Star Wars Galaxies

Star Wars: Galaxies (often abbreviated SWG) is a Star Wars-themed MMORPG developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts Entertainment for Microsoft Windows PCs. The base game, titled Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, was released on June 26, 2003 in the United States of America and on November 7, 2003 in Europe. The base game has been upgraded with three major expansions since. With several hundred thousand subscribers, it is one of the most popular MMORPGs in the United States. In addition to the initial cost of the game software, SWG charges a monthly subscription fee (like most other MMORPGs) of $14.99USD (13,49€), with discounts for 3-, 6-, and 12-month subscriptions. It can also be accessed through Sony Online Entertainment's "Station Access," which grants access to all their MMORPG games for $29.99USD per month.

Development and release
On March 16, 2000, LucasArts Entertainment announced a partnership with Verant Interactive Inc. and Sony Online Entertainment to create the first massively multiplayer Star Wars online role-playing game. The then unnamed game would be developed by Verant with online play supported by SOE. This was the same team responsible for creating and supporting the popular Everquest massively multiplayer online game. LucasArts would be responsible for all distribution of the Star Wars online game. The announcement included an expected release date some time in 2001 and that the game would take place during the classic trilogy Star Wars era.

LucasArts officially announced the brand name of the game to be title Star Wars Galaxies on November 29, 2000. The announcement claimed the first round of testing for Star Wars Galaxies was expected to start in late 2001 which would push back the official release date to an unknown time. The game's official information site was launched on November 30, 2000 in conjunction with SOE and featured frequently asked questions about the game and message boards fielded by members of the development team.

"We see this Web site as an important step toward building a strong community for the Star Wars Galaxies line of games. We firmly believe that consistent and open communication with fans will be one of the keys to the success of the Star Wars Galaxies experience."

- Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts

On May 17, 2001, even before the game went into public beta testing, the first expansion's development was announced. The yet unnamed add-on, which was expected to be available six months after the initial product release, would be a space simulation and enable players to own and fly starships which would allow interplanetary travel and space combat. The release date of the initial product, the ground-based component, was updated to the second half of 2002. The staggered release schedule of the space component of the Star Wars Galaxies series was said to benefit players because they would have time to establish their characters and explore different elements of the core game before adding the space layer. Traveling between planets would be accomplished through the use of public shuttles, which would ferry characters from world to world.

A new official site was also released on the same day that put more of an emphasis behind the community of the game. It included new screen shots, movies, an updated FAQ, concept art, development team member's profiles, features about the game, and a new forum. The site reached 100,000 users by December 2001. Throughout the next year after the release of the new site, new content would be revealed. This content included information on species and locations, new images and movies of different game elements, and 360 degree QuickTime VR panoramas of different locations.

Verant began accepting applications from users in May 2002 who were interested in participating in a closed beta test for SWG. The closed beta test would begin in July 2002. SOE would share more information on the game as the beta moved forward. This would include more screen shots, information on match making services, the fact that players would be permitted only one character per server, and skill trees and how the skill-based system would function. LucasArts also announced on May 20, 2002 that both the Xbox and PlayStation 2 would get a version of the game, but these would later be cancelled.

2002 ended with LucasArts officially confirming a release date of April 15, 2003. They also announced on December 20, 2002 that the ground-based component of Star Wars Galaxies would be called An Empire Divided and that the game's online community had grown to over 400,000 users since its original release in November 2000. This represented one of the largest ever fan communities amassed for any game prior to retail availability.

An Empire Divided would later be delayed to an unknown time, but on June 17, 2003, LucasArts confirmed Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided would be released on June 26, 2003.

With a Star Wars license and veteran designer Raph Koster at the helm, expectations among gamers ran high during the development of Galaxies. Many industry professionals expected that these forces would push the subscription numbers past the one million mark. As development wore on, the release date was pushed back, features were cut, and Sony canceled planned ports for the Xbox and PlayStation 2.

The base game, An Empire Divided, was released in the United States on June 26, 2003 to mixed reviews. Galaxies was most criticized for numerous bugs and broken features that plagued the game. After release, the developers continued working on the features cut during the delay. In November 2003, two of those most anticipated features, creature mounts and player-created cities were enabled. Also, on November 7, 2003 it was announced that the first player had unlocked a Force-sensitive character slot needed to become a Jedi.

On November 7, 2003, An Empire Divided was released in Europe. A localized version for the Japanese market was published by Electronic Arts Japan on 23 December 2004. Japanese acceptance of the game was low, and in November 2005 the servers were shut down and existing accounts migrated to US servers.

Reviews
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. 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. The reviews for the second expansion, Rage Of The Wookiees lauded the new quest content for current subscribers but lamented the CU and the continued bugginess of the game. The third expansion, Trials Of Obi-Wan(ToOW), once again introduced new quest and content and the planet Mustafar. However, two weeks later a new system called NGE was introduced, which forever changed the play style of SWG and removed some of the content that was included with ToOW.

Controversies
The following lists some of its more controversial issues:

Jedi
Players who wished to play a Jedi character had to first unlock their Jedi slot by fulfilling an unknown list of criteria. However, within four months of this stipulation, no player had yet achieved the goal. Jedi forum at the official site turned into a "flamer's paradise" as some subscribers accused the developers of lying about the Jedi system being in place. The first player unlocked their Jedi slot on Friday November 7, 2003. Lucas Arts game producer Haden Blackman stated in an interview on December 20, 2003, with Gamespy: "We're confident in the [Jedi] system because the feedback from players has been extremely positive. Not only are Jedi players happy with the system and the powers they are receiving...." This caused a backlash by some players who felt this statement was misleading. Gamespy noted: "GameSpy's mail was so flooded with reports from the Galaxies community that we started researching this feature to present both sides of the story." Because the time commitment to unlock a Jedi was substantial, players complained that perma-death of the character after three deaths was overly harsh. The developers eventually relented and lowered the penalty to skill loss in January, 2004.

