Producer Letter Livestream Wrap-up

[FourPawnBenoni]

75 pages and no response to questions on when we'll see new (non-story) content...you know, the stuff we spend 90% of our time actually doing in the game

[Dreadicus]

I would agree with this point (not to say I do not agree with others made). I think it is a hard 6 roll to change a game expecting to draw in a new audience, at the expense of the present playerbase.

 

SOE learned that lesson the hard way, but this is not, of course, SWG. Nor do I mean to compare the two.

 

There has to be some way to satiate current players and still widen the appeal of the game. And by players I mean ALL players....PVP, Raiders, casuals, everyone

 

Sure there is Artemis!

 

They expand their development team by 3 times what it is now plain and simple. They seem to be able to only deliver on '1' focus of this game. Story and with that - casuals. (Hey thats fine! Thats 1/3 of the MMO trinity!) They still need PVPers, HC PVE'ers, and anyone interested in game difficulty harder than a pre-teen can handle on their own. Even if PVP'ers and HC PVE'ers were a small % - it's the % that makes the game profitable! You can't afford to lose any of those 3 markets in an MMO..

 

Thus - we find ourselves where we are today.

 

I am so happy a PROPER Star Wars product will be out in less than 2 weeks. I am pretty sure that movie alone will help me LEAVE this rambling piss-pot that Bio has turned my favorite childhood genre into.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

That is absolute rubbish -- my start-at-60 died once going through KotFE, and I was definitely not doing literally "nothing".

 

For starters, I was talking on the phone while I was playing, I just didn't notice that I had walked into a room with two tough-as-pins (not actual "nails") silvers. I was still in my lowbie (item level 188) starter gear, and I was only able to kill one before I died. Fortunately, there was a bug where this didn't cause the combat to reset, and my (influence < 5) comp was able to hold off the second mob while I rezzed myself (I still got the option to rez in place or at med center) in time to heal to full before saving my clearly NOT OP comp from that second mob.

 

Ummm ... learn to play?

 

 

 

In America, we called them "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, but I see your point. The only difference [between Pick A Path / Choose Your Own Adventure and KotFE] is that our choices actually affected the storyline, whereas in KotFE our choices matter about as much as what we decide to have our companions wear...

 

Heh I remember the books that I had read being rather brutal if you played ( read? ) them a certain way ( no do overs ). This of course includes the ones where you actually had stat sheets and used dice which is probably slightly more akin to SWToR.

 

Imagine if KoTFE was "You have your head bitten off by the rather large Rancor, you are dead. Game over, start again?" - it could be renowned as the Dark Souls of the MMO world, not that I would personally be a fan but I would prefer it over what we have now and it would probably earn a lot more than what it will in it's current state looking at how those dark souls type games sell.

 

What sells better? Dora saves the crystal kingdom or Bloodbourne? Both are solo games, both can be played casual - the difference is Dora is the epitome of easy ( I've an 8 year daughter I taught to use the console a year or ago ) and Bloodborne is right up there in terms of difficulty. Yet SWToR is more akin to Dora with a mix of Barbie dress up now.

 

Not sure then why BW thinks this casual/easy attitude is going to sell long term for SWToR. The Wii U didn't exactly pan out that well for Nintendo either.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Sure there is Artemis!

 

They expand their development team by 3 times what it is now plain and simple. They seem to be able to only deliver on '1' focus of this game. Story and with that - casuals. (Hey thats fine! Thats 1/3 of the MMO trinity!) They still need PVPers, HC PVE'ers, and anyone interested in game difficulty harder than a pre-teen can handle on their own. Even if PVP'ers and HC PVE'ers were a small % - it's the % that makes the game profitable! You can't afford to lose any of those 3 markets in an MMO..

 

Thus - we find ourselves where we are today.

 

I am so happy a PROPER Star Wars product will be out in less than 2 weeks. I am pretty sure that movie alone will help me LEAVE this rambling piss-pot that Bio has turned my favorite childhood genre into.

 

I don't think the pre teen audience is to blame. Most of them are quite skilled at this game not to mention you actually need to be 13 to play this game I believe.

