OotiniCast Episode 50

Posted on by October 27, 2012
1

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

With the revelation that Game Update 1.5 will be the free-to-play release, our discussion topic this week is all about the Cartel Market and the restrictions being placed on players who don’t subscribe.

1. Introduction

2. Trivia question

What SWTOR earnable character title is from something said by Princess Leia, and was not used as a compliment?

If you are interested in being entered in the random drawing for a Tauntaun Fawn code, please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com.

3. The Holofeed

  • While there was scheduled downtime this week, no patch was deployed.
  • BioWare have released Free-to-play Preview #1 (also on YouTube), a video introducing free-to-play, and teasing some of the goods that will be available for purchase.
  • At least for now, reverse engineering mods that were crafted by others is a legitimate (if unintended) way of learning their schematics.
  • Sith Marauders and Jedi Sentinels (using Rage and Focus specs respectively) are now performing extremely well in PvP, to such an extent that they are over-represented. BioWare is monitoring the situation to see whether this is due to them being the “flavour of the month”, or if they’re overpowered enough that nerfing may be required.
  • In the minefield (Colonel Vorgath) encounter in story mode Explosive Conflict, the Probe Droid’s Cleave ability no longer cleaves (single-target only); also, while the enrage timer for Vorgath himself has been raised, the timer on the minefield remains as tight as ever.
  • Enter now to win a SWTOR-themed Razor laptop! Entries close 4 November.

4. Force Feedback

Our sincere thanks to Mags for his donation!

We discuss tweets from @NULLZERO1, @DarthPops (Marshall Carr Jr.), @John_K64 (Ry), @Rrubb (Rub), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @voyak, @ForceChuckle, @Dimbo56, @StoleTarts (Megan), @AspisVodox, @Rabbi_Shekky and @TranscendenceG (The Trancendence Guild on the Prophecy of the Five east coast PvP server).

@JediAio linked us to the old (but great!) Saturday Night Live skit, “Star Wars Auditions”.

@voyak recommends this YouTube video of a flashmob in Germany. In terms of personal flexibility (and possibly fitness), he also suggests we try Star Wars Yoga.

Marshall Carr (@DarthPops) showed us how to make pumpkin-carving fun, at least for Star Wars fans!

Kuze shows us that some bugs in SWTOR can have a funny site.

5. Sarlacc Digest

The Cartel Market has been added to the PTS, thus revealing that Game Update 1.5 will be the launch of free-to-play. The PTS patch notes were updated with the new features. In addition to the Cartel Market, more welcome changes have been added to 1.5:

  • re-specialisations are now free for subscribers
  • subscribers will have access to 2 additional quickbars (giving us 6 in total)
  • our inventory’s currency window now includes a progress bar for each currency, indicating the applicable cap
  • the preview window has been greatly enhanced, showing a fully-animated model of the character, now allowing the equipped (or previewed) weapon to be drawn

Teo spent some time on the PTS playing with the Cartel Market interface, investigating what was for sale:

  • Cartel Packs (the “gambling” boxes) could be bought for 180 CC or 360 CC
  • Cosmetic items included:
    • a minipet for 240 CC
    • an adaptive speeder (matches your current speeder piloting level) for 720 CC, which included Speeder Piloting I
    • Carbonite Chamber for 1440 CC
    • Rancor Holo-replica for 180 CC
  • Unlocks were available, primarily of use to non-subscribers:
    • Authorization: Event Equipment Requisition (175 CC/char or 400 CC/account), one-off unlock
    • Authorization: Artifact Equipment (1200 CC/char or 2700 CC/account),  one-off unlock
    • Unlock: Guild bank access (600 CC/char or 1350 CC/account)
    • Authorization: Crew Member Appearance (325 CC/char or 725 CC/account)
    • Unlock: 10 GTN sale slots (125 CC/char or 280 CC/account), apply 5 times for 50 total
    • Unlock: additional quickbar (250 CC/char or 540 CC/account), once per quickbar [start with two]
    • Unlock: inventory module (175 CC/char or 380 CC/account) per row of 10 [start with three]
    • Unlock: crew skill slot (420 CC/char or 945 CC/account) per slot
    • Unlock: cargo hold access (475 CC/char or 1050 CC/account) per bay
    • each racial unlock costs 350 CC
    • Customization control: display titles, display legacy name (100 CC/char or 200 CC/account)
    • Customization control: hide head slot, unify colors (350 CC/char or 775 CC/account)
  • Equipment could be purchased, all adaptive:
    • chestpieces, suitable for level 15 (150 CC) and level 43 (325 CC)
    • armor sets (containing head, chest, gloves, pants, boot) for 1200 CC
    • weapons (e.g., Gamorrean Axe for 350 CC)
    • +41 color crystals for 900 CC
  • Various consumables useful for both free-to-play players and subscribers:
    • 25% increased XP boosts, in two versions:
      • major, lasting 3 hours, for 120 CC; also 5-pack for 480 CC
      • minor, lasting 1 hours, for 80 CC
    • 25% increased valor (major for 50 CC, minor for 30 CC)
    • single-use (no shared cooldown) fleet pass for 90 CC
    • single-use quick travel (90 CC)
    • 5-pack of medical probes for 500 CC (free-to-play players have a finite number of medical probes, and need to buy these to restock!)
    • weekly passes for 240 CC to give unlimited access to warzones, space missions and operations
    • weekly pass for 240 CC making Flashpoint boss loot accessible

