Official Forum changes & Launch Client update
A few important notes surfaced on the official SWTOR forums today. First, the official forums themselves will be undergoing some major changes soon. This Saturday December 10, the forums will become unavailable. When they return for launch, they will be wiped of all posts, and only those with active SWTOR game time will be allowed to post. During Early Access, only those with redeemed pre-orders will be able to post. There will also be other various new features like a community blog and new forum sections. Read on for the details.
This Saturday, Dec. 10th, the Forums will become unavailable as we make preparations for launch. When they become available again, you’ll notice many exciting changes!
First of all, we’ll have many new forums available where you can discuss all aspects of the game, from Crew Skills to PvP. The Guild Hall forums will be expanded significantly and will include new “Looking for Guild” forums, class forums will contain sub-forums for each Advanced Class, and we’ll introduce a new Story and Lore forum for discussion of the game’s setting and story. To encourage constructive community building, you’ll also notice a “New Player Help” forum and a Community section that includes areas for regional check-ins and meetups, all kinds of fan creations and role-playing, and forums for server event organization. These are just some of the new forums we’ll be introducing. We’re looking forward to all the great discussion!
Another new feature we’re implementing is our Community blog, which will appear at the top of www.SWTOR.com/community. We’ll use this blog for important community announcements, updates, and to post articles of interest to our community members, so make sure to check it out frequently!
The launch Forums will be a fresh start: all threads, posts, and private messages will be removed and warnings and infractions on your account will be deleted. If you have any special posts or private messages that you would like to save, please do so now! When Early Game Access begins, only those who have redeemed their Pre-Order Code will be able to post on the forums, though everyone will be able to view them. Then, when the game officially launches, only those who have active game time will be permitted to post.
As we move forward, we will continue to improve our community forums. You can expect to see new features that make it easier to find developer posts and several updates to our skin to make everyday use of the forums easier for everyone.
We’re very excited about the changes that are coming, and we can’t wait to work with you to make the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ community a great experience for everyone!
The second piece of information concerns the beta clients installed on many of your computers. Today you may or may not have received an email from BioWare instructing you to uninstall the beta client from your computer before launch. What’s that? Couldn’t everyone keep it installed as long as they had the Thanksgiving client? Well today official clarification has been posted on the official forums. See the post below to determine if you need to uninstall the game client.
In preparation for the official release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, we wanted to make sure that everyone has the correct game client installed on their machine.
If you participated in our Game Testing Program before November 25th, we recommend that you uninstall the game testing client (refer to instructions below) and then download and install the launch game client. We’ll update this post with more instructions when they’re available. You will need 27GB of free space to install the launch game client. The actual size of the game client is approximately 19GB (without additional languages installed).
If you have played in our game testing program at any point from November 25th onwards, you will not need to re-install the game client, as you should already have the launch version installed.
To verify that you have the launch version installed, you can check for the “assets_swtor_main” version file in the following location on your computer: Program Files (x86)EABioWareStar Wars – The Old Republic (assuming default installation). If you have that file present, you do not need to reinstall the game client.
With that said, some users may notice that their game client folder is much larger than 27 GB on their system. This may be due to having redundant files from previous versions of the client. If you need to clear up space, we recommend completely uninstalling the client and downloading and installing the launch game client. Again, we’ll update this post with more instructions when they’re available.
Game Testing ends this weekend
Star Wars: The Old Republic is less than two weeks away from early access, and with that comes the end of the Game Testing program. Testing will end this Sunday, December 4 at 11:59pm CST. So if you’re still in game testing this weekend, get in while you can! You’ll have to wait an entire 16 days until the launch of the game.
Game Testing for #SWTOR will end Sunday, 12/4 at 11:59pm CST (5:59am GMT). Thank you for helping us make a great game!
Final Beta Testing Weekend invites sent
This weekend will mark the final weekend test for Star Wars: The Old Republic before launch. Invites have been sent out already, so check your email to see if you have been selected. This weekend’s test will not be as large in scale as the previous stress test weekend. If you have been selected, enjoy, as this may be your last chance to play The Old Republic until early access! If not, the wait is almost over: early access begins in two weeks.
Sent Dec. 1: Final Beta Testing Weekend Invites
This is our final test before launch! We have invited a smaller number of testers than in our previous Beta Testing Weekend to assist us in testing a new build of the game. If you participated in the last Beta Testing Weekend, check your e-mail to see if you’ve been invited. All you need to do is open the launcher and begin patching – you’ll be able to play at the time stated in the e-mail you received.
- Who was invited: Selected testers that participated in the previous Beta Testing Weekend
- What was sent: Final Beta Testing Weekend invitations
- Server locations: US East Coast, US West Cost, and EU servers
- Invite status: All invitations have been sent! Check your e-mail to see if you have been invited and for instructions!
