Ask John Smedley About Star Wars Galaxies 383
John Smedley: I was going to send you a Word doc, then remembered this was going to /. Including the text here.
Q: In your own words, would you like to lay out exactly what the scope of this overhaul will involve?
John Smedley:
There are two primary elements at the heart of this redesign: the
re-focusing of Star Wars Galaxies's profession system and the
introduction of what we're calling "Fast-Action Combat."
We are taking the 30+ professions and focusing them down to 9 "Iconic Professions." After the changes go live, when a player goes to start a new character in the game, they will see 9 boxes in the profession field. Those boxes will read Bounty Hunter, Commando, Entertainer, Jedi, Medic, Officer, Smuggler, Spy and Trader. Each descriptor will also have an image of an iconic Star Wars character, such as Han with Smuggler, Boba Fett with Bounty Hunter, Luke with Jedi, etc. These Iconic Professions will make it much easier for players to understand which type of character they're going to play and the type of activities and actions they should expect to find with their new profession.
Existing SWG players will be given a special item after the transition. This item will allow them to re-specialize ("re-spec") their character up to nine times. This will allow vets to try out each of the new Iconic Professions to determine which type they want to play.
The second major portion is the implementation of "Fast Action Combat." We're going to strip out the current SWG "select target, start macros, wait for combat to end" gameplay and replace it with a much more engrossing, entertaining control scheme. "Fast Action combat" controls will be similar to action games that our playerbase is intimately familiar with (Diablo certainly comes to mind, as well as our own Untold Legends game for the PSP). Now, every time a player clicks on their mouse button, they will fire their blaster, swing their lightsaber, shoot lightning bolts from their fingertips, etc. The pacing of combat has come way, way up, making the game faster and much more fun.
Fast Action really goes a long way towards making you feel like you're living the Star Wars experience, which is the primary goal behind all the enhancements we've been making to the game over the last few months. Instead of a passive, wait-and-see style of combat, you're now going to be much more involved with the action happening on-screen, which is even reflected in the music that you'll hear while fighting. Additionally, we've boosted the rate player's health regenerates, putting them back into the thick of things right away.
Q: Was there a single game element, piece of feedback, or event that prompted this re-envisioning? This is a very dramatic decision, and the reasons behind the changes seem almost as important as the changes themselves. What prompted you to give this plan the go-ahead?
John Smedley:
There are millions of Star Wars fans out there. SWG should be the game
those players have always hoped for, a game that finally allows them to
live inside the worlds and settings they know so well from the movies,
the books, the comics.
Our main goal with SWG for the last nine months has been to make the game more "Star Wars-y," for lack of a better term. Our two latest expansions, Rage of the Wookiees and the new Trials of Obi-Wan have delivered players the kind of directed, hand-crafted content that they would find in our other titles, as opposed to just having open-ended "sandbox" style of gameplay.
The redesign comes about after hearing desires from our own players on forums and in person at the SWG Fan Fests, multiple focus groups, and our own design team's desire to create something much more grand and sweeping with the game. We have big plans for SWG in the months and years ahead, and we needed this new platform to use as a foundation for creating the vast Galactic Civil War that our players want.
Q: The immediacy of real-time combat certainly seems more 'Star Warsy' than the current system. What is being done to specifically ensure that combat recaptures the energy of the battles we see in the movies? How is this overhaul going to affect the space experience, if at all?
John Smedley:
Simple: by engaging the player, instead of having them watch combat from
a distance. Fast Action is just what it sounds like. Players will find
themselves jumping in and really applying themselves, interacting with
the game like never before. Everything has been sped up in combat,
including attacking, reloading, using special abilities, items and
powers, even the speed with which health is regenerated. This allows
players to fight with large numbers of enemies without having to take
constant time outs to regen. This isn't like any other MMO out there.
The space elements of the game are going to remain as they are, since this action philosophy was already part of that experience. With this redesign, we're attempting to make the ground portion of the game as exciting and adrenaline-pumping as the space portion.
Q: For all of the Star Wars Galaxies players who already have time invested into characters, what plans do you have to transfer their existing characters to the new system?
John Smedley:
When the redesign comes to the live game, there will be rewards for our
veteran players (they should be announced later in the week). As I
mentioned before, all vets will receive an item that allows them to
respect their character up to nine times, allowing them to dive into the
new Iconic Professions and try them all out. Current Jedis will receive
two enhanced items, a special robe and a lightsaber.
Additionally, anything non-combat related attached to the player's character will remain unaffected after the transition, including vehicles, property, collectibles, etc...
