[16:55] * Q-3PO wrangles all of the devs into the room.
[16:57] [TH] *is wrangled*
[17:00] * Q-3PO ducks back behind the curtain again as he is not going to be a speaker in this one.
[17:02] [Brannoc] Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics house of commons chat, tonight our guests are none other than the Starwars Galaxies developers! The topic for chat tonight will just be around the upcoming droid invasion and Pubs 7 and 8, then moving into a little general content. Please no space questions tonight though.
[17:02] [Brannoc] Please send said questions to [QT]Jorah, [QT]Tolkin, [QT]Antarion, or [QT]Orkama. 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 swg.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
[17:02] [Brannoc] So without further ado we'll start with a brief introduction from each developer, now would be a good time to start sending those questions!
[17:03] [ronda_lucasarts] Hi all ... I'm Ronda the Community Relations Specialist.
[17:03] [ronda_lucasarts] Not a dev, but I thought I'd say Hi anyway :-)
[17:03] [Runesabre] Good evening, I am Runesabre, Lead Designer for SWG Live.
[17:04] [Blair] Greetings, I'm J. Allen Brack and I'm the Live Producer on the Sony side. I spend most of my time looking into reported problems, collect ideas for new issues, and help keep the service running.
[17:04] * Q-3PO pushes some more devs out from behind the curtain.
[17:04] [Haden] Hey everyone! I'm Haden Blackman, the LucasArts Producer for Star Wars Galaxies.
[17:04] [TH] Hello everyone! I'm TH, Assistant Community Manager
[17:05] [Keldarin] Hey all, Keldarin here, Lead Systems Designer on SWG Live
[17:05] [Haden] We're glad you could all make it tonight. We're really excited about the updates coming down the pipe, especially the Corellian Corvette and the Droid Invasion.
[17:06] [Haden] For those of you who haven't seen the Corvette on Test Center yet, Rebels can expect to find a starship full of stormtroopers to fight, Imperials will be able to square off against Rebels, and neutrals can take missions from Jabba to battle CorSec.
[17:07] [Haden] Best of all (from my perspective), players will be driven to the Corellian Corvette via story-driven missions. And, it's really HIGH END content...
[17:07] [Haden] Now I'll hand it over to Keldarin to talk about the Droid Invasion...
[17:08] [Keldarin] So I hope everyone has been enjoying the new Combat Droids in the lastest Publish, Droid Invasion. We have even more planned for the upcomming publish with additional droid modules to add lots of new utility and fun functionality to brings droids even more to the forefront of the SWG Universe.
[17:09] [TH] Also, the Live Events team has been running some great live events with the droids in many cities.
[17:09] [Brannoc] *Ryu_KnT* what kind of droids are in the works? and about the rumor of the Droid Handler class, is it possible or just rumor?
[17:09] [Blair] We are discussing a lot of options for the droid commander. We have floated a lot of ideas by the community but I don't think we've come up with what the "right" solution is. We want to get high level combat droids into the game for you, but not unbalance what we have.
[17:10] [Brannoc] *Shiggins* Hi Devs , Just Wondering How Many New Driods do we Expect is Publish 8 if any?
[17:11] [Runesabre] Publish 8 will see the introduction of several new and interesting droid utility modules. We also have some new droids coming up in some of the new adventures we are developing.
[17:12] [Haden] The "blastromech" you've seen in the newsletter will be showing up eventually as part of a dungeon.
[17:13] [Brannoc] *Llith* how often will these invasions happen and where can they take place? like the one in theed last night
[17:13] [TH] With regards to the "Droid Invasion" live events, we have have run the event at least once on each server. We are continuing through the weekend. You can check the official site and the Live Events forums for more info on Pex's events.
[17:14] [Haden] We'll also try to "automate" all successful events, like the droid invasion live event.
[17:14] [Haden] In the Imperial Crackdown, for example, we took a live event that was very well-received and added it to the game as a scripted event.
[17:15] [Brannoc] *puddy* Hi, with the implementation of the Droid Invasion, many DE's feel cheated. The "combat droids" are much lower than BE'd pets, and more or less useless in all but the lowest level combat, what can you say to the DE's that are dropping the profession because they feel let down ? Thanks
[17:16] [Keldarin] We know that level 10 BE pets are still overpowered. We are still trying to tweak the power levels of the low level cloned pets.
[17:16] [Keldarin] The goal is to get the droids to be comparable in power to those cloned pets.
[17:16] [Keldarin] Situationally they will have different advantages but neither should be straight out better than the other.
