Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Why Galaxies [is] the best [sandbox] MMORPG out there [edited]
SorcerousKhan
Member UncommonPosts: 164
First, let me start by saying that if you're associated with MMOFringe or another internet community characterized by SOE-hate: you will not enjoy this, and it will not be over quickly.
--
Star Wars: Galaxies. Ah, that name conjures up impassioned flame wars throughout the known Internet. Some people have grown to utterly despise any mention of the game, and positive mentions make them absolutely livid.
A rare few others still drink the SOE kool-aid and believe even the NGE launch itself was a good thing.
Make no mistake: while I hated the NGE less than most, I still believe that the NGE was one of the worst things to ever happen to Galaxies. It took a fabulously rich skill system and reduced it to nine cookie cutter classes, none of which had any significant playability.
However, a great deal of time has passed since that horrible day, and much has changed for the better.
Star Wars: Galaxies is likely the single best MMORPG currently in existence for three primary reasons:
[*]The Storyteller System
[*]The Chronicle System
The crafting system
Ultimately, Galaxies is the richest and most robust sandbox MMORPG available. Ryzom is the only other MMO to even come close to this.
The Storyteller system of Galaxies allows its players to weave intricate and exciting stories for each other. It also allows players to set up some fantastic player events, such as beautiful in-game weddings that don't get ruined by random open PvP.
The new Chronicle system lets players create their own quests, complete with experience and unique loot rewards. Granted, other games (notably City of Heroes) have this feature, but their implementations don't mesh nearly as well with the other game systems as the Chronicle system does with Galaxies' Storyteller system.
Lastly, the crafting system is the second most robust one in any game. The only crafting system that tops Galaxies' is Saga of Ryzom's, but Ryzom's system is hampered by a more time-consuming gathering mechanism. Ultimately, the Galaxies system wins out overall.
In addition, a great deal has changed about the game since the NGE that has made it, in my opinion, more fun than pre-NGE. As an example of this, update 12 added a huge number of new droids and effectively gave us a droid commander role, in addition to a wealth of cybernetics that made the original measly few look like an afterthought.
If you haven't played in a long time, now is a great time to come back.
A word of warning, however - a number of servers are going away permanently come October 15th. If you're on one of them, you will need to do a (free) character transfer. The good news, however, is that the population of the remaining servers is visibly at the same levels (or higher) as just prior to the NGE.
--
In closing, I'd just like to say this: whatever evil SOE has done to the game with the NGE, they've managed to pull it back from the abyss and turn Galaxies into a really great sandbox MMORPG.
Comments
No they have not. Stop the lies and manipulaiton and distortion of reality to try and lure in anyone who has not experienced that piece of simplified garbage yet. Please...
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
Tell me you're taking shrooms.
I think this site needs a forum dedicated to NGE whiners only. Then the people that actually play SWG will have a place to discuss their game without the thread sifting.
There is. It's the Veterans' Refuge forum.
*mod edit*
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
best sandbox ,maybe but please at lease remove the mmorpg from your post
i can believe swg is the best sandbox game period .
but its not the best mmorpg out there lol ,there are ton of better mmorpg
even in soe own stable everquest 2 is a way better mmorpg then swg
but i will conceide swg might be the best sandbox game
I think the numbers tell a different story. If SWG was so great today, they would be expanding instead of reducing servers.
Actually, I enjoyed the post immensly and yes, I am Fringe. While I have, in the past, compared PreCU to Ryzom in terms of sandbox - I never made the jump to the latest additions which follows Ryzom's path right up to the point it hit the brink. Fascinating, actually. Well worthy of some kind of study as to why player made content features appear at the end of a game' s life cycle.
That being said, Ring of Ryzom was by far the more superior story telling system. It just happened to come in a bit too late to save the game. In comparison though overall, Ryzom is the best pure sandbox mmo out there at this time. NGE (as you pointed out) was a mistake that has resulted in the game having to rebuild itself out of the ashes. What has resulted in a long term cobbling together of various systems, features and parts. Its a pseudo frankenstein of an mmo that has some great ideas now at heart that would have made the old game better but at this time simply reward the current playerbase little for their patience, money and time these last bit of years.
