World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Preview

Shrouded in fog since the world was sundered more than ten thousand years ago, the ancient realm of Pandaria has remained unspoiled by war. Its lush forests and cloud-ringed mountains are home to a complex ecosystem of indigenous races and exotic creatures -- including the noble and enigmatic pandaren. Will the mists of Pandaria part to reveal the world's salvation... or will the battle to control this new land push the Horde and the Alliance over the brink of war and into total annihilation?

• Increased level cap of 90
• First neutral race the pandaren.

1. Pandaren Racials
2. Bouncy: reduces fall damage by half.
3. Inner peace: double rested XP.
4. Gourmand: +15 to cooking.
5. Epicurean: double stats to food buffs.

• All-new monk class
• New continent "Pandaria"
• The new expansion will not have a main villain, it will focus on the Horde vs Alliance war.

 

Today's round up of SWTOR News:

Class Preview: Jedi Knight on tentonhammer.com
Finally a site posts some information we can sink our teeth into!!

RPGFan posts about SWTOR beta. He didn't have time for ...
With all the news on SWTOR out today it pisses me of when I see things like this:

DWTOR beta—the birth of a Jedi knight on: Arstechnica
"There is no auto-attack here; you must always choose to attack."

Hands On: The Old Republic on rock paper shotgun

Of course, it’s a BioWare game in an MMO.

The Old Republic: Jedi Knight Beta Impressions on MMORPG:
The game begins with your flight to Tython, the planet

The Old Republic: Jedi Consular Beta Impressions on MMORPG:
The main story foundations are built while giving you area-specific problems to solve.

The Old Republic: The Smuggler Impressions on MMORPG:
For my part in our Star Wars: The Old Republic bonanza today, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks playing The Smuggler.

Full Beta Preview: The Gal with the Gun on MMORPG:
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about the Trooper’s basic play style for a moment.

In space, no one can hear you gank. on IGN
PVP
Two massive ships hover over a snowy valley. Between them, in a parallel line on the ground, are three turret installations.

The Old Republic's Trooper is a Monster on IGN:
Depending on which advanced class you pick, more options are opened up. At level 10 you can branch your class one of two ways

The Old Republic: Companions and Crafting on IGN
Crafting in BioWare's upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic is an interesting process.

SWTOR BETA. A certain point of view ...
Wow. Just got done reading some SWTOR limited Beta reviews and I cannot believe how bad they are. Why in God’s name would you get a review written but someone who hates that type of gameplay!

All the Big SWTOR News Out Today

Today's round up of SWTOR News:

Class Preview: Jedi Knight on tentonhammer.com
Finally a site posts some information we can sink our teeth into!!

RPGFan posts about SWTOR beta. He didn't have time for ...
With all the news on SWTOR out today it pisses me of when I see things like this:

DWTOR beta—the birth of a Jedi knight on: Arstechnica
"There is no auto-attack here; you must always choose to attack."

Hands On: The Old Republic on rock paper shotgun

Of course, it’s a BioWare game in an MMO.

The Old Republic: Jedi Knight Beta Impressions on MMORPG:
The game begins with your flight to Tython, the planet

The Old Republic: Jedi Consular Beta Impressions on MMORPG:
The main story foundations are built while giving you area-specific problems to solve. 

The Old Republic: The Smuggler Impressions on MMORPG:
For my part in our Star Wars: The Old Republic bonanza today, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks playing The Smuggler.

Full Beta Preview: The Gal with the Gun on MMORPG:
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about the Trooper’s basic play style for a moment.

In space, no one can hear you gank. on IGN
PVP
Two massive ships hover over a snowy valley. Between them, in a parallel line on the ground, are three turret installations.

The Old Republic's Trooper is a Monster on IGN:
Depending on which advanced class you pick, more options are opened up. At level 10 you can branch your class one of two ways

The Old Republic: Companions and Crafting on IGN
Crafting in BioWare's upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic is an interesting process.

SWTOR BETA. A certain point of view ...
Wow. Just got done reading some SWTOR limited Beta reviews and I cannot believe how bad they are. Why in God’s name would you get a review written but someone who hates that type of gameplay!

Class Preview: Jedi Knight on tentonhammer.com

Finally a site posts some information we can sink our teeth into!! 

