Early access to Star Wars: The old Republic – Galactic Starfighter is on, and the space battle have begun. With the new patch, comes a new developer blog post, and a short Starfighter Customization Trailer. The blog post is made by Senior Producer Blaine Christine and is pretty much just a welcome message. Below is a copy/paste of the blog post for you who can’t acces swtor.com from work. Also remember to check out the video in the bottom of this post: Welcome to Galactic Starfighter Subscriber Early Access 12.03.2013 Hello, Starfighters! It is with great pleasure that we swing open the doors to our second Digital Expansion of 2013. This one has been a long time coming and we are incredibly proud of the experience we have in store for you. What is it? Galactic Starfighter is a 12v12 PvP free flight space shooter. At its core, it is all…
Expansion
Patch Notes – Game Update 2.5: Galactic Starfighter Early Access
Patch notes for Galactic Starfighter is up! No nerfs, buffs or balance changes at all to any of the GSF ships. So all stats that were on the PTS last weekend are moving forward with launch. I like this because I felt GSF was pretty balanced. I can’t wait to climb into my cockpit again! Also: The Black Market and Crime Lord’s Cartel Packs are back in the Cartel Market for only two weeks, they will be once again embargoed on December 17th. Time to get my Revan Mask! See you all in space! Galactic Starfighter Early Access Game Update 2.5: Galactic Starfighter Early Access Highlights Galactic Starfighter Subscriber Early Access is here! Starting today, all subscribers have early access to 12 vs 12, free flight, player vs player dogfighting. Players from level 1-55 will be able to pilot their very own starship and customize it to match their playstyle. With…
Scheduled Maintenance: December 3rd, 2013 – Patch 2.5
We all knew this, but here is the official word of it. There will be a Scheduled Maintenance on December 3rd were game update 2.5 were Galactic Starfighter will be implemented. ServerDroid Scheduled Maintenance: December 3rd, 2013 | Today , 01:01 PM On December 3rd, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be unavailable as we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.5 will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday December 3rd, 2013 Duration: 7 hours Time: 1AM PST (9AM GMT) – 8AM PST (4PM GMT) During maintenance, all updates and additional information will be posted on our Twitter account. Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Time Zone Start Time Scheduled End Time UTC Offset HST Mon Dec 02, 2013 11:00 PM Tue Dec 03, 2013 06:00 AM -10 hours AKST Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:00 AM Tue Dec…
Developer Update: Scout Class Starfighter
Associate Designer, on Star Wars: The old Republic, Bret Hoffman posted a small developer update yesterday on Galactic Starfighter. In this he talks about his personal favorite type of ship, the Scout Class Starfighter. The Scout Class Starfighter comes in a few shapes and sizes and are not all the same. Read all about it over at the official swtor website, or read our copy paste below: Developer Update: Scout Class Starfighter 11.18.2013 Welcome Pilots. My name is Bret Hoffman. I am a Designer on the Galactic Starfighter™ digital expansion for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. I am here to discuss my personal favorite type of ship, the Scout Class Starfighter. The Scout’s sleek design and speedy gameplay harkens back to classic Star Wars™ ships like the A-Wing and TIE Interceptor. Scouts, as the fastest of all of the Galactic Starfighter crafts, are often the vanguard of any battle. Their light-weight hulls…
Galactic Starfighter Changes SWTOR PvP [Plus Domination Video]
12-vs-12 dogfights in space are coming in December. Are you ready? Now that sites are free to talk about and publish stories on the Galactic Starfighter content, we’re seeing more and more info release each day to help us prepare. This is how space battles should have been from the start if you ask me. Gamespot speaks about Galactic Starfighter in SWTOR: Considering the importance of space battles in the Star Wars universe, it was disappointing that ship combat was given such a cursory role in Star Wars: The Old Republic. After all, I can’t imagine A New Hope without the Battle of Yavin, which led to the destruction of the Death Star. (A useless gesture? I think not!) The Old Republic’s single-player on-rails battles looked the part, but they didn’t capture the essence of galactic warfare. With Galactic Starfighter, that’s set to change. And that’s just the beginning of the positive feedback…
SWTOR: Republic Ships Visual Customization and gunship class Preview (PTS)
Lightsaber from TheOldRepublic.Ru have yet again been fast, and recorded the Republic Ships Visual Customization for us. If you don’t have time to play around on the public test servers this weekend, you are really missing out. Below you can see the Republic Ships Visual Customization. It’s unknown if these can be unlocked to legacy, as BioWare haven’t given us any information on how the unlocks work yet. The Cartel Market is not available on the PTS, so we can’t try it to see. Note: Every ship on each faction has the same customization options.
