Darth Hater

Well the fan site conference starts tomorrow. I would assume, and I'm hoping, DH will be making post daily on the event. Good luck down there guys and have a blast. Look forward to hearing from you.

DH, I would love to hear your comments, on your next podcast, in reference to the "thumping" TOR is taking as a result of the recent Friday Update. Do you feel it is warranted or not?

Yes, I always look forward to DH podcasts. Love the discussions and debate they have about the game. Looking forward to next weeks podcast and see what their take is on this debacle and this embargo

We get it, Bioware... The game has story... Can we see the talent trees yet? " I think they are afraid players like myself would theorycraft the hell out of them and screw up their marketing double-talk campaign before they can sell the game to the folks buying into said campaign."

Honestly, the update sucked but there's no reason to /wrists. Just don't buy the book if you're that angry.

No need to release info on talent trees before they are finalized. How about we wait a week and a half for the press embargo to be lifted so we can have so much info it may push the 'tunnel shooters suck' and 'we need an appearance tab' threads off the front page for hours.

I'm hoping for a full talent tree or two at E3. Hopefully all talent trees will be revealed before launch.

this just in. an anonymous source has just revealed that BW is intentionally delaying release of SWTOR so that all of the devs can get their book deals finalized, marketed and sold to the mass of SW fanbois (and girlz) chomping at the bit to get their hands on anything even remotely related to the launch of the much anticipated game. ;P

The complaints would not be so loud if this week had not followed a fan friday. Fan fridays get more complaints then anything, and then to follow it up with a book release update did not help. I for one will definitely buy the book. Karpshyn wrote the Darth Bane series, some of the best Star Wars books written, and will definitely be worth the read. I also look forward to playing any classes he helped to write the story for, which I believe is the Jedi Knight. Could be wrong on that though.

Huhh,
I realy thought that the TOR community was more mature than this. It, seems that most of them now-a-days are more like my 5y/o sons class mates that whine and cry when they do not get their way.
DH, what do you all think of the recations to this update from the community? is it warrented? or are people today just too impatient if they do not get what they want?

It's just an example of the overall impact that "customer service" has twisted people into in this country. Everyone expects to have their demands met all the time, without taking into consideration any impact it might have on another customer or the employees themselves. The whole "Customer is always right" mantra has created an arrogance and unrealistic expectation amongst the general populace.

They have an update ready to go on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, no one gives them credit. They have multiple updates for the site during PAX East week instead of stretching them out over the next few weeks, no one gives them credit. They've had a lot of info on the official forums through dev posts, no one gives them credit.

It's really sad, at this point, that people have devolved back to such selfish beasts, barking and gnashing whenever things don't go 100% their way. The game won't be coming out for several months anyways. It shouldn't have any impact at all if they decide to not release any new updates from now until open beta is started. Sadly, it might, because people will go, "I need to know what the talent trees are right now, even though I won't play the class for months, and they're going to change anyways as more testing occurs."

at the same time, they generate updates specifically for those events, that shouldn't mean that since they gave out a lot of information last week they shouldn't give something out this week....

when you get a christmas bonus they don't then hold your next few month's pay checks because you got more money from that bonus check; why? because it makes no sense and people would complain.

I'm not saying I personally expect a solid update every week, I sometimes enjoy some of the fan fridays; sometimes the fan fridays come with some nice developer corner information, sometimes art etc... but a book? I'm sorry it has nothing to do with your game, it has no business being an 'update'.

I know what you're screaming about, "Oh it does too have something to do with the Old Republic game", but you are wrong. The book is set after KOTOR, some 300 years before this game begins, so while it's I suppose in the same general broad timeline, and true it will have a character that will be eluded to in the game, you will not be playing as Revan, talking to Revan or pretty much have anything to do with Revan after the first few patches (maybe) if even that long....

If anything it's an epilogue to Knights of the Old Republic, not an update for a present time game.

Comparing a Christmas bonus you receive after a year's worth of work and profits generated for the company to receiving an update to a game that none of us has given BioWare any money for... well, it's weak, to say the least. Actually, they're actively losing money right now just having the site running and providing these updates. Of course they expect to recoup that when the game launches, but that's not a given.

Also, I wasn't screaming at all about anything with the book being related to the game. This wasn't a "good update" for the game, but it *will* have something to do with the game. It's a book that will serve as both an epilogue to KOTOR, as you said, *and* it will provide backstory for the Emperor and Empire as a whole. Oh, it will also likely give us some backstory for the Revan's Complex flashpoint presented in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyP3IHWnc6c

My problem with the reaction has more to do with the concept that because this was a "bad update", somehow BioWare has wronged us, or that they need to be more "sensitive". If someone is this sensitive about a game that they won't be playing for months (I repeat, months), then I think they really need to take a step back and re-evaluate things in their life. Go outside, or pick up a hobby, or play Portal 2. Something constructive.

I think you are misinterpreting what people are saying.

People are not 'crying', and emotionally upset about this.

People are saying this is a poor job and that this is not what we expect from the Friday Updates.

It is like telling your employee that the last report was shoddy or telling the manager that the service was poor and that it should improve it they want to you to continue to patron the restaurant.

They aren't losing money at all, not from the website at least. A company as large as EA would usually host their own stuff, so I guess if you want to talk about their electric bill to run the servers sure I guess you have a point. However that cost alone is paid off every month easily and really has no effect on the companies financial status as a whole.

also the logical analogy of a christmas bonus is actually not weak at all; and revolves around the same generic parameters as your argument that because bioware gave out such a large amount at event (X) that they should not have to keep impressing us with new information in the subsequent weeks because of how much they released at the aforementioned event. I assume you consider it weak because on one hand the person works for the company and generates them profits, therefor the company should be generous, and since we do not work for Bioware they owe us nothing?

That statement is both true and false. While it's true we do not directly work for Bioware in any shape or form the community as a whole is similar to that of a sales representative. If the community thinks the game is not living up to the hype as it will or that Bioware is mishandling information they choose to reveal, what do you think they as "salesmen" are going to reveal to other potential buyers?

So while it may not be monetary pay that we seek, we do seek some form of payment for remaining loyal to both the developer and the title, and that is ultimately why they release updates at all, they want their fans, enthusiasts, salespeople interested and the easiest way of doing that is showing them cool things they are doing.

also the books and the game are not as closely related as you think, there were several inconsistencies from 'the Deceived' book and as such things you see in the book may not be referenced at all in the new game and the game may change. MMOs are always changing, so something written in the book may change 3 months from now before launch, you never know.

Oh no? People aren't overly emotional about this? Let's go to our Man on the Street at the official forums!

"Who cares about comment walls. When the heck are we going to get a freaking release date?!?! I mean holy crap, your done making the game. Stop wasting time putting ***** books up and give a dang release date." - darktrooperalfa

"Godammit when are you going to give us a hint at the least of when the game its reallt starting to ***** me off." - towboat

"Cant be bother any more I am a customer I love star wars and kortor but this is just stupid oo pore bioware gets harassed for not delivering a product LOL." - kornell

That's just from the first page up on the Update page on the official site. I'm pretty sure if I clicked "Next" at the bottom of the list, I would see a lot more posts similar to this (although hopefully with better spelling and grammar). This all stems from an irrational expectation which is manifesting itself into demands for the game to come out or for a release date to be announced. Anyone with any kind of sense would know that neither of those are happening until open beta is in effect.

It is not like either of those terribly simplified metaphors.