Clone Wars is back on the Cartoon Network for the 5th season, starting this fall. If you were a fan, get ready for all new episodes and if you’ve never watched it before, there is no better time than now to check it out. New SWTOR super servers won’t be big enough when the new season of Clone Wars hit television because I am expecting to see a huge increase in the promotion of Star Wars: The old republic once the new season begins. I mean what better way is there to bring in players than by capturing the attention of Star Wars fans? The season 5 trailer brings you Darth Maul and the Death Watch battling for galactic supremacy. It’s fun, it’s exciting and it will make you feel like you are 12 again. Check out this clip and the full trailer for Season 5. TCW: Season 5 Mandalore Preview Clip from SDCC 2012
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Build of Master Satele Shan’s Lightsaber
How would you like to own Master Satele Shan’s lightsaber? To me that sounds like just about the coolest thing on the planet! I’m not the only one who thinks so because this guy made one for his wife. That kind of sets a new precedent for husband-to-wife gifts, don’t ya think? It wasn’t an easy task but boy is it awesome! If you’re not familiar with Sloth Furnace, he creates some amazing pieces of functional art/props. These lightsabers don’t just look pretty- they are exact replicas and they work with lights and sounds. On average, he says it takes him 6 months from conception to completion on one of these. He details the entire process in photo with captions of how he created this fantastic lightsaber, down to each and every detail. It’s pretty fantastic. It’s all from the minds and the hands of Bradley W. Lewis, video game developer…
New Layoffs at BioWare and Rich Vogel is Gone, Too
It seems there has now been another big rash of layoffs at BioWare Austin, which truly saddens me. These are members of our community here in Austin and hard working people just like those of us who enjoy playing the games that they help to create. A big portion of the community team was laid off: https://twitter.com/VivoEstSomnio https://twitter.com/PhoenixRed https://twitter.com/MarkDouville https://twitter.com/JustinJKruger https://twitter.com/PariahLoki https://twitter.com/_Chanell_ https://twitter.com/Dalmarus One Redditor who goes by the name ‘pandas_mom’ says her family is being affected by these layoffs: My husband was one of the ones that got laid off today. Bioware moved us in April with our 3 kids from DC, we put every penny we had down on a fixer upper house, and now this. I am scheduled for 3 major surgeries on Friday, my husband just had a slew of MRI/MRA tests Friday to look for a suspected brain tumor, and our middle son who has…
HK-51 Revealed!
SWTOR/BioWare had some exciting news to reveal today. In this update at SWTOR.com, they tell us about HK-51. Buried deep beneath the icy surface of Belsavis rests an army of the deadliest, most feared machines in the known galaxy. Thought to have been lost when an Imperial freighter was destroyed, they have recently been rediscovered by a group of renegade Sith Lords. Now both the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic seek to control these dangerous weapons for themselves. Those who are brave enough to venture into the wreckage will emerge with a powerful new ally. We are excited to unveil the dangerous assassination droid HK-51! Cold, calculating, and ruthlessly efficient, HK-51 will stand by your side and loyally follow your command as you and your allies continue your journey. Journalists were given a brief preview of HK-51 at E3, but now we are happy to be able to show everyone…
Reminder: Lapsed Players have until July 17th to Check out the Game for Free!
Did you quit SWTOR but now you want to check it out again? Have friends playing and talking about the new stuff but you let your account lapse? All you have to do is log in through the launcher! Now you have some time to check out the game for free and see if it’s worth getting your subscription going again. This post on SWTOR Facebook explains: “Haven’t checked out SWTOR since Game Update 1.3? With Group Finder, Ranked Warzones, and higher population servers, the gameplay experience has never been better! Returning players can check out the game for free up to July 17th (provided that you left on or before June 20th). Just start up the SWTOR launcher and log in now! For more information, check out this handy Help Support page. What are you waiting for? Try it for free! Be sure to share this status and spread…
James Ohlen Interview about fans, free to play and more
In a fascinating 2,500 word interview, James Ohlen tells Games Industry all about SWTOR fans, the subscriptions and free to play to level 15. We’ve seen interviews with James before but this one is really a lot of fun. It comes across like two pals chatting and you’re really learn a lot more about James and SWTOR from this interview. Here is a snippet from the very thorough interview: Q: You’ve worked on so many epic, single-player games for Bioware where you’ve had almost free reign to produce entire worlds – switching to an MMO in one of the best known universes out there must have been a huge change, and a huge challenge. James Ohlen: Well the great thing is that I had experience of working in the Star Wars universe before, when I worked on the Old Republic. So I’ve had worked in the Old Republic era too. I…
Reddit, SWTOR and an Autistic Student Who Needed Help
With some students, it takes a teacher willing to go the extra mile to really reach them and help them. In a truly heart-warming story, we see just how far one teacher would go to try to connect with a new student. When Lyobel got news of a new student with little time to prepare, we see how an entire Internet community came together to help via a video game and Reddit. BioWare, first to respond to the post, also sent some signed posters to the teacher and student. What a wonderful memory they will always have together! This post on Reddit gives the full story: Hoi! Some of you might remember me, if that is the case I congratulate you on excellent short-term memory! I am, for those who don´t, a special education teacher, who got a new student dumped on me without much time to prepare. What I…
Can You Level as a Pair in SWTOR?
