OotiniCast Episode 81

Posted on by May 26, 2013
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We discuss the latest news, philosophise a little about bolster in 2.0, then go over the Q&A at last week’s Community Cantina in Dallas.

1. Introduction

When remodelling his Scoundrel, Hyp noticed that his eyebrow colour didn’t change with his hair.

Eyebrow colour immutable

Regardless, he went ahead with the change. Here is Pearlneck in all his over-sized glory:

Purple Pearlneck

Wracked with indecision, Hyp tries some different approaches with his Marauder, Baldy. First, a failed attempt to add some girlishness:

Girly Baldy

Next, seeing whether a bit of overfeeding would help. Apparently not.

Busty Baldy

The final product is pretty similar to the original, though the application of a green and gold (i.e., yellow) Dye Module ensures she’s ready to direct traffic if needed.

Baldy ready to direct traffic

In his relentless search for bugs, Redna hit gold this week: he managed to jump into the room with the Tron boss in Terror From Beyond without getting a colour.

Jumping into the Tron boss without taking a colour

2. Trivia Question/Tips

When we don’t have a trivia question, we’d like to put in some game tips in this place. Please send them to ootinicast@gmail.com; if we use yours we’ll send you a Cartel pack as thanks, plus a Taun Fawn code (courtesy of BioWare) if you don’t have one.

3. Holofeed

  • Game Update 2.1.0b was deployed late last week, to fix an exploit where players were able to use the Collections UI to copy color crystals and then vendor them for a reasonable number of credits. The patch reduced the credit return to a trivial amount.
  • The Gree are back, though only a week this time. While the event is unchanged from last time, and thus still level 50, when they come again they will have been upgraded to level 55.
  • The Unify to Chestpiece option is not working with Dye Modules that only have a primary or secondary colour. Also note that some items have a tertiary colour that is not affected by Dye Modules.
  • Game Update 2.1.1 will be deployed on Wednesday 29 May (delayed from Tuesday due to the Memorial Day long weekend in the US). A couple of class mirroring inconsistencies will be fixed (affecting Juggernauts and Sorcerers), a bug affecting Assault-spec’d Troopers, and relic “proc stacking” will no longer work.
  • Paid character transfers are planned to be available with Game Update 2.2. The APAC (Asia-Pacific) free character transfers will happen before that.
  • Eric Musco (Community Manager) explains how player feedback is incorporated into the development process.
  • Courtney Wood confirmed the criteria used to determine which items have Dye Modules. It seems that craftable orange gloves wearable below level 15 are not included.
  • Eric Musco and Cory Butler explain the reasoning behind charging subscribers Cartel Coins for some items and services.
  • Damion Schubert explains why some armor sets have to be complete before they can be unlocked in the Collections UI, and gives some hope that this may change in the future.
  • BioWare’s security manager, the loquacious Phillip, encourages players to report any occurrence of speed hacking they observe.
  • Amber Green (Live Services Specialist) appears to be instrumental in creating a new Bug Report Forum on the official site. Find out more about it here.

4. Community

We recommend checking out the SWTOR Cartel market Items Guide and Overview over on SWTOR Strategies.

Kuze is hoping to get his instructional video on platforming out this week, as well as new guides for Datacrons on Dromund Kaas and Coruscant. You can find his existing guides in Kuze’s Korner.

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 @ForceChuckle, @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @SuperGeaK96 (Justin), @JediKrackr, @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @ben_b55 (Ben B), @madmar_sith, @EmpireDivider (Chong), @Mal_Kizdek (Shammar), @blinkwise (Rory), @Jayconnell (Jason Connell) and @BillLentz (Bill Lentz), and emails from Marc, Jason Scott, Hash, Eric (EvZ) and Jason.

@DurtaDurta referred @ArrTeaBee to our Aurebesh trainer.

It seems that @madmar_sith‘s #SWTORFamily (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!) is now 100 days “young”!

SWTORFamily 100 days

Our guildmate Rub (@Rrubb) shows us his attempt to reproduce a Thundercat in SWTOR:

Thundercat 0

Thundercat 1

Chong (@EmpireDivider) took this picture of our guildmate Vis (@AHlaenxna) doing a 30-54 warzone at level 55:

Vis is 50 in 30-54 match

When copying a SWTOR installation from one computer to another, after installing the client on the new computer (but before you run the launcher), Marc suggests copying in the following order to ensure that your options are preserved:

  1. The SWTOR install files in the C:\Program Files\EA directory (main client)
  2. The SWTOR settings folder in C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\SWTOR (this is where the keybindings, resolution, UI settings etc are kept)
  3. The SWTOR folder inside of C:\Users\{username}\My Documents (screenshots & combat logs)

6. Sarlacc Digest

We discuss the Community Cantina that was held in Dallas on 17 May. We go over the comprehensive summary provided by listener Oxi and his wife Kitkam, along with notes from Jeff Dimbo (@Dimbo56), SWTOR Mayor.

If you have the opportunity to attend an upcoming Community Cantina, sounds like it’ll definitely be worth your time!

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@RystoJ) 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 Radio Paragon.

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Correspondent report: Community Cantina in Dallas

Posted on by May 22, 2013
6

(Editor’s note: The following is an email we received from a listener and his wife, who play Oxi and Kitkam on The Shadowlands server. Our sincere thanks to them both for providing such a comprehensive report!)

I thought I’d give you an exclusive on the happenings at the Cantina Tour in Dallas on May 17th. My wife and I went to meet with the developers and other fans. Yes, she is an active SWTOR player, I am a very lucky man and acknowledge this.

We had a great time. About eighty people showed up, nearly all of them players. It’s worth noting that about a quarter of them were women, and there were many player couples there as well.

Four BioWare people were there to answer questions and meet the fans. Damion Schubert (Lead Designer), Jesse Sky (Senior Designer), Amber Green (Live Services Specialist – a.k.a. helps fix bugs and writes the patch notes) and Eric Musco (Community Manager a.k.a. a ball of energy).

Overall it was a very casual atmosphere. All types of fans were present (both the good and the troll). The room was packed, especially at the beginning. Free appetizers and drinks were available all night, provided by BioWare.

Prizes were also given out. Everyone got the much coveted Tauntaun Fawn code. A couple of people got Star Wars Gentle Giant bookends (pricey!), signed copies of SWTOR books were given out, and even clothes and hats.

Most of the night was spent mingling, but for about an hour the developers took a casual Q&A from the room-at-large and were very honest and as candid as they could be.

