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Anyone For New SW Galaxies Content? Anyone?

Star Wars Galaxies? Absolute train-wreck. It still amazes me how they managed to fuck that one up. MMO, Star Wars, it was all so easy. But no. Instead, here I am, four years on, writing about how they've introduced fighting, swappable Pokemon to the universe.


The new Beast Master Expertise System introduces several new features that allow players to create, collect, train and use customized pets in the game. Through this system, players will be able to create and grow eggs, sell and trade the eggs, hatch them to raise pets, and level their pets for use in their homes and in combat.

It's part of the new Masters of the Wild content for the game, which also sees the introduction of things like build-your-own-instances and...Wim Magwit's 'Magic' Painting. No wonder the game never took off. It took them four years to get Wim Magwit's 'Magic' Painting into the damn thing!

Star Wars GalaxiesTM Chapter 6: Masters of the Wild

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - May 23, 2007 - This month, LucasArts introduces all new features and adventures to the best selling online game, Star Wars Galaxies. Get ready to walk on the wild side through the exciting new Beast Master System that allows players to create, raise, train and trade more than 150 creatures in game! Through the new Storyteller Event System, players will be able to create their own Star Wars™ stories, or they can tackle new adventures through the Azure Cabal Quest Series and in the improved Rebel Theme Parks.
The New Beast Master Expertise System

The new Beast Master Expertise System introduces several new features that allow players to create, collect, train and use customized pets in the game. Through this system, players will be able to create and grow eggs, sell and trade the eggs, hatch them to raise pets, and level their pets for use in their homes and in combat. More than 150 types of Beasts will be available through the system, including some of the most rare and popular in the game like the Spined Rancor, the Psychotic Jax and the Horned Dewback.

The Beast Master system is available to all players, regardless of profession or level, through a new, third expertise tree filled with skills that will enhance their experience with their new furry (or scaly) companions. Players can choose skills that affect the customization of the Beast's attributes during the growth cycle, or focus more on the Beast's capabilities after hatching, both in battle and around the house.

During the Beast's incubation process, players can manipulate such things as the temperature and enzyme levels to create new types of creatures never-before-seen in the galaxy, that they can then keep, or trade to other players. Players can even use certain Beasts as mounts, including the Dewback and Kaadu. Players must keep their menageries happy though - or they might find themselves Beast-less.

The New Storyteller Event System

The new Storyteller Event System will give all players the ability to run their own Star Wars-themed events in game, complete with NPCs such as Gamorrean Guards and Tusken Raiders, props such as X-wings and AT-ATs, and atmospheric effects such as music and fog. Players can purchase these items directly from Storyteller NPCs scattered throughout the galaxy, and then use them in events that they host in the game world. Events can be friendly get-togethers, or combative experiences where players will need to bring their best skills and abilities to make the events successful!

The Azure Cabal Quest Series

Players level 85-90 will enjoy this series of adventures based on lore from the expanded Star Wars universe as they seek to gain the trust of an elite, but elusive band of mercenaries known as the Azure Cabal.

Villains, rogues and scoundrels looking for work seek out the Azure Cabal, but the way into their inner circle is easier said than done. Those lucky enough to make contact with the cabal's mysterious leader, Loruna Scathe, and her closest associates, must survive dangerous missions to earn their acceptance...and the lucrative contracts that come with it.

Rebel Theme Park Updates

The Rebel Theme Parks have been updated with high level content and rewards, including all-new quests that allow players to experience life as a Rebel Alliance soldier. Players will accept missions from key members of the Alliance, including C-3PO, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, that will take them across the galaxy to such locations as Nym's Stronghold on Lok, The Exar Kun temple on Yavin 4, and the Abandoned Rebel base on Dantooine.

Chapter 6 Gift

When players log in to download Chapter 6, they will automatically receive Wim Magwit's 'Magic' Painting that they can place in their home, or other player structure. Wim Magwit, a former stage performer, has created a painting that will automatically switch from among 20 different galactic images, surprising the player with a new picture every time he or she enters the structure where it is placed.

For more information on Star Wars Galaxies Chapter 6: Masters of the Wild, please visit www.StarWarsGalaxies.com.

2:30 AM on Thu May 31 2007
By Luke Plunkett
3,236 views
38 comments

Comments

  • Since when has reintroducing features you tore out years ago been considered "New Content"?

  • Yeah. What Lu-Tze said.

    A part of me wanted to get excited about this. But, looking at the SWG box sitting neglected and abandoned in the corner by my desk, I just can't bring myself to do anything more then sigh sadly.

  • ... Star wars... Pokemon?


    O.k.


    "Han Solo, I choose you!"

