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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:

Fleet Pass: SWTOR weekly roundup

April 10, 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

Niamton – General Discussion

MMO Vets, What do you think?

I have played quite a few MMO’s over the years and I just wanted to throw my opinion out there and discuss any agreements or disagreements about swtor.

…
I have noticed a trend in MMO’s lately that didn’t start with this game, but is certainly prevalent. Solo-ability to cap and as quick as possible. At the rate i’m going I will probably hit my cap before I get charged for my first month. This is a double edged sword for me. Sure I like that I don’t HAVE to group to level up, and with this type of system the grind is almost eleminated. But for a subscription based service, I don’t know if I will spend the wow like amount of time at the endgame, grinding out the same raids, pvp, or dailies for new gear and such. One of my favorite mmo’s is EQ2 (and please this is an opinion, so lets not make this a discussion on how much SOE sucks), and, to me, the journey is as fun as the endgame. Subscribing to that game wasn’t a bother to me, because I felt like I was getting the most time out of my money. It would take months for even some hardcore players to get to cap (I am talking the early days, takes a lot less time now).

…

Lemon_King – General Discussion

 

[HOWTO – RAMDRIVE] Increasing SWTOR System Performance
Lets talk about increasing SWTOR Performance by working around Engine Bottlenecks!

Right now this focuses on placing DiskCacheArena and 2 buffer files DiskCacheStatic / DiskCacheStream on a RamDrive.
The increase in performance I’ve seen during my test for the past few days was quite nice, resolved 2 issues with the engine.

The First being a performance drop once DiskCacheArena starts becoming full where data needs to be flushed during gameplay, causing severe hitching* even on an SSD.
Second is for Static and Stream, simple buffers that work wonders in a RamDrive but will slow performance anytime they are on disk; the performance drop remains even if Arena is in a RamDrive.

…

Sehte – Flashpoints, Operations and Heroic Missions

Damage Meters
All bosses on Heroic and Nightmare have enrage timers, yet you provide no combat log, or damage meters? How does a raid leader evaluate the raid? Has there been a response to this that I couldn’t find or are they staying in the dark about this obvious miss?

Thanks.

 

Heliotrus – Story & Lore

The Sexism Hammer–Female NPC are Shallow, Vain and Subservient

JennyRW
Dec 20, 2011
1
My boyfriend convinced me to play this game with him. After the early access fiasco and now constantly getting kicked from the server I just don’t care anymore. Honestly it’s not worth it. Feel like I got robbed. By the way the story, cutscenes, and dialog make me want to puke. In my infinite wisdom I chose to play a male character but it’s just disgusting seeing how bioware thinks women are supposed to act

Plucked this off Metacritic, I’m a dude and I didn’t really see it until she mentioned it but the female characters are pretty much straight out of what you would see from old movies or old TV shows.

Totally agree with Jenny though. Bioware is going to have a hard sell with long-term female customers.

Quotes

Duhakalock – General Discussion

Why would anyone want to turn off c2-n2?

He is always enthusiastic to make my living conditions the best they can be.

 

Other

Submitted by Kaisa.

Balmuck – Fan Art

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With:

The Casual SWTORian: Community Q&A and PvP Videos

April 9, 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.

Another week of subscription time passed, another week of Bioware info. “What’s new?” you ask, well let me tell you. Bioware released 4 hours worth of guild summit videos and also unleashed the new PVP video on the world. These, combined with a focus on patch 1.2 left me wondering, not much post-1.2 info has been released lately, but that’s not for me to dwell on.

  • Giolon: I read in patch notes that sniper rifles will no longer drop for Republic players – what about Risha and Zenith? These companions use sniper rifles. How are we supposed to gear them up if sniper rifles no longer drop for Republic players?

David Hunt: There are still several ways to get sniper rifles for Republic players – this change primarily removed them from boss drops. Sniper rifles can still be crafted, purchased from vendors, and modded. And with Game Update 1.2, weapons that drop more frequently on one side can always be mailed across from the other side with legacy characters.

  • Babouine: Will you guys add new stuff to the VIP area on the Fleets?

Daniel Erickson (Lead Game Designer): We will definitely be adding new items to the VIP areas on the fleets in the future, but we can’t give you an exact estimate on when just yet.

  • Xsmspiffs: Could we get an option to allow others to see the Guild Ledger, and show the Guildmaster on it?

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): The Guildmaster not showing will be corrected in Game Update 1.2. We will eventually allow the Guildmaster to set who can see the guild ledger via permissions – this will not make 1.2, but is definitely coming in a future update.

—–
I’d also like to give a shout out to Trooper Trek who deserves your respect and to the SWTOR Gamers of Oceania 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: Community, News Tagged With:

Easter, Star Wars Style

April 8, 2012 by

If Easter’s your thing, then all of us at TOROZ wish you a happy one. Have an Easter Egg on us:

Check out the rest of the great eggs here!

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With:

Community Q&A: More 1.2 details

April 7, 2012 by

Below in full is BioWare’s latest round of answers to selected community questions. One of the interesting ones for me is the confirmation of special titles for anyone that levels a new character on the PTS to Level 10 and then to the end of their character’s Chapter 1 storyline. There’s much meatier stuff than that though, so read on:

Thangunis: Soon I will hit level 50 and was wondering what to do with my commendations. If I understand correctly the new Recruit gear set is more PVP oriented and has less PvE stats? Is the old gear worth buying or should I wait for the new Recruit? I would like to buy Battlemaster directly with commendations but I can only have 1000 commendations, right?

