quote:
Hello all. As most of you know, I have been in Austin the last day and a half. We have been testing out new changes to Star Wars Galaxies. While most people will be afraid and uneasy about the changes, I want to let you know about what is going on, and how things are going.First, let me start by saying that combat has become more fun and is a better change for the game. No longer will it be all about mashing specials and the best weapon. This is a new system and is not a rehash of the old or current system. With that im mind, please keep an open mind.
Now coming will be a drastic change in skills. There will be 9 classes as follows:
Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Commando, Medic, Force Sensitive, Officer (think SL), Tradesman, Entertainer, Spy. Poli and Pilot will remain unchanged.
Most experience can now be either quest based or grinding. With skills will come abilities as well as rewards. Crafters will have 4 sub crafters. I will not get into the large scale of the changes. As there are others that are also having things to say about it.
Basic points, entertainers and crafters will no longer draw agro unless they pick a fight. There are drastic changes to the way that specials work. I will be writing up basic 0.1 guides when I get back home tonight. Those will be in more detail.
As for TC itself, please hear me before you go nuts on this.
TC will be put in stasis for a week or two to start out. These are drastic changes that need to be worked and tested from level 1. After that, TC will be brought up to test mid to high level as well as /respec. The detalis on this will be each person gets 10 respecs on which the 10th will be permanant. You cannot change your skills anymore, what you start is, is what you are. No surrendering and re-grinding.
AND ALSO THERE WILL BE NO BLUE FROGS SO DON'T EVEN THINK OF ASKING!!!!!!!!!!!
I know TC does not want another mothball. I did all I could, but the fact remains that we need low newbie testing. I did manage to get you all notice. Please use it to the fullest.
I will leave the rest of the details to other people who were here as well
quote:
In simpler terms, the new changes rock.Played them and loved em.
quote:
Some other additions:-New player tutorial featuring full voice over work.
-Changes to HUD
-Squad leaders can call Orbital Strikes!!!
Will post more later
I don't see how this is going to go over well at all. Its basically telling people; "Well, you spent however many hours on your character in this game... and now we're changing everything kthxbye".
quote:
Talonus said:
So they're basically pushing the big reset button on the game and trying to start over? What happens to melees and pets, which aren't mentioned at all? What happens to everone's characters? What happens to everyone's items, weapons, etc? Isn't this going to require months of testing, since its essentially a new game? Is there any chance its actually going to get the testing it needs?
Well the game as it stands right now is a failure. I needs this, believe me.
Melee is going bye-bye as it shouldn't have even been included in the first place, the same with creature handling because it's shit and was never in Star Wars other than that one (ONE!) guy in Jabba's Palace. Star Wars is all about the blasters and technology, not swords and pikes.
---Honestly right now i think Most MMO's should do what DAoC Has done and link PVP Zones/Battlegrounds/Whatever across servers. I Don't see any reason Not to do this with Deep Space or even Kessel if they reverted Kessel back to the way it was When JTL came out.
quote:
Mortious had this to say about Punky Brewster:
.Melee is going bye-bye as it shouldn't have even been included in the first place, .....
I could see the FS paths before Jedi useing Melee. Peter fucked around with this message on 11-02-2005 at 04:49 PM.
quote:
These are the changes coming:1. Twitch based ground combat. Yes, it looks like it's going on a route similar to an FPS.
2. Professions will be removed and replaced with classes. Yes, classes. There will be 9 classes:
Commando
Force Sensitive
Medic
Smuggler
Bounty Hunter
Entertainer
Officer
Spy
TraderLikely, all of these classes will have interclass skills, so a commando could probably heal himself some and a medic could probably fight, for example.
And before you freak out entirely, they're giving us 4 characters per server. So you won't be restricted to one playstyle for one server.
Grinding will be removed entirely and replaced with quest based progression.
From what I've heard, they're taking steps to make the GCW way more immersive than before. This apparently includes things like incorporating space with ground, and giving space part of the GCW. No details so far on how this will happen though.