Some players further complained that the process of unlocking the Jedi slot, known as "hologrinding", was overly long, painful and disruptive to the social fabric of the game. In March 2005, the developers released a quest system as the new path to unlocking the Jedi slot. With the NGE (see below) in November 2005, allowing all players, including new ones, to play a Jedi character, there were complaints that the efforts that veteran players had expended in unlocking their Jedi slots were all for naught.

Combat Upgrade
SWG developers promised a "Combat Upgrade" or "CU," which was released April 27, 2005, and represented a major re-writing of the combat, armor, and weapons systems, wherein only certain professions could use specific weapons and armor. The combat mechanics in the game were shifted from a skill system to a combat level system for both players and game creatures. The UI icon graphics were changed from monochromatic to color. This alteration resulted in controversy caused by players who criticized the changes, and cancellations during that time.

New Game Enhancements
Another set of game changes dubbed the "New Game Enhancements" (NGE) began testing on November 4, 2005, going live on November 15 via digital download, and became available in retail as the Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit on November 22. Changes included the reduction of the 34 original professions to nine "iconic" ones.

There were criticisms of the changes in some reviews, and negative player feedback was noted by media outlets outside the gaming industry, including CBS News, New York Times, New York Post and Wired Magazine. On Slashdot, John Smedley explained that they felt it necessary to revamp the game to the NGE in order to reverse the deterioration they were seeing in the subscriber base.

The development team affirmed this is their desired direction for the game, and they are slowly modifying parameters to address players' desires. This progress includes the re-introduction of some pre-NGE features that were removed, such as creature handling, target locking, auto-firing, the ability to fire special attacks from their keys, and the option to keep the camera behind the character, rather than the NGE's over-the-shoulder perspective.

Since then, the development team has given each profession a set of "Expertise trees" to bring back some complexity and differentiation to characters.

Expansion refund
The Trials of Obi-Wan expansion met with controversy as, two days after the expansion was released, the development team announced the NGE. Many players objected that they would not have purchased the expansion if they had known in advance about the NGE. Sony Online Entertainment eventually offered a refund to players who had purchased the expansion prior to the NGE; though this refund was quickly recinded due to what the player community believed was an overwhelming number of refund requests.

Subscriber numbers
Veteran designer, Raph Koster, helmed the development and initial launch of the game. Many industry professionals expected that the subscription numbers would exceed the one million mark, a feat accomplished only thus far in Asia by MMORPGs such as Lineage and more recently by World of Warcraft. Based on NPD figures as of February 2004, SWG sold more than 300,000 boxed copies at retail for a total initial revenue of over $18 million dollars. Sony Online Entertainment confirmed in March 2004 that there were well over 200,000 monthly subscribers making it the second largest MMORPG in North America. The company later reported in 2004 that they had 250,000 subscribers. In August 2005, Sony Online Entertainment reported that they had now sold 1,000,000 boxed copies of the game. Media sources reported that the subscriber numbers have fallen substantially since the release of the CU and the NGE. In early 2006 after the NGE, allegedly "hacked" numbers purported to show that only 10,363 subscribers were playing on a particular Friday night. The President of Sony Online Entertainment, John Smedley, denied that subscriptions had fallen this low: "Have the numbers in Star Wars Galaxies gone down? I will tell you that the concurrent numbers have gone down. Are they as low as what was shown there? Absolutely not."

As of the second quarter of 2006, according to charts at MMOGchart.com, there were estimated to be between 110,000 and 175,000 subscribers. However, even MMOGchart.com rated the subscriber number as a "C" which mean they are "merely industry 'best guesses' or are otherwise questionable" due to SOE not releasing SWG subscriber numbers.

Awards

 * E³ 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best Online Multiplayer
 * E³ 2001 Game Critics Awards: Best PC Game, Best Online Multiplayer

Features
The game events are set between the events of Episode IV: A New Hope, and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
 * Timeline

The game covers ten planets: Tatooine, Naboo, Corellia, Talus, Rori, Dantooine, Lok, Yavin IV, the forest moon of Endor, and Dathomir. In the second expansion, Rage of the Wookiees, the Wookiee planet Kashyyyk was added. In the third expansion, Trials of Obi-Wan, the planet Mustafar was added. Each of the original ten planets are represented by approximately 225 square kilometers (15 km x 15 km maps) of game space. . In contrast, the expansion planets of Kashyyyk and Mustafar are smaller, constructed differently (e.g. instances) and in some cases imposed different rules than the original, such as terrain that is not traversable (i.e. mountains or hills that cannot be climbed over).
 * Geography

The game is generally praised by reviewers for its realistic character models, detailed architecture and lush environments.
 * Graphics

Examples of characters and points of interest that players can visit within the game include R2-D2, C-3PO, their escape pod on Tatooine, the Naboo Royal Palace, the abandoned Rebel bases on Dantooine and Yavin IV, the notorious pirate Nym in his stronghold on Lok, Ewoks and Rancors.
 * Points of interest and cameos

Players of the game create characters to navigate through these environments. Characters in Star Wars Galaxies can be one of ten species, again taken from the films and the Expanded Universe: Human, Twi'lek, Zabrak, Wookiee, Trandoshan, Rodian, Mon Calamari, Bothan, Sullustan, or Ithorian. A character can be either male or female, and he or she belongs to one of nine iconic professions: Force Sensitive (Jedi), Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Commando, Spy, Officer, Medic, Entertainer, or Trader. Chapter 6 has introduced Beast Master, the NGE version of the pre-NGE Creature Handler, as a seperate expertise tree.. A character can also optionally advance in the Politician and Pilot professions, independent of his or her primary profession.
 * Species and professions

As with all MMORPGs, the feature set of Star Wars Galaxies is subject to change.

