BioWare announced that former subscribers coming back to Star Wars: The old republic to try thee Free To Play version of the game, have until December 20th to re subscribe and still obtain their Cartel Coin rewards! Check out the full announcement below: Today we are excited to announce that the global launch date of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Free-to-Play option will be November 15, 2012. This release will be simultaneous across all of the territories and countries The Old Republic™ is available. If you’re a paying Subscriber at the launch of the Free-to-Play option on November 15th, you will be granted all of the Complimentary Cartel Coins currently listed on your Cartel Coin Ledger page, plus a one-time grant of 250 Complimentary Cartel Coins! Additionally, we are extending the Rewards Program! All former subscribers who reactivate their subscription by the new date of December 20, 2012 at…
BioWare Tweets SWTOR Free to Play Releases November 15
If you’ve been waiting for the set date for the new free to play model of SWTOR, it’s finally here. BioWare released a press conference call to major gaming outlets/ fansites yesterday and this morning, they officially tweeted the news about the date. Star Wars: The Old Republic Free-to-play option is coming November 15, the same time as Game Update 1.5! — Electronic Arts UK (@electronicarts) November 8, 2012 In addition to the news that Free to Play will officially be here next week on the 15th, we also know that it’s coming with the official launch of game update 1.5, which is set to be a huge turning point in the game with many new features and loads of new content. In this press conference call, BioWare revealed some great info about game changes and details. Christine and Producer Cory Butler discussed F2P and Update 1.5 with us yesterday. They explained…
“Should I Play SWTOR?” A Review after Ten Months
We’re not quite at the 1-year anniversary of SWTOR and there have been some major changes and additions to the game. While some will say SWTOR struggled after launch, others will say it’s actually a good thing to see a game grow so much in the first year. It shows the staff is willing to do what it takes to make a game the players enjoy. BioWare has asked for a lot of feedback from the players along the way and that feedback has gone into making the game what we see today. One major development that has come from these changes is the new free to play model. Personally, if someone asked me if they should play a game and it’s free to play, I would always recommend just trying it to see for yourself. You won’t risk anything- just invest a little of your time. But not everyone…
Developer Update: Free-to-Play Option by Damion Schubert
With Free-to-Play going live later this month, Lead Designer
Celebrating 4 Years of SWTOR Strategies
The big day is here again and we’re breaking out the confetti and party balloons and sharing some virtual cake with all of you- our loyal readers! SWTOR Strategies is celebrating 4 years on the Net today. Last year on this date, we were still looking at about 2 months for the launch of SWTOR. It’s amazing how far things have come in just one short year. Not only did the game launch with a bang, but we’re seen some very rocky roads since then. In the past 10 months, players have loved and hated SWTOR and now with the 1 year anniversary of launch on the way, the game is looking to go to a new free-to-play model which many fans are very excited about. This new F2P option may bring back a lot of players who left the game as well as draw in new players who weren’t…
Developer Dispatch: HK-51 Activated
BioWare have released a new Developer Dispatch regarding the upcoming contents that will be added to the game with update 1.5. In the video, Associate Designer Matt Pucevich and Senior Development Director Bruce Maclean talk about Explosive Conflict Nightmare Mode, the new Section X daily mission area, aswell as the new world boss + phat lewt. Check it out below: Check out the latest Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Developer Dispatch to get a first look at the story behind Game Update 1.5: HK-51 Activated. Watch as they discuss the dangerous missions that await you in the new Section X area on Belsavis. Discover how you can embark on a galaxy-spanning hunt for clues on how to unlock one of the most deadly Assassin Droids, the HK-51 Companion! Take a sneak peak at the final pieces of the Dread Guard gear set and see a rare new mount that your…
New Developer Blog: Jeff Hickman Discusses State of the Game
