Will you ever make if so that we can respec without using kits/destroying toons...?
Respec NPCs are going with pub 28. This needs MAJOR Clarification
NPCs will be stationed in some cities that allow you to change your profession for a price. As a gift for publish 28 everyone gets one respec from the NPCs for free. The NPCs work essentially the same as the respec devices.
Please define "price"
You mean Credits or exp?
An wbout how much of it?
Starts 100k credits and goes up to 25 million i think.
\
THATS WAY TO MUCH!
Try 1mil, if not, I wont be respecing.
00000000000000000000 Andross Xavier 00000000000000000000Rebel Jedi 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 'Motoko Kusanagi 00000000000000000000 Master Munitions 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000Talca-Ra Inasto 00000000000000000000RETIRED 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 NTHR - SWG Division President 00000000000000000000 "Got himself a serious case of megalomania, huh?"
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
Just wanted to say Smed I think you (and the entire Dev team) are doing a great job - both with communication and improving the game. This game was far more enjoyable (and more of a community) for me pre-NGE and I came very close to cancelling my accounts in November. But I've stuck with it and I think you guys are listening to the player-base and putting forth great effort to improve the game. Sadly, some people have nothing better to do but whine and complain (the same people who are currently complaining about Quest based XP were most likely complaining pre-NGE that all they did was grind bols out of the MO) - you'll never be able to please everyone, but I think having things like polls before you enact major changes is an excellent way to show the players you are listening. Keep up the great work guys and Long Live the Emperor.
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'm glad you consider us poor forgotten crafters a high priority, but given the push out to Pub 32 (or later) and the fact that SOE can't seem to pop out a publish every month it's gonna be January '07 before you guys get around to it.
It's become a case of too little too late. Most of the crafters have left the game. The majority of crafters you are seeing now, are alts for combat players that want vendors.
I've seen consistently since the NGE that everyone want's the game to be more "starwarsy" which is a crappy word. You guys have repeatedly told us that we want to play as Luke Skywalker or Han Solo, and that we don't want to create our own tales. This is a fallacy, we want to have our own adventures, if we wanted to play specifically as Luke Skywalker we would have bought a game that allowed us to do so. We play this game because we want to play in the Star Wars Universe, along side such epic characters.
You've taken a respectable profession (Jedi, even though many people disliked those that played it), a profession that had to be earned, and given it to everyone. Now there are more Jedi in game than most other classes combined. You've taken all the complexity out of the game and made it into something where the group that squeals the loudest gets the goodies.
By the time you get around to balancing the crafter / loot system, it'll be far too late, no one will care. The only crafting class that is viable and worth pursuing right now is architect/shipwright, seeing as it's the only class that has worthwhile experimentation (shipwright). The two biggest and most acclaimed crafting classes (armorsmithing / weaponsmithing) have been reduced to no experimentation (only resources matter) and the only reason people buy our wares is to fill in missing pieces of looted armor or to buy a commando weapon. A lot of players think this is great for the game, the fact that we can no longer charge them vast sums of money. They are full of it as far as I'm concerned. It was always a supply and demand economy, they set the prices and if they didn't want it, they didn't have to buy it.
So what the heck are you guys gonna do in 10 months when you go to fix the crafting system, and no one is there to craft anymore? What can you possibly tell me and the other crafters now, that will convince us to pay you $150 while I wait for this fix to our problems????
Ok, I'm finished rambling, go ahead and bury my post now.
Can you plz define what a hardcore player is and why you think they are bad for SWG?
Thx, Ms. Miller
A hardcore player - hmm. Ok. I would define it this way - The first 300k people that bought SWG were probably hardcore players. They are people that tend to buy more than one game a year. They are typically people that have tried other MMOs.
And in no way do I think they are bad for SWG. I don't believe a game can ultimately last 7-8 years by only appealing to people like us (yes, I am one of them). My son is 11 years old. He plays MMOs with me. He's hardcore too. He knows about every new game that's coming out. His friends.. they are all playing a game called RuneScape that I'll bet most of the people on these boards have never even heard of. It's at www.runescape.com - I urge you to go check it out. It's got a playerbase as large as WoW's... but you've never heard of it because they don't advertise. The only way kids hear about it is from their friends.. but half the kids in my son's class are playing it.
Hope that helps
Smed
If that was the case then wouldt it make SWG #5 not #4 ?
