You are here: Home / Archives for SWTOR

SWTOR Predictions For 2013

December 30, 2012 by

SWTOR Predictions For 2013Now that I’ve done the walk of shame regarding my 2 out of 5 success rate with my 2012 SWTOR predictions, I thought it was worth drawing together some predictions for the coming year.

Aside from my handful of guesses, I’ve also got some gems from my colleague Simon, so let’s jump in.

David’s Predictions

1. A further restructure of the SWTOR team at BioWare will occur in the first six months of 2013

I don’t think the ructions are over at BioWare and I think we’ll see a bunch more changes in staffing. Not the usual churn of staff, something more formal. You never know, the F2P move may be successful enough to force the change as the team grows. Or it could be the reverse.

2. Rise of the Hutt Cartel will be critically successful and a moderate commercial success

There’s already a lot of conjecture over how substantial SWTOR’s first expansion will be, but I’m being optimistic that it warrants the cost and that Makeb as promised will be a bunch of new zones with plenty to occupy. Story-wise I’m expecting it to be seen as a success, with a bump in player numbers leading to some moderate commercial success as well.

3. There will be no guild ships during 2013

Sorry, can’t see it happening – as much as we’d all love it.

4. Loss of oceanic servers

At best I think we’ll end up with one local server but i won’t be surprised if we lose the lot. If ROTHC is successful that may prevent the closure, so here’s hoping.

5. More players than the month after launch

This time next year I think that SWTOR will still be around and will have more players than it did at its peak in the month of two after launch in December 2011. The new subscription model will have had a lot to do with it, but I’m hopeful the content updates and bug fixes will continue to be regular and establish SWTOR as a longer-term MMO in the space.

Simon’s Predictions

Hmm… my crystal Death Star (Mk 1) suggested the following before it blew a hole in the Alderaan poster on the opposite wall and frightened the neighbour’s cat so severely it experienced both explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting at the same time (and you thought dianogas were bad):

1. Subscriber grumbling about having to pay anything for the Makeb expansion as soon as everyone emerges from their turkey coma.

2. Decent player retention from F2P with better than projected earnings from the Cartel Market. There will be no sub or player numbers mentioned in any future earnings call, needless to say (but that’s normal after a title goes F2P).

3. New maps for existing Warzones mid to late 2013 (just a hunch)

4. GLBT romance arcs will continue to be conveniently forgotten (ask all you like, they’ll never tell)

5. Gradual increase in quantity and quality of content within game updates as EA/BW see uptick in profitability and player-base stability, and confidence in the product’s future gradually strengthens.

6. I will have finally levelled a character up to 50 by Jan1 , 2013

 

Now over to you: do you agree with any of the above? Do you have your own predictions you’d like to share?

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

SWTOR 2012 Predictions Review

December 27, 2012 by

taris3I love this time of year when I get to look back over the past 12 months and slap myself at how wrong I was with last year’s predictions. Let’s not draw out the agony any further and have a look at what were hits and misses from my crystal ball:

The predictions:

Expansion 1 will be announced

This prediction’s a bit of an easy one in that I’m sure planning is already underway. It’ll probably be the second half of the year when the announcement is made, and there’ll probably be a new race. A new class seems less likely though.

Well I got this right at least – although only just with Rise Of The Hutt Cartel only announced last week.

The 3-million player mark will be hit in the first half of 2012

This is the biggest risk I’m taking in that the number could be well under or well over that, though I doubt it. That said I’m fairly confident this watermark will be reached by July 2012, and then it’ll be a much slower growth trajectory from then on.

I think I should just shake my head sadly and move on yes?

Sensationalist journalism will dig its teeth in

Around February/March expect the first run of stories on people claiming SWTOR has taken over their lives / eaten their children / forced their spouse to taser them to stop playing the game.

Another big miss here – mostly related to the growth issue i.e. unless SWTOR hits 3 or 4 million users the sensationalist media is unlikely to kick in with a story.

Plans for a TOR movie will be announced

Either based on one of the novels i.e. Revan, or key story lines in the game, there’ll be at the very least hints thrown out by LucasArts or even Bioware/EA on movie plans. With or without Justin Bieber as Revan.

