OotiniCast – A Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) podcast

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Game Update 2.4: The Dread War is here, featuring two new operations and warzone arenas! We discuss our initial experiences with the new content, along with an overview of the patch notes.

1. Introduction

2. Trivia question

Last week’s question, which is being extended by another week, is a Who Am I: I am involved in only one Star Wars film, yet I have had lasting influence on the series. Before movies, I filmed bombing runs in WWII and helped document the liberation of the concentration camps and the signing of the armistice. I have worked with Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, and even the Beatles. And if Chill had been really clever, he would have asked this question about me last episode. Who am I?

Please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com by next Wednesday. Winners will be put in a draw to win a Tawnfaun code, courtesy of BioWare, and an OotiniCast-provided Cartel Market pack from the latest shipment.

3. Holofeed

• September’s edition of The Old Republic Insider (also on YouTube) featured producers Cory Butler and Andrew Horwitz, discussing Game Update 2.4 and what’s new on the Cartel Market.
• The Dread Masters appeared on the official forums last week using a BioWare user account, to warn players that while we may have beaten Styrak, they remain undefeated!
• There was a report published describing the somewhat disturbing story of how Oricon, the location of the remaining Dread Masters, was discovered.
• Game Update 2.4 appeared briefly on the patch servers on the afternoon before its scheduled deployment, causing trouble for anyone whose launcher attempted to download the patch early.
• Game Update 2.4: The Dread War was deployed during regular maintenance on Tuesday morning (US time), accompanied by the usual welcome, this time authored by Bruce Maclean, Senior Producer, and a trailer titled “PvP Arenas of Death” (also on YouTube).
• Some issues that emerged after the deployment of Game Update 2.4 include:
  • Qyzen Fess (Jedi Consular companion) apparently continues his combat chatter once the fighting is over; dismissing/resummoning is the only way to shut him up!
  • Isotope-5 was unintentionally removed from the Basic Commendations vendor.
• The Experimental Pilot Suit and the Covert Pilot Suit will be removed from the Cartel Market on 15 October.

4. Community

If you’re interested in showcasing your fashion sense, at least as it pertains to your characters in SWTOR, we recommend creating an account on Swtorista!

The forum thread titled “An Open Letter to BioWare: Improving the Overall State of SWTOR” is thoroughly discussed by Gaddock Teeg in episode 17 of his Unnamed SWTOR Podcast. His initial response to the petition can be found on Reddit.

We also recommend the SWTOR Escape Pod Cast (RSS, iTunes), hosted by Max and Sema of the AIE guild on Jedi Covenant, and Flashpoint (RSS, iTunes), The Oceanic Gamer’s long-running podcast, featuring David, Simon and Christie.

For those interested in joining Ootini Fight Club for some endgame PvP, please contact Chong by email (empiredivider@gmail.com).

5. Force Feedback

Thanks for the kind words and congratulations for reaching episode 100 from Ry, Madmar (@swtorfamily), @DarthKenji, the Warlord of Mars (@mtarner601), Grim (@grimrok), Wemb (@wembli), Snowy (@bytorsnowdog), Brightstar (@tweetieowl), Vis (@AHlaenxna), @ThePummeler, @Geldarion (Drew of Corellian Run Radio), Markus (@mark00z), @ForceChuckle, Anthony Peebles (@AGP251), Raz (@masterbearjedi), Thross, Masterkao (@kingkao666), Spero, Jeff Brennan (@jeffyjaws), @TheMalgadar, @RPGbeatsRL, @fretfury, @thehatfield, @GTeeg (Gaddock Teeg), DJ Zod (of Radio4Gamers) and @GregCarter78.

We discuss tweets from @Swtorfamily (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @ArrTeaBee, @K0h4ku (Amber Green, Live Services Specialist on SWTOR), @RPGbeatsRL, @AckaanTalgala (Akaan Darasuum), @Jf0813 (Jesus A. Flores), @heymason12 (Hash), @Casmas_, @GregCarter78, an email from Spero, and a comment by TREaltoholic.

The SWTOR sub-Reddit page recommended by TREaltoholic that summarises all the major changes to SWTOR over its nearly two year lifespan can be found here.

6. 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.

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.

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Topics this week include Game Update 2.3.3, the “Join the Battle” campaign, and the class representative programme going on hiatus until Game Update 2.5. We even delve a little into MMO history to discover the meaning of some well-known terms!

1. Introduction

Courtesy of PJ, our Paradroid ops group about to do battle in nightmare mode Eternity Vault:

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, PJ! Thanks also to our other contributors: @FerrousTerran, Trev, Ryan (not Judy!), Snowy, Jason, Darth Khalidin and Longbow.

