In an incredibly obvious Diablo 3-like announcement, Bioware and LucasArts confirm that they are indeed working on a Star Wars MMORPG set in the age of The Old Repubilc that has probably been in development since Knights of the Old Republic.

Is it just me, or is there something inherently wrong with two massively multiplayer games from two different developers about the exact same subject, trying to appeal to the exact same audience, at the exact same time?

Wait, don’t answer that question.

But this isn’t the same as a fantasy setting being done hundreds of times with roughly equivalent results. This is the most recognizable setting in science fiction. This is Star Wars. With lightsabers for everyone.

The Old Republic as a setting was preordained ever since the critical and commercial success of Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic. A universe that had only been explored by the Dark Horse comics because Uncle George wouldn’t allow anyone to touch the timelines before and after the Original Trilogy was finally seen as a legitimate replacement for the storylines that traditionally surrounded Luke Skywalker and Company. Or for the more forgiving fans, the Clone Wars/Jedi extinction era of Anakin Skywalker.

I still believe that SOE had a great product with Star Wars Galaxies, but decided to fuck it all up with the “New Game Enhancements” two years ago. So is The Old Republic LucasArts’ way of asking for a “do over”? User activity in Star Wars Galaxies has been in steady decline since late 2005 based on MMOGChart, which coincides with the implementation of the NGE. I’m sure the only people still playing now are the ones that can put up with a grind featuring blasters instead of broadswords.

For some reason, SOE thought that everyone wanted to be a Jedi when it introduced The Jedi Trials with one of its publishes previous to the NGE, but unless you were a new player the community response was less than enthusiastic. Part of what made SWG so interesting is how much it relied on the user base to simply populate the game’s many cities, where businesses were formed, Stormtrooper squads performed drills, and player characters were trained in new skills by each other. You didn’t have to be a Jedi for the game to be rewarding. The NGE created yet another experience grind where you met up with the who’s-who of the Star Wars continuum every 30 seconds making those encounters less special, and certainly took away the feeling that you were part of a galactic community instead of in some Star Wars amusement park.

There were always rumors of multiplayer being proposed as a feature in the KOTOR series, but it was never included in either installment. Which was a perfectly reasonable decision – they didn’t need it. Both games were story-driven experiences, where the actions of the main character had implications on what happened in the rest of the game. They played out like adventure games, where combat was only there to pace the plotline. The back story is important in an MMORPG, but it is completely unrealistic to cater to each player and provide an individual storyline in a game world made up of thousands of other player characters doing the same thing. It’s like killing the Elite monster at the end of a quest chain in World of Warcraft. You follow the quest line to get there, finish off the big bastard, only to have it respawn for another group. To provide each player – or each group for that matter – with a unique experience in-game would require an incalcuable amount of options that could never possibly keep up with the rate at which they are consumed.

In an interview with Gamasutra on story in The Old Republic, Daniel Erickson of Bioware thinks he has an answer for us.

[We have a team of] Dedicated writers, writing for years and years…we have more story content than every other BioWare game ever made combined, so it is the largest project.

We realized at one point that we were doing enough content, just dialogue, to fit in dozens of books. It’s pretty mind blowing!

That’s a lot of story. But how will they manage the challenge of players wanting their own story, or at least have their choices affecting part of the overall game narrative?

Well, again, one of the things that’s really important is that the galaxy is huge. Things can be changing that are amazingly important to your world. What you’re doing and what’s happening that doesn’t necessarily affect every part of it. And there are actually… amazing, huge changes happening in [places] all over this game world that we don’t know about.

That’s interesting. It seems like a nice way of saying that the story will be implemented like any other MMORPG. In reading the interview it’s pretty clear that Erickson thinks it can be done – and he rightly points out that being the first to attempt a task like this is always hard. And even if they only partially implement these features, there will be someone else to follow with a better product and continue the pursuit of this admirable goal. Personally, I don’t need an online RPG to satisfy my need for story, but it seems that the rise in popularity of MMORPGs coupled with those lucrative subscription fees make single-player RPGs seem like a thankless proposition. I can agree with the concept of limiting player alignment to two factions to form the core of character plotlines – but I want to see unique classes other than Jedi, and allow players to have an impact on the in-game community, not just the story.

Unfortunately, EA Games president Frank Gibeau had to open his big mouth to say that World of Warcraft was the target for The Old Republic, making ridiculous arguments like the recognition of the franchise alone was enough to win over subscribers. Didn’t he get the memo? Any MMORPG launched in the post-Warcraft age can expect to do no better than second best as a rule. I don’t think any MMORPG in history – Lineage included – has penetrated the world MMORPG market like Warcraft has. Instead of trying on de-throne Blizzard, Bioware should consider what worked in Star Wars Galaxies. Their focus should be on making a genuine Star Wars experience that takes advantage of the setting, not embarrassing themselves by creating yet another grindfest. With lightsabers.

In late October of last year, the announcement was made that a collection of “New Game Enhancements” (NGE) were going to be implemented, which included nine “iconic” character classes and a completely revised combat system. This came hot on the heels of the badly needed Combat Upgrade that did more harm than good. The third expansion for Star Wars Galaxies, The Trials of Obi-Wan, was released the day the NGE changes went live. Little did players know that the NGE were also waiting in this expansion. In fact, players were so outraged by this tactic that SOE offered a refund to those that purchased the expansion online only to find that their favorite MMORPG had been irreversibly changed. Veteran players were given the Jump to Lightspeed expansion at no charge, as if it were some salve to heal the festering wounds.

