Originally posted by Daffid011

Originally posted by Mathos 

As i can not log in there can some one repost it here ?

It is a thread where current free realms players are complaining that soe doesn't even bother to communicate patches with the playerbase anymore.  How they stealth nerf cash shop items after people have bought them and not refunded money for them.  How they removed items from players inventories without even mentioning it.  Some complaints about the content patches not working, etc.  

 

Overall just a general lack of trust in soe based on how they are running the game. 

In other words, business as usual for SOE.

That's the beauty of aiming at a younger audience. You can get away with shit like that more often because generally speaking, tweens don't tend to do a lot of consumer research before making purchases (consumers doing research is a huge thorn in SOE's side... dang internets!), plus since people are stupid (with kids being the lowest on the intellectual totem pole, according to past experience based on how SOE treats it's customers), nobody's gonna notice when SOE deletes items people pay for... right? I can smell the SOE marketing execs sparking up their stogeys from here. Brilliant!

For me this ship has sailed.  SOE will get my money for a play of the DC game when they release it but I'm looking at that as much more of my console buying state of mind I want to experience it for myself and to pay homage to DC and my comic roots nothing to do with SOE.  I'm sure the game will suck as the others they make do and I won't play past the first free month.  but as far as Galaxies goes just off of principal they couldn't get money from me for that again.  I would feel like I really have nothing good going on in my life to return to a company and a title that has so wronged it's players in everything it does from planning to implimentation of it's ideas and it doesn't help that most of the ideas they do have are usually not good ones anyway.

Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw

Originally posted by Daffid011

Originally posted by Mathos 

As i can not log in there can some one repost it here ?

It is a thread where current free realms players are complaining that soe doesn't even bother to communicate patches with the playerbase anymore.  How they stealth nerf cash shop items after people have bought them and not refunded money for them.  How they removed items from players inventories without even mentioning it.  Some complaints about the content patches not working, etc.  

 

Overall just a general lack of trust in soe based on how they are running the game. 

 

In other words, business as usual for SOE.

That's the beauty of aiming at a younger audience. You can get away with shit like that more often because generally speaking, tweens don't tend to do a lot of consumer research before making purchases (consumers doing research is a huge thorn in SOE's side... dang internets!), plus since people are stupid (with kids being the lowest on the intellectual totem pole, according to past experience based on how SOE treats it's customers), nobody's gonna notice when SOE deletes items people pay for... right? I can smell the SOE marketing execs sparking up their stogeys from here. Brilliant!

I see nothing much has changed with them at all...

Originally posted by Mathos 

As i can not log in there can some one repost it here ?

Sure! Here's the OP's post in its entirety.

I think it's time for another one of these threads. In the last few weeks, we've gone without hearing anything about the actual changes being made in the game. We've had meatballs disappear on us with no warning when they weren't supposed to. The pizza box has now gone to one slice maximum allowed to be in your inventory with no one even telling us. We've had the skeleton effect from the haunted headstone changed to five minutes with no word from anyone. We've been lead to expect the vault was going to have soccer clothing and there isn't. I know tons of players that would like to be informed of every change that is made in the game that we play and also pay for. I come on the forums everyday and see a new thread about a change that the Free Realms team has made that we were never informed about. Especially when you're spending 1000 SC on an item and it is completely nerfed into something that is 1/12th as effective as it used to be. This has just become completely ridiculous. I see people leaving day after day because of these decisions. Something really needs to change soon because this is just becoming completely unacceptable and we're not going to sit here and just watch this game be run down into the ground because of these decisions.

The replies after this back up the OP's claims.

Again, this brings me back to something that is REALLY bugging the hell outta me...how did SoE land the DC License? Does DC have any idea who they've hired? Sadly, practices like this are not uncommon for SoE and this is not an isolated incident. SoE has an established pattern and has a known MMO reputation of being a deceitful company...who in their right mind would hire SoE to do **edit**?! It's like none of the decision makers know d!ck about gaming, so they trust and listen to Smed. What a buncha nerds :P

Originally posted by TUX426

Originally posted by Mathos 

As i can not log in there can some one repost it here ?

 

Sure! Here's the OP's post in its entirety.

