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

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This week Chill and Teo are joined by two newcomers to the podcast, Ripp and Gabe, to discuss the news and our experiences over the remainder of Early Game Access and the launch of the game.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

3. Trivia question

• This week’s challenge: What is the name of Jabba the Hutt’s monkey-lizard jester, who laughs a lot and gets zapped by R2?

4. The Holofeed

• The grace period ends. As well as a product registration/game code, a valid payment option and a subscription type must be specified; note that PayPal as well as a credit card can be used.
• The Taris bug is fixed!
• SWTOR is coming to Australia and New Zealand, with a tentative date of 1 March 2012. There will be local servers physically located in Australia. BioWare is considering some way to allow Australians currently playing on US servers to continue playing on the servers down under (player or even perhaps guild transfers?). Robes on Head will be staying on our west coast US server, Space Slug.
• James Ohlen (BioWare Game Director) is interviewed by IGN.

5. Force Feedback

• We discuss tweets from @lealaturkey, @sterlinglee38, @Buggerwow, @toliman and @BenC82.
• @Draezoth refers us to TORStatus.net, a site that gives an up-to-date indication of server populations.
• Wingy emails us to ask a couple of questions:
  • 1. Why SWTOR was released so close to Christmas? It seems to him that it’s a little inconvenient for those visiting family and going away on holidays. Or perhaps that makes it the perfect time? He also wondered whether the timing making it close to Blizzard’s release of WoW’s patch 4.3 was a coincidence.
  • 2. Server queues are terrible on the unofficial oceanic PvP server, The Swiftsure. Are there any other PvP servers specifically set aside for Aussies?

6. The Sarlacc Digest

• BioWare’s staggered launch of SWTOR: technically brilliant and yet socially awkward?
• Is SWTOR anti-social? It’s hard to quest while in vent, as the game really demands your attention, especially during cut-scenes.
• A few other tidbits:
  • Speeder prices
    • 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 cost is unknown, speeders are 55,000C
  • The pending quests button!
  • Faster to dismiss/resummon your companion if they need lots of healing

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.

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This week, Chill and Teo are joined by Oni and Zooe. The theme of this episode is to help prepare you for Early Game Access, which is only a few days away, starting on 13 December.

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

• Oni and Zooe describe their experience testing SWTOR, and reveal what they plan to play when Early Game Access begins

3. Trivia question

• Last week’s Star Wars terms: an elevator is a “turbolift”, a toilet is a “refresher” or “fresher”, and a clock is a “chrono”
• For this week, give the Star Wars terms for the following things: coffee, tabacco, handcuffs, flashlight/torch

4. The Holofeed

• Achievements are confirmed to be in at launch, though seems they’ll mainly be for substantial, non-trivial milestones
• The official forums are being wiped this weekend, with entirely new (and empty) forums appearing next week; you will require to have pre-ordered to post until launch, after which you’ll need an active subscription
• The option to match your armor’s colour to that of your chestpiece is definitely out for launch, but something even more awesome will eventually replace it a few months out
• Early Game Access will start on 13 Dec, 7 days before launch, a couple of days earlier than we’d previously been expecting

5. Force Feedback

• Check out @Toliman‘s incredible mosaics built using SWTOR screenshots, the latest zoomable version here
• Tweets from @VassiliOFP85, @Buggerwow, @toliman, @Rrubb, @grimrok, @Lexx_Sylveste, @DasDec, @lealaturkey, @StiffishCracker, @Rippthedeceiver, @wingthequick, @ozfin, @Draezoth
• @Rrubb recommends the Sith Assassin Darkness/Jedi Shadow Kinetic Combat Tank Compendium for those who want to learn how to tank as a Jedi Shadow or Sith Assassin