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 2.3.3 was deployed during maintenance on Tuesday. Note that while BioWare do intend to give a few day notice of scheduled maintenance, they can only do so once they’re sure it won’t be delayed.
• The update included a change to one of the missions in the series to obtain HK-51, with the unintended side-effect of resetting the progress of people who were currently doing the series. BioWare recommends you to contact customer service if you were affected.
• It also seems that the starting space mission for both factions–Taspan Ambush (Imperial) and Syvris Evacuation (Republic)–can no longer be completed, but this was fixed in patch 2.3.3a. A few other things remain broken in space, however.
• The update also appeared to introduce a performance issue to the CZ-198 daily area, which was also fixed in patch 2.3.3a.
• This is a 10 day sale currently in progress, giving 50% off all Appearance Designer functions, between 11am CDT Friday 13 September and 11am CDT Monday 23 September.
• As part of the lead up to Game Update 2.4: The Dread War, A Record of the Dread Masters has been published.
• BioWare have launched their “Join the battle” campaign, to encourage players to subscribe to SWTOR. This includes the live action video (also on YouTube) that was teased during Matthew Bromberg’s presentation at GamesCom 2012 (15 August 2012). There was also a press release that confirmed that Game Update 2.4 is on track for 1 October.
• The “Illegal Test Kitchen” guild from The Bastion were the first to be featured onMMORPG.com’s streaming of warzone arenas on Twitch. BioWare staff Bruce Maclean, Eric Musco and Rob Hinkle were also present.
• Early last week, responses to the questions posed by the Scoundrel andJuggernaut class representatives were provided. As promised last time, BioWare are not going to make the mistake of publishing the answers on Friday! However, it seems that the class representative program is going on hiatus after the Assassin and Mercenary answers are provided next week. It will resume after Game Update 2.5, in which a number of class changes will be made.

4. Community

Our guildmate Adam Schumpert has created these awesome logos for our guilds on The Harbinger (he also did various sizes for desktop wallpapers accessible from our forums):

For those interested in joining Ootini Fight Club for some endgame PvP, please contact Chong by email (empiredivider@gmail.com) or see our PvP forum.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @Swtorfamily (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @ForceChuckle, @JediKal, @GregCarter78, @Casmas_, @DsanOB, @BigBore, @bigfatpj and @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), emails from Carnz, Cypher (of Swtorista.com), Narq, Green Armadillo (of the Player vs Developer blog) and Longbow, and comments from Hash, Thoss, The Malgadar and Randall Wheeldon.

Kal’s (@JediKal) lopsided speeder screenshot on the Imperial Fleet:

This is the spreadsheet that Cas (@Casmas_) uses to track his voyage through the OotiniCast back catalogue:

Greg’s (@GregCarter78) purple ceiling in the CZ-198 Flashpoint, Czerka Core Meltdown:

PJ’s (@bigfatpj) new sword:

6. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@R3DN4) and Hyp (@Hypknotoad) 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.

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Game Update 2.3.2 is here, which includes some wonderful quality-of-life improvements. We also discuss the Community Cantina in Seattle, which was attended by Chill and Redna.

1. Introduction

Thanks to @JediKrackr for providing this most excellent OotiniCast mug for Teo’s tea!

2. Tip of the week

The Excel spreadsheet that @GregCarter78 uses to track which datacrons he’s obtained across his various characters is provided here, in case you’d like to adapt it for you own use. Thanks Greg!

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Thoss!

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 2.3.2 was deployed on Wednesday morning (US time) during an extended downtime, due to problems with the new feature that would allow Cartel Coins to be purchased in-game (which was disabled pending its eventual fix).
• Next week (Tuesday 10 September through Tuesday 17 September, Bounty Contract Week returns for the second time. It begins and ends at 5am CDT, 11am BST, 8pm AEST.
• The two items that were listed in the Collections UI as being in the Freelancer’s and Contractor’s Bounty Packs, but not actually in the packs, will be effectively made available to all (sold for 1 credit from the Bounty Supply Reputation Vendor, though with no reputation requirement).
• An issue that was preventing Cartel Coins from being granted for some achievements has been corrected, and the Cartel Coins retrospectively granted to those who missed out.
• BioWare has partnered with MMORPG.com to do a promotion of ranked warzone arenas called Galactic Guild Battles, involving guilds willing to field teams to livestream their play on Twitch between September 12th and October 17th, with separate times for US and European servers. Each team requires 6 players (4 primary and 2 alternate). Applications close on September 8th!

4. Community

PJ sent us this screenshot of the Ootini Templars out in force:

If you have any ideas on what we should do for our fast-approaching episode 100, please post on our forum.

We are still looking for segment names! Feel free to add your own ideas to our forums threads for what is currently known as the Tip of the week and Community Corner.

For those interested in joining Ootini Fight Club for some endgame PvP, please contact Chong by email (empiredivider@gmail.com).

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @Swtorfamily (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @nicknightmoves, @TheMalgadar, @JediKrackr, @ForceChuckle, @ChazLobo, @ThePummeler, @Casmas_, @ArrTeaBee, @tweetieowl (Brightstar), @Enyonix, @KairiahMedens (David), @AckaanTalgala, @MichaelWearden and @TheTurg.

