It is now widely known and the rumors were indeed true that SWTOR is free. But how free is it really? Only the Game client itself remains free. You could say this is a freemium model but Free players on free package really get next to nothing.
Gametime or subscriptions are now optional and come in two flavors. Preferred Status and Subscription itself. A comparison of Preferred status and Subscription as wella s Free play is available here http://www.swtor.com/free/features The buy now on the right actually buys you the preferred status in the game which is a one-off item. This is also true for all those who purchased the original game.
To be honest those on Free 2 play have told me that it’s not worth it but it’s good to get a preview only. It’s nothing more than a trial as you constantly fight against limitations which were imposed as an after thought to changing the game model.
Cartel coins is the in-game currency (obviously) and what bothers me is that unlike other MMOs that include some coins in monthly subscription SWTOR chose not to. Does it really affect the gameplay or the ability to do better simply because you are paying more? Perhaps other fellow SWTOR mates can share their views.
Those who paid are not really left behind because all the items we got (useful or not) are actually add-ons that need additional payment.
If you are looking to subscribe I recommend the 60 Day subscription first and always. The cool part is you can get the price lower on Amazon almost always. See below.
You can expect to buy for 3$-10$ less than the regular SWTOR site listed price.
Star Wars the Old Republic has already over a million players currently. The good news for those of you in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, or in the regions nearby, is that SWTOR is now finally available for Purchase and online play.
While several stores have copies and Regular Box editions are just fine, people are heading over to Amazon (see the right side of this page for the original copy link) to buy their copy. Since no shipping is really needed and you can download your copy all you need are the “Keys”. RIght, just select the link on the right of this page for SWTOR original copy, which takes you to Amazon page for the game. Sign up , purchase and download. You will be playing in 10 minutes.
I have considered the idea of collector’s edition but not only are the in-game stuff extra vague, from what I found out it’s just so-so. Again grab from Amazon for better deals and save yourself some cash for the game time cards.
Well I hope to see a lot of friends in SWTOR from Singapore and Australia for sure. Time to show off my Green light saber.
P.S. For those who can’t grab a copy from Amazon ask your friends in US to grab it for you.
Recent additions to the popular gamer program Cheat Engine have enabled its usage throughout SWTOR, much to the dismay of the developers at bioware.
Cheat Engine allows players to speed up individual processes on their computer, in this case Star Wars The Old Republic. Doing so increases the speed at which ALL clientside computations are done, so characters move faster, abilities are cast more quickly, and you can power through boring encounters that once took all day.
As far as use in PvE environments goes, Speedhacks such as this are virtually harmless, a victimless crime some would say. It allows players to go through the (many) boring parts of the game without wasting time, and thereby move on to more exciting missions.
However, in PvP cheat engine and other equivalents provide a serious problem that the Bioware team for SWTOR must iron out as soon as possible. As of now, it is very simply for even computationally-illiterate players to enable these hacks, thereby making them much better than anyone else in a battleground. Imagine how much of an advantage being able to move five times as fast and use five times as many abilities would be.
Although the current cheatengine is undetectable by the game itself, GMs are now banning players that employ it on site. This has worked as a satisfactory deterrent to its use in PvP, as reports from disgruntled opponents are quickly answered. Although there is no current conceivable solution for players using these exploits in solo raids, many would argue it is not worth Bioware’s time to bother trying to prevent such events occurring. After all, shouldn’t it be the players choice where they spend their hours in game? At least the sped up gameplay can make boring missions quick, even if they are still not particularly entertaining.
The following short video details all steps in the process to using the cheatengine program, one of the many alternatives. Whilst doing so around other players will get you banned before long, using it to speed up boring raids and instances is virtually undetectable and will not result in any form of punishment.
With a puzzling new Video and Update, Bioware has announced their new Family Tree system, which has left players across the galaxy confused and perplexed.
As it looks at the moment, the Family Tree is something of a reward for making ungodly numbers of characters, then clicking on linking options in game to create your own ‘family tree’. How a single human can ‘produce’ five chiss offspring is both perplexing and even, some would say, unrealistic, but this has not stopped Bioware from making it possible for yours truly.
Not only do you make this fictional family tree, but being part of a developed one grants each character buffs and special abilities. Things to make them stronger in combat, and able to earn more money, if early reports are to be believed.
Valid concerns have been raised on the official forums by players who have instantly seen through to the core of what these updates represent, and that being rewards for players that spend copious amounts of time grinding up character after character.
