BioWare will be hosting a 3 sessions of warzone testing, with the game developers on the Public Test Servers. People who are participate in the matches will get a small grant of cartel coins as a form of payment. Check it out below: Let’s Play Some Warzones | 06.08.2015, 03:54 PM Hey folks, One of the things we really wanted to make sure gets tested on PTS for 3.3, Warzones! With the first full weekend behind us, it is our goal to kick up the participation. So, let’s all get together later this week and play some Warzones together. When: Thursday, June 11th – 2PM – 5PM PDT Friday, June 12th – 2PM – 5PM PDT Saturday, June 13th – 11AM – 2PM PDT Where: Warzones! Queue up solo, or with some friends, for regular, non-ranked Warzones. What: Help us test PTS! In order to spice things up a bit… Multiple…
Star Wars: Battlefront will allow you to select different character heads
One of the biggest changes that we see so far in the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront game is that it will allow for more customization options, when compared to the older games. After watching the reveal trailer we found out that it will offer customizable loadouts to give you a specific playing style and it will also offer emotes for your use. EA Star Wars tweeted out that not only will there be loadouts and emotes but you will also be able to customize your character heads. In the reveal trailer we see the Ishi Tib, Human Rebels, and the Sullustan, and all of these will most likely be customizable. However, we wonder if The Empire will be part of the customizable group. How will it work if they are customizable? It would not seem too real if you see a stormtrooper walking around with an imperial commander hat on. Many…
BioWare Writer Talks Gay Romances and Sexual Diversity in Gaming
BioWare’s lead writer and developer for Mass Effect and Dragon Age, David Gaider, has decided to address the popular topic of sexual diversity in video games. Gaider is a 16-year veteran of the RPG studio and he recently wrote for Dragon Age: Inquisition. He began his interview by going over his reaction after he learned that BioWare’s 2005 RPG Jade Empire would allow gamers to have gay romances. “I remember hearing about when they made that decision to put it in and I was floored,” Gaider told Video Game Sophistry. “I mean, I’m gay myself, so I felt it kind of odd when I heard about it, how shocked I was because I just never thought that part of my life had a role to play in work. Like I said, it just wasn’t done. I didn’t even really consider the idea, so when they made that decision it was…
Voss Shrine Sculpture to be available in SWTOR Game update 3.3
The decoration that has been missing since the release of Star Wars: The old Republic: strongholds – the Voss Shrine Sculpturewill be available in patch 3.3 from the reputation vendor: “Voss Shrine Sculpture” is it in game? | 06.05.2015, 03:23 PM Originally Posted by Ulytau This item is seen on decors list as an achievement reward so i searched all achievements i can see in the game but i was able to see this particular piece as a reward for any of them. Will there be an hint on how to get it? Hey Ulytau, I got some information on this from the team, and here are the details… The Voss Shrine Sculpture is incorrectly listed as coming from an achievement currently in the game. Here is the plan on where you can find it and how to get it: The Voss Shrine Sculpture will be available on the Voss Reputation…
SWTOR Patch notes for Game update 3.3 PTS version
BioWare is aiming to get game update 3.3 on PTS tomorrow, Thursday the 4th. Below are the patch notes: Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ PTS Game Update 3.3 All content and features on the Public Test Server are not final and are subject to change. Classes + Combat Jedi Consular Sage Noble Sacrifice has been redesigned and renamed Vindicate: Vindicate restores 30 Force and heals a friendly target. The cooldown has been removed and a 2 second activation time has been added. All Sages will need to visit their class trainer to attain Vindicate. Benevolence now has a base Force cost of 65 (up from 50) and its healing has been significantly increased. Rejuvenate now has a base Force cost of 45 (up from 30) and its healing has been increased. Force Mobility now additionally allows Vindicate to be channeled while moving. Seer Deliverance now has a base Force cost…
Creating the graphics of Star Wars Battlefront
