Have you had enough SWTOR reviews yet? Now that the beta testing phase is over and we are counting down the days to the eventual launch of the game, it’s a great time to read over all the good reviews and previews we can find. We’re going to continue to bring you some of the best ones, as well as our own SWTOR guides and strategies to keep you informed and entertained before launch- and beyond. In yet another SWTOR review, we have this from ZAM.com. This is a very long 2-part series of a review/preview of SWTOR based on their beta experiences. Editor-in-Chief Chris Tom talks about what makes SWTOR unique and gives some final thoughts on his experiences. He says: “Yesterday, I went in-depth with SWTOR’s story and gameplay, as well as how it all fits with the MMORPG genre. Today, I’ll be talking about some of the…
Debate: Sith Or Republic- Which Side Will You Choose?
One of the first decisions you’ll make when playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, is whether to choose the Sith civilization or the Galactic Republic. Which one will you choose? Do you have a specific reason for choosing one side over the other? Nearly every player seems to have a preference of which they will play. Many players make a decision based on how each side is portrayed in the sense of good and evil. Some people prefer to be a part of the “good” side, while others prefer the “bad” side. Some people also base it on movie or lore preferences. In SWTOR, the Republic is portrayed as the “good” side while the Sith is portrayed as “evil” but not everyone agrees with this assessment. It’s really a matter of perception and when you take a closer look at both sides, you’ll see a few problems with that interpretation….
AC Comparisons to WoW Classes for the Current/ex WoW Player
A Reddit user named ThomJonson posted a very helpful class comparison about the correlation between Advanced SWTOR Classes and World of Warcraft classes. It might also serve as a good guide to any WoWheads you are trying to turn on to SWTOR. He says: “I did this as a response to someone asking for WoW comparisons in a prior thread located here. It appears a lot of people appreciated this so I figured I might as well show this to more people in the hopes of it proving useful to them or for their fellow gaming acquaintances.” He goes on to explain how he compared the classes to WoW because it’s the MMO he has the most experience with and also that he thinks will best help players understand what the SWTOR classes will be like. He invites anyone more familiar with another MMO who wants to copy/paste the style…
National Post Explores: Will SWTOR Dent WoW?
Ah, the classic debate continues as National Post writer. Daniel Kaszor explores the topic of SWTOR’s affect on WoW in Tuesday’s Download Code. As they as “Can EA’s Star Wars MMO make a dent in World of Warcraft?”, we see more evidence of just how serious the business of video games really is. Kaszor says: In an interview with Reuters last week, Activision-Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick had this to say about the upcoming Electronic Arts Inc. release of Star Wars: The Old Republic (a game similar to Blizzard’s blockbuster World of Warcraft, but obviously set inside the Star Wars universe). He then goes on to quote and discuss Kotick’s comments on whether or not EA could steal users from WoW and also questions whether or not rival EA would make any money off of the game at all since they have to share revenue with Lucas Arts. We recently…
No Grace Period for SWTOR (confirmed by FAQ & Stephen Reid)
There will be no grace period for those who have preordered the game and get Early Game Access to play the game unless they have completed the following steps as outlined in the FAQ. If you have not completed all of the steps, your game play time could be affected. It is not enough just to pre-order the game or even to pre-order and register. You need to thoroughly read the preorder FAQ in order to understand what you need to do. According to the Preorder FAQ: Q. If I pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic but don’t purchase or obtain the full version of the Game, may I continue to play past the Early Game Access period? A. The Game officially launches on December 20th, 2011 at 12:01AM EST (Pacific: December 19th, 9:01PM PST; European: December 20th, 05:01AM GMT, 06:01AM CET). There will be no ‘grace period’ post launch…
SWTOR Early Access Starts December 13
“Early Game Access* for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is only a few days away! Starting December 13, 2011, The Old Republic will begin emailing invitations to start your Early Game Access.” This just in from the official website news section- are you ready to play? The announcement adds: “To ensure that players can get into the game as quickly as possible when their Early Game Access begins, we are now allowing everyone who has redeemed a Pre-Order Code at our Code Redemption Center to pre-load the game to their computer”. Bioware’s Courtney Woods announced that the game is available for pre-load to anyone who has already redeemed their pre-order codes. Stephen Reid also clarified the announcement on Twitter, and notified the community that the Early Access section of the Preorder FAQ had changed. You can now preload the game if you pre-ordered by visiting the SWTOR official website and…
