There’s an article on IGN delving on some interesting points even if it’s obviously siding SOE. These are my highlights:

The official line on these changes is that both SOE and LucasArts think that the new Galaxies is how the original game should have been released. Sony Online producer Dallas Dickinson was in town to show the game off and told us that they’d gotten tons of feedback from all kinds of sources “telling us essentially that Star Wars Galaxies did not deliver on the Star Wars fantasy. It didn’t make you feel like you were part of the Star Wars universe.”

Well, this is a rather common point of view and it’s sort of predictable that those points would have been recovered to justify this huge change. Ubiq writes about a compact with the players, while I wrote about the communicative pact. The main difference here is that from Ubiq’s point of view the developers are breaking the compact because they are fundamentally changing the original concept of the game with another one. While what I wrote is that the “communicative pact” between the devs and players was already broken as the game came out and provided a type of game with mechanics *already* too alienated and abstracted from the established archetypes and cultural values and myths of Star Wars.

From this point of view this last “turn over” could be considered as a way to actually restore that pact that was broken long ago. Hence deserving the risk.

“The existing game is in a bad place and it has been. We try to give it as much attention as we can, but we’re allowing entire systems and professions to atrophy and that’s just going to continue going down in that direction

This is outright. The comment doesn’t try to justify the previous work and instead digs it without remorse. I agree in particular with the concept of atrophy that can be easily extended to many other situations and mmorpgs. Atrophy and stagnation are two widespread flaws that are already deep-rooted in the mind set of the developers. While this is mostly rhetoric once again used to justify the sweeping changes, the intention to dare and not just let the game follow its course is precious.

Yeah, it’s a big problem with the game when developers don’t know where you’ll be or if you’ll be having fun 30 minutes into your gaming experience. “That was a huge turn off to people that tried the game and quit or people that got told not to play the game. The only people left were hardcore MMO players that understood the genre and were willing to accept its failings.”

In one word: accessibility. This says that one of the fundamental flaws of the original system was in its lack of accessibility. I totally agree. So why and how the new one is suppposed to be better?

An over the shoulder 3rd person view like you’ve seen in Resident Evil 4 on the consoles that at first glance acts like any skill based action game. It means instant understanding of how the system works, which to SOE and Lucas mean more people likely to stay and pay… er, play.

See the pattern?

To begin with this can be interesting and better than a straight shooter in First Person, if the controls and the interface are well adapted and polished. The over the shoulder 3rd person view appeals me and could be an optimal blend between the “twitch” gameplay and group-oriented action.

But what is actually important is again the focus on the accessibility. I’ve already commented that decision to go “twitch” isn’t a guarantee of a better system. A whole lot will depend on the implementation and polish of all parts (it’s really not trivial, we go from the graphic engine to the controls, UI and gameplay interactions), but it’s true that “twitch” will bring the game one step closer to its goal and will help to solve the problems explained in the paragraph above: the accessibility.

Complex and abstract games aren’t easy to understand and relate to. I wrote a whole lot about this. While the “type” of game isn’t determinant for its quality, the decision to go twitch will basically force the designers to integrate and develop a type of gameplay that is more direct and natural. Which is what truly matters, whether twitch or not. In the past I ranted strongly against the trend in SWG to add classic rpg elements like class roles, sparkling “spell” effects and other immersion-breaking features that just clashed with this genre. The twitch combat, while nowhere mandatory to translate the Star Wars univers in a good game, is already a guarantee that the gameplay will be more understandable, more easy to parse and to get, more appropriate for this game.

What I wrote above about the “communicative pact” still applies here. It will be probably easier for the players to adapt themselves to these new radical changes than how it was for new players understand and accept the first combat system (grammar fails me here, but the sense should be clear).

We don’t need to just invent mathematically ideal formal systems, but we need formal systems that are also appropriate for the simulation we want to render. The myths and expectations are stronger and have an higher priority than the abstraction and perfection of a formal system. The idea of a “twitch” combat will remove the weight of the previous HUD-heavy gameplay that used a very high level of abstraction that was nowhere direct and intuitive (I wrote something similar while “reviewing” what we know about Vanguard). What is sure is that, if the implementation is good, the players will surely reward this choice.