For many years now, my husband and I have played games together as a couple. Many games are designed to be played this way but even those that are not, we find a way to enjoy the experience together. In SWTOR, we leveled several characters as a team and in some ways, it was more difficult than in other games. It seems many aspects of SWTOR are designed for solo RPG-like play. However, there are many great ways to enjoy leveling as a pair in SWTOR. If you have a spouse, partner or friend you want to play with, you can begin from level 1 and go to 50 together. Here’s a mini-guide on how to do it. First, consider your class pairings. Some will work better than others because you start on the same planet or because your skills pair up well. For some your companion skills will work…
The Old Republic: Annihilation Cover Art Info
Drew Karpyshyn has announced on his website that the two characters on the back cover of his upcoming novel; The Old Republic: Annihilation are indeed Darth Karrid, the Falleen and Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, the Kel Dor and narrator of the Timeline videos for The Old Republic. Drew says on his blog: The man on the front is Theron Shan, the main protagonist. I’ve had some people ask if he was modeled after me. (People asked the same thing about the default image of Commander Shepard as well.) I guess I can see it, since we do share some features: white guys with shorter, darker hair; two eyes, one nose. But beyond that… not so much. On the back cover of the Annihilation novel, you see Darth Karrid, the main villain in the story. She’s the one with the red lightsaber. You also see Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, the narrator for the history holocron updates for SWTOR. If you…
Community Q&A: June 8th, 2012
The answers for the SWTOR Community Q&A are here. Stubacca: Will the new Group Finder only work for solo players to find random group members, or will two or three friends that are already grouped together manually be able to still play together and fill the open spots in the group with random group members with it? Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): The Group Finder has absolutely been designed to allow 2- or 3-person groups to find the missing players to complete that group. It also has functionality allowing players to easily backfill a group if, for example, you start running a Flashpoint and lose a player. Elperzon: Will we ever be given the chance to ‘forget’ schematics we know? For example, I can make the base item, the 3 upgraded version (crit, power, def), and some of their upgraded versions (alacrity, surge, etc). That makes for a ton…
LFG Tool Bonus with a Pre-Made Group
You can use the new LFG tool with a pre-made group and still get the bonus. Awesome! Here’s the official work from the SWTOR community blog: Yes, you can queue for Group Finder with pre-made groups. However, only the Group Leader can queue your group as a whole. Once you are a part of a pre-made group, you will not be able to queue individually until you leave the group. If you are queued as a group and you are not the Group Leader, the Group Finder will display the content that the Group Leader queued you for. You can queue with a full group that is valid for the content. For example, for a Flashpoint, you’ll need to have characters to fill the tank and healer roles. If your Group is not valid when the Group Leader attempts to queue, it will display a message and give you the…
Looking Back at HK-47 before the Big SWTOR Reveal
The arrival of HK-47 has been hinted at since PAX 2010, when a SWTOR teaser video had a HK-series droid saying “Interjection: Silence Meatbags” and he’s since appeared in the Foundry Flashpoint. The new 1.3 patch notes have also confirmed that a new companion for all classes is arriving, an HK-51 droid, based on 47’s model. With the forthcoming return of the HK-series droids to Star Wars: The Old Republic, we thought it was time for a look back to the origin of the product line. (More spoilers than a modded car show, watch out.) If you’re a big fan of HK-47, you’re going to be happy to hear the news that a new droid companion is coming to SWTOR. He’s such a fun droid who has real issues with “meatbags” and PCGamesN has decided to take this time to look back on the HK-series of droids and their history….
