Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of Star Wars
Galaxies!
Brekkee - Please send your questions to [QT]Sprite 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. 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 - Good evening everyone, I'm Thunderheart SWG's Community Relations Manager. We're happy you could join us tonight!
Lord_Pall - Hi! I'm Dan Rubenfield, Lead Designer on Star Wars Galaxies.
SWG-TSlothrop - Hi folks. I'm Dallas Dickinson, Sr. Producer for SWG at SOE.
juliot - I am Julio Torres, Producer for SWG at LucasArts. Hi there !
Brekkee - *BioEngine* What do the new character statistics reflect concerning combat and non-combat gameplay?
Lord_Pall - We've got a variety of new Stats
Lord_Pall - Luck - Makes you Lucky
SWG-TSlothrop - :)
Lord_Pall - Stamina - Adds 8 points of action, 2 points of Health
Lord_Pall - Constitution - Adds 8 points of health, 2 points of action
Lord_Pall - Precision - Ranged Combat damage/attack ability
Lord_Pall - Strength - Melee Combat Damage/Attack Ability
Lord_Pall - Agility - Defense for both Ranged and melee
Lord_Pall - I believe that's all of them
Brekkee - *Pix_Intrepid* can you give us any kind of ETA on the 2nd character slots?
SWG-TSlothrop - We are working on it now, and will get it out as soon as possible. I can't give you a date yet, though - there is a whole lot of testing that needs to be done.
SWG-TSlothrop - Giving everyone a 2nd slot is a big risk to our Database, so we have to be careful
Brekkee - *varlorg1* Many thought and still think that the radial menus were useful pre-NGE because it made for an easy interface, can we expect to see them again post NGE?
Lord_Pall - We would like to move away from User Interface interaction as the mechanism for item usage. It's immersion breaking, and confusing for a large number of people. So ideally you would never have to use a radial menu.
Lord_Pall - That said, they're going to remain in the game, but we are taking care to minimize their usage in the future.
Brekkee - *TheFitz* Greetings, just want to get my first question in. What is SOE's response to the fact that many people who had a much higher combat level are now stuck with lower combat levels because of the conversion and thus unable to wear any of their equipment or use any of their weapons?
TH - That is a bug that we are going to address in an upcoming hotfix...
Brekkee - *fatguy* When will the new hotfix for item respecs be released?
SWG-TSlothrop - This will be fixed in the next hotfix.
SWG-TSlothrop - It has been fixed internally and is just in testing.
Brekkee - *Phaelyn* It's been noticed that properly trained CL 10 pets can still fight alongside their owner, and that babies still spawn. Is this an indication that we may see Creature Handler return in the near future?
Lord_Pall - No. Creature handler will not be returning.
Brekkee - *Mankind00* Will crafted goods come back to the stage where they compare to loot & rewards in the future of the game? At the moment, it seems they are no where near this.
Lord_Pall - Long term, crafting items will be comparable to some loot items. They will also represent a more convenient method of obtaining specific items for adventuring.
Brekkee - *Obliteration-Bloodfin* Can you elaborate on the planned addition of "collision detection" and talk about some planned game features that take advantage of it?
SWG-TSlothrop - We are looking at upgrading the interactivity with the game world, including better collision, better Line Of Sight, and even REAL JUMPING :)
SWG-TSlothrop - This is a long-term initiative, so it will be a while before it shows up, but it will really make the game a lot more actiony and fun - much more "Star Warsy" (tm)
Brekkee - *Zeto-Starsider* Why continue with the NGE even though the overwhelmingly negative response? I personally know of ALOT of people quitting over this.
SWG-TSlothrop - Actually, we have had a pretty positive response to the enhancements.
SWG-TSlothrop - Certainly, many veteran players have had issues with it, but this is really just the nature of change.
SWG-TSlothrop - Most everyone else sees that we are finally delivering on the fantasy of Star Wars
Brekkee - *Mankind00* Many Traders dislike that they are forced to go with a discipline they may not like, for example Weaponsmith & Armoursmith, can we expect to see this looked at in the future to allow traders to mix & match more?
Lord_Pall - We are not planning on allowing traders to mix and match the crafting professions.
Brekkee - *ProPain666* Currently Experience in groups is slow going solo and in groups, do you have any changes in mind to speed up the leveling process?
Lord_Pall - We are in the process of investigating XP gain for both solo players and groups. Currently I'm leaning towards it being on the slow side but special care must be taken with this type of change.
Lord_Pall - We would rather take a very slow and regulated approach to this to avoid future XP "nerfs".
Brekkee - *Obliteration-Bloodfin* The class changes have much of the community concerned about the lack of character diversity. Are there any plans in the near future to address this, such as adding "talent trees" to classes a la World of Warcraft so that not every character of a given class is exactly the same?
SWG-TSlothrop - We have a couple of great future plans to address this issue. Things like talent trees and other forms of alternate skills are part of what we are considering.
SWG-TSlothrop - But yes, we are working hard to add more diversity into the progression.
Brekkee - Get you questions in by typing /query [QT]Elm or /query [QT]Sprite and typing in the box that comes up. Questions sent directly to the developers or I will not be answered.
Brekkee - *DarknessFromAbove* why did you as in SOE choose to do NGE
juliot - Actually it was Booth LEC and SOE that wanted the NGE
Lord_Pall - Both LEC and SOE you mean
Lord_Pall - :)
SWG-TSlothrop - We saw that the existing SWG game did not deliver on the promise of Fast, Heroic, Start Wars action. This was the best way to get back to what makes Star Wars great.
Lord_Pall - The decision to go forward with this change was not taken lightly.
SWG-TSlothrop - (Star Wars )
Lord_Pall - We prototyped this system and demonstrated to the entire team multiple teams. We had countless meetings, discussions, playtests, focus groups, etc
SWG-TSlothrop - The overwhelming feedback, internally and externally was that this new system felt MUCH more like what they imagined a SStar Wars game would be.
Lord_Pall - Yes.
Brekkee - *Mankind00* Many people feel that combat is currently too fast, which not only makes it look strange, but also can make it very dull, can we expect to see any adjustments in this?
SWG-TSlothrop - Faster, more action-based combat is what Star Wars is all about. We will certainly be adjusting the gameplay, but we think that allowiong players to actually control every shot/swing is far more exciting and interactive.
Brekkee - *Obliteration-Bloodfin* Are there any plans on making the UI more customizable, preferably xml based and community moddable like most newer MMO's?
SWG-TSlothrop - Not at this time. We want to make sure that players have a directed experience, and making sure the UI stays in one spot, at least in the short term, helps a lot with that.
Brekkee - *Proator* How are each race attributes calculated? example a lvl 80 trando has 12220 health with 80 to sub stats and a wookiee lvl 82 has 12300 health 82 sub stats
Lord_Pall - Race does not alter character stats.
Brekkee - *Anon773* There are several players who have neither expansion and are wanting to experience quest rewards at level 80. Are there any plans to give mission terminals XP rewards to them at any point? This would greatly benefit the playerbase that do not have the repeatable quests from RotW and ToOW.
SWG-TSlothrop - We will continue to add Missions at all levels of the game, so high level players will certainly be able to advance through missions rather than hunting.
Brekkee - *Memento* In the future, will the 9 professions (not only jedis) have access to new skills or specializations?
Lord_Pall - We are going to try to add new abilities for all professions, not just jedi.
Lord_Pall - Ideally, every class would get something new every publish. I cannot promise that we will achieve this, but it's our goal.
Brekkee - *Enyde_Grencha-Ahazi* Question for SWG Dev: Will you be increasing Jedi's buffs and abilities such as Saber Block and increasing our armor so we can stand up against NPC's and Players our own level?
Lord_Pall - We're constantly examining and re-examining balance for both PVP and PVE combat.
Lord_Pall - Jedi are definitely under our magnifying glass at the moment, but we want to guarantee that we've solved other significant issues before we alter the core class abilities.
Brekkee - *Yoto* The combat channel has not been working since the NGE beta, do you have an ETA for it's return?
Lord_Pall - It will not be returning. NGE signifies a move away from the textual and numerical based combat that we have had in the past.
Lord_Pall - The combat channel was removed during the transition to the new combat model and will not be re-added.
Brekkee - *Akademik* When will the new armour protection on jedi robes be implemented?
Lord_Pall - I saw this working on Blinxdev's machine yesterday, so it will be published Soon(tm).
Brekkee - *Darkangel* What exactly is gonna happen for the trial users that use the new trial system ? Theres way to much packetloss and lagg to even get through the tutorial is there gonna be a fix for this ?
