Why do you play SWG?

[Max Liao (Callandryn)]

So I was talking to a friend the other day. I was giving him my usual, “My God, you still play EQ” speech when he confronted me with a very good question. He asked, “What is there to do in Star Wars Galaxies that would make me want to quit EQ?”

So, I went through the usual list:
- Better Graphics
- Better (skill based) character improvement
- Awesome trade/crafting skills

But what he wanted to know is about grouping, the community, the story and how it involves the characters and players. “What would make a group of 20+ people get together to go kill creature x, or go do mission/quest x? Why would I play SWG versus a first person shooter like Counter Strike or Medal of Honor? What is the ‘purpose’ of playing the game?”

You know what? I couldn’t answer. But I also know that I have not been playing a lot either and thus may have missed many current events in the SWG universe. (I have been playing the last few nights, but I’ve seen no guild members on.) So, what I need from each of you are the reason why you play SWG.

Here are my reasons:
- First and foremost, I love Legion of Myth, you guys (and gals), and what we stand for as a Player Association
- I love the control I have over my own character (creation/improvement)
- I like the Star Wars Universe
- I love the ability to solo when I want and still get something out of it.
- I love the potential of the game (via skills, professions, etc)
- I look forward to some epic style missions/quests that we can do as a guild
- I wish to be a Dar Jedi (with my FS character)
- I want to be a TIE Fighter pilot (via the expansion) with Callandryn

So, how about you all? What do you like about SWG? What make you play it over any other game?

[Rooks (Kedryn)]

Well I play SWG, because
1. I love Star Wars.
2. Its cool going around seeing places in star wars that you couldn't see before
3. I like the guild I am in, You guy are like what BC was.
4. no levels and being able to play something then change it around
5. Oh did I say I love Star Wars

OK Well I play FPS, firearms is a hl mod and I play it lots
I am in a clan so its more fun than being by yourself, we have matches and so on.

[Kodoss]

There is this Interview with (Q3p0 ?) where he gets asked what one of his most remarkable moments in his MMORPG life was.
He anwered that there was this guy in UO who had to quit because of rl issues and would spend all of his equipment to the one who posts the best reason why he loves the game.
The boards were flooded with posts and one set day the contest was over .
A few days later one user made a short but remarkable post .
He said that he was handicapped and was bound to a wheelchair and just said " In UO, i can run".

Well , i think this is the main reason why in general i love MMORPGS .

Be or do something that you would never have the chance to be or do in real life.

Why SWG ?

If you take yourself back from time to time and get away from grinding Experience by killing the 100 000 th Tusken raider (yes , i hate these guys) or produce stim pack b nr 78393404 there is so much to discover .

Did you ever go to a lair and get really close to a critter and see how it reacts or just sit on one of the hills surrounding bestine and watch the twin suns coming to a rest ?

The atmosphere in this game is unbeatable.
I catch myself from time to time powergrinding and stuff , and when that happens i just go out and explore.

At least ,together with my pals , it s worth every minute playing swg.


/salute

[Shayla]

Missed ya General.

To put it bluntly I like the control I have over my character. I dont have to run and fight things to get xp I can sit in the cantina and jam away and get payed for it while I progress my skills. Or I can blast those enoying Pain in my butt [glow=red,2,300]Rebles[/glow]. I would like to light them up but that doesnt alway work. Ahhhhhh Sorry (steps down form soap box). I like the fact I can make some cloathing for someone to there likes and dislikes as well as eventualy give the general his flat top. ;D (hopefully soon).

It very nice to look at I was running around Naboo the other day and found a patch of wild floors so I took a picture. it was very nice to be there. I have admired the 2 moons on Tatooine near Mos Espa and earlyer to day I was on Dantoine watching the sun set. (sigh) They have a lovely purple sun set.

Plus I am a big Star Wars nut. I have loved the movies ever since I saw Return of the Jedi. General you know how long I was waiting for this game. I was wanting to get my mits on it since I have seen the first review on line.

