Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (SWG) is a Star Wars themed MMORPG for Windows PCs, developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts Entertainment. It was released on June 26, 2003. With several hundred thousand subscribers, it is one of the most popular MMORPGs in the United States.

Galaxies, like most MMORPGs has a monthly subscription service and various pricing plans depending on the length of the plan. Per month the privilege of playing the game is $14.99 USD. There is also a three-month plan ($13.99 USD per month), a six-month plan ($12.99 USD per month), and a yearly plan ($11.99 USD per month).

Development and release

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, a feat accomplished only thus far in Asia by MMORPGs such as Lineage. As development wore on, the release date was pushed back, features were cut, and Sony cancelled planned ports for the Xbox and PlayStation 2.

The game was released to mix reviews. Galaxies was most critcized for numerous bugs and broken features that plagued the game. [1]

Features

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.

The Star Wars Galaxies environment has many differences from other MMORPGs. Roughly each month Sony Online Entertainment produces a patch for the game that supplies the players with new content and more of the story. Star Wars Galaxies has a unique player-run economy. Sony has announced that it is releasing a "Combat Revamp" which will address many issues the gamer community has wanted changed within the Galaxies community.

In the game, players choose among a variety of professions, from bounty hunter to musician. Through the use of a "skill point" system, players can only master a certain number of professions. Professions are designed to be interdependent, where, for example, a commando can kill things quickly but might need a doctor's aid, should a combat medic enter the scene. In addition, the Galactic Civil War aspect of fighting for the Rebels or Galactic Empire is meant to be Galaxies' "end game", which is considered to be not very hard to reach compared to other MMORPGs.

Expansions

Jump to Lightspeed

Sony Online Entertainment released the first expansion Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed on October 27, 2004. The expansion allows players to explore and battle in ten new sectors of outerspace, 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 adds real-time space shooter elements to the game, which makes an interesting combination with the MMORPG. Jump to Lightspeed also added many space missions, four space-specific professions, and two new playable species.

Rage of the Wookiees

The second expansion for Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars Galaxies: Episode III Rage of the Wookiees, was announced in March 2005. Revenge of the Wookiees is set to be released around the same time as the final Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, and is to include some Episode III content such as the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk.

Other features will include new spacefighters, resource mining in space, and cybernetic limbs for player's characters. The Rage of the Wookiees expansion will also include the previous expansion, Jump to Lightspeed, for no additional charge.

External links

• Official SWG website
• Official Jump to Lightspeed website
• A detailed critique of balance issues and the grind problem

Fan sites

• Star Wars Galaxies Crafting
• Star Wars Galaxies on Allakhazam.com
• Star Wars Galaxies Online
• Star Wars Galaxies Stratics
• Star Wars Galaxies Warcry
• Star Wars Galaxies Wiki
• Star Wars Galaxies OGaming