You are here: Home / Archives for General News

SWTOR 1.3.5 Patch Notes

August 8, 2012 by

Patch 1.3.5 has now dropped, and as you’ll see below there’s a bunch more bug fixes and some legacy changes. Here are the full patch notes for you:

1.3.5 Patch Notes

08/07/2012

Classes and Combat

Jedi Knight

Sentinel
Combat
          • Saber Storm: The critical damage bonus this skill applied to Ataru Form was not functioning correctly, and we have opted to remove it, as Combat Sentinels are performing within expectations. This change does not affect the current combat effectiveness of this skill.

Sith Warrior

Marauder
Carnage
          • Sever: The critical damage bonus this skill applied to Ataru Form was not functioning correctly, and we have opted to remove it, as Carnage Marauders are performing within expectations. This change does not affect the current combat effectiveness of this skill.

Smuggler

General
        • XS Freighter Flyby: This ability can no longer cause other players who are not flagged for PvP to become flagged.

Imperial Agent

General
      • Orbital Strike: This ability can no longer cause other players who are not flagged for PvP to become flagged.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Kaon Under Siege
        • The Floating Light will now glow as intended when the Shader Complexity preference is set below High.
The Esseles
        • In the German client, the conversation option when choosing Hard Mode for this Flashpoint has been corrected.

Operations

Explosive Conflict
            • Using the probe launcher in Denova Minefield now reveals probes more consistently.

Group Finder

        • Group leaders are now notified if they cannot queue the group for a replacement due to group members being offline.

Items

General

    • Player heads no longer clip through the Battlemaster Vindicator’s Headgear or [Prototype] Primeval Vindicator’s Chestguard.
    • Warstalker’s Headgear’s texture no longer stretches upon character death.

Legacy

  • The Legacy Levels required for experience modifier perks have been adjusted. The ranks now require Legacy Level 2/3/5/7/10 (changed from 5/10/15/20/25).
  • The Legacy Levels required for companion modifier perks have been adjusted. The ranks now require Legacy Level 2/5/8 (changed from 5/10/15).
  • The Capital World and Outlaw’s Den priority transit perks now require Legacy Level 2 (previously 10).
  • The Fleet Vanguard and Black Hole priority transit perks now require Legacy Level 5 (previously 10).
  • The Legacy Levels required for the repair droid perks have been adjusted. The ranks now require Legacy Level 5/8/12 (changed from 10/15/25).
  • The field respec perk now require Legacy Level 5 (previously 10).

Missions and NPCs

Missions

Balmorra
        • Colicoid Massacre: This mission is no longer repeatable immediately after completion.
Taris
      • Prized Possessions: Players in a group no longer need to wait for the Colony Data Repository or Toolbox to respawn before being able to loot it.

PvP

Warzones

Novare Coast
      • Players no longer land on top of the buildings that surround the consoles when using abilities that charge an enemy (such as Force Charge).

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • The /ironfist emote now works correctly in the German client (as /eisenfaust).
  • The performance of the Bloom visual effect option has been improved.
  • Corrected some minor text errors.
Filed Under: General News, Patch Notes, SWTOR Tagged With:

The Secret World 1.1.1 Patch Notes

August 7, 2012 by

The TSW servers are up and version 1.1.1 of TSW is now live. The patch notes are reproduced in full for you below.

There’s plenty of fixes plus a new anti-aliasing option if you have a NVIDIA Kelper (600) series of GPU. For the rest of us there’s hopefully now an even more fun game – or at least one with a bunch less bugs.

Enjoy:

UPDATE 1.1.1 – AUGUST 7TH

With this update we have enabled TXAA, and The Secret World is the first game in the world to support this anti-aliasing technique! This requires the newest NVIDIA Kelper (600) series of GPU. To enable TXAA in the video options of the game select “TXAA 2x” or “TXAA 4x” as your anti-aliasing under the video options of the game. These drivers are schedueled to go out of beta (WHQL) around the 13th of August.

 

MISSIONS

Solomon Island

 

Kingsmouth Town

  • The Pick-Up: The mission can now be paused and resumed again later at the correct tier where it was left
  • The Orochi Scientists now fight back

 

The Savage Coast

  • Carter Unleashed: Carter will no longer be seen running straight through the ladder and the wall at the end of the mission
  • Carter Unleashed: NPC Familiars found in the basement of the academy are now hanging from the hooks instead of floating in thin air
  • The Black House: The pentagram will disappear when the player solves the puzzle

 

Blue Mountain

  • Funeral Crashers: Fixed an issue that prevented players from resuming their mission if it was paused on tier 5/5
  • Funeral Crashers: Added a journal entry for tier 5 of the mission
  • Dawning of an Endless Night: Fixed an issue that could cause players to be stuck on tier 15/18 when activating the wards in The Blue Mountain and disconnecting

