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Suggestion Box: 1.3 must-haves

April 20, 2012 by

Now that Patch 1.2 has dropped and we’re all happily checking out new content and features, it’s time to focus on what’s next. And what better way than asking you what you think should be coming up in the next big update.

Whether it’s something you thought should have been in 1.2, a feature that you know is on the developer’s roadmap, or something totally out of left field, we want to hear about it.

Post away in comments so we can keep the merciless fan-driven demand for features in SWTOR going!

Filed Under: News, Suggestion Box Tagged With:

The Spirit World Part 2: Escaping Bioware – A Help Guide.

April 19, 2012 by

(This is Part 2 of an ongoing community-driven story – check out Part 1 here)

So, you are trapped in a bathroom at Bioware HQ and there is a crocodile man wielding a lightsaber about to storm in and capture you.

Yep, that sums up my current situation.

What are you trying to achieve from this help guide?

I’m trying to stay alive.

Which bathroom are you in?

I’m not sure, it was a bit of a blur as I was running.

You have no idea whether you are in the male or female bathroom?

Well… there were a few women in here when I entered, but they left… immediately.

I think its safe to assume that this is the female bathroom.

Why does any of this matter?

It could become relevant at a later date.

The crocodile man sounds like he can’t open a door.

He is a crocodile man with a lightsaber. I don’t think the door is going to be much of a problem.

Oh… there goes that plan.

What plan? You had no plan, that’s why you summoned me.

Well you haven’t been much help have you?

Hey, I’ve kept you alive.

We are stuck in a bathroom with a crocodile man about to break the door down. I’m not going to be alive for much longer at this rate. And we still don’t have a plan.

Hey, your about to have your soul ripped from your body and you are choosing to argue with me instead of letting me think?

Ok, I’m sorry. Now, how do I escape?

Is there a window?

No.

Ok, I am out of ideas.

What, that was your big idea – a window?

It would have worked.

Oh shit.

What, what’s happening…?

The crocodile man has crashed through the door.

Back yourself into a corner. It may give you a couple more seconds…

Hello?

(Some time later)

Urgh, my head.

What happened, did you faint?

Get up.

Wha, who are you?

My name is Stephen Reid.

Are you injured, can you run?

I’m fine.

Good, I would not have been pleased if my companion had hurt you.

Companion?

Yes, Qyzen Fess as I like to call him.

Run!

I need to give you information so that you can do this properly next time… Then, I shall allow you to escape.

I don’t think he can hear me. Act like you can’t hear me.

That’s what I’ve been doing.

But you don’t know all the facts and therefore have just been running around like a mad man talking to yourself.

Well, what is this information.

Bioware is owned by another company.

EA?

Everybody knows EA controls Bioware.

But not just EA. EA is controlled by an entity much older than this planet. They call themselves the Reapers.

You mean from Mass Effect?

We were trying to warn humanity with Mass Effect.

Wait up. The Reapers are real?

I have said all I can. Now you must leave. There is an escape pod behind you. Also, you are going to need this.

As soon as you can, RUN. Also what did he give you.

He gave me the lightsaber.

Cool, let me know when you are in the escape pod.

I’m in, how does this work.

Press the big red button, it should take you to Bioware and remember, you mus—

What happened, why cant we hear him?

The door closed.

Why would the door closing prevent you from being able to hear him.

Whoa, we are in space. And I think Stephen Reid was on a space station.

You’re kidding. You actually got to go to the EA space station.

EA have a space station?

Yea, its more like an orbital station though.

Is there a difference?

As far as you care, no. Anyway what colour is the lightsaber.

I’m not going to activate it untill we are on the ground.

Why? I’m curious.

I would rather not punch a hole in this small escape pod.

Good point. What’s happening in the pod?

There is a flashing light that says warning on it.

 

This concludes the “Escape From Bioware HQ Via The Spirit World Help Guide”

Wait, you cant leave me like this, what do I do?

For more help guides visit…

What, I need help now!

