BioWare is becomming more active on there facebook page these days. This weekend we had question and answer session with Daniel Erickson, and we are seeing event pictures being added when ever BioWare is attending an event. On wednesday we still get our new weekly screenshot, and today is no different. A lone Trooper storms towards the command center deep inside The Gormak King’s Hall.
I’m Flip-Flopping on Star Wars: The Old Republic
“My biggest problem now with Star Wars: The Old Republic is that I recently switched my home computer to a Mac,” says Stephen Totilo from Kotaku. This is in the intro to his story of why he’s flip-flopping on SWTOR. All he needed to change his mind about TOR was to play it again for a second time. He says it was like playing a completely different game. He says his first experience was impaired by high expectations and that he is not usually a MMORPG player as getting enchanted with the one MMO can limit you from playing other games. He says, “I tried World of Warcraft for a weekend in 2007, had some fun, but ran away to save my time for real-life activities like playing video games that last less than infinite hours.” He had a chance to try the game again, at NYCC it seems, and…
Can AoC survive The Old Republic?
Many people are talking about SWTOR and the impact it will have on other similar games in the industry. It’s been called a WoW-clone and a WoW-killer and there have been comparisons made to Rift and other MMOs. Just in time for another MMO comparison, Massively brought us an article that asks Can AoC survive The Old Republic? Massively says: Even if you’re heavily invested in other games, chances are good that you’ll at least try SWTOR, amirite? I myself will be moonlighting in a galaxy far, far away at some point, and while I don’t plan on making a permanent home there, it will likely take a chunk of my gaming time for a month or two. Truer words could not be spoken. Just about every MMO player I know wants to at least try SWTOR. Some if for no other reason than to stubbornly prove it’s not going…
General impressions of SWTOR beta from a WoW veteran
One game tester posted today while the servers were down for maintenance about his impressions on the game so far. As a WoW veteran, he had some opinion about SWTOR so far. This is a great write-up on one person’s perspective from the game and what they have gotten out of it so far. Since so many people keep comparing SWTOR to WoW, it’s interesting to hear from WoW players who are getting to try their hand at SWTOR. A snippet to start: First of all, I’m a real sucker for animations. I think that, for MMOs in particular, the animations make or break a game. I have, for instance, played Rift and feel like the characters are stunted, wooden puppets without much range of motion. The attack animations in Rift (et al.) are boring and unimaginative to the point that, by level 10 you’re really hoping for something new…
Voidstar Warzone Gameplay
Just came across this little jewel. Voidstar Warzone gameplay. SWTOR Videos are plenty on Youtube these days, but the tend to get removed fast also, so enjoy it while it last.
Interview: Daniel Erickson and Stephen Reid
Kay White had the privilege of interviewing Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic at NYCC and allowed TORWars to print the story. I love Erickson and the fun and humor he brings to every interview or chat about SWTOR so I was definitely interested in giving this one a read. On Saturday at New York Comic Con, in between some hours of being shoulder-bumped by geek-crazed New Yorkers, I got to enjoy some minutes with Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic. Mr. Erickson, with grace and animated humor, gave out details of the writing process, resolving questions that have gnawed at me since I played my first BioWare game, Dragon Age: Origins. He also discussed content balance, titles, voice actor availability, character surnames, and a skinny little bit about slave bikinis. You will need to head on over to TORWars…
Darth Malgus Action Figure Coming From Hasbro
Are you a fan of Darth Malgus? Would you be enough of a fan to buy this action figure? Darth Malgus will now be an action figure, thanks to Hasbro. This is pretty cool news for any SWTOR or Star Wars fan and collector. Stephen Reid tweeted a picture of the action figure this week. ToyArk.com announced at the Hasbro Star Wars panel that Darth Malgus will be available as Wave 3 of the Star Wars Vintage Collection this coming April. Since he is expected to be a major character in the game, this is fun and exciting news. On their website, ToyArk also has some great slideshows from the Star Wars panel and some other SWTOR and Star Wars related news. It’s definitely worth heading over to check out their slides and stuff.
