Bi-Weekly Update for 2/14/09

[Max]

1) Update Overview (TOC):

• VIP Event (Friday 13th) and the SWGEmu-Craft Swoop Event (Sunday 15th)
• SunCrusher
• SWGEmu Now on Facebook!
• Crafting Updates
• Item and Storage Updates
• Community Service and Event Coordinator Position Applications
• Stability Report
• GM Command Changes
• Medic, Doctor and Combat Medic
• Damage Over Time Weapons and States
• Creatures and Caves Updates
• Staff Changes
• Major Bug Fixes
  

2) Body:

VIP Event (Friday 13th) and the SWGEmu-Craft Swoop Event (Sunday 15th)

The 2/14/09 VIP Event has sadly had to be postponed due to the server crashing overnight right before the event. This is unfortunate, but just bad luck.
Instead, on the 15th of February, we will be running the SWGEmu-Craft Swoop Event.

When: Sunday February 15th, 2009 at 9:00 PM EST (8:00 PM CST)

Where: Throughout the galaxy

Aesa from SWGEmu-Craft.Com has gone crazy. He has instructed his team to give away 25 FREE SWOOPS!! But there is a catch ... You have to find a team member to claim your prize. Throughout the galaxy SWGEmu-Craft employees will be passing out swoops to the first 5 people that successfully locates each employee.

Clues to their whereabouts will be provided via System Message. Make sure you bring your thinking caps, the System Messages won't play all night.

Limit 1 Swoop per account.

Also make sure you check out SWGEmu-Craft for all your crafting needs.

See discussion here: http://www.swgemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19667
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SunCrusher

We are starting to take the preliminary steps in planning and preparation for SunCrusher. The Developers have the goal of fixing existing issues and implementing all the needed systems for a playable galaxy, which, as you can see from this update and especially in cRush's current taskset, is proceeding very nicely.
The Community Service staff and the Administrators will also begin planning and setting up the SunCrusher forums and the support structure shortly. We will also begin working out our long term plans for SunCrusher and its operation.
We have also set up an IRC chat room for SunCrusher general discussion, which is #suncrusher . Like #swgemu, there is no set topic, but is rather a general place for SunCrusher players and prospective SunCrusher players to get to know each other and talk as they like. Feel free to drop in any time.
Finally, cRush and the Community staff will begin planning and building the SunCrusher website shortly, so that we can get people online and in the loop ASAP.
Exciting times ahead!

Remember that threads about "what will ..... be on suncrusher" will go unanswered. We simply don't know. The SunCrusher forums will be the remedy to these threads.
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SWGEmu Now on Facebook!

Things have really been exciting lately (as if they're not usually?), and we have got some additional good news for the community! The SWGEmu Team has recently gotten their hands into the now Official SWGEmu Facebook group. If you have Facebook you can join at:
Official SWGEmu Facebook Group

From here We'll be posting basic update information, sending updates to group members, and also informing members of special upcoming events. We think this will be a great step for those who do not always have the time to scroll through the forums!

Link Addy Just in case: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gr...gid=2226999134
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Crafting Updates

Crafting has been updated, streamlined and improved even more (yes, it was possible) since January. Crafting exploits were fixed, schematics have been further customized, and behind the scenes the Schematic team has been working away at creating new schematics and filling any of the holes which exist.
Thoop added a number of Weaponsmith schematics on Tuesday. Though the schematics are in place, factory crates are not implemented hence not all objects will be craftable at this stage.
Tailor is also progressing nicely, with Lorrianna working very hard to get Tailor complete and tested for release. It is estimated to be about 50% completed as of this weekend.
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Item and Storage Updates

Farmer_John has been at it again, this time with even more changes, updates and fixes than before. He has launched his Item Revamp Part 1, a complete code overhaul which will extend the current item and container functionality.
The following is included in the revamp:

• Inventory size limit is now enforced by the system
• Items in backpacks will can now be deleted, equipped and used
• Upon equip, items in backpacks will now be moved to the main inventory
• Bank storage is now fully operation
• Instrument Equip/Un-equip now works again
• Armor Equip/Un-equip now works again
• Theed now has bank terminals

Hi-Five farmer john for scoring another home run for SWGEmu Development.
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Community Service and Event Coordinator Position Applications

We would like to sincerely thank all that applied for a CSR and EC position. The interest in Community Service was overwhelming and we were pleased to see so many of you take the time to write in.

We have painstakingly narrowed the list quite a bit from what it was and believe us, that was NOT an easy task. There were over 300 excellent (and a few not so excellent) applications.

We have now moved on to Round 2 of the selection process and will be directly contacting those applicants that made it through.