SWG-TSlothrop - Packet loss and loop times are our number one priority right now. We will have a first fix for this in the next hotfix.
Brekkee - *[FA]Aphrodisiaque* Are the developers planning on removing armor certs for the different classes? if not, why does my spy icon wear ubese, the video shows a spy in ubese, and yet spies are only certed for battle armor? i mean, c'mon they're doing reconaissance, why not wear recon armor? :)
Lord_Pall - We are examining a dramatic softening of the armor certification model that we currently use, but I do not have an ETA.
Brekkee - *MGyyver-Intrepid* Are there any plans to allow unlimited respecs to CL1 to change professions without losing your character, and if not, why not?
SWG-TSlothrop - We changed ADKs to PRK (Profession Respec Kits) for this exact purpose
SWG-TSlothrop - You can use them to drop down to CL 1 without losing your name/stuff/house/etc.
Brekkee - *Anon176* Where are the veteran rewards in NGE, and what 130 new quests are there?
SWG-TSlothrop - The quests are spread out all over the game, so I can't tell you *exactly* where they are :)
SWG-TSlothrop - The vet rewards are: Elder Buff (coming in the next hotfix), Elder Titles, Blue Glowy for Jedi, LS Crsytal and Robes for Jedi - along with the 10 Respecs
SWG-TSlothrop - And an additional Character slto is coming
Lord_Pall - slot
Brekkee - *WCMI92* Do you plan to balace Jedi so it is as good as the other ranged profs in NGE?
Lord_Pall - I'd like to think of our professions, not as "balanced" from the DPS or numerical standpoint, but from the enjoyability stanpoint.
Lord_Pall - I want everyone who plays a profession, be it jedi, commando or entertainer, to not be jealous of other professions abilities, but instead be happy that they chose the profession they are currently playing
Lord_Pall - We're going to keep an eye on all of our professions, including Jedi.
Brekkee - Please remember to send questions to [QT]Sprite OR [QT]Elm. Questions sent to me or the developers will NOT make it into the line up.
Brekkee - *Aliesha-Sunrunner* Presently enemies can damage you far far outside the range a player can return the attack and can even hit you through walls and through fellow NPCs. Is this working as intended or is it something that will be fixed?
Lord_Pall - There are a number of reasons why this is happening.
Lord_Pall - The first, and most major, is the lag that we are currently experiencing.
Lord_Pall - The Mob could potentially be 20-30 meters from where you are seeing it, even if it is damaging you.
Lord_Pall - Our first step is to improve the server performance. Subsequent changes will revolve around the collision system and so on.
Lord_Pall - So yes, this will be fixed, but it's a long process to fix it 100%
Brekkee - *Zaran1* When will something be done about the low population servers? You shouldn't have to pay in order to be on a galaxy with no people.
Lord_Pall - The first step was the launch of the NGE.
Lord_Pall - We don't want to merge gameservers until we see how these changes affect our server populations. So far the response has been tremendous.
SWG-TSlothrop - We are also directing new players to the lower population servers.
Brekkee - *stall* What other sections of the game we expect to be added/revamped in the future (the new player tutorial was great!)
SWG-TSlothrop - With the New Combat system and our focus on directed, story-driven questing, we are going to make sure the Galactic Civil War becomes a far more important part of your play experience...
Brekkee - *Kaebora* What are your plans for End Game PvPing, Since the removal of the FRS most of us seem bored, and questing alone cant fix it.
Lord_Pall - PVP is a huge long-term focus for us.
Lord_Pall - We want to ensure that players continue to have activities and content to engage in even after they hit level 90.
Brekkee - *Werewolf* When will mountable unicorns be implemented?
SWG-TSlothrop - Unicorns - Publish 28... I guarantee it!
SWG-TSlothrop - And pixies
SWG-TSlothrop - and elves
Lord_Pall - Hooray!
Brekkee - That will wrap it up for tonight. I’d like to thank the folks from Star Wars Galaxies for coming! The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly on http://swg.stratics.com. Thank you all for joining us! You can join #StarWars to chat more about the game.
TH - =O
Lord_Pall - Thanks for attending everyone!
TH - Good Night everyone - - thanks for tuning in!
SWG-TSlothrop - Goodbye everybody. Thanks for dropping in!
juliot - Thank you all for your questions! Till next time.
