Game Guides Archive
Thread: Does SWG reward loyal players for longevity?
Arcaine2 wrote:
I agree with you on the profession challenge - look at some people who have mastered all 32 in the matter ofa few months looking for the Jedi slot. There is littel reason to group in SWG - there is little reward for grouping in SWG for the group as a whole. Even increasing the MOBS hams to 300k forces grouping to an extent but with little to show for it. A few scales a pearl that only one member can have from a Kryat. Then tensions flare and greed takes precedent.
I thought about the group think myself today. SWG is my first MMORPG, when I started playing,I thought you are slow and weak alone and everything will be better when you do it in groups. But after only a few days I realised that there is no group reward. Acctualy there is just penalty for grouping. You can make more money and more xp maybe 2-3 times or more faster then in a group. When you are grouped the others take away your money for the mission, your loot and even your experiance. There is no point of killing big things with a group for xp. The only one everyone is group with is a pet for a little xp increase. I started together with a friend and first we did thinks together till we noticed how much factionpoints we take away from each other and how much time we waste running the missions together when we could do it alone. And the thing with the high end loot is always a problem. As far as i see it it only works well when you go with nice ppl and talk before the mission how the loot will be shared. I think there should be a system implemented where every active member (in range, does heals or damage) should get a copy of the loot and thats it. If 5 ppl kill a krayt and the loot a pearl everyone should get one and thats it. Would make the things less rare, but groups more rewarding, more fun and less trouble.
Back in June of 2003, I distinctly remember reading beta posts that predicted that after 3-6 months of playing, most players would be starting to become bored by the lack of content. But with that warning, I subscribed anyway. And just as was predicted, in the first few months this game ( while frustrating at times with patches and nerfs ) was a lot of fun. Places to go , mobs to kill and professions to master. '
Now after over 9 months, my initial goals have been met. So what is left? Jedi is broken. New content is inadequate. I have all the credits, armor, weapons, curios, houses and everything I want or ever thought I would want.
SOE wanted a game where the casual player could be successful, but even they achieve success too easy and for players that are more active the incentive to continue just isnt there. Very simply stated, the game has several concepts that are flawed and until that changes the game itself will remain flawed.
Flawed concepts.
1. PvP and PvM can be balanced ,,,impossible in my opinion
2. No long term continuing goal to strive for, maybe Jedi but who even knows if this will be worth it in the end.
3. No long term credit sinks that are significant. Credits are so easy to get and there is nothing to buy. Whats the point of doing missions and saving when once you have over 10 million you literally can retire.
4. Space , it might or might not be any good, From past patches, I honestly expect near disaster in bugs.
5. And last, once you master your preferred profession, what next? Answer, socialize. Everything else just isnt fun after awhile
So what we have is a game where the only players still with excitement in their eyes are new, and as you stay longer and longer you realize there just isnt anything to strive for and the hope of new content continually is met with disappointment when it finally comes, the hope of bug fixes are met with new bugs and last ,,it the developers just dont seem to have a good read on what is really fun and seem to be relying on PVP to keep us interested in the future and if PVP becomes the focus, this game will die.
So my prediction is that for the next 6 months they will continue to lose subscriptions of the longer term players and not much will actually change until the concepts are revamped and by that time, the game will likely be spiraling downward, If the space expansion is not really well done and if it doesnt create really neat content, this game wont ever reach its potential and the subscription base wont ever reach levels that truely make a game profitable.
I don't agree with alot of this, but some I do.
There's some nasty drawbacks to leaving the game and returning. A Weaponsmith friend of mine just did and he's in pretty bad shape. He gave all his money away but retained all this skills and professions. He couldn't place a house, his backpack/bank/inventory was full and he had no money. (And all his stupid crates were 5 volume, talk about a headache) I played pack mule for him for a bit and we got his small round down and spread out his crates around my houses and his. I had to give him money for maint and such. Well he can't even get close to what is made today. He missed all the great spawns in the last months. It will take him a long time and borrowing alot of money to get back on his feet, and then back to where he wants to be. This is just one example.
On status/glory hounding and such. Yes it is a little hard for this but not if you try. I rarely ever stand at a starport for long without hearing a OMG!!!! And it's someone seeing my Bio. Sporting 95 badges calls attention. Then the flood of tells happen and I preen as I like attention. Hehe. People ask if I was here from launch and I say yes, and beta. People see 30 profession badges (minus Merch, CH, Pol which are in progress), 45 explorer badges, Badge Collector 75, Intellect, 2 Warrens, 3 of 4 COAs, all he Theme Parksthere's a few others which escape me. Newbies to the whole online gaming ask me if I completed the game, this always makes me smile, I say "Half done" or "I haven't started yet!" as I have yet to gain Jedi.
All that you mentioned is here in the game, it's just different, take some time to see it. Just my opinion. The only frusterations I have with the game right now is there's too much to do and too little time.