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Guided tour of the new SWTOR flashpoint
Yesterday, BioWare invited some members of the press to take part in a guided tour of the latest update for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In recent Hyperspace Beacons, we've covered everything from the user interface changes to the crew skills system. However, the specifics of some of the new story content have been a bit sparse. Thanks to help from BioWare, that's now changed. Beyond the break, we have put together a 15-minute video describing the ins and outs of the latest flashpoint: The Lost Island. Together with a member of the BioWare development team, we explored this new level-50 zone, destroying everything in our path and maybe learning something along the way.
SWTOR: So you want to play a Trooper
Whether you're attracted to Star Wars: The Old Republic's Trooper class because of the iconic Stormtrooper/Clone Wars trooper look, the ability to dish out massive damage without any pamby-namby "Force" crutches, or the chance to hop on board a sci-fi military saga, you're in for a treat. While it may lack the grace of the Jedi, the sophistication of the Imperial Agent, and the swagger of the Smuggler, the Trooper gets it done with heavy armor, heavy firepower, and heavy quips. The Trooper a strong contender for just about any role in the game except for melee combat (and even there it has a few moves). It can heal, deal ranged damage, and tank alike, so I'm not surprised to hear that there are all-Trooper guilds forming up for the game. If you like having wide-open possibilities for your character's future roles, the Trooper is the way to go. The Trooper begins his journey on the war-torn world of Ord Mantell (alongside the Smugglers), where he's been recently recruited by the elite Havoc squad to tackle the toughest missions out there. You may not feel elite at the beginning, with light armor, an aged blaster rifle, and only a small handful of skills backing you up, but trust me -- by the end of your journey on Ord Mantell, you'll be ready to rock with the big boys.
Lifting the beta curtain: Larry's hands-on with SWTOR's beta
Many of my friends in gaming media have speculated as to why BioWare has allowed some media outlets to report on the heavily veiled Star Wars: The Old Republic beta, but frankly, I don't care. It doesn't matter to me that BlizzCon happens to be tomorrow or that there is a possible connection between the start of that event and the lift of this embargo. All I really care about is that I can finally tell you about actual gameplay for this new Star Wars MMO that I've been personally following for over three years now. However, it will be extremely difficult to contain all my experience of SWTOR within the confines of this one article. However, I will do my darnedest. Over the past couple of weeks, BioWare allowed us access to the Republic side of this highly anticipated MMO and pretty much set us free. We can report on nearly every gameplay aspect within the first two planets. Two weeks -- that's enough time for me to run more than one class! And that's exactly what I did. Originally, I wanted to run through two classes that weren't going to affect me much when the game goes live. I accomplished this goal with the Jedi Consular. However, when I started to play the Smuggler class, I just could not stop. I was completely engaged in the story. Jump past the break and I'll tell you all about that -- and more.
A certain point of view: Jef's hands-on with SWTOR's beta
Hey Star Wars fans, what say we recap my recent beta experiences in The Old Republic? I know what you're thinking (because it's the same thing I thought after BioWare's marketing folks sent along an unsolicited invitation): Here comes a giant anti-themepark rant and zomgwtf call someone who cares! Surprisingly though, I had a decent time. I managed to get a Republic Trooper off the Ord Mantell starter planet and firmly entrenched in a few Coruscant quest lines, and I logged over 10 hours of gameplay in the process (in the comfort of my own home, mind you, and not under the watchful eye of a PR droid at a convention). To be frank, TOR's not half bad. It's had a lot of money thrown at it, there's a ton of what passes for modern-day MMO content, and if you're into that sort of thing, you'll no doubt enjoy yourself for a time.
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: Timeline
When I started the Holocron Files last week, it slipped my mind that I have been doing this column for a year and a half and that not everyone has been following every issue. When I wrote about the Pureblood Sith, it was really meant to be a refresher course, not a comprehensive chronicle. It's extremely difficult to capture the full history of a species in about a thousand words. That being said, I understand that not everyone has a perspective on the Star Wars timeline, especially the time leading up to Star Wars: The Old Republic. I don't think it's any secret that BioWare stories are extremely deep, and Lead Writer Daniel Erickson has a nerdgasm every time someone interviews him about Star Wars history. The established history leading up to TOR will play a major role in the story that unfolds in the game, otherwise the development team would not have had the wherewithal to create the timeline videos for the website. Following the break, I would like to set you up for future, more comprehensive articles about the Star Wars lore. Although this column is certainly not exclusively about lore, when I bring up another Holocron File, I want reader to have a decent understanding of when these events fall in Star Wars history. So rev up your time machine to 88 miles per hour! This Hyperspace Beacon is about to go back in time -- way back!