I won’t be a con-man and claim the announcement of Star Wars Episodes 7-9 count for this prediction given they won’t be set in the Old Republic era.

Australia / New Zealand launch

I have to throw in a local prediction here. The launch events will be in March in Sydney and Auckland as the respective largest cities in each country. One of the Bioware ‘Doctors’ will come for the launch, along with whichever community rep and/or developer that wins the lottery for the working holiday Down Under. There will be no flash mobs in full Star Wars kit riding kangaroos and kiwis. Well definitely no kiwis, as that’d be cruel.

Got this one right on the money – and my prediction of no flash mobs was a sure-fire one once it became apparent how low-key the event was going to be, although we did get to sit down one-on-one with BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo.

 

So a 2/5 score: I reckon even Nostradamus could have done better but there you go. It won’t stop us making further predictions for 2013 – watch this space.

Over to you now: looking back over the past year, did things in SWTOR pan out for you like you expected they would?

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

Rise Of The Hutt Cartel: More Details

December 25, 2012 by

tatooine9In the post-Christmas lull I thought it was worth rounding up any further snippets of info BioWare have released on 2013’s SWTOR expansion, Rise Of The Hutt Cartel. So here we go:

1. Story/Lore in Rise of The Hutt Cartel

Allison Berryman at BioWare:

We think players interested in lore are going to really enjoy the story in Rise of the Hutt Cartel, and I’d like to share a few more details – this seemed like a good thread for it!

The people of Makeb have remained neutral in wars between the great political powers in the galaxy. Relying on their wealth, isolation, and an army of mercenaries, the citizens have enjoyed centuries of prosperity. However, in the midst of the current galactic conflict, the Hutt Cartel has recognized the planet as a crucial stepping stone to increase their organization’s standing and reclaim the strength of their ancestors’ empire. They’ve hired Makeb’s mercenaries away and have made the citizens prisoners in their own homes, forcing them to reach out to the Republic in a desperate bid for rescue.

The Republic recognizes the Cartel’s seizure of Makeb as a bid for galactic power. With victory over the Empire seeming possible for the first time in decades, Supreme Chancellor Saresh is determined to respond to Makeb’s request for aid to stop the Cartel before they can become an even greater threat and compromise the Republic’s chance for victory.

Taking advantage of the chaos erupting between the Hutt Cartel and the Republic, the Sith Empire makes their own bold play for the hidden power of Makeb, seizing their chance to regain some of the strength lost to internal struggles and at the hands of the Republic’s military resurgence. They plan to outmaneuver all their enemies to usher in a new era of Imperial dominance.

2. Talent Trees In ROTHC

Allison Berryman again:

We know you’re all very interested to hear about how the new level cap is going to affect your class, and I wanted to share a little information about the upcoming changes with you. As part of the new content, every skill tree will be expanding and you can expect significant updates. Players will earn a new skill point with each level, and new skills will be available in each skill tree. Additionally, a new active ability will be introduced for each Advanced Class. We’ll have more details about many aspects of Rise of the Hutt Cartel as we approach launch, so keep your eyes on the website and dev tracker!

3. End-Game Gear and the Level Cap

This time… Allison Berryman:

Hi everyone! While we can’t address every concern raised in this thread right now, we can reassure you that the gear you’ve obtained in our current endgame will continue to be relevant after the expansion is released, and it will provide a great bootstrap into the higher-level content offered by Rise of the Hutt Cartel. You won’t be replacing your Dread Guard gear with gear you pick up as you level, and thanks to improvements in the way item power is calculated, we won’t be handing out any entry-level gear at the new level cap. You’ll hear more about RotHC as we approach its launch, and we’ll continue to answer questions and provide more details!

