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Hyperspace Beacon: The 2014 spring roadmap for Star Wars: The Old Republic
Late is better than never. The producers of Star Wars: The Old Republic have finally let players know what their plans are for the next couple of months. Senior Producer Bruce Maclean jumped onto the producer's blog and dropped some tidbits just before Update 2.6 launched. Although it would have been nice to have this info last month when everyone was making new year's resolutions, Maclean did give us some really nice items to look forward to. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether it's enough to change my resolution to play less of SWTOR. I recently started a series of articles about roleplaying a Sith, and I promise that I will get back to that, but this producer's letter gave us too much timely news to pass up. The biggest piece, of course, was buried at the bottom in a paragraph that would likely be skipped if a person just skimmed the article. "We are moving to a 9 week cadence for the major content updates," Maclean says. He explains that this cadence will be more beneficial to the game because it gives the team more time to squash the bugs, but I suspect it's more that his team just cannot produce what it wants to this year without a bit of extra time. With SWTOR earning $139 million last year, you'd think that EA could toss in an extra developer or two to help keep up the current six-to-eight-week cadence. Where is that six weeks or more of extra time going this year? For that, we turn back to Maclean's roadmap.
Hyperspace Beacon: Five reasons to love SWTOR's Bounty Contract Week
If you missed the first Bounty Contract Week for Star Wars: The Old Republic, never fear because it's on its way here again -- today, in fact. I didn't really talk about this event when it first came out because I was too busy talking about the free-to-play experiment, and frankly, I thought the event was pretty straightforward fun and didn't need too much explanation. That was before I spent a week actually participating in the Bounty Contract event. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I actually enjoyed the new content. The basic premise for this SWTOR event centers around the Bounty Brokers Association. This organization, totally made up by BioWare, is overrun with the number contracts that it needs fulfilled and is willing to pay anyone for completing the bounties. (To be fair, that's not too much different than a normal bounty contract, but let's just run with it.) Participants can complete one standard contract and one kingpin contract a day per character level 15 or higher. Players travel to one of eight planets (two Republic-only planets, two Empire-only planets, and four shared planets), hunting down eight different henchmen and eight different kingpins. Players earn credits, experience, reputation, achievements, and titles. Let me give you my top five reasons for loving Bounty Contract Week.
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR's Shroud lifted [updated]
I've been covering Star Wars: The Old Republic for going on three years now. My first full-time MMO was Star Wars Galaxies, although I had played a bit of Ultima Online before that. I have also played nearly every major MMO after SWG's launch, ranging from World of Warcraft to Lord of the Rings Online to City of Heroes to DC Universe Online. Although all those games had aspects that I really enjoyed, I was not able to stick with any of those other MMOs for more than a month. But when I first started playing SWTOR regularly during beta, it had me hooked. Sure, there were many aspects that I didn't like; some areas made me question the strength of the game as an MMO, but I continued to play. Some people would say that it's the lightsabers that have kept me there. I would agree the hiss and buzz of a laser sword is part of the appeal. I have played through many of the class stories to a high level, and I've also watched every class story multiple times on YouTube to catch all the endings. I have personally played through the Sith Warrior and the Sith Inquisitor story twice -- not just to level up but to watch the story again. Some of the dialogue is shaky, but in my opinion, there had never been this level of storytelling in an MMO before. And I will continue to play as long as there is still story to experience. Today, BioWare launches the next chapter in the story of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Rise of the Hutt Cartel. The majority of the story takes place on the Hutt-controlled world of Makeb, but we have also been given two major quest that take us all over the galaxy. Today, I would like to talk about one of those: the Shroud.
SWTOR's Hutt Cartel expansion launching April 14
Many Bothans died to bring you this information: The first expansion for Star Wars: The Republic, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, will launch on April 14th, 2013. Our spy network tells us that Makeb continues the player's personal story where it left off at the end of the base game. Whether you're a Jedi Knight who just finished an epic battle on the Imperial homeworld of Dromund Kaas or a Sith Lord who has taken her seat with the Dark Council, the next step is the Hutt-controlled planet of Makeb. For the longest time, the Hutts have remained neutral during the whole galactic conflict, yet recently, they have found new boldness. Besides Makeb, RotHC brings with it a new level cap (up to 55), at least one brand-new ability for each class, multiple new questlines (on and off Makeb), new level-55 flashpoints, a new level-55 operation, and new gear. Additionally, if you pre-order before 7:00 p.m. EDT on April 13th, you will receive three exclusive in-game items: the title Scourge of the Hutts, a Makrin Seedling mini-pet, a Dr. Oggurobb Hutt holostatue. We've also obtained a short video with Lead Writer Hall Hood and Lead Concept Artist Ryan Dening that you can view after the break. %Gallery-183727%
Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR awards
The Oscars were given out two nights ago. Celebrities, actors, and film crews dressed in their red-carpet best to be handed a 13.5-inch golden statue of a naked bald man. As I heard these writers and directors give thanks to various loved-ones and talent agencies, I thought about Star Wars: The Old Republic. (Sad. I know.) SWTOR contains some of the best writing and storytelling in all of MMOs. In my opinion, it's better than some of movies represented on that stage. Sure, it didn't impact the world like Zero Dark Thirty, but it did impact my world, and I'd like to recognize some of the best parts of this MMORPG.
