If you’ve been waiting on an update from Ask Mr. Robot, it’s here now. Ask Mr. Robot Character Profile and Combat Logs are updated for 1.4! So now you can insure that you are getting the right gear for your toon and taking your gear in the proper direction. Newly updated for 1.4 so you can stay up to date on your characters, use their character build, browse the armory or even use the SWTOR skill calculator to plan your character or see that you are making the right choices in your character. Ask Mr. Robot is a fantastic tool to have in your SWTOR toolbox. Their team works very hard to stay up to date and give you what you need, when you need it. Mr. Robot’s Star Wars: The Old Republic Tools: Character Builder Build your SWTOR character! Includes gear, companions, skills, crew skills, guild, server, and more….
SWTOR’s Complex Challenge: From Gamasutra
“BioWare’s Damion Schubert is a systems designer, not a writer. Yet he ended up dealing with those elements anyway, as the first designer with MMO experience on a team of traditional BioWare writers. His job was to tell them what elements of an MMO need to be considered in the story design process.” This is from an intro to a story from Gamasutra about SWTOR and the challenges they have had to face with the game. They talk about the complex challenge that SWTOR faced- BioWare story in an MMO world. One thing that I love so much about Gamasutra is the quality in which they can make a point. Some will say that SWTOR failed, although there are still many hardcore fans who stand by the game. There are others who believe it failed on a subscription model but is going to do just fine as f2p. But when…
BioWare Wins four out of its six nominations for Star Wars: The Old Republic
BioWare won 4 out of six nominations for Star Wars: The Old Republic at this years Game Developers Choice Online Awards. This is the third annual award ceremony, and the awards spanned from live services, technology, game updates, online game design,” etc etc etc. After all the votes was counted, BioWare took home four out of its six nominations for SWTOR: BEST NEW ONLINE GAME Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin) BEST ONLINE TECHNOLOGY Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin) BEST ONLINE VISUAL ARTS Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin) BEST ONLINE GAME DESIGN Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin) I guess we can finally stop the debate about what the best online game – ever – is 😉
Developer Spotlight: Jesse Sky
BioWare just started a new series of developer blogs called Developer Spotlight. The idea is to interview members of the SWTOR development team letting the playerbase getting to know the faces behind the game. In this first interview, BioWare interviews Jesse Sky, Lead Flashpoints and Operations Designer. Here’s a snip: What specifically attracts you about Flashpoints and Operation design? Flashpoint design is a lot like running a tabletop roleplaying game with a massive audience. You get to explore a lot of different kinds of storytelling that aren’t really feasible outside of a video game. I’ve always felt that our Flashpoints and Operations were aided by the fact that you have a very personal story. You actually form a bond with your character, and then you take him on these really wild and dangerous adventures. Every time my Dark Jedi pairs up with a bunch of do-gooders for a Flashpoint, I cackle when I win the…
NY Comic Con Starts TOMORROW!
Just your friendly neighborhood reminder that NY Comic Con officially kicks off tomorrow! If you are near, remember to stop by the Star Wars: The old republic Community Cantina Tour at Houndstooth Pub Address: 520 8th Avenue New York, NY 10018. We won’t be going unfortunately, but we would love to see your pictures, so so please upload them to our facebook page if you are going. Of course there will be plenty of Star Wars represented at the 4-day con. If you are planning to go to the con, here is your guide to things related to The Galaxy Far Far Away. Celebrities Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia in the films) will be at the convention on Friday thru Sunday. She will be doing autographs, photo ops and will even be moderating a panel. Autographing Friday, October 12th 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Hall 1B Saturday, October 13th 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Hall 1B Sunday, October 14th 12:00…
TOR TV: Terror from Beyond is a beautiful operation
Youtube user heltidsluffare created this short film of his very first run in Terror from Beyond. As he mention in the title of the movie, Terror from Beyond is a beautiful operation- and so I agree. Personally I thought it was like a breath of fresh air loading in for the first time. It really had that big open feel that I was hoping more of the planets/zones would have. I also think this has been my least buggy experience with an operation to be honest. My ops group have not hit a single bug that stopped our progress… The only one I’ve seen at all is when the adds on the first boss don’t despawn after a wipe, but we were able to kill them without triggering the boss, so no worries really.
