Today a new post popped up on the forums from Stephen Reid that relayed a question from Game Director James Ohlen. What Ohlen wants to know is this, what kind of Open World PvP do players like the most and what kind of Open World PvP do players want to see in SWTOR?

Now it is no secret that players have be hoping for a more interesting Open World PvP ever since the release of SWTOR. Well no everyone has a chance to weigh in and share their opinions with the big man himself. Here is the official post on the subject.

What kind of Open World PVP excites you most?

You can vote in the attached poll. Here are some more details on each type of objective:

‘Raw’ Open World – faction vs faction, with no faction population restriction mechanics AKA ‘true’ Open World PvP. Factions claim objectives.

PvPvE balanced – bolstering the underdog faction through NPCs, turrets, etc. Factions claim objectives.

Faction population capped – strict balancing in place between faction populations in objective areas. Factions claim objectives.

Guild based – everyone is your enemy except players in your guild. Guilds claim objectives.

Remember, you can follow James on Twitter @JamesOhlen; you can follow our main account @SWTOR.

You can head over to the forums and vote in the official poll here. The poll will only be open until April 4th, so be sure to get over and weigh in if this is a subject near and dear to your heart. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below as well!

Tags: dev post, open world pvp

During the Guild Summit it was announced that Game Update 1.2 will include, among many other things, that players can expect to see some in-game events starting up. Now the details as to what these events will be and what players can expect to see from them is scarce, but recently SWTOR’s Community Manager, Mr. Stephen Reid, has offered up some more tidbits of data to give players some idea of what they can expect. Continue Reading »

Tags: 1.2, dev post, game events

It’s the time of the week for you regularly scheduled server maintenance, but with a nice twist this week.

The servers will not be going down at all so no need to stop your play session for some updates! Just keep on swinging those lightsabers and fireing those blaster folks, because the fun just will not stop this week.

Tags: server maintenance, weekly maintenance

It’s time again for one of my favorite features on the SWTOR official site, Community Q&A. This week we learn a little about why Commandos and Mercenaries don’t get an interrupt ability, if there is going to be a longer period of time before hitting the “enrage timer” on certain operation bosses, if we are ever going to see an finished “Timeline” section on the forums, and whether guilds will ever be able to openly communicate with their alt guild if they have one on the opposite faction. There is also a nice long answer discussing the reasoning behind the upcoming healer nerfs  that will be taking place across all classes that is a must read for all healers.

Next week there will still be a Community Q&A but there will not be a thread opened for players to pose their questions. This is because the development team will be looking for some of the most asked questions concerning game update 1.2 and devoting next week’s Q&A to answer them. They will also be focusing future Q&A sessions on answering questions concerning game mechanics and updates that have already been released to the live servers, focusing less on questions like “Will we ever see this?” or “When is this coming?” The whole point here is to respond to fewer questions where the answer will just be “maybe” or “soon.” If you want to pose a question in future Community Q&A threads you will have a much better chance of getting a response if you stick to questions about the current game state, not on stuff that may come in the future.

For the full list of questions and answers from this week’s thread check after the jump, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below!

Continue Reading »

Tags: community Q&A, healing, Legacy, operations, PvP

The latest Developer Dispatch out of BioWare is all about the Legacy System and the updates it will be receiving when 1.2 finally drops on the live servers. None of the information coming out of the video is anything that hasn’t been talked about before, but it is always nice to see some of these new features in action.

What do you think about the features coming to the Legacy System? Let us know in the comments section below.

Tags: character customization, heroic abilities, Legacy, legacy system

((The RP XP with MJ #31))

The Zabrak Padawan made his way through a back alley of Coruscant’s Old Galactic Market with the body of his shrouded master cradled in his arms. Tarik glanced over his shoulder at the Rattataki woman behind him, barely registering her on-guard posture and the long lightsaber hilt held in her hands.

“We’re in your neck of the woods, Tarik,” Veetha sneered. “Why all the shadowy back alleys? Tryin’ to make me feel at home?”

