With Patch 3.0 just around the corner, the flow of information from Bioware is increasing. This time around, through their developer blog, they announced the upcoming changes for Trooper and Mercenary classes. In specific: Changes announced are subject to change Mercenary and Trooper classes will receive the most dramatic changes as compared to all other classes as part of Patch 3.0 Resource costs for troopers/mercenaries have been adjusted – in some cases they have been decreased, while in some others have been increased. Both Trooper and Mercenary classes get additional passive abilities added
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Damion Schubert leaves Bioware
SWToR developer Damion Schubert announced on his personal website that he quit his job at Bioware. Schubert has been with Bioware for 8 years and admitted that working and launching SWToR was the highlight of his career. He was also quick to point out that his resignation will have no impact in the development of SWToR and Shadow Realms. Based on his announcement it appears that it was his own decision and he plans to take some time off away from the game development world. While no specific reason was given about his departure, he pointed out that his decision was unrelated to his comments relating to “Gamergate” controversy. Damion Schubert SWToRStrategies.com would like to thank Damion for his contribution to SWToR and wish him the best on his future endeavors. You can read his full announcement right here
Bioware posts stream schedule for upcoming advanced class changes
Bioware’s community manager Eric Musco, was once more at the forums today posting information about upcoming community team streams. With patch 3.0 just around the corner, Eric highlighted some of the topics his team will be covering. In specific: As many of you know, we will be streaming around each individual Advanced Class and the changes coming to their Disciplines in 3.0. We will be starting those streams this week and do one set of base Class mirrors each week for the three weeks thereafter. Here is our currently planned schedule. As always this could change, but here is our plan as of right now! Friday, November 7th – Bounty Hunter and Trooper Thursday, November 13th – Inquisitor and Consular Friday, November 21st – Warrior and Knight Wednesday, November 26th – Agent and Smuggler Thanks everyone! We’ll see you on stream to talk about all of the changes coming to…
PvP Season 3 rewards announced!
Biowares’s assistant designer Alex Modny took it to the official forums today to announce the rewards for PVP season 3. Judging by the reaction, most SWToR fans were rather pleased by the announcement and the improvement over Season 2. In specific: The culmination of Season 3 is fast approaching and many furious rumbles have yet to be waged. The end of Season 3 will come with Game Update 3.0 and your rating, when the servers come down for the update, will determine which tier you are in and what rewards you receive. The higher your tier the more glorious your rewards! Just like in previous seasons, the Highest Earned rating that determines the tier you are in – not Current – so no need to feel like you are risking Rating by going after the next tier up! To see your Highest Earned Rating, check the Warzone Rating and Stats…
Developer Blog: Bedtime in Concordia
Bioware released yet another Developer blog today titled “Bedtime in Concordia”. This time around the blog focuses on Shae Vizla‘s story – a Mandalorian who was credited for working with the Sith Empire and helping in storming the Jedi Temple in Coruscant. Shae Vizla Bedtime on Concordia A blazing campfire cast three shadows across the open plain. The longest stretched from the angular form of a man still clad in the armor of his people, the fire’s light stumbling and bouncing across decades of pockmarks and scrapes in the Mandalorian iron’s surfaces. The other shadows’ figures were clad in training gear, their bodies still growing too quickly for proper armor to fit for long. Galron watched his twin daughters over the flames. Tayn and Mari had done well in the day’s hunt, handled their weapons and gear properly, and shown great patience. He would tell their mother that they were growing…
Limited time Cartel Market items are now available
Community manager Eric Musco was once more at the official SWToR forums providing updates about upcoming content releases. In this case, Mr.Musco provided a quick update on some cartel market items that are going to be available for a limited time only. In specific: I wanted to let you know about some new items coming to Cartel Market later today. These are each of the items and their Cartel Coin price. Note that these items are only available for a limited time and will come off of the Market on 11/4. Walkhar Trickster – 1800 CC Ghostly Magus Armor Set – 1000 CC Ethereal Rakling (Minipet) – 140 CC Phantasmal Rakling (Minipet) – 140 CC Statue of the Agonized (Decoration) – 150 CC Thranta Trophy (Decoration) – 130 CC Infected Tree (Decoration) – 120 CC Returning Item! TRK-R Treatment Chamber – 1200 CC While no date was provided as to…
SWToR revenue surpasses $100 million for 2014
Superdata research released yet another report looking at the most popular Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games. In the past, the same firm had published information relating to the top 10 PC games by free-to-play earnings for 2013 which set SWToR at no.8 with $139 million right behind World Of Warcraft with $213 million. This report, in addition to others, signaled a come-back for Bioware’s first attempt at MMOs and was source of excitement for fans of the game. SuperData’s research data for 2013 The latest report released covers January to September 2014 and looks at the top 10 MMOs by revenue for the year. While SWToR didn’t make the top 10, it still remains at a respectable no.12 with $106 million in revenue, right behind Elder Scrolls Online with $111 Million. Keeping in mind that Shadow of Revan is yet to be released, one would expect to see a significant increase over the last 3 months of the…
Community Stream updates fans on in-game commendations changes
Bioware shared some additional details on upcoming commendation changes during the regularly scheduled Community stream. The SWToR ommunity team made up by Eric Musco, Courtney Woods and Hillary Nicole shared information about what’s going to happen to in-game commendations after Shadow of Revan goes live. In detail: Ultimate and elite commendations are staying the same: While Musco admitted this is subject to change, he reassured that fans won’t lose any commendations either ways. Earning commendations: Some slight changes will occur impacting how fast you can earn the before-mentioned commendations. More details will be released next week. Three types of commendations become one: Every other type of commendation (excluding warzone) – classic, basic and planetary will be collapsed into a single type of commendation called basic. As mentioned above, Musco was quick to point out that these changes are not confirmed and could change as a result of testing before Shadow of Revan goes live….
