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Sony to Kill Half of Its Star Wars Servers

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8:21 PM - September 15, 2009 by Kevin Parrish

Sony Online Entertainment is killing off 12 Star Wars Galaxies servers.

Is it a sign of the times, or has the rocky history of Star Wars Galaxy finally caught up with the MMORPG? According to this official forum post, Sony Online Entertainment plans to gather a garrison of Stormtroopers and terminate twelve of the game's twenty-five servers execution style, killing off just under half of the entire SWG subscriber network. Apparently, the shutdown has been extended due to SOE's "overwhelming success" with the recent Free Character Transfer Service.

"In accordance with the server closure date, the Free Character Transfer service has been extended through October 15. 2009," SOE said in its official announcement. "Between September 15, 2009 and October 15, 2009 at 4:59 PM PT all characters on the affected servers are eligible for a one way, one time Free Character Transfer to any of the remaining thirteen (13) Star Wars Galaxies servers. After October 15, 2009 at 5:00 PM PT, any characters and their associated items and structures remaining on the identified servers being closed will no longer be accessible on your Star Wars Galaxies or Station Access account."

Sony said that character creation will be disabled on the servers due for termination effective immediately (September 15, 2009 at 4:00 AM PDT). For those not wanting to click on the forum link, here's the list of servers SOE will shut down next month:

  • Corbantis
  • Europe-Infinity
  • Intrepid
  • Kauri
  • Kettemoor
  • Lowca
  • Naritus
  • Scylla
  • Tarquinas
  • Tempest
  • Valcyn
  • Wanderhome

Star Wars Galaxies currently costs a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 USD, although SOE offers discounts for 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month block payments. SOE also offers a 14-day free trial for the uninitiated. You really, really want to play this game; you are SOE's only hope.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
webbwbb 09/16/2009 2:48 AM
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-6+

It's sad to see the old go but kind of inevitable with all of thier changes. Pre-CU is still available free and legally at http://swgemu.com We have nearly 100,000 registered members. We actually just finished testing a major patch that has made its way onto the public test server.

ColMirage 09/16/2009 2:50 AM
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-0+

I wish SOE wouldn't have gave up on Planetside. Sigh, such an awesome game.

montezuma 09/16/2009 2:53 AM
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-2+

I started playing SWG during its initial beta. I am not a huge Star Wars buff, but I do enjoy the movies and did enjoy the game a little. After the game went retail, my interest dropped drastically and I went back to the other MMOs I was already playing.

I was just wondering if SWG was still going and I admit that I am surprised that it is. I figure SWG might fall victim to the same fate as MxO and other MMOs with dwindling numbers. Even though most of those were not that great, it is sad to see a game get shut down.

El_Capitan 09/16/2009 2:56 AM
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-4+

I played for the first 3 months on the Ahazi server, it was pretty fun at the beginning. Was looking forward to patches and gameplay as well as bug fixes, but instead, it got worse... and worse... and worse.

Hellbound 09/16/2009 3:17 AM
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--1+

I still play it. I'm on Bria.

IronRyan21 09/16/2009 3:27 AM
Show
icepick314 09/16/2009 3:34 AM
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-9+

once SW: Old Republic goes online, i doubt SW: Galaxies will survive much longer...

falchard 09/16/2009 4:09 AM
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-8+

SOE is braindead. They still think they can charge $14.99 for the majority of their titles. Not 1 of their titles is worthy of that monthly cost. Any halfwit would have reduced prices to 12.99 or even below $10. However, John Smedley is one of the biggest retards allowed to run a publishing studio. How this guy keeps his job is a mystery.

captaincharisma 09/16/2009 4:24 AM
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JonathanDeane 09/16/2009 4:26 AM
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-1+

There was a disturbance in the force as if a 100 users where moved to different server... Hehehehe just kidding I am sure it was more then that but I know the game has not really been a mega hit. Maybe they should just rip off WoW and change it all too Star Wars stuff.
I think SciFi games are going to be hard to make into an MMO unless they can ditch the level grind and switch to other motives to get people to play.

