Smuggler Archive

You hear the echos of many people who were happy with their macros and uber-l337 skills crying because the game is different now. Most of the people who either like or are indifferent to the CU are busy playing rather than complaining on the boards.

Message Edited by dlc3007 on 05-08-2005 05:45 PM

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dlc3007 wrote:

You hear the echos of many people who were happy with their macros and uber-l337 skills crying because the game is different now. Most of the people who either like or are indifferent to the CU are busy playing rather than complaining on the boards.

As to the question on your subject line: nothing. bugs like one would expect with this level of change (plus expansion), but nothing went wrong.

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dlc3007 wrote:

You hear the echos of many people who were happy with their macros and uber-l337 skills crying because the game is different now. Most of the people who either like or are indifferent to the CU are busy playing rather than complaining on the boards.

As to the question on your subject line: nothing. bugs like one would expect with this level of change (plus expansion), but nothing went wrong.

Message Edited by dlc3007 on 05-08-2005 05:45 PM

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What you failed to mention are the people who have left and have no more reason to stick around here talking about it.

Or those, like me, who don't have a problem with bugs, but design decisions, but know that there is no way to win that battle so have decided not to waste our time.

What went wrong? In short, either because of lack of time, lack of familiarity of the game by the "new" dev staff, or lack of competance many systems that were good in this game, much of its depth and character, got lost in translation.

So now we have CL81 butterflys on Naboo (or CL3x Lord Nyax), fixed weapon caps, more special "effects" then any ILM movie ever, moths of dev work and revamps shat upon (Theme Parks, DE, Chef), Ents that have no control over who they buff, master squad leaders that never ever lead a group, slicers that get better by killing things, and new "planets" with that don't allow for exploring, mining, or jedi hunting, but instead are chock full of lootable colored potions.

And best of all... specials are still broke, slicing is worse off then before, and the theme of the day from the devs too even more professions: "wait for the revamp"

Nice post, Ragnaat.

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Imperiai2 wrote:

I haven't played in months, and actually cancelled my account. It ends in late July so I have plenty of time to reconsider... but basically, I have heard nothing but complaints about the CU. What is so wrong about it? I thought people were looking forward to it... and now the whole game is 'ruined'?

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The game is different now. Personally, I think that the combat system is deeper and more involved. I also welcome the fact that you no longer need to get buffed in order to be viable in combat. At the same time, I hate the hard-caps and the level system. I understand why they wanted to impliment a level system, however I'm not happy with the one that they chose to impliment.

I haven't been to Kashyyyk yet, but I hear two distinct voices. The one side claims that it's horrible because you can't go everywhere. The other side claims it's fantastic because it's more focused and well designed. Those are two sides of the same coin and there's no way to completely please both - it's Morrowind vs. Final Fantasy. For the more reasonable gamer, though, a KOTOR-like approach with some freedom and yet enough linearity would be good, but, again, I haven't tried it first-hand to be able to tell you if it hits that sweet spot.

At the end of the day, the CU is a completely different system and it makes SWG a different game. Some people are going to like that. Ever since mid-summer I was only logging on to chat while I waited for JTL, and when JTL hit I was only up in space until the CU. Now I'm enjoying the ground game again. Some people aren't going to like it - plenty of players up and quit after the CU went live. If they weren't having fun it was no longer worthwhile for them to spend $15 a month on a game - that's totally fair. As far as what you hear in the forums, though - you have to remember, the part of the brain that regulates bitching and moaning is severely under-developed in the average forum-goer. That, combined with a drunk-like lack of inhibition caused by anonymity leads to a lot of irrational complaint posts. I'd suggest you log into the game and see for yourself.

You skipped a few other items that are different with the game now:

• No more wading through the spam in Coronet to pay 15k for a buff in order to go hunting. I think I'm really going to miss the shouting doctors, used droid sales, people yelling every flippin' second for a solo group, and all the other noise there. NOT


• Speaking of solo groups... they don't make much sense any more. Our guild has had more cooperation, community, and grouping over the past week than we've had in months. Why? Buecause the CU makes grouping fun and profitable for all involved -- and you can still solo if you want to. I know, because I've taken krayts solo.


• Balance. Despite the fact that I can take krayts solo, there is a lot more balance between melee and ranged now. Our first hunt took place without a tank (unthinkablebefore)and it worked out well. The next two hunts had melee fighters and they worked out well too. Ranged and melee are much more even now.


• Specials. Yeah, not all the specials are doing what we want them too (I want a KD!), but the Improved Concussion shot is brutal. I get good damage multipliers on my reckless shot. I'd like to see panic cause more delay, but all our specials aren't broken. Not by a long shot.


• Combat is more interesting now. I don't just fill my combat queue with the same freakin' mind attack special until my brandy runs out. You can mix and match your specials, timing them with the count-down timer, and react to the specials put on by the rest of your group. If someone else is rooting, I'll delay. If someone gets a KD, I'll root. I'm not hitting F5 over and over while watching a DVD.


• Spices. I use Pixie all the time now. It is enough to keep my action and health up in battle without being crippled by the downer.


• How long have people been begging for a "smuggler only" weapon? Well, we've got one and it is a blast. Don't like it? Go get the other pistol from the "smuggler only" mission on Kashyyyk. Two weapons and both are quality.

I could go on, but it isn't necessary to make the point: There are many people playing the game right now, this very minute, who really like the CU. Yes, it is a different game, but different != bad. Maybe in some people's opinions, but not all. I think at this point, there are only 2-4 people out of our metropolis who have decided they can't stand the CU. I'm sorry, but I can not see the game as ruined.

I still maintain that nothing "went wrong".

Flame away. It'll be good payback for all the creatures I've set on fire since I got commando back in the CU.

you want to start bullet points:

* I never had the buff in coronet issue. On two servers I could usually find a buff in dant MO with a much shorter and quieter line, and on my main server I not only had a doc alt, but often grouped with other docs (always had docs around to rez those jedi)

* I always had a small thight nit group of players I'd go out and group with. Be it meleche, phase 4 quests, dwb, vette, gorax, min or smaller groups like 2 or 3 for krayts. Solo groups died for the most part with the payout changes. And due to CL game mechanics the devs have many times SUGGESTED solo grouping post CU as a method of staying alive as a crafter.

* I can still solo anyhting i can get 1 or 2 on 1... (up to cl86 giant krayts), in fact, things that used to be soloable but take forever (gorax, giant krayts) now have 17-22k ham and are even quicker then before.

* I just ground 300k pike XP in a "dynamic" group of 7 or so. What did we do? all but 1 person stand 50m from lair. 1 person pulls aggro 1 creature at a time back to us. We all make sure we get one hit in and then collect our 6k plus change xp. All while my toon (also a doc) healed someone once every 5 minutes or so.

* Pesonally, I find the new combat mechanisms excruciatingly slow and anything but engaging. on my smuggler/command I throw concussion shot and then do a slow motion button mash between adv. reckless and either range shot or body shot (depending on food/buffs to action regen) and then i mouse over the concussion icon and watch that instead of what i'm fighting. On my Swords/pike/doc I do the same thing but use an occationally armor break then alternate between 2 damage special. Its just as brainless as before but now i use 2 fingers instead of one and its a but slower

* Spices. Yes, I did throw down a food factory for the first time in 9months or so. Big deal. Its still a total of 2 spices that are worth making. And its comes less as a bone thrown to smugglers then it has because they so royally screwed up food buffs (although things are a little better for food since you can stack different food types now)

* Weapons... like so much else in the game now (creatures, armor, professions) nothing but a shell around a common core. The only vairance in weapons of the same class now seems to be what resources happend to have spawned with the better stats. I've got some great 170 / -0.4 x4 tissues form my krayt soloing two days ago... my first thought was "sweet, now i can get an uber renegade made" but then i thought why would i want to use 3 tissues on a renegade, when I can just get 4 dl44xts made (or some other pistol that just uses 1 power handler). What once was only a problem with low level pistols (so many similar AP0 energy weps) got translated into the master level weapons instead.


Now you may read all this and ask why I'm still here.... its not for the smuggler revamp (i wrote that off around pub 9) its not for the CU.. .its for the firends i have in game. Its the world I like and more then anything that the devs can do, its the people that play that set the tone and, well, I play with some good people so I'm still here. (for now)

Message Edited by Ragnaat on 05-08-2005 08:37 PM

I like the CU. What went wrong? They got pressure from LucasArts and rushed it out before it was complete, hence instituting the dynamic level damage and other such screwups.

I firmly believe that these will go - they're so unpopular that it makes no sense to keep them.

Apart from that, do i enjoy seeing characters other than TKMs who spam headhit winning or in PvP? Oh yes, i do. Do i like useable faction armour? Very much. Do i like smugglers being viable in combat? One hell of a lot. Do i like the crafters quitting? No. And that's down to the level damage modifier. It MUST go.

Here's my observation of the past few weeks.

I have seen MORE people online than I've seen in MONTHS, if not a year, everywhere I go is crowded. I've seen people on I haven't seen for months, on MORE than they were when they were on last. Cnet is a big mass of blue and purple, it was empty for quite a while.

There are good things and bad things.

Starting with the good things...I actually want to PvP because I know there is not one PvP template that always wins. I find myself desiring group members of specific classes quite frequently. The game is challenging on a level it was never at before.

The bad things...bugs. Any items listed on a vendor pre-CU does not show a description that gives you information about the item (stats etc) making it nearly impossible to shop for armor or weapons that are high quality.

Sometimes when fighting a mob of a specific level it will suddenly drop to a much lower level. For example, on Dantooine about 30 minutes ago I was fighting a Piket that was level 80. Part way through the fight it dropped to level 32 and I did not receive experience for killing it.

Jedi are now able to cloak making them a greater threat in PvP due to the fact that you cannot see your enemies until they attack you.

Many specials, including Improved concussion shot are either not working as described, or are buggy. Duelist stance from pistoleer doesn't appear to increase your defense as it is supposed to. Conceal seems flakey out of Rifleman.

TKA armor provides better mitigation than most armor does making melee professions very hard to kill if they have at least 0440 (even harder if they are master).

Grouping is necessary in most situations, even while gaining exp at higher levels. The ability to solo a tough mob is not available to all professions, and it makes leveling to 80 much harder than I had anticipated. The other thing about grouping, the LFG system is exactly the same as it was before, no one uses it, and it only works for the region you are currently in. This makes it very hard to find a group outside of your PA or close circle of friends.

I do not plan on leaving my subscription active simply due to the fact that I cannot play during prime time, and my ability to group will be hindered because of this. If changes are made to make the CU better I will come back. It has serious potential, but it now has to overcome hurdles that other MMO's have dealt with long ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

Entragian:

One thing that might help you out when soloing mobs is to use a droid. Droids will only pull one mob out of a social group, so you can keep yourself from being, well, mobbed, and they help out a bit with damage. Also, if you're level 80, when grouped they become level 80. I use my droids so much more now then I ever have before.

bottom line is all this change was pushed thru as a shallow marketing tool to tie in with the new movie. , i accept that and if i was lucas arts/'soe i'd do the same , theyr in business to make cash , plus post may the 19th therell be a sh*tloada new players comin in , i beleive thats started already , this is the game we have now , personally i still love it , i just hope they crack on with all the bugs , but you get this with 2 such large upgrades , so what ever.........................

but i still like it an im first an foremost a star wars fan and still totally addicted to this game

smugglers for teh win