Jedi Archive

Sometimes complaining to the CEO gets better results than complaining to the operations/programming staff of a company. The letter below is being mailed to George Lucas. Chances are, it will not make its way to him, however not trying to get an opinion heard is far worse than trying and failing. So, in an effort to have my voice heard, the following is being mailed:

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January 29, 2004

Mr. George Lucas
PO Box 2459, San Rafael 94912

Dear Mr. Lucas:

I am writing you today regarding a recent change that has been announced in the Star Wars Galaxies Online game regarding the method utilized by a player to open his/her force sensitive slot (aka Jedi character) that were vaguely announced in the 1/23/04 Friday feature by the SWG development staff.

In this Friday feature the development staff indicated that two changes will be occurring over the next two publishes. They are:

1. Removal of Jedi-Permadeath – no longer will Jedi be reset to beginning Jedi after three deaths.

2. Removal of the current Force Sensitive Slot Unlocking Method – Users will no longer be required to master 4+N professions, N being a random profession that the user must guess correctly. Instead, a quest based system will be put into place that does not require anyone to change their profession.

My concern, and the concern held by many of those who have invested significant amounts of time, in game resources pursuing the current system of unlocking. The FSS slot change stunned the community, and was met with a mixture of confusion and fear by those who have been working hard to open their FSS, as well as joy by those who have done nothing to date.
I am not writing to say that the proposed new system should not be implemented, I am writing you today to say that it us categorically unfair to force those who have invested time trying to unlock their slot under the current system. People have made sacrifices, and most importantly, many people have been thwarted by the silent profession and have mastered 25 professions or more trying to unlock their force sensitive character.

What I am requesting is a solution that will appease both the current members working under the current system, and those discontented with it/who have not started, or who refuse to work under the current system:

1. Grandfather the Current System – allow characters currently in existence to open their slot under the current system if they so choose. You cannot look at a system that has people mastering 15, 20, 25 professions as not being difficult. Allow us this choice.

2. Transfer Current Status into New System – some people working on their silent holocron profession are highly dissatisfied with the current system and want to do the quest based one, allow these people to switch to the new system if they so choose (optional).

3. New FSS for any new character after Publish 7 – New players to the game can be put into the new system from the start. I can certainly understand that the development staff does not want to maintain two systems, which is fine – for new players. Existing players should be able to continue under the old system.

The fear that many people have is that our efforts will be wasted. We did not make the current system what it is, but we have faithfully walked its road in hopes of opening our force sensitive slot, to force a change like this, this late in the game is both unfair and ungrounded. I have yet to see any reason from a developer why people who want to continue on the current system should not be allowed to do so.

Many people came to SWG from other online MMORPG games such as Everquest, or Dark Ages of Camelot and have seen how Quest based systems make things rare – through the use of random rare spawns. Everyone should have an equal and fair opportunity to open their Jedi slot. Quest based systems do not offer the same level of fairness that the current system offers for people with limited play opportunities.

If these changes are news to you, I urge you to please read some of the user commentary on the forums. This change could have a seriously negative impact on Star Wars, LucasArts, and Sony. Bad press is something that should try to be avoided if possible. If the people who have been faithful to SWG get the proverbial shaft, bad press will not be a possibility, it will be a reality.

Sincerely,
Real Life Name

SWG Server: Radiant
SWG Character Name: Archonius Rexx
Pre-Holo Profession: 2-4-4-4 BH

Holo Professions:
Master TKA – Completed
Master Smuggler – Complete
Master Rifleman – Completed
Master Bounty Hunter – In Progress (2-0-3-4)

you do realize that people will be compensated in the new method for the amount of time they devoted into the old method, right? dev tracker is your friend!

I'm fully aware that vague references to compensation have been made, nothing concrete, as in "This is how professions mastered after the 4th holocron will be treated .. " has been made. Saying people will be compensated without details is what is conventionally referred to as "Smoke and Mirrors"

I think if he see's it he will get a chuckle out of someone so worried about a game..

just what I would think if I recieved that email.

Lucas has rights to the story line but SOE has rights to the game mechanics as long as they do not alter the game from the storyline. As it is there will be too many jedi in the game in less than a month the number will double.

So I think it will be very very very very hard for someone to get it no matter what after the change.

This means the early bird catches the worm and people that started asap and did it most efficient will be the privlaged.

I recomend you spend more time grinding and less time fretting and you will open your slot if you have worked half as hard as you say already.

well yuor intentions are not bad i am sure, but imo there are many many more things here not star wars like.

and if a letter to mr lucas i would say alot other stuff should be in it, like force the developper to watch actually the movies before programming /sarcasm off.

I'm not fretting, I'm expressing an opinion in way other than an internet forum, to a person who may very well have more pull with the development community than a person like myself who spends $15.00 a month playing a game.

Lucas does care about Star Wars and I do believe he keeps close control over things, just look at how carefully publications are handled.

Don't make the mistake of assuming I am emotional over this topic, Im just exploring other avenues of expression, and no, irregardless of what changes do occur, I will not be leaving the game, or stopping my efforts to obtain Jedi.

You do realise that George Lucas is working on Episode 3 right?

Even if you actually got the right adress and lets assume someone opens the letter he will stop reading after 10-20 lines anyway (I know I did). I'ts a game, he is not very immersed in its process and development and have bigger fish to fry like the post production of EP3. Your grasping for straws.

lol

you took the time to write a letter to GEORGE LUCAS about a game that is at best a sideline for him. Then you come to the boards and post it for all to see.

