Star Wars Galaxies question

[Magnus]

Hey all

With all this Star Wars hype abounding, i'm thinking of signing up for Star Wars Galaxies. Ideally, i'd like to one day have a Jedi character (naturally haha). Do any of you know what the process is like for this? I mean, is it random, or will I have to spend 14 hour days sitting in front of my computer for a year before getting it? Any info would be appreciated!

[Hurin]

I would set some smaller goals for yourself at first. But if you're dead-set on becoming a jedi:

here you go. . .

[Hurin]

Woops, that looks outdated now that I read it. Here's another. But that too is a bit lacking.

I'll post more as I find them since I'm curious too.

Just getting started with SWG myself.

H

[Hurin]

As usual, stratics is the way to go.

H

[Baldrick]

Any movement on getting a MW group together on one Galaxy? I vote Intrepid

Edited April 21, 2005 by Baldrick

[HWR MKII]

starside is a good server and my clan needs members.

Edited April 21, 2005 by HWR MKII

[Hurin]

I'm on sunrunner.

[Chewie]

A word of advice on signing up. Do it after May 5th. They are totally revamping the combat system with the new expansion. The health system, weapons, armor etc.

If you go in now you will have to relearn everything later.

Just a word.

Jedi isn't all that bad once you have a elite mastered. It's just tedious. VERY tedious.

The new system is much better than it was before but again, it was never meant to be super easy and things were messed up but if you want to get into it, try it out.

You can walk out the door of you local Gamestop with the whole thing (SWG and both expansions) for $45 plus $15 for your first month.

As for which galaxy to join, join one on your coast for starters. Kauri is an awesome server for east coasters/europeans. Just for starters. If ya try it out, look me up. Ith Vearn'exx. I'll hook you up with weapons, money, armor. All that. =)

- Chewie

[Hikuro]

Sounds sorta sad really, disconnections, crashes etc will cause you to start from scratch after 3 deaths then your character is gone for good, and even if your killed after becoming a master, your just a blue ghost...which would be interesting you could give lessons too all those wanna be's outta bordem.

But I'll stick to consel games.

[HWR MKII]

actually you get incapacitated 3 times then you have to clone. The jedi dont "ghost" that idea was scrapped for the simple fact it would cause alot of customers to leave. Its a good game if you have the time to devote to it. There alot of helpful people on it too.

[Hurin]

Sounds sorta sad really, disconnections, crashes etc will cause you to start from scratch after 3 deaths then your character is gone for good, and even if your killed after becoming a master, your just a blue ghost...which would be interesting you could give lessons too all those wanna be's outta bordem.

But I'll stick to consel games.

I think that's all outdated. There is no more perma-death. (again, pretty sure. Not certain)

[kalvasflam]

The best thing about SWG is it's economy. This was surely true a year ago. A little less true these days. I'm not too combat oriented, but the revamp will be a very good thing. Hopefully there will be dramatic improvement in my chosen profession: Smuggling, but who knows.

The main problem with SWG in my opinion is that the combat is fairly meaningless. I think they haven't done a good job with GCW either. The problem I think is the static nature of the game, you're between episode IV and episode V. So, don't expect to play against Darth Vader, last I checked, he was still sitting on his old lazy ass with Palpatine on Naboo.

In terms of a jedi, many people have the patience to run through the hamster wheel that is the force sensitive process. But expect to have large chunks of your life taken out if you grind through jedi.

In terms of connection, the game isn't bad at all, nothing like UO days with lag galore. If you do go into the game. Have fun.

[Sundown]

As a long time player, I'd caution you to wait until after the Combat Upgrade, and wait a month or so for reviews and info on how everything fell out. They are changing some of the presentation and much of the gameplay, and much of the new stuff feels or looks unpolished, force-fit, or decidedly un-Star Warsy. Waiting might help you get a better idea of what you'll actually be paying for. It won't be this game that's on servers right just now.

