SOE losing Star Wars: Galaxies license?

  • By thorsen-ink, GameSpot
  • Posted Mar 24, 2006 2:52 pm PT

Source: Popular game blog Kotaku. The official story: See below. What we heard: Of all the Star Wars games, Galaxies has been the most controversial. After releasing it to mixed reviews in 2003, Sony Online Entertainment was criticized for completely overhauling the massively multiplayer online...

Source: Popular game blog Kotaku.

The official story: See below.

What we heard: Of all the Star Wars games, Galaxies has been the most controversial. After releasing it to mixed reviews in 2003, Sony Online Entertainment was criticized for completely overhauling the massively multiplayer online role-playing game's combat system in Spring 2005. The publisher drew even more criticism last November when it implemented a series of allegedly buggy new game enhancements that eliminated several character classes.

Given Galaxies' bumpy ride, and the fact that many game contracts expire after three years, it is not inconceivable that LucasArts, holder of all Star Wars rights, might want to shop around the license. According to informed sources in the industry, that's exactly what the company is doing. Two shops have been mentioned as talking with LucasArts--Cryptic Studios, home to MMORPG City of Heroes, and Canada-based BioWare, maker of the action RPG Jade Empire.

Of the two, BioWare appears the more likely candidate. Besides the fact it developed the critically acclaimed and wildly popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the developer just founded a new studio in Austin, Texas--home of SOE's Austin branch--which employs several ex-SOE staffers. The shop's sole project is an unidentified MMORPG set in a science fiction universe, just as Star Wars: Galaxies is.

What's the official line on all this? "The SWG license stuff is completely untrue," was a SOE spokesperson's terse response. "LucasArts and SOE have no plans to 'sunset' Star Wars Galaxies," said a LucasArts rep, referring to the practice of gradually phasing out a game. "It's had its fair share of hurdles, but it has also had its share of successes in its own right, so we aren't interested in abandoning it and focusing on the future."

However, what the LucasArts rep said next raised another interesting possibility--that another Star Wars MMORPG could be in the works. "We have had several developers approach us expressing interest in developing a future Star Wars online game," said the rep. (emphasis in the original.) However, if any such game is in the works, it will be a long time until it surfaces. "As of right now, it hasn't gone anything beyond that (that is, no conversations, no serious talks, no pitches, etc.)," assured the rep.

Despite the official denials, there is still much talk of all not being well at SOE Austin. Though potentially biased, a contact within another studio claims to have been peppered with resumes from SOE developers. The source claims that "over half of the [SOE Austin] coders and artists are scrambling for the lifeboats" because "they all seem to know they will be losing SWG." The studio has already seen one major departure--chief creative officer Raph Koster left this week "to pursue development interests outside of the company."

Bogus or not bogus?: Officially? Bogus. Unofficially? Who knows...

185 Comments

  • Vallgeran7

    Posted Aug 13, 2009 7:04 pm PT

    This is old still gets new comments.. the game is back from the dead once again and this is from 06. Obviously its like what SOE stated in the past, as long as SWG makes profit its license will remain, there adding new content straight from a new book, meaning Lucas gave them the rights to do so. People have been claiming SOE will loose its fight since wow came out.

    And if your claimig to little to late, do you have any idea how hard it is to fix NGE when few were loyal and stuck around, WoW still takes its sweet time to fix things and its got millions of paid accounts to pay its staff to work, SWG lost half its staff off the bat because people ran away to play the new game, and haven't given it a real chance since. I played pre NGE I left, played wow, got bored and came back to NGE, it may not have had bgs back in the day, but now its slowly getting fixed, and I still like the community there better then any other MMO I've played.

    Oh big final note they have rights to the specific time frame of Star Wars meaning yes just like theres 20 games with warlocks, there can be more then one so long as people play, and if you not playing it now you realy should keep your mouth shut, its the "loyal" players that decide when it dies, marketing at its finest. Play a trader and you might learn that.

