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Take a video tour of SWTOR's Tatooine homestead
Yep, it's time for another housing-focused Star Wars: The Old Republic news story. BioWare has released a new video of the Tatooine homestead stronghold and while it's incredibly brief, the clip offers quick glimpses of the sprawling setup as well as a few examples of how you might use its decorating hooks. Dulfy also has a still image breakdown of various shots from the trailer. Click past the cut to have a look!
Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR F2P experiment, closing chapter one
It's been a couple of weeks since I've covered anything dealing with my Star Wars: The Old Republic free-to-play experiment, so I should do a quick rundown of the rules. I believe that it is possible to play SWTOR from beginning to end, including endgame, without paying for anything. The SWTOR cash shop (Cartel Market) and auction house (Galactic Trade Network) are directly connected in a way that allows for nearly everything sold in the cash shop to be sold to other players with in-game credits. There are enough people who have more real-life money than time to support those who have more time than money. So during my experiment, I vowed I would not take any gifts from other players or my alts and I would buy all of my unlocks off the GTN. So far, I've noticed little change from level 1 to 10. However, Coruscant started to get rough. I also learned that leveling alongside a subscriber turned out to be disappointing. Yet in general, the leveling process seemed to be right on par with the planet I was on. It was my theory after leaving Taris that although there is a F2P experience penalty, my XP placed me on-level with each planet. Subscribers had an advantage of rising above the recommended level for each planet. Then I ran into Tatooine.
Hyperspace Beacon: Outbreak
A year ago at PAX East, I spoke to Community Manager Stephen Reid about events in Star Wars: The Old Republic. He asked and answered a popular question at the time: "Will [SWTOR] have events where we randomly spawn NPCs for players to fight? No, but we will have events." He couldn't elaborate, but it did leave me wondering what that could possibly mean, especially when later at PAX East, Lead Writer Daniel Erickson said that SWTOR would not break the fourth wall by holding holiday-type events. Earlier this year, Update 1.1: Rise of the Rakghouls brought us a new flashpoint called Kaon Under Siege. A ship crash landed in the heart of the Tion Hegemony, taking the Rakghoul virus off the planet Taris and spreading it to a new world. Both the Republic and the Empire sought to find the source of this outbreak. Like all flashpoints, Koan Under Siege is instanced and separate from the rest of the open world. Relatedly, and quite surprisingly, BioWare started its first world event without announcing it on the official website or even letting anyone know that it was happening. On Sunday morning, everyone who was stopping by Carrick or Vaiken station could overhear an announcement that the planet Tatooine had been quarantined due to an outbreak of the Rakghoul virus. So started my investigation...
A Rakghoul plague has broken out across the galaxy of SWTOR
Citizens of Star Wars: The Old Republic are advised to steer clear of the the planet Tatooine to avoid infection from a Rakghoul virus outbreak. A ship carrying infected passengers crashed in the northeast quadrant of the Dune Sea; quarantine teams have been dispatched to the local interplanetary space port to prevent the spread of the disease. Please, avoid all infected citizens at all costs! It is possible for you to carry the the virus yourself. If you are infected and attempt to flee the planet Tatooine, you will be fired upon for the safety of all Republic citizens. At this time, the disease is contained to one planetary system; however, our advice is to avoid travel in major space stations and other areas with travelers who may be coming from the Tatooine system. We will keep you informed of further developments as they unfold. May the Force be with you, and watch the official Imperial holonet broadcast after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
SWTOR's Outlaw's Den is a hive of scum, villainy, and all-out PvP
There's open-world PvP, and then there's open-world PvP that puts hair on your chest and then rips it out with a vengeance. Tatooine has the latter. At the recent fan site summit in Austin, TX, Star Wars: The Old Republic's Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo revealed nirvana for PvPers with Outlaw's Den. Outlaw's Den is a PvP free-for-all (FFA) area on Tatooine for players crazy enough to risk certain death to congregate, fight, and struggle for rewards. Because there are no rules in the area, members from the same faction can harm -- and kill -- each other, and there are no restrictions on what goes on in that space. Apart from the excitement of "anything goes" PvP combat, Outlaw's Den sports several attractive elements that make it worth visiting, including top-tier crafting materials, vendors that sell rare mounts and social gear, an auction kiosk, and a pit reserved for to-the-death duels. One of the most interesting aspects of Outlaw's Den is that even NPCs are susceptible to being killed, opening up the possibility for individuals and guilds to kill vendors in order to keep them out of others' hands. However, nobody can capture the zone, so the fighting will extend indefinitely.
