February 25. brought a special Friday update to the official SWTOR site. It is a dev blog by The Old Republic’s Live Producer Blaine Christine. He is also well known as host of several SWTOR presentations and a generally funny guy. In his dev blog he talks about what he does as Live Producer and also shares some insight into what the game testers are saying about the game so far. There is one thing in his article that I just couldn’t get out of my head.

… I’m happy to report that all of the mental images you have of us working at a world class RPG development studio are true. Yes, we have rivers of chocolate running down the hallway, yes, a live animatronic ogre lives in the basement and of course, yes, we have LARPing parties from 5PM to midnight every weeknight. (I usually dress up as Princess Amidala and practice my diplomacy skills on Daniel Erickson, who pulls off a very convincing Gungan ambassador.) …

I had to expel the mental images this quote created in my head, so, in spirit of the Daniel Erickson MeMe I did a few months back here are the demotivational posters dedicated to Blaine Christine and his dev blog entry.

Daniel Erickson is not amused

Argument Invalid

Gift of gab - he haz it

Hurrr Durrr

Amidala vs Blaine

In the gallery below you will find all the original images I used to make these, just in case you have some inspiration of your own. You can send me your finished work and I will publish it on the site.

It has been speculated for some time that Corellia is going to be one of the planets players will be able to play through and this Friday’s update confirmed those suspicions. In the first Friday update that was not posted by long time community manager Sean Dahlberg (he left Bioware a few days ago) we get a brand new Corellia Holonet page with all the basic information about the planet we could want. Things you should know about the planet:

• A founding member of the Galactic Republic
• Symbol of personal and economic freedom
• Birthplace of Han Solo (3000 years in the future from TOR)
• Main Starship production planet
• Contact has been lost with the planet. Some images show destruction from bombardment but no solid info is available.

Check out the official news item here and you can see the screenshots and concept art of the new planet in our galleries below..

Corellia Screenshots

Corellia Concept Art

Today’s Friday update is not among the most informative ones. It, basically, told us about the special page on the official site that is dedicated to the space combat feature. The page contains the space combat trailer and a few screenshots, along with a description of what we can expect from this feature. There has also been an update to the screenshot and concept art sections of the site including new images for player ships. You can find the space combat page here and here’s the excerpt from the official news item:

Blast your way through asteroid fields, enemy fighters, and a variety of other obstacles as you encounter fast-paced Space Combat missions in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. In these occurrences, you’ll fly your personal starship to various “hot spots” on the galaxy map and experience gameplay that will evoke memories of some of the great Star Wars™ space battles …
… Also check out the media section to see screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers portraying these heroic battles in space.

This Friday’s update has provided us with details on the advanced class choice you can make as a Jedi Knight. As seen in the scanned PC Gamer footage the advanced specializations are the Sentinel (dual lightsaber wielding damage dealer) and the Guardian (tank and buffer). Official’s site Holonet Jedi Knight page has been update with the new information. It has also been revealed that the associate for Jedi Knights will be the Astromech T7-01 droid. He got his own Holonet page as well in the biographies section.

The awesome trailer of the Jedi Knight class, that has been released alongside this update, shows that Jedi Knights will start on Tython. They will have some sort of force jump ability to get them up close and personal with their enemies (sort of like a warrior charge in WoW). There seems to be some sort of a buff ability for troops around the Knight (in that trooper scene). Saber deflection of laser fire is probably higher if you are a Guardian. Saber throw is another skill seen in the video as well as some sort of Chuck Norris high kick! I also must note that the graphics are looking mighty sweet and things look a lot more polished. From the look of things this is the class I personally will be going for.

Screenshots

Concept art

A red guy, a green guy, a blind guy and an evil guy walk into a bar… That is how we can sum up the latest Friday update by Sean Dahlberg. Joining the Rattataki, Chiss and Twi’lek are 4 new distinct species. Empire’s fans can be very happy because they will be able to choose to be Sith Pureblood, descendants of the original Sith race and they will be fierce Sith Warriors. Another Empire fan favorite, the Zabrak, are making an appearance. One of the most notable Zabrak is Darth Maul, the double-bladed lightsaber wielding, sharp head horn wearing Sith that killed Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode I. The Zabrak will be awesome Sith Inquisitors.
Republic is not so lucky. They will be able to play wise and mystical, yet somewhat frog looking Mirialans as Jedi Consulars. If you like green, than they are the way to go. To somewhat save the situation there are Miraluka. Although they are blind as bats and sport a hood over their faces, they are very skilled with the force and see their surroundings entirely through the Force. All future Jedi Knights will be able to play as these force masters.
This way each class will have a playable non-human species representative. The prospect of having certain races limited to playing only certain classes is bumming out some of our community friends (Jacob from TorUniverse.com for one) and I hope that this imposed lack of choice will work out fine in the end.

As a special treat we also have a new Timeline entry narrated by everyone’s favorite synthetic, Mr. Lance Henriksen. This one talks about The Mandalorian Wars and we see the beginning of the fall of Revan and Malak, which I am sure all Knights of the Old Republic fans will appreciate. Making his appearance in the video is also Lt. Carth Onasi, one of the most loved characters in the original KOTOR game.

Although it is not technically a planet, it still is a celestial body we’ll be able to quest on. The largest moon of planet Hutta is also home for the smugglers of the Exchange. Put the Hutts and the Exchange on a moon full of casinos, bars and a black market located deep bellow the shining lights of the city’s exterior and you have a perfect place for a shady adventure. Nar Shaddaa is the next “planet” reveal we got during this Friday update. You can see its official HoloNet page here and you can view the planet gallery below.

This Friday also brought the continuation of the Blood of the Empire Comic.

Teneb Kel is confronted with a strange and frightening vision of the past, the future, and of his greatest enemy. As he lies broken in the Lenico wasteland, he must seek the truth about Exal Kressh and the Emperor’s goals within his mystical dream–or be utterly destroyed when he returns to reality.

Check out the latest issue of Blood of the Empire now!

Another Friday means another update from our friendly community manager. This week we get another Developer dispatch video (no.7) discussing the music of The Old Republic. Beside creating 5+ hours of original music for the game we will also be able to enjoy some classics from the Knights of the Old Republic game as well as some of the legendary themes from John Williams. You can visit the official page here or read an excerpt from the article bellow:

The emotional experience of Star Wars™ comes to life in new music created exclusively for The Old Republic™. From soft melodies that ring in the forest of Alderaan to the magnificent booming of a battle scene on Ord Mantell, a talented team of composers, musicians and developers came together to create a magical score for the game.