each class will be able to get a total of 5 companions through out the game. Each companion will be able to do different types of damage or play different roles in a group. Each companion will also give different bonuses to your crew skills.
Star Wars is an expansive universe. You' will be playing the game, you will be fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Here we make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind Star Wars: the old republic
With more people playing SWTOR beta and game testing now, we are seeing more info coming out about it. While these players are still bound to the NDA, it is to be expected that some general knowledge will come out about the game.
If you will be playing SWTOR with a group of friends, it makes sense to form up your own guild so you can all play together and take advantage of any guild perks and benefits right from the start. Here is how to
Datacrons are part of the codex system in Star Wars The Old Republic. They are placed throughout the worlds for the players to find, usually in hard to reach places. As a reward for this exploration ingenuity, if a player successfully reachs and interacts with certain datacrons, one of the player's character stats will be increased -- permanently. Here is the complete list of Datacrons, rrdered by codex entry #
A few days ago we wrote a small post about what we know so far about the User interface of Star Wars: The old republic. Little did we know that BioWare will post a major update to the official blog of SWTOR, with new details on how the interface of the upcoming MMO has evolved during development.
This new essay, penned by lead UI artist Michael Voigt, delves into how the dream-weavers at BioWare Austin strived to keep screen clutter to a minimum.
We used the analogy of the cockpit of a steam locomotive compared to a modern sports car. The locomotive had indicators and dials jumbled in all corners of the cockpit and the sports car had a sleek driver dash containing all the necessary indicators in an organized layout...
Our game features beautiful scenic vistas and we wanted the user interface to complement those and not take away from them. The simplified sports car style silhouette gave a more letter-boxed effect and we felt this introduced less visual noise overall.
The embargo has been lifted from the Austin Fan Site Summit and people are talking!
The Q&A session with developers is one of the most interesting pieces of revealed content so far. If you wanted to know more about SWTOR, then this is a don’t miss. The question and answer sessions covered a range of topics relevant to the developer answering questions at the time. Blaine Christine & Daniel Erickson are always fun to listen to and get you really excited about the game.
Damion Schubert answers some other important questions but brings possible disappointment regarding some guild features. As part of a guild that is registered for SW:TOR I agree with others who were a little bummed that a guild leveling system (a-la WoW and LOTRO) doesn’t seem to be a top priority and instead is on the “board of cool things we’d like to add”.
While our guild does not classify ourselves as “hardcore”, we quickly achieve a high guild rating in WoW and we are super excited about playing SWTOR, to the point that some guidlies have quit WoW just to wait for Star Wars. So it’d be nice to see more priority placed on the guild benefits. Will there even be a guild bank? What will be the benefits to being in a guild at all? Interesting points I am not yet seeing the answers to.
Regardless, the game is just as awesome as I have been expecting it to be and I cannot wait to see more of the Fan Site Summit info going public so we can see your reactions as well!
Some of the questions that are asked and answered include:
·So, do you think the gap between casual and dedicated crafters will be smaller than in other MMOs? Can you tell us how they are rewarded – the dedicated ones?
·Is there an advantage or disadvantage to maybe not playing hard Dark/hard Light?
·Will Flashpoints be re-doable and can you use those in order to farm for rewards like Light side/Dark side?
·We wanted to know if you’re gonna have multiplayer Cantina games such as Pazzak, or Sabbacc or something like Swoop Racing?
·In regards to the economy system- Can you mention some besides those you already mentioned, like mounts or paying for skills or so?
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
These are the emotions the Sith Warrior channels to purge weakness from his body and become a cold-blooded, Force-wielding wrecking machine. Check out the class progression overview for Sith Warriors below:
A couple of days ago we received an email from YouTuber OneMinuteGalactica which was both unassuming and incredibly intriguing at the same time. Here, judge it yourself:
Hi. I was just wondering if you'd be interested in linking to a new Star Wars video I posted. It's sort of what Star Wars would be like if the dialogue had been written by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
Star Wars and Existentialism? I still can't quite work out whether OMG is a genius or a wierdo, but his video certainly works, adding a typically Satrian darkness and bleakness to proceedings that fits quite well with the Dark Side's overall ethos.
