Enderet Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Somebody over on reddit linked this and noted the "actively looking for new opportunities" on Daniel Erickson's Linkedin. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/571/screenshot20120907at113.png/ He is one of my favorite people on the SWTOR dev team... I hope he doesnt leave. Here is the link to the reddit: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommot Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Just looked it up on LinkedIn myself, its real Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadOrb Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I wish people would stop sacking people and also I wish people would stop leaving , it's getting very tiresome. This game has a hell of a lot of potential , more than a lot of mmo's out there , not a happy bunny. Cheers, BadOrb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuckKing Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) Good riddance to him. Nah, jokes aside I wish him all the luck where ever he goes. Edited September 7, 2012 by DuckKing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscad Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Some supposed insider said a long time ago that DE and Dallas Dickinson (or was it James Ohlen?) were going to be the next to go but everyone scoffed. Looks like it is going to be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helistin Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 The higher ups always just 'Time to part ways with company X to look new opportunities' even when they are escorted by the security out of the office with a thousand dollar shoe mark in their behind. But yeah, seems the house cleaning is continuing. Anyone know what happened to James Ohlen? Haven't heard anything from him since the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarfux Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I think the whole team that invisioned this game is gone to be quite honest. I don't really think that many of them are there anymore. So ...we'll see what comes of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enderet Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 I think the whole team that invisioned this game is gone to be quite honest. I don't really think that many of them are there anymore. So ...we'll see what comes of it. There are still a few there, Jesse Sky is one of them, so is Amantangelo (or whatever his name is), and a few others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumikohanzo Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Anyone know what happened to James Ohlen? Haven't heard anything from him since the summer. EEK!! Don't say that!!! He is the man behind the original KOTOR!! Losing him would not be a good sign at all!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanderII Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Oh! oh my God! Mr absolutely can't leave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi-Ondo Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I sure hope not, every time i would see one of his interviews it would get me even more excited about swtor pre launch. I hope it is just a rumor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pcolapat Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) I hear his abs are staying though. Not sure that is possible, but that is what I hear. On a serious note. People need to realize a development team is staffed with people who are skilled at DEVELOPMENT. Once the game is out, you don't need as many of those types of people. Most of them move on to go develop other games. Edited September 7, 2012 by Pcolapat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostofdarkness Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 This is a huge blow for me. He was one of the few that I felt was trying to keep this game more BIOWARE and less EAWARE. With him gone it leaves very few people left that care about the games core instead of whatever may bring in the most money. Quality will slip with him gone I'm thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayla_Felana Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 At this point, Daniel Erickson leaves, I might just join him and wait to see which direction they will end up taking this game when I peep back in after a few months, not a good idea to remove the man behind basically ALL of the story in this game, I can really easily see them having story in the very back of priorities where the 'pillars' are concerned along with things like crafting, and they just focus on endgame and PVP, which will lose all of my interest completely, KotOR 3,4,5,6,7 and so on hm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuixupu Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) I was fearing this news would come, but I figured it would considering his sudden silence since July. Makes me sad....I believe he's been a lead writer from the beginning and I always enjoyed his interviews. It also makes me really concerned about the direction of story content, and whether all the things he had talked about in the past will ever come to fruition now. I know even in TV shows, writers change all the time, but this is just a sign that perhaps the company that many people had come to love is no longer what it was, or will be. Last interview with him was what, July 30? Had he already been planning on leaving or did something happen in the last month? Edited September 7, 2012 by chuixupu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarfux Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 At this point, Daniel Erickson leaves, I might just join him and wait to see which direction they will end up taking this game when I peep back in after a few months, not a good idea to remove the man behind basically ALL of the story in this game, I can really easily see them having story in the very back of priorities where the 'pillars' are concerned along with things like crafting, and they just focus on endgame and PVP, which will lose all of my interest completely, KotOR 3,4,5,6,7 and so on hm? correction...this game WAS epic actually in early beta when it wasn't wowified. Yes, there was a time when your decisions DID matter and it was more than just light/dark and for armor. But...the whiners complained and they got their way, as with everything these days It was James Ohlen, Dallas Dickinson, Daniel Erickson and a few others that really had that epic vision for this game but then..you know...EA bought BioWare..and....