Originally posted by brostyn

Let's see here. What can SOE hang its hat on?

EQ? Nope, they took that from 500K subscribers down to a ghost town now.

EQ2? Nope. It was such a joke at launch they had to totally redo combat and encounters. Still a pretty lifeless game.

SWG? LOL. It had trouble from the get go. It went downhill a little more each patch until the NGE killed it. I will leave it at that.

VG? No, just no,

PotBS? WTF is this??

 

Ok, fanboys, what game are you basing SOE superb talents off of? Anything they touch is turned to crap. They have some 90 year old man trying to make decisions on what gamers want. They need to stick to making TVs. All their MMOs combined probably doesn't even reach what they had when EQ was in its prime.

EQ: old game.. very old game.

SWG: true it has problems from the start and they seemed to make decisions that pissed off the playerbase

EQ2: Started out "meh" and it is actually a better game now then when it started

Vangaurd: They didn't make it

POTBS: they didn't make it

2007 Total Hardware Sales

• Nintendo DS - 8,500,000
• Wii - 6,290,000
• Xbox 360 - 4,620,000
• PlayStation 2 - 3,970,000
• PSP - 3,820,000
• PlayStation 3 - 2,560,000
• Game Boy Advance - 1,120,000

There is a reason no one wants Sony products. PS2 is beating PS3 in sales!! How pathetic is that? Sony has to have 3 products on the market just to remain competitive.

Guess they run their console business the same way the run the MMO side. Push out a bunch of crap, and hope for the best.

Originally posted by Sovrath

 

Originally posted by brostyn

Let's see here. What can SOE hang its hat on?

EQ? Nope, they took that from 500K subscribers down to a ghost town now.

EQ2? Nope. It was such a joke at launch they had to totally redo combat and encounters. Still a pretty lifeless game.

SWG? LOL. It had trouble from the get go. It went downhill a little more each patch until the NGE killed it. I will leave it at that.

VG? No, just no,

PotBS? WTF is this??

 

Ok, fanboys, what game are you basing SOE superb talents off of? Anything they touch is turned to crap. They have some 90 year old man trying to make decisions on what gamers want. They need to stick to making TVs. All their MMOs combined probably doesn't even reach what they had when EQ was in its prime.

Woah, wait a minute. You can hate SOE all you want but hate it for the right reasons.

 

EQ: old game.. very old game.

SWG: true it has problems from the start and they seemed to make decisions that pissed off the playerbase

EQ2: Started out "meh" and it is actually a better game now then when it started

Vangaurd: They didn't make it

POTBS: they didn't make it

I was trying tro throw them a bone. Any bone. What product are they associated with that is any good? EQ2 has no where near the amount of subs EQ had. That is not where a business wants to be. A business wants to grow, not shrink.

Anyways, there will be a few people who will defend SOE till its kills them. Fine by me. Just don't expect everyone to stand aside if someone decides to try and tell the world how great they are.

Originally posted by Sovrath

 

Originally posted by brostyn

Let's see here. What can SOE hang its hat on?

EQ? Nope, they took that from 500K subscribers down to a ghost town now.

EQ2? Nope. It was such a joke at launch they had to totally redo combat and encounters. Still a pretty lifeless game.

SWG? LOL. It had trouble from the get go. It went downhill a little more each patch until the NGE killed it. I will leave it at that.

VG? No, just no,

PotBS? WTF is this??

 

Ok, fanboys, what game are you basing SOE superb talents off of? Anything they touch is turned to crap. They have some 90 year old man trying to make decisions on what gamers want. They need to stick to making TVs. All their MMOs combined probably doesn't even reach what they had when EQ was in its prime.

Woah, wait a minute. You can hate SOE all you want but hate it for the right reasons.

 

EQ: old game.. very old game.

SWG: true it has problems from the start and they seemed to make decisions that pissed off the playerbase

EQ2: Started out "meh" and it is actually a better game now then when it started

Vangaurd: They didn't make it

POTBS: they didn't make it

That was pretty much Bostyn's point lol. Your arugument is that EQ2 is better 3 years after they released it before it was ready (as they do all their games). Not much of a saving grace.

Originally posted by brostyn

2007 Total Hardware Sales

• Nintendo DS - 8,500,000
• Wii - 6,290,000
• Xbox 360 - 4,620,000
• PlayStation 2 - 3,970,000
• PSP - 3,820,000
• PlayStation 3 - 2,560,000
• Game Boy Advance - 1,120,000

There is a reason no one wants Sony products. PS2 is beating PS3 in sales!! How pathetic is that? Sony has to have 3 products on the market just to remain competitive.

Guess they run their console business the same way the run the MMO side. Push out a bunch of crap, and hope for the best.

Sony's console plan is brilliant -- they're hitting 3 different demographic markets and doing really well in them: portables, low end consoles, and high end consoles.  There's a level of saturation and low-demand in the HD market currently -- not everyone owns an hdtv and not everyone can afford an expensive console.  Maintaining the ps2 is an easy and lucrative way to make money and build consumer relationships that can entice those customers to stick with Sony in the coming generations. 

Say what you want about their mmo's but try to refrain from letting that hate cloud your judgement about their entire business model -- you come off sounding like a petty fool.

Originally posted by bverji

Originally posted by Sovrath

 

Originally posted by brostyn

Let's see here. What can SOE hang its hat on?

EQ? Nope, they took that from 500K subscribers down to a ghost town now.

EQ2? Nope. It was such a joke at launch they had to totally redo combat and encounters. Still a pretty lifeless game.

