All Posts by FikusOfAhazi

Originally posted by Obee

I wouldn't doubt that BioWare's MMO will have some (slight) sandbox elements, but I don't see the game having a ton of them.  From what has been said by the folks at BioWare, the main focus of their MMO will be to deliver a strong story directed game, one that is similar to their single player MMOs.  Hopefully they include significan choices that have an impact on the outcome of the stories, which is one of the main draws to thir post Baldur's Gate games (every post Baldur's Gate game had some sort of moral choices that affected the outcome of the story, even if the KotOR choices were little more than agreeing with the developer's worldview gave you light side points, while disagreeing, even if the choice had no real evilness to it, gave dark side points).

I really hope that if choices are included, they are more involved than rude response is evil, nice respinse is good (or the Mass Effect allignment system).

 

 

I pretty much agree. What I don't get is why the hell did they spend all the money it would take to put that particular dev team together...who's background is mostly UO and pre-cu, the exepction being the guy who did KOTOR, if they were just gonna clone WOW? Why hire those guys if they were just doing kotor online? You would think a team made up of pretty much all the remaining "worldly" mmo devs would make something...worldly. Who knows though.

Originally posted by trancejeremy

The recent free weekend seems to have brought back a whole lot of ex-players.  Nice to see the game relatively crowded...

yea, it's so much fun having to wait in line for 5 minutes every time I wanna play. Meh...

Hope they can get the population cap raised a little higher before Moria hits.

Originally posted by BlackWizards

Ok interesting info, few more questions, where could you pvp, was it in special zone or anywhere? Did you gain/lose anything from pvp?

You could PVP anywhere. there were no special zones. Player made cities and bases were the special zones back then. PVP was Rebel vs. Imperial, guild vs. guild, or dueling. Factional you could be overt (pvp enabled) or covert (pvp disabled..but still a member of the faction and could come to the aid of other members in pvp and attack factionsl npcs). When covert, if you helped anyone who was pvp enabled, healed or defended them, you were flagged (pvp enabled) for 5 minutes after you ended combat. If you attacked an oppsing faction npc while covert you were flagged (pvp enabled) so people couldnt just go into your faction's outpost and kill all the NPC's while you stand there and watch. There was a lame attempr at planetary control..control was completely useless however. The only real loss was decay from use of your equipment, and the time it took to get back into battle. Jedi, the loss was extemely severe at first..non existant at the end. That goes for both pve and pvp though.

Any help?

The "great" ArcAngel?

I've heard it all now.

LOL..just kidding Arc:)

Anyone know who exactly pays for what? Does LEC pay for the license and for developement..and SOE is just contracted out to do the dev'ing. Do they go 50/50? Does one pay for the IP while the other pays for development? Anyone know?

Originally posted by Obee

I doubt they are spending any of their own money.  LEC is financing the game, as they did with SWG during development.  LEC is the publisher hiring out the game development to another development studio.  There is definitely a profit sharing clause to the contract, which is why EA went after BioWare like they did.  I doubt too much renegotiation went on after EA bought BioWare.  I also bet the contract is much more in LEC's favor after their experience with SWG.

 

 

I would imagine Bioware would have to purchase the use of the IP from LucasFilm even if that money came from their publisher LEC. If LEC wanted to develope themselves..they would prolly have to purchase the use of the IP from LucasFilm as well lol. IF LucasFilm wanted it to be exclusive..LEC couldnt change that. At least thats how I think it was explained...but your post sounds much more correct i have to admit. So your prolly right.

You think Bioware would spend the extra cash to make it exclusive? I bet EA would.

Originally posted by Obee

Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi

Originally posted by Apache_

Originally posted by CasualMaker

Originally posted by Gutboy

Actually if SOE really cared about money they would roll back to Pre-CU, since they do not it shows they care more about the current subscriber then ever before in game.

 

I agree, and since I don't subscribe to the "it's pride pride all about pride!" view (at least on SOE's part, since I think they really are "all about the money"), this is one of the strongest underpinnings to my belief that such a decision is completely out of SOE's hands. They couldn't (ie. are not allowed to) do a roll-back or classic server if they wanted to.

 

I agree with you on the part about a rollback not being in SoE's hands.  Ive always believed that if they could rollback they would.  But are not allowed for some reason or another.  I could go on and on with my little conspiracy theory but we'll just leave it at that.  :)

Its way too late to rollback.

