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OotiniCast Episode 113

Posted on December 26, 2013 by teoDecember 29, 2013

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Upon the occasion of SWTOR’s second anniversary, we discuss what changed in the game over the past year, starting from the launch of free-to-play. We conclude with some brief speculation on what’ll be next in 2014!

1. Introduction

Teo decided to demonstrate his joy in Life Day via his choice of headwear.

That’s not a Life Day hat…

THAT’s a Life Day hat!

2. Tip of the Week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Quin’obi!

Please send your tips to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday for a chance to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.Congratulations to this week’s winner, Quin’obi!

3. Holofeed

Patch 2.5.1a was deployed to resolve the issue that prevented players from receiving Ship Requisition for their Gunship in an extremely rare set of circumstances.
More traditional Jedi robes will be brought into the game in a future Game Update, including one set in a Cartel pack, and one for direct purchase from the Cartel Market.
The second anniversary of SWTOR occurred on 20 December. All players received an in-game mail with 25 fireworks and both Republic and Empire Scout paint jobs for Galactic Starfighter.
The SWTOR community team wrote an article about their own memories in celebration of the anniversary. Amber Green also announced that she was assuming the role of Live Producer. A new member would thus be joining the Community Team early next year.
Background information was provided for the new companions added to both Republic and Empire to form the default crew for each ship in Galactic Starfighter.

4. Community

Gaddock Teeg had a great conversation with Eric Musco on the latest Unnamed SWTOR Podcast.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets, emails and comments from @TheMalgadar, @kmadsen, @SWTORReforged, @ForceChuckle, @joseph_foran, @Loudshirt086, @ben_b55, @HamSammich509, @thehatfield, @JediKrackr, @JediAio, Oxi-jin, @MikeG_75, Tim (Gasguy), Thross, Morriah and RSKeogh96 (Ryan Keogh).

You can find @kmadsen’s forum post here. He references the following images:

Imp paint job on Imp Scout

Imp paint job previewed on Pub side

Teo obtained some further previews to show that it seems that the colour scheme is specific to the faction, rather than any kind of inconsistency.

Pub paint job previewed on Pub side

Pub paint job previewed on Imp side

Imp paint job previewed on Imp side

Here is where @ben_b55 ended up after hightailing it in CZ-198’s daily area:

The assault cannon that Ham is after, whose business end is reminiscent of a battle station from the distant future:

Somewhere, somehow, @JediKrackr discovered the Wonkavator, mysteriously retrieved from a Chocolate Factory far, far away in the distant future… on Tatooine!

6. Sarlacc Digest

We discuss the past, present and future of SWTOR, using the following content roadmap to structure our conversation:

Game Update 1.5: HK-51 Activated [15 Nov 2012]

launch of free-to-play

daily area: Section X

world boss: Dreadtooth

companion: HK-51

Explosive Conflict (nightmare)

Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate [11 Dec 2012]

warzone: Ancient Hypergate

heroic space missions

Game Update 1.7: Return of the Gree [12 February 2013]

recurring world event: Relics of the Gree

system: Galactic Reputation

Game Update 1.7.2 [12 March 2013]

reputation: Contraband Resale Corporation

Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy [9 April 2013]

operation: Scum and Villainy (8 encounters, story, hard)

system: achievements

hardmode flashpoint: Athiss

hardmode flashpoint: Cademimu

hardmode flashpoint: Mandalorian Raiders

hardmode flashpoint: Hammer Station

Rise of the Hutt Cartel

planet: Makeb

level cap raised from 50 to 55

system: Macrobinoculars

system: Seeker Droid

Game Update 2.1: Customization [14 May 2013]

system: Appearance Designer

system: Dye Modules

system: Collections

species: Cathar

Game Update 2.2: Operation Nightmare [11 June 2013]

mode: Terror From Beyond (nightmare)

system: paid character transfers

Game Update 2.2.2 [10 July 2013]

mode: Scum and Villainy (nightmare)

Game Update 2.3: Titans of Industry [6 August 2013]

daily area: CZ-198

flashpoint: Czerka Corporate Labs (3 encounters, story 55, hard)

flashpoint: Czerka Core Meltdown (3 encounters, story 55, hard)

Tauntaun mounts on Hoth

recurring world event: Bounty Contract Week

significant graphical upgrades (palette graphics upgrade)

companion: Treek

Game Update 2.4: The Dread War [1 October 2013]

daily area: Oricon

operation: Dread Fortress (5 encounters, story, hard)

operation: Dread Palace (5 encounters, story, hard)

warzone arenas (Orbital Station, Tatooine Canyon, Corellia Square)

Game Update 2.4.3 [12 November 2013]

Ranked PvP Season One and web-based leaderboards

character name renewal program

Game Update 2.5: Galactic Starfighter Early Access [3 December 2013]

Galactic Starfighter

2 “Domination” maps, Lost Shipyards and Kuat Mesas

Scout, Strike Fighter available to all subs (Gunship if subscribed before 20 Nov)

class changes

warzone arenas (Makeb Mesa)

Game Update 2.5.1 [17 December 2013] (+2 weeks)

recurring world event: Life Day

7. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@hypknotoad) and Redna (@R3DN4, twitch.tv/r3dn4) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

You can email questions and comments about the show to ootinicast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter via @OotiniCast. Check out our website, ootinicast.com, which has links to our presence on Google+ and Facebook. We are a proud member of the TOR Syndicate! You can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and listen to us on Stitcher and Radio4Gamers.

