1st FREE Trial For TOR Is Upon Us

I did not think I would see any thing close to a free trial of SWTOR any time soon, well as soon as this anyway. My best guess would of been the back-end of the year but heck here it is.

Every subbed player can invite 3 friends to a one week test run of the game, so not exactly an open invite but this is as close as it gets without having the name tag.

Guild Summit Starts Today

Representatives of over 150 guilds from around the world will be coming to Austin, Texas to take part in BioWare’s inaugural Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Guild Summit. During the summit, guild members will have the opportunity to speak with the development team, and see a preview of what the future holds for the game.
When the Guild Summit was announced, we received thousands of applications from passionate fans who were willing to travel from all parts of the globe to take part. While we were humbled by the overwhelming response, we couldn’t accept every application for space reasons. However, we don’t want any of you to miss out on the details either. That’s why we are excited to announce that portions of the Star Wars: The Old Republic Guild Summit will be streamed live!
On Monday, March 5th, we will be hosting a livestream of the Guild Summit, which you’ll be able to watch by visiting www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com/GuildSummit. Here’s our full schedule of events for the livestream:

• 10:00AM CST (4PM GMT) – Welcome and Introductions
• 10:30AM CST (4:30PM GMT) – State of the Game and Game Update 1.2 Presentation
• Break (Livestream offline from 11:00am to 2:00pm)
• 2:00PM CST (8:00PM GMT) – Operations and Flashpoints Discussion
• 2:45PM CST (8:45PM GMT) – Player vs. Player Discussion
• 3:30PM CST (9:30PM GMT) – Legacy Presentation
• 4:00PM CST (10:00PM GMT) – Economy and Crew Skills Discussion
• 4:30PM CST (10:30PM GMT) – Roleplayer's Discussion
• 5:00PM CST (11:00PM GMT) – Guild Features Discussion
• 5:30PM CST (11:30PM GMT) – User Interface Presentation
• 6:00PM CST (12:00AM GMT) - ...And The Rest

Throughout the day you will be able to not only watch each of these discussions, you’ll also be able to take part in them. We’ll be taking questions from the livestream throughout the event, although we will have to limit the number of questions answered for time. You can also discuss the Guild Summit on Twitter using the hashtag #SWTORSummit, and we’ve created a Guild Summit Forum for you to discuss each of the sessions with other viewers.
If you’re unable to watch these livestreams on the day, we’ll be providing recorded versions of each presentation and discussion after the event.

TOR Is Evolving

One month out and we hear SWTOR is going from strength to strength.

 

The first bit is a free title of Founder. This title is given to those that have payed for continued subs to the game before March 19th.
I do not use titles of any kind in-game as I find them too messy, yet maybe a year or two on I may display this one as it will let other know you were there in the beginning.



Coming Up in STAR WARS: The Old Republic






This is the big news this week. The future of what to expect in the coming months with TOR. Guild banks, a PvP ranking, new content/warzones and UI customization all the things that are very important for any mmo.

And can you believe it that we are gaining such a major update so soon after launch ?

May it long continue, TOR is already my most liked MMO to-date. Sure its not perfect and yes there are more that one or two things that need addressing. But all in all all of those things do not subtract from how fun this game is to play. And at the end of the day that is why we as gamers play games.

Kaon Under Siege

At long last the time restraints that have bogged me down over the holiday season are fading away, now I'm back. And luck would have it nothing has happened since my last post.....

Thats if you don't count launch a patch or two here and there oh and the odd nurfing of some skills... no apart from that nothing has happened o0.

 The Tion Hegemony is in utter chaos. A mysterious outbreak of the Rakghoul plague has spread across several worlds, killing countless civilians while mutating others into Rakghouls themselves. On the planet of Kaon a small group of survivors fight against the endless waves of Rakghoul monstrosities. Now both the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire have set plans in motion to rescue the survivors of Kaon, locate the source of the virus, and forge an alliance with the Tion Hegemony.

This we will see a very early and comprehensive patch 1.1 that brings us the Kaon Under Siege Flashpoint.

Who would of thought that only one month out from launch that we would get anything like this so soon ?
I know I was hoping for maybe 3-6 months out, getting something like this but never did I think it would be with-in just a few short weeks. 



