BioWare has a long history in gaming as we know it today. They carry claims to fame like Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic. They have been a staple in the gaming community for a very long time. Some of your favorite titles have probably been from BioWare (I know mine have), but will this last? Can we count on BioWare to keep giving us blockbusters that change our lives and melt our hearts? Can we keep expecting fabulous, monumental, memorable games? Or are there days numbered? However, in the past ten years, there have been some big changes for BioWare – the same as there has been in the gaming industry in general. Now we have a new release – Anthem – and for many, it is definitely a disappointment. Kat Bailey, from US Gamer has a few theories on why this happened, and how it’s been…
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Is BioWare Rebooting KOTOR?
There are few Star Wars games (if any) acclaimed as high as KOTOR. Knights of the Old Republic is a huge favorite in the Star Wars gaming scene and for good reason. It was an excellent game, beautifully designed, with a wonderful story. Players have been wanting a new KOTOR game for a long time now. We hear of a rumor that says BioWare might actually be working on exactly that! The rumor originates with gaming journalist Liam Robertson, who discussed the topic recently on his Patreon page. He doesn’t cite his sources which makes this hearsay but it’s an interesting enough rumor that we’ll go ahead and pass it on to you. Again, this is JUST rumor at this point and we can’t do more than speculate but with how much everyone wants to see a new KOTOR game, it can be fun to speculate that this rumor is true. Here’s…
BioWare Says the MMO Market Has Never Been Bigger
Are people still playing MMOs? The director of Star Wars: The Old Republic insists that the MMO market has never been bigger. While some of the biggest hitters in the industry, like Blizz’s World of Warcraft, are seeing declining numbers, James Ohlen says it’s a good time to be in the MMO business. “The MMO genre is much bigger than it ever has been before – it’s just that people misunderstand what the genre actually consists of now,” James Ohlen said in an interview with MCV. He goes on to talk about how people once thought MMOs were just for hardcore PC games but the genre has expanded. We see MMO games that don’t call themselves that in the traditional sense. We also see MMOs on different platforms, which wasn’t so common in the past. When you look at things from this perspective, it’s easy to see why one would say the MMO…
Bioware Closing All Forums Except SWTOR
In a big announcement yesterday, Bioware said they are shutting down nearly all of their forums. Everything except the SWTOR forums will go. It’s explained in this post on their site by Conal Pierse. Here’s a part of that post: “After great consideration, we are closing down the BioWare forums, effective August 26, 2016. The Star Wars: The Old Republic forums will continue to operate; however, our public boards for Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and legacy BioWare titles will no longer be available. This wasn’t an easy decision. Our players are important to us. Your feedback, stories, and love for our games drive and inspire us. In the past, our forums were the only way we could speak to you directly. They allowed our developers to talk with fans, and gave our players the opportunity to talk with each other about our games. But with the rise of social media and…
Claudia Adams-Esgrow Former Social Advisor for Bioware Passes Away
The game industry suffered a sad and unexpected loss this month. EA social advisor Claudia Adams-Esgrow has passed away. Claudia’s wife, Julia Adams-Esgrow, shared the news in a post on Facebook, Claudia and Julia had only been married a few weeks prior. Claudia started out as an in-game support representative for Blizzard (World of Warcraft) but worked on several games throughout her career, including Star Wars The Old Republic, where she helped manage the community. She even had a stint at Trion Worlds. We’re written about the importance of community management here quite often and as someone who has experience in that field, I tend to take these kinds of roles and the people who fill them, personally. Claudia worked hard for SWTOR and the fans and she was an all-around great person. Described by friends and family as a great food lover and a passionate political activist, she was someone who cared about…
