Star Wars: Galaxies
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| Star Wars: Galaxies {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sony Online Entertainment {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | June 26, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
Star Wars Galaxies (often abbreviated SWG or Galaxies by fans) is a Star Wars themed MMORPG platform for Microsoft Windows PCs, developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts. The base game, titled Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, was released on June 26, 2003. As of March 2006, Galaxies is fifth among MMOGs in North American subscribers. [1] [2]
Galaxies, like most MMORPGs, has a monthly subscription service and various pricing plans depending on the length of the plan. Per month the fee for playing the game is $14.99 USD. There is also a three-month plan ($13.99 USD per month), a six-month plan ($12.99 USD per month), and a yearly plan ($11.99 USD per month). There is also an All Access plan, allowing you to play all Sony Online games ($21.99 per month).
Contents |
Features
As with all MMORPGs, the feature set of Star Wars Galaxies is subject to change.
The setting of the game is the well-known Star Wars universe, with the time period currently set between the events in Episodes IV and V.
Basic gameplay features
The basic game "world" consists of simulated planetary surfaces and associated structures. The ten different planets are taken from the Star Wars movies and the expanded universe: Tatooine, Naboo, Corellia, Talus, Rori, Dantooine, Lok, Yavin IV, the forest moon of Endor, and Dathomir. Each of the ten planets is represented by 256 square kilometers (16 km x 16 km maps) of game space, with all established cities and locations compressed into that space.
Scattered throughout the game worlds, in addition to new places created by the game's developers to fill out the fictional worlds, are cities, characters, and points of interest that have been seen or mentioned in the various Star Wars media. Examples include R2-D2 and C-3PO's escape pod on Tatooine, the Naboo royal palace, the city of Coronet on Corellia, the abandoned Rebel bases on Dantooine and Yavin IV, the notorious pirate Nym in his stronghold on Lok, Ewoks on the Endor moon, and rancors on Dathomir.
Players of the game create characters to navigate through these environments. Characters in Star Wars Galaxies can be one of ten species, again taken from the films and the expanded universe: human, Twi'lek, Zabrak, Wookiee, Trandoshan, Rodian, Mon Calamari, Bothan, Sullustan, or Ithorian. A character can be either male or female, and he or she belongs to one of nine primary professions: Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Commando, Spy, Officer, Medic, Entertainer, or Trader. A character can also optionally advance in the Politician profession, independent of his or her primary profession.
In basic gameplay, the player uses his or her character's skills and special abilities to attack targets, complete quests, undertake missions, create useful in-game items, and/or entertain other players. The player's character will have opportunities to meet famous Star Wars characters, earn in-game fame and fortune (or infamy and notoriety), and obtain numerous items, artifacts, and trinkets.
Ground combat in Galaxies is fast-paced and real-time. Unlike most MMORPGs, whether an attack hits is not solely based on the character's skill numbers. The player must aim a targeting reticule at a target and left-click the mouse to fire. As characters gain levels, they gain access to additional combat abilities, called "specials", which are "fired" by using the right mouse button. These specials usually have a cool-down period during which they can't be reused, but they are much more powerful or versatile than the basic left-click attack. Specials are also used to heal characters and enhance their other abilities.
Characters in Star Wars Galaxies can erect, own, and decorate a variety of buildings, including houses, cantinas, and guild halls. These buildings, when grouped, can be organized into cities, with members of the Politician profession serving as mayors. As cities grow in population, they become eligible to add services and facilities such as vehicle repair garages and shuttleports, and they start to show up on the planetary maps alongside canonical cities such as Theed and Mos Eisley. Cities and housing allow players, via their characters, to shape and define the game worlds, and their presence means that Tatooine on one "galaxy" (unique gameworld server) is different from Tatooine on any other "galaxy."
Additional features of the basic game include:
- Single- and multi-passenger ground vehicles (landspeeders, speeder bikes, and swoops)
- An almost completely player-run economy, wherein player characters are responsible for creating nearly every in-game item, from blasters to starships, all from raw materials collected by player characters and with other player characters as the only consumers. Recently, the developers have added more high-quality equipment to loot tables and as quest rewards, but player crafters remain an essential part of the economy. This may have been added in to make up for lost players.
- An extensive set of emotes, moods, and associated animations, which affect not only an avatar's physical appearance but also the text used to describe a character's speech, and even the shape of the speech bubble displayed on-screen.
- Standard MMORPG features such as player guilds, chat functionality, and other community features.
Expansion features
The three expansions to Star Wars Galaxies have added additional features to the base game. The first expansion, Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed, is now (as of November 2005) free and its content is fully available to all Galaxies players. The other two expansions must be purchased, either separately or as part of a package containing the full original game and the expansion.
The Jump to Lightspeed expansion added space-based content to the basic, "ground-based" game, along with the Sullustan and Ithorian player species options. Characters can choose one of three piloting professions, the choice of which is based on Galactic Civil War faction -- Rebel, Imperial, or Freelance. This profession is separate from the character's ground profession, although earning experience points in space will now (as of December 2005) also give the character experience points toward a ground combat profession.