"Right from the get-go the game makes it clear that you are the next big thing since sliced space bread. From the opening crawler and all through the class story, the line “strong in the force” will be used to describe you constantly. It’s a wonder how I managed to stick to the lightside with everyone telling my how great and powerful I was (repeating “Don’t get cocky kid.” in your head helps.). If that doesn’t check your ego, the sight of your first weapon will, the all powerful training sabre or in my opinion wiffle bat."

Combat

The Jedi Knight is a melee specialist, whether wielding one lightsabre as a guardian, or two as the sentinel. These advanced classes are unlocked upon reaching level ten and visiting your local Jedi Master. While both are primarily melee combatants there are a few defining characteristics.

Jedi Guardian Defining Points:
Wears Heavy Armor (High Survivability)
Single Sabre User
Excellent Tank
Jedi Sentinel Defining Points:

Wears Medium Armor
Dual Lightsaber’s
Melee Damage Dealer

No matter the choice of advanced class the Jedi Knight’s primary resource is Focus. This Focus is built up by using certain attacks/abilities and is used to power other more powerful attacks.

A sample of focus building abilities include:

Strike: Your basic lightsabre attack. Strikes with both lightsabres if dual wielding.

Force Leap: Jump to the target inflicting mainhand weapon damage. Also interrupts and immobilizes the target.

Zealous Strike (Sentinel): An advanced strike that hits the target multiple times with both sabres.

Sundering Strike (Guardian): Inflicts minor damage and reduces enemy armor. Can be stacked

This is a good read go read it now!

RPGFan posts about SWTOR beta. He didn't have time for ...

With all the news on SWTOR out today it pisses me of when I see things like this:

"The game does offer two specializations per class, which makes the simple picture I outlined above already somewhat murky. I figure that more options are always a good thing so this is a point in the game's favor, but I was unable to log enough time to actually play these specializations myself. Also, many of these things are still being tweaked for balance anyway, so my own experience may not match what we'll see on release."

The whole thing makes its clear RPGFan doesn't know what he is saying ... we all know that to get to specializations only takes about 3 to 4 hours. This write up is full of incorrect guesses. 

DWTOR beta—the birth of a Jedi knight on: Arstechnica

"There is no auto-attack here; you must always choose to attack."

As you rank up your skills through a trainer and you eventually get a real light saber, your movements become swifter and surer, and the attacks' choreographies are longer. When I chose to become a Jedi sentinel (a damage-dealer) track versus the tank-focused guardian), I gained a second light saber to dual-wield, and at lower levels my character retained the skill in her main hand while holding the second light saber lamely in the other, save for when she awkwardly used her sole dual-wield attack. It's a small but welcome detail, showing that Jedi Knights aren't born knowing perfect technique.

All this happens as the Jedi completes quests given by the various NPCs scattered around her starting planet, Tython, and later the planet Coruscant. Without giving too much away, I found the Jedi knight track to be less action-oriented than many of the other classes, which is appropriate since the other Jedi you encounter say things like, "there is no emotion; there is peace." The Trooper class story, for instance, starts off faster, but the Jedi knight's story has a great payoff toward the end of your time on Tython. Read on 

Hands On: The Old Republic on rock paper shotgun

Of course, it’s a BioWare game in an MMO. Which never stops feeling like a bear trying to wear a centipede costume. Undeniably WOW-like in its approach to structure, the more I play of TOR, the more I feel like I’m embroiled in the developers’ struggle to squeeze their sort of game into someone else’s mould. And to a decent extent, it’s working.

BioWare let me into the beta for the last couple of weeks, with free reign to play with the four Republic classes, Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler and Trooper, right up until each of them finds a spaceship. Well, it’s an enormous game, and I’m the sort that even when previewing on a beta, can’t just skip a sidequest. That woman will die! That corrupt politician will get away with it! So obviously I picked Jedi Knight, because I’m not insane, and have pretty much focused on that. Read on

The Old Republic: Jedi Knight Beta Impressions on MMORPG:

The game begins with your flight to Tython, the planet where the Jedi have taken up since the attack on Coruscant. I don’t want to give away any spoilers about the story for players, so I will focus on themes of the Jedi Knight and how the class feels as a whole. We’ll go through three major areas for the Jedi: combat, dark and light side choices, and equipment/look. I’ll try to touch on as much as I can without giving away the story.