 

It's the adults with no clue on actually how to play games and just want "star wars" I think that are more to blame for this mess. When the easy story isn't long enough to keep them interested they'll go do something else ...

[Ghisallo]

I would agree with this point (not to say I do not agree with others made). I think it is a hard 6 roll to change a game expecting to draw in a new audience, at the expense of the present playerbase.

 

SOE learned that lesson the hard way, but this is not, of course, SWG. Nor do I mean to compare the two.

 

There has to be some way to satiate current players and still widen the appeal of the game. And by players I mean ALL players....PVP, Raiders, casuals, everyone

 

And this is what I do not get... how they failed in this regard. I called it a gamble back in July, now I am calling it simply a fervent hope. that they could attract new players without alienating a sizeable portion of their current player base. Entire guilds bailed on the announcement of the expac. Others said "wait and see" (mine was among those) but tonight I heard people saying "where is everyone" and we are holding a guild meeting ahead of schedule to address this issue,the needs and desire of the guild. My guild is a casual guild... we have career's, families etc. I chose this guild specifically because everyone has these obligations.

 

In SoR we had to be strict about members signing up for events because we had so many people wanting in. Now we are hoping each night that enough people show up just show up to get something off the ground. There is a problem and only an ostrich would fail to see that.

[Ghisallo]

Ummm ... learn to play?

 

 

 

 

 

Heh I remember the books that I had read being rather brutal if you played ( read? ) them a certain way ( no do overs ). This of course includes the ones where you actually had stat sheets and used dice which is probably slightly more akin to SWToR.

 

Imagine if KoTFE was "You have your head bitten off by the rather large Rancor, you are dead. Game over, start again?" - it could be renowned as the Dark Souls of the MMO world, not that I would personally be a fan but I would prefer it over what we have now and it would probably earn a lot more than what it will in it's current state looking at how those dark souls type games sell.

 

What sells better? Dora saves the crystal kingdom or Bloodbourne? Both are solo games, both can be played casual - the difference is Dora is the epitome of easy ( I've an 8 year daughter I taught to use the console a year or ago ) and Bloodborne is right up there in terms of difficulty. Yet SWToR is more akin to Dora with a mix of Barbie dress up now.

 

Not sure then why BW thinks this casual/easy attitude is going to sell long term for SWToR. The Wii U didn't exactly pan out that well for Nintendo either.

 

The problem is BW is NOT looking at the long term. US based corps are focused on quarterly earnings reports. in Q3 2015 the CFO said that EA expected MORE growth in the quarter that surrounded the movie launch than SoR. EA also canceled BW Austin's pet project in the same time frame. So they are downright scared about keeping their jobs and to keep them means a boost in this fiscal quarter...what happens after, well that isn't on the agenda.

 

heck the Corps are in favor of SEC changes that do away with quarterly earnings requirements because of the short term thinking it enforces on shareholders. Until that happens though we are stuck with what we have...and this mess of an expac is a result of such short term thinking.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Ghisallo

[eartharioch]

Ummm ... learn to play?

While what I described did actually happen, I hope you realize I was mocking how pathetically easy the kotfe 'story" was

 

Heh I remember the books that I had read being rather brutal if you played ( read? ) them a certain way ( no do overs ). This of course includes the ones where you actually had stat sheets and used dice which is probably slightly more akin to SWToR.

I vaguely recall a few things like that...back when "reloading" meant remembering what page you were on before you died

 

Not sure then why BW thinks this casual/easy attitude is going to sell long term for SWToR. The Wii U didn't exactly pan out that well for Nintendo either.

I'm guessing the market strategy is something like:

1) Only Star Wars mmo/rpg on the market

2) Lowest Common Denominator

3) ???

4) Profit

[Ghisallo]

While what I described did actually happen, I hope you realize I was mocking how pathetically easy the kotfe 'story" was

 

 

I vaguely recall a few things like that...back when "reloading" meant remembering what page you were on before you died

 

 

I'm guessing the market strategy is something like:

1) Only Star Wars mmo/rpg on the market

2) Lowest Common Denominator

3) ???