[17:17] [Brannoc] ·Dhashian· Are there any plans to restore the Probot medium armour, because right now it has no tanking abilities, which is the main point of the combat droids.
[17:18] [Runesabre] In order to maintain the proper combat balance of the game, it was necessary to reduce the probot armor to appropriate levels. The current probot armor was akin to what a level 150 creature would have.
[17:18] [Brannoc] *Valeria* When are there going to be new player controlled droids added to the game?
[17:18] [Blair] We have plans to implement new droid modules for the next publish. Additionally our art team is hard at work on new droids. We rolled out additional combat droids wiht publish 7 that you will see in a few weeks.
[17:19] [Blair] With each publish more droids will be released.
[17:20] [Brannoc] ·K[r]u|aw|· Have you ever considered addind some kind of looted or quest rewarded droid components/modules that could bring the droids up par to, let's say a Bio-Engineered non-ch pet ?
[17:21] [Blair] We really want to add additional high level combat droids to the game. It's fun, it's Starwars, and I love the idea of having a droid in combat.
[17:22] [Blair] The key thing is to make sure we aren't unbalancing the game as a result.
[17:22] [Blair] Just handing high level combat droids to players, even on a limited basis, wouldn't be a good idea.
[17:22] [Brannoc] *[TG]Tio* Are droids going to be the main focuses for the next few publishes or will additional things be added as well other than the droids?
[17:23] [Brannoc] Please remember to only send questions to [QT]Antarion, [QT]Jorah, [QT]Orkama, and [QT]Tolkin!
[17:23] [Keldarin] Absolutely there will be content other than just droids in the upcoming Publishes.
[17:24] [Keldarin] There are additional dungeons in the works
[17:24] [Keldarin] And additional armor and weapons will be coming as well.
[17:25] [Keldarin] Droids are a big part of the theme for the next publish but that not all it will be
[17:25] [Haden] We're also going to add Mandalorian armor to the game.
[17:26] [Brannoc] *MCPrimetime* can we get a definative explanation on which defenses where capped?
[17:27] [Keldarin] In Publish 7 we added a cap for the Dodge, Counterattack, Block, Ranged Defense & Melee Defense skill mods.
[17:27] [Keldarin] These are all capped internally at 125. The UI will show a higher number, but nothing beyond 125 will count.
[17:28] [Keldarin] All other defensive modifiers are in full effect.
[17:28] [Brannoc] [LoT`Th3rm0^[e]] Do you have any plans on updating Astromech Stats on a weekly or monthly basis? If so would it be possible to include all servers in the "Developer Structure Viewer"?
[17:30] [TH] We are planning to do "Astromech Stats" each month, but they will be a different category each month.
[17:32] [Runesabre] We notice many people are asking about our plans for the GCW.
[17:33] [Runesabre] We have an extensive planf or revamping the GCW coming up. The general goal is to provide the means for every profession to have a tangible impact on the ongoing GCW struggle.
[17:33] [Runesabre] Each profession will be able to contribute to the struggle in their own playstyle (not just through combative means) and the balance of power between Rebels and Imperials should have a tangible impact on the day to day play experience of every player.
[17:34] [Brannoc] Worship] Do you have any concepts for the new Wookie armor as of yet?
[17:34] [Haden] Yes! In fact, the first concept was just approved by LucasArts and Lucasfilm today. Tomorrow, we'll be showcasing it as the Friday Feature.
[17:34] [Haden] It should end up on Live within a few weeks.
[17:35] [Brannoc] [Zode{TR}] will duel wielding ever be implimented?
[17:35] [Blair] We had a motion capture shoot a few months ago and captured motion for duel wielder of weapons.
[17:35] [Blair] One thing we want to do before putting additional professions in the game is make sure all our existing profession are fun.
[17:36] [Blair] So as time goes on you will see us talk more about duel wielding.
[17:36] [Brannoc] *ebns72* George Lucas once said that "Sound is 50% of the motion picture experience." One can be suprised on how music can affect starwarsiness. Can we expect more music in swg, like in pois or cities?
[17:36] [Haden] This was actually a huge topic here at LucasArts today. We've been talking a great deal about how to get more music into the game...
[17:36] [Haden] Not just more quantity, but more variety as well.
[17:37] [Haden] We don't have any definitive plans yet, but we do have a full-time sound person dedicated to the game and he's been tasked with reviewing all the music...
[17:37] [Haden] and determining where/what we're lacking.
[17:37] [Haden] As soon as we know more, we'll share it, but I do hope that we can start feeding new music into the game in the coming months.
