What was only a rumor yesterday was confirmed today, Stephen Reid was one of those affected by the layoffs at BioWare. He confirmed this morning via Twitter and Facebook that he was let go from the company, a sad state of affairs for anyone who looked to him as one of their primary sources for SWTOR info. Here is the rundown straight from the man himself, via his Twitter account-
Today my life’s next chapter starts. Lost track of how many chapters so far… but time to turn the page.
I was one of those affected by layoffs at BioWare Austin yesterday. I got to build an amazing team while I was there, and miss them already.
I’m also going to miss #SWTOR and the community we created. Sure, I know some of you hated me, but hey, I still worked hard for you. 
I’ll be Twitter-quiet for a bit, but I’ll be back soon-ish. Doing something, somewhere, and talking about it here. I hope we keep talking.
Last but not least: I was quiet for the last couple of weeks because I was full-on devoted to #SWTOR character transfer. It’s still coming!
Now I’ve got to go, because you don’t want to see a grown man cry on Twitter. Also, I don’t know the emoticon for it.
Don’t lose faith. They’re still devoted to making a great game.
It’s a wide-open space right now. Big, full of possibilities, and scary as hell. Thanks for everything guys.
Good luck with whatever you have planned in the future Stephen, and May the Force be with you.
Sad news from BioWare today as the leaders of BioWare, Greg and Ray, announced that some members of the SWTOR team have been laid off.
Details are still sketchy, there is no word on who has been let go or how many, but it is truly sad to see the departure of people who have worked so hard on the game. Fans and critics of the game are already putting their own spin on what this means for SWTOR’s future, but both Greg and Ray have stated that the team at BioWare is still strong and will continue to put out new content for the game for a long time and that the game will still be growing for years to come.
Below you will find the full post directly from BioWare. What do you think of this new development? Let us know in the comments below. Continue Reading »
Have you been playing SWTOR for a while now and felt like you got the short end of the stick by not getting some free game time just because you don’t have a level 50 character? Well no need to fret. BioWare’s Dr. Greg Zeschuk announced that not only will 50 days of free game time be awarded to all those players with a level 50 character, it will now also be awarded to anyone with a legacy level of 6 or above.
This comes after some community members complaining about not getting the game time just because they have not had the time to get a character to max level. This makes a lot of sense, some players love to play a lot of alts, some have hectic lives that keep the from always devoting a lot of time to the game, and some have switched servers to try and find a home that is right for them. But these players are just a loyal and dedicated as someone who has a level 50, they just may not have the time on their hands to have reached that point just yet.
Players will have until noon on April 22nd to reach this goal. So if you want those free days, but have not had a chance to get a character till level 50 or Legacy level 6, you have a few days to make it happen. We all love free game time so hop on those characters and make it happen!
You can read the official post from Dr. Greg after the jump. Continue Reading »
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”.
Continue Reading »
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:
Continue Reading »
Today we have beta invitations going out again. This will be the third beta weekend, but it looks to be a limited invite. The servers located in US East Coast are the ones participating.
|
Today , 12:37 PM
|
|
|
Invitations are being sent for a weekend test this weekend!
Sent Nov. 8: Beta Testing Weekend #3 Invites
- Who was invited: Testers from North America
- What was sent: Beta Weekend #3 Invites
- Server locations: US East Coast
- Invite status: We are currently in the process of sending these invites, and will continue throughout this evening.
|
All of the invites will be sent out through-out the day and finished by this evening and you should have them in your mailbox. If not, check your spam folder or check your beta testing status on www.swtor.com/tester.
Edit:
Some addition information has come out via Stephen Reid a bit ago.
Continue Reading »
Server Types Announced For SWTOR
Continuing in the trend of basking us in SWTOR knowledge on a day that’s not even a Friday, Bioware’s David Bass made an announcement of the server types in Star Wars The Old Republic MMO!
This is information I have been wanting to hear for quite some time. To allow me to plan ahead is always something I am thankful for and with this knowledge at least we can be ready for which server type we want to choose at launch. This information also coincides nicely for guilds who just a hour ago found out the news that guild phase 3 was beginning.
Be sure to read the article in full and comment on the SWTOR.com official forums here.
Here is what was posted by David, choose your server armed with this information!
Continue Reading »
Guild Phase 3?
Hey wait this is a Thursday you say? We don’t get news about SWTOR unless it’s Friday!
Even though we still got great news from Bioware today, via the official forums and Alyson Bridge we got the news that Phase 3 for guilds would be started with the first step of “Deployment”. There are guidelines and things that have changed in this latest installment so be sure to read it and discuss it here on the Official forums.
Here is what was said, better get your house in order guilds the clock is ticking….
Continue Reading »
Dumbing Down!
As a person who is still not in beta testing at this time I have the freedom to speak my mind and theorize on certain in game mechanics in SWTOR because legitimately I do not know for sure what some of them truly are like. I have not as yet been infiltrated and absorbed by beta testing knowledge so I am still pure in my speculations and ramblings.
Take crew skills and crafting in SWTOR for instance, they have released a lot of general information in the past from mainly one dev diary and a lot of fansite interviews and some various Q&A’s found on the internet at different sites.
There is information out there, but it is just so up in the air right now what with all the rumors and hub bub I have been hearing floating around about how they are changing so many things about the crafting system at this time.
While I understand that they must change things as a result of feedback from the testers and actual time people have spent kicking the tires and such, the things I am hearing are worrying me to no end.
Why you ask?
Well OK, you twisted my arm.
Continue Reading »
Today we got a nice treat, hell, I would call it an AWESOME treat from Drew Karpyshyn, the author of the upcoming Revan book. A synopsis was published today along with the specs. I immensely enjoyed this as it has done nothing but to set a fire within me.
This novel when released on November 15th will tie together key pieces of the SWTOR in game lore that until the day that this novel releases will be under the strict control of Lead Writer for SWTOR at Bioware, Daniel Erickson. Daniel has been heard at the latest NYCC Q&A panel to say that this in game lore arc is a closely guarded secret on a need to know basis and that only he stores the complete write up on his machine.
Continue Reading »