No details on how the changes will effect existing players, however, I do know that they are not wiping the database. So your chracters should be safe.
This appears to be a last gambit to save the game. SOE is allegedly expecting massive losses, but they're counting on the new changes to attract new players to outweigh the losses. For the way the game will actually play, it sounds a lot like it'll be basically the same except the combat will work like battlefront.
This seems both crazy and intriguing at the same time to me. I would like to see how this all pans out. According to my source, this is to be announced sometime today, be on Test Center by Friday, and out by the 22nd. The starter kit seems to be for newbies to the new game.
These have been confirmed by the testers in Austin.
It's basically becoming WoW with a sci-fi skin.
Oh, and they shut down the Japanese SWG servers. This is make-or-break time, if this fails I can honestly see SWG going down for good and not getting back up.
Originalyl I wanted to start back again, then after a month of lack of moeny, I didnt want to, now I want to after reading this.
quote:
When the babel fish was in place, it was apparent Mortious said:
Well the game as it stands right now is a failure. I needs this, believe me.Melee is going bye-bye as it shouldn't have even been included in the first place, the same with creature handling because it's shit and was never in Star Wars other than that one (ONE!) guy in Jabba's Palace. Star Wars is all about the blasters and technology, not swords and pikes.
Oh, I agree with you. The game needs to attract customers and an overhaul of the game is the best way to do so. They're taking a cue from Mythic, who got a nice jump in their subscriber base with the release of the classic servers (which removed the much hated ToA expansion). And I agree that melee and pets never belonged in the universe as well. They were trying to appeal to the fantasy/MMOG crowd with them, rather then the sci-fi/SW crowd.
My main problem was this is how it was announced. Your original quotes come a correspondent, who's class won't even exist after the changes, and a random person rather than the developers. Nothing from developers that would calm the fears of players and explain exactly wtf is going to happen to their characters and the game in general, let alone a more detailed explanation of what's happening. Also, I doubt they've won any points by announcing this massive change right after they released an expansion pack. Talonus fucked around with this message on 11-02-2005 at 05:39 PM.
What SWG now needs is a massive graphics upgrade. Those models, settings, etc are seriously lame. Far, far too realistic for humans, and for everyone else they just plain don't feel right. Trandoshans are not skinny little pinheads.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:
1. Twitch based ground combat. Yes, it looks like it's going on a route similar to an FPS.
Okay, now I'm interested. Hell, if they could do it for JTL I don't see why they can't for the dull ass ground game as well.
No more grinding? Quest-based progression? No way. This can't be true. Weirded out and all that. 
as long as I'm still a Jedi I'll be happy...
quote:
Mightion Defensor said:
They're kidding, right? This is all a joke? It's far too blunt to be a real SWG Dev post.No more grinding? Quest-based progression? No way. This can't be true. Weirded out and all that.
as long as I'm still a Jedi I'll be happy...
Jedi will probably be no more powerful than regular professions now, I hope you realise that. They'll just be a niche that can do something for a group.
Oh, and there was a dev announcement shortly after the correspondant posted but the SWG forums are so bogged down right now I can't check.
It will fail and it will fail hard.
quote:
Mr. Parcelan had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
This will be one of the many nails in the coffin for SOE's presence in MMOGs.It will fail and it will fail hard.
Hey they still have EQ1. 
quote:
Mr. Parcelan said:
This will be one of the many nails in the coffin for SOE's presence in MMOGs.It will fail and it will fail hard.
Everything else they've done so far has flopped, so I'm not holding my breath.
If SWG tanks, I'll probably look at WoW. Being undead in a game is one of my vices.
quote:
Mortious had this to say about Optimus Prime:
Everything else they've done so far has flopped, so I'm not holding my breath.If SWG tanks, I'll probably look at WoW. Being undead in a game is one of my vices.
If I were ever to play WoW, it would be to play Horde.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
Thus mort, tell caanis I want my gun back then.
quote:
Y.O.T.C said:
Thus mort, tell caanis I want my gun back then.
