Posted by Momus | 11 Comments

gamescom 2011: Stephen Reid & Gabe Amantangelo Twitter Q&A

This morning, BioWare Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid held an impromtu Twitter Q&A with Gabe Amantangelo, Lead End-game Designer for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Here’s a transcript of the questions and answers in all the glory of their 140 characters. There may be more throughout the day so we’ll keep this post updated but you can also follow then on Twitter with the hashtag #GabeQ by clicking right here!

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Posted by Lethality | 6 Comments

gamescom 2011: Eternity Vault Presentation Video

The guys over at Darth Hater have posted a short video from gamescom showing a show-floor demonstration of the Eternity Vault.

Gabe Amatangelo acts as the narrator, much as he did in yesterday’s EA press conference. For the most part, it’s the same demo with the exception of actually beating the large droid boss, and making their way into the prison block.

Some interesting notes from the presentation:

• There is a spaceport where most of the Operations and Flashpoints are accessible from – no travel?
• Players physically not present during the mission briefing will be holo-conferenced into the discussion, and then apparently transported to the instance when the party enters
• A list of nearby players is shown, where the Operation leader fils the raid party from 4 to 8 players, converting it to an Operations group

Definitely worth a watch, and hopefully we’ll see more as the week at gamescom progresses! Thanks to DH for their work!

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Posted by Lethality | 16 Comments

GameStar.de Talks Operations With Gabe Amatangelo w/ Screenshots

It seems German magazine GameStar.de was able to score an exclusive interview with BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo to discuss Operations, which is BioWare’s take on raiding in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The September issue which is out now would seem to be a perfect lead-up to gamescom, which happens in Cologne, Germany next month. Perhaps we’ll get more details on Operations there? Time will tell!

For now, you can find more information in a thread on the official forums started by user Cebo, who also posts some scans of the article’s pages! He was able to provide a partial translation that confirms both 8- and 16-man raid sizes.

There seems to be a furious effort underway to get it all translated, so if you can help out, hop on over!

Some items of note coming out of the thread:

• 8- and 16-man raid sizes
• Different difficulty settings per size
• Loot commensurate to difficulty
• Badges to purchase items
• “Loot bags” – each player receives from boss
• Area control and capture the flag style Warzones
• 4 and 8 player warzones (per faction)
• Open world PvP objectives confirmed
• Possibility for armored combat vehicles (even though Daniel Erickson told us no)

Stephen Reid comment on Loot Bags:

‘Loot containers’ (name is still a work in progress!) do indeed exist and are designed to alleviate the frustration some feel around high-level loot drops.

As it’s currently implemented, at the end of a key encounter within an Operation, upon looting a high-level opponent, everyone in the Operations group will get an individual container which has a chance to give you a random piece of loot that’s specific to your class. It could be part of an armor set, a weapon, and so on. If you don’t get loot, you’ll get commendations which can be used to purchase gear.

Please note, this feature is currently in Game Testing and may well be modified before launch.

[UPDATE] New screenshots added below. Molten Core confirmed!

 

 

 

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Posted by Sentinel | 0 Comments

E3 2011 – Eternity Vault Preview At GameTrailers

Another great segment yesterday was GameTrailers interview with BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo where he revealed footage of and talked about raids, known as Operations in The Old Republic, for the first time!

The preview shown of the Eternity Vault, the first Operation in TOR is nothing short of amazing, and any MMORPG raider should be in awe. The environments and the action appear to surpass the best of what other games have to offer.

We suspect we’ll see some of this on SWTOR.com soon, but for now, have a look on GameTrailers!

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Posted by Lethality | 8 Comments

FSS 2011: Hands-On the Alderaan Civil War Warzone; Marauder & Gunslinger

Let me start out by saying this right away: I’m not an organized PvPer. I love open-world, chance encounters however I rarely participate in structured matches of any kind. So I don’t find it necessary to work on specializing my gear or character build for this purpose.

With that said, after having gotten my first taste of PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic, I can’t wait to dive into it when the live game finally comes launches.

It could just be the fact that its freaking’ Star Wars, and there are lightsabers swinging and blaster bolts firing in all directions. Or maybe it’s the fact that it felt so different from what I’ve experienced in the past. This wasn’t one-shot, stun-lock bunny-hop combat. There was strategy you could use and tactics you could apply. And the fights lasted longer than 30 seconds!

Read on to find out why I might be spending a lot more time PvPing when TOR finally ships.

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