Probably one of the more talked about subjects in regards to playing Swtor has been what it takes to actually play Swtor. Right now, no one really knows. There has been discussions covering the topic though. So far the only real input we have on this is what was said before, which is:

Although no official system requirements have been released for STAR WARS: The Old Republic, one of the most popular topics relating to the game is discussion of system requirements. To keep all these discussions consolidated, we have created this thread to speculate and discuss possible The Old Republic system requirements on Windows PC.

While no official requirements have been published, this E3 2009 interview with BioWare’s Gordon Walton gives some insight into the basic level of system requirements that BioWare is aiming for:

Quote:

Gordon Walton: We are definitely not intending it to be extremely high.   Gophn.com: That’s great. I would like to be able to play it on my 3 year old gaming notebook. Gordon Walton: It’s going to more modest to let more people into the game because not every gamer changes out their machine for super hardcore machines.

Also, to clarify:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanDahlberg Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently being developed for the personal computer (PC) using the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. While we recognize that there are other operating systems and platforms available for games today, our development is specific to the personal computer using the Windows operating system at this time.

Please use this thread to speculate on the requirements, discuss whether your Windows personal computer will be able to handle the game, and other topics directly related to TOR’s system requirements.

As always, any discussion or responses found within is pure speculation; please do not take any requirement suggestions as official unless they come from BioWare themselves.

 

So it looks like Swtor may be pretty forgiving in what it takes to play the game. It seems that if you have a system that can currently run Warcraft, then you should be fine in regards to running this once it releases. Nobody has a clue what settings (low, mid, high) that might run the game, but hey, for now you are actually playing it aren’t you?

So in regards to this, I’d like to present something that even a novice Gamer Geek or budding PC Builder wannabe can use to upgrade on their current system, if they are really think they need one. The PC Gamer 2011 PC Builder’s Bible

With this handy magazine, building a new system (what I am doing) or even looking for upgrades to your current system become a little easier to manage with what information they give you. Add in places like Newegg and Fry’s, and you may find some of these items cheaper than is what suggested in the magazine.

With a little work, you shouldn’t even have to worry about IF you can play the game, as now you KNOW you can, and even possibly, run it at it’s most glorious setting of FULL so that you can enjoy every mouth-watering pixel coming at you full force on your face.

Tags: Forum Friday

On day 2 of the Fan Site Summit in Austin a PvP presentation was scheduled. Unfortunately, Derek and me had to leave early to catch our flights back home so we missed most of the action. We did attend the Q&A with Gabe Amatangelo, but never got to actually participate in PvP. I’ll lay out the most important stuff we heard at the Q&A and link to coverage from other sites that were present and got to fight it out.

• You will be able to cast Crowd Control abilities on an enemy character only a set amount of times before they become immune to CC. There is a thing called resolve bar, that will be visible below each character’s HP bar, that fills up each time a CC ability lands on that character. When the resolve bar is full – character is immune.
• Score in PvP battlegrounds is divided among several categories: Healing done, Damage done and Defending done. Defending is related to the ammount of damage tank characters absorb on behalf of their allies this is done through the “Guard” ability every tank character has
• Guard ability lets you select an ally and cast this ability on him. This will “link” their health to the tank’s and 50% of all damage the “guarded” character receives is damaging the tank instead.
• There will be special PvP zones that once you enter you are automatically flagged for PvP. Even on PvE serves!
• As reward from PvP You get Valor points which are an alternative leveling system that lets you purchase PvP rewards once you reach certain Valor level. These rewards will not be too powerful when compared to PvE gear of similar class; 10-20% at most. This is more of a way of providing players with means to distinguish themselves as PvP players to the general population.
• Once the battleground is over you can actually vote for (commend) one player you think contributed the most. Person that was elected the most useful will get more rewards.
• Players that go on special streaks (like kill 10 enemies in a row without dying) get “badges” and their achievement is announced to everyone in the battleground so you know who is doing well/to avoid.
• Another battleground was revealed and it is called the Voidstar. The objective of this battleground is for one team to attack the enemy’s base objective by objective until they captured them all. At the end teams switch sides and the match continues.

