 GreyPawn's Time With Stratics & More! |
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| GeneralNews - 5:32 AM PDT | Posted By: RainStar |
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 My thanks to EM Stock of SOE and GreyPawn, the new SWG Community Manager, for making this interview happpen!
RainStar: Tell us about your time with Stratics.
GreyPawn: I started back in ’98 as Reporter for the Atlantic Shard for Ultima Online Stratics. I worked my way up to Lead Reporter, wandering across the shard and reporting on interesting places and new events. I left Stratics briefly for a stint as a fansite operator for the factional Council of Mages site, but later returned to my old role in reporting the news. Later, I went over to work as an Editor on the Matrix Online Stratics site where I wrote a great guide for Coders in the voice of the Architect. (Corny, but fun!) I left shortly after E3, 2005.
RainStar: Did you enjoy your role as a Seer in UO? I know many of those who played UO were upset when that program was discontinued.
GreyPawn: There is no greater exhilaration relating to an MMO I’ve found more than running an effective in-game event. I relished every second of it, and I put in way more time than I should have. The true impact of live events on players in an MMO is really very difficult to quantify, but to those who have seen it first-hand, the effect is there in a big way. There’s an element of immersion that you can only get from live events that adds so much to the gameplay experience. It’s that feeling of never knowing what’s going to happen when you log in.
I was upset when the program was discontinued, and it felt like the real magic had gone out of the game. I came back to help with the Event Moderator program when that was later introduced, but it never gained quite as much momentum. Live events are tricky to make happen, and even more difficult to justify where bottom lines are concerned. It isn’t easy to quantify immersion.
RainStar: Is your SWG username from the days of UO?
GreyPawn: Surprisingly, yes. And I still maintain an active account! (Also in LOTRO, WoW, and Second Life. “How does he have *time*?” I hear you say. He doesn’t.) I’ve preferred to keep hold of my GreyPawn nick as a way for folks to easily identify me.
RainStar: Within the rules, what is the most effective way to get a post noticed by a red name?
GreyPawn: First, I want to make sure you know that the majority of the Dev Team reads the boards, but doesn’t always have the opportunity to respond. That doesn’t mean that your posts aren’t being seen. As I think is the case with most game message boards, the Devs respond best to posts that are clearly written and constructive. They don’t have to be positive, mind you, they just need to be thought out and not just consist of a bunch of expletives. From a Community Relations standpoint, I try to cover as much ground on the boards as possible each day, Also, I try to respond to as many private messages sent my way as I can, so if you’ve got something on your mind, share it with me.
RainStar: Speaking of forums, what is going on with them? The search feature is lacking and the site is often down or extremely slow. Will the search feature ever be fixed? It's not very helpful when you enter a word and the result comes back with nothing or answers that are extremely outdated. The search should take you to the most recent answers.
GreyPawn: I understand that the hamster that runs about on the wheel in the forum server room is due to be replaced with a larger version, who has been dubbed “Sparky”. Hopefully the issues with the forums will be resolved soon as greater hamster-power is applied.
We know there have been forum issues, and we’re working to get them fixed.
RainStar: What is your character's name and what galaxy do you play on? Are you into PvP, PvE or RP?
GreyPawn: My character’s name is “GreyPawn”. Hah! You weren’t expecting that, were ya? I play on Bria, because I’m moving alphabetically through the server list. I generally go from PvE to RP to PvP throughout the course of game advancement. I like to PvE until I gain a respectable level of achievement, perhaps a modest dwelling, some decent financial backing, etc. Then I kick it ye olde school, verily, with thine RP thither and yon. After establishing a decent network of contacts as an in-character social butterfly, I lay the smack down.
This may sound like a weird way of doing things, but I’ve found that both RP and PvP have more meaning when they are applied to one another.
RainStar: What prompted you to apply for the Community Manager program when you had never played SWG?
GreyPawn: Several things! First, the strength of the community was very appealing. Let me see if I can explain this without swallowing my tongue. In most games, you have the players that just play, and the players that play and also get involved in the community. In SWG, this ratio is much higher than in other games, and an incredibly involved community was very appealing. Secondly, SWG is growing and has a lot more players than it is commonly perceived to have. As someone that pays attention to the charts and reads the industry blogs, it was kind’ve jaw-dropping. The “best kept secret” thing has great underdog appeal.
RainStar: For those wanting to get into a career such as Community Manager, what advice can you give? What cinched the job for you?
GreyPawn: My best advice is to submerge yourself where community happens – on the player association/guild level, with the fansites, and on the boards. With involvement comes experience and skill, and those are the most valuable things to look for in a Community Manager. For me, it was likely my past experience with both MMO and RTS communities that helped plant me where I am.
RainStar: What is your favorite part of the job?
GreyPawn: There was an old game for the SuperNES called “Actraiser”, don’t know if many of you will remember it or not. But you basically ran around as this little angel dude shooting arrows at monsters, making miracles happen and occasionally heading down to solid ground to take the fight to the bad guy to protect your people. At the end of a particular scene, when all the bad guys in a particular area were defeated, growth in the land below you could happen really fast. Citizens ran to and fro as you lent your powers to their industrious works. Awesome music played, and you basically just directed the expansion of your happy folks.
For me, the most rewarding part of being a Community Manager is when that little ending part happens in a community. When most of the issues have been addressed, there is no outstanding drama, and all the trolls have been defeated or gone quiet for a season. It is a rare time, mind you, but for that brief moment you can witness the incredible growth that occurs, and spend the bulk of your energy building something new rather than picking up pieces. I love that part of it.
RainStar: Anyone who has ever worked with the public on a daily basis for hours on end knows it can be frustrating at times. After a long hard day of dealing with the SWG community, what do you do to relax?
GreyPawn: It can be frustrating, but a big part of dealing with frustration from players is knowing where it comes from. Passion motivates players to get involved, and speak up about something they feel strongly enough to take to a public forum. And you can’t blame someone for passion, but you can understand and respect it. When I need to chill though, I log in and take a jaunt in my TIE Fighter, or watch some Robot Chicken.
