Pax is upon us. It is permeating our brains and skin and making us eager for every scrap of information that may be posted, tweeted or blogged about. Our

browsers are set to YouTube and forums with our fingers eagerly hovering over the F5 button so we don’t miss a beat of what may come out of this weekend. What will come from this weekend, besides

hours of gameplay video and screenshots galore? I have a theory and I hope I am right.

I see this weekend as Bioware “giving us the game”. By this I mean they are giving mid-level classes to people to play in a mid-level instance (flash point). This is some big content as this gives people, who really pay attention to things, looks at a lot of stuff. we have UI, mid-level abilities, specs, advance class play, gear and tons of other things. That list alone is a ton of information, much of which isn’t known, until people start playing in the morning.

Now let’s talk about what has happened this week. We had the launch of the Guild Page where groups can set up their Guild on a forum based on the official Swtor site. From this we can get people to browse and find groups we may want to play in the game with when the game releases. If you look at it like I do, this is a near release function to prep people to get ready to play in the game. No, I am not saying that the release date is coming, although I wouldn’t be mad if it did. I am thinking the NDA is about to drop.

There is technically so much information that will be screen-shotted, snapped and videoed over the weekend, it’s close enough to be one. After being able to play something this big in the game, how could the NDA not be dropped. It’s hard to say.

We only have a few hours left to find out.

Bioware staff is still setting up the booth at PAX East and it looks like it’s going to be a long night for them. They were kind enough to share an early image of what part of the booth will look like. The image was so awesome that I had to share it with you all. Kind of reminds me of the monolith from “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

Click the image to see full size

Click the image to see full size

Click for full sized image

Click for Full size

Image from Mos Eisley Radio

Penny Arcade Expo in Boston is only several hours away and excitement among The Old Republic fans is mounting. Things are not being made any less difficult by officials at Bioware and they keep adding fuel to fire. We first had an awesome update last Friday with plethora of information on the Bounty Hunter and the Deceived novel. We got surprised on Wednesday by the Guild HQ application on the official swtor.com site (10.000 guilds have registered in these two days). The latest news is that Firday update, that Bioware has been doing for SWTOR every Friday for almost 2 years now, will be done live from the show floor. Official SWTOR Twitter account invited fans to:

… join us at 10:15am EST at Booth 912 and help us kick off #SWTORPAX

The wording of this announcement is very suggestive and the fact they chose #SWTORPAX to be their hash tag feels as if their news is going to be so big that PAX East this year will be remembered by SWTOR news. It might just be the starving fan in me seeing things though.

The other fact is that fans and members of fansites have already started arriving in Boston and there are some images already being available. You can see what the press badge looks like bellow (image from Vall of Tor Syndicate) and the image at the top of this article is actually a look at SWTOR booth that will host the big announcement tomorrow.

Keep your eyes pealed to SWTOR Life all throughout tomorrow and while the event lasts because we will be scouring for news and footage non-stop to bring you as much coverage as we can. Temporarily we added Twitter feeds in our sidebar to keep you updated with the latest news from fansite attendees as well as discussions tagged by the official SWTOR PAX East hashtag #SWTORPAX.

Image courtesy of Tor Syndicate

Just like the awesome community manager he is Stephen Reid has no sooner had his feet hit the dirt in Boston and he is already filling us in on what to expect from them at PAX.

In the dev tracker we get the following response on what panels the Bioware developers wil be speaking at during the conference.

Here is the list,  read on and if you are lucky enough to attend, have fun trying to make them all and still play the game!   I wish all the developers and the fans good luck and hope to see some great coverage coming our way soon!

(lucky bastards) 🙂

Stephen Reid:

Hello from Boston!

With PAX East 2011 just a day away – well, give or take about eight hours, given my late post – I’m very pleased to tell you about a few guest appearances BioWare staff members will be making on various panels over the weekend.

Please note, these are not official panels for Star Wars: The Old Republic. They are panels on various subjects that we were asked to provide speakers for. If you attend any of these panels, there is no guarantee that The Old Republic will even be spoken of… well alright, it’s pretty likely.

However, like I said, they’re not official panels for TOR and we’re not aiming to make huge announcements at any of them! In that vein, we will also not be providing ‘official’ coverage of them. However, I expect a few fansites might pop along. (And to them, I apologize for the late notification!)

