Star Wars Galaxies

Says the state of the game doesnt it.

SOE's answers are quite shocking as well.

Another nail in the coffin me thinks

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?start=45&topic_id=594009&#6503511

Why do they need server merges?

A. Lack of players.

What caused the lack of players?

A. The NGE.

I see Badger used the topic to pimp his grouping improvement idea again.  What is that they keep saying about rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic?  If a level 45 player has an improved system to help him find other players based on level, he'll use it to discover he's the only player within his level range even online.  And an algorithim that directs new players to lower pop servers based on ping?  Yeah would work smashingly if there were new players coming in.

In addition he seems to always ignore the fact that his new group finding tools wouldn't change the fact that its still ineffecient to group for XP has you earn more by yourself.  Also, and this is a problem with every quest-based MMO and the major (and I do mean MAJOR) flaw of the system, is that you are almost never on the same quest as even those your own level.  Somebody ends up waiting for someone else to catch up or goes along on a quest they've already done.  Now multiply that by five people and you have a nice little disaster on your hand.

And if that wasn't fun enough you have the fact that maxed level toons can't effectively help their low level friends.  Your prescence does more harm than good unless things go bad and you need to step in, but PvE combat is still so watered down that most competent players never find themselves that in over their head.  This is a major flaw as most of the player population is level 90 and are unable to assist even if they wanted to.  Other than making another character and doing the grind all over again.  I mean, wow, who wouldn't want to do that again?

They still labor under the delusion that there is some "magic bullet" publish that will either bring us back or bring the flood of "target audience" players in.

The better use for that bullet would be to put the poor thing out of it's misery.

Today SWG has more players than it ever will have in the future.  Next week they will have fewer players than this week, but it will still be more than the game will ever have in the future...

SWG has ZERO chance of making any sort of comeback so long as the NGE remains as the core.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.  I'd hate to be a SWG DEV right now, because everything they are doing is meaningless.  On second thought, nowhere else can they make so much for such mediocrity, so maybe it's not such a bad deal for them...

This game desperately needs server merges.

Even if the game was optimized over the past 2 years, i think it may take the combined strength of several servers in tandem to support a population. Even if there isn't much of a population to begin with.

Originally posted by salvaje

They still labor under the delusion that there is some "magic bullet" publish that will either bring us back or bring the flood of "target audience" players in.

I highly doubt anyone in SOE or LA entertains any notions of that.  It seems mostly SOE doing token updates to keep the current sub base there to milk it for the remainder of what its worth.

SWG has ZERO chance of making any sort of comeback so long as the NGE remains as the core.

Wouldn't bring anyone back and alienate many of their existing customers.

 

Originally posted by salvaje

They still labor under the delusion that there is some "magic bullet" publish that will either bring us back or bring the flood of "target audience" players in.

The better use for that bullet would be to put the poor thing out of it's misery.

Today SWG has more players than it ever will have in the future.  Next week they will have fewer players than this week, but it will still be more than the game will ever have in the future...

SWG has ZERO chance of making any sort of comeback so long as the NGE remains as the core.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.  I'd hate to be a SWG DEV right now, because everything they are doing is meaningless.  On second thought, nowhere else can they make so much for such mediocrity, so maybe it's not such a bad deal for them...

 

Ayup.

The NGE trumps every effort to expand the game.  It is an utter failure in every aspect, unless you considere killing the game a a sign of "success".

There is one fact that repudiates any bolstering that NGE fanboys and SWG devs put forward.

There are no expansions planned. The game is not really growing, it's just going through mitosis to replace dead cells, but nothing is really being added, just kind of maintained.

What is the destiny of a game with no expansions in the future? Any MMO's out there to make a comparison?

Considering that SOE produces expansions like death and taxes, yes, the lack of them for SWG indicates that the game is an utter failure.

What SOE games don't get expansions?

A. The filler on station pass...  SWG, Vanguard, Planetside, MXO...

From October 2004 thru November 2005 we got THREE expansions...  And one of them added a whole other dimension to the game, space combat.  Since November 2005 what has been added?  Well, first, a NGE that cost the game 90% of it's subs...  Four pvp battlefields...  Scavenger hunts.  Million HP mob instances.

Yeah, the last 2 years has SO seen as much added as was in the last year before the NGE.

NOT