trooper

MER Episode 15 – Gee Dee Cee You At PAX East!

Gee Dee Cee You At Pax East!

After taking a month off, we knew you guys would want a packed show…and we’ve delivered! Beyond catching up on all the recent news like Belsavis and the Consular developer blog, Darth Hater’s Emlaeh joined us to talk about her hands-on experience with the Trooper last week at LucasArts. We also get to the listener questions that have been sitting in the inbox for a while, and our pal JD joins us for an Old Republic class March Madness! Hope you all enjoy the long format, and we look forward to bringing you our experience at PAX East next week.

Also, we want to extend a huge thanks to Jaysen71581 for taking the time to leave us a review on iTunes!

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

Direct Download
iTunes Subscription
RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
Fan Friday Update: Fan Site Kit, Trooper Animation, Rancor Render

Developer Video: Returning to Taris

Developer Blog: Finding Balance in the Force

New Webcomic with Dark Horse: Blood of the Empire

New Playable Planet: Belsavis
-Info from Wookiepedia

Stories from the Outer Rim
Trooper Gameplay @ Darth Hater

Be sure to check out the rest of the GDC coverage from Darth Hater!

Pre-Episode Poll
Which Unannounced KOTOR planet should be added to the game?
-Kashyyyk (36%, 24 Votes)
-Dantooine (27%, 18 Votes)
-Yavin System (19%, 13 Votes)
-Manaan (13%, 9 Votes)
-Rakata Prime (Lehon) (5%, 3 Votes)

“I’d love to see them explore Dantooine where it says “Buried beneath the deserted Enclave was a hidden facility in which the ancient Jedi Knights carried on mysterious cloning experiments.” in the wiki link. I love the idea of the serene planet surface, but beneath the surface are either jedi ghosts or decayed jedi walking around doing immoral experiments for warped and skewed reasons that were at one time good. And hell, if the Empire could somehow be behind this corruption… all the better.”
-Lazenca

“I’d like it to be a time when the wookiees are “free” from outside influence, and have fallen into a civil war.”
-Axe Faktor

Listener Questions
What are your opinions on flyable ships as opposed to the system in KOTOR where you were automatically taken to another planet?
-Sith Tyro Revan
Check out Gordon Walton’s thoughts on space combat

So I have played (and will play again) the Star Wars pencil and paper D20 RPG game. It plays really similarly to D&D and both KOTORs adapt a bunch of their play styles from it. The big difference between it and D&D is the weapon damage. You would have similar HP, but the weapons just shell out tons of damage, both for the heroes and mobs. Do you think this would be an appropriate play style for SWTOR? Having tons of damage dealt from you and to you, speeding up the game play. Or do you think it should be slowed down to match other MMORPG’s?
-Peter Corey

Hi guys great cast been listening for a few months now. Just wondered what you guys think the planet areas are going to be like and what you will be hoping for in respect to size and exploration. Obviously there will be a lot of instances within open areas for solo and different size groups/raids but what would you like from the open areas? You talked a little about exploration with regards to SWG and Krayt dragons and a little on easter eggs which will be cool to come across but what would you really like from the open areas with respect to size/ random spawns/ gated areas or not?/ random,scripted,GM events/ cool things/ crafting nodes and drops…….etc.
-Kojack

March Madness!!!!

MER Episode 14 – Crackpots of The Old Republic

Crackpots of The Old Republic

With Con season right around the corner, the news from Bioware has just barely been trickling out. But that’s okay! With a month break from the show, we’ve had plenty of news pile up to talk about including a new Holonet entry, a Dev Blog on the Sith Inquisitor, and the newly announced playable planet, Taris! It’s not all news either, as we launch into an epic speculation rabbit hole about the nature of the Spring 2011 release announcement. You won’t want to miss it!

Also, we want to extend a huge thanks to JThompson6577, DEDMON5811 (who left a seriously hilarious review and has been active in the forums as well), and Peterisjustok for taking the time to leave us reviews on iTunes!

