The Stranger is Amazing!!!
Usually if you look at my posts I complain and I HATE to do it. Recently with game crashes the new modes I have been extremely frustrated. All that said I LOVE to give credit where it is due. The Stranger is a ton of fun and we didnt need to farm like 13 characters to wait like 6 months on a farm to get him. All his mechanics work great now crashes or glitches! He is a character like Bane just super fun and amazing all around!I'm not sure what's going to happen to my casual guild.
This is a long post. If you're not into that, kindly move along please. First, let me start by defining the word 'casual' as I'm using it here. we don't force anyone to farm anything. we don't kick people for going on vacation/holiday we don't require specific mod scores we don't force people to either join or sit out in TW (if you join, there is a minimum attack banner threshold) deployment and platoon engagement is our only TB requirement we have a very forgiving 3 strikes system in TW for not reaching a minimum number of attack banners our only 'requirements' are a minimum GP, a minimum threshold of engagement in TB, weekly avg of 500+ tickets per day, 30 attack banners in TW if you join, and open communication about when people will not be able to log into the game. 600M+ GP guild here - We are about as laid back and chill as it gets while still having actual rules and expectations. We set guild goals and we work toward them while allowing people to pursue their personal in-game goals at the same time. This means we are always slow to hit new milestones and while that can be a bit frustrating at times, eventually we get there, and the veterans of the guild have come to accept that and we're ok with it. We go out of our way to make the game fun and welcoming for all play styles. We have a few try-hards/whales that really give it their all (knowing that it's a choice that others will not make - and they're ok with that - mostly), a few dolphins that spend when something really appeals to them, and quite a few folks that don't spend at all. Running a guild of this nature has always been a challenge. I've been doing it for several years now and been playing (in the same guild) for almost a decade. I've done it because we have a great and dedicated group of players that care about each other and enjoy playing the game together. Over the past several months we've seen so many changes in the game. Any significant change will produce a certain amount of guild churn - this is expected and normal. Lots of big changes all at once obviously magnify this - we've had several people just quietly stop logging in. No good bye, no 'hey, been busy', no nothing - just disappear. We've had some say, 'life is too busy and I can't keep up with all the changes so I'm moving on.' As a guild leader I've done my best to keep people's expectations and attitudes to the new changes in check - to keep the temperature at a reasonable level so that people don't spiral themselves right into quitting the game. I should add how very much I loathe doing damage control and playing PR guy for CG just to keep morale up among my teammates and keep my guild together and I resent the fact that it's even necessary. Running a guild is fraught enough without that added stress and as an aside, I'd be remiss to not mention that there has never been a single instance in my memory that CG has even acknowledged or paid lip service to the efforts of guild leaders/officers and the benefit CG enjoys from having people willingly, thanklessly, and constantly handle this logistical feat with barely a thought from the studio about how to make that easier, or the additional overhead (both mentally and in terms of time spent) required. The solution has always been 'pay a third party for the tools we can't be bothered to provide.' - obviously I have feelings about that and thoughts on solutions, but I won't belabor the point further. Now to be fair, I've long been a fan of CG - been a card carrying member of the now (effectively) defunct CGDF (CG Defense Force for those of you that haven't been around long) for years now - and I've often - most of the time - overwhelmingly been firmly situated in the 'wait and see' school of thought regarding announced changes to the game. For the most part, most changes to the game over the course of it's long life have been positive, even when those changes didn't initially get positive reception from the players. That said, I'm not one to bite my tongue when there is fair criticism to offer. Things have changed. Let me say that there's no reason to immediately dismiss big changes as bad. But this isn't a matter of, 'oh, this one thing is very different now so let's see how that affects the rest of the game moving forward.' In the last several months in particular, but generally over the course of the last year, we have seen huge changes to every part of the game. We interact with our rosters differently. We interact with PVP differently. We interact with PVE differently. We interact with the stores/shipments and gear/relic economy differently. The process of getting new characters has been turned on its head. The game loop for long time players has been completely changed. We've seen our investments devalued and our rosters have essentially seen a 'soft reset' since the introduction of RD. Where we spend money in the game has shifted. What was good value a year ago is not so much now, and I'm honestly having a hard time figuring out what is good value anymore (which may have been the whole point - which I also have strong feelings about, but I'll move on). My monthly spend has increased to give the new era scheme a chance to show me something great. I've been disappointed with that effort, and if I don't all together leave the game soon, I will certainly curtail my spending quite dramatically. It's simply not worth it anymore. There's a minimum spend required now that is significantly higher than it used to be to remain competitive, in spite of marquee prices having generally fallen. We are squarely into 'the dust has started to settle' - and I'm not feeling great about it, my guild mates are not feeling great about it, and several of my non-guild mate friends (who are typically also 'wait and see' types) are also not feeling great about it. Any one of the changes had the potential to be viewed as a positive for players - but taken all together, we are very much playing a different game from the one we have been dedicated to and enjoyed (and poured money into) for so many years now. CG has rolled back positive changes they made in the past, and instituted new changes that are aggressively anti-player, while their communication about these changes has become more and more anorexic. I want to share just a couple of screenshots from my discord server - these are recent conversations as you'll see from the time stamps. I freely admit that a few opinions on my server from a mix of try-hards and casuals is probably not representative, but it really would not surprise me to find out that these are not in any way unusual. Names and profanities have been redacted to protect both the guilty, and the innocent. General attitude towards the game: Regarding the datacron changes: Regarding Coliseum: I'll stop short of enumerating all the things that have changed in the game - we all know what they are, all the mistakes that have been made - those have been highlighted ad-nauseum, and all the ways things could have been handled better. I'm not going to offer potential solutions - players didn't make this mess and we aren't the ones on the hook for fixing it. In fact, player feedback that was adopted years ago has been rolled back recently so I'm not convinced that even matters anymore. Whatever weight it was ever given is certainly not on balance with what's going on now. What it comes down to is - I can't defend any of this. I don't like most of it. I don't know who all these changes are for unless they're strictly for CGs benefit (which is honestly the most likely scenario). And I don't know how much longer I'll spend trying to give it a chance. I feel like I've given it all the appropriate 'wait and see' interval and I'm not sure that what I'm seeing is what I want to keep spending my money on. I don't know who this post is for. Maybe it's just for me to say things that I need to say. Maybe it's for someone else to get some validation about what they're seeing and know they're not crazy. Maybe it's for CG to get a real temperature about what people are saying or thinking. Or maybe it's screaming into the void because that feels like the only thing we can do about... all of the things, game related or otherwise. Regardless - I said what I said. Take it or leave it. Love y'all.Frustrated players?
