Archives for 2012

Map of Orgrimmar Vendors, Trainers and NPCs

Fully Updated for Mists of Pandaria

How to use this map: find your Orgrimmar trainer/vendor/NPC in the table and match the number or letter listed in that cell to find it on the map. Enjoy – and please let us know if we’ve missed something!

(Click on image for the full size version)

Ref Vendor/s or other key NPCs Trainer/s
A Wind Rider Master (Doras) Flying Trainer (Maztha)
Bilgewater Cartel Quartermaster (Frizzo Villamar) PvP Envoys
Wind Rider Keeper (Drakma)
B Battle Pet Trainer (Varzok)
C Zeppelin Master (Borean Tundra)
Zeppelin Master (Thunder Bluff)
D Zeppelin Master (Tirisfal Glades) Bort (NPC)
Zeppelin Master (Stranglethorn Vale)
E Farseer Krogar
Portals to Cataclysm zones (Deepholm, Uldum etc)
F Lord Itharius (Ambassador of the Green Dragonflight)
G Druid Trainer (Shalla Whiteleaf) Priest Trainer (Seer Liwatha)
Shaman Trainer (Sahi Cloudsinger) Warrior Trainer (Nahu Ragehoof)
Hunter Trainer (Nohi Plainswalker) Sunwalker Atohmo’s Kodo (NPC)
H Auctioneer Sowata Blacksmithing Trainer (Opuno Ironhorn)
Bow and Rifle Vendor (Kaja) Skinning Trainer (Rento)
Stable Master (Lonto) Cenarion Emissary Blackhoof (NPC)
I Innkeeper (Miwana) Tailoring Trainer (Hiwahi Three-Feathers)
Searn Firewarder (NPC) Shaman Trainer (Sian’tsu)
Shaman Trainer (Kardris Dreamseeker)
Shaman Trainer (Sagorne Creststrider)
J Banker (Tatepi) Trade Supplies (Isashi)
Guild Vault General Goods (Owato)
K Enchanting Supplies (Kithas) Enchanting Trainer (Godan)
Enchanter Farendin (NPC)
Apprentice Enchanter (Jhag)
L Alchemy Supplies (Kor’Geld) Alchemy Trainer (Yelmak)
Apprentice Alchemist (Whuut) General Goods (Asoran)
Jes’rimon (NPC) – upstairs Reagents (Magenius)
Dran Droffers (NPC) Malton Droffers (NPC)
M Engineering Supplies (Sovik) Engineering Trainer (Roxxik)
Rilli Greasygob (NPC) Apprentice Engineers (Thund and Nogg)
Orphan Matron Battlewail Tosamina (NPC)
Sasi (NPC) Bag Vendor (Gotri)
Gogu (NPC)
N Leather Armor Merchant (Morgum) Skinning Trainer (Thuwd)
Leatherworking Supplies (Tamar) Leatherworking Trainer (Karolek)
Cloth and Leather Armor Merchant (Handor) Apprentice Leatherworker (Kamari)
Cloth Armor Merchant (Ollanus) Tailoring Trainer (Magar)
Tailoring Supplies (Borya) Apprentice Tailor (Snang)
Cloth and Leather Armor Merchant (Tor’phan) Toys and Novelties (Blax Bottlerocket) – walks past
Krixx (Zeppelin Engineer)
O Transmogrifier (Warpweaver Dushar) Void Storage (Vaultkeeper Jazra)
Arcane Reforger (Thaumaturge Zajir) Thaumaturge Altha (NPC)
P Sous Chef (Shazdar) Cooking Trainer (Arugi)
Infantry Chef (Marogg) Cooking Supplies (Suja)
Meat Vendor (Borstan)
Q Omakka Wolfbrother (NPC)
R Orgrimmar Auction House Mailbox
S Innkeeper (Gryshka) Kozish (NPC)
Zazo (NPC) Grunt Komak (NPC)
Goma (NPC) Barkeep Morag
Gamon (NPC) General Goods (Trak’gen)
Trade Supplies (Shimra)
T Shang’gok (NPC)
U Orgrimmar Bank Grunts Karus, Koma, Soran
Guild Vault Bankers Branzlit, Kixa, Rilgiz and Perixa
V Grommash Hold Priest Trainer (Dark Cleric Cecille)
Zor Lonetree (NPC) Priest Trainer (Tyelis)
Shok Narnes (NPC) Archaeology Trainer (Belloc Brightblade)
Gotura Fourwinds (NPC) Paladin Trainer (Master Pyraenor)
Sauranok the Mystic (NPC) Guild Vendor (Goram) – outside
Garrosh Hellscream (NPC) Guild Master (Urtrun Clanbringer)
Ziradormi (NPC)
Ambassador Dawnsinger (NPC)
Mokvar (NPC)
Eitrigg (NPC)
W Mail Armor Merchant (Sana) Mining Trainer (Gonto)
Plate Armor Merchant (Naros) Blacksmithing Trainer (Rogg)
Mining Supplies (Lutah)
Blacksmithing Supplies (Punra)
