News

Yavin 4 Stronghold and Togruta Reveal First Look – SWTOR Dev Stream Recap

On 3rd of June the SWTOR Developer Stream showed to the gamers for the first time the new playable Species coming with Update 3.3 – Togruta.  They also walked us through the new Stronghold on Yavin 4. Here are some of Vulkk’s notes. For more, check the video below. * The event was hosted by Community Manager Eric Musco and the Designer Tobby * There will be male and female Togruta. At this point the team is not ready to show Character Creation and details. * Togruta is targeted for release in Patch 3.3. Its date for now is 21st July 2015. * The new Yavin 4 Stronghold is very very big. Has decoration slots both inside and outside and many, many hooks. * The limitations related to GSH remain the same, meaning players with 4 Strongholds will have to deactivate one if they want to have Yavin 4. *…

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Harassment of SWTOR Developers

Stop. Just stop for a minute. We like to have fun here. Sometimes we even like to push the boundaries. We are not strangers to controversy. That said, I read something incredibly disturbing today and we need to take some time to discuss it. This isn’t something that is entirely new. It’s a topic we’ve talked about before. It’s related to another topic I’ve talked about on a gamer podcast in recent months: swatting. It’s something we (the SWTOR community) need to talk about. This post on the SWTOR forums talks about recent harassment of SWTOR developers: Hey folks, I feel the need to make this post after some things happened yesterday. Yesterday, John made some posts communicating our views, and looking for feedback, around the state of Sentinels and Marauders. We knew going in that some of what we were going to say might not be what players wanted…

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SWTOR Ziost Ending and the 2 New Boss Encounters

Today after a little bit of a delay Bioware launched the 12x Epic XP Boost. A bit earlier the remaining Story content on Ziost became available for players to explore and complere. Players now have access to: ♦ A couple of new  Cinematic Cutscenes showing the end of the Patch 3.2 Ziost Story Arc and a daily area on the new planet with a few quests; ♦ New World Boss called Worldbreaker Monolith; ♦ New Operation Boss called Colossal Monolith with Story and Hard Modes available for both 8 and 16 players. In the videos below you will see the updates through the eyes of Vulkk (Sentinel, Republic Light Side). Ziost Republic Story ENDING Apocalypse on Ziost. The Emperor Vitiate is determined to eraze every creature or plant standing on his way. This epic conclusion of the Ziost Story Arc builds up the tension and prepares us for the greatest…

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May the Fourth Be With You: 5 Ways to Celebrate Star Wars Day #Maythe4th

The day has come once again, it’s May 4th, also known as Star Wars Day to fans all over the world. What better day to celebrate your love for Star Wars? That is exactly what many fans all over the world are doing today. Here are five ways to celebrate Star Wars Day: Have a movie marathon. Today is a great day to pull out the popcorn and watch the movies (again). Play your favorite Star War game. Can’t pick just one favorite? Binge out and play several of your favorite Star Wars games. Dress up! Who needs a good excuse to dress up like your favorite Star Wars character? We say you can do it any day but May 4th is a perfect opportunity. Build some Star Wars LEGO. Some of the larger sets can cost you a pretty penny but even the smaller sets can be a lot…

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Proposed Healing Changes in Game update 3.2.1 to be removed from SWTOR

It is no secret that players on the official forums, have been furies about the upcoming healing changes, that was supposed to come with game update 3.2.1. Therefor BioWare be removing these changes, to revise them and maybe add in a later patch: 3.2.1 PTS Healing Changes Removal | 04.30.2015, 08:28 AM Hey all, We want to thank everyone who offered constructive feedback and contributed to discussions regarding improvements to the proposed changes. Your feedback is much appreciated as we move forward with future PTS updates. Following internal review, we’ve decided to remove all of the proposed healing changes from 3.2.1. The goal of this update was to increase the burst healing of healers while simultaneously balancing healing per second (HPS) values, and resource management for healers. We are not completely satisfied with the present state of the healing changes, and want to give the community more time to play…

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SWTOR Celebration Cantina Live Stream Recap and Overview (Star Wars Celebration 2015)

This Saturday a special Panel aired live for ~52 minutes on Twitch. Bioware live streamed the SWTOR Community Cantina event from Celebration Anaheim 2015.The video linked below is Vulkk’s recap of the SWTOR Community Cantina Event from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015. Did Bioware drop the ball with lack of new information or we got the awesome news we were dreaming for? Alongside the event notes, you will hear also his personal opinion and overview of the event.

