As mentioned before, BioWare deployed a new build this morning in preparation for the retail version of the game. In this build, the patch notes run the gamut with changes throughout the game. For the notes in full, hit the jump.
UPDATE: Undocumented changes are being added at the end of the official notes as they are discovered.
As mentioned yesterday, BioWare is in the process of deploying a new build in preparation for the retail version of the game. In this build, several subzones, items, recipes and a few new abilities round out the additions. For the notes in full, hit the jump.
Note: Keep in mind that these are just the changes and full patch notes are incoming soon.
UPDATE: Check out the New Items and New Schematics added to our DB.
Courtney Woods
How can you take part in this coming Beta Test Weekend? Well, for starters we are happy to announce that anyone who has signed up for our Game Testing Program prior to today, November 11th, will get invited! Invites will be sent in the coming weeks.
For people who haven't signed up for our Game Testing Program, you can also get into the Beta Stress Test Weekend through a series of promotions. Be sure to check out the following websites for your chance to grab a Beta Test Weekend Code.
As we are a little over 9 weeks away from launch, what's the mood like among the development team?
Cory Butler: Everybody is really excited. We are just kind of heads down, looking to finish things up, tie off some loose ends, and everybody is really pumped to get the game out there and have people start to play it for real.
Allison Berryman
Update! We're sending out some testing invites today. Here's the information about them:
Sent Oct. 11: California Data Center Test
This test is a small, limited-time test including testers from New Zealand and Australia. Data from this test will be used to inform decisions about the launch of the game in Oceanic regions. We currently have no updates regarding the launch of the game in these or other territories, but will provide information as it becomes available.
- Who was invited: Testers from the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia
- What was sent: California Data Center testing invites
- Server locations: West Coast USA
- Invite status: All invites in this batch are now sent
Stephen Reid
All invites for Beta Testing Weekend #2 have now been sent.
Please check your email (including spam folders) and login to swtor.com/tester/ to see if you have been accepted for this weekend's testing. If you were not invited to this weekend, you may be invited to future testing.
Stephen Reid
Hey all,
Today we re-invited all testers who were invited to our Beta Testing Weekend #1 back to a future Beta Testing Weekend (which will happen on as yet unspecified date). I wanted to give you a little insight into why, and clear up confusion.
These testers were not re-invited to a Beta Testing Weekend for this weekend. We're still internally testing the next major build of the game. As we've said before, when we're ready to give everyone a date for the next Beta Testing Weekend, we'll announce it.
Why are they being re-invited? Because we feel for a significant proportion of those invited to test during Beta Testing Weekend #1, they did not have an optimal testing experience. As I mentioned before, we had some issues, including some people not receiving an invite, and others being unable to get the client in time because of issues with their acceptance of their invite. With those factors in mind, we felt that because many people did not experience the game, it was worthwhile to re-invite everyone.
Where does that leave everyone who hasn't been invited to test yet?
First, I realize that we previously stated if people were invited to test, they would not be invited again. Although that policy may change in future, we're not changing it right now. However we feel that this situation is unique enough that we're re-inviting this weekend's testers. We expect this to be a one-off situation. I hope anyone who's waiting to get into testing realizes that if they had similar issues, we would 'do the right thing' by you too.
Second, it's important to realize as we've said before that future Game Testing Weekends are planned to be much, much larger than the first. This weekend's entire testing population is actually just a small fraction of the total number we're planning to invite to the next weekend, and our number of invites will go up after that. (Indeed, we'll probably just increase our numbers overall and add the re-invited testers onto that total number.)
In summary, we had some issues and we wanted to ensure those invited to test, got to test. This is, we feel, a unique and one-off situation, but it's also the right thing to do.
I realize that some of you may feel that getting a re-invite is unfair, as those re-invited will get more play time than those invited to just one weekend. That's understandable. However, getting an invite and then not being able to play through no fault of your own isn't great either. I'm sure if you put yourself in the shoes of someone who was invited but couldn't play, you'd be grateful for the chance to test the game and give feedback.
For those of you yet to test, please be patient and understanding of our reasoning here. We're going to invite many, many people to test The Old Republic before we launch and chances are, you'll be one of them.
For those of you lucky enough to be re-invited, please respect the Game Testing Agreement and have some sympathy for those who haven't been invited to test at all yet.
