I've received a lot of feedback on the editorial I wrote and published, and like I promised, now it's time for some of your feedback to be heard. A lot of the feedback agreed with me - and went on to talk about some of the other problems plaguing the game. A fair number of comments were from the Combat Upgrade, and trust us - that is an issue people are not getting over easily. Many more mentioned the plight of the Smugglers, and many also mentioned Jedi and how prolific they've become. What follows are some of the e-mails I've received.

Firstly, let me just say that I'm a game veteran of around 18 months so have some idea about the in's and out's of the SWG world. I joined knowing absolutely nobody who played or had any interest in playing this game, yet have got to know a number of people, some of whom I still keep in contact with even though they've moved on to other pastures. ...
Let's not forget one of the most important points here - SWG is an community based online game. It is a means of meeting new players, and getting involved in a universe brought to our attention with the advent of the first Star Wars movie back in the 70's.

Yes, it has it's problems and as previously stated I agree with the other points raised in the editorial, but you only have to look at the SWG forums to get an understanding of what this game is all about. As stated previously, if other player interaction is not what you want then this game is not for you.

-an SWG Veteran

However, I think that the improvements and expansions made to the game since its launch have been exciting and fun to play through; and while there have certainly been bugs; they do not create the level of problems some detractors would like you to believe. I read the user forums quite a bit, and frankly, most of the ?problems? described on those forums, my character has never encountered.

I can boil it down to this, and I think this assessment is pretty fair:
If you enjoy role-playing games, then SWG provides an excellent canvass for which to role-play a Star Wars character. The environments are incredible and there are good rules built in for a very wide variety of classes and hybrid class characters.

If you play SWG as the game; that is, your play is centered around what the game mechanics DO, or how a particular quest is written, that is you play the code and not in the environment the code provides, then it will be sorely disappointing. Look for holes, bugs, problems, glitches, or even exploits and you will find them? easily.

-Alon

With regards to Point 2 - With the heavy turnover of players, player run towns and guilds have been collapsing, or merging, or being recreated so that as a unguilded player - you'll usually have at least 1 encounter at a major starport of someone trying to recruit you into their guild. Once that happens things get easier.

All in all, I don't see how the game can ever be truly fixed unless they stop all development work and concentrate on the bugs - but they have it in their mind that the only thing that matters is "New Content" Maybe that's unfair - but they certainly don't communicate their thoughts with us.

-Dean