OotiniCast – A Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) podcast

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This week Chill and Teo are once again joined by Oni and Hyp, to discuss the news, the community Q&A, and to talk about what there is to do at level 50.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

Here we see Hyp’s Scoundrel in all his massive glory. He has acquired the disturbing habit of surreptiously stripping down prior to entering a cut-scene when grouped with Teo. It is hard to convey just how much of a shock this was the first time it happened.

Hyp asks us to compare the loading screen for Belsavis with that used in World of Warcraft’s Razorfen Downs instance. He claims a striking similarity, and in examining the images closely, he may have a point!

3. Trivia question

• This week’s challenge: In wars, areas can be strategic because they are important in terms of their location or in terms of their resources. For what strategic reason are the Republic and the Empire fighting over Ilum?
• If you are interested in being entered in the random drawing for an in-game prize offered on Republic-side Space Slug, please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com

4. The Holofeed

• Patch 1.1.4 was deployed during Wednesday’s maintenance, and patch 1.1.5 has just appeared on the PTS.
• We discuss the community Q&A published on 17 Feb.
• More information about Game Update 1.2, coming in March:
• Apparent confirmation that we’ll be able to remove armoring mods from purple gear
• Differences in timing of abilities between classes will be evened out with modified animations
• Additional schematic drops for Artifice (and hopefully the other crafting professions!).
• Legacy name change is coming (eventually).
• In the case where both sides in the Void Star warzone are tied, the winnder is determined randomly for now, with a more sophisticated mechanism being implemented for Game Update 1.2.

5. Force Feedback

• We discuss tweets from @IzaacTheOrc, @bytorsnowdog (Snowy), @Vallant1985 (Val), @CG5wan (Nick Swanson), @toliman (Joli), @JohnBarlak, @Rrubb (Rub), @Rippthedeceiver, @PallySayce, @Paulk2225 (ShotgunBurger), @StiffishCracker and @thehatfield.
• @IzaacTheOrc pointed us to J!NX (purveyors of fine WoW shirts) have expanded their range to include SWTOR merchandise. Looks good!
• @IzaacTheOrc also referred us to a list of useful SWTOR tips, which we’ll go over next week, adding our own to the mix.
• Joli’s is managing a thread on the official forums that collates a long list of suggested GTN improvements. Why not add your own?
• You can try out the beta version of Ask Mr. Robot’s SWTOR gear tool here.

6. The Sarlacc Digest

• What do I do at level 50?
• Finish your class story if you haven’t already; this will provide two breadcrumb quests that will send you to Ilum and Belsavis.
• Each of those quests starts a chain that will unlock a number of daily quests.
• There are 5 solo daily quests on Ilum, each awarding 1 Daily Commendation and 10762 credits. Doing them all takes 25-30 minutes.
• There is also a heroic 2+ on Ilum, the reward for which is 3 Daily Commendations, and Enhancement 22 and ~16K credits.
• There are 8 solo daily quests on Belsavis, each awarding 1 Daily Commendation and 7175 credits. Doing them all takes 45-60 minutes.
• There is a heroic 2+ and two heroic 4s on Belsavis, which each award 3 Daily Commendations, a Mod 22 and ~16K credits.
• The two Mission Support Vendors on Ilum will sell you:
• Armoring 23, Barrell 23 and Hilt 23 mods for 8 Daily Commendations each
• Rakata earpieces and implants for 120 Daily Commendations each
• The level 50 gear comes in three tiers:
• Tionese/Xenotech/Energized (rating 126)
• Columi/Exotech (rating 136)
• Rakata (rating 140)
• Each class has a Tioese, Columi and Rakata vendor in the Supplies quadran of the fleet.
• There is a daily quest to complete one hard mode Flashpoint.
• The weekly quests include:
• Complete all four level 50 Flashpoints on normal (Directive 7, The Battle of Ilum, The False Emperor, Kaon Under Siege)
• Complete any three hard mode Flashpoints
• The following hard mode Flashpoints are available:
• The Esseles
• Taral V
• Maelstrom Prison
• Directive 7
• The Battle of Ilum
• The False Emperor
• Kaon Under Siege

7. Outro

Thanks to Oni (@Freakin_Ninja) and 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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Chill and Teo are joined by Neth and Rub to discuss the latest news, go over the feedback from the slicing debate held in our previous episode, and then to talk about what one does at level 50.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

• This week’s challenge: A ship says something about the person who owns it. What are the names of these three ships: 1) Boba Fett’s ship, 2) Darth Vader’s Super Star Destroyer, 3) Lando Calrissian’s pleasure yacht. The last is the hardest, but does appear multiple times in the expanded universe of Star Wars. If you can’t come up with the Lando Calrissian one, we will accept a humorous answer instead.
• If you are interested in being entered in the random drawing for an in-game prize offered on Republic-side Space Slug, please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com

