For those who enjoy PvE, the Operations/Flashpoints discussion was one of the most interesting. 38% of level 50 players have played in an operation We know there are lots of bugs – particularly in Eternity Vault With game testing and feedback, things go a lot smoother Looting system in normal needs improvements – we wanted to make it PuG-friendly so you don’t have to yield to masterloot – we will deviate from this a bit in the next update. Another thing we want to do is allow you to trade destined loot. Existing operations are pretty easy – we want Hardmodes and Nightmare to be more challenging than they are right now. Explosive conflict: harder than current operations. Needs a whole new level of coordinate rather than more gear and more stats. We want to focus on coordination and execution. Takes place on Denova, it will be tier 2 raid…
SWTOR Companion Romance Guide
Nikole from g4tv.com has a new column that proves to be interesting to those who like their gaming news and gossip with a side of fun. First, she brings us this SWTOR Companion Romance Guide which is a great way to see what your romance options are. Nikole says: “Star Wars: The Old Republic can be a tough place to find love; that’s why we made this SWTOR Companion Romance Guide. Your next quest, 10 force-sensitive rakghouls, the perfect armor mods; there are plenty of missions in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and there are just as many potential hook-ups. I have some advice for navigating your way through romantic space. This will be the first, in a series I like to call Rated-Teen Beat: Everything you need to know about gaming’s latest gossip. Let’s dish! Today we’re going to focus, not just on finding love, but on finding that…
SWTOR SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE: MARCH 13TH, 2012
For those who may haveforgotten, here’s a quick reminder than the servers will go down latetonight/early tomorrow. If you’re looking for something to do while the servers are down, remember you can browse our site. :p From the SWTORforums: “Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will beperforming scheduled maintenance for eight hours on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/7AM GMT/8AM CET/6PM AEST) until 10AM CDT (8AMPDT/11AM EDT/3PM GMT/4PM CET/2AM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will beoffline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more thaneight hours, but could be extended. For our new players, this weekly maintenance is done in order tomake general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we cancontinue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but notalways) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After themaintenance, please…
Behind the Scenes of Star Wars: The Old Republic from PC Gamer
There was a lot of great information coming out of GDC this year and much of it was in regards to SWTOR. A talk given by director of production, Dallas Dickinson and BioWare executive producer Richard Vogel brings us some interesting information about the game. First, building it was hard. There’s no real surprise there, right? Making a game of this size and caliber is certainly difficult with many, many hours put in by various team members. That’s just to launch- there is still behind the scenes workers every day to keep it running as intended. PC Gamer brings us the full story on this talk at GDC: In an hour long session, the pair took us through the production and lessons from a long and gruelling development process that saw Bioware Austin hire huge numbers of developers, outsource much of their art, completely rebuild how their team was integrated,…
TOR TV: Richie Branson – Looking For A Group – the music video
Back in January we featured Richie Branson for the first time in this column. Back then we also posted the same song as we are going to feature today, but now the tune “Looking for Group” has it’s own music video. This live-action SWTOR music video aired on the FOX news station in San Antonio this past monday, along with a feature story about the artist who made it. It’s wild to see SWTOR fan-art making it on the evening news. Check out the video below, and the story over at FOX San Antonio
Guild Summit 2012 PvP Discussion and Overview
One of the most exciting portions of the guild summit for many players was the talk of PvP. Here is an overview of the discussion as well as the follow-up Q&A. Player vs. Player Discussion medal system- not balanced across classes right now. No specific queues for warzones Novare Coast: majority control objective – 3 point objective. You need least 2 out of 3 to do damage to fortification. Character warzone ratings for both solo and group player New warzone dailies – based on medal system as opposed to wins. We didn’t finish all the medals – we are introducing a lot more medals for objectives, catching a ball, scoring in huttball, be the first to plant a bomb 18 new medals “We want to discourage medal farming” – medal rewards are capped. We are doubling the amount of medals but cap it at ~8. If you finish a…
