



Interview with SWG Producer Grant McDaniel 40
Robert Cox from SWG.WarCry.com interviews SOE producer Grant McDaniel on the three-year anniversary of Star Wars Galaxies. From the article:
"'There was certainly a concern over how [the NGE] was going to be pursued by the players, but we knew that to make the kind of game that us and LucasArts expected for a Star Wars online game, we needed to make the changes,' said McDaniel. 'And to actually be able to continue to support the game that we've got, we needed to make those type of changes, to make it something that we could really feel good about, that we could really make sure was a high-quality game that provided the action experience that you'd expect from a Star Wars game.'"
"'There was certainly a concern over how [the NGE] was going to be pursued by the players, but we knew that to make the kind of game that us and LucasArts expected for a Star Wars online game, we needed to make the changes,' said McDaniel. 'And to actually be able to continue to support the game that we've got, we needed to make those type of changes, to make it something that we could really feel good about, that we could really make sure was a high-quality game that provided the action experience that you'd expect from a Star Wars game.'"
You You You (Score:5, Insightful)
You can try to say the NGE was for the fans. You can try to tell me that the fans wanted it and welcomed it. But I was a fan and I remember the day that the test servers got the combat upgrade patch. I remember people running through coronet screaming that the world was ending. I remember telling them to can it and that everything was going to be ok. I was wrong.
So tell me, Mr. Cox & Mr. Smedley, when are you going to listen to the fans? What really brought about the CU because it wasn't complaints from the fans. Was it LucasArts twisting your arm? Was it because you had a crazy idea and it got out of control so you couldn't stop because you had already dumped too much money into it? Were you worried about the ROI on all that work? Was it because some corporate yes-man said, "There's more money this way!" and since you're just a producer looking for profit, you followed blindly? What really was it? And why the hell didn't you listen to your fans after/while you made the decision?
Why do you turn a blind eye to everyone in favor of classic servers? Why don't you let people vote with server selection? I'm sick of softball questions pitched to SOE people who were in charge of destroying something I once loved. Have you ever admitted to making a mistake in your entire life?
If I may comment on those forums, you have to play the game to post on them. They are tightly moderated by non-SOE representatives. Never have I had so many posts locked/removed or trashed because the mods didn't approve. There is no room for vocal dissent in your community and that's why it will or has already fallen apart.
Re:You You You (Score:2, Informative)
I quit, not because of the game changing (it was kinda fun if you gave it a chance) I quit because of all the bitching from my fellow players. In the end it became impossible to have a fun play session without having to deal with mass protests or hate-spam in the local channel (why these people didn't just quit I don't know).
The other thing that got to me was the so called "Elder Jedi" who made it there "job" to abuse anyone who respeced into or started a new jedi because they
Re:You You You (Score:5, Informative)
In other words, it was enough work, and a big enough achivement, that I wouldn't begrudge them a little anger at the fact that all of a sudden everyone and their brother could just roll up a character that took them littleraly years to work up to. The vets in that game got a raw deal, and I think a little bit of bitching is not out of line.
Re:You You You (Score:2)
Re:You You You (Score:2)
I've heard it before, mostly from disgruntled devs, and I think it's a copout. Battlefront, Republic Commando, Bounty Hunter. Rogue Squadron. TIE Fighter. The X-Wing series.
There's a lot of people that love Star Wars for the Jedi. There's also a lot of people that love it for the space b
Re:You You You (Score:2, Interesting)
The economy was royally screwed, due to Jedi existing completely ou
Re:You You You (Score:2)
The point is, with this game, there isn't anyone who didn't get the shaft.
Why did you play pre-nge SWG? (Score:1, Troll)
That I think is where SWG failed, it never succeeded in making clear what market it was for. It would like a bunch of Counterstrike fans wandering into a Jagged Alliance session and sticking around until Jagged Alliance became a bad coun
Re:Why did you play pre-nge SWG? (Score:2)
Yeah... those where the exact people who where playing it. To answer your question, I liked both versions of the game for diffrent reasons. I admit that I liked the pr
Why are we beating a dead horse. (Score:4, Insightful)
There is a game called Locomotion, a half-assed sequel to the game Transport Tycoon, by Chris Sawyer. It is not perfect. In some ways it is worse then its parent. It is a tycoon game allowing you to build a road, rail, sea and air transport network. The original had a dedicated, still does, following but after a couple of years the game for me was finished. The graphics too old, and the gameplay too restricted by the limited engine.
Some of the gameplay limits (station size, train length, annoying breakdown) wear removed with patches but in the end TT and its fan made offspring are just too old.
Locomotion has at least better graphics but I am again running into the fact that Chris Sawyer has a very different idea about games then I would like. His eternal obsession with things wearing down was easily patched (no dear Chris, in real life you do not have to replace a train every 3 years just to keep it running. Trains 100 years old still run reliably.)
But the extremely limited signalling, morronic path-finding and restricted station layout are once again turning me off from the game. Not because I don't want to play anymore but because I can't play the game I want to play it.
What does this have to do with SWG? Well not much except that TT and indeed Locomotion are by any outsiders as dead a horse as you can find. So why still flog it?
Simple. BECAUSE THERE HAS BEEN NOTHING TO REPLACE IT
SWG for all its faults still stands alone. Pre-CU and certainly Pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies is a unique game, not just in gameplay terms but also because Sony is one of the few online companies who do not think everyone in the world owns a credit card.
