Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of Star Wars Galaxies! The topic will be general live discussion.
Brekkee - Please send questions to [QT] ^J^ , [QT] AlGhouti , [QT]Gowel , or [QT]PhroG - 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.
justG - Hi folks, this is JustG, Gary Gattis... Sr. Producer SOE
TH - Good evening folks, Im Thunderheart, the Community Relations Manager for Star Wars Galaxies and living the saga every day.
Brekkee - *Gotain_tempest* when is publish 10 expected to be realeased on the live servers??
justG - We are targetting 8/24, but it is such a large and important publish that... like a fine wine... we will not release it before it's time :)
Brekkee - *Ceej-Eclipse* Question: What should we expect to be done to fix the lag problems on Dantooine on heavily populated servers? As it currently stands, random spawns (on all planets for that matter) are extremely rare. Since Dynamic Content was the central aim of content in SWG, this seems to be a severe problem and only contributes to static-spawn camping or mission farming. Is this simply a server-load issue and the hardware needs
justG - We are devoting serious resources to Dantooine optimization right now. Actually putting in some loggin on Live to see if we can narrow down the problem. Short answer, soon (tm).
Brekkee - *Chetok* Congratulations Thunderheart on the changes made since your promotion. I want to know if "warping" from vehicles issue will be resolved soon.
TH - Thanks Chetok. Im always humbled by compliments. As far as the vehicle changes go, we have two key fixes coming out with publish 10 and we're very confident its going to improve vehicle performance...come to TC and help us check it out :)
Brekkee - *snikrop* Do the developers feel they've delivered on the promise of "live the saga?" I'd say we're still setting up the saga, and the saga will begin sometime after the bug fixes to the future combat revamp.
justG - One of our main thrusts in the future is putting Star Wars back into the game. Living moments that resonate emotionally with the players. We know very well that we don;t do that right now, and it is a core philospohy of development moving forward. We have not yet fully delivered on the saga. We will! :)
Brekkee - *soal-farous* Question: Hi, i'm sure you guys are aware that people have opened the .tre files for patch 10. my question has to do with the cyborgnetics and 10 new weapons they found concealed inside. are these for NPCs or PCs? any information will be greatly appreciated.
justG - er, yeah... the patch tre's. Well you should know that you never can trust what is in there ;-) But seriously... cybernetics... we think they are cool. We hope you think they are cool... can youthink of any SW characters that had any cybernetic limbs?
justG - we can too. Bottom line - keep your eyes open.
Brekkee - *Ohafi* May I ask if the issue of vendor item limits has been addressed and if so, what are the proposed limits and when do they plan to put them into effect?
TH - Vendor item limits are in progress. I have a meeting monday to discuss the community's concerns with the programming team. I am confident that vendor limits will be increased. The per-vendor limites will remain, though I will work to get as convenient a limit as possible for the players. I understand what it means to be able to conveniently manage your products.
Brekkee - *Jat* Any news on character transfer? How will it happen? Can Jedi be transferred? How much gear can we take ?
justG - I am very happy to announce that we are VERY close to releasing the CTS. It has been in heavy testing for awhile now, and we are putting the final polishes on it. The initial rev will NOT let youtransfer a jedi or force sensitive character, or any items. These are augmentations that we are going to consider in the future.
Brekkee - *snikrop* Which is more important to the game, JtL, the GCW, or the Combat Revamp? (Must pick one, and explain why without using any phrases about how we want to do it all, just give us time.)
justG - gotta pick one?
justG - lol
justG - well ok. For I am gonna answet JtL, because it completes the Star Wars experience. True space flight and combat are the core Star Wars experience. We want you to live your life on the Ground, and explore and fight in Space.
justG - But of course The GcW and Combat Balance are essential as well. We want to do it all, just give us time ;-)
TH - The question of JtL/GCW or Combat Balance is such a difficult decision. The real answer is "all of them", but reality prevents us from doing that. I do understand how important the combat balance is and I know how important it is. JtL will be a fantastic addition to the game and so on. For me, the most important thing is to hear the community and represent them to the rest of the team.
justG - rofl.
justG - yeah stangl.
justG - all of them :)
Brekkee - *TheLateAnakinSolo* The current testers on TC have found out that in order to progress in becoming FS, you need to do 7 select badges. Getting the FS skill trees also do not take long, and can be done in under a week. Are these systems going to be implemented on live, or is it just a fill for the new systems that will be put in? Is the current system on TC a shortened quest, XP trade, or FS system?
justG - It is a combination of many different mechanics, not just badges...
justG - we want this experince to be avaiable to anyone after awhile...
justG - and the Player Collective is WAY smarter than any group of devs is - so you ARE going to figure it out.
justG - We may change it... we may not - the path will be up on fan sites within a week of going live anyway. The important thing is that you have fun.
