Disney is taking its next stab at the Star Wars license in video game form. Today, the company announced a brand new space combat title in the franchise’s already well-established catalogue. Developed by Area 52 Games, Star Wars: Attack Squadrons is a free-to-play PC dogfighting game, which will feature 16-player combat and a plethora of familiar Star Wars spacecraft such as X-Wings and Tie-Fighters. Rumors surrounding Attack Squadrons began to bubble up shortly after Disney closed LucasArts, when the company was seen registering multiple domains seemingly related to the new game. It seems that Lucas-inspired gaming is alive and well: along with this new game, fans can already expect the new, DICE-developed Star Wars: Battlefront, which debuted at E3, to land in 2015. The announcement came alongside a site launch and the opening of beta registrations. You can try your hand at putting your name down for the beta, but, be warned: the system has been…
Swtor-mined: Patch 2.5.1 | 12/17/2013
swtor_miner have data mined the newest patch, and found lots of new interesting stuff. The new patch hints new cartel market armor sets, new icons, a new mount, and other things: Interplanetary Component Exchange: A simple marketplace listing service for starship mechanics and service personnel looking to offer parts for sale, the Interplanetary Component Exchange has become increasingly popular in the criminal underworld, allowing military-grade equipment, weapons, components, and even whole starfighters to be bought and sold without attracting attention from Republic or Imperial enforcement personnel. Shipment 4: Starfighter Packs Wingman’s Starfighter Pack Dogfighter’s Starfighter Pack Galactic Ace’s Starfighter Pack Space Jockey’s Starfighter Pack Hotshot’s Starfighter Pack New Retailer Exclusive Cartel Card Pets WALMART Cartel Coins Mini-Pet Reward Thank you for your purchase of a Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Cartel Coins card. Enclosed is a special in-game reward as a thank you for your purchase! Your new Imperial Bomber “M-7 Razorwire” Starship…
Developer Blogs: IMPERIAL EDICT GR-1NC4
BioWare have posted a new role-playing developer blog on the Life Day event. I got a good laugh out of this, so Props to whomever wrote this. Really looking forward to Life Day/Return of the Gree later today! You can read the full post here, or if you are blocked by a firewall, you can read our copy paste below: BTW: GR-1NC4 = Grinch. IMPERIAL EDICT GR-1NC4 12.16.2013 Immediate Notice and Compliance Demanded. It has come to the Empire’s attention that dissident elements engaging in a tawdry and potentially dangerous seasonal event are planning to infect Imperial space with their insipid notions. This so-called “Life Day” encourages activities unbecoming of an Imperial citizen, including but not limited to: Dancing in inclement weather Singing unpatriotic carols Nonviolent physical contact with Wookiees This disgraceful menace of a “holiday”, during which time you are expected to comply fully with this edict, will last approximately…
Jedi Consular Shadow Leveling Build For 2.5
CJ from Swtor Savior have mailed us a new build for game update 2.5. This one is for the Jedi Consular Shadow and is a leveling build. The Jedi Shadow is an advanced class of the Jedi Consular. Quick and deadly, this melee DPS / Tank fighter uses the force to pummel its enemies into submission and to guard its allies from the battles that wait in a galaxy far far away. Jedi Shadows, while sharing the same starting class, are vastly different than their Jedi Sage counterparts. They can’t heal, but they make up for it in their ability to not only tank, but also utilize stealth to sneak in and out of battle, assassinating enemies of the Empire. Here is how you allocate the points: Rotations to use: Single Target: Force In Balance > Mind Crush > Force Strike > Sever Force > Spinning Strike > Shadow Strike…
Patch Notes – 17/12/2013 – Game Update 2.5.1 Patch Notes
Tomorrows patch notes are up. It looks like there is no new cartel packs for this Time. Maby there won’t be one for December? I was hoping the other Shipment 1 packs would make an appearance Highlights The Relics of the Gree Event will return on December 17th! Be sure to pay a visit to Ilum’s Western Ice shelf, as The Green Enclave will only be around until January 1st. Celebrate Wookiee Life Day starting December 17th. This new event will have players of all species throwing “Snowball Bombs” at each other with reckless abandon. This event will run until January 1st. Cartel Market General The Ashfall Tauntaun can now be unlocked in the Collections UI. Jedi Consulars and Bounty Hunters will now Flourish when using the /flourish emote. Classes and Combat Imperial Agent Sniper Lethality Lethal Dose now correctly affects Interrogation Probe. Items and Economy The following items no…
Flickr Star Wars Lego Group
This is just too cool not to share. The Flickr Star Wars Lego Group has some of the best Lego Star Wars scenes I have ever seen. They are fun, they are funny, some are flirty and some are just plain silly.