To all those that were not selected: We want to again thank you for taking the time to apply. There was simply very few open spots and so many qualified people to fill them. We will be keeping everyone's applications for future consideration as our community grows.
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Stability Report

Stability has been a high priority as of late for the SWGEmu team, especially Oru and TheAnswer, who have managed to fix most of the stability bugs and deadlocks which accumulated over the last little while.
Unfortunately nothing is perfect, and we all still have work to do to makes sure the core is as stable as possible.
The largest period of down time in the last 2 weeks was 52 hours, and the longest uptime was 28 hours.
TA and Oru are the gods, so please prey as much as you can to them.
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GM Command Changes

The GM Command system has been updated this week to better fill our current and future needs.

• Swoops were added to @giveItemTemp
• @invis is in the works, to allow CSRs to be invisible for periods of time.
• @commands now lists commands in a box list
• @eventCloner allows the placement of temporary cloners for event use
• @modify is in the works, to allow Event Coordinators to rename and change the statistics of NPCs
• @eventMessage is a new system message ability which allows cleaner and more RP-friendly system notifications.

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Medic, Doctor and Combat Medic

Doctor, Medic and Combat Medic have been improved even further to be more true to Pre-CU. Healing now stops dancing and music playing, it can recover players from incapacitation and area healing has been fixed to work properly. Ranged Area Stimpacks are also fixed.

Doctors have also been given the ability to use enhance packs to protect players against poison and disease, as well as the Area Cure ability.
Battle fatigue also has an impact on the effectiveness of stimpacks, wondpacks and buff packs.
Other miscellaneous fixes such as the ability to revive a player and consent lists have been fixed.

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Damage Over Time Weapons and States

MrTopas has been working on implementing Damage over Time (DoT) weapons and states into the next combat core. Loot-able DoT Weapons have been added and Combat Medics are able to apply DoT states using poisons and diseases. Both major and minor pools are able to be infected by DoTs.
Teras Kasi's will be able to heal these states through meditation.

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Creatures and Caves Updates

Kellina and his Creatures/Spawns team have been working yet again on new Creatures and Creature Spawns. Added this week was the Aakuan Champion's Cave, the Veermok Cave, the Lost Village of Durbin, Narglatch Cave and a now fixed Drall Patriot Cave. Also fixed was the Hutt Hideout, the Squill Cavern, the Tusken Bunker, and the Woolamander Palace.

Coming soon the the Creatures/Spawns program will be the rapid dropping of completed caves and POIs on all planets over the next couple of months. Starting with Corellia and ending with Yavin, a large number of new caves will be added. Also on the table is the tweaking of various NPCs and Mobs, such as Dark Troopers and Tuskens, to be more accurate. Here's to their continued success!

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Staff Changes

Some new staff have joined, and old ones some left us, in February.

Quality Assurance:
+ Derp123 has joined our Quality Assurance Team
+ ChixDigit has rejoined our QA team as a world tester
+ Plainoldavid has joined our QA team

Community Service:
-Aremathiea has left his position as a CSR. Arem was a long time and much loved CSR, and we will miss his compassion and caring nature dearly.
-Sperg has left his position as a CSR. Sperg is very busy with professional commitments. His time as a Chef Rep and CSR is long and illustrius. Thanks Sperg
-Tolbat has retired as a Senior CSR. Tolbat was loved by all, no exceptions. His passion, helpfulness and clear headed thinking make him a great loss.

Forum Moderation:
-Sonno has left his position as a Moderator.
-Rambow has left his position as a Moderator.
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Major Bug Fixes

• Trainer Position Fixes (cRush)
• /maskscent no longer provides an immune state (MrTopas)
• Players should no longer load into the game at 0 0 on the planet (Farmer_John)
• Mounts / Vehicles can no longer "die" (Farmer_John)
• Robes should now be wearable with headwear (hats) (Farmer_John)
• Fireworks will not be able to be exploited any longer (TheAnswer)
  

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3) Developer Perspective ("Round Table"):

Originally Posted by MrTopas

In the last two weeks I was working on combat medic and doctor. I added area poison/disease cure packs and poison/disease enhance packs to doc. These should give the player some protection form the nasty cm dots. Combat Medics get poison and disease packs for all pools. I an addition I was fixing all the bugs, that came with the new features. All stimpacks, poison/disease packs and cure packs should work correct and not prevent entertainers from doing there job. Healing removes players from incapacitation.

In the next few days I will check camps and traps to find the reported bugs. After that I will start implementing and fixing the rest of the commando profession

Originally Posted by Panchjr

Having returned from skiing, I am getting back to combat fixes. My main focus at the moment being states and the annoying bouncing up and down when players have been knocked down.
I have also been simplifying the combat calculations by modifying the to hit chance equation so it also works for the chance of states being applied. This seems to work well and it is likely that SOE only used one chance equation for combat.