SWTOR Class Changes Coming with Patch 4.5
BioWare will be making a long list of class changes in SWTOR with Game update 4.5 coming in next month. Hey folks, Below you will find the current list of Class changes which are coming with Game Update 4.5. These changes will not be going on PTS so we wanted to give you a heads up on what was coming. Please feel free to read over the changes and provide your feedback in this thread, I will pass it on to the Combat team. Sith Inquisitor Sorcerer Dark Heal now has a base cost of 70 Force (up from 55 Force) and heals for slightly more (.49%). Resurgence now has a base cost of 40 Force (up from 30 Force) and heals for a bit more (4.94% for the instant heal, and 3.70% for the heal over time.). Static Barrier now has a base cost of 45 Force (up from…
Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Bioware Story (Documentary)
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…
“True Stories of BioWare Heartbreak” Will Give You the Feels
There is one thing BioWare is very well known for: their great storytelling. We’re talking about the kinds of stories that really make you feel. If you’ve ever played a BioWare game, you know just how easy it is to get emotionally invested. For some people, it’s books. For some, it’s movies or television shows. But for some of us, it’s a great video game with an emotion-filled story. This is what makes an excellent game stand out from an ordinary game. This is what defines the game for a lot of people. When you want to get lost in the story and feel like you are your character, this is the kind of feeling we’re talking about. Not all games can do that. Of course, the non-story-based games have their place too. Some gamers enjoy both. But when a game’s story reels you in and makes you feel like…
BioWare’s Next IP Was Hiding in Plain Sight: On a T-shirt
Bioware’s Alistair McNally had an interesting tweet this week after the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Diego last week. He says he wore a t-shirt to the conference that referenced Bioware’s new IP and it appears no one even noticed. Sneaky! Also it was fun to walk around GDC2016 in a t-shirt with our new IP on it and no one batted an eyelid. — Alistair McNally (@Al_McNally) March 18, 2016 So of course, this got the Twitterverse in a tizzy as people realized their miss and some frantically searched for pictures from the event to try to see this shirt in action. There have been articles written about it, forum threads posted on it, social media dialogue and even debate over it, but still we don’t know what the new game is, or what was on his shirt. And it looks like we might be waiting awhile for…
Curious How BioWare Created SWTOR Classes?
If you’ve ever wanted to know how BioWare created the SWTOR classes, you’re in luck. There is a special guest post series on StarWars.com from SWTOR lead designer, Michael Backus that tells you all about it. You can see Part 1 here, which talks about the Republic. Blakus has been on the SWTOR team for seven years now and if you’ve ever had any interaction with him, you know that he is really passionate about what he does and it shows. So it’s great to see that he is the one doing this guest post series because I’m sure it’s going to be good. Here’s a snippet from part 1: “So I’m going to do just that. I’m going to talk about the different classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but more importantly, about each class’s story arc. And by this, I don’t mean spoilers about their plots, but really, what…
BioWare is Hiring for a New Game
BioWare is putting out the call once again for a new IP. Could it be a new MMO? We don’t know for sure yet but it is exciting news. It’s always great news when BioWare is planning a new game but from the sound of this one, it might be an MMO which would be good for fans. Here is what the job listing had to say about this particular project. The job description says, “BioWare is seeking a qualified Senior Lead Server Engineer for a new, unannounced BioWare IP. This role will direct a team of software engineers to create the backend systems that will drive online play for this exciting new game. The successful candidate will have expert knowledge of and experience in the design, implementation, and continuing support of large scale real-time client/server applications using primarily C++. Extensive experience with and knowledge of multi-tier client/server architectures as…
Drew Karpyshyn Returns to Star Wars: The Old Republic!
