The game is basically still the same since I left it! Many of the same old bugs and a gameplay that has only distantly something to do with RPG. Examples: Tried to continue the ‘Secret of the Syrens’ quest but the Black Sun Bunker at the waypoint never spawns,I want to call my mount pet inside the Kashyyk Hunting Grounds but it doesn’t spawn, I want to attack that imperial trooper that permanently shoots at me but I can’t because he’s stuck inside a wall … the list could go on for a while.

The one and only reason why I don’t give up SWG completely is because of it’s theme! If it wasn’t Star Wars, I wouldn’t have lost one more word about it after I unsubscribed the first time. The real problem is that this game is ‘maintained’ by SOE! They fail at every occasion to be honest to their customer base. Their forum nazis continue to lock forum threads or ban users on their official forums if it’s not to their liking (In fact my forum access is still banned though I have resubscribed and have a right to at least read their forum).

Because it is in fashion by other MMOs to bring in more ‘No Trade’ items, SOE just copied this behavior which means that many items cannot be traded. This is very annoying! it is almost unbelievable but there are still many cafters online. When the NGE came live I really first thought they are a dying species but it seems they are thougher than I thought.

Player Bounty is back!

Ok so much for the worse but there are also good things to report! SOE seems to realize that some of their decisions were wrong. Since one of the most recent publishes its possible again for Bounty Hunters to hunt Jedis! In fact it is possible to not only hunt Jedi but all other Players. If a player got killed by another player in GCW PvP (i.e. as Special Forces) he is able to set a bounty for the player who killed him. The BH can then get the mission from the terminal like usual. Most marks go for around 25k but some go up to 100k or even more. It is also possible to hunt somebody together with other BHs which I think is cool!

Target Locking

Another good thing to report is that SOE announced to bring back Target Locking. The player will then be able to choose which targeting he prefers, either manual or with locking like it was before NGE.

New Quests

The Legacy Quest Part II came live a while ago and I have to say that it is quite good content-wise! The story is interesting to follow and there are some new interesting locations. Aimed at players of level 40 this quest is like a sunday ride for level 80-90 players but I enjoyed it nevertheless, especially the parts with the drug syndicate and the slaver compound. You can even get the highly valued Endor Combat Helmet in this quest, although it has a different color.
The battle around Restuss is currently in progress but I don’t have much time to take part in it! You have to collect medals by killing troopers of the opposing faction and do some space or mining/crafting quests and with the medals you can buy a new armor and new weapons. However I’ve saw the new weapons on some screenshots and must say that they like kind of crappy. Not sure how the armor is!

SOE also announced a face lifting about the player skins in near future. That means that player characters will get a new higher resolution texture look! How it will look in practice and if it has any impact on performance we will see when it’s live.

Except from these points the severs look in fact quite empty to me but I play at odd times anyway so I cannot really judge this. I can only hope that SOE decides to bring more pre NGE things back into the game. They will not do a rollback to pre NGE or even pre CU but I believe that they will bring in some things like they were pre NGE.
If they want to get some plus points from me they should hurry to bring the Creature Handler back! It was my most loved profession! Especially in late CU days it was a lot of fun to be a CH! The pet logic is still in the game! You are able to call droids and command them to attack your enemies. It’s basically the same like for CH pets! Also everybody currently screams to bring the pets back because they are missing their beloved mounts!

The game looks a bit unbalanced Planet-wise! Only Mustafar seems to be though currently. But go to Dathomir as a level 80-90 is like a walk in the park! You easily kill five Rancors while also reading a book and putting a Pizza into the oven!

I’m very skeptic about Emulated SWG servers! Setting up an Ultima Online Server is one thing but SWG is of a completely other scale! I don’t think this is easily done with some packet-sniffing! I will only believe it when I first see such an emulated server being online and working! Otherwise it’s just naive to believe that this can easily be done!

So much for the current situation! We will keep you up-to-date if anything important is to report!

Episode V, The swamps on Dagobah:
LUKE: There’s something not right here. I feel cold, death.
YODA: That place…is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go.
LUKE: What’s in there?
YODA: not much….the DEVS nerfed the piss out of it, added some quests for CL 1-20, and threw more bugs in there then the secret passage in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
(Luke starts to put on his weapon belt)
YODA: Your weapons…you will not need them…that nice 1134 max dam rifle you had…now has a max Dam of 278.
(Luke tosses the rifle)
LUKE: My scatter?
YODA: useless.
LUKE: my Bola?
YODA: useless
LUKE: My Lightsaber??
YODA: here dip**edit** let me spell it out for you U-S-E-L-E-S-S
(Luke throws his pack on the ground)
LUKE: Well I’m CL 80…you think I can clear the cave solo…the mobs are only CL 60.
(Yoda mumbles something)
LUKE: well?
(Yoda again mumbles)
LUKE: Are you listening to me??
(Yoda does not respond)
(Luke walks over to Yoda)
LUKE: What the **edit** mate!! Are you playin WoW
YODA: sure as hell beats this joke of a game!