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| Chapter 6.8: Masters of the Wild |
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| GeneralNews - 3:11 PM PDT | Posted By: RainStar |
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On Thursday, July 26th at 4:00 AM PDT all U.S. and European galaxies will be taken down for server maintenance and a live update.
When the update is complete, all galaxies will be live but unavailable while we complete final testing. All galaxies will be made available after that time.
4:00AM PDT (Los Angeles) / 6:00AM CDT (Austin) / 7:00AM EDT (New York)
12:00PM GMT (London) / 1:00PM CET (Berlin) / 8:00PM (Tokyo)
Gameplay:
/assist now takes an optional parameter for the name of the character to /assist, so you no longer have to target the character you want to /assist. /assist without any parameter still works as usual, which is to /assist the character you have targeted.
Different classes now get different stats, rather then everyone getting 90 or 0 in everything. See Racial/Class Statistics at the end of these update notes for more information.
Wookiee Shoulder Pads now use the left shoulder slot.
Players can now join groups if they are in stealth.
Added purple color to the Mandalorian color palette.
Altered Force Melon to act as a healing stim item.
Imperial Battle and Imperial Super Battle Droids found patrolling Theed will no longer attack Rebels on Leave.
Updated descriptions of Dread Strike and Advanced Ambush.
Added a check to see if a player was mounted when trying to place a camp.
Players must now be within range of the creature they wish to start milking.
You must now be within 10m of a lair in order to search it.
Monster AI will no longer ignore players with more than 10 levels difference between them.
Added stat change notifications as a player gains levels.
Aqualish vendors can no longer wear hats which were causing their heads to disappear.
Old loot crates that cannot be opened have been removed.
Instant Travel Vehicle (all factions) no longer gives "Purchase Ticket" option if player is attempting to use while dead.
Rebel Twi'leks can now see their lekku when equipping the Grey Spec Ops Armor Helmet.
Fixed an issue where the cooldown timer would appear to stop for a factional period of time and then resume.
Synapse Focus Crystal can no longer be used without a bio-link and cannot be used by anyone else but the bio-link player.
Trandoshans can now wear Rebel Assault Forest Camouflage Gloves.
AT-STs no longer drop creature body parts.
Wookiee vendors can now wear the Padawan robe.
Fixed an issue that made Jedi unable to wear dynamically created Jedi-only armor clothing.
Characters now only receive "LEVEL UP" special effects when the character levels up.
Altered the icon for the Cure Affliction immunity buff so it matches the icon for the command button.
'Structure Status' on player structures will now show the structure's maximum storage capacity.
Crystal Buff will be removed when you exit the Obi-Wan instance.
Loot schematics should no longer give player the "Learn Schematic" radial if not in a player inventory.
Increased datapad limits to 105.
Added Remote Player Association Access Devices to all players' datapads.
Holopet emitters can now be manipulated by players in the structure admin list.
Holopet emitters can no longer be manipulated in a player inventory and must be in a valid player structure to be turned on or off, receive Holopet disks, and to name Holopets.
You can now specify a file name to edit using the /notepad command. The .txt extension will be automatically appended to the file name you specify. The name of the current /notepad file will be displayed in the window title of the /notepad window.
Attempting to start a duel while dead is no longer possible.
Leaving a Cloning Facility before accepting the cloning bind location no longer takes your money and does not bind you. You will be notified that you are at a bad location.
/find no longer displays main categories, just sub-categories. For example, if you did /find previously, you would see one line that said "guild hall"; now you just see the sub-categories of guild halls.
Fixed a problem where second row of buff icons would not appear fully on target and secondary targets HABs.
Ancient Holo Maps no longer dropped by creatures/NPCs.
Foraging no longer gives the player anything if they have a full inventory.
Added "area activity" indicator to the Network Status Window to indicate the amount of activity of the area you are in. The values are very light, light, medium, heavy, very heavy, extremely heavy.
Fixed an issue where the character sheet shows wanderer as your home if you are not in the same area as your declared residence.
Most Creature Animations have been tweaked to look better when they are walking.
Miles Sound System has been updated to version 7.1a. This may address some sound issues with some older CPUs.
Content:
Increased the experience and credits given as a reward for the repeatable Azure Cabal quests.
Dulok villages on Endor have had Duloks added to them.
Dantooine villages have had spawns added to them.
Huff Darklighter now gives his quest.
Tusken junktown mobs spawn no longer inside of world building objects.
Disabled Igbi Freemo's static quest.
Lok Herald: NPC Talia v' laenya no longer gives a pointer waypoint if you already have it.
Reduced the respawn rate at the Warren on Dantooine.
Blistmok, Xandank, and Tulrus quests will now give a SUI to confirm quest grant.
If Blistmok Heart and Xandank Jaw quest items are not in the player's inventory, these will not give the quest.
Fixed an issue where Imperials received two battle droids instead of the expected single droid when opening items; this fix reduces the spawn to one.
Fixed an issue causing some NPC city patrols to get stuck.
The hotels in Narmle no longer block people from being able to speak with the event promoter or Sindra.
Fate of the Galaxy III: When player dies and thus fails, the quest could still be completed when the dungeon reset; that will no longer happen.
Rancor, pygmy rancor, rancor youth are now normal creatures; other rancor types are elites.
The Mouf Roarlord bet quest now appears in the quest journal.
When the 'Mining Communication Console' is used in the Mensix Mining Facility, it now gives a message when not on the quest.
Tatooine: Runaways: The character no longer receives the pain bolts when the quest is not accepted via the quest acceptance window.
"Darklighter Cache" can now be retaken by both Rebel and Imperial characters if you fail or delete it.
"Cyrans the Unfeeling and the Sayormi Queen" now correctly gives the Prayer Mobile as the quest reward.
PvE Combat:
Missions from combat and bounty hunter terminals are now capped at level 90.
Most over-land world spawn mobs are now capped at level 90.
Most elite mobs on non-adventure planets have been downgraded to "normal".
