Publish 27 Notes for February 15th 2006

Publish 27

On Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 at 4:00 AM PDT all U.S. and European galaxies will be taken down for server maintenance and a live update.

All US and European Galaxies will be unavailable for 4-6 hours.

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

4:00 AM PST (Los Angeles) / 6:00 AM CST (Austin) / 7:00 AM PST (New York) / 10:00 AM GMT (London)

Publish 27 Headlines

* Heavy Weapons are now in the game! Try them out with our publish gift to you, a Launcher Pistol that everyone can use. * Jedi Profession Enhancements: Jedi get new powers and abilities that make them more competitive melee class! * Stealth Enhancements: Hide from enemies, set traps and avoid being detected for true stealth combat! * Stuck in space and have to get home? Then use the new "Hyperspace Home" ability! * A galaxy of community changes and updates!

Publish Gift

To make each publish more special for everyone, we have a new publish feature: Publish Gifts! For this first round of gifts, we have a Nickel Plated Launcher Pistol and a Concentrated Bacta Tank.

A window will pop up when you first log in letting you know you have received the gifts. After you accept the items, they can be found in your inventory. Everyone will be receiving a Nickel Plated Targeting Pistol (a Heavy Weapon that everyone can use) and a Concentrated Bacta Tank that allows you to completely heal yourself outside of combat once an hour (or you can put it in your house).

Heavy Weapons

Heavy Weapons are coming back to SWG! For this first update to Heavy Weapons, there are three main weapon types: They are the Flame Thrower (and all variants such as Plasma), the Acid Rifle and the Launcher Pistol. There are other variants of Heavy Weapons that will be available such as the Heavy Rocket Launcher and the Void. Kicking off this new aspect to combat is a totally new type of targeting for this weaponry.

The Acid Rifle and Launcher Pistol and rocket launcher have a new type of targeting called "Location Targeting". Location Targeting is basically a big aiming target (or reticle) that will appear on the ground. Once the aiming reticle is on the ground, you can use your mouse to move the reticle around on the ground. Once you find your targets you fire the weapons and launch a ruthless attack on all of your opponents in an area.

As the masters of Heavy Weapons, all Heavy Weapons are for the Commando professions, with the exception of the launcher pistol and the light flame thrower. This will give everyone the opportunity to experiment with the new targeting technologies. Commandos will also get additional damage bonuses for Heavy Weapons. Let's take a look at some of the Heavy Weapons that will be available:

Flame Thrower (and all Variants): Uses Directional targeting. Flame Throwers will spew a cone of flames and sets the ground on fire. This will be an Area-of-Attack (AoE) with a Damage-Over-Time (DoT).

Acid Rifle: Uses Location targeting. Acid Rifles will spray a cone of acid and create puddles of noxious acid. This will be an Area-of-Effect (AoE) attack.

Launcher Pistol: Uses Location Targeting. The Launcher Pistol shoots small rockets into the ground that will detonate a short time later.

Some Additional Details

* All Heavy Weapons cost Action points to use (your green bar). Every time you pull the trigger, you will spend action points, except for Commandos in which case it's free (no action point cost).

* All Heavy Weapons reach out to 64meter, except the flame thrower which has a 20meter range.

* The Proton Rifle will no longer be classified as a Heavy Weapon, but is commando only.

* Special Moves cannot be executed while using Heavy Weapons, except those that do not require a target.

* All Heavy Weapons fire at 1 second intervals, except flame throwers which fire continually. * Heavy Weapons deliver DOTs if you're a commando, based on the elemental type of the weapon (non-commando users don't get DOTs).

* Commandos get an undisclosed damage bonus when using heavy weapons.

Jedi Profession Enhancements

These new powers will make Jedi a powerful melee profession! These changes will strengthen the effectiveness of Jedi in combat by increasing their defenses against damage and offering them more abilities to augment their melee focus. You can find a Game Guide describing these new abilities here: Guide: Jedi Abilities - Learning the Way

Here is a top level look at the changes:

Sweeps are a new class of attacks that have been added to give Jedi strikes more variety...with a twist. Sweeps work exactly like strikes, except they are full 360 degree attacks that can be launched at all targets surrounding the Jedi. To use these attacks, you will have to equip a Lightsaber or melee weapon to launch these attacks (any Lightsaber or melee weapon can be used).

