Publish 6 Notes: 11 February 04

>> Publish 6 

Imperial Crackdown
Due to the brash arrogance of the Rebel Alliance, the Emperor has decreed that his majesty's Imperial forces hunt down and destroy the Rebel Alliance and insure that all galactic citizens are abiding by the law. The Empire will be searching for members of the Rebel Alliance and anyone with contraband throughout the galaxy. The Rebel Alliance has gone into hiding, so don't be surprised if faction recruiters are more difficult to locate.

Bestine Redesign
Bestine has a few special modifications based on Star Wars history. Imperials will control it and depending on which aide to the governor is in control, different city events will occur. Sand People might raid it, the Imperial presence might increase and players may be able to seek out historians for quests to learn more about the genuine history of Bestine. There is also a Bestine museum event players can get involved with.

Chef Profession Revamped
The entire chef profession has been redesigned from the ground up. See below for details.

Vehicle Customization
New tool allows players to 'paint' their vehicles. Master Artisans can craft vehicles and customization kits. Players can use these customizations kits to customize both the body color and striping color of vehicles.

Theme Park Loot
Revised Theme Park rewards for Imperial, Rebel, and Jabba theme parks. Players who have previously completed (or are currently in) Theme Parks may visit Record Keeper NPC's to reset their status and gain entry.

NPC Quest Loot
Tatooine and Dantooine quests, given by NPC's have all been given better loot as rewards. Record Keeper NPC's are available for the static quests on Tatooine and Dantooine as well as the Theme Parks.

New Visual Buff system
A new "buff" system has been put in place to give players an easy-to-use graphic interface to make game play buffing and de-buffing easier to understand.

Publish Notes Itemized List
Bazaar / Vendor
 * Increase the max bid amount on an auction from 3000 to 6000.
 * Vendors will no longer show most vendor menu options before they are initialized. Using some of these options was causing some vendors to not initialize correctly. An initialized vendor will show all the normal control options.

Client Stability Enhancements
 * Fixed issues with the Ubese armor and other articles of clothing that would prevent these wearables from animating properly.
 * Fixed a code issue that could crash the client when several of the above-mentioned wearables were worn.

Server Stability Enhancements
 * Fixed a bug that could cause players logging into an interior to become ghosted if the interior was near a server boundary.

Combat
 * Combat XP grants were removed from combat healing, poisons and diseases. Those actions will still count towards looting permissions.
 * DoT damage is now tracked for loot permissions.
 * XP rewards in combat now correctly reflect amount of damage that was done by dots.
 * Special abilities that inflict combat DoT's (Fire and Bleeds), have had there initial strike damage increased and the combat DoT damage reduced.
 * Weapon DoT effects now only work if you are certified to use the weapon
 * Bleed/Fire resistant clothing will now have an effect.
 * Fixed /chargeShot1 & /chargeShot2 to work correctly with the knockdown timer

Crafting
 * Added new shellfish harvesting tool to find mollusk and crustacean resources. Schematic for tool can only be obtained after completing a particular NPC granted mission.
 * Fixed a visual bug with transferring objects between containers that are not on your player (e.g. factory hoppers).
 * Fixed not being able to remove a schematic from a manufacturing station unless you have another schematic in your datapad.
 * When a manufactured item is pulled from a crate, the item will have the manufacturer labeled as its creator, not the person who removed the item from the crate.
 * Increased the amount of fish resources received from fishing.
 * Added a warning message if you access a manufacturing station and don't have a schematic that can be used in the station.
 * Increased the amount of eggs that can be found when searching a lair.
 * Some creatures can now be milked! (See the Chef profession notes below for more details).

GCW
 * DoT resist changes will make AT-STs more resistant to DoT damage. Dot resistances have been added giving the AT-ST extra protection against flamethrowers and other fire DoT based attacks.
 * Imperials are now more prevalent in Cantinas.
 * PvP Death Penalty reduction: Faction deaths will no longer suffer 1% decay if items are insured after the player's death.
 * PvP Death Penalty reduction: PvP deaths will no longer cause items to un-insure after the player's death.
 * Players are no longer able to shut down a faction HQ if they have declared only within the last 5 minutes.
 * Increased the maximum possible range for turrets to 80m.
 * Stormtroopers will now occasionally enter cantinas to harass rebel players
 * Only declared players may participate in GCW base shutdowns.

