[Deflection]

I've been in the beta for a month now and it's finally going gold. The release should be the 26th. I've seen other some ther fans MMORPG's on the forum and was wondering if any of you were in the currently in the beta.

I'm under NDA still so I can't really say much about it yet, but that should be up soon. I'll try and post some screenshots when I'm allowed. Thought I'd leave some info related to 3D. I'm using geforce2 gts and runs ok with the minimum settings and still is really beautiful game. Some pretty heavey requirements.

Requirements
---------------
Computer
100% DirectX 9.0 compatible computer

Operating Systems
Windows 98 SE, Millennium, 2000, and XP

CPU
Required: Intel PIII 933 MHz or AMD Athlon 900 MHz
Recommended: Intel P4 1.5 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+

Memory
Required: 256 MB RAM
Recommended: 512 MB RAM

Graphics Card
Required: 32 MB 3D Graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L) Capability
Recommended: 64 MB 3D Graphics card with Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader (VS/PS) Capability

Supported Chipsets at the time of release:
ATI Radeon 7200/7500
ATI Radeon 8500/9000
ATI Radeon 9500/9700
ATI Radeon 9800
Matrox Parhelia
NVIDIA GeForce 256
NVIDIA GeForce 2 family
NVIDIA GeForce 3 family
NVIDIA GeForce 4 family
NVIDIA GeForceFX family
-----------------------------------

It has options for vertex and pixel shaders. Bump mapping and specular highlighting. Some pretty intense shadowing i had to set to off.

[McElvis]

Thanks for the info.

Do you know whether it supports surround-gaming on the Parhelia?

[jvd]

I'm in it too. Using a 9800 pro. Can't say much about it but there is no dual monitor or 3 monitor thing.

[McElvis]

Originally Posted by jvd

I'm in it too. Using a 9800 pro. Can't say much about it but there is no dual monitor or 3 monitor thing.

OK. Thanks.

[Bambers]

I'm on the beta (one of 3 who got persuaded by a friend to help pay for the rather steep cost of postage ($30 i think it was))

runs pretty much ok on my 64mb 8500 and xp2000+. 3d is pretty nice. Its actually one of the first games ive played that really shows up the angle dependancy of the 8500s AF.

[Deflection]

Here's a video that gives a good idea. It's big, 36 MB.

http://vnfiles.ign.com/starwars/movies/swg.wmv

[Saem]

I know people in the beta.

They say it's a crappy game and it's a crappy game not ready for beta. One of said guys is a SW nut, hell he has the Empire's ensignia tattooed on his arm.

[Deflection]

Originally Posted by Saem

I know people in the beta.

They say it's a crappy game and it's a crappy game not ready for beta. One of said guys is a SW nut, hell he has the Empire's ensignia tattooed on his arm.

We'll, there are a ton of bugs, but the base is there. I do think they are realeasing it about a month early. As soon as they clear most of the bugs out and start working on game play, balance, and more content it's going to be really good game. The thing is a lot of MMORPG's are like this on first release.

[vrecan]

I am also in the beta 9700pro runs well the only thing about it to me is that it seems rather umm boring but in my honest opinion that is every mmorpg takes to long to do anything.

[PiNkY]

Well, i have been in for roughly a month. Really wouldn't call it a crappy game, but i agree that even with the rampant bug fixing going on currently, even another two weeks would have done much for the game.

[Bambers]

I'd agree with what people have said here. MMORPGS aren't really my type of game either, too slow

Still, most of the really critical bugs have been fixed now, one of them where you would become out of sync with the server (ghosted as it became known) did have some rather fps killing side effects:

like this

[saf1]

Lol - thanks for the screen shot -

That reminds of the portal pad in DaOC / SI. That many people generally leads to some serious lag

[Nite_Hawk]

Eve online was the same way. Rampant bugs up until release, with a couple of major ones at the beginning of the actual game. I think at this point I still enjoy playing diablo II more so than most of the other mmorpgs out there.

Nite_Hawk

[John Reynolds]

Anyone playing Asheron's Call 2? I don't know why but the eyecandy in that game keeps callin' my name. Cancelled my DAoC account yesterday so I'm looking for a new online RPG.

