Star Wars Galaxies team prepping for Hoth, welcome new lead designer

There's been big news in the Star Wars Galaxies community in the last week. Last week's Friday Feature hints at the progress the development team is making in bringing to you a huge addition to the Galaxies experience: the Battle of Hoth. The "choose a side" feature highlights the different experiences the Rebels and Imperials will be having on opposing sides of the instance. While the Rebels try desperately to protect their transports and get away, the Imperials will be advancing on Echo Base laying waste to all they see. While full details on the experience aren't yet out, the feature gives a nice taste of what's to come in the next chapter of Star Wars Galaxies.

Meanwhile, word from the official forums is that long-time lead designer for the game Thomas Blair will be moving on to another position at SOE-Austin. Blair has accepted the position of Design Systems lead on the DC Universe Online project. In his place will be stepping Jesse "Loche" Benjamin, the assistant lead designer for Galaxies. Player reaction seems to be generally positive, and Blair's 'goodbye' to the community is well worth reading. With a new lead designer and a new senior producer on the game within the space of a few months, it will be interesting to see where the future of the game goes from this point on.