*sigh*.....yeeahhhhhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarfux Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Who here thinks James Ohlen, Daniel Erickson and Dallas Dickinson will form their own studio I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadin Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) correction...this game WAS epic actually in early beta when it wasn't wowified. Yes, there was a time when your decisions DID matter and it was more than just light/dark and for armor. But...the whiners complained and they got their way, as with everything these days It was James Ohlen, Dallas Dickinson, Daniel Erickson and a few others that really had that epic vision for this game but then..you know...EA bought BioWare..and....*sigh*.....yeeahhhhhh Which beta are you referring to? I played in CBT back in May '11 and that game was exactly the same with regards to the features you're talking about. And EA acquired BW back in late 2007 so... Edited September 7, 2012 by Kadin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyrab Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 KotOR 3,4,5,6,7 and so on hm? There was never KOTOR 3,4,5 + The Old Republic stories were like Bioware stories lite. I never felt any of them had the heft of one of the single player titles. That's understandable: you can't do in an MMO what you can do in a single player RPG, but still...I was never that impressed with any of the stories. The IA story caught my interest but I'd already leveled a smuggler and a JK, so my interest level and tolerance for trash side missions were gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayla_Felana Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Which beta are you referring to? I played in CBT back in May '11 and that game was exactly the same with regards to the features you're talking about. And EA acquired BW back in late 2007 so... You used to be able to kill off your companions once upon a time, gutting Scourge was fun, simply put. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goretzu Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Hmm....... this cannot be good. If you remove "story" from SWTOR there's not that much left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordArtemis Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 My opinions on DE are well known, and I will not repeat them here. I will only say I wish him the best and all of the success in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justandulas Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 This is depressing news. I just lost the motivation to log in and play SWTOR for the afternoon, maybe I'll go play some madden instead today. Sacking the original DEV team is not the answer to fixing SWTOR's woe's, quite the contrary. EA should let them stick with their original vision of the game, complete with game changing consequences (such as perma companion death). This game had and still has more potential then any MMO on the market currently, but they will never reach a fraction of that potential without keeping the dev team and adding to the game, and I don't mean just garbage we can buy with cartel coins. Add mini games, add REAL consequences like companion deaths, add open flight space combat with pvp. Add to the game, don't just strip it down to the bare bones. This game has so much potential, but will never reach it if they keep laying people off. I am subbed to 6 months currently, if this game doesn't have some major positive change by the time my 6 month sub runs out I will probably leave and never return. It's a damn shame because I waited years and years for this game and hyped it up to no end, but it is failing to live up to it's vast potential. Add mini games such as pazaak and pod racing, and add space flight and pvp or else this game is in a lot of hurt long term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamus_Divinus Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Cost cutting. All the cutbacks/lay-offs etc are obviously in order to reduce costs. Things will be run on the cheap from now on. After spending more money on this one game than any other developer in history only for it to go F2P within months I can't blame them for now wanting to do things on the cheap. I personally liked all of DE's interviews. I wish him well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) Hmm....... this cannot be good. If you remove "story" from SWTOR there's not that much left. I don't know if it's good or bad really. And this does not directly indicate that they are "removing story". It is change however, which often distresses players, especially in forums. If you follow the breadcrumbs through linkedin, it's clear that they are reducing the size of the writing staff. If you already have plenty of story constructed and on the shelf (as has been shared by more then one posters in these forums as rumors), it's not a surprise really. You would need more assets to convert story into produced content, which means you juggle your staffing some accordingly. You don't need to retain a lot of writing staff and staff managment to do incremental writing or editiing of content in a game that is well into release. You need some good people for continuity and to form the basis of a major effort for an expansion or something like that. My guess is that this was decided some time ago, and that the reason we have not heard from Daniel actively for a while even though he is still on staff is that they gave some staff time to look for internal opportunities in other EA activities. Daniel has set his looking for other opportunities flag in linkedin, which does not definitively mean he is leaving (and he does not show has having left yet, so more likely in transition). It't not that uncommon for people to do that on linkedin while still on the payroll, but in the context of the playerbase, yeah... looks to be moving on. James O. wrote him a glowing recommendation on linkedin on 8/14... so this is several weeks old now. Edited September 7, 2012 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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