With the news of SWTOR going free to play, there are many who want to learn as much as they can about the game or any changes being made in the upcoming updates to the game. Even those who are already fans are listening with eager ears to anything new. This interview with Jeff Hickman didn’t have any big secret reveals over the game but it did have some very interesting topics and some insight into the very experience Jeff Hickman and his work on SWTOR. RPG Site says: With a background rooted in Mythic Entertainment, Hickman has a long history with MMOs – first on Dark Age of Camelot and then on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. We quizzed him not only on the future of The Old Republic, but of the MMO genre in general. Here’s what he said. They came prepared with some great questions and Hickman…
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Star Wars prequels 3D reissues set for back-to-back releases in Fall 2013
Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox are taking a page out of the successful 1997 re-release of the original “Star Wars” trilogy as they prepare for a 3-D launch of two more movies from the space saga next year. “”Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” and “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” the fifth and sixth movies — but the second and third chronologically — will be released in 3-D on Sept. 20, 2013 and Oct. 11, 2013, respectively. Lucasfilm announced the news on its Facebook page Monday. Putting the two movies three weeks apart mirrors Fox and Lucasfilm’s strategy 15 years ago when the original “Star Wars,” “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” were re-released in three-week increments over the winter. The approach can help create the feeling of a major fan event lasting a month or more. It will also save marketing dollars, as Fox (which handles distribution and…
TOR TV: Directive 7 Hard Solo
Youtube user NadaButH8 posted a video of him soloing Directive 7 on Hard mode. Pretty impressive stuff if you think of how good gear you have to optain for your self and your companion before doing this. Boss fights are played at normal speed, everything else is 2X (Bonus Boss was not attempted) Boss name–Time -Assassin Droids– 2:20 -Interrogator– 7:45 -Bulwark– 11:23 -Assembler– 16:52 -Mentor– 19:20
Holocron Computer Case Mod
I love custom computer cases. I know most everyone thinks they are cool or could think of a custom case they would like to have but I have a real obsession with these. I am addicted to see what people can do with their computer cases and I have seen some of the most amazing cases you can imagine. There are those that are artistic, practical, water cooled, fish tank cases and more. But this one that we came across is one you’re probably going to love as much as me. This is a Holocron computer case mod. It’s really awesome looking and they photo-logged how they did it on Tumblr so you can see the whole 21 day process for yourself. Maxwell explains to Tumblr a little about what they were doing at the start of the project: After this coming weekend, we will have more exciting progress to…
Schematics Leaving the End Game of SWTOR
Have you been wondering why there are no end game schematics for your crafting skills in SWTOR? You are not alone and other people have brought this question to the forums where Allison Berryman, Senior Community Coordinator for SWTOR, gives us a little insight into why this is. I talked to Systems Designer David Hunt about this, and (related to this question), he told me that content in the near future generally won’t have schematics as drops in endgame content, and that those high-end schematics will come from reverse engineering. So, for content in the near future, schematics for all crafting skills won’t generally be part of those end game loot tables. It makes sense, when you think about it. But some players feel like crafting is just not balanced right now and that more needs to be done to even out the crew skills. Do you think it will…
Peter Moore Gives BioWare Vote of Confidence
BioWare has had a challenging year of ups and downs. There has been a lot of criticism of BioWare after the launch of Star Wars: The old Republic. In fact, the last 18 months have been rocky for BioWare. First, there was the disappointing release of Dragon Age 2 and then SWTOR did not perform as well as predicted and finally, there was the drama over the ending of Mass Effect 3. So it’s safe to say this has been a challenging year to year and a half for BioWare. However, this doesn’t mean the company has sunk. They are still a leader in the industry and Peter Moore, EA COO, has a lot of confidence in the future of BioWare. Eurogamer reports: BioWare has called on player feedback as it creates Dragon Age 3, released free downloadable content to add context to the divisive Mass Effect 3 ending, and…
Ancient Hypergates Gameplay
Are you excited about the new SWTOR Warzone, Ancient Hypergates? I was definitely interested in knowing more about this warzone, the objectives and what it would be like. I really enjoy PVP in SWTOR but doing the same warzones over and over can get boring. A new warzone will be a nice refreshing addition to the game. Anyway, some of the folks in Cologne, Germany at Gamescom were able to visit the SWTOR booth and get a good look at Ancient Hypergates for themselves. Here’s some info on it complete with a gameplay video so you can see for yourselves: The objective of the warzone is to activate the two pylons which then start a countdown before they explode. To save yourself from the explosion all players must go to the middle room where they fight it out until the explosion is over. All the while each kill brings you…
The Grand Acquisition Ends Tuesday
Joveth Gonzalez | Online Community Manager stopped by the forums to let us know that the Grand Acquisition will be ending on Tuesday so now is your chance to get in and complete the world event over the weekend. If you haven’t started yet, now is the time. The post reads: The Chevin Conglomerate has decreed that you will have until next Tuesday (August 21st) at 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) to finish up the Grand Acquisitions Race. They’ve also decreed that the Shady Dealer will remain for an additional week after the race ends, citing “feedback” as the primary reason. Good luck! So now you know how long the event is up and it’s time to get out there and get started (or finished) if you haven’t already.