I don't know if Caanis even still plays and if he does.. we don't talk.
He took those two gongs from the cantina worth 2m each, the ones Kael gave to AV as a gift, and never gave them back even when I asked him to in an e-mail.
According to him he took everything that was his. Bullshit. I want my bloody gongs back, they don't even drop anymore
They can't afford to keep creature handlers and bio-engineers around, but there's space for a commando, a bounty hunter AND a smuggler? Eliminating cross-classing, which was the most unique thing SWG had going for it in the first place?
Normally I can appreciate a company taking a big risk and trying something new, but it feels like this wasn't planned out in the slightest.
Disclaimer: I'm just kidding, I love all living things.
The fastest draw in the Crest.
"The Internet is MY critical thinking course." -Maradon
"Gambling for the husband, an abortion for the wife and fireworks for the kids they chose to keep? Fuck you, Disneyland. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is the happiest place on Earth." -JooJooFlop
quote:
Gunslinger Moogle said:
Blue frogs?
We shall not speak of those here.
BEGONE. 
quote:
Mortious impressed everyone with:
I don't know if Caanis even still plays and if he does.. we don't talk.He took those two gongs from the cantina worth 2m each, the ones Kael gave to AV as a gift, and never gave them back even when I asked him to in an e-mail.
According to him he took everything that was his. Bullshit. I want my bloody gongs back, they don't even drop anymore
I Was wodering WTF happened with that, I remember logging in and seeing Lebow quitting, I was under the impression the Lebow was PA property after Crisby gave up. Did he Take the impression that after he took over Lebow's account he owned all there?
quote:
Gunslinger Moogle was listening to Cher while typing:
Blue frogs?
Giant Blue Frogs that were/are in test/Beta that will give you levels/exp/resources, more or less a character builder
quote:
Peter said:
I Was wodering WTF happened with that, I remember logging in and seeing Lebow quitting, I was under the impression the Lebow was PA property after Crisby gave up. Did he Take the impression that after he took over Lebow's account he owned all there?
Crisby never told him that, but I assumed he did and that it carried over to the new owner. So I took the money on Lebow's account and Caanis got mad, so I put it back immediately.
Caanis actually ended up leaving AV because of a huge misunderstanding on his part. I explained it but he still left. Pity because he was a good player.
.. and the rest left because they couldn't be bothered to tell me there was a problem and took the easy route out.
quote:
Mortious wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
Crisby never told him that, but I assumed he did and that it carried over to the new owner. So I took the money on Lebow's account and Caanis got mad, so I put it back immediately.Caanis actually ended up leaving AV because of a huge misunderstanding on his part. I explained it but he still left. Pity because he was a good player.
.. and the rest left because they couldn't be bothered to tell me there was a problem and took the easy route out.
That Mass Exodus of the Texans? I had only the vaguest notion that they got some bug up their ass. Only thing I Knew was I log in and see a big mess of Has left.. Emails, Hope Crisby has no plans to come back, might be a wee bit pissed about that.
---On of my long standing Gripes about the game has been the utter lack of content. Its nice you have elventy billon types of clothes, but you only put in what five, six basic armor sets, and later on 6 more faction based ones? Or even the guns, not only do you still have a limited number of models, most never, ever get used. And some fo the stuff, like space mining, My god Sticking Screws up my finger nails is more fun than that.
Any chance of getting some links to where this information comes from, and any new stuff of importance, so I can just aim him at this thread?
Thanks in advance.
quote:
Everyone wondered WTF when Kaglaaz How'ler wrote:
"Texas Exodus"
Texodus
quote:
Mortious wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
I don't know if Caanis even still plays and if he does.. we don't talk.He took those two gongs from the cantina worth 2m each, the ones Kael gave to AV as a gift, and never gave them back even when I asked him to in an e-mail.
According to him he took everything that was his. Bullshit. I want my bloody gongs back, they don't even drop anymore
Theres two gongs in my Yacht.. You can have them if you can get in there.
