Originally posted by bleed0range It's a game that has been largely neglected and mistreated of it's potential
You'd think this was the Sony motto or something.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity. I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
SWG during the early days is awesome. It makes roaming and living in a world meaningful, digital world.
It makes merchants meaningful, crafting meaningful. Even dancing and doctors are meaningful. Not just a tag along healer.
Everybody, every profession has its role.
The player houses, the occasional pvps ...
But we seems to have forgotten that it has it share of flaws, some serious flaws.
Now that is is gone, we tend to remember too fondly the sweet moments and forgot how frustrated some of the bugs and issues were.
Its gone, so be it. Nice to have some good memories from a game. It has served its role, let it rest.
I agree the game did have flaws back then before the CU, but I think that was the point SOE & LA missed. It only had flaws and really didn't need an overhaul like what happened. The game had the foundations of a truelly awesome experience that just needed some bug fixes, some tender loving care and then a clear and focused strategy on content releases. The CU & NGE simply were not necessary!!!
Yes SWG was losing subs at this time but you have to remember that this was when WOW was truelly hitting the scene. Everyone was pulling away to play WOW. Once the novelty of WOW had worn off and providing that they focused on bug fixes and polished new content I think SWG would be a soaring MMO even today.
Whatever the reasons SWG pre CU was the best game I have ever played and to this date no game has ever been able to replace that open world experience. It is truelly sad the game is closing.
SWG died for me the day of the NGE. I tried for 6 months after to accept the huge Nerf to the game. I left and only went back when they were offering free days of play. I know a lot of folks that the CU was there last day.
SWG need to be put down just like you would take a beloved animal to the vet for the last time. It has suffered many of an affront, neglect, and down right abuse by SOE.
It is time, folks just need to learn to let go.
Things that I missed was the space combat and the housing design. the sandbox long since left this game.
I thought it was a stupid move, it really should have atleast gone the F2P route. But I guess they just did not want to invest anymore money into the game to make that transition..
It's timing was a bit suspect as well *coughswtorcough*, almost as if it were bought out. Conspiracy aside lol, it seems that did not even want to try to compete or capitalize on the overall StarWars hype TOR has and will bring, and seeing as that will be strictly P2P it leaves the F2P side of star wars wide open..
Personally, if I had to choose between the two I would pick Galaxies. It just looked to offer me more and without the paint-by-numbers mmo scheme we see so much now and is very evident in TOR.
Now before someone spouts "you havn't played TOR so you don't know" out of their ass, I have never played either game, so that is a fairly non-bias statement.
SWG is just old and busted..time to pull the plug on the old fart if you ask me !
Even F2p would do no good..lets be honest here with SWTOR around the corner, and Sony being the greedy batards they are.
The F2p model would be outrageous for 2 reasons..1) they would suck all the money they can till swtor release so overpriced CS would be in under statement...2) Only the die hard fans of SWG would probably play it..no offense but there is just better F2p games.
So let it die if you ask me..along with every other Sony Online game. Only decent mmo they had was EQ , and thet ruined that.
I used to play SWG all the time. In fact, it was my first MMO experience and I have shed a few tears to know that it's all coming to an end. Now I'm looking for your opinion on the game.
Is SWG a suffering beast to be put out of its misery (in kinder words, is it time to move on), or is it still a fun and entertaining experience for Star Wars fans that deserves to last?
/snip
The only thing still "SWG" about "SWG" is the name. The gameplay itself bears no resemblence in any way, shape, or form of the game that I liked.
Except it does.
Really? Where would that be in meaningful terms?
Freeform character development via the Skillpoint / Template System. Gone. Replaced by the restrictive Class + Level System.
Crafter / Player Driven Economy. Gone. Replaced by a Loot / Quest item driven game; Nothing breaks anymore. Crafters, once a key factor in the player community and server affairs were cast aside.
Respectably sized, very tight knit player community where people socialize and regularly grouped together, and combat and non-combat players all had a role to play. Gone. All about loot and combat oriented characters now. Community utterly destroyed by the NGE in late '05. For years, old houses of many former players still haunted the servers long after them leaving, with a good number still having "colorful comments" about SOE and their departure from the game. Cantinas, Medical Centers, Spaceports, all empty. The bustling, night-club-like life of the cantinas with players and entertainers, gone. The major cities of Theed, Bestine, Mos Eisley, Coronet, empty of player life. The active hunting groups of Dathomir and Dantooine, gone.
Fluid, wonderful animations, especially in combat, gone; Replaced by the stick figure action animations of the NGE. Characters don't even aim up or down anymore. They just aim straight and level and blaster bolts fly out at high angles towards higher or lower targets.
