Game Sports Realm

Star Wars Galaxies

Release Date: June 26th, 2003

Website: www.starwarsgalaxies.sony.com

Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) was one of the most anticipated online games of all time when it was first announced. Almost ten years ago on November 29th, 2000, the news and name of this MMORPG was officially branded by Sony Online Entertainment and Lucas Arts. The release of the game was An Empire Divided on June 26th, 2003.

Since then, there have been a number of expansions, changes to gameplay, and revolutionary different directions with the game. Although the original release had bugs and there was a lack of quest content, the game had enough character customization to satisfy the most hardcore MMORPG gamers. People wanted to play a character completely different from other characters.

Pre-CU SWG had that concept. The skill tree system and the types of combinations possible with the professions was important to the idea of the 'player-driven' galaxy and economy. When I played Star Wars Galaxies, I went through a number of different hybrid professions.

You had a total of six basic professions to choose from: Medic, Brawler, Marksman, Scout, Entertainer, and Artisan.

Some of the notable features of Pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies:

• Six basic professions that serve as the base of your character's style of play.
• 24 advanced professions (were called "hybrid professions")
• Some of the advanced/hybrid professions included Bounty Hunter, Pistoleer, Creature Handler, Smuggler, Commando, Doctor, and the rest of the twenty four. You could also specialize in Entertainer and later become a Dancer or Musician, etc.
• A player driven economy. All the items, weapons, clothing, and even houses were built by players. Nothing was generated except the landscape and certain integral parts of the game. The economy was realistic, with server-wide inflations in items and recession periods. Certain Armorsmiths and Weaponsmiths ruled the market and became legends back in the day. The quality of items depended on the skill and careful calculations by the player. Player A's flamethrower will be much different than Player B's flamethrower.
• Weapons had attributes that affected your accuracy and damage. Accuracy modifiers based on combat position (standing, kneeling, prone) could be tweaked by Weaponsmiths.
• The ability to own vendors (NPCs to represent your shop) and place them in your house or mansion.
• Players had a limit to the number of skill points they could use for the professions. You could not be all of the professions. Instead, you had a skill point pool and the professions were divided into a skill tree system.
• The skill tree system was very flexible and allowed players to be very different from another player because you got to choose which professions to dabble (sometimes 3-4 at the same time) and which you wanted to master.
• And many more.

The New Game Enhancements (NGE) released on November 15th, 2005 completely reduced the number of professions, made Jedi a starter profession, and revamped the gameplay. It was controversial to say the least but we won't get into that yet.

The Best Player City in Star Wars Galaxies

I played Star Wars Galaxies (pre-CU) from 2003 to 2004 and was one of the founders of a player city called Crystal Valley on the Chilastra server. My guild was Paragon Federation and the city was built on Dantooine. Two other guilds (which were once part of ours) called the Crimson Republic and Exodus helped build the city. Crystal Valley reached the Metropolis rank and at its peak, we had over 150 active players and 200 buildings. We divided the city into different districts - City Hall/Founders District, Residential District, Commercial District, Medical Center/Cantina District, and the Military Stronghold District.

COMING SOON: Detailed screenshots of Crystal Valley, the planets, professions, and actual combat of Star Wars Galaxies (Pre-CU)