I've been playing this game quite literally since the beginning. As with any game, I've seen features I've liked and disliked and I've seen aspects that were blatant money grabs. I expect things like that to happen with any game. But the one thing that has kept me playing for 10 years is that there seemed to still be a good balance of game play for free-to-play folks. Lately that is not the case. This new Eras feature is such a blatant money grab. Most players in my guild (which I've been a member of and officer in since guilds came into existence) either rarely spend money or are free-to-play and the chat has been consistently full of frustrated members talking about how the game seems to be fundamentally changing and moving towards a sincere focus on those who spend money. Nobody is enjoying this new Eras gameplay in general and everyone hates that it has become the central focus of the game. We can gear up toons but not earn shards? The only way this could be any more blatant a cash grab is if you actually said “This is a cash grab.” We can't even play the third tier of the new Eras marquee event without spending money or crystals to get the toon to 4 stars. Seriously? The event isn’t even worth it at that point. And right now, if we want to actually use the toons we just spent weeks working on in the last Eras event, where are we supposed to get shards? They aren’t even available anymore. And frankly, the coliseum is boring and the mechanics seem to be constantly changing. I’ve seen a lot of things come and go in this game, but this has to absolutely be the most disappointing feature I’ve seen in 10 years and the most obvious shift of focus to players that spend money and basically middle finger to those of us that spend little to no money. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of folks mocking me and telling me I’m just whining. I’ve never complained on these forums in the 10 years I’ve been playing. I’ve always loved this game. Say whatever you want, I’m just sad that a game that I have loved so much for so long has become so much less enjoyable because of money. In the end I’m sure I’m shouting into the ether but it would be nice to know if my guild and I are not alone in our feelings about this.MORE THAN JUST AN END OF AN ERA
As I had mentioned in a previous post of my planned departure, that time has come. Rode out the first ERA and it did not disappoint. The game did not change, just repackaged the same grind with a different look. TW never was tweaked to improve the issues. GA never improved and still have people who have not played for a year+ holding Kyber ranks. Never ending changes to content to fix endless blunders by the dev teams that calls for a big REALLY? Greatest driving factor is being ghosted by tech support. Created this account since I lost access to my original email, hacked, and account recovery email that was to my old job. My fault with the whole circumstance, but to not even get a polite to bad so sad, nothing can be done, My inquiry went unanswered. As I ride off into the sunset after ten years of playing SWGOH, To everyone, may the force be with you on your own journey. Wherever that takes you.
EA and CG, please fulfill the promises you previously made to us, SWGOH players!
EA and CG, please fulfill the promises you previously made to us, the SWGOH players! I've been playing SWGOH for the past 10 years and I love it. For the last 10 years! But unfortunately, in recent years (especially this year), EA and CG's failure to fulfill the promises they made to us, the valued SWGOH players, has deeply saddened me (and you, the valued SWGOH players). I say sadly because, despite their promises to "do..." and never fulfilling them, they are now trying to make us new promises. First, let me remind you of the promises Electronic Arts and Capital Games made to us previously: "As a special offer for the 10th Anniversary Update of Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, we will be distributing to everyone: 10 Free Light Speed Tokens, 10 Free Light Side Characters, 10 Free Dark Side Characters, 10 Free Light Side Ships, 10 Free Dark Side Ships, 10 Free Omicrons, 10 Free Zetas, 10 Free Omegas, 10,000 Free Crystals, 10 Million Free Character Credits, 10 Million Free Ship Credits, 10,000 Free Colosseum Coins, and 10,000 Free Grand Arena Coins Equally." - Electronic Arts and Capital Games. Did they distribute them? No, they didn't! Therefore, I let them know how sorry and worried I am.