GDC Online 2011: SWTOR's Georg Zoeller on analyzing in-game feedback
Star Wars the Old Republic is rapidly approaching its launch date, and questions constantly pop up about what the game will be like. Some longtime MMO veterans are even a bit skeptical about whether BioWare will be able to release a game of this scope in a finished state. At this year's GDC Online Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller demonstrated some of the tools that the team uses to analyze player feedback and data, and then he explained how, through sophisticated technology, the team can make appropriate adjustments to the game as it wraps up beta testing and prepares for launch.
Hyperspace Beacon: Hyperspace... beacons
A hyperspace beacon in Star Wars lore guides a space traveler from one safe lightspeed jump to the next. Basically, a nav computer communicates with a hyperspace beacon, requesting jump points to its intended destination, and the hyperspace beacon, being in contact with other hyperspace beacons, replies with the fastest route to that star system. Explorers, like Gav Daragon, would take risky jumps in directions beacons didn't point to. That is how they found Korriban. By the time period of Star Wars: A New Hope, hyperspace beacons were no longer in service. However, we know for certain that less than 300 years before Star Wars: The Old Republic, hyperspace beacons were still in use. Since technology appears to advance quite slowly, I can only assume that they are still used in some capacity during SWTOR. As evident by the galaxy map that BioWare launched this past Friday, the worlds of this time period are strongly divided into territories. The planets of the movies appeared to be united under one banner (although that's not entirely accurate). What I'd like to do today is give you a little tour of the galaxy, comparing this map to something you may be a bit more familiar with: the Star Wars movies. So strap yourself in, kid -- we gotta make the jump to hyperspace!
Hyperspace Beacon: Expecting a living world
The other day I was talking to some friends about Star Wars: The Old Republic, of course. As of late, it seems to be the only thing I'm talking about. My friend isn't a guy who follows the game that closely, but he is an MMO player and has certain expectations for the game. Specifically, we talked about Crew Skills and space combat. He is an EVE player. EVE Online has one of the most in-depth crafting systems in any MMO to date, not to mention the game is completely set in space, right? On the other side of the fence, I was talking to some roleplayers in Star Wars Galaxies, who also don't follow the game as closely as I do. These MMOers are expecting SWTOR to be filled with the best roleplay tools available in the gaming industry. It's BioWare; after all, that team created Never Winter Nights, the most customizable RPG ever. (Of course, this doesn't take into effect that latest games to come from the developer were pretty linear and not very sandboxy.) As arm chair developers, we sometimes believe that implementing ideas in an MMO is a lot easier than reality. On the official forums last week, a player made this statement: "I, and 14 other guildmates, really want to plan on rolling on an rp-pvp server. It's such a trivial game feature to confirm for us, I don't understand why they wouldn't just mention it and be done with it." After saying that he would look into it, Community Manager Stephen Reid made the statement that "A good rule of thumb with MMO development is to never assume something is trivial." What are some other "trivial" expectations players are placing on this game? Which ones can BioWare deliver on? Which ones aren't as trivial as suggested? Why can't Star Wars: The Old Republic give us everything we want? In this week's column, let's talk about setting.
Hyperspace Beacon: Post mortem
When a company ends a project or when a theatre production ends, the producers and directors will usually do an analysis of the project. They will give a rundown of what performed well and what performed poorly. The idea is to ensure that the next project delivers better results than the previous one. Granted, we will not be able to sit in on the official post mortem meeting for Star Wars Galaxies, but we can do our own analysis of what happened. As I said above, the idea is to take what we learned from the previous project and apply it to the next one. In the eyes of a Star Wars MMO fan, the next project will be Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now to be fair, I already have a series of articles that feature the mistakes SWG made that we don't want to see in The Old Republic, so this time around, I figured it would be best to show off the good things SWG did that should probably be repeated in SWTOR. This is by no means exhaustive, but it's a couple of the big ones in my mind.
E3 2011: New SWTOR dev walkthrough takes players to Tatooine
A new developer walkthrough from BioWare takes Star Wars: The Old Republic players to the desert planet of Tatooine, future home of Luke Skywalker. But long before Luke was even a twinkle in Anakin's eye, the Sith were scouring the planet in search of a lost research facility that they hoped would hold the key to the destruction of the Republic. That's where the developer video's story begins, as a Sith Sorcerer is tasked with finding the leader of the expedition to hunt down this lost research facility. The leader, Lord Silvar, believed that the key to accomplishing the expedition's goals would lie with the Sand People of Tatooine, and he set off alone to uncover their secrets. The Sorcerer follows after him, joined shortly by an Imperial Operative. The demonstration takes players through a short quest and includes displays of combat and The Old Republic's conversation system. If you're itching for more information on The Old Republic, or just want to see a Sith Sorcerer Force-lightning some poor Sand People to death, follow on after the cut for the video. Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 6-9, bringing you all the best news from E3 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!
