News

Rejoin as a subscriber by Dec 2, and get additional 30 days with your sub

We just got this in the mail this morning. It’s a nice offer for people who are considering to subscribe to Star Wars: The old republic. We don’t know if  players who are subscribed already get anything yet. About 3 months after the game launched, Bioware did something similar with giving away 30 free days. People got really pissed off, and bioware ended up giving all current subs a free months sub as a result. We’ll see if that happens again. People who have been off the game for a while, really need to give the game another go. It’s double xp Week add that to the cartel market xp boost and the guild xp boost and you level mad fast. They have made a lot of good changes this year.

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PSA: Dormant character names to be released back into the character name pool in november

BioWare mailed this out to the player base yesterday. Just as Bruce Maclean wrote in his SWTOR Holiday Update, dormant character names to be released back into the character name pool in november. Good thing I saved my free rename! I’ve been waiting to change my names. I was really lazy the first 6 months of launch and just made names the same but changed the ending like ee, ou, ei etc Hello, We wanted to let you know that in November we will be initiating a “Character Name Renewal” program for all of our Free-to-Play and Preferred Status players. As a Subscriber, this offers you the benefit of more character names available in the pool! We are currently in the process of identifying accounts that have been inactive for prolonged periods. If those accounts do not login to each of the potentially impacted characters within the required timeframe the…

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News from BioWare – Mercenary and Shadow Top Three Answers

We’ve been in a bit of a slow phase when it comes to new news from Bioware about SWTOR but now we have some good stories coming from the devs as we rev up for 2.4. These are long, detailed and interesting posts to the official forums from the Bioware staff that help us know a little more about why they are doing some things that they are doing and what we can expect in the future. Here are some threads you need to check out if you have not already. STAR WARS: The Old Republic – Mercenary Top 3 Answers! Here is a snippet of this post: Overall, we feel that Mercenary/Commando DPS is in a fairly good place; however, we also feel that Mercenaries/Commandos could bring more to an operation as far as utility goes and that the classes pulling higher DPS than Mercenaries/Commandos are doing a bit…

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Scheduled Maintenance: October 1st, 2013 – Patch 2.4

It’s official. BioWare will be taking down the servers on Tuesday to upload Game update 2.4. Personally I’m pretty shocked that a major game update is only scheduled to have 4 hours downtime. What’s also impressive is that these estimates are almost always accurate. There have been a few exceptions, but Bioware has been pretty great with the patching process. No patch notes yet, but remember to check back later. We will post them as soon as they become available. Here is the official post by AmberGreen: AmberGreen Scheduled Maintenance: October 1st, 2013 | 09.28.2013, 10:06 PM On October 1st, all game servers, SWTOR.com and the launcher will be unavailable as we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.4 will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday October 1st, 2013 Time: 3AM PDT (10AM UTC) – 7AM PDT (2PM UTC) Duration: 4 hours During maintenance, all updates and additional information…

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Activate a Retail Copy on a Preferred Account for a 30-Day Sub

Back when the Microsoft Store was having it’s deal on copies of SWTOR, many players decided to take advantage of this offer to get a second account or even buy an account for a friend or family member. Some people were asking questions about going from preferred to subscriber status by using a retail box code. The question has been tossed around about whether or not this is possible. Comments were split on whether or not this is possible, with some people saying it was and others saying it was not. So some users tested it. If you have not subscribed before, and you buy the retail box and activate it, you can get the 30-day sub for free. After the 30-day period, the game will then place you as a Preferred player. But the magic question is will it work if you have already subbed before? It doesn’t seem…

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Rise of the Hutt Cartel – Free to Subscribers Starting September 12th!

BioWare posted some great news last night. From tomorrow, all active Subscribers will receive the first Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel free of charge as a newly added benefit to the Subscriber Rewards Program! This is awesome stuff, as it 1) encourages subs (because yay free expansion), it is an arguably considerable reward to those already subbed and don’t have the expansion. Still the butt hurt on the official forum is comical, all the early subscribers want coins too, but don’t realize they’ve gotten 5 months of expanded content and are not getting compensated because Bioware hasn’t developed time travel yet. Anyways. Check out the full story below: Beginning September 12, 2013, active Subscribers will receive the first Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel free of charge as a newly added benefit to the Subscriber Rewards Program! Rise of the Hutt Cartel offers the breathtaking planet of Makeb, five new levels…

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THE DREAD WAR and interview with Baron Deathmark

