We’ve been waiting and anticipating. We are looking forward to 1.2. This is supposed to be the largest game update in SWTOR. In fact, many are considering it one of the largest free game updates in the history of MMOs. It’s large enough to be a game expansion and many are saying that it is what SWTOR was actually supposed to release at. Rumor has it that Electronic Arts pushed BioWare to release SWTOR by a certain date and they were not quite ready with all the content. The result was still a good game but not a complete game. Certain key elements were missing – like the Legacy System which is an integral part of the game. So now that 1.2 is on the way, fans are excited. We were first told about incoming features of 1.2 at Guild Summit which was early March. We were told the game…
SWTOR
PAX East 2012: SWTOR Interview with James Ohlen
James Ohlen had a lot to say at PAX Easter about SWTOR, the Legacy System, future game updates and more. It’s really interesting to take the time to listen and read these interviews because we get insider information about what’s coming up in the game. This is great for those who are playing it and loving it and also interesting to those who have possibly quit SWTOR or grown bored with the content already. There is a lot of new stuff coming with game update 1.2 as well as other future updates throughout the end of the year. BioWare wants to gauge the fan reaction on this content to see what needs to be changed, upgraded or nixed altogether. It just makes sense to check out the new content and other upcoming future features. If you’ve already spent money on the game, why quit before you’ve even seen what’s coming?…
Pictures of the New Speeders in 1.2 (also a look at the guild bank)
There is nothing better than learning what is coming out for the new patches on SWTOR and the 1.2 patch is offering a wide variety of new and amazing features. I really love the new smaller speeders that are coming out. You can read about them here but here is a quick quote: “Come 1.2 you have 4 new vehicles achievements form doing hardmode flashpoints, normal and hard operations and killing world bosses. They will reward you with the Aratech line of speeders, which is a nice break from all of those gigantic speeders we being getting…” Not only are there new speeders, but there is also the addition of guild banks which is something most players have been asking for. Full information of guild banks can be found here: “You need 15 members in your guild and 600 k credits to activate the guild bank – the first tab…
Pwrcords.com SWTOR Review
I was very excited when I saw that Power Cords had issued a new review of SWTOR. I simply cannot get enough reviews of this game to see how other people feel about a game that I have simply fallen in love with. Evan Reedy is a new reviewer and they had this to say about him, “We brought you a review of SWTOR a few months ago, but we had yet to really experience much of the end game content. Well, now we’re making up for that. Our newest writer, Evan Reedy, has his review on the end game content of SWTOR.” Pwcords.com It is always nice to see that these websites take the time to go back and update reviews that have been lacking. One issue that was found with the game comes after level 50, Evan states, “Once you reach the maximum level of 50, you kind…
New Online SWTOR Encounter Analyzer/ Log Parser
With 1.2 comes stats information (available to the user only) and it doesn’t take log at all before someone would create a parser to help us analyze our data from SWTOR. Now we have Encounter Analyzer which even allows you to share your data with other players. This could be essential to guilds looking to do content together or for recruiting new members based on their abilities. This log parser has many great features and has been upgraded. The clock has even been set to milliseconds for date stamping so you know all times are dead-on now. You can view either damage or threat in the breakdown on the analyzer. There are also three damage ability breakdowns in three different forms. The first form is a pie chart that allows you to quickly view the damage or threat damage ability breakdown. If you hold your mouse over each section of…
Community Q& A, April 6th 2012
