Ironmandmode gets SWTOR edition

For those of you not familiar with Ironmanmode.com, here's the scoop:

Gamers who can also happen to write have banded together on this site where they write out a first hand account of their experiences in all its infinite details, which outside of the game end up sounding laugh out loud funny. Why? These kind-hearted gamers do it to raise money for a charity called Child's Play.

Last week on February 24th they started a SWTOR section to the site. A new Jedi Consular called Teerlanai recounts her first set of major missions. Warning: this does contain spoilers to the Jedi Consular story.

The detail in this first blog by Allahweh is great but I am looking forward to more humor in the next one.

Australian Servers Go Live Tonight Feb 29

I hope to be one of the first to roll on Dalborra tonight and I'm busting to test out PvP with low ping times. As an Aussie myself I have never played an MMO with a ping under about 180 and most of the time it's about 250 to 300ms, so this will be amazing for us Aussies.

StephenReid posted:

Good morning, or to those of you on the other side of the world, good morning... for tomorrow.


This week we officially launch Star Wars: The Old Republic in several new territories, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.


Lots of more information on all aspects of the launch will be released tomorrow in an update to our official FAQ, but as we've heard requests for server names and timing, we thought we'd give you those details a little earlier.


Here's our official launch timing. All servers will be online simultaneously at approx 5:01AM CST (Austin time), but with timezones straddling a date:


New Zealand: 12:01am NZDT (March 1st)
Australia: 10:01pm EDT (February 29th)
Singapore: 7:01pm SGT (February 29th)
Hong Kong: 7:01pm HKT (February 29th)


We'll be launching with three initial servers dedicated to these territories. As previously mentioned, these servers are physically located in Australia:


Dalborra (PvE)
Master Dar'Nala (PvP)
Gav Daragon (RP PvE)


If demand requires we open additional servers, we have the hardware ready to go. Our Live Production team will be carefully monitoring server population and potential queues to ensure the best possible experience for players.


As mentioned many more details about the Oceanic launch will be forthcoming in tomorrow's FAQ update, so look out for it!

Funnies for Minecraft Junkies

I got an email from Zeke from ironmanmode.com. Aparently he's a bit of a fan of Gaming Faces. Thanks :) Zeke's site is a quirky little gem that stands out from all the other 'I had an existential moment on the crapper this morning' blogs out there.



Bloggers on this blog write about their gaming experiences from a first person point of view as though it is their life. It makes for some pretty funny reading. There's a little more to it though, the site also raises money for the charity called Child's Play. As Zeke explains ...

"The Blog offers no deep insight into gaming, is badly formatted, takes up heaps of our time, isn’t nearly as funny or original as I make it out to be, and is entirely pointless. However, with your help, we can keep it at the level of mediocrity you’ve come to expect… but remove the pointlessness aspect of it all."

So head on over. Have a read. Have a giggle. Click on donate if you can. Just enjoy if you can't.

A gaming tablet with my name on it ... literally!

You know the saying, when someone likes something they say "that cupcake has my name on it!". Well in this instance it's a tablet PC, and it literally does have my name on it, and I'd like one!

The Razer Fiona Project is a prototype gaming tablet that brings the immersive yet portable screen size of an iPad and game controllers into one package. Interestingly they've chosen Windows 8 as the OS, no doubt giving it a bit of power, mutli-tasking capabilities, and of course the ability to play the latest PC games and not just Apple or Android app games.

Can you imagine playing SWTOR on this puppy?!

While we're talking about tablets I would just like to mention that a friend has an eBook out on Amazon and it's free to download at the moment. It's called 'Tablets: Choose the Right One for You'. Sorry about the plug but I like to help a friend who is giving e-publishing a go! And who doesn't like free stuff anyway, right?

