General Discussion

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Originally posted by Ainaw
Has old julio played the cu?

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Julio's too busy playing a game's that fun !!   I bet when ole Julio gets home from work after a long day, he's probably logging onto WoW or EQ2 ....

 

If the accomplished players cancelled their account the CU upgrade wasn't good enough for them. However if they do want to make a profit why don't they focus on other people and give another trial. That way new players with a different opinion could join the game and eventually buy it and play it. They should really think about the marketing aspect of the game

It's simple they rushed the CU so the next expansion could be built on the same platform.  It seems like SOE modified the current EQ2 system and put it in place so they could save on coding time.  It's buggy, the particle effects are loony and not many people like it. 

Major problems with SWG:

1. They replaced a fairly unique skill based system and overlaid a level based syste,

2. When there is one PC class in a game that is inherently stronger than the rest hate and elitism ensue.  Jedi are 90% of the problem with the game.  Solve the problem and make them a normal character at start up.  The continuity is already busted.

3. We get very little feedback.  The CU was pushed forward by months and then the date was sprung on us at that.

Overall SOE and LA don't handle the community well and push unwanted untested changes on the community.

Ok i had a big long post with a full explanation of my opinions but i accidently hit backspace after deelecting chat window and im not retyping all that lol.  So to sum it all up CU is way too premature huge baalancing issues not to mention that triple crafters cannot check harvesters.  Also Im upset about pulling crafting autonomy away from doc/cm.  Biggest problem was Lucas forcing the devs to shove this out way too fast so that they could then shove out RotW too fast (conjecture on that one but conjecture based on past exp).  I supported the CU and even did so in TC but I do NOT suport in live yet.  I agree it is important but not like this.  Im cancelling 1 account keeping the others which are paid up through september and if the game is still in such sorry state by the end of july im just leaving and if you are on sunrunner yes there is a possibilty that you can have my stuff if you are a reb :).  I do not blame the devs.  I blame Lucas Arts, and I blame SOE for forcing the devs hands and ignoring the players for far too long.

Glod Glodsson M RIfle/ M CM
Gaspode M Dancer/ M Musician
Safept M Pistols/ BH 3040/ medic 2100

EDIT: Im in the market for another MMO right now in anticipation that SOE fails to fix all this any suggestions? And yes jervonics I'm looking forward to LOTR MMO as well cant wait just wish we had a date for even beta testing :(

Here is another Q&A .. more information .. maybe because the questions were more direct than in the MMORPG-Q&A (so guys .. next time throw them some hardballs !)

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05-03-2005 - The Combat Upgrade is here! There has been a bit of an uproar over the changes, some good and some bad. SWG Vault asks the SWG Developers the questions everyone wants answers to, and here is their response!


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SWG Vault: Why was the initial design shown to the Correspondents back in August changed around so much as to essentially be a completely different game? The initial goal of the CU was simply to fix the problems and imbalance inherent in the release system, not redesign everything so that we're suddenly playing a new game two years down the road. This has to be the biggest thing bugging anyone at the moment.

Devs: We realized after about three series of design documents that bringing a better combat system to Galaxies would require significant changes to the basic way the game is played. Feedback from the Correspondents back in August definitely played a part in the final design process. While this is a change for the way this game is planed, it's going to allow us to add much more excitement and consequence to combat in the game. Going forward, our new combat system will capture the intensity of the galactic struggle during the time frame of our game. And the only way to accomplish this was to make changes on the scale that we have.


SWG Vault: Whatever happened to 'It'll be released when it's done'? There has been a big stink over the sudden appearance of the CU on the Test Servers without the previously announced closed Alpha and Betas occuring, two phases that were completely necessary to get the CU into a state where it would have been readily received by a vast majority of the playerbase and yet were totally ignored in a perceived push to capitalize on the EP3 marketing campaign.

Devs: The Combat Upgrade was not pushed live due to the upcoming Episode III expansion. The CU has created a platform for the Rage of the Wookiees content that will give players an immersive experience heavily focused on story-driven adventuring and grouping.

Combat Upgrade went live last week because we were at the point where the core mechanics were fully realized and what we were missing was the additional fine tuning that only comes with mass exposure.


SWG Vault: Why, with all the known bugs and issues surrounding the CU as it stood on the Test Servers, was it pushed to Live? Such a huge change to a major componant to the core game should have gone through much more QA and testing and bug fixing before that should have even entered the minds of anyone at LA or SOE. Again, many people feel this was done as part of the EP3 marketing campaign, something that no one at either company has sought to refute.


Devs: Many of the issues that surfaced in live were a function of the conversion and were not necessarily evident before the upgrade went live. Some of the elements players were listing as issues or bugs, were actually already fixed in the live version and some were simply features that players needed to get comfortable with as they were more an issue of reacting to the change than true bugs. We needed to get the code live and in-play with all the innumerable combinations of character skills/professions/game-play styles before any more significant enhancements could be identified.


SWG Vault: With the focus on group play, will it ever be possible for Jedi to group and hunt with guildmates and not gain visibility? With so many people gaining Jedi status, this is becoming a very big issue in a lot of guilds. The Jedi are forced to play by themselves so they will not gain visibilty, and the "missing members" have a deep effect on guild play and social structure.


Devs: It is important for us to mention with respect to the Jedi play experience we are always looking at it and thinking about how to improve it as we realize this is a high-value game system. The issue mentioned above is actually not really directly tied to the Combat Upgrade, they can still choose to group just as they could before the publish. And, just as before there are limitations to the Jedi when with a group. [Julio] The issue is balancing the visibility counter for when Jedi's are in a group, members of the group see the Jedi perform actions and the visibility counter is on. We will be adjusting this counter until the group experience for Jedi's feels right.


SWG Vault: A lot of crafters have been upset with the changes to the system, with their current inventories of resources and goods becoming worthless. What is being planned for the crafting classes to make up for the huge changes that were put in place to revamp combat?

Devs: We are actively trying to look at how to make crafters safe when they go out looking for resources. However, their resources and inventories should not be viewed as being worthless since the combat upgrade publish, in fact they are worth the same amount as they converted to goods with an equivalent value in relative terms.


SWG Vault: The entertainer professions are the ones that seem to be hurt the most by this, with most entertainer classes being rendered nearly useless. This group was already hit pretty hard by AFK buffbots and before that, hologrinding. Do you have specific plans to make the entertainment professions viable again, and if so, could you outline them?

Devs: There were new Inspirations introduced into the game with the Combat Upgrade and there are actually more coming soon!

Also, we have actually removed the "Buffbots" from the game which is an added bonus because it forces players to use the Inspiration system. In addition in May we will be removing the ability to make recursive macros in game, this will eliminate the AFK entertainers and re-establish a place for the real entertainers to enjoy SWG.

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Originally posted by jervonics
well, it seems clear to everyone except SOE, that 80% of regular SWG players HATE the CU. so much so, that most of that 80% have cancelled our accounts. ive been to every message board i could find, and believe me, 80% is a conservative estimate. its a ashame that a community with so much love for each other, has to be ripped apart by yet another corporation, that sees nothing except dollar signs as the driving force in a game's development. obviously i will never buy another SOE product, but more to the point, i think i will never purchase any game backed by a major corporation. they just dont care bout anything other than their pro