All Posts by Obraik

Diversity is always good, I just don't think it's a good idea to take away what the professions currently have - that never ends well.

I do disagree that BM should be made into a seperate profession.  I've been a BH/BM ever since Chapter 6 when BM was added and it's a style of play I quite enjoy.

Originally posted by jinxit

Originally posted by PapaLazarou

I don't understand why they can't do a mass house packup for people who havn't logged in for 6 months. I mean having to place their house down again wont stop people from coming back :\

 

Well they did do that demolition thing a while back, wasn't very successful seeing a lot of the players that left gave admin rights to pretty much anyone that wanted there lots and when sony said about demolitioning the abandoned houses all those folks just paid the maintenance fees and saved the extra housing they were given from being destroyed.

Paying maint did nothing to save the houses.  Houses were marked abandoned based on the last time the account that they belonged to subbed.  At the time, they had to have had an inactive account for a year for their house to be marked Abandoned.  Houses were packed up regardless of if they had maint in them or not and the only way to stop it was to re-sub.

Supposedly, there's another packup on the way, my guess is that it'll be part of what ever solution they announce for the low-pop servers.

You can get attachments and powerups (referred to as PuPs) for the 3 main wearable categories from 3 of the 4 crafting professions.  Munitions do armour attachments/PuPs, Engineer's do weapon attachments/pups and Domestics do Clothing attachment/PuPs.  Exotic's are any stat that's made from a modifier that have a ratio greater then 1 and can only be put into Chestpeices, Weapons or Shirts.  You have complete freedom of choice on what stats you have on the attachments, you just need to tell the crafter what you want.

Originally posted by efefia

Originally posted by Obraik

"Server architecture" has nothing to do with graphics lag.  If you're suffering from FPS lag then 99% of it is due to your system.
 

True, on the box, SWG & WoW's requirements do look simillar but SWG's has never really been all that accurate.  Sure, the game will run on those "recommended" specs but it won't perform well or look overly flash.  Realisticly, for SWG you want 1-2gb RAM, at least a 2GHz CPU and a non-budget graphics card.  RAM is the more important thing tho.

 

Who said anything about graphics lag? The game has poor performance, it always has done. "Server architecture" has nothing to do with how well an mmo works then? did you really just say that? lol

It's a combination of poor server set ups and piss poor coding. Instead of working relentlessly on performance SOE worked relentlessly on making 2 new games, waste of resources, scarce resources that they shouldn't have diverted.

Pretty sure I said Server Architecture has nothing to do with graphics lag.  In SWG you can tell if the server is causing a slow down by look at the Area Activity rating which is a representation of the load on the server.  For instance, Restuss on Chilastra the other day had a activity rating of "Very Heavy" during a large battle which would mean that yes, the lag then was server side.

Originally posted by Burntvet

Originally posted by Obraik

Originally posted by efefia

Originally posted by Obraik

How much RAM do you have?  What kinda graphics card?  CPU speed?

SWG's graphics are more complex then WoW's cartoonish graphics so compartively, WoW doesn't require as high system specs to run as SWG does.

 

Actually Obraik, the minimum specs listed for both SWG and WoW are almost identical. SWG just runs like shit for a lot of people because the server architecture (despite numerous "upgrades" by SOE) is antiquated and the fact that there's 3 different versions of the game cluttering up the client.

"Server architecture" has nothing to do with graphics lag.  If you're suffering from FPS lag then 99% of it is due to your system.
 

True, on the box, SWG & WoW's requirements do look simillar but SWG's has never really been all that accurate.  Sure, the game will run on those "recommended" specs but it won't perform well or look overly flash.  Realisticly, for SWG you want 1-2gb RAM, at least a 2GHz CPU and a non-budget graphics card.  RAM is the more important thing tho.

 

I am running a quad-core system with 8 gigs of RAM, a 64-bit operating system, and dual 8800s for video and I still got a crap load of lag during the last vet trial. Rubberbanding too. And crashes to desktop. And bugged instances.

/Try again, Obriak

The reason SWG is slow and crashy, to answer the OP, is that SOE will not spend the money/effort on updating anything for this game, code or hardware, because it is a bad investment. Companies spend money, to make money. The don't continue to pour money down a hole forever.

SWG, in its current laggy, bug riddled form, is all that it will ever be.  New "content" notwithstanding.

