Star Wars Galaxies Shutting Down 12 Servers

[Andy Chalk]

Star Wars Galaxies Shutting Down 12 Servers

Sony has announced that 12 Star Wars Galaxies [http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/] servers will be shut down, cutting the number of servers supporting the game almost in half.

It's a bit of a good news/bad news story. The good news is that the free character transfer service offered to Star Wars Galaxies players earlier this year was a big success, bringing people together in larger communities on a small number of servers and giving the game a much busier and more crowded feeling. The bad news, of course, is that this has left a lot of SWG servers sitting almost completely empty; as a result, Sony has decided to pull the plug on a dozen of them.

The axe will fall at 5 pm PDT on October 15 on the following servers:


Corbantis
Europe-Infinity
Intrepid
Kauri
Kettemoor
Lowca
Naritus
Scylla
Tarquinas
Tempest
Valcyn
Wanderhome


User creation on these servers has been disabled and the free character transfer service will continue to be offered until they go offline. Any characters, items and structures remaining after the closure date will be lost permanently, so if you happen to be a Galaxies player who calls one of these servers home, you might want to give some thought to finding new digs. More information about the free character transfer service is available here.

Sony said the server shutdowns shouldn't be taken as a sign that Star Wars Galaxies itself is on the way out. "We have lots of new content and updates planned for Galaxies and remain committed to making the game an enjoyable and engrossing experience," Draakull, the Star Wars Galaxies community relations manager, wrote in the Server Closure FAQ [http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=994876]. "The server closure is an effort to improve the gameplay experience for all of our players."

via: MMORPG.com [http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm?read=14967&bhcp=1]

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[Arachon]

Christ... SWG is still running? Thought'd be dead by long, used to play on Corbantis, pity to see it go, but I 'spose it's a ghost town nowadays.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

As I've said before, when you bring in a game destroying mechanic like the NGE, you can only expect the game to collapse.

And Knights of the Old Republic are starting with that very mechanism. They just don't learn.

 

[ZeroMachine]

First off, I thought this game was already dead... kind of surprising it's still active, all things considered. Second:

As I've said before, when you bring in a game destroying mechanic like the NGE, you can only expect the game to collapse.

And Knights of the Old Republic are starting with that very mechanism. They just don't learn.

I don't follow... mostly because I'm not sure what NGE means. Care to elaborate?

 

[Daggermonkie]

I thought that was because the old republic is coming out

 

[Beeple]

We all said it.

MxO was the first of many.

Though I didn't expect SWG to be next to fall.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I don't follow... mostly because I'm not sure what NGE means. Care to elaborate?

New Game Enhancements.
http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/New_Game_Enhancements

Imagine an update that cut maybe 60% of the total content* of a game and pretended it never existed and you're about there. Unsurprisingly even mentioning NGE on the Galaxies official forums is likely to get you banned.

*60% is probably an exageration, but it cut out so many thousands of options from the game it felt like it.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I don't follow... mostly because I'm not sure what NGE means. Care to elaborate?

Ok, simply put, NGE is the New Games Engine. Before that there was a system that started you off as Farmhands (or that ilk) and let you build your way up using quite elaborate skill trees that allowed you to choose whichever way you wanted, and if you wanted to become a Jedi, you really had to work hard at it.

Then, the NGE arrived.

First of all, all those complex skill trees were out and they were divided into combat and non-combat people. With combat people getting insane amounts to hit/damage and Traders getting piff guns.
Next, all weapons did damage based on your level/class. So a Trader carrying a Blaster Carbine did less than a Bounty Hunter with a toothpick. The Bounty Hunter did the same amount of damage with a Laser Cannon as well.
Next, you STARTED by being rescued from the Death Star by Han and Chewie and told "YOU WERE SPECIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111eleventyone!", thus creating a level paradox equivalent to Greedo shooting first.
Then, in SHEER Genius move, you could start as a Jedi. With your level 1 power one-shotting creatures/players 5 levels above you.

So, there were entire servers full of Jedis. This exterminated the economy, shattered the trading system and left entire planets full of Jedis teabagging Stormtroopers.

It was prettier, but the entire player base rebelled, was teleported into space by the GM's (Yes, literally) and then the forums were locked behind having to have an account to even see the forums.

How it even lasted this long was beyond me.

And with the new game, you start as a Jedi. It really makes me weep at times how people cannot see that they're making a game for douchebags.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Ok, I get everything up to:

And with the new game, you start as a Jedi. It really makes me weep at times how people cannot see that they're making a game for douchebags.

I'm not going to say "have you not been paying attention?" like I normally would. What I will say is that you seem to be ignoring the fact that
1)They've already said that it will be well balanced (you can actually see it fairly well in the demo they released and, more importantly
2) It's BioWare. I trust them to make a good game. And considering how a huge amount of SWTOR will be dialogue, all the douchebags will be turned off and probably leave the game soon after buying it.

Seriously, no offense meant, but I can see just from this you're being too pessimistic about it. You kind of have a reason after the whole SWG fiasco, but SWTOR will be a completely different game in almost every sense.

 

[lwm3398]

Never heard of this game, but I've been looking for one like it.

