SWG devannounce - by MajorXP

TCPrime/TestCenter Update Notes - February 20, 2009

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:47:32 -0600

Written by on 2009-02-20 14:47:32 EST.

Scheduled Server Downtime – Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:48:38 -0600

Written by on 2009-02-16 18:48:38 EST.

TCPrime/TestCenter Update Notes - February 13, 2009

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:47:14 -0600

Written by on 2009-02-13 10:47:14 EST.

Emergency Server Maintenance - Friday, September 14, 2007

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:55:18 -0500

The Starsider and Chilastra Galaxies will going down shortly for an emergency maintenance period. Both galaxies will be unavailable during this brief maintenance period, and we hope to have the servers up before too long. We apologize for any inconvenience this unscheduled maintenance may cause.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-09-14 14:55:18 EST.

TCPrime Status - September 14, 2007

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:57:29 -0500

Rebooting for another Double XP weekend.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-14 11:57:29 EST.

Chapter 6.12: Masters of the Wild - Publish Notes

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:21:11 -0500

Tempest-Dragon wrote:

GreyPawn wrote:
On Thursday, September 13th 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.
Beast Master
Beasts in passive mode should now attack properly when told to.
Thats it? What about the fact their movement problems? The one where after you tell them to attack they run right back to the owner. The fact that they are not running down their targets like they used to before you guys messed around with defensive mode.

That should be fixed as well. It was all part of the same issue.

Written by Loche on 2007-09-13 13:21:11 EST.

Chapter 6.12: Masters of the Wild - Publish Notes

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:07:39 -0500

On Thursday, September 13th 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.

The Imperial Theme Park

New adventures await those who work for the Galactic Empire! High level Imperial citizens should speak to Kaja Or'Zee at the Emperor's Retreat to begin the journey.
- The Imperial Theme Park has been revamped with new quests and content.

General Gameplay

Dice and chance cubes can now be used from the toolbar.
Reduced spawn quantities and increased respawn time for Kaadus on Naboo.

Droids

Fixed an issue with the Droid Customization Kit not detecting a valid droid target.

Buffs

Fixed an issue where buff effects with critical hit bonuses were not properly adding critical hit.

Commando

Mines purchased from faction recruiters can no longer be placed while user is in a combat state.
HX2 mines have been migrated to the combat system. These mines now generate combat spam and apply appropriate Commando Devastation and Damage over Time bonuses.

Beast Master

Beasts in passive mode should now attack properly when told to.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-09-13 08:07:39 EST.

Chapter 6.12 Masters of the Wild - Publish Notes

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:02:24 -0500

On Thursday, September 13th 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.

The Imperial Theme Park

New adventures await those who work for the Galactic Empire! High level Imperial citizens should speak to Kaja Or'Zee at the Emperor's Retreat to begin the journey.
- The Imperial Theme Park has been revamped with new quests and content.

General Gameplay

Dice and chance cubes can now be used from the toolbar.
Reduced spawn quantities and increased respawn time for Kaadus on Naboo.

Droids

Fixed an issue with the Droid Customization Kit not detecting a valid droid target.

Buffs

Fixed an issue where buff effects with critical hit bonuses were not properly adding critical hit.

Commando

Mines purchased from faction recruiters can no longer be placed while user is in a combat state.
HX2 mines have been migrated to the combat system. These mines now generate combat spam and apply appropriate Commando Devastation and Damage over Time bonuses.

Beast Master

Beasts in passive mode should now attack properly when told to.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-09-12 16:02:24 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - September 12, 2007

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:25:05 -0500

TCPrime will be rebooting shortly with the following update:

Beast Master:

Fixed issue where beasts in passive mode would attack if hit by an AOE attack.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-12 15:25:05 EST.

Important Message For Subscribers Impacted By Hurricane Katrina

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 09:37:35 -0500

In the summer of 2005 Hurricane Katrina left an incredible wake of destruction across the Gulf Coast of the United States. The damage done by the hurricane was unprecedented and impacted countless lives. In response to the hurricane, SOE suspended billing for over 13,000 players living in the affected areas to give them the time they needed to recover.

For the two years that have followed, the accounts of the affected SOE gamers have not been billed but have been preserved. Beginning on Monday, September 17th, the accounts for these 13,000 SOE gamers will resume the normal billing processes. If you lived in an area affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 please check your account information before September 17th to ensure that everything is accurate and there is no disruption in your ability to play.

Our best wishes go out to all those who were affected by the disaster and we'd like to thank our SOE players for their continued patronage.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-09-12 09:37:35 EST.