OotiniCast Episode 112

Posted on December 19, 2013 by teoDecember 21, 2013

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The Gree are back for the next two weeks, and it seems they brought the inaugural Life Day event with them!

1. Introduction

Red has captured photographic evidence of the existence of the very hard-to-find beastie from Taris, the Rakghoul Overlord:

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Ryan Keogh (RSKeogh)!

Please send your tips to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday for a chance to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.

3. Holofeed

Patch 2.5b was deployed mid last week to fix the issue that had been introduced for some of those utilising AMD (ATI) video cards.
Game Update 2.5.1 was deployed during maintenance on Tuesday morning.
There was a somewhat obscure issue that means that if you have access to the Gunship (i.e., were subscribed before 20 November) but did not play Galactic Starfighter prior to the deployment of 2.5.1 on Tuesday, you will not earn Ship Requisition for that Gunship. This issue was subsequently resolved in patch 2.5.1a, deployed on Thursday morning.
The next batch of Cartel Packs will be here soon in Cartel Market Shipment Four; in preparation for this, its new reputation, Interplanetary Component Exchange (ICE), is shown in the reputation panel, but cannot yet be advanced.
Chris Schmidt, a Designer working on Galactic Starfighter, offered some clarifications on how missiles lock on, including how to break a lock, and assured us that lag shouldn’t affect the lock-on logic.
The Life Day items that reappeared on the Cartel Market will not come back next year. This is your last chance to get them for Cartel Coins!
For the next two weeks (ending 1 January 2014), two live events are active: the Gree are back in the Relics of the Gree Event, and we get to throw lots and lots of snowballs in the new Life Day Event. According to Imperial Edict GR-1NC4, the Empire is not pleased with Life Day. We recommend Dulfy’s excellent Life Day guide.

You will NOT find one of these in-game!

It was clarified why the Gree currency is bound to a player, rather than legacy-wide or tradeable.

4. Community

Kal sent us the following screenshot of the Ootini Templars operations team just “camping out in Dread Palace”:

Kuze is back with a new Kuze’s Korner, reviewing the MSE-6 ability tracker. We particularly recommend Kuze’s Platforming Guide, recently endorsed by Sema of the SWTOR Escape Pod Cast.

We have developed the Crew Calculator to help players choose the optimal crew for each of their Galactic Starfighters!

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @TheMalgadar, @jeffyjaws (Jeff Brennan), @JRO_Mosqueito (Mosq), @BillLentz, @GregCarter78, @TheTurg, @O_JohnnyBravo_O, @Strongshocker, @joseph_foran, @Talionbot, @foehammer75 (Les), @rondowar (Rondo), @DaveO_NewWaveO, @PedroLopezJr and @JediKal, and emails and comments from Tegryn Bloodrunner, 01MAN, AmonRe, thetrippster, Tarkko/Praefecti and Dekarch.

For beginners wanting to learn more about PvP, there are old episodes of our show which focus on the mechanics of the various warzones, including episode 43 (Chong’s first appearance), episode 56 (PvP after Game Update 1.5) and episode 57 (mechanics of Ancient Hypergate). The New Player’s Guide to PvP on the official forums is also well worth reading.

Here is Mosq’s bizarre neo-3D experience:

Our guildmate and fellow raider Bill proves his financial mastery with the accumulation of over 100,000,000 credits:

6. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@R3DN4, twitch.tv/r3dn4) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

You can email questions and comments about the show to ootinicast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter via @OotiniCast. Check out our website, ootinicast.com, which has links to our presence on Google+ and Facebook. You can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and listen to us on Stitcher and Radio4Gamers.

OotiniCast Episode 111

Posted on December 12, 2013 by teoDecember 12, 2013

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As the Life Day holiday approaches, there’s not much happening… well, aside from Galactic Starfighter! We discuss what we’ve learned so far, and provide some tips and tricks for all you budding pilots.

1. Introduction

Red discovered that to search for Cartel Market items for Galactic Starfighter being sold on the GTN, you need to set the category to “Starship Upgrade”, and the upper bound of the “Required Level” to 1, as shown below:

If you only want to see starfighter unlocks, set the category to “Artifact” (purple).

