OotiniCast - A Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) podcast | OotiniCast is a podcast for those interested in a little news and some interesting discussion about Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR).

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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.

1. Introduction

Hyp managed to get the following companion-related achievement while in a warzone. So to maximise your achievement accumulation, ensure you have a companion out before you enter!

He was quite taken with the appearance of the following characters, particularly their helms:

Teo’s male lowbie Sorcerer and Hyp’s female Sniper (Cyborgyna) in Ancient Hypergate, in the state of undress that became advisable with the (now fixed) naked bug.

Hyp’s Scoundrel, Pearlneck, looking… larger than life.

A little scenery from Makeb:

Hyp would love to get his hands on this pet, a miniature Star Destroyer:

Finally, some pictures of everyone’s favourite, Baldygina.

2. Trivia Question

This week’s questions is a “Who am I?” I have been credited on all six episodes of the Star Wars movies. I am also credited on all four Indiana Jones movies, even the one that shall not be named. I am credited on a Pixar movie. And I am credited on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2. Though I am not credited in SWTOR, my influence is clear as a bell. Who am I?

Please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com. Correct answers 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.

3. The Holofeed

The Rise of the Hutt Cartel digital expansion launched for all players on Saturday evening, accompanied by a launch trailer (also on YouTube).
Patch 2.0.0b was deployed during regular maintenance on Tuesday, to fix the issues with reverse engineering color crystals and the naked bug in PvP.
While the investigation into the apparently lower TTK (time to kill) is ongoing, it was pointed out that the Expertise cap on healing is now 20% (up from 15% pre-2.0), making it equivalent to how it was before 2.0, as the Trauma healing effect is now 35% (up from 30%).
As part of the fix for the naked bug, Expertise was removed from Warhero and Elite Warhero PvP gear, along with its other stats being boosted, making it equivalent to PvE gear of the same item rating. There remains a bug such that the new PvE gear sets, when bolstered, will give better stats than the equivalent level 55 PvP gear; this will be fixed in patch 2.0.1, coming this Tuesday.
The caps on Classic, Basic and Planetary Commendations are being revised upwards in patch 2.0.1.
A performance issue is the reason our mission logs can hold a maximum of 25 missions.
The current issues with one time passwords are being addressed. This includes a change that has been deployed that extends their lifetime so they are less likely to be expired if the mail in which they are sent is delayed.
How crew skill missions work was clarified, and some issues were listed. Note that these new rules (e.g., only Bountiful and Rich missions will return an Artifact (Purple) quality mat on crit) only apply for the new 401-450 range.
A couple of world designers describe the new Macrobinocular and Seeker Droid systems. They also provide some handy hints for how to most effectively use the Seeker Droids.

4. Community

If you have a Sith Assassin (or a Jedi Shadow), we recommend Mad Sith Assassin.

You can find Lance Cadiz regularly live-streaming his adventures at jediconsular.tv.

Megan (@StoleTarts) has written a review of the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion.

If you are interested in some serious roleplaying, we recommend you join Clan Epsis, on the Jung Ma server (US east coast RP/PvP).

Finally, in Kuze’s Korner, Datacron videos for all the starting planets will soon be available.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @GregCarter78 (Greg Carter), @woutergrys, @Geldarion (co-host of Corellian Run Radio), @AspisVodox, @joseph_foran, @TheTurg (Terg), @JediKrackr, @terencemyers, @masterbearjedi (Raz), @ForceChuckle, @roguish98 (Matt Roberts), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @EmpireDivider (Chong), @Dimbo56 (SWTOR Mayor), @hadrian9 (Mikhael Lombard), and emails from Quaza Impsbane, Rose and Baffle.

Greg Carter suggests the following rules for the OotiniCast Drinking Game. Please feel free to send us your additions. While listening to the show, anytime one of the following happens, take a drink!

Hyp requests BioWare give him/everyone Cartel Coin compensation
Red has some sort of in-game bug
Hyp requests day/night cycles or starship/fighter inertia
Teo responds to one of Hyp’s suggestions with “Yeah… not gonna happen” (or just “Yeah” and moves on)
Hyp refers to Makeb as some kind of scab
Anyone says “Super Secret Space Project”
Chill skips the Sarlacc Digest
Red complains about the Inquisitor storyline
Teo makes a correct prediction for a patch date

Ray Leamon refers us to Dulfy’s SWTOR Dreadseed and Star Forager armor locations guide, to help you obtain these sets using your Seeker Droid.

@JediKrack’s visual guide to the Priority Transport Terminal outside each class’s hangar on the Fleet:

Chong is quite taken with the helmet which appears to be just a toothpick!

As discussed in the show, you can now find Hyp’s Marauder, Baldygina, on Twitter.

