Does BioWare take pride in their MMO?

[kevlarto]

I think the orignal team did, I met allot of those guys at Pax and talked to them face to face, they were very proud of what they had done, and enjoyed working on the game it showed in how they talked about things.

Now that most all of them are gone and the company is just full of EA drone employees, that had no stake in the creation of the game and this is nothing more than a job, I don't think there is much pride in anything at EA.

Edited December 24, 2012 by kevlarto

[ShepardSpock]

How the direction of this game is going, it's obvious they don't even play their game.

[darklordpotter]

I think the orignal team did, I met allot of those guys at Pax and talked to them face to face, they were very proud of what they had done, and enjoyed working on the game it showed in how they talked about things.

Now that most all of them are gone and the company is just full of EA drone employees, that had no stake in the creation of the game and this is nothing more than a job, I don't think there is much pride in anything at EA.

 

I would tend to agree with this most of the people who were committed to a vision (whether we agreed with the vision advocated or not) for the game left either voluntarily or given an offer they couldn't refuse. What's left of the original team is either too junior to make a difference or appears to be busy updating their CVs rather than fight a losing battle with EA's higher ups.

[asbalana]

Feels to me that they lost faith in this product well before Launch,

 

I wonder about that. It could be that somewhere along and near the end of the developement stage it was realized that they had rolled box cars. Panic and fear replace pride.

 

There is so much (there at launch) about the game that is brilliant and well done that it is amazing. Unfortunately that is offset by the many things that are poorly done, impemented, and concieved. SWTOR should have been the game of the decade, everything was there, and yet the best that I can do is hope that it wil make it to it/s second anniversary.

 

In answer to the thread question, no I do not think so. At this point I think that BW is gone and the EA strategy is to commit as little as possible to keep the beast alive while sucking as much money out of it as possible and then to move on. I do not see a bid for a long run based on quality. There is little room for pride in that.

[Nemmar]

They should be proud of the game they created. Its a really fun game at its core.

 

I'm sure they wish they have had more development time before bringing it out aswell as more resources and technology that they didnt. The game itself is pretty good though. Its just not fully optimised.

 

The proof that they havent lost faith in it is that we just had an expansion announced and an F2P option come out aswell as several 6 week patches.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Nemmar

[Jett-Rinn]

Amazing. How did you get all this exclusive inside information?

 

especially considering that we been told time after time the vast majority of the dev team is still there..... just some high profile names either quit or was outsourced.

 

But that's the insipid hate machine for ya...always with the doom and gloom hoping it will bring back their precious swg.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Jett-Rinn

[darklordpotter]

especially considering that we been told time after time the vast majority of the dev team is still there..... just some high profile names either quit or was outsourced.

 

But that's the insipid hate machine for ya...always with the doom and gloom hoping it will bring back their precious swg.

 

cough post #20 cough.

[Ooloi]

You are simply never going to see them go back and tidy stuff up, or fix bugs in old content, or revise old content to adjust it to optimize it, or whatever you want to call it.

 

There was a time and a budget and a calender schedule and a set of hours for a specific employee(s) to do the job on a given thing. After that, they are required to move on to the next thing.

 

No employees are allocated time and/or money to go "let's fiddle with old stuff and make it right, or better".

 

Once a cash shop hits, this problem becomes greatly exacerbated. "Content" will be pushed out in dribs and drabs and you will pay for it, on top of your subscription. Cool content in terms of gear, mounts, titles, toys, etc. will be pushed into the cash shop, and it will be vastly superior in looks (and sometimes in utility, if not in stats), to the gear that comes generically.

 

Once you accommodate yourself to this you'll have entered the Realm of Lowered Expectations, and like Milo, will be more able to cope with reality.

[Jett-Rinn]

cough post #20 cough.

 

Cough that's only a drop in the bucket considering how big the team is and they are still hiring people for it cough.

 

[RaithHarth]

Not to worry when Disney takes over the license everything will change

[Dokar]

Cough that's only a drop in the bucket considering how big the team is and they are still hiring people for it cough.

