Darth Hater

This week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday Update is a huge one highlighting the new Hammer Station Flashpoint and Art and Making of The Old Republic. Be sure to read our Fan Site Summit Impressions of Hammer Station for more information regarding the Flashpoint.

James Ohlen also revealed details regarding Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Legacy System. Upon completing the first chapter of their class story, players will be allowed to choose a surname that will carry over to all of their other characters across all servers. Beyond that, they will also begin to accumulate experience toward their legacy level, with all active characters contributing. However, details regarding what players receive upon reaching subsequent legacy levels has yet to be revealed.

BioWare dropped something of a bombshell on the TOR community: the Non-Disclosure portion of the Tester Agreement is no longer in effect. In short, those who have participated in testing can finally say to all those inquiring minds more than just “I’m in testing”. Dr. Greg Zeschuk took to the boards a short time ago to give us the news.

Greg Zeschuk

Folks,

As of now, the non disclosure portion of our Game Testing Agreement is officially lifted. While all players must still accept the Game Testing Agreement, from this point on testers may now freely talk about their experiences this past weekend in the game, as well as post screenshots and gameplay videos of their testing experiences. We encourage you to come join us on the official Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Forums to share your experiences!

The Star Wars: The Old Republic community site will have a copy of this message on the forums and it will also appear in the Patcher. Players may not talk about nor reprint posts from our testing forums as they are still fully covered by the confidentiality portions of our Game Testing Agreement. And all players who want to participate in the upcoming Beta Test Weekends still have to accept all terms of the Game Testing Agreement. So, other than that, free feel to talk about and share your experiences in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

My thanks go out to everyone who has beta tested and continues to beta test the game. It has been with your help and feedback that Star Wars: The Old Republic is where it is today. We really appreciate your efforts.

May the Force be with you!

Greg Zeschuk
VP, Electronic Arts, BioWare Austin, General Manager

Full Dev Tracker posts and video embed after the jump. 

Dev Tracker

Courtney Woods

The ‘Hammer,’ a powerful prototype battle station developed by the Republic, was thought to have been destroyed in the war, but it has mysteriously reappeared in the possession of the expansionist Advozsec. Determined to assert their new power, the Advozsec have been using the weapon to conquer neutral worlds in the Outer Rim. Now, before the Hammer can strike again, both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire have set plans in motion to bring the station down.

We are excited to present a new preview of ‘Bringing Down the Hammer,’ just one of the many Flashpoints in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

Watch Now

Courtney Woods

Chronicle Books has released a new book which highlights the process of creating Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Co-written by former Star Wars Insider editor Frank Parisi and BioWare Writing Director Daniel Erickson, this book chronicles the creation of the game, with over 150 pages of conceptual artwork and interviews with various members of the development team.

The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic includes over one hundred pieces of artwork, many of which you have never seen before. Much of the artwork is accompanied by text describing the process of creating each class and, every world as well as, the process of working in this previously unexplored time period in Star Wars™ lore.

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James Ohlen

Hey Everyone,

This build has our first iteration of the Legacy System! At its core the Legacy system is about allowing players to create a family tree of characters. Family is pretty important to the Star Wars universe, with the Skywalker family having one of the most interesting dynamics in movie history. This version is just the foundational components that we will use to build upon in the future. Here are the features of this iteration:

• Once your character has completed their Chapter 1 storyline, they will be able to choose a Legacy Last Name. This Legacy Last Name must be unique and is shared across all characters, on all servers - so choose carefully!
  
  
• Once you have unlocked your Legacy, any and all characters on that server will now contribute to that player's Legacy Experience Points. Much like normal experience points, when you reach certain Legacy thresholds, you will increase your Legacy Level.

We already have plans for how we will expand the functionality of the Legacy System in one of our major post-ship patches. This will include being able to shape your Legacy's family tree, and give you a reward for all those Legacy Levels.

We look forward to reading your feedback on the Legacy System!

--James

Video