Simulated Galaxy, aliens, customizable planets... Spore's space stage gone super saiyan, basically. Oh, and you can choose from many types aliens (races) and ships, guns, and missions (armor, weapons, quests).
With multiple people. And dogfights. In space.

... Anyone have any influence in a gaming company? Got an idea...

 

[Aardvark]

Last time I played was about the time the Imperials decided that Tatooine had to die, so Mos Eisley was full of Storm Troopers, destroying the shit out of anyone they found. At first, most people were low levellers, who had no idea what was going on and couldn't take down a storm trooper without the help of 5 other people and their mothers. Running battles, people dying in the street, nutbags like me running headlong into them and teras kasing the imperial scum in the face, it was a ball. Best thing to happen to the game.

Problem was, they didn't scale, so after about an hour, the whole place was a few groups of people gathered around circles of Stormtrooper corpses, which marked the spawn points for the things, waiting to get some cheap levels.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm not going to say "have you not been paying attention?" like I normally would.

Good, because that would be rude.

What I will say is that you seem to be ignoring the fact that
1)They've already said that it will be well balanced (you can actually see it fairly well in the demo they released and, more importantly

Not the point. Jedi's are RARE. I might look at the demo, but it hurts so much when I see a great MMO turned to shit because of "what people want".

2) It's BioWare. I trust them to make a good game.

Sonic_Chronicles:_The_Dark_Brotherhood

And considering how a huge amount of SWTOR will be dialogue, all the douchebags will be turned off and probably leave the game soon after buying it.

You obviously have more faith than I. I just keep seeing swathes of Darth Mole/Darth Vayduh teabagging in PvP zones.

Seriously, no offense meant, but I can see just from this you're being too pessimistic about it. You kind of have a reason after the whole SWG fiasco, but SWTOR will be a completely different game in almost every sense.

I've heard that many times before. It's rare, VERY rare, that it actually works. Hell, WoW and other games sell themselves on sitting on people's corpses.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Not the point. Jedi's are RARE. I might look at the demo, but it hurts so much when I see a great MMO turned to shit because of "what people want".

Not to get all Star Wars geeky-fanboy on ya, but they weren't that rare back then. Yes, they kinda did it because of what people want, but it also fits for that time. The Jedi were rebuilding after the whole Revan/Malek and they did kind of overcompensate.

Sonic_Chronicles:_The_Dark_Brotherhood

You totally win that one. I don't think even they know what they were thinking.

I don't know, a lot of it is that I'm a hardcore Star Wars fan, especially Knights of the Old Republic, so an MMO of it just excites me more than most games have over the years.

I'd suggest you withold judgement until the game comes out and, worst case scenario, if the PvP does suck massive Darth Testicles, enjoy the semi-singleplayer experience that will be like KOTOR. That's number of classes=number of KOTOR length games, there, man. I think that'll make up for any 1337 morons on the servers.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'd suggest you withold judgement until the game comes out and, worst case scenario, if the PvP does suck massive Darth Testicles, enjoy the semi-singleplayer experience that will be like KOTOR. That's number of classes=number of KOTOR length games, there, man. I think that'll make up for any 1337 morons on the servers.

I still remember skimming over the ghost-towns of Tattooine. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Tie Fighters on fire off the shoulder of Alderaan. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Dantoonie gate. All those moments will be lost in the transfers... like tears in rain... Time to delete.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Ah, Star Wars Galaxies. That's that MMO where you couldn't start using a Force-user from the beginning, yes? Unfortunately, it appears to be dying a slow death. I've rarely come across that many advertisements for the game, in print or online, and I've never come across anyone who's ever said they played it. It seems SWG is going the way of The Matrix Online, and I'm saddened to see that, I really am. It's a Star Wars MMO. How could a concept like that go so wrong?

 

[Sonicron]

It's a Star Wars MMO. How could a concept like that go so wrong?

I might be overly paranoid by this point, but... this IS one of George Lucas's franchises, is it not? :\

 

[Cryo84R]

It went from sandbox (34 professions) to Theme park (9 classes) over night.

Yeah, I was upset too.

 

[Dark marauder]

2) It's BioWare. I trust them to make a good game.

Sonic_Chronicles:_The_Dark_Brotherhood

one game and you dont think they are good they made kotor and mass effect for christ sake

 

[Sacman]

I don't follow... mostly because I'm not sure what NGE means. Care to elaborate?

New Game Enhancements.
http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/New_Game_Enhancements

Imagine an update that cut maybe 60% of the total content* of a game and pretended it never existed and you're about there. Unsurprisingly even mentioning NGE on the Galaxies official forums is likely to get you banned.

*60% is probably an exageration, but it cut out so many thousands of options from the game it felt like it.

yeah thats why I stopped playing because it just got boring with everything simplified the way it was besides I lost almost all my items and my house... and when I say all my items I mean even the clothes my character was wearing

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

2) It's BioWare. I trust them to make a good game.

Sonic_Chronicles:_The_Dark_Brotherhood

one game and you dont think they are good they made kotor and mass effect for christ sake

They also made Balder's Gate, which I loved, but even the best can make a lousy screwup of a game.