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A lil annoyed about the game shut down..
sungodra
Member Posts: 1,376
So , as most people already know this game shuts down on december 15. For good, but instead of SOE doing the right thing and making it f2p from here on out, for any person whoever held a subscription, they decided to try and milk the customers for a few more months. At this point people are still having to sub for characters that everyone knows will be gone on december 16th.
I think SOE needs to reconsider. As we know, if you don't have an active sub on sept 15 then you don't get the last 2 free months.
Well, why not just let it be free to play for everyone regardless of subscription status for those last 2 months, as long as at some point in the past 8 years you held a sub. I think that anyone who has ever paid to play this game and enjoyed it should be afforded the opportunity to check out the last days , because guess what? Once december 16th comes and goes, you will never get that chance again.
I don't think you should have to sub for it either, this is just SOE's way of milking the player base for more money.
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"
Comments
Devil's advocate...but why would you expect SoE to eat the expenses of the last 4 months of operations? It's not like they still aren't paying licensing fees, upkeep, dev costs, etc. They are giving freebies, if you want in, sub back again.
They been making a killing off of that TCG game for years now. They can figure out another way to get some money and make the game f2p, at least for the last 2 months WITHOUT having to resub before sept 15.
Doesn't take much to maintane those servers, they got what 3 devs running the show?
As far as them giving freebies.. Why the heck would that even matter to anyone when on december 15 the freebies are going poof.
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"
Thats sad they are shutting it down. I remember when it started and enjoyed it pre CU. At least another SW game will be comin g out soon.
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
Yes it is a little silly at how they're handling the shutdown.
No one is forcing you to play it.
Also, explain what SoE could use in game in a Free to Play model.
All, and i mean ALL cosmetics are made in game already. Heck most everything is made in game, if you take those away then you remove the trader professions. If you do not have those items to sell in a cash shop what would you substitute? Other things to substitute would bring on player rage at a Pay to Win structure (see EvE for this failed idea).
SWG would still have a huge player base if not for the unending misteps made by the SWG dev teams. In fact i would argue that if the NGE had never been implemented and the large pop of veterens had been retained this entire conversation would not even be discussed.
No i don't hate on SoE but i do think they have the absolute worst customer relations in the industry.
I will miss SWG but there are plenty of other sandbox games that are decent, no not on the same level as Raph Kosters vision for SWG but decent enough to be very enjoyable.
Perpetuum, Ryzom, Xsyon, Darkfall, EvE. Try one, most have trials.
Lolipops !
They have had TCG for years now , so what are you talking about? That is what most F2P games have, but instead SOE has took it a step further and turned it into a lottery style loot card game, so they actually wind up making even more money, and can still charge a sub.
Also, you are right, nobody is forcing me to play it. I want to play it , but I will not be paying them any more money when they have announced the end of the game in only a matter of months.
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"
SWG to me has had it's time and they just need to pull the plug. They shot themselves in the foot with the NGE, adn it was only a matter of time after that. it lasted longer than I thougt it woudl though, and I had a lot of fun playing with everyone. Hopefully I will run into some old friends in SWTOR.
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
You've gotten 6 months notice and you get the final 2 for free - As much as "I" dislike SOE, this seems like a fairly generous offer tbqh.
What were MXO players given? Tabula Rasa players? APB players?
Honestly...Smed could have pulled the plug and given NO notice just as easily. Would that have really been better?!
I very much want SWG to continue and hope by some little chance that it may happen. But, I actually have to commend SOE for giving us over a 5 month warning for the shutdown. They could have easily gave us 30 days or less of a notice. Although, I have not played much since the announcment, so it kind of feels shut down already. It is sad the game is shutting down . The next update sounds great and would have kept player busy for easily a year.
There is NO chance of SWG not shutting down on Dec. 15. Zero.
So I started to walk into the water. I won't lie to you boys...I was terrified. But I pressed on, and as I made my way past the breakers, a strange calm came over me. I don't know if it was divine intervention or the kinship of all living things, but I tell you, Jerry, at that moment ... I was a marine biologist.
