Star Wars Galaxies: Player Spotlight: Zion

Real Life First Name: Joe
Forum Handle: Zion
Main Character Name: Zion Halcyon
Server: Radiant
Player Association: Crimson Star

Where in the real life world do you live? I live in Streamwood, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago, with my lovely wife and my 10 month old daughter.

How long have you played Star Wars Galaxies? I have been here from the very beginning.  Even before the game was launched, when they just set up the forums in, I want to say, January of 2002, I was one of the first forum goers there - so I am VERY old school.

What other MMOs have you played? Guild Wars, briefly.  I didn't have time for it, as I play SWG pretty much exclusively.

What type of work do you do? I am a Systems Support Analyst for a major software solutions company - that basically means I am a Network Admin/PC Tech/HelpDesk for my location. To date, it has been the most satisfying job I have ever held down. A word to all would-be techs out there: if you can avoid it, don't work in the education sector, be it colleges, high schools, or grade schools.  Too many politics go on totally unrelated to your job. But if you can get your foot in the door with a major corporation, they tend to know how to treat their techs, especially if the corporation deals exclusively with IT.

How long is your typical gaming session when playing Star Wars Galaxies? On the weeknights, I tend to log in at around 9 or 10 pm CST, and clock out anywhere from 11pm to 1am.

What does a typical Star Wars Galaxies day consist of for you? Well, first, logging in, checking my friends list, and seeing who is on.  Then from there, I'll check my email, and then peak about Tatooine real quick to see if I can find someone I can recruit for our city.  I tend to not be pushy with the guild stuff - I let people ask on their own. After that, I'll either check the bazaar for interesting items, or set about to find some adventure or get into some trouble.  If things are quiet, I hop over to one of my other characters on a different server and grind out Munitions a little bit more.  Lately, we've had a ragtag group of both Rebels and Imperials do the treasure hunting, and my guild has been doing the Imperial Themepark on weekends.

What was the race and profession of your very first character? Human. I made my character to be an avatar of myself, since the idea of existing in the Star Wars universe has always been a fantasy of mine, since seeing the films when I was very young.  And I still play him as my main - Zion Halcyon.

What got you into gaming and what sort of games do you like the most? Well, what got me into gaming was as a little kid was being taken to a place called "Showbiz Pizza" for my birthday party.  It's gone out of business now, but it was the pre-cursor to Chuck-E-Cheese's, and it was the start of when arcades were the hot place to be.  The place was a video game wonderland, and there is where I got my first taste.  From there, I got my first console system - Atari 2600.  Then my upgrade path was Atari 7200 -> Sega Master System -> Sega Genesis (I have beaten over 800 games for this system) ->Sega CD -> Sega 32x -> Saturn (Still the best 2D fighting console system ever made) -> Dreamcast -> PC.  I actually got into the PC before I got the Dreamcast.

Games I like to play now are just SWG, unless there is some FPS out that gets rave reviews, and I just did a PC upgrade.  F.E.A.R. is an excellent FPS.  But of course, my first FPS were Jedi Knight, and then later on, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, the latter two of which I developed multi-player maps for in the aftermarket mod communities. 

What other hobbies or activities do you take part in, other then playing Star Wars Galaxies? I am a huge fan of anime, particularly things with a plot.  For me, story conquers all, and I can forgive subpar animation if the story is rock solid.  I like the more mature themes tackled by anime.  Trigun, Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, and the first Hellsing are among my favorites, with Trigun being a masterpiece to me.  I also currently like Naruto and Bleach - some might be surprised by Naruto, but despite its initial kid impression, it has some very deep, mature, and compelling themes.  Beyond that, I just watch the stuff - I don't cosplay at all, as that always struck me as a little...odd... ;-)  Then again, I think role-olaying is fun, despite what a lot of players say - it takes someone with a healthy imagination to do it, and usually the unimaginative don't get it.  I guess I just don't equate cosplay with role-playing.  Lona might kill me for this one... ;-)

What is your highest character level in Star Wars Galaxies? CL 90, both Zion and Jorren on Radiant. 

What race and profession is your main character? Zion is a human male, currently a Bounty Hunter.  He was an Armorsmith/Munitions Trader. When I was elected to the Senate, one of the first things I did was to create 2 more toons, 1 on TC Prime, and another on Bloodfin, both Munitions Traders, to re-grind the profession and refresh my memory firsthand on the struggles of lower level crafters, and to refresh my memory on the process, so as to better serve the Munitions community.  Once I had these toons in place and began grinding, I realized I didn't need Zion as a Munitions Trader any more, and decided to go back to being a Bounty Hunter, which was what I was for a stretch.