SWTOR story secrets revealed by Lead Writer Hall Hood
Fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic don't need to be reminded that story is central to the MMO's development. But fans of the story part of the game have been anxiously awaiting the next installment of personal and planetary story arcs. That is why Massively pulled SWTOR Lead Writer Hall Hood aside to ask him some questions. Hood has been an integral part of the SWTOR writing team since the beginning; he penned major parts of the Jedi Knight, Smuggler, and Taral V storylines. In addition to having one of the best superhero alter-ego names in the gaming industry, Hood sits on the upper rungs of BioWare's writing team. And if that's not enough for you to listen to him, we heard he has a Wookiee co-pilot who could rip the ears off a gundark. Read on to find out what this practitioner of prose says about the future of the SWTOR story.
Hyperspace Beacon: Why do I still play SWTOR?
Given how many people have quit Star Wars: The Old Republic and how many of those people still follow me in other media, I should really not be surprised at the number of people who ask, "Why do you still play SWTOR?" Usually, that question is followed by some snide remark about how the game sucks and will close down in less than a year, so I don't answer. However, I know there are some people who after reading my latest article about Damion Schubert have been legitimately concerned about playing SWTOR and legitimately wonder why anyone still plays the game. Several months ago, I talked about the three major reasons I play SWTOR: Star Wars, BioWare, and MMOs. Interestingly, those three major components have been called into question within the last couple of months. Beyond them, are there any other compelling reasons to keep playing? And is there anything that will stop me from playing?
SWTOR lead writer hints at future content
Twitter was abuzz this morning when a Star Wars: The Old Republic lead writer posted a cryptic message. "SIS Intel Report: Rumors indicate Czerka research vessel 'Theoretika' has been located by deep-space salvage team. Investigating," Hall Hood announced on his account. Speculation abounded from many of his followers and fans of the game; the biggest theory revolved around a possible live event. Unfortunately for SWTOR players who scoured planet after planet searching for new content, Hood later tweeted, "Just to clarify: I was only giving a little preview of future content. I would never announce an in-game event on Twitter." We are disappoint. However, Hood did give us a bit of joy when the tweeters proposed that it might be a new flashpoint. Hood answered that suggestion with, "Not exactly. You'll see very soon, I hope." Does that mean SWTOR will announce 1.4 content soon? We have our fingers crossed. Stay tuned for more SWTOR news, and be sure to catch our weekly Hyperspace Beacon column later today.
SWTOR explains automatic transfers and more in weekly Q&A
Star Wars: The Old Republic's weekly Q&A session with the devs made it to release on time this week! BioWare's Will Wallace, Hall Hood, Rick Burton answer questions about travel perks in PvP, the seven commemorative pillars on Corellia, and the aftermath of the Rise of the Rakghoul plague event. Principal Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert joined in to respond to a player with concerns about how automatic transfers will work for players who do not opt to transfer their characters manually: Once we do automatic transfers, we will be doing everything possible in order to maintain the basics of the current ruleset as possible - PvE vs PvP, regional choice, language (for Europe); so in many cases, you should have a good idea of which populations you are likely to end up with. Another top concern is trying to help the populations that result have a good factional balance. We will give out a specific list once we are closer to implementation of this plan - watch for more info soon! Schubert also explains what "server stability" fixes really mean. The complete Q&A is online now at the official SWTOR blog.
SWTOR asks who's better: Jedi Knight or Bounty Hunter
In the latest Friday update, the developers at BioWare ask one of the ultimate questions: Which class is better? In this three-and-half-minute video, the Jedi Knight and the Bounty Hunter of Star Wars: The Old Republic are pitted against each other. The criteria for winning ranges between the best story to the most powerful weapons, but ultimately, it's up to you. According to the video, it's time to choose your side. Senior Writer Hall Hood expresses that although the Jedi are typically good guys, "you get to be whatever kind of Jedi Knight you think is best. You don't necessarily have to follow the Jedi Code. In fact, you can violate it pretty regularly." On the other side, Writer Randy Begel explains that the Bounty Hunter does not have to be the most evil all the time. "The Bounty Hunter can live by a code as much as the Jedi does. It's just that they don't always see eye to eye on how that plays out," Begel explains. Decide for yourself after the break; we have the complete video for your enjoyment.
Hyperspace Beacon: Community news round-up
As I mentioned in the last edition of the Hyperspace Beacon, the Star Wars: The Old Republic community played a large part in what made PAX East so great this time around. It would also be silly of me to believe that I could catch every single tidbit at PAX personally or even that Massively could nab every granular morsel of the SWTOR pie. However, unlike some MMORPG communities, our TOR community isn't limited to just one site for all of its information. In fact, PAX East 2011 was probably the biggest showing of SWTOR fansites of any convention. This week, I'm going to take a break from reporting news myself and instead give you a taste of some of the news that was released this week from other sites. As I've said before, I don't expect you to have read or to follow every site that is reporting on The Old Republic. In fact, I think that would burn most people out. However, there are great reporters on other sites, and I think it would be a mistake if I didn't let the Massively audience in on some of their great work.
SWTOR devs dive deep in Jedi design in this week's dispatch
The character type that will likely be played the most in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the Jedi. BioWare has been conscious of this from the early stages of the game. This is evident in the fact that there are two distinct Jedi classes: the knight and the consular. Yet, the designers have been the most tight-lipped about these two classes. They have said this is because they wish to get it just right before talking about it. But with this week's Fan Friday, things have changed. On the official SWTOR website, a new Developer Dispatch called Designing the Light Side has popped up. In the five-and-a-half-minute video, SWTOR writers, artists, and animators discuss the most important things it takes to create the two light side factions. "We want to give players the opportunity to be the heroic Jedi like Luke Skywalker or the darker, more avenging type of Jedi like his father, Anakin," Hall Hood, a senior writer, explains in the video. On which side of the moral spectrum do you fall? Are you a hero-of-the-ages light sider, or a ends-justifies-the-means gray Jedi? Watch the video after the break and let us know.
