Latest News
Character Transfers Set for Summer
Apr 30, 2012
Service scheduled for roll-out early summer
 In late February, BioWare opened the Oceanic servers. With the expansion, free character transfers were announced. But this left one question unanswered, "When will character transfers become available to everyone?" In last week's developer Q&A, SWTOR forum user Arymono asked this question of the developers and Dallas Dickonson (Senior Producer of Live Services) chimed in on the subject: We will be rolling out our Character Transfer Service in early summer. First we’ll have some targeted free transfers from/to specific servers, but that will be followed with a broader system where you can either take advantage of free promotional transfers to specific servers or paid transfers to the server of your choice. We know everyone has more questions about character transfer, and we’ll reveal more details closer to the launch date. Dicksonson also mentioned in the same Q&A that this service will also address low server populations. When the new service rolls out, players on select servers will have the opportunity to transfer from high- and low-density population servers. We will bring you further announcements and updates as they become available. |
 |
|
|
Posted by
SWTOR Expands into Eastern Europe and Middle East
Apr 26, 2012
Origin, retailers will sell game to expanded clientele
 Early this morning, BioWare announced that starting today, the epic saga of Star Wars:The Old Republic will expand into Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Two versions of the game will be available, a Standard Edition and Digital Deluxe Edition. The Digital Deluxe Edition will come with some unique in-game items and will be exclusively available from Origin. Those who have already purchased a physical copy wont be left out though. BioWare has made a Digital Upgrade package available for purchase from Origin where available. The Standard Edition will also be available at select retailers in most of the countries. All editions include 30 days of game time and will have the option of one, three and six month recurring subscriptions. Below is the list of the countries included in the expansion: Europe
Middle East
More information about the expansion is available at the Additional EU and Middle Eastern Launch FAQ page on the SWTOR website. We will keep you up-to-date with any announcements or statements from BioWare as they become available. |
|
|
|
New Skill Tree Calculator
Apr 12, 2012
 A new Skill tree calculator is now available to let you try out new builds. It works exactly like in the game with few nifty features:
If you have any suggestions for improvement, or features you'd like to see us add for this tool, feel free to let us know in our Suggestions Forum! |
|
|
|
BioWare: SWTOR Patch 1.2 review
Apr 9, 2012
Patch brings new features, class overhauls
 With a lot of talk on the horizon about the exciting new features in SWTOR Patch 1.2, the community reeled in excitement when James Ohlen (Lead Designer) announced to PAX-East convention attendees and our friends at Massively that the major content patch will release this week.Ohlen told the Boston-area convention attendees, "We have our update 1.2 coming in the next week, and then after that, it's going to continue to roll out month after month. It's exciting." This update brings many features and major content releases announced during BioWare's Guild Summit as well as several blogs on the SWTOR Community Website. So what exactly is being released with this patch? We delve in for a brief overview of key features and updates. Legacy System
 This is a feature which has received a lot of speculation since the game's release. First announced at the SWTOR Guild Summit to release with Patch 1.2 , this new feature allows players to include all of their played characters into a single bloodline and even to pass down abilities and emotes.William Wallace, SWTOR Senior Game Designer explains: "Where would you start if you were constructing the Skywalker family tree? Let’s start with Anakin. If you ask me, Anakin is a level 50 Sith Warrior anchoring the top of the family tree. He’s married to Padme Amidala and they have two kids, Luke and Leia. Luke and Leia were both strong in the Force, like their father before them. Leia ends up marrying Han Solo, undoubtedly a level 50 Smuggler, and they have three children who all turn out to be Jedi. Luke marries Mara Jade, and they in turn have Ben, who is also a powerful Jedi Knight. Looking at their family tree, it’s clear that the Skywalker legacy produces powerful Force users and great heroes. Characters will be automatically added to the Legacy Tree upon completion of Chapter One, regardless of faction. After Chapter Two, characters will begin passing down special emotes as well as certain special abilities. Players will also be able to unlock role-specific unlocks for completing companion quests, the ability to unlock unique class combinations, ship unlocks and many more milestone-based unlocks. Some unlocks will also be purchasable. According to Daniel Erickson, Lead Game Designer, alternative methods will be available for species unlocks. These type of unlocks will utilize Legacy Level as well as currency. PvP Changes
Several changes are also being made to PvP and Warfronts with Patch 1.2. The most notable of these features is the addition of a new Warfront called Novare Coast. In this new zone, players will battle for a strategic beachhead by gaining control of mortars which bombard the enemy.The mechanics of this warfront differ from those of the Alerdaraan Civil War. In this warfont, the time required to capture a mortar is based upon a sliding timer based upon the number of players involved in its capture. Enemies may stop the timer and gain movement toward their capture by defeating all enemy players and interacting with the mortar. Leaderboards and Ranked Matches will also be introduced with this update. In addition to Ranked Warzones Solo and Group Ratings, players will now have several other PvP stats tracked including:
The rated warfront system will also include its own tier of PvP gear. Called Rated War Hero Gear, this tier will be available only to the higher rated players. This gear will have the same stats as the War Hero gear, but with what BioWare calls, "a more prestigious appearance". An AFK Vote Kick system will also be employed. This is rather a misnomer as the system was explained to be similar to the Report AFK feature of other games, where a number of reports initiates the system. There is no word as to if the Deserter system (already in place during warfronts) will be revamped or removed in the future with the implementation of this system. Explosive Conflict: New Operation