KOTOR is Getting a Supermassive Update
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic is by far one of the best games ever based on the Star Wars series. Fans were super happy to learn that it was being released for the iPad earlier this year. But now there is news that a supermassive update is on the way. IGN tells us more about this update: A new update for Knights of the Old Republic on iOS will add support for non-iPad devices, improve its visuals, update the user interface, and introduce controller support. Bioware’s excellent Star Wars RPG was brought to iOS exclusively on iPad earlier this year, but the new update supports the iPhone (4S or newer) and the iPod Touch (fifth generation). The update also takes advantage of the hardware’s retina displays, with improved visuals, bloom lighting (on A7 model iOS hardware), shadows, and widescreen support. To support the wider resolution, the user interface…
SWTOR Guide: How to Build a Blackbolt/NovaDive Galactic Scout Starfighter
This SWTOR guide is designed to give you a general idea of how to build a Blackbolt/NovaDive Galactic Scout Starfighter. You can use different components when building your Scout but this will give you a general idea of how to get started. Each of the following components are discussed below: Engine, shields, sensors, thruster, systems, capacitor, armor, primary and secondary weapons. Engine Maneuvers You can choose between the four different engine maneuvers listed below. All of them have 15 second recharge on use and when activated, they will all evade lock-on missiles. They also help you elude direct blaster fire by up to 30 percent for three seconds. The Barrel Roll– Allows you to roll the ship 360-degrees forward, which helps move you forward a long distance but you do need enough space to execute the roll so you don’t hit anything during the move and self-destruct. This maneuver is…
Kinect Star Wars Developer Terminal Reality Reports Shut Down
Many great game developers are kicking the bucket these days and now you can add Terminal Reality to the list. The Texas-based developer has apparently been closed. Gamasutra reports that Jesse Sosa has claimed on Facebook that the studio “seems to have finally shut down”. Sosa posts: “For those that have known me for a long time know that I was at TRI for 10 years. TRI seems to have finally shut down. A lot of different emotions are passing through me at the moment. I left there when I saw things going downhill but I have always kept up with them and hoped for the best. Now that they’re gone, I’m just kind of feeling nostalgic it seems. I hope they all land on their feet. Most of those guys are still like family to me. I know a good amount are on their way to Austin, so at least I’ll…
Scheduled Maintenance: December 17th – Patch 2.5.1
Servers are going down on Tuesday for maintenance and to implement patch 2.5.1. Life Day Event & Relics of Gree Start will also. Below is the announcement from the serverDriod from the official forum, and below that is the news on Life Day Event & Relics of Gree. ServerDroid Scheduled Maintenance: December 17th | Today , 03:16 PM On December 17th, all game servers will be unavailable while we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.5.1 will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday December 17th, 2013 Duration: 4 hours Time: 3AM PST (10AM GMT) – 7AM PST (2PM GMT) 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 Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:00 AM Tue Dec 17, 2013 04:00 AM -10 hours AKST Tue Dec 17, 2013 01:00 AM Tue Dec 17, 2013 05:00 AM -9 hours PST…
Things I learned while leveling my alts
This might not be rocket science, but here is a few tips and tricks I learned while leveling my alts. When you make an alt, you will probably look for ways to level without doing entire planets that you already did on your main. One of the biggest complaints about this game that I see is travel time. Companion quests, space missions, warzone daily quests, and flashpoint daily quests are attractive since you can get tons of EXP for basically doing little to anything at all and with 0 travel time. In fact, you can do all 4 of those things while being docked at the fleet. Mail to an alt on the same faction is instant, even if you’re sending items. Edit: you can send mail with items/credits to your cross faction alts. In normal mode flashpoints, the game seems to have a bias to drop items for the basic…
Mass Effect 4 Next Release From Bioware?