The Many Looks of Risha

Complete Guide to Risha Customizations

Risha is the third companion Smuglers' get. She joins you very early on in the game as a class mission giver aboard your ship, although she doesn't become a full companion until you finish Act 1 in the Smuggler class story line. Risha's personality remotely resembles Princess Leia's and her personality isn't the only thing that the writer of this story got from the original trilogy. I've included two detailed screenshots of ALL of her currently available customizations. The reason that I have had to include two is that you'll notice in the first screenshot that even though she has a scantily clad bikini top she has quite a sour look on her face. The expression she has on her face when she is your active companion is depressing and when I said that her personality remotely resembles Princess Leia, it's because the story writer forgot to put in the fun side; she can be rather bitter. Personally, I'm not enjoying her as a companion but I'll see what happens by the time I finish Act 3.

Now Rish usually wears smuggler gear as you can see in the second screenshot. Due to popular demand I have equipped the metal bikini top. Please note that the bikini top is light armor and I wouldn't recommend it for combat use, no matter how hot she looks in it!

This set of screenshots taken (below) aboard the ship definitely does her more justice. As she is working away on your ship she seems to lose her sour look, although she's still not smiling. After i purchased all of the customizations I have chosen to use customization 8 which in this screenshot is the top right. It has that Carrie Fisher buns on the side look that any Star Wars fan loves. When you get this close to your companion you really see the detail in their complexions. Unfortunately, you can't get this close to your companion ingame when you have them out exploring the world as they continuously move away from you as you try to get close, as they are constantly trying to follow you. I used a camera trick to get these shots on my ship.

Something seriously needs to be done about the preview of customizations ingame. This screenshot below shows you what you get to see at max. detail and 1900x1080 resolution. Hopefully these shots I have taken will help you decide on what look you want for Risha.

Captain Kneely on the Ilum docking station, on your way down tot he level 50 planet has customization 8 available for 12500 credits.

Captain Kneely is only available to people who are using a security key to login to their account. This can be the keychain you got with your Collector's Edition, or an Android or iPhone app solution.

For customizations 1-6 you will find Guunta in bug town on Balmora, right near the entrance of the main base.

Although I started this exercise with over 70 000 credits in my bank account, as you can see from the above screenshot, my Smuggler now has just over 12 000 credits. There is no buy-back scheme ingame for stuff you decide you don't want and that combined with the low quality preview screens can make for a very unhappy customer, so take a look at my screenshots before you buy!

If you liked having a closer look at Mako, don't forget to check out similar posts here:






Don't forget to check out similar posts:

Our full list of companions and gifts
The Many Looks of Elara Dorne
The Many Looks of Kira Carsen
The Many Looks of Vette
The Many Looks of Mako
The Many Looks of Risha
The Many Looks of Nadia Grell

For information on customization options for other companions check out the other 'Many Looks of ... ' posts on SWTORFace.






For more information on Mako and Bounty Hunter companions, check out our companion pages.

SWTOR Asia Pacific Launch is Official: March 1st

Bioware are officially launching in the Asia Pacific region on March 1st.

This launch has caused some concern in the community, not only from Australians who might find themselves transferring servers to take advantage of lower ping times, but also from people in the US who are playing on servers with a high population of Australian players. Bioware are offering a free opportunity for qualifying players (those in the region) to transfer their characters to one of the new servers.

What will happen to the servers that are highly populated at the moment once all the Aussie and New Zealanders who have been playing already for months jump ship? Will these servers become ghost towns? And what will happen to guilds on these servers? All of a sudden half of some guilds will have an opportunity to transfer.

As a guild leader and a player based in Australia, I can tell you that this is a hard decision. About 65% of my guild is not Australian but that majority is spread across North America and Europe. Many of us have been friends for ten years in MMO games and if Australian servers were made available from the start, the US and UK players in my guild would have joined us on an Australian server, since most players in the guild are based in Australia. An option that Bioware might have is to convert the servers that currently have a high population of Australian players to an Asia Pacific server and then allow the Americans and Europeans who don't want to remain there to transfer off. But then again that might upset those players who enjoy that server and don't want to have to move. No matter what Bioware do it will cause problems and all we can do as a player base is tell Bioware ... we told you so. You should have launched Asia Pacific labelled servers from the get go, regardless of whether the servers were physically in the region at the time.