David Hunt (Sr. Systems Designer): PvP gear going forward has more Expertise than the initial PvP gear, which includes the Recruit set. The Recruit set is also purchased for credits. You have a few options for handling your existing commendations, but what you should do depends on what types of commendations you have.

Centurion, Champion, and Battlemaster Commendations: These currencies are getting deprecated in Game Update 1.2. There are a few miscellaneous things you can purchase in Game Update 1.2 that are currently on the vendors on PTS. Most players will be best served by spending any of these commendations that they have now before 1.2 goes live.

Warzone Commendations: The cap on Warzone Commendations is increasing in Game Update 1.2, and they buy many more valuable items. Characters that do not have Battlemaster gear will probably benefit the most by spending Warzone Commendations to stay below the cap, but should try to keep 1,000 commendations for 1.2 to spend them on Battlemaster gear.

Unassembled PvP Tokens: These currencies are deprecated and have no value in Game Update 1.2.

Giolon: I read in patch notes that sniper rifles will no longer drop for Republic players – what about Risha and Zenith? These companions use sniper rifles. How are we supposed to gear them up if sniper rifles no longer drop for Republic players?

David Hunt: There are still several ways to get sniper rifles for Republic players – this change primarily removed them from boss drops. Sniper rifles can still be crafted, purchased from vendors, and modded. And with Game Update 1.2, weapons that drop more frequently on one side can always be mailed across from the other side with legacy characters.

 

CamoCladn: If I reverse engineer orange items, will I be able to obtain the schematics for them in Game Update 1.2? It would be great if I can get schematics to attempt to get augment slots as this would grant the ability to look just like I want.

Patrick Malott (Systems Designer): While in reverse engineering mode, items that can provide research variations will display a ‘Chance to Research a Schematic: x%’ tooltip. Otherwise, the tooltip will read “No Research Available.” Reverse Engineering to get Armormech Schematics pertains to the new endgame tier of Operation items and PvP Battlemaster/War Hero items.

 

Ironcleaver: I was under the assumption that the three crafting classes would gain the new augment schematics through their trainers… but seeing what’s listed under Slicing, does this mean the schematics are only gained as critical rewards through Slicing?

Patrick Malott: Correct. Augment schematics are not learned via the crafting trainers. They are acquired as Sliced Tech Part mission critical rewards through Slicing.

 

Shaynae: According to the patch notes: The chance of researching schematics via reverse engineering has been significantly increased. However I’m not seeing this on the stuff I’m trying, in fact I am getting purples from blues much less often than on the live servers. Yes, I do understand that some of it is luck. I found the Tier one stuff came pretty easier, but now the Tier three stuff I’m having either a really long run of bad luck or there is something wrong.

Patrick Malott: As stated earlier, while reverse engineering, items that can provide research variation will display a ‘Chance to Research a Schematic: x%’ tooltip. This chance will currently either be 20% or 10%. Pre-Game Update 1.2, Artifact items (Purples) had as low as a 4% chance for research. In addition, the “You already know that schematic” bug we fixed for this patch was preventing some research variations from being learned. Research chances overall should be significantly higher in 1.2.

 

Babouine: Will you guys add new stuff to the VIP area on the Fleets?

Daniel Erickson (Lead Game Designer): We will definitely be adding new items to the VIP areas on the fleets in the future, but we can’t give you an exact estimate on when just yet.

 

Xsmspiffs: Could we get an option to allow others to see the Guild Ledger, and show the Guildmaster on it? 

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): The Guildmaster not showing will be corrected in Game Update 1.2. We will eventually allow the Guildmaster to set who can see the guild ledger via permissions – this will not make 1.2, but is definitely coming in a future update.

 

Alexbeav: I love the new Smart Camera toggle option! However, I have one observation to make: when you move (with smart cam off), the camera does not rotate, but when you use an ability, the camera resets back behind the player. The same thing happens when traveling by taxi. Is this an oversight or is it intended?

Damion: That’s a bug – good catch! I’ll get a bug into the system, and hopefully we’ll get a fix either in Game Update 1.2 or a patch shortly afterwards.

 

Mysquine: Whilst trying to do “/who x” (x being level) or “/who x-x” it does not return anything, if you type “/who x [planet]” then it will return the appropriate results. Is this intended?

Damion: That’s not intended. I will investigate.

Leonalis: When will we get the titles promised for playing on PTS? Will it be for all my characters?

Stephen Reid (Senior Community Manager): Short answer: after Game Update 1.2 goes live and yes! There are two in-game titles that will be granted to anyone who created a new character on the Public Test Server. Both titles will be placed after your character’s name. The first title is given for attaining Level 10 with any new character on PTS, and it is ‘First Line of Defense’. The second title is given for finishing Chapter 1 with any new character on PTS, and it is ‘The Cutting Edge’.

We’ll be granting these titles soon after Game Update 1.2 goes live, and you’ll receive the titles across your account for all characters, both existing and new. You’ll get the titles via in-game mail, similar to the Founder’s Medal, so keep an eye on your mailbox. In addition, these titles will still be available to be gained from playing on PTS in the future.

Daezihang: Are Mortar Volley and Death from Above actually functioning the same now? How much faster does MV start its damage?

Austin Peckenpaugh (Senior Designer): Yes, this was the motivation for the change. Mortar Volley and Death From Above now fire projectiles at the same time and those projectiles travel at the same speed, dealing the same damage. As for how much faster MV starts its damage – the answer is “much faster.”

