Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Tag: Bioware Page 6 of 9

MMO Times: Sorry for the Delay

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On March 6, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 27

Hello Gamers! Sorry for the delay in bringing you the MMO News. As you may be able to guess life got a little busy. Enough about my excuses, here is the latest headlines. Enjoy!

SWTOR Patch 1.2 Coming in April

Posted 3/6/12 – The masters behind SWTOR (EA, Bioware and LucasArts) announced that the next big content patch (1.2) will be hitting PCs next month. This patch has some long awaited features including Guild Banks, legacy benefits, new flashpoints, ranked warzones and more. Follow the link to Game Guru to read more.
GameGuru post

Rumored Diablo III Release Date

Posted 3/5/12 – According to an Italian source there are rumors that the possible release date for Diablo III is April 17th. The evidence for this rumor is that stores in Italy have been clearing space for a new title after retailers received a tip from Activision Italy. Blizzard didn’t comment but a twitter post simply said “9” – perhaps this Friday we will all know for sure. In my opinion, it would make sense which may also explain why Bioware plans to release its next big content patch (1.2) for SWTOR around the same time. Follow the link to Massively to read more.
Massively post

SWTOR Guild Summit Summary

Posted 3/5/12 – Unless you have been living under a rock (while playing SWTOR) then I’m sure you knew that this past weekend Bioware/EA/LucasArts held their SWTOR Guild Summit. This was an opportunity for SWTOR developers to host panels (with Q&A) to dicuss the future of SWTOR. The panels covered everything from crafting, to PvP, guilds and the legacy system. Darth Hater (a pretty renown Star Wars fan site) has a pretty good summary of the summit. There is quite a bit of good stuff to check it out.
Darth Hater article

SWTOR March 2 Community News

Posted 3/2/12 – The link to the latest Dev Q&A is also on the RSS feed on the right. This week the developers talk more about what to expect in patch 1.1.5, 1.2 and future features. They seem to be really building up the benefits of the legacy system. Follow the link to read the blog post on the SWTOR community news site.
Community News Blog Post

DCUO Expansion Announced

Posted 3/2/12 – Players will have the chance to face off against Brainiac in the upcoming DC Universe Online expansion. The interesting thing about this expansion is that if you were previously a paying subscriber you will get the expansion for free, but those playing for free will have to buy it. No pricing has been announced. Follow the link to read about it at GameSpy.
GameSpy article

More Character Customization in GW2

Posted 2/28/12 – The developers for Guild Wars 2 have released details about how players will be have more character customization. Based on what I read this is more than just how the characters look, but you will also be able to customize how the character plays. Players will be able to tweak their characters through traits and attributes. Follow the link to read more at Massively.
Massively article

MechWarrior Online Teaser Trailer!

Posted 2/28/12 – Piranha Games gave the gaming community a treat when they unveiled a teaser trailer first look at MechWarrior Online. The video does not show in-game footage, it is a cinematic but it is 1 min and 30 sec of drooling yumminess. I also found the URL for the official website.
Massively post | MWO website

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The MMO Times: First of 2012

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On January 13, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 25

Hellooooo Everybody! Sorry for the delay between issues, the Christmas and New Years holidays have a tendency to make things pretty busy. So without keeping you any longer, check out these headlines that I hope you find interesting as I have. Enjoy!

TERA Beta Sign-ups Opens

January 12, En Masse has sent to call for TERA testers. This game got a lot of attention in the gaming conferences last year. The graphics look pretty awesome. I probably will not have time to try out the beta, but if anyone else does check it out, let me know what your thoughts are. Remember, this is just a sign-up which means its not a guarantee beta invite. Follow the links for the Massively article or the TERA website for signing up.
Massively Article | TERA Website

League of Legends Hits 11.5MM

This is probably another foreboding sign for Blizzard and World of Warcraft. League of Legends, a Free-2-Play MMO by Riot, now has 11.5 million active players far surpassing the 10.3 million that are playing WoW. I think its pretty interesting that a F2P game now has more players then WoW. Follow the link to see the Forbes article.
Forbes Article

More On MechWarrior MMO Going F2P

A developer at Piranha Games explains the reasons the MechWarrior MMO will be going with the Free-2-Play model. They mention in the article that the games anticipated release is expected to be in the second half of 2012. There is also a link in the article that elaborates on the CryEngine 3, which is the graphics engine the game is being built on. Follow the link to read more at VideoGamer.
Video Gamer Article

