It is no secret that BioWare has had one of the most successful MMO launches of all time and they want to thank the players for helping to make this happen.

Players who have either been billed for an active subscription or redeemed a Pre-Paid Game Time Code by March 19^th will have a shinny new title and medal to show for it. Players will be notified by e-mail if they met the requirements and will receive an in-game mail with the medal attached. Upon adding the medal to their inventory they will unlock the “Founder” title for their character. This title is permanently bound to the player’s account and will be available to all the characters ever made on the account.

As stated above the offer will expire on the 19^th of March, so if you want the title make sure you have a paid and active subscription by then.

Players just can’t stop finding ways to exploit on Ilum despite the changes made with BioWare’s first big game update. Luckily BioWare’s PvP man, Gabe Amatangelo, hopped on the forums to give everyone the rundown on the issue at hand.

It seems that players would capture the control points and then camp in the opposing faction’s medcenters in order to keep enemies from leaving their base in order to recapture control points. The original game design had enemy players instantly dying when they entered the enemy’s base, much like in warzones, but this feature was not working properly after the 1.1 update. Bioware is pushing out an Emergency Patch to fix this issue and is scheduled to begin at 8AM CST (6AM PST/ 9AM EST/ 2PM GMT/ 3PM CET) on 1/19 and end at 12PM (noon) CST (10AM PST/ 1PM EST/ 6PM GMT/ 7PM CET). Until then the population cap on Ilum has been reduced,  taxis that lead into the area have been disabled, and the developers are encouraging players to avoid Ilum until the patch is released.

Associate Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez also made it clear that BioWare was well aware of the individuals who to advantage of this exploit and will be evaluating the situation and taking action as necessary. We will be keeping an eye on this situation as it develops and will bring you any updates as they unfold.

UPDATE: This maintenance period is now scheduled to begin at approximately 9:30AM CST (7:30AM PST/ 10:30AM EST/ 3:30PM GMT/ 4:30PM CET) on 1/19 and end at 1:30PM CST (11:30AM PST/ 3:30PM EST/ 7:30PM GMT/ 8:30PM CET).

Tags: Ilum, open world pvp

I can mount a gun to shoot Zombies!

Today we saw the something that marks a milestone for SWTOR, Bioware released what they are touting as the first major game content update 1.1  which comes in at just over 200mb and adds a new flashpoint named “Kaon Under Siege” triples the size of the “Karaggas Palace” operation,  and a slew of other features and game fixes.  One of the major things this game content update does however is that it introduces new lore with that flashpoint and creatures (rakghouls) content to the game world and for a MMO that is technically a couple of days under a month after launch that sets a precedent that I hope they plan on continuing.

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Tags: content update patch 1.1, kaon under siege, MMO, rise of the rakghouls, star wars mmo, swtor

After being delayed for a day to finish working out some bugs SWTOR’s forsi content patch, Rise of the Rakghouls, is up and ready for everyone to dive into. Big updates include a brand new flashpoint, “Kaon Under Siege”, as well as expanded content for the Karagga’s Palace Operation. The new operation content promises new bosses, new loot, and a chance to confront the Hutt himself. The patch also includes a slew of bug fixes to help make the game even smoother.

It’s important to note that this is only part one of “Rise of the Rakghouls”. Developers have stated that we can expect the second installment in March which should include, among other things, a new planet, a new warzone, a new operation, Legacy System updates, and the much anticipated Guild Banks.

What do you think of the new content? Let us know in the comment section below!

Tags: content patch 1.1, flashpoint, Karagga's Palace

Today we were supposed to have access to the first content update for SWTOR since the game went live at release.  This content update is aptly named 1.1 It is thematically named “Rise of the Rakghouls” in honor of its main content upgrade and additions.  However it has been delayed as per the statement from the patcher from Bioware and the announcement blog on the forums,

Hello everyone!

Because we care about ensuring that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ provides you with a consistent and quality game play experience, we will be postponing weekly maintenance this week. Downtime was originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 from 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET) to 10AM CST (8AM PST/11AM EST/4PM GMT/5PM CET) and will now occur at a later date due to issues requiring additional testing that have been discovered with the Game Update 1.1 content on the Public Test Server.

These issues were primarily brought to our attention by the diligent players on the Public Test Server Forums. Your participation in testing helps to improve the game as a whole, and we appreciate your discussion and feedback. The bug reports you provide are a valuable part of the development process. Thank you!