I think it's time for another one of these threads. In the last few weeks, we've gone without hearing anything about the actual changes being made in the game. We've had meatballs disappear on us with no warning when they weren't supposed to. The pizza box has now gone to one slice maximum allowed to be in your inventory with no one even telling us. We've had the skeleton effect from the haunted headstone changed to five minutes with no word from anyone. We've been lead to expect the vault was going to have soccer clothing and there isn't. I know tons of players that would like to be informed of every change that is made in the game that we play and also pay for. I come on the forums everyday and see a new thread about a change that the Free Realms team has made that we were never informed about. Especially when you're spending 1000 SC on an item and it is completely nerfed into something that is 1/12th as effective as it used to be. This has just become completely ridiculous. I see people leaving day after day because of these decisions. Something really needs to change soon because this is just becoming completely unacceptable and we're not going to sit here and just watch this game be run down into the ground because of these decisions.

The replies after this back up the OP's claims.

Again, this brings me back to something that is REALLY bugging the hell outta me...how did SoE land the DC License? Does DC have any idea who they've hired? Sadly, practices like this are not uncommon for SoE and this is not an isolated incident. SoE has an established pattern and has a known MMO reputation of being a deceitful company...who in their right mind would hire SoE to do **edit**?! It's like none of the decision makers know d!ck about gaming, so they trust and listen to Smed. What a buncha nerds :P

Thank you for posting that here.

It is very sad to see them up to there old tricks. but not unexpected...

Originally posted by TUX426

"...we're not going to sit here and just watch this game be run down into the ground because of these decisions..."

Unfortunetly, yes they will.

Originally posted by TUX426

Again, this brings me back to something that is REALLY bugging the hell outta me...how did SoE land the DC License? Does DC have any idea who they've hired? Sadly, practices like this are not uncommon for SoE and this is not an isolated incident. SoE has an established pattern and has a known MMO reputation of being a deceitful company...who in their right mind would hire SoE to do **edit**?! It's like none of the decision makers know d!ck about gaming, so they trust and listen to Smed. What a buncha nerds :P

SOE wrote a big check (and agreed to take over MxO and keep it around for a certain amount of tim, which ran out recently) and Warner Bros. cashed it.  Warner doesn't care about their IPs to any great extent, and they are even less concerned with their comic book IPs.  Look into the production history of the last Superman film (one of the least stupid of the bad ideas approved was offering Will Smith the Superman role, and he turned it down for the obvious reason).  For the most part, the only reason some of the DC Comics cartoons, live action shows, and films have been respectful to the IPs to any extent is because the people behind the production of them had respect for the IPs (usually due to some of the older comic writers being involved with the production).

Given its development history and the revolving door of development leadership, DCO has little to no chance of even being 'not that bad'.  If it flops and tarnished the reputation of the DC Comics IPs, SOE can just write another check and have a very good chance of developing DCO 2.

Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw

Originally posted by TUX426

"...we're not going to sit here and just watch this game be run down into the ground because of these decisions..."

 

Unfortunetly, yes they will.

Then, after a few years, they will wonder why everyone else left, then tell them to 'get over it' when the ones that left explain why.  There is one major thing SWG, EQ2, and Vanguard have in common.  Someone will make a post on a forum asking why more people don't play the game, they then make angry responses to the posts from people explaining why they don't play the game.

Originally posted by Obee 

 

Then, after a few years, they will wonder why everyone else left, then tell them to 'get over it' when the ones that left explain why.  There is one major thing SWG, EQ2, and Vanguard have in common.  Someone will make a post on a forum asking why more people don't play the game, they then make angry responses to the posts from people explaining why they don't play the game.

  

Hmmm...where have I seen that before? :P lol

And a great reply on DCUO. Interesting theory too...I guess with the comic book market tanked, DC needs to do something for $. Just a shame seeing good names wh0red out for fast ca$h.

This is scary! I haven't been on this site in so long I can't remember. I still get e-mails and such but it has been a while since I have been here. It's kind of like watch a day time soap, you can just pop in after a couple years and the story line hasn't changed.  But in this case it's even the same characters. I have missed you guys posting. There was that whole other site that was started so no one had to post here and such.

I think people like the ones that post here was a lot of the reason I played the game.  And I actually think that many of us rather we want to admit it or not would go back if they gave us pre-nge and even more for pre-cu.

As much as I hate to admit it I play WoW these days. I tried Eve and really liked it but I had no friends there and it was a big galaxy to fly around by your self. So I kind of settled into WOW. Well I was reading the only forum that I can get at work the other day and some was complaining about all the idoits in trade channel. Now keep in mind that I honestly have thought of SWG for what seems like years, and when I saw the post about trade the first thing to pop into my mind was we had our on server specific trade forum. That still amazes me. SWG was more than just a game it was another world that you could go to.