 

Egypt

The Scorched Desert

  • The Last Legion: The Mission now properly resets when a player disconnects during the fight
  • The Last Legion: Players going in PvP while doing the mission will no longer block the mission for other players
  • The Last Legion: The Orb of Aten is no longer an interactive object after starting “Defeat the Legion”
  • From Below: Dr Shirui and Experiment SB118 are now spawned correctly

 

City of the Sun God

  • Halls of Lost Records – Tier 5: The Nodes of Mystical Energy inside the Chamber of Satis will no longer enter an infinite cooldown
  • The 3rd Age: Players can no longer interact with the sarcophagus before they have assembled the key, as intended
  • The 3rd Age: The first goal will now only update if you get the Strange Metal Clockwork Key in your inventory
  • Using the Altar of binding will now update the goal and will no longer cause the altar to become uninteractable
  • Black Sun, Red Sand: The mission now has a mission description

 

Transylvania

Besieged Farmlands

  • The Summoning – The Plague: The bosses and mobs now always drop loot when defeated

 

The Shadowy Forest

  • The Drăculeşti – Tier 4: Players must now pick up the explosives and detonators individually so that they may receive the items correctly
  • The Drăculeşti – Tier 4: When you interact with a placed explosive, you will now receive a message indicating it has already been used

 

DUNGEONS/LAIRS

Hell Raised

  • Nightmare: We have determined that mobs in Hell Raised Nightmare had an unnaturally high Defence Rating. This caused a frustrating number of glances, even for superbly-equipped players who had mastered the dungeon. Though the Hit Rating requirements of this dungeon remain high, we’ve adjusted them down to be more in line with the difficulty of gearing for the other Nightmare modes
  • The Master Planner achievement now enforces the proper requirements of never changing your build, as intended

 

Hell Fallen

  • When he summons the second Machine Tyrant, the first machine Tyrant no longer remains active (unless in Nightmare mode)
  • If players are killed before Wicker’s explosion kills them during the Ascendants encounter, a duplicate Wicker which leads the boss and/or adds outside the encounter location should no longer spawn
  • After defeating the Ascendants during the last fight, the lootbag dropped can now be opened immediately

 

Hell Eternal

  • Infernal Overwatch’s summon spell “Klaxon Call” can no longer be interrupted
  • Eblis’s loot should no longer drop in inaccessible locations

 

Soviet Fort

  • Halina Ilyushin should no longer cast Spite whenever she feels like it. She should also stay in her arena, as the program intended

 

The Facility

  • Lasers will stop doing damage when they are no longer visibly hitting the player

 

The Ankh

  • The damage from the Orochi Dead Ops encounter has been toned down
  • Nightmare: After walking in and out of the Filth in the dungeon, the Filth Undertow effect no longer remains on the player
  • Nightmare: The Dimensional Reaper summoned by Doctor Klein is no longer invisible

 

Darkness War

  • Wayeb-Xul encounter: Bomb Mayans are no longer running towards the player and they will now always explode at 0 health

 

PVP

Fusang Project

  • The “Capture a Facility” mission should again give the correct amount of Black and White Marks of Venice

 

WEAPONS

  • Fists: Turn the Tables and The Scarlet Arts will now build counters on Hot Iron
  • Blades: Mobs with Resistances should no longer resist the DoT effect applied by Sling Blade
  • Hammers: Passive abilities that proc on critical hits will now affect Hell to Pay
  • Blood Magic: Particles are now shown correctly instead of orange and green squares

 

ITEMS

  • The Charged Ward Generator can no longer be traded, as intended
  • The items acquired during King of the Hill will no longer affect the Monsters outside its intended location
  • Fixed some clipping issues with hats and hair
  • When purchasing the “Friend of the Darkness” title from the item shop, you will now also get the correct title

 

LOCALIZATION

  • The notes received during the mission “Crime and Punishment” – Tier 1 will no longer display black squares instead of letters

 

GENERAL

  • London: Entering Tabula Rasa will no longer leave the character in the middle of empty space
  • Agartha: Fixed an issue with a Gatekeeper spell that could not be avoided by players
  • New cabals can again be created normally
  • The Nightmare achievements for Master Planner (Ankh and Hell Fallen) are now visible in the achievements window
  • The achievement “Corvophobia – The Poe (chase away 50 flocks of ravens)” should now update correctly
  • Attacking the shield/barrier of a boss or mob will now correctly generate hate
  • Lairs and region bosses will now automatically be locked to the player/group that summoned the boss
Filed Under: General News, Patch Notes, The Secret World Tagged With:

PlanetSide 2 Australian Servers: Smedley Says Maybe

August 7, 2012 by

Following up from our PlanetSide 2 beta story, Sony Online Entertainment’s President, John Smedley has tweeted something pretty interesting:

Sounds like there’s a chance of local servers, so I’d be making it clear to John Smedley that you’re damn keen for the game by registering for the beta, or jumping on Twitter or Facebook and making your feelings known!