Rystet: I have done extensive testing on the Training Dummies and I have spent over 2 hours beating on the Operation Training Target. I have not had any attack Dodged or Parried. Is this a bug?

Austin: Training dummies currently do not parry/dodge as intended. We are working on a fix for this.

PerfectDuke: Are you really removing the giggle/laugh for scoundrels when Upper Hand procs in Game Update 1.2? As a healer, having the audio cue is great for focusing on… well, healing. Especially if the proc comes off of my hot, slow-release medpac.

Austin: The change was intended to prevent sound fatigue when lots of these procs were going off in a small area (especially in operations). We are looking into ways of making this proc more visible going forward.

Zilvra: I have a level 32 Scoundrel Scrapper. I am already having problems killing my on level bosses due to the 1.1 nerfs. What will the 1.2 nerfs do to me in PVE? It seems really unfair to the purely PVE players when the nerfs hit?

Austin: Many of the class story bosses are intentionally very difficult. This is something that all classes face and is not unique to Smugglers. The fact of the matter is that Scrapper DPS is closer to target in 1.2. Understandably, if you were already struggling with an encounter, you may view this as an undesired change. For clarity, we don’t agree that this is “unfair” for “pure PVE” players as the changes are not meant to (despite popular perception) specifically target PVP over PVE.

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With:

Trooper Trek: Aussie Charity At Its Best

April 6, 2012 by

I wish I’d heard about this great story before, but it’s still more than worth telling.

Jacob French, a member of the worldwide 501st Legion (the Aussie contingent are called the Redback Garrison), is walking from Perth to Sydney to raise funds for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. The difference is that Jacob is doing it all in a modified Stormtrooper outfit.

Jacob is looking to raise 100 thousand dollars and he’s well on the way to achieving it. He’s made it all the way from Perth and is currently travelling up the South Coast of NSW.

Have a read of his story and maybe help him achieve his target – I can’t think of a better Star Wars-related reason to spend some money.

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With: ,

Community Q&A: Lots o’ Legacy

March 31, 2012 by

BioWare have posted their latest swathe of answers to SWTOR community questions, with an emphasis this week on the imminent 1.2 update and the expanded Legacy functionality in particular.

The response on the SWTOR forums is mixed, with a bunch of people complaining BioWare haven’t clarified their approach to variances in server populations, but otherwise this seems a pretty chock full information update to me. Hell, I’d be a bit worried if the 1.2 update wasn’t BioWare’s primary focus right now.

Read on for the whole Q&A:

 

In this week’s Community Q&A we’ve searched out questions on Game Update 1.2, which is currently available to test on the Public Test Server, and coming to live servers soon.

With so much new content and additions in Game Update 1.2, we found plenty of questions – and got you plenty of answers! However, we’ve got so many questions and answers that we’re going to extend this Q&A into next week as well. After that, we’ll return to taking new questions from everyone. As always, we have edited some questions below for clarity or brevity.

If you’d like to discuss any of the answers in this week’s Q&A, please use this Forum thread.

Clone_troope: I still don’t get how the Legacy system works. I have a level 50 Jedi Knight Guardian and a level 50 Smuggler Scoundrel. With the Legacy system can one ‘inherit’ the abilities of the other and vice versa?

Daniel Erickson (Lead Game Designer): Each class has one iconic ability that can be unlocked for your entire Legacy, which means every character on your chosen server. This ability is only available for use during the Heroic Moment ability (which means you need to have your companion with you, and that you only have a limited window to use it). In your case, that means your Guardian would unlock Legacy Force Sweep and your Scoundrel would unlock Legacy Dirty Kick. Each could then use the other’s ability as could any additional Legacy characters you might have, or create.

 

Cylht: I don’t want to have to leave my guild mates and go play Empire to unlock alien species. Will credits be able to purchase all species or will I have to grind them?

Daniel Erickson: All species have an alternate unlocking method that requires a minimum Legacy Level and credits, making them all purchasable.

 

Lstn: If I hit 50 as a human, what benefit do I get with the Legacy system, as humans can be any and all classes?

Daniel Erickson: Reaching level 50 as a human results in a sizable Presence bonus to all of your Legacy characters, making all current and future companions more powerful.

 

Shaynae: Would it be possible to add companion icons to the Legacy family tree?

Daniel Erickson: It is not possible now but is definitely something we want to do in the future.

 

AetherMcLoud: Is the Legacy Rocket Boost usable in PVP? I sincerely hope not, because if it is that would extremely unbalance Warzones between stinking rich people and people with a more moderate amount of credits.

Daniel Erickson: The Legacy Rocket Boost is most definitely not available in Warzones.

 

Wesleycrushers: In terms of Legacy unlocks, what do we get for leveling the ship droid to max affection? Is he considered a healer, or is he a different type of companion? Also, do the unlocks carry across characters, so if I max affection with my companion character healer for one character, will I get that bonus applied when I play a different character?

Daniel Erickson: The ship droid is primarily a crafting tool so increasing his affection results in crafting bonuses, but provides no additional Legacy rewards. He is not considered a healer in relation to Legacy unlocks. Maximizing your first companion character healer – and your first of any of the five companion character types – provides a bonus that applies to all Legacy characters. Maxing out additional companions of the same type provides a small Presence bonus that also applies to all Legacy characters.

 

ViciousFett: Light and Dark active ability Legacy unlocks are obviously Alignment +/- 10000, but what about Neutral? Is it simply a matter of staying between light and dark 1? Or perhaps having at least 5k in each?

