E3 2011: General Things Learned

During E3 2011, the Hater team experienced the Tatooine Jundlands Waste at level 26 and there was plenty to talk about after the first run through. This post will receive frequent updates during the convention week so make sure to check back frequently for more. As the content filters in, we will send update notifications via Twitter. Check the jump for the everything we've learned so far at the convention.
June 11, 2011 8:37PM PT Update


  • Casting your class specific buff on yourself it also is cast it on your companion and party members.

  • The current character sheet tracks all light side points and dark side points separately, then adds them together for your alignment. One character sheet listed -145 dark side points and 60 light side points making the total alignment -85. In previous builds, only your current number was displayed.

  • Alignment is now marked with tiers denoting how light sided or dark sided you are. (ex Light I, Light II, Light III, etc...). We previously noted armor marked as requiring Light I.

  • Keybinds are in the E3 build with primary and secondary slots of a multitude of actions. Keybinds were actually a separate menu in preferences with multiple sub-menus (Targeting, Quickslot, Movement, Miscellaneous, Interface, Chat, and Camera). These sub-menus made it much easier to locate specific bindings quickly.

  • There is an option in the preference menu to track quests by area. Being restricted to Tatooine, we were unable to test this ability.

  • Preference option to auto-skip movies. This applies to opening cinematic and the class introduction movies but did not appear to effect any dialogue or NPC interactions.

  • There is a Raid Frames sub-menu in preferences that has sliders for health bar height and width. There are also multiple toggle boxes for using raid frames for party frames, showing health text, and locking raid frames.

  • Out-of-combat recovery skills work on your companion as well as yourself.
  • If your companion dies, right-clicking their corpse will revive them.

  • Entering an instanced area (such as the Story Area where you find the Sith Lord) will end any combat you are involved in; mobs will not follow you. If your companion is still fighting when you enter the instance, after a few seconds your companion will teleport to your side.


June 8, 2011 1:37PM PT Update


  • Trooper starting cutscene vastly improved from previous public builds, includes new scenes of player being dropped in rather than just being spawned in a walker on fire

  • There is a preference to set the loot window to pop up where your cursor is at the time

  • If a quest area is gated and if one person doesn't have the item, the one person who doesn't have it can't get in

  • There's an additional vertical targeting icon when you select a target

  • When a person in your party dies, it says "PlayerName was defeated" on your screen similar to where a raid warning would go

  • There are four tabs in the ability menu, the first tab is general (light armor, revive skill, recall etc), next is base class tab (imperial agent, etc), third is advanced class tab, and last is a vehicle tab

  • The follow command works

  • It takes a certain amount of damage to knock you off of your speederbike

  • Starting area for Jedi Consular is updated since the last time we played on Tython

  • Spotted some Jawas that were friendly to us

  • When right clicking on another player's portrait, one of the options is 'view schematics'

  • Spotted Mandalorian Soldiers on Tatooine

  • Possible to queue for a Warzone from a minimap option

  • When hovering over group members shown on minimap, it displays health, resource, and level

  • Spotted various fungi and crystals through-out Tatooine, listed as 150 and 160 skill required. Archeology and Biology required for professions.

  • Spotted a Tribal Bantha surrounded by Tusken Raiders. Bantha was friendly and not attackable, Tuskens were not.

  • Once a mob aggros onto you, it will then show up as a dot on the minimap.

  • Womp rats confirmed.

  • Spotted and killed level 25 elite Wraid.

  • Slots for each piece of gear for companions, minus relic slots (3 relic slots on player)

  • 3 piece blue armor set with set bonus spotted.

  • Sandstorms spotted.


June 8, 2011 12:50AM PT Update


  • Jawa companion (Blizz) confirmed in play session

  • Khem Val seen has a charge ability

  • Xalek seen during play session, first time since the December 3rd event in 2009.

  • Quest items are separated into another tab in your bag

  • Saw companion kits again. As you equip items to your companion, kits unlock abilities for your companion to use on the battlefield.

  • Companions had access to Stasis kit, Shockwave kit, Medipac kit, Grenade Pack kit.

  • Lieutenant Pierce seen as Imperial Trooper companion of the SIth Warrior, seen before in a prior video but now confirmed as a companion.

  • Some quests show up as a radar effect with hovering over the quest area, showing off a distinct difference between that quest type and others on the map. In the case of the quest we experienced, it required us to kill Sand People until one of them dropped an item we needed to locate the lost Sith Lord.

  • Imperial Agent companion (Scorpio) seen here again, shown in past trailers, female looking silver mech, described as cold and hates the Imperial Agent player character.

