With the NGE Galaxies regained the excitement of Star Wars, gave new players an easier way into the game, thanks to a massively simplified character generation system, and the chance to be jedi from the outset. But for all its depth and complexity, but the original Galaxies lacked soul. People who loved the original Star Wars movies because they were fairy tales with ray guns. The NGEs massive, sudden and unannounced overhaul of Galaxies was a fundamental shift from its origins. And six months later they introduced the New Game Enhancements, turning Galaxies into the game it is now. The result - an improved system that encouraged team play - was controversial amongst players, and thousands cancelled their subscriptions, believing Galaxies had changed from a unique game to a clone of other MMOs.ĭespite this dissatisfaction, SOE didn't react to the players' concerns.
On the 27 April, 2005 players found fighting in the game had been radically altered: grouping became important-combat levels were no longer an underlying mechanic and powers, weapons, armor and buffs were all rebalanced.
This was one of the things SOE aimed to change with the Combat Upgrade. While this was innovative, it wasn't Star Wars. Interestingly, one of the professions had nothing to do with combat Artisans were entertainers or created items -anything from ray guns to buildings -that could be sold to other players, and so could earn experience as professional traders, builders, dancers or musicians. By allowing players to take skills from any of six core professions, follow 24 specialist careers, and develop a highly customisable avatar, each player was assured their character was unique. And one of the most praised aspects of the game was character generation. For its time, it was a beautiful game, including accurate recreations of iconic locations like towers of Naboo and Jabba the Hutt's Palace. There was no doubt that An Empire Divided had its fine points. But when they logged on for the first time, players were landed with a confused mess. Simon Jeffery - then the president of LucasArts - saw this player involvement as being vital: "We firmly believe that consistent and open communication with fans will be one of the keys to the success of the Star Wars Galaxies experience." So when An Empire Divided- Galaxies' core game - was launched, expectations were sky high. During the three-year build up to its release, canny marketing saw 400,000 joining Galaxies' online community before the game was released.
Sony Online Entertainment got the development gig for Star Wars Galaxies on the back of the success of Everquest. In the space of two years it went from being the most eagerly awaited game of its time, to one that saw players leave in the thousands. If There Was a book on how to bork an MMO, Star Wars Galaxies would be the prime case study.
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