Sony Online Entertainment announced today that the fifth expansion for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game is scheduled to launch on Dec. 15. The Nightsister's Revenge adds the new "Beast" trait, the "Agility" keyword, two new playable avatars and a new 10-scenario story arc.

Of course, no TCG expansion would be complete without loot cards. The Nightsister's Revenge adds more than 20 new loot cards to the mix, including two spires that are among the tallest player structures ever to appear in Star Wars Galaxies.

Sony Online Entertainment announced today in a press release that more than three million user-created quests have been made in Star Wars Galaxies using the Chronicle Master system since its launch just over a month ago. This number includes one individual who has created more than 6,000 playable quests! That's definitely a dedicated player.

In addition, the Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures Premium Plus Pack is now available on Steam and Direct2Drive for 50% off for a limited time. Players who purchase the pack through these sites will receive three exclusive in-game vehicles, including an AT-RT, a Queen Amidala Transport Ship and a General Grievous Wheel Bike.

A hotfix was implemented today on Star Wars Galaxies servers that enables double Chronicles XP and tokens, as well as adds a bazaar to the Dathomir quarantine zone. The patch also fixes a handful of bugs related the to Death Troopers update.

You can read the full patch notes for hotfix 14.5 after the jump and discuss the game in our Star Wars Galaxies forum.

Updated Quests: Galactic Moon Festival - Trick or Treat ;  Galactic Moon Festival - Badge

Updated Mobs: Z'ozpheratu (Galatic Moon Festival Organizer) ;  Costume Festival Celebrant

Updated Guides: Galactic Moon Festival - Items

The Death Troopers update is now live in Star Wars Galaxies, so keep an eye out for zombies on Dathomir. According to the release notes, "while rumors have circulated that restricted areas are being used to contain a biological threat, no official report has been confirmed or denied by High Command." I think it's safe to say the threat is very real, so make sure you complete the "Something is Obviously Wrong" quests from Update 13 to gain access the Death Troopers quest line. You can read the full patch notes after the jump.

While you're at it, interested players may want to pick up the new "Death Troopers" novel by Joe Schreiber. It was just released yesteray, so check it out for more details on the horrific tale.

Also, the Galactic Buddy Initiative ends tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. PDT, so invite your friends to play Star Wars Galaxies as soon as possible to earn various rewards, including an exclusive Light-Bending Podracer. A biological disaster is the best time to invite your friends into the game, right?

The Chronicle Master System is now live in Star Wars Galaxies, which means players can design and build quests using relics. Tony "Teesquared" Tyson focused on this new system in his producer's note for October. "Many of you understand what we are trying to do with the system – make generating user content a fun and rewarding game in itself," he said. The Death Troopers and Galactic Civil War updates will also contain Chronicle-specific content, and new relic types will be added in the future.

Speaking of the Death Troopers update, Star Wars Galaxies will be featured in a full-page ad in the upcoming "Death Troopers" novel by Joe Schreiber. Tyson expects it may draw some readers to the MMO, but only time will tell. Tyson's full letter can be found after the jump.

Good-bye and good luck, Allakhazam, aka President & Founder of allakhazam.com, Jeff Moyer!

Sony Online Entertainment is asking Star Wars Galaxies players to help recruit new members of the Rebel, Imperial and neutral forces as part of the Galactic Civil War. To participate in the Buddy Initiative, all you need to do is have your friend download the 14-day free trial and try out the game. Once they convert their trial account to an active account, both of you will receive rewards.

The new recruit will get a Holocron of Knowledge that will raise any new character to level 50. The veteran buddy will get a token that can be claimed for one of four rewards, including an exclusive Light Bending Gasgano Podracer. A veteran player can get all four rewards on one character by inviting four friends to play Star Wars Galaxies. The offer ends on Oct. 15 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR STAR WARS GALAXIES™ ACCOUNT – 12 SERVERS CLOSING ON OCTOBER 15, 2009 - 09/14/2009

Tony "Teesquared" Tyson, who replaced Chris "Dotanuki" Fields as the producer of Star Wars Galaxies last month, has published his producer's note for September, which focuses on the next three game updates. Tyson outlined some changes that are coming to the bazaar in Update 13: Star Wars Chronicles and they include increasing the bazaar buy now limit to 10,000,000, increasing the vendor price limit to 833,333,333 and adding a Galactic Reserve feature where you can store up to 3 billion credits in "long term" storage.

As for Update 14: Death Troopers, Tyson provided a couple screenshots of the "horrific stuff" that's going on in the update. You can view a zombified Trooper after the jump. Here's what the producer had to say about Update 15: Galactic Civil War: "We are working on establishing the static GCW regions. These will be strategic planetary regions. Each faction will compete to control these regions in order to gain its benefits and shift the war into their favor."

In addition to working on the Star Wars Galaxies updates, The SOE Austin studio hosted the Syndicate, the oldest guild in the history of online gaming, last month and Tyson demoed Chronicles for the group. "I created and ran a quest called 'Amuse the Syndicate' which required the player to destroy a massive number of bugs in order to amuse the guild. Upon completion you received a congratulations comm message from the big man himself, Jabba the Hutt," Tyson wrote.