As far as we know here at SWTOR Republic, this is really the first time any MMORPG has awarded players credit for how many characters they have. At least in others things are kept blissfully separate. It doesn’t matter if you are a level 90 Elder Jedi on one character, when you are on a low level you are a low level (and that is it!).
Since the exact potency and details of what being a member of such a family tree might grant a player, we are only speculating at this point as to how much of an effect to the game at large it will have, but players across the boards are hoping that Bioware will not go overboard with this blatant encouragement for players to invest even more time to remain competative.
Although there have recently been a plethora of complaints from players on the way developers have recently changed the PvP system, this is set to be (if Bioware can be believed) brought back into line with the next update.
Recently updates had the opposite affect when compared to Bioware’s noble goals for Star Wars The Old Republic a few months ago, as they saw things become more linear, unbalanced and in general ass backward.
Hopefully during the significant amount of Data analysis Bioware has done over the last month, which much to players dismay slowed down the game considerably, they will now have the information they require to fix exactly the problems that exist, no more, and no less.
This is often a problem with the MMORPG industry, so It is no surprise it has reared its ugly head in SWTOR. Quite often developers try to fix something, but over do it, meaning something else must then be adjusted. A popular example of this was basically every update in Star Wars Galaxies long 8 year history, as almost all involved some change to a profession that (until the next update) made it excessively powerful.
For the next few weeks no updates are planned, we assume this is because for this period Bioware will be working on cementing their current player base, in order to bring a plethora of new features with the public holidays in the later half of February.
For now, we can wait with open minds, as Bioware IS quite a reliable company, and Star Wars The Old Republic has been in good hands so far. The only worry is that if the constant updating of SWTOR gets out of control, we may see EA step in and do what has made them the bane of the gaming industry, but that is only a last resort!!
Recently announced on the SWTOR website was the fact that the Rise of the Rakghouls saga, recently revealed to players, has not been finished with by the developers yet!
Although part one has now been released and enjoyed by players across servers, a Part two (which has apparently been in the works for more than a year) is now on the way, and should find its way onto live servers in a few months.
Although the first encounter seemed to have a definitive ending, the developers have revealed that they left clues throughout the instance hinting and what can be expected when they return. This has prompted a resurgence of interest in the encounter, as players play through slowly and methodically, in search of the small items, or sounds, or hidden passages, which are promised to be somewhere within the haunted corridors.
The second Rise of the Rakghouls instance is also set to be one of the largest and longest ever yet made. It should take a phenomenal amount of coordination from The Old Republic players, and the developers say this will be worthwhile, as the rewards should be some of the best yet.
Although armour and weapons used by the majority of players are not ones looted from encounter bosses, this is set to change in the future with the developers deciding to take a more WoW-like approach to such matters. Rather than allow players to play through a raid once, they have decided to make more rare drops, so that players are encouraged to come back for seconds, thirds and tenths in order to completely kit their character/s out with the new gear. Although this tactic has proven unpopular with some players in the past, it is a tried and tested feature of the MMORPG industry, as it provides maximum content for minimal development time and expendature.
Lets hope when the RakGhouls rise again the players of SWTOR will find this latest Star Warsy threat a worthy and entertaining one.
Recently released websites, such as GameTasks, have introduced players to a new way to play online, offline, and even MMORPG games..
Although sites like this are still in their infancy, they provide very useful services which, before long might find the average gamer a lot of extra time to do the things they want to, and spend less time on the boring parts added to most games to slow players down.
Anyone can offer their services on such websites, as it doesn’t cost anything to register and they don’t ask you for personal information. For customers, there will always be someone get you past boring points in games, make you money, and help you level up, or just be there as a helping hand if you prefer to do things yourself.
For many people, finding a good group of players can be hard to do, perhaps they live in a different time zone, or can only play odd hours. This is where services like GameTasks come in. For as little as $2 per hour, you can Rent a Gaming Buddy, who can play just about any game at any time, to ensure someone has your back on long and hard quests. You can also get PVP training as well as get paid to train others. Gamers who are experts in their respective fields can offer their help for money, meaning the hired players are generally the cream of the crop, and customers are certain to get their moneys worth.
The other major service offered by Game Tasks services is to just do traditional one on one teaching. You might want to learn how to duel as a Trooper in Star Wars The Old Republic, or how to beat the Death Star level of Star Wars The Force Unleashed (One of the predecessors of SWTOR). Even if you don’t see your particular task or mission listed on the site, you can request it in the shout box, and the helpful group will get to your request as soon as possible (which if early results are anything to go on, is pretty fast!). Also, If you have some special gaming skill, you can put a shout on the Game Tasks Quest Help section, and when a player comes along needing your specialized set of skills, you will be notified.