No classic servers Probably because it wouldnt be profitable for one of the companies. LEC would have to donate the use of their IP--not profitable, or SOE would have to give up a larger chunk of the revenue to LEC because they donated their IP--not profitable for SOE then. Just taking a wild guess of coarse.
 

 

Classic servers wouldn't be profitable, but they would be a huge source of positive PR for SOE.  The main problem is that the folks in charge honestly think the current game is better than the pre-NGE version.  The NGE was inflicted on the game because the folks in charge (SOE folks, from those in charge of the dev team to SOe management) neither understood the game, nor did they like it.  The figured that changing the game to be much more like the games they like (WoW) would make the game more fun and thus, more successful.

Look at the reaction by the dev team every time they release a new major publish and there is no increase in subs, along with complaints on the OBoards.  They get very pissy.  The entire reason the game will never be anything more than the excrement it currently is, is because nobody with any influence is aware how awful the game truely is, which keeps them from making changes that the current game needs.  They do know the old version was much more popular, but they don't understand why.  Look at Dan Rubenfield blaming marketing for the failure of the NGE.  He honestly thinks the NGE made the game better, but that marketing dropped the ball and caused the NGE to flop.  The folks in charge of SOE most likely feel the same way, and have convinced the folks at LEC the same thing.

The latest grasp at straws has the developers claiming they don't consider the game to be the NGE any longer, since such major changes as, uh, adding collection grinds and cookie cutter instances, hve substantially changed the game to no longer be similar to the NGE, aside from the poorly concieved classes, horrid combat system, poor animations, and complete lack of fun gameplay.  Their new claim has worked out so well that the same folks who constantly defended the NGE as an improvement, are now claiming the game is better because the NGE is gone.

I actually agree with the sentiment.  SWG is no longer SWG: NGE, it is SWG: NGE with cookie cutter instances and collection grinds.  Now, instead of playing a poorly thought out class with the single worst combat system in any MMO available, you can play a poorly though out class with the single worst combat system in any MMO available even longer, since you need to kill even more random critters for the collections and the instance MOBs have even more hit points than normal MOBs!.  What an improvement!

 

 

If it turns out Bioware is making a SW mmo. And its a real MMO. If SWG is not around when it launches I think that means the contract between Bioware and LEC is an exclusive one, and why there are no classic servers. They would be 'technically" impossible to do? Who knows. Can't disagree with anything ya said. Although I doubt LEC is concerned with SOE reputation enough to allow them a chance to ruin the IP's reputation again....for free. They shoulda rolled back when we begged them to..it really did suck. We were angry and bitter for sure..but we weren't lying. It's too late for anything now. IF they really believed in the current version I think they would spend as much money as they could. They don't spend anything, so...I assume they're outta chances/ ideas.
 

The best feature in Darkfall.....You can kill Gold Sellers/Spammers:) There is no better content.

However, I'm still thinking its too good to be true. I hope it works out..this is my near my dream game feature wise. But, like I said its just too good to be true for me right now. so I purposely stay away from getting involved in the community on the forums, or let myself get excited about it.

Gold Selling/spamming is bad for gaming btw.

Originally posted by Orthedos

Originally posted by Obee

 

forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m

Quote:

I'm bloody sick of hearing that "SOE can't do anything right" or whatever. And this is the probably fiftieth thread I've seen in two months or less blaming the Dev team or SOE in general. So excuse me being a little bit more than "cranky." We pay them, to play their game. They can do whatever they please with it. They own it. We're just "renting space" in the game, that's all. You can't tell them what to do unless you own company stock..... And even then......

I can't even comprehend that mentality.  That goes beyond Stockholm Syndrome.  Unbelievable...

 

 

 

What is wrong with his statement, 100% correct.  You don't comprehend his mentality.  What about his mentality?  He stated something correct, and you have issues with it?

You rented a movie, and half way through you disagree with the way the main actor treats his wife.  So you send an email demanding a change in script and refilming, or you sue Fox or Disney?  Try it.

You only pay $15 for a month, and you think you have the rights to decide on how the game should be developed?  Only $15 and you think you are god.  Go count your contributions again.  Its $15 and yes only a merge pitiful pathetic dismal $15.  Stop feeling big about it.

