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Future and SWG?
Lexite
Member UncommonPosts: 165
Hey guys i just resubbed to this game and i was wondering what will happen to SWG when TOR will come out? because i know i wont be able to run TOR and i love SWG even after all what happened.
I7 920 @ 2.7ghz (8 cpu total)
12 gig DDR3 ram
Nvidia Geforce 560 GTX TI
window 7 64bit
Comments
SWG will die... but not right away.
Even after everything SOE has done, there are still many die hard fans who cannot currently find the same type of sandbox environment offered by SWG anywhere else. But this devotion will only last for so long.
The game is already on life support and eventually the subs will run dry and Sony will pull the plug.
But its not like its costing alot of money for sony to keep the server up, they could simply merge all the server so they could have like 2 or 3 servers then let them be.
ive also never seen sony close a game.
any other tough on this anyone? im curious to know people opinions or maybe facts because like ive said i love this game even on the NGE, but im not interrested in putting effort and such knowing the game will close. Yes i could move to TOR but my computer wont be able to handle it and im not interretsed in buying another computer soon. Ive also tried every other single mmo on the market and SWG is in my top favorite.
I7 920 @ 2.7ghz (8 cpu total)
12 gig DDR3 ram
Nvidia Geforce 560 GTX TI
window 7 64bit
This is what Smed had to say about it when swtor was announced:
http://mmofringe.com/index.php?option=com_joobb&view=topic&topic=26&Itemid=55
My opinion? The game is well past its bed time and SOE is milking the last drops of milk the cow can provide with the TCG scam.
Aside some of those "die hard" NGE fanbois there are many swg vet players who are there just because its a star wars game, they will migrate to swtor as soon as it releases. many guilds are already making plans.
and no, they are not merging the servers. if they could they would have done that by now. most likely they will wait until june when the FCT expires and close the empty servers down.
You're right about SOE not closing a game, they have a few dead games that should've been shut down years ago (PlanetSide, Matrix Online and slowly Pirates of the Burning Sea).
The game only needs like 4 servers : Don't see why they have so many cause all you do is start the servers fresh with everyones housing and that packed up. Sure people would complain losing their plots at first but they'll get over it and it'll be better for everyone to have fresh landscapes not cluttered by housing noone uses anymore and a higher population over 4 servers.
You're right about SOE not closing a game, they have a few dead games that should've been shut down years ago (PlanetSide, Matrix Online and slowly Pirates of the Burning Sea).
Thank you for not including Vanguard in that list as it would have upset me beyond words. lol! I've played just about every current mmo over the last 10 years and Vanguard as it is today is now my new obession and last hope for an MMO!
This game doesn't have a future, and barely a present.
SOE and LA have written this game off to concentrate on their other upcoming titles.
And not recently, either.....
Anything said besides that is wishful thinking.
Hi there, Lexite.
Take a look at this interview on IGN with LucasArts about the current state of Galaxies and the impact of BioWare's upcoming game.
IGNPC: What do you think the impact of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be? There's obviously a lot of overlap in terms of the communities of Star Wars fans and MMO players. How do you see the games being differentiated and how do you think the success of The Old Republic will affect Star Wars Galaxies?
Jake Neri: Well, I think there are a lot of differences between the games, from the obvious differences in the timeline and the setting and, as you learned down at BioWare, the focus on story, character and dialogue. Those really are key differentiating features between The Old Republic and Galaxies.
I think there is definitely going to be an impact but I think you'll find that a lot of Star Wars fans will still want to play Galaxies and a lot of them will want to play both games. Time will tell. When we launch the game we'll see exactly what will happen. Nobody has a crystal ball. I think the games are clearly different enough that the market can support both of them together. We've seen that with some of the other MMOs out there such as EQ1 and EQ2. Although similar, both of them have been able to carry on successfully.
IGNPC: They've also benefited a lot in terms of their different system requirements. EQ1 has a much larger potential market. Are you considering that as well?
Jake Neri: That's an important point. We haven't finalized our system requirements for The Old Republic yet so I can't tell you for sure what the differences are going to be between that game and Galaxies in terms of system requirements. But considering how old Galaxies is and how much PCs have changed over the last five years, I think that's a fair point.
IGNPC: Let's talk a little about the vitality of Galaxies for a bit. I was one of those players who gave up on the game after the New Game Experience. I know there are still plenty of people playing, but when I log in, there are definitely fewer than there were pre-NGE. What have you done to maintain the vitality and relevance of the game over the last few years?
Jake Neri: I think we can talk about the last couple of years when Tom and I have been here. What we really tried to do is take a hard look at what the player base is asking for, and what we can and can't do, and then deliver the features they're looking for, within reason. We've been able to deliver to the community a number of high quality things, things like the beastmaster system we put in and the collection system people had been asking for.
