Rich Vogel, Executive Producer and member of the original development team, posted a lengthy blog post today entitled “Busting Bugs and Fixing Exploits”. As you can imagine the post is all about how the team at BioWare goes about fixing bugs in their system; what gets prioritized, how they attempt to discover them, and more. It is chock full of great information on how the team at BioWare works.
More after the jump. Continue Reading »
If you have been to the forums lately you just might have noticed a few threads that contain players complaining about performance issues. Developers and maintenance teams have been working hard with players to find and fix the source of many of the performance issues they are experiencing when running SWTOR including, but not limited to; error codes, lows FPS, client crashes, and system errors. Today Avi Mintz, Associate Project Manager for the client engineer team, released a guide that her team compiled to help players optimize their PCs performance when running the game.
But do not think that is the end of the issue. Avi encourages players to continue talking with the team about any issues that they are experiencing when they run the game so that her team may continue to add to their optimization guide so everyone can get the best SWTOR experience possible. She also gives big thank to players who have given constructive feedback on the problems so far.
If you are having any performance issues then head over to the optimization guide and see if there are any tips in there that will help you out.
Just a reminder to everyone but the weekly maintenance is still scheduled for 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET) and is expected to last until 10AM CST (8AM PST/11AM EST/4PM GMT/5PM CET). The maintenance is expected to take no more than 8 hours but, as always, the time frame could be extended if the need arises.
We will keep you updated if the scheduled time for the server maintenance changes in any way.
PvP: Act 1; Scene 2
Our next world PvP planet is Tatooine.
There are two safe zones on Tatooine. Anchorhead is the space port and Republic safe zone. Mos Ila is the space port for the Imperial side. Everything in between is PvP. There is even a small area that you can go free-for-all called Outlaw’s Den.
Here are a few things I’ve noticed. First, I play Republic, and on a PvP server. As I roam the sands of Tatooine, I see very few Imperial players. I am not sure if it’s just how the quests are spread out, but as I leveled on this planet, and coming back for a visit to refresh my memory, I saw very few Imperial players. Continue Reading »
Stephen Reid has been spending some time responding to frustrations that players have been expressing with server maintenance and lack of communication from the development and community teams regarding the recent patch.
More after the jump. Continue Reading »
David Murphy at pcmag.com recently posted an article discussing statements made by Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. In his statement, the FRC president is speaking out against BioWares decision to include same-sex relationships in future content, and calls for supporters to head to the official forums and make their voices heard. For those unfamiliar with the FRC they are a nonprofit organization that identifies themselves as the “the leading voice for family in our nation’s hall of power.” They can often be seen and heard on the front line against homosexuals, bisexuals, transgendered individuals, as well as fighting against pro-choice supporters across the nation.
The debate over whether or not to include same-sex relationships in SWTOR is nothing new to long time followers of the game. In 2009 community manager Sean Dahlberg stated that “Gay and Lesbian are terms do not exist in Star Wars” (despite the fact that Juhani, a companion character from BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic, is widely believed to be the first homosexual character in the Star Wars universe) and the debate about the issue of same-sex relationships has burned on ever since. The latest news from BioWare is that a future patch will allow for same-sex relationships between the player and their companion characters, and the only reason it was not included in the game’s launch was a logistics issue.
For many players the debate is a non-issue. Sure there are some rather vocal members on both sides, but most have a “if it’s in it’s in, if it’s not it’s not” approach to the whole matter. Perhaps the FRC’s statements will begin to fuel the flames of the debate once more, but for now players should still expect to see same-sex relationships coming to TOR before long.
One last thing to add, the tweet by David Murphy promoting his article was one of the cleverest I have seen in a while, enjoy. “You can let the Wookiee win; you just can’t let him be gay”
You can read David’s article here, and the statement made by the FRC here.
If you head to the SWTOR forums today looking for an explanation as to why the servers were taken down for 5 and a half hours you will find only a single item in the patch notes.
Improved service to reduce the number of player disconnections to the player select screen.
Does this mean that was the only issue addressed? Not at all, but it is the only information revealed to us at this time. Players who have been suffered unexpected disconnects will be more than happy to see that single note however.
In a recent blog post BioWare announced that they will be taking the servers down early tomorrow morning (CST) in order to deploy a patch to deal with recent issues that some players have been experiencing. No word on what particular issues will be getting patched, or exactly what time the patch will be released, but BioWare promises updates and notices when more details are able to be released.
We will update this post as more details are released, check back for more information as it becomes available.
Update: The servers will go down from 2AM CST (12 AM PST/3 AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET) until 6AM CST (4AM PST/7AM EST/12PM GMT/1PM CET). As always there is a chance the servers come up earlier or be down longer as the situation warrants.
The good folks over at TOR-Talk recently had a chance to sit and talk with Stephen Reid, Community Manager for Star Wars: The Old Republic. During the interview Reid discussed the features highlighted in the recent “Coming to TOR” video, including upcoming legacy system features and UI customization. Important talk points include:
- Confirmation that Same-Faction vs. Same-Faction gameplay will be in the upcoming Warzone
- The UI Customization in the “Coming to TOR” Video was just a small glimpse of what the Dev Team is working on.
- Mods and Macros aren’t off the table and may be implemented in the future and UI customization remains one of BioWare’s highest priorities.
- Confirmation that the “Legacy System” will carry over specific races between the two factions. New Class & Species combinations are incoming!
- Today Bug Fixing is currently BioWare’s main focus on SW:TOR with a number of Devs still developing much upcoming content.
- Changes will be coming to Crew Skills and the “GTN” (Galactic Trade Network).
- Guild Ships remain on the table of discussion with BioWare Developers,however, no guarantee a “guild space/area” will be implemented as a guild ship. Guild halls and guild housing have also been discussed.
- The Guild Headquarters that was on the forums in the past will be returning and it will be better. Along with that BioWare is considering other potential elements seen from other MMOs to be implemented on SWTOR.com in the future.
You can listen to the interview in its entirety over at TOR-Talk.com
((The RP XP with MJ #23))
“I still don’t feel right about it, master. She’s young and impressionable,” the Zabrak Padawan muttered as he joined his master at the bottom of the ship’s boarding ramp.
“You’ll get over it, Tarik. You’ll have to.” Master Kendris scratched the thatch of gray beard on his chin and surveyed Coruscant’s surroundings with a suspicious eye. “I know your feelings toward the smuggler. And you know the reason why such relations are forbidden by the Order.”
Anxious to get away from the losing argument of Yulel’s innocence and continuous attempts to hide his feelings for her, Tarik said, “Are you certain this is a safe place to be? I mean… Don’t you think the Jen’Hutis would be safer on Tython?”
His master’s response was unexpected considering their history. “Well… I think you’re actually right about that, Tarik.”
That’s when the young Zabrak noticed the private docking bay was even more private than it was moments ago. The refueling technicians, the mechanics, even the droids had vanished. “I have a bad feeling about this, master.”
Kendris nodded and ignited his lightsabers.
Continue Reading »
