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Star Wars Galaxies To Revamp Jedi System
JasdonLe writes "In a move that significantly changes the game's goals, I just saw on the official Star Wars Galaxies site that plans are in the works to 'revamp' the entire Jedi system, including removing Jedi permadeath." The plan is to "rebuild the Jedi system to be quest-oriented; and to include the familiar elements of Force Sensitivity, Jedi-oriented quests, as well as many other elements the developers and the community feel should make up the process of becoming a Jedi." SWG Stratics also has word that the holocrons, previously needed to be come a Jedi in the PC MMORPG, "won't be in the new system", but may still have value as rare in-game items.
They're Jedis, people! Lightsaber welding, Force power using, elite people. I know everyone wants to be the ultra badass in any game, but it comes to a point where sometimes you just can't have it without some work. The developers are just doing this because players couldn't figure out the secret.
Since release, there's been several very large patches, major revamps to several professions, and now a total revamp of the Jedi system. So, again, why would I pay $50 up front?
Let's not forget the fact that, despite these large patches, the addition of vehicles, not only are the players paying fifteen dollars a month to play, but inevitably there will be an expansion pack, which will be yet another twenty to thirty dollars; which doesn't include a free month of play (seeing how they've already hooked you). It's bad enough that the patches for some of these games are already enormous (Final Fantasy 11's install, anyone?) and are often adding significant amounts of content (vehicles in Galaxies), but often MMORPG expansion-packs come off as glorified patches. After all, in order to keep parity with the players who have bought the expansion, there is often a rather sizeable patch for the un-expanded players, just so they can see others using what they didn't buy. To me, that's considerably more insulting than the initial fifty-dollar payment for the game.
The SWG patches have not always made things easier. Plenty of things (e.g., weapons, creatures and even professions) have been nerfed to eliminate people running around as one-shot killers. These were gameplay balancing patches and have worked pretty well.
A recent patch implemented a cost to dying which caused everything in your inventory to decay. Prior to that people were doing PvP for the hell of it, and the game really suffered. It lost its roleplaying nature. Now that it hurts to die, there is much less of this going on and the galactic civil war is playing out in a more reasonable way, with large enclaves of the various factions.
The patches in SWG have been pretty positive overall for improving gameplay and keeping balance, although occasionally the patches make things worse. The nice thing about SOE is they're flexible enough to undo things once they realize the problem. I think the holocron-based Jedi grinding is one of those mistakes, and this new approach has promise.
I've been the epitome of "casual gamer" since I started playing on Day Two. An hour here, half an hour there, maybe one or two days of solid eight hour playing.
/forcepush).
For those unfamiliar with the game, here's how it works: When you create your character, The Game selects five professions and doesn't tell you what they are. If you master those five, you can create a Jedi character. People got sick of wandering around in the dark guessing, so The Game introduced Holocrons, which will tip you off to one of your assigned professions, except it won't tell you the last one - you're on your own for that one.
Of the 23 skill boxes required for my FIRST "holocron profession", I've filled three, and two of those I got in the same day. Bearing in mind that I've been on this particular profession for a couple weeks, and the three boxes I got are the fastest to fill, I think I'll be able to create a Jedi on about the 24th of Never.
Have I stopped playing? No. Why not? Just because I'm fascinated by Star Wars, mainly. Is it fun? Eh. I'm more motivated by the sense of accomplishment than the level grind itself.
I can tell you, though, that I'd be much more into it if there were an over-arching quest that hopped across all the planets, led me through the "Points of Interest" they've put in on all the planets, forced me to use skills from all six Starting Professions, and then let ME choose which Advanced Professions I wanted to master. Even if it were "From the elite/hybrid professions, pick one ranged combat, one melee combat, one support, one crafting/artisan, and one free choice", you could get the full complement of personal experience of the game and still have fun, without forcing you to drop all your Combat Medic or Bounty Hunter experience so you could spend hours grinding Bofa Treats on your long, miserable, reluctant journey to becoming the Galaxy-wide Master of Culinary Arts.
While I'm ranting, why not let me reclaim skills I had to surrender? Obviously, you want to make sure nobody has ALL the skills, but if I drop Master Scout to learn Medic and decide I hate it, let me just take my old skill back. Leave me without either skill for a week if you want, but don't make me grind up Scout AGAIN, re-earning all the experience. They can migrate stats, and it strikes me as a terribly good idea for skills.
But at the end of the day, I'm still playing. Partially because I want to be a Jedi, and partially because it's paid for already and I figure I should get my money's worth.
When World of Warcraft comes out, though, I probably won't be spending too much time in SWG. I'll find some new goal to work towards, but it won't be the same as being a Jedi - that's the carrot on the string for me. To walk the galaxy and put an uppity player on his butt with the wave of my hand (typing
The carrot on the end of the string is so far out of reach... but it's a lovely carrot...
Dare to Hope. Prepare to be Disappointed.