E3 2011: SWTOR flies to Alderaan
Alderaan is known mostly for being the homeworld of Princess Leia and being one of the first victims of the Death Star. However, the planet is rich with history even 3000 years before the events in Star Wars: A New Hope. The developers at BioWare have mentioned in the past that Alderaan would host one of the PvP Warzones for Star Wars: The Old Republic, but they did not mention anything about the PvE aspects of the world -- until now. A usurper by the name of Bauris Ulgo has forcefully proclaimed himself king of Alderaan, and the Republic has asked you persuade him to leave. Of course, this will not be easy, and it will require that you and your team take it back by force. Below we have some incredible screenshots of Alderaan, Tatooine, and player vehicles. After the break, we have SWTOR Lead Writer Daniel Erickson's livestream of Tatooine playthrough. And stay tuned here later this week as we bring you more information about the raid on Belsavis called the Eternity Vault and our impressions of playing on the open world of Tatooine. Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 6-9, bringing you all the best news from E3 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered! %Gallery-125684%
E3 2011: Hands-on with SWTOR's Imperial Agent Operative
E3 officially kicked off today in Los Angeles, and I was lucky to be one of the first in line for the latest hands-on demo of Star Wars: The Old Republic at the enormous Electronic Arts booth. There were two different types of demo stations awaiting us: level 1 Galactic Republic characters for those who were new to the game and level 26 Sith Empire characters for those of us who were more comfortable with MMOs. I was hot to play the mid-level Sith characters, but first we had to watch a 10-minute instructional video on how to play each advanced class.
SWTOR reveals plans for E3, advanced class powers, and a new tie-in comic book
BioWare descends on the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 7th, but its exact plans regarding the Star Wars: The Old Republic show were held close to the chest -- until now. Thanks to the community team in Austin, we now have a good glimpse at what will be shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. An ancient threat grows restless on the planet of Belsavis; the entire galaxy is at stake; and both the Republic and the Empire will suffer. A group of heroes is deployed to Belsavis to counter this terrible evil in the next revealing trailer for SWTOR called Eternity Vault. Visitors to E3 will witness two in-game plotlines. First, a showdown of patriots and a usurper who has laid claim to the throne ignites the planet of Alderaan. Second, players take on sand people on one of the most iconic planets in the Star Wars universe: Tatooine. Also, The Old Republic birthed a new tie-in comic book. Alexander Freed, a lead writer at BioWare Austin, penned this latest tale titled the Lost Suns. The comic book features a spy named Theron Shan, who is combing the galaxy for clues to what the Empire has been doing since the Treaty of Coruscant. Freed expounds on some of the hidden secret on the official site. Lastly, more detail has been revealed about the Advanced Classes on the official site, including specific powers for each tree. For a complete breakdown of revealed powers watch the Hyperspace Beacon on Tuesday. For the rest of the gory details be sure to visit the official SWTOR website and don't miss our live coverage from E3 all next week.
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR's hidden messages
"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future," were Yoda's words from The Empire Strikes Back, but contrary to the Jedi Master's belief, most of the time there are clues to what our future holds. Like the smell right before a rain storm, or little ticks of involuntary action that give away when someone is bluffing in poker, or that face your mother used to give you which said you were in trouble, clues to what the future holds are everywhere. Star Wars: The Old Republic is no exception. Clues to what the game holds are hidden all over its website. Alyssa Gobelle is the web designer for SWTOR. She has done a beautiful job of constructing a site that is entertaining as well as interesting to look at. Although the busy lettering, Aurebesh, entices the eyes, it also gives away secrets to the game. In April, Gobelle was interviewed by the Holonet Project fan site, where she revealed that the messages are totally intentional: "When they first brought me on, our first major task was to design the HoloNet. We wanted the HoloNet's voice to be as much 'within the lore of the game' as possible so we planned to add some generic Aurebesh to start. But we also wanted to add some hidden teases and notes for you guys to devour and ponder upon and play with. Give some more fuel to the speculation festivities." Continue after the break to find out what some of these "hidden teases" are. Perhaps you can help me figure out what the rest of them mean.