In Short. In all the on-line games I have ever played I have never felt I was part of the game as if I made a difference. Sort of a lump on a log for other games, but with Star Wars I like the interation with people that it some what forces you to do like the market and entertainers. Less A$$ holes playing from what I have seen. {sorry for any typo's getting sleepy}.

Even with out you all on I still have the entertainer comunity that I talk with. [glow=red,2,300] [/glow]


Hope to see you about the universe,
Shayla Starlight, Lt., LoM, Ssgt., Imperial Army

P.S. General by any chance have you been able to work on my signature block? TEXT
If you want me to send you those pics let me know I can do that for you.

[Max Liao (Callandryn)]

Okay, I am NOT trying to be all types of negative here. I simply want to know why you all play SWG and perhaps get some insight as to how we can convince others to play. Basically, what would motivate you to leave one game and play another? What would convince you to stay with a game and not play the newest, latest, greatest thing? You get my jist?

Oh and for an FYI ... Thanks for the ‘concerned’ e-mail, but no I'm not quitting SWG! I will at least wait for the first expansion and see how that is. Yes, I am looking at WoW, Horizons, and (believe it or not) EQ2. But this is not to quit SWG. I am looking at those games to fill a void that SWG leaves me (see below) AND because the girlfriend has little to no interest in SWG and wants to play an MMO with me.

So, in looking at things here I see that our top three reasons for playing SWG are:
- We love the Star Wars universe
- We love the graphics
- We love the control we have over our characters

Let's break each one of them down for a moment.

- We love the Star Wars Universe.

But I ask you, what have we done in the Star Wars Universe ... what impact have we (the entire SWG community) made on the game? Everyone of us in LoM played Shadowbane. And even though the gameplay really, really sucked, at least everyone could make a difference, right? I watched BladeCorp/Blade Empire get off to a slow start and rise to form what became a grand power on the Chaos server. I also witnessed its crumbling, too. But we (the players and community) controlled all of that.

What are we (the players) building in SWG? No, I don't mean just LoM ... I mean the community as a whole. Better yet, where are all those role-players? This is supposed to be the unofficial RP server, and I haven't role-played in weeks.

“Dude, i can get 400K for this armor. I’m not selling it 2 u for 15.”
“Wanna grp?”
“r u hunting cuz i need exp.”


- We all love the graphics.

Aye, now that I can max out every graphics setting, I must agree. <hugs his new computer> I love the look and feel of each world. I love the little things, like how a sleeping creature will wake up as you get close to it or how the male will step out to stand his ground and protect the females.

But that loses it's wonder after some time. Graphics do not equal content. I can go other places that don't cost me $10+ per month to see eye candy.

- We love the control we have over our characters.

Aye, this one I really do love!! SWG really did things right in this regard. With two exceptions ...

#1 Class balancing is a major issue. Kodoss and I kinda talked about this last night. A TK expert ran into the Imperial Outpost outside Mos Espa, killed EVERY guard and EVERY player (including me). Now, I know I'm not Mr. Uber, but I'm no slouch either. One single character killed a whole mess of others and the most damage I saw her take was about 25%. That's not right.

From what I have seen, Bounty Hunters and TK's rule. (Though Kodoss says that Commandos do, too.)

#2 Scouting sucks. (This is a personal rant). In order to get Squad Leader, I need a whole mess of Wilderness Survival XP. The ONLY way to get that (as far as I know) is to build camps. With a max of 687XP per camp, this is going to take forever. I'm actually to the point of looking for something outside of Squad Leader.

(Why did I want to be a Squad Leader? Because I love the group buffs. When LoM is on a mission, I want to know that we are going in and that I am contributing.)

I love all the professions and I love their place in the game. But I am an action-oriented person who loves to solo or hunt with my friends. I rarely look for a group because most people piss me off with their ‘my gear is better than your gear’ attitudes.

This is not the first guild Allandhra has been in with me as leader. She can tell you how I HATE EQ because the focus was on gear and ‘twinking’. I care about the community, the guild and the story ... I care about role-playing and having fun. If it is one’s intent to ‘beat’ an MMO then they have no place in my world. I have kicked more than one person out of a guild of mine for putting gear, XP, or non-guild members ahead of the guild.

