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Overview of Game Update 2.1: Customization

Posted on April 30, 2013 by teoMay 6, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

OotiniCast Episode 77

Posted on April 25, 2013 by teoApril 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:

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

Game Update 2.0.1 was deployed during maintenance on Wednesday morning. It had been delayed due to a bug that had to be addressed before it could go live.
The second pack on Shipment 2, the Vice Commandant’s Contraband Pack, is now available.
BioWare clarified that Covered Escape does not release a Sniper from roots/snares, as these are not considered “movement-impairing effects”.
While there are a few updates to crew skills in 2.0.1, Amber Green summarises the remaining known issues.
The level 55 hard mode version of Cademimu now has a bug in its last encounter: the shackles (new to hard mode).
In response to concerns that some warzones seem to be turning up more often than others, BioWare investigated and confirmed that what’s popping is truly random, as intended.
An undocumented feature, that it turns out wasn’t ready to be revealed, was discovered in 2.0.1: when you whisper an offline character, the player will still receive the whisper if they’re logged in on another character of the same faction.
More concerns were addressed for those having problems with the one-time password system, including a late-breaking hot fix for a delay in delivering the mail containing the one-time password.
Dulfy has an excellent guide on obtaining the GSI speeders, though BioWare advises that some components for those speeders are apparently not yet available.
Austin Peckenpaugh, Senior Designer, has done a series of blog posts about the class changes in 2.0:
- Jedi Knight, Sith Warrior
- Jedi Consular, Sith Inquisitor
- Trooper and Bounty Hunter
- Smuggler and Imperial Agent

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:

Razer Naga

Logitech G600

Razer Nostromo

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.

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.

Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Korriban

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Kuze RohMay 27, 2013

Red Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) is on the world map. The datacron itself is located in The Ruined Atrium of the Tomb of Tulak Hord (marker is green).

+2 Willpower Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in the Lower Wilds. Both locations can be seen on the Korriban world map.

+2 Endurance Datacron

The datacron is located near the Departure Shuttle (marker is green).

Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Hutta

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Kuze RohMay 20, 2013

+2 Aim Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in The Bog. Both locations can be seen on the Hutta world map.

Blue Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) in on the world map. The datacron itself is located in the Sewer Maintenance Tunnels (marker is green).

+2 Presence Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in The Rustyards.

Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Ord Mantell

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Kuze RohMay 14, 2013

Red Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) is on the world map. The datacron itself is located in Mannett Point (marker is green).

+2 Aim Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located on Savrip Island. Both can be seen on the world map.

+2 Presence Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located west of Mount Avilatan.

Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Tython

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Kuze RohMay 10, 2013

+2 Endurance Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in the Tythos River Valley.

+2 Willpower Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in Upper Kaleth.

Blue Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in The Forge.

Freaky Little Hooded Creatures

Posted on April 19, 2013 by William KeeleApril 21, 2013

Sand stays. All else changes.

-Iziz, from Knights of the Old Republic

In every Star Wars parody that I have ever seen, one species that always gets included is the Jawa. In Spaceballs they were called Dinks, most likely in reference to the cadence with which they sang as they marched across the dunes. Thumb Wars referred to them as “The Freaky Little Hooded Creatures”; an accurate if not flattering title for the little sentient beings. As we all know, our very own Chill and Teo decided to name their Old Republic podcast after a common Jawa cry. At first glance, Jawas might seem as though some Black Mages had stumbled into Star Wars from Final Fantasy, but like so many other parts of the Star Wars universe, once you dig into the lore surrounding them, a very interesting story emerges.

Even though some models of protocol droids cannot abide these disgusting creatures, Jawas have, in my personal opinion, always seemed rather cute. The average height of an adult is one meter, with an average mass of around 30 kilograms. The most distinguishing characteristics are their brown hooded robes and glowing yellow eyes. In similarity with their cousins the Sand People (more on this later), Jawas do not take off their robes—at least not in public. Through the study of corpses and skeletal remains, xenobiologists have discovered that under those robes Jawas are gaunt, rodent-like creatures with sunken faces. Jawas are known to dip their robes into a special solution that helps them retain moisture in their native environment. This solution is foul smelling to most other species. The staple of their diet is a round and yellowish, tough-skinned melon called the hubba gourd. Tasting sour to most other species, Jawas find them delicious when roasted. They also hunt carnivorous beasts on Tatooine called Squills for their tough pungent meat. The Jawa homeworld was Tatooine, but Jawas—like many other species in the cosmopolitan Star Wars Universe—can be found on many planets including the junk planet, Raxus Prime, which is about as close to Jawa paradise as I can imagine. Jawa life expectancy is around 80 standard years.

