NGE Q&A

[RichardWhitely]

Interesting, if its true (which it sounds likely to have happened)

Certainly as far as online sites go, the SWG Starter Kit remains at the bottom of their sales charts and I dont expect the sales numbers from high street stores to be any better..

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=swggpdiscussion&message.id=173516

I don't expect you to take my word on this but I will share with you what I was told by a friend of mine who works for SOE.  I can't give you any more detail like his position, department, etc for fear of him being identified.  They apparently are bound by some air-tight non-disclosure agreements.

Below is what I was told:

Apparently, the NGE has really, REALLY stirred things up in Austin.  All sorts of fingers are being pointed among SOE employee's as nobody wants to take the blame.  Right now EVERYONE is trying to distance themselves from being responsible for making ANY decsions on pushing the NGE live.  Every single employee is avoiding any connection to the NGE like the plague.  I was told that the Dev's expected SOME account cancelations when the NGE went live, but my insider said they were willing to take those vet losses with the hopes of bringing in new subscribers over the holiday sales season.  Also, the devs were counting on most of the threats by vets to quit to not actually go thru with cancelling.  They have admitted, at least internally, that they number of cancels has FAR FAR FAR exceeded the number they were willing to take.  As a result, there is beginning to be some serious discussion of a pre-NGE rollback.  Several dev's are in serious jeopardy of being fired, and many many many of the support staff etc are polishing up their resume's because SOE has become the laughing stock of the online gaming community.  No longer is it a badge of pride to work for SOE according to what I was told.  Even my friend says he is no longer proud of working for SOE because of how they have destroyed their reputation.

Also, after having to report to LA on the NGE results, specifically the account cancels numbers, some of the big dogs from LA have flown into Austin for some serious intervention.  No details on what that means yet, but it is known that Smedly and the senior crew at SOE have been behind closed doors for unusually lengthy meetings and have emerged with scowls on their face.  The speculation is that LA is gearing up to crack down big time.  (I would love to have been a fly on the wall in those meetings)

Because of the signifacant loss of subscriptions, customer service has laid off 25% of their support staff starting the 1st of January with more cuts expected.

All in all, the NGE turned out to rock the player base more deeply than what they expected.  Talks are now underway on cutting the game off sometime in the first quarter of 2006.  There is discussion with an outside company that is interested in purchasing the pre-NGE code with the aim of running a handful (5 tops) of pre-NGE servers, and maintained with a skeleton support staff.  Right now this is apparently looking to be the most realistic result.

I will post more info as I hear stuff.

Added stuff:

Oh, and my insider said the Devs are being intentionally vague on their forum posting and player communication because they want to keep as many subscribers as possible right now.  A memo was passed down to ALL Dev's by the SOE execs with a list of topics that are completely not to be discussed or responded to on the forums.  It is generally feared by the SOE team that the more info the player base has, the more of them will quit the game.

Also, the game WAS in the pre-development phase on porting to consol (xbox, playstation), but that those cycles have been 100% stalled at the moment because the future of SWG is so uncertain.  But I was told that if any Dev posted or said that consol talks were never taking place it is a lie because significant discussions had already been underway with the design teams experienced with porting PC games to consol systems and that the NGE was partly (not entirely) designed to acomplish this objective.

[RichardWhitely]

I am glad now I copied the above post here, the 8 page thread that it created has been deleted, because of them stupidly deleting it, it has given the rumour more fuel and will now remain in the minds of the people that read it for far longer than if the thread was allowed to remain and die down quietly after a few days..

[RichardWhitely]

The original poster (Forum name: Kootsi, and player name: Mahonra)asked me to inform the SWG community that he has now had his forum account banned for posting what was relayed to him from his friend that works at SOE. His ingame account is not banned however. He still stands by what he posted as being 100% true and from a reliable sorce within SOE.

I feel really badly for the guy as he placed his account in jeopardy only in an effort to infom our community on what is actually going on behind the scenes.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=swggpdiscussion&message.id=175810

[RichardWhitely]

I have some information straight from the dude that first posted about the NGE... so its probably reliable enough

Good news... SOE is actually discussing brining back the pre nge.

The impact SWG has had, has been intense and they are panicing yet again.

Bad news... they are paying little to no attention to these fan forums... they are taking their cue, only from the subscriber amounts. So unfortunately, if everyone wants pre nge back, they need to click the cancel subscription. it is a scary option I know, but most people know, that if you cancel , you character remain intact in case you resubscribe.

