Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
SWG in Alpha phase?
Doshu
Member Posts: 2
I am a veteran SWG player. I have been following the game years before it was released and played it for 3 years, putting up with SOE. I like many others cancelled my account after the WoWification attempts. Sadly I paid 15$ a month ago to try out the new changes, which took about 2 days, and I found more bugs instead of features since I have left. I was in SWG beta and sadly, it was better than it is now, even though it had many problems, and that says something.
Recently, I got invited into Alpha testing of LOTRO, and I have to say in alpha phase compared to SWG, it is amazingly 1000x times better than SWG. Not as in game style, storyline, etc., ofcourse two are very different games, infact I dont particulary enjoy playing LOTRO. However, the quality of the game is incredibly better than SWG, and eventhough I love the SW and the concept of SWG, I couldnt believe I paid and invested so much into SWG. Today, I am honestly ashamed to say that I played and paid for such a game for so long, I realize that I wouldnt have done so even though it was free, since I can playe better games for free..
I am sorry if this seems like crying or flaming to some of you, but SOE done us veterans wrong, and there is no one here that can prove or argue otherwise..
Just wanted to share my experience and opinion about the subject. Since I cannot do so in SOE forums no longer, I have been banned from it for over 2 years now.. 
Comments
Water cooled Intel Corei7 920 D0 Stepping OC'd 4.3GHz - 6GB Corsair Dominator GT RAM 2000Mhz - ASUS RAGE II EXTREME X58 Mobo - 2x HD 5870 in Crossfire X, OC'd 0.9Ghz core 1.3Ghz RAM - Dell 2407WFP Flat Panel LCD 24" 1920x1200
SOE , are you saying that SWG is now as kid fun as WoW and you are happy with that?And that would be a good thing?
Meanwhile the New SOE ad here is informing the level 60 WoW player that the training is over and... hold on /lol that you the player is ready for the big league Muhahahahaha EQ1 !!!
Unaware of the Jestor?
http://about.me/JestorRodo/
Friends enjoy his classic Vblog - https://www.facebook.com/GoodOldReliableNathan
Doshu wrote: Recently, I got invited into Alpha testing of LOTRO, and I have to say in alpha phase compared to SWG, it is amazingly 1000x times better than SWG.
Lol, how is the air up there in NDA Breaker land?
My general thought on SWG, after playing a few other games, is that it is still in a shockingly unfinished state, I just can't fathom why they do what they do how they do it. They truly seem to have no plan at all, and when they give a glimmer of having a plan, they toss it and rename it as the *new* plan and la la la off they go. Two huge names in the game industry working together and its just a damn mess. Unreal.
Ahh but see here is the difference between SWG and WoW --
WoW does not pretend to be somthing it is not, it also delivers on the Population and income.
I have a friend who works in London for Blizzard on WoW... needless to say, finding out that there is 193 EURO servers alone - NOT US and they are adding all the time due to population tells me that they are doing somthing right. With the expansion that will (WORK) and not be broke, or pretend to be somthing it is not, I bet it will reach 7 million subs made. (Not 100k) based on a new package for Xmas.
I have learned one thing about WoW compared to SWG... one of them works, was 96%bug free compared to SWG, not to mention successful or populated. SOE has tried to copy WoW in so many ways that I am not sure they have not been sued or even called out a couple of times on it.
One thing is for sure..... one is making one Hell of a profit. (Psst it ain't SWG)... Same servers, last 3 years..
Not the 300 plus WoW has.
I am not the biggest fan of the Fantasy game, but I am a fan of one that works. (Oh and does not change the core game 3 times trying to get a magical player base of course).
______________________________
I usually picture the Career builder commercial with the room full of monkeys and upside down sales chart when thinking about the SOE/SWG decision making process.....
