General Discussion

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Originally posted by admriker444

Im lvl 80 combatant. I fight a lvl 85 Blacksun mob and die. So I go to a 12 point smith and get myself some 12 point ubber krayt enhanced weapons. I also get the best armor and food. Finally I invest 100 million in some skill tapes. I go back to that lvl 85 Blacksun and STILL LOSE. No matter what I do, no matter how good my strategy is, no matter how good my gear is, I will ALWAYS lose.

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Well, thats the point, is it not ? YOU lose, WE dont. YOU are frustrated, WE are not. YOU should learn to use your skills, WE have done so.

A mob at +5 levels is very hard, but killable. And yes, the best in equipment makes a difference here (at +5 level difference). NOT at +10 or higher ... here you are right .. there the level difference overshadows everything. However, there should be no mobs higher than 85 anywhere (if there are, its a bug that needs to be reported and fixed ... like the 194 level super battle droids on the corvette).

Have fun

Erillion 

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Originally posted by Lepidus

I obviously asked about subscription levels, and posted their response in the article. If you do not believe them, that is your choice, but it would be irresponsible of me to make such a claim based only on anecdotal evidence.

The intent of this article was to get their response to the various concerns that have been raised lately. Now you have it - if you don't like it, that is again your choice - don't shoot the messanger.

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Just an idea, but instead of asking a company that has shown itself to be as anti-customer as AOL (and in the 6 yrs or so since EQ released, shown itself to have no problems with simply lieing or promising things it doesnt then carry through on), maybe you should try LOGING into the game on each server and look around. For that matter, simply go to create a new user and look at the server list, which last time i looked had maybe 3 or 4 servers showing LIGHT load, and all the rest not even ranking a LIGHT load designation.

Oh, and your question of Subscription levels, did you simply ask them have you seen a drop in subscription levels, or did you ask them have you seen any drop in SWG subscription levels? If you want to ask probing, real questions, make sure you phrase them correctly. If you asked the 1st one, then SOE probably said no, because they were looking at their total subscription #s, including other games. Not what you meant, but a possible interpretation for the question.

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Originally posted by SteeJahns

Originally posted by Lepidus
I obviously asked about subscription levels, and posted their response in the article. If you do not believe them, that is your choice, but it would be irresponsible of me to make such a claim based only on anecdotal evidence.
The intent of this article was to get their response to the various concerns that have been raised lately. Now you have it - if you don't like it, that is again your choice - don't shoot the messanger.

Just an idea, but instead of asking a company that has shown itself to be as anti-customer as AOL (and in the 6 yrs or so since EQ released, shown itself to have no problems with simply lieing or promising things it doesnt then carry through on), maybe you should try LOGING into the game on each server and look around. For that matter, simply go to create a new user and look at the server list, which last time i looked had maybe 3 or 4 servers showing LIGHT load, and all the rest not even ranking a LIGHT load designation.
Oh, and your question of Subscription levels, did you simply ask them have you seen a drop in subscription levels, or did you ask them have you seen any drop in SWG subscription levels? If you want to ask probing, real questions, make sure you phrase them correctly. If you asked the 1st one, then SOE probably said no, because they were looking at their total subscription #s, including other games. Not what you meant, but a possible interpretation for the question.

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I understand how to phrase a question. Yes, I asked about SWG and as said several times - they admited an initial drop in subscription levels that eventually evened out after SWG Rage of the Wookiees and the release of the third film. Despite the conspiracy theories - this is hardly a ridiculous claim. The fact that an expansion and a major motion picture allowed the subscribers to remain about even says something about the impact of the CU itself.

Dear Squidi,

"I like my plaque, so again, we'll put the value at personal preference, but the fact that they rewarded us when they didn't have to still stands."

Unbelievable. You obviously don't know when you’re being patronized.

"No, but I can name you three bugs that I /bugged on Test Center that were fixed before the CU went live..."

How can you possibly defend SOE's handling of bugs when every single profession had a bug list as long as your arm? The argument that some bugs were just too hard to fix won't cut it for me. I'm a software engineer too and my company would never accept such an excuse form me. If I were to try that one I'd be cleaning out my office at the end of the week.

