Swtor

[Aada]

Weird never had a whole group corpse camp me.

 

[Fafnir]

Nice story When I got grey ganked on Shadowbane I came back on my main and killed the high level. But when I tried the WoW PvP server it was whole groups, and they would corpse camp. Can't be arsed with that shit anymore.

Was the reason i left the pvp servers and headed for Argent Dawn rp server...

 

[old.Tohtori]

I only used to bunny camp. Engineering + rogue = win

Put bunny decoy on road, wait for unsuspecting person, stabby stab.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Regarding sw:tor, having this awful feeling of "I'm gonna be disappointed" as i've not watch stuff about it too much, kept out of beta etc to get a fresh launch view.

Hoping it's just my cynical MMO hoarding self talking

 

[svartalf]

I believe the forums have been wiped now:

The Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Community Forums are currently unavailable as we make improvements and prepare for launch. They will be available again on Tuesday, December 13th. If you have questions or require support, please contact Customer Service: http://www.swtor.com/support.

 

[Corran]

was wiped on saturday to start settin up the new forum (subscrber only can post) , , comes up when EA starts. lol

 

[svartalf]

Massively put together a handy guide.

Massively's guide to SWTOR's launch and beyond



by Brianna Royce

on Dec 12th 2011 12:00PM



Sci-fi, Galleries, Screenshots, Classes, Game mechanics, Launches, Lore, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Massively Meta, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guides, Dungeons, Crafting


A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we first heard mention of a new Star Wars MMO set in the popular Knights of the Old Republic era. Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare named it, and we've waited patiently impatiently through months years of hope and hype, fanboys and haters, and at least eight million articles about the fourth pillar of story.

This week, The Old Republic is the new hotness, and the Massively staffers are right there with you, champing at the bit to get in the head start already! But what if you're not an expert on Star Wars lore or TOR's gameplay? What if you don't know the first thing about purple lightsabers, astromechs, and the Kessel Run? What if you can't decide which class to play? When do you get a starship? Can you really romance your companions? How do flashpoints work? And why are there no bathrooms on Coruscant?!

Relax, young Padawan. Put your blast-shield down and let Massively be your guide... literally. We've rounded up a massive collection of helpful introductory guides for each of the eight classes, along with overviews of gameplay mechanics like companions, starships, flashpoints, warzones, and crafting. We've also curated the most illuminating lore essays from our regular SWTOR column, Hyperspace Beacon, in addition to our extensive hands-on previews from the last few years.

Take your first step into a larger world...























Lore Overview: The TOR Timeline, Essential Lore

Species: Twi'leks, Trandoshans, Chiss & Rattataki, Human High Culture I & II, Pureblood Sith

Factions: Mandalorians, Jedi Order, Sith Empire, Loyalists, Gray Jedi, The Underworld

Locations: The Galactic Core & Outer Rim, Imperial Space, Hutt Space, & Unknown Regions

Culture: Hidden Messages I & II, Lightsaber Colors, Force Religions

People: Nomi Sunrider I & II, The Lost Suns





Trooper hands-on (Jef Reahard, October 2011)

Smuggler and Jedi Consular hands-on (Larry Everett, October 2011)

Jedi Knight hands-on (Brendan Drain, October 2011)

Sith Inquisitor PvP hands-on (Matt Daniel, August 2011)

Imperial Agent hands-on (Dan O'Halloran, June 2011)

E3 demo impressions (Shawn Schuster, Rubi Bayer, Dan O'Halloran, June 2011)

Taral V Flashpoint hands-on (Larry Everett and Eliot Lefebvre, March 2011)

Jedi Knight hands-on (Brianna Royce, December 2010)

Smuggler, Trooper, and Sith Inquisitor hands-on (Larry Everett, September 2010)

Smuggler hands-on (Seraphina Brennan, June 2010)

Trooper hands-on (Shawn Schuster, March 2010)

Sith Inquisitor hands-on (Randy Nelson, December 2009)

The Monstrous SWTOR Gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
  
  
  
  Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally here, and the Force is with Massively! We've prepared a Hutt-sized feast of class introductions, gameplay guides, lore roundups, and hands-on previews to help you navigate the launch period and beyond. And don't forget our weekly SWTOR column, the Hyperspace Beacon!
  
  Tags: advanced-class, bioware, class, classes, companions, crafting, ea, Electronic-Arts, flashpoint, gameplay, guide, guides, headstart, launch, launches, lore, lucasarts, milestones, newbie-guide, preview, previews, roundup, sci-fi, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, starships, swtor, swtor-guide, swtor-launch-guide, the-old-republic, tor, warzone

 

[- English -]

The game hasn't seemed to have ever caught my attention.. ive had a look at a few vids on youtube so not buying it from the start. Will keep an eye out on the forums and wait to see how others are enjoying it before I decide.

