I would have to say Blizzard, followed by Turbine.  As for CCP, well, they've done some shifty stuff to help out certain people and groups in game, so thats a hit against them.  Other than that, the people who play and enjoy Eve seem to like what they have done with the game.

Originally posted by lightning-rd

Originally posted by VGTheory

I wouldn't choose an MMORPG based solely on the quality of the developers.  That said, as a SWG vet abandoned by SOE, I understand your position.  My personal preferences are WOW and Eve online.  Both are quality games, even if they don't specifically offer the type of gameplay that SWG was infamous for pre-NGE (or pre-cu depending on how much you hated CU).

 Of the two, Eve feels more star-warsy, but only if you liked Jump to Lightspeed a lot, as I did.

 

You can't ignore the quality of the Developers.  It's ALL important.  The Devs ARE the parts that go into making the game, and no machine (or software) is better than the sum total of the parts that go into it.

Crappy developers=crappy game.  The original SWG team had some of the most brilliant Devs in the industry.  Most of them now are leading their own teams (and none of the notables are left with SOE), just some of the 3rd rate guys who were rookies then, such as Toilet Boy and Loche.

SWG hasn't had a quality Dev team since after the release of JTL.  Talent levels dropped drastically until you ended up with the likes of Toilet Boy getting to make major gameplay decisions (such as the eternal CU Jedi nerf).  Most of the Devs as we now know were actually working on the NGE, not the CU.  And we know what an astonishingly "high" (as in the drugs they must have been using) quality release THAT was.

The current Dev team is an absolute joke, made up of entry level rookies and leftovers like Loche who probably only got to fetch coffe for Koster during Pre-CU development. 

Want an idea of just how desperately low on talent SOE is right now?  "Toilet Boy" Blixtev is now the lead Dev for DCMMO...  Nuff said.

 

I thought Kai was the lead dev for DC.

Nope, the "Dork Lord" moved on.  "Toilet Boy" was his replacement.

The DCMMO is going to be an utter disaster, and I think the final failure in SOE's coffin.  As I said, no MMORPG is any better than the quality of it's Devs and despite being SOE's top priority, they not only can't keep TOP talent on it, they can't keep ANYONE on it.  Devs there have been dropping like Ensign Redshirts, rumor being that it's due to excessive micromismanagement coming from the Smed level.

Blizzard and Turbine definetely.

I was there during LOTRO's beta, and from the feedback you got from devs in the forums, you could definetely tell that they really wanted to make sure LOTRO was not only a succesful game, but a fun game for their playerbase.

Originally posted by ArcAngel3

O.k. last post for now lol.  I've had all of these things in the back of my mind, but got distracted trying to convince people that the sky is blue.  Now that I've switched my focus, I have so many things I've wanted to discuss lol.  The topic says it all.  If you've had good experiences with a game, especially where they do what they say, and listen to players, and the game is actually functional and entertaining, I'd love to hear about it.

P.S. I'm posting this here because I want to hear from SWG vets, we have similar preferences :)

After playing a few other MMORPGs before I went to wow, I was really impressed with their service.  I don't know if they are the best; but, they do listen far more to their customers far more than other companies out there.  Even customer service has done a lot for me as well.  I've had my account jacked twice on there by hijackers and they totally restored them.

I had that happen on SWG, the GMs ran me in circles for weeks till I got so frustrated I quit...true story.  Then in the end they acted like I was the one who screwed up my account and were protecting the account from me, so they labeled their customer (me) as a villain.  Really awesome business ethics!  Imagine if 911 operators acted like that to a caller.

"911"

"Yes, I'm bleeding really bad and I can't feel my legs"

"Can I have your full name, social security number, date of birth, credit card you used 2 years ago, and your mothers favorite color"?

"I'm nauseated, I'm so dizzy".

"Sir, can you give me the information I requested, then I can assist you"?

"Fine, John Ray Doe, ###-##-####, 7-20-1960,  I don't know what credit card you are talking about, my mom's favorite color is uh....blue...*cough* *cough*....".

"Sir I'm going to need that credit card number you used 2 years ago".

"Can't I just give you an up to date one"?

"No, you'll have to contact your bank and ask them to check their records for the credit you used 2 years ago"

"Right now? I think I'm going to die"!

"Sir, I can't do anything else until I have that credit card you used 2 years ago, if you could call your bank and get it I'd be glad to help you.  If you don't call back we will assume that your problem has been taken care of.  Thank you for calling 911 Emergency Service have a nice day".  *click*

Blizzard probably. Most people fail to grasp that it is really hard to satisfy the crowd of a game that has 6 or 11 (6 for haters, 11 for non haters) million subs and yet they have done it. 

 This doesn't imply that they don't have their own fiascos ( Wow's forum is currently full of complaints and whines and yet there is not a tide wave of leavers.) but at least damage control is fast.

CCP and turbine are pretty good also.

CCP & Blizzard hands down, NCSoft are good with City of Heroes as well churning out content twice a year.

Without a doubt, LOTRO.  

Originally posted by Dkevlar

Blizzard probably. Most people fail to grasp that it is really hard to satisfy the crowd of a game that has 6 or 11 (6 for haters, 11 for non haters) million subs and yet they have done it. 

 This doesn't imply that they don't have their own fiascos ( Wow's forum is currently full of complaints and whines and yet there is not a tide wave of leavers.) but at least damage control is fast.

CCP and turbine are pretty good also.

 

I'd be willing to bet that most of the complainers in WoW's forums are people that never played another mmorpg and don't realize how good Blizzard is about addressing community complaints and in-game bugs.

This last week a new patch was released in WoW and for the first time that I remember it contained some huge bugs. Blizzard (within hours) disabled the portions of the game that were messed up so they stopped affecting the gameplay for everybody and had a fix done in less than two days. While they were working on a fix they kept the community updated on both the forums and the game's log-in screen.

Can anybody even fathom SOE being that responsive?

Edit: Just saw this story...further proof of what an awesome company Blizzard is.

WoW by FAR had the best response of any game I've played.

When I quit Star Wars, I got a little card where I had to check the points I didn't like about the game. Along with one single line to say anything I would like to add.

WoW offered me unlimited space for feedback - what a switch!

Originally posted by lightning-rd

CCP

Mostly because the Devs are just as dedicated to playing EVE as we are.

 

 

That's not too difficult to do, they can give themselves ISK and not lose any grinding time when ganked.  In fact they probably don't have to grind at all if they can give themselves ISK.

Turbine for sure, they listen and deliver and they do it well

I've posed this question to other gamers, in other venues, and I keep hearing the same thing over and over again: EVE, LoTR and WoW.  For companies that'd be Blizzard, Turbine and CCP.  They're obviously doing many things right.  Hopefully they'll continue and be rewarded for their efforts.

NCsoft comes up occasionally, but also gets shot down a fair bit for two massive and largely unwanted game revamps.  One was called E.D. and happened years ago.  The more recent revamp was of the badge system, the Task Force system, and the PvP system.  Segments of that game's population are still up in arms.

As for other companies, one can hope that they will look at the successful ones, and follow their example in terms of quality and customer service.  What I've noticed with Smed is that he'll see someone else's success, but rather than embracing their successful philosophy, he'll try to take what they've done and turn it into some kind of cheap gimmick.  At this point, I honestly don't think he's capable of shaking this gimmicky mind-set.