I would suggest the “Planning An Attack on BioWare HQ Via The Spirit World Help Guide”. However, in the meantime I would recommend… Try and land the pod.

====================

Community involvement:

Option 1) Allow the pod to try and land itself

Option 2) Try and land the pod yourself

====================

 

Community Involvement 2: what colour should the lightsaber be?

Option 1) Blue

Option 2) Red

Option 3) Other

 

Voting will close a week after release. Post your vote in comments!

 

 

For sneak peaks at the next part join SWTOR Gamers of Oceania

An original Ken Clark / TOROZ production

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With: , ,

Asia-Pacific Server Transfer Details Released

April 18, 2012 by

UPDATE 2: It appears the form is now working for some so give it a go as per details below!

UPDATE: BioWare are aware that the server transfer page isn’t working properly and are working to rectify it. You can also post any issues you’re having in this official forum thread.

———–

It’s been a long-awaited event and it’s finally here. BioWare have released info on the ability for Oceanic players to transfer their toons to the Asia-Pacific Servers.

To read the main infoyou’ll need to be logged in on your account on the SWTOR website. Select ‘My Account’ under your username and the following info will display for you if you’ve met the eligibility requirements for transfer:

You are eligible to transfer characters to the new Asia Pacific servers.

Please fill out this form no later than April 24, 2012, 2:01PM EST, 4:01PM NZST, 12:01PM HKT, 12:01PM SGT to request complimentary server transfers for one or more of your eligible characters. Only characters created before February 28, 2012, 5:01PM EDT, 7:01PM NZDT, 2:01PM HKT, 2:01PM SGT qualify for transfers and are displayed below.

Character transfers will begin April 24, 2012, 8:00PM EST, 10:00PM NZST, 6:00PM HKT, 6:00PM SGT and may take up to 7 days. At some point during these 7 days, there will be a period of time of up to 3 hours where we will begin processing all requested character transfers associated with your account. You will be unable to play any characters that are on servers involving your character transfer requests during this time. If you are logged into one of these servers, you will be automatically logged off that server until the transfer is complete. If you are unable to log into any of these servers past the 3-hour window, please contact Customer Service.

You will be notified via email when your character transfer requests have been processed. Unsuccessfully transferred characters will remain on their original server. You may edit your character transfer requests at any time before April 24, 2012, 2:01PM EST, 4:01PM NZST, 12:01PM HKT, 12:01PM SGT.

If you choose to move your character to a new Asia Pacific server, please be aware of the following:

  • If your character name is already taken on the Asia Pacific server, your character will be transferred, but you will be prompted to choose a new name for the character when you log into the new server.
  • You cannot exceed 8 characters (including transferred and non- transferred characters) on any given destination server.
  • If you have unlocked a Legacy name on the Asia Pacific server, any characters transferred to that server will use the Asia Pacific server’s Legacy name.
  • If you have not unlocked a Legacy name on the Asia Pacific server and the transferred character is eligible for a Legacy unlock by completing Chapter One of their class stories, you will be prompted to choose a Legacy name when you log into the new Asia Pacific server.
  • The character will no longer be a part of its guild – Guilds and guild membership will not be transferred to your new server. You will need to create or join a new guild on your new server.
  • Your Friends and Ignore lists will be reset – These lists are server specific, so you will need to repopulate your lists with players from your new server.
  • The Asia Pacific server of your character transfer request does not need to match the server type of your original server.

Before you transfer your character, it is important to ensure the following:

  • The character has no items listed on the Galactic Trade Network (auction house) – active Galactic Trade Network listings will not be transferred to your new server.
  • The character has no items or credits in their mailbox – In-game mail will not be transferred to your new server. Make sure you have removed everything in your mailbox before initiating the transfer. Otherwise, the contents will be lost.

Have questions? See the Asia Pacific Character Transfer FAQ for more details.

Over to you: will you be transferring and if so, how many characters?

