General Discussion

Before I begin, I should say I've played a lot of MMOs.  More than I can think of the names for.  And I've checked out this site for quite some time, and the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that they all hate SOE.  I've never really got into any game that Sony has produced, I've tried The Matrix, Star Wars: Galaxies, and Vanguard, but I lost interest fast and never experienced anything with Sony that could warrant this level of loathing.  But that's probably because I didn't continue to play any of their games for very long.

I was wondering, what exactly did Sony do to anger everyone?  Why is SOE the butt of every joke?

I'm definitely not defending the company, I just would like to be filled in on the infamy.

Check the SWG Veteran Refuge here - this question gets asked/answered every few days.

Originally posted by crunknasty

Before I begin, I should say I've played a lot of MMOs.  More than I can think of the names for.  And I've checked out this site for quite some time, and the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that they all hate SOE.  I've never really got into any game that Sony has produced, I've tried The Matrix, Star Wars: Galaxies, and Vanguard, but I lost interest fast and never experienced anything with Sony that could warrant this level of loathing.  But that's probably because I didn't continue to play any of their games for very long.

I was wondering, what exactly did Sony do to anger everyone?  Why is SOE the butt of every joke?

I'm definitely not defending the company, I just would like to be filled in on the infamy.

Ah, you feel the way I do... I missed your post Cuz I just posted basically the same thing.

Great minds...

Originally posted by crunknasty

Before I begin, I should say I've played a lot of MMOs.  More than I can think of the names for.  And I've checked out this site for quite some time, and the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that they all hate SOE.  I've never really got into any game that Sony has produced, I've tried The Matrix, Star Wars: Galaxies, and Vanguard, but I lost interest fast and never experienced anything with Sony that could warrant this level of loathing.  But that's probably because I didn't continue to play any of their games for very long.

I was wondering, what exactly did Sony do to anger everyone?  Why is SOE the butt of every joke?

I'm definitely not defending the company, I just would like to be filled in on the infamy.

I think it started when they took over Star Wars Galaxies. Aparently before SOE took over that game was pretty good but when SOE took over they turned it from what was aparently an unique and interesting game with some good ideas into it into a Sci-Fi near-clone of Everquest. Also i hear that before SOE becoming a Jedi was VERY hard but after SOE it was changed and pretty soon everyone and there dog was a Jedi as it was so easy to become one.

I never palyed Star Wars Galaxies so this is all second hand info.

Bronks, read your thread.  I do feel in a similar way as you do, yet I don't have any attachment to any of their games.  (I read you enjoy VG and EQ2).  Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Also, a bit off topic, it's nice to see a fellow Fallout fan.  Best series of games EVER.  Can't wait for Bethesda's take on the franchise.

For the SWG vets, it's the CU and NGE that cause the "hate".

I know some complained about EQ or EQ2, but I really don't recall all the information.

But yeh, the biggest issue is the NGE, which was an issue large enough to even show up on newspapers.

So if you want to know more, go to the SWG vet refuge here, or google it, you'll find what you want to know...

Originally posted by HYPERI0N

Originally posted by crunknasty

Before I begin, I should say I've played a lot of MMOs.  More than I can think of the names for.  And I've checked out this site for quite some time, and the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that they all hate SOE.  I've never really got into any game that Sony has produced, I've tried The Matrix, Star Wars: Galaxies, and Vanguard, but I lost interest fast and never experienced anything with Sony that could warrant this level of loathing.  But that's probably because I didn't continue to play any of their games for very long.

I was wondering, what exactly did Sony do to anger everyone?  Why is SOE the butt of every joke?

I'm definitely not defending the company, I just would like to be filled in on the infamy.

 

I think it started when they took over Star Wars Galaxies. Aparently before SOE took over that game was pretty good but when SOE took over they turned it from what was aparently an unique and interesting game with some good ideas into it into a Sci-Fi near-clone of Everquest. Also i hear that before SOE becoming a Jedi was VERY hard but after SOE it was changed and pretty soon everyone and there dog was a Jedi as it was so easy to become one.

 

I never palyed Star Wars Galaxies so this is all second hand info.

Actually SOE owned SWG (with licensing from Lucas Art), when they acquired Verant (sp?), the company that did EQ (I think this was the case, not really sure, you can search it on Wikipedia or google it...).

SOE promote Raph Koster (the guy behind the vision of SWG's sandbox game-play) up and somehow screwed up the whole vision behind the SWG (they focused on fixing what didn't really needed to be fixed rather than adding contents and fixing the important bugs...)

Then when WoW started to gain large number of subs, Lucas Arts and SOE got greedy, and since SOE (the developers) really have no vision and direction for SWG, they started to make it more and more like EQ/WoW - ish in the core system... (first comes the CU, then the NGE)...

I hate SOE because they ruined planetside, the first MMOFPS.

I didn't play SWG long enough to be effected by whatever...NGE and CU did. I never played EQI, and haven't played EQII all that much either. I did play Vanguard, but really not too much post-SOE acquisition. Basically, they've never done anything to piss me off.

I don't trust them as a MMO provider however, for the exact opposite reasons I also don't trust Microsoft. I don't trust SOE because they refuse to euthanize dying MMOs, and I don't trust Microsoft because they're serial abortionists of MMOs.

In contrast, there's companies like NCSoft I respect and see in the middle; given the renewed support of products such as City of Heroes, while doing the right thing when it came to burying projects like AutoAssault.
SOE's willingness to sell products no matter their lack of intentions to actually support it is my particular gripe. Others have been victimized by things such as NGE. No matter the reason for distrust, this also builds a greater problem, a whole host of constant negative stigma with little and infrequent praise. There's really no brand value in having "SOE" on a MMO box; in fact I believe it has the opposite effect of repelling would-be subscribers. It sure did keep me away from Pirates of the Burning Sea.

what's that avatar from HYPERION??