Episode VI, The Sarlaac Pit:
(Lando is holding on for dear life to the pike that Han is extending towards him. The Sarlaac is slowly pulling him in.)
Han: Chewie, give me the gun.
Lando: No wait, I thought you were blind!!!
Han: It’s alright, trust me.
Lando: Dude, stuff’s changed since you were frozen. You can’t just click the tentacle and start shooting. You have to really aim.
Han: *through a big light blur* It’s okay, I can see a lot better now, pal.  *aims randomly, arm swinging everywhere*
Lando: A little higher….just a little higher….NO A LOT HIGHER, HAN! HAN!!!
*Han squeezes the trigger and blows off Lando’s head*
Chewie: *whimper* (Noob.)
from Corbantis.

Episode V, Dagobah:
(Yoda has been testing Luke to see how he handles his semi-forgetful impression of how annoying Jar-Jar Binks could be.)
Yoda (talking to the air): I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience.
Voice of Obi-Wan:Â He will learn patience.
Yoda: *frowns* Hrm. Much anger in him, like his father.
Obi-Wan:Â Was I any different when you taught me?
Yoda: Yes! Different you were, Obi-Wan! Through seventeen professions you did grind before a Padawan you became. Patiently I sat, while makeovers you gave me in the Jedi Temple. This robe of mine, thirty years it has served me, sewed it you did as a tailor. Dug up many holes in the meditation gardens learning surveying, you did! This one, expect to respec and be a Jedi, this moisture farmer?
Luke: But I’m ready! Ben, tell him I’m….
Yoda: *interrupts* Ready are you? What know you of ready? For EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS have I trained Jedi. My own counsel I will keep on who is to be trained! A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind! To not stand around the starport flashing your lightsaber to any random noob who offers a duel! To not cry like a dying chuba at the approach of a bounty hunter because decided to answer your cell phone you did, instead of protect your life!
Yoda: *talking to Obi-Wan again* This one, a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away, to the future, to the horizon….never his mind on WHERE HE WAS, hrm? *pokes Luke* What he was doing! Expect me to train an AFK macroer as a Jedi, do you?
Luke: I guess not. But I have this respec kit with 10 charges, so I’m going to be a Jedi one way or another.
Yoda: Forbidden this is! To become a Jedi without training, unheard of this is in the history of our Order! No discipline! No control! The dark side this leads to!
Obi-Wan:Â Luke, don’t give in to the NGE…..
Luke: *uses the device* Well, Yoda won’t train me, so oh well. I’m a Jedi now.
Yoda:Â But Vader you must face!
Luke: Vader, schmader. I’m gonna show my glowstick to the guys at Toschi Station, laterz Yoda!
Yoda:Â *sigh*Â At least there is another….
Obi-Wan: I sense she’ll be respeccing to Entertainer soon, against her will. There’s a metal bikini involved.
Yoda: Ah, legal she is now. Jailbait no longer she is. Observe this we will, before calling on her. *grins*

Episode IV, Death Star Detention Block AA-23:
(Leia awaits her execution when suddenly a vertically challenged Stormtrooper enters the cell.)
Leia:Â Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?
Trooper: *jump*
Trooper: *dance*
Trooper: *gets out a map*
Trooper: *draws pistol*
Trooper: *drops pistol*
Trooper: *goes prone*
Trooper: *plays air guitar*
Trooper: *grabs a datapad*
Trooper: *slams a bofa treat into his face mask*
Trooper: *begins writing an e-mail*
Trooper: *pulls out a pet song rasp, who flies around the cell*
Trooper: *straightens himself up*
Leia: *stares in confusion*
Trooper: *pulls off his helmet* Sorry, this NGE interface sucks and I forgot how to talk. I’m Luke Skywalker and I’m here to rescue you.
(Later a fierce firefight breaks out between soldiers of the 501st and the princess’s rescuers.)
Leia: This is some rescue! You came in here and didn’t have a plan for getting out?!
Han: *nods towards Luke*Â He’s the brains, sweetheart!
Leia: *rolls eyes* He can’t even talk straight without monkeys flying out of his butt. We’re screwed!