Apparently it was difficult creating special content for 34 different classes, which I’m guessing anyone can see is a ridiculous balancing and content creation task that never should have come about in the first place. “We looked at the professions and said we have 34 widely disparate professions in the game. None of which get all of the attention that a profession deserves in a game this type and many of which don’t resonate to the Star Wars universe. I mean, what is a pikeman and why is it something in the game?” So with that thought in mind, they’ve folded all of the 34 professions down into nine professions including Jedi, bounty hunters, spies, officers, smugglers, commandos, entertainers, traders, and medics. “We ended up with these nine very iconic character types.

The necessity of a reasoned consolidation is obvious here and it’s another of those comments that are nowhere new. On the other side I remember Raph being sad because he wasn’t able to fit even more roles into the game, like the “mechanic” and even the “writer”.

As everyone else I’m perplex about using Jedis as a starting class. If anything I would have unblocked it just for those players subscribed for more than two years. It could have been a “cheap” but effective way to reward those players that had to suffer all these painful transitions. But then I would also have tried something different to try to retain their “rarity”. Maybe one day I’ll collect my ideas and write down how I would have implemented them.

The idea to use iconic character types is both good and bad. Good because it provides an answer to the question above: “what is a pikeman and why is it something in the game?” Using iconic types will help to understand and relate to the game in a more direct way but it’s also important that the gameplay is fleshed out so that each class will “feel” and play differently. Then it’s bad because it could easily bring to dull stereotypes. The same could be said about the will to make the player feel like an hero. I don’t think that’s a direct necessity. Star Wars is more subtle than how it appears and its strength isn’t that superficial like a simple hero’s journey. I think people here underestimate the efficacy of this setting.

And finally a note about the two professions getting discarded, rangers and creature handlers:

The only other profession we didn’t absorb into one of these iconic templates is the creature handler and only 1% of our players play that character type.

So, while it seems that elements of the rangers will be absorbed by the other nine archetypes, the creature handler profession will be dropped just because of a lack of popularity. And you cannot blame the devs for this choice.

In general I approve this new plan more than how I did with the previous Combat Upgrade. Changes are always good even if I would have appreciated more the will to build on top of what was there already instead of directly tear down big parts of the game. I don’t see this process as easy. As I said this need some serious work not only on the design, but also on the controls, the client and the interface. Adapting the whole PvE content to the new system and so that it is fun to play will be another huge and hard accomplishment that could easily fail.

But at least I think they are finally moving in the right direction. Let’s hope that the initial result will be acceptable and that the game can finally settle down and start to evolve on more solid premises.

Please do not rush it. It’s too important to go wrong.

Consolidating two comments (one on F13, one here) to summarize my point of view concisely:

—
My current opinion:
1- SOE is handling this transition in a pissy-poor way.
2- “Twitch” isn’t a guarantee of “good”.

I think these are good points. About the first what is really odd is not that they are discarding all Raph’s work, but that they are dismissing even his current one. You know, every time they had some conflict with the playerbase Raph was there for post mortem, mea culpa and consequent promises. This time I find really hard to excuse what is going on and he isn’t probably going to say a word. But even if he doesn’t say anything it’s obvious that he is restraining.

About the second I’m just sceptical. My opinion is identic to Haemish on multiple points (community got shitted upon, the game needed this, and if it goes wrong it will be at least worth it) but the promise of “twitch” isn’t enough for me to be confident about the new overturn. A system is never better than the other, it’s just about how you pull things together and we have zero guarantees that the game will be better this time. “Twitch” for me is just a pretty cover.

I do hope that things will go well and the game will be good. But, for now, we cannot say that it’s what is going to happen.

—

As I told a guildmate that left SWG about the same time I did, SWG has (always had) a lot of great ideas, but unfortunately poor execution.

I totally agree.

Hell, even Raph would totally agree. SWG needed reiterations and needed Raph to commit to the game and drag it along when his view was more needed, instead of fleeing to greener, well-protected pastures.

The point is *exactly the opposite* of the one you write there. We have no concrete reasons to assume that SWG is going to get a better execution now. And what is happening for sure is that a lot of those great ideas are going to be erased.

This is similar to what I wrote about Blizzard. This is a radical change and I’m all for it. For the fact that a radical change was needed, not specifically what they decided to change and how. But whatever will happen cannot be related to the past. And we have still no guarantees that it is going to be better. There’s no evidence that it will be good.