SOE's John Blakely and Todd Fiala issued a warning: "Don't make our mistakes." Ref NGE
Winner of the worst MMOS goes to.... the NGE and SWG..!!! http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm?loadFeature=1034&bhcp=1
I have a friend who works in London for Blizzard on WoW... needless to say, finding out that there is 193 EURO servers alone - NOT US and they are adding all the time due to population tells me that they are doing somthing right. With the expansion that will (WORK) and not be broke, or pretend to be somthing it is not, I bet it will reach 7 million subs made. (Not 100k) based on a new package for Xmas.
I have learned one thing about WoW compared to SWG... one of them works, was 96%bug free compared to SWG, not to mention successful or populated. SOE has tried to copy WoW in so many ways that I am not sure they have not been sued or even called out a couple of times on it.
One thing is for sure..... one is making one Hell of a profit. (Psst it ain't SWG)... Same servers, last 3 years..
Not the 300 plus WoW has.
I am not the biggest fan of the Fantasy game, but I am a fan of one that works. (Oh and does not change the core game 3 times trying to get a magical player base of course).
Acording to first paragraph, EvE must be total crap. Their measly ~100k subs.
Yes, WoW is succesful, but from what I hear, their profits (big, very big) are not as big as their sub numbers would lead to believe. Running all those 3000 servers globally costs quite a lot of money. They have thousands of GMs after all. Those cost as well. While financially sound, rumor has it that WoW isn't as profitable as it seems.
But that aside, is it really worth arguing about numbers in light of the concept of pre-cu? That game was not mainstream, so at very best, following the EvE trend would be success compared directly to WoW. It's a completely different market, different concept, different demographics.
I have a friend who works in London for Blizzard on WoW... needless to say, finding out that there is 193 EURO servers alone - NOT US and they are adding all the time due to population tells me that they are doing somthing right. With the expansion that will (WORK) and not be broke, or pretend to be somthing it is not, I bet it will reach 7 million subs made. (Not 100k) based on a new package for Xmas.
I have learned one thing about WoW compared to SWG... one of them works, was 96%bug free compared to SWG, not to mention successful or populated. SOE has tried to copy WoW in so many ways that I am not sure they have not been sued or even called out a couple of times on it.
One thing is for sure..... one is making one Hell of a profit. (Psst it ain't SWG)... Same servers, last 3 years..
Not the 300 plus WoW has.
I am not the biggest fan of the Fantasy game, but I am a fan of one that works. (Oh and does not change the core game 3 times trying to get a magical player base of course).
Acording to first paragraph, EvE must be total crap. Their measly ~100k subs.
Yes, WoW is succesful, but from what I hear, their profits (big, very big) are not as big as their sub numbers would lead to believe. Running all those 3000 servers globally costs quite a lot of money. They have thousands of GMs after all. Those cost as well. While financially sound, rumor has it that WoW isn't as profitable as it seems.
But that aside, is it really worth arguing about numbers in light of the concept of pre-cu? That game was not mainstream, so at very best, following the EvE trend would be success compared directly to WoW. It's a completely different market, different concept, different demographics.
True I would expect a Hell of a overhead for Blizzard with WoW -- but there is still profit and success there. EvE is a good game based on balance of that. I think they make a decent profit based on what they have to manage it.
Demographs aside, EvE is no doubt a good game.. has a niche and will survive based on that alone. They have loved thier customer base, listened to them and worked with them in a professional manner. NO DOUBT they do know how to treat thier customers and it shows.
I can honestly say that SOE had problems with managment aside from ANY of the bugs or game issues alone and STILL DO. I mean so many different things have gone wrong with SWG that I am actually suprised it is still going like it is. From the creator leaving, to over 2/3s of the Dev team quiting..to the press, reviews, reports, word of mouth and just flat out common sense population numbers I am suprised from a business point of view that it still has all it's servers running and staff. (Not that we would know if they fired some people anyway) We may never know the full details as to why this has failed so bad, but we at least can see a few things for exactly what they are.
______________________________
I usually picture the Career builder commercial with the room full of monkeys and upside down sales chart when thinking about the SOE/SWG decision making process.....
