Darth Hater

Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of May 17, 2012

    Things start ramping up to Game Update 1.3 in this week’s DevTracker highlights. Designer Austin Peckenpaugh shows how percentages work in player damage formulas. Senior Community Coordinator David Bass requests feedback on the Bounty Hunter’s buff mechanics. Systems Designer David Hunt talks about the role of crafters for augment slots and quick-fire answers questions on just how augment slots will become available to players in Game Update 1.3. Associate Online Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez says more information is coming on Game Update 1.3 in some upcoming developer blogs. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of May 10, 2012

    This time around on DevTracker, Joveth Gonzalez talks improvements to the GTN, Amber Green seeks input on the UI changes ushered in with Update 1.2, Courtney Woods details the return of Fan Friday, David Bass gives his take on the changes to the Warzone Daily mission, Daniel Erickson mentions tweaks to instance portal restrictions, Eric Musco ushers in the first ever Star Wars: The Old Republic podcast and Allison Berryman sets her keyboard afire talking Reverse Engineering, forum hostilities, the "Allies expansion pack" and much, much more. Hit the jump to catch up on a week's worth of highlights.

  • Official Guild Summit Panel Videos Now Available

    While the Star Wars: The Old Republc Guild Summit panels were live streamed as they happened, players who were unable to attend or watch live have been waiting for videos of the event to be posted. David Bass made a post on the official forums announcing the availability of the first two panel videos and indicating more videos would be coming this week.

    David BassWe've launched a new YouTube playlist featuring the Guild Summit panels, which were held on March 5th in Austin, TX. Today we are releasing the Operations/Flashpoints panel and the Player Vs. Player panel, and we'll be posting more next week.

    You'll find the playlist for these videos on YouTube here:

    http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF60542CBEE892F02

    Since this was our first Guild Summit, we're very interested in hearing your feedback about the entirety of the event (as well as the content within the panels themselves). Let us know your thoughts below!

     

  • Update On Guild Summit Invites

    With the BioWare Austin Guild Summit quickly approaching, David Bass has posted on the official forums that responses to the applications are being sent out today. The emails will go out throughout the afternoon, so keep an eye on your inbox if you applied. We can confirm that you do get an email even if you were not accepted. So until you get an email either accepting or denying your attendance, you're still in the mix.

    David BassHi everyone,

    Thank you so much to everyone who applied for the Guild Summit! We received thousands of applications, have spent the past few days reading through every single one, and we really appreciate all the feedback we received.

    In a few minutes we'll begin sending out emails to everyone who applied for the Guild Summit. These emails will let you know if your guild has been selected to attend the Summit at this time. Please do not book any flights or hotels unless you receive an email instructing you to do so. The event has an extremely limited capacity, and without an event badge you will not be allowed into the Summit. Guilds who have not been selected in this first round have been placed on a waitlist, and if any selected guilds do not respond in time, we will open up their space to the waitlist.

    Please make sure you check your emails once we confirm that all the emails have been sent out. Any guild leader who receives an acceptance email must confirm their attendance within 48 hours. Guilds who do not confirm in time will lose their place at the Summit to another guild off the waitlist.

    If you have any questions about the process once you've received your email, please contact guilds@swtor.com. Thanks all!

    Current status update:

    2:15PM CST - Emails have now all been sent. Please check your inbox and spam for the email. If you applied but did not receive an email, please contact guilds@swtor.com and we'll investigate.

    UPDATE: All emails have now been sent out, though it could take some time before they show up in your inbox. David Bass also provided some more information regarding wait listed applicants and the live stream schedule. Further details after the jump.

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of February 2, 2012

    Grab your lightsaber as this week’s DevTracker Highlights is all about PvP. Associate Online Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez hints at future updates to game’s launcher. Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid addresses concerns about stifling the community’s voice during server maintenance and patching. Senior Community Coordinator David Bass assures players that discussions at the Guild Summit will be in-depth, unlike those at conventions. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller talks PvP bags and the rate at which players acquire PvP gear. Lead PvP, Operations & Flashpoints Designer Gabe Amatangelo follows up and attests that players will see a less sporadic rate at which gear is acquired. Hit the jump to dig in and see all the highlights.

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of January 12, 2012

    The amount of yellow posts from BioWare are staggering, but this week’s DevTracker Highlights will give you a breakdown of the important parts, straight from the mouths of the developers themselves. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller covers the illusive magenta crystal, Galactic Trade Network kiosks, moddable end-game gear, and a bug with the Smuggler’s Accomplished Sawbones ability. European Community Manager Chris Collins address concerns that patches are happening too often. Associate Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi updates the community about character responsiveness issues. Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert discusses mission discovery items, a looking for group system, and the economic concerns of slicing. Senior Community Coordinator David Bass seeks feedback about Star Wars: The Old Republic events through the year 2012. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson confirms that there is no HK companion currently available in the game. Hit the jump to dig in and see all the highlights.