OMG has re-dubbed a section of Episode IV: A New Hope in French, with Sartre's philosophical musings appearing in English subtitles to accompany it. And the result is surprisingly fun for someone who mourns the pointless nature of existence. Obviously didn't have Happy Meals back then,
This week I sat down with some of the members and leadership of Jen'Jidai" a hardcore RP guild covering PvP and PvE
Where did your guilds name come from?
Jen’jidai is Sithanese for “Dark Jedi”
Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild?
Jen'Jidai (Meaning Dark Jedi in ancient Sithanese) is a Sith based RP/PvP-PvE guild for the MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. This guild is a chapter of the multi-gaming network; Legend-Gaming.
How did your guild come about?
Due to the lack in choice of great MMORPG’s around the time of the MMO Darkfall’s inception, we were looking for the next big game. We then soon stumbled onto SW:ToR.
What kind of play style do you focus on? PvE, PvP, RP?
All three.
What is your guild set up? How do you run your guild?
Jen’jidai is a community first and foremost. With that in mind, each member in it is viewed with respect and valued as an important part that makes up the whole. It is run professionally with the mindset that being in a guild is supposed to be fun, not torture.
How serious do you play and/or run the guild?
We are simply hardcore. However, we also cater to the casual gamer as well.
Do you have ranks or a certain hierarchy in your guild? If yes, could you tell us a bit about it?
Since we’re a multi-gaming community, our community leadership, who council over all chapters, are known as the Inner Sanctum. As for Jen’jidai itself, the Guild Leader title is Sith Master. If there ever comes a point to where we have a non-force sensitive guild leader, it will most likely be Grand Moff. Our Officers and lower ranks consist of both force sensitive and non-force sensitive rank to cater to our members’ choice of class type: Officer – Sith Lord and Admiral, Officer Assistants – Sith Archon, Vice-Admiral, Full Member – Sith Knight and Captain, and finally our trial members – Sith Adept and Cadet. For our Applicants they receive a special rank of ‘Hopeful’.
Why did you choose the Sith?
We chose Sith/Empire simply because in all chapter’s we’ve played, we gone the “bad guy” route.
Why do you run a guild?
Because of our members. Without them it wouldn’t be worth it.
How do you approach Raid Planning?
Yes we plan on raiding extensively with multiple Raid Officers.
Are you always open for new recruits or do you want to keep a certain guild size?
We’re always open to anyone who wishes to apply. Due to reaching our soft cap of 100 recently, we’re extra particular in who we accept.
Age Requirement? 17+
Current Guild size? After reaching our soft cap and “cleaning house” during our bi-weekly Activity Checks, we now sit at 80+ members.
What makes your guild stand out from everyone else? What makes your guild unique?
The extra things our community does. For example, we have that family attitude towards each other. Another example is we are active contributors to various charities such as the Christopher Reeve’s Foundation.
How do you spend your time until release? Do you know each other in real life or do you spend a lot of time on forums?
Every week we have activity nights. This ranges from movie night, to game night, to poker night on pokerstars.com. This is done through Ventrilo primarily but our current forum post count is above 145,000 posts so we’re quite active posters. We’re gamers first and foremost and fill a lot of our time playing games that will help us prepare for SWTOR. Through this many of us have grown strong bonds. There are also a few married couples in our guild which is welcomed.
What Other Games are you currently playing as a guild?
Currently we have strong numbers of people playing WoW Cataclysm and Rift. Those are our two main ones at the moment. But there are a large number of people who have been playing League of Legends, Minecraft, Left 4 Dead 2, Civ 5, DCUO, and Eve. Even a few who have ventured back into Age of Conan. Then there’s also the occasional BETA that many of our members will get into or the “Flavor of the Month” game or free to play game.
Guild systems in other MMOs? (Likes/Dislikes)
Many of the contemporary mainstream MMO’s have a lot of good qualities that have been “borrowed” from previous games like Ulitma Online, EQ, AoC. It’s rewarding to work towards goals, such as achievements, level-ups, and perks. However, it shouldn’t feel like a chore.
If somebody is interested now how and where can they apply for membership?
Prospective members can go to our website and apply on our forums via the ‘Gain Prestige and Join The Academy’ forum. http://legend-gaming.net/jenjidai/forums/index.php
One last question, if there was one thing you could ask the Dev's to include, what would it be?