We're very much focused on the current player base: what they're in to, what they want to be playing and we've seen that work out. We have a healthy subscriber base and we have a happy community for the most part. We're pretty proud of the people that have stuck with us and the efforts that we've had in the last couple of years to give them the type of game they're looking for.
Tom Nichols: We had a very good reaction from our trading card game that we launched a couple of months ago. We've been talking to the community about a new encounter called Hoth, reliving that battle from Empire Strikes Back. That's going to be launching in short order. The Galaxies community is energized and excited about the new content we have brought up and talked about bringing out to them. They're still excited about the game.
IGNPC: That seems to be one of the main differences between Galaxies and The Old Republic, that you can rely on those iconic moments from the film. What do you think the best lessons are that BioWare can learn from the way that Galaxies has been run over the last few years?
Tom Nichols: I think there are a couple of things. The key one is listening to the community and being sure to understand what your fans are telling you about the game and addressing that as best as possible. I think there's a lot to learn there. I think a lot of the criticism of Galaxies when it launched is that it didn't feel like Star Wars. Some of the things the game offered weren't consistent with the brand. Delivering that heroic, "I Want to Be a Jedi, and feel like a powerful person in the galaxy," just like the movies had. I think there's a lot of learning there. When you talk to the BioWare guys they certainly recognize that.
IGNPC: The BioWare team has talked about this game in terms of doing the things that popular MMOs are doing correctly and then putting their own spin on it. Is there an opportunity for you guys to adapt their new ideas into Galaxies? Is that a priority at all?
Jake Neri: I think that's not on our priority list. MMOs in general are always inspired by one another so there could be something in the future that would inspire us in a certain way. We're certainly not looking to build identical experiences. We're pretty proud that they're both different and unique and we're feeling pretty good about that. We want to maintain that as much as possible.
IGNPC: What sorts of activities are your players primarily involved in? You mentioned that you've responded to their requests by adding in certain features. Can you give me an overview of what motivates the Star Wars Galaxies player?
Jake Neri: We have a number of different types of players. We're seeing players that have built strong allegiances. They like to socialize and have things to do together. They like to adventure and participate in high-caliber content. We've really focused on our heroic system. We have a tremendous roleplaying community that likes to set up and create and control their own events. We've built a storytelling system that people have really responded to.
We're constantly looking at what players are doing, checking out inventory logs. We know that our folks love to collect so we've built collection systems that really support that type of behavior as well. Of course, combat is a huge part of the game. We have a number of people who are participating in PvP or PvE, so we're always looking at professions and how to balance them best. We have a very diverse group of players there, but they've all been very helpful and responded well to the stuff we've been doing over the last couple of years.
Tom Nichols: I'll just add to that the TCG [Trading Card Game] as well. We've seen that a significant amount of the subscriber base tries the TCG, which is exciting.
Jake Neri: Yeah, people really responded to that and it's cool. We're definitely looking for ways to integrate that further into what we're doing.
IGNPC: Can you put that into context? How does the TCG relate to the other experiences of the game?
Jake Neri: The TCG is basically an app that sits on top of the game that you can play outside of the game. The first round of cards that we did, the lore is all based on Galaxies. So it's all things that the players are familiar with, whether it's skills or items or quests from in the game. It's essentially an application that allows you to go head-to-head with other players or play against the AI. You might do that in the middle of playing Galaxies. You might decide you're going to play that game while you're waiting to hook up with some friends. It's there for you whenever you want.
We're able to allow players to gain loot and things like that through purchasing of the booster packs and then we're also giving those packs away for free and allowing players to get some of those cards in game as well. So the whole thing feeds itself. We're on our first release and looking into the future of what we're going to do with that. We're looking at how we can expand the back and forth between the TCG and the core game.
Tom Nichols: You want to talk about some of the new cards and how people have been showing them off?
Jake Neri: Yeah, we have a number of really cool loot cards, things like pod racers, that you can drop in and drive around the world and it's really exciting for our players. I can't stress enough how much people have been really inspired to go out and get those things because they're really cool items that make them feel that much better about their experience.
When you purchase a booster pack, you're opening up a pack of 15-plus cards. One of those might be a loot card. There's a UI that converts that into the virtual item for your character. It's a pretty cool experience. If you haven't seen that we should definitely get you hooked up with that because I think you'd probably enjoy checking it out.
IGNPC: It definitely sounds interesting and like it adds a new level to the game. I wonder, what's next for Galaxies? You guys obviously are at a point where the game is still profitable for you. What are you looking to do to maintain your player numbers down the road?