Click here to see all the Fansite coverage we collected so far

Tags: crowd control, defend, Fan Site Summit, guard

Facebook image #11

Yesterday was Star Wars day (May the Fourth be with you…) and beside the Blue Ray version of all Star Wars films being announced we had a lot of TOR related news. European version of game testing has been announced. Conference call between EA financial management and the investors has been held and SWTOR was mentioned. This also produced an official release window for the game to be moved to the second half of 2011.
Click here to read about these news items in more detail

Tags: facebook, game testing, investors, release

During the first Fan Site Summit Bioware organized for members of the Fan Sites that write about their upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, we had a chance to sit down for 2 days and play the game. These are impressions from our hands on experience and they are divided into the following segments:

1. Combat
2. Story
3. Exploration
4. General

You should also check out Swtorcrafter’s Bounty Hunter and General Gameplay Impressions for another view of the hands on experience.
 
DISCLAIMER: Everything discussed here is subject to change. The version of the game we played was not even the latest build that was about to hit the beta servers around the time we visited Austin. Please, take all of the things said here with a grain of salt. Through testing and player feedback things drastically change.
 
I will be covering exploration in The Old Republic in this part of my Imperial Agent hands on series of articles. Why exploration? It has become a lost art of MMO design. As developers moved towards creating more accessible games in order to reach the widest audience possible they chose to hold the players’ hand every step of the way and take them down a predefined path. This made exploration a moot point since there was nothing outside that laid out path. Massive Multiplayer games are, however, a perfect setting for exploration. With its massive lands that take hours to walk across you should be able to find things that none else saw before. Little gems of lore and land that game designers left for those inquisitive types of players. Does Bioware provide something like that in The Old Republic?
Click here to read more about my exploring adventures with the Imperial Agent

Tags: event, exploration, exploring, Fan Site Summit, gameplay, hands on, imperial agent, map

First off let me start off this little article with the props so due to SWTORCRAFTER and SERGE for the awesome interviews and hands-on reports from the fan summit.   I was as happy as a Sarlacc full of Boba when I got all those articles and reports.  Well done guys. Remind me to send you both a nice can of nuts, and a $50 space hooker for Festivus this year.

Today’s topic of whine:   Game systems.   That’s right. You read it right. I’m gonna go off on a tangent about something I have absolutely no clue about, have never heard about, and have never seen.   Why you ask in a perplexed and angry tone?  Simple: I have way to much time on my hands and very little to do.  I also enjoy bitching about crap for no good reason.

 
Need moar epic SWTOR rant? Click here to read the full article

During the first Fan Site Summit Bioware organized for members of the Fan Sites that write about their upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, we had a chance to sit down for 2 days and play the game. These are impressions from our hands on experience and they are divided into the following segments:

1. Combat
2. Story
3. Exploration
4. General

You should also check out Swtorcrafter’s Bounty Hunter and General Gameplay Impressions for another view of the hands on experience.
 

In this article I will talk about the famous Story component BioWare has been focusing on as a main pillar of this MMORPG. If you know Bioware you know their strongest asset is great story. That is why I wanted to fight “The Man” and try and break that aspect of the game. I am an ex World of Warcraft player. Your story does not concern me. Give me quests and point me to where I can shoot stuff. There will be some spoilers in this article, but I will try and spare you as much as I can and warn you upfront when spoiler is incoming.

Click here to read why I think this is the best Bioware game ever made

Tags: dark side, evil, Fan Site Summit, hands on, quest, story

So as we make our way closer to that fateful date where we can all log into the The Old Republic and make a character to finally play, I start thinking of things that go along with Character Creation. Sure, the initial part of this process is choosing a race, sex, appearance and finally class, but there is also another part of this and that is HOW you choose to play that character. With the story part of the game and the effects of the choices we make, how you play your character is a bigger part of the direction you want your character to be.

One thing to think about is that this probably isn’t going to be as easy as you think. Light/Neutral/Dark as a Bounty Hunter takes different roles compared to the other classes. I see the role of Bounty Hunters (BH) as something out of the box in regards to what they do in each setting. Let’s take a look at how I see the roles playing out.

• Light (good) I know, you are thinking “How can a Bounty Hunter be good?” I look at this in the mechanic of the Healing role. If you mainly run as a healer, then you might play the role of a support BH that is specialized in protection a person for the right amount of money. How many criminals in the Star Wars Universe do you think would pay for a top level BH that is specialized in protecting their target? This might involve having to go out and eliminate any suspects that pose a threat before they take action. You aren’t killing innocents unless they need to die and you don’t target indiscriminately. So being “good” while being “Bad” has an easier take in the class.

• Neutral (balanced) Being a BH gives you a lot of leverage in this play-style. You take on jobs to either kill or capture. There is always a price when people want this type of service. Your employers might like it if you just went in blasters blazing but this is your show, not theirs. Just because you were sent to kill a person doesn’t necessarily mean YOU have to be the person that kills the target. You might capture them and take them back for your employer to do the dirty work themselves. You could turn down jobs that involve killing those that do not need to be killed. There are so many ways of playing a BH that is just there for the money it isn’t funny.

• Dark (evil) Evil as a BH isn’t the same as being evil as a Sith Warrior, per say. As a BH, you are just plain bad. You take no crap from anyone. You don’t play by any rules but your own. Your only goal is money and self preservation and you will do whatever it takes, kill anyone you want and take or destroy as you see fit.

Now you see how I look at the paths we walk through the story element of the game. It’s up to you to decide what you want to make your Bounty Hunter. I actually plan on playing a balanced role as the Bounty Hunter. I’ll kill as the situation sees fit. I may take out an annoying NPC, when available, due to their chatter or inability to accomplish things gets on my nerves.

Granted, these are my interpretations of how I think each role could be played, but it is up to you to define how you play your Bounty Hunter. Have fun with your character and play the role you choose to the fullest of your potential.

Tags: bounty hunter

During the first Fan Site Summit Bioware organized for members of the Fan Sites that write about their upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, we had a chance to sit down for 2 days and play the game. These are impressions from our hands on experience and they are divided into the following segments:

1. Combat
2. Story
3. Exploration
4. General

You should also check out Swtorcrafter’s Bounty Hunter and General Gameplay Impressions for another view of the hands on experience.
 
In this article I will talk about the way combat works in SWTOR. I want to talk in detail about the skills my character had at its disposal during my gameplay and what it felt like to fight different types of enemies. I managed to get to level 6 on my own and I played a flashpoint with a level 9 character.
 
I’ve set a goal on playing the game outside of my usual gaming patterns. I usually read the quest text and do every quest I can find and I really hate to grind. I spend hours exploring and finding groups to do some cool stuff. In this case, I approached the game a bit different. I wanted to skip as much dialogue as I could to see if the game is still fun when I “break” the story element and I went off hunting mobs at random and outside my level range to see what it felt like. With all that in mind I sat at my designated computer and faced my scrawny imperial agent character. I felt sorry for the poor guy, he was in for some pain.
 
Click here to read more about the Imperial Agent and his combat skills

Tags: agent, cover, Fan Site Summit, hands on, impressions, shiv

It is hard to pick out any particular coverage of the Fan Site Summit, because 15 fan sites were present and we think all of them did a great job. We are biased towards one of them because writer for SWTOR Life, MrWarlock, also represented his own site – SWTOR UK at the Summit. We had chance to hang out with Mick for those few days at the summit and I can tell you he is one proper human being. Now that I met him I truly regret not living closer so we can hang out more often in person. What you also need to know about him is that he is exclusively an MMO gamer and he’s been playing MMOs since Ultima Online. Story and some such tomfoolery is of no concern to him, or is it? To find out I recommend you read his articles from the Fan site summit – they are a jewel.

SWTOUR Part 1 – Story
Random Pic’s From SWTOUR
SWTOUR Part 2 Combat & Gameplay
SWTOUR Part 3 Points To Note
Screen Shot From SWTOUR & Friday Update

I would also like to point out that he is running a giveaway of swag he got at the summit. You can read all about it in his SWTOUR swag article and get a chance to win the book Deceived as well as a Sith t-shirt and hat.

Tags: fansite, swag

As part of our Fan Site Summit experience at Bioware offices in Austin, Texas, we got a chance to participate in two Q&A sessions that were organized with Damion Schubert, Lead Systems Designer, Daniel Erickson, Lead writer and Blaine Christine, Live Producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We managed to ask one question to each of them and I am providing you with a transcripts of these questions and answers along with complete audio recording of the Q&A sessions so you can hear what other sites asked and got answers for.

I would also like to mention that the impression you get when asking these developers questions is that they are really smart and approachable. I thought that the Imperial Agent question (that we actually got asked by one of the community members on the official forums) was going to catch them off-guard, but they had an answer right off the bat. They want to tell you everything about the game that they have been building for so long and it always take an effort for them to constrain themselves to not spilling the beans on not-yet-released information.

Click here to read and listen to the questions and answers we got

Tags: Blaine Christine, cheating, crafting, crew skills, Damion Schubert, Daniel Erickson, Fan Site Summit, security