You honestly think SWG is going "as well as it can"?
You have very, very low expectations. You guys can't even get this remastery pilot bug squashed (after supposedly fixing it several times), proving that someone somewhere just doesn't understand the code they are working on.
And it's going "as well as it can"? That's just...the craziest thing I've ever heard, bar none.
I really hope LucasArts finds a company worthy of the Star Wars name, one that has higher standards that have been demonstrated on the last 3+ years of development, and these absolutely stunning statements by Smed today.
First I've seen of that.. but the truth is we were in the beginning stages of a new expansion.. we did the focus groups.. you guys clearly said "fix the game before you talk to us about an expansion" we listened and pulled everyone off that expansion. Is that direct enough?
Smed
Nice and direct... keep it up Smed.
However does this mean that vets wont be gettign new content in the near future?
Ka-Shem
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Setos-Ka: Vendor -Spoils of War-, Dark City, Corellia, 5061 -738
Exactly how do you want me to answer this? This is exactly what I'm talking about... I can't respond to something like this with an answer that you're going to be happy with. Ask me a question that I can answer and I'll give it a shot.
Smed
I have a question....
Do you have any plans to turn maintance back on to get rid of all the abandoned structures from players who quit long ago.
we've had a plan to completely get rid of most of the structures in the game from players that aren't around any more. It's in limbo because it's time-consuming and needs to be done just right (imagine the riots if we deleted active players's structures by accident). The team just has other stuff they are concentrating on atm.
Smed
Thats why you pack them in the characters inventory!
That would mean rewriting the whle house packup code.
As it works currently, your house still occupies the lot it was pulled up from, all the way and time till you set it down.
Can you imagine what happends if they do a purge, and all houses goes to datapad? We still wouldnt be able to build new cities or replenish old cities.
RK-31 In memory of Stormtrooper Detachment Epsilon We will not become a shadow of our former self When the Star Wars world ends, my reason for being here ends. Thank you Helios_SOE for making that clear to meAll Access Pass Status: 4'th of July cancelation
will we ever see a lock on target system agen? Will we ever get a skill sytem simmular, or like the one we had before? And do you think this gaem feel like Star Wars?
1) No target lock is planned or being discussed. 2) There will be additional skills for each profession, but not like the system before. I realize this is contriversial but there it is.
Smed
man this game is never going to get better.
why can't you do these things?
Message Edited by RKO on 03-24-200609:26 AM
Why can't we do these things?
1) Target lock - Believe it or not we talked long and hard about this one. If you seriously sit down and think about the nature of the NGE style of combat, it means that people need to be able to use actual skill to hit. If you take that away you need to go back to the more turn based system we had before. It just plain wouldn't work. Now you can make a legitimate argument that we shouldn't use this style of combat. I have no defense against that argument because nearly every other MMO out there uses that style of combat and clearly it works. What we are trying to do here is create a new style of gameplay. Does it work? Well.. for some people it does, and for others it doesn't. That's the truth. For myself, I prefer it to the old combat system which I personally found dull. But that's just my personal opinion. The reality is we've changed to the new system and we're moving forward. It isn't that we can't add target locking.. it's that wer'e not going to because there isn't a way to do it that wouldn't reduce the skill level needed.
2) The more rigid profession system we've switched to just doesn't lend itself to a skill system that's like what we had before.
the problem here is people DO suggest good ideas and they go unacknowledged. So many problems could be fixed by simply listening to the community. I like the polls you have been doing but some of the 'fixes' are just knee-jerk responses and they don't address the true issues at hand.
There seems to be a lot of "tough luck" or "not my problem" types of responses that people get to legitimate problems from the CSRs and I think that's a huge issue. Example, the color pallette on mandolorian armor is messed up because the DE pallette is NOT the same as the armorsmith and tailor color pallettes. This is a HUGE problem for anyone making that type of armor because they simply cannot color it the way they want. Simple solution in the past was that a CSR would recolor it if requested because this was a known issue and if you had a full suit done. Now, we get a tough luck response from them. It's frustrating. Why not just add an armor recolor tool to the game and until then let CSRs recolor the armor! Where is the harm???
Yes the game needs fun, the game needs content, but the game needs to return to the roots of GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE. Cooperation is a two way street and we want to work together. But the tough luck and not our problem responses don't go a long way to foster a good relationship.
Hyjaax B L A C K S U N Weapons, Armor, Clothing, Starships, Droids, Food & Resources Cabo San Lobos, Naboo, 1957, 6076
Distiler wrote: "I'm going to call you out on this - I'm going to say you are flat out incorrect on this. Our communication has been terrific. I can't say you neccessarily like what we've been saying, but I think our community people and our devs have been much more active than before. I never liked that system of correspondents before (they did a great job..don't get me wrong) but I prefer direct communication.
Smed"
Who is giving you the reports about how is community going ? cause it's really lying to you. Salute.
The truth is the community morale won't improve until the game does. Communication can't fix this. Improvements to the game can. The fact is our communication has improved.. people don't neccessarily like the message is all. I get that. So do our community folks. My preference is that all the posts in the gameplay forum are discussing gameplay balance.. and in-game issues.. but they won't until we get the game to a baseline fun level. We're not there yet. We know that. We're working to fix it. There is no other answer.