Red also encourages the community who are into achievement hunting to get themselves added to the forum-based achievement leaderboard (thanks to BenB of the Empire-side guild Despair on The Harbinger for letting Red know).

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Darklighter!

Manciferous referenced this list of companion gifts.

Please send your tips to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday for a chance to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.

3. Holofeed

Patch 2.5a was deployed during a short maintenance on Tuesday. This included a fix to the issue that required players to repurchase all ranks of an ability when reaching a level when a new rank should be available for that ability, and for various daily-related achievements that had temporarily disappeared.
Along with the patch, Life Day items were once again made available on the Cartel Market.
There was an issue introduced with Game Update 2.5 that appears to be specific to those with some ATI video cards. BioWare is working hard to fix it, and while it didn’t make 2.5a, the issue was subsequently resolved in Patch 2.5b.
Some Galactic Starfighter clarifications were provided, including:
- how to identify your squadron (group) in the main list and map
- why suiciding to avoid an opponent getting a kill may be sub-optimal
Late last week, BioWare streamed members of their community and development team playing Galactic Starfighter on their Twitch channel for over 3 hours. You can watch the archived broadcast in two parts (part 1, part 2).
To celebrate SWTOR’s second anniversary on 20 December, BioWare is after “My SWTOR Saga” screenshots from players, capturing what they love about the game. Some will be featured on SWTOR’s Facebook page.

4. Community

While we always recommend JD’s (Gaddock Teeg) Unnamed SWTOR Podcast, episode 25 “Five point plan to saved Ranked” is particularly good!

Asros’s TOROCast article “Galactic Starfighter: Did it Stay on Target” is well worth reading.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @BlazeofCory (Cory Butler), @JediKrackr, @GregCarter78, @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @ThePummeler, and emails and comments from Jacob, Kingsleyy and Tyserian.

6. Sarlacc Digest

Our discussion topic was tips and tricks for Galactic Starfighter. We reference Dulfy’s SWTOR Galactic Starfighter Medals list and Cosmic’s Top Five Galactic Starfighter Tips.

Thanks to Eric, @Dekarch, @Makinmoves, @EmpireDivider (Chong), Darklighter, Irahs, @JediKal and @TheTurg (Terg) for contributing their questions, tips and comments.

Here’s Chong awesome screenshot of him going head-to-head in an unintentional standoff:

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@R3DN4, twitch.tv/r3dn4) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

OotiniCast Episode 110

Posted on December 5, 2013 by teoDecember 12, 2013

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Game Update 2.5 is here, granting early access to Galactic Starfighter. Lock S-foils in attack position!

1. Introduction

Redna clarifies the name of the Android app he recommended last week: Viral Floating Youtube Popup.

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Mark!

Please send your tips to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday for a chance to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.

3. Holofeed

Game Update 2.5: Galactic Starfighter Early Access, was deployed during a long 7-hour maintenance on Tuesday.
Blaine Christine (Senior Producer) authored a developer blog announcing that early access to Galactic Starfighter is here. There was also a press release and the Starfighter Customization trailer (also on YouTube).
In his Developer Update: Galactic Starfighter Crew Members, Brian Audette (Senior Designer) explains how choosing our crew is a critical part of preparing our starfighters for combat.
We get some insight into the development process with the Developing a Level for Galactic Starfighter developer blog by Chris Schmidt (Designer).
In Michael Backus’s (Lead Designer) developer blog Galactic Starfighter Development, Introduction: Part II, he gives some insight into the reasoning behind the design decisions affecting the expansion’s cost, accessibility and progression mechanic.
Michael Backus also explained how the system behind allocating rewards in Galactic Starfighter differs from that in regular warzones.
A new official forum has been created for Galactic Starfighter.
Now that Game Update 2.5 and its class changes has been released, the class representative program has been reactivated, starting with those Advanced Classes that received few (or no) changes in 2.5. The first set of three questions will be submitted in January.
The old on-rails space game should still be working, though the Grade 7 components used for the heroic space missions are no longer available on the Cartel Market. They should still be obtainable by others means (craftable, direct purchase for credits or Fleet Commendations).
Bounty Contract Week returns next week, running 10-17 December.

Capital ships over Coruscant

4. Community

Kal gives us some insight into the detailed planning that goes into an Ootini Templars operation:

The Empire-side guild Despair on The Harbinger is looking for raiders to join their operations group. See this forum post for more information.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @Geldarion, @TheTurg, @Jazzycaty (Pliskiin), @fnord3125 (Brian Peters), @JediKal, @TheMalgadar, @thehatfield, @Lawilc01 (Laurie M), @ForceChuckle, @AuramAlexander, @masterbearjedi, @Manciferous and @JediKrackr, and emails and comments from Carnz, Decurion, Narq, Youltar, Darth Kenji, Greg Carter (a.k.a. Evewyn), Mark S, Nathaniel Starr, Kal, Kingsleyy, Michael Sawyer, Ilmar, Oxi-jin, Morriah, TREaltoholic and Thundergod.

