CUEmu - Thread Posts

Redfenril

Thu Mar 31, 2005 6:03 am

Greetings.

Four months ago I left SWG to persue a character on World of Warcraft. At the time it was one of the best MMORPGs we played, and is still today. However, I'm closing in at the "Endgame" of WoW, which is a thorn to all level-based RPGs.

Just because I jumped ship to play another game, didn't mean I distanced myself from this one. By far, this was the first MMOI played, and will probably be our last MMOI play.

I've monitored the progress of Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts to try to keep pace with Blizzard Entertainment since I left. The investment made to this game for employment of new developers was a substantial one. It was critical to the survivial of the game. I'm not saying you guys should've invested in day one, because it takes serious thinking and competition to invest a large sum of money into a product.

Since I left there's been several new products. The new loot, the new Galactic Civil War Metagame, the removal of the Temporary Enemy Flags, just to name a few, were all critical successes. The TEF removal especially. As a player who does both PvE and PvP, the TEF removal was by far the best move SOE did. It was being abused so much that it made players disenchanted with PvP and retired from it.

The GCW enhancements now make Factional HQs worth investing. While many posts I tracked say differently, theydo not realize the other sticking point. To them it's irrelevant. I say: Reserve your judgement on the new GCW enhancements until after the Combat Upgrade Rebalance.

And speaking of the CURB, that's the primary reason I returned. After tracking Thunderheart's announcement, my brother and I made the decision to reinstall SWG and reactivate my account with the use of a game card. We figured that the time between now and two months, the CURB will be live.

I'm going to be frank. I will be Beta Testing the CURB, but at a more aggressive state. Basically, when I Beta Tested JTL, as this was my first game I Beta Tested, I went soft on the Devs and the Beta Testers. This time, I will be more aggressive, and I will be blasting you guys (Devs and Beta Testers) if I see that things aren't up to par.

Now, my individual messages to the Collective:

To the Devs:

This is it. This is your last chance to redeem yourself. Think of it like this: The patient is on the table. It is stablized right now, but will not survive without an operation. Succeed, and SWG will be once again the best MMORPGs out there. Failure and SWG will have to fold. There are several things we are looking for to make this work with the CURB:

Repetitive Content (Combat): Will this be fun? Will it be repetitive? Ask yourselves that

Long-Term Solution: Another thing you should ask yourselves this: Will the CURB be a long-term solution. WoW has failed in the long-term as they do not have anything past Level 60 (thus, the endgame) that is worth it. That may change in the future, but for right now, you can capitalize on their failure to address the long-term goals by setting long-term goals yourself.

Easy to understand: Some may disagree, but is it easy to understand? I studied the diagram on the combat professions, and I cannot make heads or tails on it.

Less Errors (Bugs): Do your best to make this publish bug-free.

Continunity: The disadvantage to all theme-based games is that there is a set a rules that need to be followed. Does the CURB maintain the hold of continunity? Does it strengthen/weaken it? It should be easy to strengthen:

While the presence of Jedi/Sith is a gross violation of continunity, they must maintain their superority by maintaining the lightsaber damage type.

The Empire should have stronger factional armour than the Rebels. I will track it and will be blasting you guys if the Imperial armour is weaker or equal in protection towards the Rebels.

The Imperial NPCs protecting the bases should be stronger than their Rebel counterparts

Time extended: If we call for an extention to Beta Test the CURB, you better damn well give it to us. I don't care if the CURB is tied in to Expansion 3, and is posed to be released six days before Episode 3, if we say we want more time, give it to us. Remember, the CURB is the last chance to save the game and we'll need all the time we can afford to test.

There you go Devs. Now I turn my attention to the community:

The Community

You guys are what makes the wheels of this game go round. But you're also much more mature than those playing WoW as well as patient. Here's a question: Would you quit if your server was down for 24h and they did not give you a clear explaination of why? That what happened to my server on Tuesday. You should've have seen them. They were mad as hell.

Having said that, there are still a small percentage of players who still need to grow up. Especially those who are opposed to the TEF removal. In otherwords, the Power-Gamers/hardcore PvPers, the virus of all MMOs, need to grow-up and either change their play-style, or quit.

While they are the ambassadors of the community, the 40 Correspondents of SWG represent their aspect of the game. I recently watched the changing of the guard of the GCW Correspondent. Auraboron, aka Sir' Hiss onBria,is now the correspondent. When the negative posts on Bria came flowing in,I condemened those posts. The proper way was to give him some room to breathe and let him do his job. Nobody is perfect at each position.

