Avian Gamers Network

EQ was out for what 5 years before EQII right?

Any speculation on SWG2? I would almost bet if they did that 70% of the old traffic would return to check it out.

_________________
Moge

They would have to get me really worked up about it and almost prove to me the game was a good product before I consdiered spending my money.

Then again, you would just have to get rid of Sony and you have a great chance. But, yeah...I would be up for it.

_________________
Dalaran: Arindel - Frost Mage (Mining/Alchemy)
Dalaran: Roran - Paladin (Weaponsmith/Blacksmith)
Dalaran: Baine - Rogue

I think I am scarred and will be extremely leery of another SOE game. I have a real ethical problem with the way they conduct business. As a consumer, I will not be lead to believe that all MMOs have growing pains, and/or will always release unfinished… bla bla bla. Blizzard showed that the old way of MMO business is not the only way.

But I will give SWG2 a good bit of attention, even if it is made by SOE. I am waiting for SWG2.... I guess a chance to live in a galaxy far far away is what I really want. But if I am paying for that chance, I want it to be fun. SWG is more work than fun. And in many ways SWG is hardly Star Wars. I pray that SWG2 is much better.

But from a business perspective, you know those guys in the suits do not see and love the movies like we do. I wonder if they see SWG2 as a good idea. SWG1 is in many ways a failure. It lost huge market share to WoW. I worry that the suits will not want to make the investment, thinking the Sci-Fi MMO genera is a looser. It is not a looser, but will the suits see that?

I am not sure that SWG was a failure. It was the number 1 game for a good while and they clearly made a profit. I would almost bet they are out performing EQII still.

I look at EQ, EQOA and EQII and I see popular stable games. I do see clear content issues with EQII but the balance seems dead on. <-again no PVP.

SOE is capable of making a quality game. I really do think that they winging the game dev at this point though as there playbook was clearly tossed out pre-launch.

With new producers and even the same design team I think SWG2 has a chance to start anew.

_________________
Moge

There is no reason a established successful game should loose market share like SWG did. From a business standpoint it is completely unacceptable. SWG drove their customers away, and in doing so may have permanently damaged the brand they spent all those years trying to create.

I think a huge factor to WoW's climb to the top, besides game mechanics, is their very long and very public beta test. Having no NDA during beta was just the kind of word of mouth publicity needed to pull entrenched gamers away from other titles.

SWG gave me many fond memories, so in those ways it was not a failure. However it lost so many customers due to its business decisions, and loosing customers is not the path to success, more like the path to failure. Avian had over 200 members playing WoW at one time, HoL and others had more. I, like many others, wanted to play with the rest of my friends at all cost. Some how SWG caused thousands of us players to look elsewhere for fun, and that is not how an entertainment company goes about being successful.


I am a one game at a time kind of guy. I had no desire to move over to WoW, in fact my early comets were negative concerning avatar graphics. However SOE drove me away. And now even though I really want to play a good Star Wars MMO, I fear that I will be an extremely hard sell if SOE is at the helm. They will need to break the work/grind feel of their games, and make them focused more on fun, just to get me to look in their direction.

I have to say that SWG2 sound very interesting, but if they dicide to go through the same method of approach they'll fail.

But on the other hand I doubt that they'll have aNDA this time. Because when SWG(1) was under production it was new and huge. WoW had alot of storyline, and design from earlier games with Warcraft and Diablo (a little) so the secret wasn't going to help.
If people didn't know what happened with the WoW they would speculate alot and have huge expectations. While being able to follow the game they knew what to expect and more people could learn about it at the same time.
SWG had the NDA and I remember speculations about total customizing like building your own Delta 7 from using parts of an A-Wing.
No limits, but you could not have that denied nor comfirmed because of the NDA and the deasign team reluctance in telling too much.

_________________
1st Feb 2008

In all honesty, the reason WoW is huge...

Its easy.

Easy to get into, easy to play... easy on the eyes... interface is pretty simple...

SWG is a great game, but the average knucklehead isn't going to go through all you have to go through in SWG to get into it.

SWG is just way different than WoW or EQ.. there is no endgame per se... it is a world simulation.. not a game with a beginning and end.

Thats where it struggled, most folks don't like that in a game.

_________________
SW:TOR - Mantison Gunslinger, Ironmant Trooper, Manni Jedi Knight
WoW - Dalaran - Manni 85 Mage, Ironmant 83 Warrior, Mantison 80 Hunter
SWG - Chilastra Retired Mantison, Commando / TKA Master aka Trogdor !!!!

/agree manti....

Even EQII is more so than WoW... but it is also a huge time sink... you can't just log on and do something... you have to travel to 'xyz' and then spend 'w' hours doing 'q' to get anything done...

So far WoW is much easier to just casually play (maybe that will change as I spend more time playing it)

Well I think SWGII would be a excellent idea for the one reason they could get it right this time. So many of the problems with SWG is there are irreversable problems. (ie Jedi system). They could recreate the game going back to what gave them problems and use their focus groups to work on the new system. It is what is needed. Honestly though with how I feel about SOE on SWG I would like to see another company make it although I doubt they will let the SWG go somewhere else.
Maybe a great thing to add to this thread is:
IF they did make SWGII what would they have to have for YOU to play it? What would they have to take away for you to play it?

By the way just came to say hello to you all. Have not seen some of you in game in months. And I mean months!!!!!!!!!!!! Just kidding we are all busy. My gametime is very late. The only time I can squeeze it in is when I should be sleeping.
You still have the Avian public chat setup and I am always in there. Feel free to say hello. I wont bite. I promise.

_________________
Jerdeta Douglas (MDE/ March)
Mayor of New Lymbo

Novisio Hope (BH/MSmuggler)

hello Jerdeta! Nice questions.
What woudl they have to add? hmm. For me it is the small things. Balance, Customer Service and knowing your player base. With these simple things you can build a very good game. Knowing your players leads to content. Content for content sake (see upcomming swg expansion) is not really content at all.

WoW has done so many things right. They have (generally) balanced PVP, end game content (but could use more), the ability to make addons is an amazing feature and just their overall understanding of their players.

Basically, yes, I want WoW in space!

_________________
Moge

And, cool that you're in the chat space! We actually only use that for big get-togethers and in-game meetup needs, or for when we were building Avian City, or on Game Launch when we need to coordinate quickly. When Player Cities went live, we had over 70 in there. Fun stuff.

We use either MSN or Private Messages for most of the other chats, though I think the WoW guys have a TeamSpeak server going. We had one in SWG for a while, as well.

But, it's nice to see you getting involved! Welcome, again.

_________________
--The Hermit

I have to stay in Avian public chat just incase I see Gui pop in.

_________________
Jerdeta Douglas (MDE/ March)
Mayor of New Lymbo

Novisio Hope (BH/MSmuggler)

Yeah, that guy is hard to catch.


As far as SWG II goes, I would love it if they did it in the Pre-Phantom Menace times, and then removed Jedi from the current SWG. Give all current Jedi a free transfer over to the new game.

_________________
"Loose with Dignity"
Robert
Second President, Avian Gamers

DDO - Cannith - AlistairItor - Rogue/Ranger (5/3) - Main
DDO - Cannith - Guijanitor - Paladin/Rogue (4/1)
DDO - Cannith - RicochetItor - Rogue (5)

Star Wars Galaxies 2: Lets Try This Again

If they learned from their mistakes and from the success of other games such as WoW it could be good. The desire to experience the Star Wars universe will always be in demand, just as long as its properly done.

So true. When I first started WoW (still a noob though) I kept finding myself saying "That's all there is to it?!" I was so used to SWG complexity I couldn't believe WoW could be so simple.

_________________
Romsuiag (Brad)
Former and Third President of Avian

The reason I don't like WoW or the EQ line is because I'm not into fantasy, so that my problem with the game.
I find SWG easier than WoW because of the equipment in it is more based to ground with magic help and so on.

But I have to admit that SWG is somewhat more complicated to play.

And to get the feel of the Empire opressing you in the game isn't really there. You can go around and beat up an imp pilot in space and no one would notice.

The whole Galactic Civil War thing seems a little static.

_________________
1st Feb 2008

I agree completely. This is why i play SWG and only SWG. I play it because of star wars. They do need to bring back the GCW and go away from Jedi content. The game was intended for GCW. It was great when it was and it needs to go back to that. How tough can it be to have GCW content. JTL was an amazing expansion. But, it could of been better with more GCW content.

_________________
Jerdeta Douglas (MDE/ March)
Mayor of New Lymbo

Novisio Hope (BH/MSmuggler)

Yeah I am such a fan that I bet I will try every MMO that gives me the opportunity to live in that galaxy far far away. It is the Sci-Fi that I am drawn to, but not just any wild Sci-Fi. There is something ancient, yet futuristic about Star Wars, and that is what I crave.

The good thing about our Avian community is that at least one of us should get the 411 on the next game in its early stages. Being that I am a one game at a time kind of guy, I would miss other MMO news. However I know that Obo or someone will get me hooked in the pre release hype when the information begins to flow. God I love pre-release hype! I am sure my graduation date was delayed a semester or two thanks to SWG & Avian prerelease involvement. Do you guys remember the Dev Care Package? Or the Avian company websites? The speculation, and input we tried to give the Devs. They might have been wasted times, but they were some of the best of times!

You know what would be cool, if Gui, Obo, Moge or others got hired to keep the feel of Star Wars in SWG2. I was reading about the Star Wars TV series that is coming out, and how GL wants to pass the torch to a real fan. Word was that a popular web personality may get the job. It would be too cool if the same thing happened for SWG2, and one of our guys got a hold of the reigns.

We should collect all we have through the time and send it in.

We in ourselves are a group of people who want the things going the Star Warsy way.

_________________
1st Feb 2008

Ya swg 2 would be soooo great. They could change the whole time frame so that jedi actualy make sence and then they could try to ballance them instead of just making the grind longer (ppl complain to many jedi in this period so what they do they drop the fs convertion rates. Thats just making ppl anoyed. It fixes nothing) Also they could change it to a time that makes more sense for this type of gameplay that we have now. I mean come on. Weaponsmiths running around. slicers spaming they are selling "illegal" goods in a imp controlled town with a stormtrooper 2 feet from them. Cloning facilities all over. Look at the damn movies! the couple underworld types we saw where han solo and the huts and a couple bh's and such. They where not spaming even in tat. "MASTER SMUGGLER SLICING CHEAP! PST!" They where hiding in cantina's and such. If you are gona make a star wars game 1st make it feel and look like star wars. 2nd make the story actualy fit! dont rewrite what ppl OBVIOUSLY LIKED to make the story fit your game. Make your game AROUND the story.

Atleast I hope the Spacepart is implemented in the game from the start.
As it is now hte spacepart of SWG is just a whole game for it self with very little ties to the groundbased game.

The skill trees could use a fixup like it is requred for a smuggler to have piloting skills.

Because of the missing opression from the Empire in the game a smuggler isn't worth much. Nobody needs to have something done secretlybecause you can do it yourself with the empire standing next to you.

_________________
1st Feb 2008