4) Profit

 

the problem is it does not equal profit...long term at least. Lets look at SWTOR, ESO, GW2 and Wildstars, arguably all the most anticipated MMORPGs over the last 3-4 years. Everyone of them had launches that were at best, meh. BW admitted their mistake at GDC 2013... the others made excuses (ESO the most notable, I will explain in a bit.) They went either dead on f2p or with a hybrid financial model to salvage some financial viability. Now SWTOR, in the interest of short term profits, to hopefully take advantage of the new movie launch makes KotFE.

 

Now one might ask why I say short term? Yes and rightly so. Well I will point to FFXIV. It launched to almost universal negative reviews. What did they do? They first said "okay play straight up for free" then set about redesigning the game from the ground up. They then released "A Realm Reborn". This game in the summer of this year hit 5 MILLION subscribers... Now I mentioned ESO and an "excuse". Their excuse was that "you can't have a cross platform subscription based game. An arguably more niche IP that ES manages however to have a cross platform sub based MMORPG that grows?!?!?! (FFXIV). So what is more than likely the issue?

 

I think it's pretty clear. One company says "we screwed up we need to make good" so they remake the game and relaunch 3 years later. Other games say "we screwed up but want to make whatever profit we can off of this mess." To make any game you need a clarity of vision, consistency is born of that. BW, with SWTOR over the last year or so has lost that.

 

So maybe it is profit...but only about profit in the short term. Thing is an MMO needs long term profit.

[eartharioch]

So maybe it is profit...but only about profit in the short term. Thing is an MMO needs long term profit.

 

I was just saying what it looks like their "strategy" is, not that I think it will (or should) work. My guess (which I think is pretty close to stuff you've been saying) is that upper mismanagement asked the devs if they wanted

Edited December 8, 2015 by eartharioch

[Twin]

I'll make this brief…

 

Story is not content. To be clear, I started playing this game in the first place because of story. However, even with that enthusiasm and focus, I wasn't planning on playing for very long. Because story doesn't last. I played KOTOR I probably over 30 times, and ME1 almost that much, but that is dwarfed by the amount of time I've spent in SWTOR.

 

The time I've spent in SWTOR has not been because of its story. I've certainly played all of the story content, and I've enjoyed it… the first time through. But now it's over. I have no desire to re-play even the KotFE storyline, despite its excellence. Story doesn't retain ongoing activity in the game.

 

Story is flavor. Content is substance. Content is something that you do in groups, because people are what give meaning and variety to repetitive actions. PvP and GSF are the embodiment of this philosophy, but PvE (especially operations) are as well. Operations, GSF and warzone maps. These are content. These are what players have poured endless hours into repeating, despite the unchanging nature of the boss fights or objectives or terrain. Nobody is pouring that amount of time into any story.

 

SWTOR needs new content. Desperately. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvE content since 3.0. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvP or GSF content for even longer. Without content, communities have nothing to do. Guilds die and players leave. All you have left are solo players who log in for a few hours every week, trickle-consuming the story.

 

I'm not even sure there's a question in here, other than the obvious "when will you release any new content?" And don't say story, because story isn't content.

 

Very well said. Spot on!

[Ghisallo]

I was just saying what it looks like their "strategy" is, not that I think it will (or should) work. My guess (which I think is pretty close to stuff you've been saying) is that upper mismanagement asked the devs if they wanted

 

Oh I agree...especially when all of this happens with EA coming in without warning and saying "Oh yeah... Shadow Realms in canceled...any questions?"

 

EA's current CEO is one who has NO problem at all canceling projects that do not meet the ROI...

 

Wilson's experience comes almost exclusively from running sports based games like FIFA and the like (he joined the company and worked his way up via EA Sports.) That division has broad world wide appeal with various IP's and he has proven to have little patience with niche IP's, like MMORPGs, or innovations in game play etc (as they were trying to do with Shadow Realms.) That combination is down right destructive when dealing with a niche market like an MMORPG.

 

That has always been the issue with MMOs. They are niche, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. WoW got to where it was because it capitalized on the niche with PERFECT timing. Now you have WoW and how many other competitors (back then it was basically WoW, EQ and EQ2, DAOC, Lineage and MAYBE Asheron's call)? WOW, FFXIV, ESO, GW2, Rift, Wildstars, Aion, Secret World, SWTOR and still the EQs and I am sure a few I forgot to mention PLUS the growing popularity of MOBAs which are largely filling the void of good PvP in the MMORPG market.

