Most MMO players enjoy the ability to customize their characters. Well, starting in Game Update 6, the Appearance window will raise your customization options to the next level.

The Appearance window is a new UI system that allows a player to equip a second set of armor, clothes, and jewelry as visible items that will not affect your character's stats. You can create a look unique to your character without having to worry about being ineffective in combat, crafting, or any other game style you enjoy. Stand out from the crowd with the new Appearance window!

Any item that holds other items, such as backpacks, are not allowed in the Appearance window. Aside from that, start thinking of how your character's going to look in Game Update 6. You can read about the Appearance window here.

Squadrons Over Corellia, the first expansion for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, has been released.

Squadrons Over Corellia adds more than 250 new playable cards and 22 new loot cards to the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, including new units, new iconic character cards, new loot, and new avatars. This set marks the debut of digital starship cards that will enhance your avatar! Support ground units, move units from quest to quest and even increase resources through smuggling runs.

Wookiees and Rodians have been added to the game, and so have Emperor Palpatine, Han Solo, Wedge Antilles and Jabba the Hutt. Find out all about the expansion here.

Also, Life Day has begun in Star Wars Galaxies. You can celebrate Life Day in the TCG by participating in the Wookie Life Day scenario for a promo and loot card until Jan. 12, 2009. Also, you can enjoy this desktop wallpaper of Chewbacca and his family to celebrate the holiday while you're not in-game.

Niklas "Swede" Johansson, a Star Wars Galaxies designer, posted a dev diary today taking us behind the scenes of this year's Life Day event.

I wanted more decorations in the cities, so the idea came to me that we place a bunch of smaller trees in the city, and then the players that sign up with the Rebel Alliance can go around and decorate them to make the city look even better. On the opposite side of the spectrum, players who sign up with the Empire can go around and stomp on present piles who they believe are filled with contraband. This enabled us to get the cities decorated and an event up at the same time, with the added bonus of letting me use the angry stomp emote, which is just funny.

Read the full diary entry, which is quite entertaining, here or below.

Many players have been voicing concerns regarding server populations, and the Star Wars Galaxies team has decided to address this problem by offering free character transfers starting Jan. 13, 2009.

Characters on 12 specific servers will have the opportunity to transfer to one of 13 destination servers at no charge.

... the only way to qualify for the Free Character Transfer is to be on one of the identified Free Character Transfer servers and move to one of the targeted galaxy servers and this is only available on a one-time/once per character basis. The Free Character Transfer service will end on March 31, 2009 at 11:59PM PST.

In addition, those who transfer will also get a relocation gift of a painting that is inscribed with the character's name and home planet. More information, including all the rules, can be found here or below.

The Life Day festivities will kick off on Dec. 16 and run until Jan. 12, and this week's Friday Feature gives us all the details exclusively from the Corellia Times.

Dearic, Wayfar, and Doaba Guerfel - In what has to be the most blatant display of Rebel attempts to gain sympathizers and civil support, sources are reporting that the towns of Dearic, Wayfar, and Doaba Guerfel have been decorated by the Rebel Alliance for the upcoming celebration of Wookiee Life Day. Beginning December 16, denizens of the galaxy will be able to partake in this annual celebration.

From presents to decorations to new Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game loot and promo cards, this event is sure to capture the spirit of the Star Wars Holiday Special, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on Nov. 17. Keep reading here or below for the full Corellia Times report on Life Day.

Starting tomorrow you'll be able to participate in a number of player-run Life Day and holiday events throughout the month. Life Day is inspired by the Star Wars Holiday Special, which turned 30 last month. Life Day is currently being tested on the TCPrime server and should be going live near the middle of the month.

Here's some upcoming events. More events can be found here or after the jump. Additional player events may also be added in this thread on the official Star Wars Galaxies forums.

Dec. 9 : Nomad Market and Planet Holowood celebration of Life Day on Tatooine (-4700 -350); 7 PM PST

Dec. 12: Europe-Chimaera: Exodus of the Wookiees on Naboo; 7 PM UK, 8 PM Euro, 2 PM US

Dec. 13: Intrepid: Life Day celebration in Wook's Rest, Corellia; contact Moya' or Gaarbacca for more information

As we've reported, Squadrons Over Corellia, the first expansion for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, is coming out this month. Well, one main reason to be excited for the release is you'll have access to more in-game loot.

The Star Wars Galaxies team has posted descriptions of some of the in-game items you can get in the expansion. They include a diner, a serving druid greeter, a barn and a Mandalorian strongbox (which grants a 30% exp increase for an hour).

More iformation on all these items can be found here or below.

Chris "Dotanuki" Field, SOE Producer for Star Wars Galaxies, has been very busy lately. His latest producer's note covers Life Day, upcoming game updates, the Ewok Festival of Love, and loyalty rewards, and he participated in a House of Commons chat yesterday to answer fans' questions.

Field expresses his excitement for this month's return of the Life Day event in his note and explains that it is based on the famous Star Wars Holiday Special. He also discusses the updates coming in 2009. Expect the addition of an appearance tab so you can wear the armor with the best stats while appearing to wear whatever you like; some bug fixes for Spies; refinements to Player Associations and Player Cities; the return of the Ewok Festival of Love; and a new loyalty reward system.

As for the House of Commons chat, while the team states there are no plans for an expansion in 2009, they have a lot of "great content" lined up next year. Also, they reiterate there are no plans to shut down Star Wars Galaxies.

The full producer's note and House of Commons Chat transcript can be found below.

As we previously reported, Squadrons Over Corellia, the first expansion for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, is coming out this month. Well, you don't have to wait until the release date is announced to get a new card.

If you buy three Champions of the Force booster packs between Monday, Dec. 8 at 12 a.m. PST and Monday, Dec. 15 at 11:59 p.m. PST, you'll get an Oola promo card.

Oola is one of Jabba the Hutt's favorite entertainers. She can't take damage outside of combat and also gives you a solid defense bonus against avatar vs. avatar combat. Why fight when Oola is entertaining?

More information on the promotion can be found here. Check out an image of Oola's card after the jump.

Chapter 11.3 is live on servers today following this morning's maintenance. The update contains fixes and changes to the Battle of Echo Base, the medic, the beast master, the UI and overall gameplay.

Here's just some of the changes made to the Battle of Echo Base:

• A cloning location has been added to Wampa Valley.
• Turrets in Phase 3 should no longer cause groups of mobs to aggro.
• You must have at least four players in your group for the NPCs in Aurilia to send you to Hoth. Droids and other non-players will no longer count toward the requirement of four in your group.

For the rest of the changes, as well as the full patch notes, visit the official update page or keep reading after the jump.