Jedi Archive

The jedi profession got nerfed countless times, from twenty times as strong as a normal character to less than equal to a single one. I became jedi after the combat upgrade so I did not witness some of the bigger downgrades first hand, but by now I got hit by enough of them (heal nerf, (first) AI nerf etc.).

Publish 24, or "nerfcollection 24" as I jokingly called it prior to its implementation, got me thinking about how I (want to) play Star Wars Galaxies, or better: how I want or can enjoy this game.

A major element of motivation and enjoyment in (MMO)RPGs has been the advancement of one’s character, becoming stronger and stronger, acquiring better and better equipment, for me just as for most other players as well. In SWG becoming a jedi was and has been a central element of this advancement. Although I did not want it solely because of an increase in power it seemed like an improvement, an achievement to me, an achievement I would be enjoying.

Indeed I did have a lot of fun in playing my jedi, even the grinding itself was something I actually enjoyed, despite all the nerfs that hit this profession back then. But the recent publish made something undeniably evident to me: the nerfs to jedi will continue, this will not be the last downgrade we have to face, and with each and every skill becoming more and more useless I just can’t find the enjoyment anymore that I used to get when playing my jedi.

Now the central question is not how can we stop this tendency, how can the developers be convinced to restore the jedi. The question I asked myself is how can I enjoy Star Wars Galaxies again?

To keep on complaining about how bad the situation for this profession is, will not help at all. It will never be fun to hold onto an inevitably dieing profession. Instead I decided to return to those things that I truely enjoyed.

Remember the time you walked up to a large faction base for the first time? Being greeted by lots of (npc) soldiers at the foot of large gun turrets, and then exploring the base from the inside? Wearing your faction uniform or armor, ordering your faction-pets into battle or just standing on the bridge of your Decimator or Nova ship, looking out of the window...

These are the things I will be going to do from now on. I don’t want to worry about my jedi loosing streangth again and again. I will put on my uniform, hang out with friends, spend time setting up faction HQs etc. Maybe I will create another character and try out some new professions. I always liked the idea of using commando weapons, so why not do that, or become a pikeman, something else I always had some interest in.

I got a friend on my server, he seemed a bit strange at first, but infact he is a very nice person. When he told me about his templates that were totally "illogical" I used to try to convince him to change it to something more powerful, or just point out that he would not be as strong as possible. Now I have to admitt that SWG needs players exactly like him, players that choose their professions not based on combat power or effectiveness, but on what they really want, what they want to experience.

Yes, those that became jedi invested a lot of time, some more and some of us a bit less, but nonetheless a lot of time. It is understandible that one does not want to simply give up this achievement, forget about it and move on. In business/commerce there is a rule: when deciding on future investments or replacements of past investments only the future costs and revenues are to be considered, costs that occured in the past are completely irrelevant. I think the same holds true to our situation in Star Wars Galaxies. If holding on to jedi, trying to "fix" the profession is not enjoyable at all anymore, we have to focus on other things, things that are fun to us, no matter how much time was spent on achieving the current status.

Why not take up a new profession with your second character (or even your jedi) and head out to kashyyyk, or soon mustafaar, explore and do quests. Not because you heard some rumors, that there could be a crystal, pearl or weapon that could increase your combat power, but because of the quests themselves, the storyline that is behind them, the fun of taking on tasks with a background.

Thank you for reading all this. Maybe these thoughts can help the one or the other find a way back to having fun in Star Wars Galaxies.