 

A niche game can get huge when there is little competition but now there is more competition than you can shake a stick at. When that happens, you MUST stay consistent and on task. If you don't bad things happen. This consistency appears to have been lost here in SWTOR in the interest of short term profits to preserve quarterly ROI vs having a stable and sustainable game.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Ghisallo

[wvwraith]

I don't get why you guys tell us things are going to be coming out a certain month and turn around and go back on your word with delays and no explanations. You guys have supposedly hired all these new people to work on the game and the process seems to be slower than ever.

 

One thing I'd like to see is some nice looking consular gear for a change. Most of it is ugly and something out of Warcraft. Seems all the nice looking things are Empire items so show some love on consular for once with the nice gear. Speaking on gear, I'd like to see more sci-fi and jedi gear and again not Warcraft or fantasy looking armor.

 

On another note, I have guidies still trying to get conquest titles from the bug. Apparently you guys are not answering the customer service mails to fix these problems. These need to be addressed and fixed. Thanks.

[Ghisallo]

I don't get why you guys tell us things are going to be coming out a certain month and turn around and go back on your word with delays and no explanations. You guys have supposedly hired all these new people to work on the game and the process seems to be slower than ever.

 

One thing I'd like to see is some nice looking consular gear for a change. Most of it is ugly and something out of Warcraft. Seems all the nice looking things are Empire items so show some love on consular for once with the nice gear. Speaking on gear, I'd like to see more sci-fi and jedi gear and again not Warcraft or fantasy looking armor.

 

On another note, I have guidies still trying to get conquest titles from the bug. Apparently you guys are not answering the customer service mails to fix these problems. These need to be addressed and fixed. Thanks.

 

They didnt hire a bunch... still trying to figure out where that came from. They shut down a project still in development (Shadow Realms) and people got retasked. Some to SWTOR others to an as yet unrevealed project. Since Shadow Realms was to be a SP/Co-OP game the Dev team was likely a lot smaller than you need for an MMORPG so the idea that SWTORSl's team doubled or tripled, a I have seen claimed elsewhere, is crazy.

 

Let's be honest here people. When a Subscription MMORPG goes f2p that is seen as a sign of failure. People will say "oh know the market's changed!!! F2p is the way of the future." This is simply false. WoW, FFXIV, EVE still use subscriptions. All three are successful. Why? Well WoW formed in a perfect storm yes but the other two did something NO other MMORPG has done. They did not actively chase the 800 lbs gorilla that was WoW. They said "this is the game we want to be on our terms" and in the case of FFXIV they even redid the entire game from the ground up to make that happen.

 

A game is a creative endeavor and like any such endeavor it needs its own identity. Not just in the IP (think scenery in a painting, say a particular river or building etc) but in the style of the artist. Yes you still use paint, a brush, an easel but there is a big difference between the night sky painted by Turner in "Fishermen at sea" and Van Gogh in "Starry night." BW and EA appear to have relied on the fact that it is simply a night sky (Star Wars) and can't settle on a particular style. Such inconsistencies breed discontent.

[MusicRider]

I'll make this brief…

 

Story is not content. To be clear, I started playing this game in the first place because of story. However, even with that enthusiasm and focus, I wasn't planning on playing for very long. Because story doesn't last. I played KOTOR I probably over 30 times, and ME1 almost that much, but that is dwarfed by the amount of time I've spent in SWTOR.

 

The time I've spent in SWTOR has not been because of its story. I've certainly played all of the story content, and I've enjoyed it… the first time through. But now it's over. I have no desire to re-play even the KotFE storyline, despite its excellence. Story doesn't retain ongoing activity in the game.

 

Story is flavor. Content is substance. Content is something that you do in groups, because people are what give meaning and variety to repetitive actions. PvP and GSF are the embodiment of this philosophy, but PvE (especially operations) are as well. Operations, GSF and warzone maps. These are content. These are what players have poured endless hours into repeating, despite the unchanging nature of the boss fights or objectives or terrain. Nobody is pouring that amount of time into any story.

