Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Star Wars Galaxies: Game Update 15: Behind the Scenes
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
Game Update 15 is the big GCW (Galactic Civil War) update for Star Wars Galaxies, which promises to really spice up the game's factional warfare. Last week's Friday Update treats us to a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming update, with a good bit of in-depth information on the update's features.
)
A basic outline of the features of GU15 below:
Galactic Civil War: Game Update 15 Features as of January 15th 2010:
- New, massive invasion/siege warfare scenarios will appear in three major cities – Bestine, Dearic and Keren – these include new quests for all professions, interactive structures and new rewards.
- Protect your city and earn tokens with defense-specific quests such as protecting barricades, manning turrets and treating wounded soldiers.
- Lay siege to your opponents and secure tokens with invasion-specific quests. Take out defense structures and key enemy personnel, or unleash the might of AT-AT or Hailfire missile attacks.
- Dyamic changes occur in the affected cities based on which faction is currently in control. Cities will display Imperial or Rebel banners and faction-specific NPCs, quests, terminals and pylons depending on which faction is on top.
- Mayors of player cities are able to set their city's factional alignment from the management terminal.
- Win battles within newly implemented Planetary Regions, which determine which faction controls the entire planet.
- The new Planetary Region Display interface shows which faction is in command of regions and planets.
- Cash in tokens for new rewards, which include faction-specific wearable capes, cloaks and battle-scarred armor, entertainer glow sticks, bombing run binoculars, an upgraded personal shield generator and numerous new weapons.
For a truly in-depth look at GU15, check out the Friday Update here.
I've gotta say, as a Star Wars nerd this update has really piqued my interest! Will anyone be resubbing or using any free time to check out GU15? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
These updates do look great, but I can't see myself going back to SWG.
so...
I have been looking for information on this planned update. Thanks for posting this! I had enjoyed nearly six years of playing SWG and to date it holds my fondest memories of any MMORPG. I am seriously considering resubbing to check out these changes. I always wanted a greater effectual GCW. I liked the old TEF system but understood that it was being abused by some allowing for some griefing of players, etc. I am keen on looking at how this system could work to provide players with a meaningful in game conflict. I am also pleased that they mentioned some space impact. I was part of a very active space community on Valcyn server and although we were successful at creating our own content, storylines and weekly events, I would like to see it affect the GCW when battles are fought in space. I did not transfer my toon from a now closed server but I am aware of where some of my friends headed (as in which server). I need to check in on how to activate my old toon.
This can't save SWG! Too little, too late. Servers are empty and only 1 server (Starsider) is on very heavy. Players will return for a month, get all the quests done and leave again. SWG has no staying power anymore since it was dumb down to a very simple game.
The combat system kinda kills my gaming experience with SWG. I could never felt satisfied with it, it's like I need three hands and I end with the hand in pain. They should take a look at Star Trek Online ground combat, that is fast paced and action oriented, but easy to control and satisfying.
STO Ground combat is far from satisfying IMO. This looks oddly like LOTRO Seige of Mirkwoods Skirmishes.
Which is not a bad thing. But alas, it's still not enough to pull me back to the game. Close...but not enough.
Wintergrasp anyone?
SWG has the most fast paced combat i've ever played. And the best combat as well imo.
SWG's biggest combat problem is that the animations are just wretched. When you kill a guy, he doesn't fall down dramatically to the ground. He just warps to the ground in a spread eagle position. Hard to believe that they haven't fixed their presentation in all these years.
The other issue about their combat presentation is that there's next to no animations at all. They replace animations with Particle Effects. Your Special Ability "Rapid Fire" says it fires a burst of rapid blaster bolts at your target. But all it actually does is make a little Hippie Flash of Pretty Colors around your character.
SWG combat is faast paced. But its fast paced in a really hokey and corny looking presentation.
That said.... the whole game is graphically dated. But it still has its appeals that other MMOs don't and I am enjoying it with my friends.
Will this GCW Update bring people back? Nah, people are MAAAAAAAAAAAADD!!!!!!!!!!! and when people are MAAAAAAAAAAAADDDD!!!! it doesn't go away.
SWG is one of the last true sandbox mmo's.. it's a shame that new games aren't designed in this fashion... This update would have been nice back in the day.
This may be the greatest update ever for SWG. Have to see how it translates to live. For those of you looking to come back but without a current server. It breaks down like this. If you want to do pure RP and don't care about actual game mechanics go to Starsider. If you are interested in PvP or space PvP, Flurry is the only good choice. The PvPers from Starsider are moving to Flurry.
Yeah, how they sound, and how they are actually executed in game with this outdated game engine that wasn't designed for a SWG like this are two different things, just look a the Hoth action instance for example. I couldn't go back to SWG either, even more so with how that trading card game been blended with the game as big money grab.
with the NGE, which really was the final straw for many, it moved away from the sandbox model, even now the legacy of that change is still apparent in some of the games bugs/faults. do agree though, before the CU, this would have been a welcome addition, its a shame, but i dont really think anything can save this game now.
While the GU-15 sounds promising for those that have waited for a solid Galactic Civil War (GCW) revamp, it is going to be very group intensive, which will highlight the serious low population problem that plagues the majority of the remaining servers (half of SWG servers were closed October '09). I suspect that there will be another round of free Vet game trials issued when this update is released to help pad the population numbers. Will this 'save' SWG? No, but it will help retain what players are left.
