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At the recent Sony Online Entertainment Gamer Day held in New York, Ten Ton Hammer got a chance to talk to the Star Wars Galaxies team about upcoming changes to the game. If you’re an avid SWG player like me, this year you can look forward to growth in the development team while SOE adds more content in an effort to reinvigorate SWG. Chapter Six is a step in this direction and adds more content with two new game systems and additional quest-based PvE content.  

Beast Master

Beast Master brings back the old Bio Engineer and Creature Handler professions as a single class, bringing a new and original class to the game. No longer a profession, this particular set of abilities will be an expertise and will allow anyone to incubate a pet in the privacy of their own home.

The system itself is pretty straight forward.  Players will acquire or craft an incubator, then gather DNA strands and place them in the incubator. You will then create an egg in which your pet will eventually emerge.

Throughout this whole process, the quality that you create your egg and incubator will play a role in the finished product.  During the incubation process mutations can occur which can alter color or give the creature feathers or spikes.  It is possible to have mutations occur in all three steps of the process creating some impressive looking creatures.  

I asked if this system would be too easy and was told that the “crafting” process will be easy to learn but will require effort to master.  Many of the mutations will require the player to monitor the process and interact at certain times to get the best results, therefore making the expertise active instead of solely passive.

Storyteller

This is a unique game system in the sense it allows you - the player - to create your own custom content and make your vision in the Star Wars Universe a reality.  Players will begin by talking to Storyteller vendors placed in theaters around the galaxy.  These Storyteller vendors will allow players to purchase tokens which can be from these categories: props, persisted special effects, immediate special effects, flavor NPCs, and combat NPCs.  

After you build your encounter you can invite people to your story and allow them to participate in your unique creation.  With combat NPCs you control the combat level so this can be tailored for high and low level characters. Most of the things included in the Storyteller role are animations that are already in SWG, but now you can control them on command to enhance a story and build atmosphere in your encounter.

PvE Content

With Chapter 6, players will also see new quest chains added.  Chapter 6 not only brings changes to the Rebel Themepark but also adds a new quest series called The Azure Cabal.  This quest series is aimed more at the high level players and features enemies in the 85 to 90 range.  It is based on the expanded Star Wars Universe and looks interesting for any Star Wars fan.

All of the above changes are on Test Center now and will be moving in to game with Chapter 6 in a week or two.  I pressed for information past Chapter 6 and did not receive any new information other than the SWG development team is planning to work on fixing bugs after Chapter 6.  Most SWG players also know about the “Move It or Lose It” abandoned housing event coming up in June, but make sure you get your stuff moved so you don’t lose it.  While no official announcements have been made for Chapter 7 expect there will be announcement made shortly after Chapter 6.

Ten Ton Hammer is your unofficial source for Star Wars Galaxies news and features!