On Thursday, November 20, at 4:00 AM PST 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.

4:00 AM PST (Los Angeles) / 6:00 AM CST (Austin) / 7:00 AM EST (New York)
12:00 PM GMT / 1:00 PM CET (Berlin) / 9:00 PM (Tokyo) / 11:00 PM AEDT (Sydney)
Click here for a Time Zone Calculator.

Chapter 11: The Battle of Echo Base
Publish Notes, November 20, 2008

Highlights:

• A new heroic encounter on the famous planet of Hoth, holo-beasts, minor profession changes, and improvements to the Character Transfer Service.

The Battle of Echo Base:

• The Battle of Echo Base is the newest heroic encounter in Star Wars Galaxies. Those sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire begin their journey to Hoth at the Adventurers' Guildhall in Aurilia.
• Only those who have chosen a side in the Galactic Civil War can take part in the battle, and all group members must be the same faction in order to enter the encounter together. A recruiter is available within the Guildhall.
• Each stage of the battle has its own objectives and goals, so keep an eye on both your comm window and the Quest Journal for important updates!

• The Rebel and Imperial troopers in the Adventurers' Guildhall of Aurilia offer a number of goods in exchange for these valuable tokens, including special armor and DNA that can't be found anywhere else in the galaxy. You must be the same faction as the vendor to purchase his wares.
• A minimum of four players in the group are required to begin the Battle of Echo Base.
• You must have at least four players in Echo Base or the instance will close after 15 minutes.
• An Accomplishment window at the end of the encounter displays to show you how well your group did for each goal during the instance.
• A total of nine tokens can be earned during the Battle of Echo Base. Players who earn nine tokens are rewarded with the Hero of Echo Base badge. If all phases of the Battle of Echo Base are failed, then no tokens will be awarded.
• New collections within the Battle of Echo Base heroic encounter have been added.

Holo-Beasts:

• A beast master with one point spent in Incubation sees a new option in the radial menu on an unhatched egg. Select Convert Egg to Holo-Pet to change the egg from a beast to a holo-beast.
• The holo-pet cannot be changed back into a beast, so take care when converting a beast into a holographic companion.

• Holo-beast data cubes can be traded and can be used in the Chapter 4 publish gift emitter as well as the new Chapter 11 emitter earned by completing a collection.

Game Play:

• New collections have been added.
• Trading Card Game loot reward vehicles Sith Speeder, Mechno Chair, and XJ-2 Airspeeder now have a maximum health of 15,000.
• Housing items that use ground based particle effects (such as the Trick or Treat Projector III) now work properly below ground.
• Bandoliers can be hidden from display with /showBackpack.
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause a command to fail to execute but still trigger the cooldown.
• The Elite Tusken Rifle now correctly sounds like a Tusken rifle.
• Xeno furniture obtained by the House Pack Up event is no longer No Trade.
• The sounds of doors opening and closing in player houses have been reduced in volume by 35%.
• The winning paintings from the Create a Painting contest are no longer available.
• Grenades in the world will now disappear after they have exploded.
• A new character age title, <#> Years of Experience, is now available to display the age of your character in years. This title is available once your character reaches one year old. You can determine your character's age from the Birthdate field in the Character Community tab. The character's age is preserved when the character is transferred. Note that this title is based on the character age, not the account age.
• An "N Year Veteran" account age title is now available to display the age of your account in years. This title is available once your account reaches 1 year old. /getVeteranRewardTime will display your account age.

Beast Master:

• Fixed Enfeeble line of abilities that were buffing the target instead of de-buffing them.

Bounty Hunter:

• Shields now absorb 99% damage when activated. On hit the damage reduction is lowered by 1% and applies the energy reservoir effect which increases damage dealt by 1%. Changed from increases armor by 10,000 and glancing blow by 80%.

Medic:

• If a medic buff is used on a group member, it applies to all group members within 72m.
• Medic group buffs also buff beasts.
• Reduced action cost of medic buffs by 90%.
• Fixed buffs with shorter duration overwriting longer duration ones.

Munitions Trader:

• The Nova Edge Sword can now be deconstructed.
• All weapons that are flagged as deconstructable can now be deconstructed whether they have been biolinked or not.

