We talk a lot about SWTOR here. The entire site was built upon it back in our early days as we awaited the release of the game. So it’s fun then to see things like this short documentary about the making of SWTOR. This BioWare Story from Complex introduces us to the brains behind the game. We hear from the directors, writers and other key players of BioWare’s SWTOR team and they tell us about how they were first interested in Star Wars and what impact it had on their world. This then, helps us to see the impact this had on SWTOR. There’s a nod to Knights of the Old Republic, then they explain how they go in their own direction from SWTOR. Some of this might be info you already knew if you’re a big nerd who followed this game from the beginning but other parts will definitely…
SWTOR
Knights of the Fallen Empire – ‘Mandalore’s Revenge’ Teaser
BioWare posted a new teaser for the upcomming chapter of Star Wars: The old Republic Knights of the Fallen Empire. Check it out: Step into an epic story-driven adventure as your character becomes The Outlander, a veteran of the Great Galactic War, in Knights of the Fallen Empire – now live! Travel to the Outer Rim of the galaxy to come face-to-face with a new threat, Emperor Valkorion and his Eternal Empire. Choose your path, recruit Companions into your Alliance, and make choices that have power to change destinies, all at the center of your own personal Star Wars™ saga! Best of all, Subscribers of Star Wars: The Old Republic can access and play all chapters of the evolving Knights of the Fallen Empire story for free. Create your Level 60 character and play today!
SWTOR PvP Hacking – Serious Issue?
Whenever there is a game to be beat, there will be someone who wants to cheat or hack their way through it. Video games are no exception. I still remember growing up as a girl in the 90s when “cheat codes” were a big thing for console games. Fast-forward to online games today and we seen new ways for people to cheat, hack , or exploit games. While the old fashioned “cheat codes” of a single player game or other console game were less harmless (especially in single player mode – who is it really hurting?) the hacks that exist in multi-player gaming environments today can be brutal. They can completely destroy the integrity of the game and ruin the experience for everyone involved. Counter-Strike is a great example of that. So what happens now that hackers are taking SWTOR PvP by storm? There are hacks that can make you fly which…
The Academy, Ep 12 – “How Do Conquests Work?
So you want to know how conquests work? The latest episode of The Academy has got you covered! Created by SWTORISTA on request of the viewers, we have Episode 12: How Do Conquests Work? If you’re new to the game or have a friend or family member who has just started playing, this is an invaluable tool to helping you understand all the ins and outs of SWTOR. As we have already said before when covering these episodes of The Academy, they’re great for new players but even existing players who know this info can find them entertaining. They’re really well done and entertaining. They might also provide you with a refresher if it’s been awhile since you were a new player. Even if you don’t personally find them helpful, you need to know these videos exist. You can share them to other new players or just help support Swtorista…
Nadia Grell Fan Drawing is Amazing
Reddit user zulzulfie shared her SWTOR art with fans and it’s really awesome. The first drawing I ever saw was her rendition of a cute little Nadia Grell. Then I browsed through her Tumblr and saw she has a lot of cool stuff. I know I’m a sucker for fan art but this is really good and I love the cute, “girlie” style to it. She says she’s going to do male characters too, after she gets through the female ones and I really look forward to seeing that as well. They remind me of the chibis you can find of superheros and similar styled art. Here’s one she did of Vette that I really like: I love how they have a cartoony, cutesy feel to them. She has a tiny Satele Shan, tiny Senya, Lana Beniko, a drawing of Vaylin that I adore, and more. It’s really worth taking the time…
SWTOR Addressing Weapon Tuning issues
BioWares Eric Musco took on the forums to address the weapon tuning issues the swtor community have been talking about. Check it out: Hey folks, I wanted to stop in to this thread and address some of the questions/concerns that have arisen since we introduced Weapon Tunings yesterday. First off, please keep the feedback coming. We have seen a lot of feedback relating to things like drop rates, adding the tuning to Collections, etc. The team is actively looking at all of your feedback and considering what future changes, if any, need to occur. Here are a few of the common questions we have seen: Is the Weapon Tuning more rare than other rare items? The Weapon Tuning’s drop rate is on par with most other rare items found in a pack. At times there are rare items which are exceedingly rare, such as the Unstable Lightsaber, but the Weapon Tuning…