Swimming. Just kidding. It would be great to see a support system for crafters in guilds. SWTOR already has a great crafting system. But a way to organize your crafters so you can appoint lead positions for each crafting skill and gathering skill. Then incorporate an easy way to communicate within the guild how much of each material of ‘x’ they need to make item ‘y for player ‘z’. And this could be displayed as a message board or data pad in your ship. Also a big thing for us would be customizable guild ranks. With roleplaying being a big element of our guild structure, this would allow us to tie in our existing ranking system within game.
If you would like your guild featured in The Guild Sphere don't be shy, drop an email to Ralley752@gmail.com
For those of you who have been wondering who will fill BioWare Austin's Co-Studio General Manager Gordon Walton’s shoes, we now have an official answer. BioWare announced that Jeff Hickman will be Executive Producer of Live Services for SWTOR.
During the Fan Site Summit event, Stephen Reid explained that Jeff Hickman joined BioWare to take on the role left open by Gordon Walton's departure. Hickman is known for his roles in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Dark Age of Camelot. However, some fans are concerned about his role in SWTOR after the somewhat flop of WAR and the early launch problems the game had.
But maybe the skeptics are being just a little too tough on Hickman. I mean, WAR struggled for many more reasons than just that and Hickman was not solely responsible for the issues that happened anyway. He was just following orders on what he was told to do.
As for DAOC, those of you who have played it know that it was an awesome game- a legend in gaming history, really. PVE was solid; the PVP was great and it only died off due to aging content. They also lacked any real marketing for new players or it may still be strong today. Another game that comes to mind when I think of this is Conquer Online. I spent countless hours of my day on Conquer for years and will unashamedly admit that I abandoned it for WoW.
Once WoW grew stale, I returned to Conquer to discover they had launched and all new ad campaign with upgrades and new features to the game as well. It was exciting to come back. This is something that DAOC missed out on but that could have kept them running.
Anyway, even if you think Hickman is a big fail for this WAR involvement, there has to be something that BioWare saw in him to bring him on board. And we all deserve second chances, right?
This week could mean big news for SWTOR fans all over the globe as the first embargo on the SWTOR fan site summit drops this week. This means those site representatives who attended will be able to start posting information about what they experienced at the summit.
Since there was a wide variety of people who attended, it should make for a good variety of opinions and viewpoints on the content from the summit and help all of us gain better insight into what we expect from the game.
As we all anxiously await the release of SWTOR, any news is good news at this point and fans will scramble for even the tiniest bit of new information about the game. So what can we expect from the first embargo dropping?
It sounds like we will see information on the content that was played at the event, which will include Agent and Bounty Hunter details. Stephen Reid verified this to be true on the SWTOR Community forums.
The second embargo is expected to cover PVP experience from the fan site summit so it is expected to be dropped when BioWare is ready to release more information about PVP in the game, hopefully in the coming weeks.
So why the embargo?
Embargos on events like these are actually a good thing for the community and fans. While we might be anxious to find out the latest and greatest news, the embargo ensures that we are getting only the best information.
If the guests of the event were not limited from leaking information for a certain period of time, they would all be scrambling to be the first to get info out there. You would have cryptic Tweets, dark cell phone pictures and other garbles of information shooting all over Cyberspace as each tries to beat out the other on breaking the news first.
Not only would the quality of the info be poor, but it was also hinder their abilities to just play and experience the game and the other opportunities. The embargo allows everyone attending to stay on a level playing field, gather their information and then have equal amounts of time to prepare it for the public.
In a press release by GamaSutra, it was announces that LucasArts signs a multi-year, studio-wide Unreal Engine 3 Licensing Agreement from Epic Games.
The press release states:
LucasArts and Epic Games, Inc. announce a long-term, studio-wide agreement for LucasArts to develop multiple projects using Epic Games' award-winning Unreal Engine 3 for the engine's supported platforms.
"Unreal Engine 3 is a forward-looking solution that shortens the path between inspiration and execution on a wide variety of gaming platforms," said Zak Phelps, director of technology at LucasArts. "We are thrilled to add another exceptional tool to our technology mix."
"LucasArts is now primed to capitalize on Unreal Engine 3's ability to scale across platforms, from mobile, through PC and console all the way up to the next generation of games," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. "We can't wait to see what happens when LucasArts combines their talented workforce and amazing intellectual properties with Unreal Engine 3."