@AuramAlexander recommends the video guides provided by the OSWguild from The Harbinger, which you can find on YouTube here (follow them on Twitter via @OSWguild).

Darth Kenji offers yet more proof that day/night cycles are indeed possible!

Geldarion (a.k.a. Drew, co-host of Corellian Run Radio) penned a poem on the eve of Game Update 2.5’s deployment. He also sent us this screenshot of the new recruiting poster on Coruscant for Galactic Starfighter (the Aurebesh reads “Protect the Republic, become a starfighter pilot”):

Here is another cyborg Imperial Agent, this one from Mark S:

6. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) and Redna (@R3DN4, twitch.tv/r3dn4) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

OotiniCast Episode 109

Posted on November 28, 2013 by teoNovember 30, 2013

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We cover a broad range of topics in the week before Galactic Starfighter comes out of hyperspace with Game Update 2.5 on 3 December, including our plans for leveling during double XP over the Thanksgiving holiday.

1. Introduction

Redna recommends the Android app Viral Floating Youtube Popup.

If you’d like to own the “Jawa Droid Sales” t-shirt which Teo obtained last time it was available, vote here at Qwertee.

Meet Highball Chong, the Moff’s new character to level during double XP:

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Longbow!

BenB offers the following as proof that a level 10 could gain access to Speeder Piloting 3 by purchasing only that Legacy unlock using Cartel Coins:

Please send your tips to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday for a chance to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.

3. Holofeed

The double XP long weekend for Thanksgiving has begun! It finishes 1am CST on Tuesday 2 December. We again recommend the list of tips by long-time contributor to the show, The Malgadar.
Players are reporting some odd behaviour in the matchmaking logic used to assemble teams for solo ranked PvP. If you encounter a particularly one-sided match, please respond to the thread to help BioWare track down what’s going wrong.
Five different rare dyes will be available for direct purchase in the Cartel Market over the Thanksgiving holiday. Each dye will be there for a limited time, with a new dye appearing at 11am CST on the next switchover day.
- Black/Dark Purple: Tue 11am CST (5pm GMT, Wed 4am AEST) for 24 hours
- Black/White: Wed 11am CST (5pm GMT, Thurs 4am AEST) for 24 hours
- White/White: Thurs 11am CST (5pm GMT, Fri 4am AEST) for 24 hours
- Black/Black: Fri 11am CST (5pm GMT, Sat 4am AEST) for 48 hours
- White/Black: Sun 11am CST (5pm GMT, Mon 4am AEST) until maintenance
As part of his PTS coverage, JD of the Unnamed SWTOR Podcast reported that the legacy-unlockable personal starship repair droid was selling items that could apply different effects (reduce armor by 20%, reduce health to 1.5M, 1M and 500K) to the target dummies in our starships.
In the final week before the release of Game Update 2.5 and Galactic Starfighter, BioWare released three more developer blogs:
- Developer Update: Strike Fighter Class Starfighter (Brian Audette, Senior Designer)
- Developer Update: Gunship Class Starfighter (Chris Schmidt, Designer)
- Developer Update: Requisition and Upgrades (Jason Attard, Senior Game Designer)

4. Community

Evewyn’s PvP Advice references a forum thread on understanding SWTOR’s resolve system, and a developer update about the changes made to it in Game Update 1.4.

In response to Madmar (also known as @Swtorfamily) needing to move SWTOR from his existing computer to his new gaming rig, Teo authored this guide on the process.

If you’re interested in how things are shaping up for ranked PvP in Season 1, you may find Teo’s leaderboard analysis tool useful!

Missandei of the Tomb of Freedon Nadd server has created a most concise visual guide on the crafting bonuses provided by all companions.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @Enyonix, @heymason12 (Hash), @JoshuaLynch125 (Codex), @masterbearjedi (Raz), @Adam_Schumpert, @Darklighter159, @GTeeg (Gaddock Teeg, a.k.a. JD of the Unnamed SWTOR Podcast), @MaraJade5233, @Lawilc01 (Laurie M), @ForceChuckle, @TheTurg (Terg), @EmpireDivider (Moff Chong), @FerrousTerran, @Strongshocker (Chaz Lobo), @GregCarter78, @fnord3125 (Brian Peters) and @TheMalgadar, and emails and comments from Chris, Jacob and Socordia.