  • juanfermin

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 10:57 am PT

    I just started playing SWG again and they've definitely made some improvements that make the game a bit more fun. Though I've had to start a new Character on Bloodfin, since my old server Kauri is practically abandoned. If you're looking to get into the Game, Bloodfin and Bria are about the only 2 left that have decent populations. If you're not the type that likes to group up, then it's no big deal what server you play.
    Probably the biggest issue I have with the game though, is that before the CU, contrary to what's being said here, grouping was practically mandatory for most of the higher level dungeons. Let me explain. There were 3 indicator bars, Health, Action and Mind, most attacks or defenses took a percentage of Action and Mind and when you took Battle Damage, you could end up taking it to one or all 3. You could also screw yourself up by taking Drugs that enhanced your abilities, but then blotted out 90% of your Mind points to where they would not recover. The only way to recover these points was by either going back to a Cantina and relaxing in front of some entertainers. This gave ALL Cantina's in EVERY city a purpose and this is why they were always full of people. The Cantina also served as a "meeting place" where everyone got together and talked about what was going on in the GCW and other events. These days the Cantina's are mostly devoid of people and serve no real purpose. Another thing that would happen is that Traders like me, would build large Camps and these groups would bring along medics and entertainers, so many times outside a cave or dungeon, you would see groups of people camped out in front of these places healing battle damage or just chatting. Most of those social aspects are now gone from the game.
    These days, you get into a fight, your damage heals itself over the next minute or 2 and you go back in. No need for Camps, no need for Cantina's no need for grouping with Medics and Entertainers.
    Another issue that I have is the fact that previously, the BEST weapons, ships vehicles and Armor, were ALL player manufactured. These days the best loot comes from Drops, so again, there is absolutely zero need for Traders anymore either.
    I used to welcome new players into the game and exchange a lot (to place a Miner) for a vehicle, and I would let them know that my Vendors would always take their Hides and other animal parts that I would then craft into either Camps or Medicines to be used as Healing potions. Now, every player is given a new vehicle and ship as they start the game and as I've said before healing potions are not really needed anymore since everyone heals up automagically within a few seconds or minutes.
    The reason so many of us are pissed about the CU and NGE is because it destroyed a game that many, many, many of us enjoyed and replaced it with a WoW clone, where intelligence and tactics are no longer required.
    Numbers don't lie. These days there are FAR, FAR fewer players of SWG then there ever was before Sony decided to destroy the game that we loved.

  • Jackel4Ever

    Posted Jul 31, 2008 12:00 pm PT

    I love how any time there is a headline about Star Wars Galaxies it bring out all the whiners who hated NGE, and probably haven't played Galaxies since then. People who are 2 years out of touch and now secretly play WoW to get their MMORPG fix... Got news for them, for those who were true fans of SWG, it's still the best mmoRPG out there. They've improved drastically over the past two years by reintroducing beastmastery, collections,and instances. It's NGE-style leveling is also more in line with other popular MMORPG's than the old Pre-NGE was. I'm willing to bet the mass of crying NGE haters were either "look at me!" Jedi's or traders who could solo a Kryat Dragon. If anything NGE has brought the players together more by FORCING them to interact, and anyone who says otherwise hasn't played the game. I have heavy doubts that it's going to sunset any time soon because it hasn't even started the "Death" phase of MMO's, which is the mass consolidation of servers.

  • sqldbaman

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:30 am PT

    SWG has always had some kind of issue... but with some of the latest chapters releases... i.e. Ch. 7... it's fairly fun. Collections are going well and other new quests are getting people involved all over again. I have seen more people on... and I see ppls returning daily. Those that don't like it... don't let the door hit you on the way out. BTW... been playing since week 1 so I have seen it all. No doubt they screwed up many decisions... but loyal made it through and are enjoying it.

  • osleyee

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 1:20 pm PT

    lets wait and see how things turn out

  • RTS_Fanatic

    Posted Aug 1, 2007 8:56 pm PT

    I really hope Lucasarts and Bioware decide to do so. I have been playing SWG for over 2 years now, and i have to say this: HELP!!! No offense to SOE but they screwed it up. Bioware ,creators of kotor and jade empire, should definitly make this 'new' SWG it the rumors are true. They've had the most experience.