Since the recent release of photos depicting the Mass Effect development team as a part of the annual N7 Day Celebrations, gamers haven’t stopped talking about the upcoming game. The game itself is still in the development stage and there isn’t very much definitive information about it yet, but that hasn’t stopped these photos from sparking excitement and speculation all over the internet. People are analyzing and attempting to enhance the photos in order to learn more information, pouring over the tweets that accompanied the photos for hidden clues, and are searching through any information they can find in order to create an accurate picture of what is to come. But the fact is, there’s just not a lot of confirmed information at this point. Little can be seen in the shots that were tweeted; they were shots that were meant to tease, meant to make people speculate. And they…
Second Anniversary Rewards Coming December 17th
BioWare will be celebrating the second anniversary of Star Wars: The old republic on Tuesday December 17th. With this they will be rewarding all players with players with exclusive Scout Starfighter Paint Jobs and 25 stacks of faction-based fireworks. Pretty boring rewards if you ask me. I still have last years fireworks sitting in a cargo hold on 95%(+-5%) of my toons. I’m guessing that I’m not the only one here that still hve it. The paint job is kinda cool but it only applies to my least used ship. Am I mad about it? No. Disappointed? Sure. It’s hard to get mad about a freebie. Not so hard to be disappointed about feeling slightly under-appreciated as a customer. Below is the announcement: We are excited to celebrate two years of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™! As our thanks to you, we’ll be rewarding all players with exclusive Scout Starfighter…
New option to buy 14,500 Cartel Coins for $99.99
BioWare have added an option to the Cartel market for the big spenders. It’s now possible to purchase 14,500 Cartel Coins for $99.99 – ingame. It comes out at just about 145 Cartel Coins per dollar – roughly an extra 7.5 CC/$ compared to the 5,500 Coin package. Sadly, it’s not as great a deal if you compare what the 5,550 Coin denomination offers over the 2,400 (you get an extra 17.5 coins per dollar there), but it you’re looking to purchase an enormous amount of coins, it’s now the best value. The increase in “bonus” coins that you get for simply spending more on one purchase is not as great as it is between the $20 and $40 tiers. You could make one $100 purchase or a $20 and two $40 purchases. The $100 one would get you an extra 1,100 coins. Still a lot to spend on Star Wars fun bux,…
Life Day Gear to be Embargoed After Current Run
BioWare have been under fire for a while, for their decision on letting embargoed items reaper on the Cartel market. Eric Musco answered an angry player on the official forums yesterday concerning this issue: EricMusco Life Day gear recycled from last year?! LAZY | 12.11.2013, 02:01 PM Quote: Originally Posted by Rileysoph A few weeks ago life day stuff from last year were selling on the GTN for millions because they were SUPER RARE and UNOBTAINABLE and the people who had them could show everyone that they were there, that they were in the game since that time, that they participated in the event. And now you’ve brought back the exact same stuff from last year? Complete and utter laziness. There is no excuse. Bioware had a full year to come up with something new for it. I’m sorry but this game has just turned into a cash grab. I wouldn’t…
Patch Notes – 12/11/2013 – 2.5b Patch Notes
Sorry we didn’t post this yesterday, but I was out of town. BioWare have pushed a patch that should help out players with AMD video cards. I have had alot of trouble my self since I changed to windows 8, and so far, this patch seem to have fixed all issues. I don’t see a big increase in frame rate though, but I don’t have any random crashes anymore. What about you guys? Have the new patch helped out? Here are the patch notes: General Improved stability for players with AMD video cards. Players should be sure their driver is the most current video driver available from the official AMD website.
SWTOR Guide: The Galactic Starfighter Pike/Quell Battle Strategies
The Pike/Quell starfighter is designed to do maximum damage when you use missiles and torpedoes. The starfighter can be equipped with two types of missiles or secondary weapons that make it possible for you to use a variety of strategies when in battle. Most of the strategies used with the Pike/Quell are long-range combat oriented with some dogfighting capabilities. You can equip the Pike/Quell with loadouts that will make it difficult for your enemies to counter your attacks and there is a missile for all types of situations. Since it’s hard to get requisition, it’s a good idea to know what type of components you want for your Pike/Quell in advance. Knowing a little about the ship and what it has to offer will help you make the best decisions and that is what this guide has to offer. Pike/Quell Basic Weapons Strategies As you get accustomed to flying your…
SWTOR Bounty Contract Week Is Back!
If you missed your chance last month to participate in the SWTOR Bounty Contract Event, it’s making a return! All classes level 15 and up will be able to participate in this event. You will get rewards and exclusive items for completing these contracts. You also get a certificate you can use at the Cartel Bazaar vendor. Here’s some info on how to get started in case you have not done it before. SWTOR.com has some tips: The Bounty Brokers Association needs you! The BBA have posted too many contracts for their regular membership to handle and are asking anyone Level 15 and above to answer the call of bounty hunting between December 10 – 17, 2013. Interested? We thought so! Here’s how to get started: 1. First, travel to the Imperial or Republic Fleet, which is reachable by your ship’s galaxy map, transit shuttles, or the Emergency Fleet Pass….
