Last Updated on April 23, 2020 by Vik
The planet of Dathomir.
Star Wars Galaxies‘ planets were enormous. Running from one end to the other on foot would take a crazy amount of time. The game did not hold your hand and walk you through every task. There were many secret areas and easter eggs in the game world that players had to discover for themselves. On certain planets, the nearest shuttleport could be several kilometers away. Dying meant repeating the entire journey all over again after you wake up in a cloning facility on the opposite end of the planet.
Many guilds took upon this challenge. Exploration was what made this game special. You could take the same path to an old hunting ground or visit a friend’s house and all sorts of unpredictable shit happens – just the way it should. Moosacca (and his alt Aice Eavie) of Trinity Republic has traveled to major points of interest in the game in his SWG career. He was also a very talented fisherman for a Wookiee.
Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things.Yoda
A Guide to Exploration
- Rebel Quest Guide v1.01 by SharellT
- Jabba Themepark Mission Guide by SSSnuggles
- Kupyi’s Guide to SWG Dungeons by KupyiLabe
- Complete Quest List Sorted by Planet (April 2005) – Allakhazam
- Atabos Complete Galaxy Secret Location Guide (with coordinates) by Atabos
- Mounts and Vehicle Speeds by Ioan
- The Definitive Guide to Fishing by Tal-N
- Fish Encyclopedia – SWGEmu
- Exploration Badges – SWGWiki
The planets in Pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies:
Varykino, also known as the Lake Retreat, was the name of the island in a lake at the Lake Country of Naboo that consisted of the Naberrie family’s retreat house. Generally, the name “Varykino” was also applied to the villa itself. Convergence, the ancestral home of House Palpatine, was situated at some distance from Varykino.
Often referred to as “The Jewel of Corellia,” Coronet was a bustling urban metropolis located on the coast of the southernmost continent. It was a technologically advanced city with beautiful architecture, but its urban development paled in comparison to Coruscant.
The Lars homestead was the home of the Lars family for at least three generations. It was a moisture farm located on the Great Chott Salt Flat in the Jundland Wastes on the planet Tatooine. The farm was originally owned by Gredda and Lef Lars. They passed it on to their son, Cliegg Lars who then passed it onto Owen and Beru Lars. Owen and Beru raised Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker, on the farm until age nineteen. The farm was burned and Owen and Beru killed by the Galactic Empire as they searched for the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, who had been traced to the farm.
The sacred place was the name of a sacred monument on Naboo built by the Elders north of the Lianorm Swamp. It was considered sacred by the Gungans, however, its exact religious or practical significance is unknown.
It was here where Boss Rugor Nass fled after the assault on Otoh Gunga by the Trade Federation. Queen Padmé Amidala on her return to Naboo with her escort, was guided there by Jar Jar Binks and formed the first alliance and peace treaty between the Gungans and the Royal Naboo.
There, they planned the Battle of Naboo: while the Gungans should divert the Federation forces by amassing the Gungan Grand Army on the Grassy Plains, Amidala with the Jedi should attempt to liberate the Theed Royal Palace.
The Jedi Temple (also known as the Palace of the Jedi) was the headquarters of the Jedi Order from the conclusion of the Great Sith War to the Great Jedi Purge and during that time was home to its major training, bureaucratic and dormitory facilities. Jointly operated by the Order and the Galactic Republic, the Temple was sealed to all but the Jedi and their allies, with very few public areas. The complex would be abandoned and largely destroyed at the time of the Declaration of a New Order when the Order was utterly routed by the Galactic Empire. Upon the rise of the Galactic Alliance, the Temple was rebuilt for the reformed Order under the leadership of Luke Skywalker.
The Theed Royal Palace of the Royal House of Naboo was a magnificent edifice located on the edge of a cliff in the planet’s capital city, Theed. Serving as the residence of the planetary monarch and the nerve center of the government, the ancient palace stood through the Galactic Republic’s collapse and the birth of the New Republic several decades later.
Hutt Castle, often simply called Jabba the Hutt’s Palace after its owner, was a large stone and durasteel complex located at the fringes of the Northern Dune Sea on the planet of Tatooine. Originally erected as a monastery of the B’omarr Order, the buildings eventually fell into the hands of two major crimelords: first an outcast and gang leader called Alkhara and later Jabba the Hutt, a notorious crime lord from Nal Hutta.
