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I think it's only fair that paying customers come before you freeloaders. GM resources belong to us! 
Anyway, if it wasn't for the chat limit, pure socializers and RPers could just chain trial accounts and never have to subscribe. I think the devs know RPers a bit TOO well.
I think this is amazingly restrictive for roleplayers, and I completely agree with Oluf. I also think you should Mir, instead of defending them
RP'ers stick to their chars and concepts, they would not chain like that. Socializers would, but there can't be that many, and NO other game has felt the need to do this. It is one of the most stupid things I've heard about, and hugely detrimental to any RP'er trialing the game.
RPers use trial accounts for plot alts all the time in MMO's, and if it's either adding an apostrophe to their name or paying 15 bucks for the next month, some would choose the prior, I'm sure. If you don't use your character skills, you don't lose anything when you reroll.
Anyway, the reason has been confirmed to be the credit spammers that were a real problem before this limit, now you only see them in Mos Eisley. It's a feature I very much support as a paying subscriber, as it solves the issue without taking away any of the customer service I pay for.
For the trialers: The limit is 400 characters per 15 minutes. After that you can make a group or RP in PM's until you can chat again.
Group chats get around the problem fairly well, though it's kind of annoying to ask everyone around you to group just because your pathetic chat limit runs out. And some even refuse to join such groups...
I too am wondering why no other game has ever had the need for such a feature. It simply feels like they're not thinking very much of us roleplayers - as if anyone who chats more than 400 characters in 15 minutes must be a bot. Kind of feels like a punch on the face, right when you're making your first impressions of the game. (I'll probably join Mir on this as soon as my trial runs out, though.)
a punch? more like having a sledge hammer hit you in the stomach 3 times...
I can understand that the credit spammers is a problem, but as darkhawk points out this is the only game (at least that i know of) with a limit like this on the trial. I dont feel like pm'ing once i hit that limit... i want everyone within reach of the public channel to hear the rp
It may solve the problem of the credit spammers... but so would banning all accounts... my point is simply becuase it sovles the problem it doesnt mean its a *good* solution 
Considering that I had no relation whatsoever with the people i did a bit of roleplaying with to day I am surprised at the quality of it. The people with roleplaying tags up do seem to go for it all the way. I got work the next days so I wont be able to play anymore right away so my impression of swg for now is:
Standard mmo(this is a bad thing btw), big world(both a good and a bad thing), if you know where to find RP it wont take long to be involved, and the quality of it seems to be high as well. As for the number of people roleplaying it seems a bit on the low end of what i had expected... but maybe i just havent played enough to judge that
Oh yeah...and if you do try the trial you better make a char who doesnt say much or suddendly you wont be able to respond to people...
They don't think you're a bot, they just had to set the limit low enough so the spammers can't get out too much text and ruin the game for everyone. It think it's because SWG is big. More players attract more sellers. I heard WoW has a problem with these kinds of spammers, and I'm sure many other big games do too, or will when they get old enough for the gold farmers to move in. At least it's been resolved in SWG.
I believe others run into the chat limit too, not just RPers. People trying to learn about the game systems from others or just talking about how the game feels get just as much chat out, but since most game devs/GM's really don't care about RP it's easy for a RPer to feel specifically victimized.
SWG isn't like that. It keeps getting more and more RP-friendly content, and there even is a roleplay senator on the player senate. There aren't ones for other playing styles, just one for each prof, neutral ones and then the RP one right beside them.
More random thoughts on professions:
I'm trying jedi at the moment in an effort to make rising through the final 5 combat levels more fun and effortless. They seem to have a lot of neat tricks and fun gameplay, but I think I'll be returning to smuggler when I hit CL90. Smugglers might be hard to play, but they get the hidden padding line that boosts unarmored resistances by up to 4000, which is excellent for a wookiee (our armor looks pretty dumb....but nothing compared to jedi robes on a wookiee of course) and any roleplayer who might find himself in a combat situation without warning. Also there is the fact that I can use my melee specials unarmed - a nasty surprise for an opponent in any surprise RP duel for sure (thou shalt not upset teh wookeh). Emote fights are of course preferred, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared in case someone wants to see if I can back it up. A smuggler can score insane criticals, I mean really insane - they've been reported as high as 15k - something that captures the feel of being torn apart by an angry wookiee rather well. I also miss my ability to fence items where ever I want. Particularly as a jedi - being unable to wear backpacks with armor - the inventory slots fill up very quickly when killing things.