The latest "Freebies" (Score:5, Interesting)
Do you feel you have any obligation to reimburse the veteran players who payed the premium prices ($30) for each of these expansions when they were first announced (many times before they were even released)? Either monetarily or through in-game items?
OS X client? (Score:5, Interesting)
And please - no wishy washy "Sony is committed to evaluating blah, blah, blah" - if there's no intention, just say so, please.
Thanks for your time.
combat update #2 (Score:3, Interesting)
my question for smed-head:
why are existing players being shortchanged in the Next Great Experiment? no level based rewards unless you regrind your template. swg has always been one of the grind = content games. why is this hated model being pushed again.
and do you think it is acceptable that jedi are only viable if they discard the saber and use a ranged weapon? is master jedi rifleman your vision? because that's what will happen..
Wouldn't it be easier to scrap the game... (Score:5, Interesting)
hmm (Score:1, Interesting)
Hmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
After reading TFA, it seems like you are basically implementing all of the rules that makes WoW a much better game, and slapping a Star Wars wrapper around it all.
Also, didnt your focus groups tell you that all of these features is what people wanted before now? Or has peoples perceptions of online gaming changed since your release?
responsibility (Score:3, Interesting)
Game was to be shut down in January (Score:5, Interesting)
I have heard from multiple sources that the subscriber base was collapsing rapidly, which is why the game was to be shut down, and that NGE is a desperate last gasp attempt to save it.
Why, then, did you decide to do something very very radical, take away ALL our ability to customize our characters and abilities, delete whole professions, and worst of all, make the MOST sought after (took me many months) and iconic Star Wars character, Jedi, the weakest combat class in the new game (you say you play the game, go play a Jedi on TC), the ONLY one that has: No armor, no defenses, no rooting ability, that attacks at HALF the rate of ranged professions?
Why did you do this rather than do what the community has consistently asked and BEGGED you do do, FIX the bugs, and BALANCE what we have?
Why did you fire your community relations director (Score:5, Interesting)
Why did you fire her?
SWG NGE (Score:5, Interesting)
Why are you ignoring what your current community wants? Is your community not worth listening to? Are you planning to replace us with a new community? Are you aware that people are getting bored of the NGE very fast due to lack of depth and while you may recieve many subsciptions at the beginning many will quicky leave?
Why havent you talked to your community personally via the forums?
Do you care at all?
Why wasn't NGE announced on 11/1 (Score:5, Interesting)
Base Level of Quality (Score:5, Interesting)
The quality of the software released in SWG has been lackluster. This eventually led to the disinterest of most of my guildmates; once my play group fell apart, I slowly drifted away. But, some concrete examples:
- Architect "Master Armoire" schematics were broken for quite some time after launch. The graphic was incorrectly the "furniture 2" image. Then this was "fixed" according to the patch notes, after many months. Oh wait, it wasn't! Now, the "Furniture 3" armoire was also set to use incorrect art (the "factional/tech" armoire), and the Master Armoire was STILL broken. Several months later, this was finally fixed...
- Architects were unable to craft a vital component (I believe it was the "Harvesting Mechanism") for, again, several months after launch. This bug was not even acknowledged until well after launch.
- City Management Terminals were broken for many months (and still broken when I retired from the game). A player could view the terminal menu once per access -- so, if I logged in during my semi-precious free hour at night, and checked the city's treasury balance, I was unable to make a deposit until the next day. Assuming I remembered....
The list goes on. As a professional software developer myself, I understand the difficulty of making upgrades and bugfixes in a complex system. But, this level of bugginess was a constant -- and, in fact, bugs were frequently reintroduced after resolution (as in the case of Recycler crafting). The constant stream of bugs -- and, in particular, bugs that rendered significant game features completely nonworking -- is what led to most of my fellow players' exit from the game. What obstacles are there in the QA process at SOE that cause this to be such an ongoing issue? Is there an expectation that reducing the overall level of complexity (~30 -> 9 classes, etc) will improve this problem?
Popularity (Score:3, Interesting)
How do you feel about Galaxies failure to reach a mainstream audience, and has WOW influenced any of the recent changes made to the structure of Galaxies?
Re:OS X client? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it going to be a ping war? (Score:5, Interesting)
How will you make sure that your new "Fast Action" change will not turn SWG PvP into a ping war?
In retrospect... (Score:3, Interesting)
(For reference, I was in SWG starting in early Beta 1 -- Shuttle 3, specifically -- and played for about six months after launch.)