X War Mount Quartermaster (Raider Bork) Weapons Quartermaster (Sergeant Thunderhorn)
Legacy Weapon Quartermaster (Stone Guard Zarg) Armor Quartermaster (Doris Volanthius)
Legacy Armor Quartermaster (First Sergeant Hola’mahi) Armor Quartermaster (Lady Palanseer)
Accessories Quartermaster (Brave Stonehide) Advisor Willington (NPC)
Honor Trade Goods (Rogoc) Chieftain Earthbind (NPC)
Blood Guard Hini’wana
Y Zankaja (NPC) Mailbox
Z Inscription Supplies (Xantili) Druid Trainer (Sesebi)
Portal to Blasted Lands Fishing Trainer (Old Umbehto)
Priest Trainer (Shadow Walker Zuru)
Warlock Trainer (Unjari Feltongue)
Inscription Trainer (Jo’mah) – upstairs
Mage Trainer (Uthel’nay) – upstairs
Portal Trainer (Zirazi the Star-Gazer) – upstairs
2 Cooking Supplies (Xen’to) Cooking Trainer (Zamja)
Food and Drink (Batamsi) Bwemba (NPC)
3 Stable Master (Xon’cha) Shaman Trainer (Witch Doctor Umbu) – walks past
Innkeeper (Sijambi) Auctioneer (Ziji) – upstairs
Trade Supplies (Huju) Banker (Makavu) – upstairs
General Goods (Jin’diza) Snake Vendor (Xan’tish) – walks past
Kali Remik (NPC)
4 Keldran (NPC)
5 Reagents and Poisons (Zeal’aya) Herbalism Trainer (Jandi)
6 Barber (Bebri Coifcurl) Mailbox
7 Zazzle (NPC) Mailbox
Flekky Nox (NPC)
8 War Harness Maker (Kiro) Warchief’s Herald
Warchief’s Command Board Guild Vault
Bankers
9 Innkeeper (Nufa) Herezegor Flametusk (NPC)
Bartender (Gravy)
10 Belgrom Rockmaul (NPC) Warrior Trainer (Blademaster Ronakada)
Training Dummies Warrior Trainer (Grezz Ragefist)
Frostwolf Ambassador Rokhstrom Warrior Trainer (Sorek)
Battlemaster (Karg Skullgore) – upstairs
Battlemaster (Karba Blazemaw) – upstairs
11 Fishing Supplies (Shankys) Fishing Trainer (Lumak)
Master Angler (Razgar)
12 Auction House Mailbox
13 Raider’s Training Dummies Mailbox
14 Entry to Ring of Valor
15 Mining Supplies (Gorina) Mining Trainer (Makaru)
Jewelcrafting Supplies (Marith Lazuria) Jewelcrafting Trainer (Lugrah)
Jewelcrafting Supplies (Taryssa Lazuria)
16 Portal to Pandaria Monk Trainer (Ji Firepaw)
17 Krathok Moltenfist (NPC) Blacksmithing Trainer (Okothos Ironrager)
Apprentice Blacksmith (Ug’thok) Blacksmithing Trainer (Borgosh Corebender)
Apprentice Blacksmith (Snarl) Blacksmithing Trainer (Saru Steelfury)
Blacksmithing Supplies (Sumi) Blacksmithing Trainer (Shayis Steelfury) – outside
Heavy Armor Merchant (Tumi) Blackmithing Trainer (Kelgruk Bloodaxe)
Weapon Vendor (Zendo’jian) – outside Two-Handed Weapons Merchant (Galthuk)
Aturk the Anvil (NPC) Orokk Omosh (NPC)
Ox – The Mithril Order (NPC) Mace and Staves Vendor (Koru)
Weapon Vendor (Shoma)
18 Tailoring Supplies (Lizna Goldweaver) Tailoring Trainer (Nivi Weavewell)
Stable Master (Bezzil) Rogue Trainer (Vish The Sneak)
Barmaid (Tanzi) Mage Trainer (Conjurer Mixli)
Innkeeper (Tinza Silvermug) Warlock Trainer (Kazrali the Witch)
General Goods (Denk Hordewell)
Bartender (Miragohn Mixmaster)
19 Trade Supplies (Pezik Lockfast) Hunter Trainer (Dankin Farsnipe)
Cooking Supplies (Karizi Porkpatty) Cooking Trainer (Zarbo Porkpatty)
Barmaid (Sanzi) Priest Trainer (Brother Silverhallow)
Engineering Supplies (Vizna Bangwrench) First Aid Trainer (Krenk Choplimb)
Trike Dealer (Kall Worthaton) Riding Trainer (Revi Ramrod)
Engineering Trainer (“Jack” Pisarex Slamfix)
20 Blacksmithing Supplies (Zido Helmbreaker) Shaman Trainer (Environmental Engineer Linza)
Mining Trainer (Gizzik Oregrab)
Blacksmithing Trainer (Kark Helmbreaker)
21 Boss Mida (NPC) Warrior Trainer (Bruiser Janx)
Kazit (NPC)
Auctioneer Fenk
Battle Pet Trainer (Matty)
Banker (Nuzo)
Banker (Zerit)

