Feb 24, 2012

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Community Q&A February 24th – Improved Travel, Combat Animations & More

This week’s Community Q&A has just been posted and it’s got some interesting questions (and answers!) No doubt, some players will feel that there are too many “coming soon” answers, but it does give a snapshot into where BioWare is and their eye on the community.

You can read the entire Q&A here after the jump, and don’t forget to head over to the offical forum thread for next week’s Q&A and get your question in there!

Chyp: Can we expect to see any animation/damage timing consistency changes between factions?

Georg Zoeller (Principal Lead Combat Designer): Yes. The animation team has been working on a new set of animations for abilities like the Trooper’s Mortar Volley to provide closer matching of animation timings and improved combat responsiveness. We expect to roll these changes out with Game Update 1.2.

Zennis: Has there been any discussion to streamlining the Space Port process? Perhaps allowing speeders in the Space Ports besides the Fleet?

Brian Audette (Senior Designer): We’ve absolutely heard what the fans are saying and have been exploring options to address these issues. While we are still investigating allowing speeder use in Space Ports, we’ve also been looking for other ways to get people from point A to point B with greater haste. One such feature will specifically affect planets that have Orbital Stations instead of Space Ports such as: Tython, Korriban, Hoth, and Belsavis. We’ll be adding an option for players to go directly to their ships from the surface shuttles as opposed to having them run through the Orbital Station to their airlocks. This feature and some additional tweaks will start showing up in Game Update 1.2.

deusBAAL: Will you be providing a LFG tool? What will be its features? How will it be intended to work and when can we expect it to go live?

Daniel Erickson (Lead Writer): We are hard at work on a much more robust LFG functionality that will quickly help put groups together while still offering the flexibility to decide how you group and what sort of people you want to be grouped with. We’ll release more details as we get closer to release.

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Feb 11, 2012

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Friday Q&A #1 – Dual-Spec Incoming, Cross-Server Warzone Queuing & More

BioWare has a whole new kind of Friday Update in store for players of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and they kicked it off yesterday with a bang!

Each Tuesday, BioWare will open an official Q&A thread on the forums, and 10 questions will be answered and posted on Friday. This week we got a bonus, as there were 15 questions answered, and some of them hit on some hot topics.

One of the biggest was arguably about dual spec:

Aurozia: Will there be a dual specialization system in the future? Will there be a possibility of changing advance classes as well?

Daniel Erickson: We have no plans for switching advanced classes – which we see as fundamentally different class designs- but dual spec is in the works and coming soon.

Glad to hear they aren’t even considering advanced class switching, but dual spec is certainly even a departure from previous design stances.

Another one started out with Warzones, but ended up being about cross-server queueing:

Simoon: Will you be adding the option to choose what Warzone you enter a queue for?

Gabe Amatangelo: Not until we introduce cross server queuing. If we were to allow players to choose their Warzone before they could queue across servers, then it would negatively affect how often every player would see a Warzone – and for every player that loves a certain Warzone there is another player that hates it. The population would end up divided by their Warzone choice, negatively affecting the time it would take for a specific Warzone to become available for anyone. With cross server queuing we will still have a preference to match players of the same server, but those players who choose specific preferences such as these will likely end up in a match with players in the larger Wargroup.

What do you guys think about these changes? Good or bad? As someone who has been following the game since before day one of the announcement well over 3 years ago, things like dual spec and cross-server play were dismissed for one reason or another, at one time or another. I am curious as to the change in philosophy that would prompt these.

There are a few other notable questions in there, so you should pop over and have a read. And don’t forget to check the forums Tuesday when the new thread is opened, and you have a chance to ask your own!


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Feb 3, 2012

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BioWare Announces TWO New Weekly Blogs – Q&A and Dev Summary

Ok, now it’s OFFICIALLY back to Friday Updates!  BioWare has announced the launch of two new weekly blogs: the Weekly Q&A as well as a Dev Tracker Summary!

First up, the Weekly Q&A will be an official thread in the General Discussion forum where players can ask questions until Tuesdays at 2:00pm CST at which point the thread is closed, and they pick 10 questions from the thread and answer them in the blog entry on Friday. The thread is open now, so head over there and get askin’!

Next we have the weekly Dev Tracker Summary. Personally, I like Yellow Posts, which is OUR weekly dev tracker summary… but if you feel you MUST go to the source, BioWare is happy to oblige! Each week they will post a roundup of the important developer posts. Our weekly dev tracker roundup is one of the most popular features on the site, so I’m sure it will be there too. 

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Feb 3, 2012

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BioWare Posts First In A Series Of New Player Video Guides

It’s Friday. It’s an Update. So I’m gonna call it a Friday Update!

BioWare just published their first in a series of video guides geared toward helping new players get up to speed on playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. The new videos reside in the already-helpful but little known New Player Guide.

The first one is called “Begin Your Journey” and features none other than Eric Musco, BioWare’s Social Media Coordinator (and formerly of TOROcast) helping players along the path of selecting their server, explaining the server types and creating your character.

Enjoy the soothing sounds of Musco’s voice as you relax and watch the video!

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Dec 23, 2011

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Friday Update? BioWare’s Launches New Intro To TOR Micro-Site

We knew that Friday updates were going to end at some point. But technically…. this is an update. And it’s Friday. So we’re not done yet!

The new micro-site for Star Wars: The Old Republic doesn’t hold any new secrets for fans and players who have been following the game for years, but would be a great place to send your friends as you try to drag them into the far reaches of the Outer Rim with you!

Still, the site offers an interesting presentation in an overview format. There are sections on the story, classes, planets and starships and more. In addition, the site is available in all 3 native launch languages: English, French and German.

If you’re a TOR fan, new or old, it’s worth a visit!

 

 

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