6. Sarlacc Digest

Using Dulfy’s most excellent SWTOR Level 55 endgame gearing guide, we discuss the initial stages of gearing for characters that have got to level 55.

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.

OotiniCast Episode 75

Posted on April 11, 2013 by teoApril 11, 2013

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Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy is now live and early access for Rise of the Hutt Cartel has begun! We discuss the news and our initial adventures in the new content.

1. Introduction

2. Trivia Question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Greg Carter!

3. The Holofeed

Game Update 2.0 was deployed late on Monday night, with the intention of being ready to launch at midnight PDT, though was available for play a couple of hours early.
The 50% reduction to repair costs that we’d been enjoying in the leadup to the expansion have now ended.
All members of a guild receive a 5% bonus to XP gain. This is apparently the first of several planned guild rewards.
Those without early access can now earn XP to just short of level 51.
Increasing crew skills beyond 400 before the expansion launches for everyone requires early access. You’ll need to purchase the advanced crew skill upgrade from each crew skill trainer before you can progress beyond 400.
There is a known issue with reverse engineering +41 colour crystals; for now, BioWare advises to not attempt reverse engineering them until it is fixed.
You may receive warnings that you are close to a commendation cap, when you actually aren’t; this is also a known issue, and is planned to be fixed in Patch 2.0.1.
As of Game Update 2.0, the set bonus is always attached to the armoring mod. This includes Tionese, Columi and Rakata items where the set bonus was previously on the item’s shell.
Alex Modny (Assistant Designer) explained in PvP in Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy how the bolstering system was being upgraded and the reasoning behind the new PvP brackets (10-29, 30-54, 55 and 55 Ranked).
As most of found out by now, bolster isn’t working quite as intended now that 2.0 has been deployed. Eric Musco, in conjunction with Rob Hinkle and Alex Modny, explains what’s going on with the “naked bug”.
BioWare have published two SIS Intel reports, giving an overview of key locations and persons of interest on Makeb.
Some tips for Game Update 2.0 (thanks to Hru for compiling them):
- To travel between daily areas (and the Makeb Orbital Station), there are now Priority Mission Terminals (located near the shuttles); these replace the option given on the shuttle doors.
- There are trainers for the crafting crew skills in the Makeb Orbital Station; the other trainers are in each faction’s starting area.
- The Makeb Commendation Vendor (located in the Supplies area of the Fleet) sells rating 140 mods for Planetary Commendations.

4. Community

While adventuring on Makeb, you may as well pick up the two datacrons there; you’ll find all the information you need in Kuze’s Korner.

We have two contributions in Raise Your Glass this week:

Ham Sammich: This week for me was non-stop PvP. Sometimes I felt like I would puke if I got another Huttball match, but I kept pressing to get to level 50 on my Mercenary before the expansion. By the time it was done, I leveled from 35 to 50, maxing out my Valor all along the way. Also big thanks to Chong, Teo, Hyp and a few others for the group PvP; you all made it a little more enjoyable. 🙂
Kile Lewis: I spent most of my time this past week leveling my Sith Juggernaut, Ty’Ranos, and deciding how I wanted him to look using adaptive/custom heavy armor. When I wasn’t leveling that character I was on my main, Skil’Veros, farming credits to fund my alts.

As I go about leveling or farming I try to level my crew skills just for the sake of being a completionist. I still have a lot to learn about the game since I’m still new to SWTOR. I’ve only been playing for about 3 weeks.

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!), @ForceChuckle, @voyak, @masterbearjedi (Raz), @GregCarter78, @lightsideoflif1, @HamSammich509, @YojeVawree, @therealHausman (Jacob Hausman), @TheTurg (Terg), @ruleoftwocast (Kenzan of the Rule of Two podcast), @EmpireDivider (Chong), @AspisVodox, @weihanthekidsun, @ChazDM (Chaz Davis), @Geldarion (co-host of Corellian Run Radio), @terencemyers, and emails from Rose and Arammus.

6. 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.

Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Makeb

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Kuze RohApril 4, 2013

Makeb’s +10 to Endurance datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) is on Frinn Mesa. The datacron itself takes you to the Cartel Mining Mesa (marker is green). Both locations can be seen on the Makeb world map.

Makeb’s +10 to Presence Datacron

Both the starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron (marker is green) are on Perekta Mesa, in the south-west part of Makeb.

OotiniCast Episode 74

Posted on April 4, 2013 by teoApril 5, 2013

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This week we discuss the closure of LucasArts, the latest SWTOR news, and James Ohlen’s presentation at GDC. We also provide some advice on how best to prepare for Game Update 2.0!

