This upgrade is intended to improve stability, performance and security for our primary web server.

Jhariden
Network Director

Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed
A review by Cholin L’Tso

“The radar is filled with red blips…TIE Fighters swarm around your X-wing…BAM! Rear shields are down…armor is going quick…POP! Your Astromech just bit the dust…engines are failing….weapon systems down…Alarms sound…Eject! Eject!
The calm silence of space surrounds you as your escape pod jettisons away…you see your ship explode…hopefully a life tug will pick you up before the Empire does…”

Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed is the first Expansion to the acclaimed Star Wars Galaxies by SOE. Now players can finally extend their adventures into Space. One can choose to fly for the Rebel Alliance, the Empire or even stay in between and fly as a neutral Freelancer. To add some icing to this galactic cake…Anyone can become a Pilot. No skill points required. A wide array of ships are available to your character based upon your skill level and which Faction you fly for.

At the topmost ranking, Pilot Ace, multiplayer ships become available. You entire group can transport aboard your ship and join in your battles. They can man the guns, make repairs, or simply pass the time with a drink. A point of note to all the “Han Solo wanna-be’s” out there…you’ll need to fly Freelancer to get the trusty YT-1300.

Overall, release went well, with a few initial bumps, starting with issues with the newly designed Launchpad and performance problems overall. However, I would have to say I have been quite pleased with the responsiveness to the issues by SOE. There have been updates on almost a daily basis, addressing everything from character attire, to overall game performance. So, in my opinion, if you are trying to decide whether or not JtL is for you, I’d say it’s a good buy, well worth the money.

That’s all for now…and yes…May the Force Be With You.

Cholin L’Tso
Master Shipwright, Master Architect, Imperial Navy Pilot
Gorath Server

* Brekkee changes topic to 'Welcome to the Star Wars Galaxies House of Commons. Tonight’s topic is Jump to Lightspeed and the loot revamp. Please send your questions to [QT]Nadia or [QT]Elm_' *
Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of Star Wars Galaxies! Tonight’s topic is Jump to Lightspeed and the loot revamp so please keep your questions related to those topics.
Brekkee - Please send your questions to [QT]Nadia or [QT]Elm - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup, so don't bother. Full logs of the chat will be up on http://swg.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
Brekkee - We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.

TH - Hail and Well met SWGFANS! This is Kurt Stangl, aka, TH
TH - Glad you could make it

ronda_lucasarts - Hi everyone... thanks for stopping by tonight. :-)

TH - and Id like to add a special thanks to Professor Doug and his class who have joined us in the pursuit of academia...kind of

swgdevrthornton - Hello everyone and thanks for coming in tonight. I'm Reece Thornton, aka, swgdevrthornton.

madtoad - Hello, I'm Todd Bailey, and I'll be answering questions about the NBA Season...no, wait, scratch that. I'll be answering questions about Star Wars

swgdevrthornton - I was assigned to JtL as a systems designer.

Darth_Platypus - Hi everyone! I'm William 'Darth Platypus' Wallace, and I'm a designer on SWG:JTL. You may remember me from such professions as Shipwright!

Brekkee - *[UK]Shuri[ChimaeraSmuggler]* Q: When is the loot revamp planned to come up, and are there any more interesting new mixtures other than that posted by TH?
madtoad - The loot revamp will be coming shortly (in the next couple of weeks) and mostly what will be happening is behind the scenes stuff right off.
madtoad - You will see an increase in the amount of loot that you get
madtoad - when fightin NPC's
madtoad - There are definitely going to be new mixtures, I think we're talking about the things like the fixed datapads, fixed datadisks, etc.
madtoad - Lots more of that coming shortly after.

Brekkee - *Tator* If I'm Jedi Knight and perma overt. Will I be able to level pilot without getting killed by opposite faction overts in space?
ronda_lucasarts - You will lose pilot experience, but your Jedi experience will not be affected by any death in space.
ronda_lucasarts - So you may still get killed by opposit overts
ronda_lucasarts - but it won't count against your Jedi experience.

