On December 20, 2011 when SWTOR launched to Europe and the United States, big news hit Australia and New Zealand. SWTOR made an official announcement confirming the launch of the game to those regions in 2012. So if you are an Aussie who’s been waiting to hear if you will get SWTOR, the time has finally come. Here’s what Stephen Reid had to say on the official forums: “We can confirm that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be launching in Australia and New Zealand in the spring of 2012. Right now we are targeting March 1st, but that could change as our number one priority is making sure that customers have a great service to play on. For those of you who may have already imported the game, we will be investigating solutions to allow you to continue to play on a local server once they come online in…
Daniel Erickson interview
Ryan and Jeff from Giant Bomb did a really good interview with Lead Writer Daniel Erickson on Everything from from queues, instancing to LS/DS permanence. Daniel is great at doing these interviews, as I personally would jump up and punch Jeff for constantly interrupting me. Remember to listen to the part around 11:15 -12:15 as it is pretty much cut and paste what was happening on forums and websites as people were hearing about the game for the first time, and I still see people expressing concern that they’ll just be playing a single-player game presumably because “it’s Bioware.”””
Star Wars’ universe is getting a lot bigger Says USA Today
For those people out there who have yet to hear about SWTOR, USA Today brought them the news this morning in a feature piece about the very popular MMORPG. According to their report by Mike Snider, “That disturbance in the Force is millions of voices crying out in delight as they join the battle of Jedi vs. Sith in Star Wars: The Old Republic, a huge new online game and universe.” While regulars to this site already know about SWTOR, it’s great to see a mainstream media source reporting on the game and its popularity on launch day. First, they tell us a little about BioWare: “The Edmonton, Alberta-based developers are hardly video-game padawans. BioWare’s recent role-playing successes include series such as the fantasy Dragon Age and the sci-fi saga Mass Effect. And the company has a history with the Star Wars universe, having developed 2003’s Knights of the Old…
Hands On with SWTOR: Natalie Shoemaker and PC Mag SWTOR Review
For five years we have waited for this game. We were not waiting alone. Natalie Shoemaker of PC Mag has been waiting as well and now that the big day has finally arrived, she’s sharing her hands on experience with the Internet world. She starts us off with an overview (for those who might still not know much about the game, yet): “The company has set lofty (read: expensive) goals for itself: A fully voiced game complete with cut scenes. BioWare also hasn’t left SWTOR without the company’s signature touch for creating involved storylines for each character class, as well as dialogue options and a moral choice system that affects certain outcomes of your game (though it’s currently uncertain how much in SWTOR).” She then tells us about some of the basics of SWTOR and what you can expect from the game. Again, basic info for those of us who…
Game Hunters USA Today brings us Interview with BioWare Doctors
SWTOR is big news these days and with the launch of Star Wars: The Old republic – we heard about it all from all directions. USA Today’s Game Hunters had a fantastic interview with BioWare doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka about the game and its development. The article by Mike Snider would draw interest to even those who have not already bought the game. First, they talk a little about the undertaking and the development process for SWTOR. Then they tell us about how big of a project this is for BioWare, something that those of us who have been following the game for years definitely know already. Muzyka says “It is probably bigger in content than all prior BioWare games put together. The volume of content is going to give players a ton of different things to do and many different kinds of activities, too, so it’s really…
SWTOR as a Single Player Game
Are you the type of gamer who loves RPGs but typically skips the multiplayer aspects of MMOs? You might still like SWTOR. While I enjoy my fair share of multiplayer games, I also have a tendency to go solo quite often. I spent a good year or more of my 7-year history in World of Warcraft playing solo. I just got tired of everything else there was to do in the game and focused on speed-leveling characters, getting achievements, making money on the Auction House or whatever other random activities gave me enjoyment at the time. I leveled some characters outside of a guild and I didn’t talk to anyone- just ran through doing my own thing. I have discovered in my years as a gamer that other people like playing this way sometimes, too. One gamer wrote about it on Arstechnica.com in “Forever alone? Star Wars: The Old Republic…
