We’ve mentioned a few days back that The Old Republic will have a strong presence at this year’s Comic Con and that there will be an off site Bioware station, in a hotel near by, where people will be able to get their hands on all sorts of games, including TOR. David Bas,, Community manager for SWTOR, also started organizing a special event for all those interested in visiting the BioWare Base at the Hilton Gaslamp. It is a special, prolonged gameplay session where you will be able to try out one of the starter flashpoints, Black Talon for the Empire classes or Esseles for the Republic. There is a limited number of seats available for these sessions on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night (July 21-23). If you want to take part in one of these you will need to RSVP for a chance to play. To participate the following needs to happen:
Photo ID will be required for entry. Please note that incomplete RSVP emails WILL NOT be considered for invites. We cannot guarantee your first choice of play time or Flashpoint.
Gather the following information:
– Full name (as shown on your ID)
– Preferred Night: Thursday, Friday, or Saturday
– Preferred Time: 7PM or 8PM
– Preferred Flashpoint: Esseles (Republic) or Black Talon (Empire)
Email all of the above info to events@swtor.com with the subject line: “RSVP for Flashpoint Gameplay at Comic-Con” by 10AM CST on Wednesday, July 13th.
Please note that anyone who wishes to play must send their own RSVP, and invites are non-transferable. Feel free to ask any questions you have below, but do NOT RSVP in this thread!
The most interesting thing I find about this is that people will be able to get their hands on the Esseles flashpoint for the first time. I’d really like to hear impressions on that, so if any of you are intending to go we will more than gladly publish your impressions article on SWTOR Life.
Community initiated #SWTORSun day event on Twitter went rather well and as I promised yesterday I am posting the tweets I liked the best. I hope this becomes a thing.
I love it when the community starts good events to support the game they love. The Old Republic has a very commendable community in that regard. The latest initiative stands out because its source is none of the existing fansites or affiliated people. It is started by SWTOR community member @PoeticLogic (as he is known on Twitter) or otherwise known as ContinuumComplex on official swtor.com forums and a member of Jen’Jidai guild. The idea is that every Sunday, starting this upcoming one, you post a message on Twitter with a hashtag #SWTORSun describing why exactly you crave for SWTOR so much. PoeticLogic went so far to even offer a prize to one of the people that tweets this Sunday. The prize is Amazon pre-order of the upcoming SWTOR book Revan!
Personally, I love the idea and in order to support his efforts SWTOR Life will be publishing the best tweets that surface tomorrow with #SWTORSun hashtag, and hopefully every following Sunday. This is a true and honest way to show your appreciation for the game so join in with us tomorrow on Twitter.
You know, the devs put a great deal of time and effort into this game as well as into marketing it. And as much as we praise them for it – we also spend a great deal of time criticizing their efforts. That’s how it works, they design and we crave for more. But I think we should also demonstrate the power of a strong community by helping out with advertising. ^.^
Word of mouth is a powerful thing. So I challenge you all to join me Sunday on twitter with #SWTORSun.
What you do?:
Sunday is now SWTOR Sunday! Each sunday, post a message with the hashtag #SWTORSun and just mention one of your favorite things about SWTOR. If you have the space, include a link to the website.
Good day my fellow SWTOR enthusiasts. Let me start off by saying how much I regret not being able to annoy the s**t out of you wonderful people for a few weeks due to a Move, Girlfriend, Shitty internet, Near heart attack, Medication change, Philly-Cheese steak obsession, and my personal penchant to stuff two badgers in a pillowcase and watch them fight it out like two hookers on the Vegas strip fighting over some japanese high roller. I missed you all about as much as a herpes outbreak during spring break. Read more … if you dare
The title of the article is actually the title of the panel that will be held at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego from 3:30 to 4:30 on July 21. The panel is hosted by BioWare and LucasArts and it is dedicated to talking about Star Wars: The Old Republic. There will be several other Star Wars panels at the show, but this one is the most important one for SWTOR fans. The title is so filled with underlying meanings that I just don’t know whether to get really excited about it or just chill so I don’t get disappointed like with some other, previously held, big conventions. You can read the full announcement at the San Diego Comic Con official site and here’s the announcement of the SWTOR panel:
Star Wars: The Old Republic : Join Us, It Is Your Destiny— BioWare and LucasArts are creating the most immersive MMO experience you’ve ever played with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Hear from BioWare developers as they discuss development of a story-driven MMO, debut new gameplay footage, and perhaps spring a few surprises along the way. Exclusive reveals, giveaways, guests, and Q&A! Room 6BCF
For good measure here’s the Facebook image of the week that was released yesterday.