Filed Under: General News, Other Games, PlanetSide 2 Tagged With:

PlanetSide 2 Hits Beta

August 7, 2012 by

Sony Online Entertainment’s PlanetSide 2 is currently in beta. As a FPS MMO it’s gaining quite a bit of attention. If you haven’t seen it already, here’s the E3 trailer that gives some good glimpses of the game:

You can still apply for a beta key, and if you’re already playing, let us know how it’s going for you! Also – are you Terran Republic, New Conglomerate or Vanu Sovereignty?

UPDATE: Sony’s John Smedley has said Australia-based PS2 servers are a possibility.

Filed Under: General News, Other Games Tagged With:

Through The Mist: A Tour Of The Wandering Isles

August 7, 2012 by

Through the Mist is a regular column from Luke Le Page covering everything World of Warcraft. If you’d like something covered in a future column, drop us a line!

This week I will be taking a look at the Wandering Isles, the new starting zone for the Pandaren and the Pandaren in general. The zone offers us a new introductory cut scene, which I will not describe so that you may enjoy it on launch night.  Suffice to say that this zone known as the Wandering Isle has begun to move erratically and it is up to you as an adventurous and gifted Pandaren to discover the reason for this.

The Pandaren are World of Warcraft’s first neutral race and as such the starting area is quite serene with some amazing new scenery. The entire zone has a strong Chinese feel to it as one would expect given the lore behind the race. Due to its neutrality, the starting zone does not have mailboxes, meaning that until the area is complete players cannot use their BoA items or send bags and supplies to their new Pandarens. This has been the focus of a lot of discussion in the beta but overall it has proven to be a sensible decision on behalf of Blizzard. The zone is rich in lore and the visuals are absolutely stunning and there is no surprise that Blizzard want players to be immersed in every aspect of the Wandering Isles.

Last week I described the Pandaren as bobbly and I stand by this description. To me it feels similar to the bobbing motion that a character has when they are riding a Raptor mount. In a way it suits the physics of the race but personally I find it distracting.

There are a number of interesting racials for the Pandarens to enjoy and these include:

Epicurean: Your love of food allows you to receive double the stats from Well Fed effects.
Inner Peace:  Your rested experience bonus lasts twice as long.
Bouncy: You take 50% less falling damage.
Quaking Palm: Strikes the target with lightning speed, incapacitating them for 4 seconds.

Onto a tour of The Wandering Isles:

Starting area

The first few quests follow along the lines of those that were introduced with Cataclysm and focus on teaching new players how to equip items and use their abilities.

While this is somewhat annoying as a seasoned player, it is brief enough to be tolerable knowing that it will help new players to the game learn their characters.

Quests

Next up is a handful of quests where the player is trailed by Master Shang Xi as they attempt to complete their training. This series of quests also introduces us to a new protagonist the Hozen who we will also meet in the higher level zones to be previewed later.

The Hozen have some nifty little attacks such as the ability to jump on the players head (similar to the Kobolds) in ToGC.

Hozen

We continue along these lines until we reawaken the spirit of fire, upon completion of this quest we learn that Shen-zin Su is in pain. While there is little hint as to what or who Shen-zin Su is, we are whisked off to awaken the remaining elemental spirits, whose absences are being felt to varying degrees across the Wandering Isle, in order to communicate with it.

The quest line follows this approach, with various side quests that have us dealing with the Hozen, until we have gathered the four ancient spirits together. After this we learn that Shen-zin Su is an enormous turtle and the Wandering Isle is affixed firmly to his shell and the might creature is in pain due to a thorn in his side.

Shen-zin Su

We are now sent to investigate this injury to learn that an alliance airship has crashed into his side. This is the first time the Pandaren are exposed to the battling factions of the Alliance and the Horde.

After completing a series of quests for both factions and finally healing Shen-zin Su with their assistance, we return to the spirit of Master Shang Xi where you are required to select a faction. After selecting the Horde I was teleported to Orgrimmar where Garrosh Hellscream gave me a fairly cold welcome and put me through a quest that sets the tone of the expansion.

Summary

The Wandering Isles was an interesting zone, I was just shy of level 12 upon completion of the quest for Garrosh Hellscream and I feel that the levelling was well timed. I never felt too strong for my opponents or too weak and I am glad that BoA’s are not allowed in the area. The zone itself was visually stunning and the quests combined with the environment reinforced the sense of discipline and lore of the Pandaren race and Monk class. There is a fair amount of walking involved in this new area which in future may become annoying for now it allowed me to enjoy the aesthetics of the zone.

Filed Under: General News, News, WoW Tagged With: , ,

Flash Point Podcast: We Need Your Input!

