Its time for your monthly Producer Note, this time with added nutritional value.

Obviously with Fan Faire only a week old theres a great deal of new information floating out there so I thought it would be a good time to step in and clarify, answer questions, and dispel misconceptions.  Ill tackle these in tentative order of release.  As mentioned at Fan Faire, this is merely our plan and no plan survives battle with reality.  I would almost guarantee that something here will change in some way but Im happy to comment on how we envision things progressing right now.


Engineering Trader
Update 12 will focus on Engineering Traders.  As announced at Fan Faire, were working on giving these traders a bunch of new droids to craft including (but not limited to) magnaguards, pit droids, Mark IV sentry droids (the little guys seen flying around the sandtroopers in the A New Hope Special Editions), and Mustafar mining droids (the one Anakin flies on over the lava river at the end of Revenge of the Sith).  Not all droids added in this update will be combat droids.  Weve identified pretty unique uses for some of these droids that we hope youll really enjoy.

We also announced that, by popular demand, Engineering Traders will now be able to craft cybernetic arms, hands, torsos, and legs.  A brand new cybernetic that will be released in Update 12 will be Anakins cybernetic arm from Attack of the Clones.

Finally, we are looking into granting as many of the other Engineering Trader top requests as we have time for.


Star Wars Chronicles
Were targeting Update 13 to be the launch of Star Wars Chronicles, our player generated content system.  Players will be able to take on the new profession of Chronicle Master and create adventures for other players to take part in.  This profession is akin to the pilot or politician professions; there will be an xp wheel but there will not be expertise pages with points to spend.  Chronicle Masters will obtain Relics though looting, trading, etc) to build their quests.  Relics are consumed to create individual Tasks in a quest that is being created.  An example of a Relic could be Kill 5 Nightsisters.  To be clear, not all Relics are related to PvE combat.  Chronicle Masters will be able to create PvP quests using PvP Relics, as well as crafting or entertaining quest using Relics of those types.  Player generated quests will be more akin to the Legacy quests as opposed to the missions found in terminals since they will update both the players journal and quest helper.

The rewards the players receive from player generated quests are auto-generated.  To get their quest to grant the best loot Chronicle Masters are going to have to create full quests (right now the limit is 12 Tasks per quest), with very high level challenging Tasks, that are not repetitious (e.g., the Tasks are varied and not just all Kill Nightsister Tasks).  In addition to the auto-generated loot, Chronicle Masters will have the option to take items or credits from their own inventory and insert them into their quest as rewards.  This could be particularly interesting for crafters who want to sell some really excellent items via the Chronicle system.

Finally, the Chronicle Master will be able to use Relics that allow interaction with a lot of iconic Star Wars characters.  The system will launch with the ability to insert comm messages from Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, Han Solo, and Darth Vader.  Due to our unprecedented support from LucasArts and Lucasfilm, we will actually be able to allow Chronicle Masters to write dialog for these iconic characters.

The system is designed so that anybody can jump in and start making quests.  This is not just for the role playing community but for any player that thinks they can make a compelling quest.  Its also for those players who want additional solo content to do every day.  Now you dont have to wait for the devs to upload new stuff; youll have a constant influx of new material all the time.  Now, the introduction of this system does not mean that the devs are going to stop making content.  We are still going to support the game the way we always have, youll just have an additional outlet for content on a very regular basis.

Another popular question was the introduction of player generated quests in space.  While we will not support this feature at launch, it is something that we are actively pursuing, and would definitely like to add at some point.


Death Troopers
Updates 14 and 15 will focus on content inspired by Lucasfilms new book, published by Random House, and coming out October 13th of this year: Death Troopers.  This is a novel I found out about early in the year and I started talks with LucasArts about bringing content inspired by that book into our game.  It was not the only EU story that we pursued tying into but, after reading it, Loche and I both thought that it was by far the best and worthy of becoming a permanent addition; not just a holiday item.