You are 100% entitled to feeling unhappy about the game.  Quit it, like many of us did.  That is all you can do.  You have no say in SoE or whatever the new department is now called.  They own the game, and you have the option to subscribe or quit.  Sorry that is all you can do.  As for owning Sony Corporation, dream on.

If somebody other than SOE is making the next SW MMO..and the negative word of mouth that SOE is drowning in had anything to do with it...then I figure we've cost SOE potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. Not to shabby. I have no idea if the decision to go with someone else was influenced at all by the 1000's of whiney vets or not..or if there is even another sw mmo being made at all, but if it has, your little rebuttal there is a tad off the mark. Not to mention..if we wanna play the classic version for free, well thats being worked on. Of coarse it's just as possible that we havent influenced anything and wont be seeing a good SW mmo made by a good company either. At least we tried. Better than sticking up for SOE's right to rip people off.

BTW..that 15 dolla is for the persitant world. That was the deal and anyone who really wanted a full refund could have gotten it had they gotten their lawyer to ask for it. Doesnt seem SOE even agrees with you then.

Originally posted by Apache_

Originally posted by CasualMaker

Originally posted by Gutboy

Actually if SOE really cared about money they would roll back to Pre-CU, since they do not it shows they care more about the current subscriber then ever before in game.

 

I agree, and since I don't subscribe to the "it's pride pride all about pride!" view (at least on SOE's part, since I think they really are "all about the money"), this is one of the strongest underpinnings to my belief that such a decision is completely out of SOE's hands. They couldn't (ie. are not allowed to) do a roll-back or classic server if they wanted to.

 

I agree with you on the part about a rollback not being in SoE's hands.  Ive always believed that if they could rollback they would.  But are not allowed for some reason or another.  I could go on and on with my little conspiracy theory but we'll just leave it at that.  :)

Its way too late to rollback.

No classic servers Probably because it wouldnt be profitable for one of the companies. LEC would have to donate the use of their IP--not profitable, or SOE would have to give up a larger chunk of the revenue to LEC because they donated their IP--not profitable for SOE then. Just taking a wild guess of coarse.
 

Originally posted by Gutboy

As a side note I have been playing since June 26th 2003 without a break other than 2 months in Dec 2005/Jan 2006. So I know exactly what has happened in game.

SOE knows that even if they did a rollback to Nov 14th 2005 they would not bring back players, and hey would then have to convert all the content since then to work in CU, it's not going to happen ever. The NGE has been in place longer than the pre-cu and CU combined.

 

All of the "content" added since Nov 15 has been from a scrapped expansion. Droid comander should be about the last of it. Unless you consider profession tweaks and few new collections that followed the first ones content. Just joking btw:)

Originally posted by hipiap

Originally posted by iwantmyswg

who would want to work on the nge anyway.

what $OE needs to do is hire koster and the old devs back and give us back our pre-cu system.

Did you forget that Koster and Company coded the CU under orders from LA? NOPE

 

Or that they wrote the NGE under orders from LA? NOPE

 

Or that the whiners here need to grow up. NEVER!!

In your opinion..whats the difference between the 2? Like what do you do in PVP in LOTRO that is different from what you do in PVP in WAR? Or PVE or whatever. Just asking, maybe the answer will help you decide.

There is no compliment in the MMO world greater than an emulator:)

Did they change it so you can access your bank from any bank terminal or do you have to go to the one you set as "your" bank? I can't remember.

Thats what they usually do I think. Just be patient.

 Isn't SOE's station exchange illegal in few states because it violates gambling laws? This isnt a first for SOE. I imagine they get around those laws(for now) because they give away free packs every month. No idea though..Im pretty clueless about the law here...obviously.

  Looking at how the swg card game differs from the eq's...you get an idea of what SOE thinks of the swg playerbase. I'd never thought I'd see something like this in SWG. I think the people who used to play would have never accepted it. Glad I was gone when they stuck a card game in SWG..my friends would have laughed their asses off at me for playing a mmo with a card game implemented this way.

It cost them their reputation.

Honestly I've heard 10 mil to 1 mil to there is no licence fee. All speculation. I would imagine that the exclusive rights to the SW IP in MMO's is outrageous. I would imagine that LEC wants to keep it exclusive because of that. Who knows though, not me thats for sure.

Great summary using the known information Arc. Thanks for taking the time to put that together for us..was a good read.