6. The Sarlacc Digest

• Early Game Access begins 7am Tue 13 Dec EST (noon GMT, Tue 11pm AEDT)
• Players will be brought in daily, based on when you registered your pre-order code
• An email will be sent on the day you’re getting in; no prior warning!
• Origin will email game codes for Digital Deluxe Edition and digital standard editions starting 16 Dec (will take up to 48 hours to get them all out)
• Origin will ship physical boxes starting 16 Dec, hoping to arrive by 20 Dec
• BioWare is working with other US and Canadian retailers to ensure that they have boxes for their customers by 20 Dec
• In the EU, the physical boxes go on sale on 15 Dec
• To continue playing after launch, you must enter a game code and have registered a payment method or entered a code from a game time card
• BioWare have confirmed there’s no grace period–your account is frozen from launch, up until you enter a game code
• Early Game Access ends 10pm Mon 19 Dec EST (Tue 5am GMT, Tue 4pm AEDT), two hours before launch
• Subscription costs are $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99) for 1 month, $13.99/month for 3 months ($41.97/£25.17/€35.97) and $12.99/month for 6 months ($77.94/£46.14/€65.94)
• You will be automatically directed to the server on which the guild you registered with (if any) has been allocated
• All guild members will be advised of their server’s name on Monday 12 Dec
• We gave an overview of the classes and their Advanced Classes; we’ll be going indepth in future episodes
• Plenty of handy tips for configuring your UI; for a comprehensive guide in addition to what we suggested, see SWTOR Life’s guides (part 1 and part 2)
• Make sure you log out in a cantina or your starship to build up rest XP while offline
• Remember that you can send your companions on missions and get them crafting while you’re doing other things (e.g., in a party doing a Flashpoint)
• You get a 35% out-of-combat speed boost at level 14, riding skill for 90% speeders at level 25 (costs ~45C) and riding skill for 100% speeders at level 40 (costs ~210C)
• To create a guild, you need four players in a party and 5000C
• Moddable items
  • The base stats on moddable items will scale with the level of the mod in a specific slot
  • Moddable items are orange (contrast with green, blue, purple)
  • Mods can be reused by removing them, but this costs credits to do
  • You can add and remove mods anywhere by right-clicking on the moddable item

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.

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In our second episode, Chill and Teo are joined once again by Hypknotoad and Skove. After briefly covering the latest SWTOR news–dominated by the imminent fourth and last Beta Testing Weekend–we spend the rest of the show answering listener questions. It’s clear there’s a lot of eager and curious people wanting to know more about this game!

1. Introduction

2. Question to the panel

• What are your plans for this big beta test weekend?

3. Trivia question

• What are the hyperspace coordinates for Coruscant?

4. The Holofeed

• Last Beta Testing Weekend over Thanksgiving
• Wave 1 starts Friday 10am CST (Sat 2am AEST, Fri 4pm GMT, Fri 8am PST)
• Wave 2 starts Saturday 10am CST (Sun 2am AEST, Sat 4pm GMT, Sat 8am PST)
• Finishes midnight on Monday CST (Tue 4pm AEST, Tue 6am GMT, Mon 10pm PST)
• Going to create Robes on Head guild on a test server, we’ll announce which one when we know what’s available; all welcome!
• James Ohlen reveals the Legacy System
• Pre-Launch Guild Program nearing end of last phase
• Phase 3: Deployment ends Friday midnight 2 December CST
• If you’d like to join us in our guild Robes on Head (PvE, west coast), log into your SWTOR.com account and nagivate to our guild page and click the [Apply to this guild] button

5. Force Feedback

• Email 1 from Bugger:
• “I’m curious if there will be player and/or guild housing in SWTOR.I’d never really been interested in player housing until LOTRO and now it’s a driving factor in the direction I take my characters when questing.”
• Email 2 from Wemb:
• “If the quests put you into a cutscene, how does that work on a pvp server?
  Doesn’t it make you a bit vulnerable for attack?”
• “In a Flashpoint, who makes the choice on how you respond to dialogue?”
• “Also in a Flashpoint, if one or two companions are used to cover empty
  player spots, how do you choose whose companion/s are used?”
• Email 3 from Wingy:
• “Even though i heard it on the podcast i am still unsure how to go about buying the game.
  I have looked at www.swtor.com and clicked on pre-order.
  I really want to get the digital deluxe edition.
  Is anyone buying the collectors edition?
  I cant click on the button cause im at work, but how much will it cost to buy the game (AUS $) ?
  Also how does that postal thing work?
  Whats the payment methods?
  Are all copies coming from America and being shipped out?
  So there will be no Aussie retailer selling them?“
• “Does that mean we will get a slower/lag response when playing the game due to servers being in America?”
• “How many planets are there?”
• “How many [characters] can you have going at one time (alts)?”

6. The Sarlacc Digest

• Should there be flying mounts in SWTOR?

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