SWG? LOL. It had trouble from the get go. It went downhill a little more each patch until the NGE killed it. I will leave it at that.

VG? No, just no,

PotBS? WTF is this??

 

Ok, fanboys, what game are you basing SOE superb talents off of? Anything they touch is turned to crap. They have some 90 year old man trying to make decisions on what gamers want. They need to stick to making TVs. All their MMOs combined probably doesn't even reach what they had when EQ was in its prime.

Woah, wait a minute. You can hate SOE all you want but hate it for the right reasons.

 

EQ: old game.. very old game.

SWG: true it has problems from the start and they seemed to make decisions that pissed off the playerbase

EQ2: Started out "meh" and it is actually a better game now then when it started

Vangaurd: They didn't make it

POTBS: they didn't make it

That was pretty much Bostyn's point lol. Your arugument is that EQ2 is better 3 years after they released it before it was ready (as they do all their games). Not much of a saving grace.

My argument is that:

EQ is an old game and quite frankly was at the outset of MMO games. There really isn't any reason it should have any more subscribers than it does

SWG had problems and went down hill

EQ2 started out lackluster with what seemed like forced grouping, characters that looked like clay, seemed silly (almost harry potterish with some of the characters they have in there... I mean, come on, Froglocks?) And at leat they made it better (did not go downhill)

Vanguard they didn't make

POTBS They didn't make.

My point was exactly what I said.

His point seems to be "SOE made the games bad". I don't exactly see it that way. Some of these issues had nothing to do with SOE creating them at all.

So what? 2 out of 5 SOE ruined? Or actually 1 out of 5 as EQ2 wasn't ruined just didnt' start strongly.

Except his point was that SOE has nothing to point to as any real success.

They have nothing but a lot of faild games attributed to their name and a bunch of weak excusses doesn't cover up that  the games under SOE license don't preform well. Ultimatly whether it's because they decide to release to early, not listen to their players, but out bombs whatever the excuse, the over all reason is that their MMO department is poorly managed.

Originally posted by bverji

Except his point was that SOE has nothing to point to as any real success.

They have nothing but a lot of faild games attributed to their name and a bunch of weak excusses doesn't cover up that  the games under SOE license don't preform well. Ultimatly whether it's because they decide to release to early, not listen to their players, but out bombs whatever the excuse, the over all reason is that their MMO department is poorly managed.

But again, their lack of success is mostly due to publishing games of other game makers that just are poorly done.

The only two games you can really point to are SWG and EQ II.

I can't say whether SWG is better or worse off now then when it started because all I have to go on are a very vocal group of players (small/large?) who lambaste the whole nge thing and then the people who I know in my own life who thought the game was absolutely horrible before NGE.

EQ II was just lackluster when it launched. I don't think it was horrible at all. Just a bit bland.

So the Agency is their 3rd attempt.

The other games have nothing to do with SOE as far as quality.

So instead of a "OMG SOE is involved run for the hills" my take is more of a "meh, we'll see".

For what it is EQII is a good game. And given that MMO's seem to be a bit like Wine, then I can forgive it a bit of a bland launch as it has gotten better over time.

SWG? meh, they missed. But by everyone's standards. Sorry, but the people I know have nothing good to say about SWG pre NGE. So there. One absolute failure.

This thread has been an excellent source in finding people to block so I never have to listen to their irrational hate ever again.

So, Thank You original poster but dont respond to say "Your Welcome" because I wont be able to see it.

The Agency looks fantastic and I look forward to playing it.

all the haters must be former SWG players who played 24/7 and cried to momma when SOE messed it up, and now even when they see SOE as publisher they start bashing

fine with me if u hate a company THAT much that u wont ever give it a 2nd chance, i know i will at least try a game out if its got potential.. even blizzard had its probs

ill continue to monitor this game, altho i dont think ill play it

also coming here saying the game has already failed and then stating the posts u get are cracking u up really shows how blind and naive a person can be.. LOL

im not playing SWG but its still running so it has to be profitable for Sony, easy as that.

  I'll be watching the agency, just because the art direction interests me.  Of course, the only reason I am even doing that is because of the division merger that happened, causing Smed to have to answer to someone else in the SCE division.  While I personally DO hate SOE...technically Sony has changed things around so that there is room enough for me to believe that they deserve at least one last shot.

  But, I see a lot of people pointing at EQ when they defend SOE....and I can't imagine why.  At that time in MMO history, there was pretty much ONLY EQ and UO.  Honestly...compared to what we expect from our games today both of those would easily be considered lacking.  EQ was a success because it was the only thing of its kind at the time, not because it actually did anything all that well.  In fact, it had more bugs and empty content at its release (and through most of its life) than games like AO and SWG did...people just ignored it back then because the market was new.  Online worlds were new.

  I'll agree with anyone that has said SOE has nothing under their belt to really be proud of today.  They have HAD things to be proud of...but Blizzard did a great job of stealing all of their subs by doing little more than actually showing an interest in the customer.  Its not just SOE, though.  Blizzards command of the market has caused sweeping changes in the way companies approach the MMO consumer now.  All told, I think its for the best.

Originally posted by 3on1

all the haters must be former SWG players who played 24/7 and cried to momma when SOE messed it up, and now even when they see SOE as publisher they start bashing

fine with me if u hate a company THAT much that u wont ever give it a 2nd chance, i know i will at least try a game out if its got potential.. even blizzard had its probs

ill continue to monitor this game, altho i dont think ill play it

also coming here saying the game has already failed and then stating the posts u get are cracking u up really shows how blind and naive a person can be.. LOL

im not playing SWG but its still running so it has to be profitable for Sony, easy as that.