TOR Radio is back with the latest and greatest SWToR podcasts from across the community. With the imminent release of Patch 3.0 a lot of podcasts are focusing on upcoming changes and various community news. It’s certainly encouraging to see new SWToR community podcasts launching like “HOPE cast” and “Beyond the Stars” listed below. 1. Bad feeling podcast – Episode 42 (Released: Nov.24,2014) : Even though the crew of the podcast took of this week due to Thanksgiving but still managed to publish a “best of” podcast. 2. Star Wars Beyond the Stars – Episode 12 (Released: Nov.15,2014) : This week the show hit a little snag in our editing process so the show is coming out pretty late in the week. “Beyond the stars” discussed quite a few interesting things in this week’s off topic rants. 3. Corellian Run Radio – Special Episode (Released: Nov.24,2014) : Join Jason and Heather as they share their…
Author: Editor
Did the Force Awakens trailer reveal its link with Star Wars Rebels?
Like all Star Wars fans we watched in amazement today the new teaser trailer for Star Wars the Force Awakens. The 88 second trailer offered a first glimpse on what J.J.Abrams has in store for the beloved franchise. Reading through the comments posted in various social media, it appears that the general reaction is very positive while the excitement is certainly very high. The trailer lit up twitter, reddit,facebook and many other social media the moment it was posted online. Dissecting the trailer one can find a lot of hints that were rumored to be true in the past but obviously there was no official confirmation. One that really got my attention however, was during the very first scene of the trailer. Spoilers below from Star Wars Rebels and the teaser trailer if you haven’t seen it. The trailer opens up with a view of a desert which one would assume that’s…
Cartel Market Black Friday deals are now live!
During a recent livestream Bioware’s Community manager Eric Musco, mentioned that in-game Cartel Market store will be receiving some discounted deals due to Black Friday. While originally there were rumors that these deals will change from hour to hour, it doesn’t seem to be the case with the offers listed below. Other than Eric’s mention during the official livestream, we haven’t heard anything else from Bioware so there could be more coming our way (Cyber Monday is just around the corner after all). Currently the following deals are offered through the in-game store: Hypercrate: Freelancer’s Bounty Pack – 5500 CC – 28% OFF Hypercrate: Enforcer’s Contraband Pack – 5500 – 20% OFF Hypercrate: Blockade Runner’s Cartel pack – 5500 – 25% OFF Hypercrate: Gatekeeper’s Stronghold Pack – 2520 – 50% OFF Black and Black Dye Module – 1500 CC – 25% OFF White and White Dye Module – 750 CC –…
Update (x2): Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer now available via iTunes / Youtube
We recently posted that November 28 will be the day that we get a first glimpse of the upcoming Star Wars movie via a teaser trailer. Starwars.com originally tweeted that the trailer would be available in US movie theaters, however, they also announced the following The Force is with you on #BlackFriday when #TheForceAwakens teaser hits@iTunesTrailers. — Star Wars (@starwars) November 26, 2014 So if you didn’t feel like heading to the movies or don’t live in the US, head to iTunes and get ready for tomorrow! SWToRstrategies.com will be posting updates as those become available. Update 2: The trailer is now available under this link or below via Youtube:
Happy Thanksgiving!
The staff of SWToRStrategies.com would like to offer a special Thanksgiving greeting to express to you our sincere appreciation for your continuous support and readership. We are deeply thankful and extend to you our best wishes for a happy and healthy Thanksgiving Day!
SWToR Stats: 1 million active players, 57 million characters created and that’s just the beginning!
Bioware published a very nice infographic today providing random stats about the game and to thank SWTOR fans for their support. SWToR’s anniversary is approaching fast and the Austin-based developer is definitely increasing its community presence with frequent releases about Shadow of Revan and hopefully more reflections about the three years of the game’s existence.
