So It Begins...

BioWare has done it.  Their most recent build out, Beta Weekends starting backup soon, and the knowledge that Blizzard is going after Q1 2012 with Diablo 3.  Star Wars The Old Republic has a release date....

London, England – September 24, 2011 – Today during their keynote address at the Eurogamer Expo, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founders of BioWare™, a label of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), announced that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will launch in North America on December 20, 2011 and in Europe on December 22, 2011. Set thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader, Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online game challenging players with epic quests, featuring dynamic combat across iconic worlds in the Star Wars™ galaxy such as Tatooine, Alderaan, Hoth and more. Each of the game’s eight primary classes will enjoy their own unique trilogy of storylines, all of which are fully voiced with a sweeping musical score. Anticipation for the award-winning MMO is at an all-time high as Star Wars: The Old Republic has broken EA pre-order records and won over 95 industry awards and accolades from game critics worldwide.

And here at Tales From TOR we're overjoyed!!! We had expected a November release date but with so many games coming out in November it seems like December is a logic release month.  In addition it gives BioWare just a few more weeks to test and prepare the game.

You can read all about this incredible news at SWTORs main site.  In addition we also have the not so surprising price model.  They're not going after World of Warcraft so they can't out price their main rival. 

BioWare and LucasArts are pleased to announce that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will launch on December 20, 2011 in North America and on December 22, 2011 in the European Launch Territories! The announcement was first made by BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk during their keynote address at the 2011 Eurogamer Expo in London, England. Speaking to a packed room of press and fans alike, Dr. Muzyka acknowledged the weight of the moment and the patience of the fans.

“This is an incredible moment for everyone at BioWare and our partners at LucasArts who have dedicated their lives to build this extraordinary game. We appreciate the patience from the millions of fans who have been waiting for the game’s release.”
Each copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic will come with 30 days of subscription time, after which you have the option to continue playing with one of the following monthly subscription fees:

• 1 Month Subscription: $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99)
• 3 Month Subscription: $13.99 per month (one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97)
• 6 Month Subscription: $12.99 per month (one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94)

Those who have pre-ordered the game and entered their pre-order code onStarWarsTheOldRepublic.com are eligible for Early Game Access. If you haven’t yet reserved your copy of the game, be sure to visit our Pre-Order page and secure your place in the Old Republic now!

We want to thank you for your continued passion, dedication and support. Though one part of this incredible journey is coming to an end, we are confident that you all share our excitement for this new beginning. Be sure to check back to StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com as well as ourTwitter and Facebook pages for all the latest news and updates on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

This is a great day for TOR fans a great day for Star Wars fans and a great day for MMO fans in general!  We can't wait!!!

Companion Luvin

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Developer Dispatch - YouTube:

This was too amazing to pass up and post tomorrow. This in our opinion is by far the most interesting of the developer series movies from BioWare. And it covers one of the biggest reasons we really want to play this game. Woven into the story of SWTOR our the companions for each major class. And they help drive the story and the game play experience.

The Republic: EP 56

We have not been linking to their show lately.  Mostly due to time and well I don't think they need the help from such a small site like this one.  However their last episode might just be one of the best shows I have seen on their network so far.

BIOWARE says same sex relationships are in, The PvP Q&A, your questions, and more!

SO much so we need to call it out.  It was pretty much pure comedy from beginning to end.  And Gary as always does a good job of keeping the jokes flowing.  If you have not checked this one out .... do so!

Get To Know a Dev: Georg Zoeller

Mr. Z! The Man!

Get To Know a Dev: Georg Zoeller

Everyone's favorite BioWare game developer has done a short piece with Force Junkies. It's a good short read that covers a lot of interesting facts about Mr. Z.

Can you explain what you do for BioWare and what a typical day might be like?

My business Card says Principal Lead Combat Designer, which means I act as the ‘Product Owner’ for everything related to Combat and makes me responsible for requesting and organizing the assembly of all the individual components of the game (systems, art, animation, etc) that make the final combat experience based on the Game Director’s vision. 

I also manage the Combat Design team which handles design and implementation of classes, combat balance for PvP and PvE, companions and all those hostiles you encounter in your travels through Star Wars: The Old Republic. A part of this job also involves collaboration with our Live team which handles game testing and analysis of tester feedback and metrics.