1. Introduction

Hyp provided some pictures for us to discuss. The first is his Sniper, Cyborgina, looking surprisingly demure:

In stark contrast we have Baldy. Oh, Hyp.

Finally, the context menu for the shuttle door in an orbital station which caused Hyp some amount of frustration in terms of the ordering of the options:

2. Trivia Question

There are many artists involved in the making of the Star Wars movies, but some of them are also famous outside the movies as well. I’m going to name a few of them, in what I think is easiest to hardest order, and you tell me how they influenced Star Wars, or how they were involved with Star Wars. It sort of starts easier with those who were directly involved, and ends up with the influencers:

Please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com. The prize this week is Benjamin’s Bodacious Booty, donated by our guildmate Benjamin CC to celebrate the release of the Rise of the Hutt Cartel next week!

3. The Holofeed

Disney has decided to close down LucasArts, the game studio responsible for such Star Wars classics as Dark Forces and X-Wing.
Patch 1.7.3a was deployed during Tuesday’s regular maintenance, which fixed a significant memory leak in the client.
The security changes that have been hinted at for the past couple of weeks also went live. These include allowing login to the game and the official site using one’s display name (rather than email address), and the introduction of various self-service options, including the ability to remove the security key from an account without calling customer support.
BioWare didn’t disappoint with their contribution to April Fool’s Day, Game Update 2.1: Dance of the Hutts.
While a deserter debuff is still not going to be added any time soon, the PvP team is looking at ways at changing the Civil War warzone so that there isn’t such an obvious point at which defeat is effectively guaranteed for one side.
Color Crystals will continue to offer a maximum +41 of an applicable stat in Game Update 2.0.
The upcoming dressing room/barbershop will not allow a character’s gender to be changed.
James Ohlen spoke at the Games Developers Conference about the rise, fall and rise again of SWTOR.

4. Community

Chill interviewed Damion Shubert in Episode 73.

If you’re after a guild on the Republic side of the Shadowlands (east coast PvE) server, check out Jeddit, the official guild of the SWTOR subreddit.

@madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!) is maintaining a list of SWTOR podcasts.

We have two installment’s of “Raise Your Glass” (new and original segment name coming soon):

Ham Sammich: So this week mainly just worked on my Mercenary, going from level 25 to 36. I’m loving the survivability he has and as a PvP toon he’s a lot of fun. Had a really crazy Voidstar warzone this week. Typically when you’re guarding the doors most teams buff and stand ready. I came across a PvP team who staggered on top of each other like they do automatically when you spawn into a wz. To say the least it was a huge advantage as what looked like one man ended up being five; some were stealthed anyway but still a sight to see; I had to relay this on as a great mechanic to try sometime!
Hru: I’ve now completed all 8 class stories and all 40 companion stories, and now have 11 toons at level 50, nine on The Harbinger and two on Red Eclipse… all done solo, of course, and without spending any real world money on Cartel Coins for exceptional boosts.

Our friend and guildmate Kuze has joined the OotiniCast crew with the first installment of Kuze’s Korner in this week’s show. He’s also provided two video guides for the Datacrons that you can get on Makeb.

Darth Kenji’s next Lesson from the Holocron will be about Jawas. Look for it soon!

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @qzoid, @terencemyers, @Dimbo56, @ForceChuckle, @masterbearjedi (Raz), @weihanthekidsun (Weihan Sun), @K0h4ku (Amber Green), @BillLentz, @voyak, @ben_b55 (Ben B) and @ChazLobo, and an email from Hru answering a question about moddable vibroknives from @GregCarter (it’s sold by Logistics Officer Sy, just inside the main entrance of Dromund Kaas Spaceport, and by Lieutenant Pell, the Specialty Goods vendor who is with the two regular Commendations vendors in the Senate Commercial District on Coruscant).

@Geldarion (co-host of Corellian Run Radio) offers a list of Twitter resources for SWTOR fans: @CorellianRun, @TORWars, @OotiniCast, @ruleoftwocast, @TheRevCast, @realdarthhater and @dulfycleric.

6. Sarlacc Digest

We discuss how best to prepare for Game Update 2.0. We recommend using our Commendation conversion calculator for Game Update 2.0 to help you ensure that you’ve spent your Commendations and Tionese Crystals such that none are wasted during the conversion on April 9th.

BioWare have finalised the conversion ratios, Commendation weekly caps and maximums, as well as confirming that warzone commendations will be unaffected during the conversion.

In terms of the gear you’ll need for questing on Makeb, we believe that Tionese gear (which you can purchase now using the 99 Tionese Commendations obtained from your class’s Advanced Gear mission, obtained when reaching level 50) should be sufficient. The new tier of crafting will provide mods for your gear, as well as new equipment, to help upgrade that Tionese as you level up. There are also items which drop from mobs on Makeb and mission rewards, as well as what can be purchased using Planetary Commendations from the (new) Makeb vendor on the Fleet and on Makeb itself.

