Well that’s the 20th anniversary of Star Wars Galaxies behind us. I hope we’re all feeling suitably old.
I dropped into Legends briefly this month and dabbled in some of the Empire Day content, but as usual I just spent most of my time getting distracted by other people’s player houses.
That seems to be a theme this month, with many servers activating the Empire/Remembrance Day event alongside hosting Galactic Home Show competitions.
Fewer servers than I anticipated hosted events to celebrate the 20th anniversary, with Legends being the only real exception (here’s a video from MassivelyOP‘s MJ if you want to see how that went down).
For my part I posted a lengthy visual history of the game over on Twitter. There’s lots of rare screenshots, artwork and video footage in there so check it out if you’ve not already purchased the book I published for SWG‘s 15th anniversary.
An Empire in Flames (Pre-CU)
Of course, the major difference between the Empire/Remembrance Day events on An Empire in Flames and other servers are that EiF is set after the events of Return of the Jedi. Therefore on this server it’s the New Republic who are celebrating, while the Empire are down on their luck.
Exclusive to EiF‘s event is a limited time swoop race on Endor, a PvE event where players either have to protect or massacre Ewoks, and a ‘capture the flag’ style group PvP event. Participating in these events will earn you tokens which can be traded for exclusive rewards such as the V Wing and Tie Striker vehicles. The event is running from July 1st to August 1st.
The server also announced their first ever Galactic Home Show. Submissions for June’s Home Show wrapped up on June 16th, but while you wait for the winner to be announced you can check out some of the server’s exclusive housing options in their latest Friday Feature.
What’s next for the server? Flawed lightsaber crystals are one of the development team’s latest innovations, with a work-in-progress tease posted to their Twitter in early July.
Beyond (NGE)
SWG Beyond have concluded their anniversary event and activated the Empire/Remembrance Day event. It’s going to be running through the whole of July and August.
Legends (NGE)
June saw the Legends server receiving a sizeable update which not only kicked off their Empire/Remembrance Day event, but also added numerous piloting tweaks, and an overhaul of the veteran rewards system.
If you’ve been playing on the Legends server for some years and have already amassed all of the Empire Day event rewards then good news, there are a whole load of new ones in this update, including weapons, wearables, and decorations.
The Empire/Remembrance Day event is due to wrap up on July 17th, with a social fishing event hosted by the Emperor himself set for Sunday, July 9th.
Perhaps my favourite addition from this update however is the revamped Theed Palace. Sometimes SWG‘s key locations can look a bit barren, and given that this is perhaps the single largest building in the game it was well overdue a bit of interior design love.
Even more impressive however is this months Galactic Home Space Home Show winner. FeralEwok’s YT-2400 creatively uses hundreds of items to make their ship truly look like a home in the stars. Here’s the details on next month’s factional themed competition.
Reckoning (Pre-CU)
Doing away with the whole in-universe Empire Day facade, the Reckoning server hosted an Independence Day Celebration this past weekend, with attendees receiving an exclusive painting for coming along.
Restoration (CU)
Let’s be real, SWG‘s combat has never been it’s strongest suit. As it attempts to emulate the Combat Upgrade version of the game, Restoration‘s combat was already unique among SWG rogue servers, but the team aknowledge that there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
In a developer blog this past month they detailed some upcoming changes they’re going to be making, with lots of numbers to crunch for those who are into doing that sort of thing. One visual addition however is a new accuracy indicator, which should help players recognize when they’re performing optimally in combat.
Restoration is running a Galactic Civil War themed Home Show this month, with a 5 million credit prize up for grabs. Players have until July 22nd to submit their houses.
Sentinel’s Republic (Pre-CU)
This upcoming Sunday, July 9th players can join in on an original story-based event on the Sentinel’s Republic server. Leadorn and the Nathrack Stone will have players flying to Hoth in order to defeat a band of Trandoshans who have managed to wrangle the local population of wampas under their control.
The server also has a 20th anniversary themed Galactic Home Show underway, with entries open until the end of July.
SWGEmu (Pre-CU)
SWGEmu‘s Empire Day celebrations ran from the date of SWG‘s 20th Anniversary through to July 4th. As part of the celebrations the Finalizer server hosted their first Galactic Home Show. You can check out pictures of the entrants and winners in the thread here.
In the media…
A couple of retrospectives looking back on 20 years of Star Wars Galaxies:
- An essay by Thomas Cole Simmonds, who was previously interviewed by MMO Folklorist for his Star Wars Galaxies photography.
- A video essay by Timbles, the first in a new series called The Lost Traveller.
A total conversion mod of the cult sandbox RPG Kenshi adds a whole bunch of Star Wars Galaxies‘ art assets to the game. Project Kathun, created by Steam user Kitya, is available to beta test now.
MMO Folklorist 
Leave a Reply