Guten Tag, Konichiwa, Sveiki, and Hello,

To begin with, let me thank you for your generally warm reception of Hoth. The team was very happy to see all their months of hard work appreciated by so many people in the SWG community. It was an exciting Chapter to create and we're very proud of the results.

So, with the giant Hoth beastie out of the way, it's time to focus on the next batch of upcoming releases.

Our last release of 2008 will be Life Day. Life Day will return mid month; in fact, it should be up for public testing any time now. A lot of the content this year is directly inspired by the Star Wars Holiday Special. I'm sure most of you have found a way to see it and... well, it's certainly special. Loche and I sat and watched the whole thing all the way through when we started planning for Life Day this year. I wouldn't recommend this to anybody as I'm still bleeding from both eyes months later. That said, we did find a lot of fun inspiration in it.

Our main new gameplay mechanic for this year (destroying presents / decorating trees) was directly inspired by the scene of the Imperial troops smashing Lumpy's presents; many thanks to Blixtev for that idea. A number of the gifts this year are lifted directly from the special such as the pocket aquarium, holographic table, and proton chair. Other gifts, like the first home wroshyr tree to be given out since the 2003 and the Kowakian monkey-lizard house pet, are there to satisfy fan requests that we've heard over the years. Last month someone mentioned that they wanted Ackmena to make an appearance. While Ackmena could not be booked for the occasion this year, Saun Dann is on hand and desperately needs your help. The reward is well worth it so be sure to seek him out.

On to 2009...

We are going to reorganize our Updates a bit over the first few months of the year. Don't worry, nothing is being pushed off, we're simply adjusting the timing on a couple items to be sure we can give them the attention they need. Over the first portion of the year you can expect to see the following updates:

Update 6
AdeptStain, being the sneaky engineer that he is, managed to find a way to get the often-requested Appearance Tab done while we were all finishing off Hoth. Since it's nearly ready to go, we wanted to get it out for you folks sooner rather than later. That is, we didn't want to hold it until the Spy update was complete, which is going to take a touch longer. Again, we haven't pushed Spies out a full update; the Spy update will come at the same time it would have if the Appearance Tab had not existed, we just didn't want to hold Appearance Tab. Thus, Update 6 has become Appearance Tab.

The Appearance Tab is a new entry on the Game Menu bar. It essentially allows you to wear whatever armor or clothing you feel best enhances your stats yet you may appear as though you are wearing a completely different outfit. We hope that this will inject a great deal of visual diversity and customization into the game as players will now be able to wear whatever they like without negatively affecting their stats. Do you think a Padawan Robe looks cooler than the Shatterpoint Cloak? No problem; you can now wear the Shatterpoint Cloak and receive all the stat bonuses it applies while your outward appearance shows the Padawan Robe. Of course the usual rules still apply. If your character couldn't equip it before, they can't appear to wear it now. For example, Jedi cannot appear to wear armor.

Update 7
Update 7 is where the Spies will get their love. Shadowbrak is working on this update right now (with some Hanse input). While we may not be able to fulfill every request made, we are looking at the Spy Top 5 (PvE, expertise tree, etc) as well as the list of bugs that Spies would like fixed.

Update 8
We have moved Player Associations and Player Cities to their own update to give them the amount of time we feel is necessary to accomplish what we would like to do. I will have more details on the refinements to be found here in the coming months.

Ewok Festival of Love
February will see the return of the second annual Ewok Festival of Love. The chocolate fountains (bathing pools) will be back along with a few new mini-games for you folks to enjoy.

Lastly I wanted to discuss a new reward program that will be introduced early next year by our team (including Marketing!). Starting with our next re-entitlement we will be instituting a loyalty reward program. Loyal players who are subscribed (active and in good standing) before the entitlement is announced, and still subscribed/in good standing when the entitlement period closes, will receive a deluxe version of the reward the returning players receive for re-subscribing. This should hopefully keep the discontent that arose from Hoth's re-entitlement hologram at bay as well as help us to reinforce the value we place on you, our loyal players. We intend to do this for all future re-entitlements... yes, really.

