SW:TOR patch 1.3 preview video!!!

Ok, so we just recently got a new 1.3 update video and I must say I am looking forward to this added stuff. Game Director James Ohlen shows off the group finder and more upcoming content in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Though BioWare is working on new content for missions pertaining to campanions, planetary and character storyline, it simply won’t be ready until 1.4. You WILL however be getting the ability to transfer between servers, as well as more gear customization and crafting and....well.....just watch the video and find out, lol.

After all, who doesn't wanna run in to battle in a bikini? rofl! But seriously, with all the ways to make this game truly your own, they have made it more and more appealing to a wide range of players without "dumbing down" the game.

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Augment system and David Hunt

BioWares David Hunt gave us more information on the augment system changes coming in 1.3 on the forums over the weekend and added a touch more this morning. This should start to give everyone a fair idea of what to expect when 1.3 drops.


On May 18th

David Hunt
For Game Update 1.3, augment kit creation is limited to the classes that can currently make augments. This is necessary for the introduction of the system; it allows us to distribute the components at a steady rate, because each augmentable item you RE results in a portion of the augment slot. The items created by the other crew skills don't fit in with this progression as cleanly - if we decide to allow Artifice or Cybertech to acquire the kits through their commonly created items, under our current systems they would produce kits substantially faster than the other skills. It is safer to open augment kits to a limited set of crew skills.
Augment tables are an important part of the plan for crafting and items in general, and we're committed to continually integrating re-evaluating the feature and integrating it into future. Our intent is to provide a system that utilizes crafting to give all gear the same statistical potential while we monitor economic data and gather player feedback to determine what other changes or additions to make. Adding augment kits to additional crew skills is on the list of possibilities, but it is by no means guaranteed. We're working on other updates to how some of the systems work - both internally and externally - that may improve the viability of including augment kits in other skills without creating a substantial imbalance. Along with the economic data and feedback, that will determine whether augment kits expand to other crew skills.
Long term, we have economic plans that involve continually refreshing crew skills with new content. Since we are early in those stages, every time we make an update it will make the most recently changed crew skills seem superior. If we included major additions for every crew skill each update at our current pace, it would likely create a result that is incomplete and devalues the system as a whole. As each crew skill gets a wider range of viable items/services, the impact of an individual addition should decrease, and we'll see a smoother cadence between the crew skills.

On May 21st

David Hunt
New endgame tier content. I can't give you exact specifics as it's not defined yet. However, it's probably safe to say that by the time you're one or two sets past Campaign and we release a new set, the content for the new set will expect your Campaign +1/+2 gear to be augmented.
Anything that could crit craft and get an augment. So you can't get the component from a stim or a mod.

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New SW:TOR book coming soon!

Author and former BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn has given us some details about his newest book, Annihilation, which should hit shelves November 13th. Should be very exciting!

Drew Karpyshyn
Now, let’s talk Annihilation. This is my fifth Star Wars novel, and my second Old Republic novel. The book comes out on November 13. Here’s the official summary:
Republic agent Theron Shan and his Twi’lek compadre, Teff’ith must contend with a Sith Empire counter-attack against the Republic, spearheaded by the lethal apprentice of Darth Malgus. Satele Shan and Jace Malcom co-star in what will be a fast-paced and tension-fraught tale based on the award-winning video game from BioWare and LucasArts.
It’s a bit vague, but that’s the problem when you try to stay spoiler free. But I think I can add a bit more without ruining anything. It’s a stand alone story – it has no connection to Revan, and it doesn’t tie in directly with any of the storylines from the SWTOR video game, though it is set in that era. It actually takes place just after the events of the game, and the novel will reflect the Empire and the Republic as they stand at the end of the game’s storylines. (I won’t say anymore to avoid spoiling people who play the game but aren’t finished.)
The game features Theron Shan, a character who first appeared in the Lost Suns Dark Horse graphic novels, written by Alex Freed – my former co-worker at BioWare and the lead writer for SWTOR.
Annihilation is a little different than my other Star Wars books. The Bane trilogy focused on Darth Bane, one of the most powerful Sith Lords who ever lived. Revan obviously focused on Revan, another incredibly powerful Force user. Annihilation is different, because the main character is not a Jedi or Sith. Theron Shan, despite being a descendant of Revan and Bastila, isn’t Force sensitive. That makes for a very different type of novel, and a very different type of main character.
That doesn’t make Theron any less interesting, of course. My personal favorite character in the original trilogy is Han Solo, and I think he’s a good example of how you can be a hero and change the galaxy even if you can’t call on the Force at will.
That’s not to say Theron is an “ordinary” guy: he’s a highly trained field agent working for Republic Strategic Information Services. He has a number of cybernetic implants, along with a host of customized weapons and gadgets, and he’s supplemented his SIS training with his own ecclectic and esoteric studies. Sort of like Batman. Or Jason Bourne. Or James Bond. But in Star Wars.
So let’s call Annihiliaton an action-spy-thriller-sci-fi-epic set in the Star Wars universe. If that doesn’t make you want to buy it, nothing will.
Okay, that’s all for this update. Hopefully by my next update we’ll have a cover and maybe some more interesting news about Annihilation.

For more details, head on over this his website.

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Marching your way with your Trooper. pt1

We're given you a guild for leveling a Sith Warrior and a Bounty Hunter, our next installment of helping you level up a character will be the Republic Trooper. This first section will cover lvl1-10 and get you on your way to really enjoying this ranged class. We will give you the best information obtained through trial and error and when done, you should have a fully fledged badass on your hands.