Rift Offers New Subscription Plans

Another interesting competitive move by one of WoW’s biggest competitors, Rift. They have adjusted their subscription plans which actually makes playing Rift cheaper then playing WoW. As if Blizzard didn’t have enough problems keeping players in WoW, lowering prices below their rate is going to make life even more difficult. Many have been clamoring for Blizzard to consider the Free-2-Play model and they have fervently stated they will not consider the Free-2-Play model beyond level 20. Follow the link to read more at tom’s hardware.
tom’s hardware Article

SWTOR ‘Fastest Growing MMO’

I love reading good things about SWTOR and I think this one is really exciting. Based on the millions of players that flocked to play SWTOR when it was released, it has been crowned the “Fastest Growing MMO in History”. I think that is a pretty prestigious acolyte. Follow the link to read more Attack of the Fanboy.
Attack of the Fanboy Article

SWTOR Covers New Flashpoint

On January 17th Bioware will be issuing its first content patch for SWTOR. The patch will fix several known bugs and introduce a new, level 50, flashpoint. The planet of Kaon has fallen victim to the Rakghoul plague (which is the Star Wars version of zombies – because who doesn’t like zombies!). Players must go to the planet to rescue survivors and eliminate the plague. Follow the link to read more on Massively and view the trailer.
Massively Article

WoW 4.3.2 Patch Notes

I decided to go way back on WoW Insider to find the post about the 4.3.2 patch. The reason is that I wanted to  point out a particularly interesting feature that will be in the patch. You will be able to enter Raid Finder with your Real ID friends (as long as you are the same faction). So if your friends are on other servers, you can now do a raid, or older normal/heroic raids. They are also fixing a few bugs, such as the annoying mature language filter, and players winning multiple copies of an item in Raid Finder. Follow the link to read more at WoW Insider.
WoW Insider Article

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SWTOR: Tips & Tricks Part II

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On January 9, 2012

In Gaming, MMORPG, SWTOR

I have put together another list of tips to share with everyone that is playing Star Wars The Old Republic. If you have made it all the way to 50 by now then these tips will probably be of no use to you. However, if you are just starting out, you might find these tips useful too.

  • Show Me The Credits! – Training and Crafting Missions get expensive. You will be forking over 3-3.5k per ability by the time you get into the early 20s. Also, speeder training will cost you 40 Gs at 25 (and a speeder bike will cost you an additional 8k). So make credits fast!
  • Focus But Don’t Hurry – When you are questing focus on completing your class quests. You unlock ships and companions as you progress through your story. However, don’t skip the other quests; the story and rewards are worth the time.
  • Make Them Happy – Your companion will complete crafting and mission quests faster the more you build up affection. I know its difficult to resist punishing Vette, but there is a greater output to getting her to like you sooner.
  • You Don’t Have to Tank/Heal – Regardless of which advanced class you roll, you can always DPS. All the advanced classes have a DPS tree; how you spend your talent points ultimately determines your role.
  • Crafting Conundrum – Sometimes its terribly difficult to pick the right profession. The Codex is your friend. Visit all the profession trainers to gather all the codex entries and use the information to help you decide.

That is all I have to share. I don’t think I am going to share many more tips. I think its important that you find some things out for yourself. I will be doing a post soon where I break down all the classes, which I hope people find useful as well. Enjoy Star Wars The Old Republic!

SWTOR: May The Queues Be With You

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On December 18, 2011

In Gaming, MMORPG, SWTOR

Tuesday is going to be an interesting day for Bioware. Early access has been running for nearly a week now and the queues started forming Thursday night. As I’m writing this post I am 141 in queue, I started at 401 about 15 minutes ago.

I hope Bioware is using the staggering of the early access to accumulate statistics on peak time and estimated volume so they can, hopefully, be better prepared for Tuesday’s launch. I have noticed, though, that despite the queues to get in, once I am in the game I notice very little lag. I remember when Aion started, I could be in queue for 20-30 minutes and once I got it, my character would “rubber-band” all the time. (If you don’t know what I mean by rubber-band, that is when, while running, you think you have gone X distance and suddenly you snap backwards quite a ways).

They might do population control in the form of limiting which servers new users can create characters on. While this will help some of the queues, they still will likely face the issue of players who hadn’t pre-ordered, wanting to play on a friends server who had.

To be honest, I hope people will be patient and understanding. I know that is asking a lot of the gaming community, but when you have a major title going live, you have to allow for software company to work out the kinks and standard growing pains. They will stabilize the queues and it may take a week or so. I just urge everyone to be patient and let Bioware work the problem. Of course I know there will be those disgruntled, impatient “nubs” that demand perfection on the first day.

