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robiwan
Moderator
1035 Posts |
 Posted - 17/01/2008 : 20:27:47
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Hi Folks,
It has been pretty busy around here lately with the start of the new year and the release of Chapter 8 earlier this week but I have finally had a chance to catch my breath and drop the community a note. We are all very excited about C8 and the great response we have had so far. I think the new space content is a very cool addition to the game and we as a team definitely learned a lot in the process. The space game in SWG is very good and I encourage folks who have not done much adventuring in space to definitely give it a try. The Pilot community in Star Wars Galaxies is great and definitely willing to help out folks who do not have a lot of experience in The Deep...Of course they are also quite willing to blow you into atoms if you would like as well.
We will be doing things a little differently this year in terms of our releases to Live. We always felt that the gaps between chapters seemed too long, and sometimes we could not be as responsive to what was going on in the live game as we would like. We have decided going forward that we are going to operate on two tracks in our release schedule, with one track focused on what we are calling Updates and another track focused on Content. Our Update track will address the most pressing issues in the game as identified by Customer Support, Quality Assurance, and the Community team's take on what are players are discussing most as well as picking out one or two areas of the game to give some extra attention to. For the first half of the year we will be working through each of the professions and other constituencies. We will be starting with Smugglers and Spies and we have started feedback threads (Smugglers, Spies) in each of their forums to help us guide what we are doing. We will also be using the top five issues that each of the Senators has collected to lay the ground work for this. These will be released on about a four week basis. It should be understood that we will not be doing major revamping of professions during these updates, but mostly trying to ensure that we give each group some attention on a regular basis.
The Content track will be focused on adding new, quite apropos, content into the game on a regular basis. We will be using this track to add new Heroics, quests, collections, storyteller features, and new game systems into SWG. We want to be sure that we have a constant stream of new stuff into the game that will appeal to all members of the community. We spent a lot of time last year building the framework for delivering cool content into the game and we want to leverage that as much as possible in the coming months. We will start with a new Exar Kun Heroic (as voted on by the community) as well as some new collections (and collection types) and some Storyteller additions. Content Track releases will happen on approximately eight week intervals.
2008 is shaping up to be a great year for Star Wars Galaxies and I have never seen the team working as hard or as efficiently as I have seen them in the last few months. The amount they accomplished to put together C8 is amazing. This is really a fantastic group of devs who are energized by this product and the new things that are coming up.
Enjoy the new Chapter!
DeadMeat
Lorin W. Jameson, Producer, Sony Online Entertainment
Odkaz: http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=579168
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I have waited and planned and built my strength for fifteen thousand years. I have evolved. It is time.
(Omnius Evermind)
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Feyd'Rautha Saresh (Medic, Rebel Alliance, Europe-Chimaera), Robe Saresh (Force Sensitive, Rebel Alliance, Europe-Chimaera)
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Edited by - robiwan on 18/01/2008 10:15:29
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robiwan
Moderator
1035 Posts |
Posted - 17/01/2008 : 20:28:17
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Otazky a odpovede:
Q: Thanks DM. I've really enjoyed Ch7 and Ch8 So far - things are looking great!
Oh, and as an aside, when you say "Track Releases" are you referring to an update note for the community, or actual releases to TC and live.
For example the 8 week "Track Release" cycle you mentioned regarding content...because new content updates every 8 weeks would be just STELLAR!!!!
A: Content Track releases should happen about every 8 weeks.
Q: Chapter 8 has potential, but it SHOULD NOT have gone live with this many bugs, and certainly not with the borked reactors. You guys knew they had not been tested, but pushed it live anyway, and the numbers don't make an ounce of sense. Luckily Jaskell is working his butt off to fix this. I hope you have the decency to support him in every way possible.
Besides the reactor problems and the lesser capacitor problems, there are the hitbox bugs on the N-1 and Arc-170.
Also, the Rebel gunboat cockpit bug was not ever fixed.
I hope these latter problems can be fixed easily with the next hotfix, but the collection stat issues need to be addressed now, retroactively, and completely before it is too late.
A: I guess I have to disagree...I certainly wouldn't discribe what you listed as "many bugs" considering the amount that was added. We fixed the N1 and folks do not like the new size, so we will scale it down. We never actually touched the ARC so that is not really a C8 bug.