Episode III, Mustafar Landing Platform:
(Padme pleads with Anakin to change his ways and come home with her in a somewhat familiar analogy to the NGE protests.)
Padme: Anakin, you’re breaking my heart! This NGE is going down a path I can’t follow!
Anakin/DarthSOE:Â Because of Obi-Wan?
Padme: Because of what you’ve done! What you’re going to do! Stop! You’re a good person, don’t do this! I love you!
*DarthSOE spots Obi-Wan on the boarding ramp*
DarthSOE: LIAR!!! You brought him here to protest the NGE! /forcechoke Padme
Obi-Wan: Let her go, Anakin! LET….HER….GO!
*DarthSOE lets go of Padme. She crumples into a fetal position and tries her best to look unconscious.*
DarthSOE:Â /mood angry
Darth SOE:Â You turned her against me!
Obi-Wan:Â You have done that yourself!
DarthSOE:Â *pacing and fuming*Â You will not take her from me!
Obi-Wan:Â Your bugginess and lust for the console gamer market has already done that.
DarthSOE: Don’t lecture me Obi-Wan. Everyone knows that the forums are only a small, but vocal, percentage of the actual playerbase. I have brought balance, fun, and excitement to my new NGE!
Obi-Wan:Â Your new game experience?!?!
DarthSOE:Â Don’t make me BAN you.
Obi-Wan:Â Anakin, my allegiance is to the original system, the one that was fun!!!
DarthSOE:Â If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy!
Obi-Wan: Only a Dev deals in absolutes. I will do what I must.
DarthSOE: You will try. *flips and dives like a madman*
Obi-Wan:Â /cancelaccount
Padme:Â /cancelaccount
*DarthSOE lands and no one is on the platform*
DarthSOE:Â NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Eposide IV – On the Death Star:
Darth : I’ve been waiting for you Obi-wan, We meet again at last. The NGE is now complete, when I left you pre-CU I was but the learner and got owned by KD/Dizzy but now with NGE, I AM THE MASTER.
Obi : Only a master of spamming LEFT CLICK DARTH!
*Lightsaber fighting*
Darth : Your powers are weak old man.
Obi : Didn’t you get the memo, FRS is off! You can’t win Darth, If you strike me down I’ll switch to blue glowie mode and smack talk you all night long.
Darth : You should not have come back, remember how buggy the CU was when they put it in.
*More Lightsaber fighting*
(from Corbantis)

Eposide V – Cloud City:
Darth : You are beaten, it is uselss to resist the NGE, don’t let yourself be destroyed as all the Vet’s who have cancelled did.
*Lightsaber fighting, Luke looses his hand*
Luke : Arrrrggghhhhhh
Darth : There is no escape, soon the NGE will be live, dont make destory you. Luke you do not yet realise your importance, you have only begun to discover the NERF, join me and I will teach you the NGE, with our combined strength we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.
Luke : I’ll never join you and the NGE!
Darth : If you only knew the power of the console gaming market!

Jabbas Palace: Leia rescues Han:
Leia: You are free from the Carbonite
Han: Where am I?
Leia: Jabbas Palace
Han: Who are you?
Leia: Someone who loves you
Han: Leia!…………… but I thought you were a Squad Leader, not a Bounty Hunter.
Leia: I’m not a BH, I’m a Spy.
Han: A what?
Leia: Oh yeah, I forgot, the “Force” decided to change again and now we’re stuck as these silly profs.
Han: Am I still a smuggler?
Leia: Yes
Han: Doh, I wanted to be a Jedi and be Uber1337
Leia: Don’t worry about it, Jedi are teh suxxors now