  • Still dreaming about the day Bioware makes a new KOTOR or a KOTOR MMO. If they do, it should be based around Jedi. Jedi tank=Jedi Guardian. Jedi DPS=Jedi sentinel. Jedi spell-caster=Jedi Counselor. Healing=Jedi Healer. You can mix it up of course and so forth, but don't make it SWG if you acutal make it, kay? Thanks.

    About SW:G... Wookie ERP. Do you still yarn for some good ol' star wars MMO? Something are better left in the dark.

  • Image of Atheist Jew Atheist Jew at 03:32 AM on 05/31/07 *

    What's a Star Wars Galaxies?

    Sounds like some kind of underarm deoderant or a feminine hygiene product.

  • @Lu-Tze: @ColbyWolf:

    Sadly agree!

  • LA should scrap this game and give the whole thing to someone other than sonyonline,start from scratch,everyone knows it has so much promise

    give it to someone else and let them do it right!!

  • Bueller?

  • I find myself in complete disagreement with NotSoCool. That game had some glaring combat imbalance, but the game funtioned well and saw a steady stream of support for every profession; even those professions who were not as "iconic" (Ranger, Entertainer, any artisan profession) saw a decent amount of changes/tweaks/feedback on their issues. Until (dun dun dun) the Jedi came on the scene.

    Once Jedi arived, it destroyed any sense of balance or any attempt to create content for other classes. Call me bitter, but the last thing I'd want to play is a Jedi Knight II MMO, where everyone is really a Jedi and the only non-Jedi are the NPCs. Because if you make Jedi realistic, then playing anything else is nearly impossible. Make it equal and you lose the Jedi fans.

    SWG had it near-correct. Rarity was the key. Personally, I think they should have done three types of servers-- No Jedi, Rare Jedi, and Full Jedi, with Jedi as a starting class.

    Now if you take Jedi and only Jedi, they had some things right. I liked the classes of Jedi they had. Enhancer, Healer, Defender, Lightsabers, Powers. All they needed to do was have a system in place where each branch had two types of skills for each box. As your character went light side or dark side, there would be modifyers that made your character stronger in some acts and weaker in others. Some would be neutral.

    I still hope Bioware makes a Star Wars MMO, but I hope they take their experience in making content where you're not a Jedi (a good chunk of each of the last couple games) and realize that not everyone wants to be a Jedi. Some people really do wanna be Uncle Owen. Some, like myself, just wanted to RP a Ranger. An Antarian Ranger, at that.

    *sigh* That game brings up a lot of wonderful memories and outside an EMU, I doubt I'll ever have as much fun in an MMO. Jedi poodoo. =P

  • I remember when SOE destroyed Galaxies. I remember when they tore apart what the original visionaries gave to us, and I remember the intense sadness I felt the day I logged out knowing I would never return to see my former friends I had known since beta ever again.

    And now I am almost furious. This cannot possibly be making SOE any money, and it comes off as nothing more than mocking those who loved what SWG once represented.

  • Really, how did this game not print money? A note to future devs of a Star Wars MMO: WoW set in the Star wars world = ridiculous amounts of cash.

  • I remember playing this game the day it came out. And I liked it. Then the free 30 days was up and I never renewed it.

    Just recently I tried to install a 14 day free trial of the game. Bad Idea....It took 4 hours to install....Then almost 50 more hours to update...

    I shit you not almost 50 hours. I left it on over night and came back and the time just kept going up.

    So I said fuck it

  • I lolled out loud at that pic. I dunno what it is, but it says so much. And so little. Poor Bob :-(

  • Creature Handler was one of the original classes or whatever the hell the game had. They removed it because of all the whining on the boards that 'Creature Handling doesn't exist in teh star warz omgs' despite the appearance of obviously trained animals in the films.

    Anyway, that's all I had to say. I only played the game for 30 days or so back before it started getting really terrible.

  • @Nekojin: Creature Handler For Life!

    BTW there was a Creature Handler in the Star Wars films: Malaki the Rancor trainer from Jabba's Palace. The guy who got really upset when luke killed the rancor.

  • Lol, seems like an insult to reintroduce creature handler now.

    The only thing IMO opinion that SWG had going for it was probably that it had the best community system in any game i played. Guilds, making cities and towns with other fellow players and then having mayor elections and stuff. In a way i kind of miss SWG, i probably would have gone back to it for one month if they hadnt already messed up to the game even more.

    The biggest thing that let it down at he start though was the lack of content. It promoted player crafting which was a good thing, but i expect to get more loot from a locked box at the end of a dungeon containging one CDEF Pistol and 1 resource unit. (CDEF is the weapon you enter the game with, and one resource is useless since you need 1000's of units to make anything and the chances of find the same resource again are nil)

  • @Nekojin: The problem was that creature handling was vastly overpowered and you had rancors running around every city. It was rather silly.