7. Outro

Thanks to Oni (@Freakin_Ninja), 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.

OotiniCast Episode 73

Posted on April 2, 2013 by teoApril 3, 2013

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Chill interviews Damion Schubert, Lead Designer on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Damion started his career as a designer of text-based MUDs, which led to Meridian 59 (the first graphical MMO), and later to Origin to work on Ultima Online. He eventually joined BioWare to work on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The topics discussed in the interview include:

Striking the right level of difficulty for the Makeb content in the Rise of the Hutt Cartel digital expansion, to make it challenging for solo players while still allowing it to be doable by less combat-effective players (e.g., those spec’d as healers).
The reasoning and method behind the combat team’s update to the skill trees in Game Update 2.0 and the selection of the new level 51 ability for all Advanced Classes.
The philosophy of why crew skills have been altered so that the best operation gear cannot be reverse engineered, and a hint of what’s to come in the future.
The state of character transfers, with some indication that they’re getting closer than ever.
While Cathar as a playable species is not in the Rise of the Hutt Cartel, it seems they’re awfully close to being available (and are why the Cathar NPCs you’ll encounter in the Makeb content are particularly detailed!).
Chill did his best, but Damion was unwilling to divulge any information about the Super Secret Space Project (though he did talk about his hopes and dreams for guild capital ships; if they ever happen, they’re going to be amazing).
While multi-/dual-spec sounds like it’s further off than we’d like, Damion provided some fascinating insight into how features are prioritised, designed and finally implemented into the game.
Because we know it’s an issue dear to Hyp’s heart, we asked about day/night cycles (have no fear, they’re far down the priority list behind other more desired features!).
Damion explained why MMO designers typically don’t talk about upcoming features until they’re sure they going to be delivered; this led into an affirmation of their strategic direction for allowing us the maximum amount of customisability for our characters, with the dressing room/barbershop being the latest feature added to support that.
Why the team has avoided any hint of pay-to-win as part of the free-to-play conversion, and why that’s not going to change.
How free-to-play is going (hint: really, really well) and what that means for the game and the development team.

Thanks to Damion for taking the time to talk to us, and to Eric Musco (Community Manager) for arranging the interview!

Commendation conversion calculator for Game Update 2.0

Posted on March 30, 2013 by teoOctober 30, 2014

As we discussed in episode 68, the existing commendations for a given character will be converted into the new Classic Commendations currency during the deployment of Game Update 2.0, using the following ratios:

Columi Commendations 4:1
Tionese Commendations 6:1
Black Hole Commendations 1:1
Daily Commendations 4:1

While Classic Commendations have a weekly cap (200) and an overall cap (400), an overflow cap of 800 will be used for the one-time conversion.

According to Dulfy’s guide, once Game Update 2.0 is deployed, “Unassembled” armor/weapon tokens can be exchanged for containers containing Classic Commendations; this applies to Rakata (75), Columi (75) and Campaign (99). It may be worth hanging onto these, in case you’d like more Classic Commendations after the conversion.

The existing commendations that are currently planet-specific will likewise be converted into a single Planetary Commendations currency, at a ratio of 1:1, with a cap of 50 and an overflow cap of 100 for the one-time conversion when Game Update 2.0 is deployed. Tionese Crystals will also be converted into Planetary Commendations, at a ratio of 2:1.

The following calculator allows you to enter your current number of Commendations; the order in which they’re listed should match what you see in the Currency tab of your inventory.

OotiniCast Episode 72

Posted on March 28, 2013 by teoMarch 29, 2013

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This week is all about the planet Makeb, the centerpiece of the Rise of the Hutt Cartel. We discuss our own experiences with the content on the closed PTS, along with the wealth of material released about the expansion.

1. Introduction

2. Trivia Question

From the several entrants who identified the half-size Darth Vader Bronze Statue for $US18,000 as the most expensive Star Wars merchanise currently available, the randomly chosen winner was Thornwald!

3. The Holofeed

Patch 1.7.2b was deployed late last week, just before the second double XP weekend commenced, to remove bolstering from the Western Ice Shelf of Ilum.
Game Update 1.7.3 was deployed on Tuesday during normal maintenance, which included a few updates to the Cartel Market.
The solution to the dwindling population on the APAC (Asia/Pacific) servers has been chosen by BioWare: the three APAC servers will be merged with US west coast servers:
- Mastar Dar’Nala (PvP) merging with The Bastion (PvP)
- Gav Daragon (RP-PvE) merging with Begeren Colony (RP-PvE)
- Dalborra (PvE) merging with The Harbinger (PvE)
Eric Musco, Community Manager, provided some insight into how they reached this decision. Prior to the merger, players will be able to manually transfer their characters to any US west coast server. If you believe that the better solution would be to merge the APAC servers into a single server still located in Australia, then signing this petition may help.
Austin Peckenpaugh (Class Designer) made it clear that the current state of class balance that will be deployed in Game Update 2.0 isn’t the end; further balancing will continue over time.

