Please keep in mind that Star Wars and anything related is courtesy of Lucasfilm, thus all rights are reserved.
The characters I’m using in the following short story are either invented or the character of an online friend of mine.

You may pass this story along as long as you mention me as the author and have a link to my website.
Maybe you also drop me a line, so I know if you liked the story and considered worth spreading around

I would like to thank George Lucas for allowing writers like me to write fan fiction staged in the Star Wars universe.
I also want to thank him for the fact that he invented Star Wars, without him I wouldn’t be able to publish this story.

Soldiers vs. Jedi

“Man, how many of those are there?” asked Silverwolf as the elevator we called arrived.

“Silverwolf!” I said as I activated my silver lightsaber. “Go on ahead! I’ll hold them off!”

“You too?”

“It’s the only way! Time is growing short! We don’t have time to take them all down! Go!” Silverwolf and Rinlul walked inside the turbo-elevator and pushed the button two floors below them.

“Good luck!” said Rinlul as the door closed. I turned to the guards.

“I need no luck” I said as I raised my lightsaber. “The Force is with me.”

After I sensed that my friends are moving away with the elevator, I tried to find out more about my opponents. I sensed fear and anger by some of them, so I decided to use a mind trick to let some of them run away.

I stretched my mind to fill their minds with horror and angst. But as I tried it, they suddenly disappeared in the Force. So my conclusion was that there must be at least one Ysalamiri. At least Luke trained me to handle such a situation. So I activated my silver saber and spoke: “Turn around and go, now. I don’t wanna hurt you.”

A man, who seemed to be the leader, answered: “No, we don’t retreat. We gonna kill you. You are not able to defend yourself while the Ysalamiri are here, Jedi! Soldiers, attack him!!”

Within a second after he said this, I drew my blaster and started to fire at them. The Officer was killed by two blasts, one into the stomach the second into his face. I think I hit some more, but I couldn’t stay there, so I jumped behind some crates and continued firing. Some more fell down and then I felt them suddenly in the Force again. Strange, but it doesn’t matter.

I grabbed my saber harder as I got a strange feeling. I jumped with a summersault forward to the soldiers, kicked some of them away and killed some others with a hit of the blade. Shortly thereafter, the crates exploded. Someone had thrown a thermal detonator.

The soldiers had a good training. As soon as they saw that I can use the Force again, they threw their blasters away and attacked me with staffs and fists. So I couldn’t use their blasters against them and had to change my tactic. I used my saber to hit their staffs and my left hand to punch them, knocking them out. Suddenly I was hit by a staff, but luckily no dangerous damage was caused. I turned around using the energy the hit gave me and blocked the second attack with my saber’s grip. But it broke into two parts. I was shocked. With a blast of the force, I threw the soldiers against the wall and grab the two pieces of my former lightsaber. But as I had a short look at them I saw it. My grand grandfather had two sabers! They where stick together for a better transport and because of the age they got rusty and couldn’t be used in the two saber mode anymore. And now luck, I mean the Force, gave me two sabers. I activated both and as the last soldiers saw them, they started to retreat.

“That’s right, guys. It’s time to go,” I shouted. “And don’t come back. Next time you won’t have so much luck.” After I dealt with some minor injuries, I called the elevator as I felt the others coming. They found me standing in front of the turbo elevators, with my two silver lightsabers in my hands.

“Hum…WW?” said Eddie. “Since when do you have two lightsabers?”

“Long story.” I said. I pointed to the elevator behind me. “Silverwolf and Rinlul went down there. Two floors below this one.”

Star Wars®

Episode 2007

A DREAM CONTINUES

You think this is the beginning of a tale? You are wrong. This intro is the summary of what X-wing vs TIE Fighter World is working on. Actually the project was initiated a while ago but died to a certain degree as the forums got infested by spam bots.

Now they made a relaunch with a new website which is suits more to the needs of the project and which is hopefully protected against Spambots.

Why am I telling you about this project?

First of all because I’m also one of these X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter® and X-Wing Alliance® veterans, but another reason is that I think this project needs all the help it can get.

LucasArts™ last spaceflight simulation games was X-Wing Alliance® and it was released back in 1999. Since then we had no other Star Wars® space simulation!
Ok, Star Wars: Battlefront 2® has a space fight included, but it is not a real space simulator like X-Wing®, TIE Fighter®, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter® or X-Wing Alliance®.

X-Wing vs. TIE-Fighter® and X-Wing Alliance® are still being played these days, even after the MSN Zone closed the respective game lounges and kicking a whole community into the abyss.

