Today on twitter and the official SWTOR forums,  David Bass posted the following;

via twitter:

doctordake David Bass

If you’re going to E3 or live in the LA area, would you want to come to a Meet & Greet this year? Vote

and then on the official forums he posted the poll you can see here.

Hi everyone,

Since E3 isn’t open to the public, we’re considering holding a meet and greet in Los Angeles during the expo so that fans who are in the LA area can meet up with us one night and chat with the developers. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to have the game playable at this meet and greet, but you’d get a chance to chat with those of us who’ll be at the show, and hear about some of the cool things that are happening inside E3.

We’d like to get a better idea of the size of group we’re looking at for an event like this, though. If you’d be interested in coming downtown one night between June 6-9 to meet up with the SW:TOR team, let us know in this thread!

Thanks,
David

Lets hope this comes to fruition because as a attendee of the recent Fan Site Summit at Austin, held by Bioware studios, I can surely tell you that these people would be a total blast to hang out with.  I highly recommend that if you have ever wanted to meet the people behind this game then you need to be here if it happens.  Log on to this thread and make your voice be heard.

Bioware has proven in the past that when the community shows a desire, they will try to make it happen.  If they are asking for your opinion then it’s obvious they think the need to do this is that important.

Rest assured that if it does happen, SWTOR-Life will be there covering it for you the fans of this game!  Be sure to follow us on twitter @Swtorcrafter and @SwtorLife to get the quickest updates about this and E3 2011 live from Los Angeles

Let your voice be heard!

UPDATE: SUNDAY MAY 15TH-EDITOR COMMENT

At the time of this update at mid afternoon Sunday we have seen what has happened so far on the thread and poll.  The thread has had:

1. 5,682  views
2. 161  replies
3. 607  people have voted on the poll
4. 172 of them or 28.34%    voted yes they would attend
5. 435 of them or 71.66%    voted no they would not attend

Within the thread we have seen these replies from the Developers:

In response to this from forum poster Cidran:

Originally Posted by Cidran

guess it really depends, what all does a meet and greet entail? like would it just be casual talk, any reveals? grab bags? interviews? im interested, but i dont know if there will be much there to encourage me to go.

Stephen Reid had this to say:

Well, it could be all of the above, or none of the above. So far we’re just trying to figure out if we should do it at all.

For those of you who can’t make the trip to LA, don’t despair. As I’ve said before, we’ll be at plenty of shows – before and after launch – in a number of different places.

He gives us enough to let us know that it is a important idea to them and that they are serious about possibly doing it now and into the future.  Bioware is a smart company, they know that the more they can make themselves available to the fans, the more the love for the project will grow within the community.  In my opinion that could only be good for the game and company as a whole.

GO VOTE!

UPDATE: TUESDAY MAY 17TH-EDITOR COMMENT

Well folks it seems that via David Bass on the official forums we will get our wish!  (assuming a suitable location can be acquired of course)  It does however seem like this will be an eventuality, I can’t wait to attend.  We will be bringing you coverage from this get together.

Here is what he had to say before closing the thread:

Thanks so much for the votes and the feedback, everyone! I think it’s pretty clear that a meet and greet is definitely doable at E3. I’m going to close this thread and get to work on planning something. We’ll post again once we have details to share.

And one final note for those of you considering dropping everything and flying into LA for this meetup: It’s really exciting to see all the enthusiasm towards this, but keep in mind that we’ll be doing plenty more events this year around the world, most of which are open to the public. You may want to hold off so that you can come to a public event and actually play the game. Just a suggestion.

UPDATE TUESDAY MAY 31ST-EDITOR COMMENT

Posted by Rockjaw aka Stephen Reid on twitter:

Rockjaw Stephen Reid

Looks like we are very close to getting a destination and time folks!

