UPDATED: Server downtime this postponed: bring on Rise of the Rakghouls

UPDATE: due to glitches with the 1.1 update, the downtime has been pushed out a ‘few days’. Thanks for the heads-up Ben!

The usual server downtime is on Tuesday evening, but it’s an extended one due to the 1.1 update being put live. Here’s the announcement and the time-zone conversions after that.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Time: 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET) to 10AM CST (8AM PST/11AM EST/4PM GMT/5PM CET)

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

So that means no access for Australians between 7pm Tuesday 17th January through to 3am Wednesday 18th January.

For New Zealanders, you’re locked out between 9pm Tuesday 17th and 5am Wednesday 18th.

In the meantime, be sure to have a listen to our latest podcast dissecting the patch, or have a read through the patch notes.

SWTOR: Rise of the Rakghouls announced

One month. That’s all it’s been since those with early game access on Day 1 started playing. It’s not a long time by any standards, but as shown with the two large patches already announced or implemented, Bioware aren’t backward in coming forward with updates.

That’s all chicken feed compared to the announcement that game update 1.1, called Rise of the Rakghouls, will be going live after next Tuesday’s maintenance downtime. The full patch notes are given below, but the bug ticket items are:

– a new level 50 Flashpoint called Kaon Under Siege
– the promised expansion to the Karagga’s Palace Operation, with four new bosses
– significant PvP changes with Ilum

We have some pics of Kaon Under Siege for you as well:

If you want a taste of Kaon Under Siege in action, have a look at this:

[Read more…]

SWTOR Patch 1.1 live on public test server

I tell you what, I’m just about getting dizzy with the frequency of patch updates for SWTOR.

It’s a dizziness I’m more than happy to endure given it means an even better gameplay experience, and the announced Patch 1.1 certainly looks like it’ll deliver that.

Read on below for the full list of changes, but some of the biggies include:

– Level 50 players in their own Warzone bracket now
– The promised expanded Karagga’s Palace has four more bosses to take on
– A new level 50 Flashpoint, Kaon Under Siege is available
– Anti-aliasing now available for those that want to turn it on
– A number of changes / fixes for classes

Here’s the full list:
Star Wars: The Old Republic – Game Update 1.1

General

  • Anti-aliasing is now available and can be enabled in the preferences menu.

Classes and Combat
General

  • Healing caused by crowd control abilities no longer generates threat.
  • Tooltips for abilities modified by skill points now display correct damage values.

Guard

  • This ability now transfers to a new friendly target without requiring deactivation on the previous target.
  • Activating this ability while targeting a guarded or invalid target will still toggle the Guard ability off.
  • A distinct visual effect is now present on characters using Guard on another character, and another effect is now present on the guarded character if they leave Guard’s range.

Taunt

  • A new visual effect has been added to the user and the target of the Taunt ability for the duration of its effect.

Jedi Consular

  • Project: This ability no longer shakes the screen of onlookers.

Shadow

  • Battle Readiness: Now allows Combat Technique to trigger once every 3 seconds.
  • Combat Technique: Healing received through Combat Technique has been increased, scales properly at higher levels, and can only be triggered once every 4.5 seconds.
  • Slow Time: This ability’s damage has been increased by 15% and it now slows the movement speed of all affected targets.

Jedi Knight

  • Force Leap: This ability no longer functions on Portable Holo Dancers.

Sith Inquisitor
Assassin

  • Dark Charge: Healing received through Dark Charge has been increased, scales properly at higher levels, and can only be triggered once every 4.5 seconds.
  • Overcharge Saber: Now allows Dark Charge to trigger once every 3 seconds.
  • Wither: Damage has been increased by 15% and it now slows the movement speed of all affected targets.

Sith Warrior

  • Intercede: This ability no longer functions on Portable Holo Dancers.
  • Shatter: this ability’s tooltip now correctly reflects its damage; damage from this ability has not been adjusted.

Imperial Agent
Bug Fixes

  • Corrected an issue where activating cover, using Explosive Probe, and then using Snipe could cause Snipe to be interrupted.

Bounty Hunter
General

  • Incendiary Missile: This ability is no longer misclassified as an Area of Effect ability.

Companion Characters

General

  • C2-N2 and 2V-R8 no longer vocalize crafting commentary during combat.
  • The Carbonized Stream companion ability no longer breaks prematurely.

Companions
Kira Carsen

  • Fixed an issue that caused players to be unable to progress in Kira’s affection conversations. Players previously affected by this issue can now speak to Kira and progress normally.

Bug Fixes

  • Companions will now sell trash items when requested, regardless of group size.
  • Companion healing abilities no longer apply a permanent green effect on the character.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Companion Characters to sometimes have the incorrect appearance in cinematics.