How do you think this is going to affect the community on servers with high populations of Australians and will you take the opportunity to move?

Bioware have confirmed that the service will be based in either Melbourne or Sydney Australia. Here's the full Press Release:





BioWare and LucasArts are excited to announce that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will officially launch in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore on March 1st, 2012! Fans in these regions who purchase the game will be able to experience their very own Star Wars™ saga on regional servers. Players who have already begun their journey will also have a limited-time opportunity to migrate their characters from their current servers to Asia Pacific servers after the launch on March 1st, giving them the chance to take advantage of the decreased network latency by playing on a regional server. All players who qualify for a character transfer will be notified in early March with more details.


In the press release announcing the Asia Pacific launch date, General Manager of the BioWare Label’s MMO Business Unit and Co-Founder of BioWare Dr. Greg Zeschuk expressed appreciation for the patience of fans in the region:


Our biggest priority for The Old Republic has always been to deliver a high quality product and high quality service and we are pleased with our results in North America and Europe. We appreciate that our fans in these countries have been patient and we are excited to deliver this same great customer experience to players this March.
Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available in both Standard and Digital Deluxe editions. The Standard Edition will retail for $79.99 AUD / $89.99 NZD / $389.00 HKD / $64.00 SGD and the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game, an Origin.com exclusive, will retail for $89.99 AUD / $99.99 NZD / $465.00 HKD / $76.90 SGD. 30 days of game time will be included with every version of the game, and after that time players will be able to continue playing the game by paying a monthly subscription, or by purchasing a 60-Day Pre-Paid Game Time Card for $32.99 AUS / $42.99 NZD / $249.00 HKD / $39.90 SGD. Star Wars: The Old Republic has three recurring subscription plans and players in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore will be charged in USD:


1 Month Subscription (automatically billed every 30 days): $14.99 USD per month
3 Month Subscription (automatically billed every 90 days): $13.99 USD per month (one-time charge of $41.97 USD)
6 Month Subscription (automatically billed every 180 days): $12.99 USD per month (one-time charge of $77.94 USD)
Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently available for pre-order* at the following participating retailers in Australia and New Zealand. There are no participating retailers in Hong Kong and Singapore for pre-orders. Also, there will be no pre-orders available at Origin.com:


Australia


EB Games
JB Hi Fi
GAME Australia
Big W online
New Zealand


EB Games
JB Hi Fi
Mighty Ape
Individuals who pre-order the game in Australia or New Zealand will be entitled to the Color Crystal pre-order item, which changes the weapon effect.


Players in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore will also be given the opportunity to receive the Founder’s Medal** – an exclusive in-game title awarded to early players of the game. In order to qualify, players must complete one of the following transactions by Monday, April 30th, 2012, 12:01AM EDT, 2:00AM NZDT; Hong Kong & Singapore: Sunday, April 29th, 2012, 9:01PM HKT, 9:01PM SGT:

• Billed at least once for an active Star Wars: The Old Republic recurring subscription
• Redeemed a Star Wars: The Old Republic 60-Day Pre-Paid Game Time Code

For more details on the Asia Pacific Launch, visit the Launch FAQ.
Remember to check back to www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com, as well as our Twitter and Facebook pages for all the latest news and updates on the game!