The playable areas for space content include ten space "sectors": Tatoo, Naboo (containing both Naboo and its moon, Rori), Corellia (containing Corellia and Talus), Dantooine, Karthakk (containing Lok), Yavin, Endor, Dathomir, Kessel, and Deep Space. Each sector is a cube 16 kilometers on a side, and each contains at least one of the ten ground planets, except Kessel and Deep Space, which are for high-level space gameplay only.
Space combat in Galaxies is similar to ground combat. Players must aim at their targets (often needing to "lead" their target in compensation for the target's movement) and click a button on the mouse or joystick to fire. Success in space combat is largely dependent on player skill, but not quite to the same extent as seen in previous Star Wars space-simulator games.
As characters advance in their piloting professions, they gain access to a widening variety of tactics, starship chassis, and starship components. Their ships can be completely customized with components looted from enemies or crafted by shipwrights. Available chassis include (among others) the X-Wing and Y-Wing for Rebels, TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers for Imperials, and new Hutt and Black Sun ship designs for Freelancers. Characters who have mastered a piloting profession get access to PoB (Player on Board) ship designs such as the famed YT-1300. PoB ships allow characters to walk around the interiors (which can be decorated just like a building on the ground) and man additional shipboard stations such as laser turrets.
The second expansion, Star Wars Galaxies: Episode III Rage of the Wookiees adds the ground planet of Kashyyyk and its corresponding space sector. Kashyyyk is different from the previous ten planets; rather than being 16 square kilometers of openly navigable area, it is divided into a small central area with several instanced "dungeon" areas, with no space available for open exploration.
Rage of the Wookiees is loaded with content adapted from and associated with the film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, which was released to theaters at about the same time as the expansion was released.
The third expansion, Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan adds the ground planet of Mustafar to the game. No new space sector was added with this expansion. Like the previous expansion, much of the content is related to Revenge of the Sith, which was released to video at about the same time as the expansion was released. This expansion met with controversy as, two days after the expansion was released, the development team announced the extensive "New Game Enhancements" (NGE) changes. Many players objected that they would not have purchased the expansion if they had known in advance about the NGE. Sony Online Entertainment eventually offered a refund to any players who had purchased the expansion prior to the NGE.
Development and release
With a Star Wars license and veteran designer Raph Koster at the helm, expectations among gamers ran high during the development of Galaxies. Many industry professionals expected that these forces would push the subscription numbers past the one million mark, a feat accomplished only thus far in Asia by MMORPGs such as Lineage and more recently by World of Warcraft. As development wore on, the release date was pushed back, features were cut, and Sony cancelled planned ports for the Xbox and PlayStation 2, most likely due to RAM limitations.
The game receives occasional updates as its developers fix bugs and provide more content and balancing. The game requires users to have 512MB RAM at a minimum, which has been changed since launch, where only 256MB RAM was required. It is recommended that users have at least 1024MB RAM for best performance. The game requires that the user's computer support DirectX 9. As with many MMORPGs, these specifications have been known to change over time.
After release, the developers continued working on the features cut during development. In November 2003 two of those most anticipated features, creature mounts and player-created cities, were enabled. Also, on November 7, 2003 it was announced that the first player had unlocked a Force-sensitive character slot needed to become a Jedi.
Expansions
Jump to Lightspeed
Sony Online Entertainment released the first expansion Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed on October 27, 2004. The expansion allows players to explore and battle in ten new sectors of outer space, in more than twenty types of starships from the era between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, including familiar X-wings, TIE Fighters, and YT-1300s (same type as the Millennium Falcon), as well as new and never before seen ships created by the developers. It also adds real-time space shooter elements to the game, which makes an interesting combination with the MMORPG. Jump to Lightspeed also added many space missions, four space-specific professions, and two new playable species.
A player reward ship, the Sorosuub S-3000 Luxury Yacht (made famous as Lando Calrissan's Lady Luck), is given to players that have played for over 180 days. Despite the trademark feature of Lando's ship sporting weapons, the player's Yacht is a purely non combat vehicle. These ships are invincible (because they cannot defend themselves) and are non-tradeable.
The Sorosuub is a PoB (Portalized Object, or 'Player on Board'). The player can walk around the ship, which is similar to a medium house. It boasts three floors, and vertical glass windows provide maximum view to the nearby cosmos. It initially took one lot, having been classified as a house. Due to feedback by the players (with some crafters unable to use their ship due to all their lots being occupied with factories, harvesters, or storage houses) the development crew modified the Sorosuub to take no lots.
On release of the Jump to Lightspeed expansion, piloting professions were notably different from their ground counterparts in that they required you to complete all the skills in a 'tier' before you could advance to the next 'tier'. However, since the NGE (New Game Enhancements, see below) were implemented, both ground and space professions are now completely linear in progression.
Progression through the tiers relies on acquiring "Space XP", which the player is granted when destroying an enemy ship. In addition, the player usually must complete specific missions to be granted training in the next tier.