Crew Skills
Bug Fixes

  • Corrected an issue that prevented recently completed Crew Skill missions from showing up in the next list of available missions.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause Crew Skills a character didn’t have to appear in the Crew Skills window.
  • Players can no longer loot harvesting nodes they do not have the appropriate Crew Skill for after a group member harvests (but does not loot) a node.

Flashpoints and Operations

General

  • A new level 50 Flashpoint, Kaon Under Siege, is now available for play in Normal and Hard Modes!
  • The Gav Daragon and the Ziost Shadow have been expanded to accommodate the Kaon Under Siege gateway.
  • The difficulty of some non-boss enemies in Flashpoints has been adjusted.
  • Enemies now drop credits more frequently in Flashpoints.

Flashpoints
Cademimu

  • General Ortol’s rocket fire damage no longer occurs when the rocket is not active.

The Black Talon

  • Some enemies in this Flashpoint are no longer invisible.

The Foundry

  • Corrected an issue that could cause the final boss to become stuck at 10% health.

The Battle of Ilum

  • Krel Thak’s Allied Weequay Pirates have had their toughness reduced in Hard Mode.

The False Emperor

  • The Sith Entity’s affliction ability now properly deals damage in Hard Mode.
  • HK-47 now has the correct amount of health in Normal Mode.

Operations
Eternity Vault

  • Players are now able to successfully loot the chest after defeating the Infernal Council.
  • Perimeter Defense Cannons have been re-tuned and have improved targeting behaviors.
  • Soa’s Mind Trap and Force Throw abilities no longer target the same player multiple times; they now target every player in the group once.
  • Ball lightning enemies summoned by Soa deal damage in a smaller radius.
  • The Annihilation Droid’s rocket burst attack no longer deals double damage in 16-player Operations.
  • Soa now summons fewer ball lightning enemies during the final round in 16-player Operations.

Karagga’s Palace

  • Four new bosses can now be battled by players in Karagga’s Palace!
  • Players no longer get stuck attempting to exit the Karagga’s Palace phase.

Bug Fixes
Flashpoints

  • Corrected an issue that prevented some enemy NPCs from spawning in Flashpoints.
  • The correct error message now displays when a player attempts to enter a different Flashpoint than the rest of the group.
  • Flashpoint gateways no longer display as orange in incorrect circumstances.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Flashpoint difficulty from being set properly.
  • Fixed an issue that caused mapnotes directing players to some Flashpoints to not appear correctly.
  • Corrected map issues that made locating mission objectives on the Gav Daragon difficult.
  • Fixed an issue preventing some players from opening a chest after a boss fight if the group was previously defeated by the boss.

Items
General

  • An Item Modification Table has been added to the Supplies areas of the Republic and Imperial Fleets.

PvP

  • Battlemaster Gear Tokens have been converted into Battlemaster Commendations, which can be used to purchase any Battlemaster gear. This allows players to purchase any piece of gear instead of requiring them to purchase the piece indicated by the token.
  • Battlemaster Bags now contain Battlemaster Commendations instead of Battlemaster Gear Tokens. They still also contain Champion Commendations.

Missions and NPCs
General

  • All Bonus Series missions and their required missions can now be abandoned.
  • Certain Wampas on Hoth that were preying on lower-level characters have had their level reduced.

Missions
Imperial

  • Pressure Points: The Lerantha Lurker no longer engages players in combat before completing its spawn sequence.
  • Geroya be Haran: Objectives related to this mission now glow when selected.
  • In Cold Blood: Enemies that use Armor Piercing Cell during this mission no longer each stack a debuff on the player.
  • Shadow Spawn: The Sith Spawn no longer knocks players down for longer than intended.
  • Thuggish Behavior: Corrected an issue that could cause the player to remain stuck in combat during this mission. The required kills to complete this mission have been reduced.

Republic

  • Climbing the Ladder: A conversation related to this mission no longer ends prematurely.
  • Droid Clean Up: Corrected an issue that caused the bonus mission to persist in the player’s mission log.
  • The Summit: The difficulty of the encounter with Sidone has been reduced.
  • Vivicar Awaits: Lowered the amount of enemies that attack the player during the step “Find a Way Past the Force Field.”

NPCs

Bug Fixes

  • Jilcoln Cadera’s abilities now correctly take into account whether a player is immune from knockbacks.
  • The “Primal Destroyer” World Boss on Belsavis is now “Overwhelming” as intended.
  • The World Boss “The First” on Dromund Kaas no longer inhibits Bounty Hunter’s Rapid Shots, and Imperial Agents will no longer be knocked out of cover during combat with it.

PvP
General

  • The shuttle room in Dorn Base Command Center on Hoth is no longer considered contested territory.
  • Ka on Voss is now a PvP Sanctuary.

Warzones

  • Level 50 players now participate in their own Warzone bracket and will not be matched with lower-level players.

