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Star Wars The Old Republic News
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Top 10 Reasons to Play SWTOR – Part 3
Dec 15th
In the final part of a three part series, Pokket details the last of her top ten reasons why she will be playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. Pokket starts with Number 4 and continues the downward until we know her number one reason to dig into SWTOR. Check out Game Face #14: Top 10 Reasons to Play SWTOR Pt. 3.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Wait is (Sort Of) Over!
Dec 13th
With day one of Early Access behind us, this week's Star Wars: The Old Republic column looks back at the past 24 hours and even offers a farewell to one venerable Star Wars MMO.
In October 2008, BioWare teased the unveiling of Star Wars: The Old Republic by triumphantly announcing (along with a giant and now ironic graphic) that “THE WAIT IS OVER.” Oh, but it had only just begun. What’s more, with Early Access kicking off yesterday, many are still waiting (sometimes impatiently) for their golden ticket into the game.
Full disclosure: I got into the game yesterday in the first wave at 7AM. Take a moment to spew your hatred at me. It’s OK, I’ll wait.
Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Wait is (Sort Of) Over!
Star Wars: The Old Republic: On Regional Restrictions & SWTOR
Dec 13th
In today's Devil's Advocate column, we take a look at the increasingly annoying regional restrictions that many MMOs today employ including *gasps* Star Wars: The Old Republic. See if we're on the mark with this and then let us know what you think in the comments.
Regional restrictions, such as region-locking the sale of a game or disallowing certain IP addresses from specific countries from a given version of a game, are somewhat common in the MMO and MOBA markets. For instance, League of Legends has licensed regional clients in some Asian countries, with IP locks preventing people from those countries with regional clients from accessing the US version of the game. Certain MMOs and specific games on digital distribution services like Steam and Impulse (now Gamestop), such as Aion, Final Fantasy XI, and Dead Rising 2, are also region-locked.
Read more of Victor Barreiro Jr.'s The Devil's Advocate: On Regional Restrictions & SWTOR.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Early Access Begins
Dec 13th
Players who preordered Star Wars: The Old Republic will be able to begin accessing the game as of today, Tuesday, December 13th. According to a press release, players will be admitted to the game in 'waves' after receiving an email giving them the go-ahead to get started.
“Our Beta testers have told us we have truly captured the magic of the Star Wars™ universe and changed what they expect from an MMO. The Old Republic team is incredibly excited, honored and humbled to provide early access to our pre-order customers today. This is just the beginning of a grand adventure together!”
Bioware is anticipating millions of players logging in. By allowing the early access for preorders, the team hopes to ensure server stability and a smooth, event-free Day 1 launch on December 20th.
Find out more about Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Head Start Time!
Dec 12th
It's almost time and people around the world are breathing into paper bags to calm themselves as the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic's head start program is about to begin. In a new article, we talk about the reasons why we're excited about the SWTOR Head Start. Read on!
The first reason head start is exciting is the ability to play through all the awesome content right away. Content in this game is like a giant Chinese buffet only the food is maxxed out gourmet made by some chef like Gordon Ramsey. The stories for the classes are exciting and very well thought out. In beta I played the Jedi Knight and Bounty Hunter and loved every second of the stories for both. From a person who got fed up with Dragon Age about half way through, Old Republic kept me wanting more in terms of what was happening to my character on the path I had chosen. In many ways the RPG aspect of the game is fantastic and full is a full on escape into the Star Wars universe. My advice for this week is to choose your main character very carefully, take your time and be specific. More >
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Swan Song for the Traditional MMO?
Dec 11th
About a week from now, Star Wars: The Old Republic will burst onto the MMO scene in a big way. The game comes with lots of action, lots of content and everything else we seem to expect from our games any more. In a new article about the game, we wonder whether SWTOR is the end of the line for what has become the "traditional MMO" during the past decade. See if you agree or not and then discuss the article in the comments.
With the beta weekends over, NDA lifted, and launch approaching later this month, speculation and flame wars about Star Wars: The Old Republic have reached a fevered pitch. Opinions about the beta content vary, but seem to generally fall within two camps: those that love what BioWare is doing with the Star Wars license and will be playing from day one, and those who feel a certain sense of ennui about traditional MMOs and think that SWTOR will be just another WoW clone with lightsabers.
Read more of Som Pourfarzaneh's Star Wars: The Old Republic – Swan Song for the Traditional MMO?
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Space Combat Preview
Dec 9th
With just a few short days until Early Access, we're taking a look at space combat in Star Wars: The Old Republic in this latest preview. Do a barrel roll, and then leave a comment or two below!
Before you can start doing barrel rolls, you’ll have to acquire your ship, and this doesn’t occur until around level 16 or 17 or so. Depending on your class, you’ll receive your ship in a variety of different ways, but all classes will receive their ship at the same point, coinciding with the completion of their capital world story content (Coruscant or Dromund Kaas). Ships in SW:TOR serve as your home base; your Ebon Hawk, basically. You can interact with companions on your ship, manage your bank (cargo hold), initiate important story cutscenes, and of course, do space combat.
Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: Space Combat Preview.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Early Access Moves Up! Pre-load Begins Now!
Dec 7th
In a double-whammy of an announcement sure to please fans eager to get into the game, BioWare has announced that Early Access will move up two days and begin on December 13 (previously December 15) and that players can also begin pre-loading right now.
Those of you who participated in the beta events from November 25 onward will NOT need to pre-load the game client if you still have the beta client installed. A simple patch is all that's necessary.
Do keep in mind that not everyone will get in on the 13th; BioWare is still going with rolling invitations based on when customers redeemed their pre-order codes. The program has simply been extended from the previous five days to a possible seven.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: SWTOR: Rules of Enragement
Dec 7th
There's no question that a lot of n00bs will be checking in to play Star Wars: The Old Republic. That said, there are some tried and true rules that n00bs should pay attention to and which we will impart our vast knowledge about in today's column. Check these puppies out and then let us know what you think in the comments.
They could be old Star Wars fans who want to live in the world that they've come to know and love but have never really been into video games, or maybe they're gamers who are genre hopping into the world of MMORPG's in hopes of finding out where they truly belong…
…either way, the n00bometer is about to hit plaid.
Read more Coyote's Howling: SWTOR: Rules of Enragement.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Modification Madness Redux
Dec 7th
Back in October we wrote about the madness surrounding discussion of Star Wars: The Old Republic's item modification system. This week, with solid information in hand, we're looking at the past, present, and future of the item modification system. Read on to find out what we think and share your own thoughts in the comments below!
One of the first things BioWare did recently was add a new “Custom” item type to the game, accompanied by its very own orange colored border. As Emmanuel writes, this change is purely cosmetic, as these orange bordered items simply denote that a blue quality item is fully modifiable (all modification slots unlocked), and this sort of gear is promised to be fairly prevalent throughout the game and obtainable in a variety of different ways.
Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: Modification Madness Redux.
Image credit: Hotrodacc.com