[17:38] [Brannoc] As a reminder to send a QT a message type /query [QT]Antarion Message Here
[17:39] [Brannoc] [Cloner] But a question on everyone's mind, I'm sure, is the question of the future way to unlock the force sensitive slot. Is there any progress report on the new path?
[17:40] [Keldarin] We've been actively working on the Jedi Revamp and I think you will all be pretty excited about what we have planned.
[17:40] [Keldarin] We're moving away from the skill based enabling that we have now and moving to a complete quest driven system.
[17:41] [Keldarin] Enabling your Force Sensitive skills will no longer require revoking skills or significantly changing you character.
[17:42] [Keldarin] There also won't be a specific Force Sensitive slot anymore, you will actually enable the Force skills for your current character and progress from there.
[17:42] [Keldarin] And that's all I'm saying for now. ;-)
[17:42] [Haden] Our goal here is to make the progression towards becoming a Jedi feel more like the progression in the films, and to make it a bit more accessible.
[17:43] [Brannoc] Be sure to send those questions to [QT]Antarion, [QT]Jorah, [QT]Orkama, and [QT]Tolkin now, use /query NICK Message Here to send it.
[17:43] [Brannoc] *Illian[Eclipse]* My question pertains to the new geonosian dungeon and the ris armor. Now that ris armor has been in the game, and upgraded with the drop from ackley, I'm wondering why only three races can wear the armor. When picking the rodian race, I read nothing about not being able to wear one of the most renounced pieces of armor in the galaxy. I'm curious as to whether or not that selection was intentional
[17:43] [Blair] So, our philosophy of cool drops is to make sure each thing we drop is cool, unique, and fun. From a design point of view, I don't have a problem with only certain species getting certain abilities. Over time, these things tend to balance everything out.
[17:44] [Blair] In this case, we didn't have time to make a helmet for the Rodians.
[17:45] [Brannoc] [Yeraze] The new defense caps, how do the Squad Leader's Group bonuses apply? Is +150 possible?
[17:46] [Keldarin] Squad Leader bonuses are in full effect. They can take you beyond the caps.
[17:46] [Brannoc] *JairunCaloth* When is shuttle port time going to be lessened? Everyone hates having to wait 10 min for a shuttle.
[17:49] [TH] Im happy to announce that in publish 8, shuttleport waits will all be 5 minutes and players will be able to travel from anyplanet to anyplanet. We are currently discussing the details of reducing the starport times.
[17:49] [[QT]Antarion] [EDGEY] Is anyone working on weapon revamps to introduce new weapons into the game? like Bh specific pistols and carbine, or rapiers for fencer, custom rifles for riflemen, or maybe even species specific weapons?
[17:50] [Keldarin] We are always working on new weapons. We'll keep releasing them periodically with the new content with each Publish.
[17:53] [Brannoc] [[AHAZI]QuinlanTheInferno] Are there any plans of rectifying the stat inequities for non-humans and such. As a Twi TKM, I have to use doctor to keep my mind and my HA bars up!!
[17:53] [Blair] Each species has a bonus that makes it unique for certain professions. Twi's are great entertainers, so they get huge bonuses with these professions. Twi's have a hard time with some of the combat professions. Wookiee's have an easier time being creature handlers.
[17:53] [Blair] We want each species to do any profession, but each species should have a unique experience.
[17:54] [Brannoc] [[9]] When will we find out the results of the project dead eye storyline?
[17:54] [Q-3PO] (sneaks in to answer 1 question) We will tally up the results for Cries of Alderaan Act 3 in a couple weeks (official end date will be posted in the next week).
[17:54] [Q-3PO] It will still be live until Publish 8.
[17:54] [Q-3PO] Publish 8 will show the final results.
[17:54] * Jayla [2.2.0.6@adsl-64-169-0-93.dsl.renocs.nvbell.net] is on IRC (00:02)
[17:54] [Q-3PO] But you can get a badge until Publish 8
[17:55] * Q-3PO sneaks back out.
[17:56] [Brannoc] [DevilHimself] Will there be a seperate pilot skill tree for the space expansion?
[17:56] [Blair] We have plans to implement multiple piloting skill trees for the Space Expansion. More, I cannot say.
[17:56] [Haden] We're very excited about the progress on the Space Expansion. The team recently hit another major milestone dead on, and it looks quite impressive. I spent most of the day flying missions for the Empire, shooting down Y-wings above Tatooine.
[17:57] [Haden] We can't say much more at this point, but expect to start seeing more coverage as we near E3.
