Servers are back up, and here today’s patch notes: 2.6.1a Patch Notes General Resolved an issue so that the Bounty Contract Week and Double XP Weekend events will begin correctly. Bounty Contract Week will run March 11th-18th, and the Double XP Weekend will run March 14th-17th. Missions + NPCs The Bounty Hunter Class mission “Albea’s Bounty” now properly resets when the mission “My Sponsorship” is reset. Apparently People were exploiting the The Bounty Hunter Class mission “Albea’s Bounty” to get tons of XP. I have no clue how it worked, but I am thinking of an exp exploit where you can keep on resetting “My Sponsorship” to do it over and over. My guess “My Sponsorship” is something that gives a lot of exp for the time needed to complete it while “Albea’s Bounty” doesn’t (they are in a logic loop of some sort).
Lucky-77 Swoop Video
Remember we told you about the new Lucky-77 Swoop? If you are a subscriber on on March 18, 2014, you will be gifted this new mount. Now BioWare have posted a new video showing off this exclusive new mount. I prefer the larger engine pods on this speeder (and the GSI Exploiter) to the crafted speeders, and I think the overall style makes for one of the better speeder designs in the game, and, hey, free dummy. Personally I don’t need subscriber appreciation gifts/bribes, but some subs have gone ballistic without BW tucking them in and telling them they love them from time to time so I’m just as glad they don’t waste effort on stuff like this.
Developer Update: Quesh Huttball Pit
SWTOR Associate Designer, Alex Modny posted a Developer Update regarding Quesh Huttball Pit today. The blog post was followed up by a forum post were he talks about player concerns regarding the map. People that have played the map once on the Public Test Server, says it is hard to play but a pretty fun map. There are a lot of places to get lost in, but it seems like that whoever can keep a slinger/sniper on the ball spawn will win most of the time. Alex Modney’s reply to this is below the blog post: Developer Update: Quesh Huttball Pit The most brutal game in the Galaxy is back! The magnanimous Giradda the Hutt has graciously opened up his latest Huttball Pit on the noxious planet Quesh and is currently looking for deaths participants to entertain him! The new Pit, built especially for Giradda, is a different layout than…
RIP Aaron Allston
Last week, the world lost a very wonderful writer and special person named Aaron Allston. He born on the 6th of December in 1960 and passed away on March 1st, 2014. He wrote and designed video games and also was well known for writing Star Wars books. He and Michael Stackpole worked together to create the X-Wing Series.
New Unique mount from Nightmare Dread Fortress
PVP’ers are not the only once getting a new awesome mount. SnipeAlott from the guild Reckoning on The Red Eclipse server, got this awesome mount, from Nightmare Dread Fortress on the public test servers last night. The boss that drops it is Brontes, and the mount is named Wings of the Architect. It’s a regular mount that flies like a jetpack without the ability to fly inside certain structures (like a jetpack can). Still amazing looking though. Check it out:
Scheduled Maintenance: March 11th, 2014 – Patch 2.6.1a
On March 11th, 2014, all game servers and SWTOR.com will be unavailable as BioWare perform maintenance. Patch 2.6.1a will be implemented during this downtime. We don’t have the patch notes yet, but be sure to check back, and we will post them when they become available. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday March 11th, 2014 Duration: 3 hours Time: 2AM PDT (9AM GMT) – 5AM PDT (12PM 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 March 11th, 2014 01:00 AM March 11th, 2014 03:00 AM -10 hours AKST March 11th, 2014 02:00 AM March 11th, 2014 04:00 AM -9 hours PST March 11th, 2014 03:00 AM March 11th, 2014 05:00 AM -8 hours MST March 11th, 2014 04:00 AM March 11th, 2014 06:00 AM -7 hours CST March 11th, 2014 05:00 AM…
Next Community Cantina takes place in Boulder this month
We kind of overlooked this story, but the next SWTOR Community Cantina Tour stop takes place in Boulder, Colorado later this month. I would imagine that we will get tons of new details regarding the SWTOR player Housing Announcement at this event, but who knows. Below are the details: We’re happy to announce that the next stop in the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Community Cantina Tour will be happening on Saturday, March 22nd, in Boulder! 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. Space is limited so be sure to come early. If you’re in the area, make sure to stop by and hang out with us! Venue: St. Julien Hotel and Spa Date: Saturday, March 22nd, 2014 Time: 7:00-10:00PM…
Housing Location on Coruscant?
