You heard that right folk’s. BioWare just announced the next expansion for SWTOR titled “Galactic Strongholds”. This new expansion brings customizable player housing known as strongholds to the game, as well as Guild capital ships! You will be able to acquire multiple Strongholds on different planets and customize them yourself. To start you’ll have options to set up on your faction’s capital world, the gambling planet Nar Shaddaa, or both. Decorating your crib can get you Prestige score, which can rise you to the top of the Stronghold Directory. Aside from the benefits of living stylishly, having a stronghold will let you transport friends directly to it so you can kick back and socialize. Guilds will also be able to launch Flagships when the expansion officially releases, though that functionality won’t be enabled for the early access. Here’s the official blurb: In Galactic Strongholds, players can live on multiple planets…
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Announcing End Season 1 Rewards
BioWare have announced the rewards for Season 1. The end of Season 1 will come with Game Update 2.7 and your rating when the servers come down for the update will determine which Tier you are in and what rewards you gain. The higher your Tier the better your rewards! This is really well done by BioWare. None of that “limited-use finisher and a dolyak pet” crap you get in GuildWars2, but really awesome stuff Well played BioWare! Bellow is the official annuncement from BioWare and forum update by Eric Musco. Check it out: Announcing End Season 1 Rewards 02.19.2014 Greetings PvPers! With the culmination of Season 1 quickly approaching, we know there is a lot of interest in what this season’s rewards will entail. Firstly, the end of Season 1 will come with Game Update 2.7 and your rating when the servers come down for the update will determine…
Will the Competition Be Held off By SWTOR’s 2014 Roadmap?
The plan for the future of 2014 is out. So how will this affect the competition in the MMORPG market? If you ask around the SWTOR community, you will find that people are very split on how they feel about these changes and upcoming plans. Some players are really happy about it while others have their own ideas of how certain aspects of gameplay and other details should go. The diversity is one thing that makes the gaming community so unique and broad and we do know from experience that BioWare listens to what the players have to say about certain things like this. But when we look outside of the community, how can we expect these changes to affect the competition that SWTOR has now and in the future? Elite Monster has done a write-up on this that pretty much echoes my thoughts on the matter. The first point…
The Annals of Star Wars: Pre-Republic Era
13,000,000,000 BBY: The Big Bang, the galaxy is formed. According to most sources, the galaxy was 120,000 light years across, and had a supermassive black hole at its core. The galaxy was orbited by 7 satellite galaxies (Aurek, Besh, Cresh, Dorn, Esk, Forn, and Grek), most being described as having ancient, metal-rich remnants of stars but little life. A hyperspace disturbance on the perimeter of the galaxy prevented hyperspace travel into extra-galatic space. 5,000,000,000 – 2,000,000 BBY: Life emerges In this period of time, over 180 billion stars had formed planets that could support life. 10% eventually developed life, while intelligent life formed on 1/1,000 of these worlds. It was estimated that only 1 billion systems were eventually populated. These populations consisted of a wide array of creatures such as the Gorothites, Chevin, pre-arboreal Wookiees and many many others. 2,000,000 BBY: The Oracle is built on the world of Pelgrin…
SWTOR Players can be Great Casino Players
Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is a huge global multiplayer role-playing game based on the Star Wars universe. Players connect together online from all over the globe to compete against each other. The game was developed by BioWare and launched in 2011. Players join in the game as either of two main factions: the Sith Empire or the Galactic Republic. The leader of each faction could be good or bad and the game is structured so that each player can have a morality set anywhere along the spectrum. In order to be successful in the game, players must make the right decision at the right time, and they must manage their resources efficiently. Players only have a certain amount of weapons and money and must use them in the most effective way to level up and gain power. Many of the characteristics of a good SWTOR player can actually…
Star Wars Characters, Cast, History & Trivia [Infographic]
