All Posts by BlackWatch

WoW did what many other companies do... they waited for the market to become stable and established.  Once that happened, Blizzard moved into the market and virtually took it over. 

Blizzard learned form everyone else's mistakes.  When WoW launched, they did a lot of the things right that others had done wrong. 

Will WAR really innovate?  Not as much as most might think.  They will do what WoW did, look at the current games on the market and try to right their wrongs.  They will add their own flavor and a few features that put their WAR stamp on the game, but outside of that... they will leverage a tried and true-proven formula.  Why re-invent the wheel when it's already spinning and has good momentum?

Originally posted by heerobya

I'm so sick of all this B.S. from the extreme hard-right side of MMO gamers.. the so called "hardcore."

They were around in the early days of the MMORPG. When games were a lot more tough and unforgiving.

They are now the very loud and very vocal minority. They feel as if they are right and all the new MMORPG players are wrong or stupid or weak etc. etc.etc. They feel that they are special because they've been banging through MMOs for a long time. You are not special. You are the minority.

Truth is, the genre has changed. Some of us old school MMO vets like me have changed with it and learned to enjoy the more casual aspects of our favorite MMOs.

You "hardcore" seem to cling to the bygone days of old, somehow expecting that they'll come back. They won't. It's plain and simple. You have ONE game in development that promises to be an "old school" experience, and most would consider that game to be vaporware with no real chance of release.

Besides that, there is one game out there that is still "hardcore" and follows the old school set of rules, EVE, and I know a lot of you enjoy it. Great, awesome, I'm happy for you. 

Now shut the f*#$ up.

I know there are a lot of newer MMO players that defend their modern-generation games with just as much zealotry and bias as you "old school" vets who do nothing but spit the same trash as the three posters before you did. (McDonalds, Brittney Spears, Chinese Gold farmers anyone?)

Seriously. Get over it. Play EVE, hope for Darkfall, or move on. All this WoW bashing and "carebear" crap and "linear sucks this" and "linear sucks that" bull sh!t is annoying, childish, and just plan stupid.

If you really are so "mature" and want games with more "challenge" that take more "intelligence" then you should learn to post with intelligence, maturity... or is that too challenging?

The younger generation MMO players are just as guilty of immaturity and stupidity as they exhaustively defend their MMO of choice from the "hardcore" zealots.

I know it won't end, I know ya'll don't care. You enjoy bickering back and forth about this that and the other thing, pretending as you type behind your anonymous screen name that you are more wise and intelligent then the poster before you, as if your opinion carries more weight.

This thread is ridiculous. I petition for it to be closed. It has run its course and is no longer useful or productive (if it ever was.)

The FACT is, there are more people playing MMOs today then there ever was before. Does this mean the MMO era is dying? No, no it does not.

Well said.

If server mergers are on the horizon... that's a long friggin horizon.  They have needed to happen for quite some time now.  SOE is just too hard headed for their own good... too full of pride.  They won't roll back and they won't merge servers.  

They could just have blinders on, too.  I don't know.  I think they are somewhat oblivious to the fact that they have fubar'd the game.  Or they are are too full of themselves and actually think they are doing a great job?

Clown shoes... all of them. 

"Abandon ship or abandon hope"...

Originally posted by jayheld90

Originally posted by Vazi

 

Originally posted by jayheld90

who is ralph kostner? ohh ohh you mean raph koster

I think he was the guy who played in that movie dances with wolves!!

 

Thanks though ill edit it lol!

well, that is actually kevin costner but, that has nothing to do with the topic, lol.

Who knew?

Name changes are no big deal.

If you have a player on 'ignore' or 'friends', the new name replaces the old one.  They auto change.

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What if a player respec's their toon?  If their name was something based off of 'frost' if they were a mage, but now they are fire or arcane... why not let them change? 

I can hear the 'NO, MAKE THEM GRIND A NEW TOON' responses now.  But why? 

I haven't paid for the service yet and I probably won't ever pay for it... but I like the fact that the option is there. 

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The 'formerly known as' note should be listed under a note somewhere with the player, however.  If a player is on your friends or ignore list, you should be allowed to have that information.

I don't agree with the idea of Blizz letting people know who all of your alts are.  I just don't.  There are reasons for some alts, honestly.  Maybe I just want to play for a while without being bothered?  If nobody knows that 'toonx' is one of 'toona's' alts, then I'll probably have a good time without any issues. 