Here is something interesting. Reddit user Darth_Wicked has quite a sharp eye! When he logged into the game after watching the Player housing announcement trailer, he was able to pinpoint were the apartment in the video is located. Taking into account the Capital Ship, the Senate and the like, plus the buildings being rebuilt in the background and it would seem this building… Further evidence… Edit. Below image was just data mined. We are close to something guys: Edit. Below image was just data mined. We are close to something guys:
SWTOR Player Housing Announcement Trailer: BIG News
Yes! It’s here -SWTOR Player Housing Announcement Trailer. We have been waiting for this announcement for a very, very long time. Fans have been asking for player housing in SWTOR since before the game even came out. It has been one of the most requested features for the game so far.
Screenshots of the new Giradda’s Rancor PvP Mount
Patchwork from Bastion server uploaded some pretty bad-ass screenshots of the new Giradda’s Rancor PvP Mount. The mount is one of the Season 1 PvP rewards, and only players at the very top of the pile who manage a rating of 1500 or higher will get this. The end of Season 1 will come with Game Update 2.7 The full list of PVP rewards are as following: (Based on your tier at the end of Season 1) Tier 5 – Rating 0001-1149 Unique Inaugural Tier 5 Title Tier 4 – Rating 1150-1224 Unique Inaugural Tier 4 Title A Mini-Pet Tier 3 – Rating 1225-1299 Unique Inaugural Tier 3 Title A Mini-Pet Ranked 1 Ranked Armor Set Tier 2 – Rating 1300-1499 Unique Inaugural Tier 2 Title A Mini-Pet Season 1 Ranked Armor Set Season 1 Ranked Weapon Set Tier 1 – Rating 1500+ Unique Inaugural Tier 5 Title A Mini-Pet…
Atlanta Cantina Tour News and Info
mmorpg.com have an article on what went on on last weekends Atlanta Cantina Tour: Last week, BioWare sent Star Wars: the Old Republic’s Community Specialist Courtney Woods, Community Manager Eric Musco, Producer Andrew Horowitz, and Lead Engineer Johan Allanson to Atlanta with swag and drink tickets in hand for the latest Cantina Tour stop. The now-traditional flashdrive that was handed out contained a series of images from upcoming content, and as expected, there was a Q&A session with Courtney Woods moderating the party. Many thanks to Dulfy of for the flashdrive assets, and Youtube user Mike Goeppner for capturing video of the event from which I culled the basic questions and answers. As is fairly standard at these things, players asked a lot of really good questions that we all want to know the answers to, but the BioWare folks weren’t going to reveal anything before its time. New playable species…
PTS Update – March 6th, 2014
A new patch was applied to the PTS on 3/6/2014. The new changes are below, and have been merged into the existing patch notes. You can check out the existing patch notes here. General New options for the Ground Target Area of Effect reticle: Sticky Ground Target Reticule – When active, this option makes it so your Ground Target Reticule doesn’t disappear if the cast fails. Example: Bounty Hunter attempts to activate Death From Above, but their target location is out of range. With this option active, the GTAoE reticule should persist and allow the Player to instantly attempt to recast. If this option isn’t active, then the reticule should disappear and the Player will have to click to cast again. Quick Ground Target Activation – When active, pressing a hotkey that belongs to a GTAoE twice should cast the ability at the feet of the Player’s target. Example: Player has…
Watch Galactic Starfighter Spotlight: The Scout & Strike Fighter
BioWare posted a new trailer, on how you can take control of the frontline with the fast and evasive Scout or the powerful and agile Strike Fighter in intense space PvP battles. Your not missing out on much but here it is: Watch the latest trailer and see how you can take control of the frontline with the fast and evasive Scout or the powerful and agile Strike Fighter in intense space PvP battles in the new Free-to-Play Digital Expansion, Galactic Starfighter! Also discover now the new Starfighter variants including the “Scout: Spearpoint” and the “Strike Fighter: FT-3C Imperium” coming in Game Update 2.7 Invasion this April! Jump into Galactic Starfighter today and receive two Pilot Suits! No minimum character level required.
