I do tend to be kind of random on my thoughts when it comes to TOR, and again this post will be well removed from my last.

This time I would like to air my thoughts on the music, and how it will effect us in game.

Well before I get into it, I’ll share with you how this random thought got hold of me.

While playing  Rift and listening to the latest PodCasts, and also chatting with guild members in vent. I had to switch to another channel, as I did not want to miss something that may be important. Now, this is not a first for me by any means, but this small act, coupled with the fact my game music was turned way down, it kind of just hangs there in the background so i can notice if I’m getting blindsided in PvP.

This, believe it or not, is just a small glimpse into my random thought process, when it comes to things related to TOR. Continue Reading »

So recently I, like many others, purchased the Deceived novel by Paul S. Kemp. Mainly I did this to read more on the Deceived trailer and some of the back story into that trailer, as well as the game  while waiting on the actual game to come out. While getting into both the novel and the trailer, I started thinking on each character as a class in the upcoming MMO. This led to some interesting thoughts on game-play and of course thoughts on the only Bounty Hunter in both.

First, let’s talk about the Bounty Hunter Shae Vizla. In the trailer, you get a glimpse of Shae watching Darth Malgus as he approaches the temple,  in which she then  jetpacks up the temple and enters through what appears to be a ventilation shaft. She then appears to kill off two guards as she enters the inside of the temple itself. We lose track of her there and then later reconnect when she pops in the main temple hall to blast some guards that are coming to join the fight. Aside from a flamethrower attack, this pretty much concludes our over-whelming joy of seeing the Bounty Hunter in action.

In the novel, our glimpse into Shae isn’t so greatly portrayed. The events pretty much play out the same as the trailer but in a much less diminished role. this isn’t to downplay the Bounty Hunter or Shae’s role, but more of the need to tell the larger story than focus on one character who plays a small part in a larger story. So what to take from both the trailer and the novel? What could be possibly gleamed from what we see and what we read to maybe give us thought on what may be possible in the actual Swtor game once it is released?

Let me start by saying that everything I say now is purely conjecture on my part, but what I hope may be partially true as it relates to Bounty Hunter game-play. Let’s start this with the fact that the Bounty Hunter is able to infiltrate into a major building that is full of guards and Jedi. All of this undetected. Now, while not expecting to do this in game, I do think we may play a bigger part in how we bring abilities that let groups by-pass secured areas of a Flashpoint or other areas of the game. We have all seen the Bounty Hunter trailer where the door explodes and the Bounty Hunter comes barging in with guns blazing. Imaging that door with no Bounty Hunter? What does a group have to do then to get the door open? Slice a console somewhere else in the area? Find an NPC to get the code to open it? Who knows, but blowing the door might have saved some time.

The Flamethrower and Gauntlet Missiles have pretty much been verified through the class trailer as is. In both the class trailer and Deceived trailer, these abilities are used in conjunction with large groups, so we have our AOE abilities. Throw in some blaster shots and we have standard game mechanics we pretty much know will be our standard fare. The one I think might be a surprise if it plays out would be something along the lines of Infiltration.

Shae achieves this through getting into the temple without setting off alarms or getting caught. Bounty Hunters are known to use a number of tricks to reach their marks the easiest way possible. So maybe this is something we can look forward to? I am not talking about stealth and creeping around in broad daylight 2 feet from an NPC and never being seen. More like a distraction technique that could be used to divert attention or lower the aggro range of NPC’s so that you can sneak around without getting caught. It is a fun thought on what could be an interesting mechanic if it is actually in the game as such.

We won’t really know if I am close to something or way off target until later once we all get into the game, but it’s fun to sit and think about things like this while we wait.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that BorukBH has decided to join forces with SWTOR Life. You probably know him through his articles that he writes at http://bountyup.wordpress.com/, which he will continue to write at his new web-home – SWTOR Life. He will be a great addition to the site and make this an even greater resource to all fans of the Old Republic. I am really honored and humbled that he chose to join our little band of galactic misfits. You will be able to access his section of the site through the menu tab above just as soon as we finish setting everything up.

BorukBH is 37 year old father of 3, and married. Full time Audiovisual Coordinator for a major retail company who fills those voids in a hectic daily schedule with a joy of MMO’s.

Welcome aboard!

The Escapist Magazine website is holding a very interesting competition throughout all of March. They pit best known game developers against each other and let their visitors and fans vote for their favorites. Each vote also grants you a chance to win one of the prizes they have.

We are now at semi finals stage and only 4 remain in the running for the title of the “Best Developer”. Among such heavyweights such as Blizzard, Bioware and Valve, “indie” developer of the popular online game Minecraft managed to get into the final four.

The biggest fight is certainly happening in the matchup between Blizzard and Bioware. Being competitors in the MMORPG genre, it will be interesting to see how much support can they muster from their fans in this competition.

I like how they made it very easy to vote, because you can use your Facebook login to login to Escapist Magazine website and place your vote. Also, if you have a Twitter account, you can connect it to the voting application and when you tweet your vote you also get another entry into the prize drawing.

We invite all fans of Bioware games and Star Wars the Old Republic to help Bioware defeat the behemoth that is Blizzard so we can finally have a new king. Vote Team Bioware!