*PRE-ORDER OFFER EXPIRES WHEN PRODUCT RELEASES. CODE EXPIRES DECEMBER 31, 2012. GOOD ONLY FOR NEW PURCHASES OF “STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC” (“PRODUCT”). VALID ONLY AT PARTICIPATING RETAILERS. CODE WILL BE GIVEN WHEN PRODUCT IS RELEASED AND MAY NOT BE SUBSTITUTED, EXCHANGED, TRADED, SOLD OR REDEEMED FOR CASH OR OTHER GOODS OR SERVICES. MAY NOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER OFFER, GIFT CARD, REBATE OR DISCOUNT COUPON. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED, TAXED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. ACCEPTANCE OF END USER ACCESS AND LICENSE AGREEMENT, PERSISTENT INTERNET CONNECTION, ACCOUNT REGISTRATION (13+ TO REGISTER), PAID SUBSCRIPTION AND VALID AND ACCEPTED PAYMENT METHOD OR PAID GAME TIME CARD (IF AVAILABLE) REQUIRED TO ACCESS GAMEPLAY. GAME INTENDED FOR PLAY ONLY WITHIN NORTH AMERICA EUROPE AND CERTAIN OTHER TERRITORIES. SEE www.swtor.com/info/faq/game#q209655. EULAS AND DISCLOSURES CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EA.COM/1/PRODUCT-EULAS. PAYMENT METHOD AGE RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY. SEE PRE-ORDER FAQS AT www.swtor.com/preorder/faq FOR DETAILS. SWTOR ONLINE SERVICE MAY BE RETIRED AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON WWW.SWTOR.COM. SEE EUALA FOR DETAILS. AGREEMENT TO SHARE ACCOUNT INFORMATION WITH LUCASFILM ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LTD. (“LUCASFILM”) IS REQUIRED. PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF SERVICE AVAILABLE AT WWW.SWTOR.COM. THE FIRST 30 DAYS OF SUBSCRIPTION IS INCLUDED IN THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE PRODUCT. SUBSCRIPTIONS MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. SEE WWW.SWTOR.COM FOR DETAILS. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. PRE-ORDER QUANTITIES LIMITED.


**GOOD ONLY FOR PURCHASES OF STAR WARS™: THE OLD REPUBLIC™ WITH REDEMPTION OF A PURCHASED GAME TIME CODE OR BILLING OF AN ACTIVE GAME RECURRING SUBSCRIPTION WITH AN APPROVED PAYMENT METHOD. VALID WHEREVER GAME IS SOLD. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED, TAXED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. CUSTOMERS WILL ACCESS THE ITEM IN-GAME. VIRTUAL ITEM ONLY. ITEM WILL BE APPLIED TO ALL CHARACTERS UNDER USER'S ACCOUNT. PLEASE ALLOW 7 DAYS FOR NOTIFICATION OF DELIVERABLES.


AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND – OFFER EXPIRES APRIL 30, 2012 AT 12:01AM EDT; 2:00AM NZDT
HONG KONG and SINGAPORE – OFFER EXPIRES APRIL 29, 2012 AT 9:01PM HKT, 9:01PM SGT

SWTOR Developer Q&A Highlights

In the community news this week the developers published a Q&A which took place in the forums. Although a lot of the news had already been covered via the dev tracker, there were a couple of little highlights that you may find interesting. 

First of all, Daniel Erickson talked about game update 1.2 and the legacy system, and then there were some gems from Gabe about future changes to the PvP system, which include a new warzone that is capable of same-faction matches. Gabe also talked about cross-server warzones coming soon. By the sounds of it, we're going to get a hell of a lot of changes to this game in patch 1.2. 

Here are some highlights from the chat. For the full Q&A, follow the link below.

Daniel Erickson: Game Update 1.2 will bring you the first big step in the Legacy System but it’s important to understand that the Legacy System will continue to grow, bringing new options to new characters (alts) and some fun options for elder game players as well. Legacy is definitely not just for new characters! The species that will be unlocked in Game Update 1.2 are species currently in the game that will become available to classes and factions where you haven’t seen them before. New species are in consideration for the future but we don’t have any details to share right now. Look for more specific details in the near future as we head toward Game Update 1.2.

Daniel Erickson: We’ve been pleasantly surprised at how popular PvP is in The Old Republic and we’ve been doubling down on our efforts to bring exciting new content and systems to the PvP community. Right now there’s a new Warzone planned for Game Update 1.2 which we’re already testing internally and really enjoying. We can say it’s enabled for same faction vs. same faction play, so if you’ve been playing a lot of Huttball, expect some variety soon! Also coming in 1.2 is the pre-season of our Warzone ranking system, bringing better matchmaking which means better PvP. In the future expect a ton more PvP news as we expand and polish what has proven to be one of the most popular aspects of The Old Republic. We’ve got big plans.

