MER Episode 18 – Master Gnost-Dural Does

Advanced Class System before E3? We weren’t expecting that at all. The two of us venture into the details of the system, and speculate on what it could mean for the other classes. We also cover the newly added planet of Hoth, as well as the Inhabitants section of the Holonet. Like we mention in episode 17, there was a huge backlog of listener questions so we take the time to get caught up, touching on everything from land mounts to whatever happened to Revan and Bastila. And don’t forget to check out the new segment covering general Star Wars news. All that and more inside!!

We want to offer a big thanks to Farscape29, Twintwisters, and Darth_Entropius 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
(4/30) Inhabitants added to the Holonet
-Inhabitants in the Holonet
-Aurebesh translation from the Holonet Project
-Breakdown of info at Darth Hater

(5/21) Fan Friday Reveals Bioware’s Use of Depth of Field
-Fan Friday update at SWTOR.com

(5/21) Hoth announced as The Old Republic’s 13th Playable Planet
-Hoth in the Holonet
-Aurebesh translation from the Holonet Project
-Umbaran race at Wookiepedia
-Chiss race at Wookiepedia

(5/14) Game Systems Section added to the site – Advanced Class System
-Advanced Class System in the Game Systems
-Exclusive coverage from Eurogamer

(5/14) European Press Event: Bounty Hunter Hands-On
–First official non-human playable race: The Rattataki (Pronounced: Rat-Attack-Eee)
-Hands-on coverage from GameSpot
-Hands-on coverage from Eurogamer
-Video interview from GameSpot with Daniel Erickson

Stories from the Outer Rim / Listener Questions
Hi guys, I was wondering if there will be weather effects in the game, such as rain, sand storms, snow, blowing robes?
-Eloxar
-Lightning effects on Dromund Kaas
-Snow falling on Alderaan in Video Documentary #4 (5:07)

Hey guys! Well my question today is about land mounts. I know or am pretty sure that SWG had land mounts such as speeders, but do you think that Tor will implement this similarly?
-Jord
-Touched on this in episode 8 with Christian (59:30)
-No confirmation on land mounts, but the inclusion of the Taxi’s from the Fan Friday more or less confirms that there will be some form of on-planet travel.
-Whether or not this is fast-travel or user-controlled is up for debate. KOTOR and other Bioware titles have fast travel, but land mounts have become a staple of MMO’s.

What happened to Revan and Bastila?
-Jason
-Breakdown of Revan’s story from Daniel Erickson found on the forums
-Bottom line: the events that occur post-KOTOR are still up in the air

After watching a bunch of videos on the SWTOR website, a thought came to me: Will the opposing factions be able to communicate to each other? In games like WoW they can’t, but I think it would make sense in this game because in all the Star Wars movies, the factions speak the same language. I would love for this to be an added feature because I’ve always liked the ability to taunt my opponent before killing them.
-Sam
-Discussed this in episode 13 (60:00)

New Segment – Help us name it!!
Master Gnost-Dural Does Droid (Ad seen during LOST finale)
-Verizon Droid ad at YouTube

Darth Vader to Voice Tom Tom
-Mock studio session clip at YouTube
-Update on voices from TomTom

MER Episode 17 Pre-Poll: Real-money transactions for in-game items

We know it’s been quite a while since we’ve brought you a new episode, but we’re incredibly excited to put together episode 17 for you! The pre-poll for this week stems from the recent news about Blizzard’s new for-purchase Celestial Steed mount that netted the company about $2 million in the first four hours it was available. We want to know if this type of thing is something you feel is fitting the MMO space, and if Bioware were to include something similar, what are the limits on things that should be available for purchase.

As always, we would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Look for the new episode to come out early next week.

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MER Episode 08 – The Black Sun Syndicate

Bioware dropped the making of Coruscant and the new planet, Balmorra, on us, and Zach points out a mention of the Black Sun Syndicate! Christian Sorrell joins us from FourStoryGamer.com to discuss the news and the possibility of creature handlers in SWTOR, as well as some listener questions about Bioware points, mounts, and more. We top off the episode with a special segment about the Star Wars franchise. Check it out and let us know what you think!

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News from the Galactic Republic
-The Making of Coruscant
-Balmorra revealed as the newest playable planet location in SWTOR

Stories from the Outer Rim
-Is Creature Handler going to be revealed as a playable class?

Listener Questions
I Think the points system that you guys was talking about in episode 7 could be something like World Of Warcraft’s DKP system. Where you gain points for raiding and then when you gain enough of these points you could use these points to gain epics from drops in the raid. Join the dark side we have cookies.
-Darth Sciros

One of the things I’ve been most concerned about is this: What incentive will there be for characters to group together for quests? I mean socialization and companionship are one thing, but what about furthering your story line, and what do you do when all your friends and guildmates are busy on another planet and don’t have time to come do your “Flashpoint?” And what if the people who DO have time turn out to be jerks? I posted this a while ago, on the TOR forums, and I’m interested to hear what you think.
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=25187 Thanks!
-Billy Uno