Ground combat is currently real-time and similar to a first-person shooter. The player must aim a targeting reticule at a target and left-click the mouse to fire. Auto-aim and auto-fire features are available, creating a more traditional combat experience, but players eschewing those options are rewarded with an increased chance to do maximum damage. As characters gain levels, they gain access to additional combat abilities called "specials" which are activated by using the right mouse button. These specials usually have a cool-down period. In addition to providing especially powerful damage attacks, specials are also used to heal, buff, debuff and crowd control. Players gain the ability to use more powerful weapons as they advance in level.
 * Combat mechanics

Players also earn "Expertise Points" as they level up which they can use in their professions expertise "tree". The player can allot 45 points into various abilities and attributes to make their characters more diverse, from weapons specialties to healing and armor proficiencies.

Characters can erect, own and decorate a variety of buildings, including houses, cantinas, guild halls and city halls. These buildings, when grouped, can be organized into cities. Players hold elections via ballot box for Mayor. Elected mayors grant city members certain rights to place structures within the city and eject players from cities as needed. Reelections are held every two weeks. If another player wishes to run for mayor they can add their name at any time to the ballot box to run against the incumbent. As cities grow in population, they become eligible to add services and facilities such as vehicle repair garages, shuttleports, cloning facilities, hospitals, cantinas and garden displays. They can show up on the planetary maps alongside canonical cities such as Theed and Mos Eisley.
 * Player housing, guilds, and cities


 * Other features of the basic game include:
 * Single- and multi-passenger ground vehicles and starships: (landspeeders, speeder bikes, swoops, X-wings, TIE fighters and even several of the YT series of ships)
 * An almost completely Player-run economy, wherein player characters are responsible for creating many (and nearly every) in-game items including blasters, starships, clothing, armor, food, housing, furniture and even a wide variety of droids. Items are created from player-collected raw materials and looted items&mdash;with other player characters as the only consumers. Recently, the developers have added more high-quality equipment to loot tables and as quest rewards, but player crafters remain an essential part of the economy.
 * An extensive set of emotes, moods, and associated animations, which affect not only an avatar's physical appearance but also the text used to describe a character's speech, and even the shape of the speech bubble displayed on-screen.
 * Standard MMORPG features such as player guilds, chat functionality, and other community features.
 * The ability for players to place bounties on opponents that defeat/kill them in PVP battle. Player character bounty hunters can then pick up another character's "bounty mission" on the terminals and track the character down. A bounty can be claimed at anytime, regardless of the target's PvP setting. Up to three bounty hunters can be tracking a character at any given time.
 * An extensive avatar/character-creation system. Characters can hire Entertainers to change their appearance in-game, with even more options than those available at creation. Every visual aspect of a character is thereby changeable at any time after character creation except species and gender.

There are twenty-four different "galaxies", or servers, in which players may choose to play the game. They are all named after obscure ships from the Expanded Universe. They are:


 * Ahazi
 * Bloodfin
 * Bria
 * Chilastra
 * Chimaera
 * Corbantis
 * Eclipse
 * FarStar
 * Flurry
 * Gorath
 * Infinity
 * Intrepid
 * Kauri
 * Kettemoor
 * Lowca
 * Naritus
 * Radiant
 * Scylla
 * Shadowfire
 * Starsider
 * Sunrunner
 * Tarquinas
 * Valcyn
 * Wanderhome

Planets
A player may explore any of the following planets:
 * Corellia
 * Dantooine
 * Dathomir
 * Forest moon of Endor
 * Kashyyyk (requires Rage of the Wookiees, The Total Experience or The Complete Online Adventures)
 * Lok
 * Mustafar (requires Trials of Obi-Wan or The Complete Online Adventures)
 * Naboo
 * Rori
 * Talus
 * Tatooine
 * Yavin IV

Playable species
A player may create a male or female character of the following species:
 * Bothan
 * Human
 * Ithorian (previously required either Jump to Lightspeed or The Total Experience, but is now available to all subscribers)
 * Mon Calamari
 * Rodian
 * Sullustan (previously required either Jump to Lightspeed or The Total Experience, but is now available to all subscribers)
 * Trandoshan
 * Twi'lek
 * Wookiee
 * Zabrak

Professions

 * Jedi
 * Officer
 * Smuggler
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Commando
 * Trader
 * Medic
 * Entertainer
 * Spy

Playable ships
Players are able to pilot, purchase and build the following ships (requires either Jump to Lightspeed, The Total Experience or Starter Kit):

Alliance ships

 * A-Wing
 * B-Wing
 * X-Wing
 * Y-Wing
 * YKL-37R Nova Courier
 * Z-95 Headhunter

Imperial ships

 * TIE Light Duty
 * TIE Fighter
 * TIE Advanced
 * TIE Interceptor
 * TIE Bomber
 * TIE Oppressor
 * TIE Aggressor
 * VT-49 Decimator

Privateer ships

 * Kihraxz Assault Fighter
 * Ixiyen-class fast attack craft
 * Rihkxyrk Attack Ship
 * Vaksai
 * M3-A Scyk fighter
 * G1-M4-C Dunelizard fighter
 * M12-L Kimogila Heavy Fighter
 * M22-T Krayt Gunship
 * YT-1300 light freighter

Exotic ships

 * Aggressive ReConnaissance-170 starfighter
 * Belbullab-22 starfighter
 * Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor
 * Personal Luxury Yacht 3000
 * Y-8 Mining Vessel
 * Firespray-class starship
 * YT-2400 light freighter

NPC species
There are a number of species that appear throughout the game as NPCs (non-player characters).
 * Aqualish
 * Arcona
 * Bith
 * Calamari
 * Chadra-Fan
 * Chiss
 * Dantari
 * Devaronian
 * Drall
 * Dulok
 * Duros
 * Endor Marauder
 * Ewok
 * Feeorin
 * Firrerreo
 * Gamorrean
 * Geonosian
 * Gotal
 * Gran
 * Gungan
 * Hutt
 * Ishi Tib
 * Jawa
 * Jinda
 * Klaatu
 * Kowakian monkey-lizard
 * Mustafarian
 * Nautolan
 * Neimoidian
 * Nikto
 * Quarren
 * Selonian
 * Talz
 * Tusken Raider
 * Weequay
 * Whiphid

Pre-"New Game Enhancements" professions
Prior to the release of the New Game Enhancements on November 15, 2005, a player could choose from up to 34 professions to play. The player was limited in their choice of profession by set number of skill points. Taking advantage of the different skill and combat modifiers offered by different professions, players could customize their characters to match their playing styles. This meant that a character could have skills in more than one profession, unlike the current system which allows the player only one profession per character.

