Today officially marks the anniversary of An Empire in Flames server. Seven years ago today, EiF launched with hopes, dreams, and a lot of crazy ambition. It was designed with a core tenant in mind – “what is your ideal server?” That answer, to Lead Developer Halyn and a cohort of scrappy friends, was something that took all the great design elements from Live and made it better for PvE, PvP, and Roleplay players alike… with a side of weird.

It sounds somewhat generic, but it truly has been the guiding star for all EiF related content in the seven years since launch. The EiF Staff has grown and expanded since May 4, 2017, but that design goal has always been the same and the team always seeks to challenge themselves on just what is possible in the world of Star Wars Galaxies. While it would be a long read to list them all, some notable features that originated on EiF were feature improvements like additional player character races, combat balancing; brand new content in the form of unique PvP invasions, instances and world bosses, Jedi unlock system, and seasonal events; and weird adds like weapon holstering, holocomm, and skulking.

While the last year has been rather busy in real life for the staff, and as a result somewhat quiet for development, EiF is still committed to moving forward and providing our players with not only fun, but “the weird stuff”. In the near future, we will be finally unveiling the long awaited Mandalorian Enclave, which will open up new weapons, armor, and content for those interested in the path to become a Mandalorian. After that, we have plans to release a new instance – the “sequel” to the Plasma Mining Facility instance. Once those are out the door, focus will pivot primarily to Jump to Lightspeed. There are still a lot of technical issues to address before we will see JtL on EiF, but we’re committed to making it happen. We will also be replacing the server which EiF runs on – which should solve a lot of the lag and rubberbanding issues that have been plaguing gameplay. And in between all that, we’ll always find room for the weird stuff – smaller additions alongside other improvements. 

Thank you all for being part of this journey, and thank you for joining us for seven years of EiF. Here’s to many more!