Sebaya Keto posted Tue at 16:00
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Author: Sebaya Keto, BioWare, EA, Electronic Arts, Empire, Galactic Republic, Gav Daragon, Guild Spotlight, Hydian Expedition Outfit, Jedi, Lord Adraas, LucasArts, Mission Impossible, Mission: Impossible, PvP, Republic, Ringo Orlan, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Sith Empire, Smuggler, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, TOR, Treaty of Coruscant, Trooper
Hello again everyone. It's time for another Guild Spotlight! This month I sat down with Lord Adraas' Hydian Expedition Outfit (HEO) and their leader Ringo Orlan. The HEO is a semi-independent Republic organization that does the Republic's dirty work while allowing it to officially have deniability. It almost sounds like Mission: Impossible's IMF to me.
Republic RP is suffering a disadvantage of numbers recently. Every server has seen shrinking populations as the newness of The Old Republic has worn off, and other big MMO titles are launching. The Republic has always been the victim of a faction imbalance, so we've been trying to highlight them recently to help turn that around. If you are interested in a Guild Spotlight of your own, you can contact myself of Ganden to officially request one. For now though, read on to see what Ringo has to say about the Hydian Expedition Outfit!
Norri posted Apr 7, 12
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Author: Norri, BioWare, EA, Electronic Arts, Game Update 1.2, LucasArts, Novare Coast, Player-versus-player, PvP, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, TOR, Warzone
With The Old Republic on the precipice of Game Update 1.2, there has been a lot of buzz about all the new features. Promising to be a game changer by developers, there's truly no shortage of new toys to fiddle with for both role-players and the rest of the game community. One of the revealed additions is the brand spankin' new warzone-- Novare Coast. Like one of the launch Warzones, Battle for Alderaan, it is point-based PvP domination not unlike what we've seen before. While initially it sounds almost the same, it's fundamentally different in placement of the capturable objectives and spawn point distance for both factions, aiming for a better balance for the players. This new warzone takes place on the contested world of Denova. While little is known about Denova or its citizens, both the Empire and Republic are going to be pitted against one another to capture at least 2 out of 3 mortar turrets which will be aimed towards the opposing faction's forward operating base. As stated on the Star Wars: The Old Republic website, " Whoever controls this coastline will have a decisive advantage in taking control of the planet." For more information about Game Update 1.2 and the other updates on the way, visit the Official Star Wars: The Old Republic website. For those of you who want a brief and satisfying glimpse of the brawler's paradise that is Novare Coast, check the video posted below!
Sebaya Keto posted Apr 7, 12
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Author: Sebaya Keto, BioWare, Community Q&A, Credits, David Bass, EA, Electronic Arts, GTN, Legacy, LucasArts, PAX East, PvE, PvP, Reverse Engineering, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR-RP, Test Server, The Old Republic, TOR
Another week, another round of question and answer by the BioWare staff! As with the previous few editions of the Community Q&A, this week's centers around the immenent Game Update 1.2, which according to some of the talk coming out of PAX East this weekend may be coming out as soon as next week. While there's not too much in the way of roleplaying interest to talk about from this week's edition, I do have one clarification I personally got from David Bass yesterday. Legacy Unlocks will require a minimum level and either credits, or a special other unlock. For instance, you can unlock a race for all classes by obtaining a minimum legacy level and a character of that race at level 50 or a fee of 1-2 million credits. Unfortunately, ship unlocks don't have a special way to earn them; you'll be paying 500,000 credits for a mailbox and a whopping 5 Million credits for a shipboard GTN.
Anyways, onto the real meat. PvP gear will have its stats re-worked to favor expertise over traditional stats. This is to discourage people from using them in PvE content. The current commendations will be depreciated, so spend them now. In the future you'll be able to stack up to 2,000 Warzone Commendations. Reverse Engineering is also getting an overhaul and a tooltip to tell you the chances of getting a schematic, if any. You'll also get some character titles if you've been levelling on the Test Server. That's really it for this week, so tell us what you think now in the comments section!
Sebaya Keto posted Mar 19, 12
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Appearance, Armor, Author: Sebaya Keto, BioWare, Black Hole, Dulfy.net, EA, Electronic Arts, Game Update 1.2, Legacy, Legacy System, LucasArts, Operations, PvE, PvP, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR, The Old Republic, TOR, War Hero
With The Old Republic getting so many new features in Game Update 1.2, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle of all the information. Appearance is just about as important as anything in roleplay, and I know many were dying to see the new armors that are now available on the Public Test Server. There are so many sets to look at! Operations, as the main PvE content being expanded, have a new "Black Hole" set for each Advanced Class. Player vs Player content is also being expanded with new ranked Warzones.