Episode III, Utapau Flight Deck:
(Obi-Wan engages in hand-to-hand combat with General Grievous.)
Obi-Wan (to self):Â OMFG, how do I fight without a LS?
Obi-Wan:Â *sees electrostaff and picks it up*Â Oh hell yeah, much better.
Obi-Wan proceeds to take a few swings at Grievous before getting pwned and the staff skitters away, out of reach.
Grievous (to self):Â /chuckle
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm1
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm2
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm3
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm4
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm1
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm2
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm3
Grievous:Â /unarmedhit_arm4Â *hits fighter and dents the armor*
Obi-Wan:Â /dodges like a 14-year-old Counterstrike player
Grievous (to self):Â Grrrr…… *examining the fighter damage briefly*Â Dang, gotta go pwn Necrosis to get another one later.
Obi-Wan (to self): Now what? Oh snap, I have a respec device!
Obi-Wan:Â /respec Teras Kasi Master
System Message: That profession is no longer available. Please select another.
Grievous approaches and b!tchslaps Obi-Wan, who falls to the ground, but not before ripping open a couple of the general’s abdominal plates.
Obi-Wan (to self): Ow. Crap, no TKM, guess I’ll have to wing it.
Obi-Wan tries to kick Grievous in the leg, but quickly realizes that shin kicking a durasteel pole is not the best idea for his own shin. He cries out in unspeakable pain and is silently glad that Anakin isn’t around to flame on him for losing his lightsaber AND trying to kick an armor-plated droid as if he were ‘cartoon-version Mace Windu’ or something.
Grievous kicks Obi-Wan, and flings him over the edge of the landing platform! Obi-Wan grabs the edge just in time, barely able to hang on. The droid general, pleased with himself, moves in for the kill.
Obi-Wan: Okay, think quick Kenobi. Respec to something useful.
Obi-Wan: Oh yeah, Force Cloak! /respec Jedi
System Message: You are already a Jedi. However, you have respecced to the Jedi profession and a charge has been used from your respec device. Oh and, you can’t cloak anymore.
Obi-Wan:Â What the….
Grievous gets closer.
Obi-Wan: Gotta remember one of those NGE profs…..maybe officer! /respec Officer
System Message:Â You are now a member of the Officer profession.
Obi-Wan:Â /orbital_strike
Commander Cody tells Obi-Wan, “Dude you’re in a hole. How the hell are the bombs going to get in there?”
Obi-Wan tells Cody, “doh my bad brb getng gankd”
Grievous gets closer.
Obi-Wan: *notices the gun on the deck* Oh, there’s an idea! /respec Commando
System Message:Â You are now a member of the Commando profession.
Obi-Wan:Â /forcegrab carbine
System Message:Â This command is not available to Commandos.
Obi-Wan: Dagnabbit! /respec Jedi
System Message:Â You are now a member of the Jedi profession.
Obi-Wan:Â /forcegrab carbine
System Message:Â You loot a CDEF Carbine.
Obi-Wan:Â /respec Commando
System Message: You have already respecced to this profession in the last 24 hours. Please wait before returning to this profession.
Obi-Wan: OMG this NGE sucks!!!!! What’s left….come on….think….got it! /respec Smuggler
System Message:Â You are now a member of the Smuggler profession.
Obi-Wan:Â *aims and blows Grievous to bits, then climbs back up on the ledge to check the corpse*
Obi-Wan: No quest drop? LAME! I burned how many respec charges to kill this guy?
System Message:Â Seven.
Obi-Wan:Â Hey wait, not all of those worked!?!?!?!
System Message: Yes, but the charges are used up anyway. You have one charge left.
Obi-Wan:Â This was supposed to have 10 charges on it!
System Message: And the CU was supposed to balance the game. You going to use it to get your Jedi prof back or not?
Obi-Wan:Â *mutters* /respec Jedi
System Message:Â You are now a member of the Jedi profession.
System Message: This item is out of charges, and has been destroyed. Have a nice day.
Obi-Wan:Â I am so going to just log out in a house in the middle of BFE Tatooine for like 20 years after this is all done…..

Amidala: Honorable delegates of the SOEnate, I come to you under the gravest of circumstances. The Corbantis galaxy and many others have been ruthlessly attacked by the nerf armies of the Dev Federation.
DF Ambassador: I object! This is what they wanted! I recommend a commission be sent to ascertain the truth!
Fanboi Ambassador: The Council of Fanbois concurs with the honorable delegates of the Dev Federation. A commission must be appointed.
SOEnate Chancellor: Noted. *to Amidala* Will you defer your motion until the commission can verify your accusations?
Amidala: I will not defer. I did not elect to disclose my credit card information so that you can discuss this invasion in a committee!
*mumbles echo through the SOEnate chambers*
Amidala: If this body is not capable of action, I suggest that we all move somewhere else. I call for a vote of no confidence in this NGE.
*alien voices chanting ‘Vote Now!’*
SOEnate Chancellor: Okay. Everyone look underneath your seats and find the keypad to vote.
Random Senator:Â I can’t find my voting keypad!
SOEnate Chancellor:Â Look under the container marked ‘Register Expansion’.
Random Senator:Â Got it, thanks.
*a large scoreboard rises up in the middle of the SOEnate floor, displaying the instant results:Â No 80% Yes 20%*
(With a quick press of a button, the Chancellor rearranges the order of the scoreboard to:Â 80% Yes 20% No)
SOEnate Chancellor: And there we have it. The NGE goes forward.
Palpatine: Foul! I saw you press the…. *Palpatine suddenly is disintegrated*
SOEnate Chancellor:Â Flawless victory.

Episode IV:Â Death Star Docking Bay Control Room:
(Luke, Han, Chewie, and the droids are in the control room. R2 has located Princess Leia’s detention cell.)
Luke: *standing by the droids* The princess? She’s here?
System Message:Â Talk to Luke Skywalker.
Han:Â *double clicks on Luke*Â Princess?
Luke:Â The droids belong to her, she’s the one in the message, we’ve got to help her!