4. Community

Ham Sammich (@HamSammich) had the idea for us to provide a place for listeners to provide an update on their progress in the same, highlighting achievements, goals met, or just cool stuff that happened to them. We would publish this material in our show notes, and occasionally draw attention to particularly noteworthy items as time permitted. To kick things off, Ham provided the following:

This week I just really tried to focus on leveling my Sith Assassin before the expansion is released. I ran the Foundry a couple times with PUGs and got to level 45. I’m still working on rotation a lot; overload seems to make Warmaster’s Blade only half extend, so I went ahead and submitted a ticket. Outside of that I reached Legend status with the Contraband Resale Corporation and purchased the ever elusive Aratech Eclipse for 4 certificates and 100k credits. That’s about sums it up; see you in space!

If you’re interested in participating, just send a paragraph or two to ootinicast@gmail.com.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @Damaging_Rogue (Les), @JediKrackr, @ThePiousPunk, @terencemyers, @GregCarter78, @ForceChuckle and @AlexDGeslin, along with emails from Howard (who we thank for his most generous donation!) and Baffle.

Here is the JK/BH spotted by Ham Sammich:

6. Sarlacc Digest

This week has seen a flood of information released from various news and fan sites about Makeb, the new planet being added with the Rise of the Hutt Cartel digital expansion, adding to the material BioWare had already produced.

While we mainly talked about our own impressions, we did cover some of the material included in these articles. But if you want to know it all, here are all of our sources:

Developer Update: Overview of the Planet Makeb (BioWare)
Developer Blog: The Art of Makeb (BioWare)
Making of Rise of the Hutt Cartel Part 1: Creating Makeb Video (BioWare, also on YouTube)
Making of Rise of the Hutt Cartel Part 2: Conflict on Makeb (BioWare, also on YouTube)
SWTOR Rise of the Hutt Cartel Interview with Bioware developer Brian Audette (Dulfy)
Assassin Developer Interview (Mad Sith Assassin)
New Details On The Old Republic’s Rise Of The Hutt Cartel (Game Informer)
Developer Q&A: Featuring Bruce Maclean (Darth Hater)
Rise of the Hutt Cartel Preview (SWTOR Hub)
Massively’s hands-on with SWTOR expansion Rise of the Hutt Cartel (Massively)
Star Wars: The Old Republic Previews: The Hutt Cartel is Rising (MMORPG)
Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion to launch April 14 (CNET)
Star Wars: The Old Republic’s first expansion is BioWare’s hope to win back lapsed players (Polygon)
SWTOR: Bruce Maclean Interview (ZAM)
Exclusive SWTOR RotHC BioWare Interview (The Unknown Regions Brewing Company)
Rise of the Hutt Cartel Commentary (IGN video)

Hyp has also captured some images from our time on Makeb, when he and I were questing together. First we have Pearlneck, his Scoundrel healer, with a rather spectacular background:

Next, Pearlneck is working some mischief that may involve the light bridge visible in the distance:

Finally, Pearlneck and my Jedi Guardian, Teol, seem to be rather distressed by a situation they’ve found themselves in:

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.

OotiniCast Episode 71

Posted on March 21, 2013 by teoMarch 22, 2013

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We discuss Jeff Hickman’s third State of the Game along with other SWTOR news as we prepare for the second double XP weekend on the march to Makeb!

1. Introduction

Hyp is quite taken with his Sniper’s starship:

Speaking of his Sniper (Cyborgyna), he’s dressed her in surprisingly fetching Jedi robes. Keeping them guessing, you know.

It’s getting harder and harder to find Baldy’s inner beauty:

2. Trivia Question

Star Wars has become famous for many things, some of which we have explored in the Trivia Question. But one that we haven’t yet touched on is its famous merchandising. There are tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of items with the Star Wars brand on them. The Star Wars action figures and other toys alone have outgrossed all six movies including re-releases, according to Forbes. And there is clothing, food, and just about everything else out there in the galaxy.

