I have been playing SWG since launch, minus about 8 months or so before NGE when i could not receive high speed net access. I have played the game from when we all had to WALK everywhere, until, well, i'm gonna log on for today right after i post this. I am a 30 something long time Star Wars junkie. I was in the 3rd grade when A New Hope came out in 1977. And that day changed my life for the better ever since. Well, it gave me something to obsess over anyway. SWG has gotten raked over the coals for the last year or 2, and it just isnt right. Now most of the complaints over the NGE are indeed legitimate, but NGE did NOT ruin the game. It just, well, changed it. And i love it every bit today as i did on launch.
There is no other MMORPG game in the universe that allows such a diverse manner of game play. Where else can you fight in space, engage in PVP, explore, follow "story mode" linear RPG elements, collect, craft, customize, and on and on. No other game offers such a variety. And it is Star Wars man! We can enter the world of Star Wars on our own terms and do whatever the heck we want there. What a nice break from the real world! It reminds me of the endless hours i spent playing with my Kenner action figures, making my own stories up as i went along. And SWG has only gotten better and better since the rocky NGE launch.
I blame SOE not for the updates, or the NGE, or for ruining the game, or anything of the sort. I DO blame SOE for abandoning SWG when veteran players started to leave the game. Star Wars has never been hotter! I also collect the same action figures, etc., i did as a kid and it can actually be HARD to find certain new figures. Star Wars is HOT. Why didnt SOE jump on this and at least do some limited advertising of the game. SOE could have continued to push SWG and new people would continue to check it out. And many would stay with the game. I mean some simple magazine ads, or even less expensive web site ads. It doesnt make sense to me to only advertise the games in SOE's stable that have a strong player base, like Everquest. If SOE would make everyone aware this great Star Wars game was alive and well, we might not be losing server populations.
I dunno...i'm done making my much belabored point here. SOE abandoned the game along with some of the veteran players shortly after NGE. And that has hurt the viability of the game. We will never see another entire planet added to the expansion packs. And we are having some serious low server population problems. But i continue to say, Star Wars Galaxies is every bit the great game it was since the first time that world opened up and loaded on my then 19" CRT monitor. (looks much better on my 24" LCD monitor nowadays..hehehe) I will never abandon it. Although i do mainly play on the Infinity server and it is getting rather quiet there....hehe. Might be time for a server change. but never a game change. While we all wait for Old Republic to come out, and act as the 2nd SWMMORPG we can spend some time with, Star Wars Galaxies is a great game. Come check us out!
Mike, aka Ritman and Ridman Coreba, Infinity; Nuncha, Wanderhome