Ah, my queue has finished. Time to log in!

Cheers!

The MMO Times: The Force Has Arrived!

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On December 12, 2011

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 23

Welcome back gamers to another MMO Times. We have some exciting stuff in this issue so I hope you enjoy what I have provided for you! I thinking about renaming the MMO Times to The MMO Pulse; not sure if I like the sound of it yet.

Diablo III Cinematic

So many people are excited about Diablo III. I haven’t even played the first two and I am excited so I can’t imagine what the people who are fans are feeling right now. Blizzard released the official opening cinematic for Diablo III so enjoy (because it looks frakking awesome!)
Massively article
Diablo Fans website

Updated MoP Talents

Blizzard recently updated the talent trees for the Mists of Pandaria talent system. The new system is receiving a lot of criticism from the player base. It seems many are upset that they are taking away the granular talent trees to the more versatile version Blizzard introduced. I’d be interested in some of your thoughts so please feel free to leave a comment on the post with your thoughts. The link I provided is to the actual talent calculator.
MoP Talent Calculator

SWTOR Tips & Tricks

This is another shameless plug. I wrote a post with some tips for getting started in SWTOR. These are some of the things that are often asked by people in the global channels and things I often forgot to do myself when I had to start toons over. I hope anyone playing SWTOR finds them useful.
Biggs Zone post

EverQuest II Goes F2P

Yes, you read that right. SOE announced Monday, 12/12/11, that EverQuest II is now Free-2-Play. You can now download, install and play EverQuest II without being charged, however you will be limited on what you can do. Things like races, bags, spell tiers, character slots are restricted for those playing for free. I found the article on The Daily BLAM.
The Daily BLAM article

SWTOR Launch Guide

I would still highly recommend checking out my post on starter tips for SWTOR, but Massively has assembled a launch guide for SWTOR. I haven’t gone through the entire post but just looking at it briefly it seems pretty comprehensive. Check it out and tell me your thoughts.
Massively SWTOR Launch Guide

Top 5 Biggest MMO Flops

Piki Geek has a list of, what they consider to be, the top 5 biggest MMO Flops. I only recognized like two of these titles, and I was a little surprised to see that Lego Universe didn’t make the list. Check out the list and see if any of them is something you tried out.
Piki Geek post

I also provide The MMO Times in an e-mail. If you are interested in receiving the e-mail version please subscribe.

SWTOR: Tips to Get You Started

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On December 11, 2011

In Gaming, SWTOR

As I alluded to in a previous post, I decided to put together a list of tips and tricks for SWTOR. Some of these tips you will want to use after you have experienced more of the content. Also, be aware that some of these may not actually work when the game goes live.

  • Spacebar Helps the Long Winded – I highly recommend that you don’t skip any of the conversations when you are picking up quests for the first time. The stories in the game are very rich and listening to the NPC conversations helps bring the game to life. However, if you start to level another toon and you want to get through the dialog of the common quests, use the space bar to speed up the conversation.
  • Companions Add Value – Before you pick up your crew skills, make sure that you read about your companion. All companions have a bonus to some crew skill and it might help you decide which one to pick if you are torn between two. Remember, you can only have one crafting skill.
  • Class Story Is Paramount – Every class will receive companions at different times as well as their space ship. Completing the quests associated with your class story is the key to unlocking companions and ships. So you want to focus on the completing those quests the most.
  • Fulfill You Destiny – I’m sure you know that level 10 is when you can pick up your Advanced Class. Make this choice carefully, you cannot change it. You will not be able to pick up the quest until you get to Kaas City or Coruscant and an NPC along the way to your trainer should have the quest for your AC.
  • Always The Last Place You Look – Just like any other MMORPG there are some quests where the NPC gives you an item you need to use in order to complete the quest. You may often find yourself searching your bags trying to find the item you were given. Your inventory has a separate tab for quest specific items.
  • Sexy And They Know It – You can change the gear of your companion too. Make sure you take note of what kind of armor they wear so when something drops you don’t pass on an item that your companion could have used. Also, keep in mind that proper etiquette might dictate that rolling Need on an item for a companion is probably uncouth especially if someone needed the item for their character.

I think that’s enough to get you all started. If anyone has some additional tips they would like to add please feel free to post a comment with your tip. Good luck to everyone that will be playing Star Wars: The Old Republic and May The Force Be With You!

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