Bioware shared some additional details on upcoming commendation changes during the regularly scheduled Community stream. The SWToR ommunity team made up by Eric Musco, Courtney Woods and Hillary Nicole shared information about what’s going to happen to in-game commendations after Shadow of Revan goes live. In detail: Ultimate and elite commendations are staying the same: While Musco admitted this is subject to change, he reassured that fans won’t lose any commendations either ways. Earning commendations: Some slight changes will occur impacting how fast you can earn the before-mentioned commendations. More details will be released next week. Three types of commendations become one: Every other type of commendation (excluding warzone) – classic, basic and planetary will be collapsed into a single type of commendation called basic. As mentioned above, Musco was quick to point out that these changes are not confirmed and could change as a result of testing before Shadow of Revan goes live….
Bioware teases with details about “Shadow of Revan”, new playable race, solo Flash points and more!
Massively, Hyperspace beacon, MMORPG and Ten Ton Hammer were treated to a unique opportunity by Bioware recently. During a livestream, lead writer Charles Boyd, producer Bruce MacLean and Game director James Ohlen shared more information about what’s coming to the latest SWToR expansion. Some of the highlights included: There will be a Patch 4.0 – there are more stories to be told (and probably more expansions in 2015) SWToR development is speeding up – expect to see more exciting announcements after the release of Shadow of Revan Patch 3.0 might expand to other locations other than Yavin IV and Rishi Togruta will be the next playable race and will be a Cartel Market item Solo flashpoints confirmed – A droid companion will be available to carry players through tough fights Class missions return – you can now play your unique class mission story
Star Wars: Episode VII Concept Images Leaked Online
In our regular quest for more information about Star Wars: Episode VII, we have an update about more leaked images. In this case, we’re talking about dozens of Star Wars: Episode VII concept images being leaked online. This post from Entertainment Weekly Inside Movies tells us about an anonymous Imageshack account by the name of “themillenniumfalcon” that posted 32 drawings from the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie that revealed some major details from the film, due in theaters Dec. 18,2015. If they are, in fact true, these photos tell us some interesting things about the film. WARNING: Potential Spoilers Ahead Remember this is just a rumor. We don’t actually know if the leaked photos were real and even if they were, they are just concept images. There’s no guarantee this is what will actually end up in the final movie product anyway. With that in mind, here is a snippet of what Inside Movies…
Episode 7 Ready for Post Production?
According to Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, filming on Episode 7, the much-awaited Star Wars movie sequel, is about three weeks from being completed. Most of the footage is apparently done, and after the actual camerawork is finished, the movie will enter post-production, where the special effects, the sounds and the score shall be added, which will apparently take about another year to complete. Given that the above said announcement was made about a week ago at the Industrial Light and Magic Studio opening in London, it is safe to assume that the movie is indeed on track: great news for fans of the series as well as for the fans of the upcoming Battlefront title currently under production by DICE. While the actual plot tie-ins between the Episode 7 and Battlefront will be few and far between, the release of the two titles will apparently be timed to more or less…
TOR Radio: A galaxy of podcasts!