 

[Fafnir]

The game hasn't seemed to have ever caught my attention.. ive had a look at a few vids on youtube so not buying it from the start. Will keep an eye out on the forums and wait to see how others are enjoying it before I decide.

I was a bit sceptic up to beta tbh, but after the beta weekend i was conviced that my pre order was 100% right decision...

 

[- English -]

I was a bit sceptic up to beta tbh, but after the beta weekend i was conviced that my pre order was 100% right decision...

I do love to try new MMO's, but I know I shouldn't. I am away visiting home next week for a week, and starting college again after I come back, so MMO's = bad ;D

 

[Himse]

I might give it a bash when I hear some reviews of endgame etc.

 

[Fafnir]

I might give it a bash when I hear some reviews of endgame etc.

Dont give it a bash until you tried the end game, so many game reviews that are just based on their own fucked up personal opinions. Fanbois vs haters etc etc. Atm im a fanboi, but that might change in the next few weeks when one caps out. Only got to a few 20s chars in the weekend beta and they all rawked, cept the trooper i didnt like much in pvp healing spec...

 

[Himse]

Dont give it a bash until you tried the end game, so many game reviews that are just based on their own fucked up personal opinions. Fanbois vs haters etc etc. Atm im a fanboi, but that might change in the next few weeks when one caps out. Only got to a few 20s chars in the weekend beta and they all rawked, cept the trooper i didnt like much in pvp healing spec...

Give it a bash, means give it a go in my language! Sorry haha, I mean i'll give it a go once i've heard about the end game!

 

[Fafnir]

Ahhh

 

[svartalf]

Also, they're saying that endgame content isn't finished and/or hasn't been fully tested, I think. Here is that sentiment from the devs perspective:

PvP – We have an entire team dedicated to adding content and features to player vs. player. We have some of the most experienced PvP developers in the world on this team. So far very few people have seen, or know much about the stunning Open World PVP on Ilum; when you get to the high levels prepare to be blown away! In addition to that high level PVP content, expect new Warzones and new PvP features on a regular basis.

 

[old.Tohtori]

What i'm hoping for is some wow style gaming, with rp fluff, cool bounty hunter story, where i get it on with a cyborg lady and make cyborg babies.

No wait, i mean, cool bounty hunter story in a MM enviroment

 

[svartalf]

News.

Star Wars: The Old Republic looks to the future [Updated]



by Matt Daniel on Dec 13th 2011 6:00PM



Sci-fi, Launches, Previews, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic










You may think that now that Star Wars: The Old Republic's early start underway and moving nicely, the developers over at BioWare are sitting back and enjoying a celebratory glass of champagne (or bottle of whiskey). You would be wrong, however, because a new post on the official site shows that BioWare is already looking toward the future. But what can players expect from the future of The Old Republic?



Guild functionality is high on the priority list, and players can expect everything from guild banks to guild capital ships in the future. UI customization is also "a very big priority" to BioWare. The studio also has "an entire team dedicated to adding content and features to [PvP]." The space system, the legacy system, and the galaxy as a whole are also on board for future updates. For the full details, just head on over to the official SWTOR site.



[Update: The team has also just posted an address to those who are not yet part of the early access pre-launch. We've included the contents of the message behind the break. Thanks to Onyx for the tip!]

Hey everyone.



We absolutely understand you want to get in and play the game early. It's one of the reasons we expanded our Early Game Access from a maximum of five days to a maximum of seven days. However, there are a couple of important points to realize about today's opening salvo of invites, and the procedure in general for Early Game Access and launch.



First, Early Game Access and launch is not supposed to be a stress test. In our previous Beta Testing Weekends we got up to very large concurrent number of players and brought invites into the game at a very high rate. That was done to stress test every aspect of our systems and servers, and essentially to see if they broke. In some cases, they did, but that helped us improve for launch.



For us, launch isn't just about stuffing our servers with as many people as possible. As anyone who's been through a large MMO launch can tell you, that experience can be painful. Our aim with this launch was to ramp things up gradually, to spread our player population out amongst a variety of servers, to maintain all server types, and to keep queuing to a minimum (although we expect that to happen as we head towards December 20th). So far, all that has been successful for us on Day One.