-Al

[Chewie]

Perma-Death and Blue-Glowie status NEVER came about. It was taken out of the game. You now suffer xp loss. As for the 3 death thing that is for ALL new players and by the time you reach Jedi I can guarantee you will have died more than 3 times.

There are ways to avoid xp loss. Getting rez'd by a doc prevents it. There is a ring called the "mark of the hero" which also prevents it but you can only use it once per 24 hours and it has limited uses.

Just try it. Find someone with an account and ask them to play it. If you don't like it, you're not out money and at then you know.

- Chewie

[Duke Togo]

I've never heard a single good thing about SWG, which is a shame. Otherwise, I'd be playing it.

[bsu legato]

Slightly OT, but for those of us who don't play MMRPG games, this new article on IGN is promising.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/606/606597p1.html

[Zor Primus]

I played the game since Beta, and was really into it for over a year. I dropped it like a bad habit when WoW came out.

Why? The games absolutely destroys the storyline and accepted continuity. Thousands of Jedi and Dark Jedi running around in a time post ANH? Meh, you can call it an alternate universe all you want, thats not why I bought and played the game. Purists will have to agree that what SOE has done to continuity has been a sin higher then that of another company that took another series and combined it into ... you know what I mean

Lag, Lag, Lag, Lag...in almost two years navigation in all the major cities is still at a snail's crawl. Professions are unbalanced, and even with the CU there still is little hope for improvement.

I thought with the Space Expansion I'd be charged to keep on playing, but even in space the game got repetative and boring.

Graphics wise the game is on point totally...yet pretty pictures can only take you so far. If you want to try out a fun and well made game, try out World of Warcraft. At least it wont feel like your playing a live Beta...

[Duke Togo]

WoW is the MMPORG to play, from everyone I have talked to.

[Mechwarrior]

WOW was not for me. I dropped SWG for wow thinking it would be better, but it was not even close, as far as my opinion goes, so i went back to SWG, totally love it. I did not choose the Jedi Way, i went Bounty Hunter, talk about fun, hunting Jedi is way better , In my opnion. And as far as the Combat Upgrade next month, Jedi better be vet's and know all their skills and apply them in combat, because in the test center i didnt see one win a Player vs Player. Star Wars Galaxies is a great game, nothing comes easy, you work for what you have or want, which is a big turn off for most gamers, it is too bad they dont offer the 10 day trial, thats how i got started last july.

[Duke Togo]

So, did you sign up?

[Uxi]

At first, I was irked by the CU. I liked the mechanics (better than before, in fact) but felt the conversion shafted existing players (at least myself). And I hate level-based games...

Being a casual player (usually only have time for a couple hours on the weekends), I hate the "grind" but you can get xp very very fast in a good group so I'm back to using my wonderful T21 rifle and got the nifty looking new Rebel Assault Armor to boot.

Here's a pic with my droid and new ride...

[Uxi]

Oh yeah, FWIW, Jedi IS possible for a casual player, it will just take awhile. Right now, I have no ambition on that... supposedly a future publish is gonna switch the system yet again (supposedly to a Master-Apprentice relationship) and quest-based rather than grind based, but that remains to be seen...

Right now I'm content to finish up piloting (almost to Rebel Ace). The space game is easily as good as the X-Wing games, though not as versatile in the missions, there are many more playable craft and you get your choice of factions (semi-independent of the ground game).

A bunch of guys from my work switched from Galaxies to City of Heroes (which I didn't skip to) and are now all on WoW. I did the trial of WoW, but thought it was too cartoony. I also didn't like the mechanics much. Galaxies has the best "player economy" (indeed not much option to be a pure non-combat "civilian" in any other game like there is with Galaxies), and the best combat system IMO.

The missions are far better in WoW and some of the detail and content is superior. Galaxies tends to get stuck in a rut that WoW avoids...

Edited June 17, 2005 by Uxi

[SpacePirateNeko]

Ever since the CU i sign on pay my houses and sign off...why? Because my server is dead. Its 50% jedi and 40 other people. I cant play my character with jedi all around since i roleplay ....."jedi ha! they were all destroyed ",,,excuse me sir what about the 50 jedi standing ten feet away dueling eachother.

