Darth Hater

Stephen Reid

BioWare Austin's policy on info release (which is not, in case you were wondering, a cast iron, legally binding, break-this-rule-and-you're-getting-fired sort of thing*) is to not talk about aspects of the game until we're ready to talk about them. Generally that means when they are, to some degree, finished - but, game development is a constant process and things change.

For instance, until this week, like most of you, I understood that two Advanced Classes (for Republic and Empire) would be able to act as healers. Thanks to the Game Testing program and numerous other factors, Georg Zoeller and his team upped the number to three on each side. They did that because ultimately they felt it was better for the game.

Joanne Laroche

Members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic community constantly inspire us with their enthusiasm. We have tons of creative, talented community members, and we'll continue our tradition of highlighting some of our favorites in this week's article. Enjoy the excellent fan art and fiction!

We've also created some great new smilies and avatars for everyone to use on our forums, and have a special event announcement to share.

Read More...

Joanne Laroche

In every Studio Insider, we take you behind the scenes to give you an exclusive close look at the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. This week, Senior Concept Artist Ryan Dening and Senior Environment Artist Christopher Reeves give us a detailed look at the design process for the Agent Starship, the X-70B Phantom.

We also gathered up the questions the community posted in the most recent Community Q&A thread and sent some of them to Senior Producer Blaine Christine. We hope you'll enjoy this month's answers. Have a burning question about The Old Republic? Don't miss out on this month's brand new Community Q&A thread!

Stephen Reid

So! As part of today's update we've announced that we'll be exhibiting at PAX East this year. PAX East takes place in Boston, MA between March 11 and 13.

Now, it's too early for us to talk about what we'll be showing and talking about, but planning's underway.

What I want to discuss with you guys, though, is what kind of things you'd like to see that aren't related to gameplay or announcements. Oh, what cruel conditions.

With that in mind, what we're happy to hear ideas on are things like:

• What sort of activities we might have on our booth, eg demo suggestions, guests you'd like to see...


• What sort of activities we might have off our booth - including whether, for example, you'd like a community meet 'n' greet


• What sort of things you might like to see on the web to compliment and expand on PAX East - particularly if you're not able to make the show in person

Now, a few caveats. First - we don't promise to do anything, but I like to crowd-source. Second - we have a budget, and it's not 'unlimited'. Third - be constructive.

That's it. Now let's chat.

Image submitted by Chronium