MER Episode 20 – SWTOR at E3 2010

E3 2010 has come and gone, and with it we have received a number of updates and details covering everything from player ships to crafting. The two of us break down everything inside, along with a collection of interview clips to make sure we’re getting the best information right from the source. Give it a listen and pass it on to your friends!

We want to offer a big thanks to Good Revan and RobHellBoy 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
Bioware reveals new CGI Cinematic Trailer “Hope”
-Hope trailer at SWTOR.com
-Interview at Ask A Jedi with Bryan Arndt

Player Ships Announced
-Player Ships at SWTOR.com
-Interview with Daniel Erickson at Darth Hater
-Interview with Daniel Erickson at GameTrailers.com

Warzones Announced (PVP battlegrounds)
-Interview with James Ohlen at Darth Hater
-Interview with Rich Vogel at Massively

Bounty Hunter Armor Progression
-Armor Progression video at SWTOR.com

Combat Video from G4
-Game Demo with Dallas Dickinson at G4

General Info Learned
-Group dialog cleared up and quest mechanics cleared up
-The majority of everything we’ve seen so far is based on the origin worlds and has been focused primarily on individual class stories. Large Imperial vs. Republic story arcs will be introduced later on.
-Twi’lek and Chiss revealed to be playable species
-Class stories and play styles differ GREATLY

Stories From the Outer Rim
A lot of people were hoping to hear about starships and crafting at E3 but so far we’ve only got starship/home annoucements. If crafting isnt revealed in the next few days what do you guys expect from crafting?
-Sergio

Hey guys,
I have recently become a fan of your podcast, and it’s totally amazing! As I have never played an MMO before, but am a huge fan of the original KOTOR, so I think that I am willing to give this game a try. But I have a couple of questions (actually only one at the moment):
Does it cost extra to create different accounts? Or like, could I play as a Smuggler, and then switch to a Bounty Hunter, and then to a Jedi, and then a Sith Warrior, on the same account, but be able to keep all of my characters? Like in KOTOR you could have several different characters and they were all separate. Is that possible in an MMO? Or do you need to pay the subscription fee for every single character that you have?
Thanks for your time.
-Stephen

I’d just like to tell you that it’s really fun listening to your radio show and i hope ya’ll keep them up. It’s very informing because for some people, like me, dont get to hear the interviews and know the backgrounds of the designers and characters on the other games. I know a lot about Star Wars but not the ancient lore as a lot of people do, but i really enjoy any type of lore from other fictional world. Especially warcraft, starcraft, lord of the rings, and star wars. Thanks again for the service and keep it up!
-Hunter

Love your podcast. Been listening to it since I stumbled across it last fall. I like your old outro music, but really love the outtakes. I have a few more podcast question then for SW:ToR.
1) how do you get on the zune store (ie I am itunes but looking to expand).
2) how do you play audio for both of you to listen to in Skype.
-Jason

Do you think SWTOR will have closed servers like WoW? Where if you pick a realm you will be anchored to it? Discuss.
-Colin

MER Episode 13 – Dispensing Justice

Hear that sound? That’s the gentle sigh of relief from a community that finally knows when to expect The Old Republic to be released. A release date, we might add, that is going to mean more features, more content, and ample time to deal with bugs PRIOR to launch. Along with the new release target, we get caught up on the rest of SWTOR news with the Imperial Agent developer blog, the new Sith planet, Dromund Kaas, and more. We also respond to one of our best polls yet (thanks to you listeners!) and yield a few questions on everything from group roles to cross-faction conversation.

Thanks again to everyone who sent us a question, participated in the poll, or has left us reviews on iTunes and other places around the web…we truly appreciate it!!

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News from the Galactic Republic
Release Rumor Round 3: Bioware confirms Spring 2011 as the “release target”
-Confirmation on the official forums
-Original rumor from EA meeting on Darth Hater

Developer Blog – Top Secret Dossier on the Imperial Agent

Dromund Kaas added to the Holonet

Fan Friday Update features a new Developer Corner section

Pre-Episode Poll
How many hours a week do you game?
-Hardcore! (25+ hours) (38%)
-Moderate (15-25 hours) (38%)
-Casual (5-15 hours) (19%)
-Very Casual (0-5 hours) (5%)

Listener Questions
Do you think typical mmo players like having well defined group roles for their class, or do you think they will adapt well to being able to change their combat role through changing traits/talents or by summoning a companion?
-Reliant

With all the stun and sleep moves I just dont think the pvp is going to be very action packed more like everyone stun everyone. How do you guys think the pvp will work? Also do you think that all the classes should have a stun ability?
-Mitchal Whiting

- Audio Question from Slartibartfast (Axel)

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

What part of TOR are you looking forward to the most?

Unlike any other game, MMOs generally bring a lot of options to the table that other genres don’t. They often include several playing components to the game such as RPG elements, Dungeons and Boss Battles, intense competition (PvP or Guild Firsts), and all of these centered around a social community. The thing about MMOs is we all generally want something different but also enjoy all of the other things that come with it. For example, I love dungeons and Boss fights. There is nothing more thrilling to me than defeating an extremely powerful person through teamwork and practice. While, this is one of the most important things to me when playing an MMO (and the reason I got into MMOs in the first place) there are plenty of things I would have never attempted if it weren’t part of the MMO gaming culture. PvP comes to mind.

A lot of people love PvP, and who can blame them. PvP is fast action, always on your toes, live and die by how well you can manage your abilities kind of fun. It’s really competitive because everyone wants to be that guy (or girl) on the server that everyone else fears. You walk around cities and people go, “Look it’s the Jedi killer, Dweebee” (such a menacing name I know). It’s just another branch of the MMOs tree that I have come to enjoy because it is a part of the game. Which gets me back to my original point: MMOs are truly what the name implies, Massive. We all love MMOs but all for different reasons. Tell us what you are looking forward to the most with the upcoming Star Wars MMO.

[poll id="6"]

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?