Well, I thought I'd post something different for a change -- I'm just burned out on politics.
Since we're all online junkies here, I thought I'd spew forth on somethign that's really got my goat -- the MMORPG "Star Wars Galaxies" and their upcoming "New Coke" fiasco....
I've been playing for, oh, a year now. I've got a few friends there and I rather enjoy the game. There are bugs, flaws, and things they could have designed better -- but as far as that goes it's true of many games and at least Galaxies had the grace to try something a LITTLE different (a skills-based system instead of a level system).
Mostly it's been flexible enough for me to change my character if I didn't like where I was going -- I've tried all sorts of combat and crafter types, and I've had no problems running around and doing what I needed. I've had a good time, I mostly group with just one friend or play solo.
The Jump to Lightspeed expansion was very nice, giving me a lot of hope for this upcoming "Combat Upgrade" wherein they would -- it was claimed -- fix some pesky bugs that neutered some professions and generally just balance things a bit for the PvP end.
Coupled with the hopes that the next expansion would add some long-awaited 'high end combat' I was pretty stoked with the CU went to open beta.
I should have listened to my gut. I got to witness -- three weeks ago and every day up to and including today -- the WORST software fiasco in history. I have never, ever, EVER personally seen a software firm screw up that badly before.
We're not talking a buggy mess that wasn't ready for open beta -- although that was a problem -- but what I found out was that the Galaxies team had taken their prized CU documentation -- developed in conjunction with designers, players, class correspondents, and taking into account the intricate web of interrelationships that a skills-system can create -- and thrown it out the window.
Sometime back around Christmas, they brought in a new team, chunked in the CU design, and began to hammer in the most god-awful bad series of changes it has ever been my misfortune to witness.
I can't imagine what they were thinking. I can't imagine what they're thinking now. I'm watching the test forums, and noticing polls running 80% against the changes, against recommending the game, against everything -- and every day is just silence.
What they did was -- basically -- tossed aside the complex design fixes for the core engine and simply imported EQ2 code. As you can imagine, shoving a level-based system into a skills-based world caused some...problems. Each "problem" was fixed by hardening the level system, which created more...problems.
It's hideous. It's ghastly. It's such a giant kludge I'd be ashamed to have anything to do with it. Yet they're going to push it to Live in two weeks.
For Sony, for this game, it's a "New Coke" moment -- but at least Coca Cola could claim they didn't KNOW people would hate it. Sony has no such defense.
What on earth would lead them to do this? Chasing mythical short-term profits (they seem to feel hordes of players will descend upon them with Episode III is released...why they'd pick up a 3 year old game with no tie-in to the movie, instead of an Episode III game is never explained. Nor is it explained why they'd stick to a boring, badly designed game after trying it -- or how they're a better market to chase than the stable user-base they have) at the expense of the long-term is the only explanation I have.
So, am I the only Kos guy that plays? Anyone else tried out the CU?