There is no word yet on which games will use the engine and the press release cites “multiple projects”. Rumors of a sequel to the 2005 LucasArts' Star Wars Repubic Commando tactical shooter are resurfacing but it’s anybody’s guess what it will really be used for.
LucasArts also said the license would give them new opportunities to build Unreal-powered content on mobile, PC and consoles. One thing the new deal does show us is a shift in focus for LucasArts, at least on the behind-the-scenes techie side of the house. LucasArts’ Force Unleashed series was built around an internal engine that took quite some time and effort to design but now Epic’s engine will take priority.
Maybe this means LucasArts can spend less time worrying about the engine they use and more time just developing awesome games for us! We’re excited about what the future holds from this new business deal. Could this mean Star Wars on our iPhones soon?
The world of the Porn Parody has long held the distinction of featuring some of the greatest, and most creative titles in the entire movie industry landscape. Everyone knows the legend of such tongue-in-cheek (among other body parts) titles as Shaving Ryan's Privates and Edward Penishands, and now something is even more exciting is happening in the world of filth.
A couple of years back, Kevin Smith's Zack & Miri Make A Porno focused on Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks' attempt to make a Star Wars based porn flick, and now it seems that reality is about to mimic art with the release of a real XXX parody of George Lucas' franchise.
And it's in lurid 3D no less!
The news comes as star Kylie Ireland posted this photo of the construction of a landspeeder on the set - though to me it looks a lot like someone's just stuck a couple of chairs on a door...
I know the production quality has gone up significantly in this sort of parody recently, but I can't help but think that only a few years ago, this might have been the finished product. Also, why is it not shaped more obviously like a penis? I think director Axel Braun may have missed a trick there.
Casting is now apparently complete, with excellently named "actors" like Lexington Steele (Darth Vader), Allie Haze (Princess Leia), and Rocco Reed (Han Solo) making up the main part of the cast. There is surely some room to change the character names though (and in all probability LucasFilms will force it to happen), and I would like to suggest the following names for consideration: Darth Laid-Her, Hand Solo, Luke Skyporker, Princess Layer, Jabba The Rutt and Chewbackside. Oh and there's obviously also the E-Cocks of End-Whore. I have literally thousands of these...
Although, having said that, I don't think it's at all okay to have inter-species humping on-screen even in an inter-stellar skin flick parody. The idea of Jabba on Ewok action just turns my stomach.
This isn't the first time someone's chosen to dip their creative wicks into the Star Wars universe for a porno reimagining. In fact, past offerings have included Star Ballz, Star Whores and Sex Wars - hardly the most imaginative titles, but I'm reliably informed all excellent at what they aim to achieve. Which, I suppose must be orgasm?
Now if someone could just find it in their hearts to take a further leaf out of Zack & Miri's grubby little book and follow this particular blue movie with a horrendously genius sequel titled Revenge of the Shit: The All Anal Final Chapter I can die a happy man.
Stephen Reid, Senior Online Community Manager for SW:TOR answers a forum question regarding more release date debate. GamewizX was trying to locate a quote from Reid regarding the release date announcement and a possibility of a connection to E3.
Who would then pop into the thread to clear up the confusion? Why, none other than Stephen Reid himself:
“Or I could just say it for you right here.
I seem to recall I was trying to address the idea that the 'only' time a release date would be announced would be at a major show (this was pre-PAX). I have no idea where this idea started, but it's not a definitive suggestion. It's just a possibility.
That said, if we chose to announce a release date at any show, E3 would be a good choice, as it's probably the most high-profile games industry show on the calendar. (It's not the biggest; it's the highest profile. More journalists attend E3 than any other show. More members of the industry itself attend than any other show, etc.)
This is not - in any way - a suggestion, guarantee or intimation that we will announce a release date at E3. Strictly a hypothetical situation.”
There you have it- straight from Reid’s mouth… err… fingers himself. The simple translation is this: they’re not saying they will announce the release of SW:TOR at E3. They are not saying the announcement has to be made at a major show. However, in a “hypothetical” situation, if they were going to announce the release at a major show, it would be at E3.
Why?
Because it is the highest profile event with the most journalists present. What happens at E3, definitely doesn’t stay at E3!
