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May the Force Be With You: A newbie's guide to the Jedi Profession
Star Wars Galaxies correspondent Thomas Allegood takes us from Padawan Learner to Jedi Master in this guide to Jedi in SWG.
The powerful Jedi, once the guardians of the galaxy, now reduced to a handful of warriors, hiding from persecution from Imperials and Rebels alike. The Jedi class is the only post-NGE class that is focused primarily upon melee weapons and close-quarters combat. As a Jedi, you will primarily use swords until level 26, and lightsabers afterwards. You will also be able to use a variety of Force powers from the movies and other games based on the Star Wars universe.
As you start out in the tutorial area, Tansarii Point Station, you will be introduced to your Jedi trainer and obtain your first weapon. This two-handed weapon will be your best friend until you find a better weapon. With enough foraging, you can find a Two-Handed Sith Sword which you can find by fighting CL5 enemies on all floors. By now, you should be at least CL1 and have your first Strike skill, Shiim. This is a powerful attack that should defeat any enemy, or at least get it down to almost no health. As you continue your starter quest for your profession, you will also receive your standard-issue Padawan robe, and your starter accessory. Both increase your agility, making it harder for your opponents to do damage.
At CL4, you will unlock your first few Force powers: Force Throw and Force Focus. Force Throw is a great way to pull an enemy that is dangerously close to other aggressive enemies. Force Focus is your first toggle skill, which improves various stats focused on dealing damage. As you level up, this Focus will become stronger. At CL7 you will unlock Force Stance, which reduces damage received, making you capable of tanking. You also then are capable of going Palpatine on everyone and use Force Lightning 1: Spark. I would suggest staying on Tansarii Station until you have finished all quests in space, on the station, and on Gamma Station. This will allow for you to start the next phase of your adventure with relative ease, and with a strong knowledge of what your skills are, and how they work.
;)
After you leave Tansarii Station, you will begin your training on the quiet planet of Tatooine. Everyone starts here, and it is the best place to meet new friends, and possibly find a nice guild to join. Many recruiters hang out near the Mos Eisley spaceport in order to expand their guild, so don't be afraid to ask around if you're interested in joining a guild. Also, now would be a good time to look around and learn about the various economic systems in place. Near the spaceport, you will find the bank, where you can deposit your credits and extra items you want to keep for safe keeping. You will also find the bazaar terminals. These are the central hubs of the economy for Star Wars Galaxies. I would suggest putting the spare spacecraft parts that you looted on sale for around 1000 credits. This will help out later when you decide that you want that fancy Swoop that's up for sale. If the Bazaar doesn't have what you want for sale, you can click the Vendor Search button to find NPC vendors that are controlled by other players, and see if they might have what you want.
Now that you have the economy figured out, its now time to begin your epic struggle against the Empire, or perhaps the Rebellion. Now, you don't have to join a faction, but it will help you out a bit. You will be able to obtain certain special items as you advance in your Galactic Civil War rank. You can increase your rank by killing enemy faction NPCs to gain GCW points.
If you have reached CL10, you will have learned that you don't just gain skills by leveling up, you can also allocate Expertise Points to obtain new skills, and empower your old ones. Personally, I started out working on my General skills tab, but you can also allocate points to your Path. Your Path decides what kind of Jedi you will be. You could be a Light Jedi which primarily tanks, or you can be a powerful Dark Jedi which is capable of doing high amounts of damage in a very small amount of time.
You think you're done? Not so fast. There is a specific quest line for new players, called the Legacy quests. These quests allow for a newbie player to get accustomed to combat, various points of interest, learn about various planets, and even interact with certain famous characters from the Star Wars universe. Your Legacy quest line will take you all across the galaxy, and not to mention, get you up to around CL45-50 in the process. You will also receive plenty of credits, and various kinds of equipment from your rewards. I would say, for now, this is your best bet of getting a good, firm hold on the game.