SWTOR Reverse Engineering Visual Guide
Are you frustrated that you don’t know what your items will break down into with Reverse Engineering? Are you looking to learn more about SWTOR Reverse Engineering and how it all works? You are in luck because we found this super handy visual guide by Lone Stranger that is a must for any players doing Reverse Engineering. The visual guide is done in flow chart fashion and color coded which allows you to see what is trainable, what artifacts can break down into and differ tier levels as well.We are absolutely thrilled when other players just like us take the time to create charts, guides and visuals like this to help others succeed in the game. Have you created a visual guide for something in SWTOR? Have you stumbled across a really great one and you’re not sure if we’ve featured it on our site? Be sure to shoot us…
Live CSR Agent on Korriban
BioWare is upping the ante on their customer service department. In the early days of launch of SWTOR, there were complaints about the CSR team. Complaints and issues generally took awhile to get answered and many players did not feel satisfied with the level of response they were getting. However, I have to give BioWare props because when they see a problem, they attempt to correct it. Just the other day I had a ticket responded to in less than 3 hours and it was not even an urgent message. They sent me an email about it and when I replied with some additional info, I got a response in 5 minutes. But I’m not the only one experiencing better customer service. This Reddit user had an encounter with a live CSR agent on Korriban and he screencapped the conversation to share. He even got permission to post it on…
SWTOR Subs Stabilize at 1.7 Million
If you’re wondering how many people are actively still playing SWTOR, then recent numbers will interest you. While it’s a been a great month for BioWare with the launch of Mass Effect 3 and the continued success of SWTOR, the numbers show that SWTOR subscriptions have stabilized at 1.7 million. Massively reports: It’s also worth noting that, according to EA’s John Riccitello, the “vast majority” of these active subscribers have already used their 30-day trials, which means most of those 1.7 million subscribers are shelling out $15 per month to play the game. It’ll be interesting to see how these numbers change (or don’t) in the coming months, but for the time being The Old Republic seems to be doing BioWare proud. After the recently released news about patch 1.2 and Game Update 2 for SWTOR, I’m expecting we will see those numbers increase more. There is also the tell-a-friend…
How I Helped Destroy Star Wars Galaxies
Who here played Star Wars Galaxies before SWTOR? I know I am not the only one. We’ve brought you coverage here of SWG and its closing ceremonies but here’s story from a player who says he helped destroy Star Wars Galaxies. What does this mean? What is this all about? In just under 2,000 words, Patrick Desjardins shares his story. He explains: Spring 2002: The first sandbox alpha builds were being tested. Over the course of spring and summer, they got a little more advanced, and I could see the game starting to take shape. I got into the friends and family alpha tests from my involvement in the online community. I made copious suggestions, everything from combat to social aspects. I complained for a week about how the zabrak horns should look. I got involved, deep. One day, I inquired as to how the economy would be structured. The…
Memes of the week: March 5 – March 11
It’s Sunday and time for a new round of “memes of the week”. This time a few non memes (but really funny pictures) got our attention to. I apologize for not adding credits to all images, but its not always possible to find the creators they way we find these images. Everytime I hear C2-N2… By Eutow We need a Georg Zoeller meme. By breetai3 by decoy1686 Everytime I play my alts By Meeha How to react to inquisitor wardrobes Now I understand the Sith. TROLL PREMADE Stacking Surge for newbs Forever Alone level: SWTOR Kaliyo Got Back! Zeschuk is a buzz kill ( not sure I get this one) Love it when this happens by geevz Zoning into Ilum
Patch 1.2 and Guild Summit
If your eager to know what is coming up in swtor, you should check this out! Includes a massive summary of the guild summit. The complete list of the video: We will dive into the patch 1.2 and we will point out a list gathered. and then we move over to the guild summit! So, here is a list of things we’ll see in patch 1.2, this is taken from various Bioware releases through media. PvE New Operation- Explosive Conflict will be the first “Tier 2” raid instance. New Flashpoint – Lost Island Continues where Kaon Under Siege left off. Orange gear will become more viable as end-game gear in the 1.2 update. New Corellia Dailies PvP New Warzone – Novare Coast Ranked Warzones. Will use ELO ranking system for both solo and group play in ranked Warzones Medal Rewards will be capped to try and prevent medal farming. Entry…