Mmmmmm... SWTOR smuggler video
In case you missed it last week, Machinima.com gave the world an exclusive look at the Star Wars: The Old Republic smuggler class. "When the Republic needs someone to get the job done, they always call me," the narrator snorts smugly in the video. He has the best ship in the galaxy, a sneaky set of abilities, and moral compass that allows him to do things the Republic would rather not be made public. Plus, he's got all the best connections to the underworld, right? Do you have what it takes to dual-wield pistols or slip past guards undetected? Maybe you just like to be a smart aleck to people in authority. BioWare wrote the smuggler class for you. Dodge past the break and catch a glimpse of the smuggler's snarky class video. Don't miss the the shots of SWTOR's stealth and cover systems in action nor the Millennium-Falcon-type interior of the smuggler's starship. And was that a quick glance of a Wookiee companion at 1:01? Judge for yourself.
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.
E3 2009: Star Wars: The Old Republic demonstration
The trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic blew nerds around the world away, and has managed to build some of the greatest hype possible for an MMO in just a few short days. The question has been asked whether or not a trailer which contains absolutely no gameplay footage should be producing that sort of hype, but that trailer wasn't all that we saw of the upcoming MMORPG at E3. A panel dedicated to The Old Republic had much more to say.The panel opened up with the stage being set: The Old Republic begins 3,000 years before the rise of Darth Vader, 300 years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic, which would give BioWare an excellent opportunity to define and expand upon key events of Star Wars "pre-history."The entire presentation laid a significant emphasis on story and story elements. Right from the beginning, the developers lay out it: RPGs have four primary elements. Exploration, combat, progression, and story. The story element is the one most overlooked in MMOs, and The Old Republic intends to address that head on. They intend to embrace story right alongside the other RPG elements. It will be a major player, and not something just used to justify the other elements. %Gallery-35033%
SWTOR classes are getting smuggled after all
We love magazines, because they sometimes feature interviews which reveal information before it's actually released online -- it does happen! Kotaku has discovered that Edge Magazine's newest issue contains an interview with James Ohlem, director for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and within said interview he reveals the Smuggler classes' existence. Giving the scanned image featured above, we can only assume Smugglers are a Republic class -- that there's a Trooper standing next to him.According to the Ohlem, via the scanned image, "Ord Mantell is a war-torn world and it's where the Smuggler starts off, when his ship gets stolen. He's pretty angry; imagine what Han Solo would've been like if the Millennium Falcon got taken." Sounds like a good place to start for the law-bending, blaster toting class.Chances are good this will be a part of next week's E3 2009 news, so keep a lookout for more official details when that time comes. Until then, we'll be dreaming of blockades ran and witty lines read.
A diversity of worlds in newest The Old Republic developer video
There are already many diverse worlds in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and so it's probably fitting that this newest developer dispatch video is named just that: Diverse Worlds. Tython is the ancient forgotten home of the Jedi, full of forests and mystery. Korriban is similarly the home of the Sith, but its lands are thematically angular, painful, deadly and dry. Hutta is a literal swamp of filth and decay, while Ord Mantell is almost a paradise in some places and yet a living volcanic hell in others.And that's without getting into the story of each world and what choices can be made by the players.With four planets revealed, we've begun to wonder how many more BioWare is keeping close to their chest. It's a big galaxy out there, so we wouldn't be surprised to find that less than half of the game's worlds have been touched upon. To see Star Wars: The Old Republic's developers get all chatty about their work, check out the video in its entirety after the break.
The Old Republic shows potential for more than good versus evil
BioWare has been touting their focus on story with Star Wars: The Old Republic, and many a jaded MMO fan have scoffed and or rolled their eyes each and every time. Ord Mantell's developer diary concerning the planet's creation gives a glimmer of hope that there truly is a blurry line between the forces of the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire.Instead of making Ord Mantell an Empire controlled planet with Republic rebels attempting to overthrow it, the development team went the other direction, sort of. They made the choice of keeping the planet under Republic control, but making many of the leaders less-than-honorable types. The locale has also been malnourished by its caretakers, as the Republic is seemingly only concerned with Coruscant after the war.
Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals Ord Mantell as its newest planet
BioWare has revealed Ord Mantell as Star Wars: The Old Republic's newest planet via a flurry of screenshots, concept art and even a new wallpaper. It reminds us a lot of Dantooine from the original KOTOR game, but with a little more going on than a Jedi Academy and tons of grass.Don't get us wrong because we enjoyed or original stay in Dantooine, but reading the lore piece on Ord Mantell is causing a noticeable unnatural buildup of saliva. Embroiled in a ruthless civil war? Mountainous plains and volcanic islands? A corrupt government? These are all the makings of a wonderfully fun adventure for any player of either faction.We're mostly excited about the ongoing battle between the Republic loyal old government and separatists looking for independence. As the marauders, Nar Shaddaa black market tech and elite Republic forces are all likely to be converging just as we -- and you -- arrive on the planet once Star Wars: The Old Republic launches sometime in the hopefully not-too-distant future.%Gallery-35033%%Gallery-35034%%Gallery-35036%
