So, I took a chance and reinstalled my SWG, I have the collectors edition from years gone by. After installing it, It took 20 hours to update. (20!!) wowzers.

I had always enjoyed the crafting aspect of SWG, compared to many games today, the crafting system that was in place is far, far supiorer to anything in the market, To bad the NGE really killed the game as we know it. So lately, Feeling a hankering for some enjoyable crafting, i installed swg and took it for a spin.
I had made a Trader, I'm planning on being a munititions crafter - I was originally a armorsmith/Rifleman way back when the game was normal, Actually i made an indecent amount of credits with the armorsmith, However the game made my old character a level 10 crafter (Gee go figure, Master armorsmith, Approaching MAster rifleman...) So ultimatly, I just made a new character. I have to admit however, the newbie tutorial was really neat. The rescue from the station, to the falcon, and then to the gun turret made me feel like i was doing something important (though, it was very, very easy) I'm hoping that the pace of the game continues to be that "quick" and enjoyable. Time will tell however.
-B-

Holy acronyms batman!

Well, I got the bug today to play Star Wars Galaxies. I've missed it so much over the last year. SWG was the second MMORPG I ever played, but it is my all-time favorite. I've wanted to go back for a while, but the thought of having lost so much of my character and possessions with the Combat Upgrade (CU) and the New Game Experience/Enhancement (NGE) had kept me away. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer and reactivated.

I know what some of you are thinking... Don't do it! Don't give in, SOE is evil, they ruined the game and all that jazz. Well, after 6 hours of playing a new character (Jedi since I've never done it before in SWG) and a little time poking around with my old characters I gotta say I have been pleasantly surprised and have actually had quite a bit of fun. Yes, I did use the "F" word.

I'll just come right out and say it. I actually like the NGE. The new professions are well defined, there are talent trees called Expertise (ala WoW) that allow you to further customize your character. I haven't explored them much as I'm only level 14, but at first glance they appear to have quite a bit of variety in them.

My character build thus far is a Human Jedi with a penchant for Force Spark and the Dark Side. I've begun helping the Empire when given a choice as my character (Sokhar To'rath) has a lifelong goal of kneeling before the Emperor.

One surprising thing I discovered was that my character on Bria (formerly a Master Carbineer, near-Master Bounty Hunter) was still there with all of my possessions in my house. It had been 16 months since I last logged in and the house was still standing!!! I had to choose a new profession, but the things that mattered most to me, primarily the Composite Armor and the decorations for the house (paintings, sculptures, furniture, and even veteran rewards) were still in place.

However, in order to give the NGE a fair evaluation and because I've never been a Jedi in the game, I created a new character on Valcyn. Some things that so far after 6+ hours seem better than the game pre-NGE:

1) Loot is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY better. I've found all kinds of nice things so far including schematics, blueprints, stims, buffs, weapons, and lots of things to sell to junk dealers. Sure, the prices you get from the junk dealer aren't that great, but after a few missions I probably got a few thousand credits out of it. Not too bad and it does add up. And it really is nice to find real loot.

2) Quests. Holy cow I cannot even begin to express how impressed I am by this aspect of the game. 14 levels and I haven't yet touched a mission terminal. Pre-NGE mission terminals were the first thing you did with a new character. Now, I've been involved in quests the entire time. Yea, many are kill or collection tasks, but they do have a good story that helps mask it. And there is some interactivity (slicing data terminals, timers, etc).

For example, I was given a 4 minute timer to destroy some battle droids protecting a moisture harvester near the Lars' Homestead. I was incapacitated and failed the mission. The harvester blew up. Pretty cool I thought.

There are also quests that take you into quasi-dungeons, and that is nice at an early level. Underground facilities or even caves with tasks such as killing bosses, slicing terminals, finding out information by interrogating people. Not bad SOE, not bad!

One thing I have noticed is that on Bria in Theed in the afternoon there were 20 or 30 people in the main courtyard. That is more than there were when I quit the game. And there were people hanging out in Mos Eisley too on Valcyn in the afternoon and evening, both outdoors, in the bank and in the cantina. All of that bodes well for the future.

A few more things I should comment upon that are different. The biggest, of course, is combat. Its now click-based to attack though there is an auto-attack feature. You can no longer queue your abilities like you used to, instead you "fire" them at the appropriate time in combat. Some appear to be linked, they have recharge timers, and some take longer than others to execute. But it does keep you on your toes! So far it seems fast-paced and is entertaining.

