Development Cycle Archive

Thread: Weekly Rountdable Discussion (Week Ending 1-25-04)

Dakin
Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:17 pm
#417

14 DAY ACCOUNT REACTIVATION??


I would like to point out to SOE that those of us that have been here since day one went through the exact same crap that sent those former players away. Because we are still here, I suggest you reward your current player base(especially the ones that paid to beta test this for you) before you start handing out half a month to everyone that wasn't willing to "stick it out". It would seem your current customers are far more likely to be your loyal paying customers in the future, rather than those that have already lost interest and moved on. Building a succesful business(franchise) is more about keeping the customers that you have happy, than multiplying the unhappy ones. I have put up with a lot of bugs, but this turns me off more than any credit dupe, p-o-k-e-y-m-o-n, nerf that you done.


Keatsnam
Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:29 pm
#418
I have no idea if this is the correct place to post this question any more, so let me start with appologies if it isn't.

Could we please get official confirmation/details regarding the status of theme park/POI badges and loot?

We keep reading about new dungeons and new content. I want to know that what's there works as intended. Every time an adjustment was made to the core theme parks (reb/imp palace/Jabba), the patch notes seemed generic and sketchy, like "various loot fixes."

I avoided theme parks in the beginning because they were all horribly broken. Now I want to start exploring them, but I am paranoid they will be a frustrating waste of time. I just did the first Jabba quest and got a stone knife. Hey, I don't want to seem ungrateful, and it is just the first one, but completing that quest kicked my ass. I am simply nervous, having terrible flashbacks to the early days when an escort mission (for NPCs that couldn't run, mind you) rewarded you with 15 credits and no faction points.

Specific questions:
Has the loot for core theme parks been adjusted to what the devs consider their final state?

Has the loot/reward payout for "mini-story" NPC quests (such as for Lady Valerian or the various Hutts) been finalized?

When you complete non-GCW NPC quests that have a mini story arc, shouldn't you get appropriate faction points? Shalera the Hutt is loving me when I talk to her, but I have 0 Hutt faction.
Kurt_Mendel
Thu Jan 22, 2004 9:27 pm
#419
It was a very difficult decision to arrive at, and has been an even more difficult decision to carry out. However, after playing since June 26, 2003, I am saying goodbye to Galaxies.


From the beginning, Galaxies has had perhaps more potential than any game of any genre has ever had. In at least some ways, the development team has realized that potential. In some critical ways though, it has been squandered.


For one thing, I am as my signature implies, a Droid Engineer. I have played the class faithfully since launch, never once so much as considering giving it up. I have endured bugs and broken promises. I have made the best of it I could. Why quit now, when there are changes under serious discussion? Changes have always been under serious discussion, and yet we have only seen trivial movement toward resolution of the serious issues plauging the profession. Even now, what were supposed to be February's combat droids are now March's or April's, they're only the "first pass", and the "real" ones won't come until the "third pass" in July or later. Again I am told that what I'm really waiting for will be indefintely delayed.


"Combat is," as another MMO industry developer has said while speaking in general, "stilted." Combat in SWG is naturally turn based because it has to be for technical reasons that I understand well. But it feels too turn-based. It feels like walking up to the NPC or PC, saying "okie, roll 1d20 to check the damage my rifle did to you" and waiting for the result. The festival of "spam your best special" doesn't improve things. Engagements aren't...engaging. They're boring and repetitive with predictable results.


Along those same lines, balance in SWG is a myth. In hindsight, I find it humorous that Raph said, before he left his post as SWG's creative director, that he expected the game to be balanced out by December. Here we are, it's almost February, the combat balance is really just beginning, and we're told it's a multi-stage process that will require months to complete. Meanwhile, we're asked and expected to live with and play within a system that isn't balanced, and pay for it all the while. Guys, that's not fair. It's not fair to intentionally break the game and then expect your paying customers to understand that "it will get better, but for now you just have to deal."