Patch Notes: December 1, 2011
Today a new build was pushed out for the SWTOR beta and along with that, patch notes of what was changed. Read on to see the full notes, there are a lot of them. Read more»
SWTOR Beta client will patch to launch version
For those of you in this past weekend’s game test (read: pretty much everyone) dreading having to re-download the game client come early access and launch time, fear not: Stephen Reid has confirmed that BioWare will be patching the client, so you can preserve your bandwidth. As long as you have the most recent version of the game client installed from the Thanksgiving weekend test, you will be good to go. If you were in testing before Thanksgiving weekend, it is recommended to reinstall, but not required. The Internet will appreciate it.
FAQ: if you played this weekend you do NOT need to uninstall the #SWTOR client. We are planning to patch it to Early Game Access / Live.
If you played before this weekend we will recommend a reinstall just to clean up, but otherwise no.
The Old Republic Opens Up: NDA Lifted
Today, the NDA for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been lifted, and fans are free to discuss all aspects of the game. This includes fan sites such as the site you are currently reading, and you can expect a lot of content coming out of us in the near future. Stay tuned, and read the message from BioWare Doctor Greg Zeschuk below.
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
Beta Weekend “Stress Test” November 25-27
Anyone who was signed up for SWTOR beta testing has received an invite for an upcoming beta testing weekend where BioWare is planning a stress test on their servers, and now that weekend has been revealed. The testing will commence on November 25th and run through the 27th. Players will be invited in staggered intervals, so exact timing on when you’ll be able to log in will be notified in an upcoming email.
If you still don’t have a beta key and want to get in, all hope is not lost. Many sites are giving out beta keys – check here for the full list.
Updated the FAQ with this question and answer:
When will the Beta Testing Weekend start?
We are targeting November 25-28 for our upcoming Beta Testing Weekend. Exact timing on when you will be invited will be specified in your invite email.
A Busy Weekend for BioWare
As many of you undoubtedly know this past weekend was BioWare’s largest Testing Weekend yet, and tens of thousands of gamers and Star Wars fans everywhere logged out of the real world and logged in to The Old Republic. Surely several of you participated in the festivities unknowingly contributing to quite the staggering statistic. As revealed by the BioWare doctors in an interview with Eurogamer at last night’s BAFTA in London, over 1 million hours were logged in last weekend’s beta testing alone.
This weekend we had a big test – tens upon tens of thousands. One crazy number is we had over a million hours of testing over the weekend. It was a huge test, and there are even bigger ones coming. The key thing is for us to take those learnings, apply them and make the service really stable. We’re happy with the game.
Our goal is a smooth launch, we want to serve our players really well. We want to serve them with a great, stable, secure, high quality experience. That’s our goal. We’re doing everything we can.
An impressive number to say the least, but probably not unexpected to those who participated and waited through some very long queues. It sounds like we can expect more of these “server stress tests” in the near future so if you haven’t had a chance to test the game, don’t give up yet!
Read the entire interview at Eurogamer.com
Friday Update: Choose Your Side video, Beta Test Weekend, SWTOR at Dreamhack 2011
This week brings a trio of updates to the Star Wars: The Old Republic community. Like the previous “Choose Your Side” video between the Jedi Knight and Bounty Hunter, this week’s video pits the Republic Trooper against the Sith Inquisitor.
Been wanting to get into testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic but feel like you’re never going to be chosen? Well the wait will soon be over. If you signed up for testing before November 11, you should have already received a game testing invite for a future weekend. This upcoming test will be seen as a stress test, so BioWare is inviting as many participants as they can. If you didn’t receive an invite from the official site, you can enter to win one at several gaming websites. Please read the FAQs on the upcoming testing weekend for more information.
Lastly, Star Wars: The Old Republic will once again be at Dreamhack in Sweden this year. This will give fans the chance to play the game before the game’s launch in North America and Europe. Dreamhack will be November 24 – 27. Let us know if you will be there!
Choose Your Side: Inquisitor vs. Trooper
In the new video series “Choose Your Side,” members of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ team plead their cases, highlighting some of the many skills and abilities that set each class apart from the rest. In the second video of the four-part series, two of the most iconic classes in the Star Wars™ universe face off as the Force-wielding Sith Inquisitor ambushes the stalwart Republic Trooper. (Official Forums)
Beta Test Weekend Announced
When we started our Beta Testing Weekends, we told you that each weekend would include more testers than the last. We’re excited to announce that later this month we will be conducting our largest Beta Testing Weekend yet, specifically designed to help us stress test our servers in preparation for the launch of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.
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. (Official Forums)
The Old Republic at DreamHack Winter 2011
Held each year at the Elmia Fair in Jönköping, Sweden, DreamHack is far and away the largest “LAN party” in the world. BioWare and LucasArts will be attending the event this year to give people the chance to play Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ before its worldwide launch on December 20th.
The DreamHack event begins at 8:00AM CET on Thursday, November 24th and runs, non-stop, until 8:00AM CET on Sunday, November 27th. Members of BioWare’s European Community Team will be on hand throughout the weekend. (Official Forums)
Beta Media Coverage Extravaganza
Recently several press outlets were invited by BioWare to play a section of The Old Republic, and today their impressions have been posted around the Web. Their time with the game focused on combat, story, companions, Flashpoints, and PvP, all as the Republic side. We will post some of the highlights of these previews below as well as a listing of all the various outlets’ writeups. Read more»
