All Posts by BlackWatch

Runs great, no worries.

Originally posted by altair4

I think it will be low. I think biggest reason this game has sold so many copies is that there are so many people tired of their current MMO and "escaping" to this. When they realize that this doesnt bring anything new and is actually working alot worse than their old they will either go back or start waiting for the next MMO they hope will be the saviour of boredness. :)

/Agree

Can't wait for the game to hit. 

I think I'm more fearful of this game turning into a DAoC clone rather than a WoW clone, as so many people believe it is/will be. 

Either way, I hope they have learned what works and what doesn't in MMO's and we get the best of it in game. 

Didnt' know DF was going to be FPS style. 

I am pretty sure that means I won't be playing it, regardless of how good/bad anything else is in this game.

As I've stated elsewhere, it's not that I don't like FPS games, I really enjoy them.  I like MMORPG's, too.  I just like them and play them for very different reasons. 

With an FPS game, it's all about killing and the rush of combat.  I want that quick, simple, easy fix... that's what FPS games are for. 

MMORPG's = other world experience, imho.  Not just the combat field, but the 'content'. 

I'm sorry, I'm not posting to flame DF or SWG at this point, but we all know what happened to SWG when they rolled out the NGE and the FPS style system.  Maybe that's not a fair comparison, but it was very negatively received.

I think some will like it, of course.  I just doubt very seriously that I will be one of them.

The way back machine, ftw!

Things I wanted to see in GU4 but didn't:

More loot dropped by bosses in instances. 

-   I've been through the instances several times now.  Thus far, all I've seen drop are rings, 1 backpack, and a few scheme's for various items.

-   I understand that with each boss kill, I get a skill increase.  There needs to be 'more', though. 

Armor/clothing re-color tools/dye kits.

-  I know crafters can make clothing items and put in mods or whatever.  Great.  But I don't want to have to buy a whole new set of armor/clothes just to change colors. 

-  It was a great feature for certain armor types in the classic game.  I think it should return. 

-  Make the change to both looted and crafted items.

Entertainer buffs last through death.

-  If SWG won't do this... at least give us the option of having the Entertainer simply hit "repeat last buff" or "I'll have the usual" to speed things up and get us back into combat.

Holocron drop rate increased.

-  So, I came back to play SWG and see how it is.  Yet, most of my time in-game is spent away from other players looking for friggin holo's.  

Additional items offered from instance tokens.

-   As stated above, all I've seen drop from these instances are rings, really.  And what do I do with the tokens from instance runs?  Buy more rings and jewelry?

-   New weapons?

-   New armor?

-   New mounts/vehicles/ships?

I'd never buy this game for the lore or any of that anyway.  I wouldn't be buying it for b00bs or gore, either. 

The things that would get me to buy this game:

Gameplay... quests, UI, combat, game performance, appearance, etc.,..

Custom Characters... creation/generation, development (stats/skills/abilities), gear, appearance, and reputation

Community... factions, guilds, cities, etc.,...

...

If the story or lore of the game were glorious and incredible, yet those other features were terrible... no way in hell I'd play the game. 

So, if those othere features are there... why not give the game a shot?  I mean, I think most people are just being impractical about having this game pitted vs WAR.  They launched at diff times... why not try them both?

I could've really seen Hoth turning into small planet.

I would've put an IMP drop zone on one side (area) and a REB base on the other side (area). 

In the middle... maybe you have a PvP instance. 

So, players could land (port in/shuttle in/land) in the respective factional points and group/stage/buff, etc.,.. Then port in to the PVP battleground.

...

As far as PvE goes on the planet... Degobah would've had more potential, probably.  Hoth is a ball of ice.  In the game, it was a battle area.. a war zone.  Sure, there was probably wildlife on the planet.  But for the most part... it was a base and a point of war.

PvP would've (in order to tie it to the game) been a great primary focus for Hoth.

Offer combat vehicles, trenches, turrets, at'st's... etc.,.. It could've been 'uber'. 

