Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
SWG is better than ever.
Zathoral
Member Posts: 110
Hello everyone. I started playing SWG the weekend that it came out. It was my first mmorpg, and i was in love with it. Pre-cu was amazing. The amount of freedom that players had to do anything within the world of SWG was unprecedented. Then NGE came along and took a lot of what the players loved away from the game, and as we all know this caused a mass exodus away from the game. I personally hated the changes, but I still loved the game. I chose to leave once so many of my friends had gone. A couple years later i came back for a little stint in the game that lasted 2 or 3 months. Once again I left. The game lacked content at the time. The only thing to do really was to farm comms in Restuss.
Two weeks ago I came back to the game for a second time... And this time I'm amazed. I've been having a blast in the game, and I've never had this much fun since i first started playing back in 2003. SOE has added a lot of great content to the game since i last played. They added heroics to the game which are the new group instances. These instances are relatively easy, but they're all quite fun, and are very rewarding to complete. Furthermore SOE also added battlefields to the game recently. Battlefields have some flaws, but they make getting into the action of PvP much easier, and there are also some really cool rewards that you can earn from battlefields.
The trading card game was also added since I left. I have mixed feelings on this subject. I personally really enjoy the trading card game, and i'm one of the few players who actually play it. On the other hand I dislike how SOE added SO MUCH awesome content to the game, but they put it all through the card game instead of giving it to crafters... but that is business... The trading card game is actually quite well done though, and if you like that kind of thing you should definitely try it out.
I believe this month every account gets a free month of SWG including those that haven't been active in years, so this is a great oppurtunity for you vets to try the game again . I was skeptical when I came back 2 weeks ago, but I've been having a blast and there is no way I regret it.
Unfortunately a lot of servers are dead now, but there is a free character transfer service in effect until september, so I highly recommend transfering over to Starsider or Bria if you start playing. I transfered to Starsider and there are tons of players here.
All you vets should really try the game again. It really is a lot better than it was before. Maybe not quite as good as Pre-cu, but it is very good, and better than all of the other trash themepark mmos that keep coming out every year and always disappoint.
Comments
Have fun with the zombies, hope you like them......
I would have to mostly agree with you. The game at its core is still a LOT of fun. A lot of leaps and strides (as well as some setbacks...well a lot of setbacks) have been made, but the game is still plain fun for me. At least for a while.
I am in love with it every time I subscribe back to the game. I enjoy the new content and getting my character back into the universe. But as with most MMOs after about 3-6 months I usually take a breather for a few months (which I am currently doing). I still think the game is amazing and plan on coming back here shortly. But I am enjoying my time away as well.
As for the "vets", it's a shame they won't really try it. They almost always get stuck at the "cookie cutter" class screen and want their 32 profs back. Or walk around a city that once was the player hub, finding it abandoned now, and thinking nobody is playing.
Really? You think every single vet has not really gave it a shot? I can tell you i tried to like it. Especially with all the junk games out right now .. I really tried. But IMO this game is no different than the rest now ... complete junk.
There are quite a few things in the game that are fun, some real lemons too, like collections and the Meatlump theme park, but otherwise the content that has been add has been good. Something else that wasn't mentioned are the Gunboats. These six turret Space tanks are fun to load up friends fly into Orda Mandel and see how much space agro you can take.
There are still a couple of pre NGE things to do with your group as well, The Death Watch Bunker, Avatar platform, and Instances on Kashyyyk and Mustifar, Corvete missions, and if you actually like doing things for no reason the Genoshin Bio Lab and the Warren. They redid the Rebel and Imp Theme parks as well, each is a hell of a lot more fun to go through now though you have to be level 80 or higher to do them. Actually I think these do the best of all things in the game at utilizing the sandbox structure of the game.
Crafting is kinda coming back though it's never gonna be as great as it once was they perma screwed that. Weapon smiths can now deconstruct Weapons and rebuild them in an improved form now, armor smith can do the same with the armor that come's out of the BFs but thats it for armor and not all weapons can be deconstructed, not sure what the reasoning behind this is and since it's SOE I don't want to. There are new houses, and these have Windows in them that you can see in and out of if you get excited about houses. Next online for being updated are new Droids for engineers, well se how that is I was a DE though the Droid invasion of 04 and all the usefull ones were dropped with in a month of them being put into the game. Chefs really do the best out of all the Crafting professions because food is still uber usefull as a form of buffing and the buffs are quite verstile.
Professions are more a matter of opinion I guess. I'm a smuggler and even though we are quite good in combat now we have practically nothing to smuggle. Most people Play Commandos, Jedi, or Medics for PvP reasons. Spy recently got a needed nerf, I can say this since one of my two toons is a spy and he was way over powered, so there not as popular but they still do there job though they have the stupid feture of being able to pick pockets. Bounty Hunters now hunt every profession do to people being able to place a bounty on anyone he kills them in pvp, this is a feture that first appeared in Ulitma Online 10 years ago and I have always been a fan of it. If you want to find out if you have a bounty on your head find a smuggler and ask him to check his Underworld contact, bewarened only smugglers can shot first on BHs so if you do you might want to get uber buffed or lie low. Officers are also popular do to there ability to get you valuable stims and group buffs.