I can honestly say I never thought I’d be writing this post after Drew left SWTOR but he has recently posted some very big news on his blog. In true Drew fashion, he packed THREE big updates in this one post and if you don’t follow him or managed to miss this, here is the part you might be most interested in: Speaking of full circle, here’s the second piece of big news: as of this past week, I am back working at BioWare again! For those who don’t know, I spent over a decade with BioWare working on many award winning and fan-beloved games like Mass Effect 1&2, Knights of the Old Republic and the Star Wars: The Old Republic Online MMO. A few years ago I left BioWare to focus on my Chaos Born novels, but now that the trilogy is finished, I’ve decided to come back into the…
STAR WARS History & Lore – THE GREAT GALACTIC WAR (Part 1)
This is a Part 1 of a 3 episodes miniseries by Vulkk, explaining everything there is to know about The Great Galactic War, one of the most significant events in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The war is seriously embedded also into Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). For the narrations Jason or as everyone knows him Teo from OotiniCast has made yet another appearance on a Lore video by Vulkk to do the narrations. Here’s the intro in a written form. The rest you can hear and see in the video, attached in the bottom. The Great Galactic War, known as the Great War during the conflict and in the years afterward, was a war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic between 3681 BBY and 3653 BBY, lasting for a total of 28 years. Also known as the Republic–Sith War, the conflict was ultimately the culmination of a…
BioWare Writer Talks Gay Romances and Sexual Diversity in Gaming
BioWare’s lead writer and developer for Mass Effect and Dragon Age, David Gaider, has decided to address the popular topic of sexual diversity in video games. Gaider is a 16-year veteran of the RPG studio and he recently wrote for Dragon Age: Inquisition. He began his interview by going over his reaction after he learned that BioWare’s 2005 RPG Jade Empire would allow gamers to have gay romances. “I remember hearing about when they made that decision to put it in and I was floored,” Gaider told Video Game Sophistry. “I mean, I’m gay myself, so I felt it kind of odd when I heard about it, how shocked I was because I just never thought that part of my life had a role to play in work. Like I said, it just wasn’t done. I didn’t even really consider the idea, so when they made that decision it was…
SWTOR GUIDE – Marauder Annihilation and Sentinel Watchman (Patch 3.2.1)
Greetings, Ladies and Gentlemen This is the 3rd Guide for Sith Marauder Annihilation and Jedi Sentinel Watchman Disciplines I make in a never-ending struggle to always cover the latest changes with my favourite class. We all know Patch 3.2.1 can easily be called “The Broken Marauder and Sentinel”, but in every evil and sadness, there’s goodness and positivity! In this over 35 minutes long video I have shared everything I could think of. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be added or maybe even corrected in the future if test results show better approach. I have structured it in 3 major parts: – Overview of the Changes to the Advanced Class in Game Update 3.2.1 – Gearing and Stat Priority, Skill Priorities (rotation is a bad word :P) – Personal Opinion, Analysis, Suggestions, Tips and Tricks It is the longest video guide I have ever produced. Even though some of the basics…
BioWare celebrates its 20th anniversary
BioWare celebrated its 20th birthday on Friday. Many fans were thanked via Twitter but I think we should be thanking them for making some of the best RPG’s in history. Can you believe it’s already been twenty years since BioWare began? Time definitely does fly by and we are looking forward to more of their amazing talents in the Star Wars gaming realm. What are some of your favorite BioWare games and memories from playing them?
SWTOR Basics – Gearing for Leveling, Basic Comms Usage, Fleet Vendors
SWTOR Basics guide for newer players. How to use the Basic Commendatinos, Gearing tips for leveling, Fleet Vendors location and contents, 12x vs Normal Leveling plus many more Tips and Tricks to help and guide you through your journey. Since this is a “Basics” video most of the things you will see and hear may be familiar to the veteran players. However, if you have a few minutes, stay around, watch and listen. You may discover a fact or trick you didn’t know or perhaps add to the information I shared. Some of the bullet-points covered in the video are: ♦ Location of the Basic Comms vendors on both fleets ♦ Vendor names and changes in Patch 3.2 ♦ How to best use basic comms for gearing with and without 12x ♦ Difference between orange shells and normal gear. How and what to use ♦ Crafted gear vs vewndor mods ♦…
SWTOR 12X Event 2015 – How to Best Use It (Tips and Suggestions)