  • They should just finally scrap the game and come out with SWG2.

    Total rewrite. This one is dead anyway. Rewrite the game and re-introduce it all WoWified.

  • @JackOnTheMap: They have re-written it, a couple of different times.

    As others have said, this concept isn't new only the way you go about it is.

    I guess I'm one of the only people here that still play it. WOW just wasn't deep enough for me and the crafting in it stinks. SWG is still fun and they add new content constantly. IDK, to each their own I guess. . .

  • *cough* pirate servers *cough*

  • I love how the original excuse for having practically nothing for players to do in the game besides fetch quests and "destroy X creatures and their nest" jobs was "oh, we want players to be able to create their OWN stories, blah blah blah." And you wait for three years after the game comes out to set up the Storyteller Event System so players CAN run their own quests and crap. Sounds like something that should have been available at launch.

    All I see ahead for Galaxies is a series of shark tanks which it continues to jump over.

  • People are still playing SWG? Wow, what sort of sick, pain-loving, basement dwellers are still enjoying anything that game has to offer. Granted, it was remarkably fun at launch and into it's first year and a half, but once the Jedi took over, every single non-social aspect of the game was ruined.

    I enjoyed being the mayor of a small city; we had lots of great parties at our local Cantina, and the small community we had built was fun to hang out with. But with overt Rebel Jedis running around Theed and spamming the chatbox by calling everyone a "N00B", only to be sliced down by 15 covert Imperial Bounty Hunters, the whole Star Wars Universe collapsed around itself and was sucked into gamer's hell :(

  • The storyteller system sounds interesting, but it worries me that it sounds like it'll cost in game credits to buy the components of an event. I always wanted to run events, and I'd pushed for editable datapads (like books in Ultima Online) and other player content for a long time while I played. My thread about it seems to have been purged with the various forum changes though.

    I used to play SWG back before the huge shakeup, and I really did enjoy it. I had a fairly useless character (Bioengineer/Pikeman) but had also been a Wookiee Mayoress and a droid engineer in the past. It was a game for the Explorer player type, but then they changed it and to a great extent pushed away the players they had and gambled on attracting other types instead. I too sigh when I look at the box on the shelf.

  • They are ferrets. They are my friends. They are thieves.

  • @Shadgenki: They should totally make the film "The beastmaster" into a mmo, it as rather awsome.

  • If they make this game for the Playstation 3/PSN; I'm sooooooooooooo in there!

  • Yeah but what Luke's not telling you is this isnt your daddy's Creature Handler from preNGE.

    They've actually done a good job of overhauling the old profession and getting all of the crafter professions involved.

    The best part are new mounts, and mutated creatures.

    Go to the SWG and check out the mutated Rancor images and tell me thats not impressive.

    SWG is fucked up, but its still the most interesting MMO out there. When somebody makes a space MMO that doesn't suck golfballs through a garden hose (yeah I'm looking at you EVE) I'll be happy but until the industry gets over their infatuation with swords and elves I'll be here. It still has the best community I've found in an MMO.

  • Sorry SOE, I'm not coming back until you let me mix-and-match from over 30 professions and give players more control over the economy than loot again.

    Sheesh, first they try to threaten the vets with the whole "let the noobies blow up your house thing" and now they're re-implementing pale imitations of what greatness existed before and calling it new. Very crafty, but I'm not buying it.

  • God what a waste. I'm shocked that these people are still even employed after turning SWG into 'Revolution X'. How exactly do you screw up start wars?... Hmm. Strike that last comment.

    I actually enjoyed the game for the first few months, once it became obvious that half assed expansions were going to be released every 2 days in place of actually adding content and bug fixes that the players were asking for, it was over for me.

    Pull the plug already!

  • SOE = Burnt Toast

    Take them out of the toaster please, they're done.

  • I was one of the early beta testers for SWG and the single biggest argument in the very early beta was whether to include the Jedi as playable characters.Unfortunately for everyone, a very vocal majority kept basing SWG's devs at the time over the head with the notion that it would be every potential subscriber's dream to have their character develop into a Jedi and that EVERYONE should have an equal chance of being able to develop one.To make the long story short, the devs ate that argument right up and thus began the downward spiral of SWG, before the darn thing had even been released.

  • I played SWG in 2004 before Jump to Lightspeed came out until 2005 when WoW was released.

    I had to sub to SWG last week in order to contact some people on the SWG forums who have been using my artwork without permission (RadiantCG.com check it out, but please don't steal/re-use w/o permission!), and I figured for the $15 I'd get the chance to log in to SWG and lament all that has been lost.

