SWTOR is getting something of a makeover in terms of colors. Most will agree that it’s an improvement but for those who have grown accustomed to seeing it in its darker fashion might not approve. Personally, I like it. I really think some zones were just a bit too dreary and drab with all the grey/brown. I like the improved colors and crispness of it all. It also seems to have more of a real feel and texture rather than the cartoony feel in some zones. I like this. One user shared some before and after pics on Reddit to help us see what the color changes look like: What’ll strike you first is the sheer colour in the game. These screenshots were taken in the exact same locations, with the same gamma/brightness/graphics settings. Before: After: Before: After: To be honest, while I think this is a good move, I…
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SWTOR Double XP Weekend Quick Tips
If you want to make the most of the double XP weekends and stims, then here is a little trick to help you when you need to run AFK for some food or a bathroom break or … whatever. A lot of people don’t realize that when you are in a conversation with NPCs or a cutscene, your timers are paused. This means your class buffs, stims and other experience boosts will not be running down on you and you can save the time if you need to step away. Your timers will also pause when looking at the Galaxy map so this is a good way to stop everything for a few minutes when you have to AFK. This works great when you’re solo but of course if you are running with a group, it will be a bit more difficult since they can holo call into the conversation….
KOTOR and SWTOR Combine for 10th Anniversary
Those who know me know that I love social media, and for good reason, as it connects us in ways that could never be possible before. It’s a great tool for extending your gaming connections as well. And it also helps us remain in contact with our favorite game updates and staff. Which brings us to a little tidbit from Twitter and Cory Butler this week. A couple of days ago a conversation happened that many might have missed. It’s such a small thing, yet says so much, especially for fans of SWTOR and KotOR. @AlexDGeslin asked @BlazeofCory Hey, I was wonder, are there any plans celebrate KotOR 1’s 10th anniversary on the #cartelmarket ? #swtorfamily BioWare Producer Cory Butler answered Alex Geslin’s question on Twitter and this would spark more questions about just what his answer meant and what we might all expect to see from SWTOR for the 10th anniversary….
Aratech Rose and Cathar Warstaff – New SWTOR Cartel Items
Here are two of the great new pieces available in SWTOR. First is the Aratech Rose speeder which I personally think looks pretty awesome. Second is the Cathar Warstaff which extends when drawn in combat and looks pretty freaking awesome. Both are available in the Cartel market for 1500CC and 400CC respectively. Aratech Rose- 1500 CC I really like this one. Personally, I’m also a fan of pink but many are saying it’s more of a dull pink and that it’s really just a Blur/lux reskin. Looking from Dulfy’s pics and video, I think they are right. For 1500 CC it would have been nice to get a little more than the same speeder in a different color. But I’d still probably get it, seeing as how there aren’t many alternatives. Video showing off the Aratech Rose speeder from the cartel market. Cathar Warstaff – 400 CC – Blade extends when…
SWTOR Bonus Experience Weekend is Back – Quick Tips for Leveling
Now SWTOR bonus experience weekends have returned (yay!) and if you want to be sure you get the most time and experience in for leveling an alt, or maybe for a friend who is new to the game and wants to get caught up to you, here is a little mini guide to help you get the most from the weekends. First, you need to understand the different ways that you can gain experience and level your alts. So here are two great options you have within the game: Do your main planet quest line and your class quest line. This can actually get you to 55 with double experience weekends without having to do any side questions. You will need to use experience boosts and the class quest experience boosts along with it. You can blow right through on an alt this way in a weekend if you have…
SWTOR Live Stream Event Updates
If you missed the SWTOR live stream coverage last week, or you’re just recapping things now, TORWars has the coverage available right now in this post. Here’s a snippet: Game Update 2.2 – According to Bruce Maclean, the main focus of Game Update 2.2 is guilds. Planned are new elder game crafting options and new guild bonuses as well as a unified fleet chat channel. Bruce also went on to say that while Guilds are the focus, the “centerpiece” of GU 2.2 is Nightmare Operations. Double XP Weekends – Will be going live during the weekends starting June 22nd until July 2nd with an extension on July 4th weekend. He also mentioned that in addition to new graphical upgrades, we should be expecting a new daily area coming in GU 2.3 as well as a new recurring event for levels 15 and up. They emphasized that this is a very “cool event…