Among themselves Jawas speak Jawaese. This language is not only made up of sounds the Jawas make, but also scent-producing pheromones. If the Jawa speaking gave off a bitter smell, then that in combination with the words he said might have a different meaning than if he gave off a sweet smelling scent. Jawas learned early on when meeting other species (mostly to trade for their truly interesting goods) that this way of communicating was ineffective when conversing with non-Jawas. The ever enterprising Jawas developed the Jawa Trade Language, which is comprised of only the spoken component of Jawaese. Jawas cannot speak Basic because of limitations in their vocal chords, a limitation shared with Wookies.

Jawas are a communal, compulsive scavenger species whose unofficial motto is “not to look for uses in a salvaged item, but rather to imagine someone else who might find a use for it.” Jawas have an uncanny ability to get an item working just well enough to sell, a trait that has got them the stigma of being scavengers and thieves. Jawas actually enjoyed being referred to as such.

They live in clan families, each with their own territory for scavenging and living. In the Knights of the Old Republic, we learned the story of how the Jawas got the Sandcrawler machines they became known for. For anyone who has not played that game, Czerka Corporation brought the Sandcrawlers to Tatooine when attempting to mine the planet, but after finding the ore was sub-par, they abandoned their Sandcrawlers to the planet, rationalizing that it would cost more to take them off world than to just leave them rusting out in the Dune Sea. The always opportunistic Jawas scavenged the Sandcrawlers and made them theirs. Each Sandcrawler was led by a Clan-Chief, who was always male. The overall operation of the clan was overseen by a female Shaman. One of three criteria must be met to become a Shaman: possessing some Force ability (able to perform magic), overcoming an illness accompanied by a hallucinatory vision, or being trained by the current Shaman to take her place. Shaman were believed to be able to tell the future, and to perform spells, hexes and blessings to protect the clan. The Shaman was one of the most protected Jawa in the clan and as such was protected in the clan’s fortress and so did not travel in the clan’s Sandcrawler. Once a year before the storm season of Tatooine, all the clans gather together in an annual swap meet. Here all the Jawa clans gather and mingle, trading with each other and attending to any inter-clan business. Navigation data on the ever shifting sands of the desert was also exchanged, along with arrangement of marriages to ensure the continued genetic diversity of the species.

I feel that I would be doing my readers a great injustice if I did not mention the most popular Jawa in Star Wars: The Old Republic: the ranged tank companion for the Bounty Hunter, Blizz. If you have not yet played the Bounty Hunter story and do not want this companion’s background to be spoiled, please skip this paragraph. Blizz was hired by a scavenger crew lead by a man named Slam when the crew was on Tatooine. The young Jawa eagerly joined them as a “ferret,” getting into places where Slam and his crew could not, and was allowed to keep a share of what he found. After being with Slam’s crew for a few years, they went to work for the White Maw pirates on Hoth. The young Jawa was ecstatic about the planet’s “white sand,” and kicked snow up all around him while playing in the snow. Slam saw the miniature blizzard the little guy had made and jokingly called him Blizz, or little blizzard. Blizz liked the nickname and used it from then on.

Lastly, I want to discuss the origins of the Jawa. In my research I have found three theories as to their evolution. The first is that they (like the Sand People) are descendants of humans. The second theory is related to their rodent-like appearance, and says that they evolved from womp rats. This idea I got from The Official Guide to Alien Species, and while it is the most outlandish to me personally it is a theory from an official source. This same book states that they and the Sand People have certain genetic markers that link them to an earlier sentient species on Tatooine, the Kumumgah, which leads to the third theory that is tied into the mythological history of Tatooine itself.

During the time of the Rakata Infinite Empire, a species called the Kumumgah lived on their lush homeworld. They defied the Rakata’s authority over them. The Rakata decided to make an example of them, and so blasted their homeworld from its orbit. The Kumumgah’s native planet was transformed into a glass-covered world. Over the millennia, the glass crystals eroded down into the sands that covers all of Tatooine today. The surviving Kumumgah were decimated and scattered. Ultimately the species split into two groups. One group struck out into the wilderness, eschewing all technology, analogous to space age Amish. This group became the ancestors of the Sand People. The other group retreated into the ruins of the original Kumumgah’s ruined cites. There they scavenged as much as they could to survive, establishing a culture that would eventually develop into one of dinky little freaky hooded creatures.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter using @DarthKenji. Until next time, may the Force be with you all.

OotiniCast Episode 76

Posted on April 18, 2013 by teoApril 19, 2013

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Chill and Teo are joined by Hyp and Redna to discuss the latest news and our ongoing adventures on Makeb. As many are getting to level 55, we cover the initial steps in gearing up for hard mode Flashpoints and Operations.