Jedi Focus and Stance Buffs have been changed to significantly longer duration buffs that either increases the offensive (Focus) or defensive (Stance) potential of the Jedi. Only one of the two types can be active at any given moment.

Force Run has been changed to a shorter duration. However, the movement speed bonus has been significantly increased, and when activated this buff will remove any snare or root effects on the Jedi. While active, Force Run also prevents snare or root effects from affecting the Jedi.

Self Healing has been improved for the Jedi. An additional self healing ability has been added at level 14 (Calming Mind), and all self healing abilities now includes the ability to removal and immunity to certain detrimental effects. Which detrimental effects are removed depends on the Self Healing ability used. Self Healing abilities also improve as you earn higher lever versions of self heals.

For example: Calming Mind (level 14) cures any Poison effect on the Jedi and renders them immune to Poison effects for a brief period of time. Later abilities earned in this group will remove additional types of effects such as Bleeding, Disease, and Burning.

Jedi Mind Tricks: You can go about your business...Move along. Move along. Adding the most recognized ability from the movies, Jedi will now have the "Jedi Mind Trick"! "Mind Trick" has two different choices; it either reduces the Strength and Precision of NPCs, Creatures and Players by making them less effective in combat or escape NPC's and Creatures with a wave of your hand by making them lose all interest in you!

Some of the other changes include changing Force Throw so that it is a single power that can be used with any Lightsaber or melee weapon, Force Lightning activation and cool-down timers have been reduced, and Force Chokes now have their own ability range freeing it from having to rely on having a ranged weapon equipped

Stealth Enhancements and Espionage Gadgets

Stealth, Traps and Hidden Opponents are coming to SWG with this publish, adding a whole new espionage element to combat! Let's take a look at some of the details:

Spy Profession Enhancements:  All of the Stealth abilities for spies are more powerful. A spy's ability to maintain their stealth mode and the amount of time stealth mode can be maintained is now based on a character's Action costs (the green bar).

With this change, spies will be able to manage their Action cost modifiers to affect how long or short their stealth abilities are active. By managing gear and buffs, spies can potentially stay in stealth mode indefinitely! In-Game items that are looted and previous items with camouflage modifiers can also be used for this purpose. Keep in mind that when you run out of Action, you will become visible.

Stealth Enhancements for other Professions

There are some other professions that will be gaining new stealth enhancements to really fill out the stealth game with many opponents and options. Some of these abilities will give different professions the ability to hide while others will gain the ability to "Detect Hidden" opponents.

* Smuggler has a new ability: "Camouflage Ally". Similar to a Spy's Smoke Grenade, this ability allows a Smuggler to camouflage to friends and team mates. Once allies have been camouflaged, moving or starting combat will break the ability, but it can give groups precious time to heal up for the next battle! This ability can only be applied others and not yourself.

* Jedi have a new ability: "Force Cloak". This special ability allows a Jedi to hide or "cloak" themselves from opponents! Requiring great concentration, this can be a useful ally for a Jedi in combat but if a Jedi moves even the slightest bit, their concentration, and the cloak, will be broken.

Detect Hidden

* Jedi have a new "Sense Danger" ability that allows them to reveal hidden traps, players and creatures.

* Bounty Hunters have a "Detect Camouflage" ability which allows them to reveal hidden players and creatures, but not traps.

* Smugglers can purchase Chaff Flares from faction recruiters which will allow them to reveal hidden traps.

* Smugglers & Commandos have ability to disarm hostile traps.

Traps:  SWG now has traps! There are 4 new types of traps that can be acquired with 2 pre-configured types of triggers to set them off. All of the traps and triggers can be purchased from Faction recruiters with faction points. Spies, Bounty Hunters & Commandos will be able to hide their own traps from view - nobody at all will be able to see the traps once they are set.

Use your radial menu to set the traps. You can also check your tool tips on traps to more easily understand how to activate them.

Traps

* HX2 Mines: These are heavy explosive mines that can be set by Commandos only.

* Flash-Bang Traps: Used by Commandos, Bounty Hunters & Spies, this trap will slow you're your opponents in combat. * Caltrop Mine: This trap is a Movement Snare that can be used by Commandos, Bounty Hunters & Spies.

* Kamino Dart Trap: This trap is a Poison Damage-Over-Time (DoT) attack that can only be deployed by spies.

