Jedi Archive

I feel that the time is now appropriate to express some concerns that myself, as well as many of my friends and other players also share. I am currently in a guild that has been around since around the beginning of launch and we carry the full spectrum of professions and players with varied play-time. Were it not for the friends that I currently play with, there would have probably been several times where I would have called it quits. In light of the many recent changes to the game that affect everyone, I wanted to offer my own view of how things are going. Before you ask and I get flamed, I have played the fullarray of profession types in the game. I’ve played melee combat, ranged combat, Jedi, healer, crafter, etc. This may not be the appropriate forum to post this, but since I have a Jedi, I felt that this group of people would appreciate more of what I have to say. I want to outline the major problems, as I see it, with things that are badly hurting not just the game, but the player base as a whole.

1. Communication: There has been a total lack thereof. Every day, there are questions that people ask the devs. Obviously, they can not answer everyone, but I find it hard to believe that they cannot answer the questions that are asked repeatedly. One major example of this is the force ranking system. So far, all we have ever heard is that it’s ETA has been delayed. OK, we can live with that, but what was the previous ETA and what is the current? Never have I seen a dev or community relations person answer a question like this directly. Your customers want to know. For many of us, Pearl/Crystal drops and the force ranking system are our top concerns. How long are we expected to wait knowing that it is just simply “in the future?” Every single day, fantastic ideas are submitted by players from all professions on ideas to increase content, improve game play, and improve game mechanics. Yet somehow, none of this is ever implemented. Also everyday, several posts that offer up constructive critisism are deleted. Why?I find it hard to believe that in all of SOE’s corporate headquarters there is not a post-it board or calendar somewhere with a loose schedule of what you want to accomplish and by when.

2. Unequal Power Distribution among Professions: A year ago, it could be easily argued that Jedi were the most powerful combat class in the game. The FRS was in full swing and Jedi were actually admired for what they could accomplish on the battlefield. Now, the argument can be made that ranged professions are superior. When the CU came out, there was a huge power shift from Jedi/melee professions to ranged ones. With the additions of roots/snares, it was now much harder for melee professions to be a viable option beyond PvE. Now, with the loss of loots to a majority of players, no FRS for Jedi to become stronger, and an increase in the power of ranged weapons, melee professions are almost completely unable to compete against the now vastly superior, well armed ranged classes. Player diversity among the combat professions is on a quickening decline.

3. Publishes that are geared toward one Profession/Class: I was at first hesitant to talk about this section, but since it relays what I think, I feel it would be best that I mention it. To all Bounty Hunters: I enjoyed playing one, but you absolutely can not argue that you are not the alpha class in this game. For several publishes now, you have only gained in your abilities and what you can do. Of course, this started when they lowered the requirements to be one. You were then able to mix in other professions to bolster your abilities in combat. Then came the BH Loot revamp and your newly acquired monopoly on the best loot in the game. You have unlimited access (limited only by your play time) to the best components to make the best weapons in the game. This also greatly hurt every server’s economy as well with the huge influx of overpriced CA’s and AA’s that BH’s had almost exclusive access to after DJK farming was stopped and pearls and crystals no longer dropped above “good” quality. The inflation on most servers has made it so that things are constantly getting harder to afford because of the extreme inflation. I think that our economies should be based off of what our crafters can produce and not what the privileged few can loot. Overall, ranged professions and especially BH’s are far too overpowered and need immediate attention. I hear non-Jedi professions complain a lot that there are too many Jedi. Well, when is the last time you saw a ranged profession that wasn’t a BH mixed with something else?

4. Lack of Bug Fixes: With every patch, expansion, and publish, only a small fraction of each is geared toward fixing bugs. In some cases, there have been reported bugs that have went months and a few cases years, to fix. At this moment there are game-breaking exploits being used by people on every server that give them advantages in all areas of the game. Every day they are reported, yet I don’t even see a simple acknowledgement that they will be looked into. I agree that content is a good thing, but it seems that several publishes have been used to change how the game works and not on ways to fix the current system. Who wants to drive a car that is loaded with features that no one wants or asks for, and gets 1 mpg and breaks down all the time?

5. Extreme Variation of Star Wars Lore: The game, when it was first conceptualized, was based around something that should have made it a sure hit and something that would draw players for years to come: Star Wars. Who among us weren’t drawn to it simply because of the name alone? That being said, there are some things that were done that are irreversiblein the game. You can not simply take out Jedi, nor do I think they should. But, I do think that the timeline should be advanced to stop the butchering of the current story. I think that enough is enough of this “Jedi should be in hiding” nonsense and advance the storyline beyond Episode 6 where, like many of us fans know, both the Empire and Rebellion are still fighting and Jedi are repopulating. Give us fans a reason to enjoy the storyline again instead of twisting into something that is extremely varied from the timeframe that you are trying to place us in.

Well, that just about sums everything up. I apologize for the long post but I feel that the only way we are going to get something done is to talk about it. One thing I can say for sure though, and I know it has been said a thousand times before is, this game is in trouble. The recent actions taken by the game’s creators have caused severe unrest among the player base. Flame me if you want, but I have tried to write this not from the perspective of any single profession, but as someone who cares and is concerned about it and looks at it as a whole.

M.G.

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pussycat wrote:
/great post!

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