Datacrons, Holocrons, Noetikons, it seems like The Old Republic is full of just about every variation of the ‘cron there is. Datacrons in particular have become some of the most sought after items in the game with the permanent stat boosts they hand out to those lucky enough to track them down.  Today we are going to take a look at what the technological marvels do, how they work, and where they came from. Continue Reading »

Disclaimer: This article will reveal some minor spoilers from Revan, as well as some other novels/comics that have been released regarding The Old Republic.

The Shan family has stood out as one of the most important families in the Old Republic era, with at least two members of the family playing extremely important roles in some of the biggest conflicts during their time. Known for their prodigious talent in whatever area of expertise they specialized in, the Shan family has the ability to get things done. With their tendency to be tied into the grand scheme of things, it is important to look back on what this family has contributed to the galaxy, and their members’ roles in moving the story of The Old Republic forward. Continue Reading »

Not long ago, the developers at BioWare hinted at the fact that pursuing romance options in The Old Republic will result in the player receiving dark side points. Almost immediately afterwards a debate broke out on the forums between those who didn’t agree with that decision and those who attempted to defend the developers’ choice on the matter. Those who argued against it pointed to well known Jedi relationships, such as the one between Revan and Bastilla, as proof that Jedi can be in a relationship without succumbing to the dark side. The opposing faction was quick to respond with the classic example of Anakin and Padme as evidence of how the relationship of a Jedi can be a huge determining factor of that Jedi falling into darkness. Today we will take a look at the history of the “no relationships” rule within the Jedi in an attempt to make sense of BioWare’s decision on this matter. Continue Reading »

Hello gentle readers. Let’s step into the way-back machine and journey all the way back in history to the golden age of  2002.  Lets re-live a moment of Star Wars mythology that to me at least, was so awesome and anticipated, I have to say it was my single favorite scene in the movie.  In case there was any doubt in anyone’s mind about which piece of awesome I refer to, it is: The minute Yoda went all Toshiro Mifune on Dooku.  If there was such a thing as getting pimp slapped by the force, that would have been the definitive example.

Yoda was a Rogue you see.  Seriously.   He was fast, used little shoto saber(s), did lots of spinny, flippy shit, and tried to basically turn Dooku into some force inspired origami meat-swan. That’s what rogues do, right? Fast agile attacks meant to inflict maximum damage with minimum exposure?  I’m pretty sure that is right, and if not, Sorry.  I’m rusty.  I just couldn’t help but think “WoW, that’s how I fight with my rogue in WoW!”  Are mmo’s borrowing from the movies and lore, or are the movies and modules borrowing from mmo’s these days?  Can all my Iconic Star-Wars Classes be broken down and classified with mmo standards?

There was a great disturbance in the force when BioWare announced the classes and some of the advanced classes that all but confirmed we would be seeing a “Trinity-like” setup for grouping and endgame.   One of the big worries was the newly verified scientific law called “WoW in space” or simply “Whiner’s law”, which states:

Part 1

With all games being equal, World of Warcraft will always rank exponentially lower on the innovative scale, and higher on the casual fanboy scale than any other game it is paired with.  Therefore, any game who makes any decisions based on the success of WoW or it’s business model is doomed to utter failure as it will be too similar and / or too different than WoW, and as no two identical / opposite things can occupy the same mmo-sphere, the larger of the two (Being wow) will consume the smaller of the two (being everyone and everything else) and eventually remove it from the time stream as well. If it is like WoW it is a horrible idea, only because WoW was so successful. We love WoW so much it’s like Diabetes.

Part 2 of the law states:

Bibbity bibbity boo.  There is a God and his name is Celery.

Because it’s like WoW it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Doesn’t mean it’s a brilliant idea either.  My concern personally (other than dying before the game actually launches) is that I will be playing a rogue with a lightsaber, or a paladin with a lightsaber or a hunter…. with a lightsaber.  Will my Jedi, I have waited so long for, play like every other button spamming raid donkey or will it be a unique and new play style.  Do I want that comfortable feel of long played and tested mechanics or that totally new type immersion?  At this time I have to say I just don’t know.  I trust BioWare to make great games, but this idea of going further than imitation into flat out cloning of another game’s mechanics is something I didn’t expect.  I’m not sure if it is going to turn out well for them along a critical reception point of view. Until some widespread people get more hands on time with the game, we just don’t know. An hour here or 15 minutes there is nowhere near enough time to form an opinion.    Just remember folks,  If it looks like a rogue, and stabs like a rogue, well hell….  It might be a Jedi, and I think i’m ok with that.

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.