TOR for TOTS – 24 Hour Live Stream Play Session
It is our greatest pleasure to be able to bring you great stories from SWTOR and Star Wars fans. It warms my heart to see gamers do good, especially when it involves children. So it is with my greatest pleasure that I get to bring you the story of TOR for TOTS. 4 gamers played SWTOR live for 24 hours accepting donations, then purchased tons of rocking Star Wars toys to donate to charity. How awesome is that? This thread went up on the official forums to tell people about the event: If you want some good karma, head over to this stream, or any of the streams that page links to; these guys are giving all donations to charity. Learn how to play your class and nerd out for the kids all at once! http://www.twitch.tv/gudarz#/w/5853934832 And then some great Community Members from The Bastion server conducted a 24 Hour PVP/SWTOR…
SWTOR Datamining 2.2.2 PTS Edition
We have some more datamined info for you courtesy of SWTOR Miner on Reddit. Again, keep in mind that data mined info is not guaranteed to be in the game. It’s mostly speculation and rumor. Just because something is in the game files does not guarantee it will make it live to the game. There are some game files that have been there since beta and we have not seen the features go live. However, a great number of things we see in PTS data mines do end up actually in the game. Either way, it’s fun the pass the time- especially when there is not a lot of other new info coming out. So anyway… let’s take a look at this mined data. swtor_miner brought us another update on the 2.2.2 PTS: Well got little bit of special alone time with the 2.2.2 PTS files, and I thought I’d share…
Cantina Tour LA Exclusive- Pics, Updates and More
Cantina Tour LA Exclusive – Caña Rum Bar, Los Angeles – Flash Drive Data Dump! E3 Info & Pictures for 2.3 The SWTOR Community Cantina has passed and TORWars brought us a lot of great info from the event. For those of us who couldn’t be there ourselves, this is a gold mine of data and information! SWTOR Community Cantina Thumb Drive Exclusive Assets In this post, they tell us all about the exclusive thumb drive and the data that it contains, with pictures. This included a sneak peek of what we might all see from SWTOR in the near future. And it includes a gallery of images to give you some ideas of what we can be on the lookout for over the next few weeks or so. SWTOR Community Cantina Exclusive: Bounty Hunter Event And Hangar Decorations And in this post, they tell us all about the SWTOR Community Cantina….
Star Wars: Battlefront Official E3 Preview
Have you been waiting for news about Star Wars: Battelfront? Well, get ready for some existing updates! It’s now official that Star Wars Battlefront is coming on the Frostbite Engine. They also released an official trailer at E3 which you can see for yourself below. Take a first look at DICE’s unique take on the Star Wars Battlefront franchise utilizing the Frostbite 3 game engine. Read more here: http://www.ea.com/star-wars-battlefront Electronic Arts is proud to demonstrate the full force of the Frostbite 3 game engine within the Star Wars Battlefront universe. The future of next-generation gaming will take part in a galaxy far, far away. As for the game play? You’ll find that we’re full of surprises. Learn more about the partnership between Lucasfilm & EA here: http://starwars.com/news/electronic-a… They also took to Twitter to make sure the news was shared: It’s coming… #battlefront #nextgenstarwars — Star Wars (@starwars) June 10, 2013…
SWTOR Paid Character Transfer Costs 1800 Cartel Coins
Player have been asking for some time now when we will finally get paid character transfers. Well, the wait is over! Well, almost… Along with the release of SWTOR Game Update 2.2 next week (on June 11th), we will also get paid character transfers. The service is going to go live with the game update and it’s going to cost 1800 Cartel Coins. So the first thing you’re going to need to do is pay 1800 Cartel Coins (the equivalent of around $15 US). This will initiate the transfer and allow you to put in the details of where you want to go. Your legacies, achievements, and unlocked collectibles will go to the new server with you. Here are details from Eric Musco: How much do transfers cost? Paid character transfers cost 1800 Cartel Coins per character. The purchase must be made using Cartel Coins. How do I transfer a…
SWTOR Game Update 2.2 – What Are You Looking Forward To?