Darkk 09/16/2009 4:36 AM
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-0+

inevitable with all of thier changes. Pre-CU is still available free and legally at http://swgemu.com We have nearly 100,000 registered members. We actually just finished testing a major patch that has made its way onto the public test server.[/citation]

UUmm.. I think ya better fix your webserver....

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

fuser 09/16/2009 4:55 AM
Hide
-1+

If you're playing an MMO on a regular basis, then $14.99 is an entertainment bargain. Compare it to $60 console games that rarely give you 10 hours of game play ... total.

I'm surprised they're deactivating accounts on old servers. When they did this with EQ2 they just merged players onto a different server.

webbwbb 09/16/2009 5:02 AM
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--3+

We have been dealing with a DoS attack. Things should be restored to normal service now...

Darkk 09/16/2009 5:07 AM
Show
Andraxxus 09/16/2009 11:55 AM
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-0+

Why doesn't anyone use the force to make them change their minds.

trinix 09/16/2009 2:08 PM
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--1+

It's quite funny that you call SOE one of the worst companies out there. Sure their success in recent years have been far below WoW and other titles, but if you like the titles they have, it's more rewarding to play their game over the oversimplified world of WoW or the supergrinds like Lineage2.

In the end they do give good service for that 14.99 price. They also offer a good plan for 29.99 I think for the station pass, that will give you access to all their games and you can buy all the games really cheap too.

MMOs aren't that expansive, especially the monthly fee isn't much, when you consider games at 40+ bucks on the pc or 60+ on the console that gives you 10 hour pleasure. 1 night in the bar that cost you 5x as much (unless you are a leecher, who drinks from his friends). Any hobby costs you more per month than a MMO. Everyone always complains about the monthly fee, but forget that 14.99 is almost nothing, when compared to other things they open their wallet for with no second thought.

asjflask 09/16/2009 2:23 PM
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-0+

SWG used to be $12.99 a month, I don't know when they went up on the price. I played on 3 servers and I see them all listed there. The game was great for the first two years, after that it just went downhill. The bugs got worse, they didn't fix problems, there were numerous ways to exploit the game, and if you reported the exploiters you were ignored. I can't say that I'll be sad to see this game go bankrupt. Thank God for Star Wars: The Old Republic. I hope SOE refrains from making anymore Star Wars MMO's. George Lucas if you're reading, let a company like Blizzard have the next Star Wars MMO in a few years.

jellico 09/16/2009 3:31 PM
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-2+

I think Sony executed their servers a long time ago with all of the changes that they made.

WEBBWBB: Thanks for the info on the pre-CU server, I'll definitely have to check that out!

burntham77 09/16/2009 4:09 PM
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-1+

They're deleting the characters?? That's pretty lame.

joebob2000 09/16/2009 4:49 PM
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-0+

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened (to the servers).

ahnilated 09/16/2009 4:51 PM
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-3+

Maybe it has something to do with Sony's crappy programming of games and lack of fixing bugs. Everquest has been an MMORPG of theirs for over 10 yrs and they still have bugs in it from day 1 and they have stated it would be too expensive for them to fix them now. There was massive exoduses from EQ when Sony wouldn't listen to it's user base and fix their game or stop releasing expansions without fixing the bugs in the game. All they care about is making money, they don't care about quality of gaming.

beehew 09/16/2009 5:32 PM
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-0+

No loss as far I'm concerned. I played the 14-day trial a few years back and got nowhere. Several hours of killing stuff and getting drops like "bantha milk" which were completely useless, but I guess was a holdover from the previous version of the game (before everyone could be a Jedi) that they hadn't phased out yet. No weapons or armor from my enemies, but plenty of food and textiles.

shadowryche 09/16/2009 5:35 PM
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-2+

So long and thanks for all the fish.

itsmezed 09/16/2009 10:00 PM
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-0+

It's kinda sad... I remember being one of the first master weaponsmiths on Corbantis. They had crafting so *right* back then. Then came the so-called 'combat upgrade', which a majority of the populace was against and they went ahead with anyway. When the 'NGE' -- we liked to call it the 'Neutered Game Experience' came along, the game was irrevocably dumbed down. Almost no differentiating the items crafted from the different vendors. Jedi all over the place. *sigh* A sad end coming for a game that once had so much promise.

sKiT75 09/17/2009 12:50 PM
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-0+

burntham77 :
They're deleting the characters?? That's pretty lame.