I only played Star Wars Galaxies for five months, but I continued to follow it pretty closely despite my lack of involvement in the game world. I can trace the downward spiral back to mid 2004, where talk of improvements to the Jedi system along with the upcoming Jump to Lightspeed expansion had players still wanting the base game to be fixed in a frenzy. The developers efforts seemed focused on fully implementing the Jedi Knight system, which to that point was only something that was reserved for the hardcore. Since the implementation of the Jedi system, the game has been bleeding subscribers, with additonal expansion packs thrown together to maintain interest among the players that were still around. As with most MMORPGs, Star Wars Galaxies’ harshest critics were the ones that had invested themselves heavily in the game world. These are the people who depended on the game’s economy and structure, only to see the game receieve a complete overhaul to make the game all but unrecognizable.

The New Game Enhancements can be summarized into three main components: the new character classes, the combat system and the injection of more “Star Wars” content. The nine new classes can apparently be traced back to their origins in the original game’s system, but it removes the flexibility and freedom to explore roughly 32 professions, and instead forces players to follow a predetermined path. Jedi are also immediately selectable, which ultimately reduces their uniqueness, completely contradicting the context of the game’s setting, where Jedi are all but extinct. As a result of introducing these new classes, niche professions like creature handling were effectively removed from the game. These changes are frustrating to no end for existing players, whose characters they have been building for the last two and a half years have become obsolete.

The class levelling system is based on general experience points, not the usage of skills as in the original system. The free trial consists of the first ten character levels, and is set up almost exactly like Everquest II: Trial of the Isle. Each class goes through a series of four “phases” of increasing special abilities, with the final phase reached at level 70. At each level-up, you’re automatically given a new ability. This is exactly like Everquest. It is also a lot more boring.

From a game design perspective, this was probably an easy decision to make. The class balancing becomes simpler, the grind for specific skills disappears, and the character development system is less intimidating for new players. From a game world perspective, however, this change does away with one of the things that made playing Star Wars Galaxies so interesting: you weren’t a class, you had an occupation.

The combat system has become fully real-time, and now resembles a third-person shooter. Collision detection was a bit unfinished as well, as I could shoot (and be shot at) through walls. Hostile encounters were no longer discrete firefights; this was hack and slash with blasters.

Star Wars Galaxies begins with you being rescued off of a ship by Han Solo, Chewbacca and R2-D2. This in itself was ridiculous, because if you think about the game’s population, how could they have time to pick up everyone? The insistence on more interaction with NPCs was a good decision, as the quests become less of a job board and add a bit of depth to the experience. However socializing with famous NPCs should be a special event, not commonplace. It’s a big universe, and the game’s introduction doesn’t make it very clear why your character is so important. Part of Galaxies’ appeal is that it was a believable universe – maybe too much so – where the world seemed to go on just fine without you. I don’t need to hang out with Han Solo for my experience to be validated. Part of what made Star Wars Galaxies so immersive was the anonymity of the universe – it was up to the player to make a name for themselves within the community. It wasn’t handed to them in some half-baked story.

Though as a former player of an Artisan/Marksman, the reworking of the Crafting system was the biggest disappointment in the NGE for me. Because of the new looting system, where both credits and decent items are available as monster drops, it lessens the need for the Trader class. The Trader is divided into three sub-classes that must be chosen from during character creation: domestic goods (clothing, food), munitions (armour, weapons), structures (buildings, ship hulls), and engineering (droids, some specialty weapons). Star Wars Galaxies had one of the most detailed and robust crafting systems that I’ve ever used in an MMORPG. Now the crafting system feels stripped down, and there doesn’t seem to be that much room for tweaking the final product. Once you’ve chosen the Trader class you’re pretty much stuck, because the ability to craft items is not available to everyone. I’m not sure if the Trader can be self-sufficient and mine raw resources like the Artisan could, but this would make the class a little more interesting to play.

Out of everything I’d say that new character class system is easily the most devestating change to the game, as it upends its entire foundation, creating an obvious turning point where the game is changed forever. A decision like this should have been saved for a sequel – SOE should know best of all that keeping two generations of a series alive is not impossible (with Everquest and its sequel), though perhaps not the most financially sound decision.

As the market for MMORPGs grows, and the conventions of the genre become deeply rooted in players’ minds, occupations like “Entertainer” or “Trader” are less appealing to the newcomers who seek instant gratification. I hate to blame World of Warcraft for this situation, but it’s true – it’s very hard to expect someone who’s buffed out warrior sporting fearsome looking plate mail to settle for a droid engineer or a dancer in a cantina. There is a definite lack of heroism in Star Wars Galaxies, but to me that was just part of what made the gameworld so immersive. Star Wars Galaxies always had the potential to be a groundbreaking MMORPG: a self-sustaining gameworld that makes players feel like they’re actually part of it instead of just a tourist doing repetitive quests that are of little consequence in the game world. Not that Galaxies lacked inane quests; there were just other, more interesting things to do. There were real options for building in-game communities. There was ample opportunity for roleplaying.

These radical changes brought by the “New Game Enhancements” makes two points painfully obvious:

1. SOE was not satisfied with the original game model. They did not trust the original design. SOE wanted another World of Warcraft/Everquest.

2. SOE could care less about the community and the time they have spent building the Star Wars Galaxies universe, and in some cases, influence changes to the game.

The second point being infinitely more damaging than the first, both to the success of the “new and improved” Star Wars Galaxies, and SOE’s reputation overall.

