Originally posted by BadgerSmaker

Originally posted by Nebless

I can say that as of last night on Kett server>Tat>Mos Eisley I saw 6 to 8 players between the spaceport and cantina between 7 and 8 pm (PST).

 

Try that same test on Starsider.

You are bragging because all of the players from the dead servers have transferred to the more populated ones...

WHERE ARE THE NEW PLAYERS?  SWG will NEVER grow until the game is good enough to retain new players.  Even with the Station Pass SWG can't accomplish that...

So instead of going to every internet site and posting that SWG is booming and the populations are high, consider that it is the SAME players as last week, they are just consolidated on new servers.

SWG can't keep new players hence the populations keep declining over time.

Originally posted by Nebless

Hey all I have a question.  Gutboy's "new quality artwork" comment got me thinking.  Is the artwork / graphic's really THAT much better or is it just that we all have better quality computers now than we did back in '03 when SWG came out?  Or a combo of the 2?

There have been a number of improvements to graphical quality of the game over the years, in particular the character models were improved to make them more detailed, especially facially.

Obviously as new more powerful hardware is available, support for this has also been added, so yes a combination of the two factors should result in you seeing a higher quality of graphics than in previous years.

Originally posted by Thunderous

Originally posted by BadgerSmaker

Originally posted by Nebless

I can say that as of last night on Kett server>Tat>Mos Eisley I saw 6 to 8 players between the spaceport and cantina between 7 and 8 pm (PST).

 

Try that same test on Starsider.

 

You are bragging because all of the players from the dead servers have transferred to the more populated ones...

WHERE ARE THE NEW PLAYERS?  SWG will NEVER grow until the game is good enough to retain new players.  Even with the Station Pass SWG can't accomplish that...

So instead of going to every internet site and posting that SWG is booming and the populations are high, consider that it is the SAME players as last week, they are just consolidated on new servers.

SWG can't keep new players hence the populations keep declining over time.

Too true, but from logging in last night and this morning on Starsider it was a VERY pleasant surprise to see lot's of players in Bestine (looks like that's the main server transfer in point).  Reminded me of the old days when you always had players around.  Heck I even had some lag since I was on the kid's play computer!
 

I say keep dumping servers down to 1 and then when they finally lose all the players they'll know to shut up shop! LOL!

You know there are some really good space games out there, some really good Sci-Fi ground games out there and some really good social games out there and yes they beat the snot out of SWG cuz they're newer, more powerful or just better.  But I'm trying to think of any other games that have that combo in fairly equal parts like SWG.  It may not particularly shine in any of the area's, but it does give you 1 game where you can do them all.  For that fact alone you got to give it some good marks for coming out back in '03.

OK, after about 6 hrs of play time (or atleast running around time) I can give my initial impressions.

Yes there are a lot of players now and judging from the 'born on', 'refugee from' and 'fugitive from' titles they're all from the closing servers.

Count on a good hour of re-setup time after the move / game return as they have changed everything, so it was dig into the options time to put all but into it's place.

Bugs; yes they are still there, only different   Both my wife and youngest crashed the game, my boy and wife while running and then she did it again 4 more times just being in Mos Eisley cantina.  We have the graphics turned way down on their computer.  I managed to kill my computer once just standing still on my party barge and opening up the new appearance window and mines a last years pretty high end model.  Also there seems to be something wrong with clearing the target window, esc and click on nothing don't always work and you can forget about clicking on 1 thing and then trying to click on something new without manually clearing it first.  Starting combat doesn't always seem to work either, nothing like standing next to a red dot and not being able to swing at it.  And to top it off I seem to have lost my level 90's pilot skill.  The profession wheel just isn't there anymore.  Tried to join with a new trainer and they wouldn't even talk to me.  Don't understand that one.  Guess there's a reason why the initial log in message starts with 'We are experiencing a higher than usual number of support tickets......'

Since I'm a 90 and only dropped a year ago I've done all the solo stuff so I'm at a loss on the what now factor.  Did spend about 15min getting the rattletrap ITV collection, that wasn't much of a task but I like the look of the little ship.  Now what do I do with the other 29 days of my free trial?