Fortunately a veteran, known as Stresser, created a zone-like program named Errant Venture. However, the majority of the old X-Wing vs. TIE-Fighter® and X-Wing Alliance® players didn’t hear about it, yet. While famous Star Wars® clubs/clans like the New Republic Navy (NRN), The Rebel Allegiance (TRA) or The Fighter Alliance (TFA) keep on playing the games, their members are decreasing because other players don’t know that there are still people out there playing these games.

So what is to do?

1. Go, get your old X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter® and/or X-Wing Alliance® discs and become an active pilot again!
2. Advertise Errant Venture!
3. Sign up and participate at X-wing vs TIE Fighter World!
4. Bug LucasArts™ to get us a new Star Wars spaceflight simulator!
5. Spread the word! (ThumbUp, Digg or whatever this article)

It is time to do something, so let’s do it now!

Meanwhile, which one of the following Star Wars® spaceflight simulators do you like more, and why?

[poll=5]

P.S.: Sorry for that …uh… prominent intro, but I think it fits in this case

We all love the Star Wars movies…let’s assume there was a musical of it. Would you visit it? I would, that’s for sure.

After I saw a post at thereeltodd.com I had a closer look at it. So I visited the homepage of the Star Wars musical and what I saw…well, I downloaded all the MP3s there so I can enjoy the musical whenever I want to

There is a video on YouTube based on the musical which was made by some fans.
In my opinion it is worth watching it.

If you want a different video, you can download a QuickTime movie. It is using actual footage from the movie Star Wars: A New Hope. Special thanks to infauxmedia.com who created the video.

In the not so far future we should be able to enjoy the following:

As I think about it, I wish I could buy one of this right now…oh well…

Well, enjoy the one or the other not so funny joke about Sony Online Entertainment and what they are doing with this great game.

Note: This “chat” is not following a time line, it is more a mash up of past, current and up-coming events.

The Dev Chat

About 50 players are in the chat room, experience ranging from none to veteran. After some heated discussions the Sony Online Entertainment staff announced for tonights chat joins the channel.

SOE_X: Good evening, I’m X, the lead programmer of Star Wars: Galaxies.
SOE_Y: Hi, I’m Y, one of the designers of Star Wars: Galaxies.
SOE_Z: Hello, my name is Z and I’m the public relations manager for Star Wars: Galaxies. Tonight we are here to reply to as many questions as possible. So, let’s get started
n00b_A: Hi, I plan to get the game but fear that it will be too hard for me to get started. I heard some people saying that the beginning is really tough…
SOE_Z: No worries, at the beginning of the game is a tutorial and a tutorial quest location, so you have all the time you need to get used to the game. Also you can visit the official forums and ask around, even without using the forum search. Older players will be more than welcome to help you.
n00b_B: A player spam advertised in-game about a website where I can buy in-game credits. I bought 10 mil credits, but they never arrived ***n00b_B has been banned***
n00b_G: I’m playing the game for a few weeks now, but it is so hard to decide on the professions. Can’t you make it easier by reducing the amount of professions?
SOE_X: We are currently working on the next update which will introduce a new game play system and a limited amount of iconic profession to help you and other new players to have an easier start than any of the veterans ever had.
player_W: I’m working on becoming a Jedi for almost a year now, but so far I failed. Will the new update you mentioned before also make it easier to become a Jedi?
SOE_X: Yes, the Jedi class will be one of the iconic professions. It will allow you to become a Jedi like anyone else. It is no longer something special, reserved for only some players who invested a lot of time to grind this class.

Some more questions of newer players and n00bs follow, then the Veterans have their chance to ask questions

Vet_1: You stated that you plan to reduce the amount of professions we can choose. Why are you destroying the diversity we have at the moment? I mean, it isn’t that hard to get started and it is easy to select a profession and respec later if you don’t like it. Is this update like another CU, which will make even more of us leave?

About 15 minutes pass with no reply.

Vet_2: What will happen with the players who unlocked and fully grinded their Jedi? Isn’t it like a punch into the face if you make such a change now? Also, what will happen with the players who are working to become a Padawan, the first real step to the Jedi?

Another 15 minutes pass

Vet_32: Hello? Are you still there? Why does no one listen to us who played the game since it came out? Doesn’t our opinion count anymore? I’m sure I won’t be the only one who will stop playing…looks like you are only interested in our money

Vet_32 gets cut off because the Sony Online Entertainment staff has to leave in a rush

SOE_Z: Yes, our time is over. Thanks for everyone who attend tonights Developer Chat. We hope you had as much fun as we had and we are looking forward to chat with you again at the next Dev Chat.