They added multipassenger speeders.....so what i have no one to bring with me in my speeder. I havnt been able to find a group in a year. When jtl came out ,i formed a rebel squadron "ghost squadron". My ship was called Ghost One...there has yet to be ghost two. Matter of fact i have yet to ever group in space at all, no one ever wants to group in space, oh how i awaited jtl's release just so i could fly squadrons in space like in the movies.

My money slowly sinks to nothingness as i pay off my home and cant make the same ammount of money back. Forget about xp , i had to change my character from a pistoleer to a bounty hunter because post CU pistoleers suck and are "enchanters" now instead of doing damage. Of course this was a decision i didnt make in haste seeing as im a rebel and hunting the abundant jedi running rampant wouldnt set to good with my character. Remember i Roleplay. If you cant find a group ...and its hard on a server with a population of 5 ...especially when all the chat channels are dead. I still have yet to own any armor, i was aiming for faction armor but seeign as i can find no rebels to do rebel missions with so much for that.

Oh and the combat upgrade sucks. Goofy light effects and an eq2 ( which has the worst combat system ever invented) combat system. If anyone doesnt believe they ignored what everyone said in the forums and just went with an eq2 combat system all you need to do is take a look at the wookie expansion...the planet is like an eq2 map ..the whole set up is very simialar to eq2. No my friends ..this was planned.

So why am i still in game? Well im waiting for soe to COMBINE ACCOUNTS. Thats right even though ive been here since day 1 ( when i was prompted to make a new account for swg i wasnt given teh ability to use the same name as my eq account so i had to make another) i STILL have to pay an extra 15 alongside my all access 21$ account. Noobs who have all access though dont have to pay anything . When prompted to look into the matter devs replied "well check into it" . This was back in january. Nothing has changed, recently a mod posted about it again. Apparently they are "still looking into it". All that extra money ( ALOT of people have this issue )....gee i wonder why it would take them so long to come to a conclusion and fix this VERY MINOR and easy to fix problem.

WoW does suck though.....hold off for vanguard : saga of heroes

I spoke to the creators at E3 and played the demo and these guys LOVE their game, i spoke in depths about player housing , graphics and systems. This game is designed by hardcore players and roleplayers check out the forums at vanguardsagaofheroes.com

[Effect]

I was hearing how the Combat Upgrade wasn't been well received. There was just something about EQ2 that stoped me from enjoying that game and made me appericate EQ1 more. Personally I thought Star Wars Galaxies was great before the CU. I didn't see why people made a fuse but they are paying for it now arent' they. Had they just been quite then they wouldn't have gotten the CU. So what if no one had to group, you see many and read about many characters in Star Wars going solo all the time. It's a space opera, not Everquest in space. That's what some people wanted I think without knowing it and now that's exactly what they've gotten and they have to deal with it now.

I'm looking forward to Asheron's Call 1 expansion Throne of Destiny. I'm not picking up the expansion until I see some reviews from players and sites but even if you don't buy it you still get the graphics upgrade. There appears to be three levels. Level one is what they have now, level two is the graphics they've shown off in screenshots so far,and level three will be high quality graphics that the expansion owners will get soon after the game goes live. So even without the new landmass, AC1's world is still huge. I've also heard that towns and portal locations have been revamped. Even if the numbers aren't the same as something like World of Warcraft the world of AC1 is a LOT, LOT, LOT more alive the the world of Asheron's Call 2(which is it's major downfall and flaw).

I think I'm swearing off SOE games finally. Just to much disappointment in how they are doing things. Vanguard looks interesting but I really don't want to have to overhaul my computer to play it. Perhaps why I'm going to try AC1 again and why I'm playing Ultima Online now(45 free days from the direct2drive.com purchase). I did like the early Everquest but at the same time it was frustrating but that could be more to deal with it being my first mmorpg and being so young when I played and now I'm used to mmorpgs. So it might be worth a shot. Though I actually love it when games have zones to be honest and I'm not sure if Vanguard will have that.