These new challenges will pit you against players of greater skill from all servers, and for surviving, you'll be rewarded with a new set of War Hero armor. If you do well, you may even unlock a special ranked color variation of that armor too. Finally, Legacy will be getting some hand-me-down sets as well. They look much like current armor with some color or pauldron differences, and will be available from a new vendor depending on your Legacy level.
The response to these new armors so far has been underwhelming. Fans of The Old Republic have been complaining that some of the completely new designs look outrageous, or not in keeping with the Star Wars universe. After the break, I've got a complete visual list of all the different new armor models. If you want to see the color variations and different specifics, you can check out the full articles the images came from here and here on Dulfy.net. They're large files which you can open individually to zoom in further, but do mind the load times. When you're done looking through all the new sets, come back to the comments section and let us know what you think of the new armor and whether you would put it on any of your characters for roleplay.
KallaBeccani posted Mar 10, 12
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Empire, Republic, RP, RP-PvP, Author: KallaBeccani , BioWare, EA, Electronic Arts, Galactic Republic, Jung Ma, LucasArts, Nar Shaddaa, PvP , role-play, Roleplay, Sith, Sith Empire, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, TOR
Picture this: you walk up upon fifty or more spectators and competitors swarming the Promenade for one of the biggest events of the week. There is betting going on and people milling about, the conversations get going, then all of the sudden a flare gun goes off and all your attention is drawn away to the lone person in the middle of the arena. This is it the moment of truth; the crowd grows quiet as the first words are spoken.
What started out as the Republic and Empire having separate nights to show off their skills has spawned into a spectacular event of the best of the best. Sponsored by the Jung Ma Jumping Beans host, Akrili has brought the standard of fight nights to an all new high in our universe. The double elimination matches pit one against another to show just who will come out on top and prove to you they have the skills to hold all others off.
Sebaya Keto posted Mar 8, 12
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Alderaan, Author: Sebaya Keto, BioWare, Crew Skills, Denova, EA, Electronic Arts, Explosive Content, Galactic Republic, Game Update 1.2, Ilum, LucasArts, Novare Coast, Operations, Operative, Panel, PvP, Republic, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Shinzar, Sith, Sith Empire, Sith Inquisitor, Smuggler, Star Wars, Star Wars Galalxies, Star Wars The Old Republic, Story Mode, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, TOR, UI, Warzones, World of Warcraft
So this will be the first of two articles on the panels that was held at the recent BioWare Guild Summit, since there's so much I want to talk about from the roleplay panel, and questions I asked of developers. In this article, however, we'll be focusing on the new content that's coming for gameplay in The Old Republic, and new features for guilds to use. We have several things to cover, so I'm going to just dive right in—this article will cover the PvE, PvP, Economics, Crew Skills, and other panels. To start with, the GTN is now "80% less stupid" with a total overhaul, and many new features! Apparently the developers hated the current one as much as we do. Read through to the end, because I'm saving the best for last.
First up I'll cover the Economics panel, because it was surprisingly one of the more interesting. The official spread of players for instance across all servers is 57% Empire and 42% Republic, with a 1% margin of error. While this may seem unbalanced, it's actually better then most MMOs. Also, a whopping 70% of characters are male. Sith Inquisitors are by far the most popular class, with the Smuggler earning the dubious award of least-played class. Crew Skills are getting a major revamp to make all of them useful in the end-game—not just Biochem. We already know about crit-crafted oranges with augment slots, but classes besides Slicing will be able to make augments now as well, with Slicers supplying the materials. Keep reading, I'm not even close to done.
Ganden posted Mar 1, 12
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Australian Launch, Author: Ganden, BioWare, Chat Bubbles, Cross-Faction Communication, Darth Vader, David Holloway, EA, Electronic Arts, End-game, Flashpoint, Gabe Amatangelo, Galactic Republic, Gav Daragon, Huttball, Jedi Knight, Legacy System, LucasArts, Luke Skywalker, Operations, Outlaw's Den, PvE, PvP, Republic, role-play, Roleplay, RP, RvR, Sith, Sith Empire, Smuggler, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, TOR, TOROZ, Warzone
On March 1st 2012, The Old Republic officially launched in Australia. A new roleplaying server— Gav Daragon—was created, along with another PvE and PvP server. To celebrate the regional expansion of BioWare's and EA's largest ever online project, an official Australian community launch event was held in Sydney. And who other than me, your Australian Editor-in-chief at SWTOR-RP, should attend the event to receive one-on-one time with EA's special guest, Gabe Amatangelo— The Old Republic's Principal Lead Flashpoint, Operations, and PvP Designer?