What do you like the most about the profession you have chosen for your main character? I'll admit, this is totally shallow, but the fact that I can wear Mandalorian armor.  It's the neatest armor in the game, and the ability to wear it was a pre-req when I decided I no longer needed to keep Zion as a Munitions Trader.

What faction is your main character? Imperial. Nothing personal to the Rebels, but the Imps have the better dental insurance.

What is your favorite player owned ship? Right now, it would have to be my Jedi starfighter.  It used to be my Vaskai, but I found some space parts that let me get my JSF how I'd prefer it without going over mass, and without burning out anything when running programs. 

What is your favorite ground vehicle? The V-35 Speeder (I affectionately call it The Bus).  I just wish it were faster :p 

How did you choose your main character's name? Zion I got from the Bible. (No, NOT The Matrix. Read a book, people! :p) Halcyon I got from the Mortal Kombat movie soundtrack - there's a serene song called Halcyon+On+On.

Which current professions in Star Wars Galaxies have you NOT played? Jedi, medic, and entertainer.  I've been all other professions, although usually I don't do the "Flavor of the Month" sort of thing.  I explored a lot of different professions on my alt, Jorren, just to see what they were about.

What is your favorite expansion? For as buggy as the place still is, Kashyyyk (or as I call it, WookieeWorld) is a rather neat place, and Rage of the Wookiees personally brought me a lot of fun and adventure for a very long stretch - probably longer than any other expansion pack.

What is your favorite planet? Lok, beyond a shadow of a doubt.  It was where I had one of the best experiences I ever had in the game (although that is a very long story to tell properly), and where Crimson Star makes it's home.

What is your favorite NPC? HK-47.  He thinks I'm a pretty ok guy...for a meatbag....

Which expansion do you like the least? Like the least is a tough one, as I enjoyed them all... but... also Rage of the Wookiees.  True, it gave some of the most diverse content at the time the game has ever seen - but it also was a muddled bug-fest.  The Ryatt Trail STILL is buggy all over the place, particularly the WebWeaver's path. 

Which planet do you like the least? Dantooine.  Just not a whole lot there to do. 

Which NPC do you like the least? Super Battle Droids in the Death Watch bunker.  Not only are they hard to drop, but they shoot through walls.... (Yes, I know it's a bug, but I can take out anything else that dares to shoot me through a wall. :p)

What is the most credits you have ever spent on purchasing a single item for one of your characters? Over time, I spend about 500 million credits acquiring my first set of Mandalorian armor - and I sold everything but the kitchen sink to do it.  Then I went Munitions and sold the suit to get into some Reverse Engineering when it came out, and then, spent another 500 million for the schematics to make another suit. :D

Do you have an item you no longer use but keep around for nostalgic reasons? If so, what is it and why do you keep it?  I'm not big on nostalgia in that sense, but while not an item, I resurrected my old guild, Crimson Star, because of all the fond memories I had with it when the game launched. I wanted to give it another go, and we are doing pretty well for ourselves. I still wish I had left that PA hall in the mouth of Mt. Chaolt though, before it became a no-build zone. Our first guild hall was there, and I have a lot of fun memories and screenshots of it.

What do you like best about Star Wars Galaxies? Honestly, it's the Star Wars setting.  I enjoy playing a game where I can exist in the Star Wars universe. 

What do you get out of playing Star Wars Galaxies? Video games have always been my outlet to de-stress.  SWG helps me blow off steam.

Describe your best experience playing Star Wars Galaxies. Uh oh.  Well, I told you this would take a while. Well, the story I always like to tell is something that happened about 2 weeks after I was accepted to participate in Beta 2 of SWG. Up until that point, I had never set foot off of Tatooine. My home was right outside Bestine, and I often was in-city, learning the game, and making notes in order to give feedback to the developers.

I remember someone was organizing a group right outside the star port to go hunt Kimogilas on Lok. I had never been off-planet, and heck, I had never even seen a Krayt up until that point! I think the biggest thing I ever saw up to then was a Mountain Worrt, or a Bantha, or a Dewback.

I felt adventurous, so I told the guy I was in, and got the invite. We all waited around Bestine until the group was full, and you could cut the anticipation with a knife. I found many in the group were just like me; never set foot off of Tatooine, never seen a large creature before, etc. In a 20 man group, only 3 of the people ever hunted Kimo's before, and the other 17 never even hunted a Krayt.

All the while, the 3 "vets" at the time were giving us instructions - telling us about how massive a Kimo is, and sharing tactics, and telling us "No matter what you do, DON'T SHOOT THE GURKS."

We finally are ready to disembark, and we all load into Lok, 17 of us for our first time. And for the first time, you hear the loading music of Lok, letting you know you have just set foot on a planet of sheer evil and malice. One new guy said "Oh wow." Another said, after just hearing the music, "We're all gonna die..." It was the most I had ever seen a game's atmosphere affect multiple people in the same manner, and it was a rush.