Complete Datacron Location List
Datacrons are part of the codex system in Star Wars The Old Republic. They are placed throughout the worlds for the players to find, usually in hard to reach places. Although some of these items are hidden from view, spotting other datacrons may be relatively easy. Even with these more visible items, though, reaching the datacron will typically entail extra exploration and navigation problem-solving. As a reward for this exploration ingenuity, if a player successfully reachs and interacts with certain datacrons, one of the player’s character stats will be increased — permanently. Here is the complete list of Datacrons, rdered by codex entry # Datacron Locations by planet Hutta Datacron Locations Coruscant Datacron Locations Tython Datacron Locations Ord Mantell Datacron Locations Korriban Datacron Locations Dromund Kaas Datacron Locations Taris Datacron Locations Balmorra Datacron Locations Nar Shaddar Datacron Locations Tatooine Datacron Locations Alderaan Datacron Locations Quesh Datacron Locations Hoth Datacron Locations…
The Guild Sphere: V Squad
Today I had the opportunity to have a chat with Vincer, from the old Star Wars galaxies guild “V Squad””. The guild is a friendly, casual guild that supports the galactic Republic. Check out the interview below. Where did your guilds name come from? “”V Squad” was named by a member of my Star Wars Galaxies guild. I ran the squad as “Vincer Kaden”, and this person took to just calling me “V” in chat. When we formed up as an official player guild, we took the name but decided to make the “V” stand for “Victory”. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? V Squad is a friendly, casual guild that supports the Republic and each other. We are organized and respectful, with the primary goal of having fun in Star Wars: The Old Republic. How did your guild come about? The guild was formed out of…
Drew Karpyshyn to write fourth SWTOR Novel
Erich Schoeneweiss posted on on the Star Wars Books Facebook page: Just announced at our Del Rey Star Wars books panel: Drew Karpyshyn will write a fourth novel that will tie into The Old Republic for Fall 2012 and Tim Zahn will write a new novel starring Han Solo set in the classic films era. More details to come on both as they develop. (ES) So Karpyshyn’s doing the fourth SWTOR book… is that to say that the Kemp duo isn’t SWTOR? Or that if they were, they’d be coming out after Karpyshyn’s? Excellent anyways! My two favorite SW writers. Can’t wait!
Athiss (The Tomb Opens) Flashpoint
The one thing I found interesting in this flashpoint was how Bioware implemented crew skills just like they did in Bringing the Hammer Down: if you have bioanalysis in this one you can pick up special mushrooms and use them to summon a miniature version of the 2nd boss that’ll fight alongside you for a couple minutes or so. I hope all of the flashpoints have these crew skill aspects integrated because it’s pretty fun, especially when it’s your crew skill because then you feel all high and mighty! LG03 had this comment on the flashpoint: This flashpoint was pretty disappointing to me, it was just so…bland. You can’t even blame it entirely on not being finished, as far as I could tell it was just missing some busy work quests. It had the potential to be a much more story driven instance but there’s no plot outside the initial…
SWTOR Video Extravaganza
It has been a week now since the last Beta weekend, and my oh my have we seen alot of gameplay videos hit youtube. If you don’t have any plans for today, you might as well spend some quality time checking out the selection of beta vidoes we have found for you. Enjoy!
Q&A with Daniel Erickson.
BioWare had a short Q&A session with Daniel Erickson at the official Facebook page earlier today. The following was posted on SWTOR’s Facebook wall, lots of good questions and enticing answers! Thomas Haugeberg: Is there going to be an end for this game’s story? Will one side rule in the end? Daniel: We know where the galaxy ends up in the next 3000 years but there’s a long way to go until we get there and hopefully (since we all like our jobs) that story won’t be ending anytime soon! Jason Trent: Are all “romances” with non-companion NPC’s one night stands or are some of them fully fleshed out romances? Daniel: Some of them are long term romances, some actually spanning across several chapters. Travis Clay Henry: What character in ToR has been your favorite to write thus far? Daniel: Vette. Writing a complete character from start to finish is…
SWTOR Racial Traits
Thanks to a recently released Beta video on Youtube, we now know the racial traits in SWTOR. The video don’t show the empire races, so its not proven that the below traits are correct for imperial races yet. The republic races and cross over races should be correct. Check out the video below. Human : Passive: 3% Bonus to Presence Social : Rally nearby Allies Miraluka Passive: +1 Stealth Detection Social : Perceive alignment of the target via the force Twi’lek Passive: 5 Minute Reduction on Rapid Travel Social : Special Twi’lek Dancing Moves ( Execute a ritual allowing the spirits to rest peacefully) Zabrak Passive: Increase healing given / taken by 1% Social : Inspire Loyalty in nearby Allies Miralian Passive: Increase precision of Force and Tech powers by 1% Social : Execute a ritual allowing the spirits to rest peacefully Cyborg Passive: Increase precision of Force and Tech powers by…
Tatooine Imperial Agent / Bounty Hunter video
Warning, lots of flaming incoming, This guy was complainin over at betacake that he couldn’t find any republic at 11am on a beta server, your discretion is advised.
Hammer Station flashpoint video
Before anyone shouts shenanigans I’ll tell you right now the flashpoint is in an extremely unfinished state right now. There’s no map (pretty big deal as it’s a massive instance with lots of paths), bosses don’t drop loot and there’s no convos outside the initial quest. It’s actually one of the more interesting flashpoints so far though. There’s branching paths depending on your professions, boss mechanics are mostly finished and it’s very visually impressive. This is the first example I’ve seen of a flashpoint being done with two people and their companions (and by an agent operative!).
Zayne Carrick returns in Knights of the Old Republic – War!
