Current Thoughts On The Direction Of SWGOH

KingFritsch
6 posts Member
edited June 2020
This is going to be a long post and I apologize for that, but here are my thoughts on the Road Ahead and more of SWGOH. And CG, don't get offended, I love this game and will play this game until the plug is pulled, but please take this criticism in a positive way. You guys take criticism like children, you get upset and hold grudges. We all want this game to continue, we all want this game to improve, and if you actually made some of these improvements you would make a lot more money, and I know that is what you want.

Update: I added a TL;DR down in the discussion. If you want the full details continue reading here.

The previous Road Ahead was 11/20/19, over 8 months ago or whatever it is, and I believe that was the first RH since Mark joined CG (maybe LS Geo TB was his first, but it really doesn't matter cause the past 3 RH's have been garbage). CG under his leadership has been abysmal. I have tried remaining very optimistic and have given them the benefit of doubt each time, but this RH scares me. I personally feel that CG was going to release a Road Ahead in March stating they had plans for the Original Trilogy. They could've teased the Y-Wing, teased the Bomber, and teased Jedi Knight Luke, but then the Galactic Legends get delayed. The requirements for GLs are out of this world crazy, only the whales and krakens have really gotten them (if you somehow managed to get them F2P, hats off). I think once they got delayed, the GLs were their big money grab. Releasing a RH in March, before GLs dropped, stating that Jedi Knight Luke would be coming would be a bad plan. Everyone, and I mean everyone, would rather farm for Jedi Knight Luke in comparison to Galactic Legends. The JKL event was lovely, kit is great, and if we knew JKL was coming how many people go for him instead of the GLs. I think that is why the Road Ahead was delayed quartly from March all the way to now, because this quarter was OT. This quarter was JKL and Vader. What would this Road Ahead have looked like in March? Teasing JKL, teasing a Vader rework, may not have had new content, but we would have at least gotten excited for OT content in March. We would have been at ease for a while, but they just drop them now without any correlation to a road ahead so that they could grab their money from both GLs and now JKL.

Next on the agenda, this RH. I am excited for the Galactic Challenges. It seems that they are giving us something we can do everyday, something that scales with our rosters, something that feels that we can actually use some theorycrafted teams for practice. It may not be a sandbox, but at least we will be able to experience the entirely of our rosters... hopefully. Galactic Challenges seem to be something that streamers and content creators will be able to stream for periods of time daily, that is something this game does not have right now. You can stream your GACs 3 times a week, maybe stream your arena climb, but that is about it. No content you can sit down and stream. This game to be brutally honest with y'all, is not content creator friendly at all. The group of content creators we have now have all been blessed that the IP of this game is Star Wars. If this game had randomly created characters I don't think anyone is tuning in, the Star Wars name is the only thing that keeps this game alive as there is no content in this game. I have loved playing this game for the past 2+ years now, and as stated previously I have tried staying optimistic, but wow... they finally announce content without a timetable and who knows what this will even be. Maybe this will just be a reskin of the current challenges with a new tier of rewards.

This new content scares me. It may be a content creator friendly mode being able to test rosters out and play it daily, but it seems that this mode will be automated. It seems that CG can create all these unique abilities and just combine the abilities with factions and each faction has their own "planet" which is just a scene that is already in the game, and they can automate it. Everyday it cycles to a new background and the AI is based on your roster. If this believe is true, and it can all be automated (which is something CG would do as they are very lazy it seems), this could very well be the start of the end of SWGOH. Automated content that can let us play infinite games, seems that CG is ready to close up shop and go work on their other game. Mark has had nothing to do with CG, and since he has taken command of CG, not once has he spoken with us except for his introductory post. They created an automated gamemode that will automatically scale with our roster, meaning that if it is tough we can always spend money to be able to complete these challenges. A money farm. CG won't have to update the game but we will keep playing as it is Star Wars and they will keep draining the communities pockets.

