Recently BioWare released the event date of Community Cantina Tour San Francisco. The event was original planned to happen this month, but do to unknown reasons, the event was pushed back to March. Check out the announcement below: We’re happy to announce that the next stop in the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Community Cantina Tour will be happening on Friday, March 1st, in San Francisco! This is your chance to join the Star Wars: The Old Republic community for a development team Q&A (featuring Lead Designer Damion Schubert) as well as complimentary drinks*, food, and giveaways. Every attendee will be receiving a highly coveted Tauntaun Fawn code and a code for a rare item from the Cartel Market. If you’re in the area, make sure to stop by and hang out with us! Venue: Jillian’s @ The Metreon Date: Friday, March 1st, 2013 Time: 7-11PM PST Address: 175 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Meet the Developers: Rob Hinkle
BioWare posted a new installment of the “Meet the Developers” series. This time the article features Senior Designer, Rob Hinkle. You can check out the full interview here, or our snippet below. Also remember to check out ToRWars podcast back from December, were they had the chance to sit down with Rob Hinkle and ask him questions regarding PVP. What does a typical day look like for you at the studio? My day can be broken down into a couple different major sections, not all of which happen every day but all of which occur with regular frequency. Planning: Discussions that center around what we might want to do for the future, be it the next patch or for the next year Designing: Doing the actual work fleshing out and implementing what has been planned and committed to. This is the lion’s share of most days, as it covers a wide variety of tasks. Polish…
SWTOR Lead Designer Damion Schubert Talks Cartel Packs
Players have been doing a lot of talking about Cartel Packs and there is a thread on the SWTOR community forums that has some very important questions in it. Well, SWTOR Lead Designer Damion Schubert has now popped into answer some of those questions and give us some great info and stats. You can read the full thread for yourself but here’s a snippet: Do items put in the Galactic Trade Network sell? Yes. We have metrics, as well, on what sells, and for what price, which we compare to their drop rates. This gives us a great idea on adjustments we should make for future packs (the drop rates and the pack contents themselves) – which means that our next round of packs will be better, and the ones after that will be better again. Here are some fun stats * The White indestructible crystal Median Buyout price =…
EA to Release Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2013 Results on Jan. 30, 2013
EA issued a press release today that they will have their 3rd quarter fiscal year 2013 results on January, 30th. “In conjunction with this release, EA will host a conference call to review its financial results for the third quarter, discuss its outlook for the future and may disclose other material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Listeners may access the conference call live via a dial-in number or audio webcast.” Details as follows: Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 2:00 pm Pacific Time (5:00 pm Eastern Time) Dial-in numbers: Domestic: 773-799-3213; International: 888-677-1083 Passcode: EA Webcast: http://ir.ea.com EA’s financial results release will be available after the close of market on Jan. 30, 2013, on EA’s web site at http://ir.ea.com. A dial-in replay of the conference call will be available until Feb. 14, 2013 at 203-369-0099 (domestic) or 866-356-3373 (international). An audio webcast replay of the conference call will be available for one year at http://ir.ea.com. This is the first earnings call since SWTOR…
Flashpoint Guide: Battle of Ilum
Don’t forget to check out constantly growing list of guides for Star Wars: The old republic A Sith Lord has taken control over a very powerful Imperial Battle Station, moved it to the planet Ilum and declared himself the Emperor of a new, improved empire. He has attacked both the Imperial and Republic forces to claim the famous crystals found on this planet. He intends to use them to help wipe out the Republic and Empire from the galaxy. Your job is to infiltrate the base, find the Battle Station and put an end to his plan. The Battle of Ilum is open to both Factions as they join forces to stop this Sith Lord from taking over. Players need to be at least a level 50 to take part in this flashpoint and you’ll face 3 bosses and two mini-bosses. Mini-Boss: Gark the Indomitable Shortly after you begin the flashpoint,…
Companions 101: Aric Jorgan
It was a busy day yesterday, so somehow we totally overlooked the newest installment of Companions 101. This time BioWare’s Courtney Woods talks about our all time favorite Cathar – Aric Jorgan. Jorgan is a male Cathar and a companion for the Trooper. He joins the player at the end of the Trooper’s Class quests on Ord Mantell. His primary role is that of Ranged DPS, and he is a romance option for the female Trooper. Meeting Aric Jorgan Efficient, loyal, and a perfectionist, Aric Jorgan is the ideal Republic soldier – and he knows it. Raised to be an officer, Aric is confident in his skills and doesn’t waste his time with niceties or politics. His credentials include four years in the academy and seven years in the field. Most notably, Jorgan was a part of the illustrious Dead Eyes, the finest sniper squad in the Republic. Eventually he was offered a promotion and a…
News on the Oceanic Server Population Issues
It’s no secret that the Oceanic servers didn’t get a server merge. This means they are basically dead now. Most people on the servers have been asking for a merge or for free transfers, but with f2p coming out, Bioware have been hesitating giving players this option. This has off course been frustrating for players down under, but BioWare are now looking for a solution to the problem. Today Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez made a post on the official forums giving an update on the issue and starting to re-open the dialogue: Hi everyone, I know it’s been a while since we’ve updated this thread, and I wanted to let you know that we haven’t forgotten about our Oceanic players. Now that we’re at a more stable point in time (post Free-to-Play transition and post holidays), we wanted to re-examine this issue. We’re going to be completely honest with you: there…
TOR TV: Fan made Eternity Vault trailer.
