The time is almost here. Everyone has been waiting and waiting for SWTOR game update 1.4. Now the time is nearly here. The servers are going to be down for around six hours but the good news is there will be something great coming after those hours have passed. This means 1.4 is finally coming and with such a big update, it’s going to take a few hours to get the content loaded and ready to go. And of course, expect that you will see some bugs and problems from the first day or so that the new content is up. But let’s see more than BioWare has to say about it and the downtime. BioWare has this update to offer tonight: Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for six hours on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM…
Corellian Defender with Satele Shan, Qyzen Fess, & C2-N2
How would you like to see this as a new Lego product? It’s the Corellian Defender with Satele Shan, Qyzen Fess, & C2-N2 and this guy has a project up for funding. If they get $10k in support, it could get produced by Lego. So far there are over 500 supporters and nearly 20,000 views. If you like the project, help out by donating and/or by sharing the page for more SWTOR and Lego fans to see it. Here is some info about the Lego set from the project description: This is the Jedi vessel from the game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Satele is a character from The Old Republic. Based on her use of the Double-bladed lightsabre her class is likely Jedi Consular. She already exists as a Lego Minifig. C2-N2 is a support droid that resides on the Corellian Defender. Qyzen Fess is a Trandoshan and is…
Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Revan in paperback out today
If you haven’t already got a copy of Drew Karpyshyn’s Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, now might be our chance. Randomhouse just released Revan as paperback for a price of $7.99. You can order the book directly from Random house. We have previously wrote about this book, and you can read an interview with Drew Karpyshyn about the book here or read an excerpt from the book here, any way I recommend you to check it out, if you are into reading or Star Wars Lore. Excerpt: Hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior—the man called Revan has been all of these. He left Coruscant a Jedi, on a mission to defeat the Mandalorians. He returned a Sith disciple, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was the loss of his memories. All that’s left are nightmares—and deep, abiding fear. What happened…
No Maintenance today
Normally we are used to Tuesday scheduled maintenance, but today is different. Community Manager Joveth Golzalez did a Twitter update to announce the lack of a scheduled maintenance: TheCantinaBand asked if this meant that game update 1.4 was near by, and Mr. Gonzalez responded with, “keep an eye on the swtor.com website!” We will keep you update if any news on patch 1.4 emerge.
SWTOR Livestream Q&A Transcript and Video
Are you looking to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes at SWTOR and what is coming up with the new Game Update 1.4 then you need to check out the SWTOR Livestream Q&A with Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez, Senior Producer Blaine Christine and Senior Designer George took place on September 21 – 4 to 4:30 PM CST. If you missed it, there is now a video and a transcript up to help you catch up. There’s no mention of dual-spec, something a lot of people have been asking a lot about but they do cover a great deal of information about operations, 1.4, free to play, PvP and much more. You can see the video yourself here: If you would rather read than see the video, Dulfy has a full transcript available as well. Here’s part of it. To see the transcript in full, visit Dulfy’s site….
Interviews from the SWTORspere
With Game Update 1.4 on the way, we are seeing more information coming out about the new features, free to play model and other changes happening within SWTOR and the community. One of the highlights of this information is the great interviews that usually come out from BioWare staff. This is our chance to learn more about what’s really going on and sometimes, to get the very questions we want asked, asked. We have a nice roundup this week of interviews with Gabe Amantangelo, Joveth Gonzalez and Lead System Designer, Damion Schubert. Chris and Anexxia interview SWTOR Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez and get the scoop on what his first few months on the job have been like, find out what his team has in store for us over the next couple of months as we lead up to the launch of the free-to-play option and more. You can listen to…
All the SWTOR Classes in Legos
What’s better than Legos? How about all of the SWTOR classes in Lego? User dfsniper uploaded these great pictures of the SWTOR classes in Legos. There are four images in all to give you a better look and if you want to see them large and up close, head over to the original posting here. I’ve always been a Lego fan and so are all of my kids. My sons have huge full sets of Halo Mega Blocks, Star Wars Legos and more. What we do not have a lot of yet are the SWTOR Legos but I’m looking into fixing that very soon. While the kids get a lot of fun out of playing with them, they also make great collector’s pieces for adult collectors. Do you think the Lego versions look anything like the real versions? Do you consider these toys or collector’s pieces? And here they are from…
The BioWare Doctors Leave BioWare- What Does this Really Mean?
