Development Cycle Archive
Thread: State of the Game Letter from JustG
/emote takes JustG's letter and dumps a bag of salt on it.
"There. Take it with that much. I'll be back with more."
/emote walks away whistling.
To those of you who are really upset by this letter, please realize this is a game. We should all be playing to have fun. If you are having fun, then great. As long as you are having fun, that's what's important. If you are not having fun, go ahead and cancel. I'm being serious. You can always keep tabs on what is happening here because the forums are now public. If in the future you think the changes look fun, you can always come back. If you're not having fun, then why are you paying your subscription? I hope this isn't coming off as a flame or a troll post, but rather a wake-up call to relax and examine your recreation.
Thunderheart, the changes look great. JustG, stay on target. Should be awesome. I can't wait to get my new computer in and get back on Test Center.
---Stootee
JustG:
Any plans to incorporate Star Warsy things into the game?
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=csystems&message.id=10715
Do you all plan to.....
- Fix the bug where we warp 100m from a /dismounted vehicle?
- Fix the bug where we have to close 100 extra "compose new message" dialogs?
- Let Wookiees use the C12 grenade that everyone else uses for combat xp?
- Give us a reason to use creature mounts like a+25 terrain navigation (or more)?
- Fix the "repair bug" with vehicles when we take flights? So that artisans can sell the vehiclesagain?
- Save the positon of the combat queue so I don't have to shift it around everytime we login?
- Fix the bug that prevents us from saving our profession tagwhen we set it to nothing?
???
Incarnation wrote:
Plz tell me we aren't going to be seeing Jedi or Chefs in Mandalorian armor TH....
Why don't you want to see Chefs in mandalorian armor? What did we do to you?
I will take a quote from JustG's letter and make it BOLD and REALLY BIG to show you people who are whining to give it a rest.
This schedule can, and most likely will change.
Ummm....I hate to throw logic at you convincing arguement...but if people didn't complain, whine, rant, **edit**, moan, disagree with, or generally rebel against things how would JustG or any other Dev know that the schedule needs changing?
It's the bitchers, the moaners, the whiners, the ranters, the complainers, etc that get's the changes needed actually changed...No matter what change someone suggests about any aspect of this game, someone has to come along and label them either a ranter, whiner, cry-baby, complainer, etc...
Elvandar01 wrote:
I also don't see why so much time is being devoted for revamping Jedi. If people wanted to be Jedi and be immursed in a surreal Jedi system, they can play KOTOR for it. It accomplishes it much better than SWG. Yet basically the next 4 publishes revamp 3 professions and continually focus on more Jedi changes... I mean honestly, why not fix the regular professions before taking 3 publishes to revamp something that players can get a better experience from in another game?
Because it absolutely sucks for starters....zero defenses (ie. horrible for PvP) and TONS of broken specials and boring as hell.... Jedi is suppose to the ultimate end-game of SWG.
Good to see what direction we're heading, but I have to mirror some of the concerns other players have regarding more basic game issues. For one, JustG made a comment:
"...Colorization of droids and vehicles by non-master artisans."
Non-Droid Engineers still can't color their own droids 
I'd assume this is definitely a bug then. I'm primarily a Droid Engineer, so many of my concerns are DE related.Many people are discouraged that we DEs can no longer color the droid chassis for display purposes. In addition, there are still issues with droid experimentation having no value in the other categories, Droid Armor results are currently bugged it seems and inconsistant, and droids with multiple defensive slots gain no benefit from multiple armor plates. And really, what about the huge desire for even having these droidekas and Battle Droids as CL10 craftables? The desire is there, and they don't HAVE to be "uber-droids".
Along those lines, there has been close to no official discussion on what we will be seeing for the NEXT publish. There have been some brief discussions, but those of us in the thick of it don't even know what's coming. Far reaching goals are great, but we do need to make sure the here and now is taken care of appropriately. I'm truly afraid that if we don't get many of our Droid Engineer issues resolved THIS publish, we may get pushed to the back burner for a long, long time. I mean, just look at that schedule you guys have! Very ambitious, very cool, but also must be a very big strain on your resources.
