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SWG: First impression PreCU and NGE, What was your first thought?
Sarbocabras
Member Posts: 257
What was your first impression after playing Star Wars Galaxies?
I was in awe, A Star Wars world with endless possibilities.
Have you played a Sandbox that compares with SWG in the 'good days' ?
Comments
I bought SWG the day it went live on the name alone. In fact, it was my first MMORPG after having spent since1995 playing FPS shooters online. My first experience was one of friendship and community. The moment I spawned on my starter planet, a player who had been there since beta walked up and started talking to me. This kind person gave me a weapon, and some money, and took me on my first hunt for about an hour. It was the coolest experience I ever had in a video game up to that point, and I was immediately hooked and completely immersed.
The thing is, I wasn't lucky. Turned out that this guy and a lot of other people just like him took it upon themselves to be "Player Helpers", and they spent a lot of their time welcoming new people to the game and community, and getting them immersed in the game world. These people were spread at all the major starting hubs, and I found that an environment of general friendliness and helpfulness was ingrained in the community at its core. As time went by, I had more and more experiences like this, and this was the main thing that made me love the game so much.
I won't go deeply into the factors of this game that caused such a community to be possible, and why those factors are missing from most games today, except to say that Star Wars Galaxies was a game for *everyone*. The vast options in gameplay choices attracted everyone from the artistic, the combat-oriented, the political, explorers, the scientific, and finally to the business minded. The rash of combat-only games we have today exclude a large portion of the potential player pool out there, and the games are more boring and less alive because of it. There are other reasons too, but I believe that if you build a game that runs well, and encourages a wide variety of people to play it, a community will form, and people will pay subscription fees for years.
This is the main reason SWG still has a rabid Pre-NGE fanboy crowd today. Few games ever spark community magic like SWG did, and since we seemed to be buried in combat-only theme parks with yawn-inspiring arch classes, it doesn't seem likely to happen again anytime soon.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
My first thoughts...
"Wow, I can't believe all of these characters are real people online! I can't believe I'm in an online Star Wars world!"
It was my first MMO, and the best one I ever played.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic
Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW
Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike
Loved: Star Wars Galaxies
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
Exactly, MMOS are to focused on combat. When a knew MMO launches it is a giant competition to reach level cap. Combat is great if done properly but to have the entire game focused on combat wont work. Surprisingly enough RuneScape has found a good balance between combat and non combat related activities. SWG when first launched was the ultimate sandbox, crafting merchanting, war, exploring, the elaborate quests were all big things. Todays MMOs have only focused on combat as far as MMO content goes.
No way man I play darkfall cause its the best game out there NOW but if starwars had never betrayed me I sometimes think about what it could be today =(
Pre-CU:
The game was ok. I enjoyed the ability to make a character and pick and choose professions to level in and mix and match skills. Being able to be a Marksman with Some Scout and Some Medic...or a Ranger with Artisan vendor skills and some Medic..or a Master Carbineer/Master Rifleman with a Tree of BH.
Leveling wasn't easy...in terms of XP needed....but getting into groups outside of the Dant MO for Bols or Pickets was Easy.
Leveling in the Crafting Professions wasn't as easy as earning Combat XP or for your weapon profession of choice...but it wasn't impossible or even daunting...just took time. I enjoyed being able to craft 99% durability swoops on Ahazi and Intrepid...back when that mattered.
PvP wasn't my thing due to the simple fact that there was so much to try in profession template mixes that i never really settled on something that would be great for pvp. PvE was always my thing.
Pre-NGE:
With the introduction of Visible Combat Levels...some of the mystery of PvP was lost...even though all you needed to do in the pre-CU was /con someone. Doctor buffs and Dancer/Musician buffs still were being used to increase the HAM. But buffs were not out of control...as there were only Doc/Ent/Food/Drink and VIllage Crystals for the most part. Leveling was still primarily XP based and group content for leveling was still easier than some other games, and not quest based.
Current Era of SW:G :
There are a few things of the current era of SW:G that I admit I do not like at all.
And there are more things that I still find Fun to do.
MMO History: 2528 days in SW:G
Yes it was...
Unaware of the Jestor?
http://about.me/JestorRodo/
Friends enjoy his classic Vblog - https://www.facebook.com/GoodOldReliableNathan
I joined after about 6 months, but I had the exact same experience. My boss played, and he got me in. Before I even found him in game, 2 people had msg'ed me to say hi and offer me start money and items.