Rubber banding is a server -> client discrepency issue, which there is a fix for on TC at the moment. 

I have a machine with 4gb of RAM, quad core and a 9800GTS graphics card and unless it's a big battle in Restuss with alot of players and NPCs I have very few cases where I lose FPS.  Even running FRAPS at the same time doesn't cause an issue.  However, there is a current Vista compatibility issue where when you quit the game it will crash rather the close gracefully - annoying but not a big issue since you're closing the game anyway.

Although it's not really related to the topic but since you brought it up, if SOE wasn't spending money on code for the game then we wouldn't be seeing content Chapters.  Hoth, whatever your opinion of it, will be a significant investment for them.

Originally posted by efefia

Originally posted by Obraik

How much RAM do you have?  What kinda graphics card?  CPU speed?

SWG's graphics are more complex then WoW's cartoonish graphics so compartively, WoW doesn't require as high system specs to run as SWG does.

 

Actually Obraik, the minimum specs listed for both SWG and WoW are almost identical. SWG just runs like shit for a lot of people because the server architecture (despite numerous "upgrades" by SOE) is antiquated and the fact that there's 3 different versions of the game cluttering up the client.

"Server architecture" has nothing to do with graphics lag.  If you're suffering from FPS lag then 99% of it is due to your system.
 

True, on the box, SWG & WoW's requirements do look simillar but SWG's has never really been all that accurate.  Sure, the game will run on those "recommended" specs but it won't perform well or look overly flash.  Realisticly, for SWG you want 1-2gb RAM, at least a 2GHz CPU and a non-budget graphics card.  RAM is the more important thing tho.

How much RAM do you have?  What kinda graphics card?  CPU speed?

SWG's graphics are more complex then WoW's cartoonish graphics so compartively, WoW doesn't require as high system specs to run as SWG does.

Originally posted by pdxgeek

Originally posted by kobie173

Increase in MOB difficulty. PvE had essentially been on godmode for quite some time, and Ch. 6 made the NPCs more difficult.

It was basically a mini-NGE. SOE did this even though none of the current players were asking for it.

I beg to differ on that.  ALOT of people on the offiical forums and here, including a good chunk of those that left the game with the NGE, were complaining that there was no challenge - everyone could kill everything with little effort and no need for a group, especially after all professions had recently been beefed up with new expertise abilities.  Chapter 6 brought tactics back to PvE that had been missing since the NGE went Live

Originally posted by Suvroc

Originally posted by Obraik

Crafting - I've been crafting for 3.5 years now and I still find it fun :)  Crafting is like a whole different game, with its own form of PvP.  As I mentioned, I enjoy playing a support profession and in a way, playing an Armoursmith/Weaponsmith is kinda like being a support profession.  I get a bit of a kcik by seeing weapons I've made showing up in the combat log, heh.  I enjoy the challenge of trying new things to attract business from the competition by either making stuff better then they can or using your people skills.  There is a bit of pressure inolved with crafting, especially once you'be built up a reputation and you're getting a constant stream of orders and for some odd reason, I tend to enjoy pressure situations - probably why I still post on these forums :P

 

This really is perhaps the best part of SWG. Crafting is really the gem of the whole SWG experience IMO, regardless of what version of SWG one prefers.

But I look at crafting from a slightly different perspective then you Obraik. I enjoyed being an architect for the first 2 years of SWG because I liked what I could do to help my friends, guild, and city. I liked building something with others, and having something that we could collectivly be proud of - our metropolis.

Being an architect allowed me to help develop a virtual community, as well as contribute to make our mark on the landscape of Dantooine.

Well, architect operates a bit differenty to AS and WS which are heavily stat based.  This makes them, IMO, more competitive then other crafting professions like Architect, Tailor, etc.
 

Ugh, I had previously written something before but IE8 it all its Beta glory decided it wanted to crash :|  Anyway...

