Preview of Star Wars Galaxies Game Update 5
The GameUpdates to Star Wars Galaxies are all about filling in the cracks, making the game experience as a whole better for the players. It's great, then, to see previews for Game Update 5 already on the official SWG forums. This patch looks to be improving the game for Munitions Traders (just one of the Trader variations), and folks making use of the Beast Master expertise system. What the devs tackled for this patch was partially dictated by the suggestions of the community and the representative Senator for that profession.
The Trader Senator identified basic economic viability as the biggest weakness of the class; looted weapons are generally much better than crafted weapons, and level requirements ensure that the class is essentially useless until the very highest levels. Even then, the lack of upgrades and tweakability makes for a lackluster experience. In response the developers are introducing an experience more like that used by Traders specializing in armor. Weaponsmiths can put any level 'core' into any weapon appearance, allowing for endlessly customizable and specifically-aimed products.
The Beast Master Senator had similar concerns, given the extremely long time it takes to get a pet to an appropriate level. The developers are going to be reexamining the leveling curve in response, and (much appreciated by me) they're going to consider allowing newly made pets to be stuffed and mounted as decorations for player housing. We'll follow this patch as it moves along its path to the live servers.