In regards to the level system you stated: "I've gotten used to it, and what can I say? It doesn't bother me at all. It's different, yes, and takes some getting used to, but it is hardly a deal breaker.".

Heres a deal breaker for ya. All non combat professions are completely useless. Crafters must venture out into the wilds in order to harvest resources. SWG encounter spawns, unlike most other MMORPG games, pop into existence when the character travels through a zone. The server, being slow as servers tend to be, will often not pop a spawn into existence until you are directly on top of it. This means that crafters, being combat lvl 1 or at most combat lvl 67, are often one shot killed by spawns that didn't exist a moment ago.

Previously, master craftsmen could also be a master pistoleer or riflemen or martial artists. That meant they were “combat viable” so the popping spawn problem wasn't such a big deal. If you say you've gotten used to the new way, I would bet you don’t currently play a crafting profession.

I could go on about other deal breakers but that's the most heinous directly due to the new combat level implementation.

"Just a side note: It takes Blizzard about twice the time to make a game than any other company due to the fact that they can't pre-design ANYTHING. They completely scrapped Starcraft, Diablo II, and Warcraft III halfway through development and started over because their games sucked. They can only do iterative design, playing and testing and playing and testing, which is a piss poor way of designing."

Criticize Blizzard if you must but their games have something SWG has not achieved in the last two years....POLISH.

SOE and the SWG team obviously think they’ve done the right thing. They keep saying so. That, my friend, is why I’ve left the game. All this talk about companies needing to say good things about their product despite reality is, quite frankly, hog wash. Lying to the public to protect share holder value has given us Enron, Tyco, and World Com. We now live in a new age of capitalism, one in which the public demands an honest broker. That’s what I wanted form SOE, an honest apology from an honest broker.

SOE had over two years to work on this "CU". If they had to rush it out the door to match the movie and had to skip normal development cycle it’s their own fault. I have no sympathy for them. The movie has been scheduled for the last six years, the game's been live for almost two. If they’ve been coding the CU for the last two years and the result is what was released, then I truly don’t have any sympathy for them, because no one disputes what a bug ridden peice of junk the "CU" release was.

Good bye SWG. May the force be with you…cause I won’t be.

PS: My character was a Master Ranger/Master Riflemen. I always used buffs, had to. I always used composite armor, had to. I’ve never soloed a Kyrate(sp?) dragon. Just thought I’d throw that in before being accused of “God Mode” style play…just to save time.

Checksix.

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Originally posted by Ch3cksix

Unbelievable. You obviously don't know when you’re being patronized.

You obviously don't know when I'm being patronizing.

How can you possibly defend SOE's handling of bugs when every single profession had a bug list as long as your arm? The argument that some bugs were just too hard to fix won't cut it for me. I'm a software engineer too and my company would never accept such an excuse form me. If I were to try that one I'd be cleaning out my office at the end of the week.

I think you'll find that I said the bugs were too difficult to fix in such a short time, and that their priorities weren't our priorities (at least not what we say they are). We want it all, but they have to decide between client stability and bugs which are annoying, but bypassable. Things that require balancing and game design decisions instead of programming ones take longer to fix than we've given them time. I merely think they need more time before they've earned the ire that is being heaped upon them. Maybe they will shape up. Maybe not. But it's too soon to scream DOOM at the top of our lungs just yet.

Heres a deal breaker for ya. All non combat professions are completely useless. Crafters must venture out into the wilds in order to harvest resources. SWG encounter spawns, unlike most other MMORPG games, pop into existence when the character travels through a zone. The server, being slow as servers tend to be, will often not pop a spawn into existence until you are directly on top of it. This means that crafters, being combat lvl 1 or at most combat lvl 67, are often one shot killed by spawns that didn't exist a moment ago.

Useless? Please. They just aren't as effective. Like I said, group with a CL80 guy and the mobs become gray and won't attack. Buy cheap camo kits. Use a slower landspeeder instead of a swoop. I've personally peeled across Dantooine as a CL1 character on my swoop and had no problem. I got incapped once, but not killed.

