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What is the history with SWG
dezso
Member UncommonPosts: 19
I read lots of posts that alude to SWG being superb prior to CU. What is CU and what happened to this game? It would appear that the devs did something that upset alot of people. Would love to know what happened.
Comments
I wrote this awhile back. It should help a little.
Customer vs. Corporation
NGE Refugee.
Well thats gay. I guess I'll just post it again.
by Nicholas Wynne
With
the advent of the massive multiplayer online role-playing game, or
MMORPG, a crossroads has been reached in regards to relations between
the developing company and the customer. Specifically, the controversy
centers around the companies Sony Online Entertainment and Lucasarts,
and their online world of “Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided.” In
the fabled saga of the “Star Wars” Universe, there exists an evil
Empire bent on oppressing the free denizens of the galaxy through the
means of cruelty, totalitarianism, and sheer force. The only people
standing in their way are the Rebellion, a small group of intrepid
freedom fighters who battle on against seemingly insurmountable odds.
When Sony Online Entertainment, “a recognized worldwide leader in MMO
games,” purchased a smaller company, Verant, it also acquired the
project to bring this saga to life in the form of SWG (Business 2).
Originally launched with great promise, though lacking in many of the
features that were advertised for launch, SWG held the title of the
fastest growing MMORPG to date. Then, rival company Blizzard released
World of Warcraft, which quickly rocketed to five million
subscriptions. That, coupled with the added pressure of gradually
declining subscriptions, other competing games, and severe problems
with the in-game mechanics led to both companies feeling pressed for
success. SOE/LA decided to revamp SWG, first through the Combat Upgrade
(CU), then through the New Game Enhancements (NGE). SOE/LA specifically
misled their online community throughout the launch, Combat Upgrade,
and New Game Enhancements to Star Wars Galaxies, leading to a breach of
contract between the customer and the corporation.
One of the
major problems with SWG since its inception has been that it was
released early, when it was not ready. Initially, customers were
promised space travel, battlefields, player vehicles, and player
cities, amongst other things. It is important to note that SOE/LA did
not deliver these things as promised when the game was launched, and
even charged customers to pay for an expansion for space travel, when
it was promised as a feature at the outset. When SWG went live, it
included only the battlefields, which were disabled shortly thereafter
due to technical problems, and were never reactivated again. Other
aspects like space travel were added later in SWG’s first year. Another
blatant lie to customers was that they would be able to begin the path
to becoming a Jedi Knight, the fabled protectors of the galaxy, at
launch. Jedi in the game were an Alpha-class character, meaning that
they were superior to other characters in their skills. Balance was
achieved by making the path to the class secret, making it extremely
difficult to become. However, after months of people searching for the
path to become a Jedi, SOE/LA announced that they had not included Jedi
in the original launch and were doing so in the next scheduled publish.
SOE/LA left out an important advertised feature and misled their
customers into thinking that it did exist. Also, a monthly story arc
that promised customer’s participation in the fate of the galaxy was
also advertised as one of the game’s features, and it did indeed run
for several months. But, SOE/LA decided to suspend the story arc, and
have not reinstituted it since.
Despite all these issues, Star
Wars Galaxies was initially a success, and attracted large amounts of
customers to its’ unique style of gameplay, coupled with the experience
of being part of the Star Wars saga. Business Wire wrote that “Star
Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided quickly became the fastest growing
MMORPG in North America” (Business 1). The players of the game were
especially devoted to it, defending it against it’s early critics. The
initial success of SWG was due largely in part to three things. The
first was that the game was extremely unique and complicated in its
mechanics. Seth Schiesel of the New York Times wrote that “Previously
[before the subsequent changes], the game was unabashedly complicated,
appealing to mature, reflex-challenged gamers with its strategic combat
style and deep skill system” (Schiesel 1). No other game had ever
presented such a broad skill system. It allowed players to customize
the professions of their characters to an extent that made sure that
everyone was an individual with different qualities that allowed them
to excel in their area of choice. In addition, the number of playable
professions, which was thirty two at launch, gave players free reign to
choose what they wanted to be. The second reason for SWG’s initial
success was its community. SWG attracted players that were mature and
desired a challenging, entertaining experience. This led to people
bonding together to mutually accomplish their goals, forging a strong
community that was unequaled in the history of MMORPGs. The third and
final reason for its initial success was that it was Star Wars. While
this is somewhat of an obvious point, many players would play any game
regardless of the quality as long as it allowed them to take part in
the adventure that is the Star Wars universe.