Diversity and depth of combat enabled by the freedom of the Skillpoint / Template System. Gone, simplified, again greatly affected by the slimming down of the game with the Class + Level System.
So, other than graphics, the HEART of the game bears no resemblence to the original in anyway, shape, or form, whatsoever.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
SOE probably got more money from Lucas/Bioware to shut down SWG than they would have gotten trying to run it under a fremium model.
Of course their other option would have been to market strongly and get a bunch of people who accidentally chose this instead of bioware's new product when it comes out. It is kind of a good thing that SOE did NOT go this route(at least without reverting changes made in a certain patch that goes nameless).
Funny thing, I wanted to check out swg one last time so i sarted the install with my original box....seeing the install screen from the original made me sad. Showing all the classes and talking about starting your own saga....i just shut it down and didnt re up...i was filled with VET rage after having all the nastalgia then thinking of the nge i was about to play lol.
Am i sad to see it go from its current state - no
on the positive, vanguard is going to get some attention...or wait...thats prob a bad thing...vanguard is going to get a nge and only have 9 classes.
im gonna go play some Return of the Jedi on SNES to get my starwars fix lol
SOE probably got more money from Lucas/Bioware to shut down SWG than they would have gotten trying to run it under a fremium model.
.
Why on earth would either company PAY SOE to close down SWG? They wouldn't.
Lucas Arts sent SOE another multi year contract to sign, SOE was smart enough to decline. Neither party wanted it any longer and neither bothered to try to decrease the length of the license agreement. It was, as Smed said, "mutual". He admits he never tried to negotiate a shorter deal, Lucas Arts didn't offer one -hence, mutual.
So NO. Nobody gave SOE anything to close SWG. Bioware knows SWG sucks and they know it would have been crushed by SWTOR. The idea that people 'might' have gone to SWG in lieu of SWTOR because it has Star Wars in the name is just folly. The 4 or 5 morons that might have, don't need to be playing MMOs.
SWG was dead. That's the bottom line. Dead enough that neither Lucas Arts, nor SOE give a shit about it closing and both figure they're better off without it in 2012.
SOE probably got more money from Lucas/Bioware to shut down SWG than they would have gotten trying to run it under a fremium model.
.
Why on earth would either company PAY SOE to close down SWG? They wouldn't.
Lucas Arts sent SOE another multi year contract to sign, SOE was smart enough to decline. Neither party wanted it any longer and neither bothered to try to decrease the length of the license agreement. It was, as Smed said, "mutual". He admits he never tried to negotiate a shorter deal, Lucas Arts didn't offer one -hence, mutual.
So NO. Nobody gave SOE anything to close SWG. Bioware knows SWG sucks and they know it would have been crushed by SWTOR. The idea that people 'might' have gone to SWG in lieu of SWTOR because it has Star Wars in the name is just folly. The 4 or 5 morons that might have, don't need to be playing MMOs.
SWG was dead. That's the bottom line. Dead enough that neither Lucas Arts, nor SOE give a shit about it closing and both figure they're better off without it in 2012.
It gave both companies an 'out' SOE because they would finally be able to get some kind of closure without having to admit how badly they screwed the game up with the NGE, and LA because SWG's continuing existence was a lodestone that still had a large degree of bad feeling attached to it.. their probably both hoping that when the game is finally closed, that a lot of this hate for SOE and probably LA too will gradually fade away.. .. its possible they might be right..
We all knew it was going to happen, just not when. After C6CD-GU Whatever, when they tried to CHANGE the game yet again, to get the old vets back, everything except what the vets really wanted, and Deadmeat bailed, it was pretty much all over except for the date.
I had loads of fun on the server I inhabited, which I say that cause of the ingame housing and sheer hours played of my life hah. It is sad to see it go but it had to, just was a slow death that people saw coming just never wanted to admit outloud. There is but so much players can do to keep it going and just wasnt enough I suppose tor them to renew.
I do feel though as different as it may be, that SWG peeps should give SW:TOR a try before hands down being so upset. Its like me, for a LONG time, I had zero interest in the movie Willow, never saw it, didnt want to, then I did and loved the darn thing (( horrible example maybe but, I did it hehe)). I personally hope that the energy that players gave to SWG will be given in its step brother of SW:TOR.. then it can flourish with true fans and roleplayers alike.
I personally hope the RP'ers show up in droves, more so than the children who just want to kill, level fast and complain about nothing to do because they sped (is that spelled right?) through the game.
My SWG server was Chilastra, I played Dairen Syllendale with my "now" wife who played Kat Alexander. We hope to see all our old friends from Chilastra (and SWG!) in the new game that many have said will be their new "SWG", even though it truly isnt.