4. Size of the Expansion

Some person called Allison:

To give you all a better idea of Makeb’s scope, it’s a planet of equal size to our larger planets and it contains a variety of areas – sprawling mesas, underground caverns, garden estates, and more. It introduces faction-specific storylines, new Heroic missions and bosses, repeatable mission series, and new Datacrons! The 5 new levels will occupy players for a fair amount of time, and there’s plenty of content to get you there (including a lot of stuff tucked away for the explorers out there). Keep in mind that this announcement is just the start – as we approach Makeb’s launch, you’ll see more details about the content coming with Rise of the Hutt Cartel!

There you have it: I’d expect to see more detail fleshed out in the next month. What’s your take on the statements so far?

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

SWTOR: Rise of the Hutt Cartel Announced

December 18, 2012 by

SWTOR - ROTHCWe should have expected a big announcement to coincide with SWTOR’s first anniversary, and BioWare have delivered it in spades with the announcement of the game’s first expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel.

Slated for ‘Spring 2013’ (gee I love the US-centric language), which means between March and May 2013, the expansion includes:

1. An increase in the level cap to 55

2. The long touted new planet, Makeb, makes its debut

3. More missions (as you’d expect with a level cap rise)

Subscribers can pre-order for US$9.99, which includes 5-days early access – everyone else can buy it for US$19.99.

The FAQ is already up to answer any other questions you might have.

Filed Under: General News, SWTOR Tagged With:

SWTOR 1.6 Full Patch Notes

December 11, 2012 by

SWTOR 1.6

The SWTOR servers are now back up – early even – and SWTOR 1.6 is there in its shiny glory. While you’re downloading the patch, why not browse the goodies that 1.6 contains right here:

Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate

12/11/2012

Highlights

  • Ancient Hypergate, a new Warzone, is available for play! Travel to an ancient ruin built around a Gree Hypergate and battle to control the precious technology for your faction.
  • New incredibly challenging Weekly [HEROIC] Space Combat Missions are now available!
  • All-new Grade 7 Artifact Quality Starship Upgrades are now available from the Fleet and Mission Support vendors!

Cartel Market

New Items

      • A new collection of rare goods, freshly smuggled in by the Hutt Cartel is now available! The Blockade Runner Cartel Pack can contain Rare bonus items not found in any other Cartel Market Pack! Cost: 360 Cartel Coins.
      • The Grade 7 Starship Defensive Bundle contains defensive upgrades that will protect your ship during the most difficult missions! Cost: 400 Cartel Coins.
      • Purchase the Grade 7 Starship Offensive Bundle to give your ship enhanced firepower! Cost: 550 Cartel Coins.
      • The Grade 7 Starship Tactical Bundle contains powerful upgrades for your personal starship. Cost: 350 Cartel Coins.

Life Day Items

      • The following items are available for a limited time only!
        • Purchase the Life Day Robes, an adaptive armor set containing Life Day Vestments, Lower Robe, and Boots, to show your Life Day spirit! Cost: 960 Cartel Coins.
        • The Czerka LD-1 Celebrator, an adaptive speeder, combines the convenience of travel with the joy of the Life Day celebration! Cost: 1800 Cartel Coins.
        • Use the Life Day Tinsel Bomb to spread cheer to anyone it hits with a blast of shiny tinsel. Cost: 300 Cartel Coins.
        • The Life Day Orb is a commemorative orb used to celebrate Life Day. Cost: 60 Cartel Coins.
        • The Life Day Holo-Tree brings the joy of Life Day anywhere in the galaxy! Cost: 600 Cartel Coins.
        • Get the most Life Day cheer with the Life Day Bundle, which includes the Life Day Orb, Life Day Holo-Tree, Life Day Tinsel Bomb, Czerka LD-1 Celebrator, and the Life Day Vestments, Lower Robe, and Boots for the discounted price of 2400 Cartel Coins.

Fireworks

      • The following items are available for a limited time only!
        • Celebrate the conquests of the Empire with Imperial Fireworks! Each box contains 10 Fireworks. Cost: 125 Cartel Coins.
        • Celebrate the victories of the Republic with Republic Fireworks! Each box contains 10 Fireworks. Cost: 125 Cartel Coins.
        • Create a dazzling display of colorful sparks with Fountain Fireworks. Each box contains 10 Fountain Fireworks. Cost: 75 Cartel Coins.
        • Complete your Fireworks display with impressive Finale Fireworks and send a series of large, colorful explosions high into the air! Each box contains 10 Finale Fireworks. Cost: 50 Cartel Coins.
        • Celebrate in style with the Fireworks Bundle! This bundle contains all four Fireworks boxes with an additional 2 Fireworks per box at a discounted price! Cost: 300 Cartel Coins.

