In preparation for launch (ah, those words sound so good) there are several things happening in the SWTOR hemisphere and a lot of them involve deleting/wiping all sorts of data. Earlier today some of you may or may have not received an email suggesting you uninstall your SWTOR Beta client. Things are not as straightforward as that. It is suggested that everyone that played the beta since before November 25th should uninstall their client. Still, it is also said that if you played the beta after that date you should be able to patch up to the launch version. If you participated in the beta earlier than the Big Beta Weekend you might have a lot of leftover files that will just take up space or worse break your SWTOR installation. In that case you might want to just uninstall the damn thing and download it anew once early access downloads are available. This and more is explained in the thread posted on the official forums here.
 
While we’re on the topic of forums … the official ones will be wiped come December 10 and they will be replaced by bigger, better forums. If you want to save any private messages or important threads the time to do so is now! Among the changes there will be new forums and subforums including a community blog feature. You can read the official announcement here (before it is wiped from existence).
 
There were 750.000 unique players during the Thanksgiving Beta Test and more than two million applied for the beta out of 2.4 registered on the official swtor.com website. In case you don’t know (which means that: a) you never participated in a MMO beta before or launch; or: b) you were hiding under a rock) ALL of the characters created by those players in the beta will be wiped as the servers are prepared for launch.
 
With all the above said – 10 DAYS LEFT – before people will be able to create their first permanent characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Never thouhgt I’ll see the day.
 

Tags: beta, client, forum, install, uninstall, wipe

This article was submitted by a member of our community, Justin Taylor. We are happy to publish him and we hope that you the SWTOR community enjoy him as well, thank you Justin!   🙂
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With multiple beta testing sessions and some positive reviews already flowing in, Star Wars The Old Republic has already been tabbed as one of the major releases of the holiday season. Even though previews have mostly been positive, there was a bit of skepticism coming in focused on the profits for the game by the president of Activision. The assessment looks somewhat misguided; especially considering some industry analysts doubt it already.

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((The RP XP with MJ #15))

This is what some RPers do in beta before trying out a Flashpoint.

 
Veetha stood as she was commanded, in the rain and darkness of Dromund Kaas while her master went inside to report to a representative of the Dark Council.

The platform on which she waited was a circular speeder taxi pad a few hundred feet in the air above the rain washed streets of the Imperial Capitol. There were no guard rails, only the speeder taxi she and Lord Tagious brought here. Veetha stood soaked, in the middle of the pad, her shoulders hunched and her fists clenched. A squat maintenance droid and its human handler stood nearby, the droid buzzing and squawking as it worked over some inane droid task. The human leaned against a short stack of crates he had yet to move inside where it was dry. He stared at her from under the dripping bill of his cap.

Veetha felt his eyes upon her, felt his hatred of her alien presence, but also felt his lust at her female form made prominent by the rain pressing her robe down against her body. She didn’t look in his direction, didn’t acknowledge him. She only waited, still, her eyes locked on the distant door.

“Whatsa matter, Rattataki?” The human shouted to her through the downpour. Distant thunder echoed his question. “Afraid of a little rain?”
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Tags: roleplayers, roleplayers. rp xp with mj, RP

There are not many items that scream Star Wars more than a lightsaber. The mere sight of one can induce feelings of nostalgia and recognition in any Star Wars fan in a way that few other things can. Though in its original conception it was intended to be a weapon used by many different people in the Star Wars universe, it eventually became a tool that could only be utilized by Force Sensitive beings. To a Jedi, a lightsaber is a tool, something to help them maintain peace and to measure their attunement to the Force. For the Sith, it is a weapon, a way to impose their will on others and to serve as a symbol of their strength and superiority. The mere sight of one can stop a conflict before it begins, and those who have witnessed one in action can speak of the lightsaber’s ability to inspire allies, or cause a sense of dread in opponents.  But how were these weapons first conceived, and how do they even work? I will answer these questions for you in this week’s edition of TOR Lore. Continue Reading »

Tags: lightsaber

 
There was one fear that every BioWare and Star Wars: The Old Republic fan had about the upcoming MMO. We knew that the game would have story. We knew that it would have quality. From all the footage we’ve seen, we knew that the game would have everything a modern MMORPG had to have. We knew BioWare made good games and we were optimistic that they would deliver with SWTOR. What we didn’t know is whether BioWare’s inexperience in making Massively Multiplayer Online games would show when millions of users started playing the game. Will their server technology fail?
 
The short answer is – BioWare Won!
 