    I logged in at first, completely lost presented with the FPS-kiddy wannabe gameplay and was resigned to sign off. However, just before I did someone from my old friends list signed on! They told me they started playing a few months ago and showed me all the (relatively) new interface options that allow you to turn off all that FPS crap and make it into a semi-normal MMO. Complete with target selection, "auto-aim" and the ability to use special attacks from the two-row toolbar (i.e. normal MMO)!

    OMG, it suddenly clicked. SWG is strangely not the same complete piece of crap I remembered/expected it to be since the NGE! I mean, it almost plays the way it did post-CU, which admittedly is not as good as if it were pre-CU but still. The Expertise Trees seem to give your character some semblance of uniqueness. The devs seem to have realised their cluster@#*& and moved the game away from the NGE crapfest towards what a more normal MMO should look like...

    The distillation of the 30 some odd myriad of classes into 9 isn't entirely as terrible as I expected it to be. I used to RP a sniper by combining the Ranger and Rifleman trees. Well, after I did a little checking around and playing with a couple profs (Officer, BH) I found that Spy had options to line up pretty well with what I used to do. It's surprisingly not bad...I'd have to say the biggest loss to the game is the ability to combine a trader/entertainer with a combat class. Pigeonholing crafting / "social" characters I think is something that hurts the game more than anything else.

    There were also surprisingly not as many Jedi as I expected there to be. I'd say my encounter rate was somewhere around 303%. Now that is high, when given even class distribution only 1/9 players I encounter should be a Jedi, and even given 1/7 for combat classes, it's still not as bad as the 50%+ that I expected it to be.

    So, I must say, that after a week back, my intial impressions are roughly positive. Yes, there are bugs still. Yes, there are some balance issues. But yes, I've also had more fun this past week than I've had with WoW in the last 3 months.

  • Dear Sony please just shut down the game wait 60 years then restart the game up that way when you introduce elements that we allready had in the game as new it will be new cause we will be all dead and wont remember how you bent us over a table a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

  • I agree with you all, the game used to be really good, i miss it to be honest and I'm a big WoW addict at the moment. Playing with Real life friends on there it was so good to go around and pvp, The geonosian(sp) cave on yavin was fun for the pve aspect.

    It was a really fun game till yea jedi's popped up everywhere and would take out all your group and the only ones to actually do anything were combat medics, Oh yea they were really overpowered till they finally balanced them but i think they sucked after that.

    idk, i thought of coming back and saw a buddy of mine still playing his bounty hunter, the biggest city on the server (eclipse) was a ghost town, which was my guild's town btw.

    As it stands now i'll stick to WoW and maybe move to warhammer.

  • Step 1: Make game based on popular license that many people revile, but has a group of hardcore fans.

    Step 2: Completely revise game, alienating the few fans who have stuck by you for the long haul, and somehow make the game worse in doing so.

    Step 3: Slowly add "new" content that is really just features the game had before you "reinvented" it.

    Step 4: Profit!

  • @Gouki4u: I think you've got step for wrong there buddy...

  • it was a really amazing game, but the ever changing combat system detered some players and the depth of the materials(quality) was too much for others, and the whole "now you can grind to be a jedi" disaster

    enter WOW.......simple game make simple people happy.......not to mention that its WarCraft and anyone who ownes a PC has at one point or another played a Craft game while not as many have played MMOs or Star Wars games

  • Honestly, if I hear one more person say something about a WoW-ified SWG I'm going to puke. In its earlier days (i.e. years 0-1.5), SWG had so much more to offer than WoW. Where in WoW would you find player-built, player-owned structures and cities, from shopping malls to military strongholds? An expansive resource collection and mining industry with constantly shifting bases of operation? A crafting system that actually takes into account your experience and the quality of the materials and tools you use? (not all weapons of the same name are created equal) Friendly cantinas where people can meet and actually socialize without all of that "LFG" and "WTS" nonsense?

    Oh, and my favorite... Open war.

    None of these ridiculous 10-man raids full of sub-par players on the crossroads and towns that don't even matter to the rest of your faction. None of this waiting in line for organized, artificially generated battles. Who cares if the horde takes AV, as long as you get your honor points, right? No, real war is when you can pull out a gaffi stick in the middle of Theed, go overt, and suddenly turn the better half of the city into an urban battlefield as friend and foe alike rush into the fray.

    So let's let SWG be what it was and always should have been. WoW is a great game, and I played it for an equally lengthy period of time, but there's no definitive "perfect" MMO, and SWG, for all its trips and stumbles along the road, was a truly fantastic game in its day, with an entirely different focus than the competition, and an entirely different appeal. Unfortunately I doubt we'll ever get those good times back...

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