SWTOR: ‘Out Now’ in Australia

.. well at EB Games at least. As we reported around a month ago, copies of SWTOR have been able to be purchased in Australia from a range of retailers. Initially it was all a bit ‘unofficial’, with initially you needing to ask if there were any copies out the back.

That’s well and truly out the door, as I discovered on walking into an EB  Games store today. There was the game and its little buddy the game time card, sitting there in the ‘Out Now’ section:

So all we need is the excuse for a party called the Launch, some Oceanic servers and I think we’re good to go. What do you think?

SWTOR Quick Start Videos: first one released

BioWare have started to push out some tutorial videos to further flesh out their help / support offering. The first one is a brief look at logging in for the first time and creating your character. Being the cynical, world-weary SWTOR veteran I am, I initially thought this would be a pretty tedious video even for someone starting out with the game.

I’m here to say I actually learnt to things from the video – you can preview your character’s voice before choosing it, and you can lock individual facial elements before randomising others. I obviously rushed through the character creation screen!

Have a look for yourself:

[Read more...]

Suggestion Box: Oceanic server names

Another weekend, another issue to chew over. Actually, this week there’s two. The first one is a direct call for your input: in a week’s time we’ll be chatting with BioWare’s Stephen Reid and we want YOUR questions to ask him. So head over here and post your questions in the format described in the post!

For discussion right here, right now, is a little bit of speculation about Oceanic servers. In particular, what names would you like to see them have?

Feel free to suggest either a more ‘official’, lore-friendly option or go all out and suggest some humorous / catchy / funky ones. For what it’s worth I’m thinking DragonFinn for a name – as both Australia and New Zealand claim ownership over both Dragon and the Finns ;)

Fire away!

Possibly the funniest SWTOR review ever

Having read say, 90 or 100 reviews of SWTOR, I believe I’m qualified to say the one below is by far the funniest one of them all. It’s not a glowing review given the humour of the reviewer (Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw), but that’s what makes for a good review: honest opinions. It just happens that Ben’s honest opinions are likely to make you laugh – hard.

Enjoy:

 

I still can’t pick a favourite line here, there’s just too many of them.

Thanks to David K for the heads-up!

Upcoming: Stephen Reid Q&A on TOROZ

We’re very pleased to announce that we’ll be recording an interview with BioWare’s Senior Community Manager, Stephen Reid, on Episode 26 of our Flash Point podcast. We’ll be recording on the 11th February, but in the lead up we’d love YOUR questions for Stephen Reid on anything SWTOR-related.

How to have your question asked

BioWare haven’t placed any rules on what can be asked, but I do know they won’t be able to talk about the Oceanic launch as details aren’t finalised as yet. Aside from that, the sky’s the limit. So here’s what to do to be on with a chance to get your question asked:

1. Ask something that a lot of your fellow players may be interested in.

2. Ask something that hasn’t been answered 33 times before.

3. Ask it constructively – if you’ve got a gripe that you think a lot of people have, then put it forward but do it nicely. We of course reserve the right to not ask anything that’s obvious trolling, contains inappropriate language or defamatory comments.

4. Post your question in comments on this post only, INCLUDING the name you’d like attributed to you when we ask the question of Stephen. A rough location (state, territory or Island in Oz / NZ would be fine if you don’t want to get more specific). And yes we will ask questions from outside the Oceanic area if they’re good ones.

5. We ideally need your questions by midnight Monday 6th February AEDT / 9PM AWST / 2am Tuesday the 7th NZDT, as we’ll be shooting of some of the more in-depth questions to BioWare so they can ask the devs to clarify anything needed prior to the podcast.

6. That’s it!

Obviously we can’t ask every question but we’ll put forward as many as possible. We’ll aggregate common questions to save time as well. The podcast will be up for listening by midday on the 11th February AEDT, around 90 minutes after the podcast is recorded. Later that day there’ll also be a transcript available for dissection.

So get posting in comments!

[photo courtesy of Tor Wars]

Server downtime tonight 2nd February

Some more downtime unfortunately tonight 7pm-9pm AEDT, 4pm-6pm AWST and 9pm-11pm NZDT:

Since the latest patch (1.1.1), we’ve been seeing reports about players dealing with hitching and freezing issues. As an effort to alleviate these issues for affected players, we will be performing maintenance tonight starting at 2AM CST, but we don’t expect it to go beyond two hours. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we hope that this will resolve these issues for those players affected by them. This is a server-side only update and will not require a download.

Maintenance

Date: Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Time: 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET) until 4AM CST (2AM PST/5AM EST/10AM GMT/11AMPM CET)

All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours.

Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

SWTOR Patch 1.1.2 details released

Patch 1.1.2 for SWTOR is now up on the public test server, and there’s a bunch of fixes in there as expected. The key ones for a lot of people are further improvements to ability delays and general system responsiveness. There’s also a bunch of class fixes / changes so read on for the full kahuna:
Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – 1.1.2 Patch Notes

Classes and Combat
General

  • Improved response time for ability activation requests in low-framerate situations.
  • Implemented further improvements to ability responsiveness and client-side anticipation of ability executions.
  • The activation bar now appears at the correct time (when the activation of an ability begins) and disappears when activation is complete.
  • If Sprint was active when a player died, it now remains active when the player is revived.
  • Abilities on cooldown are now more easily distinguished from abilities that can be used.

Jedi Knight

Sentinel

  • Pacify: This ability can no longer be used on Operation Boss enemies.

Watchman

  • Plasma Blades: Now increases damage dealt by burn effects by 5% per point.
  • Searing Saber: Now correctly modifies the critical damage dealt by burn effects.
  • Changes to Searing Saber and Plasma Blades result in an overall increase in Damage Per Second.

Sith Warrior

Marauder

  • Obfuscate: This ability can no longer be used on Operation Boss enemies.

Annihilation

  • Hemorrhage: Now increases damage dealt by bleed effects by 5% per point.
  • Bleedout: Now correctly modifies critical damage dealt by bleed effects.
  • Changes to Hemorrhage and Bleedout result in an overall increase in Damage Per Second.

Jedi Consular

General

  • Unity: Now properly provides damage reduction when used.

Shadow

  • All Techniques now cost 100 Force.
  • Force Technique’s Force Breach now also deals damage when applied. Overall damage dealt by this ability has not changed.

Kinetic Combat

  • Technique Mastery: No longer increases the duration of Force Technique’s Breach effect. It now increases the damage dealt by Force Technique.
  • Particle Acceleration: This skill now also triggers from Spinning Strike. It now triggers from damage dealt (rather than ability use) such that each hit of Spinning Strike, Double Strike, and Whirling blow have an individual chance to yield the Particle Acceleration buff. The chance to trigger has been reduced to 30% per hit, and it now properly increases the critical damage dealt by Project when a Force Potency charge is consumed.
  • Harnessed Shadows: Stacks of Harnessed Shadows now last 30 seconds. Using Slow Time now yields a stack of Harnessed Shadows.

Infiltration

  • Circling Shadows: Now requires the purchase of the Shadow Technique skill. Shadow Technique must be active in order to trigger the Circling Shadows buff. This skill now also triggers from Spinning Strike.

Balance (Shared Tree)

  • Force Focus: Now additionally lowers the cooldown of Force Breach while Force Technique is active.
  • Force Strike: Now triggers from activating melee attacks that hit a target affected by Force Technique’s Breach effect. This effect now triggers more easily but cannot trigger as frequently.
  • Force in Balance: Heals the caster for 1% of maximum health for each target struck. This healing effect can no longer crit and no longer consumes Force Potency charges.
  • Psychic Absorption: Now doubles the amount of healing generated by Force in Balance and Focused Insight.

Sith Inquisitor

Assassin

  • All Saber Charges now cost 100 Force.
  • Lightning Charge’s Discharge now also deals damage when applied. Overall damage dealt by this ability has not changed.

Darkness

  • Charge Mastery: No longer increases the duration of Lightning Charge’s Discharge effect. It now increases the damage dealt by Lightning Charge.
  • Energize: This skill now also triggers from Assassinate. It now triggers from damage dealt (rather than ability use) such that each hit of Assassinate, Thrash, and Lacerate have an individual chance to yield the Energize buff. The chance to trigger has been reduced to 30% per hit.
  • Harnessed Darkness: Stacks of Harnessed Darkness now last 30 seconds. Using Wither now yields a stack of Harnessed Darkness.

Deception

  • Induction: Now requires the Surging Charge skill to be purchased and requires that Surging Charge is active in order to trigger the Induction buff. This skill now also triggers from Assassinate.

Madness (Shared Tree)

  • Crackling Charge: Now additionally lowers the cooldown of Discharge while Lightning Charge is active.
  • Raze: Now triggers from activating melee attacks that hit a target affected by Lightning Charge’s Discharge effect. This effect now triggers more easily but cannot trigger as frequently.
  • Death Field: Heals the caster for 1% of maximum health for each target struck. This healing effect can no longer crit and no longer consumes Recklessness charges.
  • Devour: Now doubles the amount of healing generated by Death Field and Parasitism.