World of Warcraft Maps: Silvermoon City

This map will be fully updated once Mists of Pandaria hits

(View the full size version here)

Ref Name Vendor/s or other key NPCs Trainer/s
A Inn Innkeeper (Jovia)
B Inn (upstairs) Cooking Supplies (Quelis) Cooking (Sylann)
C Bank Silvermoon City Commendations (Officer Dawning)
Bankers
Guild Vault
D The Bazaar Shield Merchant (Winthren)
(South) Plate Armor Merchant (Tynna)
Mail Armor Merchant (Keeli)
E The Bazaar Reagents (Zalle)
(West) General Goods (Sathren Azuredawn)
F The Bazaar Axe Vendor (Feledis)
(North-West) Blade Vendor (Rahein)
G The Bazaar Leather Armor Merchant (Noraelath)
(North-West) Blunt Weapon Merchant (Welethelon)
H The Bazaar Horde Cloth Quartermaster (Sorim Lightsong) Tailoring (Keelen Sheets)
(North) Tailoring Supplies (Deynna)
Apprentice Tailor (Galana)
I The Bazaar Fireworks Vendor (Bithrus)
(North)
J The Bazaar Bag Vendor (Rathin)
(North-East) Clothier (Andra)
Cloth Armor Merchant (Zyandrel)
K The Bazaar Tradesman (Parnis)
(East) Battleground Emissaries
L The Bazaar Auction House
(Central) Auctioneers
M Walk of Elders Druid Trainer (Harene Plainwalker)
(North)
N Walk of Elders Wand Vendor (Zathanna)
(Upper West) Alchemy Supplies & Reagents (Velanni)
O Walk of Elders Battleground Emissaries
(South-West) Minstrel Manager (Michael Schweitzer)
P Walk of Elders Guild Master (Tandrine)
(South) Tabard Vendor (Kredis)
Q Walk of Elders Leatherworking Supplies (Zaralda) Leatherworking (Talmar)
(South-East) Skinning (Tyn)
R Walk of Elders Jewelcrafting Supplies (Gelanthis) Jewelcrafting (Kalinda)
(East)
S Walk of Elders Fishing Supplies (Olirea) First Aid (Alestus)
(North-East) Fishing (Drathen)
T Auction House Auctioneers
U Bank Bankers and Guild Vault
V Inn Innkeeper (Valandra)
Wine & Spirits Merchant (Vinemaster Suntouched)
W Royal Exchange Battleground Emissaries
(Central)
X Fastriders’ Square Gunsmith (Mathaleron)
(Inner-East) Bowyer (Celana)
Y Blood Knight HQ Weapon Master (Ileda) Paladin Trainer (Champion Bachi)
Paladin Trainer (Osselan)
Paladin Trainer (Ithelis)
Z Blood Knight HQ Arena Master and all Battlemasters
(Inner)
2 Fastriders’ Square Stable Master (Shalenn) Pet Trainer (Halthenis)
(North) Hunter Trainer (Tana)
Hunter Trainer (Oninath)
Hunter Trainer (Zandine)
3 Fastriders’ Square Engineering Supplies (Yatheon) Engineering Trainer (Danwe)
(South-West)
4 Fastriders’ Square Blacksmithing Supplies (Eriden) Blacksmithing Trainer (Bemarrin)
(Central)
5 Fastrider’s Square Mining Supplies (Zelan) Mining Trainer (Belil)
(South)
6 The Sanctum Warlock Trainer (Zanien)
Warlock Trainer (Alamma)
Warlock Trainer (Talionia)
7 Murder Row Poison Supplies (Darlia) Rogue Trainer (Nerisen)
(North-East) Rogue Trainer (Elara)
Rogue Trainer (Zelanis)
8 Court of the Sun Enchanting Supplies (Lyna) Enchanting Trainer (Sedana)
(North-East) Inscription Supplies (Lelorian) Inscription Trainer (Zantasia)
Lexicon of Power
9 Sunfury Spire Priest Trainer (Lotheolan)
(West) Priest Trainer (Belestra)
Priest Trainer (Aldrae)
10 Sunfury Spire Portal Trainer (Narinth)
(East) Mage Trainer (Zaedana)
Mage Trainer (Inethven)
Mage Trainer (Quithas)
11 Outside City Gates Flight Master (Skymistress Gloaming)
(West)

