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SWTOR's 1.4 patch adding moods, delayed binding, and more
MMOs sometimes skimp on quality-of-life features in favor of combat. Fortunately Star Wars: The Old Republic's 1.4 patch is looking at the little things, according to a new post on the game's website. The update adds a new group finder teleport back function as well as delayed binding for those times when you accidentally roll greed or spend your hard-earned commendations on the wrong item. BioWare is also gifting players with some new avatar mood options (think /alarmed or /cheery). Finally, the patch brings companion customization tweaks to the table as well. You can hide helmets and "unify colors to chest" to avoid those godawful mismatched outfits.
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR's Gabe Amatangelo on 1.4 and free-to-play
It's not usual for the Hyperspace Beacon to feature two interviews in a row, but Star Wars: The Old Republic has some major changes coming. Update 1.4 promises to give us new and exciting content like a new operation and a new warzone, and after the EA earnings call, we learned that SWTOR will tackle the free-to-play market. Readers and fans voiced both concerns and excitement over this move. I couldn't just let that stand; I had to pose some questions to the BioWare developers. SWTOR's Principal Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo picked up the call. Our conversation focused on these two major changes to the game and the concerns fans have for the game's immediate future. Read on!
BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk announce retirement
The doctors... are out. BioWare announced that Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founders of the studio, are retiring from the gaming biz. The two have been instrumental in the creation of many hit RPGs, from Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect. For us MMO fans, they're best-known for helming the ship that brought us Star Wars: The Old Republic. The two are taking a break, perhaps indefinitely, from game creation and management. Muzyka is looking to engage in charities and social work, while Zeschuk is going to dive into projects involving craft beer. "This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make; after thinking about it for many months, I made the decision to retire from videogames back in early April 2012 -- at that time I provided six months' notice to EA, to help enable a solid transition for my teams at BioWare," Muzyka wrote in his farewell letter. "This decision isn't without significant pain and regret, but it's also something I know I need to do, for myself and my family. I've reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation," Zeschuk said in his. The two maintain that BioWare is in good hands and will continue to excel going forward.
Irish BioWare support center for SWTOR converting to general EA use
Initially opened last year as a support center for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the BioWare facility in Galway, Ireland, is expanding and converting to house EA's European customer support needs for all of its major titles. With this move, an additional 300 employees will be hired over the next few months. The facility has also dropped its BioWare Ireland name. EA COO Peter Moore explained some benefits of the move by pointing out that Ireland has both a good pool of talent available and the technology infrastructure needed. The Irish Government, which is focusing on video games in its plan for job growth, is supporting the move.
Star Wars: The Old Republic rolls out consolidation of locked servers [Updated]
Star Wars: The Old Republic has been making a move toward fewer servers with higher populations for a while, but tomorrow's maintenance is the final step. After character transfers earlier in the year and the higher-population technology rollout, the server lists are being fully merged as of tomorrow. If you still have characters on a locked server, they will be transferred over to their new home tomorrow whether you like it or not. For those players curious about their new destination or the ever-present naming issue, the team has created an FAQ to answer any obvious questions. The character limit on the destination servers has also been raised to 12. Players who have more than 12 total characters after consolidation will still have access to all of their characters but cannot create any new characters until they delete a few (although all of the characters will be available for play). As with any sort of transfer, there's still some ambiguity about how smoothly everything will run, so players will have to keep their eyes peeled, log in tomorrow, and see what happens after the dust settles. [Update: The team also just released a miniature dev blog that explains how shadows will soon be prettified.]
One Shots: Go directly to jail
You have to love a culture that thinks jail should be a breathtaking experience for the prisoner... literally! Today's One Shots from reader Lovander (Tarnished Coast represent!) shows how Guild Wars 2's Sylvari race mixes glowing sparkles with deadly detention cells. Lovander wrote, I came upon this jail in the Sylvari capital, The Grove. Every cell is a Venus Fly Trap. Loved the design! Follow on for the color screenie plus a few more One Shots beyond the break.
BioWare testing new high-population server tech for SWTOR
BioWare is working on something called "high-population server tech" for Star Wars: The Old Republic. A new posting on the game's official website claims that the new stuff "will allow us to significantly increase current server populations." The company is putting out a call for testers, and all characters from East Coast servers have already been copied to a new public test server that is available starting today. Full instructions for logging in and testing can be found on the official site.
