So be it... Jedi! Sith Inquisitor Progression

Get your Emperor Palpatine on with the skirted Sith Inquisitor!

In time you will call *me* master.

Friday Update: IA vs JC

That's Imperial Agent vs Jedi Consular in non-acronym.

Friday Update: Stop. Hammer Time!

Yes I went there.

Friday Update: ?

Mysterious hints abound about this Friday Update:

RockJaw: Tomorrow's update will be interesting. Sadly I'll be flying so doubt I'll see your reaction until later... ah well. Hope you like.


UndeadJest3r: @Rockjaw I just got an e-mail beta invite from Origin for a friend and I, but I'm already in beta. Can I give both invites away? #SWTOR

RockJaw: @UndeadJest3r Yes, but they need to be redeemed quick.

Let the wild speculation begin!

Could it be the announcement of when people are getting into the Beta Weekend - maybe it is random, or earliest registered on SWTOR.com get in first?

Could it be the announcement of a drop of the NDA?

Could it be that you can no longer redeem beta keys after the Friday Update goes live?

Have they sold out of all normal editions of SWTOR and everyone who hasn't pre-ordered one by now has to wait until some time after launch?

The anticipation is killing me!

Friday Update: Voidstar and Warzones

Now I am not much of a PvP fan, but the video for the Voidstar Warzone has me all excited. I think the story line and the idea of fighting on an abandoned ship in space is very cool.

I did do some PvP back in WoW, but it was usually to grind for some PvE item or another. The PvP in Star Wars The Old Republic is looking very interesting at the moment.

Along with the video, Bioware also added a Warzones page to SWTOR.com, which just collects the information they've released so far.

Choose Your Side: Jedi Knight vs Bounty Hunter - A Historical Perspective

In a fun new series, Bioware are pitting various classes against each other, getting their development team to argue about which is better. First up is the Jedi Knight versus the Bounty Hunter.



So who would win? Let's take a little look at some history here.

Luke Skywalker vs Boba Fett

Ok so that didn't go so well, but Boba did go out like a punk. How about further back...

Mace Windu vs Jango Fett

Ok so I think we're seeing a pattern of genetic incompetence here in the Fett line. Surely all Bounty Hunters can't be rubbish?

Anakin Skywalker vs Cad Bane

Finally a decent Bounty Hunter. Cad did follow the advice of Bioware and kept those pesky Jedi Knights at a distance, after all.


Still, I don't think it's looking at all favourable for the poor Bounty Hunter.

Companion Characters Update - Part 2

Part 2 of the developer series on Companion Characters is now up on the SWTOR web site. What is interesting is William Wallace, Senior Game Designer, says that Flash Points may be too hard to complete using a Companion instead of a real player.

Take, for example, the fight we showed at PAX East, in which a group of players fought Captain Shivanek and his pet, Ripper. As we showed in the walkthrough video, the group had to split in two to complete this fight. As the first of several boss battles inside the Taral V flashpoint, it provides a moderately difficult challenge for a group of four players – three players and a companion will find this fight to be a far more challenging obstacle that may take several attempts to overcome. Two players and two companions may find it impossible altogether.

This is a shame, because being able to do max level Flash points with two players and two companions made the game less "massively" multi-player. This is good if you only have 1 other person online but want to hit some instances.

Friday update: Community Q&A and Studio Insider Combat Animation

The friday update is now up, with both a community Q&A and a blog about how they do those cool combat animations.

Some of the tech sounds cool, like "the programmers and animators were able to create a Lightsaber clashing system that could predict the volleys of weapons fire and other attacks being thrown at the player from all directions".

The Q&A is about PvP, which I don't really have an interest in. One thing of interest is that they want to add dual specs soon after launch:

Q: Since it has been clearly stated that there will not be dual specs for characters in the game, can you explain your philosophy behind the skill trees and how you are taking into account players that want to be able to play PvP and PvE content on the same character? - illumineart
A: Dual Speccing is something we want to add soon after launch. Also, features like Guard, PvP Taunt, Resolve, etc. work to narrow the gap between PvP and PvE specialized skills (i.e. a +Block skill would be helpful in both PvE and PvP).

 Now that is probably not advanced class respec, but respec within the advanced class. Still, dual spec is pretty much essential if you want to run with a low number of players but still fill a gap in the hardest PvE content.