Basic professions
With the exception of Politician, these professions were selectable during the character creation phase of the game. Once you selected your character's profession, race, gender, and appearance, a brief tutorial followed that showed the basic mechanics of the game. Progress through the profession was in the form of skill trees. Once a pre-required amount of experience points had been attained, a player could train their character in a particular skill box on the tree. Each skill tree had four 'branches' of skills, usually representing different types of skills for that profession. Once all four branches of the tree were completed, a character could then train in the mastery of that profession. In order to access the Elite / Hybrid professions, players generally had to train in more than one basic profession.


 * Artisan
 * Brawler
 * Entertainer
 * Marksman
 * Medic
 * Scout
 * Politician

Elite / Hybrid professions
Having mastered one or more of the basic professions, players could further specialize their characters by pursuing a variety of Elite / Hybrid professions. Elite combat professions generally required the mastering of a particular style of combat, or with certain types of weaponry. Hybrid professions required that a player complete specific branches of two different profession trees before they could further specialize in the area they were most interested in.


 * Architect
 * Armorsmith
 * Bio-Engineer
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Combat Medic
 * Carbineer
 * Chef
 * Creature Handler
 * Commando
 * Dancer
 * Doctor
 * Droid Engineer
 * Fencer
 * Image Designer
 * Merchant
 * Musician
 * Pikeman
 * Pistoleer
 * Ranger
 * Rifleman
 * Shipwright
 * Smuggler
 * Squad Leader
 * Swordsman
 * Tailor
 * Teräs Käsi Artist
 * Weaponsmith

Pilot professions

 * Alliance Starfighter Pilot
 * Imperial Navy Pilot
 * Freelance Pilot

Force-sensitive professions

 * Combat Prowess
 * Crafting Mastery
 * Enhanced Reflexes
 * Heightened Senses

Force discipline professions

 * Force Defense
 * Force Enhancement
 * Force Healing
 * Lightsaber
 * Force Powers

Force powers

 * Force Choke
 * Force Lightning
 * Force Sense
 * Force Shockwave

Story arcs

 * Cries of Alderaan
 * Secrets of the Syren
 * Legacy

Gameplay
In basic gameplay, the player uses his or her character's skills and special abilities to attack targets, complete quests, undertake missions, create useful in-game items, and/or entertain other players. The player's character will have opportunities to meet famous Star Wars characters, earn in-game fame and fortune (or infamy and notoriety), travel to iconic Star Wars locations, and obtain numerous items, artifacts, and 'trophies' that can enhance his or her character.

Ground Combat
Ground combat in Galaxies is in real-time. Unlike most MMORPGs, whether an attack hits is not solely based on the character's skill numbers. The player must aim a targeting reticule at a target and left-click the mouse to fire. Auto-aim and auto-fire features are available, creating a more traditional combat experience, but players eschewing those options are rewarded with an increased chance to do maximum damage. As characters gain levels (by gaining experience points, known as XP), they gain access to additional combat abilities, called "specials", which are "fired" by using the right mouse button. These specials usually have a cool-down period during which they can't be reused, but they are much more powerful or versatile than the basic left-click attack. Specials are also used to heal characters and enhance their other abilities as well as decrease an enemy's statistics. In addition to these specials, players gain the ability to use more powerful and varied type of weaponry as they climb the ranks in their chosen profession.

Space Combat
Space combat in Galaxies is similar to ground combat. Players must aim at their targets (often needing to "lead" their target in compensation for the target's movement) and click a button on the mouse or joystick to fire. Success in space combat is largely dependent on player skill, but not quite to the same extent as seen in previous Star Wars space-simulator games.

As characters advance in their piloting professions, they gain access to a variety of tactics, starship chassis, and starship components. Their ships can be completely customized with components looted from enemies or crafted by shipwrights. Available chassis include the X-Wing and Y-Wing for Rebels, TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors for Imperials, and new Hutt and Black Sun ship designs for Freelancers. Characters who have mastered a piloting profession get access to PoB (Player on Board) ship designs such as the famed YT-1300. PoB ships allow characters to walk around the interiors (which can be decorated just like a building on the ground) and man additional shipboard stations such as laser turrets. Some high-end ships are obtainable only via difficult quests; such ships include the Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor (commonly called the JSF or "Jedi Starfighter") and the KSE Firespray (Made famous by the Fett ship Slave 1).

An Empire Divided
The base game, titled Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, was released on June 26, 2003 in the USA and on November 7, 2003 in Europe. A localized version for the Japanese market was published by Electronic Arts Japan on December 23, 2004. Japanese acceptance of the game was low, and in November 2005 the servers were shut down and existing accounts migrated to US servers.

At the time of its initial release, the game was very different than it is now. Vehicles and creature mounts were not yet implemented. While player housing was in the game, player cities were not. (Those features were added in November 2003.) Each character and creature possessed three "pools" (called Health, Action, and Mind; or "HAM") that represented his or her physical and mental reserves. Most attacks specifically targeted one of these three pools and any action the character took also depleted one or more of the pools. When any one of those pools was fully depleted, the character would fall unconscious. Combat, then, required the player to carefully manage his or her actions to avoid depleting a pool.