I have to make call's about when a chapter is ready. Given the amount of new stuff in this release, I think it was very clean. And of course pleasing the entire pilot community with every design decision is impossible. I think it was a very clean release but we will be addressing issues with a patch next week as we do with all new chapters as it is hammered on by the larger Live community.
Q: Thanks for the update.
Will there be any focus on pvp this year?
A: PvP will have some attention in one of the Update tracks.
Q: seems cool.... but one part that worries me is when you stated this:
"We will be using this track to add new Heroics, quests, collections, storyteller features, and new game systems into SWG."
The part that has me worried is the last part, the "New Game Systems into SWG"... what exactly do you mean by "New Game Systems", if you are able/allowed to give us the info in regards to what you mean by this.
please atleast tell us that it isn't going to be similar to the "New Game Enhancements"?
A: This would be something like we did with Beast Master, or the Heroic system. For instance we still have plans on doing Droid Commander and that would be something that comes out of the Content track.
Q: So Chapter 8 is the Final Chapter?
What can we expect in terms of Content?
A: Think of a Chapter as being the combination of a couple of Update releases and a Content release. So something like Chapter 9, Part I, Part II, Part III. By doing it this way we do not have such big gaps between major releases to Live.
Q: Hi DeadMeat, thanks again for another regular Producer Note. The communication with you and the rest of the team is great!
Do you have any update on potential solutions to low-population servers? I won't say the "M" word.
As far as updates, the issue of crafted weapons not being on the same level as looted weapons has been brought up from time to time. Is that on your radar?
A: We certainly know that low pop servers are a concern, and there has been a lot of debate on my side as well as in the community as to what is the best solution. I can only say that we currently do not have a set plan. We are doing a lot of data mining to try and characterize the situation, discussing what is best for the game, and frankly what makes sense in terms of the business as well.
Server consolidations has positives and negatives and is not really easy for this game. Free and voluntary transfers has its appeal as well, but also is not a silver bullet. I can say that there is no mandate from management here, but only the concern of the team to have the best play experience possible. A lot of what we have been adding to the game is group content, and I know this game is more fun in a group, so I would like to have everyone have that experience. Its a tough issue, but important.
Crafted vs. Looted quality is always a hot topic. But no drastic changes are imagined at this point.
Q: As Narf Posted (who you conveniently removed as pilot Senator a day later):
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j287/bissomitch/SWG/ReactorComparison.jpg
You can see in the chart, that up to mkIVs, the numbers are WAY overpowered compared to their crafted counterparts. Then the jump in mass from a MKIV to a MkV is insane...7000 to 33000 with very little rgr increase...this means high gen - high mass reactors (usually used only for heavy ships) are a thing of the past.
This is why we needed extra testing time....I am afraid that without the ability to retroactively adjust these, whatever tenuous balance we have strived for will be a thing of the past.
Taking away gateways to pvp is a good thing, giving ridiculously overpowered handouts eliminating entire aspects from the game is not.
In ALL things, we need to strive for inclusiveness through diversity, progress through moderation, and advertisment via CONTENT, not handouts.
A: We do have a fix for this and it will be up on the test centers this weekend. The Mark I - IV reactors (both new ones and those previously created) will be scaled back.
Q: How will this be done for already crafted reactors? Will the fix take the quality of the already crafted reactors into account or just set them all to the same caps regardless of relative quality?
A: We will post exactly how this will work when we have it ready to test.
Q: Thanks for all the hard work guys!!
I have really been enjoying the game more and more the past few months.
I do have a question for DM. You stated that all the professions will be getting a look. I was wondering if this will include politicians? The player city system to me is one of the best things I have seen in any game. It seems to be overlooked and underutilized though. We have had the same structures and parks (exception the Musty bunker, which is sweet, ty) for over 3 years now. No other system in the game has received less attention.
I know that structure traders would love to have more schematics. Even have the schems a collection item. The politician forums have always had great ideas posted. It would be nice if there was some attention here.
Thanks again!!
A: Yes. Politicians, PA and Cities will be the subject of an Update.
Q: Deadmeat,
I understand that it's a bit harder for your team, as there are three factions, but will we see faction specific heroics?