Custom SWTOR Topps Card
If you’re not familiar with Topps cards, the company, founded in 1938, is famous for creating collectible trading cards, candy, chewing gum and other collectibles. Growing up in the 90s, baseball cards were the big thing (at least in my circles) but the company also makes other sports cards and even non-sports trading cards. They worked with the Disney Channel, for example, to create trading cards for Hannah Montana and High School Musical. They also made Pokemon trading cards, not to be confused with the Pokemon Trading Card Game from Wizards of the Coast. So what if they were to create Star Wars themed cards? What if they made SWTOR cards? What an awesome idea! Someone already had this idea but I cannot claim it as my own. A Reddit user named loststormtrooper came up with the idea and then made his own SWTOR Topps card. It’s not perfect and his logo actually says “The Force…
SWTOR May Promotions
SWTOR players will be experiencing many contests and promotions for the month of May. Heroic Subscriber Rewards All Knights of the Fallen Empire Story Chapters FREE for Subscribers! SUBSCRIBE NOW Unlock and Binge – Play the story so far! Get Early Access to ongoing Chapters plus monthly rewards inspired by the legendary HK-55 Assassin Droid™ (Be a Subscriber on the 1st of every month) Plus, receive monthly Complimentary Cartel Coins to spend in the in-game Cartel Market for collectible gear, weapons and more! ———————– CELEBRATE MAY THE FOURTH! Get your own Zakuulan Astromech Droid Mini-Pet*** plus Double XP! Play Now WHO: All players who log in between April 27 – May 4 WHAT & WHEN: Exciting rewards and special events! Log in and play between April 27 – May 4 to get your own M4-I6 Zakuulan Astromech Droid Mini-Pet! Get Double XP, Legacy XP, PvP Warzone Commendations and Space PvP…
Announcing Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ “Build Your Alliance” NVIDIA Contest Winners!
Back in January, BioWare launched a contest, were players should upload SWTOR Movies to Youtube. 3 winners would each win a powerful gaming PC plus valuable in-game rewards from BioWare. Ten runner ups will receive a GeForce GTX 960. Here is the verdict: BioWare and NVIDIA are excited to announce the winning video entries from the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – Knights of the Fallen Empire “Build Your Alliance” contest! Thanks to you, our players, for sharing your fight against the Eternal Empire – from intense lightsaber battles to dramatic story moments. Check out the winners below and watch the full playlist of videos here: YouTube Playlist A big congratulations to these top three winners: 1st Place: Jonathan Winkler 2nd Place: Инга Куклина 3rd Place: Danilo Wachsmuth Plus, a round of applause to these runner ups: Дмитрий Ялама Alex Thomas Julien Hélias Joel Argersinger Holly Montgomery Natthaphon Phonyiam Cristian Ceoroiu Rodrigo…
Eternal Empire Recon Walker changes comming to SWTOR
Eric Musco just informed the community that The Eternal Empire Recon Walker, previously a rare drop from Star Fortress, will drop in Eternal Championship and become bound on legacy. Hey folks, I wanted to pass on some information regarding a change to the Eternal Empire Recon Walker that is coming in Game Update 4.4. Currently, the Walker is a rare drop from The Exarch in Star Fortresses. We are making two changes to the mount. First, the Walker will now also be available from an Eternal Championship vendor. Second, we are changing the item from Bind on Equip to Bind on Legacy. If you have an active GTN sale at the time of 4.4’s release, this will behave normally. However at the time of sale or expiration, the item will become Bind on Legacy. Thanks everyone. -eric
Regional Character Transfers now Available in SWTOR
Eric just informed the community that players can transfer characters between NA and EU servers for 1500 CC. Character Transfers – Important Update | 04.26.2016, 03:54 PM Hey folks, Character Transfers are once again available! As a part of the maintenance we just had, we removed the restriction on Regional Transfers. Players are now able to transfer from their server to any other server. Here is the updated pricing: Transfer within the same region: 1,000 CC Regional Transfer: 1,500 CC Thanks everyone! -eric
The Academy Ep 10 & 11 -“Gearing and Stat Optimization in 4.0”