Quest Window Popup:
You have been offered a quest by Luke Skywalker, ‘Save the Princess I’.
If you complete this quest, you will receive:
Nothing
Zip
Zero
Zilch
Cancel? Accept?

Han:Â *clicks Cancel*Â Marching into the detention block is NOT what I had in mind.
Luke:Â But they’re gonna kill her!!!

Quest Window Popup:
You have been offered a quest by Luke Skywalker, ‘Save the Princess II’.
If you complete this quest, you will receive:
Many blaster shot wounds to the chest
Countless bumps and bruises
A chance to be killed
A slim chance of getting some
Cancel? Accept?

Han:Â *pauses briefly, then clicks Cancel*Â Better her than me!
Luke approaches Han and whispers into his ear, “She’s rich, powerful. If you were to rescue her, the reward would be more wealth than you can imagine!”

Quest Popup Window:
You have been offered a quest by Luke Skywalker, ‘Save the Princess III’.
If you complete this quest, you will receive:

A Fambaa’s buttload worth of credits, more wealth than you can imagine
The ability to pay Jabba off and tell him what to do with himself
An extremely slim chance of getting some from the princess
An Alliance Medal of Honor
Cancel? Accept?

Chewie: Rowr. (Dude just /addignore him if he keeps spamming you with quest popups.)
Han:Â *considers the offer*Â I dunno, I can imagine quite a bit.
Luke:Â You’ll get it.
Han:Â *clicks Accept*Â Okay kid, what’s your plan?
System Message:Â Put Chewbacca in handcuffs.
Chewie: ROWR! (Hey W T F did I do?)
System Message: Put on the Stormtrooper armor and escort Chewbacca with Luke to the elevator. Take the elevator ‘up’ to the Detention Block. Shoot the everloving crap out of every last guard, turret, camera, holorecorder, and wall panel in there. (0/275)
Han:Â I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

memorial gallery for SWG, the game that once was a hell lot of fun. There were many nice times playing, hunting, flying, taming and crafting around in the galaxy and it still hurts a bit that the game since a while is gone as we know it.
Maybe there will be a time when a new and similar good MMORPG appears, maybe even a SWG2, who knows?! Whats left until then is good memories and a crapload of screenshots. I’ve picked some of the more interesting from my collection and made a retrospective to show some of the things that others eventually might not find in any of the other popular MMOG’s.

(Caution: Large amount of image data ahead!) …

You might not believe it but there were times when people were hanging out in the Mos Entha Cantina.

SWG anno 2003. No mounts, no vehicles, just your feet and the vast vast desert!

Anchorhead was still a busy little nest, crowded with Rebels who fought the Imps who came for a visit with their At-ST’s.

Camping with the hunting party was still general practise since camps had a use to heal and call the pets.

The party could have up to 20 members!

Camping in the dark gloomy atmosphere of Dathomir while Rancors crawling around.

This was actually one of the days where it was not so crowded in front of Coronet Starport.

Waiting for the shuttle inside the Starport! Thinking about it today, there was a good reason that nobody had their own spacecraft.

A late night walk out on Corellia on the way to my favorite Weaponsmith. The Krayt enhanched FWG5 is waiting for me!

Arriving with the guild on Trade Outpost, Dathomir. There was usually a good amount of parties with their pets, getting missions and waiting to rush out for the hunt.

Because of a bug, every species and gender could wear every kind of hairstyle which resulted in some hilarious avatar looks. This was then shortly after patched out by SOE, as well as the skin-colored body suits!

I have to admit, in my roughly three years of playing SWG I have never spotted on of these. But they appeared every now and then according to some players.

Coronet Cantina anno early 2004. Still alot of party going on at the right places.

I’ve just started my character Cinnamon on Farstar as a Dancer.

What a vista! Leaving Mos Eisley on the back of a Dewback.

Ever dreamed of having a Small Tatooine Tower House? It was just a matter of putting them down where the next large NPC base spawn would come up I guess!

Shortly after the Space Expansion was released everybody wanted to be an Ace or Master Pilot and parties of 20 pilots formed up to take down the Corvette in Kessel.

On board of the Blind Luck in space over Dantooine.

Just opened on Dantooine, 400m from MO, Jerrol’s Assorted Ships and Equipment.

Anti-CU demonstration on Chimaera after the server was rolled back because SOE founds errors in the item conversion process.

Deep down in the Ryatt Trail on Kashyykk: The Worshyr Canopy.