[Effect]

Those intersted. Here are before and after screenshots for the graphics upgrade that everyone would get even if they dont' get the latest expansion. Also starting June 22 there is an open preview for the game up till the game is released in July. You have to go to fileplanet to get the key for it.

http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?page_id=351

Before - After

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setView...howArticle/3152

http://www.mmorpg.com/images/screenshots/062005/3807.jpg

Edited June 17, 2005 by Effect

[Radd]

Rather than trying to develope a balanced, well thought out game, too much emphasis seems to be put on pandering to the complaints of people that will more than likely stick with the game even if they weren't coddled so much.

[Hurin]

Rather than trying to develope a balanced, well thought out game, too much emphasis seems to be put on pandering to the complaints of people that will more than likely stick with the game even if they weren't coddled so much.

That sums up just about everything that went wrong with Ultima Online right there.

H

[Sundown]

I was hearing how the Combat Upgrade wasn't been well received. There was just something about EQ2 that stoped me from enjoying that game and made me appericate EQ1 more. Personally I thought Star Wars Galaxies was great before the CU. I didn't see why people made a fuse but they are paying for it now arent' they. Had they just been quite then they wouldn't have gotten the CU. So what if no one had to group, you see many and read about many characters in Star Wars going solo all the time. It's a space opera, not Everquest in space. That's what some people wanted I think without knowing it and now that's exactly what they've gotten and they have to deal with it now.

That's a little bit simplistic, and shifts the blame of the game's state on the players more than it really should. I've been there since launch, and player outcry has always been directed at the fact that the game was terribly designed, more complex than the developers had ability to manage, and plagued with massive imbalances. Every fix to an existing imbalance would just produce another. It's blatantly obvious that the developers neither play or understand their own creation. Complaints were fair and on target... because the game was, in fact, poop.

The main people who were able to enjoy it at length were those who either didn't have a critical eye for gameplay and design, who were willing to live with and perhaps even happily exploit the imbalances, who weren't particularly concerned with the purity of their Star Wars experience, or just had a very high tolerance to gameplay flaws and massive breaks to immersion. Oh yeah, and those who were just trying to pick up that cute green twilek in Coronet cantina who's actually a dude in his forties eating cheetos in his underwear.

Where it's at now isn't because players whined or inadvertently asked for something and managed to get it. It's where it's at because the same design team that brought the us the horrid game in the first place are still at the reigns-- and they're just as unable to implement engaging game mechanics and compelling content as they've ever been.

-Al

[Warmaker]

SWG is a game of extremes. I love the new Combat Upgrade System (played since Feb.2004). There are some great experiences in the game. Some locations are done great. Corellia is lovingly done. In the wilderness, she looks great. Tatooine, is well... sandy! Talus looks great also, but is not visited frequently.

Buuuut...

There are some horrid flaws in the game. The flaws are quite terrible if you're a fan of the storyline of Star Wars, namely the Original Trilogy since that's what the game was supposed to be set in (starting in between Ep.IV & V).

The Galactic Civil War isn't a Civil War, it's dwindled down to small fights between a handful of individuals at most, or worse, Jedi Wars.

Speaking of Jedi, they are now EVERYWHERE. Remember, this game is set in the Original Trilogy... so what's the use of that joker named Luke, anyways?

The near total superiority of Prequel era equipment over Original Trilogy equipment.

I can find Droidekas & Super Battle Droids but I can't find an AT-AT.

More people wear Clonetrooper Armor than any type of Imperial Armor (i.e.Stormtrooper) put together. It's far easier to get a set of Clonetrooper Armor from some easy quests than to spend about 2-6 million credits on a single set of Stormtrooper Armor.

I can find Droid Fighters more easily than I can Rebel & Imperial Starfighters.

In all of space, there is only ONE Star Destroyer. So much for the vaunted Imperial Fleet.