The Gungan Ruins.
Jabba’s Palace
The idea for the Death Star began when the Confederacy of Independent Systems designed the Ultimate Weapon, using plans and concepts provided by Wilhuff Tarkin. Poggle the Lesser possessed the original (or a copy of the) plans, which he handed to Dooku during the First Battle of Geonosis.
Darth Tyranus attempted to flee the planet and go to Coruscant, but he was intercepted by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Yoda, none of whom knew about the plans; Tyranus defeated the two Knights; however, Yoda, in order to save the other two, let Tyranus escape with the plans. The future of the galaxy was strongly affected by this decision.
Moosacca encounters a Dark Jedi Master, one of the toughest boss level NPCs in the entire game, if not the hardest.
Moosacca chilling with Han and Chewie.
Never know what drama you’ll find in the cantina.
Moosacca visits Princess Leia.
Theed Bridge.
Theed at night.
On the outskirts of a player city.
Tiber Grim leads a squad of Trinity players on a hunting trip through one of the game’s most dangerous planets. This is a Ranger camp by the way, for the uninitiated. And this wasn’t even what you could do at Master level.
Life as a Creature Handler
My first aspiration in Star Wars Galaxies was to become a Bounty Hunter, which required mastery in the starting professions, Marksman and Scout. Training and getting XP for Master Scout was also a pre-requisite to Creature Handler. I wanted to reap the benefits of wrecking people’s shit with different exotic creatures from the galaxy. For a long time, a Creature Hander’s pets actually did 100% of their melee damage against other players in PvP. Afterwards, a nerf made it so players could only inflict 25% of their base damage against other players to prolong PvP combat. Creature Handlers dominated the GCW and pets like the Rancor and Graul were a common sight on the front-lines of any large assault.
Pet damage was later nerfed to a fraction of its base damage after many players complained about the OP capabilities of certain monsters. A player rarely had over 1000 hitpoints per bar but a creature had several thousands. Rarer sub-types of species had 100% resistance to specific damage types (like energy) and used special status changing abilities like bleeding and disease effects. Elusive giant spider species found only on certain planets were known to spread disease states that would last even after death, inflicting wounds and eventual death upon re-cloning.
The Merek’s Death Head was one of the rarest Creature Handler pets in the game. I was lucky to find a player selling one in my final days of the profession, but at a great cost.
A Guide to Creature Handling
- Creature Handler Guide – SWGEmu Wiki
- Vertexon’s Guide to Creature Handling (v. 2.0) by Vertexon
- *Updated List of Rare Pets* by TivoTenook
Hunting elusive creatures in the deserted reaches of space was fun as hell. Skinning your game, which produced resources to craft items like leather, was lucrative for the wallet and the XP bar. Special materials were more valuable than others. Setting up camps was also an important part of long hunts away from towns. No profession was better than the Ranger at trekking across regions at a quick pace without being detected.
Other Rare Creature Handler Pets (Pre-Nerf)
- Queen Merek Harvester – Intimidating Attack
- Merek’s Death Head – Bleeding Attack, Frenzied Blitz, Panicked Rage
- Blood-Stained Merek – Combat Agility, Frenzied Assault, Hunted Withdrawal
My pet Graul during my training as a Creature Handler while I mastered the trees in Bounty Hunter.
A glitch that made me appear as if I’m floating. This shot was taken during my training as a Teras Kasi Artist. Teleck Fragger, who is in our squad, was Crimson Republic’s best heavy weaponsmith. Liubacca, seated at the left, was one of the server’s most popular Wookiees. He pursued the Squad Leader profession, which was rarely done.
Hunting Ancient Grauls with Likkdou (aka Likkido), one of my best friends in Paragon Federation at that time. These particular creatures gave a lot of XP and were easy to kill with teamwork. And big meatshields.
I was also training for Pistoleer at this time and having those skill modifiers from the Bounty Hunter pistol tree specialization helped a lot.
Gotep Vegitunks traveling through the valleys of Dantooine on his landspeeder. In Star Wars Galaxies, players could walk uphill and downhill at any angle and speeds are unchanged. It made getting around easier.
