Tag: The Old Republic

Play The Old Republic Free, March 15th Through 19th


You know you’ve been wanting to try out those Old Republics that the kids all seem to be getting into these days. But you don’t want to spend sixty bucks on a game client for a title you might not enjoy? Well, Bioware has your back. Starting March 15th and going through March 19th, you will be able to play The Old Republic absolutely free of charge. There are restrictions: Level is capped to 15 (40 for trade skills) and bound to origin/capital worlds. Weekend pass holders will also be restricted from general/trade/pvp chat, cannot send or reply to email, use the galactic trade network.

It is worth noting that this is not a welcome back weekend, and the offer does not extend if you already own The Old Republic. Prior subscribers who have allowed their payments to lapse are not included in this weekend. If you purchase The Old Republic during this time, the start of your subscription will cancel any remaining time in the weekend pass, so wait until the 19th to redeem your code.

Also, there is a small note that Bioware reserves the right to delete trial characters on abandoned accounts without notice, although there are no plans to do so at this moment.

No, there are currently no plans to delete characters created as part of the Friends of Star Wars: The Old Republic Trial. Should your friend decide to purchase the Game, their trial characters will still be on their account. We do however reserve the right to delete trial characters on abandoned trial accounts without notice.

(Source: SWTOR website)

Ilum To Be Deprecated In 1.2, PvP In Warzones


If planets are children, Ilum is the son who plays by his own rules and inevitably is shot and killed at the end of the movie due to his own recklessness.  Since The Old Republic launched last December, the high level planet Ilum has been the subject of major bug and resource exploits, controversial bans, players grinding valor points by trading kills, and more headaches for Bioware.

As a result, Stephen Reid was seen on the Old Republic forums stating that Ilum will be deprecated in 1.2, to be reconstructed Vader-style to be more fun. Until then, rewards gained from Ilum will now be gained in warzones.

As we said during the Guild Summit, the PvP team is ‘going back to the drawing board’ with Ilum. That means they want to rework it to be fun and engaging. We accept there are issues with the current design and want to ensure that what we end up with is enjoyable for PvP fans. We have no ETA on when a redesigned Ilum might be available, but when we do have more news, we’ll share it.

In other news, Stephen Reid also mentioned that while Bioware would like to see a Mac client for The Old Republic at some point in the future, there are currently no plans to develop one.

(Source: TOR Forums)

Yea, Well, The Old Republic Will Fail When…


You may not be aware of it, but here at MMO Fallout I have a very lax policy of commenting. I don’t require you register, or for that matter even fill out your username or email address (a good portion of the comments here are entirely anonymous). There are well over five hundred comments spanning 1,100 articles, and in the two and a half years since MMO Fallout was funded, I think I’ve had to delete one legitimate (not a spam bot) comment but only because the person was using a large amount of racial epithets. Still, there are a lot more comments about this website off site than on site.

I think it has something to do with not wanting to risk looking like a fool on the off chance that your premise is inaccurate and you are unable to edit the message, which is also why I receive more emails than I do comments. With The Old Republic, I managed to hit a nerve with a few people every time I referenced the game this past year as clearly “the biggest release of 2011.” First I was told to wait until I’d played the game. Truth be told, I started playing The Old Republic around the time the Electronics Entertainment Expo was still running, so I already had experience. Then the closed beta weekends started and those same people told me to wait until open beta for the game to flop.

Naturally, closed beta turned to head start and I was told to wait until launch, that was when the game would flop. Forget that, by this point, The Old Republic had already been referred to as the best selling preorder for Electronic Arts. Finally the game launched, and this is where those same people started sending me actual “proof,” in the form of empty guild channels. I was told to wait until the dreaded first month passed, and that is when I would see subscriber numbers drop off and the server mergers start.

Well now Bioware has stated that The Old Republic has sold two million copies and retained 1.7 million subscribers, most of whom are past the first month. No doubt the next step will be waiting for the initial three and six month subscribers to drop off, and then we’ll play it by expansion. Will The Old Republic grow or decline? I don’t know, I don’t claim to foresee Bioware’s production schedule to ensure players at end-game don’t get bored too quickly.