TCPrime Status - September 11, 2007

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:51:02 -0500

TCPrime will be rebooting shortly. Nothing new just turning off double XP.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-11 15:51:02 EST.

Official Forum Rules - Read Before Posting

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:48:45 -0500

Forum Rules

Step right up, step right up! Ladies and gentlebothans have I got a show for you to-day! We got rules, we got a code of conduct, we got forum etiquette.

First off, these forums here are a part of Station.com, so that means the Terms of Service from Station.com applies to them, and you! You can find those terms in their entirety at the following URL - http://sonyonline.com/tos/tos.jsp . More specifically, there are additional rules which cover the forums especially.

Message Board Code of Conduct

In addition to the Station's Terms of Service, we expect you to follow some additional rules.

Generally, you may post anything written in a courteous and mature manner, providing that it is on-topic for the forum. This includes posts that disagree with the way that the developers operate the game. We won't interfere with your communication so long as the presentation is constructive and appropriate. Here are some Do's and Don'ts to follow-

Do's

Do stay on topic for the forum you are in, and keep it relevant.
Do be courteous and mature in your posts.
Do feel free to disagree, but keep it constructive and appropriate.
Do be welcoming of newcomers.
Do ask if you have questions. We're here to help!
Do keep it legal. Don't post anything unlawful, libelous or that infringes upon any intellectual property rights.

Don'ts

Don't use your post or signature to attack or insult someone.
Don't turn your disagreement into an attack on another person or group.
Don't engage in name-calling, harassment or threats.
Don't post anything that contains obscenity, vulgarity, profanity or sexual content.
Don't attempt to bypass the obscenity filter.
Don't disparage any religion, race, nation, gender or sexual orientation.
Don't infringe upon another person's privacy rights.
Don't post anything off-topic for the forum you are in.
Don't make multiple posts on the same topic for the purpose of getting attention.
Don't post comments in threads for the purpose of drawing attention to another thread on a different, unrelated subject.
Don't bump, sign, quote for emphasis (QFE), "first", or "second" any thread.
Don't cross-post the same topic to multiple forums or post the same message to multiple threads.
Don't reserve-post to a non-guide thread.
Don't be a troll. "Trolling" is defined as: Posting with the intent of stirring up trouble or to incite disruption. An example of trolling would be posting to a thread without the intent to provide constructive suggestions or comments and instead making disruptive comments.
Don't post topics addressed directly to another player. PM them instead.
Don't post topics addressed directly to a developer.
Don't use the forums to discuss private issues. If you have an issue with another player or group, take it up with them personally.
Don't solicit to join a guild or conduct guild recruitment on the general discussion boards. Please use the galaxy forums specifically set up for this.
Don't use the forums as staging grounds for planning disruptive activities or to promote general unrest in the form of sit-ins, polls, petitions, etc.
Don't post exploits, cheats, hacks, or links to websites or other forums that contain such material. If you want to let the SWG team know about an issue like this, please send a private message.
Don't use the forums to advertise the sale of characters, items or in-game currency for real-world money.
Don't advertise websites with content that violates these rules, the Star Wars Galaxies EULA or the Station Terms of Service.
Don't advertise products or websites that are not related to Star Wars Galaxies or Sony Online Entertainment products.
Don't make posts soliciting feedback about Customer Service resolutions. All requests and feedback about Customer Service issues should be handled through petitions or emails using the Knowledge Base. (www.station.sony.com/kb)

These rules apply to the forums as well as the private message system. Please note that these rules also apply to communication to any Sony Online Entertainment employees, including email.

Consequences
If you fail to adhere to the rules, here are a few of the actions that might be taken against you, based on the severity of the violation.

Editing of post or signature.
Removal of the ability to have a signature or link and image posting privileges.
Deletion of the post or thread.
Locking of the thread.
A warning on record attached to the player's account. Warnings are given for less severe message board infractions. Any player that receives three warnings for misconduct will be banned.
Suspension, resulting in the user being unable to access any Star Wars Galaxies forum, or play Star Wars Galaxies for the duration of the suspension at the discretion of the community team. Any subsequent warnings after a suspension will result in banishment.
Banishment, resulting in the user's forum posting privileges revoked. At the discretion of the community team, the user's access to Star Wars Galaxies may also be removed along with their Station account closed.
Legal action.

Those who violate the rules of the message boards may or may not receive any warning before action is taken. In the event that a warning is given, the warning will be recorded on the player's game account and may result in further action should the player show a pattern of engaging in prohibited conduct. Philosophically and administratively, there is no difference between conduct in-game and conduct on the Official Forums.

