Friday, March 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Great Little Game
From That Game Company, Flow.
About the screenshot below:
flOw Screenshot @ Into the Pixel
Into the Pixel is organized by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and each year selects 16 visual works to be displayed as part of their collection, which tours the world over the course of the year.
We are honored to announce that a flOw screenshot has been selected!! We are also honored that we have the distinction of having the only in-game screenshot in this year's collection (the other works are concept art pieces - amazing, amazing, concept art pieces).
I am not usually entertained with Flash type games but there is something about this one that deserves my "Wasted time well spent" award...not that there really is one. No prize or anything but darn nice game.
About the screenshot below:
flOw Screenshot @ Into the Pixel
Into the Pixel is organized by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and each year selects 16 visual works to be displayed as part of their collection, which tours the world over the course of the year.
We are honored to announce that a flOw screenshot has been selected!! We are also honored that we have the distinction of having the only in-game screenshot in this year's collection (the other works are concept art pieces - amazing, amazing, concept art pieces).
I am not usually entertained with Flash type games but there is something about this one that deserves my "Wasted time well spent" award...not that there really is one. No prize or anything but darn nice game.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
A Veteran SWG Players View
An excellent post on the state of Star Wars Galaxies by Daedenilus76 from the official Star Wars Galaxies forums.
NOTE: (This Post is strictly Commentary. It does not request any nerfs. This is not an "I'm quitting the Game Post". And if you say it... No you can't have my stuff, I'd sooner delete it"
There are some questions at the bottom for Players, Devs, and Moderators. Please answer them if you can.
Moving on...
My history with SWG has been quite long, so i have a good understanding of what came before, what is, and what will eventually come.
I began my SWG on the day after launch and stayed with the game till about early 2004. I returned to the game again in late 2004. Since the release of the NGE, i've been playing this game off an on since then. 3months off and a month or 2 on. Generally it's all I can stand. Probably I needed a starwars fix that Jedi Knight or KOTOR can't do for me. The point of this is, I've been around, and I know what is good about SWG and what is bad.
The NGE:
I won't lie, I've never been a fan of the NGE and never will. I can never forgive SOE for the death of my game. With that being said, there are some good parts to the NGE, however few there are. I truly do find it hard to find something to do in this game that is fun. I've beaten almost every quest, collected all the badges, and have almost all of the items you can get currently in game, minus the GCW (which i'll get to shortly). All this was done on one toon. I'm not going to badge whore and get every other trinket possible in the game for my other two alts. It's not necessary and definitely repeating it all over again makes me ill just thinking about it. I'm not some sort of A.D.D.'er (Attention Deficit Disorder) or part of the IGG (Instant Gratification Generation). I have an ACE pilot, i've grinded up my Elder Jedi long long ago, then recently after the bump to to 90 levels.
I've become bored with my Elder, it's lost its appeal and enjoyment since the NGE was launched. My crafter has generally stayed crafter, which leaves me my FS toon. my FS toon was originally a crafter then i respec'ed him to Jedi, BH, Smuggler, Medic, Commando, and Spy. I was already a trader and felt i didn't need to respec to that, and Entertainer is boring as hell, for me. Spy is fun because it's like the old days of having Jedi cloak, except i don't have a light saber. Nothing more enjoyable then popping a rebels bike or screwing with a BH for an hour or two.
My Breakdown of the professions:
Jedi(NGE Version - NON Elder) - This could possibly boring professions now. It lacks uniqueness and have absolutely nothing to offer for group dynamics, especially when base busting.
Bounty Hunter: Bounty hunting became more about the buffs that you or your mark have then actually about the hunt. I've done the "stalking" portion, watching my prey, and seeing how the operate. After a half hour or an hour of hunting, i'd start the fight, to have some other BH come out and click on my mark and get the kill. BH has now become a series of Clone killing, Ganking, killing your mark while they are in a duel or fighting NPC's or participating in the GCW. Please skip the silly comments, this about how I'm seeing the game.
Smuggler: Over glorified delivery missions. Boring!!!
Medic: For a support class, what a pointless profession. You can get some buffs, they can rez you, but when it comes down to supporting your group, Medic is useless. Combat Medics of the Pre-CU and CU could heal at a distance, and provide more support then the current one. If you don't know what the old Combat Medics are and how they worked, then you probably don't understand the situation. Medics are great for group missions to DWB, but then again, one area heal and every NPC within a 600m radius(slight exaggeration) will be all over the Medic like white on rice.