August 6, 2012 by

We’ve just released Episode 38 of our podcast, and with the move from TOROZ to The Oceanic Gamer we’ve been doing some soul-searching as to how we want to use the podcast medium.

Essentially we have a bunch of options that we’d like your comments on, so that we continue to grow our audience and most importantly bring you the information you’re after.

The options we’re looking at:

1. Stay the same:  a fortnightly SWTOR-focused podcast with the odd brief discussion of other games at the end

2. Expand content: a fortnightly podcast with a SWTOR segment as well as segments on other MMOs

3. Expand podcasts: keep a SWTOR-only podcast PLUS have a wider-ranging podcast on offer.

4. Something else we haven’t thought of that you suggest!

To give your input we’d love if you could spend 2 minutes filling in this survey (direct link here if survey isn’t loading for you). Please be brutally honest – it helps us improve:

Again – thanks for taking the time and we’re looking forward to keeping up the podcasting antics for a long time to come!

Filed Under: General News, Podcast Tagged With: ,

Flash Point 38: The Something From Nothing Special Edition

August 5, 2012 by

A show not surprisingly dedicated to the announcement of SWTOR going Free to Play. That said, we have lots more to chat about as well, including a review of The Secret World at the end and another great Lore Update from Ed.

Points of discussion:
– Change to co-host lineup – farewell to the wonderful Mark
– F2P announcement
– EA investor call
– Lore Update: HK-47
– The Secret World Review
– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page and Twitter account

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

Listen via iTunes or right here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:01 — 25.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Filed Under: General News, Podcast, SWTOR Tagged With: ,

Console Wars: That Thing Is Operational!

August 5, 2012 by

Whether you’re on the Wii, XBox or Playstation side of the war, you’ll get a damn good laugh out of this gem:

If only the Wii U was in fact operational!

[Thanks to David K over at Gamers of Oceania Facebook Group for the heads-up!]

Filed Under: General News, Humour, Machinima Tagged With: ,

SWTOR Maintenance: August 7th 2012

August 5, 2012 by

A bit of  a longer server downtime this Tuesday night, coming in at 6 hours. The time conversions for you:

AEST: 5pm-11pm

AWST: 3pm-pm

NZST: 7pm-1am

The full info from BioWare:

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for six hours on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 8AM CDT (6AM PDT/9AM EDT/2PM BST/3PM CEST/11PM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than six 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: August 7th, 2012

Time: 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 8AM CDT (6AM PDT/9AM EDT/2PM BST/3PM CEST/11PM AEST)

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

Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

Filed Under: General News, Maintenance and Downtime, SWTOR Tagged With:

SWTOR: EV / KP HM Timed Run Challenge (Fatman Server)

August 4, 2012 by

For anyone on the Fatman server interested…

Rules
– Timed run challenge begins Sunday August 18th at 8pm EST
– Each group must have a live stream that is active from 7:50pm EST until Operations are complete
– You must kill all bosses
– You do not have to kill all trash but you are not allowed to stealth diectly to bosses
– It is the groups preference which Operation to clear first
– All raid consumables are allowed EXCEPT the Nightmare Pilgrim buff
– Once your operation begins you may only substitute one player for a total roster of 9

Sign up information on www.chosen-elite.com

Filed Under: Events, General News, SWTOR Tagged With:

Doom 3: BFG Edition – Eight Unseen Levels

August 3, 2012 by

Ahhh, Doom. I still count one of my favourite gaming memories being Doom 2 death matches with my brother-in-law, connecting modem to modem. I pretty much missed Doom 3, so I’m really interested in Doom 3: BFG Edition and what it holds.

The latest trailer video shows off some of the previously unseen levels in the game, and I have to admit I very much like what I see:

The details on game availability and contents:

DOOM 3 BFG Edition is slated for release in North America on October 16, 2012 and throughout Europe on October 19, 2012. DOOM 3 BFG Edition will feature re-mastered versions of both DOOM 3 and the Resurrection of Evil add-on pack, as well seven new levels of content entitled ‘The Lost Mission.’ DOOM 3 BFG Edition will be available in North America on PC for $29.99 and on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $39.99.

Over to you: is this on your buy list?

Filed Under: General News, Other Games Tagged With: ,

SWTOR Suggestion Box: F2P as saviour?

August 3, 2012 by

Ok I promise this will be the last SWTOR Free to Play post for this week, but it’s an obvious topic for some more discussion. Specifically, is the change going to affect your relationship with SWTOR? Will you be playing more, less, don’t care about the change?

My best guess is that there will be some growth as a result, but a guess is all it is. So educamate me: do you think this is a new dawn or the start of the sunset. Jump in!

Filed Under: General News, Opinion, Suggestion Box, SWTOR Tagged With:
« Previous Page
Next Page »