[saf1]

John,

Seems everyone is getting tired of DaOC. Had so much going for it and the devs in short killed it...

I tried Shadowbane - game has a lot of potential but I never got too far in it. Didn't like the fact that you pretty much need a guild to survive. Not that I'm anti social or anything - but I'm more of a casual player... That and ATI had issues with it until the Cat 3.4's...

Sort of a odd question - does SWG allow anyone to have light sabers or are there no jedi's running around? I guess everyone would want to be one...

[Deflection]

Originally Posted by saf1

John,

Seems everyone is getting tired of DaOC. Had so much going for it and the devs in short killed it...

I tried Shadowbane - game has a lot of potential but I never got too far in it. Didn't like the fact that you pretty much need a guild to survive. Not that I'm anti social or anything - but I'm more of a casual player... That and ATI had issues with it until the Cat 3.4's...

Sort of a odd question - does SWG allow anyone to have light sabers or are there no jedi's running around? I guess everyone would want to be one...

I played DAOC for about 6 months when it first came out. Didn't play the expansion. Had one of the first lvl 50 Thanes (Which sucked after the stun nerf, ok it was cheezy) and first lvl 50 Runemasters(This guy was a lot of fun to play) on Gawaine. DAOC was a great game.

Tried AC2 when it first came out and boy did that suck. May be better now, but I would seriously doubt it. I call it a 'MMORPG for dummies'. Shadowbane never interested me. I do like to PVP but I don't want to do it all the time. That's one of aspects I really liked about DAOC. You should be able to do this in SWG as well switching between overt and covert imperial/rebel.

SWG while not as fun as DAOC so far, is much better than AC2. I'm probably going to play it for a bit. I'm looking forward to Horizons, WoW, and EQ2.

The deal with Jedi is this. No one to date but the devs have tested them and they are a secret. You have to do something special in the game with you regular characters to unlock your force sensitive character slot. Then you can start playing a Jedi. However Jedi will be permakilled on death and you have to start it over. So there should't be that many running around. Of course, they do use light sabers.

[saf1]

Originally Posted by Deflection

I played DAOC for about 6 months when it first came out. Didn't play the expansion. Had one of the first lvl 50 Thanes (Which sucked after the stun nerf, ok it was cheezy) and first lvl 50 Runemasters(This guy was a lot of fun to play) on Gawaine. DAOC was a great game.

Tried AC2 when it first came out and boy did that suck. May be better now, but I would seriously doubt it. I call it a 'MMORPG for dummies'. Shadowbane never interested me. I do like to PVP but I don't want to do it all the time. That's one of aspects I really liked about DAOC. You should be able to do this in SWG as well switching between overt and covert imperial/rebel.

SWG while not as fun as DAOC so far, is much better than AC2. I'm probably going to play it for a bit. I'm looking forward to Horizons, WoW, and EQ2.

The deal with Jedi is this. No one to date but the devs have tested them and they are a secret. You have to do something special in the game with you regular characters to unlock your force sensitive character slot. Then you can start playing a Jedi. However Jedi will be permakilled on death and you have to start it over. So there should't be that many running around. Of course, they do use light sabers.

Deflection - lol. My primary toon is also a Thane. Lvl 50 that just changed my spec. Not helping much and I'm still as frustrated. Started to level a 50 SM but the exp grind even with a free /level 30 is getting to me. RvR is nothing more than a zerg love fest.

Anyway - back on topic - the jedi is a hardcore type character - meaning you die that is it and you have to restart? Wow. That would be a huge challenge.

That alone sounds fun. I did not get in on the beta but a friend of mine did. He did not like it - but he too is pretty fimrly intrenched into DaOC. Loving his runie - lol.

I may have to pick it up and try it out. I'm interested in this Jedi / death deal. Sounds very cool if it is possible for a casual gamer.

Any good sites out there?

Looking forward to World of Warcraft and Dragon Empires here. EQ2 looks very cool but I don't understand the game. Meaning, do they only do PvE? Or do they have a area where people fight over keeps like DaOC?

