Enhancements with Publish 1.0

[Edit: April Fools from the SWG Restoration Team!]

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For quite some time we have heard that SWG Restoration III is not delivering on the promise of a true Star Wars adventure and are excited to share with you our plans for new enhancements that will premier as part of our Publish 1.0 update, taking the game to an all-new level of Star Wars-style action and making our gameplay experience feel more like the films and fiction; exciting, story-driven, Star Wars fun. The game plays more like a fast-paced, action-packed Star Wars adventure.

Foremost, after a thorough review of the fictional constraints imposed by our timeline and our desire to maintain a strong level of verisimilitude in the gameplay experience by creating a realistic Star Wars universe, we've determined that we will not implement the Jedi profession on Restoration III.

Combat will now be more action-oriented and feels like the action-packed combat depicted in the Star Wars movies - the new system is about 4 times faster than the current combat interaction. Movement speeds are fast and weapons fire at incredibly high rates of speed. These high rates of speed for movement and combat bring the Star Wars Galaxies combat experience to life and put players in control of every move and swing of a weapon. However, ranged combat is not the only way to enjoy this great feature - melee combatants will also attack in a similar fashion using the same keyboard and mouse functionality.

Today our player professions by percent of masters are significantly skewed to the core combat professions as a very small proportion of our players (less than 1% of players) choose to master the professions of Bio Engineer or Creature Handler. For this reason, we are putting the focus where the majority of our players are putting their game-play investment -- on the core profession paths. These changes will reinvigorate the game world, bring the excitement of the movies alive in-game, and put the player into a more active role.

Previously in Star Wars Galaxies, there were many different kinds of experience points and multiple ways to develop skills in different professions all at once. This system was confusing and made it hard for players to see the pay-offs in any one specific skill area. We have since refined the XP system, now there are 3 ways to earn XP: combat, crafting, and social activities. So, engaging in any type of combat will earn you combat XP, crafting something will earn you crafting XP and when you engage in game-related social activities you will earn social XP. The gameplay focus is on fun and this new XP system motivates players to spend less time wandering around and more time interacting with others and having fun!

Additionally, item decay will be completely removed from the game. But your in-game items and collectibles that are non-combat-related won't be affected at all. Player housing, vehicles, collectibles, and other items will remain completely intact and transition with your character. Some of your combat related items may change with respect to the relative value of their stats based on your level and the profession path you choose to pursue. Most in-game items are being converted so that they fit with the new fast-action style of combat and overall gameplay and we have made our best effort to ensure these items' existing effectiveness is equivalent once you transition to a new path.

Enhancements to a live game are never easy to introduce or implement. We have received feedback over the last year through research, focus groups, community forums, and anecdotal encounters that our game was very complex - many people never made it past the early levels. For that reason, we embarked on this significant redesign of our beginning game targeted at Publish 1.0 to make it more fun and more of a true Star Wars adventure. Once those changes were completed the results were so startlingly positive in terms of the gameplay experience that we wanted to bring this level of fun to the rest of the game.

We can't wait to share more with you soon.

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May The Force Be With You,

The SWG Restoration Team