Posted by Zlatto | 6 Comments

Zlatto's Bazaar: Open For Business

Zlatto’s Bazaar is the one-third Wall Street, one-third criminal empire and one-half gossip rag. You need to keep up on the Bazaar if for no other reason than to keep an eye on your competitors. Don’t be a Ho-tah and visit often.  Your comments are encouraged, especially if they make me credits…

One might ask “Why would anyone want to be writing a column about the non-combat side of SW:TOR?”

I mean, what use could there be in generating discussions about something that we can’t yet get specifics on?  To make credits of course! A Toydarian won’t even break wind without some sort of monetary compensation. [funny side note: since we generate a lighter than air gas to help us in our flight, when I see a human child walking by with a floating balloon I know one of my brethren is making some money.]

Where was I? Oh yeah…

The collective addiction to SW:TOR on Ask A Jedi has drawn me to impose upon Lethality for some web space to start some re-occurring chatter about Crew Skills, SW:TOR economics and the desire to create credits.  It is only a matter of time before those who have spent time playing will share their ideas and concepts, so why shouldn’t we all profit?

When I see bits shared like the quote below, I smell credits to be made (I mean, come on, with a snout like mine you know I smell opportunity easily.) The quote below I poached from Swtorcrafter’s interview on Crew Skills (this guy is going to be an economic dynamo, I look forward stealing a lot of ideas and concepts from him):

Damion Schubert: “We try to make it so that hardcore crafters do bring something to the server that they’re on that casual crafters can’t. What we want is the casual crafter is mostly interested in crafting for himself and crafting for his companion characters, but other than that he is not really doing much other than that. And the dedicated crafters, they have access – through special means we haven’t talked about yet – in order to pursue recipes that are very rare on their entire server. We actually think it’s good and exciting and interesting to be the only guy on a shard that can make these kind of pants.”

I cannot wait to hear how we will accomplish these achievements.

Will the SW:TOR system be a WoW-like means to an end where only gold farmers and high end raiders make a profit? Or something closer to EvE and pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies where any player interested in crafting can truly find their place in a game that is interesting, challenging, and fun?

The comments and opinions of those who follow this site have value, and I look forward to cashing in on all of them.

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Posted by Sa Chi | 16 Comments

All The Galaxy's A Stage: Story And Role-Play In TOR – How Are You Preparing?

All The Galaxy’s A Stage is a regular column at Ask A Jedi with some lofty, creative goals.  On one hand, we will be discussing and exploring meaningful topics to support the role-play experience and community.  On the other hand, we also want to introduce the casual Role-Player to the writing-acting experience that can add so much more to an MMORPG like Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.  Join in the discussion below to share your perspectives and experience as we co-create magical story in that galaxy far, far away!

I started role-playing first edition Dungeons & Dragons when I was 8 years old.  I am now 40.  Setting the math aside, I’d also like to note that I’ve spent a number of years role-playing in various on-line settings.  And so, when I first heard about Star Wars: The Old Republic and its story focus I was excited.  I’ve been a Star Wars fan since 1977, and the idea of a story-focused RPG in an MMO, with ‘consequences’ was very, very intriguing to me.  However, my second thought was, ‘wait a minute…’

 

 

Many of the role-players I’ve created story with would agree with me that story and character development are critical ingredients to amazing Role-Play (RP).  And yet I also know that the role-playing community (in any genre) is filled with exceptionally creative people with diverse takes on what role-play actually is.  Such creativity results in a cross-spectrum of play-styles, a continuum that stretches from the very casual to the serious writer-actor.

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Posted by Lethality | 6 Comments

Trivial Matters: TOR Cribz

Welcome to Trivial Matters, a regular column that delves into some of the more frivolous aspects of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and desperately tries to add weight to them. While in many cases the issues discussed here are brushed under the rug, to some, trivial does matter, and we would encourage you to weigh in on the discussion as well.

For some, there’s just something about owning virtual real estate that adds value to a game, and for a select few, their lives. I personally don’t fall into this category, but I did hold on to some hope that player ships in Star Wars: The Old Republic would allow for at least some form of cosmetic customization. These hopes were recently dashed by the game’s developers, and we were informed that such a feature would not be available, at least at launch.