Playing jedi has that Jedi Academy feel to it, though, you know, adventuring through the galaxy, cutting through enemies with your lightsaber of awesome+3 and magical prowess. It's all OOC, but fun and immersive nonetheless. The neat tricks I mentioned in passing would be pretty much all jedi specials. You've got your force run, force cloak, mind trick, saber throw, force lightning, saber block....all kinds of fun. I bet a master+padawan duo could have tons of fun RPing the grand adventure too, but that's not what I have in mind for my current character.
Something I'd like to try later on is bounty hunting. As I mentioned on IRC a couple of times, free character transfers are coming, and I might be bringing over my Rodian from another galaxy. This would be my bounty hunter. I'm sure he'd look just liquid awesome in full assault armor, and is just the right type of character for it. It doesn't matter if he goes down like a little bitch when unarmored since he's just a scrawny little bug. I don't even need to be able to melee with him. Also the vicious way thinking that is required for the job is present in him, and rodians have an extensive tradition for hunting all things.
However, I would like to preserve the option for exploring the crafting side of the game with a RP character, and to place my own vendors at some point. I even have a nice RP idea for Trobi, which I'd like to try out before I delete him. I don't particularly fancy the idea of leveling another combat toon through the vet noob levels right after Drrlirarl, either, though I'm leaving the door open for that - who knows, it might be crazy fun as a bounty hunter.
Well just to have a look so I can at least comment on it, I created an entertainer - hands off Mir!
Look out for Fiegyt gyrating on a stage...or in a hotel...or anywhere she can get a gig...near you soon!
I guess it's lucky she's too busy focusing on dancing to talk, considering said restrictions!
<insert obvious dark side joke which I'm too tired to come up with>
Let me know if you need help with anything. Go to Outmian Yakta, Tatooine.
Useful URLs:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/post … _id=247990 - Tons of game guide links in one thread
http://www.oekevo.org/expertisecalculator/ - Expertise calculator (check this out before you hit level 10)
http://www.chimaera-european.org/wiki/i … =Main_Page - RP community wiki
http://chimaerarp.obloxfiles.co.uk/index.php - RP community forum
The long-awaited list of cons of SWG is here. Just a few things I've thought up, and what others have mentioned.
A. Trial chat limit - 400 characters per 15 minutes. The workaround is using tells or groupchat, and the player senate is debating different solutions for the credit spammer problem soon, if they haven't already. Still is an issue for RPers, in it's current state.
B. Grindy combat missions - When you solo missions they tend to be boring, even though the combat system in itself is fast, fun and intense. It does get a lot more fun in groups, though, so find players of your level to adventure with. It is also very easy for a higher CL player to powerlevel you if they're in love with you or something and don't mind taking the time. Personally, I think you should go to space as soon as you figure out how to put a decent ship together, as space combat is a bit more fun solo, and gives decent ground xp if you're low CL.
C. Roleplay is hidden away - Not hard to get into, you just have to find it. Also quieter in the summer. Don't expect everyone with a RP tag to be IC and good RPers, there are just too many of them for that to be true. You can usually find RP in Outmian Yakta and the RP guilds, or set something up OOC on the RP chat channel. This is an important thing. Make a new chat tab and type "/chatr join chat.RP". The channel is where RPers meet OOC, aside from the forums.
