As 2012 comes to a close and we celebrate the one-year anniversary of Star Wars: The Old Republic, we thought it'd be interesting to take a look back at the articles Darth Hater has published over the past year and see which ones were the most popular. Browsing the articles that have had the most views of 2012 gives an interesting snapshot of how the year went for SWTOR and Darth Hater. Patch notes during major updates (and long downtimes) account for several of the top viewed articles, so those were excluded from the list. Hit the jump for the list in full.
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Darth Hater Interview: Game Update 1.3 With SWTOR Development Team
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Game Update 1.3 is coming and more details about it come out each day. We were fortunate enough to get some questions answered about a few major SWTOR game systems from a round table of BioWare developers. No specific details on Explosive Conflict's Nightmare mode or Open World PvP yet, but we hope we hear more about new content during Darth Hater's coverage of E3 this year.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of April 27, 2012
You’ll learn about expertise, armoring, and what the heck a techblade is in this week’s DevTracker highlights. Principle Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller illustrates the importance of expertise and why Recruit gear is so valuable for starting players. Associate Online Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez informs how Novare Coast is affecting the phasing out of Ilum daily and weekly quests. Systems Designer David Hunt explains why there are no level 50 techblades and techstaffs, and how armoring, barrels, and hilts work in relation to the item ratings. Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid wants to hear your thoughts on the Rakghoul Pandemic event. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of April 19, 2012
The secrets of the galaxy are out there, but you’ll find hints of them in this week’s DevTracker highlights. Lead Designer Daniel Erickson talks about Warzone rewards and the motivations behind today’s patch 1.2.0c. Principle Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller teases bits of knowledge about the magenta crystal and the Tauntaun mini-pet. Associate Online Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez posts when the Rakghoul Pandemic event will end. Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid discusses the difference between the new Black-Green crystal and the Razer Black-Green crystal. Systems Designer David White discloses why certain Social items disappeared with patch 1.2. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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Georg Zoeller Clarifies Itemization In Update 1.2
With game update 1.2 coming later this week, Georg Zoeller posted on the official forums with some clarification on how end game itemization works when the patch goes live. The post talks about changes to all the different variations of PvE and PvP gear.
There have been quite a few threads where you have voiced confusion regarding the end game itemization in 1.2 and I want to take the opportunity to clarify what you are going to see in the game when Game Update 1.2 goes live on Thursday.
One of the issues we are dealing with on the PTS Forums is that we are not only introducing changes from the current state of the game (1.1.5x), but also several changes a week. Without wiping our Forums weekly, it is inevitable that these updates cause significant confusion about what it is in the game, what is intended to be in the game, etc.The full post can be found after the jump.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of April 6, 2012
This week’s DevTracker highlights slimmed down in preparation for PAX East 2012. Systems Designer David Hunt covers mods with lightsabers, shields, PvE and PvP gear, Battlemaster sets, and companions’ weapons. Combat Designer Cameron Winston addresses concerns about Shock and Project abilities for Shadows and Assassins. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller can’t help but give more hints about new mysteries in patch 1.2, and defines the discrepancy between Champion and Recruit gear. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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Community Q&A: 3/30/12
As promised, BioWare answered a series of questions from the community at large on 1.2 and made them available for your praise or ridicule. In this week's Q&A, the team focuses on 1.2 content and the changes players will see as the update makes its way to servers in early April. There is still no mention of a solid release date for 1.2 but rest assured that when they unveil it, we will bring it to you.
For now though, the Community Q&A is available after the jump for your consumption.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of March 29, 2012
More hints and insight into the changes of game update 1.2 come in this week’s DevTracker highlights. Principle Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller highlights additional changes coming to the test server, the downside of random number generation, and explains why Sith Warriors don’t have an assault cannon in their back pocket. Lead Designer Daniel Erickson sheds light on a recent bug that popped up on the test server from an old design of the light and dark system. Senior Game Designer William Wallace clears up the system for unlocking class buffs through Legacy and the benefit. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of March 22, 2012
This week’s DevTracker highlights are a mile long so let’s get right to it. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller talks about Legacy unlock rewards, the illusive white color crystal, social gear fitting into the armor type scheme, the new combat log in patch 1.2, updating current default armor mods, Warzone rewards based on performance, and more. Combat Designer Cameron Winston discusses The Nightmare Pilgrim on Voss, and how Recruit gear will replace Champion gear in patch 1.2. Systems Designer David Hunt illustrates the upcoming changes to armor mods with the addition of transferable set bonuses. There’s much more than I can list in this intro paragraph so hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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Georg Zoeller Discusses Crew Skills in Update 1.2
Game update 1.2 will have some significant changes to Crew Skills. In the latest Developer Blog entry, Georg Zoeller discusses some of what can be expected. Among the topics he covers are augment crafting, adjustments to reverse engineering, adjustments to gathering skills and how the ever popular ship maintenance droids can play a larger role.
Since the launch of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, the Crew Skill system has been incredibly popular. Every week in-game, 52 million items are produced or harvested, 4.5 million item mods are installed and more than 35 million items change hands. Players actively participating in the Crew Skill system are generally better geared and have more credits in the bank than pure consumers.
That said, we still believe the Crew Skills can be made better. Without further adieu, here are some of the things you can expect for your profession when Game Update 1.2: Legacy goes live.The full post can be found after the jump.