We'll this just get me stocked about about the up and coming months ahead with TOR. Now if only they would attend the faction class imbalance issue and it would be all flowers, rainbows and light-sabers for years to come.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock Let F5 Week Begin.

 

Forget about F5 Friday.

This week will eclipse the repetitive bashing of F5, and bring it to a whole new level. Within 24 hours many thousands of gamers will be playing TOR for realz after a 3 year wait.

E-mails will be staggered though out the day and batches of them will be send out each and every day until all those that pre-ordered are finally in the game. Not only do we have to check first thing in the morning we also have to make sure that we did not get an e-mail throughout the day.

My CE box-set has been dispatched and will get here sometime today or tomorrow, all I need now is an e-mail letting me know the time has arrived.

Although like most I hope I get in on the 13th (as I pre-ordered early) alas my code took a week to get released so I think my hopes will be dashed.

But anyway its almost here and we can finally start to enjoy the game to the fullest.


I'll see you all in-game soon.

Its The Last Pre-TOR Friday Update

This is the very last Friday update before SWTOR starts to admit players into the early access and this week we first have the last progression video which just happens to be the Sith Inquisitor.



So thats it we now have all the classes, with only days left till most of us get to play the game for real this came right down to the wire.
I guess everyone knew this was coming as it was the only one left, yet I was still hoping for a time line video which would of been the icing on the cake for me.

Yet who knows they maybe holding time lines back for a reason. They could be a great way to lead up to new content in the future i.e flashpoints. But what ever the reason we are still missing mass on the time line videos and it must be over a year ago the last one graced our screens.

Community News

 

TOR has also given us a brand-new feature on the forums on community news - a BioWare run blog of sorts. Where news can be put to the masses in a more efficient and speedy way. 

 

This week we get 3 updates on the new format -

 

 Welcome to the STAR Wars: The Old Republic Community Blog! 

 

Be Part of the Launch on 12.20.2011! 

 

Early Game Access starting December 13th; details on emails and more 

 

 

 

Still nothing on guilds or server but  we still have time.

 

4 days and counting.... 

Download TOR Now For Early Access - 13th Dec

Thats right people early access will begin in  6 days time. BioWare have just released the latest details on the game and oh joy it starts 2 days earlier than everyone expected.

Bring it on !!!





Early Game Access* for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is only a few days away! Starting December 13, 2011, The Old Republic will begin emailing invitations to start your Early Game Access. Invitations will be sent throughout the Early Game Access period offering rolling access to the game in the order in which you redeemed your Pre-Order Code, so be sure to check your email inbox!

Friday Update - Beta For All

 

This is the the update everyone has been hoping for. This Friday every follower of TOR has will have had an e-mail saying they will be getting a weekend beta test in the next few weeks.

Anyone that has signed up for beta testing before 11/11/2011 will at some point be getting some much needed hands on game time.
The main object is to stress test the server and give the many followers of the game a quick joy-ride.

Those that register after 11/11 are still eligible to test TOR by gaining beta keys that have been given out to some of the media site.

You can find all the details and the site giving out code here.



Choose Your Side: Inquisitor vs. Trooper

EU Invite Come And Gone

 General beta invite started last night for the EU followers of TOR.

General Game Testing Invites are now being sent to EU testers.

Sent Nov. 10: General Game Testing Invites

• Who was invited: Testers from all European launch countries (see list here)
• What was sent: General Game Testing Invites
• Server locations: EU servers
• Invite status: All invites have now been sent. E-mails can take some time to be sent, so please check your www.swtor.com/tester page to be sure!

And as 20 minutes ago if you have not received an invite or you do not see your status updated on the tester page your out of luck for this round.

  Rockjaw Stephen Reid

All EU #SWTOR invites for this round have been sent. Thread updated as promised: bit.ly/sHqHcq

So thats it until the next invite go out. With time running out testing opportunity's are slipping away.

Friday Update - Voidstar And Warzone

This weeks update is the PvP warzone Voidstar.

 Its an assault type scenario like those found in Unreal Tournament. Two side one attacking the other defending a number of game or checkpoints if you will.