Officer:

• /sysgroup no longer attempts to parse targets unless an other type code actually appears in the string. This means that "/sysgroup Luke go stand by the door" now results in "Luke go stand by the door" but "/sysgroup Luke %TO is a %RO" still converts to "Luke is a Human".

Spy:

• Advanced Strikes now increases all damage taken by the target by 2% in addition to increasing damage done by Blaster Burst and Razor Slash by 20%. This effect stacks up to 5 times. (Changed from increases damage done by Blaster Burst and Razor Slash by 10% stacking 10 times.)
• Avoid Damage and most GCW commands can be activated while stealthed.

Role-Playing:

• Typing /ooc now sets your player status as "OOC" (out of character).

User Interface:

• The comm window can now be moved and locked/unlocked.

• The lower limit for the Nebula Density slider has been reduced.
• Fixed an issue in the space toolbar that caused icons to be positioned incorrectly.
• Clicking the Keymap button in the Controls Options window should now properly take you to the Keymap page.
• The OK and Cancel buttons in the Trade and Chat Tab Management windows should behave properly when the window is resized.
• Overhead map labels should no longer move as you approach them.
• Added a small faction icon to the status window, similar to the icon on the target window.
• Meatlump Doll Collector title has been corrected.

Graphics:

• Added support to recognize higher resolution graphics settings. These higher resolutions are available when using the Matrox TripleHead2GO product.

Character Transfer Service:

• Resource crates now transfer. An "imported" resource crate will be uniquely identified on the foreign galaxy by having the originating galaxy name in front of the resource name, like (Europe-Chimaera)Arou. "Imported" resources are not available from the 30K resource deed veteran reward. Recycled resources (like homogenized milk, processed meat, processed seafood, ground bones, smelted copper, etc.), because they are the same on all the galaxies, will be converted to the corresponding native recycled resource of the destination galaxy.
• Factory crates now transfer.
• Manufacturing schematics now transfer.
• Please note that vendors (and vendor contents) are not transferred. If you have a TCG loot vendor, destroy the vendor before transferring to regain the ability to create the TCG loot vendor. The ability to create the TCG loot vendor will transfer so that on the destination galaxy you can create the TCG loot vendor again.
• Packed factories should properly transfer, including the maintenance pool, power reserves, installed manufacturing schematic, contents of ingredient hopper, and contents of output hopper.
• The maintenance pool of a packed house should transfer.
• The contents of crafting station should properly transfer.
• Titles are now available to indicate the galaxy/galaxies you have transferred from. A title is not granted for a same galaxy transfer. It will be granted retroactively. For each galaxy that the character has transferred from, you can choose from 3 different titles to indicate a particular galaxy that you have transferred from. The available titles are “Fugitive from <galaxy>”, “Traveler from <galaxy>”, and “from <galaxy>”.
• You can now search for characters who transferred from a common galaxy as your character, but only if that character wants to be searched for by "transferred from" galaxy. This functionality is retroactive.
• Enable your character to be searched for by "transferred from" galaxy by other characters who also transferred from a common galaxy by checking the "Allow my character to be searched by "transferred from" galaxy" checkbox in the Character Community tab.
• In the Search Community tab, under the "Character Data" search node, select the "Common Transfer Galaxy" search item to search for characters who transferred from a common galaxy as your character and are marked as searchable by "transferred from" galaxy.
• When the search contains the "Common Transfer Galaxy" search item, the common "transferred from" galaxy(ies) of each matching character will be displayed in the matching character popup tooltip in the Search Results window.
• A /showCtsHistory command has been added to display the CTS history of the character. This command is retroactive.
• Fixed an issue with some mounts and deconstructed weapons displaying the wrong name after a transfer.
• Fixed an issue with not transferring with Death Watch Bunker entrance identifiers.
• Enzymes and DNA should transfer correctly now.
• Fixed an issue that can sometimes cause the Sorosuub Luxury Yacht to be transferred with its components in the character's inventory, causing it to be unusable.
• Missions, except for bounty missions, should now transfer correctly. Bounty missions are not transferred.
• An incubator with power should transfer with the power.
• Fixed an issue where an incubator with power won't allow you to remove the power after the transfer.
• Fixed an issue where the transfer failed if there is an item in the reverse engineering tool. The contents of the reverse engineering tool should now transfer.
• Fixed an issue that can sometimes cause a ship in the datapad not to transfer.
• An account that has the maximum 8 characters will be allowed to do a same account transfer without having to delete a character to temporarily "make room" for the new character.
• Most transferred characters should be available for login within 15 minutes after the transfer request. If you try to login the just transferred character before the transfer has completed, no harm will be done to the just transferred character, but you will receive a message saying that you cannot login the just transferred character yet, and to try again later.
• Your character must be logged out on one of the 10 original ground planets (Tatooine, Naboo, Corellia, Rori, Talus, Yavin 4, Endor, Lok, Dantooine, Dathomir) in order to be able to transfer the character.
• Previously transferred characters that had their birth date incorrectly reset to the transfer date are automatically fixed to the character's correct birth date (i.e. the birth date of the original character) at the next login. In game mail with the subject "Birth Date Fixup" will be sent if/when the character's birth date is fixed.