The ability for rebels to engage imperials and vice versa is a very important element of playing in the Star Wars universe.
I'm sorry I missed that Exar Kun vote. The player base has spoken, but I'd rather see something specific to the GCW era.
A: We are looking at Factional Heroics and have that investigation planned. I agree, it would be cool.
Q: um... question about the Exar Kun H.E. Exar Kun's Spirit doesn't return until after Episode 6, when Luke rebuilds an Academy using Kun's Temple...
Also, another concern, how exactly will the H.E. work, i ask that because currently the ONLY ones that can enter Kun's Temple are Rebels, and that would make things difficult for Imperials and Neutrals. Also, you can't have him show up some place else, because his Spirit is BINDED to that Temple.
A: Game designers are clever folks
Q: Dead, I have to ask.
Are there ANY plans on revamping Munitions some time this year? Weaponsmith is hurting, and if you browse the Armor Cert thread in the Senate Public forum, you can see following the discussion that the current armorsmith layout makes little sense in an NGE world, especially for low level smiths.
We've been languishing for a while, and the last "Official" word on Munitions came back in march of last year.
I know this is something for the content track and not the update track, but since this affects EVERYONE in the game, can we possibly convince you and your team somehow to move this up in priority?
Thanks!
A: While complete revamps are not planned for Weaponsmith and Armor smiths, they do get an update. I really think this is a case of tweaking and additional content that adds to their value and what they can do is better than trying to completely change things at this point.
Q: Does this mean that you will be treating the various trader specializations as seperate entities and not just take "trader" as one big whole (which would really suck)? Thus for instance take Munitions and Domestics in one update, instead of Trader and Medic?
A: Correct.
Q: I assume that the proposed (I.E. hinted at) UI changes/improvements will be part of the update releases? The recent idea from a DEV that I've seen for having different savable UI layouts is great... and not just because I've been asking for it for a long time.
I find the UI to be too space consuming and really want to try and cut down the UI to mainly just my action bar and chat but then be able to, with a keystroke, switch to my fighting mode when necessary.
Although space battling isn't my bag - I love the Nova-Orion station though you need to flesh it out more and perhaps make the interior match the exterior... if it's not too late for that.
Oh well, keep up the good work!
A: UI improvements will be coming out of the Update track.
Q: thanks for the letter dm most interesting,most the news is most welcome for swg.a couple questions though if you dont mind me dropping them on you here lol
1-nova station you fixed one the bad mistakes from jtl in finally having a boardable station but is there any chance of having say instanced housing there to get away from a planet?im thinkin like in eq2 where you can rent a room or house say at one part of the station theres npc who you can hire a room off him be it a large/medium/small and get away from land if you want to?
2-classes will we have a quick fix over expertises skills or can we expect a major upgrade oneday after all we all evolve over time and would be nice to see a more advanced expertise program for later in the works
3-droids!important to starwars lore yet almost pointless in swg now ive had mde since prenge and have less business than ever why is the cap at lv60 and is there any plans to improve droids commands rather than spatial typing mostly to having proper toolbar commands to use like other pets?
4-the most important lol will we finally get to fight the unkillable ghost of exar kun?i sure hope hes in his temple that would be great fun
since april 04 when i started playing your the best dev team swg has had and youve done great job and many thanks,sounds like a good year ahead
A: Instanced housing in SWG would be a pretty major task so I am pretty sure we will not be doing that anytime soon.
The expertise system is definitely something I want to build on, but I suspect it would take the form of additional shared ones 9like we did with Deast Master) as opposed to new lines in the current ones, but I won't rule that out.
When we do Droid Commander we will definitely be doing a major revist to the Droid system.
Q: Are there any plans to introduce new factions (eg opposing underworld groups) than players can join?
A: There are no plans for new factions.
Q: I've just read your answer about Politican proffesion update. let me be a bit more specific on that: are there any chance current planet city/rank caps will be raised?
The problem is that new cities and higher ranks of them are unavailabe for new players or vets who are willing to start and advance new city. we are sufferening from low caps a lot.
Thanks.
A: This is definitely on the table.
Q: Mr. Meat, you and your team have done a great job in 2007, and I look forward to what you all get done in 2008.
