Star Wars Galaxies

Originally posted by Eden2008

I have read the posts and to miss SWG  to answer the last poster to this list.  Its more of you have to be in to star Wars and such and some people didn't like that game thats normal we all like that.  On the number of people playing i agree there should of been more.

And thats really what i'm asking..why didnt the game live up to its expectations?

Originally posted by fozzie22

In the interest of balance i ask this

 

Why hasnt/didnt SWG get the mythical WOW sub numbers?

 

This isnt a troll post either but c'mon lets have a little discussion on why if as you all claim koster and co where so far ahead of the game did the game go tits up?

 

And lets not have an SOE bashing here,we all know what they're like so i ask again why didnt the game hit the number it should have? (and i'll say it again it should still be the number 1 MMO on the market even now)

The way you are asking this question reminds me a lot of SOE's post-NGE summits with the players: "Aside from dumping the new crap that you hate (which we will never do), what can we do to make you like the game more?" Sorry, but you really can't have a discussion of why SWG consistently underperformed relative to its target numbers without a ton of SOE bashing.

Bottom line...

It's the best game I have ever played (pre-CU). It was a game that allowed me to do anything. I could become anyone and go anywhere without restriction. This is a game that had such incredible depth and complexity. You could live your own story in this game. I have never seen a better game since, and I fear I never will again. 

Yes! I know they were ahead of thier time. Everything I see now is just dumbed down bullshit. A chimp could master the current SWG. I only hope that the next Star Wars mmorpg will have even half of the old games elements. A true sandbox game with no classes...no limits!

Originally posted by fozzie22

In the interest of balance i ask this

 

Why hasnt/didnt SWG get the mythical WOW sub numbers?

 

This isnt a troll post either but c'mon lets have a little discussion on why if as you all claim koster and co where so far ahead of the game did the game go tits up?

 

And lets not have an SOE bashing here,we all know what they're like so i ask again why didnt the game hit the number it should have? (and i'll say it again it should still be the number 1 MMO on the market even now)

This thread states the main reason. SWG was ahead of its time. The sandbox requires people to make their own content and many players were not up to this for whatever reason. WoW delivered the directed content people were looking for and got the numbers. Eve also released at the same time as a sandbox pvp game and achieved the same level of interest.

SWG was also missing the tools needed to help players make content. For the sandbox to work, players need to be able to do a bit of moding to create content. Storylines, festivals, pvp events all need to have objects to truely make it fun and interesting. There was no way to do this within the game.

Finally...the quality of the game was bad. Bugs lingered for months and in some cases years. Each release injected new bugs or brought back old bugs. Things like mobs teleporting to your location if they lost pathing to you :/

To be completely honest, I doubt if any sandbox game will ever bring WoW numbers. Its just never going to garner that amount of mass interest. What a sandbox game does do though, is give you a loyal playerbase that will hang around for a very long time if you treat them right. Just look around at the refuge here and see what kind of community it made and how its still sticking together even after the game is gone.

Just for the record; The game didn't go tits up under Koster. It went tits up after Koster was 'promoted' and the new group took over. This group were the ones who eventually brought us the NGE and very crappy customer relations.

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Originally posted by fozzie22

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Originally posted by Eden2008

I have read the posts and to miss SWG  to answer the last poster to this list.  Its more of you have to be in to star Wars and such and some people didn't like that game thats normal we all like that.  On the number of people playing i agree there should of been more.

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I played the old girl far too much back in the day (as most people here did ) but there must have been something in the game that did'nt attract the "mainstream" of gamers that flooded into the genre with the coming of WOW.
 
And thats really what i'm asking..why didnt the game live up to its expectations?

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because Smedley and Company mismanaged it into the ground. They continually made promises they never kept, never fixed what was wrong, and never added the "toys" that the "sandbox with toys" was supposed to have.

That made people who were originally very enthusiastic for the game grow to be disillusioned. Slow atrophy set in, and when WoW came on the scene, many more left.

Then, to cover up his own failure, Smedley blamed Koster for his design, and we got the CU. That failed, which led to his second blame-shift, WoW. They attempted to copy WoW with the NGE, but tried to do so on the cheap, and in too short a time; the unethical nature of the act (using current subscribers money to pay for the destruction of their game) combined with doing such a shabby job of it led to a massive hemmorage of customers.

Now, over two years later, they are almost DONE with what they should have had finished by November 15, if they were going to do a thing like the NGE, and it has failed miserably.

Now, I know I have explained this in many threads you have posted in before (perhaps in this thread even, I forget since I have explained it so many times), and others have as well; so I wonder, why ask this question, which has been answered many times and in many similar ways, again?

Either way, there's your answer once again. Pretty simple really, if you remember the course of the game's history.

To sum up and repeat:

Star Wars Galaxies was delivered as a broken sandbox, with the sand spilling out. It was meant to be a sandbox with toys. The toys never arrived.

