Crafting. Yes crafting. The all elusive, god forbid, sucks to level, identical item, farm your ass off, kill a ni-hao slinging bot for a node, shoot your best friend in the face for a plot on dantooine… crafting.  I will admit it. I was a crafter.  Yes. the man you look at today, whom rated a whopping 4 in the wow arena system, the lord of murder, Flagg, the god of pvp carnage and utter destruction was a crafter.  All jokes aside, In SWG. I loved that shit.  LOVED it.  Lived for it. Hell, I’ll admit it. I sold gold (credits) to websites, that resold my gold.  I sold so much of it, i lived on it for 2 years….. no joke.  2200.00 a month. It was heaven.  Then it all changed… wait…what the fuck am i babbling on about now…. Oh the glory days. Back to it then… Crafting.

I really want to get back to it. I want an inquisitor for leveling (my full video on ustream thingy) but for gods sake, I want to grind and level a jedi knight crafter.  A “Force Architect”(@flagg20011-2099). if you will. The crystal making , lightsaber wielding mofo.   The man with the plan.  Or whatever.

The thing is, after reading a few 1/2 assed reviews on the crafting, then reading one post beta guy.. Shit, I cant wait.  He ranted and raved about it, being a crafter from swg himself. Good god that’s tough optimism  to try to break. He went on about how engaging it was, how wonderful it was to craft sex droids, how exciting it was to kill jawas and use their soul to fuel his deadly machine based one demons from….oh wait, wrong game.  The point is he loved it. And I’ll be honest here. I know a lot of people who talk out of school and said the same. The crafting system is fun as hell, unique, and phenomenal.

You know how hard it is to find a game with good engaging crafting? How utterly mindbogglingly hard?  Impossible is the proper term. It’s so bad it almost seems as if these days most companies throw it in as some sore-ass abused after-though of some overworked department full of burnouts.  Not so here, I hope.  How do you guys feel?  This week is my monthly questionnaire, first (and most likely only month) to do this before Derek and Serge shut me down like cancer in a radiation lab.

Q:  Are you excited about crafting?  If so, give 3 reasons.  If not, Post a link to a picture of a cool jawa.

Q: Have you ever thought about drawing or animating a sexy alien chick. Even after a drug fueled binge of “heavy metal” and peyote? if not, please tell us your favorite color, and a 300 word essay on what makes that color whup monkey-ass.

Q: Is time travel possible.  Seriously. I want to know.

Q:Do you play “World of Tanks” and when you kill a tank do you yell ” You underestimate the power of the dark side!”  IF not, explain why you like 90210 in less than 7 words.

Q: Ever get in an argument over your Halloween costume…after you turned 20?

Q: Is the only reason you like Harrison Ford at all:  A: HAN SOLO  /  B: INDIANA JONES   ?

Q: Is there a way to travel faster than light? Think, tachyon…

Q: Do you love swtor?

I eagerly await your ramblings!

/Flagg/

P.S. Notice the sarcasm and fucking lack of fucking cussing i did in the fucking article.  Wo-fucking-rd to your mothers uncle.

/Flagg/

Love you all. Seriously….

/Flagg.

I knew a couple of guys that were part of a game development team. The game was made by a small team of dedicated enthusiasts and most of them were programmers at heart. It was a strategy game set in space, not unlike Homeworld (if any of you still remember that great game). They slaved at it for 3 years for a small wage hoping to make it big once the game is released. They even got a worldwide publisher, which meant they had a sellable product. When the game came out many tried playing it but found it unnecessarily complex at times and hard even when it didn’t need to be. It had a small following of dedicated fans but it never made it big because it asked too much of players to be widely accepted.
 
The problem with that game was that the programmers made a game for themselves. There was a lot of math involved and complex systems that would make an analytic mind very happy. The problem is that gamers are not analytic machines. They are gamers of various personalities and mindsets and if you are a game maker you better make sure you are pleasing a larger variety of people than just programmers, unless, of course, you were making the game for three years just to play it yourself.
 
What brings games closer to gamers is game testing. Involvement of gamers into the game making process introduces another set of minds, other than that of game designers themselves. This brings fresh perspectives and usually changes the game significantly. We saw a glimpse of this process during Q&A sessions at San Diego Comic Con this year. We found out that some systems designed long ago by game designers have been changed based on game testers’ input. There were even some changes so significant (in terms of time needed to develop the system again) that I was rather surprised they decided to do this so late in the game.
Click here to read how game testing influenced SWTOR and if it’s a good thing

I am not sure how this skipped everyone’s radar, but this last Friday update, entitled “The Old Republic at Comic-Con“, said that there will be some sort of announcements at the show. Here’s the exact quote:

This year is looking to be another big year for the event and both BioWare and LucasArts will be there to make some announcements about Star Wars™: The Old Republic™

It might be that people have grown tired of catching every little glimpse of what might possibly turn into big news, but I am still a sucker for hype and I will take this bait with open arms and share a few of my thoughts on what these announcements might be.
read more of my SWTOR geek out

Oh sweet summer, how I missed thee.  And with the incessant humming of every AC unit in the neighborhood, I am reminded that we are one more season closer to a SWTOR launch.  Well that, and that I’ll be paying through the nose on my next electricity bill… But as always, I digress.

