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Star Wars Galaxies rolls out the Entertainer update

by Jef Reahard on Mar 24th 2011 7:00AM

Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, Star Wars Galaxies

Despite an explosion of titles across the MMOsphere in recent years, Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars Galaxies is still one of the very few to feature much in the way of non-combat game mechanics. We aren't just talking about one-button crafting, an optional music system, or developer-sanctioned mount racing here, but rather an entire class dedicated to brightening someone else's day.

Today's 19.12 hotfix is billed as the Entertainer update, and it's rather aptly named given the lengthy list of tweaks coming to dancers and musicians across the galaxy far, far away. The Entertainer class is receiving a complete expertise tree revamp (and a complimentary reset), new combat buffs, new hairstyles for image design abilities, new dance moves, a new flourish, and several new commands (including a new perform tab).

That's a lot of new, but it's not all of it, and you can read the complete list of changes and additions on the official SWG forums.

Source: SWG forums

Tags: dancers, entertainers, image-designers, musicians, non-combat, non-combat-gameplay, patch, sandbox, sci-fi, social-gameplay, social-professions, soe, Sony-Online-Entertainment, star-wars, star-wars-galaxies, swg, tweaks, update

Reader Comments (29)

Am I the only one who wonders if Star Wars: The Old Republic will put the final spike in Star Wars Galaxies?

Not talking about specifics (and anyone who tries to make this about the NGE is missing my point completely, and a troll to boot).

I'm just saying: Galaxies has had a lengthy run as a game; it's "old" by MMORPG standards. If SWTOR comes out anything like what it's promising to be, I wonder if the new will trump the old, if for no other reason than that it /is/ a newer and shinier Star Wars MMORPG?

And again, does this cross anyone else's mind?

@mysecretid I don't think SWG will shut down because of SWTOR, unless EA and Lucas Arts have some kind of deal that says SWTOR can be the only exclusive Star Wars MMO. As much as I can't stand what SWG became, it's made its money back a few times already, so as long as it's paying the bills they'll keep it open. Vanguard will shut down before SWG.

In fact, if DCUO is any indication, it may help. Since around the time of DCUO's 30 free days ended, CoH (at least on my server) seems to have a pretty nice influx of returning players. It's been pretty nice seeing so many old global friends and catching up with them.

@mysecretid

I don't think TOR will have much of an effect on SWG at all. The latter is still the premiere sandbox game despite the naysayers, and TOR isn't going to have anything like SWG's housing, crafting, entertainers, etc.

I know quite a few people who still play SWG and could not care less about the Star Wars franchise.

@Jef Reahard

I'm not so sure the considerably greater number of people playing EvE would agree with you that SWG is the "premier" sandbox game.

@mysecretid

Just as EQ2 didn't kill EQ2, Champions Online and DCUO didn't kill CoH, SW:TOR won't kill SWG for a multitude of reasons.

@mysecretid
I think it may have but the station pass keeps a few of the older SoE games up and running.

Now if only Ncsoft would make some kind of pass for Aion, Lineage I-II, CoH and maybe offer a discount for GW and GW2 purchaseable items :)

@LordBeefy EVE? You mean the game that is just now getting a ground game and non-ship avatars like Galaxies has had since 2004? Yes, Galaxies is definitely the premiere sandbox. It had space and ground together before EVE even launched.

@LordBeefy

Well first off, your "considerably greater number" of people assertion is pure conjecture. SOE has never released sub numbers for SWG.

Secondly, while I like EVE and have maintained a sub for years now, its social game and non-combat options are dwarfed by SWG's. I daresay that if CCP were to adopt some of SWG's conventions, more people would play EVE.

They're both great games though, I wish there were more like them.

Mmhh... not here. ToR could help SWG. Maybe, there are players out there that are playing ToR as there first MMO. After a few weeks/months, maybe they are looking for more than a quest-grinder in the SW-Univers.

Maybe ... maybe ... we don't know.

