Star Wars Galaxies.....

[WaxonWaxov]

** if this is in the wrong forum, then I'm sorry. **

When I logged in to CivFanatics just now I noticed a banner ad for Star Wars Galaxies. This in conjunction to the fact that I see it advertised on TV at least 6 times a night makes me wonder why they're doing this all of a sudden for a game that is almost two years old.

I spent pretty much every waking (not at work) moment between April and August of last year playing SWG... really.

I finally quit shortly before the "Jump to Lightspeed" expansion was released because it got boring and frustrating.

Things that bothered me were..

1) The high price of everything in-game.
2) My group of buddies, or guild, consisted of about 40 people (nerds) who played almost nonstop for months. Only ONE ever 'unlocked' and was able to become a Jedi.
3) Everytime there was something "new" in the game like a special item, or new armor, you had to be some sort of insider to know what was going on.
4) Many things in game did not work properly.


I returned to the game about six or seven months ago just out of boredom. I found that virtually ALL of my old friends had abandoned the game. They (Sony online) had recently made a huge change to the way cambat worked in the game. This made some characters that people had worked on for months useless.



So my question, or point, is this:

Have any of you, the Civ community ever played SWG?

Do you still play now?

If not, why not?

 

[MrCynical]

This should probably be in the "Other Games" forum, but I'm sure one of the mods will move it.

I've never played SWG, though I know a couple of people who do. I have the same view on it as other MMORPG's that it seems to combine pointless grind with being addictive. Possibly I'm being unjust here, but I just don't see the point of them, especially given you're paying per month.

 

[knord]

I played it.
But I was mostly on the "Text Center" server.

I played for about 1.5 year and stopped about a month before the so called "combat upgrade".

Why I played so long is mostly 'couse of the friends I had on TC.
SWG got boring after about a months play...

EDIT: hehe "text center"... I ment Test Center

 

[TacNuke]

I have never played SWG either, however I agree with MrCynical as to the pointless grind etc. WOW came closest to being fun for casual play in an MMORPG that i've seen, but here again, to get powerful items etc you almost had to play non-stop or your buddies quickly outpaced you.

CIV IV is more my speed

 

[darrene]

As a former Star Wars Galaxies player I would guess that the sudden increase in advertising is probably due to the recent massive change in gameplay introduced in the recent NGE (New Game Enhancements) patch. From my own experience, and judging from the outraged cries in the forums, this change in gameplay has ruined SWG entirely, thus starting a mass of account cancellations from long-time players.

I guess Sony are now starting out on a big, frantic marketing campaign to persuade new players to sign up to counteract this mass cancellation exodus of existing players.

This is just a theory mind

 

[WaxonWaxov]

darrene, I think you hit the nail on the head.

Every time I see a lightsaber in one of those commericals, I want to scream "but you'll never actually get a lightsaber!"

what server did you play on? I played on Ahazi.

 

[darrene]

darrene, I think you hit the nail on the head.

Every time I see a lightsaber in one of those commericals, I want to scream "but you'll never actually get a lightsaber!"

what server did you play on? I played on Ahazi.

I was on Infinity - my toon was Seefer, a level 80 Dark Jedi Initiate - who has a red lightsabre by the way

SWG took up most of my game-playing time during the week and I was at a loss for a replacement until Civ IV arrived (hurrah to the guys at Firaxis for saving my soul). Once I get the hang of Civ's in-depth mechanics I'll be going online to play a lot too - can't wait. At the moment though my lack of knowledge of how things work in Civ is stunting my ability to get thoroughly involved in it. I guess it's a matter of patience until I learn enough to truly get my teeth into a lengthy Civ gaming session.

As an aside, most people I knew from SWG are now making their way to Dark and Light for their MMOG fixes. It should go live on 8th December so be quick to grab an account.

So, between Civ IV for my single player fixes and Dark and Light soon for my MMOG desires, life is good

 

[phoulishwan]

WOW, is the only FUN MMO I've played and even it is becoming a grind with the raid content, BWL is brutal...I'm hardcore in MMO's, played EQ and DAoC, for over 2 years each, but seriously the only one I actually still enjoyed after the first 3-4 months was WOW. Because it's the little things they've done with that game's storyline and the ease of leveling that keep it fresh and fun. Now if my guild can just start refocusing their efforts and get past Vael I'll be happy.

60 Hunter - Khadgar proud Lokh/Rhok owner.

 

[Kolyana]

WHere's the "I used to, but I quit because it was cr@p" option?

 

[darrene]

I played WoW for ages too and it's a great MMOG - I would say the best at the moment. Nearly every MMOG I've played became tedious and repetative within 2 months but WoW had me hooked for 4 months. I think the secret to its success was the fact that Blizzard is the only developer of an MMOG that is also extremely experienced in creating single-player, story driven games. As such they seemed to successfully combine the best aspects of single-player games with that of massively multiplayer titles, thereby producing something that appealed to a more diverse range of player tastes.

I think I'm right in thinking that every other MMOG develepor whose games I've played has not had any experience in creating single-player titles? Feel free to correct me on that

 

[WaxonWaxov]

I was on Ahazi. My character's name was Waxon Waxov (which was my first 'persona' under that name)

He was a very tall orange Transdoshan Bounty Huntter (2/4/4/4) I was trying to grind out the rest of the investigation tree, but the BH missions stopped working... then I stopped playing.

 

[Leonel]

WHere's the "I used to, but I quit because it was cr@p" option?

What I want to know is where's the "I used to, but I quit because I was disillusioned as to how awesome I thought it was but looked like something cobbled together from other games and put a new package around it on something Star Wars fans that are amateur computer programmers could do a far better job on and now I'm never getting my $45 back because the bundle cost me $30 and the monthly fee cost me $15.

 

[Kolyana]

Hey Leonel, I'm in Portland too!!!

I bought SWG on the first day of release ... couldn't play it because the whole registration server and process was bugged for 3 days straight ... then was utterly amazed how they could take such an awesome franchise and dismember it into such a mundane experience.

I started as a Smuggler (with no ships in the game, of course) and as I'm punching my 500th frog in an effort to raise my 'brawling' skill as one of the requirements for becoming a true Smuggler, I realized that the game really was ... not worth playing anymore.

 

[NikNak]

I played it a bit when it first came and was greatly saddened that such a pooptacular game was released with the Star Wars name. I played it later when there was a large round of rules changes, but the game still looked and felt like poop.

I've heard that it's completely revamped now so that you can start right away as a "Force sensitive" character and that the combat is more WoW-like. These seem to be steps in the right direction, but the damage has already been done, I believe.

WoW and Civ IV take all my time now.

 

[Frimlin]

I played it for about six months, on the European server Chimaera. I left before any radical changes -- nothing against the game, though -- I just had to concentrate on work instead!

 

[bky1701]

I think I covered why I don’t play MMORPGs in the piracy topic, and I couldn’t find any privet servers (they tend to be crappie anyway).

I voted #3 as I would play it if it was not for the fees…

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

I beta tested SWG, didn't buy it at release because I was waiting for JTL, bought it in October 2004, and just recently cancelled my subscription. I was Anantha Etamama on Bria and a level 46 Bounty Hunter/Carbineer/Combat Medic. I hate what they have done with the game because they removed all that was unique about the game (except for the Star Wars license of course.)