Star Wars Galaxies

Trials of Obi-Wan: 57% Bad
Rage of the Wookies: 64% Poor
Jump to Lightspeed: 85% Great
Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided: 82% Good


Another MMO I played, back in the day Star Wars Galaxies redefined MMORPGs before the release of World of Warcraft. Galaxies featured a 32 profession (class) advancement and many ways to develop your character. PVP was amazing; missions/quests initially were great, and for early 2003 and most of 2004 the game lacked any Galactic War content. The immersion level was real; you were part of the game's universe. The release of Jump to Lightspeed only magnified things as players could take to the stars in fighter combat.


Rage of the Wookies added a modular expansion to the game with many new items and quests. The expansion was mediocre and players were critical of it because it followed a structure similar to World of Warcraft and featured way too many invisible walls, and borrowed to many concepts and art itself from Everquest (SOE operates both Everquest and Galaxies). The New Game Enhancements "NGE" hit to conform Galaxies to World of Warcraft standards, and MMO history was made; for the first time, to my knowledge; a game company can completely ruin and piss off their entire player base, and make 95% of them leave. With Trials of Obi-Wan, the coffin became sealed with Star Wars Galaxies. 32 professions were ripped from the game overnight and were replaced with 9 professions, just like Warcraft. It became a kids game, an action shooter and could no longer be considered an MMO.


I left in early 2007 because no one was left on my server. The game, for its time was amazing, but it was not without an incredible amount of bugs, many of which SOE refused to fix. The community was immense; and many left for Vanguard or World of Warcraft.