Star Wars Galaxy: Episode Still in Beta XVII

ReStar ReWars ReGalaxies

Beta Trials of um, well Beta.

I was able to intercept a message between the two factions leading up to this announcement.

Darth Smedley: Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father.

Dundee: He sent me a tell! He said you killed him!

Darth Smedley: No, you really should take me off ignore, I hate using my force sensitive slot to communicate with you. Dundee, I am your father!

Dundee: No, it can’t be, impossible!!

Darth Smedley: Search your feelings ass bag, you know it to be true.

Dundee: NOOO! NOOO! And stop calling me names, I’ll petition you to Master Koster if you don’t.

Darth Smedley: Yes, it is true, check the patch notes.. and you know what else.. you know the last combat upgrade?

Dundee: Yes, I worked on it! I was recently promoted to the council… I am lead. Lead Jedi!

Darth Smedley: Worthless, how could you be responsible for such a travesty! My own son, you take after your mother, weak and pathetic! I am changing the way we manipulate the force, again, and again, and then, maybe again, but first after the Imperial Empire makes some money off preorders for this latest expansion of course.

Dundee screams something about a random combat bug and accidentally cuts off his own hand and plunges down the shaft.

Darth Smedley starts looking for any nickel and dimes Dundee might have left behind.

Cast for the newbs:

Dundee = Jeff Freeman, Lead Developer, SWG.
Darth Smedley = John Smedley, CEO, SOE.
Master Koster = Raph Koster, CCO, SOE.

The news has been posted everywhere, except here, until now, which makes it even more important. Star Wars Galaxies is basically being reinvented, rehauled, retooled, redone, retested, and possibly refucked. The bomb has been dropped, a day after SOE released Trials of Obi Wan and promising features in this expansion the next day they announce new plans that will nerf features in this newest expansion and very soon. This is a new low for SOE, reaching out and admitting to the SWG playerbase that they will permanently nerf their own product if they purchase it one day after it hits desktops. Fantastic!

Announcement: Letter from Torres, Producer on Star Wars Galaxies for Lucas Arts.

We are introducing a series of game enhancements to Star Wars Galaxies this month that include both significant enhancements to the live game as well as a completely redesigned experience for new players. The primary areas of focus include combat and profession and character development. The combat depicted in the Star Wars films, fiction, and canon that we have all come to know and love is fast-paced, action-packed, and visually intense. In order to stay true to the Star Wars fiction as well as to make the combat system more engaging, we have shifted the turn-based paradigm towards a much more engaging fast-action combat system where you control every move! After receiving feedback from members of the community, conducting extensive focus tests, and evaluating the combat systems of other games in the genre, we are confident this new fast-action combat truly delivers what players, fans, and gamers have come to expect from a Star Wars experience.

I would say this takes moxie on SOE’s part, but sadly it doesn’t, it’s a desperate move, it’s a last ditch effort for a dying game, but at least it’s reckless and daring. This is the biggest rehaul a live game this massive has ever seen and maybe ever will.

I feel bad for the wookies have stuck it out with SWG the last few years and who do not look forward to these changes.

I feel your pain guys, my eyes and ears really do.

While other experienced players may remain optimistic it should be interesting to see how many subscriptions SOE loses over this and gains, it could just balance each other out like an equilibrium and revitalize the interest in SWG, especially piquing the interest for those who quit SWG for one reason or another throughout the last few years. On the other end I’ve seen a lot of the below sentiment for those players who have stuck it out through the thick and thin.

15 of my friends cancelled their accounts today, and one guy who purchased six copies of the expansion on his visa card asked the card company to hold the charge because of this blatant wait until after the expansion to announce this. 15 people, and roughly 30 accounts lost, just in my circle of friends.

The crummy and very not so informative FAQ.

Official SWG Player Comment Thread.

Hello all. As most of you know, I have been in Austin the last day and a half. We have been testing out new changes to Star Wars Galaxies. While most people will be afraid and uneasy about the changes, I want to let you know about what is going on, and how things are going.

First, let me start by saying that combat has become more fun and is a better change for the game. No longer will it be all about mashing specials and the best weapon. This is a new system and is not a rehash of the old or current system. With that im mind, please keep an open mind.

Now coming will be a drastic change in skills. There will be 9 classes as follows:

Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Commando, Medic, Force Sensitive, Officer (think SL), Tradesman, Entertainer, Spy. Poli and Pilot will remain unchanged.

A large majority of the comments and replies from those players who have not experienced the changes firsthand are waxing disdain, not an unusual response given the circumstances, but at the same time, with a change of this scope, this decision could cross the threshold in tolerance for SOE support in thousands of current subscribers.

More first impressions from schild at f13, who is in arousing fanboi support over the changes and touting them as innovative.

While the combat system sounds far more promising than the previous incarnations, it may be a little too late.

Game Spot Reports.

MacIntyre states that although not everyone greets changes with open arms, “the game is a living, breathing thing. And we want to get this to a movie-caliber experience,” which is perhaps part of the reasoning behind the redesigned combat that Galaxies will offer. For starters, even though the original game used an “autoattack” system that caused your character to repeatedly attack enemies automatically as soon as you gave the order, the new version of the game will feature real-time, mouse-click combat. That’s right, you’ll actually target your enemies (and allies, and other objects in the world) with a mouse-controlled reticule, similar to a first-person shooter (but far, far less demanding in terms of reflexes). You’ll then left-click your mouse to attack with your selected weapon, and right-click to attack with your currently active special attack ability–you’ll be able to swap special attacks in and out on the fly.

The game will need content, good content, and the problem with this is players churn through content considerably rapid, faster than most development can produce it.

This also sounds great, but it won’t be enough. Definitely a decent hook.

We had a chance to take a sneak peek the revamped beginner area, which is referred to internally at LucasArts as the working title “NPE,” or “New Player Experience.” The publisher plans to take the bold step of making the NPE free to download and play for anyone who wishes to try out the game. This new package features a brand-new character customization interface that puts the game’s 10 different playable races front-and-center with a series of icons on the right, and your character’s current appearance (complete with starting clothes that can be changed into different outfits), on the left. Once you’ve chosen your character’s race and name, you’ll then move on to Galaxies’ well-known character appearance chooser, which still affords many options with respect to eye color and size, nose length, hairstyles, and even cosmetics for female characters.

Han Solo isn’t the only famous character you’ll bump into.

After creating their new characters, players will awaken to the sounds of blaster fire and crackling circuits. Your character has apparently been abducted by the Empire because of your exceptional talents, and you and must escape the ship with the help of none other than the prim and proper protocol droid, C-3PO, who walks you through the basics of the game’s modified, streamlined interface, and helps lead you to your eventual rescuer, a fellow by the name of Han Solo, whom you may have heard of. In fact, you’re rescued by Han and his good buddy Chewbacca, as well as the diminutive droid, R2-D2, who lead you to the docking bay. There, you’ll eventually board the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs–the Millennium Falcon, but not before you fight your way past a group of stormtroopers using the game’s new combat system.

If I were in charge, I would credit every active SWG player’s account for at least a free month. If the changes are good, SOE would most likely retain more players than lose. This free glorified cinematic gaming experience tutorial certainly isn’t enough!

Unrelated Reblogs:

Humor: Star Wars Rereleased x2.