Character progression was vastly different at release as well. Characters started out in one of six basic professions (Medic, Brawler, Marksman, Scout, Entertainer, or Artisan) and could pick up any of the other five at any time after character creation. Each profession consisted of a tree-like structure of skills, with a single Novice level, four independent branches of four levels each, and a Master level which required completion of all four branches. Characters purchased these skills with experience points gained through a related activity. For example, an Entertainer could purchase skills to get better at playing music, but only with Musician experience points. Dancing experience points were entirely separate and could only be used to purchase dancing skills.

In addition to the basic professions, characters could specialize into advanced professions such as Bounty Hunter, Creature Handler, Ranger, Doctor, and Musician. There were a total of 24 advanced professions, although there was no way for characters to obtain all of them at once. Each advanced profession had certain skill requirements from the base professions that had to be met, some more restrictive than others.

Jedi were not available as a starting profession, or even as an advanced profession. The developers stated only that certain in-game actions would open up a Force-sensitive character slot. The actions required were left for players to discover. It eventually turned out that characters had to achieve Master level in five random professions. The identity of four of those necessary professions could be learned via looted holocrons, but the fifth had to be found via trial and error. The first Force-sensitive character slot was unlocked on November 7, 2003.

Jump to Lightspeed
This first expansion was released on October 27, 2004. Two new races were added: Sullustan and Ithorian. The expansion added space combat. Characters could choose one of three factions in the new Pilot sub-profession: Rebel, Imperial, or Freelance. The playable sectors include the space surrounding the ten planets of the game as well as Kessel and "Deep Space." Combat is real-time and twitch-oriented like a first-person shooter and can be played with a joystick at the player's option. A new Artisan profession, Shipwright, was also introduced. This profession created ships, shields, armor, weapons, etc for players. They also have the ability to take looted componets from space and reverse engineer them into better components.

Rage of the Wookiees
This second expansion was announced on March 9, 2005 and released on May 5, 2005. It added the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk and its corresponding space sector. Kashyyyk is different from the previous ten planets: rather than being 16 square kilometers of openly navigable area, it is divided into a small central area with several instanced "dungeon" areas. A new space zone was also added. Unlike previous travel to other planets, players must launch into space, fly to the Kashyyyk space system and dock with the station in order to get to the planet surface. There is a loophole here, however. At a starship terminal, a player can select "Kashyyyk" from the drop-down planet list, then click "Travel" to go to Kashyyyk with his or her ship. This function, while quick and useful, does not grant the badge stating the player has visited the planet. Players must still use the space station to land in order to obtain the badge. Other content added in this expansion included the ability to add cybernetic limbs to a player character, quests for three new creature mounts and two new starships. A substantial portion of the content for this expansion was adapted from the film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith which was released to theaters at approximately the same time as the expansion release.

Trials of Obi-Wan
The third expansion, Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan, was announced on August 19, 2005 and released on November 1, 2005. This expansion added the ground planet of Mustafar to the game. No new space sector was added with this expansion. Like the previous expansion, much of the content is related to Revenge of the Sith, which was released to DVD at about the same time as the expansion was released.

SWG compilations
On top of the expansions, SOE released several compilations of their games:

Star Wars Galaxies - The Total Experience
 * This pack included the original SWG (An Empire Divided), Jump to Lightspeed and the Rage of the Wookiees expansion packs. Customers who bought this pack also received a BARC speeder as a gift.

Star Wars Galaxies - Starter Kit
 * The kit was the first version of the New Game Enhancement (NGE). It contained An Empire Divided and Jump to Lightspeed. Customers who bought this pack also received a X-Wing or TIE-Fighter instant transport vehicle as a gift.

Star Wars Galaxies - The Complete Online Adventures
 * This included the original game with all expansion packs, a DVD of never-before released bonus features, a slide show of more than 800 pieces of Star Wars Galaxies concept art and screenshots, all set to more than an hour of beautifully orchestrated Star Wars Galaxies in-game music, excerpts from the popular “From Pencil to Pixel” book that chronicles the art of Star Wars Galaxies and interviews with the Star Wars Galaxies producers, and all the cinematic trailers for the game. It also included an exclusive in-game item for use while playing – a personal AT-RT vehicle as seen in "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith".

Jump to Lightspeed
(Boxed Expansion Pack)

Sony Online Entertainment released the first expansion Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed on October 27, 2004. This expansion finally allowed players to explore and battle in ten sectors of outer space, in more than twenty types of starships from the era between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, including familiar X-wings, TIE Fighters, and YT-1300s (same type as the Millennium Falcon), as well as new and never before seen ships created by the developers. It also added real-time space shooter elements to the game, which allowed for an interesting combination with the turn-based mode already featured in the ground-based. Jump to Lightspeed also added many space missions, four space-specific professions, and two new playable species.

Customers who pre-ordered the expansion received a limited-edition unarmed Flash Speeder as an untradeable player mount.

Jump to Lightspeed is now automatically included upon the installation of the game, regardless of which version. Prior to the release of the Starter Kit, Jump to Lightspeed was also available in The Total Experience compilation pack.

Episode III Rage of the Wookiees
The second expansion for Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars Galaxies: Episode III Rage of the Wookiees, was announced on 9 March 2005 and released on 5 May 2005 to coincide with the final Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith. Major features included some Episode III content such as the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk.

Other features included new starfighters, resource mining in space, and cybernetic limbs for player characters. Customers who purchased the expansion also received a limited-edition Varactyl player mount from the digital download or a BARC Speeder if they purchased the box set.

Rage of the Wookiees is also available in the The Total Experience and The Complete Online Adventures compilation packs.

Trials of Obi-Wan
Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan was released through digital download on November 1st 2005, to coincide with the release of the Revenge of the Sith DVD.