I tried to write down most of the questions. I’ll paraphrase their answers. I wasn’t able to cover all the questions asked at the event, nor their answers. Please note that any answers I heard from the BioWare team are being interpreted by me writing quickly on a small notepad, and thus should not be weighted with the same degree of importance as if they’d come from BioWare. Any errors reporting are my own, not theirs.

Questions

1) Will we get Legacy Datacrons?

Jesse Sky: High on his own list of wants, but no ETA.

2) Can we get Dye Packs for Speeders?

Eric Musco: Probably not, because speeders are an ABILITY, not an item.

3) Legacy Commendations Transfers?

Jesse Sky: Likes idea but no ETA. They’ve talked about this before, but worried about unintended consequences.

4) Will guild members be able to auto-fund their guilds by doing missions, where both the player and the guild get credit equally?

Damion Schubert: It’s on our Wall of Crazy. No ETA.

(The “Wall of Crazy” refers to the abundance of good ideas for content that they want to put out, but can only take on so many ideas with finite resources and various larger priorities. It’s crazy the amount of good ideas they have.)

5) Legacy Chat System?

Damion Schubert: It’s on the Wall of Crazy, but recently became more of a possibility due to the recent unintended bug, where players could chat with someone across all of that player’s toons.

6) Why aren’t Dreadtooth Masks under hoods and why aren’t they Legacy in the new Collections?

Damion/Eric/Jesse: They are an item they want you to earn on your individual character, not as part of a Legacy. It’s part of the high end-game content. There would be many technical issues to overcome in order to make that happen. Also it’s a HELMET in their view, not a mask, and you don’t usually put hoods over helmets.

7) Why weren’t the Cathar discounted for subscribers?

Eric Musco: They’ve very much heard the community on this, and are actively coming up with more ideas for future subscriber benefits or discounts.

At this point, Eric actively stressed how much they care about subscribers getting much more out of the game than free-to-play. Damion also then stated that his team at BioWare now is the best they’ve ever been at implementing and fixing content as well as actively listening to feedback throughout the community. Damion also said that subscribers will be getting a lot better PvP experience over free-to-play in the future. Then they talked in-depth about the struggle it is to balance subscribers and free-to-play.

(In my opinion, it sounded like he was saying they might not always get it right, but that they care about getting it right in the long run, especially with subscribers. And that very HUMAN, not corporate, distinction is important to note.)

Damion went on to say that subscribers are buying the majority of the Cartel Coins and that information isn’t lost on them. Cartel success equals more resources that BioWare can have to develop more game content. He also stated very emphatically that in his personal philosophy he’s against “Pay to Win” gaming.

8) When are we gonna get Guild Ships?

Damion Schubert: Guild Ships are his baby, he really, really wants us to have them, but will be a long time before they come out. And ONLY when they look awesome.

Eric then went on to say that they know guild players are the most active and loyal subscribers statistically in the game and that this info isn’t lost on them.

9) More Open World PvP?

Jesse Sky: Difficult to implement and no plans ATM. If we do see more it’ll be more like the Gree event.

10) Guild banks on Ships and More Guild Bank Slots?

Damion Schubert: I’ll add that to my Wall of Crazy.

11) Why is Revan’s Mask not part of the Collections when it was used as an example as being something in the Collections?

Eric Musco: (He got very honest and open with us on this one.) Revan’s Mask should not have been used as an example. It was an honest mistake. Revan’s Mask is about a specific toon achievement gain, not Legacy. Sincerely apologize for the confusion.

Eric and Damion then went on to say that only so much gear can be a part of the Collections and the achievements because of technical limitations.

12) Will PvP arenas for small teams come out?

Damion Schubert: He couldn’t answer directly, but said that a big PvP patch was coming soon that should make us happy.

(In my opinion, it seemed they were very aware of the lack of love for PvP in recent months and are very excited at what will be coming out for PvP in the near future.)

13) Is Bolster now working?

Jesse Sky: Bolser is working better now but if you see problems please let them know through the official forums or tickets. Screenshots help.

14) Will more Collector’s Edition content be coming out?

Eric Musco: More CE content is coming out. Dyes not binding on CE and Security vendors was not intended. Future exclusive content is coming.

15) How successful was the Cathar?

Damion Schubert: Cathar was a very big day for them. Also because of Dye Packs and the ability to change your look. So successful that they’re actively paying attention for more ideas in the future for all of this. They’re closely watching the boards for feedback on the Cathar and body customization and how it will relate to the future content they implement.

16) Is Alacrity Working as intended in 2.0 for players?

Jesse Sky: No. It’s working as we originally implemented, but players aren’t using it as intended and that’s something we may work on.

17) Why aren’t same-gender relations in the story content?

Damion Schubert: At this point Damion got very sincere and earnest in his feelings about this subject and talked for a few minutes about it. Summarising what he said, same-gender was not part of the original design team’s implementation, so it didn’t get included. In retrospect they say this was a mistake. It will be too difficult technically to change the game story as it sits now to include same-gender, but moving forward they will not make the same mistakes. Additionally more story content is coming, but no ETA.”

18) Will we ever get flying mounts?

Damion/Jesse: (Both laughed at this.) Don’t hold your breath. To get flying mounts they’d have to redesign the entire game.

They went into some brief practical and technical reasons why not. It would be an enormous resource drain for a significant amount of time and that energy could be better spent elsewhere. If it were to ever happen in SWTOR (which it won’t), it would have to be in a new area of the game specially designed with flying mounts in mind.

19) Was the Cantina tour held in Dallas this weekend because of the Comic-Con event at the same time?

Eric Musco: Yes. As much as possible we’re combining like-minded events.

At this point someone asked about the restriction on the frequency of (player) name change to the game, and Damion said he needed to get “philosophical” with us. In his opinion, the less player names change the better. Why? Because to create a more stable community that can police itself, it’s better that trolls and jerks can’t change their name. If people were able to do this whenever they wanted with no monetary penalty, trolls would change their names all the time and degrade the overall community. He went on at length on this subject. If the internet were a happy perfect place he’s all for it, but because it’s not we need to be realistic and think about consequences. (Before this I was for name changes, after I heard him I was against it; he was very convincing!)

Finally, Damion, Jesse, Eric and Amber said they loved the Cantina tour because it keeps them motivated and in touch with the fans’ feelings that you only get in person.