Bioware teases with details about “Shadow of Revan”, new playable race, solo Flash points and more!
Massively, Hyperspace beacon, MMORPG and Ten Ton Hammer were treated to a unique opportunity by Bioware recently. During a livestream, lead writer Charles Boyd, producer Bruce MacLean and Game director James Ohlen shared more information about what’s coming to the latest SWToR expansion. Some of the highlights included: There will be a Patch 4.0 – there are more stories to be told (and probably more expansions in 2015) SWToR development is speeding up – expect to see more exciting announcements after the release of Shadow of Revan Patch 3.0 might expand to other locations other than Yavin IV and Rishi Togruta will be the next playable race and will be a Cartel Market item Solo flashpoints confirmed – A droid companion will be available to carry players through tough fights Class missions return – you can now play your unique class mission story
Enhanced guild conquest option now available
Patch 2.10.2 was released yesterday and Bioware discovered (!) an additional feature they implemented as part of the update. According to Community Production Coordinator Tait “pariahloki” Watson the enhanced guild conquest option is: Hey folks, After doing a check to see what else was pulled into 2.10.2, we found that the ability for Guild Masters to allow other Ranks within the Guild to start Invasions was also put in! GMs can set this permission within the Ranks tab in the Guild window. I’ll put that in as part of my Patch Note update as well. -tait It’s good to see Bioware working hard to implement additional features in the game based on the feedback they receive from the community.
Community News: The Revanites’ Ascendance
A new community news post was made available today from Bioware that sets the stage for the upcoming Shadow of Revan Expansion. As the title implies the post takes a closer look at a Revanites’ and their impact on both Republic and Empire. The author of the report, Shroud, makes the assumption that Revan’s followers have infiltrated the two main factions in the game and are slowly working towards their greater plan to conquer the galaxy. You can read a snippet from the post below FROM: The Shroud TO: All Assets (Level 25 Encoding Active) SUBJECT: The Order of Revan I have mentioned in the past that a number of embedded Imperial and Republic assets have been eliminated. Some of these deaths appeared purely incidental, while others were very obviously assassinations executed with varying degrees of competence and flair that would not suggest a pattern. I now believe it was a mistake for me to…
Patch 2.10.2 notes – Turn your stronghold into a gambler’s paradise for only 1 credit!
About a month ago, Bioware admitted that the Smuggler’s Gambit slot machine wasn’t part of Constable Stronghold’s pack. To make up for the bug, Bioware’s community manager, Eric Musco, promised to rectify the issue by offering the before-mentioned item for purchase in-game for only 1 credit. Smuggler’s Gambit slot machine We only had to wait for a month for Mr.Musco’s promise to become reality. Patch 2.10.2 notes were recently released and among other things specify that the slot machine is available for purchase through the Binary Star Reputation Vendor. In specific: 2.10.2 Patch Notes Highlights 16-Player Operations have returned to Group Finder! We have made behind-the-scenes improvement to prevent the performance issues that we encountered when the system was initially made available. Check out the Group Finder to enjoy the faster queues and better rewards of 16-Player Story Mode Operations! General Imperial Crate (Single), Imperial Crate (Stacked), Republic Crate (Single), and Republic Crate (Stacked) have…
Patience you must have! Expansion announcement delayed…slightly
It’s the last day of the month and of course speculation is high about what the next SWToR expansion announcement is going to be. Fans have been talking about it in various places, including the official SWToR forums where Bioware is always keeping a close eye on what’s going on. One SWToR fan’s excitement caught the eye of Bioware and solicited a response from Senior Producer, Bruce McLean:
SWToRStrategies: The Wall of Crazy….or…it was a dark and stormy night!