SWTOR New Operation Terror from Beyond
There’s a lot of great news coming out of Gamescom today, including exciting news from EA. SWTOR is getting some great new features, including a new operation called Terror from Beyond. In an EA press conference this morning, we learned about the new changes and additions to SWTOR. Matthew Bromberg, new head of BioWare Austin, confirmed a number of new changes for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Challenge of the Chevin, the new SWTOR live event, was launched today. But then there is more (coming next month): Terror from Beyond – a new Operation on Belsavis. Ancient Hypergate – a new PvP Warzone New Flying Missions – aimed at level 50 players There was also a sneak peek at a new live action trailer for the next phase in SWTOR as the Free to Play change draws nearer. It looks really exciting. Stay tuned as we will keep you updated on any new info coming out of Gamescom about…
TOR TV: The Smuggler Story Trailer
This video was made by youtube user lvl0zilch, The video is a player made trailer for one of my favorite classes in Star Wars: The old republic – the Smuggler. The movie is really a success, and I can not wait for future update from lvl0zilch. Awesome job man!
MMORPG Interview with Jeff Hickman and Matthew Bromberg
SWTOR is going free to play and it’s happening sooner than you think. We’re all excited about the news and here’s an interview from MMORPG.com’s William Murphy to give us more info about the game, the move to f2p and other questions you might have. It’s happening, and sooner than you might think. BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic is going F2P with a hybrid business model this fall. Players have been wondering about it, journalists have been begging for it, and it seems that all this time BioWare’s been listening and reacting. After being informed of the then embargoed announcement this morning, I had the rare opportunity to sit in on a call with BioWare’s Jeff Hickman and Matthew Bromberg (who recently took over as GM of the Austin studio. We talked about the timing, the reasons, and the way in which they believe SWTOR going F2P is just finally giving…
SWTOR Free to Play and the Anonymous BioWare Employee
Remember not so long ago when we brought you the story of the anonymous BioWare employee who left the comments about free to play on an article? He claimed he worked for BioWare and couldn’t reveal his name and said that the fans were to blame for the current state of the game. He also predicted a free to play model was on the way. While some people believed he might be right, most others assumed it was a troll- some SWTOR hater trying to spread a rumor about the game being a flop or something or other… But very shortly after – perhaps too shortly- we get the news that the game is, in fact, going free to play. So could this anonymous poster have actually been a BioWare employee? Well, it certainly looks that way but then again, how hard was it to predict the free to play…
Leveling Guide 1 through 400 for Artifice
The patterns in this leveling guide for Artifice crafts are only available from an Artifice Trainer and they’re for the Force users. The Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor are the classes that can use Artifice gear and mods. The primary gathering skill used in Artifice is Archaeology using artifact fragments and power crystals. The secondary mission skill needed is Treasure Hunting with Gemstones. After you complete a step, train for the next level by visiting the Artifice Crew Skill Trainer. You can cut back on some of the materials needed for crafting Artifice if you use reverse engineering for everything you craft. However, this process produces random materials so it’s impossible to calculate a precise number for players to use. For this reasons, this leveling guide is based on the materials needed when reverse engineering for Artifice is not used. Here are the materials needed for…
SWTOR Character Sheets
Have you ever wanted to be able to share your SWTOR characters with everyone outside of the game? Want to be able to post them on your blog, SWTOR website, guild site or elsewhere on the Internet and show off your toon? Well, now it’s possible and this is a pretty nifty tool. Here’s how it came to be Spread the SWTOR looooove! A fan (Miallen) stopped in our forums with a design idea for small embeddable character sheets. Then Scorpiux and Genshen over at Cali Killed Nox (CKN) picked up the project and used Mr. Robot’s API to make these a reality. They can be embedded on any site, including Enjin guild sites, wordpress blogs, you name it. It’s one of our favorite uses of the API, along with the SimulationCraft project that imports characters. Very cool! You can go to their site right now and check it out and then make your own. Here’s…
