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…
Game Update 1.5 PTS Patch Notes 10/29/2012
BioWare have updated the public test servers with a new patch. It’s clear we are getting closer and closer to the release of patch 1.5 and the Free to Play version of the game. We are still not quite there yet though, so today’s normal server maintenance won’t bring it to the live servers. That’s alright though. I think we all want the most polished free to play version of the game as possible. Up until release you also get to play around with the Cartel Market on PTS. for a while yet. Below are the patch notes: The patch notes published for the Public Test Server are not final and are subject to change. The Public Test Server Patch Notes will be provided in English. The final release notes will be provided in English, French, and German when the content is moved to live servers. Cartel Market and Free-to-Play Prices on some Cartel Market Items have been adjusted…
Blaine Christine answers questions regarding Free To Play
Senior Producer Blaine Christine took on the forums today, to answer questions regarding the upcoming Free to Play system, implemented into Star Wars: The old republic. BioWare have neem coellecting questions from the community the last week and now we get some more answers. The full Q&A can be found at the official forums, or as a copy/ past below: Hi folks! Now that the Cartel Market has hit the Public Test Server, we wanted to open up this thread to give you the opportunity to ask any lingering Free-to-Play questions that you may have. After we’ve collected your questions, Sr. Producer Blaine Christine will try to answer as many as he can. Please be sure to be respectful and courteous and also remember to report any Cartel Market issues on the PTS thread. Thanks! Update: As promised, Sr. Producer Blaine Christine has taken time out of his crazy schedule to answer some of your Free-to-Play questions!…
Scheduled Maintenance October 30
This week’s scheduled maintenance will occur tomorrow on Tuesday, October 30 from 2AM CDT to 8AM CDT. SWTOR servers will be down during this period while a patch will be deployed. When the servers come back up, we’ll have the patch notes available here. Check out the original forum post here or below: Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for eight hours on Tuesday, October 30th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/7AM GMT/8AM CET/6PM AEDT) until 10AM CDT (8AM PDT/11AM EDT/3PM GMT/4PM CET/2AM AEDT). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than eight hours, but could be extended.
EverQuest Next’s Design Scrapped: SOE cites SWTOR, Rift, The Secret World as Reason
Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest Next was billed as “the largest sandbox MMO ever designed“ but sadly, it will never be seen by gamers- at least not in the way we first thought. SOE has now decided to scrap the original design for the 3rd installment of EverQuest. As a long time EQ fan, I was interested in hearing more about the reasons for this and how the game design would move forward. Massively talks to John Smedley about it: Massively: Let’s start with EQ Next. When did you make the call to scrap everything? What was it that made you choose to do so? John Smedley: A year and a half ago, we made that decision. I didn’t get to cover this in the keynote, so I should mention it here. The engine and underlying technology has not changed. A lot of the guts and infrastructure are staying the same. What we’re…
Malgus Dressing Up as Revan for Halloween
Halloween is almost here- what are you going as? It’s an excuse to dress up without fear of being judged (but really, do we care what people think?) and there are parties and drinks (if you’re old enough) and don’t forget- CANDY! For a little extra fun this Halloween, why not mix in your love of Star Wars/SWTOR? Malgus seems to be representing Revan this year! When it comes to Halloween, there is usually no shortage of Star Wars themed costumes. I just saw an adorable Yoda getup I’d love for my 10 month old this year. Imagine all the candy he would get! I also saw an awesome costume on Facebook of a little boy who uses a walker. His dad made him a custom Luke Skywalker costume built around the walker. Pretty cool! But this year, it’s likely we might see more SWTOR-themed costumes as well. Will non-gamers…
TOR TV: In depth with the prices of items on the Cartel Market
The guys over at Sith Talk, made a video showing what’s going on at the public test server right now. This video goes in depth with the prices of items on the Cartel Market and the Legacy unlocks both per character and Legacy wide unlocks. As well as a few things new players will see as they create characters and what they may want to buy.
