View from a Noob

New_to_MMO · November 2005

Hello to all.

A couple years ago I was introduced to a new genre of gaming, the MMORPG, which I had never heard of. I was always a console player, and still am. Then a co-worker at a new job told me about SWG. This was pre-release as he had been waiting for the game for years. So I researched it and was instantly hyped about the game.

So upon release I got it. I was there on day one when the servers were so messed up no one could log in. I still had no clue what I was really doing. Being a beginner at MMORPG's, I didn't even know what a "tell" was, a "nerf", a macro, nothing! But even as ignorant as I was, I played this game for about 8 hours everyday. It was the greatest thing I had ever played.

I admit, I got bored doing the holo-grind and quit for awhile. So I decided to try some other MMORPG's since SWG was all that I knew. WOW I played for a just a little bit, but it wasn't the same as SWG. Guild Wars, blah.

So, I came back to SWG and was hooked again. This time I was trying to make my new character the best Bounty Hunter he could be so I played for months trying to get the best loot and parts to make myself a phat DE-10 to kill those punk jedi. Two weeks after getting my DE-10, the CU hit. And that was that. Just got done trying this NGE, no thanks.

So I guess what I want to say is what drew me to SWG in the first place, and keeps me off games like WOW.

1) Everybody had the opportunity to be different. Sure, you could choose to be a fruit of the month, but hey, that's your choice. The other MMO's I tried did not allow that. If I want to put in the 8 hours of looting to make myself that DE-10, I could choose to do so, and I will have a gun that no one else in the galaxy has, not a Sword of Thunder or some crap that every single other player has.

2) Crafting. At the start, the guy who introduced me to this wanted to be an architect. I couldn't believe someone would want to log on to a game and just build something, instead of killing something. I didn't realize how cool the crafting was until I was holo-grinding and got doctor. It was a great feeling to make some of the best Stim B's I had ever seen, and to buff someone plus 3200 Action. Again, the services I did were unique to that of my character. My stim B's were different than everyone else's.

Another note on the crafting is that these prof's were NECESSARY. You had to buy a weapon from a Weaponsmith because 99% of anything found was crap. This built up the community in my opinion.

The other games I tried, crafting was just a side gig to killing things.

3) 32 Professions. Everything you could ever want to be in a game, is there. Needed better balance, but dam this was incredible to me.

I can't think anymore. There were of course some negatives like being able to solo everything and composite armor, and god-like buffs, but that seems like it could have been so easily fixed instead of a complete revamp of the game.

I fear I may never find a game like the original SWG that I will like so much, and I think it was being able to be a unique character, with unique weapons, and with an unlimitied number of combinations to tweaking my character, and the necessity of crafters to the world which in my opinion strengthened the community.

I keep following these SWG boards because this was the game that I loved and I stupidly hold out hope that they will go back to Pre-CU, with of course changes to the major issues. I know, not happening. But there aren't any other games out there IMO worth considering playing.