We then spent the rest of the night talking with the developers either one-on-one or in small groups. For me, the thing I’ll take away from the event was that these are people who are trying their best with finite resources and time, and that they sincerely love this game. They play the game themselves and want it to succeed as much as, or more, than the players. They’re full of energy (amazing to me) and very funny. Amber joked that you’d be shocked at how much of their own money the people at BioWare have spent on buying the Cartel packs. Specifically Amber and Eric said that when they’re not working, they’re playing all the time and that when players are frustrated, so are they. They don’t have to relate, they live it with fellow players. When something bugs, they get mad too, and they work on fixing it. They encouraged players to submit tickets and post issues on the forums with screenshots. BioWare can’t spot everything, and need accurate feedback from the community to help them overcome bugs/issues.

All four of them handled the crowd pretty well. They each took a thousand rapid-fire fanboy and -girl questions for four hours. Major props for professionalism, especially when some of the fans lacked basic human interaction skills or hygiene.

The four of them gave real, down-to-earth answers. We shook hands, we broke bread, we shared beer and we could look each other in the eye. We came out of it more hopeful for SWTOR than before. We were very glad to have gone.

We would highly recommend for other fans to go to future Cantina Tour events. Make sure you get there early.

May the Cartel Coins be with you!

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OotiniCast Episode 80

Posted on by May 16, 2013
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Game Update 2.1: Customization is here! We discuss our initial impressions, and Moff Chong joins the regular crew to give some Seeker Droid tips and tricks.

1. Introduction

Chong has used the Appearance Designer Kiosk to alter his PvP Sniper into a most fierce feline:

Chongs kitty sniper

2. Trivia Question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Voyak!

3. Holofeed

4. Community

Thanks to @TheTurg (Terg) for his most generous donation!

Kuze is still working on his instructional video on platforming. You can find his existing guides in Kuze’s Korner.

Dulfy’s SWTOR Dye Modules guide is well worth perusing!

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 @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @Jayconnell, @TheTurg (Terg), @EmpireDivider (Chong), @JediKrackr, @KairiahMedens (David), @ForceChuckle, @roguish98 (Matt Roberts), @ChazLobo, @rclemons77 (Brian Clemons), @grimrok (Grim), @joseph_foran, @HamSammich509, @IzaakTheMad, @mmartong (Markos Martong), @rocketman003 (Ki’el), @weihanthekidsun (Weihan Sun), @masterbearjedi (Raz), @therealHausman (Jacob), @GrahamMSellars, @RoughneckRoy, and an email from Green Armadillo, the author of the most excellent Player vs Developer blog.

6. Sarlacc Digest

Chong gives some expert advice on how best to utilise one’s Seeker Droid.

We also mention the known issue (and its workaround) for the final mission in the Macrobinocular chain.

7. Outro

Thanks to Moff Chong (@EmpireDivider), Redna (@RystoJ) 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 Radio Paragon.

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Ham’s Back-alley Brawl (26 May)

Posted on by May 9, 2013
1

Attention fellow guildies, would you like to win credits, and some sweet, sweet, prizes? If so, sign up for “Ham’s Back-alley Brawl”, to be held on Sunday, May 26, 6:00pm PST (time and/or date are subject to change).

This will be a tournament based guild event to test your skills and aptitude for combat without relying on gear. You will be pitted against each other to duke it out for dominance. There will be two different tournaments, but you can enter both. By the end of the day there will be 3 winners.

Your only requirement is to bring with you EMPTY moddable (Orange) Gear; especially an off-hand but crystals are exempted. All participants will be rewarded with a (one) Cartel Market pack weapon while supplies last.

If you plan to partake in this event, please email Moff Chong (empiredivider@gmail.com), and let me know what character you plan to bring so that I can prepare your complimentary weapon before the event. Further details are below, and if you have questions please also add that in the email.

This is a one day event on May 26, 6:00pm PST (date and time subject to change); So get your datacrons and character to 55 beforehand.

First event prizes (2v2)

2v2 winners’ prize will be two of the newest Cartel Market packs, 2 Gurain Lightning mounts, and 200,000 credits.

Second event prizes (1v1)

1v1 winner’s prize will be two of the newest Cartel Market packs, 1 Gurian Lightning mount, and 200,000 credits.

Just for playing, you will be given a Cartel Market weapon usable by the character you bring.

Rules and Restrictions

Tournaments will be bracketed. The placement in the brackets will be randomly assigned for both 2v2 teams and 1v1 combatants. Note that your teammate for 2v2 will be randomly selected.

For fairness, only characters at level 55 will be allowed to participate.

Fighters will not use or equip Relics, Implants, Earpieces or Head armor.

Consumables and Adrenals will be banned and if found, you and/or your team will be disqualified, forfeiting that round to the other player or team.

Fighters will be required to bring any type of orange (customizable) gear with no modifications for their own use during the matches. This means armor, mod, augment and enhancement slots must be empty.

NOTE: You will be responsible for your own offhand (shield, lightsaber, pistol, vibroknife, etc.). All offhands must have all modifications slots empty, aside for color crystals, which are permitted.

You will also be supplied with 1 health pack and 1 fortitude stim before each fight.

NOTE: Only these given items may be used during the fight.

1v1 matches will be played in a safe area with the use of duel mechanics. No companions are allowed.

2v2 matches will be battled in PvP areas (probably Outlaw’s Den). You will invite your teammate and battle the other team to the death. The last man standing wins for their team. Again, no companions are allowed.

Each match will be the best of three scenarios, first to win two matches moves ahead in the tourney.

Due to the nature of open world PvP, if the battle is interrupted by an NPC or another player, the fight will be stopped and reset. If the match was interrupted by a participant of the event itself the match will be reset and the person who interrupted the fight will be banned from both tournaments (1v1 and 2v2).

Fights will be watched by judges, and players will be inspected to make sure gear is on the up and up. This is also a guild event, so please be respectful to your guildies, and try to play in the spirit of the event.

I do plan to record and edit the fights for posterity and bragging rights. If this is successful more events will be planned in the future.

 

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OotiniCast Episode 79

Posted on by May 10, 2013
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We cover the rest of what’s in Game Update 2.1: Customization, and complete our series of quick guides with the other two level 55 hard modes, Hammer Station and Mandalorian Raiders.

1. Introduction

Hyp provides a few choice screenshots from Baldy’s adventures. First we have Baldy showing a little tough love:

Baldy justice

This is Baldy’s frowny face:

Baldy frowny face

A nice bit of scenery from the prison world of Belsavis:

Somewhere on Belsavis

Redna’s in-progress UI update, with his action bars arranged to mimic the layout on his new Razer Naga:

Redna UI

2. Trivia Question

(We are continuing the question from last week.)

