Oblivion-style FPS interaction on planets? Sure, if you feel like adding another 3-4 years onto the development cycle. Think before sounding like an idiot; that's like asking why Blizzard doesn't incorporate a twitch, UT style first person shooter into WoW because not being to aim your spells is "OMG BORING".

I have no idea where you got the idea that there's almost no one left from the "original" Blizzard.

Yes, several of the top-brass executives left to start their own gaming company, but it wasn't a giant exodus that you seem to make it out to be.

Second, have you ever heard of the term "expanding a company"? Obviously not. Blizzard is developing a MMORPG, and has another unannounced project in the works. Did it ever occur to you that Blizzard would need to expand its employees in order to accomodate a "live team" that would be responsible for creating new content after the game goes live?

Blizzard is not gone. Blizzard North is not gone. Every Blizzard game produced is critically acclaimed for sound reasons: the games they make are fun, polished, and complete. I'm completely boggled where you got your ideas from, and what on earth made you jump to the conclusions that you made

Fion, I just registered here to dispel the bull you're posting. Having played from launch until this last June, I can tell you that SWG is what most people think of it: a steaming pile of bullshit.

A few lies you posted:

A) Only 200 people banned from the credit dupe.

Wrong. I could easily find a newspost or thread to link to; don't you find it strange that SEVERAL THOUSAND people protested these bans on multiple servers? All for 200 or whateve number you posted? Doesn't really coincide with the facts, does it?

For those interested, SOE customer service teleported these protesters to random planets, and even shutdown certain portions of one server. "Guilty unless proven innocent" may work in a Diablo II-esque setting where you're paying for a free service, but in a MMORPG setting, you pay so you DON'T have to deal with shit like that.

B) The game has come a long way since launch

Wrong again. Player cities, vehicles, and mounts were basically all that's been added over a one-year period. For god's sake, half of the classes are BROKEN. Not unbalanced (though that's a story of its own), but BROKEN. There are still countless skills that don't work properly, don't do what they're supposed to do, or don't do ANYTHING at all.

And where's the combat rebalance that's supposed to correct all this? In October of last year, the developer's promised we'd see a combat rebalance that would completely change the game and fix almost all of its shortcomings. It was due out in December. Then early 2004. Then summer 2004. And guess what? They've decided to postpone it so they can finish Jump to Lightspeed and take a bit more out of your wallet before you realize what you're actually playing. Postponing CRUCIAL fixes in order to create an expansion is wrong on so many different levels.

and lastly:

C) SWG has 1.5 million accounts or whatever your number was

Wrong yet again. SOE has already said they will be consolidating servers once the character transfer system goes live. Why in god's name would you CLOSE servers if the population has been growing like you said it has? Shouldn't they be OPENING servers?

And haven't you noticed how dead the servers are? Besides 3 or 4 of them, most of them are empty, even during primetime. During the first month or two, you couldn't do anything without bumping into someone. All of the major cities were packed, and the only remotely quiet spots were one or two of the "adventure planets". Now look around; the only cities with noticeable populations are Theed and Coronet. Again, there are 3 or 4 servers that can still constitute being heavily populated, but rest of them are empty.


Conclusion: SWG is a dying game, and unless JTL can revitalize it (and considering SOE's track record, that's a no), it'll last another year, possibly two. And I agree with other posters; it's a shame considering how much potential this game had before it was released.