Saturday June 30th, Bane Guild in association with Empire, Jenari Ascendancy and others will be hosting a pod race on The Ebon Hawk server.


Saturday, June 30th on the Ebon Hawk server I will be giving away millions of credits and prizes to the top winners of a swoop bike race.  If you've been transferred to The Ebon Hawk server, this can be a great way to meet your fellow man and kill them.  After all, the quickest path to the finish line cuts right through the deadly Outlaw's Den.
Judland Jamboree Race Track
You want the details, I know.  Here they are in all their sordid glory.
What: Swoop Bike Race!
Talking in-game with a few people, I heard the most support for Swoop Bike racing as the event we host. We'll be racing on Tatooine along a path that goes to a sandcrawler in Judland to the great Sarlacc pit.
Server: The Ebon Hawk
When:
Saturday, June 30th
Invites & prep at 9:00pm EST. Race start at 9:30pm EST
(expected end, including prize distribution is 1 hour)
Contact for this event: Suzina
Where:
I'm choosing Tatooine both because it's a classic pod-racing scene there and the lack of taxi's in the north half the planet. This is a server-wide event. All Imperials can compete for the top prizes.
Prizes:
I'm planning on 2 million credits 4.5  million credits in prize money, with 1 million 2 million being for first place. Additionally, I'll also be offering 2 Rakata level implants as rewards. One for 2nd place and one for 3rd.   Thanks to donations, 4th place will get 500k credits.  2nd and 3rd will also get 500k credits to go with their implants.  The Implants are bind-on-equip so I can purchase whichever kind the winner chooses and mail to whichever character the winner wants. Additional prizes depend on turn-out and my ability to raise more credits between now and then.  This part has been updated due to sponsors and donations.
Route:
Racer starts at Outpost Zarosh on Tatooine. There is a checkpoint at the half way point, Outpost Karnori, where a race official will watch you drive under a Sand Crawler before you head towards the finish line: the sarlacc pit in the Dune Sea.
If this is too tiny for you, click the link to the full size map above.
Rules and Details:
  • ~ You must be in an operation group with an ops leader chosen by Suzina. This is so we can monitor racer's positions on the map and broadcast race progress via General chat. If you are late, you can't enter the race after it's started. It's a race, not a time-trial.
  • ~ You CAN race with speeder-speed 1 or 2 if you like but you probably won't win prizes versus speeder 3 people. Probably.
  • ~ There is no entry fee, prizes are from hard work grinding credits, however prize donations are appreciated.
  • ~ You CAN pvp flag and attack other racers. However, you will probably lose to players who didn't attack and stayed on their bikes un-flagged.
  • ~ The race rout intentionally offers a slightly faster route through the open-world PVP area "outlaws den". It's about 45 seconds faster if you can stay on your bike as you go through Outlaws Den. I will instruct PVPers to hang out in outlaws den and knock people off their speeders. You are welcome to try the Outlaws Den shortcut, in fact I hope you try for entertainment value, but I will make it a risky venture. Two other locations, Outpost Salara & Dreviad Outpost are obstacles that may contain Republic players. Drive too close and you will be PVP flagged. If you crossed through Outlaws Den, you will still be PVP flagged for Republic players you pass by.
  • ~ Only players from the Empire faction can win prizes from me. However, Republic players can participate by racing non-flagged for fun and glory or hang out at spots on the race-track where PVP flagged Empire racers are sure to cross. Outpost Salara and Dreviad may offer chances to kill racers should these PVP racers survive Outlaws Den.
  • ~ The race will officially start when Suzina shoots her collector's edition flare gun at 9:30pm EST. The race takes about 11 minutes to complete if you avoid all the obstacles.
  • ~ If you don't want to race, spectators, gamblers, and volunteers will be welcome and appreciated come race day. If you do want to race, see you Saturday, June 30th at 9:00pm EST at outpost Zaroshe on Tatooine.
Please join us for a really fun time.  Who doesn't like a good race complete with deadly obstacles?  Good luck, and have fun.

UPDATE:  The hardcore guild PVP & PVE guild "Empire" has also promised to award an additional 1 million credits to the winner.  Empire guild is one of the top-operation guilds in TOR worldwide.  They are ranked #1 on Raid-ranks for 8-man story mode tier 2 content.  With their donation, 1st place worth 2 million credits so far.
No request for an add. Just Empire making it rain credits. Bam.

