If there was ever a MMO like Fallout 3, Morrowind or Oblivion (GTA and RDR too, but I haven't played those two)...I would never leave the house again lol. Okay maybe I would, but you get my point :P This will be a long post.

 Here is the link to the thread this was a response to, yes I know its not on MMOsite...but still a good dicussion, and we are all gamers no matter what site we are from :)  http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/294594/The-majority-of-players-will-never-like-a-sandbox-game-argument.html Excuse the rambling rant...my mind is scattered today, I'm on pain killers...and tired as heck... So anyway...to the blog. May be a bit confusing if you haven't read at least some of that topic in the thread I linked to.   Sure Fallout 3/Oblivion/Morrowind aren't TRUE sandbox games. They are more of a hybrid. But, with player made mods (as mentioned) you can easily turn then into sandbox games. I built a pretty large settlement

When adventurers make their way back to Aurilia after defeating a powerful enemy, they proudly carry back the spoils of war. New entrepreneurs in Aurilia are looking for special tokens that the defeated creatures leave behind. Find out more about trading your tokens to Aurilia's vendors to choose the reward you've been yearning for.

Prized Possessions

Defeating a heroic enemy is no easy task, and the successful combatants are well-rewarded for their efforts! Unique items can be dropped by these formidable foes, including schematics for weapons, items that can be shown off in your home, and more.

Not only is there a chance that your adversary will drop a one-of-a-kind reward, but every group member will also walk away from the encounter bearing a mark of their triumph.

Tokens of Heroism

At the end of a successful heroic encounter, every group member automatically receives a special token in their inventory. These stackable tokens are unique to each heroic enemy; for example, the deadly IG-88 carries on itself the Droid Factory Token of Heroism.

These round objects bear the symbol of Aurilia and are No Trade items. Tokens can be carried in a unique container, which is earned by compl

SWG - Friday Feature - The Fog Lifts

(PC: MMORPG) | Posted by Lydias @ Saturday - October 06, 2007 - 13:35 - Top Add a comment | Game Info | Rate this game | Homepage | Screenshots

This weeks Friday Feature over at the Official SWG site looks at the lost village of Aurilia: The village of Aurilia was once a haven for Force sensitive refugees on Dathomir. A primitive settlement in a desolate area of the planet, the inhabitants led a rustic life. The Force sensitives living in the village wanted nothing more than to escape any notice. But their efforts to remain out of sight of any prying eyes were in vain. The village faced an onslaught of unending attacks from a Dark Jedi called Mellichae, who was eager to gain the Emperor's favor by capturing the Force users. Aurilia withdrew from the outside world in a last effort to defend and rebuild. Calling on the Force to completely conceal themselves, the inhabitants hid the village of Aurilia within an impenetrable fog… until now. Read the whole feature Here

Source: SWG

Friday Feature – The Fog Lifts - 10/05/2007

Aurilia emerges from the mist in Chapter 7! The citizens of the village have decided to re-open their doors to the outside world. While Aurilia was hidden, the small village evolved into a bustling township still sympathetic to adventurers looking for help. Find out more about the township of Aurilia and the people who call it home. The Village The village of Aurilia was once a haven for Force sensitive refugees on Dathomir. A primitive settlement in a desolate area of the planet, the inhabitants led a rustic life. The Force sensitives living in the village wanted nothing more than to escape any notice. But their efforts to remain out of sight of any prying eyes were in vain. The village faced an onslaught of unending attacks from a Dark Jedi called Mellichae, who was eager to gain the Emperor's favor by capturing the Force users. Aurilia withdrew from the outside world in a last effort to defend and rebuild. Calling on the Force to completely conceal themselves, the inhabitants hid the village of Aurilia within an impenetrable fog… until now. Aurilia Emerges The mist has lifted to reveal a stronger, well-defended Aurilia. The former villa

Have you been longing to return to a galaxy far, far away? Now is the perfect time!

Former citizens of the galaxy can return for 21 days if they have been inactive for 90 days or more. Log back in to your former account now and check out the new Beast Master expertise system firsthand.  Hurry, this offer is only available until 11:59PM PST September 30, 2007! 

Remember, keep your account opted-in and your email address updated to find out about great offers and opportunities from Star Wars Galaxies and Sony Online Entertainment!

On Thursday, July 26th at 4:00 AM PDT all U.S. and European galaxies will be taken down for server maintenance and a live update.

When the update is complete, all galaxies will be live but unavailable while we complete final testing. All galaxies will be made available after that time.

4:00 AM PDT (Los Angeles) / 6:00 AM CDT (Austin) / 7:00 AM EDT (New York)
12:00 PM GMT (London) / 1:00 PM CET (Berlin) / 8:00 PM (Tokyo)
Click here for a Time Zone Calculator.