The expansion introduces the new planet of Mustafar, where players are able to take missions delivered directly from the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi. High-level quest rewards include the ability to find a fiery red crystal found only on the volcanic planet that creates a lava-like lightsaber. Trials of Obi-Wan includes more than 50 new quests, from rescue missions to the exploration of a crashed Republic cruiser. Many quests also revolve around the return of HK-47 from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Trials of Obi-Wan is also available in the The Complete Online Adventures compilation pack.

Major game revamps
"There's a reason that we did this. The story … is kind of getting lost here… the game was losing subscribers. We had to make this game more accessible to a wider audience or eventually we would not have a business."

- John Smedley, president of SOE

Combat Upgrade
The Combat Upgrade of April 2005 and was a major revamping and rewriting of the entire Star Wars Galaxies combat, armor, and weapons system. A more "realistic" tone was set, whereas only certain characters in certain professions would use specific weapons and wear armor. In addition, the method of fighting in the game was redone with skill levels assigned to both players and game creatures. Under the new system, only a creature of equal skill could be attacked by a player, with lesser creatures rendering no experience if killed and the more powerful creatures deemed almost invincible to single player attacks.

New Game Enhancements (NGE)
On November 15, 2005 there was a complete overhaul of all game aspects, limiting the game to nine professions from the old 32 professions. (bounty hunter, entertainer, smuggler, trader, medic, Jedi, officer, spy and commando). Though the NGE is not completely accepted by the majority of the veteran players, the small new fan base seems to enjoy it. It is also to be noted, that Jedi are now available to be played at the start. Angering many veterans who actually worked to attain Jedi status. Jedi are also no longer an Alpha class, but is now just like every other class in the game. Many veteran players were forced to respecialize (or "respec") their character to meet with the new professions, sacrificing years of hard work in such professions like "Creature Handler". SOE is desperately trying to head in the right direction, and regain lost subscribers. New patches have come out emphasizing on balance and individuality of each profession. These included: This was the first time they used 'Chapter' instead of a publish (insert #) and included the beginning of a large-scale PvP war over the city Restuss, on Rori, moon of Naboo. Players fought each other and did missions to collect Restuss Commendation badges, which could be exchanged later for their factions specialized armor and weapons. It also expanded the legacy quest series, a quest involving slaves on Corellia. It introduced three new badges. This chapter further moved the Battle of Restuss, turning the City of Restuss into a full-fledged war-zone, where rebels and imperials are set to Special-Forces upon nearing the grounds, and civilians are barred from approaching. New missions were introduced for both sides, and awarded more medals for each completion. It also brought forth another addition to the legacy quest, which involved helping a CorSec agent decide which side to take in the GCW. With this chapter also came the Expertise Tree. This chapter expanded upon the expertise system by adding skill trees for the Smuggler and Officer professions. Though there were no new additions to the Legacy Quest added during this update, a long-awaited Smuggling system was introduced to the game that functions along with the Smuggler expertise tree to give the character additional benefits. In addition to this new smuggling system, a revamp to the Galactic Civil War ranking system was implemented. This chapter expanded upon the expertise system by adding skill trees for the Commando, Spy, and Medic professions. Chapter gifts included a random holo pet. This chapter saw the completion of implementing expertise by introducing expertise trees to the Trader and Entertainer Professions. Traders were given a 'Reverse Engineering' system allowing them to upgrade crafted weapons, clothing and armor using Skill Enhancement Attachments gathered by 'reverse engineering' items that currently hold stat modifications. Player made camps also made a return in this chapter. The Build-A-Buff system was introduced to entertainers, allowing them to add or remove various modifications to inspiration buffs, allowing them to perform custom inspirations based on the wants and needs of their clients. As part of their expertise tree, entertainers were also given a wide range of combat abilities which closely resemble the old Teräs Käsi Artist profession. Combat levels were also granted to Trader and Entertainer professions. Chapter gifts were a custom, one-use camp site, and a painting entitled 'Camp Life'. This chapter brings an homage to the former Creature Handler system with Beast Mastery. Players can design, grow and raise pets to assist them in the game. The Beast Mastery expertise draws on elements from both the former Bio Engineer and Creature Handler professions. Also included in this chapter is enhanced storytelling. The Storyteller Event System unifies the features previously included in player event perks, as well as adding new features for role-playing.
 * Publish 27&mdash;Focus on the Commando, Spy, and Jedi professions (as well as re-introducing Heavy Weapons and Traps into the game).
 * Publish 28&mdash;Reinstallment of the "Player Bounty" system (with changes) as well as changes in the PvP community.
 * Publish 29&mdash;New Targeting system, groundwork laid for the 'expertise system', promising future character customization comparable to the talent system in World of Warcraft.
 * Chapter 1: Battle of Restuss
 * Chapter 2: The Talus Incident
 * Chapter 3: Smugglers & Scoundrels
 * Chapter 4: Armed & Ready for Action
 * Chapter 5: An Entertaining Enterprise
 * Chapter 6: Mastering the Wild (title subject to change)

Release and major update history

 * June 26, 2003: Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (initial boxed release) and Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided Collectors Edition
 * October 27, 2004: Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed (boxed expansion)
 * April 27, 2005: Combat Upgrade (free major online revamp)
 * May 5, 2005: Star Wars Galaxies: Episode III Rage of the Wookiees  (digital download expansion)
 * May 25, 2005: Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience (boxed compilation of An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, Rage of the Wookiees)
 * November 1, 2005: Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan (digital download expansion)
 * November 1, 2005: Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit (boxed compilation of An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, New Game Enhancements)
 * November 15, 2005: New Game Enhancements (free major online revamp)
 * November 22, 2006, Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures (boxed compilation of An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, Rage of the Wookiees, Trials of Obi-Wan and New Game Enhancements)

Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided Collectors Edition
The Collectors Edition was released in a nicer Collectors box, an additional illustrated booklet (From Pencil to Pixel: The Art of Star Wars Galaxies), and exclusive in-game eye-wear not available with the standard version of the game.