D. There is a learning curve - With a lot of depth comes a lot of learning. Take your time and study things you want to try out, or just jump right into it, as long as you don't complain when things don't work out at once. It's not a Fisher Price toy like some people claimed after NGE. The ground combat system is also different from most MMO's, a lot faster, and the controls are different. Make sure to turn auto-aiming on in the options. PvE difficulty has been recently increased across the board, too, and even veteran players are finding it challenging again. Space is a different game alltogether, more akin to space flyers than any MMO's in terms of controls, but also sports the awe-inspiring depth of other aspects of SWG. I can answer questions ingame, on IRC, in this thread or via PM if you want, but the best way to get the whole picture is to read some guides on the forums.
E. Bugs - Yes, there are some in every MMO, and SWG isn't an exception. As always, the community exaggerates the relative amount of these bugs, but there are still a few quite pesky ones I've come across since my return, like getting stuck under terrain, being unable to trade for a while and someone's avatar displaying different clothing/armor than he was actually wearing. If you face a bug you can't work around, submit a ticket and the GM's will help you out very quickly.
Last edited by Mir (2007-08-12 21:43:50)
F. Credit spammers - This was mentioned in con A but I remember Norah said on IRC that it should be listed, so I'll give it a whole point of it's own. SWG is a big, well-established game and as such full of potential customers for people selling in-game currency, items and leveling services. This means the sellers of such merchandize will be trying to find ways to advertise ingame. They do this by placing characters in Mos Eisley and spamming away. Luckily there are ways to avoid having to see this, the most obvious, of course, being staying the hell out of Mos Eisley. When you have to go there, make sure you have AFK chat blocked in the chat options, and then just /addignore whomever you see spamming. I usually just have to /addignore one person per visit, which doesn't hurt my gaming experience all that much.
I'd also like to point out that tomorrow (Tuesday) is cantina night again in Outmian Yakta! Nobody miss it.
Last edited by Mir (2007-08-13 21:25:19)
Except for those of us that work 
It starts at 8pm UK time (though there will be people gathering before that) and goes on late into the night. I hope you can make it at some point.
Last edited by Mir (2007-08-14 00:43:11)
Hehe, you forget I work in games during the peak periods I never finish until at least 12:30am BST And then I start again 8 1/2 hours later, so monday nights are a complete wash out for me.
An event by our RP senator takes place on Sunday, on the Sunrunner server. It's a cross-server event, so there'll probably be people handing out credits for clothes and such.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/post … _id=433741
I'm wondering, by the way, why this game doesn't have a dedicated RP server. Even if it didn't keep the OOCers out, at least it'd keep the roleplayers in one place, so it'd be easier to find and you wouldn't need these cross-server RP events. Or has the Chimaera server become such a de facto RP server that you don't need one? (Could this be another con?)
Americans RP too, on Sunrunner and Starsider mostly. I think the event is on Sunrunner just because the RP senator has her assets there.
I'm just saying, would it hurt if everyone roleplayed on the same server?
Maybe you should suggest a bill to designate a RP server when the free character transfers come.
I wouldn't change to an american server, though. Lag could be bad for the action combat, and the people would be asleep when I would be playing.
Oh, and I joined a guild! SEA. The people who own and run Outmian Yakta. Great RPers, but also OOCers to help me grind and get rich. 
37. The Music - I almost forgot about this, as I don't usually pay much attention to music. But in this game the music is just something else. It's by a real symphony orchestra, all grand and massive, with different sets for combat and each planet. An awesome mood setter. There is also the obscure Star Wars music that entertainers can play, and some unique tunes NPCs play in certain areas, like in Jabba's Palace.
Last edited by Mir (2007-08-19 00:52:04)
However, often you don't get any music at all, for example when walking around Outmian Yakta without fighting. I, for one, would have greatly appreciated some peaceful Star Warsy music there.
Agree with Kryigerof. SOE failed to use the great Star Wars score(s) to its full possibilities, especially during the more idle or RP moments.
In the Chimaera forum someone posted a modification for the music, though some choices and decisions doesn't fit my taste so I left the original. But maybe worth a look how it's done because the music system may offer the possibility to fill the gaps.
Ah, yeah, it starts and stops, that must be part of why I noticed it. Triggered by combat, points of interest, and landing from shuttle/ship? Oh, and my favourite, sunrise.
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