SWG flameout press links.

[LordShaithis]

Star Wars Galaxies has become such a fuckup that even the real media is taking notice. Behold.

Wired: Star Wars Fans Flee Net Galaxy

Christian Science Monitor: Dumbing down virtual 'Star Wars' may backfire

The New York Times: For Online Star Wars Game, It's Revenge of the Fans

Holy shit! The stench of death is upon it!

[Noble Ire]

Let us first pause, for just a moment, to mourn the collapse of Western civilization suggested in MacIntyre's words, which are, it seems to me, as close to a direct definition of philistinism as anything I have ever read. Let us not be led into the temptation of experimentation, of growth, or - heaven forfend - of learning; we must at all costs avoid personal identification with characters who deviate from the mainstream, who might provide an opportunity to demonstrate greater individuality. And - for goodness' sake - let's have as little reading as we possibly can. Instead, let's revert to a process that would have done the Visigoths proud: kill, get treasure, repeat.

I believe the term in a situation such as this is "clusterfuck".

[wautd]

I never knew the original SWG was such a complex MMORPG. Well... was

Real pity. ANy chance for a rollback or is the damage too great already?

[Nephtys]

Nancy MacIntyre, the game's senior director at LucasArts: "We really just needed to make the game a lot more accessible to a much broader player base ... There was lots of reading, much too much, in the game. There was a lot of wandering around learning about different abilities. We really needed to give people the experience of being Han Solo or Luke Skywalker rather than being Uncle Owen, the moisture farmer. We wanted more instant gratification: kill, get treasure, repeat.

I think that explains it all, and coming right out of LucasArts. We don't want 'complexity' or 'sophistication' or 'diversity'. MAIM KILL BURN!

[Mr Bean]

The game was the most complex of MMORPG's. I could spend four pages detailing how the Bio-Engineering proffesion alone was months worth of work to master. Not grinding but trial and error since every single mob in the game was a potention resource for your crafting. It ment you had to hit the rare or high-end areas of the game in order to find the best DNA with which to work.

While Weapon and armor crafting was a proccess of tracking down the best resources from the best planets. Even then one had to physically track down the resources by survering the area. And then hunting down rare parts or recipies. It was involing and every single weapon was hand crafted by someone someday long ago on your server.

While not offering as much charater upgrading as AO. Or as much acutal content as EQ. The acutal game itself had a solid underlying system even if things to do with that system were lacking.

[SAMAS]

Nancy MacIntyre, the game's senior director at LucasArts: "We really just needed to make the game a lot more accessible to a much broader player base ... There was lots of reading, much too much, in the game. There was a lot of wandering around learning about different abilities. We really needed to give people the experience of being Han Solo or Luke Skywalker rather than being Uncle Owen, the moisture farmer. We wanted more instant gratification: kill, get treasure, repeat.

I think that explains it all, and coming right out of LucasArts. We don't want 'complexity' or 'sophistication' or 'diversity'. MAIM KILL BURN!

I think the secret to a good MMO is that you want players to be able to do both. Thing is, some gamers like the idea of being able to actually be a recognizable force in the game's world. So let them. Less work for you in the long run, I would think.

Hell, if I ever make an MMO(and I hope to), one thing I would have would be the ability for players to make their own dungeons and let the poor suckers who want to "kill, get treasure, repeat" run through them. Other players can even challenge you to combat for the ownership of the dungeon, giving new meaning to the phrase: "Be your own Boss."

[NecronLord]

While Weapon and armor crafting was a proccess of tracking down the best resources from the best planets. Even then one had to physically track down the resources by survering the area. And then hunting down rare parts or recipies. It was involing and every single weapon was hand crafted by someone someday long ago on your server.

While not offering as much charater upgrading as AO. Or as much acutal content as EQ. The acutal game itself had a solid underlying system even if things to do with that system were lacking.

Grr. That sounds really cool. And they have to jerk people about like that.

[Dorsk 81]

While Weapon and armor crafting was a proccess of tracking down the best resources from the best planets. Even then one had to physically track down the resources by survering the area. And then hunting down rare parts or recipies. It was involing and every single weapon was hand crafted by someone someday long ago on your server.

While not offering as much charater upgrading as AO. Or as much acutal content as EQ. The acutal game itself had a solid underlying system even if things to do with that system were lacking.

Grr. That sounds really cool. And they have to jerk people about like that.

It was, it was fantastic. I remember an old guild mate of mine, he had two account just for crafting, Doctor supplies, weapons, armor and droids. He once said to me that he used to get more of a thrill out crafting his latest buff packs than he ever did killing some high end mob.