It’s regrettable that this had to happen, but SOE has a business to run. I can understand from that perspective why they would decide to change the game into something more accessible – Galaxies has constantly been struggling with its moderately sized but dedicated community since its release in July 2003. The subscriber base was at a standstill, if not already fading before World of Warcraft launched in late 2004.

Naturally there are rumours about further additions to the game to inject more Star Wars and less, well, MMORPG and of course the ones that everyone wants to believe about the game being rolled back to what it was. Whether there’s any truth to these reports remains to be seen, though I think they’re materializing out of former players’ desires to see their favorite game returned to its former glory. As someone’s signature on the official forums aptly put it: “SWG – Where removing the playerbase from the game is considered an enhancement”.

The Star Wars Galaxies expansion pack I alluded to the other day is called Rage of the Wookiees. A mild surprise, to be sure, but that’s probably because I was expecting something a little more…exciting. Then again, they’ve already covered the jump into hyperspace, so what else is there besides adding a few new planets or playable races from the films?

According to the announcement, both land and space around the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk will be added, along with many new missions to go along with this new locale. In their contribution to the slave trade, the evil Trandoshans have set up several camps, and it will be the duty of players to either put and end to it or see that it flourishes. This ties in with one of the settings of the upcoming Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, as well as one of the missions in Republic Commando.

I find it a bit ironic that Episode III is going to be using Kashyyyk as a setpiece, because that was supposed to be the setting for the endgame of Return of the Jedi. Up until Chewie was established in a late draft of Star Wars as a technologically aware being – and a remarkable mechanic – Wookiees were to be a race of savages. In fact, that whole sequence where the Ewoks take on the Empire was supposed to be with Wookiees. After A New Hope Uncle George felt he was kind of screwed – there was no way people would believe that Wookiees would fight with rocks and logs after they’d seen him fire his bowcaster or fly the Millenium Falcon. To this day I still believe that Wookiee plush toys would have sold equally well, but that’s neither here nor there.

Also added in the expansion will be some new space faring vehicles, the most notable being Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter As Seen In The Film. This sounds like such a movie tie-in doesn’t it? I thought Galaxies would be able to avoid this kind of cross marketing, since it’s a game that’s been out for a while already. Due to the nature of its dynamic content though, I guess it was a valid target. It’s also pretty transparent that Lucasarts is calling the expansion “Episode III” – I mean, Jump to Lightspeed had “Episode I” right on the box. I know that they’re counting from the first release of Galaxies, but really, does the promotion have to be this obvious?

Players who enjoy the space based missions will now be able to take on “space mining” missions, where you can harvest resources from asteroids and contribute to the land based game’s economy. This is a great idea, and a step in integrating the two completely different experiences. Another addition is the ability for players to add cybernetic components to their characters, that will in turn offer improved abilities that are more than likely related to your performance in combat. Why this was done is anyone’s guess, because the cybernetic enhancements look far too crude to mesh with the period Galaxies covers in the Star Wars timeline. When Luke gets his new hand at the end of Empire Strikes Back, it’s clearly meant to be an extension of his existing body. In this new expansion, it seems that these enhancements are meant to look like enhancements, instead of adding a feature in the game to allow characters to improve on their stats without any visible side effects. But maybe I’m just nitpicking.

I’m not sure if this additional expansion was such a great idea, but I think Star Wars is experiencing some kind of fallout with the fans that it recollected after the new action figures and novels came onto the scene in the early to mid 90s. This kind of game and media integration will keep Star Wars in the geek collective consciousness, and that’s generally where they want to be. I just hope the playability of Galaxies isn’t sacrificed again by a hasty expansion that does little to change the game’s intrinsic shortcomings.

to smooth the unattractive truth

A setting as rich in content as the Star Wars universe, where the story is already embedded in the consciousness of gamers everywhere, allows the possibility of truly seamless role playing in a game like Star Wars Galaxies. Next to its contemporaries, the quasi-modern setting of Galaxies allows people to just be their characters instead of worrying how they’ll react to each situation in the technologically stunted worlds that form the basis for fantasy MMORPGs. Some of the most satisfying roleplaying experiences I’ve had in an MMORPG were in Star Wars Galaxies, because when the grind got boring you could always enjoy what the engaging community had to offer.

My initial reaction to hearing that the 203rd Tatooine Expeditionary Stormtrooper Legion was paid a visit by Darth Vader himself was one of derision. Next to the mass hysteria surrounding World of Warcraft, SOE must be really desperate to retain subscribers to pull a stunt like this. Based on Bruce Woodcock’s MMORPG Chart, after just over three months of operation World of Warcraft has a significant hold over the current market, accelerating to 1.25 million subscribers. After a year and a half, Galaxies remains topped out at just over 250,000 subscribers. What happened?

I’ve discussed in the past the weaknesses that Galaxies has in comparison to the more traditional MMORPG. Galaxies is a job in the truest sense, and requires more time than is reasonable. To develop your character into something that’s actually worth playing, you have to suffer through a grind that is both tedious and frustrating. The awards are all long term: become a master armoursmith by crafting millions of items, work your way through Jabba’s ranks by taking on increasingly hard missions, or better yet, master multiple professions that may unlock your Force potential so that you can begin the long journey towards becoming a Jedi. To some, dedicating hours to this would seem ludicrous – we’re playing a game here, right? It should be fun! Though I always saw it as a perfect adaptation of real life into the Star Wars mythos. Not all of the classes and occupations are glamorous, but they do have their place and make the game world that much more immersive. These store owners and tailors and shipwrights are controlled by real people.