They’ll all be very interesting panels to attend, and now we have all the details confirmed we wanted to give PAX attendees a chance to organize their schedules around them. So, without further ado, here are the details, in chronological order, as lifted from the official PAX East schedule:

PANEL: Video Game Comics: Lifting the Curse

LOCATION: Wyvern Theatre
TIME: Friday, 10:30am – 11:30am

DESCRIPTION: Comic books based on video games have not traditionally been very well received. While some have sold well, most are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to critics and direct market sales. How can the tide turn? What needs to be in a video game comic to make it worth reading? And could Video Game comics wind up being the savior of the comic book industry? Join representatives from across the comic book industry and moderator Lucas Siegel, Site Editor of Newsarama.com as they figure out how to remove the curse of the terrible video game comic.

Panelists include: Lucas Siegel [Site Editor, Newsarama] and Rob Chestney, [Creative Services Manager, BioWare Austin, and author of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Threat of Peace (Dark Horse Comics)]

PANEL: Interactive Drama: Dialogue as Gameplay

LOCATION: Cat Theatre
TIME: Friday, 2:00pm – 3:00pm

DESCRIPTION: Do narrative games provide dialogue choices that enhance gameplay? Is it important to develop relationships through interactive choices between player and non-player characters? How are interactive conversation choices designed and how important is the user interface? What does it mean to experience Interactive Drama in a gameplay mechanic of dialogue choices?

Panelists include: Jonathon Myers [Co-Founder, Writer, Reactive Games], Stephen Dinehart [Chief Wizard, NarrWare], Dan Tanguay [Design Specialist, Vicarious Visions], Emily Short [Interactive Fiction Author, Independent], Jeff Orkin [PhD Candidate, AI Researcher, MIT Media Lab], Martin VanVelsen [Senior Research Engineer, Carnegie Mellon University], Daniel Erickson [Writing Director, BioWare Austin]

PANEL: MMORPG.com: The Future of Online Gaming

LOCATION: Naga Theatre
TIME: Saturday, 5:00pm – 6:00pm

A panel of MMORPG experts gather to chat with fans on where the online game market is going. With games moving into the mobile space, free to play pricing models and five major launches in 2011 the online market is in for a major year. The panel will have speakers from some of the top upcoming games in the online space plus legends in the industry. Fan will be able to ask questions and get answers from top development studios about upcoming games as we hope to explore where online games will be going for the next decade.

Panelists include: Curt Schilling [38 Studios], Scott Hartsman [Trion], Colin Johanson [ArenaNet], Craig Alexander [Turbine], Garret Fuller [MMORPG.com] and James Ohlen [BioWare Austin]

 

If you make it to PAX, check out these panels, folks!

Today we got a big surprise, a Wednesday update!  Today it was announced that Bioware has included a Pre Launch Program for Guilds in SWTOR.

Allison Berryman tells us the following:

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of the new Guild Headquarters (HQ) as well as the Pre-Launch Guild Program. Many members of the community have already been organizing guilds on the forums, and we’re now happy to provide the tools to officially register and reserve your guild’s name. In this new section of the website, you can search for an existing guild to join or you can create a new guild and begin recruiting members. When Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ launches, you may be able to import your guild directly into the game, subject to availability and meeting certain criteria*.

Every guild gets its own guild mini-site on www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com, complete with information about the guild, its recruitment status, and its own public and private forums. Create or join a guild now and you’ll have the opportunity to have your own space to socialize and organize before the game launches. Every guild is automatically entered into the searchable guild database, which makes it easy for players to find their ideal guild. Get your guild together early and get ready for The Old Republic!

To learn more about guilds in The Old Republic, check out the Guilds Game System page for details, and to search for or join a guild, visit the Guild HQ now! Also be sure to visit the Guilds FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.

*Conditions and restrictions apply. See Guilds FAQ for full details.

To report bugs, please use this thread in the Website Feedback and Support forum. Please note that some words and phrases, particularly some relating directly to Star Wars, are restricted. If you feel your desired guild name is restricted in error, please contact us using the site support form.

The end result is guilds now have the capability to reserve their in game name, that can be huge for some guilds that have names that are contested.  I see the possibility for griefing here, but hey what are you going to do as a game development company?  You have to give players the chance to reserve some things.

The main thing I do not like about this process is this little nugget of uncertainty…..

*”We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that qualifying guilds are imported into a server that meets your specified preferences, but we cannot make any guarantees given the anticipated volume of guilds (among other factors). All server placements therefore remain in our sole discretion. We also cannot take responsibility for technical errors or glitches that prevent your guild from importing into the game as planned. See Terms of Service for more details.

When we begin placing guilds on servers, we will take into account all the information that has been provided, including the server type and the allies and adversaries you have selected. We will make reasonable efforts to place each guild according to their specified preferences but cannot make any guarantees given the anticipated volume of guilds (among other factors).“

So what this means is that Bioware will be placing your guild on a server at release, you dont pick they do, and if your lucky you will get to land on the server type you have chosen (pve,pvp,rp-pve)

I dont find this to be very cool at all.  As a guild I should be able to choose the server I wish to play on.  What if certain guilds want to be aligned in game but they get “placed” on different servers?  I don’t think Bioware has put enough thought into this aspect of the system and frankly I am sad about that.  I can understand the reasoning behind it such as server balancing and such but I dont like when my liberties that I have grown used too in past MMO’s are taken away.

There are other requirements or “criteria”  that will need to be met if a guild can successfully use the pre-launch system in phase 3, for example:

1) At the beginning of Phase 3, the guild leader must log in to the website and verify that their guild remains active and wants to be imported; and

2) The guild has at least four members who have pre-ordered the game by the time we initiate the import.

3)Guilds will have no more than 500 members.

The pre-order requirement is fair i think.  They could have made it higher but i think they chose to be fair and allow guilds that may be smaller the chance to still use the system.  I plan to pre-order.

Also we got a look at what might be the final server play style designations?

Star Wars: The Old Republic will offer different server types that emphasize different styles of game play such as Player-vs-Environment, Player-vs-Player, and Role- Play. When your guild gets transferred into the game, it will be placed on the server type that most matches your selection.

Player-vs-Environment (PvE) servers can be considered representative of the standard play style and rule set. The focus on PvE servers is on experiencing the story and working with friends against the non-player enemies in the game world.

Player-vs-Player (PvP) servers have a slightly different rule set as PvE servers. On a PvP server, players may be attacked by other players from the opposing faction in more areas of the game world.

Role-Playing (RP) servers use the standard PvE rule set, but are identified as great places for players who enjoy acting out their characters in the game world to congregate and find other like-minded players.”

So no big deviation from the norm here, PVE, PVP, and RP are pretty much the standard server types and what most players have grown to expect.  I think most of us expected just this type of classification.

All in all it is a pretty neat addition to the options a guild has in game and out of the game, and it helps them get organized pre-game.  This is very important for most guilds that will have formed their member base before release.

I give it a thumbs up even though I am not too pleased with the server placement being out of my control.

I am very happy to announce that SWTORCrafter, known for his excellent articles on crafting in The Old Republic ( http://swtorcrafter.wordpress.com/ ) has joined forces with SWTOR Life. After a very short period of negotiation we became aware that our love for the upcoming Star Wars The Old Republic MMO is only matched by our wish to create content for its community and that was all that was needed to begin this partnership. You can expect to see his insightful articles at http://www.swtor-life.com/swtorcrafter/ in the future.

Here is a short bit about him,

Swtorcrafter is a crafter at heart, dating back to the start of the Ultima Online beta.  It was there that he developed his love of massively multiplayer online game crafting systems and economies in online games and fansite creation.  It was there that he was first introduced to what it was like to actually play online with other people.

It was a grand six years.  The longest he has been in any one MMO since.

He has searched countless realms since trying to recapture that feeling, sometimes finding satisfaction, sometimes not.

Now as he grows older he decides it is time to go all in, one last bold attempt at finding that perfect anvil, the crafting system of his dreams, and the community to share his insights with.

Enter stage right…..

The game,    Star Wars The Old Republic” MMO by Bioware

The Community,    www.swtor-life.com

*Fingers crossed*

Welcome aboard Derek!