I just love the weekly community Q & A session SWOTR.com because I learn so much from what other players think of the game. It was also pleasing to find that the questions are more in tune with the current game play instead of based on upcoming software. The team at SWOTR.com offered: “As a reminder, two weeks ago we suggested a shift in focus in your questions. As development plans are always subject to change, questions about future features will often get vague answers which can be repetitive and sometimes annoying. With that in mind, the development team is more interested in questions about current in-game features or systems, or questions about why development decisions were made.” There were some really great questions this week and I was able to see some of my concerns answered as well. Here are some of the best questions from the night: “Giolon:…
Bioware Reveal More on Novare Coast Warzone
BioWare just revealed more great info about Novare Coast, the upcoming warzone. They released a news article which states: We are excited to reveal Novare Coast, our latest Player-vs-Player Warzone featured in the upcoming Game Update 1.2 “Legacy” for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™! On the war-torn planet of Denova, opposing forces vie for control of Novare Coast, a strategically vital beachhead that leads to the open oceans of Denova. Whoever controls this coastline will have a decisive advantage in taking control of the planet. To secure the beach, sides battle for control of three mortar turrets which can be used to pound the enemy with artillery fire. See the Warzone for yourself by checking out the latest video. Here’s the video yourself so you can check it out. What do you think? I had the chance to check it out briefly myself and I am excited for it. Plus,…
SWTOR gives players 25 friend invites
EDIT. If you are looking for trail accounts, or you have one to give away, go to our forum and share/request I was super excited to hear we were going to get friend invites for SWTOR. Then once I saw it was limited to three, I was a bit bummed. There were so many people I wanted to give invites to- my mother wanted to try it, my sister, some gamer friends online, other relatives… how would I choose who would get my three? Well, BioWare really wants people to try out this game because they have now released the news that they will up that count to 25. Are you ready? Start inviting friends! Electronic Arts is awfully keen for you to try Star Wars: The Old Republic. After holding several free trial weekends, BioWare’s midichlorian-powered MMORPG has now doled out heaps more friend trial invites to every…
Star Wars: The Old Republic user-interface customization explained in new video
Have you been wondering about the upcoming new UI customization in SWTOR and how it will work? This is by far one of the more exciting parts of game update 1.2 and we’re excited about it as well. If you’re not on PTS and you haven’t been able to see it for yourself yet then you’re going to love this video the news team put out today. On the Official news feed, they tell us a little more about it today. Game Update 1.2: Legacy for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ introduces several new systems to the game, including the option for you to customize your User Interface. You’ll be able to alter the placement and size of each UI element to suit your own personal preference. In this new video, Lead Interface Artist Michael Voigt shows us how it all works. Watch Now User Interface customization is just one…
Combs the Sands of Tatooine: BioWare Made a Funny?
In what is a bit like finding an Easter egg, BioWare has a Spaceballs reference in the Bounty Hunter storyline. See the pic: While the phrase has actually been around for a very long time, it was Spaceballs that made it well known (and funny) when taken in a literal sense. Was this a little way for someone from BioWare to pay tribute to a Star Wars classic spoof? I bet even Lucas himself would be amused.
TORmeter – DPS-parser for SWTOR 1.2 (GUI)
MMO Norge has a really cool find for all SWTOR players- an app that parses game data for you so you can see stats and other important details. Players have been waiting for something like this since SWTOR came out. Here are the details direct from their site (the app is in English): TORmeter! – A Parser for Star Wars: The Old Republic. A user here at MMO Norge, calling himself ‘Skygge’ has put his skills with Python to good use. He has created a fully functional combat-parser (DPS-Meter, Recount … many names for the fat ugly baby) that does exactly what you want it to do. And that is to give you the hard math behind your latest fight. You can get final proof that you not only beat your friend in that duel, you raped him digitally. Or maybe you want to review your latest raid. Check out…