Suggestion Box: Favourite Planet?

With the 1.3 update not far off, there’s a focus on new content in the game, but I thought this week we’d talk about the foundation of most gameplay in SWTOR: the planets. I’m still pretty enamoured with Voss and if I had to list a favourite, that’d be it. What I’m most interested in though is what planet you either love or hate the most. Does Taris make you want to use a cheese grater on your inner thigh? Does Corellia warm the cockles of your dystopian heart?

Jump in and give your 2 cents worth!

Oceanic Guild Spotlight: Aftermath

If you’d like your guild spotlighted, just use our contact form to let us know. Or if you like, respond to the questions shown below and send them in – we love to profile guilds and the work they’re doing. The only requirement is that you’re an active oceanic guild. Please be patient if you don’t hear back from us immediately – we will only be spotlighting a guild every week or so.

Name of guild

Aftermath (Mirror Guild: MDK) [Dalborra]

Guild website

http://aftermath-mdk.enjin.com/

History of your guild’s name?

There were a group of 8 of us who were pugging Ops together on Saturday afternoons. We’d laugh and joke and pull some more mobs and suddenly hours would have passed and almost everything on Ziost Shadow would be dead – including EC SM. When most of our respective guildies got lost in D3 we decided to form our own. Honestly, I wanted to call the guild Colin or Steven or something really banal just so we wouldn’t get stuck on the name. Aftermath was on a list of truly terrible names Takayo came up with – Cool Whip, Wheels of Steel, Walk the Earth (lolololol) – but when he got to Aftermath I said, ‘Yea, no one will be embarassed by that one”.

What sort of guild are you? 

We’re a progression raiding guild in the sense that we love the strategy, challenge and teamwork required to raid at level, and we all chase that “woot” feeling you get from downing a boss that was a little bit hard, but we’re not hard-core. There’s no raid meters or guild hierarchies or anyone pushing you to gear up or be better. We’re more a collection of individuals that take personal pride in the way we play. We love SWTOR and get together a couple of times a week to accomplish something and have a laugh along the way. We have our share of PvPers, alt-o-holics, crafters etc but raiding is our core.

What are the achievements that your guild is most proud of?

I think that we’ve accidentally managed to assemble a group of really fantastic players that are lively, fun and so far from elitist it’s scary, yet we still manage to clear whatever raid we set our mind to within a lock-out.

I mean, Mayce yells “Allah Ayakabah” every time he wails on Kephess’ Strider because he believes you do more dps that way, the list of things Selk blames Jet for (right before a boss pull) now includes childhood obesity, Spencer Pratt, One Nation and the failure of the Treaty of Coruscant! And despite the jokes and frivolity the team cleared EC SM in half-Columi the first week they went in there. I think having fun makes you a better player.

Why did you choose to be Empire?

I’m sure if you asked everyone individually they’d give you a very intelligent and articulate rationale for why they chose to play Imperial, but secretly I suspect it’s the fashion. After all who’d choose tights over a long, black, dastardly cape and rocket shoes?

You have one minute to convince someone they should be in your guild – what would you say to them?

If you’re sick of sitting on the sidelines or your raid getting called due to no-shows and looking for a permanent place in regular as clockwork raids on a slightly zany, but highly skilled and very friendly raiding team, then please consider us. We’re a skilled, reliable, democratic, no-fuss team that really gets things done without taking ourselves too seriously.

