Author: Soeren Kamper

1.3.4 Patch Notes July 24, 2012

Servers are back up after some Scheduled Maintenance today. The most important fix must be the Warzone group frames bug.   Playing with friends became an exercise in someone counting down in vent, “Ok, click in 3…2…1…”. Another interesting “fix ” is this:  Soa’s orbs, lightning balls, and mind traps no longer grant social points. And this is what happens when you abuse a mechanic, people. 1.3.4 Patch Notes General Players can now use vehicles on Coruscant in the large areas of the Black Sun, Old Galactic Market, The Works, and the Jedi Temple districts. Classes and Combat > General All class “stun break” abilities now properly remove blind effects. For example, the blind effect caused by a Sorcerer’s Backlash skill can now be broken with each class’s “stun break” ability. Companion Characters > General Centurion Weaponmaster’s head gear no longer causes non-human companion heads to disappear. Crew Skills > General The crafting…

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SWTOR Community Q&A: July 23rd, 2012

Last Fridays Community Q&A were postponed and released yesterday. This time the BioWare devs answers questions about Campaign gear,class balance and other PVP issues. Chimerashot: The way Campaign gear is set up, some DPS classes have the Armoring with more Endurance instead of their main stat. Can we expect this to change /what was the reasoning behind this? David Hunt (Systems Designer): It’s an undesired interaction between the distribution of the mods and the move to set bonuses on the armoring. Future gear provides set mods will use the primary stat over Endurance for all DPS classes. Achyllis: Why don’t cool downs all reset on death in PvP? Austin Peckenpaugh (Senior Designer): Doing this would encourage a couple of things that, so far, we don’t necessarily want to encourage. When you take a position from another player or group of players in a Warzone, holding that position is harder when…

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TOR TV: My Sith is a Jerk 8 Correlia’s Reckoning

My apologies my lord, But I forgot all about this “show”. It most be months since we last posted any of  TheDrunkAndThePwned videos, but they are still funny as ever. Here is the latest video, and if you haven’t played the Sith inquisitor yet, you might come across some spoilers. Watching all his videos today, I’m starting to believe this one might be the best of all the “My Sith is a Jerk” videos. The crowd scene edit produced audible laughter.

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Scheduled Maintenance: July 24

As usual, BioWare will take down the servers for scheduled maintenance on this upcoming Tuesday July 24. The servers will be down from 2AM CDT to 6AM CDT, and when they come back up, players will have to download a patch. CourtneyWoodsHello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for four hours on Tuesday, July 24th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 6AM CDT (4AM PDT/7AM EDT/12PM BST/1PM CEST/9PM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended. This weekly maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download….

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Individual Server Forums Coming soon(tm)

With the reduction of servers, it seems inevitable that server forums is incomming. To day we got a confirmation from Allison Berryman who posted the following on the official forums:  Allison BerrymanIndividual server forums will be implemented later this summer once we have completed automatic transfers! So there you have it. A much sort after service is now coming to a galaxy far far away. Just a heads up though. If you can’t wait, you can use the subreddits already created for each server in Star Wars: The old republic

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TOR TV: Key Binding Guide For All Classes

Having trouble setting up your key binds? Have no fear, elpoetaenmiuq  is hear to help. This guys has made a great video guide on how to setup your abilites effectively. Keybinding things to keys on your keyboard instead of clicking them increases your ability to react to certain situations faster than manually moving your mouse to click on abilities. Some people don’t mind clicking and are faster that way others like myself it is easier to keybind your abilites.

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Patch notes: 1.3.3 7/17/2012

As always BioWare took this Tuesday to path the servers. Not much to report other then some server stabilityupdates, that hopefully will reduce the lag we have experienced lately. With the HK trailer released yesterday I was really hoping they might surprise us with a world event or even the quest chain for the HK companion, but ohh well. Check out the patch notes below: 1.3.3 Patch Notes 7/17/2012 General Implemented optimizations to improve overall server stability. During this maintenance, we are implementing new functionality that will be used later this summer to support automatic character transfers from remaining origin servers to designated destination servers. Classes and Combat Jedi Knight Sentinel Combat Opportune Attack: This skill now specifically affects Blade Storm, Slash, and Blade Rush. Please note that these changes are not reflected in the ability text. Sith Warrior Marauder Carnage Execute: This skill now specifically affects Force Scream, Vicious Slash, and Massacre….