Most faction base and "crackdown" factional/Galactic Civil War elite mobs have been downgraded to "normal".
Some mobs on adventure planets have had their levels increased and/or elite/boss status changed.
The bonus and reduction in damage from a critical or glancing hit will now include any applicable bonus special attack damage.
A stealthed player can no longer keep any AI in a combat state.
Corrected a problem that prevented the activation of some non-targeted abilities (such as Tactics, Reckless Stimulation, and Environmental Purge) with a corpse is targeted and in auto-aim mode.
The melee damage bonus from strength will now apply to lightsaber weapons.
All reactive health heals are now on a shared cooldown group. Abilities modified are the Entertainer Build-a-buff reactive heal, the Static Base Reactive Health Stim, and the GCW Officer Unstoppable ability.
Reactive heal cooldown timer increased to 3 seconds from 0.
Reactive heals will no longer break stealth effects.
Correct target validation should now occur when a heavy weapon is equipped.
Vendor:
Items in the stockroom from a vendor offer purchase (because your inventory was full at the time you purchased the vendor offer) cannot be relisted using the "Relist Item" action because these items have never had a merchant specified sell price. A message will be displayed when you use "Relist Item" and some of the selected items are from vendor offer purchase. Only the selected items that are not from vendor offer purchase will be relisted. You must select the "Sell Item" action on these vendor offer purchase items to specify a sell price for the items. The Sell window will display the offer price as the default price. This behavior only applies to new vendor offer items from this point on. It is not retroactive to existing vendor offer items or existing stockroom items from vendor offer purchase.
For convenience, the stockroom list window now displays the price of the items.
Treasure Maps:
Jedi Council Member Treasure Hunters in groups of 8 have a chance of receiving new rare loot items.
Jedi Council Member Treasure Hunters in groups of 8 spawn a Boss. Good luck.
Jedi Council Member Treasure Hunters in groups of 4 or more get an additional treasure chest items with a higher percentage of rare drops.
Treasure maps will no longer lead a player to Endor or Yavin 4.
Treasure Guardians now patrol around instead of staying in one location after the chest is extracted.
Treasure chests will now spawn at the player location instead of the exact waypoint location.
The treasure map is no longer unusable if the treasure waypoint is deleted.
Mounts:
Changing a mount control device's name in your datapad will no longer incorrectly rename a mount called from another control device.
The pet feed command has been removed for mounts.
Space:
Space escorts guarding freighters and other transports should act accordingly when the player threat approaches.
The droid interface can modify a reactor's power lower than the required power by the ship's components. This caused the droid interface to go offline and not allow the pilot to reset the command. Now, when using a droid interface, if the interface goes offline it will reset all the ship's components it has modified.
Repairing a ship resets components modified by a droid interface.
Launching a space ship will now remove any stealth effects from the player.
Altered energy generation power curve on looted reactors.
Stealth:
Travel tickets can now be purchased while in stealth mode.
The forage command can now be used in stealth.
Mustafar:
Working Droid Factory: Aurek and Besh now have unique encounter elements.
Working Droid Factory: The time limit to kill both Aurek and Besh is reduced to 15 seconds from 30.
Updated the HP and damage values for the volcano crater encounter on Mustafar.
Talus:
Reduced arachnid spawn in northeast Talus.
Spawning:
Some spawns have been modified to spawn the planet's level range, instead of a level range too low or too high for the planet.
Planets:
Level ranges for dynamic spawns have been altered.
- Tatooine 1-30
- Naboo, Corelia 20-40
- Rori, Talus 40-60
- Dantooine, Lok 50-70
- Yavin, Endor 70-90
- Dathomir 80-90
Mission Terminals:
Minimum level cap is now checked for low level players to not offer the mission if you do not meet the minimum level for the planet.
Removed the mission maximum level cap for a location. The mission level maximum is now 90 on all planets.
Player Cities:
The sales tax from vendor sales should now correctly go to the city's treasury.
Changed the system message for time remaining to declare on your house again to be more accurate.
Adding someone to the militia no longer makes the auto-vote for the mayor.
Wearables:
Rodian females may now equip items with the "Healer's Robe" appearance.
Trandoshans may now equip most gender appropriate clothing and armor gloves, boots, and shoes, but these will NOT appear visibly on the character.
Wookiees may now equip gender appropriate clothing, boots, and shoes. Note that these will not visibly change on your character.
Pets:
/tellpet command now works with single-letter pet names.
Added a fix to keep stealth actions from being used while calling a companion.
Buff Icon for Shaken and Enfeeble will now show the correct values.
Naming a beast with spaces in the title will cause the name to become invalid and be removed. It is no longer possible to name a pet with spaces, tabs, and newlines/carriage returns.
Beasts should not attack PvP targets while in passive mode on their own.
A beast should not be callable while you are calling a droid.
Beasts in defensive mode should not attack PvP targets if their master does not have the Attack! expertise command.
Beasts in passive mode should not attack NPC's that attack them first.
Fixed issue where Beast Buffs would occasionally clear when combat finished.
Droids now can be called indoors and in private houses.
Cat-type Beasts can now learn "Slash".
Fixed a bug where you could store your beast from the control device right after combat without the cooldown.
Loot:
Elite and Boss NPCs will no longer drop "Junk Dealer" type items.
Junk Dealer loot drops, particularly those used in Reverse Engineering, have been redistributed; there should be fewer ultra-rare and ultra-common junk loot drops.
A wider variety of junk loot will drop from NPCs of all levels.
Low and medium level Jedi robes, color crystals, and lower powered lightsaber crystals now drop from regular NPCs.
All newly created "A Festive Gathering" paintings are now a No Trade furniture item.
Storyteller:
A storyteller prop may no longer be moved horizontally to a location where it would be higher above the ground that it could be moved vertically.
Storyteller NPCs will only assist against other storyteller NPCs from the same story.
Travel:
The instant travel command now only calls an instant travel vehicle for 1 minute instead of 5 minutes to reduce clutter.