Forum Etiquette & Helpful Guidelines

As many of you know, reading and posting to the Star Wars Galaxies forums can be fun and enjoyable. However, there are those nitpicky little things that make doing so less marvelous for both players and developers. Here are a few tips and hints on proper forum etiquette and a couple of helpful guidelines to get your post noticed. Make sure to check these out before you go ahead and take the plunge by hitting that "New Topic" button.

Don't post a topic in all or mostly caps, or use a bajillion punctuation marks. A well-written post will get a lot more attention than a grammatical topic trick any day, so let common courtesy prevail.
Keep it on topic!
Keep your thoughts short and sweet. A well constructed paragraph with a concise statement is worth more than a volume of rambling, and is a lot more likely to get noticed.
Negative comments are completely acceptable, but only when done in terms of constructive criticism. If you've got a beef with something, make your case clear and propose alternatives.
Don't call out Community Team or Dev folks. We're watching and we see you. We may not always be able to respond to every thread posted to the boards, but we do read the overwhelming majority of them.
Try to avoid going all "grammar nazi" on someone. Community Managers are trained to read typonese, and if you haven't learned yet, prehaps nwo si teh tiem ot strat?
OMG first!, QFE and bumps are not conducive to clear and open communication. Most of your peers will respect you greater for well-thought out responses to posts rather than post count.
Avoid sending private messages to developers asking gameplay-related questions. When we can answer questions posted about general gameplay, we will. We won't however, reveal anything privately that we won't reveal in public.
Don't send private messages asking SOE folks to read a particular thread.
A picture is worth a thousand words. You can spice up your post with a picture or two of your subject matter from in-game to help get a point across.

SOE Forum Usage Guidelines

SOE provides these Forums as a service to its subscribers, to provide a friendly, positive family-oriented environment, where members can help each other and exchange ideas, tips, information, and techniques related to the game. Like any community, these Forums are most valuable when everyone obeys certain basic guidelines and rules for online behavior. These guidelines and rules are presented here so that you know what is expected of you and what you can expect from others. Please help keep the SOE Forums a clean and friendly community. And, above all else, have fun!

Rule 1: We Are All Here to Help
The purpose of these forums is to enable the members of the community to help each other in a constructive and positive atmosphere. If you are new to the forums and are unsure about anything, just ask! If you are an old hand and see new participants joining the forums, please welcome them and feel free to help them find their way!

Rule 2: Be Friendly and Courteous
Everyone wants to have a positive experience while on the Forums - please make sure that you contribute to it. Please do not post anything harassing, threatening, abusive, lewd, or inflammatory. Flaming people, products, or organizations is never acceptable. Neither is trolling. Instead, be friendly, helpful, and supportive.

Rule 3: Be Relevant
Please stay on topic. These Forums are provided to enable members to help each other in sharing their passion for the game. Please refrain from discussing personal matters, abusing any company or product, or, in general, from posting in a manner unrelated to the direct purposes expected in the Forums.

Rule 4: Be Legal
Please do not post anything unlawful, libelous, defamatory, or that infringes upon any intellectual property rights. Do not conduct any activity that may be illegal, or harmful in any way, to people, to software or hardware, such as hacking, flooding scripts viruses or Trojan horses. This includes posting of any images in any form in our forums.

Rule 5: No Spam
Please do not use the forums in any way to promote third party services, products, websites, or organizations. Spam is also posting repeatedly and off-topic in the forums.

Rule 6: Enforcement
Your participation in the Forums is subject to modification, deletion, access limitation or ban, by moderators, at their sole discretion, without notice or appeal. While SOE does not generally monitor content, it retains the right, at its sole discretion, to edit content and limit users' access that it considers inappropriate. SOE is not responsible for any failure or delay in taking such actions

Rule 7: Limitation of Liability
You understand that members like you contribute the content of these Forums, that SOE does not control and is not responsible for it, and that SOE does not in any way guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, legality or completeness of any such content. You expressly agree that you bear all the risks associated with such content and that SOE is not liable in any way for such content, for its errors and omissions, and for any losses and damage incurred as a result of accessing or using such content. These Usage Guidelines are in addition to, and not in lieu of the rights and obligations contained in SOE's Community Policies, SOE's Terms of Service, and the SOE Privacy Policy. SOE reserves the right to change its policies at any time.

By registering, and by posting in this community, you agree to these Usage Guidelines.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-09-11 09:48:45 EST.