In other words: I’ve already talked about how Guild Wars 2 will be insanely profitable and popular, and some of the fans shouldn’t take good news for The Old Republic as a personal assault on their game of choice.

The Old Republic: 1.7 Million Subscribers


Many years ago, I could provide you with hard subscriber facts because companies were actually able to reveal them. Today, thanks to investors and “trade secrets,” we generally have to settle for vague statements of growth, decline, or breaking even. Actually, these days World of Warcraft is one of the few developers left that come straight out and give base number of subscribers, while NCSoft goes into a detailed breakdown on sales figures per title rather than subscriber numbers.

Since plenty of people have called for the imminent death of The Old Republic, Electronic Arts has eased our pain and suffering of needing to know everything by revealing that The Old Republic has sold over two million copies with 1.7 million subscribers (1 million concurrent), or a retention rate of between 80 and 85 percent. Despite the level of vitriol on certain websites, Origin accounted for 40% of those sales.

You can find an interview below at Darth Hater.

(Via: Darth Hater)

[Humor] Bioware Permaban Over Meme Misunderstanding


Memes somehow end up being far funnier when the people who perpetuate them end up in trouble by people who don’t “get it.” Take, for instance, the user who was banned from The Old Republic (including the game) for using the meme on the forums “I’m 12 and what is this.” Like any other company operating under the Child Online Privacy Protection Act, Bioware is required to actively monitor their player base and weed out any players who may be under 13.

Still, the humor in Bioware mistaking a meme for an actual confession of age has not eluded internet users. Infuriating, this is not. At least not as frustrating as the users who were warned for posting links to how to cancel your subscription when the option went missing for a good number of users.

Continue reading “[Humor] Bioware Permaban Over Meme Misunderstanding”

Slideshow of the ___: A Disturbance In The Force


I’m confused about The Old Republic. On one hand, I’ve seen players complaining of over instancing on Ilum, but if Bioware was truly instance-heavy, the least they could do is balance out the population on the open world PvP planets. Granted, if Bioware had introduced the third Vulcan faction as I had suggested back in 2011, we wouldn’t be having this problem right now.

Sorry, I wanted to preempt any Dark Age of Camelot people who were ready to talk about the 3-faction master race.

The Second Month Of The Old Republic Approacheth.


Bioware early adopters, have you made your plans for the upcoming 20th of January? Odds are you are in the process of deciding whether or not you want to continue that Old Republic subscription past the first month. Was it as good for you as it was for them? Do you see yourself playing a few weeks down the line? There aren’t really any MMOs releasing in February, but is there a title you gave up calling your name? Perhaps you want to give the game a break, or maybe you’re enjoying it and haven’t even thought about quitting.

Either way, December 20th is when the PR boat hits the water (or the dock) and the legacy that will be Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals itself. Remember the prime directive of MMO launches: Longevity is not made in preorders, but rather in the first six months and beyond. Granted, we know enough to say with confidence that Bioware isn’t going to go bankrupt, and there likely won’t be an apocalypse next month so there is another scenario to cross off the list.

Barring some massive exodus, there is still some time left before The Old Republic’s viability can be confirmed. Electronic Arts has invested too much into this title to just let it die off.

Falling Out #2: Healing Classes


Because we all know a guy like the Fighter.

Special thanks to Ryker from the Spriter’s Resource message board for the enlarged Final Fantasy sprites. Tune in for a new episode every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

MMO Fallout: The Comic, Falling Out


The Old Republic is the worst launch ever.

This is the first episode of Falling Out, a topical comic conceived in a mind with neither writing or artistic skills. Look for new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Picture of the ____: The Old Republic /breakdown


Leave it up to the internet to find even more humor in an already humorous bug. In The Old Republic, players discovered that using the emote /getdown causes your enemies to be unable to target you properly. Bioware has stated that no one has been banned or warned for this, so dance to your heart’s content!

If you can’t read the signature, this was made by Nikolai Trashev, who you can find here and see his other work at Minicrit.com. Check it out, his art is well drawn and hilarious to boot.