And finally, the GCW, which should be at the core of the game, seems almost incidental and is of course the most unbalanced piece of the game. The monthly arcs? The Rebels have won 2/2. No matter what statistical method you apply for computing the victor of those, the side with more players is always going to come out ahead: economies of scale will invariably determine the outcomes. As Imperial, I have suffered nerfs galore, lost precious expensive hard-earned AT-STs, and watch Rebels whine that they're somehow underpowered. Above all, participation in and outcomes of the GCW do not feel as though they have any real effect on the game world.


Now, have all these things been acknowledged? Yes. Are they all being addressed? In due course, I'm sure. The true bottom line is that they should have been addressed before the first retail box is sold. I won't pay for a beta any longer.


Perhaps in a few months, I will return, and I will find a completely different game that is worthy of my time and money. I plan to come back, and I certainly hope the game has made that kind of progress.


Best of luck, and may the Force be with you,

Mendel
virtualman1
Thu Jan 22, 2004 9:33 pm
#420

Hi now that the discussion forum is gone I'm asuming this thread is for any topics concerning swg development.. if not sorry



Ok, earlier today my friend informed me that the huff darklighter quest is fixed.. I was like "YES!" but then I go to where I was stuck (the bug was, I brought the breifcase to borvo and gave it to him he said "next" and thats all he'd say... the quest was impossible to complete..) now borvo tells me to talk to his guards and his guards tell me to talk to him I also tried getting another breifcase (as loot) which didn't work either...... so I figured ok my friend was misinformed and the quest was still broken, but then several minutes ago he informed me that he completed the quest and got the prized krayt skull (what I want to complete the quest for)


so now I'm wondering if anyone knows of a way I can finish this quest... and if not can the devs plz give the option to restart so that I can get my krayt skull, I've been waiting for this for a long time and I hate the thought of never being able to get it just because I tried when the quest was broken....


MerryPrankster
Fri Jan 23, 2004 1:21 am
#421
where might these mysterious patch notes be found? I'd like to know what's going on.



MerryPrankster (TPE)
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Vinaddar
Fri Jan 23, 2004 3:23 am
#422

A DH profession? Oh FFS, you can't even let CH's be what they were meant to be and now you want to add a new Droid Handler class which you will end up butchering just as CH was!


Get a clue here--this is a bad idea. Add Droid Certs to existing classes, make them cost Skill Points, whatever--but don't make another pet class when you have shown such little capability to keep one pet class in tact.


I love the idea of combat droids. Heck, who doesn't want a kick butt droideka on their side? But a new class is not the answer.
Stryfermon
Fri Jan 23, 2004 5:47 am
#423
TH


If we only get one Stromtropper out at a time, I would not want them at all because, what can u do with a single ST? I think ST are nice and a really cool idea on how u know it is star warsy and that we are in the GCW. So please, why can't u make it so that we have 2 or more ST out based on or ranks or somethingelse ?


Stormtroppers is the very core of SW



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ntyatecafe
Fri Jan 23, 2004 7:08 am
#424






Thunderheart wrote:


Lag is lag. Sorry about that but when then servers are full, there will always be a drag no matter how much we tweak it though the programming team is always working on ways to improve that.






How about having them make a few changes, like turn off the 3D rotation of items on the Inv screen, and please, for the love of sanity, turn off the rain effects on Naboo! Everytime it starts raining on naboo I have to just /sit and then go get some coffee, or watch the news, or read a book, cause I can't do anything ingame. If you don't want to turn it off for everyone, at least give us the option to turn it off for our toon. The lag created by rain is just terrible!



-------------------------------------
Paetr Drakkyn - "My bologna has a first name..."

Mastered Weaponsmith
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Mr. Holo says: Squad Leader
Eeveani
Fri Jan 23, 2004 7:16 am
#425
I'm willing to bet this won't be addressed but I have an issue with Act3 .


