All is Not Well With the Empire

by Gabriel Putnam

Let me start with a little bit of retrospective. When Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) was first announced, I was interested to say the least. At heart I am a deep fan of the first trilogy and of the society surrounding it. From only a tiny glimpse on-screen, the saga of Star Wars has been taken by the fan community and transformed into something far greater than I think Lucas even dreamed of originally. Now to be able to play a character within that sweeping epic along with thousands of others, that would be something truly special if handled correctly. However, along with many gamers, I have experienced the ways of other MMORPGs, and am familiar with the less than ideal player base that frequents them. In addition, my enthusiasm was also tempered by the thought that SWG could basically end up as Everquest in space if the right measures weren’t taken. And those measures are by no means easy to achieve. Making an engrossing MMORPG is probably one of the most difficult tasks which can face any team of developers. They must handle a wildly diverse set of interests, hardwares, and styles; as well as create a cohesive gaming background which can keep them entertained and busy with tasks for years to come. So when SWG’s release finally rolled around, I was a bit more subdued and expecting only a slight improvement over Everquest in space. Imagine my disappointment when even that wasn’t delivered.

In some part of my mind, I would love to simply claim that the developers of SWG are lazy and it was this lack of work which resulted in an unfinished product being unleashed on their fans. But when I consider it, I know that this probably isn’t the case. I’m sure they worked long hours, spent days sorting out code objects, and toiled endlessly with their solid base of Beta testers. However, if laziness really isn’t the culprit, then there is an even worse conclusion that you have to reach: the developers of SWG are simply lacking in common sense and an understanding of the MMORPG mindset. This means that no matter how much time was taken to improve the game before release, there would still have been an inherent deficit due to their inattention to details. To prove my point and not just make random accusations, let me illustrate a few examples.

One of the most glaring points which arises when you actually begin playing the game, is that certain classes are completely out of balance, and some go so far as to be entirely useless. Now I don’t even want to touch the combat prowess debate, as there is endless discussion and blame passed around on the PvP and PvE fronts. Instead, I will focus on the slightly more subdued, but equally out of kilter crafting professions. One of the best examples of this can be seen with a comparison of the various crafting classes. Now far and away, weaponsmiths own the financial market of SWG. For a comparatively small investment of resources and time, you can create items which sell for 20+ times the cost of their base components in credits. The reason behind this is twofold. On one hand, the weaponsmith skill progression is actually set up quite intelligently, and the difference between the products of a novice and a master is rather vast. This creates a huge span of prices which are available for any given product, and thereby also raises the ceiling price which top-notch product can demand. In addition, nearly every class within SWG requires a weapon (due in part to some failings with the product that I will discuss later), and when they use those weapons, they degrade over time, so there is a constant demand for high quality arms. In fact, when viewed by themselves, weaponsmiths would be the paradigm for an excellent crafting profession. However, the problem arises when you compare them to something like an architect.

Architects suffer from numerous problems within both their skill tree organization, and the design of the very schematics they use. As the first hurdle, nearly every single product they can produce has a quality which is completely independent of the materials which were used, or the skill possessed by the builder. This means that a person with only one path purchased in their skill tree, and no points of quality, can still produce buildings which are functionally identical to a master. I.E. for the vast majority of people, there is no reason to be a master unless they want the design schematics which come with it. Secondly, architects are hampered by the cost of the very goods they produce. In both base mineral cost and time required to produce, buildings are so vastly greater in cost that it nearly dwarfs the senses. This means that to even recoup expenses, architects are forced to charge prices which cause a knee jerk reaction among their buyers, even when profits are minimal. In many cases, it is difficult for an architect to sell products for even two times the cost of minerals and they are often forced to settle for an income which barely exceeds their usage.

And they aren’t even the worst. The list goes on and on, with creature handlers, who’s only real customers are other creature handlers; tailors, who can really only market to fashion buffs, as clothes don’t degrade; and armorsmiths, who require nearly two master classes to even be effective. All of this points to a vast lack of attention to the skill system in SWG, which could have been improved on from nearly every angle. Even if every class was made as a mimicry of the weaponsmith profession, it would still be an improvement over the current situation, where the majority strive to make a profit amidst a crowded niche market of the universe, while a few players who got lucky and chose the right class, get rich on the backs of their peers.