Our very own MrWarlock penned a delightful piece highlighting the 10 updates he anticipated the most, and one of these got me thinking, specifically his thoughts on micro-transactions – what sorts of plans do you imagine BioWare might have cooked up for SWTOR in the MT (micro-transaction) department? Well, let’s take a look at what else has been done.

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As part of their pre-E3 marketing activities Electornic Arts redesigned their EA.com site and announced the beginning of a new digital distribution service that they call Origin. The redesigned EA.com website sports two important sections for all The Old Republic fans; the E3 live coverage section and Star Wars: The Old Republic dedicated page. A bit of interesting information I found on the SWTOR page is that is listed as a “PLATFORM: PC Download”, which hints that they will sell it as a digital distribution on the EA.com site.
Click here to read why I am not a fan of this new service

Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid dropped by the forums this week to discuss SWTOR servers and languages.  Would it bother you if your server did have a fair number of people on it who spoke something other than your primary tongue?

Dangit, I knew I should have paid more attention in class...

Read on for Stephen’s thoughts on the matter:

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With recent events that do not need to be mentioned here, I started thinking how, as players, we can avoid story spoilers that will come along in waves when TOR is finally released.

revan from KOTOR by ~GeneralVyse on deviantART
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First off let me start off this little article with the props so due to SWTORCRAFTER and SERGE for the awesome interviews and hands-on reports from the fan summit.   I was as happy as a Sarlacc full of Boba when I got all those articles and reports.  Well done guys. Remind me to send you both a nice can of nuts, and a $50 space hooker for Festivus this year.

Today’s topic of whine:   Game systems.   That’s right. You read it right. I’m gonna go off on a tangent about something I have absolutely no clue about, have never heard about, and have never seen.   Why you ask in a perplexed and angry tone?  Simple: I have way to much time on my hands and very little to do.  I also enjoy bitching about crap for no good reason.

 
Need moar epic SWTOR rant? Click here to read the full article

Usually when I wake up in a good mood and begin pouring over twitter, facebook, swtor, swtor-life, darth hater, CRR, MER, etc…  it only takes about 15-20 minutes of reading before my mood is shot to shit and I develop an urge to commit homicide by tossing swtor forum members into a Sarlacc.  Today, I am unusually surprised to find one hell of a gem buried in the pile of rehashed shit and whipped to death horses.  This of course got me thinking, and well all know how badly that usually turns out.

The Official SWTOR forum user Revchong posted a GREAT idea and topic.  A mobile Pazzak App.    Thats right.  A WoW inspired idea that doesn’t make me want to pour acid on Jawas until my rage subsides.

There are tons of possibilities that I personally hadn’t thought of.

• Crafting Monitor App.
• Jawa Punting.
• Space Darts
• Space Donkey Shows
• etc…

This would provide BioWare with a micro-transaction or as they like to call it “service” (which I believe is Latin for “gimme all your money dumbass”) option that didn’t make them appear to be greedy money whoring, space bitches.  They would be extra services that really add functionality to the game that really only affect people who give a crap about that particular section of BW/SW cannon.  The rest of us would never know it was even there.  Nor would most of us even care.  God knows I wouldn’t.  Well maybe the Space Donkey show idea…

Now as much as I hate the idea of micro-transactions and people running around with little flying Jawas or pet Wamprats that do cute little things like OD on death-sticks every 30 seconds or nibble your bum when you stand still, this idea I think is sound.  Additional revenue for game funding without impacting a subscription plan and forcing us to endure a glowing button ingame that flashes every time they release a new pet Mini-Wookie [mini-wookie 2011 Flagg – Patent pending] that glitters like a barbie doll after a 3 day crack binge.

We all know BioWare and EA are on this moronic and silly yet persistent “social networking” kick to exploit the huge market of internet stalkers and pedophiles around the world (THANKS FACEBOOK!) because, well, lets face it.  The majority of them are idiots and have more money than common sense.  I guess in retrospect I would milk them for every penny too.  In the immortal words of my hero Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does”.    If they choose to implement something like this, the sheer volume of  “tweens”  (once again, latin for “to young to have a job but old enough to spend money”) that will bolster the games income could be justified, not to even mention adults that think $50 for  pixels of a see through wanna-be pegasus is a sound investment.  I have some great beachfront property on Hoth if you are interested…

In conclusion I would like to point out that I am an opinionated bastard with a lot of issues pent up having to do with my uncle forcing micro-transactions on me at a very young age.  I think he works for Cryptic now.  Anyway….

If I had my way I would go to BioWare and smack a release date out of them, then proceed to hide all the office snacks until I got a beta invite, but as much is in life: It just ain’t like that.  So I wait and seethe.

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me, that I despise micro-transactions and simply will not play games based on pay-to-win.  So why do I think this is a good idea?  Simple.  I don’t have to see it, experience it, or deal with it in any way.  Out of sight, out of mind.  I respect BioWare and their talent and skill, but I remain steadfast in one opinion. Someone should force-pimpslap their   PR department.  With less than 8 months until the announced window closes, we know exactly enough to cover less than 4 minutes worth of commentary on G4.   That’s so sad I think i’m gonna go adopt a kid from one of those Sally Struthers countries.  At least that way I can meet Jabba and get a cheap lawn service while I wait.

SWTOR’s current class system is nothing new, Ultima online had this. Even though it did not have a class system in the traditional form we all know now.

Yet, it did give you the ability to take on a number of roles, Mage, Warrior etc.

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