Items purchased from the Cartel Market are intended to be gifted to other players or sold on the GTN, though some will be temporarily bound so that they can’t be parted with straight away.

The restrictions on free-to-play players were discussed, though given they’re currently in flux, we’ll go over them again the next episode. We were happy to hear that free-to-play players will start with two quickbar slots, rather than just one!

Finally, we speculated as to how much Cartel Coins would be worth. Our best guess is that they’ll be priced like BioWare points (used to purchase DLC for other BioWare games, like Mass Effect), which would be $1 for 80 Cartel Coins. BioWare confirmed that Cartel Coins will not initially be earnable via in-game activities.

6. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 49

Posted on by October 19, 2012
1

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill and Teo are joined by Hyp to discuss the latest SWTOR news, focussing on the features to be found in Game Update 1.5 which is now available for testing on the PTS. Our discussion topic this week is about the newly-revealed details of the upcoming free-to-play conversion, especially the restrictions that will be placed on free players.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Tony Tomkinson!

4. The Holofeed

  • Patch 1.4.1a, a small client-side-only patch, was deployed late last week to fix the hitching/stuttering performance issue that some players were experiencing.
  • During an extremely long downtime during scheduled maintenance, patch 1.4.2 was deployed.
  • Game Update 1.5 is now available for testing on the PTS. Probably the most anticipated feature is the quest line to obtain the new companion, HK-51. Dulfy and Darth Hater have both produced guides for how to go about it. In addition, we have the new dailies and world boss (Dreadtooth) in Section X on Belsavis, and Nightmare Mode for the operation Explosive Conflict (Jesse Sky details what players should expect).
  • Vendors now sell Dread Guard relics for 300 Daily Commendations, and Campaign armoring mods (which are better itemised than the current Black Hole gear, and include the set bonus) for Force and non-Force users can be purchased with Black Hole Commendations.
  • The Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia is now available for purchase. We will be reviewing it next week.
  • Jesse Sky, the featured developer from last week, has answered a number of follow-up questions from players.
  • Congratulations to BioWare for winning four of the categories in the GDC Online’s Game Developers Choice Online Awards.

5. Force Feedback

Our sincere thanks to Grim for his extremely generous donation! It is very much appreciated.

We discuss tweets from @JediAio, @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @rickheaton, @adolyte, @voyak, @ForceChuckle, @Dimbo56, @DanCremer, @StoleTarts (Megan), @Rabbi_Shekky, @hallhood  (Hall Hood) and @TranscendenceG (The Trancendence Guild on the Prophecy of the Five east coast PvP server).

6. Sarlacc Digest

We finally have additional details about the free-to-play conversion. First is the new Cartel Coin Ledger page, found in the My Account section on swtor.com, that summarises how many complimentary Cartel Coins you will receive when free-to-play launches. Below is probably the most common case for someone who started playing at launch with the base edition, has been continuously subscribed and will remain so:

In the updated free-to-play FAQ, it is emphasised that you will only receive the accumulated Cartel Coins if you have active game time at the point that free-to-play launches. As to when that will be, all we know at the moment is that it will be in the Fall (meaning it could be as late as 21 December), though November has been mentioned at various points.

BioWare have also detailed at least some of the restrictions that will be imposed on free-to-play players in the updated Subscription vs. Free-to-play Features matrix.

