Star Wars: The Old Republic Message Board older than one year ago

#starwars If you were at the San Diego Comic-Con, you may have already seen this clip! Since you probably weren't, though, here's your first look at the unveiling of killer droid HK-51 in Star Wars: The Old Republic. More »

“Come Back and Play at No Charge* for Up to 7 Days!” Says the SWTOR site. Ha, what’s that asterisk in there? Why it’s the expiration date on this offer, which July 17th. And this is an offer for lapsed subs only, of course. Returning folk will no doubt be thrilled to “receive an exclusive in-game pet, the Gannifari [pictured], and 25 Black Hole Commendations to use towards high level gear.” So that sound useful, if you’re a pet-loving ex-Jedi/Sith/Miscellaneous.

SWTOR is currently sitting at update 1.3, which focuses a bit more on PvP and grouping. “Grouping” is a funny word… Trailer for 1.3 below!(more…)

#theoldrepublic If you've been curious about Star Wars: The Old Republic but haven't felt like spending money to find out if you like it, today's a good day for you. More »

I remember when games used to be obstinate, unyielding creatures. They’d prance through the room, coated in all manner of dust and bugs and glitches, and they just didn’t care. Now, though, they heed developers’ every beck and call post-launch. The things can practically grow extra arms on command. Case in point: SWTOR’s latest patch, which brings it up to not-quite-light-speed with modern MMOs and, of course, Team Fortress 2′s recent case of Pyromania. So then, let’s have a gander at what’s on the menu.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic update 1.3 is live, patching in a group finder tool and ranked player-versus-player combat, along with adaptive gear and Legacy character perks. Let's get those subscribers back, BioWare! [BioWare] More »

Star Wars: The Old Republic's patch 1.3 has been in the news for a while, but the wait for it is finally over. After extended maintenance on the game from midnight to 4am PDT last night, the "Allies" update is up now.

Those new features include the Group Finder tool, which is something that SW:TOR players have been seeking since launch. There's also the Legacy System, for players with more than one character, and Adaptive Gear, which is armor that can be modded in combat for other abilities. If you've been out of the game for lack of one of these features, now's the time to jump back in.

Level cap increase, new planet to explore, new missions, and free to play up to level 15.

Bioware recaps the first year of their forceful MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Space Station Assault, Cather and more arrive this year to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be free-to-play through level 15 with an update hitting in July, BioWare announced at EA's E3 press conference. The update also introduces a new world, Makeb, and additional companions, including Knights of the Old Republic veteran HK-47.

It's been a roller-coaster ride for the sprawling Star Wars-based MMO from EA Bioware. The Old Republic's solid debut couldn't help the game from losing a sizable chunk of players. Now BioWare Austin is losing some of the developers that helped build the game, too, according to a statement issued today by BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka. More »

#starwars Now that the massive 1.2 update for Star Wars: The Old Republic is behind us, it's time for BioWare to start winning back those 400,000 lost subscribers with some oft-requested features. More »

As tired as some of this generation's franchises are getting, I'll happily take another Dead Space.

With financial quarters coming to an end, it’s that time again.

Electronic Arts announced its fourth quarter fiscal 2012 results today, and followed that up with a call for investors and analysts.

The biggest headline? Despite making money, Star Wars: The Old Republic subscriptions are down 400,000 users, from 1.7 million to 1.3 million. EA claimed that was in line with expectations.

The market responded by EA’s stock dropping nearly 10%.

After perusing through EA’s financial results and listening to its call (there wasn't much "news") here’s what stood out to me:

• EA spending $80 million on next generation development (it's calling it “Gen4”) over the next year.
• 11 million users are currently using Origin, and the service generated $150 million in 10 months.
• As rumors have suggested (also, logic), there’s another Need For Speed game coming later this year. It should be Criterion's turn.
• Another Dead Space game was mentioned, but no details. I wonder if the snow planet rumors are true?
• The reception to The Old Republic is, in EA’s eyes, in line with “original assumptions.”
• The company will undergo a “restructuring” between now and September 30 that will result in layoffs. It’s unclear how many employees will be impacted, but since it’s going to cost EA about $40 million to “restructure,” that’s not a very good sign.
• A bunch of stuff about EA pushing deeper and deeper into social/casual gaming.
• No PopCap news, which means EA did not announce Peggle 2. Grr.

#breaking Star Wars: The Old Republic has dropped from 1.7 million active subscribers to 1.3 million, publisher Electronic Arts said today in an earnings statement. More »

Electronic Arts reported a drop in Star Wars: The Old Republic's subscriber base, down to 1.3 million from the 1.7 million figure given in February 2012...

The Star Wars universe is massive. Aside from the six films, there are umpteen books, games and comics that are officially part of the canon. The sheer scope of the mythology makes it rather hard to accurately prophecy what might be coming for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWtOR) in future updates bu...

EA has put Star Wars: The Old Republic on sale for Star Wars Day, which is today, May the fourth (as in, "be with you" -- geddit?). Bioware's massively multiplayer Jedi simulator has been discounted from from $59.99 to $34.44 for the standard edition, or $44.44 for the digital deluxe edition, which includes some in-game digital goodies.