Commando: If there's one profession that doesn't require any skill or work, besides entertainer, it's commando. This profession requires zero work, zero skill, and pretty much kills everything and everyone, in a one on one situation. This profession is the 'Poster Child' for the NGE. Click-Click-Click and you Win!!! (I'm not calling for a nerf on commando or anything, I actually endorse how this profession works. This is just reality as it is).
Spy : If you like to annoy the hell out of everyone, this is the perfect profession. Spy is absolutely no threat to anyone or anything. It's just some silly little class that runs around and annoys players.
Officer: Haven't played it, but seems to be up there with medic. Great for group buffs, decent melee, and what ever little skill that officers have that have some big explosion, it looks like they lag out and are then 100m from you. Very annoying. Officers in general are probably the second most annoying profession, with all the sounds and bells, and explosions going off, it's like hitting the jackpot in Vegas, except everyone is a loser in this game.
Crafters: Whoop-di-freakin-doo!!! What do you they do again??? What do they crafter that's better then loot??? oh yeah, +35 stated items that you can no longer get??? Get the item once and never get it again. I don't get it. Better luck next year Crafters!!! LOLZ, ya nubs!!!
Entertainers: I have to say i've been seeing Entertainers more often for buffs. Ent's now have a use, but they are still boring as hell to play. I'm not insulting anyone who plays Entertainer, but i do not find it very engaging.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Holy GCW: I have absolutely no idea on whether or not I hate the new GCW or not. The buffs and items are really great, but beyond that, I think it has ruined a good part of the game.
On my server, "Intrepid", most the the GCW participants are to busy base busting and trying to keep their current ranks each week to offset the decay. PvP has literally become few-and-far-between. All these high ranking GCW players are trying to keep their ranks so they can keep their buffs, but it seems, that's all they do. They don't have time to do anything else. For the most part my server has become a ghost town. You might see 20-30 people in Eisley, 20 or so in Restuss, and if you're lucky a few people(like 5) in Theed.
Where the hell is everyone? What the hell happened to PvP? Is everyone on some planet i don't know about? Ever since GCW came about, PvP has gone down hill. Maybe on the more populated servers where there are enough people who don't care about GCW and just like to PvP then I can see more people.
My server has turned into Rebels dropping Imp bases and destroying them a day later and Imperials dropping Rebel bases and destroying them the next day. Everyone is too busy trying to keep their rank then to play the game.
GCW will eventually become stagnant. The amount of credits required to keep GCW ranks(buying bases and dropping them) will rise above the amount required to maintain that rank.
EvO(rebel) and -CoN-(imperial), the biggest guilds on my server are not around as much as they used to be. To busy base busting. I'll see them maybe an hour here and there during the week, but that's it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space: Recently came back and grinded up another Ace on another alt, I appreciate being able to get access to Deep Space without being an Ace, but there's no one ever in Deep Space. There is nothing going on there. I grinded up 4mil xp there and saw only one person, and they were in a Millennium Falcon. Give me a break.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The infamous Server Merge: The only thing I can think of to increase the chance of running into another player is the merging of a few servers. There has to be another server worse off than Intrepid. I don't know how many times I've hopped from starport to starport only to find one more empty server. Restuss has died off almost completely. You have a few people that PvP on a regular basis, but beyond that, PvP is dead. This could help tremendously Space and Grind. This could bring back more players, or at least, make the game enjoyable for those still around. It's the same people everyday doing the same thing(whereever they are doing it, because i don't see them). This game has become a borefest. I thought MMO stood for Massive Multiplayer Online... I don't see the Massive anywhere on my server.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legacy Quests: What an absolutely boring way to spend 5 hours. Go here. Kill X amount of Y NPC's. Drive here and click on this terminal or datapad. Talk to this NPC. Legacy Quest are dreary. I never see anyone else doing them. It's like a solo game online. This game has become almost a single player game. The Legacy Quests are a good example of this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRUST: In my honest opinion, I do not trust SOE. It seems they only care about propagating how wonderful this game is, but lack the little results of their work. I've been with SOE a long long time, and I've seen first hand how they operate. I think SOE lies so much, they forget what the truth is. It seems like there's always some new excuse as to why the NGE needed to happen, and then another excuse to say why it's so much better. SOE wanted to bring more players into Galaxies, but they said they couldn't make the game balanced or add content because there was so many professions. Or some focus group said that it was much easier and not at all complicated to play the game.
