As more and more MMOs’ release, it is evident that World of Warcraft’s success has been an anomaly. Remember when SWTOR was strutted as the next “WoW killer?” But ultimately a large exodus occurred, and layoffs followed. Many have since begun questioning the success of any subscription based MMO to follow. If Bioware is struggling with a subscription model when they have the biggest IP you can attach to an MMO, what hope is there for any other MMO that follows the same model? Essentially, Bioware needs to convert to the Free-to-Play model if they want to increase their profit and player base.

Star Wars: the Old Republic has two trade networks, The Galactic Trade Network (GTN) and The Hutt Trade Network (HTN). The former is a faction specific trading network, while the latter is a cross faction one that connects buyers and sellers throughout the galaxy. While the GTN is easily accessible at the faction Fleet, the HTN requires players to travel to Nar Shaddaa to access it.

Players can unlock an HTN terminal for all their characters’ ship by reaching Legacy Level 25 and paying 5 million credits. This has caused a lot of controversy, and many players on the forums are upset, because the legacy unlock is part of the Hutt Trade Network, which is rarely used. However, in an interview with Mos Eisley Radio, Lead Game Designer, Daniel Erickson revealed that very shortly the Hutts’ will buy out all the GTNs and convert them into neutral trading networks; creating one blanket economy between both factions. He added, “…with the legacy system players play on both sides and it doesn’t make since to artificially separate the economy.” With this change in mind, it stands to reason that the Galactic Market Kiosk for 5 million credits will be a worthwhile investment.

No MMO is complete without mini games. SWTOR is no different. Many people were excited about BioWare’s April’s fool joke of playing virtual janitor. During the Guild Convention, they did confirm that mini games would be coming, but they have yet to announce any. While we wait, in no particular order, here are 4 mini game ideas: Swoop Racing, Gambling, Holochess and Companion PVP. More on mini games after the break. 

After only 4 months SWTOR has seen a staggering array of changes, both good and bad.  And while some events have sent fan boys raging, others have brought frustrated players back into the fold smiling.  So it’s time to take a look at those changes and how they have affected the game.

We’ll discuss everything, but you’re going to have to click Continue Reading to find out!

On the 1.2 PTR Champion and Centurion gear is being phased out without any changes to their existing stats while Battlemaster gear is receiving an upgrade.  BM is going from being just 8% better than Champion to being 81% better than Champion regarding the Expertise stat.

Originally posted by David Hunt (Source)

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Unlike Champion gear, Battlemaster gear does have stat changes. All current and future (1.2+) tier PvP gear is going through a stat transition to give it more expertise.

Are you wearing only Centurion or Champion gear?  Want to know how you’re being left behind without any compensation?  Click Continue Reading.

If you missed my previous article BioWare Blunders? End Game Gear System Design with 1.2 you need to check it out.  George Zoeller touched back upon this subject saying that they would redress the issues with crit crafted armor sometime after 1.2 release.

Originally posted by Georg Zoeller (Source)

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In the mid-term (e.g. past Game Update 1.2), we are planning on adding means to the game that allow you to add augment slots to equipment you already have.

So while critical crafted appearances are the only source of augment slots in Game Update 1.2., this is a temporary arrangement that will change in the future when we implement means to retrofit existing gear (including social) with augment slots (without devaluing crafters in the process).

This is great news as the prospect of having to RE difficult to attain gear such as War Hero armor will prove nightmarish at best.  Also, keeping crafters involved is the best course of action for a thriving in game economy.

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If you missed what’s happening with the itemization changes in 1.2 many items are receiving new stats, including Rakata gear.  But what has some players worried is that they replaced their enhancements that had too much accuracy on them.  So will these new Enhancements be better?

Originally posted by Georg Zoeller (Source)

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Hey, some answers.
1. Yes, we have updated the stat distribution on Rakata gear with 1.2.

2. If you have not modified your gear, it will seamlessly update the mods inside when you log into the game the first time after the patch has been applied.

3. If you have modified your gear, it will retain any changes you have made. Any mods you didn’t change out will update.

4. Restoring the original mods into the item, before 1.2, will cause them to upgrade at the time of the patch.

Want to see what the stat changes look like?  Curious how much of a change there really is?  Click Continue Reading.

In a recent interview at the Guild Summit Georg Zoeller had this to say:

Georg Zoeller: (Source) I don’t think three Operations is optimal; you probably want to go at least four or five but that’s not necessarily my call. That is Gabe’s call and everyone else who is involved, but we need to build a nice state of endgame. We’re building up and yes, at some point you have the discussion “which point do we have an accessibility problem?” You need to be able to get new blood in there.

If you’re not sure what he’s talking about, they announced that the 3 modes for Operations will now be Story Mode, Hard Mode, and Nightmare Mode. The 1.2 Legacy Patch will release a new Operation that has a Story Mode and a Hard Mode only. Sometime in the future, most likely 1.2.1 or 1.2.2, Nightmare Mode will be released as well.

In addition to this they will be adding new mechanics to Hard Mode (not new animations), and Nightmare Mode will also have additional mechanics beyond Hard Mode.  They said that Nightmare needed to be a nightmare.  If you missed my article, The Heroes of MMO’s, I talk about some of the changes that needed to be made and are in fact currently in the pipeline for release.

What’s amazing about Georg’s statement is that he recognizes and sees that the range of player skill and need for challenge can’t be neatly quantified by three simple degrees.  That in fact to reach everyone equally they need a more diverse scaling method to satisfy all of their players.  I for one am truly impressed with that level of foresight and open mindedness.

But what about you guys?  What do you think of having possibly four to five different Modes for Operations?  Keep in mind that all Operations are intended to be on the same lockout except for Story Mode (the easiest setting), so you’d only be doing one “difficult” Ops each week.  Leave a comment below telling us what you think!

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

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Everyone’s talking about the Legacy 1.2 Patch.  And who’s to blame you for that?  It’s exciting stuff!  But before everything else gets lost to the wayside, let’s start talking about a few things you really can’t miss out on from last week’s Dev Posts and the Weekly Q&A.

Need to know about your last chance at a white power crystal?  Want to know exactly how crafting changes impacts what you can make in 1.2?  Interested in the SWTOR Dev Team plan for future content releases?  Click that Continue Reading Button!

At the Guild Summit BioWare announced that they will be releasing a combat log in the 1.2 Legacy Patch.  This will show you everything that you do, or is done to you, with detailed information covering even exact threat numbers.  This will be viewable in game and can be written to text file for parsers as well.  You can check it out now on the PTR.

This means that Damage Meters are here.  These combat logs can be parsed by external software to show real time damage meters for yourself in game.  Two notable examples of these are ACT and Rift Combat Parser.