The designers at SOE have simplified the HAM (Health, Action, Mind) system greatly from what it used to be. Now you have Health and Action, the other statistics merely support those. This is a great improvement in my opinion because it allows you to boost the things that matter to you for your profession and you don't have to worry about being "mind-shot" from 100 meters.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some downsides. You can't multi-class like you used to and that is unfortunate. I rather enjoyed having some crafting and some adventuring skills. And the performance has not improved noticeably. It lags in town, lags out in the wilderness when loading world objects (houses, structures, etc) and monsters fail to load as you go zipping by on your vehicle. I have had some trouble de-selecting targets and keep having to press escape (it doesn't transfer targets very well), though I'm not sure if thats the game or me.

So, that is my initial impression. I chose to go back to the game with an open mind, evaluate it the new changes for what they are, without comparing them directly to the old game, and what I have found is a entertaining and well done new experience that so far makes me think that my $14.99 was well spent. Way to go SOE!

Space. So far this has been the place I have enjoyed the most since my return to Star Wars Galaxies. I am enjoying a lot of the game, but this has really captured my attention. As of right now I am Imperial Navy with my main, Cerebus. The missions are getting very, very rough at times. I have been needing a lot of help from the members of the guild that I'm in, and thankfully they a lot of them jump at the chance to get some space xp and help friends out. Good stuff!

Yesterday, while talking with some of them on Ventrillo, I was saying how I had just hit my next space certification and was wondering what my next ship should be. A couple of the guys said to get the JSF, or Jedi Star Fighter. It's a nice, small, and fast ship. I have to run out to a place on Dathomir, avoid some nasty level 80 Night Sisters, and find a pile of bones. From here, I go to Kashyyyk and see an Imperial officer, who tells gives me a mission to escort the chicken. Huh? I head to the way point, and its an AT-ST I have to lead back to town. Sweet! I get jumped by some low level Rebels, and get this beast back to town. After that, I get jumped in town by some more Rebels......when will they ever learn? Then, Im told by Darth Vadar, sweet, to head to a Rebel and Imperial battle. Battle, ha! It was two storm troopers and me getting jumped by about thirty Rebels. I almost died, but managed to hide behind some tree stumps and heal a bit while dropping traps. Go back to Darth and he gives me a new toy. This was the reason I did this mission, for the JSF. Man, this little thing is great. Holds two weapons, is small and fast, and looks good! The two weapons is the best right now for me, since I will run a disrupter as one and a Ion cannon as the other. The disrupter is good against armor, while the Ion is good against shields. I was one shot killing Tier 1 NPCs with this combo. So tomorrow is trying to get my next million in space xp to get my level 8 Certification for my next level of ship equipment.

Hello all! Cerebus here as one.....if not the only, SWG bloogger. I have just recently came back to SWG to see how the new changes are. To my surprise, Im actually having fun! But first, a bit of history.

I started SWG around two years ago. I started with a few people from the guild I have been with for a long time, Hrafn Warband. (See WoW blogs of Sean Mikes, you will see something of them)I worked my way up as a smuggler, slicing armor and weapons for who would ask. I would run terminal missions, I killed things around my house, I crafted the stuff smugglers use. I did it all. But, everyone I knew from Hrafn ended up leaving save a one or two. I started to lose interest in the game, till I met up with some people from the official forums. Good group of guy, and they had a small city outside of Theed on Naboo that they asked me to move in to. It became one of the bigger cities on Naboo. Good stuff. But, after a time I still ended up leaving, just too many other things going on.

Well, now I have returned! My house still stands, still had money, and most everything is the same. Well, save for the game play. Oh, and getting xp. Oh, and don't forget professions. Dang, ok, so the graphics are the same. And housing. Other then that, its all new. On my return I was given a choice of nine professions, and I get to be one. Ick, cookie cutter professions now. Oh well. With all the changes I had seen to smuggler, I decided to try the Bounty Hunter route. After I take my choice and get fully logged in, I find that I am a lev 40 now. Well thats cool, I don't have to start at lev 0. But a lot of my old weapons I can't use anymore due to being too low in level, or they are for a certain profession. Grrr, have to work up to that. As of right now I am lev 51, and moving up. So far, it looks the same, but feels so different. Fighting is now aim and click type, which to me is very strange for a MMO. There are still action tabs for special moves and such, but they used through the right mouse button. Weird. But, at least I'm enjoying myself.

For me, the biggest boon is the space combat. I LOVE this stuff! Im working my way through the Imperial Navy, and am close to being 3/4 done with space profession. I fly a TIE heavy, meaning its just like a regular TIE fighter, but it can hold a lot more stuff, which can be huge. And I learn something new everyday. Yesterday, I learned about space mining, which I need on my crafter. Along with that, since my return I have joined a new guild, and one of the members asked if anyone wanted to go into space with her and run a turret. Told her sure, as I did't really have anything going on. WOW! What a blast! Her multi person ship has an upper and lower turret on it, and both hit hard! We were fighting some higher level stuff, and just raking in the space xp. We tried a deep space run to get some faction points, but we got attacked by a Rebel Corvette. The Vette's seem to be the big dogs of space. Lots of guns, loads of hit points, great shields, and super armor. They are the UBAH! We managed to survive....somehow. We limped back to a space station and headed home. Over all it was a fun and good day. I can't wait to go up again. I can now fly TIE Aggressors with my Bounty Hunter, so I think I may go pick one up tomorrow!