First let us look at the Jedi Knight’s combat. Being a young padawan when you start the game you do not have a lightsaber right away. You have access to a bunch of different training blades however each with different power levels. They all work fine for accomplishing your goals early on. The Jedi combat consists of many different sword fighting abilities which you can link together for maximum damage. The class is fully built on close combat and has to get in close to fight it out. There are some tricks along the way which make this much easier. Read on

The exploits of Mandaloriangirl Q&A

Site name: The exploits of Mandaloriangirl
URL: http://mandaloriangirl.wordpress.com/
Name: Mandalorian girl
Started: October 2010

SWTOR Face: In your words, how would you describe your site? Do you have a particular focus or interest?

Mandalorian girl: My site is a fan-fiction blog focused on the Old Republic Era. My current tale chronicles a Mandalorian girl and her companions as they travel the galaxy in search of a Sith Apprentice and the pieces of an ancient artifact. The story is told from the Mandalorian girl's point of view.

SWTOR Face: When did you start blogging (about any topic)?

Mandalorian girl: Actually, this is my first blog. I never really thought that I had much to blog about, but then it hit me that a blog would be the perfect place to tell a Star Wars story. I started with the idea that no one would want to read it and that it would simply be a way for me to pass the time; be creative, but as I started to gain readers, it made me want to keep writing. I began to think, “Hey, blogging isn't so bad!”



SWTOR Face: When did you start writing Star Wars fan fiction?

Mandalorian girl: I have always loved Star Wars and there has always been ideas floating around in my mind, but technically, this is the first one that I have ever written down.

SWTOR Face: What, if any, MMOs have you played?

Mandalorian girl: None. I have mostly been a console gamer, so SWTOR will be my first MMO.

SWTOR Face: What was your first Star Wars experience?

Mandalorian girl: Star Wars has always been a part of my life. I was born in the late seventies and so I grew up watching the original movies and playing with the toys. I Had Luke Skywalker posters on my wall, so it is hard to say what my first experience was. I can't remember a time when it wasn't there.

SWTOR Face: Why Mandalorian?

Mandalorian girl: My first experience with Mandalorians was Boba Fett. I simply fell in love with his confidence, his look, his armor and his weapons. By the time I had come across Canderous Ordo from KOTOR and then the stories created by Karen Traviss, I was totally hooked! I researched everything I could find about them. I loved their culture, their strong sense of family, their strength and their “Never say die” attitude. Once I had discovered Mandalorians, my heart was lost.

SWTOR Face: What excites you the most about the stories from the SWTOR time frame?

Mandalorian girl: I love the rawness of it. The stories are rich and full of battles. There is so much room in that time period to play around with. The Jedi and Sith seemed to be more robust and edgy. They used the Force as it was meant to be used. It is like the wild west of Star Wars.

SWTOR Face: How do you keep track of elements from the Star Wars Galaxy for your writing (characters, species, locations of planets, events in the timeline etc)?

Mandalorian girl: Lots of research. I read the books and search the web. I write down everything and keep timelines/logs on things I find. Even though my stories are not cannon, I want to keep the feel of it as cannon as possible. I try to keep facts and timelines of Star Wars history as closely as I can. I don't want a mixed up story. I want my character to be a legitimate part of Star Wars. This story is my way of being part of the Star Wars Universe and so I do my best to make it a believable aspect of the time period.

SWTOR Face: Have you ever thought of writing a background story for a player character?

Mandalorian girl: I haven't had a chance to do that yet, but I always like to know the characters that I create for things, so I may decide to give whatever character/characters I play in the upcoming MMO a little bit of a history.

SWTOR Face: What are your long term plans for your writing? Where do you see your blog heading?

Mandalorian girl: I plan to keep this story going for a long time to come. My characters will continue until their mission comes to an end and then, who knows? I certainly plan on continuing to blog. There will always be another Star Wars story to tell. I have played around with stories in my head, for some of my current main character's descendents, so we will see where the story takes me.

The Old Republic: Jedi Consular Beta Impressions on MMORPG:

The main story foundations are built while giving you area-specific problems to solve. So instead of random NPC quests almost all the quests you get advance the story in some way. You will run a bunch of quests which don't seem to tie in with the main story but at points the Jedi Masters will reference the outcome of those seemingly unrelated quests.

I had moments where I had to make hard decisions and live with my choices. I was able to run one of the heroic instances with three other players. When the group spoke to the mission NPCs, everyone spoke with the NPCs. When I say everyone I mean various players would appear and ask a question to advance the mission dialog. There was a social system for this decision making process but I was not able to determine how it worked (ED: It’s based on a dice roll). However the game maintained that movie feel where a group of people were working to solve a problem.

Overall this game does something not many MMOs do and that is make you feel you are the hero of the game.

Read on