It was truely fun to sit out side the starport in theed spamming training 4421 scout for AP. I know that's sad but I enjoyed that kind of stuff. Any way it's good to log in here and see all the old friends long gone.  Guys I'm proud to say that I would send my $15 a month to smedley himself if I could have the game back. Looking forward to the Old Republic and I think that it will be a good game, but I take my scout blaster and what ever type of survey device I need to plant my harvesters and run around Rori looking for avian meat or some quality tatooine wooly hide any day.

sorry for all the mistakes but  I'm not real smart.

There would be a lot of preconditions for this to be possible.

One, and this is non-negotiable, is the head of John Smedley on a platter.

Originally posted by BadgerSmaker

Disclaimer: I do not work for SoE, nor have I ever, nor will I ever.  I once was part of a player volunteer program that SoE ran but that was about it, I have no say in what SoE does.

With that out of the way, I thought it would be interesting to discuss how SoE could go about Origin/Classic SWG Servers, if they ever had the time, resources and inclination to bring them up.

I discussed this with SWG Developers long ago and they seemed keen on the idea, but the live game always takes presedence so this was always a pipe-dream.

It's fun to talk about dreams though, so what would you like to see in the way of Origin/Classic SWG Servers?  They would likely be brought up as part of the Test Center servers and receive only maintenance updates, no additional content.

Which patch level would you want to play, if at all?

Patch Level

Pre-CU: Pre-publish 9

Pre-CU: (Literally just before the Combat Upgrade)

CU: Just before the NGE.

I usualy hate every SOE loving word you write, so much, that it makes me vomit a little bit into my mouth.

This was the first post of yours in 4 years that hasn't invoked that reaction.

I still don't believe that you are not, or have not been an employee of SOE. You really aren't fooling anyone.

However in answer, I'd want to play Pre-Pub 9 Pre-CU. And if you can have a word with some of your work colleagues :p and make that happen, I would be grateful.

Originally posted by stinney

Originally posted by BadgerSmaker

Disclaimer: I do not work for SoE, nor have I ever, nor will I ever.  I once was part of a player volunteer program that SoE ran but that was about it, I have no say in what SoE does.

With that out of the way, I thought it would be interesting to discuss how SoE could go about Origin/Classic SWG Servers, if they ever had the time, resources and inclination to bring them up.

I discussed this with SWG Developers long ago and they seemed keen on the idea, but the live game always takes presedence so this was always a pipe-dream.

It's fun to talk about dreams though, so what would you like to see in the way of Origin/Classic SWG Servers?  They would likely be brought up as part of the Test Center servers and receive only maintenance updates, no additional content.

Which patch level would you want to play, if at all?

Patch Level

Pre-CU: Pre-publish 9

Pre-CU: (Literally just before the Combat Upgrade)

CU: Just before the NGE.

 

I usualy hate every SOE loving word you write, so much, that it makes me vomit a little bit into my mouth.

This was the first post of yours in 4 years that hasn't invoked that reaction.

I still don't believe that you are not, or have not been an employee of SOE. You really aren't fooling anyone.

 

However in answer, I'd want to play Pre-Pub 9 Pre-CU. And if you can have a word with some of your work colleagues :p and make that happen, I would be grateful.

 

 

Hehe, he doesnt work for SOE, and I would be extremely suprised if they could, do they have images of the old servers still?   I have never over the years ever heard a Dev admit thiers more than a publish to publish back up.       And if thier isnt, they dont have the resources, IE any Devs that could actually work on the coding.   The guy that made all the changes killed himself, so who would know how to reverse all the changes done to the live game?

Pre Pub 9 would be awesome imo.

I would love to see SOE implement classic SWG Servers, as a matter of fact if they just had a single server it could be very successful. Large pop, old school mechanics, etc... seems like a win win to me.

I wish they would consider this seriously, it could make a monumental difference in reviving the game.

Originally posted by Euphoryk

I wish they would consider this seriously, it could make a monumental difference in reviving the game.

Not sure it would revive the game to anywhere near pre-NGE levels, but the server(s) would be full, that's a given.

What it certainly would do though, is go a long way towards helping SOE gawd awful reputation.

Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw

Originally posted by Euphoryk

I wish they would consider this seriously, it could make a monumental difference in reviving the game.

 

Not sure it would revive the game to anywhere near pre-NGE levels, but the server(s) would be full, that's a given.

