Get ready for some weekend Grinding!! Dubbed XP weekends!!
Bioware has announced the game’s first – Double XP weekends, scheduled on the following dates:
March 15, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT to March 18, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT
March 22, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT to March 25, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT
March 29, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT to April 1, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT
April 5, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM to April 8, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT
Double XP weekends will help all SWTOR fans prepare for the upcoming Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel. As a part of this promotion double XP affects literally everything (space, quest rewards, PvP, etc). If you’ve already hit Level 50, don’t worry your Legacy XP will double too, but this does not affect things like Valor.
Today we are pleased to announce that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Insider Episode 5 is now live! This video details some of the new Cartel Market items including the Luxury Skiff Speeder and the Contraband Shipment, a set of five Cartel Packs! Also, preview the exciting gameplay updates coming in March and get a glimpse of the new Operation coming with Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy.
In this video, Hall Hood, Lead Writer, and Ryan Dening, Lead Concept Artist, join forces to give more insight into the exciting new planet, Makeb, coming with the Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel.
Watch as they discuss unique areas never-before-seen in The Old Republic™ universe, including the exotic settlement on Makeb and the vast plateaus that await you on the planet's volatile surface. Find out how Makeb continues your character's storyline with a galactic struggle for the planet's dwindling resources. Plus, get a sneak peak at the beautifully rendered Taloas City and other new graphic enhancements that will compliment your gameplay experience!
I don't know call me old school but do we need odd color sabers? White, pink, red/black? people in SWTOR don't want to use the classic blues and greens for Jedi and just red for Sith. How cool was the original SWTOR video with all the Sith red sabers? Are we losing somthing in game when we have Jedi using Red sabers and Sith using Pink? Would we take Vader the same way if he pulled out a pink saber? I say let people keep the odd colour sabers but give a force bonus to the classic colors. What do you all think?
Between February 12 and February 26, visit the in-game News Terminal, located on Carrick Station or Vaiken Spacedock, to begin your adventure in an all new in-game event, Relics of the Gree!
Uncover the real mission of the Gray Secant, an enormous ancient Gree starship that has mysteriously appeared over Ilum's Western Ice Shelf. The Gree have promised advanced technology, including highly-advanced weapons and armor, to anyone who is brave enough to aid them by taking on an action-packed mission.
I have put together this video guide showing off all the voiced slash commands (like /cheer, /chuckle, etc) that are on the public test server and coming to live in patch 1.5. It's not complete yet - at this stage there are a lot of the voiced commands that have filler sound files. A note that pops up telling you what the sound is and a note that "actor to improvise". So before all of these slash commands are put on the live server there will be more new sound files to come!
Today BioWare are excited to release our first episode of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Free-to-Play Insider Preview. This new video series is your window into the latest news and information on the new Free-to-Play option coming to The Old Republic™ this Fall. The first video provides insight into the features offered to Free-to-Play players and Subscribers. Take a first look at the new Cartel Market as well as get answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about the Free-to-Play option.
Ryan from West Coast Customs reveals Darth Vader’s ride to the team at Industrial Light & Magic. This thing is Amazing! Check out the video for more on this car!
Bioware have just released a promo video for patch 1.3. The video tells us nothing really new but does provide some extra details about the new features. The video has received many dislikes and as I go over the details, you mind understand why. The changes are:
Legacy perks Group Finder Character transfer Scaling social gear
First, have a quick watch of the video (bottom of this post). As you will see the Legacy perks are specific to each individual character, and they don't come cheap.
Looking at the warzone perks, the first one costs 20k and gives you a 2% XP perk to leveling in warzones. Another 30k will add an extra 2%, to the total of 4%. Each level seems to go up by 10k and add an extra 2%. So you'll be able to achieve a maximum of 10% bonus XP after spending approximately 200k. If you want to level another alt in PvP you'll have to spend another 200k. Please keep in mind that this is a guestimate as they only show us the costing of the first two.
Now is it just me or does that seem a little steep for such a pathetic return? 10% is not going to make much difference. I have three characters past act 2 and several others well on their way and I, like a lot of other players, am finding it really hard to have to re-do the standard missions found on most worlds. As it is at this stage, just to complete your class quests you have to level PvP for hours or re-do missions you've done 3 or 4 times already. I've been alternating characters to get the most out of rested XP, but it's still at the painful stage of going through this stuff for the 4th and 5th time for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the class missions and I am thoroughly enjoying every second of the story lines but I'm finding the leveling to be way more time consuming than it was originally in Beta.
Group Finder seriously should have been in the game from the start so although I'm pleased to see it being added, it's an "about time" feature, not a "wow" feature.
Character transfers are definitely going to help the lower populated servers and I hope that Bioware do the right thing and give everybody who has been gimped for months on dead servers the opportunity to move for free.
As for scaling social gear, since my main character is a Jedi Consular I can tell you now, this is broken before it's released. Currently all social gear is light armor but yet my Jedi Conuslar is still stuck in his fuggly rakata gear. As none of the promised armor bonuses transfer to other gear Bioware made a big deal about the customization abilities in patch 1.2. Apart from war hero and black hole gear, no other items in the game mods transfer. So if you're thinking of decking out yourself as a Sandperson, be prepared to loose your bonuses if you're not in the absolute state of the art gear.
I may seem a little bit annoyed about this last point, but it's one of the many options that Beta testers disputed. The change to lock-down epics was made about a month prior to the game being released. I had to do multiple videos to demonstrate the changes on mods as they were released in Beta. The community tried to advise Bioware but they did not listen and five months later we're still paying the price by having Jedis look like punces with wings on our sleeves in order to have our earned set bonuses. Unless the change is made to retro-fit older mods, this will plague the ability for players to customize themselves properly for some time.