  • cellolol

    Posted Jul 8, 2007 1:41 pm PT

    Ok 1st of all world of warcrap users get outa here n go play your little cartoon game yea thats right im talken to you and 2ed of all wtf the best thing about a mmo they can have is that type of combat why would you want to change it no crap where i sit there and let my char attack while i reed a book or do somthing thats crazy

  • runtheplacered

    Posted Jun 13, 2007 4:41 pm PT

    "once thought as all of you do but i gave the game a chance and to tell you the truth it has grown on me i prefer the game the way it is now compared to how it was . Now its kinda like a third person shooter than a turn based and i like shooters over turn based games anyday. So i hope they keep swg with SOE and try not to mod much more."

    So, then why are you playing a mmoRPG, if you dislike RPG's?

    Tell you what... whatever your response to that is... you can go ahead and play your MMOTPS (mmo - third person shooter)... and SOE can run that.. while Bioware makes an MMORPG, ok? Not really sure who you're going to shoot all by yourself.. but enjoy it.

    BTW, if you liked the game before NGE and all that garbage.. make sure you check out the EMU coming out.

  • simonmg7

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 10:39 pm PT

    S.O.E. as bin on my Blacklist for 2 years because of how porly they handled S.W.G. I may never buy a ps3 just because S.O.E. handels the online aspect of it.

    There will be mmorpg's on the 360. If there would be a new starwars mmorpg (posibly based on the knights of the old republic era) on it it would be huge, the sucribers would nodoupt be in the millions.

  • jeff2374

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 12:43 pm PT

    A Star Wars MMOG has a lot of potentiall but also alot of things to work out. I think it would be cool to have the game go through the different eras over time. That kind of constant change would keep the game fun and fresh. Galazies looks lame however. It would be awesome if Blizzard could make a new one, and maybe keep it free to play. I also think that there should be special conditions to become a Jedi, like you should require 2 other characters lvl 80 or higher. That way there'd be very few Jedi but you could still be one.

  • kylekatarnsbudd

    Posted Aug 20, 2006 1:05 am PT

    I once thought as all of you do but i gave the game a chance and to tell you the truth it has grown on me i prefer the game the way it is now compared to how it was . Now its kinda like a third person shooter than a turn based and i like shooters over turn based games anyday. So i hope they keep swg with SOE and try not to mod much more.

    P.S. its not much fun under lv 60

  • RazorBat

    Posted Jul 24, 2006 6:23 am PT

    They should just drop it altogether. SOE HAD the best MMORPG, until they decided to launch the NGE. Then they had the "Best waste of hard drive space".

  • anchorhed

    Posted Jul 20, 2006 8:27 am PT

    the only reason i can think as to why soe would ruin galaxies the way they did is maybe the choice was made by someone leaving soe to work for another company. so they sabotaged galaxies b4 they went. stupid suggestion i know but thats the only way most of the UPGRADES make even a sliver of sense to me.

  • anchorhed

    Posted Jul 20, 2006 8:16 am PT

    i think a starwars online game in kotor style would have lots to draw upon. but i doubt that will happen, without stormtroopers, xwings, stardestroyers,vader,rebels,at-at walkers it just wont appeal to a large enough audience. most ppl know only the movies, and the guys paying for the games to be made know that.
    I loved kotor 1 and 2. I beat each one more 6 times, but it gets kinda boring just telling your character what to do. sometimes you want to move around while fighting. u no like in the movies. i think an online starwars game with shooting and vehicles stuff from the battlefront games, jedis like the jedi academy series, choices and character development like kotor would rock. It would sell great and i think a lot of ppl would keep xbox live just to take there wookie brawler or jedi or stormtrooper against there friends wampa or c how long theyll last in tusken raider country.
    2 games that i wish were starwars are oblivion and x3.

