Smuggler Archive
Thread: Tuesday Tip
I walk around work all day, selling games and dvd's all day. And people ask me about Galaxies and how it is.
Now today all I wanted to do was play the game once I got home from work. And had I 'not' gone to the Dev Tracker to see what was up I if i was asked how Galaxies was I would say its a cool game.
ButI did read the Dev Tracker, and now that mood of wanting to help sell new copies of the game is gone as is the desire to play today. Oh I will log in for a bit at some point but reading what news we get from the Devs depresses me.
Seriously Tiggs I keep my City of two guilds informed of the comings and goings on in the Dev cycle. I read the Dev Track religously. Now its like a repeating cycle of. We dont say anything anymore.
Why?
Because you guys are tired of getting your noses bloodied by us the players. We pay each month for services provided by you and your company. Yet we can not be told about ANYTHING in the future because you dont wanna. I dont seeanywhere in theEUL that entitles you to keepinformation from paying customers. And you are.
What it appears to us is this... (This is just how it appears and its harsh but its how a lot of people feel trust me)
Sorry but we have taken it upon ourselves not to release information that might Scare you away from the game and thus for us to loose Revenue Dollars based on lost clients. We have a wait and see screw you policy here at our company and we are no longer providing you with information for fear of being yelled at. As it is now, you must pay us every month to keep playing and with each publish it will be a surprise to you wether all the time and money invested with us was a waste.
We dont like to be told we messed up, so from hence forth we have a policy telling our customers we really care but in reality we have to get back to watering down the game and dont have time for complaining. This is our vision of star wars and you are in our back yard.
End the Rant
Again Again Again the impressions you give with these statements upset a lot of us. Some day we might not be here to support the game at all. Right now I will continue the game.
But let it be known the Impression you people at SOE are giving us looks like this:
No Direction
We have no idea what we are doing
Are you people still playing?
Give us a glimer of hope.
RankorCity wrote:
TashunkaSapa wrote:
Tiggs wrote:
Direction of games change every day due to various reasons. That is why there is nothing definite being posted until it is almost out on Test Center.
Game design requires planning - and the problem seems to be, you guys don't even have a plan. The problem isn't that the "direction" changes every day, the problem is that the company line changes every day.
We make a committment to you each month, it's not unreasonable to expect one in return. Show us that you care about your customers, decide what you need to do to satisfy them, tell us what you've got planned and then MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Stop making excuses and start making progress.
You have to understand that they are not only constrained by what the bosses at SOE says they can do, they are also under a gag order of sorts from Lucas Arts, big George himself.
I would imagine that it goes something like this:
1) Brainstorming by devs/content developers
2) Meeting within SOE (i.e. - is this doable?)
3) The idea is tossed to LA for approval
4) Waiting game
5) Approval (or not) from LA - if yes, continue to step 6. If no, then back to step 1
6) Idea is refined
7) The refined idea is tossed BACK to LA for approval
8) Approval (or not) from LA - if yes, continue to step 9. If no, then back to step 6
9) "Idea" is posted to forums as "In Concept", if approved to release it. If not, more time is wasted waiting on LA to approve its release
10) While players are posting feedback, "Idea" is further refined
11) "Idea" is pitched BACK to LA for final approval
12) If approved then "Idea" is put on some variation of TC
13) 50 percent of the players praise / 50 percent of the players hate it
14) For the next couple months, 50 bugs that were introduced by said "Idea" are fixed/attempted to be fixed
They are not constrained to fix what is already here. New ideas? Sure can see that. But smugglers not smuggling? ah no. busted parts of this game going on two plus years?
Nope, sorry, doesn't fly.
TashunkaSapa wrote:
Warryyr wrote:
How can you be lied to, AND kept in the dark?
Because only the truth can illuminate what's really going on - and they seem incredibly reluctant to share that.
Now, now - this isn't the X Files. Let's all take a step back. Trust me, the Devs didn't shoot J.R....and they're not planning world domination or anything.
They're already giving customers away by alienating them. Take a look for yourself at all the people who have clearly announced their reasons for departure. Are you honestly trying to defend that their current attitude of "reveal nothing" is building customer loyalty?
The last thing SWG needs to do is let someone else get a chance to best them with their future plans. That's just giving customers away.
There are myriad reasons for people leaving SWG. Not just for being lied to, or for being kept in the dark. Sometimes they don't even play another game. It's hard to make broad statements like SWG's current communication method is causing so many people to leave, without actually seeing the exit surveys.
I'm doing nothing but explaining one possible motivation for them to not divulge everything they planned for now, the near future, and the future - because it will change, it does change, and the competition (other MMORPG's, there are plenty out there) doesn't need any help in besting SWG at this point.
That's all I have to say on the matter - we're going nowhere with this dialogue.
Kevin Kereth 
WesBelden wrote:
Just wanted to say thanks to Tiggs for stopping by and confirming that this wasn't intended as a joke
This is the Important Issue at hand. I couldn't care less about the emote (i understand the people that do though)
But it shows once again - how out of touch our CR People are - and THAT is the problem.