TCPrime Status - September 10, 2007

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:33:27 -0500

As some may have noticed TCPrime had some issues over the weekend that have continued into today. It looks to be a hardware issue but while we are busy tracking down exactly what is wrong the server may continue to hiccup. I'll update this thread once the issue has been resolved.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-10 15:33:27 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - September 07, 2007

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:21:05 -0500

TCPrime will be coming up shortly with more fixes to the Imperial scout trooper armor.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-07 12:21:05 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - September 06, 2007 (2)

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:55:31 -0500

TCPrime is coming up now with fixes for the Imperial scout trooper helmet.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-06 15:55:31 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - September 06, 2007

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:12:15 -0500

TCPrime will be rebooting shortly with the following updates:

Imperial Theme-park:

Switched the stormtrooper armor reward to Imperial camo scout trooper armor.
Misc. fixes

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-06 10:12:15 EST.

TCPrime Status - September 04, 2007

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:13:33 -0500

Rebooting TCPrime shortly. No new build just some administrative updates for QA and double XP will be disabled as well.

Message edited by cheeseplus on 09/04/2007 09:21:19.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-09-04 09:13:33 EST.

TCPrime Status - August 31,2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:36:19 -0500

TCPrime will be rebooting in 15 minutes with double XP enabled.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-08-31 16:36:19 EST.

Producer Note - August 31st, 2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:33:09 -0500

Anach wrote:

DeadMeat wrote:
Malzeth wrote:
DeadMeat wrote:
Hi Folks,

Today we also announced the new Warden program. I am pretty jazzed about this, as it is the most direct approach to combating credit spammers ever attempted. Please be sure to read the Announcement about this to get all the details.

DeadMeat

Are you going to open a post for more questions on this? I have a few that werent covered. Mainly about spammers who dont fit into the two definitions you listed.

If they are neither advertising credit purchase or power leveling services for real life money they are not the subject of this program...Period.

DM
Spamming or Advertising external websites is easy enough to grasp, but how about those that will most likely take to emailing random people in game (as in other games). Especially once they can no longer spam spatial. Should these be reported through nomral means?

Definitely...We have some more tools in the works as well. The best line of defense is always depth.

DM

Written by DeadMeat on 2007-08-31 13:33:09 EST.

Producer Note - August 31st, 2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:59:32 -0500

Cemoa wrote:

DeadMeat wrote:
Malzeth wrote:
DeadMeat wrote:
Hi Folks,

Today we also announced the new Warden program. I am pretty jazzed about this, as it is the most direct approach to combating credit spammers ever attempted. Please be sure to read the Announcement about this to get all the details.

DeadMeat

Are you going to open a post for more questions on this? I have a few that werent covered. Mainly about spammers who dont fit into the two definitions you listed.

If they are neither advertising credit purchase or power leveling services for real life money they are not the subject of this program...Period.

DM
I do hope that you and/or CS do an extensive search on the players before you give the powers to basically mute people. There are always people who will act all nice to get what they wanted, then turn into complete asshats with power overload once they have it. That is the only thing that worries me about the program.

That is why we are keeping the number low, inviting folks that we already know the character of, and being picky about who we give the power to. With the constant reviewing of uses of the power by CS, and the fact that identifying spammers is pretty straightforward (CS will have the chat logs when they get the report of warden power usage) we don't see a lot of gray area here. People that misuse the power will do it only once.

Still it is my main concern and why we are being so careful with the program.

DM

Written by DeadMeat on 2007-08-31 12:59:32 EST.

Producer Note - August 31st, 2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:44:47 -0500

Malzeth wrote:

DeadMeat wrote:
Hi Folks,

Today we also announced the new Warden program. I am pretty jazzed about this, as it is the most direct approach to combating credit spammers ever attempted. Please be sure to read the Announcement about this to get all the details.

DeadMeat

Are you going to open a post for more questions on this? I have a few that werent covered. Mainly about spammers who dont fit into the two definitions you listed.

If they are neither advertising credit purchase or power leveling services for real life money they are not the subject of this program...Period.

DM

Written by DeadMeat on 2007-08-31 12:44:47 EST.

Producer Note - August 31st, 2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:19:44 -0500

Hi Folks,

It has been a bit since my last producer note so I wanted to catch people up a bit on where things are at these days. The team has been banging away on Chapter 7 for awhile now and things are looking fantastic at this point. I actually believe the collection system will be the sleeper hit of this chapter. Just looking at the badge collection alone was very cool, not to mention the scads of other new collections we have added. I am sure that folks are going to love the new rewards from the collections as well...There are definitely a number of cool ones. I also tested the Heroic IG-88 encounter and that was pretty smokin'...He's a pretty big guy . We have about three more weeks of implementation before the chapter will hit the TC's.