This fan video is made by LaserLief. The video reminds me of old times when my old guild was grind though Molten Core over and over and over. I liked the build up to the end, but I think it would have been cooler to have the bass drop again there either when Soa breaks his shield, or when he gets hit by a pylon and then fade out from that. It could also be pretty cool if it had the speeches before each boss. Anyways. Check it out below:
SWTOR Jedi Knight Guardian Vigilance PVP 1.6 Build
This post will give you a build for the Jedi Knight Guardian that is focused on PVP and uses the Vigilance tree. This build comes courtesy of http://www.swtorsavior.com which is the best SWTOR leveling guide and general strategy guide so it is well worth a look if you are looking for some help leveling faster. We will post the video that tells you how to allocate the points and then we will give you some rotations and information on how to use the build. Don’t forget to check out constantly growing list of guides for Star Wars: The old republic SWTOR Jedi Knight Guardian Vigilance PVP 1.6 Build Form: Shien Form PVP Stat Priority: Expertise > Strength >= Accuracy (until 105%) > Critical Rating (until 30%) = Surge Rating (until 75%) > Power/Force Power The Guardian in PVP can be one of the most frightening classes to deal with. Uniting a high amount…
Top 10 Gaming Controversies of 2012!
OH NOOOoooo!!! What did SWTOR do now? WHY ALWAYS US?!?!?!!!!! Well, before you all start freaking out, SWTOR was not included in this all out critique of the 2012 gaming world. So why am I writing an article about it, if Angry Joe’s video has nothing do with SWTOR? Because SWTOR is FREAKING AWESOME!!! That’s why! And for a few other reasons. Remember words like TORTANIC? Yeah well the ship hasn’t sunk. In fact we’re all out on deck catching some rays, dirty dancing to reggaeton! I must admit there was that scary moment when after people speed played through the game before it was even finished (EA forced Bioware to release the game unfinished until the March 2012 update which fixed that) finding the lack of end game content, causing way too many subscribers to up and leave. After some time it was like playing SWG in mid 2011…
SWTOR Game Update 1.7 – Return of the Gree Coming Soon
BioWare has announced the next game update today- date to be determined and like other game updates, it comes with a new event, new quests and new items. GET READY TO HELP THE GREE – YOUR PROWESS WILL BE GREATLY REWARDED! The new game update 1.7 is called “Return of the Glee” and will allow you to play with other Level 50 players or journey alone to assist the Gree in their continual pursuit of information. Rewards will be available to those “brave enough” to help the Gree. We also noticed there is cartel option to up your reputation gains in the upper right corner. It also looks like they cap your rep gain per week so you can’t grind it all out quickly. From SWTOR news regarding the new game update: NEW RECURRING EVENT: RELICS OF THE GREE Explore Ilum‘s contested area in the Western Ice Shelf to uncover the…
Fox News Strikes! SWTOR Segregates Gay Characters to Gay Planet
Many on both sides of the fence are displeased with how BioWare has handled the issue of same-gender romance in the game but Fox News had something to say about it yesterday in their article, ‘Star Wars’ game segregates gay characters on gay planet. Depending on who you ask, Fox News is either an excellence source for news and updates on all issues and current affairs, or a debacle of news station putting out biased and botched stories disguised as “news””. We’ll let you make the decision for yourself but either way, it’s good to see the topic getting some media attention. SGR in SWTOR has been heavily debated since before the game even launched and BioWare has always taken a positive stance on the issue, despite the complaints from some fans. BioWare’s Jeff Hickman, executive producer of ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ has said more than once, “Allowing same-gender romance…
Giant Crazy Wishlist for SWTOR- What Would You Wish For?