If I was a member of that stormtrooper guild I’d probably feel very proud, but also a little relieved. Relieved that the constant drilling and patrols did actually serve a purpose, because there’s no fucking way Galaxies was doling out any experience for that. This was roleplaying in its purest form: players living the life of a stormtrooper when the Empire still had its oppressive grip on the galaxy. Maybe they’ll get some interested recruits as a result of this event, which couldn’t come a more opportune time. SOE says that the Galactic Civil War is near completion, with updates allowing players to take sides and engage in the struggle to control the galaxy. It sounds like they’ve really thought about this system, and apparently the legendary Combat Revamp and an as yet un-named expansion pack will actually be released as well.

Sadly, this unplanned inspection by Darth Vader seems to be relegated to fan sites only – it wasn’t even listed as a news item on the official Galaxies website. It’s not like famous NPCs like this make an appearance every day – as they shouldn’t – but this could have been used as a clever marketing tool to get people interested in the game again. Especially the former players that quit the game in frustration after broken promises and an inconsequential expansion pack. It showed that even seemingly insignificant devotion to this game might actually pay off.

So I’ll take back my cynical comments, because I know that the dev team on Galaxies has taken a lot of shit from players over the past year and a half. It’s nice to see them notice this die hard subset of the larger community. It doesn’t correct the game’s many underlying problems, but for that moment it at least provided a little context on why people wanted to play this game in the first place.

Soon after I joined Star Wars Galaxies, I enlisted myself in the Beta program for Jump to Lightspeed. Being a fresh recruit into the Galaxies fold, I envisioned this expansion as being the game’s saving grace. How could SOE/Lucasarts make a better Star Wars MMORPG experience? Easy. Add in the spacecraft and dogfighting that made the movies so fun to watch and you’ve got yourself an instant hit. And for a good portion of the beta, I almost believed it. But after signing off the day before the expansion’s official release last week, it hit me: Jump to Lightspeed is just a clever distraction.

If you create a new character, you begin the game by choosing a faction – Rebel, Imperial or the Freelance guild – and thereby choosing your starting location. You also recieve an email from each faction with a waypoint to the location of a pilot recruiter. In less than 10 minutes, your novice pilot can have a starter ship and be flying through space. Using an existing character, I can only assume that you get the email from each faction when you sign on after installing the expansion.

At this point I already had a gripe about the game. The ground based game never assumed allegiance with a faction, as any character can remain neutral for their entire career. You have free reign of what missions you complete, being able to live the life of a true mercenary. However, as a pilot you must join some organization; your ability to get missions depends on it. Even as a freelancer, you must choose to ally yourself with one of the many smuggling outfits, or independent organizations like Corellia’s CorSec.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the method of getting into space is a bit disjointed. When you’re issued your starter ship, you are effectively given a deed, which is the same way vehicles and mounts are dealt with in the land based game. To “launch” into space, you have to visit the appropriate terminal in any starport, select your ship and be on your way. After a loading screen, of course – it’s not like you see a short cut scene of your ship taking flight.

You can enter hyperspace from any given location by picking a planet on your galaxy map. A bit too clean for those who want the feel of navigating a course through hyperspace, though I’m just happy this functionality was included. For Star Wars purists, this won’t make a lot of sense for light fighters and similar craft, as they typically aren’t outfitted with hyperdrives. But for the sake of convenience I guess this feature was necessary to keep players happy. The Waypoint system, something I’ve grown to love about Galaxies, is perfectly adapted for space travel. The space waypoint system allows you to create your own star maps to commonly traveled areas, even setting your ship to auto-pilot to these points. This is especially handy for people that don’t want to stare numbly at the blackness of space on the way to the next mission. You can also skip launching into space altogether, and fly directly to another planet. High level players with fat bank accounts may not really notice this, but beginners who are tired of paying exorbitant return-trip fees to visit another part of the galaxy will appreciate the help.

Combat in space is of the standard twitch variety. I would recommend investment in a joypad, as the controls are almost unusable with a mouse and keyboard. Anyone that’s familiar with X-Wing Alliance will be completely comfortable with the controls and default keyboard shortcuts. Though the very act of having to switch from Joystick to Mouse and back during play in each setting reinforces the disparate nature of this expansion. There were a number of bugs in the Beta related to targeting enemies: sometimes I would target friendly craft or space stations thousands of kilometers away, while taking a severe beating from three fighters right outside my viewport.

This is where I had the biggest problem with the game, and not because it wasn’t fun. I had a great time fending off the Black Sun from a Corellian frieghter with some wing mates. For a MMORPG, though, there needs to be more, well, RPG. There is a skill tree for every type of pilot (Imperial, Rebel, Privateer/Freelance), but most of these skills are related to the type of ship you will be authorized to pilot. Your ability to let loose your laser cannons or dodge the fire from an Imperial gunship rests solely on your skills with a joystick. Even Jedi, who supposedly have inhuman reflexes, receive no bonus while piloting a fighter. I found experience to be extremely slow, but like the land based game there is no shortage of swarms of enemies to kill in orbit around a given planet. It seemed a bit strange that the airways around Tatooine were so busy, but people have to earn their experience somehow, right?

Given that this is supposed to emulate a traditional space sim, the collision detection felt incomplete. There were times during combat where I would get damaged for ramming another ship, but my trajectory or speed wouldn’t change – after taking the damage I would fly right through them. At other times, I could fly right through a larger cruiser or another fighter without taking damage at all. It’s possible this may have been fixed for the final release, but I’m assuming the physics modelling involved would take more than just a day’s work.