Seriously, what is the point. You're gonna lie about what you doing or why you did it. Might as well say you did the NGE because you felt like it.
You, SOE, promised increased communication and to listen to what the player base has to say, then you completely ignore us. You say you listen and when the playerbase says it's a bad idea, you do it anyway. Then you wonder why there are less players then before.
Blixtev, you said you don't like it when players insult your developers or your team. What do you expect? The quality, i.e. the output of what you guys are doing is lacking in almost every aspect. I don't see any sort of quality control on your end. If some says you're incompetent, as in your team or SOE, they say it with good reason....
incompetent
adjective
Lacking capability: inadequate, incapable, unequal, unfit, unqualified. See ability/inability, excess/insufficiency/enough.
Totally incapable of doing a job: unable, unfit, unqualified. See ability/inability.
Lacking the qualities, as efficiency or skill, required to produce desired results: inapt, incapable, inefficient, inept, inexpert, unskilled, unskillful, unworkmanlike. See ability/inability.
You make promises that you can't keep. You keep saying that this game is getting better, where is it? Did I miss some great increase of Galaxies population? Since the get go of the NGE, there has not been any increase in population. It has actually gone down. So, does incompetence fit the situation, i'd say so. There is absolutely no accomplishment in achieving anything in this game, there is no risk/reward. It seems this game has become a mindless series of clicks. People don't trust you, not because what you have started doing, but what you have done already. You can't erase the history if screwing over the playerbase, by deleting the old forums or locking/deleting posts.
You want to have a players trust you again. Quit lying to them. Quit making up excuses as to why or why you can't do something. Most of us are adults, well, most of us used to be adults until the NGE came around. We don't want to be coddled. Tell us why or why you can't do something.
You're not going to garner our trust by referring to people as "Posters-who-player" or "Vocal Minority". Spare me the bitter vet comments. If you haven't worked and spent time and money into developing a character only to have ripped away, then you probably don't understand how we feel.
The Ranger revamp, right before the NGE is a great example of blatant lying. You knew way before hand that it was not going to happen, yet like dangling a carrot on a stick in front of players, you sat idly by as many players grinded up Master Ranger, only to dump the NGE on them and completely remove that profession. How does one just get over that. Time and money wasted away only to be told, "Here's our new iconic version of the game for you. Have a nice day".
You should spend less time concocting lies and more time being upfront with us. Don't dump crap on us and expect everything to be kosher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUGS: For all your promises of a bug free game, I'm not seeing it.
Crashing to desktop while respec'ing.
Sound issues where the sound, sounds like some sort of broken record skipping to a bunch of different tracks.
Jedi heals still fire but not work.
Able to track spies when they are cloaked.
Call for a pick up still unable to call while it's still getting you.
Mind you, these bugs aren't game breaking, except the slight annoyance of crashing to desktop when in the middle of PvP.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDE NOTES:
SOE seems to be more concerned about making everyone equal then then about making this game fun. Some of the more ridiculous things they have put into this game are things like... Holopets, Holoband Members, and Elder Jedi Force Ghost. Give it a rest with the stupid holograms.
SOE doesn't seem to care about trying to bring old players back. Those who do come back are probably ebayed accounts, and the trial accounts created and are more for the storage and housing then actually new people playing the game. People can sit there and yap about how many accounts or basically people they know who will come back for Chapter X, where X is the next chapter due to be released. I've heard the same thing regarding Chapter 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. I don't see any increase in players, to the contrary, since Chapter 1, i've seen less and less players. Except for the Credit Farmers.
People seem to stick with this for their Friends, effort put into their toons, or because it has Star Wars plastered to it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions:
I'm not looking for people to rant or rave, or tell me to quit the game if i don't like it. That is not the point of this thread. I'm pointing out the seriousness of the flaws surrounding this game.
A few quick questions(For the Playerbase):
1. Since the implementation of the GCW, has PvP dropped dramatically on your server?
2. Do you find that there are plenty of things to do in this game that is truly fun and worthwhile. If so, what are they.