SWTOR on Big Bang Theory
If you’re a fan of Big Bang Theory and SWTOR then yourultimate nerd fantasy has come to life as SWTOR makes a cameo in the verypopular show. In TheBig Bang Theory – The Weekend Vortex, the guys decide to have a good,old-fashioned weekend video game fest. Who here hasn’t done that a time or two?(Who here isn’t even reading this article yet because they’re in the middle ofone right now?) So anyway, this episode featuresSheldon having to choose between a prior engagement with his girlfriend, Amy,or a SWTOR gamer fest with his buds. Tough call, right? “48 hours of Stars Wars gaming.” “It’s on like Alderaan!” Thus began their gamer-fest. Evenif you’re not a regular Big Bang Theory watcher, you’ll get a kick out of thisepisode as a SWTOR player. Find out what Sheldon decides and join in for a lotof laughs when you watch this episode for yourself. The…
Jeff Woods Dev Rant
I know the below rant is old, and maby also fake, but reading through the official SWTOR forum, I can understand why developers get fed up, or just have a breakdown. Below rant is from 2004 and was all over the Star Wars galaxies forums back then. There is no evidence that a disillusioned coder working on SWG by the name of Jeff Woods actually existed, but I still laugh out loud when ever I read this jewel of a “Friday update” I think many of us can related to the tone of frustration in this article, that’s what makes it so damn good, hoax or not. Check it out below: Greetings and suck me. I’m Jeff Woods, maintenance programmer for Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. As a maintenance programmer it is my responsibility to manage existing code, write bug fixes, integrate new code while analyzing its impact on existing functionality and be the brunt…
SWTOR vendors will sell ultra-rare most-wanted white Lightsaber crystals
Remember when players really wanted those ultra-rare white Lightsaber crystals? Lightsaber crystals are one of the most-wanted novelty items in SWTOR. Who doesn’t want to have their own lightsaber? Most Star Wars fans can agree with this one. Now what if you had the option to control what color your lightsaber beam was? Again, most will agree that this is a great feature. But in SWTOR, it’s not as easy as just wishing for a certain color (where is the Force when you really need it?) Instead, you will need to obtain crystals that change your existing lightsaber color to the color of your choice. BioWare has recently revealed the very popular white lightsaber crustal will be available in the game and you can buy it from computer-brained vendors. BioWare revealed this information in a blog post about future game changes. “”In related news, a very limited number of pure white…
Blizzard Lays Off 600- Is SWTOR to Blame?
There has been news just recently that ActiVision Blizzardhad to make some layoffs. They have cut 600 employees from their BlizzardEntertainment Unit, the department that runs the popular MMO, World ofWarcraft. While Blizzard justified that the staff reductions are insync with its current organizational needs, the layoffs have many in the gamingcommunities buzzing about the state of WoW and whether or not other games (suchas SWTOR) are contributing to its decline. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone talking about SWTORnot mention WoW. Players, guild leaders and even SWTOR’s own dev team findthemselves slipping up and using WoW terminology when discussing the game. So manyof us played WoW for such a long time (and many still do) that it’s hard not tomake comparisons between the two. However, do these statistics and layoffs mean that SWTOR iskilling WoW? Not directly, no. The game has been on a decline since thebeginning of 2011…
ChewUI Coming Soon!
If you’re as excited as us about the new UI changes andcustomization coming in 1.2 then you will be especially excited about this newsite coming to help you. ChewUI.com was founded by a one man/one womandesign/dev team that want to be able to offer players just like you and me aplace to go to find UI customization, post your own layout and more. The news of the new UI updates and customizable features wasjust released to us at SWTOR Guild Summit in Austin. This is where I met JodiHodges and Patrick Murray of the Black Bisectors (Twin Spears Server). Whenthey announcement was first made that we could customize our UIs and thendownload to an XML file, the wheels started turning for ideas. A website that would allow players to share/upload, downloadand rank other UI customizations is just what this game needs. Maybe you wantto find a good healer UI- go…
SWTOR Trooper Leveling Build – Awesome PVE Build For The Commando With Rotations!