SWG will be missed, I know Ive enjoyed the game for far too long, regardless of the changes made Ive always found enjoyment in it.
The reason why isnt hard to gues, especially considering the active player base being much larger then people expect (thanks to that card game though). And I do comment SOE for keeping the game running and investing in it this long.
That said, personally I doubt TOR will be my game, but who knows. I do think people are too easy fooled and love to scapegoat.
Ive always found it amusing how people desided to pin blame based on a post stating "We support the changes made to the game" that itself should have been the hint, that responsibility is at the very least equally shared.
Hopefully Lucas(art) did learn from their mistakes in the past but for the time being I have my doubts.
SWG has fought long and hard, but it is time to put the game out of its misery.
The truth is Star Wars Galaxies was always a troubled game filled with poor management decisions and a very serious lack of quality. While the core concepts were superb, the social mechanics second to none and the community was outstanding, the game is self was an exercise in masochism. The community was always the true strength of the game and the only thing that really kept it alive.
If SWG were to launch in the modern mmo market in the condition it was in; at release, combat upgrade release or the original NGE release it would have closed down within 12 months. The game was never ever in any way remotely in any condition that was worthy of leaving beta and launching. It only managed to survive, because the mmo market had not matured to the point that games this lacking in quality are not blessed with years to try to fix things up.
There are a lot of great memories that are going to close down on Dec 15th, but truth be told SWG was always painful to watch as an mmo.
SWG is a shining MMORPG example of a "Missed Opportunity." She was shot in the face with bullets labelled "Piss-Poor Decision Making," "Lacking Fixes," and "Total Disregard of Customers."
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
SWG is a shining MMORPG example of a "Missed Opportunity." She was shot in the face with bullets labelled "Piss-Poor Decision Making," "Lacking Fixes," and "Total Disregard of Customers."
I'm okay with this, I'm okay with 75% of the MMO's with no populations shutting down and those players moving onto other adventures. With there being such a watered down market of MMO's where 90% have 20k or less yet are still maintained... it disrupts the playerbase of the more deserving... because people are in many cases ignorant... IE Katrina hitting New Orleans.. People refused to leave... "Category 5 coming?... I aint leaving" Sometimes you got to force them to move on or they'll die.
"Sometimes people say stuff they don''t mean, but more often then that they don''t say things they do mean"
Meh, sad to see it go but it's in a better place. It will suffer no longer.
I mean as others have said, the game was already dead it's just been waiting for someone to take it off of life support.
It's like this in my opinion. SWG was in the prime of it's life many years back, eager and ready to take the MMO world by storm. It Began winning the hearts of thousands and slowly people all over were talking about this young game named SWG. Then tragedy struck. He was struck by a truck named NGE. It's been an uphill battle ever since. Die hard fans were hopeful that the Doctors at SOE could put it back together, but all they managed to do was keep its heart beating.
People would get excited about small improvements, but it was never anything significant. In the end most accepted the fact that SGW would never be 100% though some still hung on. For those that hung on, honor SWG's memory by mourning an appropriate amount of time then moving on. It's in a better place, for at least it can no longer suffer.
Comments
We all expected it.
Just a ticking timebomb since the NGE.
Ive said my goodbyes to the REAL SWG years ago. It's only now just official.
Let's hope SOE learns from their mistakes and begins to listen to their customers to eventually make a good MMO again.
Until then, SOE is dead to me as a serious competitor in the genre.
You'd think this was the Sony motto or something.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
I agree the game did have flaws back then before the CU, but I think that was the point SOE & LA missed. It only had flaws and really didn't need an overhaul like what happened. The game had the foundations of a truelly awesome experience that just needed some bug fixes, some tender loving care and then a clear and focused strategy on content releases. The CU & NGE simply were not necessary!!!
Yes SWG was losing subs at this time but you have to remember that this was when WOW was truelly hitting the scene. Everyone was pulling away to play WOW. Once the novelty of WOW had worn off and providing that they focused on bug fixes and polished new content I think SWG would be a soaring MMO even today.
Whatever the reasons SWG pre CU was the best game I have ever played and to this date no game has ever been able to replace that open world experience. It is truelly sad the game is closing.
SWG died for me the day of the NGE. I tried for 6 months after to accept the huge Nerf to the game. I left and only went back when they were offering free days of play. I know a lot of folks that the CU was there last day.
SWG need to be put down just like you would take a beloved animal to the vet for the last time. It has suffered many of an affront, neglect, and down right abuse by SOE.
It is time, folks just need to learn to let go.
Things that I missed was the space combat and the housing design. the sandbox long since left this game.