3. How is the population on your server. Do you see alot of people in different starports throughout the galaxy.
4. Will a Server Merge make your game play better.
5. Do you spend the majority of your time only base busting, to keep up with your GCW rank.
6. Do you see new PvP'ers entering into battle.
Questions for the Devs:
1. Will you ever do server merges?
2. Will you no longer make maintaining GCW rank the content of the game.
3. Will crafters actually have a purpose in the game except to have a one time visit from players.
4. Will space become useful again. As it is, it is desolate and empty. I know space is vast and lots of empty spaces, but give me a break.
5. Will you be creating any new professions?
6. Will some of the other useless unpopulated planets have a use, like: Dantooine, Yavin, Lok, Dathomir, Corellia, Talus, Endor (besides DWB), Mustafar (Dead Now), Kashyyyk (Dead too)? Need to bring players back to these planets.
6. Do you hate me for bringing all this up?
For the Moderators:
1. If i said something inappropriate, please send me and PM and i'll fix it.
2. I see alot of posts that are locked for Unconstructive trolling. Is there such a thing as Constructive trolling? =)
NOTE: (This Post is strictly Commentary. It does not request any nerfs. This is not an "I'm quitting the Game Post". And if you say it... No you can't have my stuff, I'd sooner delete it"
There are some questions at the bottom for Players, Devs, and Moderators. Please answer them if you can.
Moving on...
My history with SWG has been quite long, so i have a good understanding of what came before, what is, and what will eventually come.
I began my SWG on the day after launch and stayed with the game till about early 2004. I returned to the game again in late 2004. Since the release of the NGE, i've been playing this game off an on since then. 3months off and a month or 2 on. Generally it's all I can stand. Probably I needed a starwars fix that Jedi Knight or KOTOR can't do for me. The point of this is, I've been around, and I know what is good about SWG and what is bad.
The NGE:
I won't lie, I've never been a fan of the NGE and never will. I can never forgive SOE for the death of my game. With that being said, there are some good parts to the NGE, however few there are. I truly do find it hard to find something to do in this game that is fun. I've beaten almost every quest, collected all the badges, and have almost all of the items you can get currently in game, minus the GCW (which i'll get to shortly). All this was done on one toon. I'm not going to badge whore and get every other trinket possible in the game for my other two alts. It's not necessary and definitely repeating it all over again makes me ill just thinking about it. I'm not some sort of A.D.D.'er (Attention Deficit Disorder) or part of the IGG (Instant Gratification Generation). I have an ACE pilot, i've grinded up my Elder Jedi long long ago, then recently after the bump to to 90 levels.
I've become bored with my Elder, it's lost its appeal and enjoyment since the NGE was launched. My crafter has generally stayed crafter, which leaves me my FS toon. my FS toon was originally a crafter then i respec'ed him to Jedi, BH, Smuggler, Medic, Commando, and Spy. I was already a trader and felt i didn't need to respec to that, and Entertainer is boring as hell, for me. Spy is fun because it's like the old days of having Jedi cloak, except i don't have a light saber. Nothing more enjoyable then popping a rebels bike or screwing with a BH for an hour or two.
My Breakdown of the professions:
Jedi(NGE Version - NON Elder) - This could possibly boring professions now. It lacks uniqueness and have absolutely nothing to offer for group dynamics, especially when base busting.
Bounty Hunter: Bounty hunting became more about the buffs that you or your mark have then actually about the hunt. I've done the "stalking" portion, watching my prey, and seeing how the operate. After a half hour or an hour of hunting, i'd start the fight, to have some other BH come out and click on my mark and get the kill. BH has now become a series of Clone killing, Ganking, killing your mark while they are in a duel or fighting NPC's or participating in the GCW. Please skip the silly comments, this about how I'm seeing the game.
Smuggler: Over glorified delivery missions. Boring!!!
Medic: For a support class, what a pointless profession. You can get some buffs, they can rez you, but when it comes down to supporting your group, Medic is useless. Combat Medics of the Pre-CU and CU could heal at a distance, and provide more support then the current one. If you don't know what the old Combat Medics are and how they worked, then you probably don't understand the situation. Medics are great for group missions to DWB, but then again, one area heal and every NPC within a 600m radius(slight exaggeration) will be all over the Medic like white on rice.