Official Q&A Thread for June 8th, 2012 Q&A Blog Post
For our Question of the Week, we want to ask you what you would ask BioWare about SWTOR. The official Q&A thread for questions to be answered for the June 8th, 2012 Q&A blog post is up and now is your chance to get your questions in but BioWare has a few guidelines before you post your question. If you want to have a higher chance of getting your question answered, then consider these guidelines. From BioWare: In order to increase the chances of having your specific question answered and to help us keep the thread manageable, here are some guidelines on asking questions: Keep your question relatively short. Background details are welcome, but don’t go overboard. Please actually ask a question. We want to hear constructive feedback elsewhere in the Forums. Use common sense – we cannot answer everything, especially on far-reaching content. This should go without saying, but…
SWTOR Server Merges and BioWare Austin Layoffs Bring Out the “I Told You So’s”
With SWTOR server mergers imminent and the big layoffs at BioWare Austin, many SWTOR haters are coming out to say “I told you so!” This really has me thinking, is SWTOR really that bad or are some people just bored or vindictive and looking for something new to troll? While some circumstances do seem to show SWTOR on a decline, there is no solid evidence at this time that the game is sinking, going under or failing. There are still many active players and subscriptions and with all the new promised content, there’s no reason many more players won’t join or come back on board. BioWare responded to the layoffs but as Massively reports, the response was a little weak: Despite the layoffs, Lusinchi said that the development team is still “one of the biggest” in the industry and has detailed plans for SWTOR’s future. Still, that didn’t make dealing…
Will it Help SWTOR to Get Megaservers?
Big changes and additions are happening with SWTOR. In addition to the announcement of the new patch (1.3) coming soon, there was also a big exodus at the BioWare Austin studio. This was a huge disappointment to me because I went there, toured the studio with David Bass, saw employees hard and work and also saw how much all of the staff there seemed to care so much about their job. It really is a sad day to see so many people let go who really cared about the game and have put so many years of hard work into the game. Of course it is the nature of the game that staff gets let go from a video game project once the game is launched and less work is needed for it but letting community manager Stephen Reid go was a real blow. Why would a successful game let…
Combat the Haters: Tell Us Why You Love SWTOR
Due to recent events, there have been many putting down the game of SWTOR and many who have lost faith in BioWare. When I tweet an update or a story, I get several responses telling me how “SWTOR has died” and the game sucks. I believe in freedom of expression and I respect the opinions of others and their rights to have such opinions but that doesn’t mean I agree with them. I’m not sure SWTOR is dead yet. I can understand the dissatisfaction some people are feeling. There are some things that I was really bummed at about the game, too. But there are also a lot of great things about the game. I feel like some people didn’t give it a fair enough chance. They tried it and thought ‘it doesn’t have everything I want’ and they quit. While some players were let down by the game, there…
Patch 1.3 Crew Skills Changes: Q&A with SWTOR Systems Designers David Hunt and Patrick Malott
Inquisitor Roadhouse has an excellent Q&A with SWTOR Systems Designers David Hunt and Patrick Malott and has shared that with us on their site. This is by far the clearest interview/explanation I’ve seen yet on this topic and it’s well worth the read. Complete with screenshots and answers directly from the BioWare staff, you can get a clearer explanation of the Crew Skill changes incoming with 1.3. Anexxia posts: Q: On the official SWTOR podcast, we heard that Augment stations were going to be added to the game with Patch 1.3. Could you talk a little bit about what they are and how they will work? A: Our goal with the modification system has always been to allow players to use any gear they choose and have it function at maximum statistical efficiency. Most of the major itemization changes we’ve added have been moving towards this goal, such as moving set…
SWTOR Sith Warrior Juggernaut Leveling Build For 1.2
Today we have another post from the team over at www.swtorsavior.com and this post will give you a build for the Sith Warrior Juggernaut if you need an updated build for leveling since the 1.2 patch. First we will go over the build and then give you a bit of information about it: To use this build you should use Quinn or Vette as your companion and here are some rotations that you can use: Levels 1-30: Force Charge > Smash > Sundering Assault > Force Scream > Ravage Focus on adding in extra assaults to keep your rage up and vicious slash when you have built up enough rage. Levels 30-40 your rotation will change to: Force Charge > Smash > Sundering Assault > Force Scream > Impale > Ravage Then lastly from 40+ you will have the full rotation: Force Charge > Smash > Sundering Assault > Force…
Why So Many Guild Leaders Play Tank Roles