So could this mean that the official release date will be announced at E3?
In the words of GodofThisWorld, “Mr. Stephen "Cryptic" Reid has been acting cryptically cryptic as of late. If I might add, positively cryptically so.”
You know how I know that you know that it's wednesday?? BioWare is updating the official Facebook page with a new screenshot of Star Wars: The old republic - That's how!
This time we get to see Han Solo and Chewbacca shoot down an Imperial probe droid on Hoth. Han diden't hit it that hard, so it must have had a self destruct mechanism... Oh wait. That's much later in the story. Here is the real description:
This Jedi Knight silences yet another security Droid as he approaches a Separatist stronghold on Ord Mantell.
I like all things dark. Dark and stuff full of tension. I love it when I get an adrenaline kick watching a movie or a picture. Maby that's also why I love Star Wars so much. So In todays column I would like to put the spotlight on StandAlone-Complex. This guys has it all. Darkness. Tension and incredible detail.
Here, as promised is Part 2 of the Angry Star Birds line-up (brought to you via the excellent Bite.ca), this time dedicated to the Dark Side of the Force, otherwise known as the Imperial Pigs.
It is incredibly difficult to resist the charms of these mashed-up characters, or to admire the brains behind their creation. My personal favourite is the Boarba Fett variation, and I have to say I'm more than a little tempted to take up Bite.ca's offer to purchase it on a T-shirt from RedBubble.
Considering the level of unprecedented success that Rovio Mobile's iPhone App "Angry Birds" has had since flying into Apple App Stores in December 2009, it was only a matter of time before the art transcended the medium it was released to. Forget the 100,000,000 plus downloads and the lucrative related merchandise lines; the moment Angry Birds really became mainstream was earlier this month when Bite.ca created their own Star Wars/Angry Birds mash-up.
Because everyone knows that success is only judged by proximity to the Star Wars universe.
Anyway, without further ado, below is the first half of Bite.ca's Angry Star Birds mash-up line-up (split in two because it originally came in two installments, and because doing it all in one go might devalue some of the images, and to do so would be criminal).
Many of us assumed the thread would go unanswered but much to our surprised, Damion Schubert decided to answer in full, thorough details what a typical day is like for him. In case you missed the thread, here are some highlights of the impromptu “interview”:
So I was wondering, at this stage in development, what’s a typical day in the life at Bioware Studios?
“The answer to this question is going to vary wildly and dramatically based on who you ask, so I’ll answer only for me – keep in mind that my role and position is pretty unique in the team, as I both manage a team of systems designers who do itemization, maps, crew skills and other features, as well as act as a primary liaison from design to several programming teams (yes, that’s plural).
So for me, my day is usually a combination of:
Meetings, and lots of them. Some days, even my lunches are meetings. A project this size takes a lot of communication to keep things rolling smoothly.
Playtesting
Triaging issues and design changes
Managing my team (who are, thankfully, excellent, and take little handholding).
Writing an occasional design document for a feature or tweak that slipped through the cracks, or needs redesign based on stats and feedback.
When I can sneak in a moment, I try to pop onto the boards and answer a question or two. As you might imagine, though, that time is more limited than I would like.”
Is this stage of development stressful or fun?
“Can’t it be both? I’m currently playing a build very nearly nightly, and it’s amazing to see it all coming together so nicely. That being said, it’s also incredibly frustrating because we’re all perfectionists, and we are constantly pushing to take it to the next level.”
What do you guys do at the office to blow off steam and have fun?
“On a team this size, there are a lot of different subcultures that do their own thing. We have a fitness group who prefers to go running instead of take lunch. We have a large weekly poker game, and more than one D&D campaign floating around. We have a large subculture of Magic the Gathering players who I keep intending to go lose to. I tend to hang out with the people who like board games. League of Legends is popular, and you can naturally find players of almost any major MMO you can think of, if you try.”
Call it good PR, or a genuinely friendly staff, one thing is certain- the SW:TOR devs pleased a lot of fans when Damion Schubert decided to share with us what a typical day is like. Awesome job, guys. Awesome job!