The first of these loyalty rewards will be a Sarlacc Trash Can. Players who have let their subscriptions lapse and are eligible for our next re-entitlement program will receive an awesome Sarlacc Trash Can decorative item for their homes. However, loyal players who are subscribed before the re-entitlement promotion is formally announced, and still subscribed when the re-entitlement period closes, will receive the Deluxe Sarlacc Trash Can. The Deluxe model is not only a great decorative item, but also has an extra feeding feature. Feeding the Deluxe Sarlacc junk items once per week for four weeks will award the player a random collection item. We're not ready to announce when these excellent new items will be premiering, but it will be in the first few months of next year.

There is plenty more coming down the pipeline as well, but the items above are all I can divulge as of right now. I think we have some really neat stuff in store for everyone in 2009. Stay tuned.

I hope you all have a great holiday!

-Dotanuki

Thanks , can't wait!

Looking forward to the updates, the Appearance Tab soon is great to hear and to have Chapter 8 dedicated to the PAs and PCs is amazing.  As a GL and a Mayor, I can't wait to see what is in store.

LOYALTY REWARDS!!!! /cheer.....I am interested to see what this trash can is all about..../ponder

As the updates are off a little now from what your last letter indicated, what is the tentative plan for the updates post 8 since "8" was the open one that all the aspects were trying to "get"?  Any sneak peaks?

Jod_Iegemai wrote:

As the updates are off a little now from what your last letter indicated, what is the tentative plan for the updates post 8 since "8" was the open one that all the aspects were trying to "get"?  Any sneak peaks?

I'll discuss what's beyond Update 8 in a future Producer Note.

-Dotanuki.

Some good stuff.  Though I can certainly see where some communities are going to be upset over even the appearance that their updates are taking second fiddle to the A-tab.  Hopefully the promised changes will be worth the wait.

And thank you for recognition of the paying player base.

Ok, I actually liked what I read in this producer's note.

Yay for the appearance tab

Awesome news, however I still feel sorry for the spies for all their waiting tbh

But why haven't we been told about future chapters?

This is great and all... BUT....

Where are we at with the free CTS?  Any more news?  We're begging people to stick around daily, but the longer that CTS is held out, the more our hands are tied on the dead servers.

Free CTS needs to be a priority for implementation imho.

Dotanuki wrote:

Update 6
AdeptStain, being the sneaky engineer that he is, managed to find a way to get the often-requested Appearance Tab done while we were all finishing off Hoth. Since it's nearly ready to go, we wanted to get it out for you folks sooner rather than later. That is, we didn't want to hold it until the Spy update was complete, which is going to take a touch longer. Again, we haven't pushed Spies out a full update; the Spy update will come at the same time it would have if the Appearance Tab had not existed, we just didn't want to hold Appearance Tab. Thus, Update 6 has become Appearance Tab.

The Appearance Tab is a new entry on the Game Menu bar. It essentially allows you to wear whatever armor or clothing you feel best enhances your stats yet you may appear as though you are wearing a completely different outfit. We hope that this will inject a great deal of visual diversity and customization into the game as players will now be able to wear whatever they like without negatively affecting their stats. Do you think a Padawan Robe looks cooler than the Shatterpoint Cloak? No problem; you can now wear the Shatterpoint Cloak and receive all the stat bonuses it applies while your outward appearance shows the Padawan Robe. Of course the usual rules still apply. If your character couldn't equip it before, they can't appear to wear it now. For example, Jedi cannot appear to wear armor.

I will read the rest later, but this is awesome news. Thanks AdeptStrain for your dedication.

You post update 6, 7 and 8 and as the last point the Ewok festival (for Feb). Does that hint towards a much faster update schdule again and will we be moving towards one update a month again?

Of course, my next question must be about the GCW, player bases and the PVP content (winning conditions to battles). Are there any plans? will you mention more on this topic on the next Producer note?

Anyway, thanks for the update. I assume Droid Commander is also still on the list?

AdeptStrain rocks!

/donates TABB

also, The Trash Car seems cool mini features are always welcome

Well, i'm still a bit disappointed that you are waiting til the cows come home before we get any more information on the cts.

Not very good business tactics to keep your customers in the dark.

Dotanuki wrote:

Our main new gameplay mechanic for this year (destroying presents / decorating trees) was directly inspired by the scene of the Imperial troops smashing Lumpy's presents; many thanks to Blixtev for that idea. A number of the gifts this year are lifted directly from the special such as the pocket aquarium, holographic table, and proton chair. Other gifts, like the first home wroshyr tree to be given out since the 2003 and the Kowakian monkey-lizard house pet, are there to satisfy fan requests that we've heard over the years. Last month someone mentioned that they wanted Ackmena to make an appearance. While Ackmena could not be booked for the occasion this year, Saun Dann is on hand and desperately needs your help. The reward is well worth it so be sure to seek him out.