“Because you’re Sith, for one. Because I don’t want to attract the attention of Coruscant Security for another.”

Veetha reached out and gently tapped his shoulder. “Aww, that’s sweet. The lil’ Jedi cares about me.”

“Not for a second. I just don’t want to… have….” Tarik stopped before they got to the cross-street and his arms began to tremble. He lowered himself to his knees, his expression blank, his mouth hanging open as Veetha stepped up next to him and crouched to his level.

“What’s wrong, kid?” She touched his arm and shook it gently, but Tarik continued staring into nothingness. Suddenly nervous that she was going to be swarmed by Jedi who sensed her presence, Veetha stood and turned, holding up her hilt to defend herself.

“Yulie,” Tarik whispered.

Veetha spun.“What?”

Leaving his master’s body in the alley, Tarik stood and suddenly turned the way they had come.

“Tarik? Where the hell are you going? What about your master’s carcass?”

Ignoring her, the Padawan picked up his pace. He didn’t look back as he called out,“She needs me!”

Veetha watched him hurry back down the alley, her eyes wide. The Padawan didn’t answer. She figured this Yulel was probably another Jedi – they were always running to each other’s aid, weren’t they? There were two reasons she felt compelled to join him. First, she felt something for him. His determination surrounded by a boyish innocence was somehow …entertaining.

Second, she was a Sith’s apprentice… alone on Coruscant.

Veetha broke into a run to catch up with Tarik.

Continue Reading »

Tags: roleplaying, RP, RP XP with MJ, Scripting

One of the big announcements to come out of BioWare in recent weeks has to be the upcoming changes to the crafting system in game update 1.2. While the system itself has been generally well received, there have been some big issues with the current end-game viability of most of the skills. In order to improve all the skills many of them are getting new recipes, the ability to craft new modable gear, the removing the Bind On Pickup requirement for some of the recipes. BioWare posted a nice bit of information on the specifics of the changes we can expect to see when 1.2 hits the live server.

Check after the jump for all the info. Continue Reading »

Tags: 1.2, crafting, crafting droids, crew skills

It’s that time again, weekly maintenance time. Servers will be down on March 20th from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/7AM GMT/8AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 7AM CDT (5AM PDT/8AM EDT/12PM GMT/1PM CET/12AM AEDT). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than five hours, but could be extended.

Tags: scheduled maintenance, servers, weekly maintenance

If you are itching to see what game update 1.2 has in store for you, now is your chance.  BioWare has officially made their newest update, titled “Legacy”, available for play on the Public Test Server, hopefully a sign that it will be moving to the live game by April as predicted.

The Public Test Server now contains a whole lot of the updates we heard about during the Guild Summit, including the big update to the legacy system. Players will also be able to try out a new Operation, a new Warzone, and see the second part of the “Rise of the Rakghouls” in a new Flashpoint that picks up where “Kanon Under Siege” left off.

If you are looking forward to trying out all these new features then hop on over to the PTS and see them for yourself. The more testing that gets done means the better experience for everyone when the patch goes to the live servers! For a full list of all the changes in 1.2 be sure to check out the patch notes on the PTS.

Tags: 1.2 Public Test server, Flashpoints, Legacy, legacy system, operations, warzones

After a short hiatus last week (due to the Guild Summit), the weekly Q&A session between developers and the community is back this week.

As you might expect there are more than a few questions about the game features discussed during the Guild Summit, including the chances of getting an in-combat revive for the Trooper/Bounty Hunter healers (it is something that may be included in the future), increasing the amount of character spots players have on a server, and how changes to the crafting system will affect mats. There was also talk of pop up blockers for crew skills, adding more Quickbars, and upgrading the achievement system.

For all of this week’s questions and answers check after the jump, and let us know what you think of this week’s session in the comments below. Continue Reading »

Tags: achievements, character slots, community Q&A, crafting, crew skills, Legacy