Individual Server Forums Coming soon(tm)
With the reduction of servers, it seems inevitable that server forums is incomming. To day we got a confirmation from Allison Berryman who posted the following on the official forums: Allison BerrymanIndividual server forums will be implemented later this summer once we have completed automatic transfers! So there you have it. A much sort after service is now coming to a galaxy far far away. Just a heads up though. If you can’t wait, you can use the subreddits already created for each server in Star Wars: The old republic
SWTOR Course of the Force Machinima Made by Bioware
Remember when we told you about Course of the Force the other day? “Course of the Force concludes at The Balboa Theatre in San Diego as Chris Hardwick, Ashley Eckstein, Alison Haislip and Alex Albrecht live stream the lightsaber making its way to it’s final resting spot.” BioWare has a great fun lightsaber relay race where they have taken characters in the game of SWTOR and programmed them to run the relay. We see Satele Shan a shifty Smuggler, Darth Malgus and more. But that’s not all… the video also checks in with Matt and Johan from the Nerdist podcast. Ever wonder what they’d be up to in game Then Alison Haislip and Alex Albrecht talk about the Jawa Pleasurebarge, the King of Fast, and more. And of course, there is a highlight reel for those of you who were not there who want to catch up on everything that happened at Course…
Community Q&A: 7/13/12
BioWare have a new Community Q&A for us, and this time it delves into deception Assassins, Operatives, and the new planet of Makeb. Lik elast week it’s pretty short but indeed a worth a read. Check it out below: Posted by: Community Q&A: July 13th, 2012 Anzel: Credit Sinks appear to be one of the hot topics in the community right now. Are there any chances of severely lowering or possibly removing some of these at this early stage in the game? Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): Now that 1.3 has been out and legacy perks have been in the system for a while now, we will be looking at our credits sinks, particularly the perks, to see how they are performing. It is quite likely we will make some adjustments based on what we’ve learned. BobertCole: Could you elaborate please on what role you see deception Assassins playing? Are they close…
SWTOR: New mount reveal and continuous free trial
As we told you yesterday, BioWare made some big announcements yesterday. Announcements to show that they are serious about bringing new subscribers to the game and also keeping current SWTOR players happy. The first of the great news is that their Free Trial program no longer has a time limit. It will be a continuous free trial so you can download and play up to level 15 for free for as long as you want. You can play all of the game’s eight classes up to level 15 for free to see what you think of them. This is similar to the perpetual free trials other MMOs offer. Also like other games, there are some restrictions on these free accounts: access to the Galactic Market ability to use in-game chat can’t send and receive mail from players However, they will receive in-game mail such as the messages and rewards sent by…
1.3.2 Patch Notes 7/10/2012
Servers are back up after this weeks maintenance, and BioWare have deployed a new patch. The best news of all is that the refer-a-friend mount is in and retrospective. On top of that, I’ve just picked it up on my lv10 Marauder who has the first rank of legacy vehicles (i.e. can ride a rank 1 speeder at lv10) and not only can he use the Kurtob Alliance, it actually gives him 110% speed. So, 40k credits for an epic speeder if you can convince your friends to subscribe! Also remember that the Play free to level 15 starts today. Patch notes below the new refer-a-friend mount screenshot. 1.3.2 Patch Notes 7/9/2012 General The new free trial allows anyone to create a Star Wars: The Old Republic account and play up to level 15 free of charge with no time limit. Classes and Combat General Stat bonuses derived from buffs that increase attributes and ratings are now…
The LEGO SWTOR Sets are Now Available in the US