As the game
developed, there were some underlying problems that were leading it to
decay. Parts of SWG were “fundamentally flawed,” and the constant
maintenance and updates needed to balance it out were taking their toll
on SOE’s resources and fan’s patience (Adams 1). Problems with the
balance of combat in the game led SOE/LA to begin development of the
Combat Upgrade, or CU. The original intent of the CU was to balance,
not change. It is important to note that SOE/LA once again did not
deliver what they promised the customers, changing the nature of the
Combat Upgrade as they saw fit with little to no feedback from the
customer. SOE/LA saw an opportunity to use the customers desire for
something new to sneak in other features that they thought would help
improve the game. This reflects the “extremely weak lines of
communication that developers and players had,” leading to updates that
often were the exact opposite of what the players want or what the game
needed (Adams 2). In contrast, upper management at SOE/LA stated that
“A lot of positive changes have taken effect since Star Wars Galaxies
first launched,” showing that the discontent of the customers with the
changes were not reaching high enough into the corporate infrastructure
(Lucasarts 1).When it was released, the CU changed combat almost
completely, as well as affecting aspects of the Galactic Civil War
(GCW), crafting, and the Jedi Village. All were important gameplay
mechanics that instead of being fixed were broken even further by this
first attempt to change the game in midstream.
The final aspect
of the game that led to its destruction was that even after the CU,
which was meant to curb subscriber loss, the game continued to slowly
lose subscribers at a percentage that was larger than normal. Why?
Changes from the CU had not reached the desired effect, and had indeed
made things worse, which led customers to hit the cancellation button.
Those customers were migrating to other MMORPGs. Upper management at
SOE/LA made the decision that more drastic measures needed to be taken.
In Gamespot’s interview with John Smedley, he said that “Right now
World of Warcraft is certainly owning a lot of online play” (Feldman
8). He was later asked why the decision was made to change the game,
and he responded that “we always felt like we had under delivered on
the Star Wars experience” (Feldman 1). In their effort to save SWG,
they instead ending up destroying it.
The ultimate result of
the clandestine meetings between SOE and LA’s upper management led to
the release of the NGE, which stands for New Game Enhancements. In
essence, the NGE changed the game that customers had paid to play for
more than two years, and did so by giving them only several days
notice. The NGE came to exemplify the point that SOE/LA did not care
what they had promised, and instead worked only in terms of future
development, not for the current customers. Dallas Dickinson, an SOE
producer, said that “it felt like a better idea for us to break with
the past and develop the game it should have been to begin with” (Adams
2). John Blakely, the Vice-President of Development at SOE, said that
“It was a tough decision we had to make” (Musgrove 2). In retrospect,
it also turned out to be the wrong one. Computer Gaming World wrote
this of the ineptitude of the management: “SOE tossed everything
(including the good parts) into the garbage chute, wholly replacing it
with a dreadful set of new game enhancements that actually make things
much, much worse” (Davis 1). Dan Adams of IGN.com wrote that “The
answer from SOE and Lucasarts is a sweeping change to the core gameplay
elements of Star War Galaxies” (Adams 1). The skill-based system of
professions was totally replaced with a set of nine iconic professions.
Old professions were combined into these new ones, and some were
eliminated completely. SOE officials justified this by saying “The only
other profession [besides Bio-Engineer] we didn’t absorb into one of
these iconic templates is the creature handler, and only 1% of our
players play that character type” (Adams 3). While this could be true,
they still have essentially eliminated months of work for that 1% of
players. Computer Gaming World’s review of the changes stated “Veteran
players will also feel cheated by the bland class selection, which
replaces SWG’s deep and versatile skill system” (Davis 1). The games
interface was completely changed, as was the combat system. Instead of
a complicated turn based system of combat, a pseudo FPS, or first
person shooter system was introduced. Also, the removal of item decay
coupled with the increase in quality and quantity of loot drops
destroyed the player-based economy and left those players who pursued
crafting professions to be nothing more than a novelty, as opposed to
the integral part of the game that they previously were. Even the
entertainers, who were one of the most popular professions, were so
changed, or nerfed, that they served no purpose any longer. CGW summed
it up quite ably when it said “the game’s devoted fans…find themselves
spurned by the developer’s hope that a dumbed-down gaming experience
will appeal to wider audiences” (Davis 1).
The reaction of the
customers to this bait-and-switch has become something of a legend in
the ferocity in which they displayed their new opinion of SOE/LA.
Directly after the announcement was made, many players were banned from
the official SWG forums for protesting the NGE, or questioning the
business ethics behind it. Instead of using this single line of
communication to gauge the opinion of the players, and form a suitable
plan for future development, the forum moderators crushed any protests
and removed those who even mentioned any criticism of the NGE. Instead
of containing the anger, the move spread it to other online
destinations devoted to gaming. “On Gamespot.com, 50% of players rating
the new version of the game have rated it as abysmal,” signaling to the
potential players that the NGE was meant to attract that this new
version is not worth playing (Schiesel 2). Another destination for many
fans of MMORPGs is MMORPG.com, and even though the game is rated around
a 7 on a 10 point scale, the content of the reviews from the players
are sometimes so explicit in their dissatisfaction that they are not
fit to print. The New York Times reported that former players “are
swapping tales on “refugee” Web sites like Imperial Crackdown”
(Schiesel 1).
An extremely important and more direct measure of
customer satisfaction, the subscription base, or number of people
currently paying for the game, was the primary reason for the changes.
Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post said of his interview with SOE
that “Blakely said that the changes have already won over a fresh
supply of players, though longtime observers of the game say they see a
lot less traffic on the game’s servers.” (Musgrove 3). Rumors abound
about the game’s population tanking from around 200,000 players to
somewhere south of 50,000 players. The New York Times wrote that “many
Galaxies players are canceling their accounts and migrating to other
online games” (Schiesel 1). SOE/LA has publicly admitted that they
expected to lose some veterans. The game’s senior director at
Lucasarts, Nancy MacIntyre said that “We knew we were taking a
significant risk with our existing player base” (Schiesel 2). However,
this amount of cancellations should have shocked them to their core.
MacIntrye went on to say that “[I] expect the game to return to its
previous subscriber levels in the next six months” (Schiesel 2). If
this had been the case, SOE/LA should have been touting their
subscriber numbers monthly after the NGE, to show upward growth. Since
then however, SOE/LA has refused to admit the current server
populations, and made the statement that “SOE does not and has never
released server populations.” This is in direct conflict with the
numerous statements made by SOE/LA employees that SWG had upwards of
500,000 players in its heyday only a year or so ago.
MMORPG.com
stated in their review of the current state of the game that “the
changes that were made were too little, too late” (MMORPG 2). John
Smedley, the game’s producer, said that “with the changes we’re making
with Galaxies, I think we’re headed in the right direction” (Feldman
2). However, regardless of the merit of the changes brought on by the
NGE is the manner in which it was delivered, clandestinely and with
total disregard for the same players that had supported the game up
until that point. This only goes to prove once again that during SWG’s
history, SOE/LA have a track record of not delivering what they promise
to the customers. Whether that is through technological incompetence,
like bugs that prevented armorsmiths from making factory runs of the
correct color armor for months, or blatant lies, such as the path to
Jedi at launch and the months of secret development of the NGE, they
have broken the contract between the customer and the corporation. In
the agreement that customers sign to play the game, there is a clause
that states that the game is subject to change. However, it is doubtful
that customers knew the extent of the corporate lies and money-grabbing
schemes that would be protected by this clause. In addition, this EULA,
or End User License Agreement, of a game has never been tested in a
court of law, which leads to the speculation of whether or not SOE/LA’s
conduct can be challenged in that venue. Only time will tell. But
whether or not that is needed to prove to other customers to stay away
is doubtful, since the disenfranchised fans that were alienated by the
mistreatment they faced have spread the word to every corner of the
digital world that no matter what promise Sony Online Entertainment and
Lucasarts make, you can expect it to be broken.
Adams,
Dan. “And the galaxy was changed for all time…” Star Wars Galaxies.
IGN.com 4 November 2005. 8 February 2005.
www.pc.ign.com/articles/664/664704pl.html
Schiesel, Seth. “For online Star Wars Game, It’s Revenge of the Fans.” The New York Times. 10 December 2005
“Lucasarts
announces new Star Wars Galaxies expansion pack as franchise unit sales
surpass one million.” Lucasarts.com 19 August 2005. 8 February 2005.
www.lucasarts.com/press/releases/104.html
“Lucasarts celebrates Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided One Year Anniversary.” Business Wire. 28 June, 2004.
Feldman,
Curt. “Q&A: SOE’s John Smedley on Galaxies’ outer limits.”
Gamespot.com 15 December 2005. 8 February 2006
www.gamespot.com/news/6141213.html
Feldman, Curt. “Q&A: SOE’s
John Smedley on the kinder, gentler Galaxies.” Gamspot.com 9 December
2005. 8 February 2006 www.gamespot.com/news/6140991.html
Musgrove, Mike. “Sadness in “Star Wars” World.” The Washington Post. 2 February 2006. D01.
“Star Wars Galaxies.” Computer Gaming World. 9 February 2006.
Hinman, Rob. “SWG: New Game Experience Review.” MMORPG.com 23 November 2005. 8 February 2006 www.mmorpg.com
NGE Refugee.
What I would like to know is, how come it looks like Saga of Ryzom was built on top of the SWG engine; same fonts, windowing, character models and editor, crafting and so on... small details that pop up all the time that scream SWG, even the graphics are similar (although, admittedly they don't lag, like they used to do in SWG). Sure, none of these things are entirely similar between the two games, but one would have to be blind not to see the obvious similarities.
wow that was a long article and made interesting reading. SOE are arrogant if they think they can treat there subscriber base like this and they deserve to get what they had coming.
The CU in EQ2 pissed lots of people off but it was nothing on this scale, however they screwed many professions with the last expansion as crafted armour was made obsolete as drops were far better so it would appear that SOE love to piss off the people who fund them!
go to the wikipedia and look it up, it will give you more information than you'll prolly want to know.
Defiant
CU: They randomly changed the combat system, completely nerfing all of the soloable classes and rendering some classes completely useless.
NGE: They made the game psuedo-mmofps where your mouse cursor picks the target and you need to hold left mouse button. They removed creature handler completely and reduced the game to a level grind with 9 generic classes which you can change between at any point (whilst maintaining your level). All inter-dependant classes are now useless as people can cert them for a day and then cert back.
All this was based on a little too much complaining and SOEs jealousy of WoW.
--
Note: PlayNC will refuse to allow you access to your account if you forget your password and can't provide a scanned image of the product key for the first product you purchased..... LOL