Previously, master craftsmen could also be a master pistoleer or riflemen or martial artists. That meant they were “combat viable” so the popping spawn problem wasn't such a big deal. If you say you've gotten used to the new way, I would bet you don’t currently play a crafting profession.

Actually, I'm an armorsmith and I was a shipwright before my wife decided she wanted to be one. I'll end up dropping armorsmith eventually in favor of combat, but I'm not exactly CL80 right now and have had no problems. Even if I wasn't a crafting profession, the point would still stand. Are there really people out there these days that think that attacking the integrity of the person destroys the integrity of their message? You want to debate, fine, but don't bother which such flimsy logical fallacies in the future.

I could go on about other deal breakers but that's the most heinous directly due to the new combat level implementation.

Why didn't you? I mean, you say you can, but you didn't. If you want to "win" the argument and convince someone that the CU is the worst thing since Hitler, why offer less information than you have? Is it because you don't really have it?

Criticize Blizzard if you must but their games have something SWG has not achieved in the last two years....POLISH.

I criticized their process, not their games. And you are more than welcome to go play WoW. I did. I came back to SWG. If that's the competition, than SOE won.

SOE and the SWG team obviously think they’ve done the right thing. They keep saying so. That, my friend, is why I’ve left the game.

Just out of curiosity, if you've left the game, why spend so much valuable hot air bitching about it? If you're done, be done and leave the rest of us alone.

All this talk about companies needing to say good things about their product despite reality is, quite frankly, hog wash. Lying to the public to protect share holder value has given us Enron, Tyco, and World Com. We now live in a new age of capitalism, one in which the public demands an honest broker. That’s what I wanted form SOE, an honest apology from an honest broker.

This statement show such a naive understanding that it is literally beyond my ability to dumb down my response such that you would would be capable of reading.

SOE had over two years to work on this "CU".

No they didn't, dumb ass. It's been, what, six months top? They didn't even seriously talk about the CU until after JtL came out.

If they had to rush it out the door to match the movie and had to skip normal development cycle it’s their own fault.

Actually, it's the movie's fault.

Good bye SWG. May the force be with you…cause I won’t be.

So long. Farwell.  Auf wiedersehn, Adieu.

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"Why didn't you? I mean, you say you can, but you didn't. If you want to "win" the argument and convince someone that the CU is the worst thing since Hitler, why offer less information than you have? Is it because you don't really have it?"

I was trying to stay on topic about combat level. I offer less information than I have in order to remain focused. If I had wanted to write an essay about the failings of the CU I would have done so.

The CU is not the worse thing since Hitler. The CU is part of a game. The holocust was the death of 6,000,000 people. I'm also not trying to "win" an argument. I'm trying to point out the falibility of your argument. Lets try to keep things in prospective without accuseing me of over reacting.

"You want to debate, fine, but don't bother which such flimsy logical fallacies in the future."

You're right, I should not have bet that you didn't play a crafting profesion. I will bet now that there is no accounting for taste, common sense or the ability to reason in some people. That means you :)

"Just out of curiosity, if you've left the game, why spend so much valuable hot air bitching about it? If you're done, be done and leave the rest of us alone."

Because others should be warned about this game before investing $50.00 + $14.99 / mo. Consider it a public service. If not "leaving you alone" can alert a potential user to the problems of the game, I consider it a reward well worth the price. Curiosity satisfied?

"This statement show such a naive understanding that it is literally beyond my ability to dumb down my response such that you would would be capable of reading."

Tell this to the guys now serving time in a Federal Prision. Then get back to me about my naivet'e. Oh and thank you for the third grade taunt, calling me dumb. Don't worry about dumbing down your responses, you're doing just fine :)

and finally, my favorite of your responses....

"No they didn't, dumb ass. It's been, what, six months top? They didn't even seriously talk about the CU until after JtL came out."

Not working on the CU until after the JTL expansion was a question of priority. Still their decision, still their fault. And again, thanks for the trip back to the third grade.

"Actually, it's the movie's fault."

Ok maybe this is my favorite of your responses. I really can't decide.

"So long. Farwell. Auf wiedersehn, Adieu"

Good bye to you also sir. May we never actually meet.