You can set them to trigger:

* By Remote Trigger: This allows you detonate a single trap or mine from a distance. You can configure the distance. * By Proximity Trigger: This PvP-only trap will set traps to detonate when another player comes in range.

Stealth System Gadgets: There is also a new category of espionage gadgets that have been added to SWG as part of the new stealth system. You can get these gadgets from Faction Recruiters by conversing with them and selecting the "I am looking to requisition some supplies" followed by the "Combat support equipment" choice in the dialogue bubble. Please note that items are level and profession specific and will not show up if you are not qualified to use them.

* Electrobinoculars: Using these places a buff on your character that will increase your chances of finding hidden players.

* Motion Sensor: Alerts you when another player has come within the vicinity of the motion sensor after it has been placed.

* Tracking Beacon: This beacon allows you to track the movements of one NPC or creature.

Hyperspace Home!

If you have finished your adventures in space or need to get across the galaxy in a hurry, everyone's space ship now has a "Hyperspace Home" ability. This new ship ability makes jumping home easy with the click of a button that will take you back to the starport where you launched your ship from. This will make space flight more convenient by getting you home when you are ready without having to make extra Hyperspace jumps.

Update Notes

Art

* Improved the Lava Cannon visual effect.

* Ithorians can now equip a tech ops pack, but it will be invisible.

Badges

* Players can now earn badges for mastering combat professions.

* Fixed an issue that prevented some players from receiving their badges for completed accomplishments. Any player who is missing badges will have them granted retroactively upon login.

* Fixed an issue that prevented players from receiving a badge from Dartas Pytin, after completing all of the pilot quests on Tansarii Point Station.

Client Improvements

* Made performance improvements for the GeForce FX series video cards. These video cards should see a significant frame rate increase.

Cloning

* Fixed an issue which caused some players to always respawn as Special Forces after dying.

Combat

* Heavy Weapons have been added to the game.

* All Heavy Weapons cost Action points to use (your green bar). Every time you pull the trigger, you will spend action points, except for Commandos in which case it's free (no action point cost).

* All Heavy Weapons reach out to 64meter, except the flame thrower which has a 20meter range and the Lava Cannon which has a 35m range.

* Using Heavy Weapons will grant combat experience points.

* Buffs and Self-Heals will work when holding a Heavy Weapons.

* All ground targeting Heavy Weapons will do an immediate hit when fired (with the exception of the launcher pistol). * The Proton Rifle will no longer be classified as a Heavy Weapon, but is commando only.

* Special Moves cannot be executed while using Heavy Weapons, except those that do not require a target.

* All Heavy Weapons fire at 1 second intervals, except flame throwers which fire continually. * Heavy Weapons deliver DOTs if you're a commando, based on the elemental type of the weapon (non-commando users don't get DOTs).

* The 25 point skill modifier cap for equipped clothing has been removed for the following 6 character attributes: constitution, stamina, luck, strength, precision, and agility.

* All professions will now receive terrain negotiation of 50 as part of their profession advancement. Spies, Commandos and Jedi get an additional 50 Terrain Negotiation for a total of 100.

* Disabled all weapon reloading animations.

* The combat fly-text damage numbers should now report correct values when targets take damage.

* Commandos using Damage-Over-Time (DoT) attacks will now be in full effect.

* Multiple Damage-Over-Time (DoT) visual effects will no longer stack on a player and slow them down.

* Special attacks will now do the correct damage even when a player is unarmed. Previously special attacks would do very little damage unless the attacker had a weapon equipped.

* Aggressive creatures that have appeared as part of a quest should no long appear inside of other objects, and should always be aggressive towards the player.

* Fixed some situations that caused creatures and NPC's to stand on top of players, creatures or NPC's in melee combat situations.

* Damage on weapons slower than pistols and carbines has been increased.

* Delayed attacks will now use the trap object on the ground for Line of Sight checks instead of the attacking player's location.

* Fixed an issue preventing cool-down timers to be reset for some special abilities. (Examples: The Bounty Hunter's Bounty Check, Officer's Supply Drop, and Spy Smoke Grenade).

* Improved ranged attack calculations. Players should notice that they can use ranged attacks from the full distance away from a target.

* Large creatures in melee combat will no longer repeatedly move out of a player's melee range.

* PvP Combat Only: If a player attacks another player with a Damage-Over-Time (DoT) effect, both the attacker and the defender will remain in combat mode for the duration of the DoT.