Brekkee - *[KGM]Kiorys* hi, i would like to know if GreenMarine is assigned to some work on the loot revamp, and if not why he doesn't show up on the smugglers boards
TH - Actually, GreenMarine is off on assignment crushing worlds as an alien cyborg....
TH - Seriously though, GM is hard at work on polishing JtL and getting ready for his next team assignment.

Brekkee - *Gillette* this loot revamp will include a 'balance' between creature level and loot drop?
madtoad - Absolutely.

Brekkee - *LadyJade* For Darth_Platypus: What specific changes do you think JTL offers that appeal to SWG players who have canceled their account for various reasons?
Darth_Platypus - Well, I think the first thing that JTL offers that should appeal to past SWG players is that you can fly starfighters, and blow stuff up in space
Darth_Platypus - The crafters can, of course, play the Shipwright profession, harvest new resources
Darth_Platypus - And I think that it really completes the Star Wars experience. What could be better than building your own ship, flying it into space, and shooting TIE fighters?

Brekkee - *Sace* Are there any plans to have a Firespray Trade-in system for folks who spent heavily on a Firespray, and that Firespray is now second rate to the new ones?
Darth_Platypus - I do not intend to put a trade-in system in for the old Firesprays. Those ships are still very formidable, and the logistics of retroactively changing the stats on all the old firesprays is kinda difficult.

Brekkee - *Seomon* my question - What's in the works for people who have already mastered their Pilot profession and now find themselves with nothing to do in space?
ronda_lucasarts - There are the two high-end content zones
TH - There are also a lot of POI's for players to visit...
ronda_lucasarts - which while there's a focus PVP action in those zones, we've just introduced
ronda_lucasarts - PVE elements to the Kessel zone
ronda_lucasarts - also...
ronda_lucasarts - we'll be publishing new missions towards the end of the month
ronda_lucasarts - So just like with the live game, we'll be continually updating space with new missions and content.
ronda_lucasarts - There's more for you to explore :-)
TH - And mastering PvP in Wildspace will always be a challenge because of the live elements.

Brekkee - *USCgames* How does JTL fit into the dev's vision of the elder game and how will it interface with the vision for the GCW ground game?
swgdevrthornton - The addition of JtL brings SWG closer to what our original visions of the product were...
swgdevrthornton - Although they are currently a bit disconnected in order to allow for the production of JtL...
swgdevrthornton - On a shortened cycle without worrying about out of the ordinary trouble-shooting of high-end game mechanisms
swgdevrthornton - Now that JtL is out, we're going to be concentrating on closely intertwining the two portions of the game more and more closely.

Brekkee - *Kadayus* Will JTL ever include non-combat content such as cargo delivery and exploration missions and hopefully other better things I haven't thought of; and will there ever be non-combat ships like freighters ownable by players?
swgdevrthornton - The original dreams of the space portion of SWG included non-combat stuff, but we needed a tight focus to appeal to the most people...
swgdevrthornton - And get it out more quickly... Now that it's out, we'd love to have more transport and a space-based-component of ground profession mechanics...
swgdevrthornton - I can see us possibly adding more transport-oriented ships in the future, but they'd definitely have the ability to defend themselves because space will almost certainly...
swgdevrthornton - always be a dangerous place. It's still quite too early to divulge details of our thinking on where we are going with this, specifically...

Brekkee - *[UK]Shuri[ChimaeraSmuggler]* It was mentioned that the loot had been raised in space..however I have seen no change from a day blasting pirates last week and today, has it been raised or just the cash looted?
Darth_Platypus - The actual volume of space loot hasn't been raised
Darth_Platypus - What HAS changed is that mobs should be dropping more tier appropriate loot
Darth_Platypus - High level mobs had just as much of a chance of dropping really low level loot as the low level mobs, so now the high level mobs should be dropping more tier appropriate stuff
Darth_Platypus - So that its a little easier for you to find gear that you might want to put on your ship at the higher pilot levels.

Brekkee - *zoom* Will the fs luck skill effect a looted items quality after the revamp?
madtoad - I think it's very important that the luck skill be closely intwined with the loot, and not just in the matter of quality, but also in the matter of how often you'll see loot drop on mobs
madtoad - So, yes, I'm definitely incorporating luck into the new loot system.

