House of Commons Chat Transcript from last night,

[Syban]

Thanks to Phaelyn for cleaning it up.

[17:05] Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of Star Wars Galaxies!

[17:05] The topics of discussion for tonight are the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion, upcoming squad leader changes, upcoming ranger changes and any other recent live updates.

[17:05] Please send your questions to [QT]Sprite OR [QT]Phineus - 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.

[17:05] We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.

[17:06] Hi! My name is Grant McDaniel and I am the Sony Online Producer for Star Wars Galaxies.

[17:06] Hiya everyone. I am Eli Holding, lead designer for the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion.

[17:06] Hi everyone; I'm a systems designer on the SWG Live team - currently working on the Ranger revamp. You can look me up on the SWG forums under Helios_SOE.

[17:06] Hello everyone, my name's Tim, I'm the QA Lead here at LucasArts

[17:07] Hey there. I'm Dave White, Systems Designer for SWG.

[17:07] Greetings everyone - I am Peahi, Community & Press Relations Manager for SWG with LucasArts

[17:08]

Premium Pearls

[17:08]

Currently, Premium Pearls do not drop. We will bring them back into the game once we figure out a favorable implementation of these special items; there is not specific ETA for this change and all players that have the old Premium Pearls will get to keep them in the interim.

[17:08] *Corbantis-Callale* Will premiun pearl drops be fixed with the Trials of ObiWan expansion?

[17:08] TH was a little bit fast for me

[17:09] *Phaelyn* Obi Wan seems to have a few new designs that we've heard thus far - New unique MOBs for instance - Will there be more ground breaking changes in Obi Wan that we haven't heard of yet?

[17:10] Phaelyn* Yes. There will be some content additions in the Trials of Obi-Wan, the likes which Star Wars Galaxies players have never experienced. Unforunately, we cannot go into details at this time.

[17:10] *Phaelyn* With the changes coming to Squad Leader and Ranger, can we expect more sweeping changes to professions such as Smuggler, to give each profession a more unique role in the SWG universe?

[17:13] Phaelyn, Squad Leader and Ranger are two key professions that we're singled out as needing change to become more compelling and useful professions. That said, we are looking at doing more profession revamps after these two. Expect some great changes to other professions in the future.

[17:14] *Zeranthos* Will Trials of Obi-Wan have Jedi specific content, only available to Jedi characters?

[17:14] *Zeranthos* We tried to stay away from content that only a single class could take part in. With Trials of Obi-Wan we wanted to make sure that everyone had a number of things to do.

[17:15] *beer* question can you give any examples of new craftable items and resources in new expasion ?

[17:16] *beer* Without going into details...because those will be coming up closer to launch...there will be new craftables and there will be new resources

[17:16] *Guest80* I would like to know if the new jedi robes will be inplemented with the expansion. Also will the new robes have slots for clothing attachments? And if so how many slots?

[17:18] *Guest80* Jedi robes...you want Jedi robes? Well we just might have some new robes, with some new effects on them in store for you all. But you will have to wait and see what those effects will be.

[17:18] *RogueJedi86* Will the Squad Leader single-person buffs be appliable to the Squad Leader himself if he's not in a group?

[17:19] *RogueJedi86* Currently the single target buffs are not able to be used on the Squad Leader at all. I'm looking into the balance implications of allowing those to be used on yourself and will enable it as long as they are not unbalancing.

[17:19] *BigGonz109* Will the rumored schematic rewards be single use items, or some form of crafter quest for items that can be sold to everyone?

[17:19] We will have both types in the new expansion.

[17:20] *Terari* hey, i was wondering if the expansion will add any new content that is as challenging as the Death Watch Bunker. Currently the DWB is the hardest in the game, and I'd like to see more than one of these types of dungeons.

[17:21] *Terari* There will be some really amazing new challenges in store for the SWG player. We have some surprises in store that will push the limits of what a team of players can accomplish.

[17:22] *Twi* Is the 8-passenger vehicle the only pre-order bonus planned for the Trials of Obiwan expansion?

[17:23] As part of the expansion you will get not only the new 8 player vehicle, but also early access to the expansion on Oct 25th, one week before everyone else.

[17:23] *Anon5869* Should we expect rewards similar to those in the RotW expansion or will they be geared to a higher range of players?

[17:23] *Anon5869* The pre-order rewards for the Trials of Obi-Wan will be highly desirable for all of our players...believe me...I want them =D.