Please note I said Playerbase. That's not the same as a subscriber base... although now that you mention it, I have to retract my previous statement and say #5. They have around 350k paying from what I've heard, although it's only $4.99 a month.
Nim_Cross wrote: Mr. Smedley and SOE Devs... First, I would like to say that I really do appreciate you guys taking the time out of your day to answer our questions. I'm sure everyone else does to. I've been a member of the SWG community well before launch, and have been a subscriber since launch. I hope this is a change in the right direction for the sub-par customer support we've had thus far. I was curious if you guys would answer some questions that I've asked before, but have never gotten any replies on. If you take the time to read and reply, I thank you ahead of time.
>Animations - Right now, the game is in poor shape. I can understand this to a degree, since you guys just pushed a major game mechanics overhaul. The major thing I have an issue with is the game animations. I've heard that there are new animations being planned for the game, but other than the announcement of "new animations", I've never heard anything beyond that. Right now, attacking animations for any melee weapon is just a joke. I'm poking beasts and other players to death with a lance or lightsaber. Jumping is just an emote at the moment... a rather low quality one at that. My question is, are there new animations being planned for release? If so, when can we expect to see them? Will new animations, such as one for jump, help us interact with the world
>In Game Community - This is my major beef with the game at the moment. There is no sense of community in the game. This is due to a few things, but I think the major contributor to the lack of community is the low server population. I can spend a few hours on Starsider (my server) and not see more than 30 or so people. 15 of those people are in the Mos Eisley cantina, which has sort of turned into the RP center of my server. I'm trying not to tell you what to do, but I think that there really needs to be a condensing of servers. At any given time, I'd guess that there's somewhere from 200 to 500 people on the top 5 servers, like Bria and Ahazi. On other servers, which are less popular, there seems to be around 150 to 300 people. I remember a year back there was 100 people in Theed or Coronet alone. Now there's no more than a handfull of people at any given time. I think that you guys should seriously ponder limiting the amount of servers you have. You have a smaller player base than you did before, and the players are spread thinly across 25 or so servers. If you cut the servers down to about 15, we'll see larger populations on servers, giving the feeling of population and community back into the game. I don't know how you could go about this without pissing off players, since their player cities would be lost and so on, but I think for the time being, this would be a good idea. When/if a large amount of players start to flow into the game again, then more servers could be opened up, but at the moment, the players are spread too thin across the servers.
Animations - We will be doing some significant work on our animation system in the upcoming months. The collision system we are working on will allow us to get jumping into the game.
Nooooo please don't put jumping into the game. I will feel as though I am playing a platform game
There's a lot of discussion going on and I wanted to jump-in at a more basic level to address the themes I see repeated again and again on this thread:
'Star Warsy' Game: I think this is the principle issue driving all of the furor surrounding SWG. I'll be honest, SWG wasn't launched as a Star Wars game first and foremost. Instead, other priorities such as crafting, vast world space, non-SW activities (e.g. Entertaining) and player-created activities were pushed ahead of the essential SW adventure. The people who wanted an online SW adventure tried it out and left. The people who liked the sandbox nature and deep crafting game stayed. But the general direction of JtL, CU, and the NGE were aimed at adventure. Why? Because we wanted to shift the game to first and foremost be about SW adventure.
The question then becomes why, if you the community wanted a different game, did we go in this direction? To put it simply, we wanted to appeal to a broader SW audience. We wanted to play up the elements most people identify with from Star Wars. In some cases, this meant modifying or eliminating parts of the game that the existing community wanted. But, at the end of the day, we believe we can reach a balance between crafters and adventurers, between combat and non-combat professions, between those who want to live in a simulated world and those who want to live an online SW adventure. And that's why we're continuing to pursue the 'Star Warsy' direction we've established.
Rollback: People are asking for it. But, we aren't seriously considering it. Why? Well, nostalgia tends to color your view of the past. SWG has advanced in a lot of ways a rollback is an all-or-nothing return to what was before. The strides we've made forward would be eliminated (e.g. the quest system). The expansions and additions we've built would be affected. To put it simply, going forward, fixing the game, building on what we've established and refining the direction at hand is the best way to improve your day-to-day experience in the game.
The Future: With a diverse audience come diverse demands. As developers with limited time and resources, we need to choose what we want to focus on. And, to be blunt, SWG's has done a lot of things poorly in the past. There has been a lot of diversity, but very few of the options met the gameplay and quality expectations players expect. In fact, the posting history so regularly brought up by members of this forum (hello, Smugglers) shows just how diverse the ideas have been surrounding this game. And, to be honest, we can't meet all of those expectations.