I have never played it, therefore I would not be able to comment about it. I have seen alot of flaming on it over the years though.
Does it have a free trial ? That would be the only way I would try it ( since you said the servers are merging )
Work hard Play Harder
As long as there is a perceivably high population density, it doesn't matter who's winning the popularity contest.
As for EQ2 being better than Galaxies... well, that entirely depends on what you want from an MMORPG. For me, at least, Galaxies delivers most everything I want in a game. EQ2 has some great features, but it's not among my favorite games.
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
Agreed. They started to pull it back after NGE, but at some point they just let it fall right back in and are letting it sink into oblivion.
If you dont have a Full +35 Suit you cant compete.
If you dont have a 5 piece Heroics Jewelery Set you cant compete.
If you dont have a full 7 rows (64) Buffs stacked you cant compete.
Not to mention the F'n stupid Trading Card Game and the completely ghey Non-Starwarsy Holiday Festivals (flying pink Ewoks /facepalm)
Top it off with the fact that there is still no real Galactic Civil War!!!
The OP calls it 'Sandbox"??? The only thing thats still "sandbox" is the Housing/City System.
Sure, Crafting is still pretty good. The Chronicles System is kinda nice. Storyteller isnt bad, but not near as cool as Pex Events
The rest of the game is nothing but a linear themepark treadmill pile'o'crap.
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
I have to admit I was a bit surprised to see such a lucid and well-thought-out reply from a Fringer, particularly since it's rancor-free (rancor not referring to the arachno-crustaceans of SW lore...).
I also have to admit that I have not played Ryzom since its original host company died, taking the live servers with it. Has it changed much?
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
Well written post with citations backing the assertation.
Can't disagree as I've never played SWG, so I'll have to stick with my home team (EVE).
But glad to hear the game has still got some fun in it for those willing to take the plunge.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
All three existed before the NGE, in SWG Pre-CU.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Agreed. They started to pull it back after NGE, but at some point they just let it fall right back in and are letting it sink into oblivion.
If you dont have a Full +35 Suit you cant compete.
If you dont have a 5 piece Heroics Jewelery Set you cant compete.
If you dont have a full 7 rows (64) Buffs stacked you cant compete.
Not to mention the F'n stupid Trading Card Game and the completely ghey Non-Starwarsy Holiday Festivals (flying pink Ewoks /facepalm)
Top it off with the fact that there is still no real Galactic Civil War!!!
The OP calls it 'Sandbox"??? The only thing thats still "sandbox" is the Housing/City System.
Sure, Crafting is still pretty good. The Chronicles System is kinda nice. Storyteller isnt bad, but not near as cool as Pex Events
The rest of the game is nothing but a linear themepark treadmill pile'o'crap.
This reads like a post by someone who's entirely concerned with PvP and not PvE.
Fair enough. PvP isn't particularly great in Galaxies, and is one of the areas where it desperately needs improvement.
But as for me... I'm a PvE player, and I couldn't care less about the PvP side of things.
--
As for EVE Online.... last time I played the trial for that game, the tutorial nearly bored me to death, and then I was fairly lost as to what to do with my time.
I'm willing to give it another shot, though, so I'm going to see if I can find a decent newbie guide to EVE somewhere.
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
When it came back online, I played for a bit. The playerbase was as friendly as ever (right up there with LOTR) but seeing as the new company was just trying to make it all work again - improvements were sparse. I rediscovered how much work it was to craft and how deadly the world was when you are low level and alone. This was offset a bit with the other players constantly wanting to take the lot of us out and help us level and learn to play.
Without the previous development support, the true sandbox nature of the game shines through. That and the devotion of the playerbase that returned to their alternate virtual home. It will never rise much above what it is now but then again, I don't really hear the players griping about that. They are seemingly content with the toolsets and the systems that are in place. Anything else is icing on the cake.
Agreed. They started to pull it back after NGE, but at some point they just let it fall right back in and are letting it sink into oblivion.
If you dont have a Full +35 Suit you cant compete.
If you dont have a 5 piece Heroics Jewelery Set you cant compete.
If you dont have a full 7 rows (64) Buffs stacked you cant compete.
Not to mention the F'n stupid Trading Card Game and the completely ghey Non-Starwarsy Holiday Festivals (flying pink Ewoks /facepalm)
Top it off with the fact that there is still no real Galactic Civil War!!!