Executive Producer Jeff Hickman took the stage yesterday in a new developer blog titled: State of the Game. In this, and future blog posts he will be discussing concerns the community has with SWTOR. In this first blog he addresses issues such as the turning from a subscription based game to free to play model, aswell as staff leaving the company and bugs in game. Check out his full post on the official site or as a copy paste below: Jeff Hickman When we decided to go Free-to-Play earlier this year, we had weeks of discussion with everyone on the team about where we thought the game was going, what we thought was going right and what was going wrong. We uncovered a lot of issues, but three things really stood out: 1. Our game is awesome. People love it and want to play it. 2. The subscription requirement was driving away huge numbers of people who do not want to…
Community Cantina Tour – Austin, TX
BioWare is continuing there road trip, and this time the event bus hit’s Austin Texas. Below are the Austin information. We’re happy to announce that the next stop in the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Community Cantina Tour will be happening on Friday, November 16th here in Austin, home of the game’s development team! This is your chance to join the community for a development team Q&A as well as complimentary drinks*, food, and giveaways including highly coveted codes for an in-game Tauntaun Fawn! If you’re in the area, make sure to stop by and hang out with us! Venue: Mister Tramps Date: Friday, November 16th, 2012 Time: 7-10PM CST Address: 8565 Research Blvd Austin, TX 78758 We look forward to seeing you there! -The Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Team * THIS IS AN ADULT EVENT AND ALL ATTENDEES MUST BE OF LEGAL DRINKING AGE TO PARTICIPATE. PLEASE…
Unreleased Star Wars Video Games
Do you ever wonder what happens to all of those great video game ideas that never make it to production? Here are some Star Wars video games that never actually existed but it sure would be fun if they did! Star Wars The Empire Strikes Dak for Atari Pitfall! Sarlacc Edition for Atari Is it Operational? For NES Uncle Owen’s Moisture Farm Tycoon for Xbox And more! Now that we’ve had some laughs, here’s a real unreleased Star Wars video game: Super Star Wars is an unreleased platform game developed by Brain Bug that was originally supposed to be the PC port of LucasArts‘ SNES game of the same name. It all began in 1994 while most people of their team worked on another game, Lollypop. Since the SNES version of Super Star Wars was one of their favorite games and Softgold – the publisher of Lollypop – had a…
Daniel Erickson hires Emmanuel Lusinchi to Bluepoint Games
Could some of the old BioWare team get back together to work on a new project? It’s a theory we tossed out there back when the news of many key BioWare players leaving was first revealed. Well today Twitter gave us a little more insight into this very topic! A tweet from former BioWare develop Daniel Erickson today confirms Emmanuel Lusinchi has left or will be soon leaving BioWare to start work at Bluepoint as a Lead Designer. There were previous rumors about Lusinchi leaving but nothing solid or in the public until this tweet today: — Daniel Erickson (@DanielAErickson) November 5, 2012 I have to admit that it’s tough to see how passionately these developers and designers talked about SWTOR earlier this year at the Guild Summit and now they are dropping off like flies. These are people who put their heart and soul into their work and for those of…
TOR TV: Video Guide to Voiced Emotes on the PTS
The guys over at swtorface.com created a short video showing all the voiced slash commands currently available on the public test server. This is slash commands like /apologize /cheer, /chuckle, etc etc etc. It’s apparently not complete yet, as it is possible to find more sound files when you data mine the client. In this video you can listen to (and see the actions of) Smuggler, Jedi Knight, Trooper, Bounty Hunter and Imperial Agent SwtorFace will be updating this as more commands become available. You can follow there progress here.
Community Developer Blog: HK-51 Classified Intel
James B. Jones stopped by the community developer blog for an update on HK-51. Co-author of the Star Wars™ : The Old Republic Encyclopedia, Jones knows a lot about SWTOR. He shared some exciting classified intel about the new HK-51 companion character in Game Update 1.5! Here’s a snippet from the blog: Though the HK-51 model is outfitted with all the features of his predecessors, several upgrades are also included in the package. Practical use suggested that overly-ambitious engineers may have programmed previous HK models to be a little too bloodthirsty. Make no mistake—the HK-51 model still relishes violence in all its forms, but efficiency is now its guiding directive rather than brutality. Field tests have proven that the HK-51 model is far more reliable and effective in combat due to these upgrades. Despite the emphasis on efficiency, HK-51’s primary directive is still to eliminate his target at any cost….