Patch 3.0 commendation conversion rates announced
Community manager Eric Musco posted today some additional information relating to how Patch 3.0 is going to affect commendations. In response to his post a number of different fansites have posted online commendation calculators where you can calculate how the changes are going to affect you. The changes in detail: Here goes everyone. Here is the information on the conversion rates around Basic Comms and what will happen when 3.0 launches. Just to reiterate for those unaware, here are the basic changes coming to Commendations: All PvE Commendations will become Basic Commendations in 3.0. The Commendation types “Classic” and “Planetary” are being removed from the game. The types “Elite” and “Ultimate” will remain but the current Comms you have will become Basic. Warzone and Ranked Warzone Commendations remain untouched. Here are the conversion rates for all Commendations. 2 Classic Commendations = 1 Basic Commendation 1 Basic Commendation = 1 Basic Commendation…
Meta Preview: SWToR Shadow of Revan
With the imminent release of Shadow of Revan, Bioware’s PR department is working overtime. A number of different fansites were invited to take a look at SWToR’s upcoming expansion and write their thoughts about it. In addition, EA’s “The Beat” column also devoted a complete article on the upcoming expansion, along with well-established gaming sites that published their reviews. Below you will find links to all the before-mentioned articles Electronic Arts: Dig Into SWToR Shadow of Revan Gamefront: Shadow of Revan Puts The Old Republic’s Focus Squarely on Story IGN.com : Revan is out for blood in SWToR’s new expansion MMOBomb.com : Darth Times Ahead – our SWToR: Shadow of Revan Preview MMORPG.com: Star Wars: The Old Republic Previews: Shadow of Revan – A Look at Flashpoints ShackNews: The Old Republic – Shadow of Revan preview: sins of the past Swtorista: Shadow of Revan Developer Q&A Swtorista: Shadow of Revan Press Event Coverage at EA…
Is SWToR canon or not?
One of the questions that has been asked multiple times since Disney announced the acquisition of Lucasfilm was whether SWToR should be treated as canon or not. Multiple attempts to get it answered, resulted in a number of vague replies. The most recent that we can remember was during Bioware’s Cantina tour in Seattle, where community manager Eric Musco told us that SWToR is Star Wars. Fortunately, Gamefront.com posed the same question to SWTOR Senior Producer Bruce MacLean and Executive Producer Jeff Hickmanand. The website managed to get a somewhat better answer than most of us have gotten so far. It appears that the relationship between EA and Disney’s Star Wars Story group is still in its infancy. It does sound though that Disney hasn’t made a firm decision on what SWToR/KOToR is. They certainly wouldn’t want to interrupt the amazing storytelling that Bioware has done so far while at the same time…
Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer to be released next Friday
After a couple of false reports over the weekend, StarWars.com announced today what was long rumored to be happening soon; Lucasfilm and Disney will be releasing an 88 second teaser trailer of the upcoming movie in 30 theaters across the US. The trailer will also be available to the rest of the world in December. You can view the full list of theaters below: AZ PHOENIX HARKINS TEMPE MARKETPLACE CA LOS ANGELES AMC CENTURY CITY CA LOS ANGELES Indep EL CAPITAN CA IRVINE REGAL SPECTRUM IRVINE 21 CA SAN FRANCISCO AMC METREON 16 CA SAN JOSE CINEMARK OAKRIDGE 20 CA SAN DIEGO REGAL MIRA MESA 18 CAN TORONTO CINEPLEX YOUNGE & DUNDAS CAN VANCOUVER CINEPLEX RIVERPORT CO DENVER AMC WESTMINSTER 24 DC WASH D.C AMC TYSONS CORNER 16 FL MIAMI CARMIKE PARISIAN 20 GA ATLANTA REGAL ATLANTIC STATION IL CHICAGO REGAL CITY NORTH MA BOSTON AMC BOSTON COMMONS 19 MI DETROIT…
Lego Star Wars: The New Yoda Chronicles “Clash of the Skywalkers” Preview
Disney continues the releases of new Star Wars content with a TV series titled LEGO Star Wars: The New Yoda Chronicles “Clash of the Skywalkers”. The 2 minute preview clip offers the usual dose of humor and action found in most Lego films as well as elements from the Star Wars universe. LEGO Star Wars: The New Yoda Chronicles “Clash of the Skywalkers” premieres Sunday, November 23, on Disney XD.
Rediscovering Boba Fett’s coolness in Star Wars Episode V
Boba Fett is one of the most talked about and beloved characters of the Star Wars universe. Since his appearance in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, he has fascinated fans with his persona and overall coolness factor. Youtube user “Cyborgcommando” recently discovered an additional element that adds to Boba’s mythos; an ‘easter egg” that was hiding in plain sight for many years and very few people have noticed.
