LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment have announced the release of Chapter 6: Masters of the Wild, the latest update for Star Wars Galaxies. Chapter 6 will introduce the new Beast Master Expertise System, the Azure Cabal Quest Series, the new Storyteller Event System which allows players to run their own in-game events, and much more.

LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment today announced that Chapter 6: Masters of the Wild is now available to Star Wars Galaxies subscribers. Chapter 6 is the latest in a series of scheduled updates that Star Wars Galaxies players will automatically receive throughout 2007, at no additional cost as part of their regular subscription to the game.

Chapter 6: Masters of the Wild introduces a host of exciting features to Star Wars Galaxies, including the brand new Beast Master Expertise System, one of the most robust pet systems ever introduced into an online game. This new system will be available to all players, regardless of species, profession or level, through a new profession tree filled with skills that will enhance players' interactions with their new furry (or scaly) companions.

In addition, Chapter 6 brings new adventures to Star Wars Galaxies, both developer- and player-created, along with new player-versus-player action and in-game rewards. In Chapter 6: Masters of the Wild, players will find:

Beast Master Expertise System: This new system introduces several new features that allow players to create, collect, train and use customized pets in the game. Players will be able to create and develop eggs, sell and trade the eggs, hatch them to raise Beasts, and level their Beasts for use in their homes and in combat. More than 150 types of Beasts will be available through the system, including some of the most rare and popular in the game like the Spined Rancor, the Psychotic Jax and the Horned Dewback.

During the Beast's incubation process, players can manipulate factors such as the temperature and enzyme levels to create Beasts never-before-seen in the galaxy, that they can then keep or trade to other players. Players can even use certain Beasts as mounts, including the Dewback and Kaadu. Players must keep their menageries happy though...or they might find themselves Beast-less.

Read the full release notes here.

Originally posted by TheChronic
didnt they already have the best matery before Sony Online Entertainement released the Next Generation Enhancements called NGE ?

I think it was called creature handler

can anyone explain why they took it out and re-introduced it with the upcoming chapter 6 ?

as far as I know Star Wars Galaxies had 32 professions a few years ago and SOE reduced them to 9, so are they reintroducing the old professions with each new chapter ?

sounds a little stupid to me, taken away what they already had and then reinroducing it hmm

A good addition to an already great game!

Prop's to the DEV's!! 

Originally posted by TheChronic
didnt they already have the best matery before Sony Online Entertainement released the Next Generation Enhancements called NGE ?

I think it was called creature handler

can anyone explain why they took it out and re-introduced it with the upcoming chapter 6 ?

as far as I know Star Wars Galaxies had 32 professions a few years ago and SOE reduced them to 9, so are they reintroducing the old professions with each new chapter ?

sounds a little stupid to me, taken away what they already had and then reinroducing it hmm

Originally posted by SWGLover

A good addition to an already great game!

 

Prop's to the DEV's!! 

 

 

 

um, where exactly have you been?  'creature handler' rings no bells?

props to the devs indeed, may they be blessed to play half-assed games for all their lives, where the devs ignore the playerbase and willy nilly make idiotic changes for no reasons whatsoever.

The DEV"s ignore the playerbase?  

Maybe they ignore the whiners, otherwise they've been responsive to the fans and have been great at communicating with us.  

FINALLY!

When I was sitting in the cantina on Tatooine I kept thinking, 'Man wouldn't it be great if I could light up a splif and just smoke down watching all the dancers?', and now I can! Thanks SOE you rock!

...what? Wild? I thought it said Wiid! Damnit SOE you dropped the ball again!

"I got a one hitter called Margo Kidder and I only need to hit that shit once." Mc Chris

"nuff said." Stan Lee

These changes do not do any justice for Star Wars Galaxies.  The "nge" effect is persistant.  The controls and default settings are pure garbage.  Combat is easily defined as hap-hazzard and clunky. 

The only thing this does for SWG is it helps those who promote fictitious fun by providing a means to generate their own content through the Story Actor Event Perks.  PEX's team is being downsized and these changes are to assist his department through redirecting a workload onto the customers; not a terrible thing honesstly.

The game still stinks.    IT is bad.   There are a plethora of better online games availble which provide for more worhtwhile epxierances.

Ok, i'm playing the 14 day trial now to see whats changed and whats not.  As far as the "Beast Mastery" deal, its over complex and takes WAY too long to make a creature.  First you have to spend points from your other two point trees to spend on this tree, so thats only 45 points amongst 3 trees, far too few.  Second, you have to buy an incubator and on Ahazi, they were going for 1,000,000 credits and up.  Third, you have to buy/find/gather components to make your little beast.  Here is what you need to make a beast:

1-Lyase Enzyme (has to be extracted with a special tool that has to be purchased)

1-Hydrolase Enzyme (again has to be extracted with a special tool that has to be purchased)

2-Isomerase Enzyme (this is easy, its a drop from almost any beast you kill)

1-DNA sample (which is an ability from your new beast mastery skill tree)

2500 or more Geothermal power units (again harvested and on Ahazi going for 500,000+ for each 1,000 units)

Ok once you get all this together you can actually start making your creature, it takes three sessions and each session takes 1 day and 14 hours (YES, I did say each of the 3 sessions take 1 day and 14 hours).  Now if you still stick with it at that point you actually get your pet in an egg.  Get the egg and hatch it, you have to then go buy food for your little darling, so the resource and time sink continues.  Ok so all in all, I have to say, its a TIME/RESOURCE sink beyond compare.  I don't like the amount of time you have to put into it just to get a pet.  I actually got really pissed off because there are hardly any instructions on how to do it and there was nothing to tell me I needed 2500+ power for the unit.  I made a low level trader to gather power resources and a i'm just now at 500 geothermal power units.  I first put in 100 units, was told you need more power, I put in another 100, all the way up to 500, I got angry shut the game down and looked on the forums, and if I hadn't, I wouldn't have found out you need 2500 power.  So anyway, if you have a lot of patience you'll enjoy it, if not, you'll want to throw your computer through a wall and kill someone LOL.  It really does also suck, that you have to remove points from your skill trees for your profession to do this, cause they really nickle and dime the hell out of your skill points, you need like 1 to create a pet, 1 to make the pet attack, not to mention the silly ability you don't really need (in my opinion) between hatch and incubate on the tree.  Then if you want to go and be able to make mounts you have to unlock like 2 more abilities to be able to get the basic mount functions.  So Yes, they need to add about 15 more points for this tree.  I really think its a waste of time and highly annoying to do Though I had high hopes for it, cause I was a creature handler long long ago.... (oh and yes, I was using a level 90 entertainer to try to make the pets, I leveled up in 2 days with macros, incase anyone was wondering)

What is really funny is all the post CU new players are complaining the game is now too hard. They are the minority in sheer numbers!  Chapter 6 brings the game back in some ways as far as creature handler goes with a new term, a new process, and an expertise system that we all know where it came from- but damn it boys and girls it is fun. The end of the NGE has come. Once more the Sith rule the Galaxy and Jules Torres plan has failed.

I have to say Beast Master is damn fun. I am not a fan boy- I hate what SOE did with the NGE and always will. But in certain terms I must refer to the strategy of chess. Sometimes some moves take longer to complete.  Jules...we won.   We are winning.  And you were wrong. This goes for SOE. Chapter 6 is a fine publish.   

Originally posted by Lateris

What is really funny is all the post CU new players are complaining the game is now too hard. They are the minority in sheer numbers!  Chapter 6 brings the game back in some ways as far as creature handler goes with a new term, a new process, and an expertise system that we all know where it came from- but damn it boys and girls it is fun. The end of the NGE has come. Once more the Sith rule the Galaxy and Jules Torres plan has failed.

I have to say Beast Master is damn fun. I am not a fan boy- I hate what SOE did with the NGE and always will. But in certain terms I must refer to the strategy of chess. Sometimes some moves take longer to complete.  Jules...we won.   We are winning.  And you were wrong. This goes for SOE. Chapter 6 is a fine publish.   