While we now know we won’t be doing any interior decorating at launch, Daniel Erickson did mention in our recent E3 interview with him that we will likely see ship customization sometime after launch, before we would see any customization of player mounts. Personally, I’m not sure if I would prefer the ability to customize the interior of my ship or the exterior. Would a rancor head look better mounted on the wall of my situation room, or chrome plated and affixed to the front of my ship as a ballin’ ass hood ornament?

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Posted by Lethality | 5 Comments

Trivial Matters: Reinventing My(dark)self

Welcome to Trivial Matters, a weekly column that delves into some of the more frivolous aspects of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and desperately tries to add weight to them. While in many cases the issues discussed here are brushed under the rug, to some, trivial does matter, and we would encourage you to weigh in on the discussion as well.

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Recently it was revealed that the Darth title will be available to those Sith players who make certain story choices within Star Wars: The Old Republic. Regarding the titles place in the overall Sith Empire hierarchy, Daniel Erickson had this to say:

Darths do outrank Lords in our time period and both are official titles in this Sith Empire.

Based upon this information, I believe it’s reasonable to infer that the Darth title will be the highest attainable rank for a dark aligned Sith Warrior or Sith Inquisitor. While this is all well and good, I’ve come to realize that in almost every instance in which a character has obtained the Darth title, they have shed the original non-Darth name they were born with. This is understandable, as the Sith Empire is a fairly dog eat dog organization, and it could be difficult for Darth McWilliams to command proper respect from the Dark Council.

Here’s the official definition of the Darth title courtesy of Wookiepedia:

Darth was a title given to certain Sith Lords which preceded either their chosen Sith name, or, in some cases, their birth name.

As a matter of fact, the only characters I can think of who didn’t abandon their original names were Bioware’s own Darth Revan, and Darth Malak from the original Knights of the Old Republic. It should be noted that Malak was born Alek, but cleverly added an ‘M’ to the beginning of his name to dodge an arrest warrant. Apparently Republic law enforcement back then was as efficient as the TSA.

So we’re at an impasse. Will BioWare follow traditional Star Wars cannon and present the player with the option to change their character’s name upon reaching the title of Darth, or will they go the route of KoToR and simply tack it right on to the front of the character nameplate? While I could see this going either way, I’m inclined to believe that due to the ramifications such a name change could have on the social tools within the game, no name change is going to be available. Players who ran a flashpoint with Lord Travik yesterday may open their friends list to find no such name, but wondering who the hell Darth Ownsuhard is.

While it’s likely no name change is in store, I do have a problem with that decision. Taking the Darth title is an ascension of sorts, a claim to supremacy, a challenge to other Sith Lords. For one to become a Darth, they must abandon their former selves, and become stronger than they once were if they have any hope of sticking around for any significant period of time. It also serves to protect the Darth from his former weaknesses. If Lord Travik really had a thing for puppies, and had a tendency to abandon all of his dark side awesomeness in their presence, this little nuisance from his past could really cause him problems when trying to protect his power as a Darth.

Another issue that may arise from the Darth title, and one that may not exist at the game’s launch, is the possibility of paid name changes in the future. If I’m playing my Imperial Agent, and I severely regret naming him Badonkadonk, why should I have to shell out 20 bucks for a name change when all the high and mighty Sith get one for free? The same can be said for all of the other classes, and such a feature could potentially increase the already alarming disparity between force and non force player characters.

While hardly a mechanic whose implementation would be game breaking for me either way, my curiosity surrounding the matter is piqued, and I’d really like to hear what everyone else thinks. Surely I’m not the only person who’s had such a thought cross their mind.

 

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Posted by Professor Walsh | 38 Comments

Ask A Jedi: The Mandalorian Mistake

If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of the Jedi. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!

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Hello everyone! Professor Walsh here…. Time for another edition of Ask A Jedi!

This week pickings were a little slim, I guess everyone else had questions regarding the dropped embargoes or something. However, I did get a nice spattering in my inbox this week, so I decided pick one of the more interesting ones.

Our first question comes from a poster at the official TOR forums, and he has asked that he remain nameless:

“Hey Professor, I’ve recently gotten into Star Wars books and I just read the “Legacy of the Force” series. I’m confused. When was it established that Boba Fett had killed more Jedi than anyone else?”

Well Anonymous, this one is actually extremely good, and I had to gather a lot of sources to answer it… Meaning I have spent a lot of time on this one question and the answer is a long one. So if you need to use the bathroom or want something to drink, you might wish to do so before you continue to read on. I’ll wait.

Are you back already?

Good, let us continue.

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