They handed out hundreds of thousands of beta keys. They invited everyone that applied within the last three years to test their game. My best guesstimate is that they had around one million beta testers hitting their servers at some point. Things were not 100 percent smooth, but they were 90 percent good. I tested how the whole beta went myself by going to a European server right from the start. These were hit very hard because there weren’t enough of them early on. I logged on the very minute the servers went live. It took about 10 minutes to get through the whole login procedure, but I got in and started playing. Things in game might not have been as smooth as they were when the regular game testing happened, but they were very playable. There were a lot of issues the first few hours and BioWare addressed as many as possible right away, trying to get every single player into the game. That is what beta testing is all about — discovering problems you weren’t aware of before. We had a patch of the launcher on Saturday and several more fixes in the meantime. In the end, BioWare passed the test of technology with flying colors. Now they have a good game and have the technology that will support all of its players.
 
Before closing this article I wanted to address one more issue. There must have been thousands, if not tens of thousands, of players that had problems during this weekend’s beta test. Based on my experience during all three days, nothing happened that was out of the ordinary. There were server disconnects and queues and login problems. All of this falls within the scope of a beta stress test. The beta was not staged so that people could fully enjoy SWTOR as a finished product. This was meant to uncover bugs that may pop up so that people may enjoy SW:TOR in December. As such, this test was a great success. Also, if they had 50,000 “unsatisfied” customers, that may seem like a huge number. In fact, that is only 5 percent out of the guesstimated 1 million testers. This is an OK number to me.
 
All I have to say in the end is Congratulations, BioWare. Our faith in you through all these years turned out to be justified. We are sorry we doubted you… at times ;).
 

In a email that was sent to the community this afternoon by Bioware we learned that the Pre Launch Guild Program will be ending soon, here is the details from the news post located here.

A few weeks ago we announced that Phase 3 of our Pre-Launch Guild Program had begun. Phase 3: Deployment allows guild members to see whether or not their guild qualifies for transfer into the game. As we approach Early Game Access for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, we want to remind all of you in guilds that the Pre-Launch Guild Program will end on December 2nd, 11:59PM CST so that guilds can be assigned to servers for Early Game Access.

This is your last chance to:

Make any changes to your guild
Ensure your guild meets requirements for deployment into the game
Designate your guild’s Allies and Adversaries
Review and accept pending guild applications

So how do you ensure that your guild makes it into the game for launch? It’s simple! All you have to do is make sure at least four members of your guild have pre-ordered the game and redeemed their Pre-Order Code at our Code Redemption Center. Once you’ve done that, you can check your guild’s page within the Guild HQ to see if you have met all of the pre-designated conditions.

If your guild does not yet qualify for transfer to the game, you still have time. Visit our Pre-Order page, secure your copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and redeem your Pre-Order Code to help ensure that your guild makes the cut for launch!

To learn more about guilds in The Old Republic, check out the Guilds Game System page for details and visit the Guilds FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.

*Customers who pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic will be able to play the game before the official launch. “Early Game Access” is the period of time before the official game launch when pre-order customers may access the game. Early Game Access may be up to 5 days. The length of your Early Game Access depends on the date and order in which you redeemed your Pre-Order Code at the Code Redemption Center. See Pre-Order FAQ for more details.

**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.

Also here from the email is the fine print that you might be interested in reading. It has some interesting insights into the how and why of the program.

* At the end of the Pre-Launch Guild Program and before your guild is deployed to The Old Republic, guilds on the website may not be altered in any way. This includes creating/disbanding guilds, adding/removing guild members, promoting/demoting guild members, adding/removing allies and adversaries, as well as changing guild’s server type, time zone, and language preference. During this period, guilds can continue posting in their public and private forums. For more details, visit the Guilds FAQ. †Customers who pre-order Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be able to play the game before the official launch. “Early Game Access” is the period of time before the official game launch when pre-order customers may access the game. Early Game Access may be up to 5 days. The length of your Early Game Access depends on the date and order in which you redeemed your Pre-Order Code at www.starwarstheoldrepublic.com/preorder. See Pre-Order FAQ for more details. ††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 system malfunctions that prevent your guild from importing into the game as planned. See Terms of Service for more details.

Click here or simply reply to this email to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive marketing communications from Star Wars: The Old Republic. LucasArts, the LucasArts logo, STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks in the United States and/or in other countries of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. © 2011 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. BioWare and the BioWare logo are trademarks of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. EA and the EA logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Tags: guild, pre launch, swtor

This week’s Most Wanted comes to us from the EU and has a brand spanking new baby boy to introduce to the world of Star Wars. He goes by the name WeekendJedi, but you can just call him Lee.

