General Discussion

I feel its time some regular people like myself should say a few things in defence of SOE,they are the focus of so much hatred and unwarranted accusations, and its just become riduclous and seems now to be a favorite sport on some forums ( especially this one ) to hurl unwarranted attacks on the company and even persomal individuals who work for SOE or even used to work for them, I personally think that the only culprit/s worthy of your hatred and critisism are possibly John Smedley and maybe Lucas Arts as after all the buck stops at them basically.

To carry on hating everyone and anything to do with SOE is downright Dark Ages behaviour, wishing bad things on people that work there or feeling good if they leave there jobs etc is appalling. People have to start thinking of the great things SOE do or have done in the past , the groundbreaking Everquest games to start with, I believe the EQ games are partly the inspiration for most of the games we play and love today, it is also a game they have supported and improved constantly over the years and still do today.

They also rescued  Vanguard a game that was doomed to failure, now after about a year its picking up nicely and will soon be a very solid game with a decent dedicated user base.

They were the fist company to intoduce a  Pass subscription so you can play and enjoy all there games even the contoversial SWG can now be played for just a few dollars/pounds/Euro's a month, I think the SOE station pass is one the most underated and best value for mone gaming products out there, I for cant count the countless hours of pleasure I've had dipping in and out of all the different games , and the list of games is growing now too with Potbs just recently being added.

They have also made available some cool free stuff which can be played for free such as LON and a new family oreintated Mmo thats coming soon.

Not to mention loads of other cool stuff they have such as Station Exchange and things in development such as the Agency.

Ok they made one mistake which we all know as SWG, a huge mistake in fact but they have apologized for and are trying to make ammends by improving the game as it is now, I played Pre CU/Nge and was'nt happy like a lot of people, but hey you know what ? the game is'nt that bad now if your willing to give a shot with an open mind.

Even aftrer writing all this yes I do think John Smedley is personally responsible for SWG, but to hate anybody and anything do with SOE is just downright sad and appalling. Should John Smedley resign ? .. maybe I dont know and certainly woud'nt like to judge. Should anybody hate SOE and anything related to it ? .. well its certainly no they should not . SOE even with John Smedley at its Helm is a huge part of the Mmo industry and gaming as a whole, they should as a company be appluaded for the massive contibutions they have made to the type of games we all love.

I do hope there are other people that feel the same way, and I feel SOE has so much more to offer us as gamers in the future and they just dont deserve all the Hate and unwarranted accusations that are hurled at them.

I know the haters will still flame this post especially SWG Vets but hey thats your perogative,does'nt make the hate right tho does it .

No it don't...

EQ is now trash
EQ2 was trash when it launched and still is.
SWG is now trash and had the worst release ever.
PS is now trash
Vanguard is trash

They feel the need to ruin all their games and release expansion after expansion without thinking just because they want quick cash. I wish they took the time and quality of say Blizzard I mean they don't release until it's ready.

Now they are making mmorpgs for the PS3/PC so you know they'll be dumbed down or badly ported to PC.

When SOE shows that they truly understand how many games they have ruined and how many gamers they have alienated, by removing Smedley from their team, thus signaling a real change, then I will cut them some slack.

   Funniest. Post. Ever.

Originally posted by greenstumps

No it don't...

EQ is now trash
EQ2 was trash when it launched and still is.
SWG is now trash and had the worst release ever.
PS is now trash
Vanguard is trash

They feel the need to ruin all their games and release expansion after expansion without thinking just because they want quick cash. I wish they took the time and quality of say Blizzard I mean they don't release until it's ready.

Now they are making mmorpgs for the PS3/PC so you know they'll be dumbed down or badly ported to PC.

A post not really worthy of a response I'm afraid.

Originally posted by trooper347

   Funniest. Post. Ever.

Glad you found it amusing...

Originally posted by Samuraisword

When SOE shows that they truly understand how many games they have ruined and how many gamers they have alienated, by removing Smedley from their team, thus signaling a real change, then I will cut them some slack.

SO your kinda agreeing are you not if you would change your opinion of the if John Smedley left ?

While SOE continues to do more harm than benefit to my chosen gaming genre (MMO's) then I'll continue to hate them; their children, their children's children and six generations of their ancestors.

If SOE want to pull their name from the toilet (I can't imagine they care in the slightest) then they are going to need to prove themselves big-style, 'cos the overwhelming public perception is that SOE = where good games to go die.

Originally posted by TeflonEddie

While SOE continues to do more harm than benefit to my chosen gaming genre (MMO's) then I'll continue to hate them; their children, their children's children and six generations of their ancestors.

If SOE want to pull their name from the toilet (I can't imagine they care in the slightest) then they are going to need to prove themselves big-style, 'cos the overwhelming public perception is that SOE = where good games to go die.

Sadly another post not worthy of a response..

I really, really want to like SOE.  If they can get back to what made Verant successful, maybe I still can.

Unfortunately though, SOE and the whole "Austin mentality" is destroying all of the aspects that built this genre from the Origin and Verant days, and what I'm talking about are unrestrained live teams who claim too strong of a prerogative to change the game at will.  SWG is the most evident example of this, but you can also claim the same thing for how they butchered EQ2's crafting system.

In short, I really don't feel comfortable subscribing to an SOE game, or purchasing things from SOE anymore.  I don't, because I never can be sure that the things I pay for today will be enjoyable tomorrow.  And that's because while their products are generally good, the service associated with the product turns it into junk in short order.