What do I think CG needs to do to raise the spirits of the community?
1) Come out and straight up apologize for the lack of communication. Come out and straight up apologize for the lack of content. They need to mend ties with the community. They need to create and re-establish the relationship with the community. We are all here for one reason and one reason only: Star Wars. Let's start mending the relationship by making a fun Star Wars game that has content that we can play for ages, and they need to mention that to us. I hope their new game gets released and no one plays it, and that will probably happen. No one is fans of CG the company, we are fans of Star Wars. Once they understand that, they will create more Star Wars content (unless they get their rights revoked, which could be a possibility if they are creating all of this automated content).
2) We deserve our Galactic Republic Jedi's to be reworked, and reworked soon. Mace Windu needs to be a one of the top leaders in the game, he needs a place as one of the best teams in the game. Imagine a Mace Windu led GR Jedi team. CG should add Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin to the game, and then rework Kit Fisto. A team led by Mace Windu with Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, Kit Fisto, and I could care less about the 5th would be amazing. These 4 are the Jedi who faced Palpatine, give us them. Then also rework Darth Sidious.
3) Clone Wars Season 7 was some of the most hyped Star Wars content of all time... and it deserved all the hype as it was amazing. CG butchered the Clone Wars release. They should have released the Bad Batch with a reworked Commander Cody as the lead (Cody had little relation with them but was with them in S7E1, maybe a new Echo with them, who knows, just give us the Bad Batch). I was for certain when the Clone Wars dropped that they would give us the Bad Batch, there was no way they missed an opportunity like that. But they did... How? Also, give us a Clone Wars Maul, or even just rework the current one. Imagine a Clone Wars Maul with 4 Death Watch mandalorians... Wouldn't have to be meta, but just a nice offensive TW/GAC team that has some nice synergy. CG focuses a little too much on the whales and only creates meta teams, we don't need every new team to be meta. There are plenty of modes in this game, give us non-meta new teams, please. Following up on Clone Wars, we should have a new Ahsoka, and a 4 clones from the 332nd company. Give us clones. Also, GK should have a full team of 212th clones for his LS Geo TB mission he has with just Cody and Clone Sergeant.
4) Finally, give us Fallen Anakin and Master Kenobi. Even if they are Galactic Legends and the requirements are tough, I think these are 2 characters the community both want and need. These can for sure be a meta team, but don't make them completely squash the new meta. There shouldn't only be one or two teams that dominate the game, there should be more. Imagine a meta where there is a Fallen Anakin team, a Master Kenobi team, a JKL team, a Darth Vader team, a Rey team, and then finally a Kylo team. Those 6 squads, the main 6 characters from each trilogy, should create the meta. With those 6, I think we finally achieve balance. And please make JKL have some Rebel synergy, he may not be on the Battle of Endor helping out much, but please give us Endor Leia and crew.
5) Give us a campaign. I know a majority of you guys will probably disagree on this one, but give us a campaign and have it go through every trilogy we have. It would be similar to regular nodes, but have it go chronological. Campaign 1: Episode 1: have us go through the events of the first movie. Give us Jar Jar as the reward or something, even a Padawan Obi-Wan would be sweet. Have us play through our favorite movies. Idea for Campaign 2: Episode 2: reward is Padawan Anakin, he is already in the game, you wouldn't need the art department to borrow the laptop for a whole week, you just need to rework the kit a bit. We move forward to Campaign 6: Episode 6: give us Endor Leia as the reward or something. Have 9 separate campaigns (one for each episode) so we can live through the episodes in game. Give the community these characters that we are missing. Even if the campaign was a DLC to the game, where you had to pay $20 to unlock all 9 campaigns, I would spend! 9 characters, 1 from each episode, for only $20, sure! But seriously, just add this to the game as a free option, we need an actual campaign, like why am I going up against Mob Enforcer? Just makes no sense. Following up, CG wouldn't even have to do much as they already have all the backgrounds made almost, they just need to configure the characters you face and the rewards. Maybe CG can't add new content because the Cantina can't get permits for expansion, actually, yes, this is probably the exact reason.

I was originally going to post this in Ahnald's comment section so CG didn't hold a grudge against me, but the comment was too long to post. So if it seems that it was written in a weird way, it was because it wasn't supposed to be directly written to CG but to the community as a while. Thus, if CG reads this I will sacrifice myself for the betterment of the game. Also, CG I am currently unemployed so if you would like me to come work for you guys and be the head of content I will gladly do so.

Replies

  • R_Val_17
    144 posts Member
    Where is the TLDR version?
  • R_Val_17 wrote: »
    Where is the TLDR version?

