In the expansive universe of Star Wars, the theme of duality often takes center stage, exploring the balance between light and dark, good and evil. This is no more evident than in the captivating stories of two sets of twins: Mae and Osha from the upcoming series “The Acolyte,” and Arcann and Thexan from the game “Star Wars: The Old Republic.” Each pair brings a unique narrative filled with conflict, growth, and the constant struggle for identity and purpose. But how do these twin duos compare, and what makes their stories so compelling? The Acolyte: Mae and Osha The Setting and Premise “The Acolyte” is set during the High Republic era, a time of relative peace and prosperity in the galaxy, yet shadows lurk on the horizon. This series delves into the darker aspects of the Force, focusing on the rise of the Sith and the intricate balance between light…
Fallen Empire
SWTOR Knights of the Fallen Empire — ‘The GEMINI Deception’ Teaser
BioWare just leased the teaser for the next chapter, in Star Wars: The old republic Knights of the Fallen Empire. This one is named “GEMINI Deception” Check it out below: Lead the assault against Arcann’s fleet in ‘The GEMINI Deception,’ coming June 30th in the episodic story, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – Knights of the Fallen Empire. Prepare to embark on a dangerous mission to land a fatal blow against the Eternal Empire! Alongside the mysterious and deadly Droid SCORPIO, the Outlander’s team must infiltrate a Zakuulan warship and face Arcann’s formidable force of elite soldiers. When the mission goes awry, the Outlander must find a way out of a deadly trap – only to be faced with the ultimate betrayal. Knights of the Fallen Empire — including ‘The GEMINI Deception’ — is free to all Subscribers, and new players can jump right into the story with a new…
SWTOR Knights of the Fallen Empire – ‘Hero’s Saga’ Trailer
BioWare just released a new trailer for the upcoming chapter of Knights of the Fallen Empire. Check it out below: Momentum is building as the Outlander and his Alliance move closer to the ultimate confrontation in Star Wars™: The Old Republic – Knights of the Fallen Empire. The episodic adventure enters its final Chapters beginning this month. Be a part of the epic finale by activating your Chapter 1 Free* Trial and binging the story so far! The tide of battle is turning against the despotic Eternal Empire, and you alone must rally the galaxy’s greatest heroes and lead the final assault against Arcann’s forces. Join the fight today — activate your Free Trial by May 30 to gain a free Level 60 Character and instant access to Chapter 1: The Hunt! Assemble your army, fight alongside hand-picked allies, and watch your choices shape the fate of the galaxy! Plus, join us…
SWTOR Chapter 12 “Visions in the Dark Teaser”
Bioware released a new the teaser video for Chapter 12 a few days ago. This chapter is named Visions in the Dark, and is available from April 5, 2016 with early access. Face your Star Wars™ destiny and the immortal Emperor Valkorion in ‘Visions in the Dark,’ coming April 7th in the episodic story, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™- Knights of the Fallen Empire. Prepare for your most intense confrontation yet as your Alliance risks everything to strike a mortal blow against the Eternal Empire. As the Outlander, unravel dangerous truths that bind you to your dark enemy and get ready to wield a powerful new weapon inspired by some of the greatest Force™ users in the galaxy. Will you rise to overcome your fate and shatter Arcann’s forces? Knights of the Fallen Empire, including ‘Visions in the Dark’ is free to all Subscribers and new players can jump right…
Does Episodic Content Belong in an MMORPG?
