All Posts by Suvroc

Originally posted by Beatnik59

Why didn't pre-CU suffer from this whole "can't play long enough to get the necessary loot" syndrome?

Because pre-CU didn't have uber rare loot at its inception.  Items were manufactured in large enough quantities that everyone was able to get an adequate supply of whatever they needed.  While prices were high on some items, they weren't bank breaking high.

Of course, a lot of this changed with the introduction of the holocrons, skilltapes, the "DOT CDEFs and combat knives of doom," as well as things like Krayt pearls and crystals.  Those things that could only be found via rare random drop and not manufactured or harvested tended to destroy the beauty and balance of pre-CU.

But of course, as I said, SOE doesn't want to create games that work.  They want to create 24 hour casinos that work, where people sit around paying money and playing at all hours hoping to win the jackpot that's at 10,000 to 1 odds.  I can't blame them for following this model, as it seems to be a proven formula for success in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.  However, if we wanted "casino style gameplay," we'd go to the casino, or even patron an online casino.

Very good points Beatnik!

I particularily liked your analogy of 24 hour casinos as this is precisely what RMT's feel like to me.

If Blizzard made a SW MMO I bet thats exactly what it would look like.

To cartoony for me. I prefer more realism.

Originally posted by Daffid011

 

You still seem to be laboring under the assumption that you are entitled to the exact same rewards and benefits that some other player received when in fact you are entitled only to the same opportunities.  Why do you think you are entitled to get balancing just because you don't play as much as someone else?  What exactly is this disadvantage you suffer?  Sorry that you can't put more time into a game, but the whole entire concept of playing a game is to achieve.  The moment you pay someone for those achievements you should just stop playing.  

 

 

Do you expect to get the same amount of money as someone who works twice as much as you?  Do you expect a 4 year college degree if you only complete 2 years worth?  There are plenty of things in the world that are happening that are against the law or should not be happening.  The fact that people are doing them anyhow is not just reason to make them legal is it? 

 

The point is you get what you put into PLAYING the game.  Just because you don't have the same exact rewards as someone else at the end of the month doesn't mean you are somehow a disadvantaged poor soul who needs a leg up.  You are not disadvantaged, you are just greedy or lazy and want something for no effort in a game.  There is no other way to explain that.

 

Wife- Hi Honey, how was work today?

Husband- Great!  I earned enough to get 10 levels and that fiery sword of noob slaying.  Beware to those unemployed who keep pwning me.

 

*sigh*

To add to this I'd say that this type of assumption of entitlement becomes a very slippery slope. Once you begin accomodating some "casual gamers" there will always be someone who plays even less demanding the same entitlement. When does it stop, and who sets the limits?

Originally posted by Obraik

Again, you're basing that on what you see posted on the forums.  The majority of the players DON'T post on the forums.

Hell, at this point why don't they just make a focus group from the worst hit servers, or at the very least insert a poll at the login screen? Or perhaps even as a reason for discontinung their subscription on the exit survey.

All of this is redundent anyway because if it was to SoE's benefit to do a server merge you know they do it then - regardless of whether people wanted it or not.

Originally posted by Torak

 

Originally posted by jaxscorpio34

Originally posted by ummax

 

I'm a vet and was playing in july 2003 and as a vet I am telling anyone mooning over something silly like this to GET OVER IT

 

hows that"

anyhow you know this is a great sport when you have the flu I should try this more often it passes the time better then those soap operas PLUS it acts like them too.  When I get the flu again in a year I can come back and say the IDENTICAL same thing over again because nothing will have changed just like those tv shows the world turns or whatever another world? gah ..

 

Why?  It takes no effort at all on my part to come here every so often and contribute to the give 'SOE a black eye campaign.'  I do love reading your posts and seeing how your mind works though.  In your wierd little mind, my coming here for a couple of minutes every so often equates to being unable to deal with real life issues.  Odd that, in the last month, I've not missed a single day of work, dealt with the loss of my grandmother, taken care of my dog (who's arthritis is getting worse by the day), run 5 miles a night, worked out three times per week, travelled to visit family, paid my bills, watched TV, played 4 rounds of golf and spent hours on the driving range, and gone to the movies.  You're absolutely correct though, the folks who come here and complain about how SOE treats it's customers have lost all touch with reality and are completely unable to function in normal society.

 

The problem is SOE got over SWG a long time ago. They have moved on to other projects.

Nothing anyone writes here affects them whatso ever.

 

You guys shouldn't turn this into a personal assault on one another, it doesn't prove anything.