 

 

The only number I have ever heard was about 600 people which was for the Austin area which includes Bioware, EA sports and a call center.

[Mallorik]

This game has never had good QA, if it did they would have listened to the veteran mmo players in their beta and the game would not have taken a faceplant at release.

 

The game is doomed, when the slow people finaly realize that this game actualy has one of the most extensive pay 2 win stores in any western mmo it will finaly be over but it will probably contnue to be a long slow slide with degrading content and quality of the game before that happens.

[GrimInc]

Not to worry when Disney takes over the license everything will change

 

If they feel EA is endangering there new purchase.

[ShiningKnights]

In before the lock...The answer is no.

[pseudonyms]

We are talking about a company (EA) that has taken something that is taken very seriously and is sacred to many (Star Wars franchise), and spit on it. Not only have they spit on the Star Wars franchise, they have spit on us, the Star Wars fans. They show you every day with their lack of action. They show you every day when they push more CM items than actual real playable content. They show you by making spending money on the CM more attractive than doing what it takes to earn something in the game itself. Look around at what they are doing with this game. Pay attention to where they are placing the bulk of their resources. I promise you, it's not on this game. I mean the playable game. The only reason I am sticking around is that I hope that all of the money they pull from the suckers is used in a more beneficial way. I have patience, but it's not infinite.

[lokozar]

The proof that they havent lost faith in it is that we just had an expansion announced and an F2P option come out aswell as several 6 week patches.

 

Makeb has been announced a long time ago, even with video sequences of it. I'm pretty sure, after this so called expansion SWTOR won't see much more "new" stuff, because there simply isn't any content left that has been in stock till now.

 

For me, the draconic F2P system here, the constant lack of considerable content updates and the horrible QA is proof enough, that EA/BW has lost faith in this product. It's mere financial damage mitigation they're trying to do right now, by squeezing money from every bit of the game, without delivering the amount of service other companies/games do.

 

Worst thing is, that isn't even necessary. If they would change their rip-off-and-coerce-strategy (which was ill-reputed all over the net even before they activated it), to a treat-customers-and-potential-customers-as-friends-and-make-fair-and-sound-deals-scheme they would make more money and could deliver new stuff comfortably.

 

It doesn't mean that players do get everything for nothing, it just means EA/BW has to deliver a great product and add something on top of it, which is cool and tempts people to throw money around. That's not witchcraft or something, but a system that has been successfully tested multiple times. Seeing beyond the own nose would have been a healthy thing for the game and the company alike.

 

At the moment EA/BW is it's own worst enemy.

Edited December 24, 2012 by lokozar

[Alec_Fortescue]

Is Mr. Ohlen still alive? :/

[Illbleed]

You know, I wasn't sure if this is attempt at trolling, but I'm going to answer you anyway. Both of BioWare's founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, retired Sept. 18th, 2012. These men were the visionaries that lauched the solid company that was BioWare. Then the Lead Designer Daniel Erickson left Oct. 4th to look for greener pastures. Executive Producer Rich Vogel also left just before another massive round of layoffs for the SWTOR team. BioWare is not the entity that once made the amazing titles they were known for. Now it is merely a subsidiary of EA. To many, including myself, BioWare no longer exists, it's just EA.

 

Coupled with the fact that the new Executive Producer, Jeff Hickman, who's pedigre includes Customer Service Director and then (when EA took over) Executive Producer of Dark Age of Camelot and Executive Producer of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. His assignment to SWTOR is indicitve of what happend to the two other games he helmed, status quo and stagnation. Cut everything out and tread water is his hallmark.

 

So yea, not a whole lot of exclusive information, you can find it plastered all over the internet. You just have to take time to look. (in case you didn't, I provided links )

 

Damn you just did the molly whop crip walk on this dudes attempt at being a trolling fanboi GOOD JOB AND AMEN!!!!!

[Katsuragisama]

You are simply never going to see them go back and tidy stuff up, or fix bugs in old content, or revise old content to adjust it to optimize it, or whatever you want to call it.

 

There was a time and a budget and a calender schedule and a set of hours for a specific employee(s) to do the job on a given thing. After that, they are required to move on to the next thing.