The challenge: find the Star Wars item with the highest non-auction, actual sale price. That is to say, not a one-of-a-kind item put up for auction, like the original Tie Fighter Episode IV model that went for $350,000 or the Panavision camera used to film Episode IV that went for $625,000. So, no auction items. And not an item put up for sale at a crazy price no one would pay. But rather, find an item that is (or was) for sale to the public with the highest price, and send your answer (please include a link to help me research your answers) to ootinicast@gmail.com.The person who finds the most expensive Star Wars merchandise will win a Tauntaun Fawn code courtesy of BioWare and one of the latest Cartel Packs.

In event of a tie, there will be a random drawing. I have found an item, specifically a Boba Fett item, priced at $US1299.99, so try to beat my score!

3. The Holofeed

Patch 1.7.2a was deployed on Thursday. No sign yet of Game Update 1.7.3!
Jeff Hickman, SWTOR’s Executive Producer, has published his third State of the Game. Eric Musco (Community Manager) subsequently clarified why they’re charging Cartel Coins for the upcoming “barbershop”, what Jeff meant by 8 week content releases, and that we’d be getting news about the solution to the APAC servers’ population issue early next week.
There has been plenty of work done on the PTS; you can find all the patch notes in the Test Center.
The Old Republic Insider Episode 5 was released (also on YouTube), featuring Bruce MacLean (Senior Development Director) and Cory Butler (Producer).
It appears that the Empire does have a (very) slight lead over the Republic in terms of population.
Players have been using the bolstering system on the Western Ice Shelf of Ilum to level to 50 extremely quickly. While this is not being classified as an exploit, BioWare will be making changes to ensure that this won’t be possible.
A recent issue was introduced that caused a chestpiece’s hood to no longer show, thus leaving the helmet exposed. A different problem resulted in some Trooper helmets not showing at all. Both should be fixed in the upcoming Game Update 1.7.3.
Phillip Holmes, SWTOR’s Senior Manager of Security, announced the self-service options that would be available in April, with some coming with the initial security change on April 2nd. He also answered yet more questions about the change.
EA are having a promotion across multiple free-to-play games that apparently offer unique SWTOR pets for playing those games. Dulfy has a guide summarising what’s known about which games, and what’s required to obtain the pets. Subscribers cannot yet get these pets, though they will become available at some point in the future.

4. Community

A reminder that if you want to know some background on those nefarious Hutts—some of it quite surprising—please see Darth Kenji’s latest Lesson from the Holocron, “Warlords and Gangsters”.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @Bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @MikeG_75 (MikeG) @Jeboneyus (Jared), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @HamSammich509, @masterbearjedi (Raz), @DarthKenji (William Keele, author of our Lessons from the Holocron), @weihanthekidsun (Weihan Sun), @Adam_Schumpert, @Kingkornholio, @_Baffle6h (Baffle), @ForceChuckle, @Mal_Kizdek_14h (Shammar) and @Thoroughmas12m (Thomas Midena), and an email from Quaza.

You can see a slightly out-of-date spec for Chill’s PvP Powertech here.

Here’s Darth Wantsom, the creation of @HamSammich509 inspired by The Harbinger’s downtime:

6. 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.

The Holocron: Warlords and Gangsters

Posted on March 15, 2013 by William KeeleMarch 15, 2013

“Or else Pizza is gonna send out for you!”

-Vinnie, droid right hand man of the greatest Hutt of all time, Pizza the Hutt

With the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion release right around the corner, I thought it might be a good idea to look into one of the many species unique to the Star Wars universe, the Hutts. Whether dealing in legitimate business or illicit trade, the Hutts can easily be considered the masters (or mistresses, more on this later) of the galactic underworld. What is not apparent at first glance is that the Hutts themselves are heirs to a grand legacy of an empire built by war rather than credits, and the tyrannical rulers who turned that empire on its head.

The first time I saw Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, I was introduced to the Hutts through the character of Jabba the Hutt. My first thought was that he was a disgusting slug, and that is generally the most common first impression that the Hutts give to those meeting them for the first time. When encountered they are usually sitting on opulent thrones, apparently immobile, but they are actually able to slither around their environment like slugs. Physiologically speaking, one of their most interesting traits is their reproductive system. Hutts take a cue from worms and marsupials in this regard. Like worms, they are hermaphrodites, meaning they are neither male nor female. Hutts are then referred to by whichever gender they wish. Hutts reproduce asexually, so when a Hutt has a Huttlet, or child, its sole parent is the Hutt that spawned it. Once born, the Huttlet will crawl inside its parent’s brood pouch like a kangaroo. Hutts can also regenerate body parts when injured. Hutts live to be around one thousand standard years old.

Over time the Hutts developed their own language, called Huttese. While it is primarily spoken in Hutt Space, it is also spoken almost everywhere else, making it the second most spoken language in the galaxy after Basic.