1.2 Smuggler Gear Makes you Say “What?!”
Most classes are excited and anxious to see the new gear that will come with game update 1.2. For those of us playing Smuggler, your excitement levels may change when you see the pictures of what we get to wear. Many players have already set out to the official forums to complain about the gear. LongGui says, “I agree, Way to much art and not enough design. Practical wins over artisitic/showy any day. I cant get over that helmet.” Jarwan says: “I’m praying that the gear I saw in that trailer around 1:41 mins mark is not a Smuggler but the fact that they were doing the resting animation has destroyed all hope. The hat looks like one of those you see people wearing in ball games which holds a bear can on each side of the hat. That gear is wrong, who ever designed that gear from Bioware should…
BioWare’s New Official SWTOR Podcast
Friday brought some more interesting news from BioWare about SWTOR. This is actually really cool. You can listen to the first of many to come of the official SWTOR podcast. Based on the pilot episode, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun! This is just one more way that as a company, BioWare is going above and beyond to stay in contact with the players. It really feels like they are taking a vested interest in the people who play their games and what we all want from the games. So check out the podcast and let us know what you think! From SWTOR Community News: Hello everyone! My name is Eric Musco and I, along with Brooks Guthrie are happy to bring you a sneak peek of the official STAR WARS: The Old Republic podcast. You can listen to our pilot episode here by using the…
Live the Ship Droid Experience! New SWTOR Minigame
You thought BioWare had already given you just about everything you could do in a game but there was one more thing we were missing- BioWare posts: Cruising around the galaxy in your own personal starship is an important aspect of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. The player’s starship is like a home, and the player’s companions are like a family. No one knows this better than the dedicated Ship Droids who maintain the vessels: C2-N2 for Republic characters and 2V-R8 for Imperial characters. Jedi Knights, Smugglers, Bounty Hunters and the other class characters may be the heroes in the wider galaxy, but on board the starship, the Ship Droids are the heroes. That’s why, as part of Game Update 1.2, you will soon be able to assume direct control over your Droid’s actions with Ship Droid™, a brand new mini-game coming to The Old Republic! Features of this mini-game…
James Ohlen Wants Your Ideas on Open World PvP
My guild is all about PvP in SWTOR and most members are not happy with the current state of open world PvP. Ilum was broken and they have to go back to the drawing board and while leveling on a PvP server, I think I came across someone I could kill a total of 3 times. It’s very boring, honestly. There don’t seem to be many open world PvP elements in the game at this time and there is a large player base that would like to see this remedied. In this post, Stephen Reid asks players what we want to see from open world PvP: Hello everyone. James Ohlen, Game Director for Star Wars: The Old Republic, is asking for feedback once again – getting into more detail regarding PvP. Once again, he’s going to be taking feedback directly via his Twitter account, but if you’re not on Twitter,…
Special Events in SWTOR: Coming Soon!
At Guild Stummit earlier this month, the dev team revealed to us there would be special events coming to SWTOR. However, they were very tight-lipped about the whole thing. We wanted to know what type of events, when they would be coming and of course, anything else they could tell us. All they could tell us was “we can’t say anything else about special events at this time.” Well, now Stephen Reid has decided to reveal just a little bit more to us. This post in the official forums reveals slightly more details than we were previously told about these special world events coming soon to the game. A snippet: Thanks for the questions, everyone. I chatted with the events team and got a few more details for you. Quote: Originally Posted by dosadnik1. Are you going to announce like “Today we are having the [insert name here] event” or…
Your Legacy Begins: SWTOR Dev Blog
The time is here- well, almost. If you’ve been waiting months for your Legacy to mean more than just an experience bar, it’s nearly time to launch it all. Game Update 1.2 means the Legacy system will grant you the newly expanded Legacy Panel and many great new features. Yow will access these my pressing the “Y” shortcut key. We’ve been writing about this a lot lately and trying to bring you all the news and coverage we can find since Guild Summit but the dev team has brought us all a very informative blog post covering the Legacy System. It’s a must-read, even if you don’t normally follow all of the dev posts. “Where would you start if you were constructing the Skywalker family tree? Let’s start with Anakin. If you ask me, Anakin is a level 50 Sith Warrior anchoring the top of the family tree. He’s married…
SWTOR Tips: Which Crew Skills Should I Choose?