Ilum

  • The daily and weekly mission objectives in Ilum now require defeating enemy players and/or collecting armaments from the center objective.
  • Players now gain increased Valor from player kills in Ilum.
  • Players now gain increased bonus Valor for kills based on the number of objectives controlled by their faction.
  • Increased bonus Valor is now granted for player kills when defending an objective your faction owns.
  • A notification is now displayed when a player gains Valor.
  • Three new respawn points have been added for each faction.
  • Companions are now restricted from the PvP objective area on Ilum.
  • Notifications are now displayed when enemy players are close to an objective.

Bug Fixes
General

  • The scoreboard value for “Highest Protection Per Single Life” now functions correctly.
  • Players who have left a Warzone can no longer receive an MVP vote from teammates.
  • Your PvP status will now be toggled automatically upon leaving a PvP region.
  • Additional feedback is now provided when a player attempts to toggle their PvP flag.
  • The Bolster tooltip now more accurately represents the buff’s effects.

Huttball

  • Corrected a rare issue that could cause the Frogdogs to be declared the winner in a 0-0 match even if the Rotworms held the ball last.

Ilum

  • Mountable turrets in Ilum no longer deal damage to targets behind them or outside their range.
  • Turrets no longer immediately dismount the player after use.

UI
Maps

  • Fixed a bug that prevented the minimap title from displaying when loading into the game or refreshing the UI.
  • Corrected an issue that caused some mapnotes to disappear from the minimap when other mapnotes were updated.

Items

  • Item hyperlinks now display stats for crafted research items properly.
  • Item hyperlinks no longer display erroneous additional information relating to schematics when examined.
  • Attempting to place a non-mission item into the mission inventory now displays an error message.
  • Dragging equipment onto the character paper doll no longer prompts an item deletion notice. Items dragged to the paper doll are now equipped if possible.
  • Item set bonuses now appear on the tooltip when viewing an item on a vendor.
  • Items that can be modified now display with the correct loot color in the loot roll window.
  • Comparative tooltips now correctly display stat differences when mousing over items in the Crew Skills window.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed the tooltip display for ability cooldowns over one hour in length.
  • The interface for splitting stacks of items now displays correctly.
  • Servers that are online now always display on top of servers that are offline in the Server Select screen.
  • Corrected a typographical error in the “Additional Commands” context menu option.
  • Players nearby a player who achieves a new Legacy level no longer receive the Legacy level-up notification.
  • Legacy name display preferences now persist when travelling between planets.
  • A new confirmation dialogue now appears when submitting spam reports in game.
  • Sorting now works correctly in the Guilds tab.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • The owner of a holocall conversation is no longer shown in the last frame of the cinematic.
  • The spacebar button is now recognized when a player presses it to progress after a loading screen even if the spacebar button has been re-bound.
  • Additional issues that could impact performance on Taris have been addressed.
  • Vanity pets can no longer be considered targets for any abilities.
  • Corrected an issue that could cause some preferences to reset to defaults upon area transitions.
  • An Aim Datacron on Ilum is now accessible and no longer repeats its initial cinematic once used.
  • A Datacron on Coruscant is no longer blocked by unintentional collision.

Over to you – anything missing you were hoping for this patch or is there something you’re particularly excited about?

SWTOR Patch 1.02 details announced

Bioware are certainly being true to their word of regular patches to fix issues, with Patch 1.02 hitting the Public Test Server.

Read on for all the details. There’s some nice fixes, and wahoo, you can use emotes while riding a vehicle!

1.0.2 Patch Notes

 

 

General

  • Guilds that are currently leaderless will have an Officer chosen and promoted to Guild Leader.

Classes and Combat

Sith Inquisitor

General

  • The Darth title is now properly granted to Sith Inquisitors.

Bug Fixes

  • Corrected an issue that could prevent players from taking cover when targeting large NPCs.
  • Fixed a bug that caused some abilities with activation times to be interrupted when used from cover.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Taral V

  • General Edikar now has the correct loot in Hard Mode and no longer enrages in Normal Mode.

Operations

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that could cause choosing Nightmare Mode to not set enemies to Nightmare difficulty.

Items

General

  • PvP lockboxes now cost 70 commendations, contain more consumables, and always contain an item.

Bug Fixes

  • Corrected several PvP items that were Bind on Equip. They are now Bind on Pickup.
  • PvP vendors on Capital Planets now offer the correct PvP items.
  • Commendations received via in-game mail are now correctly added to the Currency tab.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

Imperial

  • Number One with a Bullet: Players who choose dark side options now correctly receive the mission First Strike after completing this mission.
  • First Strike: Players who did not receive this mission will now receive it upon entering their personal starships.

Republic

  • Death Cloud: Players can now complete the “Toxic Waste” bonus objective regardless of how quickly they complete this mission.

