Veteran Question

[mecantile]

Hello,

I was a player back in beta for SWG and made it through the first expansion-after the NGE World of Warcraft beta started and I decided to leave.

How has the game recovered from the NGE?

How are people handling the story arc not following the original lore with everyone having immediate access to Jedi?

Is the game worth any salt or should I just wait for Bioware's SW MMO?

Thanks,

Mec

 

[ClanBeviin2]

I have never played pre-NGE, so I don't know how it's "recovered". I can tell you that with all of the chapters and updates that I've been through (a total of seven Chapters, so far) that the game has done nothing but improve and I love it. I never disliked it and really had fun right when I started--but it's only gotten better.

As for the Jedi... yeah, they bug me. But I realize that in the end, SOE is a business and wants/needs to make money. Along with that is a love of Star Wars that to a majority of people means Jedi. As such, players want to play--and pay--to be Jedi.

For me personally, all the Jedi running around--and while there are a lot, it's not like other professions are in the minority--are there for me to use or not, depending on how I want to play. If I'm in more of a roleplaying, Cannon sort of mood, I completely ignore them. Alternately, when I'm really into my bounty hunter roleplaying mood, I try to duel lots of Jedi as part of my role. If I'm more in a social mood, I chat, play, and help them as I want.

You have to realize that there are even Jedi roleplayers, or Cannon-lovers, even if they chose to be Jedi when they signed up. When I play my Jedi (yes, I have one), I never wear robes, and I only use my lightsaber in relative "safety" from "Imperials". I also try not to use Stance buffs outside of combat, since that automatically flags me as a Jedi.

The long and short of it is: the Jedi won't ruin your game if you don't let them.

 

[Xyleph_Yerxak]

I played for a couple months before the CU, then involuntarily took a break for a few months, and now have been playing again since the NGE. In my opinion, the game is the best it has ever been. I do miss the profession flexibility of the pre-NGE days, but the continually updated content more than makes up for it. At the absolute minimum, SWG will be a very enjoyable fill-in until any new SW MMO.

 

[ClanBeviin2]

I'm interested in hearing more about Bioware's game. I love SWG, but there are things about it I'd like different. Plus, it'd be kind of fun to play a game from the ground up. I searched the site, but I couldn't find anything specific. Any more information?

 

[mecantile]

I'm interested in hearing more about Bioware's game. I love SWG, but there are things about it I'd like different. Plus, it'd be kind of fun to play a game from the ground up. I searched the site, but I couldn't find anything specific. Any more information?

Right now it is pure speculation, but various sites have reported "happenings" with LucasArts and Bioware in developing a next gen MMO around Star Wars. Though nothing has been confirmed you can find these tidbits on IGN.com, 1up.com and g4tv.com. There was a lot of success from KotR1 and 2 which has lead a lot of people to believe that it is in the works though nothing is developed enough to go public.

Imho, if they do then SWG is toast. I am waiting to see what happens this summer with the release of the movie and various other Star Wars products before I decide to go back or not. Basically, giving some time to see if anything is rolled out........
--
Thanks for the follow up on the game. The biggest sticking point for me is the timeline and how out of whack it is with allowing everyone to use Jedi. While it would be cool it still just doesn't feel right. Now if the game were pre-episode 4 then I probably woulnd't.

 

[ClanBeviin2]

I actually even wouldn't mind all the Jedi (they did exist, after all) if it wasn't so darn easy to spot them. They are supposed to be in hiding, after all. Either no robes, or give *everyone robes for their first outfit.

But, again, for most people Star Wars = Jedi. People want to play Jedi. If that's where the money is, that's what will be provided.

Personally, if there is a new MMO, I would love to play it but it will have to be one of two things: either set in the Clone Wars or Republic Era, which would allow for as many Jedi as want to play (and some pretty kickin' PvP) or, my preference, in the Expanded Universe, New Jedi Order/Yuuzahn Vong Era, which would also allow for kickin' PvP and multiple Jedi. And for non-PvPers, there could be some excellent PvE questing in both timelines as well.

In the meantime, I'm not leaving SWG anytime soon--too much fun.

 

[BadgerSmaker]

I've been playing since Pre-CU and I find the game right now is better than ever.

All the nasty bugs have gone and the ones that are left get jumped on by the Dev teams new streamlined approach to feature implementation and bug fixing.

It's a lot of fun, if you want to take a look just download the 14 day trial and make a new character on a heavy load server, be sure to turn on the "Auto-Aim" option though as you'll probably be more familiar with "Tab targetting" than the FPS style manual aim.

 

[mecantile]

What about server populations? The last one I was on, Sunrunner, was doing really well until the CU exodus.

 

[ClanBeviin2]

Speaking for my personal server, Ahazi, it's very nicely populated. I frequently see players even in the most remote player cities when I step off the shuttles. It also has a nice mix of RP, PvP, and PvE -ers.

I guess from what I usually hear, Bria, Bloodfin, Starsider, and Sunrunner are well populated. I think the same goes for Chilastra. Those are the ones I hear most about, offhand.

 

[Soldner]

Where can i learn more about you guild ClanBeviin2? Im turning/turned rebel a few days ago and joined the rebel guild S-O but they don't RP much which in a way really sucks lol. However they are very intense in the GCW so its a bonus but i'm primarily a RP'er. Suggest a guild?