If you are new to the game of SWTOR or just made a new character and you want to know which crew skills to choose, here are some guidelines to help you. First, you can choose any crew skills you want. However, just like crafting in any MMO, there are certain skills that make more sense to certain classes. There are also companion bonuses that come with certain crew skills. Here’s an overview to help you make your decision. Just keep in mind, it’s not set in stone and ultimately, you can choose anything you feel like doing. Play the game your way and have fun! Class / Skill Recommendations Smuggler / Imperial Agent Armor: Armormech, Scavenging, Underworld Trading Weapons: Armstech, Scavenging, Investigation Trooper / Bounty Hunter Armor: Armormech, Scavenging, Underworld Trading Weapons: Armstech, Scavenging, Investigation Sentinel / Marauder Armor: Synthweaving, Archaeology, Investigation Weapons: Artifice, Archaeology, Treasure Hunting Guardian /…
Preparing for 1.2: A How- to
We’ve been talking a lot here about Game Update 1.2. BioWare is excited, the community is excited and we are all ready for the launch that was moved from March to an estimated time of mid-April. So in the meantime, what can you do to get ready for this game-changing event? If you quit playing to wait for 1.2, you might want to come on back because there are some things that those who are still playing are doing to prepare and you will be behind the curve if you wait. Here Dulfy brings us another great guide on preparing for patch 1.2. Hey everyone, there has being quite a few Reddit posts over the past couple days on how to prepare for the arrival of patch 1.2 (estimated ETA early-mid April). So I compiled this little guide here outlining some of the things that I thought might…
SWTOR Tips: Understanding Reverse Engineering
In SWTOR, there are actually several ways to get higher quality schematics but one of the easiest and most common is reverse engineering (RE). Basically how it works is you dismantle an item that you have so you can learn how to make an improved version of it. The process also gives you some materials back. It’s fairly simple but players still benefit from taking time to learn what RE can give them and how to benefit from it. For example, if you RE a green item, it can give you a chance at one of three types of schematics. These types are known by the prefix given to them and they determine what stat will be given to the item. These are: Critical – increases the Critical Rating Overkill – increases the Power Redoubt- increases the Defense Rating How much the increase is depends on the overall level of…
Mr. Robot Gives Away Free Digital Copies of Your Character
Mr. Robot has just launched their character API so players working on SWTOR tools or spreadsheets can import character information from the site, including character information, all of their gear, datacrons, skill tree points, and more. Mr. Robot says “We believe that opening this information up to other developers will mean more cool tools for all of us to use” and we couldn’t agree more. More info from Mr. Robot: See an example character, Zoopercat The Simulationcraft project is already working on some uses for it, as well as some of the guys over at SithWarrior.com. I know a lot of people are looking to compare gear stats from the current release to 1.2. You can take a look at Dulfy’s article, which has links to Mr. Robot Characters. And that means, you can use those characters with our API to import into any tools or spreadsheets you’re using. You…
BioWare Wants You Back
If it’s been awhile since you logged into SWTOR then you probably have seen one of the creative emails they send asking you to come bad. CAD Comic had a little something to say about that very topic today. In addition to a hilarious cartoon, they also bring up a very important point about the game- why so many players left after 50. The post below the comic says: I applaud the extra mile they went to tug at my heartstrings, but if they’d put as much effort into SWTOR’s endgame they wouldn’t need to be sending me this email in the first place. Don’t get me wrong… Level 1-50 is absolutely the most fun I’ve ever had leveling up in an MMO. Bioware set the bar pretty high for questing and leveling in that regard, and I’m spoiled for every other MMO. Unfortunately all of that enjoyment hit a…
Florida Family vs SWTOR on LGBT Characters and Storyline
While many fans of SWTOR are anticipating the upcoming changes to the storyline that allow for some same-sex relationship arcs, there are others who are not so pleased with the decision BioWare has made to add these options to the game. (<- THIS is an action figure…) Florida Family says, “Will the makers of Star Wars video games create Darth VaPaula, a (mock) transgender version of Darth Vader – RuPaul, for kids to choose as their action player?” That title alone is offensive and does not show the tolerance that this same organization often preaches about. However, this is just the beginning of the ignorance and bigotry in this article. While I fully respect everyone’s opinion and right to those opinions, Florida Family are trying to petition and encourage others to boycott and petition something they know nothing about, based on what they presume to understand. I take many issues…
International Star Wars Fan Groups Now Accepting The Old Republic as Costume Canon
The Star Wars costuming organizations are very strict when it comes to the costumes they allow to represent them. A game isn’t really a Star Wars game until the fans accept it as an official costume. The announcement to let costumers submit designs based on the characters in the game, The Old Republic means SWTOR is officially being accepted by the community, even those who do not play the game. Kotaku.com says: “While it may seem like an insignificant development to the outsider, the fact that The Jedi Assembly and The Dark Empire are both accepting applications from costumers decked out in the latest The Old Republic gear is a huge step in legitimizing the game in the eyes of the more fervent fans. These are groups that are incredibly strict about the costumes they allow to represent their organizations (the Jedi more so than the Dark Side, appropriately enough).”…