SWTOR Game Cards Now for Sale
The time has come and we know the release of SWTOR is imminent when we see that now game cards are available for purchase! Electronic Arts is offering Star Wars: The Old Republic 60-Day Pre-paid Time Cards on Amazon and other retailers for $29.99. If you haven’t already written your letter to Santa this year or given family stocker-stuffer ideas, then now is the time to ask for some extra game time cards. As of now, we can’t find evidence of any 30-day cards, 90-day cards or longer but there has been hinting that other denominations will come later. If you don’t have a credit card or don’t want to use a credit card to put your game subscription time on, then SWTOR game cards are perfect for you. So what’s your plan? Are you going to stock up on a few cards, buy some for friends or family or…
The Guild Sphere: vindicatum
Welcome back to another edition of the Guild Sphere. This time vindicatum took the time to answer our questions. Vindication is Is a guild with high ambitions supporting the republic. Check it out: Where did your guilds name come from? Vindicatum was an amazing guild back on my guild’s old World of Warcraft server (Icecrown, I believe) and they stood for something that we really wanted to emulate: Success. They were one of the best guilds in America, and tore apart any competition on our server. We also believe that Vindication is something that really stood strong in the Jedi and Republic ideals; so that’s something that we really wanted to reflect into Star Wars: The Old Republic. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? We’re just a group of guys that want to be known. At this point, we’re all focused on leveling and…
12 Days of Smack Talkin’
The lads over at Gamebreakers has released an epic WoW vs SWTOR machinima throwdown, Christmas carol style: As you know, of course, Darnell is the most-excellent PvPer extraordinaire. In fact, last week, Blizzard itself made a commercial featuring his awesome awesomeness. However, few people know that our famous World of Warcraft machinima phenom is actually an accomplished singer. That’s right, you may remember his smash hit “It’s So Hard To Say Good-bye to SWG” and “Imma Bunny,” both currently holding steady on the Orgrimmar Top 40. Now, Darnell is ready to top the charts again with the Twelve Days of Christmas. Wait. What was that? Someone jumped in on Darnell’s recording session? Can’t we just re-record it? Oh, not in the budget… OK… Well, Darnell likes duets, and we know you do, too. Darnell graciously invited Mr. Darth Inquisitor from Star Wars: The Old Republic to accompany his melodic undead…
The Sith Inquisition: What Makes Us Sith
Good afternoon Sithizens, In these days between the end of the beta and the beginning of a glorious dawn for the Sith Empire, we have time to sit back and look at what makes us Imperials greater than our weak light side brethren. Why consider us better, why do we even embrace the Dark Side in the first place? As strange as it is for good Sith such as ourselves to think on these things, it’s not unreasonable to want greater knowledge on our existence and what makes us stronger, then use that knowledge to again reinforce our place at the top. Is it our unyielding focus on strength that allows us to trump the Jedi, or is it the idea that we don’t fear reaching into ancient and dark knowledge for greater untold power? Does our constant desire to prove ourselves over our superiors make the next generation all…
Secrets of the Mind Part 1 and 2
Our good friends over at RepublicTrooper.com, has something really interesting to keep you entertained – least part of the time that you are waiting on that December 20th launch date. Mike Kern brings us Secrets of the Mind part 1 and 2 for your enjoyment. Here’s a snippet of Part 1: Marik watched his sister float in bacta, unchanged for weeks. After the disaster on Balmorra, he had gone for more intensive combat training while she underwent surgery after surgery. Despite all the efforts of a dozen surgeons, Kira had lapsed into a coma. Leaving her side was the hardest thing he’d ever done and the six weeks spent on Ord Mantell had felt like six months. Returning to Coruscant was all he wanted and now that he was here, he felt helpless and useless. “I-S-One Thorne.” Marik stiffened and snapped to attention as he whirled on his heel. The voice…
Facebook Image of the Week #41
You know it’s wednesday when BioWare updates the official Star wars the old republic Facebook page with a new screenshot. This time we get to see some Rancore action. Remember we also got our own Facebook page, and we would love to see you there. Anyways. Here is today’s FB pic: On Belsavis, a group of Imperial forces defend one of their strongholds from a deadly rancor.
