Development Cycle Archive

Hi there Devs & players alike!

SWG is a great MMORPG, and I do thank the Devs for all their hard work. When I went to Fan Fest, it was evident the Devs mostly had a lot of passion for the game. Personally, I've tried almost all the MMO's out there, and SWG is my choice!

That being said,

From a "player in the trenches" aspect, I help lead a guild of about 70 active players who are a mix of combat and crafting professions, and PvPers. With a guild this size, we typically have all the major crafting professions as well as major combat profs. With that preface, in many ways our guild environment is a microcosm of what happens when something is changed or enhanced in SWG.

Over the past few months, we've seen:

- A Chef revamp that made folks regrind just to make the awesome stuff! Player base response was to pay Chefs whatever they wanted. I believe GreenMarine planned this revamp, well done.

- Cool enhancements to the UI like the Group "closest wp monitor".

- Some very well designed challenges in the Corvette and DWB.

-A DE publish that caused the most veteran, consistent DE's to resign their profession. This was mainly due to a lack of any true meaning for the DE profession's output - droids. Other than mobile crafting stations and the occasional combat R3, we still don't see a lot of droid use in the game.

- A mini-ID revamp. Simply put, on Ahazi, we've seen ID's become more scarce than even before ID revamp. And the result is a very frustrating wait sometimes for players waiting for a needed stat migration.

- Increased focus on Jedi revamp, to the exclusion of almost all else recently. Honestly, most players I know do not have Jedi. It has been shown by your own posts Jedi are a very tiny % of the population. Yet, the Jedi revamp has superceded even the once-hoped-for GCW revamp. I'd ahve to say most of the people I know are looking at Publish 9 as the "anti-regular-player Publish" since there won't be a lot for the rest of us.

- GCW revamp cancelled/postponed past JtL - This sent shivers through the table I was at at Fan Fest that GCW is so far down the timeline in the Dev's timetable. From a player's perspective, our entire guild and the friendsI know were hoping for a refined, mature GCW revamp that makes the GCW the "elder game" for vets and the true faction war for PA's and cities.

- A major CraftingRevamp that was revoked the following day due to unexpected negative response from the player base.

Now, all of this above most players have experienced to varying degrees. With this in mind, Publish 10 (Combat Revamp) is now just around the corner.

I have to ask the Devs a few questions on this, but first here is what is going through the player base as to the direction of Publishes: Due to the last few profession revamps, and the only noticeable player favorite being Chef, all are cringing at what Publish 10 could mean to the players.

Players who have combat templates mastered have spent hours learning each and every special and it's effects on PvE and PvP, and then redesigning their combat and enhancing with expensive weapons and armor. Now, the unknown Publish 10's repercussions are already being discussed in game/in forum. The debate is getting pretty intense already, with people on both sides of the fence as to why this is a good or bad thing. The most common player thought is: remove the exploited weapons/items,fix the too powerful professions, and be done with it. Unfortunately, the Devs responses at Fan Fest and in the Forums here have made it clear that they will need to revamp all crafted combat related items in the game, including pre-patch items along with the Special revamp and HAM revamps. Publish 10 was jokingly referred to by almost all Devs at the Fan Fest as the "Combat Nerf" not Revamp.

My impression at Fan Fest of the Devs' motivation behind the "Combat Nerf" was stated in one panel there very clearly - a Dev stated that all of combat has been broken and unbalanced from the very beginning of the game a year ago. A Dev said they want to fix all of combat at one time and do minor tweaks after for bugs and unintended consequences until it's where the Devs want it to be. The way the revamp was described, it will be sweeping and touch all professions, all skills, and all players.

Imagine the result to dedicated combat veterans when the character they've had for months is now going to be worthless to them. The combat they're used to, the items they've invested in, most will be changed dramatically. Worthless is a strong word, but look at it from the player's viewpoint. And it is being generally expected that combat profession grinding and xp will be effected so that grinding through a profession will take much longer after Publish 10. If this is true (like in the ID revamp), then it will take dramatically longer than people are used to, to grind into another profession.

For the most dedicated combat veterans, who have put months of hard work into refining their combat strategies, a pre-Nerf mourning is already taking place. For obvious reasons, they are assuming their love of the game (combat as it is now) has become an unknown quantity. The idea of going into Test Center to try the Nerf out is a good one, but realistically, the majority of players can't grind an elite profession on TC and still have time to test it properly. Because of these factors, this "mourning" is already becoming a serious issue.

So, my questions to the Devs:

1- This Combat Nerf once released will have a huge, sweeping effect on the ground game. In other MMORPG's (most noticeable AO & AC2), vast amounts of players cancelled their accounts when a similarly sweeping combat rebalance was implemented. It is being implemented from a Dev viewpoint of "it's been broken so long, we need to bring it into the originally planned scenario we had". Have you really, truly put yourselves in the shoes of players who love the game as it is and thought about the consequences?

*I am not "threatening to cancel" my own account, but trying to speak for what will inevitably happen. It has happened many times in other MMORPG's and will happen in SWG with Publish 10. Human nature is that when you've spent a ton of time in something you lvoe to develop it, and then it is gone, there is a void and a "mourning" that can cause people to cancel.

2- Regardless of the "combat tables are skewed we must revamp all of it" response we've gotten on this, have you thought about what will happen if the Combat Nerf is as unpopular as the Crafting revamp was, when you had to remove it the next day? And is there any possible way to simply remove all exploited items and fix overpowered professions, instead of the wholesale Nerf?

3- Have you thought of the effect on veteran players who have been waiting for an "elder game" to spend their time on, and now they will have to reinvent their characters?

We all realize this is your baby too And that a sincere amount of effort and pride of what you have designed in SWG is a big part of the motivation here. Not to mention, having a ground game that is solid for JtL's release. I guess we are all scratching our heads wondering why it has to be such a humongous step backwards (in our minds) versus what we had hoped would be profession revamps and exploited item/situation fixes.

So as not to seem entirely negative, I must say JtL looks fantastic and I look forward to it!

Thoughts from a concerned SWG fanatic.

Thanks!