Huge thanks to Force Junkies for the great read.  Rocket launcher armed Jawas....?  Really!?  NICE!

Guild HQ - Round 2

BioWare has started its second stage of 'Guild Alignment'.

Back in March we initiated our Pre-Launch Guild Program, where members of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ community could search for already established guilds or register one of their very own through the Guild Headquarters page. We are thrilled to announce that we have begun the second phase of our Pre-Launch Guild Program!

With Phase 2: Alignment, we are introducing new features which allow guilds to set their allegiance with other guilds in The Old Republic. Now a guild leader, along with members who have the proper permissions, can select up to three guilds as either Allies or Adversaries, depending on their faction affiliation. Qualifying guilds that are marked as Allies and Adversaries of other guilds will have the highest chance of being placed in the game together, allowing these guilds to coexist on the same server.

Another feature being implemented with Phase 2 is the ability for guild leaders and members with the proper permissions to invite friends to join their guild via email. You can start recruiting new members today!

To learn more about guilds in The Old Republic, check out the Guilds Game System page for details, and to search for or join a guild, visit the Guild HQ now! Also be sure to visit the Guilds FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.

So what does this mean for you and me?  Well not much unless you're in a guild.  And if you want to make sure you land on the same server with a guild you have strong ties too.  So overall an interesting move by BioWare. Not something we can remember any other game doing in the past.

Some things to remember though - You must have at least 4 accounts in a guild with a pre-registration code.  It's one simple rule that will allow your guild to be pre-created on a server at launch.

So You Want To Be A Beta Tester...

And just like that it's back on... POW BAM KABOOM!

Mr Yellow Text!  Mr. RockJaw!  Mr. Stephen Reid! goes BETA crazy with a major update and what appears to be a quick fire round of questions and answers.  The man was on a mission tonight.  And from our point of view he completed it with a force choke.  (yes we know - that sounded cheesy).

Today we re-invited all testers who were invited to our Beta Testing Weekend #1 back to a future Beta Testing Weekend (which will happen on as yet unspecified date). I wanted to give you a little insight into why, and clear up confusion.

These testers were not re-invited to a Beta Testing Weekend for this weekend. We're still internally testing the next major build of the game. As we've said before, when we're ready to give everyone a date for the next Beta Testing Weekend, we'll announce it.

Why are they being re-invited? Because we feel for a significant proportion of those invited to test during Beta Testing Weekend #1, they did not have an optimal testing experience. As I mentioned before, we had some issues, including some people not receiving an invite, and others being unable to get the client in time because of issues with their acceptance of their invite. With those factors in mind, we felt that because many people did not experience the game, it was worthwhile to re-invite everyone.

Where does that leave everyone who hasn't been invited to test yet?

First, I realize that we previously stated if people were invited to test, they would not be invited again. Although that policy may change in future, we're not changing it right now. However we feel that this situation is unique enough that we're re-inviting this weekend's testers. We expect this to be a one-off situation. I hope anyone who's waiting to get into testing realizes that if they had similar issues, we would 'do the right thing' by you too.

Second, it's important to realize as we've said before that future Game Testing Weekends are planned to be much, muchlarger than the first. This weekend's entire testing population is actually just a small fraction of the total number we're planning to invite to the next weekend, and our number of invites will go up after that. (Indeed, we'll probably just increase our numbers overall and add the re-invited testers onto that total number.)

In summary, we had some issues and we wanted to ensure those invited to test, got to test. This is, we feel, a unique and one-off situation, but it's also the right thing to do.

The rest can be found here.  WOWZERS!!!  

As for the Q&A.... well it can be found in the following links:

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3,4,5,6

Question 7, 8

Question 9, and Math Example  

In summary the beta weekend program is back on.  With those returning from the first week for a better chance to play.  In addition they will add-on to those each weekend and slowly grow the program.  The hope is to give a large number of people interested in playing the chance to play.  KUDOS to BioWare and to the fan-base for getting a shot.  This is great news for everyone.  

Chess....

Most of us are just little pawns in what appears to be an epic game between Blizzard and BioWare. As we approach the final three 3 months of the year we wanted to take a look at some of the outstanding moves left in this game.  It's BioWare vs Blizzard, EA vs Activision, SWTOR vs Diablo3/WoW battle for our money...