Graphic User Interface
 * Improved UI Examine Window - Fixed a bug where sometimes an object wouldn't render in the examine window.
 * A new UI is available to display certain attribute and skill modifiers currently applied to the characters. It is disabled by default but can be turned on in the Options screen, under the Interface tab. The UI also appears the very first time you receive one of these modifiers.
 * Added new buff icons.
 * Improved text fonts.
 * Made waypoint blips on Radar larger so player blips don't obscure the waypoint.
 * The inventory window now has an optional "examine" pane on the left side of the window, available by clicking the double arrow in the upper left corner of the window. The paperdoll has been moved to the right hand side.
 * Fix display issues with POI tab in the Datapad.
 * Fixed declared residence not appearing on the character sheet.
 * Added menu items to the house management terminal to delete all the items in a house that count towards the item limit, and to move items in your house to your feet in case they are inaccessible.
 * Spice buff duration and information is now displayed on the new buff bar.
 * Changed the examination text on weapon component damage to be more clear. It now reads "Maximum Damage" instead of just "Max".

Missions / Quests / Theme Parks
 * Revised Theme Park rewards for Imperial, Rebel, and Jabba theme parks.
 * If you have previously completed the Rebel, Imperial, or Jabba's Palace Theme Parks and have not yet received a badge, players receive them when they log in for first time.
 * The Rebel, Imperial, and Jabba's Palace theme parks now have Record Keeper NPCs that will give players the option of starting the theme park over if they are currently in, or have completed a theme park.
 * Borvo the Hutt quests updated: many changes and fixes have been implemented.
 * New quests added to the Singing Mountain Clan and the Nightsisters stronghold on Dathomir.
 * Fixed a problem where some NPC's would not give positive Nym faction when killed.
 * On Lok, a server issue was fixed where invisible objects were being spawned. The accumulation of these invisible objects in a single area would prevent players from being able to load into the scene.
 * All of Tatooine's and Dantooine's static quests have been revamped. Bugs have been fixed, some conversations rewritten and they all have new rewards.
 * Record Keeper NPC's are available for the static quests on Tatooine and Dantooine as well as the Theme Parks.

Pets
 * Fixed the Plodding Falumpaset & Motley Kaadu; both pets can now be called.

Player Cities
 * Player city clone facilities are no longer considered for "respawn closest". Only static NPC clone facilities are now considered "respawn closest". Players can still clone at a civic clone facility if they have stored their clone information there.
 * There is now an option on the city management terminal that allows you to revoke your citizenship at any time.
 * Citizens will now be removed from a city if they haven't been online for about 6 weeks.
 * Fixed an issue with mayors getting 100 points of xp less than they should have on city updates.
 * You can no longer deploy a camp in a player city.
 * Fixed a problem where Player Cities level 4 were not updating to level 5

Player Structures
 * Restricted the number of characters in the name of a single permission list entry to 40.
 * Players not on a building's admin list cannot open containers in the building anymore..
 * Deeds place-able on a single planet that should be place-able on more than one planet now reflect the appropriate number of planets.
 * Repair cost and re-deed cost for structures now only takes into account the base maintenance cost. This means you won't have to pay your city property tax to repair or re-deed your structures anymore.
 * Added caps to access fee amounts and times.
 * Fixed the Corellian Style 2 (both floor plans) merchant sign placement issues.

Professions: Armorsmith
 * Added another optional layer slot to the RIS armor segment.

Professions: Bio Engineer
 * Fixed bio-component data being added to a prototype object after a critical fail.
 * Can now create new food additives (see Chef revamp below)
 * Added invalid crafted pet checks back in. If invalid pet is found UI is displayed to try and "fix" pet to allow it to be callable again.
 * Fixed Level display when Ranger/Scout examines a crafted pet.
 * Fixed CHs being able to tame a BE pet higher level than they can control
 * Fixed Non-CH being able to call a non-aggressive BE pet of any level.

Professions: Bounty Hunter
 * Bounty hunter marks will now be non-aggressive (Instead of running around town killing players)
 * Fixed some problem with Jedi bounty hunter missions being created and displayed improperly (Correspondent Issue).

Professions: Carbineer
 * Carbineer profession name fixes implemented (Correspondent Issue).

Professions: Chef
 * Chef Profession Revamp: The Chef profession has been completely revised in this patch. Chef food items now have a more interesting and powerful set of effects and buffs and more flexibility in experimentation.
 * New Chef Assets: Several food items now have custom art. There are also two new Chef hats and one new Chef apron creatable by Tailors.
 * Player Stomach: The stomach meters for food and drink now decay over a period of 30 minutes. Each food item takes up a % of stomach space that may be determined by examining the item.
 * Food Effects: Food effects are no longer limited to stat modifiers. Food created by Chefs can now enhance skills, give new protections and enhance combat abilities. There are even foods for medics, entertainers, and crafters. Examining a food item will display what it does. Food created before the patch will be unchanged. We encourage all players to seek out and try the new foods!
 * Food Experimentation: Chef experimentation on food has been reworked. Chefs now experiment on four unique attributes: filling, flavor, nutrition, and quantity. Filling affects the stomach usage of the food, flavor affects the duration of the food's effect, nutrition affects the effectiveness of the food, and quantity affects how many of the food the crafting attempt will yield.
 * Bio-Engineered Food Additives: The set of Bio-Engineered food components have been revised. Bio-Engineers can now create 3 intensities of component for each of the 4 experimental attributes (12 total). A Chef can then use these components in his recipes through the additive slot. For example: a Bio-Engineer could make a "light nutrition component" and sell it to a Chef who uses it to enhance the effectiveness of one of their recipes. The impact of Bio-Engineered food components has been greatly increased.
 * Milking: Players can now milk certain herbivores. A "milk" option will show up on their radial menu. You must be scent masked or concealed to milk. You'll have to figure out on your own what can be milked.
 * Drink Containers: Drink recipes now require a separately crafted container. As a Chef increases in skill, they will earn the ability to create new types of containers. The larger the container, the greater the yield of drink created in a single crafting attempt.

