Feature : Is it about time the hatred toward NGE stopped?

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

November 15th 2005 was a big day in the history of not only Star Wars Galaxies, but also in the world of MMO games. It was the day that SOE and LucasArts pushed forward with the most radical changes in any MMO game - ever.

 

For those of you who don't know about the history of NGE, here is a brief history of events.

 

The "New Game Enhancements" (NGE) began testing on 4 November 2005, going live on 15 November via digital download, and became available in retail as the Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit on 22 November. Changes included the reduction of the 34 original professions to 9 "iconic" ones.

 

There were criticisms of the changes in some reviews, and negative player feedback was noted by media outlets outside the gaming industry, including CBS News, New York Times, New York Post and Wired Magazine. On Slashdot, John Smedley explained that they felt it necessary to revamp the game in order to reverse the deterioration they were seeing in the subscriber base..

 

Since then, the community still remains divided over the treatment by SOE at how they brought about these changes. Personally, I was fuming and left the game shortly after I posted a scathing review of the new changes. True, combat was terrible and the game had more bugs then ever before.

 

Isn't it about time to forgive and forget?

 

I returned at the top of 2007 as I was missing the game so much and was hoping that the game had moved in the new direction.

 

The current dev team have made many changes to the original NGE format - bringing back many features that were in the old pre-cu/nge Galaxies code. The camera functions have returned, its possible to bring back the old key-map settings and although many classes are the essentially the same, the new expertise system goes some way into making each player unique in terms of their abilities.

 

Galaxies is moving in the right direction but yet certain corners of the playing community still vent their anger at any post made regarding Galaxies. Yes, it wasn't pleasant what had happened and SOE have apologised to the community AND importantly, learnt from their mistakes with the introduction of NGE.

 

However, despite that, some players still continue to be negatitive despite the fact they haven't touched the game since 2005!They will remain bitter until they die. Is this good for the game, you have to ask yourself? With so many new players coming to the game and, many veterans returning, the confusion created by the few bitter players will continue to have an impact, if only a small one.

 

A New Hope - NGE 2007

 

Many new features form part of NGE 2007. I call it NGE 2007 because the difference between NGE 2005 and today, is vast. The new Beast Master system is excellent. Those who love the complex crafting, have been given a boost with this new expertise tree and it's great to see pets running around again.

 

Story Teller allows players to create their own stories and can draw upon a huge list of items to use to add atmosphere to that story - including Star Wars music!

 

There is also talk now of bringing back Species traits. These were basically additional skill points that granted a Species slightly better skill mods (ie Zabraks are better at constructing droids than a human). It made a small difference back then and would be yet another welcome addition to the game.

 

The dev team are making the changes and their communication to the community has never been better. Regular updates regarding the progress of the House Purge, for example have been welcome, despite disappointments in delays and regular polls to gage community demand in terms of where to shift their focus to, are welcome to.

 

Pre-CU Servers. Worth the wait?

 

Many small teams are working on the old pre-cu code of Galaxies. Divisions amongst some groups have seen them split to form new developers who are all working hard to be first to the finish line but these divisions have no doubt created delays.

 

The big question is - will the wait be worth it? Since Galaxies launched in 2003, many new MMOs have joined the market and will players really want to play a game that is essentially 4 years old and with many features missing from the original game?

 

A small handful of players may want to play pre-cu Galaxies but will there be enough support to keep it all alive and considering that many developers are giving up their own free time, will the support and longevity be there for the future?

 

The Empire Strikes Back

 

The growing numbers returning the game has been encouraging and it seems that the focus on Star Wars 30th has really helped drive the push to recruit new players (and old ones) into the game and it's up to the community to encourage these new players to stay and help expand our communities online.

 

With the current dev team working extremely hard to deliver the Star Wars experience we all demand, I am almost certain that the current playing communitys confidence in them has never been higher in delivering that experience. It has been an extremely painful 4 years for those playing Galaxies but it is clear that we are seeing the light, finally, at the end of a very long tunnel.

[Rogue15]

yes, the game has changed significantly since last year!

 

edit:

 

for instance...mobs are balanced out nicely, instead of just upping their health amount, they made them hurt me lol.

 

Entertainers are worth seeing now, and you can request specific buffs and they work really good!!!

 

The Restuss Battle has been going on for about a year, so hopefully they'll bring in another battlefield soon!

 

Ranks have meaning now! last year rank=bases that were broken and worthless crap.....now they are almost requirement for some fun pvping, and the recruiters sell some good stuff for each rank you attain.

 

Bases are back....though i don't appreciate the way they are being used, hopefully the devs have something in mind to make them worth buying...I'll post an idea i have later...

 

Expertise in place....now you can assign points to skills that are unique to your profession.

 

Beast Master...another expertise tree that you can assign points to aside from your profession-specific trees....can be alot of fun if you're into that, the Bioengineering process is very starwarsy lol

 

Camping...camps are back in, you can get a big camp set up with shuttle, cloner, and other stuff, very good to have in a group hunt!

 

Treasure Maps...these are very nice, a good reason to plan a camping trip! you locate a waypoint to treasure, go to it and search, once found you come under attack by its guardians, once they are killed you can open the treasure container and get some good loot!! GOOD high-end content, very fun!

 

Azure Cabal Quest Series....for cl80-90s, basically need another person to help, you get good xp and some credits for completing missions for them

 

Storyteller Mode...you can create your own player events, I have yet to look into this, it sounds like fun.

 

Reverse Engineering -inventory full of crappy modded armor, motors, chassis blueprints, and other random junk? take them all to a trader and get it turned into skill-enhancing attachments (SEAs) or powerups! Once you have an SEA, you can place that into a slot on a crafted piece of armor, clothing, or weaponry! Powerups work alot like buffs, though they are 30 minutes. Collect some really high-end loot such as a few bristle belt of health that has 25 constitution, 25 stamina, and 25 agility, and if your trader is skilled enough and has all the parts he needs, you could wind up with a 35 constitution, 35 stamina, and 35 agility armor attachment ready to be placed into that mandalorian battle suit chest piece!!!

 

There is so much to look forward to in this game than there was last year, yet there are still many veteran players out there just unwilling to adapt....