OotiniCast Episode 46

Posted on by September 28, 2012
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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.

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OotiniCast Episode 45

Posted on by September 20, 2012
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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.

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OotiniCast Episode 44

Posted on by September 15, 2012
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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.

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OotiniCast Episode 43

Posted on by September 8, 2012
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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.

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OotiniCast Episode 42

Posted on by September 1, 2012
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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.

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OotiniCast Episode 41

Posted on by August 30, 2012
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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.

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OotiniCast Episode 40

Posted on by August 16, 2012
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Chill, Teo and Hyp go over the latest news, including the announcement of when we can include the next operation, and our experiences with the second world event, the Grand Acquisitions Race! We also have the second hard mode guide for the level 50 in a hurry, covering Maelstrom Prison.

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

What rocker, famous both as a solo artist and band member, who became famous in the 1960s and is still performing today, sued Lucas because of something he had on his stage and one of his tour movie posters that he felt looked too close to a Star Wars race? Most people who see the movie assume that Star Wars came first, presumably because ‘Star Wars’ was released before the tour movie.

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 1.3.5a was deployed during an short unscheduled maintenance on Thursday.
  • The second world event, the Grand Acquisitions Race, is now live! It will continue until Tuesday 2am CDT. Pictured below is the Lobelot pet, which can be purchased using the event currency, or looted from the Smuggler’s Crates located all over Nar Shaddaa.

  • If you want to use a guide to help find some of the items in particularly obscure locations, we recommend Dulfy’s.
  • SWTOR had its own short segment during the EA press conference preceding GamesCon, featuring Matthew Bromberg (BioWare Austin’s General Manager). You can watch it on YouTube (clip will start with the SWTOR presentation).
  • The rumour that Dr Greg Zeschuk, one of the founders of BioWare, had left was unfounded; the truth was that after handing the reins of BioWare Austin to its new General Manager in May, Matthew Bromberg, he returned to BioWare Edmonton. His role as GM of BioWare Austin was always intended to be temporary, as his family had remained in Canada.
  • The last weekly Q&A is on the subject of the free-to-play change coming in November.
  • Speeders will be enabled while doing The Esseles Republic-only Flashpoint, to bring it into parity with the Black Talon, the equivalent Flashpoint on the Empire side.
  • Nightmare mode for Explosive Conflict is still coming! Our speculation is that’ll arrive along with the new operation, Terror from Beyond, in September.
  • Whatever incredible changes are coming to the space game are still on track! No ETA, but they’re still working on them. In the short term, we will have new level 50 space missions to keep us busy.
  • As of now, the Group Finder remains broken—in that you don’t get your 5 Black Hole Commendations upon completion—for pre-made groups of 4.
  • The cost to extract mods is going to be reduced… sometime soon.
  • For all you raid leaders out there, a readycheck feature is coming!
5. Force Feedback
  • We discuss tweets from @SithLordKorv, @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @ForceChuckle, @BigDamn_Heroes (Dan), @IRBountyHunter (Arron Thornton), @terrencemyers, @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @Dimbo56 and @Rrubb.
  • Daryl emails in to provide a detailed overview of what is sold in Turbine’s DDO’s in-game cash shop, giving some insight into the kind of items that BioWare might put in its own store when SWTOR goes free-to-play in November.
  • In a comment on episode 39, Steve lets us know that passing bound mods between one’s alts is not possible if using bind-on-equip orange gear, but can be done with bind-to-legacy items.
6. Force Feedback

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 venture into another Republic-only Flashpoint, Maelstrom Prison.

Coming up next week, a Flashpoint shared by both factions: Directive 7.

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.

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OotiniCast Episode 39

Posted on by August 10, 2012
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Hyp joins Chill and Teo to discuss the latest news, including the sudden flurry of activity on the official forums. Our discussion this week is the first of our hard mode guides for the level 50 in a hurry, covering Taral V.

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

Congratulations to the winner, Gary Foster!

4. The Holofeed
  • Patch 1.3.5 was deployed during an extended (6 hour) maintenance on Tuesday.
  • Unfortunately the patch introduced at least two issues, one preventing the third encounter in the Explosive Conflict op from being completed, the other affecting pre-made groups using the Group Finder, occasionally preventing anyone from receiving their 5 Black Hole Commendations.
  • Every character on a destination server should have received their reward for transferring (or for being on the destination server to start with!). Make sure to check your mail on all your toons! Note that the box containing the rewards requires at least level 20 to open—pre-20 toons received the box, they just have to bank it until they hit level 20.