We brought you the news this week that the doctors, co-founders Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are actually leaving BioWare. The company has brought us some of the greatest names in video games and losing the doctors will definitely be a blow to BioWare. Analysts that GamesIndustry International spoke with appeared to have mixed feelings on how this will affect the company. “Yes, it’s a blow to EA,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told GamesIndustry. “The company hasn’t created many hugely successful new IPs outside of what we’ve seen from BioWare and DICE, with Dead Space probably the sole exception. These two were instrumental in creating Mass Effect, Dragon Age and SWTOR, and I think that talent like theirs is hard to find.”” Colin Sebastian of RW Baird agrees that it’s tough for EA to deal with the loss of the BioWare founders but adds, “It’s clearly a loss to…
Quality of Life Improvements in Game Update 1.4
With Game Update 1.4 on the way, many people have questions about how the game will change. BioWare has released some more information about specific changes coming in 1.4, this time, talking about things that will improve the quality of life in the game. On top of the major features the staff does to give the fans a fun gaming experience, they also try to work in the smaller features that really make a player want to stay with the game. These small improvements can greatly improve the quality of life for the players, which of course, makes players want to stay with the game (and refer it to friends). Here’s some of what the SWTOR blog had to say about these quality of life improvements coming soon: On top of the major features that we work on and deliver to the fans, we also try to work in smaller…
Irish BioWare Support Center for SWTOR Converting to General EA Use
The BioWare facility that was just built last year in Galway, Ireland to be a support center for SWTOR is now expanding and will become the home to EA’s European customer service needs. Basically this means that it will be general EA use and not strictly SWTOR support. They will offer support from this facility to all of EA’s major titles. They have dropped the BioWare Ireland name and will be hiring more than 300 new employees over the course of the next few months. The Irish Government looks at this as a good opportunity for job growth and is supportive of the expansion and what video games can do for their economy and job force.
Bioware Hiring Temp Testers for SWTOR F2P Model
If you live in or around Austin like me then you probably already know that there are often opportunities for testing with BioWare. Well, here is a fun opportunity for SWTOR fans. They are seeking temporary usability testers for the free to play model of SWTOR. You can see the original call here and apply if interested. Career Opportunities: Usability Testers (10832) The BioWare Label is a division of EA which crafts high quality multiplatform role-playing, MMO, social, play-for-free and strategy games, focused on emotionally engaging, rich stories with unforgettable characters and vast worlds to discover. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world’s most critically acclaimed titles and franchises, including Baldur’s Gate™, Neverwinter Nights™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, Jade Empire™, Mass Effect™ and Dragon Age™. BioWare currently operates in eight locations across the world, including Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec, Canada), Austin (Texas), Fairfax (Virginia),…
TOR TV: New patch 1.4 Emotes (male and female)
Emotes are a big part of MMORPG’s. It makes your character feel more alive. F2P is gonna be like a new launch. SOME new content, Lots and lots of polish. Already seeing this with shadow optimization, facial expressions and not emotes. Cant wait for armor dyes! Nov-December will be glorious! I really like the new set of emotes, how many other MMORPG’s have they actually implemented a “mood” feature for your character? None that I can recall at least, and that is excactly what the new emotes is about, setting up a mood for your character which can be changed at any time. The new emotes (emoticons) that will come in swtor patch 1.4.0 – Male 00:07Female 02:08 – Theese emotes are based on various moods. Here you will see all of them for both female and male. The moods you will find is the following: Neutral, Alarmed, Annyoed, Astounded, Awed, Cheery, Dejected, Depressed,…