Our question is all about New Hollywood. New Hollywood is a period of moviemaking from the mid-60s to the very early 80s. It is usually marked as beginning with “Bonnie and Clyde”, a surprising hit of a movie where the main characters die, and ends with the overpriced flops “Heaven’s Gate” and “One from the Heart”.

New Hollywood was marked by a period of time where filmmakers were still part of the studio process, but allowed greater freedom. So they were a mix of the two things we have today—generally big-budget movies with tight studio control and smaller indie films with low budgets but tons of creative freedom. The occasional big-budget movie with filmmaker control, like Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies, can be seen as a product of this time.

New Hollywood proved that movies could be big successes without being cookie-cutter films, like the musicals, war movies, and horse operas of the 50s and early 60s. They also legitimized the sequel with the critical and successful “Godfather Part II,” brought us the summer blockbuster with “Jaws,” and showed that fantasy and sci-fi could have wide audience appeal with “Star Wars.”

Of course, their successes sowed the seeds of the movement’s failure; more money was thrown their way, which both increased the risk if a movie was a flop, and caused the studios to demand more control over their big bets.

But what made New Hollywood really successful was that this was the first generation of moviemakers who had grown up watching movies. They loved movies and they knew movies. They put references to great earlier movies in their movies, both as a nod to films they loved and also quite frankly to uplift their own films.

Now, we’ve used the Trivia Question to explore Lucas’s influences before. So let’s set aside the movies of Kurosawa. But let’s find as many other examples as we can of famous movie scenes being referenced, either in dialogue, shot selection etc. in the six “Star Wars” movies.

I’ll get you started. (This example won’t count.) The famous Greedo cantina scene is a reference to the wonderful western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, where Tuco is caught by an armed man who has been hunting him. He is in the bath, apparently unarmed, and his hunter waves his pistol in his face and gloats over how happy he is to have caught him. But then Tuco, or Han, fires a hidden pistol and kills his opponent. While Han’s scene has become known as “Han Shot First”, Tuco’s line at the end of his scene is appropriate to both: “When you have to shoot, shoot! Don’t talk”.

Please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com. Whoever gets the most references to earlier movies by next Wednesday will be put in a drawing to win a Taun Fawn code courtesy of BioWare and one of the latest full-size Cartel Packs (or if you’re on The Harbinger, a very special mount!).

3. Holofeed

  • Disney and EA announced a multi-year agreement for EA to produce Star Wars games. This includes BioWare’s ongoing production and support of SWTOR!
  • EA had its Q4 FY13 conference call for investors, during which the EA leadership said some positive, encouraging and supporting things about SWTOR. Polygon summarises what was said.
  • The rest of Game Update 2.1: Customization was unveiled, and our overview has been updated with the new features: character/legacy/guild renames, escrow deductions for Free and Preferred players, and Collections.
  • Eric Musco, Community Manager, allays concerns that there is no actual content in Game Update 2.1 by firstly announcing it’s going to arrive this coming Tuesday (14 May), and secondly revealing that Game Update 2.2 (which presumably will contain content!) is coming on Tuesday 11 June, 8 weeks after the launch of the expansion.
  • Not only that, but he tells us the Gree will be back sometime before Game Update 2.2!
  • The known exploits in the bolster mechanic will be fixed in Game Update 2.1.
  • Amber Green lets us know that most known crew skill issues will be addressed in Game Update 2.1, though some will have to wait until the following patch 2.1.1.
  • Rob Hinkle, Senior Designer responsible for PvP, explains the rationale behind 2.0’s upgraded bolster, and why it’s worth sticking it out as they iron out the issues.
  • There is a known bug with healing companions, which causes them to stop healing players if a cosmetic pet you have out takes damage!

4. Community

We recommend hawtpantsrepublic.com, which includes a most excellent guide for Sentinels updated for Game Update 2.0. You can follow the site’s author via @HawtRepublic on Twitter.

Our guide on 2- and 4-piece set bonuses for all PvE and PvP gear has been updated with the new set bonuses made available in Game Update 2.0.

A very useful summary of endgame (or “elder game”) content from BioWare can be found at www.swtor.com/info/eldergame.

If you live in the US and don’t mind paying for shipping, you can enter a competition to win a 1/6 scale replica of Darth Malgus!

In Kuze’s Korner this week, Kuze provides some extremely useful tips on platforming. These and more will feature in his platforming video, which is coming soon.

For those interested in joining Ootini Fight Club for some endgame PvP, please contact Chong by email (empiredivider@gmail.com). Chong and HamSammich are also planning a PvP tournament on The Harbinger; Moff Chong will be on episode 80 to tell us all about it! You can preview the rules here.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @ForceChuckle, @Weihanthekidsun (Weihan Sun), @hadrian9 (Mikhael Lombard), @TheTurg (Terg), @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @copythat22 (Lance of the Coffee Talk with Lance and Niq podcast), @terencemyers (Terence Myers), @KairiahMedens (David), @JediKrackr and @IzaakTheMad (Izaak), and emails from Oxi-jin, Middle’guard, Rendrin, Graham Sellars, Dri, Hansgruber, Madmar, Socordia, Matt Roberts and Jacob Hausman (Deltia).

Middle’guard provided a YouTube video that he did that shows his UI with the action bars configured to mimic the location of the buttons on a Logitech G600 or Razer Naga mouse.

Matt Roberts (@Roguish98) referred to a couple of forum threads regarding how installing DirectX 9 drivers may improve your performance (fix, CS confirmation). He also recommends this forum thread that discusses general performance improvements.

Oxi-jin’s post-+10-endurance-datacron party on Makeb!

Oxi-jin datacron

6. Sarlacc Digest

We cover the other two of the level 55 hard mode Flashpoints, Mandalorian Raiders and Hammer Station. Athiss and Cademimu were discussed last week.