SWToRStrategies: Wall of Crazy (WoC) is the latest column that aspires to look into certain concepts and ideas that could make into our favorite game. The term “Wall of Crazy” is something that Bioware used in the past to describe crazy ideas that developers have during meetings and could eventually materialize if given the right resources. The most recent example, is the implementation of the Guild Capital ships and Guild Battles.
From BioWare to Indie Van Game Jam
The “Indie Van Game Jam” was supposed to drive around the country, making games and interviewing developers. Their kickstarter project didn’t make enough money, but they decided to do it anyway, Kotaku explains. These three guys used to work for Bioware- Zeb, Chad and Diego. They met on the staff of SWTOR and like many of the people I met when visiting BioWare Austin, they were part of big layoffs/quits that came after the game’s released. The friends came together on a new project and they travel the country working on games. So what is the Indie Van Game Jam? Here’s an explanation in their own words: “We travel in a van, make games, and ask independent developers how they make theirs. Think Man Vs. Food meets Indie Game: The Movie.”” Yea, sounds pretty cool, right? I want to be doing something similar with my life now that you mention it. Ok,…
Bioware addresses network connectivity issues
Bioware’s production community coordinator Tait Watson was once again at the official forums today addressing server issues that affected SWToR gamers today (9/24/2014).
In specific…
Former Electronic Arts (EA) CEO predicts free-to-play model evolution
Former Electronic Arts (EA) CEO, John Riccitiello is a controversial figure among gamers, especially with SWToR fans. During his tenure at EA, he spearheaded the strategy to develop and promote free-to-play games, an approach that Star Wars The Old Republic (SWToR) fully embraced. During a recent interview with Gamespot. Mr. Riccitiello predicted that both premium and free-to-play pricing models will continue to exist with the later possibly evolving. He also stressed out that both models (and possibly others we haven’t seen), will continue to co-exist without one gaining the upper hand over others.
Cartel market bug leads to Slot Machine sale!
Bioware recently released a new cartel market pack called Constable Stronghold’s pack as part of Patch 2.10. The pack includes the Smuggler’s Gambit Slot Machine that apparently a lot of SWToR fans were eagerly awaiting to become available. Unfortunately, yet another bug prevented cartel market shoppers from obtaining their slot machine as community manager Eric Musco confirmed at the forums earlier today.
How Knights of The Old Republic inspired Mass effect
Didyouknowgaming.com has posted very interesting video posted on Youtube on how Star Wars, Knights of The Old Republic (KoToR) inspired the Mass effect series in addition to other interesting information. If you ever played Mass Effect and KoTOR then the video is definitely a must watch!
Patch 3.0 details to be released soon
Senior producer, Bruce MacLean was once again at the SWToR.com forums and this time let us know when Patch 3.0 information is going to be released. In specific, responding to a fan’s post he mentioned: You nailed it. We have been holding back 3.0 details because <SPOILERS!!>. But now that Forged Alliances is out there with this morning’s launch of 2.10 we’re letting folks have a little time with Rakata Prime and then spilling the beans on 3.0. Look for a teaser within a week, and then a full announce before the end of month! There you have it! Next week we should have a teaser trailer on the next chapter of SWToR while the full reveal will be later this month!
SWToR Developer Blog: Remnants
Bioware released recently yet another developer blog post titled “Remnants”. The short story paves the way for the upcoming SWToR expansion and takes place at Rakata Prime
The protagonist is a smuggler named Kaya who’s “re-purposing” antiques out of the hands of the natives of the planet. Her droid and her ship barely manage to escape their pursuers before running into more trouble…
SWToR server issues lead to Patch 2.9.0d
It’s no secret that since yesterday a number of SWToR servers have experienced a series of issues. Lag spikes, dropped connections and queues started with the Harbinger server, and then expanded to Begeren Colony and the Bastion. These issues forced Bioware to take these servers offline for maintenance today. According to an official post by Eric Musco at the SWToR community forums, players in the Harbinger server experienced some “rollback” after the server’s downtime. Musco was also quick to point out that no other servers were going to be affected by this issue. The situation eventually lead to the announcement of Patch 2.9.0d set to be deployed tomorrow.
Bioware SWToR Cantina Tour flash drive contents
As promised in the report-out article from Bioware’s cantina tour below you will find the contents of the flash drive distributed to all fans who attended the event. Pax Prime 2014 Scoop Rakata Prime Flashpoint screenshots Upcoming Cartel Market items Wallpapers included in the flashdrive
Bioware’s SWToR Cantina Tour Report-out (Seattle, Grand Hyatt Hotel, August 31,2014)
SWToRStrategies.com had the opportunity to attend Bioware’s SWToR Cantina Tour at Seattle’s Grand Hyatt hotel yesterday (Aug.31,2014) and bring you the latest information from the meeting.