On June 11th, Bioware will finally release SWTOR Game Update 2.2 on live servers so those of us who have been anxiously awaiting can finally check out all of this great new content. So now it’s official. We have a date and it’s not that far away. We already told you about the scheduled maintenance in preparation for the launch of the new content. So now we’re wondering what you’re most looking forward to in the new update. Amber Green posted: On June 11th, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher, will be unavailable as we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.2: Operation Nightmare will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday June 11th, 2013 Duration: 5 hours Time: 3AM PDT (10AM UTC) – 8AM PDT (3PM UTC) Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. So what’s coming (as if you don’t…
SWTOR will NOT be at E3 this year
Were you looking forward to an E3 unveil about Star Wars The Old Republic? Maybe some info about the direction of the game or future content? You’re not along. We all thought it might be coming and there were multiple threads on the forums full of speculations. So if you were hoping (like us) that there would be some SWTOR news coming at E3, then we sadly have to disappoint you. Eric Musco made it clear in the forums that despite the speculation, there would be no new content updates and no surprises about SWTOR at E3 this year. Hey folks, Just to head off any crazy expectations, SWTOR will not be on the floor of E3 so I wouldn’t expect any big announcements from us. That being said, don’t forget that we are having a meet and greet as a part of the Cantina Tour! You can find that…
Summer of SWTOR (Future Plans)
Senior Producer Bruce Maclean took on the forums today, updating us on what’s come this summer in SWTOR. He starts discussing game update 2.2 but continues on with plans for game update 2.3. Personally I’m happy with what is coming up in near future, but as we could expect, the foums are already going crazy with unsubscribe whine and the usual death threats about the lack of PVP updates. You can check out the complete post below, or over at the official forums. Hello everyone, My name is Bruce Maclean and I am a Senior Producer here at BioWare Austin. I know there have been a lot of questions around the forums about what kind of content you can expect from us this year and so I’m here today to give you all a bit of information about what we’re working on bringing to you this summer! First up, Game Update 2.2,…
Suspensions Over Cartel Color Crystals Going Out?
The SWTOR community was in an uproar yesterday over unexpected bans regarding the trading of Cartel color crystals. The confusion came in over whether or not it was within the rules to copy the crystals and send them to alts. It seems some players copied them and then attempted to sell them but players who copied and sent to their own account’s toons should not have been affected. However… some were reporting that they, too, were hit with the ban-hammer. There were threads on the official forums (that were locked) and threads on Reddit discussing the bans as players who had been banned from the game Eric Musco, Community Manager, then came in and made this post: Hey folks, I made a post about this here but I know it will lose visibility off the front page. I have no information right now but we are actively investigating your reports. I may…
Server Transfer News: Transfers available with patch 2.2 – hopefully
Eric Musco took on the forums today sharing some news on when players can expect to have character transfers go live. At the same time he also shed some light on when Players get the chance to leave the APAC servers. Game update 2.2 is expected release date is 6/11 so if you have any toons stuck on servers with no friends on, it’s time to moove them. No information on pricing or details on what will be transferred over yet though, but I expect it will be on-par with other games, so probably around $25 per character. They want it to be accessible enough that people who really want to can do it, but expensive enough that it doesn’t impact server populations. Hey everyone, I wanted to give an update on paid character transfers as I know it is something that everyone has been chomping at the bit for. The reason for our silence…
Community Cantina Tour – Dallas May 17th writeup
Doing last weekends Comic-Con in Dallas, BioWare took the opportunity and hold a a Community Cantina. If you haven’t read about the Comic-Con yet, Lisa had posted a few interesting reads about it. You can check them out here and here. No one from swtorstrategies was at the Community Cantina, but luckily Crafter over at ootinicast.com posted a lengthy write up of what was said by the developers. Some of the most interesting news is: Guild Ships will come eventually – When they look awesome ( They are Damion Schubert’s baby) A big PvP patch is coming soon Same-gender romance was not part of the original design team’s implementation, so it didn’t get included. Moving forward they will not make the same mistakes. Additionally more story content is coming, but no ETA We will probably never get flying mounts Check out the full write up over at ootinicast.com
Damion Schubert Response to Collections Set Restrictions
Sometimes there are times when a company representative just needs to come forward and admit that they goofed. BioWare did that today in regards to collections set restrictions. In this official developer post, Schubert explained the situation.
Dark Horse: Digital Give Away 1 Million Free Comics For 2nd Anniversary!