[Stormin]

I played it for a month, quite some time ago. I probably could have liked the game even if the pvpers were any good. When I was soloing fully buffed small groups though (and iirc 3/5 vs jedi too) simply because all but like 5 people knew what they were doing, I knew the game wouldn't hold my interest.

[Silver Paladin]

I think the secret to a good MMO is that you want players to be able to do both. Thing is, some gamers like the idea of being able to actually be a recognizable force in the game's world. So let them. Less work for you in the long run, I would think.

Hell, if I ever make an MMO(and I hope to), one thing I would have would be the ability for players to make their own dungeons and let the poor suckers who want to "kill, get treasure, repeat" run through them. Other players can even challenge you to combat for the ownership of the dungeon, giving new meaning to the phrase: "Be your own Boss."

You would need checks on this of course.

Otherwise, I'll get my good buddy to make some gimpass dungeon, stocked full of uber powerful weapons, new spells and stuff, and rock people in PVP.

[Keevan_Colton]

To be honest a twisted part of me wants to find some way to make people do real work in a MMO game...and then charge them for doing the work and charge the folk at the other end for having it done...

People are willing to do the most tedious things in these games in an effort to advance...why not filing paperwork?

[SAMAS]

I think the secret to a good MMO is that you want players to be able to do both. Thing is, some gamers like the idea of being able to actually be a recognizable force in the game's world. So let them. Less work for you in the long run, I would think.

Hell, if I ever make an MMO(and I hope to), one thing I would have would be the ability for players to make their own dungeons and let the poor suckers who want to "kill, get treasure, repeat" run through them. Other players can even challenge you to combat for the ownership of the dungeon, giving new meaning to the phrase: "Be your own Boss."

You would need checks on this of course.

Otherwise, I'll get my good buddy to make some gimpass dungeon, stocked full of uber powerful weapons, new spells and stuff, and rock people in PVP.

First, he'd have to have the weapons, of course.
Second, he'd have to have a stage. There aren't a whole lot of them per server.
Third, he'd have to make the stage, and hope someone else doesn't get to the good stuff before you.
And fourth, it would be easier just to give them to you.

[Stormin]

What you are talking about is pvp system where you can build your own dungeon and equip the critters guarding it then? I can see this working if you have to make something like this to protect items, maybe magic talismans that give your "guild" an advantage (maybe something like relics that give 5% healing bonus or damage bonus) and the guards will drop whatever you had equipped them with, though until they die the guards would gain advantage from the items.

[CmdrWilkens]

While Weapon and armor crafting was a proccess of tracking down the best resources from the best planets. Even then one had to physically track down the resources by survering the area. And then hunting down rare parts or recipies. It was involing and every single weapon was hand crafted by someone someday long ago on your server.

While not offering as much charater upgrading as AO. Or as much acutal content as EQ. The acutal game itself had a solid underlying system even if things to do with that system were lacking.

Grr. That sounds really cool. And they have to jerk people about like that.

Let me add to the statement that I really enjoyed it. I mastered about half a dozen of the crafting professions but THAT was over the course of nearly a year and a half of investment (I was a first day sign up guy but Iraq interrupted things). Whether it was trying to get everything right for crafting starships, or trying to build a truly wonderful custom order house (complete with furniture) I actually truly enjoyed doing things other than seeking out things to kill. I mean I enjoyed piloting to a degree when JtLS came out but I loved the richness of the community and the economy FAR more than I enjoyed the action.

However there were those who enjoyed the action and for those who sought to become Jedi it was just awesome listneing to people trying to get there and when there was finally a success it was huge (at least to my memory). So basically the game, despite bugs and content problems, had an appeal to both sides of the aisle. Still that was then and this is now, my account is cancelled and I mourn for Andreneas, Master Shipwright, Master Artisan, Master Architect, Mster Weaponsmith, Master Armorsmith of Tatooine but meh.

[Dorsk 81]

Good job you're still not around then, Wilkens. They royaly dicked over the Shipwrights back in May when Rage of the Wookiees came out. The ships that came out as quest items were vastly superior to anything crafted, like the Heavy X-Wing, all the same stats (speed, yaw, pitch and roll) as a crafted one, but with 180k mass instead of the 100k of the crafted. Same story with TIE Interceptors and a couple other ships too.

Weaponsmiths still had it ok up till the NGE, hell of alot of different weapons to craft, and Krayt tissues and other loot were at a premium, decent crafted rifles and whatnot were still miles better than any quest stuff. Then they went and made it all generic, you could use the best resources you had and it would come out the same as if you used utter shite.

[LordShaithis]

We wanted more instant gratification: kill, get treasure, repeat.

I already have this game. It's called Diablo II, and Sony, you will NEVER do it better.