The sale lasts until Sunday, May 6. If you need it longer than that, you should have had more midichlorians, people.

Not such a long, long time ago, in galaxy much like this one, only more naive, youthful, and able to pull off those jeans the Milky Way no longer has any business shimmying into, Star Wars: The Old Republic was the Next Big Thing. It was billed as a tale for the ages – or six tales for the ages, really. Some soup-tin-sized lightsaber hilts aside, it could do no wrong. Fast-forwarding to today, however, paints a significantly more disenfranchised picture. Where once the level cap was a mystical thing – like the bell at the top of one of those strongman hammer dealies at fairs – now everyone’s dinging it. The credits have rolled, show’s over, and the theater’s empty aside from an incredibly cute cricket and tumbleweed couple in the throes of deep, eerily silent love, right? Wrong. That, lead designer Daniel Erickson told RPS, is a classic case of the Internet’s peanut gallery making a lightspeed jump to conclusions.

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Some 38 additional countries now will have access to Star Wars: The Old Republic, all of them located in the Middle East or parts of Europe. EA today announced plans to extend the distribution in that hemisphere. Subscription prices will vary by country, EA said. [GamesIndustry International] More »

BioWare claims subscriptions for the pricey Star Wars: The Old Republic haven't dropped, merely that concurrent users at peak times have declined. Speaking to PC Gamer, BioWare lead writer Daniel Erickson noted the change in player behavior and that server mergers are coming, but not a priority.

The response comes following a report by Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz, who believes SWTOR subscribers peaked at 1.7 million in February, and estimates the population will be around 1.25 million by March of 2013 in the game's current state.

"Nothing is off the table when it comes to making sure our communities are strong and active on each server," Erickson told PC Gamer.

Nothing? Hmm, let's talk about that subscription fee then...

The 1.2 update for Star Wars: The Old Republic added quite a bit of content, including dungeons, a PvP Warzone, and a Legacy system to encourage you to create another character and check out the level 1 through 50 experience from another perspective. In addition to a host of performance and systems ...

#watchthis I used to think the CBS Naval Intelligence procedural NCIS was a show aimed squarely at the extremely mature crowd, until a recent episode took an arrow in the knee. More »

#starwars Yesterday BioWare made a substantial portion of Star Wars: The Old Republic's player base angry by offering a free month of play to its "most valued" players—those that had reached level 50 in the game. Today the developer continues to surprise and delight players by expanding the promotion as to not alienate people. More »

I never play MMOs enough to receive awards. Actually, I do play them, but don’t play, so while everyone’s grinding and high-fiving over getting level quad-squlllion, I’m jumping up a mountain the wrong way, attempting to find a stray polygon to land on to climb higher and higher. It’s important research. So I’m physically shrugging at Bioware’s gift of 30 free days of game time to every SWTOR player that’s reached level 50. It doesn’t affect me in the slightest that my pioneering playstyle goes unrewarded. It might affect you, though, and for that I’m happy and seething with envy for you. It’s to drag everyone back into the game to experience the delights of the massive Legacy update. As an extra incentive, they’re throwing in a cute little baby Tauntaun.

Enough about the freebies. Here’s what the update looks like.(more…)

BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic is two different experiences smashed together: a single-player role-playing game fused to a traditional MMO framework. What it does so well story-driven leveling abruptly stops when you hit the level cap, leaving you with a decision: unsubscribe, grind through dungeons and PvP arenas like you would in any other MMO, or create an alternate character and start leveling again...

#starwars After all the trouble Star Wars: The Old Republic has seen since its launch late last year, BioWare today decided to reward its "most loyal players" that stuck with the game a free month of game time. How could that possibly go wrong? It's all about the definition of "most loyal players". More »

The companion system in Star Wars: The Old Republic helps this MMO stand out in an increasingly crowded genre. Having someone along for the adventures and the levels has proven to be one of the fans' favorite features, and recently we asked you to vote on which companions were your favorites. The results are in, and we at IGN have collated the data into a handy little visual. Without further adieu, here are the winners, as picked by you...

BioWare will deploy its 1.2 update for Star Wars: The Old Republic on April 12, 2012. The content patch will include new Flashpoint, Operation and Warzone content in addition to quite a bit more. In case you haven't played, Flashpoints are PvE dungeons, Operations are PvE raids, and Warzones are PvP arenas...

#starwars Who is waging the public opinion battle between anti-gay "family values" groups and the video game creators who dared to allow same-sex romance in their massive new Star Wars game? The anti-gay crowd says the Star Wars defenders are getting help from spam-bots. (Would they be spam-droids?) More »

Stephen Fry and Charlie Brooker have both used Twitter to come out in support of EA after the publisher was targeted by anti-gay protestors. Speaking over Easter, Fry said "If you do 0 else today, do join me and @Yoda to help game-maker @ea stand strong against anti gay hate & the dark side". Br...