You are here: Home / Archives for Events

SWTOR Guild Summit: Legacy information

March 6, 2012 By

We’re pleased to throw Toby, our day-shift news droid into the fray to report some of the highlights from Day 1 of the Guild Summit. Thanks Toby! And damn you day jobs, damn you!

Hi, Toby here, reporting from the guild summit live stream. Here’s the key bits from the legacy panel:

The details disclosed:

- buffs unlocked for every companion quest line completed
- although not in 1.2, a ‘Grey’ alignment will have its rewards, just like ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ side alignment
- social rank unlocks: can dance with companion, ‘brawling abilities’ for unarmed duels
- RP packs to go along with new emotes
- most legacy unlocks can not only be earned but can also be purchased
- cooldown reductions for Fleet Passes
- new Sprint level (Bounty Hunters via their Rocket Pack, the rest via ‘rocket boots’
- training dummies – including Warzone and Operations dummies
- Repair Atsromech on your ship – will repair, buy and sell your items
- Neutral GTN terminal and mailbox on your ship! (The GTN terminal option is “VERY” high up the legacy system)
- Any legacy items can be mailed to your other toons, including cross-faction
- Unique Orange items only available via Legacy
- the future: customising your alt experience e.g. buy speeder license earlier than currently available

Q&A

- character transfers ‘not in immediate future’ but will be able to meld legacies
- no specific plan to allow sharing of legacies with other players but it’s on the list to do
- yes you will be able to use Force Choke on Republic side (via Legacy unlock)
- yes a WoW Barber shop equivalent is on the table but a ways off
- shared alt bank space (legacy bank) is on the timetable, so set date
- no plans for additional character slots, related to legacy or otherwise
- 1.3: can buy buffs for XP for things you like doing (see character customisation above)
- no present plans for bind to legacy gear dropping in PvP / Flashpoiints / Operations
- dual spec: ‘multi-spec’ is coming and likely to be tied to legacy system – well after 1.2 though
- spec being written to allow for both character and legacy name changes (likely to cost or have some other ‘gate’)
- maximum legacy level cap is 50 but definitely expandable
- C2-N2 will have a voice restraining bolt
- companions can’t go in legacy family tree at this stage
- cosmetic ship upgrades are in the future but not necessarily tied to legacy
- non-Force users can only use legacy unlocked Force buffs if there’s another Force user in the family

Filed Under: Events, Guilds, News Tagged With:

SWTOR Patch 1.2: Legacy – trailer released

March 6, 2012 By

As promised by BioWare as part of their Guild Summit agenda, details of the upcoming 1.2 update have been released. First and foremost is the 1.2 trailer, which you can watch right now:

So as you’ve seen the key goodies from the trailer are:

1. The game update is titled ‘Legacy’
2. There’s a new Warzone called Novare Coast
3. A new Operation called Explosive Conflict
4. A new Flashpoint called The Lost Island
5. The expanded legacy system
6. UI customisation
7. Improved character textures and appearance customisation
8. Warzone rankings
9. New Corellia daily missions
10. New Mini Pets
11. Guild bank implementation
12. Lots of new gear / emotes / vehicles etc

So – do you like what you see?

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With:

Oh me, oh my… At E3… Return…!

June 7, 2011 By

And you thought YOUR day was bad...?

We knew they were going to do something big this E3. They had to. After all the hype, after all the teasers, after all the releases of class information, both really cool CGI trailers… They had to come up with something. So what did they do? They gave us the intro cinematic for the game. It’s called ‘Return’.

Um…

Wait a sec… Whoa…

Isn’t that…? um… Kind of something that you do last or near the end of the game making cycle? You really nee dot have the game pretty much done before you make the cinematics, right? Or am I completely off base?  Now I am not saying, because they are not saying, when the game will be released. But from everything I have heard, read or seen, this game looks ready to go. There are probably logistical issues, maybe some polishing that they want to do. But the gameplay that they showed at the fan summit was incredible. Maybe they are going to give out release information during E3? The gameplay trailer that came out at the same time as ‘Return’ was to drool over. A release date? Maybe? Pretty please with Correllian black sugar on top?