How come in Act 3 Leia appears on Dathomir? In "The Courtship of Princess Leia" (which as you know takes place after both RotJ and this game , respectively) Han Solo uses the gun of command on Leia and kidnaps her, taking her to Dathomir.


At that time Solo, Leia, and even Skywalker (other than in a holo of Yoda speaking of Dath) have never heard of the planet and certainly have never been there.


So...I guess I'm wondering just how this works? Is this game supposed to be completely seperate from the SW story as it's happened in the books?

PBR_Streetgang
Fri Jan 23, 2004 7:26 am
#426
TH,


Things look great for the new publish. Keep up the good work, all is appreciated.





PBR Streetgang
LeBob
Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:10 am
#427
from the Test Center Patch Notes

______________________________________________________________________

Player Cities

  • Player city clone facilities are no longer considered for "respawn closest". Only static NPC clone facilities are now considered "respawn closest". Players can still clone at a civic clone facility if they have stored their clone information there.
  • There is now an option on the city management terminal that allows you to revoke your citizenship at any time.
  • Citizens will now be removed from a city if they haven't been online for about 3 weeks.
  • Players will now get a popup when they are city warned, incase they miss the message behind other windows.
  • Fixed an issue with mayors getting 100 points of xp less than they should have on city updates.
  • You can no longer deploy a camp in a player city.
    _____________________________________________________________________

    • I have two problems with these, they are in red... I will address the minor one first.


    Was /citywarn not taken out of the game? Should this say
    "Players will now get a popup when they are city banned, incase they miss the message behind other windows." ? or is /citywarn being added back into the game?


    Now for the major issuse...
    "Citizens will now be removed from a city if they haven't been online for about 3 weeks."


    The results of this could be catastrophic... without the ability to remove houses, a city will be helpless if many of its residents are 'removed'... if a large number of citizens are 'removed' (I'll assume this means only that their citizenship has been revoked) then the city will have no place to move in new citizens as the old citizens still have their houses up and taking up much space... please do not push this code live in this publish... please let the community have some time to digest the implications of this change and give us some time to talk about it... I'm sure the community and the DEVs can come to some reasonable compromise.


    thanks




    SWGEntertainer.com
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    PCgameGuru
    Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:16 am
    #428

    AssInVader wrote:

    just got all the POI badges but they look a total mess in my bio,

    I was thinking there should be some kind of seperation between them in the bio like:

    POI Badges
    ...has visited

    Profession Badges
    ...has mastered

    Act Badges
    ...Dead-eye

    etc..





    Yes! Please re-organize this!

    We have soooo many badges now, and my opinion is that many are pointless. Regardless, they are still a cluttered mess. Please re-organize the badge display when a person is examined. Perhaps you should make smaller framed windows (like in the skills window where the small boxes left of the skill tree are scrollable) that show location badges, profession badges, bio info, etc.

    That can't be too hard to do, just reorganize that window. :-)



    __________________________________________________________
    Colonel Dominix Deathblow
    <RAID> Chief Operations Director
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    Master of 11...and keeper of a silent holocron...
    ___________________________________________________________
    Travixius
    Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:36 am
    #429
    Ivokifa,


    Your looting ideas are so totally mid boggling. So if you die and your overt they can loot your armor and everything? Give me a BREAK!!!


    Even in EQ, you can only loot 1 item that is NOT in a backpack. What your proposing will only succeed in destroying the economy even more then it is not. It will result in the few PvP addict twinks owning everything. Not to mention the fact that there is no logic to the deathblow. I mean if you kill someone anyone can DB! It makes it no fun at all. You do the work and this little weasle that hangs back the whole battle runs up and steals your DB and faction! You would think the devs could have done better, but this is SOE so I should have not even thought that LOL.


    I do agree with you that looting is a BIG factor in anny MMORPG, but this will never be in the world of SWG. They have pretty much said they aren't going to do anything about making the loot better, and though your thoughts are a bit extreme for PvP looting. I think if you could loot like in EQ it would be cool.



    ....An Idea is infectious, so everyone is going to have one....
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