Commando: If there's one profession that doesn't require any skill or work, besides entertainer, it's commando. This profession requires zero work, zero skill, and pretty much kills everything and everyone, in a one on one situation. This profession is the 'Poster Child' for the NGE. Click-Click-Click and you Win!!! (I'm not calling for a nerf on commando or anything, I actually endorse how this profession works. This is just reality as it is).
Spy : If you like to annoy the hell out of everyone, this is the perfect profession. Spy is absolutely no threat to anyone or anything. It's just some silly little class that runs around and annoys players.
Officer: Haven't played it, but seems to be up there with medic. Great for group buffs, decent melee, and what ever little skill that officers have that have some big explosion, it looks like they lag out and are then 100m from you. Very annoying. Officers in general are probably the second most annoying profession, with all the sounds and bells, and explosions going off, it's like hitting the jackpot in Vegas, except everyone is a loser in this game.
Crafters: Whoop-di-freakin-doo!!! What do you they do again??? What do they crafter that's better then loot??? oh yeah, +35 stated items that you can no longer get??? Get the item once and never get it again. I don't get it. Better luck next year Crafters!!! LOLZ, ya nubs!!!
Entertainers: I have to say i've been seeing Entertainers more often for buffs. Ent's now have a use, but they are still boring as hell to play. I'm not insulting anyone who plays Entertainer, but i do not find it very engaging.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Holy GCW: I have absolutely no idea on whether or not I hate the new GCW or not. The buffs and items are really great, but beyond that, I think it has ruined a good part of the game.
On my server, "Intrepid", most the the GCW participants are to busy base busting and trying to keep their current ranks each week to offset the decay. PvP has literally become few-and-far-between. All these high ranking GCW players are trying to keep their ranks so they can keep their buffs, but it seems, that's all they do. They don't have time to do anything else. For the most part my server has become a ghost town. You might see 20-30 people in Eisley, 20 or so in Restuss, and if you're lucky a few people(like 5) in Theed.
Where the hell is everyone? What the hell happened to PvP? Is everyone on some planet i don't know about? Ever since GCW came about, PvP has gone down hill. Maybe on the more populated servers where there are enough people who don't care about GCW and just like to PvP then I can see more people.
My server has turned into Rebels dropping Imp bases and destroying them a day later and Imperials dropping Rebel bases and destroying them the next day. Everyone is too busy trying to keep their rank then to play the game.
GCW will eventually become stagnant. The amount of credits required to keep GCW ranks(buying bases and dropping them) will rise above the amount required to maintain that rank.
EvO(rebel) and -CoN-(imperial), the biggest guilds on my server are not around as much as they used to be. To busy base busting. I'll see them maybe an hour here and there during the week, but that's it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space: Recently came back and grinded up another Ace on another alt, I appreciate being able to get access to Deep Space without being an Ace, but there's no one ever in Deep Space. There is nothing going on there. I grinded up 4mil xp there and saw only one person, and they were in a Millennium Falcon. Give me a break.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The infamous Server Merge: The only thing I can think of to increase the chance of running into another player is the merging of a few servers. There has to be another server worse off than Intrepid. I don't know how many times I've hopped from starport to starport only to find one more empty server. Restuss has died off almost completely. You have a few people that PvP on a regular basis, but beyond that, PvP is dead. This could help tremendously Space and Grind. This could bring back more players, or at least, make the game enjoyable for those still around. It's the same people everyday doing the same thing(whereever they are doing it, because i don't see them). This game has become a borefest. I thought MMO stood for Massive Multiplayer Online... I don't see the Massive anywhere on my server.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legacy Quests: What an absolutely boring way to spend 5 hours. Go here. Kill X amount of Y NPC's. Drive here and click on this terminal or datapad. Talk to this NPC. Legacy Quest are dreary. I never see anyone else doing them. It's like a solo game online. This game has become almost a single player game. The Legacy Quests are a good example of this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRUST: In my honest opinion, I do not trust SOE. It seems they only care about propagating how wonderful this game is, but lack the little results of their work. I've been with SOE a long long time, and I've seen first hand how they operate. I think SOE lies so much, they forget what the truth is. It seems like there's always some new excuse as to why the NGE needed to happen, and then another excuse to say why it's so much better. SOE wanted to bring more players into Galaxies, but they said they couldn't make the game balanced or add content because there was so many professions. Or some focus group said that it was much easier and not at all complicated to play the game.