Once a checkpoint has been taken from the attacking team a everyone moves to the next checkpoint.

Now I do have to admit I live this type of game-play in UT and most are very entertaining with fast combat and ever changing objective.
Jet not all maps where that way some just down right sucked .

I've played mmo's in the past that had this very same thing. Mostly the checkpoints where castle games, walls and keeps. Get a little bit of this wrong and it can change a great game mechanic into a dead horse in seconds.

Unlike capture the flag scenarios which can run without much of a hitch assault maps can be totally screwed when just one part of the puzzle is lacking.

Its a very bold move to this type of play in TOR and I'm sure BioWare has put a lot of thought into the voidstar and how it plays.
This short clip shows us the smallest glimpse of what to expect.

Friday Update - OH BioWare You Tease !!!

Not happy with trolling e-mails BioWare has shown off a short glimpse of my soon to be CE box goodies.





All I can think of now (and have for some time) is it wont be long before I can run rampant in TOR none stop.

But teasing aside its nice to get a quick look at the items that come with the box. Not that I will care for them for some time as I live that Star Wars dream inside the game. Only another 59 days to go - early access.

Friday Update - Signs Of War Trailer And More

I did not think I would enjoy anther trailer with out some punted Jawa appearing somewhere with in the video. I'm somewhat pleased to say I enjoyed this one without the need to see Blizz getting shot off into the distance.

I can only hope that this is some how linked to in-game footage for these are the type of PvP battles that everyone I'm sure would want to be part of.

Web Page Update.

The SWTOR web page has got a new lick of paint with the addition of Game Systems. This brings in a new feature that is the operations. The page looks more user friendly and has a slicker cleaner feel to it.


Other stuff.

This Fridays update gave us the news that 20-12-11 would be the new global release date for TOR for all the EU players as well as the US. We also get a small heads up for the Paris Games Week.
This happens in just a weeks time and kicks off on the 21st of Oct.


The next event is a month away and that is DREAMHACK, on Nov 24th. No other dates have been pegged for this year as yet. So these two could reap lots of information and may be your last chance to test run the game before that all important launch. 

Release Date 20-12-11 For ALL

At long last the TOR release date is now going global and along with the US the EU will now share in the 20-12 release date.

I'm not sure why this seemed to be a problem with many game company's in the past, and they thought it was a necessity to have a split launch.

Let this be a lesson to all game company's that you do have to come up with half truths, for reasons why you can't push a games out in every country on the same day. It has long be known by gamers and retailers alike that there is no reason that a split launch is needed.

Its taken some time for the game company's to catch up to the thinking that the rest of us have. Yet this is a positive move from BioWare to shun the norm when it come to this outdated way of thinking.

Friday Update - Choose Your Side

This weeks Friday update brings us some very nice game footage of the  Jedi Knight and the  Bounty Hunter as they got head to head in a 1v1 battle. 


Both these classes have very different fighting styles one of close range the other like to damage from afar. 


Both have skills to take advantage of there chosen fight styles the Jedi can close the gap and the Bounty Hunter has stuns to gain some distance. 

Friday Update - Maps In Space

The final spot in the HoloNet has been filled with a space map.

Unlike the last map update this offering is good, in fact it's darn good. It may not offer any good usable new info but on the cool factor it score 9/10.

 

With planet views, ships with a quick overview coupled with the stunning gfx this is a very welcome addition to the site. 

If only BioWare could do this for the classes and other aspects of the HoloNet I think I would loose my freaking mind.

It's a huge step forward to making the TOR site look more like a gaming site that the fans want.

On This Day The EU Gets TOR Invites

Mark it off all on your calenders you EU people, today we got word that some of the 500,000,000+ living in the EU have been sent the TOR testing invite.

Chris Collins

 Today, we’re excited to announce that we are sending out a batch of invites! In particular, this initial batch marks the start of a series of invites to our larger European player base, who get the chance to join the Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Testing program and provide feedback during the months up until launch.

In other exciting news, we’ll be making further announcements in the coming days and weeks, as we update you on Game Testing on the European service. On top of that, we’ll also be announcing details around the upcoming Beta Testing Weekends!

With the launch drawing ever-closer, we’re more excited than ever to receive your feedback on the game to help make the launch as smooth as possible.

