Happy Birthday!

[Mobus]

Yeah, crafting in WoW is pathetic compared to what SWG offered. SWG's crafting system was one of the best things going for that game.

But most weren't into crafting. And others, like me, loved to craft but chose a combat character over a crafter when forced to make that decision. One character per server sucked.

Anyway, for combat characters, there wasn't content like WoW has. The game didn't give you goals, lead you by the nose. You could do a *ton* of stuff, if you wanted to. You could roam around killing stuff, pretend to be investigating some random thug cave or whatever. But you had to make the content yourself. Roleplay, basically. The game was great for roleplayers. On some servers the players were great at that, actually. Ours, not so much.

Having systems in place for the players to create content is great, but there needs to be content like in WoW as well - were you just walk up to an NPC and the next thing you know you're saving an entire region's wildlife from succumbing to disease, or ruining some group's plans for world domination, etc. And of course, SWG was sorely lacking in dungeons, instances that involved teamwork and story. But it was also lacking in teamwork based mechanics, so perhaps that was for the best! lol

They tried these things with Kashyyyk and then Musty, but it just didn't work out. I loved the environment of Kash and Musty, but something about the quests and the instances just didn't feel right. Maybe it was all the bugs. Or maybe that direction with SWG just wasn't a good one, after all, since the rest of the game was completely different. Maybe just providing more ways for the players to create their own content would have been best. I don't know.

Now space is where they got content absolutely right. The missions were so fun. So very fun. The problem was that after you got master pilot the missions, the content, just ended. The few content updates to the space portion of the game were way too spread out and meager. Also, the SWG devs were terrible at making repeatable content. You can run the same dungeon in WoW over and over without it getting boring. You pretty much have to to get the gear that you want, heh. But still. ;P

I hate to compare it to WoW, I always do. But those are the two MMO's I've played extensively. And comparing something unsuccessful to something successful is a pretty good way to determine why the unsuccessful thing was not.

Anyway, SWG wasn't a perfect game, but it was still a blast. Like we've said, the community made it great. And some of the things the community at large ended up occupying itself with was pretty amazing. Remember Dathomir Rancor hunting parties to harvest meat? That was one of those odd SWG things that wouldn't sound like fun if you explained it to someone, but it really was.

It's fun to reminisce. But also sad as well.

[Mobus]

Lol, we've completely hijacked this birthday thread! Well, Syek did. And since it is his birthday thread, it's okay!

[Syek]

I approve!

And I love you guys. There, I said it.
I do miss playing the game, just hanging out, and having fun. We didn't need a huge guild to do the high end content, since there was really no high end content, and I think that's where it really worked for us. We could keep it just the tight little group and still do everything we wanted. I hope that Bioware takes all of the neat stuff that SWG had and improves on it.
Here's to dreaming that they do and make it even more fun for us!

Who all is going to play SW:TOR, btw? Shall we resurrect an old guild, or start fresh with a new name? Do you guys even want to be in the same guild again?!

[Mobus]

You know I love you too, Syeky-poo! /huggles I miss everyone a lot. It's worth repeating: you guys made SWG fun. You guys *were* SWG. <3

I am definitely playing SW:TOR. If I am alive and breathing I am playing it, unless there is some major thing to stop me. I'm very excited about the game. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, though, because I think it is impossible for any developer to meet my expectations about a Star Wars mmo.

But I am going to try it and give it a fair chance, keeping in mind that my expectations are extremely high and try not to be disappointed. It'll have a great story if nothing else, since Bioware is making it. I can't wait to see you guys there. If you all show up, the game will be fun no matter what.

[Neek]

I think in the end, it's not the game that was the addiction, it's the people. Does it make a difference to swing a lightsaber versus an axe, or having lightning come out of your fingers (wait, shamans do that too, maybe shamans ARE the syth!).

Wow did a better job at coaching people and guiding players through the different areas, quests are made to make you discover areas one bit at a time, one skill at a time, and that's pretty awesome. SWG was more like "Here we are, Coronet, have fun!" and you have to rely on people to help you find your way. Once you did though, you had a lot more than daily quests to keep you busy. I had my material farming equipment to check and move, factories to keep busy, Phenix's buff-o-matic to keep supplied, who has time for quests! Wow, well, WoW is 90+% questing, which is fine.

I think I would like questing more if I took the time to read the quest text. Lore probably adds to the whole experience. Usually with quests, I just want to get them over with.

[Ehrgeiz]

Jan 23, 2009 20:39:43 GMT -5 negilum said:

Because it was a good game with a great community, we had a great guild with outstanding people, and it was stolen from us just because they want a few more dollars.

If we had left on our own terms things would be different. But because it was taken away we notice it's absence more.

You hit the nail on the head man, the MMOs I've left from I don't have an desire to return to but SWG is different. I really want to play it sometimes because I miss everyone that played as well as the game the way it was before the combat upgrade and NGE.

[Lezaro]

maybe we should all get the free trial sometime and play it for a day or two

[Neek]

I think the city, the housing, elections, all that stuff made our little group even closer. We didn't just exist in the virutal world, we all had our houses next to each other, a little city, Kowpla's tavern which was always nicely decorated...

[Mobus]

Jan 27, 2009 19:14:18 GMT -5 Neek said:

I think in the end, it's not the game that was the addiction, it's the people. Does it make a difference to swing a lightsaber versus an axe, or having lightning come out of your fingers (wait, shamans do that too, maybe shamans ARE the syth!).

