Between a lead designer transition, upcoming free server transfers, a brand new Halloween event and the excitement surrounding the Hoth release, there's a lot of news on the horizon for Star Wars Galaxies. Let's jump right in, shall we?

First off, Jesse "Loche" Benjamin has introduced himself as the game's new lead designer. Benjamin was most recently assistant lead designer, but will now be replacing Thomas "Blixtev" Blair, who said in his farewell post that his goal has always been to "entertain the customers." Benjamin will be answering fan questions in the Star Wars Galaxies newsletter. You can submit your questions here .

For more information on free server transfers and the Galactic Moon Festival, which will launch on Oct. 14, keep reading or check out this producer's note .

Christopher "Dotanuki" Field said in today's producer's note that he is very excited to offer the new Galactic Moon Festival Halloween event to players. It will run through Nov. 7 and transform Moenia and Mos Eisley into haunted attractions. This festival will be thrown by Jabba the Hutt and offer rewards to players who dress up and go trick-or-treating for Galactic Moon Coins.

Also, Field said that they will be implementing free server transfers for a limited time only in the future to address the community's population concerns. No date has been set, but it will occur early next year.

Lastly, the producer reminded fans that Hoth is being play-tested several times a week. He said that, "the scope of this Heroic is unlike anything we've released before."

Here's Field's full letter, which can also be found here .

Greetings Fringies,

Let's get the big question out of the way right away, yes; I have low-pop server news for you.

To help address the server population concerns that have been brought up by the community we will be implementing a Free Character Transfer program early next year. I do not have specific dates to announce now, but I do know that it will only run for a limited time. Any transfers made before the program kicks off will not be refunded. Additional details on this Free CTS program will be revealed closer to its start date. Also, to help clear some land on the servers, we will be running another House Pack-Up right around that same time. Both programs will have some cool rewards associated with them (marketing made me say that ).

As a huge lover of Halloween, monsters, horror films, and everything frightening one of the most exciting projects for me to work on since I've joined the team has been the Galactic Moon Festival. Our first ever Halloween event, the Galactic Moon Festival is poised to launch to the community at large on October 14th and will run through November 7th. Moenia and Mos Eisley have both been transformed into haunted attractions for all Galaxies players to visit. The cities and rewards look brilliant. I am particularly fond of the Galactic Moon Festival painting which depicts the Galactic Moon Festival organizer, Z'ozpheratu, in a dramatic pose. Swede, AdeptStain , and the art team all did a bang up job on bringing the Festival to life. This new annual event is sure to become a favorite for fans of all things macabre. The details of the event are as follows...

Jabba the Hutt has decided to throw the scariest festival of the year in both Moenia (on Naboo) and Mos Eisley (on Tatooine). He has ordered the cities to be fully decorated with fog, spiders, gravestones, scarecrows, and numerous other creepy items. He is encouraging all citizens of the Galaxy to visit the Galactic Moon Festival organizer, Z'ozpheratu, to obtain a costume and go trick or treating for Galactic Moon Coins. Z'ozpheratu will also be providing trick or treat devices to costumed citizens so that they can attempt to scare any folks who are stingy with their coins. Galactic Moon Coins can be redeemed with Z'ozpheratu for exciting rewards. Jabba has even provided a reward that is exclusive to Entertainers that will bring notes of joy to everyone's ears.

There are a lot of neat goodies associated with this event. I am going to be in there myself trying to get as many of them as I can. I look forward to seeing what all the interior decorators around the Galaxy will come up with!

Of course we have Hoth on the horizon as well. I hope everybody has been keeping up with the Friday Feature "sneak peeks" that we've been putting out as they offer a nice glimpse into what the team has been sweating away on for the past few months. The team members are still all stapled to their desks polishing it up and fixing bugs. We are at a stage now where we are play testing the instance several times per week and implementing the feedback that comes out of those play tests to ensure the experience is as fun as we can make it. The scope of this Heroic is unlike anything we've released before. It will be larger than any previous content push outside of our full expansions. The Hoth chapter will also include a cool Snow Machine as a publish gift (marketing made me say that, too).

Until next time, I hope everybody has an excellent Halloween!

-Dotanuki