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”.
Hot off the presses comes word on one thing that has crossed my mind while I have been playing the game so far since launch and that is the question of whether or not Bioware is going to be as aggressive as other companies have been in getting control of their in game economy via banning or suspension. As my inbox fills with spam, power leveling advertisements, offers to sell me credits and such, I have been wondering this for sure.
On average as it is now I get about two whispers a day and a in game email, I report them all and ignore them but they do not stop. While this does not seem like an insane amount I have to wonder when factored in among all the players of the game just how big of a problem this is. I have seen in the past in a MMO just how bad things like this can become and just how much damage they can do to a in game economy. That is why I was very glad to see them address this issue as to some of the steps they have been taking to fight things like exploiting a in game mechanic to farm credits.
Recently, in this forum post on the official forums, Stephen Reid had this to say about steps they have recently taken to try to combat this situation:
Today we have beta invitations going out again. This will be the third beta weekend, but it looks to be a limited invite. The servers located in US East Coast are the ones participating.
Sent Nov. 8: Beta Testing Weekend #3 Invites
- Who was invited: Testers from North America
- What was sent: Beta Weekend #3 Invites
- Server locations: US East Coast
- Invite status: We are currently in the process of sending these invites, and will continue throughout this evening.
All of the invites will be sent out through-out the day and finished by this evening and you should have them in your mailbox. If not, check your spam folder or check your beta testing status on www.swtor.com/tester.
Edit:
Some addition information has come out via Stephen Reid a bit ago.
Server Types Announced For SWTOR
Continuing in the trend of basking us in SWTOR knowledge on a day that’s not even a Friday, Bioware’s David Bass made an announcement of the server types in Star Wars The Old Republic MMO!
This is information I have been wanting to hear for quite some time. To allow me to plan ahead is always something I am thankful for and with this knowledge at least we can be ready for which server type we want to choose at launch. This information also coincides nicely for guilds who just a hour ago found out the news that guild phase 3 was beginning.
Be sure to read the article in full and comment on the SWTOR.com official forums here.
Here is what was posted by David, choose your server armed with this information!
Guild Phase 3?
Hey wait this is a Thursday you say? We don’t get news about SWTOR unless it’s Friday!
Even though we still got great news from Bioware today, via the official forums and Alyson Bridge we got the news that Phase 3 for guilds would be started with the first step of “Deployment”. There are guidelines and things that have changed in this latest installment so be sure to read it and discuss it here on the Official forums.
Here is what was said, better get your house in order guilds the clock is ticking….
Dumbing Down!
As a person who is still not in beta testing at this time I have the freedom to speak my mind and theorize on certain in game mechanics in SWTOR because legitimately I do not know for sure what some of them truly are like. I have not as yet been infiltrated and absorbed by beta testing knowledge so I am still pure in my speculations and ramblings.
Take crew skills and crafting in SWTOR for instance, they have released a lot of general information in the past from mainly one dev diary and a lot of fansite interviews and some various Q&A’s found on the internet at different sites.
There is information out there, but it is just so up in the air right now what with all the rumors and hub bub I have been hearing floating around about how they are changing so many things about the crafting system at this time.
While I understand that they must change things as a result of feedback from the testers and actual time people have spent kicking the tires and such, the things I am hearing are worrying me to no end.
Why you ask?
Well OK, you twisted my arm.
Today we got a nice treat, hell, I would call it an AWESOME treat from Drew Karpyshyn, the author of the upcoming Revan book. A synopsis was published today along with the specs. I immensely enjoyed this as it has done nothing but to set a fire within me.
This novel when released on November 15th will tie together key pieces of the SWTOR in game lore that until the day that this novel releases will be under the strict control of Lead Writer for SWTOR at Bioware, Daniel Erickson. Daniel has been heard at the latest NYCC Q&A panel to say that this in game lore arc is a closely guarded secret on a need to know basis and that only he stores the complete write up on his machine.
Ok, first let me start by saying like many other followers I’m stocked that we have a release date at long last.
But could SWTOR have picked a more awkward date to release a MMO ?
Also the way it was announced was very strange indeed, with no sign that the formidable train was entering the station.
Have you just about dried up and blown away from the lack of information released on crew skills in Star Wars the Old Republic MMO?
I feel your pain and that is why I come to you today to preach the word and let you know to have faith, information is coming!
Monday the 19th TORWARS one of my favorite fansites focusing around SWTOR released an interview they had with my hero on the SWTOR developer team, Lead System Designer Damion Schubert.
In this interview Damion had some nice nuggets of information for us such as this when asked about what system he can’t wait to see players mess with,
Tonight via the @SWTOR account on twitter I was made aware that Bioware is advertising a sneak peek at the Friday update, a Developer Dispatch having to do with companions.
It is a great one in my opinion, over seven minutes of some of the developers talking about companions and the mechanics revolving around them. Such people as James Ohlen, Daniel Erickson, Georg Zhoeller, and more make this one of my favorite dev dispatches to date.
It is an interview done by Gamespot, very well done and full of information indeed. It talks about customization options, companions with levels and the ability to level them, and many more goodies. If you haven’t seen it yet I highly recommend going to see it or you could just wait till tomorrow……..
I thought not, well, here it is. 