DICE’s Technical Art Director, Ken Brown, received the news that he would be responsible for the upcoming design of Star Wars: Battlefront, he had mixed feelings. He was excited but also wondering how he could possibly create such a complex universe on screen. Once DICE told him their main goal was to replicate the universe as close to the original as possible, all of his worries vanished. “Doing it true to the source was the only way. Being respectful to Star Wars™ and doing it right was something I wanted to be a part of,” Brown says. Brown and his team have a hefty job of making Star Wars: Battlefront look as perfect as humanly possible. With the help of a technology called Physical Based Rendering and Brown’s passion to create this detailed world, Star Wars: Battlefront’s outlook is amazing. “From a rendering and a technical perspective, PBR refers to…
Yavin 4 Stronghold and Togruta Reveal First Look – SWTOR Dev Stream Recap
On 3rd of June the SWTOR Developer Stream showed to the gamers for the first time the new playable Species coming with Update 3.3 – Togruta. They also walked us through the new Stronghold on Yavin 4. Here are some of Vulkk’s notes. For more, check the video below. * The event was hosted by Community Manager Eric Musco and the Designer Tobby * There will be male and female Togruta. At this point the team is not ready to show Character Creation and details. * Togruta is targeted for release in Patch 3.3. Its date for now is 21st July 2015. * The new Yavin 4 Stronghold is very very big. Has decoration slots both inside and outside and many, many hooks. * The limitations related to GSH remain the same, meaning players with 4 Strongholds will have to deactivate one if they want to have Yavin 4. *…
An Update on Squelching and Credit Spam in SWTOR
Eric Musco passed on a fairly elaborate explanation around the credit spam that has been happening, and what BioWare are doing, right from a member of the Security Team: Hey everyone, I’m a developer attached to our security team, and that includes fighting credit farmers, exploiters, sellers, and spammers. Unfortunately we have to be pretty tight lipped about any of our security work because we don’t want ‘The Baddies’ knowing what we’re doing. The best kind of work we do is where players don’t realize we’ve done anything at all. I promise you, though, we do work hard at ensuring the game experience is fun from all sides, and that includes cutting down on spam wherever viable. One of the more frustrating kinds of spam players have reported recently was a new approach: Tell Spam. We noticed spammers sending massive numbers of tells to players around the server. The rate…
Star Wars Battlefront tease reveals Han Solo following E3 gameplay pledge
A recent picture of Han Solo’s DL-44 heavy blaster pistol was posted by the official EA Star Wars Twitter account and the comment “Keep it on the DL… 44,” was posted along with it. The heavy blaster pistol is seen wielded by Solo in the Star Wars movies and it seems like it will be featured in Star Wars: Battlefront. Solo also used it in Battlefront 2 but it seemed to not be as effective against the Sith character roster. The only confirmed characters for Star Wars: Battlefront so far are Boba Fett and Darth Vader. However, DICE developers have told fans that they will be revealing more characters in the next few months. It seems possible that there will be more heroes at this year’s E3 event in June and it could possibly even feature Han Solo himself. The Design Director of Star Wars: Battlefront, Niklas Fegraeus, confirmed during…
Changes to the Cartel Market — Tuesday June 02 – 09. 2015
Here are the weekly cartel market items on sale for the week of June 02 – June 09 2015. Items No Longer Available Helpful links HYPERCRATE: ACOLYTE’S SHADOW PACKS ACOLYTE’S SHADOW PACK Price Change Old Price New Price Percent Change Normal Price Helpful links APPEARANCE OPTIONS: HUMAN HAIRSTYLES 1 120 240 +100% 240 ADVANCED GREEN CORE INDESTRUCTIBLE CRYSTAL 250 500 +100% 500 Information from TOR FASHION CAVERN VARACTYL 2400 1200 –50% 2400 Information from TOR FASHION UNLOCK: GUILD BANK ACCESS 600 300 –50% 600 VINDICATOR’S LIGHTSABER 400 200 –50% 400 Information from TOR FASHION GOING PLACES BASIC BUNDLE 375 250 –34% 375 VINDICATOR’S SABERSTAFF 400 200 –50% 400 Information from TOR FASHION
Interview with BioWare’s Manager of Analytics – Stats and Game Design Decisions
Every now and then we get the privilege of hearing from representatives of BioWare quote player engagement stats in order to back up their game design. However, we have never been lucky enough to delve into the deep insight concerning their usage. If you have been curious or just flat out frustrated, Alex Tremblay from BioWare has all the answers you need in a recent interview. Olib: Can you tell us a little about yourself? Alex: Hi, my name is Alex Tremblay. I’m the Manager of Analytics here at BioWare Austin. I’ve been working on SWTOR since well before the launch of the game. This is the first time I’ve been asked to talk about the game and I have to say, I’m excited. Through data, I feel very, very connected to both our game and players, but rarely do I get to directly interact.
