Why do people hate SOE?

Just curious, it was a few years before my time, I think. A lot of people seem to despise them, but I can't seem to get a clear answer from a search engine.

Most of what you hear about is because of the way Star Wars Galaxies radically changed during it's lifetime. In actuality they are average as far as MMO support goes, neither great nor terrible.guynamedbilly

Yeah it was before my time as well - But I hear it had to do with a change made to SW: Galaxies...

From what I heard - Becoming a Jedi/Sith in the original game was a very difficult and time consuming process... Something most people were striving to accomplish - Only a few had reached it - Many were close... And then Sony came in and changed everything about the game - Eliminating this progression to become a Jedi/Sith and turning the progression into an actual class that you could start at level 1 with...

So what tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands, don't know how many people played the game) of people had been working towards for months was just erased - And SOE just sent a big "screw you" out to everyone who had it, was close to it, or worked for it over those months... Not to mention changing core game mechanics and the likes... They basically revamped to the entire game, for the worse according to most I have heard talk about it...

Well for me it stood at a time when i played the best game ever..Everquest live yes loved it more than that other mmorpg that people seam to love..Everquest live was a challenge to me..It took skills to earn things in that game..Loved the game to death..It was like life to me..It was friends the game was just fun..It owned at the time..The raids where challenging the raids where fun an it took great guilds to get the ubah stuff..Now comes soe they make everquest 2..Dont get me wrong i played it for 3 years..It just wasnt the same feel..They made the game to try and compete with wow..Took everquest an watered down every thing..Devs shouldnt water down games..They should add to what makes there games great..Im not sure why companies of late think they need to water down games after making a great game..In the old days you made a great game than go on to make another one..Times change with game i think,,

Soe just has a pure lack of what makes good mmorpgs..They water there games down instead of making great products..Look at the original everquest its still around amazing isnt it..

Star wars galaxies every one hated every one being a jedi..Now how about this..Knights of the republic every one including myself is going bonkers over..So what makes there game different than what soe did..Every one will start out a jedi..Why will this game grow where star wars galaxies flopped...Doesnt make sence to me..

Because they completely ruined SWG. It wasn't the healthiest game out there, but they did have a pretty substantial community. Out of envy of WOW, SOE forced new changes into the game in spite of the outrage of the community and completely destroyed the game. SOE later acknowledged that it was a huge mistake.

I should add that they did this not just once, but twice. First with the so called combat upgrade. Then with the NGE new game experience. Both of which were **** The second one was a complete revamp and dumbing down of the game and fundamentally altered the gameplay mechanics. Since then SOE has been reintroducing stuff that they removed but too little too late. The servers are ghost towns now.

I would probably still be playing that game if it werent for SOE.

I still hate them.

Add me to he, "destroying SWG" queue. The game needed some tweaking to be sure. The combat was pretty bad but could have been easily fixed. Instead they scrapped the whole thing and turned it into EQ in space. Yuck!

The writing was on the wall when the holo-grind was first announced. Jedi were never supposed to be a big part of the game and each server was originally supposed to only have a few, if any. Jedi simply didn't fit into the time period in which the game was set but SOE eventually caved and came up with possibly the most convoluted unlock system ever. After that things went downhill even more with the CU and then the final nail, the NGE.

If SOE created a SWG "classic server" I would go back in a heartbeat but that will never happen. Hey, I can dream can't I?

Well there's three big ones.

They made Everquest which was awesome. They then proceeded to release Everquest 2 which was...not so awesome. So yeah they lost some points there.

They had their new game improvements to Star Wars: Galaxies that basically dumbed the whole game down.

They added BFRs to Planetside.

It's like they always start with a good idea and then ruin it.

Well there's three big ones.

They made Everquest which was awesome. They then proceeded to release Everquest 2 which was...not so awesome. So yeah they lost some points there.

They had their new game improvements to Star Wars: Galaxies that basically dumbed the whole game down.

They added BFRs to Planetside.

It's like they always start with a good idea and then ruin it.

Ragingbear505

They didnt make everquest they bought the rights to it..

They killed Everquest. They didin't make it, Verant did.

Also, when the whole SWG thing went down. Their exec's were just cocky and condescending. They belittled all of the people in the forums who were complaining that it was a terrible idea saying "This is what people really want." And "Those people in the forums are just a vocal minority."

The whole thing was pretty idiotic. I don't mind people that aren't smart--being smart isnt a moral virtue. But, when idiots act arrogantly and condescending, I really don't like them.

They killed Everquest. They didin't make it, Verant did.

Prexxus

In April 1998, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) was formed by merging parts of Sony Online Ventures with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Within a matter of months after this change, Sony Interactive Studios America was renamed 989 Studios.

Towards the end of 1998, 989 Studios shifted its strategy to making PlayStationconsole games only. The company's computer game/online development branch spun off, initially calling itself RedEye Interactive and then soon after Verant Interactive.

EverQuest launched with modest expectations from Sony on March 16, 1999 under its Verant Interactive brand and quickly became successful. Numbers continued rising at a steady rate until mid-2001 when growth slowed. As of 2004, Sony reported subscription numbers close to 450,000

For me, it was SWG. They ruined my first and favorite MMO :(

They changed it from 35 classes, RPG style combat to.. 9? classes and a more FPS / fast paced style combat. They made items that people spent days of their life obtaining completely useless, not even bothering to convert them so they'd still work in the new system. Plus, jedi went from being a huge time sink to a starter class and the only thing that "Elder" Jedi got was the ability to glow blue.

Not to mention that they did this 2 weeks after the release of the expansion. If I remember correctly, the Expansion came out in late Oct, the sweeping changes were announced a week later, and after a week of "open testing", the changes went live. Absolutely NO notice. I'm still upset, because one of the big perks of buying the expansion was getting a pet - which of course became completely useless 2 weeks after the expansion with the changes.

I still go back to it when they offer the free time for Veteran players, but it makes me sad to see ghost towns and I end up logging out :(

For me, it was SWG. They ruined my first and favorite MMO :(

They changed it from 35 classes, RPG style combat to.. 9? classes and a more FPS / fast paced style combat. They made items that people spent days of their life obtaining completely useless, not even bothering to convert them so they'd still work in the new system. Plus, jedi went from being a huge time sink to a starter class and the only thing that "Elder" Jedi got was the ability to glow blue.

Not to mention that they did this 2 weeks after the release of the expansion. If I remember correctly, the Expansion came out in late Oct, the sweeping changes were announced a week later, and after a week of "open testing", the changes went live. Absolutely NO notice. I'm still upset, because one of the big perks of buying the expansion was getting a pet - which of course became completely useless 2 weeks after the expansion with the changes.

I still go back to it when they offer the free time for Veteran players, but it makes me sad to see ghost towns and I end up logging out :(

Katsumic

Even after all of that nonsense, the devs did a lot of work to make it enjoyable again. That was one of the best mmo's for pvp. I can remember some huge battles where a few good players and strategies could totally change the outcome. It was epic. I played a medic and in some huge battles I knew that if I died we would probably lose the battle.

So they messed up SWG and Everquest... I can see why now. Hopefully DCUO won't get completely ballsed up. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.