Smedley needed to cover up for that failure. He did so by shifting blame, first to Koster, then to WoW, and now, to the hidden Cabal of angry customers. He's a gamer of a sort, and that is the game he plays, which sadly, he plays fairly well.

Originally posted by Fishermage

 

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because Smedley and Company mismanaged it into the ground. They continually made promises they never kept, never fixed what was wrong, and never added the "toys" that the "sandbox with toys" was supposed to have.

That made people who were originally very enthusiastic for the game grow to be disillusioned. Slow atrophy set in, and when WoW came on the scene, many more left.

Then, to cover up his own failure, Smedley blamed Koster for his design, and we got the CU. That failed, which led to his second blame-shift, WoW. They attempted to copy WoW with the NGE, but tried to do so on the cheap, and in too short a time; the unethical nature of the act (using current subscribers money to pay for the destruction of their game) combined with doing such a shabby job of it led to a massive hemmorage of customers.

Now, over two years later, they are almost DONE with what they should have had finished by November 15, if they were going to do a thing like the NGE, and it has failed miserably.

Now, I know I have explained this in many threads you have posted in before (perhaps in this thread even, I forget since I have explained it so many times), and others have as well; so I wonder, why ask this question, which has been answered many times and in many similar ways, again?

Either way, there's your answer once again. Pretty simple really, if you remember the course of the game's history.

To sum up and repeat:

Star Wars Galaxies was delivered as a broken sandbox, with the sand spilling out. It was meant to be a sandbox with toys. The toys never arrived.

Smedley needed to cover up for that failure. He did so by shifting blame, first to Koster, then to WoW, and now, to the hidden Cabal of angry customers. He's a gamer of a sort, and that is the game he plays, which sadly, he plays fairly well.

But here we are almost 3 years on and whats changed? nothing much tbh..guessed at sub numbers,a very broken game (still) and the little red headed man still in charge of SOE..nor do i see sony filing for bankrupcy becuase of the angry vets so everything is as it was back the day the NGE hit

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Originally posted by fozzie22

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Originally posted by Fishermage

 

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because Smedley and Company mismanaged it into the ground. They continually made promises they never kept, never fixed what was wrong, and never added the "toys" that the "sandbox with toys" was supposed to have.
That made people who were originally very enthusiastic for the game grow to be disillusioned. Slow atrophy set in, and when WoW came on the scene, many more left.
Then, to cover up his own failure, Smedley blamed Koster for his design, and we got the CU. That failed, which led to his second blame-shift, WoW. They attempted to copy WoW with the NGE, but tried to do so on the cheap, and in too short a time; the unethical nature of the act (using current subscribers money to pay for the destruction of their game) combined with doing such a shabby job of it led to a massive hemmorage of customers.
Now, over two years later, they are almost DONE with what they should have had finished by November 15, if they were going to do a thing like the NGE, and it has failed miserably.
Now, I know I have explained this in many threads you have posted in before (perhaps in this thread even, I forget since I have explained it so many times), and others have as well; so I wonder, why ask this question, which has been answered many times and in many similar ways, again?
Either way, there's your answer once again. Pretty simple really, if you remember the course of the game's history.
To sum up and repeat:
Star Wars Galaxies was delivered as a broken sandbox, with the sand spilling out. It was meant to be a sandbox with toys. The toys never arrived.
Smedley needed to cover up for that failure. He did so by shifting blame, first to Koster, then to WoW, and now, to the hidden Cabal of angry customers. He's a gamer of a sort, and that is the game he plays, which sadly, he plays fairly well.

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I simply ask the question again Fishermage becuase all this forum does is go round in circles,the same old bring back pre-cu/nge sucks threads and of course a good bit of SOE bashing (not that its not hard to do the last one i grant you).
 
But here we are almost 3 years on and whats changed? nothing much tbh..guessed at sub numbers,a very broken game (still) and the little red headed man still in charge of SOE..nor do i see sony filing for bankrupcy becuase of the angry vets so everything is as it was back the day the NGE hit

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That being said. SOE hasn't had a success SINCE the NGE, and I feel that is quite telling. Everything they have touched has bombed.

I just find it sad thats all,sad that the game we all loved is gone and wont come back

And given the fact SOE hasnt released an MMO since the NGE  the point you make is moot granted they've presided over the turkeys of POBS and VG but the defence there is they didnt make them

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Originally posted by fozzie22
I just find it sad thats all,sad that the game we all loved is gone and wont come back
 
And given the fact SOE hasnt released an MMO since the NGE  the point you make is moot granted they've presided over the turkeys of POBS and VG but the defence there is they didnt make them

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So what? everything they touch turns to crap; BOTH games were not helped by their relationship with SOE; none of their games are growing, they are losing market share -- nothing they have done has been successful. Spin that any way you want, it's a failure.