• Level 1

1. First and foremost, remember to keep yourself buffed. Its easy to forget when you start up a new character.
2. Explosive Round is going to be your biggest attack from the start, so make sure you lead with it every time.
3. You rotation is going to be very simple at this point for obvious reasons. Just switch back and forth from Explosive Round to Hammer Shots and run through that rotation until everything is dead, lol.

• Level 2

1. You will learn Stock Strike from your trainer at this point. Its your first melee attack and from my experience, you will rarely use this.

• Level 3

1. Head back to your trainer and learn Full Auto. This is a great ranged or close range (melee range) attack. Just remember that it is a channeled attack so you will have to stay put for this. You might take a little damage while using it if you get rushed, but don't worry, at this point, you can survive pretty much anything.

• Level 4

1. Ok, again, head for your trainer and learn Plasma Cell, this will give your an extra damage buff and well, that is always good.

• Level 5

1. Ok, back to the trainer and learn yourself some Sticky Grenade. This is a great lead in for groups since you toss it a the center mob and after 3 seconds, it explodes and does damage to up to 3 targets and knocks them back.
2. So at this point, your rotation should now be Sticky Grenade, Full Auto, Explosive Round, Hammer Shots, rinse, repeat.

• Level 6

1. High Impact Shot is the next thing you will learn from your trainer at this level. It is a nice ranged attack that can only be used on targets that are incapacitated or receiving periodic damage. Just toss this in to your rotation whenever the opportunity comes up.

• Level 7

1. Guess what......head back to your trainer......psych. Just keep up the good work and knock out those missions.

• Level 8

1. Ok, this time you will really have to head to your trainer and learn Pulse Cannon. This is a nice melee range attack that will hit everything in a 10 meter frontal cone of attack.
2. You should add this either before or after Sticky Grenade since this is a really nice attack.

• Level 9

1. Yep, you guessed it, back tot he trainer. This time to learn Tenacity. This will let you get out of incapacitating or trapping effects. Great for PvP that you will be able to start soon.

• Level 10

1. Last time for this guild....back tot he trainer to learn Mortar Volley. Like in most MMOs, this volley is a very nice AoE attack.
2. This would be great used just after Sticky Grenade as anything that Mortar Volley doesn't kill, Sticky Grenade will finish off.

WOOHOO!!! You're level 10!!!

Now remember, this one was a bit short and skeletal looking, but getting from lvl1 to lvl10 is pretty easy on its own.

Next time, we'll go over advanced classes and take you from lvl10 to lvl20.  Good luck out there and may the force be with you!

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Standardized Questing (Levels 16-20)

Standardized Questing (Levels 16-20)

Things got interesting at level 16 because my trainer gave me Healing scan. Woot! 

Three healing spells….what?!

Now I have a rotation….kind of.

I activate Combat support cylinder   (Bam!)
Then I use Rapid Shots.   (pew  pew  pew, it’s friendly fire!)
Shoot with rapid shots until it stacks to 30.
(Every click of Rapid Shots gives you 3 stacks. Press it 10 times & you will have 30 stacks.)

It's Math!

Then press Supercharges Gas. This will increase your healing by 10% AND reduce your Healing Scan cool down by 100% (You still have to abide by the global cool down.)

That is a 12 second cool down that is GONE but this event only lasts 10 seconds so spam spam spam those heals & get everyone’s health caught up.

Once the 10 seconds are up you start back up with the Rapid Shots to build back up to 30 again. If you know a big pull or a big fight is coming up, don’t be afraid to let that 30 stack sit there. It has a 60 second countdown until it disappears.


You can shot an ally to keep it stacked if you have to wait or stop and cast some larger heals. The stack won’t disappear on you until it counts down to 0.

At level 20 I got Kolto Missile through the talent tree. Here is what my tree looks like.

Kolto Missile (talent tree, min level 20)

Heals up to 3 allies within 8 meters of the targeted area for  478 - 542  health.

Heat: 16

Cast: Instant

You get your ship around level 18. With it come another companion, 2V-R8. 

Congratulations! It's a droid.

He's kind of a bonehead, his shooting skills are a bit...we'll let's say he trained at the Stormtrooper Academy.  I leave him on the ship & send him out on crew skill missions. Mako is still my main BFF,. (Best Fighting Friend)




Summary:

Shooting your friend with healing bullets is awesome
Got a new heal Kolto  Missile, it's an AoE heal
2V-R8 becomes your new servant
placed 2 talent points in Critical Reaction
Placed 2 talent points in Empowered Scan
Placed 1 talent point in Kolto Missile
You got your ship, it's pretty neat.

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May 15th Maintenance time!

Once again, it is maintenance time for SW:TOR. With the stuff that seems to have popping up lately as little "glitches", I would expect some sort of download when the servers come back up.

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for four hours on Tuesday, May 15th , 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 6AM CDT (4AM PDT/7AM EDT/12PM BST/1PM CEST/9PM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended.
This weekly maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Scheduled Maintenance
Date: Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
Time: 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 6AM CDT (4AM PDT/7AM EDT/12PM BST/1PM CEST/9PM AEST).

All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours.
Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.
Joveth Gonzalez | Associate Online Community Manager

For the officially post, feel free to click here.

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