Originally posted by wardog250

Originally posted by Realm-Reaper

Originally posted by Hauken

With less than 10k players left and left with a skeleton crew. I would find it hard to belive that LEC/LA isnt working with a new Star Wars MMO. Either alone or with a third party developer.

If they have learned their lessons. IT WILL NOT BE LAUNCHED IN A STATE OF BETA. They will take their time and make sure that the product will be polished and bug-free.

And will it be another WoW clone? Anything other than a open-ended MMO will fail. Why? becouse you cant make a linear story with only repeative content as endgame content for a universe as wast as Star Wars.

 

Im just to play an updated version of my favorite franchise...I hate the NGE! I would come back if SOE put out "Classic Servers" with pre-CU rule sets.

I see people demanding classic servers all too often; even on the SOE Forums.  One problem, the classic game sucked!!!  If it wasn't for vast numbers of people complaining about it, they wouldn't have knocked it out with CU.  The classic game, was not a winner.  The CU failed so badly they were forced to make a drastic change again to the NGE.  Which you can see utterly destroyed the game.  The point is, SWG in general was an awful game from beginning to end.  I garantee you if they opened classic servers, a small number of old vets would log in and play it for a bit; but seeing that everyone else on either is out playing the latest and greatest titles out there with better graphics and superior game play, they would abandon the game in the past where it should be and get in sync with the rest of the world.

You apparently read the posts without really getting their meanings... which is what SOE did, too.   People are passionate about the game.   Their messages should've been read one by one.  But after SOE saw 'fix this', 'i want this', 'tweak this', etc.,... so many times, they gave up.  They couldn't deal with all of the criticism or customer feedback. 

It's Star Wars ffs.  People camped in ticket lines for weeks to see the movies.  Did they not expect some 'strong' responses or feedback to their game?

Yes, the players had issues within the old system, but not with the system itself.  They had issues with various bugs or they wanted certain features added/fixed.  They weren't asking for the entire system to be gutted or removed or replacedy. 

The game was such a sandbox game, it was incredible.  There was so much to it.  People were exploring in so many ways, they were asking for a lot of different things.  They weren't doing it to throw the game under the bus.  They were doing it so that their in game experiences could be better than what they were.. and they were enjoying what they were involved in anyway, for the most part.

There were a lot of great things about the old system.  I prefer it over the new system without question.  Obviously, the majority of people who have an opinion about SWG feel the same way that I do.

We're talking strictly about SWG here.  I'm not comparing it to other MMO's. 

If SOE would've been able to listen to their customers and had the correct technical team in place... they could've modified the old system and brought it into the current state of technology, streamlining the system.  They would've worked out the old bugs and done some great things for the game, including overall game performance.

SOE could've added all of the content they have in the game today (and after 5 years, it's not that much, tbh) + they could've done an art revamp to help with afore mentioned performance. As it is, they keep 'updating'/changing the system and using the excuse... 'we're busy fixing the new system... as far as content goes... we're getting to that slowly... be patient... wait... it's coming'. 

SOE/SWG is a game where the customers are expected to wait for what they want, yet continue to pay to play with things the don't want/like.  It seems like we're constantly waiting to be disappointed again. 

Hopefully, the next SW-MMO won't be have anything to do with SOE. 

The targetting system required to use the door to get into the event was bugged.  SOE later stated that the bugged entry point was 'working as intended'. 

With a bugged door, any angry, hostile, or negative feedback was prevented by keeping ALL players out.  While several actual fans were also unable to attend due to the issue, the fact that additional negative feedback would not be voiced was simply too important and considered 'critical'... and so the door remained bugged. 

The SWG fans who did make it into the event went through a short pre-req line.  They located the line after accidentally finding some clues as to it's whereabouts.

SOE can find enough positive feedback for SWG.  They simply have someone over at LA generate computer generated/animated fans.

 I've heard enough good about Eve to hit the forums from time to time and think about playing it.   But then I read all of the bad stuff about the game and that's where I stop in the process of becoming an Eve Player/Subscriber.

Sometimes, these boards make Eve sound like a cross between 2nd Life and Grand Theft Auto, honestly. 

