Jump To Lightspeed Archive

I was pleased and honored to be chosen for the JTL beta, but was unfortunately not able to participate in it as much as I would have liked. My initial impressions from the Beta were positive, later ones gave me some doubt with the serious lag and video issues. But once this thing went live, aside from the first couple days of mega lag on the ground, all I can say is... WOW.

The graphics are incredible. The ship customizations are seemingly endless. The NPC chatter is engaging and often funny. The music is phenomenal. And the gameplay is just plain fun. I don't think I've ever had this much fun in SWG since launch, and I've had plenty of good times. The ability to jump right into combat with next to no time-consuming preparation (ie, waiting for buffs, eating 20 kinds of food, dying in 10 seconds and having to repeat) is a major kick in the @$$. The learning curve vs the ground game is steep, to be sure, but I'm levelling at a good pace, grouping with friends (hooking up with a gunner for your Y-Wing and joining another squad of Ys with gunners is a blast), and having the time of my life chasing down pirates and Ties and blowing them to bits. Loot rates seem pretty good (some pieces I can actually use, most I can sell on the bazaar in a matter of seconds). I really can't say enough about this expansion. Lag is very minimal, the content is challenging without being impossible (and the penalties for getting pwned are perfect... if only I could just lose 5k or so credits for dying on the ground instead of wrecking my new suit of armor and having to spend another 20 mins in line for a doc buff and another 15 or so getting a mind buff). Overall I have to give JTL five stars out of five. There are a few bugs yet, but nothing I've encountered that's game-breaking for me personally. I couldn't be more pleased.

This gives me great hope for ground game if these same Devs responsible for JTL are working on the Combat Upgrade and the GCW. The ground game already looks great... with a new improved combat system in place, greater effective customization among equipment and classes, and a reason to fight the GCW, SWG can only go up, way up.

And now that we have a model for twitch-based fighting in space... how about a server upgrade that allows faster travel on vehicles, and a twitch-based weapon system for them? Anyone who's played Battlefront knows the Speeder Bikes are so fast in that game it's next to impossible to shoot anything from them, but it's fun to try Remove the concept for bikes being unrepairable when blown up and replace it with repair kits artisans can sell and can only be used in garages (or hell, maybe a "mechanic" profession encompassing vehicles, weapons, and armor, requiring complex kits purchased from the original crafter classes, that mechanics can use in specialized workshops to completely repair any damaged equipment).

I think the sky's the limit now that I've seen first hand how JTL went from a laggy, buggy mess with lots of potential into the incredible experience it is now, and in such a relatively short period of time.

Aucka - Eromi - Ecaro
Widowmakers
Test Center
New Aldera, Naboo
Officer - Jedi - Engineer

Yes I agree, the way the Devs have handled JTL has been impressive and definetly gives hope for the future of the game. Had they fumbled and delivered a bug riddled mess I really think it would have been the downfall of SWG, but they really have come through this time. With this new energy (and $$$ ) the possibilities from this point on are really limitless.

Barco Hadal
Intrepid forever
-----Mayor--City of Pandora--Corellia--Master Doctor-----