To master a squadron you have to kill a Corellian Corvette. After you achieve mastery, starship xp is replaced by 'faction prestige' (if you are aligned) which allows you to enter deep space and fight other players.
The player can join one of three "Squadrons" from each of the three "Groups", depending on ground faction. Imperials can become Imperial or Freelance pilots, Rebels can become Rebel or Freelance pilots, and neutral players can only become Freelancers. The pilot groups are as follows:
Alliance Pilot
The Rebellion utilizes stolen, experimental, highly advanced ships which value quality over quantity. Due to their resource disadvantage against the Empire, they stress the importance of maintaining every craft to a satisfactory level. The Rebellion cannot afford to lose their ships, let alone their pilots, in reckless combat.
The Alliance ships are very balanced, focusing on specific roles. Their trademark ship, the X-Wing, boasts 4 Lasers without sacrificing agility; whilst the Y-Wing (and Master B-Wing) boasts massive power. The A-Wing is one of the most agile ships in the galaxy, able to fly circles around some of the Empire's finest ships.
- Vortex Squadron - Taking advantage of the Empire turning a blind eye to Moenia, which they believe to be only a city for artists, this city has become a breeding ground for the Alliance. The Vortex Squadron is situated here.
- Havok Squadron - Due to the CorSec's neutrality, it does not seek such groups such as the Rebel Havok Squad, perhaps due to their ignorance to the increasing Rebel sentiment here, or because they do not seek to make another enemy and endanger Corellia. The Havok Squad is based in Tyrena, far off from Coronet, away from the eyes of the Empire.
- Crimson Phoenix Squadron - Taking the fight straight to the Empire in their own backyard. The Crimson squad directly faces the Storm Squadron. The Crimson Squadron Pilot can expect great danger in their path. This squadron's first trainer is at the back of Mos Espa cantina.
Imperial Pilot
Some may say the Empire is only so powerful because of their incredible space force. Their ships are cutting edge, which focus on agility and speed over firepower. Combined with unparalleled numbers, enemies of the Empire will find themselves rapidly surrounded by ships moving at incredible speed, facing a guaranteed death.
- Imperial Inquisition - The Empire cannot fully trust even their loyal citizens in the increasing Alliance support in the Galactic Civil War. The Imperial Inquisition effectively works as a secret police, spying and taking down suspicious members or spies for the Alliance. The Inquisition operates on the Emperor's own retreat on Naboo (but the first trainer can be found in Kaadara), and are trained to eradicate the enemy quickly, and leave no traces.
- Black Epsilon - With the increasing hit-and-run tactics utilized by the Alliance, the Black Epsilon seeks to eliminate the Alliance's greatest threats so the brunt of the Empire can come crashing down on the weakened Alliance task force. The Black Epsilon Squadron can be compared to a Spec-ops force, working behind the lines, dealing crippling blows to the enemy.
The Black Epsilon operates on the Corellian moon of Talus, on the Imperial Outpost.
- Storm Squadron - The true example of the Empire's power, the Storm Squadron Pilot simply flies in the thick of battle, straight into the Rebel ranks. The Storm Squadron pilot is in great danger, constantly flying against huge numbers of Alliance pilots. This is widely considered the most difficult pilot profession in the game.
The Storm Squadron is based on Yavin IV. In the Imperial Outpost
Freelancer Pilot
The Freelancer is effectively a mercenary, although some are tilted to certain causes. They utilize ships developed initially for crime syndicates such as the Black Sun and the Hutts.
The Freelancer's ships are the heaviest in the game, boasting massive firepower and mammoth ships to simply outgun the enemy. Their Master Pilot Ship, the M22T Krayt, named after the famed Krayt Dragon of Tatooine, is the dragon of the skies as well, boasting 3 Guns sported on the front, and a turret controlled by a second gunner.
- CorSec (Corellian Security) - Neutral of the Neutral. The CorSec pilot can freely engage any ship, except fellow CorSec pilots. The CorSec care only for their security, and will defend itself from Rebels, Pirates, and even the Empire. The CorSec are expanding themselves to such planets as Dantooine, the mainly Rebellion populated planet.
- Smuggler's Alliance - As the name says: An alliance of Smugglers. One can expect to backstab, switch employers, anything for the Pilot to gain the maximum reward. Smugglers often have to break the law, which involves in engaging Imperial aligned forces. This tilts them slightly to the Rebellion, although the Smuggler's can attack Rebels as well, should they impede or hinder the Pilot's path. The trainer for this squadron can be found in the back of Mos Eisley cantina.
- RSF (Royal Security Forces) - Naboo's Flight Squadron. They are strongly allied to the Imperials, and are based in Theed. More precisely, the Palace. They cannot attack Imperial forces, and occasionally attack the Rebellion, although their main enemy seems to be the crime syndicate: The Black Sun, based in Endorian space.