Calm… Must remain calm…

Anyway… This trailer is just as incredible as the previous two. All three are chronological. Malgus shows up in this one, as do the Jedi and Trooper commander from the ‘Hope’ Trailer. We even hear her name, and it actually IS Satele Shan. I won’t ruin the rest of it it for people who haven’t seen it yet, listen for it:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Events, News Tagged With: , ,

Sith Sunday – SWTOR in the news

July 18, 2010 By

It’s been a rather big week for SWTOR news this week – the larger number of people involved with beta-testing is certainly creating some momentum, including on our own forums:

1. Bioware released a music trailer (more on that from us later in the week), an in-depth developer blog on music in SWTOR, and the seventh issue of Blood of the Empire.

2. From the TOROZ Forums Part 1: There’s been some enjoyment of Star Wars-related humour, including the Yoda TomTom video and the classic Chad Vader series.

If you’ve got some favourite Star Wars humour we’d love you to share it. We’re already excited about some of the comedy that’s likely to come out of SWTOR.

3. Darth Hater have hit their first anniversary and are giving away booty. Happy birthday folks!

4. From the TOROZ Forums Part 2: Scottyy posted a link to a leaked video of skill selections for Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter classes:

Filed Under: Events, News

Is privacy going the way of the dodo?

July 18, 2010 By

Say it ain't so!

Well, it’s official. Anonymity is on its way out on the internet. Recently, Blizzard Entertainment announced the RealID system for the World of Warcraft MMORPG. The stated idea of the system as to provide a social aspect to the game. If that was what they intended, they failed miserably. What they have created, is a firestorm of protests as well as a drop in subscriptions. Of course, since they had about 20 million subscriptions, they likely didn’t CARE if they lost a few hundred thousand to poorly implemented ideas. Though given their backdown, maybe they did care a little.

On the surface, RealID is not a bad idea. The concept is fairly simple. Take a new WOW player. In order to subscribe, that player must create a battle.net account. This allows them access to the game. They also are allowed access to the game forums. Now I don’t know about you, but I avoided the WOW forums after the second day I played the game. It was flame, troll or die, all day, every day. Any time someone asked a serious question, they got hit with so much spam it wasn’t funny at all. But to create their account, they have to give their real first and last names, the same ones they used to pay for the game. So… Unless you have a very good fake ID with credit attached… You have to use your real information. Hence the title, RealID. And these names will show up in game. (If the player chooses – it’s optional in-game – Ed.)

Now the internet is not a nice place, we all know that. We may not like it, but there isn’t a lot we can do about it. Some people seem to think that as long as no one knows who they really are, they can act as they wish, be as insulting, rude, crude or socially unacceptable as they wish with no repercussions. They can use racial slurs, sexual innuendos, or any other things they wish with no fear of repercussion. They can threaten, they can intimidate, they can do anything they want, because they are anonymous. And hey, it’s not real, right? Who cares if some people take it seriously, they are just nuts, right?

Not really. The entire concept of privacy on the internet is laughable to say the least. Any information that anyone has ever transmitted online is out there, somewhere. The whole idea of stalking has been taken to a new low by the internet. With so much information available online, it is easier than ever for perverts and creeps to get hold of what they want. Where once they had to go through people’s trash to find out the addresses for their targets, now they surf Facebook and other such social sites. That is one reason that I don’t use Facebook. So, now Blizzard had decided to implement such a ‘service’ themselves.

Ok, how about an example? A divorced woman with two abused kids is in a new home far from her ex husband who liked to hurt all three of them when he got drunk. She has been hiding from him since she escaped. She likes to play WOW and she plays as a new character with friends that her husband knows. Suddenly, her information changes in game, and her real name pops up over her character. And guess who is there, sending her a nice, private message? ‘See you soon’. What can the cops do to keep the ex from harassing her in a game? Nothing. What can Blizzard do? Why should they care? It’s not their problem, it’s hers.

