The galaxy is alive, bustling with chaotic adventures, and full of encounters both dynamic and… kitten-related? Yes, that’s the magic of SWTOR Game Update 7.6! Let’s dive into the nitty-gritty details of the latest update, complete with Dynamic Encounters and the menacing Propagator Core XR-53 Operation Boss. Dynamic Encounters: Adventures with a Twist Dynamic Encounters are here to make sure Tatooine and Hoth feel like living, breathing planets rather than just big sandboxes (and snowboxes). These new activities rotate their availability, so there’s always something fresh to sink your teeth into. What Are Dynamic Encounters? Dynamic Encounters are spontaneous, map-marked events that anyone can jump into, whether flying solo or with a squad. Keep an eye on your Galaxy Map to see what’s active. From there, it’s all about exploring, encountering, and completing the tasks at hand. Fun Highlights: And just when you thought things couldn’t get weirder—Hidden Chain Invasions….
operations
SWTOR NiM Loot Issue / Update
Eric Musco took on the official forums, to report that Nightmare loot are not a guaranteed drop from nightmare operations. I have a few updates to pass on regarding the current issues with Nightmare Loot Drops. First, we discovered there is a bug with the percentage chance of a 224 rated item dropping in any of our Nightmare Operations. We plan to address this when we release Chapter 10 (Game Update 4.1) scheduled in February. If we are able to address it sooner, I’ll pass along an update. Aside from that, we realized that we need to make a correction to our Operations and Flashpoints in Fallen Empire blog. Currently it states the following: Nightmare Mode will also be available for all the Operations that had it previously, and will reward the same as the highlighted Hard Mode, as well as the unique mounts and titles available currently. This statement is in…
The Business Case for BioWare’s Ops Announcement
BioWare announced the future of Operations in Star Wars: The Old Republic this past Thursday. Most people weren’t thrilled about the announcement and it was mainly because they are scared about the game’s status if people stop playing. They announced that there would not be any new Operations content for the next 12 months. We think the reason for this is simply, Star Wars: Battlefront. The game is sharing a parent company and intellectual property with Star Wars: The Old Republic. We are sure that there many people that intend on playing Star Wars: Battlefront and this makes sense that EA would use a business plan to maximize their revenues from both of the games together. They both have strengths and weaknesses that seem to mesh well together. Star Wars: Battlefront has very little single-player appeal but it does have a massive multiplayer component. Star Wars: The Old Republic struggles…
World First Nightmare Dread Palace Speed Run
<Zorz> Claims another world first! This is a really cool story about the first ever Nightmare Dread Palace speed run. Check out the image for proof and the stream/video is also available if you want to see exactly how they did it. If you or your guild is interested in the fights or in progressing yourself, you really should watch their videos. They are organized and have the technique down well enough to be able to pull of record-breaking feats like this. There’s definitely something for all to learn from them. That being said, they also had invested time on the PTS, seeing and practicing a lot of the content long before others ever got around to seeing it so that’s a clear advantage as well. So who is Zorz, anyway? From their website: Who Are We We are a group of like-minded players on The Harbinger who strive to play…
TOR TV: Terror from Beyond is a beautiful operation
Youtube user heltidsluffare created this short film of his very first run in Terror from Beyond. As he mention in the title of the movie, Terror from Beyond is a beautiful operation- and so I agree. Personally I thought it was like a breath of fresh air loading in for the first time. It really had that big open feel that I was hoping more of the planets/zones would have. I also think this has been my least buggy experience with an operation to be honest. My ops group have not hit a single bug that stopped our progress… The only one I’ve seen at all is when the adds on the first boss don’t despawn after a wipe, but we were able to kill them without triggering the boss, so no worries really.