Are you recruiting at the moment and if so what classes / type of players are you looking for?

Always! At the moment we’re looking for a few more people to complete our 16-man team so we can get everyone geared up through 8 man EC HMs, 16 mans and move onto Nightmare Pilgrim. I’d sell my mother for a couple more tanks but, honestly, anyone who loves raiding, progressing, achievements and loves getting together with a friendly, down-to-earth crew a couple of nights a week, but doesn’t take themselves too seriously while they do it, is going to love it in Aftermath.

What are your predictions for the next 6 months for the guild?

I imagine we’ll stay relatively small and keep doing what we’re doing. We don’t want to do the things large guilds have to do to keep everyone happy – rotate people out, continue farming old content indefinitely to gear up a never-ending stream of new recruits, constantly jostle and tweak the raids to suit too many varied tastes, styles and schedules.

I think for this reason, there’s a lot of recruitment competition and guild shuffling on Dalborra right now. Quite a few guilds are able to mount a half a team or a team and half – us included and are scooping up anyone with a view to sorting it out later. We’re going to stay focussed on keeping 4 tanks, 4 healers and 8 dps happy for now.

 

First character transfer servers announced

With the first batch of character transfers about to get underway, BioWare have announced which servers will be eligible to transfer:

Keller’s Void (PVE – US East)
Hedarr Soongh (PVP – US East)
Soresu (PVE – US West)
Rakata Mind Prison (PVP – US West)
Stereb Cities (PVE – Europe)
Eye of Ashlanae (PVE – Europe)
Phateem Halls of Knowledge (PVE – Europe)
The Restoration Zone (PVP – Europe)
The Shadow Runner (PVP – Europe)
Mecrosa Order (PVP – Europe)

If you go to your Account Management tab on SWTOR.com, you can see the destination servers, which at this stage are:

Keller’s Void to Jedi Covenant
Hedarr Soongh to The Fatman
Eye of Ashlanae to The Red Eclipse
The Shadow Runner to Tomb of Freedon Nadd
Rakata Mind Prison to The Bastion
Soresu to The Harbinger
Mecrosa Order to Darth Nihilus
Stereb Cities to The Jedi Tower
The Restoration Zone to Jar’Kai Sword
Phateem Halls of Knowledge to Mantle of the Force

It’s obviously a short list, but its understandable for a first try at transfers, but it looks like it may be quite a wait for some.

Over to you: are you waiting for a transfer?

Flash Point 34: Two Clops Means NO

It’s an all-aussie host-fest this episode, and we cover all the news of note over the past fortnight whilst still getting waylaid by key topics such as man-bras and Dutch bestiality laws.

Points of discussion:
– New content unveiled at E3
– Changes in SWTOR Community Team (David Bass / Eric Musco)
Character transfers
1.3 on PTS
– Underwhelming Q&A
Star Wars 1313 preview
– Tim’s great piece on why the Empire Can and Must Win
Five Inch Floppy wins an award
– Simon, Mark and David will be at Oz Comic Con – more next episode
– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Oceanic Guild listing, Google Plus page and Twitter account

Listen via iTunes or right here:

Server Downtime: June 12th 2012

This week’s downtime is a 5-hour one – it’s highly doubtful it’s 1.3 dropping but I’m sure there’s some preparatory work going on. Here’s the time conversions and you can see the full post from BioWare below:

AEST: 5pm-10pm
AWST: 3pm-8pm
NZDT: 7pm-12am

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for four hours on Tuesday, June 12th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 7AM CDT (5AM PDT/8AM EDT/1PM BST/2PM CEST/10PM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than five hours, but could be extended.

This weekly maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
Time: 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 7AM CDT (5AM PDT/8AM EDT/1PM BST/2PM CEST/10PM AEST)

All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than five hours.

SWTOR Video News: 1.3 PTR Coverage

Asher’s back with some nice video commentary of the 1.3 Patch Notes (here’s the full patch notes in text form if you haven’t seen them). Enjoy this trio of vids!


Community Q&A June 8th 2012: Group Finder and Crew Skills

This week’s Community Q&A is a mixed batch of answers covering everything from the group finder to augments. Read on below to see if some long-standing question has been answered for you:

Stubacca: Will the new Group Finder only work for solo players to find random group members, or will two or three friends that are already grouped together manually be able to still play together and fill the open spots in the group with random group members with it?

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer):  The Group Finder has absolutely been designed to allow 2- or 3-person groups to find the missing players to complete that group. It also has functionality allowing players to easily backfill a group if, for example, you start running a Flashpoint and lose a player.

