| Rage of the Wookiees Review - AD Vladet Xavier
Revenge of the Wookiees is the new expansion for Sony Online Entertainment's Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. This expansion adds a new planet to travel and play on; the wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Kashyyyk is very unlike the other planets available in the game as it is much smaller than the others and is full of quests. In fact, there is almost nothing else to do on the planet other than running one of the more than one hundred (100!) new quests available with the expansion.
Now I'm not saying 'quests' as in your basic "Converse with NPC, travel a little bit, converse or kill NPC at waypoint, return." Not this time as SOE seems to have hired writers and creative consultants to do their missions, which intergrate the "Jump to the Lightspeed" quest system meaning you can take up to two hundred and fifty (250) quests at one time (with some exceptions to space missions). The quests are varied and very much different than the ones found on other planets, and the rewards are ten times better.
The basically overall plot of RotW is following the events of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Empire has all but pulled its forces from the planet leaving only a small garrison and starport behind. Many different groups control different areas of the planet and seem to be fighting eachother for supremacy. The "rulers" of the planet are the Blackscale, a group of vicious and very powerful Trandoshans who have a monopoly on the wookiee slave trade. This means that the smaller Zssik clan do not like them and want you to focus on disrupting their business. There are two clans of Rodians who control the Etyyy Hunting Grounds of Kashyyyk - their interest in the planet is hunting big game in a secured area. Unfortunetly Chiss Poachers (yes I know that's not really right) have started interfering with their hunting and the Rodians want your assistance. There are three groups of people living in the Kworir Forest - the warriors of Kerritumba Village, the Outcasts, and the Myyydril Cavern people. You will be able to assist all three groups but make your choices wisely as helping one group will make you enemies of the other (s) and prevent you from gaining certain loot and rewards (including badges). Last but not least is the Ryatt Trail, a ceromonial and sacred trail starting at the tops of the giant trees of Kashyyyk and bringing you down the various levels until you reach the ground level (The Shadow Lands). The trail is loaded with dangerous animals, mad Rodian and Gotal hunters, quests, loot, and one crazy ex-Jedi who has killed hundreds.
Not all the action is on Kashyyyk, however as some of the new quests do not even begin or even go there. There are a series of "Clone Relics" quests that offer very good plotlines that tie off to the Clone Wars and provide some backstory to Episode III. The loot is very good from these particular quests, including a set of Katarn Armor (what the Clone Troopers wear in Episode III), Episode III-esque weapons, swank holograms, and more. Many regions of Kashyyyk itself are instanced, meaning that you and your group can (mostly) enjoy gameplay without the annoyance of others; one of the most dangerous and fun new quests is the N-K "Necrosis" quest; a mad scientist got his hands on the plans for General Grevious and made his own robot, N-K "Necrosis." This badass robot is extremely difficult and brandishes a double-bladed lightsaber!
Of course not everything is great about the new expansion. SOE decided to save some money by offering the expansion as a "digital download" to save manufacturing costs no doubt. Unfortunetly in about a month they will be offering "Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience" which contains the original SWG, and both the Jump to Lightspeed and Rage of the Wookiees expansions for $29.95, something which has angered a lot of players since they paid $30 for Jump to Lightspeed just last fall. Included in this boxed set is a new speeder (the BARC speeder from Episode III), which means those of us who downloaded it don't get it (just some crappy mount).
The new expansion is not without its bugs and problems. Many quests are broken and are unable to be completed. Many members of the Rebel faction have had problems recieving various loot for their quests, and a fair few space quests need tweaking. Imperial players can get caught in a loop when trying to gain their "Royal Guard TIE Interceptor," which is exactly what it sounds like - a TIE Interceptor with red stripes.
Overall, Rage of the Wookiees fills the gap of content a little by offering us actual plot driven storylines (god forbid!) and adding a lot more cool loot to the game. While not required to enjoy the original game, it certainly adds a lot of things that should've been live ages ago and gives the players something to do for the next three months. I reccomend it merely because of the new content and loot. Oh, and you can slaughter all the wookiees you want - very satisfying.
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