BioWare announced today that the Ranked Warzones feature will not be included in tomorrow’s 1.2 update.
Despite some wonderful testing from volunteers on the Public Test Server it was decided that Ranked warzones is a feature that just needs a little more polish before it is released to the live servers. This was not a decision made lightly, but in order to make sure this feature is everything the developers, and players, hope it will be it will be postponed for the time being. Daniel Erickson, lead game designer for SWTOR, had this to say:
Hey everybody,
It is with great reluctance that I have to announce Ranked Warzones are not going live with Game Update 1.2: Legacy. We had a fantastic run of testing on the Public Test Server and I can’t begin to thank the community enough for their tireless advocacy for this feature and the time people took to file bugs and voice their concerns.
After careful consideration, it is clear that to make Ranked Warzones the feature we all want it to be is going to take a bit more time. I apologize for any disappointment this may cause and ask for your patience as we work to make sure the Ranked Warzone Preseason launch is polished and fun. With Legacy, the new Warzone, Operation, and Flashpoint, as well as many other amazing features of Game Update 1.2 ready to go, we’re very excited for tomorrow’s additions.
In the future we’ll be rolling the Ranked Warzone Preseason out in phases, listening carefully to player feedback and making adjustments as we go. The first phase will be full team, eight-player queuing only and from there we’ll look at next steps as Preseason progresses. In the meantime we have provided an alternate purchase route for War Hero gear so you can start building your set while figuring out your teams.
Daniel Erickson
Lead Game Designer
This is, without a doubt, a big disappointment to a lot of players out there. Hopefully the team at BioWare will be able to get any issues they have with the feature fixed as soon as possible so it can be rolled out to the live servers.
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Release of the “1.2 – Legacy” patch is imminent. We have less than 12 hours remaining before it hits the live servers (you can read the full announcement here). This patch is one of the biggest patches in the history of MMOs and it will bring a whole lot of changes and improvements to Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is very hard to cover all the changes included in the patch, but we have tried to compile a small list of the most interesting changes you will see once you install the new patch. This has all been put into a form of a guide on our sister site SWTOR Spy and by browsing through various tabs you can see all the changes we discovered while playing the test version of the patch. Our resident Lore junkie, Mr Joshrooms, also posted an article about how the Legacy patch and Star Wars Lore are intertwined. Among our patch 1.2 coverage we have also managed to find out which gifts will your Ship Droids like once the patch is active. Yes, ship droids will now receive gifts and you can increase your affection with them! Check out all the aforementioned features on the links bellow:
Greetings once again everyone! You may have noticed that TOR Lore has not been appearing on the site for the past few weeks. This is because I need to retreat deep into my lore cave and recharge my geek power cells in order to keep bringing you all of the sweet lore tidbits that you love. But now I am back, recharged and ready to go!
To celebrate my somewhat Ali-like return to the realm of lore I am going to be talking about some of the changes we will be seeing in 1.2, specifically how these changes are going to affect us from the lore immersion of our game. It’s no secret that there are players out there who are not happy with some of these changes and their reaching implications. I am referring to the Legacy unlocks, specifically the various species unlocks and Heroic Abilities. How are these going to affect our immersion, and are these changes going to be positive or negative? Continue Reading »
BioWare updated the SWTOR site today to announce that we will be seeing game update 1.2 go live this Thursday, April 12th. After hinting several times that we would be seeing the update this week we are finally getting a release date, which coincidentally has the number 12 in in. 1.2 being released on the 12th, coincidence? Probably, but either way the servers will be down for 8 hours on Thursday in order to deploy the patch. Here is the official announcement from BioWare:
Hello everyone!
We will be bringing down servers for eight hours on April 12th, 2012 from 12:01AM CDT (April 11th, 10:01PM PDT/1:01AM EDT/6:01AM BST/7:01AM CEST/3:01PM AEST) until 8AM CDT (6AM PDT/9AM EDT/2PM BST/3PM CEST/11PM AEST) in order to deploy Game Update 1.2 – Legacy. All game servers will be offline during this period. SWTOR.com will be available. This maintenance is expected to take no more than eight hours, but could be extended.
Please note the timing on this maintenance period, which is beginning earlier than usual.
Game Update 1.2 – Legacy introduces new content and features for all Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ players. Earn new rewards and build your family tree with the expanded Legacy System, explore Lost Island, a new Flashpoint, challenge the new Operation: Explosive Conflict, and face off against your foes (or your allies) in Novare Coast, a new Warzone. You can also experience new daily missions on Corellia, customize your User Interface, create a new Guild Bank for your guild, and more! Learn more about Game Update 1.2 here!