Please make the wroshyr tree different please! And make it like the aurilian plant! Make it interactive! (Like growing it and etc)

On to 2009...

Update 6
AdeptStain, being the sneaky engineer that he is, managed to find a way to get the often-requested Appearance Tab done while we were all finishing off Hoth. Since it's nearly ready to go, we wanted to get it out for you folks sooner rather than later. That is, we didn't want to hold it until the Spy update was complete, which is going to take a touch longer. Again, we haven't pushed Spies out a full update; the Spy update will come at the same time it would have if the Appearance Tab had not existed, we just didn't want to hold Appearance Tab. Thus, Update 6 has become Appearance Tab.

The Appearance Tab is a new entry on the Game Menu bar. It essentially allows you to wear whatever armor or clothing you feel best enhances your stats yet you may appear as though you are wearing a completely different outfit. We hope that this will inject a great deal of visual diversity and customization into the game as players will now be able to wear whatever they like without negatively affecting their stats. Do you think a Padawan Robe looks cooler than the Shatterpoint Cloak? No problem; you can now wear the Shatterpoint Cloak and receive all the stat bonuses it applies while your outward appearance shows the Padawan Robe. Of course the usual rules still apply. If your character couldn't equip it before, they can't appear to wear it now. For example, Jedi cannot appear to wear armor.

I still think you should be able to wear whatever you want, unless it is profession specific but glad to see this!

Update 7
Update 7 is where the Spies will get their love. Shadowbrak is working on this update right now (with some Hanse input). While we may not be able to fulfill every request made, we are looking at the Spy Top 5 (PvE, expertise tree, etc) as well as the list of bugs that Spies would like fixed.

Pushed back even further?

Update 8
We have moved Player Associations and Player Cities to their own update to give them the amount of time we feel is necessary to accomplish what we would like to do. I will have more details on the refinements to be found here in the coming months.

Add more multi-floored and underground housing

Ewok Festival of Love
February will see the return of the second annual Ewok Festival of Love. The chocolate fountains (bathing pools) will be back along with a few new mini-games for you folks to enjoy.

Cool a meta-game! (is that the correct term?)

Lastly I wanted to discuss a new reward program that will be introduced early next year by our team (including Marketing!). Starting with our next re-entitlement we will be instituting a loyalty reward program. Loyal players who are subscribed (active and in good standing) before the entitlement is announced, and still subscribed/in good standing when the entitlement period closes, will receive a deluxe version of the reward the returning players receive for re-subscribing. This should hopefully keep the discontent that arose from Hoth's re-entitlement hologram at bay as well as help us to reinforce the value we place on you, our loyal players. We intend to do this for all future re-entitlements... yes, really.

Glad you are starting it now instead of later. Good job devs!

The first of these loyalty rewards will be a Sarlacc Trash Can. Players who have let their subscriptions lapse and are eligible for our next re-entitlement program will receive an awesome Sarlacc Trash Can decorative item for their homes. However, loyal players who are subscribed before the re-entitlement promotion is formally announced, and still subscribed when the re-entitlement period closes, will receive the Deluxe Sarlacc Trash Can. The Deluxe model is not only a great decorative item, but also has an extra feeding feature. Feeding the Deluxe Sarlacc junk items once per week for four weeks will award the player a random collection item. We're not ready to announce when these excellent new items will be premiering, but it will be in the first few months of next year.

 

I love that *EDIT*!

My replies are in teal

Nice producer note! Well worth reading!

for once a decent producers note that has a bit of substance to it

yet to do hoth (hurry up Free CTS)

looking forward to Life Day

Ok, I read the rest and must say that I am happy, not only for the A-Tab, but for the loyalty reward thingymaginy. With the advanced Sarlacc Trash Can, could it by chance drop a Sith WP 4/5, and if so would it have an equal chance to drop?

Now that Hoth is out of the way, you guys can finally start working on the game again and Jedi General Expertise (cough cough).

Anyways, thanks to the Dev team for all your hard work.