If you could have any features you wanted in SWTOR, what would they be? What features would you be willing to pay for if they added them to the game? Some SWTOR Reddit users have a nice thread going on about their SWTOR wishes. Everything from the practical to the ridiculous is coming out in this thread and Here are some things being mentioned in the conversation: A legacy-wide companion menu for crew skill maintenance. A legacy-wide bank. Twice as many missions available inside the crew skill selection. A way to have one companion designated for conversations while another companion is physically summoned. I’d like to be able to watch huttball while I’m queued for warzones. Legacy companion summoning. Generate a companion with the same class, items, and name as another character in your legacy with a default set of abilities associated to that class. LEGACY IGNORE. If I put…
1.6.2a Patch Notes 1/15/2013
As mentioned yesterday, BioWare took the servers down for Scheduled Maintenance today. For those wondering, BioWare diden’t add any new items at the cartel market. We did get a little patch though. Check itout below: General Implemented optimizations to improve overall server stability. Cartel Market Updated the Cartel Market art for the Skip Tracer’s Cartel Pack. The art now more accurately reflects the in-game appearance of the Fancy Reveler’s armor.
Flashpoint Guide: The Colicoid War Game
Don’t forget to check out constantly growing list of guides for Star Wars: The old republic When you reach levels 37 to 41, you can take part in one of the most unique Flashpoints in the game called The Colicoid War Game. It’s not like any of the others because there is only one classic Boss fight at the end. However, you will go though three challenges to complete the instance and both the Empire and the Republic factions have access to this Flashpoint. First Challenge: The Colicoid Attack Waves During the first challenge, you’ll fight a large group of Colicoid warriors that will run towards you all at once. Your goal is to kill off the warriors as quickly as possible without taking on too much damage. The best defense may be to mount turrets, face the enemy and burn them down. The order you take them out could mean…
DEATHMATCH II – Darth Malgus Versus Sora Bulq
Last week we introduced Star Wars Expanded Universe expert, Jensaarai1 and featured Episode 7 of his Versus Series, Darth Malgus Versus Count Dooku. Coincidentally and almost magically as if the Force itself was involved, Jensaari1 releases his first Versus episode for 2013, episode 11, that very night – 41 minutes of calculated lightsaber dueling Sith/Jedi analysis! He uses Darth Malgus once again. This time he pits Malgus against former Jedi Master turned Sith, Sora Bulq of the Clone Wars era! Both are power houses. Who will win? Only Jensaarai1, the Nerd-Rage Ranter knows! Feel free to share your opinion on this battle. Did you disagree or agree with his conclusion? Why or why not? If the force permits, I hope to see more of Jensaarai’s “Versus Series” featuring more legends from SWTOR and even its predecessor, KOTOR. When he does, you will be sure to find out about it, here…
Reminder: Scheduled Maintenance Tomorrow
Just a friendly heads up to you all. BioWare will be performing scheduled maintenance and deploying a patch tomorrow. There for the servers will be down for a few hours. If you don’t want to do while the servers are down, you can always play some Pazaak We will be deploying a patch and performing scheduled maintenance this Tuesday, January 15th, 2013. Patch notes will be made available shortly after the servers come back up. The servers will be down for two hours on Tuesday, January 15th, 2013 from 5AM CST (3AM PST/5AM EST/11AM GMT/12PM CET/10PM AEDT) until 7AM CST (5AM PST/8AM EST/1PM GMT/2PM CET/12AM AEDT). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours, but could be extended. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you…
Satele Shan Cosplay from Abby Dark-Star
We have a great find for you today from Abby Dark-Star. She has a new ablum up on her Facebook page showing her Satele Shan cosplay/costume set and it has amazing detail. I’m personally a fan of Abby; she’s just a really cool, nerdy girl and her modeling is a lot of fun. She’s done some of my favorite comic and video game characters. I’m not surprised at all that pulled off a great Satele. The model is Abby Dark-Star and this is the full album on Facebook. Abby is Moderator at The Replica Prop Forum, FANgirl Blog Contributor and HXO for the Avengers Initiative. And if you really love them, you can order prints from her store here. You can request to have them signed or addressed and her prices on prints are great! Credits: Leathers from Twisted World 3D Printing for belt buckle/arm band/beads: Ed Wamser Lightsaber, soft pieces, sculpting by Zen & I….