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Community Q&A: 3/16/12
BioWare unveiled their weekly Community Q&A today with a look at features in patch 1.2 and discuss the fan reaction from the Guild Summit. If you'd like to ask a question for next week's Q&A session, visit the official thread. The thread will close on March 20 at 2pm CST (8pm GMT/9pm CET). Hit the jump to see this week's Q&A in full.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of March 15, 2012
We’re back from the Guild Summit and BioWare is ready to follow-up with a few clarifications and answers in this week’s DevTracker highlights. Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid covers the possibility of eight-man groups in ranked Warzones, and the value of Ilum after patch 1.2. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller talks about balance changes, reusable items, reverse engineering, legacy unlocks, new additions in patch 1.2, and much more. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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Guild Summit: Interview With Georg Zoeller
For over two years, we here at Darth Hater tried to pin down Georg Zoeller for an in-depth interview on combat and class balance. Last week's Guild Summit yielded an opportunity to speak with BioWare's lead combat designer about buffs, nerfs, Legacy abilities, and much more.
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Georg Zoeller on Economic Changes in 1.1.5
Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller posted a blog today about the upcoming changes to both patch 1.2 and the weekly patch 1.1.5 which is now on the Public Test Server. Zoeller explains that the upcoming changes are to embrace the player economy and introduce new items for both PvP and PvE gameplay in end-game situations. Additionally, the blog contains in-game rumors for halted production on certain types of speeders, vehicle cost reductions, cross-faction color crystals, and the introduction of a limited-run white crystal. You can read the blog in full past the jump.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of March 1, 2012
It’s been a quiet few weeks, but this week’s DevTracker Highlights dives into upcoming features for patch 1.2 and next week’s Guild Summit in Austin. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller details open world PvP activity, Cover mechanics, Crew Skills, the Collector’s Edition vendor, and topics to be discussed at next week’s Guild Summit. Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid adds to the Guild Summit topics and explains why Asian Pacific server transfers won’t be available until late April. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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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.
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DevTracker Highlights For The Week of January 26, 2012
Everything’s coming up Zoeller in this week’s DevTracker highlights. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller covers everything from cooldown readability, protocol droid maintenance, and the Legacy system, to modification workbenches, speeders, and Rakata-level items from Nightmare mode Operations. Hit the jump to dig in and see all the highlights.
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Georg Zoeller Addresses Delay Fixes
Today's small patch included improvements regarding character ability delay. Georg Zoeller jumped into an already hopping thread on the official forums with this feedback:
As you guys have noticed (and probably read in the patch notes), one major part of our series of ability delay improvements was patched onto the live servers with the maintenance last night (patch 1.1.0b). We decided that the improvements seen with this fix were significant enough for us to roll this patch out as quickly as possible instead of waiting for the next scheduled patch.
Your feedback from the servers so far indicates that this change has had dramatic, positive impact on combat gameplay.
That said, we're not done improving combat responsiveness!
- As mentioned in my blog a few days ago, there are some additional fixes currently on our public test server as part of patch 1.1.1, which will roll out as soon as we're satisfied with that patch.
- We've heard your mixed feedback regarding the new cooldown animation that was part of patch 1.1, and we have improvements to the readability of that UI coming down the pipe.
- We're looking into improving the accuracy of cast bars. Their behavior should already be significantly improved with today's patch, but we believe there is still room to improve.
- We're also working on improvements to the responsiveness of individual ability animations, including faction specific timing differences and issues where shortening an ability activation time does not properly shorten it's animation.
Again, thank you for your constructive feedback on this issue, it has been vital to us in identifying and resolving this situation. -
Character Ability Delay Fixes Coming to Public Test Server
Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller posted an update today about the character ability delay issue that players have experienced since the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic. In a blog post, Georg thanks the community for their feedback to help track down the cause of the issue, and notes that a fix is scheduled for the public test server in the next update. He also mentions other fixes that should help PvP combat with both player responsiveness and hardware configuration. You can read the full blog post below.
Hi everyone; I wanted to give you all an update on the ability delay situation.
Thanks to constructive feedback from the community, including some great videos, we were able to identify an issue that could cause abilities on global cooldown to appear available to the player, resulting in unresponsive/ignored player input. A fix for the issue is currently scheduled to go to the public test server with our next update.
Additionally, we have located an issue that would cause player input for certain instant abilities to fail in frantic combat situations, resulting in unpredictable and frustrating gameplay issues for the affected player. A fix for the issue is currently scheduled to go to the public test server with our next update.
Finally, our engineers have identified an issue introducing a significant delay between player input and ability execution in certain game situations, most notably (but not limited to) fast paced PvP. The magnitude of the delay varies with a number of factors, including processor hardware, but can, especially on dual core CPUs, result in a very perceivable reduction in game responsiveness. We are in the later stages of testing a fix for the problem and hope to be able to roll it out to the servers very soon.
We're still investigating a number of additional issues, along with some usability and quality of life improvements for responsiveness regarding player input, but the above mentioned developments should provide a very measurable improvement in combat responsiveness.
Thanks again for your patience and support and we hope to see you on the public test server to help us validate these improvements before pushing them to the live servers.
Georg Zoeller
Principal Lead Combat Designer -
Georg Zoeller Explains 1.1 Changes to Biochem and Cybertech
With patch 1.1 coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic next week, Georg Zoeller stopped by the official forums recently to shed some light on changes coming to two of the most popular Crew Skills. In his post, Georg explains why some items created through the Biochemistry and Cybertech Crew Skills have been rebalanced for the 1.1 release.
TL;DR: Fancy words for ‘we nerfed BioChem and Cybertech endgame products’ because they were so good that players started considering them mandatory. Your choice of profession is not supposed to be the deciding factor for participation and success in endgame content. We still believe that BioChem and Cybertech are very worthwhile Crew Skills, especially considering the significant fortune players with these professions are able to realize on the GTN... they are however no longer the ‘golden ticket’ into endgame content.The full post and related section of the patch notes follow the jump.
