Originally posted by Tetters

I did love the game, I know its changed beyond recognition, but I would like to know from current players how things are. Are things going ok? Is there a decent population? Is there a reasonlabe future?

Things are very well, thanks.  There have indeed been a lot of positive changes in the last four and a half years that have made SWG into a very unique and enjoyable MMORPG.

To get an idea of relative server populations, take a look at these statistics.

As for the future of SWG, it is assured.  Take a look at this article where Lucas Arts Producer, Jake Neri states: "...we'll support Galaxies while the fans support Galaxies".

Originally posted by SandboxGamer

How's that player search tool working out helping rebuild all those server populations?

 Works wonders on high and low population servers.  Well worth getting familiar with.

I'm not well placed to comment on RPing as I don't partake, but one thing I can suggest is using the player search tool to find other Roleplayers and the Roleplaying community.

Simply type /who Roleplayer to get a list of names or use the tool to filter the results further.

Originally posted by gingus418

What server would you guys recommend? Also, any suggestion on a fun class to play? 

Here's some server stats to help you find a home: SWG Galactic Civil War and Player City Statistics - 29th of June 2010

And here's a run down of how the professions play at the high end so you can pick one that best suits your own gaming style: Guide: Understanding Combat Professions

Originally posted by TUX426
.... What if you could remove 35's from a decayed suit and add them to a newly crafted suit?...

Consumable items such as +35s are almost as effective as decay in adding repeatable content to systems, I think 35's should stay as is.

Originally posted by Hardlinemonk

This is an interesting idea, however I don't feel there was anything wrong with a forced decay system. The elite players would all just buy loads of the best and have them sliced and waiting in the inventory.

Yup, that's what I did.  Decay is a rather hardcore game mechanic in todays MMORPG world and tends to be unpopular with casual gamers.  An "Opt-in" system allows more advanced gamers to risk their items for extra bonuses.

I think some kind of voluntary decay system could work, perhaps tied to Smuggler Slicing of armour and weapons.

You get a bonus to your armour and weapons with a slice at the cost of the weapon starting to decay.  That way you can opt in and get bonuses but not have your very high end equipment trashed, just make mass produced slightly lower power versions and slice those.  You could of course slice your multi-million credit weapons and armour if you wanted to though...

Originally posted by KyngBills

But to say that overall SWG is attracting new and returning Players well....that's beyond a stretch...I just don't think that's true at all...

I use the player search tool on several servers to spam everyone unguilded under level 50 with an email and a tell message with helpful information on the basics of SWG, I talk to a lot of them and it's a mix of new and returning players as well as veteran players making new characters.

I assume you're not playing currently, but if you are do you actively recruit for your guild on Flurry?

Originally posted by Trioxic

A friend of mine told me today that the only thing keeping SOE SWG running are the credit farmers -- if it wasn't for them the game would have died years ago... lol.

 Credit farmers cost SoE millions of dollars in chargeback fees.

Smedley: "And this isn't just damaging to the consumer. "What happens is that over time, as that rate of chargebacks rises, we start getting fined. We have been fined over a million dollars since June. That's not the chargebacks themselves -- just the chargeback fine. It's brutal; it's the dirty little secret of the industry."
 

Originally posted by Cruoris

does anyone want to list off some actual buzz kills for this game?  i get that it was EVEN BETTER before the "fall", but its sounding more and more like the sandbox ive searching for all my life.

 There is a Free Trial, if you like sandbox games then SWG has a lot ot offer you.

Seems like things are back to normal now:

Re:Sorry...I just need to vent for a second.

And there is a note on the transfer from closed server process from Gourney-SME:

"We have to cycle through the 12 servers that are closed... We have a single server that we load, restart and shutdown each time we want to load the database and info from a closed galaxy, and we generally don't get through all 12 in a day. (or two days for that matter) ..."

Originally posted by Inrex

So... my question is... What keeps you around? I've heard that has changed a lot... what makes it intriguing?

I took a six month break towards the end of last year but am now back playing SWG full time.

I can usually be found PvPing, which is something I've done a lot of in SWG over its six year history.  I can say that PvP now is the most balanced and fun that it has ever been in the games history.