I thought it was a stupid move, it really should have atleast gone the F2P route. But I guess they just did not want to invest anymore money into the game to make that transition..
It's timing was a bit suspect as well *coughswtorcough*, almost as if it were bought out. Conspiracy aside lol, it seems that did not even want to try to compete or capitalize on the overall StarWars hype TOR has and will bring, and seeing as that will be strictly P2P it leaves the F2P side of star wars wide open..
Personally, if I had to choose between the two I would pick Galaxies. It just looked to offer me more and without the paint-by-numbers mmo scheme we see so much now and is very evident in TOR.
Now before someone spouts "you havn't played TOR so you don't know" out of their ass, I have never played either game, so that is a fairly non-bias statement.
While it is sad to see an MMO (regardless of genre/type/company) get shut down, sometimes it is 'just business'.
I have to credit Sony for running it as long as they did though.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
-Fixed
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Even after the NGE, it was a reasonable choice for people who wanted to play a different kind of MMO. I hope we don't run out of those.
They had it coming!!!
since the NGE i might add.
SWG is just old and busted..time to pull the plug on the old fart if you ask me !
Even F2p would do no good..lets be honest here with SWTOR around the corner, and Sony being the greedy batards they are.
The F2p model would be outrageous for 2 reasons..1) they would suck all the money they can till swtor release so overpriced CS would be in under statement...2) Only the die hard fans of SWG would probably play it..no offense but there is just better F2p games.
So let it die if you ask me..along with every other Sony Online game. Only decent mmo they had was EQ , and thet ruined that.
Really? Where would that be in meaningful terms?
Freeform character development via the Skillpoint / Template System. Gone. Replaced by the restrictive Class + Level System.
Crafter / Player Driven Economy. Gone. Replaced by a Loot / Quest item driven game; Nothing breaks anymore. Crafters, once a key factor in the player community and server affairs were cast aside.
Respectably sized, very tight knit player community where people socialize and regularly grouped together, and combat and non-combat players all had a role to play. Gone. All about loot and combat oriented characters now. Community utterly destroyed by the NGE in late '05. For years, old houses of many former players still haunted the servers long after them leaving, with a good number still having "colorful comments" about SOE and their departure from the game. Cantinas, Medical Centers, Spaceports, all empty. The bustling, night-club-like life of the cantinas with players and entertainers, gone. The major cities of Theed, Bestine, Mos Eisley, Coronet, empty of player life. The active hunting groups of Dathomir and Dantooine, gone.
Fluid, wonderful animations, especially in combat, gone; Replaced by the stick figure action animations of the NGE. Characters don't even aim up or down anymore. They just aim straight and level and blaster bolts fly out at high angles towards higher or lower targets.
Diversity and depth of combat enabled by the freedom of the Skillpoint / Template System. Gone, simplified, again greatly affected by the slimming down of the game with the Class + Level System.
So, other than graphics, the HEART of the game bears no resemblence to the original in anyway, shape, or form, whatsoever.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
SOE probably got more money from Lucas/Bioware to shut down SWG than they would have gotten trying to run it under a fremium model.
Of course their other option would have been to market strongly and get a bunch of people who accidentally chose this instead of bioware's new product when it comes out. It is kind of a good thing that SOE did NOT go this route(at least without reverting changes made in a certain patch that goes nameless).
Funny thing, I wanted to check out swg one last time so i sarted the install with my original box....seeing the install screen from the original made me sad. Showing all the classes and talking about starting your own saga....i just shut it down and didnt re up...i was filled with VET rage after having all the nastalgia then thinking of the nge i was about to play lol.
Am i sad to see it go from its current state - no
on the positive, vanguard is going to get some attention...or wait...thats prob a bad thing...vanguard is going to get a nge and only have 9 classes.
im gonna go play some Return of the Jedi on SNES to get my starwars fix lol
Why on earth would either company PAY SOE to close down SWG? They wouldn't.
Lucas Arts sent SOE another multi year contract to sign, SOE was smart enough to decline. Neither party wanted it any longer and neither bothered to try to decrease the length of the license agreement. It was, as Smed said, "mutual". He admits he never tried to negotiate a shorter deal, Lucas Arts didn't offer one -hence, mutual.
So NO. Nobody gave SOE anything to close SWG. Bioware knows SWG sucks and they know it would have been crushed by SWTOR. The idea that people 'might' have gone to SWG in lieu of SWTOR because it has Star Wars in the name is just folly. The 4 or 5 morons that might have, don't need to be playing MMOs.
SWG was dead. That's the bottom line. Dead enough that neither Lucas Arts, nor SOE give a shit about it closing and both figure they're better off without it in 2012.