  • DYMongoose

    Posted Jul 12, 2006 8:35 pm PT

    I agree with skitchrick 100%

  • skitchrick

    Posted Jul 3, 2006 2:06 pm PT

    I LOVED SWG before the NGE totally ruined it. I've tried 4-5 other mmorpg's since then and always ending up wishing it was like SWG used to be. It actually had a viable market/economy where the things you made were usable, had value, and could easily be bought and sold (take a hint EQ2). The combat was fun (as a Teras Kasi/Swordsman, at least) and I truly loved being able to jump on my bike and just go exploring (forget that instanced BS that makes D&D Online impossible to solo).
    SOOOO.... any suggestions? What other game is the closest to SWG pre-NGE on the market- I'll go buy it right now!!!

  • cskinner

    Posted Jun 22, 2006 5:22 pm PT

    I can't express how unGodly happy it would make me to have a new SWG or to return SWG to it's past glory.....I HATE SOE and their supposed "enhancements"...........Sony has lost all of my business in every venture

    Please Lucas Arts, give us back our STAR WARS!!!!!

  • d00ragg

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 11:10 am PT

    I really hope that SOE either loses the license or someone makes another Star Wars MMO. Star Wars has unlimited potential for a MMO. Huge fan base, great story. I played SWG for years and what SOE did to the game with the NGE was unforgiveable. Even if noone ever makes another SW MMO SOE deserves to lose thier license for what they did to the game and to the loyal subscribers. It was one of the best games I ever played, such a shame...

  • corruptionofmin

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 7:01 pm PT

    In many ways Bioware would make an excellent dev. But could they honostly keep up with *all* glitches? Just look back at KOTOR. That game had some major glitches. I'm just saying I hope BioWare would be up to the challenge and give it 110%
    P.S
    SW:G is a good game but the missions get sooo repetetive.

    Update:
    Could you just imagine if Blizzard was to be the developer of SW:G? They would never do since they got WoW to concern themselves about. Blizzard would only dev for SW:G in a galaxy far, far away...

  • leeb127

    Posted Jun 10, 2006 2:24 pm PT


    SSJGoku Said: I loved SWG back in the day. When the first Combat Upgrade hit I had mixed feelings. But started to like the new changes. Then they put out the NGE stuff. That just totally killed it for me.

    I agree with this, I could deal with CU. but NGE just nailed the coffin. Even if another developer took over, Id highly doubt that they would turn it back into pre-cu/nge Star Wars Galaxies anyways. It was a great game, and will be missed. Nothing we can do now, thats the sad part.

  • SSJGoku

    Posted May 31, 2006 5:14 pm PT

    I loved SWG back in the day. When the first Combat Upgrade hit I had mixed feelings. But started to like the new changes. Then they put out the NGE stuff. That just totally killed it for me.

  • KaBooM57

    Posted May 25, 2006 6:55 pm PT

    Please dear god do not let that damn SOE torment Star wars universe anymore!!! Dear Bioware please take the license!!!

    Damn you SOE, DAMN YOU!!!

  • cowboylee555

    Posted Apr 17, 2006 12:24 pm PT

    SOE messed up the game when the NGE went into effect. They took everything anyone worked for and then put it back when the members got officially P.Od. and then they acted like the great things they put back where completly new! I'm not sure why SOE ever changed the game when the community told them not to. They did and they suffered and obiously didn't learn from any mistakes. I quit the game and advise all others not to get it. It used to be a GREAT game but now jedi r everywhere and they don't even have to work to get to the glorified state that others worked years for. It greatly tears apart the story. Now it's just shoot everything and and forget any content. SOE WHY?! I don't blame Lucasarts because they've always made great games(even a strategy game that I liked) and couldn't possibly have the empty headedness of SOE. Everyhtng was great if they would just listen to the community. Lucasarts, get SOE out, otherwise may this game rest n peace.

  • carabetta

    Posted Apr 3, 2006 12:07 pm PT

    Maybe.....

    Star Wars Galaxies 2: The New Republic

  • Eric2980

    Posted Apr 3, 2006 5:55 am PT

    [This message was slapped in the face by a moderator]

  • Rotherden

    Posted Apr 3, 2006 2:05 am PT

    NGE blew...

  • Medasnipe

    Posted Apr 2, 2006 12:07 pm PT

    Anyone else thinking about....