The Sony Online Entertainment staff leaves the room, shortly followed by the veteran players

n00b_01: Can someone tell me how to open my inv….oh…where are the veterans…

When I bought the game about 2 years ago I did it because friends of mine were playing it and one of the posted a link to some Star Wars: Galaxies videos which impressed and convinced me. Originally I told myself I would buy that game only if I finished my exams successfully, but unfortunately I failed and I had to do the exams again, successfully. Anyway, although I failed my exams I bought the game because I couldn’t wait any longer. I don’t regret it. I still remember the first time I logged in, joined the Scylla server and created my character Coruin Halcyon.

One of my friends on the server gave me some money and we traveled to our city named Aiwha near Keren, Naboo. I was impressed when I landed first in Mos Eisley, Tatooine…but as soon as I saw Naboo, I was in love with the game. The profession skill tree system was easy to understand and I quickly decided to do the Teras Kasi and the Rifleman path.
At that time the Jedi class was still the special class you first have to unlock and then work hard on it to become a real Jedi.
During grinding my character from level 1 to level 80 I looked up and found out what I have to do to unlock the Jedi path and to be visited by the old man. There was a command which allowed to check your force sensitivity. If you are “glowy” you have to wait 3 days and you will be visited by said old man. I became glowy right after I finished Jabba’s Theme park and before I reached level 80 that day.

Overall that day was the greatest day in my life and so far I never again had such a day in Star Wars: Galaxies.

Three days later I was on my way to become a Jedi…ok, first I had to become a Padawan, but it was the first step. After I got the permission to visit the village of Aurellia I started to grind almost each day and did the Aurellian quests to unlock the force boxes. I planned to unlock them all….but thanks to Sony Online Entertainment I never should get the chance to reach that goal. I didn’t even had the chance to become a Padawan, so I would be eligible for the “Elder Jedi” title and related items!!!
Months of hard work for nothing, unfair, isn’t it?

As you probably already guessed, I’m now talking about the

New Game Enhancements (NGE or CU2)

At first I was as upset as anyone else, although I did not decide to quit my Star Wars: Galaxies subscription. I went with the stream and gave the “New Game Enhancements” a chance. Now the Jedi profession is one among the others, meaning everyone can become a Jedi. As “Jedi” I grinded the to level 90, which got added with these “Game Enhancements”. Ok, the quest xp rewards was/is great…but preNGE (before the New Game Enhancements) we would have done it by killing creatures in groups. It was a lot of fun and Entertainers and Traders had their income because of the buffs, battle fatigue/wounds and item decay. Most of this is gone now. Well, you have cloning sickness now, if you had to clone, and the Entertainers can give you great buffs, like armor protection and constitution…but the traders? They can have some income with vehicle restoration kits and some more items…but overall, if you see the amount of traders on a server and the demand, you can’t make real cash anymore.
Even worse, the traders weapons and clothes aren’t as good as any looted weapon or cloth you can get.

Sony Online Entertainment tries to address the issues, but they also have to create….errr….remove bugs, not to mention balance the game play.
Veterans I talked with stated that the game was never really balanced, but it wasn’t as worse as it is now.
Well, Sony Online Entertainment tries to give their best….without listening to the players.

The Chapter 6

was a great improvement because they reintroduced the Beast Master which allows you to clone your very own pet.
At the same time the increased the damage NPCs do to you, making some quests almost too hard to finish. Either you can’t really solo it or you have no group to finish the quest. Both are going hand in hand, so we have to see what Sony Online Entertainment will do…

Right now everyone has to see how they come along with the latest chapter. I know at least one person who considers quitting Star Wars: Galaxies because of the Chapter 6 damage boost. I do not know what I will do, at this moment I’m enjoying the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars events and I’m waiting to hatch my devilish ubar pet…a diseased nuna! It will be my first one, so please don’t laugh

The Future of Star Wars: Galaxies

…clouded it is…

I don’t know what the future will bring to the game. If I could make the decisions, I would do a rollback to preNGE Star Wars: Galaxies, but some developers and public relations managers of Sony Online Entertainment stated already that this will never happen. Same for the hope of many veterans of a rollback to the original Star Wars: Galaxies, back then when the game was the best…

My hope is that Sony Online Entertainment will not “nerf” the game completely up, I mean even worse as it is now. Should this happen, I’m out for sure.
I can ignore much, but there is a border…well, I can only hope…

If Star Wars: Galaxies as we know it is supposed to die, I keep a look at certain projects which I don’t mention here…

May the Force be with us…

and may Sony Online Entertainment listen to it’s customers…

…hey, I can have hope, can’t I?