 A new operation entitled "Explosive Conflict" will be introduced with 1.2. BioWare reveals some of the lore:"The Trandoshan mercenary warlord Kephess has seized the planet Denova, a world rich in resources valuable to the war effort. Players must assault his war camp, situated atop a mountain in densely-wooded terrain, fighting Imperial defectors and heavy war machines along the way. 8- and 16-player Story and Hard Modes are currently available for this Operation." Lost Island: New Flashpoint
 A new flashpoint will also be added to the game. BioWare describes this new level 50 adventure:"Having uncovered the sources of the Rakghoul plague outbreak in the Tion Hegemony, players must travel to Ord Mantell and confront Dr. Lorrick, the mad scientist who engineered this horrific biological weapon." Guild Features
There are several features which will be implemented over the course of the releases for Patch 1.2. Immediately with the content release, players will have access to a Guild Bank, which will allow players of the same guild to enjoy a common storage unique to the guild.There are several other features which BioWare intends to implement later in this patch cycle. They include:
UI Customization and Improvements
 Starting with this update, players will be able to fully customize their user interface. This will include the ability to completely resize as well as move all elements the UI. There are also several quality-of-life improvements:
Crew Skills and Gathering Professions
To be included with this patch are several sweeping and quality-of-life changes to both Crew Skills and Gathering Professions. Many of these changes were announced in the SWTOR Crew Skill Blog. Here are some of the highlights:
Class Changes
Sweeping class changes have been made to all classes, many of which are balance-based. As a result, most skill trees have been re-worked and most classes will log in post-patch to skill point resets.The changes are far too numerous to name here, but may be found on the patch notes. For those who are unfamiliar with where to locate the patch notes currently in testing, fear not! The rather lengthy but informative notes may be found on the SWTOR Community Website. Please remember that all changes are in testing and may be subject to change before going live! We will continue to provide updates and announcements as they become available. |
|
|
|
BioWare Releases SWTOR Q&A Answers
Mar 6, 2012
Lead Combat Designer tackles questions from the community
 Today, Lead combat Designer Damion Schubert held a Q&A session on Facebook. Users submitted their questions, and BioWare returned Schubert's answers, with the users credited by their name. Below, we have quoted the questions and answers as found on the SWTOR Official Facebook Page Tim Simmons |
|
|
|
SWTOR Guild Summit Brings Major Announcements
Mar 6, 2012
Panels announce sweeping changes
 The SWTOR Guild Summit is still in full motion! This summit, being held until March 8th, is a meeting between BioWare developers and select guilds from across the world. Yesterday, BioWare held a series of developer panels at the summit. These panels discussed many of the changes we will see in 1.2, as well as what is being planned in the future, We were taking notes, and tried to boil it down to the most relevant information. There are a lot of changes to cover, so let's delve in! PvP
Patch 1.2
Legacy
Patch 1.2
Guilds
Patch 1.2
Flashpoints and Operations
Patch 1.2
Patch 1.3
User Interface
Patch 1.2
Items
Patch 1.2
Missions and Events
Patch 1.2
Live Facebook Q&A
Also announced, BioWare will be conducting a Facebook Q&A session with Lead Combat Designer Damion Schubert today. To participate, players should post on the Star Wars Official Facebook page. Later today, BioWare will compile the questions, and select questions will be answered on the wall.We will re-post this Q&A once it goes live. |
|
|
|
SWTOR Opens Oceanic Servers
Feb 29, 2012
New servers launch for Australia, New Zealand, Asia Minor
For months, players in Australia, New Zealand and Asia Minor had formed a daisy chain of guilds and networks to form a virtual server on the U.S. realm Swiftsure. Earlier in the month, BioWare announced that it would open up Ocenic servers on March 1st. Though most in the U.S. may check their calendars and observe today is February 29th, our friends in Asia (who are on the other side of the International Date Line) woke up to some good news as BioWare welcomed it's new players in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. In its original announcment, Dr. Greg Zeschuk, General Manager of the BioWare Label’s MMO Business Unit and Co-Founder of BioWare said, “Our biggest priority for The Old Republic has always been to deliver a high quality product and high quality service and we are pleased with our results in North America and Europe. We appreciate that our fans in these countries have been patient and we are excited to deliver this same great customer experience to players this March.” Characters who may already be on a US realm are eligible for transfer to an Oceanic Server. Details may be found on the Asia Pacific Launch FAQ Page. Transfers will be free for those whose accounts whose account options already declare that they are from Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong or Singapore. Guild transfers are not yet available at this time. For those who do not qualify for the free transfers, there is a paid transfer service available. UPDATE (2/29/12): The calendar gnomes have verified that today is February 29th, not March 29th. Sorry for any confusion or missed appointments. |
|
|
|
Statement tackles false claims, bullying
 Yesterday, a series of internet attacks against SWTOR writer Jennifer Hepler streaked across social media, and even prompted Magelo's first editorial. A few moments ago, Dr. Ray Muzika (co-founder of BioWare) issued a statement in support of Ms. Hepler and against internet bullying. Below, we have quoted the entire post as found on the BioWare Social Network Website: Hi Everyone We at Magelo support BioWare's stance and wish Ms. Hepler all the best. |
|
|
|