Guild goes from 0-50 in under 30 days

The opening of the new Asia-Pacific servers forced a lot of players to re-roll. I ended up in a raiding guild (set up for operations) in the first week that the new servers were opened. To my surprise, the guild got a complete raid team together and it only took 29 days for them to clear all the standard operation content. Now is that too fast or is it just right? 

New raid content in games like WoW took far longer. The attempt would be spread out across several nights which got quite frustrating at times. You'd want to complete the raid but you'd also want to do something other than WoW some nights ... at least with the length of the SWTOR raids that balance is easier. I am finding that the current amount of raiding is allowing me to spend time doing other things ingame including leveling alts and PvP. With alts being a crucial part of the legacy system, maybe Bioware doesn't want players raiding 3-4 nights per week.

Everyone on the guild had already played a character to level 50 previously, so that probably sped things up since we knew where to go and what to do. On the other hand, I had never tanked most of the content so although I'd played for over five months, a lot of the boss kills were new to me and others in the operations. Undeniably, the content was cleared due to exceptional leadership. 

The swift progress through these operations has also revealed that new level 50s are very capable of doing operations. We took a lot of the guild members into the operations just days after they reached level 50. A lot of the content can be completed without the need for high end epic gear. A lot of players believe you need to spend weeks gearing up before you start doing operations but that's just not true. The operation story-mode content is for new level 50 players. It's just as efficient to gear up as you do operations as it is to gear up using heroic flashpoints or PvP. So if you think you're not ready for doing operations yet, take my advice and give it a go. If you can take somebody who knows the strategies it will help a lot. Having a vocal leader who knows the content is a necessity for success. A big kudos to Tombstone, Fusion's raid/operation leader.

In Star Wars The Old Republic, operations consist of eight players and can be completed in story mode, hard mode and nightmare mode, once a week.

Crimson Nova girls from Pandamonium

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!

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 Content and Guild Banks to Come

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.

SWTOR Servers Busting at the Seams

Are you finding that your server is VERY HEAVY or FULL? Here's what I am experiencing ...

Although Oceanic players got their very own Beta test a few week ago, they were never officially assigned an Oceanic server. This did surprise a lot of players located in the Oceanic region. Although the game isn't officially launched in countries in the Oceanic region, like Australia and New Zealand, thousands Australians pre-ordered from Amazon.

To protect themselves, to ensure they get to play with other people in the same time zones, a lot of large Oceanic guilds have banded together using SWTOR's guild association network, and as soon as servers were assigned to their guilds it became very clear that the majority of the PVE guilds were placed on the one server, The Harbinger. What happened then was that any PVE guild that had not been assigned to the Harbinger quickly moved there.

So now, us Aussies are on a server that is extremely crowded and at any given time there is a half an hour (plus) wait to log on. This morning the wait is close to an hour! There also seems to be a lot of other servers that are full.

My biggest concern is that it's still three days until the game officially comes out. There are still a lot of players who signed up for the pre-launch guild program that are not ingame yet. We're missing about 50% of our members and we know some of them pre-ordered way too late to get access before the 20th. When all these players finally do get to log in and try and join their guild, how will these servers, which are already full and over-populated cope?

Keep in mind that ingame it does not feel over-populated due to the phasing technology which spreads players out. The phasing technology takes a zone and splits it up into several instances. For example, you could have a thousand players on Tatooine but only see a few players around you. What the game does is to create Tatooine instances. I have seen up to ten instances in cities so far and you can swap from one Tatooine instance to the other through your map. This instance technology will automatically give you the option to move to the instance that your guild is in.

Server allocation and server queues are the make or break of any game launch and to be honest, due to the guild association and pre-launch options, it may backfire. If you weren't allocated to a server you would have a choice to choose a less-populated server. As it is now, regardless of population, if you join the game today or tomorrow, you'll be assigned to the server with your guild flag next to it, whether or not it's full already.

SWTOR Guilds Servers Are Out!

From SWTOR.com:

Member Of: Squad

Assigned to Server The Harbinger

Thank you for your participation in the Pre-Launch Guild Program. At this time, guilds can no longer be created or modified on the website.

If your guild qualified for deployment, it has already been imported into the game. Server assignments can be found by visiting your guild's homepage. If your guild did not meet the deployment requirements, your guild was not imported into the game. Guilds can be created in-game at the Imperial and Republic fleets.

All web support for guilds will be removed by 01.03.12, and we encourage you to save any important data you wish to keep before that time.

For more information, check the Guilds FAQ.

See you at launch!

The Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Team

So if you looking for us in game please say hi! We will be taking new members in game too!

SWTOR Creating A Guild Ingame Video Quick Tip

I'm seeing this question pop up all the time in the forums so I put this video together to show you!

"How do you create a Guild in SWTOR?"

On of the first things a lot of people are going to want to do in SWTOR is to set up and then manage a guild. This video guide gives you an overview of how to do that ingame.

 

If your looking for an active guild to join check out our guild SQUAD at http://www.squadguild.com/

SWTOR Last Call For Guilds! Is Your Guild Ready?

Gold Post!

Are you ready?

From www.swtor.com

A few weeks ago we announced that Phase 3 of our Pre-Launch Guild Program had begun. Phase 3: Deployment allows guild members to see whether or not their guild qualifies for transfer into the game. As we approach Early Game Access for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, we want to remind all of you in guilds that the Pre-Launch Guild Program will end on December 2nd, 11:59PM CST so that guilds can be assigned to servers for Early Game Access.