Snowy’s droid look:

Adam Schumpert’s Wookie illustration that appears (fittingly) on Wookiepedia:

6. Sarlacc Digest

We briefly (due to time constraints) answered some questions about Galactic Starfighter. For more information (in fact, all you could possibly want to know!), we once again recommend Dulfy’s various guides about the expansion:

7. Outro

Thanks to Moff Chong (@EmpireDivider) and Redna (@R3DN4, twitch.tv/r3dn4) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

You can email questions and comments about the show to ootinicast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter via @OotiniCast. Check out our website, ootinicast.com, which has links to our presence on Google+ and Facebook. You can subscribe to us on iTunes, and listen to us on Stitcher and Radio4Gamers.

Rare dyes being sold direct over Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 25, 2013 by teoNovember 25, 2013

Five different rare dyes will be available for direct purchase in the Cartel Market over the double XP long weekend that coincides with the Thanksgiving holiday. Each dye will be there for a limited time, with a new dye appearing at 11am CST on the next switchover day [source].

Black/Dark Purple: Tue 11am CST (5pm GMT, Wed 4am AEST) for 24 hours
Black/White: Wed 11am CST (5pm GMT, Thurs 4am AEST) for 24 hours
White/White: Thurs 11am CST (5pm GMT, Fri 4am AEST) for 24 hours
Black/Black: Fri 11am CST (5pm GMT, Sat 4am AEST) for 48 hours
White/Black: Sun 11am CST (5pm GMT, Mon 4am AEST) until maintenance

OotiniCast Episode 108

Posted on November 21, 2013 by teoNovember 27, 2013

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We discuss the latest news, including the public unveiling of Galactic Starfighter at the Community Cantina last week in San Francisco. Less than two weeks until the Ootini Fleet launches!

1. Introduction

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, DroidDreamer!

Please send your tips to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday for a chance to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.

3. Holofeed

The workbench that was added to the Fleets’ VIP areas in Game Update 2.4.3 is apparently not working as intended. Best to avoid until further notice!
Patch 2.4.3a was deployed during a short maintenance on Tuesday morning, to fix a rating exploit that had been discovered shortly after Game Update 2.4.3 went live. It was mentioned that the issue was introduced in that build, and wasn’t present on the PTS.
The launcher was also updated.
The Community Cantina held at EA’s Redwood Studios in San Francisco was the first public demonstration of Galactic Starfighter. Our intrepid man on the ground, the inestimable Ferrous Terran, has compiled a most detailed report for your edification and enjoyment.
A new Galactic Starfighter trailer, “Domination”, was released (also on YouTube).
Bret Hoffman (Associate Designer) has authored another Galactic Starfighter developer blog, this one focussing on the Scout family of starfighters.
At the Community Cantina, it was revealed that the PTS would be open to all last weekend (16-17 November) and this coming weekend (23-24 November), from 7pm CST Friday to 11pm CST Sunday.
The indefatigable Dulfy (aided and abetted by some friends) has produced a mountain of guides (and an awesome tool) to tell you all you need to know about Galactic Starfighter. We salute her efforts and that of her team!
Some wonderful discoveries were made on the PTS over the weekend. The first was by Jean Prior of TORWars, which was also written up by Dulfy, who discovered that there were achievements for two events: the Rakghoul Resurgence and Life Day.
When I hopped onto the PTS to see for myself, I discovered that there is a new Legacy global unlock for “Tactical Markers”. These allow one to deploy three different markers, each of which lasts 1 minute, with no cooldown or limit to how many you can place.

A reminder that the double XP long weekend for Thanksgiving is nearly here! It commences Wednesday 27 November at noon CST, and runs until 1am CST on Tuesday 2 December. Long-time contributor to the show, The Malgadar, has compiled a most awesome list of tips for maximising one’s XP gains while double XP is in effect.

4. Community

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @DsanOB (Dan O’Brien), @Lawilc01 (Laurie M), @ForceChuckle, @TheTurg (Terg), @EmpireDivider (Moff Chong), @FerrousTerran, @Strongshocker (Chaz Lobo), @GregCarter78, @fnord3125 (Brian Peters), @SallyBowls, @Manciferous (Russ Moody) and @TheMalgadar, and emails and comments from Tarkko, DroidDreamer, Tex McShootEmUp, Chris and Oofalong.

As part of the discussion about the changes to Marauders/Sentinels, we reference Njessi’s blog post “Feeling a bit useless as Marauder DPS”.

Here’s Greg Carter’s TV playing SWTOR:

Brian Peters recommends RiffTrax’s treatment of The Star Wars Holiday Special.

6. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@R3DN4, twitch.tv/r3dn4) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

SF Community Cantina (Galactic Starfighter) Wrap-Up

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Ferrous TerranNovember 14, 2013

Introduction

Wow. And they’re just getting started.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to head up last night to EA’s Redwood Shores campus for the first Community Cantina Tour event dedicated to the Galactic Starfighter digital expansion. I had to leave before the Q&A (boo!) but notes were typed fast & furious before my phone died. We’ll start with a few impressions of the event itself and then roll into what I jotted down.