Here is @MichaelWearden’s rather unfortunate weapon malfunction:

Here is @ThePummeler showing just how hard those smash monkeys can hit in Novarre Coast:

@ArrTeaBee has used his image manipulation skills to create screenshots containing all the characters from his legacy:

Our guildmate and fellow raider Terg obtained the following most glorious original artwork from Michael Phillips (Durden Art) while attending Burning Man:

Skilrathos emailed us with his two new rides:

6. Sarlacc Digest

We discuss the Community Cantina held in Seattle, which was attended by Redna and Chill.

Chill has an article in which he covers the Q&As that were held.

All attendees were presented with some swag:

A SWTOR-themed thumbdrive was included, and time it contained a single file, which was a teaser video for the Super Secret Space Project!

7. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) 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.

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The news this week is dominated by the class representative responses for Sorcerers and Vanguards, and the subsequent fallout. We also discuss the results from a SWTOR player survey, giving our own responses as we go.

1. Introduction

2. Tip of the week

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Pevarmel!

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.

We are still looking for segment names! Feel free to add your own ideas to our forums threads for what is currently known as the Tip of the week and Community Corner.

3. Holofeed

• The Emergency Medical Table, that is shown in the Collections UI to be a super rare item from both the Contractor’s and Freelancer’s Bounty Packs, is not in either pack.
• Game Update 2.4: The Dread War is now described on the official site. They’ve also added an interview with Baron Deathmark, in which he reveals the origin of warzone arenas!
• The PTS has continued to be updated, and now includes the planet Oricon, shown by this video by Gaddock Teeg of the Unnamed SWTOR Podcast. The new reputations coming with the daily area on Oricon are The Dread Executioners (Empire) and Strike Team Oricon (Republic), with the same gear offered to both factions (overviewed by Dulfy).
• The most recent Community Cantina was held in Cologne, Germany to coincide with Gamescom. Dulfy’s coverage has all the images available that were provided on the thumbdrive to attendees, along with a summary of the Q&A. The event was attended by our guildmate Jim (@tehknuck), who (as promised) did come in-game afterwards, very happy from the experience (and also very drunk!). He was able to get a greeting from Eric Musco, Community Manager.
• The issue with PvP queues getting stuck is back, though workarounds have been identified.
• The Cartel Bazaar will be getting a cargo hold, hopefully in Game Update 2.3.3 (which should be around 17 September). Note that Amber’s response to the forum thread on this topic is priceless.
• The second set of responses to class representative questions were provided for Sorcerers and Vanguards. The community reaction was “troubled” (to put it very, very mildly). After reiterating the purpose of the class representative program, it was acknowledged that some unfortunate timing meant that the concerns went unanswered for too long, and that they will be addressed. More care will also be taken in the tone of responses! Solutions to some of the Vanguard issues have already been provided.

4. Community

Kuze’s latest video showing how to get the datacrons on Nar Shaddaa is now available. You can find his other guides in Kuze’s Korner.

The Ootini Templars, led by Kal and Ham, do operations on Thursday and Friday night, Australia east coast time.

For those interested in joining Ootini Fight Club for some endgame PvP, please contact Chong by email (empiredivider@gmail.com).

Chong and Adam Schumpert are organising an arena team, which they’re calling the Green Lantern Corps!

Adam is an accomplished artist; you can see his portfolio on CG Hub. He has done an amazing job at reproducing the Green Lantern look in SWTOR:

Adam was also kind enough to create an original image for us, which may hopefully make its way onto OotiniCast merchandise. David (@KairiahMedens) recommended PARSEC, a new SWTOR combat log parser. We tried it, and can highly recommend it!

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @Swtorfamily (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @bigfatpj (PJ), @GregCarter78, @AckaanTalgala (Akaan Darasuum), @FerrousTerran, @joseph_foran, @Casmas_, @GTeeg (Gaddock Teeg), @Tordenelgen, @masterbearjedi (Raz), @TheThoss, emails from Spero, Pliiskin and Drew, and a comment from The Malgadar.

In fixing his issue with texture atlasing, Drew set the following in Catalyst Control Center:

Anti Aliasing mode and Samples: Application Settings
Filter: Standard
Anti Aliasing Method: Multi Sampling
Morphological filtering: Off
Anisotropic Filtering Mode and Level: App settings
Texture filtering quality: Performance
Surface Format Optimization: On
Wait for Vertical Refresh: Always off
Open GL buffering: On
Tessellation: Everything set to App control

PJ’s Varactyl perched atop a crashed starship on Tatooine:

If you having trouble with updating your client to work with the PTS, these forum posts (1, 2) may help. Both refer players to the PTS Patching Troubleshooting thread.

6. Sarlacc Digest

We discuss the SWTOR Player Survey, as summarised in this Reddit post. You can find the survey and see the latest data in detail here.

7. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) 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.