By now, you're probably asking me "Where's my lightsaber?" Don't fret, you'll get it soon enough. After all, no modern Jedi can magically wield such a powerful weapon. You have to have years of training. But luckily, we don't have to wait for years to get our hands on the most awesome weapon of all time, just have to level up to CL26. At 26, after completing a small quest, you receive your first lightsaber, the Training Lightsaber. This is the most basic of lightsabers, but is much more powerful than any other melee weapon you can get at that level. It can hold one color crystal and, by now, you should already have one or two in your inventory. If not, you can find plenty on the local Bazaar. As you continue to level up, you will receive your second lightsaber, the First Generation Lightsaber at 30. This weapon can hold one color crystal and one power crystal. It doesn't stop there though. Every few levels, you will learn how to construct stronger, better looking lightsabers by using materials purchased from vendors across the galaxy. Also, you will be able to learn how to make the strongest sabers in the game by completing certain quests and fighting certain bosses.
;)
As a Jedi, you won't have to worry about credits too incredibly much, as you won't have to buy most of your gear. The majority of your equipment can be farmed from enemies, and the rest you can quest for. Which, if you decided to get a guild, you can probably get one of your CL90 guild mates to give you a hand, making it extremely easy. You will also need to remember that every 20 levels, you should try to find yourself a new robe. At CL20, you receive your Initiates robe, but thats not quite going to get you to CL90, now is it? Ask around in your guild, as you get close to CL40, CL60, and CL80, on where to obtain your new robe, or use various other online resources. Also, ALWAYS remember to get higher quality power crystals for your saber as you become higher level. These will save your neck.
;)
When you reach CL80 and higher, you should stop by Tyrenia on Corellia and speak to a certain Jedi by the name of Matareno. He will give you your mastery quest. This is what separates the men from the boys, so to speak. As you begin completing the segments of this quest, you will learn how to build the fifth-generation lightsabers, gain a powerful meditation skill, obtain a powerful belt, and, last but not least, obtain the most powerful cloaks: the Cloak of Hate and the Shatterpoint Cloak. You can begin the holocron collecting for your belt and meditation earlier. If you choose to start early, your path will be very difficult, as the holocrons usually are very expensive and they only drop from CL60+ Force sensitive NPCs.
;)
Now, enjoy your new-found power, and, as the Jedi of old would say, may the Force be with you, always.
Sad this MMO has failed in the end, together with its instant mix jedi.(Stir and add water.)
Once..., once it was a good game and jedi was something mystic, something hard to obtain, something you would need more people to take down or a proffesional BH armed to the teeth.
The diversity and the amount of proffesion was its strength. Bored with 1 prof? Try another and another, mix and mash you own template. Housing, amazing, it felt like a home. Not just a big inventory on your screen, but an actual house with rooms and doors.
Now, it's just a remnant of a long, lost passion. The memories are good, we still hold you dear in our heart Tiggs what you have done for the SWG Community.
We will not forget.
SOE's SWG is a facade, empty inside, more machine then man.
But there are others...
Maybe the Phoenix will rise again from it's ashes in it's true state.
True believers and followers will join that cause, support, love and cherish it.
There is always hope...
While some of the features of Pre CU will always be missed. The game is much better now than it ever has been. Instead of the small handfull of whiney children with the needed temps dominating all, everyone has move ability to play the entire game. The number of bugs and exploits are an order of magnatude less now than in Pre CU where 99.9% of players who PvPed exploited. Really the only people I hear complaining now are the alpha class exploiters who now find that when skill is required, they are sadly lacking.
every time i read about swg i consider coming back. the last time i did i was so sad. I could transfer to a server with people, i just dont know... I want to go in some of the old caves, endor, put a house somewhere. bleh!!!!
get on the falcon kid this game is gonna blow!
At one time many of us felt that the NGE was the final stroke, because (to paraphrase a famous line) "that game was our last hope."
But as the all wise Yoda quickly replied, "No...there is another..."
hahahha
At one time many of us felt that the NGE was the final stroke, because (to paraphrase a famous line) "that game was our last hope."
But as the all wise Yoda quickly replied, "No...there is another..."
KOTOR Online is not going to be even remotely like the original vision of Star Wars Galaxies. Its not a "new hope" to quench the thirst of a Star Wars Galaxy Online.... its just another KOTOR game, with some miniscule multiplayer options.
I never PvPed, so I don't know, nor do I care really, about whatever "pvp exploits" you might be referring to. I do know that I came back for a free trial recently, and I will say this:
It may be a stable running game, BUT IT IS STILL NOT THE GAME I ORIGINALLY SUBSCRIBED TO. And I don't mean a few changes, a nerf here, a buff there, I mean it's a completely different game.