In regards to knowing PAX is upon us and a great mamy things will more than likely come from that, I still am left wondering this subject. Officially there isn’t any marketing machine running to promote the game. So where is the Marketing for Swtor?

I look at it from a time constraint. It has been put out by Bioware that we have until the end of the year (December 31, 2011) for Swtor to release. 9 months in essence. In game development that is a short window to get a lot of information out, that isn’t marketing media. It is a small window to bring hype and start to cull a following or potiential players to  meet that 500,000 suscriber base that was said to be needed to make a profit. So what is the hold up?

There is no official trailer to make people go “ooh” and “ahh”. Nothing to stir the geeks in us up and make us brush the dust off our lightsabers stuck away in the closet. Heck, that full set of Stormtrooper gear doesn’t even need to be polished yet, as nothing is giving us the feelng of “I need to hurry up and get ready! The game of games is arriving shortly!”.

Maybe Bioware has decided not to do any Marketing. It’s also possible they they have something up their sleeves and are prepping to assault all our senses with something great. Maybe, just maybe, Darth Malgus is preparring a bid for his 2012 run for the White House. Who knows…I just wonder when the Marketing Department is going to join the game.

Only a few days are left before Boston hosts the 2011 Penny Arcade Expo – East coast edition. This is a big deal in the SWTOR community because Bioware seems to love PAX and always does something special at these events. This event is also special because for the first time there will be an organized gathering of SWTOR fansites and fans at two community events. Here’s a list of important things you can expect from PAX East this year.

The Old Republic booth is 912 and that is where visitors will be able to sit down and play the game. For the first time the general public will be able to experience flashpoint content. Taral V, the flashpoint we’ve seen footage of several weeks ago, is what people will be able to play through at the show. Those that lean towards the dark side can avoid playing this Republic only instance and choose to play one of the Sith Empire classes and their starting planets. Never fear my Jedi friends, you get a treat as well because for the first time the general public will be able to play on Tython and try Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular. Just to make things even more awesome James Ohlen (Lead Designer) and Daniel Erickson (Lead Writer) will be hanging at the booth all throughout the event and will be available for Q&A sessions.

The things I hate missing out on are two community gatherings that will happen at PAX. There is the Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina organized by SWTOR fansites (I think the main sponsor is Darth Hater). Here are the details:
Date & Time: Friday March 11th, 2011, 7PM
Location: The Times Irish Pub & Restaurant, 112 Broad St. (Between High st & Wendell St.) Boston, MA 02110
Confirmed Participants:
Ask A Jedi
Corellian Run Radio
Curse
Darth Hater
Massively
Mos Eisley Radio
TORSyndicate

The second event is officially organized by Bioware and it is by invitation only. You can get your invitations at the SWTOR booth and if you do you will be able to attend the Community Meet and Greet hosted by SWTOR community team. The details are as follows:

Date & Time: March 12th, 2011
Location: Westin Boston Waterfront hotel
Confirmed Participants:
SWTOR Community team (meaning Stephen Reid, David Bass and Allison Berryman to name a few)
Developers (depending on how tired they are we might see James Ohlen and Daniel Erickson)

Remember that you can queue for the event up to an hour early so make sure you arrive there on time because the capacity is limited!

So here we are. The Bounty Hunter trailer we have all been waiting for. I don’t have to talk about it to explain it, it speaks for it self. Watch and see.

So yeah, I’m a convert. It wasn’t hard to hang up the big guns of the Trooper and find my way here. Good side Bad side, it doesn’t matter to me. all that really counts, is that I get paid. I find the Bounty Hunter appealing, but the fact that I can be a Healer as one is what really draws me to the class. I don’t expect many will play the BH as one, but I will. It will be interesting if I shoot darts at everyone or send out medic Droids to do all the work. I can’t wait.

IGN got another exclusive coverage of The Old Republic by releasing a video for the Bounty Hunter class on a Thursday, one day before the official site releases the information. Just like all the previous class videos this one does not dissapoint and we can see some cool action and voiceover work. Some abilities we never saw before can be seen as well and that scene where the Bounty Hunter is delivering a carbonite frozen victim is just too cool. I am seeing a lot of AoE action and stuns, but in short – explosions, explosions , explosions. You can check out the video bellow: