I was reading an italian forum about the latest changes in SWG, mostly because it’s a type of community usually less conditioned, and I found a considerable number of “I quit!” posts. I consider these more important and I say that they are less conditioned because it’s unlikely that someone working on the game reads their opinions. There’s nothing to demonstrate, noone to convince. Still, the tone of the comments is the same I can find on the usual boards. Most of them are definitely pissed off, almost enraged. I tend to believe this because they really write only to confrontate with each other and vent their honest disappointment. So I tried to delve a bit deeper on the reasons, trying to put a line between the emotive reactions and the actual valid points.

Now this doesn’t pretend to be a deep analysis of this phenomenon. It’s just a vaporous glance to some of the reactions just out of the curiosity. It would require too much time to do this better. In general what I notice, more than the critiques to the gameplay or the changes to the classes, is the rage against SOE. The players are really pissed off, they feel cheated. This comes before everything else, even before the game itself, and it depends on a number of reasons, some of which I already commented. This radical change is happening all at the sudden and way too quickly. The previous Combat Upgrade was already traumatic but it was carried along, the players were part of its progress, they saw it coming, they saw it pushed back to after the release of JtL. So, good or not (and I’m between those who didn’t like it at all), the players were aware and part of what was happening. They had time to “digest” it. Now the situation is completely different and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was an experiment also about the community. Like a social test to see how the masses react to the most traumatic thing possible. Instead of endless announces and delays, long test periods and rebalances, everything is pushed out without notice and without giving the players enough time to even understand what is going on. But maybe I’m seeing too much into this and the reasons are not so elaborate as I think…

Jeff Freeman hints that the team is under hard crunch. I’m sure noone would feel surprised but, well, *I am*. Why the hell you would have the need to rush out something huge and so absolutely fundamental like this new transition? It doesn’t make ANY SENSE. This is probably the most delicate moment ever for the game at the exclusion of launch. And they are rushing out, they are on a hard crunch and they announced the whole thing when it was already all decided and with just a two-weeks notice. No communication, no significant explanations. Just a fact: “All your base are belong to us”.

I could go on forever wondering about the reasons behind all this inconceivable absurdity but, again, I wouldn’t be surprised if the real one would be really simple and linear:

This year, the release of Episode III has fueled significant growth for the title and indeed it’s the release of the final Star Wars that has prompted the timing on these changes. “It’s great to have a movie like Episode III that gets people excited. We tried to time these changes with the release of the DVD,” says Smedley. “There will also be a big marketing push that follows as well.

Have you noticed this? Have you noticed how extemporary is it? Without the usual months of preorders? I think that what is going on could be only the result of a marketing manoeuvre. From various posts on the boards we know that the “proof of concept” about the new twitch combat has been worked since forever. Basically since the players themselves started to claim a merge between Planetside and SWG after the obvious failure in the practice of the concepts of the HAM system. But then from Jeff we know that the steering point that concluded into the announce of the NGE goes back to just “a few” months ago. Maybe I’m too naive but I believe that the whole “the changes were deliberately released after the cash-cow of the new expansion had been milked” (this one “fished” from a comment) may not be so deliberate and preplanned. Maybe it’s all the consequence of a number of coincidences and different teams working on different parts of the game as autonomous units (which is already a glaring issue). Maybe the devs tried to push for the idea for a long time, working on two or more fronts. The live game, the Combat Upgrade, the new expansion all while the proof of concept of the twitch crazy idea was being developed. And then they all did a huge effort trying to “pitch” this idea to the “Managment” and this took more and more time. Till the point where the Mangment saw this “Planetary Alignment” between the problematic status of the game (and its not so stellar performance), the crazy idea that the devs were trying to pitch and the release of the DVD version of the very last episode of the series. The game, at this point, was probably in stagnation and without many other hopes since no new movies are expected to give another external sale-boost. The release of the DVD was probably seen as a last occasion to readily pick up or just leave behind. I’m sure that it’s at this point that the managment went “Hoooooooooph” and finally said, “What the hell. Let’s just do it.”

Something I’ve learnt is that the reality is the result of awful compromises. But or you accept them, or you do nothing. This is one. As I commented elsewhere what matters from now onward is solely the quality of the changes. And this remains a risk because the quality doesn’t come with guarantees. It is never safe. This while the whole discussion was derailed through various fancy transitions to “whether change or not”. Which is a moot point. Empty, redundant. These are the discussions that risk to trigger polemics that do not go anywhere.

I’ve already derailed enough but my point was to isolate the very first problem perceived by the players, the fact that they feel cheated, and figure out the reasons. Because I’m still naive and I always think that there are always some justifications, somewhere. And so I try to convince myself that all that is going on isn’t driven by an evil mind but just the result of a bunch of coincidences and compromises that, while do not fit with our ideals, are still necessary for the reality. And someone, at some point, has to choose. And I don’t think that choosing with some courage is to blame. *Even* if the result won’t be satisfying.

The players feel cheated and I totally understand and justify them. SOE recently launched an expansion that not only will be half broken and unbalanced as the NGE will be pushed live in just a few days, but that was also marketed to hand out rewards like the special necklace and the exclusive pets for the Creature Handler that are being removed just a few weeks after they were introduced (and bought). SOE deliberately (in this case) decided to not say anything about what would have happened just a few days later. The same for all those players that were able to endure the grind to become a Jedi and unblock the second character slot. The same slot will be now open for every player and in the same way everyone will be able to start as Jedi. The JtL expansion is now free. Some classes were grounded, others were stripped out of their identity and others were simply erased. The combat mechnics changed genre.