Rage of the Wookiees
The second expansion for Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars Galaxies: Episode III Rage of the Wookiees, was announced in March 9, 2005 and released May 5, 2005. Rage of the Wookiees was released around the same time as the final Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith.
Features included in the expansion are new spacefighters, resource mining in space, and cybernetic limbs for player's characters. The Rage of the Wookiees expansion can be bought as a package with all the expansions for $US 29.99 (Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience). Players that are already playing Star Wars Galaxies can instead activate the expansion online, and are given a Varactyl (animal ridden by Obi-Wan in the Star Wars Episode III movie). Players who purchase the retail version are given a BARC Speeder like the ones shown in the movie.
Cybernetics are artificial arms which can be received through looting or mission rewards, while legs are a penalty given out randomly, with a 0.05% chance of getting one while uninsured. Your can restore your original limbs at a an npc cybernetic for a large fee. Arms restrict your ability to wear a full suit of armor (the arm area will be unarmored) but to a combatant it is often worth the penalty as you often get additional special abilities (5% chance of additional damage from melee attacks, bonuses to ranged attacks). Cybernetics have to be installed by an npc cybernetic specialist, found on the second level of larger medical centers such as in Theed or Coronet. It costs five thousand credits in-game to have the limb installed. Limbs can also decay, which will require them to be repaired or replaced by the cybernetic specialist.
Travel to Kashyyyk is unlike the other planets in SWG. You must launch a ship into space (or be a passenger on a multi-player ship), and use the hyperspace command to travel to Kashyyyk space. Similarly, players can be stranded on Kashyyyk if they arrived on planet in another player's ship as there are no Galactic Travel Authority terminals ("shuttle terminals") on Kashyyyk. Kashyyyk is an adventure planet like Dathomir, Dantooine, and Endor and as such it may be dangerous for novice players to explore without a group. You cannot build player housing on Kashyyyk.
Combat Upgrade
The Combat Upgrade was released April 27, 2005 and was a major revamping and rewriting of the entire Star Wars Galaxies combat, armor, and weapons system. A more "realistic" tone was set, whereas only certain characters in certain professions would use specific weapons and wear armor. In addition, the method of fighting in the game was redone with skill levels assigned to both players and game creatures. Under the new system, only a creature of similar skill level gives experience when killed and the more powerful creatures are almost undefeatable by a single player's attacks unless they are either wearing incredibly good equipment or they are Jedi.
The Combat Upgrade drew tremendous criticism from gamers even before it was released. Upon its initial activation, a number of player issues were reported not the least of which was that players logging on found most of their weapons and armors useless under the new combat upgrade system. Another concern among many of the players was the lack of official documentation for the new system, leaving them to rely on FAQs posted in the game forums to learn to play this "new" game. To adapt existing characters to the new skill system, the developers implemented a "respeccing" system. Characters were allowed to trade skills gained in one profession for another in order to find a skillset-role under the new system, as their old skillset may not be as effective or their profession's roles may have changed (doctors and combat medics no longer had a crafting "branch" in their trees, smugglers gained crowd control abilities). The combat upgrade made it harder to gain experience alone, but also removed the ability for one player to defeat several powerful creatures unaided (the anecdotal player "soloing five rancors"). A large number of long-time players chose this time to leave the game.
Trials of Obi-Wan
The third expansion for Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan was announced on August 19, 2005 and was released on November 1, 2005. The expansion includes another adventure planet, Mustafar, and new quests and content. Unlike the previous expansion, Rage of the Wookies, Trials of Obi-Wan will not have a space zone above the planet, as stated by a development member.
The planet and quests have been very popular amongst fans that play SWG, but the release of the expansion was not without controversy. The NGE (read lower down) was announced within days of TooW being launched. The outcry and dislike of the NGE had many people crying foul over an expansion they had just paid for. SOE offered players that had paid for the expansion a refund, something not seen before in MMO's.
New Game Enhancements (NGE)
In a recently released "Letter to the Community", SWG Lead Developer Julio Torres has let it be known that a series of wide-reaching changes are planned to enter testing on November 4th. These will include "faster paced, more heroic Star Wars action", more reminiscent of the 'pseudo-shooter' space combat already present in Galaxies. The profession system will be revamped to consist of 9 base professions: Force-Sensitive, Bounty Hunter, Commando, Trader, Officer, Smuggler, Spy, Medic, and Entertainer. The game will now include a new movie-rendering engine, allowing for more cinematic scenes, likely with voice-acting, that will involve famous Star Wars characters such as Han Solo, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, and more. The first 10 levels of a character's life in the game will now take place in a separate 'New Player Experience' area, which will also be featured as a free downloadable trial for new players. Here, the basic mechanics of the game will be introduced by C-3PO, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. Also among these changes is the return of an ongoing plot to Star Wars Galaxies, that is expected to be told largely via the new cutscene engine and interactions with famous Star Wars characters. Online polls, gaming reviews, and newspaper articles (including a major December 9th New York Times story) report overwhelmingly negative feedback for the 'enhancements'. It remains to be seen how this significant change will affect the subscription numbers and longterm success of the game. Some of the more vocal segments of the playerbase, especially on message boards, have accused SOE of dishonesty with the implementation of the NGE as the developers had been promising for quite some time to fix some of the broken playable professions- professions that were removed from the game with the NGE. The changes, along with the new downloadable trial, were pushed to live on November 15 and 'Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Set' retail box was released on November 22.