Harassment is nothing new. It has been around since humans started coming down from the trees and likely will for as long as the species is in existence. Many humans seem to have a deep rooted need to dominate others. Of course in real life, there are laws against such things now, for good reasons. Harassment can lead to worse crimes. It is degrading, humiliating and just plain wrong. And no, it doesn’t just happen to women, or gays, or people who are not of mainstream religions. It happens every single day, to many different people. And on the internet it happens every minute, every second probably. Because there is no accountability.

Blizzard was attempting to instill some of that accountability into its game. They have backed off of it now, probably due in no small part to the overwhelmingly negative response that they got from their customers after the announcement. RealID is still in the game, but now, it is optional, as opposed to mandatory. Of course all a player has to do is download a utility called GameStore to access it anytime. But that may be a bug. We HOPE it’s a bug…

It was and is an interesting idea. But the concept of allowing other people, strangers, to view so called ‘private’ information cuts deep into the heart of many gamers. We want to feel we are safe, even if it is an illusion. We want to have fun in games, not worry about our identities being stolen or worry about being harassed or stalked in real life. We want the illusion of privacy that we cling to online to be secure.

In closing, I will say this. The internet is still very much a Wild West type of environment at the moment. People can say anything and do anything. The worst that can happen is that they are banned from a forum. So they make new account and come back worse than ever because now they are mad. But this is liable to change. New laws are making their way laboriously through the process of being approved by state and federal authorities that will tighten the strictures that are so lax on the internet. Just as law and order eventually tamed the Wild West, laws will eventually tame much of the internet. While there likely will be trolls, flamers and fools with causes as long as there are humans, with less freedom to inflict their cruelty on others, they will become a nuisance as opposed to a normal thing. And it cannot be soon enough for me.

Over to you: if an online game required you to show your real name, would you play it?

Filed Under: Events, Opinion Tagged With: , , , , ,

Courage and ‘Hope’

June 16, 2010 By

Last year was absolutely EPIC at E3. The cinematic trailer for The Old Republic was a masterpiece. The Sith assault on the Jedi temple on Coruscant in ‘Deceived’ has to be seen to be believed. No one doubted that Star Wars: The Old Republic was going to be epic before that trailer.

After it? There was such a huge response that the SWTOR website crashed. Everyone was looking forward to E3 this year. But then Lucasarts and Bioware did it to us again – I expected a meal and they gave me a five course, full service banquet. They were not content to give us a new trailer, no…

Players will have personal starships. Oh did I not say that right? PLAYERS WILL HAVE PERSONAL STARSHIPS!!!!! Ah! I very nearly went in my pants when I heard that. I don’t CARE if there is space combat now. Knowing Bioware and Lucasarts, if they have starships, there will almost certainly be more to do with them that use them as houses. But I don’t care now. I get my own personal Republic Gunship! YAY! The images were just so cool, and the bits of PvP footage rocked as well.

But then, on the heels of that… They rocked my world. I have so few words. I am almost unable to type, I was so dumbfounded. If you have not seen the ‘Hope’ trailer, do it. Now. You will not be sorry. Spoilers follow this so watch the trailer first.

Oh my god. I have never been a huge fan of Jedi. They were too overpowered, too strong, too fast, too tough for normal people to beat. Sith likewise. Can you possibly imagine someone like Darth Vader falling to a Rebel Alliance trooper? I couldn’t. Until now.

The setting, Alderaan. All Star Wars fans know about Alderaan, the homeworld of Princess Leia, the world destroyed in Episode IV by the Death Star to make a point. The cinematic opened with peace, and then, darkness. The Sith of course as is their wont, invade and destroy. The only thing in their way? A small force of elite Republic Special Forces troopers. But cannon fodder these guys are NOT.

The Sith in charge of the attack on Alderaan is the same one that later lays utter waste to the Jedi Temple – Darth Malgus. This is at the start of his career, he doesn’t have the mask yet. But after the ending, we know why he wears it. I am amazed he survived at all. I guess hate makes a good anaesthetic.

The Republic set an ambush for Malgus and his troops. They don’t have the personnel to fight him one-on-one. So they fight guerrilla style. And when the narrator said ‘For the Republic’ I very nearly jumped out of my chair to charge myself. Dark Side of the Force, ha! Meet grenade launcher, heavy repeaters, thermal detonators and courage! They were swatting black robed forms right and left until Malgus himself entered the act. But even the kind of courage that the troopers had, has its limits. I was stunned when the senior trooper got his tail kicked by Malgus’ Force lightning.  When he was kneeling there about to be killed, I was almost in tears. And then she made her entrance.

