Star Wars Galaxies: Weekly Wednesday Beta Update #36

Q-3P0 has posted this weeks Weekly Wednesday Beta Update! Today he tells us that the first wave of beta 3 testers will include 5,000 people. From there they will go up to 50,000 addition testers plus media cd's given out. Additionally, we leared that FSS and HFS have been given to players in game who now lead the PA's instead of the testers. They have been planning out a war which seems to be taking place in Anchorhead:

Mattt's Expedition Outpost
First, I want to begin by saying that last night was not only the most fun I've had so far but the most fun I've had since my UO days, years ago. Before I begin, I also want to apologize to Shug Ninx for stealing the name of his idea.

Last night, I received a few messages outside of the game (tells are not working all the time!) from some friends that they were joining the Force Sensitive Sheep. Wanting to seek the knowledge of the Sheep, I headed to the coordinates to join up with them. Once I arrived, I was greeted by friendly members of the PA and accepted into it. I took a look around the PA hall first. It was very big!

There was a group forming outside; they were going to go hunting. I joined up with the group and went out to explore Tatooine. One of the first fights we got in was easily one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had in my life. There we about seven of us facing probably ten or more NPCs: almost everyone had blasters. A huge firefight erupted; blasters bolts were flying in every direction. I thought to myself, "Now THIS is Star Wars." After the last NPC fell, we all cheered for our victory. There was some damage done to us but we were mostly all in good shape.

We continued on, hunting for more things to kill. I was certain to make use of the moods; I spent most of the time being bloodthirsty. We came upon a nest of dragonets. We had to be careful or they would overwhelm us. At one point, they did seem to overwhelm us; however, our team pulled together and triumphed. One of us was incapacitated but not killed. After resting up a bit, we were ready to continue.

For about an hour, we fought group after group of NPCs or creatures. Everyone fell to our blades or blasters in the end. It was getting late, so I had to logout but I knew what I'd be dreaming about that night.

Near the end, I realized that I had made quite a bit of experience. While group experience is said to be bugged, I really didn't care; I was having a lot of fun. The latest Q's Query asks how the developers can get the players' minds off "the grind." Well let me tell you: grouping is the answer. When you get a really good group going, you don't even remember there is such thing as experience. You just play the game. It is more than that. You are in the game.

To read the whole beta update, click here!