companions

SWTOR Introduces “Date Night” Companion Missions in Game Update 7.4.1

SWTOR Update 7.4.1: Introducing Date Night Companion Missions

This article provides an overview of the new Date Night Companion Missions feature introduced in Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Game Update 7.4.1, highlighting the initial companions available for these missions, the conditions for access, and the unique rewards players can earn. In a delightful twist to the ongoing saga of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), the game’s narrative team announced an innovative feature set to deepen the player’s connection with their in-game companions. Dubbed “Date Night Companion Missions,” this feature, revealed during the Game Update 7.4.1 livestream by Narrative Director Ashley Ruhl and Lead Writer Caitlin Sullivan Kelly, promises to add a new layer of personal interaction between players and their beloved characters. A Closer Look at Date Night Companion Missions Designed as weekly repeatable Alliance Alert missions, Date Night Companion Missions offer fully-voiced, cinematic-only scenes that are unique to each companion’s interests. Whether it’s a casual outing…

Read More

SWTOR: Free Mini-pet to Celebrate Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s Launch

The guys over at BioWare is giving away a free mini pet to all players, in celebration of the launch of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen order. We want to offer our heartfelt congratulations to our friends at Respawn on their amazing accomplishment. Friday, November 15th marks the beginning of an exciting new journey as players around the globe begin their adventures with Cal Kestis and his companion BD-1. We cannot wait to join them in a galaxy far, far away! As a studio that loves our Companions, we were especially drawn to BD-1. So, as a special congratulations to the Respawn team, we have built a new droid mini-pet inspired by BD-1. Since The Old Republic takes place thousands of years before the events in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, we worked with the Respawn team to make sure that our droid’s design was properly influenced by BD while also fitting within…

Read More

SWTOR: New Premium Player Reward: Paxton Rall Companion

The SWTOR Devs over at BioWare Austine, has announced the arrival of Paxton Rall, wich is a new player companion. This guys will be availible from December as a part of a Holiday Subscriber Promotion. Check out the news below: This holiday, the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ team is excited to announce a new Premium player (Subscriber) reward* – the new Twi’lek Pirate Companion, Paxton Rall! The most notorious pirate to rise to fame across the galaxy since the invasion of the Eternal Empire, Paxton Rall scours the stars in an endless hunt for adventure and profit, making him a formidable ally in your Alliance. To fight alongside Paxton, you must have Premium player (Subscriber) status on Friday, December 14, 2018 @ 11:59PM PST / Saturday, December 15, 2018 @ 7:59AM GMT. Paxton will be delivered via in-game mail by Thursday, December 20, 2018 @ 11:59AM PST / Friday, December…

Read More

SWTOR: Fix for the Lana Beniko Marriage Bug in 5.9.2 (for past and new romances)

Charles Boyd, Creative director for Star Wars: The old republic, just announced a fix for the marriage with Lana Beniko. Hey everyone! I wanted to share a more detailed update about the Lana marriage bug that cropped up with Update 5.9, and how we’ll be addressing it with Update 5.9.2. When the dev team originally implemented the variable that stores whether a given player character has chosen to marry Lana or not, a bizarre quirk of the tools caused that variable to not be set permanently, even though we told the tools to do so. As I’m sure you can imagine, we found this quite frustrating, and have thus destroyed said “quirk” via ruthless orbital bombardment to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. From now on, characters that are in a romance with Lana who play through the Solo Story mode of the Nathema Conspiracy Flashpoint will have their decision of whether…

Read More

Great Lana Beniko Cosplay

We haven’t posted about any cosplays recently (are people still doing this?) but we just stumbled upon a good one. Here’s an awesome Lana Beniko cosplay. She’s really good – it looks exactly like her and no details were left untouched. The level of detail on everything is amazing. She has the perfect natural features to play Lana, and she gets every little detail of her costuming and hair right as well. Lana Beniko was a Human female Sith Lord of the resurgent Sith Empire. During the Galactic War against the Galactic Republic, she served as a key advisor to Dark Council member Darth Arkous. In SWTOR, she’s voiced by Lydia Leonard. “With her serene and considerate manner, one might mistake Lana Beniko for a Jedi. She is, however, a Sith Lord of great wisdom and strength who has impressed many of her peers in a considerably short period of time with…

Read More

SWTOR is giving out Shae Vizla and Nico Okarr to active Subscribers – coming April 3