I said I never cared for Jedi, and that is true. They always seemed too over the top. But the consular who dropped into the fight made my day. She wasn’t the focus of the battle, but she kept Malgus busy long enough for the troopers to win. She wasn’t invincible. Malgus was obviously better with a lightsaber than she was, cutting her double bladed one in half. She was powerful, I mean, come on! How many people can block a lightsaber with a bare hand? I think it was the same kind of thing Yoda did when he faced Dooku and Palpatine’s Force lightning in Episodes 2 and 3. A lightsaber blade is energy right? That means it can be deflected with great effort. Maybe a bit over the top, but it was very cool to see.

And then the TROOPER saved the day. How many times does a lowly trooper save a mighty Jedi? And how he did it… Omg, that was epic! The look on that Sith Lord’s face was just priceless. I mean I can see the guy thinking…

‘This Republic scum is pathetic! Tackling me, trying to hit me with his hands? Sheesh… How stupid can he be? Wait a moment, what is that in his hand??? A GRENADE!!!’

I laughed out loud when I saw that. High and mighty Sith might be tough, but raw courage can take them down if given the chance. Admittedly Malgus was still on his feet and the trooper was not. But it gave the Jedi time to recover and prepare to hit Malgus with the Force. And THAT is the whole point of this. Teamwork wins wars. Individual prowess means nothing, it is working as a team that makes such things possible. Sith are mighty combatants, true, but if they fight as individuals, they can be taken down, albeit at a massive cost in lives. And that was what won the battle for the Republic, the Jedi and the soldiers of Havoc Squad working as a team to fight and die if necessary.

If you notice, the Jedi’s arrival allowed the troopers time to regroup and fight back effectively. And that means more to me than any special effects or showy force powers. She was not the prime focus of the battle, she was there to keep Malgus occupied until the soldiers, the common foot slogging soldiers, could win the day. Smashing Malgus into the mountainside was almost an afterthought. This was after he had been burned by incendiary grenades, showered by blaster fire, and had a grenade go off in his face. No wonder he wears a mask now…

I found myself crying at the end of that trailer, and I strongly doubt I was the only one as the Republic fleet came to the rescue. It was… I truly have no words. It was epic was about the best I can do.

Such a game as Star Wars: The Old Republic is shaping up to be will be good no matter what. But if THIS is what we can look forward to, such surprises, such epic stories, such… sheer scope and grandeur… Such… Star Wars!

I personally think we have a contender here. We have something epic that may finally, after so long, live up to the franchise.  It may finally be Star Wars. Oh, by the way, the website crashed again, I read something about 25000 hits in about ten minutes or something like that. I have occasionally had my doubts. But now I truly have ‘Hope’…

And we have personal starships!!!!!! YAY!!!!

Over to you, what do you think of this announcement? I know I am going to watch the trailer again. And again, and again.

Filed Under: Events, News, Opinion Tagged With: , , , ,

SWTOR: Comic-Con news roundup

July 25, 2009 By

swtor-fight The SWTOR PR-people have been on a roll in recent months with a regular drip-feed of new information to keep interest well and truly piqued. This weekend saw the SWTOR show roll into San Diego’s Comic-Con.

In the lead-up, IGN conducted a Q&A session with the SWTOR team (Dallas Dickinson – Senior Content Producer, BioWare, and Jake Neri, Producer at LucasArts), which is well worth a read (there’s also a good summary here), although it’s riddled with “we can’t comment yet”.

As far as news from Comic-Con itself:

1. You can listen to the full audio of the Comic-Con panel here, thanks to Darth Hater. Beware though, there’s lots of fan screaming / cheering ;)

2. Not surprisingly, there were no ground-breaking new announcements although there’s now the promise of a more extensive gameplay demonstration in August at gamescom in Germany.

What’s your take? Did you attend the panel session and if so, what was the vibe like?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (46.5MB)

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts

Twitter