Below is a gallery of pictures we took at PAX East 2011. If you recognize yourself, then please feel free to point it out in a comment or to the attention of our Editorial team via our contact form. Also, if you would like to add some of your own pictures to Darth Hater's gallery, you can send us a link to the image through the same method. There will be plenty more added to the gallery over the next couple days so be sure to check back.
It's Sunday, the last day of PAX East 2011 and the developers at BioWare are throwing a last hurray with two question and answer sessions at the presentation stage. In the first one at 12PM -- James Ohlen, Daniel Erickson, and David Bass fielded questions from the audience while Stephen Reid moderated the session. In the second session at 5PM -- Hall Hood, Jess Sliwinski, Rob Chestney, and Neil Pollner answered questions. We're working to bring you notes on the questions and answers from the events in Live Blog form. For the sake of time we combined both sessions to bring you this as quick as possible. Keep in mind that all of these should be considered paraphrased (extremely rough) quotes due to time constraints and a lack of transcription at the moment. We will add lengthier and direct quotes when we are able to. Notes from the event follow after the jump. Check back over the next few hours for notes coming in from the Q and A.
BioWare hosted a two Q and A sessions, one at 4PM EST with Daniel Erickson and James Ohlen and another with writers Jessica Sliwinski, Hall Hood, and Daniel Erickson at 5PM EST on the presentation stage. The developers fielded questions from the whole community there at PAX East. We're working to bring you notes on the questions and answers from the event in Live Blog form. For the sake of time we combined both panels to bring you this as quick as possible. Keep in mind that all of these should be considered paraphrased (extremely rough) quotes due to time constraints and a lack of transcription at the moment. We will add lengthier and direct quotes when we are able to. Notes from the event follow after the jump. Check back over the next few hours for notes coming in from the two Q and As.
Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, took some time at PAX East to speak with us about what players can experience playing through Taral V and other Flashpoints. He also graciously shed some light on a few debated topics like healing classes.
Hit the jump for the full interview, and enjoy the read as we prepare for our second day of full PAX East coverage.
The team at BioWare just showed off seven minutes of Space Combat via their demonstration stage at PAX. While on stage, Daniel Erickson revealed information on how you can upgrade your ship, general space combat mechanics, how to use the Star Map to reach your destination, and more. Check the video embed below for the demonstration in its entirety.
Working Dissection of the demonstration is in the Media Gallery below. As with all dissections, we will not comment on stuff seen in prior videos. Make sure to keep checking out throughout the weekend for more content for the Dissection as we will add new content as we go.
This week the Penny Arcade Expo meets in Boston for the yearly East version of the mega popular gaming convention. In concordance with this, BioWare announced the panels their developers will be appearing at. While not official panels about Star Wars: The Old Republic, they should still be great panels to attend. Check after the jump for details on the panels from Community Manager Stephen Reid.
Today IGN released an interview with Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Georg Zoeller, Principal Lead Combat Designer. The article also included the newest class video for the Bounty Hunter.
"The Bounty Hunter is his own man and always needs space to stretch out, so as much as possible missions take you into situations you won't see with other classes," Erickson said.
On the roles a Bounty Hunter can take, Zoeller commented:
The Bounty Hunter's role for the Empire is similar to that of the Trooper on the Republic side. One could say that they are arch enemies. Within the class, the roles are divided as follows : the Mercenary advanced class can take the role of ranged damage dealer or healer [and] the Powertech advanced class can take the role of close range damage dealer or tank. The skill trees for these advanced classes offer various ways of sub-specializing these roles (e.g. burst vs. sustained kind of damage dealing roles, etc.)
Hit the Media Gallery below for the Working Dissection. As with all Dissections we will be avoiding things seen in prior Dissections. Make sure to check back throughout the day and weekend for new images as we will be adding them throughout the weekend. If you notice something that we don't have in the Dissection, feel free to point it out and we will credit you with the find. Video is embedded after the jump.
This week's DevTracker Highlights are less about hard data and more about social aspects and interaction in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller talks about the selling of vendor trash, recovery and player downtime, and the importance of social hubs. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson explains culture as it changes during the time period of The Old Republic. Check out the full posts after the break.
BioWare does not disappoint in their post count for this week's DevTracker Highlights. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson talks vague narrative timelines and how the Sith don't see themselves as evil, but everyone else does. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller dives into Flashpoints, weapon flourishes, the use of instancing on planets, misconceptions about base class and advanced class abilities, and the MMO design with concerns to testing and feedback. Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert explores how real world economics translates to in-game economies. All this and more continued after the jump.