PvP is varied, there are the city invasions where my guild builds up offences in the way of AT-AT's, AT-STs and elite stormtroopers and then we roll in and crush the rebel players and anything they may have constructed to defend the city.  Then there is the usual Restuss PvP and other ad-hoc battles all over the game world thanks to the GCW intelli-pad which gives you a general arera where you an find opposing faction PvP enabled players.

There's also a lot of high end content to do in the form of Heroics, including Hoth where you get to drive AT-STs into battle and fight a giant Wampa.  These are always fun to do as a group.

With SWG there has been so much content put in that it's sometimes hard to keep up with it all, I've only recently started checking out the chronicles system which allows you to make your own quests, I've been making PvP quests for my guild to kill rebel scum and this is pretty funny so far.

I still have to do all the Death Trooper stuff as the fight with the Undead Rancor looks interesting.

Along with running my Imperial Smuggler and Medic in PvP I also run an Engineering trader so this keeps me pretty busy maintaining harvesters in order to gain uber resources.  Engineers make vehicles, droids and cybernetics but they are also really handy in the GCW invasions as they make the tools which build the AT-AT's etc.

This game isn't for everyone though, it isn't as casual freindly as WoW or Free Realms as SWG retains a lot of farily complex systems along with some very flexible sandbox elements.  It can be pretty confusing for someone new to MMOs to start out in SWG, the sheer wealth of different systems to learn is daunting.

Overall though SWG attacts a lot of new and returning players while retaining its veteran fan base, I'm seeing growth in the overall population across all servers in the last few months which I think mainly comes down to people enjoying the varied content that the game has to offer, new and old.

Originally posted by BullseyeArc1
... you wont get some items without people, or slaveing your other accounts.  

 With the recent changes that made hundreds of "No Trade" items tradeable, if you have the credits there isn't much you can't get now.

SWG can certainly be played solo, if you want things relatively quiet too you can take a look at these server population stats and pick one that is towards the bottom of the chart.

If you are using windows 7, be sure to right click on the station launcher icon and "Run as Administrator".

Originally posted by TUX426

it's FACTUAL and verifiable by simply checking Dev Tracker.

 ond

Originally posted by superniceguy:  People pay to transfer from active to active servers, because that is their choice. People returning on closed servers to just play again, and requires a transfer is NOT the players choice, it is a requirement. Sticking on a dead server (as in low populated and not enough people to do stuff with that you want to do) because you don't want to pay the hefty $50 price to an active server, is the players choice, and a lot of players don't, because the transfer price is ridiculously high as it is, but to enforce people to HAVE to pay that same fee on a closed server is an outrage.

You could always start a new character if you don't want to pay, a lot of people on closed/low population servers have done this and some even take advantage of bonus XP weekends to do so.  This is more for PvP oriented players though I find, as they don't care about the emotional investment in a character and are happy to throw it away and regrind.  They can get a new character up and running and competetive in PvP from level 1 in about three or four days.

If you need any levelling tips, let me know.

Originally posted by wilberg

WTF?? TWO devs?? Is that ethical..? Why havent they at least made it free to play?

 There are far more than two developers, SoE still maintains a full team working on SWG.  Don't be so quick to believe nonsense rumours and hatemongering. ;)

Originally posted by Mazin

Quite honestly, probably nothing will change.

SWG will continue chugging along until its unprofitable, if it's profitable they will keep it up and running.

 SoE and Lucasarts have confirmed that this is their plan, as long as people are playing SWG they'll look after it.

Originally posted by Daffid011

Are you honestly saying that it is unreasonable for people to resubscribe to an mmo and expect not to be charged an additional $50 each to access their characters? 

That's what people pay to move a charcter from one live server to another, SWG players pay that price all the time. 

I do hope they make it free again, superniceguy. That they managed to keep it free for 18 months was a good deal.

Originally posted by superniceguy

Charging one minute and not the next, and secretly doing it is what lead to problems,

Well, I'm pretty sure Customer Services wont be doing free stuff like this again due to the problems it caused with the expectations of people like yourself.