[17:24] *Corbantis-Callale* While the new ranger revamp looks really exciting as a profession, will it be given combat abilities? I didnt see that mentioned

[17:24] *Corbantis-Callale*, Ranger will have some combat skill mods and the traps skill tree will provide additional offensive capabilitites. We don't, however, currently have any weapon specials planned for the profession

[17:27] *LgEnder* Is the upcoming Extended Maintenance Cycle on Thursday September 22nd to make the changes that have recently been made to TC to all servers? If so what performnce increases does it entail?

[17:27]

The extended maintenance cycle is where our platform team does database maintenance and unix file maintenance.

[17:27]

Part of that is a big database back up

[17:28] *Ridden* Will new cybernetics be implented with ToOW?

[17:29] *Ridden* I am afraid that no new cybernetics will be added with Trials of Obi-Wan.

[17:30] *Bossou* Will the new planet be instanced?

[17:31] *Bossou* The planet will not be instanced like we did with Kashyyyk. Mustafar will be a far more open world, more like the original planets then the instanced and zoned areas of Mustafar. That being said there will be instanced portions when the content requires focus on the player and their group.

[17:31] *HadoVebeap* Hi Swg Dev's, are there any news if you will add something worth to be hunted? Atm only Bh mark drop highend stuff, this is pretty unfair for everyother prof. Are there any plan if NS or other high end mobs will finaly drop something usefull again?

[17:32] We've definitely got high-end loot planned for ToW, and for a variety of professions In addition to combat loot, expect to see some collectable, unique loot.

[17:33] *Anon4881* At this years Fan Fest, a video was shown that strongly hinted at Player Capital Ships. When will more information on these ships be released?

[17:33] The video was a technology test straight from a developer's desk that we decided to share with the Fan Fest attendees. It does not necessarily represent anything we are currently doing with the game.

[17:34] *Twi* Rogue_5 answered that the new vehicle and early access are the pre-order rewards. But then SpaceRancor tells another player that the pre-order rewards are highly desirable, giving the idea there's /more/ on the way. Which is it?

[17:36] *Twi* We are both correct. Vehicle, early access, and more... Information on the more will be upcoming sometime in the future.

[17:37] *Nerfed_Jedi* Will cloaked jedi be untargettable, un-followable, totally unattackable(including AOE)?

[17:38] We're working on fixing all issues that would allow hidden people to be detected/targeted outside of the intended game mechanics. Currently, AOE attacks will affect all players in the area, as a weapon has no concept of what is visible and what is not.

[17:40] *Nerfed_Jedi* Since ROTW contained so much Ep3 content/loot, will we be expecting loot and items from Ep3 in this one also? For example, can I expect to find Anakin's legs and arm near the lava pool? Thanks!

[17:42] *Nerfed_jedi* There will be lot of different types of loot to be found on Mustafar. Everything from Relics of the Old Republic to items dating from the Clone Wars. But no limbs...

[17:42] *Red-Dwarf* Is the early access to ToOW for pre-orders access to beta or access to the content on live servers?

[17:43] The early access is for the Trials of Obi-Wan once it hits the live servers. Anyone who buys it will be able to access the content on November 1st. Anyone who pre-orders it will get access one week earlier, on October 25th.

[17:44] *Twi* Can we expect any Free content to be added to the game after the expansion and certain profession revamps are finished?

[17:45]

We will continue to keep publishing new stuff with each new publish

[17:45] *Ekklo* Will we be able to use the new Ranger traps against creatures?

[17:47] Currently, all ranger skills/items only take humanoids as targets, while Scout traps/skills are more creature-centric. We'll continue to evaluate this mechanic during playtesting and keep you posted on any developments.

[17:47] *Anon4881* Many Bounty Hunters expressed concern with Revenge of the Wookiees, as Jedi targets could not be tracked via conventional means whilst on Kashyyk. Will Bounty Hunters be able to track Jedi marks on Mustafar using their seeker droids?

[17:47] *Anon4881* Bounty Hunters will be able to track their targets to Mustafar.

[17:48] *Animosity* Will rangers replace BE in the base takedowns?

[17:48] There are currently no plans to change GCW base shut down procedure.

[17:49] *Corbantis-Callale* Regarding the new ranger revamp, it was mentioned that a "steal" ability would be given to the rangers. Could you elaborate on how this will be implemented in the game? By itself, it doesnt sound very desireable.

