So Long, Star Wars Galaxies

Amethyst Moonshadow of Flurry

I haven’t actively played SWG in years.

It was my first MMO, back in late 2003. I’ve always been a Star Wars fan, and when I realized I could play a character in the Star Wars universe with thousands of other people… well, it was a dream come true. My very first character ever was a human in the Shadowfire galaxy that I played until January 2004, when I switched to my true calling and what I considered my true SWG home… a Rodian in the Flurry galaxy. Amethyst Moonshadow was the Official Pink Rodian of Flurry since January 2004, and I loved her (and all of her identical alts) very much. Understandable; you never forget your first MMO love. I left with a lot of my friends after the NGE fiasco and haven’t returned to play seriously since; it’s been at least a year since I’ve poked around in-game just temporarily, and even though I haven’t actively played for years, I was truly saddened to receive the following email today:

Dear Star Wars Galaxies™ Community Member,

We write to you today to inform you that on December 15, 2011, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and LucasArts will end all services (MMO and Trading Card Game) for Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). The shutdown of SWG is a very difficult decision, but SOE and LucasArts have mutually agreed that the end of 2011 is the appropriate time to end the game.

We are extremely grateful to all of the SWG fans. We have had the rare opportunity to host one of the most dedicated and passionate online gaming communities and we truly appreciate the support we’ve received from each and every one of you over the course of the past eight years.

In recognition of your incredible loyalty, we are extending special Fan Appreciation offers to the current SWG community. We also plan to go out with a bang with a galaxy-ending in-game event in December and hope to see you all there. The details relating to these offers and events as well as the timeline and specifics regarding the discontinuation of the service, are provided below.

Again, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our player community for making SWG one of the best online communities in gaming history.

Sincerely,
Sony Online Entertainment & LucasArts

Why should I care, really, when I haven’t played in so long? I keep asking myself this, but it doesn’t change the heavy heart feeling I have over the news. It makes me sad. There are so many memories wrapped up in that MMO. Lots of good friendships were made – hell, one of my dear WoJ guildmates attended my wedding in 2008! I met a lot of incredible people in the Flurry galaxy, and have kept in touch with several of them over the years. Some of us have even played in other games together since; a tribute to how strong the bond in SWG was. Some of my fondest memories are reignited when I log in and see some of the personalized items, like a Christmas fruitcake or a bio-engineered Woolamander, that sit in my cantina, named especially as a gift from some of those incredible people I was fortunate enough to meet through SWG years ago.

The Official Pink Rodian of Flurry since 2004

While you always knew it wouldn’t possibly last forever, RIP Star Wars Galaxies. You died in my eyes with the NGE, but held on for so long and still drew me in nostalgically from time to time because of the unique experience your MMO had to offer. I have yearned for an MMO that had what you had for years, and nothing so far has ever been quite the same or quite able to measure up. The intricate crafting system, the player housing system, the player cities and politics, the social aspects such as having cantinas and a dedicated entertainer/social class… those features made SWG robust and gave players so much more to do than engage in combat all the time to get ahead… something I have not been able to find done as well in any other game since. It truly felt like an open-ended world with limitless possibilities, a true “sandbox” of a game, if you will. Jump into a dungeon, fly in space, find some PvP action, explore various planets, craft, decorate your house, quest for collectibles, set up a shop and sell your wares, sit around in a cantina all day conversing with others and listening to their galactic tales… yup, SWG, you will be missed.

Massively did an exclusive interview with John Smedley, president of SOE, on the end of SWG. I think my favorite part of the interview is that John openly admits the NGE was a mistake and apologizes for it. Not that it matters now, but it was nice to read, because back when the NGE took place no one at SOE was man enough to admit that it was a mistake. The end of SWG is being referred to as its “sunset” and there are some things planned (like an in-game event) for SWG’s sunset that culminates on December 15, 2011.

With that news said, SWTOR is coming… I’m hoping Flurry will be able to rally somewhere together. There have been a few “official Flurry gathering” threads on the SWTOR forums – the first reached its 1k post limit, so a second one was started. Flurrians have been checking in and discussing SWTOR there, so the optimist in me is hoping we can organize where to go together as a galaxy when the game goes live. There are so many old names I recognize in that thread, and I’d sure like to live on in the Star Wars universe (as a Rodian, of course) with some old faces from SWG in SWTOR. We’ll see!

geekling due soon!

