Star Wars Galaxies Reception and criticism

Reviews for the initial launch of the game in 2003 were mostly positive. The game was praised for its lush graphics, liberal use of the movie soundtracks, massive world size, character customization, creative creature ecology, complex skill system, player economy interdependencies and its sandbox approach. Reviewers criticized the overwhelming complexity of the game, PVP/PVE combat imbalances of the professions, bugginess and lack of quest content.[28] The reviews for the first expansion, Jump to Lightspeed, praised the new space combat but criticized the ground game for its lack of sufficient improvement.[29] The reviews for the second expansion, Rage of the Wookiees lauded the new quest content for current subscribers but lamented the combat gameplay updates and the continued bugginess of the game.[30]

Players who wished to play a Jedi character had to first unlock their Jedi slot by fulfilling an unknown list of criteria. The first player to unlock a 'Jedi slot' did so on November 7, 2003,[31] four months after the release of the game. Media outlets and players criticized SOE for the substantial time commitment to unlock a Jedi, penalties for in-game death of a Jedi character which was permanent after three deaths, and monotonous game play required to acquire the Jedi character.[32] Developers responded by changing the penalty for death to skill loss in January 2004[33] and creating a quest system to unlock the character.[34][35]

SWG after the Combat Upgrade
SWG after the New Game EnhancementsGameplay mechanics for combat and armor/weapon systems received a major update on 27 April 2005 when SOE released the "Combat Upgrade" (abbreviated as CU). The new Combat Upgrade replaced a system that allowed players with swg credits combat professions to stack defensive abilities from various skill sets, while also fixing an exploit that allowed players to have their character attack freshly spawning non-player characters (NPC) and creatures while away from their computers in order to gain combat skill experience.

Media outlets criticized the changes[36][37] while subscription cancellations rose.[38]

Another major update called the "New Game Enhancements" (abbreviated as NGE) was implemented on 15 November 2005, and created huge demonstrations in game from the majority of players, and became available in retail on 22 November 2005 as the Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit.[39] Major changes included the reduction and simplification of professions, simplification of gameplay mechanics, and Jedi becoming a starting profession. Media outlets such as CBS News, New York Times, New York Post and Wired Magazine criticized the reduced depth and complexity of the game.,[40][41][42][43][44] but John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, defended the decision claiming it necessary to revamp the game in order to reverse the deterioration they were seeing in the subscriber base.[45] SOE offered refunds on the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion due to it being released two days before the NGE was implemented.[46] The development team affirmed this was their desired direction for the game and that they would modify parameters to address player's concerns.[47] Features such as expertise trees were later added to the game to add complexity and differentiation to characters.