Day two at Gamescom has concluded and it was a busy one. The festivities started off with another Producer Presentation video which was again hosted by Gabe Amantangelo. Nothing new, unless you were in the crowd, then you might have gotten a T-Shirt.
The big Q&A of the day was run by Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk. Highlights included the confirmation of neutral morality gear and that Guild phase two is approaching.
...In today's Friday Update Dallas Dickinson gives us a look at Huttball, the new warzone variety that takes place on a map called "The Pit". It functions much like a game of capture the flag, the "Huttball" being placed in the middle and carried over the opposing team's line to score points.
Also up on the site is the schedule for The Old Republic at Pax, set to take place August 26th to 28th. A community meet and greet is taking place on the 27th, while the Bioware/LucasArts Old Republic Panel goes live on Sunday the 28th. Don't worry if you can't make it to the show, we will be keeping the site up to date with all the happenings as they come!
Check out the Huttball Video below!
Today marked the first day open to the public at Gamescom. As soon as the doors opened long lines formed full of people waiting to get a crack at The Old Republic Warzones. Showcases and presentations throughout the day were comprised of a hands on look at the new Razer Peripherals, another producer presentation video, and a 25 minute interview with Stephen Reid by The Cynical Brit TotalBiscuit.
Breaking news outside of Gamescom came from MMORPG.com in the form of an interview with James Ohlen and Rich Vogel. A hint was dropped at some upcoming news on companions, sounds like good times ahead for PAX!
Take a look at the full article here, MMORPG Syndcon.
There was more to the Companion system that I asked about, but they were saving it for a big reveal at PAX Prime in a couple of weeks. Will you be there?
Check out all the video footage from today after the break!
New Razer Peripheral Showcase.
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Today brought a couple bits of exciting info for SWTOR fans including a new type of warzone, and more gameplay of the "Eternity Vault".
The new warzone variety introduced is called "The Pit" and adds a new twist to PVP. Gameplay consists of players fighting over a ball which they try to carry over enemy lines to score points. Factions have no place here as teams are composed of players from both sides. All this is done while avoiding a variety of traps that do things like set your opponent on fire, or drop them into a pool of acid.
The Old Republic also took home the show's Best Online Game award ! Congrats to the team at Bioware!
The good folks at DarthHater have again come through with the Pit Presentation Video below:
Another presentation featuring The Eternity Vault also took place today, and again thanks to DarthHater here's the video!
As always, stay tuned for the latest out of Gamescom!
With convention season in full swing Ten Ton Hammer has you covered. The annual meeting of The Syndicate Guild was held just this past weekend and our very own Reuben Waters was there.
Now in its 10th year, the conference is lower key than other conventions, but there was still some heavy hitters from the industry in attendance.
In fact, Waters got the chance to sit down and speak to the creative director for Star Wars: The Old Republic, James Ohlen himself. Topics discussed include the banking system, companion customization, and what the response has been like since the initial pre-order rush following the announcements during SDCC last month. Enjoy!
Ten Ton Hammer: Will companions have an advancement tree similar to what player characters have, or some other means of advancing and distinguishing them from those controlled by other players?
Creative Director James Ohlen: Once you get a companion character he has a set role, and he does level up and gets new abilities as he levels up, but that’s all set. The reason we went that direction is because we felt that companion characters are not you; you don’t really control them, and they are their own character. So we didn’t want you to decide which way they went. That’s the ‘story’ reason, but there are also a gameplay reasons.
Ten Ton Hammer: Outside of directly controlling their advancement path, will there be other way for players to customize them in some way? It’s logical to give those...
Take a look at the latest from Gamescom, a demo and trailer featuring the "Eternity Vault" .The good people over at ingame.de have put it all together in a lovely 1080p package for us. Take a look!
The trailer starts at around 8:05 for those who want to skip ahead.
David Bass has fired the starting gun for Guild testing to start.
We are very pleased to announce the start of Guild Testing for STAR WARS: The Old Republic! This program will allow guilds to be considered as a whole for inclusion in the Game Testing Program, allowing us to gather important data regarding how guilds play The Old Republic, as well as how organized groups deal with various mechanics and systems in the game. The program is already underway, as we’ve invited the first wave of guilds into testing, however we’ll be adding more over the coming weeks alongside the general Game Testing invites.
Head over to Guild Testing Info to get all the details, and remember to check with your guild leader to see if you're in!
Beta Testing is an important part of any game’s development. It helps developers determine how the servers function under load and, with the large numbers of players running around, many bugs that get overlooked are found.
A lot of you have already been a part of the Old Republic Beta and know your way around a bug report. But with beta weekends rapidly approaching and a larger number of new players being thrown in the mix, I thought it would be a good idea to go over a few good habits to get into while testing.
Switch it up and try different things.
-Get out of your regular groove by exploring new areas and trying “abnormal” things. Select a bunch of things at once; try to get to seemingly unreachable areas, do it all at once!
When reporting bugs; try to provide as much information as possible.
-Detailed descriptions of where, when, and what was going on when the bug occurred all help to narrow down the cause and get it fixed. Screenshots are extremely helpful, but sometimes a glitch may occur too fast to grab one.
If you do happen upon a bug/glitch, try to recreate it.
-By retracing your steps and recreating the bug, you will hopefully get a better idea of what caused it in the first place.
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Throughout GamesCom we will also be running demonstrations of a small portion of the Eternity Vault, a high-level Operation or raid, on the showfloor.Excellent news for anyone making the trip!
As an added bonus to those members of the The Old Republic community, we will be housing a special area within the stand where you can play Warzone PvP. This area is designed to allow members of the community to play Warzone matches in a slightly more relaxed environment, away from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the show floor. The room itself holds 16 players at any time, where 8 Republic players will battle against 8 Imperial combatants in the Alderaan Civil War.TenTonHammer will be making the trip to Cologne Germany for the show, so check back regularly for all the latest details. Update: For attendees, footage of the "Eternity Vault" will be demonstrated throughout the show. A recent post from Alyson Bridge in the Devtracker:
Throughout GamesCom we will also be running demonstrations of a small portion of the Eternity Vault, a high-level Operation or raid, on the showfloor.