So Den of Geek asks an interesting question in a recent post on their site: Does Episodic Content Belong in an MMORPG? If you’ve played a lot of games, one thing you will know to be true is that episodic content is not a new concept. There are many games across many genres that use this. Basically it’s chapter-based content that is staggered throughout the game and while it’s been around a long time, it’s gaining in popularity today due to certain hit games like Telltale’s The Walking Dead (a favorite of mine) and Life is Strange. But Den of Geek looks at a genre of gaming that has not seen a a lot of episodic content – the MMORPG. So it definitely makes a lot of sense for certain types of games. The story-driven content will keep players coming back for more and waiting to see what happens next. But does it make sense…
How BioWare Makes Use of Livestreamers for SWTOR
You might remember when BioWare was promoting KotFE that they brought in several well known live streamers and live video people to help promote the new expansion. They had YouTube content creators as well as popular Twitch streamers talk about SWTOR to their own fanbase. They also seemed to talk to outside streamers from other games about trying SWTOR and also introducing it to their audiences. It’s not a bad strategy, honestly. It’s something that most companies will do in a time like this but some will say it failed for BioWare in this scenario. It doesn’t look like it paid off how BioWare would have hoped because they aren’t using that tactic anymore. It’s common practice for companies to experiment with different marketing tactics to see what works and this wasn’t a bad idea in theory. I work in marketing and I know the power behind brand ambassadors and…
SWTOR Chapter 11 Disavowed Teaser Video
BioWare just released a teaser video for the upcoming chapter 11 in Star Wars: The old republic, named Disavowed- The next chapter goes live on march 8 for subscribers. Check it out: Join forces with Major Jorgan and the elite solders of Havoc Squad to destroy the Eternal Empire in Disavowed, the next chapter coming in the episodic story of STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ – Knights of the Fallen Empire! In Chapter 11: Disavowed, Jorgan joins your Alliance in a deadly mission deep behind enemy lines. It’s up to you as the Outlander to determine how far to allow Jorgan and his soldiers to go in the war against the Eternal Empire. Knights of the Fallen Empire, including Disavowed, is free to all Subscribers and new players can jump right into the story with a new Level 60 character. Plus, Subscribers are rewarded every month with unique gear, weapons, and…
TOR TV: Knights of the Fallen Empire Fan Trailer
Here’s another entry for the Build Your Alliance contest by BioWare and Nvidia that we really love. This is a fan trailer for Knights of the Fallen Empire and is just a little over 2 minutes long. If you haven’t seen it yet, we’ve embedded it below and it’s well worth the time. The attention to detail, the story element, all of the fine details are present in this one. It has the immersion element that gamers love and makes you feel like you want to jump in and start playing like NOW. It appeals to Star Wars fans who love being the hero and it pulls you in with your emotions as well as the intrigue. I’ve been looking at tons of these since the contest began but this one definitely stands out among the majority. It’s very well done, nearly professional-level quality. “A recreation of the Force Awakens…
January SWTOR Story Livestream Notes
BioWare posted a video yesterday featuring Charles Boyd and Alexander Freed. The video go over the story in Knight of the fallen empire, and upcoming content we can expect with chapter 10. KoTFE Recap Storytelling in games has the unique of challenging of having players able to see and know the villain without placing players in the same room as them as they would be dispatched quickly by the player.You need to get the villains upclose to the players to be a significant presence in their life. It would be hard to imagine Star Wars Ep4 told from only Luke’s perspective. Vader would just be a random Tie Fighter pilot. Vaylin is an unpredictable villain. She is difficult to pin down, you never know what she is going to do next. You got lots of serious figures like Arcann being very stoic. So seeing her and Arcann act entirely different…
SWTOR Knights of the Fallen Empire – Anarchy in Paradise Teaser “Firebrand”
BioWare just released the first teaser, for the next chapter of Star Wars: The old Republic – Knights of the fallen empire. This chapter is called “Anarchy in Paradise”, the content expansion will introduce a new ally named Firebrand as well as a new story arc involving her with the express mission to destroy the Eternal Empire. The next chapter will launch on February 11th. Introducing a new ally, an infamous mercenary known as Firebrand, with a grudge against the Eternal Throne, in Knights of the Fallen Empire – Anarchy in Paradise. Get a first look at an infamous mercenary known as Firebrand and the secret plan she is putting in motion to destroy Zakuul and the Eternal Throne in the upcoming new chapter for STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ Knights of the Fallen Empire – Anarchy in Paradise! Anarchy in Paradise will be released February 11, 2016, and is the…
SWTOR KotFE Chapter 1 free trial for former subs
The first chapter of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Knights of the Fallen Empire, is now for a limited time only, available as trial for former subscribers. This will go on until January 4, so here is your chance to heck out the new expansion, if you haven’t already done so. LIMITED-TIME FREE TRIAL* FORMER SUBSCRIBERS – YOU’RE INVITED! OFFER ENDS JANUARY 4, 2016 (VALID FOR FORMER SUBSCRIBERS WHO OPT IN TO RECEIVING EMAIL) Step into your own Star Wars™ story in Chapter 1, “The Hunt” – ON US! Create your new Level 60 character now and jump right in! Experience a return to BioWare-style storytelling. Confront a powerful new enemy, The Eternal Emperor. Make choices that matter and recruit Companions into your Alliance. Subscribe at any time to continue your saga – Knights of the Fallen Empire is free for Subscribers!