Entertainers are really the one class I can say is a hell of a lot better post NGE, they can now give out costumizable buffs that help balance out your toons weekness, and with the additon of one of the Med sets from the heroics were seeing lines for med buffs again, though now the Docs are afk and the Entertainers have to be present were before the CU it was the other way around.
PvP is out there Restuss is a free for all were once you enter the perimiter of the city your flagged for it and fair game to anyone of an opposing faction. The battlefields are fun but they need better objectives in them, and a way for groups to challange each other insted of people being taken buy there position in the que. Guild wars suck now because individual members of any guild in a GW can turn it off and on as they please. Space PvP has gotten a little more intresting with a revamp of a number of ships that were considered to be unflyable till recently, my favorite being the B Wing.
I would like to go into details about the heroics more but I have to head to work and they take a lot of explaining I hope anyone that returns to the game though takes the time to check it out the new fetures. It's not the old SWG but it's still a game unlike anyother out there and I have played most.
Oh and I am looking forward to Zombie wookies there just one more element to continue the legacy of the most Dysfunctional MMO ever.
Blistermix of Bria.
Before NGE only about 3-4 skill specs/templates were any good, you pretty much HAD to take them to be any use in pvp. They have taken those specs and made them in to a class, then added expertise for extra customization. You can still change class and spec any time you want.
There is still as much freedom as there ever was within the game, it's just layed out in a different way. The NGE did suck hard at first, but they have honestly made a good come back from it. What we have now isn't really the NGE as old vets who left know it. If you got the free month offer like I did it is worth a try, it's a nice break from all the wow clones
The thing that does annoy me though, is they have completely lost it with the starwars story and continuity. Some of the content is a bit lame and doesn't belong
Thats just for PVP......... if you were a PVE person or a crafter or anything else then everything appealed to you. Even now only 2 or 3 classes are way better at PVP than others and the talent trees didn't off much customization because there was still cookie cutter specs.
The old skill system was much better and I loved just constanty switching and mixing up professions cause thats where the fun was at for me. Like EVE online dealing with the complexity and putting alot of thought into it.
Also cookiee cutter PVP builds Pre CU was only for people who solo'd and wanted to be the best all rounders. you forget about the people who actually grouped and made builds to compliment eachother. I used to have a friend I always did PVP with and thats how we used to play, having skills that worked well together.
All the people who usually complain about balance are the annoying soloers who want everything NOW.
The only fun part about the current SWG incarnation is using an image designer character to scam people into looking riduculous. I've had hours of enjoyment image designing someone with their helmet on (so they can't see what you've done to them). I like making a commando with pink hair and a blue pencil-thin moustache...
poopee
You'll get bored in 2-3 weeks, you have my word on that.
I respect what you have said about the game.. But I came back and played about a month ago and it is crap. You have to make a class to craft something? Garbage
Sub to me on YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/user/JJJK29isGaming?feature=mhee
Not really, I played a smuggler/crafter from beta through spring of 2009, had no interest in the other 31 professions, and the reason I left is that it finally sunk in that they don't give a shit about crafters and the former player economy.
The only way I'll ever go back is if they move away from being a loot-centric game and back to being crafter-dependent. Won't happen, and so all the claims of 'new content' really fall on deaf ears. Its the same generic go here/kill this 'content' that's in every other loot-drop game (with SW skins and numerous continuity gaffes).
No thanks, played that game a million times already.
- Movement is too fast
- Poor animations
- New targetting sucks
- New UI sucks
etc etc.
The game just feels really cheap and really buggy and SOE arn't focusing on what really needs work but just adding in new cotnent via TCG.
Sorry NasherUK, don't take this as a flame
Pre-NGE was not all about PvP. A lot of people also had PvE templates. Player skill sets were vastly more complex than what we have now. The expertise system is just a shadow of the old system. The expertise system was implemented because people were tired of the cookie cutter professions that the NGE gave us.
Changing class is free the 1st time. You have to pay each time after and it can get very expensive (millions of credits). I think that you can respec free for 5 times. So it is not as simple as respec'ing any time you want.
SWG has never recovered from the NGE. The game population is a small percentage of what it used to be. I have made toons on all of the servers after the FCT and only 4-5 have a fairly decent population. The only server that has a good population is Starsider. Prime time Saturday night on Intrepid had 8 toons listed on the search option (others were likely anon). Players are saying that many of the other servers are just as dead. During the FCT Starsider was the destination for a lot of players. This left most of the other servers with tiny populations. IMO the game can be reduced to 5 servers and still have room.
