Creature Handler Archive

I'm having a hard time understanding a lot of what's come to light over the last few days. Obviously I am greatly saddened by the total removal from the game of the profession I've pursued and enjoyed for two and a half years. Destroying Creature Handlers without any warning, any recourse, or even a chance for feedback, is extraordinarily poor treatment of your loyal players and customers, many of whom (like me) have been with SWG the whole way, from the very beginning.

But I'm far more upset about the fact that all of our beloved pets will apparently, for all practical purposes, be suddenly and callously destroyed or at the very least banished to oblivion, never again to be called. From the newest ones tamed in the process of learning to use the recently added skills system, to the oldest, most faithful companions that we've had since we first began the Creature Handler path. You'll be taking them all from us, everything we've had and accomplished, and come to love over the past two years plus. This is beyond cruel it's... I don't know what it is, but 'sadistic' doesn't begin to cover it. I've played MMORPGs for over 6 years, including Asheron's Call, EQ, SWG, Planetside, and EQ2. I've seen a lot, but I have never been as disappointed in, nor as upset by, any game developer or publisher as I am in you right now.

I have to ask you now what the point was in introducing a whole new system and revamping the Creature Handler profession over the last few months. From my perspective, the addition of the special skills system was a wonderful revamp, adding a tremendous amount of depth and playability to the existing CH profession that had been with us since launch. I found it to be a great system, giving us much more to do and pursue if we so chose, but not forcing us into anything, and not really taking anything away that we already had. It added greatly to the profession from the earliest levels all the way to the latest, expanding our opportunities but without being unbalancing, without making us overpowered, and most importantly without diminishing the nature of the profession itself.

It wasn't a perfect system, but I thought it was a good one that benefitted the profession overall, and I definitely appreciated the time and work spent on it. And others would seem to agree, since it certainly appeared to revitalize Creature Handler greatly this summer. Not since the first days of SWG's launch had I seen as many veteran players picking up CH, nor as many new characters trying CH from the start, as we've had over the past several months. And I also saw more veteran MCH players out actively taming and using pets to learn and collect abilities, and then working with and teaching those abilities on specialized pets. More real creature handling was being done, and in most cases being really enjoyed, than I had seen in ages. Our profession seemed fresh and revitalized, and I was one of many CH players having a lot of fun with it.

Clearly a lot of work went into these changes our profession has been enjoying recently. Someone spent a lot of time on that revamp, and a lot of effort in making us think that CH had a future as a profession -- a seemingly brighter future than we had been given to expect before those changes. Why? What was the point of all that? Why do all that, if you were simply going to turn around and wipe out not only those beneficial improvements, but the entire core profession as a whole from the game?

This is not a new game, or a pre-launch beta you're messing with here. These are not minor tweaks or balancing. These are drastic, unheard of changes in a live retail MMORPG that's well over 2 years old -- a high profile, big name game with an established player base which has a significant investment of time and attention in getting to where they are now. Have you no respect or consideration at all for those who have chosen to continue to play SWG? Have you really had so little idea of what you wanted to do with the game over the past 6 months? Do you have so little vision, that you go from one major overhaul of the whole game with the first Combat Upgrade, then you have highly touted revamps of several professions in the following months, and now you decide to completely throw out everything that has been done recently in order to change the game far more radically just a half year later?

To be honest, this whole thing reeks of panic, or outright insanity. I realize that SWG is not the highest-populated MMORPG in the world, and that SOE is no longer the undisputed champion of this genre, but are things really this desperate? I've not had the opportunity to play SWG myself much over the last month, but it sure seemed to me that player populations were up recently, and that those who were playing were having a great time. Does it not occur to you that the player base that you DO have -- both those returning veterans and the new players you've added over the last months -- that those people continue to play SWG because, on balance at least, they like what this game has offered them? It's not like we don't have the option already to play SW Battlefront, or Planetside, or any number of other simpler, more FPS-oriented games if that's what appeals to us. Destroying what you have that is good in SWG in order to move it more into the territory of those games isn't going to win you some previously unclaimed player base out there, it's just going to lose you the loyal following that you already have for the game we have been enjoying up to now.