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of December 8, 2011

    This week’s DevTracker Highlights covers everything you need to know for the less-than-a-week-away Early Game Access and launch. Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid reminds players that MMOs change, gives the status of a Walmart system error, and reveals details about Early Game Access. Senior Community Coordinator David Bass illustrates the kind of achievements that will be available in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Community Coordinator Allison Berryman details upcoming forum changes for launch and how to determine if you have the right game client for when the game goes live. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller covers the challenges around balancing for one on one and group combat. Hit the jump to dig in and see all the highlights.

  • NYCC 2011: BioWare Meet & Greet



    BioWare hosted a Meet & Greet event for Star Wars: The Old Republic fans at District 36 in New York City. This event was the precursor to BioWare's presence at New York Comic Con. In attendance from the SWTOR team were Daniel Erickson, Stephen Reid, David Bass and several other BioWare Austin staff.

    The BioWare team decorated the club with SWTOR concept art and posters. Fans were able to also use six computers set up for SWTOR origin world play - about 20 lucky individuals played for roughly 40 minutes each. For the majority of attendees who did not get to play, there was an open bar and open conversations with the BioWare staff. The crowd around Daniel Erickson was consistently large, as fans know by now he can tell a good story. There was also swag to be won from Ari Sapriel of BioWare in the form of t-shirts and posters for answering Star Wars or BioWare trivia questions.

    A media gallery with photos of the event is available below.

    Gallery: NYCC 2011: Meet & Greet Photo Gallery

    NYCC 2011: Meet & Greet Photo 5
    NYCC 2011: Meet & Greet Photo 4
    NYCC 2011: Meet & Greet Photo 3
    NYCC 2011: Meet & Greet Photo 2

  • PAX 2011: David Bass Interview



    Senior Community Coordinator David Bass took some time during PAX to answer some questions about Beta Testing Weekends. Read on after the jump to find out when you can expect them to start and what you can expect to experience during the month of September as BioWare ramps up in preparation for launch. In addition, Mr. Bass has a few positive comments about the lucky fans who got to play the game on stage at the BioWare panel on Sunday.

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of August 18, 2011



    With BioWare in Cologne, Germany this week for Gamescom 2011, they still find time to post for this week's DevTracker Highlights. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller talks about the mobility of cover, and use of chat channels between factions. Senior Community Coordinator David Bass explains why the EA press conference Eternity Vault seemed short. Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid sheds light on rested experience in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert follows up on the topic. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of May 19, 2011

    It's a light week for BioWare in this week's DevTracker Highlights as they prepare for E3 in only two weeks. Senior Community Coordinator David Bass and Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid discuss an E3 meet and greet event. Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo discusses the positives and negatives of wearing gear in Warzones. Full quotes after the jump.

  • New Screenshot Revealed on 300,000 Facebook Likes

    Today, Star Wars: The Old Republic reached 300,000 likes on Facebook. With that feat accomplished, BioWare unveiled a new screenshot, which makes this the second image coming from Facebook this week alone. This screenshot features a Sith Inquisitor on Dromund Kaas rocking a double-bladed lightsaber while listening to the sultry tunes of the latest and greatest of the Empire's bands on his Sith Pod. In all seriousness, it is a great screenshot and shows off the progression of the development of SWTOR quite well. There is also speculation abound as to what Senior Community Coordinator David Bass means when he stated on Twitter "Hmm. Wonder what that screenshot means..." Feel free to hash it out in the comments.

    On the Imperial capital world of Dromund Kaas, a Sith Assassin prepares himself for a fight by readying his double-bladed Lightsaber.

    For ease of reference, we compiled a Facebook Image of the Week Media Gallery containing all the images which you can view below.

    Gallery: Facebook Image of the Week

    Week 12.7.11
    Week 11.30.11
    Week 11.23.11
    Week 11.16.11

  • Sunday Developer Q&As with BioWare Live Blog

    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 Hires Senior Community Coordinator

    BioWare hired David Bass as their Senior Community Coordinator for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The announcement came Monday night via Stephen Reid's Twitter account. Reid acts as the Community Manager for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Reid first mentioned that he had a new employee, and then a short time later made this announcement:

    Without further ado welcome aboard to the #SWTOR crew to @doctordake - follow him, guilds and fansites! :)

    According to the job listing, Bass will aid BioWare "with the day-to-day operational activities surrounding the reporting and administering of the Star Wars: The Old Republic online community." In addition to working with the forums and fan community, he will work to "expand guild sites."

    Bass's gaming experience includes console games like Legends of Zelda and MMOs such as World of Warcraft. He has participated in the beta for Blur Multiplayer and other unnamed games.

    Bass also formerly worked as the Community Coordinator for Gazillion Entertainment. At Gazillion, he worked on a variety of projects. Before Gazillion Entertainment hired him in April 2010, he worked as the Champions Online community manager for Cryptic Studios. He left Cryptic Studios in February 2010 after the Champions Online Vibora Bay expansion announcement. We here at Darth Hater wish him the best and look forward to communicating with him in the future.
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