As for me, well, as mentioned in my most recent post(s), I’m about to be a first time mom. In fact, we’re due in 4 days. My gaming time has pretty much ceased to exist at this point, even my geeky soap shop is in “maternity mode” for awhile; I do plan to re-sub in SWG in order to be in good standing by September 15. Why September 15? All those who have an active subscription by September 15 will get to play the final months of SWG for free until the plug is pulled on December 15. I’d like to be able to attend the in-game event with other old-timers and putz around with them for free when I do have a spare moment, without a formal commitment. My play time of course will be limited with a newborn and I most likely won’t spend tons of time in-game, but I’d love to see the game off for the last time and hope some old friends join me that final week at the sunset event.

Photos
While you can head over to my Star Wars Galaxies photo gallery and see them all, here are a few images of me as Amethyst Moonshadow taken over the years, just for fun.

[Show as slideshow]

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So long, SWG, you’ll always be my first MMO love.

love,
Amethyst Moonshadow, the Official Pink Rodian of Flurry

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The Good & The Bad

The good news: I currently have an active RIFT account subscription going. The bad news: I’m just not finding time to play consistently!

At the beginning of April we went on a 10 day vacation, our last crack at a getaway before the geekling is born. The relaxation was wonderful, and the trip was much needed! I’m in my 7 month of pregnancy and next week I can say that my baby is due next month (*gasp*), and overall I feel pretty good, but sitting for long hours at the computer is just not working for me right now. I let my RIFT subscription lapse in light of our trip and how I’ve been feeling, but I did re-sub this past week at an attempt to find time here and there in spite of consistency setbacks. My tech teaching job has me at a computer most of the day every day, and the idea of coming home and sitting at a computer all evening on top of that is sometimes the absolute last thing on earth I want to do. It’s hard to get excited about playing when my back, feet, and hips cry out in protest. Not to mention that I’m spending lots of my free time getting the house and other things ready for the geekling. Though I found around 3-4 hours to spend this past weekend in RIFT, the rest of the weekend was spent with family for Easter or organizing the nursery. What is happening to me?!

I have accepted that my priorities have shifted. I have accepted that in a few weeks, there will be someone tiny that needs me more than anything else in this world, and I’m ready for it. We’ve been ready for this for awhile, and gaming has already taken a back seat on this baby adventure and the baby’s not even here yet!

I find RIFT to be a nice escape when I have time and feel up to it, and while I am not auto re-subbing each month and only subbing if I think I have time, there’s always the possibility that RIFT will entertain me in the wee hours of the morning while I rock a geekling back to sleep in the near future. You can be sure that I’m staying in touch with my old SWG friends as we prepare to reunite in SWTOR someday, too, just on a much more casual level this time around for me.

Speaking of old SWG friends, after vacation I came back to RIFT and made a character named Lyrael on the Defiant side of Emberlord PvP because I noticed there were a few Flurry SWG’ers grouped up there. When and if I find time, I’ll probably log in there just to better keep in touch.

Sorry for all of the excuses; I hate these sporadic and excuse-filled posts as much as you do. I’m still here, just… in the background as amazing new things take priority in my life over my gaming hobby. I’m sure you understand! I’ll be keeping up with gaming news and reviews to fill the playing void and looking forward to finding a spare minute or two here and there for the latest games when I can. Besides, someone’s gotta bring this geekling up right – to be a gamer! ;)

And hey, since I’m not going to be updating much over here on this blog, why not follow along with what I’m doing elsewhere? Here’s where else you can keep up with me when I’m not gaming here at pinktoque.com:

TheKarpiuks.com – our family blog, where we’re staying the most up-to-date lately with all that “real life” stuff going on as we prep for the geekling. We share photos, recipes, and other things of interest that our family does. Of my three blogs (ya, three!) this one is updated the most often lately.

ThePinkToque.com – my craft blog and crafting portfolio, where I keep customers of my two online stores, GEEKSOAP and The Pink Toque Shop, in the know on what’s going on business and craft-wise. I have been blogging about my geeky, crafty endeavors including knitting, scrapbooking, crochet, plush making, soap, etc. there since 2006.

Twitter! Yes, I tweet. And it will come as no surprise that I have several Twitter accounts, I’m sure. My main Twitter account is @geeksoap, named for my small geeky soapmaking business, and is full of general geekiness and gaming. I also use @thepinktoque and @thekarpiuks for my craft and personal blogs, respectively.

If I’m not hanging with you here on pinktoque.com since I’m not really gaming much, at least we can keep in touch elsewhere! Hope to see you around the Internets ;)

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New Photo Gallery Format

As I excitedly prep for the headstart release of Rift: Planes of Telara in just a few short days, I’m trying to get my blog overhaul completed to start fresh in conjunction with a fresh game. First on my list was the theme. What do you think? My gaming blog has only had two looks over the past five years, so I thought it was high time to give it a design facelift. There are a few little tweaks I’m still working on, but overall I’m pleased and hope you like it, too.

A big part of the design overhaul was getting away from my old Flash-based screenshot gallery. Not only did I receive lots of complaints about it from readers whose Flash or browsers weren’t up-to-date (and the coding of it was ooooold), but it was also not very streamlined with the blog design itself. Not to mention I hadn’t updated screenshots in years. (Oops.) I had promised way back when that I would eventually re-do the screenshot gallery in a non-Flash format, and today I took the time to revamp the gallery and build it right in to the blog itself. You’ll notice the new button across the top for Photos and the link along the right has been changed to take you to the new Photo Gallery, too. Give it a spin and let me know what you think! And if you catch me linking to the old gallery anywhere please let me know; I’ve tried my best to change old links to direct to the new gallery, but I may have missed a few. While switching the gallery over, I preserved most of the nostalgic screenshots and added a few more, especially to the WoW section that had been neglected. And I updated the photos of myself to be more current, too. I hope it’s an improvement over the old system! Right now the old gallery is still accessible mostly because I have linked A LOT of its images on various articles, but once I feel comfortable that I’ve caught it all, I’ll finally delete it.

In gaming news, I got to level up both my bard and healing cleric a bit more in beta 7 of Rift this weekend, and I think I’m going to lean towards bard as my main soul with cleric secondary. We’ll see! There’s still lots of time left to ponder, and I’ll be doing some reading between now and headstart next week, too. Thanks to a friendly commenter here on the blog, I feel like I’ve found a guild home in Gaiscioch, and will be rolling my characters on the PvE-RP shard, once shard names are released. I can’t wait! Gaiscioch sounds like an honest-to-goodness family, with structure and adult maturity. Everyone seems very supportive and helpful, and the guild has been together since 2001 across several games. They also seem to be very flexible and supportive of those who have a more casual playstyle, which is important to me heading into the last handful of months before the geekling is due. All I know right now is that I will be a dwarf (Guardian) on whichever the PvE-RP shard is, and I’ll also release my character names once I have those decided upon and squared away at headstart. See you in-game! Hope you’re as excited as I am, and hope to fight alongside (or against, if you’re Defiant!) soon.

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Overhaul Incoming!

Don’t you love that the gaps between my posts are big enough that by the time I post again, I’ve already stopped playing the game I posted about previously and am playing something else?

Life has been busy for this gamer girl. I’ve come to a startling conclusion lately: while I LOVE to game, I’m not as hardcore as I used to be. I’m not running in hardcore endgame raiding guilds anymore, nor am I spending every minute of my evenings after work in-game. I still game, and love trying new games out, but I don’t have the time to participate at the same level I used to. I don’t remember this advertised very clearly on the package for adulthood; is it too late to get a refund?

Like my excuse every post, I’ve been busy. My geeky soap business is incredibly successful and we had an amazing holiday season! I’m working on some new things and working with some fabulous people on some exciting projects in the upcoming future, so that’s been keeping me occupied in the evenings when I get home from work.

In addition to that, my husband and I are expecting our first child in four months now. At just over halfway along, I’m finally starting to FEEL pregnant along with looking pregnant, and sitting at the computer all evening isn’t as comfortable. Not to mention that I’m itching to knit baby stuff all the time. Knitting time has trumped gaming time. What universe are we living in?! Call me crazy, but we find out next week whether we’re having a geek or a geekette, and I can’t wait to dig in on the knitting in preparation. So in four months, what little time I’m currently spending on games will be practically nonexistant. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, because I’ll need something to keep me awake during 3am feedings while rocking the geekling back to sleep, but I realize my time in-game will be slim to none very soon, and I am ok with that because my family has ALWAYS been my first priority already. Now with my little family expanding, this is even more important.