Tutorial:
If you have reached the maximum level (10) you will no longer receive fly text or experience until you leave the station.
Galactic Civil War:
Factional comm link NPCs can only attack and be attacked by opposing special forces player or opposing comm link NPCs.
The Military Communications Link now only calls one reinforcement instead of three.
The quality of reinforcements called by the Military Communications Link is modified by player level and rank.
The Military Communications Link may only be used by players GCW Rank 7 and higher.
The Military Communications Link may only be used while the player is Special Forces.
Bases:
Non-special forces bases cannot have turrets donated to them during their invulnerability phase.
Food and Drink:
All foods and drinks will now overwrite each other to allow you to quickly switch between which food buffs you wish to be active at the time.
The following food buff effects have been updated:
- Travel Biscuit: Adds agility and run speed boost.
- Accarragm: Adds agility and run speed boost.
- Flameout: Adds agility, strikethrough chance, and strikethrough value.
- Breath of Heaven: Adds constitution and dodge chance.
- Thaktillo: Adds stamina and parry chance.
- Vercupti of Agazza Boleruuee: Adds precision, evasion chance, and evasion value.
- Deneelian Fizz Pudding: Adds luck, block chance, and block value.
Junk Dealers:
Junk Dealers will now more accurately display the name of the items to buy.
No Trade items will no longer appear in the list of items to be sold to a Junk Dealer.
Entertainer:
Audience members will automatically stop watching/listening to you when you stop dancing/playing.
Entertainers now receive a message when another player pays a cover charge.
Typing /stopdance no longer generates two system messages.
Entertainer missions now say to perform inside of the cantina.
Bounty Hunter:
Seeker droids no longer update a waypoint on targets that are in stealth mode.
Arakyd Droids will attempt to travel to the player after they land.
Seeker Droid will provide more feedback via system messages.
Both Arakyd and Seeker droids will now fly away when given data.
The cooldown on the Shields expertise has been reduced to three minutes.
The debuff applied by the Advanced Assault expertise line now also reduces the target's armor.
Dread Strike expertise now reduces the target's ability to heal.
Power Assisted Sprint expertise now removes/prevents snaring effects.
You can no longer use Bounty Hunter Shields while prone.
Bounties are now awarded if your beast or pet kills your bounty target.
Only one seeker droid at a time can be launched.
Jedi:
Shirts can now be worn under various Jedi robes.
The buff "Saber Block" will no longer be removed when a Jedi switches weapons; the benefit from "Saber Block" will only apply if a lightsaber is equipped.
Lightsabers may now be crafted with a socket for use with Skill Enhancing attachments. Like the crafting of other weapons, the chance for creating a lightsaber with a socket is based upon the Jedi's lightsaber assembly skill.
Force Shockwave fixed to display the correct particle and animation for the special attack with double-bladed light sabers.
Jedi color crystals, damage crystals, pearls, and other rare components can no longer be tuned unless they are in a Jedi's player inventory.
Force Run description updated to "Force Run: This level 18 ability increases your run speed for a short duration and removes most snare or root effects currently affecting you." Force Run also attempts to grant you immunity to further snares or roots while active.
Spy:
The expertise Glancing Armor has been renamed Balanced Armor.
The expertise Balanced Armor improves chance to dodge by 2% and 5%; changed from improves chance to receive a glancing by 2% / 4%.
The expertise ability Avoid Damage improves chance to dodge by 50%; changed from improves chance to receive a glancing blow by 50%.
The expertise Quiet Steps reduces the targets chance to block, dodge or parry attacks by 2% / 5% attacks made out of stealth; changed from improves Camouflage skill by 15 / 30 points.
Flashbang Grenade changed to 6% strikethrough vulnerability and 15% glancing blow vulnerability from -80 agility.
Flashbang Grenade debuff duration lowered to 10 seconds from 20 seconds.
Flashbang Grenade re-use increased to 20 seconds from 7 seconds.
The expertise Decoy now creates a simulacrum of the spy that will draw attacks from aggressors; changed from "Applies a 10% glancing blow vulnerability to the target for 8 seconds".
The expertise Diversion rank 1 will apply a flanking debuff for +15% critical hit vulnerability to any targets attacking the spy's decoy; changed from "Increases duration of decoy by 2 seconds".
The expertise Diversion rank 2 will put the spy in a short duration stealth; changed from "Increases duration of decoy by 2 seconds".
Reduced Action Cost for: Stealth, Smoke Bomb, Reveal Shadows, Decoy, Burst of Shadows, Preparation, Run its Course and Avoid Damage.
Kamino Dart Trap and Caltrop Trap blast radius examine data was corrected.
Firing a flamethrower with no target will bring you out of stealth.
Smuggler:
Off the Cuff and End of the Line should work only with special actions. Off the Cuff cooldown is 30 seconds (was 120). End of the Line cooldown is 60 seconds (was 300). Off the Cuff reduces a target's chance to glance, dodge, block, and parry by 100%, when hit by the special's critical hit. Off the Cuff reduces the chance to strike through by 100%.
Lucky Break should critical hit for 10 seconds instead of critical hitting once. Lucky Break reduces any smuggler target's chance to dodge, block, and parry by 100% for the duration of the buff. Strikethrough is still possible, while Lucky Break is in effect.
Spot a Sucker no longer has a 20% chance to reduce 20% damage. Instead, damage is reduced from 0% damage reduction to 20% damage reduction.
Half Truth has had its Luck bonus changed to a Dodge bonus of 5% per point to Sly Lie. Innocent Cargo has had its Precision bonus changed to a Strikethrough bonus of 5% per point to Sly Lie.
False Hope and Head Crack were meant to make the player vulnerable to damage and unable to hit with damage. False Hope and Head Crack now lower block and parry by 100%.
Healthy Profits medic will buff you with a constitution buff if your health is over 50%.
Smuggler medic now uses bacta grenades instead of an area effect heal. This fixes the issue of healing smuggler opponents with the smuggler medic.
All damage over time attacks had too high of a ratio of action to damage. Action costs for DOTs have been reduced.
