The end is near... or a new beginning?

[Jabe Adaks]

Hopefully this can stay in the public forum and not be relegated to the "gripe" forum. I am not trolling or trying to incite any flames or criticism...

The servers are relatively empty. Anybody playing can say what they want, but after running around a lot of the server forums on SOE - I see people all saying the same thing across the forums. Gorath is one of the hardest hit and depending on what happens there will likely be a server consolidation coming soon.

That is not even the main reason for my post. There's a lot of rumors floating about. I've been hearing things from sources I consider credible and the fact they're all saying the same thing means, to me, it is likely to be truthful. One such post sums up everything I have come to believe about the current disposition of SWG:

http://vnboards.ign.com/boards/b1598/93584662/p1/?11

Apparently this person posted a write-up about NGE a few months ago and got flamed to high heaven on the SOE forums (I haven't confirmed this). I do believe this is the situation. LucasArts really has no idea what to do now. They've pretty much destroyed their credibility to make an MMO based on Star Wars and they know they won't live down the past couple of years anytime soon.

I am posting this because out of my own observations and what has been happening, I am willing to accept this as the likely truth and I wanted to share this information. I don't know what the decision will be, but its looking more and more certain that SOE will not be re-licensed to develop SWG and there will likely be a gap next year at which point the game will cease to exist for a period of time.

There is not enough money to pay for the game anymore. I don't have to hear rumors to know that is likely true. Cross your fingers and enjoy the game while you can. I am tucking away my own bitchiness and will just be happy that there is even a scrap of this community left. The time for criticism has come to pass. They get it... We hurt them. We did a good job of it. I am satisfied that the criticism got through to the thick corporate heads in charge of SWG.

For now, I am going to lock the gripe forum. I got out everything I've had to say and I am pretty sure everyone else has. The only goal to griping was to not let back on the wrath that SOE/LA deserved to get, at least that's how I felt about it. Mission accomplished. For those of us staying, lets just be happy with whats left and hope for the best.

Peace out.

Jabe

[DuoXDuoX]

I've actually heard the same info from that post from other people i know that run forums for game developers and such. So could be true but i aint getting my hopes again. Im not flaming either just saying ive heard the same thing that post says from other people outside of random forums posts.

[warsloth]

I probably have a bit of gripe left...

That message is about the same thing that has been passed around, and seems like the logical answer. Gossip and such aside, it is obvious that:

Customer base is damaged, and has fled.

Game is in disarray.

Companies won't keep dumping effort into damaged product.



One of the things I am fearful of is the allmighty budget.
SOE may have done such irrepairable damage that no other company will be able to revive the franchise. SWG may be worse off than the hopefuls speculate.

[xyryn]

There is one thing that I've been hearing since before I came into the game: They should have set the timeline in KotOR.

It "they" shut down SWG, how many of us would play an MMORPG based on KotOR? If someone other than the Smedley team put it together?

[warsloth]

or post RoTJ... I would be in if they just rolled it back. But there is no argument because that is out of the question for them. This ship has sailed, struck it's iceburg, and wont be coming back...

[Sepiv]

That's just so pathetic. Here they had the Star Wars title and everything. Left to be sold off to some server for no support because of poor management (from what I've learned through swgtales, LA maybe moreso than SOE).

[snado]

If we got enough money togethere, We could probaly buy Gorath and set it up for us, make it Pre-Cu and just kinda mix some of the things from the CU in. But thats just a hopeful wish, Gorath alone would probaly cost at least 500,000

[Jabe Adaks]

If we got enough money togethere, We could probaly buy Gorath and set it up for us, make it Pre-Cu and just kinda mix some of the things from the CU in. But thats just a hopeful wish, Gorath alone would probaly cost at least 500,000

Doubtful. To get one server you must get the source. Take the salaries of 70 developers over 4-5 years and then maybe you'll have a starting price.

Jabe

[xyryn]

Given what I've been reading recently, I think that SOE and Smedley have been taking the heat for a LucasArts boondoggle.

I, for one, intend to take Jabe's advice and play while I can.

I'm curious as to why Gorath might be considered to have taken a harder hit than the other servers. I've heard that Valcyn is nearly deserted. There are still quite a few of us left on Gorath. Maybe the Europeans deserted...haven't seen much German being spoken lately, only once or twice since NGE, and my initial impression of Gorath was that it was a German server with a small American/Canadian population.

[Lok'i Vidaar]

Doubtful. To get one server you must get the source. Take the salaries of 70 developers over 4-5 years and then maybe you'll have a starting price.

Jabe

You're talking in the 15+ MILLION range then...

take your 70 devs at an average salary of 50K/year = 3.5Mil * 4.5 years, or 15,750,000

However, @ an average of 200k subscribers over 2.5 years with an average yearly sub fee of $168, they've gotten roughly 88Mil out of all subscribers.

They may be willing to sell it to us for cheap (or not :P)

[Sai'nu]

As a whole, across the servers, many have left. Telling which one was hit the hardest is hard to say for me. Here on Gorath, depending on the time of day, I still see a lot of different guild tags running around with the "We've still got people playing" line going around.

I've talked with a few of the German players as well and the consensus is pretty much an all around feeling of 'they don't like how the NGE' was handled. Most don't even mind the changes that I've talked to... they just want bugs fixed and a little more consideration out of the devs at the very least.

All I'm saying is... there are facts and there are rumors. Pretty much I'm in agreement with Jabe. For those of us still playing and having fun... simply have fun with it and let's see what comes to pass in the months ahead.

[Skorixor]

If we got enough money togethere, We could probaly buy Gorath and set it up for us, make it Pre-Cu and just kinda mix some of the things from the CU in. But thats just a hopeful wish, Gorath alone would probaly cost at least 500,000

well I've got 140 mil credits on my accounts, I'll buy all the servers AND RULE THE GALAXIES!

[Jabe Adaks]

If we got enough money togethere, We could probaly buy Gorath and set it up for us, make it Pre-Cu and just kinda mix some of the things from the CU in. But thats just a hopeful wish, Gorath alone would probaly cost at least 500,000

well I've got 140 mil credits on my accounts, I'll buy all the servers AND RULE THE GALAXIES!

Can I borrow a few mill?

Jabe

[Skorixor]

Gorath is one of the hardest hit and depending on what happens there will likely be a server consolidation coming soon.

well it only makes sense that the server with higher levels of RP type players get hit hardest with these changes

[Skorixor]

If we got enough money togethere, We could probaly buy Gorath and set it up for us, make it Pre-Cu and just kinda mix some of the things from the CU in. But thats just a hopeful wish, Gorath alone would probaly cost at least 500,000

well I've got 140 mil credits on my accounts, I'll buy all the servers AND RULE THE GALAXIES!

Can I borrow a few mill?

Jabe

sure how much ya want?