[17:57] [Haden] After E3, we'll basically blow the doors off.
[17:57] [Haden] As with the core game, we'll be soliciting feedback from the community on key design issues. And, of course, there will eventually be a beta, but we don't have dates for that yet.
[17:58] [Haden] Hang in there - we want to start talking about it just as much as you do.
[17:58] [Brannoc] *StinkinJawa* Could you give us more inside info on what's to be expected for the FanFest because a lot of people think that 89$ is quite a high price?
[17:58] [ronda_lucasarts] Sure thing!
[17:59] [ronda_lucasarts] We'll have two full days of forums and presentations
[17:59] [ronda_lucasarts] A reception on Friday night followed by a full Banquet on Saturday night.
[18:00] [ronda_lucasarts] There will be a Live Mission, Costume Contest and lots of prizes to win
[18:00] [ronda_lucasarts] I think attendees will be very happy with the content of the event.
[18:00] [ronda_lucasarts] :-)
[18:00] [ronda_lucasarts] More details coming very soon.
[18:01] [ronda_lucasarts] Please check out the official forums for more info and the official site as well
[18:01] [ronda_lucasarts] http://www.lucasarts.com/products/galaxies/fanfest/
[18:01] [TH] Good night everyone!
[18:01] [Blair] Thanks for your time tonight folks.
[18:01] [Brannoc] And that's another great HoC, I'd like to thank everyone (especially the developers) for coming.
[18:01] [Runesabre] Good night everyone and may the force be with you
[18:01] [Haden] Thanks for attending everyone! Have a great night!
[18:02] [Blair] Great questions tonight.
[18:02] [Brannoc] #Starwars will be available for general chat
[18:02] [Keldarin] Thanks for coming everyone. Take care.
[18:02] [Blair] Sorry we couldn't answer more.
[18:02] [ronda_lucasarts] Thanks everyone for attending!
[18:02] [ronda_lucasarts] See you next time!
[18:03] * Jayla [2.2.0.6@adsl-64-169-0-93.dsl.renocs.nvbell.net] has left IRC
[18:03] * Q-3PO pushes the Devs out the door.
[17:25] [Haden] We're also going to add Mandalorian armor to the game. 
[17:26] [Brannoc] *MCPrimetime* can we get a definative explanation on which defenses where capped?
[17:27] [Keldarin] In Publish 7 we added a cap for the Dodge, Counterattack, Block, Ranged Defense & Melee Defense skill mods.
[17:27] [Keldarin] These are all capped internally at 125. The UI will show a higher number, but nothing beyond 125 will count.
[17:28] [Keldarin] All other defensive modifiers are in full effect.
[17:28] [Brannoc] [LoT`Th3rm0^[e]] Do you have any plans on updating Astromech Stats on a weekly or monthly basis? If so would it be possible to include all servers in the "Developer Structure Viewer"?
[17:30] [TH] We are planning to do "Astromech Stats" each month, but they will be a different category each month.
[17:32] [Runesabre] We notice many people are asking about our plans for the GCW.
[17:33] [Runesabre] We have an extensive planf or revamping the GCW coming up. The general goal is to provide the means for every profession to have a tangible impact on the ongoing GCW struggle.
[17:33] [Runesabre] Each profession will be able to contribute to the struggle in their own playstyle (not just through combative means) and the balance of power between Rebels and Imperials should have a tangible impact on the day to day play experience of every player.
[17:34] [Brannoc] Worship] Do you have any concepts for the new Wookie armor as of yet?
[17:34] [Haden] Yes! In fact, the first concept was just approved by LucasArts and Lucasfilm today. Tomorrow, we'll be showcasing it as the Friday Feature.
[17:34] [Haden] It should end up on Live within a few weeks.
[17:35] [Brannoc] [Zode{TR}] will duel wielding ever be implimented?
[17:35] [Blair] We had a motion capture shoot a few months ago and captured motion for duel wielder of weapons.
[17:35] [Blair] One thing we want to do before putting additional professions in the game is make sure all our existing profession are fun.
[17:36] [Blair] So as time goes on you will see us talk more about duel wielding.
[17:36] [Brannoc] *ebns72* George Lucas once said that "Sound is 50% of the motion picture experience." One can be suprised on how music can affect starwarsiness. Can we expect more music in swg, like in pois or cities?
[17:36] [Haden] This was actually a huge topic here at LucasArts today. We've been talking a great deal about how to get more music into the game...
[17:36] [Haden] Not just more quantity, but more variety as well.