Daniel Erickson: The Neutral Legacy reward will not be coming in Game Update 1.2 I’m afraid, as true grey alignment advancement did not make the cut. It will appear as part of the full grey alignment advancement package in a later Game Update.

 

Aymi: You guys are including a whole bunch of things to motivate us to reroll and unlock stuff through Legacy, but if I’m playing on one server because the community is great, I’ll be limited to eight characters. You said during the Guild Summit you were going to think about it at some point, any update on that?

Daniel Erickson: We are 100% committed to providing more character slots per server in the future but unfortunately we’re not ready to talk about how that will work.

Players have expressed some dissatisfaction with endgame armor sets – can you comment on your plans for future endgame appearances?

Daniel Erickson: We have heard the community loud and clear when it comes to armor sets. What we’ve heard the players say is, “I don’t care how high level I get, I still want my core sets to look and feel like Star Wars and like my class – cooler but not crazy. Keep the crazy to optional gear.” I will warn that creating new armor is a part of our game with long lead times so it will take a set or so before players see a strong shift in direction but we’re already working on some stuff I love and I think players will too.

Asphen: Can we get an option to turn off the combat error text in the center of my screen?

Damion (Principal Lead Systems Designer): We will be looking at adding the ability to move and/or turn off banner text and error text (the two kinds of text that appear in the middle of your screen) as part of the GUI customization system in a future patch. This isn’t a trivial issue, however – in some cases, fairly vital information is given to the player here, and we’d need to be sure that in these cases the text gets rerouted someplace for a player to review. So short form, yeah, we’re thinking about it, but no ETA for you at this time.

What rewards do I get from the new dailies on Corellia?

David Hunt (Systems Designer): Daily Commendations, with a weekly quest that gives Black Hole Commendations. Some new items have been added to Daily Commendation vendors, and Black Hole Commendations come from multiple locations as a means of buying high end gear.

Magnalorian: I have been acquiring champion gear pieces for the sole purpose of pulling those nice level 56 mods and enhancements out of them to put in my sexy Jedi Battlelord set, which currently makes it roughly equal to Columni I have kept the hollowed out remains of the champion gear I have pulled these mods from, leaving only the armoring which currently can’t be removed. Will they turn blue right away in 1.2, remain purple as they currently are (cannot uneqip the armor slot), or will they remain purple and allow me to pull the armoring from them as well?

David Hunt: As a general rule for gear updates: Any mods that you’ve changed will remain changed. Any mods you haven’t changed will update if the gear changed.

In this case, it means your currently empty Champion gear will be purple and show a filled/extractable armoring and empty mod and enhancement slots. Those mods and enhancements will still be present in your Jedi Battlelord set.

Exaro – Will crit crafted orange gear with the tier 4 mods in it and an additional augment be required to get the best possible stats or will the stand alone purple tier 4 be just as good?

David Hunt: Augments are required for the highest possible stats, but augmented gear is not required for any existing content. A fully augmented set of endgame gear will put you above the stat curve.

ZudetGambeous – Is it possible to use Reverse Engineering on PvP gear and Operations gear in 1.2 to get the appearance shell for those items? If so, has the ability to trade bound items for Reverse Engineering been added, or can you only use Reverse Engineer on those items if you have them yourself… I.E will my alts have to start rolling need on my main’s Operations gear so I can use Reverse Engineering?

David Hunt: You can use Reverse Engineering on Operations gear but not PvP gear. You can purchase PvP appearance schematics for credits, but the appearance schematics may have additional equip requirements. For example, Battlemaster appearances require Valor even though normal Battlemaster items do not. This is because the recipes to produce Battlemaster appearances do not require PvP activity, while purchasing Battlemaster gear requires PvP commendations.

It is not currently possible to trade Bind on Pickup items for Reverse Engineering.

Arnathis: Can we please get an in-depth explanation of how gearing is going to work in Game Update 1.2? I understand that you can reverse engineer the gear and possibly learn the schematic but is that for everyone or just the people with the appropriate Crew Skills? Will this apply to the tier sets as well?

Georg Zoeller (Lead Combat Designer): This is a very broad question, but I’ll try to answer as comprehensively as possible, as the system is rather complex.

First off, in an ‘under the hood’ change to the game, end game items have more stat variety, allowing for significantly improved item customization for players that like to fine tune their stats.

The most important change for gear in Game Update 1.2 is that all previously modifiable purple gear has all their mods exposed, including the so called ‘base mod’ (Armoring, hilt, barrel). These can be freely moved into any empty (orange) appearance shell, giving you a lot more choices in your character’s appearance.

New end game gear (e.g. “Campaign Gear”) introduced with the Game Update has the added benefit that it keeps information about its set bonus on the armoring – but comes with the limitation that the extracted armoring can only be moved into an item of the same slot type (chest to chest, boot to boot, etc.). The reason for this ‘Bind to Slot’ behavior on armoring is that we do not want players to farm the initial boss of an Operation as the easiest way to obtain a full set of end game mods.

This means you can now take any custom (orange) appearance and imbue it with all the benefits of your end game set. As an added progression option, you can also acquire a critical crafted orange item with additional augment slots for even better stats.

Reverse Engineering has also received considerable improvements with Game Update 1.2.

For one, when attempting to reverse engineer an item (for which you indeed need the appropriate profession) you will now be able to see in the item tooltip what your chance to successfully reverse engineer a new schematic is (or if such a chance exists at all).

