Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
by LucasArts Entertainment
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Video Game Reviews of Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
Customer Review: The game is over...
Summary: 1 Stars
Do not purchase this game. Sony Online Entertainment is the Nazis of the gaming industry and they have destroyed the good Star Wars name. I have played SWG(Star Wars Galaxies) since day one. I mastered 6 professions and unlocked Jedi post CU(combat ungrade). If you have read any other posts you probably already know about the total revamp that SWG has just undergone. This is not a MMORPG anymore, its a MMORPS(massively multiplayer online first person shooter). They (SOE) have lied about their intentions and kept the veterans players around just long enough to get an expansion (Trials of Obiwan) purchase then they announced the NGE(New Game Enhancements). This was a complete dupe and they know it. Some vets signed up for a years subscription right before they announced the changes and now SOE won't refund their money. Think about that for a second. You sign up to play a RPG game then, without warning the game is changed to a RPS over-night. This is unbelieveable and totally irresponsible on the part of SOE and Lucas Arts. Lawsuits have been suggested and may actually have a leg to stand on this time.
This is not the first time SOE has done this. The CU was unwelcomed and unloved, but the basic game was the same and the vets learned to play in groups and have fun. The "turn based" combat system that was the original method of fighting was basically intact. The crafters and other noncombat professions where left alone. This time they changed everything from combat to crafting to creature handling. Most of the professions have been completely deleted. Now think about this, you work on a toon(in game personality) for a year or so. Grinding the low levels, buying the items you need and spending lots of real world time developing your toon. Now, you have spent all this time and money(subscription fees)and are a master creature handler able to tame the mighty rancor like a little dog! Pretty cool right. The next day you logon and find out your toons profession is going to be removed in two weeks! How would that make you feel. Two weeks of notice for a years worth of work. Good times, I think not!
In conclusion, stay away from all SOE products, EQ, Planetside, Matrix online and any others you see. SOE is the worst company that has ever produced a MMO and will continue to listen to small focus groups and the all mighty dollar seeking board of directors that care only for what might be the next big thing, no matter who gets smashed in the processed.
Customer Review: Veterans Betrayed
Summary: 1 Stars
I've been playing SWG for almost two years now and my wife for just a few weeks less me. We put up with the nerfing of some of our favorite classes because the game was so flexible.
You could create almost any kind of avatar, and because of the very cool skills and professions trees you could follow almost any career path.
We met many people on line and joined our share of guilds but in on fell swoop SOE and LA have made our favorite characters useless. Suddenly all the maneuvering and point balancing we've done on the skill trees to come up with characters that could hold their own in combat but had useful skills outside of combat are worthless.
Everything that made our characters unique has been trashed. You can choose, combat machine, sneak thief, or support, no mixing of skills.
I understand the kids who have the most money to spend for online games drive the market, and maybe most of them just want to play a commando and don't care if he has any non-combat abilities but as adults we don't have a use for this game anymore.
To future players, BE WARNED, SOE and LA don't care how many hundreds of hours you've invested in a character. They'll change the rules on you in a heartbeat that will make your character useless or eliminate there class/skills completely.
Customer Review: think carefuly before you buy this game
Summary: 1 Stars
(nov 18 2005) this game is so full of bugs and has real bad lag, its almost beta even though its been round since 2003. this has only happend recently (nov 15) after a major system update, before this update i would have given it 5 out of 5 now its barely worth 1
if your going to buy this game just because you can be a jedi then bewarned you'll only be a jedi in name in this game as they have no real powers and are one of the weakest combat professions.
look carefuly at the star wars galaxies forums before you buy.
maybe given enough time this game will be worth playing again but for now give it a wide birth
Customer Review: Boycott Sony Online Entertainment and Lucas Arts.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have played Star Wars: Galaxies for 782 days according to the /getvet command. I have purchased all of the expansions out to date. I was considering creating a second account. As of 11-17-05 my account is cancelled. The New Game, also known as the Starter Kit, is the third version of SWG and it is riddled with bugs and incomplete. It is a far inferior product to its previous versions as well. The NG was released after being kept secret for an unknown period of time and allowing players only a two week notice of it being published. Even less time was devoted to it being tested by sources outside of SOE. Trials of Obi Wan and the NG were released in such a manner as to call into question SOE's and LA's ethics. As represented by the employees who post to the forums SOE and LA are uncarring, glib, and/or vastly out of touch with the player community.
Most of these are not new complaints. However, with the release of the NG these problems have escalted to such a degree that the game is no longer playable. While some are content to merely switch games I am not. Simply changing the direction of the flow of money to SOE and LA will not get their attention. I am boycotting all products created by Sony Online Entertainment and Lucas Arts. I encourage others to do the same.