Trader:
Reverse Engineering (Ground)
Power bits will prefix their power value to them (e.g., +15 1st Order Power Bit).
Modifier Bits will now prefix their modifier (e.g., Agility Modifier Bit).
Power-ups will prefix their modifier (e.g., Agility Armor Powerup).
SEAs will prefix their modifier (e.g., Agility Armor Attachment).
The difficulty of Iterative Reverse Engineering (or re-reverse engineering) is now scaled based upon the +Power of the mod. It is now much easier to get a +1 increase in power when Reverse Engineering crafted items with stats when the stat is low. As you iterate on it and raise the value of the power bit, the difficulty approaches what it was previously as it nears the +35 cap.
Storage items have the option to "set name" when dropped in the player's house, and now the name will actually change.
Domestic Goods
Crafted containers can now be named; this only applies to newly crafted containers.
Removed mention of any specific effects from static food descriptions; these are covered in the "effects" examine information.
Removed references in food descriptions to effects that no longer apply.
Altered text description of Fitness Drink to reflect what it really buffs.
Pastebread has been removed as a subcomponent from the Cavaellin Creams draft schematic.
Fixed bug with Beast Foods not showing uses while crafting.
Structures
The Gungan Head statue is now available at level 86.
Master Structure Traders can now craft Guild Data-Screen Cartridges; these cartridges are used to change the screen appearance for your Player Association Data-Screens.
Elite Efficiency Moisture Vaporators now require 2 advanced Turbo Fluidic drills; this change makes the vaporators actually extract and hold at the elite rate.
Munitions
Armor boots, gloves, belts and other miscellaneous pieces may now be crafted with sockets like other pieces of armor.
Rocket Launcher schematic categorized as a Special Heavy Weapon instead of Rifle when found in crafting tool.
Furniture Customization:
As part of a growing movement across the galaxy, structure traders have discovered they can now colorize a wide variety of furniture. They should now receive 255 total furniture customization spread across their levels. Added support to hue the following furniture pieces:
- End tables
- Love Seat
- Chest
- Elegant Chair
- Elegant Bookcase
- Elegant Armoire
- Small Couch
- Large Couch and Ottoman
- Futon
- Divan
- Upholstered Chair
- Reclining Chair
- Metal Chair
- Metal Wheeled Chair
- Large Bed
- Small Bed
- Kitchen Chair
- Love Seat
Player Associations:
With the remote player association access devices you can perform all guild functions except creation and leadership transfer; you no longer have to be near the other player to do these functions. To sponsor someone, the player has to be online. To transfer leadership, you still have to be within 20 meters of each other.
Player association voting has been temporarily disabled; this is due to bugs and errors in its logic.
Player association halls can no longer be automatically transferred to the leader of the player association. If you want to transfer use the normal methods.
Updated Player List UI
- The UI will now list in groups of 25. At the bottom of each list there will be a red NEXT entry. Clicking that entry will update the UI to the next 25 members in your player association. If there is not another page, the NEXT button will not display.
- Added New "Back" button to the bottom of the UI. It resides between the OK and Cancel buttons. Clicking it will allow you to go back one page on your members list.
- These changes will allow you to edit any member of your guild; you will no longer be constrained by the 50 member limit.
Structure traders are now granted a schematic for a guild registry device:
- This device can then be used by a player not in a player association to create a player association.
- Once a player association is created, the device is destroyed and a player association display screen is added.
- This screen is decoration for housing; the player association leader is owner for it and it is No Trade.
- When examined, it will give information about your player association.
- When it is destroyed, the guild leader has the option to create a new one.
Player association terminals no longer spawn in player association halls or the Mustafarian bunker.
Player association leaders are able to set permissions on any member whether they are online or not.
Added functionality for guild screen to destroy and allow new leaders to create one.
Players can filter how you want to show your guild member names:
- Alphabetically
- By Permissions
- By Titles
- By Name (you input the name you are looking for)
Added several new commands:
- -guildShowAlpha (shows member names in alphabetical order)
- -guildShowTitle (shows all titles so you can search for member by title)
- -guildShowPermission (shows all permissions so you can search by permissions)
- -guildShowName (gives an input box to allow for searching through guild member names by what you type in)
- -guildInfo (shows the guild info, same function that is on terminal)
- -guildSponsor (allows you to sponsor someone, same functionality as on the terminal)
- -guildChangeName (allows you to change the guild's name, same functionality as on terminal)
- -guildDisband (allows you to disband the guild, same functionality as on terminal)
- /guildShow will still display the list of filters you can use.
- Also added /guildShow to take arguments as an alternative to using the full slash command; for example, /guildShow alpha will show by alphabet.
Player association UIs only allow one UI at a time; this is to fix potential errors with having multiple UIs out at once.
New cartridges crafted by structure traders can be used to change your player sssociations data screens. Cartridges are loaded by the player association leader via the radial menu while it is in their inventory.
Changed Guild Manipulation windows to close if a new window is requested via the remote device or slash command. For example, if you are giving permission to member A and then decide you want to sponsor someone, you can just type /guildSponsor and the old permissions UI will close and the sponsor UI will open.
Fixed an issue with some Mustafar Bunkers not having the option to withdraw from treasury.
Player Cities:
During each galaxy restart, every player city will check and correct its citizenship list so that the mayor of the city is a citizen of only the city that she is mayor of.
During each galaxy restart, every player city will check and correct its citizenship list so that only the mayor and owners of declared structures within the city limits will be allowed on the citizenship list. The mayor will be notified by mail if any citizens are added or removed from this fix up. The mail will contain the subject "City Fix Up: Added Citizens" for additions and "City Fix Up: Removed Citizens" for deletions.
Added new Citizenship title to display what city you are a citizen of. The actual title that is displayed will be "Mayor of " or "Militia of " or "Citizen of " or "Wanderer". It takes 1 minute after a citizenship status change for the title to update to reflect the new citizenship status.