 

SWTOR needs new content. Desperately. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvE content since 3.0. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvP or GSF content for even longer. Without content, communities have nothing to do. Guilds die and players leave. All you have left are solo players who log in for a few hours every week, trickle-consuming the story.

 

I'm not even sure there's a question in here, other than the obvious "when will you release any new content?" And don't say story, because story isn't content.

 

Good summary of many people's views. But, IMO both could be achieved at the same time, by mixing planet quest storyline with ops/fps. Examples of that were the dread masters storyline (most enjoyable for me), shadow of revan, illum and malgus, and there might be more I am missing. For example I still remember how much enjoyment I had when I did Esseles and Black Talon which was the start of the story of Kilrin (reminded me of Thrawn and no other moff in the game has been as cool as him).

[Blackbird]

I think actions speak out more then words. I cancel out my sub, and now re-sub with WoW. Good luck BW

 

I've got a pile of games from GOG.com I've been meaning to get to (even more now that their winter sale is on), plus some old favorites on the shelf I've been thinking of revisiting. For that matter, I've been wanting to catch up on my reading. I'm actually looking forward to when my subscription expires, there's so much to do!

 

How is that for an endorsement? "KotFE, the expansion that inspired players to read more books!"

[angushammet]

Hey everyone,

 

For too long we have been waiting for THE update that would make us interested in the game again. We honestly thought it would be the 4.0, but sadly it didn't happen.

 

KOTFE has been a "single player" experience, offering no multiplayer content. Well almost, as it recycled the former high level content, forcing us to do 4 years old operations and planet heroic missions again and again and again. The life expectancy of the game continues to grow, but in an artificial kind of way.

 

There hasn't been any operation for more than a year, eventhough we were promised such a waiting time wouldn't happen again. And what about PvP that didn't get any real update since the arenas. And let's not even mention Galactic Starfighter...

 

The solo quests really happened to be amazing, really interesting and original but they don't keep the game from slowly dying. Dying because the multiplayer content is still the same, and because no announcement has been made to let us think this may change.

That's the reason why the SWTOR community of the Battle Meditation french server decided to join Starwars-univers.com (Biggest french Star Wars website) and the guild "Section Wookiee XXI" to show the Bioware's employees its discontent. We LOVE this game, as the Section and other guilds part of this action are present since the release. Despite the ups and downs of the game we have always been there and always trying to find excuses for Bioware. But today it is just not possible anymore.

 

We are not critizing just for the sake of it (or because we are french). All we want is to be heard. Sometimes people don't pay attention to the bad critics, thinking they just come from a minority. So they only keep the good stuff.

Now is the time to show we are not a minority but that we are many who think the game is slowly dying. So if you care about that game too and want to enjoy it again with those playmates you now consider your friends: join us and show Bioware it is time to bring this game back to life with MULTIPLAYER content !

 

This wake-up call action will take place on Tuesday 15th of December at 8:30PM CET (local time) on Odessen.

 

The more we will be, the stronger our message will get. So do not hesitate to share this with any concerned player. On our side we will use any media possible to make sure this will reach Bioware especially with a live Twitch adressed to Eric MUSCO, with our English speaking protocol Wookiees.

 

You can also contact us to get a copy of that piece of news in english to share on the forums, english and german servers.

 

http://www.twitch.tv/section_wookiee_xxi

 

To contact us In Game:

Section Wookiee XXI GM and officers:

Qui'yo'jin ; Nero ; Nydo ; Delce'thold ; Lain ; Räkko

You can also email me here: lain-anksoo@starwars-universe.com

 

May the Force be with you, and with Star Wars The Old Republic, always...

Edited December 8, 2015 by angushammet

[dscount]

This wake-up call action will take place on Tuesday 15th of December at 8:30PM on Odessen.

 

Might help if you translate the time to "Server Time" and/or list in some fashion the SERVER you are doing this call to action.

 

Please note... depending on when/how BW is going to actually handle the exploiters your pool of people discontent might shrink. (Again - depending on when and how they handle the latest debacle of lacking QA Department at BW)

[Ghisallo]

Might help if you translate the time to "Server Time" and/or list in some fashion the SERVER you are doing this call to action.