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Community Q&A: 7/13/12

BioWare have a new Community Q&A for us, and this time it delves into deception Assassins, Operatives, and the new planet of Makeb. Lik elast week it’s pretty short but indeed a worth a read. Check it out below:  Posted by: Community Q&A: July 13th, 2012 Anzel: Credit Sinks appear to be one of the hot topics in the community right now. Are there any chances of severely lowering or possibly removing some of these at this early stage in the game? Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): Now that 1.3 has been out and legacy perks have been in the system for a while now, we will be looking at our credits sinks, particularly the perks, to see how they are performing. It is quite likely we will make some adjustments based on what we’ve learned. BobertCole: Could you elaborate please on what role you see deception Assassins playing? Are they close…

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KOTOR and other Star Wars games is on the The Steam Summer Sale

The steam summer sale is on, and as expected, the servers are crashing.   There are tons of great games on the list, but due to the nature of this blog, we will only list the Star Wars games. For a complete list of all games available, check out  Greg Voakes article over at Forbes. I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of dollars cried out in terror and were instantly spent. Star Wars Collection: $49.99 (-50% off) Star Wars Battlefront II Star Wars Jedi Knight Series Star Wars Republic Commando Star Wars Starfighter Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes Star Wars The Force Unleashed Series Star Wars: Dark Forces Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Star Wars: Empire at War: Gold Pack. Just a friendly heads up to people contemplating buying a game. If it is not one of the daily deals, do not buy it until the last day of the sale….

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Maintenance: Friday the 13th

BioWare is taken down the servers tomorrow for an unscheduled maintenance (hmmmm…) Am I  smelling a new event here? For the official announcement, head on over to the SWTOR forums. BioWareWe will be performing an unscheduled maintenance this Friday, July 13th, 2012. This maintenance is for restarting the servers to maintain and improve stability. After the maintenance, there will not be a new patch to download.On Friday, July 13th, 2012 we will be bringing down the game servers and SWTOR.com for a brief maintenance period for two hours from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 4AM CDT (2AM PDT/5AM EDT/10AM BST/11AM CEST/7PM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours, but could be extended.

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1.3.2 Patch Notes 7/10/2012

Servers are back up after this weeks maintenance, and BioWare have deployed a new patch. The best news of all is that the refer-a-friend mount is in and retrospective. On top of that, I’ve just picked it up on my lv10 Marauder who has the first rank of legacy vehicles (i.e. can ride a rank 1 speeder at lv10) and not only can he use the Kurtob Alliance, it actually gives him 110% speed. So, 40k credits for an epic speeder if you can convince your friends to subscribe! Also remember that the Play free to level 15 starts today. Patch notes below the new refer-a-friend mount screenshot. 1.3.2 Patch Notes 7/9/2012 General The new free trial allows anyone to create a Star Wars: The Old Republic account and play up to level 15 free of charge with no time limit. Classes and Combat General Stat bonuses derived from buffs that increase attributes and ratings are now…

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Georg Zoeller leaves BioWare

Georg Zoeller just updated his google+ about him departing BioWare It’s time to say goodbye…. Friday marked my last day in the office at BioWare. After almost a decade and spending almost quarter of our lives in Canada and the US, my wife and I have decided to take on an exciting new adventure on the other side of the world – Singapore. It’s been an honor to work on so many amazing games with so many talented people and good friends, you will be greatly missed. If you’ve circled me because of my involvement with SWTOR, please understand that I will not be providing any more information regarding the game from this point forward and uncircle appropriately. If you stay, don’t complain about getting hit with pictures from the other part of the world from time to time. To Adventure! I kinda guessed this was coming, Georg Zoeller was one…

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The Guild Sphere: Alpha Strike Force

It’s been a while since our last Guild feature, but I hope we can start it up again. Get in contact with us if you are interested in getting featured on our website. We have interviews all kinds of guilds in the pasts, big and small, so don’t hesitate to contact us. Today  Elrike the guildmaster of – Alpha Strike Force on the Jedi Covenant Server sat in the hot chair answering all our questions. Enjoy! Where did your guilds name come from? The guild was named Alpha Strike Force by our founder, ASF Zebra a retired NASA engineer and military veteran with tours of duty in Vietnam and Afghanistan. The selection of the name was influenced by his extensive military experience since an Alpha Strike Force represents an elite military unit. The name also fits well with the Star Wars mythos since Strike Force Alpha was an Imperial brigade during the Krantian Civil War.. Can you give me…

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The Old Republic is Coming to Comic-Con!

Yesterday Lisa wrote about Course of the Force, an Olympic torch style relay run with lightsabers, where participants will make a journey from Santa Monica to San Diego while benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The vent is leading up to San Diego Comic Con that starts later this week. BioWare is co sponsors of this event,. and will also be at Comic-Con, having a few events. Check out the press release below: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- San Diego Comic-Con, the single largest pop culture event in North America, is only a week away! With hundreds of thousands of passionate comic book, movie, and video game fans converging on the San Diego Convention Center, BioWare and LucasArts will be there to represent Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ in a big way! Throughout the four-day show, attendees will be able to come by the Star Wars: The Old Republic booth located inside the Star Wars™ Pavilion (booth #2913). Throughout…