    Very good idea. I will recap it in the next post.
  • LordDirt
    4941 posts Member
    Can almost see that wall from space. ;)
    Why wasn't Cobb Vanth shards a reward for the Krayt Dragon raid? Why wasn't Endor Gear Luke shards a reward for the Speeder Bike raid?
  • TL;DR:

    Thoughts on the game:
    1. There was supposed to be a Road Ahead in March hinting at JKL and Vader, but since GLs got delayed they didn't want to post JKL knowing that people would rather pay and get JKL over Rey and Kylo.
    2. CG is creating automated content so that they can pack up their bags and leave, while still making money. GAC can be automated to roll out monthly, same as TW, TB, and now these Galactic Challenges. Them creating automated content that scaled based on your GP could signify that the game could be coming to an end.

    What can CG do to raise our spirits?
    1. Apologize for lack of communication and lack of content. Mend the relationship with the community. We are all here for one reason and one reason only: Star Wars. Make Star Wars content, that is all we want.
    2. Rework Windu. Add Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin. Squad of Mace, Kolar, Tiin, Fisto, +1, these are Jedi that went and fought Palpatine. Also, Sidious rework.
    3. CG butchered Clone Wars Season 7. Add Bad Batch with Cody lead (or just add the new Echo to go with them). Add CW Maul with 4 Death Watch members. CG should focus on making teams that aren't the meta, give us middle of the pack teams. Give us CW S7 Ahsoka with 332nd company, and give us a full team of GK and 212th for LS Geo TB.
    4. Next Galactic Legends should be Fallen Anakin (Lord Vader) and Master Kenobi. We should have a balanced meta between these teams: Fallen Anakin and Vader's Fist (new 501st), Master Kenobi, JKL and rebels, Darth Vader and Empire, Rey and Resistance, and Kylo + FO. These 6 teams should be the meta, all at the same time, each trilogy gets 2 meta teams, light-side and dark-side. All perfectly balanced as all things should be.
    5. Campaign mode. Have 9 separate campaigns, one for each episode. Each campaign has you play events and scenes from the movies, you get your rewards. Each episode would have a character tied to it. Episode 1 could have Jar Jar or Padawan Obi-Wan. Episode 2 can have Padawan Anakin (coincidence he is in Geo TB and they would just have to take his current art and make a new kit for him). Episode 6 can have Endor Leia for the JKL team. List goes on. Have the campaign play the entire Star Wars franchise for us, have us experience the franchise in a F2P way! Great way to mend with the community.

    CG hire me as head of content. Feedback appreciated.
  • LordDirt wrote: »
    Can almost see that wall from space. ;)

    Just tried to be thorough :)
  • ZAP wrote: »
    I disagree on your #2 thoughts on the game.

    They said they’d be running Galactic challenges as an exhibition to start and trying out different things to see what works best. That doesn’t sound like auto mode for them to me. It sounds like they will be actively changing, updating and trying new things.

    Gonna need some more time to read through and comprehend your novella, more to come.

    Well, they will have their exhibition in order to make sure all of their new unique buffs function properly. We are their beta testers now, as we should be, but once all the bugs are worked out and after the exhibition is done, it seems that the gamemode can be automated, similar to how GAC could be automated. Only thing not automated in GAC are the feats, but eventually they will probably cycle through feats once they've covered all corners of the galaxy with feats. And I don't blame them for making automated content, if the content scales based on the players GP the player will always be challenged, which is a good thing, but the fact that they are automating gamemodes could be so that they don't have to focus on SWGOH anymore and focus on their other projects. Thanks for responding though ZAP, I see you in a lot of these threads with good feedback and opinions.
  • @KingFritsch - I actually think you're bang on the money theorising the Galactic Challenges is CG's way of automating a daily challenge. The random elements they've proposed are the perfect way to automate the actual creation of the battles/challenges, linked to scalability based (probably) on GP and them happening daily upon completion of daily challenges there's no need to worry about scheduling or them becoming obsolete.

    I don't have a problem with this at all - as you say, it should provide daily content to play and use our roster of toons. Happy days.

    I haven't quite made my mind up if this is pointing to them winding things down though.

    I certainly see the logic that once they've got it working it requires zero input/maintenance from the developers and hence could have money continue to come in while just keeping the servers up.