If you are a mayor, the Home field of the Character Sheet will display the location of the city hall of your mayoral city.
If you are a citizen of a city, the Home field of the Character Sheet will display the city(ies) that you are a citizen of. A '*' will appear in front of the city name to indicate you are the mayor of that city.
Mayors can no longer declare residence.
Fixed an issue where if you declare residence in a different area than your previous residence, you were not removed as a citizen of your previous residence's city.
Racial/Class Statistics:
The various races and classes should gain bonus stat values over time as they level. Level 90 values are shown below.
Smuggler Base Statistics
+120 Luck
+20 Precision
+20 Strength
+70 Constitution
+30 Stamina
+100 Agility
Officer Base Statistics
+20 Luck
+70 Precision
+50 Strength
+80 Constitution
+80 Stamina
+60 Agility
Commando Base Statistics
+60 Luck
+120 Precision
+120 Strength
+60 Constitution
+0 Stamina
+0 Agility
Jedi Base Statistics
+30 Luck
+30 Precision
+100 Strength
+40 Constitution
+40 Stamina
+120 Agility
Spy Base Statistics
+40 Luck
+50 Precision
+50 Strength
+80 Constitution
+40 Stamina
+100 Agility
Medic Base Statistics
+80 Luck
+50 Precision
+50 Strength
+60 Constitution
+120 Stamina
+0 Agility
Entertainer Base Statistics
+80 Luck
+0 Precision
+0 Strength
+40 Constitution
+120 Stamina
+120 Agility
Bounty Hunter Base Statistics
+20 Luck
+60 Precision
+40 Strength
+80 Constitution
+80 Stamina
+80 Agility
Trader Base Statistics
+90 Luck
+90 Precision
+90 Strength
+90 Agility
+0 Constitution
+0 Stamina
Human Statistics
+50 Precision
+50 Strength
+50 Stamina
+50 Agility
Wookiee Statistics
+10 Precision
+85 Strength
+85 Constitution
+40 Stamina
Rodian Statistics
+80 Precision
+20 Stamina
+80 Agility
+20 Luck
Bothan Statistics
+65 Precision
+25 Constitution
+50 Agility
+60 Luck
Mon Calamari Statistics
+60 Precision
+40 Constitution
+60 Stamina
+40 Luck
Trandoshan Statistics
+50 Strength
+65 Constitution
+65 Stamina
+20 Agility
Twi'lek Statistics
+40 Precision
+60 Stamina
+60 Agility
+40 Luck
Zabrak Statistics
+50 Precision
+50 Strength
+50 Constitution
+50 Agility
Ithorian Statistics
+40 Precision
+60 Strength
+70 Stamina
+30 Luck
Sullustan Statistics
+40 Strength
+60 Constitution
+60 Agility
+40 Luck |
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| SOE Player of the Year Winners! |
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| GeneralNews - 3:31 AM PDT | Posted By: RainStar |
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The first annual SOE Player of the Year contest results are in, and it's time to share the names of the winners! Each of the following winners will be brought to Fan Faire and celebrated in a public ceremony.
The Player of the Year winners are:
Kordell Lealee, Level 90 Jedi on Flurry (Star Wars Galaxies)
"I've been a Star Wars fan all my life and to be immersed in this world has been a dream for me."
Evilpig, Battle Rank 25, Command Rank 5 on Markov (PlanetSide)
"I am most well known for being the leader of one of the largest, most organized outfits in the game. However, my proudest accomplishment is having the opportunity to share my philosophies of mutual respect between all players, friend or foe, to achieve a fun play experience for everyone involved."
Cebot Starwalker, Level 90 Smuggler on Naritus (Star Wars Galaxies)
"Besides heading up the Bounty Hunter's Guild, (player-made content for bounty hunters and those who sign up to be marks and/or informants), Cebot Starwalker is on Senior Staff of RAID , a large rebel guild active in PVP and PVE content."
Loolee, Level 70 Fury on Kithicor (EverQuest II)
"Always willing to help, always willing to give a newbie advice or mentor down, Loolee really is a shining example of what MMO players should all strive to be."
Congratulations to these exemplary players! We'll see you in Las Vegas!
GreyPawn
Community Manager
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| Galactic Senate Revamp & Community Responses |
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| GeneralNews - 5:54 AM PDT | Posted By: RainStar |
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The Galactic Senate program has been re-introduced to give players a stronger voice in the game and to help strengthen the fast-growing Star Wars Galaxies community. There are quite a few Senatorial vacancies, so check out what the program has to offer you by clicking here!
Several clarifying notes:
-MasterCosmo has been nominated and unanimously appointed as our first Senator, the Commando Senator. Congratulations are in order!
-The state of the economy may be represented by a subcommittee of the four Trader Profession Senators and the Entertainer Senator.
-The Imperial and Rebel Senators will represent the whole of the PvP aspects for their particular faction in the Galactic Civil War.
- You may only submit one nomination for Senator for one Senatorial vacancy.
- The Galactic Senate forum will be the primary medium of exchange and will stay transparent to the public (in read-only setting). A private Cloakroom / Private Senate Chambers forum will be set up to conduct discreet business (potential exploits, disciplinary matters, etc.).
GreyPawn
Community Manager
Some responses from the community are below.
TheWookieeKing:
If I am recalling correctly, Grand Moff Tarkin stated in Episode IV that the Senate was no more and that Governors and Moffs would rule thier planets accordingly.
So why make an offical SOE Galactic Senate and call them Senators?
GreyPawn:
Ah, and you are correct! The Senate was dissolved at the period in time that SWG takes place. However, the function of this particular Senate is completely out of character and exists in the same space/time that these message boards here do. The role of the Senate is to provide feedback and leadership in a strictly "out of character" capacity, and so roleplay or fictional continuity isn't interupted by its presence. And to clear up any potential confusion, the "Roleplay Senator" is appointed to represent the roleplaying segment of the population, not to roleplay as a Senator.
