Squaring off with SWG's producer, Teesquared part 2

Massively: I have a lot of friends who absolutely love Dathomir and the whole Dathomiri culture, so I have to ask: What is this update all about? What's the story? What are the quests? And most importantly, what is the loot?!

Tony "Teesquared" Tyson: One of the things that we have been doing lately is keeping some surprises for the players. For example, by not including specific details in our public notes, we have been encouraging our players to log in to find out the next gift of the SWG seventh anniversary celebration. Our players have been enjoying it and so have we.

With this in mind, I don't want to give out too much detail on the Witches of Dathomir storyline or content, but I can say that Dathomir is a dark and eerie place and the Nightsisters are powerful Star Wars characters. Initially this background and lore drew us to this location and theme. Since launch we haven't done anything that directly and deeply involves player interaction with the Nightsisters, so we're very excited that we get a chance to do that now. Who doesn't like the mystical and magical nature of the Nightsisters — and the idea of witches in Star Wars!?

The quests will involve all different play styles. For example, combat players will have a chance to go up against the Spider Clan. There are also going to be challenges that don't involve combat at all.

As far as the storyline, well that's the part we want to be a surprise. From my SOE Fan Faire presentation in August, we mentioned a few pieces of information as teasers. Is the Blackwing virus spreading? (Last year we released Death Troopers content also on Dathomir.) Are afflicted, creature infects with the Blackwing virus, reaching outside the Quarantine zone? Stay tuned...

As far as rewards, there will be cool Nightsister wearable loot to enjoy plus more surprises!

Speaking of witches: What is Halloween — the Galactic Moon Festival, rather — going to be about this year? Is Z'ozpheratu going to make a comeback? What's going to be different this year from last year?

Our yearly Halloween event, the Galactic Moon Festival, will also round out this month's festivities. What better way to celebrate a scary event than inside SWG receiving scary gifts from your favorite characters?

Z'ozpheratu is back and scarier than ever. The Galactic Moon Festival will be a similar event to the one held last year but with some exciting new changes and new rewards. Again, we don't want to give out too many details, but there will be some fun new rewards, and we're planning on doing something in the game that has never been done in SWG for events.

On the subject of holidays, how fun is Wookiee Life Day going to be this year?

Ar-rar-rar-rar-rar! (Wookiee Laughter...) All of the SWG holiday events include new badges, collections, repeatable content quests, and new rewards. We also have a system in development that will work with Storyteller to allow players to place event specific props that will stay around until the event goes away. Our goal is to have that system ready for Wookiee Life Day this year. This will allow players to celebrate the event around their homes and cities. So players can spread the joy or the horror, in the case of GMF, of the holiday events around the entire game.

Switching gears here. When the Trading Card Game first launched there was a lot of heat generated on the forums and among players in the game. I believe players have since noticed how important the TCG is for the future of Star Wars Galaxies, so the initial heat has died down. How is the development team taking advantage of this opportunity to perhaps get more players involved in the TCG?

I'm sure everyone would agree that the TCG has created some amazing classic Star Wars and Star Wars Galaxies artwork. The pieces are incredible. We have introduced the artwork into the game as loading screens and we will continue to add more. We also have players submitting suggestions for game tips which we will be adding to the game to compliment some of this artwork. Additionally, the TCG team continues to run tournaments and special events on a regular basis.

It has been a while since Threat of the Conqueror was released; when can we expect a new expansion set and what will this one be about?

The next TCG set is in development now. We are introducing new gameplay elements and the theme is the coolest to date (consider what happened 30 years ago!). Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement.

Are we looking to have iconic Empire Strikes Back loot cards? Maybe a carbon freezing chamber for our houses?

Why? Is there someone you want to freeze?

As a producer, you have shown that you listen to your playerbase. For instance, I believe everyone loved the no-trade lift. I know there have been many suggestions about user-generated content like more storyteller props, greater environmental control, and even player-designed instances. What are your plans for future development of user-generated content?

The no-trade/biolink removal was a great change for the players. We got a lot of positive feedback. We continue to see requests for items to get changed, and we plan to continue to make these changes when we can. Like I mentioned before, we have plans to add more Storyteller items and enhance that system to support our holiday events. We also are planning on adding more features to Chronicles to make the user-generated content more fun and engaging.

Player-designed instances? I had to ask.

The original Chronicles design included a concept for having a player decorate an interior as part of the quest. It didn't make the first release and proved to be very difficult to implement. However, we understand the value of such a system and it's still on our wish list for Chronicles.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions, T². Is there anything else you would like to add?

You are welcome. Thanks for providing such great questions. SWG is thriving both in development and in our community and SOE continues to be committed to the game and our players. The whole team is looking forward to the future of SWG. We've got some exciting events and updates planned that we cannot wait to get in the hands of our players. The dev team is listening to player feedback and acting on it. The future holds many exciting changes, but most importantly, it holds more classic Star Wars stories to experience and enjoy with your friends.

Thank you, T². We really appreciate the insight into the future of the game.

Massively readers, let us know what you think of this interview here in the comments! We also sat down with the Star Wars Galaxies' Community Manager and spoke with her about how the developers are getting more directly involved in player events. So tune in here later this week to read what what she had to say. Until then may the Force be with you, always.