[17:50] Stealing, at release, will be a PvE mechanic to allow you some extra interaction with humanoid NPCs that you could normally attack. Instead of attacking them straight out, you can try to sneak up on them to relieve them of some extra treasures. Stealing from NPCs will not affect the loot they drop when they are killed. Stealing won't net you anything fabulous all the time, but over time it can provide some extra income.

[17:51] You can hop on the SWG forums to get more details on the stealing skill.

[17:51] *WesBelden* A developer recently stated while working on Squad Leader that they wanted to ensure the profession’s abilities stacked in a group as well as damage and healing does (i.e., 8 damage dealers = one damage dealer x8 effectiveness); are there any plans to ensure that Crowd Control/mezzing is just as effective when stacked so that the professions whose role it is to be a CC specialist are made just as viable

[17:51] Balancing the Crowd-Control professions so they stack in a meaningful and useful way is defintely a goal. That said, the design of Crowd-Control does not immediately lend itself to easy stacking solutions. There are not any changes currently planned to address usefullness of multiple crowd-control player but we will be constantly analysing and adjusting as we can.

[17:52] *jexicredent* On Star Wars Official site there is a screenshot the appears to be players wearing some kind of equipment that goes over the eye. If this is nit cybernetics what is it and does it do anything?

[17:52] That eye equipment you see in the screenshot is actually the special edition goggles given to Japanese players. Unfortunately owning the Japanese collector's edition would be the only way to obtain the goggles

[17:53] *Corbantis-Callale* Oh, another ranger question... can you tell us what the prereq's for ranger will be?

[17:53] We're going with Carbines IV & Exploration IV for now.

[17:54] *Nerfed_Jedi* Concerning the squad leader changes. Will bounty hunters be able to gain bonuses from a grouped SL while on a jedi mission? If so, can they group with 7 squad leaders and stack things up?

[17:55] Squad Leader group buffs follow the standard PvP rules for buffing. This means that new buffs cannot be applied to a Jedi or BH that are already engaged in combat, existing buffs however will remain. As always we will be watching closely the balance implications of this and adjust if needed.

[17:55] *JohnnyFive* How is Tiggs doing right now? I heard she was sick... is she alright?

[17:56]

Tiggs is ok - - thanks for asking. She should be back soon. I'll make sure to pass along your well wishes

[17:56] That will wrap up the chat for tonight. I'd like to thank the folks from Star Wars Galaxies for coming! But don't go anywhere yet! We have two SWG Grab Bags to give away.

I found the bit about capital ships funny as all hell. Who did not see the bait and switch coming? Be honest now.

[Syban]

This is the followup translation by some players of KoTOROnline... er SWG.

KaylBreinhar wrote:

I thought about doing a "translation" writeup of this...but thought against it.

Here you go.

Qui-Gonzalez wrote:

Thanks to Phaelyn for cleaning it up.

[17:05] Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our prisoners are the developers of Star Wars Galaxies!

[17:05] The topics of discussion for tonight are the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion, upcoming squad leader changes, upcoming ranger changes, not smugglers, and any other recent live updates that don't have to do with smugglers..

[17:05] Please send your questions to [QT]Sprite OR [QT]Phineus - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on http://swg.stratics.com shortly after the chat.

[17:05] We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.

[17:06] Hi! My name is Grant McDaniel and I am the SOPOSWG (Great title).

[17:06] Hiya everyone. I am Eli Holding, lead designer for the Trials of Glowie Wand expansion.

[17:06] Hi everyone; I'm a systems designer on the SWG Live team - currently working on postponing the Ranger revamp. You can look me up on the SWG forums under Helios_SOE.

[17:06] Hello everyone, my name's Tim, I'm the QA Lead here at LucasArts. (this one stayed the same because it's awesome that they have a QA Lead)

[17:07] Hey there. I'm Dave White, Image Designer for SWG.

[17:07] Greetings everyone - I am Peahi, Community & Press Relations Manager for SWG with LucasArts

[17:08] *Corbantis-Callale* Will premiun pearl drops be fixed with the Trials of ObiWan expansion?

[17:08] TH This is a known issue, and we are working on it currently. Keep your eyes on the forums!

[17:09] *Phaelyn* Obi Wan seems to have a few new designs that we've heard thus far - New unique MOBs for instance - Will there be more ground breaking changes in Obi Wan that we haven't heard of yet?