All in all, websites like GameTasks and others provide an interesting new corner to the gaming market, and as their rapid growth continues we will see their services become common place across the net. So what are you waiting for, it’s free to register, they don’t ask you for any more information than it takes to register to a forum, and they pay you via paypal.
Recent subscriber numbers for SWTOR show the current player base at well over one million, making it easily the second largest MMO by subscriber base on the market, and by quite a long way.
Also released were numbers relating to player activities, which revealed more than 9 billion non-player-characters had been defeated during the holiday season. This heinous loss of life, rather than humbling players, seems to only have forced them to be more violent with their future ambitions. In fact, we have seen in the game large packs of low-level players roaming the countryside in search of the most innocent and unassuming animals, only to assault them as viciously as possible, even though there is no reward what so ever.
EVE Online in dire straits.
Games like EvE online, long time leader of the science-fiction MMO market share have taken this news hard, as many of these players have been directly extracted from their own money-earning player base. Perhaps in the future games such as EVE will once again return to dominance, however with the current success of SWTOR, and the Bioware developer team which has at no point looked like faltering severely, this seems increasingly unlikely.
With a lot to look forward to in the coming year, the one million players now devoting copious amounts of their lives to Star Wars The Old Republic will be on the lookout for many new updates, which should prevent them from losing interest in the short term.
However, there is still something of a problem with SWTOR’s end game content, as even only a couple of months into the live game, players are increasingly finding combat getting to be repetitive and bland. Many solutions have been presented on the official forums, however as of yet none look like being added in the short term. Let us hope Bioware comes up with something to plug the gap, and before too many of their players leak away.
The Latest flashpoint for Star Wars The Old Republic, Rakghoul’s Rising, recently hit selected live servers, and has proven to be one of the best ever yet made.
The mission introduces players to a host of new characters, both good and evil, as well as the Galaxies first ever Hutt Mobile.
This one technological advantage is a peculiar one, as it provides protection for the bloated beings entire body, except for the most essential part, the Head. Perhaps Galactic engineers might have a career after all if they can solve problem, but whether his opulence Is willing to part with his swish new ride remains to be seen.
With the flashpoint available to players of both factions, it has received a wealth of testing over a very short time, and any bugs present seem to have been ironed out quite early.
With updates planning to be brought in thick and heavy, it is no surprise that this is only a single flashpoint, and a dual-faction one at that. Some have predicted that we may rarely see any single-side battles again, which although disappointing, seems reasonable due to the amount of fury that would erupt from SWTOR devotees should bioware decide to give one side an update and not the other.
One possibility is that large updates may be planned, which might introduce large new explorable areas to the game, which would surely be very popular with more adventurous players.
We have yet to hear news of any PvP updates that might be coming out over the coming weeks and months, however, it is a safe bet that If SWTOR values the money of their dedicated gamers they will make these plentiful, less they lose interest and move elsewhere.
With the latest Game Update (1.1) Bioware has brought in a wide variety of changes and upgrades for Star Wars The Old Republic, which has left some fans recoiling In horror, as they recall past MMO trials by fire of a similar variety.
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We are of course, talking about Star Wars Galaxies, and the swathe of updates which completely changed (in the players’ opinion for the worse) the way the game functioned on a fundamental level.
Although Bioware is far from implementing a Combat Upgrade for SWTOR, the precursors for an Upgrade, or New Game Enhancements as we saw in SWG are already in the works. With the latest update came a host of small changes, which have (although not entirely obviously) changed the state of player combat forever. This can be done by even the smallest changes, which may not be noticed in short fights. However, as time goes bye players will soon come to see the far reaching Implications of small upgrades and downgrades here and there, and begin pushing for different changes to be made.
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Now remember, this is exactly how most games in the past have floundered. After the fact, players are universally disgusted by major game changing updates, but before the fact records show that a vast majority were in fact wishing for something of the sort. Everyone has some form of allegiance to their play style, so when they feel hard done by there is no shortage of letters to developers and forum moderators asking for changes that will return them to dominance.
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As we see this beginning with a vengeance on the SWTOR official forums, many are hoping that other calming voices will be able to keep the team behind Star Wars The Old Republic level headed, so there is no chance of future game updates getting out of hand.
SWG players were less than impressed with their updates.