If you are concerned about someone who has been an arse to you in the past simply popping up with a new name/alt... sure, it could happen.  But it won't take long to put them on ignore either, would it?  And, for the sake of being fair... what if they 'turned over a new leaf or wanted a fresh start?

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Take it a step further... there should be names Blizzard forces people to change (paid or not).  People with names like 'pwnurface' or 'commandapoop'... yeah, change them, now. 

I'd say start by defining 'major'. 

If the game hasn't made it to 'major' yet, it probably won't. 

I didn't see anything about the game that would be capable of drawing me in for the long haul.  I like SciFi more than Fantasy based games, so I really wish that TR would've been the 'end all/be all' of games for me... but it wasn't.

Niche at best, as others have said.  It does have a place, but it's not going to be any large/significant portion in the overall MMO landscape.

If you aren't one who has a bad habit of needing to 'keep up with the Joneses'... I think WoW is great.  The ability to hop into BG's and earn honor to get really nice gear is nice.  The 5-10 man instances are good as well.

Of course you'll have people running around who have all the latest/greatest stuff (mount, armor, weaps), but as long as you are having fun and have the ability to maintain a 'life outside of WoW'... go for it.

The game really is at your own pace anyway.  Where people get caught up is by thinking they need to 'catch up' to others. 

It's your $15/mo.  Play the way you enjoy it. 

I'm not someone who wants to spend 3-4 hours in a RAID on Vent, myself.  I've done it, but I'd prefer not to. 

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So, again, level and play at your speed.  Find a guild that does the same.

I think I like the initial option of signing up to play on a PvE server or a PvP server.

On a PvE server, you can run through 90% of the world without care... other than the environment. 

On a PvP server, you can kill or be killed in 90% of the world by environment or players.

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On a PvE server, you should have the option to flag yourself for PvP (PvP enabled).  This means, you are open to attack from the opposing faction(s) players who are also PvP enabled. 

On a PvP server, you don't get the option... you are flagged, automatically.  The second you step outside of 'new player area', you are ready to rumble.  (with certain conditions applying)

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I like the concept of controlling PvP by level, however.  Again, there is zero skill involved when a max level character kills a lowbie.  It's stupid... period.

Maybe players should be within 10 or so levels of one another in order to be open to ganking?

As long as there is some kind of control system in place to prevent that type of garbage, I'm all for it. 

If you hit the Arena Calculator on the official World of Warcraft site, to the lower right you can see the cost of items from Season 1, 2, and 3.  (armor/weapons/rings/etc.,..)

 ...

When Season 3 hit, I had enough Arena pts saved up to buy some Season 3 gear.

I also had 75K Honor pts saved up (along with 100 battle tokens from the BG's) to buy gear that filled in gaps between my season 2 and 3 gear.  Now I'll work this season to replace the Season 1 items with items from season 2 or 3 (preferably 3, obviously). 

And?

I realize that some people like to craft. 

I get that.  I'm not one of those people, but I get it.

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The combat system is what is broken in the game though. 

If crafters want to make items that never sell... cool.  Craft until your vendors are full.  

My point was, fixing Entertainer and Crafters was a higher priority with SOE for SWG than fixing the combat system and the animations.  And that really isn't where SOE should focus their time and energy, IMHO. 

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Any time I talk to a SOE Dev or any other representative of SOE via their support system, I get a line about adding features to the game that will bring more customers in.  I fail to see how spending a lot of Dev time on 'pink couches' is going to really bring customers back.

I know that 'some' people left the game when they changed crafting. 

I know that 'some' people left the game when they changed entertainer.

But of the few hundred people that I personally know that have cancelled their SWG accounts, NOT ONE of them said their reason for cancelling was due to crafting or 'entertaining'. 

SOE has a bad habit of fixing what wasn't broken, not fixing the things that have been broken for along time (or forever), or simply not taking any action on things that have been pointed out (because they can't fix them or they can't break them or they are 3 systems deep into their own game and don't know which string of code does exactly what any longer... yes, run-on sentence... amen).

How SOE works:

Players use boards and tirelessly communicate their top 25 'wants/wishes/needs'.

SOE ignores those.

SOE then issues their own poll with a list of what they'd like to work on... "low hanging fruit".

SOE takes poll data... spins it... and gives the feedback to the public that  is suposedly the original feedback from the public.