After this maintenance is over, restart the game launcher to patch to Game Update 1.2. This patch will be up to approximately 1Gb in size, depending on when you last updated the game.
Scheduled Maintenance
Date: Thursday, April 12th, 2012 (See PDT timing below)
As usual there will be a period of maintenance this Tuesday, but only for swtor.com this week. While the website will be down from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 6AM CDT (4AM PDT/7AM EDT/12PM BST/1PM CEST/9PM AEST) the servers will remain up the whole time. While the website should only be down for four hours there is always a chance the time will be extended if necessary.
The 1.2 discussion in the Community Q&A from last week was so huge a single week could’t fit it all in. This week’s post built on the premise from last week, having the BioWare developers take some time to answer all of our burning 1.2 questions. This week the developers talk about some changes in PvP armor and what players can do with their commendations once 1.2 goes live, answer some crafting questions about reverse engineering and augments, and the chance of new items being added to the VIP fleet vendors. There is also talk of a few bugs people are seeing on the PTS getting fixed, ability and class tweeks, and the titles those who spent the time helping to test update 1.2 can expect to receive.
BioWare also reminded players that to get the most out of these Community Q&A threads they should focus on asking questions about current game mechanics, not those that may be in development. Asking questions about future content is allowed of course, but more often than not they will not be able to release many details about these features other than “you will see them in the future.”
You can check out all of this week’s questions and answers after the jump, and if you have a question for the developers you can post it here on the official forums. Maybe you will see you question in next week’s post! As always please feel free o let us know what you think of this week’s Q&A session in the comments section below. Continue Reading »
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“BioWare doesn’t let me out of my cage often, so when they do I make sure to announce something big even if they don’t want me to.”
While SWTOR is at PAX East this weekend showing off some 1.2 features, it really has not been a big event for new SWTOR information. Well, until James Ohlen was taking questions during the MMORPG.com panel discussion yesterday afternoon. The entire pannel was asked by an audience member “Why are we excited about your game?” Here’s James’ response:
“You’re going to see so many changes and additions to the Star Wars Universe. It’s going to be impressive. We have our Update 1.2 coming in the next week and then after that it’s going to continue to roll out month after month. It’s exciting.”
Does this mean that we will for sure be seeing 1.2 coming in this next week? Hopefully, though it could just mean we will be able to download the patch next week with the official update going live some time after that. Either way SWTOR players have reason to rejoice, 1.2 is coming our way very soon!
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BioWare posted a new video today showing off it’s brand new Warzone, Novare Coast.
For those that do not already know, Novare Coast will be a three-point domination style map, with a tug of war mechanic that comes in play when trying to capture objectives. It will also allow for same faction vs faction combat, giving people a much needed break from Huttball. BioWare will be showing off this warzone as the attend PAX East this weekend, a perfect opportunity for any who are lucky enough to be in attendance to give it a try.
There was also a little addition to Bioware’s post when they first uploaded, it announced that 1.2 would be released on April 10th. The was quickly edited out of the post, and BioWare has since denied that April 10th will for sure be the release date for 1.2. Still, this little slip up should give player hope that the new content will be released soon.
What do you think about the new Warzone? What do you think about the idea of getting our hands on a live version of 1.2 soon? Let us know in the comments below!
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Today SWTOR’s Lead Interface Artist, Michael Voigt, guided players though what options will be available to players when they can begin customizing their UI when we finally get our hands on game update 1.2. In the video Mr. Voigt shows off how players can open up the customization window, some of the default layouts available to them, and the options for full customization if they choose to employ them. Players will even be able to save the customization they perform for one character, making it easy to set up all your characters after you are done. You will even be able to share your customizations with your friends, which is perfect for showing what you like as well as helping any MMO newbies who may not understand how they can optimize their experience.
Check out the video and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Are you one of the lucky few who will able to attend PAX East this weekend? If so you can expect to see the SWTOR Developers there talking about, and showing off, game update 1.2.
Attendees will have a chance to meet and chat with the Developers, play some of the new 1.2 content (using the Razer peripherals developed for The Old republic no less), and will even be able to grab exclusive Black and White Tauntaun Mini-Pets, which can only be obtained by coming to one of the events SWTOR will be at this year. James Ohlen will also be part of a panel put together by MMORPG.com titled: The Future of Online Gaming. this panel will be discussing where the MMO genre is going in the next 10 years, and attendees are welcome to bring questions to ask members of the panel.
Check after the jump for a full list of events this weekend, and if you are one of the lucky few who will be in attendance we hope you have a ton of fun! Continue Reading »