TOR TV: PTS 2.7 stuff ( Warning: Spoilers)
SWTOR Patch 2.7 is available on the public test servers now, and video footage is coming in. These videos have tons of spoilers, so watch this on your own risk. The videos below include everything from flashpoint playthrough, rare loot drops to pre-chat with Theron Shan. I played both Republic Variants earlier. They were more challenging than KDY and Czerka, but not that much more. Both flashpoints featured heavily demolished versions of the starter planet. Korriban especially featured some areas where the path through the rubble wasn’t immediately clear. The only difference is the story and npc skins though. Lana Beniko was definitely more intriguing to me than Theron. Very interesting to see a story like this from both sides. Excited to see where it’s going. Korriban Incursion, Empire Theron Shan Patch 2.7 PTS – Assault on Tython (Imp) Assault on Tython Full Run [Solo Marauder] Assault on Tython & Korriban Incursion…
Massively Closes its SWTOR Doors
In what seems like a trend here recently, Massively announced it is closing its SWTOR doors. In this post, they explain a bit about the when, where’s and why’s: After four years, it’s time to migrate the Hyperspace Beacon to a new home. I’m not leaving Massively; I will still have my Elder Scrolls Online column, and there is a chance that the Hyperspace Beacon can make a cameo here every once in awhile. I still love the Massively staff, who are some of the best people in gaming journalism, and journalism is not a term I use lightly. But since we can no longer run the Beacon on Massively, I have created a website specifically for this column: HyperspaceBeacon.com. I will continue to do my weekly editorials on Star Wars: The Old Republic, but having a site dedicated to this column means that I can cover more Star Wars-y stuff too. There are new movies…
PTS Game Update 2.7: Invasion Patch Notes
Game Update 2.7: Invasion is now available on the Public Test Servers. You can find the patch notes for the current build below. If you haven’t done so already, check out our post on the data mining of the patch. You can check them out here and here. Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ PTS Game Update 2.7: Invasion Patch Notes Last Updated: March 3rd, 2014 All content and features on the Public Test Server are not final and are subject to change. Highlights Ranked Arena Season 1 has ended! Characters that had a qualifying rating will be mailed their rewards. Giradda congratulates the winners and looks forward to the bloodshed in Season 2! Ranked Arenas are still active for you and your team to prepare for the next season, which will begin in 2.7.1. Matches played between Seasons will not affect your ratings. Quesh Huttball Pit, a new Warzone, is available…
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Anniversary Edition?
How much would you like to see a KOTOR Anniversary Edition? If you answered high, you are not alone. There are many fans out there who are anxiously awaiting word that we might see an Anniversary Edition for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. And word has it, Microsoft executive Phil Spencer thinks this sounds like a good idea. Responding to a fan on Twitter, Spencer revealed KOTOR was one of his top 5 RPGs, alongside Ultima Online, The Bard’s Tale, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Fallout and Baldur’s Gate. He was then asked if we would see an Anniversary Edition of the game, as we have done with both Fable and Halo. While he acknowledged potential difficulties centered around developments since then, he also said he would discuss it internally to see if Microsoft could make it happen. @JacobTaylorN7 I like the idea. No idea how the rights would…
Star Wars Retro games: Force Commander
Force Commander is LucasArts second attempt at creating a Star Wars based strategy game for the PC, their first attempt was Rebellion. In Force Commander you play as Brenn Tantor a young Imperial field commander. The game starts with 3 training missions followed by a further ten mission for the Imperials. You then see the light and in the next thirteen missions you play for the Rebels. The training missions take you through the basics of the game system, and this is very important since they are quite hard to get to grips with. You need to learn how to work the BHCI (Battlefield Holographic Control Interface), this consists of the control panel at the bottom of the screen and the view of the battlefield above it. The view is in full 3D and you can see the units making their way across the terrain. The 3D view is one…
SWTOR Leveling a Toon Entirely Through Galactic Starfighter!