The game is increasingly becoming a system hog, and it was a hog even at launch in 2003.

No one flies in space since there's nothing there to do.

Kashyyyk, in the new "Rage Of The Wookies" expansion, is small and graphically ugly compared to anything from the normal game. Again, the areas are small, terrain with "invisible barriers" (poor, rushed design, if you ask me), and graphics there are terribly simple. Colors aren't rich and lack variety. It's like someone took one type of bright green paint, and splashed my screen with it. RotW should have been done better.

[Uxi]

Yeah there are good things, and I don't think anyone denies there are flaws...

Early on in the game, if not from the inception certainly since, came the idea that they're not trying to maintain continuity with the setting. It's about gaming in the Star Wars universe.

Everyone says they want Jedi to be rare, but the vast majority of players want to play them. Not everyone, of course, but far more people would be upset by being arbitrarily prohibited from playing Jedi than people who are upset there are more than quasi trained posers running (quite a bit more), in all the trappings of Jedi straight out of the prequels. This IS Star Wars, after all. It's always been about Luke Skywalker and his father rather than Han Solo and his.

Warmaker, you obviously haven't been base hunting. Control of a planet can be swayed by which faction destroys more bases of the other faction. Practical effect? Not much, other than the banners displayed at the starport and if one is running around as a combatant... but I've gathered more than a few XP as part of Rebel squads attacking Imp bases. My guild spent some time hunting down the Imp players to their city after they trashed some of our Rebel turrets outside of our town, too. And if one can't find TIE Fighters and Xwings out there to grind on, you're not looking very hard.

Most of the new expansion is trendy crap, I'd agree. I haven't went for much of it... I have a set of clone armor on display in my house, and a painting or two hanging.

I actually hope for MORE "worlds" like Kashyyk, that are meant for adventure rather than to thin out the server populations...

[yellowlightman]

More people wear Clonetrooper Armor than any type of Imperial Armor (i.e.Stormtrooper) put together. It's far easier to get a set of Clonetrooper Armor from some easy quests than to spend about 2-6 million credits on a single set of Stormtrooper Armor.

Doesn't that make sense though? As the Empire begins to phase in Stormtrooper armor, there would be a ot of Clone Trooper armor in surplus that wasn't being used.

[Effect]

True. I guess that was simpling it down to much. Though I would have thought they'd put a different team to fix the mistake of the first team instead of putting the same team on it since it would be hard for them to think objective about seeing as they are redoing their past work.

[Mechwarrior]

Hey now, well, ironically i just took a 12 hour break from SWG, lol, been doing quests, came on forums to see how convention is going so far. Anyhow, I love the game,, tried other MMORPG's and this one does it for me, im On Valcyn, less lagg, planty of players, anyhow i reccomend the game to everyone, but trust me its addicting. Lots complain about aspects of the game, then again its always same people complaining about everything anyhow, give it a try youy just may love or hate it : )

[Warmaker]

More people wear Clonetrooper Armor than any type of Imperial Armor (i.e.Stormtrooper) put together.  It's far easier to get a set of Clonetrooper Armor from some easy quests than to spend about 2-6 million credits on a single set of Stormtrooper Armor.

Doesn't that make sense though? As the Empire begins to phase in Stormtrooper armor, there would be a ot of Clone Trooper armor in surplus that wasn't being used.

Surplus? Then why aren't they seen then in the Original Trilogy?... granted the OT came out before.

Frankly, I wanted immersion in the Original Trilogy. Stormtroopers, X-Wings, Star Destroyers, TIEs, blaster fights, all for the Galactic Civil War.

Many things implemented I question. The devs started the game post Ep.IV. There are things included nowadays that break the immersion of being even in the Original Trilogy. Seeing a squad of guys wearing Clonetrooper Armor instead of Stormtrooper Armor or other factional uniforms/gear (due to the tremendous credit costs). What era are we supposed to be in?

