| Archive for Galactic Chronicles Putting the RP back into MMORPG |
| Sai'nu |
Chapter 8 Stratics Dev Chat – January 23, 2008ClickyThey'll basically be talking about Chapter 8 after the fact tonight. They should've just started the Chat as of this post actually but looking forward to reading through it later on. |
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| Sai'nu |
Clicky
And the posted chat. 
From the sounds of it we'll have about an equal balance of addressing old issues and adding new stuff this year going by the chat to me. |
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| oporim |
To be honest, I don't like it not even one little bit.
Instead of binding the universe together into one big interdependent PvP system (where PvP does not mean PvP:combat explicitly ...), where crafting, healing, entertaining, leveling, and most of all faction relations influence eachother (... but rather Player vs. Player relations), they are driving SW:G into an instance-ized loot/reward driven game, feeding players with new one-time-use quests for their all reward - no goal frenzy. The last two chapters, and what I've read the two upcoming chapters will be about, for sure alienated me totally from this game. I wonder what is the critical mass of high end quests added, when people become sick of PvE and start asking for player-player interaction to be looked at. I mean, if they are concentrating on going for PvE saturated game, they should make SW:G a standalone offline game with an 8-multiplayer ability. That's where we are at now. Sadly. |
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| Sai'nu |
Still looks good to me. They do continue to make some boners though; but that isn't anything new with SWG.
I think what'll be the straw for a lot of gamers though is what they decide to do with the GCW/PvP system since they've hinted at they intend to do something with it this year. Personally I think it was a mistake to add in an exclusive PvP system to the GCW when the PvE is just as much a part of it. I think we all realized the mistakes with that system a little too late. So, I'm hoping they address that system and make the PvP about PvP and not the sole grind of the GCW where it does effect the PvE system and also cuts out more crafting that could be in play instead. Kind of like how it was before the N.G.E. to begin with. The Collections System and the Heroics weren't a bad move either. But they can be overdone and the logic of "a rare" in every collection was pushed a little too far. Other than that they've made large steps in trying to get the game led back in the right direction. Hell, I'm glad they realized defense stacking is a problem and took note to tweak it. But with how everyone cries out at those needed changes you'd think they were changing how combat works again. If you haven't read the chat yet I'm talking about the Block change. Umpteen threads about it already. Block still works they way it's suppose to but they're just making the percentages a little less... Uber. |
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| oporim |
(Im not sure if I presented my point properly, so I'll reiterate it  )
The game is still in pieces and all they are doing is adding in new time sinks. This isn't "game developement" in my eyes. #1 a) crafting system is a "standalone" system, and pretty much on a "one-time per player" need b) crafting system is not fully integrated into the rest of the game, but just slightly connected, and even this connection only works for a few items #2 a) entertaining subsystem de-integrated from the whole "simulated world", just like crafting b) entertaining subsystem was reduced to a "I want to play a buffbot" #3 healing was also ripped out of the whole simulation along with hospitals, and reduced to healing some of your faction allies (or wannabe neutrals) in combat (oh, and of course not to forget: buffing) #4 group leveling and aiding nubs was reduced to painful solo killing grind or questing grind and that is precisely what it is: you meet a scientist, "I need some piece of hardware" ... "sure just first go there and kill 30 that, 31 that, 32 those animals, which btw happen to not have ANY sane relation to the quest you are doing, 30 Borvo, 29 ragtags etc etc" to the point where you want to puke. Spin groups were lame, but were still superior to this, at least you were groupped with live people with a common goal #5 a) GCW (which I believe is the core of SW:G for RP, PvE combat, PvP combat and PvP relations) is disfunctional to the max, and (big surprise: again) reduced to a grind for a buff. I personally don't have any problem with decay or a fact that I will decay, but I have a large problem with the casual form the GCW has taken, and how it has little to nothing to do with Star Wars Galactic Civil War, out of the scope of maintaining a rank by consensual or non-consesual fightclubbing (well, Restuss is just that) it is a pointless buff grind. b) Bases are a farming tool, OnLeave/Combatant/SF duty system is a non-engaging unimmersive "dueling (or even better) form of a guildwar" system, where people can opt in and out as they please, factional gear is not enforced, restrictions are not enforced, there's no consequence to anything, bottomline at the end of the day there's just two GANGS of people in various pieces of armor (or even armies of jedi) fighting eachother over a street like some Creeps and Bloods (or even worse, in last months it's fighting over the starport line) who most of the time don't seem to have anything to do with Rebellion or Empire. A gangwar where you can call "Timeout for me" any time you wish, and walk away. Pointless, non engaging and unimmersive. And again, they aren't doing anything about it. Im afraid to imagine what a GCW revamp means for SOE, considering how they repeatedly raped GCW in the past: first they broke it with a series of bad calls, then they slowly converted it into a mini buffing/reward system, first with Restuss, then static bases and finally new ranking system. If this continues (looking what "heroics" in its core actually is), I lost my hopes for Star WARS. #6 a landslide of PvE quests with no end in sight PvE quests, all in all totally pointless out of scope of "getting another buff or stat", just another disconnected subsystem to an already shattered game, a minigame inside a series of minigames, where players are compelled into a spiral of buffgetting in order to "feel worthy" to compete in other minigames, a vicious circle, buffgrind, endless timesink, worthless nothing. The games remains shattered, universe in not functioning, systems are not connected beyond the point of endless buffing, everything is so casual, and everything is so buff. And what do they do? They announce more of this shit. (Sorry, Im just pissed a little bit) |
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| Iago |
The options for developers are, force players to interact or give them the choice to do so. SWG's devs have gone with the latter option. This leaves your experience up to you, and appears to appeal to more players (as it provides for both the soloist and the team player). This may not be the ideal in your eyes, bro, but it is for a good portion of the playerbase. I'm not saying it couldn't be better, but there's as much logic and strategy behind the current system as there is in your ideal. |