Tom Nichols: We've touched on some of them already. We've mentioned the Hoth heroic instance, which will be coming out soon. We've talked publicly, at least with our community, about the droid commander release coming down the pipe. Our development team is focused on major new content releases as well as ongoing enhancements to player classes and professions in the game.
Jake Neri: Honestly, we're heading into the time of the year where we start to look forward as well. We have a number of events going on. We have a Halloween event that's live, the Galactic Moon festival. Our Life Day celebration is always a big deal for our community at the end of the year. We'll be talking about what's next after that next year. Right now, those are the things that are on deck for us.
IGNPC: Thanks for the update.
If Bioware is able to put together a solid game that taps into the imagination of the gamer then the effects will be catastophic to SWG IMO.
Will it be enough to shut SWG down? That's hard to say right now but I think it'll have a profound affect to the morale of those who remain in Galaxies - particularily if TOR gets some impressive updates while SWG continues to get pink Ewoks and such. It'll increase the level of bitterness the current subscriber has towards SoE.
They have a number of games that have very limited populations, it would be hard to say if it would close but, knowing $OE they would keep it on lifesupport and brain dead.
OP
look at it this way. If you love the game and can reconcile the fact that this game could be shut down before you finish whatever goals you have for it enjoy it while it lasts. I understand that you may not want to start a new investment only to have it cut off before it has payed off. I know I won't play this because I feel it is more than reasonable it could be shut down. But I also don't play it because I have accomplished what goals I wanted and I don't like the direction the gameplay has gone to. I also have personal biases against the developer. Biases that I admit many argue against. But their opinions are no more or less valuabe than my own. I will not try to impress my biases on you here.
Again if you like it and you find it worth a sub payment...rock on til it's gone, you get board of it, or jaded by it.
"Suddenly, thousands of Trekies whose heads are full of facts of things like the stardate when the Cardassians farted on Deep Space nine are irrlelevant." - hardcoremoviecritic
There ya go.
So I started to walk into the water. I won't lie to you boys...I was terrified. But I pressed on, and as I made my way past the breakers, a strange calm came over me. I don't know if it was divine intervention or the kinship of all living things, but I tell you, Jerry, at that moment ... I was a marine biologist.
If SWG is going to continue i feel they need to upgrade the engine.
Are you suggesting a New Game Engine?
Sorry.... I couldn't resist ; )
Well..i bet they dont put down that much money on SWG to begin with. And it does have a playerbase, not a big one..but clearly enough to make some money of it. Not sure how the SWG people that plays now are going to reacte. They seem to not like the idea of Kotor, why i don't know. It just seems to be star wars but better, obviousley. It seems as if you like SWG, you should try out kotor. Which i think most of the will do. If they like it, and the rest of the nge groupe comes with them, good bye swg. If not, it will keep going for some time.
Starwars Galaxies, An Empier Diveded, That's what it says on my box anyway.
I would say this is an accurate statement.The cost is the same PER server for any game,it does not matter how many players there are,as long as there is enough PER server.There are alot of REAL cheap games out there still going strong after many years,so if this game has a following,no reason it can't continue for at least another 3 years or more.
IMO what will happen if the player base drops below 100k,is that the game will operate with little support or GM activity and expect no further expansions or upgrades.
IMO the new star wars looks pretty good graphically,but how the game is played out is up in the air for now.
I know i don't like it and MOST do not like it but the BEST way to continue an older game is offering F2P with item mall.It can drastically change some of the game,but it is a way to make a game busier and full of life ,witch in turn encourages more to join.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
IMO what will happen if the player base drops below 100k,is that the game will operate with little support or GM activity and expect no further expansions or upgrades.
This game is far, far below 100k paying subs right now. Even using SOEs "liar, liar, pants on fire " math. The last time SOE released numbers, and I think it unofficial in a dev chat or interview, something, they included trial accts and anyone who had ever played SWG (but not necessarily playing then), and was still paying for a station pass. And people laughed in their face. And that was before everyone was given 2 toons per server per acct, instead of one.
Many of us played SWG when there were 250k-300k subs, and we know what that looked like. I know what the population looked like on the last vet trial and it was not even 10% of that. Half the servers are straight up dead, with 50 people or less. Of the other half, no more than 4 servers are very "populated" and those numbers are comparable to a light/med server in the old days.
There is no way to "prove" any of this besides anecdotal evidence, and SOE has never talked about subs since that time, as they would make themselves either look massively incompetent if they released the true numbers, or look like a bunch of lying bastages (and they already tried this once) by releasing puffed up numbers. Since there is no incentive to do so, they release nothing.
100k individual paaying players? SOE could only wish.....
Are you suggesting a New Game Engine?
Sorry.... I couldn't resist ; )
Nope. I am suggesting that they take the current technology and improve upon it by bringing the way it renders graphics, adding physics, and lighting, to a current standard we see in game engine technology today. Problem is I doubt they will do this with TOR coming out. But if I remember right they did turn the graphics down for release?
