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!
You can read more about the whole thing in the initial forum post David made and the followup instructional post.
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.
Past two official Friday updates concentrated on the group content in the Old Republic. Bioware decided to call its small group content Flashpoints, but if you hear people saying instances or dungeons they are talking about the same thing. Here is all the information I could gather up about this game mechanic so you, our readers, can know what to expect.
We first were introduced to flashpoint content back in 2009 at E3 and Gamescom. The next big group content was revealed last year as a multiplayer demo that was played by Bioware staff (at E3) and fansite members at Pax. At Pax 2010 we also saw a video called “Mysteries of Knights of the Old Republic” showcasing a late game flashpoint/dungeon that hints at an old enemy – Darth Malak – known as the villain in the KOTOR game. With the addition of the two Friday updates solely dedicated to the flashpoint mechanic we now have enough information on what to expect from small group content in SWTOR.
Important Flashpoint Information
- Maximum number of players that can enter is four (plus companions).
- Flashpoints are repeatable.
- Flashpoints are much more challenging than single-player missions, but they offer valuable loot and rewards.
- There might be choices associated with a flashpoint (save the captain/kill the captain). When running multiple runs of a flashpoint it is still not 100% clear whether the last choice you made counts, or the first choice you made counts. This feature is being fine tuned in the game testing.
- Based on your dialog choices and bonus objectives you perform, the flashpoint can change so that you get access to more bosses or more ways of beating the dungeon.
- Types of enemies, AI and mob abilities are connected to the story the flashpoint is trying to tell.
- You will be able to take companions into the flashpoint, which means that if your group has no healer you can have 4 healing companions to compensate.
- There will be heroic versions of Flashpoints
Flashpoints that are known to be in the game so far
- The Esseles – Republic Only, early level
- The Black Talon – Empire Only, early level
- Taral V – Republic Only, mid game, ~90 to 120mins for completion, Level 32+
- Boarding Party – Empire Only, mid game
- Directive 7 – Both, late game
- (unofficial) Darth Revan’s Complex – higher level flashpoint
Important Links
Flashpoint gallery