Scheduled Maintenance: December 10th, 2013 – Patch 2.5.0a
Just a heads up that BioWare will be taking down the servers tomorrow December 10th, to preform maintenance. During the downtime, BioWare will implement a small patch. Patch notes are not up yet, but be sure to check back, as we will post them as soon as they become available. Maintenance: December 10th, 2013 | 12.06.2013 , 03:38 PM On December 10th, all game servers will be unavailable as we perform maintenance. Patch 2.5a will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday December 10th, 2013 Duration: 2 hours Time: 3AM PST (11AM GMT) – 5AM PST (1PM GMT) 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 Tue Dec 10, 2013 01:00 AM Tue Dec 10, 2013 03:00 AM -10 hours AKST Tue Dec 10, 2013 02:00 AM Tue Dec…
Master SWTOR Galactic Starfighter: A Guide
Now that we have the new expansion Galactic Starfighter, SWTOR players old and new are looking for ways to survive in this fast-paced and hectic game environment. You want to succeed in your challenging battles and progress forward so you might need a few tips. You don’t want to end up as that pilot who dies all the time so here are some tips to help you master SWTOR Galactic Starfighter: Know your ship- this is first and foremost one of the most important things you will be able to do. Your ship is your tool, inside GSF. You need to know it inside and out. A lot of this will come with practice and just playing a lot. But you need to know the basics of the ships. So take time to examine your ship for abilities and components. You need to know everything you can about your ship’s…
Star Wars Retro games: Rebel Assault
Since we try to cover all starwars gaming news here on SWTORStrateies, I thought it was about time I started a new column covering all the old classics. I don’t know how often I will make posts like this, but the point is I will play thought my old collection of Star Wars games and write about the experience. I will also post videos as often as it is possible. The first game I will play again is Star Wars: Rebel Assault. This is a Sega CD review, so you probably know what to expect. Really good audio, shit video. And you’d be right. The majority of the footage in here consists of moving computer renders. These give you the important stuff, like your levels and environments. They are pixelated crap. The other small portion of screen time goes to animated characters, which hold up pretty well. Unfortunately, you don’t…
Documentary: When Aliens Attack
To be honest, I’m not sure I will call this a documentary, but it fits nice in our weekend column on speculative space documentaries, and I have always liked this show. So today I present you When Aliens Attack. This was a television show that aired on the National Geographic Channel a few years back. I use to only see alien ET UFO type shows on the History Channel. Now, we have more documentaries based on truth and experiences that allow us to share in logic and inspiration for our imaginations. I enjoyed seeing the “What If” factor that the writers came up with and researched what was available to us on this planet as far as possible defense. We have military assimilations as what we call war games and this allows us to begin working models in scenarios with the various levels of our intelligence communities around the world….
Things you wish you knew when starting out in SWTOR
This is just a helping hand for new players. It might also be usefull if you are a returning player, since most of this will be obvious. When doing group content tell people if it’s your first time. People will often expect you to know quite indirect paths to follow which avoids combat and will therefore run ahead. You’ll end up pulling, getting killed and (more often than not) wiping the group. Try to establish how quickly your group wants to do a flashpoint – people will start raging if you’re not pressing spacebar (to skip cutscenes) at the same rate as them. The default price you get when you put something on the GTN (auction house) is often ridiculous – I think the price it suggests for molecular stabilisers is 5% or less of the usual selling price. Similarly, the price you can get from selling to vendors is…
PVP Enhancements Chart
As you now, we’re all about bringing you cool SWTOR to make things easier. We love it when players and fans create some really cool charts, graphs or tools to help us all enjoy the game a little better. We found a little something that is similar to this PvP enhancement chart we brought you a little while back, also made by a SWTOR player. If you’re looking for a great list of PVP enhancement and modification stats to help you figure it all out quickly and easily. The name of the PvP Enhancement is on the left, with columns for: Endurance Power Critical Surge Accuracy Absorb Defense Shield Alacrity Expertise If you’re tired of scrolling around so much trying to figure out which stats go with which enhancement, you can use this chart to help you find out quickly. You might want to bookmark or save it to your…