The Total Experience
Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience released three weeks after Rage of the Wookiees collected the three major components of the game&mdash;An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed and Rage of the Wookiees&mdash;into one convenient package. Customers who purchased this package received a limited-edition BARC Speeder as a player mount.


 * Compilation pack in Star Wars Galaxies series
 * Includes An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, and Rage of the Wookiees
 * Adventure through over 100 story-driven quests
 * Visit and discover points of interest and adventure zones
 * All-new combat system with new weapons, armor, effects, and more

Starter Kit
The Star Wars Galaxies Starter Kit is a retail boxed edition of the base Star Wars Galaxies game. It includes the NGE content and Jump to Lightspeed. Additionally the Starter Kit provides the player with instant intra-planet travel via an X-Wing or TIE Fighter.


 * All new design of the first 30 levels
 * Includes complete content from Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided and Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed
 * Customize your character's appearance&mdash;body types, facial features, tattoos and more
 * Take on one of over nine iconic professions, including Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Commando, or a Jedi
 * Inspired by all the George Lucas films, including all the trilogy and prequel movies

The Complete Online Adventures
Released on November 22, 2006, ''Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures features:


 * In addition to the unlimited exciting game play, The Complete Online Adventures includes a DVD of never-before released bonus features
 * A slide show of more than 800 pieces of Star Wars Galaxies concept art and screenshots, all set to more than an hour of beautifully orchestrated Star Wars Galaxies in-game music
 * Excerpts from the popular "From Pencil to Pixel" book that chronicles the art of Star Wars Galaxies
 * An exclusive in-game item for use while playing&mdash;a personal AT-RT vehicle as seen in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Interviews with the Star Wars Galaxies producers, and all the cinematic trailers for the game

Appearances
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Organizations and titles

 * Alliance to Restore the Republic
 * Black Sun
 * Galactic Empire

Miscellanea
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A few words from Leland Chee regarding Star Wars Galaxies and canon
When Leland Chee was asked on the StarWars.com Message Boards if Star Wars Galaxies is generally ignored when it comes to canon, he replied with:


 * As far as the Holocron is concerned, I don't ignore anything. Licensing checks continuity in Galaxies like we would for any other game, book, or toy. As I do my continuity checks, the information gets entered into the database. I also incorporate anything from the Galaxies website and strategy guides.

When asked about player-created characters, ships, and events featured on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (such as Pilot's Showcase), Leland stated that such aspects of the game are:


 * Non-continuity since they exist only in a single galaxy/server.

Inconsistencies with Star Wars continuity
The developers of this game draw on as many aspects of the films and expanded universe as possible. This is good in many ways; however, in some cases, they just don't fit into the era.

Keeping in mind that the time frame of this game is meant to be shortly after the Battle of Yavin (0 ABY&mdash;1 ABY), there are some elements of the game that arguably should not be there. Also, other elements of the game are just not true to Star Wars.

Most players are not concerned by such issues; however, some players find it difficult to be immersed in the Star Wars universe while playing this game.


 * The opportunity to play as transcended Force ghost Jedi character. This option is only accessible by those players who attained Jedi status prior to the NGE.
 * Jedi can be seen in large numbers in many major cities, equipped with Jedi robes and ignited lightsabers. Also, Jedi are dominant combatants in the Galactic Civil War (see below).
 * Jedi can pursue dark and light side abilities through the expertise system (introduced after the NGE) and mix and match abilities of both sides as they like without penalty.
 * Players using non-Human characters can earn military ranks in the Empire, resulting in Imperial Wookiee generals and the like.
 * The ability of players to craft and pilot ships such as the B-Wing and A-Wing, which supposedly have not been designed yet.
 * Chapter 5 introduced combat droids (droideka and battle droids) for regular use which are highly uncommon for this era.
 * CompForce Trooper NPCs are often aliens, such as Rodians. They are equipped with non-continuity clothing and armor (rather, standard overall from SWGs clothing stock).
 * The ability of players to craft and equip Mandalorian armor, which has come quite abundant as time has gone by.
 * Major characters always staying in the same spot, e.g. According to this game, Emperor Palpatine rules the Empire from his Naboo Retreat. This is due to the necessity to keep quest giving NPCs in one position. Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, on the other hand, frequently travel to major factional cities, such as Theed, Coronet, or Bestine to promote their faction in the area.
 * Many key and canonical characters are visible simultaneously throughout the Game Environment, as opposed to keeping them rare and in one location. This gives an illusion that such individuals had clone copies of themselves placed strategically throughout the Galaxy. Some notable examples, Luke Skywalker can be found excavating the ruinous remains of an Exar Kun Temple on Yavin IV, while he is at the same time visiting Coronet or Theed pitching recruitment propaganda for the Rebel Alliance. Darth Vader can be found on Kashyyyk, as well as at the Naboo Retreat, also while visiting various cities promoting Imperial propaganda. Princess Leia can also be found on Dantooine, Corellia and Dathomir, at the same time.
 * Cloning was outlawed during the Galactic Civil War, and so massive cloning centers on every planet would be breaking the laws of the Empire.
 * Clone Wars technology was released into the game with the launch of its second expansion titled Rage of the Wookiees, an Expansion released to capitalize on the Theatrical Release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The items released into the game environment proved to be vastly more popular then the current Galactic Civil War era technology, and as thus the Clone Wars gear also proved to be vastly superior to the current technology as well. These things included Clone Trooper Armor, the Aggressive ReConnaissance-170 starfighter which is often referred to as the ARC-170, and this Fighter is available to Rebel Aligned Pilots through a quest. Also the Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor is available to Imperial Aligned Pilots through a quest and has become a vastly popular Fighter for the PvP Dog Fighting environment of the game. Also, several new Clone Wars era Rifles and Carbines and Vehicles, such as the BARC Speeder Bike, were released into the game, and are all are now vastly popular and used throughout the entire game environment.