Chapter Gift - Hoth Snow Machine:

• The chapter gift for Chapter 11: The Battle of Echo Base is a Hoth Snow Machine! Bring a little bit of Hoth home with you.

• You can use the snow machine in two different ways:
  • Inventory: If you have the snow machine in your inventory, you can activate the machine to receive a stack of snowballs. These snowballs can then be thrown at other players.
  • In a Structure: If you place the snow machine in your house, you can activate the snow machine to give the illusion of it snowing inside. The snow machine even has different settings so you can control how much snow falls inside.
• Characters must be at least 10 days old to receive the snow machine.

In Memoriam:

• The Aurilia guildhall has a new memorial to a fallen hero, named "The Freeman."

Hello boys and girls,

I hope you have all been enjoying the Galactic Moon Festival. It was certainly fun to put together and we already have some great ideas on how to expand the event next year! It's been great on this end to see all the different creative ways that the decorations were put to use in the player houses / guild halls.

Of course the big news of late is the Imperial portion of The Battle of Echo Base hitting TCPrime. We appreciate all your testing and feedback on the instance. It was a huge undertaking, bigger than any of us initially anticipated, and we've been really pleased with the warm reception it received. Bug fixing and tuning continues to go well and the Rebel portion of the battle should be up on TCPrime before the end of the day today. I don't have a specific launch date to share for Hoth as a whole though it shouldn't be too far off. Things are looking great; we just want to be sure that the release is as high quality as possible. I do have a couple of things to mention based on the feedback given thus far...

1. The Battle of Echo Base Hologram - There has been a lot of displeasure over the fact that loyal subscribers cannot receive this reward. To help alleviate this we will be altering the item to make it tradable. Furthermore, we intend to make any decorative recapture gifts that come up in the future tradable as well. This keeps the reward enticing to those who may want to return yet it doesn't shut loyal players out from the possibility of ever attaining one.

2. Echo Base Difficulty - There have been reports that the Imperial portion of the Echo Base heroic is too easy. We beg to differ as the logs haven't shown us anybody who has received a flawless victory (or even a "pretty good" victory). Remember, this encounter is bound by the realities of the film. The Imperials always win and the Rebels always lose. Victory in this instance comes in the form of how mercilessly you defeat the Rebels or how much equipment and personnel you manage to evacuate before the Imperials overrun the base. A player with a flawless victory will receive NINE tokens, three for each portion of the battle (battlefield, base interior, and evacuation area). We've seen folks post that the encounter is too easy, yet they only earned one token. Those folks need to keep practicing. For those that do get a flawless victory, you will be awarded a badge and title for your achievement.

In other big news since my last Producer's Note, LucasArts and BioWare have announced Star Wars: The Old Republic. I wanted to take this opportunity to reiterate what has already been said by SOE and LucasArts; there are no current plans to shut down Star Wars Galaxies. In fact, SOE has never shut down an MMO. The SWG team remains committed to delivering you high quality updates well into the foreseeable future. We already have rough ideas for what our content will be throughout 2009.