Bugfixes

    • One-handed blasters and Lightsabers found in Cartel Packs can now be used in both the main hand and off-hand equipment slots.

Crew Skills

  • Players who previously unlearned a Crew Skill no longer lose schematics when learning new schematics from reverse engineering.

Group Finder

  • A new “Introduction to Group Finder” mission has been added to the Daily Mission Terminal on the Republic and Imperial Fleets. This mission is granted when players complete the Advanced Gear mission.
  • Group Finder categories have been updated with tooltips that provide a recommended gear rating and an outline of the rewards available from the content.
  • 10 Black Hole Commendations are now awarded by Story Mode Operations in Group Finder (up from 5).

Items

  • Elite War Hero Items are now available on the new Elite War Hero vendor. These items can be purchased using Ranked Commendations.
  • War Hero Items can now be purchased with Warzone Commendations.
  • Battlemaster Items are no longer available for purchase.
  • Ancient Artifact Storage Boxes can now be purchased for 25 Tionese Crystals from all Tionese vendors.
  • Tionese items available from the Tionese vendor no longer require Tionese Crystals, and most of their commendation costs have been reduced.
  • Companion gear no longer alters player character stats when modified.
  • A tooltip issue that caused identical items in the inventory to appear to count towards a set bonus (even when not equipped) has been corrected.

Missions and NPCs

  • A new “Advanced Gear” mission for each class has been added to the Daily Mission Terminal on the Imperial and Republic Fleets.

PvP

  • The requirements for offense and defense bronze medals have been lowered. Players now receive each medal the first time they receive associated objective points, regardless of the value.
  • New Rated bracers and belts are now available on the War Hero vendor. These items are unmodded items similar to other Rated items. The old bracers and belt are no longer available.
  • Bolster now appears as a positive effect that cannot be removed by the player (instead of as a negative effect).

Space Combat

  • The ammo count for missiles and proton torpedoes now includes the missile or torpedo in the chamber.
  • Imperial Agents, Sith Inquisitors, and Jedi Consulars can now swap Power Conversion Modules by right-clicking them.

UI

  • The tooltips for several currencies now explain how they can be acquired and what they can be used to purchase. These currencies include: Tionese Commendations, Columi Commendations, Black Hole Commendations, Daily Commendations, and Tionese Crystals.
  • The Flashpoint Commendations category in the currency window is now named “Elder Game Commendations.” Daily commendations now appear in this category.
  • The friends list no longer occasionally shows some friends as always offline.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Players no longer occasionally see other players on their personal starship.
Filed Under: General News, Patch Notes, SWTOR

SWTOR 1.6 Launches: Server Downtime Details

December 8, 2012 by

SWTOR 1.6

Tuesday December 11th sees SWTOR 1.6 launch, with a six-hour downtime to coincide. We’ll have the full 1.6 patch notes for you as soon as the servers are back up.

The local time conversions for your convenience:

AEDT: 7pm-1am

AWST: 4pm-10pm

NZDT: 9pm-3am

The official blurb from BioWare:

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for six hours on Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 from 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 8AM CST (6AM PST/9AM EST/2PM GMT/3PM CET/1AM AEDT). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than six hours, but could be extended.

Game Update 1.6 introduces a new Warzone, Ancient Hypergate, where you can team up with other players to fight for control of powerful energy pylons to unleash the power of the ancient Gree hypergate against your enemies. Six new Heroic Space Missions are also available for each faction. These missions will be a challenge even for the greatest pilots in the galaxy!

Please Note: PvP Warzones and Space Missions are available to Subscribers at no additional cost. Players without a subscription have limited free access per week and may purchase additional access in the Cartel Market.

