After the flood of info from San Diego Comic Con came in I decided to have some fun with it and ponder just what was my top ten info releases for me personally.  I start with number ten and work my way to the one I felt to be personally the coolest.  I wonder if your interests are similar to mine, or if you have even seen all this stuff yet?

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Darth Malgus Statue at Bioware Base

 
I wanted to give you an overview of news that have come out of this year’s San Diego Comic Con and SWTOR’s presence at the event. As all of you probably know Bioware held a panel dedicated to The Old Republic on the first day of ComicCon and there is also a Bioware Base setup in a hotel near by the convention center where many fans are able to get their hands on the game and experience other games Bioware has to offer. I would like to suggest that you closely monitor www.torwars.com and www.darthhater.com because they are the only fansites reporting live from the event and they have the most up-to-date news available. Here’s a summary of things we’ve learned so far.
 

July 21st – midnight PDT – Pre-Order launch

Official SWTOR site had a pre-order page made available with all the details on how to obtain a copy of digital standard or collector’s editions of the game or standard and CE boxed version. A number of well known MMORPG sites have had an advertising campaign for the pre-orders launched at the same time.
 

July 21st – San Diego Comic Con Bioware and LucasArts panel

• For the first time the opening crawl for one of the classes (Sith Warrior) was shown to the general public. (absolutely epic – watch in Part 1 video from TorWars here)
• No duplicate missions in class stories
• Jedi consular companion Nadia revealed for the first time (she is romancable)
• Higher level vehicles shown looking much better than segways
• There will be 19 major worlds (that means we should expect two more planets revealed?)
• You can customize companion characters, from clothing, weapons, and even their skin color, hair color and facial features
• They are testing adding tactics options to companions (like the AI system seen in Dragon Age)
• 900 voice actors have been working on the game across all languages
• There will be bonuses for people that reroll that they will talk about later (it is assumed that this is the rumored Legacy system and that you will get additional customization and race options if you have a level 50 character and roll a new character)
• Hyperspace travel between planets will take seconds (there was an idea it should take minutes, but dismissed after testing)
• It would take ~30 minutes to run across Tatooine
• Beta testing weekends start September and “huge” numbers of people will be able to join
• Stephen Reid put his Conductor’s hat on and said the following
• Release date window is now moved from second half of 2011 to Holiday 2011
• All participants of the panel got pre-order codes that will give them early access. They will still have to purchase the game tho.

General things learned from Q&A sessions and interviews

• By all accounts you will be able to respec your advanced class at some point in the game. First respec will be “easy”, but after that it will be very difficult to respec advanced class
• The boxed collector edition owners will have access to a VIP area that will hold the special CE vendor that will sell items for in-game credits. These items will have different looks than similarly powered items you can get in the game as drops or rewards.
• pre-order Color Stone should be yellow colored (yellow core with a blck glow?)
• shards (instanced versions of a certain area where two people would be standing in the same place yet be on a different “shard”) is available as a technology and they will reluctantly use it if they need to help initial launch.
• Swtor works very well on MACs with bootcamp
• Companioncan not die anymore, unlike what we heard before. “…don’t want players to lose companions and have them gone forever.

 
This compilation of information was done thanks to articles and live blogs by Newsarama and TorWars.
 

I am not sure how this skipped everyone’s radar, but this last Friday update, entitled “The Old Republic at Comic-Con“, said that there will be some sort of announcements at the show. Here’s the exact quote:

This year is looking to be another big year for the event and both BioWare and LucasArts will be there to make some announcements about Star Wars™: The Old Republic™

It might be that people have grown tired of catching every little glimpse of what might possibly turn into big news, but I am still a sucker for hype and I will take this bait with open arms and share a few of my thoughts on what these announcements might be.
read more of my SWTOR geek out

We’ve mentioned a few days back that The Old Republic will have a strong presence at this year’s Comic Con and that there will be an off site Bioware station, in a hotel near by, where people will be able to get their hands on all sorts of games, including TOR. David Bas,, Community manager for SWTOR, also started organizing a special event for all those interested in visiting the BioWare Base at the Hilton Gaslamp. It is a special, prolonged gameplay session where you will be able to try out one of the starter flashpoints, Black Talon for the Empire classes or Esseles for the Republic. There is a limited number of seats available for these sessions on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night (July 21-23). If you want to take part in one of these you will need to RSVP for a chance to play. To participate the following needs to happen:

Photo ID will be required for entry. Please note that incomplete RSVP emails WILL NOT be considered for invites. We cannot guarantee your first choice of play time or Flashpoint.
Gather the following information:
– Full name (as shown on your ID)
– Preferred Night: Thursday, Friday, or Saturday
– Preferred Time: 7PM or 8PM
– Preferred Flashpoint: Esseles (Republic) or Black Talon (Empire)
Email all of the above info to events@swtor.com with the subject line: “RSVP for Flashpoint Gameplay at Comic-Con” by 10AM CST on Wednesday, July 13th.

Please note that anyone who wishes to play must send their own RSVP, and invites are non-transferable. Feel free to ask any questions you have below, but do NOT RSVP in this thread!

You can read more about the whole thing in the initial forum post David made and the followup instructional post.
 
The most interesting thing I find about this is that people will be able to get their hands on the Esseles flashpoint for the first time. I’d really like to hear impressions on that, so if any of you are intending to go we will more than gladly publish your impressions article on SWTOR Life.

The title of the article is actually the title of the panel that will be held at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego from 3:30 to 4:30 on July 21. The panel is hosted by BioWare and LucasArts and it is dedicated to talking about Star Wars: The Old Republic. There will be several other Star Wars panels at the show, but this one is the most important one for SWTOR fans. The title is so filled with underlying meanings that I just don’t know whether to get really excited about it or just chill so I don’t get disappointed like with some other, previously held, big conventions. You can read the full announcement at the San Diego Comic Con official site and here’s the announcement of the SWTOR panel:

Star Wars: The Old Republic : Join Us, It Is Your Destiny— BioWare and LucasArts are creating the most immersive MMO experience you’ve ever played with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Hear from BioWare developers as they discuss development of a story-driven MMO, debut new gameplay footage, and perhaps spring a few surprises along the way. Exclusive reveals, giveaways, guests, and Q&A! Room 6BCF

For good measure here’s the Facebook image of the week that was released yesterday.

Click image for full size

San Diego Comic Con is one of those big events on the calendar of any person that loves gaming, comics and SCI-FI stuff. Intersecting with all of these categories, Star Wars The old Republic will have a big presence at the show this year. Beside having a booth on the show floor (and probably a panel like last year) there is going to be a big hands-on gaming area available at a hotel next to the convention, so a lot more people will be able to get their hands on the game without the need to queue for hours. Click here to read full news