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

New SWTOR website is go

April 18, 2012 by

If you hadn’t already checked it out, the official SWTOR website is live after the downtime, and it’s certainly a big change from the old one. For starters it’s a much less cluttered interface with an emphasis on the graphics of the game.

If you wait and don’t click through to anything you’ll get to see that key information items get their own page.

For what it’s worth, I like it – how about you?

Filed Under: News

What To Do While The Servers Are Down: 17th April Edition

April 17, 2012 by

Although five hours isn’t long, this weeks server maintenance provides an opportunity to catch up on SWTOR news that you may have missed. Here’s what we’ve covered over the past week that is worth catching up with:

1. We have 10 Tauntaun fawn pets (which were given out to attendees at Pax East) up for grabs, closing at midnight tonight. Get your entry in.

2. Have a read through the final Patch 1.2 notes to see if you’ve missed anything.

3. Watch Darth Vader and The Emperor have a dance-off

4. Catch up with the latest episode of Diplomatic Investigations, our Inquisitor / Consular column.

5. Read through the latest Casual SWTORian

6. Check out who’s downed the newest World Boss already.

7. Jump on our forums for a chat! Drop into our podcast forum and provide a topic suggestion for this weekend’s podcast.

Filed Under: News, Servers Tagged With:

Fleet Pass: SWTOR weekly roundup

April 17, 2012 by

Fleet Pass is a weekly review of the SWTOR community, a small and non-comprehensive collection of the funny, the insightful, the controversial and any other interesting picks found anywhere but generally in the SWTOR Forums.  Have a suggestion?  Send it in to us with a source link if available, and the name you’d like to be credited with.

Warning:  Article may or may not contain spoilers relating to SWTOR, or any of its variants.

Threads

Troyh – PvP

1.2 pvp a love hate.. depending on where you stand.. …
Final thoughts: If you are on a winning server or play DPS your probably loving the patch. However, unless your either blind or selfish this patch is the worst thing that has happen to pvp for this game since launch. I think being on both sides of the fence I can confidently say BW needs to fix something FAST! If your going to respond to this or any other comments about loving or hating the patch.. please list your Class – Type – and Win %. Im curious to see how many people on losing servers think this patch is good? It isnt a matter of L2P or change your rotation. The patch clearly favors one side over the other.. PVP is supposed to be balanced. Its far from it now. I dont see what was wrong with 1.1.5??

Mapex – Classes

Damage May Be Down, but Your Class is NOT Nerfed
Combat ratings have changed drastically with this patch, most noticeably Expertise. If you feel your class is nerfed (i.e. EVERYONE feels their class is nerfed), take a step back and analyze the situations in which your damage seems to be significantly lower than normal.

…

In the long run the changes to the classes and the gear in this patch are good for the game. There may be some hiccups and some crazy issues that pop up by the end of the next week, but overall healing and damage have been reined in as they were scaling to levels that would be very difficult to manage in the coming months.

So my advice to everyone is just to sit tight and adapt to the new game. Get geared out and play the game “by the rules” (i.e. no more DMing in warzones, go get those objective-based medals; play your spec like it was intended) and I assure you that you will reap the rewards of better gameplay without feeling the sting of “nerfs.”

JoshieoPandar – RP Servers A – Z

[Gav Daragon] Info thread about the server!
If you’re new to Gav Daragon then this thread is for you. The purpose for this thread is to try and move RP and the community forward on Gav Daragon using it as an info source, and a method of communication. So coordinating server events, RP events either world, or faction-based. Feel free to discuss anything-related to the server on the thread as well, and request me to add anything (missing info, your guild, website, or any other thing etc). Also if necessary contact me on my imp toon Asura, or if I’m on republic on Kaymars.

…

 

Quotes

Back & Forth – Story & Lore

MadProfStein –
For those of you who are unaware, it is a level 13ish republic quest on Coruscant, the goal of which is to intercept a courier droid, and steal a document that would, if it reached it’s real destintion, help a corrupt senator break ties with the jedi order, and align the republic with the sith empire. Naturally, I, as a jedi, want to stop this. Unfortunately, Bioware are lacking in common sense.