SWTOR Unleashed – RamDisk Game Launcher with Massive Performance Increase
What if there was a way to play SWTOR without using up all of your computer resources? What if you could play from a RamDisk and have better performance and faster response? Well… now there is a way and it’s not a hack. It’s BioWare approved. It’s actually really cool to see players getting into a game and finding new and better ways to enjoy it or enjoy it better and of course, sharing that with the community is greatly appreciated as well. Learn more from this post: Approved By BioWare A program to automate the setup and removal process to use this game (SWTOR) with a ramdisk. This includes creating a ramdrive, copying file and creating the needed links. You as user can select what files you want to have on the ramdrive, depending on your needs and maximal available ram. Please click the link below for details about…
SWTOR 1.4.1 Patch Notes 10/9/2012
Servers are back up after this weeks scheduled maintenance. They did fix alot more things that I thought they would this time. Crew missions are back to full yields, but Bounty hunters are still dealing with random Unload/buff/4pce issues. Check out the full patch notes below: Classes and Combat Jedi Consular Shadow Kinetic Combat Stasis no longer prevents Force Lift from breaking on damage and making its target take less damage. Sith Inquisitor Assassin Darkness Eye of the Storm no longer prevents Whirlwind from breaking on damage and making its target take less damage. Companion Characters General Companions now respect “hide helmet” settings in cinematics and when speaking. Companions Xalek The “Unify Color” option now works with Xalek’s Pants in combination with Neophyte Robe. Crew Skills General Crew Skill Missions now return the correct (higher) amount of materials. Players can no longer consume schematics that they already know. Flashpoints and Operations Flashpoints…
SWTOR Political and Moral Survey by the National Science Foundation
Have you ever wondered where politics come into play in SWTOR? Most Star Wars fans are aware of political and moral undertones in the series which then transcend into all versions and variations of the original story- SWTOR included. But here is a very interesting survey by the National Science Foundation that will shed some more light onto the issues of politics and morals in SWTOR. From New World Notes: Click here if you play Star Wars: The Old Republic to take a short and fascinating (in my biased* opinion) survey on the MMO’s political and moral choices, and how they relate (if at all) to your real life values. It’s for a report funded by a US government grant from the National Science Foundation which seeks to explore ways in which MMOs “provide experiences of meaningful accomplishment and how this engagement may portend the social use of digital technology for mass persuasion and…
Star Wars Angry Birds Revealed
There have been a lot of rumors going around for a few weeks now about Star Wars Angry Birds but now they’re finally here with some official info and even some pictures. We’re finding details around the Web about the new Angry Birds line of products from Hasbro and Rovio featuring a Star Wars theme. Some of the items include: Star Wars Angry Birds Jenga Death Star – This one is supposed to have an exclusive Chewbacca figure! Star Wars Angry Birds At-At Attack Battle Game – Not much more to say about this other than it looks awesome. It looks like a Lightsaber bird launcher and an At-At with holes for pigs to hide in and a platform to build your collapsible construction. It comes with 12 figures: Birds featuring an X-Wing Pilot, Han Solo, Hoth Rebel, and exclusive Luke Hoth Rebel, and Pigs featuring Darth Piggy (not his name but…
TOR TV: SWTOR NEWS Episode 24
Here is Episode 23 of SWTOR News by ashermoore. All news in this video is from the week starting September 16th 2012. We will start featuring ashermoore swtor news once a weeks as they give a pretty good round up of what it’s going on. Hope you will enjoy it as much as we do:
Alexander Freed Leaves BioWare
And now another BioWare staff member bites the dust… Alexander Freed (my favorite BioWare writer) as officially announced on his Twitter (yes, he’s on Twitter now) feed that he is leaving BioWare and joining me in the ranks of freelance writers. It’s kind of a bittersweet announcement, really. While I love freelancing and I encourage other writers to do the same and explore the freedom of being able to work on different projects at once, try new things and do what you want, instead of what you are contracted to do. So as a friend, I’m really happy for Alex. He’s incredibly talented and I believe he’s going to love the opportunities that come his way now that he is not on BioWare’s payroll anymore. Big news! As of today, I’m departing BioWare to go freelance. It’s been a wonderful six years, but time to move on. More next tweet….
