Star Wars Galaxies

Looking at the MMOCHARTS.com website, http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart2.html, the start of the decline of the number of subscriptions in SWG coincides with WoW's launch (until the second half of 2006, to which follows a period of stability for about a year). The biggest hit in the subscriptions occurs after the implementation of the CU (April 2005), when the games seems to lose more than 50K players, which is a number that seems to be able to maintain a game alive. Now, one of the most frequent demands by the vets is the implementation of a pre-CU/pre-NGE server.
Do you think most of those players would come back to play this preCU/NGE server? Would you guys, always present in the Vet. Refuge, come back to that game?

1. They won't do it.

2. If they did do it, they wouldn't do it well (this Dev team is by far the least talented and experienced on any "major" MMO).

3. WIth the same management in place (Smed) they'd eventually screw it up even if they managed to get it done.

I think they blew that window and it is now too late for them to actually save the game in any way. they have spent too much time generating bad viral marketing for the product.

I could be wrong of course, but I feel it is way too late.

Originally posted by salvaje

1. They won't do it.

2. If they did do it, they wouldn't do it well (this Dev team is by far the least talented and experienced on any "major" MMO).

3. WIth the same management in place (Smed) they'd eventually screw it up even if they managed to get it done.

 

 

I think I agree here , even if they wanted to they just dont have the tallent or skills anymore .

No, I would not come back.  Neither would 3 of my real-life friends that played SWG.  Nobody I know would resub.  Why?  That game is outdated and still flawed.  On top of that, you've lost all the devs that worked on that code, so chances of getting SWG-PreCU patched up is about zero.

Now if you wanted to ask hypothetically would I play an SWG game that was based off of pre-CU but balanced and patched and expanded upon by a creative and intelligent set of devs, well then I'd have to say yes, I would.

They will never do it!  But if they did .....I would give it a shot again even though most of the people I hung out with in those days are long gone.

I think we've done this post many times before.  But yeah, I'd go back and give it a shot.  Especially right now when there is a lull in the mmo scene.  Right now I'm bored with LOTRO, played most of the major mmo's out and AOC is over a month away I think.  So, I'd go back right now.

After AOC launches though, I'll be busy with that game.  Then War comes out and I'll be busy with that.  Then Chronicles of Spellborn.  Then the Expansion for LOTRO.  So...the window gets smaller and smaller and smaller for going back.

Originally posted by Fishermage

I think they blew that wondow and it is now too late for them to actually save the game in any way. they have spent too much time generating bad viral marketing for the product.

I could be wrong of course, but I feel it is way too late.

The NGE never was "saveable" because it was and remains the reason why people left/leave the game and why it has a horrible reputation.  They cannot and never could have saved the game by doing anything that left the NGE in any form as the core system, especially the "iconic" professions and combat system.

Classic servers or a rollback could have saved SWG at one time, but that window is long past.  At most, it would bump up subs some and extend the life of the game by a few months, but it wouldn't save it.

Would I go back?

In a heartbeat!

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Originally posted by salvaje

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Originally posted by Fishermage

I think they blew that wondow and it is now too late for them to actually save the game in any way. they have spent too much time generating bad viral marketing for the product.
I could be wrong of course, but I feel it is way too late.

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The NGE never was "saveable" because it was and remains the reason why people left/leave the game and why it has a horrible reputation.  They cannot and never could have saved the game by doing anything that left the NGE in any form as the core system, especially the "iconic" professions and combat system.
Classic servers or a rollback could have saved SWG at one time, but that window is long past.  At most, it would bump up subs some and extend the life of the game by a few months, but it wouldn't save it.
 

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I agree, but they could have mitigated damage if they had immediately brought back ALL the professions vis expertise, reversed themselves on the UI, fixed the targetting system, slowed combat down, and made crafted better than looted at all levels.

That plus a year of free play while they were fixing what they had broken MIGHT have helped.

Probably would have been cheaper to open classic servers, develop both games, and let the best game win,. but hey, they didnt do any of those things anyway, so they lose.

Yeah, the "stick with the NGE, cut the Dev team down to a bunch of noobs, and hope that someday we hit a "magic bullet" publish that brings everyone back plan was the worst possible decision to make.

Which, of course, made it most appealing to the morons who manage SOE.

The one thing they could have done and HAD to do to get themselves out of the hole they'd dug was do something about the NGE itself, which was and is the ROOT cause of the anger and lost subs, is what they've steadfastly refused to even discuss.  Th