I do not think my actions alone with effect SOE or LA one iota. In fact, I doubt anything will change their policies. The fan base for Star Wars and other properties is sufficiently numerous to mitigate any discontent portion. While some have predicted that the NG will cause the collapse of SWG I believe otherwise. It will lose many current players but those will be replaced by SOE's and LA's new target market. SOE and LA will later use the negative comments and future subscriptions numbers to prove that they were right all along and to dismiss anyone who opposes them as being knee jerk reactionaries who are against change just because they don't like change. Because most likely the next expansion will also bring a new version of SWG as SOE and LA attempt to copy whichever game is doing better then.
Customer Review: SWG - New Game Experience Blows
Summary: 1 Stars
Beta 2 tester - November 16, 2005
SOE ignored all it's loyal customers and pushed a huge turg out their a$$es call the New Gaming Experience,
A post from my Guild site
Lucas Arts and SOE have decided that the game needs to be taken to a new market - The console games market. They pushed all their veteren players out with a revamp of the game to something resembling a cheap nintendo game for Star Wars, at least this is my opinion. I am sure some will come to embrace the new game and the market they seek to capture, but not this old gamer.
There was an expansion pack released called trial of Obi One and a subsequent refund for anyone who purchased that expansion as their legal department realized that the expansion could not deliver what was promised after the NGE is launched.
For any of you that were around since this game's launch, thing back to November 2003. Two years ago this month SOE introduced vehicles and player cities to SWG. This was a very exciting time, and arguably the pinnacle of this game's existence. CS city was established and I road a mount for the first time that day, my best day in SWG hands down. As I recall I looted 2 gurk king hides the night before the patch.
The day the player city and vehicle publish was to go live was very intense. There was a lot of excitement. Many of us were on the and wishing each other luck on getting our spots. Many had architects lined up to make city halls. A lot of us had our would-be mayors logged out right by where the politician trainer would be located when the server came up. A LOT of people did not go to work or school that day hehe.
Player cities actually came to define this game early on. It gave guild's a sense of pride and ownership. It gave folks places to gather. Gave us territories to defend/assault. This gave us rise to the GCW and the massive PvP that ensued. Crimson City on Talus eventually drifted to Lok and all but a few faithful followed Zion after the masses departed for World of Warcraft. Syth PA was born shortly after, Stevai, MHB, MrRight, Sti and a few more I can hardly recall . Syth Isle was born and we forcably took over the Corellian Island just west of Coronet. Months later the city lost more of it's players and was sold to an outsider who did keep the city alive for almost a year as Syth Island. Syth Fire Base was started and flourished into Corellia's only Imperial base of operations. Bases abounded and spread for miles in every direction.
But while all this was going on, there were many underlying problems that were creeping up slowly. See the game had only been out for a few months. People had not fully realized to what extent things could be crafted. We had not had many good resource spawns, and not substantial quantities either. Almost no crafters had any experimentation tapes, nor did they fully understand how the intricacies of the crafting system worked.
But over the next couple of months, people realized they could make armor that would resist 90%+ all damage. Or that they could make MIND poison that would kill everyone within a 30 yard radius in three ticks. Or they could make buffs that would more than DOUBLE our stats.
These were all items that for some reason or another were never capped before the game went live as they should have. This was a direct result of SOE's short-sightedness. They underestimated the resourcefulness of their player base.
Combine those factors with bugs and exploits (faction bases had MANY that took MONTHS to patch), unbalanced classes (TKA, CM, Rifleman) and eventually the revelation of HOW to unlock Jedi (effectively taking a huge part of the player base OUT of the game as they pursued the grind) - and you had the begining of the decline.
Before all this, the GCW was super addictive and I would say in November 2003 the majority of players were actively involved somehow. Not sure how many remember the battles at CS town. Only reason it ended was because people had to leave to go to work or school lol. The game was FUN and MUCH more addictive then. Faction meant something. We had a LOT less faction hopping back then because the war was in full swing.
Well, the game kept deteriorating so SOE came up with the plan to fix it - originally called the Combat Revamp, later to be known as the Combat Upgrade. That was the upgrade where I found myself in other games, specifically WoW. Now we have the NGW. There are SO many things I find wrong with this I do not even know where to begin.
First off, SWG never has been known as having a substantial amount of content. To be honest, I think that half the content in this game WAS the professions - being able to build a unique character template for YOU. Bored of tailor? Try droid engineer. Bored of pistoleer? Try carbineer.
