Taunta: Close up with the new Collector's Edition pet in patch 1.2

One of the most exciting things about patch 1.2 is the introduction of Taunta. Tauna is an awesome new pet for those of you who forked out the extra credits for the Collector's Edition, unlike that little droid that looks like a vacume cleaner and goes beep ... and not much else. Now you must admit that just the look of Taunta is very well done, right down to the little horns on his head and his cute little tauntaun sounds.  

You can purchase Taunta if you have access tot he Collector's Edition vendor. He will set you back 200 000 credits, but me being a sucker for pets, I didn't think twice about dropping that type of cash for a new buddy.

The second you pull Taunta out he will focus on you with admiring eyes and follow you everywhere.

Unlike your other companions, Taunta won't abandon you as soon as you pull out your mount. Taunta can keep up with you, even when you're riding a 110 speed mount.

Taunta is also a chick magnet! Kira seemed to be fascinated with him; or is that jealousy?

You'll find yourself starring at Taunta, watching his cute little yawns. He also seems to constantly scratch at the ground, kind of like a chicken.

Taunta will be available in patch 1.2.

Developer Dispatch: The Legacy System

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...

Trooper Companion Information Updated

Troopers, it's your turn: our Companion List information for Trooper Companions has now been updated to our latest style of presentation. Character information, Gameplay information and Gift Preferences are all included.

Sith Inquisitor Companion Details in Full

If you want to romance Andronikos Revel, or maybe Ashara Zavros is more your style, you'll need to know what gifts can give you extra mileage. We've updated our Companion List information for the Sith Inquisitor class, with the gift preferences information and a whole lot more.

Go forth, you Force-attuned, Empire aligned players and get to know your companions! 

Jedi Consular Companion List Update

If you are playing a Jedi Consular then bookmark our page of information about their companions so that you can quickly alt-tab to check out the facts as you play. The list has been updated so that not only does it look pretty, it's got more information and no blank areas.

Check it out now.

Combat Log Update and Details Game Update 1.2

At the Guild Summit in early March, Bioware announced that SWTOR was finally getting combat logs. There have been all sorts of heated debates across the forums about whether this will be good or bad for the game. I am not a huge fan of combat logs because they are often miss-used. Combat logs are a brilliant tool for optimizing a player's personal DPS or healing abilities. Having access to this information will allow you to choose the right sequence of attack for any given situation. Unfortunately, I've seen players sit out of raids and kicked from dungeons for having chosen to play a class that is at the time sub-par at a given task, a judgement made from information gleaned from combat logs. Most of the time, players making decisions based on combat logs, actually have no idea what they're looking at. As an MMO player who raided religiously for over three years, I often found that some of our most valuable raid members where players who were not at the top of the DPS meters. DPS meters have a problem of not showing group-wide buff advantages and they don't show a players' ability to attack the right target or be in the right place at the right time, or interupt a crucial critical hit from a boss. Often you will find players playing the DPS meters and not worrying about how they can truly benefit the group and the given situation.

At this stage, the information that Bioware has provided indicates that combat logs will be client-side only. This means that you can only you will see how well you are doing. I hope this stays true. being able to better yourself is one thing. Being able to judge others on their performance is another. I am just hoping no classes get judged once the combat logs become available.

Georg Zoeller provided us with a breakdown of what the combat log is. As you can see, with this combat log we will be able to calculate DPS (damage per second), healing per second and threat generated. A threat meter is something that may help a lot of players in raid scenarios. Bioware have released this information to the media community to allow them to start work on mods for SWTOR.

Iotasquared created a simple combat log parser that parses the combat logs and prints out damage/heals/threat stats here.

Read on to see a full example of what an exported combat log looks like, supplied by Bioware. Warning: this looks like scrambled text to the uninitiated.




[03/01/2012 14:19:14] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Lucky Shots {1781496599806223}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:14] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Fortification {1781496599806227}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:14] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Force Might {1781496599805952}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:14] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Force Valor {1781496599806219}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:14] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Safe Login {973870949466112}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Safe Login Immunity {973870949466372}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:15] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Sprint {810670782152704}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Sprint {810670782152704}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:15] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Shien Form {1280806492307456}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Shien Form {1280806492307456}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:28] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Safe Login {973870949466112}] [RemoveEffect {836045448945478}: Safe Login Immunity {973870949466372}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:55] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Lucky Shots {1781496599806223}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:55] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Fortification {1781496599806227}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:55] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Force Might {1781496599805952}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:55] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Force Might {1781496599805952}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Force Valor {1781496599806219}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:55] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Safe Login {973870949466112}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Safe Login Immunity {973870949466372}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:56] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Sprint {810670782152704}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Sprint {810670782152704}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:19:56] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Shien Form {1280806492307456}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Shien Form {1280806492307456}] ()
[03/01/2012 14:20:05] [@Idrurrez] [@Idrurrez] [Safe Login {973870949466112}] [RemoveEffect {836045448945478}: Safe Login Immunity {973870949466372}] () 