SWTOR vs. WoW Big Media Coverage Roundup
People are talking about SWTOR- this we already know but now that the official launch date has arrived, we see big media coverage at an all-time high. We also continue to see the comparisons made between SWTOR and WoW. USA Today had two stories on the game and it was also covered by large news organizations like the New York Times, The Telegraph, BBC, Daily Mail, and FT.com all of which had something to say about SWTOR and WoW. Big media roundup of SWTOR vs. WoW: New York Times “On Tuesday, Electronic Arts will release Star Wars: The Old Republic, a sprawling multiplayer online adventure that is the first legitimate competition that World of Warcraft has faced for the hearts, minds, hours and dollars of millions of players. “Star Wars” games have been around for decades, but the Old Republic provides the most extensive opportunity to become your own Jedi…
ALERT: Major GAME BREAKING Bug. Don’t let this happen to you
Another game bug has been reported on Reddit and so far, it doesn’t seem to be repaired yet although multiple reports say that BioWare is aware of the issue. This Reddit user calls it a “game breaking bug” and essentially, this is the best way to describe it. If it happens to you, then your toon will be stuck, unable to continue in the game until there is a fix. It has been reported/discussed on the official forums also. The Reddit poster explains: After completing some space dailies today, I found that I had 5 pending quests and could not send my companions out on missions. My inventory wasn’t full at all when I was doing the missions, so the fact that they ended up as pending mystifies me. While still on the ship, I tried clicking on the pending quest icon to redeem the rewards, but NOTHING happens. No…
The Danger of a New Star Wars MMO
I wonder how much George Lucas himself was involved with the creation of Star Wars: The old republic. Personally I’m not even sure he knows much about the game – Which is properly also for the best!
“Your Saga Begins” Launch Documentary
With the official launch of Star Wars: The old republic this morning, BioWare have released a new documentary titled ‘Your Saga Begins’. Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ has launched! This is an incredibly exciting time for everyone at BioWare and LucasArts, and to celebrate this event we invite you all to watch this launch documentary, “Your Saga Begins.” Watch as members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic development team discuss the many facets of building the game, from bringing life to the epic stories for each class, to hand-crafting the numerous iconic worlds that you can explore!
Physical copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic sold out on Origin
The big day is here – the launch date of Star Wars: The Old Republic and the popularity of the game is at an all-time high. It’s easily the hottest PC game of 2011, or at least of the holiday season. Examiner reports that on Electronic Arts’ Origin store has sold out of the physical copies of the game prior to its release on December 20th and that they do not plan to take backorders. EA reports the sellouts due to “overwhelming response” and the game is listed as “Temporarily Unavailable” on the website. They also said, “This will be running out of stock across the map and Origin will be the first place to get additional inventory once available.” The electronic version of the game is still available on Origin at this time. Standard editions were also still showing available on Amazon, GameStop and Best Buy websites. With Christmas…
Maintenance Window Update: SWTOR Servers Down December 19th
Oh noes! You cannot access your SWTOR server! Can’t get on the forums, either? You’re not alone. Remember those maintenance windows I told you about last week? Well, we are officially in Maintenance Window #2 right now. This update will last until 12am GMT and officially ends the pre-launch period. Stephen Reid tweets (as he heads off to the Austin launch party): “#SWTOR servers will be back up at 11PM CST (9PM PST / 12AM EST / 5AM GMT / 6AM CET).” Reminder: Maintenance Window #2 Date: Evening of December 19th (CST) Time: 6PM CST (4PM PST/7PM EST/12AM GMT/1AM CET) All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to complete before 11PM CST, and will mark the end of Early Game Access for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. So… what are you going to do while the servers are down? UPDATE: all servers…
The Old Republic already has over 1 million players – analyst