Gameplay:

/assist now takes an optional parameter for the name of the character to /assist, so you no longer have to target the character you want to /assist. /assist without any parameter still works as usual, which is to /assist the character you have targeted. Different classes now get different stats, rather then everyone getting 90 or 0 in everything. See Racial/Class Statistics at the end of these update notes for more information. Wookiee Shoulder Pads now use the left shoulder slot. Players can now join groups if they are in stealth. Added purple color to the Mandalorian color palette. Altered Force Melon to act as a healing stim item. Imperial Battle and Imperial Super Battle Droids found patrolling Theed will no longer att

Congratulations to the newly appointed Galactic Senate! Over 800 nominations were sent in, and all positions are now filled. Here the community leaders who will serve in the Galactic Senate as a voice for all players.

Position	Forum Handle
Legacy Senator	Telexx
Legacy Senator	Khristen
Legacy Senator	Marrow1
Legacy Senator	Red-Dwarf
Legacy Senator	Pawlin
Legacy Senator	Darth_Sushi
Legacy Senator	Tralmek
Legacy Senator	Glzmo
Legacy Senator	Martokk
Legacy Senator	BadgerSmaker
Legacy Senator	Elyssa
Beast Master Senator	KrackenOne
Bounty Hunter Senator	TuCheck
Commando Senator	MasterCosmo
Entertainer Senator	Boscohark
Jedi Senator	ArkonPhoenix
Medic Senator	PhiberOptic
Officer Senator	Fuelsean
Pilot Senator	NarfBlinko
Politician Senator	Cigaran
Spy Senator	Tellahane
Smuggler Senator	-Firestar-
Domestic Goods Trader Senator	0nyx
Engineering Trader Senator	DrashK
Munitions Trader Senator	Zion
Structures Trader Senator	SmokingFrog
Imperial Senator	Sylkie
Rebel Senator	Ace426
Neutral Senator	ThalDev
Player Associations Senator	IronChickenPro
Host Senator (New Players)	ImperialPilotCH
Roleplay Senator	lonavalamari

Thank you to everyone who sent in a nomination! The Senate will begin its busines

Dev Diary: Thomas "Hanse" Eidson #4

Heythere! I'm Thomas "Hanse" Eidson and this is the fourth designer diaryin the series I've been writing over the past several weeks. The firstone outlined the specifics of what my job entails from a high levelperspective. The second diary reviewed a player versus environmentbalance approach I used. The third diary sketched out how the Jediexpertise was created. In this fourth diary, I will go over myresponsibilities with the beast mastery system.

As you may already know, I am a system designer for Star Wars Galaxies. A system designer, in short, makes broad decisions for entiresections of the game. Instead of focusing on small details, such aswhich way a building should face, we focus on how all the buildingsshould function. In this way, we are responsible for large changes tothe game.

When the beast mastery system was first discussed,we simply called it a new pet system. Our goal was to allow a playerthe ability to control one creature at a time in the game. We wantedthe pet to grow, eat, fight, learn, and have a personality. The rangeof pets available would be large and diverse. A system of discoverywould need to be implemented so that the beas

Overview

Mission
Itis the mission of the Galactic Senator to represent to the best of hisor her ability the segment of community for which he or she has beenappointed. It is the responsibility of the Senator to take into accountthe interests and sentiments of those represented in an unbiased andobjective capacity, serving as advocate, leader, and unified voice forthe players.

Appointment
Candidates for theGalactic Senate may be nominated by any player in good standing, andself-nominations are also considered. Clarity and influence are amongthe top desired traits for a Senator to possess. An election commissioncomprising of the Star Wars Galaxies Community Team will appoint thetitle of Senator to players from the pool of nominations. Onceappointed, a Senator will serve a 6 month term at which point theposition will be open to new candidates.

Structure
There are 32 total Senators. The following is a breakdown of positions within the Senate:

Profession Senators Beast Master Senator Bounty Hunter Senator Commando Senator Entertainer Senator Jedi Senator Medic Senator Officer Senator Pilot Senator Politician Senator Spy Senator Smuggler Senator Domestic Goods Trader Senator Engineering Tr

Howdy, folks! I’m Thomas “Hanse” Eidson, a game designer on the Star Wars Galaxies team. In this second designer diary, I will outline the process behind creature balance, the first design feature I worked on as a system designer.

When I was first brought onto the team a little over a year ago, I was tasked with looking over Non-Player Character (NPC) balance. Normal creatures were too easy to fight at some levels and too hard at others.

At the time, Helios explained that very few stats were used in combat for NPC’s. The feature had to be published soon and I was to review and revise them quickly. I chose a simple stat to modify - their hit points (HP).

When approaching a systemic issue such as creature balance, you would not normally modify only one statistic. Modifying one statistic for creature balance makes your creatures bland and boring during combat. Our current game does not rely on a single statistic for combat. We use a master data table that is level based, which means the statistics rise as the level increases.

The table at the time that I worked on the balance looked almost exactly like this, in logarithmic scale:

You will notice that the values have