All I'm saying is that they could make the last 2 months Free for anyone that has ever held a sub for SWG, without having to sub for sept.. That way you can get to meet up with old swg buddies for the last 2 months.
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"
It would be a generous offer to have the last two months to all current and former players, but $OE made access to the last two months a cash grab event by requiring an active subscription September 15th. For me, my 'community' was on a now closed server, Intrepid, so there is no real way to meet up with my 'old swg buddies'.
The vast majority of veteran players left SWG years ago due to the NGE debacle and have moved on. Previous free veteran trials and the recent free 45 days of gaming time (due to the Sony/$OE account hacks) failed to bring in most of those long lost players, so I doubt that they would bother to down load SWG/NGE to find old friends and see the game get unplugged even if the last two months had free access to all veteran players.
MxO players and Tabula Rasa players were all able to play for free without having to subscribe, although SOE did say that MXO you needed to be subbed by June 1st to play the 2 final months for free, so I subbed one account to Matrix and subbed other account to Station Access, and then after June 1st they made it free for all anyway. The account I subbed to the matrix on its own, also gave me 60 days to SWG and other SOE games, and then got that money back, so was able to play Matrix, SWG and other SOE games for 60 days free, yet Station Access did not get a refund. Other accounts that just had a matrix free trial which paid nothing towards matrix or even existed prior to 31st May (the day before its cutoff), were also given the last 2 months for free before its closure after they said they would not let you play for free, once the opporunity people had of paying was over. The only difference was those that did not pay to sub to the Matrix before its cut off did not get the 60 days free time on selected SOE games
SWG you have to pay one month or two (but if charged the 2nd you get that refunded or part of it).Matrix you just subbed once and then got that refunded (or part of it)
As for 6 months it kind of is good but has killed the game completely, and is good if you want to play by yourself!
Matrix > SWG
I have quite a few SWG accounts, and it is either all or nothing, and do not like the thought of paying them all, and then finding out everyone who had a SWG account gets free acess after Oct 15th anyway, but without free game trials. I do not need free game trials on all accounts. I may just call it quits on/after Sep 15th / before Oct 15th
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
They should...but SOE isn't that generous...you know that
I'm not faulting them, they're a business, but I do think the "Sub on Sept 15th" is just a scam to get suckers to pay from announced closing - October
I think Lucas Arts had a say in the shutdown and SOE is going with it.
Make games you want to play.
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I think it's funny that people keep claiming this when Smedley has come flat out and said HE (SoE) didn't even TRY to renew the license.
''Could we have renegotiated? Maybe, but I don't think that would be the right thing for the company."
No rumor - from John Smedley himself.
I don't disagree with you TUX, as I consider you a more informed player having been a senator for the game. I think, however, that there was a break even point with SWG. With the player base now down to the pop levels some have estimated, it wouldn't take much to force the closure. Think about it. LA gets very little love with SWG but still takes in income as does SOE. With TOR's pending launch announcement coming coupled with EA's known history of conquoring competitors, all LA had to do was go up on the license fee a few thousand. Thus, John ends up taking the rap for shutting the game down because it wasn't cost effective at that point. SOE does not close games if they can help it. They beat the last cent out of devoted hardcore players for as long as they can. Why is Vangard still up and semi-supported? I am not saying SOE or Smed are blameless with SWG. Too much history documented against SOE for that. I have seen just way too many signs of LA's hand in it. They are just much better at setting "scapegoats". Just watch EA/BioWare in the next year.
Vanguard is still running, because SOE owns the IP. They leave the servers running and never spend another minute of development time on it and not have to answer to a 3rd party.
You are right that SOE will run a game until the very last cent can be squeezed out of it, but SOE doesn't own the Star Wars IP or the Matrix IP and as such had to close them down. I don't think Warner Brothers or Lucas Arts see their IPs so cheaply as SOE does and neither really wants to watch SOE squeeze a few dollars out of a dead game.