    Star Wars Galaxies 2: The Old Republic?

    From Bioware?

  • Marzz069

    Posted Apr 2, 2006 10:48 am PT

    well it was bound to happin the game is awsome but sony went out of control and just kept screwin with the game till this happined so i say let the game be moved some were else sony has messed with this game for the last time.

  • olivercon

    Posted Apr 2, 2006 4:10 am PT

    whadda pity

  • motots250

    Posted Apr 1, 2006 9:02 am PT

    I hope SOE does lose it. The game was great but got lamer and lamer after they had tiem to sit and think of "ideas for them self" thats not what games want. we want someone to make a game the way we want. so get SOE out the pictuer already lol I cant wait to get that NGE up and see the way its gone.

  • boo_dat

    Posted Mar 31, 2006 11:56 pm PT

    has anyone seen my shotgun?...I coulda sworn it was laying around here somewhere...

  • lateralus01

    Posted Mar 31, 2006 8:15 pm PT

    I believe it. i mean seriously, how many times has SOE lied? But I really hope it goes to BioWear... cryptic could fluck it up even worse. city of heros is very fruity IMO.

  • Nick_Rc

    Posted Mar 31, 2006 2:29 pm PT

    thats the biggist understatement of the year

  • Rotherden

    Posted Mar 31, 2006 6:24 am PT

    this game blows....

  • AzraelHorn

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:37 am PT

    I really wish that the people who keep complaining about the Jedi would just shut up. Seriously.
    One: yeah, you can be a Jedi starting out in the new system, but you suck. You suck hard. You have no armor. You use mele weapons and grind out your character forever to even get a beginners lightsaber. So it's not like you had Jedi Masters running all over all the time. Most characters don't even make it far enough to get a lightsaber before they quit. I played for a few months. Out of all that time I only ran across a handful of actual Jedi. The rest were just chumps with a padawan outfit on getting their arses handed to them.
    Two: It's supposed to be a fantasy. People want to have their own character in the SW universe, and they should be able to be a Jedi if they want. Like I've already said, most don't even make it that far to be a "true" jedi anyway. They're mostly just force sensitive wannabe's with half trained crappy powers that dies every five seconds.
    Three: Everyone complains about the Jedi but they don't complain about the umpteen million Boba Fett wannabes running around. Like mandalorian armor wasn't as rare as Jedi. There's no way that they could ever make a game that gives the fans what they want without giving someone the shaft or people complaining.

    In the end it's just a game. it's supposed to be wish fulfillment for fans to be able to be whatever they want to be in the universe. It's a MMORPG not a friggin EU novel were canon has to be dead on or anything. You want to really complain, then complain about the stuff that really mattered. Hell, smugglers couldn't even SMUGGLE. SWG was a good concept poorly carried out. Period. The game was lackluster when it first hit, it's still lackluster now, even with the changes they've made (and I like the new combat system.) Hopefully they'll pull the plug and try again with a better, well thought out system.

  • wafqhdjfkfhfmd

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 3:57 pm PT

    swg was more like a job that takes money away from you, not a video game.

  • Nick_Rc

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 2:48 pm PT

    i played this game for over a year and soe have killed it i hope lucas arts kill it off and make anouther one but dont trust sony

  • GooEatingZombie

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 2:10 pm PT

    I remember some of the fun I used to have playing Galaxies during the short duration of time where the game was pretty good. We call that the 'before time'.
    Then in November, I obtained a free trial code and added it to my old account. I ran the uninstall, broke the CD in half, and ran Norton on my computer. Thanks Sony, for making the Jedi Class as easy to obtain as a cold sore.

    I am curious to see what Bioware can do (or any company for that matter) However SOE just ruined the whole concept of a Star Wars MMO for me. They should have gone to Bio ware first.

  • Inuzuka-kun

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 1:07 pm PT

    Very suspicious.....>_>
    I hope they do get dropped of the licence, because SOE has proved it can't handle it very well

  • Uthur

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 11:13 am PT

    My biggest concern with a new Star Wars MMOrpg isn't the developer Bioware, they've proven they can produce an excellent game if given the time to do so. My worry is that LucasArts will be the badguy once again, and not give the developer enough to to fully flesh out the game, instead demanding it to be released on LucasArts' timetable, likely trying to rush it out before some holiday season.