[17:37] [Haden] We don't have any definitive plans yet, but we do have a full-time sound person dedicated to the game and he's been tasked with reviewing all the music...
[17:37] [Haden] and determining where/what we're lacking.
[17:37] [Haden] As soon as we know more, we'll share it, but I do hope that we can start feeding new music into the game in the coming months.
[17:38] [Brannoc] As a reminder to send a QT a message type /query [QT]Antarion Message Here
[17:39] [Brannoc] [Cloner] But a question on everyone's mind, I'm sure, is the question of the future way to unlock the force sensitive slot. Is there any progress report on the new path?
[17:40] [Keldarin] We've been actively working on the Jedi Revamp and I think you will all be pretty excited about what we have planned.
[17:40] [Keldarin] We're moving away from the skill based enabling that we have now and moving to a complete quest driven system.
[17:41] [Keldarin] Enabling your Force Sensitive skills will no longer require revoking skills or significantly changing you character.
[17:42] [Keldarin] There also won't be a specific Force Sensitive slot anymore, you will actually enable the Force skills for your current character and progress from there.
[17:42] [Keldarin] And that's all I'm saying for now. ;-)
[17:42] [Haden] Our goal here is to make the progression towards becoming a Jedi feel more like the progression in the films, and to make it a bit more accessible.
[17:43] [Brannoc] Be sure to send those questions to [QT]Antarion, [QT]Jorah, [QT]Orkama, and [QT]Tolkin now, use /query NICK Message Here to send it.
[17:43] [Brannoc] *Illian[Eclipse]* My question pertains to the new geonosian dungeon and the ris armor. Now that ris armor has been in the game, and upgraded with the drop from ackley, I'm wondering why only three races can wear the armor. When picking the rodian race, I read nothing about not being able to wear one of the most renounced pieces of armor in the galaxy. I'm curious as to whether or not that selection was intentional
[17:43] [Blair] So, our philosophy of cool drops is to make sure each thing we drop is cool, unique, and fun. From a design point of view, I don't have a problem with only certain species getting certain abilities. Over time, these things tend to balance everything out.
[17:44] [Blair] In this case, we didn't have time to make a helmet for the Rodians.
[17:45] [Brannoc] [Yeraze] The new defense caps, how do the Squad Leader's Group bonuses apply? Is +150 possible?
[17:46] [Keldarin] Squad Leader bonuses are in full effect. They can take you beyond the caps.
[17:46] [Brannoc] *JairunCaloth* When is shuttle port time going to be lessened? Everyone hates having to wait 10 min for a shuttle.
[17:49] [TH] Im happy to announce that in publish 8, shuttleport waits will all be 5 minutes and players will be able to travel from anyplanet to anyplanet. We are currently discussing the details of reducing the starport times.
[17:49] [[QT]Antarion] [EDGEY] Is anyone working on weapon revamps to introduce new weapons into the game? like Bh specific pistols and carbine, or rapiers for fencer, custom rifles for riflemen, or maybe even species specific weapons?
[17:50] [Keldarin] We are always working on new weapons. We'll keep releasing them periodically with the new content with each Publish.
[17:53] [Brannoc] [[AHAZI]QuinlanTheInferno] Are there any plans of rectifying the stat inequities for non-humans and such. As a Twi TKM, I have to use doctor to keep my mind and my HA bars up!!
[17:53] [Blair] Each species has a bonus that makes it unique for certain professions. Twi's are great entertainers, so they get huge bonuses with these professions. Twi's have a hard time with some of the combat professions. Wookiee's have an easier time being creature handlers.
[17:53] [Blair] We want each species to do any profession, but each species should have a unique experience.
[17:54] [Brannoc] [[9]] When will we find out the results of the project dead eye storyline?
[17:54] [Q-3PO] (sneaks in to answer 1 question) We will tally up the results for Cries of Alderaan Act 3 in a couple weeks (official end date will be posted in the next week).
[17:54] [Q-3PO] It will still be live until Publish 8.
[17:54] [Q-3PO] Publish 8 will show the final results.
[17:54] * Jayla [2.2.0.6@adsl-64-169-0-93.dsl.renocs.nvbell.net] is on IRC (00:02)
[17:54] [Q-3PO] But you can get a badge until Publish 8
[17:55] * Q-3PO sneaks back out.
[17:56] [Brannoc] [DevilHimself] Will there be a seperate pilot skill tree for the space expansion?
[17:56] [Blair] We have plans to implement multiple piloting skill trees for the Space Expansion. More, I cannot say. 