  • Self Resurrect is called Medical Probe, cooldown increases the more you die, you are invulnerable for 12 seconds, must get to a safe area in those 12 seconds, effect looks similar to stealth

  • Speeder bikes do not appear to be items, looks to be an ability, might have been an item that are clicked once to acquire

  • You can hop on your speeder bike while mounted, includes an animation on the ground when you hop, speeder bikes tilt with movement as well

  • In stealth combat targets will detect you quickly unless you engage them immediately, can't stay near a mob while in stealth

  • Companions instantly go into stealth when the player goes into stealth

Comments

  • Dark Lord
    Jaspor's avatar
    • Posts: 292
    #101 Jaspor Posted 6/12/2011 4:29:59 AM
    The part about the light and dark side points being tracked separately is interesting. So someone trying to play to the extreme could actually try to get zero of the oppposite alignment. Like a badass evil Sith could shoot for zero light side points. Ever. I like it.
  • Nerf Herder
    darthuser4734's avatar
    • Posts: 11
    #100 darthuser4734 Posted 6/11/2011 2:22:19 PM
    Khem Val I saw did a what appeared to me a force type lightning bolt at least twice in the E3 walk through.
  • Mongo's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #99 Mongo Posted 6/10/2011 7:15:47 PM
    Sad I missed E3 this year and PAX is sold out ;(

    We got some good info, but there's still a lot more they have to reveal.

    The puzzle is starting to be pieced together and I can hardly wait...
  • Nerf Herder
    Riv_Adonis's avatar
    • Posts: 11
    #96 Riv_Adonis Posted 6/9/2011 1:46:55 PM
    Full Tatooine Gameplay Video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv9Z9pDZ8jE
  • Nerf Herder
    Mapex's avatar
    • Posts: 26
    #95 Mapex Posted 6/9/2011 7:12:18 AM
    You guys should mention the changes to the Powertech trees. On that topic - can you get the devs to clearly state the sources of damage from the Prototype and Firebug trees? Lots of flamer talents are sill in the former.
  • Nerf Herder
    darthuser4708's avatar
    • Posts: 2
    #88 darthuser4708 Posted 6/8/2011 9:53:36 PM
    "Womp rats confirmed."
    Then we will need a quest with T-16-s as well, to hunt them in the Beggar's Canyon! :)
  • Dark Lord
    Jaspor's avatar
    • Posts: 292
    #83 Jaspor Posted 6/8/2011 8:48:18 PM
    Minor typo: Both updates say "June 8" - I think the bottom one was from yesterday, no?
  • Dark Lord
    darthuser162's avatar
    • Posts: 350
    #85 darthuser162 Posted 6/8/2011 9:31:31 PM
    Actually, if you check the time it was from about 1 o'clock this morning ;)
  • Dark Lord
    Jaspor's avatar
    • Posts: 292
    #86 Jaspor Posted 6/8/2011 9:41:04 PM
    Ah that explains it. Though that means it should read "12:50AM" not PM. The updates weren't only 47 minutes apart. :P
  • Dark Councilor
    sado's avatar
    • Posts: 1,754
    #89 sado Posted 6/8/2011 10:25:52 PM
    Yes it should have. Fixed. Thanks for the report.
  • Lanier's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #70 Lanier Posted 6/8/2011 7:27:30 PM
    So... The raiding information was the "Big Announcement at E3"...? Didn't we have most of the information that they "released" already? With the exception of a few game mechanics and the "Return" trailer, there was no "Big Reveal" was there? Am I missing something...?

    Looks like we got put on Perma-hold until Mass Effect 3 ships...
  • Dark Councilor
    Jaramukhti's avatar
    • Posts: 795
    #82 Jaramukhti Posted 6/8/2011 8:47:25 PM
    One of my closest friends is a hardcore raider. She about did backflips when she saw this reveal. I got my story fix early, she finally got her confirmation -- video confirmation, at that -- of raids to ease her mind. So I guess it was big for who it was intended to be big for.
  • Spice Runner
    darthuser2633's avatar
    • Posts: 129
    #90 darthuser2633 Posted 6/8/2011 10:46:28 PM
    Haven't you seen the "DERP BioWare can't make MMOs cuz TOR won't have any endgame DERP!" trolls? They are who this reveal was for.
  • Spice Runner
    darthuser915's avatar
    • Posts: 130
    #68 darthuser915 Posted 6/8/2011 7:01:52 PM
    Since we know they wont give a release date. Ask If they have plans for Open Beta prior to launch. An if they are thinking or talking about a head start program. Note I didnt ask when they will have it just if they plan on having it
  • Dark Lord
    zechio's avatar
    • Posts: 391
    #71 zechio Posted 6/8/2011 7:40:48 PM
    Well, I can answer the first one. Look down 1 post. There will NOT be a fully open beta due to the number of people. They want to actually get testing done during the time, so they are having to restrict people all the way to launch. It is completely unknown how many people will be in the final test though. It could be all but 1 person. I'd personally bet somewhere in the 100,000 range so they can stress test several servers, as well as the login system. The downside is that this is less than 1/12 of the number of accounts atm:(
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