We are, however, staying true to the focus on the game we established. We've carved out a scope and direction that we can support and build. We've identified a core set of professions that we can grow and differentiate. We're building the groundwork to deliver a more compelling GCW experience. We're looking at solid solutions for crafting as a part of the future of the game. And, yes, we're putting a Smuggling system into the game.
To put it simply, we're going to keep pushing to refine and expand SWG first and foremost as a SW adventure. We're going to differentiate professions, add adventure content, revamp crafting to be a core part of the fundamental adventure economy, tie-in alternate activities like Entertaining, and work each day to improve the moment-to-moment experience of every player through continued bug fixes and quality improvements. We're not there yet, but as Publish 27 showed (and Publish 28 will continue to prove), we're on our way.
KO
You believe Entertaining is a non-sw activity?
Why could the quest system you are so proud of not be attached to the pre-cu or cu version of the game? If I recall correctly, we did actually have quests before the nge smacked us.
Lastly, after more than 2.5 years of hearing about smuggler revamps and "we're putting a Smuggling system into the game", why should we believe you now?
150)?150:this.scrollHeight)">
(((Oishii Sou'Na))) - Scylla, Silver Bay, Naboo, SS Ace
(((LAkers Pwn))) - Tempest, CorSec Master Pilot
Furnishings, city items, art, p-ups, best repair tools & more!
Lakers Pro Shop & City Tent, S. Coronet, -410/-5480Interior Visions, S. Theed, -5275/3355
(((Goki Buri))) - Chilastra, South Coronet, Havoc 2/2/1/1
Yes. The Entertainer in the movie got eaten.
Note that we're also revamping those features that players find fun but that may not clearly be iconic SW activities. In Publish 28, we start to adapt Entertainers.
KO
Message Edited by ChrisCao on 03-24-200602:33 PM
Basically your saying, sorry entertainers your just food.
No, I'm saying that they aren't one of the heroic roles from the movie. There were a lot of other entainters in the movies, but, again, they were not the focus of the films. We want to, first and foremost, deliver on the SW fantasy.
I'm not going to get into the argument of what is and what isn't a SW game. I will, however, state for the record that there are some elements that more clearly fit into the SW universe than others. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that there are some elements that are objectively more SW than others.
We're going to put the stuff that's clearly SW in first. We're going to modify or retrofit the best of what was fun but not completely SW in second. We're going to remove or eliminate those things that clearly aren't SW.
And, we're going to do it all at a pace that ensures quality and fun.
KO
I understand this may be a tough time/day for you, but if you don't want to "argue" or discuss comments you make here, why even make them?
To me, Entertainer is an absolutely valid SW profession and one that this game sorely needs to have fixed before the final transformation of this once great MMORPG turns completely into the fragfest, no community game it more and more resembles.
(((Oishii Sou'Na))) - Scylla, Silver Bay, Naboo, SS Ace
(((LAkers Pwn))) - Tempest, CorSec Master Pilot
Furnishings, city items, art, p-ups, best repair tools & more!
Lakers Pro Shop & City Tent, S. Coronet, -410/-5480Interior Visions, S. Theed, -5275/3355
(((Goki Buri))) - Chilastra, South Coronet, Havoc 2/2/1/1
Any word on when the Entertainer and Trader quest starters in our inventory will be working? We've been waiting since NGE launch for those little suckers to work.
Thank you!
We're looking to get all of the unfinished profession quests completed. That will be part of our ongoing effort with the content path, though some of it might also be handled by Eli's team. I expect we'll target professions as Kai's team is enchancing them so that we'll follow his team's efforts with content.
Will you ever make if so that we can respec without using kits/destroying toons...?
Respec NPCs are going with pub 28. This needs MAJOR Clarification
NPCs will be stationed in some cities that allow you to change your profession for a price. As a gift for publish 28 everyone gets one respec from the NPCs for free. The NPCs work essentially the same as the respec devices.
Please define "price"
You mean Credits or exp?
An wbout how much of it?
Starts 100k credits and goes up to 25 million i think.
\
THATS WAY TO MUCH!
Try 1mil, if not, I wont be respecing.
Thats the idea.