For the TCG fans out there SOE Denver has another Promo Drop Weekend scheduled for you this weekend. In response to player feedback, we have raised the drop rate of the promo card for this and future promo weekends. While the promo cards won't ever be common, per se, we hope that this gives more players the chance to find these exciting items.

The next update on the horizon is our release of Life Day this December. The giant wroshyr trees will be back, this time in Dearic (Talus), Doaba Goerfel (Corellia), and Wayfar (Tatooine). We have a lot of neat gifts planned for that event, many inspired by the Star Wars Holiday Special. We will also have a new speeder for those that take part in one of our Life Day events.

Finally, I wanted to clarify something about Free CTS and House Pack-Up. The reason that we intend to launch Free CTS before the House Pack-Up event is because we want the people who transfer to be able to participate in this fun (and useful) event on their new server. We want to give everybody on each server, freshly transferred and otherwise, to have a fair shot at any prime real estate that may be opening up.

I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving!

Dotanuki

The battle of Echo Base wages around you, but something else has caught the attention of you and your allies. Is there something else lurking in the shadows of Echo Base? There's more to Hoth than just the skirmish between the Rebels and Imperials! Find out more about new collections that are part of the encounter, and a valley hidden from view… until now.

Cool Collections

Not only can you take part in one of the most famous battles of Star Wars, you can also complete special collections during the skirmish! When traversing through the north field and the base itself, you might notice a sharpshooter make a rare appearance. These Rebel and Imperial ranked officers stand out from the rest.

You might not always catch a glimpse of these strong combatants during the battle, but if you do, be sure to take them down for a new slayer collection.

Fighters in the battle with eagle eyes might also spot malfunctioning probe droids during the battle. Due to problems with its onboard system, the probots attack both Rebels and Imperials on sight. Dispatch the malfunctioning droid to begin an all-new slayer collection, and you can earn a probe droid holo-pet.

Hapless visitors to Echo Base may wander into a nondescript room in a small tunnel, only to come face to face with a fierce wampa!

Wampas have been known to stalk the caverns of the base, attacking tauntauns in the stables. Their entrance point, a small room off one of the main corridors, had been closed off but was uncovered during the battle.

As you and your friends slay the ferocious carnivore, you notice a small tunnel leading to an icy valley. Only the brave should venture outside into the snowy valley.

As you enter, keep your eyes peeled for a solitary figure hiding in a camp nearby. Professor Blainekie, a researcher investigating the wampas in the vicinity, requires your help with slaying the savage beasts.

Although wampas are normally solitary, the threat of the Rebel settlement has caused them to band together in a valley surrounded by rocks and ice. A number of wampas reside in this area, which is littered with the corpses of creatures who were unfortunate enough to wander into their lair.

The valley curves into a dead end, where a Rebel base lies abandoned in the ice. As you defeat all of the wampas in the valley, you hear a loud roar near the base. The most dangerous creature you and your friends will encounter in Wampa Valley appears: the brutal Unkajo!

Unkajo is a wampa that towers above the others, stronger and bigger than the other predators, and even more dangerous. Take this creature head on and you will be in for quite a fight.

With new collections and a fight against one of the most vicious creatures in Star Wars, in addition to all of the other action in Echo Base, Chapter 11: The Battle of Echo Base offers an experience unlike any other in Star Wars Galaxies.

For just ten (10) event passes, each participant will receive three (3) Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game Champions of the Force booster packs, a Jan Dodonna (1P3) promotional card, an Ewok Vendor (1SWGP5) loot card, and entry into the Loot Tournament weekend to compete for additional prizes!

Please note that participation is limited to U.S. residents only. Void in Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee and Vermont. Click here for the official rules.

For details, visit the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game Events Calendar!

Holographic pets are beloved companions that roam in the houses of pet lovers across the galaxy. To bring a holo-pet home, all you have to do is place an emitter in your structure and insert a holo-pet data cube. Not only does Chapter 11: The Battle of Echo Base offer decorators and pet collectors a new chance to earn a holo-pet emitter, you can also work with a beast master to create your very own holo-beast!

