Originally posted by Kazara

....have been abandoned.

Nonsense, but expected from someone who does not play the game.

Even on the lowest population servers such as Radiant and Sunrunner, players come together in close communities.  Bloodfin is seeing a revival so it is well worth checking out.

Originally posted by reid424

I see well that leads to my next question which I think I know the answer to already but I will ask it anyways are there free server transfers or no?

Not from Bloodfin, there has been something of a PvP revivial there recently though so it may be well worth a look into what community remains.

Originally posted by reid424

Hey everyone I'm a SWG veteran that has returned many times and left for personal reasons in the passed, However with ToR only a few months away I wanted to get my Star Wars fix going early, and give one last run at SWG for old times sake. My main question ; is Bloodfin still a top server when last I played Bloodfin was still kicking very well and just curious if its heart rate is still going. Second Last time I played I didn't want to be one of the 9/10 players running around with a lightsaber as a Veteran I had a Jedi Pre-NGE and Pre-CU I had my fun with them, most difficult task I had was finding a suite of armor that was up to PvP standards just curious how this is acquired now a days as the main reason I am returning is to Pick up my Bounty Hunter and do that (I got very little out of the restuss pvp).

 Hey reid424,

Many Bloodfin players moved to Starsider, as shown in these stats: SWG Galactic Civil War and Player City Statistics - 14th of December 2010

You should be able to pick up a decent set of armour from the Bazaar, they are usually sold in backbacks which are labelled accordingly, for more info on the new powerful Bazaar search look here: [Guide] Understanding the Bazaar - updated with GU13 information

Originally posted by TUX426

You're also a writer there correct Badger? Did you get to vote?

Massively also voted STO as the best MMO of 2010 btw.

IMO, this site is clearly much more unbiased.

I write for Stratics me old mate.  I see the last MMORPG.com article on SWG was a year ago.

Originally posted by Aisin

thanks.. i needed a good laugh.

 If you like that, then you will love this article where three Massively staff voted for SWG as Best MMO of the Decade.

Welcome back, JutMan.  Glad to hear you are enjoying SWG again.

Originally posted by Kazara

 I still do not think you will find a healthy number of new low level players to group with on the grind up...

You will.  I reguarly use the player search tool to contact all unguilded players under level 50 and send them helper information and I speak to hundreds of new and returning players every week.

The only big problem with grouping in SWG is that is doesn't support grouping across level differences of about 10 or more levels well at all.  You really need to find people around your level range to benefit from the increased XP gain due to group help, but this can be done via the player search tool.

Originally posted by erictlewis

WEll they better shoot me a free 15 day comeback,  otherwise I am so not interested.  Somehow I mised the last free comback of 7 days.

Honestly I don't know why swg has not went free to log in,  oh well I guess that makes 3 lifedays i have missed back to back.

If you haven't used a free vet trial for a while, it can't hurt to ask.  Log into your account and shoot the GMs a ticket asking if they can sort you out some trial time.

Game Update 19 - The Witches of Dathomir, Wookiee Life Day and "The Price of Victory".

The holiday season is upon us and to keep SWG players busy of the Christmas and New Year period, Game Update 19 features some exciting new content, the return of Life Day and a new Trading Card Game scenario with all new loot cards.

Highights

• The Witches of Dathomir On the far edge of the galaxy lies the hostile planet known as Dathomir. It is inhabited by many aggressive beings, including the Witches of Dathomir, a group of Force-sensitive women. There are two key opposing clans of the witches - The Nightsisters and the Singing Mountain Clan. Which side will receive your loyalty?

  
  The Nightsisters are waiting for you!
  
  

• Wookiee Life Day The celebration of Wookiee Life Day has begun. Traditionally celebrated on the Wookiee home world Kashyyyk, Wookiee Life Day is a time to reflect on the renewal of life and to remember those who have passed on. Wookiees greatly value morality, courage, compassion and loyalty. As part of this sacred and ancient Wookiee tradition is that of the honor family. An honor family comprises a Wookiee's closest friends and companions. These family members pledge a commitment to lay down their lives for one another as well as members of any honor families these individuals may have.

  
  We hope you have been a good Wook this year!

• Trading Card Game - The Price of Victory is now available. Celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back with an all-new trading card game expansion!

  
  These are just two examples of the new loot available from "The Price of Victory".