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SWTOR 3.2: Rise of the Emperor – Outfit Designer Overview

In this video Vulkk takes a first look and an overview of the new tool coming to SWTOR with Game Update 3.2 – The Outfit Designer. There are still a couple of bugs and one of two features appear to be broken or not working as intended. It offers upto 16 Outfit slots, which can be unlocked with Credits or Cartel coins. Prices are likely to change for the Live version of this update. Modifying any part of an outfit will cost credits too. The few restrictions in relations to what items we may slot are as follows: If our class uses light armour, we can slot light armour items or adaptive ones, but not medium and heavy. If our class is can wear Medium armour, such items will also be available to be sloted into the designer tool for outfits. Heavy armour classes can outfit any and all armours. Legacy…

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SWTOR 3.2: Rise of the Emperor – First Preview

The Developer Stream on Twitch has just ended and Vulkk has narrowed down and sifted out the more important information about the upcoming Game Update 3.2. It bears the epic name “Rise of the Emperor” and will include a new planet (Ziost), a new In-Game tool (Outfit Designer), new quality of life improvements, class changes and more great Bioware story. In the video you will find new screenshots, more detailed information about the Outfit Designer, the rewards for players in the next few months, Biowars’s plans for future Dev Streams, Cantina Tour Events, what SWTOR is planing for Star Wars Celebration and let’s not forget that PTS is live and Update 3.2 is available for testing!

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Operation Victory Tournament Canceled Due to Bugs with New Operations

BioWare is  canceling the SWTOR operation speedrun Tournament sponsored by ESL due to bugs in the Coratanni encounter. Operation Victory Tournament – *Cancelled* | 03.02.2015, 09:14 PM Hey folks, I will cut right to the chase, we are cancelling our ESL Operation Victory competition. Our reason revolves around the Coratanni encounter. I know many of you raised concerns about the issues related to the encounter, and we agree. We spent a lot of time this week testing bug fixes to see how viable the fixed version would be in a speed running environment. We have applied improvements to the Coratanni encounter as of tomorrow’s patch but there are still situations that could impact players focused on a timed run. We thank you for your feedback around the contest and should we decide to do something like this in the future, we will let you know. Also, let us know your feedback on…

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Exclusive new Black-Purple crystal for subscribers announced.

All subscribers of Star Wars: The old republic, that has a active membership onMarch 29, 2015 will received an exclusive Black-Purple Color Crystal. Here are the details: As part of the Choose Your Path promotion, we’re giving away an exclusive set of four Advanced Black-Purple Color Crystals to thank all of our Subscribers on March 31, 2015! Be a Subscriber as of March 29, 2015* and give your Lightsaber blades and blaster bolts a new dark purple color along with a +41 boost! Advanced Black-Purple Striated Eviscerating Crystal (+41 Critical) Advanced Black-Purple Striated Indestructible Crystal (+41 Endurance) Advanced Black-Purple Striated War Hero’s Crystal (+41 Expertise) Advanced Black-Purple Striated Hawkeye Crystal (+41 Power) * ACCOUNT MUST BE IN AN ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTION STATUS ON MARCH 29, 2015 AT 11:59PM PDT / MARCH 30, 2015 AT 6:59AM GMT. ITEMS DELIVERED VIA IN-GAME MAIL ON OR AROUND MARCH 31, 2015.

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SWTOR 3.1.1 PTS Shut Down

BioWare are posting down the SWTOR Public test servers for patch 3.1.1 At the same time, BioWare is teasing a new video for a new video for Star Wars: The old Republic named “Choose Your Path”“. Below is the forum update on the PTS shutdown, and below that, the Teasing form Hey everyone, Thank you all so much for your feedback and participation in this round of PTS testing! We are going to be turning off the server today at 3:30PM CST, which in-game messaging starting at 3:15PM. We look forward to hearing from you during the next testing window for 3.1.2! -Tait Post by Star Wars: The Old Republic. Note: Word from swtor_potato is that this is for a subscriber promotion in March that reward you with a Black-Purple Striated color crystal (one of each stat) for each character.

