Galactic Strongholds

SWTOR: The Alderaan Noble Estate Part 1: Formation

BioWare Austine just posted news article about the Alderaan stronghold. It’s no secret that the Alderaan Stronghold has been a highly requested addition, so the team was very happy to bring this to fruition with Game Update 6.1, ‘Pinnacles of Power,’ which went live earlier this month. To celebrate the release, we present a two-part conversation about the Alderaan Stronghold’s creation. A future interview will discuss the Stronghold’s functionality and design, but let’s get things started with our first interview, where we sit down with Mark Taylor and Emily Henderson to talk about the fundamental formation of the Stronghold! Since this is our first time doing an interview with both of you, let’s do a quick introduction. Who are you, and what do you do on the SWTOR team? Mark: I’m Mark Taylor, one of the Game Designers on the team. My role on the team includes Stronghold setup and creation…

Read More

SWTOR PTS Changes: The Alderaan Noble Estate

In the upcoming Game Update 6.1–‘Pinnacles of Power’–BioWare are introducing the Alderaan Noble Estate as the newest Galactic Stronghold in Star Wars: The Old Republic! Gamers can catch an early look at this Stronghold by checking out the Public Test Server now. Customize your own royal retreat hidden away in the mountain ranges of Alderaan! This Noble Estate comes with a wide-open field, a snowy overlook, and a regal mansion with a balcony overlooking cascading waterfalls. Careful use of high explosives can even unlock a hidden area and grant access to a unique aspect of the estate’s territory. How to Get Started Log into your account with your username and password at www.swtor.com. Click on your account name in the top right-hand corner of the site. Click “My Account.” In the left column, scroll down and click the link entitled “PTS Character Copy.” Select the server and then the character that you…

Read More

Yavin 4 Stronghold Easter Egg

How cool is this? You know how we live Easter eggs and other little gems in SWTOR. Here we have a Yavin 4 Stronghold goodie you may not have seen yet. Most Star Wars fans are familiar with the iconic scene from Star Wars IV just before they go to attack the Death Star. Have a look and let us know what you think. What other Easter eggs have you discovered in the game?

Read More

SWTOR Personal Armies

We’re noticing a trend in many SWTOR players these days – building “armies” in their strongholds. While it might seem a little bit like an epeen contest, if you have actually seen some of the things that are being created, you will likely be a bit impressed, too. Reddit user Baianai, for example, created an awesome 7th Assault Armor Battalion of the Imperial Army. In short, it’s pretty freaking awesome. There are a variety of ways that players are getting these armies. In the one pictured below, the player made use of the GTN and clever skills at playing the market to build up their battalion. However, this is not absolutely required to make your own personal army since there are many ways to do it and part of the fun is seeing all the ways players are finding to get creative with it. Here’s another personal army by Reddit user, Derzelaz….

Read More

“How I Blew 100M Credits in SWTOR”

If you’re looking for a cool way to blow a ton of credits, check out one player’s personal project: Jidiaderriphan’s Imperial Sanctuary You can see from Jidiaderriphan’s Imperial Sanctuary that there are many customizations that can take place in the game if you have the credits, dedication and willingness to invest the time to such a project. You know how we love seeing cool stuff from fans and this is one awesome stronghold! Could you do the same thing on a budget? Mostly likely so if you were looking to craft things on your own and save some credits, and if you were not in a rush to build. Either way, we think it’s awesome and if you’ve done something similar, we want to see it too! Breakdown of costs (from the creator) These are estimates of where I’m getting my costs: x50 imperial standard flags: (80k each) -4M x50 imperial…

Read More

Voss Shrine Sculpture to be available in SWTOR Game update 3.3

The decoration that has been missing since the release of Star Wars: The old Republic: strongholds –  the Voss Shrine Sculpturewill be available in patch 3.3 from the reputation vendor: “Voss Shrine Sculpture” is it in game? | 06.05.2015, 03:23 PM Originally Posted by Ulytau This item is seen on decors list as an achievement reward so i searched all achievements i can see in the game but i was able to see this particular piece as a reward for any of them. Will there be an hint on how to get it? Hey Ulytau, I got some information on this from the team, and here are the details… The Voss Shrine Sculpture is incorrectly listed as coming from an achievement currently in the game. Here is the plan on where you can find it and how to get it: The Voss Shrine Sculpture will be available on the Voss Reputation…