Yes your character(s) will be deleted if you do not login and transfer them over(free of charge) to one of the remaining servers. SW:ToR just may kill SWG but as a 5 and half year vet, I will not be deleting/nor unsubscribing my accounts just because the new game comes out as too much time has been invested to do something so silly as that. When the bulk of the population has gone, it will be time to move on but, not just because another game is coming out. I started out originally on one of the servers that is being shut down but transfered to a more populated server a couple years ago. IMHO, even in its crippled condition, it's still better than most of the other garbage out there.

demonhorde665 09/17/2009 4:45 AM
Hide
-0+

JonathanDeane :
There was a disturbance in the force as if a 100 users where moved to different server... Hehehehe just kidding I am sure it was more then that but I know the game has not really been a mega hit. Maybe they should just rip off WoW and change it all too Star Wars stuff. I think SciFi games are going to be hard to make into an MMO unless they can ditch the level grind and switch to other motives to get people to play.



i think this shoudl happen with ALL MMO's i can't stand level grinding games, they ineed to inject more story less slash and bash and sometyhign differnt for a change

__-_-_-__ 09/17/2009 5:12 AM
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-0+

sony death star...

Anonymous 09/17/2009 3:46 PM
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-0+

If you played the game back in the day, the changes they've made over the past few years are very good. The next update allows players to create quests for other players using the story teller infrastructure. If those who played the game in the early years were to come back with an open mind, I would venture to guess that 90% of them would love the game. It really is much better than it was during pre CU.

webbwbb 09/17/2009 5:45 PM
Hide
-0+

jedisux :
If you played the game back in the day, the changes they've made over the past few years are very good. The next update allows players to create quests for other players using the story teller infrastructure. If those who played the game in the early years were to come back with an open mind, I would venture to guess that 90% of them would love the game. It really is much better than it was during pre CU.



Have they fixed crafting so that it is viable or allowed people to make templates with skills from many professions (or I guess 'classes')? Those are the things that made SWG the game that most of it's subscribers loved. Until those are in place it just feels too much like nearly every MMO to be worth it.

Anonymous 09/17/2009 6:46 PM
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-0+

Crafting is better than it used to be actually. Certain reward weapons are deconstructable to schematics so the weaponsmith can re-craft them with sockets and upgrades. It's a good balance of looted weapons vs crafted weapons to keep crafters valuable but not too valuable. There still isn't any form of decay like way back. Weapon/Armor/Clothing attachments are back but they're craftable now which is another focus for crafters and source of income. There's so many improvements to the game that you literally couldn't comprehend them in less than several months of playing. My advice to those who miss their old game is to log in, find a good guild and let them know you're an old vet and need help understanding what's going on in the new system. You'll be loving it in no time. Word of Warning: If you think you're going to log in and be uber like back in the day when you were a combat medic rifleman with l33t poisons and headshot 3, it's not gonna happen quickly. If you go into it like you're starting over, you'll love it.

Anonymous 09/17/2009 7:01 PM
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-0+

Oh, the skill based system you're talking about is not back in the game where you could make a hybrid character. In my opinion, that was one of the problems with the old SWG. It's too hard to balance that type of system because of the possible combinations as proven by their constant nerfing until most characters in the old system only having one or 2 of their specials actually working (anyone remember that?). The new system is much like WOW in that you select your combat profession (bounty hunter, Jedi, Medic, Commando, Smuggler, Officer, or Spy) and then you select your expertise from 3 separate trees that essentially make you somehow different depending on where you put your points. One of the trees is BeastMaster which brings back creature handler and bio/engineering.
I've played the game for 6 years and I can honestly say, the game is finally where it should have been 6 years ago. If it was like this back then, the original SWG lovers would still be playing it.


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