Comment removed (Score:2, Interesting)
Bait & Switch ? Say it ain't so! (Score:1, Interesting)
Day 1 customer here. Love Star Wars, love SWG.
This NGE revamp has to have been in the works, under design and development, for quite some time now. Yet, you failed to announce it until literally 48 hours after selling the latest expansion pack, "The Trials of ObiWan". Many of the selling points of this expansion pack (i.e. loot items for Creature Handler) are for professions that are about to be DELETED from the game.
How do you respond to your loyal customers, those who have paid their monthly dues for 2.5 years and bought your expansions, who feel they were misled into buying an expansion with loads of features & items you knew were about to be scrapped? Why the secrecy around this NGE? The previous combat upgrade was announced long before its release.
Sony, Lucasarts and the customers... (Score:2, Interesting)
Let me start by writing that I'm a player from the early hour: my account has been activated 2 days after the servers were put in operation - this delay being the consequence of my Frenchness.
I lived through all the changes you put on SWG, being the Combat Upgrade, the many balancing changes of the skill trees, the Jump to Lightspeed space extention, etc, etc...
What I'm currently wondering is how you would caracterize the NGE, considering the following facts:
- pre-NGE, the character you had on a server was free to be whatever the player wanted. The player could pick a little bit of everything, or choose THE one destiny for his character. Post-NGE, the "class" of the character will be fixed for the life of the character
- pre-NGE, and I'd even say pre-Combat Upgrade, the combat system was in line the RPG expectations of the players: a good slice of strategy, another good slice of knowledge of your character's strong points and weaknesses, a bit of luck and nice equipment. Post-NGE, it will be more like a good aiming, and a very, very low ping
- pre-NGE, crafting was something... crafty. An item could (and in the beginning of the tree, often did) failed to be crafted, and each and every item could be customized in a few specific attributes: fast or powerfull weapons, strong or long-lasting armors, etc... Post-NGE, only 4 trades are still available, with the aim of simplifying the game, I'm sure.
So, the MMO part of the game is definitly apropriate, but I doubt about the RPG part. The post-NGE Starwars Galaxies looks not completely unlike a themed Planetside (for the combat), with some chunks of World of Warcraft (for the classes).
Now, my question is: do you think that your current customers will be following you in this adventure, as it really looks like a dumbing-down of the game, making it more like the mainstream online games, and removing from it the parts that were making it unique?
Thanks,
Arkan
SWG do over? (Score:5, Interesting)
Jason
Re:combat update #2 (Score:2, Interesting)
What kind of rootkit will you be installing? (Score:5, Interesting)
What are you going to do to get out from under this rock?
Re:In retrospect... (Score:3, Interesting)
I enjoyed playing a Master Chef even while most of the foods were bugged because the design was good even if the implementation was sub-optimal because the developers were focusing on combat.
3 Strikes (Score:3, Interesting)
I will be cancelling because while I do not mind signifigant game altering changes - I do not appreciate being lied to. The 3rd Strike Lie (bait & switch on expansion purchasers) did not even affect my character.
As a matter of fact - by all accounts I'll be able to respect into a full template Jedi under the new system.
The prior two lies were a result of underhanded publish changes that were not even listed in the patch notes for Publish 22 & Publish 23. I recall the uproar that forced SOE to remove the changes after they went live.
I sold my Playstation 2, and I sold all my games. I will not be purchasing another Sony product. Sony's DRM technology is now being used to cloak game hacks and Trojan programs. Sony is reportedly in the works on removing the ability to play Playstation 3 games on more than one console - so that everyone has to buy their own copy.
Sony is about the dollah dollah bottomline. They believe they can reach this via underhanded tactics and deceptive business practices.
Not off my wallet.
Oh and my question:
Why don't you and your company go fuck yourselves?
Bring Back Old SWG Players (Score:2, Interesting)
I loved and played SWG for about a year. Unfortunately, despite the dazzling variety in the game, I couldn't stay interested. (Even in spite of my strong desire to stay interested.)
The proverbial straw was the original Combat Upgrade. It finally killed the last bit of my joy in the game.
If you can bring back the original wonder and excitement, I would leave WoW in a heartbeat.
Regaining lost players? (Score:4, Interesting)
Will there be a server for people with lives? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Will my Jedi (Score:4, Interesting)
14 millionth ps0t (Score:2, Interesting)
-1, offtopic, but couldn't resist.
Handicapped Players (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Game was to be shut down in January (Score:2, Interesting)
That way everybody gets a chance to be Jedi. The skilled ones longer than the unskilled ones.
Returning players (Score:3, Interesting)
Thanks,
Min (ex master doctor