The SWG NGE is here......

...and it's not good :-(

It's late, I'm tired so I'll try and keep this short and sweet (yeah right!).

Short version: I'm gutted

I'm gutted because it's as bad as everyone said it was and therefore as bad as I expected. I can't use my armour anymore (and it's look like, as a Trader, I can't use _any_ armour anymore) and I'm using the worst gun in the game (CDEF) and have no idea if I can use anything better.

On the one hand since the movement controls are the same as EQ2 now it's less confusing switching between the two games, on the other hand the combat is more of a pain now because you have to keep the pointer on the target (which usually moves around likes it's on drugs or something) and keep the mouse button held down - I don't really see how this is more 'exciting' or whatever than the old system.

The new run speed is too quick (is this how they intend to pass off the game as 'fast paced'? Simply by increasing your movement speed!).

The new GUI is just horrible. I don't understand the skill window (once I found it) at all (so which skill do I have and how much XP do I have and still need for the next skill?) and the chat interface is a step back (just like EQ2 unfortunately) certainly not intuitive (why did they feel the need to change the existing key mapping for crying out loud!) - alot of this just seems to be change for changes sake! Radials have gone from the mouse button (took ages to find out that they are now on the ~ key) and while there is a new downloadble manual (apparently) there wasn't a link to it in the launcher (come to think of it there wasn't _anything_ in the launcher). I also note that the in-game knowledgebase is empty, a curious by-product of this is that you can't open an in-game support ticket - the cynic in me suspects this was intentional!)

The best part of the NGE however is the space element - mainly because the don't seem the have changed anything in that!

The worst part is that, because I'm on Station Access and play other SOE games I can't even quit and vote with my feet, but that refund for ToOW is looking more tempting now.

Not all of my friends have got in game yet, but those that have don't like it either, and theres a visible moderator presence on the official forums trying to stop the hordes of negative posts (which they didn't bother to police prior to release....) overwhelming the boards (doesn't look good for the new players they hope to attract)

But, as I predicted, the number of Jedi has notably increased......

Probably more in the coming days, if I can be bothered to give it another chance (first impressions and all that, and they certainly weren't good)