What do you think? Will SW:TOR make one million subscribers or are they counting their chickens before they hatch? Personally, I think the 1 mill mark is very attainable but the real question is whether or not they will hold that many subscribers over time. How many MMOs have launched with high expectations and then fallen flat on their faces? (Think Warhammer and Age of Conan)
I’m not expecting SW:TOR to join this list of overhyped MMOs but maybe I’m just holding high hopes as a big fan. We’ll have to wait until Fall to know for certain. While there is no definitive release date of the game, it is announced that it will be complete and ready for launch later this year. (We hope!)
At the Electronic Arts fourth-quarter shareholders’ conference earlier this year, CEO John Riccitiello stated this about his soon-to-be-released MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic: "At half a million subscribers, the game is substantially profitable, but it's not the kind of thing we would write home about. Anything north of a million subscribers, it's a very profitable business."
They are not alone when it comes to people who expect one million subscribers to be very attainable to Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Gaming business website Gamasutra, quoted Mike Hickey as saying that Janco "suspect[s] a willingness from investors to believe [500,000] to 1 million Star Wars MMO subscribers is an attainable target."
What do you think? Will the game reach 1 million subscribers? Will they be able to maintain this over time after launch?
This week I sat down with some of the leadership from Prime Defense, a PvE focused Republic guild with close ties to their guildies. Hope you enjoy the Interview.
Where did your guilds name come from?
Our guild name consists of two words. Prime as in top quality, best or perfection and defense as in defenders of the galaxy.
Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild?
Prime Defense is an active and tight knit community filled with members from around the world. We strive to provide a relaxed environment where members can hang out and get to know each other while still retaining a serious attitude in game while running PVE instances or participating in tactics based PVP.
How did your guild come about?
Our guild was born from another community that went under the name The Royal Echani. During the summer of 09, the leader of The Royal Echani vanished without word, and the guild fell apart as no one was left in charge and nobody had access to the website controls. During this stage of the guild, I was a high ranking member and I decided to gather up many of the remaining members so we could form a new community called Prime Vengeance. Over time, we realized having the word vengeance in our name was quite Sith esque, so we then made a guild vote presenting many new guild names, the winning name being Prime Defense. Having around 20 or so active members from the get go gave us a huge boost in guild development and activity, so Prime Defense progressed rather quickly. We started racking in very good members, upgrading our website, building a fantastic community as well as creating a very wide recruitment net. All of these aspects have shaped us into the gaming community we are today.
What kind of play style do you focus on in SWTOR? PvE, PvP, RP
We focus primarily on PVE content but we also plan to run smaller, focused PVP activities and events for the guild. If I was to give a solid idea of the level we plan to to take in each role, it would be 80% PVE and 20% PVP. We also have some light role playing features but we don't role play in games, or when talking to each other. However, we have a HUGE section in our forum completely dedicated to member made RP literacy as well as guild wide, text based role plays. Also, we occasionally have events where small groups of members will take part in organized role play scenarios in private chat rooms.
What is your guild set up in? How do you run your guild?
Our guild uses a council and co-leader model. We have two leaders who run the guild, update the website, deal with problems and handle most guild related issues. However, we also have a council to deal with larger guild issues, discuss additions, members, occasionally promotions and where the guild is headed as a whole. We also allow the entire guild to vote on major issues that effect the experience for the members directly.
How serious do you play and/or run the guild?
The guild runs in a very social, relaxed state when we aren't in game. However, our members know that it's crucial to be serious, vigilant and skillful while running things such as difficult raid encounters.
Do you have ranks or a certain hierarchy in your guild? If yes, could you tell us a bit about it
We do have a rank system in our guild. Each class is assigned an equal amount of twelve ranks, and we rank people up based on activity and guild contribution.
Our previous guild ran as a republic guild, so most of the people who transfered to Prime Defense wanted to be Republic. I think it's mostly due to the class types, and the higher display of "heroism" within the Republic stories and class designs.
Why do you run a guild?
I run a guild simply because I enjoy providing and managing a community for a group of like minded people. I generally have a lot of free time on my hands, which gives me plenty of ample opportunity to properly manage and run a guild along with the other leader. Furthermore, I relish in designing and improving the guild website as well as creating new guild features to present prospecting recruits and current members.
Raid Planning?
