Star Wars Galaxies

[AmericanRitual]

In an attempt to bring in new players, and get those players who quit Star Wars Galaxies in the past back, Sony will be revamping the entire battle system within the game in the upcoming patch, due early May 2005.

Sales have been dismal for SWG for a while, but they are already beginning to see new traffic and sales pick up in preperation of the new expansion.

The question: Star Wars Galaxies has been out since June 2003. Regardless if you play the game or not, how would you feel if the game you love and have played for over a year, completely changed in one patch overnight? Based on the forums at www.starwarsgalaxies.com it looks like it's a mixed bag with their customers. Mostly negative at the moment.

What do you guys/gals think about this massive change? And is this going to be something we see more of in the future with constant evolving games?

 

[BCampbell]

I've never played SWG. I've never wanted to, and probably never will.

That said, I think you have a valid question. What if your favorite online game changed overnight? First, you have to consider that since the players are paying to play the game, you can assume they really like it. In that case, screwing with the formula can be a very bad thing; sure, you might draw new players but you could also alienate those currently playing. And, since you don't know how many new players will stick around, you could really be shooting yourself in the foot.

On the other hand, I don't know anybody who doesn't have at least one complaint about every game they've played. If the combat system really does suck, changing it might be for the best for everyone. Wo knows how many current players think it sucks too?

They're really rolling the dice with this one. The real danger is using this to set a precedent. Today it's the combat system, but when subscriptions lag at a later time, will they change something else?

 

[AmericanRitual]

Great comments!

This is a huge deal for multiplayer games I think. I've never seen a game do something like this before.

Even though I'm excited to see how it turns out, this could be seen as a complete "sell out" for Sony. You nailed it on the head about alienating it's current clients (which are the ones they should be catering too) for the slim chance that they can attract a massive amount of new players.

 

[dissonantfeet]

I played SWG for a good long while and the game has some serious problems as a game. As a Star Wars "collectible" or a clone of some of the original Star Wars world, it works. From my experience, many, if not most, of those that stuck with SWG are die hard Star Wars fans--not all, but a high percentage are. I think that if they really want to create a better game, then massive changes NEED to take place. The graphics and character creation for SWG are among the best in the genre, but the design of the world, in terms of size and diversity is terrible. There STILL isn't enough content to fill the massive virtual world(s), the player-city structure is screwed up, because it doesn't create any large central hubs. The NPC cities might be central hubs if the game wasn't so big that players are spread too thin. They shouldv'e combined the servers before they allowed people to drop their player-cities. Perhaps they can find a way to consolidate them now. They need to create some variety with their instances; they need to make entertainers more versatile, so that they'll be as important as doctors to be in mission groups. At the moment, people just go to cantinas, watch, or get a buff, and leave, so the dancer's life is spent in town unless they get lucky and find a group that cares enough to have a dancer at camp. Smugglers are STILL gimped, group combat is poorly designed and there are many, many other problems. The largest issue I think SOE has to deal with out of all of this is the lack of content in relation to the size of the world. I also think that Star Wars fans are going to keep playing for the most part, and with some changes, fans of ORPGs might take it up again or try it out.

My 2 cents.

 

[etali]

I play SWGs - sort of. I'm keeping my subscription going and I log in every now and then for my three hour bashing session, but nowhere near as often as I used to. I just got bored of it.

I'm looking forward to Rage of The Wookies, but the combat revamp scares me. I like to play either solo or in small groups with real life friends - if they change the classes the way it sounds like they will then my existing template won't be strong enough to be able to do much.

The combat revamp feels like its aimed at PVP and group combat - if I wanted that I'd go back to a different MMO like Dark Age Of Camelot. Star Wars Galaxies appealed to me because you were 'overpowered' enough that you could bash solo.

They have asked for feedback, and they have listened about a few things - when people whined about snappy movement they toned it down. But it seems like they put things in then wait for complaints before fixing them, rather than asking what people want BEFORE making changes.

Thats my thoughts anyways.

I'm not holding out much hope, but I will give the combat revamp a chance.

 

[Huddy]

Oh boy..you don't want to get me started on the genre itself...but as a whole, I enjoy SWG, though I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, I enjoy gaming, I enjoy RPG'ing, and I enjoy MMO's, and I like Star Wars. The main problem I have with it..is the player run cities. For someone like me, it really messed up what I enjoyed about playing the game. It's a neat idea, but I can't STAND going to a regular city, and it being devoid of player characters. Furthermore, if I venture into a player created city, there's no guarentee that the inhabitants of that city are going to be online, or playing at the same time I am. So if I'm an entertainer, looking to make a few tips at a cantina somewhere, it's a matter of finding a player city that's active at the time I'm playing....or cancelling my Entertainer skills and doing something else with them, which I refuse to do. But..I'll still play, like a nice little mindless Sony zombie!