Seriously, what is the point. You're gonna lie about what you doing or why you did it. Might as well say you did the NGE because you felt like it.
You, SOE, promised increased communication and to listen to what the player base has to say, then you completely ignore us. You say you listen and when the playerbase says it's a bad idea, you do it anyway. Then you wonder why there are less players then before.
Blixtev, you said you don't like it when players insult your developers or your team. What do you expect? The quality, i.e. the output of what you guys are doing is lacking in almost every aspect. I don't see any sort of quality control on your end. If some says you're incompetent, as in your team or SOE, they say it with good reason....
incompetent
adjective
Lacking capability: inadequate, incapable, unequal, unfit, unqualified. See ability/inability, excess/insufficiency/enough.
Totally incapable of doing a job: unable, unfit, unqualified. See ability/inability.
Lacking the qualities, as efficiency or skill, required to produce desired results: inapt, incapable, inefficient, inept, inexpert, unskilled, unskillful, unworkmanlike. See ability/inability.
You make promises that you can't keep. You keep saying that this game is getting better, where is it? Did I miss some great increase of Galaxies population? Since the get go of the NGE, there has not been any increase in population. It has actually gone down. So, does incompetence fit the situation, i'd say so. There is absolutely no accomplishment in achieving anything in this game, there is no risk/reward. It seems this game has become a mindless series of clicks. People don't trust you, not because what you have started doing, but what you have done already. You can't erase the history if screwing over the playerbase, by deleting the old forums or locking/deleting posts.
You want to have a players trust you again. Quit lying to them. Quit making up excuses as to why or why you can't do something. Most of us are adults, well, most of us used to be adults until the NGE came around. We don't want to be coddled. Tell us why or why you can't do something.
You're not going to garner our trust by referring to people as "Posters-who-player" or "Vocal Minority". Spare me the bitter vet comments. If you haven't worked and spent time and money into developing a character only to have ripped away, then you probably don't understand how we feel.
The Ranger revamp, right before the NGE is a great example of blatant lying. You knew way before hand that it was not going to happen, yet like dangling a carrot on a stick in front of players, you sat idly by as many players grinded up Master Ranger, only to dump the NGE on them and completely remove that profession. How does one just get over that. Time and money wasted away only to be told, "Here's our new iconic version of the game for you. Have a nice day".
You should spend less time concocting lies and more time being upfront with us. Don't dump crap on us and expect everything to be kosher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUGS: For all your promises of a bug free game, I'm not seeing it.
Crashing to desktop while respec'ing.
Sound issues where the sound, sounds like some sort of broken record skipping to a bunch of different tracks.
Jedi heals still fire but not work.
Able to track spies when they are cloaked.
Call for a pick up still unable to call while it's still getting you.
Mind you, these bugs aren't game breaking, except the slight annoyance of crashing to desktop when in the middle of PvP.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDE NOTES:
SOE seems to be more concerned about making everyone equal then then about making this game fun. Some of the more ridiculous things they have put into this game are things like... Holopets, Holoband Members, and Elder Jedi Force Ghost. Give it a rest with the stupid holograms.
SOE doesn't seem to care about trying to bring old players back. Those who do come back are probably ebayed accounts, and the trial accounts created and are more for the storage and housing then actually new people playing the game. People can sit there and yap about how many accounts or basically people they know who will come back for Chapter X, where X is the next chapter due to be released. I've heard the same thing regarding Chapter 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. I don't see any increase in players, to the contrary, since Chapter 1, i've seen less and less players. Except for the Credit Farmers.
People seem to stick with this for their Friends, effort put into their toons, or because it has Star Wars plastered to it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions:
I'm not looking for people to rant or rave, or tell me to quit the game if i don't like it. That is not the point of this thread. I'm pointing out the seriousness of the flaws surrounding this game.
A few quick questions(For the Playerbase):
1. Since the implementation of the GCW, has PvP dropped dramatically on your server?
2. Do you find that there are plenty of things to do in this game that is truly fun and worthwhile. If so, what are they.