@shanert

TOR will make SWG close down, the only reason SWG is still running is because it's the only SW mmo available. There are so many things broken in the game and it's on a skeleton crew without the resources to fix it, let alone make it an remotely enjoyable experience. And yes, SWG is also a quest grinder with a couple of bad sandbox features. Dead game walking.

@(Unverified)

"the only reason SWG is still running is because it's the only SW mmo available"

There's a F2P MMO based on The Clone Wars that's been out for a few months, and SWG still lives. So I'm gonna say you're wrong on that remark.

@RogueJedi86

In fairness though, Clone Wars Adventures is a browser based lobby for access to mini-games and it lacks the full social and gameplay features of an MMO.

Also, it's an SOE game so they don't want to compete with their own SW MMO.

Not to mention the license for a new SW MMO lies with ToR and if that isn't an exclusive deal then EA's lawyers weren't doing their job.

I think Galaxies and EQ will probably be around long after we die...

SOE will not kill a game until it has under 2K subs. SWG still gets updates. For some odd reason, SOE picks this as their only game to support role players in. There is still a lot of sandbox left in the game despite what the NGE whiners QQ about.

The few people I talked to who still play said that even if they play TOR, they will always keep an SWG subscription going b/c it has tools and features no other MMO provides.

I think like CoH/DCUO, anyone still playing Galaxies probably isn't ToR's audience. The audience is people that like Star Wars (or Bioware) but don't like Galaxies.

People still play this game?

@Integral

Haven't heard that one a million times.

No one plays it, at all, the developers are getting paid to make updates that 0 people see. Get real, of course the game is played. Just because you don't know anyone who plays it doesn't mean no one does. I never knew anyone who played Second Life, but the Joystiq Network had a Second Life Insider site for years before it became Massively. But I never went to SL Insider posts and said "People still play this time game?".

Thanks for the insightful comment on this latest SWG news, and how much you've told me on how you feel about the Entertainer update.

Man, I wish Station cards were available in my area (don't have a credit card and using VISA gift cards monthly would be nasty). Would love to give SWG another shot, despite its combat system (my mobility and reflexes are bad, so having to keep the mouse trained on a moving foe in order to hit it can be quite difficult) and bad ship controls...

@The Ogre Have you tried emailing customer service? They might have other options. Do they use paypal or anything else?

I'll bet there's some other way, and they like to get paid! hehe

Beau

@The Ogre Here's a bit of advice from another player:

The default key setup all that great. In fact its mostly horrible and I've got no idea why its still around.

He needs to hit his y-key to toggle autoaim, then he needs to get his keyboard binds set up by accessing the options game menu. There is an auto-fire functionality as well. He can bind that to a mousebutton.

I've had autoaim and autofire on since it was added. With a bit of tweaking, you can select your target by left clicking it, then right clicking to start autofiring at it and off you go. Rest of the action bar can be bound to other keys as well, once you understand how to, its quite easy.

more here: http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=844738

-----------------------------------

Trying to get ya some payment advice, too.

Beau

@Beau Hindman

Hmm. Thanks. That seems to remove my main complaint about the gameplay.

As for payment options, don't worry about researching - I've done the research myself and using a series of VISA gift cards (and cancelling every month since they're not reloadable) is my only option for online payments (anywhere, not just at SOE) since Sony's Station Cash cards (the $15 one can also be used to pay for a month of game time) are unavailable up here in eastern Canada.

Appreciate the effort, though!

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

Star Wars Galaxies rolls out the Entertainer update

Reader Comments (29)

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 7:14AM mysecretid said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 9:10AM CCon99 said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 10:05AM Jef Reahard said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 10:43AM LordBeefy said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 11:28AM Gaugamela said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 11:38AM Blay said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 12:34PM Daemodand said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 1:15PM Jef Reahard said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 7:28AM shanert said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 8:22AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 12:05PM RogueJedi86 said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 12:15PM LordBeefy said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 8:13AM Yellowdancer said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 11:11AM Furdinand said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 11:27AM Integral said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 11:52AM RogueJedi86 said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 12:14PM The Ogre said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 12:36PM Beau Hindman said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 3:04PM Beau Hindman said

Posted: Mar 24th 2011 3:44PM The Ogre said

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