Brekkee - *Rennio{Flurry}* "With the proposed removal of looping macros, will entertainers still be able to use /ui action toolbarSlot00 loops in order to communicate with customers, or will they still be forced to keep repunching short macros? The removal of looping macros solves our buff bot problems, but limits us in the customer service we are allowed to provide to patrons.
TH - *Rennio and to everyone who is concerned about recursive macros, we are not going to remove the /ui macro commands. We are going to use a different method to encourage people to play "at the keyboard". Removing those basic abilities for players to use the GUI command would be a huge inconvenience and we dont want to do that.
Brekkee - *Chetok* Is defensive stacking working? There seems to be confusion amoungst players about this, same goes for center of being.
justG - Defensive stacking is broke, and is being addressed with the Infamous Combat Balance.
Brekkee - *Bobo* Will Jedi ever be "re-balanced" considering how far off combat revamp is, Jedi are currently gimped in the respect there damage output is lower then other players who have 75% reduction to base pve damage, jedi seem have 98% reduction
justG - Bobo, I just left a meeting where we were talking about Jedi Balance. Yes, we ARE going to be rebalancing Jedi. They are going to have to fit in with the player population since there are going to be more of them. Some power will increase, some power will decrease, but in the end we want a system where Jedi and normal characters can coexist, if not in harmoy, then at least relatively smooth chaos.
Brekkee - *Ilace* are players going to be able to post a bounty on bh terminals for any player in game?
* justG is very thirsty *
TH - yes. We are VERY passionate about player bounties, but it has to be implemented in a way that is fun and the hunter and huntee ENJOY the game aas opposed to creating game play situations that no ones likes to be in. We want to do it and do it right...
Brekkee - *Broken_Smuggler* After you all announced the combat revamp delay, you mentioned that we would see a number of fixes for the ground game come early in 10.1. Is there any chance you could shed some light onto what kind of fixes/improvements we will be seeing for combat in 10.1? Perhaps you would be so kind as to fix some broken specials? *cough*pistoleer*cough* : )
justG - BS... in between now and JTL, we want to hit combat things that affect as much of the player population as possible. The recent mind poison buffs and heals are a good example...
justG - ... CM's were WAY overpowered in PvP - we needed a counter. We also want to get in things that affedt the player population in a positive manner as a whole. Like the Starport timers.
* justG LIKES the shorter duration *
Brekkee - *Chetok* When will broken skill enhancing attachments will be fixed?
* justG pokes TH *
TH - LOL I see how you are ;) We very much want to get all the SEA's working properly. Ive spoken with Keldarin about this and in the combat balance many more SEA's will function properly, though we will probably change the forumula.
Brekkee - *Quality* I am just curious as to the current jedi bounty hunter system. My guild on shadowfire has been doing an excellent job killing jedi. But we need some clarification on what is legal and what isnt. Also how we are supposed to control the jedi population when the experience they lose in minimal? This question also relates to the BH payout issue that we have still seen no progress too.
justG - The current Bounty Hunter system is not fully implemented. We have put in alot of work to fix your broken droids, waypoints, etc so you can better track Jedi. I know the cash payout is still borked. We have this partially fixed. It is a matter of getting it in as soon as we can.
justG - btw, i like bounty hunters... alot. I play one on Live as well >:-)
Brekkee - *Cebre* Exactly what credit will be given to those people who have not yet unlocked but have done several holocrons?
justG - You will be able to qualify for the Old Man visit sooner. You will also get partial credit for the quests you have to complete.
Brekkee - *Cyleco* What are plans for attention to the politician profession? As of now Master politician has nothing in it. I belive it had special 'societies'. Is there plans to bring these back or any other bonuses to the profession?