 

Please note... depending on when/how BW is going to actually handle the exploiters your pool of people discontent might shrink. (Again - depending on when and how they handle the latest debacle of lacking QA Department at BW)

 

That last bit was more than a little presumptuous don't ya think? Arrogant even. When it comes to exploiting for cash in these games, with inflation so high, its not a matter of player preference its a matter of character and character is completely seperate from your playstyle preference. Heck tbh it's like rl...incentive and I have know more self proclaimed "casuals" who use gold spammer services. Their excuse were things like "well I don't craft" or "I don't raid" so I don't get as much cash and the things on the AH are so dang expensive."

Edited December 8, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Joefjr]

It was stated by a dev that the tank companion tank stats will be fixed in 4.0.3 but it wasn't. Tank companions still are not getting their tank stats Shield and Absorb %'s they have the stats but they are not getting any benefit from them just like a player who doesn't have a Shield equipped.

 

 

Both Veeroa Denz and Choza Raabat companions are Force users with Force skill set getting tech power, this makes companions with a LOT lower influence rank better than them.

 

Shadow/Assassin melee attacks had a force cost reduction and had a perk removed from a passive that did the same thing, this change in the end reduced costs EXCEPT Serenity Strike which was on the passive did not get a cost reduction and now it costs 25 Force (a 3 Force increase)

[MeNaCe-NZ]

While what I described did actually happen, I hope you realize I was mocking how pathetically easy the kotfe 'story" was

 

Well you left the tell tale smileys out of your sarcasm so I thought I would return the favour ...

 

Amazing how handy emoticons can be.

 

 

I'm guessing the market strategy is something like:

1) Only Star Wars mmo/rpg on the market

2) Lowest Common Denominator

3) ???

4) Profit

 

Probably but it will be short term if they don't have something up their sleeve to make the people like me continuing to sub each month.

Their whole strategy allows me to come back in the future to consume this content in a month as I would any shortish game. Thing is I can still play the parts I enjoy now, I can still amass my fortune ( albeit with limited buying power and only 70 GTN slots per character but I've got just too much to sell now I need to stop myself buying more )

, I can still do pretty much everything I want except new story content ... diddums I don't care.

 

I would prefer to consume it in one meaningful hit than have this cliff hanger crap each month ... people keep comparing it to episodic content ... it's not even in the same league ... there is no hook here to make me want to see each 1 hour chapter a month ... that's just stupid for $15 per month.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I've got a pile of games from GOG.com I've been meaning to get to (even more now that their winter sale is on), plus some old favorites on the shelf I've been thinking of revisiting. For that matter, I've been wanting to catch up on my reading. I'm actually looking forward to when my subscription expires, there's so much to do!

 

How is that for an endorsement? "KotFE, the expansion that inspired players to read more books!"

 

I went and bought a PS4 ( with battlefront, couldn't resist lol ) to accompany my PC gaming so really no need for this until there is a good amount of content to work through and if I can get 7 chapters for $15 in 8 motnhs time plus whatever else might have been added - Bargain!

[Ghisallo]

Well you left the tell tale smileys out of your sarcasm so I thought I would return the favour ...

 

Amazing how handy emoticons can be.

 

 

 

 

Probably but it will be short term if they don't have something up their sleeve to make the people like me continuing to sub each month.

Their whole strategy allows me to come back in the future to consume this content in a month as I would any shortish game. Thing is I can still play the parts I enjoy now, I can still amass my fortune ( albeit with limited buying power and only 70 GTN slots per character but I've got just too much to sell now I need to stop myself buying more )

, I can still do pretty much everything I want except new story content ... diddums I don't care.

 

I would prefer to consume it in one meaningful hit than have this cliff hanger crap each month ... people keep comparing it to episodic content ... it's not even in the same league ... there is no hook here to make me want to see each 1 hour chapter a month ... that's just stupid for $15 per month.

 

That is the thing....the only hook in this story is "there is another chapter". What made dramas prebinge was there was something in the story that hooked you and you just couldn't wait until the next chapter...that was WOEFULLY lacking here. the fact there is a 2 month lay off between now and chapter 10 makes it even more senseless, if that is possible.