So, that's it for today. If it wasn't for the space stuff, to me the game would lack a lot now. I also have a Jedi in the works, so maybe I will be able to blog about him soon! Be well and have fun all.

Well, for the past few days, I've had trouble getting on the game because of starting college, but there is some stuff I did, so I'll just talk about that.

First, I think it was Tuesday night, my Guild invited me to Dantooine to team with them to do some griding. We took of some big Giraffe like animals, which got me TONS of meat and hide to sell, which is good . It also got me a lot of experience, which is also good. I am so very close to Bounty Hunter, I can't wait. Like all good things though, the group split up, and I flew back to Tatooine to visit the Mos Eisley Cantina. When I found noone to talk to or nothing to do, I logged for the night.

I didn't really get on to play Wednsday, but last night was rather interesting. First, I decided to train as an Imperial Navy Pilot, which sent me into space in a Tie Fighter! I did a few missions with that, got a lot of experience, and then decided to land back on Mos Eisley. Again, after finding nothing to do, I took a Shuttle to Bestine, which is a city run by the Empire. I ended up taking another mission, and went back into space to do another mission. After finishing that, it was back to Bestine...for yet ANOTHER Mission. bleh. As I stepped out of the starport entrance, I saw a rather large ship parked outfront

I found it pretty cool to see this ship, as I had seen it in all the movies. I then noticed that all these new Stormtroopers I had never seen walking around the ship. I was quite confused about what was going on....until I heard it....the breathing.....through a mask.....that ALL Star Wars fans know of...I immedietely knew who it was.

Darth Vader had landed on Bestine! This was truely one of my greatest gaming moments. Meating the Sith Lord himself, Darth Vader. Just being near him made me feel cool, so I just kinda stood with him for a while, lol. Anyways, after about 20 minutes with the big DV, I took a shuttle back to Mos Eisley, sat in the Cantina, and logged off.

Well, after a bunch of grinding, I was told the only way to get badges was to go check out some of the places listed on my Datapad, so I got ready for....A ROAD TRIP! I packed up my Swoop Speeder, and sped off into the distance, ready to take on anything, and see some cool places on my way. My first stop was Old Ben Kenobi's home, which I did not take a screenshot of. Next, was the Lars Homestead, the home of Luke Skywalker

Pretty cool, though I got aggroed by a few thiefs and creatures, I made it out alive. Then, it was off the the Escape Pod...what Escape pod, you ask? Well, the very Escape Pod C-3P0 and R2-D2 use in Episode IV to escape being caught by Storm Troopers.

Then, it was off to the Great Pit of Carcoon. I got close....and then it spit something at me, which diseased me, so I ran away. No screenshot, sorry people. Finally, I went to see a big group of Jawa Traders

Pretty neat. After that, it was just some grinding and stuff, and thats it.

Well, I finally did it. I finally got my 200 Imperial Points. After a long night of completing Imperial Missions, I was finally able to get my TIE Fighter and begin my life as an Imperial Navy Pilot. I've heard its really fun. Only thing is....Im not too welcome in Mos Eisley. The second I step out of the Starport, I get owned by a Rebel Guard...which sucks. But other than that, it isnt so bad...or from what I have played so far it isnt.

While sitting in the Mos Eisley Cantina yesterday, I saw, for my first time (other than in the ads) a Jedi. It was great. This, of course, got me wanting to play a Jedi in the future, though I heard it was a rather hard task to complete. After having a conversation with the kid, I found I have to become "Force Atuned", complete the Jedi trials, and some other stuff before I can fully be a Jedi. But as we all know, its all worth it if I can get a Lightsaber. And, being an Imperial, I will become a Dark Jedi.

Personally, I am finding this game very fun. When I ask most people about it, they say it sucks, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. Anyways, yeah, thats about it

After playing some City of Heroes, I decided to play, for about 20 minutes, some Galaxies, and try to get some armor I could actually lose. I quickly went to the Mos Eisley Cantina, where I knew I could find some help with what I needed...

I asked an Entertainer, who quickly helped me. She told me...I cant buy any armor yet, not until I reach a new Novice Job, or something like that, which for me would be Bounty Hunter.

Then, she invited me to join her Guild, which is called Heaven & Hell. After accepting, she flew me to the town that belongs to her Guild, on the planet on Talus. It was great, and she gave me the Deed to my new house and a swoop bike. I placed my house, and now am a full fledged member of the Guild. And thats about it....