Many games have died due to developers making changes that they thought was better for the playerbase, than what the playerbase thought was good for the playerbase. Many people playing WoW today aren’t very old, probably born sometime in the 2000s or late 90’s. Some of the older gamers here can recall a great many of games that died off because the developers made terrible choices that the playerbase didn’t agree with.
The simple fact of the matter is that players want to play a game that they enjoy and which is fun, and when developers make big changes or changes that remove that said fun, or make systems that turn the game into a job, rather than a past time to enjoy, those games take a nose dive with regards to their playerbase.
You can only burn incense to mask a turd for so long. Eventually the lingering filth is too much to bear. Blizzard thinks their game is bullet proof because of the Addict Theory that fuels online gaming. But it’s a faulty theory, because it’s not the game itself that fuels their addiction, it’s the fun they’re having. This has been proven time and time again throughout various titles. When that fun is gone, so too is the playerbase. People don’t pay to play a game just so they can have a mundane and mediocre experience. If developers keep taking WoW down this path, then even the raiders and pvpers are going to leave and all that will be left are the pet battlers and transmoggers and that’s not enough to fuel a company.
Star Wars Galaxies devs made the same mistake that Blizzard devs are currently making, and it’s sad to see such great titles take a nose dive.
SWG was a cheap MMO - it had a serious lack of content, it was dated even by the time WoW came out, and, while it certainly found a niche - and success relative to other SOE titles - it it was a game that always struggled to find the right identity, in spite of the rose-tinted glasses many people have.
Raph Koster, the creative director for SWG, actually has a great little blog post about the successes and failures of SWG.
From what I know, J. Allen Brack wasn’t a designer on Star Wars Galaxies, and I’m not sure he had anything to do with the CU and NGE updates, outside of him being the Producer and taking orders from higher ups. There were many posts that J. Allen Brack actually protested the updates in defense of the playerbase. But now that he’s here at Blizzard, he should know better, since he is the guy that oversaw the destruction of Star Wars Galaxies.
Eventually SOE went from defending the patch to repeatedly apologizing for it. In 2007, Smedley [issued a clear mea culpa](http://www.warcry.com/articles/view/interviews/2301-John-Smedley-Exclusive-Interview-with-the-SOE-CEO.2): “With the NGE, I’m sorry about the mistake we made. We screwed up and didn’t listen to the fans when we should have, and it’s not a mistake we’re going to make again.”
I know exactly what the developers at SWG admitted to, because I played the game. I lived through the experience. What Blizzard is doing to WoW is nowhere close to what SOE did to Star Wars Galaxies. Oh and as for this line?
J. Allen Brack was not involved with NGE development or implementation. He opposed it every step of the way and quit his job in protest when SOE pushed the update onto the players anyway.
wow should take a clue from swg and hook up player housing. also galaxies crafting with the results based on quality of ingredients.
oh yah, actual player bounties from a quest terminal.
You’re not very bright are you? I say J. Allen Brack OVERSAW the destruction of SWG. He was not a game designer, I never said he made the NGE or CU developments. He was a producer though and he oversaw all of it.
Clearly, you haven’t paid attention to the reality of the situation. Here are some quotes from Ralph Koster, who was J. Allen Brack’s boss:
I posted some of this in a thread, but I don’t think anyone will see it there. I was the original creative director of SWG, in case anyone wants to check my bonafides.
J did not do the SWG NGE. In fact he objected loudly to it. He stood on principle that it was wrong and unfair to the players, and he and SOE parted ways over it.
He was a producer on SWG from the team’s founding. In fact, he came over from Origin with the rest of the original team, where we had all worked together on a cancelled version of Privateer Online. J was never a designer, either. So he did not “design the CU” or NGE, nor were they his idea.
FWIW, J has been a producer on WoW since before the first expansion. Every expansion you liked had him working on it. (So did all the ones you didn’t ).
He did not ‘oversee’ it. He had already left the company before they pushed it onto the players.
And again, the NGE and what WoW is doing are not at all similar. I’m not sure what you’re smoking, but whatever it is, you should stop.
J did not do the SWG NGE. In fact he objected loudly to it. He stood on principle that it was wrong and unfair to the players, and he and SOE parted ways over it.
He did oversee it, it was developed by the time he left, even if it wasn’t live. I already made a post earlier that J. Allen Brack wasn’t a designer, and he didn’t develop those updates. But when he left SWG, the development was already there. J. Allen Brack made a good decision to leave when they turned it live on the playerbase.
This… SWG and current WoW are nowhere near the same. SWG was a fun sandbox MMO that died because of a lack of content not because of the CU. WoW expansions ever since Cata have been designed around significant additions and changes… Just deal with it OP and don’t try to psycho analyze it.
The mistake SWG made was trying to turn their open world sandbox mmo into a open world theme park mmo with features and gameplay similar to wow.
To the point that they completely revamped how the game works from the ground up. Much to the communities dismay. On top of that they seemingly quit the theme park style questing not even halfway through leaving new players sitting there at 15 with no idea what their supposed to do next, because their used to quests not sandbox adventures.
To be honest, nge or not, I’m not sure how long swg woulda lasted but blizzard is far from making the same mistakes.
Fun is a broad term and a varying term. Whats fun for me might not be for you, but that doesn’t mean its not fun. I still greatly enjoy myself in wow and find it incredibly fun. I don’t think the fun is going away at all, and the game is not nose diving.
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