 

 I don't know if I'd agree that SOE has "gotten over" SWG. It seems that whenever Smed speaks with an interviewer he's still discussing "the lessons learned" concerning SWG. Even if it's just some meaningless rheotoric on his part he's still trying to change the image of SoE and SWG.

However I do agree that SoE has moved on from SWG, and it's essentially on autopilot now. SoE/SCE's focus now is on the broadest audience possilbe - which means a cross-platform, easily accessable, and least complex game.

Originally posted by Mehjrian

I find this interesting:

"John Smedley: The lessons we've learned from our community have just been extraordinary. For years now we've been running something called the Influencer Summit, where we pull 100 people, and 50 of those people will be our worst critics."

Wasn't this a big influence on the NGE, and CU back in the day (granted they were probably working on it anyway to begin with)? So of a few hundred thousand people playing, they pulled 100 people to the "Influencer Summit"? This is less than 1% of the population. No wonder why we didn't get anything we wanted pre-CU. Why did they not read forums?

I definitely approve of holding meetings like this, but to me there should have been more than 100 people... although I don't know how realistic that would have been. Just seems like a silly way to critique your game, listening to 100 people out of 200k or so.

Actually I think the NGE was a result of a focus group. Which is more damaging IMO because SoE would have been in a position to chose their demographic. They must have known that this new demographic of consumers was in sharp contrast to their existing players - and fully understood that they were purposely disposing of this unwanted group with the expectation of getting far more subscriptions.

This, coupled with this recent interview, implies to me that SoE are more interested in finding the right demographic to maximise profits rather then building a great game and letting the demographic find them.

Originally posted by Rippentuck

 

I agree, I wish people would please just knock it off with the "pre-cu" stuff -- and this coming from someone who loved it back in the day.  Just wasting space repeatedly calling for something that can't happen.  Move on, for petes sake.

 

Rip

That's funny because I feel exactly the same way about the NGE.  ; )

Originally posted by BaronJuJu

You put a poll to give SOE some feedback on SWG EULA in the MMORPG.com SWG Vet forum? Yeah, I'm sure that will be unbiased and a true depiction of the current players desires.

True, but I don't think any other group of gamers has been so affected (either negatively or positively depending on what side of the fence you're sitting on) by a EULA. Most gamers I would imagine are blissfully unaware of what a EULA says because they haven't had to really pay attention to it.

It's only through SoE using the EULA as a defense that I've become more aware of what a EULA is. I've not experienced that awareness through any other MMO.

Originally posted by Gutboy

Just asking but why would you expect to see people in Theed? The only quests there are for people in the low to mid 20's. When you log on for 5 minutes at a time with pre-set expectations you are going to see exactly what you thought you would see. 

 

To me the lack of people in areas like Theed represent a fundemental change in gaming philosophies between pre-CU and NGE. On one hand we have the pre-CU philosophy of emersion through interdependency and social networking. and on the other hand  the NGE offered a more instant form of action at the expense of a sense of community.

The beauty of the pre-CU philosophy was that it brought all people together in specific areas (and there were a lot of those specific areas) that normally wouldn't have that interaction. At places like Theed you would have your traders, entertainers, doctors, and combat charcters all mingling together - and all without the limitations of levels!

That to me is what an MMO should be - dynamic, social, and diverse.

It's amazing to me to see this guy talk about how they're listening now, but who exactly is telling them that micro-transactions are the future of MMO's?

And something else that bothers me id the whole "broader audience" thing.

Broader audience means lowest common denominator, which in turn creates generic and bland products. It's this mentality that I believe is partially to blame for the stagnation in this genre.

Originally posted by BlackWatch

 

Originally posted by Suvroc

Don't worry OP.

I'm sure SoE/SCE will find a way to cheapen the Hoth experience - like a cameo of the ghost of Jar-Jar, or something else equally unrelated to timeline and/or location.

Probably more true than we could ever imagine. 

 

expect to see:

Introduction of Jar-Jar to Hoth:  Hoth has long since been a vacation spot for Gungan's. 

Hoth was once a lush, water based world.  Due to the route the planet travels around the star... nearly the entire planet freezes while furthest away form their solar system's sun(s).

Large amount of aquatic life at the 'inner-core', where the planet is still warm and the water isn't frozen.

Huge Gungan party at 'the inner-core'.  (yeah, more gungans!)

Eventual 'polar-ice cap melting' storyline as the planet gets closer to their sun(s).  (Al Goregun will be represented as a scientist here).

...