Bioware is giving out Shae Vizla and Nico Okarr to active subscriber on 3rd of April. Yea, You herd it right. BioWare is bringing back the Subscriber rewards. Check out the news below: ‘COMPANION CHAOS’ – THE CHAOS IS OVER, NOW IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE! The world of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is full of surprises. Today, we are announcing ‘Subscriber Rewards’ coming April 3, 2018. In a galaxy characterized by combat and treacherous betrayals, it is important to celebrate alliances. Nothing is more important than our relationship with each other and our loyal companions. In honor of the alliances we all create with our companions, all our premium players will receive the legendary Mandalorian leader, Shae Vizla and the infamous smuggler, Nico Okarr join your team of companions. These iconic Companions will join your team, if you have a premium status on April 3, 2018 at 12:01AM PT. All active Premium…

Read More

More Returning Companions comming to SWTOR?

The devs over at Bioware had a short developer livestream yesterday. The livestream was allabout upcoming content in the future. They were online for a grand total of 11 minutes and only talked for about 5 minutes, at which point they just hosted SWTORCentral’s channel as a “demonstration of the new content.” Giveaway on SWTORCentral’s channel 5.7 is cool Name-dropped Kira and Jaesa as companions to return sooner rather than later Keith might troll Twitch chat (he didn’t) Reviewed 5.7’s returning companions and Scyva Roadmap coming in mid-February lol lots more companions coming stay tuned lolz lol lets make Scyva puns Charles won’t confirm that Scyva is the mother of Kai Zykken Plugs subscriber Origin deal *Cuts to SWTORCentral stream The chat was filled with people talking mostly about the Kotaku/Anthem article, and Eric and Charles both mentioned different things going on in chat but not the thing that we were talking about more…

Read More

SWTOR: Andronikos, Risha, and Corso return missions released in 5.7

Game update 5.7 sees the return of Andronikos, Risha, and Corso for Inquisitors and Smugglers. But there is a catch. Unless you finished Unfortunately, there isn’t much other than a cutscene with some dialogues. You will need to have finished Knights of the Eternal Throne before the new mission will appear in your Companions & Contacts.  To get Andronikos you need to be  Inquisitor, and to get Risha/Corso you need to play Smuggler, or the missions won’t appear. Below is the official statement on this: My reunion with Andronikos was | 01.23.2018, 05:50 PM Hey folks, There is a known issue with the Andronikos, Risha, and Corso return missions released in 5.7. Players who meet certain conditions are granted an additional mission that they cannot complete. This issue occurs for Players who: Had previously romanced one of the returning characters (Andronikos, Risha, or Corso). Romanced Theron after the release of KOTFE. Chose to…

Read More

Bioware taking actions against SWTOR companion gift exploiters

Eric Musco have informed the players, that BioWare is taking action against the wave of companion gift exploiters. Hey folks, Keep in mind that we try to avoid talking about exploits and action taken against players. However, I know there is a bit of concern about this exploit and its implications on the game so here is where things stand. We have already begun taking action against players, but the brunt of those actions are still to come. As you might imagine, gathering all of the data to understand who exploited and what they did with the money, takes quite a bit of time. Know that over time we will be applying account actions, along with removing a large quantity of credits and other ill-gotten gains. Part of what takes so long is that some players know they are doing something they shouldn’t and so they try to hide it….

Read More

The Academy, Ep 5 -“How Do Companions Work?”

Another episode of The Academy is out and this time we get to learn about companions. I’ve told you before how  much I love these videos. They are actually recorded from a podcast and then set to video which is why especially in the first few, you also hear another voice talking with her or saying “mhmm” now and then. But anyway, they are really great, useful videos for anyone new to the game. If you have a friend or family member you’ve been trying to get into the game, or someone you know who has just started to play SWTOR, you definitely want to turn them on to these videos. So here in Episode 5, Swtorista talks about one of the most unique features of SWTOR – the companion system. Companions can do a lot for you in SWTOR but if  you’re new to the game, you might have…

Read More

SWTOR The Voice of Blizz

Have you ever asked yourself what Blizz from SWTOR would sound like with a human voice? Okay, maybe not but now is your chance to know.  It’s the voice of Fred Tatasciore and the video shows clips that have been slowed to a point where you can recognize his actual voice if you’ve heard it before. He’s a very talented voice actor, well known for doing creature and monster voices. As we’ve mentioned in a previous post, it’s very interesting to learn more about the voice actors behind some of our favorite and most loved Star Wars characters. As for Fred Tatasciore, he is the best of the best. He’s done voice acting for many very popular movies, television shows, and of course, video games.  You may know him from the Gears of War series as well. He’s had voice acting parts in all of the following Star Wars related games: Star…