On November 15th, the NGE was released to live servers. The new system underwent little testing before going live, as the new player tutorial was instanced, so only so many players could get on test center at a time. Sony increased the amount of players able to connect to Test Center as more players completed the tutorial.
The new system was intended to restore a more "Star Warsy" feeling to the game. A large part of the change also came about due to the realization that the actual code of the game did not lend itself to modification. Many of the changes are directed to allow the game code to be more modular allowing further changes and enhancements in the future. Unlike the first combat upgrade, Sony decided to show off the new system to only a very few players, mainly comprised of former SWG players and correspondents allowing the word get out from word of mouth before making an official announcement. Reactions were again negative throughout the profession correspondents, only one correspondent out of the possible thirty two professions in the game had a positive experience with the beta version. Nevertheless, SOE continued their original plan and pushed the changes live. Less than an hour after having posted the thread, the Lithium powered SWG forums crashed. The forums remained unstable for the next week as hundreds of thousands of posts were made. The overuse resulted in login issues. Many hot-headed players saw this as a miscommunication problem with the Dev team as usual. In reality, they couldn't log in. These problems resulted in the Community Letter by Julio Torres being a few hours late.
When the game went live the following major changes were made:
- All characters received an 11 use Respec Kit (Allows a player to change his/her profession)
- F1 to F12 keys are still used to prepare a special action, change weapons, or ready a macro.
- The keymap is laid out like an FPS using the WASD keys, although players can opt to use the arrow keys instead.
- Anyone having mastered a profession before the NGE had an Elder Version title available to them (IE: Elder Carbineer).
- Jedi were given a simple quest to get Jedi Elder Robes in either dark or light variations and a special lightsaber crystal. They also gained the ability to switch to Force Ghost mode. This mode is merely an effect and has no consequences on gameplay.
- Player Bounties on Jedi were removed
- The number of professions was reduced to 9. Almost all the old professions were somehow integrated into the new 9 with the exception of Bio Engineer and Creature Handler.
- Hundreds of changes to armor and weapon certifications and stats.
- Player actions such as emote were moved to client-side from server-side. This results in quicker reaction of a player's avatar when someone uses them.
- Jedi are now allowed to equip ranged blasters and fight creatures, NPC's, and other players, while retaining the ability to use almost all of their lightsaber special attacks.
The Jedi in SWG
Unlike the historic chronology of Star Wars, where all Jedi are all but extinct by the time frame of A New Hope, the concept of Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies is modified to have several hundred, if not thousands of Jedi capable of playing in the game which is set in the period of time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.
All Jedi are live players, but unlike the old Jedi system, where one could only become a Jedi by completing a set of rigorous missions and tasks, the NGE has made Jedi a starting profession.
Under the first Jedi system, a player could only become a Jedi after mastering professions chosen randomly for you at character creation. When fewer Jedi entered the game than was anticipated, players were helped by finding several holocrons that would tell a player which game professions to play and master. This resulted in several "career" players spending hours on end writing program macros and mastering almost every profession in the game (hologrinding). However after complaints from a large portion of the player base (especially those that weren't hard core and thus not willing to master multiple professions), Star Wars Galaxies was altered to add a new system for creating a Jedi character called the Force Sensitive Village of Aurilia.
The majority of Jedi who unlocked their Force Sensitive Slot under the old holocron system were generally called 'force grinders' or 'prof grinders' (profession grinders), because they would spend lots of time working through different professions to unlock their slot. Many players saw this as a waste of time, and that it ruined gameplay, because people were too focused on getting the Jedi character and not on playing the game.
Under the new system, players must attain Force Sensitive Skills by completing quests and gaining massive amount of experience in order to allow their character to become a Jedi. Even being allowed to do these quests requires achieving certain goals within the game world, such as visiting certain locations, completing theme parks, and mastering a profession. The path to Jedi-hood is long and arduous, taking more time and effort than any other profession in the game. Quests in the Village of Aurilia are artificially gated, so that a player can only complete one quest every three weeks. This helps to keep the new Jedi population in check.
Even with the Jedi revamp in place, many in the Star Wars Galaxies community have expressed feelings that eventually the game will become an "Army of Generals" where the number of Jedi playing in the game will be extremely high, thus making the game less interesting for those who like playing regular, non-Jedi characters.