BioWare posted a new update regarding the upcoming game update 2.4. The release date for this upcoming patch is still not yet available, but the infomation on what to expect is starting to come in. The new patch will feature new death match arenas, a new mission areas, and new level 55  Operations. In the first operation named The Dread Fortress, we get to fight one of the Dread Masters in person. In the other operation named The Dread Palace, the epic story of the Dread Masters’ saga concludes. The news update also includes news about the upcoming arenas, including a funny interview with   Baron Deathmark – the commentator on the new arenas. The guy actually posting in the thread with a swanky animated avatar even. The read the full story here and the interview with Mr. Deathmark here GATHER YOUR ALLIES FOR NEW OPERATIONS, STORY MISSIONS, AND WARZONE ARENAS CONFRONT THE DREAD MASTERS AND COMPETE IN THE WARZONE…

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Facebook Connect is Now Live!

BioWare have now added a Facbook connect service, that make it possible to spam your friends with all your  awesome in-game accomplishments. If you don’t want to keep your  mmo life and real life as separate as possible that is.  I guess it works well with the new  Friends of SWTOR Program though. Check out the announcement below. Remember also to check out our own facebook page to follow our daily updates. Facebook Connect is Now Live! Now, reaching out and connecting with Facebook friends from your Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ account is faster than the Rakghoul Plague can spread! Connecting to your Facebook account is easy: Log in to your account Visit your My Account page Click on the Facebook Connect link in the left-hand navigation bar and within seconds you’re connected! You can share your awesome in-game accomplishments and invite friends to join you on your saga! Get ready for more…

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TORPARSE to Close 27 July

TORPARSE had one simple mission: to provide the best and easiest to use combat log parser for Star Wars: The Old Republic. But now, they will be closing their doors forever. In an announcement made July 10th, TORPARSE explained that they will soon be shutting down the site. It is a sad and bittersweet announcement as the site has been such a useful tool for SWTOR players for all of this time. Here s a snippet of that End of Service Announcement: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 End of Service Announcement Hey everybody, I’ve got some bad news today. I’ve been struggling with this decision for a few months now, but have made a decision to end the TORParse project effective 27 July 2013. I’ve had a lot of fun developing this project and working with the community the last year and a half, but have ultimately made the decision to…

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Display Name Only Log In – Coming April 2, 2013

BioWare posted a new article earlier today regarding future login detalis. More security is always a welcome change. Too many people reuse passwords against the same email account. A few years ago BioWare’s Never winthers night website got hacked an all user data was stolen. When there is a new website that gets hacked, and loses a massive list of email addresses and hashed passwords (that get cracked) enterprising people from certain geographic locations take those and run them across multiple logon services, generally games, and see if people are stupid enough to use the same password on multiple services. They are. So, switching to to Display name makes this a little harder. I may or may not know a little about this particular situation and it DOES make things more secure, they should never have used email as the unique identifier in the first place. Anyways. Check out the article below or over at the…

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Cartel Market Poll Results

Last week, DarthHater asked players to provide feedback about their experiences with the Cartel Market and now they have the results in for all of us to see. Some are not very surprising- for example, nearly 90% of those who answered the survey are subscribers but it still provided some interesting info. It’s safe to say that many who are fans that visit fansites on a regular basis are subscribers. So we didn’t learn a lot about the free to play market but there are some great stats from this. You can see the full Survey Results for yourself here from DarthHater but let’s take a brief look at some of the categories and facts. 89% of those who answered were subscribers. 8% held preferred states and 3% were free to play When asked if they had bought any Cartel Coins with real money, the answers were 50/50 yes and no. 87%…

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Cartel Coin Reward Program Extended

BioWare announced  that former subscribers coming back to Star Wars: The old republic to try thee Free To Play version of the game, have until December 20th to re subscribe and still obtain their Cartel Coin rewards! Check out the full announcement below: Today we are excited to announce that the global launch date of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Free-to-Play option will be November 15, 2012. This release will be simultaneous across all of the territories and countries The Old Republic™ is available. If you’re a paying Subscriber at the launch of the Free-to-Play option on November 15th, you will be granted all of the Complimentary Cartel Coins currently listed on your Cartel Coin Ledger page, plus a one-time grant of 250 Complimentary Cartel Coins! Additionally, we are extending the Rewards Program! All former subscribers who reactivate their subscription by the new date of December 20, 2012 at…