My husband had a bit of a medical scare two weeks ago, and so I’ve spent a fair amount of time at the hospital instead of home. And when he got home from the hospital, it was with a very strict low sodium restriction, and we’ve had to completely overhaul what we make and how we cook. Not because we add lots of salt to our food, but because if any part of the meal comes from a box or a can, it’s already got too much sodium. Which means new recipes and A LOT of pure cooking from raw ingredients. Not difficult to do, but cooking full meals from scratch every night takes time. Time that I am more than happy to spend because again, priorities – the health of my husband is the most important – but you can see how my gaming life trend is to be more casual.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I’ve decided that yet again, World of Warcraft is boring me to tears. I can’t get motivated to login when I do have time to play. I have friends who play, which is what motivated me to come back in the first place, but because I keep up with them socially elsewhere, I don’t feel the need to keep up the WoW subscription to keep in touch with them. And then because gaps between playing with a busy schedule can sometimes stretch on like the time between my blog posts here, I found myself getting fickle with WoW again. I spent a week in the hospital with Lucas, and now that things are back under control, I realize I didn’t miss WoW even a little bit in that absence. It’s the same way when I get busy with soap orders or begin a knitting project; I may not get a chance to login to WoW one night, and I’m finding more and more that I just don’t care. Clearly the game just isn’t keeping my interest. I tried by tackling Cataclysm with an old hunter character that I hadn’t touched in years to give me a new perspective, and it worked for awhile but I need something that pulls me back in, not something I’ve played for 6 years. And sure, there’s been new content in the form of the expansion, which promised to breathe new life into old zones, but I still feel like I can navigate and play with my eyes closed. It’s just not exciting me anymore. I need something fresh, a new start where I can participate casually and enjoy the little time that I do have to login.

I had a comment on my last post from Randy asking me if I had heard about this game in beta called Rift: Planes of Telara, and then I noticed someone talking about Rift on my Twitter feed, and how they were playing the beta also. I looked into the game, and the fact it had a bard class caught my eye immediately. I loved playing a bard class in EQ2. Lucas’ EVE corp had some members who posted a few VIP beta keys on their forum, and he passed one to me to try. I jumped in during beta 5 and enjoyed what I saw. Enough that I’ve pre-ordered the game. Something about the depth of customization with the soul system really pulled at me. Not to mention it’s a fresh start in a new setting with a world that I haven’t explored before. Because really, I’m being honest: I won’t be hardcore especially as we get closer to my due date. But when I do login, I want it to be a new experience that holds my interest because I’ve not done it all before. And who knows, Rift may fall flat. It may be like my Aion experience where I followed it, got in early on the beta, and pre-ordered only to cancel a month later. But hey, even if it gives me something to do for only a month, it’s still a new experience to tackle fresh from the beginning with everyone else. I’m prepared to approach it from a more casual point of view, and as long as I keep that in mind, I’m ok with that.

More about my thoughts on Rift later this week in another post as we head into open beta. And maybe some screenshots, too! With the anticipation of something new to try, I’ve been inspired to overhaul the design of my gaming blog, too, so be on the lookout for a design change in the near future.

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WoW and Geeky Soap + Gen Con!

Weeeeeeee!

So not only am I still making lots of handmade geeky soap (GEEKSOAP! See my previous post(s) for more info and go check out my geeky soap store here.) but I’m back in WoW! You all knew I couldn’t stay away that long, right? I blame my lovely guildmade Alyxx for it – she kept telling me how much I was missed on Facebook ;) Amoothyst is a little behind in the gear department since I haven’t been around since the WotLK Naxx was THE big end-game raid, but I’m loving randoms and badge gathering and so Amoo is already in full Tier 9, lol. Good luck getting me into Tier 10 without having more time to get into some bigger raids, though – currently I get bits and pieces of time to play here and there which works well for gathering Emblems of Triumph in randoms, but being back towards the east coast now means my beloved guild raids too late for me and/or I’m struggling to find consistent time for raiding that fits with my busy work schedule. But that’s ok – gear was never THE big thing for me in WoW. I enjoy a lot of other things, too, such as exploring and achievements, and am just happy to be messing around again in-game.  So be sure to say hi! I doubt I’ll do much on alts until after Cata comes out so you’ll probably just find me on Amoothyst for now.

GEEKY SOAP! So I’m still plugging away with my successful small business handcrafting geeky and gamer themed soap over at geeksoap.net and prepping for Gen Con Indy in less than a month. (August 5- 8, 2010!) If you’re going to Gen Con, be sure to stop by booth 2732 and see me! My most recent new soap is WoW themed in honor of coming back to the game yet again – the Soapstone! Read more about the adventure of making it over on my craft blog.

See you in-game and/or at Gen Con! <3

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