Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Star Wars Galaxies: Interview with Julio Torres
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Julio Torres, the Producer for Star Wars Galaxies, answers fifteen of News Editor Jon Wood's questions about the game. Trials of Obi-wan, the latest expansion, officially releases in a few weeks.
;) MMORPG.com: Our message boards seem to be full of players who left SWG early on after its release, citing any number of technical or rules issues as their reason for leaving. What, if anything would you say to these players to convince them to come back?
Julio Torres: Well, for starters the game has been vastly improved since its launch two years ago and players seem to agree as the game continues to sell really well (we recently surpassed the 1 million units sold mark), growing the size of the Galaxies player base. I guess when it comes down to it, I would remind some of the former players that Galaxies is the only game in existence that truly allows you to completely and totally immerse yourselves in the Star Wars universe, fiction, and experience. In addition to this, it is a great game that continually improves and that we are very proud of. |
You can read the full article here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
----------------------------------
MMOs Retired From: Earth and Beyond, Project Entropia, There, A Tale in the Desert, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, City of Heroes/Villains.
MMOs Currently (worth) Playing: None.
MMO hopefuls: Age of Conan.
People really need to get over the whole CU gripe. The new system is much better and just takes some getting used to. I have been playing since Beta 2 and this game gets better with every week. Anyone that left after the CU was not missed by those who stayed. Things change, usually they are for the best and thats what happened, not everyone will be happy with each change but it was in the best interest for everyone.
To people that left and want to see what things are like now I say reactivate, get over your own ego and accept the change, give it a bit of time and you will see it is really worth your time. The new expansion is really good.
Why is it that people feel that they need to claim they were in beta 2? Why not beta 3 or even 4? There were less than a 1000 people added into beta 2. Beta 1 didn't go above 100. Beta 1 had nearly nothing to "play" in besides a planet of emptiness. Beta 2 had a bare city and one planet. Beta 3 had a slightly fleshed out city and one planet. Beta 4 saw a couple planets and more cities. Beta 5(June 26th 2003 release) was about the same as the first beta stages, just with more planets.
My point being this: It matters not which beta you were in over two years ago. A person won't have a "better" outlook on SWG and what will come of it because of previous beta experience. Plus, too many people "claim" that they were in beta 2 and even 1 when in fact they were in neither. Does it matter if it is true or not? Nope, the game has changed so much since beta 2 that any knowledge gleaned at that time is obsolete and doesn't make you an "authority" on Star Wars Galaxies.
/rant off
____________________________________________________________________________
Julio Torres: Well, for starters the game has been vastly improved since its launch two years ago and players seem to agree as the game continues to sell really well (we recently surpassed the 1 million units sold mark), growing the size of the Galaxies player base.
____________________________________________________________________________
The best example that Lucas Art and SoE are full of it.
The propaganda wont stop, the lie is continously spreaded.
The player in majority does not agree that the game continue 'really well', just reading their forums and talking to players, seeing the servers talks a completely different language.
Another number should worry you, Mr Julian Liar:
If you sold 1mil copys but only 200.000 current subscribers are building the playerbase, means that 80% of the box-buyers left the game already again for the same reason, players are leaving all time:
Your ignorance, your lies, your lack in coding, your bugs, your lag, your disbalances and your pathetic operation of a brand called "Star Wars"®
Go away, you are disgusting, all of you.
Claude
I agree with most of the folks here...I dont like CU it ruined a great game. I will not go back even if they made a pre cu server. I wont play a SOE product ever. So of the million copies sold they dont tend to also note that many of us who played SWG had multiple accounts. I for one had 5 accounts so really they just need to stop the oooh we got some many more players BS. Only reason they got a influx of players to stifle the loss from CU was rage of wookies was released 1 week before the movie came out. Now they releasing xpansion with what coming out OMG RoTS being released..... they are going to try to stifle the decling player base.
good luck SOE you will never get a cent from me again............
Why is it that people feel that they need to claim they were in beta 2? Why not beta 3 or even 4? There were less than a 1000 people added into beta 2. Beta 1 didn't go above 100. Beta 1 had nearly nothing to "play" in besides a planet of emptiness. Beta 2 had a bare city and one planet. Beta 3 had a slightly fleshed out city and one planet. Beta 4 saw a couple planets and more cities. Beta 5(June 26th 2003 release) was about the same as the first beta stages, just with more planets.
My point being this: It matters not which beta you were in over two years ago. A person won't have a "better" outlook on SWG and what will come of it because of previous beta experience. Plus, too many people "claim" that they were in beta 2 and even 1 when in fact they were in neither. Does it matter if it is true or not? Nope, the game has changed so much since beta 2 that any knowledge gleaned at that time is obsolete and doesn't make you an "authority" on Star Wars Galaxies.
/rant off
You actually helped me make my point even though you were trying to fire me up
I was simply saying how long I have been with SWG so that people had an idea of how long I have been here and therefor how many changes I have put up with and still play. I didn't realize people were "claiming" to be in beta 2 so often that you would take offence to it... I don't claim to have all the answers, just because I have been playing as long as I have I do have an understanding of the changes and what they have done to the playerbase.