Any resemblance to the old Correspondents program is strictly incidental. Do give the Senate a chance, and I think you'll be very pleased.
damicatz:
I don't like the idea of having a bunch of people representing the community behind their backs in some private, off-limits forum. Either open up the senate forum or get rid of the senator program period.
GreyPawn:
Neither do I. And you've made an excellent point here. The Senate forums will be opened shortly for read-only access. Full transparency in representation is an integral part of the establishment of power by proxy.
MasterCosmo:
one question though, after the senator lives out their 6 month term, can they be up for re-nomination of the community finds them to be an asset to their representation?
GreyPawn:
Absolutely. There are no term limits, but the opportunity for change in Senate leadership is there.
Zion:
Heh, maybe you just spoiled us with the quick nomination of MasterCosmo - and yes, he deserved it more than anyone else.
I can just imagine what is going on right now...
GreyPawn: Ok, here is what we got so far for nominations.
Virrago: Ok. *reads* mm...eh....oh no....ew....oh god....jeez....Grey, is this all we have?
GreyPawn: Yeah, that's who everyone has nominated so far.
Virrago: I've banned everyone here at least once, some guys twice. And man, there are a few here that make me wonder how the hell they got nominated in the first place.
GreyPawn: Well, don't look at me; I'm new here.
SWGmod1: Me too.
Virrago: You are not!
SWGmod1: But I'd like to be.
Virrago: Well, you don't get to be new again.
SWGmod1: Please?
Virrago: No.
SWGmod1: Fine, then I nominate the guy with the rap sheet as long as my arm.
Virrago: WHAT?
GreyPawn: Seconded.
Virrago: You guys trying to kill me?
SWGmod1: New guys UNITE!
GreyPawn: Word.
Virrago: YOU ARE NOT NEW!
SWGmod2: Can I be new?
Virrago: NO!
SWGmod2: Fine then, nomination thirded, and passed, go welcome our new senator, Greypawn.
Virrago: You CAN'T do that!
SWGmod2: Sure we can; vote's 3 to 1.
GreyPawn: Ok, I am off to notify the forum convict, er, senator of his acceptance.
Virrago: Bah, I think I am getting a migrane
SWGmod1: New guys UNITE!
Virrago: Oh SHUT UP!
And the comments from the Devs about Zion's funny post:
Virrago:
Hilarious 
GreyPawn:
Sounds about right! I don't think I've ever said "Word." though like that. I'll have to start.
And! Three new Senators got announced just today. Go see!
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| Chapter 7, Bug Bash & Player Concerns |
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| GeneralNews - 3:29 AM PDT | Posted By: RainStar |
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Now that our BugBash is out on Test I'd like to chat with everyone on more details on the content and systems we have started working on for Chapter 7. We have already mentioned the big bullet points a few times, Heroic Encounters, and Collections. However I haven't delved too much into what each means.
Heroic Encounters -
We have chosen to advance the story of our good friends from the former Village of Aurilia. Apparently all the materials and effort the players contributed helped grow the Village into a Township. This Township will be our "nexus" or gathering spot for linking up with others to go on the Heroic encounters with, obtain buffs, or just hang out. Dropships to quickly transport groups from the Township to areas near the entrances to the encounter areas should be available here. There will also be a variety of new quests and rewards will be available for helping out the people of Aurilia.
As for the encounters these should all be tuned to 8 people and yield some fun surprises. I'm not going to reveal what goes on inside the encounters until we get closer to Testing.
Collections -
The most basic form of collection all players have been collecting since the game launched, you just know them as Badges. We have come up with a slick UI and our artists are going through and adding Badge Icons to all old and new badges. You will be able to examine another player and look out their collections if you so desire. After Badges the next level of collection is the kill collection, represented in a different page in the Collection's Journal. Killing specific creatures/NPCs will yield collection credit and eventually rewards and further collections or badges. Finally we move into objects in the world inside buildings or areas that are clicked on to collect them or objects looted from creatures/NPCs that are clicked on to collect them. Each collection usually has a reward associated with it from credits, xp, titles, to more exotic custom rewards.
A good example of a collection is mousing over a crate in a starport you notice your cursor changes to a hand, clicking on the crate yields a message that the crate has been added to your crate collection. Looking in your collection journal you notice there are 10 icons, 9 are greyed out 1 has been colored in, representing the crate you just clicked. There are 9 other crates you need to find in the galaxy to complete the crate collection. Over to the right of these icons you see a bigger icon, and mousing over it you see that completing this collection will grant you a Structure Storage Increase Crate. The reward object can be added to a structure you own to increase the number of items you can place in it.
All the little pieces are looking like it should be a fun Chapter.
Blixtev
Lead Designer
As always, some questions arise, here are a few from the community and the Dev's responses.
ordio:
Looks awesome Blix! Can't wait to see more of this coming to test and then live!
Q... with the example of the storage crates, is that a real example, or just an example to let us know how it works?
And, can we do this storage crate thing more than once?
Also, glad to hear the village (township) of Aurillia is moving forward... i can't wait to see what new stuff is coming from there!! I miss that village!
Blixtev:
I finished coding the storage crates a few days ago, the standard crate adds 100 to a house and you can put multiples on your house. Hopefully so many items people will no longer need any storage houses.
Chimaerapall:
Can those increase house limit things be used in guildhalls? since that vet reward can't (not sure tbh though).
And will they be tradeable?
Is it only 1 device per house, or can you place as many house limit increase devices you want in one house?
What about the current Veteran reward (I mean house device thing) will that one get an increase or?
Blixtev:
I plan on making some tweaks so they work on guildhalls, the bigger stuctures look so much nicer with fully decorated rooms imo. They will not be tradeable, you will need to do the collections to get the storage upgrade. Right now I capped it at +5000 increase, so the design crew will have to put in a bunch of collections to get these out to you. They also stack with the 200 item vet reward.
