Where is James Ohlen?

[Vlacke]

lol no

 

You obviously have no idea who the man is, or which games he has worked on in the past for Bioware, therefore this thread is not for you.

[dayhak]

This is 100% accurate.

 

All the good stuff in this game came from the Bioware team who really cared about the project.

 

All the bad came from EA upper management making money decisions in an MMO genre they dont understand, and pressing the Bioware team to launch before they were ready.

 

I think people are way too free in blaming "Bioware" for this games issues, where they actually should be mad at the purse-string overlords...EA.

 

This comment! Although my confidence in bioware has been shaken, it is largely due to the mismanagement of EA... Every game EA is involved in goes from amazing to bad to worse... EA should stick to sports games which they know... Everything else they need to stay away from

[xorcist]

This is 100% accurate.

 

All the good stuff in this game came from the Bioware team who really cared about the project.

 

All the bad came from EA upper management making money decisions in an MMO genre they dont understand, and pressing the Bioware team to launch before they were ready.

 

I think people are way too free in blaming "Bioware" for this games issues, where they actually should be mad at the purse-string overlords...EA.

 

I agree with you about EA. However, Bioware isn't completely innocent if it was a Bioware employee that decided to licence an untested prototype game engine for this project. Also to blame, the lead costume designer. Damn it, there was more but I can't think of it right now.

[smexymage]

Come on James, give us a wee wave

[smexymage]

I think he is ignoring us

[Alec_Fortescue]

I'd like to know what's up with Mr. Ohlen, too!

[Darka]

Probably busy looking for a new job

[Lium]

Oh what lunacy. This game, EVERY PART OF IT, IS what Bioware wanted. THEY wanted space on rails. THEY wanted companions useless at 50 for anything other than slave labor. THEY wanted loading screen after loading screen after loading screen...that's how ALL Bioware games are.

 

This game, at launch, was a DIRECT reflection of the company Bioware was...story tellers who didn't know how to finish an MMO. All their games have had ending...just like this game did at 50. The game TODAY reflects EA, with a new cash shop update weekly, game update every other month.

 

This right here. No doubt EA has some of the blame, but many of the shortcomings in SWTOR smack of BioWare's overzealous and unnecessary need to control EVERYTHING. I've often said MMOs are like an open palm, even theme park ones.

 

But BioWare approached it with a closed fist. It's just their culture. That's how they roll. And it bit 'em with this game.

[CosmicKat]

Oh what lunacy. This game, EVERY PART OF IT, IS what Bioware wanted. THEY wanted space on rails. THEY wanted companions useless at 50 for anything other than slave labor. THEY wanted loading screen after loading screen after loading screen...that's how ALL Bioware games are.

 

This game, at launch, was a DIRECT reflection of the company Bioware was...story tellers who didn't know how to finish an MMO. All their games have had ending...just like this game did at 50. The game TODAY reflects EA, with a new cash shop update weekly, game update every other month.

 

I'd have to concur.

 

Bioware reminds me very much of Origin back in the days when the Ultima franchise was king of the hill. Both companies seem to have this feeling that they are the epitome of RPG's and therefore whatever they make is the best. Just like Origin, they are sometimes right, and just like Origin, they sometimes fail miserably when that misguided arrogance means they ignore lessons learned by others and insist on doing "their thing" when all conventional wisdom says do the opposite.

 

The simple WoW model was a bad one to copy, history has shown that everyone who has tried it has failed miserably. The inclusion of Bioware staples didn't make the game revolutionary or unique, it just made a simple WoW clone with some Bioware signature features stapled onto it. Those features are nothing more than bells and whistles that everyone has seen hundreds of times in solo RPG's.

[SlimsPicken]

We got a few posts from Daimon Shubert last few weeks, but Ohlen is MIA.

 

I swear, just when they start communicating properly, they retreat right back into a hole and we hear nothing further for months... its disheartening.

[Wudlees]

We got a few posts from Daimon Shubert last few weeks, but Ohlen is MIA.

 

I swear, just when they start communicating properly, they retreat right back into a hole and we hear nothing further for months... its disheartening.

 

He probably got fired by the Hutts in the cartel market. Unsubbed.

[AshlaBoga]

He probably got fired by the Hutts in the cartel market. Unsubbed.

 

Actually I have it on good authority that Mr. Ohlen was in fact eaten by Hutts on Makeb.

 

We shall either avenger his brutal murder and delicious aftermath *slurp!* or join the Hutts and begin eating the rest of them.

 

P.S: I wouldn't normally post this, but I'm joking - I neither condone eating people nor helping Hutts.

Edited January 30, 2013 by AshlaBoga

[Shoogli]

It's funny, maybe I didn't spell his name the right way or something ?

 

if I go to the search page to find posts by this or that user I can't find any from JamesOhlen whereas I can find many pages when searching for DamionSchubert or AmberGreen for example.

 

Another thing, for DanielErickson I can only find 3 posts... Can't seem to find posts about the race issues or stuff like that or anything about story, am surprised, I was convinced he posted a lot more.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with people that left or anything since for example a search on a user named GeorgZoeller does return plenty of stuff.

 

Then again maybe it's a forum bug or issue since one day I was talking to a friend in game and he told me about this or that forum and I answered "Well there are not many posts in that forum you speak of, like 3 pages only..." And he said "what are you talking about ? I see 20+ pages !!!"

 

So just so I know if my forum settings are somehow borked or not, can you guys try to search (right part : username search) for both JamesOhlen and DanielErickson please ?

 

Am guessing it's on my end but just to make sure... Thanks !