Many of the new end game items (and end game items going forward) can be reverse engineered to learn schematics based on the original item:

  • Reverse engineering an item with mods leads to empty orange equivalents of the end game items. This can be done after the mods are extracted and used in a different item!
  • The item you learn to create is commonly Bind on Equip, as we want to encourage a more lively market on the Galactic Trade Network.
  • Many different mods can now be reverse engineered which will grant you a schematic to craft that mod. (This is not possible on armoring that carry a set bonus.)
  • Reverse engineering non-modded items usually leads to a schematic for an equivalent item.
  • Reverse engineering an end game item also provides materials needed to craft these items. Operations materials are also Bind on Equip now, creating a more diverse market.
  • A crafting critical on these schematics will usually lead to an augment slot. For item mods, it results in an extra item.

Effectively, this means you can sell nearly full end game items (including augment slots on a critical success) one component at a time. However, doing so requires a significant upfront investment, it’s certainly not easy. This also means every profession now benefits from Reverse Engineering and can trade items.

  • Armormech produces certain Augments, Augmented Tech Armor
  • Armstech produces certain Augments, Augmented Weapons
  • Artifice produces Color Crystals, Enhancements, Augmented Shields and Relics
  • Biochem produces Augmented Implants
  • Cybertech produces Mods and Augmented Earpieces
  • Synthweaving produces certain Augments, Augmented Force Armor

Augment schematics (green) are found via Slicing missions and blue and purple variants of these augments can be researched via reverse engineering by the appropriate crafters. It is not possible to reverse engineer legacy augments obtained from slicing before the game update arrives, however. These are technically different items.

Because we do not want players to gamble with reverse engineering custom appearances (orange items) which are often unique quest rewards, the schematics for these items are obtained via mission discoveries for various gathering skills and are set to Bind on Equip to encourage active trading.

Finally, a word on augment slots: with Game Update 1.2, crafters are the only source of augment slots in the game, significantly elevating their ability to contribute highly desirable items into the more open trade economy while enabling players to engage in end game using an appearance of their choice.

We have also heard at the Guild Summit and through community feedback on the Forums that many players have built up a significant stack of custom appearances for future use in their cargo holds and would really like to upgrade these with an augment slot to make them fully competitive as end game gear. We absolutely support this and will be introducing the ability to do so in a future Game Update.

Over to you – anything that caught your interest in particular?

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With: , ,

Legion of Silver Suns: Operations showcase

March 28, 2012 by

If you’re wanting a high-quality glimpse of some of SWTOR’s key Operations, then it’s hard to go past the recently formed YouTube channel for Republic Oceanic Guild Legion of Silver Suns (LoSS). Based on The Harbinger server at present, they’ve got some great vids, as you can see below:

LoSS Vs Karagga HM

LoSS Vs Foreman Crusher HM

LoSS Vs Jarg and Sorno HM

LoSS Vs Bonethrasher HM

LoSS Vs Soa HM

LoSS Vs Infernal Council HM

LoSS Vs Pylon Boss HM

LoSS Vs Gharj HM Eternity vault

LoSS Vs Eternity vault Annihilation Droid XRR-3 HM

Thanks to James over at SWTOR Gamers of Oceania Facebook Group for the heads-up

Filed Under: Community, How-To, News Tagged With:

Fleet Pass: SWTOR weekly roundup

March 26, 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

GrimaIdi – PTS Forum

Juggernaut 1.2 Changes

…

With Full battlemaster gear, I only have 15600 HP. Furthermore, I have Saber Ward as my only real damage mitigation ability endemic to my class. A DPS geared and specd Juggernaut does not have high survivability, to be honest a DPS Mercenary has more HP. The AC merely offsets the HP differential. So for this conversation we should take the premise that a DPS Rage Juggernaut is indeed a DPS class and more importantly the most viable DPS Juggernaut spec in the game, and as it stands the Vengeance Tree past tier 2 is not viable for anyone truly seeking to be competitive in endgame PVP as a DPS class. The patch notes themselves confirm that.

…
I would wholeheartedly give up any buffs to my shockwave and crit timer to keep the reduced timers on Force Scream & Smash to maintain my viability in PVP.

 

Dmasterr – PvP

operatives and 1.2 (lolpatch)

The only thing they are good for is to jump on someone that is about half health with no stun breaker and is already engaged in fighting someone else and they get nerfed lmao.

Thing is, when those ppl die, all they can think of is “damn those pesky operatives” /spit.

Not only that i am the only operative(scoundrel) that i ever see in wz (not healer), i do get about a dozen /spit on me each game, just because of what i said above.

That being said, i will probably continue to be the only operative in the game(lol), ( im surprised they didnt just remove the class entirely) , but please …

DO NOT TAKE AWAY MY GIGGLE 10101.

p.s. the game revolves around warrior/guardian (both AC), and other classes better learn their place as support classes mmmk?

 

VertisReaper – PvP

1.2 Balance changes – Right direction

The 1.2 balance changes are definitely a step in the right direction, hitting all major items that were out of line. As much as people cry about it, 1.2 is much more balanced than it currently is on live.

Pyro burst was out of line – Addressed
Tracer rotation – Addressed
Rage Jugg burst too high – Addressed
Hybrid Sorcs – Addressed
Operative 2x opener cheese – Addressed
Merc Healing – Addressed

All in all these are positive changes, I really don’t understand why everyone is complaining about the fixing of things that were clearly broken and toxic to gameplay.