  • MASTERCHIEFUSMA

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 9:33 am PT

    Man i miss the Pre-CU Days.....

  • Marthisdil

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 8:06 am PT

    *** Scout was fun to play but the grinders who did nothing but play the game all day pretty much ruined it for me, made it hard to make an in-game living as pretty much any class. ****

    You're aware that that is the same thing in EVERY MMO, right? If you think it'll be different just because Bioware makes it, you're an idiot.

  • D4DDY-O

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 7:51 am PT

    A fair number of people are feeling the way you do, Rip. No one is really sure which company is more to blame for the NGE fiasco: SOE or LucasArts. It appears that SWG has been victimized repeatedly by marketing directives from Somewhere On High (tm) to have a new game, or a new expansion, or a new version of the game, out by such-and-such a date, in order to synchronize with movie/DVD release dates. If so, that can be seen via our 20/20 hindsight to have been a horribly bad idea. And for that, LucasArts would bear the stigma.

    But seriously, someone will have a Star Wars MMORPG going somewhere. It's just too juicy an intellectual property to remain sidelined or wasted in an inferior product indefinitely.

  • RipStrike

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 7:26 am PT

    Oddly enough, despite Bioware's proven track record, I really wouldn't want them to take up this license. The Star Wars license has been dragged through so much mud that, all things being the same, I'd rather pre-order a no-name game than one based on the Star Wars license.

  • D4DDY-O

    Posted Mar 28, 2006 9:07 pm PT

    Mech, around February 2005, the devs started really talking seriously about revamping the combat system. If you played it long enough to go into the advanced professions beyond the six "starter" professions (i.e., getting into Rifleman or Carbineer, beyond Marksman), you may have noticed that special shots that focused on Mind damage were quite the thing. This was because of a balance issue that dated all the way back to the original combat system. Originally, Doctors were able to heal all three attributes -- Health, Action, and Mind. In Beta, it was discovered that this made Docs essentially perpetually-self-healing. And so the ability to heal Mind damage was eliminated.

    This led to the unintended consequence of Mind-targeting attacks becoming overly valuable in PvP.

    A second issue was the near-invincibility of some "defense stacker" templates, especially in combination with high-resistance composite armor and highly-powerful attribute buffs.

    These two issues are what gave imetus to the drive for a combat revamp.

    The devs released their "Combat Upgrade" after much discussion and preparation of the player community in late April 2005. The armor system was drastically changed, boiling all armor types to three categories, within which the differences between armors were solely cosmetic: Assault, Recon, and Battle. Likewise, weapons were boiled down to two basic damage types: Kinetic weapons, and Energy weapons. Assault armors (in which we found Composite armor) were weighted about 15 percent towards greater protection against kinetic weaponry with a corresponding weakness to energy-based weapons, while Recon armor (such as Ubese) was the opposite. Battle armors (such as RIS armor) struck a balance.

    In addition to the change in the weapons-and-armor system, the devs altered the way the HAM system worked. Instead of being able to attack the three HAM bars, all damage was now confined to the target's Health bar, while Action and Mind were pressed into service as a sort of "dual Mana"-like pool.

    The final major change was the implementation of a level-based damage-multiplier system that basically trumped all the game's other combat modifiers. As you advanced in your chosen profession, you also gained on an abstract "combat level." Once you'd spent all your skill points, you would top out at CL-80 if you'd mastered two advanced professions. And if you attacked anything that was significantly lower in level than you, you could pretty much one-shot kill it with ANY weapon at all -- even a CDEF rifle, the entry-level nOOb rifle! And that top-of-the-line krayted T-21 rifle you spent millions of pre-CU credits on? Heh... after the CU reworked it's stats, you generally had just another generic rifle.

