General Discussion

(this post was taken from the SOE forums, and was made by Dirr)

Dear Sir,

I suggest you take this post very seriously.  Since playing (and PAYING) since the beginning of this game, I have poured hundreds of dollars into this game, it's expansions and ultimately - your pockets, so I think my opinion counts.

Changes I see coming with opinions to follow.

1 - RPG to FPS? My friends and I play this game BECAUSE it's a RPG.  If I want to play a Star Wars FPS, Battlefront 1 and 2 are excellent, have a ONE time cost of $50, a better streamlined FPS control/combat system, and are not bugged at all.  If you wish to truly turn this into a FPS, you're going to lose the majority of your fan base.

2 - Nerf the game down to 9 classes...including FS as a starter profession? This will anger most everyone who ground out profs to unlock, or took a lot of time collecting badges to become glowy.  Even still, a CL80 guy now can just respec as a full Jedi?  That's INSULTING to your fan base who had to earn it!

3 - Remove player Bounties? Again, this is an aggregious offence to the ppl who had to grind Jedi xp (millions and millions) at Padawan with the threat of being taken out every minute they were on.  This is also taking away one of the main reasons why Bounty Hunters play.  Someone always figures out exactly how to beat an NPC...of any level.  You can find out exactly how to beat them right down to the attacks, buffs, heals, specials and timing.  But Jedi vs BH?  Unique.  The Jedi doesn't know all of the BH's skills/weapons/healing ability and the BH doesn't know the skills or areas of expertise of the Jedi.  Made for some of the BEST battles in any video game...PERIOD.  Gone?  And so will a large chunk of the current vet BH's.

4 - All profs at equal combat ability? Even though under the current Pub no one can be over CL80, any full temp Jedi worth his salt can whip anyone who isnt a BH...especially in a straight up fight.  If you REALLY make Jedi equal to say...a Commando, then everyone who had to wait and then grind Jedi forever will feel like they wasted a tremendous amount of money for nothing, and for what....to NOT be unique?  To ONLY be as powerful as the Commando?  More importantly, this goes AGAINST EVERYTHING THAT IS STAR WARS!!!  In any Star Wars book/movie/anything....Jedi are MUCH more powerful than anyone else.  Even in Battlefront!  If they weren't, who'd care if Luke failed....just throw another Commando in there to defeat Darth Vader.  If you get AWAY from the lore, most of your RPG base will leave.

5 - Screw the vets? Even if you WERE NOT taking the above into account, consider this.  We waited a long time for the 'new' CU.  But in reality, you were working on completely changing the entire game for a year and a half?  Don't you think people will feel cheated having spent the time and money to wait for the new CU...with countless bugs...then you give us a new expansion to buy without telling us the whole game is changing to a FPS?  So I just paid $20 dollars for an expansion to a game I don't want to play anymore?  Don't you think that'd tick some people off....like....most of your fan base? Since you've taken out the profs I've played with for years and I go Jedi in the respec...I won't get as many rewards as other Jedi who've been playing this game for LESS time than I have?  That is not right!!!  You should make bonus/elder stuff based on length of time in game and prof you take.  For instance, if I respec Jedi and have played game long enough...I should get same as anyone else (especially since you're taking out profs of many ppl).  There should be bonus items no matter what prof you respec to.  Why do ONLY Jedi get additional items?

6 - No more item decay? Say goodbye to the player economy.  No item decay means you only need to buy (or own) an uber weapon once.  Once everyone has one...the crafters r screwed and everyone will have the exact same weapons and the exact same skill.  In effect...everyone within the same prof is identical.  This will ruin the game and make credits worthless.

7 - Kill the Jedi. OK, so you didn't kill off the class...but you may as well have.  Jedi won't be special and any noob can start at FS? When the first Jedi appeared, it was stated that Jedi would be as powerful as 7 others.  After the last CU, it was 2.5 (but only 1v1 player bounties instead of gank squads chasing Jedi).  Now they will be EQUAL?!?  Sounds like they'll be Swordsmen with weak LS's.

8 - Too many Jedi. For a game dev team that says they understand there r too many Jedi, you've just doubled the number of Jedi and halved the number of BH's with NO WAY to cut down on the Jedi population.  This is the beginning of the end...

9 - Conclusion. I know a bit about Game Design and such.  The current theory is that these types of games need to be accessible to new players.  That they need to be able to create a character and go have some fun (without dying) in the first 30mins.  Congratulations....you've almost accomplished this (if it weren't for the incessant bugging problems that have been with this game since launch).  But at what cost?  The current stats suggest that ppl leave these massive online games after 10-12 months.  But the vet community for THIS game have been here for several years....and we've PAID for it.  So to disturb this base is to ask us to leave.  Sure you'll attract new subscribers who'll be here for 10-12 months....and then the game will start to die rapidly.

10 - Competition. In essence, the new changes make this a game that will compete with Battlefront 1 and 2.  I think you'll find a lot of ppl like myself play BOTH games.  But if your new changes make this a FPS like Battlefront but with worse graphics, controls, combat system, but a ton of BUGS and a price tag of 10x Battlefront....please give me a reason to keep paying you $200 a year?

11 - Hard to believe... It's hard to believe that you've done focus group testing with vets and those same vets who've played this game for years (almost all Jedi or BH's) have suggested taking out player Bounties, nerfing Jedi to just another class and changing the game into a FPS like Battlefront.  If there are real documents showing this...I'd like to see one with ppl who've played as long as I have and are current active players.  Better yet....here's an easier solution.

12 - Solution. Make half the servers 'Classic' and half of them NGE.  Allow all players to either stay on a classic server or migrate to a NGE server.  If what you're saying is true...that the majority of player want these changes...then you'll have the majority of people migrate to the NGE servers and continue adding content to it.  If you find that the majority stay on the classic servers, then you should do the opposite...stop adding content to the NGE servers and start adding fresh content to the classic servers.  All opinions aside, whichever version of SWG performs better will make you more money and should be the path you follow.

Considering you've angered the majority of your player base, if you're not willing to keep an open mind...then in the immortal words of Obi-wan in EpIII...

"then you are truly lost!"

Sincerely,

Dirr