 

Busterbone – PvP

Why the proposed 1.2 Pyrotech changes are poorly thought out

This post aims to clear up a lot of the misinformation surrounding the proposed 1.2 changes to the Bounty Hunter Pyrotech specialization (and Trooper Assault Specialist). I believe the proposed changes are poorly designed, and in the following paragraphs I will do my best to explain why I have come to this conclusion. I’ve posted this in the PvP forums because the Pyrotech changes are largely due to PvP concerns.

…

(Very long, very informative, well thought out, and the discussion is good as well, Trooper/BH Players should read)

 

JTGS – PTS Forum

1.2 Sorc Nerfs

…
Well there goes hybrid chain lightning spec and awesome force regen for healers. Do you guys feel that either of those were needed? The 31 in lightning is kind of garbage because of how slow it is. And as for healing, should we now waste talents in reducing how much consumption takes from our health?

After testing it on the PTS, the changes arent that bad for healing. Consumption did need a fix and i feel what they did is fine. You have to be more aware when you go to use it, but no other class can regen at anymore moment like that without using a CD.

The force bending change will bring balance and will take getting use to. But it isnt class breaking and we will still do fine in raids. IMHO

 

Quotes

xGBox – General Discussion

Hi, I have difficulty adapting and resent any kind of change that may or may not affect me. As a result of the release of the 1.2 patch notes, I am unsubscribing as we speak. However, I will continue to post on the official SWTOR forums despite not playing it and will inform other users that I’ve unsubscribed in every post.

 

Other

(This is a preview of the legacy system in 1.2, especially useful for those without a Chp. 1 Complete Character)

Iwipe  – PTS Forum

http://mmo-mechanics.com/news.php?article=1-2-legacy-system-preview

Hey everyone, this is Dulfy from dulfy.net, I am very excited to give you the first preview of the legacy system in 1.2! I want to give a huge thank you to Petrus & Dread from <The Sundered Guard> on Warrior’s of the Shadow  server. They tirelessly powerleveled a bunch of characters on the PTS to gather the screenshots and information on the legacy system. Here you can see the “handsome” Petrus with his Taunta pet! (p.s. they are looking for a powertech tank for 1.2 content!)

 

Ravendax – Fan Art

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With:

Latest Community Q&A: Punishing Corso Riggs

March 24, 2012 by

BioWare have posted the latest answers to community questions. There’s not a lot of gobsmackingly new info there but there is a good range of topics covered. Have a read for yourself below. I’m just about willing to roll a Smuggler to be able to Punish Corso Riggs as a Sith Pureblood (I got to know and hate Corso in beta).

Anyway, onto the Q&A:

Mksaccount: Are there any plans on adjusting rage timers in hard mode Flashpoints?

Gabe Amatangelo (Lead Endgame & PvP Designer): The team continues to tune Flashpoint bosses based on metrics and feedback. Bosses that are a ‘spike’ in the progression curve (e.g. when a second boss might be more difficult than the last) are being addressed in one way or another, be it increasing their enrage timer, decreasing their health, extending the cooldown of control abilities, etc.

Bendog: Are there any plans to make the lower level planet commendations ‘Bind to Account’? It would be nice to hand them off to another character.

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): We’ve talked about it, sure. It’s something we considered as we added in the Legacy System. However, right now we know that other aspects of the Legacy System will act to speed up the leveling experience for alternate characters. We want to see the state of the game in terms of leveling speed and itemization power after the core Legacy System goes live with Game Update 1.2 before we potentially make that change.

BurdoThePious: Is there a reason why the Commando / Mercenary Advanced Classes do not have an interrupt ability (eg. Mind Snap, Distraction, Force Kick)?

Georg Zoeller (Lead Combat Designer): Yes. The lack of an interrupt ability on these Advanced Classes is a purposefully designed weakness in their ability arsenal. At the current time, adding an interrupt to the Commando/Mercenary would increase their combat utility, especially in PvP, beyond what we are comfortable with.

That said, this issue is one we’ve re-evaluated with every major patch and will likely continue to revisit in the future. It is not inconceivable that an interrupt may be added to these Advanced Classes in a future update, especially if more PvE content is introduced that relies on a certain number of interrupts being available in a group.

Niktika: Can you please explain some of the reasoning behind the healing nerfs? It almost seems like every healer is up in arms regardless of their class.

Georg: Sometimes it’s hard to hear this, but the change to healers you’re referring to was, quite simply, a result of them being too good. When one healer is close to target performance and the others aren’t, it’s natural to think that the logical course is to buff the underperformer and leave the over-performers alone. I want to dispel that notion and explain why it isn’t always possible.

All specs for all roles have a target performance. This is what drives the balance of the game: soloing, Heroics, PvP, Flashpoints, Operations… everything. When those targets aren’t hit, we can’t just ‘bring everyone up’ to the highest performer without negatively impacting the balance of the game and creating unsustainable inflation in our combat system. Frankly, it’s also a lot more work to change all end game content in the game to compensate for an over-performing role than to bring the role back in line. The hard but simple truth is that Sorcerers and Sages had better Force management than we intended (e.g. a well-played Sage was almost incapable of running out of Force) and Mercenaries and Commandos were significantly over target in their healing performance.

After considerable testing, we’re more confident than ever that all healing roles are both closer to target performance and closer to one another than ever before, leading to a much tighter balance on end game content. The community will be able to confirm this using the new combat logging feature in Game Update 1.2.