Piecing Together the Emitter

Several pieces are needed to complete the Display Emitter collection, new in Chapter 11. Each piece forms a vital component for the finished emitter. Hunt your enemies across the galaxy to find each valuable piece of this collection.

Use the radial menu on each piece to complete the Display Emitter collection. Once finished, two rewards are placed in your inventory: the holo-pet emitter and the tauntaun holo-pet data cube!

To use the emitter, place it in the room where you'd like your holo-pet to roam. Open the radial menu on the holo-emitter and select Insert Data Cube. A menu pops up with a list of any data cubes you have in your inventory. The new holo-pet emitter displays holo-pets earned in Chapter 11 as well as holo-pets granted as a Chapter 4 publish gift. Only one data cube can be inserted in an emitter at a time.

Select the pet of your choice on the list, and that's it! Click the holo-emitter to turn your pet hologram off and on. You can also use the radial menu on the emitter to name your new pet! With the data cube for the pet you wish to name in your inventory, open the radial menu and select the option to name your pet. Enter the name and click OK to add the customized name.

Creating a New Holo-Beast

Tauntauns aren't the only new holo-pets you can place in your home. In Chapter 11, beast masters have the ability to turn any unhatched egg into a new, distinctive holo-beast! A beast master with one point spent in Incubation sees a new option in the radial menu on an unhatched egg. Select Convert Egg to Holo-Pet to change the egg from a beast to a holo-beast. The holo-pet cannot be changed back into a beast, so take care when converting a beast into a holographic companion.

Holo-beast data cubes can be traded, so find a beast master near you to start collecting holo-beasts!

Recently it was announced that the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) will take place from June 2-4, 2009 and in the style it used to be, large, loud and expensive.

Wait a minute! Didn't they decide it was too much and therefore scale it down? I guess it got too quiet and uneventful aka boring?

From gamasutra.com:

The show put on by publishers -- like NCsoft, which was fined in 2006 for exceeding decibel levels and making it difficult for Sega to conduct closed-doors meetings in its own, adjacent booth -- ultimately became essentially ridiculous.

And at some point, a cadre of powerful publishers got together and decided that it wasn't worth spending millions of dollars every year to hand GameStop managers inflatable rubber rafts from atop metal edifices in which nobody could hear themselves think.

The Gizmondo E3 booth, circa 2005, is reliably rumored to have cost $5 million. In the style of a Hollywood B-movie backlot, it was done up like a town, a Mayan temple, and who-knows-what else, and crawling with scantily-clad women, it was a symbol of what E3 had become by that point: a big spend with no substance.

My fear is that this move is what it appears to be -- the organizers of E3 having no idea what to do with the thing, but acting because they have to act. As with the Santa Monica E3 of 2007. As with the quiet LACC E3 of this year. Each year we're told that after careful consultation, the current iteration of the show is the result. And each year, since 2006, nobody likes it.

“Video games are the fastest growing and most compelling sector of the entertainment industry. And, this upgraded event will reflect the growth, innovation and excitement of our industry,” said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents US computer and video game publishers and organizes the annual event. “The breadth, scope and quality of the changes made to the show will make E3 the must-attend event of the year.”

"The video game business will be twice as big in 2009 as it was in 2006 when we had the last real E3 Expo - so get ready for some fireworks!" said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. "The changes made will ensure that the 2009 E3 Expo conveys the best of what makes us proud as entertainment leaders."

I guess we'll find out next year if the decision was a good one or a bad one.

Life in the Fast Lane Episode 6

“Ironically, the stellar body that first brought the Hutts to the Sisar Run millennia ago is now considered a great nuisance by them and anyone else navigating near it. The Novolek Beacon is a trans-dimensional energy streamer, a rare sort of the pulsar star that emits a steady barrage of radiation, stellar energy and matter as it rotates. The streamer is a result of EM-invisible, multidimensional, gravitational curves intersecting across a large star. Sort of a convergence of hyperspace mass shadows, the star is under great gravitational stress, but does not possess enough realspace mass to collapse into a singularity.”