PvP Economy and Ranked Rewards Restructure for Game Update 3.3
The SWTOR Combat Team published a new blog post today about the upcoming PvP Economy and Ranked Rewards change for patch 3.3: 06.01.2015 PvP Economy and Ranked Rewards Restructure for Game Update 3.3 Hello PvPers! As some of you may have heard on the Bad Feeling Podcast, we are making a few changes to Warzones and Ranked Warzone Arenas. Alex covered several of these changes in the interview but for clarity, and as an official jumping-off point for discussion, we wanted to go over the changes and the reasoning behind them here. Please feel free to join us in the discussion thread linked below. Let’s get started! PvP Gear Cost We think that getting a full set of PvP gear is too much of a grind. This is so much the case that only about 2% of PvP players have a full Dark Reaver set. Having at least Exhumed gear is a barrier…
SWTOR GUIDE – Marauder Annihilation and Sentinel Watchman (Patch 3.2.1)
Greetings, Ladies and Gentlemen This is the 3rd Guide for Sith Marauder Annihilation and Jedi Sentinel Watchman Disciplines I make in a never-ending struggle to always cover the latest changes with my favourite class. We all know Patch 3.2.1 can easily be called “The Broken Marauder and Sentinel”, but in every evil and sadness, there’s goodness and positivity! In this over 35 minutes long video I have shared everything I could think of. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be added or maybe even corrected in the future if test results show better approach. I have structured it in 3 major parts: – Overview of the Changes to the Advanced Class in Game Update 3.2.1 – Gearing and Stat Priority, Skill Priorities (rotation is a bad word :P) – Personal Opinion, Analysis, Suggestions, Tips and Tricks It is the longest video guide I have ever produced. Even though some of the basics…
Upcoming PvP Changes comming to SWTOR
The bad feeling podcast had the chance to sit down with Alex Modny and discuss PCP changes comming with game update 3.3 I encourage you to listen to the podcast, as it includes more stuff then in the notes below. There are some discussions on how new warzone maps get designed from start to finish for example. Podcast link to listen (1hr long) Notes: General Alex Modny (Systems Designer) and Eric Musco are present from Bioware Most of these changes will be coming with Game Update 3.3. No new PvP maps coming anytime soon. GSF is not dead, they might be doing some balance changes in the future but no plans for new game modes or new maps. They are changing AoE in warzones – they can no longer interrupt captures. No more force storms, Death from Above, Death Field etc. AoE CC still work to interrupt captures. This change is…
Bioware need your feedback on Strike Fighters
Alex Modny took on the official forums, asking for feedback on Galactic Strikefighter expansion, beginning with the Strike Fighter class: Let’s talk about Strike Fighters | 05.28.2015, 08:36 PM Howdy Flygirls and Flyboys! I’ll be blunt. Strike Fighters need lots of love. The original design is that they are the Jack-of-All and Master-of-None but they have filled out this role too well and because of it are rarely a compelling option. We want to talk about how Strike Fighters can be made into a good option to bring in any match, by any skill level. We have some ideas of what we want to do with them but because this community is always very impressive with communication and feedback we want to get your thoughts on what you think is the best course of action. We know there are some fantastic threads and posts aplenty that already covered this information…
Maybe it should not be called Star Wars: Battlefront?
EA and DICE seem intent on breaking my heart. First there’s the announcement that their upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront title won’t feature any prequel content. Understandable. Then there was the neglecting of a single player campaign, Galactic Conquest Mode, space battles, and drivable AT-AT walkers: basically unforgivable. But I still held out hope. “This is a Star Wars Battlefront title, I have to believe…” Recently, DICE announced that the new game title will be replacing the class system of the older Star Wars games that have unlockable weapons and gear. We want you to ask yourself a question, what parts of this new Star Wars game makes you think it’s a Battlefront title? The title of the game, that’s it. Besides the fact that you will be shooting things in the Star Wars setting and landscape, this game does not have any features that made fans fall in love with…
Sims 4 Patch Adds More Star Wars Costumes
After The Sims 4 was released in September of last year, it was criticized for having little content, which includes toddlers, swimming pools, and family trees. After a few updates quite a bit has been added to the game, making it the game it was hoped to be. The latest patch fixes bugs, and adds new features, including several new Star Wars costumes to celebrate Star Wars Day. The new Star Wars costumes that have been added to the game are Boba Fett, Aayla Secura, and Darth Maul. You will find these new costumes under “Styled Looks” in Create a Sim.