 

I guess you aren't playing the same star wars galaxies as I am huh? And yes, I was a pre-CU player that stuck it out till about 3 months after the NGE.  Are you sure you created a creature or did you just buy one from somebody?  Its a time/resource sink, it takes almost 1 real week to hatch a pet, so how exactly do you know how much fun it really is?  I don't think i've actually seen anyone yet on Ahazi with a pet LOL.

Originally posted by SWGLover

The DEV"s ignore the playerbase?  

 

Maybe they ignore the whiners, otherwise they've been responsive to the fans and have been great at communicating with us.  

 

 

    They broke the game again.  I can count on one hand the number of players i see in 10 hours.  The new tweeks to the game all but mandate the use of groups for most things that just days ago where solo able. I hear crys that DWB was never supost to be easy... it was  made in a day of level 80's being top dog and a player base that grouped. 

   Most games that change have to give up on the idea of trying to keep old content curent infavor of making new content but content was never a stong point for SWG.  I think old acounts are still active if you have not played since they broke it last time pop in and rember why you left.

I was a creature handler...they told me I didn't matter when they got rid of it with the NGE...along with several other professions. Screw Star Wars...I don't care if they develop another game...Star Wars, Lucas Arts, and SOE are all dead to me...you do not matter. Quit buying games...you couldn't make or maintain a decent game if you tried. I feel sorry for all Vanguard players.

When I got introduced to SOE as a Matrix Online player I wondered why people hated SOE...yes...now I know.

Originally posted by Mithraw
Please LA & SOE, kill this game and make a new StarWars MMO. It's the greatest universe available for an MMO but the way SWG was handled has made so many people reluctant to go back. New engine, different timeline... it could be so great....

Bioware are developing a new sci-fi MMO rumored to be using the Star Wars IP set in the `old days' of the SW universe (same time period as Knights of the Old Republic), but you're gonna have to wait at least a couple of years for that baby to fly. Who knows what MMO's will be looking like by then...

Originally posted by Raven99

Originally posted by SWGLover

The DEV"s ignore the playerbase?  

 

Maybe they ignore the whiners, otherwise they've been responsive to the fans and have been great at communicating with us.  

 

 

Right they pay attention to what all 300-400 of you? Because the majority of us left for greener pastures a long time ago, because of a galaxy far far away that turned really really gay. This game was supposed to be like the movies during the new hope, empire ,and Return of the Jedi. At first it was it was great, you had to earn the right to be sith/jedi as it should have been, to remain true to the time line.
However like everyone who cares has said SoE ruined the game, and LA let them do it. Those of us who are truly fans of the movies find this game in it's current state to be an abomination plain and simple.
It's not whining its our opinions. Did you even play this game before the change? it was awesome.
Correct me if i'm wrong but the NGE was based on a very small group of test players and the rest of us got the shaft over it.

There thats my rant and i'm sticking to it!

Raven

Heh, it'd be nice if those that left for greener pastures would actually stay there if they're still not happy with the old pasture ;)

I think some things need to be cleared up in this thread:

No, the servers aren't as populated as they once were back during the launch months.  However, they're certainly NOT dead, and for a game that people like to keep saying is "dying" it's doing rather well population wise. 

The only simillarities between Beast Master and Creature Handler is that you control a pet to help you in combat.  The actual details of each are much different.  Beast Master is much more involved and diverse then what creature handler was.  The only real simillarity between BE and Beast Master is that you sample DNA to make the creature, Beast Master however goes much further then that and you have a rather elaborate process that you can (optionally) go through to make a highend pet.  The whole process also involves all the crafting profession, which gives them tools and components to craft that has 2-4 experimentation lines, each affecting the outputted creature in a different way.  So if you want to make a broad statement, yes they brought back CH, but they revamped it significantly.

This chapter really is the equivilent of an expansion.  There is months of content introduced with this chapter, with something for every profession in the game.