Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Great Expectations, Major Schedule Changes and making SWG the finest MMORPG ever
OthrSixtoes
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:16 am
#1028
If you are not going to deliver then you owe us a couple of free months. It is only fair of you to take a loss after all the broken promises and issues this game is still suffering 1 year after launch.
Hetfield
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:18 am
#1029
Come on guys. Sure I'm too a bit upset how the developement of Star Wars Galaxies has been handled in the past.
I mean the long discussed and nearly non existant Galactic Civil War...a shame. Many old Dungeons are nothing more than standart artwork with no suprises, special mobs or loot, nor is there a story to follow.
HOWEVER,
many work has been done in the last month. The new Dungeons are quite cool. And Jump to Lightspeed is coming :-) And don't forget that there's no MMORPG with such an complex player driven economy. It has its flaws, sure, but its unique and fun for many of us!
The Space Expansion means a lot of work, too. Never before has someone tried to cross an classical MMORPG with an space simulation.
So far THANKS FOR THE GOOD WORK DEVS!
But after the release of Jump to Lightspeed its time to make the GCW etc. right! THATS THE CORE OF SWG!
Where arethe Imp Bases where you can see batallions of Stormtropers standing in lines, awaiting orders from their superiors? Where are the rebel vs Imps NPC battles? Why can't we see things like Imp Troop Transporters dropping from the sky to invade a new rebel base?
HAS ANYONE SEEN THE EVERQUEST 2 TRAILERS? It's all in their! In the newest ingame trailer you can see the camera moving through an Dark Elven City. And guess what you see? HUNDREADS OF DARKELVEN TROOPS STANDING IN LINES! HUGE PATROLS OF 12 MEN AND MORE! I saw that and thought...man that is how Star Wars Galaxies should look and feel. Star Wars is Action, theres always something happening...but in Galaxies....hmmm....not much. A Stoormtrooper here an officer there.....no reactions to overt rebels etc.
THUNDERHEART everything you've written at the top of this thread sounds great! It's the best to first complete the work on Jumpt to Lightspeed to later work with full manpower and no compromises on the GCW and SWG at all.
BUT, the community is right...it's far about time to make SWG right.
Damm, EVERQUEST 2 seems to be far more advanced in atmosphere and on screen action than SWG. And there are other MMORPG to come soon with similar goals! So please do what you can.
I think apart from some every time whiners, most community critics are right that you've a lot to do. We all like this game. It has a great potential! But thats the problem: IT HAS POTENTIAL, BUT NO ONE HAS TRIED TO WORK SOMETHING OUT OF IT!
So, let's go to work :-) Thx for all your efforts devs, now get this game to a higher level and show us what you're capable of!
Yours
B'urn
nefarious2
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:18 am
#1030
Thunderheart wrote:
Being a Jedi is a big part of the Star Wars experience
The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the galaxy. You my friend are the only one left of their religion. - Tarkin to Vader ANH
The Jedi are all but extinct. Obi-Wan to Luke ANH
Jedi is driving me away from this game, and it started out as a good game.
Xconxors
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:19 am
#1031
Moved back 6 months? Game publishes get moved back when they are due in a week.. Does anyone really believe any of the publishes won't be moved back AGAIN?!
Stop kidding yourselves people- Learn to love what you got, because it's all your gonna get for a long, long time.....
Argonlaser
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:22 am
#1032
/game over
will not be renewing 4 accounts.....JTLboycott is ON....word is out....
Spank-A-Thon
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:25 am
#1033
Whilst I realise that it's "unfair to shoot the messenger", TH is our outlet and as such has to expect that he will be targetted as a vent for the community's frustration. I have consistently tried to defend the Devs from the constant barrage of negativity - but as each day passes it gets harder and harder.
The Devs continue to please the minority whilst ignoring the masses. Yes, JTL is important but 100% of the player base will not play it - the existing ground-based game affects 100% of players.
The carrot has been repeatedly dangled in front of us, and just when we thought it was getting closer - it is once again snatched away. We are your customers and you continually fail to meet our expectations and requirements. We continue to pay $15 per month for something which is clearly not fit for purpose.
I work in Software Development and if I failed to deliver on time like SOE have, I would not have a job. If I failed to deliver something that met my customers requirements, like SOE have, I would not have a job. Sometimes it feels like 1 step forward and 2 steps back as every publish seems to break something.
SOE are obsessed with piling more and more things onto the foundations - what they don't realise is that if your foundations are weak, so is everything else on top. The foundation must be solid - which is clearly is not. I have completely lost faith with the Dev team and theProject Management (or lack of)displayed thus far.
But do you know what the worst thing is? I love Star Wars - I'm a Star Wars fan, not a MMORPG fan and so EQ2, WOW or others are not a factor - I want to play Star Wars and this is my only option. I can't vote with my wallet because for me there is no alternative.
And you know what - SOE know this and continue to break promises, provide mis-information and dangle carrots all in the name of making more money.