The OP calls it 'Sandbox"??? The only thing thats still "sandbox" is the Housing/City System.
Sure, Crafting is still pretty good. The Chronicles System is kinda nice. Storyteller isnt bad, but not near as cool as Pex Events
The rest of the game is nothing but a linear themepark treadmill pile'o'crap.
This reads like a post by someone who's entirely concerned with PvP and not PvE.
Fair enough. PvP isn't particularly great in Galaxies, and is one of the areas where it desperately needs improvement.
But as for me... I'm a PvE player, and I couldn't care less about the PvP side of things.
So change the title to "Why Galaxies may possibly be the best "sandbox" "PvE" MMORPG out there right now." In my opinion any MMO that doesn't serve a good balance of PvE and PvP sucks.
I don't want to derail your trhead, so here's just one good reference that might give you a better idea.
eve.battleclinic.com/guide/3510-BattleClinic-s-EVE-New-Player-Guide.html
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
the one that posted about being no war in swg ,i heard on their live event at pax (ustream soe channel)
that they ll add it if i recal exp 14 trough 16 cant recall wich since swg was never my cup of tea
but they did anounce it at pax and they were live at ustream (lets say i was surprised)
Agreed. They started to pull it back after NGE, but at some point they just let it fall right back in and are letting it sink into oblivion.
If you dont have a Full +35 Suit you cant compete.
If you dont have a 5 piece Heroics Jewelery Set you cant compete.
If you dont have a full 7 rows (64) Buffs stacked you cant compete.
Not to mention the F'n stupid Trading Card Game and the completely ghey Non-Starwarsy Holiday Festivals (flying pink Ewoks /facepalm)
Top it off with the fact that there is still no real Galactic Civil War!!!
The OP calls it 'Sandbox"??? The only thing thats still "sandbox" is the Housing/City System.
Sure, Crafting is still pretty good. The Chronicles System is kinda nice. Storyteller isnt bad, but not near as cool as Pex Events
The rest of the game is nothing but a linear themepark treadmill pile'o'crap.
This reads like a post by someone who's entirely concerned with PvP and not PvE.
Fair enough. PvP isn't particularly great in Galaxies, and is one of the areas where it desperately needs improvement.
But as for me... I'm a PvE player, and I couldn't care less about the PvP side of things
No actually I was more into PvE than PvP. Personally I think PvP in SWG sucks.
But once you hit 90 there are only 2 things you can do. Heroics and PvP. (Running a Storyteller/Chronicles Scenario everyday gets boring quick. Especially if you have a Storyteller/Chronicles Master that cant write to save his life). The only things left are Cybering in the Cantina or Decoing your House/City.
Try doing Heroics without a full 35 suit or fully buffed. Besides IG-88 or Tusken, Heroics are extremely difficult until you complete enough of them to start getting your Jewelery. Besides, doing Heroics gets boring fast as well. You can only do them so many times before you want to gouge your eyes out with a spoon. Especially Hoth. Worst Heroic Ever!
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
All three existed before the NGE, in SWG Pre-CU.
I'm not sure what your edit did to the content of your original post, but what's left is just crazy talk - if for no other reason than the Chronicle system was just announced. Yes there was crafting pre-CU. I certainly don't remember anything called Storyteller up to and including the NGE.
How dare you present him with logic! Don't you understand? He fights epic fights, in epic games, with epic toons....eats epic food and takes epic dumps! He has more e..pic..icity...ness in his little finger than you have in your whole unepic body! - ChicagoCub
LOL.
SOE has fed that "We are going to do something cool with the GCW" line of BS to the community for going on 4 years.
At every FanFaire and every gaming Event they "announce" that.
Ill believe it when I actually see it.
And even if/when they do something with the GCW, knowing SOE, they will probably b0rk it up so bad that it would have been better to leave it the way it is now.
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
By all means, do try a free trial before committing to the game. I will also inform you that half of the destination servers that are left have serious low population issues. Only one server, Starsider, has a population that resembles anything like pre-NGE numbers. There are a handful of others that are not as populated but may allow you to enjoy the game with less lag issues or server crashes - Flurry, Bloodfin and Bria are your best bets.