If your ship’s shields get destroyed and your hull starts taking damage, it’s time to start making evasive maneuvers. When you do receive the killing blow, you’ll have the option to eject, but I found this made no difference at all. In fact, I ended up severely wounded and in need of serious medical attention before I could even pilot my ship again.

Once your ship is destroyed or incapacitated you are automatically relocated to the nearest space station. I would strongly advise repairing while still in space. I remember I was destroyed in my starter ship, found a space station and landed planetside immediately to collect myself and repair my massive body injuries from ejecting into deep space. Because starter ships are not modifiable, I was unable to get access to my ship’s parts to repair them. As a result I was stuck on the planet without an operational ship, and had to join another faction. Later on I found a Master Shipwright who gave me a schematic for a brand new upgradable fighter, but you can’t always rely on these acts of kindness. You can only purchase and upgrade components for your ship when you’re planetside. You cannot upgrade your ship or add components at space stations, or get out of your ship and wander around. As an aside, a space station setting complete with cantina in orbit around a planet would have been a nice addition as a pilot stopover.

Shipwrights will be essential in this expansion, as they will be the ones fabricating new parts and new hulls for purchase on the Bazaar terminals. Only high level Artisans will have access to this profession – taking Novice Shipwright requires Engineering IV. Presumably high level Artisans will have a number of materials harvesters under their control, because ship parts, and especially hulls, will require a lot of material. The Beta gave everyone unlimited access to materials and professions, so I was able to try my hand at building my own ship. One thing I noticed about the crafting interface is that a material’s attributes are a lot more usable for those that like to get the best possible performance out of a crafted item. The idea of completely customizing my ship with paint kits and souped up parts made me appreciate the level of detail that went into this part of the game. But as any Artisan will tell you, crafting items take time, and eventually turn into a real life job. I remember talking to someone when I first joined Galaxies who made their primary function supplying speeders and swoops on Tatooine. They didn’t sound bitter or anything, but any way you slice it, it’s a thankless job and not exactly how I’d want to spend my gaming time.

One of the biggest problems the fan community has with Galaxies is that the base game remains broken, while the developers push out game publishes introducing a more defined structure to deal with Jedi characters, and devoting valuable time to the release of Jump to Lightspeed. I have to admit I was disappointed with The Jedi Trials, as the only visible addition to the game was the “/detect” command, which gauges your attunement to the Force. Depending on this level of connection, you might get a visit from a Mysterious Man™ who will begin your journey into the ways of the Jedi. In the end the only thing this update really changed was the way the system handled the Jedi skills and the way Jedi behave in combat. I originally thought The Jedi Trials was intended to attract new players. Instead, it’s putting a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in front of them, where being a Jedi is long term goal. How are new players to know what Classes to choose in the beginning of the game? Even though in the end they’re fairly interchangeable, there is still the theoretical waste of experience and time spent in the grind to unlock your affinity for the Force.

Shortly after the release of Jump to Lightspeed, the much anticipated Combat Revamp was officially announced as being in development and slated for release in the near future. This couldn’t have been timed any better, because while the players are distracted work will resume on this long promised game publish. This is all beside the point, though, and says more about my current feelings towards the game as a whole. I have hinted on more than one occasion to those that I play with about cancelling my subscription; I think all it will take is something better to come along to give me the final push.

A Star Wars fan could complain that any MMORPG based on Star Wars without space flight is some kind of crime. Though flying my Z-95 Headhunter fending off Imperial TIE fighters or doing a patrol in my Scyk fighter was fun for a while, it just didn’t feel right. Even the obvious interface update while in space left nothing connecting it to the original game. I think Jump to Lightspeed would have been better served as a separate game. It wouldn’t be the first space-based MMORPG, as the recently shut down Earth and Beyond tried to get people to live the life of a pilot. I can see how the promise of Star Wars space battles is attractive – I bought into it with the best of them – but I can’t see any lasting appeal in spite of the reasonable price tag. Until the Galactic Civil War is completely implemented to cover both land and space-based battles, there is no Force compelling me to get this expansion.

you’ll never see a finer ship in your life

Regardless of my comments to the contrary, I’m not about to pass up this chance to check out what SOE is planning to unleash upon Galaxies players later this month. SOE’s non-disclosure agreement tries to seem menacing, but I’ll probably be posting some brief notes as they coalesce. One thing I will make a point of doing this time around – unlike my short time in World of Warcraft – is trolling the Beta forums, to salvage this spacefaring experience somewhat. From one night of play I can already see where this expansion is headed. It’s really hard to avoid putting spin on this initial impression, but for anyone that’s considering this expansion please play Freelancer and X-Wing Alliance first.