The game I subscribed to had no artificial combat levels, had no "forced path" to whatever limited profession I chose and was locked into for the rest of that 'toons life. The game I subscribed to was as open as the universe and I could go anywhere and try anything that I thought my skill could handle. And if I didn't like how my career was going I could change at anytime and take up something else. Sure, there was a Galactic Civil War going on someplace, somewhere, out there among the stars, but if I chose not to involve myself in politics, well then damn it I didn't have to. What SOE did with the NGE is the definition of Bait and Switch!
I don't "whine" the loss of some undefined PvP Exploit...but I will continue to "complain" about the loss of freedom, the loss of liberty, the loss of my pursuit of happiness. The day I logged in to my Master Ranger only to find out his job no longer exisited was the day that my immersion was totally and irrevocably broken by the marketing wiz-kids at SOE.
And if Star Wars: The Old Republic was what I was referring to, I'd agree with you completely, because SW:TOR indeed has as much to do with SWG as The Phantom Menace has to do with The Empire Strikes Back. They exist in the same canon but are seperated by a gulf of years (both in the SW history and in RL technology).
No, no, no...Master Yoda wasn't referring to a "prequel" when he uttered those four words...he was referring to a twin of the original hope...a new "New Hope" if you will. And those of us that believe in and love what the original provided can feel the stirrings of hope once again.
And that is all I will say regarding this subject here.
Who says we're talking about Kotor Online? That will probably be totally something different and a whole different feel to it. We're not talking about Kotor Online :)
its just another KOTOR game, with some miniscule multiplayer options.
Way to completely guess. Also the sad thing is even if it it KOTOR with a chatbox(which it wont) it will still be 5x better than the buggy unpolished SWG.
its just another KOTOR game, with some miniscule multiplayer options.
Way to completely guess. Also the sad thing is even if it it KOTOR with a chatbox(which it wont) it will still be 5x better than the buggy unpolished SWG.
He could have the scoop, heck he might even be the developer in disguise :) To already have an opinion about a game that is not even out yet LOL :)
Normally I try to stay out of these SWG threads, the game died a long time ago, but when a poster is so blatantly wrong you just can't help but respond.
You cannot even fathom how far this game has degenerated. The number of bugs skyrocketed with NGE and they still have a lot of issues left unresolved from that fiasco. As to exploiters, there were very few prior to NGE. Don't know about now, have not played it enough lately to have a feel for that.
As to skill, there is no such thing anymore, they replaced skill with levels. Basically the game has evolved down to a bunch of your kiddies running around with jedi swords.
Can't believe anyone could be that blind to post such nonsense.
Sad part when seeing the replies in this topic is that people don't know what freedom is, sorry but calling SWG linear only shows how limited a persons playstyle is, nothing more, and to those who complain about Jedi, you have NOT been playing SWG for a long time between release and the NGE else you people would NOT make comments about Jedi being everywhere. Or perhaps some of your memory is fading and some seem unable to remember how many Jedi's started to walk the worlds before the CU/NGE.
As for bugs, yeah in 2007 there where still a few bugs in but definitly not as much bugs as we had during pre-cu.
I really wished VETERAN players would be honost gamers, shame I often see the opposite. Not with all but definitly with many who say they are VETS, though I really doubt that.
what oerplexes me is if you hate the game so much why bother commenting on it at all. let others learn from their mistakes and let them see supposedly what a bad mmo looks like. not everybody has the same concept of what a great mmo is thats why there are so many different games. sheesh
As the writer of this article, I must agree with the above post. Not everyone hates the game in its current incarnation. No matter what game you play, the company is always going to mess something up. Thats just how it works.
SWG is still a fun game, and I enjoy it. As do many others. Thats why I make these articles.
Sorry if you got the impression I hate the game. No such thing. It just irks me when someone tries to infer that the game is better in this iteration than it was prior to NGE. So much 'choice' was removed that no matter what the developers do the game will never return to what it once was.
The review was well done, I was not commenting on that.
Yes there seems to be a minor resurgance in the game. I still do weekend space battles occassionally. So people are enjoying the game. Nothing wrong with that. I hope they have fun playing it. It still has it's moments.
I don't know...I think SWG is a fun game, mostly, in it's current state, but there's too many problems that haven't been addressed keeping me from ever playing again.