In this post we have another build from Swtorsavior.com and this time we are focusing on the Trooper and the Commando advanced class that makes an excellent healer or ranged DPS. This build is a solid DPS build and if you feel that you are getting fryed too soon with the Trooper while leveling you might want to give this a go! Below you will find the full build and then the point allocation you need as well as rotations: SWTOR Trooper Commando Leveling Build: Point Allocation: Level 10 – Havoc Rounds (1/2) Level 11 – Havoc Rounds (2/2) Level 12 – Ironsights (1/3) Level 13 – Ironsights (2/3) Level 14 – Ironsights (3/3) Level 15 – Steadied Aim (1/3) Level 16 – Steadied Aim (2/3) Level 17 – Steadied Aim (3/3) Level 18 – Muzzle Fluting (1/1) Level 19 – Special Munitions (1/1) Level 20 – Grav Round (1/1)…
665 people worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic
Just how many people does it take to make a great MMORPG? BioWare has revealed the numbers on the team that helped make SWTOR a reality. Not counting the voice actors, 665 people worked on SWTOR. During a GDC panel, the company revealed the breakdown of the team members: 30 Production 75 Designers 80 Engineers 40 Platform 10 Localization 10 Audio 140 Artists (Both internal and outsourced) 280 QA (Both internal and outsourced) The game reportedly cost more than $200 million to make and BioWare says they are excited for what is on the horizon and still yet to come in the game. They have a dedicated team still hard at work making new content for the game. (I got to see this team in action myself at the tour of BioWare Austin this past Monday). It takes a full team of people, all working hard towards the same common…
TOR TV: SWTOR Episode II – The Internet Strikes Back
Khalirei the Creator of “SWTOR Episode I – A NEW MEME” has finally made a sequel to his first EPIC Machinima, But Warning: This time it’s rated M for Manneyus. I especially appreciated the Battlemaster bag and Minecraft scenes. Looking forward to part 3! Take your time, don’t give into pressure from commenters – great ideas sometimes take a while to come along. Interested in SWTOR Movies? We have new movies most weekdays here onswtorstrategies! Have suggestions for movie we ought to feature? Get in contact with us here
Combat Logs and Training Dummies in SWTOR 1.2
One of the biggest questions to come out of the SWTOR Guild Summit was in regards to combat logs and training dummies in 1.2. While they have confirmed they have combat logs in 1.2, there was not a lot of information being released about it yet and in the community, there seems to also be a lot of confusion about it. So here’s what was said at Guild Summit regarding combatlogs: Combat logs were intended to be in the game in some form(those in beta will remember it before it was removed and not added to launchdue to bugs in the system). However, they do not want players judging one another basedon combat logs and stats so their solution is that players will only see their owncombat logs. You will have the opportunity to write the combat log to disk andsave it on your computer. This gives guilds the freedom…
TOR TV: Stealth Run the False Emperor Hardmode
This takes around 4 mins per run for 2 chests! Very fast Credits and loot to sell to the galactic trade network or vendor or even gear up your companions. 1:33 first chest loot, 2:31 second chest loot (On the video) First chest has 5k to 9.9k credits, second chest has 2k to 6k creds. Can contain blues, oranges and epics aswell. At least 120k/hour purely from the credits. Once you have got both chest, just exit Area and then once outside the instance, Right click on your portrait(Left of your skill bar) and “Reset all active flashpoints” This is very effective. I get around 20 to 25k credits and from 2-5 items every 5-10mins. Got a purple epic helm wich is almost as good as the rakata gear today in the first chest. Definately a yes. Made 300k in under 2 hours by selling green item and from the credits….
Panels, Panels, Panels! SWTOR Guild Summit Day 2
Day 2 is by far the most eventful day of the SWTOR Guild Summit. In fact, it was so much so that many complained there was far too much crammed into one day. BioWare devs and staff agree. It seems they only had the livestream capability for one day so they put all the panels on Monday but when combined with the studio tour and lunch at BioWare as well, it made for a very, very long day. The good news is there were tons of things covered. Some ofyou were probably watching on the livestream and know some of this already butI know others have questions about certain things. So I’m going to break eachpanel down into a separate post and recap some of the most important informationto come from that post. I’ll then come back and edit this post to contain links toeach of the panels: Operations and…
TOR TV: How I Got Through SWTOR
TerminalMontage made this short animated video showing his experiences in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Of what I can see from the video, he quit playing. Who knows.. His lose, but the video is really funny for sure 🙂