Elperzon: Will we ever be given the chance to ‘forget’ schematics we know? For example, I can make the base item, the 3 upgraded version (crit, power, def), and some of their upgraded versions (alacrity, surge, etc). That makes for a ton of schematics for a single item. I would love to be able to forget the base item schematic if I have the upgraded version I like/want.

Damion: This is, in fact, something that we’ve thought about and might implement at some point. However, it’s mostly a nice cleanup thing and is behind other priorities at the moment.

Goldenstar: Daniel Erickson mentioned in the last Q&A that social points will now be awarded for boss kills in HM FPs/OPs. What about PvPers? Are there any plans to add methods of acquiring social points to PvP?

Damion: At this time, players won’t be able to gain social points by participating in PvP. In the future, it’s possible that we’ll evaluate more ways to earn social points and how that system compares to other reward systems in the game.

CiKaidom: You mentioned “pre-made teams” in your answer to Lymain (link), but what did you mean exactly? Are you saying that to increase our ranking we’ll need to always be with the same group of 8, or will we be allowed to change one or more players? Is this ranking common to all team warzones fought or is it specific to a team, and changes whenever one or more members of this team change?

Rob Hinkle (Senior PvP Designer): Our apologies for the lack of clarity. A “pre-made team” in the context of Ranked Warzones simply means any full 8-man operation. You do not need to always queue with the same group of 8, just a full group of 8. Each individual player keeps his own ranking, and when a team is formed and queued we generate the team value based on all of the rankings of the members of that specific team.

Ghoppa: Can Force/tech attacks (for example a Scoundrel’s Back Blast) actually ever miss (excluding any special abilities players have)? Do Accuracy and Defense play any role with these attacks, or does Accuracy/Defense only affect melee/ranged attacks? Can Force/tech attacks be shielded?

Austin Peckenpaugh (Senior Designer): Yes, but the flytext you’ll see is “Resist” instead of “Miss.” Typically, Force/tech Accuracy is higher than melee/ranged Accuracy and melee/ranged Defense is higher than Force/tech Defense, but Accuracy and Defense work the same with all attack types. Currently Force/tech attacks cannot be shielded.

 

Alxandria: Can we get a detailed breakdown of the affect of Presence on our companions? I’m specifically targeting info that would explain if the bonuses are weighted or static.

Jason Attard (Senior Game Designer): Your companion gets a fixed amount of damage, healing, and health per point of Presence on your character, and that amount does not change as you level up. This is the exact same sort of scaling done for Endurance and Power. In fact, putting 100 points of Presence on your main character is equivalent to putting 50 points of Endurance and ~85 points of Power on your companion, so if you’re playing solo or 2-player content where you have your companion out it’s mathematically the most effective thing you can do. This is offset by the fact that it’s split between offense and defense (making your companion less role-specialized) and that you’re sacrificing your personal effectiveness to increase the effectiveness of an AI.

As for how it scales as you level up, characters get lots of Endurance and Power on their gear, but typically don’t get much Presence. This means that, early on, Presence tends to be a bigger proportion of your overall stat budget (and thus plays a bigger role in your companion’s effectiveness) than it does in the late game. In theory, you could make Presence more important by seeking it out for your gear, but in practice we found most players prefer to increase the power of their own character instead, so we made Presence have more of a niche role, and balanced the PvE game assuming players do not itemize towards it at all.

 

Shintorg: Can you explain the reasoning behind making the BIS consumables, Exotech Stims and Adrendals, drop so rarely and seemingly only on Hard Mod EV&KP? Why isn’t there a way to purchase these? Why don’t they drop in Explosive Conflict? Or off bosses?

David Hunt (Systems Designer): These schematics are split between the Black Hole and Daily Commendation vendors in Game Update 1.3. This isn’t in the version of Game Update 1.3 that’s currently on the public test server, but it will make it into Game Update 1.3 before it reaches live servers.

RCcarroll: I play characters of a multitude of levels regularly and haven’t gotten one Legacy Item drop. Would you mind saying how often these are supposed to drop and on what kind of enemies?

David Hunt: Legacy items do not have a specific drop location. Inheritance can drop from any random loot of level 34 or higher. That usually means killing NPCs at level 34 or above, but it’s possible for an NPC to drop loot slightly above its level. Birthright items drop from level 46+ (Inheritance can still drop from 46-50). It is difficult to state their precise drop rates because most random drop rates vary significantly depending on what you’re killing. Normal bosses throughout the world have a substantially higher chance of dropping these than regular NPCs.