Experience Points

* Characters will now continue to earn ground combat experience points (XP) fighting in space, even after becoming a Master Pilot.

* Characters will no longer gain ground experience points (XP) in space once you have reached combat level 90.

Fishing

* All players should be able to filet fish now. You can do this by accessing the item's radial menu.

Galactic Civil War

* Modified the faction point costs needed to purchase traps and spy equipment from faction recruiters.

Hyperspace Home

* A " Home Port " button has been added to the toolbar in space. While in space, you can use this button to hyperspace back to your launch location. This is a small button that resembles a space station in the lower left of the Space Heads-Up-Display.

Quests

* Tansarii Point Station: Frelka's Folly: You can no longer take this quest without talking to Frelka on Tansarii Point Station before going to E-5KL on Station Gamma.

* Classic Quests: Theater Manager Quest: Changed the quest so that the Theater Manager will give both Theatrical 1 and 2 as the crowd pleaser reward.

* Classic Quests: Theater Manager Quest: Fixed an issue preventing entertainers from earning the Theatrical dance or Western song rewards from the Theater Manager quests in Mos Eisley.

Players who started, but did not complete the Theater Manager's “Crowd Pleaser” quest and did not use the new dance/song scroll before Publish 25 will be able to talk to the Theater Manager to have their dances or songs granted.

* Classic Quests: Find the Rebel Alliance Pilot Trainer: Da'la Socuna now has a waypoint when you take this quest.

* Classic Quests: The First Step : Trehla will now give you a small amount of credits when she says "Take these credits".

* Rage of the Wookiees: Myyydril Caverns: "N-K Necrosis": This quest journal no longer shows that this quest is supposed to grant quest experience points (XP) since it doesn't (and isn't meant to).

* Rage of the Wookiees: Myyydril Caverns: " N-K Necrosis": NK-Necrosis no longer needs to recharge his power cells during combat.

* Rage of the Wookiees: The Imprisoned Geonosian: Added a "Gather DNA Strands" to the radial menu for the magseal container on final step of this quest.

* Rage of the Wookiees: Nak'tra Crystals and Knives: Urnsor'is now drop loot again so the items needed to complete this quest can be acquired.

* Rage of the Wookiees: Clone Relics: Help the imprisoned Geonosian, Phase III: Added a waypoint for the location of the Geonosian Bio Lab. It will trigger when your character is near the hidden facility.

* Rage of the Wookiees: The Clone Relics: Working for Boba Fett Phase V: The bodyguard ( Dearic Hotel on Talus 714, -3000) has been changed to be invulnerable so he won't join in the fight.

* Rage of the Wookiees: The Road to Exemplar, the Final Battle: When you kill all of the Wookiee warriors, your quest journal will update and you'll receive a task to return to Dahlia to get your next waypoint.

* Rage of the Wookiees: Clone Relics: Boba Fett, Tatooine (Part V): Added additional information so players could better understand the steps of the quest.

* Rage of the Wookiees: The Clone Relics: Hunter Qakee (Tatooine -1011 -3544) will now correctly reward and mark his first quest as completed.

* Rage of the Wookiees: Arena Challenge - Face Wirartu: The arena on Kashyyyk will now reset if the quest holder dies. If a player should die during the Arena Challenge quest they are kicked out of the arena and will have to speak to Chief Kerritamba again.

* Rage of the Wookiees: Business as usual: Ardon's quest will now correctly update when you complete the quest by killing the Outcast Assassins.

* Rage of the Wookiees: Cyrans the Unfeeling and the Sayromi Queen: now gives out quest experience upon completing the quest.

* Rage of the Wookiees: Clone Relics - To the Queen's Aid (ARC-170 Ship reward) : The Wookiee prisoner for Queen Kylantha 's clone relic quest will properly appear so you can complete the quest.

*  The Trials of Obi-Wan: The Trouble with HK-47: Milo Mensix will correctly track what quest task you are on. Speak with Milo again to clear up any issues that may have been caused by abandoning his quest and attempting to restart it.

* Trials of Obi-Wan: The Strike (Side Quest): The Mustafar Mining Suit quest reward will show the correct appearance for Wookiees and Ithorians.

* Trials of Obi-Wan: Fixed an issue that was preventing Obi-Wan's ghost from appearing for some players.

