Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Stratics House of Commons Chat Thursday March 18 5 PM Pacific
Page 1 of 5
Q-3PO
Wed Mar 17, 2004 10:21 am
#1
From the Stratics Site:
SWG Stratics is pleased to announce this month's House of Commons chat with the Dev Team of Star Wars Galaxies! The Dev Team will be waiting on Stratics IRC Thursday March 18th in order to answer your questions.
The time is 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST, 1 AM GMT (If you are in other time zones, check out World Time Zones to find out what time that is where you are).
In order to connect to Stratics IRC, please log onto to one of the following servers using your favorite IRC client:
The time is 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST, 1 AM GMT (If you are in other time zones, check out World Time Zones to find out what time that is where you are).
In order to connect to Stratics IRC, please log onto to one of the following servers using your favorite IRC client:
- irc.stratics.com, port 6667 (connects to a random server on our network)
- stratics.frws.com, port 6667 (USA, Colorado)
- irc.epaxsys.net, ports 6667, 6668, 7000 (USA, Colorado)
- irc.glowfish.de, ports 6667, 6668, 7000 (EU, Germany)
- stratics.afraidyet.net, port 6667, 7000 (USA, Georgia)
Once you've logged on, type /join #swghoc. In case of difficulties, please visit chat.stratics.com for more information on how to connect to the chat. As an alternative, you can also use our web-based Java IRC Client.
If you'd like to chat with other players before, during or after the SWGHoC, please visit our official SWGS chat channel, #starwars, which is open for discussion 24/7, 365.
If you'd like to chat with other players before, during or after the SWGHoC, please visit our official SWGS chat channel, #starwars, which is open for discussion 24/7, 365.
We're going to have a few devs there to talk about the droid changes of publish 7 & 8, among other topics. Please no "Space" questions. 
Q-3PO
Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:45 pm
#2
Just a reminder, this is about to start. I'm going to open up this thread now. Please take your questions to Stratics though as this is their event. You are welcome to discuss it as it goes here.
Reaperss
Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:52 pm
#3
I can't go to the chat at this time so.......
Can a dev please address the droid armor issue?
garvin
Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:55 pm
#4
For those that cannot attend, can you please make sure to post a copy of the chat log for us to read later...
Isacoast
Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:58 pm
#6
Please ask why lightsabers are still dealing kinetic damage, thnks.
Mattt
Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:00 pm
#7
The chat has just started. A log of the chat will be posted at swg.stratics.com soon after.
soal-farous
Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:19 pm
#8
sum1 ask for an ETA on a droid handler profession or an ETA on new droids
Mattt
Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:45 pm
#9
(Brannoc) *Valeria* When are there going to be new player controlled droids added to the game?
(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.
(Blair) With each publish more droids will be released.
(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 ?
(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.
(Blair) The key thing is to make sure we aren't unbalancing the game as a result.
(Blair) Just handing high level combat droids to players, even on a limited basis, wouldn't be a good idea.
(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.
(Blair) With each publish more droids will be released.
(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 ?
(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.
(Blair) The key thing is to make sure we aren't unbalancing the game as a result.
(Blair) Just handing high level combat droids to players, even on a limited basis, wouldn't be a good idea.
Reaperss
Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:48 pm
#10
Mattt wrote:
( We rolled out additional combat droids wiht publish 7 that you will see in a few weeks.
Do these guys realized that players keep thinking these are player crafted droids? These are mobs in the new Corvette, DE's CAN"T make them.
Ekhben
Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:59 pm
#11
Ryu_KnT asked: what kind of droids are in the works? and about the rumor of the Droid Handler class, is it possible or just rumor?
Blair replied: 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.
Shiggins asked: Hi Devs , Just Wondering How Many New Driods do we Expect is Publish 8 if any?
Runesabre replied: 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.
Haden replied: The "blastromech" you've seen in the newsletter will be showing up eventually as part of a dungeon.
Lilith asked: how often will these invasions happen and where can they take place? like the one in theed last night
Thunderheart replied: 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.
Haden replied: We'll also try to "automate" all successful events, like the droid invasion live event. 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.
puddy asked: 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
Keldarin replied: 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. The goal is to get the droids to be comparable in power to those cloned pets. Situationally they will have different advantages but neither should be straight out better than the other.
Dhashian asked: 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.
Runesabre replied: 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.
Valeria asked: When are there going to be new player controlled droids added to the game?