A game that has declining numbers and population imbalances that produces group/population intensive content puts even more of a strain on struggling servers. Low populations makes it difficult to enjoy, let alone access, group content or have a decent economy. Hopefully, $OE will address these real remaining population problems when the dead servers get their plugs pulled 10/15.
Since you have not played SWG before, you might enjoy it. You can't miss what you never had.
Good Luck.
All three existed before the NGE, in SWG Pre-CU.
I'm not sure what your edit did to the content of your original post, but what's left is just crazy talk - if for no other reason than the Chronicle system was just announced. Yes there was crafting pre-CU. I certainly don't remember anything called Storyteller up to and including the NGE.
Every one of those features existed pre-cu. What you are looking at NOW, is a re-branding, and some expanding on those systems.
Nothing more. Players could set NPC's including full branching dialog, set items in the world such as downed Tire-fighters, even hide objects. We had the ability to create quests for ever. Like i said, all that was listed above, is just a re-branding and repackaging with a bit of extending some of the original systems.
I would love to point you to the patch notes, or the feature articles on those systems, but of course, they no longer exist on the SWG site.
Care to take a guess as to why?
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
1) Yes, many things are better than day 1 of NGE, but really, the day before the NGE was still better in many ways.
2) Chronicles is essentially an expansion of the Storyteller system mate. Having played SWG until just recently, I can tell you...Storyteller may have been fun for some to **edit** around with, but it wasn't a big system at all and VERY VERY few people used it. It was used for outside decorations primarily. Chronicles has potential, but it's again very focused on RP...like "Jedi Trials" or "Guild entry quests"...a lotta potential, but a narrow appeal.
SWG's crafting system isn't what it was - a majority of good/new/desirable loot entering the game is now from the TCG, but the Devs also added better resource spawns to Mustafar. In the "old days", crafters with the best resources spent years and billions of credits collecting them...now, any new crafter can compete with the 6 year vet - It's ruined it for a lot of them.
3) Subjective.....but it's an opinion and I respect yours.
4) Storyteller again? OK...Storyteller doesn't weave intricate stories mate...It allows you to set up WP's, a few NPCs, some cool decorations - It can be fun for a race or something, but you make it sound like MUCH more than it is. For a wedding or event, it's a GREAT system!!! But really, Storyteller is one of those systems that looks good on paper that really just didn't take off in reality.
5) Chronicles was released TODAY! People are furious with the condition it was released in too mate. To claim it as one of the best reasons to play SWG is quite premature. I hate to sound negative, but the bang for their production buck on this one is VERY LOW. This is a new grind and an expansion on Storyteller. Lets see how successful it is in 60 days.
6) Hmmm...they added in a few new droid skins. The only profession that is "kinda like" a Droid Commander is a crafter. Nobody else can use the CL90 capabilities of the new droids - Combat toons are still limited to CL60...just like pre-GU12. GU12 will be a few week boon for DE's business, but once I have my new vanity droid, I wont need another. A few new droids is fine, but they added nothing to bring back players.
The cybernetics...ok?! How many people do you know who quit SWG because they couldn't have a "cool" robotic arm? How many people do you think will come back just to pimp out their toon with a new robot hand? Adding it is fine, but it's far from a "draw" for people.
7) Sure is! Pony up the cash to make sure that GCW Update happens
Buy some TCG cards and boosters too!
8) Oooooh...."...the population of the remaining servers is visibly at the same levels (or higher) as just prior to the NGE" - I'm sorry, but that is simply not truthful.
Please...feel free to promote the game and rave about this system and that, encourage players to come back and find joy in what you like in-game, dude, tell everyone how much you love SWG...but please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't lie about it. Lying like that is where I have to draw the line. The current populations are lower than they were 3-weeks ago...and they are a fraction of what they were pre-NGE.
I have NO ISSUE with anyone still enjoying and promoting SWG! I like that some still enjoy it and support it - it's the game I WANTED to play, in the timeline I want to play in...support it long enough and SoE may straighten themselves out and make it the game I want to come back to. But you don't need to lie about populations to draw back players...honesty should always come first.
1) Yes, many things are better than day 1 of NGE, but really, the day before the NGE was still better in many ways.
