SOE has managed while still pumping out both a CU and an expansion pack. If they had never mentioned a Smuggler Revamp, there'd be nothing to complain about. I've seen docs on the new slicing mini-game they're working on, so I expect that the Smuggler Revamp may not be too far away - but patience can be so difficult when we want something so intensely.
SOE is learning the hard way how that kind of openness with the players can bite them in the ass hard. I've been on other MMORPGs, like WoW, where the developers never announced anything, responded to any of the complaints of the playerbase, or said "hey, we're working on it" - and I found the lack of information to be far more frustrating than SOE having to say, "we wanted to do this, but it wasn't as feasible as we suspected". I think SOE is brave for being so open, and I applaud them. As both an ex-game developer and now someone who has to deal with a bloodthirsty public on a daily basis, I not only understand what they are going through, but I am filled with empathy at their plight. They suffer the worst attacks and insults I've seen in a long time, and for a game they obviously believe in and want to make better in the most sincere way possible. I've yet to see another developer who cared more than these guys, and it really gives me faith that everything's going to turn out right. I don't think you guys appreciate how deeply the wounds you cut go. It's been a war against the morale of the devs for months now, and the onslaught has lessened but not disappeared. Were they the developers you guys think they are, they wouldn't be working weekends to fix bugs and add new features to the game. I know I wouldn't. I'd tell all you ungrateful bastard to go fuck yourself, but they haven't and they won't.
Mistakes were made, but they made the right decisions where it mattered most - even though they had to step on some toes to do it. They aren't perfect, but they do what has to be done. The SWG of today is almost nothing like the SWG that was first released - it's better. And it will keep getting better, not because they developers are falling just short of expectations, but because they are aiming for them in the first place. Just have a little patience and go a little easier on the devs. SWG has never been in a better place.
ok what im about to say will probably make ppl mad or pissed whatever though
I believe that the only people that dont like the CU are the TKM composite armor clones that used to be able to kill anything and now that you cant kill everything that comes in your path your pissed. Well ya know what the CU was for the better and i for one love the new system
Now im not saying the cu is perfect... hell far from it with all the bugs and stuff but it was for the better and it balances it out alot better then the old combat system when you had to be a tkm or jedi just to be good. When any online game comes out it always has bugs theres no doubt about it you gotta be patient and wait for the bugs to get fixed. And also i like it because it makes you group hell before cu you could solo rancor... which is unbelievable and impossible.If you wanna live the starwars experiance now is your chance now it makes it more "realistic" and if you have friends which i hope everyone does it makes this game even more enjoyable because you do need to group now and the emphasis is streched on grouping. So with this up in grouping it makes the community more enjoyable.
IM EXTREAMLY HAPPY THAT THEY GOT RID OF UBER BUFFS!!! People complain- "oh boo hoo the community is gone places such as cornet that used to be a bustling city are now gone" .. The only freaking reason it was bustling was because everyone and there grandmothers where there to get the uber buffs. Plus im glad all those people left because of cu i dont need the TKM Uber leet master composite clones crying cuz i killed them with my Master bounty hunter/ Master carbineer toon because of the blance that took place from the CU.
There is one thing i do hate about the CU - There is hardly any non-combat classes anymore... its way to hard to find a doctor now if you need your wounds healed and its hard to find any architects or anything to that standard so its hard to buy items now. And the economy is fu**ed up over 1 mill for a suit of armor is unbelievable.
My final thought - i love the new cu it was long needed and it is a great addition but we need to give another month or so to let the devs fix the bugs. Another fix needed would be the fix of non-combat classes and the economy needs a serious upgrade
I just tell people to not pre-pay because you never know what crap is around the corner. Besides, I don't know what so bad about soloing a rancor. It's alot more fun than going after the NovaTropper that kills a double-Master in one shot or sitting there looking at my toolbar waiting for my comic book graphics to "cool down" so I can thump the F1 key again.
I had three 'toons and loved the crafting. As a Master Architect/Artisan/DE/Shipwright/Tailor I was cranking along. Then, overnight, the 4000k stacks of resources I spent MONTHS gathering and my huge inventory of merchant items (that I was constantly restocking after the merchant nerf) were all worthless!
The goofy "Killer Kaddu on Steriod" and other low-level critters killed me on harvester runs immediately, and they wonder why one would be upset?
Gezz, I won't even see E3 until it's on Showtime, HBO, or Starz. SOE and LA put the FU in my FUN and will NEVER EVER get a dime from me.
I've tried Guild Wars and WoW and both have the toolbar cooldown which I dislike. Plus, they don't seem to let me scroll the screen with my trackball and I miss the combat queue. I just watch the toolbars-- not the action.
Irritated and annoyed SOE took my fun away.
<Rantfest complete>
Just about every Player Correspondent in the game has been replaced. Only a couple of the Pre-CU Correspondents remain. Is that a sign of a game that's doing well?
I miss SWG. It's a shame there is no way I can play the game that I enjoyed for nearly two years. SWG2 is so god waful boring. The combat is just so terribly slow paced. Then on top of that my Doc alt became useless. That's 2 accounts gone from me, and all but 3 people from my guild left. We're all on Guildwars now.
Actually your wrong. And I wasn't really looking for an answer from anyone here. SOE has admitted misake before and they will again. However it seems the bastard relationship between LA and them makes things different with SWG. And I didn't really care for your assumptions about me. I have been in the public area before and I do have experience with public opinion. And I understand quite a few things in life, including this.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World