SWTOR Galactic Starfighter is Almost Here – expansion previews
It’s here now- the Galactic Starfighter expansion! Well, it’s almost here. It’s still in beta but the NDA for beta testers lifted and now those who tested it are able to talk about it and tell us all what we can expect. With these hands-on reports from those who had early impressions, we can learn a little more about Galactic Starfighter and why it’s awesome. Massively talks about their hands-on experience with Galactic Starfighter: Combat in Galactic Starfighter boils down to match-based PvP within a set zone, but everything in that zone is as rail-less as combat gets. The 12v12 matches are set in one of two maps available at launch: the Lost Shipyards and the Kuat Mesas. The shipyards lie in space with large stations that can be captured for points as well as in detailed space terrain full of debris and various sizes of ship-crushing asteroids. By contrast,…
Galactic Starfighter – Your Questions Answered
NDA officially lifted at noon EST, so we won’t get in trouble for posting this Qand A from the beta forums. This is a great read about the upcoming expansion and will answer most of the questions the community have been asking for the last month. all credits goes to Ludwig Vancove from the Army of light guild Check it out: STAR WARS: The Old Republic – Galactic Starfighter Does Galactic Starfighter (GS) provide Joystick support? At the initial launch of GS, there will be no Joystick support. The purpose of this is simply time vs useability. Bioware wants to offer GS in a way that all MMO players can engage in the content. There has been debate by other testers on rather or not the use of Joystick controls in space may offer a benefit to the gameplay, therefor almost making it required to purchase and use on to be…
New Starship Pet from Amazon Cartel Coin Cards
As of today, there is now a new pet being issued with you buy Cartel Coin Cards. It’s confirmed with Amazon card purchases to US customers and some players are reporting the same thing from Best Buy cards but I have not tested this yet. 11/12/2013 UPDATE: The SWTOR Cartel Coins bundle now features an Imperial Scout “S-12 Blackbolt Starship mini-ship. All redemptions on SWTOR.com made after 11/12/2013 at 10AM PST will get the new mini-ship rather than the old pet. You can see this yourself at Amazon: 11/12/2013 Important Note: SWTOR Cartel Coins bundle now features an Amazon exclusive Imperial Scout “S-12 Blackbolt Starship mini-ship. KEY INFORMATION: The Amazon 2400 Cartel Coins Card comes with a unique rotating in-game item. Key Redemptions after 11/12/2013 receive an Amazon exclusive in-game mini-ship, Imperial Scout “S-12 Blackbolt Starship To activate your 2400 Cartel Coins Card, follow these instructions: Go to www.swtor.com/redeem-code and follow the…
How New Players Get into Galactic Starfighter
The official announcement has come for the new space game, Galactic Starfighter, and players are asking a lot of questions about how it will work. For example, people are wondering how you will get into the new space game. How will it be integrated into the current game system and how will it affect players are just joining SWTOR or who are just playing the trial. It looks like it will be something like the vehicle-based F2P shooters out there today that are so popular. And on that note, how will BioWare keep the shooter fans from joining SWTOR just to try out the Galactic Starfighter? And do they want to keep these players out? Perhaps they are looking at it as one more way to bring new player demographics in? There is already a system in place that means new players don’t have to download the entire game client…
No space PvE in the forseeable future
An interesting debate was started on the official forums the other day. Some players was still hoping the new expansion coming to Star Wars: The old republic titled Galactic Starfighter ( in case you didn’t know), would have a PVE element to it. But according to an announcement that was made by the Unnamed SWTOR Podcast, who had spoken to BioWare’s Damion Schubert, Andrew Horwitz, and Eric Musco at a recent Community Cantina event that not going to happen. I asked him about the possibility that the current, that Galactic Starfighter was designed with PvE in mind. He said no, it was not. That is far far far far far down on the wall of crazy, is PvE Starfighter. He said the biggest problems would be with scripting and 3D AI; things that they dont have in the game they would basically have to write fresh. The good thing about PvE is…
New SWTOR dev blog talks about Galactic Starfighter (Sorta)
BioWare have posted a new new Star Wars: The Old Republic dev diary on the official website. This time it’s about the the recently announced Galactic Starfighter expansion. Lead designer Michael Backus is the blog author, and he writes the first of what surely is going to be many posts about the background and development of Galactic Starfighter. This first blog on the subject doesn’t contain much in the way of gameplay info, but hopefully we get to read much more about this in the future. Check it out over at the official website, or read it here below: Galactic Starfighter Development, Introduction: Part I 10.18.2013 Introduction Greetings Starfighters, Let me welcome you to what will be the first of many Developer Diaries delving into the background and development of Galactic Starfighter™ and its place within the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ experience. Before I get into the details of…
