Smuggler Archive
Thread: Letter for Mr. Gattis
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Sapperlight
Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:25 pm
#1
The following is a response I prepared after reading the State of the Game post that has been pulled. Any ideas on where I could post it so that a developer actually reads it would be appreciated. I apologize in advance for its length.
In a premature posting on the homepage that has now been removed, Gary Gattis (Sr. Producer of SWG) posted the following:
“…Looking forward, the three main systems that we are enhancing before Space are: Jedi, Combat Balance, and the Galactic Civil War (GCW)…Accordingly, we want to focus as many resources as we can on them. This is challenging when doing parallel development of JTL, which in some ways is a completely new game. We have made some adjustments to the Live schedule, based on our desire to fully realize each system.
Before I reveal our schedule, I want to shoot very straight with you. When I say things can and will change, I mean it. If we feel that we need to focus more on a particular system, we are going to adjust the schedule to allow it. My job as Senior Producer is to ensure that the overall project is successful, no matter what. This means trying to focus our resources on where they are most needed while keeping them healthy and happy. This also means adjusting the schedule and moving things out when other things are in jeopardy.
Before I reveal our schedule, I want to shoot very straight with you. When I say things can and will change, I mean it. If we feel that we need to focus more on a particular system, we are going to adjust the schedule to allow it. My job as Senior Producer is to ensure that the overall project is successful, no matter what. This means trying to focus our resources on where they are most needed while keeping them healthy and happy. This also means adjusting the schedule and moving things out when other things are in jeopardy.
We could take 4 different approaches in our communications with you
-Not tell you anything
-Give you the party line
-Try to get everything done and not do them well
-Do things right and tell you the truth
I want to tell you the truth. I want you to know what our priorities are, and what we are working on, and why things change. I guarantee some folks are going to scan this entire schedule, find the one line in it that refers to them, and go off about it. The truth is that we want to polish our game as much as we can, and we don't want to put out half-baked publishes. Part of the pain of hearing the truth is that it changes…Without further ado, I present you with our current schedule….
-Not tell you anything
-Give you the party line
-Try to get everything done and not do them well
-Do things right and tell you the truth
I want to tell you the truth. I want you to know what our priorities are, and what we are working on, and why things change. I guarantee some folks are going to scan this entire schedule, find the one line in it that refers to them, and go off about it. The truth is that we want to polish our game as much as we can, and we don't want to put out half-baked publishes. Part of the pain of hearing the truth is that it changes…Without further ado, I present you with our current schedule….
…The following have moved post-Jump to Lightspeed
-Hutt Casino - We are REALLY excited about this social adventure, but we are running into art and design restrictions. Space is looking amazing... and we want it to be even more so! We are very strapped for Art resources at this time and can't create everything we want for this adventure until after Space
-Hutt Asteroid Base - For similar reasons, and we really want this to be something you reach by flying through space
-Smuggler revamp - We want to do this right too... and proper smuggling is very much augmented by space flight….”
I can’t even express how extremely disappointed I am in the development of this game. The absence of honest and open communication as well as true game development is a testament to the lack of understanding of the very principles laid out by Raph Koster in his many presentations of the subject as well as his original vision of the game.
-Hutt Casino - We are REALLY excited about this social adventure, but we are running into art and design restrictions. Space is looking amazing... and we want it to be even more so! We are very strapped for Art resources at this time and can't create everything we want for this adventure until after Space
-Hutt Asteroid Base - For similar reasons, and we really want this to be something you reach by flying through space
-Smuggler revamp - We want to do this right too... and proper smuggling is very much augmented by space flight….”
I can’t even express how extremely disappointed I am in the development of this game. The absence of honest and open communication as well as true game development is a testament to the lack of understanding of the very principles laid out by Raph Koster in his many presentations of the subject as well as his original vision of the game.
Since August 2003, smugglers have been told by the development team that they were the profession ‘most in need of love’ and would be getting attention. This sentiment was reinforced by multiple statements by various members of the development team, to include Gary Gattis. [For the complete list, see this thread: http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=81983#M81983.] Every couple months a different developer would sting us along, dealing promises that you knew you couldn’t keep. As much as I detest Mr. Stangl’s trite, party line answers, I must now admit that he was giving us the truth when on 21 January 2004 he stated,
“"Smuggling" really is a spacey kind of profession and doing something on the ground really needs to be thought out. With that being said, I’m working on the Smuggler and Squad Leader profession revamp posts this week. I’m just taking the time to put together some really nice posts so that the answers that players put forth can be easily handled and used by the dev team.”
In other words, four and a half months ago you knew that you couldn’t revamp the smuggler profession without JTL. Honest communication would have dictated that you relay that fact, instead of promising what you obviously couldn’t deliver (and still can’t, evidently).
Waiting over a year for a revamp isn’t unheard of in the SWG Universe, unfortunately. Consider the pistoleers. Their profession has been untenable since the game launched and will finally be addressed in theory during the combat balance in Publish 11, which is 3-4 months away. Over half of the pistoleer specials have been broken since launch, which begs the question, “How can you possibly balance something that’s never worked in the first place?”
Speaking of fixes and priorities, I find it incredibly disheartening that the non-iconic and low population profession of image designer would receive such extensive attention prior to the iconic professions such as smuggler, pistoleer, and bounty hunter that are in desperate need of it. This is also an example of a ‘half-baked’ publish, as you term it above, since it requires you to dedicate time in a subsequent publish to make it viable.
A fine example of communication and development ineptitude was exhibited by SWG-Runesabre in his panic shot/warcry decision. He basically stated that while the community did not support and presented viable arguments against the change, he was going to publish it anyway and revisit the topic after seeing it play out on the live servers. That was 2-3 months ago, and not one bit of effort was made to ‘revisit the topic’.
With game prices hovering around $50-60, our monthly fees should make it feel like we are playing a new game every 3-4 months. Unfortunately, many of us are still waiting for the game we paid for 12 months ago. And now for smugglers, we have to purchase the expansion to even play the profession we were promised at launch. There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of poor development and communication.
Based on your four possibilities for communication, I believe that you’ve covered them all except the fourth: Do things right and tell you the truth. When are we going to see this one?
Broken_Smuggler
Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:02 pm
#2
Do you mind if I use this as well? Im so pissed off right now that everytime I try and write somethingI scrap it because it doesnt express my anger over this whole situation. We, as a community, have been cheated and duped. We were diliberately strung along to keep us paying the monthly fee, and I think this letter best expresses my anger over the situaion. I have two accounts, one since launch, and have been a smuggler the whole time. During this timeframe, I repeatedly defended this game and the developer team...but now I feel like Ive been stabbed in the back. This is absolutely ridiculous...and I need to let them know that as I hit the cancel button on both of my accounts. So can I borrow it?
scornnok
Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:25 pm
#4
S'per Light ,
As you may or may not know a letter is being developed from the community to be sent to SOE. I suggsted that your letter would be a very good fit for that letter. Geevo stated that we should ask your permission to use your letter and to modify and have it adjusted by the community. Then it would be sent to SOE.I agree with Geevo on this point.
If the rest of the community wishes to use your letter. Can we use use your letter as a base for the community letter?
Sapperlight
Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:30 pm
#5
Please feel free to use and/or distribute this letter in any way you see fit. (That way, we all get banned. 
)
Every time we get snuffed by the devs, we as a community get closer and work well in expressing our feelings. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer of us every day...
YamadaMan
Thu Jun 03, 2004 6:33 pm
#6
yea great letter, I'd like to say that as the second poster, I defended SOE/dev team alot, trying to get their positions and to explain to others, now with that announcement, yea I too, feel stabbed in the back. And as posted before me and other people who are playing smugglers and do not live in USA will just be screwed cause I highly doubt that JLS will be a worldwide release, so when the time will come, I'll just be kicked out of my profession.
great job SOE, wanna do things right uh ? start by being honnest.
get the point that ALL players are not concerned by Jedi, I was kinda proud to say that I wasn't an holo grinder, not going for monthes of anti-game to get a neon and force tricks. Smugglers are really involved in SWG community, and now SOE rewards all the players that are screwing many aspects of the game at least since christmas (holos). All the guy who ruined cantinas, med centers, all the afk fighters and 3rd part. program users, yea, they're getting cool stuff, full revamp... and in the same time, we got our spice line made useless by chef revamp, underworld line is useless too due to restrictions (ranks, fp cap at 500, time consuming), specials are pointless for non pistoleers smugglers, feign death holds the aggro, panic shot is screwed, low blow works sometimes, and last ditch works almost as intended.
yea what we still got now:
100% random slices on weapons and armors and ?... that's it !
we can't even use new pistols !!!
great job SOE, wanna do things right uh ? start by being honnest.
get the point that ALL players are not concerned by Jedi, I was kinda proud to say that I wasn't an holo grinder, not going for monthes of anti-game to get a neon and force tricks. Smugglers are really involved in SWG community, and now SOE rewards all the players that are screwing many aspects of the game at least since christmas (holos). All the guy who ruined cantinas, med centers, all the afk fighters and 3rd part. program users, yea, they're getting cool stuff, full revamp... and in the same time, we got our spice line made useless by chef revamp, underworld line is useless too due to restrictions (ranks, fp cap at 500, time consuming), specials are pointless for non pistoleers smugglers, feign death holds the aggro, panic shot is screwed, low blow works sometimes, and last ditch works almost as intended.
yea what we still got now:
100% random slices on weapons and armors and ?... that's it !
we can't even use new pistols !!!
bigsexyjay0110
Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:56 am
#7
Great letter, I hope the Dev's get a chance to see it. Well, as a smugglerin SWG for a very long time I only have 1 word to describe how i feel right now......disappointed. SOE better do something soon if they want me to keep paying my monthly subscription.
Fritz13
Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:15 am
#8
I don't think the devs will see it for a while because they are getting wtfmcpwned by smugglers at FF in rl.
Sapperlight
Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:49 am
#9
Does anyone have any thoughts on where I can post it that it might get read by a developer? We all know that they don't bother to visit this board...
FrankLee
Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:48 pm
#12
Well put.
Much more eloquent and restrained than I could manage tonight.
Dammit.
Much more eloquent and restrained than I could manage tonight.
Dammit.
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