    In the meantime, the rest of the game became very generic: Gone were the amazingly diverse creature stats from the original game, replaced with generic stats for all beasts of the same level. A CL-65 Gaping Spider had the same stats as a CL-65 Boar Wolf and a CL-65 Urnsori's from the Myrrdil Caverns on Kashyyyk. Even the Mission Terminals churned out generic creatures, taking various creature skins and adjusting their stats willy-nilly to correspond with the players' combat level: Kaadus that in the wild were CL-14 would be morphed into CL-78-to-82 beasts, for example. It was all very disturbing and disruptive of immersiveness.

    Well, the system muddled through a summer's worth of tweaking and balancing. Things seemed to be slowly improving: Creature Handlers received a mini-publish that introduced a new system for their pets' broken special attacks, there was a Ranger Revamp on the horizon, and things seemed to be going swimmingly. And then, BOOM! Julio Torres published a letter to the community TWO DAYS AFTER the Trials of Obi-Wan{/i] expansion went live, that announced [i]another complete overhaul of the game -- the "New Game Environment!" GONE was the game's elaborate and varied profession system, replaced by the infamous Nine Iconic (tm) Professions. GONE were Creature Handlers, Rangers, Bioengineers, Teras Kasi, Pikemen, Swordsmen, Fencers, Riflemen, Carbineers, and Pistoleers. GONE was the turn-based combat system, replaced by a pseudo-real-time click-to-shoot system that gives the appearance of a real-time attack system without the precision of a true first-person/3rd-person shooter. GONE was SWG's Kosteresque attempt to create an innovative combat system, replaced with a bad copy of World of Warcraft. GONE was the effort to squash the bugs introduced in the Combat Upgrade, replaced with yet another bug-infested, half-finished system rushed to market to coincide with the release to DVD of Star Wars: Episode III. Jedi became available from the start of a player's in-game career, rather than a mystical profession unlocked by persistent effort and questing for information.

    And with the "NGE," GONE were thousands of ripped-off customers.

  • mechwarrior_bob

    Posted Mar 28, 2006 2:28 pm PT

    i did pay for it but i stopped after the first free month i didnt like to pay for it so what is wrong i didnt track this game since its release unlike most others so can someone fill me in

  • mechwarrior_bob

    Posted Mar 28, 2006 2:12 pm PT

    Okay so what exactly happened with this game i bought it 2004 Christmas and i didnt pay for it so i dont play it any more but what happened i didnt follow the game so can some one tell me what happened with this game ??

  • listlurker

    Posted Mar 28, 2006 10:16 am PT

    I liked the NGE a lot -- at first. Then all the usual problems with SWG came back to bite me in the arse. I had to admit that SWG was never really very good as an MMO, or as a representation of the Star Wars universe.

    I agree -- kill off SWG. Purge the rot. Let Bioware give us Knights of the Old Republic Online.

  • geraldkr

    Posted Mar 28, 2006 9:54 am PT

    I think SOE should die and loose all their money for what they did to us Star Wars fans. I played SWG and put in a lot of time and money in playing the game and then SWG decides to change it and stuffed up the game really bad. I was so angry and cannot put it in words how angry i was. I cancelled my account and left SWG. I have not touched any online game since then because I do not want to waste my money again by playing a game and then it changes. I was really very upset when SWG changed the way the game worked in April 2005. They destroyed the game and should never be allowed to make any other games for any body. They do not deserve it and i hope they wither away and die. I have no feelings for them and they did not even care what they did to their loyal supporters. They just went ahead with all the changes even when all the customers shouted NO!!!.
    Bioware has made excellent games and I wish they can make a new one for LucasArts. The old SWG must just die away because I will never play it again so NO fixes or stuff. Just make a new one with the same action / fighting as Jedi Academy but with KOTOR RPG style or something but just NOT like SWG again. NOOOOOOO. Thanks for reading this.

  • PyscoJuggalo

    Posted Mar 28, 2006 3:10 am PT

    One more comment....

    SWG's problems stem from this, SOE & LA wanted a quick buck, they did not take the time and resources that were necessary to develop a game that was solid at release. They released a raw product and that burned them.

    Should be a warning to all MMORPG developers/producers.

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