SWG Update (With Bonus Spires Event Ramblings)

If you're an EQII player and all went well with the launch you're probably up in the Kingdom of Sky or engaging in some PvP action.

And you're probably not going to be reading Aggro Me today. Well, I post these things the night before so maybe you are.

But, instead of an EQII post I'll just mention that a SWG dev outlined a lengthy plan for future Publishes (the SWG word for Live Updates I assume). Now, as I said in my last SWG post, I've criticized the NGE (as a business practice) a bit twice before. But that's not going to keep me from playing this game for free as long as I have a Station Access subscription and as long as I'm not bored with it.

I don't know enough about this game to make any editorial comments on the actual changes. Pretty much all I know about SWG is that the swoop bike is cool, the lag (on Bria) is bad and the Rebel quest series on Tatooine is pretty fun so far. I have continued to play since my last SWG post, though infrequently. Oh, the test heavy weapon they gave everyone for free recently seems cool enough but it very nearly got me killed by a mob of angry Tusken Raiders. I guess it's more for demonstration purposes than for actual combat and I haven't mastered the art of switching weapons in under three minutes.

Some people in game seem to be pretty excited about the changes from what I heard on the general chat in Bria (especially about the Smuggler stuff). However, my in-game friends told me that Entertainers and Crafters are not happy with the changes at all. But again, I don't know much about SWG and I can't bring myself to read their forums outside of the dev tracker.

So make of it what you will. It does appear that SOE appears to be sticking with SWG contrary to rumors I read on various forums. And at least they seem to have a plan for the future. Whether you like that plan or not is up to you.

Okay, I lied and I can't shut up about EQII even for a day. The Spires event was the kind of event I like because it had a dynamic world-building aspect. I thought the pacing was a bit slower (which is better) than the Griffon Towers event but it was still exciting.

However, the friction the dragons caused on the forums and in-game between casual players and raid guilds and between various raid guilds was a bit much. Do you want to say that was SOE's fault? Do you want to say that was the players' fault? I'm torn on this one because I liked the dragons but I hated the name-calling and anger in ooc chat. While I wasn't personally offended by the dragon thing the controversy was so wide spread on my server that it did kill my mood. Things are usually relatively civil. Relatively.

Part of me liked the competitive action but part of me wants to suggest that SOE try to prevent similar ill-feelings in future events. I'll have to think about this one some more.

In this one respect, it was not that different from the long server-wide quests in WoW to open the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. In that case, some casual players balked at participating because they felt the zones that would be opened upon completion of the quest were geared toward raiding guilds. In the Spires event in EQII, casual players felt slighted when they spent time doing the grunt work on the quest and then a raid guild swooped in to get the dragon which popped at the end and the resultant loot.

And yes, I'm aware that every turn-in in WoW was rewarded with an item and faction. I'm aware that everyone who participated in the Spires quest gets a reward.

I don't know the solution to the casual vs. raid guild debate. Frankly, I doubt one exists. I want to say that game companies should try not to exacerbate the problem, but on the other hand I don't want to see them restrict their creativity or water down content.

The Spire event was probably the hardest time I've ever had trying to formulate a definitive opinion, as you can probably tell. It was pretty much exactly what I asked for in the past, yet the recriminations and accusations left a bad taste in my mouth. I can take that sort of of thing on the forums but when it happens in game I have a problem.

But hey, the spires are open now so let's move on with our lives and have fun in the Kingdom of Sky. Or at least take out our anger on the PvP server.