Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
- September 02, 2004 00:00 AM PST
Will the changes bring a stream of new Padawans into the fray?
We recently had a chance to play as powerful Jedi for the latest publish for MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies. In contrast to the previous publish that had players search for the professions that unlock the force-sensitive slot (infamously known as hologrinding for its long, painstaking, and many times random process), players can now be Jedi by following a system of quests.Through an encounter with an "old man" (specific conditions for the person to appear were not revealed, other than having to receive certain badges), you are then given crystals, which you must protect from mysterious Sith foes that attack you. You then eventually go to a new village called Aurilla to take on quests to advance your force sensitive professions.
The village is inhabited by force sensitive NPCs, who are continually attacked by Sith warriors bent on preventing the emergence of more Jedi. The enemies had a decent amount of HAM, but nothing as difficult as Nightsisters.
Dueling and PVPing will be a substantial portion of Jedi advancement--once players choose to become Jedi Knights, they lose their "mundane" professions and go up a Force Ranking tree. The Force ranking is determined by how many other Jedi you defeat, and players need to dethrone others to advance.
For better or for worse, Jedi have a safe haven (one for Light and Dark side) called a Jedi Enclave, where Jedi are safe from eager Bounty Hunters. Depending on your ranking as a Jedi the player will be able to access deeper into the enclave--though no specific perks of this is known.
Playing as a Jedi is a more flashy experience, with the ability to cast force armor on yourself or other protective benefits. In addition, Jedi can "spam" and pile a bunch of different attacks that stack on the opponent including dizziness, blind, intimidate, and weaken. Fighting against a small band of experienced non-Jedi still remains a challenge however, as a non-Jedi with well-placed defensive stacks can render an inexperienced PVPer helpless.
With the release of the Jump to Lightspeed expansion approaching, LucasArts has said that much discussions is currently underway surrounding the much-awaited combat rebalance--with one LucasArts spokesperson talking of the potential "nerfing" of powerful professions such as Teras Kasi and Commando.
Stay tuned for more Star Wars Galaxies info as it becomes available.