Leaked Details of New SWTOR Content: World Boss, Daily Area, Space Missions, Pets, Mounts
With the number of subs on the decline, it’s not unusual at all to see a game company allow some leaks in order to get more people interested or back in the game. There is some new and upcoming content to SWTOR, a great deal of which includes new minipets and space missions. We cannot be sure, however, just when this new content is coming. It could be in the next game update or in several game updates, spread out over a period of time. Just because the game is showing files for some of this content does not mean that all of it will be coming out at one time. There is a thread on the community forums that has compiled all of the known upcoming content in one area to make it easier to see all that is coming. Here’s a snippet from that thread: NEW DAILY AREA:…
Be a Gamer Wife; Not a Gamer Widow
A common problem amongst many who game (especially MMORPGs) is “wife agro” or that the spouse/girlfriend of the gamer doesn’t like them playing or how much time they spend gaming. As a wife and gamer myself, I was lucky enough to be married to a person who has also loved gaming since childhood but a common problem we see with friends and family (and co-guildies) is that when only one is a gamer, the other often feels left out. They actually have support groups for this sort of thing; “WoW widows” for those who feel they have lost their husbands to World of Warcraft and even SWTOR has some hate threads on the Internet from disgruntled women who feel they have lost their men to the game. But one blog post I stumbled across was a little different. This wife talks about how she worked through the struggles with her…
Rich Vogel to Head New Austin Studio
Bethesda Softworks has announced the formation of a new studio in Austin, Texas. Called “Battlecry Studios“, the development team will be headed by ex-BioWare/SWTOR veteran Rich Vogel. – via MMORGP.com. Right now they are working on an unannounced project but it should be very interesting to see what they come up with. Vogel has a long history in the video game industry and recently works as executive producer of development of SWTOR for BioWare. He also worked on Ultima Online, and Star Wars Galaxies as well as other online and console titles during his 20+ years in game development. I’m really interested in seeing what he will do with Battlecry Studios and what kind of projects they will put out. It could also be a good thing for the gaming industry since The new Austin studio announced they are currently hiring other experienced game developers to fill key roles for this upcoming and unannounced project….
New Star Wars Game: First Assault Coming to XBLA?
There could be a new Star Wars game on the way and while it has not been officially released yet, there is some info going around the gaming communities about it. The mysterious LucasArts project that has had rumors flying for some time, appears to be an Xbox LIVE Arcade title. Back in August, it was discovered that LucasFilm had purchased a series of domain names related to something with Star Wars and this unknown title. Now, according to a listing on Xbox.com, via NeoGAF, Star Wars First Assault will be an XBLA game but it has not been officially confirmed by LucasArts yet. GameSpot provides some more information: A new Star Wars game is headed to Xbox Live Arcade, according to an eagle-eyed NeoGAF forum user. The game has not yet been announced by LucasArts, but it is not entirely a mystery. In August, the company filed a trademark application for Star Wars: First Assault for…
Companions 101: Kaliyo Djannis, featuring Alex Freed
Every secret agent needs a femme fatale, right? Well, the Imperial Agent gets Kaliyo- an interesting and compelling companion in many ways. For the first installment of their new Companions 101 blog, BioWare gives us more insight into this companion, her background and what she’s all about. Please Note: This blog contains spoilers for the Imperial Agent class story. Lead Writer, Alexander Freed (a really awesome guy, by the way), drops in to share some more info about Kaliyo and why she leaves her life on Hutta and joins Imperial intelligence: “When Kaliyo first joins up with the Imperial Agent, she sees two possibilities. Either the Agent is a mark–someone whose coattails she can ride, someone who’s going to diligently follow orders while Kaliyo plays him (or her) for every credit he’s worth–or the Agent really is as clever, confident and manipulative as he lets on. In the former case, the Agent is…
Confirmed – Daniel Erickson leaving BioWare
A few weeks ago we wrote the story that Daniel Erickson was “Actively looking for new opportunities” . Today Mr. Erickson confirms this rumor via twitter as he has started his new twitter account for job hunting and design thoughts. Back in early September, we saw via Erickson’s LinkedIn profile that he was looking for new opportunities. We speculated about what this might mean but warned against jumping to conclusions and thinking this meant he was leaving BioWare. However, with so many BioWare Austin staff members making their exits, it wouldn’t be a big surprise. Well, now we stumbled across this Tweet and this new Twitter account from Daniel Erickson and it’s clear that he has officially left BioWare and is on the job hunt. So he has known for at very least, the month of September that he was leaving or was already gone. So now that we do know it…