TH - We very much want to address the needs of the politicians. Pappi has done a great job of bringing me the issues and we will address as many as possible, though we will most likely see the biggest enhancements made to Politicians and Player cities in the GCW.
Brekkee - *Envoy|Radiant* Are there any plans to scale back the power of the new Area Cures and Resist Buffs? It has definitely made PvP much more interesting, but it seems like CM's have been geared more towards a healing support role now b/c of this. Your thoughts?
justG - Indeed we will. TAdjusted stats for the CM offsets will come out with P10.
Brekkee - *Ric|afk* We all know that one more species is left to be announced sometime soon. Will this be announced by you all from the office...or will this come from another source such as Lucas Arts....any idea as to when?
justG - Lucas handles all of the PR for our game. They will make the decision on when to unveil anything that has to do with JTL.
Brekkee - *soal-farous* people are saying that the 'village' on dantooine is lacking visualy speaking. is they any talk of touching up the place with more of a vibrant setting?
justG - It is supposed to be a desolate place. A tough place. We are adding to it visually, but I am pretty happy with the direction it has gone.
Brekkee - *Maxx-Chilastra* Will the TKs and Riflemen get a new correspondent in time for the correspondent summit?
TH - Yes - - Ive been getting a lot of candidacy letters for the TKs and Riflemen and will be selecting candidates soon. Very soon. It should be said though that while there are individual correspodnents, they speak as a group and no one is left out. Also, I DO lurk on professions boards ;)
Brekkee - *Anon967* Are you going to be introducing any new faction armour?
justG - any new stufff? Not soon. But we ARE going to make the old stuff competative... fiercly competative. We want to see huge battles that look like Star Wars, not everyone in uber composite.
Brekkee - *Jobe* what is going to be the final word on BH camping jedi, is this TEF on the back burner or is this something you are looking at as well?
justG - The TEF is something we are working on. It is really a tangled mess that we are trying to sort out. Bottom line on camping? ANyone camping anyone is griefing. Don't do it.
Brekkee - *Starnick* what type of fixes/changes to commando gernades will the community be seeing in weeks to come? NPC gernades afterall already have several gernade fixes the commando community wished for...such as not being hurt by one's gernade while in the blast radius...
TH - I am a Commando myself and we all live grenades - - they are fun to use, but DO need to be more useful. I have brought that up in our Combat Balance meetings and we will see them improved :)
TH - *love grenades*
TH - *nerfs my typo*
Brekkee - *Ossoi{TR}* for months players concerned about the strength and dominance of certain professions in pvp and weakness of others have been appeased with the carrot of the "combat rebalance", promised to be a priority for the devs, you recently announced the rebalance was to be delayed. what do you have to say to frustrated players leaving for wow, eq2 and even games like lineage2?
justG - Don't Leave! We are REALLY very sorry that it takes so long to get quality stuff out to you. We want to make everything as good as it can be. Yes it has been a LONG time coming. We are inviting all the correspondents down to Austin at the end of this month to present our plan and get their feedback. You are going to see ALOT more info on it in the coming month. I think you are going to LOVE it.
justG - And...
justG - I want to know WHO is going to Lineage II?
Brekkee - *Fuel* Can you give us a time frame on the new quest system, as compared to the old grinding system.. longer? way faster?
justG - Faster, but gated because you have to wait for the village to go through its various phases. We want you to PLAY the game, while becoming a Jedi, not play the game TO become a Jedi.
Brekkee - *Jospre* Why do Smugglers get no love. Currently on test a stealth Nerf went in that prevents WUK's, AUK's, PLK's, MolClamps, etc. from pulling auto from crates. What was the reasoning for this move as it now really slows down the slicing process expecially for large orders.
TH - The autopulling from crates was the result of a change to a different part of the system. I have support from the team to change it back. its just a matter of time now. Sorry for the inconvenience and yes we do love smugglers :)
Brekkee - *Odebram* ?will high ranking GCW factional players be allowed to have abilities? ie. declare players in their group overt?
justG - Great question - and suggestion. The answer is I don;t know - we are still in the early stages of designing out the full GCW, but we do want it to be the Elder game in SWG.