OF COURSE the players feel pissed off. No surprise here. They got ganked.

But again this is part of the risk that SOE decided to take. I wrote down some of the reasons why I think these compromises have been so particularly awful and what is left is simply a daring choice. What matters is now about how the game will move from this point. The current designers have inherited an overambitious mmorpg and the “fathers’ guilt”. Some things were broken, some others not. Choices have been made and the designers decided to accompany the conversion of the combat with a replan and consolidation of the classes that could trigger an endless discussion alone. It’s not really easy to discern some decent patterns to organize all that is going on to figure out the actual real, unbiased status of the game and potential development from now on. One thing is sure, though, the current players are sick to play a game still in beta that keeps shapeshifting. And from now on you can be sure enough that they will remain unreasonable and won’t provide unbiased and reliable feedback on the status of the game.

This is why I tried to start digging (only very superficially) to find some patterns. I think I’ve already covered how the players feel, the reasons why they feel so and the whole problem about the communication, timing and execution of these changes. So what about the actual game on its own? This is a short, uncomplete and superficial list:

• Many players are worried about the increasing dependence of the game on ping and framerate which could become an insurmountable barrier, in particular in a game that wasn’t planned accordingly.
• Quickbar combat+First Person Shooter style = clunky and lame. Very lame. The controls are felt problematic and using many types of attacks and effects through hotkeys is appropriate for an RPG style of combat instead of a FPS. The current mix is frustrating and alienating many players.
• Inconsistences in the combat mechanics, too much abstraction. Ex. In the tutorial the players is instructed to hide behind some boxes while the laser beams of the stormtroopers go right through them. Lack of appropriate AI and mechanics.
• Doubts about the scaling possibilities of the FPS combat at the higher levels (both PvP and PvE). FPS combat + levels = problematic. (Tess has a comment about Diablo, though. Which was also referenced by SOE more than the FPS combat)
• The combat is faster but still not wrapped up around the new style and polished. All the characters and NPCs move awkwardly, the animations are mostly broken or not consistent and targeting becomes frustrating under these conditions. Forcing the players to just fire approximately with the autoattack for the best result.
• The freedom and flexibility in how the profession system worked, while maybe mostly only apparent (due to standarized templates and such), was a major feature of the game that is going to be completely discarded.
• Complete lack of customization within the same class.
• Crafters roles at risk due to the complete removal of item decay and customization/personalization.
• Direct unbalance between the classes: it is expected that most players will now become jedis to fill a world of jedis. Which kills both an healthy diversification (the “world” aspect as the unique trait of this game) and the entire perceived setting.
• Heavy bias in the classes and general outlook toward the rebels. No distinction between typologies of classes (again “rebels vs imperials”). Even the tutorial is rebel-biased. If Smed is expecting to make PvP viable in this game and focus again on the Galactic Civil War, this seems a glaring overlook that will seriously undermine the future of the game and its possibilities.
• Many problems still in the perception of the classes. Some of them have been stripped of their identity and main role (instead of consolidating and adding versatility). Ex. Bounty Hunters not being able to hunt players anymore, Jedis losing some key features, Smugglers not smuggling (slicing and production of spices being cut), Officiers not being able to lead groups (removal of “rally point”) and more.
• Inconsistence and excessive simplification (and abstraction) of the level-based system. Ex. Using a pistol will “level” even your skill with a sword.
• The specific, independent quests for each class are shaping the game as a single player, minimizing the strong social aspect that was both a strength and weakness of this game.
• The quest rewards that the new characters acquire along the way and that seem to have an important role, aren’t accessible to respecced ones.
• The UI is really ugly and looks more like a gross proof of concept that something finalized. (apologies to the artist/designer but I’m being honest. Some players have referenced Pit Fighter)

These are some of the points I’ve isolated even if I’m sure I missed many more. Each of these would require a deeper analysis on its own which would go beyond the scope of what I’m doing here. This was an attempt to narrow what isn’t working and what is probably more problematic but still urgent to solve. If SOE decided to go radical they definitely cannot stop now and must remain committed to go through each of those points and provide effective solutions. If they stop here they’ll just produce another half-assed system that will need another major redesign in less than a year. It already happened and noone needs more of these predictable fuckups. And the consequent negative admission that “change is bad”.

To conclude I just wonder what would have happened if SOE already ebayzed all its games as it will eventually happen. Maybe you remember someone menacing the “creative corner”. Some players speak already of fraud. What could have happened if the players had actually directly paid for those characters, skills and items that are now being scrapped or emptied of their main value? I believe this question is threatening enough without further comments…

P.S.
A direct fix I would suggest:
I don’t care if this breaks the current balance. This MUST be in and the rest of the game tweaked accordingly. If a player is engaged in melee he shouldn’t be able to use his ranged weapon. The very first thing the opponent would do is to block the weapon. Receiving laser bolts in your eyes for two minutes straight isn’t conceivable. So give every character defensive melee skills and knockback attacks, but ranged combat should remain ranged. The melee combat should be fleshed out as an independent system with its own “twitch” type of gameplay (give a look that what Bethesda is trying to do with Oblivion for decent twitch-y melee combat). Or removed entirely.

And for the comedy value give a look to this thread (and notice the date). This one also.