  • Story Content
    • Premium (FULL):  All players can play their full class stories from Level 1-50.
    • Free (FULL):     All players can play their full class stories from Level 1-50.
  • Character Creation Choices
    • Premium (FULL):  Full access to all Character Creation choices.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Limited Character Creation options.
  • Operations
    • Premium (FULL):  Unlimited access to Operations.
    • Free (LIMITED):  A Weekly pass to unlock Operation access is required.
  • Warzones
    • Premium (FULL):  Unlimited access to Warzones.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Three Warzones per week or purchase a weekly pass to unlock this restriction.
  • Flashpoints
    • Premium (FULL):  Unlimited access to Flashpoints.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Full rewards from three Flashpoints per week or purchase a weekly pass to unlock rewards for all Flashpoints.
  • Space Missions
    • Premium (FULL):  Unlimited access to Space Missions.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Three Space Missions per week or purchase a weekly pass to unlock this restriction.
  • Cargo Hold
    • Premium (FULL):  Purchase more cargo space with either in-game Credits or Cartel Coins.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Gain and expand the Cargo Hold with Cartel Coins.
  • Inventory
    • Premium (FULL):  Purchase additional inventory space with either in-game Credits or Cartel Coins.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Expand inventory slots with Cartel Coins.
  • Crew Skills
    • Premium (FULL):  Up to three (3) Crew Skills.
    • Free (LIMITED):  One Crew Skill, or purchase additional Crew Skill slots with Cartel Coins.
  • Quick Travel
    • Premium (FULL):  Unlimited access to the Quick Travel ability with a reduced cooldown.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Longer Quick Travel cooldown period or purchase an authorization to permanently reduce the cooldown for Quick Travel.
  • Emergency Fleet Pass
    • Premium (FULL):  Unlimited access to the Emergency Fleet Pass. Bypass the cooldown by purchasing a consumable item with Cartel Coins.
    • Free (LIMITED):  No access to Emergency Fleet Pass. Purchase an authorization to unlock quick travel to the Fleet.
  • Death
    • Premium (FULL):  Revive at the nearest Med Center or in the field with a cooldown.
    • Free (LIMITED):  Revive at the nearest Med Center or a total of five (5) times in the field. Unlock additional Field Revive with Cartel Coins.
  • Game Login
    • Premium (FULL):  Priority status in the Login Queue.
    • Free (LIMITED):  No priority status in the Login Queue.
  • Item Equipping
    • Premium (FULL): Equip all purple items they acquire, assuming they meet the in-game requirements (class, level, etc).
    • Free (LIMITED):  Cannot equip most purple items unless a license is purchased from the Cartel Market.

7. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 48

Posted on by October 13, 2012
1

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill, Teo and Hyp discuss patch 1.4.1, which fixes a lot of the issues introduced with Game Update 1.4. As well as covering other news, we also wax lyrical about experience in the new operation, Terror From Beyond.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

This week’s question: What Star Wars-related thing do Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, and Billy Dee Williams all have in common?

If you are interested in being entered in the random drawing for a Tauntaun Fawn code, please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com.

4. The Holofeed

  • Patch 1.4.1 was deployed during the regular scheduled maintenance early on Tuesday morning. The majority of the issues introduced in Game Update 1.4 are now fixed, though several remain outstanding, including degraded performance.
  • While the option to allow hoods to be pushed back remains a desired feature, it seems that the team is busy on upcoming content and the free-to-play conversion, and so our hoods will remain up for the foreseeable future.
  • BioWare have introduced a new community feature, the Developer Spotlight. The first introduces Jesse Sky, Lead Flashpoints and Operations Designer. If you have follow-up questions for Jesse, ask them in this forum thread.
  • The datamining of Game Update 1.4 performed by Torhead has turned up some upcoming content, summarised in this forum post. Force Junkies has an article (Leaked List of Upcoming Content and F2P Goodies) summarising what was found.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @voyak, @ForceChuckle, @IRBountyHunter, @Dimbo56, @DanCremer, @AspisVodox, @banyo1984, @hallhood and @The_Jedi_Hermit.

We’d like to recommend the fine podcast SWTOR Reforged, formerly SWTOR: Off The Record. Well worth listening to!

October 6 was Star Wars Reads Day. As part of the celebration, several authors of Star Wars books (including Timothy Zahn) have written special blog posts on the official Star Wars Blog.

Grim emails us with some rather clever ideas about how user-generated content could be incorporated into SWTOR, as well as some rather unfortunate suggestions about how BioWare could monetise the process!

In response to Sith Jawa’s comment on episode 47, we can confidently assure him that we plan to remain subscribed when free-to-play launches.

6. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 47

Posted on by October 5, 2012
2

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill and Teo (with Hyp’s remote presence) discuss what’s happening in SWTOR, focussing on the issues that have arisen since Game Update 1.4’s release.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Krilltok (John A). His guild, The Brotherhood of Darkness on The Tomb of Freedon Nadd server, cleared 16-man Terror From Beyond. Well done, guys!

