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Was SWG really that good back in the day?
Speedhaak
Member UncommonPosts: 296
I've been reading forever the "bring back the good old days of SWG's" posts that have been circulating lately, I've only ever played L2, FF xi. EQ2 and WoW so I'm clueless to SWG.
It seems the game holds a special place in many of your hearts, pity really as I'd love to start a new MMO (bored with WoW) but none of the current ones interest me.
So, tell me was SWG really the 'Hero' it is remembered as?
Comments
its funny because people hated it(played it but bitched about everything)
there was alot wrong with it.
but
i alwasy said if it came out with a different name and fantasy skins(not star wars related) it would have been the best of all time.
very deep game, makes games like wow and eq2 a joke. you didn't have to do combat, ever, and you still could have fun for a long long time
It wasn't perfect, some templates were dominate, some things were broken and never seemed to get fixed, early on lag was a problem but....
Yeah it was that good, it was the freedom and the way it used to draw you into the world. The player made cities and shops were great the people for the most part were really mature and the community as a whole was amazing. If SOE had continously fine tuned what it used to be instead of trying to reinvent the wheel it would still be a 300k plus sub game.
The content was lacking in some areas but the players had created their own content and the battles my Rebel guild fought against rival guilds on tattoine will always stick with me. I guess this would sum up why I loved it so much, it was the only game that you could create a tank that was also the groups primary healer which was such a cool roll to play. I used to aggro the herd with my master commando/master tera kasa/combat med and then circle the mobs spawn point all the while healing team members and we could tear through missions. I've tried to find something that would let me mimic that playstyle but it just doesn't exist SWG was the only one that had it and probably ever will.
I can't stress enough how the community made it what it was, thats the reason you've seen such a backlash from NGE. When SOE put that system in it took everything that the community had built for 3 years and tossed it out the window. Basically it made anything and everything that you had built, all the strategies you had created, all the businesses that crafters had created obsolete. The game became loot based so crafters had no reason to craft, the template system was removed so all those great builds people came up with were no more and by extension all the strategy was gone because the combat moved to fast and the supposedly Iconic professions weren't capable of doing the things that you used to do.
So yeah even though SOE made everything that I accomplished null and void I wouldn't trade the memories my friends and I had for those few years for anything and I'm truly sorry you missed out on the gem that was pre NGE SWG.
Peace
There were absolutely no limits to what you could do in the game.
Player Cities
- Design the entire layout.
- Many different house styles that all had x, y, and z axis for unlimited decoration possibilites (plus thousands upon thousands of pieces of furniture, paintings, sculptures, plants, etc...)
- Ability to run for mayor
- Ability to set up town militia
- Ability to set property zones
- Player run malls
- Player run vendors
- Player run spaceports
- Player run cantinas
- Player run med centers
- Ability to set property taxes, travel taxes, and sales tax within the city limits
PvP
- Player bases that were customizable like a house, had the ability to add aimable turrests, ability to add mines, ability to add NPC guards, and the ability to attack and destroy.
- A faction system based on the Imperial and Rebel forces that allowed players to be Overt (PvP on) or Covert (PvP off) based on the situations around them, whether they have recently helped someone Overt, and whether or not they have recently been found to have illegal contriband by NPC stormtroopers or if caught by a covert detector near a player base.
Character Customization
- Hundreds of emotes and dances
- Detailed character creator
- Thousands and thousands of different non-combat clothing with hundreds of color possibilities.
- In game pofession that can change and customize your appearance.
Crafting
- Massively deep craftin system that required people to scan planet surfaces for available resources and quality, set down various types of harvesters, and power the harvesters with regular upkeep.
- Thousands upon thousands of unique resources that changed weekly as they depleted across each planet that could be sold for massive amounts or used for your own crafting.
- Experimentation on items that meant based on your characters skill, your quality of resources, and the time you put into it every single item you make and everyone else makes could have different stats.
- 100% player run economy. No NPC vendors what so ever. Every item in the game is player made and sold.
Skill System
- No levels. Ability to customize your character using a pool of over 30 professions and all of the skills and abilities within each one.
Space
- Customize and pimp your ship in every possible way. Tweak every system of the ship.
- Space PvP
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So yes, yes, and more yes. SWG was just that damn good.