Even deeper down on Kashyykk, The Shadowed Lands. After bypassing the ill tempered Gotal Hunters you could walk by and say hi to the Katarn (that was bugged like the hell).

Swimming day at the Empire went fatally wrong! The troopers didn’t pay attention to the weight of their armor! =)

How about a race with my Double-Turbine-With-A-Seat?

Just take care that you don’t cut yourself with those prop blades!

Mis’tress freaking out at the Omni-Box.

Another candidate for the Best Decorated Shop Award!

Drexiya chillin out at the Cantina after a long day on the field.

The cool thing about sitting on a Giant Carrion Spat: You had the ultimate overview!

Hunt party ready! Mr. Tusken, let the rubber burn!

Somebody gave the mall here definitely an original touch!

Sunny afternoon somewhere on the plains on Lok.

What a vista pt.II! This is the graphic you get with a Radeon X850XT and all gfx details turned to max. One of the possible spots on Tatooine I’ve made out for a planned player city. Call it the Valley Of Columns but unfortunately Tatooine’s city limit was already full.

Mis’tress harvesting some high quality steel on Talus.

Obi-Wan really has nerves to show up talking to me while I’m in the middle of a fight with some nasty high level creatures on Mustafar! The quest even was bugged on me like on many others.

Mis’tress’ all new treasure: A level 69 Lowland Blistmok Raptor with Fleetfooted L3!

One way to lighten up your new Bunker home: Put green street lights in it!

Talia, a new character made on the Test Center (it took me 3 days to find out how to walk up into the Falcon!)

This is how SWG looks nowadays!

Playsyde has published a video of the first 10 minutes playing into Tomb Raider Legends. This is the first time you can really see how the game looks in action and it looks pretty impressive I must say! It seems that Tomb Raider finally grew up (after the unsuccessful TR Angel Of Darkness). The graphic looks stunning and Lara’s movement seems much more natural and smooth than before.
The game is going to be released on 18. April and you can count on a review from Dataleak! Until then check out the official site for more info and preview treats!

What do you need spells for if you got a decent Blaster Rifle?!

According to this forum post on allakhazam.com, the result of Lucas Arts Focus Group discussion about the future of Star Wars Galaxies most participants yelled for a server rollback pre-NGE in unity.

Star Wars Galaxies suffered a huge loss of players in late 2005 because of the NGE total game damage that a certain Julio Torres who thought he might be funny came up with (dataleak reported). Obviously the royals at Lucas Arts and Sony Online Entertainment were envious about the high sale counts of other MMOG’s (WoW) and tried to make Galaxies conforming for dummy players. But somehow Fantasy themes are much more popular than the Star Wars Universe (something I personally will never understand).

Though there is alot of false publicity from SOE and Torres striving in the wild of the official boards and gaming sites about how well the NGE was accepted, it was obvious to them that SWG went nose-dive after the NGE was published. The damage was done!

The question for them is: what to do now? Many of the players left SWG and went over to other MMORPG’s, some of them are happy with it, others think they are a poor replacement for SWG and wish that SWG would come back like it was pre-NGE or even pre-CU. The SWG servers are yawning from emptyness with too few players on them. My once shiny bunker house that I got when pre-ordering Trials Of Obi-Wan surely has thick layers of dust in it’s vaults! How many players would come back to SWG if it would be rolled back and how many of the new post-NGE players who are fine with the current game would leave because of a rollback?

I have managed to not play SWG since the NGE came live (4 months now) but I would resubscribe without a second thought if the game was rolled back, simply because there is no other MMORPG that has the amount of complexity that SWG had before. If I wanted to play a no brainer shooter, I’d use any of the FPS’s out there. WoW is too simple for my taste, the graphics are inferior and the population too childish and besides I totally don’t dig fantasy.

The Combat Upgrade

[ad#gog_vampire_box]The first big change for the game came with the CU, the Combat Upgrade which changed the combat system and many related parts of the game. And while it took out a big chunk of complexity from the game (for example by removing the need of medicine for medical professions to heal others, by changing the way armor is used and by removing interesting mods like armor/armor piercing and various damage types) many players got used to the new system after a short while and were fine with it since it also improved the system in some ways.
A major change was made in how to become a Jedi! Pre-CU a player had to loot many holocrons and master many professions to unlock the force sensitive slot. This led to the so called hologrinder era in which many players simply grinded one profession after another just to get the FS slot as soon as possible. This raised the inflation a lot and let the in-game economy suffer! I�ve been a Master Smuggler to that time and didn�t do any hologrinding simply because I wanted to enjoy the game and I was completely not interested in becoming a Jedi.
Around publish 10 the way to become Jedi was even more streamlined! Players had to collect a defined list of badges to get access to a distant village on Dathomir where the force grinding began which would take at least 4 months to become a Jedi Initiate. It was in no way difficult now to become a Jedi, it just took a while and countless days of monotonous and stupid XP grinding (by killing thousands and thousands of Bols and Pikets on Dantooine)!
I never supported the idea to bring Jedi for players into a game like this which lives from its social aspects. In my opinion both ways pre- and post-CU were the completely wrong way to bring Jedi into the system and it was because of them why the game lost more and more of its fun and diversity since most players just wanted to become the roxxor Jedi now.

