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SWTOR players love that butt-ugly black-yellow lightsaber blade
BioWare has released another Shadow of Revan dev blog focused on Star Wars: The Old Republic's class changes. This time, Scoundrels and Operatives take center stage. The firm has also published one of those really long infographic things that gives your scroll wheel a workout. Among the stats are the number of active players (one million), the number of PvP kills since launch (1,790,161,866), and the game's most popular lightsaber crystal (that godawful yellow-with-a-black-center debacle). Click past the cut to see all the numbers!
Star Wars: The Old Republic explains 3.0's Sniper and Gunslinger
Star Wars: The Old Republic finishes up its series examining the class changes coming with the 3.0 update today with the Sniper and the Gunslinger. Why were those two the last on the list? Probably because they were hiding way in the back. That's sort of how they do things. As both of the base classes (Smuggler and Imperial Agent) have seen some significant changes, some of the changes to Snipers and Gunslingers focus around keeping the core utility of the advanced classes while removing unnecessary or superfluous buttons. Sharpshooter/Marksmanship are fairly unchanged from their current incarnations, save for a new ability replacing an older ability in regular rotation. Engineer/Saboteur is largely unchained, but the changes to abilities should produce smoother overall rotations. Last but not least, Virulence/Dirty Fighting specialties both gain a new ability that functionally replaces an older option and a new passive ability to spread damage over time. Check out the details on the new tricks on the official development blog.
SWTOR's Revan Returns trailer has a lot of Revans in it
How many times can you say Revan inside of a minute? Quite a few, if the latest Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion trailer is any indication. It's called Revan Returns, and it's all about the Shadow of Revan expansion slated to launched on December 9th. Click past the cut to have a look!
Star Wars: The Old Republic hit by DDoS attacks
If you were playing Star Wars: The Old Republic yesterday, you may very well have been hit with some lag and disconnections. The good news is that it's not a problem with your ISP; the bad news is that it appears to be yet another installment in the ongoing saga of irritating twits with nothing better to do than try to damage servers. Yes, it looks like this was another DDoS attack. Community manager Eric Musco's last update on Sunday night indicates that most of the issues should be resolved now, but it's possible that players may still experience intermittent connection difficulties. The representatives from BioWare have not officially stated that it was a DDoS attack, but it lines up perfectly with a DDoS attack made against Electronic Arts servers, leading to the accepted conclusion. [Thanks to Leiloni for the tip!]
The Daily Grind: What does your scariest avatar look like?
I don't generally roll evil characters, but in service of chasing some Star Wars: The Old Republic legacy achievements, I made that dude up there in the header. He's not particularly fun to play, given his despicable dark side acts, but at least he provided me with a Daily Grind topic. What about you, Massively readers? What does your scariest avatar look like? 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!
The Soapbox: In praise of SWTOR's 12X experience
It's taken 12 times the normal XP rate, but Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally my main MMO (at least for another week or so). Well, OK, it's also taken a series of spectacularly ill-considered decisions by XLGAMES and Trion, but that's a rant for another day. I've been playing SWTOR quite a lot over the past month since BioWare's subscriber-only pre-expansion boost has cut all of the godawful grindpark garbage right out of a galaxy far, far away. Too bad it's just a temporary fix, though -- here's hoping that the devs give veterans the option of keeping the XP bonus long after December 1st.
SWTOR's Guardian, Juggernaut discipline changes detailed
Another day has brought us another Star Wars: The Old Republic dev blog detailing the class changes coming in the Shadow of Revan expansion. This time around, the focus falls squarely on Jedi Guardians and Sith Juggernauts. BioWare says that both versions of SWTOR's single-saber tank will get new passives, new utilities, and more thanks to the discipline tweaks scheduled to hit the game's class trees in December 9th's 3.0 update.
SWTOR's Sentinel, Marauder discipline changes detailed
No, Sentinels and Marauders, BioWare hasn't forgotten you. Star Wars: The Old Republic's latest class-based dev diary went live today and it's focused on -- you guessed it -- Sentinels and Marauders. More specifically it outlines how your favorite dual-saber class will play after December 9th's Shadow of Revan expansion. Head to the official SWTOR website to read all about the changes.
