Following the sad news of Sony Online Entertainment's recent studio closures and layoffs, many producers have been writing letters to players discussing the future of their respective games, such as EverQuest, EverQuest II and DC Universe Online. Star Wars Galaxies Producer Tony “Teesquared” Tyson is no different, and he has written a letter that looks back at the game's past and gives a glimpse of what's to come in 2011. Most of the concrete details focus on the Galactic Civil War:

"To build off of the game systems developed for the GCW, we’ll be doing a series of updates that will expand the war in many areas. Galactic Civil War 2 will be broken up into parts so we can release the content to our players faster. For part 1, we’re planning to add three new fighter class ships and more GCW activities and scenarios in space. In part 2, we’re bringing the war to player cities and guilds. Finally, in part 3 we will balance and improve the new and existing systems to make the playing field more fair and rewarding for everyone."

He goes on to say that the team plans to "continue to improve different aspects of the game with our ongoing game play and profession updates." He also mentions that the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game is also going strong. You can read his complete letter after the jump.

Star Wars Galaxies 2011 Plan

The Galactic Civil War is as strong as ever. The Imperials and Rebels are interlocked in an engaging and exciting battle to control the planets and, ultimately, win the war. With last year’s release of Forces Under Siege, we introduced a regional, planetary, and galaxy wide scoring system. We placed key cities under constant attack and allowed players to work together to battle the opposing faction. Throughout the year we continued to add features like regional defender and leaderboards as well as perks and penalties to keep players engaged in the war.

To build off of the game systems developed for the GCW, we’ll be doing a series of updates that will expand the war in many areas. Galactic Civil War 2 will be broken up into parts so we can release the content to our players faster. For part 1, we’re planning to add three new fighter class ships and more GCW activities and scenarios in space. In part 2, we’re bringing the war to player cities and guilds. Finally, in part 3 we will balance and improve the new and existing systems to make the playing field more fair and rewarding for everyone.

We’re also planning to continue to improve different aspects of the game with our ongoing game play and profession updates. We’ve already released updates enhancing Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Beast Master, Officer and Entertainer. For our latest release, the Entertainer Update, we added new dances, new hair styles, new buff options, and rebalanced expertise trees. All of these updates have been driven by player feedback.

Game systems and the GCW are important to our players, but what about new adventures? We just released a new content update called The Witches of Dathomir. Building off the Death Troopers themed update released in 2009, the player is confronted with new challenges on the mysterious and eerie planet of Dathomir. Has the outbreak spread? What happens when Force sensitive are afflicted? Are they afflicted? Our players pick a side with or against the Nightsisters and journey into the unknown in this new adventure. With these updates we also introduced new Chronicles relics so players could tell their own stories. The Chronicles Master System is a player created content system that rewards the players for creating and experiencing new Star Wars themed stories.

The Star Wars GalaxiesTM Trading Card Game is also going strong. With the latest expansion, The Price of Victory, we added new Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back themed loot including the Cloud City House, Yoda’s Dagobah Hut, and Darth Vader’s Throne of Dark Meditation.

Galaxies is all about community. Our most valuable asset is our players and we’ll continue to value and act on their input. The newly appointed Galactic Senate, a group of players responsible for representing the community in different key game areas, is as active as ever. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’re planning to have a lot of fun doing it.

Tony “Teesquared” Tyson
SWG Producer