At long last the time has arrived that we here in the EU can check our E-Mails every hour and have  real hope that at sometime we may get the golden ticket from BioWare.

It's been a very long road to this point watching and hoping that we would be included in trying to make the game that we have followed for the last three years, just that little bit better.

It was not too long ago we found out we did not have localised servers here in the EU. This may have diminished your chances a little bit more of getting that invite. But now we are on an even footing with NA.

Sure the chance is still very low but now we have a very real chance. This is better news for me than that of the release date. After all we knew it was coming this year. And BioWare stayed true to there word, but they did manage to squeeze as much time out of 2011 as possible.

Gratz to all those that got in and good luck to all those still waiting.

See you in-game soon I hope :)

20.11.2011 NA 22.11.2011 EU Release date

At long long last just a little over 3 years from the announcement TOR has a a release date.


BioWare and LucasArts are pleased to announce that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will launch on December 20, 2011 in North America and on December 22, 2011 in the European Launch Territories! The announcement was first made by BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk during their keynote address at the 2011 Eurogamer Expo in London, England. Speaking to a packed room of press and fans alike, Dr. Muzyka acknowledged the weight of the moment and the patience of the fans.

“This is an incredible moment for everyone at BioWare and our partners at LucasArts who have dedicated their lives to build this extraordinary game. We appreciate the patience from the millions of fans who have been waiting for the game’s release.”

Each copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic will come with 30 days of subscription time, after which you have the option to continue playing with one of the following monthly subscription fees:

• 1 Month Subscription: $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99)
• 3 Month Subscription: $13.99 per month (one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97)
• 6 Month Subscription: $12.99 per month (one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94)

Those who have pre-ordered the game and entered their pre-order code on StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com are eligible for Early Game Access. If you haven’t yet reserved your copy of the game, be sure to visit our Pre-Order page and secure your place in the Old Republic now!
We want to thank you for your continued passion, dedication and support. Though one part of this incredible journey is coming to an end, we are confident that you all share our excitement for this new beginning. Be sure to check back to StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com as well as our Twitter and Facebook pages for all the latest news and updates on Star Wars: The Old Republic.


So that's it, cancel your plans for now your time at this time of the holiday season has been fully booked.

The sub plan is on par with that of WOW's which many thought would be the case. Glad to see BioWare just rolled out the MMO norm on this one as anything more would of turned off a heap of potential players.

Now all that's left to do is book my holidays at work and I'm set. See you all in-game soon :)

Friday Update - The BioWare Bus

It's seems that lately that updates on TOR are like buses, you wait ages for one then 3 turn up at the same time. Though truth be told you only needed one of them and the other two just ain't going your way.

Well it's something new at least BioWare has left it's ground-hog-day that was GamesCon behind and moved forward.



The Smuggler Character Progression Video has to be one of the coolest around you do get the feeling that this class is going to be loads of fun to play. Being that he is going to be in way over his head for most if not all his game-play time.
It's going to be very compelling to play this class as your likely to be kept on your toes constantly trying to outwit the Sith.

Real Fears Mount For Late EU Launch

As always I spend my day scanning websites/twitter and a few vent channels for the latest news around TOR. With GamesCon running this is a minute by minute process, it just so happens this is how the whole late EU launch started.

Stephen Reid Twitter account @Rockjaw asked for some questions using the hash-tag #GabeQ.

It was here I posted a question.

@MrWarlock_ Mick Johnson

#GabeQ With the beta weekends in September will the European contingent be gaining access beta at the same time as those in the USA ?

Sneaky Crew Skills Update

BioWare in the past have been known to make a huge fuss over the slightest and smallest detail and call it an update when it comes to TOR.

Yet they revealed the rest of the crew skills and it's slipped under the radar with not many people noticing. I say not many, but my good friend SWTORCRAFTER from SWTOR Life found this gem as he did his daily pass of the crew skills page to find they have updated the page fully.

For me I would have thought this would be a huge update on it's own. Yet nothing on the site lets you know that this update has slipped in. This is kind of strange from a site that has an update on walls.

Yet I'm glad to have this update out of the way now and we can focus on something else.