If you have ever wondered if it is possible to level from 1-55 entirely through the Galactic Starfighter, then your answer is here. It can be done and someone has done it and told us all about it. According to this post on the official SWTOR forums: “I logged in at level 1 and immediately queued – flying the Star Guard for a while to earn my Flashfire. 1-8 were done standing next to the shuttle on Ord Mantell, and then I rode it over to the fleet, where I remained until level 15. Returning to Ord Mantell, I did the class questline up to the point where Corso joins you as a guest, in order to use him as my co-pilot. I hopped the shuttle back to the Republic Fleet, and have been there ever since – I’ve become somewhat of a fixture on the Ebon Hawk‘s fleet –…
Swtor-mined: 2.7PTS New Maps | 3/1/2014
swtor_miner have been playing around with the new patch on the Public test servers and found some more goodies. First image is the Quesh Huttball map. The next two are the departure hangars for the new Flashpoints. (I wonder why there are 5 shuttles…) The rest are of the Tython and Korriban Flashpoints. Check it out below: My best assumption is that they copy pasted the old flashpoint rooms, and so they have 6 total rooms. and can fillup the other 2 when they feel like it. Personally I wouldn’t mind them pushing the rakata prime flashpoint a bit and have a flashpoint where we race against each other to find the Star Maps (multi planet flashpoint) I.e. Start at Korriban. Fight a boss, clicka shuttle takes us to Kysshyyk(pardon spelling) fight the 2nd boss there, jump to Dantooine. etc.
Moraband new official name of sith homeworld?
Here is something strange. In Star Wars Insider #148 that the name of the Sith homeworld is called Moraband. This kind of puts an end to the Expanded Universe-derived Korriban planet name. Unless Moraband is referring to the homeworld of ancient Sith Lords, and not the Sith species (Korriban). This will be kind of strange though since the ancient Sith Lords who discovered and enslaved the Sith species were fallen Jedi who caused the Hundred-Year Darkness around 7000 BBY. They weren’t born on one planet (Moraband). They were many Jedi from many walks of life who followed Ajunta Pall in his quest to use the dark side. Of course this is just all EU stuff, so as far as TCW is concerned it’s irrelevant. But if you’re trying to somehow keep the old EU alive with that sort of rationalizing, it doesn’t really work.. The Sith Lords of old were…
EA May Take Title for “Worst Company in America” for 3rd Time
It’s that time of year again and The Consumerist is having their annual contest for the “Worst Company in America”. And funny enough, it looks like Electronic Arts may take the title for the 3rd year in a row. The process of nominations started already and will continue through 5 pm ET on Thursday, March 13. No company except EA has ever managed to win the prize two years in a row (2012, 2013) as we brought you previously. And now it looks like they could take it for a 3rd year. The winner of this prestigious title gets the Golden Poo award. Both times that EA won the prize, Bank of American was next in line. No offense to any readers who may work for BoA but I’m not too surprised. So will EA win out again and remain the reigning champion or will some other bad American company take the…
Atlanta, GA Community Cantina – Flash Drive Assets
Here are the contents of the Atlanta Cantina Tour flashdrive. Items of interest includes some screenshots of the Quesh Huttball, new GS Denon map, screens of Tython/Korriban flashpoints that all coming with patch 2.7. I really like the concept art for the new flashpoint NPC’s. Theron Shan looks awesome! If you are not familiar with this guy, I can tell you he is a Republic spy in Republic SIS, and the secret son of Satele Shan, making him a direct descendant of the legendary Jedi Knights Revan and Bastila Shan. He is also the main protagonist in the webcomic series The Lost Suns, and the main character in the novel by Drew Karpyshyn called Annihilation New Cartel market items: Quesh Huttball Galactic Starfighter Denon map Tython and Korriban Flashpoints
TOR TV: Darth Malgus Solo
Solo kill Darth Malgus The False Emperor Flashpoint in SWTOR. This is really, really cool. We know a lot of people have tried to solo this fight and there have been players around the forums saying they did it but being able to see it on video gives the justifiable proof- and it’s just fun to watch. It’s an epic fight, a lot of fun and only possible because Vex’xus was at max rated gear and his level was 55. We think it’s pretty awesome to watch though. Do you have any videos of this kind of thing? Or do you have a favorite YouTube Channel or player that you love to watch gameplay videos or spotlights from? Tell us about it so we can share with all our readers!