Today we also announced the new Warden program. I am pretty jazzed about this, as it is the most direct approach to combating credit spammers ever attempted. Please be sure to read the Announcement about this to get all the details. it will take a little while to scale up, but I think that it will put a major dent in the spammers on live once it hits its stride. DevH did his typical thorough job on this feature and I am very confident in its functionality.

We moved the Imperial Themepark revamp out to test yesterday and folks have been hammering away at it. So far it seems to be testing well, although we have spotted a few glitches here and there. Those have been addressed pretty quickly and I feel confident that we should be able to move this live by the end of next week. We also added some fixes and refinements to mines based in large part on a very lively discussion of the subject at Fan Faire. I really like it when we can react quickly to this type of direct feedback from the players and Blix really got down into that system and made it a lot tighter and more fair.

Thats it for now...I hope everyone has a great long weekend (for those folks overseas, we celebrate Labor Day on Monday here in the States). Hope folks find time to hit the Test Center and help us make sure the new features and fixes are solid before going live.

DeadMeat

Written by DeadMeat on 2007-08-31 12:19:44 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - August 31, 2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:57:34 -0500

TCPrime will be rebooting shortly, with the following update:

Fixed an issue with Droid Customization kit not detecting a valid droid target.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-08-31 11:57:34 EST.

The Star Wars Galaxies Warden Program

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:22:33 -0500

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, our Star Wars Galaxies players, for your continued dedication to the game despite the unfortunate infiltration of credit spammers into our online world. We recognize that these individuals continue to negatively affect your in-game experience (and the in-game experiences of most other MMO's out there today). The credit spammer issue has been a growing concern for a while now, and we wanted to make sure you knew that your calls for action haven't fallen on deaf ears.

This is definitely not an easy problem to solve - which is why so many games continue to suffer from it. But, with the situation persisting in Star Wars Galaxies, we felt that we needed to start taking more -assertive action?so we began experimenting. Some of you may have noticed that when they can, our GM team goes into limited areas in-game and flags the credit spammer characters for PvP so that players can take out their aggressions on them. We saw how much you enjoyed this, and it convinced us that our next attempt to deal with situation needed to be another way we all could work together to combat the situation. We think that we've achieved that goal and would now like to introduce to you The Warden Program.

The Warden Program allows Galaxies players to apply to be voluntary in-game Wardens who have the ability to thwart the efforts of credit spammers and power levelers who are trying to sell their services. With the use of a simple command, a player in the program can target a spammer offering credits or power leveling services and squelch their ability to speak through all chat channels, spatial emotes, spatial chat bubbles and in-game mail for a period of 6 hours. Meanwhile, an automatic email will be sent to our Customer Support Team, who will follow up on each incident and take further action against the account of the spammer.

We will be putting this new program into play in approximately a week's time, but we're starting off slowly - with just a handful of pre-selected Wardens to test out the program. Then, once we're confident that the system is working effectively, we'll start adding players based on a desire to get involved and the application review and selection process. Our hope is to eventually have about twenty Wardens per server. We'd like to believe that this number of Wardens will be enough and that all of this will have a positive effect on the current spamming situation, but if doesn't, we're always open to trying new things.

So, if you want to join in the fight against credit and power leveling spammers, please feel free to apply. Keep in mind that you must be 18 years of age, have a game and message board account in good standing in order to be considered and you can't currently be a part of any other Star Wars Galaxies volunteer program.

We've compiled a FAQ below followed by instructions on how you can apply to become a Warden. Thanks again for your continued support and we hope you're interested in getting involved and giving those spammers the "silent" treatment!

DeadMeat

---------------------------

Warden Program FAQ

1. Who can participate in The Warden Program?

The Warden Program will start off slowly, with just a handful of Wardens per server to begin with. The initial Wardens will have been picked by Customer Support to help us test the system based on several criteria. Once we are ready to expand the program, anyone who is interested in battling the spammer situation and who meets the following requirements can apply:

    -Must be 18 years of age
    -Must have an active game account and message board account in good standing
    -Must not currently be a part of any other Star Wars Galaxies volunteer program (The Senate, volunteer message board moderator, etc)

2. How are Wardens picked?

Once the program opens up, Wardens will be picked from those who apply based on player game history (marks against your account), server, time zone, play times, ability to follow directions and how the question supplied on the Warden application is answered.