Drew Karpyshyn on Annihilation and the Disney Buyout of Lucasfilm
Drew Karpyshyn gives some input on the Disney buyout of Lucasfilm over on his blog and he talks to us about Annihilation deets and why you should pre-order it through his official website (more $$$ for Drew ). When asked how he thinks the buyout will affect the Star Wars books, games and more, he replied: Honestly, I have no idea. It may have almost zero impact. It may have a huge impact. More likely it will fall somewhere in between. Disney says they want to make more movies; as a fan I think more SW films is probably a good thing. But beyond that, I’m in wait and see mode just like everyone else. But when it comes to the upcoming release of Star Wars: Annihilation, Drew had many great things to say: I’ve just updated my Novels page with some more info about the book and why I think it’s my…
Meet the Developers: Hall Hood
This week’s Meet the Developers post from SWTOR features Hall Hood, Lead Writer on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. In each “Meet the Developers,” they introduce a new developer, ask them some questions about their background and their place on the SWTOR team and then they publish it all on the forums in a specific thread so you can read and ask more questions if you want. I was excited to see this week’s was with Hall Hood. I always love hearing from the writers on the team and I knew he would have a lot of insight into the game and storylines. Here’s a snippet of the interview: Who is your favorite companion? Why? Risha, hands-down. She’s so much fun to write, and Tara Strong’s voice acting blows me away every time. What has been the most enjoyable thing to write for SWTOR? I’m a big fan of our companion…
It’s a Star Wars Halloween – Star Wars and SWTOR Themed Costumes
Did you show your Star Wars support for Halloween? There were SWTOR and Star Wars themed costumes all over my neighborhood and even more found in the online communities such as Star Wars and gamer forums and Reddit. A friend of mine goes every year as a Jedi with a homemade Here are some other great SWTOR and Star Wars costumes:costume and an amazing lightsaber he made himself. This year, his daughter went with him in costume as well.The Ewok and his dad photo we found from a post on Reddit. Both costumes were handmade and it looks like this father and son had a really great time! We saw baby Yodas and young Jedis, a Wookie, Sith Sorcerer and Princess Leias. Taking to the Internet, we found some families going together in theme, friends pairing up to attend holiday parties as their favorite characters from the game and more….
How Will the Star Wars Expanded Universe Be Affected by the Disney Buyout?
Everyone is talking about the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm since the news was revealed yesterday but one question that we have on our minds is what will happen to the Expanded Universe now that this buyout has taken place? It’s far too early to say for certain so all anyone can do is speculate but this does bring up some important questions. A sequel trilogy would cause an upheaval in the galaxy far, far away for sure. It may disturb the continuity that has been part of the community for a very long time now. There are fans of all types and all age ranges out there who have spent their time in a post-Return of the Jedi atmosphere that could very well be turned on its heels. While we don’t know any more than the fact that there will be another movie, we cannot begin to guess what this…
Star Wars: Episode 7 to be “Original Story”
Since hearing the news that Disney bought Lucasfilm and there will be a new Star Wars movie, fans all over the world are speculation on what ‘Episode 7’ will be about. A Lucasfilm source says that this will be an all original story. What we do know for sure about Star Wars: Episode 7 is that Lucas himself won’t have a big hand in the day-to-day creation of it, although he did say he will assist and oversee the film (after previously saying he would never do another Star Wars movie). But some fans are actually happy to know that Lucas won’t have such a big hand it in (perhaps they are secretly hoping to never see Jar Jar Binks killed off permanently). Ok, so while Star Wars fans everywhere are speculating about what the new movie will entail, there are some facts that might surprise you. E Online (UK)…
Tosche Station Radio #35: Buyout
Brian and Nanci from Tosche Station + Dunc from clubjade.net discuss the Disney buyout and episode 7 What led Brian and Nanci to call an emergency episode of Tosche Station Radio? Well, none other than the big Disney buyout of Lucasfilm. It’s not surprising really, since everyone is talking about this buyout and how it seemed to come out of left field and completely unexpected. What is interesting, however, is what they talked about. Lots of great points brought up in this emergency episode of Tosche Station Radio! What’s it all about? The notes are brief, because we’re only talking about one thing: Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm and the announcement of new Star Wars films (our post/Club Jade’s post). Hosts Nanci and Brian are joined by Dunc from Club Jade to try and make sense of the big news and offer insight as to what this might mean for the future of the Galaxy Far, Far…