A lot of the vets here have stated that they do try the free time when it is offered. Few seem to resub. The NGE is still intact. 9 professions, Benny Hill combat animations, ect. SOE has added some new content: The Ewok Festival of Love, and extension to the Legacy Quests (which took less than 1 hour to finish), re-added Creature Handler in the form of Beast Master, etc. Much of the content seems to miss the mark. Some of the collections are good but most are just a boring grind.
I have to agree that the recent content has been less than Star Warsy. There are numerous threads on the OBoards where people have been complaining.
OP, the problem is that a lot of us "vets" have tried this game, over and over again. Every time they give us free time we likely log on to check it out.
The real issue is that the game isn't very good. Combat is lame, the community is tiny, and our freedom has been taken away. This game is no different than any other themepark/restrictive MMO out there, aside from subtle freedoms remaining from Pre-CU.
I can't possibly fathom how someone can have fun playing SWG for more than a day. It boggles my mind. The grind is horrible, the bugs are annoying, the combat is beyond repair, and the game BARELY resembles something Star Wars.
It's easy to blame the "vets" of this game for the lack of population. However, it's far more accurate to blame the poor mechanics and systems of the game for the lack of players on the servers. If the majority of people thought Star Wars Galaxies was any fun at all, they would play. Even with the Station Pass SOE can't get anyone to play this game.
Tecmo Bowl.
Welome back, Zathoral.
Glad to hear you are enjoying SWG again. This vet trial has certainly brought back a lot of old SWG players who are finding the game very entertaining indeed.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Ummm...speaking for myself as SWG vet, I have tried it. On 4 different occasions and we get the sense that nobody is playing because....nobody is ever on. I shouldn't have to " go to <a specific server> to find someone to group with. If the game was as great as you say I should be able to log in and see people playing.
oh, come on
I only ever played nge and the game is no longer as good as when i started, it's badly bugged, ill treated and almost no community left(after a 7 month break i logged back in and my 40+friend list had 5 ppl left playing)
there is a reason swg has sub numbers a f2p grindfest would be ashamed of and it has nothing to do with the vets, it is purely down to soe
Having never played the game i cant comment on bugs etc but i can make a comment on your friends list. I logged back into WOW after several months of playing other games and found the same thing as you. Off a huge friendls list i found, after a few days, that 4 still log on and play now and then. This in no way means WOW isnt populated it just means some have moved on and others have come to play. Is this the case with SWG, i dont know.
Having never played the game i cant comment on bugs etc but i can make a comment on your friends list. I logged back into WOW after several months of playing other games and found the same thing as you. Off a huge friendls list i found, after a few days, that 4 still log on and play now and then. This in no way means WOW isnt populated it just means some have moved on and others have come to play. Is this the case with SWG, i dont know.
This is not the case of Star Wars Galaxies. All my friends quit the same day, back in Novemeber 2005, when the NGE was forced on the community. Hundreds gone in a day that have never returned. That month, this game lost probably 200,000 active players.
It has never recovered since and the servers have only become more desolate each passing month.
There is turnover in WoW. Players quit, new ones begin. In Star Wars Galaxies players quit and very few take their place. The game offers no staying power to retain subscriptions. SOE and LucasArts put almost no resources or effort into this game and it shows. There CAN'T be more than 5,000 to 8,000 active players.
Tecmo Bowl.
hey i played SWG awhile bacl pre cu for around 2 months i thought it was really fun but like most MMORPGS i just lost interest...the only rpgs that have kept my interest over the 3 months period are WoW and Daoc...but after seeing your post I think i might give SWG a shot again...im looking for a good sandbox like Eve but I just cant stand the UI for EVE and the way you dont have direct control over your ship (using WASD).
I think ill give SWG another shot especially if theyre giving everyone a month free!
I doubt it'll keep my interest longer than a month or so but I would love to be proved wrong!
SOE could somehow make this the greatest game ever, but that would not make the fact that they f*cked over their player base disappear . . .and that's why I don't play it. I don't give a sh!t how good the game is now or ever.
Just be careful trying to insult other games on the market mostly none of them has screwed over their player base the way SOE did I do truly hope you enjoy this steaming pile even with the low pops it has but I won't even be trying this garbage on a trial basis again so have fun!!!
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
you do know swg isn't even remotely close to being sandbox anymore?
you do know swg isn't even remotely close to being sandbox anymore?
It's a non linear mmorpg with linear character progression, problem is I liked the non linear character progression of the skillbox system. I know my friend who started with WoW woulda loved that too because he loves EVE now purely for the skill system.
I'm afriad that no matter how much you want this to be true due to your obvious hatred of all thing SoE, more and more new and returning players are filling out the ranks of SWG players every day.
I get the chance to speak to many of them in game and there is a recurring trend of SWG seeing an influx of WoW burnouts looking for a more engaging game world to play in, and SWG delivers that.
There is also plenty of sandbox gameplay in SWG, a number of my friends have put together awesome creations via the story teller system and run fun events.
If there are people comming, it could be people that want to "play TOR before TOR is released". These people will not stay, as for today standards SWG is very rough.