3. How many Wardens are there on each server?

Initially, there will be a small number, but as soon as we feel comfortable with how the program is going, the ultimate goal is to have approximately 20 Wardens per server (from different time zones).

4. Is this a Guide Program?

No. It is completely unrelated.

5. What does the Warden ability allow me to do?

The Warden ability allows players to target a character in-game and execute a command that will silence (squelch) that player's chat, emote and in-game mailing abilities for a 6 hour time period. Executing the command will also send an automatic report to the GM’s who will review your action quickly, verify that the person you targeted was in fact a spammer, and then deal with the spammer account accordingly.

Please Note: You DO NOT need to send in a petition when you execute the Warden command.

6. As a Warden, what can I use my abilities on and what can I not use them on?

You may ONLY use your Warden abilities on characters that are spamming 1.) credits for sale or 2.) power-leveling for sale in exchange for real-world money.

You may NOT use your abilities in the following ways:

- On anyone NOT spamming credits/power leveling for sale in exchange for real-world money - especially not on friends as a joke. (We will be able to tell if you do this). This also includes NOT using the command on what you believe to be a Credit FARMER.
- To threaten or intimidate others - example: "I'm a Warden. You better do whatever I say or I'll freeze your ability to communicate."
- To silence valid in-game auctions. Be careful about this!
- To silence guild recruitment efforts of other players.
- On a member of the GM staff. (We already thought of this and your Jedi mind tricks won't work on us - but ours will work on you!)

It is absolutely essential that you NOT use your Warden abilities to silence people spamming racial slurs or displaying vulgar chat behavior of any sort. We encourage all players who witness these types of behavior at anytime to submit a petition regarding it. To do so, go to support.station.sony.com/petition and then click on the In-Game Support tab.

7. Why can't I use Warden abilities on a Credit FARMERS?

The command should not be used on what you believe to be a Credit Farmer because you do not have the ability to check account information in order to tell whether the account you are targeting is a genuine account or not. People you suspect are Credit FARMING with the intent to sell their credits for real money, should be petitioned in the normal manner by going to support.station.sony.com/petition and then clicking on the In-Game Support tab.

8. Are the actions of Wardens monitored?

Yes. Every use of the Warden command is logged and reviewed regularly by Customer Support.

9. What happens if I abuse the Warden ability?

Upon investigation, if you are determined to have purposely used the Warden command on anyone other than a credit or power-leveling spammer, you will be dismissed as a Warden and further action may be taken against you - up to and possibly including termination of your game account.

10. What happens if I make an honest mistake with the Warden command?

We recognize that this can happen. As a first defense against it, we have built in the ability to reverse the Warden command after you have used it on someone. This does not mean, however, that you can go around silencing and unsilencing others for fun. Customer Support will investigate every use of the Warden command and will easily be able to determine if this is occurring and whether or not it was an honest mistake. If it was intentional and you were just messing around, you run a high risk of losing your Warden status and having additional action taken against you.

11. Do I have any other responsibilities as a Warden?

Other than actually committing to use the ability, the targeting and squelching of credit/power leveling spammers for real world money is your only task - aside from being a regular player and enjoying the game, of course!

12. How much time in-game do I need to spend acting as a Warden?

That is up to you. While we will never make demands on you to act as a Warden for a certain amount of hours each week, or set a quota for the number of spammers you need to squelch, we do want to make sure that if picked as a Warden, you are spending some time acting as one.

With the amount of people who will want to participate, the only way to keep things fair is to check Warden accounts to make sure they are being utilized to some extent in order to help the community. If we see no action on a Warden account, we reserve the right to take your Warden status away and give it to someone who has been waiting for the chance to become a Warden.

13. If I'm picked as a Warden how long can I stay one?

If you are picked as a Warden, you can remain one as long as you like -- as long as you continue to execute the Warden ability and don't abuse your powers.

14. Who do I contact if I need to quit being a Warden?

If you need to step down from being a Warden for any reason, or you know that you will be away and not able to act as a Warden for an extended amount of time (and don't want us to tag you for inactivity), please contact us at galacticdefenders@soe.sony.com. Please be responsible about this so that others have the opportunity to become a Warden. In cases where you will be away for extended amounts of time, we may appoint an 'interim' Warden until your return.

15. Can I tell others that I'm a Warden?

Sure you can...but we'd like to stress that you shouldn't flaunt it or use it as a way to intimidate or threaten others (as mentioned before). If we get reports that you are doing this, action will be taken against you by our Customer Support Team.

16. Will players be able to recognize me as a Warden in-game?

Nope. Other Wardens will be able to recognize you as one and the GM staff will, but that's all.

17. What do I get for being a Warden?

You get the incredible satisfaction of knowing that you're making the SWG game world a better place by helping rid it of annoying spammers!

18. Can I ban accounts as a Warden?

Nope - that is not a power you have. Customer Support will be responsible for banning any account that warrants such action.

19. How do I apply to become a Warden?

You will need to send an email with some information included in order to be considered. Please see below!

20. How will I know if I get picked to be a Warden?

You will receive an in-game email from galacticdefenders@soe.sony.com welcoming you and giving you some detailed information including how to use your Warden abilities.

How To Apply:

Hint: It is important for potential Warden candidates to demonstrate that they can follow directions to a "T"..

Please compose an email to galacticdefenders@soe.sony.com

Make sure that "Warden Application" appears in the subject heading.

In the body of the email, list the following information:

1. Your real name
2. Age
3. Station account name
4. Server (pick just one please)
5. Character name on that server (the one that you want to have Warden status applied to – you may only have Warden status on ONE character)
6. Time zone you're in
7. Times and days you regularly play within your time zone.
8. Answer this question: Are you currently a part of any other Star Wars Galaxies volunteer program? (Yes/No)

Please answer the following question using between 200-300 words:

Why Do You Think You Would Make A Good Warden?

Thanks for applying! You will be notified if you are picked as a Warden or notified if you?re put on the back-up list.

Written by DeadMeat on 2007-08-31 11:22:33 EST.

Community BBQ in Austin

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:27:19 -0500

If you are going to be in Austin on September 4^th and find yourself hankering for some fine barbeque and great conversation, come on down to Rudy's in Northwest Austin and hang out with the SOE Community Relations Team! The gang will be in town for AGDC, so head on over and meet the community folks from your favorite SOE games and share a rack of Rudy's delicious ribs with them!

What: Community Meet & Greet BYOB (Buy Your Own BBQ!)

Where: Rudy's BBQ, 11570 Research Blvd., Austin, TX. (Northwest Austin)

When: 7:00 p.m. CDT, September 4^th

I hope to see you there! I'll be the one covered in tangy barbeque sauce.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-31 09:27:19 EST.

Chapter 7 Stratics Dev Chat - Wednesday, August 29th

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:19:47 -0500

It's time once again for a Star Wars Galaxies House of Commons Dev Chat! Join us on Wednesday, August 29th from 7:00 - 8:00 PM Central Time as we discuss SWG's upcoming Chapter 7, all the latest developments and much more!

Here's how you can attend!

When: Wednesday, August 29th, at 5:00 PM PDT / 7:00 PM CDT / 8:00 PM EDT.

Where: Log on to your trusty IRC program and join the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

How: Joining is easy! Just connect through Stratics' handy Java client, which may be found right here. You must have Java installed on your computer to use this, which can be downloaded from the Java web site.

If you prefer the old fashioned way to connect to Stratics IRC, you can connect to the Stratics Chat servers through the use of your favorite IRC client, such as mIRC, ircle, xchat, or whichever you prefer.

Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6668 or whichever server is closest to you:

stratics.frws.com port 6668, USA - Colorado
irc.glowfish.de port 6668, EU - Germany
stratics.afraidyet.net 6668, USA - Atlanta
irc.gamers-irc.org 6667 6668 7000, USA - Colorado

How to ask questions at the chat:

Get your questions ready and join the chat.
When it's time for the chat, log in and wait for the event to start. Our fine Stratics hosts will begin the chat and then you can ask your questions.
Use IRC messaging to send your questions to the moderators. The moderators will choose questions based on the current topics (see the chat details).
Type /msg [QT]NICKNAME Your question here.

Please send questions only to the QT's (moderators) because questions sent to anyone other than the QT's will not make it into the lineup.

Don't miss out! We look forward to seeing you there.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-27 14:19:47 EST.

SOE Podcast #22 Now Available!

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:23:17 -0500

Visit the official SOE Podcast web site now to listen to Podcast #22. In this edition, enjoy a GenCon 07 Recap, an interview with Steve "Saavedra" Kramer and Craig "Grimwell" Dalrymple, and we also talk to Julie "no longer an intern" Burness! Be sure to send your feedback to Brenlo or head over to the Station Forums and post your feedback there.

We hope you enjoy listening to Podcast #22!

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-27 08:23:17 EST.

Emergency Forum Maintenance - 8-24-07

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:29:08 -0500

Official SWG forums shall be brought down for emergency maintenance today at approximately 2:00 pm PDT to help address some minor issues reported since the upgrade. The maintenance is scheduled to last about 30 minutes.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-24 13:29:08 EST.

Chapter 6.11: Masters of the Wild - Publish Notes

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:54:33 -0500

On Thursday, August 23rd 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.

Structures:

Factories, harvesters, and generators should no longer display Maximum Storage Capacity in the status window

Buffs:

Fixed issue that was causing Blood Cleansers to fail when the medic used it on themselves
Added a 1 second activation time to buffs granted from vehicles

Items:

Fixed an issue with Mandalorian Leggings not having armor stats when crafted
The following items can no longer be sold to Junk Dealers:

Mustafarian Distance Globe
Mustafarian Blade Globe
Mustafarian Injector

Tweaked rare loot drops from treasure maps so they drop at a more reasonable rate

Droids:

Serving Astromech no longer accepts patrol points outside of player housing

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-23 08:54:33 EST.

Chapter 6.11: Masters of the Wild - Publish Notes

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:47:08 -0500

On Thursday, August 23rd 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.

Structures:

Factories, harvesters, and generators should no longer display Maximum Storage Capacity in the status window

Buffs:

Fixed issue that was causing Blood Cleansers to fail when the medic used it on themselves
Added a 1 second activation time to buffs granted from vehicles

Items:

Fixed an issue with Mandalorian Leggings not having armor stats when crafted
The following items can no longer be sold to Junk Dealers:

Mustafarian Distance Globe
Mustafarian Blade Globe
Mustafarian Injector

Tweaked rare loot drops from treasure maps so they drop at a more reasonable rate

Droids:

Serving Astromech no longer accepts patrol points outside of player housing

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-22 16:47:08 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - August 22, 2007

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:09:25 -0500

TCPrime is coming up with a new build, notes will be up shortly.

Message edited by cheeseplus on 08/22/2007 13:09:39.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-08-22 13:09:25 EST.

Forum Downtime for Maintenance 8-22-07

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:52:25 -0500

The Star Wars Galaxies forums will be unavailable while maintenance is performed on Wednesday, August 22nd at 10:00 AM PDT. This maintenance will address several issues, including bug fixes and performance enhancements as well. Included in this maintenance will be an upgrade to a new release of our forums software. The maintenance period is scheduled to end at approximately 11:00 AM PDT. Thank you for your patience during this time.

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-21 16:52:25 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - August 20, 2007

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:07:56 -0500

TCPrime will be rebooting shortly with the following fix:

Fixed a Display issue with Power Rate on Factories and Harvesters

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-08-20 16:07:56 EST.

TCPrime Update Notes - August 16, 2007

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:22:50 -0500

TCPrime will be rebooting shortly with the following updates:

Treasure Map (Super Rare Loot Drops):

Tweaked rare loot drops so they dropped at a more reasonable rate.

The Following can no longer be sold to Junk Dealers:

Mustafarian Distance Globe

Mustafarian Blade Globe

Mustafarian Injector

Serving Astromech no longer accepts patrol points outside of player housing.
Factories, Harvesters, and Generators should no longer display Maximum Storage Capacity in the status window.
Fixed issue that was causing Blood Cleansers to fail when the medic used it on themselves
Added a 1 second activation time to buffs granted from Vehicles
Fixed issue with Mandalorian Leggings not having armor stats when crafted.

Message edited by cheeseplus on 08/16/2007 15:24:32.

Written by cheeseplus on 2007-08-16 15:22:50 EST.

Further Housing Clean-Up

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:47:46 -0500

The following is a Customer Service Announcement-

In a further effort to help remove the clutter of un-used structures from the game, Customer Service will now be flagging all structures owned by any character on an account that is banned as abandoned. This status change will happen at the time of that accounts termination.

How will this affect you?

The removal of the house will remove the player from the citizenship list of a city if they were part of a player city.
Items in these structures will not be recoverable to any player who may have been on the admin list. Please be sure that you do not store items of value in other player's homes.
Being the person to find and remove the abandoned house will reward you per the normal house clean up rules.

You will find all of the above in our knowledge base as article number 17917.

Sharon Morris
Senior Customer Service Manager
SWG/Vanguard/Planetside/Matrix Online

Written by GreyPawn on 2007-08-16 07:47:46 EST.