Tag Archives: SWTOR community

Guess What? We’re ALL Newbs in SWTOR!

12 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in community, silly

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The other day, a guildie shared in gchat that his Flashpoint had just fallen apart, after a wipe, with the departing members calling him a newb and dropping group.

I have to tell you, this provoked an actual laugh out loud IRL moment for me.

“ZOMG you SUCK Newb! Peace out!” …says one 3 or 4 week old character to the other.

Really? Really???

Oh, I know, some folks are such old pros because they were in BETA since wave 1 of BETA. And all us new players are such bads. Because we only started during early game access. Or worse yet, at launch. What a bunch of newbs!

GET OVER YOURSELF, NERD!

BETA is not live game. Live game is the real deal with the final talents and the final class tweaks and a whole slew of new folks playing the game for the fun of it. Some of these folks were World of Warcraft players. Some play(ed) other MMOs. But many are just huge Star Wars fans stepping into their first MMORPG and learning the ropes.

But the fact remains, mister elitist player, we’re ALL newbs, including you because it is a new game! So get over yourself. Wipes will happen as folks learn content that is new to them. It will be some time before everyone is over geared and PUGS are able to faceroll content.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the newness of the game.

Highlights from Stephen Reid’s reddit chat

29 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in community, SWTOR team interviews

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In case you weren’t already aware that Stephen Reid, SWTOR’s Senior Community Manager, has the patience of a Saint, you should see how many questions he fielded yesterday in his reddit chat. 954 comments –amazing!

Here were some of the tidbits I found to be most interesting.

On guild banks and guild housing…

Guild banks and guild ‘housing’ (of some type; ships are most popular as people know) are both on the list for future development. As always it’s a question of priorities and so on, but they’re definitely discussed. I will say that guild banks are higher priority.

Guild banks… pretty soon, but my definition of soon is probably different from yours. I’ll say before E3 or PAX East, that seems fair.

On the guild housing/ship thing, I’ve had this conversation a few times with folk in person – the thing is the basic idea seems simple, but the actual reality of doing it can be hugely complex.

For example – and this is entirely me, personally, making stuff up: it’s possible guild capital ships could be just open spaces for people to hang out in. Cool, but likely ‘not enough’ for many people. So then you add on, say, the ability to customize that space. Then maybe you want to move those ships around – maybe put them in orbit over planets, or go fight with other guild capital ships. Woah, did we just add a space combat game? You can see how it easily gets bigger.

The short version: something like guild capital ships sounds super cool and the development team likes the idea. There’s a big distance between ‘likes the idea’ and ‘is fully developed and in the game’.

On the lack of neutral gear…

As I understand it neutral gear was harder to implement than first thought, and was unfortunately moved out of the launch window. It’s not ‘dead’, and James Ohlen brings it up as something he’s a fan of quite often, so.. chances are pretty good it’ll make it in someday.

On the constant pleas for UI customization…

UI customization is coming for sure. 🙂

On the requests for Advance Class Respec’ing…

Currently AC respeccing is not ‘on the table’ – ie, it’s not seen as being a feature we’ll be adding in soon. It’s back at the philosophical discussion stage, AFAIK.

Even if you’d need to reroll, having been through the story once (and I’ve been through Ord Mantell a few times myself!) you’ll go through a lot faster. Experiment with different moral choices, I enjoy it myself. 🙂

For the whole 900+ comments, read the thread on reddit.

Need Some Holiday Wrapping Auditory Diversions? Check out TOR Reporter

23 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in podcasts

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I would be remiss not to mention that I’ve been honored to guest on a couple of recent editions of the TOR Reporter podcast. Guesting on an MMO podcast was one of my bucket list to do items for this year so I was excited to squeeze that one in under the wire.

In the most recent episode, I totally derail the podcast within the first three minutes, due to my comment about the lack of much PvPness on our server. Say that last sentence aloud and see why our chat room was awash in lolols for a solid 5 minutes. Oopsie!

You can also check out an earlier edition where I was part of a roundtable discussion about the BETA stress test weekend, and our impending launch plans.

Sunday Reading: TORMAG Fan Magazine

04 Sunday Sep 2011

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TORMAG September, 2011Last night while browsing through my #SWTOR list on twitter I saw an announcement that issue #2 of TORMAG was out and clicked through, expecting to see a blog ‘zine.

What I saw instead is a very impressive fan publication. The 25-page PDF is designed like a gaming magazine, making liberal use of images and serving up a cover story on Korriban, the ancient birthplace of the Sith empire. Other articles include an overview of companions (including a great screenshot of a smuggler and his wookie companion), interviews with a couple of SWTOR guild leaders, bounty hunter and trooper class spotlights, and a multi-page comic, The Jedi Gambit.

I love that Star Wars: The Old Republic, even without a release date, is inspiring fan created content of this caliber. Keep up the great work!