Over the course of six movies, the role of Darth Vader was played by several people. In the original trilogy that launched in 1977, actor James Earl Jones was the voice for Vader while David Prowse played the regular scenes and Bob Anderson played Vader in fight scenes. Sebastian Shaw plays the role of the unmasked Vader and the deceased but redeemed Darth Vader in his original form, Anakin Skywalker. In the prequel series that launched in 1999, the role of Anakin Skywalker was played by Jake Lloyd and Frankie Ryan Manriquez to show the young Anakin growing up. Later in the same series, Vader is played by Hayden Christensen for episodes two and three. George Lucas created a villain so large it took seven actors to encompass Vader in all of his Dark Sided evilness. Lucas also wrote original characters for Luke and Han Solo that the audience never…
The Economics of Star Wars [Infographic]
This infographic shows how much it cost to make the Star Wars films and how much the films made in the box office. It also provides information for the revenue of Star Wars merchandise sales. Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Things I learned while leveling my alts
This might not be rocket science, but here is a few tips and tricks I learned while leveling my alts. When you make an alt, you will probably look for ways to level without doing entire planets that you already did on your main. One of the biggest complaints about this game that I see is travel time. Companion quests, space missions, warzone daily quests, and flashpoint daily quests are attractive since you can get tons of EXP for basically doing little to anything at all and with 0 travel time. In fact, you can do all 4 of those things while being docked at the fleet. Mail to an alt on the same faction is instant, even if you’re sending items. Edit: you can send mail with items/credits to your cross faction alts. In normal mode flashpoints, the game seems to have a bias to drop items for the basic…
How to Level Fast in the Double XP Weekend
Double XP weekend is here again and this is a great time to level up any alts or get your main toon to max level, or bring in friends and family over the holidays and help them get leveled up to max as well. If you take advantage of all the potential experience boosts, you could be looking at: So you’re looking at… 100% for base xp gain +20% for being a subscriber +10% for being in a guild +25% with a boost multiplied by 2 for the XP weekend You also get double the legacy xp perks for pvp and class missions. I believe the number was 310% for that and even higher with guild bonus. Sub bonus was already accounted for so you’re looking at: 100 + 25 (xp boost) + 30 (legacy perk) + 10 (guild bonus) * 2 = 330% With a potential for 330%, you…
‘Star Wars’ Coming To Disneyland?
How cool would it be if you could walk through a re-creation of the Millennium Falcon? There are new reports coming out that guests to California’s Disneyland just might get one of the coolest dreams ever for a Star Wars fan- the chance to walk through a life-sized replica of the Millennium Falcon! MTV reports on these upcoming changes at the popular theme park: Two of the main additions to the park would be a spaceport that could host a very famous ship and a dining and entertainment area made to look like the cantina on Tattooine from the original “Star Wars” movie. MiceAge gave a short description for what parkgoers can expect from the spaceport area: “What’s a landing pad without a spaceship, right? The craft that will have landed there won’t be any old spaceship however, but will be the famous Millennium Falcon that…
Public Test Server Unavailable: 2.4 Testing Concluded
Amber took the Forums yesterday informing the community that the test servers will be taking down. It looks like we are close to Game update 2.4 Ladies and gentlemen. The announced date for game update 2.4? Is also October 1st I believe. Below are the announcement: Greetings Testers! This morning marks the conclusion of Game Update 2.4 PTS testing. The server will soon become unavailable until further notice. Thank you all for your participation, bug reports, and feedback!
World’s Greatest Star Wars Collection Certified by Guinness
Do you think you’re one of the biggest Star Wars fans in the world? You might rethink that when you see Rancho Obi-Wan, in Petaluma, California, which has over 300,000 Star Wars themed artifacts. This is officially the largest Star Wars collection known to exist on the planet. And it’s no surprise really that something this big and amazing would exist- the Star Wars franchise has inspired a lot of fans who spend most of their lives collecting memorabilia and more. Cnet.com tells us about it: Guinness granted official world-record status to Rancho Obi-Wan, longtime Lucasfilm employee Steve Sansweet’s Petaluma, Calif., collection of “Star Wars” memorabilia: The super fan who is currently able to lay claim to that title is Steve Sansweet, a journalist and author, and president of Rancho Obi-Wan, a non-profit museum in Petaluma, northern California that houses his collection of an estimated 300,000 unique “Star Wars” items….