Find out more about the Chef Revamp.

Some Additional In-Test changes made:
 * Decreased the stomach filling value of several foods.
 * Increased the xp output on Chef foods.
 * Increased the bonus given from using a cask or a barrel.
 * Slightly increased the amount of milk gained during milking.
 * Increased duration of the secondary/terciary stat mod buffs on won-won, kiwik clusjo, and canape.

Professions: Creature Handler
 * Trick2 will be granted at Empathy III as stated in the skills window, instead of being incorrectly granted at Empathy II.

Professions: Doctor
 * Added visual buff icons to Doctor enhancements and performance mind buffs.

Professions: Droid Engineer
 * Added general module slot to the advanced Binary Load lifter droid, and both basic and advanced protocol droids.
 * Droid storage compartments are now using droid experimentation rather than artisan.
 * Droid customization tool now gives droid crafting xp instead of general xp
 * Droid socket modules can no longer be plugged into one another.
 * Multi-crafting station module droid capability fixed for some cases where one type would over-ride another type.
 * Combat-related stats removed from examine windows for non-combat-capable droids
 * Item Storage Module 2's now really are that, instead of becoming data storage module 2's during the crafting process.
 * Added transition from combat to normal idle for Probe Droid.

Profession: Image Designer
 * Fixed occlusion issue on Human Hairstyle 4

Profession: Jedi
 * Jedi XP is now granted after combat only if a Lightsaber was used
 * The permadeath system is being removed and changed to a skill revocation system based on deaths.
 * Deaths will decay from the death counter after one week.
 * Deaths after a buffer (3 to 5 depending on advancement) will have a skill revocation penalty.
 * Skill revocation will be slight at first, but will increase in penalty as the player accumulates more and more non-decayed deaths.
 * The skill revocation penalty will increase as a player advances up the skill tree.
 * The skill to be revoked will be randomly chosen from the last skill earned in each of the 4 skill branches.
 * No more than one skill will be revoked at a time, though players can get to a state where they lose a skill each time they die.
 * When Publish 6 is released, all existing deaths will be reset to 0 so all Jedi start out with no deaths.

Professions: Merchant
 * Since housing contents are now loaded on demand, vendors were giving less xp than usual. They now take into account how many updates were missed and will grant a normal amount of xp when they are loaded. Players will see improved normal merchant xp rates.

Professions: Pikeman
 * Slightly improved some range modifiers on the Long Vibro Axe and the Vibrolance (Correspondent Issue).
 * Upgraded Nightsister Energy Lance to bring it more inline with the risk to obtain it (Correspondent Issue)..
 * Raised the skill box required to use the Nightsister Energy Lance (Correspondent Issue)..
 * Pre-change lances will still only require Brawler Polearm II to use (Correspondent Issue)..

Professions: Pistoleer
 * Increased maximum mid range accuracy on the DX2 Pistol (Player Correspondent Issue)

Profession: Smuggler
 * Added a success or fail routine for when a smuggler is scanned (Correspondent Issue).
 * Added a grouping bonus for smugglers in wilderness and cantina searches when stormtroopers are executing a shakedown scan.

Profession: Swordsman
 * Moved scythe blade certification to the expert sword finesse skillbox

Profession: Weaponsmith
 * Fixed an out of range speed limit on the imperial detonator schematic.
 * Fixed an out-of-range range limit on the acid beam rifle schematic.

Travel
 * Fixed a problem where using the ticket collector and not selecting a ticket from the UI listbox could cause the player to get a "you must select a ticket.." message on future travel attempts.
 * Fixed a problem where traveling between 2 cities on the same planet could be stopped if there is an active battlefield on the line between them.

Vehicles
 * Improved Vehicle performance.
 * New tool allows players to 'paint' their vehicles.
 * You can now have 3 vehicles stored in your datapad at a time.
 * Radial menu will now update properly after generating or storing vehicle.

World
 * Added Librarian with Trivia Questions to Theed Palace.
 * The night lighting on Talus and Dathomir have been brightened for easier play.
 * Yavin 4 sky and fog have been improved