The second thing to realize is scale. We invited more people to play Star Wars: The Old Republic today than many other MMO launches manage in their entire head-start process. As I mentioned earlier today, when we opened pre-orders we had a huge spike in numbers - far more than most MMOs capture at launch. That was the initial rush. After that, our pre-orders settled down.



What this means is that tomorrow, you'll effectively start to see the pre-order timeline expand. You'll see people who have pre-ordered later than July getting invites. The day after that, more people will be invited. We're actually planning to invite more tomorrow than today, and invite the same number again on Thursday - at which point we'll be into the original 'five days of Early Game Access'.



Last thing. Why aren't we continuing to send waves over time? Two main reasons - one, because we need to see that the servers are maintaining stability over time; adding a lot of players in a short period (in other words, stress testing) can cause stability issues.



Two, our plan is to continue to add servers - but carefully, and in response to demand. We need to monitor that demand and roll out servers accordingly. A long-term recipe for MMO failure is to add a lot of servers early on, and then when population decreases, have to close those servers and merge them together.



Our aim is for Star Wars: The Old Republic to be around for a long time to come. Today's just the first step in that - an early step, too - and we'll be running smoothly, with a stable population, before too long. - Stephen Reid, Senior Online Community Manager for SWTOR

 

[old.Tohtori]

After playing skyrim, i've realised that sneakystabby bastard is my preferred way to go. That's why i'm having real trouble with a class choice. I'd like to go bounty hunter because, well, bounty hunter! But imperial agent seems like what my heart would go for.

 

[rynnor]

Heh - I can see you having Alts again Toht

 

[old.Tohtori]

No, just one, that's what makes it hard. Hrhr...

 

[Keitanz]

http://www.thehut.com/games/platfor...3_146fbc0360db3aa590d25914b1613d56&affil=awin

£29.57 using code VALUEPC ... winning

 

[Corran]

what happened to waiting 4-6 months?

and get timecards there if ya gonna play it.. unless they upped the price now

 

[Keitanz]

Mainly cause it's not gonna be under £20 for at least a year I think unless there is some mega deal

I still think it will probably flop within a few months but meh as long as I get at least 100 hours of game time out of it I'll be happy

 

[svartalf]

Massively interview with Ohlen, original: http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/1...ce-ghosts-of-past-present-and-futu/#continued

Massively Exclusive: The Force ghosts of past, present, and future with SWTOR's James Ohlen [Updated]



by Larry Everett

on Dec 14th 2011 4:30PM



Sci-fi, Culture, Economy, Interviews, New titles, PvP, Endgame, PvE, Massively Interviews, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Crafting


Fans have been sitting on pins and needles, waiting for their blessed early access emails for Star Wars: The Old Republic. What can you do while we wait to reserve your character names before the noobie rush on December 20th? You could check out the awesome guide Massively released on Monday to scout out which class you want to play before you play it. You could read the Hyperspace Beacon that came out yesterday; it may take the edge off the anticipation. Or maybe you could have a chat with SWTOR Creative Director James Ohlen about the current state of the game and what's coming down the bend.



We went with the last one.



After the break, find out what Ohlen had to say about SWTOR's legacy system, customizable ships, and other future content.

Massively: How is the launch going so far on your end?



James Ohlen: It is going pretty well. The populations are spreading evenly across all the different shards. There are a few shards that are little more popular than the others, but we have no queue lines whatsoever. That's pretty good considering that it's a work day and everyone should be at work or school.



It was a surprise to most of us that you started the early access period two days earlier than originally scheduled. What was the reason behind that?



We want to have a nice ramp up to make sure that everyone's experience is as good as possible. We are inviting people in chunks. I've been playing a lot right now; there are a lot of people in every zone I'm in, but it's not over-crowded. I don't have to wait. All the servers are like that right now. They are very evenly distributed. That was the strategy there. Also the guild system worked really well because it spread the guilds across at the the different servers -- that's really helped make sure that the population is spread all across the various shards.



I appreciate not having the hour-long queue lines like we had on the beta weekends! And speaking of beta, I want to ask: What did you find to be the most "sticky" with players? A lot of our readers are wondering what's going to make them want to play this game over and over again. What are your thoughts on that?



There are a whole bunch of things. Obviously, the thing we've been talking about over and over again is story. We get a lot of comments from players: Unlike any other online games they've played, they really feel attached to their characters' personal story. They care about their avatars a lot more. Unlike other games, SWTOR really immerses players more in the game world, and that makes them want to come back. The story is what's going to drive people to play levels 1 to 50.