…

I mean, really? As a pure light side jedi, I can either completely betray my ideals as a jedi, and let this guy carry out his plan, or I can stick to the jedi code, and have 100 dark side points weighing me down until 50?

Who came up with this crap?

Vahzl –
I unsubbed because of this and am now alone, on the roof of my cathedral, pining for the dancing Gypsy far below.

Other

Marked_Man – Fan Art

I play the Star Wars miniature game. So, I do a bit of customizing. I guess this counts as art. May not be the stuff of the Louvre, but it keeps me busy.

Gt-orphan – Fan Art

http://gt-orphan.deviantart.com/#/d4vud39

Can you name all the Sith Lords
(i did not draw the individual images, just put them together for a desktop wp)

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

The Casual SWTORian: Patch 1.2 Release Overview

April 16, 2012 by

The Casual SWTORian is dedicated each week to those who don’t have the time to immerse themselves in game developments but instead want a very simple roundup of things happening and stuff on the horizon. If you like what you read, tell our casual guru Ken.

Over the past few weeks Bioware have been promoting the 1.2 patch and the legacy system, telling us we would know well in advance when they would drop. However, this week with almost no warning we received the Jesus patch. Other things of smaller note are the free pet, potential free game time, and the skipping of the weekly Q&A. And so, we begin:

“The galaxy is in turmoil. War rages across countless worlds as Republic and Imperial forces struggle for control of critical resources. Amidst the chaos, threats emerge from all sides. The planet Denova, known for its extensive deposits of baradium ore, has been seized by a band of mercenaries and veteran Imperial defectors with mysterious motives. If they are not dislodged, the explosive arsenal they can create will give them the power to destroy any armed force – Republic or Imperial. On Corellia, a corrupt councilor attempts to maximize hypermatter profits by playing both sides of the conflict, and the crazed mastermind behind the Rakghoul outbreak, discovered on Ord Mantell, continues to threaten the lives of all sentient beings in the galaxy…”

  • Players can now unlock a wide variety of rewards by leveling characters and reaching new Legacy levels, including buffs for your characters, unlocking additional Species choices for every class, and upgrades for your personal Starship. Build your own Legacy with the new Family Tree!

  • Guilds now have access to a shared Guild Bank, accessible on the Fleets, with expandable storage.

  • Players can now customize their User Interface by moving and resizing UI elements!

  • The Imperial Transportation Authority and the Galactic Republic Safety Council have authorized the use of vehicles in Orbital Space Stations and Spaceports.

  • A new “Customize” option now appears on the character sheet. One of the features this button enables is the ability to color coordinate any individual piece of armor with the equipped chestpiece.

  • The Sprint ability is now available at level 1.

  • Since our changes involve a number of skill changes for many classes, we are refunding all skill points to the affected Advanced Classes so players can adjust the distribution of their characters’ skills as they see fit with the new changes in mind. As a reminder, players can reset any character’s skill points in the Combat area on their faction’s fleet for free once per week (additional respecs cost credits).

  • The cooldown associated with giving companions gifts has been removed. Giving a gift now has a 3-second activation time.

  • C2-N2 and 2V-R8 have been reprimanded and now vocalize less frequently on personal starships.

  • Companions now use accurate voice responses regarding the success or failure of their Crew Missions when they return.

  • Schematics for color crystals in various colors (including endgame-quality varieties) have been added to the game.

  • Several unusual crystal formations have been reported in the mountainous regions of Alderaan.

  • Offhand weapons are now more clearly marked as such.

  • Sniper Rifles no longer drop for Republic players.

  • An issue that caused some items to be unlinkable in chat has been addressed.

  • A set of modifiable Techblades and Techstaffs has been added to the game.

  • The Korrealis line of landspeeders has been removed from vendors.

  • License costs for Vehicle Piloting rank 1, 2, and 3 have been reduced.

  • Junk (grey) items no longer appear in the buyback window.

  • The chances for one player to win the majority of rolls in Multiplayer Conversations have been diminished.