Here’s a good MMO topic to ponder. It’s something I had noticed before but put less thought into until I attended the 2012 SWTOR Guild Summit in Austin. As we were mingling and meeting other guild leaders, it occurred to me that a great number of guild leaders play tank roles in MMORPGs. A huge percentage of the guild representatives at the Summit were tanks. I brought this up on a bus ride with Ian from Jinx who brought up a great point. He said that guild leaders are usually your Alpha players and this made perfect sense. As a guild leader, I’ve played the tank role but I’ve also healed and done DPS, many times coordinated a run or raid from those various roles. However, the traditional situation in an MMORPG is that the tank is the leader of the run/raid/instance/flashpoint. This is the person who calls the shots,…
SWTOR Official Podcast: Episode 1 – “Rocket Boots”
Eric Musco and Brooks Guthrie are happy to bring you episode one of the official Star Wars: The Old Republic podcast, “Rocket Boots”“. This was really great fun and I can’t wait to see and hear more from these guys. Here is the description from the first episode: In this episode, we sit down with Daniel Erickson and Damion Schubert to talk about what we saw in Game Update 1.2 and what we can expect as we look forward to Game Update 1.3. Also, David Bass stops by to tell us about how things went at PAX East and some of our convention plans for the rest of the year. If you have any questions or comments about the show, feel free to let us know. It’s really a fun and interesting little podcast and the guys are fun and entertaining. I can’t wait to see what they will do…
How to Get and Upgrade your Starship in SWTOR
Where would a Star Wars game be without starships? This is one of the interesting features of SWTOR, although many agree that the space battles are lacking (hopefully that will be remedied in the future). Still, spaceships/player ships/starships are an amazing thing. This is a place to relax (gain rested), talk with your companions, travel to other words or even access your Cargo Hold. They will also be adding a Galactic Trade Network terminal to the starships. In the future, you will also be able to allow friends to visit your starship if they have their own already. So it’s no surprise then that one of the most common questions new players as is “How do I get my starship in SWTOR?” After this, the next question is how to get the upgrades for it to make it stronger in space battles. Here’s a guide to all of your questions…
SWTOR on the Rise and More Incoming PvP and Endgame Content
Is SWTOR seeing its last days? According to who you ask, the answer might be yes but I am not fully convinced it’s time to weep for the death of the game just yet. In fact, I think there is reason to believe that its popularity is really just getting started. For those who have heard the rumors that SWTOR is dying, here’s some evidence that it’s not. Daniel Erickson, BioWare’s lead designer on the project said that rumors of the game’s demise are incredibly premature — and outright wrong. Massively has some info straight from Erickson himself: Following Update 1.2 and the Rakghoul Outbreak live event, Erickson reports that player activity in the game is increasing. He said that the studio is working hard to keep its customers happy: “The community has generally been excited about the direction the game is going as we finish up our last must-have…
Does SWTOR Suck Or Are the Standards of Measurement Unbalanced?
There is a lot of talk going around about SWTOR being a letdown. We’ve already hashed and rehashed the comparisons to other MMOs, WoW in particular. While some say that SWTOR is just not measuring up, there is one who makes a very valid point: maybe we’re not measuring with the same ruler. I, like many others, have had a pretty critical eye when it comes to SWTOR. We have all earned that when we purchased the game I guess. As consumers we review just about everything we buy. We make purchases on eBay, Amazon or even in-store and we are often asked to give a review of our product. Or at the very least that option is there for us if we so choose. Just like every other game in the last 10 years SWTOR went through the review process from all the big name videogame sites on the net. The…
SWTOR Launches in the rest of Europe and in the Middle Eastern Countries
Star Wars: The Old Republic has now officially launched in the rest of the European countries that missed out at launch, as well as throughout the Middle East. If you live in any of the following countries, you can now buy the game via buy.swtor.com or pick it up at local retailers. Europe Albania Andorra Belarus (only available at Origin.com) Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Estonia (only available at Origin.com) Gibraltar Iceland Kazakhstan (only available at Origin.com) Latvia (only available at Origin.com) Lithuania (only available at Origin.com) Luxembourg (not available at Origin.com) Macedonia Malta Moldova Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Turkey Ukraine (only available at Origin.com) Middle East Afghanistan Algeria (not available at Origin.com) Bahrain Egypt Israel Kuwait Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Tunisia (not available at Origin.com) United Arab Emirates Yemen Check out the official statement below or at the official webiste We are excited to announce…