I actually found it boring. Admittedly it was a decent enough game, the whole sci-fi thing just couldn't hold me in though hehe.
Venge Sunsoar
It was great until the "combat upgrade" imo. Crafting was fantastic, there was player housing, player cities, vehicles, fantastic pvp, and you could pretty much solo all of the pve content. Community was pretty good as far as mmo's go. Unlike WoW, it didn't have a 3/4 asian population and a bunch of immature anime nerds :P
I played SWG since pretty early on, and just left a couple months ago, so I'm going to assume I have a pretty good idea of where this game was and where it is now.
SWG was my first MMO, aside from Runescape and various text-only MUDs, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. SWG had a combat system so cutting edge that it would still be ahead of the competition even three years later. A huge amount of open-ended character development: 32 professions to choose from, enough skill points to master two (three if you could stretch them right) and a couple left over for dabbling in a third. I calculated it out in a different thread, but you had almost 180,000 different builds if you grabbed two masteries. If you were like me, a total dabbler with no masteries, your possible profession combinations were literally in the millions. If you wanted, you could be the only person in the whole galaxy just like you, or you could pick and choose from any of the "hot" profession builds that came and went. Players were allowed total freedom to learn and forget skills, providing a complete template reroll without losing property, reputation, etc... Some professions were more "iconic" (god I hate that word now) than others, but they all had a place and were codependent to some degree. Combat had tons of different special abilities which affected any combination of 3 measures of your character's vitality called HAM bars (health, action, mind). Using specials subtracted from your action and mind bars, but you had to be careful because enemies could target any of your three HAM bars so it added a little difficulty to balance special attacks with defending yourself. Ranged combatants could fire from standing, kneeling, or prone. Each one gave different accuracy bonuses and made you harder to hit depending on which position you chose. Pistols, carbines, and rifles each had different optimal ranges too, so depending on which weapon you chose to wield, that would influence where and how you would approach your target(s).
-Edit- In hindsight, compared to other MMOs, the best feature of SWG preCU was the level-less combat system. You character skill was hidden from other players and NPC's would "con" to you depending on a relative difficulty difference. The color of the con icon would tell you approximately how difficult the fight would be. There was no "lvl 76 X vs two lvl 56 Ys". It definately kept a wider range of things that would put up a competitive fight.
Codependence was key in SWG preCU. Groups could number up to 20 people, which promoted more group play and made large-scale hunts a blast. Also, every character (aside from an artisan/medic/scout/entertainer) needed each other for some service or another. There was no uber loot, so the best equipment was created by crafters, providing a healthy economy. Jedi were kept in check and suppressed with a lightsber TEF. If a jedi showed off his/her lightsaber or any foce powers, he/she would be tagged and be vulnerable to attack by ANYONE nearby who wanted in on some PvP action. Bounty Hunters were also constantly preying on jedi, focing them to keep a low profile, definately adding to the Star Warsy feel of jedi. Random stormtrooper patrols around certain cities would inspect players for illegal materials (created/provided by smugglers). If a player was caught with illegal goods, they were either fined (if the player was imperial) or attacked (rebel). PvP was somewhat open since players that engaged in Civil War activities were flagged as an open opponent to all members of the opposing faction.
The game definately had a Star Warsy feel to it, and many old crusty vets such as myself can attest. You had the same technology, the same environment, and a community that was open to RPers. All this added to the illusion of, "Hey, this is what's going on behind the scenes of the original trilogy." Sure you didn't see Luke Skywalker duking it out with Vader in the middle of Mos Eisley, but you definately felt like one of the background characters in the movies, just living out your life in the treacherous times of the GCW. If you wanted to go meet characters from the movies, you could. You just had to earn it. To meet Jabba or Luke or Vader, you had to go out and run a series of missions for each's underlings (the theme parks, which are still implemented).