In our time together, we discussed a number of topics ranging from roleplaying features, PvP, Flashpoints, and Warzones. I also tried my best to find out some exclusive information about Game Update 1.2 and the upcoming Legacy System, but as always, BioWare are very good at remaining tight-lipped about their upcoming features. The good news? We only have to wait one week for all the goodies that will accompany Game Update 1.2.
Earlier in the day, our friends at TOROZ also exchanged banter with Gabe. Be sure to head on over to TOROZ to view their video interview. David Holloway asked some great questions about PvP, and in turn received some great answers from Gabe. But in the meantime, continue below to view SWTOR-RP's very own interview with Gabe Amatangelo.
Kovani posted Feb 17, 12
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/duel, argument, Author: Kovani, BioWare, childhood, combat, Datapad Notes, Decibelle, deploy smooth jazz, dispute, disputes, duel, EA, Electronic Arts, fight, ic, Kovani, LucasArts, ooc, pvp, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, Tia, TOR
When I was a kid – not that, by any stretch of the imagination, I consider myself to be a grown-up now – the majority of my time was spent out of the house. Me and the local kids wasted our time playing around the neighborhood; my mother described our behavior as being remarkably similar to a pack of mangy dogs. Our days were spent brawling, building forts, or hitting tennis balls with whatever we could find, or whatever else occupied us. I'm not telling you this, might I say, to reminisce about those golden times before video games, but to discuss one of the frequent disputes that occurred when we pretended to shoot each other with our fingers. "I shot you!"
"Nah, I had my shield up!"
"But she shot ya!"
"Doesn't matter, I have a laser shield!"Even today, I remember this argument: mostly because Alex was an idiot, since laser shields should not exist in a game set in the wild west. It did, however, teach me a few things about resolving problems when you're playing a game, though not all of them are particularly relevant now that I'm mature. I do miss my childhood methods of punching each other up, or whinging to Dad about someone cheating, though. In this Datapad Notes, we're going to look at how players resolve disputes between each other, and between characters. Take a look after the break.
Centerfire posted Feb 17, 12
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Author: Centerfire, BioWare, Dramatic Failure, EA, Electronic Arts, Force Reflection, LucasArts, MMO, PVE, PVP, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Setbacks, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, TOR
Like us, our characters are creatures shaped and defined by our failures as much, if not more than, as by our successes. A dramatic setback can resonate through a character's whole existence, filling him with the resolve to meet new challenges... or with speculation about what might have been, and lingering doubts that haunt him for years.
Unfortunately in an MMO, these sorts of dramatic setbacks aren't always easy to come by. PvE play operates at a "work at it for long enough and success is pretty much inevitable" level of difficulty, while PvP setbacks tend to be very abrupt (your team loses the warzone) and ephemeral (after which you requeue). Even in roleplay, a setback arising out of PvP mechanics (a duel) or simple dice rolls may not feel particularly powerful. Sometimes you, the player, simply have to take matters into your own hands.
Have you ever conspired against your character, forcing him or her to fail at something for the sake of a good story? If so, what were the circumstances? Did you have any second thoughts at the time? What was the long-term outcome? If you haven't had this experience, what would it take for you to decide that your character just needed to come up short? Let us know in the comments!
Sebaya Keto posted Feb 11, 12
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Advanced Class, Author: Sebaya Keto, BioWare, Daniel Erickson, EA, Electronic Arts, Game Update 1.2, Guild, Huttball, Joveth Gonzalez, LucasArts, PvP, role-play, Roleplay, RP, Star Wars, Star Wars The Old Republic, Stephen Reid, SWTOR, SWTOR-RP, The Old Republic, TOR
Normally I'm not one to gush over the Q&A sessions that BioWare put on every now and then. Since they farm questions from the forums as a whole, roleplay questions often get ignored. This one, however, had some interesting topics that interests us as RPers. I'll give you the basic rundown of what the BioWare community team had to say for us. If you want to see the entire article, you can go ahead and read it here. Also of interest is another piece released yesterday on UI updates and the global cooldown changes.
First off is Legacy. Maddeningly vague as always, the tidbit about having benefits for old characters as well is interesting. For those of you who love PvP but hate Huttball, take heart because we can now confirm that the new warzone in Game Update 1.2 will be same faction enabled. The big news for RPers is Daniel Erickson's response on social gear. He hints that 1.2 will introduce social gear for medium and heavy armors, with more changes to come soon after! That's big news, and I can't wait to see what they do. Server transfers are also something they're considering. Could be useful if you're not happy with your current server's group.
Stephen Reid also chimes in on the match-color-to-chestplate function from beta, now called hue-to-chest, which will be making a return in 1.2 after overwhelming community demand when it was removed at the end of beta. Remember that your feedback is being listened to, and that by working together we can make sure that our voices get heard. If you want to know the rest of the responses, continue reading after the break and see what's in store for The Old Republic!
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