MER Episode 19 – Known Associates

With the development team knee-deep in E3 prep, the news cycle for the past few weeks has slowed down just a bit, but not completely! In the episode we discuss the new info on Companions, the updates to the Sith Warrior, and what famed Galaxies developer Matt Boudreaux might bring to the SWTOR team. With E3 coming up next week, be sure to keep an eye out for our wrap-up episode at the end of the week. We’re extremely excited to see what Bioware has in store for us!

We want to offer a big thanks to Laryk and Bronzephisy for taking the time to leave us reviews on iTunes.

Music for this show was provided by General Fuzz. Check out more of his work at generalfuzz.net

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News from the Galactic Republic
(5/28) Companions Updated
-Dedicated page in the Game Systems section
-Original article w/ James Ohlen at IGN
-Vette added as first companion for the Sith Warrior. Vette in the Biographies section
-Vette’s Aurebesh hints of Lord Baras and the Star of Kala’uun

(5/28) Sith Warrior Updated on the HoloNet
-Epic new video set on Korriban
-New layout of the class page
-Preliminary video dissection at Darth Hater

Stories from the Outer Rim
(6/4) Star Wars Galaxies developer Matt Boudreaux, aka AdeptStrain, joins the SWTOR team
-Original article at Massively
-”Welcome” thread on the Official Forums

(5/26) Bioware opens new Customer Service office in Ireland
-Jobs listing page at Bioware.com

New Segment – We still need a name!
(6/1) Sony Online Entertainment announces Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
-Marketed by Sony as a “virtual world” moreso than an MMO
-Primarily mini-game based (space battles, tower defense, speeder bike racing, etc.)
-Includes things like pets and player housing
-Launches free in the fall, optional payment scheme for extra features
-Detailed post at Massively
-Interview with SOE at Massively

MER Episode 06 – Threat of the Old Republic

What a slow month for news! Don’t worry though, we’ve got a doozy of an episode for you (over an hour and a half!). DeaconX of Heroes of the Old Republic was finally able to join us where we discuss his project and the Threat of Peace webcomic. We also touch on some community rumblings about PVP, microtransactions, and the closing of some Galaxies servers. All that and more!

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News from the Galactic Republic
-SOE shutting down a number of Star Wars Galaxies servers

Stories from the Outer Rim
-Will Bioware be using microtransactions for SWTOR?
-Slash Dance!

KOTOR Giveaway Winners!

Listener Questions
@NpXDinO – Have you guys heard anything about flying a ship, owning a ship, or at least commanding a ship?

@Machine1k – What do you guys think about the amount of CC that might be in game? for PvP and PvE.

JD – We hear a lot from Bioware about the original kotor story being hinted or referenced upon in TOR. But what about kotor II? Do you think its worth making any inclusions or references towards the second game? Do Bioware even have the rights to use the kotor II characters?

Player Housing in SWTOR

With GamesCom over, and the drool from the developer walkthrough video finally being mopped up, a number of news sites and fans have started to break down every last detail of what was mentioned during the conference. While a many frame-by-frame breakdowns of the video have sprung up, a number of folks have latched on to a particular statement made about “typical MMO features”. More specifically, amongst the vague talk about PvP, auction houses, and crafting…housing was VERY briefly mentioned.

Housing has been a topic of great discussion ever since the game had been announced. Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) players had it, Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) players had it, World of Warcraft players YEARNED for it, but how would it be implemented, if at all? It is no doubt that if the developers over at Bioware Austin are going to give players a place to hang their trophies, they’re going to look at how the other games have solved the problem of placing thousands, if not hundreds-of-thousands, of houses.

There are two basic approaches to player housing: open world and instanced, each of which can be seen in SWG and LOTRO, respectively. One would think that an open-world solution like that in SWG is simple: buy a house, find a lot, and boom your character has a place to live, right? Wrong. Between player-based cities, taxes, house-type planet limitations, utilities (yeah, you pay utilities hourly), and voting for mayor every three weeks, the system in SWG is incredibly complicated. But it’s hard to argue that this amount of detail provides a certain level of immersion that could not be captured any other way. I invite you to check out the SWG Wiki for all the gritty details.

LOTRO, on the other hand, uses an instanced neighborhood system. Similar to player cities, there are four racially styled homesteads (Men, Hobbit, Dwarven, and Elven) which appear in the open world, with 250 instanced neighborhoods per homestead. Each neighborhood has 30 homes, 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe personal houses, and 16 standard personal houses, which can then be customized upon purchase. The result? A highly organized, pre-planned place for players or groups of players to hang their wares. (All information about LOTRO homes was found HERE)

So which of these methods will we see in SWTOR? The speculation and hopes from the player-base have been far and wide. This forum thread covers just about every possibility from open-world, to instanced, to ships acting as homes (similar to the Ebon Hawk in KOTOR). As with every other detail of the game, the developers are waiting for a finished product before confirming anything, but there’s no doubt that they are keeping a close eye on the community.

What do you think of player housing in SWTOR? Vote in the poll and give us the details the comments!

[poll id="4"]