 

[ClanBeviin2]

I'm not part of a guild at the moment. I would love to join a Mandalorian guild, but haven't been able to make contact with one, nor is it high on my priority list at the moment.

Before the boards went down, I had brought up the idea of forming sort of a "Stratics" guild that could help new players from the boards, but that was more of an idea than a plan.

 

[big_pappie]

I could not disagree with you guys more. NGE totally ruined the game for me. It was so much more fun back in the pre-CU days. I didn't mind the CU like alot of folks, but most people left because of NGE.

One thing that turned alot of people off was the fact the the devs never listened to issues/request/concerns of the players. None of the players at the time wanted NGE. It totally turned SWG into a new game. It doesn't even 'feel' the same. I think what most people disagreed with is the lack of choice involved. The veterans players who have been there since day one should have had at least one pre-NGE server. I do agree that the quests are alot more fun and bugs are fixed rather quickly now.

As for the game's population, I'm sure SOE is still turning a profit, but I recently returned because I was offered 14 days of free play after a year and half hiatus, but it's nothing like it used to be. I have over 200 people in my friends list, was on last Saturday night around 10pm and NOT ONE PERSON in my list was on. That's very disheartening. I can remember the days of long lines waiting to be buffed by docs, cantinas filled to the brink from people getting mind buffs, etc. To me, that was the golden era of the game and I still hold out a faint, but fading hope that one day the 'old' game returns.

I STILL maintain that if SOE offered just one server based on the old game, that previous player who left because of NGE would flock back to it and I strongly believe it would be THE most populated server. I can't understand why they can't give the players what they want when it would mean so much $$$ for them. Oh well, here's the the BIOWARE MMO coming to fruition. Those guys are tight and I have no doubt they'd do a SW MMO the right way.

 

[BadgerSmaker]

Pre-CU had a lot of problems stemming from a poor launch with a lot of bugs and a real lack of content.

There were a lot of unhappy players back then, when most people look back to that time they don't remember all the unpleasent things.

There were a lot of good things that naturally we remember quite vividly, these are the mechanics that the Dev team have been reimplementing, but at the same time updating and improving those systems like they did with Beast Master.

The NGE was the worst move in MMO history, no doubt, but it's been two and a half years since that happened, and in that time we've come a very long way and now have a stable, fun game that just needs a bit more polish to make it more accessable as a manstream MMORPG after it's sandbox style beginnings.

We do have a big issue right now where we have players distributed heavily across about 8 of the 20 odd servers, leaving 8 servers at the lower end that are less populated. Server choice is very important due to this.

 

[mecantile]

Pre-CU had issues only because the game was new and had just gone public. What really threw people off back then was how they changed PVE-not to mention the half million icons they added/changed that made everything more confusing. I was a pistoleer back then and before the CU I did really good damage only to get severely nerfed.

Also, I remember thte first expansion and how it took people literally forever to get into space. How has that changed over the years?

 

[ClanBeviin2]

Almost instantaneous. It just depends on how long it takes your computer to load.

 

[mecantile]

No, what I meant was that there was hardly anyone out in space on Sunrunner when the expansion went live. Is that different? What else have they changed in space?

 

[BadgerSmaker]

The core space game is still the same, a lot of bug fixes have been done for it, new zones like Nova Orion Space Station, space collections and new gunboat multi passenger ships have certainly kept things interesting.

I know that some servers have a very strong pilot community, I'll find out which if you like.

 

[UONoob08]

Well let's blame it on accountants.
I honestly have to say that somewhere someone or a group of "non designers" were calling the shots.

SWG started off with some of the greatest MMORPG "minds and talent" in the industry.

I've played since launch and I could probably find some of the posts from Devs about how rare Jedi were going to be and how hard it was going to be to play them.

Can anyone say character perma-death!!

I think some bean counters went onto the SWG forums and without MMORPG game forum experience saw all the "whiners" posts.

Anyone who has been around knows game forums attract the whiny people who have more forum time than game time.

Most of those posts were from the minority about how hard it was to figure out how to become a Jedi.
Even though all the press had told them it would be hard they still complained and wanted it "rare, except for their account" while the rest of us were ingame working on it.

Shoot, the game population(me included) was so slow that the devs had to give us hints. That was my first clue they were giving into the whiners.

Then when those people got their Jedi they whined about the finality of their characters life. So there went perma death, then visibility, then open pvp!

All the press told us what it was going to be like to play a Jedi yet those types got into the game and then flooded the forums till Jedi got nerfed to crap.
Imagine what this game would be like if just those things had stayed in place with Jedi.

Jedi was designed for the "hardcore" and only the hardcore would have stuck with it.

Well somewhere some non gamer geek said all our models from Everquest and Everquest2 show that players like to have things handed to them. WoW's success proves these theories to be true so we need to change SWG to those styles.

Well we all know how wrong they were now.
It sure did drive subscriptions....away

I recently read somewhere on a forum about someone complaining about some game's interface and the reply was "it's the basic WoW inteface, the industry standard. It's what all MMORPG's will use.

Well I tried to play WoW at launch and 2 more times since. I never lasted more than a couple of weeks.

I've played Ultima online since launch and the only other mmorpg that I've kept playing in 10 years is SWG. *EQ2 doesn't count since I only play that because my wife likes it* rolleyes:

 

[mecantile]

Rumors on IGN, and G4TV are talking about how the recent layoffs @ LucasArts where disgruntled employees commented that they are working on KotR3 MMO.