Shrouded negativity aside, I consider this opportunity another stroke of good fortune. I guess now I’m just waiting for my email from ArenaNet.

a full blown case

Adding to these feelings of betrayal is news about how Jump to Lightspeed is going to work. Sure, SOE is luring people in to pre-purchasing the game with a juicy guaranteed spot in the Beta this October, and an exclusive Naboo Flash Speeder to pimp yourself out in, but there is something about this ploy that absolutely reeks of “bait and switch”. Going to the official SWG website, you can read all about how flying into space requires a visit to a terminal planetside, where you click “launch”, are subjected to yet another loading screen and then suddenly you’re floating in space. This might as well be a separate game, because as the design stands there is no real connection to the original planet-based game. With my initial fears confirmed, I doubt I’ll be picking up the expansion, out of principle if nothing else. The game has way too many loading screens as it is, and to completely neuter what made the movies so exciting takes a lot of potential immersivity and further world building out of the game. I’ve definitely given Galaxies the benefit of the doubt, and I’ve done my best to see past the community backlash and empty promises from the development team on the vitriol-soaked bulletin boards. I wouldn’t blame the development team entirely, though, as they’re probably overworked to meet their deadline and secure more players before Blizzard does. As for the launch of Everquest II, the money is all going to the same place so I doubt it really matters. Galaxies does have some good qualities, though, and I’m not about to give it up just yet. I’m already starting a new character to become a Jedi as a result of the new publish. Nevertheless, the temptations brought by playing World of Warcraft will lead to a very tough decision this November.

Now, please excuse me as I dust the cheetos off of my Revenge of the Sith t-shirt.

don’t play truth or dare

The player community has now reached a dull roar, as Slashdot Games refer to the SWG forums simply exploding with people waving their accounts around like some kind of hostage. The players have reached a consensus over the recent updates that have not addressed core gameplay issues and SOE’s increasing focus on Jedi and the Jump to Lightspeed expansion. I can’t really put myself in their shoes – but in the PC gaming industry the release now, patch later mentality is sadly all too common. This practice has permeated every stage of the development process such that games will actually advertise features that aren’t even in the boxed product.

While I sympathize with both sides: the developers who have unreasonably split their resources across two major projects and the players who continue to accept the developer’s empty promises and slipped Patch deadlines, there comes a point where you have to cut your losses and either pack up or weather the storm. I have not encountered anything particularly broken about the basic game, and though the Smuggler class apparently needs some work this does not affect my choice to pursue it. But I do agree with the players that argue that there is too much of a short term focus on the Jedi and Force Sensitivity, instead of balancing combat and putting a damper on the “god-like” Jedi characters. In fact, those Bounty Hunter missions that I mentioned before are rarely pursued, as it has become near impossible to successfully take on a Jedi. And the Galacitc Civil War, the so-called centerpiece of the game at launch, has been crippled and essentially pushed to the side until after the release of the new expansion.

Obviously there is a demand for Jedi characters, and the developers are working to meet this demand with the next major update: The Jedi Trials. The recent focus on fine tuning Jedi and Force Sensitivity was addressed in an interview with Hayden Blackman, producer of Galaxies and the Jump to Lightspeed expansion. I don’t think anyone could have predicted the negativity that would well up in the wake of the interview, though, because the players took it as some kind of an insult at their expense. I share some of those sentiments, as this interview was mainly intended as PR to keep prospective players interested, and the less vocal players content with the hope of what’s to come. Still, I think most players fail to realize is that Force Sensitivity will apply to all character classes, allowing a Marksman or Teras Kasi novice to further improve their skills without having to become a Jedi.

With the impending release of Everquest II and World of Warcraft, it’s pretty clear that Jump to Lightspeed needs to be something special to avoid a massive exodus of players. Some of the previews recently released for Jump to Lightspeed on the official site have made me look at it a little more closely. Will space flight be limited to the regions just outside a planet’s graviational field? If I want to fly to say, Naboo from Tatooine, will I get a loading screen or will I be able to employ hyperspace? If Lucasarts/SoE expects me to suspend my disbelief while I watch another loading screen and then all of a sudden find myself in space instead of jumping into my fighter and actually flying there, that would be an incredible cop out. I should also be able to use jump gates like in Freelancer, allowing me to travel large distances in short times. Space is huge – I want it to feel that way. Otherwise, Jump to Lightspeed may very well end up as some kind of insubstantial distraction from the main game.

I must confess that every gaming related thought lately has been infiltrated by Star Wars Galaxies. With each session comes a new revelation, as if the game knows to expose itself slowly to keep players enveloped in its perpetual warmth. In my character’s present state I can’t imagine anything else except gettting those last few thousand Unarmed Combat experience points so that I can finally attain the status of Novice Smuggler. And yet, on the other hand, my skills as a builder of armour and weapons is being nurtured in parallel. The extent of the Wife’s preoccupation with the game has materialized as well, albeit in a different format. I won’t make the presumptuous claim that this game is for everyone, but if you find yourself interested from what you’ve read so far then there’s no valid reason why you shouldn’t be downloading the free trial right now.

When I first began my Artisan character, using the General Item crafting tool wielded a few weapons and clothing items that I was able to sell for a modest amount. However the true essence of the game’s crafting system is not experienced until you start making items with specialized tools like the Weapon, Clothing and Armour and Food crafting devices. Used in conjunction with the associated stations you see spread about the game’s many cities will yield even better items, because you can begin to experiment.

Everything begins as its core material components: gas, chemical, metal, hide, bone or plastic. It is up to the Artisan to use schematics at his disposal to craft these items. Different natural resources are located on different planets, and even in different regions of the same planet. Each metal or chemical has their own individual properties as well, which will contribute to the quality of the final product and occasionally yield items with completely different properties. Using a material with certain properties will also affect your ability to experiment with the design. The system isn’t limiting, however, because you can build anything as long as you supply the basic schematic requirements. It should be noted that you can’t mix different materials in the same schematic slot. For example, if you need 10 units of metal for a blaster pistol, it must all come from the same type of metal. You can, however, use a different metal for another slot in the same schematic – but this isn’t advisable, as it will affect the success of the build and the product’s final quality. You’ll get the best success with high quality raw materials, but these will be rarer. The sooner the novice Artisan upgrades his surveying skills are upgraded, the better the raw material yield will be.

