Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Great Expectations, Major Schedule Changes and making SWG the finest MMORPG ever
My first account was activated 4 days into Live. I've seen nearly every update, hot-fix, nerf
and general change. I started into Bounty Hunter before Player Cities and Mounts. I've suffered
the horrors of bugs, game-breakers and failed promises(too bad I'm too lazy to look for the original
press releases about the BH profession). Through my alt/Holo-grinder, I've mastered all but 5
professions, 2 of which I'm working on right now.
You came, you whined, you cancelled. You begged. Pleaded. Threatened. What did it get you?
Nada. Threatening to cancel account's doesn't mean much, let alone work. There are forces
and pressures on the Development team that I'm sure none of us know about. With as many
outstanding issues as are left, I must appluad the Devs for what they've done in the last
year. This game is far and above better than it was. I've still had my fair share of doubts
as to their sanity at times.
Things still need to be changed. Badly. Combat Balance and the general state of the
Galactic Civil War really should be top priorities at this point. The penny-pinchers in the
background probably have the most to do with the push for JTL than anything.
Bottom line: Bolster the subscriber base with JTL; Fix Core game issues; Go on from there.
That's what we're looking at people. Get used to it, or go home and cry to mama.
To TH, JustG, Shug and the rest of you crazy cats at SWG central: /cheers and have one on me.
Just gonna keep on keepin' on and see what happens.
P.S. Flame all you want. Don't bother me none.
TechBoss wrote:Ponder this:JTL is an expanision to the core game which is accessed through spacecraft. Players will have to acquire a spacecraft before they can enter the space flight sim. This brings up some very key points that a lot of people seem to be missing:
- Based on the requirements for speeders, anywhere form 4250 to 8000 units of resources, space craft will be the most resource and component intensive craftable items in the game. This translates into craft costing hundreds of thousands of credits, possibly over a million for some models.
- These credits will need to be obtained through combat ultimately.
- I bet that the factional craft schematics will have to be bought from recruiters with faction points, again comes down to combat and/or credits.
JTL will only complicate the problems with combat as more people will be looking for the cash cow professions that can join the "solo-groups" to make loads of credits quick. People seem to miss the point that you will have to play the ground game to gain access to the space game.
SOE, fix the ground game before you release JTL.
BTW, 2x accounts will not be renewed.
You start with a ship when you buy JTL.
That being said, what SOE doesnt seem to understand is that JTL's launch will be much like AED. They will get a spike in new and reactivated accounts followed by a steady decline unless it is complimented by a solid ground game. It almost seems as if SOE is abandoning the ground game with the hopes that space will be fun enough to keep everyone occupied long enough for them to get their act together and fix the core issues.
Saratoga wrote:
You announced the Jedi village, but you just dont get it... people are pissed that Jedi took presidence over the combat balance.
Jedi is not the first, or the onlyProfession Revamp,that's taken precedence over Combat Balance (CB).
CB was announced during final stages of Cities in December, as a 3 month installment plan beginning after Holidays. At end of January, it was announced it might be delayed because Droid Engineers were getting a revamp, due to a large request of community for a much needed "Star Warsy atmosphere". Not only was there one monthly publish for DE, there were TWO. (like Jedi) They said they'd address CB after. I don't recall anyone blaming Droid Engineers for getting the love over CB.
Then they announced that Image Designers were getting a revamp, because they wanted to make more customization options available to the "social" minded players, and that CB was being delayed indefinite (public outcry) then changed until Summer (no set date). CB was delayed for Image Design... yet no one complained about ID getting the love over CB.
Then they decided that "hmm, hologrinding is ruining the game" (duh) and that they wanted to rework the entire Jedi system in a 2-part publish. Combat Balance was NOT announced as delayed at this time, it was instead actually given a schedule into the Publish 10 release. Jedi = very touchy subject with some players who were frustrated at the difficulty, sothey complained loudly that Jedi should just be removed instead of pre-empting Combat Balance. (forgetting that CB wasfinally placed into a publish schedule at this time)
Jedi class Revamp was completed. Force Sensitive System is now in the development stages, then SOE announces that they are now delaying the CB until after JTLS releases, due to "needing the entire team to accomplish the task of Combat Balance". Their decision has absolutely nothing to do with Jedi... they didn't say that they need everyone working on Publish 10, they said they need to get past JTLS integration with the current game, before dealing with Combat Balance.
But yet I see several posts trying to blame Jedi revamp for the delay. NO, WRONG. This is the 3rd time that CB has been postponed and it's due to JTLS, not anything related to Jedi. Matter offact, it wouldn't matter if nothing was being done with Jedi right now, they would still delay the CB until after JTLS.
So if everyone is going to throw blame, at least throw it accurately. I'm not debating whether or not Jedi is "chronologically correct" with the game's timeline, or whether Dev time would be better spent on fixing some other class that is not waiting on the CB... I am simply pointing out that Jedi has absolutely nothing to do with the delay to CB, in fact the Jedi revamp was designed to be balanced **with** the CB as part of Publish 10, so Jedi are actually more"broken"than the rest of the Combat profs for the next 6 months.
I agree that Jedi should not be in this timeline. But I do recognize the marketability and player desire for Jedi, it's what makes Star Wars, "Star Wars", so I understand why they prefer to place emphasis on the Force portion of the game. SOE is a business out for profits and has accountability to stock share-holders, they are not a non-profit fan club running this game simply for the pleasure and adulation of Star Wars fans. But, I'd still prefer to see them move the timeline ahead to immediately after the Emperor's death, it would make things more accurate all around. (Rebel to Imp ratio, etc.) That's my wish as to what would make this wholegame more "Star Wars" to me, but obviously I'm not going to get that wish. So I take it for what they give me and hope they'll eventually move the timeline forward past all of this "arguable accuracy of the timeline".
BLA BLA, CRAP CRAP, WHINE WHINE, CRAP, WHINE, BLA!!
SOE is a company that wants to make money, yes? how do they do that? BY HAVING PEOPLE PLAYING THEIR GAME!! why on earth would they do something against nearly ALL their subscribers if they didn't find it 100% nesesary! THEY WOULDNT!
If SOE thinks that the CR needs to be delayd/pushed a little back, they are probaly right! They know the game better than ANY of you whining sorry sods..
give them a break.. the game is how they make their living, so they probaly want it all working faster, better and smarter than anyone
Flame away.. oh and remeber to breath while typing, or take small pauses to overcome your stupidity!