Big update to our Bounty Hunter Companion List

Now that we've had the opportunity to spend more time ingame we'd thought we'd go back and optimize our companion pages which we started way back in Beta (which was only a little over 3 months ago!). We've included new information about when your companions are obtained and what quests actually award your companions. Information about gift preferences has also been updated and presented in a new easy to follow chart. We've gathered all this information for all companions and will be updating our pages over the following weeks. Today's update is of the Bounty Hunter companion list and it of course also includes the customizations for Mako.

I'd like to thank everybody for providing their feedback which has lead to these updates. Feel free to add tips in the comments section.

Don't forget, if you find the information useful, share it with your friends on Google+, Facebook or 

The Many Looks of Mako

Complete Guide to Mako Customizations

Mako's bubbly personality is an absolute pleasure to be around and whoever wrote for her did a fabulous job. She probably has the most realistic personality out of all the female companions I have encountered so far. Mako is the very first companion you get as a Bounty Hunter. As a healer she makes life really easy, especially if you're a Powertech hunter. The storyline in general in Bounty Hunter is brilliant and if you haven't rolled one yet, it's something you have to do in this game. Although my main class is Jedi playing alongside Mako on my Bounty Hunter provides a refreshing change of pace and experience. Although she is alligned with a Bounty Hunter, who theoretically works with Sith, she is not really keen on dark side decisions unless it involves making more money. Her cybernetics give her unique abilities and also provide distinct facial features in many of the customizations available for Mako. All eight of Mako's customizations are currently available in SWTOR. Let's have a closer look.

I equipped the security key vendor's bikini top on Mako for your viewing pleasure. Although she looks really good in her standard medium armor, Imperial Agent style gear. It was mentioned in Bioware's blog that Mako is the most popular companion when it comes to romance; this girl gets around! But I'd better be careful what I say about Mako ... I don't want every Bounty Hunter after me in the game!


The customizations provide you with an amazing variety of looks, everything from the simple Eurasian default look right through to the punk rocker look you get with customization 8. It doesn't matter if you prefer blondes, red heads, brunettes, dark skin or pasty white, there is a look for everybody.

The customizations are so diverse that she looks like a different character each time. Not only does the face shape change, so does the hair, skin color and the position of the cybernetics. Unlike other customizations for Kira and Risha you really do get 9 very different looks.

A special Rakghoul customization from our Rakghoul Pandemic event:

Although you get a choice of customizations 1, 2 or 3 when she first joins you, you can purchase customizations 1-6 from the customization vendor Keth on Taris. Each one costs 12500 credits.

Customization number 8 can be purchased on Imperial Fleet Vaiken Spacedock from the Security Key Vendor named Toth (above).

You can find customization number 7 also on Vaiken Spacedock but from the Collector's Edition Vendor called Nongta - so yes, you do have to have purchased the Collector's Edition to get number 7.

Mako Wallpapers

Show your love for this spunky splicer with some of these Mako wallpapers!

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.

Game Update 1.2 "Legacy" Video in HD

Star Wars Game Update 1.2 "Legacy" Video in HD

This Video looks at:

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

Interesting Stats from the SWTOR Guild Summit

There has been a lot of news from the SWTOR Guild Summit this week. I found that some of the general stats were quite revealing, surprising even! For example:

BioChem is not the most common tradeskill – Artifice is 

Actually that fact is not that surprising to me. A lot of players would have chosen Artifice when they first started their Jedi or Sith characters. It seemed like a logical choice and from the get-go the crafting missions for Artifice related skills have been way more expensive than any other crafting missions.

57% of players play Empire, 42% of players play Republic

Somebody got their figures wrong here since we're missing 1%. I am actually surprised it's that close, but then again I am only going from experiences on one server.

Approximately 70% play males, 30% play females 

I wish I knew what percentage of players are male and female in real life too. I guess the ability to romance companions is enough of a draw card to role a male character instead of a female for many guys.

Stats sourced with thanks from TOR Wars.

New Crystals Available on a Space Station Near You!

The most exciting new content from today's patch is a slew of new crystals which you can simply purchase off a vendor at your fleet station. Due to popular demand Bioware have added two new vendors to the Republic and Imperial fleets. Both vendors have a variety of level 47 and 50 high end crystals in a rainbow of colors including blue, green, purple, red, white and yellow. The vendors also sell schematics for players to craft the Magenta crystals. The starting price for these babies is 125 000 credits and prices go all the way up to 2.5 million for a white crystal. 