Do you love free comics? As part of their two-year-anniversary promotion, Dark Horse Comics gave away 1 million free comics. How awesome is that? Were you able to snag some of these free comics for yourself? If so, we want to hear about it. What titles did you get? As they state on their blog, “As part of the celebration of the second year of the company’s digital initiative and proprietary storefront, fifty free single-issue comics were made available for only forty-eight hours. In that time, thousands of fans took advantage of the offer and downloaded their favorite Dark Horse titles, to the tune of a million copies!”” This is really a fantastic example of the growing interest in digital comics as a new way to enjoy some classic comics and new releases alike. If you’re new to digital comics, you will have to try it out for yourself. While nothing…
EA Planning for New LA Based Studio
News came in today that Electronic Arts is planning for a new Star Wars focused studio in LA. This is the most recent in news about EA and their new rights to create Star Wars games from here on out. DICE LA, as the studio is being called, will be focused largely on mobile titles geared towards the mass casual game space. In true LA style, the studio will also have a “fitness center, cafeteria, sports field, sand volleyball court, basketball court and more.” A tweet from the Battlefield account has revealed some of the jobs on offer in the new LA-based studio, offering some insight into what DICE LA will be working on. IGN ran a story with the following info: According to The Wall Street Journal, it’s still being decided whether the studio will focus on brand new franchises to do with the IP or continue existing series. DICE general manager…
Lucasfilm Registers Domains for Star Wars Games
Are you ready for some new Star Wars games? Seriously, who isn’t? All of us here at SWTOR Strategies love Star Wars and while we also love SWTOR, we’re all about seeing what new games are going to come from this new partnership and contract with EA. We’re dedicated to bringing you any news about Star Wars games which is why we’re excited that Lucasfilm has registered a group of Star Wars-related domain names, according to Fusible. Several of the new domains reference Star Wars themes, including the following: Star Wars Alliance Star Wars Rebels Star Wars Wolf Pack Wolf Pack Adventures Order 67 Bothan Spies Gungan Frontier 2 Gungan Frontier 3 Gungan Frontier 4 Wookie Hunters That’s unfortunately all we know at this time and none of the registered names match any current projects so it’s hard to say how soon (if at all) these new games could be coming. Still, it’s…
SWTOR Game Update 2.1: Customization coming tomorrow
Game update 2.1 is expected on May 14 and update 2.2 is set to roll out on June 11. So tomorrow is the big day- the new customization game update is coming. As of tomorrow, players of SWTOR will finally have the chance to customize how their characters look. The highly anticipated 2.1 game update will be here which allows players the chance to change the colors of selected armor, as well as to give their character a complete makeover, if wanted. You can change the looks and features of your character from a simple hair dye to a full makeover with a new look. It’s all up to you. So if you’ve grown tired of looking at the same character all this time, this is your chance to mix it up a bit. Additionally, the Cathar species (yay!) will be available through the Cartel Market. It’s going to cost…
TIME talks about SWTOR and EA
As we reported this week, EA just got the exclusive rights to publish all Star Wars games in the future. As one of the largest video game company in existence, it’s likely EA had to fork out loads of cash to get this exclusive deal. EA will now have the rights to produce Star Wars games for the “core gaming audience” whereas Disney, who canned developer LucasArts just last month, will retain the rights to design Star Wars games for mobile, social and online gamers. So now that the big news has been announced, it seems everyone has an opinion and Time doesn’t seem to be taking a positive stance on this new relationship. Here’s a snippet from a piece they did that discusses the topic and SWTOR at length: And yet EA has a spotty track record when it comes to franchise tie-ins. Whereas handing a major property off…
SWTOR Monthly Revenue More than Doubled with F2P Model
If anyone’s wondering if BioWare has increased their revenues with SWTOR since going free to play, we now have evidence that it has “more than doubled”. This is not a surprise to many who have been following the game but it’s probably good news for investors. Polygon reports on today’s earnings call: Gibeau said the game has grown significantly. “Since it was induced in November, we’ve added more than 1.7 million new players on the free model to the service,” Gibeau said. “”And the number of subscriptions has stabilized at just under half a million. “The really interesting thing that’s happening inside the service right now is monthly average revenue for the game has more than doubled since we introduced the free-to-play option. And as we look forward, we’re going to continually invest in new content for the service and for players every six weeks or so.” As we can…