The campus, as one might expect, is quite nice and we gathered in the café for some delicious finger foods and drinks. Everyone from EA was super friendly, passionate about the game and expansion, and engaged with all the players who attended. Sketches and concept art were scattered on stands around the outside of the room. When you entered they had stand-ins for Imperial or Republic pilots and offered to snap shots with your phone (cheesy photo attached from the proper faction, heh.) Today was the first round of press demos and we played in 5 groups of 11 x 11 (2 games, 1 to learn and 1 to fight) with the matches being streamed from the game room to the café.

General Game Info

~1 million active users a month
~10 million accounts created since launch
F2P was massive undertaking debuting about a year ago
creature mounts were difficult to get in because of the engine; fans demanded it and the Cartel Market helped (and continues to) fund/drive features
current is “ground” game, this is “space” game; together they form SWTOR for many years to come
Galactic Starfighter started conceptually a bit prior to F2P and hit the ground running
focus on making and evoking the moments and experiences we all know and love
my impression is that the Cartel Market is going to be instrumental in how big this can be (customization, engagement, etc.)
long time, robust support for space game
open PTS will be available for testing this weekend and the next!!

Galactic Starfighter Info

ran a new trailer (“Domination”) to showcase Galactic Starfighter
can start playing “space” game even if you’re just starting level 1 in the “ground” game
to make the space game happen, they stretched the engine by building new interaction models on top of existing mechanics
Requisition (Fleet and Ship) is the currency
ship is your character
companion is your co-pilot
roles are your classes essentially
choose your role each time you spawn (not when queueing for the battle)
super customizable appearance (weapons & their colors, engines & their colors, ship variants and much more)
upgrade trees are there too
14 fighters available at launch across both factions
november subscriber-only benefit: Gunship role is available from early access (3 December); essentially 1.5 months preview, others will have to earn unlock in February.
Bomber role coming in February update
adding up to 24 fighters roughly around then (didn’t get a chance to clarify)
neutral (faction and role) Flashpoint, Kuat Drive Yards, starts at level 10 and coming in February. Content changes dynamically. Referred to as “something special”.
all the companions have been integrated as a co-pilot option including Treek and HK (unlock in ground then purchase with reqs in space)
all the voice actors were back to record new dialogue; companions continue adding that flavor we know and love (we now know why the voice actors were posting a few months ago)
premium ships (cartel market purchase, probably per ship) – the ships you encountered in the “ground” game, now in space!
defensive maneuvers (which engine customizations improve) allow you to do a barrel roll or activate your retro thrust (awesome!!)

Jeff Hickman (General Manager of BioWare Austin) said it best:

“It’s as much fun to watch as it is to play.”

Play Session

map is Lost Shipyards; big sun in the background, large asteroids with areas to fly through or camp; capital ship spawn points
I’m not really a PVPer yet but I was hooked immediately and couldn’t wait to respawn
flying is just plain fun and I immediately said “do a barrel roll!” like Star Fox
easy to learn, difficult to master like many of the best things in life
Gunship role is fun because you enter a tank-/turret-like mode (stop moving and enter a ‘scope’ to aim) but it’s longer range strategic support like a sniper
destroy turrets (3) to allow capture of control points; was able to hide near some asteroids, dash out, and then snipe all the turrets on B (middle node)

Notes

shows up as another little button on the mini map’s left side or use H to open your “hangar” (the customization window)
can’t modify ships once you’ve queued for a battle
spawning is exiting hyperspace (awesome!!)
use the F1-F4 keys to change ship resource balance on the fly (shield, blaster, engine, balanced)
missile lock is intuitive, hold secondary weapon (right mouse button) while tracking until lock occurs and then release
fun suggestion from lead designer – fly together with guild colors; match blasters to faction or saber
observation: much like crew skills ‘fits’ a mobile UI the hangar ‘fits’ a tablet UI (fingers crossed, right Hyp?!)
creating scenarios such as the blockade around Hoth are in the realm of possibility
they’ve heard requests for joystick controls of some form for space game; requires work to map efficiently from engine (Hero isn’t a fan of them) – if you are passionate about this let them know, that’s how invert mouse got added during alpha/early beta testing

Conclusion

BioWare handed out the normal assortment of SWTOR swag such as the thumb drive and Taunfawn code, but in honor of Galactic Starfighter they added some cool extras: your choice of an Imperial or Republic patch and a signed poster! Kudos to the community and marketing teams for another great Community Cantina Tour stop and most especially thank you to the development team for their incredible work. I didn’t get a chance to capture everything but I hope you’re as excited as I am for one of the more transformative experiences to hit an MMO.