I know trying to ‘sell’ a downwards adjustment (AKA nerf) to anyone affected is like selling the need for a tax increase to people. When you are on the receiving end of it, you’re not going to be happy about it. It may appear massive to you, even if the overall impact is limited. You likely won’t care that it’s ‘for the greater good of the game’ and, if you decide to disagree with our action, there’s little we can do to sway you.

Based on the feedback brought to us so far from testers playing on PTS along with metrics and combat logs gathered from our guild testers, we are going to make additional adjustments before Game Update 1.2 is promoted to the live servers. For example, we reopened the internal debate about having an in-combat resurrect ability for Mercenaries/Commandos based on PTS feedback regarding the new Operations, in light of the higher utility value this ability brings to the table in 1.2. We’re listening to your feedback, too, and rebalancing some of the changes made to healing based on data gathered from PTS. Look out for a future update to PTS for more details.

 

Pzljug: When are you guys going to finish the Timeline on the Holonet?

Stephen Reid (Senior Community Manager): When the Timeline series was begun we weren’t entirely sure how many timelines would be needed to detail relevant backstory for The Old Republic and left ‘blank spaces’ on the Timeline that, we thought, would all be filled in with Timeline entries. Ultimately, we feel we’ve detailed all the relevant backstory required, so no more Timeline entries going back into earlier history are planned. However, we know how much players enjoyed the lore details, style and presentation of Timelines, so we’re planning to continue that with a different series (currently unscheduled!) which will detail other aspects of the lore of The Old Republic.

Suzume_Bachi: If I unlock the Pureblood Sith species for all my future characters via the Legacy System, will I be able to create a Republic Pureblood Sith Smuggler, and will that Smuggler have Punish to I can smack around Corso Riggs?

William Wallace (Senior Designer): Players creating characters with the new species/class combinations allowed by Legacy will get that species’ unique ability. So yes, your new Sith Pureblood Smuggler will have the Punish ability, and can use it on Corso Riggs as much as you like. Poor Corso….

DevTheSith: Can Bounty Hunters get a [Name] The Mandalorian title (or if it’s already in game, where is it)?

Daniel Erickson (Lead Game Designer): Currently, there is no such title available for Bounty Hunters. It may be added as part of a future content update, but we’ve got no current plans to add it to the existing game.

Alericus: I am wondering how the ‘vote to kick’ system for PvP matches will work. I have a concern it will be abused by pre-made teams who want to control the team. Can you clarify how this system will work?

Gabe: Any player can vote to kick an AFK player through the Ops frame context menu. This will not initiate a vote prompt, but rather must be actively sought out by multiple players. Once a player has received several votes they will receive a prompt indicating that they’ll be kicked from the Warzone in a few seconds if they do not engage in combat or defend an objective. A player who is kicked from the Warzone in this manner will be returned to their original location before they queued, and will not be able to queue up again for several minutes. We’ll continue to fine tune the detection logic, but gradually, with an eye towards protecting the innocent bystander player.

Mataoh: A lot of guilds have a second alt guild for the opposite faction – is there any plan to allow some sort of cross-faction chat so both guilds can communicate with each other in game?

Damion: This was something that came up a lot during the Guild Summit and is an idea we’re taking seriously. However, no design is locked down in stone and I don’t have any sort of ETA as of yet for when something like this might happen.

joetacticSW: Can we have a ‘Loop music’ feature or some other way to make our experience less quiet?

Damion: Interesting idea. Let me give it some thought!

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With: ,

Fleet Pass: SWTOR weekly roundup

March 19, 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

Mirialol – PvP

★★★[ARENA] – benefits of adding ARENA to SWTOR★★★

…

Arena is far more competitive and skill-oriented than rated warzones.

Arenas will help keep PvPers subscribed to this game

Arena will help balance this game’s PvP

Arenas are breeding ground for skilled players

SWTOR arena will be EASIER to balance than WoW

Adding arenas will be FINANCIALLY productive for bioware

Arena SHOULD NOT reward players with better gear or advantages of any kind

Arena dailies / weeklies

Arena SHOULD reward players with titles and cosmetic changes.

Publicly available data

1v1 arenas

…

PhoenixDream – Story & Lore

Females never given flirt options?

My female guildies and I have discovered that playing a female Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, and Trooper toons have basically ZERO flirt options throught the entire game play.

(The only exception is when we meet our courting companion and we flirt about three times and then it is over for the durration of the game.)

Originally we suspected it was simply because of the class we were playing until we learned that our male guildies–who play characters of the same class–have several flirt options all throughout the game. It is not specific to class, it is specific to female characters alone.

We feel this is quite sexist and are very dissapointed that the males of the same class toon have more flirt options.

We ask that you re-think future writings on how the genders are played, and please do not make the females so entirely boring and frigid. Let us have a little more personality.

Thank you.

…

MuNieK – PvP

To many abilities – piano playing must be reduced…

We want to play some pvp, not be musicians to piano play the keyboard… Consolidate the skills and let us focus on awaraness whats happenign around, teamwork and timing insetad of constant full time piano playing we are forced to do if we want to use all the abilities in pvp… Its just bad design Bioware… PvP should be about reflex and quick thinking, not player vs keybinds tetris or situation where you force people to be clickers due to not enough comfortable hotkeys…

For example jaggernaut immortal:

– taunt enemy attacking our ally
– shield ally being attacked
– intercede ally for more protection
– aoe taunt for reduced dmg to ally
– aoe slow to make pvp with enemy acceptable (slow on ability that is not in main-rotation is also huge mistake – in pvp slow is crucial and should be on all classes’ main abilities)

and thats just to start using actuall combat abilities… wihch also are scattered around to many skills not neccesarily…

Whats the point?