"Here's what you asked for (in a way)... and we worked on it... and... here you go!!!!!!"

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The players do ask for a lot from SOE for SWG.  Then again, SOE took a lot away from the players, too.  Customers can ask for whatever they want to ask for, they have the right.  And while I'm happy that the folks that wanted 'pink couches' in the game can now say 'SOE granted my wish'... the majority of customers that left and most of the 'currently playing' crowd would still like combat revised. 

Interesting how some of the old weapons in the game are now the best weapons in the game again...

Mind-fire gaffi stick used to be ftw! 

Of course, a good stun baton was nice as well "baby seal clubs".

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Any 'dot' weapon that went to Mind was 'the killer'.  And Tusken's dropped a lot of them. 

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Colored furniture is 'starwarsy' and 'iconic'.  Glad they spent time on that rather than combat animations, I'm telling you. 

WTG SWG artwork team!  YOU ARE UBAH!!!!!!

lol... seriously... just lol.

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Is the BlackSun Helm craftable now and colorable, too?

You hit 'the wall' that I did in SWG.  The game stopped being fun.  It became a job.  The 'xp/ rep grind' wasn't the job to me, honestly.  The 'job' with SWG was that I had to 'work' to make due with the new system.  Everything that used to be 2nd nature and intuitive to me was changed into something alien or foreign. I had to learn 'workarounds' for actions that should've been very simple.  Combat was less about fighting and more about worrying about how to make your character do 'this' or 'that' action.  OR... things that were changed in the game that you now have to learn to deal with/without.

No thanks.

The only thing climbing is the smell off of the 'warm/steaming pile' of a game that SWG has become. 

And if the game is climbing... remember, when you are rock bottom, the only place to go is up. 

BA would not fly... unless drugged or knocked out.  Besides, where's Murdock to fly him?  I mean, sure... there are Murlocks, but no Murdock. 

Mr T by a mile.  The guy would probably intimidate some geek with a 2500 Arena rating to do his PvP'ing for him anyway.  And nobody at Blizz will say anything about it... because he would inimidate them too.

Shat (as a Shaman), would probably just use Astral Recall and beam... er... port himself out of a bad situation anyway.  He would make 'bubble-hearth' Pally's pale by way of comparison. 

For starters.. Shat would have to be in an Alliance guild.  He just doesn't fit as a Horde.    The guy would fit as either Human or perhaps Dren (if he wants to play sham).  

 He would def find some action (or try to) with the Dren or Night Elf ladies... the Kirk in him would come out and he'd have to hit on all of the fem's, especially non-humans and aliens.   No female guildmate would be safe from this guy and he'd eventually wow-cyber them all enough that you'd have to guild-boot him.

Mr T would need to be Horde.  The guy fits as an Orc.  He just does.  I think he'd fit well in almost any Horde guild... even an RP guild.

Also, if you were going to put Mr T in a WoW movie... would you seriously cast the guy as a 'NightElf'?  Not in a million years (unless he's some type of evil hybrid, like Illidan).  The voice would pretty much sound natural while his Orc tore through people.  He may not want to 'fly', however (like his A-Team character BA). 

Why re-sub to SWG?

The things I did in SWG before I quit:

Log in then...

Chat up guildmates that are online.  I belong(ed) to one of the oldest and most respected guilds on the server.  The guild used to be full of folks.... easy to get a group to go do this or that and ALWAYS something happening.  Now, there are maybe 5 people that log in on a semi-regular basis.  Most of the time, there are maybe 1-2 people on... that's it.  (this is the 3rd guild I've been in.  guild 1/dead to CU.  guild 2/dead to NGE.  guild 3/last gasps before the long goodnight)

Chat up players that are on my 'friends list'.  Out of 100+ names on the friends list (not including guildmates), I can usually find 3 or less online at a given time.  (the list was revised shortly after the CU and again after the NGE... so this isn't some legacy list we're talking about)

Planet hop to look for action.  Hit all the starports in all the old hot spots.  Mos Eisley is the only place with any type of real 'crowd'.  And that crowd is largely made up of gold-farmers or vendor-bots for in-game stores.  The cantina has folks in there, too.  (every other place is a 'ghost town' unless it's Restuss or Mos Eis)

Look for PvP.  Restuss.  The end.   The 3 'static' PvP bases don't bring any real PvP anymore.  You may run into one person while you flip the base and grab stims or something. The other option... set up an event? Who wants to wait for some scheduled event?  Not I.  Once a week or month?  No thanks.  Guild war?  Not enough guilds left to really do much of anything... so we had to do a 'server' war.