UPDATE TUESDAY JUNE 2ND-EDITOR COMMENT

Well today we got the word finally!  Some of the developers from Bioware will be at:

I was recently given the opportunity to play the Bounty Hunter class in an origin world experience at the  first ever Bioware Fan Site Summit.  It was a fun time indeed and I am thankful for the opportunity.  It has answered a lot of questions for me personally about more than just the class, but on a broader level of having to do with my views on the game.

Continue Reading »

As part of the upcoming Fansite event Bioware is hosting at their offices in Austin, Texas, we will be interviewing developers during the day. Having a crafting expert among our ranks dictates that we get as much information about Crew Skills as they’ll let us have. This, in turn, pointed us in a direction of a person that can also answer about Flashpoints as a game mechanic so our questions will gravitate towards those two topics. We have such luck that one of our writers, Mr. Warlock is also attending the show, on behalf of his own fansite, and he will focus mainly on PvP. Being in the offices with the devs will also result in being able to throw random questions their way, so I suppose questions of a general type will get answers as well.
Click here to read about how you can get your questions answered

Floodgates have opened and it is now widely known in the SWTOR community that there will be an event held this weekend at Bioware’s offices in Austin, Texas. The participants – fan site representatives. Fifteen fan sites will be attending. This seems to be an extension of events that were organized for regular press members at the recent UK event and for PC Gamer (they said in their article that they too were flown to Austin for two day SWTOR bonanza). Click here to read my full mission statement about the upcoming event

As it is finally the 18th in my time zone, I can now officially announce that representation from   www.swtor-life.com will be going to Bioware headquarters in Austin, Texas to take part in an on site, fan site event held by Bioware. The event will start on the 24^th and last through the 26^th of April and Bioware has graciously offered to bring us there for this grand time.

Me, Derek “Swtorcrafter” Green and my partner in this grand adventure,  Serge “Swtorlife” Stanarevic will do our very best, to bring you, the fans of the Old Republic, the best coverage and information we can. Our goal is to bring you all as close to the action as we are allowed to. We have interviews planned, live picture blogs of our journey through this adventure via Twitter, and of course you can count on our witty and informative articles to satiate your appetite for Star Wars The Old Republic information!

Although we are probably going to have to hide from Daniel Erickson cause we know he wants to kick our butts for our portrayal of him in gungan attire,

and we might just have to hide from Blaine Christine as well so he doesn’t try to drag us into a LARP game!

Be sure to stay tuned to this site and also through Twitter for all the action from the fan sites and the Developers using the hashtag #SWTOUR (great name!  -credit to @rockjaw -aka- Stephen Reid, Senior Community Manager for Bioware)

You can follow the Swtor-Life team through Twitter at the following accounts, @SwtorLife, @SWTORCRAFTER, @MrWarlock_, @Grant__D, @ForceMeridian and @BorukBH

We hope that you will follow us and join us in this grand adventure!

I would like to make a personal thank you to Bioware for this opportunity!  They have done much more for me and my partner Serge than provide a way for us to enjoy what is to be one of the most awesome events in SWTOR pre-release history, they have given friends the opportunity to meet in real life.

Some of you that know us here, may know that I am located in the Central United States and Serge is located In Serbia.  While we are fully committed to making this fan site one of the best in the community for SWTOR, we never actually thought we would get the chance to meet in real life because of obvious distance issues.  Bioware, thank you, you have made our dream of one day meeting a reality, we will never forget this!

WOOT LET’s GET READY TO PARTY!

BIOWARE,

WE R IN UR BASE!

(almost 😛 )

In their latest interview from the PAX East convention of 2011, Darth Hater sat down with Bioware’s creative director, James Ohlen.

Darth Hater: “We also heard that in your dialogue system, you are tracking metrics on when people are pausing to see how long they’re taking to make decisions and things like that to really work on the dialogue. So you are getting ton of information from the testers?”

 

James Ohlen: “We keep on getting more and more information as the testing groups get larger. We had two groups of a thousand players on a shard and that got us a lot of information because it was a lot more people playing together. We were able to see a population that was not indicative of the final game, but it was closer to it because the populations were so much bigger than just a couple hundred. We’re able to use that to make a lot of adjustments; it also validated a lot design decisions we made months earlier. The game really gets a lot better every single month. It is pretty impressive. The developer teams are getting faster at making changes and making adjustments to feedback. Two years ago it would take so long to see a change in the game, but now you see changes every month.”

