Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: The new phonebooks are here! The new phonebooks are here! (Cloning)
Echinacea said:
"I do not find "discovery" in MMOs fun. I find knowing what the limits of what I can do are, then working and creating things within those known limits, fun. I don't think I'm alone, or spoiler/info sites and game guides wouldn't be so popular. I think game developers need to adjust their thinking on this issue. But that might put Prima out of business, and of course that would be a Bad Thing (tm). /rolleyes "
You are probably not alone, but not everyone shares that style. There is a really great post that you can find some Dev replies to in the Dev Tracker that discusses theories behind game design and which identifies the following play styles:
- Explorer
- Socializer
- Achiever
- Killer
Everyone is a combination of the above, but in varying percentages. I happen to be an ESA (top three in order of percentage) and love exploring and finding new things to see and do. You would probably score high in the Achiever category with perhaps Socializer being your second highest rank. Achieverplayers typically fit into the "grinder" mindset and are a ready market for guide books. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, but I am saying that this is not the only playing style out there. In the thread I referred to Holo freely admitted that the game has become skewed in favor of Achievers, although their intent was to appeal to all types of players.
For me, this relates to the announcement regarding the upcoming fix(es). I'm one of those who put my character on hold with very much a "wait and see" attitude. I'm not confident that these changes are going to be enough to shift the balance of the game to something that I find more appealing. The explorer in me loves content, and that is still sorely lacking. The Rebel Theme Park, for example, is still scheduled to undergo yet another loot overhaul, so I've halted working my way through the story so that I don't miss anything cool. Most of the rest of the content is of the repetetive "go fetch/go kill" variety and doesn't contribute much to the greater story as a whole.
After spending the weekend playing some of my free month in FFXI the chances of my returning are becoming even more slim. For one,FFXI has been running in Japan for roughly 18 months, so it has gone through it's "growing pains" and is rock solid if you have a machine beefy enough to handle it. They also have not commoditized everything in site. That's part of why SWG loot is so weak. The thinking here is that if you drop useful resources or anything craftable as loot that it will devalue the crafting profession. There, loot drops andcrafting skills exist side by side with no apparent ill effects. Cash sinks exist by way of equipment upgrades. Players sell or auction off old equipment. Content is also rich with in-game movie sequences for sigificant stories.
Anyway, I don't mean for this to come off as an advertisement, but there are alternatives out there for those who are not strongly of the Achiever/Killer mindset. Hopefully SWG will come more into balance at some point in the future. It has that potential, but it will requiremore thanjust development.It will also require skilled writers that can come up with an immersive story line, multistage missions and GalaxyVistion (tm) (i.e. the ability to tie smaller stories into "the big picture"). I personally will keep my account alive for a bit longer to see what happens, and because I'm high on the socialization scale and many of my friends play here. Ultimately though, we tend to migrate from game to game together, so if SWG still does not meet my expectations several months down the road it will be not big thing for me to drop it.
Best of luck to all those that are patient enough to see this through,
Haggis
Finally! An answer! Guess I'll have to change my sig again. There, see Keldarin? That didn't hurt...much.
Though forgive us if we wait until it arrives on test before we uncork the champaigne.
I don't have a master on test, but my novice should at least be able to turn out a few interesting nonCH clones.
That reminds me, since the CH changes are going in at the same time, is the level on our tame from deed ability gong down to cl10 too? Just curious.
My TC character is ages from being even a novice BE and frankly I don't intend to grind this join for the sake of an early look. I've been patient this long so I'm sure I can last another 3 weeks assuming what Keldarin said is true this time.
Just think, lots of buildings all devoted to the BioEngineer players....
That WOuld be SWEET!!
Those of you wanting a specific date, get real, it won't happen. We're fortunate to have gotten this heads up, just be thankful for small blessings.
I'd also be willing to help out testing on TC if I didn't need to grind up to BE. No way I'd spend the time to grind up to BE on TC though just for the privaledge of testing.
BraccusD wrote:
Stop giving positive feedback. You are giving some BEs hope. I want to hang out with just the cynical ones.
Dont worry Braccus, I'm not going anywhere
I remain EXTREMELY skeptical that this cloning update will go live, and even if it does I imagine its going to be buggy as he11. Think about it for a second. Keldarin has been working on this cloning fix for 3 months. 2 weeks ago we get an update about it that has ABSOLUTELY no new information, just the very basics. No answers on how it works, how DNA will change, what things in cloning will change....nothing. Now all of a sudden the patch is going to be put into the next publish? Soemthing isnt jiving right in this scenario. I have a feeling we are going to get a half finished cloning system just so the devs can say its done. Tilen
Scylla
), and I missed this thread. Just made my day (crosses fins that it'll come soon)
What he said.
Kromeboy wrote:
No offence Talthazar, but I think I can speak for all the BE's of SWG when I say,
We'll believe it when we see it.
But what he said too.
Xanda wrote:
TY so much Talthazar--I can't imagine a more loveless job than BE correspondent (well, maybe Chef, DE, or squad leader...but still...). We're a tough and demanding (and truly neglected) profession, and the messenger frequently gets to be shot with the message. Still...I appreciate your efforts on our behalf, and given the magnitude of the problem, I'm understanding of the delay from Keldarin (though he really needs to learn to give timelines and updates more regularly even if it's through you)
Thanks for the good news Talth ^_^
We hope all together to see those updates on the TC as soon as possible. ^__^
Good Job Keldarin!!!!!