Gearing and stats can be a confusing concept to a new player. This is just one more great benefit to follow The Academy series from swtorista. In the latest episodes, 10 and 11, she talks to us about these specific points. These are great episodes that delve more deeply into important aspects of enjoying SWTOR. If you know someone who is new to the game, or thinking of picking up SWTOR, we highly recommend you point them in the direction of the Academy. Even if you’ve been playing for a long time, you might still appreciate these videos so go ahead and give them a watch/listen. Here’s what these two episodes are all about. Gearing up your character can be one of the most daunting tasks in the game. The first half of this episode talks about how to mod your gear, and the second half talks about stat optimization…
SWTOR: Actions Taken Against Patch 4.3 Exploiters
As we mentioned yesterday, there is a major exploit going on in SWTOR right now. Eric Musco took on the forums and informed players on the patch 4.3 exploit that was going around and has since then being fixed. Hey folks, As many of you may have heard rumor of, there was an exploit which was introduced in Game Update 4.3. We have since addressed the issue and the exploit is no longer possible. However I wanted to share some details on what happened and what action we are taking. Without going into too much detail, there was an issue tied to certain players accounts which allowed them to very easily create large quantities of credits through use of in-game mail and trading. We got reports over the past few days that players randomly received very large sums of credits and this was instrumental in helping us find isolate who had…
An open letter to the SWTOR players
SWTOR Producer Ben Irving posted a rally nice open letter to SWTOR Players on the official forums. This letter address some of the concerns players have had with Knights of the fallen empire. Hi there! My name is Ben Irving, Producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. I don’t often make posts in the forums, in fact, this may be my first ever post. Despite that, our whole team, myself included try to digest all of the internet for SWTOR information – The forums, Reddit, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Recently there have been questions and concerns around the quality of our releases and the ongoing support for SWTOR and I wanted to stop by to address those concerns. First off, I want to apologize for some of the issues you have experienced in the last couple of months. The monthly chapter release schedule is new and it has come with some…
SWTOR Character Transfers – Important Update
Bioware’a Eric Musco took on the forums, announcing the cost of Character Transfers have increased to 1000 CC from the previously discounted 90 CC. Chekc it out: Character Transfers – Important Update | 04.19.2016, 12:49 PM Hey folks, Heads up on a change that is coming next Tuesday (4/26). Leading up to the Fallen Empire launch, we greatly reduced the cost of Character Transfers from 1,800 CC down to 90 CC. This was done to accommodate players who were interested in transferring characters to join their friends who were returning to or joining the game. This was a limited time offer which will be coming to an end. Starting Tuesday, the new price will be 1,000 CC which is adjusted to below the former rate of 1,800 CC. We feel this gives our players the option to Transfer at a reasonable rate while being in line with other services we…
BioWare teases new planet in SWTOR
BioWare just tweeted a screenshot of what looks like a new planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is still unknown if it is a fully new planet for players to explore, or how it fits in to the story. The planets name is “Vandin”, and so far we can’t find any info on it in the Jedi achieves or on wookieepedia. That means we might have a new Voss on our hands. BioWare tends to be really good at building up new stories, so I am excited. Here are the official news: Prepare to journey to the mysterious planet of Vandin on May 5 in ‘Profit and Plunder’: https://t.co/8uBfvbBsS8 pic.twitter.com/rOsHdhlQo6 — The Old Republic (@SWTOR) April 18, 2016
SWTOR: April 19 Server Patch – Patch Note
BioWare took the servers down to fix a few bugs. Here are the patchnotes: Warzones Fixed an issue that caused groups to be unable to queue properly. Resolved an issue that was causing the Ranked Warzone Arena Leaderboards to display Character information incorrectly following a server transfer. Personally I was hoping to see an update to the credit exploit currently roaming. We encourage you to De-list your valuable items from the GTN, and await an Official response from Bioware.