SWTOR Beta/September Beta
BioWare had started to make what looked like it's move to mate.  A series of weekend tests planned for the month of September to conduct a number of performances tests to see if the game was ready for release.  With the tests completed EA/BioWare had possible intentions of announcing a release date.  However we all know the end result...  What started with one weekend also ended with one weekend.  But there was the promise of a new build for internal testing. 

SWTOR: The Old Republic: Revan
November 15th.  Revan who appears to be turning into a central character (based on pure speculation) has his own book coming out.  The book will take place after the end of KOTOR 1.  It's possible the story in this book will help drive the story for SWTOR.  A release after this book would make sense if there is a connection. 

SWTOR: The End of SWG
December 15th.  While many considered this to be a good indicator it seems to have lost weight over the last few months.  Would LucasArts want 2 Star Wars MMO's running at the same time?  Or would it be better to start SWTOR as SWG ends?  But then again is EA/BioWare concerned at all about the last 15,000 or so gamers that currently play SWG?  It's hard to say what role this game plays in the final outcome of BioWare vs Blizzard. Our take... nothing.

Blizzard: Diablo 3 Beta
It's started.  In what appears to be a move to counter BioWare's SWTOR beta the Diablo 3 beta is underway.  In initially started as Friends & Family - typical for companies releasing a game.  But Blizzard have taken a different approach.  They announced the beta, the target month, and even threw in a talent calc.  Not only did they announce the beta they seemed to have delivered with people popping up all over the place installing and playing the game.  Building hype ....

Blizzard: World of Warcraft: 4.3
Deathwing can finally be killed.  Transmogrification included.  Darkmoon revamped.  And that's just what we know...  BioWare are good at keeping secrets right up to BlizzCon and beyond.  But are contents of this patch enough to keep WoW'ers from making the switch.

Blizzard: BlizzCon/Titan
Set for October 21st at the Anaheim Convention Center. Blizzard are in a position to either set the tone for the remainder of the year or counter any prior moves made by BioWare.  In a sense they can bring down the thunder.  BioWare could well have a Diablo 3 launch date, Titan news, and a possible WoW expansion, all on the table.  And with 11.1 million players still in WoW they could hype SWTOR out of this galaxy. 

SWTOR: Pre-Orders....
Last but by far not least.... 443,836 pre-orders.  BioWare continues to build up steam and they don't even have a release date.  What this tells us is that people are willing to put money down on a game that has just a window for release.  That's a great deal of FAITH being placed into BioWare... And its a small message to Blizzard that a new challenger may be coming...

SWTOR: Release Date
The one thing the fans have been craving.  While many can accept Holiday 2011, others feel they need that exact date and time.  Sure people want to take vacation.  Stock up on snacks and code red.  It could be the icing on the cake that sets off this ball of wax. 

Conclusion.
With so many events happening between now and the release of either SWTOR or a Blizzard nugget this could be a great end of year for gamers.  BioWare and Blizzard will do what they can to win over your money.  Which means quality games....

Fan Friday is Fan Smuggling Day!

If you ever wanted to consider switching from one of the two Jedi classes to say something else.... here is the first major compelling piece of evidence to sway the mindset.

Basically put the following video is so impressive many people have a new starting class come launch.  

As your character progresses through the saga of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, you will see them advance as you unlock new skills and acquire or craft superior gear.

Whether running blockades to deliver vital supplies or evading Imperial patrols, the Smuggler must rely on his wit and guile just as much as the blaster at his side. As the price on his head rises and his enemies grow more dangerous, the Smuggler will have to acquire new skills and utilize more powerful weapons and armor to survive.

Get a look at some of the ways the Smuggler can progress and see just a small fraction of the weapons, armor and abilities that become available to him.

BioWare does a great job of showing some humor while adding in some unique instances of style and abilities for each of the two advances classes.  Paying homage to Indian Jones and the great Han Solo run and scream was indeed the perfect end to a long week.  

And don't forget to check out the bonus PAX footage.  Really really well done.

Guides - Ultimate Starship Guide

Guides - Ultimate Starship Guide - TGN

If you need information on the ships and what we know about their abilities take a gander at this movie.

While I am not a big fan of the fan made you-tube guides. But this one was well done and short to the point. The creator Ned also pulls information from various posts from everyone's favorite yellow text to provide more information.

Thanks Ned! Well done.

BioWare Beta Bomb

A large group of players are still looking in....