New schematics are obtained with each new level gained in the Artisan profession tree. The Engineering branch will give you access to create more complexl items such as weapons and armour, which you can put towards the Weaponsmith, Armorsmith or Droid Engineer profession. Similarly, the Domestic Arts branch will give your character access to new recipes and clothing designs. You can also purchase schematics from players that are selling them, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to use them – all schematics have a minimum skill level requirement, just like weapons (although it would be nice if the Bazaar Terminal would show that in the item’s listing). The crafting system overall is highly intricate, adding a level of gameplay that forms the player-driven economy. Basic weapons made with common materials will probably sell to new players, but the real money is to be made in highly customized weapons.

I’m going to talk about experimenting with projectile type weapons now because it’s an easy example. Armor would be my next choice, because the act of crafting is actually a two-stage process. You must create the fabric (usually fiberplast) and the actual plating (like bone), and then with those create the actual piece of armour with addional raw components. Experimentation can take place at both the plating and armor creation stage, allowing the skilled players to craft truly unique items. With projectile weapons its a lot simpler, as you really have only a few attributes to play with, like Damage, Range and Durability. Depending on your skill level as an Artisan, you will get a certain amount of success with each attribute that is tweaked – and this can sometimes result in decreasing the attribute instead, or worse: a critical failure. This can be especially frustrating, because even if you fail your materials still get used. After you’ve experimented you have the option of creating a prototype item, or something infinitely more valuable: a schematic. The schematic is useful if you’ve created a Blaster that is a work of art, because you’ll want to be able to reproduce them on demand.

And it is here that the Artisan finds his place – crafting items for sale in the Galactic marketplace. I’ve found players selling their wares in most cities, but the best deals are to be had in the Bazaar Terminals. Usually if a player creates good items in bulk, they will flood the market with them at reasonable prices. I know I’ve overpaid for an average weapon stats-wise on more than one occasion, only because the weapon type is rare. But don’t think that it stops at weapons and armour, because from what I’ve seen there is a noticable demand for high quality, unique clothing. Entertainers get experience from you watching/listening to them, so what better way to attract an audience than with a revealing body stocking? Artisans who upgrade as Tailors should have no problems making money in the world of Star Wars Galaxies. Despite my wary disposition towards the Entertainer class, it’s not uncommon to find a scruffy looking Scout moonlighting as an exotic dancer in Mos Eisley Cantina.

In terms of gaining experience, the Artisan profession is extremely time consuming. If you aren’t gathering raw materials, you’re running from town to town delivering components handed out by the game’s Artisan mission terminals. A decent amount of crafting experience can be gained from these missions, but it takes a lot of it to develop a competent Artisan. As part of the Secrets of the Force update, Junk Kits were added to give crafters an opportunity to make some money as well as gain some extra experience. Handed out by any Junk Dealer at no cost, Junk Kits are schematics that require a certain number of “junk” components you find in the wild or dropped by your adversaries. You can then build the item, and sell it back to a junk dealer for credits. There is also a chance that the Junk Kit will yield an especially rare or valuable item depending on your base components. Furthermore, the recent 9.2 update added new crafting quests handed out Commercial Guild Halls you’ll find in most major cities. Supposedly, this is to provide a wider variety than the missions on Artisan Mission terminals, and allow novice to intermediate Artisans to sell their typically low-level wares in a market dominated by Masters.

One of the reasons why I’m creating a Smuggler is their ability to slice items and containers. Slicing is the equivalent of “hacking” in the Star Wars universe, and a skill limited to the Smuggler class. I plan on levelling my Artisan as a Weaponsmith, which would lend itself well to this additional ability to modify weapons. Similar to experimenting, slicing can modify particular attributes of weapons making them more deadly. Problem is, if you’re seen using these weapons there’s a possibilty your activity will be noted by the Empire. After all, slicing Empire-regulated weapons is considered illegal. Like brazen Jedi being added to a bounty hunter’s roster, this is a small feature of the Galaxies universe that makes it feel more real.

Until spaceships become available, speeders will remain the preferred method of personal transit. I acquired my Swoop bike shortly after my trial ended for a mere 26,000 credits – a good price considering how hard they were to find at the time. Schematics to build one are another issue entirely, as the asking prices are usually quite high, and its tough to find materials without large-scale harvesters at your disposal. With every use, a vehicle degrades – sometimes to the point of breaking down while you’re riding it. Luckily Vehicle Garages are located in most towns and cities, where you can repair your vehicle at a cost that depends on the level of damage sustained. What I find strange is the lack of a Vehicle Repair Kit, where I could repair my swoop bike myself instead of relying on a static location that I might not make it back to. After all, when you’re cruising around the Dune Sea, who knows how many Sandpeople will be taking pot shots as you speed by.

Items like clothing, armor and weapons can be repaired if you get your hands on a Repair Kit specific to the item type. You’ll want to keep on top of repairing items, because the lower its durability the worse the item will perform. But with each repair the item’s overall durability will decrease. Although most items decay with use at a reasonable rate, you’re forced to keep a balance between going repair crazy and just leaving well enough alone. Artisans can craft Repair Kits as part of their General Item schematic list, but other players will have to purchase them if they can’t find someone that will hand them out free of charge. Items degrade with use and damage absorption, with death and subsequent cloning (or respawning) causing further decay.