See How the First Lightsaber Was Designed
You can’t think about Star Wars without thinking of lightsabers. Even non-fans will think of sabers when they hear “Star Wars”“. Yahoo Movies has an interesting piece for us, complete with video, that tells how the first lighsaber was designed. Gwynne Watkins tells us: Star Wars set decorator Roger Christian always knew that the lightsaber would be one of his most important creations. It was the Excalibur of George Lucas’s universe, the weapon that would save the galaxy. There was just one problem: He had no idea what it should look like. In this exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from the Star Warsdigital collection (available on multiple platforms Friday), Christian demonstrates how a discarded piece of camera equipment led to his iconic design for the lightsaber. Christian, who won an Oscar for his work on Star Wars, tells Yahoo Movies that the special effects department’s early designs for the lightsaber looked like…
SWTOR Temple Chair Basic to be available for only 1 credit
There is a bug with the decorations in the Deep Core/Core Worlds packs, were the decoration window that erroneously labeled Temple Chair Basic showed up. This was never intended to be in the pack, and due to this, the décor will now be available for 1 credit from the rep vendor. Hey folks, We looked into this and it turns out the chair was never intended to be in the pack, but appeared in the Decorations UI as being available from it. To remedy this, We are going to add the Decoration to the Esstran Exports Reputation vendor for 1 Credit with no Reputation requirement. This will go into the game with 3.2.2. Thanks all! Tait, Grand Emperor of Chairs and End Tables
Battlefront Third Person POV Distinction
Star Wars; Battlefront veterans are happy about the inclusion of third person POV but many are concerned with the customization options of this. It seems very few vets actually played the game from a first person POV (if you were one of them, we want to hear from you in the comments) but there are some possible issues with the default perspective of the third person POV, at least for many players. Check out this image: You can see the difference above. Battlefront vets: what say you on this? Do you want to see changes made to the third person POV? Did you play in first person mode and plan to do so again? What is the benefit or potential downside to each? Some fans are concerned that DICE will not listen to player complaints and concerns and that they are taking a “we know best” approach to the game…
New SWTOR Dev Post – Upcoming Dev Livestream June 3rd
Earlier today Eric Musco announced that the BioWare developers for Star Wars: The old Republic, will be showcasing the Yavin Stronghold and Togruta on a developer livestream on Wednesday June 3. Here are the details: Upcoming Dev Livestream – June 3rd | 05.26.2015, 01:08 PM Hey folks! I want to let you all know about our next planned developer livestream which will be happening on Wednesday, June 3rd from 4-5PM CDT. You can check out the livestream on our twitch channel,here. What we will be showing over the course of our one hour stream is some of the new content we have talked about which is coming this year. First up, we will be walking you through the entirety of the new Yavin IV Stronghold! Second, we will be doing all of that as a Togruta. So tune in as we showcase the new Stronghold and playable Species coming to…
SWTOR: Final Game Update 3.2.1 Patch Notes
Last week we posted the early draft of the SWTOR Patch Notes for Game Update 3.2.1 scheduled to deploy tomorrow. Servers are going down tomorrow between 1230AM PDT (0730 GMT) – 830AM PDT (1530 GMT), and here are the final patchnotes: Game Update 3.2.1 Patch Notes Highlights Nar Shaddaa Nightlife makes a glorious return! Head to Nar Shaddaa between June 9th, 2015 at 12GMT and August 25th, 2015 at 12GMT to test your luck on Smuggler’s Luck and Kingpin’s Bounty slot machines to earn unique prizes! General Right-clicking selected Utilities before resetting them no longer displays an incorrect number of available Utility Points. Dye Module Tooltips for the Outfit Designer now appear properly in German clients. The typo in the Season 4 Top 96 titles has been corrected. Emergency Fleet Pass and Quick Travel cooldowns for Preferred players now match the Subscriber cooldowns as intended. Modifying a Dye in an…
Battlefront Will Run at Both 60fps AND 30fps on Consoles
If you are planning to play Star Wars: Battlefront on your console, there is some good news. It will run at 60fps in multiplayer and 30fps in offline split screen, so that’s pretty good frames either way you look at it. This means console players will still get a good looking game as well as reaction time you want to see from a shooter. With the kind of graphics they have put into this (even on the console version), the fact that it is expected to play at 60 frames is good. we’ll probably expect to see a lower resolution on the consoles to help account for this but with a graphic-heavy game like this, it’s to be expected. And, if you’re curious at seeing the difference in 30 vs. the 60, here’s a handy little link that does JUST THAT: http://30vs60.com/
How DICE used Photogrammetry to Capture Every Last Detail for Star Wars Battlefront
After DICE visited the Lucasfilm Cultural Arts Museum and some of the original filming location for Star Wars, the studio artists had many pieces of inspiration for Star Wars: Battlefront. The crew had one mission and that was to return to the places where the Star Wars franchise all began. During their time they captured the basis for hi-res 3D models for the game and this was anything from huge redwood trees to Stormtrooper helmets. The major component during this process is called photogrammetry. “Photogrammetry is essentially the technique of processing still images to produce a high resolution 3D mesh,” explains Andrew Hamilton, Lead Environment Artist. “There are a number approaches to this, but they all involve taking photos of a subject in real-life and running it through photogrammetry software.” The software is given the images and then makes referenced points that are all based on the angles of the…