[17:10] Phaelyn* Yes. There will be some content additions in the Trials of Glowie-Wand, the likes which Star Wars Galaxies players have never experienced. Unforunately, we cannot go into details at this time. Keep your eyes on the forums!

[17:10] *Phaelyn* With the changes coming to Squad Leader and Ranger, can we expect more sweeping changes to professions such as Smuggler, to give each profession a more unique role in the SWG universe?

[17:13] Phaelyn, I'm sorry, I am not familiar with the profession you mentioned. You must be thinking of Jedi and Bounty Hunters, two of the most prominent professions in the movies and EU source material. Keep your eyes on the forums!

[17:14] *Zeranthos* Will Trials of Obi-Wan have Jedi specific content, only available to Jedi characters?

[17:14] *Zeranthos* Your mom is only available to Jedi characters. M I RITE, TH?!!?

[17:14] TH LOL HE'S RIGHT!!!!

[17:15] *beer* question can you give any examples of new craftable items and resources in new expasion ?

[17:16] *beer* Without going into details...no.

[17:16] *Guest80* I would like to know if the new jedi robes will be inplemented with the expansion. Also will the new robes have slots for clothing attachments? And if so how many slots?

[17:18] *Guest80* The answer to your first question is shaddup. Also, to your second and third.

[17:18] *RogueJedi86* Will the Squad Leader single-person buffs be appliable to the Squad Leader himself if he's not in a group?

[17:19] *RogueJedi86* Squad Leaders have no combat abilities. Who are you fighting ungrouped? lol next oh hey it's gonz hi gonz *smooch*

[17:19] *BigGonz109* Isn't Leilani awesome? Make room for the coolest person on SWG, Leilani!

[17:19] YAY LEILANI LET'S HAVE A PARADE FOR LEILANI THX 4 THE IDEA GONZ!!!

[17:20] *Terari* hey, i was wondering if the expansion will add any new content that is as challenging as the Death Watch Bunker. Currently the DWB is the hardest in the game, and I'd like to see more than one of these types of dungeons.

[17:21] *Terari* There will be some really amazing new starports and also other buildings that don't look like starports in the trails of glowywand.

[17:22] *Twi* Is the 8-passenger vehicle the only pre-order bonus planned for the Trials of Obiwan expansion?

[17:23] As part of the expansion you will get not only the new 8 player vehicle, but also finish all of the content on Mufasa one week before everyone else. That's right, by the time the non-preorders access Mustafa, you will have already finished it! CONGRATULATIONS!

[17:23] *Anon5869* Should we expect rewards similar to those in the RotW expansion or will they be geared to a higher range of players?

[17:23] *Anon5869* The pre-order rewards for the Trials of Kobe-Wonton will be highly desirable for one of our players...believe me...I want them =D.

[17:24] *Corbantis-Callale* While the new ranger revamp looks really exciting as a profession, will it be given combat abilities? I didnt see that mentioned

[17:24] *Corbantis-Callale*, We also didn't mention the titles for the new skill tree. I suppose the next question will be about that. Oh, wait, no, it's about something that doesn't matter whatsoever. Also, performance has an A.

[17:27] *LgEnder* Is the upcoming Extended Maintenance Cycle on Thursday September 22nd to make the changes that have recently been made to TC to all servers? If so what performnce increases does it entail?

[17:27] See above

[17:28] *Ridden* Will new cybernetics be implented with ToOW?

[17:29] *Ridden* Just heads.

[17:30] *Bossou* Will the new planet be instanced?

[17:31] *Bossou* The planet will not be instanced. However, it will have plenty of instances. (Seriously, that's what it says. Look up above!)

[17:31] *HadoVebeap* Hi Swg Dev's, are there any news if you will add something worth to be hunted? Atm only Bh mark drop highend stuff, this is pretty unfair for everyother prof. Are there any plan if NS or other high end mobs will finaly drop something usefull again?

[17:32] Yes. We will be introducing the highly desirable Mario Teaches Typing datadisc to all players who refuse to space and spell their words correctly. That should be "usefull" for you.

[17:33] *Anon4881* At this years Fan Fest, a video was shown that strongly hinted at Player Capital Ships. When will more information on these ships be released?

