Star Wars Galaxies - Star Wars Galaxies: Where It Went Wrong

Author

Star Wars Galaxies: Where It Went Wrong

Dis Aeti

2005-05-14, 3:33 am

I posted this to the Star Wars Galaxies forums at this address:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/...message.id=6187

Because of the rather heavy-handed censorship that goes on there from
time to time, I'm reposting it here, in the hopes the conversation can
continue. Feel free to cross-post to both as well.

--Dis Aeti, Radiant Galaxy

-----

This has been building to a head for a while for me. I had, and still
have to some extent, high hopes for this game, but it just seems that
each time it can't get worse it does. I wish I could offer solutions at
this point, but really I'd be rehasing stuff posted elsewhere, time and
time again that's been ignored.

What I hope to accomplish with this post is to provide the game
developers a player's prospective on what this game was, is, and how I
truely feel it will become. I post with no malice, rather, I hope to
draw the attention of those who can make decisions, to maybe understand
and plan better for the future. Do I want to see SOE fail in the
endevor that is SWG? No, not by a long shot.

In the beginning, there was balance. We all had problems those first
couple days getting in. The death of the registration server on day one
was probably the single BEST detrimental thing that could have ever
happened to any game in history. It meant there was overwhelming
intrest, moreso than even the best could hope for, and it brought it to
it's knees. Even at the time, I understood this, and the only thought
in my mind was "wow, this is going to be GOOD. There's going to be
thousands of people in game to play with, the story and tapestry we will
weave as a collective group cannot help to be amazing, and it's all set
against the backdrop of what is simply the most amazing sci-fi story of
our, and possibly all, time." To live a life as a Bounty Hunter, a
Smuggler! To join the curageous Rebel Allience we all looked up to, and
the ability to actually become an agent of the blackest villans in
modern time, the Imperials. The release of this game truely harolded a
comming apocolypse for the other MMOs out at the time. Best story,
amazing artwork, awesome combat system, and detail down to an entire
player-driven economy. One word sums up the launch of this game: Wow.

Then reality set in. Bugs were found, content was missing, certain
areas were overpowered. This is totally to be expected upon the launch
of a piece of software so complex and faceting so many areas...
Especially when your customer base is gamers, notoriously good with
computers/numbers/etc., and ingenious beyond imagine. Could the
development team have seen CH being so overpowered as it was back then?
Yes and no, but they had the oppertunity to fix it and do it right...
Rather, they started covering symptoms right away, rather than the root
cause of the problem, and weilding a nerf bat so large and heavy that it
DESTROYED rather than softened.

Rather than focus on one or two professions at a time, lets look at them
in groups. I can't remember the exact order of patches and the like,
but each set of professions has had major changes that decimated it's
usefulness and pushed people away from it, rather than changing it and
giving it diffrent strengths. In other words, the power was stripped,
but nothing was given in return.

First that jumps to my mind is Entertainers. Yes, the dancers,
musicians and image designers you see in the cantinas. Their death nail
was the Holocrons. Allow me to explain.

When the whole holocron craze started, the macro language was fairly
well understood. While it really hadden't been applied as it is now
(the land of the total afk character), this was the genesis of that.
Entertainers really are a different breed of gamer. They enjoy a
friendly, social experience, one that isn't based upon the amount you
can hurt someone, but the amount you can help them. While I did make an
entertainer eventually (and LOVED it!), I really was too late to get in
on this.

I have herd stories of groups of 7, 8, 9 and more people pooling the
tiny amount of cash they got from tips just to buy a medium Naboo house
and furnishing it. Stories of knowing you were the 3rd master musician
on the server, because you helped out the first by tipping them the cash
they needed to finally train it for the first time (10k was an UNHERD of
sum for an entertainer), then only missing getting 2nd themselves
because they happened to have to go offline for an hour or something.
The cantinas were the social centers of the galaxy, and I'd even say the
social centers of all MMORPGs ever. You could go into Theed cantina,
day or night, and find literally dozens of people, dancing, playing and
chatting the night away, only stepping afk to grab a quick drink or
snack, and actually hurring back so they wouldn't miss a moment of the
running insanity that was the cantina.

Most combat characters who were around back then remember it. Watching
all the entertainers doing a crawl race from theed cantina to the
starport was a hoot! Or to cheer on a combatant that came in totally
blackbarred (before the days of combat medics ruleing the land) and
hearing their wild tales of getting stuck on lok for weeks trying to
just survive going from the cloner to the starport (because of bad
faction and no money) to health as they regailed their tales.

