I went over to the Star Wars Galaxies page today after looking at the new EQ RTS. I havent visited the SWG boards in probably 6 months. Also took the time to read some of the FAQ stuff.

FAQ said 2 things I thought wierd. There will be no levels and equipment wont be 'loot' like it is in EQ. I get a sense that its more of a graphical chat program sort of like Sims Online.

It also looks like it will be dominated by the RP crowd. Ya know the type of people you confuse for employees when you visit Medieval Times.

"Hey can I get another beer?"

"I dont work here"

"oh.... I.... See...."

The few beta-testers I have talked to say basically the same thing:

"It doesn't live up to the hype."

Sad but probably true... This game has a lot of people hopes and dreams riding on it. Too many people want to be Luke or Han riding around on Tauntons and blasting their enemies to tiny bits.

Even if it is ten times the game that Everquest was when it went live... will it really be able to achieve the level of the game that we have all been waiting for?

I think SWG will be a decent game.. but not for a while after release (Or should I say Beta5).

While SWG does nothing for me the comment that it would be dominated by those who RP struck me as kind of funny. You see while I'm not a fanatical RPer I do RP. EQ is a RP game and IMHO the entire game was destroyed by the power gamers who swept into EQ, ignorred RP, quests, emotes etc.... and began shouting across zones talking about movies and other non-EQ things.

In other words they started playing EQ like they would halflife or quake.

IMHO I would not fear the evil RPer from any game. If anything they help the game and play it as it was meant to be played. For those who remember the first year of EQ they will tell you a few things...

People actually roleplayed their characters.
Guilds actually did not allow evil or good (depending on there guild) in.
GM's held wedding in game.
GM's held real events that were only stopped when the power gamers started playing and would ruin the events by attacking the GM's.
People actually figured out quests and did them for the fun and you seldom heard people shouting crap across zones.


I'm not sure what you meant by your comment about those who RP but I can assure you that you have nothing to fear from people who RP - unless you abhor people who roleplay in a roleplay game *smiles*

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>FAQ said 2 things I thought wierd. There will be no levels and equipment wont be 'loot' like it is in EQ. I get a sense that its more of a graphical chat program sort of like Sims Online.[/quote]

Nope. I'll clarify what that means. First, it will be a skill-based game, kinda like Ultima Online, or at least that's the way I take that statement. Second, what they mean by "no loot" is that you might get parts to something as loot, but in order to have anything worthwhile, you'd have to take that to someone skilled in a particular trade to make the item you want.

Personally, I liked the idea of starting a Star Wars character, but as development has gone forward, I have totally lost interest in playing. There are several things about Star Wars as it currently stands that I don't like:

1) Item decay. I haven't liked item decay in any MMORPG I have played, and I never will like it, no matter how much some tradeskiller tells me it will help the game economy and allows them to enjoy the game.

2) Not sure if they will keep this policy, but they will be limiting each account to one character per server. Sure, we are going to be permitted to master three professions, but I'm the type of person that likes to try everything. I don't want to have to go to another server to try something new, nor do I want to go through the long, drawn-out process of deskilling and leveling up a new skillset.

3) Scarcity of Jedi. From what I understand, force sensitive characters will be rare and Jedi will be as rare as hen's teeth. Yes, I know that in order to adhere to the canon of the Star Wars universe, there can't be swarms of Jedi running around, but I want to play a Jedi. However, count me among those that think canon should be sacrificed in the name of...fun. After all, in most fantasy literature, there aren't hordes of wizards or other spellcasters running around; they are usually fairly rare. Yet, in EverQuest and most MMORPGs, that's exactly what you have.

If I have a snowball's chance in Hell of playing a Jedi, I won't play. Then again, maybe I don't want to play a Jedi, because...

4) Perma-death for Jedi. Yup, even if you were one of the lucky few to actually get to play a Jedi, after so many deaths, your Jedi is DEAD. From what I understand, you get to keep the force sensitive character slot, but you have to start over. Yippee. :o

5) Over-reliance on tradeskills. First, I like tradeskills in EQ. The system is far from perfect, but at least you can enjoy EQ without having to rely on tradeskills. However, in Star Wars, if you want the best equipment, you get it from a tradeskiller. I imagine that if your items degrade, you get a tradeskiller to fix them. Great for the tradeskiller...but it's starting to look like tradeskills are just a little too much priority in SWG for my tastes.

I could go on, but unless they have a handful of non-canon servers where people can have multiple characters, play Jedi, and don't have their equipment degrade due to item decay, I probably won't play it.

Oh yeah, regarding the comment about RPers. Personally, I have nothing against RPers or roleplaying. However, I do think that SWG is suffering due to being designed with too many concessions to the hardcore RPing community.

Regards,

Aldane Aglond

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<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>3) Scarcity of Jedi. From what I understand, force sensitive characters will be rare and Jedi will be as rare as hen's teeth. Yes, I know that in order to adhere to the canon of the Star Wars universe, there can't be swarms of Jedi running around, but I want to play a Jedi. However, count me among those that think canon should be sacrificed in the name of...fun. After all, in most fantasy literature, there aren't hordes of wizards or other spellcasters running around; they are usually fairly rare. Yet, in EverQuest and most MMORPGs, that's exactly what you have.