  • SWTOR will be at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany. The convention runs from Thursday 16th August through to Sunday 19th. There will also be some SWTOR news during the EA Press Conference being held before the convention kicks off on Tuesday 14th August.
  • Joveth Gonzalez, SWTOR’s community manager, provides an update on the (once again) revamped community team. He confirms that James Ohlen and Daniel Erickson, who’ve been very quiet of late, are indeed still working on SWTOR.
  • Allison Berryman indicates that an effort is being made to improve the tone of the official forums, reducing the tolerance of negativity and uncivil behaviour.
  • Hall Hood, Lead Writer for SWTOR, was interviewed on episode 43 of Bombad Radio (Facebook, iTunes), the official podcast for TGC (The Gungan Council), a Star Wars RP forum community. Well worth listening to!
  • Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities was characterised by GamesIndustry International as being “incorrigibly positive” about the future success of SWTOR now that it’s embraced the free-to-play model.
5. Force Feedback
  • Hru emails us to ask about whether it’ll be possible to earn Cartel Coins in-game, in addition to purchasing them in bundles for real money and subscribers receiving them as a monthly stipend. He also speculates that the travel restrictions placed on free players may include requiring that speeder piloting be unlocked with Cartel Coins.
6. Force Feedback

In this first of our series that provides hints and tips for the player who wants to get their daily Group Finder hard mode done in a hurry, we discuss Taral V.

Assuming the format is deemed acceptable by our listeners, we’ll be covering Maelstrom Prison next week!

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.

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OotiniCast Episode 38

Posted on by August 2, 2012
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Chill, Teo and Hyp discuss all we know about SWTOR’s upcoming conversion to free-to-play, coming in November.

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

We’re extending last week’s challenge, with an extra hint: one word which may make this a lot more solvable! This is a ‘who am I’ question—I will describe someone, and you say who I am. I am in two Star Wars movies. I play a leader of some kind in one movie, and that leader’s underling in the other. I am uncredited for both roles. My character dies onscreen both times. Who am I? (If you don’t know the name of the actor, naming both roles will suffice.)

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
5. Sarlacc Digest


SWTOR is going free-to-play in November. You can find out more at www.swtor.com/free. BioWare have also provided a FAQ and a chart comparing subscription versus free-to-play features.

A press release announcing the change was provided just prior to the Electronic Arts Q1 2013 Earnings Conference Call.

Jeff Hickman, the new Executive Producer for SWTOR (previously Executive Producer – Live Services, apparently replacing Rich Vogel) provided a blog post, Announcing a Free-to-Play Option. Jeff and the recently appointed General Manager for the BioWare Austin studio, Matthew Bromberg, were also interviewed by MMORPG.com (Star Wars: The Old Republic Interviews: Free to Play This Fall).

6. Force Feedback
  • We discuss tweets from @tshapedvisor, @Dimbo56, @IRBountyHunter, @ForceChuckle and @IzaakTheMad.
  • @toliman (Joli) suggests the program described in this forum post that makes use of a RAMDisk to boost SWTOR performance.
  • @JediAio recommends a forum post describing what endgame items can be reverse engineered.
  • Hru emails in with some hints on the best place to farm Ice Scrabbler Livers.
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.

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OotiniCast Episode 37

Posted on by July 26, 2012
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After covering the latest patch and a couple of Q&As, Chill, Teo and Hyp discuss operations, going over interviews with Jesse Sky, Lead Operations and Flashpoints Designer.

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

This week’s challenge: This is a ‘who am I’ question—I will describe someone, and you say who I am. I am in two Star Wars movies. I play a leader of some kind in one movie, and that leader’s underling in the other. I am uncredited for both roles. My character dies both times. Who am I? (If you don’t know the name of the actor, naming both roles will suffice.)

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
5. Force Feedback
  • We discuss tweets from @ForceChuckle, @Dimbo56 and @BytorSnowdog (Snowy).
  • Snowy passed on some funny Star Wars-related pics, reproduced below for your amusement:



  • Snowy also suggests that Teo should create a toon called Inara to do the selling on his ship. As our guildmate Aio will be doing the selling (as he already owns the ship droid). we’ll pass on the suggestion to him.

  • Hru emails us with a question about where to get the mod and enhancement mods (purple 22s). He also has some great advice about how crafting can help gearing up for endgame.
  • Ken Kitzman left a comment on our previous episode, suggesting the following rank names for our guild, Ootini Knights:
    • Jabber
    • Brown Robes
    • Scavenger
    • SaleJawa
    • Ringleader
6. Sarlacc Digest

We talk operations, examining answers from BioWare’s Jesse Sky (Lead Flashpoints and Operations designer) in an interview (“Operations, the Sky’s the limit”) conducted by the Methodical guild on The Bastion (US West PvP server).

Jesse also appeared on the Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Podcast Episode II, along with George Smith, a Senior Designer from Jesse’s team. They provide yet more information about operation design, and what to expect in the future.

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.

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