We've also been finding that a lot of the other activities we've included -- warzones, the space game, the crafting game -- are becoming quite popular. The warzone PvP is very popular. It's more popular than we thought it was going to be. In fact, I've already been in a warzone that popped in the morning. As soon as people got to level 10, they started queuing up for it. I think there are going to be a lot of people who are attracted to PvP and the warzones.



The space game is getting more popular too. It's more of a minigame. The space missions are daily missions. You do them when you log in for fun or when you're about to log off. I think a lot of players are going to do that.



The crafting and economic game (the auction house, which we call the Galactic Trade Network) is another area. Some players are very attracted to playing the economic game. They want to become really good crafters or they want to sell and buy things at the Galactic Trade Network. That's another activity that's going to attract players.



One of the biggest activities that people are going to do is the flashpoints. A lot of people like to run the flashpoints over and over again. They really like that experience.



What we've done with the experience point curb is give out experience for almost all of your activities: questing, killing creatures, warzones, the space game, flashpoints, world quests. When you're playing through the game from level 1 to 50, you can actually decide what kind of game you want to play. Do you play a game where you're just focused on questing? You're doing your class story; you're doing the world quests. That's what you're focused on. Do you want to mix it up? You're doing your class quests, but you want to get a lot of your experience points through PvPing in warzones. You can do that, and then you don't have to do as many world quests if you don't want to. Or, for example, you can get a lot of your experience points from flashpoints. You can do your class arc and flashpoints and kind of ignore PvP. Or you can have a total mix. During my last playthrough, I was doing class quests, then heroic quests and the flashpoints, and I also did space when I logged off. This gave me enough experience points to level through the planets the way that I wanted to.



We don't really expect the players to play the game one way. There so many different ways you can tailor the game according to what you like.



Six months to a year down the line, what will hold people to the game?



In other MMOs, the team moves on to other games or gets downsized. We've actually kept our team, and we're not working on anything else. It's a little bit different for me. Basically, when I finished with Baldur's Gate, I went on to Baldur's Gate 2, then I immediately went to Neverwinter Nights, then I immediately went to Knights of the Old Republic. But here I'm finished with SWTOR, and it's just more SWTOR. The whole team is that way. We don't have a secret project. It's nothing but new content for The Old Republic. We have teams working on new flashpoints; we have teams working on new operations; we have teams working on new game systems and on new space missions.



One of the new game systems we are working on is giving you the ability to modify your user interface. That's something we've wanted to do for a long time. We have a team dedicated to that. We have a lot of people who are fans of color-matching to chestpiece too. We have people working on that. Guilds are a huge part of the game, so we have a team focused on adding guild functionality to the game. Right now we are working on guild banks. We are going to be working on guild functionality for the foreseeable future -- for years!



We have a lot of content and game systems that we are still working on, and we're going to continue working on them, releasing them on a regular cadence. All of these things are going to be available as part of the subscription, so you don't have to pay extra, too. We are going to be releasing new game systems and content for players. A lot of it is going to be aimed at the elder gameplay. So if you want to continue to play that character instead of an alt, you're going to have access to the new space missions, new flashpoints, operations, and warzones or other PvP activities.



For the legacy system, we have the basics of it at launch, but the rest of it is coming out soon. That's a system that's really build to benefit people who like to play alts and who like to restart characters. You restart a character, and that character gets to be part of your legacy family. The character can be a husband, a father, a son, a daughter, a family friend, or family henchman; he doesn't have to be blood-related. Obviously you're going to want to have different races within your family tree. It's hard to have a Zabrak be the brother of your human. The legacy system is really going to benefit players who like to roleplay multiple characters.



Besides the story elements, what other kinds of benefits will be coming from the legacy system that you can talk about?



It's a system by which all the characters that are a part of your legacy family gain the benefits of that family. As you level up that legacy family, you're going to have to choose. It's going to be something you're going to have to tailor to the kind of legacy you want. Some of those benefits will involve the itemization system. Some of those benefits will involve the combat system abilities. Some of the benefits will change how character creation works. That's just some of them. I believe people will be very excited when more information comes out about that.

I've got some quick questions about ideas that at you guys have said could eventually be in the game. How soon will we see these? First: grey morality and associated benefits.



That should be coming pretty soon. We already have plans in for that. We have a system for it. The system had some issues, so we had to delay it. On a scale of, let's say, very soon, soon, sometime, and really late, I'd say soon. Not very soon, but soon.



How about sitting in your chairs other than your ship?



It's hard to say on that one. That one may be an easier one. That may be one we can do soon or very soon. It involves content changes but pretty safe content changes. That's another thing -- a lot of this stuff that we do will be based on the feedback that we will be getting from people. If people are demanding more chairs, then we will up the priority on that one. The chairs on the ship was kind of our prototype, but it came in late. I know chair-sitting should be complex, but we didn't wanna go around and touch every level.