After a brief hiatus for 2 weeks, we’re back with the latest and greatest SWToR podcasts out there. Obviously Shadow of Revan is the most talked about topic this week as well as Eric Musco’s recent interview with Snave and upcoming PVP changes. 1. OotiniCast – Episode 170 (Released: October 16,2014) Hosts discuss Patch 2.10.1c, the various answers flowing from the New York Community Cantina, and include many tips for making the most of 12x XP. Community News Holofeed News 2. Old republic Radio – Episode 83 (Released: October 21, 2014) The cast finally catches up with all the 3.0 updates Review of Cantina event in New York In SWTOR 101, the cast go over thoughts for all those returning to the game after a long hiatus 3. TOROCast – Episode 217 (Released: October 20,2014) Snave joins SWTOR Miner and Road to talk about Community Management Leveling with x12 EXP…
More Cancelled Star Wars Games
In the land of Star Wars games, many never make it to be played and enjoyed. It’s a cold, hard truth of the industry and one that we have seen happen time and time again, to the frustration of many onlooking fans. We experienced this with Star Wars 1313 and now you can add a cancelled, complete Rogue Squadron game for the Wii to the list. A recent interview on IGN’s podcast “Nintendo Voice Chat” we hear from Julian Eggebrecht, President of Factor 5 (now defunct) about where his team was at working on different Star Wars games for multiple platforms. In this interview, Eggebrecht says, “As you might remember, it leaked from LucasArts that we were working on a trilogy compilation, and that was actually for the [original] Xbox.” This trilogy was to contain: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader Star Wars Rogue Squadron…
SWTOR Datamined Abilities [Spreadsheet]
If you’re looking for some info about the new SWTOR class abilities, then this data-mine is for you. Not only is it chock full of useful info, it’s done in a fantastically organized manner, in a Google Doc spreadsheet that anyone can look at. It’s sorted by class and neatly organized for you to find all the information you need in one neat location. This is a resource you’re going to want to bookmark. I don’t know how many hours of work went into this project but it is very useful and well done. This spreadsheet is loaded with data, all carefully sorted into neat categories for you. List of datamined abilities, sorted by class, discipline and level (All Imperial classes) can be found here. A user on Reddit also highlights some interesting points obtained from this spreadsheet and the abilities: Couple of General comments about the new abilities: All…
Enhanced guild conquest option now available
Patch 2.10.2 was released yesterday and Bioware discovered (!) an additional feature they implemented as part of the update. According to Community Production Coordinator Tait “pariahloki” Watson the enhanced guild conquest option is: Hey folks, After doing a check to see what else was pulled into 2.10.2, we found that the ability for Guild Masters to allow other Ranks within the Guild to start Invasions was also put in! GMs can set this permission within the Ranks tab in the Guild window. I’ll put that in as part of my Patch Note update as well. -tait It’s good to see Bioware working hard to implement additional features in the game based on the feedback they receive from the community.
Community News: The Revanites’ Ascendance
A new community news post was made available today from Bioware that sets the stage for the upcoming Shadow of Revan Expansion. As the title implies the post takes a closer look at a Revanites’ and their impact on both Republic and Empire. The author of the report, Shroud, makes the assumption that Revan’s followers have infiltrated the two main factions in the game and are slowly working towards their greater plan to conquer the galaxy. You can read a snippet from the post below FROM: The Shroud TO: All Assets (Level 25 Encoding Active) SUBJECT: The Order of Revan I have mentioned in the past that a number of embedded Imperial and Republic assets have been eliminated. Some of these deaths appeared purely incidental, while others were very obviously assassinations executed with varying degrees of competence and flair that would not suggest a pattern. I now believe it was a mistake for me to…
TOR TV: SWTOR – What The Game Could Have Been
Youtube user Kid Lee has posted an extremely interesting video about how much the game has changed since the original SWToR beta. He provides video and screenshots to demonstrate the features that never made it into the game. While one can only speculate why these elements never made it to the game, it’s certainly interesting to see what got left out. You can follow KidLee on: Twitter: http://bit.ly/1fDcU1X Facebook: http://on.fb.me/RpNZDP Tumblr: http://bit.ly/1fUxQMB or Email: KidLeeASF@Gmail.com
Lies, damned lies and statistics: MMO subscription numbers and SWToR
MMO subscription number tracking is a challenging venture. Most developers are extremely careful when crafting public releases relating to how many subscribers their game currently has. For better or worse, these values are considered to be a measure of success (or failure) of our beloved games and tend to offer insights on subscriber trends. Typically one would read announcements about player base increases in official websites or fansites, while occasionally quarterly reports would indicate decreases somewhere in the fine print. Some recent examples include World of Warcraft’s increase to 7.4 Million subscribers and SWToR’s announcement of having 1 Million subscribers since changing to the free-to-play subscription model. Some of the MMO subscription data MMOData.net used to offer At the same time, some community websites have attempted to track subscription numbers and offer clarity on the health of various MMOs. The most recent example is MMOdata.net that was probably one of the best community efforts out there….
Patch 2.10.2 notes – Turn your stronghold into a gambler’s paradise for only 1 credit!
About a month ago, Bioware admitted that the Smuggler’s Gambit slot machine wasn’t part of Constable Stronghold’s pack. To make up for the bug, Bioware’s community manager, Eric Musco, promised to rectify the issue by offering the before-mentioned item for purchase in-game for only 1 credit. Smuggler’s Gambit slot machine We only had to wait for a month for Mr.Musco’s promise to become reality. Patch 2.10.2 notes were recently released and among other things specify that the slot machine is available for purchase through the Binary Star Reputation Vendor. In specific: 2.10.2 Patch Notes Highlights 16-Player Operations have returned to Group Finder! We have made behind-the-scenes improvement to prevent the performance issues that we encountered when the system was initially made available. Check out the Group Finder to enjoy the faster queues and better rewards of 16-Player Story Mode Operations! General Imperial Crate (Single), Imperial Crate (Stacked), Republic Crate (Single), and Republic Crate (Stacked) have…
Get them while they last! Dark Horse Comics launches Star Wars Humble Bundle!