Wow did a better job at coaching people and guiding players through the different areas, quests are made to make you discover areas one bit at a time, one skill at a time, and that's pretty awesome. SWG was more like "Here we are, Coronet, have fun!" and you have to rely on people to help you find your way. Once you did though, you had a lot more than daily quests to keep you busy. I had my material farming equipment to check and move, factories to keep busy, Phenix's buff-o-matic to keep supplied, who has time for quests! Wow, well, WoW is 90+% questing, which is fine.

I think I would like questing more if I took the time to read the quest text. Lore probably adds to the whole experience. Usually with quests, I just want to get them over with.

Feb 2, 2009 12:04:47 GMT -5 Neek said:

I think the city, the housing, elections, all that stuff made our little group even closer. We didn't just exist in the virutal world, we all had our houses next to each other, a little city, Kowpla's tavern which was always nicely decorated...

Yeah, WoW is all about the quests and the dungeons. I try to always read the quest text, unless someone is rushing me. (/evil eye to all those Ohioans!) I find I enjoy questing much more when I read the quest text and get into the story of each little quest chain and area.

And you're right about SWG, too. The content there was all about the other players. SWG was by far the most social MMO I've ever played. Something about it really brought players together. Actually, I'm sure it was a combination of many things - including all the things you listed. I miss Kowpla's cantina. The Drunken Jawa, was it? It was called something really cool, that's all I know for sure! lol

BTW, hell YES it makes a difference to swing a lightsaber instead of an axe! ;D

Feb 1, 2009 13:49:29 GMT -5 Lezaro said:

maybe we should all get the free trial sometime and play it for a day or two

That sounds like a great idea to me. The hard part about those free trials is picking a new name every time lol. The one you want, the one you had, is still taken by our old characters. We can plan what to do ahead of time...kind of like going to a museum. (See what I did thar? lol) Like hit the Mos Eisley Cantina and see if FO is still around. But most importantly, we'd need to put on hawtpants, join the Rebellion, and then suicide rush some Imps!! ;D

[Lezaro]

it actually let me onto lez for free and the game was whoriffic so i just gave a bunch of free shit to some guy i had seen around the entire time i played and uninstalled

the graphics on it are way worse than i remember lol, its definately not up to par with what im used to playing these days.

[Mobus]

Feb 11, 2009 20:06:58 GMT -5 Lezaro said:

it actually let me onto lez for free and the game was whoriffic so i just gave a bunch of free shit to some guy i had seen around the entire time i played and uninstalled

the graphics on it are way worse than i remember lol, its definately not up to par with what im used to playing these days.

Yeah, they are old. I still think SWG looks good for the most part, but when you compare it to newer games you do see a huge difference. I did always get used to it eventually when I'd go back, though.

I actually felt the same way with WoW the last time I went back to it. But since the art style doesn't try to look realistic...at all...I soon got used to the graphics and thought they looked great again - despite low resolutions, obvious repeating patterns in textures (esp. terrain), and so on. It is much, much easier to ignore what we normally consider graphical faults in a game that doesn't try to look realistic in the first place.

Look at this image. Having not played WoW forever, looking at this picture now I see one ugly game. But if I were to play it for 30 minutes I'd see a beautiful jungle scene again. lol
warcraftonline.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/wow-2008-01-13-19-55-28-54.jpg


Now where I've always thought SWG looked the best, and continue to, is space. Most of what you see in space is just a nice-looking background image. But whatever, space in SWG always had a great feel, and still looks great to me.

[Ehrgeiz]

I don't know if you have seen some graphics added with the expansion mobus but you need about 2 times more computer then you needed with wow to get the most out of the game now.

www.bkdungeon.com/pgallery/displayimage.php?pid=132&fullsize=1

I took that screenshot during the beta, I think I have everything maxed out but I don't think full screen glow was turned on. The game looks much better now with the small upgrades blizzard did.

I can't bring myself to installing SWG even for a free trial.

[Mobus]

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I'm sure the game looks great. It always did. That's the point, though. Because of their art style - an almost cartoonish fantasy style instead of realism - the game looks good even though it can run on my old Compaq that has an 8 year old processor. Seriously.

Now that they've done graphical improvements, though, I'm sure it looks just orgasmic. It probably won't run on that old Compaq anymore, though! haha

Also, with each expansion they seem to up the graphics a bit. TBC demanded more computing power, and WoTLK does as well. That's a pretty smooth way of updating the graphics, a little bit at a time. I remember thinking how amazing TBC looked when it first came out. I still think Outland is one of the most beautiful environments I've seen in a game. It taxed my computer a bit more, but the changes weren't dramatic, so I wasn't suddenly forced to upgrade.

The only downside is that the graphical improvements of each expansion only apply to that new area, for the most part. TBC's improved graphics didn't affect much of Azeroth, if I remember right. Org still looked as ugly as hell. Now if they went back and made everything look better with WoTLK, that is really, really cool. Did they?

[Ehrgeiz]

Bah why is that link not working now, they did upgrades to almost all of the games textures but most of the old world stuff looks the same. They added real time lighting to everything if you turn it on and shadows so everything looks better now.

[Neek]

They also keep tweaking the spell graphics too like the 'rain of fire' from warlocks, or blizzard from mages now has a disc on the floor to see the area better (because blizzard was at an angle, it was tough to see where it actually did damage).