I mean, people had FAQs on how to entertain and dance. People spent hours and days planning out routines.
*sigh*
My other thought was "Jesus Christ, do I really have to walk all over this freakin' planet?"
Who am I?
@Lorechaser on CoH
Badjuju, Splinterhoof, Plainsrunner on WoW (Moonrunner)
Shyy'rissk on SWG (Flurry)
ClockworkSoldier, HE Pierce, Letnev on Planetside
Gyshe, Crucible, Terrakal on DDO
And many more.
First thoughts pre-cu:
Wow, I'm in a StarWars universe online. The music was cool. The blowing sand was cool. I went right into the cantina, and it was packed with all kinds of super people. They gave me stuff, taught me stuff, got me into hunts, got me joined up with the rebellion etc.. Then I started looking at all the skills available, and thought, "Man I could try all this stuff out for years and not get through it all."
Someone then showed me their guild, their city and guild-hall. It was freaking amazing. Then I got in on the Civil War as a TKM/Master Doc on ventrilo. There were battles with like a hundred people at a time it seemed like. There was action as far as you could see, and it was awesome.
Met great crafters, tailors etc. to kit me out just right for all my adventuring needs. Met some nice entertainers to talk to after getting my head blown rather off lol. Fun times all around.
First thoughts NGE:
Wow man, all I can do is stand here; the movement doesn't work and neither does my chat. I better mail some friends and see what the deal is. Wow, when I'm figthing this other guy, my heals are healing him. Why do most of my skill icons have the exact same picture for different skills, and how can I possibly tell them apart? What happened to all the professions in this game? Why did they get rid of everyone's pets? Hey, I pre-ordered Trials of Obi Wan, and got all kinds of sweet loot, and now I can't bloody use any of it because all of those professions got deleted. Wow man, when I try my group heal, everything on the screen targets me and I die instantly. Wow, when I use this area attack, no one can see anything at all. Hey, combat takes like 3 seconds now, and everything is moving like Benny Hill! How the heck can I switch off this dorky behind the shoulder camera view, everything is off center. Why does my UI look like garbage, and why can't I customize it anymore? How come I was a Master Doc/TKM before NGE, and now I'm at lower levels and can't even heal myself??
Lol, well, that's how it started; then when it really hit me what they had done, I simply thought that Smed was utterly insane.
I ran out of the space station in Mos Eisley or one of the other Tattooine stations. There were plenty of other people running about talking and interacting. It was my first MMO so I didn't know who was a player and who an npc. I got involved in a firefight between a group of other noobs with our cdef pistols and some Meatlump thugs - or whatever trash faction they were. We were soon wiped out. I cloned and then decided I would go on foot to Bestine because I wanted to be an Imperial - and also to see what I could see. So I began runnijng across the desert. Whenever I spotted any creatures, I skirted them - after all, you never knew. But when I crested one dune, I ran into a human figure. I started talking to him but he knocked me down with his gaffi stick. It was a Tusken. I ran away but he was catching up with me. All of a sudden, another player, a low level caribineer came over the hill and killed the sandman for me. Then he escorted me to Bestine, He taught me the ropes and the first things I should do. And I was launched into the game. The music, the landscapes, the community. In all the yeaqrs playing other games, I have never expeirenced anything like it. I play WoW now. A very poor substitute.
It was as close to the feeling I can remember when The Empire Strikes Back came out. That Feeling you get when the first scene in the movie appears in the theatre. Just for that moment you were that little kid again. Ill never forget it. George Lucas will always be loved for that. The guys and gals who made swg possible, the same.
The NGE i wont even waste words on.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
first impression of pre-cu: *speechless & overwhelmed by excitement and anticipation* - in such an awe my jaw wouldn't drop any lower.
first impression of nge: *WTF!?*
My first thought...how many times can you flog a dead horse?
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
Saved me typing
Are you me ????
Identical 95 - SWG FPS SWG first MMO , greeted upon login took out hunting sat in a camp talking for hours, and everything else after that you hit the nail on the head on.
First impression of NGE WTF have you done.
2 year later impression of the NGE after getting overvet rage, this isnt actually THAT bad and Im currently resubbed at the moment although pop sizes even post merge are not a patch on what they where it should tide me till TOR.
Saved me typing
Are you me ????
Identical 95 - SWG FPS SWG first MMO , greeted upon login took out hunting sat in a camp talking for hours, and everything else after that you hit the nail on the head on.