Aside from trying to figure out what mental issues the PK's might have, why not figure out a process to prevent it from happening again.  If the game is working as intended, then perhaps the player simply needs a different game?

Just looking at this from the outside/in (potential player's perspective). 

Sure there are a lot of things about WoW that I would probably change, but none of them are really 'huge', imho.

I like WoW, but I would like to see more races, more character customization, and some ways to 'be different' in the game. 

Some hate WoW due to the art style, but those are probably the same folks complaining about poor performance in AoC, Vanguard, EQ2, etc.,...

I would like to see a better 'end game' or 'high level' system come into the game.  

I can't wait to see what Wrath of the Lich King brings, honestly.  Hopefully we'll get more than just Death Knight, dance moves, hair styles, and a new area. 

I've been reading as much as I can about Darkfall.  Probably the worst/best line I've read was in another site's forums... "I already pre-ordered Darkfall.  My imagination gladly accepts Visa, MasterCard as well as PayPal".

My question is this:  Will gamers give Darkfall a fair shot?  After all of the jokes, the wait, the rumors, and everything else... will people really give this title an honest try?

 If SOE  would've started off with the Classic SWG game then made the transition to the NGE and then ultimately ended up with the CU/RB... how would that have impacted the game? 

Or, for the sake of a grand 'what if' scenario... what if the order were NGE-CU-Classic?  Where would we be today?

I'n this scenario, we would keep expansions in place as well as 'content' that has rolled out for the game.

The chicken or the egg?

The NGE was a massive step in the wrong direction for SWG.  It caused people to leave.  It may not be the snow that crushed the village, but it is the cause of the avalanche.

It's as if they feel that they need to make some type of broad-sweeping change... something that is easily noticed by their customers. 

The point of any change in SWG is typically not 'to fix' anything in particular. 

Often, the point of change in SWG is simply for the sake of change itself.

If they make small adjustments to the game, they are afraid that nobody will notice them.

What about names like:

Boobalicious

Boobdude

Boobsnblood

Doublebreasted

gotboob

ncseventeen

conanobrien

aoconan

ageofc

lastactionconan

Breastever

Coolnan

Coldnan

Arny

Conandoinator

t1000

sarahconorconan

runningman

gettothachoppa

cumwitm3ifuwannaliv

eyellbebak

...

I'm sure there wil be a ton of them.  Hopefully you can kill them enough times to make them quit the game.

I don't game wirelessly... but if I did go back to it, I would make sure that all of my wireless devices were 2.4GHz. 

You'll find several wireless mouse products that have 'hot -swappable' battery packs. 

As far as receivers go, you can go with something the size of a very small thumb drive or the typical usb cable that allows you to put a receiver on your desktop with LOS to your products (not required with 2.4GHz, but 'safer').

Logitech makes quite a few 2.4GHz mouse products.  I know other companies make them, but Logitech makes some of the best. 

I would go lazered for sure.  No matter what mouse product you get.

And for the keyboard portion... there are 2.4GHz solutions out there.  There are even 2.4GHz BlueTooth products out there.  While I'm not a huge fan of BlueTooth myself, they are out there.  Microsoft makes a few products in this line-up and so does Logitech.  Get a keyboard that docks, if possible. 

If you want to stay cabled:

For me, I don't like a bulky mouse, but the Microsoft Sidewinder mouse has some great features (other than form factor, imho).  The optional weights, on the fly DPI switch function, and something as simple as the cable anchor make this a very cool product.  (The cabe anchor:  run your mouse cable through giving yourself enough cable on the moue-end to have full range of movement, the anchor holds the moue cable in place from there, as opposed to gravity pulling on the slack that normally would be hanging off of your desk/surface and dragging your mouse or creating additional resistance when you try to move it). (sorry for run-on sentence from hell there)

I'm a big fan of the Razer mouse products for comfort/feel, though. I own 3 of them atm.  Going back to a standard design mouse from the slim and trim Razer stuff... it's tough.  Feels like going from a sports car to an SUV. 

...