1. The Legacy Quests are a poorly disguised grind. They need alternate equally beneficial ways to level up.
2. The economy suffers from hyper-inflation, so the rerollers w/ no money or new players cannot afford the equipment or gear to compete with the veteran players. You can't even afford new ships and parts.
3. The community has changed since Pre-NGE. Good luck finding many mature players or RPers. Instead you have the "lol Noob" PvP types. It's crazy to play a game on a desolate server, and that's where the community points you if you want to play with RPers.
So what game are you playing now? It always annoys me that people bitch and moan about the Jedi profession, when no other game offers an alpha class, yet they go and play those class, level, quest based grinds anyways. They bitch about SWG having classes and instant roll Jedi, but they leave SWG to go play other class based games. Hypocrisy.
Edit: I realize that you may not be one of those I am referring to. I am speaking generally.
I'm a constant player of SWG. I started at launch and have never dropped my account. I clearly remeber Pre-NGE and have to say there were quite a few bugs back then. The current dev team has done a incredible job of gutting old code and rebuilding what was there for smoother play. Right after the NGE launch, the game was very much a mess in bugs and broken content. After 3 years, the game is much fuller and functional.
I have looked back and compared the current version of the game (which I am stressed to call the NGE now) to what we had Pre-CU. There are good points for both camps and bad points for both as well. After so much time, the game has much more to offer a player then most of the carbon copy attempts to gain WOW demographics out there. If you miss Pre-CU so very much then follow others and try the SWG EMU. Its very close to completion as I understand. The plus side of the EMU is you can play that game and it should be bug free(r).
As a vet, one thing I wouldn't go back to is the 10 or 20 minute shuttle waits for the ITV and GPP. I can even shuttle directly to my house with the personal Shuttle Becon (Vet Reward).
I miss the 32 different professions but the current trade off is better balanced and combat viable profession in the given level based combat scheme. As I remember and have heard, it was near impossible for the different dev teams to unifiy combat and functions between the 32 and resulted in a "snowflake structure" of tech. The EMU guys are tackling this issue with a smaller team that is sharing tech to unify that combat unlike SOE.
I don't miss the SWG culture totally geared towards "unlocking thier Jedi." Pre-NGE, this issue totally dominated the player base and over shadowed the little GCW content there was. Sure, I miss Phase 4 of the Village and all the different quests and fun stuff but the Heroic Instances have gone far to replace that content.
What I call for is a Re-re-review of SWG at now almost 4 years after the NGE launch. It has many plus' left over from the "World Simulator" tech that are not avaible in any other games. Have an un-biased member of this staff play and check out SWG. Check it out by asking whats availble to the player base and what is bad or wrong with it.
Some here will accuse me of being a SWG fan or SOE fan and have no idea of a good game. I have played other games but never get the fix that I get from Galaxies. I have both been a supporter and critic of the game because I wanted to know "Why?". I'm not a "Glass Half Full or Empty", I am trying to see the Glass given.
I believe its a fair point to Re-Review this game again.
I definitely think you're a level headed person, which is good on these forums. I understand where you are coming from and I cannot disagree with your negative points concerning the Pre-NGE version of the game. My only concerns, which you didn't respond to is over the quality of content offered to new players or old players that would reroll (w/ no credits), the economy, and the community. Those concerns would hopefully be addressed in a Re-re-review.
There's no denying that there is only one viable way to level up 1-80 and that the Legacy quests are poorly designed grinds, whereas quests in some more modern quest centric games give a lot better story behind why you're going to go kill this or that and helps by reducing the amount of travel time. In other words, devs are getting better at requiring you to travel less to complete a quest (back and forth travel) and are combining steps that feel more logical. In a sci-fi game with communicators, why do you need to travel back and forth (Naboo) a gazillion times when a quest NPC can just tell you the goal of why you are going there and you could just stay there and keep in contact through a communicator. It's very grindy and isn't much fun.
The economy is suffering from hyper inflation, with no way for a new player to compete/earn money. In other games with severe inflation, you can harvest or loot items that sell well in the player economy while you're leveling, which makes the inflation irrelevent. But in SWG, there isn't an auction house where new players can profit from things they get at early levels, nor would other players buy them if there was an auction house. The Bazzar only allows you to sell things up to 20k credits, which is nothing compared to the millions of credits you need to buy anything these days. The only real solution is to level up a crafting toon to earn money (which is easy money), but most people don't want to or like playing a crafting toon. How about new players that want to level up their space missions and etc. that can't advance, because their ship can't handle the new missions, yet they can't afford a better ship due to the hyper-inflation of the economy? I've asked this in SWG a year ago and the communities response was that I should wait until CL 80 to do that when I have more credits. Well why should I have to wait, when before the NGE I didn't have to? Players and SOE are supposed to be giving me reasons to want to play, not reasons to quit.