We’re working hard to bring you Game Update 1.1: Rise of the Rakghouls and are working hard to ensure your overall experience with Star Wars: The Old Republic is spectacular! The maintenance window for Game Update 1.1 will be rescheduled for some time within the next few days, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. When there’s a definite time, we will post here on the Community Blog as well as on the Official Forums. Please keep your eye out for updates, and we will provide information as soon as it’s available.

So if you were waiting on this content today you will have to wait a little longer it seems as the people who are playing on the public test server helped Bioware determine some issues that required further testing.  We here at SwtorLife are glad to see Bioware take this so seriously in an effort to make sure that the content they distribute to us is as bug free as possible they are willing to postpone its launch in order to get it right the first time.

I am also glad to see the public test server be so useful to them in identifying these issues, that lets me know that the hours i log there in an effort to make the game better by testing new content actually matter!  🙂

We will be sure to let you know first thing when we find out when this content will be going live so until then hang tight folks!

Tags: content patch 1.1, game update, kaon under siege, rise of the rakghouls, swtor

Well, well, well…. I’m back.

It’s been some time since my last post. The holiday season handed me a few challenges which all took my time away from everything web-related. I’m glad to say that these challenges are somewhat behind me now and I now have time (at long last) to focus on TOR again.

I was going to start my return post with a rant about the imbalance of the class system, but I will put that off for another time.

Today I will walk you through a simple and easy-to-follow macro set-up I’m playing around with in-game. It’s by no means perfect, but it does help to simplify key binds and the fast-paced combat which we all have come to expect in TOR.

The minimum requirement is a 3-button mouse. Better still is a programmable mouse with extra buttons, but this can be bypassed with a program like Auto-Hotkey which will work just as well.

The reason I call this a 1-2-3 macro is the simple fact that is that you will use 1, 2 and 3 as you main macro set-up. You could use 8, 9, 0 and free up your lower keys for easy use, but it still works out that all skills will be grouped into sets of 3.

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Tags: Macros

Players who have played since launch already know the order of the planets near the beginning of your epic adventure. The Empire starts out either on Hutta (Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter) or on Korriban (Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor) then moves on to the capital planet of Dromund Kaas. The Republic starts out on either Ord Mantell (Smuggler and Trooper) or on Tython (Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular) then moves on to the capital planet of Coruscant. These are the sanctuary planets. The opposing faction can’t visit these locations. So where does PvP start? Continue Reading »

Tags: Balmorra, Empire, Imperial, open world pvp, player versus player, PvP, Republic, Rosie, Taris

Zombies in my SWTOR!

To coincide with the release of the new content addition dubbed 1.1 “Rise of the Rakghouls” on this Tuesday, David Bass from Bioware sent us some pictures to publish and I decided to gather up what info I have been seeing on the internet about it for you to read as well.  A new flashpoint is a very exciting thing when talking about new content being added to the game because they are very fun from my experience.  They are a great diversion from all the other outstanding features that Bioware has in SWTOR from the story, the crewskills and crafting, the PVP, and on with many other great things they have in store for you.

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Tags: flashpoint, Flashpoints, new game content 1.1, rise of the rakghouls

Crafting for reals, I am serious!

Finally SWTOR is released and operating, the NDA is not a problem anymore, and I have had time to experience and digest the crafting system in SWTOR. It has been a long drawn out time of waiting for this game and to find out if I will be pleased or not based on what they have created as their crafting system and dubbed “crew skills”.

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Tags: armormech, armstech, auction house, bioware, crafting, crew skills, swtor

((The RP XP with MJ #21))

Aaaahh! What happened to my RP XP? Where’s the witty picture? Where’s the ongoing fiction about the smuggler who stole the rock? They’ll be back, my friends. But this week I thought I’d address an aspect of the game few RPers even consider.

This edition of the RP XP is all about in-game preferences for RolePlayers. Early last month, swtor-life’s own Mr. Warlock gave some great advice for preference settings to make your life easier in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first of his two-part series can be found here. While those prefs were awesome suggestions for gaming, they don’t necessarily meet the oddball needs of those of us who fly the crazy RPer’s banner.

Tags: Preferences, Roleplay, RP, RP XP with MJ, Settings