[17:33] LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL PWNED I TOLD YOU SOMEONE WOULD ASK ABOUT IT YOU OWE ME A FIVER

[17:33] Helios POOP */rangersteals it from TH * LOL

[17:33] TH lol u guys no we're not putting that in, right

[17:33] TH mt :S

[17:34] *Twi* Rogue_5 answered that the new vehicle and early access are the pre-order rewards. But then SpaceRancor tells another player that the pre-order rewards are highly desirable, giving the idea there's /more/ on the way. Which is it?

[17:36] *Twi* It's funny because you think we talk to each other before we answer these.

[17:36] TH we talk to each other before we answer these.

[17:36] LOL

[17:36] TH LOL d:

[17:37] *Nerfed_Jedi* Will cloaked jedi be untargettable, un-followable, totally unattackable(including AOE)?

[17:38] Nice name. jk

[17:40] *Nerfed_Jedi* Since ROTW contained so much Ep3 content/loot, will we be expecting loot and items from Ep3 in this one also? For example, can I expect to find Anakin's legs and arm near the lava pool? Thanks!

[17:42] *Nerfed_jedi* We are happy to announce the final pre-order bonus for Raelians of Totally-Wanna, Anakin Skywalker's left ankle and right big toe!

[17:42] *Red-Dwarf* Is the early access to ToOW for pre-orders access to beta or access to the content on live servers?

[17:43] I can't believe that these people are able to download ICQ, find the server, ask a question, and they aren't able to interpret basic English without asking eight questions about the meaning of the word "early."

[17:44] *Twi* Can we expect any Free content to be added to the game after the expansion and certain profession revamps are finished?

[17:45] LOL AGAIN BRB

[17:45] k had to get water, back

[17:45] *Ekklo* Will we be able to use the new Ranger traps against creatures?

[17:47] Make up your mind what you want.

[17:47] *Anon4881* Many Bounty Hunters expressed concern with Revenge of the Wookiees, as Jedi targets could not be tracked via conventional means whilst on Kashyyk. Will Bounty Hunters be able to track Jedi marks on Mustafar using their seeker droids?

[17:47] *Anon4881* It was Rage of the Wookiees, not Revenge of the Wookiees. Good use of whilst, though.

[17:48] *Animosity* Will rangers replace BE in the base takedowns?

[17:48] Yes, and Entertainers will replace Squad Leaders.

[17:49] *Corbantis-Callale* Regarding the new ranger revamp, it was mentioned that a "steal" ability would be given to the rangers. Could you elaborate on how this will be implemented in the game? By itself, it doesnt sound very desireable.

[17:50] Stealing is the worst idea for a skill ever. It's not like we're letting you steal from people you're going to let live. Anyone you're taking from, you're going to kill anyway. You HAVE to search the dead body for loot, because you KNOW it's hidden. So you're picking a guy's pocket before you steal his pants, really. Good work, us!

[17:51] *WesBelden* A developer recently stated while working on Squad Leader that they wanted to ensure the profession’s abilities stacked in a group as well as damage and healing does (i.e., 8 damage dealers = one damage dealer x8 effectiveness); are there any plans to ensure that Crowd Control/mezzing is just as effective when stacked so that the professions whose role it is to be a CC specialist are made just as viable

[17:51] Commandos are never getting a revamp, hahahaha take that

[17:51] *hits you with a 1 damage AoE LOL*

[17:52] *jexicredent* On Star Wars Official site there is a screenshot the appears to be players wearing some kind of equipment that goes over the eye. If this is nit cybernetics what is it and does it do anything?

[17:52] Yes, it is nit cybernetics. Teaches you to knit. Without a k, even.

[17:53] *Corbantis-Callale* Oh, another ranger question... can you tell us what the prereq's for ranger will be?

[17:53] We're going with Master Image Designer and Carbine Counterinsurgency 2 for now.

[17:54] *Nerfed_Jedi* Concerning the squad leader changes. Will bounty hunters be able to gain bonuses from a grouped SL while on a jedi mission? If so, can they group with 7 squad leaders and stack things up?

[17:55] ur name still sux k?

[17:55] *JohnnyFive* How is Tiggs doing right now? I heard she was sick... is she alright?

[17:56] Tiggs is a hero, and we all wish her the best recovering.

[17:56] That will wrap up the chat for tonight. I'd like to thank the folks from Star Wars Galaxies for coming! But don't go anywhere yet! We have two SWG Grab Bags to give away.

I found the bit about capital ships funny as all hell. Who did not see the bait and switch coming? Be honest now.