Brekkee - *WesBelden* Question: Given that the loot system is being completely overhauled, can we expect to see content that is linked to it overhauled also? i.e. junk vendors and something especially interesting to Smugglers, the Jawa trash mini game?
madtoad - There is content that will be linked to the loot system, I think the two things go hand in hand
madtoad - There will be some updates to the junk vendors at some point
madtoad - To make way for the new loot that we're adding.

Brekkee - *Rhett* hey guys, thanks for doing such a great job for all of us i was wondering if formerly useless looted items in the game would ever be made to actually have a use? such as being able to record your own information onto datapads, worklights actually shining a light visible to you, etc.
madtoad - That was a very important part of the loot update to me. Some of the first things I did were make it so that corrupt datadisks, broken datapads, and dud fireworks would be fixed in the new loot system.
madtoad - You'll be seeing those things shortly.
madtoad - I always wanted to make those items more "useful" even if it's just to add some fictional context to the game. And I've gotten the opportunity to do that.

Brekkee - *Paxicon[CF]* Any chance we'll ever see players operating star destroyers and the like?
ronda_lucasarts - Star Destroyers are super Star Warsy and iconic and lots of people have asked us about this.
ronda_lucasarts - It'd definitely be a very cool thing to play. Getting multiplayer ships in with Jump to Lightspeed was huge actually...
ronda_lucasarts - 20 people on one ship like the Lady Luck was an amazing feat.
ronda_lucasarts - Player controlled Star Destroyers are an even bigger technilogical challenge.
ronda_lucasarts - The tech isn't quite there yet for so many people operating one ship in unison...
ronda_lucasarts - super cool though!

Brekkee - *Monthigos* Question: Right now the mass for TIE Interceptors is woefully low. Is there any plans to increase the mass?
Darth_Platypus - The TIE Interceptor is also one of the fastest ships in JTL
Darth_Platypus - The interceptors are balanced to be very fast, and thus very light
Darth_Platypus - So for now, I do not intend to increase the mass on these, because they already have a significant advantage in their speed and handling

Brekkee - *ddragos[Chilastra]* Any new loot kits ?
madtoad - The fixing of the broken datapads, datadisks, fireworks, etc. all work like new loot kits.
madtoad - If you're interested in whether we're going to do more loot kits in the future, then the answer is absolutely again. There are more of them coming...

Brekkee - *USCgames* How much of the content of JTL was intended to be part of the original release and how was the decision made to release it as an expansion, rather than as part of the initial release?
ronda_lucasarts - The Original design for SWG did include space travel.
ronda_lucasarts - As development progressed we realized that the size of the overall game was so huge that we decided to break it into two
ronda_lucasarts - components
ronda_lucasarts - The scope of the ground game was pretty huge and we also expected Jump to Lightspeed to add an entirely new level of game play
ronda_lucasarts - It seemed natural to get the ground game out and then spend a significant amount of development time on space as well.
ronda_lucasarts - So in short, it was always a part of the design, but the scope dictated it come in two parts.

Brekkee - *TC-Rark* Are you going to be using test center for the loot revamp or will it be a seperate server like the combat upgrade?
madtoad - Loot is going to go through Test Center, so everyone will get a chance to see it.

Brekkee - *Gillette* is there any space loot quest included with the revamp?
madtoad - Space loot and ground loot are separated by the gameplay styles that go into each area, so right now they're not tied together.
madtoad - The loot revamp is focused on making the loot much more rewarding and fun in the ground game
madtoad - And in the future I think it's definitely important that we keep in mind that we have space loot and ground loot and make some connection between them

Brekkee - *Sace* What do we have to look forward to in the near future, we're slowly sifting through the JTL content, mastering pilot, what is the next step?
TH - First, we will see some new JtL missions and the loot revamp.
TH - Following that, we will be getting into the meat of the Combat Upgrade, but that wont begin in earnest with the public until after the holidays.
TH - Between now and then we are doing prep work for the CU. Be sure to sign up the Combat Upgrade Beta!