From what I remember in the past, we have never really gotten a definitive number from a developer about just how many people are involved in “game testing”.  If I remember correctly the only estimations of a number came from the statement of “more than I could fit in my office” or something to that effect. (the actual quote escapes me at the moment but it was very similar to that statement)

When they tell me that they have two groups of a thousand players on a shard that gives me a better idea as to how far they are along in the numbers of people that they have allowed in at this point.  I figure it is more than two thousand at this point, but at least I now have a baseline reference.

The comment that they were “on a shard”  also makes me wonder if they also have the ability of running more than one shard at this time with their current server structure.  I am thinking they do and that they may be currently operating several shards at this point in time.  Maybe a private in house version for the developers only that showcases the latest builds, maybe a couple for outside the office testers, and etc.   I may be way off base,  as this is just speculation on my part.

In the end though, with this developer interaction I feel better about the testing process going on at Bioware.  One of my fears from the past was that they didn’t have the amount of people testing their game that they needed to find out all that was necessary.  That a small minority of people testing would sway the design decisions in directions I as a MMO veteran did not approve of for my gaming time.

With a number of at the very least two thousand testing the game, I feel much better that a wider view of MMO mechanic and game play design is being addressed.

Now if I could just get my hands on it and test out the “Crew skills system” I could die a happy man.      🙂

Today we got a big surprise, a Wednesday update!  Today it was announced that Bioware has included a Pre Launch Program for Guilds in SWTOR.

Allison Berryman tells us the following:

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of the new Guild Headquarters (HQ) as well as the Pre-Launch Guild Program. Many members of the community have already been organizing guilds on the forums, and we’re now happy to provide the tools to officially register and reserve your guild’s name. In this new section of the website, you can search for an existing guild to join or you can create a new guild and begin recruiting members. When Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ launches, you may be able to import your guild directly into the game, subject to availability and meeting certain criteria*.

Every guild gets its own guild mini-site on www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com, complete with information about the guild, its recruitment status, and its own public and private forums. Create or join a guild now and you’ll have the opportunity to have your own space to socialize and organize before the game launches. Every guild is automatically entered into the searchable guild database, which makes it easy for players to find their ideal guild. Get your guild together early and get ready for The Old Republic!

To learn more about guilds in The Old Republic, check out the Guilds Game System page for details, and to search for or join a guild, visit the Guild HQ now! Also be sure to visit the Guilds FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.

*Conditions and restrictions apply. See Guilds FAQ for full details.

To report bugs, please use this thread in the Website Feedback and Support forum. Please note that some words and phrases, particularly some relating directly to Star Wars, are restricted. If you feel your desired guild name is restricted in error, please contact us using the site support form.

The end result is guilds now have the capability to reserve their in game name, that can be huge for some guilds that have names that are contested.  I see the possibility for griefing here, but hey what are you going to do as a game development company?  You have to give players the chance to reserve some things.

The main thing I do not like about this process is this little nugget of uncertainty…..

*”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.

When we begin placing guilds on servers, we will take into account all the information that has been provided, including the server type and the allies and adversaries you have selected. We will make reasonable efforts to place each guild according to their specified preferences but cannot make any guarantees given the anticipated volume of guilds (among other factors).“

So what this means is that Bioware will be placing your guild on a server at release, you dont pick they do, and if your lucky you will get to land on the server type you have chosen (pve,pvp,rp-pve)

I dont find this to be very cool at all.  As a guild I should be able to choose the server I wish to play on.  What if certain guilds want to be aligned in game but they get “placed” on different servers?  I don’t think Bioware has put enough thought into this aspect of the system and frankly I am sad about that.  I can understand the reasoning behind it such as server balancing and such but I dont like when my liberties that I have grown used too in past MMO’s are taken away.