Blair replied: 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. With each publish more droids will be released.
K[r]u|aw| asked: 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 ?
Blair replied: 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. The key thing is to make sure we aren't unbalancing the game as a result. Just handing high level combat droids to players, even on a limited basis, wouldn't be a good idea.
[TG]Tio asked: 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?
Keldarin replied: Absolutely there will be content other than just droids in the upcoming Publishes. There are additional dungeons in the works. And additional armor and weapons will be coming as well. Droids are a big part of the theme for the next publish but that not all it will be
Haden added: We're also going to add Mandalorian armor to the game.
MCPrimetime asked: can we get a definative explanation on which defenses where capped?
Keldarin replied: In Publish 7 we added a cap for the Dodge, Counterattack, Block, Ranged Defense & Melee Defense skill mods. These are all capped internally at 125. The UI will show a higher number, but nothing beyond 125 will count. All other defensive modifiers are in full effect.
LoT`Th3rm0^[e] asked: 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"?
Thunderheart replied: We are planning to do "Astromech Stats" each month, but they will be a different category each month.
Worship asked: Do you have any concepts for the new Wookie armor as of yet?
Haden replied: Yes! In fact, the first concept was just approved by LucasArts and Lucasfilm today. Tomorrow, we'll be showcasing it as the Friday Feature. It should end up on Live within a few weeks.
Zode{TR} asked: will duel wielding ever be implimented?
Blair replied: We had a motion capture shoot a few months ago and captured motion for duel wielder of weapons. One thing we want to do before putting additional professions in the game is make sure all our existing profession are fun. So as time goes on you will see us talk more about duel wielding.
ebns72 asked: 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?
Haden replied: 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... Not just more quantity, but more variety as well. 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... and determining where/what we're lacking. 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.
Cloner asked: 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?
Keldarin replied: We've been actively working on the Jedi Revamp and I think you will all be pretty excited about what we have planned. We're moving away from the skill based enabling that we have now and moving to a complete quest driven system. Enabling your Force Sensitive skills will no longer require revoking skills or significantly changing you character. 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. And that's all I'm saying for now. ;-)
Haden added: 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.
Illian[Eclipse] asked: 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
Blair replied: 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. In this case, we didn't have time to make a helmet for the Rodians.
Yeraze asked: The new defense caps, how do the Squad Leader's Group bonuses apply? Is +150 possible?
Keldarin replied: Squad Leader bonuses are in full effect. They can take you beyond the caps.
JairunCaloth asked: When is shuttle port time going to be lessened? Everyone hates having to wait 10 min for a shuttle.
Thunderheard replied: 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.
EDGEY asked: 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?
Keldarin replied: We are always working on new weapons. We'll keep releasing them periodically with the new content with each Publish.
[AHAZI]QuinlanTheInferno asked: 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!!
Blair replied: 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. We want each species to do any profession, but each species should have a unique experience.
[9] asked: When will we find out the results of the project dead eye storyline?
Q-3PO replied: (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). It will still be live until Publish 8. Publish 8 will show the final results. But you can get a badge until Publish 8
DevilHimself asked: Will there be a seperate pilot skill tree for the space expansion?
Blair replied: We have plans to implement multiple piloting skill trees for the Space Expansion. More, I cannot say.
Haden added: 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. We can't say much more at this point, but expect to start seeing more coverage as we near E3. After E3, we'll basically blow the doors off. 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. Hang in there - we want to start talking about it just as much as you do.
StinkinJawa asked: 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?
Ronda replied: Sure thing! We'll have two full days of forums and presentations. A reception on Friday night followed by a full Banquet on Saturday night. There will be a Live Mission, Costume Contest and lots of prizes to win. I think attendees will be very happy with the content of the event. :-) More details coming very soon. Please check out the official forums for more info and the official site as well.
Blair replied: 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.
Shiggins asked: Hi Devs , Just Wondering How Many New Driods do we Expect is Publish 8 if any?
Runesabre replied: 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.
Haden replied: The "blastromech" you've seen in the newsletter will be showing up eventually as part of a dungeon.
Lilith asked: how often will these invasions happen and where can they take place? like the one in theed last night
Thunderheart replied: 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.
Haden replied: We'll also try to "automate" all successful events, like the droid invasion live event. 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.
puddy asked: 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
Keldarin replied: 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. The goal is to get the droids to be comparable in power to those cloned pets. Situationally they will have different advantages but neither should be straight out better than the other.
