Star Wars: The Old Republic free trial starts on Thursday
As wise Yoda once said “no such thing as a free meal is there,” or something. Who knows what he was on about, he was small and strange. More importantly, he was WRONG. Not even the wise imp himself could have foreseen a free trial for Star Wars: The Old Republic so soon. If you’ve never had an active TOR account, you’ll be able to jump in and gorge yourself on the hundreds of quests available on the homeworlds of all eight character classes.
PC Gamer US Podcast #308: GDC 2012 Recap
Evan, Josh, Tyler and Chris reflect on our week of coverage, talks, and appointments at the Game Developers Conference right here in our backyard of San Francisco. That includes MechWarrior Online, Valve’s “History of TF2″ talk, the infamous Steam Box, SimCity, PlanetSide 2, and (duh) Mass Effect 3. Josh also checks in about the SWTOR guild summit, reported on in more detail here.
Five things you need to know about The Old Republic’s future
BioWare released a ton of information about their upcoming plans for The Old Republic at this week’s Guild Summit. I tweeted a lot of the announcements as they came out, BioWare livestreamed the panels to everyone, and some of the hardcore fansites captured every tiny detail in thousands and thousands of words.
But for those of you that didn’t watch the livestream or don’t want to dig through piles of tiny changes to find the big ones that really matter, I’m going to tell you the five big take-aways from the Guild Summit that might change your opinion of the game.
Star Wars: The Old Republic has nearly 1.7 million subscribers
It sounds as though Star Wars: The Old Republic is doing quite a good job of keeping players interested. In a conference call reported by CVG, EA’s CEO John Riccitiello mentioned that almost 1.7 million people are currently subscribed to the high-budget MMO, suggesting that TOR has dodged the one month slump that can happen when the subscription charge hits players for the first time.
Behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Old Republic: throwing people at the problem
Building Star Wars: The Old Republic was hard. That was the message from a startling and searingly honest talk given by director of production, Dallas Dickinson and Bioware executive producer Richard Vogel during this year’s GDC. In an hour long session, the pair took us through the production and lessons from a long and gruelling development process that saw Bioware Austin hire huge numbers of developers, outsource much of their art, completely rebuild how their team was integrated, and eventually make strict cuts to game features in a triage process known internally as “The Death Star”.
Richard and Dallas began with the high level goals of The Old Republic: to reach 1,000,000 subscribers, and to innovate carefully, by introducing Bioware’s expertise in storytelling to MMORPGs. Richard explained that they weren’t intending to revolutionise MMOs, just make them better in key areas. “If you offer nothing different, you fail. But we are an MMORPG. We have to have the core MMORPG feel. Our players have to feel familiar as soon as they start.”
Star Wars: The Old Republic update 1.2 trailer shows new race options and Legacy powers
A film of Obi Wan eating toast would seem dramatic with that music behind it but, in fairness, update 1.2 will bring plenty of asked-for features to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Improved textures and UI customisation are nice, but the patch’s biggest benefits are tied into the legacy system. We’ll be able to unlock new race options and even new powers using those dormant legacy levels, and construct family trees out of our alts. The update also adds a new flashpoint, operation and warzone for level 50s, making patch 1.2 one fat Bantha. It’s out next month.
GDC 2012 has just kicked off. We’re live on the show floor
The Games Developers Conference has just begun in San Francisco. Devs from every corner of the industry are congregating to talk about their craft. It’s a very exciting time.
GDC is less console iteration and booth babe than E3. It’s more about quiet announcements and candid industry chatter. That said, this year’s show is already shaping up nicely, especially for us PC gamers. We have men on the ground, sniffing out scoops in real-time.
Will Valve open the Pandora’s box that is the Steam Box? What’s the mystery game that EA are due to announce on Tuesday? What will Sid Meier have to say in his keynote speech? Are Hitman Absolution’s crowds extremely good or a bit good? Read on for the highlights.
Star Wars: The Old Republic 1.2 “Legacy” patch arriving in April, friend trials go live tomorrow
We already have a pretty good idea of what the big 1.2 update for Star Wars: The Old Republic will contain. Bioware have already dropped details of Legacy races and dual spec support, updated crafting and companion dances, white lightsaber crystals and more. Now Bioware have confirmed that it’ll definitely be here in April, and have revealed a little bit more about the new Flashpoint, Operation and Warzone that’ll be added when it arrives.