It was thoughtless, uncalled for and it should have come to noones surprise, that in the current atmosphere (which isn't the players fault - one bit) it will make some people mad and noone happy.
I for one don't care much for TH or Tiggs coming here and do damage control (which i am pretty sure they find silly "have to look after the stupid kids") or flame posters or giving out more non-information. They can come back when they have something to say - then you can thank them. (but i already told you, that your way of repling to the crap they throw at us, is very irritating)
Repsectfully
Magnum
Message Edited by magnum1138 on 08-10-2005 02:50 PM
BlasterMaster123 wrote:
In my eyes the devs are mostly doing their best, but its not working like they want, sooo pls don't hate me for that, but I still trust them, they will do something to keep us happy, and a bit more time won't kill you all, i think
/pet you poor thing...
Wolveryne40 wrote:
TashunkaSapa wrote:
Warryyr wrote:
How can you be lied to, AND kept in the dark?
Because only the truth can illuminate what's really going on - and they seem incredibly reluctant to share that.
They're already giving customers away by alienating them. Take a look for yourself at all the people who have clearly announced their reasons for departure. Are you honestly trying to defend that their current attitude of "reveal nothing" is building customer loyalty?
The last thing SWG needs to do is let someone else get a chance to best them with their future plans. That's just giving customers away.
There are myriad reasons for people leaving SWG. Not just for being lied to, or for being kept in the dark. Sometimes they don't even play another game. It's hard to make broad statements like SWG's current communication method is causing so many people to leave, without actually seeing the exit surveys.
I'll just let you speak for me, you are doing a hell of a job lol.
Tash is right.
one more thing, exactly who again? has a star wars MMO that sony has to worry about being BESTED at? is some orc getting a lightsaber soon? no one knows about light sabers but us? What exactly would be that reason to HIDE the secret from another company who doesnt have a license to produce a star wars mmo?
Your reasoning doesn't make any sense.
Why is it that youfolks only think that "competition" for SWG is another Star Wars MMORPG?
People, there's a whole MMORPG industry out there.
SWG doesn't just have to worry about competition from other Star Wars games. It's an MMORPG. It needs to worry about competition with other MMORPGs.
Yeah, anyways, later on. Take care, everyone.
Message Edited by Warryyr on 08-10-2005 04:51 PM
BlasterMaster123 wrote:
In my eyes the devs are mostly doing their best, but its not working like they want, sooo pls don't hate me for that, but I still trust them, they will do something to keep us happy, and a bit more time won't kill you all, i think
Im all for a bit more time but how much more time should we give? how about 2 more years?
Personaly while they were working on the CU i didnt expect any news of smuggling content and i was happy to play as a master carbineer/master cm for a bit and have some GCW fun.
Now im want to smuggle and whilst were waiting the goalposts are constantly being pushed back and leaving loyal smugglers waiting longer and longer, now were at a point where we expect the smuggler missions to be a priority and were still waiting for any information about it.
Its not just the lack of information, its the fact that the in-concept documents have been removed so it seems like its taking a step back and missions seem further and further away.
The longer we have to wait the larger our expectations of the smuggling missions and i have little faith that these missions will ever be able to live up to what we want and deserve, but to be honest i expect to see the new frs in before we see smuggling missions.
Tiggs wrote:
We have many un-announced plans that one day soon will be public knowledge. Until we receive the go-ahead nothing will be said, sorry.
For a company that is trying to sell subscriptions for a Year ahead there is definetly to less (or none at all) Communication present about the future plans. The ONLY thing i know about future plannings is that there will be capitol ships one day, thats about all.
When i joined there was JtlS ahead, then the CU (& RotW), now nothing.
The in-concept Forum is Empty!
Please relate this to the decision makers, community relation
RankorCity wrote:
Yadda Yadda Yadda
You forgot # 16 for the Smugglers.
16. Remove docs from In Concept/In Development forums and tell them things are getting postponed again.
Warryyr wrote:Why is it that you folks only think that "competition" for SWG is another Star Wars MMORPG?
People, there's a whole MMORPG industry out there.
SWG doesn't just have to worry about competition from other Star Wars games. It's an MMORPG. It needs to worry about competition with other MMORPGs.
Yeah, anyways, later on. Take care, everyone.
Message Edited by Warryyr on 08-10-2005 04:51 PM
Because if it was done right, it would have what no other MMORPG can or ever will be able to compete with - the most faithful playerbase of all: true Star Wars fans. People who truly want to live in the Star Wars universe. Those people aren't your typical MMORPG kids who leave for the next big thing, those are the people who would play this game until the servers closed down simply for the chance of an "alternate life". It wouldn't need to worry about competition with other MMORPGs, it wouldn't even have the same target audience, it would have one that is much bigger and immeasurably more loyal instead.
DarthSillyPants wrote:
Why doesnt SOE just tell us what they are going to give us and when? Why cant we know more about the capital ships?
Part of that is because the video of capital ships was completely faked.