The launch events from the New York and Austin events are now done and dusted, and Bioware have posted a bunch of pictures up on their Facebook page. Here’s three as a taster:
Some serious costumes going on there!
SWTOR: Australia and New Zealand launch confirmed!
December 21, 2011 by
It’s an understatement to say Australian and New Zealand players have had an early and significant Christmas present from Bioware, with the announcement of a likely March 2012 local launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The announcement came out of the blue on the SWTOR forums:
The text for the poor of eyesight:
We can confirm that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be launching in Australia and New Zealand in the spring of 2012.
Right now we are targeting March 1st, but that could change as our number one priority is making sure that customers have a great service to play on.
For those of you who may have already imported the game, we will be investigating solutions to allow you to continue to play on a local server once they come online in March.
EDIT: As pointed out, southern hemisphere seasons are reversed! When we say ‘Spring’ you can substitute ‘Q1/Q2 2012’. Apologies for that.
Some will say it’s too little too late, but my take it is shows Bioware have responded to the level of concern over the issue and are even talking local servers.We’ll have more on that in coming days.
Over to you: excited much?
Bioware release ‘launch documentary’ to coincide with release
December 20, 2011 by
With the launch ancient history of two hours ago, it’s worth mentioning that Bioware have released an eight-minute documentary to coincide with the launch. It’s not surprisingly titled ‘Your Saga Begins’ and is an excellent introduction to the game and where it sits in the overall Star Wars universe.
Have a look for yourself:
[Read more…]
SWTOR Launch is Go
December 20, 2011 by
Around ten minutes before the publicised launch time, SWTOR servers started coming live. The picture shows the early arrivers at the Jedi Temple on Coruscan on my server.
Click here for our more lengthy take on SWTOR’s official launch day. Otherwise, enjoy your play time if you have access. If not, be assured we’ll be continuing our daily coverage of news and issues across the game.
SWTOR launches: now it’s our turn
December 20, 2011 by
It’s hard to believe it’s more than three years since Star Wars: The Old Republic was officially announced to be in development. For those who’ve been following progress since that time (we’ve been covering SWTOR since June 2009), it’s been both a long wait and a fascinating journey seeing how things have evolved to now. It all comes to a head at 4.01pm AEDT / 6.01pm NZDT when SWTOR launches after a short shutdown (already underway) at the end of early game access.
It’s obviously a big milestone for Bioware / EA, but it’s also a significant one for players outside the initial launch territories of the US and parts of Europe. Once the game is officially underway, the countdown starts for an official local launch.It may still be months away (my total guess is March or April 2012), but on the assumption that the game does launch worldwide, it’s an event drawing closer.
At TOROZ we get emails most days from people stating local retailers are claiming a first quarter of 2012 launch, but most of that is probably just conjecture, although it’s hard to envisage why other launch territories wouldn’t follow more than a few months after the US/Europe launch.
For those who’ve ordered their copies from overseas and actually received them, don’t forget to have your account fully set up by the end of the 48-hour grace period. For the rest, be as patient as you can be and try to remember that in a few months all the difficulties in ordering and accessing the game should be a distant memory.
Over to you: will you be doing anything special for launch?
UPDATE: local launch for Australia and New Zealand has now been announced.
Copies of SWTOR hit Australian shores
December 19, 2011 by
I think this guy still has my copy of SWTOR
Christmas has come early for a bunch of Australian players, as copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic have arrived. Thanks to Amazon (likely under pressure from Bioware) shipping copies early, those who selected priority shipping have had their copies arrive.
We’ve had a couple of dozen confirmations via Twitter and email alone, including our own Mark Duncan, so there’s a few people around. If you didn’t select priority shipping, then you’re probably looking at a post-Xmas, post-grace period.
New Zealanders check in: I’m assuming some of you are the happy owners of a box copy now?
Add your delivery status in the comments below!
[picture via http://www.postcrossing.com]
Darth Vader in Love
December 19, 2011 by
Time for some pre-Xmas humour, courtesy of the evergreen Darth Vader. I hadn’t seen this 2009 piece from the The Peter Serafinowicz Show, but it’s a corker:
Put your hand up if you’d buy a Commander Larkin suit? I mean female readers of course – I don’t want an affirmative answer from anyone else.
Flash Point 22: Missing Ed’s Nude Shower Cam
December 18, 2011 by
In the week of early access there’s an enormous amount to cover, and we give it a red hot go.
This week features special guest co-host Simon, standing in for Ed who’s on a week-long road trip.