KOTFE Level 60 character creation is (Still) bugged
Level 60 character creation is still bugged, so Tait Watson posted an updated on the official forums regarding refunds on the Level 60 tokens. KOTFE Level 60 character creation is bugged | 11.13.2015, 11:38 AM Hey everyone! Over the past few days we’ve seen a marked increase in the number of players submitting Start@60 tickets related to getting their tokens returned, including a number of people who deleted level 61-65 characters expecting to get a token back. So, to reiterate what Eric explained, but also to try and clarify what to expect, here’s a list of things to consider: If you are subscribed using a 7-day Referral, you are not eligible for KotFE, nor do you receive a Start@60 token. If you convert to a full subscription, KotFE, 2 additional character slots and a Start@60 token will then be granted to your account. If you use the token and level…
SWTOR Dev Story Roundtable – Valkorion, Family Ties, Star Wars Influences and More
Bioware recently held another roundtable and swtorista was there to cover the event in full detail. She explains the event here: I was invited to attend a press and influencers roundtable online with members of the Bioware team. After a presentation about the Star Fortresses (content available after you finish the Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion storyline) they allowed us to ask non-spoiler questions. The team answering included: Charles Boyd, Lead Writer Michael Ammer, Senior Designer Eric Musco, Community Manager And then goes on to tell us about some really awesome stuff from the roundtable. We learn more about Valkorion, Vaylin, Arcann and Thexan who were introduced to us in the trailer for KotFE. You can really feel the passion from the devs as they describe, ” It kind of just gets at what the heart of Star Wars is – it’s all family drama, and families struggling against each…
SWTOR Subscribers up 33% Since Fallen Empire Announcement
The Electronic Arts Reports Q2 FY16 Financial Results were recently released and gave us some important insight to how SWTOR is responding to the Fallen Empire announcement. In fact, it says that subs are up 33% since. Let’s take a quick look at the overview. From the highlights: Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ subscribers increased 33% since the announcement of the latest expansion at E3, Knights of the Fallen Empire. Over 9.5 million players joined the Star Wars™ Battlefront™ open beta, the largest beta in EA’s history. The game will launch worldwide starting November 17, 2015. Other selected financial highlights: For the quarter, non-GAAP net revenue of $1.146 billion was above guidance of $1.075 billion. Diluted non-GAAP EPS of $0.65 was above guidance of $0.40. Non-GAAP net revenue for EA’s FIFA, Madden NFL and Hockey Ultimate Team™ live services continue to perform well, collectively up 64% year-over-year. EA repurchased 1.8 million…
SWTOR Instant Level 60 Tokens now working
Eric Musco just informed the SWTOR community, that issues with Instant level 60 tokens have been resolved, and they will be back at the cartel market shortly. Hey folks, The issues that many of you were experiencing when making a start at 60 character should now be resolved. We will be restoring the start at 60 token to the Cartel Market shortly. There are multiple different scenarios that your character and start at 60 tokens could be in, I want to cover each of them and what it means for you. I made a start at 60 character, but instead it created a level 1 character and put me on the fleet. I then deleted that character, but my start at 60 token was not restored. You should now see your tokens restored to you when you are at Character select. You can create a level 60 normally now. I…
Thoughts on SWTOR Elder Game Crafting
In the final days before KotFE was released, a series of developer posts were published telling us many of the new things we would experience in the game. Of these, we also saw the Crafting Changes in Fallen Empire developer blog that we previously shared with you. In that, we had an announcement on the Elder Game Crafting along with some basic info about what this would be. SWTOR Economics has taken this section and broken it down more for additional analysis, given us as much information as really anyone has at that point. Andrew talks about reverse engineering, crafting gear, what impact this gear will have on stats, how new material is acquired and more. It’s a good summary of what we know so far with some speculation on how this will affect the game and economics of SWTOR. See here: There is a lot of missing information that will…
Knights of the Fallen Empire Feels More Like A Classic BioWare RPG, and that’s a good thing!