If you’re reading SWToRStrategies.com you know that Dark Horse comics will be transferring its Star Wars license to Marvel at the end of this year. This development isn’t stopping the former from releasing great deals on existing Star Wars publications.
Discipline calculator now available!
With the upcoming release of Patch 3.0, SWToR gamers will have to adjust to a new discipline system. The feedback received from the community has been mostly positive but the challenge of mastering the new system definitely remains. Dulfy and SWToR_miner put together a discipline calculator that helps fans familiarize themselves with the new system in addition to experimenting with new setups. The calculator is still in beta and what’s even more impressive is that it was built from information retrieved from video streams.
Battlefront 3 Footage Available?
Well…yes and no…you see, apparently, well before DICE got the fate of one of the world’s most anticipated titles in gaming to fall into their laps, another crew had a run at Battlefront, and they actually put together a nearly-finished product, which – due to a set of unfortunate circumstances – never really got the see the light of day, or rather that of the screens of computer/console users world-wide. The company behind the effort was Free Radical, and according to some, they were about 99% finished with the project when they were forced into administration and when they finally closed for good in December 2008. Later, Crytek picked up the enterprise and transferred the team to various other projects, as Battlefront was cancelled, up until DICE came into the picture earlier this year to step up to the plate. Now then, why exactly is this bit of the game’s…
Interview with community manager Eric Musco
Twitch user Snave1208 had the chance to interview BioWares community manager for Star Wars: The old Republic, Eric Musco. It’s a pretty good interview, were Eric talks about what he do, and were SWTOR is heading. Snave1208 don’t let Musco off easy when he was trying to dodge answering some of the questions. But i do sound like the games PVP wont get much better in the future. Personally I am not surprised or remotely happy with the PvP answers but I partially understand where Musco is coming from. He has a rough job. Their “better than cross-server” is likely to be something like “Queue for 500 matches this month and get the rest of the Baron Deathmark gear!” This is the mentality that they have, and it’s harmful. Hopefully iy will change in the future though!
TOR TV: REVAN (History & Lore before SWTOR 3.0)
Vulkk have uploaded an excellent video about on History, Lore & Facts about one of the most iconic characters in the Star Wars Universe – REVAN. The video also includes Biographies of Theron & Lana prior to SWTOR 3.0. In this video he got Teo from Ootinicast to do the narrations. He did an outstanding job and I hope you will enjoy watching this vide as much as I did. Check it out: Hey, everyone! After hours of hard work, research and gathering somewhat (!) good pictures, I present you my History & Lore video about REVAN – one of the most iconic characters in the Star Wars universe. It deals mostly with the events in his life prior to SWTOR. For this episode I have asked Teo from Ootinicast to do the narrations. He did an outstanding job and I hope you will fully enjoy his readings. The last few mins…
Scheduled Maintenance: October 21st, 2014
On October 21st, all game servers and SWTOR.com will be unavailable as BioWare perform scheduled maintenance. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday October 21st, 2014 Duration: 4 hours Time: 3AM PDT (10AM GMT) – 7AM PDT (2PM GMT) Game Update 2.10.2 will be applied during this maintenance, and includes the return of 16-Player Operations to the Group Finder, a UI indicator for the subscriber 12x XP boost, and bug fixes. As with all pre-maintenance information, this is subject to change and shouldn’t be considered final until the servers come back up! Time Zone Start Time Scheduled End Time UTC Offset HST Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:00 AM Tue Oct 21, 2014 04:00 AM -10 hours AKDT Tue Oct 21, 2014 02:00 AM Tue Oct 21, 2014 06:00 AM -8 hours PDT Tue Oct 21, 2014 03:00 AM Tue Oct 21, 2014 07:00 AM -7 hours MDT Tue Oct 21, 2014…
The Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina Tour Arrives in Las Vegas, Nevada!