In few of the above cases, the developers provide a reasonable in-universe explanation as to how these elements exist, however it is unknown if other sources will accept them as canon.

The game seems to focus more on allowing its players to experience as many facets of Star Wars lore as possible, at the expense of major inconsistencies inside its own universe (e.g. mayor of Mos Eisley highlights the incident in the cantina when Obi Wan revealed himself as Jedi as something special, while Jedi are the main population).

The Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies
Unlike the historic chronology of Star Wars, where almost all Jedi are extinct by the time frame of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the concept of Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies is modified to have several hundred, if not thousands of Jedi capable of playing in the game which is set in the period of time between Episode IV and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

Under the first Jedi system, a player could only become a Jedi after mastering professions chosen randomly for you at character creation. When fewer Jedi entered the game than was anticipated, players were helped by finding several Holocrons which would tell a player which game professions to play and master. This resulted in several "career" players spending hours on end writing program macros and mastering almost every profession in the game. However after complaints from a large portion of the player base (especially those that weren't constant and devoted players and thus more unwilling to master multiple professions), Star Wars Galaxies was altered to a new Jedi system called the Jedi Trials.

Under the Jedi Trials, only after obtaining several various goals as a regular character was a character considered "glowing with the Force" and deemed worthy to train to become a Jedi. Several new tasks then became available to the player, which were revealed through various NPCs (Non-Player Characters). Such tasks included obtaining various skills, destroying certain creatures, and visiting several Jedi related locations.

Even with the Jedi revamp in place, many in the Star Wars Galaxies community have expressed feelings that eventually the game will become an "Army of Generals" where the number of Jedi playing in the game will be extremely high, thus making the game less interesting for those playing non-Jedi characters. It has not yet been announced by game programmers if yet another Jedi system will be enacted, although the method of obtaining Jedi skills was changed considerably under the "Combat Upgrade" system released in April 2005.

As of the NGE, anyone can become a Jedi by selecting the "profession" when creating their character. Arguments, however, come up proposing that Jedi, once the NGE was released to still be unbalanced, only this time with the odd against them. Many Jedi came into the NGE and saw that their former power was dramatically reduced. At this time the village of Aurilia (the in-game location that served as a hub for pre-NGE Force-sensitive questing) is still inactive. Players that were still inside when this happened found only a few NPCs left. Some Players still wish to see the village reopened, only this time, as a sort of training center for the Jedi made to ensure the old prizes don't disappear from the game.

Unfortunately, a recent announcement was made that due to the changes in the code of the game, the village of Aurilia will never be returned to its former state.

Spin-off


The Ruins of Dantooine is the first of what may become a series of spin-off novels to the game, written by Voronica Whitney-Robinson. The book is introduced at the official Star Wars site here, and the site takes a closer look at it here. The following is the plot summary from the book's inside front cover:


 * Enter the explosive universe of the exciting online game


 * STAR WARS GALAXIES:
 * AN EMPIRE DIVIDED!


 * It is a time of great turmoil. The oppressive Empire is close to seizing complete control of the galaxy. The ragtag guerrilla army of the Rebel Alliance fights on, striking wherever it can, but now something has come to light that could spell certain doom. Hidden in the Jedi ruins of Dantooine is a Holocron containing a list of high-level Rebel sympathizers. If that list were to fall into the hands of Darth Vader, the Rebel Alliance would lose its most valued support&mdash;and possibly the war itself.


 * As an Imperial bio-engineer who frequently visits other worlds, Dusque Mistflier is the perfect cover for a Rebel who needs to travel far and wide without arousing suspicion. And so she agrees to help Rebel spy Finn Darktrin in his quest to recover the crucial Holocron. Despite help from Han, Luke, and Leia, the mission is fraught with peril. And as their journey takes them into the fiery belly of the beast that is galactic civil war, Dusque and Finn will learn that the hardest part of all is figuring out whose side you're on and how far you're willing to go to win...

Expanded Universe references to the game

 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine (direct spinoff, contains numerous references)
 * The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War
 * N-K Necrosis
 * Myyydril Caverns
 * Bane's Heart
 * Treun Lorn
 * Doctor Kinesworthy
 * Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues
 * Crash n' Burn
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Rihkxyrk Attack Ship
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Days of Fear
 * Bivoli tempari (in name of Little Bivoli)

Trivia



 * The game references and features elements from The Star Wars Holiday Special, such as Lumpy's stuffed bantha, and the customs of Life Day, when the viewer visits Kashyyyk. The red Life Day robes the Wookiees in the special wore are also available during special events in the game.
 * The game also references the other two Star Wars spin-off films, in that the player may encounter the Gorax species from Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, and the base of the Sanyassan Marauders, as seen in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.
 * The game references characters from the Expanded Universe, such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade from the Thrawn trilogy, and HK-47 from the Knights of the Old Republic series of games.
 * Gavyn Sykes, the playable character from Star Wars: Episode 1: Battle for Naboo makes an appearance.
 * All of the names of the galaxies (servers) in Star Wars Galaxies are references to starships or vehicles in the Expanded Universe.
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine is a novel based in part on places and events in the game. It was authored by Voronica Whitney-Robinson and Haden Blackman, the LucasArts producer of the game.
 * Like many other MMORPGs, the game design of Galaxies includes realistic social institutions such as a dynamic player economy and other real-life social phenomena like a complicated division of labor. According to Star Wars Galaxies and the Division of Labor, the division of labor in Star Wars Galaxies produces in-game results similar to those in real life. Galaxies' original game design socialized players to specialize their characters by mastering one or two professions, and to join guilds, in which players relate to one another primarily in terms of their professions (I am the weaponsmith, so I make weapons for the guild) &mdash; just as in real life, players are tied to one another by organic social solidarity.