SOE's John Blakely and Todd Fiala issued a warning: "Don't make our mistakes." Ref NGE
Winner of the worst MMOS goes to.... the NGE and SWG..!!! http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm?loadFeature=1034&bhcp=1
I don't think you can really use EvE as a secondary example... Eve has, from what I have heard, one of the best player retention rates in the mmorpg market and it continues to grow.. I do see where CCP played it smart with the advent of WoW, they did not revamp their game in an attempt to simplify it for the masses, it remains as complicated as ever and because of that not only do they gain disillusioned swg players they also gain players that got pulled into the mmorpg market by wow and are now looking for something more...
P.S. sorry for the run on sentence, writing has never been my strong point
.
Iskareot wrote: Demographs aside, EvE is no doubt a good game.. has a niche and will survive based on that alone. They have loved thier customer base, listened to them and worked with them in a professional manner.
How key is that? If I had never left SWG for a bit and seen the way other companies interact with their customers, I would have thought they are all hostile, defensive, non-communicative, ask-what-the-players-want-so-they-can-ignore-or-give-the-opposite...
But, even SOE's EQ people are from a far different customer service land. They truly seem to love the game and the customers are treated like, well friends and comrades. There is just a mutual respect there that you could only wish the SWG staff had. I dunno, its an eternal puzzler.
Agreed, until these people get out and see other games for what they are....then I think alot would stay in the "Abusive relationship" that SWG has made.
No doubt that SOE does have a different crowd with EQ as well, I have seen it myself... SWG has been on the defensive since the start almost, true.. but they had a chance about pub 3-5 I would say to make it right and get going down the right road. They chose the high road, they chose poorly. When they decided not to embrace the community and to REACT instead of ACT on issues and bugs things went wrong. Doing things in the name of balance was one issue, doing things in the name of complaints was another.
They did not embrase the community and now it shows... it really does. Look, you can only lie to or kick a person so many times before they kick back. Sooner or later this was going to happen I think with SWG. You cannot continue to shit on your playerbase and get away with it. What is left , is the people that will take more of the abuse and lies. They will trust, believe and actually think they are being heard. Some of us figured this out sooner. Some of us spoke with our wallets and not our whines all the time... in the end you can mark success with comments, income, word of mouth and common sense.
SWG failed with this each Major core change they made in the name of progress, they broke some cardinal rules in business ethics... shiting on your customer base in any business will reap havoc and cause or aid in the failure of your product... no matter what it is.
______________________________
I usually picture the Career builder commercial with the room full of monkeys and upside down sales chart when thinking about the SOE/SWG decision making process.....
SOE's John Blakely and Todd Fiala issued a warning: "Don't make our mistakes." Ref NGE
Winner of the worst MMOS goes to.... the NGE and SWG..!!! http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm?loadFeature=1034&bhcp=1
Wouldn't it be funny if Blizzard made a new game,not exactly WOW2,but made it how pre-cu was almost to a tee and it beat WOW's record?I never got to play pre-cu only cu but it sounds by what everyone has said about it that if it was completed(developmentwise)which Blizzard would do,it would of been the best.
Imagine SOE/LA after that one came in over the PA.LOL would be some house cleaning for sure
One thing that most people don't understand is that SWG and WoW are competitors only in that they are MMO's.
SWG is of a completely DIFFERENT genre (Sci-Fi) than WoW (fantasy) and their playerbases don't completely overlap.
World of Starcraft would allow Blizzard to go after the very underrepresented Sci-Fi genre. Sad to say, SWG is the most played Sci-fi based MMO in the world, even with it's diminished sub base.
That is why the pre-CU was so beloved, it's the PERFECT core concept for the sci-fi fan, we want open, complex, virtual world, etc. Not hack and slash.
SOE had the chance had they refined and added to the original core game adding MORE virtual world elements from Star Wars (such as atmospheric flight, capital ships and fighting on a huge scale in space) they could have blazed the trail for sci-fi MMO's.
Instead they've taken a sci-fi game and turned it into a mediocre only 1/4th finished ripoff of a hack and slash fantasy MMO.
Sci-fi fans, by and large, are far more hardcore than fantasy fans.