Their new appearance thing.  This is one of those good/bad things.  I like how they're trying to add some visual variety by allowing you to wear clothes over your armor since everyone pretty much had the same stuff, but since it seems no one is making clothes all there is is the same looted stuff everyone else has.  That whole kill the merchants by allowing all the loot drop clothes and weapons has really emptied the bazzar terminals.

I don't know, my middle boy has his toon playing sax with his holo bandmates in his house, my youngest (10yrs old) is probably having the most fun shooting tipper thugs in Moenia.  At this point I'm just not seeing it.

Originally posted by vet-in-exile

Originally posted by saay

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

Originally posted by Gutboy

As a current player I can tell you the battle for echo base (Hoth) is a blast. And it's all new artwork as well (what was that poster smoking?). If you have not been in game for a while you will find tons of new content to keep you busy. Currently Lifeday is going on with great gifts, a new speeder quest and more.

In answer to your vet trial question there will most likely be a trial coming up shortly because of the free server transfer that starts on January 13th to March 31st.

Why does the current playerbase have such low quality control :(

Go play WoW with it's amazing hand crafted feeling new content where everything has sooo much detail put into it.

Then play SWG where Hoth its Tatooine with a white texture, where the walker things are the same models that were in before and just pasted over and over again with other vehicles. The base interior uses mostly art thats been int he game and no detail has gone into it what so ever.

 

It's just shameful at the low quality of the content added to SWG.

 

WoW detailed? lol it looks like a cell shaded cartoon - guess it keeps some entertained. I'd rather not have content that looks like it was designed by a 5 year old in about 10 minutes.

The base interior uses virtually all new art, and there is quite alot of detail, maybe you went to the wrong place :|

Yeah because the ridiculous particle effects and methed out combat animations are so professionally done in the NGE...

I really don't think SWG fanbois should be calling out other games on their artwork.

cause the Pre-CU animations were so awesome amirite?  Sorry but the best animations were the entertainer dances, and those are still in the game, no other class had any notably good animations save for maybe jedi, and they have put some of the better ones back into the game...This isn't really even a knock on the game though, as most people played ranged classes to begin with and there isn't much that you can do for animations in that realm...the swordsman/fencer/polearm animations were all completely broken though, the only melee class that had half way decent animations were the teras kasi ones.

A lot of the old jedi animations have been put back into the game, btw.

Originally posted by Draenor

cause the Pre-CU animations were so awesome amirite? 

Compared to how ridiculous the game looks now the pre-cu animations were awesome.

Originally posted by Nebless

OK, after about 6 hrs of play time (or atleast running around time) I can give my initial impressions.

Yes there are a lot of players now and judging from the 'born on', 'refugee from' and 'fugitive from' titles they're all from the closing servers.

Count on a good hour of re-setup time after the move / game return as they have changed everything, so it was dig into the options time to put all but into it's place.

Bugs; yes they are still there, only different   Both my wife and youngest crashed the game, my boy and wife while running and then she did it again 4 more times just being in Mos Eisley cantina.  We have the graphics turned way down on their computer.  I managed to kill my computer once just standing still on my party barge and opening up the new appearance window and mines a last years pretty high end model.  Also there seems to be something wrong with clearing the target window, esc and click on nothing don't always work and you can forget about clicking on 1 thing and then trying to click on something new without manually clearing it first.  Starting combat doesn't always seem to work either, nothing like standing next to a red dot and not being able to swing at it.  And to top it off I seem to have lost my level 90's pilot skill.  The profession wheel just isn't there anymore.  Tried to join with a new trainer and they wouldn't even talk to me.  Don't understand that one.  Guess there's a reason why the initial log in message starts with 'We are experiencing a higher than usual number of support tickets......'

Since I'm a 90 and only dropped a year ago I've done all the solo stuff so I'm at a loss on the what now factor.  Did spend about 15min getting the rattletrap ITV collection, that wasn't much of a task but I like the look of the little ship.  Now what do I do with the other 29 days of my free trial?

Their new appearance thing.  This is one of those good/bad things.  I like how they're trying to add some visual variety by allowing you to wear clothes over your armor since everyone pretty much had the same stuff, but since it seems no one is making clothes all there is is the same looted stuff everyone else has.  That whole kill the merchants by allowing all the loot drop clothes and weapons has really emptied the bazzar terminals.

