So long, and thanks for all the fish!
When the game first came out, there were 32+ professions you could choose to work on. (IE: Rifleman, Scout, Bounty Hunter, Creature Handler, Bio Engineer, Droid Engineer, Medic, Doctor, Combat Medic, Chef, Dancer, Musician, Image Designer, Swordsman, Fencer, Pikeman, Teras Kasi Artist, Pistoleer, Brawler, Architect, Politician, and others) If you decided you didnt like a profession, you could drop it and work on another, intermixing the professions as you felt the need.
You want to be a dancer who can earn a little on the side hunting in slow times in the cantina? (Maybe go Dancer/Rifleman, or maybe Dancer/Teras Kasi Artist with a dash of medic) Nope sorry you want to dance, (Entertainer) thats ALL you can do.
You wanted to catch and train the taun tauns they rode on Hoth? Be the like the guy who took care of Jabbas rancor in Return of the Jedi? You wanted to be the one who went out and got an egg to grow a veractyl like Obi Wan rode in revenge of the sith? Maybe catch and train the dewbacks that the stormtroopers were riding on as they searched for R2-D2 and C3PO on Tatooine in A New Hope? Guess the gungan animals they used in were BORN with all the gear strapped onto them and carry it because its attached to them...But if thats what you wanted, well, to bad because Sony/LA feel that the Creature Handler profession was "Not Star Warsy" enough and removed it... along with 20 or so of the other professions the game started with...
Now you can pick a picture of one of the 9 movie characters pictures in the character select screen and say "Thats me, Im gonna be Han Solo" (Smuggler), or "Oh look! Im gonna be Boba Fette!" (Bounty Hunter) Since the interchangeable 32+ professions were turned into 9 preset "Iconic" profession with the aforementioned movie personas on the select screen. (Once you choose that profession if you dont like it you have to DELETE your character and make a NEW one)
You like roleplaying and chatting with your friends while hunting? Nope sorry, due to the pathetic attempt at making SWG a FPS you can no longer type in chat and hunt at the same time unless you magically aquire an extra set of hands... god forbid you are disabled in any way, apparently disabled arent part of their profit margin so they arent worht making able to play... Even though they were able to play just fine in the pre-NGE gamestyle.
As for the "faster game play" another person summed it up best... it now looks like Benny Hill on crack.. freakishly sped up not improved....
Dont you love having to keep line of site and your cursor over mobs to hit them, yet they can run all over and behind building hils whatever and still hit you, while your now like the typical moveie stormtrooper who cant hit the side of a barn...
Customer service? Unless your someone singing their praises, you are utterly ignored by SOE/LA, unless they are deleting/locking anything negative you might post about their game...
Due to this mess, and messes experienced in other games by SOE It has pushed me to the point where I will never again purchase anything made or even affiliated with Sony or Lucasarts, and try to let anyone I see going towards them know just exactly what their practices are...
Best analogy I can come up with for they way they treat their paying customers is as follows... Sony Online Entertainment/LucasArts = Hurricane Katrina, and Star Wars Galaxies subscribers = New Orleans. Be prepared at any time to have the game you purchased in good faith on how it was advertised to be completely changed with little to no notice.
Myself I played a Master Creature Handler/Master Swords with a dash of medic to be able to keep myself and my pets healed. In october of 2005 they started advertising an expansion to the game called "Trials of Obi-Wan" with many allusions to enhancements to my Creature Handler profession (more animals to catch, and a "Master Creature Handlers Necklace" which would enable us to go from controlling up to level 70 creatures to level 80 creatures. The expansion was ONLY available as a digital download (online purchase via Credit Card, dowloaded as a game patch) They VERY day my payment was processed, SOE/LA announced that they were releasing "New Game Enhancements" in two weeks, and my profession was being REMOVED from the game entirely along with may others.
If you do decide to go into this game, NEVER ever ever ever prepay for more then one month in advance. Many people paid up to a year in advance to have the game they wanted to play completely changed, and were refused refunds.
Never again will I purchase any product owned or affiliated in any way with Sony & Lucasarts, Straw.Camel.Back.
(for the record, it is very unfair for people to be able to have reviews they dont like removed by reporting it as trolling as my first review was. If I try and explain what actually happened to me in a game and someone who likes the game doesnt like it says "She is trolling, get rid of that negative review!" how are you supposed to ge an accurate vote?)