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Things to do while servers are down: 22nd Feb edition

February 21, 2012 by

While those interminable hours are passing as the next patch is installed for our enjoyment, you need to find something fun to do.

Some would suggest doing something non-SWTOR related, but we beg to differ. Here’s some SWTOR things you can do to pass the time:

1. Find out lots more about your companion with Simon’s massive companion database

2. Suggest a topic for us to cover in this weekend’s Flash Point podcast, Australia and New Zealand’s number 1 podcast. Ok, that may be a lie.

3. Vote in our poll on oceanic servers

4. Express your interest in writing for TOROZ!

5. Have a laugh at some quality Star Wars humour

6. If you’re a Facebooker, join the SWTOR Gamers of Oceania group or even like our Facebook page

Filed Under: Community, News

You, Robot – Part 3: Your companion as a magic elf

February 20, 2012 by

Welcome to the final instalment of a three-part series on companions. You can view Part 1 here and Part 2 here. You can also view the most amazing Companion Stats Uber-Mega-Omnibus right here!

Back in prehistoric times, before Star Wars, there were other stories. Hard to believe, but there you have it. One of them involved an old shoemaker and some magical elves who made shoes while he slept. That kind of characterises how crafting works in SWTOR. You get to sit around ogling holodancers or arguing with your friends about which of you has the higher midiclorian count, while your trusty companions go off on their own little adventures only to return with… well, whatever you sent them for. Usually.

Before we get into the meat and potatoes, just be aware that this is for those who haven’t looked into crafting in much detail. If you’ve played an MMO before, you have some idea how this gig works. Having said that you might find a few handy tips too. I’ll also stress that since we are only two months into the game’s life, tweaks and nerfs are inevitable and what you become used to may not stick around in its current form (hello Slicers!). I’d also suggest you have a look at the improved ‘Companions Guide’ for a comprehensive overview.

In the Crew Skills system there are three classes: Crafting (making stuff), Gathering (we find stuff), Mission (they find stuff). So what’s with the pronouns? With Gathering tasks you can collect materials as you run around the world OR send a crew member on their own. With Mission tasks, only your companion goes. You aren’t involved other than to delegate the task. So if you despise the tedium of having to stop and fill your pockets during a quest then this is, on the face of it, a dream come true. No more dirty fingernails. There’s a down side though – each mission costs money and your companions will sometimes fail.

So once you hit level 10 and your faction’s fleet hub, you get to select your Crew Skills. It’s worth talking to ALL the trainers (cancel out of each dialogue) as you’ll get XP for every one of them. But which skills you choose can be very dependent on how you want to use the system. You can go the obvious route and pick one of each type (preferably compatible ones) so you can become a one person production line. But you don’t have to do it this way. If you prefer you can have three mission skills or three gathering skills or one crafting and two of either. Before you ask, you can’t have more than one crafting skill. If you’re not sure what skills to go for, check out the attached spreadsheet for a few clues.

Once you’ve made your choice, it’s time to start delegating. Here are a few general pointers.

  • Gathering/Mission tasks – crew members can only do one task at a time, but you can have multiple crew members deployed simultaneously
  • Crafting tasks – you can stack up to five tasks, per crew member.
  • Choose wisely – some companions are more adept at certain tasks than others. Try to match them with the task; the quality/yield will improve (see the ‘Companions Guide’)
  • Love and other mistakes – Affection matters, the more they like you, the better the results.
  • Get some sleep – you don’t need to be playing for your crew to be working. When you log back in they’ll proudly present you with the fruits of their labour. Some missions are 30-40 minutes, perfect just before you log off.
  • Put it in the bank – your crew can access any crafting material you’ve put in the bank. You don’t need to lug the Bronzium around with you.
  • Everything on the menu – just because your trainer offers a recipe doesn’t mean you need to learn it. If it’s not something you can use now or shortly, don’t learn it. Save money and avoid cluttering your crafting menu with a growing list of gray items.
  • Keep ’em busy – it’s easy to get your Gathering and Mission points badly out of whack since Gathering is something you do yourself as a matter of course, where as Mission tasks have to be manually delegated. This becomes less of a problem once you get your ship. Send that darned robot on all the three minute missions. Why three minute missions? Because they’re cheaper, quicker and still give you the points.
  • Take it apart – use reverse engineering – By breaking down items similar to the ones you can craft (either things you make or have collected) into their constituent materials you gain raw material and the possibility of earning a bonus recipe, some of which are rare.

So now you’re all skilled up, is it worth your time? That depends what you want from it, but here’s a few things to consider:

  1. Endgame – very few crafting skills are much use once you get to level 50, with the exception of Biochem. To be honest, it’s debatable how useful some of them are even before this point because, at the time of writing, you’ll often get better gear through PvP, Warzones and Flashpoints. However Georg Zoeller has indicated that Bioware intend to make ALL crafting professions ‘fully endgame viable’. Tweaking is supposed to have started in 1.1.2, but no word on any changes yet.
  2. Print your own money –  there are two issue here. Whether you can make anything worth buying and whether anyone can find it if you do. Right now the Galactic Trade Network (GTN) is a capricious beast and searching on it is less ‘eBay’ and more ‘newspaper classified listings circa 1976’.
  3. Boost your alts – This is probably the most practical use for crafting at the moment. After all, your alts will eventually share the same surname. Why not let your virtual clan do the equivalent of having your electrician brother-in-law put in a new powerpoint for a slab? If you’re playing alts from a range of different classes, this very quickly makes sense, since certain crafting skills are more appropriate for certain classes. The downside is you will level up more slowly since you’re splitting your time across multiple characters.

Ultimately crafting isn’t for everyone, but if you’re inclined to give it a go it won’t be a waste of your time so long as you use it strategically and understand its limitations. Also bear in mind that things are going to keep changing as Bioware try to balance the economy. For better or worse, the real magical pixies aren’t your companions, they’re the shadowy figures in Austin studying metrics and playing with magical spreadsheets.

 

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

Server maintenance: Wednesday 22nd February

February 19, 2012 by

This week’s scheduled maintenance is a day later and three hours longer. coming in at seven hours. Although no details are given I’d be guessing on Patch 1.1.4 going live . Full details below on maintenance times, but the local time conversions are:

AEDT: 7pm Wednesday night to 2am Thursday morning

AWST: 4pm to 11pm Wednesday night

NZDT: 9pm Wednesday night to 4am Thursday morning.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Time: 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET) until 9AM CST (7AM PST/10AM EST/3PM GMT/4PM CET)

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

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

Filed Under: Maintenance and Downtime, News Tagged With:

Quick Start Guide: Maps and Navigation

February 19, 2012 by

BioWare continue to trickle out their video Quick Start Guides, this time covering maps and navigation. These are very much aimed at new players, so don’t expect too many revelations. It covers the bases of current map functionality but it again highlighted for me the shortcomings of the current feature set – something we’ve covered before. I’m sure map improvements are on the development roadmap for SWTOR – there’s too many enhancements for there not to be work being done.

Watch the Quick Start Guide on maps for yourself here if you like – hopefully these guides will continue to expand and be a key part of the game’s initial learning curve.

Filed Under: How-To, News Tagged With:

Different perspectives on Chewbacca

February 18, 2012 by

A funny meme has popped up over recent weeks which I love, but some people are already damn sick of.  It’s the What People Think I Do schtick, and it’s been everywhere. (Some good non-Star Wars examples can be found here, here and here).

So it was with some pleasure I saw this one:

If you didn’t get it, then you didn’t check out the other examples I linked above. Go do your homework then have a laugh!

[via David K and Dark Horse Comics]

Filed Under: Humour, News Tagged With:

TOROZ is looking to expand its writing team

February 18, 2012 by

It’s that time of the year again where we search around for anyone wanting to write their own column on the game they love. As the game’s grown, so has the range of topics we have to cover.

So we’re looking for people interested in getting their writing thang on. Here’s who we’re looking for:

1. Someone who plays SWTOR – you don’t need to be hard-core by any means, but a good familiarity with the game is a must.

2. Someone who writes well – don’t be TOO hard on yourself here. Your work will be edited for the odd typo or grammatical error, which is fine. All we ask is that you can string sentences together in an engaging way and not require extensive re-writing / correction by your friendly editor.

3. Someone who writes regularly – we’d be looking for people that can contribute a minimum of a 400-600 word article each week. Fortnightly gigs will be seriously considered as well.

4. Someone who has a volunteer sense of spirit: unfortunately TOROZ is financially  a loss-making outfit, albeit a successful one with lots of traffic. If revenue increases, you WILL be sharing in that equally with the other writers on the team. In the meantime, expect the odd bit of swag or attendance at a SWTOR-related event representing TOROZ, if the opportunity arises. And yes, you do have a byline to tout to much richer publications than our humble selves. Finally, you’re welcome to have a link back to your own blog or related web undertaking in each of your articles.

As far as topics go, we’re looking for people interested in writing on:

1. A regular Consular / Inquisitor column. You don’t have to be playing both, will adjust the scope of the column around what you play. (UPDATE: this position now filled)

2. A regular Agent / Smuggler column (UPDATE: this position now filled)

3. A regular healing column covering all the healing classes

4. A New Zealand focused column

5. A SWTOR-related webcomic (if you’re an artist looking for a writer, drop us a line)

6. A machinima column with some good embeds to YouTube / Vimeo etc

7. A guild / raid progression column (UPDATE: this position now filled)

8. Any innovative idea you want to put forward!

So if you’d like to express interest, here’s what you do:

1. Use our contact form and provide the following info:

– ideally submit a sample of your writing or at least a pitch on what you’d like to write and why

– tell us a little bit about yourself – similar in vein to the bios on our About page.

– what day and time of the week is best for you to submit a column

2. Wait patiently for us to get back to you – it should only take a day or two.

3. See points 1 and 2.

Please, have a think about getting involved – don’t be too harsh on your writing ability. Leave that to us!

 

Filed Under: Community, News

Community Q&A: world events coming soon

February 18, 2012 by

The second SWTOR community Q&A is up on the official site, and it covers some good ground. The ones that particularly caught my eye were:

1. World events are coming soon

2. A mobile app for crew skills is something being looked at, albeit with no ETA

3. RP’ers rejoice – chat bubbles are on the way, but after GUI customisation is delivered

Here’s the full transcript:

DarthBelkar: Can we look forward to server-wide special seasonal / short-term events?

Daniel Erickson: Yes! Expect them to fit into the world and setting, involve a fair bit of discovery, and offer special rewards that will be there one day and then gone forever. And expect them soon.

 

Darthinfimus: Do you plan to implement a /roll or /random command for use in master looter situations?

Damion Schubert: Diceslingers of the world rejoice! /roll has already been implemented on our internal development servers and should be coming to you guys Real Soon Now (in an upcoming weekly patch).

 

Relayinabox: Are there any plans for a show/hide companion headgear option?

Damion Schubert: Yep, we have plans. It won’t be in Game Update 1.2, but is currently in the works.

 

NiklasWB: When will you make it possible for Force-using characters to pull up/down their hoods on their robes?

Damion Schubert: This is in the works now. It won’t be in Game Update 1.2, but should get done in the next major update after that. And yes, we will extend this functionality to your Force-slinging companions as well.

 

ehlnofey: Will there be any changes/improvements made to the Galactic Trade Network system, and when will it be implemented?”

Damion Schubert: We know that the GTN needs a lot of love, and work is currently underway to improve this. Watch this space for more news!

 

GnovaD: Are there any plans to introduce mobile apps to the game? Eg. Use smart phone/tablet to send companions on missions while offline.

Damion Schubert: Let’s just say that this has always been a dream of mine for crew skills – it’s almost as if this design was created specifically with this in mind, doesn’t it? Good news, sometimes dreams do come true! The bad news is that I have no ETA for you, though, as this is a significant technical endeavor.

 

Bobonar:  Will we be able to take the modifications out of our endgame pvp-sets and put them into a set that we like better (design-wise) and keep the bonuses?

Emmanuel Lusinchi: Yes, the set bonus will be carried by Armoring mods that work just like regular mods except that they only fit into specific types of items, such as chest items or boots items. So, for example, the set bonus from a chest piece can be moved to another chest piece, and the set bonus from a helmet can be moved to another helmet.

 

HollowPoint: There has been a large push in the community for chat bubbles, especially with a toggle option for those who don’t want them. Is a chat bubble system in the works? If so, when can we expect it to be implemented?

Damion Schubert: They’re definitely on the list. We’ve got many active roleplayers in the dev team and chat bubbles have always been important to us. We actually had chat bubbles in beta, but there was unfortunately some serious performance issues that our implementation caused that, for example, made things really suck in warzones and the fleet. They’ll be coming soon, but in priority, the GUI team is focused first on GUI customization. I’ll have a better idea of timing once we get past that. And yes, for people who hate them, whenever we do them, they’ll be toggleable.

 

RuQu: Can you provide some details on Healer class design philosophy? Commando/Scoundrel AoE does not scale with group size due to player caps. Are they not intended to fill the raid-healer role? Scoundrels can be highly efficient, but have no tools for doing a short burst of healing.

In short, what is the design intention for each of the healers, and is it intended for them to be balanced so that any possible combination is competitive in Operations, or is a certain mix expected?

Georg Zoeller: Our stance is that all full healer specs should be viable for all type of content, which is the case, even for 16 man Operations. Our own players have no issues clearing any of the content in the game, on all difficulty levels, with any healer spec. Data from the Live game shows Operations, at all sizes, being successfully run with Commando and Scoundrel healers. It is expected for certain Operations bosses to create challenges for different healer archetypes (e.g. due to mobility requirements), but overall, every healer archetype is capable of successfully healing through any Operations and Flashpoint content in the game (currently and in the future).

With regards to your question about Commando/Scoundrel Area of Effect healing not scaling to group size, please understand that no heal, on any class, scales with group size. The most powerful Area of Effect heals in the game (Salvation/Revivification) affects up to 8 players, but does not scale with group size. These abilities are very costly, have an activation time requirement and require the targets to stand in a localized area for ten seconds to receive the full benefit. We plan on improving the overall Area of Effect healing performance of the Mercenary/Commando in the next major Game Update (1.2) by increasing the number of targets affected by Kolto Missile/Kolto Bomb.

As for Scoundrels having no tools for short burst healing, we don’t agree with that assessment. A scoundrel, for example, is capable of producing rather significant burst healing output by using Upper Hand gained from Underworld Medicine or Kolto Injection to trigger an instant Emergency Medpack or Surgical probe when needed. That said, we certainly think there’s room for improvements (and our upcoming Game Update 1.2 has a sizeable chunk of such improvements). For example, we are shifting the healing created by the Kolto Cloud ability to be front loaded in 1.2 to allow it to act as an emergency Area of Effect healing tool.

Finally, the perception of a specific class being not desirable can also be affected by the desirability of other classes. For example, Sage/Inquisitor healers are currently able to exceed our intended healing performance at times by affecting multiple heals with the same Conveyance/Force Bending buff. Game Update 1.2 will remove the ability to do so.

 

Fu-bear: Can you please confirm the exact mechanics behind Taunts? The tooltips purely state that it forces a mob to attack for X seconds, yet I’ve read reports that the skill appears to equalise threat like a traditional taunt. Can you clarify this?

Georg Zoeller: Taunts work in two ways. First, they instantly put you on top of the target’s threat list. Then, they place a short duration effect on the taunted target forcing them to attack you. Assuming that you then lose threat (say, you just stand there) the NPC will be forced to attack you for the duration of the Taunt. Afterwards, the AI will resume attacking targets based on threat order. If another Taunt is applied after yours, the most recently applied Taunt takes precedence.

Please note this is assuming regular threat rules – there are certain situations in the game, especially unique boss fights, which may cause NPCs to specifically ignore targets. In these cases, an ignored target will not be able to gain threat even with a taunt. In general, these situations are messaged to the player through effects on their buff bar – something we’re looking to make more visible in the future.

 

Gladoss, titdiscus, Leoran: What do you plan to against Warzones’ AFK, more particularly about players who leave Warzones ? Will there be sanctions for this type of behavior?

Gabe Amatangelo: It is not sanctioned behavior. In Game Update 1.2 we will be making changes to the Warzone rewards system, which will de-incentivize this type of behavior. This will include the removal of the interim bag/quest system, the introduction of the direct purchase of gear from Warzone and Ranked Warzone commendations, 14 new objective-based medals and participation scaling the rewards. Additionally, players will have the option to vote kick idlers. Kicked players will not be able to re-queue for several minutes.

 

Lexiekaboom: 16 man Operations are much harder than 8 man Operations (to the point where most guilds can easily clear hard mode 8 man before being able to clear 16 man easy mode) but there is no loot difference at all to doing them. It’s better to send your 16 man raid force to clear two 8 man instances .Is this oversight or design? What will be done to offset this in the future?

Gabe Amatangelo: This is not per design.  The teams have been addressing this in the weekly patches to some degree and more so in Game Update 1.2.  It is intended that 16 player mode is slightly easier than 8 player mode due to the fact that getting and coordinating 16 players is a larger hurdle in and of itself.

 I want an iPad Crew Skills app, and I want it now dammit!
Filed Under: News Tagged With:

SWTOR Patch 1.1.4 notes

February 17, 2012 by

Time for another patch! 1.1.4 is about to hit the public test server.Read on below for the list of changes – it’s encouraging that the list of fixes seem to be getting shorter – or am I dreaming?

Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – 1.1.4 Patch Notes

Because development is ongoing during testing, it should be noted that all changes and updates listed in the patch notes should be considered incomplete and are subject to change or removal before release to the live servers. The Public Test Server patch notes will be provided in English. The final release notes will be provided in English, French, and German when the content is moved to live servers.
General

  • The key formerly bound to /bug can now be mapped to any action and no longer opens the /bug window. The command is no longer able to be bound to a quickslot, but player can still type /bug in chat to open a new bug report.

Classes and Combat
General

  • Using abilities with indirect targeting (such as area of effect abilities) will no longer cause players to be flagged for PvP if a PvP-flagged player from the opposing faction is within the ability’s range, and the ability will have no effect on the PvP-flagged player.

Imperial Agent
Operative

  • Medical Therapy: Kolto Probe and Recuperative nanotech will now properly benefit from this skill.

Bounty Hunter
Powertech

  • Carbonize: PvP armor for Combat Tech will no longer prevent this skill from stunning enemies.

Flashpoints and Operations
Operations
Eternity Vault

  • Casting Mind Trap will no longer cause Soa to lose threat against his primary target.

Karagga’s Palace

  • G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator now has fewer hit points in Normal Mode.

Items
Vendors

  • “Show Usable” now properly filters to only show equipable items.

Missions and NPCs
Missions
Republic

  • Unlikely Allies: Resetting no longer requires players to abandon and re-acquire the mission in order to complete it.

PvP
Warzones
General

  • Fixed a queue interface exploit that allowed players to bring additional players into a warzone. While imbalances can still happen under specific circumstances, the issue can no longer be intentionally triggered by players in this way. *UPDATED*

Alderaan Civil War

  • The Eastern Turret no longer fires twice under some circumstances when it is captured by the Imperials.

UI
General

  • Added a /version command.
  • Added several new preferences for cooldown appearance:
    • Show Ready Flash: Toggles a bright flash when an ability finishes cooldown.
    • Show Global Cooldown Ready Flash: Toggles a bright flash when an ability finishes global cooldown.
    • Cooldown Style: Changes the art style for the cooldown graphic.
    • Global Cooldown Style: Changes the art style for the global cooldown graphic.
    • Show Cooldown Timer: Toggles cooldown time text on top of the ability icon in the quickbar.

Bug Fixes

  • Sorting will now function properly in the Guild Window.
  • Items placed in a quickbar are no longer removed when training abilities.
  • Using Shift + Right Click to split a stack of usable items will no longer cause the item to be used.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Players will no longer experience occasional disconnection when purchasing Crafting Materials from the GTN.
Filed Under: News, Patch Notes Tagged With:

Suggestion Box: Oceanic launch event

February 17, 2012 by

In what’s been a week of locally-focussed SWTOR love, I thought it’d be worth indulging in some hypothetical fun.

Let’s say BioWare decided to have a public launch event in Australia and New Zealand. What would be a truly local SWTOR launch that’d make the rest of the world sit up and take notice? I personally think a SWTOR B&S ball would have kicked arse, but I’m sure you can be more creative than that.

Jump in and maybe EA might take notice!

Filed Under: Community, Suggestion Box Tagged With:

The LFG debate and the immersion myth

February 16, 2012 by

Over the past week, one of the most fascinating debates I’ve seen raging is partly due to a comment made by BioWare’s Stephen Reid during our podcast Q&A last Saturday. It was a response to a question by our own Simon asking about plans for a Looking for Group (LFG) tool in SWTOR to make it easier to find groups for Flashpoints.

Stephen’s response (summarised here) was a more than reasonable statement that BioWare are looking at a cross-server LFG tool for Flashpoints. When he said it, my first reaction was “Ok cool, that’ll actually mean I get some Flashpoints played through”.

It seems that a cohort of SWTOR players vehemently disagree with an LFG tool however. The common theme from those opposed seems to be that it decreases the social aspect of the game because you don’t need to make the effort to find groups of people to play with. A tiny part of me sees their point, but not enough to give that view much credence. Like most people I don’t get enough time to play as much SWTOR as I’d like. So for me, an LFG tool is a godsend as it allows me to maximise my playing time.

As I’ve droned on about a few times, I’ve been a WoW player for a bunch of years and I’ve witnessed the transition there, from no LFG tool to it being in place. Unlike some of the current naysayers claiming it killed WoW, I witnessed nothing of the sort. Sure, your chance of ending up in a disastrous group may increase, but I actually found I was more likely to get a heroic dungeon completed in WoW in an LFG group than in my guild or trawling trade chat.

One final point: I totally don’t buy the immersion argument against LFG. Given that the Flash Points have an established storyline, how does the group formation being automatically chosen have any impact on the immersion? You’re already needing to suspend disbelief for the storyline – whether it’s a person you personally know or a stranger fighting next to you, you need to be involved with the story primarily. There’s also another bloody obvious point: you can still put together your own groups either within a guild or with friends. Yes, it may be harder with more people happy to have LFG do it for them, but then that just means your group will be even more special when you finally get them on board (insert rolling of eyes here).

So over to you: are you looking forward to an LFG tool being implemented in SWTOR? If not, why not?

Filed Under: News, Opinion Tagged With:

SWTOR’s local launch: your questions answered

February 16, 2012 by

What a day – after such a long wait for the details, we pretty much know most things about what life will be like post March 1 as SWTOR players. Although there’s no shortage of information around, I thought it might be worth rounding up the key facts:

1. March 1st is launch day – 12.01am to be exact.

2. Oceanic servers, located in Australia, go live at exactly the same time.

3. There’ll be optional free transfers to the new servers for anyone meeting these criteria:

To qualify for free character transfers, players must meet the following requirements by Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 5:01PM EDT, 7:01PM NZDT, 2:01PM HKT, 2:01PM SGT:

You specified that your country is Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, or Singapore during your account registration process.

Redeemed an Official Game Production Registration Code on www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com Code Redemption Center.

Have had or currently have entered a valid recurring payment method or redeemed a Pre-Paid Game Time Code.

Only characters created on The Old Republic servers by February 28, 2012, 5:01PM EDT, 7:01PM NZDT, 2:01PM HKT, 2:01PM SGT qualify for transfers.

4. Whole guilds can’t transfer: each person needs to do it individually and then re-form the guild after the transfer. Some people are talking about getting their guildies to change their account details to show Australia as their country of origin in order to allow international guilds to transfer. I’d be surprised if that works really.

5. The game will have a recommended retail of AU $79.99 or NZ $89.99. Yes, that’s a bit more expensive than buying from overseas and yes it’s more expensive than a lot of the copies currently in store locally – which is why any recommended price can be taken with a grain of salt. Expect easy local availability for cheaper prices than the RRP. The digital deluxe edition will cost you an extra $10. There’s no local Collector’s Edition available unfortunately.

6. Monthly subscriptions can be paid with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Paypal. The same goes if you buy the digital edition. Subs are billed in US dollars and will cost:

1 Month Subscription (automatically billed every 30 days): $14.99 USD per month
3 Month Subscription (automatically billed every 90 days): $13.99 USD per month (one-time charge of $41.97 USD)
6 Month Subscription (automatically billed every 180 days): $12.99 USD per month (one-time charge of $77.94 USD)

7. There will be PvE, PvP and RP-PvE local servers – no RP-PvP at this stage.

You can of course read the full FAQ here

For what it’s worth, I think it’s a pretty comprehensive set up for local players. Sure, we weren’t part of the initially launch (officially at least), but having local servers is a pretty good indication of the future of the game locally. At least we hope so.

Filed Under: News, Opinion Tagged With: ,

It’s official: SWTOR launches in Australia/NZ on March 1st

February 15, 2012 by

In what is arguably one of the most tortured processes in MMO history, Oceanic players now have a date from which we’re officially part of the SWTOR playing community. That date is as expected: March 1st.

The date was set in an announcement today from Electronic Arts / BioWare, which is replicated in full below.  Aside from the date, the other big news in the announcement is something we confirmed with BioWare over the weekend: there will be local servers available, with free transfers to those servers for those currently playing the game.

As far as versions of the game, there’ll be no Collector’s edition available for pre-order – you’ll have the choice of the standard edition or the Digital Deluxe, which will be available locally via EA’s origin service. Other notables:

– pre-orders will get an in-game crystal as per US launch
– pre-orders will also get the Founder’s title as per US launch

Surprisingly, Electronics Arts Australia have decided not to hold a large launch event, instead opting for a ‘soft launch;

For those who’ve been following the game throughout its development, beta and US/EU launch, the local launch still has a lot of significance even though copies of SWTOR are already in stores and a lot of locals are playing. The local servers alone show a commitment to the region that many won’t have expected given some of the decisions made by EA prior to now.

Over to you: will you be pre-ordering anything or just looking forward to jumping on a local server? We’ll have more analysis through the day as well.

FULL PRESS RELEASE:

STAR WARS (TM): THE OLD REPUBLICTM LANDS IN AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE ON MARCH 1
SYDNEY, Australia – February 15, 2012 – After a successful release in North America and Europe, BioWare™, a Label of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) announced today that the fastest growing subscription MMO ever, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, will be officially launching in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore on March 1, 2012. Fans in those regions will be able to play the critically-acclaimed massively multiplayer online game on regional servers, enjoying the story-driven experience that has captivated gamers worldwide. Players in these countries who currently have or have had an active Star Wars: The Old Republic account prior to February 28, 2012 will have the opportunity to request a free character transfer for a limited time to an Asia Pacific server after the launch on March 1, 2012. All players who qualify for a character transfer will be notified in early March with more details.
“Our biggest priority for The Old Republic has always been to deliver a high quality product and high quality service and we are pleased with our results in North America and Europe,” said Dr. Greg Zeschuk, General Manager of the BioWare Label’s MMO Business Unit and Co-Founder of BioWare. “We appreciate that our fans in these countries have been patient and we are excited to deliver this same great customer experience to players this March.”
BioWare and EA will also be offering players in the region an in-game color crystal to change their weapon effect as a pre-order incentive* for reserving a copy of the Standard Edition from participating local retailers. There are no participating retailers for pre-orders in Hong Kong and Singapore. Finally, players in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore will also be eligible for the Founder’s medal**, a distinction given to the early members of The Old Republic community.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a story-driven, massively multiplayer online (MMO) game from BioWare and LucasArts, breaking new ground in online gaming by delivering high quality, fully-voiced storylines with personal choice and consequences. Set thousands of years before the classic Star Wars movies, players are immersed as they team up with friends online to fight in heroic battles reminiscent of the films, exploring a galaxy of vibrant planets, experiencing visceral Star Wars combat, all set to a sweeping musical score. Players are asked to join forces with either the Galactic Republic or Sith Empire and choose one of eight iconic Star Wars characters, including the Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler, Trooper, Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter and Imperial Agent.

Players in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore will be able to choose from the Standard Edition ($79.99 AUD, $89.99 NZD, HK$389.00, S$64.00) and the Digital Deluxe Edition ($89.99 AUD, $99.99 NZD, HK$465.00, S$76.00) of Star Wars: The Old Republic at participating retailers. The Digital Deluxe Edition is exclusive to Origin.com. Included with the purchase of every copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic is 30 days of access to the game, after which players can continue to play by subscribing*** to the ongoing service. Subscribers will also receive ongoing content such as the recently released Game Update 1.1, Rise of the Rakghouls. For more information on Star Wars: The Old Republic, please visit www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com, follow the game on Twitter® at http://twitter.com/swtor or “Like” Star Wars: The Old Republic on Facebook® at http://facebook.com/starwarstheoldrepublic.

*PRE-ORDER OFFER EXPIRES WHEN PRODUCT RELEASES. CODE EXPIRES DECEMBER 31, 2012. GOOD ONLY FOR NEW PURCHASES OF “STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC” (“PRODUCT”). VALID ONLY AT PARTICIPATING RETAILERS. CODE WILL BE GIVEN WHEN PRODUCT IS RELEASED AND MAY NOT BE SUBSTITUTED, EXCHANGED, TRADED, SOLD OR REDEEMED FOR CASH OR OTHER GOODS OR SERVICES. MAY NOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER OFFER, GIFT CARD, REBATE OR DISCOUNT COUPON. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED, TAXED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. ACCEPTANCE OF END USER ACCESS AND LICENSE AGREEMENT, PERSISTENT INTERNET CONNECTION, ACCOUNT REGISTRATION (13+ TO REGISTER), PAID SUBSCRIPTION AND VALID AND ACCEPTED PAYMENT METHOD OR PAID GAME TIME CARD (IF AVAILABLE) REQUIRED TO ACCESS GAMEPLAY. GAME INTENDED FOR PLAY ONLY WITHIN NORTH AMERICA EUROPE AND CERTAIN OTHER TERRITORIES. SEE www.swtor.com/info/faq/game#q209655. ; EULAS AND DISCLOSURES CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EA.COM/1/PRODUCT-EULAS. PAYMENT METHOD AGE RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY. SEE PRE-ORDER FAQ’S AT WWW.SWTOR.COM/PREORDER/FAQ FOR DETAILS. SWTOR ONLINE SERVICE MAY BE RETIRED AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON WWW.SWTOR.COM. SEE EUALA FOR DETAILS. AGREEMENT TO SHARE ACCOUNT INFORMATION WITH LUCASFILM ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LTD. (“LUCASFILM”) IS REQUIRED. PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF SERVICE AVAILABLE AT WWW.SWTOR.COM. THE FIRST 30 DAYS OF SUBSCRIPTION IS INCLUDED IN THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE PRODUCT. SUBSCRIPTIONS MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. SEE WWW.SWTOR.COM FOR DETAILS. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. PRE-ORDER QUANTITIES LIMITED.

**GOOD ONLY FOR PURCHASES OF STAR WARS™: THE OLD REPUBLIC™ WITH REDEMPTION OF A PURCHASED GAME TIME CODE OR BILLING OF AN ACTIVE GAME RECURRING SUBSCRIPTION WITH AN APPROVED PAYMENT METHOD. VALID WHEREVER GAME IS SOLD. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED, TAXED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. CUSTOMERS WILL ACCESS THE ITEM IN-GAME. VIRTUAL ITEM ONLY. ITEM WILL BE APPLIED TO ALL CHARACTERS UNDER USER’S ACCOUNT. PLEASE ALLOW 7 DAYS FOR NOTIFICATION OF DELIVERABLES.
AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND – OFFER EXPIRES APRIL 30, 2012 AT 12:01AM EDT; 2:00AM NZDT
HONG KONG and SINGAPORE – OFFER EXPIRES APRIL 29, 2012 AT 9:01PM HKT, 9:01PM SGT

*** Subscription pricing in Australia,New Zealand, HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE will be $14.99 USD per month, $41.97 USD for three months ($13.99 USD per month) or $77.94 for six months ($12.99 USD per month).

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