One thing I guess I do understand is the way you did all this after the pre-orders for the new expansion. I think I understand that all too well, and I have to say that the timing and the method you've chosen to implement these changes absolutely stinks. Clearly this is something that has been in the works for some time now -- many months, apparently. And yet you not only kept your plans secret, you went out of your way to intentionally mislead your customers, talking about the changes that our professions would be enjoying once Trials of Obi-Wan went live. New creature types to tame, being able to have up to CL80 tames, and all of the rest of that was clearly just a bunch of lies on your part, because you knew very well you were going to be getting rid of our profession entirely.

You misled us, and you even misled the Correspondent for our profession, keeping them from having any idea what was really going on and what was coming up. Same with lots of the other professions as well apparently, including those you talked about revamping and improving as recently as a few weeks ago. Anything to keep it a secret, because you knew that if word got out earlier, you'd not only have the mass cancellations but it'd also kill the sales of the add-on. That explains why you were pushing those pre-orders so hard, and why it was going to be digital download only, I guess. No point in putting it in boxes, because by the time it hit store shelves, it would be too late -- the cat would be out of the bag. Well, hey... congratulations, I fell for it. I hope you're proud of yourselves. You probably are, but in truth, you guys should be ashamed of yourselves. The way you did this was underhanded, dishonest, and shows nothing but contempt for your customers. You intentionally deceived us, and are awfully close to committing fraud here. I'm sure you've got yourselves covered in some way by the EULA so as not to have any real legal exposure, but legality aside... this was just wrong. It's shoddy, immoral, and an act of extremely bad faith to people who have been loyal players for years. Things like this are what makes and destroys the reputations of companies, and I expect that the industry and gaming community is going to be hearing about and remembering this fiasco for a long time to come. As a long time subscriber and supporter of SOE,I'm really sad to see this.

There's a lot to be sad about here, I guess. I keep thinking about my pets, and the time I've spent with them in this game. But I also think back to the way you promoted Star Wars Galaxies, from the very beginning. In fact I still have some of the original desktop wallpapers, you know... the ones declaring:

"EXPERIENCE THE GREATEST SAGA EVER TOLD - YOURS."

A stroke of genius, that. And given the system that you based the game on, and the choices that were available to us, it was more or less true. Not "Lando Calrissians saga", not Oola's, and not 2-1B's saga, presuming he even has one. Certainly not "Princess Leia's saga, as dressed up like Bounty Hunter Boussh during the first few minutes of RotJ." OUR saga. A story that each of us would tell by designing the character we wanted and pursuing the professions you created and made available to us. By combining different skills and paths to do what we chose, to succeed at something that appealed to us. Or perhaps even to fail; to learn that a particular choice might not be the best for us after all, and to give that up in pursuit of something else. Regardless, it was up to each of US. Our choices, our saga. Not a single predetermined path where we "follow in the footsteps of our favorite Star Wars heroes" as you tout with this new system. A path where we made our own footsteps, often in ways that were unique and interesting to each of us.

For me, my saga is the story of a Creature Handler in Star Wars Galaxies. That's been a story that you helped establish and encourage from Day One of the game's existence. It's a story I've enjoyed, but one which you have now apparently decided to forcibly end... to destroy without a care, because it's apparently not going to be one of the nine approved iconic film character-emulating stories that you now want to limit your players to. I've pursued other professions and possibilities since I started SWG in June of 2003... weaponsmith, pistoleer, fencer, TKA, bounty hunter, carbineer. But they were always things which would be going with Creature Handler... complimenting it, working with it. My destiny in this saga was to be a Master Creature Handler, whatever else it was that I might pursue along with it. And now you will be bringing that to an abrupt and careless end, and there's nothing I can do about it. There is apparently no place in your 'New SWG' for my character or his beloved pets, so their saga will come to an end.

I'm not going to do the usual and threaten account cancellation here, because unfortunately I'm in two Station Access accounts with EQ and EQ2. I guess I'll be playing those after my Star Wars Galaxies character has been laid to rest with his faithful companions. To be honest, at this point I'm mad enough and disappointed enough that it's still very tempting to just chuck the whole thing and cancel it all rather than pay for this kind of abuse. But I try not to make decisions like that while I'm this upset, and I guess there's still a week or two before you force me to decide one way or the other. I don't know if you still have anyone left there on staff who still remembers that tag line up there about it being our saga... anyone who cares or remembers what this game promised to be about. But if you do, you might want to think about letting them have some control over all this, or at least some input before it's too late. It would be nice to have the decisions being made by someone who has some appreciation of -- and some respect for -- this game, and its history, and those of us who have chosen to play it with you.

Zev Zirathis
Master Creature Handler
Tarquinas