Khalaermol wrote:
To those that are offended that Jedi>GCW, let me ask this...
Also, GCW isprobably major new coding.... tons.
Jedi "revamp" is probably much less code.
Oh my FREAKING God!!!!! Gary's letter is AWESOME...I am about as excited right now as I was the first day I logged on and started playing.
TH, JustG, and Runesabre...kudos to you for a job well done... You are definately taking the game in the right direction, and I think you for helping me to have a good time night after night (with even better things to come).
Thank you!
p.s. Developer communication lately has improved 300%...please keep talking to us, we love it!
Elvandar01 wrote:
I also don't see why so much time is being devoted for revamping Jedi. If people wanted to be Jedi and be immursed in a surreal Jedi system, they can play KOTOR for it. It accomplishes it much better than SWG. Yet basically the next 4 publishes revamp 3 professions and continually focus on more Jedi changes... I mean honestly, why not fix the regular professions before taking 3 publishes to revamp something that players can get a better experience from in another game?
Pretty simple reason really. About 50% of my PA of 40 or so wanted to play as a Jedi. The majority have never played a MMORPG game before. Many do not come to these boards. But none want to sign up for a linear, vanila, EASY, game such as KOTOR (Great game - but only so much you can do in single player).
And Jedi Academy etc... is just a twitch/clone/battle fest. Not much roleplay opportunity or character development. Fun for a while, and for it's FPS meets StarWars kick, but after a couple weeks I don't know a ton of folks really getting 'into' it.
For a large number of players , playing a Jedi is the MAIN appeal to them joining SWG. Sure, not everyone, but certainly a number of folks I know. Opening the Jedi slot was 'the very difficult thing, but very rewarding' thing to do. That's how it was originally put forward in concept.
Folks still say Jedi are 'too numerous' but I so strongly disagree. Everyone who wants to play Jedi in a MMORPG have come here to do so. No one should be denied this joy, and it's really the main attraction for myself and a number of 'the fanbois' who remember being impressed by the opening of Episode 4, and awed by the empires attack on the Rebel base at Hoth.
So then we had the permadeath Jedi, with a game system that was somewhat shaky and felt 'rushed' because numerous other combat changes had occured before the first jedi unlocked. Damage mitigation and template stacking, with 90% armor being 'common' being among some things never really taken into consideration pre-jedi. The 'profession grind' was terrible and ruined PA's, burned out players and made it so where a profession you played and took your time with was FUN, when rushed it was severely cheapened. I did master CH in three days. Never tamed more then two pets- one very good example of just blasting through a profession and missing the whole fun.
Now that also being said- the combat revamp is going to take a LOT of time to do it right. As well, many professions HAVE had a ton of fixes. I remember BH missions being even buggier then now, with more payout. Pre-swoop bikes. And soon starports will be faster (thank goodness, I hate wasting my game time!!) so their hunt will be more enjoyable.
Pikeman had some weapon tweaks. Many combat classes gained damage mitigation. Melee classes received center of being. Chefs were COMPLETELY redone. Bio Engineers were just about completely redone too! Architects have a TON of new buildings and some very cool lamps. Vehicles and mounts are in, Droids are in (sure they seem a start right now, but I get the feeling the next round will be pretty neat).
Let's give some credit where it's due- the Devs are not 'forgetting' about any profession, it's just the Jedi's time to get fixed up. I sure do not want to 'lose' more friends to a holocron grind, or burnout after mindlessly completing 30 professions they are not interested in. Nor do I want to see Jedi so 'unfun' to play that the main reason a lot of my friends play, goes away. Make constructing a saber more involving and challenging, and Jedi have some customization in skills and abilities too
Anyways, just my thoughts on the subject. I think a heck of a lot HAS improved, it's just easier to see what's still 'broken' then appreciate all the great changes in the past 7 months or so...
Ren