After this maintenance is over, restart the game launcher to patch to Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Time: 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 8AM CST (6AM PST/9AM EST/2PM GMT/3PM CET/1AM AEDT)

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

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

Filed Under: General News, Patch Notes, SWTOR Tagged With:

SWTOR Server Downtime 4th December 2012

December 3, 2012 by

A standard four-hour server downtime this week from BioWare. Local time conversions for you:

AEDT:  7pm-11pm

AWST: 4pm-8pm

NZDT: 9pm-1am

The officialise version:

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for four hours on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 from 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 6AM CST (4AM PST/7AM EST/12PM GMT/1PM CET/11PM AEDT). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended.

This weekly maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

Time: 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 6AM CST (4AM PST/7AM EST/12PM GMT/1PM CET/11PM AEDT)

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

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

Filed Under: General News, Servers, SWTOR

SWTOR 1.5.1 Patch Notes

November 27, 2012 by

SWTOR 1.5.1 Patch Notes

The servers are back up and we have a small but useful patch 1.5.1 in place. It’s predominantly bug fixes and Cartel Market discounts:

1.5.1 Patch Notes

11/27/2012

General

  • Subscribers are again able to file Customer Support tickets from the Character Selection screen.

Cartel Market

  • The following Cartel Market items are on sale!
    • Major XP Boosts: Discounted 25% to 90 Cartel Coins from 120 Cartel Coins.
    • Level 15 Chest Pieces: Discounted 10% to 135 Cartel Coins from 150 Cartel Coins.
    • Medical Probes: Discounted 25% to 375 Cartel Coins from 500 Cartel Coins.
  • The Experimental Flight Suit has been added to the Cartel Market! This adaptive armor can be worn by any Class at level 1.
  •  The tooltips for unlocking Speeder Pilot Ranks now correctly indicate that the unlock is per character.
  • Restrictions have been removed from Cartel Pack White Color Crystals, which can now be equipped by anyone.
  • Players will no longer receive an occasional error upon purchasing inventory slot unlocks for their account.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that would allow Preferred Accounts to trade below level 10.
  • French players will now have proper audio during conversations with General Avrun.
Filed Under: Patch Notes, SWTOR

SWTOR Server Downtime: 27th November 2012

November 25, 2012 by

A four hour maintenance downtime this week. Local time conversions for you:

AEDT: 7pm-11pm

AWST: 4pm-8pm

NZDT: 9pm-1am

BioWare’s notification:

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for four hours on Tuesday, November 27th, 2012 from 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 6AM CST (4AM PST/7AM EST/12PM GMT/1PM CET/11PM AEDT). All game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended.

This maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

Time: 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 6AM CST (4AM PST/7AM EST/12PM GMT/1PM CET/11PM AEDT)

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

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

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

The Naked Gamer: What Does Free-To-Play Mean?

November 22, 2012 by

what does free-to-play mean

The Naked Gamer is a regular opinion column that strips back the superficialities and looks at the flesh underneath. If you’ve got a topic you’d like discussed, drop columnist Kristy Green a line!

It’s such a tiny term but seems to be so filled with meaning and causing so much confusion. Ask ten gamers what they think Free-to-Play (F2P) means and you will get ten very different definitions.

It feels like the term F2P is becoming nothing more than a buzz word used by people for their own personal agenda while ignoring everyone else. It has been very frustrating to watch people bring forth valid opinions of the changes to the subscription model made for Star Wars: The Old Republic but only to have them completely brushed over or ignored because people seem to be unable to get past their own preconceptions whenever they see the phrase F2P.

One common idea is that F2P means that you can create an account and play the game without paying anything. It doesn’t matter what you can or can’t do, just simply being able to login seems the biggest point in this description, oh and no time expiration. This means that games like World of Warcraft, Tera, SWTOR, Aion and Battle of the Immortals are all considered F2P.

Another common way of defining F2P is to say that you can play the whole game without any restriction to your gameplay. If the game has restrictions that are unlocked or accessed only by spending money then it’s no longer free. Instead it is some sort of unlimited time trial. So in this definition the only games that are F2P from the above examples are Aion and Battle of the Immortals.