Hammer Station (Dulfy’s guide)

  • trash—some nasty packs, mostly easy
  • DN-314 Tunneler (droid with the laser):
    • cleanse stacks during tunneling laser (when it reaches 4 or so)
    • avoid exploding droids, no need to DPS them
  • Vorgan the Volcano (three guys)
    • tank Vorgan and 2R-CH (torch)
    • kill Sawbones (on the right) first
    • we kill Vorgan then finally the Torch (torch, frontal conal damage, can be interrupted)
  • Asteroid Beast (bonus boss)
    • tank with back to orange force screen
    • healer and DPS stack immediately behind boss for AoE healing
    • periodic rampage which stuns everyone
  • Battlelord Kreshan (guy with the adds):
    • sweeping gunfire (tank steps out of way)
    • knockback is nasty (tank has back to console)
    • blue circles which stick around
    • adds need to be killed, can be knocked off

Mandalorian Raiders (Dulfy’s guide)

  • trash—those dogs hurt!
  • Braxx the Bloodhound (guy with the two dogs)
    • tank Braxx away from the two dogs, who’ll switch between the DPS and healer
    • imperative dogs don’t get into Braxx’s periodic red circle (it buffs them)
    • kill dogs first, then Braxx
  • Boarding party
    • kill order: scoundrel/operative, sentinel/marauder, sage/sorcerer, commando/mercenary
    • Sentinel/Marauder can’t be tanked, will constantly switch between party members
  • Gil (bonus boss)
    • periodic circle around him, make sure to stay out of it
    • knockback, so stay away from the opening into space!
  • Mavrik Varad (guy with the turrets)
    • follow him into three corners of the room
    • in each corner, destroy the turrets that come up (tank will need to hold aggro on them)
    • stay out of the red circles

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@RystoJ) 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 Radio Paragon.

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PvE and PvP 2-piece and 4-piece set bonuses for all classes (2.0)

Posted on by February 18, 2015
13

(This is based directly on Chill’s original post, updated for the set bonus changes introduced in Game Update 2.0. No further set bonus changes have been as of Game Update 2.7.)

It seems every time I look for one of these online I end up with a dead link or a random reference that doesn’t help. So here they are.

Note that they use the same general name for both PvE and PvP gear; for instance, the Vindicator gear name is used for Sith Warriors and Jedi Knights for both PvP and for PvE sets. But the sets do not mix and match; 3 pieces of PvE Vindicator and 1 of PvP Vindicator will not give the 4-piece bonus from either set.

The name (example: Vindicator) will appear in the name of every item of the set. This includes items (like belts) which don’t count towards the set bonus; they share the name because they generally are itemized for the same use. Only head, chest, leg, feet, and hand pieces will count towards 2- and 4-piece bonuses.

The 2-piece and 4-piece information below is from information found in-game, and is copyright BioWare.

Sith Warrior (Marauder and Juggernaut) and Jedi Knight (Sentinel and Guardian)

Vindicator PvE 2-piece Reduces the minimum range of Saber Throw by 10 meters.
4-piece Increases the damage dealt by Force Scream or Blade Storm by 8%.
PvP 2-piece Intercede or Guardian Leap heals you for 8% of your total health.
4-piece Increases all damage dealt by 10% for 5 seconds after using Force Charge or Force Leap.
War Leader PvE 2-piece Increases the duration of Blade Turning by 1 second, and the duration of Invincible or Warding Call by 2 seconds.
4-piece Increases the amount of damage absorbed by Sonic Barrier or Blade Barrier by 20%.
PvP 2-piece Increases the duration of Force Choke or Force Stasis by 1 second.
4-piece Increases your damage dealt to players by 5% while you Guard another player.
Weaponmaster PvE 2-piece Increases the damage dealt by Ravage or Master Strike by 8%.
4-piece Reduces the cooldown of Frenzy or Valorous Call by 15 seconds. Additionally, activating Berserk or Zen increases all damage dealt by 4% for 15 seconds.
PvP 2-piece Reduces the cooldown of Undying Rage or Guarded by the Force by 15 seconds and increases their duration by 1 second.
4-piece Increases all damage dealt by 10% for 5 seconds after using Force Charge or Force Leap.

Sith Inquisitor (Assassin and Sorcerer) and Jedi Consular (Shadow and Sage)

Force-Master PvE 2-piece Reduces cost of Lightning Strike and Force Lightning or Disturbance and Telekinetic Throw by 2 and reduces the cooldown on Polarity Shift or Mental Alacrity by 15 seconds.
4-piece Affliction or Weaken Mind damage has a 30% chance to increase alacrity by 5% for 15 seconds. Cannot occur more than once every 20 seconds
PvP 2-piece Reduces cooldown of Crushing Darkness or Mind Crush by 1.5 seconds. Crushing Darkness or Mind Crush damage heal you for 0.5% of max health.
4-piece Increases range of Shock and Jolt or Project and Mind Snap by 5 meters.
Force-Mystic PvE 2-piece Reduces cooldown of Innervate or Healing Trance by 1.5 seconds.
4-piece Increases total Force by 50.
PvP 2-piece Reduces the lockout debuff duration of Static Barrier or Force Armor by 1.5 seconds
4-piece Consumption or Noble Sacrifice restore 3% of max health over 6 seconds.
Stalker PvE 2-piece Saber Strike hits restore 1 Force.
4-piece Increases the critical chance of Thrash and Voltaic Slash or Double Strike and Clairvoyant Strike by 15%.
PvP 2-piece Increases range of Force Slow and Jolt or Mind Snap by 5 meters.
4-piece Increases Recklessness or Force Potency charges by 1 and reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds.
Survivor PvE 2-piece Increases shield chance by an additional 5% during Dark Ward or Kinetic Ward.
4-piece Increases Elemental, Internal, Kinetic and Energy damage reduction by 2%.
PvP 2-piece Reduces cooldown of Spike or Spinning Kick by 10 seconds.
4-piece Increases your damage dealt to players by 5% while you Guard another player.

Bounty Hunter (Mercenary and Powertech) and Trooper (Commando and Vanguard)

Combat Medic PvE 2-piece Increases the duration of Supercharged Gas and Supercharge Cells by 3 seconds.
4-piece Reduces the cooldown of Healing Scan or Advanced Medical Probe by 1.5 seconds and the cooldown of Emergency Scan or Bacta Infusion by 3 seconds.
PvP 2-piece Reduces the cooldown of Hold the Line or Hydraulic Overrides by 5 seconds.
4-piece Reduces the cooldown of Healing Scan or Advanced Medical Probe by 1.5 seconds and the cooldown of Emergency Scan or Bacta Infusion by 3 seconds.
Combat Tech PvE 2-piece Reduces the cooldown of Explosive Fuel or Battle Focus by 15 seconds.
4-piece Increases the damage of Rail Shot and High Impact Bolt by 8%.
PvP 2-piece Increases the duration of Carbonize or Neural Surge by 0.5 seconds, and reduces the cooldown of Determination or Tenacity by 15 seconds.
4-piece Increases the critical chance of Rocket Punch or Stockstrike by 15%.
Eliminator PvE 2-piece Increases the critical chance of Power Shot and Tracer Missile or Charged Bolts and Grav Round by 15%.
4-piece Increases the damage of Rail Shot or High Impact Bolt by 8%.
PvP 2-piece Reduces the cooldown of Jet Boost or Concussion Charge by 5 seconds.
4-piece Increases the critical chance of Rail Shot or High Impact Bolt by 15%.
Supercommando PvE 2-piece Increases the duration of Oil Slick or Riot Gas by 2 seconds and the duration of Energy Shield or Reactive Shield by 3 seconds.
4-piece Increases Melee, Range, Tech and Force defense by 2%.
PvP 2-piece Reduces the cooldown of Heat Blast and Jet Charge or Energy Blast and Storm by 1.5 seconds.
4-piece Increases your damage dealt to players by 5% while you Guard another player.

