Bah! I really didn’t want to start my first column for SWGalaxies.net with a rant. When I asked if I could contribute to the website I sold this as a fluffy, light-hearted look on the goings on in our favourite online universe. What you’re going to get however is the dark ravings of a grown man who has let a harmless bit of fun take over his life and spoil his usually good mood.
What started me on this path?

Well, it was finding out earlier in the week that the development team have nerfed two of the three most coverted ship components that can be looted in space.  What makes this hard to take is that they slipped in this change at the dead of night and hoped that nobody would see. I don’t know the best way to describe this monumental blunder to you ground dwellers but a good analogy would be changing the Lava Crystal to the Lava Lamp.


Basically, there were two reactors in game that were bugged. Slain and Korpil’s Mark III and the Kuat Systems RCT-Z. If you looted one of these bad boys, you had a chance to pick up a stat that ranged from 0 to the utterly obscene. If you were lucky enough to snag one of those utterly obscene reactors, you were well on your way to space domination.
Yes. This bug needed a fix. It needed a fix three years ago. These days, many pilots fly with one of the legendary reactors powering their ship. These pilots will continue to be uber while the rest of us struggle for power, too scared to switch on the stereo for fear of it knocking out the weapon systems.

I’m angry at Mr Slain, Mr Korpil and the CEO of Kuat (I’ll find out who you are!) for supplying inconsistent goods. Most of all, I’m angry at the dev team for their poorly thought out and frankly, lazy fix to this.
On a brighter note – Chapter 6 is here. I logged in last night and got 3 paintings and a badge. It turns out that the badge was purely because I logged into the middle of an event. I’m apparently a brave soldier now. It just goes to show that they give medals to anyone.

The ‘A New Hope’ poster has been somewhat controversial, largely because it doesn’t fit in with canon. Personally, I love it. I’m looking forward to the Rocky III poster in chapter 7 and finally completing the set with Ghostbusters picture that will be given to us to mark the introduction of the latest heroic NPC – the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. Apparently the secret to defeating this Gold Level Elite Mob is to not cross the streamers.

Although this is the BeastMaster chapter, I didn’t see any beasts around. I’ve been told that it will take a while for this to get going and it’ll be a while before any critters appear in the galaxies. I saw a lot of incubators for sale for crazy, crazy prices. I wish I had thought of doing the same. I’d love to be a fat cat, ultra rich Trader and surround myself with Holo-pets, miniature figurines and rare paintings. If I were mean spirited I would say that these billionaires should be given some sort of affliction that is attributed to too much good living – something like online gout.

I’ve yet to try the new content added to the game. The rebels have banned me from their theme park because I once had a brief fling with Mon Mothma that came to a sticky end. They are also a little bit funny about my Stormtrooper armour and my Imperial Officer status. I’ll spend this week reading posts related to the new content in the Gameplay Discussion forum on the official boards and let you know the general opinion. For readers that have yet to venture into this particular part of the forums, I strongly suggest that you take a large gulp of Brandy and some entertainer buffs before doing so. It’s pretty rough in there.
I’ve been looking forward to the Story Teller aspect since I first heard about it. I have some very specific ideas on a particular story that I’d like to see in SWG. Nightsister verses Singling Mountain Clan nude mud wrestling.  Basically, the girls duke it out in lots of sloppy Dathomir mud while those in the group take bets on each of the bouts. Much to my disappointment, you still cannot purchase a hosepipe, thongs and wet t-shirts from the Event Coordinators at the hotels. I’ll email Pex about this and give you an update next week.

So all that leaves in regards to Chapter 6 is NPC difficulty which brings me back nicely to the tone I started the column in – angry. I can see both sides to this argument. Yes, some parts of the game are too easy, some parts of the game should not be available to solo players. However, some parts should. Some people actually prefer the game being a walk in the park.
 Once again, the Development team took the all or nothing approach. Everything is tough and the community is split down the middle. Well you know what? I think that developing this game is too easy. Blixtev and co have been coding in GOD Mode for too long now and I call for a more challenging environment where changes in the game have to be implemented with forward thinking and compromise in mind.

Take care of yourselves readers. I guess that’s what you’re best at.

SuperFurry – 25th May 2007