 

BUT people will cheer "omg we got a story!!!" forget the fact they were asking for class stories and didn't get them. Forget the fact that there is a lack of the hooks that made the initial class stories work and things tied in with the game play that created a sense of drama. I am not racing to stop a super weapon, or to free myself from mind control, or get another force ghost to help me stand up to a Darth that wants my head. The gaining of the alliance faction is a POOR excuse for the gaining of allies the consular did.

 

Now people will say "well we haven't seen the whole thing. If you have not hooked someone more than half way through a story, by what logic can you say a hook will arrive? The hook needed to be in Chapters 8 and/or 9... especially with the long lay over. It's not there.

[Gindorf]

Sooooo Eric has been posting a bunch of stuff.... any news on when we will see replies to this?

[Ghisallo]

Sooooo Eric has been posting a bunch of stuff.... any news on when we will see replies to this?

 

My guess is never. Here is the thing, with this expac jobs are literally on the line. If they were to suddenly change their release schedule (if that is possible) it would screw up the entire concept of the expac, be a public acknowledgement of a failure and heads would roll. Most of the people I know who care about such things have long terms subs so even if they cancel today there is little financial hit until sometime early next year. As such they have the luxury of waiting right now I would wager they are gambling on this being a lot of "sound and Fury, signifying nothing". If it turns out not to be a bunch of bluster, because of the impact of long term subscriptions, I wouldn't doubt that in January or Feb they nnounce some new piece of content to try and pacify people.

 

To address this issue directly though after the companion debacle is to pretty much say " I resign" at this point.. I mean what do they do, admit they screwed up but their schedule simply doesn't allow them to fix it? That will definitely cause an exodus AND it tells the CEO "yeah that great plan we had...it failed." If they just harp on the fact they see everything going swimmingly and that they see no reason to change, they will cause an exodus, and in a few months the sub numbers will tell the CEO "yeah that great plan we had... It failed". Sometime silence is the tool used to minimize inevitable damage.

 

I mean lets look at everything that EA has cancelled and/or fired people over in just the last two years...

 

Dawngate development

Command and Conquer development

Shadow Realms development

Warhammer oonline

Dragon Age:I expansion into East Asia (though that was national politics as much as dev stuff)

 

They completely shut down Maxis, the SimCity developer, and consolidated its resources in three other existing studios and they fired 10% of their workforce in 2013. EA is a classic " what have you done for me lately" corporation that does not suffer failure lightly.

[Gindorf]

My guess is never. Here is the thing, with this expac jobs are literally on the line. If they were to suddenly change their release schedule (if that is possible) it would screw up the entire concept of the expac, be a public acknowledgement of a failure and heads would roll. Most of the people I know who care about such things have long terms subs so even if they cancel today there is little financial hit until sometime early next year. As such they have the luxury of waiting right now I would wager they are gambling on this being a lot of "sound and Fury, signifying nothing". If it turns out not to be a bunch of bluster, because of the impact of long term subscriptions, I wouldn't doubt that in January or Feb they nnounce some new piece of content to try and pacify people.

 

To address this issue directly though after the companion debacle is to pretty much say " I resign" at this point.. I mean what do they do, admit they screwed up but their schedule simply doesn't allow them to fix it? That will definitely cause an exodus AND it tells the CEO "yeah that great plan we had...it failed." If they just harp on the fact they see everything going swimmingly and that they see no reason to change, they will cause an exodus, and in a few months the sub numbers will tell the CEO "yeah that great plan we had... It failed". Sometime silence is the tool used to minimize inevitable damage.

 

I mean lets look at everything that EA has cancelled and/or fired people over in just the last two years...

 

Dawngate development

Command and Conquer development

Shadow Realms development

Warhammer oonline

Dragon Age:I expansion into East Asia (though that was national politics as much as dev stuff)

 

They completely shut down Maxis, the SimCity developer, and consolidated its resources in three other existing studios and they fired 10% of their workforce in 2013. EA is a classic " what have you done for me lately" corporation that does not suffer failure lightly.

 

Oh, thats a pity, and here it sounded like they were excited to interact with us.