When people go to this length to promote their guild it truly inspires me. I know definitely, if I ever tried to sing a parody, or anything else for that matter I'd loose count of the amount of dislikes the video would get. The Crimson Nova girls from the Pandamonium guild have done a fantastic job on this parody. The video is definitely worth checking out and also check out their guild if you happen to be on their server which is Darth Bandon.
I am a little bit concerned about the still frame they've chosen though for the cover of this video. Looking closely at the character on the far left makes we question the character's gender!
Is that a jet pack mount unlock I see for Bounty Hunter? I so want that on my Jedi!
The Legacy System is coming in Game Update 1.2, and with it, a new dimension to The Old Republic™ experience. Like the Skywalkers, you'll build your own family tree in the Star Wars™ galaxy, linking your characters on the same server together. Your achievements will open up new species options, new abilities for all the characters in your Legacy, and that's only the beginning...
WarZone: Novare Coast Operation: Explosive conflict Flashpoint: The Lost Island Expanded Legacy System Legacy Family Tree Legacy Abilities Legacy Unlocks Legacy Species Unlocks Advances Options UI Customization Improved Character Textures Appearance Customization Mission Tracker Useables Warzone Rankings New Corellia Daily Missions New Mini Pets Guild Banks New Gear
Bioware today launched this new video which covers some up and coming features in SWTOR. This includes new warzones, interface changes and guild banks. Probably the coolest thing with the up and coming changes is that they are designed by the team that designed the original game which is different to many other games where one team designed the original and then separate teams designed add-ons. I have experienced it many times when the feel of the original game gets lost in an expansion because of creative differences between design teams. Knowing that the up and coming editions have been in development for over a year is also exciting. With a guild of close to 100 members, I am really looking forward to the guild bank features.
For this week's Friday update, BioWare have given a link to their community blog. Essentially the blog will replace the Friday updates, now that the game is about to go live. You can find this new official SWTOR blog here. This will save you from having to filter through fifty sites all posting the same news every Friday. There have been a lot of fansites out there that have been replying on the Friday updates as their sole source of news; this new blog will force some of them to produce their own content or fade away.
Also in this Friday update is the character progression video for the Sith Inquisitor. I got to play around with a Sith Inquisitor, up to around level 20, in Beta. The storyline is awesome. I chose Assassin as my Advanced class. Check out the progression video below:
Using the 12/1/11 patch this is a guide that shows the difference between weapons of different levels and what you can do with upgrading the mods in weapons. We take a close look at the stat changes on multiple lightsabers, and show you the raw hard facts. This guide is designed to help you understand the weapon upgrade system in greater detail. The weapon upgrade is done by a level 49/50 Jedi. Footage was taken from SWTOR Beta and is subject to change.
One of the coolest things in this video and on Corellia itself is the bullet tram system. It's fast. The planet itself has been devastated by war and the scenery is what you expect from any major city in a war zone, right down to escaped zoo animals running rampant.
With this video, I've uploaded in high definition 1080p. Is this something people want, or do most people watch at 720p? The reason I ask is that there is about a 3 hour difference in the upload time.
There are multiple threads in the Beta forums at the moment, discussing stats on weapons and the difference mods can make. due to limited time some people have had in Beta, there are a lot of miss-conceptions about what you can and cannot do with the weapons upgrade systems. So to help people out I've done this advanced video guide showing the facts on weapons upgrades ingame at level 47.
I had really no idea what to expect when I first went to Belsavis. When i discovered it was a prison planet, I wasn't expecting a lot, buy boy was I wrong! This planet is one of the prettiest and largest gaming areas I've found. I spent a lot of time exploring this planet, and I still didn't find all of the teleport areas. I believe I got most of the quest lines done, which I must say was also very well done for my class. The variety of mobs and quest styles on this planet is something to look forward to.
Here's a video tour, and some screenshots to wet your whistle below it.
The Jedi Consular shown in this Friday update video release from BioWare sure is bad ass and if the responses in YouTube comments and the SWTOR official forums are anything to go by, you're all looking forward to this as much as I am!
From SWTOR.com: "As your character grows more powerful, you will see them gain new skills and abilities to complement the superior gear they acquire.
Channeling the power of the Force to give them strength in combat and clarity in diplomacy, Jedi Consulars are respected for their leadership on the battlefield as well as their evenhanded demeanor at the negotiating table. While many devote themselves to uncovering the ancient secrets of the Jedi and use their command of the Force to defend and protect their allies, others use the Force as a means of slipping into the shadows and becoming powerful servants for the Republic."
After making numerous mistakes in Beta with loot, I am finally at the stage where I think I understand how it works and how best to use the system. Rather than you making the same mistakes with your squeaky clean toons, I thought I'd put this guide together. I tell you now, a Trandoshan hunter gets really annoyed when you sell his primary weapon to a vendor and give him a crappy green because you think it's an upgrade! If you think it's bad to upset a Wookie, you haven't met a pissed off Trandoshan yet! So if you want to keep your relationship in good standing with all your companions, and get the most out of your experience in SWTOR, check out this video guide.
This is a tour of a planet from SWTOR. This video shows you what the planet Balmorra looks like from the main paths and some off path and wildlfe. No story spoilers are featured in this video.
The lightsaber in this video is using the pre-order crystal.
.JPG)
.