The SWTOR Community Cantina Tour
BioWare announced via their facebook page this morning, that they are going on a road trip called Community Cantina Tour. The first meet and greet event will happen on Thursday, October 11th, 2012 in New York City. Check out the whole annoncement below Today we’re very excited to announce the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Community Cantina Tour! Starting with New York Comic Con, we’re going to embark on a series of Star Wars: The Old Republic Community meet & greets so that fans will get the opportunity to interact with our community team and developers! Before each meet & greet, we’ll be sure to publish a blog with detailed information so that you don’t miss out on complimentary drinks & food, a highly coveted code for an in-game Tauntaun Fawn, giveaways, and more!* After each event, we’ll be publishing a meet & greet summary blog so that those of you that aren’t able to attend will…
TOR TV: How to gear an alt fast
Youtube heltidsluffare made an interesting video showing how he geared his latest alt in SWTOR. The same day as he got level 50 he was fully geared to do anything. Personally I can definitely foresee some people really appreciating this video. However… 1.4 made his weapon choice much easier! You can use the ranked warzone commendations to get a war hero lightsaber immediately at 50 instead of down-ranking them to buy the battlemaster lightsaber. You get a better product, and you pay less. I know you made your plans before the patch, but it is such a significant change that players today need to be aware of. Still a great watch. Check it out below:
1.4.0b Patch Notes
BioWare is back to a normally schedule with maintenance each Tuesday . Servers are now back up, and below are the Patch notes. Looking at all the known issues with game update 1.4 I must say I had expected a bigger update this time., but I guss little is better then nothing. Check out the path notes below: 1.4.0b Patch Notes 10/2/2012 General Improved performance for players using NVIDIA graphics cards in an SLI configuration. (Please use the default SLI setting or AFR2, as AFR1 will result in poor performance with SWTOR.) Corrected an issue that could prevent players from exiting their personal starship after completing Group Finder content.
Wife Makes Husband Cool SWTOR Phone Cover
Do you want to show your love of SWTOR outside the game? There are many options for flair these days, including great SWTOR t-shirts and accessories. But one woman make a very unique SWTOR phone cover for her husband and he took to the Internet to show it off. It’s basically a vinyl sticker which means it is also removable and you could make (or purchase) different designs and switch them out when you need something new. She used an electronic craft cutting machine. Then she copied an image of the symbol into the software and traced it, then cut it out of vinyl. It only takes a few minutes and then you’re ready to apply to the phone. So what do you think of it? Pretty cool design and simple idea? Would you try one yourself or would you use one if you could buy it?
TOR TV: Lore of The Old Republic Part 2: The Planet of Coruscant
TeamTargran is back with a new video covering the lore of Star Wars The Old Republic. This time they continue with the story of Coruscant. SWTOR is a vast story-driven MMO, but did you ever wonder how much lore there actually was in the game? Did you ever wonder, but was too busy to read about it? We are here to help you. We are going to explain basics of lore to you in form of short videos, which you can watch and listen to rather than spend hours reading through the internet. For our first episode we shall we talking about The Sacking of Coruscant, which is marked as the starting point for this MMO. If you have any requests for future videos, let us know in the comments section below.
Did Doctors Leave BioWare over Mass Effect Fan Negativity?
It was big news for BioWare when the founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk announced they would both be leaving the company for good, and to pursue other avenues in life. However, as we said when we first brought you the story, it seemed like there may be more to it than that. David Lynch for Now Gamer writes about some reasons why the doctors may have actually left BioWare. After speaking with Ex-BioWare co-founder and Baldur’s Gate developer, Trent Oster they obtained some information that might indicate there is more behind the doctors’ departures. “The last time I met up with [Greg], I felt his exhaustion,” explained Oster. “Punch out, eject, get the hell out”, was my suggestions to him and it hit closer to the mark than I had realised. I also think the Mass Effect 3 fan reaction and the Old Republic fans negativity was just too…