First impression of NGE WTF have you done.
2 year later impression of the NGE after getting overvet rage, this isnt actually THAT bad and Im currently resubbed at the moment although pop sizes even post merge are not a patch on what they where it should tide me till TOR.
Can't type what I am doing right now, these posts make me feel all sorts of ***** *****... Love them rose-colored glasses...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
I played other mmorpgs before SWG but I still didn't really get the concept because I never played past the first month of any before. I mean I didn't like UO cause it's graphics sucked and I didn't like EQ cause it's graphics sucked and the combat was so bad. I just thought "why play these games when I could play Half-Life?" lol. So I never got what made them special until SWG really. I played EVE, SWG and PS around the same time as my first proper MMOs I became addicted to.
I ran out of Mos Entha, met by friendly people who were giving me help and thought the game looked like I was actually on Tatooine. It looked just like the movies, how amazing the graphics were and I was blown away by the game. That lasted for the first day before all the problems kicked in with bugs and then a week later I realized all I was doing was running, killing mobs and running back. I ended up hating the game and everyone else did too, I remember the community starting off big and within a few months it all died down in massive disappointment.
However I got back into the game when things started to pick up with player cities and mounts n shit. But I quit again in 2004 when they ruined it all with constant Jedi Updates, dumbing down the game and still NO CONTENT. JTLS was the games last chance and it sucked, no one liked it and it didn't feel like Star Wars. Lots of people quit then and came back from the CU in 2005, hoping it would save the game........ it didn't and made it worse. Even though ROTW came out it had little content and the game was just a buggy mess.
I mean THE GAME NEEDS CONTENT! All it needed really was for them to focus on Star Wars thigns to do but instead GRIND GRIND GRIND missions or standing around towns.
The NGE came out, took the profession system which it and ruined the combat even more. These are issues that aren't even fixed today and never will be for as long as the NGE is about. The game feels like a cheap toy full of poor quality content. Yeah when they finally get round to adding some it's all prequel stuff or cheap holiday stuff or the same old bunker or the same old cave.
For me SWG was a game of great potential and the NGE killed that.
Agreed. But that was quickly followed in my mind with "hang on, but there's not much content, maybe they're adding it soon...."
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
Pre-CU: Bought CE before live, still got the box and goodies.
Breath taking, once I logged in(Even though I beta'd, knew the char would be perm this time) Met a guy I was friends with for a few years since release of the game Tomo Rainer(Later became the pilot corrosondant, yup, i name dropped), till soon before the NGE hit. Had the best time pvping between Bestine and Anchorhead. Had one of the first CH's on my server, still have my first pvp pet in data pad. A plains hunter named Spike. Poor plains hunters became extinct later on.
Anyhow, NGE hit and my jaw just dropped with all the bullshit changes, haven't logged in since.
My initial impressions centered around starting a new mmo; new community, new toys to play with, etc, moreso than what others have expressed above. I thought the community was great and the game had loads of potential. The first truly wow moment didn't come until I had stepped foot on Dathomir; hella spooky and nothing like seeing a rancor for the first time.
Wasn't this like a WoW moment?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8C66S39jh4
Then you got the game home when it launched in 2003 and it wouldn't run on any machine very well. That's what put my friends off playing was the 5FPS they had on low settings lol.
Wasn't this like a WoW moment?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8C66S39jh4
Then you got the game home when it launched in 2003 and it wouldn't run on any machine very well. That's what put my friends off playing was the 5FPS they had on low settings lol.
Heh ... I had one of those cats, from Talus I believe, when you could create a decent BH/CH build. Speaking of, thinking of the various builds one could have was kind of fun too. I remember reading the manual trying to think how I could get both BH skills and Chef in a decent mix. : )
SWG certainly had Potential (tm).
I stepped into the world in Bestine in May of 2003, in beta3.
I was amazed at what I saw.
I was hooked from that moment. The ambient light was right for the where the suns were in the sky! The sandstorms! The danger of the wilds! It was about living a life in a Star Wars universe. It was like being one of the extras in the background of the movies...a patron in the cantina. A guy dodging Luke's landspeeder. Trying not to provoke the stormtroopers.
Then when the game went live, I was one of those helpful people assisting folks who were brand new to it in how to get your wounds healed, how to get your weapon upgraded, where to find the Lars homestead...