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SWTOR Producer’s Road Map 2015

SWTOR’s Senior Producer Bruce Maclean has released the teams Producer’s Road Map for 2015. If you ahve been following our blog, there ain’t much new info, as most of this stuff, as it is basically just a write down of the letter that was read at the last Cantina Event with no new details or teasers. Most of the community that is concerned about future content probably already knew all this but I guess this makes it “official”… Producer’s Road Map 2015 Hi everyone! For many, the start of the year is a time for setting goals and planning for the future. This is something we have been focused on here at BioWare Austin. 2014 was an amazing year for the team. We delivered two expansions, an overhaul to the class system, and regular story updates through Flashpoints. I’m proud of what the team has accomplished, and we would not…

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SWTOR : Double XP Weekend – 2/13 – 2/16

Brace your self! Star Wars the old republic will is having a double XP weekend from Feb 13 10 am PST to Feb 16 11 PM PST: COMING SOON: DOUBLE XP WEEKEND (FEBRUARY 13, 2015 AT 10AM PST / 6PM GMT – FEBRUARY 16, 2015 AT 11PM PST / FEBRUARY 17, 2015 AT 7AM GMT) Celebrate this heart-filled weekend with Double XP! From story missions to PvP Warzones, level at double the speed. Level even faster with XP Boosts, available in the Cartel Market. Level 60 players can also earn double Legacy XP – so jump in now!

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SWTOR: Ability Delay Update

Eric Musco took on the forums to speak about the ability delay issue, that many players are facing after game update 3.0. Check it out: EricMusco 01.02.2015, 08:35 PM Ability delay and the wearing thin of patience | 01.02.2015, 02:35 PM First off, Happy New Years everyone! I apologize if you feel a lack of communication around this issue. Unfortunately, I haven’t provided much since I do not have a status update as of yet. Here is what I can tell you. We definitely have not forgotten about this and the team is still assessing what the cause is, and how we can begin to address it. What I am going to do is to work with the team to get a status update with as much detail as I can, by next Friday (although hopefully before then!). Thank you again for your continued patience. We know that dealing with…

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SWTOR Gree event is coming back… Sooner or later

Eric Musco Just informed the community that the Gee event will be making a return to Star Wars: The old Republic, but it might be a while. The event needs to get an update, so it fits to level 60 game play first. Hey folks, I can confirm that it is definitely our plan to bring the Gree event back at some point in the future. When the event returns, it will also be scaled up to level 60. Unfortunately, I don’t have any details around timing yet but stay tuned for any future announcements! Thanks! -eric

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BioWare won’t re-grant bugged achievements

Eric Musco Just informed the community that BioWare won’t give back players any achievements, that players lost with game update 3.0.1. That’s right folks. You now need to re- earn all your lost achievements! Hey folks, Unfortunately, for the achievements that we addressed in 3.0.1, you will need to earn them again. It is our usual policy that when an achievement is bugged, that once fixed, we will not re-grant the achievement. This is typically due to it being difficult to isolate players who have earned the achievement versus those who haven’t. As a side/related note, if you sold the Data Packets which you received from Grophets, you will need to earn those again as well. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this. -eric

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Server Lag Being Reduced with game update 3.0.1

Bioware is fixing the server lag issues that came with game update 3.0. hopefully they do not nerf instance sizes though, but it looks like it. Hey folks, First off, I apologize if you feel that we haven’t communicated around looking into the lag/delay issues which have been happening since 3.0 launched. When 3.0 / SoR early access started there were quite a few issues around things like ability delay. We worked very quickly to make some changes to our “instances” in order to help alleviate those problems. Since then we have been monitoring lag across the game and making adjustments as best we can to remove any issues that players are experiencing. Tomorrow we are adjusting things further in hopes that this will further improve performance or even completely remove those issues. That said, we are always going to be looking at performance and making improvements where possible. We…

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Training cost is a thing of the past in SWToR

Bioware’s community manager Eric Musco, posted a very interesting thread at the official forums today relating to training costs. Musco, responding to a number of fan threads requesting the removal of training costs from the game, decided to take action and bring forward the suggestion to developers for consideration. After discussing the matter internally, they decided to remove training costs all together! So,when you login next week you won’t be required to pay any credits for your training! Eric’s complete post follows below: Hey folks, Let’s talk a bit about training costs for your characters abilities. One thing has become clear from the player feedback in not only this thread, but since launch: players do not like training costs. It is a situation where every level you will see your hard earned credits go to a holographic Hutt doctor in order to make yourself a bit stronger. We have been talking about…

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Star Wars TV: A tribute to Ralph McQuarrie

Ralph McQuarrie is a name that doesn’t need any introduction to any Star Wars (SW) fans. He was the concept artist responsible for designing beloved characters of the franchise, such as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, C3-PO and R2D2. In addition, he designed a lot of Star Wars concept paintings like the arrival of R2D2 and C3PO on Tatooine. Aside from Star Wars, McQuarrie has worked on E.T, Close Encounters of the 3rd kind, Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future and Star Trek IV. To celebrate his contributions to Star Wars, the official SW website has posted an extremely interesting 40 minute tribute on Ralph McQuarrie’s that’s definitely worth of your attention.