I don't know, my middle boy has his toon playing sax with his holo bandmates in his house, my youngest (10yrs old) is probably having the most fun shooting tipper thugs in Moenia.  At this point I'm just not seeing it.

I  can agree with a lot of this, except for the thing about the bazzar terminals...maybe I just didn't use them often enough, but I never found them to be of any particular use...the best stuff was ALWAYS put on individual crafters' merchants.

Originally posted by pdxgeek

Originally posted by Draenor

cause the Pre-CU animations were so awesome amirite? 

Compared to how ridiculous the game looks now the pre-cu animations were awesome.

we must have been playing a different game, please see the rest of my post..."awesome" doesn't really cover the fact that all of the melee class animations were effectively broken with the exception of teras kasi.

OK, a weekend of play time is over and here it goes:

Since this fits into my experience I'll cover Draenor's comment concerning the bazzar terminals.  Yes all the best stuff is usually found at the vendor's but all I wanted was a simple faux Imp uniform; grey jacket, pants and gloves.  Ended up finding it all for 5000 but I had to go to 2 different planets and 3 locations, not to mention the 1 vendor had his stuff broken up by color and grey wasn't one of the choices  Now this isn't a game fault, but a merchant one in that they are the one's that decide where to sell things at.  Atleast SOE has beefed up the bazaar terminals so you can see the individual vendor sites and know what's in stock, color etc.... not like before when it was a guess.  I'll grade this one at a C since I shouldn't have to drive all over, but atleast I knew the stuff would be there.

Combat:  I have got to turn off the partical effects.  Those are the most annoying things I've ever seen.  Green bubbles, glowing red swords and I don't even know what the toon outside the starport was doing, all I could make out was some kind of fountain of text starting at his feet and going into the sky

My click to fight problem seems to have cleaned itself up, which was nice.  Tab to next target doesn't seem to be working right though.  Get's the first enemy but not the 2nd.  Have to manually do it, pain in a melee.

My space problem:  Got a trouble ticket in, we'll see if there's any movement prior to the free period running out.  Just to check I killed my base pilot skill on my alt (only had it for planet to planet travel) and went to see if I could join with the NPC's that blew off my main.  1st - I still had my privateer starter ship and could still use it to travel in  Haven't tried to actually fly it though.  Went to the Imp pilot NPC and he signed me right up so it's a problem with just my main toon.  Strange.

I don't like how the re-playibility factor isn't there. All the professions and factions run the exact same legacy quest and to be frank about it the majority of the quest storyline writting sucks.  You can tell all the spots where the writer got tired and just said screw it - Plot: Kill X, Kill more X, Kill even more X.  There are a few good spots but after doing it once you never want to run it again.  Atleast the space side has 9 different storylines (3 for each) but that's all carryover from pre-NGE.

Would I rather have skill points instead of the 9 iconic classes?  Yes.  Can I make due with just 9 choices (even though to be truthful of the 9 only a few are really good for solo play) ?  Again, yes.  Might not like it as much but still yes.

What I like.  I do like the appearance change they put in so you can wear your armor but not run around looking like it's on.  The variety is nice.

All in all SWG is still a fun game, especially for the one's that have never played it before.  It's a OK game for those that have played it before and don't bring a lot of emotional baggage to the game with them.

Will I actual pay to keep playing.  If it was just a me thing probably not.  I've tapped it out and don't really see the point anymore.  Seeing as it will be a family decision and would allow my son's at home to play an internet game with their big brother in San Diego then yes it may start showing up on my credit card statement again.

Originally posted by Nebless

...and I don't even know what the toon outside the starport was doing, all I could make out was some kind of fountain of text starting at his feet and going into the sky

Sounds like a credit farmer, there is a "Warden" program of player volunteers that silence these individuals.

My click to fight problem seems to have cleaned itself up, which was nice.  Tab to next target doesn't seem to be working right though.  Get's the first enemy but not the 2nd.  Have to manually do it, pain in a melee.

Take a look at this thread for targetting tips: Game Play Focus: Making targetting more intuitive.

My space problem:  Got a trouble ticket in, we'll see if there's any movement prior to the free period running out.  Just to check I killed my base pilot skill on my alt (only had it for planet to planet travel) and went to see if I could join with the NPC's that blew off my main.  1st - I still had my privateer starter ship and could still use it to travel in  Haven't tried to actually fly it though.  Went to the Imp pilot NPC and he signed me right up so it's a problem with just my main toon.  Strange.