There are other requirements or “criteria”  that will need to be met if a guild can successfully use the pre-launch system in phase 3, for example:

1) At the beginning of Phase 3, the guild leader must log in to the website and verify that their guild remains active and wants to be imported; and

2) The guild has at least four members who have pre-ordered the game by the time we initiate the import.

3)Guilds will have no more than 500 members.

The pre-order requirement is fair i think.  They could have made it higher but i think they chose to be fair and allow guilds that may be smaller the chance to still use the system.  I plan to pre-order.

Also we got a look at what might be the final server play style designations?

Star Wars: The Old Republic will offer different server types that emphasize different styles of game play such as Player-vs-Environment, Player-vs-Player, and Role- Play. When your guild gets transferred into the game, it will be placed on the server type that most matches your selection.

Player-vs-Environment (PvE) servers can be considered representative of the standard play style and rule set. The focus on PvE servers is on experiencing the story and working with friends against the non-player enemies in the game world.

Player-vs-Player (PvP) servers have a slightly different rule set as PvE servers. On a PvP server, players may be attacked by other players from the opposing faction in more areas of the game world.

Role-Playing (RP) servers use the standard PvE rule set, but are identified as great places for players who enjoy acting out their characters in the game world to congregate and find other like-minded players.”

So no big deviation from the norm here, PVE, PVP, and RP are pretty much the standard server types and what most players have grown to expect.  I think most of us expected just this type of classification.

All in all it is a pretty neat addition to the options a guild has in game and out of the game, and it helps them get organized pre-game.  This is very important for most guilds that will have formed their member base before release.

I give it a thumbs up even though I am not too pleased with the server placement being out of my control.

The question I want to pose to you today is;

What will your worth be as a crafter in Star Wars The Old Republic MMO?

I think on this subject a lot because to me it is very important.  I derive great pleasure from being able to learn all the details about a crafting system in a massively multiplayer online game that I call home away from home.

I then achieve even more pleasure when I am able to take that knowledge and produce the finest items available to me as a master of that craft, in the most efficient manner.  Provided that the game system I am in will allow the crafters to produce top-tier items.  When I do however find a game that allows this, it is a joy to be a crafter because I know the fame that awaits the diligent, the methodical.

I have been called a “min-maxer” before and that’s ok.  To achieve greatness and fame in a crafting arena one must be efficient, and creative.  One must use a crafting and in-game economy to maximum effectiveness to be considered a true master.

Continue Reading »

Swtorcrafter Bounty Hunter!

About the author,

Swtorcrafter is a crafter at heart, dating back to the start of the Ultima Online beta.  It was there that he developed his love of massively multiplayer online crafting systems, in game economies and fan site creation.  It was there in that realm that he was first introduced to what it was like to play online with other people instead of just a single player PC game.

It was a grand six years, the longest he has been in any one MMO since.

He has searched countless realms searching for that feeling again, sometimes finding satisfaction, sometimes not.

Now as he grows older he decides it is time to “go all in” one last time to try to find that perfect anvil, the crafting system of his dreams, and the community to share his thoughts and insights with.

*Enter stage right*

The Game:  Star Wars The Old Republic MMO by Bioware.

The Community:  www.swtor-life.com

*fingers crossed*

It’s Halloween and everyone is enjoying a good scare. To celebrate, Joanne Laroche invite The Old Republic fans to post their Halloween Star Wars related costumes on the swtor.com forums. The best costumes will be featured in the upcoming Fan Friday and we took the liberty of singling out a few of these in the gallery bellow.

One very scary photo was submitted among the family friendly pictures. The costume is in fact so scary that we have to recommend caution to all those with weak hearts or even good taste. We are not sure whether this is an actual forum user or just a random image from one of the star wars conventions, but the scare factor is there nevertheless, which makes it a perfect Halloween image.

Click on this link to view the scariest Star Wars costume ever. WARNING! What was seen can not be unseen!