Are you a budding artist who's always wanted their work featured in a video game? Well, Star Wars Galaxies' "Galactic Call to Arms" Fan Art Contest may be for you. SOE is looking for artwork that features either Rebel or Imperial forces, with the winner of each category added to the game in the form of a new painting!
The closing date for entries is June 8 and full details on the contest can be found on SWG's official website.
Chris "Dotanuki" Field has written a new producer's note that provides all sorts of information on Update 10, which focuses mainly on PvP. He gives us details on the four new battlefields that will be implemented in the update, which will all focus on reducing your enemy's number of reinforcements to zero or having the most reinforcements when time runs out. Two battlefields will be on Yavin 4, while the other two will be on Endor.
Aside from the information on battlefields, Field also shows screenshots of new armor and weapons that will be available in Update 10. He also said that Update 11 will be Empire Day and the event has been expanded: "The ceremonies will now occur roughly every 15 minutes and three people will be called out for a special badge at each ceremony. We will also be introducing repeatable mini-games similar to last year’s Life Day’s smash presents/decorate trees games."
In other Update 10 news, the Star Wars Galaxies team recently showed us a week in the life of working on the update. They even discussed how the new PvP buff decay system system will work: "If you have a buff that would normally be removed on death, the remaining duration is instead cut by 10% of its total duration." You can read the team's full post here.
Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that I've been branching out to try MMOs that deviate from the standard MMORPG design, ranging from games that employ unique combat, to games that pretty much bend the genre in right angles. These days, however, I've also become interested in those MMORPGs that have undergone some extensive changes since their release (for better or for worse). In particular, one game that has always fascinated me is Star Wars Galaxies and how one of the most well known franchises in geek history could have teamed up with one of the most well known MMO studios around, but ultimately end up with an MMORPG with a rumoured active base of near 15,000 (while Smedley disagrees, he also says 'numbers are down,' but has not cited a proper subscriber base as of yet). Not only that, but Star Wars Galaxies is probably the only MMORPG to have ever undergone such radical changes (and create such an uproar) since its original inception in April 2002.
Hotfix 9.1 was implemented in Star Wars Galaxies today to fix two player structure issues and four miscellaneous issues. The following is information on the two fixes implemented to player structures straight from the patch notes:
You can read the miscellanous fixes after the jump.
As per usual, this post contains all of our exclusive features for the past week, as well as all of our noteworthy news stories. Perhaps the most exciting news for us here at ZAM is the launch of our new Free Realms site to coincide with the release of Sonly Online Entertainment's kid-friendly game. Keep reading below and after the jump for all of the links.
ZAM Features
ZAM Launches Free Realms Site: We are happy to announce that our newest game portal is dedicted to SOE's ground-breaking new MMORPG, which just launched on April 28.
Free Realms: A Fresh New Direction for MMORPGs: If you're on the fence about whether you'd like to try out Free Realms, check out Christopher "Pwyff" Tom's review.
Total Customization: Craig Zinkievich, executive producer of Star Trek Online, has written an exclusive letter to the ZAM community about how ship customization will function within the game.
Five Years of Heroes: We spoke with C.W. Bennett, a senior engineer at Paragon Studios, about how it feels to have City of Heroes reach the fifth-anniversary mark.
Game Update 9 may have just went live yesterday, but the Star Wars Galaxies team is already looking ahead to update 10. Today's Friday Feature focuses on the improvements and battlefields the patch will bring to the game's PvP experience.
There will be at least three new battlefields implemented with the launch of update 10. You'll be able to queue for one battlefield at a time simply by typing /battlefield, although you can switch which one you wait for at any time. You'll be able to see the queue lengths and join as an individual or group. Groups get priority over individuals.
Every battlefield is unique in geography and goals and will have a set length of no longer than 15 minutes. They will also include bases and bunkers you can use as defense, and each team will have one cloning center available. "The battlefields are restricted for up to two teams of sixteen players each and a team must be formed of only Rebel or Imperial members. Mixed factions on teams are not allowed."
Today marks the release of Game Update 9 on Star Wars Galaxies servers, which includes the addition of eight new structures that can all be colored by the owner. New commands have also been added to help you move into a new structure. A 50-item wearable container named "Pouch Belt" has been added, and the maximum crate stack size of several schematics has increased.
In addition, the Square-Cut Green, Round-Cut Red and Round-Cut Purple Gem collections are available, numerous ships have had their stats tweaked, and the experience gains for Quests, Combat kills, and Missions have increased.
These are just the highlights of Game Update 9. You can read the full patch notes below.
Lead Designer Jesse "Loche" Benjamin has answered more questions from Star Wars Galaxies players in his newest "Ask Loche" segment. While the installment may be short, it does contain his responses to three questions from fans.
When asked if Medics will get any type of pass in future updates, Loche said he plans on hitting top issues for each profession as time allows, but doesn't want to spend an entire update on one segment of the game's population. Loche was also asked if there are any plans for Galactic Civil War reform, and he said there's a focused feedback thread discussing the GCW update, which is coming out later this year.
Lastly, Loche said there is a high probability they'll re-assess some of the low/rare drops in the game. He hinted that more requests from the community could increase the chances of this happening.
Droids are going crazy in the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, and it's up to you to stop them in the "Destroy All Droids" scenario. The event begins at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and ends on May 15, so you have one month to enter the droid factory and fight for a promo and loot card.
The first time you defeat the scenario you'll receive a Bane Malar promo card and a Battle Droid Vendor loot card, which allows you to place a retired battle droid as a vendor in your house. If you defeat the scenario with a different avatar archetype, you'll get another Bane Malar card. You can get the Malar card up to four times per account.
The April loot tournament for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game will be held tomorrow and Sunday. If you want your character to have green glowing eyes, this is the tournament for you.
For 10 event passes, you'll get three Galactic Hunters booster packs, a Droopy McCool promo card and a Guise of the Master loot card. The loot card allows you to harness the power of the Force and makes your eyes glow green. This item may only be claimed once per character.
Participation is limited to U.S. residents and is void in the following states: Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee and Vermont.