What actually worries me isn’t the change. But the fact that if the change will be executed badly, people will believe that change is bad. Always.

I was writing down some notes so I could wrap up more in details my thoughts later on. But there’s so much to discuss, so many perspectives. The impact of these changes on the rest industry whether good or bad, the reaction of the players, how SOE is handling this change (timing, reasons, details), in particular from the point of view of the communication, wonder what Raph is thinking, how he feels about his work being erased and compromised with one simple gesture, why he isn’t ranting about how SOE is handling the transition like he did in the past (And not limited to this example). And finally the design, of course.

It’s just overwhelming and writing about everything just would require too much work. So I’ll just copy the notes as they came out naturally without trying to cover all the points.

To begin with, my biggest surprise and doubt is about how this whole thing is being handled. In particular the letter from the producer sounds so artificial and distant from the actual perception of the players. With a so big change incoming that is going to sweep the whole game like a tsunami, you just cannot pretend to exhibit a good smile and state that everything is going to go well. That’s really just not appropriate. The PR fluff in these cases is useless. Let’s talk about what the hell is going on, instead. Why so much work has been put in the expansions and CU when now all is going to be wiped. Let’s talk about this sudden decision with just a two weeks forewarning. Let’s talk about the complete isolation of this shadow ongoing development from player’s feedback, correspondents and general discussion. Let’s talk about all that was written till today that clearly contradicts the new stance. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

The communication of this whole transitons lacks efficacy. There are way too many doubts and incoherencies. This is a complete U-turn. But what is surprising isn’t about the new changes. What is surprising is an overturn of the whole attitude, something that needs a reason that cannot be limited just to the game. This is a radical change for SOE as a whole that must be excused in a way or another and there must be something going on that we don’t know.

The reaction, instead, is nowhere surprising (mixing randomly those points I consider valid, mostly Haemish):

You all know how much I hate SOE. But I have to give them props, this is the gutsiest thing I have ever seen an MMOG developer do. They have gutted the entire game, which has the HUGE financial risk of alienating their entire current player base, and it sounds like they have started from scratch. If it works, they will have redeemed themselves in my eyes. If it doesn’t, it was still gutsy, it’s just worthy of ridicule.

Gee I’m glad you guys are impressed. The rest of us, like me, that rebuilt this apparent shithole from the ground up after they gutted the playerbase the first time basically logged in today to watch most of my 390+ member guild discussing quitting.

I’m not surprised that the communities we’ve made over the past 2 years mean shit to SOE, or this venue apparently. My only hope is that Haemish will hire on to shoot me in the fucking head if I ever pay SOE another cent.

Julio Torres, refused to listen to the customer base for 2 years straight. To date, they’ve barely addressed the Top Whatever Lists of items the community is telling them over and over and over again are their concerns. The number one thing that consumers have begged for are standards and content. At the end of the day, their answer has continually been to destroy the work and efforts of the playerbase and rewrite everything (especially the ruleset), again. Disdain for their players has been a rampant theme from every CS or programmer I’ve met, easily three sentences into any conversation

The community of Star Wars DID just get shit upon. But, and I’ll try to be clear, it’s become painfully obvious that the size of the community for SWG was not what either SOE or Lucasarts wanted. You weren’t bringing in the money. It was a dying game, dying way too soon before it’s time. No one official has said it, but it’s the feeling that has been out there for a while. Lots of things have been tried. They released the Jump to Lightspeed. More Wookies. A completely revamped but still MMOGy combat system. None of it seems to have made enough difference in the wallet.

My thoughts are that if this DOESN’T work long-term, SWG will be dead in a year. This is the kind of all-or-nothing change that will either work or kill the game for good. I’d guess that a quarter of the player base will not like it just on principle. Some of them may like it once they play it (if it doesn’t suck monkey balls). But keeping on the current pace was probably going to kill it in a year or two anyway. These games, despite what people would have you believe, do not have infinite life cycles.

They were listened to? Is that why the community reps — the correspondents — have never heard of this? Is that why many of them logged in yesterday to learn that the profession they represet no longer exists?

There were volumes of posts in what needed changing prior to the first CURB. The system they had WORKED. It needed tweaking, not re-writing. They strung along the CU “Alpha Testers” for months, and eventually pushed the first CU on the player base (after changing direction on it halfway thru it’s development) so fast that it’s a wonder it got tested at all.