“In addition, the gravitational curves are not uniform, and occasionally, a patch of the star will be freed of the immense forces pushing against it. This patch then explodes outward in realspace, like air pushed out of a balloon. The realspace stream is mostly high-energy stellar plasma-hydrogen and helium gases-yet this stream causes a hyperspace shadow itself. The hyperspace shadows are dragged back into the other gravity wells, but the realspace particles continue unaffected.”

“This paradox, the El’shuun Aa Effect, causes immense disturbance throughout a localized area of hyperspace. The “walls” between dimensions are stretched thin at this point and even subspace communication signals are disrupted, their broadcast ranges varying radically. Yet, despite all this chaotic activity, all that is seen in realspace is particle fountain emitted from a bright star, flashing like a light-house in a storm.”

“The Novolek Beacon, like most energy streamers, is not always active. It follows precise cycles, as the stellar bodies that cause the imposing gravity curves to move about in space. The Beacon, nicknamed “The Grandfather Clock” for its precision, flares every 28 days, 12 hours and 42 minutes; the flare’s duration is variable, however lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days. At this time, all hyperspace travel around the Beacon has to be rerouted or slowed down, depending on the Streamer’s intensity.”

“The Hutts have long been dreaming up a way to destroy the star since it slows down traffic and spawn all sorts of excuses for disreputable smugglers who conveniently ‘lose’ important cargoes. Incidentally, it creates an arena for competing pirate forces. Rumors float up and down the Sisar Run that Durga the Hutt is contracting scientists to come up with a plan to destroy the Novolek Beacon. What would happen if a transdimensional streamer was artificially destroyed – is unknown.”

Kal listened to this during the hours of hyperspace and studied any information he had on local space. It didn’t help the feelings that came up; it’s a trap of some kind. He shook off the daydreaming and got back to work.

Join the team for Night of the Living Hamster! Hubert and Emily love Halloween but how will they fair when faced with Zombie Server Hamsters? Meet Hal, master of the SOE Lore Dungeons. Will he save the day? Jason "Pex" Ryan gives the latest news, Brenlo chats about his recent trip and the folks wish all of those affected by the fires in Southern California well.

You can tune in by going to the Official SOE Podcast site. Once you get there, click on your preferred bandwidth.

Another way to tune in is with iTunes. If you have iTunes installed, select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!

Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.

Check out the Official SOE Podcast!

When the crypt goes creak and the tombstones outside the cantina quake, you'll know it's time for the Galactic Moon Festival! Beginning October 14 th , residents of Star Wars Galaxies can take a shuttle to Moenia and Mos Eisley and celebrate the Galactic Moon Festival in style…if you dare!

Galactic Moon Festival

In an effort to gain more support from the planets Naboo and Tatooine, Jabba the Hutt has decided to throw the first annual Galactic Moon Festival so everyone can celebrate the horrifyingly awesome haunts of the season.

Jabba has grown tired of all the love festivals, celebrations of life, and other saccharine events. Thus, it is my duty to report to you that he has taken it upon himself to throw the scariest festival of the year! Jabba has sent me, Aponte, to give you a quick preview of some of the great things he has planned for the big celebration.

How many players are in guilds they feel strongly affiliated with? How did players come to be in those guilds in the first place? How many of their guild members are people they know in real life.

Take a look at those questions and more in this article.

What's the process players use to create their characters? Do they always pick certain character classes? Do they carefully read through class descriptions before deciding?

In this article, we summarize what players said.

67% of respondents said that there was a class type they preferred across games.

Take a look at what those class type preferences are here.

All this and new surveys for active MMO players at The Daedalus Project.

Nick Yee

Editor's Note: Nick's research has been cited in the Washington Post, CBS, TechWeek, the US Airways in-flight magazine Attaché, the Tennessean and CNET.com.

His work has also been used as course reading at academic institutions, such as Stanford (History of Computer Game Design), UC Berkeley (Research Topics in HCI), U. of Washington (Intro. To New Media), U. Mass (Social Issues in Computing), Loyola New Orleans (Interactive Media), and Haverford College (Foundations of Personality).

Learn about Nick Yee and his fascinating background here.

You can tune in by going to the Official SOE Podcast site. Once you get there, click on your preferred bandwidth.

Another way to tune in is with iTunes. If you have iTunes installed, select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!

Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.

Check out the Official SOE Podcast!