The MMO Gamer: What about a sequel? EverQuest 2 was announced around this time in EverQuest’s lifecycle.
Jake Neri: There are currently no sequels planned.We remain committed to SWG and feel that there are still plenty ofstories to tell in the game.
The MMO Gamer: Every game has its ups and downs,but SWG, in particular, has been through some particularly tough timesin its history. What would you say was the toughest of them all, andhow did you go about recovering from it?
Jake Neri: When you look at any game in the historyof MMOs, they have all had their ups and downs. I think that this isbecause there is no handbook on how to make these games. Our toughestchallenge is adjusting to the changing needs of our players while stillmaintaining a living, breathing game with a live community filled withpeople that have all different needs and desires. Overall, we are proudof SWG, where we’ve come from, swg credits and where we’re going.
The MMO Gamer: The New Game Enhancements wereobviously a major milestone—although mostly for the wrong reasons.Mythic opened a “Trials of Atlantis Free” server in Dark Age of Camelotin response to their own player criticisms, have you ever consideredopening an “NGE Free” server?
Jake Neri: There are no plans for a pre-NGE server,as SWG is in a great place right now. We have thousands of playersreturning to the game and having a great time with all the new featuresand content that we’ve added.
The MMO Gamer: How have the departures of such high-profile figures as Raph Koster, Rich Vogel, and Gordon Walton affected the project?
Jake Neri: Raph and Rich have been gone a long,long time now…long before I even arrived here at LucasArts. Those guysare great game developers and we all wish them luck on their futureprojects. They made tremendous contributions to SWG in their time, andour current development team led by Lorin Jameson, Thomas Blair, andTony Tyson are really knocking it out of the park and deliveringawesome content to our players.
The MMO Gamer: To older SWG players who may nothave been following the recent development of the game, what would yousay to convince them to come back and give SWG another try?
Jake Neri: Well, we continue to improve the gameevery day, and it’s all based on a deep Star Wars experience thatallows you to fight, socialize, role-play, adventure, explore, etc.Whatever you want to do in-game, you can find it in SWG. Our communityis strong and passionate and I would encourage folks to find their oldfriends online and come back to experience all the new content we’veadded in the past two years. All the professions have been enhanced,new challenges have been added, and new systems (like Beast Master)have been implemented. There are countless new, exciting things to findin-game, and more coming in the future.
The MMO Gamer: Was there anything we didn’t cover in this interview you’d like to tell our readers?
Jake Neri: Actually yes. We just released a digitaldownload version of our compilation pack, Star Wars Galaxies: TheComplete Online Adventures through www.Direct2Drive.com.For players eager to come back to SWG, or to try it out for the firsttime, this download makes it easier than ever. The download includesthe base game, all the expansion packs, a ton of bonus content, andeven an exclusive in-game item, all for $19.99.