Smed
Now heres where i think your wrong, Before the NGE this game(bugs included) did have a 'baseline fun level' and you took it away and now your working on getting it back. that makes no sense what so ever
First, How can u take something out of the game in Nov. then come back with it 3 to 5 months later and claim your fixing this game and adding new content. Loot, Bountys, Weapons, Armor etc all taken away in Nov. but now making a comeback with all the publishes. Is the game fun now, to point now cause I'm doing stuff that I was doing before NGE, U talk about bringing back bases thats great and all but they better not serve the same as they did pre-nge, u do that I'm done, I want improvements not lets just put back stuff that We thought noone liked but we where wrong. Just my thoughts
first of all let me say that the communication from you has been great. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions. I realize that not everyone is going to like what they hear, but I'd rather hear it in advance than have it sprung on me at the last minute. Now with my question.
I have 2 level 90 toons and a Shipwright. Right now there isn't very much for me to do. I've basically done all there is to do in the game PVE-wise. What kind of things do you plan to add for the vets that are lvl 90?
Can we expect to see new dungeons added to the game without having to buy an expansion? I really like the fact that with every publish more quests get added (the legacy series). And please don't think that increasing the difficulty of the old dungeons will be a fix, it will be a good start, but won't change anything for people like me since we've already spent the last 2 months in the dwb.
honestly if people could tone down the rhetoric and amp up the questions like this that I think are easy to answer I would post all the time. There are only so many hours in the day.. it's hard to sit and answer "Gee Smed, you suck.... this game sucks.. SOE sucks.. how are you going to fix it?"... as much as I do enjoy those extremely fun questions.
Smed
Smed, you and your company broke the game. You are going to have to suck up the results of it until the frustration of the player base is exhausted. The only way to do that is to deal with the "rhetoric" and acknowlege it. Stonewalling and not posting is not helping your cause.
Look at how well people have already responded to you in this thread alone. You are losing players at a high rate, you might want to think about taking your verbal beatings and get it over with.
Smed, are you currently considering a system like Battle Fatigue again?
Honestly out of all the little things, it was one system that gave people (even forced them) a reason to visit cantinas and entertainers. It gave the entertainers a role. Sure, it possibly helped AFK'tainers, but I think the good out-weighed the bad in that particular case.
One thing that you may well be seeing in the game presently, is the lack of interdependancy. I notice at the moment that I am presently all but useless to groups as a commando. Sure I can lay down withering AOE damage, but as soon as I do, I get jumped on and killed. Unfortunately the NGE has helped lead players down a path where they no longer need anyone else and have no inclination to adopt group tactics. The 'MM' part of this game is something I'd like to see return.
Cheers.
Errathe Afi Professional Scoundreless Smuggler till death
"I aim to misbehave!" "Business is always personal..." "I'm a smuggler; sarcasm is the only content I got left!"
Smed wrote: There is absolutely no truth to these rumors.
Why did I respond on FOH and not here? I just happened to see that thread last night... simple as that. At some point I can only deny nonsensical rumors on so many websites before it just plain becomes frustrating to me. It's the old "when did you stop kicking your puppy" trap..
I've also asked the Lucasarts folks to comment on this which you should see today some time (not sure when or where exactly).
I also want to say - I'm happy to discuss things that need to be done to make SWG better. What I will not do is respond to "go back to pre-NGE" threads or "please make 1 pre-nge server" threads. I've commented on those before.
Smed
Smed,
Please post your top 5 concerns from the player base.
Thunderhart has posted his, we would like to see if you understand what the main problems are in this game.
ok. Here are my top 5. Keep in mind, this doesn't mean this is the order things are being done.. just my personal ones and what I see being big issues with the community.
1. Crafting - I know crafters are pissed.. we're working on a system that I hope will be a good balance between the crafting centric system we had before and the loot drop system we have now. The truth is this needs to be balanced.
2. New quests for the mid-levels - there's not enough of them now. The team is cranking on it.
3. PvP - Not nearly enough of it - I don't like what we've done to faction bases. Personally I think this is a big part of what this game needs to be about. Then again, I'm personally a PvPer so that's a big deal to me.
4. Entertainers - I realize a lot of people don't like the idea of entertainers being in combat. To a lot of people this IS why they went into entertaining in the first place. I like where we're going with it and want to make sure it's balanced properly.
5. Higher end content - There's a lack of really interesting high-end content in the game. A lot of the vets have maxed out and we need to make sure there's still enough to do.
Smed
I feel this top 5 list is pretty good and covers many areas of concern. If we can make some headway on these I think many (but not all) people will be happy.
Smitemo Oicet Guild Leader of the Galactic Trade Federation Drewpy ...has mastered the Pilot profession Please drop any auction winnings -2173 -6239 in Helios on Tat
I have an idea. Once a week you (you personally as well as the other red names) have a Question The Devs thread. It would be a one-hour time period where the developers would actively monitor one single thread and answer directly as many questions as possible posted by players to that thread. It would be direct communication, easy to monitor, easy to get the players involved and easy to implement.
Just my $0.02.
Thanks for stopping by the forums today. I could use a break from all the negative posting I see these days.
May the Force be with you.
Pug Bounty Hunter Vendor in Valley of Shadows, Talus /way -4307 2627
First I've seen of that.. but the truth is we were in the beginning stages of a new expansion.. we did the focus groups.. you guys clearly said "fix the game before you talk to us about an expansion" we listened and pulled everyone off that expansion. Is that direct enough?
If your not working on any expansions why is publish 28 taking so long with no word on when it will be in TC? You may have made staff cuts and all but come on!! I dont belive the comunication has got any better at all (not worse but not better). I tell ya if publish 28 dont fix alot of things and be very impressive we will see even more people leave cos they aint waiting another 6 months for things to change!! I can sence great fear in you!
"SWG was a world, now it's just a game" -adamrk- Goodbye, SWG. I log in every day, hoping it was all a bad dream.
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