Our guild definitely plans to run raids throughout the the leveling process and beyond end game. As we are a PVE centric guild, we plan to run raids as one of the guild's main focuses. We currently have three companies set up(soft divisions) under the name of the "Prime Army". This is to assure organization and activity while raiding on weekdays in respect to the fact that we are an international guild. Since most of our North American members are at work or school while our European members are mainly active on weekdays, we assign all of our European members to a European only group(Ark Company). As we are mostly a western guild, we have two companies for our western players (Justice and Myst company). We can schedule raids for specific companies during weekdays, to make sure everybody in the guild has an equal raiding experience throughout the week. This by no means results in players from certain companies being excluded from raids because their company doesn't have a raid a certain day, everyone from the guild is allowed to raid with any company if they happen to be on at the time. This is only to provide an extra layer of organization and friendly competition within the guild. If you're confused, feel free to visit our company page.
Are you always open for new recruits or do you want to keep a certain guild size?
We are almost always open for guild recruits, however we plan to stay under 100 active members at the moment.
Age Requirement?
We require all recruits to be at least 16 years old to apply.
Guild size?
We are a very large for pre-release community
Active Member Count: 70-80
Forum Post Count: 30000+
Forum Topic Count: 2500+
Please do not treat our size as some sort of "zerg" guild. We are an extremely tight knit community, and we dislike being viewed as something else.
What makes your guild stand out from everyone else? What makes your guild unique?
We offer plenty of actively used guild features rarely or not found in other online communities. These include a company system, a guild podcast(Prime Cast), member titles, member achievements, an exceedingly active chat room, large RP forum section, our own domain and a high quality website providing a sleek and organized home for the guild.
How do you spend your time until release? Do you know each other in real life or do you spend a lot of time on forums?
The guild plays a multitude of other games during the wait for TOR. Some of the members also know each other in real life. However, 90% of the guild has not met in real life(yet). We host many gaming events, tournaments, guild wide roleplays and more on the forums. We also have an extremely active chat room, you would find yourself baffled to find nobody in the chat room at any given time, as there are almost always 2-25 members logged onto the chat at all times.
What Other Games are you currently playing as a guild?
We play a wide list of other games across all genres within small and large groups as a guild. Some include Left 4 Dead 2, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Borderlands, Jedi Academy, World of Warcraft and we even host our very own Minecraft server. Even if you don't find a game you would like to play with the guild, then you can simply make a forum post introducing a game or asking if anybody owns it. Chances are you will find members to play with.
Guild systems in other MMOs? (Likes/Dislikes)
I really admire the guild system in World of Warcraft, especially after cataclysm. The guild achievements were a fantastic addition, and many of the smaller features such as guild bank permissions, notes, guild messages and more come in very handy for a leader.
If somebody is interested now how and where can they apply for membership?
If you're interested in Prime Defense you can simply visit our application hub for class recruitment status, links to important information as well as our application section on the forums.
One last question, if there was one thing you could ask the Dev's to include, what would it be?
I would definitely ask them to include guild starships. Even though this is already somewhat confirmed, I think it would be an extremely important and impressive feature to add to SWTOR. It would just be fantastic to be able to have a customized area where your guild members can hang out, meet up, craft and duel among other great ideas the developers could think up.
Thank you guys for taking the time to talk to me about your amazing guild, hope to see you in game this Fall.
If you would like to have your guild featured in the Guild Sphere please send an email to ralley752@gmail.com Be hearing from you all soon
Billions of people now use Twitter - sadly, most of them just to massage their own egos and pointlessly try and collect as many followers as possible without using their influence for any good or even for entertainment value, but look hard enough and there are some ripe choices in amongst there. And it seems that the Star Wars universe is as well represented in the land of tweets as the real world is, with an impressive array of characters from every time-period of the many-faceted franchise.
A lot of those characters are humorous versions of those we see on screen, and it is my aim to introduce you lot to the cream of the crop of these fictional but very real Twitterers.
So, to start with - Series One if you like - are a handful of malignant foes, either fully paid-up members of the Empire or at the very least associated with Darth's gang. Follow them, and enjoy the humour...
You can actually get a decent wireless connection in the stomach of the Sarlacc. Not that I'm sure that I'm in the stomach. Boy I like Firefox's spellcheck
On April 22 the “Off Topic” forum was closed at Star Wars: The Old Republic. While some might not consider this breaking news, there are others who beg to differ. Some forum regulars are in a huff over the takedown of their Off Topic forums; even going so far as to threaten to unsubscribe.