The new 4.0 for Star Wars: The Old Republic has changed everything, while a fresh expansion to one of the craziest multiplayer games is changing things too. Last year, a writer at kotaku asked developers that were working on the game, what their plans for the future were. What they told him is a phrase that they told him was “a return to BioWare cinematic storytelling.” However, he didn’t believe them at all, but they actually did what they said they were going to do. BioWare was responsible for last year’s expansion, Shadow of Revan, and it gave many people no hope for the games future. The expansion was really just an odd mashup of BioWare RPG and massive multiplayer online game tropes, with much lower production values. The writer from kotaku recently started playing Knights of the Fallen Empire, and it officially came out for all Star Wars subscribers…
Cartel Market and You: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Category Packs
BioWare designer Toby McCall have started a forum topic to answer any questions and clear up any confusion surrounding the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Category Packs in Fallen Empire. You can jump into the discussion here, or read it below: I’m Toby McCall, a designer on Star Wars: The Old Republic and a member of the Cartel Market Design Team. I’ve asked community to set up this thread so we can discuss the changes that the 4.0 expansion brings to the Cartel Market. My hope for this post is to create a place where we can answer some of your questions and clear up any confusion surrounding the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Category Packs in Fallen Empire. We would like to focus this thread specifically around the new Armor, Mount, Decoration, and other Category packs (Crystals, Dyes, Weapons, etc), all of which have been packaged into Bronze, Silver, and Gold varieties….
Knights of the Fallen Empire “Face Your Destiny” Launch Trailer
Star Wars: Battlefront isn’t the only game with a new trailer today. BioWare also has a release trailer for Knights of the fallen Empire, titled “Face your Destiny”. It is an all ingame trailer, but pretty awesome still. Only thing I don’t understand is, why they did a whole trailer without mentioning the fact that we are becoming the OUTLANDER? Pretty big selling point of the game if you ask me. Knights of the Fallen Empire is a, “return to a deeper, more personal experience that delivers on the hallmarks of BioWare-style storytelling,” according to the developers. Players create their own adventure to new planets in the outer rim of the galaxy, meet companions and recruit them as allies, make choices that have the power to change destiny, and determine the fate of the galaxy. The expansion includes the first nine chapters of an evolving player-driven storyline, with new chapters…
Knights of the Fallen Empire Review
We’re all excited for Knights of the Fallen Empire and with the release date so close, we’re also anxious to see what early reviewers have to say about the expansion. Fraser Brown from PCGamesN had some interesting things to say about the expansion, including that it feels like a single-player game hiding in an MMO. This is technically something that has been said about SWTOR before but let’s go ahead and delve deeper into this KotFE review. “Knights of the Fallen Empire, then, is a potential course correction, steering the game toward that old pre-launch promise. It’s a mostly single-player expansion, focusing on the adventures of the Outlander, once the hero of the Galactic War, now the one obstacle in the way of the Eternal Empire’s dominance. It’s a “quintessential Star Wars story,” lead writer Charles Boyd tells me as he walks me through an early key decision in the…
Introducing the Alliance System in SWTOR