BioWare is continuing their post frenzy from last week with more information in this week's DevTracker Highlights. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller shares his opinion of what Star Wars combat should feel like, and what kind of control players will have over companions. Georg also discusses the frequency of data and balance changes, and confirms the ability to respec skill trees within an advanced class. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson explains some of the design behind playable species in Star Wars: The Old Republic and covers some of the facts known about the Treaty of Coruscant.
BioWare went a little post crazy this past week on the official forums, flooding the DevTracker with a slew of responses to the community's concerns. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson talks about humor in SWTOR, and explains BioWare's process for working on the individual class stories. World Designer Kyle Garner chimed in with his opinion on story in SWTOR affecting gameplay, Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller expounds on his recent interview with TOROCast and talks about the reasons behind BioWare's conservative release of information, and Senior Writer Rob Chestney talks about the Creative Services team's contributions to the timeline videos and how the Republic and Sith Empire are portrayed within.
We gathered a great deal of information about the Jedi Classes at last month's Jedi Immersion Day for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In addition to playing both the Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular, we were allotted interview time with a couple of the developers. We shared the first of these interviews last month and now we can finally show you the rest. Without further ado, here is our interview with BioWare's Daniel Erickson on the Jedi Classes.
On November 10th we were lucky enough to visit the LucasArts campus for a special Jedi Immersion Day. After being excluded from the entire 2010 convention season, it was time for the Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular to show what they had to offer. During this event we received a great deal of information on the Crew Skill system and the Alderaan Warzone, but the real fun came from over six hours of hands on time with the two classes. Be sure to check out all of our extensive coverage of this event!
There is a list of external sources for Jedi Immersion Day related content after the jump. Along with that list you also find two videos and a collection of new images for your consumption.
With this week's Friday Update being a Fan Friday you might think this would be a dull week for the DevTracker. Well, you would be wrong if you guessed that. This week's DevTracker Highlights include a wealth of information on crew skills, implants, character customization, forum improvements, and more. Hit the jump for the Highlights in full detail.
The second part of our interview with Star Wars: The Old Republic's Daniel Erickson on Crew Skills delves a bit deeper into companion integration and recipe mechanics. We also gained insight into how the system deals with avoiding intense grinding. We also include a video of Erickson's overview of the unique Crew Skills system after the jump.
We caught up with Star Wars: The Old Republic's Lead Writer Daniel Erickson after last week's EA Winter Showcase and asked him to explain in his own words what the Crew Skills system is. He was gracious enough to provide us with expanded insight regarding the unique crafting system that BioWare Austin's Lead System Designer, Damion Schubert, hinted at during our interview in October.
During our recent podcast, we mentioned that some people feel news for Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently experiencing a lull. Luckily for us, the developers continue to post in the official forums to combat this perception. This week's DevTracker Highlights discuss the meaning of the name Pureblood, absence of information on game systems, and one dev's suggested reading list for fans of Sci-Fi espionage.
BioWare's Daniel Erickson took the time to respond to a poster's comment on the Official Forum about the Questing System in Star Wars: The Old Republic. In what could have been a small post with the standard tag line about Questing/Story in The Old Republic ended up being a lengthy explanation of the system in depth.
--"What are all the different types of multiplayer quests?"
Whew, that one's a big list but I can hit the major stuff. 1) World Quests: One-offs or short chains built for easy pick up and play. Grab a PUG or your friends and have a short adventure together. 2) World Arcs: Epic quest arcs that go from four to ten quests or more and follow a storyline across an entire planet. Big decisions and branching questlines you may have to play multiple times (in different playthroughs, they're not repeatable) to see all the content. Built for long play sessions or a series of short sessions where you and your group want a huge adventure that may stretch over tens of hours. Also very PUGable as long as you're grabbing like minded folks. 3) Flashpoints: Instanced, heavily scripted major story and action pieces built for groups to go in and get the very best of BioWare's multiplayer storytelling. Built to be played in a single sitting.
Find the full DevTracker post after the jump or in the source link below.
BioWare's Daniel Erickson posted a response to an inquiry regarding a statement he made during a PAX booth conversation in a thread on the official forums:
You said,
If you can't imagine it making out with Princess Leia, you probably won't be able to play it.
I think a large response would be that many of us have very active imaginations, and can imagine quite a bit, but for some clarification, what can't YOU imagine?
