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BioWare delays Shadow Realms' alpha
The planned closed alpha test for Shadow Realms, the not-so-massive BioWare OARPG announced back in August, is being delayed, says a new producer letter on the official site. Senior Producer Dallas Dickinson says the devs just "need a bit more time" to gather and process player feedback: One of the most important things to us on Shadow Realms is listening to – and making changes based on – that player feedback. Having fans play the game at Gamescom and PAX Prime gave us incredible insight. [...] The thing is, feedback was so good it made us want to do more, to get a bit further down the road, before opening Shadow Realms up again. We got so many excellent questions about what the game will be, beyond just the multiplayer piece that we've revealed, and we'd like to be able to show you some answers rather than just telling you what the answers will one day be. But we need a bit more time. We've taken a deep look at the state of the game – what it is now, what we intend it to be, and most importantly what it could be – and realized this is an opportunity to take a great game and make it even better before bringing it back for more feedback from you. Dickinson promises regular producer letters in the coming months. Interested gamers can still sign up for alpha on the official site.
SWTOR preps character transfer service for this summer
Feeling grounded on a particular Star Wars: The Old Republic server while your friends are hyperjumping on a different one? BioWare says relief for player segregation is in sight, as the studio is preparing for character transfers in SWTOR starting "in early summer." According to Senior Producer Dallas Dickinson, the service will be made available in waves. The studio will begin by offering free transfers to and from specific servers, but later on there will be a more widespread system that will allow anyone to transfer to the server of their choice. The service should help alleviate issues with low population servers by offering transfers to high-pop ones. It's important to note that while some of these transfers will be free, others will require a real-world fee. SWTOR recently released in new territories including the Middle East and has plans for additional playable races for later this year.
GDC 2012: A peek behind SWTOR's project management curtain
GDC is often described as the most cerebral of the various gaming conventions. E3 has its big reveals and booth babes, PAX has its fan-friendly hands-on sessions and general geekery. GDC, though, is mainly by developers and for developers, and last night's BioWare panel was a good case in point. The session ran for well over an hour (not counting a brief Q&A at the end), and it focused largely on the daunting management tasks inherent in a project like Star Wars: The Old Republic.
PAX 2011: SWTOR video guides us through the Eternity Vault
Who lies at the bottom of the Eternity Vault? Thanks to the commentary in the latest Star Wars: The Old Republic developer walkthrough, we now know that an ancient Rakata warlord named the Infernal One is held captive in this ancient prison. Director of Production and part-time superhero Dallas Dickinson explains that it took an army to take down this being the last time he arose, yet for some reason a group of eight can do it now. Yes, our characters are really that awesome in TOR. In the video, Dickinson guides us through the first two encounters: battles against two massive defense turrets and a rocket-launching gigantic droid. The turret encounter employs intense raid mechanics, like dual-tanking and crowd control, whereas the giant droid requires stay-out-of-the-green-stuff maneuvers and line-of-sight avoidance techniques. Beyond those two encounters, the Operation is a mystery. However, we catch glimpses of a couple of giant monsters and the final boss using the Force to toss giant columns around the room! After the break, check out the 10-minute video walkthrough and let us know what you think in the comments. And of course, you know SWTOR is at PAX, where we have just barely started our coverage of the event. Stay tuned here as we will feature more impressions and interviews in the not-too distant future. Massively's on the ground in Seattle during the weekend of August 26-28, bringing you all the best news from PAX Prime 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, City of Heroes, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!
SWTOR presents the next great galactic sport: Huttball
Forget your regular PvP, in which the objective is to take down the other faction base or capture the flag. Star Wars: The Old Republic introduces us to a new way to face off against your enemies. Of course, we're talking about Huttball. Massively introduced you to this Nar Shaddaa sport earlier this week, but in this latest video, Director of Production Dallas Dickinson explains the rules and story behind this PvP arena. The highly lethal sport consists of two teams that each attempt to grab the ball from the middle of the Pit and cross that ball over the other team's goal line. It sounds a bit like soccer, but in this game of soccer, lethal force is encouraged. In fact, the Czerka Corporation has provided fire jets and acid pits just to make the game that much more dangerous. Beyond the break we've provided the full video introduction to this next sport sensation!
SWTOR walks us through the Flashpoint 'Esseles'
BioWare and LucasArts have said since the first announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic that choices will matter. No one witnessed that more than visitors to the BioWare booth at San Diego Comic-Con. These fans had to choose between saving the engineering crew or saving the bridge crew in the Flashpoint called The Esseles. In this fast-paced instance, you and your party are trapped aboard the Republic cruiser called the Esseles. Like Darth Vader asking for the ambassador on board the Corellian Corvette at the beginning of A New Hope, the commander of an Imperial Star Destroyer in this Flashpoint is also seeking a Republic ambassador. The difference here is the Imperial forces haven't boarded yet. It is your job to hold them off. After the break, catch the full 13-and-a-half-minute walkthrough narrated by Director of Production Dallas Dickinson, sans epic beard unfortunately.