BioWaer Designer Matt Pucevich posted a detailed blog on the alliance system within Star Wars: The old Republic, Knights of the fallen Empire. Check it out: 10.20.2015 Introducing the Alliance System Be it the cheeky Astromech Droid, the stalwart Wookiee partner-in-crime, the ambitious upstart apprentice that is yours alone to mold, or any of the other 40-odd characters found in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ to-date; we all know and love our Companions (especially the chronically under-appreciated ship droids!). Companion characters have always been a big part of our personal stories, and with the upcoming release of the new Digital Expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire, comes an even deeper focus on characters and storytelling. For this reason it only makes sense that we would seek to include our beloved friends (especially the ship droids!!) in that experience. Knights of the Fallen Empire has given us an excellent opportunity to take stock of…
Game Update 4.0: Knights of the Fallen Empire Early Access Patch notes
Here are the patch notes for to days game update 4.0 Knights of the Fallen Empire: Game Update 4.0: Knights of the Fallen Empire Early Access Knights of the Fallen Empire* *Knights of the Fallen Empire content is only available to players who are eligible for the four Knights of the Fallen Empire subscriber rewards by having been a subscriber on August 10th, August 31st, September 30th, and October 19th, 2015. All other subscribers will be able to access the content on October 27th, 2015. All classes can now reach Level 65! New Ongoing Storyline! Knights of the Fallen Empire begins an epic, new storyline at level 60, with nine, action-packed Chapters. Regular Chapter releases continue the story starting in Early 2016. (Subscription Required) Start at Level 60! Jump right into the action of Knights of the Fallen Empire with the option to begin the game at level 60! (Subscription…
Fallen Empire Conversion Rate Info
Lot’s of consumables and crafting materials will be converted with tomorrows expansion, Star Was: The Old Republic – Knights of the fallen empire. Here is the rundown: Get Converted! (Fallen Empire Conversion Rate Info) | 10.19.2015, 02:36 PM Hey folks! Here is some information on the conversion rates of items and crafting materials that are being changed. Before I jump into the giant list, here are some other notes: All Droid gear will be changed to a “Valuable Droid Part” which you can sell to vendors for credits. All old Operation Gear tokens will be changed into a lockbox which contains Glowing Data Crystals. The following list contains the conversions for consumable items which are no longer craftable: Battle Reflex Stim <1:1> Premium Battle Versatile Stim Field Tech Reflex Stim <1:1> Premium Battle Versatile Stim Bio-Enhanced Reflex Stim <1:1> Premium Field Tech Versatile Stim Experimental Reflex Stim <1:1> Premium Bio-Enhanced…
SWTOR 4.0 Maintenance on October 20
All SWTOR servers will be going down on Tuesday October 20 from 2:30 am to 8am PDT for early access for Fallen Empire expansion. Here are the details: Maintenance: October 20th, 2015 | 10.16.2015, 02:21 PM Hey everyone! All servers and SWTOR.com will be unavailable on Tuesday, October 20th as we deploy Game Update 4.0: Knights of the Fallen Empire Early Access! Date: Tuesday, October 20th, 2015 Time: 2:30AM – 8AM PDT (1030AM – 4PM BST) Version: 4.0.0 Patch Notes will be available on Monday, October 19th. Thanks! -Tait GTN Cancellation Note | 10.16.2015, 02:28 PM Hey folks, Quick heads up, on Tuesday when we have our maintenance to deploy 4.0 and Early Access of Fallen Empire, all active GTN sales will be cancelled. This will be treated like any other cancellation and the item/deposit will be mailed to you. We wanted to make sure you were aware of this so…