It is important to note that a limiting factor on the number of Jedi in the game is the bounty hunter system allowing characters who acquire the requisite skill in the Bounty Hunter profession to hunt Jedi and kill them. This results in an experience point drop for the Jedi slowing their progress. This system is hardly effective for lowering Jedi count, as more and more Jedi are born every week. Also, once a Jedi has become a master the experience penalty is meaningless to them, as one cannot lose previously gained skills (and they don't need to gain any further skills). The problems with the bounty hunter/Jedi interaction were further complicated with the addition of Kashyyyk, as Jedi can now go there and grind experience easily out of the reach all but the most skilled bounty hunters. This is because Bounty Hunters use tools in the form of droids, which provide an exact waypoint to the Jedi they are hunting. On the planet Kashyyyk these droids do not function. As a result Bounty Hunters must rely on skill, cunning, and wit to locate their quarry on Kashyyyk.
The Kashyyyk situation was further worsened by the removal of Jedi names from the Bounty Hunter terminals. Previously, Bounty Hunters created a network, where they would venture into the infamous "Rryyat Trail" where Jedi often grinded AFK. By noting their names, they could return to a terminal, and attack the Jedi as he was AFK.
A notable example was on the Bria server - the server with the largest population, and therefore, logically, the largest Jedi and Bounty Hunter population. Bounty Hunters made a constantly updated list of the names of all the Jedi in each "instance", so Bounty Hunters could track them down and attack the Jedi frequently in order to attempt to discourage and/or hinder Jedi progress in the region.
The removal of the Jedi names has made this tactic impractical, and the BH/Jedi relations grow ever tense with frequent changes to each side, which seem to fix one problem, and bring about another. Bounty Hunter mission terminals also now only display jedi who are currently online, to reduce time wasted and increase time spent hunting Jedi.
A new Star Wars Galaxies update released on November 15th, known as the "NGE Update" and commonly referred to as the CU2 or second Combat Upgrade, revised all professions, and has also significantly affected the path to becoming a jedi, as well as the jedi profession. Jedi has now become a starting profession and the Village Quests have been removed. Jedi's strength has also been reworked in order to have a combat effectiveness similar to the other professions. After the NGE went live, it was reported that "The Old Man" was still available to give Village Quests. Bounty Hunters are also no longer allowed to hunt down Jedi, because SOE wanted to further remove "forced PvP", but this is rumored to be coming back into the game soon.
The wars of SWG
There have been several fan-named wars inside SWG.
Pet Wars
In the early months of SWG, it became clear that players could use pets as "meat shields," absorbing herculean amounts of damage that regular characters would never be able to withstand. Players would alternate between healing the pets and taking safely-distant shots at enemies. The most popular pet of this era was the Graul Mauler, and you can see an example of Pet Wars in its full infamy at the following link: 
The Composite Clone Wars
The Developers of SWG created an armor called "Composite" which could be crafted with a high resistance to most attacks, including stuns [Note: stun was limited to a 40% maximum resistance, other types could hit 90% with luck]. This armor alone made all other types in the game useless and undesired. Over time it became felt in-game that if you were wearing any other type of armor you were wrong (or a newbie). This armor often required buffs to wear, so the developers changed the buffs to last for hours instead of minutes as originally designed. This then became a problem when the developers increased the Health/Action/Mind (HAM) on creatures to account for the increased health of players that the buffs granted. Even players not wearing Composite then needed to be buffed to be effective in combat.
During the Composite Clone Wars, players began to "stack defense skills" through a combination of professions so that they would be almost invulnerable to ranged attacks. This began the "Melee Dominance" where if you wanted to participate in Player vs. Player combat (PvP) you had to use melee weapons, taking some of the Star Wars feel out of the game.
Jedi/CU War After the release of the CU many things changed for the better. Aside from minor differences, no armor was better than another, ranged once again was effective, and defense stacking was stopped. However for the good the CU did it caused some problems. Some fans disliked the CU because it dumbed down the game, made some weapons useless (DoT-Damage over Time-were taken out), and changed the skill points needed to master some professions. The CU also added changes in the Jedi, who once again became the dominant class in PvP. As more players came in game to be Jedi it left the players that didn't want Jedi but wanted to PvP in extreme occasions on the sidelines.
In reality the actual war was one of ideology. Some players were strict movie fans who thought Jedi should not even be in the game. The fact that there were any at all inflamed those who claimed to follow "Canon."
The developers also made a mistake in taking Jedi down to the level of a normal class instead of giving them the Light/Dark war all original Jedi wanted. Most of the original Jedi (those in the first 30 unlocks) warned the developers that having them PvP against regular players would lead to chaos. In those early PvP days, Jedi were 20x stronger (purportedly, about 5x in reality) than a regular class.
Composite in Space With the release of the Rage of the Wookies expansion, new starfighters were added to the game. Most notably among them are the ETA-2 Actis Starfighter, and the Belbullab-22, which are virtually identical in performance characteristics and mass-allowance. The problem with these new ships is, for the most part, they are incredibly unbalanced with a large mass (allowing heavier weapons or other equipment to be installed) and excellent flight characteristics. In effect, these fighters are far superior to anything that came before them. This has created a situation where, in Player versus Player combat, the fighters that are most often seen are the ETA-2 Actis and the Bellbullab-22. 'Older' fighters from the current time period are outmatched and outgunned, such as the A-Wing and the TIE-Advanced. The issue has yet to be resolved, or even addressed, with development team members stating that the fighters are 'working as intended'.