I like the way things are going and I will stay behing SOE in the changes they make. I have a Jedi and a Bounty hunter and I have been pretty happy with the changes made there.
The recent changes in SWG (including the combat revamp) have improved the game in my opinion. I enjoy playing the game, especially because of a great community.
There is still a lot to do, however - especially to make the game feel more Star Warsy (Han Solo like smuggling, forwarding the timeline into the direction of Hoth and Episode 5 instead of Episode 1-3 etc.).
Speaking especially about the interview, Torres is once again vague and non-commital about key problems of the game, about their pricing policy for expansions (new expansion is a good one, but overpriced ... and for sure not what players expected or hoped for), about bug-fixing, balancing and CS problems. Not to mention about huge difference in what SWG could be (see success of WoW) compared to its current performance. I am once again intrigued by the quoted number of 1 million sold ... they carefully state it as "franchise units" in most interviews (which sounds more like total sum of basic game + Total Experience Box + Expansion 1 + Expansion 2 ... and NOT actual number of games sold, which may be more like half a million or so).
So ... while I recommend the game to everyone, I also would caution that players have to expect more changes in the game in the future .. hopefully for the better.
Have fun
Erillion
PS:
Offering non-Jedi servers and free transfers to those servers would be an EXCELLENT move on the part of Julio Torres. I hope they get the hint sooner or later that there are WAY TOO MANY Jedi in the game (a view shared even by most Jedi players).
Of all the crap that was said, this is the quote that stuck out the most. So he thinks (or wants you to think) that free content added to the game decreases over time....
Thats actualy his excuse for charging you more money for almost everything added to the game.
I guess he hasnt played any games other than SOE's.
Hey Julio, go play Lineage2 for a while and tell me all about this "decrease". (because you dont know what the hell your talking about)
Hmm it seem that you and SOE (**** on everyone) have got it all wrong about this game!.I played SWG because it was fun and played it from release untill the CU.The character i was playing was nothing special a TKMaster DoctorCombat Medic i had just started doing the quests at the village on dathomir.The guild i amwas in is called RATS based in new koba south east of coronet it was a large guild over 150 members we often went to POI's and to DWB(death watch bunker) god that place is hard.However once the CU came(which i had an open mind about too) most of the guild members stopped playing and its not much fun being by yourself all the time in a MMO game and whoo coronet used to be busy where is everyone!!.So now the only way i can get xp is at the least solo a rancor before the CU i had a chance but after it no chance so can you or SOE explain how i was meant to gain xp??.Also with the CU i could no longer wear my armour and could not buy any because no one had made any something else that got screwed by the CU.Oh and get over my ego what ego!!(fool).I played SWG because i am obsessed with starwars and SOE really screwed it up.Lets face it SOE will never do a pre CU update because that would tell everyone they screwed up so we can only hope that someone else releases another starwars game(how cool would it be if it was set in the time of KOTOR) or SOE sells it or goes bust we can only hope.And one last thing when i sent an email to SOE when they asked for feedback telling them how poor i thought the CU was and hoped they changed it they sent me an email telling me how to cancel my account thats customer care for you hey!! so i did just that however i did pay the upkeep on my houses for 2 years in a vain hope it gets better
Etoo Darkblade TKMaster DoctorCombat Medic
Euro Farstar Server
P.S Why is it the SOE never answer any of the questions on the CU from former players they always seem to skate around it!!
I love his justification to play.
"Welp, it'e the only Star Wars MMO out there."
I need a little more justification then that. The entire Jedi system needs redone. It's nothing but a huge grind fest. Koster screwed the pooch when he went with the classic era which gives them zero flexibility. Heck, as it stands now they have butchered it to a point it's not recognizable with the classic trilogy so why not advance the time frame to NJO and let anyone work at being a Jedi that want's too.
I played Pre and Post CU and personally I find it unfulfilling either way.
Mr Torres would also have to offer no comment about the relationship between SOE and its customers, he is LucusArts and LA does not get involved in the day to day dictatorship ,that is SOE.
Unaware of the Jestor?
http://about.me/JestorRodo/
Friends enjoy his classic Vblog - https://www.facebook.com/GoodOldReliableNathan
Well I wasn't in game pre CU, but the game right now for me isn't that bad. I was in beta for a little while but the game was unplayable for me so I skipped release and gave them 2 years to make it work.
I do have 2 things I would like to say tho... first off what the heck is all this immersion in the game they keep talking about. This game doesn't immerse me anymore than any other online game out there. I laugh everytime I hear that.. especially their commercial. Do they really think they can put employees in a commercial and expect people to believe that load of crap?
One other thing, they are doing the same thing to SWG as they did with EQ... don't get me wrong, I enjoyed playing EQ and I'm enjoying myself in SWG at this time. But after 2 years I see so many bugs.. simple bugs that should have been fixed weeks after any release or after any patch that brought them out. NPC names shouldn't be popping up with their coded name. Like EQ, they are too busy adding expansions (minor expansions that should be free) that they don't fix what's been wrong with game from the beginning.
Anyway, I'll play till something better comes out.