Hyperspace Beacon: Nuna bites
If you happened to be in San Diego this weekend then you may have noticed a large gathering of geekery known as Comic-Con. Usually, this mecca of nerdom focuses on comic book related publications. Although Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't exactly comic book gold, Dark Horse comics rose through the ranks of pulp royalty because of its vast library of Star Wars-related publications. It only seems right that TOR presents itself to this audience. Besides the panel in Comic-Con proper, BioWare developers hosted three separate question and answer sessions focusing on Star Wars: The Old Republic. As with most Q&As, the majority of questions asked have been answered already in the past. If you were hanging out in Darth Hater's Ventrilo server like I was during the live broadcasts, then you heard a lot of "We knew that already." That being said, there were some pieces of juicy meat tossed to the crowd that we had not heard before. I will call them nuna bites, and you can find your slice after the break.
SWTOR has fun storming the castle
Nothing says "I'm a scruffy-looking nerf herder" like a swift kick to the groin. In the latest trailer from Star War: The Old Republic, we see this Smuggler and her Republic companions storm the castle of Bouris Ulgo, an Alderaanian General who has usurped the throne after a period of political unrest. BioWare Director of Production Dallas Dickinson introduces us to one of the world arcs for SWTOR that requires a group to complete. This is not a single-player instance to which you can decide to bring your friends along if you want nor is it a Flashpoint. This quest can be picked up while you're on Alderaan and be completed as you explore the world. If you have been keeping up with the trailers coming from the BioWare camp, you might notice that the animation and texturing continue to improve, particularly in-combat animations and facial expressions. Take a look at this two-and-a-half-minute teaser after the break and let us know what you think.
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!
SWTOR devs answer your questions and release a preview for Deceived
It's Friday again. That means the community team at BioWare has been working frantically all week to give you a tidbit of Star Wars: The Old Republic that will leave you satisfied yet still aching for more. With the release of Jedi and Tython impressions earlier this week, it was going to be hard to top the plethora of information streaming from that event. However, the team has come very close. We start with the monthly Friday update in which developers answer player questions: Studio Insider. On top of the behind the scenes article about building Coruscant by World Designer Eric Young, Director of Production Dallas Dickinson answered 10 fan questions. The questions that stood out to this reporter were the PvP related questions, and the interesting one was a question about leveling with just PvP. Dickinson stated, "We're big fans of multiple gameplay paths -- we don't want to force you to do one thing to advance. That means you'll level up whether you're playing PvE or PvP." The teaser of information doesn't stop there. The Official Star Wars website released chapter two of Deceived, the novel by Paul S. Kemp, to the public. This portion of the book leads the reader through Darth Malgus' attack on the Jedi Temple as seen in the SWTOR trailer. If the book intrigues you, Massively was able to review an advanced copy of the book, and chapter one is also available for your personal review. It's an exciting SWTOR weekend!
Hyperspace Beacon: PAX holo-journal
You are reading your guide to Star Wars: The Old Republic and beyond! The scoop on EA-BioWare's next great MMORPG is brought to you here in the Hyperspace Beacon. As everyone should know at this point, Penny Arcade Expo exposed players to the latest video game experiences this past weekend in Seattle, Washington. Three representative from Massively attended this extraordinary event. Contributing editors Justin Olivetti, Rubi Bayer, and I braved the cross-country travel to the "sleepless" city. Although we were there to get interviews and impressions of all MMO games, we each had our own specific games that we wanted to see in action. Justin came to see Lord of the Rings Online. Turbine was demonstrating its free-to-play model. Rubi wanted to see DDO and, of course, Guild Wars 2. In fact, we could barely tear her away from GW2's booth for more than five minutes at a time. And I had one goal in mind for the weekend: play Star Wars: The Old Republic. Follow my daily adventures in SWTOR at PAX after the break.
Finally, Bioware unveils a SWTOR multiplayer combat video
You have got to be kidding! Star Wars: The Old Republic is a multiplayer game? It is! Bioware has finally given us a taste of what that multiplayer action feels like. In this first-glimpse video Dallas Dickinson, the Director of Production, examines the core roles for SWTOR group missions. Dickinson explains the possible functions each class can have: the Trooper can be a tank, the Jedi Knight as an off-tank, the Jedi Consular works primary healing, with the Smuggler covers the DPS and alternate healing. This video shows us that SWTOR does, in fact, contain the elements of your typical MMO, but there are also tiny hints that each classes does not have to serve the same role in every battle. If you watch the video closely, you will notice as leader of the group begins to speak to the Mon Calamari trooper, a green ring encircles a wide area, and the whole group steps in. This is the first video to expose this little tidbit of information. The ring transports the group into the dialogue instance. This way no other people in the area interrupt the dialogue sequence by jumping up and down like a rabbit on speed, over the NPC who is talking. (You know what I'm talking about, don't lie.) The most extraordinary part about this dialogue instance system is the lack of noticeable transition. Watch the full video after the break, and let us know: Is the Force with SWTOR group combat or does it fall to the Dark-side?