The Game Archaeologist and the Star of the Galaxies: My expedition
After cracking open the history textbooks on one of the most famous (and infamous) MMOs of the past decade and talking to two groups of crack veterans, it was finally time for the Game Archaeologist to strap on his lightwhip, kick over the nearest Astromech droid, and dive headfirst into Star Wars Galaxies. Although I've been interested in Star Wars Galaxies since 2003, its apparent complexity scared me off back in the beginning (when I made the choice to scoot over to the equally complex Anarchy Online during that time). Later on, I felt as if it was too late to jump on the SWG bandwagon, feeling as if the entire Galaxies playerbase was finishing up their Master's degrees and I'd be entering the equivalent of preschool. Fortunately, this article series gave me an excellent excuse to stop coming up with excuses and simply go for it -- and with the counsel of several friends and Massively writers who know the SWG ropes, I found my footing just fine. Click on the first picture of the gallery to join me on my journey to the stars -- and don't forget to read my impressions under each screenshot! %Gallery-95887%
Star Wars Galaxies: Dr. Fool strikes back
Toys turning tables on Imperials and Rebels alike? It may sound like a bad joke, but Star Wars Galaxies has never seen such dire straits. The elusive and diabolical Dr. Fool (who has a Ph.D. in Evil Medicine) has returned once more to unleash his fiendish toys on the residents of Tatooine, Naboo, Lok, Corellia, and Endor. These high-level toys -- some resembling miniature AT-ATs -- should be treated as hostile on sight and taken down without prejudice. Of course, for this April Fool's event, players are to be rewarded for their diligence. SOE is tempting all SWG fighters and lovers to disable the toys with a special title: "Toy Recaller." This title can only be achieved on April 1st by taking down the malfunctioning toys before the stroke of midnight PDT. Wookiepedia has more information on this toy rampage, which coincidentally also happened a year ago to the day. You can also read the aftermath of the 2009 event on SWG's forums.
Star Wars: The Old Republic gives an official reveal of Tatooine
Despite being an obscure planet on the outer rim in Star Wars: The Old Republic, everyone knew that the desert planet Tatooine was going to be in the game. No, really, everyone. It's like Hoth, it shows up all the time, probably because the first movie in the franchise started on it. BioWare has thrown us a few curveballs, but to think they wouldn't send us to a well-known and iconic planet in the franchise would be silly. And sure enough, today's update to the official site is details on the sprawling desert wasteland with occasional pockets of civilization. There's plenty to do in the desert, however, even if the traditional stomping of tusken raiders doesn't appeal to you. The official page details the aftermath of the Czerka Corporation's meddling with the biosphere and with unfettered weaponry, which the Sith Empire is attempting to reclaim. There's the promise of something truly horrible under the sand as well, which should provide players of Star Wars: The Old Republic plenty of searching around dunes. Take a look at the official page on the planet, and if that doesn't sate your need for the game's universe, the newest installment of Threat of Peace is also available for your reading pleasure.
Farm moisture on Tatooine in these Star Wars: The Old Republic screens
Click image to force your way into our gallery Hey, Star Wars: The Old Republic, you know what other MMOs are doing right now? They're helping with the harvest and aren't hanging out on Tatooine down at Toshi Station, wasting time with their friends and checking out all of the power converters for sale. They're adult MMOs who understand the need for a few helpful hands to repair the units in the South Ridge. They aren't zooming around in their landspeeder, checking out the scummy alleys of Mos Eisley or stopping by Uncle Owen's farm for a friendly chat about that crazy coot Old Ben Kenobi -- not like you. So go ahead, have fun zipping around the dunes and avoiding the Sarlacc Pits, while we're over here wearing the big boy pants, behaving like adults. %Gallery-80585%
One Shots: The twin suns of Tatooine
It's a two-for-Tuesday with the twin suns of Tatooine, and a trio of Troopers trudging past. Now that we've hammered that silliness into the ground, we offer today's One Shots for your viewing pleasure. This Star Wars Galaxies screenshot comes in to us from Amana Thrall on the Bria server, who is enjoying a moment's rest before moving on. Amana writes: Heading West of Bestine, on Tatooine, I came across an Imperial Outpost at the top of a hill. After speaking to the local officers and agreeing to sort out some Rebel sympathizers, I took a load off just as the dual suns of Tatooine started to dip in the evening sky. My gaze is actually in the very direction of the Lars Homestead, which is a few kilometers ahead of my stare in these shots. I must get down there and take a look one of these days, based on all the hearsay about some local farmboy and an untimely end to his family....Have you enjoyed a lovely sunset in-game recently? Perhaps you can show off something that makes our childhood geek go squee like all things Star Wars tend to? Whatever your reason, whatever your game, you should send us some screenshots at oneshots AT massively.com along with a quick blurb about them. They're nowhere nearly as much fun when they're collecting virtual dust in your screenshot folder. %Gallery-9798%