Lastly, the community was mostly the "lol noob" PvP types. Hardly a good welcoming committe for a new or returning player who once played the game with mature adults. A person coming to the game with friends to adventure with won't have this problem, but those coming to the game without friends will feel overwhelmed with the emphasis on the GCW and the community that it attracts. Maybe it's because the PvE content has been trivialized and the only challenging thing to do is to PvP, but I admit to not playing since they implemented Heroic dungeons.
My question to you, since you're a level headed player who might be able to offer some objective input is this: What is there that could possibly entice a vet player to return, assuming that vet player doesn't mind levels and classes that the NGE brought with it? I'm not talking "well, at CL 80 you can do this..." because there needs to be meaningful and fun things to do at all levels, just like there is in the most competitive MMORPG's on the market.
The only good things to come from the NGE were the lack of an alpha class, because you used to spend 99% of your game time grinding to Jedi... the other thing being the extra content thats been added. Like it or not, the game has much more content Now than what it had Then.
I may not answer your question to your satisfaction but I will try.
Characters now level to CL 90. Progession still begins with the dreaded Legacy quest with the addition of doing Terminal Missions at 10 a day for a level. The Legacy will get you to about CL 55 where you then begin to do the content of Kashyyyk followed by Mustafar and the new Meatlump Theme Park. If you haven't reached CL 90, the Azure Cobal Quest should finish off your mastery. The Heroic Encounters have been balanced with Master Combat characters in consideration for "End Game" content. These Encounters have many rewards that help further boost your characters performance.
The hyper-inflation has been a great burden so to counter its wieght, many other forms of currancy have been added. These forms of currancy take the role of the Chu-don Dar Cube, Tokens from the Encounters and Commidations from Restuus Missions. To further combat the strangle hold that Crafters could dominate a given Galaxies market in a given good, many rewarded Weapons and Armors have been designed so they can be Deconsturcted into Schmatic form. The Deconstructued gear are Bio-linked to the owners so the crafter can make this item for only that character. This bites into the Mass Factory runs of weapons as players strive to have the best of the best.
Population trouble has been helped with the Character Free Transfer service. This allowed active players on the lower half of the servers to move to the upper pop half. Sadly, as the target demographic has discovered SWG the number of "lol noob PVPer" has increased. Don't get me wrong though as there are plenty of Mature players to be found.
As far as a meaningful story or quests as you progress, there is none. There is no connection to why you decide to leave Talus (end of the Legacy) and venture to Kashyyyk (next logical step in the chain). This opens another problem of lack of support to new players to this game. They have no idea what they should do once they finish the Legacy. They only learn what to do by talking with fellow players. The over all conflict is suppose to be the main theme of the Rebellion vs. the Empire (or GCW). Not meeting total satisfaction, the GCW should be upgraded within the coming year. Time will only tell.
Additional: One of my pet peves is the Targeting that was made cumbersome with the NGE. The selling point of the NGE to make it different from its competitors was its near FPS style. Established NGE policy will not let the devs change supporting this in favor of Lock/Auto fire. SWG can be remapped to this MMO style fairly quickly but its not intuitive. No guide lines help players pick this and its not as simple as "TAB and Click". I can only say play it and you will discover what I mean.
So what game are you playing now? It always annoys me that people bitch and moan about the Jedi profession, when no other game offers an alpha class, yet they go and play those class, level, quest based grinds anyways. They bitch about SWG having classes and instant roll Jedi, but they leave SWG to go play other class based games. Hypocrisy.
Edit: I realize that you may not be one of those I am referring to. I am speaking generally.
My old old shooter Soldier of Fortune 2 :) I dunno the new shooters are all eyecandy. COD series are always good fun though and ofcourse SWGEmu Nova TC and that's about it.
I really hope SWGEmu comes through and there will be many variations of it. Just depends how the server owner likes to outfit his emulator.