  • Several missions that require the player to defeat a specific enemy NPC have been updated. In affected missions, the player can now interact with an object in the world to spawn the target (instead of needing to wait for a respawn).

  • Corrected many instances where text and voiceovers did not match.

 

  • Players can now leave comments on entries in their Friends List in the Social Window.

 

  • The Galactic Trade Network interface now supports text-based searches without category restrictions.
  • The Emergency Fleet Pass now takes Republic players to the center of the Republic Fleet instead of the Tython and Ord Mantell arrival hangar.
  • Added musical triggers to some missions and encounters.
  • Numerous spelling and grammatical errors in text throughout the game have been corrected.

 

I’d also like to give a shout out to Why SWTOR will never ‘Jump The Shark’ and the SWTOR Gamers of Oceania Facebook Group who are awesome. As always, If you feel I missed anything feel free to comment below or you can start a religious debate – your choice.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , ,

Nightmare Pilgrim World Boss downed

April 16, 2012 by

As always it’s nearly impossible to confirm independently, but I got a message from Khaotikk about a potential Oceanic first:

Hey Guys,

Last night Not Steamboat (The Swiftsure – Empire) killed “The Nightmare Pilgrim” world boss which to our knowledge is an Oceanic First.

XXX is the link to a screenshot showing the 5 hour +50 stats buff along with the codex entry.

And the screenshot in question:

So – gratz to Not Steamboat! Anyone else want to jump in and say the’ve done this?

Filed Under: Guilds, News Tagged With: ,

Server downtime: April 17th 2012

April 16, 2012 by

A bit of a double-whammy maintenance this week, with a standard 5-hour game downtime and an extended 10-hour web downtime, at the end of which will be a redesigned SWTOR web presence.

The full details below, but here’s the time conversions:

AEST: 5pm-10pm Tuesday 17th (4pm-2am for SWTOR website)

AWST: 3pm-8pm Tuesday 17th (2pm-midnight for SWTOR website)

NZST: 7pm-Midnight Tuesday 17th (6pm-4am for SWTOR website)

 

Hello everyone!

We will be bringing down servers for five hours on Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 7AM CDT (5AM PDT/8AM EDT/1PM BST/2PM CEST/10PM AEST). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than five hours, but could be extended.

For our new players, 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.

In addition to this, we will be performing maintenance on SWTOR.com for its new redesign. The website will be unavailable for ten hours from 1AM CDT (April 16th, 11PM PDT/2AM EDT/7AM BST/8AM CEST/4PM AEST) until 11AM CDT (9AM PDT/12PM EDT/5PM BST/6PM CEST/April 18th,2AM AEST). Once the site comes back up, the new redesign will be unveiled.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday April 17th, 2012

Time:

  • Server Maintenance: 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 7AM CDT (5AM PDT/8AM EDT/1PM BST/2PM CEST/10PM AEST).
    All game servers will be offline during this period. This game maintenance is expected to take no more than five hours.
  • Web Maintenance: 1AM CDT (April 16th, 11PM PDT/2AM EDT/7AM BST/8AM CEST/4PM AEST) until 11AM CDT (9AM PDT/12PM EDT/5PM BST/6PM CEST/April 18th,2AM AEST).
    SWTOR.com will be unavailable during this period. This web maintenance is expected to take no more than ten hours.
Filed Under: News, Servers Tagged With:

We Need You: Review Our Podcast

April 16, 2012 by

Having just finished Episode 30 of our Flash Point podcast, we’re at a stage where we’d love to get the word out more on what is Australia’s only generic SWTOR podcast (if we’re wrong, please let us know as we’d love to tell people about other podcasts).

One way of doing that is for the iTunes Store to feature Flash Point. To do that, we’d need a bunch more reviews. Whether you love the podcast, hate it or somewhere in between, say so by posting a review.

Here’s how:

1. Click on this link then click on the blue ‘View in iTunes’ button. OR – in iTunes just search for TOROZ and it comes up in search.