Do remember one of the collection types is looted objects, so there will be a secondary market for many of these, ie "anyone have box 2 for the box collection quest?".
gwaffy:
thats lame tthe vet reward is 200 but the mission one is 5000.. wtf is the point in choosing my vet reward for 200 extra items when i can just get to crates..
lame and whats my other choice cheaper respec..... i dont respec
total waste of a 4 year reward. give me 2 30k resource deeds ill be happy
Blixtev:
Well its not like getting one object and boom here is a big increase. Its doing lots of different collections for +100 crates as the reward. So the veteran reward is still a fantastic item. Remeber our goal is to give you lots of fun things to do.
Ceras:
Will the village have phases again that switch all 4 weeks?
Blixtev:
There is no multi phase for the Township. I still have nightmare's about all the problems that caused.
We have multiple new rewards coming your way, that should do fun and exciting things in their own rights. I do not plan to re use any of the old Village rewards.
Khristen:
Chapter 7 is definitely looking to be a great addition to the game! Great work and thanks to all the team!
A quick question on Bug Bash. It sounds like it is all basically on Test Center now, but are there going to be any more additions to the current list? It's a significant number of positive changes and additions (which I'm very glad to see), but I was hoping that we'd also see the inclusion of the Citizenship List bugs fix with it. Is there any updates on that front?
DevH:
Citizenship List bug fixes are done and will make it into Bug Bash with the next update. Here's the prelimary notes for the fix, with the usual "subject to change/cancellation" caveat.
This should be in the next Bug Bash update:
Player City: During each galaxy restart, every player city will check and correct its citizenship list so that only the mayor and owners of declared structures within the city limits will be allowed on the citizenship list. The mayor will be notified by mail if any citizens are added or removed from this fix up. The mail will contain the subject "City Fix Up: Added Citizens" for additions and "City Fix Up: Removed Citizens" for deletions.
This should be in the following Bug Bash update:
Player City: During each galaxy restart, every player city will check and correct its citizenship list so that the mayor of the city is a citizen of only the city that she is mayor of.
Wildcat_84:
And what, exactly are the rules? Each toon can ONLY declare residency in one house in one city? Or one per planet?
DevH:
Citizenship is determined by declared structures. During galaxy startup, every city looks at all the declared structures within its city limits, and only the mayor and owners of declared structures within the city limits are allowed on the citizenship list. Additionally, during this galaxy startup fix up, it will also check (and fix, if necessary) to make sure that a mayor is a citizen of *only* the city that she is mayor of.
The intended behavior is each toon can only have 1 declared residence. We also have fix up code in place which runs when a toon logs in and enters a structure to clean up any "bad" residency issue, to fix up cases where a toon has more than 1 declared residences. Then at the next galaxy restart, any of this clean up that occurred when the toon logs in or enters a structure will be processed and the citizenship list updated accordingly.
In addition to these clean up code, citizenship list will still get updated normally in real time when you declare/undeclare/change residency in-game. If anything goes wrong and the real time update doesn't occur, it'll get fixed up during the next galaxy restart.
Wildcat_84:
I would seriously reconsider this, at least consider allowing one residence per planet. I would NOT want to be you the day this goes live because these forums will EXPLODE... again...
This is going to leave the landscape even more cluttered, as MANY cities will be destroyed or damaged beyond repair, negating any advantage gained by the packup event.
Blixtev:
The packup event was to help cleanup these old ghost cities, in some cases it did happen but some cities with 30+ ghost citizens were effected not at all. With only a limited amount of cities on a planet, old unused cities need to evaporate to make room for new cities.
Cities were never designed to be supported by 1 person, as we can see happening on live with cities with many ghost citizens.
Editor's Note: I'm happy that the Village will be open to the players again. Will it be as much fun as it used to be? I will hold my opinion on the new content for the Village until more information becomes available. |
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| Star Wars Galaxies Celebrates Four Years! |
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| GeneralNews - 8:29 AM PDT | Posted By: RainStar |
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Four years ago in a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars Galaxies launched and brought thousands of players from around the world into the online universe of Star Wars. Players joined with friends to share in their own exciting voyage across the galaxy alongside their favorite Star Wars characters. It’s certainly been a fun and exciting adventure so far and through the ups and downs, we have appreciated your patronage, dedication, and support.
The adventures continue as Star Wars Galaxies reaches its fourth year!
The Anniversary Bash continues until June 30, 2007, so visit Nym’s Stronghold to join the party if you haven’t had a chance to stop by. And don’t forget to claim your 4th anniversary goggles beginning on June 27! These goggles are only available to players who log in from June 27 to July 15. Claim this limited time item to celebrate the 4th anniversary in style!
Again, thanks for playing and here’s to making the next year in Star Wars Galaxies the best one yet. We wish you all a very happy 4th anniversary!
May the Force be with you!
Virrago
Community Relations |
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| House Packup Friday! |
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| GeneralNews - 5:46 PM PDT | Posted By: RainStar |
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The House Pack Up begins on Friday, June 22, 2007! The Galactic Vacant Building Demolitions Crew will be ready to begin demolition this Friday after a brief maintenance period at 2:00 PM CDT.
Any house, factory, or player association hall that has been abandoned by its owner (since April 16, 2006) has been targeted for pack up. The building sign is marked in red as "Abandoned" to indicate the structure can be demolished.
Once you see the sign with the red "Abandoned" text, open the radial menu and choose "Structure Management > Pack Up This Building" to initiate the bombing. You can pack up a maximum of five buildings every 24 hours.
If your building has been packed up, you will find it in your datapad when you return to the galaxy. Simply unpack your house in a new location and the structure will be restored with your possessions inside.
Civilians who mark ten buildings for destruction receive the Junior Wrecking Crew Worker Badge. Hard-working citizens who clear out 50 abandoned structures are recognized for their destructive talents with the Wrecking Crew Manager Extraordinaire badge.
Not only can you receive badges, but for each successful destruction of an abandoned structure, you receive one reward point. Reward points are redeemable at the Lucky Despot in Mos Eisley for in-game items that can be used for decoration.
The Galactic Vacant Building Demolitions Crew is exploding with excitement – get out there and help them clear out those buildings!
Virrago
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| Raph Koster Replies To NGE Article |
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