What it certainly would do though, is go a long way towards helping SOE gawd awful reputation.

The most baffling thing about SOE is the fact that they know they have a horrible reputation, yet they go out of their way to maintain it by continuing to do the things that earned them their reputation.  When the president of the company feels the need to assure potential customers, of a game SOE was publishing (Vanguard), that his company would have absolutely nothing to do with the games development, it is obvious that he knows his company has a poor reputation.

Think about that, John Smedley promoted the fact that his company was not going to be involved in the development of Vanguard as a selling point for the game.  Since then, there has been no attempts to do anything to improve the company's reputation.  In fact, they have done plenty to further cement the company's reputation.  It makes no sense.

Originally posted by Obee

The most baffling thing about SOE is the fact that they know they have a horrible reputation, yet they go out of their way to maintain it by continuing to do the things that earned them their reputation.  When the president of the company feels the need to assure potential customers, of a game SOE was publishing (Vanguard), that his company would have absolutely nothing to do with the games development, it is obvious that he knows his company has a poor reputation.

Think about that, John Smedley promoted the fact that his company was not going to be involved in the development of Vanguard as a selling point for the game.  Since then, there has been no attempts to do anything to improve the company's reputation.  In fact, they have done plenty to further cement the company's reputation.  It makes no sense.

 

 

It's amazing how Smedley still has a job there. I mean he must just be the greatest brown noser of all time. How much more fail does it take?

Vanguard wasn't the only game that soe had to give a press release that they were hands off on development.  The day pirates of the burning sea announced it was partnering with soe, they had to put up a giant FAQ and seperate discussion forum in an attempt to calm down player fears that soe was going to have anything to do with the games development. 

The same thing happened when gods and heroes partnered with soe. 

Every time soe partners with someone, both companies have to immediately go into damage control, which speaks volumes about the reputation soe has. 

To be honest I have to agree with the main sentiment in the thread. If SOE REALLY wanted to save the game then they should have done this years ago. Instead they stubbornly held onto the idea that the NGE was a good idea and that somehow it is what the community wanted even as people left in droves. SOE burned pretty much all of their bridges as they tried to shove the NGE down everybody's throat. And not only did they burn all their bridges they hurled insults and raped and pillaged their entire way along that road.

It is, as has been said, too little too late. There was a _massive_ community outcry even back during the CU to stop all the changes, that it was all too much too fast and it was going in the wrong direction. SOE outright IGNORED the community and instead of giving the players what THEY wanted SOE did what -SOE- wanted...which was a very thinly veiled attempt to WoW-ify their game. Which they failed at even doing that I might add.

Instead of fixing bugs, tweaking classes and adding content somehow the folks at SOE thought it would be a brilliant idea to shove out both the CU and NGE within a three month span. Introducing way more bugs without fixing many of the old ones, pissing off the community by COMPLETELY destroying the well received skill-based "leveling" and altogether just destroying the original concept of SWG. On top of all that they still haven't really recovered as far as actually smoothing out the game goes.

There are a LOT of things SOE is going to have to do to get back all of the trust they have lost; not just from the NGE. Lists are fun:

The RMT system for station has got to go.

The TCG for SWG has to go and NEVER come back for another game. WoW has done something similar, but the way the two things are handled are COMPLETELY different. The SWG TCG often introduces items that are not available in-game and that are actually needed for crafting classes. WoW is not only an actual print card game, but all of the loot cards are purely cosmetic stuff that have zero impact on the game itself.

Smed needs to be fired. There is no way around that. Too many people hate him and will never touch another SOE product specifically because of him.

SWG needs to be shut down. I can't imagine that the way the game is running now is producing a real profit for SOE and all it is is just a bad reminder to players about how much SOE screwed up.

Did I mention that Smed needs to be fired?

Originally posted by Daffid011

Vanguard wasn't the only game that soe had to give a press release that they were hands off on development.  The day pirates of the burning sea announced it was partnering with soe, they had to put up a giant FAQ and seperate discussion forum in an attempt to calm down player fears that soe was going to have anything to do with the games development. 

The same thing happened when gods and heroes partnered with soe. 

 

Every time soe partners with someone, both companies have to immediately go into damage control, which speaks volumes about the reputation soe has. 

 

 

I remember it was also a part of the Vanguard FAQ's. I wish I took a screenshot of it at the time because I thought it was funny as hell that it needed to be addressed in this way.