The official notice of the closure of the forum states:
Hello Everyone! As of today, it is no longer possible to create posts in the Off-Topic forum. We know some of you may want to preserve old discussions or posts, so the forum will be viewable until 4/22. After this date, the Off-Topic forum will no longer be available.Post all discussion about this topic in this thread. Please remember to follow the rules when posting about this subject! Thank you!
As you might imagine, it didn’t take long before posts of complaints over the decision would crop up. The discussion thread on this topic has already been split in two with the first thread hitting 175 pages.
User EzzeJenkins says, “This is ridiculous and horrendous at the same time.” He goes on to explain, “You are tearing a community apart, a community that comes to this website, sees this game and chats with friends, friends that they will most likely meet in-game when they buy this game. I can understand making the forums accessible to subscribers only WHEN THE GAME COMES OUT. But right now there is no game to subscribe to, the CM’s should let people have their fun to chat about what they want(within the rules of the ToS)…”
So what do you think? Are people overacting or was it really a mistake to shut down the Off Topic forums? Is it really going to cost them potential subscribers? Will people shy away from the game just because there is no longer an Off Topic forum for SWTOR or do most people not really care?
Here, we welcome your comments- no matter how “off topic” they may be!
As we sit and anticipate the release of SW:TOR, there are many things we are pondering as gamers. One big question in the minds of many is what the user interface (UI) will be like. To me, this is really important. It’s how you interact with the game and it can really make or break a game if it gets screwed up.
So far from early impressions of the UI, does it look good? Do you think it flows well? Will there be addons?
Current available equipment slots are: Ear, Implant, two Relic slots, Waist, Wrists, Head, Chest, Legs, Feet, Main Weapon, and Secondary Weapon - Darth Hater
Quote: There are two tabs of inventory space; the first item tab yields 48 slots, and the second item tab has 32 inventory slots plus one slot that is placed outside the grid without a label - Darth Hater
Built in Quest Helper System, similar to Warhammer, in game. Points you in right direction for quests and indicates progress. - Darth Hater
Some of the things we’ve heard about the UI indicate that it will be similar to other popular MMOs of today but with its own personal touch. The most important thing to me as a gamer is functionality. I don’t want to have to have addons and mods to do what I need to do. I’m not mod-shy, however, and if a game’s basic UI doesn’t offer it, you can bet that I will search for what I need. However, I’m hoping to see a “vanilla” SWTOR release with a fully functioning and all-encompassing UI. A gamer can wish, right?
If you love Star Wars lore, then you are going to be really excited about the news that Drew Karpyshyn’s new novel has been revealed. The new book titled, Raven will expand beyond the core game and into novels and comics of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.
Del Rey Books has already published two novels in the Old Republic timeline, Fatal Alliance and Deceived, and they announced last year that there would be a third Old Republic novel. Drew Karpyshyn, Principal Writer at BioWare would be the author of this book. Fans may know him from the Darth Bane series of Star Wars™ novels.
In an exclusive Q&A, Karpyshyn shares some information about the book. This part will be rather interesting to those who are anxiously awaiting the release of SW:TOR MMO:
Q: In what ways will readers who have read Revan benefit when playing Star Wars: The Old Republic?
A: I think the novel will give them a much better understanding of the Sith Emperor and the Empire, for one thing. The Old Republic Sith Empire is very different from what people know from the movies, or even from the Great Hyperspace War comics that focus on characters like Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh.
The novel will also give them some very direct background and detailed information that ties in directly with key Flashpoints in the game. I can't say too much, of course, but like any great prequel the books will give you the details of what came before to add an extra layer of depth to the experiences in the game.
I love nerdy dedication - it is after all what makes the world go round. And Wayne Dorrington has taken the biscuit with his genius Iconoscope version of The Empire Strikes Back, the scale of which you can see below.
Bear in mind that this is only the first half of the Iconoscope, thanks to Dorrington's assertion that it needed to be lengthy in order to fit in the entire plot of the second of the original trilogy:
...You realise how much more complex and in-depth the story was compared to first movie. The narrative is split into several sub-stories and keeps jumping between them - plus, in the first move there were virtually no costume changes for the main characters - but in this one, each had several, all of which are iconic.