Electronic Arts Q2 2013 Earnings Conference Call and SWTOR
The Electronic Arts Q2 2013 Earnings Conference Call revealed a few tidbits about SWTOR and as you know, we’re always looking for any new piece of information at this point. The haters also latch on to these earnings calls, looking for reasons to say that SWTOR is a sinking ship, but we’re not ready to dub it the TORtanic just yet. In fact, we have high hopes, as does EA, that the new free-to-play model will turn things around and generate a new or returned interest in the game. So did the call reveal anything useful about SWTOR and the future of the game? Well, it was mentioned a little, as no surprise since this game has been a huge investment for EA as a company and investors are eager to see if it’s going to pay off in the long term after those short term initial sales last year. Here are…
TOR TV: Darkness Assassin solo Black Talon Hard mode (speed run)
Chaori, the guy who solo killed Darth Malgus a while back, is back with a new show off video were he solos The Black Talon in Hard mode. His biggest issue when soloing is tanking through enrages surviving long enough to finish them. So if your interested in getting some phat lewt, I think a tank/healer combo would be able to do this without much difficulty. It’s still a pretty damn awesome that Chaori did this by him self though. His gear: Full min-maxed Campaign with 3 piece Dread Guard. Talos (healer comp) is full BH/Campaign
The Numbers Show SWTOR Isn’t Dying
People tend to take on a “the sky is falling” attitude when things don’t go as planned and gamers are no exception. We are judgmental and opinionated and we want our games to be fantastic. If they don’t hit the nail on the head at the start, we call it a flop. Some are labeling SWTOR in the fail category, but is it really? One member of the SWTOR community started an interesting thread on the forums to show the real numbers behind the game and in comparison to other games. He shows that it’s all about perspective when it comes to how you look at the game. These numbers can give a little more perspective to the whole picture: Direct MMO competitors with a subscription or subscription + F2P model (Western Subscription numbers only): World of Warcraft has ~5.1 million players SWTOR has between 1mil-500k players. Eve Online has…
Disney Set to Purchase Lucasfilm and make ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’
If you’ve been waiting for some new Star Wars movies, then the time has finally come! Walt Disney Pictures has issued a press release announcing that the company has “agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd.” This is HUGE news that can greatly change the future of the Star Wars franchise. According to the press release: Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas. Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments. This is not the first film company that Disney…
Developer Blog: Technical Changes in Game Update 1.5
I apologize we are late with this one, but the fact that I live in Denmark, and BioWare have a habit of sending out news when we I sleep, it some times make it hard to keep up. Anyways, enough QQ for now! BioWare’s Technical Artist Ben Cloward, posted a new developer blog yesterday, informing the community about large technical changes coming with Game Update 1.5. It’s actually quite interesting that the team use so much energy optimizing the Hero Engine. When Patch 1.5 launches the flora an fauna in the game is going to be more realistic. Instead of looking solid and therefore unnaturally dark when viewed against the sun, players with their Shader Complexity set to high will notice that leaves and grass will be moderately translucent, allowing sunlight to filter through them.
1.4.3 Patch Notes 10/30/2012
Servers are back up, and BioWare released a new patch. it’s unknown of this will be the last patch before the release of patch 1.5. Still it’s good to see a fair few fixes in this patch. Biggest deal is probably the increase in rewards for story mode EC that Jesse Sky posted about a few days ago. There’s also a warzone fix that could have been what has been preventing people from getting into warzones recently. Classes and Combat Jedi Knight General The visual effects for Awe display more quickly to better match the ability’s effect. Flashpoints and Operations Flashpoints Cademimu Riding the taxi in this Flashpoint no longer causes a client crash. Operations [WEEKLY] Galactic Operations now rewards 15 Black Hole Commendations (up from 8). [WEEKLY] Galactic Crisis Points now rewards 20 Black Hole Commendations (up from 8). [WEEKLY] Deadly Operations now rewards 10 Black Hole Commendations. Explosive Conflict Warlord Kephess…