Imperial Agent (Operative and Sniper) and Smuggler (Scoundrel and Gunslinger)

Enforcer PvE 2-piece Increases the critical chance of Shiv or Blaster Whip by 15%.
4-piece Increases maximum energy by 5.
PvP 2-piece Increases the duration of Infiltrate or Smuggle by 5 seconds and Evasion or Dodge by 1 second.
4-piece Increases max energy by 5.
Field Medic PvE 2-piece Increases the healing done by Recuperative Nanotech and Kolto Cloud by 15%.
4-piece Increases maximum energy by 5.
PvP 2-piece Increases the damage absorbed by Shield Probe or Defense Screen by 10%.
4-piece Increases max energy by 5.
Field Tech PvE 2-piece Reduces the cooldown of Target Acquired or Illegal Mods by 15 seconds, and activating either ability restores 15 energy.
4-piece Reduces the energy cost of Takedown and Quickdraw by 7.
PvP 2-piece Increases the range of Distraction and Takedown or Quickdraw by 5 meters.
4-piece Increases the duration of Orbital Srike or XS Freighter Flyby by 3 seconds.
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OotiniCast Episode 78

Posted on by May 4, 2013
3

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We discuss some of the content coming in Game Update 2.1: Customization, along with a quick guide to two level 55 hard modes, Athiss and Cademimu.

1. Introduction

Hyp’s Marauder certainly hasn’t been getting much beauty sleep.

Baldy (worse than ever)

Speaking of beauty, Hyp’s Scoundrel, Pearlneck, has a new look.

Pearlneck new look 2

Pearlnecks new look

Pearlnecks new look 2

2. Trivia Question

This week’s question is all about New Hollywood. New Hollywood is a period of moviemaking from the mid-60s to the very early 80s. It is usually marked as beginning with “Bonnie and Clyde”, a surprising hit of a movie where the main characters die, and ends with the overpriced flops “Heaven’s Gate” and “One from the Heart”.

New Hollywood was marked by a period of time where filmmakers were still part of the studio process, but allowed greater freedom. So they were a mix of the two things we have today—generally big-budget movies with tight studio control and smaller indie films with low budgets but tons of creative freedom. The occasional big-budget movie with filmmaker control, like Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies, can be seen as a product of this time.

New Hollywood proved that movies could be big successes without being cookie-cutter films, like the musicals, war movies, and horse operas of the 50s and early 60s. They also legitimized the sequel with the critical and successful “Godfather Part II,” brought us the summer blockbuster with “Jaws,” and showed that fantasy and sci-fi could have wide audience appeal with “Star Wars.”

Of course, their successes sowed the seeds of the movement’s failure; more money was thrown their way, which both increased the risk if a movie was a flop, and caused the studios to demand more control over their big bets.

But what made New Hollywood really successful was that this was the first generation of moviemakers who had grown up watching movies. They loved movies and they knew movies. They put references to great earlier movies in their movies, both as a nod to films they loved and also quite frankly to uplift their own films.

Now, we’ve used the Trivia Question to explore Lucas’s influences before. So let’s set aside the movies of Kurosawa. But let’s find as many other examples as we can of famous movie scenes being referenced, either in dialogue, shot selection etc. in the six “Star Wars” movies.

I’ll get you started. (This example won’t count.) The famous Greedo cantina scene is a reference to the wonderful western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, where Tuco is caught by an armed man who has been hunting him. He is in the bath, apparently unarmed, and his hunter waves his pistol in his face and gloats over how happy he is to have caught him. But then Tuco, or Han, fires a hidden pistol and kills his opponent. While Han’s scene has become known as “Han Shot First”, Tuco’s line at the end of his scene is appropriate to both: “When you have to shoot, shoot! Don’t talk”.

Please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com. Whoever gets the most references to earlier movies by next Wednesday will be put in a drawing to win a Taun Fawn code courtesy of BioWare and one of the latest full-size Cartel Packs (or if you’re on The Harbinger, a very special mount!).

3. Holofeed

4. Community

We recommend hawtpantsrepublic.com, which includes a most excellent guide for Sentinels updated for Game Update 2.0. You can follow the site’s author via @HawtRepublic on Twitter.

Our guildmate Krad highly recommends Geldarion’s various posts about Gunslingers. Probably best to start with his Gunslinger/Sniper Advanced Class Guide.

Kuze is working on his instructional video on platforming, you can find his existing guides in Kuze’s Korner.

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 @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @heymason12, @Rrubb, @HamSammich509, @TheTurg (Terg), @roguish98 (Matt Roberts), @EmpireDivider (Moff Chong), @YojeVawree, @weihanthekidsun (Weihan Sun), @MrSteveVoss, @KairiahMedens (David), @ChazLobo, @terencemyers, @JediKrackr, @Lawilc01 (Laurie M), @rocketman003 (Ki’el), @ForceChuckle, @Watchman_Marek, @voyak, @tshapedvisor, @Geldarion (co-host of Corellian Run Radio), @rclemons1977 (Brian Clemons), and emails from Jacob Hausman, @1BigBore (Bill), Graham S and Neiro.

The Pearlneck lookalike spotted by Terg:

Pearlneck clone

 

And the one I spotted:

Another Pearlneck cloneGraham S recommends the Mad Katz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7:

Graham Sellars

6. Sarlacc Digest

We cover two of the level 55 hard mode Flashpoints, Athiss and Cademimu, leaving Mandalorian Raiders and Hammer Station for next week.