SWTOR Level 50 Gear (Screenshots)
Not everyone got far enough into the beta testing/ game testing of SWTOR to be able to see level 50 gear. You may not have ever even seen a level 50, much less achieved the level cap for yourself. Here are some screenshots of the different classes with level 50 gear so you can see what it all looks like. The poster says: “High settings but with no AA forced on. Male human body type 2.Keep in mind this is just the gear available at vendors in the fleet, there’s still tons of other gear styles out there such as boss loot, quest rewards and crafting. So if you’re thinking oh man thats ugly, never fear, there shall be alternatives. Also: mod system!Apologies for no Republic stuff” So here you go! Have a look and let us know what you think. Bounty Hunter Sith Inquisitor Imperial Agent Sith Warrior…
SWTOR to Arrive in Australia?
The Australian Government Classification website has listed a new PC game titled “Paper, Scissors, Stone” that has some interesting similarities to what one might see under a SWTOR classification. Does this mean that the game might finally be headed down under? This mystery game is classified “M” and consumer advice says “Science fiction themes, violence and drug references; Online content variable”. The author is listed as BioWare & “Lucas,” and the publisher is listed as Electronic Arts. Based on this info, it seems pretty likely that SWTOR will be coming out in Australia. It’s great news for the Aussies but is it really such a surprise that the game would eventually be released there? It was bound to happen eventually and with us growing closer to launch, I’m not too surprised to see this news. The only downside is that this really only confirms the possibility that EA/Bioware may have…
Official SWTOR Forums to be Wiped on December 10th
As we continue to count down the days to SWTOR launch, we will see different changes in the community. The beta testing period is over and the official forums will be getting a new facelift. This is reported to be more than just a makeover and in fact, a total overhaul that will wi pe all the current posts and private messages.Allison Berryman has announced the changes coming to the SWTOR official forums, including the data wipe. The changes will also include a new community blog. She explains: Another new feature we’re implementing is our Community blog, which will appear at the top of www.SWTOR.com/community. We’ll use this blog for important community announcements, updates, and to post articles of interest to our community members, so make sure to check it out frequently! Sounds interesting for sure and we can’t wait to see it. But what about all the current data…
MTSBWY: Cello Wars (Star Wars Parody) Lightsaber Duel – Steven Sharp Nelson
What happens when you combine the epic saga of Star Wars with the classical elegance of cellos? You get “Cello Wars,” a hilarious and visually stunning parody by The Piano Guys that has taken the internet by storm. This viral video masterfully blends music, humor, and the iconic Star Wars universe, creating a symphony of lightsabers and strings that will leave you both laughing and in awe. The Concept The concept behind “Cello Wars” is simple yet genius: take the universally loved themes of Star Wars and perform them on cellos. But The Piano Guys didn’t stop there. They added a visual twist by transforming the cellos into lightsabers and staging a duel that mirrors the epic battles of the Star Wars films. The result is a perfect blend of classical music and sci-fi spectacle, all wrapped in a package of playful humor. The Music From the opening notes, “Cello…
Lusinchi brings Some Clarity to Item Modification Issues
Associate Lead Designer, Emmanuel Lusinchi posted a very long revision today on the official SWTOR forums about the modification system patch notes. He says his patch notes were poorly written and that he wanted to make the post to clarify any confusion. It was a bit of wall of text, however, and I honestly don’t see how the modification system changes were so confusing in the first place. Lusinchi says: To start with, we’ve introduced a new color and item type: the Custom items. Those are shown with an orange border and are fully moddable. This change is purely cosmetic. What we have done is take all fully moddable Prototype items (blue) and simply changed their icon color. This helps us create a better and more unique identity for fully moddable gear. Ok, we’re with you so far. He then describes the main issues with the old modding system: The…
Thanks for the amazing beta Bioware
Now the SWTOR beta has officially come to an end and we are all awaiting the December 20th launch that is just a couple more weeks away. While some were able to game test for an extended period of time, others were at least given a weekend to check it out and the reaction from the community of testers was mostly positive. Nearly everyone who tested and was surveyed said they would recommend the game to a friend. In honor of the end of beta and the upcoming launch of SWTOR, we are asking you all to share with us your favorite moments or experiences of beta testing- no matter how long or short your experience was. Did you play with friends or solo explore? Did you rush to level as quickly as you could or take your time to experience all of the story line? Did you try different…
TOR TV: The Inquisitor Takes You Through Athiss
Greetings good Sithizens and other lowly Jedi. Normally we make our Sith Inquisition posts here on Thursdays, but we just finished production on a very impressive video yesterday and we wanted to share it with all of you. This is a full playthrough of the Planet Athiss flashpoint from the perspective of the Inquisition’s Lord himself. We go through all three major bosses and get a basic grasp of the mechanics, as well as the trash and mechanics of the flashpoint overall. It’s just under an hour long, and brought to you in full 1080p eye bleeding quality. Feel free to ignore the chatter throughout the video, we were discussing the flashpoint, some basic mechanics, and other happening during the last day of beta, but I turned it down specifically so the audio of the flashpoint could be heard. You can find more great videos of The Old Republic Here!