The leaders take charge, dispensing med kits to all of us, and telling us once again, "DON'T SHOOT THE GURKS." And they proceed to lead us to where they believe a good Kimogila hunting site is, all on foot, and it should take a half hour to get there.

All along the way, we are harassed by flits, vesps, perleks, mercenaries, and other aggressive spawns, all heightening the tension among all of us greenback newbies. And finally, we saw them.

No. Not the Kimogilas.

GURKS.

The leaders tell us no shooting, and proceed to try to lead us around the gurk party, which consisted of about 3 lairs and 12 gurks, lounging about. We wade through what seems to be a sea of them, when all hell breaks loose. A gurk, threatened by a player, runs up to him, beating his chest. That player, one of us newbs, freaks out, and doesn't get that the gurk hasn't aggroed yet, and is only protecting his nest. The player fires.

Now, let me tell you a thing about gurks, at least as they used to be before doctor buffs and 80% composite armor became common in the game. Gurks were TOUGH. They had a thick hide, and if you insisted on taking them on with a blaster, you would be there all day, and there likely will be 5 more on ya before you even get finished with their friend. Of course, you could switch to melee and do more damage to them that way, but that suggests you wouldn't get mobbed and beat to a bloody pulp. They hit HARD, breed like jackrabbits, and punch like a gorilla. There was a reason, a VERY GOOD reason, that no matter what you do on Lok, you DON'T SHOOT THE GURKS.

With this in mind, know that all hell had indeed broken loose. After firing on the gurk, every single gurk in the immediate area sees our whole party as a threat. Blasters fire everywhere, newbs are going down left and right, and the gurks MANHANDLE us. One of the vets shouts before dying, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHOOT THE GURKS!!!" In the end, our party of 20 outlasts the gurks, but at a cost - only 3 of us survived (myself, a vet, and a newb who hid in the back, trying not to get his tail chewed off).

There isn't much 3 people can do against a Kimogila (or so we were told), so we cross the river into Kimogila hunting territory and set up camp. Our 17 freshly cloned compatriots are making the trek back, while those of us in camp kill time for another 30 minutes, chatting about the game, the battle we just experienced, and other random things.

Our party finally is rejoined, and one of our members has entertainer experience. We all watch in camp to have the entertainer get rid of the mind blackbar, and had medics heal us to cure us of our action and health blackbar (back then, when you got hit or died, your status bars would slowly turn black, shortening the amount of health you had, or the amount of action you could use).

All of us were buzzing over the experience, when in the distance, something spawned. And for 17 people, there was a collective "HOLY S***!!!" Literally. 17 people all typed that and said it at the same time. I wish I knew how to take a screenshot back then. We finally saw our first Kimogila.

AND IT WAS HUGE.

The buzz grew even more vibrant and was electric. I /pet the kimo from a distance, being the wiseguy that I am. Final orders were issued, and the hunt was on.

Honestly, after that point, my memory gets a little foggy, because it really was just one kimo hunt after another at that point. Lots of kiting and running like hell when the enormous beast came after you. I know that I was having so much fun, I decided to learn to take a screenshot, and I took some pics of the adventure for my own personal remembrance. All of us newbs learned a lot that day, and in the short time we had been kimo hunting, we picked it up so well that as people were finally turning in for the night (it was about 5:30 AM when I finally turned in, on a hunt that started at 10:30 PM the previous night), we still were holding our own with fewer and fewer numbers.

In fact, it finally got down to 3 of us, who were able to hunt kimos just fine as long as we took care not to aggro any others. And what happened next was the perfect memorable cap to this memorable day.

The 3 of us finally decide to turn in for the night, all the while, there is about 3 kimogila nests and 7 kimos about 75 meters from us. I, again being the smart alec, decide that to cap the night, I am going down in a blaze of glory.

I charge the nests and open fire, screaming "FREEDOM!!!" in my best, in-game William Wallace Braveheart voice. One of my companions screams "NO!!" and the other shouts "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!"

Of course, I die pretty much almost instantly, but remember the group aggro from the gurks? Laying there as a corpse, the last thing I see before logging out is oh, about 7 kimos chasing my 2 group partners off into the sunset, until they are no more than a speck, and then gone.

I never laughed that hard at a game in my life.

That night, was my first memorable experience in SWG, and many more have followed, even through the game's different incarnations. But this was my most cherished.

Do you run or work for a Star Wars Galaxies Fan Site? The infamous SWG Stratics - I am a forum mod on that site, but currently don't have a lot of time for it due to my time spent as Munitions Senator.