4. The Holofeed

  • Patch 1.4.0b was deployed on Tuesday as a hot-fix, with no downtime required.
  • BioWare has summarised the issues that remain extant since Game Update 1.4 was released; there’s quite a few! They include already-known schematics being consumed if you attempt to learn them (and there’s no way to tell that you already know them, aside from checking your crafting window), the second boss in The False Emperor being bugged, and the win for warzone matches occasionally being awarded to the wrong side.
  • While Game Update 1.4 was on the PTS, it was noted that there were two expensive items: relics for 400 Daily Commendations, and implants for 350 Black Hole Commendations. We mentioned last week that during the Livestream, it was indicated that these items were there by mistake; it turns out that only applied to the relics. The implants are correctly priced, though given the stat differences, hardly worth 350 Black Hole Commendations!
  • Story mode operations, including Explosive Conflict and Terror From Beyond, will no longer drop Black Hole Commendations from bosses or in chests. This is due to the progression path being through hard mode operations, with the story mode ops being effectively the entry level.
  • While you can queue for both warzones and Flashpoints via the Group Finder, as of Game Update 1.4 upon entry to a warzone you are automatically removed from the Group Finder queue. It was explained that this was to prevent people abandoning warzones if their Group Finder popped.
  • Companions 101: Kaliyo Djannis is the first in a series covering specific companions. Kaliyo is the first companion that joins the Imperial Agent. You can suggest which companion to cover next on the forums.
  • The Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina Tour is an initiative to allow players to meet the community team and developers at various events.
  • The Star Wars: The Old Republic: Encyclopedia will be published on 15 October 2012. It retails for $US40, though is available for a reduced price at Amazon US and the Book Depository (free shipping worldwide).

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @AHlaenxna (Vis), @IzaakTheMad (Izaak), @ForceChuckle, @meredithwatson, @EmpireDivider (Chong)`, @Dimbo56 (Dimbo), @grimrok (Grim), @voyak, @IamAlana, @DarthPops (Marshall Carr Jr. of TORWars), @banyo1984 (Benjamin Becker), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @BayCityScramblr (Chris Johnson) and @HolyCrapItsLate (Rob Henriquez).

The following the poster that Chill saw with a vision of the future from the early 20th century, that bears a striking resemblance to Coruscant!

6. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us (remotely!) this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 46

Posted on by September 28, 2012
25

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill and Teo are joined by Izaak to talk about the deployment of Game Update 1.4 and other news. We also discuss SWTOR’s gearing model for endgame, with its proposed three tiers of operations.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

Chill provides his interpretation of the new moods that are now available for our characters in Game Update 1.4:

  • Neutral—Neutral
  • Alarmed—Stupid
  • Annoyed—Constipated
  • Astounded—Macaulay Culkin
  • Awed—Slightly Stupid
  • Cheery—Cheery (some of them are named pretty well)
  • Dejected—Pouting
  • Depressed—Doing a Robert DeNiro impression
  • Discomforted—Doing an angry Robert DeNiro impression
  • Eager—Still Novocaine’d from the dentist (lip sticks out weird)
  • Flattered—Smarmy
  • Frustrated—Doing a Gilbert Gottfried impression
  • Hurt—Doing a Clint Eastwood impression
  • Joyful—Pleased (looks happy but not joyful)
  • Meditative—Pretending to be Asleep (also: how am I fighting now?)
  • Mournful—Puppy-dog eyes
  • Saddened—Mildly bummed
  • Scowling—Nearsighted
  • Stunned—Freshly Tased. Pretty darn accurate, actually. Could use some drool.

3. Trivia question

The following screenshot contains a sample of Aurebesh, the Star Wars writing system. The question is simply to translate it! If you are interested in learning Aurebesh, you can try Teo’s simple Aurebesh trainer.

If you are interested in being entered in the random drawing for a Tauntaun Fawn code, please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com.

4. The Holofeed

  • While there was no maintenance on Tuesday, Game Update 1.4 was deployed during an 8 hour maintenance on Thursday morning. Patch notes are here, and James Ohlen’s Welcome to Game Update 1.4: Terror from Beyond is also worth reading.
  • The deployment wasn’t entirely without issues, the most pressing of which was the GTN being unusable. The Preferences option to hide one’s headslot doesn’t work; the workaround is to select the checkbox via the Customize Appearance button (right side of your Character Sheet, near your Feet slot).
  • An explanation was provided regarding name conflicts with guild names following the recent merger into super-servers: it turns out that if two or more guilds were merged onto a server that shared a common name back on their origin server, all those guild names now have “@ <origin server>” appended (e.g., “Despair @ The Harbinger”). Once there is only one guild remaining on the server with that name (due to the guilds changing their name or being disbanded), the “@ <origin server>” will be removed.
  • The first Livestream community discussion was held on Friday. Dulfy almost immediately provided a YouTube copy of the broadcast, along with a transcript.
  • Damion Schubert (Principle Lead Systems Designer) provided a Quality of Life Improvements in Game Update 1.4 blog post.
  • An unexpected (but most welcome!) change in Game Update 1.4 was to drastically increase the respawn times of the objectives for the Black Hole dailies.
  • It sounds like multi-spec is still a long, long way off (unfortunately).
  • Rob Hinkle (Senior PvP Designer) says that BioWare is considering penalties for abandoning an in-progress warzone, though may instead opt for additional incentives for staying until the end.
  • The three Oceanic servers also received 12 character slots per server in Game Update 1.4, bringing them to parity with the rest of the servers after the merger. Action is still being considered to alleviate the low populations on those servers.
  • Bioware has placed a job advertisement for a “Monetization Analyst“. They subsequently needed to allay fears that this implied that the free-to-play conversion hadn’t actually started.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @Dimbo56, @voyak, @ForceChuckle and @AspisVodox.