This is your last chance to:
Make any changes to your guild
Ensure your guild meets requirements for deployment into the game
Designate your guild’s Allies and Adversaries
Review and accept pending guild applications

So how do you ensure that your guild makes it into the game for launch? It’s simple! All you have to do is make sure at least four members of your guild have pre-ordered the game and redeemed their Pre-Order Code at our Code Redemption Center. Once you’ve done that, you can check your guild’s page within the Guild HQ to see if you have met all of the pre-designated conditions.

If your guild does not yet qualify for transfer to the game, you still have time. Visit our Pre-Order page, secure your copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and redeem your Pre-Order Code to help ensure that your guild makes the cut for launch!

To learn more about guilds in The Old Republic, check out the Guilds Game System page for details and visit the Guilds FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.

*Customers who pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic will be able to play the game before the official launch. “Early Game Access” is the period of time before the official game launch when pre-order customers may access the game. Early Game Access may be up to 5 days. The length of your Early Game Access depends on the date and order in which you redeemed your Pre-Order Code at the Code Redemption Center. See Pre-Order FAQ for more details.

**We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that qualifying guilds are imported into a server that meets your specified preferences, but we cannot make any guarantees given the anticipated volume of guilds (among other factors). All server placements therefore remain in our sole discretion. We also cannot take responsibility for technical errors or glitches that prevent your guild from importing into the game as planned. See Terms of Service for more details.

SWTOR Guild Phase 3: Deployment! Finalize Your Guild Now!

Gold post from : AlysonBridge

(Feel free to Join Squad if you want to join me in SWTOR)

Last month we expanded our Pre-Launch Guild Program with the implementation of Phase 2: Alignment, where guilds could designate other guilds as allies or adversaries. Now, as Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ moves ever-closer to launch, we are excited to announce that we have initiated the first part of Phase 3: Deployment!

Phase 3: Deployment will see any guild that meets the pre-designated criteria be transferred into the game for launch. Before we begin this process, though, we want to give all of you who are in guilds the opportunity to make sure your guild meets the following requirement for transfer:

Four members of the guild must have pre-ordered the game and redeemed their Pre-Order Code at the Code Redemption Center.(NOTE: We have removed the additional requirement for the guild leader to log in to the website and verify that their guild remains active and wants to be imported.)

The Guild Game On Music Video

That's right Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh get down and boogie again with there new Music video Game on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMrN3Rh55uM


Purchase the "Game On" music video here:
http://bit.ly/gameonVIDEO

and the MP3 here:
http://bit.ly/gameonMP3
http://amzn.to/gameonAMZN

On on iTunes

GAME ON CAST
Codex: Felicia Day
Zaboo: Sandeep Parikh
Vork: Jeff Lewis
Clara: Robin Thorsen
Tinkerballa: Amy Okuda
Bladezz: Vincent Caso
"Real Life": David Mattey
Zaboo Stunt Double: Victor Lopez
Dancers: Adam Ackerman, Charity Baroni, Marissa Cuevas, Gerald Espinosa, Anthony Gonzales, Marcelin Jurbina, Julie Koehler, Ashlee Malyar, Guy Nemer, Kenneth Rivera
Extras: Jamie Kale, Grant Kimura, America Young
Clara's Pool Boy: Stephen Ayers
Surprised Thug: Jason C. Miller
Thugs: Jamison Boaz, Austin Coppock, Jeffrey Damnit, Derek Jones, George Rockwell, Thom Williams

Produced by Felicia Day & Kim Evey
Directed & Edited by Sean Becker & Kim Evey
Line Producer: Gabe Uhr
Director of Photography/Colorist: Chris Darnell
1st AD: Ryan Lacen
2nd AD: Andrew Seely
Key PA: Milana Vayntrub
PA's: Jonathan Higgins, Jase Lindgren, Kris Swain, Ben Terrill
1st AC: Emily Ibarra
B Camera Op: Vahae Papazyan
C Camera Op: Cameron Chaves, Geoff Goodloe, Barry Gribble
Sound: Greg Benson
Audio playback / PA: Andrew Cichowski
DIT: Gabe Uhr
Production Designer: Greg Aronowitz
Art Director: Bryan Fulk
Art Dept: Mazin Dajani, Alina Khanjian, Amber Sinne
Costume Designer: Michele Dunn
Assistant Costume Designer : Kristin Ingram
2nd Assistant Costume: Michelle Fitzsimmons
Wardrobe Assistant: Sinead Mahoney
Choreographer: Chantal Robson
Fight Choreographer/Stunt Coordinator: Thom Williams
Gaffer: Rob Grower
Best Boy Electric : Jeremy Mennel
Dolly Grip Sarah Schulte
Swing G&E: Justin Rettke, Terry Lin, Aaron Fairley, Brian Corral
Makeup: Jennifer Jackson & Ashley Joybeck
Song Produced by: Jason C. Miller
Song Co-Produced by: Jamison Boaz and Russell Ali
Mixed by: Jamison Boaz
Music by: Jason C. Miller, Jamison Boaz and Russell Ali
Lyrics by: Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh
Live Percussion by: Maulik Zaveri