I'm playing this for a while mostly this week to see what it's like.

So far as a new character it isn't that bad, what is quite bad is the transition from older characters to the new play style. Chim isnt up yet so i can't respec but i started a new char on infinity and that's probably the easiest way to get used to the way everything works now. Ranged combat isn't that bad, melee however i think is awful.

If anyone else is about, might see you on Chim over the next few days.

Also probably going to up sticks and live on dant/naboo, always hated the corellian houses.

Unfortunately all my buildings have been condemned, and most of the city it looks like so i might have to enable kir/jenr to get my shit back.

Why bother? No other feckers play anymore. You've got even less chance of playing end game content in SWG than you do WoW

As i'm getting paid to do so...

Not enough money in all the world tbh

What happend to your report mate? We never got to see it.

I've been having a quick look at the SWG forums & tbh, its very depressing to read them. Most are posts about quiting or everywhere being dead quiet due the the fact that a game we all knew had flaws but we liked it anyway was transformed into something that is akin to an Xbox/PS2 game, with no style/depth or gameplay to keep people interested enough to wait for the shit loads of bugs to be fixed.

It would be nice to se what a pro has to say about it, & whether you have any feedback from either SoE or the gaming world at large about whats happend to SWG.

Check the next issue of PCGamer and PCFormat... reviews in there. No feedback from SOE though.

Dude, that means I gotta buy the mag

I'll probably give the shit a try again, but I have to admit, having read numerous posts about "if you've put hours and hours in jedi grinding and crafting, prepare to be disapointed"

Well this game has been fucked up beyond imagination.

Jark logged in (Recall he was already a Jedi), got converted to a lvl 66 Jedi. Then he logged in his alt Delum (lvl 80, non-jedi, not even FS), who got converted to a lvl 81 Jedi!!!

So, basically it seems SoE have cared feck all about pre NGE jedi who actually spent 100's and 100's of hours on grinding their toons and their Jedi. That is SO BLOODY LAME, and I really really hope you point out this matter in your articles Kir


Update
I reinstalled the game only to see what level Auveno has converted to. Wow, lvl 81... thanks a lot, had a full Jedi template and now he is as good/bad as any respec muppet. Was actually thinking about giving the game a try, it does look rather cool, but this just pissed me off even more.

Another issue is the balance - or rather lack of it. Jark plyed Hulda for a bit and managed to kil lstuff 25+ levels above her. So I presume Krayrts are still soloable...

(Copy/pasted from SWG forums, I guess these are your words Sic?)

PC Format

Star Wars Galaxies
The Starter Kit

An Ageing game gets a new lease of life, or is that death?


Our biggest problem with the Star Wars MMO is that it's never been as good as it was at orginal release.
Many changes been patched in to try to breathe life into one of the most in-depth and largest online games of
recent times. But the latest atempt redefines the game, changing and replacing a vast amount of what was the essence of SWG.
It starts well. A new tutorial on board a space station sets the starting point for the eager adventurer, gaining levels, meeting
familiar faces and getting to know the game. You are eventually plonked on Tatooine, giving you access to a long and
interesting quest line.

FORCED ISOLATION
The entire combat system is refashioned into a point-and-click monstrosity, though by oversimplifying the controls, Sony has
ironically made it harder to play. It's almost impossible to keep a target selected in the larger battles.
The ability to dabble in varied professions was once the main draw, giving players the freedom to chose what they wanted from
their character.
This led to balancing problems, now remedied with the removal of 25 professions leaving a dull total of nine.
A dwindling community leaves planets deserted and lonely, the player economy is in tatters and the only real content is only
available through expansion packs.
A once interesting game now lacks soul, creativity and, crucially, things to do.


24% PCF says..."Its not big and it's certainly not clever - a total absence of any real depth."

-------------
-------------

PC GAMER
Compared to the world of warcarft, Guild wars or city of heroes, Anyone allowing themselves to get sucked into Star Wars Galaxies has had a tough time of it.
Bugs, Balancing a crashing economy... Playinh this MMORPG has been a labour of love.
At its best, its been atmospheric and fun; at its worst hell on a desktop.
A recent annoucement promised to change all that.
The already established player base was expected to welcome drastic, game-changing content introduced by a massive patch.
and the reissue of the game under the name The Starter Kit. Exsisting characters would be altered completely to make way for new classes, while skills and combat would change entirely.
As of mid November Star wars galaxies as we knew it ceased to exsist; in its place a mishmash of two- and a half games worth of content, people and places.
Can these on the fly alterations really make for a better game.
Some of the New Games Enhancements are in Galaxies best interests. A lengthy tutorial on a space station sees Han Solo guide you through the first few levels before your abandoned on tatooine.
Its an ideal introduction to the game -a budding hero being helped by Han- your given the impression your special. This is how star wars online should feel.
What follows is disastrous.
Galaxies was once the most unique indepth MMORPG available. It had that enviable mix and match profession system, crafting that has yet to be betteredand possibly the most devoted fan base you could want for a licensed game. there was also a tarnish on SWG's Crown, Bugs, such as resources allowing the manufacture of stupidly powerful kit & doctor buffs that could triple a players stats.
Enter the Starter Kit, After just 2 weeks Beta testing, the new changes went live .
Targeting has become a manual point and click chore, borrowing heavily form neocrons FPS style game, As a result Jedi, ( the games only Melee class) are at a disadvanntage and ranged classes fail altogether, becauses its impossible to keep a target singled out if theres more than one target together.
The crafting aspect of the game remians the same but the demand for items has almost dissappeared. The weapon you use no longer makes much difference, a level 16 DH-17 carbine will kill your target as fast as a level 80 Krayted T-21 Rifle. the abolition of item decay limits traders to one time only customers, rhather than repeat customers of the past.
Money will soon be just a figure with no actual value driving crafters out of the game.
However a dodgy a condition SWG was in before this, nobody could have expected such a total massacre of a two- and a half year old game in two weeks. The bustling city life and competitive economy has died.
Welcome to a game that has lost its identity Where everybody is a nobody.
There are no heroic characters in SWG's universe just your average joes doing repeatable quests on mustafar with nothing else to do.

ITS: > Buggy
> Desolate
> Back to the drawing board

ITS NOT: > Got any depth > Fun
> The way forward

Disastrous 27%

hm.... duno what to tell u m8.. i actually gave up and i was hte last of us... everythign in your 2nd post is totally true.. he combats for for a week at best then just annoying ... nothign is hard anymore well yeah thiers things u cant do solo but a grp dose them so easy its daft... and crafting ... well... yeah...

their lods of bugs hte good old .. im stuck in my house one is back (aekri'a) and i cba loading e'acko to have a look...

tbh they hit a big reset button i'll come back if not im not even goan look at it ... go get knights of the old republic... remid yourslef how good SWG was once..

and make sure u join us in whatever follows WoW

R.I.P. !!!!111

I had a great screenshot of Gato when he was first made in his comp armour deflecting Stormtrooper's shots back at them, alas I deleting the game and everything related to it several times over since then

Thing that pisses me off is that there wasn't a lot wrong with the old game, it had a large fan base of loyal players. All it needed was more depth in the game as far as questing, items, & things to do in general. But instead they had to change every aspect of the game from char gen to combat.

What I don't get is that if they really wanted to just make a new game why didn't they just do that, & leave the old one the fuck alone? The game might look similar to what it was before, but as far as I can tell its completely changed in the way its played.