 

No employees are allocated time and/or money to go "let's fiddle with old stuff and make it right, or better".

 

Once a cash shop hits, this problem becomes greatly exacerbated. "Content" will be pushed out in dribs and drabs and you will pay for it, on top of your subscription. Cool content in terms of gear, mounts, titles, toys, etc. will be pushed into the cash shop, and it will be vastly superior in looks (and sometimes in utility, if not in stats), to the gear that comes generically.

 

Once you accommodate yourself to this you'll have entered the Realm of Lowered Expectations, and like Milo, will be more able to cope with reality.

 

I think we've all had lower expectations after 1.2. 1.2 was a good patch, and it just went all down hill after that.

 

How the direction of this game is going, it's obvious they don't even play their game.

 

It certaintly does feel like they dont play they're own game at times.

[Darth-Rammstein]

We are talking about a company (EA) that has taken something that is taken very seriously and is sacred to many (Star Wars franchise), and spit on it. Not only have they spit on the Star Wars franchise, they have spit on us, the Star Wars fans. They show you every day with their lack of action. They show you every day when they push more CM items than actual real playable content. They show you by making spending money on the CM more attractive than doing what it takes to earn something in the game itself. Look around at what they are doing with this game. Pay attention to where they are placing the bulk of their resources. I promise you, it's not on this game. I mean the playable game. The only reason I am sticking around is that I hope that all of the money they pull from the suckers is used in a more beneficial way. I have patience, but it's not infinite.

 

A voice of reason! I'm sticking around for another four months until my sub runs out and if things don't look better by then I'm out. You are right about them putting more attention on cm items than on the actual game, it's sad it had to be that way.

Edited December 25, 2012 by Darth-Rammstein

[Ansalem]

If Bioware took pride in their MMO they would have the integrity to enforce their own rules of conduct in game. Instead we are subject to constant disregard for the rules in public chat channels as people harrass, bully, and insult people until they quit the game. 240+ tickets in game some of which were closed and the players go unpunished not even receiving warnings as they repeat this inappropriate behaviour and the law abiding players simply stop playing and quit. Shame on you Bioware.

[arunav]

Makeb has been announced a long time ago, even with video sequences of it. I'm pretty sure, after this so called expansion SWTOR won't see much more "new" stuff, because there simply isn't any content left that has been in stock till now.

 

For me, the draconic F2P system here, the constant lack of considerable content updates and the horrible QA is proof enough, that EA/BW has lost faith in this product. It's mere financial damage mitigation they're trying to do right now, by squeezing money from every bit of the game, without delivering the amount of service other companies/games do.

 

Worst thing is, that isn't even necessary. If they would change their rip-off-and-coerce-strategy (which was ill-reputed all over the net even before they activated it), to a treat-customers-and-potential-customers-as-friends-and-make-fair-and-sound-deals-scheme they would make more money and could deliver new stuff comfortably.

 

It doesn't mean that players do get everything for nothing, it just means EA/BW has to deliver a great product and add something on top of it, which is cool and tempts people to throw money around. That's not witchcraft or something, but a system that has been successfully tested multiple times. Seeing beyond the own nose would have been a healthy thing for the game and the company alike.

 

At the moment EA/BW is it's own worst enemy.

 

I think you are correct but hope you're not. Cancelled my subscription, but would like to come back at some point if things change for the better. I do not like the cash shop emphasis without keeping the game up to standards. The bugs are out of control since the layoffs took their full effect.

 

Played through the classes I was interested in and had a fun time, though. It's a shame the game didn't turn out for the better, it had a lot of potential.

Edited December 25, 2012 by arunav

[lokozar]

Btw ...

 

Is it just me or are some (inconvenient?) threads in this forum hidden as long as I don't log in?

[HoboWithAStick]

Most headpieces/hoods still don't work with twi'leks.

[xorcist]

Amazing. How did you get all this exclusive inside information?

 

Don't know if you're new or not. But, it seems you are falling behind with what's been going on. None of it is exclusive and is available to everyone that keeps up with the rest.