4. The Holofeed

• Patch 1.0.2d went live during this week’s maintenance which was delayed until Thursday
• Game Update 1.1 “Rise of the Rakghouls” will go live this coming Tuesday 17 January. You can find all the details in the patch notes (original post and a subsequent post with additional changes).
• Game Update 1.1 will include a new level 50 flashpoint, “Kaon under Siege”. You can see its trailer on the SWTOR site or YouTube.
• Stephen Reid explains why only low and medium resolution textures are available during normal gameplay, with the high resolution textures only being used in cut-scenes.
• It turns out that the final mission in the Jedi Knight’s class story really was too hard to solo, and BioWare is going to fix it.
• Georg Zoeller confirms that the cover mechanic is indeed meant to prevent Jedi Knights and Sith Warriors from leaping on them.
• BioWare is going all the way with gear customisation, removing the limitations on the modability of operation-level gear, and allowing the stats to be pulled from that gear (including set bonuses) to be used in your existing orange items.
• Damion Schubert reveals that the equivalent of World of Warcraft’s Dungeon Finder is coming eventually, but at least for now the team is philosophically against ever making it cross-server.

5. Force Feedback

• We discuss tweets from @toliman (Joli), @DasDec (Skove), @DarthBaelok, @CarlosAlejandre, @Continuumm_PoH and @cypher_x.
• Thanks for the kind words from @MainGaming1, @DarthGally and @SumDuud.
• We go over emails from Snowy, the Grey Gamer, Hrugaar, Kono of Keller’s Void and Grant Hennig (Agitarsi), who all comment on the slicing debate which featured our good friend, Oni.
• Damion Schubert provides BioWare’s reasoning behind the slicing nerf.

6. The Sarlacc Digest

• Chill has just reached level 50, and so we discuss just what there is to do once you get there. This mainly involves going over the daily missions that become available on Ilum and Belsavis. We also discuss open world PvP and its current state which is clearly not what BioWare intended. BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo provides a view on how it ended up as it is, and how it’s being fixed in the imminent Game Update 1.1 in an interview with Massively.
• A few extras:
• The hanger doors on the main level in the Fleet lead down to the hangar deck, which is actually a big ring road—if you take the wrong door, you can ride around to your hangar without having to go back up.
• Any lift in the Fleet can be used while mounted on your speeder (no need to dismount when moving between levels).
• While there are no Quesh commendation vendors on the Fleet, they can be found on Quesh itself, close to the shuttle debarkation point on the planet’s surface.
• There’s a little padlock icon to the right of the player portrait which can be used to lock and unlock your ability bars.
• If you are using Windows 7 and use Ventrilo, be sure to run your Ventrilo client as the Adminstrator to ensure your push-to-talk button still works while playing SWTOR.

7. Outro

Thanks to Neth (@Nethwench) and Rub (@Rrubb) 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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Chill and Teo are joined by two returning guests, Neth and Skove, to discuss the news and go into some depth on the subject of PvP in SWTOR.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

• This week’s challenge: In “A New Hope,” Mark Hamill played a young, fresh-faced farmboy. In “Empire,” filmed just three years later, he looks very different. This was not the effects of aging three years, nor was it a director’s choice. What happened at the end of the filming of “A New Hope” that changed the face of Luke Skywalker?

4. The Holofeed

• SWTOR’s regular maintenance window will be on Tuesdays 4-10am CST (9pm-3am AEDT, 10am-4pm GMT), commencing 27 Dec
• Players who are disconnected while in the queue to join a server now retain their position upon logging back in within a reasonable amount of time.
• James Ohlen provides a sneak peak into how content will be introduced post-launch
• Best Buy sponsored a live chat with BioWare developers
• BioWare’s Your Saga Begins launch documentary
• Georg Zoeller explains about orange/moddable items, and also gives some helpful advice for handling tougher encounters
• Alexander Freed tells us that BioWare are doing all they can to ensure continuity in the game’s voice work
• Dr Greg Zeschuk’s launch beard and SWTOR tattoo:

5. Force Feedback

• We discuss tweets from @Grizzlebeee, @Nethwench and @sterlinglee38.
• @Draezoth asks about the different categories of yields from crew skill missions.
• Wingy emails us with a cautionary tale about setting up and remembering your five security questions to protect your account.

6. The Sarlacc Digest

• PvP in SWTOR, including discussion of the three warzones (Huttball, the Void Star and Alderaan), open world PvP, how bolstering works and an introduction to purchasing PvP gear
• A few other tidbits:
  • Speeder prices (updated from last week)
    • Level 1 (90%, level 25): training is 40,000C, speeders are 8000C
    • Level 2 (100%, level 40): training is 210,000C, speeders are 25,000C
    • Level 3 (110%, level 50): training is 330,000C, speeders are 55,000C
  • What to do with leftover planetary commendations
  • The only way to remove a security key from your SWTOR account is to contact customer service by phone
  • Shift-right-click AND DRAG on a stack to split it. This is also how you buy in bulk from vendors
  • Space missions cut you off from chat and do take a while; may be a good idea to announce when you are going to start your space missions, especially if you like to chain them, as Chill does.

7. Outro

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.