When it comes to Hutt history, it is difficult to nail down all the facts to give a definitive chronology. In conducting research for this article, I have found not only some inaccuracies but also blatant contradictory accounts. These stem from the ancient legends, rumors, and half-truths of not only the Hutts themselves but of other cultures like the Tionese. In the end I have decided to stick to the account in The Old Republic Encyclopedia since I believe it pertains to the time with which we are all most concerned. I will include additional comments when they do not contradict the main story in the aforementioned book.

The Hutt species evolved on the temperate forest planet of Varl. In ancient times, Varl was conquered by the Rakata’s Infinite Empire. By the accounts I have read, Varl was one of the last planets they conquered, as the Rakata were beginning to decline when they took over the Hutts. Ardustagg the Absolute was a Hutt that lived at this time, and who lead many uprisings on Varl and eventually drove the Rakata from the Hutt homeworld. The opportunistic (as always) Hutts took advantage of the Rakata’s technology left on their world and began to subjugate neighboring systems.

At this point I want to stop for a moment of contemplation. All the accounts agree that the Hutts of this time are all described with one word: Warlord. While I do concede that the Hutts could have simply flown around in ships commanding their armies from afar, I have to consider the possibility that the Hutts were themselves on the field of battle fighting these wars, and in turn were themselves… warriors. I find it difficult to imagine a large, slow-moving Hutt to be a threat on the battlefield, but I cannot dismiss the idea that perhaps Hutts could have been slender and faster-moving at this point in their history. Perhaps they might have resembled a Naga from World of Warcraft in those early days. The sources I have read do say the Hutts used slaves in their army, but then I have to question who fought in the first battles when there were not yet any slaves? It is possible that once they got the wealth and power from their newly won empire, they then began to sit around and have others wait on them, becoming fat on their newfound status. What do you think? Please leave me a comment below, because I would love to discuss this point further.

Whatever way they acquired their new empire, the Hutts now controlled about a hundred star systems and the species that lived on them. It was at this time that the Hutts entered into a time of decadence. They ceased trying to conquer new worlds, and exploited the ones they already possessed. The Hutts grew fat on the suffering of their slaves and wallowed in their new opulence. Little did they realize the greatest threat since the Infinite Empire was right outside their borders.

In 25,130 BBY (before the Battle of Yavin), Xim the Despot was a human from the Tion cluster who wanted an empire for himself. Following in his ruthless pirate father’s footsteps, he conquered most of the Tion cluster; his empire eventually stretched from the Radama Void to the Maw and included thousands of worlds. Unfortunately for him, this was not enough and he wanted to add the Hutt Empire to his. This confrontation, called appropriately enough the Hutt-Xim conflict, was a clash of the two largest forces in the galaxy at that time. The Republic was still many years in the future. Xim’s war fleet devastated Hutt worlds, while privateers hired by the Hutts harassed Xim’s supply lines. In 25,100 BBY, Xim’s fleet was destroyed in the First Battle of Vontar. Despite this setback, two more battles would be fought on that planet in the same year. The Hutts at this time brokered a deal that became known as the Treaty of Vontor. In this treaty the Klatooinians, Vodrans and Nikto species were enslaved by the Hutts to become eternal soldiers in the Hutt’s army. These three species, with the help of the Weequay, under the command of Kossak the Hutt, finally destroyed Xim’s army at the Third Battle of Vontor. Xim died in captivity in Kossak’s dungeons.

After the defeat of Xim the Despot, the Hutts returned to their earlier activities of conquering and plundering new worlds for their resources. Eventually the Hutts again turned inward and began intrigues against each other. It is unknown exactly what caused what happened next but infighting destroyed the Hutt Empire. Some rumors say that the Hutts turned some ancient Rakata super weapons against each other, ravaging their own planets in the process. The primary victim of this event was Varl, the Hutt homeworld. The once lush forest world became a barren wasteland. What caused this schism amongst the Hutts of the time is unknown because the parties involved were destroyed by their own machinations. What is known is that the remainder of the Hutts who survived this cataclysm rounded up what slaves they could and took to the stars in search of a new home. Eventually they came upon a planet called Evocar where they would swindle the inhabitants into giving the Hutts control of the world. The Hutts renamed the planet Nal Hutta.

The generation of Hutts that grew up in the aftermath of the near extinction of their species realized that the time of imperial conquest and war were over. Wealth could be gained and used as a powerful weapon against the poor, greedy and desperate. Through the use of exploitive relationships, the Hutts could gain the power over others they craved. It was in this crucible that the Hutts forged a new kind of empire: The Hutt Cartel.

