Development Cycle Archive

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Thunderheart wrote:

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Thorolfsk wrote:

Thunderheart can you please respond to these questions:

• Can the development team please provide the community with a valid reason for pushing back the combat revamp?

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The most important reasons are:

• I understand that there are many people against having Jedi in the game, but it is part of the game. En masse, the community was adamant that we change the holocron/professions system and that time is now. Given the effort that went in to publish 9, we needed to clear the schedule and make room for publish 10 to do a better job on it. The Jedi system needed to be changed because it was effecting everyone. That is why it had the shceudling priority that it has.


• The Combat Balance is a huge publish and will have as much code in it as a console game. Its huge. We need the expertise and the manpower to do it correctly.

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With all due respect, why release a expansion pack before fixing problems already existing within the game?

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I would start with "With all due respect", but you used it =P, soin short and with respect, this isn't "just an expansion". This is Space. Space is something that everyone wanted at launch and Space is needed to create the Star Wars experience.

The other side of that is that JTL has been in production since January. We can't delaysix and half months of work for something that really makes Star Wars what it is.

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Assuming theexpansion will have a few problems, wouldn't that just create alarger backlog for you guys, and take time away from other problems?

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Those integration problems are being accounted for and that's why we needed more scheduling time. Publish 10 and taking the extra time to make integration with the ground game smoother is the time from the schedule that was needed. All in all, they were very difficult decisions to make.

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Omry wrote:

TH,

I know this is a huge upset to the community and space is a big deal for everyone. But dont you think that before you guys add another entire dimension to this game the current game needs to be fixed. I am just afraid that if the core features of this game are not corrected in a timely manner that you will start to have a huge decrease in players. I know many people are waiting to play some of the other games that are in development and are just hanging out in SWG till release. I for one would love to see you guys put space on hold for a bit and fix what we have now then release a whole new system that is going to need to be tweaked. I know the big wigs are looking at the Cash flow from JTL but it will be a flop if you guys dont get in gear and fix what we want now.

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I agree. I honestly think we deserve an apology from whoever keepspre-empting what are obviously the playing community's top priorities in this existing game. And I'm betting that apology shouldn't come from the devs, but from higher up. I honestly think the devs have been trying towork hard for us, but pressure from Marketing or execs or someone has been screwing things up before this thing even got going.

JTL will not save this game. Listening to the playerbase, ingoring those who are in this for the money, and being 100% honest with us might. Star Wars might just be a franchise to some, but it's a God damned international institution to a hell of a lot more people!

Good luck in the coming year.

• Combat Balance and GCW is excellent for almost everyone


• Things are actually in balance and griefing is rare


• People are in space and on the ground relatively bug-free


• Professions are fun again

Bad Things That Can Come From It:

• The Combat Balance and GCW get pushed again and again


• Bugs are not worked out because there is another rush for the next publish


• Balance is still an issue after the balance


• My friends are gone because of the (long) wait


• Smuggler gets pushed to the end


• The fixes before the CB and GCW and JTL are few and do not really fix anything

I see more bad than good right now if you, as a team, are not very careful. You must work quickly and effectively or you will lose a lot of people. JTL has to go off without a hitch since all of this is delayed or there will be serious hell to pay, I'm afraid. I just really hope you know what you're doing because this game can really be great and right now it just isn't. With competition knocking on your door, I hope it can be answered because I am not finished living the greatest story ever told, but I need a system that can handle it. Yours.

Message Edited by GarthVapour on 07-15-2004 09:04 PM

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WedgeStarkiller wrote:

So here we all are shouting in the wilderness hoping that the devteam would find us and solve our problems. I accept that they probably read all the forums, but reading and understanding are so far apart.

[...] Other people in this thread have said it, this game makes an untold fortune for SOE and Lucasarts, so lack of money isn't the problem. Its lack of spending the money. If you continuelly miss dates and disappoint your paying customers then its time to add more staff. A viable company cannot spend the majority of its time apologizing to its customers. SOE needs to look over their planning documents and not ask, "how much of a delay will the player base accept?" but, "what do we need to do or spend to make the promises to our customers?" Without us there is no game. Why isn't that clear enough? If we aren't happy then we won't get friends to join. I have friends that are hug star wars fans that I would be embarrased to explain the current state of the game to. Who is that helping?

I've been playing since last June and this marks the third time I have stared at a Dev post and considered cancelling my account. The first was the commando nerf in decemeber. The second was the when it came to light that the smuggler revamp was pushed back after JTL. This thread is the third. I'm on vacation tomorrow through Tuesday, I wonder if I'll be clicking on enter game or delete account come Wednesday night...

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