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Game Update 3.0: Shadow of Revan Early Access

The day we were waiting is finally here! “Shadow of Revan” is now available for download for anyone who purchased the expansion before November 2, 2014. The rest will have to wait until December 9 to get full access to Bioware’s latest expansion. Some highlights: All levels can now reach Level 60 New locations added – Yavin IV and Rishi Two new level 56-60 flashpoints Two new level 60 operations Dromund Kaas and Coruscant Strongholds can now be purchased for 3 credits! New class system (disciplines) Players can now send 6 Companions on Crafting Missions at level 56 (up from 5). …and much, much more! I have to admit that the list of changes is quite extensive and it does seem that Bioware took community’s feedback to heart. A lot of the features listed on their post are things that prominent members of the community have being asking for quite some time….

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TOR Radio : A galaxy of podcasts

TOR Radio is back with the latest and greatest SWToR podcasts from across the community. With the imminent release of Patch 3.0 a lot of podcasts are focusing on upcoming changes and various community news. It’s certainly encouraging to see new SWToR community podcasts launching like “HOPE cast” and “Beyond the Stars” listed below. 1. Bad feeling podcast – Episode 42 (Released: Nov.24,2014) : Even though the crew of the podcast took of this week due to Thanksgiving but still managed to publish a “best of” podcast. 2. Star Wars Beyond the Stars – Episode 12 (Released: Nov.15,2014) : This week the show hit a little snag in our editing process so the show is coming out pretty late in the week. “Beyond the stars” discussed quite a few interesting things in this week’s off topic rants. 3. Corellian Run Radio – Special Episode (Released: Nov.24,2014) : Join Jason and Heather as they share their…

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Did the Force Awakens trailer reveal its link with Star Wars Rebels?

Like all Star Wars fans we watched in amazement today the new teaser trailer for Star Wars the Force Awakens. The 88 second trailer offered a first glimpse on what J.J.Abrams has in store for the beloved franchise. Reading through the comments posted in various social media, it appears that the general reaction is very positive while the excitement is certainly very high. The trailer lit up twitter, reddit,facebook and many other social media the moment it was posted online. Dissecting the trailer one can find a lot of hints that were rumored to be true in the past but obviously there was no official confirmation. One that really got my attention however, was during the very first scene of the trailer. Spoilers below from Star Wars Rebels and the teaser trailer if you haven’t seen it. The trailer opens up with a view of a desert which one would assume that’s…

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Cartel Market Black Friday deals are now live!

During a recent livestream Bioware’s Community manager Eric Musco, mentioned that in-game Cartel Market store will be receiving some discounted deals due to Black Friday. While originally there were rumors that these deals will change from hour to hour, it doesn’t seem to be the case with the offers listed below. Other than Eric’s mention during the official livestream, we haven’t heard anything else from Bioware so there could be more coming our way (Cyber Monday is just around the corner after all). Currently the following deals are offered through the in-game store: Hypercrate: Freelancer’s Bounty Pack – 5500 CC – 28% OFF Hypercrate: Enforcer’s Contraband Pack – 5500 – 20% OFF Hypercrate: Blockade Runner’s Cartel pack – 5500 – 25% OFF Hypercrate: Gatekeeper’s Stronghold Pack – 2520 – 50% OFF Black and Black Dye Module – 1500 CC – 25% OFF White and White Dye Module – 750 CC –…

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Update (x2): Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer now available via iTunes / Youtube

We recently posted that November 28 will be the day that we get a first glimpse of the upcoming Star Wars movie via a teaser trailer. Starwars.com originally tweeted that the trailer would be available in US movie theaters, however, they also announced the following The Force is with you on #BlackFriday when #TheForceAwakens teaser hits@iTunesTrailers. — Star Wars (@starwars) November 26, 2014 So if you didn’t feel like heading to the movies or don’t live in the US, head to iTunes and get ready for tomorrow! SWToRstrategies.com will be posting updates as those become available. Update 2: The trailer is now available under this link or below via Youtube:

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