Hyperspace Beacon: Concerns about SWTOR's 3.0 combat
BioWare has finally begun revealing the specifics of the Discipline system landing in the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion. We have seen the Bounty Hunter, Trooper, Inquisitor, and Consular paths. We have seen in detail how the Discipline system changes the leveling process in SWTOR. We've seen that tanks become tanky faster; we've seen that healers gain healing abilities earlier in the leveling process. A primary goal of the new system has been to ensure advanced classes learn role-specific abilities earlier without worrying about those abilities being exploited by hybridization. With characters now able to level to 60, BioWare gave each advanced class at least one new ability. For instance, Deception Assassins gain Ball Lightning, a 10-meter ranged ability that inflicts 2652 to 2780 damage and costs 32 Force. Many of the new abilities were specifically designed to make your character feel more powerful, which makes sense, right? You should feel that your character is growing with each level. But do these changes and additions actually make you feel more powerful, or are they just unnecessary impedences to the current priority flow or rotation?
Tor users' IP addresses can be identified by exploiting routers
The fact that feds have seized Silk Road 2.0 and a bunch of other shady websites hiding behind Tor's technology proves that the browser doesn't provide the perfect cloak of anonymity. Now, a series of studies conducted between 2008 and 2014 gives us a clearer idea of just how vulnerable the browser is. The researchers involved claim to have de-anonymized the IP addresses of all Tor users in a lab setting -- and over 81 percent of actual users in the wild. According to one of the papers published by Sambuddho Chakravarty, former researcher at Columbia University's Network Security Lab, he and his colleagues managed to get through Tor's defenses by exploiting the default traffic analysis software built into routers. In Cisco routers, for instance, it's a program called Netflow.
BioWare explains SWTOR's commendation changes
BioWare community manager Eric Musco has published a "one stop shop" post that details what's happening to Star Wars: The Old Republic's commendations in the forthcoming Shadow of Revan expansion. In a nutshell, all basic, classic, planetary, elite, and ultimate comms will be converted to basic commendations. The classic and planetary types are going away completely, while warzone and ranked warzone comms will remain as they are now. There are more details -- including bits about the basic conversion rates -- on the official SWTOR forums.
SWTOR's Sage, Sorcerer discipline changes detailed
Sages and Sorcerers, this Star Wars: The Old Republic dev diary's for you. BioWare has revealed the upcoming changes to two more of its advanced classes that will go live when the Shadow of Revan expansion launches on December 9th. Both classes "have seen some changes to their baseline ability package," and all three specs for each class get at least one new active and two new passives. Learn more at the official SWTOR website!
SWTOR's Assassin, Shadow discipline changes detailed
Star Wars: The Old Republic fans, I'm sure you know the drill by now. The Shadow of Revan expansion is introducing major class changes and basically revamping talent trees in favor of a new discipline system. BioWare has been putting out a dev diary every couple of days to outline the tweaks to each of the game's classes. Today's installment focuses on the Jedi Shadow and the Sith Assassin.
Kickstarter 'fraudster' finds second home on Indiegogo, as per usual
What do you do when you've been outed as a fraud and your Kickstarter was pulled? You go to Indiegogo, of course. Anonabox was a $45 device that promised to route your home's internet connection through (privacy-focused network) Tor without any fiddling in the same way that PORTAL works. In the current climate, it was no surprise to see the project earn $600,000 in pledges in just the first few days. Slowly, however, people began to ask questions about creator August Germar after the hardware was found to be an off-the-shelf unit made by a Chinese OEM and the software turned out to be about as secure as a slice of Emmental.
The Daily Grind: Do you ride your mount inside?