* Trials of Obi-Wan: An Archeologist's Problem: Vansk can now be found more often.

* Trials of Obi-Wan: Clear out Beetle Nest: will now correctly reward quest experience.

* Legacy Quests: If new players are level 10 or higher, they may now chose to either move on to new quests or continue helping the mayor.

* Legacy Quests: Goto Vourk: Vourk will now know if you are on a quest for Trehla. The quest from Trehla back to Vourk will now complete when you talk to him.

* Legacy Quests: Watto's Droid Quests: Changed the Body and Legs tasks on this quest to require less travel.

* Legacy Quests: Head Start: If you have deleted this quest, talk to Watto again, and he will give you the quest again.

* Legacy Quests: Putting it Together: If you deleted the quest task, 'Find the Head', and spoke with Watto to take the quest again, Watto would not speak to you. He will now offer you the Squill quest.

* Legacy Quests: Putting it Together and To Naboo: Players who do not complete their conversation with Lt. Maximilian will no longer be prevented from continuing the quest series.

* Legacy Quests: Go See Watto: If you have deleted this quest, Captain Carh'la Bastra (128 -5428) or Commander Barrezz (-1146 -3893) will give you the pointer quest to go talk to Watto so that you can continue the quest.

* Legacy Quests: Tap the Communications of the Four Major Criminal Groups: The quest information has been updated so that players can more easily find the control panels (outside by the antennas).

* Legacy Quests: Doing Darkwalker Deeds: If you did not receive a waypoint to Eckner or if you cancelled the conversation with Jorgellansel, you will be able to get back into the quest by speaking with either of these two NPCs (Eckner or Jorgellansel).

* Legacy Quests: Rescue Karl Eckener: Added a new version of this quest to the game. The new version will give waypoints to the Skaak Tippers and the Darkwalkers. Only players who take this quest for the first time will get this version of the quest. Note: Players who have already taken the quest and need the locations can return to Hugo. Converse with him and he will give you the locations.

* Legacy Quests: Finding Huff's Rifle: The quest information will now describe where Borvo the Hutt resides and provide a waypoint. * Legacy Quests: Finding Huff's Rifle: The Darklighter guard will now recognize you when you have the Tusken Rifle. Huff's guard will now take the rifle from you.

* Legacy Quests: To Naboo: If you have deleted this quest, you can now talk to Watto and he will grant you the quest again. This will make it possible for players to return to story path and go on the Naboo storylines.

* Legacy Quests: Thieves, Thugs, and Hoodlums: Players on these quests will no longer have to return to Paewp for each quest task in the series. As players finish each task on the quest, Paewp will contact you via a com-link, explain the next task in the quest and grant the next part of the quest. Anyone who is on the original quest series will be granted the new version of the quest upon completing their current quest task.

* Legacy Quests: Runaways: During the space portion of EV-9D9's "Runaways", the RA-316 escort will appear closer to the player so that the quest can be completed.

* Legacy Quests: Runaways: The runaway droids and Untas will appear more often.

* Legacy Quests: Runaways: Runaway droids will now appear more frequently in the Darklighter Cache.

* Legacy Quests: Runaways: Jonni Skaak will now drop the Journal once more so you can complete the quest.

* Legacy Quests: Runaways: Changed the space portion of the quest for EV-9D9 to send the player to the nearest ship terminal, which is next to Jabba's palace (instead of the starship terminals in Bestine).

* Legacy Quests: Go to Tanoa Vills: You will now be able to complete the quests and tasks for this quest series.

* Legacy Quests: Recover all Six Pieces of the Scattered Gungan Artifacts: The quest counter will properly update as you recover each of the artifacts.

* Legacy Quests: Jabba's Palace: Pod Racers: Barada will provide players with a better waypoint to kill the Valarian Pod Racers, Crew Chiefs, and Mechanics.

* Legacy Quests: Jabba's Palace: Pod Racers: Moved the Valarian Pod Racers, Crew Chiefs, and Mechanics out of the mountain hideout.

* Legacy Quests: J awatracks: You will only have to speak to Carh'la Bastra once to start this quest series.

* Legacy Quests: Doing Skaak Tipper Dirty Work: If you stopped conversing with Toff Henrou before you took the next quest to get back to Hugo and didn't get a waypoint, you can go back to Toff Henrou and get the waypoint you need to continue the quest.

