Previews for Star Wars Galaxies Game Update 4

The next big patch coming to Star Wars Galaxies is Game Update 4. It's a systems tweak, aimed squarely at addressing community issues with the Commando and Officer classes. SWG's community manager Valara dropped into the forums this week with previews for both sides in the chain of command. What's really interesting is that she includes the 'top five issues' list that each classes' senator have been maintaining. Senators are player representatives for one facet of the game, and these top five lists are the biggest issues facing each class at any given time. Valara then offers up changes coming in the update that directly stem from this list.

For example, the preview of Commando changes lists "Address issues with heavy weapons, including design, DoT complications, and UI interference" as one of the top five community issues. This is the response to that concern on the 'in the works' list: "Investigate issues with heavy weapons including DoT applications and UI interference. Add a new cold elemental weapon." Similarly, the preview of Officer changes has "Leadership abilities such as /sysgroup and /rallypoint need to be re-introduced." The update's response: "Investigate the addition of system group messages and rally points; rally point may grant group members a new buff for meeting at the rally point. Investigate Supply Drop." Both of these threads have several visits from developers as well, making for a very interestinv conversation about these class issues. For more background on the Commando's DoT problems, check out the thread entitled the history of Commando DoTs for more details.