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With the NDA lifted in TOR, I decided to take a big hit for the team and amassed around 70 hours of play time in the past week to get a good feel for the solo game-play.

First things first. Playing solo, or mostly solo, works very well. You will be faced with challenges that will need more than one player, yet these tend to be outside your story quest lines and, as such, can be bypassed.

Also, some content can only be completed solo when you gain your first companion at around  level 8 or 9. For those wishing to be companion-free and still play solo, you are going to have a real hard time at this game. Each companion is tailored for your class needs, and as such, will hit you hard if you try and play without them by your side.

I played solo on every class apart from the Imperial Agent. I had major concerns about the cover system on both the IA and on the Smuggler. After playing the smuggler, however, I have to admit I enjoyed it greatly. Its not all about sneaking up from behind cover. You have some good AOE skills early on that makes it play different from what I expected.

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Today is important for Star Wars :The Old Republic fans because today begins the biggest beta event ever held for the game. We, here at SWTOR Life, are very excited as well, because this will probably be the first time people will want to find more information about quests, datacron locations and Skill trees of their characters, and all of this information is available on our sister site SWTOR Spy. SWTOR-Spy.com is a SWTOR Database we have been working on for the past several months. It is currently the only non-corporate, created and operated by community members and fans, SWTOR database out there. We will try to bring the information to SWTOR players in a more personal way, while providing features you would expect from a database site. The site is, just like the game, still in beta, but some sections are already fully operational.

• Quests Database – is the flagship of our database. It will provide you not only with every step of every quest in the game, but also different choice outcomes and full screenshot walkthroughs for those hard to do quests! We have all quests on all Origin planets covered by image guides already, and a certain portion of quests all the way up to level 25.
• Datacron locations – We provide guides with coordinates and images that will describe how to get to a particular datacron.
• Skill Tree Calculator – a perfect way to spend your time while waiting the beta to start is to plan your character’s talent build. You can do that with our Skill Tree calculators for every class in the game
• Companions – Our list of companions will help you determine what Crew skills you might want to take due to bonuses companions provide, or you can check out our world exclusive list of gifts every companion likes or dislikes!
• Lore Objects – SWTOR Codex is the collector’s best friend. It lists all the interesting things you’ve encountered while exploring the Galaxy. We will help you find those hard to find entries. There are Lore Objects in the world that provide unique Code Lore entires and we give coordinates along with screenshot guides to their locations.
• Crew Skills (beta) – Check out the list of all crew skills and which crew skills go best together. We even have a list of all the recipes and components for Crafting Crew Skills, but the functionality is still not fully operational so check back in a few days to see it in its full glory.

We have also started a Guides section that will help novice, as well as advanced, MMORPG gamers find their way, with our very own SWTORCrafter giving expert tips for crafters of all profiles.
 
There are many more things to come in the future, but for now, check out what we’ve already put up or just use the quick search light saber we freshly installed on SWTOR Life and you will be taken straight to relevant information.
 

There was a great disturbance in the Force. It is as if hundreds of thousands gamers sighed in relief and clicked on the Login button!
 
The day has finaly come and EVERYONE that applied for the SWTOR beta will get to experience it. So far things are doing alright. There are a ton of servers available (as you can see from the image above). Please keep in mind that the purpose of this test is to STRESS Test the severs and not to provide you with an enjoyable gaming experience. I am starting this post in order to keep you updated about any issues that might arise and any possible solutions to these problems. Here’s a first couple:

• There is an official Launcher Troubleshooting Guide available on the official forums http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=65403
• If your play button is grayed out please double check your email, your start date and time is likely tomorrow and not today.
• We’re continuing to bring up more EU servers; another EN one going up soon.
• If you are unable to load characters from a previous Weekend Test we recommend you create a new character at this time. Thanks!
• Official SWTOR: We have now opened 3 more EU servers! We thank you as you continue to #TestSWTOR.
• Rockjaw: If you are unable to see a server list, you probably need to re-allow SWTOR via Windows Firewall. Known issue we’re fixing.
• Rockjaw: European folk: Yes there will be more EU servers, specifically English. Remember we’re trying to stress-test this weekend.
• Rockjaw: Anyone with questions about servers: these are not the final numbers or distribution.
• It takes a while for the game to load and start. Do not panic if you are “stuck” on a single screen or nothing is happening when you click the Login button on the launcher. However, waiting for more than 5-10 minutes probably means something is wrong
• Doctordake: This must be like what an Air Traffic Control center feels like. Or a newsroom command center. Or an MMO Live team.

Tags: bug, error, issues, list, login, problem, server