* Legacy Quests: Tipping the Balance: When you kill the Skaak Tipper Leader, Jonni Skaak, you can now examine the journal (by clicking on it) to continue the quest.

* Legacy Quests: The Tip-off: When you kill the Skaak Tippers you will get A Radio as part of the "A Tip-off" quest. You can now use the radial menu on this item to examine it and continue on the quest.

* Legacy Quests: Sennex Bunker: Moved two of the NPC's in the first room of the Sennex Bunker so they can be seen.

* Legacy Quests: Sennex Bunker: Ephant Mon's quest now includes a description of the location for the Sennex Databank.

* Legacy Quests: Commander Barrezz will now be fixed retroactively for all players who were gated. Try to talk to Commander Barrezz and he will give you the next quest.

* Legacy Quests: The Droid head from EV-9D9 is no longer a container.

* Legacy Quests: Renamed Barada's quest tasks, to better fit the story. The new quest names are: "Steal Pod Parts from Valarian's Pod Racers", "Steal New Fuel Cells from Valarian's, Mechanics", "Steal Fuel Tubes from Valarian's Crew Chiefs", "Kill 15 of Valarian's Men" and "Return to Barada at Jabba's Palace"

* Valarian Crew Chiefs are now more clearly named so they can be clearly identified.

* Princess Leia will check to see if you are declared as a Rebel Combatant or Special Forces before offering the final Cries of Alderaan 3 Mission.

* New Entertainers and Traders will no longer be shown a blue trail upon arrive to Mos Eisley.

* Fixed an issue that prevented neutrally aligned characters from speaking with Queen Kylantha in the Naboo palace. She will now speak to neutral players.

* The Entertainer Quest given by Anetia Kah'ryn (3438, -4834) will only be available to entertainers.

* Players who have previously completed Jabba's Themepark can now talk to Jabba even if they haven't done the new Palace quests.

* If you caught Bossk in the cantina and completed his third quest, the informant Stanic Wavingstar stiffed you out of a promised carbine. Now you can return to Stanic in the Wayfar cantina and demand the carbine from him. Furthermore, if you completed Bossk's final quest you can threaten or cajole Stanic to fix your gloves so they have more appropriate stats.

Loot

* Urnsor'is on (Kashyyyk) will now drop loot again.

* Re-breathers can now be looted in the Death Watch Bunker and the Geonosian Bio-Lab once more.

* Black Sun operatives are once again dropping bounty hunter armor and the jet pack stabilizer for use in the Death Watch Bunker.

* Bounty Hunter Armor Schematics can be found as loot again.

* Altered loot tables to bring back special items on Elite mobs.

* Altered loot tables to bring back collectible items. The items that can be found include (but are not limited to) rug pieces, gong pieces, power/color crystals and other prized items.

* Fixed an issue that prevented items from "auto-looting" when a group member won the group loot lottery for an item. Items won in a loot lottery should now correctly transfer to the winner's inventory.

* Corpses will remain in the world for at least one minute after opening a loot window before the corpse decays.

* Removed an erroneous error message when looting credits in loot lottery mode.

* Newly Looted weapons from Kashyyyk can now be sold to a Junk Dealer.

* Added stealth clothing loot drops to level 81-90 elite mob loot table.

Player Associations

* Fixed an issue affecting the radial menu for Player Association elections. If a player selected "Enable Elections" and then viewed the radial menu option again right afterwards, it will still read "Enable Elections". If this was selected a second time, it would actually disable the election.

Player Cities

* Civic Structures placed in a registered city will now be correctly updated to the planetary map when placed. For existing Civic Structures not on the planetary map in a registered city, the mayor will need to un-register and then re-register the city.

Profession: Bounty Hunter

* Bounty Hunters can now use Flash Bang traps and Caltrop mines.

* Bounty Hunters have a "Detect Camouflage" ability which allows them to reveal hidden players and creatures, but not traps.

Profession: Commando

* Commandos have many new Heavy Weapons at their disposal! * Commandos get an undisclosed damage bonus when using heavy weapons.

* Commando Grenades now have a range of 30 meters.

* Commandos have ability to disarm hostile traps. * Commandos can now use HX2 Mines, Flash Bang traps and Caltrop mines.

Profession: Entertainers

* Gendra will now give a new Slitherhorn to starting Entertainers who find themselves without an instrument.