6. Outro

Thanks to Izaak (@IzaakTheMad) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 45

Posted on by September 20, 2012
Reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill and Teo are joined by Hyp and Cypher to discuss the latest SWTOR news, including the surprise super-server consolidation.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

Chill referred to Oni’s old guild, who proved to be Ootini Fight Club’s nemesis during the weekly Ranked Warzones Session, as “Paragon”; however, the guild is actually Covenant. Most worthy and honourable foes!

3. Trivia question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Ben P!

4. The Holofeed

  • Patch 1.3.8 was deployed during a short 2 hour maintenance on Thursday.
  • After conducting High Population Server Tech Testing late last week, they announced on Monday that the Server Consolidationwould be happening during maintenance. Originally scheduled for 8 hours, it stretched to 12, but after that the deed was done: all the locked origin servers are gone, along with some of the previously-designated destination servers.
  • For posterity, here is the final list of super-servers, along with the origin servers that wer merged to form them:
    • The Shadowlands (east coast PvE) – The Shadowlands, Corellian Run, Giradda the Hutt, Mind Trick, Elysium, Thana Vesh, Colonel Tobin, Krayt Dragon, The Razor, Tarro Blood, Anturi Reach, Firaxan Shark, Sith Meditation Sphere, ICE Breaker, Crevasse City, Darth Bandon, Shadow Hand, Sith Wyrm, Dreshdae Cantina, Grand Master Zym
    • Jedi Covenant (east coast PvE) – Jedi Covenant, Canderous Ordo, The Constant, Krayiss Obelisk, Kathol Rift, Whitebeam Run, Khoonda Militia, Ki-Ta Kren, Kaas City, Fort Garnik, Hanharr, Sedyn Kyne, Keetael, The Corsair, Nathema, Zez-Kai Ell, Shii-Cho, The Courageous, Assassins of Sion, Eidolon Security, Axial Park, Keller’s Void, Master Dorak, Juyo, The Defenestrator, Telos Restoration Project
    • The Ebon Hawk (east coast RP-PvE) – The Ebon Hawk, Kath Hound, Rubat Crystal, Lord Adraas, Sanctum of the Exalted, Shien
    • Prophecy of the Five (east coast PvP – Prophecy of the Five, The Fatman, Firkrann Crystal, The Twin Spears, Anchorhead, Darth Malak, Bondar Crystal, Iron Citadel, Infinity Gate, Saber of Exar Kun, Naddist Rebels, Hedarr Soongh, Davik’s Estate, Gardens of Talla , The Deadweight , Thendys Noori , Sword of Ajunta Pall, Terentatek, Vulkar Highway, Veela, Death Wind Corridor, Cho Mai, Port Nowhere, Kinrath Spider, Rwookrrorro , Belgoth’s Beacon, Helm of Graush
    • Jung Ma (east coast RP-PvP) – Jung Ma, Ven Zallow, Ajunta Pall
    • The Harbinger (west coast PvE) – The Harbinger, Drooga’s Pleasure Barge, Fa’athra, Veeboo Lunx, Master Gnost-Dural, Darth Xedrix, Gauntlet of Kressh, Zakkeg Beast, Perlemian Trade Route, Zaalbar, Empress Teta, Namadii Corridor, Kaiburr Crystal, Krath, Wall of Light, Vornskr, Soresu, Lord Praven, Master Zhar Lestin, Space Slug, Darth Sion, Hyperspace Cannon, Mask of Nihilus, The Jekk’Jekk Tarr
    • Begeren Colony (west coast RP-PvE) – Begeren Colony, Lord Ieldis, Vrook Lamar
    • The Bastion (west coast PvP) – The Bastion, The Crucible Pits, The Maw, Rakata Mind Prison, Nadd’s Sarcophagus, Infinite Empire, Daragon Trail, Warriors of the Shadow, Black Vulkars, Shadowtown, The Swiftsure, Dark Reaper, Wound in the Force, Mandalore the Indomitable
    • T3-M4 (EU German PvE) – T3-M4, The Jedi Tower, Odacer-Faustin Academy, Lenico Gargantuan, Dreypa’s Oubliette, Stereb Cities, Force Harvester, Opila Crystal, Murakami Orchid, The Cinzia, Sith Triumvirate, Handmaidens of Atris, Supreme Commander Stantorrs, Darth Andeddu, Exar Kun
    • The Red Eclipse (EU English PvE) – The Red Eclipse, Nightmare Lands, Dune Bantha, Goluud Corridor, Sluis Shipyards, Dxun Battle Circle, The Arkanian Legacy, Bacca’s Blade, Eye of Ashlanae, Bao-Dur, Flames of the Crucible, Luka Sene, Rogue Moon, Kellian Jarro, Peragus Mining Facility, Ludo Kressh, Hydian Way, Sith’ari, Hidden Beks, Frostclaw
    • Mantle of the Force (EU French PvE) – Mantle of the Force, Kissai Caste, Vodo-Siosk Baas, Phateem Halls of Knowledge, Hssiss
    • Vanjervalis Chain (EU German RP-PvE) – Vanjervalis Chain, Zayne Carrick, Cassus Fett
    • The Progenitor (EU English RP-PvE) – The Progenitor, Shaltin Tunnels, Trask Ulgo
    • Battle Meditation (EU French RP-PvE) – Battle Meditation, Kessel Run
    • Jar’Kai Sword (EU German PvP) – Jar’Kai Sword, Brianna, Darth Traya, Exis Station, Gnawer’s Roost, Loramarr, The Restoration Zone, Blotus the Hutt, Pius Dea, The Krath Enchanter, Darth Revan’s Mask, Jen’jidai
    • Tomb of Freedon Nadd (EU English PvP) – Tomb of Freedon Nadd, The Shadow Runner, Tott Doneeta, The Ravager, The Kumumgah, Hex Droid, Bloodworthy, Scepter of Ragnos, Ahto City, Basilisk Droid, Legions of Lettow, The Exile’s Crystal, Starstorm One, Tassaa Bareesh, Ula Vii, Senator Contispex, Niman, Kai-kan, Chuundar, Trayus Academy, Uthar Wynn, Lord Calypho
    • Darth Nihilus (EU French PvP) – Darth Nihilus, Dol Grenn, Mecrosa Order, Atris, Princess Galia, Baron Deathmark, Hrakert Rift, Star Map, Huntmaster
  • We now have 12 character slots per server. If you ended up with more than 12 characters via the merging process, all will remain playable (e.g., Teo has 27 on The Harbinger now). However, if you do have more than 12 characters, you will not be able to create a new character unless you free a slot by deleting down to less than 12.
  • As part of the merging process, naming conflicts occurred for both player characters and guilds. In the case of guilds, their names were changed to have “@ <origin server>” appended; for players, name clashes were resolved by letting one character keep their name, and the others are forced to change before they can be played. BioWare elaborated on the logic used to determine how this was resolved.
  • It seems that the three Australian servers missed out on being upgraded to the super-server technology, as evidenced by them not being upgraded to 12 character slots; this is being remedied.
  • BioWare is conducting a monthly “LiveStream” event, a half-hour live broadcast to answer questions in real-time from players.
  • We discuss Larry Everett’s Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s Gabe Amatangelo on 1.4 and free-to-play article.
  • The SWTOR client is getting a nice upgrade, as discussed in Developer Update: Shadow Optimizations in Game Update 1.4. Once it’s live, time to switch shadows back on!
  • Jesse Sky (Lead Flashpoints and Operations Designer) explains why Explosive Conflict (and soon Terror From Beyond) won’t be in the Group Finder initially, though they are coming.
  • Fansite SWTOR Face published their SWTOR Companion QnA with Lead System Designer, Damion Schubert.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @voyak, @ForceChuckle, @IzaakTheMad, @VodoxSWTOR, @Rabbi_Shekky, @rbleamon and @thehatfield, and a comment by masterjedi on episode 44.