A Hutt named Budhila Hestilic Amura was instrumental in this new Hutt paradigm. He established the ruling body of the Cartel which he called the Council of Elders. This was to safeguard against another apocalypse ever destroying the Hutts again. He also established the guiding principle that the Hutts would devotedly follow from that day forth: the concept of kajidic. This ideal is twofold. Firstly, instead of conquering new worlds by force of arms, the Hutts would control the planets from within their own infrastructure. Insinuating themselves into controlling entities (i.e., governments or criminal organizations), the Hutts could in effect exert control over these planets. Hutts will go to whatever means necessary to protect their interests. The second point of the kajidic is that instead of brutal infighting, as was the case in their imperial past, disputes would be settled by economic competition.

You can follow me on twitter via @darthkenji.Feel free to do so if you wish to discuss slimy slugs, or any other lore topic that strikes your fancy.

“Goopta mo bossa!” (Huttese farewell meaning, “May your mind not evaporate!”), and may the Force be with you all.

OotiniCast Episode 70

Posted on March 14, 2013 by teoMarch 15, 2013

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The Gree are back, the march to Makeb begins, and the Hutts begin offering reward points for the Cartel Market! All this and more as we discuss what’s in Game Update 1.7.2.

1. Introduction

Hyp learns that talking back to a Sith may sometimes end badly.

Baldy models the Cartel Luxury Skiff, one of the most desirable speeders to have been added to the Cartel Market’s Packs.

Baldy certainly isn’t getting any prettier.

2. Trivia Question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Tony T!

3. The Holofeed

Game Update 1.7.2 was released during Tuesday’s maintenance.
It includes the introduction of the Contraband Resale Corporation, a Hutt-controlled organisation with which players can earn reputation. It’s effectively reward points for buying Contraband Packs (introduced with Shipment Two) from the Cartel Market. Dulfy has provided a guide that tells you all you need to know!
Some players’ concerns about the new reputation were addressed by Eric Musco (Community Manager). He also said that the Certificates which (in addition to reputation and credits) are used to purchase items from the reputation vendors are currently bind-on-pickup, and may be changed to bind-to-legacy.
The armor from the character creation screen for the Bounty Hunter will be made available in Game Update 1.7.2; the final class, the Trooper, will have their armor added after the launch of the expansion.
The Gold Scalene armor was removed from the Cartel Market in response to community feedback in Game Update 1.7.2. In addition, our companions can now equip all reputation armor, and the level requirement of that armor (which is all bind-to-legacy) has been reduced from 45 to 10.
The Gree have returned, and there is now a new speeder available, the Blue Sphere Transport Enclosure. While it is currently bind-on-pickup, it will be changed to be bind-to-legacy in Game Update 1.7.3.
The March to Makeb is a promotion to prepare players for the expansion. It includes four double XP weekends. Each weekend starts Friday 1pm CDT (Sat 5am AEDT, Fri 6pm GMT) and runs through to Monday 2am CDT (Mon 6pm AEDT, Mon 7am GMT). Note that it only affects XP (not Valor or reputation), all XP boosts apply to the doubled XP, but rested XP is excluded.
- March 15-18
- March 22-25
- March 29-April 1
- April 5-8
We believe that this means that Game Update 2.0 may be released on Tuesday April 9th, with early access to Makeb beginning shortly thereafter.
There was a SWTOR panel at SXSW Interactive, which can be found on YouTube.
Phillip Holmes, SWTOR’s Senior Manager of Security, provided us with all we could possibly want to know about the upcoming security changes, most notably the removal of logging in using one’s email address.

4. Community

A useful resource for those interested in both the normal and heroic space missions is Nefash’s Pilot Training School.

If you’re into PvP, Jacob Hausman’s Rated Warzone Guide is worth reading; the warzone strategies are good to know even if you’re not in a rated group.

Darth Kenji has resurrected his Lessons from the Holocron series with a new installment, “Warlords and Gangsters”, which reveals some surprising revelations about the Hutts!

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @HamSammich509 (Ham Sammich), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @lesman72 (Les), @Eskatun, @GregCarter78 (not of Mars), @TheTurg (Terg), @terencemyers, @Dimbo56, @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @grimrok (Grim), @voyak, @thecandalore (Can’dalore) and @Darklighter159 (Dillon Cotter).

Here we have Dillon’s “missing granny”:

6. 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.

Columi Commendations:
Tionese Commendations:
Tionese Crystals:
Black Hole Commendations:
Daily Commendations:

Alderaan Commendations:
Balmorra Commendations:
Belsavis Commendations:
Corellia Commendations:
Coruscant Commendations:
Dromund Kaas Commendations:
Hoth Commendations:
Hutta Commendations:
Korriban Commendations:
Nar Shaddaa Commendations:
Ord mantell Commendations:
Quesh Commendations:
Taris Commendations:
Tatooine Commendations:
Tython Commendations:
Voss Commendations: