Star Wars Galaxies Forum » SWG Veteran Refuge » SWG today second best to SWG pre-NGE

Originally posted by blueshadow

Originally posted by ArcAngel3

I think that responding to different posts in a thread is considered acceptable behaviour.  I responded to you and also to Harleyrider.  I don't think that's an example of wasting MMORPG database space or attempting to up a post count lol.

I also don't think people need to feel badly about enjoying discussion forums.  If discussing MMOs wasn't enjoyable for me, I wouldn't do it.  Fact of the matter is, I've been talking about games in one form or another for over 30 years.  As of now, I'm beta testing two, and just signed up for a third.

I'm glad you can say that you respect people who don't like the game at this point.  That's a positive shift in perspective I think.  Earlier on, I think we were referred to as people blinded by hate and stuck in the past.  Thanks for letting go of those assumptions. 

As for the GCW update.  It may not concern you personally in light of your playing style, but I think it will be an indication of whether or not SOE has learned to do things differently.  If they develop a pattern of following through on commitments, making sure new content is functional, and respecting player accomplishments, I think that I and a lot of other gamers would be pretty happy.

If you don't want to continue the discussion here, that's okay.  Thanks for initiating it, and happy gaming ^_^.

I guess you are right.

We all enjoy discussions, more than most likely that is why we are here in the first place. :)

And yes, I do respect those that don't like SWG as I respect all those that don't like my favourite pizza too. I mean. We are all different and thank all that is good for that.

SOE has done some horrible mistake and they are paying a pretty high price in terms of customer loyality.

bah.. you got me started.

I am not a fan of SOE. Something struck me about the way that they communicate. SOE vs Blizzard.

I am sure they both have the same goals:  to make money. But whenever a Blizzard representative talks, they always gets it to sound like they are there for players. Players first then everything else. Even players before Lore. SOE they have another way of speaking. Its more in the terms of. We will do this. Lots will not like but they will see that its not that bad etc. They don't give that "illusion" of we are there only for you as player. More like you are here for us kind of thing. They probably would need some coaching in how to communicate :P

I still like SWG though :) And I  wish that SOE  will understand that even though proclaimed dead by someone. SWG  is a pearl of a game. A one of a kind. So please put more resources into it and give us a expansion! (*points at SOE, can just hope that some of them reads this forum)

The only thing that I think are a little negative (and then I  do not count in whats not there or what could have been), but no way near game breaking as someone has pointed out is some of the items given by the trading cards. The business is sill extremely good for me as crafter at Starsider. (No way near a dead server as sometimes suggested. Actually the oposite.  People complains that its too full and have to be closed due to problems by being overpopulated).

There are some pretty neat buildings given by trading cards. And I  think that they should have given a lot more to architects. That would also have made the face of player cities a little updated and to add flavour to their loyal customers. I mean that its not there is not gamebreaking (as suggested).  its not  even near 1 / 10 as horrible as someone have suggested, but it would have been rewarding for the crafters that have been there faitfully for 5 years.

Fact is. Foundation is still there. Its good. Its not what it could have been. But its good. And one expansion wrecked havoc for many. One new and good expansion pack could really bring back some of the lost glory to a game that still shines as different and good.

.. Okay.  Better leave now before Im stuck here.

 

 

Seems we're not really that far apart after all Blue ^_^.  I'm glad you still find the pearls left in the game.  Other friends of mine do as well.  I'm aware of the problems, but also realize that people still enjoy it, and that it has its positive aspects.  I think this is where we get a pitcher and have a drink to our favourite fantasy land lol.  Happy gaming brother.

Originally posted by Daffid011

Originally posted by blueshadow 

These are just games. If you have fun when logging in, it does not matter about politics or all that SOE  this and SOE that stuff etc. I mean. 

Nothing in life is perfect. Life itself is not perfect. SWG  is not perfect.. SOE is not perfect. Its an imperfect world, we are imperfect as human beings so how could SWG be perfect. Far from it.

 

A companies policies do matter though.  I had fun playing soe games.  That is until their policies hit me which is always the case. 

The combat revamp in EQ2 for example.  The constant shift in design direction in swg.  There are just so many examples.

 

With soe it always goes ends up being something the company does that ends up chasing me away.  Maybe if I only enjoyed one small aspect of the game like you, but I don't.  Nor could I fall back to the endless justification repeated by so many like "sure soe isn't pefect, but who is", "swg has problems, but what game doesn't".  I find those comments echoed so often from those who advocate a return to soe games or trying to make the games sound fixed or better than they actually are. 

Lowering my standards or expectations will not change the game experience if I were to return, because the change that needs to occur cannot come from me.  It must come from the company that constantly screws up the game and the relationship with their players. 

I don't think people are going to go back to soe for more of the same. 

 

Funny thing is, there are a number of time's I've thought of going back to the game.  I loved it, and loved the community even more.  Though most of my friends quit, some still play, and I miss hanging with them.  I consider going back and then hear about the GCW rank being wiped out, or the heroic instances being bugged, or the TCG loot items mucking with the game economy etc..  That suggests to me that if I go back, I'm in for more shennanigans from Smed and the gang.  I just don't need the hassles in something that is supposed to be fun, and that I'm paying for. 

If SOE ever gets their act together, I'd love to play some of their games, someday.  I just need to see that their stuff is going to work properly, be enjoyable and that they're going to treat me with a basic level of respect.  Meanwhile, I can wait.  I'm a patient guy, most times lol.

If i was the ahead of swg instead of smedley i would have stuck with pre-cu and updates would be loyal to star wars canon. i would listen to players as long as the requests fit with the system and timeline. seems to me SOE does what ever devs can think of matter it fits canon or not. and is george lucas must be getting greedy as well he said the zombie theme was okay for the book and swg but then again raghouls where zombie like so guess it could fit who knows.

I have a question. If I was to come back just to try SWG again, will my characters still be there if there have been a Server merge. I used to play on Bria. I mean, if my chars and stuff are still there, i might consider trying SWG again. If they are gone, then no thanks. So is there any way to find this out without first paying for a month...?

Originally posted by Criper

I have a question. If I was to come back just to try SWG again, will my characters still be there if there have been a Server merge. I used to play on Bria. I mean, if my chars and stuff are still there, i might consider trying SWG again. If they are gone, then no thanks. So is there any way to find this out without first paying for a month...?

Bria is one of the populated and open servers. Other servers have been closed down, but Bria remains.

Your characters are still there, should you remember your login-details from the past.

Your houses have most likely been packed up, which means that everything inside have been preserved but the location is lost and has likely been taken over by active players. Part of the past updates was that the players needed a way to refresh the planetary availability of house lots to avoid dead cities taking up city lots that counted towards the city cap and prevented active players from creating and running cities.

What this means to you is that your items are safe. Open the datapad, find an open spot and unpack the house by radial-ing your house from the datapad and select the option to unpack the house.

A good advice would also be to find a guild on Bria that can help you get up to speed on the game and help you get set up again and help with whatever questions should arise. Look on the Bria forums for recruitment posts.

Your house might be packed up, but that doesn't mean your site is taken.  It is very possible that your spot is empty as there were far more houses packed up than there were players looking for an area to put their house.

You might also have a free trial if you want to avoid subbing first.  Just log onto your account at the swg website and look to see if you have an active or pending account status.  They might have all been removed, but check anyway.  You should be able to just log in if that is the case.

 SWG is nothing like it used to be and NEVER will! I'll be happy when SWG does just like Tabula Rasa did and close their doors!

Originally posted by Criper

I have a question. If I was to come back just to try SWG again, will my characters still be there if there have been a Server merge. I used to play on Bria. I mean, if my chars and stuff are still there, i might consider trying SWG again. If they are gone, then no thanks. So is there any way to find this out without first paying for a month...?

Log into your account (if you still remember your acct name & password) and see if you have a free vet trial pending. Bria is one of the 'destination' servers, but stand warned - the population is nothing like it used to be. Your character is still there, and you are now allowed a second character on the same server. Your house and its contents are more than likely packed into your data pad ready to be 'unpacked' at a location of your choice.

I

Wow.  Just wow.  Alot of information was posted in this thread and I tried to  get through all the posts.  It feels very strange to me to be discussing SWG on any other boards but the official ones but I found this thread and got so interested in the information posted in it I just had to reply.  So this is my first post ever here. 

As an entertainer there are times when I feel that we are better off as a profession today than we were around launch as over time more content has been put in for us.  But when I look at how much content we have as compared to what is actually in SWG to do I wish sometimes I was more into combat than what I am.  Because it seems there is just so much more there to enjoy than there is for entertainers and traders as well. 

There was some confusion about entertainer abilities at this time.  Yes we can buff.  They were changed to be unafkable except if you use third party programs (which are against the EULA).   There are several different kinds of buffs you can get: armor, defenses, crafting, and just general ones.  Each one takes points and a master entertainer with full Artiste has 20 pts in which to use to customize a buff package for the person coming in.  

 While battle fatigue is NOT in the game now there is something called cloning sickness.  It is a 10 minute debuff that can be cured by watching an entertainer, waiting the 10 minutes or paying a medical droid 5k to cure it. 

There are times when I really do see, even as an entertainer and as a player mostly interested in non combat gameplay that the present devs ARE trying to make players like me happy.   Four years ago with devs like ChrisCao I could not say that.  It honestly felt as though they were trying to erase entertainers and traders from the game.   We at least have been given opportunities to earn GCW now (though only through world events) but still - its far more than we got when the GCW was changed and everyone was put down to private.   The revamp that is coming could add in more ways for us to get involved though they havent said how yet.  I  cant say how much that meant to me as a player.

Reading the negativity about SWG is nothing really new to me - its been going on for so long now.  In some ways I agree that its time to let the past die and look at SWG as what it is today.   It isnt what the game was like 4 years ago.   Alot of the empty framework left by the NGE has been filled in.  I think it would be unfair to not acknowledge that.   I also beleive that there are some that bash the game blindly without really knowing the game. 

While playing Lord of the Rings Online one day they were talking about SWG and one person said "Its a Star Wars game! How can you have a Star Wars game without SPACE?".  They had no idea that Jump to Lightspeed had been introduced and that there WAS a space part of the game.   Now I know that and many of you guys know that - but  people reading that with no experience of the game wouldnt.   So if they were interested in trying it and were interested in space they would read that and might not try it.  Was it accurate?  No.   And some times I do see people that left the game after the NGE doing the exact same thing.  They bash blindly without experience and knowledge of the game today.

I also cant say that the vets that left were right in the things they did.  How can you explain away defacing boxes in stores?  Or hiding them so people couldnt buy them?  Or going up to a complete stranger they seen looking at the box and telling them horror stories about it instead of just leaving it alone and letting them play it for themselves?  As people have said in this thread - if its good they will play it .. if not they wont.

And then there are the official boards to the game.  There are some that do not play the game yet still post negative stuff about it regardless of what is said or done by the part of the dev team and SOE.  Two wrongs dont make a right and its the present playerbase that gets affected by it.  Then there are also times when the devs have said something in passing and someone took it as law and ran with it.  Those same people then turn around and call SOE liars even though they didnt say it was a sure thing.

I do not look at SOE with rose colored glasses.   I think they are a company.  Sometimes companies make mistakes.  I do not think the NGE was the right course of action.  Yet they still went forward with it.   I can not truthfully say I enjoy the game post NGE half as much as I enjoyed it pre NGE.  There are things I do wish they would reinstate - such as medic crafting.   I honestly did love the flexibility in choosing what you wanted your character to be.   I dont like the way they made the GCW something only high level combatants can actively take part in.  I do not like their stand on afking.  That was such a blow to the entertainer profession as our main issue was getting rid of afking.  I do not like the sometimes lack of communication though I can understand that sometimes its not possible. The lack of ent relics and the silence surrounding them caused me to cancel all my accounts and even today some of them are not active and wont be again until they are introduced.   While they have taken steps to get rid of credit farmers it still doesnt seem like enough of a stand is taken on their part. 

So no.. the game is not perfect - far from.  There are still alot of big problems for me as an entertainer. Yet I have to agree with the OP as well.   When I look at things like entertainer, player housing, storyteller, Chronicles and other elements to the game I have to admit to being at a loss to think of another game that offers me so much.   

Originally posted by Yhishara 

So no.. the game is not perfect - far from.  There are still alot of big problems for me as an entertainer. Yet I have to agree with the OP as well.   When I look at things like entertainer, player housing, storyteller, Chronicles and other elements to the game I have to admit to being at a loss to think of another game that offers me so much.   

Then WTF were you playing LOTRO for? ;)  (I KID!!!)

I'm glad you find enjoyment in SWG Yhishara. Without people like you, people like me would have no hope of ever seeing the game improve. Don't be afraid to post your views here (good or bad)...believe it or not, a lot of posters in this thread ALSO play.

Understand that a lot of the "negativity" you may read isn't so much with the GAME itself as much as it is with the company that runs the game and the choices they make in developing it (ie NGE, TCG, zombies, fairy wings).

Originally posted by Yhishara

Wow.  Just wow.  Alot of information was posted in this thread and I tried to  get through all the posts.  It feels very strange to me to be discussing SWG on any other boards but the official ones but I found this thread and got so interested in the information posted in it I just had to reply.  So this is my first post ever here. 

As an entertainer there are times when I feel that we are better off as a profession today than we were around launch as over time more content has been put in for us.  But when I look at how much content we have as compared to what is actually in SWG to do I wish sometimes I was more into combat than what I am.  Because it seems there is just so much more there to enjoy than there is for entertainers and traders as well. 

There was some confusion about entertainer abilities at this time.  Yes we can buff.  They were changed to be unafkable except if you use third party programs (which are against the EULA).   There are several different kinds of buffs you can get: armor, defenses, crafting, and just general ones.  Each one takes points and a master entertainer with full Artiste has 20 pts in which to use to customize a buff package for the person coming in.  

 While battle fatigue is NOT in the game now there is something called cloning sickness.  It is a 10 minute debuff that can be cured by watching an entertainer, waiting the 10 minutes or paying a medical droid 5k to cure it. 

There are times when I really do see, even as an entertainer and as a player mostly interested in non combat gameplay that the present devs ARE trying to make players like me happy.   Four years ago with devs like ChrisCao I could not say that.  It honestly felt as though they were trying to erase entertainers and traders from the game.   We at least have been given opportunities to earn GCW now (though only through world events) but still - its far more than we got when the GCW was changed and everyone was put down to private.   The revamp that is coming could add in more ways for us to get involved though they havent said how yet.  I  cant say how much that meant to me as a player.

Reading the negativity about SWG is nothing really new to me - its been going on for so long now.  In some ways I agree that its time to let the past die and look at SWG as what it is today.   It isnt what the game was like 4 years ago.   Alot of the empty framework left by the NGE has been filled in.  I think it would be unfair to not acknowledge that.   I also beleive that there are some that bash the game blindly without really knowing the game. 

While playing Lord of the Rings Online one day they were talking about SWG and one person said "Its a Star Wars game! How can you have a Star Wars game without SPACE?".  They had no idea that Jump to Lightspeed had been introduced and that there WAS a space part of the game.   Now I know that and many of you guys know that - but  people reading that with no experience of the game wouldnt.   So if they were interested in trying it and were interested in space they would read that and might not try it.  Was it accurate?  No.   And some times I do see people that left the game after the NGE doing the exact same thing.  They bash blindly without experience and knowledge of the game today.

I also cant say that the vets that left were right in the things they did.  How can you explain away defacing boxes in stores?  Or hiding them so people couldnt buy them?  Or going up to a complete stranger they seen looking at the box and telling them horror stories about it instead of just leaving it alone and letting them play it for themselves?  As people have said in this thread - if its good they will play it .. if not they wont.

And then there are the official boards to the game.  There are some that do not play the game yet still post negative stuff about it regardless of what is said or done by the part of the dev team and SOE.  Two wrongs dont make a right and its the present playerbase that gets affected by it.  Then there are also times when the devs have said something in passing and someone took it as law and ran with it.  Those same people then turn around and call SOE liars even though they didnt say it was a sure thing.

I do not look at SOE with rose colored glasses.   I think they are a company.  Sometimes companies make mistakes.  I do not think the NGE was the right course of action.  Yet they still went forward with it.   I can not truthfully say I enjoy the game post NGE half as much as I enjoyed it pre NGE.  There are things I do wish they would reinstate - such as medic crafting.   I honestly did love the flexibility in choosing what you wanted your character to be.   I dont like the way they made the GCW something only high level combatants can actively take part in.  I do not like their stand on afking.  That was such a blow to the entertainer profession as our main issue was getting rid of afking.  I do not like the sometimes lack of communication though I can understand that sometimes its not possible. The lack of ent relics and the silence surrounding them caused me to cancel all my accounts and even today some of them are not active and wont be again until they are introduced.   While they have taken steps to get rid of credit farmers it still doesnt seem like enough of a stand is taken on their part. 

So no.. the game is not perfect - far from.  There are still alot of big problems for me as an entertainer. Yet I have to agree with the OP as well.   When I look at things like entertainer, player housing, storyteller, Chronicles and other elements to the game I have to admit to being at a loss to think of another game that offers me so much.   

Nice post.  I know a lot of people gave feedback about entertainers feeling like they had been made useless.  I'm glad that something was done to address this.
 

Tbh, I like the cloning sickness idea too.  If you want to watch an entertainer to get rid of it, you can; but if you don't want to there is another ingame option.  This is the kind of thinking that was needed all along if you ask me.  Not completely throwing out one game design for something radically different, and more broken.  Happy gaming, and thanks for an honest, and balanced update ^_^.  Great read.

Originally posted by Yhishara

Wow.  Just wow.  Alot of information was posted in this thread and I tried to  get through all the posts.  It feels very strange to me to be discussing SWG on any other boards but the official ones but I found this thread and got so interested in the information posted in it I just had to reply.  So this is my first post ever here. 

As an entertainer there are times when I feel that we are better off as a profession today than we were around launch as over time more content has been put in for us.  But when I look at how much content we have as compared to what is actually in SWG to do I wish sometimes I was more into combat than what I am.  Because it seems there is just so much more there to enjoy than there is for entertainers and traders as well. 

There was some confusion about entertainer abilities at this time.  Yes we can buff.  They were changed to be unafkable except if you use third party programs (which are against the EULA).   There are several different kinds of buffs you can get: armor, defenses, crafting, and just general ones.  Each one takes points and a master entertainer with full Artiste has 20 pts in which to use to customize a buff package for the person coming in.  

 While battle fatigue is NOT in the game now there is something called cloning sickness.  It is a 10 minute debuff that can be cured by watching an entertainer, waiting the 10 minutes or paying a medical droid 5k to cure it. 

There are times when I really do see, even as an entertainer and as a player mostly interested in non combat gameplay that the present devs ARE trying to make players like me happy.   Four years ago with devs like ChrisCao I could not say that.  It honestly felt as though they were trying to erase entertainers and traders from the game.   We at least have been given opportunities to earn GCW now (though only through world events) but still - its far more than we got when the GCW was changed and everyone was put down to private.   The revamp that is coming could add in more ways for us to get involved though they havent said how yet.  I  cant say how much that meant to me as a player.

Reading the negativity about SWG is nothing really new to me - its been going on for so long now.  In some ways I agree that its time to let the past die and look at SWG as what it is today.   It isnt what the game was like 4 years ago.   Alot of the empty framework left by the NGE has been filled in.  I think it would be unfair to not acknowledge that.   I also beleive that there are some that bash the game blindly without really knowing the game. 

While playing Lord of the Rings Online one day they were talking about SWG and one person said "Its a Star Wars game! How can you have a Star Wars game without SPACE?".  They had no idea that Jump to Lightspeed had been introduced and that there WAS a space part of the game.   Now I know that and many of you guys know that - but  people reading that with no experience of the game wouldnt.   So if they were interested in trying it and were interested in space they would read that and might not try it.  Was it accurate?  No.   And some times I do see people that left the game after the NGE doing the exact same thing.  They bash blindly without experience and knowledge of the game today.

I also cant say that the vets that left were right in the things they did.  How can you explain away defacing boxes in stores?  Or hiding them so people couldnt buy them?  Or going up to a complete stranger they seen looking at the box and telling them horror stories about it instead of just leaving it alone and letting them play it for themselves?  As people have said in this thread - if its good they will play it .. if not they wont.

And then there are the official boards to the game.  There are some that do not play the game yet still post negative stuff about it regardless of what is said or done by the part of the dev team and SOE.  Two wrongs dont make a right and its the present playerbase that gets affected by it.  Then there are also times when the devs have said something in passing and someone took it as law and ran with it.  Those same people then turn around and call SOE liars even though they didnt say it was a sure thing.

I do not look at SOE with rose colored glasses.   I think they are a company.  Sometimes companies make mistakes.  I do not think the NGE was the right course of action.  Yet they still went forward with it.   I can not truthfully say I enjoy the game post NGE half as much as I enjoyed it pre NGE.  There are things I do wish they would reinstate - such as medic crafting.   I honestly did love the flexibility in choosing what you wanted your character to be.   I dont like the way they made the GCW something only high level combatants can actively take part in.  I do not like their stand on afking.  That was such a blow to the entertainer profession as our main issue was getting rid of afking.  I do not like the sometimes lack of communication though I can understand that sometimes its not possible. The lack of ent relics and the silence surrounding them caused me to cancel all my accounts and even today some of them are not active and wont be again until they are introduced.   While they have taken steps to get rid of credit farmers it still doesnt seem like enough of a stand is taken on their part. 

So no.. the game is not perfect - far from.  There are still alot of big problems for me as an entertainer. Yet I have to agree with the OP as well.   When I look at things like entertainer, player housing, storyteller, Chronicles and other elements to the game I have to admit to being at a loss to think of another game that offers me so much.   