Read More

(SPOILER) Companion Conversation Leaked

Companions add a big element to SWTOR and since before launch, this has been something that set this game apart from others. While there has been much arguing over the companions and certain features they should or should not have, most everyone who has played the game will agree that the companions can be a lot of fun. With this we get the companion dialogue, which is true to BioWare story fashion, and always interesting. Something else that has been talked about since before launch is the ability to romance companions and while that has also not been without controversy, it creates an interesting dynamic to the game. The conversations between you and your companions are also full of fun. Companion conversation for Lana Beniko was leaked. Please be warned that the rest of this post will contain spoilers. ***SPOILERS*** Breaking up is hard to do. Or is it? In…

Read More

Bioware adresses Romance and Courting Gift Bugs in SWTOR

The SWTOR Developers over at BioWare have finally shed some light on the companion romance and courting gift bugs that’s currently in the game. Dear TaitWatson: The Companion Romance System NEEDS to be fixed. | 01.07.2016, 07:41 PM Hey everyone, We have seen quite a few reports about the Romance system being broken, and I wanted to clarify a few things. A number of the issues being reported are not, in fact, bugged. The big one is Iresso. While Iresso is not alone in not acknowledging your romance, he has become the name surrounding the whole situation. In this case, there is a bug – the romance variables for some of the pre-KOTFE companions are being improperly assessed, leading to the appearance that they aren’t romanced even if they are. This fix is scheduled for 4.1 but is not finalized yet. What should have occurred is that when you completed…

Read More

December SWTOR Producer’s Livestream Coverage

BioWare had a producer livestream on Twitch yesterday.  Here is a rundown of it: Livestream Notes Ben Irving (Lead Producer) and Musco are present in the livestream. Ben was lead development producer and responsible for most of the updates from patch 2.4 and onwards. Ben quit his job in Australia and moved to Austin, TX to try to work on SWTOR. Agenda State of Galaxy Player feedback Chapter X Subscriber Rewards Anarchy in Paradise Events in December State of Galaxy/Player Feedback Player feedback has been very positive – shows collections of facebook messages/tweets praising the expansion. Chapter X: Anarchy in Paradise Coming out in Feb 11 Recruit a dangerous ally (Kaliyo, now known as Firebrand) Continue your personal story and make deadly decisions and face the consequences. Choices really matter in this chapter. There is one choice you will immediately notice the consequence after the chapter finishes and another choice…

Read More

PSA: Companion Healing Getting You Down? This Solution Will Amaze You

Do you play a healer in SWTOR? Whether you are a healer man, someone who just rolled one to check it out, someone who made one to fill a need in your guild, or even someone who dislikes healer, you should give this lighthearted post a read. This post by wadewilsonmd might give you a chuckle. You can see the post made over on Reddit and if you read through the comments, you’ll also see where wage explains why the post was made: Obviously can’t speak for everyone, but I jokingly made this post because all I do is level healers (well I’ve got a few DPS that I’m leveling now that I’ve got my healers past the class stories) and never got caught up in the companion nerf hubbub. I find the experience to be a lot of fun, but in the same way healing isn’t for everyone, neither is leveling healing….

Read More

SWTOR Companion Balance Changes

Lead Designer Michael Backus, posted a lengthy forum post  that details  the companion balance changes they plan to do based on feedback. Check it out: Companion Balance Changes | 11.23.2015, 05:28 PM Hello, everyone. My name is Michael Backus, and I’m the Lead Designer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. I wanted to take a minute to apologize for the recent Companion changes and address combat balance. I wanted to do so personally because as fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic and our customers, we cherish your feedback and value all of you, and I feel you deserve to hear this information directly. I would like to go over why the changes were made, what we’ve learned, and what’s going to happen going forward. There’s a short summary at the bottom if you want to skip the Why’s and get to the What’s. Why the changes were made Combat balance…

Read More

SWTOR Alliance Missions Silenced Hurts Companion Reunions

Many fans of SWTOR are of the opinion that silent alliance missions are hurting companion reunions. Most agree that any class meeting a former companion should be fully voiced. Other classes can have the text options but it takes away from the overall experience of the companion reunion and for many, it makes them feel so emotionally unattached that it ruins the experience. Imagine meeting with a companion after a long absence. You express how much you miss them and how happy you are to see them again and he/she just stands there blank-faced. Yeah… it’s kind of a let-down. For many players, one huge appeal to SWTOR was the voice acting. The live scripting really brings the game to life and enhances the story. For many fans, it is the one thing at the top of the list when we tell friends why they should be playing this game….