    My thoughts though are leaning more towards a 'split tier' of rewards from the game mode. They do a similar type of thing in Disney Sorcerers Arena where you unlock reqards/gear on your progression - however if you've payed, the rewards are greater. They do this in a LOT of other games too. I could see them doing a similar thing where new character shards (which I think will be coming) are locked to the 'payed' tier of rewards. This would keep more money coming in and enable them to use the existing team to create content rather than spend their time on gameplay/events.

    Good read and insights - thanks for the post.
  • Nihion
    3340 posts Member
    I think your overall ideas and thoughts are good. Most of your individual character stuff though is pretty personal, and probably doesn’t represent the whole community. But first ideas, yes.
  • Nihion wrote: »
    I think your overall ideas and thoughts are good. Most of your individual character stuff though is pretty personal, and probably doesn’t represent the whole community. But first ideas, yes.

    I understand that there is some bias from my end on the characters they should release, some people would probably love more Old Republic characters, some would probably love the addition of more Sequel Trilogy characters, but as a community we all want new characters to play. We want synergistic squads that would be fun to use, not everyone could be on board with a Darth Maul led Death Watch squad, but that is something that not only excites me, but probably others as well.

    This post wasn't necessarily meant to be a direct, add this, add that, and then the game is fixed. It may come off that way, but the goal of the post was to spark ideas, spark change, and hopefully suggest to CG that there are things they are missing that the community as a whole would enjoy.

    Also, Mace Windu rework, poll the community today, probably 90%+ of the community would vouch for a Mace rework. I think that rework is suggestive and representative to the community as a whole.

    Thanks for the feedback Nihion!
  • Grimbarian wrote: »
    @KingFritsch - I actually think you're bang on the money theorising the Galactic Challenges is CG's way of automating a daily challenge. The random elements they've proposed are the perfect way to automate the actual creation of the battles/challenges, linked to scalability based (probably) on GP and them happening daily upon completion of daily challenges there's no need to worry about scheduling or them becoming obsolete.

    I don't have a problem with this at all - as you say, it should provide daily content to play and use our roster of toons. Happy days.

    I haven't quite made my mind up if this is pointing to them winding things down though.

    I certainly see the logic that once they've got it working it requires zero input/maintenance from the developers and hence could have money continue to come in while just keeping the servers up.

    My thoughts though are leaning more towards a 'split tier' of rewards from the game mode. They do a similar type of thing in Disney Sorcerers Arena where you unlock reqards/gear on your progression - however if you've payed, the rewards are greater. They do this in a LOT of other games too. I could see them doing a similar thing where new character shards (which I think will be coming) are locked to the 'payed' tier of rewards. This would keep more money coming in and enable them to use the existing team to create content rather than spend their time on gameplay/events.

    Good read and insights - thanks for the post.

    I am a mostly F2P player, I've spent like $6 or something strange like that to finish my T3-M4 farm as the JKR event was about to end last summer. Needed 9 shards and kept doing energy refreshed, strange how the drop rates decreased so much when his event was out, it I had to do 3 100 refreshes, and 3 200 refreshes to get 9 shards. But as a F2P player, I would probably spend $5-$10 a month for increased rewards for Galactic Challenges. If they split the rewards to where you only get some high end gear as the free option, and then there is a paid option where you get better rewards and character shards! I definitely think that would be worth a monthly premium. Say each month they have a new Galactic Challenges character that if you complete the challenges everyday you will eventually get this new character to 7*, but in order to unlock the shards you needed to buy a "premium pass" I would definitely do so. There are so many ideas and options CG has that can make some of these F2P players maybe open their wallets up a bit. In a perfect world CG wouldn't be as money hungry as they are an throw the F2P players a bone when unlocking characters, but a premium pass with split rewards would be a great way for CG to make some money and make the community happy. Love the idea.

    Also, going back to the automation of the challenges, do I think they are going to close up shop? I really don't know. I think there is a chance with their reputation and backlash they have received recently they could lose the Star Wars name and won't be able to release new content. Servers would stay up, you could still purchase things in game, and with everything being automated the game would still make CG money to fund their new game. I don't think it is time for them to close up shop, I don't want them to close up shop, I just want to make the point that all of these things becoming automated (including the Journey Guide, they no longer have to schedule the events every 3 months), it could lead to them slowing down content creation even more. Thanks for the input and discussion Grimbarian, have a great rest of your day, week, month, and years to come.
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