So how could Jedi work in such a game?

How would you bring in the Jedi profession into the game, something that is an obligation since this game has to do with Star Wars and Star Wars is a lot about Jedis? In my opinion the devs (and that includes Lucas Arts too) signed the downfall of SWG at the very moment they brought in the decision that every player should be able to reach the Jedi Profession!
What the game needed was some very strict rules regarding the Jedi Profession like a set limit of Jedi�s per server. Let there be 10 FS-Slots per server, not more! Make the Jedi really hard to reach! The way to become Jedi was in both ways very obvious to follow for everyone once it was known and guides on how to reach it appeared on the web! A system like this needs some real challenge, an ever changing way that turns out differently for every single player! I agree this is very difficult to achieve but I�m sure it could have been realized to some degree! For the 10 Jedi there needs to be perma death! Give these 10 Jedi strong powers, because a Jedi should be something really hard to reach only for the most dedicated players, but also make their existence risky � just like in the movies! If one of the 10 Jedi dies, the FS slot is free for a new player who has to reach it by a completely different way!
But the way SOE/LA brought in the Jedi was simply a joke that took away the spirit from this exemplary profession! Many who unlocked the Jedi simply misused their power to cause grief among players and destroying the mystique that was behind the Jedi by acting antisocial. There were exceptions of players who tried to play the Jedi more role playing alike but they were in minority.

The Fall

At the beginning of November this year SOE brought the big news that dropped like a bomb and shocked many players, their so called New Game Enhancements! I however prefer to call it New Game Enforcement since SOE kept the whole development of it in secret and by doing that they didn�t allow a single bit of influence from the player community.
SOE/LA decided to give the game a complete overhaul by downsizing the professions, simplifying everything and changing the combat system into something that looks like a half baked first person shooter.
Planning, designing and coding a thing of such scale isn�t done in a couple of days! It takes at the very least several months to work this out! The devs kept it secret all the long time so that nobody could take influence on it. They even released the new expansion Trials of Obi Wan exactly one day before they came up with the big news! A marketing move to get as many players to buy ToOW as possible since it was sure that most players would not buy the ToOW extension if they knew the evil changes that would come to the game in just two weeks!
In fact the new upgrade is not an upgrade but a downgrade! The devs suddenly found that professions like the Creature Handler, Bio Engineer or Scout aren�t starwarsy enough for the game anymore and promptly removed them! Countless hours of creature searching, taming and training was in vain with one swift wipe! One of my characters was a Master Creature Handler and I�m not alone when I say that it was one of the most enjoyable professions in the game! Thousands of grief and hate postings on the official forums proved it! Especially with the new ability learning feature that came with one of the recent publishes the pet system of SWG hadn�t any similar competition in any other currently existing MMORPG! It was the best! And there were other great changes that came into the game just shortly before the NGE wiped everything away. The Squad Leader Profession for example experienced a refreshingly useful revamp just to get completely removed only a few weeks later with the NGE.

Creature Handlers revolt on Chimera.

With the NGE the devs (SOE and LA) not only downsized the professions but also started to phase out crafters at a grand scale! The once so thriving player driven economy which was one of the feature richest among any current MMORPG titles comes to an end! With the new system players are neither able to mix skills from different professions nor will it be allowed to drop skills later! Decay has been completely removed from the game! No items will decay anymore by use or dead and no Jedi will get XP subtraction anymore because Bounty Hunters are not able to hunt Jedi players anymore! No decay means that players sooner or later have all the stuff they need, weapon and armor wise and they never need to worry about buying new stuff anymore! Removing decay also means that players become careless about dying. Why should I fly the way back the 4 km if I can get slain by that nasty level80 creature over there and come out at the cloner?! There is no excitement in a battle anymore because there is no risk in dying!
Roleplaying got pretty much phased out of the game! There is no chat possible during many actions, including combat and since the target system doesn�t lock anymore onto a target it will be a great annoyance to use emotes on other players!
Many players were happy with how the game was after publish 24 (shortly before the NGE) and many hoped (including me) that SOE would come up with something like a crafter revamp to give the neglected crafters something new! There was so much potential in bringing great new things into the game that would make a lot of sense and improve professions and gameplay! Instead they decided to just throw all this hope overboard, disappoint over 80% of the old player base and turn the game into a boring and unplayable pile of garbage!
My third character was a Master Tailor, Master Artisan and Master Merchant. I specialized him in crafting and selling Bio-engineered clothings and Vehicles and I had a nicely done palette of combat garment with defense mods and 99% durabilty vehicles on my vendors. It was fun and I always liked that individual clothings had benefits that all the same looking armors didn’t have! Well they have all been rendered worthless by the NGE because BE mods have been made useless and vehicles don’t have decay anymore. I see no reason now to continue my crafter character because for a NGE Master Tailor (and all other trader branches) nothing new was added to the game!