Final Fantasy XIV service fees to discontinue on September 29th
Final Fantasy XIV's current version is approaching its twilight to make way for version 2.0. The servers will go dark, the new version will be tested, and perhaps most importantly, the game will once again discontinue the subscription fee. A recent dispatch from the development team confirms that service fees will be discontinued on September 29th, at which point all billing will stop and cannot be started again until the game relaunches. Players with currently active subscriptions will be able to continue playing from September 30th up until the game shuts down on November 11th. (The last snapshot of character progress will be on November 1st, however, so the last 10 days of play will not be transferred to the new version.) Players whose subscriptions are already cancelled or will be cancelled after September 30th will not be able to play for free during this period, and the last day to reactivate a subscription or redeem any other codes will be the 29th. Read through the full dispatch for all of the details if you're not sure where you'll be after the end of the month, and keep your eyes peeled for more information as the relaunch draws closer.
BioWare commits to six-week update schedule for SWTOR
BioWare general manager Matt Bromberg said the company is committed to major Star Wars: The Old Republic updates every six weeks going forward. What will those updates include? "Well we're committed to about every six weeks, doing a major update for the game -- which would be a new warzone, a new operation, a new flashpoint, a new event -- and to doing that on a really frequent cadence, every six weeks. So we're going to stick to that," Bromberg told AusGamers. BioWare is also looking at ways to sweet-talk former subscribers. The first such initiative takes the form of cartel coins which are in-game tokens earned for being a subscriber after the free-to-play conversion. The coins and credits will also be awarded retroactively to those who subscribed in the past.
SWTOR's Daniel Erickson 'actively looking for new opportunities'
Is Star Wars: The Old Republic's lead designer and creative director looking to move on from the studio? This is the question that comes from reading Daniel Erickson's LinkedIn profile, in which he includes the phrase "actively looking for new opportunities" in his header. Erickson has been with BioWare for well over seven years at this point. We're cautious about deducing too much from a single blurb on LinkedIn, but then again, he puts it right up front and center. What do you think: Is Erickson looking to move on from BioWare, and if so, what impact will this have on SWTOR? [Thanks to Soeren for the tip!]
SWTOR's 1.4 patch live on public test server today
Last week BioWare gave us a sneak preview of Star Wars: The Old Republic's 1.4 update via a lengthy dev blog. This week we get to try out the patch proper on the game's public test server. The 1.4 update features the new Terror from Beyond operation as well as new weapons and armor, group finder tweaks, and facial emotes and associated slash commands. You'll need a pre-existing PTS character, and you can leave your testing feedback on the official forums. Head past the break for the latest developer dispatch video that looks at the new operation.
One Shots: Still got it
Runes of Magic was a F2P game before the cool kids joined the F2P party, but it's been a little neglected by MMO players. Massively reader Andrew wants us to know that it's got some spark left in it: While Runes of Magic may be three years old, the graphics are still looking great. There's some awesome vistas in RoM that appear when you take the time to control+z your interface and look around. This shot is from Southern Janost Forest. In fact, Andrew sent us two pics, and they're both behind the break along with a few more of your One Shots!
SWTOR expands free-to-play rewards
With the days until Star Wars: The Old Republic's conversion to free-to-play ticking down, BioWare is rounding out its reward system for current and former players. The studio announced that the players voted for the Party Jawa as a special reward that all current and previous subscribers will receive when the title goes F2P. The Party Jawa is an item that unleashes a fun-loving native of Tatooine who has nothing better to do than bring the festivities to you. BioWare's also expanded its reward chart to include purchasers of SWTOR's digital deluxe edition. Those players will receive 250 cartel coins to spend on rewards this fall.
Choose My Adventure: Beware the Bard edition
All the world's a game, and all the men and women are merely players. Shakespeare was really onto something there, even if he flubbed a word a bit. Folks who try to deny their participation in games are just fooling themselves! What are games, after all, but progression in a given world? Some people are just so boring that they stick to only one world. We know better, though, don't we? We choose ours from a myriad of options! Or, as in this case, you Choose My Adventure. I will admit, I have been in the wings, eagerly awaiting my next casting call. Twice now you've sent me on amazing adventures, and I've had a blast! And finally, it's my turn to take the stage again. So what will I star in this time? Will it be a military epic, a space adventure, or a flight of fantasy? My big comeback is in your hands! Peruse the list below and follow your muse to choose which world I will spotlight for the next six weeks. Just be sure to have your vote in by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday the 9th. And don't forget to stay tuned to the MV Guide over the coming weeks to watch the adventures unfold on Massively TV!
BioWare dev blog talks SWTOR's 1.4 balance changes
BioWare senior designer Austin Peckenpaugh has a tough job. Star Wars: The Old Republic's class gameplay balance is basically his responsibility, and as such he's penned a new dev blog intended to keep players in the loop on the upcoming changes in game update 1.4. The patch looks to be an extensive one in terms of gameplay tweaks, and Peckenpaugh has plenty to say on crowd control and resolve changes, ability adjustments, and changes to SWTOR's stealth gameplay. Read all about it at the official SWTOR website.