Bioware Executive Producer Jeff Hickman on SWTOR’s upcoming move to F2P
The team over at Zam spoke to BioWare’s Executive Producer for Live Services about introducing a free-to-play option, future updates and the impact of Hero Engine. In this interview, they talk about the upcoming f2p model for the game as well as how they will be attracting new players to the game with a premium experience. They talk new updates, additional content brought to the game and more. It’s a good read while we await these changes. Here’s a snippet: I started off by asking about where the idea for SWTOR’s free-to-play option came from, and what influenced the team in deciding to offer it alongside the existing subscription. Hickman explained that, while they’ve been aware of what other MMOs were doing, it was player feedback that encouraged them to choose this route. “We knew that there were other models out there, and they’ve been successful, and it’s kind of been…
Coming Soon from BioWare: Dragon Age III
One of the most popular BioWare series is Dragon Age. There are those who love it and those who loved only one (the original but bit DA2, for example). The game series has a large following who are probably excited to hear about Dragon Age III: Inquisition. There is now more information coming out about this latest title from BioWare and what we can expect from the game. On the official site of DA3, we can find an open letter from Mark Darrah the executive producer. In this letter he confirms the game is coming (not completely news to all of us): I am pleased to confirm that we are, in fact, working on the next Dragon Age game. Not a big surprise to most of you, I know. We have been working on it in some way for about two years now with the bulk of our efforts ramping…
BioWare and LucasArts LiveStream Q&A Event
With patch 1.4 just around the corner, BioWare and Lucasarts will be holding a LiveStream event. In this, the they will answer questions from the community concerning the content within each Game Update. The first LiveStream Event will discuss Game Update 1.4 – Terror From Beyond, and the team will be taking questions via Twitter, Facebook, and the Official Forum. LiveStream Event #1 BioWare and LucasArts are excited to announce a new monthly LiveStream Q&A Event. The objective of this new LiveStream event series is to answer any questions our Community has concerning the content within each Game Update. Below is all the information you need in order to watch and participate in the first monthly LiveStream Event. Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – LiveStream 9/21/2012 4:00pm to 4:30pm CDT The first LiveStream Event will discuss Game Update 1.4 – Terror From Beyond. This Game Update brings a brand new…
BioWare’s Doctors Announce Retirement from Gaming
BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzkya both announced their retirement via posts online Tuesday afternoon. Known as the “doctors”, they founded the company in 1995 after receiving their medical degrees at the University of Alberta. They are also credited as executive producers for Baldur’s Gate series, Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Shattered Steel, Jade Empire, and the Neverwinter Nights series. They are well known and well loved in the gaming community, especially among BioWare fans but it looks like SWTOR would be their last project. The official BioWare blog posts: Today, BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have announced they are retiring from BioWare. Both have written blogs to discuss their retirement – click HERE for Ray’s and click HERE for Greg’s. Please join us in wishing them all the best in the future. Also, Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of BioWare Edmonton & Montreal shares his thoughts about Ray and Greg and what is coming up for…
Individual Server Forums Coming today
AllisonBerryman posted an update on the forum regarding individual server forums. Finally they are arriving, so let the flame wars commence! Starting tomorrow, we’ll be opening individual server forums. This means that the old Server Group Forums will be closing, so if you have any posts you’d like to save (such as recruitment posts or other posts you’ve put effort into), please do so at this time! They had groups of servers in a forum before. Given 9 pve and 6 pvp groups and 2 RP groups, the number of groupings are going to outnumber the number of servers.