Points of discussion:
– Early access and game experience to date
– Server queues
– Grace period / Amazon orders
– Sith Warrior vs Smuggler video
– Overpowered classes in game?
– 2012 SWTOR predictions
– Oceanic launch speculation
– iTunes reviewer shout-outs
– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Oceanic Guild listing, Google Plus page and Twitter account
Listen via iTunes or right here:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:56 — 50.7MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
SWTOR server queues: it’s about the flow
December 18, 2011 by
For those with early access, there’s been a fairly regular issue of queues on most servers.
It’s not surprising by any means, and Bioware state they’re monitoring it closely (I’d be a bit worried if they weren’t!). Stephen Reid has posted an update on the SWTOR forums, on behalf of Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Live Services (i.e. Head Server Dude):
“We know there have been questions about the queues on the servers, so we wanted to take a moment to give you some insight.
In order to ensure that the service would be smooth and stable, we staged how we brought people into the Early Game Access program, adding people in waves. As you know, there are a lot of folks who want to play the game right now and we want to make sure they have lots of people to play with. Balancing this with figuring out when to bring new servers online to help alleviate the size of the queues is part art and part science. On one hand, you do not want people to wait too long – on the other hand, you want to make sure that people have a dynamic, engaging community to play with for long after launch. Either way, we have one clear objective – to make sure folks have fun.
While we can’t promise that there won’t ever be queues, we can promise you that we are taking this matter seriously and constantly reviewing them to make sure that they are manageable and reasonable.”
Ironically, the desire for Oceanic players to hang out as a community has arguably increased server queues on the unofficial PvE and PvP servers, meaning Oceanic players are reporting long queues during the day and into early evening. That’s likely to shake out as more servers come on board and some players shift servers.
When it’s all said and done it’s hard to disagree with Jeff Hickman: it’s a balancing act between queues and players wandering around struggling to find people to group with. The only certainty is that Bioware will be doing what they can to find that balance, even if they don’t always get it right.
How have you found the queues so far?
Sith Warrior vs Smuggler: choose your side a last time
December 17, 2011 by
Mere days from launch, Bioware have released the last of its four ‘Choose Your Side’ videos. This time it’s the turn of the Sith Warrior and the Smuggler. Some of Bioware’s leading writers and designers give their take on the two classes:
All set for launch – setting up your account for full SWTOR access
December 17, 2011 by
One of the few upsides of having ordered a copy of SWTOR to be sent to a friend in the USA, is that I got my product registration code this morning. So I’ve dutifully gone in, entered that, started my subscription and have also set up my SWTOR security key (click on image for full size):
1. Log into your account on SWTOR.com
2. Click on My Account at the top right of the page
3. Select Code Redemption from the menu on the right of the page
4. Enter your Product code
5. You then are given the prompt of needing an active subscription – so click on that
6. Choose the type of subscription period you want (1 month, 3 months or 6 months) and how you want to pay for it (Credit Card, Paypal or Game Time cards). One thing: I had problems getting my PayPal transaction to go through for some reason so I ended up going with a credit card. COuld have been a glitch my end.
7. Confirm your payment and you’re subscribed.
8. Now you have the option of setting up a security key. The SWTOR security key can either be purchased as a standalone product or downloaded as an iOS app for iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch etc, with Blackberry and Android versions on the way.
9. Once you have the security key, register the key, which is a series of simple steps of entering two activation codes on your key that are supplied during this process.
10. That’s it!
I’ve since logged in successfully to the game and the website and both required the security key – if you regularly flit between a few PCs you have the option in your account of having that PC remeber you use a security key.
Aside from the PayPal issue which may have been my end, I can confirm it’s an easy process and it all seems to be working flawlessly three days before launch.
Over to you: any questions or comments on the process?
Server downtime December 15th to 22nd
December 16, 2011 by
Bioware have just announced three windows for server downtime between now and the 22nd December.
Here they are with Aussie and NZ times plugged in for you – the quoted areas are Bioware’s direct statements on the likely length of the downtime:
Maintenance Window #1: Friday, December 16th
All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours, but could be extended.
Maintenance Window #2: Tuesday December 20th
Time: 11.00am AEDT and 1.00pm NZDT
This will be a five-hour downtime:
All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to complete before 11PM CST, and will mark the end of Early Game Access for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.
Maintenance Window #3: Thursday December 22nd
I have to say I’m liking these downtimes i.e. they’re relatively short and not knocking out a whole evening. Post your thoughts in the comments!
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