A 43-Year Old Gamer’s Rant about SWTOR
The thread, “Seriously!? (great wall of text from a 43 year old gamer)” is posted on the Official SWTOR forums and is well worth a read, despite the fact it’s roughly 1,000 words long. While it is a rant, the TLDR version will give you some insight to the game and it also makes you think for a minute before whining and complaining about SWTOR. Of course we get that it’s every gamer’s right to whine and complain when they don’t like something but then again, we have to be realistic about our expectations from the games we play these days. While I’m nearly half his age [EDIT: LOL Lisa 😉 ], I’ve been playing video games, including MMORPGs nearly as long as I can remember and I agree with much of what he has to say. A snippet: “I shake my head (but understand) at 90% of the poster’s…
SWTOR Brings in 2 Million Game Testers
We know that SWTOR is popular. In fact, unless you’ve been living the past few months under a rock, you are aware of the hype that surrounds this upcoming MMO. What you might not know is just how much interest there really is in the game. There is such a strong interest in SWTOR that Bioware has broken records with pre-orders and possibly records with game testing as well since they brought in 2 million game testers- all volunteer testers at that. Testers averaged 12 hours each over Thanksgiving, according to Gamespot.com. Instead of enjoying turkey with the fam (or maybe after enjoying their dinners) there were still tons of gamers who found time to pop in and check out SWTOR for themselves. EA says more than 725,000 unique players joined the game over the Thanksgiving weekend, making it “one of the biggest beta tests in history.” 2.4 million gamers…
Macro Possibilities in SWTOR
One of the biggest complaints to come out of SWTOR testing so far has been the lack of auto-attack. Another “issue” with the game so far is that there is no ability to create macros. As any MMO vet will tell you, macros are essential to play the game to its fullest potential. There are also certain games and classes that would be nearly impossible to play efficiently without great macros (think of warriors in WoW). The only way to do this currently in SWTOR is with the Razer keyboard and while it (and the mouse) are pretty darn nifty, we don’t all have the funds to spend on such items just to get the most out of our game. They can be very pricey- after you’ve already paid a great deal on the game itself. When staff was asked if they would change this in the future, they did…
SWTOR Mosaic – What to Do with 13,000 SWTOR Screenshots
So what would you do with 13,000 SWTOR screenshots from the beta? There are probably a lot of ideas you can come up with but will any of them be as cool as what this player did? Michael Guy (t0liman) created a fantastic SWTOR mosaic out of all of this screenshots from the final beta weekend. He captured over 24 hours of game time on the final weekend of SWTOR beta and also created a 35 minute montage video from the screenshots: This is how he says he did it: “Using “Foto-Mosaik-Edda” to do the heavy work of rendering the mosaic, I then reduced the size to fit the 10mb file limits for twitter using Photoshop (Plus, finding the point between juggernaut 200 megapixel posters and “instantly crash all apps in windows” with 8GB RAM, 400 megapixel’s, then working out how to resize 900mb PNG’s to 9mb, is fun) the…
Walmart SWTOR Pre-Order Fiasco
Uh-oh! Sounds like Walmart has goofed on gamers who pre-ordered copies of SWTOR from the retail giant. Great concern surfaced today from customers who had preordered their copies of SWTOR from Walmart only to find out that the retailer had cancelled their status but failed to notify buyers of the news. The official forums for the game were set ablaze overnight with complaints from gamers who say they preordered from Walmart but that when they went to check on their order it said they were cancelled on Saturday “due to a lack of product availability.” You can imagine the panic that ensued as gamers worried whether or not they would be getting their copy of the game, especially with the launch date quickly approaching. Bioware’s Online Community Manager Stephen Reid also acknowledged the issue on the Old Republic forums: “Hello everyone, We will investigate this issue ASAP, although we may…