Athiss (Dulfy’s guide)

  • you can slice the elevator at the beginning to avoid fall damage
  • grab the explosives from the room to the left of where you come in if no one in the group has Archaeology
  • Professor Ley’arsha (woman with adds)
    • tank face away from group
    • tank moves away with purple circle to drop corruption away from melee
    • DPS kill adds (normals) when they periodically turn up
  • The Beast of Vodal Kressh (big dog)
    • adds appear at 75%/50%/25% of boss health; tank needs to pick them up
    • huge knockback/stun, so tank with back to wall
    • DPS needs to kill the adds ASAP
    • can avoid extra adds by fighting boss near pond on the way to the boss
  • Ancient Abomination (bonus boss)
    • tank in alcove behind boss
    • DPS and healer sit on boss’s behind, AoE heal periodic damage from knockback
    • interruptible ability after each knockback
  • Prophet of Vodal (guy with the fires)
    • move out of small purple circles (note that they stick around for some time)
    • healer needs to cleanse the corruption DoT as soon as possible (hits really hard)
    • when boss stealths, a random party member will get a flaming effect on them, and four fire adds will spawn and chase that player; they need to kite the flames until they disappear
  • click on the altar to complete the Flashpoint

Cademimu (Dulfy’s guide)

  • crew skill shortcuts: gate (Scavenging) and shuttle (Slicing)
  • Officer Xander (guy with the EN-4C droid)
    • when activated, droid will slowly move towards randomly selected player; will switch players over time
    • need to kite droid into trap (circle on ground), without any player themselves getting trapped
    • when the droid is trapped, kill it (droid won’t take damage otherwise)
    • player targeted with large blue circle needs to move away from the group until it explodes (to avoid damaging anyone else)
  • Captain Grimyk (Wookie captain)
    • tank faces him away from group because of his flamethrower
    • adds (Ugnaughts) must be brought into the flamethrower before they can be damaged
  • Sith Separatist (bonus boss)
    • periodically pulls everyone in and does massive AoE; need to run out as soon as it happens
    • random player will take big hit (healers needs to keep everyone’s health topped off)
    • healer and ranged can usually find something to stand behind so they don’t get pulled in while still maintaining line of site
  • General Ortol (rocket guy with the shackles)
    • initially two and then three quarters of the room will be uninhabitable as the rocket engines above fire; group needs to move to the safe area
    • each time it changes, the soon-to-be-dangerous quarters fill with steam
    • a random player will be periodically shackled, along with anyone close to them; someone else needs to run through them to break the shackle
    • boss does a knockback, so tank/fight in a corner of the safe quarter of the room
    • 2.0.1 bug: additional players shackled by being too close to the shackle’s targeted player cannot be freed; so melee and tank need to stay a bit spread out (can still be in melee range)

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@RystoJ) 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 Radio Paragon.

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Dye Modules in Game Update 2.1: Customization

Posted on by May 10, 2013
7

A key feature of the upcoming Game Update 2.1: Customization are Dye Modules, which provide a mechanism for changing the color of our character’s armor. Cory Butler (Producer) was kind enough to answer some of our questions, which are included below along with the information that Cory and Nathan Emmott (Systems Designer) had already provided to the fan sites.

Dye Modules can be inserted into items with a Dye Module slot using the item’s modification window, the same way as mods and augments are added now.

The vast majority of items have been updated to include a Dye Module slot. You can tell whether a given item has a Dye Module slot by its tooltip. Certain categories of items do not have a Dye Module slot: items with a level requirement of less than 15, lore outfits (e.g., Jolee Bindo’s outfit), items of premium (green) quality and items which simply didn’t look good when dyed. However, all craftable items (from Synthweaving and Armormech) will have Dye Module slots.

Will all adaptive armor, wearable from level 1, have Dye Module slots?

Cory: All Cartel Market outfits (with the exception of Lore gear) will be dyeable, regardless of item level.

Dye Modules are consumable, in that they can be used once. Removing a Dye Module from an item, or replacing it, will destroy the original Module.

Some Dye Modules will be sold on the Cartel Market, both directly and in future packs.

Others will be craftable, with some Reputation Vendors selling Dye Module schematics. Yet more Dye Modules will be available on the CE (Collector’s Edition) vendor and the security key vendor.

Which crew skill(s) can make the Modules?

Cory: Artifice is the only skill that will produce Dye Modules.

While it was initially indicated that Dye Modules could be reverse engineered, Cory confirmed that this will not be the case.

How much overlap will there be in colors between the different sources?

Cory: There is no overlap between the sources. Each source (Cartel Market, Crafting, and Vendors) has its own selection of color schemes available.

Items that have a Dye Module slot have a primary color and a secondary color. The example given was the Havoc Squad armor, such as that worn by Aric Jorgan:

Aric Jorgan

The default primary color is white, and the secondary color is orange. These can be changed using the Dye Modules, which come in three categories:

  • primary color only
  • secondary color only
  • primary and secondary colors

Continuing the Havoc Squad armor example, a Dye Module for primary black would leave the orange markings, whereas a Dye Module for secondary red would leave the armor as white, but change its markings to red. But a Dye Module that defines green as primary and black as secondary would completely change its appearance to green with black markings.

Will it be possible to combine a primary Dye Module and a secondary Dye Module into a single primary/secondary Dye Module?

Cory: You cannot combine a primary and a secondary Dye Module to create a Primary/Secondary Dye Module.

Thus the only primary/secondary color combinations available will be those provided.

You can preview how a given Dye Module will look, presumably on the items you are wearing. This is especially important as how the Dye Module affects an item may vary (e.g., different shades of blue). The preview feature allows you to check that it will look the way you want before applying it (or even purchasing it).

You can use the existing unify color to chest system to make all your gear share a single Dye Module’s effect, by adding a Dye Module to your chestpiece, and then unifying the rest of your gear. You can then add Dye Modules to the rest of your items as you desire, if you want a different color for them on an item-by-item basis.

While there will be a large number of Dye Modules available in Game Update 2.1, BioWare encourages the community to suggest new colors so that they can added in the future.

UPDATE: In a Q&A between Dulfy and BioWare, it was clarified that the undyeable lore outfits include Bastila Shan, The Last Handmaiden, Carth Onasi, Darth Malak, Jolee Bindo, Triumvirate Armor, the Revan armor set and the Mask of Nihilus. The initial number of dye modules and their sources was also revealed:

There will be 48 different Dye Modules at release. 25 will be available through the Cartel Market, 3 will be available from the Security Key and Collector’s Edition vendors, and 20 more will be available through the crafting system (schematics for some of which will be found on Reputation vendors).

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Overview of Game Update 2.1: Customization

Posted on by May 6, 2013
3

BioWare provided SWTOR’s fan sites with information about Game Update 2.1 entitled “Customization”, the first update since the Rise of the Hutt Cartel digital expansion. Given what we were told, this update is focussed on a variety of features to add extra dimensions to customer customization. It seems that they are making this update all about quality of life, not surprising given the expansion gave us a solid chunk of new content.

Cory Butler features in the latest Old Republic Insider for April 2013, which touches on some of what’s coming in Game Update 2.1.