Gabe Amatangelo: Not until we introduce cross server queuing. If we were to allow players to choose their Warzone before they could queue across servers, then it would negatively affect how often every player would see a Warzone – and for every player that loves a certain Warzone there is another player that hates it. The population would end up divided by their Warzone choice, negatively affecting the time it would take for a specific Warzone to become available for anyone. With cross server queuing we will still have a preference to match players of the same server, but those players who choose specific preferences such as these will likely end up in a match with players in the larger Wargroup.

Read on

SWTOR New Players Guide: Lesson One

If you have a partner who is new to gaming and you'd like them to play SWTOR with you, get them to read this blog. If you are, like many SWTOR players, new to MMOs but playing it or hoping to play SWTOR because of a love of Star Wars, welcome to my world and let's find out about it together! Welcome young Padawans! This is going to be like the blind leading the blind! Let me explain ...

John, who set up this site is my husband. We met over 17 years ago at ... wait for it ... a Star Wars fan club Christmas party! So you might think that we've both been playing Star Wars: The Old Republic since the day of launch but actually, I've never played an MMO before. A couple of years ago, after months of begging, I set up a character in WoW and played through one mission, nearly died of boredom and never played it again. But SWTOR is Star Wars and the allure is too hard to ignore.

I am sooo new to this I didn't even take any fraps shots of myself from the front last night! Tip: make sure you like the back of your character's hairdo; you'll see it a lot.

Years ago I played fps games, almost obsessively for a while there. I was pretty good too if I do say so myself. So I am no stranger to playing PC games which means that when I write about it, I hopefully won't sound like a complete idiot from the Outer Rim. Hiding behind all that though is someone who is not used to all the options and controls in an MMO, so I will learn to play and explain it all. Besides, I'll have John sitting right next to me explaining things.

Last night I created a Jedi Consular character and I completed one class mission and two side missions. Here's some tips on things that you might miss:

As you get to the stage where it's time to learn new things a little rectangle with a yellow border will pop up center right. Click on it and it will explain how to use something (maps, groups, inventory, etc).

After you've got a mission, if you need to travel to get to where it is, look for the double green arrow. That's where you need to head, in this case, to get a taxi.

But then when thee are many mission objectives they are shown by little green triangles with a yellow border. Head to each of them in turn.

To follow these blog posts aimed at new players, follow the Blog tags 'New Players Guide'.

Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ - 1.1.3 Patch Notes

Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ - 1.1.3 Patch Notes

Note: Because development is ongoing during testing, it should be noted that all changes and updates listed in the patch notes should be considered incomplete and are subject to change or removal before release to the live servers.The Public Test Server patch notes will be provided in English. The final release notes will be provided in English, French, and German when the content is moved to live servers.


Classes and Combat


General
Surge rating has been re-balanced. It now reaches diminishing returns the same way as other damage ratings, and its per point damage contribution has been reduced by approximately 10%.


Bounty Hunter


Mercenary


Arsenal
Stabilizers: Correctly adds pushback resistance to Unload.
Trooper



Commando


Gunnery
Steadied Aim: Correctly adds pushback resistance to Full Auto.


Companion Characters


General
Some taxis that failed to re-summon companions upon reaching their destination now properly re-summon them.
Companions no longer indicate they wish to speak with you when you are not yet eligible for their next conversation.
If a player is invited to a nearly full group and declines, that player is no longer prevented from summoning a companion.


Crew Skills


Crafting Skills
Non-stackable crafting materials are now refunded if the crafting assignment is canceled.
The number of non-stackable crafting materials a player has is now correctly reflected in the crafting UI.


Biochem
Exotech schematics will now function properly. - Updated 2/10
Crafting Exotech consumables now results in three items with a chance of one additional item on a crafting critical.


Flashpoints and Operations


General
Conversation rewards like Social and Alignment Points and Companion Affection are gained more consistently during Hard Mode Flashpoints.