While I credit Auraboron for keeping you guys informed on the GCW, as well as to evaluate each faction, there can be some improvement in his work. One of which, is to sit on the fence and to offer more to both factions. He can be sort of biased to the Rebellion, but he does his best to offer Imperials the same as the Rebels. The truth is, he should be offering more to the Imperials. Remember, they control the galaxy. Do I support Auraboron as Correspondent? I'll reserve that judgement until after the CURB.

And to those who are posed to Beta Test the CURB, we (all serious Beta Testers) do NOT want to see people quit in the middle of testing. You're there to test, you might as well go all the way. Also, we have to make sure we test ALL scenarios. The reason dog-fighting in JTL sucks so bad is because we never really fully tested dog-fighting much. Let's make sure we pick up on all possible situations and test them in the CURB. Be it attempting to solo a base, PvP on base offence/defence, etc.

We have a lot of work aheadof us. I've seen the approch that SOE is taking, by implementing elements of WoW to this game. Why are they doing it? Because it works, and works well. I have faith that SOE can implement the same approch in Blizzards system, may even be able to improve it, but we will have to wait and see.

That is all I have to say. Please comment, but I will not be responding to flames, as those flamers who are trying to provoke a shouting match, will have lostthe second they post the flame.

Colonel Oacob Riker
Tier 3 Pilot
RSO

Corporal Quinlan Noor
Starfighter Pilot

1963explorer

Thu Mar 31, 2005 6:13 am

#2

Finally somebody with the right attitude has the courage to post.

*****Yes, yes. Akkus have many good ideas. Akkus want to make milk and eggs more available to everyone as well. Akkus not tell you this idea though. You will steal it from Akkus.*****

So listen, so learn, so read on. You gotta turn the page, read the Book of Taliesyn. All the sciences of the world are collected in my breast, for I know what has been, what is now and what hereafter will occur..." (Blackmore/Evans/Lord/Paice)

NobleKnight

Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:28 pm

#3

I agree on most of what you said, but I do have a few different views on things.

I believe the Jedi profession should be removed from SWG untill the star wars timeline permits the introduction of New Jedi (braces for the onslot of lightsabers). I do like being able to be a Jedi, but it doesn't work in the current story or the current system. The current Jedi system doesn't work because the method by which you become a Jedi doesn't fit with the star wars universe. I would set it up where everyone could still become Force sensitive, but instead of collecting any badges that together added up to a certain score, you would have to prove yourself worthy of becoming Force sensitive by living a certain kind of life tracked by your faction affiliations and mission badges. For example: if you were mostly affiliated with "good guy" factions and had missions badges that showed you were Just, Noble, Kind, etc., then you would at some point gain some Force abilities (above average skill and abilities) which would get the attention of Luke Skywalker who would test you for a strong Force presence. Once a Jedi student, then you would learn how to harness the Force and the choice of the Dark Side or the Light Side come into play.

I also agree that JtL was released too soon. Only two weeks after I was accepted as a JtL beta tester, JtL was offered for pre-order. I didn't get a chance to give my two cents at all. And I don't think the devs would have listened anyway. Many other beta testers were suggesting the same changes I would have if I had a longer time to try the game. But thosesuggestions apparently fell on deaf ears. Today, players are still insisting the changes they asked for during beta be done today. Why? Maybe because the players would enjoy JtL more with those changes. It's so crazy it just might save this game with so much potental but lacking the one thing it's never had...the inclusion of Star Wars itself. Sure there's the familar locations, creatures, and objects. But there's no progresive story. We want to be a part of THE story. We want to ride along with Rogue Squadron as they defend Echo Base on Hoth. We want to be the extras in the movies. A part of the galaxy, not the galaxy itself. Unlike other MMORPGs, the Star Wars story has already been told and is still being told. We just want to be in the same story, not a new one. Let us make our story a part of the main story. A sub-plot if you will.

Heh. I'll stop my ranting now. But I hope the devs will read this and realize they can't be selective with what parts of Star Wars to include. It's either all or nothing. I'm done

Message Edited by NobleKnight on 04-13-2005 01:31 AM

May the Force be with the Developers (we love you guys. No, really).
"Why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me." Obi-Wan Kanobi, AotC

Johck Akpen (Intrepid)
Nodim (del - Ahazi),
Casablanca (del - Shadowfire)

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Thread: Return of a former SWG Player/Message to the Devs/Community