Something I have been wondering about for quite some time is the level of item one can expect to craft after a “crafting crit” takes place during item creation.  Will the created item be on par with raid loot drops, PVP drops, or other drops or rewards from missions?
Read on!

Continue Reading »

Over at Random House.com they have released the cover art and short synopsis of the authors plus, have given a sale date for us in the United States, thanks to Matthias I have recently learned that the German version is already for sale on sites such as Amazon.com.

The book “The Complete Vader”  is written by Ryder Windham and Peter Vilmur and is a book about the cultural impact Darth Vader has had on our society.  I for one look forward to reading this as the Anakin/Vader story is my favorite plot line of the whole Star Wars universe!

Synopsis

Star Wars: The Complete Vader is the definitive book on the history, myth, and cultural impact of Darth Vader. From his early development in the first Star Wars film by George Lucas, to the new legends created in comics, videogames, and novels, to his ongoing appearances on everything from television commercials to bedspreads, Vader presents a complete view in all his incarnations as the Dark Lord of the Sith. Going beyond the films to cover his further adventures in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the book combines new insight with exclusive interviews and photographs from the Lucasfilm Archives. Interactive reproductions of rare memorabilia fire the imagination, while pages packed with never-seen-before images explore the world’s endless fascination with the notorious Darth Vader.

It will be a hardback, have 192 pages and goes on sale for $60.00 on October the 18th in the USA.

Don’t forget to get yours, I know I will be getting mine.

🙂

As part of this Friday Update we get a surprising new feature. It is a video showing progression of a class from the very beginning with some early combat, through advanced class branching and finally we realize that the character is capable of awe inspiring feats as it reaches its full potential. The honor to be featured this way goes to the Jedi Knight (according to some sources the most popular class among game testers). It was very fun to see how the Jedi Knight goes from practice sword to light saber and how armor looks better and better as the character gains more experience. Also, I must say I am amazed by how epic both advanced classes feel and look with their final armors. You can check out the official Friday update page here or watch the video bellow:

SWTOR Life is proud to present another addition to the site that we hope all Old Republic fans will appreciate. It is a page that will keep track of all the posts Bioware developers and staff are making on the official forums. There is a version of this found on the official site (link), but we weren’t satisfied with the features it has, nor the functionality. We present you a version that has instant search (it’s more of a filter applied to all posts) of all dev posts integrated so you can search for posts only by one of the developers or a keyword. You can also sort all the dev posts by the person that posted, forum it was posted in or date. We plan on adding more features to the page, like adding Twitter posts to the mix, and we hope to bring them very soon. It is still in a sort of a beta state so please report any problems you might have with it.

All of us have played single player games at some point, and in games produced by BioWare, we all know how choice matters to your overall playing experience.

This is all well and good in that single player game, but how does this effect us in the MMO space. Not having to think past the end boss in these games, is something we’ll be very weary of in the MMO world. After this end boss (1-max in an mmo), some will say, that the real game begins.

Lets say that you know a little about TOR, and that you have not just clicked on a random page on the interwebs. You will all know that SWTOR will have story driving it forward. This is the major difference along with the Voice Over (VO) that sets TOR above all those other games out there.

Now, I am not going to suggest that story is a bad thing, and I’ll say right now, that “I, MrWarlock, do say that TOR will be the best playing experience from start to max level” and you can quote me on that.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Back in the day, when I was a new MMO’er and starting fresh in Everquest, Role Playing was something I had only associated to those D&D games.

The ones that made kids go nuts and do things not associated to being normal. In EQ, I played a Wood Elf Druid and had a few guildmates who introduced me to the world of MMO RP as it was then. Not much, as most you had a first and last name and generally just talked (typed) how you wanted to play your character as. They weren’t the hardcore who always were in character, but they did their best.

I had one guildie who played a Dark Elf Necromancer and she loved to RP with try to RP with me. She was basically my introduction into this world. Although I was really bad at it, she never got mad and always made the attempt. Now, I have never really seen much support for RP in a MMO. Even Warcraft, which I see as taken RP a step back from what players had, as they have never implemented the first and last name system in place that most players were use to. Now in WoW, you have to use an add-on to get the most out of an attempt to RP.

So with Swtor, I have already noticed a few things that most RP players might like. Names, for a start, I have noticed are able to be hyphenated with special characters. This brings an element to naming your character for the specific RP feel or bond you want your in-game avatar to share with yourself. Also, from what I understand, the first and last name convention is back. Good times for all the RP’ers out there.

The other aspect I see is the whole choice system. So this basically opens the door up for Role Playing in Swtor. You want to play the Dark Side? You got it. You want to play the Sith Warrior trying to make amends for past actions so you start to choose the “good” choices in conversations with NPCs. Are you wanting to play a Jedi that is skirting the line on falling into the Dark Side of the Force?  To do this, you start choosing some of the darker responses. Swtor really opens up some of the aspects of the Role Play in MMO”RP”G.

The thing that really makes this nice as a Role Player is that, no matter what type of Role Player you are, you can make your choices in-game, Flashpoints and wherever even while grouped, and the only thing that matters is your choice. If you chose the dark side choice in the conversation but a player who went towards the light side wins the roll for the response, your choice still counts for you. So while you might not get to see your part play out, you know that it counted for how you want to play you character, and as a Role-player, it’s your choices that matter for your character the most.