Are you in SWTOR early access? If so, you could be part of 1.5 million gamers who are already experiencing what SWTOR has to offer. Pre-order customers like yours truly have been enjoying the early access offered by BioWare which served as a great incentive for people to lay down some cold hard cash on the game before it’s official launch. While the big day is not until tomorrow, reports say that 1.5 million people could already be in the game. We have been getting in by “waves” of people at a time, in the order in which our pre-order codes were put in after purchase. While this was intended to ease the access and spreadout login queues, there have still been some long queues for access, especially throughout the weekend. At its worst point on Saturday night, it took me two hours to get into the server that my…
Old Republic will ‘live or die’ on future content Says BioWare
BioWare recently admits to what most of us have already beensaying- SWTOR will live or die based on the future content. Because they knowthis, they also have a very “aggressive” plan to develop their future content. Theyunderstand the importance of their post-launch content and will be putting agreat deal into ensuring gamers get just what they paid for and what theyexpect. BioWarediscusses their “aggressive plans” for post-launch and senior writer AlexFreed says, “I can’t talk about specifics for post-release content. I cansay yes, there are many people working on that content – MMOs live or die basedon adding new content, refining old systems, adding new ones – all of that.”” He clarifies that they are not doing a single-player gamewhere you just put it out on the market and then you’re happy that it’s outthere. Instead, they want to continuously offer more through the game, addressplayer concerns and keep an…
The Guild Sphere: Honour Guard
This week I sat down with some of the leadership from Honour Guard, a PvE focused Republic guild playing on Basilisk Droid (EU-PVP) Hope you enjoy the Interview. Where did your guilds name come from? When creating the guild we discussed various options for the guild name, we eventually went with Honour Guard because we wanted an honourable guild that plays fairly and gets along with others. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? We are a group of skilled members who have had a lot of experience in MMO’s. We play fair and we always win. We also play Garry’s Mod How did your guild come about? Shortly after the announcement of SWTOR myself and the other two guild leaders decided to create a guild with a friendly atmosphere, prior to creating the guild we were members of a guild in Star Wars:…
Intergalactic Intel: Crafting
“Okay so the quest is over here an-…Nigel?” “Yes?” “Where is Qyzen? We need him for this quest.” “Oh he’s off doing diplomacy.” “…” “I don’t care what you say. This crafting system is awesome.” Welcome back to another Intergalactic Intel! I hope everyone is enjoying early access as we begin to prepare for release! We’re working on getting Galactic transmission up, apparently there were some youtube no-nos we crossed we’ll have the audio at least up by the end of the day. Today we’re talking about crafting. Now as a long time MMO-Player, I loathe crafting. Various things piss me off, mostly the collecting of items that are needed for crafting, but as a hard core raider not going for the bonuses that crafting gave you would be gimping myself to the point of uselessness. (Not really but min-maxing is important!) With The Old Republic, crafting has taken a…
SWTOR Servers: Choose Your Server with TorStatus.Net
Have you been dealing with long SWTOR queues? The server my guild was auto-assigned to sports about an hour queue during peak hours and weekends. In the morning and the middle of the day, I have no problem getting right on but at peak times, you better pray you don’ t get booted or you’re waiting to get back in. However, we found a really neat tool to help you choose your server based on population and what you want. Some players like a nice cozy server with a low pop where they can feel like they have the in-game version of Cheers where “everybody knows your name.” Other players want a mid-to-high pop server where there is always someone to do something with, no matter what time of day you’re playing. There are advantages to each side and it really depends on what you want from your server. TorStatus.net…
First Level 50s in the United States Emerge
Still days before the official launch of SWTOR, we hear reports of people reach max level already. There are a few level 25+ in my guild already and they all have jobs and/or families and other responsibilities. At least a couple of them will reach 50 easily before December 20th. Jaxon reports on the forums early this morning: “Anyone beat this time? 2:10am CST 12/17/2011 Ding 50 Jaxon Server: Hedarr Soongh Republic Commando Some replies commented that he was not actually the first to 50, with one saying, “There is a level 50 on Lord Adraas (an RP server beat you!) that was max’d before this.” Either way, it’s safe to say Jaxon was probably in the top 10 to reach 50 in the United States. This does bring up a good point, however, as we read the comments and we see that some “haters” just don’t care much for…
Star Wars Galaxies Obituary: SWG is Dead
Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG 26 June 2003 – 15 December 2011 After more than eight long years (live playtime), it’s time to say goodbye to Star Wars Galaxies. The MMORPG from a galaxy far, far away is officially dead. But it wouldn’t go out without one last big bang from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). SWG held a series of farewell events to help say goodbye to the MMO once and for all. While it seems it is being forced into an early grave by bigger and better things (SWTOR anyone?) this does not mean that SWG will go quietly into that dark night. Let’s take a look back on SWG, according to Wikipedia: “Star Wars Galaxies (abbv. SWG) was a Star Wars themed MMORPG for Microsoft Windows developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts. Its servers shut down on December 15, 2011.” And more facts: On 27 August…
Friday update – Choose Your Side: Choose Your Side: Smuggler vs. Sith Warrior
Yesterday Bioware released the fourth and final installment in the “Choose Your Side” series, pitting the Sith Warrior vs the Smuggler class. In the video, the developers give you details on the type of playstyle and story you can expect from each class and then pit them against each other in a one-on-one battle to the death. From the moment we announced the eight classes in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ fans have been pitting them against each other, arguing who would have the advantage in a one-on-one fight. The hallways of BioWare echo this debate, with the writers, combat designers and other developers all chiming in on which classes they feel will have the upper hand. In the fourth and final installment of “Choose Your Side,” writers and developers discuss the ins and outs of the Smuggler and Sith Warrior classes, highlighting some of the skills and abilities that…
SWTOR Extreme – Collectors Edition Lounge & Items
Ever wondered what the collectors edition grants you? Well in our latest video you can find out! CE holders have access to a special “lounge” area within their space fleet, and once there, they can purchase some unique items from vendors. Our latest commentator, Duke, gives his commentary on what he thinks of these items and shows off what they look like. Hope you enjoyed these videos and we have many more coming soon 🙂
Pictures from SWTOR Paris Launch Party
If you were not in Paris for the SWTOR launch party, you can at least feel a little bit like you were by checking out these awesome photos from the launch party. There were droids and storm troopers and guest speakers and more! Details of the Paris Launch Party: Virgin Megastore Champs-Élysées 52 avenue Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris With Emmanuel Lusinchi, Technical Design Director. See all of the photos here. Other launch events: Austin, TX- UPCOMING Monday, Dec. 19th at 10pm CST – Tuesday, Dec. 20th at 1am CST Best Buy – South Austin 4970 Us Hwy. 290 W South Town Square Austin, TX 78735 With Studio Creative Director James Ohlen and Executive Producer Rich Vogel, as well as other members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic team. London Wednesday 14th December 9pm – Thursday 15th December 100 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1LL With Alex Freed – Senior Writer…
Warning on SWTOR Bans
What will get you banned from SWTOR? That’s a great question as we ease into the pre-launch and the eventual December 20th launch of the game. Some players are finding out that the ban-hammer just might be more sensitive than we thought. It seems that there are some things that are auto-flagged as bannable offenses and many of them are integrated into the chat. This user on Reddit warns other players that the ban-o-meter is pretty sensitive in SWTOR right now (which might not be a bad thing, really): “i was having a conversation in hutta about Aion, and the terrible time we had with RMT and botters. I said (and got an email verifying it) “i just hope we don’t see aion-style spammers ala ‘W W W . B U Y T H I S’ its annoying!” got an email saying I was permabanned for “Harassment – Advertising (mass…
The Sith Inquisition: Firsthand Obliteration
As all of us eagerly shove our heads into The Old Republic as deep as we possibly can, there are a few things we’d like to mention. First off, make sure to thank the Devs for their hard work. Both on twitter and email, a nice way to make sure Bioware knows they did a good job is by letting them know directly. The more they see positive energy from the community instead of questions or complaints, the more likely they are to keep at what they’re doing and give us a few solid expansions. In addition we’ve had a couple major news updates come through to share with you all. The first is that regular maintenance has gotten under way, and we have a pseudo schedule to go along with for them. You can find the full post detailing those times Here. They aren’t extreme, but the last few…