Originally Posted by Kellina

Creature/NPC Spawns
Over the next couple weeks/months ill be finishing up every single cave/dungeon/poi and get everything spawning for those. Starting wtih Corellia, and ending with Yavin 4.

CSR/EC Applications
We would like to sincerely thank all that applied for a CSR and EC position. The interest in Community Service was overwhelming and we were pleased to see so many of you take the time to write in.

We have painstakingly narrowed the list quite a bit from what it was and believe us, that was NOT an easy task. There were over 300 excellent (and a few not so excellent) applications.

We have now moved on to Round 2 of the selection process and will be directly contacting those applicants that made it through.

To all those that were not selected: We want to again thank you for taking the time to apply. There was simply very few open spots and so many qualified people to fill them. We will be keeping everyone's applications for future consideration as our community grows.

Appreciatively,
The SWGEmu CSR/EC Team.

4) Closing:

It has been extremely nasty over in Melbourne, Victoria (where I am located) over the last few weeks. Over 2.5 Million Acres of bushland (about 10 million sqaure metres) is burning at the moment. The orange glow extends across the whole horizon, and thick smoke covers the city. 200+ people have been killed, and thousands of families left homeless.
It is fascinating to me how one event such as this draws a community together. Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans and almost every US citizen is ready to give aid. 9/11 drew New York and the whole world together than we have ever been. A massive firestorm in Australia leads to donations totaling over 60 million dollars a day, and companies giving up all their profits to the red cross. People let strangers into their homes, and even in the midst of an economic struggle feel able to give all they have to another who's only downfall is bad luck.

Here, a huge event stands poised with hundreds of players ready and waiting for the word go, to be met by a complete server crash. Chance has it that Oru and TA are asleep, and the server remains down through the night. Hours of preparation and anticipation are simply washed away.
And yet, the community is more active and involved than any other day this year.
What does this say?
What is it about disaster that makes people connect?
Why are your best friends forged through your hardest journeys?

I can't answer that, but I can use it. Perhaps running away from a disaster is the worst thing to do. Perhaps fleeing at the first sign of trouble will only make you weaker.
Good luck makes a person feel good about themselves. Bad lack makes people feel good about each other.
How do you want to feel?

Happy Valentines Day.

--Team SWGEmu

[Ashur]

First.

and as allways max, a very touching end to a great post

[MrBlonde]

Sad to see a lot of people leaving staff.

Best of luck to them.

Hope to see people at the Swoop Giveaway, server permitting of course.

[StormZ]

Awesome update. Keep it up guys!

[KroniK]

Great update and awesome post about the community becoming stronger. Happy valentine days to everyone.

[eapeih]

sweet great update

[CKclyde]

Awsome update! My prayers go out to our brothers and sisters in Australia...

[kelharis]

Nice to see this. Thanks!

[Ekowraith]

Bi-Weekly Updates seem to be getting many fewer responses lately. What's the deal with that?

[Kayliaah]

This is really, really, really exciting.
It is useless to repeat myself, but now I feel it, more and more everyday.

I remember the Anchorhead days, even the end in July/August 08, look where we've been since then

Eight months later, the project, the community, has grown up, it continues.

Originally Posted by Max

What does this say?
What is it about disaster that makes people connect?
Why are your best friends forged through your hardest journeys?

I can't answer that, but I can use it. Perhaps running away from a disaster is the worst thing to do. Perhaps fleeing at the first sign of trouble will only make you weaker.
Good luck makes a person feel good about themselves. Bad lack makes people feel good about each other.
How do you want to feel?

Happy Valentines Day.

I wish everything were like that, always.

And I wanted to go to Australia and never come back, because I was sick of snow.
Selfishness... At least I can thank God that I'm still alive...

[Scotyman]

Thanks for keeping us informed as always the team rocks!

Don't turn around to see if I'm cryin after reading your closing statement. It's just been rainin... on my face. And if you think you see some tear tracks runnin down my face please, Please don't tell my mates.

These aren't tears of sadness because you touched me. I've just been cutting onions. I'm making a Lasagna...for one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64a_1...eature=related

[Valkyra]

woot!

[TaBuNiW]

I love you gals and guys.

...

Of course only in a very platonic and manly way.

[Shotter]

An excellent Bi-Weekly. The Closing was especially genuine and moving, so I give thanks to who ever wrote it.

While I personally didn't have much interaction with those who are leaving the team, it is comforting to know that there were many exceptional applications that were sent in for CSR/EC. Hopefully, they will aid in filling whatever void the others may leave behind.

[Ilipah]

As always, an awesome Bi-Weekly Report. Well done team