3. How is the population on your server. Do you see alot of people in different starports throughout the galaxy.
4. Will a Server Merge make your game play better.
5. Do you spend the majority of your time only base busting, to keep up with your GCW rank.
6. Do you see new PvP'ers entering into battle.
Questions for the Devs:
1. Will you ever do server merges?
2. Will you no longer make maintaining GCW rank the content of the game.
3. Will crafters actually have a purpose in the game except to have a one time visit from players.
4. Will space become useful again. As it is, it is desolate and empty. I know space is vast and lots of empty spaces, but give me a break.
5. Will you be creating any new professions?
6. Will some of the other useless unpopulated planets have a use, like: Dantooine, Yavin, Lok, Dathomir, Corellia, Talus, Endor (besides DWB), Mustafar (Dead Now), Kashyyyk (Dead too)? Need to bring players back to these planets.
6. Do you hate me for bringing all this up?
For the Moderators:
1. If i said something inappropriate, please send me and PM and i'll fix it.
2. I see alot of posts that are locked for Unconstructive trolling. Is there such a thing as Constructive trolling? =)
Monday, January 29, 2007
Top 10 Industry Facts
From ESA
TOP 10 INDUSTRY FACTS
1. US computer and video game software sales grew six percent in 2006 to $7.4 billion – almost tripling industry software sales since 1996.
2. Sixty-nine percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
3. The average game player is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
4. The average age of the most frequent game buyer is 40 years old. In 2006, 93 percent of computer game buyers and 83 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
5. Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2005 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+. For more information on ratings, please see www.esrb.org.
6. Eighty-seven percent of game players under the age of 18 report that they get their parents’ permission when renting or buying games, and 89 percent say their parents are present when they buy games.
7. Thirty-five percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. Further, 80 percent of gamer parents say they play video games with their kids. Sixty-six percent feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.
8. Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (30%) than boys age 17 or younger (23%).
9. In 2005, 25 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
10. Forty-four percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week. In addition, 32 percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
State of the Galaxy Report
"Time heals all wounds." Or so Sony Online Entertainment and Star Wars Galaxies were hoping. SWG is approaching the first anniversary of its much-publicized NGE. (New Game Enhancements) Veteran players still brave forum bans to plead with the developers for a "Classic" server. Numerous new subscribers, after hearing the tales of Galaxies glory days, are often curious and also desire a chance to play the original game. The game is failing but the war wages on.
Brief re-cap. Star Wars Galaxies was released in June 2003. 32 professions were offered in a skill-based system. Players could mix and match professions creating a custom character. The New Game Enhancements were put into play November 15, 2005, much to anguished cries of current players. The NGE simplified the game from 32 mixable professions to 9 "Iconic" non-interchangeable professions. The details of the new system are of no consequence. The NGE is a failure.
Over the past year, the Star Wars Galaxies team has traveled to major cities, in my mind, as a peace offering. Promises were made, and broken. Hopes were lifted only to have them fall over the recent months. Changes are being made to the game. One could say from suggestions and ideas of the players but realistically, the majority of the changes are adding back some of the game mechanics that were lost while implementing the NGE. These are good steps backwards but can hardly be considered forward momentum.
Developers, Managers, Public Relations have all managed to say exactly the wrong thing in the most public of places. Recently Chris Cao preformed the flame of all flames against SWG subscribers. Raph Koster (Original SWG game designer) Jeff Freeman, among others, were quick to blog the errors of his ways.
The Empire is at war. Battles are fought on the Star Wars Galaxies Forums between Veteran players, new NGE players, Moderators and Developers. Blasters are aimed from other arenas as well. Previous employees of SOE, competitors, and general gaming gurus closely follow the battlefront.
"Who is winning?"
Unfortunately, the competitors. Blizzard and its World of Warcraft gathers the wounded and comforts them in a bug free game. A simple game yet consistent and respectful of its subscribers. New online ventures have already captured the eyes of Star Wars Galaxies players. Many have jumped ship and more are walking the plank.
SOE keeps quiet about the games player base numbers. Subscribers guess at the total. One fact is known the numbers are small. To use Chris Cao's formula, 20% of the player base posts on the forums. After sampling the online forum totals (These numbers are viewable from the Star Wars Galaxies forum) an average of 1,000 people are logged into the forums. The remaining 80% is spread over 26 servers. Not a great slice of the pie considering World of Warcraft has over 6 million players.