These drops are included in the Artifact quality loot table. As with everything on that table, the best way to find it is through Artifact quality lockboxes anywhere in the level range. Tough bosses that drop random loot are another option. However, I would not recommend purchasing these boxes with the expectation of finding lots of Legacy gear – there are tons of competing items in those loot tables.

Whenever dealing with any drop rate that’s low and random from a large selection, the individual experience ends up varying wildly. The overall drop chance for these is increasing in an upcoming update, and we’re looking at other ways to normalize the acquisition rate of these items.

SNOperaghost: Which crafting skills will be able to make which specific types of augment kits?

David White (Systems Designer): Armormech, Synthweaving, & Armstech can all craft Augment Kits. The kits are the same regardless of Crew Skill.

StagehandMERC: Can you talk about efficiency bonuses for Crew Skills? Are they a percent reduction to the time it takes to complete tasks, or is there more to it than that? Also, is there an efficiency bonus granted by companion affection? How does it scale from 0 affection through to full?

David White: The efficiency bonus reduces the amount of time it takes to run Crew Skill missions and crafting. Certain companions have innate bonuses to the efficiency of specific Crew Skills but all companions will become more efficient as your Affection with them goes up. It is possible to get as much as a 15% efficiency bonus when you are at max Affection.

30 Troopers Fighting Together

I stumbled across this great video on the official forums. Alpha Company are a Trooper-based roleplaying guild, “full of current and former military members as well as military enthusiasts”, which becomes pretty obvious if you watch this:

Very cool indeed – I love guilds with a difference, or in the case a distinct uniformity.

Oceanic Guild Spotlight: Destiny

If you’d like your guild spotlighted, just use our contact form to let us know. Or if you like, respond to the questions shown below and send them in – we love to profile guilds and the work they’re doing. The only requirement is that you’re an active oceanic guild. Please be patient if you don’t hear back from us immediately – we will only be spotlighting a guild every week or so.

Name of guild

Fated Destiny (Republic) & Corrupted Destiny (Empire)

Guild website

www.sss.guildlaunch.com

History of your guild’s name?

Destiny has been a guild name through a few MMOs, recognising a shared enjoyment of gaming amongst a few core friends with many other players along the way.

What sort of guild are you? 

Casual + PvP + semi-serious Operations and Hardmodes

What are the achievements that your guild is most proud of?

As a casual guild we work well together to still complete raids. We may wipe a few more times than the HC guilds but I bet we laugh more too.

Why did you choose to be Republic / Sith?

We actually have twin guilds on both sides to recognise that players enjoy all that SWTOR has to offer.

You have one minute to convince someone they should be in your guild – what would you say to them?

We have Oreos!

Are you recruiting at the moment and if so what classes / type of players are you looking for?

Long term the need often changes so we welcome all classes but new members need to understand they may be on standby if their class has an active player already. As we progress raiders will step aside on SM Ops for newer players to gear up and get experience.

What are your predictions for the next 6 months for the guild?

Many guildies are exploring alt storylines while we continue to work through Ops at various levels on both sides (allowing players to experience Ops with different classes) and enjoying any new SWTOR content.

BioWare Announce SWTOR Character Transfer Details

It’s been a hell of a few days for SWTOR-related announcements, what with the full 1.3 patch note release for the PTS and the E3 release of information regarding a new planet and a whole bunch more.

To top it off, BioWare have posted a fairly lengthy piece on the character transfer system, which is starting from the 12th June. It’s likely the details of the announcement may not thrill a lot of people. You can read the full post below (or look at it here), but the summary for the initial rollout is:

1. It won’t be a free-for-all transfer service, in that only specific servers will be able to be transferred to.

2. There will be a queue for transfers – there are only so many that can be completed each day and demand is expected to be high.

3. There are some things to be aware of from a legacy and guild viewpoint:

For those who have unlocked Legacy abilities, your Legacy will be transferred to your new server and your unlocks will be available there too. If you have already unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, the higher level Legacy will take precedence. For guild members and masters, you will not be able to transfer your guild as a whole to your new server; instead you will need to reform it. If you have a guild bank, it will be re-granted to your new guild on your destination server by Customer Service. This is not an automatic process and you will have to contact Customer Service directly. If your transferred character’s name conflicts with an existing name on a destination server, you will be asked to rename your character. In the case of Legacy names, unless you have unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, you will need to rename your Legacy upon transfer (although you may pick the same Legacy name as on your origin server, if available).