The Squad Leader/Jedi Wars
In the fall of 2005, Sony pushed the Squad Leader Revamp Live. This was initially thought to be a very positive change as Squad Leader had been largely neglected for the last 2 years. Squad Leaders (SL's) were given their own set of buffs they could apply to themselves and other group members. These buffs gave large damage increases and other very PVP favorable effects. It didn't take long for many Bounty Hunters to figure this out, either going SL themselves or getting one of their buffs. The results were disastrous for the Jedi community: Bounty Hunters with these buffs were cutting Jedi in half as they always get the first shot in Bounty PVP, which was often enough to kill the Jedi in one or two hits. Jedi were outraged, but with the NGE looming around the corner, nothing much was done about the issue and it was simply swept under the rug without any major hotfixes. Many Jedi ran around with the buffs as well with moderate success. As a few weeks passed many Bounty Hunters didn't bother with them, as it was nicknamed "The Golden Gun" (A reference to the popular FPS Goldeneye that featured a one-hit kill weapon).
Combat Medic/Jedi Wars
In the wake of the Combat Upgrade in April 2005, many changes were made to the Jedi profession, most significantly, the removal of the Force Ranking System, which allowed Jedi to advance beyond the rank of Padawan. Changes were also made to many Jedi abilities such as Avoid Incap, a move that allowed Jedi so stay alive long enough to escape, which was given a large snaring effect. Another major change was to a Jedi's healing- Prior to the CU, Jedi could heal all of their stat pools, including mind (but not Force), this made a Jedi's healing the best around, surpassing Doctor and Combat Medics. When the CU came out and the HAM system was simplified to one healable pool, it all became a matter of who had the highest heal for that one pool. Combat Medics were given what was essentially a health grenade they could use every few seconds and had infinite uses. Jedi on the other hand had their force heal, which rapidly depleted their Force pool. Many Bounty Hunters picked up a Master Combat Medic/Bounty Hunter combo as the skillpoint system now allowed it. This caused a major problem for Jedi: Bounty Hunters could run circles around them shooting and healing without wearing themselves down. This was effectively known as "Kiting". Jedi on the other hand could only put up a tough front for so long, with their force pool constantly draining with every attack and heal. To make matters worse, "Roots" and "Snares" were implemented which allowed Combat Medics to lock Jedi in one place and stand just outside their melee range. Jedi did develop strategies for defeating them over time, but the system remained largely unchanged until the NGE in November 2005.
Mind Wars A while after the game was released people realized something about health and healing: that the mind pool is unhealable(for the most part) making it very vulnerable during PvP. Stun Weapons became very popular because most armor had little or no stun protection. Also during this time people began defense stacking (getting multiple professions with high defense modifers). This all resulted in unbalancing the game and making people chose certain professions if they wished to be effective in PvP.
Academic Research on SWG
While academic research on MMOGs is limited, there are a few scholars who have collected data, theorized, created websites, and written essays about the topic. Please add links and information as you see fit.
Like many other MMOGs, the game design of Galaxies includes realistic social institutions such as a dynamic player economy and other real life social phenomena like a complicated division of labor. According to Star Wars Galaxies and the Division of Labor, the division of labor in Star Wars Galaxies produces in-game results similar to those in real life. Galaxies' game design socializes players to specialize their characters by mastering one or two professions, and to join guilds, in which players relate to one another primarily in terms of their professions (I am the weaponsmith, so I make weapons for the guild)--just as in real life, players are tied to one another by organic solidarity.
Links to Academic Research
Star Wars Galaxies and the Division of Labor -- Jesse Kirdahy-Scalia's thesis explores the sociology of Galaxies. Topics include socialization, the division of labor, organic solidarity, and anomie in Galaxies. Research based on participant observation, data collected from more than 230 surveys of players, interviews with players, and data from the Daedalus Project (see below).
The Daedalus Project -- Nick Yee has collected data on many MMOGs from thousands of survey responses and interviews, and has authored numerous psychological essays on a wide range of topics surrounding MMOGs.
- (It should be noted that post-NGE effects on the player economy are unknown at this time. Since item-decay was removed, characters need only purchase one weapon per level instead of several, and one set of armor instead of many.)
Criticisms
Broken promises
There have been claims that SOE made promises to players that they never delivered on. Perhaps the most egregious example is the fact that despite years of assurances that a revamp was just around the corner, Smugglers cannot actually smuggle. The situation became so embarrassing and notorious amongst the gaming community that GamePro voted SWG's treatment of Smugglers the #11 Gaming Low of 2004. See GamePro article. However, as of this time writing over 2.5 years since initial release and countless broken promises later, it's April 2006 and still nothing has improved on this front.
In the scheduled update of "Publish 31", a smuggling system is reported to be introduced. The date for "Publish 31" has not been set.
