User blog:KaharZamet/Reflecting on CWA: Why The Game Sucked

I've been thinking of CWA lately. I keep on having nostalgic memories of hanging out with my friends in the Main Hall, roleplaying with them, partying at Nova Town. I've got over that game but I still miss it sometimes.

But I think it's time somebody said it.

Clone Wars Adventures sucked.

I'm sorry, but it's true, at least in my opinion. Lets think about it. The game wasn't really that great. It was just some neat-looking gear, some filler mini-games, and (this was actually a pretty good feature) a housing system. There was barely any species customization too. Just a few different eye colors and skin colors. A lot was locked behind a membership/station cash paywall. There was even that $10 Galactic Passport that you had to buy from GameStop if you wanted the Togruta species - even if you had already spent money on membership.

So what makes us remember the game wonderfully?

The thing that was great about CWA was the community. Notice all the fond memories I named off are of hanging out with friends. I don't have fond memories of running around a place alone. Sure, maybe I have a few fond memories of doing Umbara, Carlac, and Felucia on my own, or lightsaber dueling the AI, or Republic Defender, but that's all at the end of my fond memories. My memories of battling on Umbara or Felucia with my friends are much fonder than memories of battling on my own.

So, CWA peaked in 2012 probably. That's probably when it had the best content to offer and the best community it had in its lifespan. In 2013 is when it started to go downhill, after the cancellation of The Clone Wars. It was fairly obvious that the game was going downhill after that and would not last long, especially since it was meant to go along with the show. I was hoping the game would last until early 2015. I had overshot my estimation.

It was at this point that we truly saw how dependent CWA was on TCW. It only lasted a year without the show.

When they announced the shutdown in January 2014, I remember announcing it on this Wiki and linking the announcement to everyone. Several people got on this Wiki that I had not seen in a while. In the coming weeks, several friends that I had not seen in ages got on CWA to say their final farewells to me and take some final screenshots. I built again for the first time in a while and took final screenshots of my houses. The game was probably the most populated it had been since early 2013. It's why the shutdown was the best thing to happen to CWA in nearly a year.

Since 2013, I hadn't played the game much. I used to play it every day. Now, I only played it a few times a month. Lets be honest - most of us probably didn't play the game much until they announced the shutdown. Then we played every day again. It was a good thing because it brought the community together again. I remember on the final day taking screenshots with all my friends and bidding farewell to them. I walked through all my houses and the Main Hall one last time. And then, that night, minutes before the shutdown, two of my friends and I went to Felucia. It was abandoned. Everyone was in the Main Hall having one last party. One last great memory. The three of us were having one last great memory too. We fought on Felucia until the end. Until the site had been closed and we got the "You have been disconnected from the server" message. I'll never forget that.

Look at how many good times we've had on this Wiki too. CWA wasn't great because of its content. It was great because of its community. The very same community of this Wiki. CWA is inevitably gone and should not come back. In the weeks before the Shutdown Period, as I like to call it (when they announced the end of the game - the end of the game), we really weren't having fun with the game and having fond memories. Well, at least I and many of my friends weren't. So it's not that all of a bad thing that the game shut down. But let us remember the good times. Let us cherish the memories of spending time with our friends on CWA and never forget them.