Star Wars: The Old Republic Message Board

Teased earlier this month , Galactic Strongholds is the next major free expansion pack for Star Wars: The Old Republic, allowing players of the MMORPG to set up swanky digs across the galaxy. Read more...

It appears that player housing is coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic, or so this teaser video for SWTOR's SSHP seems to promise. Read more...

Are we killing each other in space yet? Not yet. Star Wars: The Old Republic's skies don't fill with fire until the subscriber early start of the Galactic Starfighter expansion on December 3, but you can see them now via this handy video dealio. So many lasers. Read more...

Sure, running around with a lightsaber or blaster pistol is a cool and integral part of the Star Wars experience. But, for the longest time, Star Wars: The Old Republic has been lacking one of the best things from the mythology: big honking space battles.Read more...

Looks like I'll have to go around. Damn, I'm gonna be late for work.Read more...

The latest foofaraw in Star Wars: The Old Republic—an MMO that exists primarily to make people complain, it seems—concerns an Ewok. Yes, a cuddly Ewok, the action figure picked last (after Mon Mothma, even) when you were choosing up sides for battle. Treek the Bounty Hunter is an Ewok companion for your character who becomes available this August. When originally announced, you got her if your character had a million credits on hand and a legacy level over 40. First people started grumbling about whether or not, at this point in the Star Wars canon—Ewoks were known off of Endor, and then how the hell could one get off Endor, much less become a fearsome bounty hunter. Now it's been discovered that people can just up and buy off Treek with real moolah. I know, paying real cash for the services of a bounty hunter? In a free-to-play MMO? The hell? Because everything in video gaming has to be a zero-sum argument, people who have the requisite legacy level are super pissed off that those who don't can just up and acquire Treek for Cartel Coins, the currency of the Cartel Market, aka where things are bought and sold for real buxx. The fact this game is published by Electronic Arts figures into the discussion, too, I'm sure. "Not everyone has to be able to have everything in the game and this promotes the fact that you should indeed be able to buy anything and bypass requirements," said one subscriber on the game's forums. " have been waiting since February of ’12 for something awesome to come out for legacy level 50 and so far we get absolutely nothing." "It’s not P2W but it’s a slap in the face to people that actually played the game long enough to earn a high legacy level," said another. "Thanks for continuing to not value the subs." Others are not as offended. "Honestly, I don't see that much broad based backlash about Treek," wrote one in this thread. "I do see the same handful of players running heavy on the hamster-wheel of faux indignation. But this is true for everything about the game for the most part." As I've written, this is partly why people despise free-to-play models. When everything is for sale, the game removes the feeling of being able to get something for nothing. It also drives some people nuts to have their hard work—whatever it takes to get to legacy level 40 and acquire a million credits—given a monetary value. That is kind of insulting. But come on, we're talking about an Ewok. This would seem to be the kind of thing that would distinguish a freebie player, because no one cool, or in their right mind, would be seen walking around with a space teddy bear. SWTOR players not pleased with Ewok being purchasable on Cartel Market [Just Push Start] To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

Reports have appeared on our Ewok-o-tron that suggests Ewoks will soon be available as companion characters in SWTOR, via the 2.3 patch. To unlock the ‘wok, you need 1 million space cash and a legacy level of 40, apparently. Tweek, for that is her Ewok name, will be a tanky/healer sort of companion. That, I know, will make someone in this world very happy.

You can watch said Ewok in action below. Spoilers of a kind, natch.(more…)

Operation Nightmare is currently available with the latest update of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and this means unpleasant-sounding “Nightmare Mode” in Terror From Beyond. That’s pretty much as it sounds: a tricky level 55 challenge: “The fight to seize control of the Gree Hypergate will leave you gasping for breath as you battle the five main bosses, now amped up to challenge even the most skilled group of players!” There’s also a bunch of guild features and similar things included in this update. Later on Nightmare Mode will also be applied to Legion Of Scum & Villainy, for extra scummy and villainous difficulties.

The trailer for all this is far, far away, and a long time ago, etc.(more…)