Smuggler

Gunslinger

Sharpshooter

  • Diversion: This ability can no longer be used on Operation Boss enemies.

Imperial Agent

Sniper

Marksmanship

  • Diversion: This ability can no longer be used on Operation Boss enemies.

Bounty Hunter

Powertech

Advanced Prototype

  • Hydraulic Overrides: Visual and sound effects are now easier to recognize.

Trooper

General

  • Troopers can now access their ship after leaving and returning to Corellia within 30 minutes.

Vanguard

Tactics

  • Hold the Line: Visual and sound effects are now easier to recognize.

Companion Characters
General

  • Companion Characters no longer occasionally appear unclothed when summoned.

Companions

Doc

  • Crazy Talk (mission): Male characters can now complete the conversation related to this mission.

Crew Skills
Crafting Skills

  • Crafting skills no longer inform the player that no missions are defined for the Crew Skill.

Biochem

  • Energized and Exotech stims and adrenals no longer require Biochem to use.
  • Energized and Exotech stims and adrenals are no longer bound, allowing them to be traded or sold to other players.
  • Rakata reusable stims and adrenals have been reduced in power, providing buffs equal to Energized stims and adrenals.
  • The Exotech Med Unit schematic obtained from the Eternity Vault Operation now functions properly and can be learned.

Gathering Skills

  • Slightly lowered the amount of resources gathered from harvested droids and creatures.

Flashpoints and Operations
General

  • Players are now able to obtain destined loot from chests when Master Looter is enabled and they are not the Master Looter.

Flashpoints

The False Emperor

  • Jindo Krey’s ship no longer occasionally enters a state that prevents it from taking damage.

Kaon Under Siege

  • Infected Mercenaries can no longer permanently stun players.

Operations

Eternity Vault

  • Soa no longer resets if he uses Mind Trap on the main tank.

Karagga’s Palace

  • The chest that is awarded for defeating Karagga on Nightmare Mode no longer appears partially inside a wall and now properly spawns.
  • Foreman Crusher’s Perforating Rend now correctly applies itself to targets caught within the conical attack.
  • Jarg & Sorno: The Carbonizer Probe no longer disappears if all of the players who attacked it died before the Carbonizer Probe was destroyed.
  • Karagga no longer appears above portions of the walls during the fight.

Items
General

  • Rakata weapons are now correctly rating 140 and are fitted with mark 25 modifications. These items were previously less powerful than intended.
  • Battlemaster Bags now contain more Champion Commendations.

Vendors

  • It is no longer possible to purchase items while holding down the Shift, Alt, or Ctrl keys.

Legacy
General

  • The Legacy Experience required to advance to Legacy Levels beyond 20 has been increased.

Missions and NPCs
General

  • Commendation rewards for Hard Mode Flashpoint daily and weekly missions and Operation weekly missions have been increased.

Missions

Imperial

  • General Faraire: Khourlet’s Elite Guards no longer hide behind a door, preventing progression in this mission.
  • Last Stand: Players are now able to complete this mission as long as the Voss Scholars are inside the prison cell.
  • The Big Show: Using Force Cloak, dying, or leaving the phase while on the step “Defeat the Screaming Blade Cultists” can no longer cause the necessary NPCs to disappear and prevent mission progress.

Republic

  • Leave Nothing Behind: The Frozen Biomass Container now remains lootable if the loot window is closed.
  • Most Wanted: A mission item can no longer be rolled on if it is looted while the player is in a group.
  • Need to Impress: Players can now speak to Ambassador Jannik if they have already completed the mission Gormak Country.
  • The Lightspring: The toughness of Vaverone Zare and Nariel Pridence has been decreased. This mission can no longer be failed.
  • The Shadow Fist: Mission progress for players who are on this mission has been reset to the first step. Players can no longer become locked out of the stealth generator room.

Bug Fixes

  • Bonus Series missions on Tatooine can now be abandoned.

PvP
World PvP

Ilum

  • Particle Cannons can no longer be permanently disabled.
  • Players now receive notification when they kill a target that is not worth Valor due to being killed too recently.

Space Combat
General

  • The speed of enemy Ion Cannons has been reduced to improve balance in high-level Space Combat Missions.

UI
General

  • The reverse engineering button no longer occasionally disappears after a crafting skill is initially learned.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Loading screens no longer appear in low resolution if the player selects the low-resolution texture option in preferences.
  • Facial animations no longer fail to play correctly in some instances.
  • During brief teleports, the splash screen does not appear incorrectly over loading screens.
  • Players will no longer experience limited audio, black portraits, or the inability to initiation conversations when they reconnect after being disconnected.