Brekkee - *Killez-Valcyn* and with the loot revamp will krayts fall into this and will be harder to obtain a pearl or will they still drop at the same rate they do now?
madtoad - The loot revamp will touch all the ground creatures
madtoad - The krayts drop rates will be effected to some degree
madtoad - At the moment the drop rates for everything are going up a little bit, but based on playability and how often we see those loot drops we may lower it later if it's the right thing to do

Brekkee - *MiniVader* Will there be a way to assign Joystick functions from the Options/keymap in JTL?
ronda_lucasarts - You can actually remap all the joystick functions for the flight controls
ronda_lucasarts - er... with the joystick
ronda_lucasarts - but you have to be in space to do the remap.

Brekkee - *zoom* For madtoad: Are you planning on adjusting the drop rate of 'junk' vs tangable reward from higher level mobs in the ground game? It's frustrating to kill many nightsister elders and only get a blue rug part.
madtoad - For sure. The drop rates are going up across the board so hopefully you won't have to kill a frustrating number of nightsisters to get a piece of loot.
madtoad - Secondly, the higher level mobs should drop more tangible, useful rewards, and not as much junk loot.
madtoad - So those are things that are being taken to task with the loot revamp.

Brekkee - *Tato* Will the Loot revamp make changes to crystal drops? And will there be a bigger chance to get good stats on High end crystals? compared to low end crystals?
madtoad - Currently the loot revamp isn't touchin on the crystal drops
madtoad - We're currently happy with the rate at which they drop, and don't feel a need to make a change right now

Brekkee - *Guest37* When Will the new loot be implemented? Is there a date?
TH - The first phase of the loot revamp will be in the very next mini-publish (11.3)
TH - and we can look forward to more developments in the future

Brekkee - That will wrap it up for tonight. Thanks for coming! The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly on http://swg.stratics.com
Brekkee - You can join #StarWars to chat more about the game.

ronda_lucasarts - Thanks SO much for coming out!
TH - Thanks and good night to everyone who made it out tonight - - we're glad you came
ronda_lucasarts - And all your great questions :-)
ronda_lucasarts - See you again next month.

• irc.epaxsys.net port 6667, USA - Colorado
• stratics.frws.com port 6667, USA - Colorado
• irc.glowfish.de port 6667, EU - Germany
• stratics.afraidyet.net 6667, USA - Atlanta

With the NDA on its way out, we've posted a short preview of JTL! You can read it here! Stay tuned for screenshots and more!

EQ2Stratics and SoE are pleased to announce a house of commons with the developers of EverQuest2 on Thursday, October 21st. It will be at 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT / 12am GMT in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

After the HoC, we will be giving away 10 Beta Invitations, so stick around for a chance to win one of these beta slots

You can connect to one of our IRC servers through the use of your favorite IRC client, such as mIRC, ircle, xchat, or whichever you prefer. Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6667 or whichever server is closest to you:

• stratics.frws.com port 6667, USA - Colorado
• irc.glowfish.de port 6667, EU - Germany
• stratics.afraidyet.net 6667, USA - Atlanta
• irc.epaxsys.net port 6667, USA - Colorado

You may also connect through our handy Java link which may be found right here. You must have Java installed to use this which can be downloaded from the Java homepage.

In the interest of nostalgia, we're running a similar poll to the one we ran just before SWG's original release! It even includes the same typo! Are you calling in sick to get and play JTL?

Last week, we wanted to know what you were doing about multiplayer ships. It looks like quite a few of you will still be sticking with the ship! There may be good news for you in the coming days on that as well.

The chat will be held on Wednesday, October 20th at 8:00 PM EST (if you are in a different time zone, check out World Time Zones to find out what time that is where you are) in #StraticsHoC on the Stratics IRC Servers.

For those with Java installed, Stratics’ IRC HoC Java Chat applet will allow you to automatically join #StraticsHoC by entering a nickname and clicking on the Chat! button. Otherwise, you can connect to the servers by using either mIRC, pirch, Ircle, one of your favorite Linux chat clients, or one of the Java applets listed on the Stratics site and entering one of the following servers:

• irc.frws.com (USA, Colorado)
• irc.glowfish.de (EU, Germany)
• irc2.frws.com (USA, Colorado)
• irc.stratics.com (re-routing to one of the above servers)

We look forward to seeing you there!