Brekkee - *Remy* Any progress made on getting multiple-modded SEAs to give all the mods rather than just the highest one?
TH - Remy, we love the idea of SEA's, but we have to do it the right way. There is a LOT of work going into planning the combat revamp now and with that will come cool loot. Better loot and we want it to be more fun. For SEA's though, expect them to work a little differently though.
Brekkee - *Genesis* Question: Think we might see some more instanced theme parks in the future? Here are some of my votes... Cloud City, Gungan Underwater City... these could be done like the Vette... Take a ship or sub to the theme park.
justG - The instanced tech worked out very well for us. It has to be the right application though. In short, yes you will see more instanced adventure areas. As far as cloud city or the underwater areas... well this is more of Lucas' area to handle.
Brekkee - *TheLateAnakinSolo* The current testers on TC have found out that in order to progress in becoming FS, you need to do 7 select badges. Getting the FS skill trees also do not take long, and can be done in under a week. Are these systems going to be implemented on live, or is it just a fill for the new systems that will be put in? Is the current system on TC a shortened quest, XP trade, or FS system?
justG - The Test Center quests are extremely accelerated.
justG - in order to get good testing done
justG - for example, we are currently bouncing TC2 3 times per day, taking the village through cycles that on live would be 9 weeks.
TH - heh
Brekkee - *SoH* The long awaited combat rebalance has been pushed back again. Most players believe this is the most needed thing in the game. I would like to know what changes we can expect in the near future to help since we have been waiting for this patch for 6 months?
TH - You can expect to see some basic changes to get combat stable. We also want to beef up faction armor to get different kinds of armor into combat. We've recently levelled the playing field on Combat medics, increased turret hitpoints and we will continue to read the boards and work with the correspondents to get combat stable
TH - beyond that, we are planning the combat balance, which we want to do as soon as humanly possible.
Brekkee - *LeM* First question \o/ : As we are supposed to play on a Star Wars background, land of the blaster and energy-weapones, is there any plan to make ranged professions get the upperhand on melee professions ? Like, in the "combat revamp" or anything ? :)
justG - You are absolutely right... SW is ALL about ranged combat. We have not truly fulfilled that, and it is another of our basic design tenants moving forward.
Brekkee - *Red-Dwarf* Do the devs consider the bug reporting procedures on TC to be adequate with the number of non-normal TC players testing pub 9 and 10 and the number of recent bugs reported in forum bug threads that report very old bugs or do they have a timetable for some new bug reporting procedures?
justG - You put it in the In Test thread - we read it. Period. You /bug it - we process it. Period. We have a meeting every morning to review the things that came in last night. It is not the prettiest system, buit it works.
Brekkee - *Jergo-Kettemoor* For those players who are not concerned with nagging you on the important things that we KNOW you are working on, can you help those of us who are excited about the future of STAR Wars Galaxies? JTL? When can we expect info on Beta acceptance/denial? Ship resources required, ship specifications, etc.. ?
TH - Funny you mentioned that :) Ive been working without platform folks on letters, formats and all of that. My hats off to the team. We will be ready to give that announcement soon :)
TH - As far as the ship requirements and stuff, we'll be doing more features as we get closer to beta and the JtL Launch
Brekkee - *snikrop* When you go to sleep, if you in fact sleep, does it take two star wars fans' blood to calm your nerves or are you higher than that now?
justG - When I am trying to go to sleep, and I am tossing and turning at night, the things that keep me up at night are combat, and jedi, and spaceflight, and things like that. Let me tell you this, we absolutely LOVE our jobs. And we LOVE this game. We are dedicated to doing whatever we can to enhance your play experience. And it usually only takes one fan's blood to drift of...
Brekkee - *Mattt* Do you like pizza?
TH - I love pizza - - food of the gods and breakfast of champions :)
* justG is hungry, but still strangely thirsty as well *
Brekkee - That will wrap it up for tonight. Thanks for coming! You can join #StarWars to chat more about the game. The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly on http:/swg.stratics.com
TH - or did you mean pizza the Hutt?
justG - Folks, thanks so much for the questions....
TH - Thanks to everyone who made it out tonight!
justG - good night and may the Force be with ya.
TH - take care folks!