We have GUILDS full of Jedi. We have Clonetroopers everywhere instead of Stormtroopers. Again, what era are we supposed to be in? The Clone Wars or the Galactic Civil War?

Edited June 19, 2005 by Warmaker

[Warmaker]

Yeah there are good things, and I don't think anyone denies there are flaws...

Early on in the game, if not from the inception certainly since, came the idea that they're not trying to maintain continuity with the setting.  It's about gaming in the Star Wars universe. 

Everyone says they want Jedi to be rare, but the vast majority of players want to play them.  Not everyone, of course, but far more people would be upset by being arbitrarily prohibited from playing Jedi than people who are upset there are more than quasi trained posers running (quite a bit more), in all the trappings of Jedi straight out of the prequels.  This IS Star Wars, after all.  It's always been about Luke Skywalker and his father rather than Han Solo and his.

Warmaker, you obviously haven't been base hunting.  Control of a planet can be swayed by which faction destroys more bases of the other faction.  Practical effect?  Not much, other than the banners displayed at the starport and if one is running around as a combatant...  but I've gathered more than a few XP as part of Rebel squads attacking Imp bases.  My guild spent some time hunting down the Imp players to their city after they trashed some of our Rebel turrets outside of our town, too.  And if one can't find TIE Fighters and Xwings out there to grind on, you're not looking very hard.

Most of the new expansion is trendy crap, I'd agree.  I haven't went for much of it...  I have a set of clone armor on display in my house,  and a painting or two hanging. 

I actually hope for MORE "worlds" like Kashyyk, that are meant for adventure rather than to thin out the server populations...

I'm sorry, but the Galactic Civil War, compared to how it was when I joined in Feb.2004, is dead. Yes, the Planetary Control Meta Game is there. Base takedowns are still there. But not enough people, esp. compared to the old days, participate in the GCW.

I play on Ahazi. It was my starting server, and my character started on remote Doerba Goefel on Corellia, back when we weren't forced to start in 1 or 3 possible starting cities like Mos Eisley. Back then, everyone went "Overt" and fought for the Empire or Rebels. I'm not talking about 2-3 guys grouped together, or the rare squad of guys. I'm talking about massed fights regularly happening at Coronet, Theed, and the now-non-existent Bestine-Anchorhead flow of battles. On Ahazi, the Rebels, esp. back then, OWNED the server. Usually, for every Overt Imperial, you can count at least 5 Rebel Overts. But the fights still occured, and the struggle was best and at its largest in the Bestine-Anchorhead fights.

As for the PCMG... does anyone really care who controls what planets? There is no incentive, nothing to entice wider player participation in the GCW as an Overt/Spec.Forces. So I see a Rebel NPCs at a city now instead of an Imperial NPC. Okay, and this matters to me how? The GCW needed a revamp long ago, but we got several Jedi publishes instead (for a supposedly "rare" profession).

And let me get into space now... Jump To Lightspeed had the potential to be so much more. Some of us like myself, pictured JTL to be the last stronghold for a TRUE GCW. Maximum player participation since it was supposed to be based on player skill. I envisioned Star Destroyers and TIEs battling it out with Alliance ships an starfighters. But it still bothers me to see Droid Fighters when I should be seeing X-Wings and TIEs. I'm wagering we'll see a Republic Venator Destroyer before any new ships from the Original Trilogy. Another thing for space... what's to do? That, IMO, is a horrible question to ask, and it frequently was asked when I was in the JTL Beta, and still is being asked.

But I guess the bad things are all on my part. I wanted to play in Star Wars' Galactic Civil War, serving as a loyal Stormtrooper to fight against the Rebel Alliance. I guess I was expecting too much.

P.S- There is ONE positively good thing to come from the last 10 publishes... the Combat Upgrade. This system, though buggy still, already surpasses the old system. I give the devs alot of flak, but the CU is great. The only thing it needed was more time on the Test Centers to catch and squash bugs and game issues.

The Current State of the Galactic Civil War

Edited June 19, 2005 by Warmaker