Subscribers Not Charged Credits for Skill Point Re-specializations
In the news of what benefits subscribers will get, came some very exciting news about re-specializations. Amber Green, Live Community Coordinator, posted a thread on the SWTOR forums that lists the benefits to subscribers. Of this was the news that subscribers will not be charged credits for skill point re-specs. How many people do you think will subscribe just for this benefit alone? Chances are high that players will opt in just to know how many credits they can save from being able to re-spec when and how they need to. Here are some other details from that forum post: Highlights Travel to Section X on Belsavis and learn why the nefarious Dread Guard has seized control of this ravaged sector of the planet! Section X can be accessed on Belsavis and via the daily mission shuttles. HK-51 can now be acquired as a Companion Character! A shipment of the…
Developer Update 10/25: FTP Changes Coming Soon
For those of you on the PTS who have been reporting bugs and giving feedback on the game, your voices are being heard. A recent developer update tells us that there will be some important and interesting changes coming very soon. The forum thread will tell you the full changes and updates but here are some highlights. Free-to-Play players will now get a second quickslot bar. Free-to-Play players will now be able to do 5 Warzones per week instead of 3. The Cartel Coin item lock (i.e. temporary bind) will be reduced to 3 days for Free-to-Play players, and 2 days for subscribers. They added that they found some crucial bugs that needed stomping, which is good. These changes will make their way to the PTS by early next week. Here is some more from that post: There are a couple of key concepts that should be kept in mind…
Guide to HK 51
The HK-51 companion is finally here and this guide will explain what you need to do to acquire one. Some of the tasks are fairly easy but others will be very difficult so be prepared to spend some time on this quest. Before you can acquire your HK-51 companion, you’ll need to gather up a few components and there are seven of them altogether. Scanning for Components You’ll have to scan for four of the seven components. These are the HK Chassis, HK AI Regulator, HK Power Core and the HK Motivator. In Taris, look for the downed Endar Spire. Just north of it, you’ll find the HK Chassis. As you approach the area near the end of the Endar Spire, you’ll notice it starts to gradually close in. This is where you need to start scanning until you find the component. In Hoth, search for the HK Power Core…
Introducing Preferred Player Status
Preferred Player status is incoming and many SWTOR fans are curious just what this means. Will certain parts of the game be unplayable without preferred player status? Will certain zones or features in the game not be in access? All great questions and BioWare took to the forums to clear it all up for us. So just what will preferred player status mean? Here’s the breakdown and explanation from the forums: As a Preferred Status Player, you will gain the following benefits compared to Free-to-Play Players: • The Sprint ability at Level 1 • Access to your Cargo Hold (an 80 item Player Bank) • Access to Secure Trade (starting at level 10) • The ability to send Mail, including one (1) attachment • Increased allowance for chat message frequencies in Public chat channels (such as /general) • An increased Credits Cap • Access to the Who List • Three…
Inserting, Removing, and REing Crafted Mods for Schems is “Unintended” but Not an Exploit
Reverse engineering mods is expensive, especially when you are trying to build up a nice stock of schematics to place on the GTN. When you’re a new player trying to gear up, this can be a real hassle. But there has been a new “trick” found that makes it a little bit easier by bypassing this altogether. The real question is: Is this an exploit? A forum user explains: SomeJagoff As is already known, when you try to RE other people’s crafted mods, it says no research available, however, as I pulled out a mod that I know I bought off the gtn a few months ago to replace with a better one, I noticed that it said 20% chance to research a schem available. Out of curiosity, I threw the new mod that I just bought off the GTN into my armor, then pulled it out, same thing, research…
DarthHater Data-mined Wookie Life Day! Yes it’s Coming!
Lots of exciting news coming out about 1.5 and upcoming SWTOR news, free to play and the Cartel Market. With all of this, the crew over at DarthHater found something else cool. DarthHater discovered something pretty interesting when updating their database yesterday with all the new items included in the PTS patch. They found evidence of a Star Wars-centric holiday event called Wookiee Life Day. How cool is that? This could be a new World Event for the Christmas holiday season. Since the original Star Wars Holiday Special centered around the Wookiee celebration of Life-Day, this gives a lot of opportunity to work this into the game. Here’s the stuff that DarthHater found: Items Life Day Orb Life Day Holiday Holo-Tree Life Day Vestments Life Day Lower Robe Life Day Boots So what do you think? Would you participate in a world event like this? Do you want to see…
BioWare Speaks on the Cartel Market
Do you have questions about the Cartel Market? After the update to the public test server (PTS) yesterday, there were many questions coming from the community about the free-to-play cartel market and how this will work. Will items disappear? What does the timer mean? Can you still trade an item if it is modified? Lots of great questions are arising! BioWare answered these questions and provided info on some other areas of the cartel market and how it will work. See below: Allison Berryman I can clarify that the item will not disappear after the timer is over – after that time period, the item is no longer bound to you and can be traded! Allison Berryman The items do not disappear after 5 days; after the timer expires, they are no longer bound to the player and can be traded. Please also remember that we are currently testing the…