Twin-Ion Bob-sleds and/or Polar Pod Racers will be released with the expansion.

 

OMG that line is brilliant!

And everyone can search for the elusive Manbearpig  ; )

Originally posted by Obraik

 

Originally posted by Valeran

 

Originally posted by Obraik

 

Originally posted by Thunderous

It's not worth the $$$.  Musty is a bugged piece of crap and the developers have stated on the officialforums that the Musty code is too difficult for them.  I would not expect the content to be worth spending any money on as far as Musty goes.

Besides, what is there REALLY to do there?  I never really got into it.

As I said, the only thing that is bugged about Mustafar is the entry part of the instances, possibly because they used the server resources from those instances to supply the new instances they created (the problems with the Musty instances didn't start until the new ones were added).  As I also said, this issue is being solved by converting the Mustafar instances to work like the newer ones, which is a much more robust instance system then what the Mustafar instances ever had.  Heh, so much for your claim of it being too hard to work on ;)

 

Mustafar is a good source of a lot of the high end equipment available in the game.  Up until the Chapter 7+ instances were added, it provided some of the more challenging ground content availble in the game, with the majority of it having alot of repeat value - unlike Kashyyyk which I only have a need to visit every few months.  In my personal opinion, of the two ground expansion planets, Mustafar provides far better content.

 

Rather than make excuses just say that they broke and are trying to fix it.

I don't think I gave an excuse, I just detailed what the situation is with the Mustafar instances.

 

They're not 100% unuseable though.  My guild ran a number of them the other week for the new Jedi and BH in the guild needing new equipment.

Nor are they 100% usable are they?

You spend a lot of time making do with what you have Obraik, and I can appreciate that, but at some point you have to begin demanding more. Otherwise they continue to feed you less then 100% everytime.

Don't let apathy win.

Don't worry OP.

I'm sure SoE/SCE will find a way to cheapen the Hoth experience - like a cameo of the ghost of Jar-Jar, or something else equally unrelated to timeline and/or location.

Originally posted by Burntvet

 Not the dignified image of the Jedi from the movies....

Perhaps not, but you did exactly what I'd expect any Jedi to do during the period of ANH - run and hide.  : )

For that time period this was very Star Warsy and iconic!

Yep, I think it worked just fine.

I like concepts of consequences for your actions, and getting a TEF was certainly one of them.

Originally posted by Torak

 

What have you vets done? Show us how to support you in your fight  for your pre-NGE servers or ....stfu already. Stop being so darn sensitive and insulted at everything and grab your set and do something about it. Only SOE can help you. It doesn't matter one bit what is written here. SOE moved on, they could give a rats rear about this. You guys need to make this happen.

Your assumption is that the only possible outcome is for a classic server, when in fact another possible outcome is to educate and warn fellow gamers of the percieved issues regarding SoE/SWG - and of the potentially dangerous precedent of what the NGE represents.

I personally believe dialogue and good converstation is doing something about it, as it encourages SoE to work better at fixing their image - and hopefully ensures that others do not attempt to discard their customers so casually.

After all knowledge is power , so the more informed the consumer is the better off the industry becomes IMO.

Some people really do like to use the term "hater" alot.

Although I've had a few bad experiences with SoE I wouldn't call myself a "hater". But alternatively can anyone give me a solid reason why I should be a "fan" of SoE?

Originally posted by TookyG

Originally posted by Burntvet

 

 

Just so. This mythical quest for balance was as much a reason for the ultimate failure of SWG, as anything else. Every build was NOT supposed to be able beat every other build in single combat. Balance was a group dynamic, not an individual one. Heck, during one of the huge raging PvP battles that went on, a group of 3 of us, a TKA/Swordsman, a carbineer/CH and a rifleman/doc bottled up the Cnet starport for almost 40 minutes, because our COLLECTIVE abilities were enough to keep people from overwhelming us. It drove melee stackers nuts, that they couldn't break out, and reinforce their friends fighting in the city. They complained that we were "exploiting", when all we were doing was working as a group.

Good times those, now gone.

Yes, you had to know which fights you could win and which you couldn't.  That, in my opinion, was the foundation of "skill" in old SWG.  If you didn't know your build's strengths and weaknesses you were almost certainly not going to do well.

And that wasn't just limited to PvP either.

That same holds true for PvE also. You needed to inspect the mob you were going to attack and make the determination of what weapon would be most effective (i.e. what type of damage, and what level of armor piercing).

And still there was the threat of being taken off guard by a mob that whips out a stun baton.