Now I see these nine classes folks will be pigeon-holed into and I think that SOE just took it's BIGGEST strength for this game and turned it into a weakness. Character classes in SWG will now have even less diversity than WoW because in WoW at least they have the talent system to offer some diversity within a class.
Sure, this will be easier for them to balance, and easier for players without a clue, but it seems to me that this is a cop out and a slap in the face to anyone who has been loyal to SOE through it all.
I am sure the NGE will be fun for a little while, but unless SOE plans on adding a LOT of content, the NGE will become boring FAST.
Where did SOE go wrong over the past few years? Well here is a quick list of major issues that they either never addressed or took too long to address or just flat out screwed up:
- Mind Pool
Making the ONE unhealable pool explicitly targetable by only a few classes automatically made some classes better than others. Morsky's Rifleman/TKM was sweet, then Jackal's one handed headhit2.
-No Caps
Having no upper-limit caps on DOT's, buffs, food&drinks, armor effectiveness, weapons, etc allowed for game-breaking items to be crafted. Had there been better testing in beta with MAX resources they would have discovered this before the game even went live.
-Jedi
Making an alpha class in an MMORPG is always going to be a failure. Who would NOT want to play the dominant class? Nerfing Jedi was wrong too. We want Jedi to be like canon and strong. SOE should have NEVER allowed player Jedi, except Jackal, lol. To my understanding this was a HUGE internal debate before the game went live, with LucasArts weighing in to push Jedi. BIG mistake. Fact is the game had MORE paying subscribers before there were Jedi. Fact - after DOT's (often pointed out by Jedi as the true death of the game) the game had even LESS subscribers. I hardly think all those people quit because DOT's were nerfed Point? People got sick of Jedi, and sick of seeing more and more of them. Less diversity among players = less fun. When SOE devoted two huge publishes all to Jedi instead of fixing other long-standing issues this was a sign of things to come. And the original holo-grind killed off a LOT of the PvP we had since so many became reclusive and devoted all their time to grinding.
-GCW bugs/exploits
Once people discovered that you can shoot through walls of player bases from the inside out but not outside in things went downhill. Once people discovered you could abort a base countdown even while DEAD of feigning death it was game over. How long did it take for SOE to fix this bug? FOUR months. What about people being able to attack turrets from out of range? SIX months. It was not like these were secret tricks either. They were well documented on the forums. For some reason though, they were extremly slow to respond. Instead of spending eight hours fighting back and forth between cities, people just got rid of their bases and the GCW died. With it PvP died off in a big way.
-Content
At one point they promised us new PvE content every other patch. Well, we got the corvette (which was a BLAST for about 3 weeks) and the Geonosian cave (which was so bugged it became a favorite place for grinders) and eventually the DWB which was the most challenging and fun, but then it was not until the expansion that the game actually got additional PvE content.
-Wasted Space
Land area in SWG is immense. If you did the math and figured it out and compared it to any other MMORPG out there SWG has MORE explorable space than any other game by far. But you know what? It is USELESS. Take Talus for example. Big beautiful planet with NOTHING on it. We have these little mini-dungeons, or doodads on each planet that serve minimal to no purpose at all. What is their answer? In the expansions they actually have invisible fencing to keep you in the few areas they actually have content. Instead of having the whole huge area filled with stuff of use, they close off areas to the player. This is an area where SOE could learn a LOT from WoW where all the land is not only explorable, but most of it serves a purpose and/or has unique mobs.
-Character customization
SOE made characters so customizable that this actually becomes one of it's biggest weaknesses. The more unique features the game has to track, the more queries clients have to make to the server in order to properly render a toon on your screen. 20 players no problem. 50 players? Slowdown time. 200 players? Server go kaboom. Too much load for the system to handle. Basically epic battles become near impossible.
Thinking about all of this it seems to me that in SOE's rush to get product to market in the first place they dropped the ball bad, and instead of making things better, they constantly seem to make the wrong decisions.
Stop f'ing around with focus groups, and fire the marketing suits and hire some good, competent developers and people with vision. Unfortunately at this point I think it is too late. No one trusts you anymore SOE and their experiences here WILL likely make them think twice about trying other SOE games.
So I can safely say Morsky, Jackal, Backwoods and Virus will never return to SWG, at least not with me at the helm, chances are my eight year old could find himself with an old Jedi to play on his console if the game survives that long.
In memory of the great times and a toast to the game at it's peak I will make these forums and website stand as a reminder that once upon a time it was this game Star Wars Galaxies, that kept us up all night and provided us with an avenue to relax and entertain.
Rest in Peace SWG