Read More

Show Us Your Crib- Guildship Decorating

Guildships are here and many players have been spending their time collecting items and decorating their pads. In fact, for some players it is so much fun, it’s almost become like a game inside the game. You can be as unique and creative as you desire when it comes to decorating your guildship. A lot of people choose to make it themed to their guild, or to roleplay as their characters. Some players just get silly or random with it. And here from Dulfy you can find a list of SWTOR Galactic Stronghold Decorations and how to obtain them. So with that said, we invite you to show us your guildships. If you share screenshots with us, we’d also love to hear the story behind it, what you decorated with or where you came up with your ideas for decorating. Here are some images from one really awesome guildship belonging to…

Read More

Galactic Strongholds – Gathering vs Crafting Prices Spreadsheet

Are you curious what it will cost for gathering and crafting supplies for Galactic Strongholds? You are not alone and as usual, a member of the community has looked for a way to create a tool to help with this. The Gathering vs Crafting Prices Spreadsheet was created with data from just one server at one point in time so it is of course, subject to change, but it gives you a good baseline idea. In time, if it’s worked on a bit more, it could be a very good tool. You can also take the spreadsheet as is and then update it for your server and your own needs so you always have an up to date tool to help you reference costs. The spreadsheet lists the server of the GTN prices being marked, the date and time and detailed info about the item and how much it costs. There…

Read More

Developer Blog: Welcome to Galactic Strongholds Early Access

Sorry we didn’t post this yesterday, but Lisa have been in an accident, and have quite a family emergency. Our thought are with her and her family. If you have enough, please consider helping her out. Now back to the story. With game update 2.9 – Star Wars: The old Republic: Galatic strongholds that wen online yesterday, Bioware posted a new developer blog, highlighting what to expect with this expansion. The Galactic Strongholds expansion is the newest content introduced in Star Wars: The Old Republic where subscribers can build their own “houses” and design it the way they want. Those who are looking forward to show off their mount collection can now do it as they can easily just place them at their houses and invite their friends over to see them. In addition to the new SWTOR housing, a new flashpoint is also available for level 55 players. The…

Read More

TOR TV: SWTOR Warzone Commendation Decorations

SWTORrista posted a bunch of youtube videos showing all the new Star Wars: The old Republic: Galactic Stronghold decorations obtainable from Warzone Commendation. So instead of the one video we normally posted in this segment, we have the pleasure of posting 9. All of them cost 200 Warzone Commendations, except for the Hypergate Ring which is 1,000. Decorations are shared along your whole legacy, so you can buy Imperial decorations on your imperial toon and see/use them with your Republic character on Coruscant! Just don’t let the senators see your Imperial banners from your giant bay windows… The guards are not intractable. Enjoy!

Read More

Summary of Game Update 2.9

While many of us have been following the SWTOR update for some time and know what is coming, it never hurts to have a recap and for those who have not been following, let’s take a look at what you can expect from Game Update 2.9. First, Game Update 2.9 will bring five major changes: Galactic Strongholds Decorations Guild Ships and Conquest New Crafting Schematics Forged Alliances: Part II This update is focusing on changes that help people who like to role play, socialize, craft and more. It’s geared So let’s take a look at each of these five things in more detail. Galactic Strongholds: We know that there will be four Legacy-wide Strongholds (houses) available for personal and guild use. You have to be a subscriber to own a Stronghold at this time but anyone can visit a Stronghold. Preferred have access in a month and free to play…

Read More

Patch Notes – 8/19/2014 – Game Update 2.9: Galactic Strongholds Early Access

Patch notes for tomorrows game update is now ready. Check them out below: Highlights Galactic Strongholds Early Access! Subscribers can now purchase a Galactic Stronghold on Nar Shaddaa, Tatooine, Dromund Kaas, and Coruscant by visiting the Stronghold Directory on the Fleet or on the Stronghold’s planet. Guild Flagships now available! Guilds can now purchase a Flagship and use it to compete with other guilds and conquer the galaxy! Visit the Flagship Directory on the Fleet for more information. Battle for control with Conquest! Conquest events are now available in the Mission Log! Each week a new Conquest event will become active with new objectives. Complete your personal point target to earn special rewards – or if you’re in a guild with a Flagship, invade a planet and compete with other guilds for planetary domination. Special perks are available to those who conquer a planet by placing at the top of the Guild Leaderboard…