If you have questions, you know where we are.
1:12:00 (Roughly): In addition to phase 2, we're also going to be starting up a guild testing program fairly soon. We're obviously continuing to expand our invites for testing and were going to start including guilds in that list. So if anyone's interested. I don't know if anyone really thinks thats something they may want to be involved in or not. I think it's more about getting an entire group of people who enjoy playing together into the game together. A lot of the time, as we've said before, guild testing invites are random, so you get some grouping up and you get people playing together, but it's nice to have an entire guild there together so they can plan out, they can be more coordinated in game which really helps us see how thats going to happen at launch when you have all those guilds in the game playing the game.
Well be contacting guild leaders I think. And then from there theyll help us organize it. Because, like Stephen said, were not going to have an official system where people can sign up or anything like that. Were mostly going to, I will be in touch with guild leaders to try and coordinate it.
Georg Zoeller
Jedi Shadow (Roles: Close - Mid Range Damage Dealing, Tanking)
Sith Assassin (Roles: Close - Mid Range Damage Dealing, Tanking)
I work with the development team to ensure that anything released to our fans (read you!) meets the quality standards that are so important to any BioWare product. That means any time a new build of the game makes it into our Game Testing Program, I need to ensure that any content or features that we specifically want to have tested meet the designers needs and don't contain any major bugs.
Stephen Reid
A little peek behind the curtain.
This week's blog was originally intended to be part of next Friday's update. We ran into some unexpected issues finalizing this Friday's originally scheduled content, and so chose to move that content out to next Friday. As a result, next week, you'll get an update-and-a-half... and then after that, you'll soon see the cool stuff we've all been hard at work on for PAX East.
Part of the reasoning for this blog was to give you a peek into some of the feedback we got from our Game Testers; on the whole, feedback has been very positive and we're excited to see the response. We also wanted to remind everyone about our Game Testing Program, as feedback from our community so far has been extremely valuable to the development of The Old Republic.
We realize we can't please 'all of the people, all of the time' but we remain committed to giving you regular updates on the development and features of The Old Republic.
Game Testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic is underway! Those selected to test will gain access to the game and be able to provide valuable feedback to help us tune particular areas of gameplay and begin the process of balancing and tweaking our content.
Game Testing is an on-going process being rolled out in several phases. These phases began with smaller, more focused tests with community members from North America, and later will expand to other territories. Users selected for the test program will be notified via email with more information on accessing the Game Testing Portal. If you've not been chosen yet, you may be selected in the next wave!
If you haven't signed up already, its definitely not too late! If you're not already a member of the Star Wars: The Old Republic community, click here to become one today! Be sure to check the box to indicate you are interested in becoming a tester. If you're already a member, go to the Game Testing Portal to begin the sign up process. Note that you must be at least 18 years of age to accept the Game Tester Agreement.
Please keep in mind that there are no guarantees that you will be selected once you have completed the sign-up process. For more information about testing Star Wars: The Old Republic, take time to read the Game Testing FAQ.
Were looking forward to your help in making Star Wars: The Old Republic a success!
We have seen many questions about the Game Testing Agreement and we want to clarify a few things.
1. Per the Game Testing Agreement, a user can state there is a Game Testing Program.
2. Per the Game Testing Agreement, when someone is selected for testing, they can disclose the fact that they are a member of the Game Testing Program.
That is the extent of it and anything else would be a violation of the Game Testing Agreement. Users that are found to post or even repost confidential materials will be permanently removed from the Game Testing Program and subject to discipline up to and including permanent removal from the service. This is not limited to screenshots of the game but taking "screen grabs" or sharing of confidential documentation and materials.
If you have any questions pertaining to this, ask them here.
Hey everyone,
Thanks for the information and it's definitely interesting that people are posting about our Game Testing Program. We don't have anything official to say at this moment but if you have any questions, please check out the Game Testing Program FAQ.
The Game Testing Agreement that was agreed upon (when signing up for game testing) states:
PERMITTED DISCLOSURES
1. The fact that there is a Game Program.
2. The fact that you are a member of the Game Program.
Outside of that, it is a violation of the agreement to do anything more such as posting images or screen captures of anything related to Game Testing that is private and confidential and not already publicly revealed by The Old Republic team.