Community Cantina: San Francisco, November 13th
If you are in San Francisco, on November 13th, be sure to stop by the EA San Francisco Offices (211 Redwood Shores Parkway Building C. Redwood Shores, CA 94065), for some good times. BioWare will be holding one of their famous Community Cantina, were food, drinks and good fun is assured… Oh.. and you also get freaking hands-on time with Galactic Starfighter! Since I live in Denmark, and Lisa is from Austine, we wont be there (unless some miracle happens), but let us know if you are. And let us know all the juicy details! Check out the announcement below: We’re happy to announce that the next stop in the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Community Cantina Tour will be happening on Wednesday, November 13th, in San Francisco! This is your chance to join the Star Wars™: The Old Republic community for a development team Q&A as well as complimentary drinks*, food, and…
New York Community Cantina infomation
BioWare had a Community Cantina gathering in New York last night, were new game information was released. As always attendance was gifted with a flash drive containing images of upcoming stuff. Items of interest includes a new zaldrate mount and new customization kits for Blizz. The nights discussions also had some items of interest: They want to add better tools to help guildmasters master guilds. Increasing inventory would have an impact on loading time, which is already not all that fast. I asked about new level caps in the future and was told this was a “top secret” question. Adding chapters to class stories involves much expensive logistics, not just writing and coding; they have to bring back the vocal talent, do translations, etc. Adding a new character class is very unlikely. New abilities would have to be designed, a new 50-level character path would have to be written and produced…
PSA: Eric Musco confirms that the new Starfighter Expansion has its own Leveling Track.
Eric Musco made an interesting comment on the official forums regarding the new SWTOR Expansion – “Galactic Starfighter” Originally Posted by Elminster_cs Can you explain what: “Maximum leveling and progression” does it mean? We will able to level this ships? Although I cannot go into specifics yet, what I can say is that there is a system of leveling and progression for Galactic Starfighter itself, and just like the rest of SWTOR, subscribers will get a bonus to that progression. That is really great to know. The “maximum leveling/progression” thing could easily be interpreted as gating off certain levels to subscribers, which would have ventured into “pay to win” territory. Very glad to know it is just slower progression, like normal. Can’t wait to get to play. Also from the official terms and conditions: Starfighter Passes, which offer Preferred Status Players and Free-to-Play Players faster leveling and progression speed, will be…
Bioware sending out e-mails for beta testing
Some lucky players are reporting that they have received an email from BioWare regarding Beta testing. It not known what they are supposed to beta test yet, but giving the recent announcement of Star Wars: The old republic upcoming expansion Galactic Starfighter, it’s obvious what players are going to test. So guys, check out your mail box, and let us know if you got a mail like this: Hello, We wanted to let you know that the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ team is looking to recruit testers for an upcoming release and we have identified you as a candidate for possibly helping us in this effort. To participate in this testing program, at a minimum, you must be at least 18-years of age, have played SWTOR for 6-months or more, and have an active subscription for SWTOR. Participation in this program will also require you to sign a Beta…
New digital expansion “Galactic Starfighter”
BioWare have just released information of the next digital expansion for Star Wars: The old Republic. Here is the cool thing. It’s Free! Together with this exciting news, BioWare released a new trailer named “Conflict Rising”, that shows space battles with 12v12 dogfights. The star fighters were always my favorite part of Star Wars Galaxies, so I really am looking forward to this! I have to say that is a Great job by BioWare. Keep the pvp rolling in and it’ll continue to build a lasting appeal for SWTOR. Here’s to hoping for robust joystick support, dogfighting like planetside 2 (more skill based) and a ranked ladder. Check out the original article here, or read our Copy paste below. Below the article you can see the new trailer TAKE YOUR BATTLE TO SPACE! Experience epic Player-vs-Player (PvP) dogfighting in the new Free-to-Play Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Digital Expansion, Galactic…
New Rise of the Hutt Cartel Launch Trailer
BioWare just released a new trailer for Star Wars: The old republic – Rise of the Hutt Cartel. This is the second trailer for the new digital expansion so far. If you haven’t already seen the first one which is titled “Fight for Makeb” be sure to do so. You can do so here. Check out the new one below: The first Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel has just launched, bringing with it an action-packed storyline focused on factional conflict against the Hutt Cartel. Watch the “Fight for Makeb” launch trailer to find out more about the new gear, new abilities and new challenges waiting for you in Rise of the Hutt Cartel.