Have a good day - and sorry to jump around the thread. Hope I did not hijack it.

[Malo]

I've been in SWG beta since beta3 first opened and I have to say that I haven't loaded it up for about 3 weeks now. I was really excited at the start then slowly began to be a yawn....

oh well can't really say anything still but I WAS looking forward to it. Needs a damn fast machine to play it though, especially if you want all the pretties (which are DAMN pretty )

[John Reynolds]

Agreed on DAoC. The /level command just wasn't enough to keep my interest, and RvRing is so hopelessly unbalanced that I doubt Mythic will ever manage to make it fun.

I've heard if Turbine moved all active AC2 accounts onto one server, you might get a decent population of players. The game is that barren. Worse yet, cancel your account for a month and your characters are deleted, along with your CD key (forcing you to buy a new copy of the game). No thanks.

[Silent_One]

Well I for one will hold off on this game. Reviews starting to come in don't look too good.....at all.
Guru3D.comhttp://content.guru3d.com/article.ph...p;pagenumber=4

All in all, what could have been a great title leaves anyone wanting a Star Wars Universe to partake in feeling utterly let down, empty handed, and out $50.00. This will go down in history as one of the most over hyped and under delivered titles in gaming -- and will most likely put the final nail in the coffin for Sony Online Entertainment with regards to it's customer base, which will undoubtedly hurt future sales in anything else software related. If you still have an inclination to pick this up, wait for 6 months and let them get in the features they promised to make the game even remotely exciting. For the love of the gaming community itself, it's time people started talking with their wallets and stopped giving the impression that releasing software this horrid -- is acceptable to the gaming public because of a successful movie license. You have seen other Star Wars games fail, and you have seen others succeed. I guarantee you, this one has now surpassed Force Commander in the bottom of the pile for Star Wars titles. Stay far away if you value gaming, value the community, and value your money. Let Lucasarts and SOE finish this on their own dollars before they start nickle and diming you to death to actually create the game for you as you pay.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by Bambers

I'd agree with what people have said here. MMORPGS aren't really my type of game either, too slow

Still, most of the really critical bugs have been fixed now, one of them where you would become out of sync with the server (ghosted as it became known) did have some rather fps killing side effects:

like this

One of the guys involved with Ultima Online's design did some kind of speech or round-table at one of the recent developer's conferences - IIRC it was the US GDC.

He revealed that Ultima Online was originally going to be charged on a playing time model. You payed a set amount for every minute/hour of play - the more you played the more you paid, and so that is why it takes so long to do things (like get anywhere) and why there are so many repetative things to do in order to raise your level/money. It was designed to draw everything out in order to maximise the profit for EA.
At the last minute, the pricing model was changed to a flat-fee per month rate, but by then all the design choices has been made.

The big problem (for the rest of us) is that UO was such a success, that all of the MMORPGs that followed copied the model, and we've ended up with a generation of boring, repetative online games.

[RussSchultz]

What!? I like spending hours in front of the computer making swords. Its so different than my real life, spending hours in front of the computer making software.

[John Reynolds]

Originally Posted by RussSchultz

What!? I like spending hours in front of the computer making swords. Its so different than my real life, spending hours in front of the computer making software.

A guy I used to work with once described DAoC's crafting as "fun". Of course he's in his early 30s, still lives at home with mom, and has over 4,000 hours logged in EQ.

[martrox]

Ok, guys, got SWG yesterday, and, have to admit that the graphics just blow AC2 away....canceled my AC2 account last week......I'm really going to miss that game, but all my friends are going to SWG, so I am too. So far - 3 hours into it - and I'm fairly pleased with SWG, working great on my 9800Pro@450/380 - 1024X768 4XAA, 16XAF, qualityw/ everything maxed out. Tried 6AA, but too laggy in big citys.....worked well out in the wilderness, though.

[RussSchultz]

I'm desperately fighting the urge to wait.

I've read soo many bad things about the game that I know I should wait for a few months until they fix it, but I'm a sucker for Star Wars. (Though Lucas is trying damn hard to break me of that)