[The crafted Magenta crystal looks awesome in Kira's muscular yet feminine grasp of her twin lightsaber.]

Also with this patch the restrictions on specific colored crystals have been removed. You can be light side, ranked five and equip a red crystal. Unfortunately, until they allow players to dismantle their epic sabers from PVe and PvP most players will not be able to even use these crystals. My lightsaber, which I got from PvP, is a purple item that can't be changed with any mods. According to the developers, this is being addressed in the next major patch. 

Let's have a look at the prices and variety available:

Click to see the list of crystals and prices

The purple saber crystal, seen for the first time in Republic players' hands since beta, looks awesome when combined with the blue/black saber available from end game raiding.

So, where can you find the vendors to go and make your purchase?

For Republic players, head to Carrick Station and talk to Geologist Breshin who is in the Galactic Trade Market sector.

For Imperial players, head to Vaiken Spacedock and talk to Geologist Pajro who is in the Galactic Trade Market sector.

If you pre-ordered the game Bioware have also included upgraded versions of the black/yellow crystal that you were awarded in the mail when you first created your character. For 100k you will get the level 47 yellow/black in a variety of different bonuses. For 250k you can get the level 50 equivalent.

The vendor has four different varieties of each level/cost to choose from.

A tribute to Ralph McQuarrie

SWTOR is part of the expanded universe of Star Wars and although it has a distinct look that is identifiable as early on in the timeline of the Star Wars universe, there's also a continuity with the visuals from the original movie trilogy. The look of those first three films owes a great debt to Ralph McQuarrie, who passed away on Saturday.

Star Wars was one of the first films to spiral into a phenomenon, offering fans clothing, figurines, cereal, stationary, and other oddities, and also beautiful publications of pre-production artwork from McQuarrie.

George Lucas has commented:
"Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision 'Star Wars,'" Lucas said in a statement. "His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy. "When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, 'Do it like this.'" - Source

Whilst George Lucas imagined the characters, the plot, the setting and the players in the story, Ralph McQuarrie visualized it. Spend a moment looking at his outstanding pieces and you'll appreciate how far his legacy has reached.

The importance of a name

As you all have noticed over the last week, Bioware launched new Asia Pacific servers. This was bitter sweet for me; I wish the servers had been made live in the Asia Pacific area at the time of launch. Needless to say, Bioware made their decision before launch and stuck to it. After the first launch in the US and Europe, I busted my butt to ensure that I got my legacy name. I happened to miss out on one of my naming preferences due to the staggering launch technique they used and what annoyed me even more was that the name that I wanted was nabbed by a player that hasn't even logged in yet! It's a level 1 that has sat for the last two and a half months doing nothing. 

A lot of payers opted to reserve all eight names they could get and obviously the first players in had the pick of the crop. With the Asia Pacific launch, the servers came online and it was another free for all. I saved my three names that I wanted. One of them I used straight away and the other two I will be using when the transfers come around. 

It was funny to see the variety of names that appeared on the new avatars in the first hours of the Asia Pacific launch. We had Yoda, Mace Windu, The Emporer battling it out in chat with some of Australia's current politicians! It seems though, that all these names were short lived as most of them were forced to name change by Bioware. One odd request that affected one of our guild members was the forced name change of an avatar he had named Grave. The player received a notice when he tried to login and he was forced to rename his character. I am a bit concerned that Bioware employees may have gone a bit heavy-handed with the naming rules. It also might have been a case of the GM responsible not truly understanding the meaning of the name, or perhaps it means something totally different in other countries that we're not aware of. 

The second issue with naming is legacy names. Now a legacy name is even more important than your character's main name as it's something you use for all your characters. You don't get your legacy name until you have finished Act 1 so for me, the last week was a desperate race to the end of Act 1 to ensure I saved my name that I've had both on Beta and on the US server I started on.

The name I chose was Sunrider. Nomi Sunrider was a Jedi Knight even before the timeline of SWTOR. I've had a picture of her above my desk for about twenty years. It's artwork from a comic book, which really touched me and I've always used the Sunrider name in Star Wars gaming from when I was first given the opportunity in Star Wars Galaxies.

Nomi Sunrider

A friend and I helped each other through Act 1 over the weekend but he missed out on his legacy name of choice even though he had been using it on the other server. Short of taking medical stimulants to stay awake, I don't think we could have done it any faster!

How important is it to you to have the right name for your character/s? I've spoken to other players in game who specifically rolled on a server due to the fact that the name they wanted was available. With the implementation of a surname I don't see why Bioware can't have five Johns on the same server, all with different legacy names. This might make it more realistic and flexible for players who want to use the first name of their choice.

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