It gave both companies an 'out' SOE because they would finally be able to get some kind of closure without having to admit how badly they screwed the game up with the NGE, and LA because SWG's continuing existence was a lodestone that still had a large degree of bad feeling attached to it.. their probably both hoping that when the game is finally closed, that a lot of this hate for SOE and probably LA too will gradually fade away.. .. its possible they might be right..
We all knew it was going to happen, just not when. After C6CD-GU Whatever, when they tried to CHANGE the game yet again, to get the old vets back, everything except what the vets really wanted, and Deadmeat bailed, it was pretty much all over except for the date.
Only difference now, is we all have the date.
Money.
I had loads of fun on the server I inhabited, which I say that cause of the ingame housing and sheer hours played of my life hah. It is sad to see it go but it had to, just was a slow death that people saw coming just never wanted to admit outloud. There is but so much players can do to keep it going and just wasnt enough I suppose tor them to renew.
I do feel though as different as it may be, that SWG peeps should give SW:TOR a try before hands down being so upset. Its like me, for a LONG time, I had zero interest in the movie Willow, never saw it, didnt want to, then I did and loved the darn thing (( horrible example maybe but, I did it hehe)). I personally hope that the energy that players gave to SWG will be given in its step brother of SW:TOR.. then it can flourish with true fans and roleplayers alike.
I personally hope the RP'ers show up in droves, more so than the children who just want to kill, level fast and complain about nothing to do because they sped (is that spelled right?) through the game.
My SWG server was Chilastra, I played Dairen Syllendale with my "now" wife who played Kat Alexander. We hope to see all our old friends from Chilastra (and SWG!) in the new game that many have said will be their new "SWG", even though it truly isnt.
SWG will be missed, I know Ive enjoyed the game for far too long, regardless of the changes made Ive always found enjoyment in it.
The reason why isnt hard to gues, especially considering the active player base being much larger then people expect (thanks to that card game though). And I do comment SOE for keeping the game running and investing in it this long.
That said, personally I doubt TOR will be my game, but who knows. I do think people are too easy fooled and love to scapegoat.
Ive always found it amusing how people desided to pin blame based on a post stating "We support the changes made to the game" that itself should have been the hint, that responsibility is at the very least equally shared.
Hopefully Lucas(art) did learn from their mistakes in the past but for the time being I have my doubts.
SWG has fought long and hard, but it is time to put the game out of its misery.
The truth is Star Wars Galaxies was always a troubled game filled with poor management decisions and a very serious lack of quality. While the core concepts were superb, the social mechanics second to none and the community was outstanding, the game is self was an exercise in masochism. The community was always the true strength of the game and the only thing that really kept it alive.
If SWG were to launch in the modern mmo market in the condition it was in; at release, combat upgrade release or the original NGE release it would have closed down within 12 months. The game was never ever in any way remotely in any condition that was worthy of leaving beta and launching. It only managed to survive, because the mmo market had not matured to the point that games this lacking in quality are not blessed with years to try to fix things up.
There are a lot of great memories that are going to close down on Dec 15th, but truth be told SWG was always painful to watch as an mmo.
SWG is a shining MMORPG example of a "Missed Opportunity." She was shot in the face with bullets labelled "Piss-Poor Decision Making," "Lacking Fixes," and "Total Disregard of Customers."
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Lol. QFE.
I'm okay with this, I'm okay with 75% of the MMO's with no populations shutting down and those players moving onto other adventures. With there being such a watered down market of MMO's where 90% have 20k or less yet are still maintained... it disrupts the playerbase of the more deserving... because people are in many cases ignorant... IE Katrina hitting New Orleans.. People refused to leave... "Category 5 coming?... I aint leaving" Sometimes you got to force them to move on or they'll die.
"Sometimes people say stuff they don''t mean, but more often then that they don''t say things they do mean"
Meh, sad to see it go but it's in a better place. It will suffer no longer.
I mean as others have said, the game was already dead it's just been waiting for someone to take it off of life support.
It's like this in my opinion. SWG was in the prime of it's life many years back, eager and ready to take the MMO world by storm. It Began winning the hearts of thousands and slowly people all over were talking about this young game named SWG. Then tragedy struck. He was struck by a truck named NGE. It's been an uphill battle ever since. Die hard fans were hopeful that the Doctors at SOE could put it back together, but all they managed to do was keep its heart beating.
People would get excited about small improvements, but it was never anything significant. In the end most accepted the fact that SGW would never be 100% though some still hung on. For those that hung on, honor SWG's memory by mourning an appropriate amount of time then moving on. It's in a better place, for at least it can no longer suffer.