At New York Comic Con, Dark Horse announced the next installment in the life of Knights of the Old Republic hero, young Zayne Carrick. Written by John Jackson Miller, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: War begins in January! It’s explained on Faraway Looks: The Blog of John Jackson Miller: “The Jan. 11, 2012 release date is almost six years after the publication of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #1 — but it’s set not long after the end of Knights of the Old Republic #50, and Zayne’s peace and quiet following that series is short-lived. He’s not a Jedi and the Mandalorians are invading — and with his homeworld of Phaeda under threat, Zayne’s luck holds true. He gets drafted!” He continues: “It really is a true jumping-on point. If you haven’t read any KOTOR comics at all — or if you’re a regular who’s read…
NYCC 2011: STAR WARS THE OLD REPUBLIC Panel
It’s what we’ve all been waiting for at NYCC- the Star Wars panel! What kind of fun, exciting info is coming out of there today? Fans are hungry for info and NYCC attempts to give us anything new they can at Friday’s panel. Newsarama has been giving us the best coverage to come out of NYCC and has this to say about the Star Wars Panel: BioWare Austin’s Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid led the panel, joined by Game Director James Ohlen, Writing Director Daniel Erickson, and Cory Butler, Live Producer. They went on to provide an overview of the game (in case anyone in attendance actually did not know already) and Reid explained the backstory a bit. “But we’re making an MMO, not a movie, and gameplay is very important to us as well,” said Reid. Those of us following SWTOR already know all too well how important story…
Intergalactic Intel: Raiding
Intergalactic Intel: Raiding I heard a group of people enter my dorm room. I paid them no mind. I was focused. “What’s going on, on his screen?”“Dude I can’t even tell what’s going on.”“Ya, know I’m raiding here.” My annoyance was growing thin.“Wrong side Marth,” was screamed into my headphones. I quickly corrected it before killing my raid group.“Can you guys leave or be quiet? I need to concentrate.”“Sure, but what’s raiding?” Raiding is a form of end game play. As I mentioned last week in my PvP vs PvE article, it is one of the two options players have to do with their max level players, and at the moment is more popular than PvP in World of Warcaft, though requires a lot more preparation. The idea of raiding has many origins but was popularized during Everquest. Players group together in large groups of massive numbers. In the…
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…
SWTOR Not a Threat to WAR
BioWare Mythic says WAR is not in any danger from SWTOR but will not be going free to play. With SWTOR bringing in some amazing numbers just before its arrival, it threatens to knock many other games out of the way as it approaches. But we also have to remember that this is not the first time EA has worked on an MMORPG. Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is still there and BioWare Mythic VP Eugene Evans confirms it is not going anywhere anytime soon. He said “All of these games appeal to different people for different reasons. I’m very proud to be able to say that I’m running the studio that’s run Ultima Online for as long as it has – 14 years. Dark Age of Camelot just celebrated 10 years. We hope we can run these games for as long as there is player interest.” So it’s a definite…
GDC Online 2011: SWTOR’s Georg Zoeller and Game Feedback
We’re getting closer to the SWTOR launch and we’re trying tokeep you updated on everything relevant and interesting about the game. At this year’s GDC Online Principal Lead Combat Designer GeorgZoeller demonstrated some of the tools that the team uses to analyze playerfeedback and data, and then he explained how, through sophisticated technology,the team can make appropriate adjustments to the game as it wraps up betatesting and prepares for launch. Massivelycovered this story and it’s nearly 1,000 words of info on the game, much of itstraight from Zoeller himself. Massivelysays: He detailed what content creationinvolved, starting with assets, including creatures (which can take up to manyyears of work), static geometry, dynamic objects, special effects, visualeffects, and animations. Testing has gone on for more than a year, and BioWarehas gone through several iteration cycles. Each time the devs test, they gainfeedback and make necessary improvements. This is interesting to anyone currently…
Stephen Reid interview on Newsarama
Star Wars: The Old Republic‘sSenior Community lead Stephen Reid did a live interview today with Newsarama. He talked about his launchbeard (no shaving until TOR launch), about the importance of story and how muchfans are really looking forward to it. He talked about how he likes to playSmuggler but is waiting for launch and that he enjoys the Bounty Hunter. There aren’t any big reveals planned for NYCC, apparentlybut there are some “visuals” on the way. Maybe that means we will see some newtrailers or something. Another interesting bit from the interview was thatBioWare intended to announce the launch of SWTOR at NYCC but things did not go accordingto plan. Newsarama has a livestreaming event cam at New York Comic Con on their website. The fullschedule is also listed on the home page. Stay tuned here throughout the weekend for more news from NYCC.
Know your Lore: Karness Muur
The Sith Lord Karness Muur was one of the earliest Sith Lords of the old Sith Empire, creator of the Muur Talisman and the Codex of Karness Muur. Before that, he was amongst the members of the Jedi Order who turned to the dark side of the Force and caused the Second Great Schism. Biography Karness Muur was one of the Dark Jedi during the Hundred-Year Darkness, alongside XoXaan and Ajunta Pall. He seemingly was one of the creators of creatures such as Leviathans as well. Muur fought in the Battle of Corbos and was amongst the surrendering survivors. Alongside Pall and XoXaan, Muur was exiled from the Republic and arrived on Korriban with his fellow Dark Jedi. At the time, he carried a yellow-bladed protosaber. fter conquering the Sith species, Muur, like his fellow Dark Jedi, became a Sith Lord. He created the Muur Talisman to turn those in…