What do the Pilot Trainers say when you try to talk to them on your main character?

All the professions and factions run the exact same legacy quest and to be frank about it the majority of the quest storyline writting sucks.  You can tell all the spots where the writer got tired and just said screw it - Plot: Kill X, Kill more X, Kill even more X.  There are a few good spots but after doing it once you never want to run it again.  Atleast the space side has 9 different storylines (3 for each) but that's all carryover from pre-NGE.

Here's a couple of guides that might make things a tad more interesting while levelling and gives additional options to running the Legacy Quest:

Guide: SWG Guides and Walkthroughs
Guide: Understanding Experience Gain
 

 

I hope that helps, and glad to hear that you and your family are enjoying SWG.

Originally posted by BadgerSmaker

Here's a couple of guides that might make things a tad more interesting while levelling and gives additional options to running the Legacy Quest:

Guide: SWG Guides and Walkthroughs
Guide: Understanding Experience Gain

How does that address his complaint that there is only one quest chain in the entire game to level up with. The retarded legacy quests (skaak tippers and mummers are very star warsy) and ten terminal missions a day are pretty much it.

It's too bad that even though SOE *loves* to rip off WoW they couldn't rip off the idea of having unique starting zones for every race. In the game's timelilne it's ridiculous to have Imperials and Rebels running the same quests...I guess both sides got together on eradicating the Skaak Tippers...

Originally posted by BaderSmaker

Sounds like a credit farmer, there is a "Warden" program of player volunteers that silence these individuals.

- No the guy was in combat so it was some special he was using.  I saw a lightsaber so it was a jedi thing.  Don't care what it was, it was just annoying.

Take a look at this thread for targetting tips: Game Play Focus: Making targetting more intuitive.

- I will although I think it's probably a default key bind thing that I have to straighten out.

My space problem: Got a trouble ticket in, we'll see if there's any movement prior to the free period running out. Just to check I killed my base pilot skill on my alt (only had it for planet to planet travel) and went to see if I could join with the NPC's that blew off my main. 1st - I still had my privateer starter ship and could still use it to travel in Haven't tried to actually fly it though. Went to the Imp pilot NPC and he signed me right up so it's a problem with just my main toon. Strange.

What do the Pilot Trainers say when you try to talk to them on your main character?

-  This is from the 2 Imp pilot trainers at Talus, they both said they don't talk to rebels, even when I flagged myself as a Imp combantant.  Hence the trouble ticket, there's something hung up in the recognition program, not to mention my privateer skills no longer showing.

Here's a couple of guides that might make things a tad more interesting while levelling and gives additional options to running the Legacy Quest:

Guide: SWG Guides and Walkthroughs
Guide: Understanding Experience Gain

-  I'll take a look at these, but I'm not sure you CAN make 'Kill a zillion spiders' more interesting  And frankly after doing it once, the repeat factor isn't there it just becomes grind leveling with a bonus at the end.  It would be the same as going to the Moina bunker and killing the Ackley hoping for the build armor piece loot drop.  Doing it once is ok, doing it mega times to get enough for a full suit is boring. 

The problem is it's the same quest line for all.  Why would an entertainer do something the same as a combat class?  Or a spy the same as a Commando.  If they wanted it good, they should have written different lines for each of the classes and made the Imp vs Reb side to be mirror opposites (Imp get part / Reb stop imp from getting part).   There is 1 really good quest line in PoTBS - the sister's missions are take payment to merchant and escort ships out of a harbor.  The brother's missions are: steal the payment and block the ships from leaving the harbor.  There's a good example of mirror opposite quest lines that aren't that hard to write the story lines for.

It all comes down to they could've, they should've, they didn't.

On the subject of animations, so much has been lost.

The NGE wiped out a lot of them, and only a handful have been restored.

For example, all the /pet /nuzzle /shame type animations for creature pets are gone.

My absolute favorite animation in the game, the commando take a knee and fire off a rocket animation is gone.

They brought back the Jedi animations, but, stupidly, some of them are tied to lower level skils that a 90 would never use.

At least meditate is back.  That's something, even though you have to grind FS on Dantooine just about forever to get it, or fork over tens of millions of credits for the holos.