Star Wars Galaxies: Official Word - Issues caused by the BIG patch

Hey all -

Just wanted to drop by and let you know that we're working as fast as we can to resolve any remaining issues caused by the patch, but to also encourage you to jump into the game and seek out some of fantastic new content that has been added (can anyone kill Lord Nyax?!?). I also wanted to let you know that those of you who are unhappy with some of the changes are being heard, and that we're carefully evaluating every complaint. However, overall I have to admit that we're pleased with the patch and we're happy that so many of you have come out to post on the boards in support of the changes. Some of you might read that last statement with shock and dismay, but let me throw out some facts:

1) The patch that went up yesterday was the largest patch we've attempted. It contained a great deal of new content and some changes to existing content. We tested the patch on our Test Center for two weeks, but the size and scope of the game and the patch make it impossible to catch every bug. As a result, the patch introduced eight major bugs (one of which - the housing issue - affects a large percentage of the players). However, we feel that this is actually an incredibly low number for a patch of this size.

2) The eight major bugs were these:

-Creature handlers not being able to call any pets: Addressed with this morning's patch

-Houses have incorrect item limits: Addressed with this morning's patch

-Items in personal vendors counting against the house total: Addressed with this morning's patch

-Factory hoppers reduced to 100 capacity: Addressed with this morning's patch

-Limited reports of factories not operating after the first run; second and subsequent runs eat the first set of resources, then shut down: We just heard about this today and are gathering details now

-Backpacks are disappearing: This was partially resolved today and should be completely resolved by tomorrow

-Vendors are becoming un-initialized and there is no way to re-initialize them: Will be addressed tomorrow

-Some new mission are sometimes sending players to the origin (0, 0): We are investigating now.

3) So, of the eight significant bugs that we've identified (and about which the community is rightfully upset), we have already addressed four (that's not to say we won't do more to address the issues, but we've already taken steps towards making the situation better). Two more will be addressed by tomorrow morning. The remaining issues are still under investigation, but they occur infrequently and don't affect a huge number of players. I think this speaks to our responsiveness, which is again ahead of the curve.

We also made a number of other changes that may, at first glance, appear upsetting or controversial. The nature of development for massively multiplayer games requires us to make adjustments to the game over time in order to achieve game balance. As an example, we reduced the amount of money certain missions provide as reward in order to help balance the amount of money entering the in-game economy. Obviously, those players who use missions as a primary source of income will be initially upset over this reduction, but we hope that they will understand that such changes are for the greater good of the game.

And, of course, we still have a long list of things that we need or want to tackle (the commando profession, for example). As you can see from our responses to the correspondents, we are working hard to improve the game across the board, for everyone, but we have to move forward deliberately and cautiously (lest we introduce even more bugs), and we have to prioritize (we simply can't do everything at once).

We are of course disappointed that some aspects of the update weren't well-received and we are working as fast as we can to improve those (see above). We're also working to make sure that our testing and patch process improve so that we have fewer issues introduced. However, with that said, I will be very blunt - the patch went extremely well from our perspective. More than 95% of the update had no problems whatsoever, and it added a great deal of really engaging and requested content to the game.

Oh, and if you like the patch, let us know.

Haden Blackman

LucasArts Producer