I can't tell you how thoroughly disappointed I have become with this. ThunderHeart, I know it's not your fault - but you're the only person who can communicate the communities dis-illusionment to the Developers and Management at SOE.
Is no-one concerned with the mass of negativity these forums have seen and experienced over the past few months? I can't help but find myself asking 'Would General Motors, Ford, IBM, Boeing and other such corporations accept their customer base being so unhappy?'
/mood dis-illusioned
- Ymo
Message Edited by Spank-A-Thon on 07-16-2004 02:27 PM
PadawanChong
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:26 am
#1034
Thunderheart wrote:
Rather than continue to split the team’s forces and try to accomplish too many goals, we’re going to do a few things and do them right. Once the Jump To Lightspeed is complete, the team as a whole will be re-grouped. Then the combined team will accomplish the Combat Balance, the GCW and all the other improvements to the game.
I have a question: How is focusing on adding new content instead of improving the core combat system - something that I'm sure 98% of the people have had to go through at some time (save a dancer or two who has never left the major cities) - supposed to be construed as 'doing a few things and do them right'? You're jumping right to a new thing when you freely admit that the system isn't balanced as it is.
Hell, you guys gave this rebalance thing a try a while ago, began changing stuff and stopped mid-stream after facking up 1 or 2 professions.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: Cancelled
StolenDiagram
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:29 am
#1035
Thunderheart wrote:
Rather than make any grand posts or documents, I've chosen a different path. One of action. Each week, I'll be working with the community on these items to develop plans, post them and then make them part of the web site. As part of these delay changes, the team has given me additional weight in the decision making process.
I have to complete the hiring process, finish the transition and then I'll get to work with the community.
Perhaps you could tell us which of those 3 puts money into your bank account? Correct me if I'm wrong TH, but weren't you merely a simple beta tester before this "chaos" emerged? Bet you wish you hadn't been so hasty now eh
lexington23
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:29 am
#1036
The story Great Expectations was about being let down and dissapointed. I'm glad that it amuses you to title your post after this novel. Tell your bosses to not be so greedy and hire more programmers. What are the odds that JTLS is going to work when it's realeased? Will we have to wait a year for the big "space combat revamp" to fix everything that makes your new game as big of a letdown as the current one? Great Expectations indeed. . .
Krayvex
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:31 am
#1037
What should bother everyone as much as the timeline is the way SOE handled it. It has been falsely advertised to an almost fraudulent level. Anytime any profession had a problem, it was always, "the combat balance will fix everything." A May producer letter that said, "We are cranking on the Combat Balance, ". Cranking away, huh? They've known for weeks that the CB was not going to happen soon, maybe even months. Yet we still kept hearing about how it will solve all our problems. They knew players were holding out, and continuing to keep their accounts live, just for the CB.
I know they have a business to run and that the loss of this many accounts cant be good, but there are just things you don't do. Do the SOE suits and producers have autographed pictures of Kenneth Lay on their desks? What they did wasn't cool. My account wouldn't have been active for the last few months if I had known earlier. Sucks to be screwed out of any amount of money. Better that I learn from it i guess. I know all I need to know about SOE now. I guess the best thing to do with SOE is assume everything they tell you is a lie, and then let them prove you wrong.
Soln
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:31 am
#1038
Watch them drop some other waste of effort like the DWB or the Corvette to distract us.
No one wants new content -- fix what exists now or stop communicating misleading statements.
PadawanChong
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:32 am
#1039
AkashaMille wrote:
At the moment, this thread count about a thousand posts, but all we know there is not far than half a million accounts suscribed to SWG. If all we cancel account, therewould alway be 499 000 players paying for this game. SOE loose 0,2% of is audience. Do you really thing that SW geeks would cancel ???
Half a million my ass. They MIGHT have 500,000 players if you add up all the people who have accounts on multiple servers, but they do not have a 500,000 member paying base. And I guarantee you after TH's post went up yesterday, that number went significantly lower.
If it's truly about money with SOE, we'll get an idea of how many people cancelled if they decide to re-focus on the rebalance. Even that won't get me to renew until I see it's actually been published.
Sesik
Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:33 am
#1040
Krayvex wrote:
What should bother everyone as much as the timeline is the way SOE handled it. It has been falsely advertised to an almost fraudulent level. Anytime any profession had a problem, it was always, "the combat balance will fix everything." A May producer letter that said, "We are cranking on the Combat Balance, ". Cranking away, huh? They've known for weeks that the CB was not going to happen soon, maybe even months. Yet we still kept hearing about how it will solve all our problems. They knew players were holding out, and continuing to keep their accounts live, just for the CB.
I
All of those 19 questions for TH....it seemed every answer was..."Wait for the combat rebalance".....those were the issues we are having NOW...do you think we want to just sit here and smile with a busted game for atleast another 5 months..and the chances of you getting it right on the first try...I would sayare 40/60.