Greetings everyone! The patch notes for this week’s server maintenance are now live, and it is quite a long list this time around. You can read all of the notes from this week after the jump. Continue Reading »

After being delayed for a day to finish working out some bugs SWTOR’s forsi content patch, Rise of the Rakghouls, is up and ready for everyone to dive into. Big updates include a brand new flashpoint, “Kaon Under Siege”, as well as expanded content for the Karagga’s Palace Operation. The new operation content promises new bosses, new loot, and a chance to confront the Hutt himself. The patch also includes a slew of bug fixes to help make the game even smoother.

It’s important to note that this is only part one of “Rise of the Rakghouls”. Developers have stated that we can expect the second installment in March which should include, among other things, a new planet, a new warzone, a new operation, Legacy System updates, and the much anticipated Guild Banks.

What do you think of the new content? Let us know in the comment section below!

Zombies in my SWTOR!

To coincide with the release of the new content addition dubbed 1.1 “Rise of the Rakghouls” on this Tuesday, David Bass from Bioware sent us some pictures to publish and I decided to gather up what info I have been seeing on the internet about it for you to read as well.  A new flashpoint is a very exciting thing when talking about new content being added to the game because they are very fun from my experience.  They are a great diversion from all the other outstanding features that Bioware has in SWTOR from the story, the crewskills and crafting, the PVP, and on with many other great things they have in store for you.

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Visitors of Penny Arcade Expo have been busy recording various gameplay sessions all throughout day 1 of the convention and we have gathered all the relevant videos in this one post. There is some more footage of Taral V flashpoint as well as some starting planets gameplay. We also have Daniel Erickson giving a few more presentation of various planets and I suspect we will be seeing all of these videos as downloadable content from the official site. Until then enjoy.

Taral V Jedi Knight group gameplay

Video shows full in-game cinematic for the instance telling us the background story of why are we fighting this hard fight. Flashpoint footage is from the first third of the instance and the person playing is a clicker (you have been warned). Quality is Full HD and the video is worth your bandwidth.

Taral V Jedi Knight group gameplay – Last Boss

Video shows the last third of Taral V instance including the fight (and wipe) with the last boss. *spoiler alert* Last boss seems to have an add so it requires some coordination and unfortunately the Trooper died and Jedi Knight was not able to take aggro from the healers quickly enough (not his fault). The person playing seems to be a veteran MMO player and you can see just how smooth the gameplay is when played by a knowledgeable player. The video is HD and gets 5 stars from me.

Taral V Jedi Sage group gameplay

Jungle part of Taral V from the Jedi Sage perspective. Video is HD with detailed shot of the UI in the end

Bounty Hunter Hutta gameplay

We see the starting zone for Bounty Hunter with some great cutscenes and a chubby BH as our protagonist. HD quality is available and I recommend watching it this way because it brings out the best out of the game footage.

Hoth – presented by Daniel Erickson

We see some areas of Hoth with surprising volcanic activity and future questing grounds set inside ice caves and ship graveyards. Available in HD quality as well. Thanks to Engrey for the footage.

Tatooine – presented by Daniel Erickson

Official trailer showing in-game footage of Tatooine vistas.

Sith Warrior – 14 minutes on Korriban

The video shows all cutscenes and footage from questing inside a cave on Korriban. This is footage similar to the one we’ve see at Gamescom last year, but nice to see it again.

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

• Official Flashpoints page
• Official article on how flashpoints are built by World Designer Jesse Sky
• Taral V flashpoint video
• E3 Multiplayer demo

Flashpoint gallery