A Disturbance in The Force

Previously, we looked at the design philosophy of massively multiplayer games and the problems that crop up when trying to keep a huge player base happy in a complex game-world. Today, we track the firestorm that happened when the Jedi were unleashed in Star Wars Galaxies, the feedback from the players, and the subsequent changes to the ever-evolving game....

After tons of hard work grinding through profession after profession, players at last unlocked the ultimate reward -- they were Jedi!

"…there are areas of the Jedi system that do work and that we will retain, because they are fun. Throwing around lightning or hurling your lightsaber at a target several meters away is fun and exciting and looks great. Building a lightsaber is an achievement; scaling the ranks of Jedi-hood until you reach Master is something to be proud of…. We want to keep that same level of excitement in combat and retain the sense of achievement for moving through the Jedi ranks, even if the mechanics change."
- Haden Blackman
Most of the players who unlocked their Jedi slot would agree. There was near universal excitement among those who had achieved the goal -- at least for the first few days:

"My first week as a Jedi Initiate was very interesting and intriguing. I was as happy as could be when I took my first swing (with the lightsaber)."
- Justin Z., Jedi, Wanderhome
"The first two days were pure heaven. I tinkered and toyed with my Jedi, went hunting with friends and leveled up my saber skill to the point where I could make a 5th generation one-handed saber."
- Darron S., Jedi, Ahazi
"It's always a special feeling when logging on knowing that people are trying painfully hard to try and unlock the FS slot."
- John W., Jedi, Ahazi
But online games are very difficult to playtest, and launching a whole new type of character into the game six months after release has a whole host of problems associated with it. Those who opened up their Jedi slot quickly found the class wasn't quite what they had imagined it to be -- the design for this new class was still rather unpolished.

"If you use the character to just mess around with and show off, it's fun … but you aren't getting anywhere, and eventually you will get bored with it. If you play with your Jedi character seriously, it is just another painful profession grind you have to go through -- without content."
- Nick N., Jedi, Intrepid
I crafted a 2nd generation lightsaber (one step up from the initial 'training saber') and went out hunting last night. While I gained quite a bit of experience in about three hours, I've already lost 1/10th of my saber (to decay). Extrapolated out, the saber will last only 30 hours of play. Making a new saber or upgrading to the next generation saber requires a crystal or a krayt pearl that can cost up to five million credits.
- Jef. M., Jedi, Tempest
The biggest bone of contention was the "permadeath" system that was part of the original Jedi implementation (since removed). Unlike any other players in the game, a Jedi could only die three times before their character lost every skill box and they had to start from scratch.

"Permadeath is the worst concept ever in an MMORPG. It throws the risk vs. reward of the Jedi class so far out of balance, nothing can make the class fun. No one thinks that it is 'fun' to have months of tedious effort wiped out due to a server crash or a bounty system that is completely undocumented and fundamentally unfair."
- Kyle K, Jedi, Eclipse
"You could do everything right in the game (avoiding being tossed on the bounty hunter terms, fight in complete seclusion, etc.), and still end up losing literally months of Jedi XP due to client crashes, server resets, and other things that were out of your control."
- Darron S., Jedi, Ahazi