Ship customization?



Ship customization (being able to add things to the interior of your ship) probably falls between soon and sometime. It's something that's pretty important. Let's say not as soon as the grey morality thing because it's a little bit of a bigger feature, and we want to introduce it properly.



Here's a fun one: What about guild ships?



That's probably later. That's kind of like the dream for the guild team to get to work on guild ships. But first they have to get the basics: the stuff that guilds are clamoring for, such as guild banks and leveling. That's the dream. There are a lot of fans of it. It's not going to be very soon or soon because when we introduce it, we want it to be really cool. We want it to easily fit into the game. We have to be careful when we unveil the system to make sure that it complements the current socializing in the game rather than detract from it.



How about advanced class respecs?



[Ten-second pause] Well, that's an interesting one. I would say, "I can't answer that one."



UI customization?



I'd say that's soon. It's very important. We have a team working on it. We know that it's something that people really want.



Last one: redesigning your character (maybe via a barber shop)?



That's not going to be soon or very soon; that will be later on. That's more of a feature for players who have been playing the game for a long time and have their level 50s. It's not high-prioity. If a lot of players start demanding it, then we will put it in.



Lastly, what do MMO players have to look forward to most in Star Wars: The Old Republic?



The BioWare values. The BioWare values are storytelling, companion characters, quality, and polish. I think quality and polish are huge and something that a lot of MMOs lack. Then combine that with the Star Wars license. I think being able to play in the Star Wars universe is huge. Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to fulfill the dream of playing the Star Wars universe more than any game you can imagine. It's fulfilling a dream. I played with the action figures as a kid; this is the ultimate realization of that.



For MMO players, the things that they want we treat very seriously. We have a lot of experience building MMOs thanks to the Mythic studio. It's helped build the PvP systems, the auction house systems, and the socialization systems that are so important to MMO players. I think MMO players are going to be suprised at how many features we have at launch compared to a lot of other launches.



Both of those things combine to create an experience that is really unique in terms of other online games out there.



Last question: What was the first character that you rolled today?



Sith Warrior. Darth Vader's my favorite character.



Thanks for talking with us, James!



[Update: Some launch figures mentioned in this interview have been removed at BioWare's request]

Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally here, and the Force is with Massively! We've prepared a Hutt-sized feast of class introductions, gameplay guides, lore roundups, and hands-on previews to help you navigate the launch period and beyond. And don't forget our weekly SWTOR column, the Hyperspace Beacon!

Tags: advanced-classes, BioWare, EA, early-access, Electronic-Arts, featured, guilds, interview, interviews, James-Ohlen, launch, legacy-system, LucasArts, sci-fi, space, Star-Wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, SWTOR, the-old-republic, TOR, ui, user-interface

 

[Keitanz]

I wanna know the launch figures which got removed

 

[old.Tohtori]

First impressions(just a quick start on my BH);

Story; liking it.
Gameplay and story integration; works well, you sometimes forget you're in an MMO.
HUD; needs a bit of work(quite some actually to be perfet), fine as is though, gets the job done.
Community in-game; on RP-PVP server, people joking about and didn't notice any whining and/or raging. So, positive so far. Just seen the Hutta community, which is a bunch of low-life, cutthroat, credit-crazy lunatics. Which i like
All important immersion; sometimes breaks because it's still an MMO, but as mentoned before, sometimes forget it too. I'd say immersion gets a good first impression.
Controls; MMO, what can you say, mouse+moving is a bit jerky at times.
Combat; feeling sufficiently badass, even if just pressing buttons.

It's good enough... so far.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Oh, quick Q, ayone know if you can swtich easily inside an advanced class?

Ergo; can you switch between melee and tanking in powertech, or healing and shooty in merc?

 

[rynnor]

Oh, quick Q, ayone know if you can swtich easily inside an advanced class?

Ergo; can you switch between melee and tanking in powertech, or healing and shooty in merc?

Are you talking about re-speccing your abilities? There should be a respec NPC in the capital city for each side I read.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Are you talking about re-speccing your abilities? There should be a respec NPC in the capital city for each side I read.

Yeah pretty much, that's good, don't have to go all out tanking/healing and will have a backup then.

 

[Cadiva]

Yeah pretty much, that's good, don't have to go all out tanking/healing and will have a backup then.

You have to pay to respec though if I remember rightly, you can't store up different roles like in Rift or different talent trees like in WoW.