BioWare announced that the next stop in the Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina Tour will be happening on Thursday, October 9th, in New York. This is your chance to join the Star Wars: The Old Republic community for a development team Q&A as well as complimentary drinks*, food, and giveaways. Every attendee will be receiving a highly coveted M8-3R Astromech code. If you’re in the area, make sure to stop by and hang out with the SWTOR Team. Venue: Mandalay Bay North Convention Center Date: Saturday, November 15th, 2014 Time: 7-10PM PST Address: 3950 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas, Nevada 89119 Space will be limited, so be sure to arrive early! You can RSVP on Facebook here (Facebook RSVP is not required for and does not guarantee admittance). Edit: Eric Musco did a Forum update on this: EricMusco The Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina Tour…
Dev Blog: Ranked PvP Season 3 Rewards
BioWare posted another developer blog today. This one about Ranked PvP Season 3 Rewards. As most of yo will remember, the pvp developer team was hit by a shit storm by the player community for not having good enough rewards. Apparently the pvp team have been listening and is adding a sweet mount to the Season 3 Rewards. Tis the season for furious action! We hope everyone has been enjoying Season 3 thus far and ready for more intense action as we get closer to the wire. Giradda and Baron Deathmark have once again graciously opened up their personal collection of antiques and prized possessions to honor the glorious entertainment you are obliged to offer! Our goal is to get the rewards out to you, the PvPer wanting to best every opponent in the Arena of Death, sooner so you can hunker down and get to a’ slaughtering! Excitement begets…
Dev Blog: The Class Story Leveling Event
We are running behind these days here at swtorstrategies, and I apologize for that. But yesterday, Associate Producer for Star Wars: The old Republic, Andrew Horwitz, posted a new developer blog about the The Class Story Leveling Event, that is going on right now. If you pre-ordered Shadow of Revan and stay an active subscriber, you will earn 12x XP from class missions – enough to play through the game all the way to level 55 playing only epic story missions. Training new abilities will be free for you, which means you’ll have all the extra credits you need to buy a nice new speeder. What better way to prepare for the new expansion? The event will run until midnight on December 1st, at which point XP rates for class missions will return to normal for all players. How it Works If you pre-order the Shadow of Revan digital expansion, and…
SWTOR 2.10.1c Patch Notes
Servers are back up after today’s maintenance. This maintenance only addresses an update to BitRaider and the Launcher. The client update addresses compatibility with the new BitRaider. Below are the patch notes: 2.10.1c Patch Notes Launcher Updated BitRaider to improve streaming performance. Updated the Launcher to support Game Update 3.0: Shadow of Revan. Please note that the Launcher will restart twice during this update. Future updates will act as normal. General Introduced Client changes to support the new BitRaider version. If you don’t know what BitRaider is, bstr413 has a pretty good explernation: BitRaider is a program designed by a different company than EA for easily patching a game. It also allows you to play part of the game while streaming the rest of the patch. It also allows for easy repair of a corrupted program. BioWare uses this technology so that new players can download half the game and start playing…
Star Wars: Battle Pod Arcade Game Revealed
There’s a new Star Wars game coming, this time to the arcades. The first Star Wars announcement to come out of New York comic-Con was the news that Bandai Namco has unveiled Star Wars: Battle Pod, an arcade game. In this game, players will sit in a simulated cockpit and be able to pilot several cool vehicles on various missions. Here is some info from the official site for the game: The game includes five stages that recreate the fiercest battle scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy. Loaded with features and unique gameplay elements, players can experience the impact of the explosions and destruction that will leave them with a sense of actually piloting and taking part in action-packed scenes from the films. Enabling the player to be surrounded by gameplay images and experiences on the dome screen, players will truly take command of the vehicles that appear in the…
Extra Life 2014: Playing for a Good Cause
Have you ever wanted to do something good for someone else? What if you could play the games you love and have it benefit a good cause? That is exactly what’s happening this month! Don’t ever let anyone try to tell you gaming is a waste of time. Extra Life 2014 is a charity campaign that happens each year since 2008 where tens of thousands of gamers from all over the world come together to save the lives of kids through a charitable organization. It happens on a Saturday in Autumn and this year the big date will be October 25th. Play Games. Heal Kids. Here’s how it works: Originally designed as a 24-hour marathon of gaming, Extra Life has evolved to mean different things to different people (though most of our participants still attempt the marathon). To participate you need only sign up (free) and gather the support of…