The mood of the SWTOR community just want BOOM.  While a few might have seen this coming due the recent delay for Europe the majority did not.  Stephen Reid dropped the beta bombshell on the fans of TOR tonight.  

Hello all,

There is no Beta Testing Weekend scheduled for this weekend. There may be further Beta Testing Weekends during September, but we're not going to guarantee it. The weekend that just finished was really our first dry run of Beta Testing Weekends as a whole, and we have plenty of data to crunch, and decisions to make before we start things up again.

Further to that, as Chris Collins explained in another thread, we are about to roll out a major new build for The Old Republic. That build won't be ready for this weekend. Just as we did not feel it was a good decision to ask potential EU testers to download our client only to have to download it again, the same applies for this weekend.

That does not mean, however, that as soon as our new build is available we'll be rolling out a Beta Testing Weekend immediately. As with any new build of the game, we need to get feedback from internal testing and our ongoing Game Testing program before rolling it out to a massive audience. That process takes a while, and that time varies depending on how testing goes.

We rolled out this previous weekend as a relatively small scale event; from now we will do bigger and bigger events, but that doesn't mean it happens every weekend. When we do resume, we'll be inviting many more people in.

While many of you are excited and anxious to know what's happening regarding Testing Weekends, I want to point out that a lot of posts on the subject with a lack of corresponding posts from us does not mean that we're not listening, or not aware of your interest. It shows your interest in the topic, which is understandably high, but we will not always be able to react instantaneously.

In the past couple of days we've been preparing a comprehensive FAQ regarding Game Testing Weekends as a whole, along with some details about the weekend that just happened. We'll post that tomorrow - in all languages, as we know the subject is of interest to everyone.

It's a challenging situation BioWare find themselves in right now.  The community was running under the assumption that beta weekends would continue through the month of September.  And those signed up had a great chance at playing the game.  But BioWare looking at the results of their first weekend and knew they where just not ready to continue the beta.  Mostly due to the changes related their new build which now requires additional internal testing.    

The end result could be devastating for BioWare.  The backlash of hate posts has already begun along with the rallying support from some of the fans.  And in the middle of it all is Stephen Reid the community manager.  Who tonight has take all the heat as the public spokes person for TOR.  Reid if you read this - go drink a beer buddy and sleep in tomorrow.  

For us and many other fans the wait continues.  But we should still hold out hope that BioWare can still release the game before the end of the year.  A new build is always one step closer to release.  

Good luck BioWare.  

Following The Blogs

Since the begging of our journey to follow this game we have relied on many different sites for information.  Now we have discovered a new set of sites that have opened our eyes to another avenue of information - PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE.  

Simply put we have started to read/follow some sites that are giving their own personal touch to the news of SWTOR.  We also believe these will have more impact on the community after SWTOR goes live.  We hope you enjoy the initial few we have found.  And we will post more as we find them.  

BloggingTOR

Inquisitors Roadhouse

DpsHealTank

You can find out more about these sites in our new Fellow Bloggers page.

Facebook Blah

Concluding a fierce battle on the battered world of Corellia, a Jedi Shadow strikes down the last of an Imperial patrol.

Sorry we missed the FB update for the week.  We forced ourselves over there and took a look.  But the taint of FB was strong that day and we had to go into hiding.  Any-who .... here is the facebook image of the week.  More Shadow.  Which is not a bad thing at all.  Who says BioWare hates the Republic? :)

Fan Friday is.... GamesCom Friday!

Kicking SOME Empire ASS R2!!!

BioWare gives back some love to Germany with a pretty decent summary of their GamesCom presence.

We had an incredible experience at this year’s GamesCom, with Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ winning the 2011 GamesCom Award for Best Online Game as well as being a huge hit with everyone that attended! The air was electric from the excitement as fans and journalists filed through our booth to get some hands-on time with both Origin Worlds and Alderaan Warzone PvP! The reaction from the fans at the show left us feeling incredibly grateful for having such a passionate and dedicated community. 

Knowing that not everyone could make it to Cologne for the show, we wanted to share our experience with all of you. Thank you for all of your continued support and enthusiasm for the game!

We have to admit we saw this coming.  With all the work going into September Beta's this had to be expected.  The team is focused on getting people into the game to play.  So head on over to SWTOR.com for their Fan Friday update.

However if you just want to wait patiently for your invite and avoid the current hate fest from the fans avoid the forums tonight.....