While playing Star Wars Galaxies has been a great experience, I must admit my desire to continue is starting to fade. Writing about it has firmed my initial belief that all of this was an experiment: to see if what reviewers and fans were saying was actually true, the whole time immersing myself in a popular and fast growing MMORPG. Partially it’s also about the commitment to the game – to get any real value out of it or any other MMORPG requires the dedication of a second job, and the neglect of other gaming pursuits. I suppose you could say that the content offered by Galaxies is never-ending, it’s the delivery that becomes the game’s ultimate dilemma. Uninspired quests, cookie-cutter NPCs, and missions that sometimes insist on group collaboration for them to be possible make creating a high-level character a necessity. Nevertheless, the great thing about Star Wars Galaxies is the character customization – the possible career paths are endless, and there are always new areas of the game world to explore. Given the Dev team’s patching schedule, Galaxies has a lot of life left in it, though I imagine I won’t be spending as much time there as I used to.

they called your failures art

Moving up through the ranks of Jabba’s crime syndicate, it becomes increasingly hazy as to what my original intentions were in my character’s development, because this is no way for a future Jedi to behave. Still, there was something appealing about addressing his corpulentness personally, while relaxing with the palace’s many denizens. I’ve reluctantly accepted my lot as a future smuggler in the ranks of Jabba’s cronies.

It’s hard for me to determine what exactly drew me into Star Wars Galaxies, but I will freely admit to it rejuvenating my love for the Star Wars Universe. Much like the feelings that erupted during my playthrough of Knights of the Old Republic, it has made me appreciate the uniqueness of the setting and diversity of the planets I am free to explore. I’m sure it also has something to do with the need to achieve in most MMORPGs, which usually translates to grinding: a process that many players learn to despise after being forced to endure it to wield better weapons, wear more powerful armour, or craft more complex items.

As an alternative, I saw City of Heroes as being kind of an epidemic, using the utmost caution when encountering anything related to the game. The more I read about it, the more it seemed like a game that’s filling a temporary need – and had more in common with the gameplay of Guild Wars than something like Everquest. I suppose there was something more inviting about adventuring across the planets and locations shown in the films that were so much a part of my growing up. Even The Wife, during her usual over-my-shoulder game watching, was enthralled by the prospect of creating her own avatar in the Star Wars universe. After spending roughly an hour creating her Rodian medic, I soon had a partner to hunt womp rats and run away from haggard looking bandits in the harsh deserts of Tatooine. I’ve basically found my niche until Blizzard decides World of Warcraft is ready for human consumption.

Once you’ve been inside the player ecosystem, it quickly becomes something you learn to depend on. You can only obtain weapons and armour if an Artisan has built some; you won’t ever get that kind of stuff from most NPC/monster drops. Raw materials such as hides and minerals must be traded amongst Artisans and Scouts, so that they can create armour and clothing. If you are seriously injured in battle and lose a portion of your Health, Action, or Mind pool, you must be healed by a medic. Entertainers may encroach on new standards of geekery, but they do have a purpose – they cure battle fatigue, something that affects your ability to recover Health and Action pool points after combat. They can also add buffs to your character if you watch or listen to them for an extended period of time. As I said in my original post, there are ways of surviving in solo play by carefully selecting your professions. But there is still an underlying need to interact with other players, although not to the point that it hinders day-to-day gameplay.

I may have been a bit misleading about last week’s official game publish, Secrets of the Force. It was mainly intended to convert existing Jedi characters to the new system that was put in place for the next publish – The Jedi Trials – and the Jump to Lightspeed expansion.

With Secrets of the Force, all existing Jedi players enter a Force Ranking System, which is essentially a ladder for PvP characters, allowing competition for prestige within the player’s respective Jedi Order (whether they adhere to the Light or Dark side of the Force). Lightsaber crafting has become more of a prescision science as well – you will require a specialized Lightsaber Crafting Tool, where you can tune your Force crystals before constructing it. And this isn’t just for blade color like creating your lightsaber in KotOR – you will be creating a finely adjusted instrument of retribution.

In a brilliant move, there is a possibility that bounty hunter quests are generated with each player’s use of the Force or wielding of lightsabers, which increase the player’s visibility as a Jedi. The cynical believed that bounties were a way of keeping Jedi players completely under wraps because of an incomplete implementation in the game; this concept has now fully developed into something entirely at home in the Star Wars continuum. Given the time Galaxies takes place, Jedi aren’t exactly Guardians of the Galaxy anymore, and The Emperor wants to keep it that way. This also serves as a way to prevent the game from becoming massively multiplayer Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, and preserves the uniqueness and mystery of the Jedi. Unfortunately, if you’re looking to power grind your way to a Jedi character you’re going to have to wait until the next publish, where specific Force-sensitive quests will become available to all players. This will allow you to unlock your character’s Force-sensitivity without having to master any professions.

This is the type of stuff more MMORPGs should be doing. Instead of putting the money into new servers or administration, they are providing new, valuable content for players, and actually creating more opportunities to attract new users. Personally, I’m completely happy with my experiences in SWG thus far, and consider the time I joined to be ideal, almost tailored to my current gaming needs. There is a thriving game world that is constantly being balanced and shaped into a genuine Star Wars experience. I may not have been that forthcoming in my review, because my opinion of the game fluctuated dramatically in short periods of time. I even put off writing more about it since I’ve jumped in full time, as I was afraid that I might say something I regretted later. But I have no problems saying it now: Star Wars Galaxies is amazing.

the sun was always shining