* Players who started, but did not complete the Theater Manager's “Crowd Pleaser” quest and did not use the new dance/song scroll before Publish 25 will be able to talk to the Theater Manager to have their dances or songs granted.

Profession: Jedi

* The Jedi Profession has a new suite of abilities. You can find more information about them here: Guide: Jedi Abilities - Learning the Way * Jedi have a new "Sense Danger" ability that allows them to reveal hidden traps, players and creatures.

* Lightsabers that were created before Publish 25 will now have a full melee attack range of 5 meters.

* Jedi Elder Buffs now stack with other buffs.

* A Jedi's long-term buffs will now correctly work according to their cool-down timers.

* Saber Block will no longer block attacks from mines, grenades, bombs, etc.

Profession: Medics

* Fixed an issue that allowed Medics to use revive abilities on NPCs.

Profession: Officer

* The Officer abilities Paint Target, Called Shot & Fix Target will now show a targeting visual effect on the de-buffed enemy while the buff is in effect. * The Officer abilities Artillery Strike, Aerial Bombardment & Orbital Strike can no longer be executed while indoors. * Added 3 new Officer abilities that are useable indoors: Shock Grenade, Compression Grenade and Seismic Grenade.

Profession: Smuggler

* Smuggler has a new "Camouflage Ally" ability. Similar to a Spy's Smoke Grenade, this ability allows a Smuggler to camouflage to friends and team mates. Once allies have been camouflaged, moving or starting combat will break the ability, but it can give groups precious time to heal up for the next battle! This ability can only be applied others and not yourself.

* Smugglers can purchase Chaff Flares from faction recruiters which will allow them to reveal hidden traps.

* Smugglers have ability to disarm hostile traps.

Profession: Spy

* All of the Stealth abilities for spies are more powerful. A spy's ability to maintain their stealth mode and the amount of time stealth mode can be maintained is now based on a character's Action costs (the green bar). Keep in mind that when you run out of Action, you will become visible. * Spies can now use Flash Bang traps, Caltrop mines and Kamino Dart traps.

* The Level 26 Spy quest "Corporate Espionage" can now be completed. You can now "steal" the stolen datapad from Jubai Laetli at the Imperial Outpost on Tatooine.

* The rewards for the 14th level spy profession quest ("Spies Like Us") now has Ithorian-friendly reward. Two alternate bracer items for Ithorians have been added.

* Spies can now use a smoke grenade before going into stealth mode to bypass the witness check.

* Updated the level 26 Spy profession quest conversation so that once the quest is completed you can't take the same quest again.

* The Spy ability "steal" no longer causes the enemy NPC to attack you get caught stealing.

* The Spy ability "steal" now correctly enforces restrictions for its maximum distance to a target.

* Added a small poison Damage-Over-Time bonus to the Spy's Fang.

Profession: Traders

* Throw Pillows from the Chu-Gon Dar cube can now be crafted.

* NPC Vendors can no longer wear bodysuits (Previously this caused their appearance to be incomplete).

* Domestics Traders will now be granted the schematic for the Armor and Crafting tool.

* Shipwright Crafting experience points (XP) will now correctly count towards the Artisan Profession.

* Fixed the skills displayed on the profession roadmap for Traders so that the correct skills are shown in the correct phases.

Publish Gift

* When you log into the game, you will see a pop-up window listing your publish gift items.

* All players will receive a Concentrated Bacta Tank' that allows you to completely heal yourself outside of combat once an hour (or you can put it in your house).

* All players will also receive a Nickel Plated Targeting Pistol. This is a Heavy Weapon that everyone can use.

Sound

* The Quest Journal has new sounds. You should hear new sounds when you accept, complete, or advance a counter on a quest.

Space

* Fixed an issue that could cause players to experience severe computer performance issues when flying near certain parts of an attacking Star Destroyer. * If you own more then three ships, the ship texturing kit will allow you to customize your 4th ship and any additional ships you may have.

* A Starship pilot can now be found in the Mayors office in Mos Eisley. He will help direct players to Pilot trainers so they can begin their pilot careers.

* YT-2400's will now have the proper engine sounds.

* Reduced the Player-versus-Player damage multiplier in space. This damage multiplier has been slightly reduced to minimize the likelihood of 1 shot kills.