4. If you have toons on a number of different servers, you won’t be able to consolidate them onto one server under this initial rollout.

The full info from BioWare:

Character Transfer, Server Populations and You

In a previous Community Q&A we talked about character transfers, and announced that they were coming in early summer. Character transfers are a complex process, but we’re almost ready to go. Starting next week on June 12th, 2012, we’re allowing character transfers to occur between selected servers in order to provide a better gameplay experience for our players by ensuring population balance across the service.

Game Update 1.3 is focused around group content, with the Group Finder designed to help you enjoy Flashpoints, Operations and Heroic Missions in groups. However, we know that a Group Finder can only work when there is a large pool of players to draw from on a server. That’s why the new Character Transfer Service is important: it will improve the overall player experience by facilitating maximized server populations across the service.

How will it work?

Initially we considered allowing players to transfer to any server they wished, or to a variety of different servers. However, on a massive scale, this free-for-all approach causes potential problems. Players who are anxious to ensure they end up on a heavily populated server will naturally flock to what is perceived as the ‘biggest’ server, potentially over-populating that server. This eventually leads to the exact situation we’re trying to move away from. Our aim is to maximize server population across the entire service and to enhance the gameplay experience for our players.

Therefore, we made the decision to strictly limit the initial phase of the Character Transfer Service to only allow transfers from selected groups of origin servers (where you’re moving a character from) to selected individual destination servers (where you choose to move a character to) based on the player populations of the origin and destination servers. In some cases, a large number of origin servers will be eligible to move to a single destination server. In others, very few origin servers will be transferring to existing high population destination servers. Remember, the goal here is to push almost every destination server to an active population that’s higher.

This process will be gradual and staged over time. Despite huge improvements being made to the Character Transfer Service by our server team, there are millions of characters to be moved and there is a limit to how many can be moved daily. We want your character to be transferred as quickly as possible, but we will need you to be patient as the process completes. Once your transfer starts we estimate it will complete in a few hours, but with the potential volume of transfers occurring, you may find your character is queued for transfer for a while as we deal with the high volume.

We’re sure many of you are interested to learn which servers are eligible for outgoing transfers and which servers are eligible to receive transfers. However, because the process will be gradual, we cannot provide that information in advance. Depending on the number of characters transferred, the destination and origin servers eligible for transfer may be altered during the process. We don’t want to promise a destination in case it may change. Listings will become available as servers become eligible for transfer. We can tell you that all server types and languages will be respected. You will not find your PvE characters transferred to a PvP server, or vice versa!

There are also some restrictions to this character transfer process , which will be more fully detailed in a forthcoming FAQ. For those who have unlocked Legacy abilities, your Legacy will be transferred to your new server and your unlocks will be available there too. If you have already unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, the higher level Legacy will take precedence. For guild members and masters, you will not be able to transfer your guild as a whole to your new server; instead you will need to reform it. If you have a guild bank, it will be re-granted to your new guild on your destination server by Customer Service. This is not an automatic process and you will have to contact Customer Service directly. If your transferred character’s name conflicts with an existing name on a destination server, you will be asked to rename your character. In the case of Legacy names, unless you have unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, you will need to rename your Legacy upon transfer (although you may pick the same Legacy name as on your origin server, if available).

The next step

We believe that by carefully allowing character transfer between select origin and destination servers, players will have a healthier gameplay experience. With the Group Finder available in Game Update 1.3, we intend for players to be able to easily assemble full groups for all sorts of content.

We understand that some of you may be looking to consolidate characters from a variety of origin servers onto one server, and others may be anxious to move to a specific server to be with friends. With the restrictions of this initial service, that may not be possible. We still believe that you will enjoy playing on a higher population server and hope you’ll take advantage of the service, but you won’t be forced to transfer. Future versions of the Character Transfer Service may allow more options in your choice of destination servers and may require a transfer fee. While we do not have a scheduled time frame for the launch of such a service, we are committed to making improvements to the Character Transfer Service over time to provide players with a great gameplay experience. Stay tuned to www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com for more details!

Summary

We’ve been working as fast as we can to create a viable Character Transfer Service and we appreciate your patience as we’ve worked to create it. The good news is that the wait is almost over. We’re in the final stretch of testing the service, and our release is now June 12th, 2012. Game Update 1.3 will be along not too long afterwards. We hope that the character transfer and the Group Finder will help everyone experience the full array of content available in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Team

Over to you: will you be taking advantage of this service initially?