Sure SWG had its problems, but what game doesn't? SWG was released before it was totally finished (a case we see more and more in MMOs these days). If it had spent another month or two in beta, SOE could've balanced out the combat system a little more, and fixed many of the bugs that ended up ruining the game for many players. That said, I don't know if SWG being released finished would've prevented such drastic changes as the CU and NGE, and the only people who know that are the ones sitting behind desks labeled SOE. In closing, SWG was an MMO way ahead of its time, and still would be leading the way to innovation if it hadn't been dumbed down to the preschool point-and-click it has become. SWG was my first MMO, so I may be spoiled, but I am bitter about the changes that nobody asked for, and I will continue to be bitter for being cheated out of all the time and money I put into it. It's great that other people can enjoy SWG-NGE, and I won't try to change their views, but I rest assured that they'd sing a different tune if they saw SWG in its full glory.
I loved SWG because it was different, even from new MMOs that have since come out. Now, its "Star Wars: Galaxies of Warcraft". This post hasn't touched many of the great points of SWG, as I'd need more time to sit and recollect my thoughts, but I hope this gives you some kind of idea.
Je mettrai l'amour sur dos de moi.
Velric and Treysmooth,
I read your posts (after reading some guys post over in the SWG section) and even though I never played SWG (old version) I can say that the game you guys describe sounds much better than what we are playing these days, namely games like WoW (I am sick to death of it).
Star Wars holds a special place in my heart, nostalgia from when I was a kid at the Cinema. I only wish I had had the chance to play the game you both describe, it sounds exactly like what I would want to play. Something trule unique and something different.
For all the vets who may read this, I'm sorry you lost your game, it seems like a great shame. Hope you find new homes.
Speedy.
Something sorely lacking in todays MMO's, running around Ironforge or Orgrimmar is akin to wandering into a cloning factory, no identity, no individuality, no sense of accomplishment.
Another nice post, thanks for telling me of the game, it genuinely interests me.
I would even settle for a CU server over the NGE crap, but let's face it the game we once loved is gone forever.
I sleep with a pillow under my gun.
I loved it. I remember playing beta and just staring with my mouth on the floor. I remember buying the game on release during my lunch break and then pulling my hair out all damn night because SOE fubared the servers on launch (remember using Firefox versus IE for SWG registration? LOL).
I loved the way the game mechanics were and I loved the open ended unlimited possibilities to shape your character to be whatever you wanted your character to be.
Sure, there were some things that sucked (crap rewards for completing Amusement Park Quests, "Pokemon" being censored from the forums, 11 year olds using their Creature Handler class as a nightmare to you) but for the most part, the good outwieghed the good by miles on end.
Now, it's just crap. It really really is. I know you heard it from thousands of different threads about how SWG is just horrible but to be as honest as possible, SWG is really bad now.
Back then, Jedi was almost impossible to obtain. Then Q-350 and Raph got crazy and started dropping hints about how to obtain the Jedi class...thus the crazy camp sessions on Dantoinne and the macro profession grinders. Heck, I was even a victim of it. I ended up with a Jedi on the Starsider server (4th one on the server.....my character name used to be on the website back when getting Jedi status actually meant something). Jedi was few and FAR between. If you ever came across a Jedi with his lightsaber, you have seen a rare thing indeed. To fight and kill one was even rarer. Most of the Jedi were VERY mature players at first.
Now, its a starting profession. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is a Jedi or a Bounty Hunter. They took the Star Wars Canon and completely threw it out of the window along with every other good thing SWG had represented.
Sad.....SWG DEVs have absolutely no concept of Developer-Customer Relations. Craziness
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
SWG was fun before the mass exodus due to CU/NGE and Bugs ..you could mix up you character..reset it...make unusual Hybrids...Crafting was complicated to few..but it was actually entertaining.
There were a lot of players at the ports,cities,cantina,hospitals and so on...for a while you could not drop off a new Character in a main city due to the high population.
It's better be hated for who you are, than loved for who you aren't.
Je mettrai l'amour sur dos de moi.
The player cities and the NEED for crafters was another great thing. Huge cities were built all across the galaxy wich was great for the guilds and crafters. PvP was better on some servers than others but overall i think each server had its huge pvp battles that you dont see in ANY game today.
Basicaly SWG wasnt perfect but with a little development time to fix some professions lower some buffs and a little more GCW feel it couldve been one of the best ever. Instead the company decided to blow the whole project up and start over in what many would classify as an alpha version of an MMO.
There were a shit things messed up/bugged and never fixed, and we bitched....
But it was the best PvP/sandbox/freewill MMO ever...