All the players have ever wanted were meaningful professions that actually did what their name represented (smugglers who SMUGGLED, for example) and a less buggy game. SOE seems to want to use the existing community as some kind of fucked up Pavlov’s Dog experiment for all of these different game engines and mechanics. They clearly don’t give a crap about the communities that the players have built over the past 30 months.

To add to what Shockeye said, yes, this was a pigfucker way to announce it to the audience. There would have been whines no matter what, but to say “Here’s an expansion, SURPRISE BITCHES!”

That’s some good, quality pigfucking right there.

My considerations, instead, start from a comment by Krones:

While the combat system sounds far more promising than the previous incarnations, it may be a little too late.

I don’t agree with that. Many players will be back to check how this will go. If the game is actually good (the “twitch” idea is at best a superficial envelope, what will matter is below) they will stay and drag in more and more players. If the game *deserves* a success, the success will come, maybe slowly but steadily. The problem is simply whether a complete redesign and a shift of pace could still lead to a good product that is coherent, consistent and valid. Not compared to the previous version, on its own.

In fact I think I don’t agree with anyone this time. Darniaq wrote how these changes follow the same binary of the discussion on Grimwell but I don’t really agree with that. My principle while discussing there was again that the aim should be about *valorizing* and streamlining what the game had already. Concisely: build on top of what was before, moving parts of the design so that they could be more consistent.

This is why I suggested to not separate the roleplay professions, the same that Darniaq wrote in his recap but that isn’t actually present in the new design. In fact I clearly remember that this was my very own idea. Darniaq proposed to consolidate the professions into one, while I was fighting to demonstrate that the “roleplay” professions should be an added layer accessible to everyone, instead of an exclusive focus cutting out the other “hemisphere” of the game (mostly the combat). Today we see that Darniaq’s idea got accepted, while mine wasn’t.

The same basically happened with the combat. Darniaq and Sky strongly supported a twitch based combat inspired to Planetside while I didn’t see this as something viable and I proposed a middle path. A compromise that again was aimed at streamlining what it was already available instead of alienating the current mechanics to overturn everything and replace it with something completely different. My idea was rather simple: keep the RPG combat but integrate it with more concrete and believable elements (compared to fancy icons and sparkle effects). Like the arcs of fire, Line of Sight, taking cover behind objects, smoother and natural controls etc…

And then I proposed to streamline the PvE, the LFG tools and so on. All ideas that were just discarded. Now I’m not whining because Darniaq’s idea were appreciated while mine rejected (my real goal would be to have them discussed, that’s what would make me really happy). But again I cannot say that I support what is happening to the game. For sure I’m excited and I anticipate these changes. For sure this is way better than no ideas and changes at all. But it’s still not something I would have personally suggested and that makes me rather bewildered.

I didn’t expect SOE to work behind the scenes on something like this. It’s sort of hard to believe it was a project going on from more than one year. It looks way more like a “coup de main” also considering all the work wasted on the CU and the two PVE expansions. What I mean is that this doesn’t seem anywhere planned. It seems instead extemporary and impulsive and I really cannot believe that it’s all smooth and there isn’t some sort of drama involved behind the scenes with people running and screaming “I quit!” along the corridors of SOE headquater. It surprising to read that this change will be rolled out in two weeks and not as an optional server, but as a definite choice that will be imposed to everyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I *strongly* support the determination to make radical choices instead of branching the game into optional rulesets that go nowhere and just make the game even harder to maintain and improve. Those choices and their courage is fundamental to create good games. But then these are those fancy thoughts I keep raving about and despite I strongly believe in their validity I also don’t expect them to be accepted by bigger companies. Instead they are doing this and I’m positively surprised. They aren’t sitting on their asses while watching the game sinking in its problems, nor they are gliding on the surface, scared to do anything else. Instead they go more radical than how I would ever expect. And this is good. This keeps things alive, good or bad, but alive. It rises the interest, people talk again about the game, polemize. This conflict fuels the creativity and puts the premises about what will follow. This disquietude is always good, no matter about the actual design or my opinions about the details.

So, while I could still criticize the design and how SOE is handling this transition, I do appreciate that there’s the will to dare and keep things alive and kicking. And even if this will end in another colossal clusterfuck with fireworks, it will still be better than drowning in a monotonous mediocrity. Enjoy the ride!