Game Update 2.0 “Scum and Villainy” Trailer
With the early access to Star Wars: The old Republic Rise of the Hutt Cartel in full swing, a new trailer for the digital expansion sees sees the day. The trailer is not as bad ass as the old E3 trailers that took the world with storm back in the days, And it doesn’t bring a ton of new stuff to the table. It’s still worh a look though as it features some of the new attack animations that comes with Game update 2.0, as well as armor, environments, and stufflike that. Check it out below:
Rise of the Hutt Cartel Preparation and Guide
Are you ready for the Rise of the Hutt Cartel? Whether you waiting until the last minute to start preparing or if you’re ready and rearing to begin right now, you’re going to love the new, fresh content. In order to ensure you get the maximum benefit from the experience, we have some tips and guidelines to follow. There are many guides and tips already available so when appropriate, we might make a link or referral to an external site as a resource. It’s all about getting you the best info as quickly as possible. Prelaunch So here are some things you can do/should do as preparation before the launch: Get more experience boosts- whether minor or major, these boost will help you as you are leveling up. Using the exp boosts, you can get the max level as quickly as possible. Do some dailies and weeklies- you’re waiting anyway,…
Rise of the Hutt Cartel and Game Update 2.0 Patch Notes
The official patch notes for Rise of the Hutt Cartel and Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy are now live. BioWare have made so many changes, updates and tweaks to the game. There are about 500 notes, over 11K words in in these patch notes! Check it out below, or over at the official website. Rise of the Hutt Cartel and Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy 4/9/2013 . Rise of the Hutt Cartel The Hutt Cartel has emerged from the shadows to challenge the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire for control, unleashing never-before-seen Droids and monstrous battle stations to serve as powerful weapons of destruction. Join your faction and explore story-driven missions with explosive combat to save the future of the galaxy! For more information about how to access the Rise of the Hutt Cartel features and content, please visitwww.swtor.com/rothc. All Classes can now reach Level 55! New Planet:…
Servers going down at 6PM PDT tonight
BioWare are taking all the servers down later tonight for maintenance and the launch of Game Update 2.0: Rise of the Hutt Cartel. SWTOR: RotHC will go live tomorrow for everyone, whether or not you’re in Early Access, or have pre-ordered the expansion, but for all of you with Early Access, the servers will come up at approximately 12PM pacific. On April 8th at 6PM PDT (April 9th, 1AM GMT) all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be unavailable as we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.0 will be implemented during this downtime. After maintenance, Early Access will begin for those who preordered Rise of the Hutt Cartel by January 7th, 2013. For more information and announcements about this exciting new Digital Expansion, please visit our Digital Expansion Page. Details are as follows: Date: Monday April 8th- Tuesday April 9th Duration: 6 hours Time: April 8th, 6PM PDT (April 9th, 1AM GMT ) – April…
Developer Blog: PvP in Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy
Assistant Designer Alex Modny made a developer blog Friday, about the upcoming PvP changes coming with Game Update 2.0. SWTOR’s current bolster system is receiving a complete overhaul as part of the 2.0 update. It should fix issues of fairness which are encountered when players turn from level 49 to 50. Now, rather than a universal buff to their abilities, players will receive a boost determined by the equipment they have attiring their character. With Bolster, the most important change is that the stats are no longer granted on an assumption of stat power based on character level. Rather we look at each one of the Item Ratings (including the Mods, Augments, Armorings, etc. that go into the armor/weapon) of the current equipped gear and base the amount of stats given based on these values. The worse your items are the more stats you are given to get you to the base value we want…
PSA: Class XP Boosts/Unlocks Do Not Affect Makeb Quest XP
Just another friendly heads up. Don’t waste your credits / cartel coins on XP unlocks from the cartle market. Eric Musco just confirmed via a forum post that they do not benefit you in Star Wars: The old republic Rise of the Hutt Cartel. I believe this have been pointed out before but the BioWare developers, but since there have been some confusion was to whether any of Makeb’s quests count as class quests or not, I thought it was appropriated to do a PSA about it 🙂 As some have already alluded to in the thread, class mission bonus experience will have no effect on Makeb. Technically speaking, the missions you will be going through in Rise of the Hutt Cartel are planetary arcs, etc. and are not classified as class missions. Thanks! -eric