Eolair said:I do also have a special place in my heart for Star Wars Galaxies. Playing a Bounty Hunter and being able to take missions on Jedi, track them down, and ambush them was a thrill. And my parter (whom I met in Everquest actually) became widely known on Intrepid with her Bio-engineered beasts and her clothing creation (she had 2 accounts)... If they would have only stopped putting so much emphasis on trying to balance PVP it could have been even better.
Every time I hear about this game I know I missed out. So far only early EQ and Eve have made me feel this way. All of the best stories from all of these games focus on the people interacting. The worlds were set up in a way to promote interactions outside of combat. EQ players selling out of combat class abilities like good buffs, summons, teleports, or guildies focused on trading for the profit seeking thrill spending most their time as a merchant because there is no easy AH system. Eve players investing heavily into crafting, the logistics to move stuff around safely, the huge investments to own stations and defend territory, the investments into support or exploration to define your play style.
SWG players were allowed to grow and explore ways to play the game that interested them to a level of enviable mastery and it came at a clear cost. Devs rewarding time invested and curiousity of the players instead of rushing players into a combat power fantasy where everyone is bland.
Jobeson said:
All of the best stories from all of these games focus on the people interacting.
This was especially true with the Star Wars Galaxies economy. There were no NPC vendors at all. Everything you wanted to buy or sell had to be done to other players, and absolutely everything that dropped in-game had a purpose. And unlike Elder Scrolls Online, you didn't have to join a guild or anything to unlock a vendor. The entire world could access the market from designated locations. You began to recognize names and quality, and would even search out their homes on whatever planet they were on to look at their not-on-the-open-market wares. I was actually skeptical about the idea of having no loot vendors at all, but they pulled it off brilliantly.
My first MMORPG was WoW in the year 2005. And it is still my favourite MMORPG. I love the vanilla version of it. :-) The retail version becomes boring for me very fast. But i enjoyed also other MMOs like TESO or Final Fantasy 14. But WoW Vanilla is very unique in many terms.
Cheers