The Casual SWTORian: Staggered Global Release

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.

Do you live in a part of Europe or the Middle East that doesn’t have SWTOR? if so then check this link. Otherwise you came here for one reason. One simple reason. To read up on The Casual SWTORian. Bioware shot out the Q&A, more info on the staggered global release, and the server transfers happened. And without further intro, the gold:

Trietxan: Is there a plan to make social armor adjustable to armor rating? For example, I would really like to dress my Powertech in the Imperial Trooper armor without losing the heavy armor rating.

Daniel: Yes, adaptable social gear that automatically changes to your character’s gear type is coming in Game Update 1.3.

wyllam: I love the new armor color “unify” feature. Will this option (as well as “hide head armor”) ever be available for companions?

Daniel: Definitely in the plans for the future.

JimG: Is there any sort of ETA on adding completely new playable species into the game such as Togruta, Mon Calamari, Nautolan, etc.?

Daniel: Can’t comment on what species you might see, but you can expect the roster of playable species to expand… this year.

Zannis: Any chance on allowing companions to show in the Operation frame? As a healer, I do a lot of questing with a friend, and I’m unable to replace Party Frames with the Operations Frame since we can’t see our party member’s companions with this option turned on.

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): Funny, we were just talking about this the other day. I’m working on the design now, but have no ETA of when this will get to you.

Capthxc: Any plans to improve your achievement system and/or codex? Right now achievements don’t seem to serve any purpose.

Damion: We have big plans. Too big to share prematurely.

 

And there it is, one SWTORian for you to digest. As always, If you feel I missed anything feel free to comment below or you can start a religious debate – your choice.

The Casual SWTORian: Patch 1.2 Release Overview

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.

Over the past few weeks Bioware have been promoting the 1.2 patch and the legacy system, telling us we would know well in advance when they would drop. However, this week with almost no warning we received the Jesus patch. Other things of smaller note are the free pet, potential free game time, and the skipping of the weekly Q&A. And so, we begin:

“The galaxy is in turmoil. War rages across countless worlds as Republic and Imperial forces struggle for control of critical resources. Amidst the chaos, threats emerge from all sides. The planet Denova, known for its extensive deposits of baradium ore, has been seized by a band of mercenaries and veteran Imperial defectors with mysterious motives. If they are not dislodged, the explosive arsenal they can create will give them the power to destroy any armed force – Republic or Imperial. On Corellia, a corrupt councilor attempts to maximize hypermatter profits by playing both sides of the conflict, and the crazed mastermind behind the Rakghoul outbreak, discovered on Ord Mantell, continues to threaten the lives of all sentient beings in the galaxy…”

  • Players can now unlock a wide variety of rewards by leveling characters and reaching new Legacy levels, including buffs for your characters, unlocking additional Species choices for every class, and upgrades for your personal Starship. Build your own Legacy with the new Family Tree!

  • Guilds now have access to a shared Guild Bank, accessible on the Fleets, with expandable storage.

  • Players can now customize their User Interface by moving and resizing UI elements!

  • The Imperial Transportation Authority and the Galactic Republic Safety Council have authorized the use of vehicles in Orbital Space Stations and Spaceports.

  • A new “Customize” option now appears on the character sheet. One of the features this button enables is the ability to color coordinate any individual piece of armor with the equipped chestpiece.

  • The Sprint ability is now available at level 1.

  • Since our changes involve a number of skill changes for many classes, we are refunding all skill points to the affected Advanced Classes so players can adjust the distribution of their characters’ skills as they see fit with the new changes in mind. As a reminder, players can reset any character’s skill points in the Combat area on their faction’s fleet for free once per week (additional respecs cost credits).

  • The cooldown associated with giving companions gifts has been removed. Giving a gift now has a 3-second activation time.

  • C2-N2 and 2V-R8 have been reprimanded and now vocalize less frequently on personal starships.

  • Companions now use accurate voice responses regarding the success or failure of their Crew Missions when they return.

  • Schematics for color crystals in various colors (including endgame-quality varieties) have been added to the game.

  • Several unusual crystal formations have been reported in the mountainous regions of Alderaan.

  • Offhand weapons are now more clearly marked as such.

  • Sniper Rifles no longer drop for Republic players.

  • An issue that caused some items to be unlinkable in chat has been addressed.

  • A set of modifiable Techblades and Techstaffs has been added to the game.

  • The Korrealis line of landspeeders has been removed from vendors.

  • License costs for Vehicle Piloting rank 1, 2, and 3 have been reduced.

  • Junk (grey) items no longer appear in the buyback window.

  • The chances for one player to win the majority of rolls in Multiplayer Conversations have been diminished.

  • Several missions that require the player to defeat a specific enemy NPC have been updated. In affected missions, the player can now interact with an object in the world to spawn the target (instead of needing to wait for a respawn).

  • Corrected many instances where text and voiceovers did not match.

 

  • Players can now leave comments on entries in their Friends List in the Social Window.

 

  • The Galactic Trade Network interface now supports text-based searches without category restrictions.
  • The Emergency Fleet Pass now takes Republic players to the center of the Republic Fleet instead of the Tython and Ord Mantell arrival hangar.
  • Added musical triggers to some missions and encounters.
  • Numerous spelling and grammatical errors in text throughout the game have been corrected.

 

I’d also like to give a shout out to Why SWTOR will never ‘Jump The Shark’ and the SWTOR Gamers of Oceania Facebook Group 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.

The Casual SWTORian: Community Q&A and PvP Videos

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.

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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.

The Casual SWTORian: Legacy, 1.2 and April Fools

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.

This week we saw Bioware focus on their upcoming legacy system. For those of you who do not know already the legacy system allows you to create a family tree with your characters and unlock other classes abilities among other things either through gameplay or credits. Almost all the Q&A was either devoted to legacy or patch 1.2, while the news release focused on trying to explain more about how legacy affected you.

Bioware also released a pilot of their new podcast, in which they talked about patch 1.2 and what makes a good post on the forums. If you have 20 minutes it’s worth a listen although personally I prefer the TOROZ podcast. Below you shall find the glorious nuggets of casual information you came here for today:

  • 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.

  • Playing a character of any species to level 50 unlocks that character’s species as an option at character creation for all classes. All combinations of class and species are now possible given the right unlocks. Opening these new combinations gives much more freedom at character creation.
  • As with all unlocks attained through the Legacy System, when you acquire something on one character, you acquire it for all your characters. That means when a new character in your Legacy gets their ship, they will climb on board for the first time to find all of your purchases already in place and waiting.
  • Hazado: So are we finally going to get the 1.2 patch on april 3rd?

    JovethGonzalez: Tuesday will be a standard maintenance. You folks will know ahead of time when maintenance will include Game Update 1.2.

Also, there was the April Fools Bioware released that you may find interesting.

If you feel I missed anything feel free to comment below or you can start a religious debate – your choice.