Yes, if the Matrix is anything to go by they will let all play for free after Oct 15th on SWG only, but not any other SOE game - That is the only difference in paying on Sep 15th as opposed to waiting until Oct 15th - paid accounts on Sep 15th get free time on SOE games. They are not going to say they are allowing all accounts to play after Oct 15th, otherwise not many, if any, will sub on Sept 15th. They suckered me with the Matrix, and felt like no choice but to sub, but do not really want to be suckered again. In the end it worked out better, but not for Station Access.
Also they said with the shut down of servers in Sep 15th 2009, that you had to move off by Oct 15th, else you had to pay $50 per toon afterwards, but that was not the case, they did free transfers still secretly until April/May 2010, then that did not last long after an uproar. So in the end there was no need to panic and get accounts subbed by Oct 15th
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
From what I understand, the license fee is per ACCOUNT, not a flat fee.
I also think there's truth to both arguments...my assumption is, Lucas Arts sent over the new contract with the standard 3-5-yr licensing agreement, Smed decided it simply wasn't worth a long term commitment and let the deadline lapse or informed LA that he wouldn't sign another multi-year deal. LA probably said "OK" and hung up the phone. End of story, both companies can blame the other.
Point is, I do not think LA OR SOE cared if SWG stayed or went. The base was so small it wasn't of any concern. SOE has more pressing needs atm (DCUO, PS2 and EQ3) and supporting SWG took more staff and effort than I think they wanted to throw at it. I believe Smed when he says it was "mutual" (as in neither felt inclined to renew the license) and I also believe that he didn't pursue a shorter term licensing agreement because SWTOR is looming over his head.
Yep, and Vanguard has a small hardcore base that they keep charging and tempting with supposed updates pending. Truth we all know is they saw it as a direct competitor to EQ2. So which is going to get the annual expansion? At this years Fan Faire, there was NO Vanguard presence.
The trouble with MxO was two fold. You are correct about forced closing as they didn't own the IP. Subs had dropped to very low levels. Last Fan Faire to host it had fans watching the film in leu haveing update info, LOL. Something like under a 100 showed. I really felt bad for them. That was before the announced closing (wasn't there something about a Dick move?). The second reason is the IP itself. MxO released prior to the sequels movies but had much input from the creators during development. Both films were not well recieved in the public eye. Fans were devoted but it just lost interest as a whole. It also suffered like SWG in that it was released in the wake of the WOW effect. That sucked subs right out of SOE's more poorly launched games into WOW. IMHO.
This is why I will never trust SOE.
Those that are faithful and stick to a game, immersing and getting attatched to chars and friends will loose it suddenly and like that because SOE do not care about you.
I will never invest a single coin in a SOE game because of this. Maybe others will do the same, but so far I havent seen it in any MMORPG I have played besides Sony games.
Offcourse the game should have been f2p..
Maybe I've missed something, but what game other than Matrix online did SOE shut down? From everything I can tell had Lucas Arts allowed SOE to renew the liscense they would have kept SWG open, I don't think it would have seen a lot of love and development, but it wasn't losing them money either.
They don't likley have the server infrastructer still set up for that many people.
Everyone loggin in the final day because it was free would bring the whole thing down and ruin it for those that are currently playing and have been paying monthly for a long time now. Its not the game we all played - but there are people playing it that like it. They should get to see it go down. We already did.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
I think it's funny how people think SWTOR will offer them the same type of sustain that SWG did.
This is my guess as to what will happen:
SWTOR launches. You are so excited. The game is amazing. You play your character through the entire story. You might even play another character through the entire story. However, you start to look at your character and think, "what now? battlegrounds for another 3 hours?" "Do I raid for the next 3 hours?" Nah... I'll go hang out at my shop... oh wait. Hmm. I'll go hang out at the guild house.... oh wait... Hmm. I'll go hang out in the cantina... oh wait... I'll go decorate my house.... oh wait.
OH WAIT... this game was made for WoW fan$$$