Flashpoints


Boarding Party
In Hard Mode, players are no longer blocked from re-entering the Flashpoint in some circumstances when the group is defeated during the encounter with Jorland.


Kaon Under Siege
Expulsor Droid now drops the correct loot.
Operations


Karagga’s Palace
The chest in 8-man Nightmare Mode now spawns properly after defeating Karagga.


Items


General
Unique items can no longer be traded to a player that has the maximum number of that item in their inventory.
A confirmation dialog is now displayed when purchasing items with commendations or tokens and when purchasing expensive items.


Legacy
A confirmation dialog is now displayed when choosing a Legacy name. The UI has been updated to better communicate Legacy name decisions.




Missions and NPCs


General
Small amounts of Social Points are no longer lost in some circumstances (rarely at the beginning of a Flashpoint or in some mission conversations).
Bonus Series missions on Tatooine (Republic and Imperial) can now be abandoned.


Missions


Imperial
Eve of Destruction: This mission progresses properly even if the player does not immediately travel to Corellia.


Republic
Need to Impress: Resolved a dialogue issue with Ambassador Jannik that blocked progress in this mission.
Rapid Response: This mission can now be failed if the player leaves the mission phase while attempting to destroy the Bomb-Carrying Droids.
Taris Bonus Series: The cinematic for the objective "Return to Storm" now completes properly even if the player has not finished Reconstruction Efforts.


PvP
General
Fixed an issue causing players to not receive Warzone Win mission credit upon winning a Warzone match when the first player to enter the zone leaves the zone before the match concludes.


World PvP


Ilum
Players are now notified when they kill a player but do not receive credit due to rate limits.


Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
Players are no longer occasionally disconnected from the game when interacting with a mailbox.
Players no longer lose mouse click functionality in some circumstances after pressing multiple mouse buttons.

The Many Looks of Kira Carsen

In SWTOR you spend a lot of time with your companion and a lot of a players even have intimate relationships with their companions of choice. Unfortunately, you don't have a Galaxy of companions to choose from. Your storyline introduces you to a set number of companions and you are stuck with their stories, personalities and voices.

Bioware do give you the options to customize the appearance of your companions. You can change their looks by equipping a companion customization token in your companion's inventory. These customizations are awarded through missions and they are also available through speciality vendors throughout the Galaxy.

This week I want to take an advanced look at all the different available looks for Kira Carsen.

Kira is a strong willed individual and my personal favorite companion so far. My Jedi Knight Guardian completed with storyline with Kira some time ago and although I chose to leave her default looks, not everyone likes a redhead. And to be honest, after seeing the variety of different looks she can have, I've now chosen to equip customization 8. Let's have a good look shall we?

Customizations 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 are available from vendors on both Taris and Balmora.

The vendor's name on Taris is Tatrog and he is hidden in the corner of the cantina. The Balmore vendor is hard to miss as he can be found at the entrance to the main base in bug town.

Customization 8 is available on Ilum at the Ilum Orbital Station from the Security key reward vendor.

Captain Kneely is in the center-left of the Orbital station and is only available to players who have attached a security key to their account.

At this stage I have not been able to find customizations 5 or 7. They may be randomly available from the Collector's Edition reward vendors, or even the security key reward vendors, but at this stage, they haven't been seen ingame.

It cost me 75 000 credits to purchase all available customizations for Kira. The reason I purchased them is that that the preview screen is tiny and uses low textures so I wouldn't have been able to provide you with proper images for comparison without purchasing the customizations.

For more information on Kira Carsen check out our Jedi Knight companion page 

If anyone wants to volunteer to provide high res screenshots of the customized looks for any other companions, please let me know!

If you liked having a closer look at Mako, don't forget to check out similar posts here:



See also
Our full list of companions and gifts
The Many Looks of Mako
 The Many Looks of Risha
The Many Looks of Nadia Grell

For information on customization options for other companions check out the other 'Many Looks of ... ' posts on SWTORFace.