If you’re a fan of LEGO or Star Wars collectibles, you might already know about the Star Wars LEGO sets. We have several in our home and now, LEGO has released their newest two LEGO SWTOR and summer series sets. While Toys R Us is also carrying them, Amazon is the clear choice of where to get them because they have all the set in stock for retail price, no tax to most states and free shipping on orders above $25. My kids are huge LEGO fans and Star Wars fans so I’m thinking we’ll have to save up for sets for them and for us. These will make a fantastic collector’s piece. LEGO Star Wars 9500 Sith Fury-class Interceptor LEGO Star Wars 9497 Republic Striker-class Starfighter Amazon has both building sets and planet sets as follows in their summer collections. Building Sets: Desert Skiff (reg.$24.99) Saesee Tinn’s Starfighter (reg.$29.99) Republic…
EU now Allows the Sale and Purchase of SWTOR Accounts
Is it legal to sell your SWTOR account if you are no longer playing it? If you live in Europe, it will be. A European court has now deemed it legal to resale the rights to used software licenses, no matter how or where they were obtained. This includes video games like SWTOR. “A European court has ruled that it’s permissible to resell software licenses even if the package has been downloaded directly from the Internet. It sided with a German firm in its legal battle with US giant Oracle.” Basically this means that you can buy and sell your SWTOR account as you please in Europe. But what does this mean for items or credits? That we are not sure on yet. The article explains: “The ruling made it clear that trade in used software was permissible even if the software had not been shipped on a physical medium…
Is 1.3 Worth Returning to SWTOR For?
Some players have given up on SWTOR. Now will 1.3 be enough to relight their fires and bring them back to the game? Bioware certainly hopes so but what are the players saying? Well, the overall atmosphere is pretty positive. With server transfers solving the problem of no one to play with and all the other additions and updates, SWTOR is a new game. Some say it is finally the game it should have been at launch. Maybe BioWare was too rushed to launch it fully complete but whatever the reason, players are now saying they’re happy with the outcome of the game. Ranked warzones, new gear, looking for group finders and more mean the game is now more accessible than ever before. When you add to this that there will be more updates, more new content and free play up to 15 levels, you can see why the interest…
Commmunity Q&A June 12
This week’s Q&A went up yesterday, and includes interesting information regarding armor set development cycles, random loot tables, and more. Also an interesting piece of information is the fact we now get more character slots. Read the full thread at the official forums, or our Copy paste below: Posted by: Community Q&A: June 22nd, 2012rong> Pargon: I’m curious about the development cycle for something like an armor set. Could you elaborate on the process you guys go through when designing and implementing that equipment? Ryan Dening (Lead Concept Artist) and David Hunt (Systems Designer):This is a very good and timely question as we have recently been refining parts of our approach and inspiration in response to the feedback we have gotten from our players. The first thing we do when designing a new armor set is to look at which class it’s for and what level or tier it is going to be….
BioWare Dev blog by William Wallace : Legacy Perks in Game Update 1.3
Senior Game Designer William Wallace posted a developer blog post regarding Legacy Perks in Game Update 1.3. Basically he breaks down own the Character Perks into four types of unlocks including Advancement Perks, Travel Perks, Companion Perks and Convenience Perks Legacy Perks in Game Update 1.3 Hi, I’m Senior Game Designer William Wallace. In Game Update 1.2, we introduced Legacy Unlocks, a system in which characters across your Legacy could unlock special rewards for reaching different milestones. Since Game Update 1.2 went live, your Smuggler may have learned a new skill from their Sith Inquisitor father, or you might have unlocked new species options for your classes. No matter your personal choices, you have now started to build your very own Star Wars™ legacy. With Game Update 1.3, we are continuing to expand the Legacy system by introducing the new Character Perks system. Character Perks allow you to customize each character in your Legacy,…