SWTOR Dev Blog: The Eternal Championship
The SWTOR team has published a blog post regarding the upcoming Eternal Championship comming in Game update 4.4.: Welcome to the Eternal Championship, a new daily experience that will pit players against some of the galaxy’s most notorious fighters. Below Zakuul’s sparkling exterior lies The Arena Grand, a decadent venue where citizens of the old world indulge their basest desires as spectators of brutal gladiatorial events. One such event is Mayhem, where beginning with Game Update 4.4 “Profit and Plunder” players may compete to earn the title of Eternal Champion. The Eternal Championship is a solo-able PvE experience that will be available to all players who have played up through Chapter IX “The Alliance” of Knights of the Fallen Empire. By traveling to the Platform 6 Cantina on Zakuul and speaking with fight master Dominaire, players may enter Mayhem at the Arena Grand. There they will fight through multiple rounds of increasingly…
SWTOR Chapter 13 – ‘Profit and Plunder’ Teaser
The SWTOR Team over at BioWare has just released a new teaser trailer of the upcoming Chapter, Plunder and Profit coming on May 5th: BioWare™ and Lucasfilm today announced the next chapter in the episodic storyline of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – Knights of the Fallen Empire. The Profit and Plunder chapter will be available on May 5 along with a new multi-level Eternal Championship challenge that requires increasingly more courage and skill as you progress. The newest chapter in Knights of the Fallen Empire gives the Outlander an opportunity to turn the tides against the Eternal Empire in a clandestine heist to plunder Arcann’s secret treasury. In a high-risk mission to recover the Eternal Empire’s vast riches, players will partner with the galaxy’s most infamous thieves: the suave Bounty Hunter, Gault Rennow, and the female Twi’lek pirate, Vette. Prepare to risk everything as you embark on a covert…
SWTOR’s New Direction
SWTOR is changing. Those of you who have been around with us since the early days will note that it has changed a lot. This is bound to happen in any game that sticks around for years and the longer a game is around, the more it might change. Sechari of iamsechari.com wrote about this on his blog recently. He’s a big Star Wars fan and writes about his love of Star Wars and Star Wars games, to include Star Wars Galaxies, Knights of the Old Republic and of course, SWTOR. In this post specifically, he tells of how he had to say goodbye to SWG (along with the rest of us) and how he later made his way to SWTOR and got hooked. But it’s not all fairytale romance, of course. SWTOR has had its ups and downs and in some ways it has and continues still to change…
April’s SWTOR Producer Livestream Coverage
Here is the rundown of yesterdays Livestream Coverage. When: 2-2:30 PM PDT (about 1 hr from this posting) What: Get the latest scoop on what’s happening in and around the game, and get a first look at Chapter 13: Profit and Plunder! Where: Youtube mirror: NOTES Agenda State of the Galaxy Chapter 12 Subscriber Rewards Eternal Championship Chapter 13 Wrap Up State of the Galaxy Eternal Championship now live on PTS. Ingame Chat/Mail- We have automated system to combat spam but if you see it still report it to help us. Chapter 12 so far has been great, small patch on Thursday to fix some minor bugs. Force focused user focused chapter but non-force users will find it enjoyable as well. We have not revealed the fate of Khem Val. Ak’ghal Usar is not meant to replace Khem Val. Chapter 12 brings Odessen Proving Grounds (8v8). This will be the…
SWTOR World PVP: The Battle of Oricon II
If you have not had the chance to see what great world PvP really looks like, then you will want to check out the video below, uploaded by Swtorista of a world PvP event this weekend. While it’s probably not typical of average world PvP that usually is 8v8 or so, it does look like a good time, lag and all. Here’s a video from Swtorista that shows some world PvP on Oricon. [Note: Video contains large unfiltered voice chat group.] Who: PvP enthusiasts What: Open World PvP for the Scare Bear title Where: Oricon (Instance 1) When: Saturday, April 2nd @ 8pm EST This is what world pvp looks like in SWTOR, when it happens! The goal of this event was to try and kill other players for an achievement. If you skip to later in the video you can see the huge number of players, causing the game…
SWTOR Still Performing Well
SWTOR is the second largest US based MMO. It was the 4th most top grossing pay-to-play MMO by revenue in February of this year. While there may be haters claiming the game has failed, or that it’s no longer relevant, the stats just don’t support this. Star Wars: The old Republic is doing well and is considered a huge success. With the release of the newest Star Wars movies, we can probably expect the game to continue to grow. Superdata research shows the top grossing games on a variety of platforms. Here we see the stats ranking SWTOR 4th in its category. Top Grossing Pay-to-play MMO Games by Revenue, February 2016 1 World of Warcraft Activision Blizzard 2 Lineage I NCSoft 3 TERA: Online En Masse Entertainment 4 Star Wars: The Old Republic Electronic Arts 5 Blade & Soul NCSoft You can tell that to the haters saying the game is…
BW Austin is Doing Animation Work for SWTOR
This fun tweet from Paul Marino, Lead Narrative Designer at BioWare Austin lets us all know they are doing some new work for the game. This lines up with the voice acting tweets we saw not too long ago as well so we can be sure some new content is in the works. What exactly they are working on is still uncertain, although many fans have speculated. Animation team & I are off out to EA Burnaby/The Capture Lab to grab some mocap for #SWTOR! Canada here we come! — Paul Marino™ (@PaulMarino) March 16, 2016 And that’s not all. Charles Boyd, lead designer of SWTOR, also had a tweet to share: @SortaRevan @nikkoliferous Not confirming anything, but we just happened to have Saresh in the booth today, actually 🙂 — Charles Boyd (@Charles_Boyd) March 16, 2016 Could it be season 2, new OPS, new combat animations? New class skill animations?…