I swear to god that the next person who recommends Eve Online (Credit card only) to me, I will call him a NGE-developer. If you then point out that I could always buy a pre-paid card for Eve Online (only buyable from stores that only accept credit cards) or use paypal (dutch paypal only accepts credit cards) I am going to call them a SWG bug tester.
One thing that made SWG standout was its proffesion system. You didn't have one. Rather most new players would take all the base proffesions available and dabble in each, gaining experience and spending their limited (fixed) amount of skillpoints on getting better in their proffesions. So a new player would have some markmanship (ranged), melee, scout (harvesting from animals), crafting (turning harvested stuff into goodies), medic (turning dead animals into goodies to cure ouchies), maybe even a bit of entertainer to rest your mind and look at your avatars thight ass in a skimpy dress. Oh was that just me?
NGE changed this. It is now exactly like Everquest 1-2, WoW and indeed every goddamn Korean MMORPG. If I wanted to play any of them, I would. SWG was the one I stuck with longest.
But so what? You in the end still had to choose a profession, sacrificing some lesser ones to free skillpoints so you could advance in others. Yes. Correct. BUT if you ever tired of your chosen proffesion you could easily learn a new one. Tired of melee, pick up some pistol skills.
Ah but you can do that in other MMORPG's, just start a new character. But no. In SWG, you didn't have to do that. You would just slowly migrate from your old job, loosing skills and learn new ones. You would still have the same name, still be the same person.
The impact of only being allowed one character per server should not be underestimated. Many a person learned the hardway that this means you can be tracked far more easily, be an asshole and get ignored and you are ignored until you delete your character and restart a new one.
But the most important one for me was that you didn't have to do all the beginners stuff again. Your character respecced from swordsman to pistoleer did not have to get the Point of Interest badges again. In everquest 2 I go
Re:Why are we beating a dead horse. (Score:2)
Kinda-sorta. The asian market gives you much less per customer and keeps track of them in a different way. It's hard to compare with the metrics available to us. They're certainly not all paying 14.99 monthly.
Nothing to see here, move along. (Score:1, Funny)
Eight months into NGE (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, some people like aspects of the new combat. But melee was ruined. Then they put in a fix for melee, and it screwed up other things. But the real destruction of SWG by NGE is the end of the player community. The NGE changes have eliminated any need to interact with people: no more wounds or fatigue that need healing by doctors or in cantinas, switching to a loot-drop economy and screwing over crafters. Want to find the most powerful weapons or best armor? It doesn't really matter anymore, it's all based on your combat level and not the gear itself.
There are still many NGE-introduced bugs, eight months later. SWG always has had a reputation for bugs and being unfinished, but prior to NGE there was always a sense that new stuff was being added. NGE bugs are all because of resetting things, so stuff that used to work doesn't. It's like re-introducing problems that used to be gone. Very frustrating for players.
The attempts to turn SWG into a persistent KOTOR or a WoW work-alike they've ruined the game. If you like fighting for an hour or so every night maybe SWG is worthwhile. Or you can just play an FPS that doesn't have a monthly subscription. The stats on mmogchart.com don't show an increase in subscribers, that's for sure.
Re:Eight months into NGE (Score:1)
Except that.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that that was exactly NOT what the large installed base expected. What they expected was tweaks to the system they were currently enjoying, not having the carpet yanked from under their feet. What is it about Sony that even after decades of failed proprietary formats and software gaffs they still think they know better than the user what the user wants?
Grant McDaniel a.k.a. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (Score:2, Funny)
Screwing the Dead Horse (Score:5, Insightful)
SWG was a heap and a half when it shipped. It's less than half a heap now that all the depth has been artificially amputated.
This is typical of SOE, but I really did expect better from Lucasarts.
Re:Screwing the Dead Horse (Score:1)
Re:Screwing the Dead Horse (Score:2)
Re:Screwing the Dead Horse (Score:1)
Re:Screwing the Dead Horse (Score:1)
Another one? (Score:1)
why the coverage? (Score:1)
Other purchases (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Other purchases (Score:2)
PC Gamer is funny. (Score:2, Interesting)
Play Final Fantasy XI (Score:2)
Re:Play Final Fantasy XI (Score:2)
Re:Play Final Fantasy XI (Score:1)
It also has the worst "return" policy I have ever encountered.
"Return" policy in the sense of what happens to your account after you have left the game for x amount of time and you want to come back and re-activate your account.
Warcraft and Everquest (I think) don't delete anything.
The other month I thought I'd give FFXI another go, and maybe try out the Red Mage (actually, I was inspired after playing FF on PS2 hehe). Anyways, I got a rude shock when I found out that if I don't log in within 3 months
WoW is the problem (Score:2, Insightful)
First to say it (Score:1)
FUCK YOU FOR FUCKING EVERYTHING UP
Never in my entire life have I seen something handled SO poorly in my life. There was ZERO change controls, they release something it breaks something, they nerf it and it breaks it again. Remember, you clowns basically completely IGNORED PAYING CUSTOMERS. Yes, I paid a bunch of money every month to play this game which in the be
Re:First to say it (Score:2)
Re:First to say it (Score:2)
....'a bit', eh? How about complicated^complicated?
It's dead Jar Jar (Score:1)
Too many Jedi... (Score:3, Interesting)
Old saying (Score:1)
Ok, where is this article about Déjà Vu?...
Here's the plan (Score:2)
OK SOE, you listening? Good. here's the Pitch: Empire develops a MMORPG, sure it's buggy, but they get all the Rebel planets to subscribe and improve it. Just when everything is going good, change all