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Massive Star Wars Galaxies Revamp
Shockeye writes "Over at f13.net we have posted an on-site report on the upcoming Star Wars Galaxies overhaul. SOE and LucasArts are changing the entire core of the game in order to make things more fun and make you feel like you really are a part of the Star Wars Universe." Indeed, F13 has the goods, and a lot of analysis in their forums. Available elsewhere is the community letter that unveiled the changes, commentary from Aggro Me, and a breakdown of what exactly is happening. From F13: "I don't know how else to explain it other than SOE has done the right thing. They've revitalized combat in an MMOG. It's a huge step in the right direction. Do I think they'll perfect it here? No. But it's by far the most interesting thing a studio has done. They've taken a gamble, and from what I've seen it's paid off. In other words, they've added the 'Wars' back to Star Wars. It's been in the works for over a year now. In fact, the expansions could probably be called smokescreens for the launch of the real game. It'll shake things up."
Good for SOE, it takes a lot to swallow your pride and admit that your game is not up to snuff. Then to suck it up and put the time, effort and money into improving it shows some backbone and character. I haven't played galaxies for about six months now, but I may very well give it another shot.
This just might get me off my addiction to WoW so I can feed another addiction.
I quit SWG several months ago because I just got bored. A couple friends hounded me to try WoW, and I since I had just gotten burned out on SWG I was reluctant to play it. Once I did, though, it snared me. I don't know what it is, but WoW just made MMORPGs fun for me again. Maybe it's because when you level up you actually FEEL more powerful and can visibly confirm it. There are no encumbrance stats to worry about, just level/class requirements. I like that. Simple where it counts, complex when needed.
Though I do miss the player structures (houses, guild halls, cantinas), huge amounts of customization, and depth of crafting/trade in SWG. Maybe Blizzard will add some of those things in the future.
"Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times. Suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
Trading, creative construction, logic, politics
I'm not sure if you have played SWG before, but I did for about 6 months some time before the first revamp. SWG actually does have political and economical competition. More so than any other MMORPG I have played. The very fact that players in SWG can setup their own stores and market their own crafted items through those stores makes it unique. The political arena in the game is different too. Player created towns have their own mayors that are actually elected upon by the citizens who belong to that particular town. I have seen on many occassions in the town my toon lived in having a very active mayor race. I can't tell you how many times the the players in the race would chat with me about what I wanted the town to be and what they would do as mayor. You really picked a bad topic/game to make a point about how games are combat centric.
I couldn't think of anything witty to say, so...you're stuck with this.
The first CU taught me that sometimes you have to ignore everyone bitching about the change to make a better game. Once you got past the fact that certain people were screwed by the CU, it was easy to see that combat had improved. (Of course, the best part of the first CU was that when I finally did get fed up with SOE and cancelled my subscription, I already had an understanding of how to play WoW.)
Also, since they've already been losing people, why not completely gut the system and rebuild it? It can't hurt anymore than it already is; they can only gain subscriptions at this point.
If there's anyone I feel bad for, its the people that have stuck with the game since launch. This is now the second time they've had the rug pulled out from under them. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... we won't get fooled again" notwithstanding, Sony REALLY bit them in the ass by launching the newest expansion in the last week, and NOW revealing what is going on. How many people purchased that expansion only to find out that they won't be able to use it like they thought in the upcoming game? That's quite the low blow.
Despite all that, I was about due to resubscribe to SWG to keep my character 'alive' and check up on the state of the game. I doubt I'll play for more than a month, but this certainly sounds like an interesting month to check in.
Its a shame that a game with such promise as SWG is being run by such clueles asshats as they have at SOE (and apparently LucasArts, as well.)
The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
there are so many forms of competition that multiple humans can engage in. Why the obscession with combat in MMORPGs?
Well, it is called Star Wars. What would you expect a MMO game based on Star Wars to be like? Have you not seen the movies? The whole point of them is the good vs. evil swashbuckling-style space combat. (Lucas himself seemed to have forgotten this for a while...)
Maybe there's room for a non-combat oriented MMORPG on the market, but Star Wars Galaxies should not be that game. It's not Star Wars without the "Wars".
By that same token, I think this sounds like a great update. If I had more free time it might be enough for me to re-activate my subscription, which I cancelled specifically because I thought the game was a) boring, and b) too much like work. MMORPG's really need to be more fun across the board, IMO, and this one specifically was in dire need of a combat revamp. But the other changes they're making - no more "buying" skills, no more item decay (never understood that in any MMORPG), more movie-focused classes, etc. all sound like good changes too. Sounds like this game is finally becoming what it should have been in the first place.
Does that mean I forgive them for releasing a beta to the public and charging both the cost of the game and the monthly fees to play it in the meantime? No. The industry should not work that way. But at least they've done the mea culpa now and can hopefully move on.
Yet the video games on the shelf at your local game store focus on combat almost exclusively.
And yet you've chosen a genre (MMORPGs) known for having much more than combat as your venue for this complaint? I played and rapidly quit SWG. It wasn't, for me, much fun. But I don't hesitate to point out that it offered not only fighting, but crafting, economics, politics, dancing, music, and role playing. Not all beautifully rounded out (dancing and music weren't implemented so great), but some of it was quite full (read any forums about price gouging, merchant guilds in price collusion, and the like for insight about how important the economic sphere was to the game...and remember that it wasn't just gouging for combat related things, but decorative clothing, home furnishings, vehicles, mounts, and the like).
It's like complaining about how violence is all you see on TV in a discussion about an episode of the Golden Girls where one person slaps another.
I also belive it is inaccurate to say that practicaly every game item, skill point, and money originate from combat. I've had a Galaxies character since launch, and have played at least a little in every phase of the games evolution, and in all of them, the richest characters, in both items and money, were always the merchant/crafters. Most of the people I knew in game with the most impressive spreads never fired a shot. They amassed their wealth by using the economy, not as spoils of combat.
If forums teach us anything, it is that logic and critical thinking should be required courses in the public schools.
And, again, this brings up the point: why are you then discussing it in a topic about this game? When I played SWG, I was a roleplaying dancer/musician, who also crafted on the side. Combat was a diversion to me. I gained my raw materials through mining. I gained my items by creating them using my mined resources, or the money I obtained from selling my mined resources in order to buy other materials. I gained skill points by crafting, dancing, and playing music. I gained my money by (again) selling my resources, and in tips for playing music and dancing.
Yes, what you say is true, about many other games, but not this one. And there is a lot of violence on TV, but not on the Golden Girls. I'm not refuting what you say, but I don't understand what it has to do with the topic at hand. We're discussing one of the exceptions, and yet your initial argument was phrased as if this game was part of the problem.