Here's what I'm doing currently that I find fun:

PvP - I enjoy PvP'ing as a debuff Medic (much like Combat Medic of pre-NGE).  You usually win in some kinda evil ways which all comes down to reading your opponents moves and reacting at the right time for the best effect.  PvP as a BH/BM is also quite fun as you're not only managing your character but your pet as well and it's also a bit of a challenge to be good at it, but once you get to that level you can do quite a bit of damage :)

Heroics - There's a few reason I find these fun.  Firstly, I enjoy group related activites, which is kind of important to enjoy Heroics.  As a problem solver type of person, I enjoy the various challenges they present - from the simple challenges that the Tusken instance provides to the much more complex ones that the Exar Kun instance has.  I enjoy playing a support role and the Medic profession, which plays a pretty important role in the Heroics and also provides a number of its own challenges.  I also enjoy the community aspect of them, probably the most actually.   In the groups I run with for them, we don't have the typical "you must only speak when asked and only about the instance" attitude, we like to let our hair down and have fun with pretty random conversations.

Collections - Some people focus on these as their main game activity.  Personally, I think this is the wrong way to go about them and takes the fun out of them and makes them a grind.  I choose to do them casually when I feel like it.  For instance, tonight I casually did some Meatlump collections to try pickup a Meatlump collection peice I've been after for a few weeks now while I was watching some TV and chatting with guildies on Vent and in guildchat.  I'm a pack rat by nature, so Collections kinda come natural to me, heh.

Crafting - I've been crafting for 3.5 years now and I still find it fun :)  Crafting is like a whole different game, with its own form of PvP.  As I mentioned, I enjoy playing a support profession and in a way, playing an Armoursmith/Weaponsmith is kinda like being a support profession.  I get a bit of a kcik by seeing weapons I've made showing up in the combat log, heh.  I enjoy the challenge of trying new things to attract business from the competition by either making stuff better then they can or using your people skills.  There is a bit of pressure inolved with crafting, especially once you'be built up a reputation and you're getting a constant stream of orders and for some odd reason, I tend to enjoy pressure situations - probably why I still post on these forums :P

Originally posted by Karahandras

SOE show absolutely no interest in fixing any of the problems in SWG, they much prefer to add rushed(and mostly not very good) content and in the process add more problems still.

I only ever saw 1 attempt at a bug bash while i was playing and this was predominatley about changing the way traders sampled resources and didn't actually fix any of the problems.

I think you've been going around with blinders on...

As an example, there's a fix on TC at the moment to fix up some of the rubberbanding issues that happen when you cross a server boundry on a vehicle.

Originally posted by ArcAngel3

Originally posted by Obraik

Originally posted by JYCowboy

Arc,

To further strengthen your point, the 3 cards convertable to Collection System items are very importent to.  These provide an extra chance for players to claim the rare Collection items they may need.  40% of the total population is Jedi (from a poll over a year ago) and they all crave the Sith 4/5 Waistpack Holo.  Its pretty rare to most trying to loot it solo or otherwise.  These provide a new chance at it and other rare Collectables.  Many collectables provide, again, those in game stats.  These collections are not, however, exlusivie to the TCG.

Credit farmers are already looking to the TCG loot cards as a form a currancy in dealing with the playerbase, I have heard.  So, SOE may have made a blunder or smart move in dealing with the RMT situation.  They are not adverse to making some coin on the third parties behalf.  This is all new yet and we shall see where it goes.

My time helping players has run pretty thin, I have to say.  I have met many of the "Target Audiance" and they are not like my friends in CIA.  I haven't been logging in as much of late but I post on the forums often.  You are correct in that I still answer questions and provide info where I can.  <whispers> I even go to SOE Fan Faire and have fun .  But hey, its Vegas and I don't go alone .

 

Heh, yes, there's a chance to get a sith 4/5 WP from that random collection item thing but considering it picks an item from every collection in the game, the chances are quite slim.  Anybody looking to get those cards in hope of getting a specific collection drop needs an intervention :P

 

Heh, I think we almost agree for once Obraik lol.  I'd take it as far as to say they need an intervention for gambling addiction though, and I'm not sure you'd take that step.  I still like exchanging ideas with you.  Wanna know why?  Because most of the SOE defence that goes on here involves outright deception, insults or some kind of attempt to invalidate someone else's viewpoint.

I don't know how or why you do it, but you manage to stick up for SOE and SWG without lying, without insulting, and without trying to silence people or undermine their valid points.   I honestly don't think they give you a lot of material to work with, and that must be a challenge (my opinion).

/tiphat buddy.  I can't see myself defending SOE, even with the truth, but I have to give you credit for your methods.  I also appreciate the help you provide to current players.  Helping gamers have fun is always a good thing in my books.

