The latest upgrade to SOE's troubled MMORPG has had players fuming into their Jawa juice. The new Combat Upgrade patch has apparently made the fighting mechanics in the game "generic, non-dynamic and very poorly designed." The changes in the upgrade have seriously unbalanced the game and altered the basic nature of the gameplay. For example, the patch makes it harder for people to solo the game, practically forcing them into groups to have much hope of achieving many of the game's quests.

This change has had the greatest effect on Jedi characters, who are now left floundering in a kind of limbo. The game's unique HAM combat system has been ditched in favour of a more generic system and a number of cosmetic changes that are incongruous with the universe have also been shoved down player's throats. On top of this, many new bugs have been introduced in the patch, with many players suffering the worst kind of fate in any glitch; having items and experience completely disappear.

There's on petition in protest over the Combat Upgrade with nearly 16,000 signatories. Players are understandably upset that SOE has neglected to fix the myriad of technical that have plagued the game since its launch in favour of foisting a major change to the way the game is played, all without the consent of the game's 250,000 subscribers. Players have also been complaining that negative posts on the official boards have been deleted, with some even claiming to have suffered a ban as a result of their speaking out against SOE's tyranny. The petition starts off with this lament;

"Currently a new expansion and modification for your game "Star Wars Galaxies" is in progress that, when it goes live, will alter the game we all love. Many players have come forward about the problems in the current game and said they'd fix all these ages ago. However, instead of listening to the players what we want, they have gone overboard with their Combat Upgrade."

SOE responded with a post on their website form the president of the company, John Smedley,
"In order to make the experience in SWG more diverse and to breathe new life into this game we felt it was important for us to entirely overhaul the current system and to make sure that it's balanced properly. Are we finished? Not by a long shot... We recognize there are problems that have arisen from this, and what I'd like to ask your help in doing is to target these problems so that we can knock them down very quickly. As you've seen in the last few days, the team is working tirelessly towards fixing any problems that have arisen, and with your help we're confident we can get the rest of them taken care of."

You can read Smedley's response in full here.

SOE have a massive problem on their hands. SWG is just about to be upgraded with the of the Wookies expansion pack and should be sitting pretty to get a big boost from film fans after the release of Episode III. Instead, they are facing an unprecedented revolt from their otherwise loyal subscribers, one which could potentially lead to the eventual demise of this much-maligned MMO. Unless SOE sort out the problems - possibly with the expensive and humiliating roll-back of the upgrade as the petitioners are seeking - the saga may well be concluded on the computer monitor as well as the big screen.

By Sam Gibson