Bounty Hunter Archive

• Jedi have been appeased (again). Sure, there are probably going to be a few Jedi who quit, and I'm sure Jedi will complain again about being nerfed (they could probably be given whatever they ever ask for and still call it a nerf), but they have finally gotten what they want. First off, BH can't hunt them anymore. Sure, a small minority of Jedi liked being hunted, but the reality is that most hated it, and even the ones who liked it probably got annoyed with it often enough. Not only that, but they get rid of their "horrible" grind that "took like, totally a year or more man" (you know, except of course that Kashyyk made that statement moot). Sure, everyone will grind, but now they just start out as Jedi if they want. Not just that, but ANY level 80 player can now just swap over to a level 80 Jedi. There's no more force village, which I don't think was something many a Jedi ever praised. The only negative I've heard of is that quote about Jedi being combat equivalent to everyone else. Honestly, I don't expect that to be true, but you will also notice that the quote goes on to say that, "It will still however deliver on the promise of the Star Wars Jedi mystique and will allow players to "live" as Jedi in the world of Star Wars Galaxies." Who knows specifically what that means, especially considering this entire thing is veiled in secrecy, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that translate to nothing but good things for Jedi. Bottom line, just as the Jedi community is almost always appeased above the other members of the community, because most people play Jedi, Jedi have been appeased again. It may not entirely seem that way to every Jedi, but they mostly got things they asked for. Because of this, I expect very few Jedi will quit, thus most of the player base stays.


• Alot of us are full of hot air. I've been following this game since before there was even an alpha testing. I missed the first 6 months or so of play, and as of late I haven't had much playing time. There have been many times when I have decided I'd never play again. Way back when, the RP community before the game came out was up in arms over something that I honestly don't even remember the details of, but I swore up and down that if that was how SOE (of course, it wasn't SOE at the time) treated it's customers, then they could forget about getting any money from me. I wasn't the only one. Well, most of us gave in. Then I swore I'd quit (along with many others), when it was revealed that there really wouldn't be a trick to getting Jedi. The holo-grind took the place of a plan for an algorithim that would randomly unlock force sensitivity, thus preventing any set game guide to becoming a Jedi and thus cheapening it (funny to look back at that idea now). Of course, I didn't give up, and neither did most other people. Then when it turned out that Jedi wasn't going to be a very rare thing at all, I swore I'd quit, along with others, but we didn't. Same thing with about a million other things that changed the Jedi dynamic, and I still didn't quit. Kashyyk, check. Space expansion before the CU, check. The mess over the CU, check. All the Jedi mission changes that basically signalled that Jedi missions were indeed going to be extinct, check. And now this. Fact is, most of us get mad, then just end up playing anyhow. Again, SOE knows this. There will be a small contingent that quits, but odds are YOU WILL NOT BE A PART OF THIS CONTINGENT. For every one person who says they'll quit and does, there are probably dozens more who say they'll quit but don't.


• Influx of new players. As with every expansion and change to the game, the new press will bring in new players. Completely reinventing the game to coincide with the release of E:III and Battlefronts II is just genius. No matter if they play a short while, or a long while, every new player guarantees the money for the game (along with the expansions) and a months fees, probably more.


• Players who quit will probably wait and see anyways. Those of us who do quit probably have already paid out a few months subsciption in advance, and thus will more than likely decide to at least check things out first, and hang out with their friends. They'll get used to the changes, and realize it's just another SW game and play anyhow. Or, those of us not prepaid will still probably decide to at least take a peak at what's in store, and again end up just sticking around because it's just another SW game anyways.


• Friends. Many of us play with friends, family, spouses, etc. Many of us also have made friends with our guildmates, and other random game members. This is key. Many of us will decide to stick it out and hang out with our friends because that's what friends do.

As much as I'd like to say I'd take a stand on this one, I probably won't. SOE will keep collecting my money more likely than not, and the same could be said for probably 98% of the players.