Hey There,
If there is already a thread covering this, I apologize.
I would love to start this collective thread to talk about SWG and the great times we had (or didn't have) when we played it.
I'll start things off.
I purchased the game the day it came out in June of 2003, I was 13 years old at the time, so I believe the money came from my parents for getting good grades or something of the like. I remember being initially stoked by the box and manual(I still have it), it was designed so well and extremely detailed. I thumbed through the pages on the car ride home and I turned to the pages where not only could I make a Twi'lek, I could make an entertainer as well!
So, I rushed home and installed on the family computer and of course, our on board Dell GPU was trash and did not support the game, so my dad was nice enough to take me to some local computer supply store and get a 128mb Nvidia card which was pretty bitchen' at the time. So we went home, installed it, and I was ready to be immersed.
I remember loving the character customization so much for SWG. I'd argue it was better than CoH which is largely praised for having the best customization of any MMO. So, I created my character and I picked my starting location which was Theed, Naboo (This became my favorite place in the game by far). I picked my server (Flurry) and my name (Grace), I was ready to go!
I started off by heading to the Theed Catina where I began to level the Musicianship skill. I then started dabbling in the Dancing skill as well. I remember everyone was still learning the mechanics so it was pretty rough around the edges at first, but after months of playing it got better.
It took a couple months, but I reached Master in both Dancing and Musicianship, an achievement I was quite proud of. Bear in mind I had barley done ANY combat or crafting or anything during my training as an entertainer. It was a world I was unfamiliar with. However, this was about to change.
An Entertainer group whom I had met during leveling was going to be performing at a PVP Tournament in Moneia. I was invited as it paid about 20k credits which for a Ent w/ no combat or crafting skills was a lot of credits. I went there and was immediately impressed by all these awesome looking combat skills. Teras Kasi Artists (TKA or TKM) had awesome looking hand-to-hand combat abilities. Pikemen had these bitchen' looking lances and scythes. Pistoleers had "Han Solo" written all over them. Bounty Hunters were BOUNTY HUNTERS. It was just so fantastic. I decided from that point I needed to pursue some combat skills, but it meant I would have to drop one of my professions in order to master in another. It took me a few days, but I decided to drop Musicianship as opposed to Dancing as I felt it worked better with my character lore-wise.
Now, I needed to decide which combat skill I wanted to pursue. At the time, I felt as if the Brawler classes had more flair and appeal to me, so that's the route I picked initially. I tried some Swordsmen and wasn't too impressed, it was alright but I had played this type of gameplay before. I then tried Unarmed (which led to TKM) and I was HOOKED. This was the perfect combination to go with my Dancer. He was fast, agile and flexible, his abilities were fun and fast; and at the time he was VERY OP.
It took me about 2 months of getting doctor buffs, buying a set of Composite Armor, getting invited to "Solo Groups" (remember those?) and grinding mobs on Dantooine before I reached Teras Kasi Master which granted not only the title, but the best ability for TKM which was the Unarmed Combo which included stuns, knockdowns, and strikes all in one. It was very effective and VERY cheap. TKM's also had the ability to meditate which allowed them to heal their wounds without seeing a doctor which was very convenient.
Once I had my TKM/Master Dancer I felt like a master of both worlds. I could perform at events, participate at events, or do both at the same time. It was such a fun experience and one I would not trade back for anything.
I remember playing solo one day and doing the Jabba Theme Park. I remember being so impressed on how I was able to do all these quests for Jabba, but at the end of the day I was able to come back and show off some of the higher end Dances (Exotic 4 anyone?) to the palace crowd.
I'll write more as I get some feedback. I would love to hear everyone's collective stories as well. :)