Star Wars Rebels – a Hot New Cartoon to Sink Your Fangs into
Star Wars Rebels started out as a rather inconspicuous little cartoon anchored in the Star Wars universe of which few people expected much upon launch. Now 7 episodes old, the Series keeps delivering pleasant surprises week after week, and it is increasingly looking like we have something seriously entertaining on our hands in it. Its last Episode, titled “Empire Day”, introduced a concept the previous 6 episodes hadn’t dabbled in yet: that of a multi-episode storyline. While this will remind some Star Wars fans of The Clone Wars storylines, each of which unfolded over 3-4 episodes, a practice which grew quite irksome towards the end, in Rebels, this facet of storytelling will apparently not be abused. Empire Day was a wonderfully entertaining bit, not too long or short, and featuring just about enough action for one episode. The parade, no one really wanted to be at, organized to honor the…
More Episode VII Rumors/Spoilers Surface
Despite the secrecy surrounding the newest Star Wars movie currently in production, various details regarding its plot, title, character distribution and the props used in it, keep surfacing. At this pace, by the time the finished product actually hits the big screen, people will know the entire storyline and they’ll just show up to see how the director actually pulled things off. For one thing: Episode VII actually has a title now. It’s called “The Force Awakens” – a wonderfully Star Wars-y title indeed, which is a great throwback that manages to avoid being similar to past titles in the series. We kept hearing that Episode VII was going to be an extension of the original trilogy and its title really does come to confirm that. The announcement was made by Disney with surprisingly little fanfare, considering the high-profile nature of the project. In other Episode VII spoiler news: a…
10 hours of walking in New York as Princess Leia
If you’re following the news, then one of the stories that probably caught your eye is the video of a woman walking the streets of New York and getting harassed by random people. The video was well-made, got the point across and went viral pretty fast. It didn’t take long before the story was picked up by a number of different media outlets. At the same time, the before-mentioned effort also gave genesis to a number of different efforts with lighter context as compared to the original such as “10 hours of walking in NY as a Jets fan” and others. On top of that a Star Wars version recently surfaced titled “10 hours of walking in NY as Princess Leia” , showing what it’s like walking NY as Princess Leia.
Developer Blogs: Game Update 3.0 Class Changes: Shadow + Assassin
Bioware is continuing the release of Patch 3.0 information in their official website. This time around, their developer blog is focusing on Shadow and Assassin changes as part of the upcoming expansion. As always, they pointed out that the intent of developer blogs as they relate to advanced classes is not to capture every single change but to provide an overview. In specific: Force Potency is the most significant Jedi Consular change, that allows it to increase the critical chance of other channeled Force abilities like it already does for Telekinetic Throw. Forcequake, Cascading Debris, and Healing Trance (in addition to Telekinetic Throw) all now have their critical chance increased by Force Potency, and each use of these channels will consume one charge of Force Potency
Game update Patch Notes 2.10.3
Live Date: November 11, 2014 Highlights Bounty Contract Week Returns! Hunt wanted criminals in this returning event. The event begins November 11th at 4 AM PST/12:00 GMT and ends November 18th at 4 AM PST/12:00 GMT. General Guild Flagships will no longer vanish into the inky abyss of space, so players will no longer lose access to them. The Pending Mission Reward queue now has a cap of 3 Missions. Players are no longer able to accept Shared Missions when at the Pending Mission Reward cap. Players can no longer queue for Group Finder when they or one of their party members is at the Pending Mission Reward cap. Cartel Market Balanced Combatant’s Bracers no longer clip through the forearms on Male Body Type 3. Missions + NPCs Troopers on Belsavis now receive valuable experience for completing the Mission “Overwhelming Force.””
Rumor control: Bioware working on a separate Star Wars title featuring Chewbacca?