2. Scroll down past the podcast episode to the ‘Customer Reviews’ section and click on the ‘Write a Review’ link. You’ll need to have an active iTunes account to post the review.

3. That’s it!

Again, we’d really love your review whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. Whether it’s the Australian, New Zealand, USA or Canadian iTunes stores, it all helps.

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With:

Vader / Emperor Dance-Off

April 15, 2012 by

We’ve already covered Star Wars Kinect, but this video shows it off a lot better. You may want to flinch, grimace or vomit, although I have to admit it does look fun. Have a look:

I just can’t believe LucasArts have let some of their most evil characters be presented like this. What do you think?

[With thanks to reader Glenn!]

Filed Under: Humour, Machinima, News Tagged With:

Diplomatic Investigations: 1.2 Update Favourites

April 14, 2012 by

Welcome to our weekly column dedicated to everything Consular and Inquisitor. If you have a suggestion for a topic you’d like covered in this column, drop Tim a line!

This is my third straight article about the Sith Assassin/Patch 1.2 and will be the last time I play on the public test server with patch 1.2 because it’s now live.  Well, the last time on the PTS for this patch – I’ll certainly be back for the next major release to check out what is new.

My Sith Assassin moved up to level 31 and just finished Chapter 1, which will apparently earn me two titles (one for reaching level ten on the test server, the other for finishing Chapter 1 also on the public test server).  Apparently these titles transfer over once patch 1.2 goes live.

It seems a lot of people were playing on the public test server just for the titles.  In actual fact I saw a player running around with a guild name of “Just Here For The Titles” !

As a writer for TOROZ I was lucky enough for SWTOR to copy one of my characters over to the public test server (meaning I got to play a clone of my level 41 Sith sorcerer immediately on the public test server). As it turned out, before that happened I was leveling my Sith Assassin and was enjoying it so much I continued playing that instead.  I did however setup the legacy for my copied character and had a play with the legacy system which looks pretty neat. My previous legacy name and experience did not copy over though, meaning I effectively started from zero on the test server. It’s a pity in a way, because I had a number of characters already leveled and of course there are now real and substantial benefits of that legacy experience.

Two benefits that I will find useful once I obtain them are a mailbox in my ship (yay!) and a Global Trade Network (GTN) in my ship as well.  Very handy.  I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve quick traveled to a location to resume where I left off and remembered I was going to list some items on the GTN.  Yes I know, I should be using an alt character and emailing the item to list on the GTN to them. I’d much rather have these items in my ship to do it there and then.

Being able to craft your own legacy weapon is nice as well.  But my favorite feature is a relatively simple one: the Sprint ability being available at Level 1.  Not to be confused with Force Speed which increases your movement speed by 150% for 2 seconds (without breaking stealth). Sprint, of course gave you an increase in movement speed by 35% while not in combat. Yes this is my favorite feature of patch 1.2.-  I personally find it infuriating to have to walk everywhere. I mean, I am Sith, I am a ruthless killing machine, I have a light saber and can generate lightning from my hands, but I have to walk everywhere? Whats the deal with that?

Such a simple change made a better experience in levelling for me.  Obviously it was 35% quicker to get to my destinations, something that is of particular importance in those early levels for experienced SWTOR players leveling up new characters.   I think those new to the game who start playing with Patch 1.2 will have no idea how spoiled they are. Let’s face it, the first time you play SWTOR you are probably taking it all in and having to walk everywhere is not that much of a pain, because by the time you start to think it’s a bit slow you gain the ability anyway.  Now it’s there from level 1.

Have you tried out the patch 1.2 yet and if so, what are your favorite features? Which is the feature you like most?

Guild banks?

Legacy weapons?

The new Operation and Flashpoint?

Combat log?  (I haven’t even looked at mine yet).

User Interface customisations (this one rocks).

The new Warzone maybe?

Something else?

Would love to hear from you, drop me a comment below.  Thanks for reading.

Filed Under: Inquisitor, News Tagged With: ,
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