Actually I played back pre-NGE and I started playing again and it is really nice. Only problem is people at the moment. It may be too late for some but I think if enough people try it again, they might really like it now. I love you have medics and entertainers running macros to fully buff people to help them level. I am a old unlocked Jedi and I wish the game was like this when it started.
Let the numbers speak for themselves - sum 7114 GCW officers for the weekending 1/16. This number use to be in the 9000's 2 years ago. Oh well its a great resoruce to the amount of Peeps still playing .
http://swg.activeframe.de/bb-std/tp-en/main.12.html
Unaware of the Jestor?
http://about.me/JestorRodo/
Friends enjoy his classic Vblog - https://www.facebook.com/GoodOldReliableNathan
I agree it is still falling. It is a shame they took so long to fix the issues. They made too many volatile changes. When people leave in masses they don't come back that way. The only way they might attract people is to let everyone play for free for a while. I am not sure if that would do it though.
Yeah PVP will be great fun NOT.
Reasoning
Double socket Bug still remaining unfixed a select number on each server are still absolutely god like with double the stats of other users.
LOS bug existed since day 1 still exists now
Housing locked to faction and LOS bug run in run close enough for door to open fire shot run back door wont show as open to other client thus has no LOS to hit you with and you can't get in the house.
No means as a new player to PVP v Johny Mc Veteran and his 90,0000 stims from pre-cu and every buff stim since.
SWG's life saver Trading Card Game continueing to offer buff item after buff item Buy or Die.
There are so many things fundamentally borked with SWG on the back end that PVP is nothing short of a joke these days hell i preferred RM/CM or dodge stacked Nabs over this.
Spend time doing a small graphics update SWG aint a bad game at its heart age has not been kind to it though.
I'm sure a lot of MMO's would like to have at least one very heavy server. Sadly most don't, I was unaware galaxies was doing that well.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
with the NGE, which really was the final straw for many, it moved away from the sandbox model, even now the legacy of that change is still apparent in some of the games bugs/faults. do agree though, before the CU, this would have been a welcome addition, its a shame, but i dont really think anything can save this game now.
They aren't trying to "save the game" they are doing what all games do and that is ADD stuff.
They moved on a long time ago and left the vets behind.
While vets have been crying over the NGE for the last 5 years and rewriting the same shit re- reviews on this site over and over, SWG is probably shaped up to the the best most comprehensive Sci-Fi MMO out there with both space and ground aspects. It's not the mindless, eye bleeding, Bol hunting, holo-grind, broken profession, piece o' shit grinder it was 5 years ago.
You can not point to a single MMO that has all the features this game has that is currently on the market.
You can not point to a single game that is going to release in the near future that has all the features of this game.
Whether you individual like those features or not is called "preference" or "taste".
And that is what really pisses the vets off. The game moved on and continued to evolve and change while they stayed in 2004 (where it was also dieing a slow death also) and put on those lovely rose colored glasses. How many years has this game been "dieing" now according to the vets? 5 maybe 6? How many times have we read "this game will shut down by the end of the year"? How many time has some goofy vet claimed that LA wasn't going to renew the license?
And yet it somehow manages to move on and somehow they manage to add stuff like this in despite "being on life support".
It's time for the SWG vet to just......fade away......like the pre-NGE game....which by the way, is never coming back...because...(drum roll) it sucked. Simple as that. That is why they changed it. No body liked it. Go read the old pre-CU reviews. SWG was a total flop of an MMO it's first 2 years.
The reason Starsider shows as "very heavy" is that shortly after the NGE was released and the active population plummeted, SOE adusted the load display metric to make everything look busier. In the old days a server with Starsider's number of players would have floated between Medium and Heavy during peak hours. Those of us who had gritted our teeth and played through the infamous Publish 25 noticed the change, which seemed to be "stealthed" in with one of the post-25 hotfixes.
Nevertheless it's true that the post-disaster developer team has spent years working hard to make the game better and better, slowly reinstating much of the richness that LEC's greed and cowardice stripped away. The game is fun and rewarding to play now. Alas, it still has 2000-era graphics, and there's little chance they'll be upgraded as EVE's were.
Ok this game is not dead at all. I understand where a 2004 veteran is coming from. Pre-CU was fun. The first few months of NGE did suk. I played since 2003 and survived the NGE. I tried so many games but i keep coming back to this one.
There are several categories that i do consider dead but PVP, Crafting is not by far. If your tired of pvp'ing in games like WoW were you enter a huge pvp battle, let go of your keyboard, use one had to rub one out and the other to mouse click your tool bar, you have to try SWG pvp.
PVP is definatley fast pace and you can get tactical as a group and avoid Brave Heart style pvp. This game puts your mouse AND keyboard to work!
However, you dont get the true feel of PVP until you reach lvl 90. Grinding up a toon sux but that goes for any MMO.
Honest answer from a guy who played pre-cu, cu, and tried NGE twice at two different time periods:
This does look to have some nice features, and I would be interested in trying it, if...
-Smed resigned (the guy seems to ruin things just when the devs finally get them going in the right direction)
-they got rid of the TCG loot lottery (I think it's a money pit the way it is currently implemented)
-the features listed actually work (you never know with this game)
-current bugs that impact PvP actually get fixed
-they get new leadership at SOE that is committed to respect players and their accomplishments.
I do appreciate when current devs add fun things for my friends who still play, but all the above would have to happen for me to return. I also wouldn't want to pay extra cash to have my characters transferred off of closed or empty servers. You asked for my thoughts, and that's what I really think.
LMAO Post of the day
Only one update is needed, return the old professions and skill system.
Another patch that sounds great on paper.