Edited January 30, 2013 by Shoogli

[Rezakh]

Probably busy looking for a new job

 

There was a time I would have celebrated this outcome, but since the mass departures, I doubt there is anyone left amongst the leads that equal his talents. He made a ton of mistakes concerning the UI, ops designing, class balancing, and multi player functionality. This game just plays like an old single player RPG way too often for an MMO which can be a real pain, if you think about playing a multi player game with a single player interface. But, that was the bulk of his experience, this was his first MMO at the helm, so he wasn't going to pull off something perfect. By the way, he's a phenomenal single player RPG designer and it shows in this game.

 

I think his department has learned a lot over the last year of the game's life when it came to improvements, but I'm wondering if he's getting thrown under the bus now to protect people higher up than him. I am pretty impressed with the stability of the LFG tool, which I have no doubt was his work.

 

That thing took Blizzard about a year or so to get working in WoW, after they spent about 4 years finally figuring out how they wanted it to work. These guys had it running near flawlessly the first time it went live. Still the most impressive thing I think they have added to the game post-release, and that cannot in any way be considered a small feat.

 

If he does go, I will not have any hope left for this game getting better. This game has been good up to this point, despite all its flaws and it was his baby. I appreciate that a lot more, now. IMO, he's the only one keeping it from being run totally into the ground.

 

And all the stuff surrounding Makeb, which appears to be a PR nightmare for them at present, makes me feel sorry for him, cause I am sure he had little to do with the decision to convert it from a content patch to DLC. Say, what you want about it being only $10, but I am positive he really really wanted it to be free.

 

Whatever the man does, I sure hope he prospers.

 

TL;DR - I had problems with him, as many did, in the early months of this game. But as I kept playing, I stayed away from the parts of the game that were a painful issue and appreciated a lot of the RPG elements of the game and I am sure that's because of him more than anyone else.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Rezakh

[AshlaBoga]

It's funny, maybe I didn't spell his name the right way or something ?

 

if I go to the search page to find posts by this or that user I can't find any from JamesOhlen whereas I can find many pages when searching for DamionSchubert or AmberGreen for example.

 

Another thing, for DanielErickson I can only find 3 posts... Can't seem to find posts about the race issues or stuff like that or anything about story, am surprised, I was convinced he posted a lot more.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with people that left or anything since for example a search on a user named GeorgZoeller does return plenty of stuff.

 

Then again maybe it's a forum bug or issue since one day I was talking to a friend in game and he told me about this or that forum and I answered "Well there are not many posts in that forum you speak of, like 3 pages only..." And he said "what are you talking about ? I see 20+ pages !!!"

 

So just so I know if my forum settings are somehow borked or not, can you guys try to search (right part : username search) for both JamesOhlen and DanielErickson please ?

 

Am guessing it's on my end but just to make sure... Thanks !

 

Weird, I searched GeorgZoeller and got 2 posts. Then I did it again 5 minutes later and got 112 posts. Where were those 110 posts previously?

Edited January 30, 2013 by AshlaBoga

[Shoogli]

Weird, I searched GeorgZoeller and got 2 posts. Then I did it again 5 minutes later and got 112 posts. Where were those 110 posts previously?

 

What are your results for JO and DE btw ?

Me it's always the same results, JO = 0 result, DE = 3 results, GZ = 112 results like you.

 

But yeah it might be a bug or a timeout thing on "de-archiving" threads perhaps ?

Edited January 30, 2013 by Shoogli

[MGriffith]

That might be the case, however only a malicious fool could accuse Ohlen of being a liar because of E3

 

This is the SWTOR Forum community we are talking about.

[Drayzen]

You obviously have no idea who the man is, or which games he has worked on in the past for Bioware, therefore this thread is not for you.

 

No see. This thread really isn't for you either, as James Ohlens first adventure outside of Single Player gameplay was SWTOR. He is better at single player gaming, and was not at all ready for anything beyond the KOTOR elements of this game that is typical with an MMO progression grind.

[Wudlees]

James Ohlen was most definitely one of the more impressive developers in Bioware. As soon as the Cartel Market came out however, I knew this game was doomed. Companies only release pre-orders and cartel crap when they're desperate for cash. Which means we shouldn't expect any more content with any thought put into it but instead a long money grab leading to eventual death of the game. James Ohlen probably was probably fired for being too creative or actually trying to make things good or not wanting to scam customers.

[anwg]

Hopefully working on improving the game instead of trolling the forums.

[chuixupu]

There are so many things wrong with that post aside from the horrible font.

 

James Ohlen is still listed in his position at Bioware.

 

Plenty of games have digital downloads and cash shops that do extremely well - some launch with them. Though SWTOR is certainly the first to have "cartel stuff".

 

You're just making a bunch of baseless assumptions.

[Izorii]

I am suprised normally when a thread like this appears the person in questions jumps in to confirm they are still alive. James Ohlen always seemed one of the better "faces" of bioware to me and actually seemed to listen to the players. Cant say he actually listened just seemed to.

[chuixupu]

The only person I can recall jumping into the thread to say he's still here was Dallas Dickerson.

[Klarick]

As much anger over Mr. Ohlen's product that exists on these forums, who can blame him for not showing up on forum?

[Costello]

There has been very little info on 1.7 and the expansion.

 

Would think with 2 big content pushes coming up and the hope to convert as many free to play players to the joys of subscription and end game content the devs would be flooding the forums of the great things we can look forward to.

 

As it stands seem keener on just telling us 1.7 is coming soon which means nothing and how much ROTHC is going to cost and what we can get from a pre-order. But not whats in the game.