Of course, this is only touching the surface of the problems which plague SWG. In addition to an unbalanced equilibrium among classes, there are also hosts of problems with the very worlds themselves. Probably the most extreme of these is the distribution of mobs across the surfaces of the worlds. When Star Wars Galaxies was being created, one of the more interesting ideas which came up was a method of randomly distributing resources across the surfaces of the worlds to hinder camping. In practice, this works quite well, as it rewards those players who are active with the best concentrations of minerals and the prime spots for harvesting. However, this idea was unfortunately taken one step further and applied to the spawning of mobs as well, both aggressive and passive types. This means that for many new players, they can take their first faltering steps out of town and suddenly be faced with a ravening beast that does their whole life bar in damage with one hit. In fact, on some occasions I’ve seen the most powerful mobs on a planet wandering right into the very towns themselves. Vicious agro beasts that deathblow four or five newbs before a high power pistoleer or commando takes them down. Thankfully, death has no meaning in Star Wars Galaxies, since you respawn with all of your goods, even after your grace period has supposedly ended. But frankly, that copout on death is probably the best decision the designers have made yet, as the rest of the game is so random in danger, that it’s like having your front yard replaced with a freeway one day and a park the next.

The sad part is, this doesn’t even touch on most of those features that I would really consider “bugs” in the code of the game. Trying to list even the number that I have encountered personally would probably fill another set of paragraphs at least. Persistent problems, like the loss of waypoints or the cessation of their functionality; database problems, like the loss of an entire days actions after you log out (which has happened multiple times); and even worse, horrible exploit problems which aren’t even punished to a measurable degree. At least in the days of Everquest, if a person was found to be using a blatant exploit for personal gain, you could expect that they would at least be stripped of the rewards it produced, if not banned outright for its use. In addition, visible examples were made of numerous players to deter others from doing the same stupid things, and for the most part it worked. Yet in comparison, a recent bug on several servers in SWG allowed an estimated 500 players to make literally millions of credits in the space of several hours. Suddenly, the entire economy on those servers was completely ruined as credits became like water, free for the taking. And the worst part of it all, those folks who were honest about their income and didn’t dupe basically just got screwed as a global wipe is about the only way to handle such a widespread exploitation of the game. The developers of course say that they’re working on these things and that investigations take time, but its like have the IRS perform audits on people with only one person to do the work. You never hear from them on the forums, you never see them in game, so for all intents and purposes, they don’t exist in any measurable way.

Despite all this ranting though, the game does have its good points. For one, if you’re computer can actually run it, then it looks quite pretty, and some of the worlds are actually breathtaking to behold when you cross over a ridgeline or stand on a mesa at sunrise. Mind you, a 2+ gigahertz computer and the best videocard the market has to offer is required to run these graphics at anything over 5 fps; however, for still photos they’re nice to look at nonetheless. Also, as was mentioned previously, the resource system within SWG is actually one of the best designs I’ve ever seen. By shifting the resources across the universe constantly, and limiting players to only ten lots apiece, the developers have created a system which rewards motivation, diligence, and partnerships, even if it is highly unrealistic. Plus, within these shifting resources, there is also a huge range of components, materials, and qualities which can be found by any one person, so the potential for trading, niche businesses, or supply and demand are all quite high. Coupled with the intricate crafting setup, this probably could have created an in-game economy that was the epitome of success, were it not for the inherent flaws of numerous professions.

So in summation, if you’re thinking about picking up Star Wars Galaxies, don’t do so unless you are an avid fan of the Star Wars universe or blessed with an exceptionally mellow view of adversity. For anyone with even a slight penchant for anger or stress, SWG is sure to irritate. Whether it be from the third time you’re killed by a high level mob within the boundaries of town, or when your month’s worth of resources are wiped in a bug, you’ll be tearing your hair out by the roots if you expect anything even resembling stability or predictable play. Better to wait and watch for it to gel into something playable. Oh wait, you can’t even get up to date information now as they closed the forums off due to bad press…