More bad news...
The game may be closed. Come next february or march, they may be closing SWG. The official word came through that SWG has new goals, and if it doesnt reach that goal, either thru NGE or PRE NGE roll back... Good bye SWG.

Some decent news... the devs really are working on alot of revamps to this game. And honestly , when they complete phase 6 of the NGE update (if the game lasts that long... the game will be completely different from what it is now.

As many know, it will be collision detected.

There will be missions for every level.

The professions are being givens choices, like trader has now. IE - jedi can do level 1-70, and then choose whether to go light or dark.

The combat engine is being improved.

And they are working on alot of ways to change the views for battle, including having your character non npc's become partially transparent will you are engaged in battle.

Player cities will be nerfed, even more than they are now. The limits as to how much land you can have based on city members, is going to decrease alot.

If you have questions, PM me.

[Undergrid]

/me shakes magic 8 ball

"The answer is unclear"

[RichardWhitely]

Well after posting the above twice and getting one of my accounts banned from the swg forums. I'd say the answer is quite clear .

It's now come to light that a TV Interview with LucasArts SWG Producer has been cancelled by him at the the last moment. Now if SWG was doing well wouldnt you think he would be jumping at the chance to go on telly and brag about the game?

[RichardWhitely]

Every player in the galaxy Liked Star Wars  a lot...
But Smedley, Who lived outside the galaxy, Did NOT!
Smedly hated Star Wars! Every planetary region!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But,
Whatever the reason, His heart or his shoes,
He stood in his office, hating these fools,
Staring down from his window with a sour icky frown
At a shiny new shuttle in a player created town.
"TheyÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢re leveling jedi!" he snarled with a sneer,
"Tomorrow more will come! TheyÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢re practically here!"

Then he growled, with his fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find some way to stop players from coming!"

For,Tomorrow, he knew...
...All the dancers and musicians Would wake bright and early.
They'd rush for their cantinas! And then! Oh, the noise!
Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated!
The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
Then the players, young and old, would gather in town.
And plan an adventure.  It had to go down!

They would plot a base take down or to hunt some rare beast
Which was something Smedly couldn't stand in the least!
And THEN They'd do something He liked least of all!
Every player on the server, the tall and the small,
would get in there vehicles or they might just run.
Then those veteran players would start to have fun!

They'd craft! And they'd grind!
And they'd GRIND! GRIND! GRIND! GRIND!
The more Smedly thought of the players the DVD might bring,,
The more the Smedly thought, "I must stop this whole thing!"
"Why, for two and a half years I've put up with it now!"
"I MUST stop these players from coming!
...But HOW?"

Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
SMEDLY  GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

"I know just what to do!" He laughed in his throat.
I will kill this game and not be the goat!
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great trick!"
"IÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢ll kill this game off, and IÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢ll kill it quick!"

"All I need is a producer..." Then Smedly looked around.
But, since producers are scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Smedly...? No! Smedly simply said,
"If I can't find a producer, I'll make one instead!"

Talent under Smedly was as bare as his cupboards,
Because people in his watch tend to fail upwards!
THEN He saw an ex-tester and shouted with Glee
His name was Julio Torres.   IÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢ll call him JT
I'll make him a puppet,.... and pull all the strings
I'll make him do all sorts of  horrible things

"This is thing number one," old Smedly hissed
And he slapped at his desktop, banging his fist.
WeÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢ve hit them with nerf-bats till our fingers are blue.
We canÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢t use the nerf bat, the nerf bat wonÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢t do
As his plan was unfolding his hands were wringing
and his tiny cold heart was desperately pinging

Smedly began to pontificate ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"I know what to do,
We wreck the whole world and claim that it's fast and fun too!
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"We kill every profession, burn them all to the ground.ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Replace them with one, not a real difference to be foundÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Then change a few things and call them iconicÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Even a five year old boy will find them moronicÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?

ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Well remove the targeting system, thatÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢ll empty the houseÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Make them awkwardly chase things with there keyboard and mouseÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Oh crafterÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢s, and dancers, and musicians tooÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Lets leave them with absolutely nothing to doÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"WeÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢ll laugh as they all cry boo-hoo-hooÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Now what server wonÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢t be terribly blue?ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?

ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"And Jedi, itÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢s Jedi I hate most of allÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"It is time they all take a terrible fallÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"We will make them useless, strip  all of there powerÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Surely that will knock them from there ivory tower!ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?

Then Smedly slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
And worked a long time and made the NGE  present!
He nerfed pets and loot and every last gun!
And carefully made sure he removed  all the fun!

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the players were all dreaming sweet dreams without care
When the NGE hit the first little house on the square.

When the players logged in they were told to respec.
Most players wondered ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Oh my gosh! What the heck?ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
Then they wandered and tried and finally found there house
But most goofily jumped and couldnÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢t work there mouse.
When they got to there houses there stuff was useless or gone,
How could our fun have really hurt anyone?

The players quit and cancelled till all servers were bare.
Glancing at the financially reports lead Smedly to declare.
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"I have killed SWG, I truly have wonÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"There is no way that anyone can find any fun!ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?

But, Smedly had been caught by this e-zine reporter
Who'd come to his office to see what was the matter.
She stared at Smedly and said, "Smedly, why,
"Why are you taking our game away? WHY?"

But, you know,  old Smedly was so smart and so slick
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
"You are quite right dear, the forums are flamingÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?,
"ThatÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢s the vocal minority, there always complaining."
"Players love the NGE, our subscriptions are high."
"The cries of the whinnerÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢s simply wonÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢t fly."

And his fib fooled the reporter. Then he patted her shoulder
And he got her a drink and claimed the trouble was over.
And when the reporter left his office with her cup,
He took the financial reports and tore them all up.

But into his office the Chairman of the board came
He looked at Smedly and declared ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"What a shameÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Last year we grossed sixty million dollars from this gameÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"We need to balance the budget and fire someoneÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"We have tried the NGE and it really isnÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢t much funÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?
ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã…ââ,¬Å"Please clean out your desk.  Get out pal, your done!ÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã‚?

[rover]

pmsl \o/

[RichardWhitely]

Yet more insider infooooooooooooooo

Anyway I heard about the NGE six months ago when it started though I actually thought it was a new game my source was telling me about or that. Maybe it was a large expansion. When TooW arrived I thought that was it. Sadly the NGE arrived and I knew the awful truth. Anyway it was a totally different team working on the NGE not the second tier devs or the guys they brought over from matrix.

Previous plans asside this info is actually quite moot at this point. These plans have all been scrapped even though the data may be stored for reiteration at some point in some other product.

From what my friend told me and he has been fired by the way. The situation is entirely too bleak for words. Right now the whole project is in a form of limbo. There simply is not the playerbase now to generate profitability. The trials of obiwan has generated negative cash flow position, and the NGE code and previous code incarnations are at practical war with one another. Not least of concerns is that LA is very agitated by the no profit margin situation.

Unfortunately this all boils down to one thing people still in the game are going to be left with a very limited developement cycle. In all reality the NGE is not going to be around much longer nor will there be a rollback. The realization is that this would not bring back enough players.

From what I have heard there are 2 options on the table. Option 1 is to reimplement a pre Cu system in a couple months as a sort of grand reopening either through sony or a third party who will buy or lease the original engine. With a very small developement cycle. Option 2 is that SOE keeps the license or is relegated merely to server hosting duties. Which SOE at this point seems to prefer. Anyway developement of SWG 1.5 shall commence. This will not be a playable product persay when developement starts all servers will come down. The servers will then return late next year. The new game will recycle a great deal of material from the original game enviroment item models, but the base line engine will be different one that will be very upgradeable.

The reasons for this are simple instead of a 2.5 year production schedule the product can be up and running in a shorter time frame because it does a high degree of recycleing. Which might be a good thing. No matter what maybe early to late february expect to see 1 or 2 options implemented or maybe a combination of both. Where a smaller company obtains swg original matrix and can port over current or previous users, and the swg team will be ported over to work on the rebuild with a few newly hired team.

Right now there is no good solution the oppinion in the offices is that the damage is irrevocable. The players still will not trust the product even if a rollback were enacted, and doing the additional recodeing on what now is a very high risk propostion may be good money following bad. So the choice is either sell or pawn the license off on someone else, or do a signigifigant redevelopement cycle in alpha stage. Either way from what I understand the entire NGE system is scrap. In this sense they have listened to the player and even discounting the bugs most players have expressed they hate the entire concept.

http://vnboards.ign.com/boards/b1598/93584662/p1/?11