Bug Fixes

  • Corrected mission steps on several planets that could cause client instability.
  • Fixed issues with some missions that could prevent pending rewards from being accepted.

Space Combat

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused a client crash if a space station was destroyed in Space Combat.

UI

Maps

  • Group members no longer appear on all planets on the Galaxy Map.
  • Corrected an issue that could cause map notes to disappear after logging out and back into the game.
  • Corrected some map notes that referenced the incorrect map.
  • Updated map notes for “travel to planet” steps in class missions on Nar Shaddaa, Hoth, and Belsavis to indicate the planet’s space station.

Bug Fixes

  • Players now receive the appropriate message if they attempt to create more characters than are permitted per account.
  • Group members outside of a player’s phase are no longer prompted to roll on items.
  • The In-Game Customer Service Portal no longer appears to hang while the “updating” message is displayed.
  • The Guild interface now properly displays the guild member list when it is sorted.
  • The “Show Sith Corruption” option no longer toggles off when transitioning between areas.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Taxi rides are no longer occasionally interrupted, causing the player to be dropped from the taxi.
  • Using the /dismiss command now correctly dismisses a vanity pet.
  • Corrected some issues that could cause players to become stuck on the loading screen when logging into a character.
  • Players can now use emotes while riding a vehicle.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented some text-only mail messages from being received.
  • Graphics preferences in settings files are now consistent with actual settings in use.
  • Being in Do Not Disturb mode no longer prevents characters from being logged out for being away.
  • Corrected an issue that caused poor performance on some machines in indoor areas with shadows enabled.
  • Fixed an issue that could prevent players from being logged out for inactivity.

SWTOR 1.01 is live on public test server

A mere couple of days after launch, a public test server for SWTOR is live and the game’s first patch is being tested out.

You can read the full set of patch notes below – most fixes are minor but also include more well known issues like the issues with Taris for some players and some problems with Operations.

If there’s anything you’re particularly excited about with the patch, post it in comments!



Patch 1.01

Classes and Combat
Combat Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug that could cause the global cooldown to display incorrectly in the UI.

Imperial Agent

Operative

  • The tooltip for Acid Blade now displays the correct information.

Companion Characters
Companions

Kira Carson

  • Fixed an issue that could cause Kira’s affection progression to become blocked.

Bug Fixes

  • Companion Character dialogue now plays at the correct volume.

Crew Skills
Bug Fixes

  • Corrected an issue that could cause some gathering nodes to appear as unharvestable.

Flashpoints and Operations
Flashpoints

Mandalorian Raiders

  • Crowd control immunity has been removed from several members of the Enemy Boarding Party.

Colicoid War Game

  • An issue that prevented some players from mounting turrets in this Flashpoint has been corrected.

The Red Reaper

  • Darth Ikoral now uses his abilities correctly.

Directive 7

  • Mentor now resets correctly if he defeats the player group.

Operations

Eternity Vault

  • Fixed an issue that could cause players to instantly die when affected by Soa’s knockback.
  • Turrets in Normal Mode no longer behave as turrets from Hard Mode.
  • Players are now able to properly obtain loot from chests.
  • The Ancient Pylons now spawn enemies at the correct intervals.

Karagga’s Palace

  • Players no longer need to reset this Operation if they do not defeat Bonethrasher.
  • Corrected an issue that caused some players to become stuck at the throne room door.

Bug Fixes

  • All players in a group who have a daily Flashpoint mission now get credit for completing that Flashpoint.

Missions and NPCs
Missions

Imperial

  • A New Master: Defeating Teeno no longer causes him to surrender on top of Phyne, making him difficult to interact with.
  • General Faraire: All of Khourlet’s Elite Guards are now accessible by the player.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a mission-related issue that could cause poor performance and client crashes on Taris for some players.

NPCs

Bug Fixes

  • Corrected several instances of non-interactive NPCs appearing and disappearing from the player’s view.

PvP
Warzones

General

  • Rewards for winning Warzones have been increased.
  • Warzone completion rewards have been decreased.

Bug Fixes

Voidstar

  • Corrected an issue that could prevent some players from entering the Voidstar.

UI
Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug that could prevent players from accepting pending mission rewards.
  • Targeting a friendly player no longer occasionally displays incorrect text for the character’s name.
  • Corrected an issue that could cause some auction expirations to behave incorrectly.
  • The splash screen no longer displays longer than the “accept changes” dialogue when changing resolutions on some computers.
  • Master Looter now works correctly for items being looted from chests.
  • The server select screen no longer displays over the character select after being disconnected for being away.
  • Corrected an issue that could cause mission mapnotes to disappear when a new mission is obtained.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Special characters no longer display incorrectly in the French credits.
  • Remaining baby names have been added to the credits.
  • Corrected a link that displayed in French and German versions when the servers are unavailable.