Dhashian asked: 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.
Runesabre replied: 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.
Valeria asked: When are there going to be new player controlled droids added to the game?
Blair replied: 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. With each publish more droids will be released.
K[r]u|aw| asked: 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 ?
Blair replied: 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. The key thing is to make sure we aren't unbalancing the game as a result. Just handing high level combat droids to players, even on a limited basis, wouldn't be a good idea.
[TG]Tio asked: 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?
Keldarin replied: Absolutely there will be content other than just droids in the upcoming Publishes. There are additional dungeons in the works. And additional armor and weapons will be coming as well. Droids are a big part of the theme for the next publish but that not all it will be
Haden added: We're also going to add Mandalorian armor to the game.
MCPrimetime asked: can we get a definative explanation on which defenses where capped?
Keldarin replied: In Publish 7 we added a cap for the Dodge, Counterattack, Block, Ranged Defense & Melee Defense skill mods. These are all capped internally at 125. The UI will show a higher number, but nothing beyond 125 will count. All other defensive modifiers are in full effect.
LoT`Th3rm0^[e] asked: 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"?
Thunderheart replied: We are planning to do "Astromech Stats" each month, but they will be a different category each month.
Worship asked: Do you have any concepts for the new Wookie armor as of yet?
Haden replied: Yes! In fact, the first concept was just approved by LucasArts and Lucasfilm today. Tomorrow, we'll be showcasing it as the Friday Feature. It should end up on Live within a few weeks.
Zode{TR} asked: will duel wielding ever be implimented?
Blair replied: We had a motion capture shoot a few months ago and captured motion for duel wielder of weapons. One thing we want to do before putting additional professions in the game is make sure all our existing profession are fun. So as time goes on you will see us talk more about duel wielding.
ebns72 asked: 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?
Haden replied: 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... Not just more quantity, but more variety as well. 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... and determining where/what we're lacking. 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.
Cloner asked: 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?
Keldarin replied: We've been actively working on the Jedi Revamp and I think you will all be pretty excited about what we have planned. We're moving away from the skill based enabling that we have now and moving to a complete quest driven system. Enabling your Force Sensitive skills will no longer require revoking skills or significantly changing you character. 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. And that's all I'm saying for now. ;-)
Haden added: 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.
Illian[Eclipse] asked: 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
Blair replied: 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. In this case, we didn't have time to make a helmet for the Rodians.
Yeraze asked: The new defense caps, how do the Squad Leader's Group bonuses apply? Is +150 possible?
Keldarin replied: Squad Leader bonuses are in full effect. They can take you beyond the caps.
JairunCaloth asked: When is shuttle port time going to be lessened? Everyone hates having to wait 10 min for a shuttle.
Thunderheard replied: 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.
EDGEY asked: 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?
Keldarin replied: We are always working on new weapons. We'll keep releasing them periodically with the new content with each Publish.
[AHAZI]QuinlanTheInferno asked: 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!!
Blair replied: 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. We want each species to do any profession, but each species should have a unique experience.
[9] asked: When will we find out the results of the project dead eye storyline?
Q-3PO replied: (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). It will still be live until Publish 8. Publish 8 will show the final results. But you can get a badge until Publish 8
DevilHimself asked: Will there be a seperate pilot skill tree for the space expansion?
Blair replied: We have plans to implement multiple piloting skill trees for the Space Expansion. More, I cannot say.
Haden added: 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. We can't say much more at this point, but expect to start seeing more coverage as we near E3. After E3, we'll basically blow the doors off. 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. Hang in there - we want to start talking about it just as much as you do.
StinkinJawa asked: 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?
Ronda replied: Sure thing! We'll have two full days of forums and presentations. A reception on Friday night followed by a full Banquet on Saturday night. There will be a Live Mission, Costume Contest and lots of prizes to win. I think attendees will be very happy with the content of the event. :-) More details coming very soon. Please check out the official forums for more info and the official site as well.
evetsleep
Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:01 pm
#12
I'm sorry 3Po....but that was the worst chat you all have hosted ever. You fielded abou 5 questions in 1 hour and not one of them dealt with some of the very visible problems with publish 7. I am really dissapointed.
evetsleep
Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:02 pm
#13
If I could only edit this message....maybe not 5...but the most pressing issues definately didnt not get addressed.
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