One of the things I have really liked about crafting systems in past games I have played was the ability to break items down into raw resources or the ability to “Deconstruct” them. Sure the ability usually was present to just go gather myself and gain the resources I needed that way. Also I could just go to the auction house and buy them, but sometimes it wasn’t practical to do either or economical with crazy server prices and it was just easier to deconstruct stuff I had lying around for the few ingots of a certain type of metal or wooden grips, etc, I needed at the time.
There has been a metaphor running around SWTOR forums and official twitter accounts for quite some time now. I am not sure what is the earliest mention of this metaphor, but looking at the developer tracker I would say that this is the initial post:
I’ve said before that an announcement as big as release date will be so big, it’ll come thundering towards us and we’ll all hear it long before it arrives. That train’s coming… but so far, I’d just say we’ve laid down some early track.
Train speeding down the tracks making “Choo Choo” noises is what represents the announcement of the SWTOR Release date and its eventual release. Metaphor turned SWTOR meme has only been amplified by Stephen Reid, Senior Community Manager, with him using it extensively. It has come to that point where Mr. Reid received a gift, a train conductor’s hat, to be worn when the Day comes, as described in the following tweets:
Rockjaw:
Someone sent me a hat. I won’t tell you what it is, because knowing you lot, you’ll freak out. But person who sent it? It’s here. Link (July 1. 2011.) Rockjaw:
Disclaimers: Hat does not imply anything. It is merely a hat. No train is coming (yet). Do not panic. Do not adjust your set. Link (July 1. 2011.) Rockjaw:
The hat in question was bought FOR me, not by me, and I said I would wear it (in a photo) when The Day Comes. (And it hasn’t yet.) Link (July 1. 2011.) At0mXII:
@Rockjaw So when we do see a tweet that says “Choo Choo!” and has a pic of you in the hat we should THEN get excited? 🙂 Link (July 1. 2011.) Rockjaw:
Re: previous tweet – yes, something like that. Link (July 1. 2011.)
In line with all this I have decided to alter SWTOR Life website by adding a train countdown. Our train is Imperial Hover Train racing towards the finish line that has “release date” written on it. I have made it so that the train moves closer to the finish line as each day passes. It will move only a couple of pixels per day, but in a week or so the movement should be much more apparent. I have chosen the finish line to be reached on December 31. 2011., because in line with all we know from official sources the game should be out this year and that is the last day of this year. Once we find out what is the exact release date I will modify the finish line and the train’s relative position to it in line with new information. If you think I should add something more to it (like actual number of days left or something) please leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do. I always wanted to put a countdown to release date somewhere on the site and I believe that using the train meme metaphor is a perfect way to accomplish this. All that is left is to watch that train move, painstakingly slow, each day.
San Diego Comic Con is one of those big events on the calendar of any person that loves gaming, comics and SCI-FI stuff. Intersecting with all of these categories, Star Wars The old Republic will have a big presence at the show this year. Beside having a booth on the show floor (and probably a panel like last year) there is going to be a big hands-on gaming area available at a hotel next to the convention, so a lot more people will be able to get their hands on the game without the need to queue for hours. Click here to read full news
These class progression trailers are immense fun. They are one of the few things forum trolls do not hate or fuss much about, which just goes to prove my previous sentence. There was a big squeee in SWTOR Life virtual office because 80% of staff are planning to play Bounty Hunters at launch. SWTORCrafter even managed to play the first levels of it during the Fan Site Summit, so you can check his hands on impressions to complete your overall impression of the class.
The progression trailer shows some great footage of new armor and skills. I particularly liked the last armor they show in the video. It is very “savage” looking. There’s flamethrower AOE-ing, carbonite freezing, rocket launching, jetpack flying, knife in face action all over the place in the video and I am sure you will enjoy it. I have one objection though. I know they’ve done this only to show the skills and that action is a bit staged, but I still can’t get it out of my head. There is no way in hell that anyone or anything, including Bounty Hunters, can one shot Jedi (padawan or not).
We found this video among the media SWTORCrafter shot at E3. I’ve posted it a while back on our YouTube channel and I think it is about time I put it up on the site as well. There is some nice footage here of the new UI as well as companion specific UI. There are some nice enough shots of the sexy droid companion Scorpio to be found in the video. I’ve replaced the show floor noise with some original tracks from Knights of the Old Republic. People have been complaining about all the music and trailers that were heard in the background of previous E3 videos. I hope you find this a much better solution.