So what happened to these golden ages? Holocrons, plain and simple.
Now, everyone had to swap professions from one to the next, and a good
portion got some entertainer class. Since the macro system was well
known, they just macroed through them.... and destroyed the social
center, and heart, of the game itself. Sure, that jedi hopeful got his
badge and satisfied his holo... but the cost was immense. Most players,
since they weren't there to listen to themselves, put giant spammy
macros in place, shouting constantly the most obvious things such as
"heal me", "watch me", "tip me" and so on. Pretty soon, the true social
players left these places. The rest of the game, for the most part, is
dedicated to combat (this is fine with any other entertainer from that
era you ask, they had their cantinas, and were very happy). Without a
home, they left, and took with them one of the most amazing social
arenas with them.

Next, lets take a look at some ranged professions. I will group CH with
this, as by definition, you're staying away, the pet is doing the work,
as it were. First, novice CH running around with a full grown rancor
was a bit silly, so I understand that. Also, total control of
Anchorhead by Imperial Graul Maulers was too (I fully admit guilt on
this one). Pistoleer keeping people sitting on the floor constantly was
another good example. But, rather than truely looking at the problem,
and trying to find ways to add value back to the profession, a nerf bat
was taken out and the strongest of powers was simply stripped. In
pistoleer's case, they didn't do much damage to begin with, now without
the ability to keep their opponent away from them, they were fairly
useless. As for CH... a Graul Mauler with light armor and 70% to
kinetic became a creature with no armor and 40% to kinetic? That's
rather drastic. So now, we see an upsurge in the Flavor Of The Month
template system. Rather than doing what you do because it's fun, we see
people going from one profession to another because the development team
hasn't removed all the abilities or dropped the damage output to nil.
Instead of playing the game, it became a game of cat and mouse with the
development team. Be quiet and do your damage, but if you become too
good at it, and others find out, expect to have what you worked for
DESTROYED.

Add those 2 things together and you have a player base without a sense
of pride in what they do. They're constantly switching from one thing
to the next, just looking for the ability to do SOMETHING, and coming up
empty each time, after a development sponsered decimation of the profession.

I could go on about the other areas, how vehicles affected the game, how
player cities didn't live up to their hopes (/citywarn anyone?),
battlefields (another post entirely), or any number of other areas. But
I think you see the picture: Players are screaming at the problems
because each and every 'fix' has been a detriment rather than a
solution. Removal of abilities without the introduction of new ones,
decimation of social activites, the list goes on and on.

This leaves us with what is called the Combat Upgrade. It hurts me more
than I can ever describe to actually say that this just HURT. Before
there were 'glitches' sure... but the unfinished quality of the combat
system as it stands right now is mammoth. It really feels like a year+
of my time was wasted. I knew the old combat system, I knew how to do
things... Do you really know your profession anymore? Do you really
even know how the game WORKS? Everyone, I believe, had an eye on this
as a possible way to return to the glory days of the past... instead we
have to relearn the game. It feels like a giant slap in the face;
everything that I once held dear, that I loved about this game is gone,
never to return. Even the nice clean look of it, what with the cartoony
'icons' that have cluttered my toolbars.

As I said, I don't have a solution. I wish I could offer one, really I
do. I still want this game to succeed, more than I can put into words I
want this game to be what it held, and still holds, the promise to be;
the end-all be-all MMORPG. The one that all others are compaired to for
greatness, quality, and fun.

I wish I could help make it better, but with what's happened with it to
this point, it's left me depressed, empty and sad every time I log on.
I actually commented to someone that I wasn't sure why I bother still.
I guess... I can't let go of hope, it's all I have left.

usenet@mylounge.com

2005-09-24, 11:35 pm

I agree, all 100%'s man, you put all my frustration in the game into
words.

I started this game as a whee 12 year old or so and now I'm 15 and wish
that it had stayed "alive" as it were.

All that happened to the game was a splendor, a golden age, and then a
drastic downfall with the Jedi's and such.

The nerfing of CH, that just made me angry, why do you have to wait to
recall or send out a pet?

The nerfing of the Entertainer, my pride and joy, the one and only
class I had ever played (aside from the week-long CH), became a spam
block.

If only the developers would get down from their thrones and look at
the real problem as opposed to covering it up with the LACK of power
and a Jedi build, now the only hope for the game is a swift kick off
the market.

Those who are supporting the game in the least at this moment are only
trying to relive the glory days or are new players with no real idea
what's going on.

--In memory of Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), the only game that conquered
all others defiantly...--

My account, resigned: MonkeyMan113

With sincere hope of a turn-around,
Chibi Kitsune

--
Chibi Kitsune
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