Win a Darth Malgus Premium Format™ Figure from YN and SSC
Here’s a really cool fall giveaway that we just have to tell you about! If you’re a Star Wars fan, you want to get in on this right now for your chance to win. Yodasnews.com and Sideshow Collectibles have this great giveaway with a grand prize of a Darth Malgus Premium Format™ Figure by Sideshow Collectibles! The giveaway starts today (9/16/2013) and runs for two weeks, ending on 9/29/13 at 11:59pm EST. If you want to get in yourself, there are three different ways you can enter. You are welcome to enter for each of the three (for a maximum of 3 total entries) but only once for each. Multiple entries will void all entries. Please read carefully below on how to enter. This from Yodasnews about the ways to enter: Gain 1 Entry – First, Like our page, then LIKE and SHARE this Face Book image Note: All 3 Tasks (Like our Face…
Star Wars The Old Republic “The Return” – Behind The Scenes – Motion Capture
Here is a pretty cool video we stumbled upon. While it’s not new, it’s new to us and this is some really awesome stunt skills at work. It’s really cool to see how this all comes together in motion capture. We can only hope that the new Star Wars films will have some really awesome fight scenes like this. Credits: Stunt /Fight Coordinated By Philip Silvera Rigger Joe Ross Equipment Sponsored By Action Factory Stunt/Motion Capture Performers Melissa Barker Roberto Gutierrez Eric Linden Steven Oyoung Derron Ross Joe Ross Philip Silvera Jade Quon
Maintenance: September 19th, 2013 – Patch 2.3.3a
EDIT: Maintenance: September 19th, 2013 [CANCELLED] BioWare will be taking down the servers tomorrow and push a small patch. Below you can read Ambers forum post and the new patch notes. Today , 01:47 PM | #1 This is the last staff post in this thread. QUOTE On September 19th, all game servers will be unavailable while we perform maintenance. Patch 2.3.3a will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: >Date: Thursday September 19th, 2013 Duration: 2 hours Time: 3AM PDT (10AM UTC) – 5AM PDT (12PM UTC) Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. 2.3.3a Patch Notes General Corrected an issue that caused poor performance on CZ-198. Space Combat Taspan Ambush (Imperial)/ Syvris Evacuation (Rep): Player starships will no longer be smashed by an asteroid preventing the completion of these missions.
Electronic Arts names Andrew Wilson new CEO
Electronic Arts named sports and digital games division head Andrew Wilson its new chief executive on Tuesday, filling the top job after a six-month search to replace John Riccitiello. Wilson took over EA Sports in August 2011 and has been with the company for 11 years. “I envision EA as the World’s Greatest Games Company,” Wilson said. “This is not about what we are aiming for or what we will become. Rather, it is about an unfaltering commitment to what we will be every day. This is an attitude that must drive our culture as one team.” “I also believe EA’s strategy is sound. Our focus on our talent, our brands and our platform together with our investment in next-generation consoles, mobile and PC free-to-play, as part of our ongoing transition to digital, is right. But we have plenty of work ahead to ensure our collective success.”” Wilson, 39, will…
Class Representatives Update!