Here is Cypher’s Lego Bowdarr. The resemblance to Chewbacca holding a lightsaber may not be coincidental!

6. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) and Cypher (@cypher_x for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 44

Posted on by September 15, 2012
1

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week, Chill and Teo are joined by Hyp and Chong to go over what’s coming in Game Update 1.4, which has been deployed onto the PTS. We also discuss what we know about the Ancient Hypergates warzone, which was recently playable at GamesCom.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

This week’s question: John Williams uses themes to connect the threads of the stories he scores for. For who or what in the Star Wars universe is the theme that Chill whistles (19:13)? Also, at what point in the movies do we hear this theme when what is going on onscreen is seemingly unrelated to the theme’s topic?

If you are interested in being entered in the random drawing for a Tauntaun Fawn code, please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com.

4. The Holofeed

  • Patch 1.3.7a was deployed during a shorter 3 hour scheduled maintenance on Tuesday.
  • Game Update 1.4 is available for testing on the PTS! You can find out more at the SWTOR Test Center, which includes the latest release notes.
  • Dulfy has a post comparing the current Campaign relics with the new Dread Lord relics, which will be available for 400 Daily Commendations in Game Update 1.4.
  • In conjunction with Game Update 1.4 appearing on the PTS, the Developer Dispatch – Terror From Beyond video was released (also on YouTube).
  • The fan favourite reward, based upon a Facebook poll, for current and previous subscribers as of 1 August 2012, who are still subscribed when free-to-play launches, is “The Party Jawa”.