I hope you really put a lot of time into considering what can be done about low population servers, I know having the population of those servers consolidated onto existing servers would be great. I know you said you have many problems to consider but I hope we see something done about this sooner rather than later.
I wants my 5 piece set! Also getting into the star destroyer can be a big **edit**. Having to dock with all those tier 9/10's are on you mostly end in explosions.
A: Yep...You definitely want a good pilot and fully manned turrets.
Q: Will there be some sort of a punlic roadmap for content updates? Will the players be able to vote on it to set priorities? I still hope for Vehicle combat (get into an AT-AT for combat and manable turrets for bases), Droid updates, better crafted weapons and also way more GCW content that is different for each faction (not just copy what one site gets to the other, make the sides matter with unique items that match the faction).Also, what is your plan to address the server population?
PS: I would prefer getting more ppl to play and not merge any servers, but if there will be no box set expansions anymore and no advertisement I think you need to consider ways to get more people playing on each active server without players loosing stuff.
A: We will continue as last year, talking about what we are looking to next as opposed to publishing some big road map. It allowed us to change up last year pretty easily and be responsive to the community. We will continue the polling as well, and I think we have been pretty good about incorporating the cimmunity into the process.
I responded on low pop server questions above.
Q: Is it worth it to ask about crafting or are we going the way of collection crafting?
From a greedy crafter... of course.
A: I believe that every chapter we released in the last year had lots of things for crafters to do. We will keep doing that moving forward.
Q: hey dm... looks like things are shapin up nicely. was there still a plan to put the gardner thing in? i have a black thumb but i'd still like to see more plants in game and might even like to try it out. It sounded like something nice for the quiet folks that dont care much for combat. =)
A: I am still a big fun of the "Agricultural Technician" and we would like to do it but other things may be more popular with the community. It is definitely penciled in for '08 but things may change.
Q: Deadmeat, please, can you tell us what way will you choose:
When adding new equipment with every chapter/content update, you can either make this new equipment better than the previous, or make it alternative to the previous top equipment? In other words, can we expect that equipment introduced with Chapter 9 will make equipment from Chapter 7 or even 8 obsolete? Or, in how long cycles are you going to introduce new "tier" of equipment? Like with every update, or every 6 months, or more?
Personally i hate the neverending pursuit for the best gear. I can understand that it is essential for games like EverQuest, where with every major addition there is new "tier" of gear available, but i think it is possible to at least partially avoid this issue in SWG. By partially i mean, the cycles of adding new "tier" can be long enough, like 6+ months to not make player feel like he has to get new stuff every other day, or, add other means of "character improvement". For example, if you add earring slot, no one will be upset that he has to get the new earring. Or if you add weapons that have the same potential like the ones crrently in game, but have different dmg type (kinetic versus energy, pure DPS versus PROC effect), player wont feel like he HAS to get the new stuff.
Also, most SWG players wouldnt like SWG to become just "a neverending pursuit for top gear", like other games are. SWG offers so much more and it should be expanded in all aspects it has. For example, dont add just new weapons, add also houses, vehicles and so on. No one is playing SWG because its excellent character progress game - because it isnt. It is excellent virtual world with many features that all deserve improvement. So far it looks ok, along with pure combat and gear chapters 7-8 brought us many collections that involve crafting, exploration, trading and so on. But dont forget that this game is MISSING entire systems (real GCW, player bases, alliances, vehicular combat...) that will add much more enjoyment into it than "just" another chapter of heroics and collections.
The game also has to become more friendly to new players. Pursuing "fun" for veteran players by giving them "something to do" with every update isnt the best way. The new content should add to level 30+ players enjoyment, may it be by collections, profession quests, low lvl GCW missions or some role for these players in guilds.
SWG has a content line from lvl 1 to level 90, but this line cant be just made longer by adding more and more for lvl 90, it has to be made thicker to allow more players walk all the way to its end, and it should end in a circle that lvl 90s can rinse and repeat and have fun until this end game is expanded. GCW system (including planetary control, player cities, PvP, PvE tasks, smuggling and crafting) is the ideal "neverending end game" for SWG.
A: As Producer I tend to have my Lead Designer (Blix) make the first call on these types of things. I am more of the tough questions, arbitrary decisions guy that people love to hate
Q: Any chance you could plan on re-instating the missing trophies in one of your planned updates? Specifically, I am referring to publish 18.0 on June 15th 2005 which introducedf 6 special Elite mobs that would drop special trophies. When I met with Jesse "Loche" Benjamin and Travis "Shadowbrak" Hicks at the indianapolis summit in april of 2006 i mentioned to them that the mobs stopped dropping their special trophies after the NGE. These mobs spawn normally, but still do not drop their special trophies. Some of them, like the Bane Back Spider, may have multiple versions of their trophies, it's been so long i cannot remember. If you need to see artwork of each of these trophies, please go to Tatooine waypoint 5868 4949 in the flurry galaxy in the city of Mos Ridge and you will see the 6 trophies on display in the city hall. The following is a list of the mobs and the planets they spawn on:
a) Mutant Acklay: Yavin 4 near -6500 -400
b) Finned Blaggart: Yavin 4 -2850 -1200
c) Scorpion Kliknik: Yavin 4 (please note, that Millbarge increased the number of spawns of this elite mob in conjunction with the kliknik slayer collection, but they still do not drop their trophy) (static spawn 959 4471 or a chance of spawning in any kliknik lair)
d) Bane Back Spiders: Dathomir -1217 6331
e) Murra Blanca: Talus (near the Kahmurra Genetic Research facility POI)
f) Painted Spat: Talus 911 4643
Thanks,
Paul Halczenko,
A veteran SWG beta tester with 1651 days logged
A: We will see what we can find out about that.
Q: Will we ever see the senate bills address in 2008? And in reference to profession upgrades will we ever see more diversity in the profession trees?
A: Certainly some things from bills will be addressed during the course of the year, but I am afraid that a lot of things that passed would be beyond what is possible or even desirable. Unlike governments, I cannot deficit spend.
Diversity in profession trees certainly exists now I feel. There is a point where you just have to stop making the game more complicated, and focus on adding fun things to do. That is really where are head is at right now.
Q: Glad to see Storyteller listed in there. And with more focus on rapid Updates, there's hope for some little tweaks RPers have been requesting.
Any light you can shed on AdeptStrain's animations assignment?
A: He is our designated animation specialist and we have given him the broad task of improving the animation system. We have high hopes for what he may be able to do this year.
Q: My guild has a serious problem with our mail, causing many people to not even be able to open their mail. The system is flooding our inboxes.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f368/Psykeman420/bugs.jpg
as shown above, this happens several times a day.
A: Hmmm...Thats more of a CS thing. Have you filed a ticket?
Q: Glad to see an outline. Info is always helpful.
Glad to see that professions will be looked at via updates. Was hoping for jedi to be in the 1st, but spy and smuggler are important too.
If we could, please get some attention to jedi next. Jedi, due to low dps/inability to actually tank are being excluded from groups for the new instances/C7 instances. One poster said jedi are worthless, another claims the new instance is not for jedi.
Hard to get in a group where we cant really add to the group in a beneficial manner.
A: Hmmm...Are team playtests on the Heroics always included Jedi. We added specific abilities in C7 to make them definitely the Tank of choice so I am not sure what you are refering to here.
Q: Are weaponsmiths going to get a revamp in crafting of their weapons?
And with profession releases will things like food get updated for chef's? For example, like new stats to food that are more useful.
Thanks
A: Yes. These would be the types of things addressed/added/updated. But as I said, I would not call the product of any update a 'revamp', becuase that implies a big overhall and almost starting from scratch which we will not be doing.
Q: Any news on why the new skill modifier for completing the ISD Heroic is not showing up in our skill mod tab like the previous 3 are/were? It would be nice to know if this skill mod (Combat Offense: Opponent Block Reduction) is actually working or not.
A: It is a display problem. The mod is being applied.
Q: DM please that scares me silly what do you mean? Last time we heard this I logged on test center and saw the NGE, before that the CU, please elaborate.
A: I have already...Reading is fundamental.
Q: Thanks for the update DeadMeat
I like the sound of this producer note.
Heres my question: Heriocs aside, are there any plans to introduce new 'traditional' content dungeos such as the Geo Caves, DWB, Vette, etc etc?
and one for luck, I LOVE the sound of Droid Commander, I am SOO pleased to hear about this. Are there any plans to bring in a similar game system to BM and DM that would allow us to have Ranger/Scout back? that would be superb.
Thanks again, and keep up the great work. I think I'll be staying subbed
A: Definitely. We will be doing the more traditional content as well.
Q: will there be a new expansion this year?
A: There will be no expansion released in 2008.
Q: Thanks for the update DM!
Positive things are happening in this game, I completely agree. Its nice to have new things to do with your friends and keep us milling around in your pixels.
About the new approach that you have laid out, I like that you are going to take your time to sit down and work with the communities. However, this is not really any different than what you have done thus far.
You asked us to provide feedback and top 5 issues and bugs list, and (for some of us in the community) we have worked with QA to get the bugs squashed. I know BadgerSmaker has been very active in this proccess and has just about all our bugs fixed. As it was suggested by Valara in the senate post, the profession senators would work with this task in the future once the legacy senators had passed on thier respective tasks.
As you have now asked for feedback from the Smuggler and Spy community, would you expect to adress the Issues on this recurring profession revisit? And if so, what kind of Issues are you not going to invest time into?
Coming from the Smuggling community, I expect that you *know* what I am talking about. The problem was that we last year decided to go full steam on pushing the most important issue for us, leaving behind the combat tweaks in expertice ... and the response to that was the fully expected "Soon™"
Now I don't expect you to comment on this, but some more consistent feedback to the communities would be nice. Not asking for an arm and a leg here, but simply that one from your team take a 15 minute break each week or month to sit down and communicate with us. This would go a very long way to redeeming your (in a stricktly generic term) reputation.
When it comes to a little more long-term investment in profession issues, when can we expect this to be adressed?
A: Its a very difficult thing to maintain balance, fairness, and elegance in profession design. Honestly every profession feels like it does not have all that it wants, and I can understand that, but in the end there are choices to be made and compromises that is part of that choice. We feel very comfortable with the high level layout and balance of the professions at this point and I do not forsee major changes. Rather we will be looking to address very specific issues: this expertise needs to be modified, this profession needs a better weapon choice in this category, etc.
Q: Hey DM,
This all sounds like a fabulous plan.
Has the SOE Dev team given any thought into possibly introducing combat vehicles? We now have multi-person vehicles and vehicles that grant buffs. I could envision building on that a bit an introducing a ground-based vehicle RE system similar to space where you can create and refine your combat vehicle, allowing vehicles to fire in combat perhaps through specials they grant to the driver, etc.
I see this as a possible system that looks to have a lot of the pieces already in place that could be built on to introduce a whole new level of gameplay.
Thanks and keep up the great work!
/goes_back_to_imperial_armor_collecting
A: Vehicular combat is really something that has to be part of the basic architecture of a game. It is very hard to graph on at a later time. SWG was really designed for a certain type of ground combat and I would prefer to focus on that mode as opposed to trying to wedge in a new mode that would have a lot of compromises.
Q: Any chance the storyteller additions will include tokens that can be used in space?
A: We do want to try this. It is not part of the first Content release.
Q: Glad to see some changes in spy are near, will look for the feedback thread.
About Beast Masters, there are a few issues that are affecting our combat seriously, one is pet pathing (pets getting stuck inside bunkers, bases or any building) and the other is pet speed (pets can't run as fast as they owners and don't share the same terrain negotiation either). Is there any chance this issues can be viewed sometime soon?
thanks for reading.
A: Beast Masters will be the subject of an update.
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I have waited and planned and built my strength for fifteen thousand years. I have evolved. It is time.
(Omnius Evermind)
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Feyd'Rautha Saresh (Medic, Rebel Alliance, Europe-Chimaera), Robe Saresh (Force Sensitive, Rebel Alliance, Europe-Chimaera)
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Edited by - robiwan on 18/01/2008 10:15:16 |
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Dromedarr
Junior Member
629 Posts |
Posted - 17/01/2008 : 22:51:35
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| hmm Exar kun, tak prece :) |
SWG, Europe-Farstar - Drom, Losos, Efiss, Casia' - R.I.P. SWG |
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