Read More

Treek DPS at Influence 50

There has been much discussion about companion stats and whether or not they are too overpowered at level 50. Before we heard a lot of players asking not to ad level-sync. They wanted to be able to clear mobs with their companion, operate on “easy mode” and plow through things. But then we heard people complain, “It’s too easy” and ask for companions to be nerfed. Let’s take a look at level 50 Treek for some perspective. Treek Influence 50 What do you think? Is it overpowered? Should players be able to use their companions to essentially farm through content? They’d still have to level up the companion and gear them out to max for it to even work anyway. Yet some people are saying the comp stats are way too high. In some cases, the companion could have as much as 700% more health than the player character. Player…

Read More

BioWare will announce changes to SWTOR companions on monday.

The BioWare devs have been going through the companion feedback, and will announce upcoming changes on Monday. Eric Musco just announced that BioWare have Hey folks, First off, we want to thank all of you for your feedback about Companion balance following 4.0.2. As we go into the weekend, we wanted you to know that we have gone through this thread, the forums, Reddit, and social media to gather everyone’s perspectives. We have come out of this with quite a few action items that we are going to take, including buffs for Companions. On Monday, we are going to release a forum post highlighting our plans to address current Companion balance, along with the state of Heroic Missions and Star Fortress. Thank you all once again for your feedback. -eric

Read More

SWTOR Companion Change Feedback

BioWare want’s your feedback on the companion changes they made with game update 4.0.2: Check out the patch notes here, if you forgot what it was all about. Companion Change Feedback | 11.19.2015, 10:13 AM Hey folks, Following the Companion changes we made Tuesday in 4.0.2, we want to gather your feedback on your gameplay experiences. We hope by this point you have had some time to jump in and get your hands on the changes yourselves. First, before we get into the feedback we are looking for, let’s talk a bit about our specific design goals related to Companions: Leveling Content – Challenge Level: Low. To complete this content, a player should have a basic understanding of game mechanics and have level-appropriate gear. Their companion’s role shouldn’t matter. KotFE Chapters – Challenge Level: Low. Like leveling content, a player should have a basic understanding of game mechanics and have…

Read More

Bioware explains Companion Healing Nerfs in SWTOR

With today’s  patch 4.0.2, companion healing power will be nerfed. Here is an explanation why. Companion Changes in 4.0.2 | 11.16.2015, 08:19 PM Hey folks, If you haven’t yet seen the 4.0.2 patch notes, you can view them here. There are some patch notes that we wanted to highlight and talk about specifically. Companion base stats have been reduced. Companion damage and healing output has been reduced. Some of you will certainly ask, why the need to nerf Companions? This is something that we definitely saw the community be divided on, and it was good for us to hear feedback from both sides. Ultimately, this decision came down to our own goals for Companions, along with data on how they were performing. What we saw in those instances is that Companions, simply put, were just way too good. Their healing and damage output could be greater than that of a very…

Read More

SWTOR: Maintenance tomorrow: Update 4.0.2

Servers will be going down tomorrow for scheduled maintenance. We don’t have the patch notes yet,  but we know from a forum post by Eric Musco, that Companion power and healing is being reduced in 4.0.2 tomorrow. Date: November 17th, 2015 Time: 5AM – 9AM PST (1PM – 5PM GMT) Version: 4.0.2 Hey folks, I wanted to post a reminder, discussion of datamined content is not permitted on the forums. Doing so can lead to action being taken against your account up to and including infractions, which lead to suspension time. Let’s cover the elephant in the room. Yes, Companion power and healing is being reduced in 4.0.2 tomorrow. Tait will be posting patch notes and we will be discussing these changes more later today. However, until that time, please remember that posting any type of specifics about these changes are datamined and are not permitted. Thanks everyone. -eric Stay tuned for…

Read More

SWTOR concerns regarding accessing future Companions

Eric Musco posted some answers to some of the growing player concerns on companion recruitment. These 4 threads all ask the same questions,can we get answers? | 11.11.2015, 09:53 PM I talked to Matt about Alliance, Companions, and your questions specifically related to accessing future Companions. Between this thread and the ones linked in the OP, I think there are two main questions you are looking to have addressed. Will I need to complete currently available alert Missions to unlock future alert Missions? As of right now, the answer to this is yes. Inside of each Alliance Companion type (Military, Underworld, etc), the Companion recruitment alerts are very much looked at like a Mission chain. Generally, you must complete one alert Mission before you will receive the next. Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it. There may be exceptions to…

Read More