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The Old Republic is “the fastest growing subscription MMO in history,” has 1.7 million subscribers

EA just held their quarterly earnings call and released some juicy factoids about TOR’s launch during it. Specifically, over 2 million copies of the game has been sold and 85% of players have subscribed or are still in their trial period (for a total of 1.7 million “active subscribers”). And those gamers are getting their money’s worth: the average session time in the first month was FOUR HOURS, and over 1 million players were logged in simultaneously at one point.

In the Q&A portion, EA addressed concerns about the game’s profitability by saying, “At 500,000 subscribers, we’d break even. At a million, we’d be making a profit but nothing worth writing home about. As it scales up from there, we’re talking about a nice profit. At this point with the successful launch, we can take the worst case scenarios off the table.”

You can read more long-form quotes here.

BioWare invites guild leaders to The Old Republic summit

Leading a guild can be one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges in any MMO, but rarely is the ability to discuss the state-of-the-game with the developers one of those rewards. In The Old Republic it is. BioWare wants to know exactly how these community leaders feel about Star Wars: The Old Republic, so they’re inviting guild leaders from all over the world to join them in Austin, Texas for a chance to go over the MMO’s progress and its future. Finally, you could have an opportunity to tell the game makers why your Sith Empire needs tea-bagging emotes in PvP.

What do you want from your MMO’s holiday events?

DC Universe Online’s Creative Director, Jens Andersen, announced yesterday that they’re undertaking a large overhaul of DCUO’s holiday content. Thankfully, they’re cutting the uncomfortably weird Valentine’s Day event from last year, and building a new one from scratch. Their goal is to have four major events that each host open-world content, collections, and a boss encounter.

Most MMOs have at least a few holiday events, but BioWare has yet to reveal any of its plans for holiday content for The Old Republic. What’s the best holiday content you’ve ever played in a game, and what do you want to see from holiday events in TOR, DCUO, or any other MMOs you’re playing?

The Old Republic’s Legacy system will let you pick your sister and play your father

BioWare’s been teasing details about The Old Republic’s Legacy system for awhile now, but they released the first solid details about the game today in their interview with GameSpot. You’ll be able to use the system to create specific relationships between all of your characters, turning the jumbled pile of characters on your login screen into an organized family tree of fathers, daughters, wives, and brothers.

You might think twice about ogling that hot new Smuggler alt running around in the skimpy Leia slave girl outfit when you know that she’s the daughter of a terrible Sith Lord with a bad temper.

Bioware working on TOR content we won’t see for “over a year”

Bioware have been talking Star Wars: The Old Republic updates. There are a lot of them coming.

“Our writers are working on content you won’t see for over a year,” game director James Ohlen told PC Gamer. “We have a lot of plans. Because of the voice overs, cinematics and moving parts, we have to look way into the future.”

“We want to show our fans that we’re serious about supporting the game so we’re going to be releasing new game updates on a regular basis. We have one coming in a week, then we have one in March, then a third one coming after that. Then a fourth and fifth,” he continued.

Read on for more from SWTOR’s game director.

SWTOR’s alignment system will offer exclusive loot for neutral players

I love the idea of Star Wars: The Old Republic’s alignment system. It was one of the reasons I rolled a bounty hunter: I wanted to play as a deadly assassin with a moral compass; a Robin Hood figure in a galaxy far, far away.

But then someone directed me towards the exclusive loot vendors for extreme light side/dark side players. Neutrality was no longer an option. Since then, I’ve given a pensioner with her husband’s head in a bag, killed innocent women, and shot pleading Ugnaughts. I’m Dark Side III, and I have the Interrogation Droid to prove it.

But maybe I should’ve stuck with my original plan. Bioware has confirmed that TOR will eventually provide bonuses for neutral players as well as extremely evil/nice ones.

A World of Warcraft player’s primer to Star Wars: The Old Republic’s advanced classes, part 2

Yesterday’s look at the comparison between Star Wars: The Old Republic’s specializations and World of Warcraft’s classes began with the resolute Republic. Now, part 2 deals with the power-hungry Empire. As before, each listed class specialization gets a brief description and an approximate comparison to their WoW counterpart(s).

A World of Warcraft player’s primer to Star Wars: The Old Republic’s advanced classes, part 1

Star Wars: The Old Republic’s (SWTOR) is in full swing, and for many of you, that means a chance to hop into BioWare’s sprawling massively multiplayer masterpiece alongside fellow defenders of freedom and chokers of Imperial subordinates. However, for the ambivalent World of Warcraft (WoW) hero, taking the leap into a galaxy far, far away can be a daunting task.

Star Wars: The Old Republic beta key reminder

Update – Keys are out, go here to register.

Hey you! Yes you with the face, did you enter our Old Republic beta key giveaway? You did? Then I suggest you check your emails, because you and thousands of others should find a key there waiting for you. Remember, you have to register it on the Old Republic site before midnight tonight, or it’ll expire! With that finished, you’ll be able to join the beta weekend on the 25th of November.

If you didn’t enter, it’s too late now, the giveaway is over. Sorry.

Play Star Wars: The Old Republic next weekend!

According to Rock Paper Shotgun, Bioware have confirmed the date for the massive Star Wars: The Old Republic stress test weekend, and it’s the 25-28th of November. The huge event will include anyone who has ever applied for the beta, plus anyone who picked up a key in giveaways.

Our own Old Republic beta key giveaway ends today, so you still have some time to grab one and secure your place. If you’ve already entered, your code will arrive as soon as the doors close, but be sure to register it before midnight tomorrow, or it’ll expire.

Last weekend beta testers put a million hours into The Old Republic. Given the amount of extra players invited, the next one looks set to smash that record.

Star Wars: The Old Republic beta weekend had a million hours of testing

Did you play The Old Republic last weekend? Well a lot of people did, and they managed to log over a million hours of play time in the space of a two day period. Bioware co-founders Dr Greg Zeschuk and Dr Ray Muzyka revealed the figure to Eurogamer saying: “It was a huge test, and there are even bigger ones coming. The key thing is for us to take those learnings, apply them and make the service really stable. We’re happy with the game.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic beta key giveaway

We’ve got 12,000 Star Wars: The Old Republic beta keys to give away. Yes, you read that right, twelve thousand keys to the beta of Bioware’s huge upcoming MMO. These will get you into the big stress test weekend that Bioware are holding. Sadly they haven’t confirmed when that weekend will be, but we’ll bring you that news as soon as we can.

Update - If you’ve already received an email telling you you’ll be invited to a test weekend ‘very soon’ you won’t need one of these keys, you’ll get your invitation in good time.

To enter, simply go to competition page and fill in your details, you’ll receive a code as soon as the giveaway ends. Pop that code into the Old Republic website before before Friday November 18 (when it expires) and wait. You’ll get an an invitation for the beta weekend as soon as it kicks off.

If you get into the beta, why not join the PC Gamer guild? Which class will you be? So far I’m liking the Imperial Agent and the Smuggler.