I thought this interview by
IGNPC was pretty interesting.
October 01, 2003 - Everyone knew that Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided would do well. Combining the talents of a top-tier developer with the 800-pound gorilla that is the Star Wars license is like printing your own money. Although the title experience the usual birth pangs associated with the MMO genre, record numbers of players were attracted to the intriguing game design and generous use of the Star Wars license. We recently checked in with the folks behind the game to find out how things are shaping up since the title launched last June.
On hand are Sony's chief creative officer Raph Koster, community manager Kevin O'Hara and LucasArts' producer Haden Blackman. The trio discusses how far they've come and where they hope to go next. They also offer a small hint for players hoping to unlock their Force sensitive character slots and start down the path to becoming a Jedi.
IGNPC: So, how did launch go for you?
Raph Koster: Well, as you know, we did have some teething problems at the initial launch. We're happy to say that those seem to be behind us. The demand has really been amazing -- we're the fastest growing MMO ever -- in the Western world at least. It's really stretched our community management and customer service, but we've been buckling down and have made great progress on those fronts as well. We are also consistently hard at work with bug fixes and adding new content. We've surpassed 300K registered accounts and we're pretty happy with the progress.
IGNPC: How's the community growth and response to the game been?
Kevin O'Hara: Overall all, it has been very good. Excellent sub-communities are forming on our galaxy and profession forums as well as in the game with Player Associations. Our fan sites have been first rate in providing great information to players. In a persistent game where the developers are interacting with the forum community, there will always be issues to work on, but I think we have gotten our pipeline in place now to keep the flow of information between developers and players going. Our Correspondent program helps us to identify the biggest requests of the community in a manageable fashion.
In the game, our players are really finding innovative ways to use resources in the game that were never initially intended. We're seeing awesome player run events every day. They include large scale Player Versus Player Battles, player weddings, fishing tournaments, beauty pageants, Big Game Hunts, Raves, Newbie Orientations, Medic parties (where medics heal everyone for free), scavenger hunts, 10K runs, and much more. Our Event's team tries to visit several player hosted events each week to see what the players are creating.
IGNPC: There's been some criticism that the game concentrates too much on short missions involving lots of running here and there. Are you doing anything to address these concerns?
Haden Blackman: There is a ton of content in the game, though we initially did not have the best systems in place to get players away from mission terminals and directed towards more in-depth content. We needed at launch to have more compelling rewards that were only available out with the more interesting content and we needed to make sure all of that content was rock solid.
Haden Blackman: We have a new theme park in test center now, Nym's Stronghold that is a multi-legged quest with three separate, fairly intricate parts taking you to large dungeons while telling a connected story.
We're also testing The Warren, an Imperial Research Facility on Dantooine headed by the premier cyborg specialist Colonel Teraud. Rumors of unrest surround 'The Warren' after an Imperial Inquisitor sent to investigate the Colonel's progress has failed to report back any findings. The story behind the Warren quest is much more linear than any of our previous quests.
Our overall goal is to tie as many of the new quests into the Star Wars continuity and ongoing saga as possible. We're making huge strides in this area, being sensitive to what the community is asking for while being mindful of how people really play MMOs.
IGNPC: How are you keeping the game fresh?
Kevin O'Hara: Star Wars Galaxies greatest strengths is its diversity in systems. A player who has used all their skill points hasn't necessarily done every Theme Park, visited every planet, taken a PVP base, tried the other 30 professions, etc. Since the game is relatively new, most players - even the power players - haven't really had the time to explore the breadth of the game.
Having said that, we are definitely actively adding more content. Player cities will be in test center soon and will allow players to incorporate their homes and commercial structures into towns. Cities will be able to elect mayors and appoint militia and build defense structures. Mayors will be able to collect a myriad of taxes and build place special service buildings that help settle the wilderness areas of the Star Wars Galaxies universe. Structures like banks, mission terminals, and shuttle ports can be placed to make the adventuring life easier.
IGNPC: Anything else new coming soon?
Kevin O'Hara: We'll have player mounts coming in the next major update, which will allow Creature Handlers with Advanced Training ability to train for riding a variety of species including Dewback and Kaadu, among several others. Creature mounts will be useful in transversing the planets as they can generally maintain speeds that characters can only reach in short bursts. Riders won't be defenseless while riding either, though they'll have to dismount if they want to take advantage of their professional combat moves.
IGNPC: And what about Jedi in the game? Where are they?
Haden Blackman: We've yet to see any Jedi in the game, though there are some players that are close to unlocking that Force-sensitive slot. The path to becoming a Jedi is extremely difficult. But we've seen in the game -- as in the Star Wars expanded universe -- that adventurers have located ancient historical artifacts known as Jedi holocrons in certain corners the galaxy. These extremely rare devices are a repository of the knowledge and teachings of the ancient Jedi Order. They may eventually be useful in illuminating the arduous journey of both mind and body that is becoming a Jedi.
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
CoT/COL Cosmic/HCA-3/Tadath/VEA/VE [OPE][OTH][OPA][EW1][CDS][IH][GS][SoS][CoH][PoC][MSM][IOC]
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
SL/KPR Cosmic/Lion 1-1/mSSD Atrus/VEDJ/VE [VP][KC1][OAK]
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