…

Quotes

Back & Forth – 1st & 7th posts, thread in General Discussion

No more color restrictions on crystals ?! Really ?

Gauvi

I am playing a Star Wars game and one thing that was iconic to the franchise is definitely the color of crystals tied to the alignment of its user.

 

AJediKnight

Color has-never-been-nor-will-it-ever-be restricted to morality. Lucas himself has confirmed that there is no direct link. The only lore basis for the restrictions was that, in the time of TPM, AotC etc., Sith couldn’t get their hands on natural crystal supplies, and had to use synthetic crystals. Synth crystals (Luke used a synth crystal in RotJ, too, btw) are created by channeling the force through a forge. In the case of darksiders, this creates a crimson-red crystal… but not all synth crystals are red — nor are all the sabers of Sith red. Certainly, the fact that the Sith in the TOR timeline favor purple just as much as red is proof of this.

Frankly, the limits in TOR make absolutely no sense as implemented in the game. They neither preserve the ‘look’ of the films, nor do they have any basis in the lore. You would argue that color is tied to morality as if picking up a green or a blue saber as a darksider would cause it to explode in my hand. Even in the films, time and again we are shown that darksiders can use ‘light’ colors (Anakin/Vader with blue throughout Ep. III, Vader ignited Luke’s green saber in Ep. VI). Similarly, lightsiders can use red… as in the case of Anakin picking up Dooku’s saber to finish him off with.

…
Getting back on topic, the simple fact of the matter is, there is no canonical basis or otherwise for the current crystal restrictions. They were, quite literally, something Bioware conjured out of thin air. And, what’s worse, they don’t even preserve the look of the films, instead forcing many Jedi to abandon green/blue, and many Sith to forsake red. If you wanted to see more Sith using red, and more Jedi using green/blue as in the films, you should actually support dropping the restrictions.

As it stands now, I believe you simply don’t understand either the lore or the system we’ve got in game.

…

Other

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With:

Fleet Pass: SWTOR weekly roundup

March 4, 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

Kexin – SWTOR General Discussion Sub-Forum

US transfers to Oceanic servers?

I’m a late night American player who specifically targeted Harbinger and Swiftsure for its Oceanic population at my playing hours. Now that those guys are moving I want the option of transferring with the people I play with or else get left behind or even worst, having to reroll, AGAIN.

What is Bioware’s stance on this issue?

Melsione – SWTOR General Discussion

Australian server transfer in LATE April!

Seriously,

We get a new server! We have lvl 50’s who raid and play endgame, but we have to wait almost 2 months before we can bring them across and actually play on the better latency?

Which person came up with this concept? You knew when the aussie servers were coming up and you did not allow for server transfers to happen immediately?

So now if we want to play on our mains (Which we DO) we have to go back to the 250 latency pings for another 2 months! Bravo!

And what happens when people take existing legacy surnames which we cannot reserve?

This is so pathetic!

Well only solution for me: End subscription till April and then try again! The only reason I renewed my subscription was because of wanting to play on low latency servers!

Evuke – SWTOR General Discussion

Will the new Australian servers kill the current unofficial Australian servers?

BW have announced they will be releasing Australian servers in Australia in early March, and giving the Australian’s transfers off the current unofficial Australian servers “The Swiftsure” and “The Harbringer” to those new servers.

My concern is that as an American playing on The Swiftsure that it will effectively kill my server by removing 70% of its population.

I rolled on this server as i work nightshifts it seemed like a logical choice, the unofficial Aussie servers usually are very well populated 24/7 unlike other servers. So it suited me perfectly.

After the Aussies all transfer off we will be left with a ghost-town server with no option to do anything other than re-roll on a populated server or unsub, and tbh the unsub option is more appealing than having to re-roll again and lose everything i have worked on for the past 2 months (3 level 50’s).

I suggest that EVERYONE on the current 2 Australian servers “the swiftsure” and “the harbringer” be given free transfers so we can all move to servers that suit us rather than punishing us by leaving us on deserted servers.

 

Quotes

StephenReid – SWTOR General Discussion Sub-Forum

Hello everyone. I can absolutely understand the frustrations expressed here, and I appreciate that for the most part, you’re being constructive in your comments. Here’s a little more insight into the situation.

The character transfer system is being actively worked on by the development team. It’s a large, complex project, made more complicated by the Legacy System – and it has to work perfectly. As always, it is not the only task the team as a whole is undertaking, but it’s a priority. It has not been deliberately delayed, nor is it being ‘held back’ for any reason. As you know, the first stage of the system will be a one-off, optional transfer for those who are based in the regions defined in our FAQ. At some point after that, we’ll bring a more fully-featured character transfer system online for all to use.

I can understand the frustration of those of you who have been playing on the US servers and waiting for transfers. We know your enthusiasm and excitement for the game – you wouldn’t have taken the steps you did to get the game earlier than the official launch if you weren’t enthusiastic. We’re working as hard as we can to get the system in place. If we could have brought it online earlier, we would have. However, priorities post-launch had to be directed towards the game itself. The team’s been working flat-out to improve the game, including bug fixes and additional content.

Other

Massively.joystiq article

Filed Under: Community, News Tagged With:
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