They published the NGE for beta testing on the Test Servers 15 days before going live. Every developer knows this is way too few time to detect and remove bugs so it was obvious that the NGE goes live in a completely buggy state! The players didn�t expect anything else from a company like SOE! But this time it looks like they actually published the alpha version! Most if not all of the eight so called iconic professions are bugged, specials cannot be used, several profession-linked weapons are disabled or got raised to level 88. The new GUI is buggy, I�m not able to add new chat tabs to the chat window so I cannot chat in some of the chat groups I�ve chatted before. Some keys even doesn�t work at all, for example the middle mouse button. Perhaps such things will be fixed in near future but until then all the players are just unpaid beta testers (alpha in this case) and it will not change anything about the fact that the game now looks like something that pretends to be a roleplay game with a screwed on FPS combat system that doesn�t fit to it and where combat is a major pain in the ass!

SOE/LA kicked all veteran players into the butt and out of the door with this NGE and opened the gates for fancy new players which they hope to come in masses! But somehow I get the feeling that new players will not come in masses! The game simply looks too old for the young FPS crowd! SOE didn�t made any updates about the graphics which have still the same old lowres textures and generally most building constructions in the game don�t really spread any true Star Wars atmosphere since they are not impressive like in the movies. Theed looks like a small city from a fantasy RPG and not like a Theed from the movies. Coronet looks like a small ghost town, not like a metropolis thriving with business! Starports look like little one-ship launch pads and not like massive hangar bays! If there was something to fix about SWG to bring in more Star Wars feeling then its these visual let downs!

The most actual impudence that SOE came up with is to give new players who bought the new SWG Starter Kit an item with that they can call their X-Wing or Tie-Fighter at any place they currently are. Many players have dreamed of this feature long before. But of course SOE keeps it possible for old players to buy the new Starter Kit so they can get the ship call device too (minus the free trial period of course). Another sophisticated marketing trick from SOE to let the vets pay once again! The sad thing is that many of the players act like blind cows and don�t realize that they get milked by SOE because they want this device at any price!

For me it�s time to quit here and say goodbye to SWG, a once great online roleplaying game that had its flaws but also a lot of potential! Potential that the devs couldn�t see because they are blind for profit! I canceled my three accounts and I�m going to refund my money back for ToOW!
I wish something could make this NGE unhappen and SWG would become like before but I doubt that SOE will ever revert the game back to its old state. I wish that after the fall of SWG (which will happen soon no doubt) the server code would become free to the community so players can build their own servers but it�s fact that Lucas Arts never would give anything about Star Wars away for free! This was the first and last product I�ve bought from SOE, a company that knows well how to completely ignore the player community!

- Excellent sound quality! The included headphones are top notch IMHO and have enough bass that even Drum’n'Bass sounds good on them! The Volume can be cranked up pretty high too.
- 1 GB Memory = ~240 songs and 12 hours listening.
- Compact! One of the real good points on it! I can put it in the small sleeve pocket of my shirt or into the front pocket and jump around and it would not be in the way or annoy.
- Simple use! Only the most necessary functionality is included! Loudness up/down, Play/Pause, next/prev track, fast forward/backward (by holding the skip buttons), normal mode or shuffle play. That’s it and that’s what most people basically ever will need for an unhindered music experience.
- Sound quality is very good! (I said that already but I say it again )

Here the cons:
- iTunes! For me iTunes is one of the most user unfriendly tools ever seen! It runs sluggish and takes ages before you can use it (because it updates all kinds of stuff), it hijacks file types, re-installs Quicktime etc. etc…. all the nasty program! It first copies for whatever reason a selection of tunes from your collection to the iPod. When I start it, it tells me that it updates the iPod but I never tell him he should do that (and it cannot be turned off). After about one hour I was able to finally copy tunes to my iPod Shuffle! Once you have figured it out you can actually start enjoying the iPod which is a cool and useful gadget nevertheless!