Developer Update – Terror from Beyond coming in 1.4
As mentioned by Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez in his forum post a few days ago, BioWare would have a new Developer update for us this week. This time Lead Operations & Flashpoint Designer Jesse Sky talks about the new Operation Terror from Beyond, that comes with patch 1.4 some time next month. Here is an interesting snip: Terror from Beyond offers five new major boss encounters that will challenge even the most highly-coordinated groups of players. In keeping with previous Operations, Terror from Beyond includes one “puzzle” encounter that really steps outside of the bounds of what you normally see in a boss fight. To defeat this new enemy, players will need to work together to repair a massive, ancient Gree computer from within the machine itself. Unlike previous puzzle encounters where the solutions were relatively easy to figure out, this one has players leveraging their particular group composition to control a chaotic situation. It’s very different…
Intergalactic Intel: Operations
“Drop group,” Niggles whispered me. At this point in our relationship I learned that if Niggles requested something, it was usually for my benefit. An invite message promped from Niggles a few seconds later. “I’m not ready for this.” I whispered back. “Don’t worry Zexu. This is an easy operation.” Welcome back to another installment of Intergalactic Intel! My apologies for being so late on this article, but you get two today! I’m reporting from the wonderful San Francisco, as I attend GDC. Without further ado let’s get down to this week’s topic. Operations. Operations are what we call raids here in SWTOR. You can complete them with eight or sixteen people. In addition to this you have normal mode, hard mode and nightmare modes to attempt to complete. Each level providing a new challenge of difficulty and a new amount of loot. The team I ran with this week…
BioWare Says LFG System is in the Works
The group locator system in SWTOR can use a little work. Okay, actually… it can use a lot of work. A group finder or LFG system is very important in MMORPGs where it is an essential part of the game. There is nothing more annoying that wanting to do a quest or group phase and having to sit around spamming in the general chat channel looking for people to help you out. This is boring and time-consuming and it can be frustrating enough to affect the overall appeal of the game. This is why BioWare says they are already in the works on an improved LFG system. GameZone reports how BioWare says this is high on their list of features to add to the game: “”Improving our LFG system is high on the list of features that Systems Design wants to add to the game,” said BioWare’s Damion Schubert. “We…
Friday Update: Signs of War Trailer & Operations Systems Page
It’s a good day for fans of The Old Republic. Not only did we get some juicy new info out of the NYCC Panel but we also get to feast our eyes on a new Trailer and Operations Systems Page. It looks like BioWare decided to let the floodgates open today with a collection of five announcements! Here’s the list: They debuted the new “Signs of War” trailer at New York Comic Con. You can watch it below. The game will now launch simultaneously in North America and Europea on December 20. Learn about high-level Operations on the new Game Systems page. Drew Karpyshyn, author of the upcoming Revan novel, will be signing books and participating in panels all weekend at New York Comic Con. SWTOR will be featured at Paris Games Week from October 21-25. The trailer titled “Signs of War” is narrated by Satele Shan and features the trooper from…
Stephen Reid Clarifies Details on Operations
Stehen Reid posted in the official forums to clarify some issues and details about Operations. “To clear some of this up… First of all, loot containers. After every boss is defeated during a normal difficulty Operation, every player will receive a loot container. Inside that container each player gets a chance for loot specific to them, or commendations that can be exchanged for other loot. So to be specific (because this seems to be confused by PC Gamer) that happens after each boss is defeated in a normal difficulty Operation, and not just once at the end of the Op. (There are multiple bosses in Operation: Eternity Vault for example.) Second, Gabe was misquoted a bit on the lockout thing (it’s a bit loud here on the show floor!). There are lockouts, but they are designed to be ‘flexible’. This means, for example, if I have killed Boss 1 in…
Exclusive interview with BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo
German magazine GameStar.de scored an exclusive interview with Gabe Amatangelo of BioWare to discuss Operations which has fans across the globe excited. Operations are the SWTOR version of raiding and guilds and individuals alike are anxious to see any info they can about it. The September issue of this German magazine looks like a lead-up to gamescom, coming up in August in Cologne, Germany. This could mean more new reveals about SWTOR, possibly even about Operations but we’ll have to wait to know for sure. Forum user Cebo has a thread on the official forums about it with people jumping in to help translate. If you speak German, you can go straight to the original source and check it out for yourself. Cebo offers a partial translation that confirms some fun details about operations such as: 8-man and 16-man raid/Operation sizes Badges to purchase items Different difficulty settings based on…