(Editor’s note: Thanks to guest writer Ferrous Terran for an awesome write-up! You can find him on Twitter using @FerrousTerran.)

OotiniCast Episode 107

Posted on November 14, 2013 by teoNovember 18, 2013

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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After covering the news, including Game Update 2.4.3 and the new web-based Leaderboards, we reveal all about Galactic Starfighter!

1. Introduction

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Carn! He suggests we visit this location in the Juran Mountains on Alderaan to experience a most strange effect.

Please send your tips to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday for a chance to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.

3. Holofeed

Game Update 2.4.3 was deployed during a longish regular maintenance. It includes the Opportunist’s Bounty Pack, previewed by Dulfy.
PvP Ranked Season One is now live, accompanied by the web-based leaderboards. Rob Hinkle (Senior System Designer) authored the PvP Season One Blog, covering much the same information that was included in the Help Center article we covered last episode. The following data was retrieved on Wednesday afternoon US time:

Solo (all servers)

Total: 5230 (3099 [59.3%] < 1200 <= 2131 [40.7%])
2911 [55.7%] Imps, 2319 [44.3%] Pubs

Gunslinger/Sniper: 388 [7.4%] (248 < 1200 <= 140)
Sage/Sorcerer: 824 [15.8%] (524 < 1200 <= 300)
Guardian/Juggernaut: 614 [11.7%] (366 < 1200 <= 248)
Scoundrel/Operative: 695 [13.3%] (396 < 1200 <= 299)
Sentinel/Marauder: 893 [17.1%] (518 < 1200 <= 375)
Shadow/Assassin: 788 [15.1%] (459 < 1200 <= 329)
Commando/Mercenary: 494 [9.4%] (331 < 1200 <= 163)
Vanguard/Powertech: 534 [10.2%] (257 < 1200 <= 277)

Group (all servers)

Total: 1127 (727 [64.5%] < 1200 <= 400 [35.5%])
598 [53.1%] Imps, 529 [46.9%] Pubs

Gunslinger/Sniper: 56 [5.0%] (39 < 1200 <= 17)
Sage/Sorcerer: 127 [11.3%] (80 < 1200 <= 47)
Guardian/Juggernaut: 137 [12.2%] (98 < 1200 <= 39)
Scoundrel/Operative: 216 [19.2%] (131 < 1200 <= 85)
Sentinel/Marauder: 222 [19.7%] (133 < 1200 <= 89)1
Shadow/Assassin: 107 [9.5%] (77 < 1200 <= 30)
Commando/Mercenary: 93 [8.3%] (71 < 1200 <= 22)
Vanguard/Powertech: 169 [15.0%] (98 < 1200 <= 71)

Solo (The Harbinger)

Total: 414 (240 [58.0%] < 1200 <= 174 [42.0%])
135 [32.6%] Imps, 279 [67.4%] Pubs

Gunslinger/Sniper: 48 [11.6%] (27 < 1200 <= 21)
Sage/Sorcerer: 59 [14.3%] (34 < 1200 <= 25)
Guardian/Juggernaut: 37 [8.9%] (23 < 1200 <= 14)
Scoundrel/Operative: 56 [13.5%] (32 < 1200 <= 24)
Sentinel/Marauder: 68 [16.4%] (43 < 1200 <= 25)
Shadow/Assassin: 50 [12.1%] (30 < 1200 <= 20)
Commando/Mercenary: 54 [13.0%] (33 < 1200 <= 21)
Vanguard/Powertech: 42 [10.1%] (18 < 1200 <= 24)

Group (The Harbinger)

Total: 59 (45 [76.3%] < 1200 <= 14 [23.7%])
16 [27.1%] Imps, 43 [72.9%] Pubs

Gunslinger/Sniper: 5 [8.5%] (3 < 1200 <= 2)
Sage/Sorcerer: 8 [13.6%] (4 < 1200 <= 4)
Guardian/Juggernaut: 9 [15.3%] (7 < 1200 <= 2)
Scoundrel/Operative: 10 [16.9%] (8 < 1200 <= 2)
Sentinel/Marauder: 11 [18.6%] (10 < 1200 <= 1)
Shadow/Assassin: 4 [6.8%] (4 < 1200 <= 0)
Commando/Mercenary: 4 [6.8%] (4 < 1200 <= 0)
Vanguard/Powertech: 8 [13.6%] (5 < 1200 <= 3)

Solo (The Bastion)

Total: 533 (319 [59.8%] < 1200 <= 214 [40.2%])
318 [59.7%] Imps, 215 [40.3%] Pubs

