Justin, what server are you guys playing on, and what are your character names?

I'm X'an Shin on (I think) Goranth, or whatever the "G" server is. All of my friends are on that one, as well, so I doubt I'll be able to change to hang out with you and Jane.

Last night, a real life friend of one of my real life friends was having some trouble figuring out how to get ahead in the game as a Scout, so I was volunteered to help him (I'm a nice guy, and I like helping newbs out when I have the time).

It became readily apparant that he couldn't type at 90wpm like I could, so I asked him for his phone number, and I called him on his cel and walked him through the basics of how to use the Marksman skills (which he didn't think he needed), and the basics of being a Scout.

In the end, he was super appreciative, and I had a ton of fun showing him the ropes that I had learned in my Beta days. It turns out he just started on a planet that was a bit too difficult for a newb scout, and didn't understand he needed the marksman skill (or brawler) to be an effective solo playing scout. Talus (Corellia's moon) evidently doesn't have as many easy creatures (or any) on it as Corellia itself does.

I was on the phone with him for over an hour, and wound up sacrificing my time to harvest bones and hides that I was going to give to my crafter (real-life) friend in exchange for some more bone armor.

It was a great experience for both of us, and I really wish that SWG would support some form of client-to-client in game voice chat, where you could just activate it between specific people.

I'm on Chilastra as Akkuma (a wookiee) if anybody wants to hang out. having a great time even though I am a melee fighter in a world full of blasters....

Glad you are enjoying it. :)

Woo-hoo!! Raph!

I'm playing 2 characters. Mon Cal Crafter on Corbantis - Corellia named Loligo Paelei, and a Twi'lek Scout named Aree Omaaji on Bria - Rori. Aree starred in a few comics I did while beta testing. Here's an example:

Episode 4

I'm Atino Xepteed on Chilastra--look me up, too. A few folks are talking about forming a sort of anti-PA PA, a kind of PA for rugged individuals who just want to hang out and do their thing, rather than an uber-PA trying to powergame to domination. We're thinking of going off to a remote planet and setting up shops.

Once things settled down--let's call Day 2 the real launch--I have to say I was impressed by the stability and bug fixes in between the last day of Beta 3 and the first day of "real launch". Yes, there was some sort of faction exploit, ok, and some other small things that needed fixing, but basically, a really nice job of getting things ready.

My main beef at the moment is one I've always had, but I know full well how difficult it is to attend to: some crafting tiers lack activities that tie them to a real source of demand among players, promoting a feeling of "grind". You can see the difference when you're making stuff that people actually want and need--making bone armor is fun; making 100 heavy axes is not. I would say that one of the structural fixes in the next three months is to identify the actual gameplay that every single crafting box tends to promote, and when there's a box that is associated with grind, re-think the items that reside in it.

Number 1 example of this (which I wrote about in Beta like four or five times) is Novice Weaponsmith. You can make components for higher level weapons which no one wants because you suck too badly at weapons assembly--you yourself won't want them if you make and stockpile a crapload of them in anticipation of making weapons later. You can make a D18 pistol which is inferior to the CDEF pistol you can make because of your lousy assembly skills--but you don't get weaponscrafting experience for making the CDEF. And you can make a sword, for which there is an eager but limited market that gluts up with extraordinary speed. Meaning it's time to make and destroy a ton of items in order to get someplace where you're working for other players in a meaningful way. That's the kind of gameplay that needs fixing for the sake of players and for the sake of the economy.

The other thing that's interesting to see is how players carry over expectations from other games. Basically, a new player who hasn't played in Beta arrives and says the following three things in succession:

Why doesn't anything drop loot?
I need armor.
I need a sword.

Undoing the Pavlovian expectations inculcated by other MMOGs is a real trick. I almost feel like someone could design a "real" second-generation MMOG that pushed the concept to some new places and most MMOG players would be repelled by it simply because it clashes with inbred expectations.

Anyway, I'm having fun *as well as* finding it interesting.

Raph, I got some feedback about your game for you. Got our art team to play it. They like the graphics. Music is excellent too. What's your email?

And sorry about the launch. I'm sure things will improve quickly. Good luck!

Well, to be honest, I get flooded with enough emails that I don't generally post my email address on the web. :(

Maybe Justin can forward a mail from you along? He has both of our emails, effectively. :)

Okay, I'm back on SWG after a week away - a lot has changed!

Chilastra server, Tatooine now. Name is Stroota. Say howdy!

does it mean the servers are not connected between each others? so every server is it's own universe and you cannot meet ppl from other servers? that's somewhat of a disappointment!
however i'll get my copy of swg soon. hope to see somebody in-game! ;)

Think simple. Learn different. Macinstruct.net

Think simple. Learn different. Macinstruct.net