Collections

The Collections window will show you all of the items available in the game that are considered collectible. This includes armor sets, weapons, pets, speeders and toys from the Cartel Market, including the random items that are obtained through the packs.

SWTOR_Collection_01

Once you have bound such an item to one of your characters, that item is considered to be in your collection. Your collection is account-wide, not limited to a character or legacy.

You can then pay a one-time fee (in Cartel Coins) for an item to unlock it, which means that you can freely create new copies of that item on any character on your account.

For example, if you obtained the Mask of Nihilus, you could pay the Cartel Coin fee to unlock it, and then create copies on all your characters regardless of server. You could even provide them to all your characters’ companions!

Probably more useful is that you could unlock a favourite speeder, and then never have to buy a speeder again for any alt you create… ever.

Once an item is in your collection, it stays there; you can destroy all copies of the item, and as long as you have unlocked it, you can always create more.

A given copy is (of course!) bound to the character that uses the Collection interface to create that copy.

The Pink Lightsabers blog did a Q&A with Cory Butler on this feature, in which he revealed the cost of a given item’s Collection unlock:

For pack items, the Cartel Coin cost is based on item rarity, and ranges from 60 to 600 CC. For direct-sale items, the unlock fee is a fraction of the item’s base price.

Player Convenience Services

Escrow Deductions

Non-subscribers have a credit cap (200,000 credits for Free and 350,000 credits for Preferred). When this cap is reached, any additional credits are stored in an escrow account. Prior to Game Update 2.1, the credits in the escrow account could only be accessed if the player subscribed.

In Game Update 2.1, new Escrow Deduction items can be purchased from the Cartel Market, that allow a fixed amount of credits to be made available to the player from their escrow account. There are three types available:

  • 50,000 credit transfer for 40 Cartel Coins
  • 150,000 credit transfer for 80 Cartel Coins
  • 600,000 credit transfer for 240 Cartel Coins

The applicable credit cap does not affect credits transferred using these items. The items can be resold on the GTN.

Character, legacy and guild renaming

Items will be sold on the Cartel Market which allow a character, a player’s legacy or a guild to be renamed. There is a 30 day cooldown applied to a given change in name.

  • Character Rename for 1000 Cartel Coins
  • Legacy Rename for 1000 Cartel Coins
  • Guild Rename for 3000 Cartel Coins

These items can be sold on the GTN.

There will be a single (one per account), one-off complimentary Character Rename item provided to subscribers at or soon after the launch of Game Update 2.1.

Appearance Vendor Kiosk

The Appearance Vendor Kiosk can be used to alter a character’s body type, hair style, eye colour, scars, tattoos—effectively everything that is available in the character creator. A character’s species can also be changed, but not their class (or Advanced Class) or gender.

Appearance Vendor Kiosk

Courtesy of SWTOR-RP

In addition, the existing options have been expanded (e.g., new hair colours and styles), and new options will be coming in future updates at a regular cadence. Their intention is that players can customize their characters to achieve their personal Star Wars fantasy.

Cory emphasised the role-playing potential of the Kiosk. His young, clean-cut Padawan would eventually grow into a war-grizzled veteran, adding a scar after a big battle, and slowly greying his hair as he ages.

The Kiosks are located in convenient locations on the Fleet and each faction’s capital world. More Kiosks may be added in the future.

All changes made using the Kiosk are paid for with Cartel Coins; there is no option to pay with credits. However, subscribers will enjoy a substantial discount of up to 50% off the cost of Kiosk changes. When activated, the Kiosk offers a full portrait view, equivalent to the character creator. The changes made are charged on a “per-slider” basis, so a single change (e.g., a character’s skin color) would be cheaper than changing their hair colour and style.

If you choose to change a character’s species, there will be a single cost that includes all customization options.

Update: SWTOR-RP has had some questions answered by BioWare, including the revelation that character name changes are also coming in Game Update 2.1, and will be found in Cartel Market’s unlock section.

New species: Cathar

The Cathar are a new species that can be unlocked for Cartel Coins via the Cartel Market or directly in the Appearance Vendor Kiosk. Based on this post, the cost of the Cathar would appear to be 600 Cartel Coins. This is an account-wide unlock, rather than being legacy-specific like the existing racial unlocks.

The Cathar will then be available to male and female characters of all eight classes (i.e., both factions). You can create new Cathar characters, or use the Appearance Vendor Kiosk to change the species of an existing character to Cathar.

Cathar Trooper

Damion Schubert told us that the Cathar you encounter on Makeb were designed using the updated, far more detailed appearance options that have been provided. This includes new fur patterns and hairstyles. Aric Jorgan, a Cathar who features prominently in the Trooper’s class story, has also had his appearance updated.

There is also a social emote, referred to as “Cathar pride”. We would guess this involves your Cathar roaring like a lion.

Cathar female

BioWare have released the Cathar Preview Video, viewable below.

Dye Modules

Cory Butler was kind enough to answer some of our questions about Dye Modules, which you can read about here.

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OotiniCast Episode 77

Posted on by April 26, 2013
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The news this week is all about Game Update 2.0.1. We then discuss gaming peripherals, based on some insightful information and suggestions from our listeners.

1. Introduction

Hyp is quite taken with our guildmate Ry’s space cowboy hat:

Howdyy

Teo was a guest on The Oceanic Gamer‘s Flash Point podcast (episode 55). Thanks to David and Simon for the opportunity!

2. Trivia Question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Joey Weaver!

3. The Holofeed

4. Community

Thanks to Mark Emery for his most generous donation!

William Keele (@DarthKenji) has his latest Lesson from the Holocron for your edification, all about Jawas: “Freaky Little Hooded Creatures”.

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

From Kuze’s Korner, we have Datacron video guides for the four starter planets:

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @voyak, @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @StoleTarts (Megan), @ForceChuckle, @GregCarter78, @O_JohnnyBravo_O (JB), @EmpireDivider (Chong), @HamSammich509, @dingwog, @JediKrackr, @TheTurg, @BenAKenobi, @Eskatun, @rocketman003 and an email from Masterjedi (@masterbearjedi).

6. Sarlacc Digest

Our topic of discussion was gaming peripherals, based on tweets from @Jayconnell, @YojeVawree and @rclemons1977 (Brian Clemons) and emails from Rendrin, Quaza Impsbane, Marshall Carr and Azazeal.

The devices that we discussed are from both Razer and Logitech:

Naga

Razer Naga

LogitechG600

Logitech G600

Nostromo

Razer Nostromo

LogitechG13

Logitech G13

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@RystoJ) 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.

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