The Witches of Dathomir

A representative of the Warlord Omogg can be found in the Trade Outpost of Dathomir looking to hire a few brave souls for adventure in this planet's dangerous wilds. What new plans does the mysterious Rubina have for those who have worked for her before? What is the secret of the
mutated rancors? Who are the Spiderclan? How do you charm a rancor? Earn the trust of the Singing Mountain Clan or the respect of the Nightsisters and find the answers to these questions and more!

• New storyline quests and tasks have been added for each of the witch clans.
• Nightsisters and Singing Mountain Clan vendors offer a few new speciality items including new tapestry and house signs.
• New collections have been added.
• New crafting quests have been added.
• New badges have been added.
• Several new schematics for clothing and weapons have been added.

Wookiee Life Day

Life Day is back with new rewards and a new badge! The towns of Dearic, Wayfar, and Doaba Guerfel have been decorated for the celebration of Wookiee Life Day. Visit the Life Day NPCs to sign up for the festivities! Imperial organizers, called Trandoshan Traders, can be found near the shuttleports; Rebel organizers, Wookiee Freedom Fighters, are near cantinas. Stop by the ife Day tree for gifts, music, and a special quest from Saun Dann!

• A character must be at least
  10 days old and not on a trial account to claim the Life Day gifts or to
  use the decoration device.

Star Wars Galaxies^TM Trading Card Game - The Price of Victory

Celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back with an all-new trading card game expansion! LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) proudly present The Price of Victory, the latest expansion in the successful Star Wars Galaxies^TM
Trading Card Game. Experience a never-before-told story that takes place in parallel with pivotal moments of the Galactic Civil War as seen in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. This set adds more that 175 new playable cards that feature unique keyword abilities like "Versatile" and "Entanglement."

The Witches of Dathomir Prologue

• Singing Mountain Medium Potted Tree Style I no longer uses a default appearance.

Quests

• Quest acceptance and completion windows now show the reward loot item count values.

Jedi

• Increased the damage bonus of Bondara's Folly to 6%.
• Jedi
  Crystals have been tweaked to provide a wider range of options. The
  named Saber crystals will now have the following damage modifiers:
  • Bondara's Folly - 5%
  • Bane's Heart - 5%
  • Lava Crystal - 5%
  • Perma Frost Crystal - 5%
  • Black Crystal - 5%
  • Windu's Guile - 6%
  • Sunrider's Destiny - 6%
  • Allya's Exile - 6%
  • Allya's Redemption 6%
  • Kenobi's Legacy - 6%
  • B'nar's Sacrifice - 6%
  • Cunning of Tyranus - 6%
• For
  existing crystals you will have to take them out of your saber and put
  them back in the hilt again to see any damage increase.

Character Transfer Service

• Fix
  issue where some no trade removable items become no trade after
  transfer. The fix is retroactive. Existing bugged items will correctly
  become no trade removable with the fix.

Miscellaneous

• The wearable Whip Belt is no longer called a hat in its description

Originally posted by bleed0range

I have a really good machine now but I am still experiencing the same effects, essentially.

What are your ping and packetloss when the lag occurs, bleedOrange?  I guess you aren't playing at the moment and can't check though?  Something to look out for should you return I guess.

Also, the FPS cap was increased to 60, Fadedbomb.  I don't think this would lead to the kind of lag that bleedOrange is seeing though.

Originally posted by Jakf00

any rumors about another free trial maybe around Xmas?

burnt out on Civ V finally and started to look into going back to an old MMO. Of course turkey weekend was the free trial and I am a day late and $15 short.

Thanks for any info.

Don't think so.  You can always rill a trial account character on Test Center and use the character builders to bump it up to instant level 90 with all the uber gear, not too many people play there though.

Originally posted by Daffid011

How many players are in that area to cause the extremely heavy situation? 

It looks like there is nothing in the area but NPCs and one wookie. 

There doesn't even look to be any combat or action going on to cause such a huge dip in performance.  Everything looks to be just standing around, so why should there be some huge lag spike?

That particular example of server side lag is caused by NPC pathing and attack calculations in an Invasion where there was little or no defensive opposition, there can be crazy numbers of  Troopers+AT-STs all camped in one spot depending on how many players have built. 

Anytime an attackable object comes in range they lag out the entire sub-server, but the lag will be gone once the invasion is over and everything despawns.

Most server side lag is situational, these days, like this example is.  More often than not, a players "Lag" is due to high ping and/or ploss or the client machine being too busy with other tasks, which is not something that SoE can control.

I dont often come across anything over "Medium" server lag, and thats usually in mass PvP.

