Today we were supposed to have access to the first content update for SWTOR since the game went live at release.  This content update is aptly named 1.1 It is thematically named “Rise of the Rakghouls” in honor of its main content upgrade and additions.  However it has been delayed as per the statement from the patcher from Bioware and the announcement blog on the forums,

Hello everyone!

Because we care about ensuring that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ provides you with a consistent and quality game play experience, we will be postponing weekly maintenance this week. Downtime was originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 from 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET) to 10AM CST (8AM PST/11AM EST/4PM GMT/5PM CET) and will now occur at a later date due to issues requiring additional testing that have been discovered with the Game Update 1.1 content on the Public Test Server.

These issues were primarily brought to our attention by the diligent players on the Public Test Server Forums. Your participation in testing helps to improve the game as a whole, and we appreciate your discussion and feedback. The bug reports you provide are a valuable part of the development process. Thank you!

We’re working hard to bring you Game Update 1.1: Rise of the Rakghouls and are working hard to ensure your overall experience with Star Wars: The Old Republic is spectacular! The maintenance window for Game Update 1.1 will be rescheduled for some time within the next few days, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. When there’s a definite time, we will post here on the Community Blog as well as on the Official Forums. Please keep your eye out for updates, and we will provide information as soon as it’s available.

So if you were waiting on this content today you will have to wait a little longer it seems as the people who are playing on the public test server helped Bioware determine some issues that required further testing.  We here at SwtorLife are glad to see Bioware take this so seriously in an effort to make sure that the content they distribute to us is as bug free as possible they are willing to postpone its launch in order to get it right the first time.

I am also glad to see the public test server be so useful to them in identifying these issues, that lets me know that the hours i log there in an effort to make the game better by testing new content actually matter!  🙂

We will be sure to let you know first thing when we find out when this content will be going live so until then hang tight folks!

Tags: content patch 1.1, game update, kaon under siege, rise of the rakghouls, swtor

Well, well, well…. I’m back.

It’s been some time since my last post. The holiday season handed me a few challenges which all took my time away from everything web-related. I’m glad to say that these challenges are somewhat behind me now and I now have time (at long last) to focus on TOR again.

I was going to start my return post with a rant about the imbalance of the class system, but I will put that off for another time.

Today I will walk you through a simple and easy-to-follow macro set-up I’m playing around with in-game. It’s by no means perfect, but it does help to simplify key binds and the fast-paced combat which we all have come to expect in TOR.

The minimum requirement is a 3-button mouse. Better still is a programmable mouse with extra buttons, but this can be bypassed with a program like Auto-Hotkey which will work just as well.

The reason I call this a 1-2-3 macro is the simple fact that is that you will use 1, 2 and 3 as you main macro set-up. You could use 8, 9, 0 and free up your lower keys for easy use, but it still works out that all skills will be grouped into sets of 3.

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Tags: Macros

Players who have played since launch already know the order of the planets near the beginning of your epic adventure. The Empire starts out either on Hutta (Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter) or on Korriban (Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor) then moves on to the capital planet of Dromund Kaas. The Republic starts out on either Ord Mantell (Smuggler and Trooper) or on Tython (Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular) then moves on to the capital planet of Coruscant. These are the sanctuary planets. The opposing faction can’t visit these locations. So where does PvP start? Continue Reading »

Tags: Balmorra, Empire, Imperial, open world pvp, player versus player, PvP, Republic, Rosie, Taris

Zombies in my SWTOR!

To coincide with the release of the new content addition dubbed 1.1 “Rise of the Rakghouls” on this Tuesday, David Bass from Bioware sent us some pictures to publish and I decided to gather up what info I have been seeing on the internet about it for you to read as well.  A new flashpoint is a very exciting thing when talking about new content being added to the game because they are very fun from my experience.  They are a great diversion from all the other outstanding features that Bioware has in SWTOR from the story, the crewskills and crafting, the PVP, and on with many other great things they have in store for you.

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Tags: flashpoint, Flashpoints, new game content 1.1, rise of the rakghouls

Crafting for reals, I am serious!

Finally SWTOR is released and operating, the NDA is not a problem anymore, and I have had time to experience and digest the crafting system in SWTOR. It has been a long drawn out time of waiting for this game and to find out if I will be pleased or not based on what they have created as their crafting system and dubbed “crew skills”.

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Tags: armormech, armstech, auction house, bioware, crafting, crew skills, swtor

((The RP XP with MJ #21))

Aaaahh! What happened to my RP XP? Where’s the witty picture? Where’s the ongoing fiction about the smuggler who stole the rock? They’ll be back, my friends. But this week I thought I’d address an aspect of the game few RPers even consider.

This edition of the RP XP is all about in-game preferences for RolePlayers. Early last month, swtor-life’s own Mr. Warlock gave some great advice for preference settings to make your life easier in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first of his two-part series can be found here. While those prefs were awesome suggestions for gaming, they don’t necessarily meet the oddball needs of those of us who fly the crazy RPer’s banner.

Tags: Preferences, Roleplay, RP, RP XP with MJ, Settings

Twi’leks are one of the most well known alien species in the Star Wars universe, with their tentacles swinging from their heads and their varied skin colors making them easy to recognize among the denizens of the galaxy. Their species has been seen in almost every role in the galaxy, from Jedi to Sith, from senator to slave. They also happen to be, in my opinion, the least humanoid looking species a player can play in The Old Republic, making them popular among those players who are trying to make their character as unique as possible. Today we will take a look at the cultural and physiological aspects unique to this species. Continue Reading »

Tags: lore, Twi'lek

So, I have been trying PvP in pretty much all its formats since launch. I have to say that I am happy with it overall. Continue Reading »

Tags: camping, griefing, Ilum, player versus player, PvP, Rosie, swtor, Voss

((The RP XP with MJ #20))

The ruddy-skinned Twi’lek looked up at the Jedi temple and squinted against the bright sunlight. When she looked back down she noticed she was the center of attention.

The young Jedi Zabrak with her said, “There’s a Twi’lek village near here, but we don’t get many your color, Yulel.”

Yulel ignored him and started down the steps toward the taxi launch.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“I’m not staying here, Tarik. I hate you guys.”

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

Hot off the presses comes word on one thing that has crossed my mind while I have been playing the game so far since launch and that is the question of whether or not Bioware is going to be as aggressive as other companies have been in getting control of their in game economy via banning or suspension.  As my inbox fills with spam, power leveling advertisements, offers to sell me credits and such, I have been wondering this for sure.

On average as it is now I get about two whispers a day and a in game email, I report them all and ignore them but they do not stop.  While this does not seem like an insane amount I have to wonder when factored in among all the players of the game just how big of a problem this is.  I have seen in the past in a MMO just how bad things like this can become and just how much damage they can do to a in game economy.  That is why I was very glad to see them address this issue as to some of the steps they have been taking to fight things like exploiting a in game mechanic to farm credits.

Recently, in this forum post on the official forums, Stephen Reid had this to say about steps they have recently taken to try to combat this situation:

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Tags: banning, bans, bioware, credits, gold farming, swtor