All Posts by Dramhail

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"Chew cheeew cheew" "perrrrang" "fizzzz" <--- Storm troopers.

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Originally posted by Fadeus

You are trying to connect 2 things together that do not connect together. Go ahead and keep beleiving they don't have the old data though, that is what they would want you to beleive.

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Originally posted by Fadeus

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You both are looking at it only from a management vs. player perspective and not from a developer standpoint. That is code already done, wether they use the Pre-CU flavor of the game ever again or not doesn't matter. That is still code they can use for future reference or samples for other projects in the least.

Developers don't just burn the ships because they feel their new improvements are superior, there is still alot of work in the old stuff that they may need again one day for something.

As I have already said, they have every single publish safe and sound stored. You can beleive that or not but this isn't about hating the vets, wanting to show up the players, or management trying to make a statement to the players.

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Originally posted by Fadeus

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You are kidding right? That would be insane to get rid of old code like that. What purpose would it serve, some hard drive or tape space?

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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

I had an almost undetectable level of respect for Smed, like the begruding respect you have for poorly done transvestites. They're not fooling anyone, but hey... they're trying. Attaboy! Er, whatever.

The same way Smed and Co. tried to defend the NGE... not fooling anyone, but good for you for keeping at it! You gotta admire the tenacity! OK, maybe admire a little? Awright, at least despise a little less.

BUT: when you f' up, DON'T point fingers. Take it like a she-man.

Smed's little bog-blog here suggests SWG failed because they were handcuffed, and LA doesn't understand online gaming. Keep in mind Smed's evil spin powers.

LA's input could have been "you may not contradict the canon" and "why haven't you kept your publish promises?" Apply plenty o' spin, this could be Smed's handcuffing and lack-of-understanding repectively. I expected Smed to be more professional than this. Short-sighted to a fault is one thing, but bashing your partner to C.Y.A., that's low.

There is one reason that this game has failed, it's been said elsewhere in this thread... "lack of vision" is a polite way of saying ignorant or apathetic, "lack of direction" can also mean lazy.

All the other problems mentioned here, the CU, Jedi a'poppin, unstable player economy, they were game-altering issues. But these could have been overcome in time by sincerely working to correct them.

Instead those responsible took what must have seemed an easy path. After deciding the current playerbase was too expensive or difficult to maintain, they cried "do-over" and cobbled together the current train wreck. Since that time, all the public has received is gum flaps and polished coprolites from the previous game-amputations.

And those responsible continue to take the easy route: this week's half-hearted apologies and finger pointing... more words, words, words.

Either STHU and GBW and demonstrate something other than the "100 monkeys, 100 keyboards" game development method, or show some grace in defeat and abdicate claim to this MMO IP to someone who will honestly nuture it.

Imagine you're sending a mix tape to SOE/LEC to break up. What songs would you put on it? My $0.02

It's the End of the World as We Know It - REM

I Can't Stand It - Wilco

Won't Be Fooled Again - The Who

The OP wasn't whoring up a post-count. You won't see oliverc4 again.

The original post was created as stealth marketing, adding to the Focus Testing thread wouldn't have had the same visibility.

I also call shenanigans because the post reads like a cut-and-pasted advertisement.

If I weren't so lazy, I'd keep track of the posters with 1-day-old accounts who write how the game has improved, and how people should come back and see. I'd also see if those people wrote anything else later, or just faded into the background.

If I weren't lazy, I'd note other young accounts trolling legitimate discussions of the game, then fading. Then I could determine if someone's trying to characterize detractors as a vocal, illiterate minority.

But... I'm lazy. And I'm also aware of the irony (being a new account meself)

So what does "technologically impossible" mean in SmedOE speak?

"We overwrote the backups"?

or

"We don't wanna"?

The question is, is LucasArts going to learn the right lessons from this?

A successful SWG MMORPG is possible...

How can you feel sympathy for someone who won't learn from their mistakes?

I keep thinking of more.

It will be difficult to win these former players back. If such disappointment were possible once, it can happen again.

If IF there were a way to recoup from this fiasco, it would take something like the following:

1. Server consolidation, with FREE character transfers. Why SOE charged $30 per transfer I never understood. If it was a gating tactic, this could be achieved by an escalating cost... (1st move of the data is free, 2nd move of same is $30, 3rd is $60, etc.) However, consolidate the servers and be open to future servers if needed. Peak server loads of < 800 are just embarassing to the company and depressing for the player.

2. An increased development effort from SOE and/or LA. 70 developers are far too few, if that's including artists, asset/item balance, game mechanics and so on. I certainly hope Smed's 70 developers don't include QA. Don't assume this would be a poor investment... the hope for any future SW MMORPG rides on this.

3. When such sweeping changes are needed, set up an alternate server with said changes, and let the players decide which is better for the game. I'm not suggesting a vote or poll which might give slanted results. You could measure how many actively played characters exist on each game type, how frequently played, etc.

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Gah. It's difficult to remain objective.

Possibly the best case scenario would be to yank the license from SOE entirely, citing gross fiduciary negligence on the part of SOE re: the SW license... Then coordinate with NCSoft, BioWare/Pandemic or some other quality developer that demonstrates higher standards. I have to assume LA didn't allow SOE to play with this significant license without nearly 100% control remaining with LA. SOE had their chances, 2 1/2 years of chances. SOE's ivory tower approach has clearly been a 'disconnect' with 21st century MMORPG realities.

I've come away from the SWG experience feeling that SOE is a very small potatoes operation.

IIRC, Smedly has said that SOE has 700 employees and up to 70 developers were working on SWG at one time.

I used to work for a small software development company that sold data management software to a small industry... and we had over 1000 employees. About 20% of those employees were developers. Our customer base was around 30,000.

I believe SWG's playerbase was quoted as 100,000 at its height. Now?

With the resources available to the parent company, there are times I've thought SOE never took SWG seriously.

Niklas / Exekile wrote, "why people are so mad about it?"

I've given this a lot of thought, and I think this can be answered a number of ways.

Players are upset about loss of previous game efforts. Some had played since launch, and NGE literally wiped out up to 29 months (June '03 to Nov. '05) worth of gameplay effort... especially painful for those in the 23 removed professions. Yes, SWGDev tried to make the conversions equal, but it was no equal exchange. It could not be, with the game design changing from skill-based to level-based / point-and-click, twitch-based combat.

I can't speak from experience the disappointment the players of Jedi must have felt. Granted, that system was out of control... but it was a natural occurrence from the lack of endgame in the pre-NGE system. For clarity, nothing I've read suggests any further endgame has been added post-NGE.

It also wiped out that same 29 month-old player economy. With no item decay, and questionable post-conversion stats, formerlly well crafted or hard won items are now a moot point. It's also important to note, there seems to be no hope for improvement in the near-to-mid future. The NGE game model seems fundamentally incompatible with the cooperative community that existed before.

Then of course, there's the way the NGE was handled. There had been no warning, no preparation. No test servers, no gradual roll-out... And the timing of the NGE in regards to the last expansion left people very concerned.

These sweeping changes were not applied in cooperation with the community, it felt as though they were done in spite of the community.

And now we have the self-perpetuating system we see today. What minor accomplishments there are to be had are difficult to enjoy with such low server populations for company.

Ultimately, I feel most of the unhappiest former players are feeling betrayed. It's a specific kind of betrayal. Even with problems of the CU (1st *minor* revamp) players felt there was hope for the future of SWG. Yes, a profession's revamp might be pushed off one more month... but you could take temporary solace in a different profession, or immerse yourself in the community, or side-track into some crafting, any of the other pre-NGE working systems.

I and others I've spoken to feel those 30 months of hope and good faith from the playerbase could not have been repaid more cruelly.

The space game deserves mention. Having the interaction of a semi-twitch based game and the more (potentially) strategic ground game was (potentially) enjoyable, and quite an accomplishment. I don't know of any other game that managed this kind of seamless interaction.

Yes, EVE has space combat, but it's very different from SWG's JTL.

The built-in respec of pre-NGE was nice too, knowing that if you weren't happy with your current 'build', you could choose new professions for the same avatar. It helped a player develop a long view.

The crafting system, as mentioned, was really impressive as well.

I think the single character servers were a nice addition as well. It allowed players to become more immersed in their roles, a character built a reputation... And it may have reduced the amount of pointless griefing. Yes, there were trolls I'll admit. But I think there were less than there could have been.

The non-combat professions were a nice touch. You knew if you got tired of combat, you could have a hobby on the side.

Ultimately, it was the feeling of potential that made pre-NGE SWG so great. If only SOE had placed more emphasis on content, the majority of the playerbase would have been satisfied. And by content, I mean
anything. New furniture schematics, clothing, *just about anything even re-skinned for variety* would have helped. Fixing battlefields would have done something too... (anyone remember those?)

As it was, many players ended up grinding for Jedi for lack of anything else to do.

It's the lost potential IMO that has made the former game population so upset. NGE was (at first, now proven distastrous) an easy way out for SOE, narrowed SWG's horizons, and destroyed the hope for a better game in one strike.