So.. let's PvE.  Okay... I used to hit the DeathWatch Bunker, Sher'kar, or farm Nightsisters during my first runs with the NGE.  Oh yeah... the system was revised again and no longer really lets you solo like that.  HEY, there are new collectors quests and ..... wait, now we're not geared for this, even if it is supposed to be solo-able.

Let's check out our inventory in my museum houses.  Oh... the generations and generations of gear that is no longer worth anything other than a memorial.  I realize transition happens in all games... but most of the changes in SWG weren't centered around expansions.  The changes were centered around ... uh... senseless change without warrant or any real noteable return to the player community.

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I'm not even touching on issues that I may have with the UI, lack of combat animations, or bugs.  Those are a 'given' in SWG-NGE. 

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Maybe most of the issues that I listed could be resolved by being on a more populated server?  Well... I'm not going to start from scratch on a new server.  No thanks.  And, I'm also not going to pay SWG to move my toons from a 'dead' server to a server that has a pulse. 

So... why come back again? 

This feature doesn't really do anything other than offer a way for players to be pvp enabled in 'neutral' zones or zones where they would be natively shifted to 'non-attackable' status. 

So, all you salivating f'idiots who get a kick out of being max level and attacking mid-low level players... there is still hope that you can continue your favorite pass-time.  If they enable themselves for pvp, you can gank them in their lowb zones or wherever they may be.

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In all games, there should be a penalty for players who attack players much lower in level.  If you are a max level character killing players that con grey to you.... get a life. 

Like PvE... there should be a range where players can attack other players.  A threshold of 5 levels above/below. 

Obviously, if a lowb attacks you first... by all means, swing away.  But otherwise, it's lame.  No skill involved.   You should lose 'honor' or 'reputation' or 'xp' if you do this as a high level toon.  Perhaps it should cost money or result in a debuff?

That would work better than pvp-toggles, imho. 

Hate but respect:

EQ2:  hate because it feels like a care-bear game and like a massive grind.  quest, quest, quest.. 'ever-questing'.

I respect it because of many of the features and the art-work/graphics.  I think it does some things very well.

CoH/CoV:  hate because of the cookie-cutter dungeon feel.   Each dungeon pretty much had the same floorplan and same layout.  Sorry, but that wasn't exciting to me. 

I respect it for a number of reasons.  The fact that the game isn't full of orc's, troll's, and elf's... that's a plus.  I like the concept of a 'superhero' game.  The character creation and graphics in the game are pretty nice, imho.  I think the graphics could be 'sharper' and some of the animations could be better, but really... I think they are above satisfactory as they are.

Star Wars: Episode IV "I lost hope"

I've given up hope on SWG.  I don't want to go back now.  I'd rather just let SWG die (preCU/CU/NGE), all of it. 

I know we're entering the holiday season and it's the season of miracles/wishes and the like... but preCU/CU isn't coming back.  I don't want to play on an EMU server, either.  No thanks.  The servers will have less of a population than a life NGE server has now, anyway. 

We need a new SW MMO up and going.   Let's agree to go from there.  As long as it's done by a company that listens to 'real players', not fanboi'esque yes-men.

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To the OP's question though, if you had enough money, then I'm sure you could get that done.  If you can convince the stock holders that you would improve their position, then you could get the board to force this to happen.  I don't give a rip about licensing and all of that... enough money would make everyone else forget about it too.  Contracts can be re-written.  New names can be included. 

You would probably need to align yourself with a major player in the MMO world to get this to fly though.  You would need to have some real backing... unless, you had enough money to show that you could really back this yourself.

SOE wouldn't mind making some cash on SWG for a change.  They've been slapped around, kicked, spat upon, and laughed at by the gaming industry for a while.  If they actually turned a buck on the game (via your purchase of it), it might be a 'he who laughs last' scenario'. 

I don't know about you though... I'd rather buy a car that's going to run for a while.  I don't mind buying the old 50-60's car and restoring it, but it won't be my daily driver.  I don't think a preCU SWG could really fill all the needs for other players either... not now. 

But yeah.. with enough cash in this day/time, you can get anything done.  Look at the number of World Series' the Yankees have won.  :-)