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Comunity Q&A July 6th

This week’s Community Q&A is now live and the BioWare Devs discuss New Playable Species, story, Fixes to PVP, and some other stuff (Blizz buff incoming, Yay!). This is one of the shortest Q&A’s so far, but it is definitely still worth a read. Check out out: CelCawdro: If Cathar are successful, what kinds of species can we expect to see? May we see anything beyond the current selection of near-humans? What is the process behind selecting new species and gauging community interest? Daniel Erickson (Lead Game Designer): We’d like to open the selection of future species to the community as a whole with clear positives and negatives provided for each selection. That way we can go a bit further afield in our species selection. Lurtzello: Are the various stories ordered? Meaning, when does the storyline of each Republic planet takes place compared to the Imperial storyline and the storylines of the…

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Podcast Episode Two

The official podcast for Star Wars: The old republic is now live! This time the hosts Eric Musco and Brooks Guthrie interviews Jesse Sky, George Smith and William Wallace. about Flashpoints, Operations and other future content along with game update 1.3. Hte podcast also includes discussion on future content coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic, such as upcoming Nightmare Mode for Explosive Conflict and the future Operation Terror from Beyond You can listen to the full 25 min podcast here, along with the full transcript of the discussion.  Posted by: Eric Musco Hello everyone! My name is Eric Musco and I, along with Brooks Guthrie are happy to bring you episode two of the official Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ podcast, “Nightmare Mode”. You can listen by using the embedded player, by downloading and listening on your preferred MP3 player, by subscribing and listening on iTunes or check it out on…

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Get off the dead servers and have a cookie!

BioWare just announced that they will be giving away goodies to people who transfers to the new destination servers ( super servers) by July 30, 2012 at 11:59 PM CDT. “”hundreds of thousands of players have already taken advantage” of this service, so if you feel lik,e you are alone in the world, get your finger out, and do the transfer now! All characters that transfers to a qualifying server (including all destination servers), get’s a Gannifari pet as well as 25 Black Hole Commendations that you can use to to buy high-end gear, so what are you waiting for? You can find a full listing as well as further promotional details on the official SWTOR website, or read our  enormes copy paste from the official website below: ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Earn Rewards for Free Character Transfers The response to the Free Character Transfer Service so far has been fantastic. Hundreds of thousands of players have already…

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Happy 4th July

Wishing all our Readers and friends in the USA a very happy and safe July 4th.. Here is a bunch of E-cards from StarWars.com and the video below is the Mustafar Squad of Alpine Garrison from the 501st Legion of Imperial Stormtroopers, with a selection of Idaho Members of the Rebel Legion, in the 2005 4th of July Parade in Idaho Falls Idaho.

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How to call BioWare customer service for free

At some point you might need to get in contact with the BioWare customer service. You might have forgotten you security answer ( like me) or something ells. If you don’t want to call the customer service in the states or in Ireland becourse it might cost you some money, here is a trick. You can use skype without buying credits and call any toll free number, and that includes swtor’s CS. All you have to do is add a contact and type the number in the phone number area Here are the numbers if you need them: USA, Canada: 1-855-GO-SWTOR (1-855-467-9867) UK, Germany, France: 00800 0246 9273 (008000 BIOWARE) Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore: +800 0246 9273 (+8000 BIOWARE) For calls originating from countries not listed above, please call the following number: +442035642555 * using a landline or mobile phone, or 1-855-GO-SWTOR (1-855-467-9867) using your VoIP service (such as…

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BioWare teasing “exclusive new item” on Facebook.

BioWare have updated the official facebook page with a new image; hinting new cool stuff comming to SWTOR. Can you guess what the image is? Here’s a hint! It’s coming to Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ soon! Stay tuned for more details on how to get one of your very own. What do you guys think it is? An event?,  are we finally getting pod racing? is it the speeder you get from the “refer a friend” program or something ells? What do you guys think?

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1.3.1 patch notes – 7/3/2012

Servers are back up after this weeks maintenance. Many people speculated about a 4th of July event, but looking through the patch notes, it’s not the case. If you take in mind that 4th of July only is relevant in the states, it isn’t that hard to understand why they choose another date for next event. Below are the patch notes: Group Finder The Group Finder no longer displays multiple “Travel Now” dialogs when the group searches for a replacement while a player has the “Travel Now” dialog open already. Categories that player has not queued for no longer appear in the “Queued For:” tooltip. The Group Finder button is no longer visible when a player logs out of a higher-level character and back in to a character that is lower than level 10 (and therefore unable to use the Group Finder). A confirmation dialog now informs players that they…

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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Collection Coming This Summer

LucasArts is about to re-release the KOTOR series to stores. GameStop and Amazon have listed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Collection as a bundle pack for the two single-player role-playing games. It’s only weeks from release, too. The compilation has appeared on GameStop’s internal system and is listed as a PC exclusive carrying a $20 price tag. The first game in the series (developed by BioWare) was released to critical acclaim in July 2003 for Xbox, and later for PC. KOTOR came to Mac via Steam just a few months ago. Obsidian developed the game’s sequel, which launched on Xbox in December 2004. They are both excellent games, that I recoment you try out, if you haven’t played them yet. After all, they are the prequels to Star Wars: The old republic. If you can’t wait until the games are re-realeased, you can check out the first part…

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