Greetings Star Wars Galaxies Players, Fans, and Other Denizens of the Galaxy:
My name is Julio Torres and I am the Producer on Star Wars Galaxies
for LucasArts. We wanted you, the great members of the Galaxies
community, to be the first to hear some exciting news about the current
and future plans for Star Wars Galaxies!
Over the past year we have been working hard to respond to feedback
we have gotten from players, fans, focus groups, and other research.
This feedback has ultimately centered on one key area: the game does
not feel like a heroic Star Wars experience. Currently, the
early game has a steep learning curve and there is no clearly defined
path of advancement or adventure. Many of our fans who bought the game
did not see enough Star Wars style action early-on and ultimately left our world. It is our goal to change this and improve the experience for all players.
We are introducing a series of game enhancements to Star Wars Galaxies
this month that include both significant enhancements to the live game
as well as a completely redesigned experience for new players. The
primary areas of focus include combat and profession and character
development. The combat depicted in the Star Wars films,
fiction, and canon that we have all come to know and love is
fast-paced, action-packed, and visually intense. In order to stay true
to the Star Wars fiction as well as to make the combat system
more engaging, we have shifted the turn-based paradigm towards a much
more engaging fast-action combat system where you control every move!
After receiving feedback from members of the community, conducting
extensive focus tests, and evaluating the combat systems of other games
in the genre, we are confident this new fast-action combat truly
delivers what players, fans, and gamers have come to expect from a Star Wars experience.
As mentioned earlier, combat is not the only area where we decided
to focus our improvement efforts. We have also improved and brought
more clarity to the profession and character development system.
Changing a live game is never easy. We realize that players do not
like to have their experience altered. These enhancements will take
some getting used to and for that reason we lined-up some incentives
for the current players to enjoy as our thanks for your loyalty to our
game.
We value our community and want you to stay with us. Our goal is to continuously improve the Star Wars experience, the one we all know and love from the films and fiction; action-packed, story-driven, Star Wars
fun. With these features and enhancements we are setting the stage for
incredible things to come for Galaxies with more announcements
happening in the coming months.
I'd like to thank you all for your continued support of Star Wars Galaxies and for making it one of the premier gaming experiences online today.
May The Force Be With You,
Julio Torres, Producer - LucasArts
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