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More information on Jedi class released

October 31, 2009 By

jedi-oct2009BioWare have released their Holonet entry for the Jedi class. Die-hards won’t find anything particularly earth shattering in the information but it certainly fleshed out what is likely to be the most popular class in SWTOR. The SWTOR forum thread on the announcement has been pretty subdued to date – it’s certainly been one of the most discussed classes so probably no surprise there.

We’ve still not nailed down the first playing class we’ll take on, and don’t feel any more certain after this information. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s more a case of they all have a hell of a lot of appeal.

It’s also worth having a read of Gamespot’s Q&A with BioWare’s director of production Dallas Dickinson and senior game designer William Wallace.

Over to you: are there any surprises for you in the info update or is it pretty much as you expected?

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

Want an Australian SWTOR gaming server? Sign the petition

October 12, 2009 By

Anyone with some MMO gaming experience under their belt will know the frustration of ridiculous ping times if playing on US or European servers. There’s a petition running to make it clear the level of Australian interest in local servers. If you want to join the throng putting their hand up for lag-minimised play, then head over here.

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BioWare responds on beta-test selection for Mac users

October 11, 2009 By

I few days back I wrote about being excluded from the beta-test, due to trying to sign-up on a Mac. Sean Dahlberg, BioWare’s Community Manager, has followed up with a response:

I wanted to apologize for the previous response you received in  regards to your issues signing up for STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™. While we recognize that there are other operating systems and platforms available for games today, our development is specific to the personal computer (PC) using the Microsoft® Windows® operating system at this time.

Our technology provider for the system scan is not compatible with a Macintosh running Windows, so we are unable to validate your system for testing at this time. For the purposes of providing the most stable testing environment, we are currently limiting our testing participants to those using the Windows operating system on a PC. At some point we will be evaluating compatibility with the Macintosh running Windows and we may put out an additional call for testers at that time.

We apologize for any inconvenience and that this has caused and for it not being well conveyed to begin with.

It’s a positive sign that BioWare at least haven’t rules out the option of people on Macs testing SWTOR. There’s obviously the wider frustration of SWTOR not being available for the Mac natively, but that’s another whole mountain that’s likely never to be climbed.

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SWTOR: the excluded

October 2, 2009 By

By now, thousands have signed up for the SWTOR beta, but I thought it was worth mentioning those who won’t be able to take part in the beta phase. Specfically, any person on a Mac running VMWare Fusion or Boot Camp may not be able able to take part, after I emailed support stating the sign-up form wasn’t running correctly. I understand there’s a system scan prior to submitting the application, but I didn’t even get that far on Safari and Firefox – it’d just endlessly cycle between the terms and conditions and the tester details form.

The response from BioWare’s support:

Since the game is designed to run on PC only, It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that the scan is not set up to work properly on a Mac.  Since much of the criteria we are using to select testers is a function of system specs and OS, this phase may not be available to you.

Um, ok. If this is an indication of how OS issues are going to be managed, I have some concerns on the beta-testing experience for people, let alone the end product support. Yes, I’m pissed on the total lack of Mac support. BioWare have basically said ‘that’s what Boot Camp is for’. Yet, when trying to test SWTOR using said Mac, it’s a no-go, albeit not within the Boot Camp environment. I just get that overwhelming feeling of non-interest in the whole issue.

Over to you: am I whining too much over lack of Mac support or am I right in querying the level of responsiveness to people who are willing to virtualise their Mac for testing, but don’t want to do so for the sake of filling in a web form? Hit me with your thoughts and flames.

Update: BioWare have followed up with a response to the issue.

Filed Under: Opinion, Support Tagged With: ,

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