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I cannot more than concur. The devs are not taking the feedback from the players into the development of the game. The CU2 is just a way to steal the money from console users (has been confirmed that SWG will be available on PS3 and Xbox360) and ignore the users who has been with the game from the start. The end of SWG is coming near, and many current subscribers will be lost (probably including me). SOE has screwed the community several times in the past and are continuing to do so. You can begin to wonder what those CSR are for when the community are ignored.

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ComCypher wrote:

I originally posted this on the NGE forum, but it disappeared (mysteriously...) shortly after. Fortunately I saved it to a text file and I think the subject matter is relevant to this forum as well.

In the two years I have posted on these forums I have never managed to get a dev to acknowledge a single one of my posts, and I don't expect this case to be any different. However, I still have to write this in faith that someone on the dev team who still possesses a shred of common sense will read it and perhaps even understand it.

Before I start mouthing off I want to provide 10 links in which I am shown to be a solid supporter of the first CU:

Pro-CU post #1
Pro-CU post #2
Pro-CU post #3
Pro-CU post #4
Pro-CU post #5
Pro-CU post #6
Pro-CU post #7
Pro-CU post #8
Pro-CU post #9
Pro-CU post #10

I provide these links simply to illustrate that I am not one of the countless trolls who likes to capitalize (negatively) on every action the devs take, and also to serve as a little bit of irony for the remainder of my post.

Now let me say this...This CU2 (or whatever you want to call it) is the WORST mistake the dev team could ever hope to commit. I am not even going to delve into each individual problem with this revamp, since that would be a whole post in itself. Instead I am going to describe the problem as a whole. It is clear, not only from inference but is in fact also stated in Julio Torres' letter, that the devs are trying to market the game to people who were disenchanted because they didn't have "Starwarsiness" thrown in their face the moment they logged on. This may seem understandable on the surface but who are these people really? I suggest that they are in fact sub-10 year old children who are quitting because A) they lack the patience to learn how to play a game more complex than your typical shoot-em-up, B) they feel dejected because their favorite movie characters weren't there to greet them when they first set foot in Mos Eisley, and C) they are bitter because they could never hope to be as famous as Luke Skywalker in-game. While these are presumptions on my part I think they are justified based on what I've read in the very crude FAQ, which also sounds like it was written for easy comprehension by 10-year olds.

I also find it despicable that the devs have been completely concealing any development information on this CU2, to the point where it is presumably ready for release a mere 2 weeks after its very first announcement. This means that the past several months (perhaps even a few weeks after the first CU) the devs have been pooling a large amount of resources towards revamping the game a second time, rather than working on content or bug fixes that would have gone much farther in bringing the desired "Starwarsiness" to the game. The only explanation I can think of for the revamp being announced like this is the fact that SOE expected an outcry, and wanted to make sure the players wouldn't have ample time to petition the development. Oh, and of course making the announcement AFTER the release of Trials of Obi-Wan was brilliant foresight by marketing. As if all that weren't sleazy enough, it turns out a post made by Tiggs on October 11th in which she verifies that the SWG Starter Kit mysteriously listed on several game vendor sites were "erroneous listings", were in fact pertaining to this highly controversial revamp! That is a lot worse than failing to provide information or even failing to uphold a promise--THAT, my friends, is called a flat out lie and all of this is tantamount to consumer fraud.

To make matters worse for me personally, it shows that the numerous anti-CU people who I had arguments with prior to its release may have been correct in certain respects; perhaps not in terms of game balance, but in terms of developer intentions. I feel disillusioned and embarassed because I truly believed that the devs were trying to make the game more interesting and immersive, rather than dumbing it down so that it would be attractive to an undesirable group of people. I also used to believe that the devs were at least somewhat interested in user feedback, but this revamp which is proving to be the biggest stealth-nerf in video game history shows that I was wrong about that as well.

I am not even upset by the fact that the past 2 years I have spent developing my character is about to respeced beyond recognition--I am upset that the game no longer appears to have a future that I want to be a part of. I am paying to play an MMO, not some pre-scripted movie. I'm not sure that I would even be writing this post if I believed that this new revamp is a 100% certainty--I am writing this in hopes that the dev team will see the truth in my claims. The next couple weeks will be pivotal for the fate of this game--do the devs want to proceed with their plan to market this game for 10-year old arcade kids, or do they want to continue marketing it to people (like me!) who like being immersed in an expansive universe where people can live out their own Star Wars vision without being shoe-horned into the role of a movie character, and have been doing so loyally for the past 2.5 years; because it can't be both.

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QFE

Very good post. Honestly makes one wonder what possibilities exist for class action. I am very disheartened by this new CU, and will begin the cancelation process of my 6 toons.

Since this annoucement fewer and fewer people are logging in the game. more and more are beginning to cancel. And since yesterday those that were optmistic are now as disheartened as myself or worse, many of those that were going to give the new changes a chance have now decided it's not worth it. SOE is it really worth losing your current, loyal customer base to try get more revenue?

On the TOOW expenasion, I was excited for it but have not had alot of time to go check it out because I was busy finishing my jedi which if not common enough already, will be able to be respeced to or chosen at character creation. Now it makes me sink to think about going to Mustafar because of the antics that were pulled the week it was released to the general public. This was also pulled when RoTW was released if I recall correctly and I for one as a customer have become leary of what will happen with the next planet release ecause you are setting a trend with every planet release we will be hit with a game breaking blow for some and one day emough people will have had enough and simply leave all together.

Now lets look at the crafters. With the first CU they were dealt a horrible blow. Resources what were not good before suddenly became what they needed, good resources turned into junk. They essentially had to re-do much of thier stock of resources, find new looted components, re-learn what the customers liked in weapons, armor, food, etc. Now just a mere 6 months later they will face this same type of thing again, but yet with a much more unknown future since it sounds like much of what will be needed will be loot based. Leaving them wodnering will I even have a place in this game. Many of the crafters that have been doing crafting since day 1, do so because of the love and enjoyment they are getting out of it. Now those same crafters are hanging it up, many with no interest in the combat side leaving all together.

I am not sure what else to say here, I feel as if I am rambling. So I will leave you with this SOE....PLEASE LISTEN TO YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS HERE.