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
What I loved about SWG when I logged in was people were creating the tutorials themselves. As soon as I logged in I started at Mos Entha and I met a guy who had all the noobs crowded around him and he was telling them how to play lol. He showed me how to do missions and took me on one and I've never had a moment in an mmorpg since where I felt Lost is a real virtual world. I wanted to explore and the graphics were just amazing, I mean it made me feel like I was in a real Star Wars Universe. This is a feeling I don't get looking at SWTOR and I dunno if it's because the magic is gone or if it's cartoony so it looks like a game.
I became one of them helpers though for when the EU launched in Nov and it was amazing giving out mounts and stuff but I think vehicles came out like a week or two later and made them useless. Frigging cities came out around that time too and everyone went from the main cities to their own. Was weird cause Bestine was PACKED, was the busiest city and so many people in the game having fun. Used to sit in the Cantina chatting to people all day and treating it as my virtual life.
The game slowly started to die though cause SOE wern't adding any new content and people were fed up of the bugs.
I thought it was a great game best thing was no magic or elves and guns yes guns it was in depth to it as well
You want loot? Go kill some npcs, you wanna visit hades? come find ME, and dont forget to bring coins for the ferryman,
First impression w/ Pre-CU SWG: Tutorials didn't exist with the game back then. You rolled your character, chose a starting location, then you begin. The big manual wasn't much help. Talked about alot of things but not how to do them. To top it off, Pre-CU SWG was (and still is) sophisticated. There was a steep learning curve, and I recall how I was getting my rear regularly handed to me by beginner stuff on Corellia. Still, I kept on going, figuring things out along the way and searching on the 'net.
It got alot better when a veteran player saved me from being killed (again) as he was riding past on his swoop. After the fight, he gave me the basics about combat and recovery (wounds, fatigue, etc). He gave me what I later realized to be a pretty nice DL-44 to help out, wished me well, and let me figure things out more.
I had aspirations to be an Imperial as soon as I heard you could become one. I was told Bestine, Tatooine was the best place to go. So I earned some credits, got a shuttle to Coronet, then another one to Tat. It was on Tatooine that I really learned my lessons on gameplay, especially from veteran Imperials at Bestine, and shown the light to join the Empire.
Pre-CU SWG was very hard to get the swing of. You really needed the help of players to get you going as far as "schooling" goes. But once I got the basics, it got a whole lot better. Then I lost myself in the Skillpoint / Template trees, dreaming of possibilities on what kind of skills and abilities my trooper will have.
First impression w/ NGE: Things were already spoiled by the CU. I understood and liked a few things they did with the CU but overall I got bothered once I peeled back on the onion. Then the NGE hit out of nowhere. The customization of abilities and skills to my taste due to the Template system was obliterated by the tired, old Class + Level system. I was very, very upset that my character was now locked into confining classes and forced to be the essentially the same as every other one of the same class. I guess the devs hated letting players have options...
Combat was a confusing mess of lights, sparkles, and glittery fairy dust all over my d**n screen, which was irritating. This is STAR WARS, not f**king Disneyland with Tinkerbell. If you watch every Star Wars movie, there are no big flashy "magical" effects. Only lightsabers, blaster bolts, and s**t blowing up. Maybe a couple pieces of furniture flying around due to the Force. And that's it, no sparkles and stuff.
Just as bad was the abomination that you call "animation" in SWG. Character animations in Pre-NGE was BEAUTIFUL. Characters aimed low / high, depending on the direction of the target. The NGE blaster animations were all aimed straight regardless of target position, but blaster bolts flew out and various angles. I hated Jedi in Pre-NGE, but I had to admit their lightsaber animations were sweet. Not so in the NGE. Just get 2 kids with casts on to beat each other with nerf bats, and their fighting style will look x10 better than what you saw in the NGE. To call it stick figure animation would be an insult to stick figure animation. Melee animations suffered the most, since they usually had a wide variety of moves, but they were all chopped down to a toon repeatedly swinging a stick straight down overhead or something retarded like that.
Also, there was no use whatsoever from fighting in a kneeling or prone position. You COULD get into those positions, but as soon as you fire, you stand f**king up. Any benefit or penalty from fighting positions was completely removed. Fighting from anything BUT standing was removed.
I can go on, but my impression after the NGE was introduced got worse as I saw more. The devs took the main things that kept me playing Pre-CU and removed them. It was stripped down and dumbed down. And the "quality" to make up for it wasn't even there.
Morons...
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)