* Decay for Player-versus-Player space combat has been changed. If your spaceship is destroyed by another player in combat, you will receive a free 100% repair to your ship and components with no decay (the very last shot that destroys your ship must come from another player).

* If you manage to eject safely from PvP space combat, you will receive a free 100% repair to your ship and components with no decay.

* Player-versus-Environment (PVE) death and decay and repairs to your ships from space stations have NOT changed.

* Female Ace Pilots will now receive their medal as they should. These medals can only be earned once per faction type.

* All weapons added to space ships should appear and work correctly.

* Fixed an issue with the space ship ability "Weapon Overload 3" that lowered your energy cost while increasing the damage. Weapon Overload 3 will now work correctly by increasing your energy cost like other weapon overload abilities.

* The space ship ability "Weapon Overload 4" will now drain less energy so that it can be is a more viable combat option.

* The Ionic Pulse Blaster (and other weapons) will now be visible when placed onto an Advanced X-Wing.

* Entry to the Deep Space zone (PvP) will no longer require players to spend Prestige points.

User Interface

* If the "Middle mouse button drives movement" is not checked, the middle mouse button may be re-mapped to other actions.

* Japanese text can now be properly entered into dialogue boxes (Example: House Admin Terminal).

* Improved the look of the experience bar and corrected graphics issues.

* /waypoint now works in buildings.

* Fixed an issue causing secondary toolbar actions to wrap around empty slots on the toolbar.

* Mouse-only movement options will now work while moving around in multiplayer ships.

* You should no longer see the radial menu placed above objects in the air.

* Detaching a chat window should no longer lock your player into its current position.

* Additional chat logs will not spawn new logs in detached chat windows when logging into the game.

* A tool-tip has been added to the Lightsaber indicator on the Space profession roadmap that will show how far you have until you next space skill box. After tabbing to the Space profession, place your mouse over the Lightsaber on the profession window to display the tool tip (Press P to open your Profession window).

Vehicles

* All vehicles will travel approximately 25-30% faster. Previous differences in vehicle speeds have not changed; the fastest vehicle is still the fastest and the slowest is still the slowest.

* All vehicles will now climb slopes much faster. Faster vehicles will have an almost imperceptible change in speed when they hit a slope due to their momentum.

* All vehicles except for the V-35, the Transport Skiff and the Lava Skiff have had their collision radius reduced. This will make traveling through cities less cumbersome (All vehicles should fit through the smaller arches in the cities).

* Fixed an issue where vehicles would sometimes be "un-callable" for players. If a vehicle is left unattended for 10 minutes, a vehicle will now store itself.

* Vehicle customization tools are now used directly from your inventory or from the active ability slot. The tool will automatically work on your active vehicle.

* You can now click to exit a vehicle.

* Dismounting a vehicle with a weapon equipped will no longer cause character movement speed to be reduced. * Players may now store their vehicle while in combat or dead.

* Improved the location selection of the radial menu for multi-passenger ground vehicles. If you are a passenger, you can click to exit the vehicle. The owner, however, must invite you before you can enter the vehicle.

World

* Players can once again gain and lose faction standings by killing certain NPCs.

* Death Watch Bunker: Alum Gas will once again damage players who don't have the Gas Mask.

* Fixed an issue that was causing some players to either be moved out of or prevented them from entering an adventure zone. Players that experienced this issue received a message "You do not have proper authorization to be in this area" when trying to access certain game zones. You should now only receive this message when trying to improperly enter an adventure zone.

* Fixed an issue where you would get the message "You are too far away to use that" after using the elevator on Tansarii Point Station to go down from the atrium or up from the droid level.

* Dynamic Points of Interest (small NPC buildings in the world) should no longer be spawning. This will prevent players from being trapped while traveling.

* Huff Darklighter is now properly clothed.

* Banks now have two Junk Dealers so that they can be more easily found.

* Fixed an issue where some bank terminals were partially sunk into the floor of the bank.

* Added six new appearances for Junk Dealers.

* NPC's around Mos Eisley on Tatooine have been changed to be at least level 5 to increase the challenge for new players arriving from Tansarii station.

* Mos Eisley Police should no longer be factionally aligned to the Empire.

* NPC Shipwrights in starports have been removed.

* Removed a Hutt base that existed on some galaxies that was located too close to Great Pit of Carkoon.

Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl Community Relations Manager