Yes you do have some emotion involved and that is fine, so do I, but luckily after 22 professions I opened myslot.

What I am saying to you is

1) 90% chance George will never see it
2) 90% chance if George opens it (between opening checks for millions of dollars for selling jar jar dolls) he will just delete it with a giggle.

But it is true that he owns rights 100% to the storyline, it is also true that SOE owns rights to the game engine and game mechanics, all things sofware.

It is also true that "continuity" will be destroyed in less than a month if they do not do something. So he goes to SOE and says "why are you being mean to your customers" and they say to him "look, 5% of the people are jedi and in a month it will be 20%" ... George looks it over (loving Star wars and continutity like he does) and says "ok turn off all new FS slots completely or I will sue you for breech of contract".

So then they limit jedi... this picture is much closer to the reality of what would happen if George took some of his valuable time to talk to SOE about this.

Of course SOE would never tell the players this due to canceled accounts and everyone not a jedi that wanted to be would be chasing a dream hehe

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Grexor wrote:
Sometimes complaining to the CEO gets better results than complaining to the operations/programming staff of a company. The letter below is being mailed to George Lucas. Chances are, it will not make its way to him, however not trying to get an opinion heard is far worse than trying and failing. So, in an effort to have my voice heard, the following is being mailed:

=============================

January 29, 2004

Mr. George Lucas
PO Box 2459, San Rafael 94912

Dear Mr. Lucas:

I am writing you today regarding a recent change that has been announced in the Star Wars Galaxies Online game regarding the method utilized by a player to open his/her force sensitive slot (aka Jedi character) that were vaguely announced in the 1/23/04 Friday feature by the SWG development staff.

In this Friday feature the development staff indicated that two changes will be occurring over the next two publishes. They are:

1. Removal of Jedi-Permadeath – no longer will Jedi be reset to beginning Jedi after three deaths.

2. Removal of the current Force Sensitive Slot Unlocking Method – Users will no longer be required to master 4+N professions, N being a random profession that the user must guess correctly. Instead, a quest based system will be put into place that does not require anyone to change their profession.

My concern, and the concern held by many of those who have invested significant amounts of time, in game resources pursuing the current system of unlocking. The FSS slot change stunned the community, and was met with a mixture of confusion and fear by those who have been working hard to open their FSS, as well as joy by those who have done nothing to date.
I am not writing to say that the proposed new system should not be implemented, I am writing you today to say that it us categorically unfair to force those who have invested time trying to unlock their slot under the current system. People have made sacrifices, and most importantly, many people have been thwarted by the silent profession and have mastered 25 professions or more trying to unlock their force sensitive character.

What I am requesting is a solution that will appease both the current members working under the current system, and those discontented with it/who have not started, or who refuse to work under the current system:

1. Grandfather the Current System – allow characters currently in existence to open their slot under the current system if they so choose. You cannot look at a system that has people mastering 15, 20, 25 professions as not being difficult. Allow us this choice.

2. Transfer Current Status into New System – some people working on their silent holocron profession are highly dissatisfied with the current system and want to do the quest based one, allow these people to switch to the new system if they so choose (optional).

3. New FSS for any new character after Publish 7 – New players to the game can be put into the new system from the start. I can certainly understand that the development staff does not want to maintain two systems, which is fine – for new players. Existing players should be able to continue under the old system.

The fear that many people have is that our efforts will be wasted. We did not make the current system what it is, but we have faithfully walked its road in hopes of opening our force sensitive slot, to force a change like this, this late in the game is both unfair and ungrounded. I have yet to see any reason from a developer why people who want to continue on the current system should not be allowed to do so.

Many people came to SWG from other online MMORPG games such as Everquest, or Dark Ages of Camelot and have seen how Quest based systems make things rare – through the use of random rare spawns. Everyone should have an equal and fair opportunity to open their Jedi slot. Quest based systems do not offer the same level of fairness that the current system offers for people with limited play opportunities.

If these changes are news to you, I urge you to please read some of the user commentary on the forums. This change could have a seriously negative impact on Star Wars, LucasArts, and Sony. Bad press is something that should try to be avoided if possible. If the people who have been faithful to SWG get the proverbial shaft, bad press will not be a possibility, it will be a reality.

Sincerely,
Real Life Name

SWG Server: Radiant
SWG Character Name: Archonius Rexx
Pre-Holo Profession: 2-4-4-4 BH

Holo Professions:
Master TKA – Completed
Master Smuggler – Complete
Master Rifleman – Completed
Master Bounty Hunter – In Progress (2-0-3-4)

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Grexor wrote:
... Saying people will be compensated without details is what is conventionally referred to as "Smoke and Mirrors"

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How can they give details to a system that probably is just now being conceived? I am sure the post was made as a teasor only on things to come. They probably only mentioned it because the current jedi are having such a hard time and everyone who doesn't have their FSCS is either getting fed up with the grind and quitting or still hard away at grinding. Fact is they see that the current system isn't fun and they are beginning the works to change it so it IS more fun.

Just wait till they solidify the ideas more and storyline the quests. I'm sure more teasors will follow in the days to come as well as rewards for those who have mastered 20+ professions (like myself).

George is too busy thinking up ways to ruin episode III. Sorry buddy. Also, this is the only way the Devs are able to control the "jedi population" so it has to be done. Also, sucks that you dropped BH so far into it and then had to master it as a holo prof. Man, I would've finished it b4 I went for master TK