  • Players who purchases the Digital Deluxe Edition will receive an additional 250 Cartel Coins.
  • In an interview with the French MMO site Mondes Persistants.com, Gabe Amatangelo revealed that BioWare is working on a SWTOR version of the WoW armory, allowing character information to be viewed via the web.
  • SWTOR Life also interviewed Gabe Amatangelo, discussing the new warzone, Ancient Hypergates, and other PvP-related topics.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @voyak, @ForceChuckle, @EmpireDivider (Chong), @Dimbo56, @IzaakTheMad, @SithLordKorv and @grimrok.

Jason B requests that OotiniCast be added to the Zune Marketplace: now done!

Grim tells us about some particularly difficult class missions (at least for one of the ACs), and wonders whether we’ve encountered similar problems.

Rei’lar (Gary Foster) wants to start a second raid group within Ootini Knights. They plan to run 7-10pm Tuesdays PDT. If you are interested in joining his group (tentatively called “Rei’lar’s Roughnecks”), please contact Rei’lar in-game or via email (gary.foster@gmail.com).

6. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) and Chong (@empiredivider or email him via chong@ootinicast.com) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 43

Posted on by September 8, 2012
4

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill and Teo are joined by Hyp and our new guest Chong to discuss the basics of PvP, and how to get into it. We also go over the developer blogs about the new operation, Terror From Beyond, and the class changes coming in Game Update 1.4.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Mosq!

4. The Holofeed

5. Force Feedback

Thanks to @ForceChuckle, @Voyak and @Iamalana for the friend follows, and also thanks to @Voyak and @Dimbo56 for retweeting episode 42.

We discuss tweets from @VodoxSWTOR, @bytorsnowdog, @terencemyers, @Dimbo56, @YojeVawree and @Voyak, and an email from Saxe Gotha on the Ebon Hawk server.

6. Sarlacc Digest

Chong’s Champions

Chong is assembling a band of stalwart heroes to join him in an 8-man ranked warzone team. Their initial forays will be on the Republic side of The Harbinger server (west coast PvE), though they also hope to eventually create an Imperial counterpart.

They will start queuing at 8pm PDT on Saturdays, starting on 8 September 2012.

No previous experience is required (though is obviously preferred!). The only gear requirement is (at the least) a full set of recruit gear.

Chong’s PvP primer

  • Expertise
    • If you plan to PvP your new major stat should be Expertise, followed by Endurance and your main primary stat (aim, cunning, willpower, strength).
      • This does not mean you should just stack Expertise; it does require your full attention to balance it with your primary stat and endurance.
      • Endurance and your primary stat priorities change depending on your class and spec.
    • Expertise does three important things: it increases the amount of bonus damage you do to players; it reduces the damage you take from attacking players; and it increases the bonus amount of healing to players.
      • A player’s companion counts as a player (only applicable in world PvP).
      • Expertise has a soft cap of around 20%, so stacking beyond that can be wasteful.
  • Skills tree
    • I suggest that if you want to PvP, you should review your skill trees for the role you want to take.
    • All classes are good for PvP, even tanks.
      • Tanks are great for holding down a turret or marching to the goal in Huttball.
    • The skills you want to grab will be anything that will keep you in the fight or incapacitate others.
    • Also anything that will reduce cast times. (Mostly a DPS or healing thing.)
      • Alacrity is good for this and/or spec into talents that reduce pushback from damage.
  • Gear
    • Recruit
      • When you first hit level 50, you can get a free set of Recruit gear from a terminal on the Fleet in the combat training area.
      • If you hit 50 and took the token to get credits, you can still get the Recruit gear from the Recruit PvP Gear vendor in the same area. It will cost you 320,000 credits to purchase the full set.
        • This is blue (i.e., not modded) PvP gear with a significant amount of Expertise to prevent you from being crushed (as you would be in straight PvE gear).
        • If you feel you don’t want to spend that much, you can queue without and farm Warzone Commendations to build up to Battlemaster gear. (It will be slow!)
        • You will not each the Expertise soft cap with Recruit gear.
    • Battlemaster
      • Battlemaster gear is purchased using strictly Warzone Commendations.
        • To get a full set, it should set you back 12,500 Warzone Commendations.
        • You cap your Warzone Commendations at 2000, so make sure you buy gear before you cap to prevent wasting the Warzone Commendations you gain.
        • A full set of Battlemaster gear should get you to the Expertise 20% soft cap.
        • Keep this gear for War Hero gear purchases.
    • War Hero
      • War Hero gear is purchased using Rated Warzone Commendations from the War Hero PvP Gear vendor in the Combat Training area.
        • You will also need your old Battlemaster gear to purchase the item.
        • You can gain Ranked Warzone Commendations from 3 places:
          • Daily and weekly PvP quests;
          • Purchasable from “Corr”, the PvP Item vendor, at an exchange of 1 ranked for 3 non-ranked at Valor rank 40 or more; and
            • Pro Tip: The vendor claims to sell them 10 for 30 but you can use the “split item” trick and choose a quantity of 1 to 99 and it will sell you 1 ranked for 3 non-ranked.
          • Doing Ranked Warzones.
    • Rated War Hero
      • Rated War Hero gear is also sold at the War Hero PvP vendor, but does require a particular rating to purchase it, plus more Rated Warzone Commendations and non-rated War Hero gear.

7. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) and Chong (@empiredivider or email him via chong@ootinicast.com) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 42

Posted on by September 1, 2012
1

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill, Teo and Hyp discuss a few developer posts, and a few key points from the recent SWTOR-related interviews at GamesCom. We also have the next instalment of our hard mode guides for the level 50 in a hurry, this week covering The Battle of Ilum.

1. Introduction
2. Question to the panel

Chill’s Sith Sorcerer has achieved Dark V; he invites us to contrast the appearance from the character’s creation to her current dark incarnation:

3. Trivia question

This week’s question: What does Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope have in common with two other great action films: A Fistful of Dollars and The Magnificent Seven?

If you are interested in being entered in the random drawing for a Tauntaun Fawn code, please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com.

4. The Holofeed
  • In an attempt to reduce the lag encountered in operations, their solution—to reduce the population on a hardware shard hosting operation instances—had the unintended consequence of locking some members of a raid out! It appears that subsequent tweaking has resolved the issue.
  • Jason Attard (Senior Game Balance Designer) gives us some insight on the accuracy of bosses in operations.
  • When SWTOR goes free-to-play, we are told that cash shop items (boost consumables, unlocks, vanity items, etc.) can be per-character (but will tend to be bind-to-legacy) or account-wide. In some cases, a cheaper per-character option will be available in addition to the more expensive full account-wide purchase.
  • Rob Hinkle (Senior PvP Designer) answered a couple of questions about PvP:
    • The new warzone, Ancient Hypergates, will be added to those available for ranked warzones as soon as it’s available;
    • 8-man pre-mades for non-ranked warzones isn’t going to happen anytime soon;
    • Queuing with less than an 8-man for ranked warzones is coming post-1.4; and
    • Season 1 of ranked warzones (we’re currently in the pre-season) will kick off sometime post-1.4.
  • Something went wrong earlier this week that caused some players to be unable to access one or more of their characters. The issue was fixed within a day or so.
  • Jason Attard explains the process used to allocate stats across the armoring, mods and enhancements that are present in operation gear.
  • Dueling on the Fleet isn’t going to happen in the foreseeable future, it seems.
  • The first two Lego kits based on SWTOR are available for purchase! You can get a  Republic Striker-class Starfighter for $US44.99:
There’s also the Sith Fury-class Interceptor for $US89.99:

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @ForceChuckle, @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon) and @Rrubb, and comments from Voyak and masterjedi.

Mags upgraded his repair droid to the third (the highest) tier, and to his surprise observed that its another C2-N2!

Our guildmate Chong is organising a ranked warzone team, starting at one day a week, kicking off weekly at 8pm Saturday PDT. If you are interested, please email chong@ootinicast.com.

6. Sarlacc Digest

We continue our series that provides hints and tips for the player who wants to get their daily Group Finder hard mode done in a hurry. This week we discuss The Battle of Ilum, a hard mode Flashpoint available to both factions.

Next week, another shared Flashpoint: The False Emperor.

7. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share

OotiniCast Episode 41

Posted on by August 30, 2012
3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Chill, Teo and Hyp discuss our impressions of the now-concluded Grand Acquisitions Race. Also included is our third hard mode guide for the level 50 in a hurry, covering Directive 7.

1. Introduction
2. Question to the panel
3. Trivia question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Hru!

The following picture shows why the artist in question was suing George Lucas. Given this apparently pre-dates Star Wars: A New Hope, it would seem he may have had some justification!

4. The Holofeed
  • Patch 1.3.6 was deployed during the regular scheduled maintenance on Tuesday.
  • BioWare are considering adding rewards for those with a legacy level above 25.
  • In the future, the schematics for high-end items will only be obtainable via reverse engineering, rather than as schematic drops in operations.
  • It seems that an update to the Group Finder that returns players to the starting point upon completion of a Flashpoint is coming in the “near future”. Better than saying it’ll be in some future update!
5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @ForceChuckle, @bytorsnowdog (Snowy) and @thehatfield (Hatfield), and an email from Jason Incles.

6. Sarlacc Digest

We continue our series that provides hints and tips for the player who wants to get their daily Group Finder hard mode done in a hurry. This week we discuss Directive 7, a hard mode Flashpoint available to both factions.

Next week, another shared Flashpoint: The Battle of Ilum.

7. Outro

Thanks to Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

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! Subscribe to us on iTunes, and watch for us in your Bind on Equip feed.

Share