So I thought about this and I wondered what harm is there if we see F2P differently? I would like to say none but all you have to do is read up on any of the feedback from SWTOR’s recent changes to see that this isn’t working. Those that consider the game as F2P see those that don’t as entitled and in return they get labelled as pretentious. It’s very hard to talk about the good and the bad when such loaded words are being thrown around. Also, many of us have predefined notion of what F2P means and so when we see the term, we are expecting to see one thing and may be seeing something else. None of this comes together to equal good communication.

Then I thought, ‘but isn’t it up to the developers and publishers to define what their game is or isn’t?’ That might seem like a perfect solution but not one that would be practical. WoW and Tera never once used the term F2P and yet the media and gamers constantly do. SWTOR says that it is but it doesn’t necessarily fit into all definitions of F2P. I’ve even heard of Guild Wars 2 being referred to as F2P simply because it doesn’t need a subscription to play. If we as gamers can’t even agree, then how are we expecting game developers, publishers, and media and of course marketing to?

The only way to see all the brilliant opinions on SWTOR is to stop focusing on what is F2P. Maybe we should instead just move past any buzz words and actually hear out what someone has to say. If we stop predefining people’s opinions then we will see that a lot of time, we are actually all in agreement.

Filed Under: General News, Op-Ed, SWTOR Tagged With:

SWTOR 1.6 Hits PTS: Full Patch Notes

November 21, 2012 by

UPDATE: FINAL 1.6 PATCH NOTES CAN BE FOUND AT THIS LINK

Hot on the heels of 1.5 going live, BioWare have put Patch 1.6 on the Public Test Server. It’s a much smaller update as you’d expect although there’s a new Warzone and Heroic space missions. Read on for the full notes as they stand at present:

Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate – PTS Patch Notes

The patch notes published for the Public Test Server are not final and are subject to change. Currently, only English notes are available, but French and German versions will be published when they are available

 

Highlights

  • Ancient Hypergate, a new Warzone, is available for play! Travel to an ancient ruin built around a Gree Hypergate and battle to control the precious lost technology for your faction.
  • New incredibly challenging Weekly [HEROIC] Space Combat missions are available!
  • All new Grade 7 Artifact Quality Starship Upgrades are now available!

Group Finder

  • Added a new Level 50 “Introduction to Group Finder” mission to the Daily Mission Terminal on the Republic and Imperial Fleets. This will be granted when players complete the Advanced Gear mission for their Class.
  • Group Finder categories have been updated with tooltips that provide a recommended gear rating and an outline of the rewards available from the content.
  • Increased Black Hole Commendations awarded by Story Mode Operations in Group Finder from 5 to 10.

Items

  • Tionese gear available from the Tionese vendor no longer costs Tionese Crystals, and their commendation costs have been reduced for most items.
  • Ancient Artifact Storage Boxes can now be purchased for 25 Tionese Crystals from all Tionese vendors.

Missions and NPCs

  • Added a new Level 50 “Advanced Gear” mission for each Class to the Daily Mission Terminal on the Imperial and Republic Fleets.

UI

  • The tooltips for several currencies will now explain how they can be acquired and what they can be used to purchase. These currencies include: Tionese Commendations, Columi Commendations, Black Hole Commendations, Daily Commendations, and Tionese Crystals.
  • The Flashpoint Commendations category on the Currency Window has been renamed to Endgame Commendations. Daily Commendations will now appear under the Endgame Commendations category.

Over to you: anything in particular you’re excited for in 1.6?

Filed Under: General News, Patch Notes, SWTOR

Final SWTOR 1.5 Patch Notes

November 16, 2012 by

SWTOR 1.5 Patch Notes

1.5 is Alive! Sorry, that was lame, but here are the full SWTOR 1.5 Patch Notes:

Game Update 1.5: HK-51 Activated

11/15/2012

Highlights

    • Free-to-Play is here! Players can now experience Star Wars: The Old Republic up to level 50 (with certain restrictions) without paying a subscription fee.
    • The Cartel Market is now accessible. Players can use Cartel Coins to purchase boosts, unlocks, cosmetic items, and more!

Travel to Section X on Belsavis and learn why the nefarious Dread Guard has seized control of this ravaged area of the planet! Section X can be accessed on Belsavis and via the daily mission shuttles.

  • HK-51 can now be acquired as a Companion Character! A shipment of the infamous Assassin Droids can be found in the wreck of an Imperial transport ship, The Fatality, in Section X. Reactivating HK-51 requires finding and assembling parts from across the galaxy.
  • Nightmare Mode is now available for Operation: Explosive Conflict! Bosses in Nightmare Mode present a new level of challenge, new mechanics, and high-quality rewards (such as a new vehicle and Dread Guard set pieces)!
  • Dreadtooth, a new world boss, can be found roaming Section X. Each time Dreadtooth is defeated, he returns with a temporary, stacking power buff which increases his difficulty and the quality of his loot rewards.

General

  • The names of guilds that are inactive (any guild that has had no members log in for 8 weeks) will now be released for use by new guilds. If a guild member logs back in once a name is released, that guild member can reclaim the guild’s name if it has not been taken. If the name has been taken, the guild will be granted a free rename.
  • If no member of a guild logs in for 8 weeks, the next guild member to log in will be promoted to Guild Leader.

Classes and Combat

  • Subscribers are no longer charged credits for skill point re-specializations.

    Jedi Knight

    Sentinel
    Watchman
        • Merciless Zeal’s healing has been reduced to .5% per point (down from 1% per point).

    Sith Warrior

    Maurader
    Annihilation
        • Hungering’s healing has been reduced to .5% per point (down from 1% per point).

Group Finder

  • Travelling to a new area while in a Group Finder queue no longer occasionally causes the UI to behave as if the player is not in the queue.

Missions and NPCs

  • Some missions on Origin Worlds now offer Experience Boost rewards.

Items

  • The cost to remove mods from items has been reduced for subscribers.
  • The Collector’s Edition vehicle and all vehicles available in the Cartel Market can now be used with the lowest-level rank. Their speed now scales based on the rank unlocked by characters.
  • Subscribers can now access speeders at level 15.
  • Campaign armorings are now available for purchase on the Black Hole vendor for Black Hole Commendations.
  • Dread Guard relics are now available on the Daily vendor for 300 Daily Commendations.
  • A new set of droid armor is now available from the Daily vendor.
  • More robes have been adjusted so that their backsides are not inappropriately large when worn.
  • New speeder vendors are now available on Taris (Republic) and Balmorra (Imperial).

Legacy

  • Players can now unlock their Legacy at level 10.
  • The Legacy panel now accommodates much larger Legacies.
  • Each rank of the Legacy Experience perk now grants +6% experience (as opposed to a gradual increase of +2/4/6/8/10). The total possible bonus from Legacy perks is still 30% in each category.

PvP

  • The caps for Warzone and Ranked Warzone Commendations have been increased. All players can now accumulate up to 4500 Ranked Warzone Commendations and 2750 Warzone Commendations.
  • Elite War Hero armorings, barrels, and hilts have had their stats improved slightly.

UI

  • Several emotes are now voiced!
  • Subscribers now have access to 2 additional quickslot bars.
  • Different quickslot bars can no longer be jumped to in the primary quickslot bar if they are already visible in another location on-screen.
  • The deposit for items placed on the GTN is now a percentage of the item’s value (instead of being based on the player’s set price).
  • Vehicles, mini-pets, weapons, the results of crafting schematics, and color crystals can now be previewed in the item preview window.
  • An additional Cargo Hold can now be purchased.
  • The title selection window is now scrollable. Players can now choose their Legacy name display from this window.
  • A progress bar has been added to the currency pane to indicate player proximity to currency caps.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Several typos and instances of incorrect text have been corrected in all languages.
  • The Imperial Medcenter in the vicinity of the wreck of the Ambria’s Fury has been moved Northeast.
  • An issue that caused dark outlines to appear around characters’ eyes has been corrected.
Filed Under: General News, Patch Notes, SWTOR Tagged With:
« Previous Page
Next Page »