Customer voice
Many of their customers do not feel that SOE listens to them about issues surrounding the game. SOE does provide an online message forum for their customers to discuss issues. However, a lack of Development Team response to messages and their habit of ignoring the 'CSR's (Customer Service Representatives)' has angered some forum goers. In addition, many professions were disadvantaged and needed improving, and even after constant complaints SOE finally took action although not exactly in a manner welcomed by players. In order to bring the professions inline, SOE built a new game/combat engine and removed most of the professions that needed repair, calling the new smaller list of classes 'iconic'.
There have also been several incidents of people being permanently banned for reporting SOE to the Better Business Bureau for lack of customer service and failing to respond to serious game stopping issues.
In addition to such bannings, SOE has locked several posts which are aimed at calling the company on the inaccuracy and deceptive nature of their most recent update announcements and releases, including an advertisement about the NGE which included the 'Creature Handler' profession that was, in contrast to the advertisement's implied claims, removed from the game entirely. SOE has, in fact, offered a refund to players that purchased the latest expansion, "Trials of Obi-Wan", in response to the negative reaction to their deceptive ad campaign regarding the expansion and its relation to the NGE.
As you might expect veterans of this game that had either been banned from SOE's forums or whose subscriptions had expired (thereby removing their ability to post on said forums) have been appearing in large numbers on the forums of other MMORPGs in order to continue discussing the game as it was and is now.
Interestingly some websites have also been started up specifically for former veterans of the game to stay in touch with their friends and the rest of their former gaming community to discuss matters pertaining both to this game and whatever games they have now moved onto. Such sites include imperialcrackdown.com, which is mostly a meeting place for former players of SWG's 'Flurry' server, and wanderhomies.com for players of the SWG 'Wanderhome' server.
Questionable tactics
The NGE was announced two days after the release of the Trials of Obi Wan. This was seen by many players as an underhand method. Some felt that they would not have bought the expansion if they had known of the changes to the core game. Others were angry at the fact that there were enhancements announced for their player classes, only to then have such classes removed once the NGE was rolled out. SOE afterwards offered a refund of the price of the expansion to whom so desired.
Ongoing Concerns
There has been a great amount of controversy on the forums from players claiming that they are paying to play for the game whose quality could be compared to that of a game in beta testing. John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment gave this response on the game's game play discussion forum. Link to Quote
"...my preference is that all the posts in the gameplay forum are discussing gameplay balance.. and in-game issues.. but they won't until we get the game to a baseline fun level. We're not there yet. We know that. We're working to fix it. There is no other answer."
Some community members have not been satisfied with this answer and voice their opinions by lashing out with spam posts, holding in-game demonstrations in high traffic areas, and participate in other disruptive acts demanding a rollback of the game mechanics to Pre-NGE(New Game Enhancements) status. The developers of Star Wars Galaxies have explained time and time again this is not going to happen despite the outcry of these members. It has been exlplained that at least one major reason for these changes was to restruscture the game's code to be more modular allowing for more expansions, additions, and overall improvement to the gameplay in the long term.
It is unknown as to what percentage of the actual playerbase agrees/disagrees with the direction the game.
Spin-offs
Image:SWGROD.jpegStar Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine is a spin-off based in part on places and events in the Star Wars Galaxies. The novel was authored by Voronica Whitney-Robinson and Haden Blackman, LucasArts producer of the game.
Trivia
- The game references and features elements from The Star Wars Holiday Special, such as Lumpy's stuffed bantha, and the customs of Life Day, when the viewer visits Kashyyyk (Available by purchasing the "Rage of the Wookiees" expansion). Wookiees on Kashyyyk can even be seen in red robes, as they were in the special.
- The game also references the other two Star Wars spin-off films, in that the player may encounter the Gorax species (from Caravan of Courage), and can encounter the base of the Sanyassan Marauders (as seen in The Battle for Endor).
- The game references characters from the Star Wars Expanded Universe books such as Grand Admiral Thrawn who is found at the Emperor's Retreat on Naboo, Mara Jade who is found during the Imperial Themepark quests on Naboo, and HK-47 from the Knights of the Old Republic series (By purchasing the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion).
- While showing footage from the NGE during a live interview with Julio Torres on G4TV's Attack of the Show the blue ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi failed to appear as expected - leading to a quick cutaway from the screen.
- All of the names of the Galaxies (servers) in Star Wars Galaxies are somewhat obscure references to starships in the Expanded Universe.
External links
Official sites
Server community sites
- Ahazi.org
- Bloodfin.org
- Corbantis.org
- Kettemoor.org
- Naritus.org
- Wanderhomies.com
- Lern2play.com, formerly Farstarians.com - the refugee site for Ex-Farstarians
- SWG Refugees (as featured in the New York Times)
Resource sites
- Star Wars Galaxies Wiki
- Star Wars Galaxies Crafting
- Star Wars Galaxies Creatures
- Star Wars Galaxies on Allakhazam.com
- Star Wars Galaxies Warcry
- Star Wars Galaxies Center
- Star Wars Galaxies OGaming
International resource sites
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