2) Chronicles is essentially an expansion of the Storyteller system mate. Having played SWG until just recently, I can tell you...Storyteller may have been fun for some to **edit** around with, but it wasn't a big system at all and VERY VERY few people used it. It was used for outside decorations primarily. Chronicles has potential, but it's again very focused on RP...like "Jedi Trials" or "Guild entry quests"...a lotta potential, but a narrow appeal.
SWG's crafting system isn't what it was - a majority of good/new/desirable loot entering the game is now from the TCG, but the Devs also added better resource spawns to Mustafar. In the "old days", crafters with the best resources spent years and billions of credits collecting them...now, any new crafter can compete with the 6 year vet - It's ruined it for a lot of them.
3) Subjective.....but it's an opinion and I respect yours.
4) Storyteller again? OK...Storyteller doesn't weave intricate stories mate...It allows you to set up WP's, a few NPCs, some cool decorations - It can be fun for a race or something, but you make it sound like MUCH more than it is. For a wedding or event, it's a GREAT system!!! But really, Storyteller is one of those systems that looks good on paper that really just didn't take off in reality.
5) Chronicles was released TODAY! People are furious with the condition it was released in too mate. To claim it as one of the best reasons to play SWG is quite premature. I hate to sound negative, but the bang for their production buck on this one is VERY LOW. This is a new grind and an expansion on Storyteller. Lets see how successful it is in 60 days.
6) Hmmm...they added in a few new droid skins. The only profession that is "kinda like" a Droid Commander is a crafter. Nobody else can use the CL90 capabilities of the new droids - Combat toons are still limited to CL60...just like pre-GU12. GU12 will be a few week boon for DE's business, but once I have my new vanity droid, I wont need another. A few new droids is fine, but they added nothing to bring back players.
The cybernetics...ok?! How many people do you know who quit SWG because they couldn't have a "cool" robotic arm? How many people do you think will come back just to pimp out their toon with a new robot hand? Adding it is fine, but it's far from a "draw" for people.
7) Sure is! Pony up the cash to make sure that GCW Update happens
Buy some TCG cards and boosters too!
8) Oooooh...."...the population of the remaining servers is visibly at the same levels (or higher) as just prior to the NGE" - I'm sorry, but that is simply not truthful.
Please...feel free to promote the game and rave about this system and that, encourage players to come back and find joy in what you like in-game, dude, tell everyone how much you love SWG...but please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't lie about it. Lying like that is where I have to draw the line. The current populations are lower than they were 3-weeks ago...and they are a fraction of what they were pre-NGE.
I have NO ISSUE with anyone still enjoying and promoting SWG! I like that some still enjoy it and support it - it's the game I WANTED to play, in the timeline I want to play in...support it long enough and SoE may straighten themselves out and make it the game I want to come back to. But you don't need to lie about populations to draw back players...honesty should always come first.
1) As you said for #3, this is subjective. The only thing I miss about pre-CU SWG is the skill trees.
2) I'm a strongly RP-oriented player, so this may just be my own interests talking. Take what I say, then, with a grain of salt.
3) As #1.
4) Depends on your group. This is in many ways similar to tabletop roleplaying games; a great group can make even a mediocre game fantastic and memorable, and a bad group can turn the best game into something more useful as a paperweight.
5) Alright, I'll concede that this might be premature, but I hold that in 60 days it will be a valuable addition to the game.
6) Cybernetics and droids were just used as an example of things that have been added to the game and were not meant to be an exhaustive list. If you like, I can go line by line through the past 6 years of patch notes and my own gameplay notes to compile a truly comprehensive overview of the evolution of the game (sans personal bias, as much as possible).
7) I'm one of those players that enjoys the TCG and its resultant goodies, especially considering it's essentially a free addition to Galaxies (assuming you don't buy boosters).
8) Perhaps I worded that assertion badly, but I was not lying. Lying is defined as an intentional diversion from the truth. Calling me a liar is not a good way to get me to see your side of the argument. When I said that the population was visibly higher, I meant specifically this - my memory of the crowd at Coronet starport on June 3rd 2003 (Chilastra) matched the crowd at Mos Eisley starport on September 30th 2009 (Starsider).
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium