If you are considering playing Star Wars Galaxies, either as a brand new player or an old player looking to return, I have put together a short list of things you need to know if you are confused by the whole NGE/veterans things and like myself, sick, of the out  dated information being thrown around websites like this.


Galaxies was always a complex game - with one of the best skill systems any MMO has seen, giving the user hundreds of choices to shape their own character and overall experience. No other MMO gives  players so much freedom to do stuff. You can go anywhere you want, explore, combat, loot, craft, entertain or take part in raids on bases or the Galactic civil war.

Developers were working with a difficult code system and they found that so much code was broken. Even the smallest changes, would create problems elsewhere. With the arrival of Jedi, the game changed. Instead of the developers focusing on fixing the high end buffs, other game related bugs, they focused on the whole Jedi vs Bounty Hunter farce, nerfing both as they complained that one was more powerful than others, whilst other professions were left behind, also needing some fixing and adjustments.

The Combat Upgrade (CU)
Back in April 2005, the entire combat system was overhauled with something completely different. SWG developers promised a "Combat Upgrade" or "CU," which was released 27 April 2005, and represented a major re-writing of the combat, armour, and weapons systems, wherein only certain professions could use specific weapons and armour. The combat mechanics in the game were shifted from a skill system to a combat level system for both players and game creatures. The UI icon graphics were changed from monochromatic to colour. This alteration resulted in controversy caused by players who criticized the changes,and cancellations during that time. However, most adapted to these changes and continued to play.

The New Game Enhancement (NGE)
Another set of game changes dubbed 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.

The development team affirmed this is their desired direction for the game, and they are slowly modifying paramaters to address players' desires. This progress includes the re-introduction of many pre-NGE features that were removed, such as creature handling, target locking, autofiring, the ability to fire special attacks from their keys, and the option to keep the camera behind the character, rather than the NGE's over-the-shoulder perspective.

Why are the 'Veterans' still mad?

I knew about the re-working of the code during the Summer of 2005 as I have close contacts with LucasArts but due to NDAs I naturally couldn't report on these changes. Like most, I was stunned at how the NGE was delivered and forced upon the community with Galaxies changing from an RPG to a poor FPS style game.

That was back in 2005/early 2006. Since then, the veterans have continued to flame posters, flood forums about how they have been treated. Yes, it was shocking, however, they refuse to move on and admit that Galaxies has changed alot since NGE originally hit. Veterans seem determined to keep posting across forums with out of date facts and figures claiming that no one plays the game, NGE is rubbish etc. How do they know if they haven't touched the game since 2005?

NGE in 2007
I returned in 2007 as I missed Galaxies so much and having played various MMOs I just couldn't enjoy myself like I did in Galaxies, but having read all the garbage on the forums posted by veterans, kept putting me off. However, I am a person who likes to make up his own mind. I don't believe magazine/media reviews, and I certainly don't believe out of touch veterans.

I returned to find all my stuff was still in the same place, hundreds of empty houses which are now just tombs of old players and friends in my old guild. However, upon logging in, three of my old friends messaged me. They had moved to a new guild, which I swiftly joined. Having played around with my key map, I managed to return the controls to pre-nge - fantastic!

After exploring further, I discovered that alot more HAD changed and improved. NPCs no longer take off at warp speed when you shoot them, many quests and bugs have been fixed, new content and excellent updates were added as I took my lvl 80 to mustafar to lvl up. And what a place it is. Hostile. Lots of great loot and it looks amazing.

Although the server isn't as busy as before, there's still alot of people playing with new faces logging in daily, excited at being in the universe of Star Wars. NGE is certainly nothing like it was back in 2005, the development team have worked extremely hard to improve things, fix bugs and add exciting new things. Player Bounties adds more spice than the previous Jedi vs Bounty Hunter system, the new expertise system allows players to customise their own character again, Mobs have been made difficult again, groups are back for quests and raids.

All these improvements have been topped with the release of Chapter 6, which seems to be the turning point, adding the new Beast Master tree and I have never seen so many old faces starting to return since. The house purge will clear up old unused cities, allowing new places to spring up and others to expand - which will be good for the game.

Overall, if you are looking to play Galaxies for the very first time, ignore the flaming out of touch so called veterans and grab the free 14 day trial to see for yourself - or if you are looking to return, do so - so much has changed since 2005 with the game improving so much, it is almost nothing like it was back in November 2005 and you will find yourself enjoying it all over again.

Good post, I really recomend to the older players to get the combat commands the way they where before as it makes all the difference in gameplay.

When I entered the game and in the intro station it wasnt bad having to point and click, but after 2 hours I was already miising badly the old way of interacting, and when I read the tutorial to made it come back I was really happy.

Originally posted by DiZeL
only have 1 thing to say, sure it might be a great game(for some) but the complexity of the game and the freedom you had is gone, and no patch, update or chapter may fix this. It was a stupid move for SOE to do NGE, they simply should have done a new game and made even more money...I´ve seen ppl throwing numbers of subs around and they are in 100k+ and THERE is no way in the a nerf herders dream that they are accurate, the main reason why SWG is counting that high number of subs is because station pass. And imo I don´t think that are trhat many ppl ownng a station pass that play the game.