In the war between MMO developers and shady players looking to exploit the system, the innocent often get caught in the crossfire. Such was the case yesterday, when somewhere under 150 honest, hard-playing Star Wars: The Old Republic players had their accounts banned from play. BioWare is sorry, you guys. Several tipsters emailed us last night, complaining their The Old Republic accounts had been locked down, banned or suspended for Terms of Service violation. One player sent along the notification email, which goes a little something like this... "Dear (Redacted), We are contacting you to notify you that we have found your Star Wars: The Old Republic account, (Redacted) , to be in violation of our Terms of Service. After completing an investigation of your Account, we have identified the following violation: Violation: Economy Exploitation (extreme) Due to the severity of the violation, we are suspending your account for 1 week (168 hours) effective immediately. According to another player, the problem arose from a new feature introduced in game update 2.1: Customization, called "Getting Yourself Suspended." No wait, it's called "Collections", which gives players the ability to dupe certain items to share with other characters on their account via the game's Legacy system. Also introduced in update 2.1 was an exploit that allowed unsavory types to game the feature other players were using legitimately, so when the Terms of Service team mobilized, they had a little trouble telling the good guys from the bad guys. According to a post on the game forums this afternoon from community manager Eric Musco, less than 150 accounts were unfairly banned or suspended, victims of this sensible war. What occurred, and what you folks reported, is that there was a small subset of players who were incorrectly caught in this tracking and subsequently actioned. Just to give you a bit of perspective, there were less than 150 people in total who were incorrectly actioned as a part of what happened yesterday. If you were one of those players who had not been exploiting and were wrongly flagged, you should have already been contacted by CS as of reading this message. If this is what occurred to you I cannot express how sorry we are. We are going through great lengths internally to avoid situations like this happening in the future.If you have not had your suspension reversed and you feel this was in error, please contact accountdisputes@swtor.com and they will be able to look into the issue further. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, again if you were affected you should have already been contacted and if not please email the address listed above. An unfortunate situation, but when you're dealing with something as fragile as an MMO economy, it's better to be safe than sorry. Everyone that shouldn't have been affected should be restored by now, and if your account hasn't been, either they missed you or you don't realize how much of a horrible cheater you really are.

The next SWTOR update is all about customization, allowing radical visual overhauls for any and all characters. Nice move, space developers, but what won’t get me playing your game is the inclusion of cat-people. As we all know, the inclusion of cat people in any franchise (we’ll omit Thundercats for now) is an admission of creative bankruptcy. Yes, even in Elder Scrolls games. It’s just not okay. If you are looking around for that other race, the crazy alterative to elves or stormtroopers, and the best you can come up with is a man that looks like a cat, well… no. Anyway, that’s what this next update brings. Not player Jawas, or anything like that. Hell, even Star Wars Galaxies had playable Ithorians.

Grumble. Videos below.(more…)

#ea Yesterday in New York City, Electronic Arts held a special event focused on queer issues in gaming. And it happened mostly because the company itself was willing to face its own stumbles in presenting gay characters in its video games. More »

#theoldrepublic In September, 2011, the folks behind online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic promised to add same-sex romance after the game had launched. More »

#starwars John Williams' orchestra is telling me I'm about about to go on an epic adventure. But I'm not. I'm on at my desk, on hold. More »

#theoldrepublic MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic is officially going free to play on November 15, EA confirmed today. More »

“Hello, Guinness Book Of Records? Was Star Wars: The Old Republic the fastest MMO to go from subs-based to free-to-play? Why yes, I could go away and do the most token amount of research instead, but I wanted to hear a human voice for a change. Also, can I have a pint of Guinness please? Yes, Extra Cold, thanks.”

And now you can try out SWTOR’s freeiness to playiness for yourself, albeit in a contained, reduced version, as the first vestiges of it are now live on that MMO folly’s test server.(more…)

A long time ago, in a galaxy that was still this one, Star Wars: The Old Republic lead systems designer Damion Schubert was one of the principle minds behind Meridian 59, a bonafide pioneer of MMORPGs as, well, things. Since then, he’s worked on Shadowbane and The Sims Online, among others. During GDC Online, however, he gave a talk regaling tales of Meridian clone invasions and other such emergent madness interspersed with rather comical regrets (Fun fact: It was the first 3D MMO. It also launched without mouse-look). Afterward, we sat down for a chat about how MMOs have changed since Schubert first helped hand them a lunch bag and usher them onto the bus back in ye olde 1990s. And while his eyes lit up as he reminisced about Meridian’s good old days, he was also quite adamant about his preference for SWTOR’s story-driven approach over, say, EVE-Online-style emergent madness. All that and more after the break.

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#theoldrepublic We've known since July that Star Wars: The Old Republic would be going free to play this fall. Now, developer BioWare has published a detailed list showing just what the free tier of the game includes. More »

#starwarstheoldrepublic The Game Developers Choice Online awards exist to give folks in the gaming industry a chance to highlight and celebrate the work of their peers in online games. This year's award ceremony took place last night in Austin. The full list of winners includes nods to Diablo III for best audio and League of Legends for community management, but the game that comes up most often in the list is Star Wars: The Old Republic. More »

SWTOR‘s fresh content mill continues to crank on the missions for light-saberists and chums. Speaking here, Bioware’s Austin bossbloke Matt Bromberg said: “We’re committed to: about every six weeks, doing a major update for the game — which would be a new Warzone, a new Operation, a new Flashpoint, a new event — and to doing that on a really frequent cadence, every six weeks.” So that’s EVERY SIX WEEKS. Got that? (Nice use of the word “cadence” there, Matt.) The upcoming 1.4 update is proof of this policy, because it contains a new operation called “Terror From Beyond”. This features the Gree planet of Asation, and a “hypergate”, which you can see in action below.