Today on First World MMO Problems, we're talking about people who ride their mounts inside. These people are annoying. They're not quite as annoying as devs who allow mounts to be ridden inside, or devs who, in the case of Star Wars: The Old Republic, design interior spaces so cavernous that Star Destroyers can be flown down hallways and players feel compelled to ride their mounts inside just to save time. I understand the need for travel efficiency, and mounts are generally faster than walking running. But, really? Do you have to park your 1970s repulsorlift station wagon right on top of the mailbox, clipping every player in a 20 parsec radius and generally ruining what's otherwise a visually pleasing interior environment? What about it, Massively readers? Do you ride your mounts inside? Am I the only one who is bothered by this? 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! Does riding your mount inside and blocking vendors/mail make you a dick? Yes, yes it does!
EA's quarterly net revenue is up, apparently in spite of SWTOR
Electronics Arts had a bit to say about Star Wars: The Old Republic in its November 4th quarterly report -- and none of it good. The publisher named the sci-fi MMO as one of the properties that had decreased in revenue over the period. While EA's net revenue is up $295 million across the board, "this increase was partially offset by a $181 million decrease in revenue primarily from the SimCity, Crysis and Dead Space franchises, and Star Wars: The Old Republic." It remains to be seen whether next month's Shadow of Revan expansion will give the MMO a healthy bump in revenue when it is released.
SWTOR's Vanguard, Powertech discipline changes detailed
Did you catch yesterday's Star Wars: The Old Republic dev blog about update 3.0's changes to Mercenaries/Commandos? Good, because now we're on to Vanguards and Powertechs. If you're just joining us, SWTOR's talent trees are going bye-bye in favor of disciplines when Shadow of Revan launches early next month. Click through the links below to learn what's becoming of your favorite class!
Silk Road 2.0 was just the first: police seize more Tor-shielded darknet sites
Yesterday's takeover of Silk Road 2.0 was just the tip of the iceberg apparently, as the FBI and European law enforcement organizations have announced a "global action" against similar darknet marketplaces. "Operation Onymous" resulted in 17 arrests total, the removal of 410 hidden services that allegedly offered illegal drugs and weapons for sale, as well as the seizure of more than $1 million Bitcoins in, $250,000 in cash and drugs. Troels Oerting of the European Cybercrime Center told Wired that his staff hadn't had time to assemble a full list of takedowns, but it includes Cloud 9, Hydra, Pandora, Cannabis Road and more. The Telegraph reports six Britons accused of helping run Silk Road 2.0 are among those arrested, while the BBC has word of two arrested in Ireland. Like both iterations of Silk Road, the sites were using Tor to anonymize access, but were still exposed. Details of how the service was pierced have not been revealed (we have an idea), but The Wall Street Journal quotes Eurojust spokesman Ulf Bergstrom saying "You're not anonymous anymore when you're using Tor."
SWTOR's Commando, Mercenary 3.0 discipline changes detailed
Do you play a Commando or a Mercenary in Star Wars: The Old Republic? If so, you'll want to read BioWare's latest dev diary because it explains the discipline changes scheduled to hit your advanced class with the game's 3.0 update. There's a lot to digest, including the fact that the game's new discipline system will allow players to select utility skills that were previously tied to a particular skill tree under the old system. SWTOR's Shadow of Revan expansion launches on December 9th.
FBI shuts down black market website Silk Road, arrests its owner (again)
Just over a year after the feds shut down the original Silk Road, an online marketplace that offered anonymous drug and gun sales, they've apparently done the same to its successor. The FBI shut down Silk Road 2.0 and arrested its alleged founder, Blake Benthall, in San Francisco. Benthall is charged with crimes including conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, computer hacking, trafficking in fake IDs, and money laundering. The FBI believes that the site was launched by a co-conspirator of "Dread Pirate Roberts" who founded the original website, but that Benthall took over control in late December of last year. Business Insider points out a Facebook page for Benthall listing him as a software engineer at SpaceX, while a Twitter profile is tagged "rocket scientist, Bitcoin dreamer." Like the original site, Silk Road 2.0 used Tor to hide its origins and operators, but the FBI says an undercover agent infiltrated the site's support staff and was able to communicate with Benthall directly that way. Update: SpaceX confirmed that a Blake Benthall did work for the company, but he is no longer with the firm. Update 2: The takedown was a part of Operation Onymous, which has knocked out a number of other darknet marketplaces and their alleged operators.