UPDATE: Darth P'anderia will be sponsoring 4th place with 500k credit prize from her own pocket!
She will also offering her public Mumble server to help coordinate the war effort.
P'anderia's public PVP Mumble address:
mumble.freebaser.net
port 64787
Panderia reminds to please use your character or legacy name as your username so coordination is easier.
UPDATE:
Darth Starbourne has made a generous donation on behalf of the Jenari Ascendancy of  an additional 2 million more credits in prize money!  This prize money will help round out 2nd prize, 3rd prize and other prize amounts.  They will be on the scene come race-day.
Generous prize donations like this will attract a HUGE crowd!

UPDATE:
I know! I know!  Too many updates.  That's what this update is about.  Someone started a thread on Reddit.
Republic forces are lining up to take down racers trying to use the Outlaws Den shortcut.  But Imperial guilds intent on claiming the 2 million credit prize for their guild bank are already promising to engage the Republic just before start time to clear them out and protect their guild-mate's passage.  This event is shaping up be a spectacle.

Pleague Outbreak!

Posted by Suzina On 4/15/12 0 comments

This is a news alert. A rare plague has broken out and is spreading across the galaxy! Empire and Republic players are both encouraged to stay away from Tatooine to avoid becoming involved. If you are on Tatooine, leave immediately and above all avoid the crash site in the north-east corner of the Dune Sea.

Item Modifications Update

Posted by Kalvod | Java Jawa On 12/6/11 3 comments

Today we receive a rather nice and lengthy post by Emmanuel Lusinchi which details all the changes regarding the item modification system. Throughout the course of the explanation we learn how over the course of the beta the Bioware team has changed the system, a lot of it undergoing drastic updates.

These changes are based upon the feedback and through the use of the modification system throughout the beta. To sum it up, it's been made simpler and easier to manage, while at the same time retaining all the benefits it had originally begun with.

Things to note are:

  • Color Coded Gear: Orange (Fully Modifiable), Blue (Rare), Purple  (Epic), & Green (Common)
  • Orange Gear can be obtained around level 8 through class quests, space quests and social gear
  • Modifications are removable
  • Modifications can be done anywhere (a workbench is no longer required)
  • Looted / Quest Modifications can now be reverse engineered
  • 4 standardized slots
For more information and to read the full explanation visit the swtor forums.

A Shared Story

Posted by Suzina On 12/4/11 0 comments

To commemorate the end of beta for Star Wars: The Old Republic, I have created this video using my beta footage and a mash-up I made from Children of Dune. Enjoy!

Early Game Access

Posted by Kalvod | Java Jawa On 9/29/11 0 comments

Based on a recent quote from Steven Reid, we are given some clarification as to what Early Game Access entails. As most of us maybe used to, when you pre-order a game, typically you'll be able to login and play a few days early.

Bioware is taking a slightly different approach, while yes all of the pre-orders will be able to login early, it's being based upon a first come first serve strategy. This many seem a bit frustrating to some folks, but don't worry. We are given a clarification as to why in the following quote.

While we understand all of you want to be in Early Game Access on Day One, part of the point of a head start program like this one is to allow us to gradually ramp up the population of our servers so that on launch day, the general play experience is as pleasant as possible. While we're going to be allowing a lot of people into Early Game Access at regular intervals, we cannot allow everyone who pre-orders in at once. That would defeat the point of a gradual head start.

The next obvious question is "I pre-ordered on Day X, when do I get access?" While we cannot answer that for everyone, I will say (as I did in July) that those who pre-ordered early will be getting Early Game Access, well, earliest. At this point we still have pre-orders available and therefore, anyone who pre-orders will still gain Early Game Access, but as they're redeeming their code later, they'll get Early Game Access later. As I've said before the difference between 'early' and 'later' should be a matter of days, not weeks
 What does this exactly entail? Glad you asked! By gradually letting in an influx of players, we'll be given less server side issues hopefully and with that a smoother first day experience. I'm sure we can all recount a few mmorpg's in the past where day one, was riddled with bugs. Let's hope that this strategy works and  we'll have a grand experience in a galaxy far, far away!

Source:swtor.com

Star Wars: The Old Republic Release Date

Posted by Kalvod | Java Jawa On 9/24/11 3 comments

Today Bioware pulls back the curtain and we are presented with an official release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's been a long few years and the hype extremely high for this major mmorpg. Finally now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The launch date is set for December 20, 2011. We also learn of the pricing structure and model in which it's subscription based. The pricing is fairly standard for the industry with a $14.99/mo subscription and discounts for larger time segements.

Source: swtor.com