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#starwars It's inevitable. It's the future. It's what people want. More »

#starwars Tattoos are forever! Well, sorta. Gigs at game companies? Less so. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk has apparently left BioWare Austin, the studio behind the beleaguered MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. More »

#angermanagement I'm not proud of it, of course, but I've profiled others according to skin color. You see, glowing, primary color skin on a character in D.C. Universe Online is a sure sign of a free-to-play player, especially if they're low level. It indicates they really didn't give a shit what they looked like when they rolled, they just wanted to jump in and start stuffing their piehole in the free buffet. Freebies, freeloaders, whatever you want to call them, I refused to talk to or help one when DCUO went F2P back in November, adding one million new players in its first week alone. More »

Yesterday’s news about The Old Republic means that this morning we see a wave of editorials suggesting that subscription-based games are over, and that “free” is the only way MMOs can survive. This, of course, is because “MMO” essentially translates to “quest-based online RPG” (99% of the industry can’t see any other way to do it) and that tired old road is having to find new ways to keep people coming. There is another path, however, a less travelled one that might sustain the subscription model. The MMO which epitomises this is EVE Online. A sandbox model, where player-interaction is the content.

But will we continue to want to pay subscriptions for that? Or is it just a matter of time until that is made free?

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#review When Star Wars: the Old Republic launched last year, peripheral maker Razer was ready, delivering a stylish mouse and headset combo that evoked the feel of the Lucasverse at a modest premium over similar devices. Razer was not, however, ready with the $250 keyboard. More »

EA has officially set The Old Republic on a course toward free to play.

While this year's E3 wasn't necessarily the most memorable of shows, a few moments still stand out in my mind. One such image is that of BioWare's Dr. Ray Muzyka solemnly walking out onto EA's press conference stage to, as I put it then, "plead for the life of Star Wars: The Old Republic." He looked almost as tired as EA CEO John Riccitiello (who looked as if he'd aged a decade since E3 2011), and less than thrilled with what he was there to say. The Old Republic would be going free to play for the first 15 levels, we learned from Dr. Ray. I said at the time that when next year's E3 rolled around, EA would bring him back out to finish the job, making the game free-to-play outright. I was only half joking.

Thankfully, EA spared Dr. Ray the trip this time, and opted to simply send out a press release. Yes, it's true. The Old Republic is headed toward an outright free to play model, starting this fall. Yup, this fall.

The free to play model for The Old Republic does include a few restrictions. Technically, the game is free-to-play up to level 50, with real money costs applied to new content and advanced player features. A subscription option will remain for those who want to play free of any restrictions on content.

In addition to the new financial model, EA also announced that the game's initial price would be dropped to $14.99 starting this August.

With subscribers dropping out, it only made sense for EA to go this way. Free to play is obviously no death knell, as many different games have employed the model with success. It's more that many had wondered aloud during The Old Republic's development if it might be the last gasp of the subscription-model MMO. Obviously World of Warcraft won't be changing its business model any time soon, but can you honestly imagine anyone developing a new MMO with a subscription model in this climate? I can't foresee it. Then again, I also thought EA would wait until 2013 to make this move, so perhaps my predicting skills aren't so hot.

#breaking BioWare's massively multiplayer online RPG Star Wars: The Old Republic will go free-to-play this fall, publisher Electronic Arts said today. More »

Ever since Star Wars: The Old Republic was announced, it was a sure thing that we'd see the Hunter Killer assassin droids in the game, and indeed Bioware has released a teaser trailer announcing the appearance of HK-51, a few models down the line from everyone's favorite meatbag-loathing machine, HK-47.

Presumably, the droid will appear in the game as a player companion, though how he'll be unlocked for characters isn't yet apparent. The trailer mentions an ancient ice base where "scores" of "the most dangerous machines in the galaxy" exist, so there will likely be a bit of story and questing to go through to find this model and use it.

And let us be clear: You had better go get that droid, meatbag.

EA pinned much of its future on the success of The Old Republic. It hasn't been a runaway hit.

Electronic Arts has kind of sort of acknowledged reports of layoffs at BioWare Austin, the studio responsible for last year’s Star Wars: The Old Republic. The company did not provide many details.

“As with the launch of any MMO, the size and skillset of the teams needed to maintain the game is different than the ones that built it,” said the company in an emailed statement this afternoon.

Shakeups within BioWare Austin were first announced in May, and EA claims today’s reports are simply part of that plan.

“Starting in May, there have been staff reductions in the BioWare Austin studio,” said the company. “Some people have been platooned to other projects at BioWare Austin and EA Sports/Austin. Others have been released---qualifying personnel receive severance and outplacement assistance.”

EA was unwilling to disclose specifics of the staff reductions for The Old Republic Team.

“We aren’t going into any other details at this time,” said the publisher.

The company did confirm the departure of executive producer and MMO veteran Rich Vogel, who previously helped launch Meridian 59, Ultima Online, and Star Wars Galaxies. EA said Vogel left in June.

Details on the path forward for The Old Republic are coming “in the weeks ahead.” EA said it hopes to deliver new content more frequently to players, as EA tries to cling to the Star Wars and MMO fans still playing.

#bioware Star Wars: The Old Republic executive producer Rich Vogel has left developer BioWare amid a wave of layoffs, Gamasutra reports today. More »