No, I wouldn't call it a gambling addiction because here in NZ the TCG isn't considered gambling :)

Anyway, you and Grandam are pretty rare yourselves...most of the "anti-swg" movement also involves all those things you mentioned about the SWG supporters yet you guys prefer to engage in a proper discussion, with acknowledgment that there's different views out there...

Originally posted by JYCowboy

Arc,

To further strengthen your point, the 3 cards convertable to Collection System items are very importent to.  These provide an extra chance for players to claim the rare Collection items they may need.  40% of the total population is Jedi (from a poll over a year ago) and they all crave the Sith 4/5 Waistpack Holo.  Its pretty rare to most trying to loot it solo or otherwise.  These provide a new chance at it and other rare Collectables.  Many collectables provide, again, those in game stats.  These collections are not, however, exlusivie to the TCG.

Credit farmers are already looking to the TCG loot cards as a form a currancy in dealing with the playerbase, I have heard.  So, SOE may have made a blunder or smart move in dealing with the RMT situation.  They are not adverse to making some coin on the third parties behalf.  This is all new yet and we shall see where it goes.

My time helping players has run pretty thin, I have to say.  I have met many of the "Target Audiance" and they are not like my friends in CIA.  I haven't been logging in as much of late but I post on the forums often.  You are correct in that I still answer questions and provide info where I can.  <whispers> I even go to SOE Fan Faire and have fun .  But hey, its Vegas and I don't go alone .

 

Heh, yes, there's a chance to get a sith 4/5 WP from that random collection item thing but considering it picks an item from every collection in the game, the chances are quite slim.  Anybody looking to get those cards in hope of getting a specific collection drop needs an intervention :P

Originally posted by MikeMB

Originally posted by Obraik

Originally posted by sookster54

I think the reason they aren't making a planet is because they don't fully know the codes to make it, remember that they had to dismantle the JTL codes so they can figure out how to add the ISD instance?

 

Not sure where you read that...the ISD instance doesn't actually involve the Space part of the game.  The only thing Space about it is that you have to fly in to land on it, from there it's all the ground game, much like the old Corvette instances.

I think what he means is that they had to dismantle the JTL code in order to see how it worked and how to add new things into Space.

This is something that "I" can understand. Up untill this year when was the last big Space Content? RoTW I believe was the last big Space update untill this year. I mean one thing you have to remember JTL uses the same engine as the ground game, however even the older Dev's have talked about how much of a pain it was to work on it.

And when they did start working on new Space stuff, I believe none of the old JTL People were around for it. So yes chances are they took it apart to see how it worked in order to put everything in.

The ISD isn't space content though.  Sure, you enter into it through an object in space but the ISD you fly up to is no different to a Space Station you use to land on a planet with.  Yes, they talked about having to dismantle the JTL code to add the recent space content, but that's in reference to the new gunboats, space sector, NPC tiers, ship components and space missions that they added.

Originally posted by ekic

Originally posted by Obraik

Originally posted by tillamook

I soo would have laughed if the OP had posted a pic of Obraik's toon getting owned. I was expecting it, I was dissappointed though.

Lol, there's plenty of those around ;)

*starts going through screenshots* :P

I'll go searching for the pics I have of you in the box :P

Originally posted by GrandAm

Originally posted by Obraik

Originally posted by GrandAm

Originally posted by Obraik

Originally posted by efefia

Originally posted by Obraik

 

NDA's apply to CEO's too ;)  So, assuming that the EA CEO did in fact release this "news" to a blog (call it what you want, it's still a blog...) then that was a major breach of NDA.

 

how about I call it a world renowned news publisher? Cos that's what it is...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cond%C3%A9_Nast_Publications

Yeah, he probably breached an NDA, you should totally call him out on that, maybe he'll fire himself ... lmao

Again, the "report" was posted as a blog entry, which curiously is bringing up a "page cannot be found" error when I try view it.

Assuming the EA CEO did infact say that, just because he's a CEO doesn't save him from the wrath of Lucas ;)

 

I agree with you Obraik.  Even a CEO is accountable to NDA's and LA are the type of people that enforce them.  But assuming again he said it, he is the absolute head of the company they have a deal with.  Even if LA has a right to hold him accountable, do you think they would hold him accountable considering their relationship they have concerning the new MMO.  Do you believe they are going to make a stink with aurguably the largest interactive video game software company in the world.  A company that has dozens of IPs and titles in their portfolio plus the absolute know how to promote them.  What do you think LA would really do, risk future relationships with someone they need now or in the future; or do you think they would say nothing.  I mean less than nothing.  They haven't even gave a "no comment."  Something they have done for less impactful things.