IMO what will happen if the player base drops below 100k,is that the game will operate with little support or GM activity and expect no further expansions or upgrades.
This game is far, far below 100k paying subs right now. Even using SOEs "liar, liar, pants on fire " math. The last time SOE released numbers, and I think it unofficial in a dev chat or interview, something, they included trial accts and anyone who had ever played SWG (but not necessarily playing then), and was still paying for a station pass. And people laughed in their face. And that was before everyone was given 2 toons per server per acct, instead of one.
Many of us played SWG when there were 250k-300k subs, and we know what that looked like. I know what the population looked like on the last vet trial and it was not even 10% of that. Half the servers are straight up dead, with 50 people or less. Of the other half, no more than 4 servers are very "populated" and those numbers are comparable to a light/med server in the old days.
There is no way to "prove" any of this besides anecdotal evidence, and SOE has never talked about subs since that time, as they would make themselves either look massively incompetent if they released the true numbers, or look like a bunch of lying bastages (and they already tried this once) by releasing puffed up numbers. Since there is no incentive to do so, they release nothing.
100k individual paaying players? SOE could only wish.....
Last census from MMO Charts reported SWG @ Under 30K and falling. And SWG will never recover, I'm sure LucasArts is going to push for ToR over SWG.
TwitchTV: iNeoki
No futire for this one. Unless they drop NGE crap somehow. Too bad, I love the lore and I just loved it in beta. It was promising.
No fate but what we make, so make me a ham sandwich please.
Are you suggesting a New Game Engine?
Sorry.... I couldn't resist ; )
Nope. I am suggesting that they take the current technology and improve upon it by bringing the way it renders graphics, adding physics, and lighting, to a current standard we see in game engine technology today. Problem is I doubt they will do this with TOR coming out. But if I remember right they did turn the graphics down for release?
I'm not sure if they reduced the graphics for release, but I know they reduced them in a patch after the game was live. On patch included a change in the terrain textures as an attempted fix for one of the many memory issues the engine had. The change was to a tile based terrain texture system. It didn't help the memory issues very much, but it made the game look much worse.
Even without TOR, an engine update wouldn't be on the table. There just aren't enough subscriber to justify the expense, and the game has a well deserved poor reputation that would severly limit any potential subscription growth from a new engine or engine overhaul.
The publisher of the game doesn't even feel printing and distributing a retail boxed version of the game would be worth the expense, primarily due to the poor sales of the last box, and the lack of any significan subscription increases from it. If they cannot justify printing CDs/DVDs and boxes for the game, they certianly aren't going to be able to justify the costs of building a new engine. That is even without taking into account that the current development team on the game are very unlikely to be capable of building a new engine.
Well for me and my friends that got so pissed off at Turbine for treating their player base almost as bad as $oe treated thier playerbase (pre-nge) we got a wow feeling when (one of us 5 year veteran) returned with all the nice sandbox and the legacy questline the space combat rocks, and as SWTOR won´t have that option i see none of us going to TOR i like it so far and i decided to sub and so did the rest of us, so half our guild went to SWG instead of any of the new fantasy or sci-fi crap that is out there.
So i hopåe the keep it going (making some updates metioned in this therad aswell) and there is alot of people online aswell, even on the most odd places like some mining outpost in the middle of nowhere there is people, we decided to go to Starsider as it was the server with the highest population but it´s SO MUCH nicer then DDO and Lotro it´s hard to describe it
Welcome back, Bennyblyfot!
As you have seen, SWG is doing rather well and growing all the time. There are no official or unofficial subscription numbers that we can use to gauge game population, any claims in this regards are mearly rumours.
The best thing to do if you want to see how well SWG is doing is log in and find out!
Course SWG is slowly dying and any mmorpg is because eventually people will get tired of it and move onto something new. The problem SWG has is it got ruined nearly 4 years ago and got a bad rep and new people don't want to join it. Where as a WoW will have much longer legs because Blizzard continue to improve it and add amazing content and market it for new players.
I'm not sure how longer SWG will go on for but unless LA wants it gone for ToR I can't see it going anywhere in the next 5 years. It'll just have the population of a Vanguard or something but aslong as it's making a tiny amount of profit then they'll continue to keep it open.
Just a shame SOE can't fix whats wrong with the game.
Honestly how can you compare Turbine well polished games with SWG?
A few points:
For the record JTL is a piss poor space sim. In fact it's one of the worst I ever played since X-Wing and I played them all. Wing commander is better and not to say X-Wing vs Tie Fighter nor Freelancer or Freespace.
I would be interested in knowing what Turbine did to deserve your rant.