Update 14 will be a prologue of sorts where the Empire will take control of an in-game city.  Were still deciding whether this will be an existing city or a brand new one.  The quests in this Update will begin to establish some backstory for the events to come.

Update 15 will be the primary Death Troopers release.  In this update, the city previously taken over by the Empire will be permanently quarantined.  There will be a quest line that will take you through the city and into a central bunker.  The undead MOBs surrounding the city will be lower level so that players of all levels can experience this new content.  As you get closer to the bunker though, the level of difficulty will increase.  The bunker itself will be full of level 90 MOBs and will be soloable.  There will be an optional boss fight piece to the content for those that would like to form a group of eight and take on the challenge.


GCW
Our much anticipated GCW update will hit sometime after Update 15.  We want to create a GCW system that is a constant backdrop to the game where every player, regardless of level, profession, or faction, may choose to participate.  Combat characters can fight, crafters may donate supplies to the cause, entertainers can boost morale, pilots can take the battle to space, and even neutrals may contribute to either side (though not without repercussions).

The war will be tracked by various metrics that will be used to determine the general health of each faction.  These metrics will be measured game-wide, across all servers, to determine at any moment who is winning the war.  We then hope to introduce visible ramifications to all galaxies based on who is in control at any time.

A lot of non-Fan Faire attendees felt that the information we let out was very non-committal.  Let me state plainly here that we are working on a GCW update.  Some preliminary background pieces have already hit the LIVE environment youre playing on.  We understand that a GCW update is important to you and we are acting on it.  What were not prepared to commit to is a timeframe.  The earliest you will see the update is the end of this year but that is not a guarantee.  Due to the complexity of this system the GCW update could push into 2010.

We know you want it.  Were working on it.  We will release it to you as quickly as we can.


Events
Both the Galactic Moon Festival and Life Day will return again this year.  I can say with relative certainty that both will receive updates to their rewards though its too early to make the call as to whether there will be any updates to the interactive content.


Finally, a lot of people who werent at Fan Faire didnt get the opportunity to hear why certain choices were made.  What was the impetus for Star Wars Chronicles?  How about Death Troopers?

The answer to both is fan feedback.  Our top fan feedback from 2008 was:

• We want more soloable content.
• We want more use of iconic characters.
• We want greater story tie-ins to the films and the Expanded Universe.

Both Chronicles and Death Troopers were created to directly respond to your requests.

Chronicles and Death Troopers both offer solo content.  We didnt forget about those that like groups though as Death Troopers will have optional group content as well.

Chronicles and Death Troopers both make use of iconic characters.
At launch, you will be able to create quests in Chronicles that use four iconic characters.  Not only that, but youll be able to write dialog for them so that they can best serve the story you want to tell.  I can also say that, with the support were receiving from LucasArts, additional iconic characters will definitely be added to this system over time.  Were also looking into providing additional ways for you to interact with these characters post-launch (beyond just comm messages).
A bunch of iconic characters will also make an appearance in our Death Troopers content.  While we havent finalized all of the details, were looking at involving Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, two new characters from the novel, and some other additional surprise appearances.  All will have interactions with your in-game characters.  Now some have argued that zombies arent iconic.  For those folks, I would ask that you take note of the fact that were releasing content based on a novel instigated and approved by Lucasfilm.  Im not sure how you get more official than that.

Chronicles and Death Troopers both offer direct tie-ins to films and/or the Expanded Universe.
With Chronicles youre creating the stories.  You can tie them in as closely as you like with any existing Star Wars storyline.  Thats part of the challenge in making a good quest.
With Death Troopers youre going to be directly tied-in to a major Star Wars novel release.  As an added bonus, the content is going to be very timely since the novel and game updates are going to release very closely to one another.  So, not only are you getting the tie-in, but you'll be getting the most current tie-in possible.


So, I hope that gives everybody a clearer picture of what we have planned for the year and even some of the reasons behind the decisions that were made.  Its certainly a fun game to make and I look forward to getting these releases out into your hands as soon as we can!

-Dotanuki