Read More

STAR WARS: The Old Republic – Scheduled Maintenance: August 19th, 2014

On August 19th, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be unavailable while BioWare perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update >2.9: Galactic Strongholds will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday, August 19th, 2014 Duration: 5 hours Time: 2AM PDT (9AM GMT) – 7AM PDT (2PM GMT) During maintenance, all updates and additional information will be posted on the official SWTOR Twitter account.

Read More

50 Million Credits for Guild Ships

If you want a guild ship, you better be ready to open up your pockets. SWTOR will charge 50 million credits for guild ships. Eric Musco, Community Manager for Bioware, announced recently on the livestream that this is how much it will cost for guild ships in the Galactic Strongholds expansion. It’s not surprising that it will cost credits. I think all players were pretty much expecting that. The real question lies in how much and whether or not it would be “too much” for your average guild. While moderate to large size guilds will probably not have any trouble with the 50 million credits, it could pose a problem with smaller guilds. I always played MMORPGs with a partner and we would often name our guilds “Just the Two of Us”. In some games like WoW and EverQuest we would even have to get other people to sign our…

Read More

GSH Master Artisan Guide Compendium

If you’d like to know more about SWTOR crafting, we have a fantastic guide for you. From Lowku, we have a 3-part guide on 2.9 Galactic Strongholds crafting, as well as some basics in crafting in general. As we have mentioned here, 2.9 is bringing a lot of (hopefully good) changes to crafting. Some items that were once considered useful junk will now be highly sought after. Gathering lists, items and other crafting supplies now might be a good idea if you plan to do any 2.9 crafting. He tells us a little of what you can expect in these guides: “To help myself prepare, I’ve compiled my old gathering list, my credit guide, and all the new crafting information for the Fabrication Kits traded for decorations and War Supplies. What’s left is an absolutely massive amount of information that I had to break up into different parts just to get it…

Read More

Galactic Living Ep3 Livestream Q&A Notes

BioWare had another livestream yesterday, showing of gameupdate 2.9. This time Eric Musco and Courtney Woods showed how decorating will work. You can check it out below, but if you are more a reading type of person, Dulfy have put together the Q&A notes. These are readable below the video. Tomorrow the team will do a First Look Preview on Customizing a Dromund Kaas Skyrise Apartment with SWTOR Fansite OotiniCast. Q&A Rooms already exist inside a house but you cannot access them unless you unlock them first by interacting with the door of a specific room and pay the unlocking cost. Stronghold items that give you buffs? No items like that. Strongholds do give you rested XP. Fleet chat in strongholds or riot? Our current decision is still planetary chat. Can you become Kephess? Yes All strongholds have massive hooks to fit in ships. Some of them have roofs that…

Read More

Legacy Storage Info

With the upcoming game update to Star Wars the old Republic – Galactic Strongholds, BioWare will be introducing new legacy storage. Eric Musco took some time yesterday, updating the community on the official SWTOR forums on what to expect: here is a C/P: Hey folks, I know there are a few questions surrounding Legacy storage and although I can’t answer everything here are some of the bigger answers: How do I get Legacy storage? You will get Legacy storage for free with the completion of the “Introduction to Strongholds Mission” upon acquiring your first Stronghold. Legacy storage will also be craftable and is possible to appear on the Cartel Market. (In both cases this means it would be available on the GTN for credits as well) If I add another Legacy storage to my Stronghold, does this add more storage space? It does not. Adding more Legacy storage “units” will…

Read More

Stronghold Deactivation Clarification

Eric Musco clarified an interesting question regarding Star Wars the oldRrepublic Galactic Strongholds on the official forums today. A user named Tsillah posted a question regarding deactivation of a stronghold. The questions was as following: Originally Posted by Tsillah View Post I was reading through dulfy’s notes http://dulfy.net/2014/07/02/swtor-ga…estream-notes/ and found the following interesting and worrying note: Upkeep cost to maintain strongholds? Nope but if you deactivate/retire a stronghold, it will cost you to reactivate it if you bought it with credits. If you bought it with cartel coins there is no reactivation fee. Now I’ve asked in the sticky thread above and during the last livestream but either they just keep missing the question or are unwilling to answer it but really I think with this starting in about a month’s time it’s not an unfair question to ask. Why would anyone retire a stronghold? The reason I ask the…