State of the SWTOR Community
With the news that Curse has fired all the Darth Hater team, we see a spur of conversations taking place about the game, its players and the community that revolves around the game. Some are saying that this is a sign of the community falling apart, a reflection of the current state of the game and some are even saying it’s BioWare’s fault for not caring enough about their game and its community. There are lots of different opinions but one very strong opinion comes from someone who was once a very big player in the SWTOR community. The guy who runs SWTOR Extreme YouTube account had some pretty harsh critical words for the SWTOR community: “The game had a massive audience yet some of the best content on the web, whether it was videos like my own or a websites blog/article, they got so little support and none of…
Darth Hater Team Let Go by Curse – Is This the End of Darth Hater?
If you follow DartHater.com, you probably noticed they have not posted any new content since the end of December. The rest of the community definitely noticed and it seems we now have a reason. The whole staff has been let go by Curse and no one knows whether or not they are going to try to revamp it with new staff or One of the most active members of the DH team, Jaspor, admits on Reddit that he is no longer working for them but he doesn’t seem to have any additional info on what will happen to the site in the future. In fact, it seems no one really has any information at all other than- they were let go. It was just back in September 2011 that Curse bought Darth Hater and made them a part of the Curse network. Most of the community seemed happy about it…
BioWare are hiring playtesters for Rise of the Hutt Cartel!
Are you living in the Austin area? BioWare Austin is hiring temporary playtesters for the “Rise of the Hutt Cartel” digital expansion coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Current and former players of all experience levels are encouraged to apply. SKILLS/REQUIREMENTS Must be 18 years of age or older Must not have previous professional game development experience Strong verbal communication skills Comfortable giving objective feedback (positive and negative) in a group setting Passion for SWTOR or other massively-multiplayer online games Available to work weekends
Damion Schubert Speaks on Phantom and Spymaster Gear Changes
If you spend any time in the forums the past day or so, you probably know that the community was upset regarding some changes to gear bought from the Cartel Market. Many players want their money back after spending cash in the Cartel Market for Phantom and Spymaster gear based on how it looked, only to have the appearance changed later. They see it as a bait-and-switch and while BioWare claims it wasn’t intentional, we can definitely see the point these players are making. So we were holding on to see when BioWare would chime in with a solution to this problem. Lead Designer Damion Schubert piped in to this thread about the issue: Hey, guys — We care a lot about the fact that you care about the appearances of your characters. In fact, the Mod system is my baby, largely because it allows players to customize their appearance…
Purchase More Character Slots for SWTOR
As we discovered recently, you can now purchase more character slots for SWTOR from the Cartel Market. This is great for people like me who suffer from alt-it is and like to have lots of different characters in the game. Massively brought us to news: Star Wars: The Old Republic’s 1.6.2 patch notes are now live on the game’s website. Along with a laundry list of tweaks and bug fixes, there are a couple of blurbs that might interest free-to-play players concerned about character slots. First of all, slot restrictions are now being enforced, so free players should see a maximum of two per server. Preferred status players get six slots per shard, while subscribers get 12. If you must know, the global active character limit is 350! The Cartel Market is selling additional slots at a cost of 600 Cartel Coins. But there are some players who are having issues with different…
TOR TV: Colicoid War Games – Solo
DISCLAIMER: You can potentially get banned for doing this as it falls under a game exploit. There are forum posts of people claiming to have been banned for doing stuff like this. My personal opinion is that this is very unlikely. Sure, he is getting to areas that he might not be supposed to be in, but it doesn’t really get you anything tangible, a couple thousand credits for 20 minutes maby? Regardless of this being an exploit or not, it’s still pretty awesome,