Gunslinger/Sniper: 42 [7.9%] (29 < 1200 <= 13)
Sage/Sorcerer: 83 [15.6%] (55 < 1200 <= 28)
Guardian/Juggernaut: 60 [11.3%] (38 < 1200 <= 22)
Scoundrel/Operative: 66 [12.4%] (39 < 1200 <= 27)
Sentinel/Marauder: 98 [18.4%] (51 < 1200 <= 47)
Shadow/Assassin: 72 [13.5%] (41 < 1200 <= 31)
Commando/Mercenary: 41 [7.7%] (27 < 1200 <= 14)
Vanguard/Powertech: 71 [13.3%] (39 < 1200 <= 32)

Group (The Bastion)

Total: 70 (43 [61.4%] < 1200 <= 27 [38.6%])
20 [28.6%] Imps, 50 [71.4%] Pubs

Gunslinger/Sniper: 6 [8.6%] (5 < 1200 <= 1)
Sage/Sorcerer: 9 [12.9%] (6 < 1200 <= 3)<br/span>
style=”font-size: 10px;”> Guardian/Juggernaut: 3 [4.3%] (2 < 1200 <= 1)
Scoundrel/Operative: 18 [25.7%] (11 < 1200 <= 7)
Sentinel/Marauder: 14 [20.0%] (7 < 1200 <= 7)
Shadow/Assassin: 4 [5.7%] (3 < 1200 <= 1)
Commando/Mercenary: 4 [5.7%] (3 < 1200 <= 1)
Vanguard/Powertech: 12 [17.1%] (6 < 1200 <= 6)

Bounty Contract Week is back once more (finishes Tuesday 3am PST).
The next Community Cantina is in Austin at 8pm CDT on Friday 22 November.

4. Community

The Vy’aalators are looking for more raiders! They run on Monday evening (US time), starting at 5:30pm Pacific. If you’re interested, please post in this thread on our forums.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @ForceChuckle, @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @Strongshocker (Chaz Lobo), @Geldarion, @fnord3125, @sterlinglee38, @GTeeg, @Lawilc0 (Laurie M), @joseph_foran, @GregCarter78 and @grimrok, emails and comments from Loudshirt, DroidDreamer, Decurion, Giantgina (Ben), Oxi-jin, The Malgadar and Chris.

We recommend SWTOR’s New Player Guide for those in need of some basic MMO guidance.

The HK-51 Watchtower customization that was removed from the Oricon reputation vendor:

Here’s PJ, just hanging around…

6. Sarlacc Digest We were honoured to be included in the closed PTS testing of Galactic Starfighter over the past couple of months. Based on that experience, we give a detailed overview of its gameplay, a few tips and our overall impressions.

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@R3DN4) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

Moving SWTOR between computers

Posted on November 14, 2013 by teoNovember 19, 2013

You’ve just got yourself a brand new rig, and in part of setting it up, you want to get SWTOR up and running again as quickly and painlessly as possible.

From your old computer, copy the contents of the following directory somewhere safe. It includes your client’s graphics settings and the GUI profiles you created using the in-game Interface Editor.

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\SWTOR Windows 7 & 8: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\SWTOR

If you can’t see the above folder, you may have to enable the following option in Windows Explorer, which makes “hidden” folders (such as AppData) visible:

You may want to archive your screenshots and/or combat logs:

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\My Documents\Star Wars - The Old Republic\CombatLogs Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\My Documents\Star Wars - The Old Republic\Screenshots Windows 7 & 8: C:\Users\{username}\Documents\Star Wars - The Old Republic\CombatLogs Windows 7 & 8: C:\Users\{username}\Documents\Star Wars - The Old Republic\Screenshots

Note that your keybindings are stored with your account on BioWare’s servers, so they’ll be preserved even if you do nothing!

If you have an amazingly fast Internet connection, unlimited bandwidth and lots of faith in BioWare’s CDN (Content Delivery Network), you could do a clean installation on your new computer.

However, if you’d rather avoid downloading roughly 20 GB, you’ll need to copy or archive (via a tool like WinZip or 7Zip) your current SWTOR installation. By default, it’ll be installed in one of these locations:

C:\Program Files (x86)\EA\BioWare\Star Wars – The Old Republic C:\Program Files\EA\BioWare\Star Wars – The Old Republic

You’ll want that copy accessible to your new computer (over your home network, on a USB drive).

Next, download the installer for the game’s launcher from BioWare. You’ll find a download link on your account page on SWTOR’s official site.

Run the installer, which will install the launcher.

Do NOT run the launcher yet! Next, overwrite the newly-installed game with what you copied from your old computer. If there are conflicts, it doesn’t matter whether you overwrite them or keep the new version (I’d lean towards keeping newer ones).

Next (and this applies if you’ve done a clean install, too), copy your settings (which you preserved above) into the equivalent location from which you copied them on your new rig.

Finally, you can fire up the launcher on your new computer. Everything should (in theory!) be ready to go, pretty much exactly as it was on your old computer.

Now, back to the game!