Anyway, I digress as that’s not a problem we have here.

I also remind you that I don't mean to sound all negative. I just want us to take a good look and then decide how we want to approach these issues AS A GUILD.

The missions in Star Wars suck, too. To get through the early stages of the game I think they are wonderful. But, as much as I hate to admit it, I miss the raid parties of EQ. I miss the large groups of Shadowbane. I feel alone (not from you all), but I feel an island unto myself in SWG.

Where is the Hoth battle? Where is the Endor battle? Where are the rebels attacking supply depots? Where are the Imperials hunting down rebels and taking control of the Cloud City?

Sure, due to the timeline those specific things cannot happen, but you should get my point.

How do I tell someone who is used to going to Old Sebilis (in EQ) with a group a group or two to kill frogs and get some gear to come to SWG? How do I tell someone used to leading Fear and Chardok raids to come to SWG? Believe me, I hated to whole ‘6 person group’ thing. I much preferred SB’s ’10-person group’ thing. I wish it would be unlimited in a group.

I love guild raiding ... I love guild events ... I love guild RPing. But these are MY wants. Anyone who served with me in BladeCorp or in EQ knows what I seek in a game. What do you seek? How could SWG be improved for you ... in a manner that we can do as a guild?

BAH! I did it again, I started rambling and got off topic. (Sorry for the venting, but after the discussions I’ve had of late and my own experiences, I’m starting to wonder.)

~ What can we do as the Legion of Myth to improve the experience for our members ... whether we remain small or grow large?

~ What can we do to entice people who play other games to join s when they ask, ‘What’s there to do?”

~ You may know something I don’t so help me out; where is the content?

You see, hunting down disks is not a mission ... nor is it content ... to me. Getting 50+ people together to siege a city, or to take out a dragon (a rebel outpost) is a mission to me. (As long as that city/outpost does not respawn ... another reason I didn’t like EQ. If I killed Vox, Vox should stay dead!!)

Am I making sense or am I rambling? Bleh. Help me out here folks. I want this game to be fun for us all - and those who join us in the future. Am I the only one starting to feel that SWG is hollow? (Again I remind you I AM NOT QUITTING! People tend to think that when I type like this.)

[Rooks (Kedryn)]

Horizons seems cool (because of races) but it seems not really guild or PK game.
Remember I am still following Dragon Empires which seems like a really cool game.
Its guild game where you take over cities and defend them vs other guilds.
I can tell you guy everything I know about it if you want also I think you guys should sign up for beta.
This game.
This is also PK game, but if you PK people all the time you become an outlaw and Bounty hunters can come kill you for rewards, or if your really bad the dragons may come get you =P

Ok on SWG I am sticking with this untill a better game comes along. I also have seen the things Max is talking about. And I have seen no Jedis at alll lol

[Shayla]

I dont know what you all are talking about. I have no problem getting around in the game. I meet RPers all the time (entertainers rule). I have been on raids to the Sand people castle and got myself stomped. When I get board of one thing I can always do another. Like I stopped dancing and now I am working on taylor. So let see that makes me a riflewomen, musician, image design consultant, and a taylor. Wow that was a mouth full.

I dont know what to tell you General I have yet to come across a game that is this entertaining. for as long as I have been playing SWG I would have quit SB 2 times now. The only reason I played EQ so long was because I like playing with you there. And AC just to carboned.

All in all as of today I have yet to meet a game like SWG that all I want ot do is get off work and hop online and run into anyone.

For example I have met another guild called The Honored Maidens. They are prity cool from talking to them very nice and a good RP guild.

Sigh there is no pleasing the general... (tisk tisk tisk) you are to picky. LOL chear up life is short you could find your self on the other end of a blaster.

Well I hope to see you on this week end
Shayla Starlight
/wave/

[Max Liao (Callandryn)]

Aye, I am too picky.

Once I complete my set of ST armor (I still need 4 pieces) I'll be wandering around looking for more things to do.