JunkieMonkeys.com posted a very interesting story about Bioware recently. As you might remember, Electronic Arts announced earlier this year that it had acquired the rights to developing Star Wars games. EA has also announced the developers working on these titles – Visceral (Developers of Dead Space series), DICE (developer of Battlefield series) and Bioware. While we have heard a lot about DICE’s efforts on Star Wars Battlefront, very little information has been released about Bioware’s separate title….until now. The good people of Junkiemonkey noticed the Craigslist ad posted below: We are a talent search team partnering with Bioware games and recruiting video game talent for new Star Wars game launching next year! We are inquiring for a Chewbacca growl and grunts for a small video game role. Offering $150 for 30 minutes of your time. Please call show contact info and leave your name, number and your best impersonation of Chewbacca. We will…
SWToR remains a challenge after Electronic Arts (EA) releases Quarterly report
Electronic Arts (EA) recently released their regular quarterly report that offered a glimpse on the performance of the mega-company. While overall, EA performed extremely well, a closer look of their released documentation revealed that SWToR didn’t contribute to the company’s overall performance. In specific: Net Revenue For the three months ended September 30, 2014 , net revenue was $990 million and increased $295 million , or 42 percent , as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2013 . This increase was driven by a $476 million increase in revenue primarily from the FIFA and Battlefield franchises, and Titanfall. This increase was partially offset by a $181 million decrease in revenue primarily from the SimCity, Crysis and Dead Space franchises, and Star Wars: The Old Republic . Service and Other Revenue For the three months ended September 30, 2014 , service and other revenue was $454 million , primarily…
Twitter reacts to Star Wars : The Force Awakens announcement
By now, you have probably already read that Star Wars Episode VII is now called “The Force Awakens”. The announcement was made recently by Lucasfilm and pretty much every official Star Wars media source (twitter, starwars,com, etc). What Lucasfilm people didn’t probably expect was the fan reaction as that was expressed through Twitter. Below you will find some of the most interesting tweets, shortly after the announcement was made: While the jokes continue on Twitter, most fans were obviously very excited by the announcement. Current rumors deal with an early release of a teaser trailer for the movie, but of course nothing has been confirmed yet. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. UPDATE – Even Mark Hamill tweeted his thoughts on the new title…
Amazon drops prepaid SWToR game card prices by almost 40%
If you’re still on the fence about subscribing to SWToR then now is your chance. Amazon is selling 60-day prepaid game cards for $18.82 vs. the regular $29.99. Subscribing to the game will ensure that you enjoy the full benefits of SWToR as well as making sure that you play the upcoming expansion when that gets released as a subscriber. It’s worth noting, that this offer is only available through the US Amazon website. Typically discounts like these occur in randomly selected time frames so grab your time cards them while they’re available.
Developer Blog: Vanguard and Powertech Changes for Patch 3.0
Bioware certainly didn’t waste time with their updates for Patch 3.0 after announcing the upcoming changes on Commandos and Mercenaries. Today in a new developer blog post, the Austin-based developer offered details on Vanguards and Powertechs. The changes are not as extensive as the classes covered in yesterday’s post but are definitely worth a closer look. Some highlights: Vanguards All Vanguards are getting two additional passive abilities – Blaster Impact and Blaster Augs No drastic changes to vanguard tanking other than the addition of a new ability called ion storm that sprays waves of ionizing energy in a 10-meter cone range Assault specialist is now called Plasmatech and has undergone significant changes Tactics discipline gains two additional abilities – Tactical Surge and Cell Burst Powertechs All Mercs get two additional passive abilities – Puncture and Prototype cylinders No drastic changes have been made to Powertech tanking, but there is a new…
Developer Blog: Trooper and Mercenary changes announced
With Patch 3.0 just around the corner, the flow of information from Bioware is increasing. This time around, through their developer blog, they announced the upcoming changes for Trooper and Mercenary classes. In specific: Changes announced are subject to change Mercenary and Trooper classes will receive the most dramatic changes as compared to all other classes as part of Patch 3.0 Resource costs for troopers/mercenaries have been adjusted – in some cases they have been decreased, while in some others have been increased. Both Trooper and Mercenary classes get additional passive abilities added
Star Wars Episode VII gets a title and more plot rumors emerge
The people behind the official Twitter account of Star Wars had a surprise for fans today; they announced that “The Force Awakens” is the title of Star Wars Episode VII. In addition, they revealed that the J.J.Abrams crew has finished principal photography. While the title doesn’t reveal much, a lot of websites are already speculating about the story behind Episode VII. – Possible Spoiler alert- According to Joblo.com : I’m told that in the back story for the film, Luke Skywalker does something amazing with the Force. He’s really powerful, more of “wizard than lightsaber wielding warrior.” Basically, Luke Skywalker has a “Force Unleashed” moment and realizes he might be bad for the universe. The aftermath of that event is difficult for Luke. Luke Skywalker has become the most powerful Jedi ever, but he doesn’t believe he’s the wisest. He doesn’t want to make the mistake his father made by thinking…