Great post, Yhishara. Good to see you again

Originally posted by Yhishara

Wow.  Just wow.  Alot of information was posted in this thread and I tried to  get through all the posts.  It feels very strange to me to be discussing SWG on any other boards but the official ones but I found this thread and got so interested in the information posted in it I just had to reply.  So this is my first post ever here. 

As an entertainer there are times when I feel that we are better off as a profession today than we were around launch as over time more content has been put in for us.  But when I look at how much content we have as compared to what is actually in SWG to do I wish sometimes I was more into combat than what I am.  Because it seems there is just so much more there to enjoy than there is for entertainers and traders as well. 

There was some confusion about entertainer abilities at this time.  Yes we can buff.  They were changed to be unafkable except if you use third party programs (which are against the EULA).   There are several different kinds of buffs you can get: armor, defenses, crafting, and just general ones.  Each one takes points and a master entertainer with full Artiste has 20 pts in which to use to customize a buff package for the person coming in.  

 While battle fatigue is NOT in the game now there is something called cloning sickness.  It is a 10 minute debuff that can be cured by watching an entertainer, waiting the 10 minutes or paying a medical droid 5k to cure it. 

There are times when I really do see, even as an entertainer and as a player mostly interested in non combat gameplay that the present devs ARE trying to make players like me happy.   Four years ago with devs like ChrisCao I could not say that.  It honestly felt as though they were trying to erase entertainers and traders from the game.   We at least have been given opportunities to earn GCW now (though only through world events) but still - its far more than we got when the GCW was changed and everyone was put down to private.   The revamp that is coming could add in more ways for us to get involved though they havent said how yet.  I  cant say how much that meant to me as a player.

Reading the negativity about SWG is nothing really new to me - its been going on for so long now.  In some ways I agree that its time to let the past die and look at SWG as what it is today.   It isnt what the game was like 4 years ago.   Alot of the empty framework left by the NGE has been filled in.  I think it would be unfair to not acknowledge that.   I also beleive that there are some that bash the game blindly without really knowing the game. 

While playing Lord of the Rings Online one day they were talking about SWG and one person said "Its a Star Wars game! How can you have a Star Wars game without SPACE?".  They had no idea that Jump to Lightspeed had been introduced and that there WAS a space part of the game.   Now I know that and many of you guys know that - but  people reading that with no experience of the game wouldnt.   So if they were interested in trying it and were interested in space they would read that and might not try it.  Was it accurate?  No.   And some times I do see people that left the game after the NGE doing the exact same thing.  They bash blindly without experience and knowledge of the game today.

I also cant say that the vets that left were right in the things they did.  How can you explain away defacing boxes in stores?  Or hiding them so people couldnt buy them?  Or going up to a complete stranger they seen looking at the box and telling them horror stories about it instead of just leaving it alone and letting them play it for themselves?  As people have said in this thread - if its good they will play it .. if not they wont.

And then there are the official boards to the game.  There are some that do not play the game yet still post negative stuff about it regardless of what is said or done by the part of the dev team and SOE.  Two wrongs dont make a right and its the present playerbase that gets affected by it.  Then there are also times when the devs have said something in passing and someone took it as law and ran with it.  Those same people then turn around and call SOE liars even though they didnt say it was a sure thing.

I do not look at SOE with rose colored glasses.   I think they are a company.  Sometimes companies make mistakes.  I do not think the NGE was the right course of action.  Yet they still went forward with it.   I can not truthfully say I enjoy the game post NGE half as much as I enjoyed it pre NGE.  There are things I do wish they would reinstate - such as medic crafting.   I honestly did love the flexibility in choosing what you wanted your character to be.   I dont like the way they made the GCW something only high level combatants can actively take part in.  I do not like their stand on afking.  That was such a blow to the entertainer profession as our main issue was getting rid of afking.  I do not like the sometimes lack of communication though I can understand that sometimes its not possible. The lack of ent relics and the silence surrounding them caused me to cancel all my accounts and even today some of them are not active and wont be again until they are introduced.   While they have taken steps to get rid of credit farmers it still doesnt seem like enough of a stand is taken on their part. 

So no.. the game is not perfect - far from.  There are still alot of big problems for me as an entertainer. Yet I have to agree with the OP as well.   When I look at things like entertainer, player housing, storyteller, Chronicles and other elements to the game I have to admit to being at a loss to think of another game that offers me so much.   

Extremely good post, I couldn't agree more.

This was a great read.