If I have a snowball's chance in Hell of playing a Jedi, I won't play. Then again, maybe I don't want to play a Jedi, because...

4) Perma-death for Jedi. Yup, even if you were one of the lucky few to actually get to play a Jedi, after so many deaths, your Jedi is DEAD. From what I understand, you get to keep the force sensitive character slot, but you have to start over. Yippee.
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</em>
The way I heard it was...

Anyone can be a Jedi, but it is perma-death.. meaning die ONE time.. and game over - start again.

Here’s the deal on Jedi, at least insofar as they’ve explained it. Your force-sensitive character is separate from your “regular” character. The force-sensitive character occupies a special character slot that must be “unlocked” through in-game actions of some sort. They aren’t going to reveal what those actions are, but Raph Koster has acknowledged that people will figure it out and share it with each other (as with quests in EQ). There’ll be, in Koster’s words, a “recipe” that people can follow which will eventually unlock their force-sensitive character slot.

The character you create in the force-sensitive slot is subject to perma-death. If he or she dies, you have to make a new force-sensitive character and start over (if you want to). Koster has said that being a jedi, or aspiring jedi, will be an extremely difficult life and that, by design, most people will die before making it to Jedi Master.

The reason for this system is that they want Jedi to be powerful, and give everyone a chance to play one, but they also need them to be rare for continuity reasons.

Also, you are allowed a few deaths with your force sensitive character as I understand it, not just one.

And if your force sensitive character dies after he has become a Jedi, he becomes one of those "blue glowy" guys like at the end of Return of the Jedi. I'm not sure exactly what that means-think you can only chat etc, but not actually interact in your environment.

They pretty much had to put SOMETHING in the game mechanic to make being a Jedi less appealing, or EVERYONE would play one. My only concern with this particular choice is that Jedi are going to be the world's biggest chickens, to prevent the perma death...which is sorta out of character for them.

<em>Also, you are allowed a few deaths with your force sensitive character as I understand it, not just one.</em>

You're right, I forgot about that.

Ok, sorry for my "third hand" information.

Kinda makes Jedi fair-weather friends...

Random_Jedi01 "Hey guys can I group?"
Leighaah_223 "Wow a jedi? Sure, we are killing womp rats"
Chezwewz "Hey, I need a heal here."
Hawan "INC! -=A really big Womp Rat=-"

-Assorted battle text here-

Hawan "Gah, down to 2 life Help!"
Leighaah_223 "Sorry, that is my last bacta dart.. out of healing.."

Random_Jedi01 is no longer in the group.
Random_Jedi01 is running away.

Hawan "Um.. How do I get back to Tatooine? I am at the clone center in Nabu."


Perma-death = Coward that will run away at the first sign of trouble. /imho.

Well, yeah, but wouldnt you? If I poured realtime weeks of my time into my jedi character, I wouldnt be about to die stupidly in a random group, or in any situation that I could possibly avoid. I dont know anyone that *would* be willing to die and sacrifice all that effort.

Which is a huge flaw in their jedi setup. They really shoulda just not put them in the game at all, but... As it is, jedi better be *really* hard to kill, or people will get pissed off in droves.

Tia

The reason I like computer games is the same that I like pen & paper games... the adventure. MMORPG go a step further and let you share the adventure with other people.

SWG has moved away from the adventure and gone over to over emphasize the social aspect. Thus you have profesions like entertainers, crafters, miners, etc. This creates the "make them useful or no one will play them" syndrome.

In order to make them useful they are forcing the other profesions to need them. Thus, entertainers are the only ones that can cure "mind" wounds" and mobs don't drop useful loot so you are forced to buy from crafters. On top of that they introduced item decay and offline decay, yes items decay even if you haven't logged for a month, at a slower rate but they still decay.

BTW, why would I need entertainers in SWG, I'm already doing something to be entertained... I'm playing a computer game.

Now, jedi... they are the main attraction of SW, they are what diferentiate SW from any other Sci-fi movie. Of course many people will want to be jedi. Trying to limit jedi will only cause frustration in many customers. I really don't understand why they want to limit jedi so much. They say it is because of continuity, well... why didn't they choose a different era then? One where jedi are not so limited in numbers. As someone else said, not allowing jedi in SWG is like not allowing wizards or even knights in a fantasy game. They are cutting off the main attraction for many people to play the game.

Really, in my opinion, SWG doesn't feels like a place to experience adventures in the SW universe with friends. It feels more like The SIMS in space. I already canceled my pre-order but I'll keep watch in case I am mistaken and SWG is worthy of adventurers.

I was enthusiastic about SWG a long time ago. But after there has been more info about it and it's coming closer to release...it just boggles my mind. I mean - dancers? hairdressers!??! What the HELL! I don't want to look at some freaking dancers in an RPG! Plus the tradeskill system is totally bogus - in EQ it's pretty good, it's a diversion that anyone can do...but in SWG, you have to _commit_ to being a tradeskiller, and can't be a decent combatant after that. It's not something that you can do when you get bored of combat...blech. It seems that the things you can do in SWG are really limited, if you are a chef (*SIGH*!) you are a chef, and can't fiddle in armorcrafting unless you want to lose your previously learned skills...that sucks.

*rant* ...what the hell are they doing..I just don't get it :) . The whole system/skills/classes seems really screwed...