N.G.E. - A blessing or a curse?

November 6th 2005, after a nail-biting wait, I finally managed to log into the Test Center to check out the New Game Enhancements. I didn't know what to expect but I must say I like them a lot!

Forget everything you know about Star Wars Galaxies because the N.G.E. is basicly a new game, with a new and improved combat system, a new profession system and actual quest based advancement (instead of grinding).

You start out in a space station where you will be rescued by Han Solo, Chewie and R2-D2. The whole environment is really immersive and makes you feel like a real Star Wars hero, ready to start the adventure of your life.

The combat system was totally revamped, and it's now very twitch-based and fast paced. No longer can you just set up some über macro and get your Ultra-skillz of AFK Grinding in order to progress. Now you must actually be at the computer and it even requires a lot of concentration to actually do anything worthwhile in combat. You need the correct gear and some decent hand-eye coordination to do well! The new combat system is very similar to Diablo's: a point and click system. Yet some people compare it to FPS, which I understand to a certain extent but which I dont agree with. It rocks in my opinion.

Aside from combat, the whole profession system was changed. Unfortunatley you can't be a crafter/fighter hybrid anymore because the new profession system will work more like the class systems in games such as WoW or EQ2. You choose your class and that's it, there's no turning back. That is except with the Profession Restarting Kits Veteran Reward (which allow the player to choose a new class and start it from lvl 1). This is the replacement for the now obsolete Anti-Decay Kits.

There will only be 9 base classes now: Bounty Hunter, Jedi, Smuggler, Officer, Spy, Commando, Entertainer, Trader (crafter) and Medic. They are all pretty self explanatory, you choose your class and then you advance level by level, getting new skills and abilities along with new titles (more on that in our professions guide). The only "different" profession is the Trader, where you must choose one out of four possible specializations: Domestics, Engineering, Structures or Munitions (the specialization will define what you can or cannot craft).

I can't say that I agree with the changes to professions. They remove the diversity the game had and it's strongest point - the fact that you could change profession any time you wanted. But if the developers think it's needed then I'll give it a chance...

Another thing which I don't agree with is the removal of decay. Items won't decay ever again, with or without ADKs. This will hurt the economy because now crafters won't have returning clients and will hurt the players who spent so much time and effort getting their ADKs which will now be converted into Profession Restarting Kits .

Now, most of the character progression is done with quests which grant XP. It is rumoured that these quests end at Level 30 but I haven't seen a confirmation yet. These quests are really immersive and have great storylines. You won't have to grind to level, just complete quests. That alone makes for more interesting gameplay than the random "kill X mob eating my crops" we did before ad nauseum.

Also with the simplier professions, I think it will be easier to provide balanced PvP, possibly revitalizing the currently dead Galactic Civil War. I'm looking forward to some great PvP battles!

Nothing is perfect but this patch seems to bring us the game they always meant to create - an MMO in the Star Wars Galaxies. Add to that the much more fun combat system at the expense of arguably complicated professions, I think it will be well worth it.