Star Wars Galaxies Today

The nine professions currently available to post-NGE players are Bounty Hunter, Medic, Entertainer, Officer, Trader, Smuggler, Spy, Commando and Jedi. The latter was originally an extremely hard feat to achieve, requiring hours upon hours of gameplay. Sony's decision to allow the Jedi to become a starting class angered many, but it is still a joy to play even in 2010 Star Wars Galaxies.

The game has aged surprisingly well. It still looks good seven years on, and although your character can walk straight through most objects and shadows are best left turned off, the game captures the essence of Star Wars superbly. The planets themselves are expansive, with Tattooine's vast desert landscape coming across perfectly. The highly praised introduction of player owned homes and buildings still exists, with custom made cities populating the worlds, but they are left mostly deserted.

swg credits isn't dead in the water just yet. Player numbers are down, with desolate towns providing a depressing reminder of what the game once was. The game isn't bad, it just isn't as good as it used to be. Change isn't always for the best, and I can't help but wonder why Sony did not revert back to the original formula. Whilst you may be able to draw a good few hours out of today's iteration of Star Wars Galaxies, the game feels stale and old. This is in sharp contrast to what SWG was seven years ago, a futuristic space MMORPG that was frankly ahead of its time.

The Combat Upgrade went live on April 27 2005, and was a large fundamental change to the combat system. The slower paced action of before was replaced by a faster, more fluid experience similar to that found in World of Warcraft. The user interface was also drastically changed. The second update, New Game Enhancements, hit servers towards the end of that same year. The biggest update to the game since its inception left dedicated players with a sour taste in their mouths. The list of changes was staggering, and Sony even began to offer refunds to players who bought the latest expansion unaware of the impending changes to their game.

Almost immediately after the release of NGE, development of private servers and test beds began. Irate with changes made, players longed for the more varied, complex game they had been playing for the last two years. The pre-CU and pre-NGE communities have been working tirelessly to restore the game back to its original state for almost five years now. Despite this, progress has been slow, but many still refuse to return to the game they consider to be "ruined" by Sony's modernisation efforts.