Direct Download
iTunes Subscription
RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
Holorecord Entry: Onslaught of the Sith Empire

Developer Blog: Composing the Sith Inquisitor
-For those of you who missed the Trooper dev blog (like us) you can find it here

Taris Added as Newest Playable Planet
-Background info from Wookiepedia
-Aurebesh translation from Holonet Project
-Originally speculated as a planet back in July by forum poster MFavila
-Lore Update from Darth Hater

Stories from the Outer Rim
What the 2011 Release Date Means for the Community and EA
-Original release target post is now over 200 pages
-Recent entitlement post with an official response from ErickAdams
-Zach’s crackpot idea of a large media company purchasing EA in the next year
-The negative effect the entitled minority can have on the greater community (The Ghostcrawler Incident)

Fansites from around the web
-Holonet Project: Dedicated to translating all of the Aurebesh found on the Holonet pages. http://www.holonetproject.net/
-Shock N Awesome: Sith Inquisitor class blog. http://shocknawesome.com/

Pre-Episode Poll
Are You Going to PAX East?
-Nope. (87%, 47 Votes)
-Yes! I’ll see you guys there. (13%, 7 Votes)

MER Episode 05 – PAX 2009

pax 2009

PAX 2009 served up a huge pile of new SWTOR news. Everything from Coruscant, to Trooper gameplay, to player housing, and more. Give it a listen and join the discussion!

Direct Download
iTunes Subscription
RSS Subscription

News From the Galactic Republic
PAX – Penny Arcade Expo
-Coruscant confirmed as a playable planet (Video @ YouTube)
-Trooper class demo
-Death system
-Use of phasing system for personal stories

Stories From the Outer Rim
-Player housing
-Morality System
-Sith Infiltrator Class

Listener Questions
@sirdesmond – Do you think SWTOR will have character customization to the level of Champions Online or Star Trek Online?

@TonySama22 – The finishing moves in some vids, will those come about from talent trees or trainers, etc?

@NpXDinO – The landscape was beautiful in the demos!! How high are the land expectations after that sexyness!?!?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments and the forums!

MER Episode 02 – Attack!!!

Zach and Brooks break down the past two weeks of SWTOR news, from the voiceover work outlined in Developer Blog #10 to the UI design shown in Video Documentary #3. All that and more in this week’s episode of Mos Eisley Radio!

Direct Download
iTunes Subscription
RSS Subscription

News From the Galactic Republic
Return of the Mandalorians
-Overview of the video
-Mandalorians as a “faction” and how factions would work in SWTOR

Development Blog #10 / Video Documentary #3
-Visual appearance of the SWTOR engine
-Voicing of both NPCs and your player’s character
-All aspects of the scale and level of production going in to the voice over work.
-Brooks’ post about audio from an engineer’s perspective
-SWTOR’s UI and the need for a mod community

Stories from the Outer Rim
PC Gamer UK Interview with Rich Vogel
-PVP, Raids, Economy

Discussion of the Week
Trooper and Bounty Hunter Classes
-What roles Trooper and Bounty Hunter will play within both party and solo settings
-Class abilities
-Possible ability focus based on armor (for Troopers) and weapons (for Bounty Hunters)

Podcast Directories
We’ve uploaded our feed to a few different directories to make sure that whererever you are, you can hear us! Listed below are the links to our pages on various sites.
-PodBean.com (claim-my-podcast-in-podbean{scid-bW9zZWlzbGV5cmFkaW8=-ecid})
-Podfeed.net
-Podcast Alley

To Each His Own (Planet)

We spoke briefly on last week’s podcast about the concept of “starting planets”. As with most MMO’s, each class or race is given a specific area from which to start. For example, the Orcs and Trolls in World of Warcraft both start their journeys in Durotar, Kalimdor. Well, it would seem that our speculation holds some weight.

In a number of interviews and reviews, Bioware employees have roughly confirmed that each planet will play specific host to one (or possibly two) classes as they enter the galaxy. So far it appears as if the Trooper and Smuggler classes will start on Ord Mantell, while the Bounty Hunter class will begin on Hutta. These are all logical choices as to how each fits in with the overall lore of Star Wars. For example, its widely known that most Bounty Hunters have a very strong business relationship with the Hutt crime lords. And in the case of Ord Mantell, given the planet’s volatile political state, it makes sense that Troopers are needed to enforce the Galactic Republic’s rule, while the Smugglers do everything in their power to undermine them and move their goods.

This leaves an open slot on Hutta, and nothing for Korriban and Tython. Obviously, the most likely choices for the latter planets are going to be Sith Lord and Jedi Master, respectively. Yet since the other classes have yet to be announced, the options for Hutta are still wide open.

What do you think of having the classes separated so far from each other? Which planet are you looking forward to adventuring the most?

This player requires Adobe Flash
View player in a new window