Star Wars: The Old Republic white lightsaber crystals hitting shops soon
TOR players sensed a great disturbance in the Force recently when one player managed to get his mitts on a white lightsaber crystal. It was as though thousands of Jedi cried out in jealousy and were suddenly silenced (when Bioware patched it out again). The coveted crystals are due to make an official reappearance soon, but they won’t be tied to a grand planet-spanning quest like the Magenta crystals. Instead you’ll have to embark on a dramatic quest to a shop, where they’ll be available in very limited numbers for lots and lots of in-game credits.
Star Wars: The Old Republic patch 1.2 will add companion dances and endgame crafting
The latest Star Wars: The Old Republic Q&A has turned up a couple of useful additions Bioware are planning for patch 1.2, including unlockable emotes tied to the Legacy system, faster travel options for high level planets and new endgame crafting features for all professions.
One of the major annoyances for high level crafters is the fact that that top level PvE and PvP gear is superior to the best buildable items. Bioware say that this is going to be addressed in next month’s update.
“We are adding endgame crafting for all professions. This includes augment crafting, the ability to crit-craft custom (orange) gear with augment slots, new endgame schematics, new color crystals, expanded and improved research and reverse engineering and much more,” they say.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Q&A reveals plans for Legacy races and dual spec support in 1.2
Bioware have held the first of a new series of weekly Q&A sessions with Star Wars: The Old Republic players, with some more information on what we can expect from the upcoming 1.2 patch.
The Legacy system offers a shared level that exists across all TOR alts, but while it’s currently possible to gain Legacy levels, there are no rewards attached to them. Lead writer Daniel Erickson confirms that 1.2 will give players with Legacy levels access to a greater selection of races when creating new characters.
“The species that will be unlocked in Game Update 1.2 are species currently in the game that will become available to classes and factions where you haven’t seen them before,” says Erickson. “New species are in consideration for the future but we don’t have any details to share right now.” Jawa Jedi, anyone?
PC Gamer UK Podcast 64 – The Steam charts, Batman: Arkham City, The Old Republic
Tim, Tom Francis and Chris Thursten talk through the latest Steam charts, discuss Batman: Arkham City and its DLC (really, this time), worry that PC gaming has become too connected, answer some good questions from Twitter, and – with a lot of warning and only at the very end – discuss an exciting level-35 Imperial spoiler for The Old Republic. There are also spoilers for KOTOR and eventually Arkham City in this section.
Download the MP3, subscribe, or find our older podcasts here.
The Old Republic chart shows you the path to 50, every planet and Flashpoint included
Today is a day of maps, apparently. OldRepublic.net just released an awesome galaxy guide that maps out the suggested path to progress through all of The Old Republic’s Flashpoints and planets.
It looks like I’ve already missed two Flashpoints on my new Sniper—whoops! Well, at least I shouldn’t have a problem beating them now that I’m 10 levels higher than the enemies there. I’ll be keeping this guide handy as I continue leveling up this weekend, and you can use it to avoid my same foolish mistakes.
Star Wars: The Old Republic data-mined updates hint at future features
The tireless chaps at TORhead have been pulling clues out of the Star Wars: The Old Republic files, and have found evidence of many of the features Bioware are planning to add over the course of the coming year. Their round-up contains features that we could see in patches 1.2 through to 1.5.
As a wise talking cabbage once said. “If spoilers you wish to avoid, click “Read and Comment” you must not.”
Star Wars: The Old Republic white lightsaber acquired through exploit, will be added officially in future
Yesterday we highlighted a big hunt in Star Wars: The Old Republic for a vaunted white crystal. One player had been showing off a silver saber, and dropping cryptic hints as to how it was acquired. It’s time to call off the search. Bioware have responded to say that the crystal was gained through a complex exploit, and isn’t yet officially part of the game.
“CatchDeathwalker did not obtain the white crystal through legitimate means in the game. Right now, we’re removing the crystal from his possession,” reads a post on the Star Wars: The Old Republic forums. A separate comment later in the thread elaborates. “This was not an ‘easy exploit’,” Bioware say “and not something the average player might ‘stumble upon’.”