Lucas Arts has provided us with exclusive details of the Rebel Multiplayer Ship, the YKL-37r!

The YKL-37r was known simply as "The Rebel Falcon" during most of its creation, gaining its "official" designation only once it was nearly finished. The idea was to create a Falcon-sized ship that moved away from the distinctly Corellian look associated with ships like the YT-1300 and Corellian Corvette, and instead draw on design cues more specifically associated with the Rebellion.

The biggest influences on the YKL's design were the rebel transport seen escaping Hoth near the beginning of "The Empire Strikes Back," and the B-wing fighter. It's probably the most heavily "greebled" ship I've built for JTL (it involved even more texture work than the Y-wing!), and was easily the longest-running Jump to Lightspeed piece I've worked on. But it was also the first ship I was free to both build and design myself, and that it made it an especially fun project, despite the challenges.

Chris Douglas, Senior Artist, Sony Online Entertainment

Click here for more pictures! I know which side I'm on!

We have the opportunity to submit some questions to the developers and would like to collect them from you! If you have a question for the devs, please post it here! Try to make sure your question is positive and well written; that will increase both the chances that it is asked and that it is answered. We will not be collecting questions you send to us through email, so please do make use of our forums! After you visit the question thread, feel free to discuss the game with fellow players in other threads!

Thanks!

The results are in for the JTL Beta Giveaway! Unfortunately, we received many screenshots in some areas, but fewer in others. Oddly enough, nobody sent in a scary screenshot. In any case, we adjusted things accordingly and have given away beta slots to fifteen lucky people! In addition, we've given a few extra accounts we obtained to some of our contributors, people who have submitted news, content, etc. Thank you for contributing to our community; this was our chance to give something back to you! You can view the gallery of selected screenshots here!

Lucas Arts has sent us six exclusive screenshots from Jump to Lightspeed!

You can view all six here!

Are you looking for a chance to participate in the Jump to Lightspeed Beta? We have fifteen accounts to give away and want to give one to you! All you have to do is get in game and take a really cool screenshot!

The categories are:

1. Best Solo Action - Let's see your character taking on some real cool stuff... alone!
2. Best Group Action - We're talking an epic battle here.
3. Funniest Screenshot - This is a no-brainer. Make us laugh!
4. Scariest Picture - There's some scary stuff in the game. I think beta is worth the risk!
5. Best Avatar - Do you know how to dress? Have a cool set of armour? This may be your category!!

But wait! There are a few basic rules you need to follow:

• You must be 18, as you are required to sign an NDA to play.
• You must have an active account for Star Wars Galaxies to play the Beta.
• You must provide your full name in your email. Your name will not be shared with anybody.
• Please provide a nickname or real name to go with your screenshot, as well as a small sentence to describe the pic. All winning entries will be posted on the site. Depending on the volume of images received, we may also post runner-ups.
• Any screenshot over 1 megabyte will be deleted. Keep it reasonable.
• You may not edit screenshots in any way (unless you need to reduce the file size). If you want a caption to make your pic funny, use in-game chat bubbles.
• Only one entry per person.

Please email your entry to swgcontest@stratics.com with the name of the category for your screenshot in the subject line; we cannot guarantee your screenshot will be looked at otherwise. All entries sent elsewhere will be deleted. We will only accept one entry per person. Not following the rules will result in disqualification.

Get your printscreen key ready! The contest is open until Friday, October 15th at 12 PM EST. Winners will be notified via e-mail over the weekend. We will select the top three from each category.

Thanks and good luck!

It is time for a new poll! It has recently been discovered that we can only decorate one mp ship at a time. Moreoever, the veteran ship cannot even be upgraded! With a ship limit of three per character, you might want to start thinking about your choice, if you're going to make one.

Our previous poll asked you which race you'd choose. It looks like the new races aren't all that popular. Although, it also looks like a lot of us would love to create a new race if we had a slot. Here are the results:

Hello,

The server that runs our message forums and links has become unavailable and we are investigating the problem. We will have this server back online as soon as we are able. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

- Jhariden