Eric Musco Has taken on the forums, to update the community regarding the future of the Class Representatives. Since BioWare have not yet made any actual class changes since the initiative began, the dev team have chosen to put the class Rep initiative on hiatus after the Assassin/Merc answers. This will go on until their next set of class changes that apparently comes with game update 2.5. Does this mean that Game update 2.5 will be a mini update? Who knows. The Forums are going mad about how this is the end of the game and all – You know how it always goes. Personally don’t care one bit about this. Always thought the Class Reps system wasn’t much more than a way to placate the uber-whiners on the forums with a “yes, we’re listening to you!” bone tossed to them. Eric and the rest of the CM team always will…
Dark and Light Side Guide to SWTOR Farming
If you’ve played SWTOR for even a little bit of time, you know that you will at times be presented with storyline choices that ask you to chose Dark Side or Light Side options in the cutscenes. The game will reward you based on the choices you make. You will earn Dark and Light Side points that you can then use later in the game for rewards, gear and more. Your alignment tree will show in the game and you can see how many points you need to grow in whichever side you choose. The most important thing to remember from the start is that if you don’t pick a side at all, you may end up neutral and therefore, will be unable to wear certain gear and items. I noticed on the very first character I made that when I answered questions naturally, based on the answer I would…
Game Update 2.3.3 Patch Notes 9/17/2013
Servers are down for maintenance, and a new patch will be available when the servers come back up. Patch is about 330 MB. And will include tons of fixes. Some of them has a funny description: Treek and Blizz will no longer attempt to be even shorter by sinking into the floor while on the mission step to “Access the Isotope-5 Storage Tanks”. Below are the complete patchnotes: General Players can now use mounts and vehicles inside all Republic and Imperial bases on Hoth. Varactyl voices no longer carry such that their volume is the same regardless of their distance. Cartel Market New Items The new Bounty Pack, the Pursuer’s Bounty Pack items can now be previewed in Collections. The Pursuer’s Bounty Pack will be available in the Cartel Market on September 26th. Cost: 320 Cartel Coins Players can purchase Hypercrates containing 24 Pursuer’s Bounty Packs on September 26th. (Discounted by 10%…
2.3.3 Maintenance tomorrow
BioWare are taking down the servers tomorrow, Tuesday September 17, to preform maintenance. After that we all need to download Patch 2.3.3. The patch notes are not up yet, but we will ad them as soon as they become available. Below is the original forum update by Amber: On September 17th, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be unavailable while we perform maintenance. Patch 2.3.3 will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday September 17th, 2013 Duration: 5 hours Time: 3AM PDT (10AM UTC) – 8AM PDT (3PM UTC) Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.
Gentle Giant Star Wars Darth Malak Statue
YodasNews.com have a new Un-boxing video. This time they take a first look at the Gentle Giant Darth Malak Statue, from the Knights of the old Republic video game. The Statue comes with a removable jaw piece and other cool features. You can check it all out in the movie below:
More ‘Star Wars Pinball’ Later This Fall
If you’re a fan of Star Wars Pinball? Zen Studio has something exciting for you up their sleeve, as they are planning a new installment of Star Wars Pinball. It has been revealed that it will have three new tables that are grouped together under the Balance of the Force banner. It’s a representation of Episodes 1-3. Star Wars Pinball: Balance of the Force arrives later this year on virtually every platform so you can enjoy it for yourself on Xbox Live, PS Network, Steam, Apple, Google Play, the Wii U, Mac App Store, Win 8 and even the Kindle Fire. You can experience the power of the dark side like never before with the Darth Vader table. There’s also a Return of the Jedi themed table to enjoy. And you can choose to support the Rebel Alliance Fleet or the Galactic Empire’s Armada. While we don’t know what the…
Game Update 2.4: The Dread War and A Record of the Dread Masters
With game update 2.4 we finally get to see the conclusion on the epic Dread War and what will happen to the Dread Masters. BioWare posted a new Developer Blog about what we can expect plus a new Journal entry by Master Gnost Dural, were he accounts of the Dread Masters. Unfortunately this is not a recorded video like the old Galactic Timeline Records we saw before the game was launched. It’s still a great read though. Check out the Developer Blog here and the Journal entry by Master Gnost Dural here. CONFRONT THE DREAD MASTERS AND COMPETE IN THE WARZONE ARENAS OF DEATH! Get ready to team up with allies to confront the powerful and terrifying Dread Masters, and prepare to compete in new arenas of death coming in Game Update 2.4: The Dread War! – Withstand the fires of Oricon, a new story mission area where the Dread Masters plot to…
TOR TV: Patch 2.4 Video Coverage – GTN Improvements
Gaddock Teeg takes a look at the quality of life improvements made to the Galactic Trade Network, now available on the Patch 2.4 PTS. Game really does keep getting better. Players can now use Shift + Left Click with the cursor in the search box of the GTN to add the name of the item. BioWare also added a sortable “Unit Price” column to the GTN Window, which will display the listed item’s price-per-unit. The GTN now auto completes with the price and duration of a player’s last posted auction. In addition, the last price will be remembered on a per-unit basis. i.e. If a player puts 1 med pack up for 10 credits, and their next auction is a stack of 20 med packs (the same type as before) it will auto complete 200 credits (10 credits for 1 x 20 = 200). The remembered price and duration are…