So with all the Star Wars Galaxies changes, a great many veteran players are canceling accounts. I canceled one and doubt I'll re-new my main account. I am paid through end of Jan so plenty of time to give Sony Online a few chances at redemption.

"It's just a game...so what?"

Yes it is a game. A game where friends are made, met in rl a lot and it is in the Star Wars universe. When first released, Star Wars Galaxies, broke all the rules of MMORPG's. The entire structure of the game was new and different. The players had options never before realized by any online game.

I have played SWG since launch and even though I love delving into the mechanics of the game, I am not even close to knowing it all. That was one thing that made SWG great. It was complicated if you wanted, simple if you didn't. You could create a character with the FOTM (Flavor of the Month) skills and pretty much go on auto-pilot from there or you could mix skills and play from a more strategic point of view. The latter style requiring a greater knowledge of the game. All that goes with the new system. No more options, point and shoot.

The graphic in Galaxies are still the most jaw dropping I've seen. I need high end graphics to play a game. It's fantasy land and it should look like it. The virtual environment stays in the new system but with all the combat changes, role play and chat become very difficult. I don't play Galaxies for the combat.

Last on my rants....ethics.

Star Wars Galaxies launched a little over two years ago. The game worked, had many bugs but most had workarounds. The second total game revision, known as the CU (Combat Upgrade) changed combat but still kept the basic structure of the game.

There have been three expansions to Star Wars Galaxies. None of the expansions were required to play the game. I purchased each expansion as it was released.

Original game 50.00

Jump to Lightspeed expansion 30.00

Rage of the Wookiees 30.00

Trials of Obi-Wan 30.00

Two plus years of subscription fees 435.00

Sony announced last night that Jump to Lightspeed will be downloaded free to all current subscribers and will be included in the new Starter Pack. Sony did not allow players to know this prior to the new game announcement hence many players ran out and bought Jump to Lightspeed to compliment the new game.

The expansion Trials of Obi-Wan was released November 1st of this year and offered players with the skills of Creature Handler some pretty great additions. With the new game, there are no Creature Handlers. Players purchasing ToW have from November 1 - November 15 before the expansion and their Creature Handler skills become null and void. Just bad business.

Players that were working towards Jedi are not offered compensation for their efforts. The Jedi grind is insane and requires dedicated gameplay. The reward for gaining Jedi is a second character slot on the server. (Galaxies only offers one character slot per server) Only those that gained Jedi prior to November 15 will have an extra slot.

I can not stamp the new Star Wars Galaxies with my approval. The bugs are numerous, game play ugly, but most of all....there is no longer any challenge. All aspects of gaining Jedi, changing professions, have been removed. It's just a simple point and shoot, level up, endgame, play it over thing now.