The answer to the Galactic dilemma should be open a Classic server and maintain the NGE on the majority of servers. SOE states it will not happen. Once again the details matter not. With every reiteration of "No Classic server", Sony Online Entertainment edges closer to forever encasing Star Wars Galaxies in carbonite.
So we come to the final question. "Are you still playing Star Wars Galaxies?"
Of course however I tend to play Galaxies from the surf side. The conflict, drama, predictions and news of Star Wars Galaxies I find much more exciting than the actual game. Truth is, the NGE doesn't appeal to me. I am not a 9 year old child that dreams of being Princess Leia. The classic game allowed a player to create his or her own adventure in the Star Wars universe. The NGE, with its simplified mechanics, boring combat, the lack of diversity, loss of subscribers and recent push towards PvP (Player vs Player) continue to detour my logging in to the game. My usual SWG gaming consists chatting with the few remaining friends that still play, testing any additions or reverts and logging out.
I would like to say "Happy One Year anniversary" to the NGE but the date more closely marks the decline of Star Wars Galaxies. Time heals all wounds, unless the wounds are fatal.
Brief re-cap. Star Wars Galaxies was released in June 2003. 32 professions were offered in a skill-based system. Players could mix and match professions creating a custom character. The New Game Enhancements were put into play November 15, 2005, much to anguished cries of current players. The NGE simplified the game from 32 mixable professions to 9 "Iconic" non-interchangeable professions. The details of the new system are of no consequence. The NGE is a failure.
Over the past year, the Star Wars Galaxies team has traveled to major cities, in my mind, as a peace offering. Promises were made, and broken. Hopes were lifted only to have them fall over the recent months. Changes are being made to the game. One could say from suggestions and ideas of the players but realistically, the majority of the changes are adding back some of the game mechanics that were lost while implementing the NGE. These are good steps backwards but can hardly be considered forward momentum.
Developers, Managers, Public Relations have all managed to say exactly the wrong thing in the most public of places. Recently Chris Cao preformed the flame of all flames against SWG subscribers. Raph Koster (Original SWG game designer) Jeff Freeman, among others, were quick to blog the errors of his ways.
The Empire is at war. Battles are fought on the Star Wars Galaxies Forums between Veteran players, new NGE players, Moderators and Developers. Blasters are aimed from other arenas as well. Previous employees of SOE, competitors, and general gaming gurus closely follow the battlefront.
"Who is winning?"
Unfortunately, the competitors. Blizzard and its World of Warcraft gathers the wounded and comforts them in a bug free game. A simple game yet consistent and respectful of its subscribers. New online ventures have already captured the eyes of Star Wars Galaxies players. Many have jumped ship and more are walking the plank.
SOE keeps quiet about the games player base numbers. Subscribers guess at the total. One fact is known the numbers are small. To use Chris Cao's formula, 20% of the player base posts on the forums. After sampling the online forum totals (These numbers are viewable from the Star Wars Galaxies forum) an average of 1,000 people are logged into the forums. The remaining 80% is spread over 26 servers. Not a great slice of the pie considering World of Warcraft has over 6 million players.
The answer to the Galactic dilemma should be open a Classic server and maintain the NGE on the majority of servers. SOE states it will not happen. Once again the details matter not. With every reiteration of "No Classic server", Sony Online Entertainment edges closer to forever encasing Star Wars Galaxies in carbonite.
So we come to the final question. "Are you still playing Star Wars Galaxies?"
Of course however I tend to play Galaxies from the surf side. The conflict, drama, predictions and news of Star Wars Galaxies I find much more exciting than the actual game. Truth is, the NGE doesn't appeal to me. I am not a 9 year old child that dreams of being Princess Leia. The classic game allowed a player to create his or her own adventure in the Star Wars universe. The NGE, with its simplified mechanics, boring combat, the lack of diversity, loss of subscribers and recent push towards PvP (Player vs Player) continue to detour my logging in to the game. My usual SWG gaming consists chatting with the few remaining friends that still play, testing any additions or reverts and logging out.
I would like to say "Happy One Year anniversary" to the NGE but the date more closely marks the decline of Star Wars Galaxies. Time heals all wounds, unless the wounds are fatal.
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