On May 4th 2015 the 12x Class Mission Experience Boost is returning to SWTOR. To fully and best benefit from it, you need to know a few simple and not so basic things. How to gear up your character – at which level to visit the vendors for upgrades, which classes fair better if you want a speed leveling or rather slow and careful playthrough. Who is best suited. How much is this event beneficial for new players and what are the possibilities of it being helpful or harmful to the personal experience with the game. Having gone through the first 12x XP Class Boost event in late 2014 helps a lot to prepare for the upcoming Summer Leveling Madness. Watch and hear what Vulkk has to share. Hopefully, you will find the ideas, suggestions and tips useful. If you have something more to add, don’t hesitate to leave a…
How BioWare Built Enough Content to Fill The Old Republic
We know it’s not easy creating and operating a massively multiplayer online game like SWTOR. That said, it can be equally as difficult to keep it filled with enough content on a regular basis so that players do not get bored. Have you ever wondered how BioWare built enough content to fill The Old Republic and how they continue to give us great content again and again. Some of you might remember back in 2011 when BioWare designer Georg Zoeller did a talk at GDC Online about Star Wars: The Old Republic and explained how spatial analysis can be used to support a rapid content iteration process during the late stages of MMO development. For those of you who heard the talk, he goes on to explain how BioWare’s homegrown ‘HoloProjector’ spatial visualization toolkit was used in the day to day development of the game. It also helped the BioWare devs with decision making, content validation and…
SWTOR Basics – F2P vs Preferred vs Subscriber vs Expansion Purchase Explained in Details
This video will explain to you the most important differences in the different models for SWTOR. What the limitations of F2p are, how you change form one mode to another. What is included in Subscription, in Expansions, deals and bundles. How referral links work, what do players win when using it. And much more.
SWTOR Celebration Cantina Live Stream Recap and Overview (Star Wars Celebration 2015)
This Saturday a special Panel aired live for ~52 minutes on Twitch. Bioware live streamed the SWTOR Community Cantina event from Celebration Anaheim 2015.The video linked below is Vulkk’s recap of the SWTOR Community Cantina Event from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015. Did Bioware drop the ball with lack of new information or we got the awesome news we were dreaming for? Alongside the event notes, you will hear also his personal opinion and overview of the event.
Star Wars Lore – THE RAKATA (Part 2)
Greetings Star Wars lore junkies. I’m Vulkk and working on this video took me insane amount of time and effort. I am glad it is finished finally. If you enjoy it, that will be my biggest reward. Part 2 of the RAKATA History and Lore will tell us about their First encounter with the Je’daii, explain the reasons for the Empire’s Collapse and what happened to the Remnants of the once mighty Infinite Empire. The Rakata (also known as the Builders) were a technologically advanced race that developed early in galactic history, even developing some early hyperdrive technology. Long term use of the dark side of the Force corrupted their society and turned them into a race of merciless warriors. The Rakata used their potent Force-powered technologies to conquer and enslave every other species they came across throughout their known galaxy. During the reign of theirInfinite Empire, they were characterized by…
New member of the Austin Community team: Nick Avola
Meet the newest member of the Bioware Austin Community team Nick Avola. He’s Holding a Thermal Detonator! Hey all! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as the newest member of the Bioware Austin Community team. My name is Nick Avola, and I have the daunting (yet exciting) task of playing third fiddle on a team directly involved in all areas of our games from player feedback, to design considerations, to promotions, to communications, you name it. Much of my time will be spent scouring the forums, blogisphere, and social media platforms to track community sentiment on a day-to-day basis. Ill be consolidating your comments and concerns into detailed reports, which will be disseminated regularly amongst the Community, Development, Leadership, and other key teams here at BioWare Austin. The sooner your feedback reaches the eyes and ears of senior staffers, the more accurately and effectively we can respond…
SWTOR Basics – How to Install PTS and Copy Your Character
Installing PTS is usually a very simple tutorial, but it would take you hours. Depending on your internet connection and the BW servers’ condition, it will take you between a couple hours to many, many hours. The live game is ~25GB, the Game with PTS is ~52GB. If you have the game already installed, you can add PTS on top of it. At this moment it is not possible (possible, but not easy or recommended) to install PTS on a separate Drive or Partition. To install and access PTS, follow these steps (or check the video linked below): 1. Download the game client from swtor.com and install it 2. Log in to the client and install the Live game 3. From the button in the bottom left corner open the settings window and make PTS available 4. Wait for the client to download and install PTS 5. Every time when you open…