You can spice it up all you like now, I still won't return. The game was managed poorly and the player base treated just as poorly. I could care less what content is in the game the now, they won't be getting any of my money. Long story short, a perfectly good game (maybe even the best made) was ruined in my opinion.

Oh, and telling people to go away and not reply to your post because it is not what you agree with just shows me that the community is not very mature now either.

It's a nice posting of your opinion, but that's all it is, your opinion. You are no better than the flamers by flaming them.

I agree that pre-NGE comparisons are a moot point to someone thinking of trying the modern version of Galaxies for the first time.

That said, it bears warning those players about SOE's past business practices with SWG.  The rug has been pulled completely out from under the existing player base three times in the life of SWG - the introduction of holocrons, the Combat Upgrade, and the NGE.

I'd encourage any die-hard Star Wars fan to at least give the game a shot, but I'd warn them against getting attached to the game or its community (I'd also warn the real Star Wars geeks to get ready for massive violations of canon / continuity).

Originally posted by Caswell

I agree that pre-NGE comparisons are a moot point to someone thinking of trying the modern version of Galaxies for the first time.

That said, it bears warning those players about SOE's past business practices with SWG.  The rug has been pulled completely out from under the existing player base three times in the life of SWG - the introduction of holocrons, the Combat Upgrade, and the NGE.

I'd encourage any die-hard Star Wars fan to at least give the game a shot, but I'd warn them against getting attached to the game or its community (I'd also warn the real Star Wars geeks to get ready for massive violations of canon / continuity).

good point

I'm a vet who's taking the trial, the OP was pretty useful for those not associated with the game but I'd recommend not getting too involved as well, I have tons of worthless equipment siitting around houses, banks and inventories that took a lot of hard work to achieve. I'd say this is a valid point which needs to be added to this post

My impressions so far, the game is entertaining when it comes to pvp'ing in Restuss , I'm a little hesitant to get involved any further right now due to trust issues over the way the game is handled by the devs etc. I'd also recommend new players try Bria Bloodfin or Chilatra first since they seem to be the player migrants choice.

Originally posted by milton1970

 I'd also recommend new players try Bria Bloodfin or Chilatra first since they seem to be the player migrants choice.

excellent post by the OP, always thought of contemplating the game, but when i got around to it and asked... all i go was an earful of abuse from posters.

Now i'm intiqued, plus i usually have two mmo subs on the go.. and this month one is CoV/CoH... so the other will probably be this. (variation is good)

definately downloading the trial.

Originally posted by Mozinski

You can spice it up all you like now, I still won't return. The game was managed poorly and the player base treated just as poorly. I could care less what content is in the game the now, they won't be getting any of my money. Long story short, a perfectly good game (maybe even the best made) was ruined in my opinion.

Oh, and telling people to go away and not reply to your post because it is not what you agree with just shows me that the community is not very mature now either.

It's a nice posting of your opinion, but that's all it is, your opinion. You are no better than the flamers by flaming them.

Originally posted by DarthMaulUK

SOE have learnt from their mistakes and the current dev team have been working extremely hard to steer Galaxies in the right direction. Most of them are new and deserve the chance to get it right.

The boots-on-the-ground devs themselves were never the problem.  I've run into a few of them in other forums / MMORPGs, and chatting with them makes it obvious that they had good intentions for the game that didn't lead to holocrons, a large portion of the CU, or the NGE.

It's the SOE suits you have to worry about.

Originally posted by DarthMaulUK

I refer you to my original post of 'veterans' not knowing what they are talking about. This is my opinion yes but it also a FACT based on the actual fact i have been playing the game recently, where most veterans have not.

Try reading my original post. Veterans claim they know all the facts and figures and they don't. Its that simple. Yes the game has changed but it has also improved since 2005. If so called veterans made constructive debates and comments, that would end alot of flaming but quite simply they don't.

You say the game is horrid but you don't really expand on this. It has changed since NGE first hit.

Originally posted by Dekron

Originally posted by DarthMaulUK

I refer you to my original post of 'veterans' not knowing what they are talking about. This is my opinion yes but it also a FACT based on the actual fact i have been playing the game recently, where most veterans have not.

I am one of the veterans who you claim "they do not know what they are talking about". I was in SWG at launch and loved it. The fact is, and please note this statement, SWG is now a completely different game than was initially launched. That is why so many of us vets hate what it is now.  I reinstalled back in March and found it to be as horrid as I left it post-CU.

You may enjoy it yourself, but please do not attack others for not. It just is not simply the same game.

Originally posted by DarthMaulUK

Try reading my original post. Veterans claim they know all the facts and figures and they don't. Its that simple. Yes the game has changed but it has also improved since 2005. If so called veterans made constructive debates and comments, that would end alot of flaming but quite simply they don't.

You say the game is horrid but you don't really expand on this. It has changed since NGE first hit.

As another veteran and one who doesn't post all that much here, I'd like to point out that alot of flaming goes on from "both" sides. I've seen plenty of grandiose claims, flames, and down right personal attacks from many current players. Don't blame flaming only on veterans.

Just a note, I do actually have an active subscription, but don't play all that much.

Originally posted by Dekron
The fact is, and please note this statement, SWG is now a completely different game than was initially launched.