BioWare's Matt Bromberg discusses converting Star Wars: The Old Republic to free-to-play
If you missed some of the analyst predictions flying around after Star Wars: The Old Republic announced it was converting to a free-to-play model, they were... zealous, to say the least. But general manager Matt Bromberg doesn't seem to share those opinions. When asked in a recent interview whether the conversion will make the game more money in the long run, Bromberg replied in extremely uncertain terms: "I don't know." As Bromberg puts it, while there are internal targets being discussed, the company's stated goal is to improve accessibility and options for the game. While BioWare certainly wants more people playing, Bromberg stresses that the goal is not to simply squeeze every possible penny out of the title. He also echoes several earlier comments regarding the rationale behind the model switch, so if you're interested in the overall process, it's well worth checking out the interview in its entirety.
Star Wars: The Old Republic previews Terror From Beyond
If you can't wait for the next tier of Operations in Star Wars: The Old Republic, you'll be happy to know that the newest tier is being added in update 1.4. You may be slightly less happy to know that the new operation, Terror From Beyond, is not meant to be a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. A new developer diary explains the lore behind the operation and some of the threats that players will be facing on the swamp planet of Asation. Colonized and largely abandoned by the Gree, Asation is a swamp planet that houses a massive hyperspace gate. The Dread Masters, a group of Sith not known for sunny dispositions, have opened the gate and started filling the planet with all manner of horrible creatures. The operation promises to offer new encounters and mechanics beyond what's been seen in previous raids, something for dedicated endgame players to look forward to in the next major content update.
EA COO maintains confidence in BioWare
Some gamers claim that EA has lost confidence in BioWare, citing the studio's difficult year that included the less-than-hoped-for performance of Star Wars: The Old Republic and that the move to free-to-play later this fall is a sign of failure. EA COO Peter Moore, however, directly refutes that, saying, "They're doing great." Moore gave EA's take on why SWTOR didn't do as well as expected, explaining that the world of gaming changed between the time that project started and now, making a shift from subscription-based to F2P. He pointed out that changing business models was directly related to the desires of the playerbase, stating, "We do exit interviews. When people say I'm churning out, I'm going to step away for a while, we ask them why. Forty percent of people said, I just don't want to pay $15 a month. I love the game, but I'm just not into the subscription business." EA President Frank Gibeau first revealed the 40% sub-related departure rate in a previous investor call.
Gamescom 2012: SWTOR will sell statted gear, debating new planet monetization
How do you take a subscription title like Star Wars: The Old Republic and turn it into a free-to-play MMO? According to Executive Producer Jeff Hickman, you do it as carefully as possible. "Give the story away," he explained. "Make the casual player understand what that is. Don't try to monetize that. Monetize all the things around that. I think, actually, as we looked through it, it is not as complex as you think it is. It is very difficult." While plans for SWTOR's cash shop are not finalized, Hickman did admit that players could use it to purchase gear to help them level up: "I don't want to unbalance the game by putting things out on the store that somebody can walk in on day one, buy and be the winner. Having said that, there will be some things that we put out in the store that do enhance power value in some way, but not at the top end." Hickman nibbled around the topic of the planet Makeb, which is still under construction. With more story and more systems, he hopes players will be pleased with the final result. However, Hickman could not confirm nor deny that the update will expand the level cap, nor would he go into detail about whether or not BioWare is going to attempt to sell this to subscribers. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!] Every summer, the gaming industry descends on Cologne, Germany, for Gamescom, the world's largest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment. Massively's on the scene in 2012, bringing you all the best scoops, impressions, and interviews from the MMOs at the show!
The Daily Grind: Do you buy in to the MMO hype and hate cycle?
If you listened only to the more heated debates in Massively's comments and around the blogosphere, it'd be easy to get lost amid polarizing hyperbole and scathing vitriol about MMOs and the drama enveloping them. The way some people tell it, a game like Guild Wars 2 is either the second coming or a complete failure even before it's launched. World of Warcraft is tanking with "only" nine million subscriptions. Star Wars: The Old Republic's path to free-to-play is the last gasp of a dying game, never mind that it surpassed expectations for profitability long ago. It's a challenge indeed to find a nuanced middle ground and understand how real players (not just vocal commenters) perceive the games. So does a game have to be the best or worst ever to be worthy of discussion? Can't a game just be decent or good enough? How do you avoid being swept away by the latest MMO storm surge of hype and hate? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