Originally posted by TUX426

Odd...why Oct 14th data? Not a complaint or a knock on you, of all the things you do, these charts of yours are by far the most useful and most appreciated (or...actually under appreciated by most tbh) of any data players gather. And I only ask because you're always on top of this...being December 6th, the date of the data just stood out to me.

There isn't a huge change in population levels, looking at the charts I've updated to date.  I was going to give it a few more weeks before posting a new set.  I've also been polling the players of Radiant and Sunrunner on their views as to the populations levels on their servers. 

The two servers are by far the least populated and I plan to include their feedback in the next article, hopefully it will help them get the Free Transfer and server closure for Radiant and Sunrunner that the vast majority of them seem to be waiting for.

Originally posted by ZERMINUS

Are even the busy servers dead now?

Oooh, this makes me so mad. If only SOE had poured some of the money it put into expansions into balancing and bug-fixing the game would be alive and expanding today in my opinion!

There is a server population imbalance which has led to some servers being packed and others being almost empty.

More information here:

>>> SWG Galactic Civil War and Player City Statistics - 14th of October 2010 <<<

Originally posted by TUX426

lol, you don't PvP much do you Badger?

I can be seen PvPing almost every day, although I dont use a pet in PvP myself I do come across them in mass PvP, so there are people that enjoy using them.

Originally posted by TUX426

For a full description of WHY the lag is so bad, no matter how good your computer gets, I suggest the following link. Pwh does an excellent job describing exactly WHY it is the way it is.

That's a description of why throwing more hardware at the problem won't have an immediate effect, rather than why there is lag.

"Lag" comes in so many different flavours that it is important to find out as much information as possible from someone reporting it in order to give an accurate assessment.  It could be client side, network related or server side.

bleed0range, what server are you playing on and do you get this lag in a specific area of the game?

Please turn on the "Network Status Monitor" as this gives you information about your client, network connection and current server load.  The "Network Status Monitor" can be turned on via Options > Misc > "Show Network Status Window". 

Evem more techincal information an be viewed by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+G.

How to turn on the "Network Status Monitor".

Example screenshot showing "Extremely Heavy" area activity caused by NPCs in Talus Invasion Combat Phase, Chimaera.

Did you end up playing on Eclipse or Chimaera with the majority of your playtime, Pan?

Are you Moosemanuk on the official forums?

Originally posted by Kazara

.

 While pets are great for PvE, they are not often desired for PvP gameplay.

Pets can be great in PvP too, with some really nasty attacks that you won't find in any professions abilities.  In mass PvP your pets tend to get lost in the crowd and chewed up if you aren't careful about what you tell them to attack.

Quite often as a Medic I find myself at the back of my factions pack and the oppossing factions Beast Masters all send their pets to gank me. This keeps me busy defending myself against the pets while their group chew up my groupmates, so pets can be effective in mass PvP too.

Originally posted by Jakf00

Haven't played since pre NGE so was wondering how pets work now. Can you still get faction pets like stormtroopers and such or is it all just replaced by Beast Master expertise pets.

And do you get multiple pets at once or just one?

Same question about droids.

Pre-CU as a Creature Handler you could have 4 Rancors (3 + 1 from a skill tape), 3 faction pets like AT - STs, and at least one droid. Good times.

Tanks

 

Other than Beast Master pets, the Officer profession get a factional trooper to help them in combat.  You can only have one pet out at a time now.  Droids can be crafted up to level 90 now, with Super Battle Droids and other fun droids available for players to customise and control.  Again, you can only have one droid out at a time.

Here's an example of a player controlled SBD:

And an uber pet:

I'd hope to see factional pets for all professions return in the "GCW2" update that is on the Dev Roadmap for next year.  If you do have old factional pets, DO NOT CALL THEM if other players are around, they can be attacked by combatant opposing faction players and will suffer perma-death.

Star Wars Galaxies: Hotfix 18.5

Welcome Back!

• Those of you back for free for the long holiday weekend, welcome! We hope you're having fun reconnecting with old friends and checking out all of the great new content including the Witches of Dathomir Prologue, Galactic Civil War Leaderboards, Fishing Leaderboards, the new rare loot system and much more. If you've been gone a while be sure and check out the Galactic Civil War invasions and scoring system, and the new loot for the Heroics. Also, browse the commodities market to purchase some cool loot and collections given out during The Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary and the Star Wars Galaxies 7th Anniversary celebrations!
• Be sure and use the new rewards - the decorative Fedora and Whip - to decorate your in-game house. If you convert your account to paying and join us after November 30th you'll be able to WEAR these mysterious archaeological items

• Enjoy your time adventuring in the galaxy! We're glad to see you back.