When SWG launched, i remember the morning i went out to go get it, i arrived at Gamestop right when it opened and pick up my copy. I then called my good friend and we began the greatest saga....ours.
Man i was so clueless when i first got in, such a new MMO, new design, engine, everything seemed foreign to me, but i loved it. I was on the phone with my friend and he was like, "Im in Mos Espa" and i was shouting, "Lol how the hell do i find you".
So i went out exploring not knowning what the hell im doing, killing random creatures, getting xp. Then the next day, we decided to switch servers to Bloodfin and stayed there. He was going Master Bounty Hunter, Pistoleer and something else, i was going Commando and Tera Kasi Master. We joined a pretty good guild (Guild leader still plays SWG to this day!!!). Before player cities and all that player crafted stuff, people grinding up to the higher skills were making so much cool stuff.
It was cool when i bought my first Commando weapon off an infamous player, Enott. He monopolized Bloodfins arms trade for some time. Anyways, by now they released player cities, so we build one on Correlia, right by a huge lake area, oh it was so cool. My friend set up his house like a Bounty Hunters office place, with lamp, desk, weapons on walls, cloths in the back room, lewt in the back room. It was pretty cool.
I made a Tera Kasi Meditation room, lots of plants, soft looking stuff, very cool. Loot and extra weapons in the back room.
I remember we would do seperate rebel missions for faction, those were fun, especially once ATST NPC were spawning and i had a Flamethrower (which sucked with accuracy back in the day) but it would 1 shot kill human NPCS. So i bought some Rocket Launchers (very cool), and i right, (Animation is kneel down, and fire), missle does a barrel roll with smoke and BAM down goes the ATST. A great victory for me.
I remember to travel was expensive, people could barely afford to travel to Endor and Yavin IV. So we travel to Endor i believe to hunt, and theres these slow slow cats, missions worth 40k credits (that was a TON back then), so we did these, over and over again, became rich quick. Then they fixed it, no more easy money/exp = (
A lot later, they put in Holocrons. It was fun being in caves with 50+ people fighting over the kills/loot rights. With jedi being unlocked, it was pretty cool and such. Up until they made the village, then it sucked...
BTW Gorukha is obvious niaeve and ignorant, and probably has shit falling out of his mouth.
SWG used to be a wonderful game, now it's... crap.
I sleep with a pillow under my gun.
BTW, I was Foogle Macklemar.
I left smithing behind and while in combat mode played a Pikeman/Pistoleer with a little fencer to top it off. Absolutely no doc on that template, heh.
When I was in base bustin' crafting mode I ran a Bio Engineer with a spread of Pike and Pistols. Had the fast BE base hacks on the server. Long live NDC.
Wow...it sounds almost like a next-gen MMO
I tried out the trial back in the day, but never got a clear view of what it was all about...wish i could try it out now
But seriously, could anyone try to explain, in few words, WHY they changed the game?
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no sig
I sleep with a pillow under my gun.
The release of SWG was very exciting to fans, and the pure euphoria of running around Tatooine the 1st weeks was amazingly fun. It was release VERY unfinished and buggy, but most could see the potential so they stuck with it. Month after month went by with little done to improve things. Mounts and vehicles were released, again buggy) but then SOE almost lost interest. I would content that early SWG peeps were in love with the potential, because it was never a very polished game IMO.
And yes, it was changed to try to keep pace with WoW. Some marketing dude who never played either game probably made the decision to overhaul and destroy what SWG could have been.
BTW, I was Foogle Macklemar.
I left smithing behind and while in combat mode played a Pikeman/Pistoleer with a little fencer to top it off. Absolutely no doc on that template, heh.
When I was in base bustin' crafting mode I ran a Bio Engineer with a spread of Pike and Pistols. Had the fast BE base hacks on the server. Long live NDC.
Omg i was in NDC, with Triumph, Pancrazio, Viracochia (or something), Isac. My name was Fizzek Decimator, i later joined DREAD, then AXIS, by then people were leaving for WoW.
I changed my professions a lot, and sometimes deleted my character for fun to make a different race with the same name.
Some also know me as Akirda Decimator. I loved PvPing at Saints Crossroad on Correlia i believe, when i was BH Pistoleer Medic/Doc or something, with Geo pistols pwning people in there 90 resist stun comp.
Those were the days.