I have to disagree with you on a few key points. Jedi back in the day was NOT hard to get. Now after the release of the Jedi Village yes it did take a while. But After the first Jedi was ever unlocked and it was common knowledge on how to do it it really didn't take long at all. I had played on my brothers account for a while before I decided to get my own. After getting my own and researching how to unlock (Pre-Village) I had a Jedi in 3 weeks. So not really hard at all.
Secondly you complain about it being level based now. I prefer that over the Master system they had previously. Yes it was unique but no challenge. You could seriously Master everything thing except Pilot in a week....and I am sure you spent enough time at it you could even get pilot as well. And when I say Master everything that means run up one tree....Master then drop for something else....not just one tree but ALL of them. Oh yeah real fun being done with a game in a week and having only the social side of it left.

Also The system is FAR.....FAR from being a WoW Clone. (Honestly I am tired of all these retards calling mmos WoWClones mainly because every MMO since 1999 has been an EQ clone pure and simple.) Yes the combat is clunky but hell what do you expect from a game that is almost 8 years old. Hell ever play EQ1? That is clunky and looks dated.....but is still a far superior game in comparison to some of the games out there, including WoW. I have returned to SWG now, and I too was one of those who left the game due to the issues of their changes....mainly the CU. I have kept and open mind and taken into account that the game is nothing like it was back when I first played. I accepted that fact and looked past it, and I have found the game to be really enjoyable. Now will I stay with it...doubtful but that is only because SW:ToR is to release later this year.

My only point is Take the game for what it is...It is an Anarchy Online clone with SW elements. It really isn't all that bad if you look past a few things. I haven't had any issues with the support as of yet. Put in a ticket and talked to a CSR within 5 mins and got the problem resolved.

Two of the reasons I quit playing swg, were the CU and NGE. Combat in pre cu was unique, where you selected your moves tactically, chaining your attacks. The CU and NGE felt more like an FPS. Skills had timers and had to reset before you could use them again. In Pre CU if I wanted to keep an enemy knocked down forever I could do that (provided the mob did'nt resist). It felt great that if I wanted to solo something and not depend on others I could. The main reason for leaving however was that a brand new player to SWG could choose jedi as a starting class and for hundreds if not thousands of Jedi vets this really was a kick in the goolies. I was working my way through the village quests as the CU hit I never managed to unlock a jedi but I sure as hell wanted to do it the hard way. When I re-visited SWG I respeced to jedi (alot did) I was disapointed and sad, I felt like a cheat.

Weapons and armor in the Pre cu decayed making it nessecary for you to fix them and give weaponsmiths and armorsmiths a job. I liked that no one knew what class you were untill you fought them, and that there was no indication as to what level you were in your skill class (titles maybe). As my name suggests I was a deffense stacker but I went around with master doc as my title (who knew?)

The crafting in SWG was second to none having to collect stuff from the ground that varied in quality so that the crafters could make better items. Having to travel for ages to find that high % area of quality Iron Ore only to discover you can't get a harv down. Crafting in CU and NGE was a waste of time better items dropped from bosses and everyman and his dog had a lightning cannon. Stun batons were rendered usless /sadface in fact all elemental weapons were made usless to some degree no more mind poisons no more insane ticks and massive black bars of wound damage. I really miss pre cu and I know I'm not alone. Why mess a perfectly balanced game up just to suit the new players who want things on a plate from the word go! Wish thwy had stuck to WoW, damn whiners!

Sorry for ranting, grammar and punctuation. Best wishes.

The developers are doing some nice things with the game and are progressing from their old ways of "balancing" and re-"balancing" the professions every patch. There have been a couple nice improvements to space...but nothing that really held me in the game. The game is lacking the community involvment and the numbers that it once had that kept it a good game.

If you miss Pre-NGE, go to http://www.swgservers.com/ and patch up. It's as close to the old stuff as you're going to get...plus it is free.

*You must be referring to Rubenfield's blog claiming that SWG was losing 10k players a month which is probably just an unsubstantiated claim to justify his part in the creation and launch of the unwanted NGE. If anything, players were actually returning after the unwanted CU launch (before the ToOW expansion).

*The game does NOT have a sustainable playerbase. If it was truly a stand alone game that was not subsidized by the Station Pass, it would have been unplugged years ago. In fact, the NGE may have been quickly rolled back. 12 servers were closed in October 2010, and more than half of the remaining servers do not have a viable playerbase. Only a couple of servers have anything close to a population resembling that of Pre-CU servers (Starsider and possibly Flurry).

Your experience during your 'second chance' is what many vets find when they try to return via free vet or game trials. No matter what content, WoW features or TCG loot cards are bolted onto the NGE - it is still the failed, substandard NGE and players, be it veteran or potential, will not play it.

I don't think it is, I truly wanted to believe the game was everything that I remembered but as I said in the article, there are serious bugs in the combat and play that you can't disregard in a game that is 6 years old. It is just not of an acceptable standard for a subscription based MMO.

So... how is it now ?? I had heard once you hit level cap, it was like most MMO's in so much as lots of lovely lanscapes but lttle else.

I'd ask, is it worth a play still ?

Excellent article, i totally agree with you here as a veteran swg player.