Back to assuming his comments are real.  Could you please post the link of the bog for "page not found."  Also the last time I followed this rumor I thought it was said at E3 to an investment magazine reporter.  Please feel free to correct any misunderstandings you feel I may have regarding details of the rumor.

Thanks.

 

Heh, I would argue against EA's "know how" but that's a discussion for a different forum ;)  Whether LA did or didn't do something regarding the supposed comment is something we're unlikely to know - although I'm sure nothing will be done to him by LA if the supposed event never happened ;)  Has anyone heard anything from the EA guy since that Blog entry?

The site must have just been suffering from an internet glitch as it's now displaying again, http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/07/17/ea-to-play-in-knights-of-the-old-republic

As for Nancy...she failed at her attempt to kill the Uncle Owen experience (or, UOE) ;)  I take part in that UOE everynight...

 

Thanks for the reply and link.

You are right EA "know how" is open for debate.  However I did use it with "promote".  Wouldn't you agree they know how to promote their products?  I'll admit they may have quality problems in various areas, but they do know how to promote IMO.  Kind of like McD's has crappy low quality food, but that stupid clown brings in the kids.  Although McD's in Germany have Kareoke machines, the food actually looks like the picture, serve beer, and people actually dress up when they go like it is a fancy place.  I know, I've seen it.

The fact nobody has heard from this guy again is my point.  If somebody printed an alledged quote from him that was false, I'm sure he would have enforced a retraction or a least denied he said it through another outlet.  Of course speculation on my part.  Maybe he doesn't care about misquotes.  But considering EA has other MMO products I don't believe he would let anyone put words in his mouth relating to anything in this industry.  It just doesn't make sense.

"UOE" I like that.  While you are doing that why don't you see if you can get a little "AVE" while you are at it. ;)

Guess what "AVE" is short for.

I give up...what's AVE? :P
 

Originally posted by PapaLazarou

Originally posted by Obraik

Originally posted by PapaLazarou

I'll agree SWG doesn't feel like Star Wars, I mean when I'm playing the game I don't have the movie experience that I want.

 

SWG was always marketed that you get to make your own "Star Wars experience"

 

The problem is whats in the game isn't really Star Wars to me. I mean Star Wars is mainly set out in space and SWG has JTLS as some crap expansion which from what I played of it, sucks..... I mean where are the giant PVP battlles out in space of Rebels trying to blow up the Death Star and that? Wheres the running away from Imperial blockades falcon style? Wheres the meaningful link to PVP on the ground and space like in Episode 6 with them trying to take down the shield on endor so the Rebels can take down the Death Star? All I got from the space expansion was grind on boring missions and visit a pointless POI of something I never even heard of before.

The same goes for the ground game really because while they've made it better than before where it had nothing to do with Star Wars at all, all you did was grind missions........ wow they did that in the movies didn't they lol. Still all i'm doing is grinding on npc's for collections and grinding PVP in some city that noone cares about for lewt.  I mean Restuss seriously? Fucking you coulda given me some battleground from the movies.

Another thing I hate is how being a Jedi feels like I've gone back to Episode 4 where they were stuck to the ground and fighting like 80 year old men. Sure thats offering a movie experience lol but fucking the new movies gave me flying in the air and doing crazy shit. You can't give me that stuff and then go back.......... thats like fucking giving me a HDTV and then telling me to go watch SDTV.

However I never played SWG because of Star Wars, I played it because I'm a mmo addict and theres nothing else better to play lol.

What's crap about JTL?  Your mileage will vary on the space PvP depending on your server servers such as Starsider have regular space PvP events and random PvP within Deep Space.  There's quite alot of videos of space PvP on YouTube such as this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWxoxXR_EpI.   The space game is essentially a seperate game that's linked into the main ground game.  It can be quite involved setting up the perfect ship loadout to give you the best performance in the ship of your choice.  I recommend you give it another try if you haven't done so recently :)
 

The way I've seen it is that SWG has always been more about being a part of the Star Wars world and creating your own character within it rather then featuring epic movie type events on a daily basis.  That's not to s