Musician Archive
Thread: Hayden Blackman Interview: some interesting points. We even get a (sort of) 'hypothetical' apology!
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Beery
Sat Jul 24, 2004 4:53 am
#1
I just read the Hayden Blackman interview at Gameinformer.com: (Story)
There are some interesting points in it:
"GI: First of all, for background sake, could you describe the recent announcement that went out to Galaxies players regarding the Combat Revamp?
Hayden Blackman: For clarification, it was originally called the combat balance, now we’re calling it the combat revamp"
I assume they're changing the name so that they can honestly say that they never talked about the Combat Revamp as early as January. Now they can say that they originally started thinking about it in July.
"GI: Is it tricky to work with a community of such a large size? You’ve got so many players and such a rampant fan base. How do you plan on communicating with them on a better level? Will there be more involvement in the forums or are you thinking of things like questionnaires?
Blackman: Kurt Stangl, Thunderheart, is our community manager and he is trying to find ways internally to increase the range of correspondence much more often. We’re trying to find ways to engage them much more frequently and even kind of face-to-face."
I won't hold my breath. Hopefully this will happen sometime before pigs evolve into birds.
"GI: What kind of message would you give to John Q. Gamer who has been playing the game since launch, sitting around as a Smuggler and looking forward to the combat revamp that’s going to increase the scope of his class? What sort of message would you give him to still stick with the game now that it’s up in the air when that sort of feature, which will enhance his experience, is going to be released?
Blackman: First I’d apologize that we were misleading at all, if that was the case, or if he was misled and had expectations for a Smuggler revamp..."
Newsflash: Haden Blackman 'hypothetically' apologises ... to smugglers! Hmmm. I guess I should be glad that he's able to hypothetically apologise to at least one profession.
"GI: What about those gamers who really aren’t interested in the path of the Jedi? What’s going to keep them playing after seeing two publishes that have been directly focused on the Jedi and their powers?
Blackman: Well made it so Jedi are fairly inter-dependent with the other professions. I think fighting alongside a Jedi is cool and exciting and if you haven’t done it yet I suggest you go and try it out. The Jedi bring a heavier Star Wars feel to the game."
Yeah, when I see someone at Coronet Starport saying "hey look at my lightsaber" or "I pwn joo suxxor" I really think to myself "wow! I'm really in the Star Wars universe". For the Americans out there, yes - that was good old English sarcasm.
"Blackman: ...If you want to you can start down and explore your own Force sensitivity without ever picking up a light saber or becoming a Jedi knight or becoming involved in what we call the Force Ranking System... That goes across the board. We tried to include in all the major professions some sort of bonuses, so there are crafting bonuses scouting bonuses, and combat bonuses."
Erm... Hayden, there are more professions than crafters, scouts and combat. You forgot about a major profession that has nothing to do with these things. Some of us don't craft, don't PvE and don't PvP. Do we get force sensitivity bonuses too? Or don't entertainers count as a 'major' profession?
There are some interesting points in it:
"GI: First of all, for background sake, could you describe the recent announcement that went out to Galaxies players regarding the Combat Revamp?
Hayden Blackman: For clarification, it was originally called the combat balance, now we’re calling it the combat revamp"
I assume they're changing the name so that they can honestly say that they never talked about the Combat Revamp as early as January. Now they can say that they originally started thinking about it in July.
"GI: Is it tricky to work with a community of such a large size? You’ve got so many players and such a rampant fan base. How do you plan on communicating with them on a better level? Will there be more involvement in the forums or are you thinking of things like questionnaires?
Blackman: Kurt Stangl, Thunderheart, is our community manager and he is trying to find ways internally to increase the range of correspondence much more often. We’re trying to find ways to engage them much more frequently and even kind of face-to-face."
I won't hold my breath. Hopefully this will happen sometime before pigs evolve into birds.
"GI: What kind of message would you give to John Q. Gamer who has been playing the game since launch, sitting around as a Smuggler and looking forward to the combat revamp that’s going to increase the scope of his class? What sort of message would you give him to still stick with the game now that it’s up in the air when that sort of feature, which will enhance his experience, is going to be released?
Blackman: First I’d apologize that we were misleading at all, if that was the case, or if he was misled and had expectations for a Smuggler revamp..."
Newsflash: Haden Blackman 'hypothetically' apologises ... to smugglers! Hmmm. I guess I should be glad that he's able to hypothetically apologise to at least one profession.
"GI: What about those gamers who really aren’t interested in the path of the Jedi? What’s going to keep them playing after seeing two publishes that have been directly focused on the Jedi and their powers?
Blackman: Well made it so Jedi are fairly inter-dependent with the other professions. I think fighting alongside a Jedi is cool and exciting and if you haven’t done it yet I suggest you go and try it out. The Jedi bring a heavier Star Wars feel to the game."
Yeah, when I see someone at Coronet Starport saying "hey look at my lightsaber" or "I pwn joo suxxor" I really think to myself "wow! I'm really in the Star Wars universe". For the Americans out there, yes - that was good old English sarcasm.
"Blackman: ...If you want to you can start down and explore your own Force sensitivity without ever picking up a light saber or becoming a Jedi knight or becoming involved in what we call the Force Ranking System... That goes across the board. We tried to include in all the major professions some sort of bonuses, so there are crafting bonuses scouting bonuses, and combat bonuses."
Erm... Hayden, there are more professions than crafters, scouts and combat. You forgot about a major profession that has nothing to do with these things. Some of us don't craft, don't PvE and don't PvP. Do we get force sensitivity bonuses too? Or don't entertainers count as a 'major' profession?
Message Edited by Beery on 07-24-2004 08:02 AM
Tarnak_Archvold
Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:27 am
#2
Beery wrote:Erm... Hayden, there are more professions than crafters, scouts and combat. You forgot about a major profession that has nothing to do with these things. Some of us don't craft, don't PvE and don't PvP. Do we get force sensitivity bonuses too? Or don't entertainers count as a 'major' profession?
I believe our bonus is lumped in with the medic one, and is a bonus to mind wound healing.
Beery
Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:39 am
#3
I was commenting more on the fact that he mentioned every other major class, and failed to mention us. It indicates a disassociation with the entertainer professions, which were supposed to be an"exciting new role in MMORPG gaming".
DarkY0da
Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:57 am
#4
with the time line for the "revamp" I am leaning toward them doing fixes here and there along the way.(after of course months of fixing the game after putting Jtl in it) and then putting out the GCW: Imperial Crackdown expansion. With as many of the good cool ideas they can fit in it. All still buggy of course.
gera
Fri Nov 26, 2004 7:10 pm
#6
Hayden Blackman always says things in Interviews, then Thunderheart apologies on behalf of him from community or telling he actually does not mean those. I basically do not trust any interviews at all..
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