Wireless displays:

You could go with a wireles projector... or a projector, period.  The signal throughput is improving on the wireless products.  Resolutions are moving north on the wired projectors.  But if the goal is simply to have your display (display surface) at a more distant reach from you... a projector would be the way to go, imho. 

With DisplayPort monitors shipping, I'm still going to stick with a flat-panel/LCD monitor.  LCD quality continues to get better, though they still haven't reached CRT in true representation of 'black' (instead of the inky color you normally see). 

Wireless... POWER:

It's coming.  Tesla did it long ago.  MIT has done it recently.  We already use variations of it.  But, it's coming.  You'll see it in laptops and other items very soon.

Originally posted by Dracus

The short, short version of the fallout from SWG:

SWG is the crown point for the negative biased with SOE.

SWG originally had 32 professions with a skill based system.  Although it had bugs and design flaws, mostly everyone will agree to say that SWG had great potential.  To help overcome those problems, promises were made to conduct revamps/fixes about every month to two months.  The two revamps that never occurred however were the Combat Revamp and the Smuggler Revamp.

During for about a year and a half, statements were made to the effect that the Combat Revamp was being coded, just around the corner, about one more month, etc.  Similar hints were made for Smugglers.

Well, the truth was leaked, actually slipped out by loose lips that the Combat Revamp was going to be delayed by another year.  Come to find out that the Combat Revamp had never made it to code, it was still in the high level development area.  This fallout lead to the Coordinator Summit  to help restore trust.  What the Coordinators saw (player volunteers) was designs of the Combat Upgrade, which was not what the players were told of the Combat Revamp.  The Combat Upgrade and Revamp were completely different.

 

But wait there's more...

In SWG the customer service was (and I believe still is), "the customer is mostly wrong all of the time."  Meaning, that should a system glitch occur, oh say a lost of 20 million credits, they are gone.  No method or process to restore.

"Combat Medics are working as intended," even though a single medic can kill waves of players...

 

Now enter the Combat Upgrade:

When the Combat Upgrade occurred, all equipment was converted to the new system.  And a fair share of the equipment was made into junk.  That 5 million Flame Thrower, rendered useless.  Sorry, have a nice day.  But fortunately SOE/LA did inform players that the Combat Upgrade was coming up and to expect some cool changes.

 

The dreaded NGE (New Game Enhancements):

Well I can go with a revised combat system being more on the twitch, but unfortunately how the NGE was executed and of the other enhancements is what really did the trick of this perceived hatred.

There use to be 32 skill based professions, with profession combinations.  Now there are 9 Classes, all level base.

And giving information of the NGE about 10 days prior to launch.  That is what is called Poor Change Management.  Had SOE/LA provided say 6 months of time to inform and take in feedback about the NGE, then the change would have been more smoother.  There are people who don't read the forums and were uninformed of the NGE...  imagine the surprise to them.

Yes, change is good; but people are resistant to changes.  People however can become acceptable to the changes if informed and engaged in the process of the proposed changes.  SOE/LA failed to do this, giving only 10 days.

 

Again that is the short, short version.

I left out a lot of other stuff.

If someone asked me why there was a lot of hate towards SOE, my quick answere would be SWG. 

After SWG, see customer service.  I don't just mean the folks that try to help you if/when you have an issue with game play/technical issue or an issue with your account.  I mean the people who are supposed to listen, respond, and mold the game into something the playerbase has really asked for, wants, and then approves of once they get it.

The problems with Vanguard, MatrixOnline, SWG, etc.... well, the blame ultimately hits SOE.

Is there any official word on this game that states that it is 'thread enabled'?

Just because the game will run on a multi-core CPU doesn't mean anything.  And just because you think you see activity on both cores and/or they are both at 100% utilization... that doesn't mean anything either.  It's just 'load balancing'.

Is there a SMP client? 

If this game is 'thread enabled'... then Core 2 Quad users will see the biggest benefit. 

Hell, if it is... I'll drop it on my dual socket Xeon box that has a total of 8 cores.  We'll see what's going on with the application then.