Server merges happen today, plus allowed characters bumped to 12 for everyone
We have known for a couple months now that Mega servers were on the way. We have now reached the last part of the process as BioWare merging the last servers today. Earlier this summer we launched the Free Character Transfer Program which offered players the option to transfer their characters from specific origin servers to selected destination servers. Following the success of the Free Character Transfer Program, and after closely monitoring server populations, we have now taken the next step in our on-going server population balancing process. We have upgraded destination servers in order to support a significantly higher number of players. As of tomorrow, all characters on origin servers will be automatically moved onto the upgraded high population destination servers. By centralizing our player populations on these higher population destination servers, we feel that we can offer our players the best possible Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ experience. As a…
Tips for Stat Tracking in SWTOR
While we know that gaming is supposed to be all about having fun and accomplishing objectives, the reality is that in games like SWTOR, you are going to need to do a bit of legwork in regards to stat tracking. Whether you are tracking loot, affection, or gear, you are going to need to track stats. This is doubly important for raiders. Here are a few stat tracking tricks and tips. Excel Offers More Functionality Over Notepad The two most popular forms of stat tracking are notepad and excel. Notepad is great for those of you that are not in guilds or those that don’t want to the headache of managing raids. However, for the rest of you, Excel offers much more functionality for stat tracking as you can format your sheets and workbooks for your entire guild in an easy-to-read and manage format. Set Rules for Raids If you want to avoid drama that naturally ensues in…
SWTOR Guide to Lightsaber Crystals
Star Wars: The Old Republic has many interesting features like the rare crystals that make your lightsaber different colors. These are fun to collect and some of them can be a real challenge. Here’s a guide to some of the color crystals in the game. Remember that these can change at any time. We will try to update the guide accordingly. Remember to check out this post on Light saber hilts. Common Crystals You can find the blue, green, red and yellow crystals in Artifice. These are the most common gems so they are the easiest to locate. You can also find them in the vendor sabers gear. The orange color gems are “high level artifice” that can be reached at level 400. In Alderaan, the orange crystals drop from Ulgo Siegebreaker, Corusant Worldboss and Nar Shadda Worldboss. Black Core Colors There are four black core colors in the game. You can…
TOR TV: SWTOR Explained #9: Meetra Surik Part 2 (Jedi Exile and Kotor 2)
xZeroTolerence55x have uploaded the second part of the Meetra Surik the Jedi Exile from Kotor 2. story. If you have no clue who Meetra Surik is, she was a charismatic female Human Jedi Master who, while still a Padawan, followed Revan and Malak to war against the Mandalorians, in defiance of the Jedi Council. Because of this she was exiled from the Jedi Order and came to be known as the Jedi Exile. Just prior to Revan and Malak’s fall to the dark side and the Jedi Civil War, Meetra Surik returned to Republic space to face trial with the Jedi Council and was stripped of her connection to the Force, exiled from the Order and spent several years wandering the galaxy. The near extermination of the Jedi Order at the hands of the Sith Triumvirate resulted in her reconnecting to the Force and leading a desperate fight to stop the Sith. During her mission to stop the Sith, she…
High Population Server Tech Testing
Test Center News for SWTOR has some interesting information up today. This comes right after we were talking about PTS testing and who gets in. Basically, they will be opening a new public test realm server in order to test for high population. So this means a lot of people will be invited in. Here are the details from SWTOR: The first step in this process is opening up a new, temporary Public Test Server for testing. In order for us to successfully test this new tech, we need your help. To facilitate your participation we have copied all characters from our East Coast servers to this temporary Public Test Server. If you have any characters on an East Coast server, you can now log in to this special Public Test Server, find your copied characters, and begin testing this important feature today, September 13th. So how do you do…
Select Guilds Allowed Transfer to PTS for 1.4
1.4 is coming soon to SWTOR and players are excited to see it for themselves. Some are so excited, that they are hoping to get into the public test servers to check it out for themselves. The only problem? It seems some guilds are getting in while others are left waiting and wondering. A user on the forums asked, “Can BW please advise if anyone is getting character copies to the PTS?” Joveth Gonzalez, Online Community Manager for SWTOR offers this as an answer: Before PTS went live, we were in contact with a few of the guilds that have helped us test content in the past to see if they would be willing to test out our new content. Because our resources for character copying are very limited, we decided that it was best for us to work closely with these guilds than not have any high-end testing at…
BioWare pledges six-week content update schedule for Star Wars: The Old Republic
BioWare Austin General Manager Matt Bromberg recently spoke with AusGamers about Star Wars: The Old Republic’s free-to-play option and future content updates. PC Gamer has more on that story and what it means to us. With the free to play model coming soon, many existing players want to know what we can expect from future updates to the game. So PC Gamer asked about the timelines for future updates to Warzones, Flashpoints and Operations. PC Gamer reports: “We’re committed to a roughly six-week schedule for major updates — a new Warzone, Flashpoint, Operation, and event — on a regularly frequent cadence,” Bromberg said. Bromberg also reiterated planned incentives for recouping paid subscribers with closed accounts when The Old Republic’s new account system executes this fall, saying, “We announced that subscribers who have lapsed are already qualified to get Cartel Coins, which will be the in-game currency in the game once…