Star Wars Galaxies Beast Master Q&A

Warcry had the chance to chat with LucasArts producer Jake Neri about the new Beast Master system in Star Wars Galaxies.
Q: In the old days, Creature Handler was seen by some as just an online version of Pokemon. How has the team dealt with that view? Was there an effort made to make Beast Master a serious, viable sideline career as well as a hobby?

A: We weren't really concerned with how the Creature Handler profession was perceived when it was in the game more than a year ago, as the current Beast Master system is very different and far more robust. What we did focus on was how much our players enjoyed collecting their creatures and ultimately interacting with them, so that was the basis of the new Beast Master system. Because the system is contained within a profession expertise tree, we fully expect players to spend their talent points in it to grow and progress their characters' careers, while also using the resulting Creatures to adventure, explore and engage in combat.

Of course, there will naturally be a "hobby" element to the system as well. We've found that many of our players are collectors of all types of things in the game, from the items they put in their house, to their speeders and mounts. We anticipate that many players will spend a good amount of time harvesting and trading pets to grow their collections. I think the incubation process, with its ability to create unique, mutated creatures will definitely keep people engaged in the system from start to finish.