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Cartel Coins Ledger

BioWare have news regarding the upcoming Cartel Coin system that hits together with the game going free to play. Head over to the When the game goes free to play. Now you are able to check out how many Cartel Coins you will get next month. Check it out here. BioWare and LucasArts are excited to announce a new Cartel Coin Ledger page on www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com. This new web page is located on the left hand navigation bar within the “My Account” section. It gives you a detailed list of all the Complimentary Cartel Coins you could potentially receive at the launch of the Free-to-Play option! You will receive Complimentary Cartel Coins for all your previous and current subscription months. There are additional grants for the purchase of a Collector’s Edition or a Digital Deluxe Edition, as well as a one-time reward at the launch of the Free-to-Play option. You’ll only receive your…

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Irish BioWare Support Center for SWTOR Converting to General EA Use

The BioWare facility that was just built last year in Galway, Ireland to be a support center for SWTOR is now expanding and will become the home to EA’s European customer service needs. Basically this means that it will be general EA use and not strictly SWTOR support. They will offer support from this facility to all of EA’s major titles. They have dropped the BioWare Ireland name and will be hiring more than 300 new employees over the course of the next few months. The Irish Government looks at this as a good opportunity for job growth and is supportive of the expansion and what video games can do for their economy and job force.

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BioWare and LucasArts LiveStream Q&A Event

With patch 1.4 just around the corner, BioWare and Lucasarts will be holding a LiveStream event. In this, the they will answer questions from the community concerning the content within each Game Update. The first LiveStream Event will discuss Game Update 1.4 – Terror From Beyond, and the team will be taking questions via Twitter, Facebook, and the Official Forum. LiveStream Event #1 BioWare and LucasArts are excited to announce a new monthly LiveStream Q&A Event. The objective of this new LiveStream event series is to answer any questions our Community has concerning the content within each Game Update. Below is all the information you need in order to watch and participate in the first monthly LiveStream Event. Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – LiveStream 9/21/2012 4:00pm to 4:30pm CDT The first LiveStream Event will discuss Game Update 1.4 – Terror From Beyond. This Game Update brings a brand new…

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Server merges happen today, plus allowed characters bumped to 12 for everyone

We have known for a couple months now that Mega servers were on the way.  We have now reached the last part of the process as BioWare merging the last servers today. Earlier this summer we launched the Free Character Transfer Program which offered players the option to transfer their characters from specific origin servers to selected destination servers. Following the success of the Free Character Transfer Program, and after closely monitoring server populations, we have now taken the next step in our on-going server population balancing process. We have upgraded destination servers in order to support a significantly higher number of players. As of tomorrow, all characters on origin servers will be automatically moved onto the upgraded high population destination servers. By centralizing our player populations on these higher population destination servers, we feel that we can offer our players the best possible Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ experience. As a…

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Daniel Erickson is “Actively looking for new opportunities”

We learned in the past that making assumptions based on a person’s LinkedIn profile is not always the best idea. Some people take a little thing such as change of job description and blow it into something it’s not. However, if you take a look at Daniel Erickson’s profile, you will see that he says he is “Actively looking for new opportunities”. This lends itself to a little bit of conversation. The Lead Designer/Creative Director at Bioware/Electronic Arts works in the gaming industry, an industry we know is booming and at the same time, one that can change with the snap of your fingers. It takes an entire team of people to build and launch a game and after that launch, all of the same team members are not needed to stay on. Layoffs usually happen and those creative people have to search for a new job or a new…

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What Are Bioware Fans Looking For?

Apparently, there are a large number of people who are claiming that Bioware is ruined forever and that they have betrayed their fans. Some are so upset they’ve vowed never to purchase a game with the name Bioware on it ever again. Why are they so angry, and what does the company need to do to satisfy the fans who have alleged betrayal? Bioware has a great history of getting things right. Obviously they’re not going to knock one out of the ballpark every single time, but many fans are concerned that Bioware thinks they can get away with making rushed products only for the sake of the dollar instead of cranking out games where there was obviously a lot more effort put into the final product. In Eric Cain’s blog at Forbes.com, Cain admitted he was “extremely harsh on Bioware,” and added, “I was biased, and while I stand…

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Swtor collectors edition now 30 bucks at Kmart

Star Wars: The old republic collectors edition is now at sale for 30 bucks at Kmart. This is might be somewhat depressing considering what we paid for it at release, but this could also be an especially good deal for players when the Free to play version launches. Think of all the  cartel coins you will get.  A BioWare CSR has confirmed that it is indeed  possible to upgrade your account to the  collectors edition. You also get access to the Collector’s Edition Store if you upgrade it now, and of course the Darth Malgus statue!

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