Read More

Galactic Living Livestream: Thursday July 10th

There will be a SWTOR Galactic Strongholds stream tomorrow, Thursday July 10th , at 1:30PM PDT (8:30 PM GMT). Tomorrow’s stream will cover a first look at the Coruscant Skyrise Apartments. This is your chance to learn more about Galactic living and what we can all expect from Galactic Strongholds. You will have the chance to preview stronghold customization options- something that many of us have been wondering about for a long time.

Read More

Galactic Living Livestream Notes

New updates are on the way. If you were unable to watch the Galactic Living Livestream, then you might have some questions about what was said and what we can all expect to come to SWTOR in the near future. There are many questions and also many tips that are released to us with this livestream. While Bioware has not released the number of players that can be inside a stronghold at once, it looks like the Nar Shaddaa stronghold can hold 70 players at once with 9 rooms. Taking some time to learn how hooks work will be very important. This will show you how to manipulate items within your stronghold. It will help you see where and how to put your stuff and how to get it looking how you want. In addition to decorations and interactivity, you will learn about pets, mounts and NPCs. You will also learn about…

Read More

Developer Update: Introduction to Galactic Strongholds

More Star Wars: The Old Republic Galactic Strongholds content is revealed today, as BioWare posted a new developer diary. The post details everything from decorating hooks to the decorations for your brand new apartment will be available via loot drops and from crew skills, reputation and PvP rewards and off course the Cartel Market. All housing decorations will be available across your entire Legacy by default. It seems like crafters will play a big part in the process, as BioWare says that tradeskillers “of all levels will provide the components required to obtain these decorations.” But how much it really is, remains to be seen. Another thing that is really cool is the possibility to invites guest home to you apartment to show off your stuff. Also the furniture placement method in below gif looks outstanding. Needing to unlock a second of the same chair to place it again may…

Read More

New Galactic Living Twitch Series

BioWare is starting a new show on Twitch beginning today, July 2nd called Galactic Living. From live tours of the various strongholds like the Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace to a behind-the-scenes look at the decoration items and tools, get an inside preview of all the ways you’ll be able to customize your own stronghold in the new Digital Expansion, Galactic Stronghold coming later this year. WHERE: www.twitch.tv/swtor WHEN: Wednesday, July 2nd @ 1:30PM PDT / 8:30PM GMT WHAT: First Look: Galactic Stronghold Decoration System STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT STREAM AND TOPIC AT: www.twitch.tv/swtor OR www.swtor.com/twitch Plus, don’t miss your opportunity to own your own Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace with three room unlocked by becoming a Subscriber by July 15th! Subscriber Early Access begins August 19th.

Read More

Coruscant Skyrise Apartment Video

BioWare posted a new video that makes us imagine living in the heart of the Republic capital in our own SWTOR Coruscant Skyrise Apartment! These are all features that I want and am actually looking forward to, though I’d have actually been fine with some of this functionality having simply been made available within the class ships. The strongholds themselves look kind of like fluff, but I’m willing to keep an open mind about it, and I’m not really a power gamer, anyway, so I don’t mind some fluff from time to time. For those not able to view the video or wanted to examine it deeper, below the video are some highlights Dulfy picked out.

Read More

Galactic Strongholds – What we know so far

It’s coming soon and what do we know about it so far? As you may know, there was recently an update that tells us more about what we can expect from Galactic Strongholds and if you add this to the previous announcement and tidbits of info that have been passed on from Cantina tours and such, we have some pretty good info about what’s coming. I was going to write this up into a guide but Dulfy beat me to it! Here is a snippet of her post but please head on over to her site and read it in full. DATES May 4, Sunday – Subscribers get 1000 Cartel Coins if they subscribe as of May 4, 2014, at 11:59PM PDT / May 5, 2014, at 6:59AM GMT. These cartel coins will arrive to your account by May 5, 2014, at 11:59PM PDT / May 6, 2014, at 6:59AM GMT….

Read More