N F B I N Imperial Jedi BENGABOY - [ BLOODFIN / ACTIVE ] Imperial WS LERAZE'DE-MORT - [ BLOODFIN / ACTIVE ] Tauren Druid BENGAMOO [ MAGTHERIDON / ACTIVE ]
Undead Warrior BENGAY [ MAGTHERIDON / ACTIVE ] "Why prefer the glow of a lightsaber when a
in the old days i knew what rifle a new player needed, and what rifle an advanced player needed. I could stock both.
Now we have CL 88 CDEF rifles.
We don't have any way to construct level specific weapons.
You're right. The current loot game within SWG is in direct opposition to the trader profession. That's why we're changing what traders are and how they operate so that they operate in congruence and harmony with the current loot game. While no concrete plans have been made, I suspect schematics, mass harvesting, factory crafting and similar aspects of the current trading game to be adapted to something more suitable.
I've got a bad feeling about this Looks like the end of Crafting as we iknow it
Your just now seeing the writing on the wall? Come on, they are gonna do to us like they did the CH and BE. Everything will be bought from an NPC or looted. The devs dont have any originality, look at the mess we are stuck with atm!!
-Ackire-
THE Retired
dMaster Armorsmithd Located on the wonderful Planet of Naboo Now located at -3256 3748, outside of Theed
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
Wow. An offical representative saying the game is hurting. This does give me hope. Not much. But some. We have seen in the past that what is said may not come to pass. Be aware Smed, the community will hold you to the above statement.
The SWG community has been voting with it's feet since the NGE came about. Either we end up being right about our ability to turn the ship around and make a game that's BETTER than it was before, or we were wrong and we fail. Either way we were losing subs before the NGE and believe it or not, we are losing them at a slower rate than before. I'm not going to pretend we didn't lose a bunch of subs from this. We did. And I don't think the game is where it needs to be yet to aquire new subs. But it's getting there with each and every publish.
At the end of the day there are a lot of people in this community that wonder why we did this? Why did we "deliberately" try and piss people off. Obviously that wasn't our intent. This is a business and we needed to improve the results of the business. Did we make a mistake? Maybe.. but only time is going to tell on that one. One thing is certain. We made a mistake with how we presented it to the community, and for that I'm sorry. I still think it was a needed thing though. It's not as simple as "you should have just fixed the things we were complaining about". That doesn't address the very real fact that what we had was a hardcore game that wasn't going to attract the mass audience that the Star Wars IP brings to the table.
Smed
Thank you for stepping up with that post.
Makes me proud to say I was with Sony Corp once upon a time.
Ok smed i know you dont like changing fonts but other people have hard time reading small font, my apologies in advance,
Its taken me a little over 2 hours to read this entire thread no joke, and i was reading pretty fast but it was growing faster than i can read, i feel for you devs and smed too. i saw a number of really good post in here that i wish to bring to light,
this communication we need was hashed out in this thread, i work for a major corperation in IT field and server administration, I was told by my father a long time ago that lack of communication leads to lack of fallowing, what he ment was this, in order for anybody to understand a direction you wish people to go you must first help them understand the final result. in our case here the final result was spilt a few post back but only after a number of players harped on smed for 19 or 20 post. then smed called in a dev and wow you guys have some cool stuff in near future. and cool ideas for proffessions too. imagine if we had that information back in december. im not harping on you guys for smedly allready said there was a lot of room for improvement in this area for soe to do. First off i like the idea of having a once a month gathering LIKE THIS for all of us to speak and get heard, then replied to. Gives SOE a chance to speak and be heard as well.
Smedly i did disagree with you in one of your reply post however, this game should NOT revolve around PVP, I am just one of a large group of people that do not like PVP as a whole. I enjoyed other aspects of the game. If and when i do PVP it revolved around BASE DESTROYING. Basically i PVP when i see an objective to achieve. I PERSONALLY do not like hanging out in thead PVPing all day. kill this person kill that person and at end of day what did we achieve? Bragging Rights? thats for some but not for me and others. There is no harm in that these days but not what i intended when i bought the game in march 2003.
Hey DEVS i fully understand why most of you tend to WANT stay away from the forums with the way we treat you. But please for the love of god read what were telling you. If not, start playing the game among us. be a no name and experience the current state of the game and figure out for yourselves what were trying to tell you. Im not big fan of NGE but I do help new players experience the game and help them emerse themselves into a story that is all about there character so to speak. But every time i turn around something drastic changes that makes it harder for us all to help them or for that matter level our own characters. thats all i want from you..thats what i pay for...thats what i expect from you
Blimey. I bet I could read this from space with the naked eye
