I have now played SWG for 3 months, was formally a Master Creature Handler and Master Bio-engineer, but left after those professions died. In the meantime have played WoW to 60 and Vanguard. This is my impression after 3 months of being back.

Firstly I must say I have really enjoyed being back and although SWG is not completely sandbox there is still an enormous amount of freedom. I did enjoy the Legacy quests and if you want to level quickly they are the way to go, you also receive some money and rewards along the way. They took me to almost level 50. If you don't enjoy Legacy there are missions (good xp now) or just go hunting with friends.

Crafting - Can be really interesting, you can set down harvesters and collect your own minerals etc. or hunt for things like hides. There are many items that are used for crafting and it can be fun going out and collecting them. There is also a large variety of things to make from droids to food, social clothes to weapons. There are factories to produce quantities and your own vendors to sell them from.

Checking the Bazaar which has hundreds of items on it can give you some idea of what sells. It did take me a while to learn how to find items but now have no problem at all. The Bazaar can definitely be improved, finding the right level of gun for instance can take ages as, although they are categorized there is no way of telling which level unless you check them all.

 Housing - Houses are great! If you enjoy creating or collecting items you will enjoy the houses, check out this site,

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=481448

A guild and a good town are a really important part of SWG, although you can solo there are many things you need to group for, especially at higher levels.

Beast Mastery - Anyone can do this regardless of profession. There are basically two ways to go either make fun pets and mounts, easy for anyone and only requires one expertise point, or make a good combat pet which requires far more expertise is very expensive and definitely needs some studying. Luckily there are some great guides on the SWG forums. 

It is not the same as the original Creature Handler and Bio-engineer, nothing quite beats going out in the wild and taming babies, finding a rare or collecting DNA from a Rancor, but it can be very absorbing and has different merits of its own.

Travel - There are a variety of different mounts and vehicles to ride such as Swoop bikes, Banthas and Landspeeders, some of which can carry more than one person

Exploring - There are lot of planets to explore each one with a different atmosphere, from the fiery Mustafar to the waterfalls of Naboo, the tree canopy of Kasyyyk to the deserts of Tatooine, As you journey you meet many creatures and NPCs like wild Night sisters, fearsome Rancors or the funny Snorbals, There are also lots of places of interest to visit along the way, like Queen Amidala's Private Beach, Wookiee Homeworld or Ben Kenobi's Old Home, for these you collect badges.

Entertaining - I was really enjoying this until for some reason I started crashing a lot in Mos Eisley, am still trying to work out if it is me or SWG, Mos Eisley has a very busy cantina. The part of entertaining I found most fun was making a band. I could create holos give them all different instruments and make some pretty cool sounds, the money I got for buffing was very nice too  ;)))

Combat and targeting - I found this complicated at first but have now got used to it, it is worth reading guides and finding out which set-up suits you, although I still think it is an area of SWG that could be improved.

Space - Some people seem to love it whilst others hate it, for myself I find it makes a change from ground based stuff and just adds to the variety. Everyone can become a pilot although there is also a piloting profession. You can also build up your ship and do pvp in space.

Bugs - Not had too many of those, the occasional being shot through wall and getting stuck which was quickly resolved. The worse one was a team going into a high level instance and only half got through, very annoying after spending time putting group together and getting buffs.

PVP - Having just reached 90 have done very little so will leave that for someone else to comment on, although you do get faction points and titles. 

 RP - Character creation is great there are good macros, social clothing and of course the towns, also a politician profession.

Overall all I think SWG has a lot going for it, sometimes the scenery can be a little bland, yes there are a few bugs and far too many choose the Jedi profession but I think if you find a server that is not too empty, a good group of friends you can have a real blast!!

'Course this is just my opinion!  ;))

Its still a great game I came back in chpt 5 and it is comparable to the CU now.

Space still rocks and free chapters well I can't complain about that.

Be ready for the haters :(

Originally posted by ajax7

 It is comparable to the CU now.

 

 

lol terrible comparison.

Nice post Ammie ;)

I will say I did/do enjoy being back.  But as a Crafter I do find the game is lacking there, I am hoping chapter 7 fixes that, Making Powerups and Armor/Clothing/Weapon Attachments is a challange.   While the game is playable, it is still not PRE-CU and the Server I play on is pretty dead, a lot of people have transfered off to play on Bloodfin (one of the busier servers), I am not leaving my resources behind though with a server transfer. 

I Believe they made 2 huge Mistakes with this game,  They way the dropped NGE on us and Giving out Holo for Christmas that 1 year.  Before the holo's we were all happy running around with out fwg5's and dl44's; the holo's changed the game into a profession grind to become jedi and left to many jedi in the game.

Just my take on it all.

You say theres not many bugs but i thought the game is more full of them than ever really. Also for me the game just feels real cheap now from the ugly UI to the horrible tacked on default FPS style of targetting. After 2 years since the NGE the only improvements is aw in the game was expertise and tbh it's not as good as wha we had before.